B00724AICC EBOK (18 page)

Zacharia brought up his hind paw and scratched his right ear. “Should I eat it? I mean would it be proper?”

Dracula was enjoying the situation more than expected. “You are a cat. I would if I were you.”

The cat thought on it, and his mind was confused to such a degree that he was having difficulty deciphering good thoughts from bad. It appeared to make appetizing sense. His mind and the cat’s feline brain were having a bit of a slap fight in there. The cat would not back down considering there was a mouse in the equation. Zacharia had not been clear headed since his soul had entered Moon Diamond. And Dracula urging him on was simply complicating the cat’s nature and befuddling his own. The small mammal was a delicacy on tiny legs.

“
He’s going to get away, or another cat will come and eat him. Oh, I believe I see another cat down the road.”

That got Zacharia’s attention. He was immediately ready to pounce as he wiggled his ass, and with a burst of speed he jumped off the steps into the grass. He jumped several times and then returned with the dead mouse and dropped it near Dracula.

“
Is that for me?”

The cat stared up at his with its pretty eyes. “If you don’t want it I’ll eat it later. I killed it so it can’t get away.”

The Master nodded and smiled. “I believe I’ll pass.”

Dracula noticed that Piers Anthony was approaching from the Mill Road and he wasn’t exactly delighted to see him. He rolled his eyes with a here we go again attitude. He preferred not to be bothered but Piers was a good though stubborn friend. However, there was a limit to his patience. The author was dressed in a good looking gray suit, with a purple vest and black tie. Piers knew the master had never liked purple. The author blurred across the street and crossed the sidewalk approaching the steps.

Piers smiled at the cat. “Beautiful cat.”

“
Did I ever mention Zacharia?”

Piers thought on it and then it came to him. “Isn’t he the one that battled those evil bloodsuckers in Rome?”

“
Yes, that’s him. Would you like to meet him?”

“
Yes, I’ll bet he has some interesting stories.”

“
There he is.”

The author felt that Dracula was up to something but he couldn’t zero in on it. He glanced toward the house. “He’s in the house.”

“
No, he’s in the cat.”

“
What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“
Mind the cat’s thoughts.”

Piers furrowed his bushy eyebrows as he noticed the dead mouse. He went into the cat’s mind and poked around in there. “What am I looking for?”

“
Hello Piers,” Zacharia said to the author. “I’ve read some of your work.”

“
Hello? What is that?”

“
Zacharia’s soul is trapped inside his cat, Moon Diamond.”

Piers looked at Dracula and then back at the cat. “How is that possible?”

“
I’m not really sure. So Piers, what have you come to bother me with now?”

The author was irritated. “Oh nothing much, it’s just that evil vampires are pretty much trying to take over the world, but besides that everything is just hunky-dory.”

Dracula smashed the clarinet over the author’s head and broke it into two pieces. It was accomplished with such rapidity that it seemed as if he hadn’t moved at all, undetectable to the eyes of a mortal.

“
That hurt,” said Piers.

“
No it didn’t,” Dracula countered.

Piers felt the top of his head that had already healed. “Okay, so it didn’t much, but is that anyway to treat a friend, not to mention the destruction of an expensive clarinet.”

“
Piers, we’ve discussed this. But tell you what, I’ll make you a powerful red sheriff and you can go kick some ass.”

He did in fact consider it but shook his head to the contrary. “I’m a writer not a fighter.”

“
Oh, but I can make it so.”

“
Would the transformation change my personality?”

“
Not at all.”

“
Then it is pointless. I don’t have the constitution to run around killing vampires.”

“
But you want me to do it.”

Piers continued to stare at the cat as it lifted its paw and waved at him. “Don’t you think that’s it’s your responsibility? Every single vampire originates from you, in a sense.”

“
I don’t think much of anything these days.”

“
They’re slaughtering humans at an alarming rate.”

“
I suppose.”

They both turned their heads toward the Mill Road, where a young woman in a yellow raincoat was walking by. Suddenly, a man approached her that hadn’t been visible only a second before. Both Dracula and Piers knew immediately what was going down. It was a vampire that was getting ready to kill the girl. She looked to be barely twenty and it wasn’t looking good for twenty-one.

“
You do see what’s occurring there?” Piers was worried about the woman’s safety.

“
I do.”

“
Why doesn’t he sense you this close?”

“
Some don’t believe in me.”

Piers rubbed his beard. “Really? That is kind of funny. You’re going to save her? Right?”

Dracula looked the author up and down, as if making a comment on his attire. “Piers, why don’t you have a go at it? There could be some entertainment value in it.”

“
I, I, I don’t have any experience in such matters. Are you trying to get me killed?”

“
Perhaps.”

“
Master,” said Zacharia. “Surely you’re not going to let that miscreant get away with murder right in front of you?”

“
I’m going to be judged by a cat now?”

Moon Diamond sensed the bad guy in the off-white Bills Khakis and the matching Vintage Poplin shirt as he exposed his fangs and grabbed the girl by the back of her neck pulling her close. The cat blurred and crossed the street like a demon, jumped in his face and commenced to scratch his eyes out. The wounds commenced to heal but nevertheless it was excruciatingly painful. The miscreant vampire staggered across Mill Road where he was struck by a gold Mercury Grand Marquis driven by Jayne Morgan from Dunnellon Florida, and thrown like a ragdoll against the steel railing. Her husband Gary was in the passenger seat and didn’t seem all that surprised by the events. He had been in World War Two and nothing much fazed him anymore. Jayne screamed and screeched to a halt as vampire Varick rushed and grabbed the cat and prepared to destroy it. His left eyeball hung out of his head, but as it healed, it was sucked back in like a small vacuum. Moon Diamond swiped at the globular pod but missed it.

