Discovery of Death (8 page)

“
Let’s cut him open and bleed him dry,” the female standing next to the center male said.

“
In due time, my dear, but I think he’s here looking for his wife.”

Shelly . . .

“
Yes, ‘Shelly,’ your darling partner, your soul mate.”

Marcus took a step forward, swords at the ready.

The vampire in the center merely held his gaze.

Show her to me,
Marcus thought, knowing full well his mind was being read.

“
And if I don’t?”

“
I’ll gut you and your friends.”

The man with spiked hair glanced side-to-side. “You’re outnumbered. Why, even now we could be on you faster than you could move your blade.”

“
Don’t count on it. Now, give me my wife!”

To his comrades, the spiky-haired vampire said, “You heard him. Stand aside.”

The six vampires parted down the middle, three to each side, revealing Shelly behind them, gagged, blindfolded and bound to a tree.

They knew one person wouldn’t be enough to satisfy them. That’s why they lured me here. If I wasn’t here, they might eliminate each other in a feeding frenzy.

“
No need to explain it to us, Marcus,” a pale-skinned woman with pitch black hair said.

“
Shelly?” Marcus asked.

She muffled a response.

Marcus sized up his targets, calculating his next move. This wasn’t the time for debate as negotiations with vampires rarely yielded any ground. He had to act swiftly, but also had to be ready for them to pounce on him as well.

He needed a distraction.
If you release her, I will look the other way for the next six nights, one for each of you. You will be free to roam as you see fit.
Knowing his mind was being read, his thoughts considered, he lunged forward, throwing his blades out to either side, penetrating the hearts of the nearest two vampires to his left and right. They both shrieked and their bodies exploded in a cloud of fleshy ash that lingered on the air a moment before disappearing altogether.

He hook kicked the next in line on his right, sending the girl back and buying himself a couple precious seconds. Immediately the three remaining undead disappeared from sight and materialized around him, their bodies a scant inch or two from his. He head-butted the spiky-haired man in front of him, back kicked the one he hook kicked to the head because she was already moving toward him, then kicked off the undead man to his side, giving himself some room. The undead man ran at him. Marcus shot out his sword and penetrated the man’s chest, killing him instantly. The body disintegrated.

The spiky-haired vampire and a girl with brown hair in ringlets and the one with black hair remained. The brunette hissed at him. He swung out a hook punch. She dodged,
grabbed
his
arm
and
threw
him to the ground with such
force
the
impact
put
him
in
a
momentary
daze.
Marcus rolled onto his back just as the girl pounced on him.

“
Hold still!” she shrieked.

Shelly muffled somewhere behind the blond, spiky-haired vampire.

Marcus snapped out his fist and punched the girl in the chest. She rocked back a moment and when she rocked forward again, he already had the garlic steam grenade in his hand. Her mouth wide, she went for his neck. He shoved the grenade in her mouth as far as he could and pulled the pin. She shrieked, garlic-scented steam pouring out the sides of her lips as the skin on her head began to sizzle like bacon in a pan. Marcus pushed her off him and came face-to-face with the one with black hair. Immediately, he sent his sword through her heart. She burst into ash. A second later, he was arrested around the throat by the blond vampire. If the undead pressed any harder, his neck would snap, but he knew the vampire would keep him alive to make his blood all the more sweeter. The pressure on his neck so intense, he dropped his swords and grabbed the vampire’s wrists so he could wrestle himself free. Hurled into the woods, Marcus broke his fall by twisting to the side and landing on a bush.

He flailed his arms and legs as they tried to find purchase against the thin branches.

The blond-haired vampire roared, his face now distorted into a twisted visage of displaced bone and muscle. Bright white fangs protruded prominently from the devil’s mouth. Swords now on the ground behind the blond, Marcus put up his fists. The vampire charged him, disappearing from several feet away and materializing with his arms around Marcus’s waist. In an instant, his feet left the ground and the vampire took to the air, flying Marcus between the trees and to the river beyond.

Wind gathering around him, Marcus called for Shelly, then the icy cold of the river struck his back then enveloped him completely.

The cold water shocking his every muscle, Marcus did his utmost to cling to the vampire despite the undead’s efforts to let go and retreat to the surface.

In his head, the deathly cold voice of the creature said:
Tonight you pay for the suffering you’ve inflicted on us all these years.

Marcus decided not to respond despite all urges to. With his right arm he clung as tightly as he could to the vampire, while with the other reached for the knife strapped to his leg.

The water pressure pressed in upon his ears; a sharp pain grew in his head the further he went down.

Time was running out.

14

“
W
e try and
not disturb the humans as much as we can,” Mira said as she and Zach flew. “Your father will explain more at the appropriate time, but when it comes to feeding, you cannot do as you please. We have rules, both as a species and as a family. We try to keep our feeding operation as quiet as possible so as to not notify those who would rather see us dead.”

“
Who’s that?” Zach said. He kept his eyes forward, not yet comfortable enough to look around too much while flying. Last time he tried looking at his mother when she spoke, he veered off course and bumped into her.

