Hunters Hit List (Fox Brothers Book 1) (11 page)

“Maybe he’s fine.”

“I don’t know. He acts the same. I know the demon is gone. He had completely left my brother’s body. I secretly mix holy water in his mouthwash just to make sure.”

“Smart.”

“A trick I learned from my father.”

“Not too many hunter’s ever get to see Drack face to face. Is he as scary as they say?”

“Yeah scarier.”

“And you two are going after him?”

“Yes sweetheart, as soon as this is over. You are welcomed to come along.”

“You are too brave.”

“Naw, not really. I’m just a danger whore.”

Scar giggled. “You know if I make it out of this jam maybe I will join you.”

“You should. I never hunted with a lady before but you are impressive.”

“Do you think it would be okay with your brother if I tag along?”

“Ryan has no say so. He’s my man slave.”

“You should be nicer to your brother. I can see he really loves you. He worries about you.”

“That is the problem. Who has time to worry? We are out on the mean streets fighting the deadliest prey.”

“You really believe everything you say.”

“I practice what I preach. I speak from the heart.” Max tapped his chest.

“You do and it’s refreshing. So many hunters are full of shit but you are the truth.”

“You are the real deal but that gun you carry with the little pink rhinestones is very ah -- ”

“First off they are not rhinestones. They are Swarovski crystals. Guns are slippery. I got it custom made with the crystals to have a good grip on my piece. It would be harder to let it go and harder for someone to pry it from my fingers. Here check it out.” Scar reached in the holster that was underneath her armpit and under her blue jean jacket. She handed her Glock over to Max. “Feel it.”

Max took the weapon and held it in his firm grip. “You’re right. This feels great. All the little bumps in your palm. Max smiled. “Beauty, brains and brawn. You are amazing.”

“I’m alright.” Scar giggled.

Max closely inspected Scar’s Glock. “It’s engraved.”

“Yeah.”

Max read the engraved words. “Clever Vixen. You’re not going to believe this.”

“What?”

Max handed her gun back to her and removed his from the small of his back. He handed it to her. “Read this.”

Scar took Max’s prized Ruger P95 and read the engraved words on the gun. “Sly Fox.”

“I believe in a lot of damn shit but a vixen is a female fox.”

“Yeah.”

“And clever is just another word for sly. The possibility that you and I would have damn near the same thing engraved on our pieces is just unbelievable. It’s like we were meant to be. This is freaky.” Max looked over at Scar. She was quiet. “Say something.”

“It’s like we were made for each other.”

“Right.” Max shook his head.

“Do you believe in soulmates?”

“I wasn’t even sure I believe that humans had souls but this is more than strange.”

“I don’t think it’s strange. I think it’s meant to be.” Scar decided to just say what she felt.

“I know I want to be with you. I need to be with you. The more I know the more I’m sure about us. Do you feel that energy? Or is it just me?” Max asked.

“I do. I feel it.” Max leaned over and kissed Scar deeply. He craved a connection and he made that happen.

“This is all new to me.” Scar smiled.

“Me too. It’s like I’ve known you forever.”

“Right.”

“It’s just like you said, like we were made for each other. You are the female me.”

“You think so?”

“Sort of, whoever said opposites attract got it wrong.” Max smiled hard. Scar was a dream come true for a guy like him. He could see a long and endless future with her. He could even see children, something he never ever thought of. Who in their right mind would want to bring a child in a world full of monsters? Now he thought that maybe he was that guy.

Walt sat in the passenger seat of a Dodge Intrepid next to Colin. Jerry walked up to the driver’s door and leaned in.

“What’s the damage? Any breathers?”

“Two heartbeats.” Jerry eagerly answered. “Some motel hooker told me two people left room 121 and took off in a Range Rover, a man and a woman. I didn’t see a Range Rover parked anywhere.”

“Well that’s not enough info.”

“Pedro said the Fox brother’s were inside that room so they’re in there.”

Inside the motel Ryan sat at a desk with his laptop open. He looked back on the bed at a sleeping Roy. Ryan’s laptop screen displayed information on the mysterious murders in the state of Michigan.

Ryan quietly read aloud. “Husband and wife found dead with large neck wounds in basement of their--”

“North-side home.”

Shocked by the additional voice in the room. Ryan turned to see Drack reading over his shoulder.

“Son of a bitch.” Ryan blurted shocked by the presence of his nemesis. Ryan slowly rose from his chair.

“Sticks and stones.”
Drack smiled.
“You kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh wait, you’re mother’s dead.”

Ryan’s heart rate rose like he had been running a marathon. “Get, away from me.”

“Oh Ryan, I’m beginning to think you don’t like me.”

Ryan shut his eyelids together tightly and opened them. He tried this several times.

“Are you trying to blink me into existence or extinction?”

“Go away!” Ryan yelled out across the room.

“Keep it down. We don’t want to wake Roy. He already thinks you’re a freak. Do you want him to think you’re crazy?”
Drack
walked over and examined a sleeping Roy.
“Ryan buddy, I think you should kill him. Come on, I know you want to. Roy was no bit player. He was a lead actor in your apocalyptic movie. He had lines. He shot your brother Max.”

“He didn’t pull the trigger.” Ryan explained.

“Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. When I was inside you, you were a strong vital beast. Now you’re just Little Lord Fauntleroy, with lovelocks waving about the handsome, manly little face...”
Ryan glanced down at sleeping Roy and back at Drack.
“...RYAN you are more than just a pretty face. You are my true son.”

Drack made a gun with his thumb and index finger. He pointed his finger at Roy’s face and pulled the imaginary trigger, twice.

“I’m no son of yours.”

“Well sort of my adopted son. Kill Roy. You know you want to.”