Piers rushed to save Zacharia but Dracula beat him to it, and with one massive punch knocked Varick’s head clean off and he turned to dust with a slight pop. Traffic was tied up in both directions as Gary got out of the car to have a look. Sirens were heard in the distance. Jayne held both hands tightly over her green eyes and refused to look. Moon Diamond directed and pushed the skull up and over the curbstone until it fell into Humphrey’s brook. Piers removed the remainder of the skeleton and tossed it into the brown water.

A heavy rain commenced to pound the area.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

AT THE CONFLUENCE OF BROADWAY AND SEVENTH AVENUE in Manhattan, the Thirteen met where the location was considered to be a representation of the United States. The gang stood with smiles and satisfactory thoughts of the bloodshed to come. They felt like a superior army heading into an assured victory. The idea that they were going to kill a red sheriff or two was beyond satisfying, it was delectable on so many levels. Times Square was the perfect place to do some damage. The media would eat it up and spit it out to the entire world like so many empty sunflower seed shells. The vicinity sometimes contained as many as six red sheriffs, and therefore vampires usually avoided the area.

The crowds were heavy as usual and the sun was in the process of setting. The lights were bright. The Thirteen knew that not long after the killing commenced, whatever sheriffs were in the area would show up. Their overwhelming numbers were delightful however, so much so that Bernard laughed to himself in anticipation. The gang wouldn’t be satisfied unless they managed to dust at least one sheriff. The fact that the whole world would know about it would be a grand statement that they intended to eventually take over the world; they were part of the revolution now. They were also cognisant that the multiple cameras would record their glorious feat of strength. Each and every one of them was also aware that it might be necessary for them to stick together in the coming months for safety’s sake.

Wei and Bao blurred into the area of Times Square, with their trench coats snapping due to their velocity. There seemed to be as many yellow taxis as other vehicles on the road. They were Chinese and close friends, although they were not blood brothers they probably should have been. Both their families were attached in friendship and had immigrated together to San Diego California when they were both under five years of age. Unlike many, they had never outgrown their friendship.

“
Do you feel it?” Bao asked.

Wei nodded, looked around with his gray-blue eyes sensing something unpleasant in the air. He had a two feet long queue of hair down his back. They had been exceptional martial artists before they had been turned, and both devoted fans of Bruce Lee. They were as handsome as they were rugged looking, muscular perfection in perfect proportions. The pair had been turned against their will in the hope that they would become evil, but they were on the side of integrity and justice from the beginning. They both despised bullies.

Wei was not only a powerful opponent, but a wizard class leveller of magic; unfortunately he was not yet adept at it and had much to learn on the art of spells. In fact he ignored it as best he could. His talent had a great distance to travel in its progression of natural ability and learned knowledge. The road would be long to acquire the necessary training to become an experienced necromancer, and it wouldn’t be easy to locate the right vampire to train him. Wei knew the ways of the sword, but the methods of his invocations would have to be taught to him by someone that was adept in the field. Unfortunately he was disinterested in the magic thing, and so he was not the complete vampire that he could become with a lot of hard work.

They stood at 7
^th
and Broadway near the Kodak video display. Wei’s samurai sword vibrated to gain his attention, pulling it out he looked into its reflection to see the Thirteen all gathered in a single spot, and it looked to be 46
^th
and Broadway. It was a new experience for his sword to have magical properties, but he had sharpened it that morning and perhaps had spelled it accidentally. It was a bit unsettling to not have knowledge of one’s own abilities; it irritated him when Bao teased him about it.

“
Bao, look at this!”

Bao gazed into the sword and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was as a movie playing in its reflection. “Look at them all. Since when is your sword magic? We need reinforcements. I count at least ten vampires.”

“
Shi yi.” On his cell phone Wei checked the status of all the other red sheriffs in the area, and was disappointed with what he was observing. Only Cooke was available as all the others were out in the field, either in pursuit or at other crime scenes. He pressed the screen on his Prada phone by LG to summon him but felt guilty about doing so.

Passers-by recognised them as red sheriffs and some stopped to stare, they were immediately told to abandon the area. That simply made the New Yorkers more curious. They both initiated their red badges to commence recording what would perhaps be the end of their lives. Gawkers thought that if two sheriffs were on the scene, they would be safe from a biter, evil intentions or not. More people were stopping to scrutinize the sheriffs.

“
If we were smart we would flee,” said Wei.

“
Yes, if we were smart. If we can spot the leader, we need to take him out first.” Bao knew that every time he went out it could be his last. He would perish with honor rather than run.

Cooke blurred in beside the other two sheriffs wearing his specially made black trench coat; it was bulletproof, fabricated out of Kevlar. He was a giant of a man at just under six and a half feet. His head was shaved bald with a chiselled chin and a large nose. Cooke had been on his day off at a local bar when he received the call. “What do we got boys?”

“
Big trouble. Eleven vampires and I don’t mean the good ones.”

Cooke was immediately rocked by that news; he hadn’t considered that the call was probably going to lead him to his demise. They could see the gears grinding in his mind and the unpleasant look on his face. Three against eleven was suicide. Why even bother with those odds. “We should get out of here. This is suicide boys. Probably a trap.”

Bao rubbed his forehead. “They’re going to kill a hundred innocents here, maybe more.”

Cooke laughed a brief low laugh. “This is New York boys; anyone over thirteen is not innocent. You two can commit Hari Kari if you like, but I’m out of here. Don’t be stupid and live to fight on.”