“
They call themselves ‘slayers.’ We call them a nuisance. They view us as animals that need to be contained. What they fail to realize is that, unlike animals, we operate on even better mental faculties than they do. Our feeding is for our survival. However, like animals, we prey on others to survive. Humans don’t stop other animals from feeding upon each other. They only stop humans ending the lives of humans. Likewise for us ending human lives. What you need to know, my son, is that what we do isn’t murder no more than a man killing a fatted calf so he can eat is murder. We live off their blood. In return, we do not slaughter all but instead bring them into our fold, as was the case with you, giving them power and immortality. It is a fair exchange, if you want my opinion.”

“
And there is nothing else we can feed on?”

“
Not in terms of survival, no. Yes, we can eat like the humans do. We even enjoy the same food humans do. But to survive, we need their blood. They can produce hemoglobin, we cannot. By ingesting their blood, we absorb what their blood carries and so survive.”

Zach wasn’t sure drinking blood was such a good idea, but after what Cassie said about how good it felt, he was fine with giving it a try. What guy wouldn’t?

“
There, below,” Mira said and arced her flight downward.

Zach followed her lead and the two landed in a forested area alongside a river.

“
It is here we sometimes come for our meal. You see, there are humans without homes who live here. By preying on them and removing any evidence of our involvement, it helps keep our feeding operation quiet. Because those dying are usually without family, even friends, their removal goes more often than not unnoticed and, as a result, slayers aren’t notified of their deaths through the various channels they are tuned in to.”

“
Are you saying slayers are everywhere?”

“
No, but they are
aware
regarding most facets of human society.”

“
Are slayers human?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then why don’t you kill them?”

“
Because, at present, they outnumber us significantly and have influence in the world of men that we do not. They are also immune to daylight, which we are not.”

Like
before, when the sun hurt me,
he thought.

“
Yes. You cannot go out into the sun any more than a rock can swim.”

“
Why not?”

“
No more questions. Your father will fill you in on more later. You’ve already learned so much since you’ve awoken with us.” Mira sniffed the air. “Come this way. I smell a human.”

Zach followed her through the trees, past bushes, all the while finding it amazing that with each of their footfalls, they scarcely made a sound.

Soon they emerged through another set of trees. Mira said, “Look what’s happened.” She pointed to the tree in front of them, and despite it being dark, every single detail was clear. A woman was tied to the tree, bound, blindfolded and gagged. She wore a long coat which was partly open, revealing some kind of dark, thick outfit beneath.

Mira approached her, but said to Zach, “Watch where you step.” Two silver swords lay on the ground. “Do not touch them.” She then added into his mind:
One cut can bring disaster.

They approached the woman. Her scent—a combination of vanilla perfume and the rich, coppery smell of the blood coursing through her veins—sent the image of Zach’s thirst before his eyes, along with the darkness and rage that accompanied it.

The woman moaned something from behind the gag.

“
Interesting, very interesting,” Mira said, walking her fingers up the woman’s face. “You’re not going to scream, now, are you, if I remove the gag?”

The woman didn’t respond.

“
Are you!”

She shook her head.

“
Good. If you make a single sound, I will pluck out your tongue and put a hole in your throat. Am I clear?”

It took a moment, but the woman nodded.

Zach envisioned silky red blood gushing from a wound in the woman’s neck. He went right up to her, his tongue aching to lick her skin.

“
Soon, my son, soon.” Mira removed the woman’s gag. “It seems something went terribly wrong tonight, didn’t it?”

“
Yes,” the woman flatly said.

“
Were you alone?”

“
Yes.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes.”

Mira looked at Zach and mouthed the words, “She’s lying.”

How does she kn
—

In reply, Mira spoke into his mind:
Do you not hear the blood pumping through her veins? Do you not hear it racing through her body?

Zach listened. Low, rapid pulses of fluid filled his ears. “I do.”

“
Let
me
show
you, my son, the punishment for lying.”

The woman’s body went stiff. “I am ready. Your victory tonight is but a small loss for us. It has been an honor serving in the war against vermin such as you.”

“
Tsk, tsk,” Mira said, “strong words for someone who is about to die. And, yes, tonight you will die. I will not give you the honor of becoming one of us, though, I suppose, that would be a worse fate for you, would it not?”

The woman closed her mouth. Zach saw the muscles in her jaw tighten.

“
Come here, my son,” Mira said.

He came beside her.

“
What you want is this thick artery here,” she said, pointing to it on the neck. “Breach that, and you can drink until she is no more.” Suddenly, Mira’s face distorted; her brow protruded from her skull; her cheekbones rose high on her face, nearly bursting through her skin; her mouth opened wide, revealing inch-long razor sharp teeth. She clamped her mouth around the woman’s neck. The woman let out a gasp, then screamed, her cries distorted by the blood bubbling in her throat.

A wave of excitement passed through Zach, the darkness within growing stronger until fire lit up his face as the bones and muscles beneath his skin realigned themselves for the feeding to come.

♦ ♦ ♦

Marcus nearly lost control of the knife when the vampire jerked its body to the side. His eyes were closed. His lungs pounded in need of air. The pain in his head was now in his temples. He envisioned tiny screwdrivers driving into his skull on either side of his eye sockets.

With as hard a thrust as he could muster, he plunged the knife into the vampire’s chest. He yanked it out and stabbed it again. He did it a third time and the vampire’s flailing ceased.