“No I don’t.” Ryan unconvincingly added.

There was a scratching sound coming from the front door. Ryan instinctively turned to the door. He quickly turned back to where Drack stood. Drack had disappeared. These hallucinations were driving Ryan crazy.

Ryan grabbed his stainless steel Taurus PT-92 9mm pistol off the desk and looked through the motel door peephole. He backed away from the door for further investigation. He went to the curtain and looked out the single window.

Ryan chuckled at himself. He shook off his paranoia. He knew he was losing it but in that moment he was relieved to look out a window and see absolutely nothing.

Ryan could only relax for a full two seconds. BAM! The motel door was kicked open, off the hinges. Jerry and Colin rushed in before Ryan could gather his disoriented thoughts.

Startled by the commotion, a noise that would have woke the dead, Roy reached for his weapons that was before he remembered Max took them, all of them.

Ryan pointed his 9mm at Colin. He was too late to actually pull the trigger.

Colin karate kicked Ryan’s gun sending it flying into the air and across the room. The pistol went crashing to the floor leaving Ryan unarmed.

Roy quickly got up on his feet. He stood behind Ryan.

“Step aside Mr. Fox. We’re here for number three. You’re not on the list.” The vampire Colin ordered and informed.

“You have to get through me first.” Ryan bravely dared.

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Colin taunted. He glanced back at the vampire Jerry. He matched fanged smile.

Jerry inched toward Ryan and Roy from a side angle. The double beds acted as a blockade.

“What’s with this hit list?” Ryan asked stalling for time. He needed time to come up with an effective plan.

Ryan and Roy were slowly being pressed against the back wall. Caught between the bed and the sidewall.

“We’re just following orders.”

Ryan quickly glanced over at his jacket. It hung on the back of the chair at the desk where his laptop sat open.

“Someone sent you to do his dirty work. Someone sent you to your death.”

“Enough talking, make a move. Show me why the Fox brothers are so fucking infamous. Make a move talkbox.” Colin begged.

“Bloodsuckers first.” Ryan goaded, his objective was to get to his jacket. If he could get to his jacket then maybe they had a fighting chance.

Jerry was quick to make the first move. He leapt over the first twin bed smoothly, landing on his feet.

Ryan lunged forward, charging for Colin. Vampires were agile and quick. Colin swiftly moved away and Ryan tumbled into the chair where his jacket hung. Ryan reached into the jacket pocket. He pulls out his antique machete, a beautiful piece of hardware that was better than any gun.

Jerry had a brutal hold on Roy. He punched Roy on his face sending him stumbling backwards into the wall. Roy struggled in a life or death fight with the vamp. Jerry slammed Roy into the opposite wall and pummeled him with a series of fists to the face.

Colin spotted Ryan’s gun on the floor. He grabbed the gun and when he turned to shoot Ryan--

WHOSH! Ryan wielded the machete and sliced Colin across the throat. Colin’s head hung halfway off, halfway on, partially severed. The blood squirted from Colin’s neck while spraying Ryan in the face, neck and chest like a garden hose.

Ryan backed away from the spraying blood just as Colin’s body fell to the carpet.

Jerry witnessed the botched beheading of Colin. There was no way his vampire life would end today. Jerry hauled ass out the broken motel door.

Ryan didn’t bother to go after Jerry. Colin was still there bleeding but barely alive as a dead vampire could be. Ryan stood over Colin’s body and with one clean swoop decapitated the vampire. Ryan wiped some of the blood that splattered on his cheek.

Roy was out of Ryan’s line of sight, on the floor in between the double beds. Still holding the machete, Ryan moved in between the beds and stared down at Roy’s dead body. He cursed himself for his mishap. How was he going to explain this to Max? He was supposed to be keeping Roy safe and alive and here he was dead right where he stood.

***

Ryan, Max and Scar rode down the highway in silence. Max looked over at his brother in the passenger seat. Max was pissed. He questioned the entire scene back at the motel. He questioned his brother’s abilities. He wasn’t one to hold back but he needed time to think about the epic fail back at the motel.

Ryan was frozen, looking straight ahead. He knew Max was just waiting to tear into him. He just didn’t know when the bomb would fall.

“What the hell happened back there?” Max spit.

“We got our asses handed to us. Roy didn’t have his weapons so he couldn’t really fight back. I had my hands full.” Ryan had excuses.

“Roy didn’t have his weapons. So are you saying this is my fault?”

“No Max, of course not.”

“Roy is dead and one vamp gets away.” Max spoke his thoughts out of his mouth. “He was the only vamp we could have gotten some answers out of.” Max gritted his teeth and leered at his brother.

“So what?”

“What?” Max assumed he missed a part of the conversation.

Ryan had put his defenses up. “So are you trying to say Roy getting killed is my fault?” Ryan smarted.

Max took his eyes off the road to glare at Ryan.

“No, no. I’m just--”

The silence was thick and smoky. They rode for miles with nothing to say to each other.

“I’m next.” Scar mumbled from the backseat.

Max slammed on the breaks. The Range Rover came to a screeching halt. Max turned around to face Scar. He looked in her eyes.

Max was clearly upset. “Don’t say that? You are not next!”

“Bro, calm down.”

Max gave Ryan a quick “shut your trap” glare.

Max turned back to Scar. “Scar, you’re a hunter. We’re not going anywhere until you act like one.”

Scar eased back and turned to peer out the side driver’s window.

Max exhaled. “Listen, fear is not an option. You are not going to die. Stop with the negative thoughts. We lost Roy but we are going to stick together to get through this. I know I’m not dying. I got like four hundred more vamps to kill before I check out and Drack has been on my shit list like forever, so I’m sticking around.” Max turned to the open road. He eased off the brake pedal and slowly took off.