Hunters Hit List (Fox Brothers Book 1) (13 page)

“My girlfriend, she’s jealous. She doesn't know you’re my sister.”

“I can’t handle this. You’re a vampire and you’re just fine with it.”

“Well I really didn’t have much of a choice.”

Scar rolled her tired eyes. “I’m being hunted by Walt and some of his vamp buddies.”

“Sis, I swear I don’t know anything about it. If I did I would tell you.”

“I’m supposed to believe that.”

“Well yeah, I’m your brother.”

“You are a vampire.”

“I have a handle on this vampire thing.”

“A handle?”

“Yeah, what do you plan on doing about Walt?” He asked.

“I plan on chopping the heads off every single one of the vamps in Walt’s gang.

“I can help you with that. I know where they are.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m one of them. I have my ways.”

“What way?”

“I have like a sixth sense or a direct line to them. It’s like a weird connection. But there’s no way I’m going to let you go after them by yourself.”

“I’m not by myself.” Scar looked over, a few tables away. Jason followed her eyes with his. He focused in on Ryan and Max sitting together at a table off to his far left.

Ryan and Max gave their best menacing glare to young Jason.

“Is that Ryan and Max Fox?” Jason whispered for no reason other than he was amazed and intimidated by the Fox brother’s presence. He wasn’t a part of vampire culture but he knew all about the Fox brother’s reputation. It preceded them.

“Yes, that’s them.” Scar answered hoping Jason had the good sense to stay out of their sights.

“Do they know I’m a vamp?” He whispered in a muted tone.

“No I didn’t even know you were a vamp.”

“Please don’t tell them I’m a vampire.”

“I can only keep your secret if you give me some info.”

“Sure whatever you want.”

“Where’s Walt’s gang located?”

“It’s in Flint Michigan, they’re held up in some old defunct nightclub.”

“The name?”

“The name?”

“Of the club dumbass.”

Jason frowned. Scar was back to seeing him as her brother. She was back to calling him names. This thought warmed his unbeating heart. “REDDOG, it’s on the west side of town.”

Scar stood. There was something that held her in her place. She had to go but she didn’t want to leave her brother in this state. But what were her options? Option A, kill her only brother. Option B, leave him alone, he didn’t seem like a threat to humans. From what she could gather he was coping with vampirism like it was a chronic condition that required a strict regimen of whatever it was he was doing to curb his blood lust.

She looked down at her brother with a cruel harsh sneer. She wasn’t sure if she should say more.

“Something happened.”

“Something, what are you talking about?” He asked.

“I don’t know how to say this.”

“Just say it. I mean I’m a vampire. I pretty much can take anything.”

“I’m not sure if you care but Walt killed our parents.”Jason’s face fell dead flat, un-human in its tone and texture. He hadn’t expected to receive such a blow. He had stayed away from his parents since he was turned but he still loved them and cared about them. His body was filling with anger and rage. He successfully hid it from his sister. Why did Walt do this? He had already damaged his life by making him a vampire and now he killed his parents.

“So you guys are going to kill Walt?”

“Yes that’s exactly what I’m going to do. That’s why I have the Fox’s with me. They are going to make sure he goes to hell.”

“Are Harriet and the kids okay?” Jason asked about their sister and her family.

“Yes Harriet is fine. Her family is fine. I called her on her cell before I came here.”

Jason breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, I don’t think Walt can find them since they moved. I saw Harriet and the kids two weeks ago.”

“You did?” She frowned.

“Yeah I drove up there with my girlfriend for the holiday weekend.”

“Does she know you’re a vampire?”

“No of course not. Harriet’s not like you. She’s a soccer mom. We’re supposed to keep all this bad stuff away from her and let her live a normal life with her husband and kids.”

Scar couldn’t believe the things her brother was saying to her. It was like he was the older more mature sibling and he was a damn vampire. She was floored by his maturity and the nonchalant way he was treating vampirism. He had the death disease not the flu. This was all too weird.

“Sis, did you tell Harriet about mom and dad?”

“No, I just couldn’t. I need to take care of Walt and bury our parents proper. I can’t let Harriet see them in their present state.”

“I don’t want to see them like that either. Now that I’m a vamp I can handle death pretty well but that’s our parents. I don’t think I’m strong enough for that. It might make me you know drink from a human. I have my thirst under control. I never want to lose it.”

Scar was stunned by his candor. This had to be the weirdest conversation she had ever had in her life.

“Jason I have to go.” She stepped back.

“Sure.” He stood and reached for her. “You’re not going to hug me?”

She looked at her brother the vampire. He acted the same and sort of looked the same. This freaked her out.

She stepped into his embrace. She returned his hug and she could feel that he was cold, not frozen but he felt like a person that had just come inside from the cold. They pulled away from each other.

“Sis, I’m the same. I’m still your brother. I haven’t changed really.”

“I hope so Jason. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Listen I’m staying off hunter radar because I’m not killing or drinking people. I’m just going to college. Don’t worry about me. Go get Walt and take those two scary looking white boys with you.” Jason glanced over at the table the Fox brother’s occupied. “I think the short one has a thing for you.”

“Max is six, two.”

Jason shrugged. “Really?”

Scar had to lie and come up with a reason she got the tip to drive to Flint Michigan. She couldn’t tell Max and Ryan that her vampire brother led her in the right direction. She pretended to receive a phone call from a source that Walt’s gang was spotted at a club called REDDOG.

They reached the place at night. They had the option of waiting until morning when they were sleep but they didn’t want to risk letting them slip away. They weren’t even sure they were actually there in the first place. The entrance was in the alley.

When they entered the alleyway they spotted the unlit sign that read REDDOG. There was a picture of a red bulldog underneath. The alley was absent of all life forms. Max thought it was strange but it was a Tuesday and this place was closed for business Monday through Wednesday. They circled the establishment and could only find one viable entrance.

Ryan picked the lock while Max and Scar covered his back. Ryan quickly opened the door and they heard the techno music blasting throughout the place although it was vacant of all life forms.

Ryan led the way up a large steep stairwell that went straight up, too many steps to count.

The walls were randomly painted with gothic graffiti, complete murals of ghouls, monsters and the supernatural. The stairway was pitch black but brightly illuminated because of the murals glow in the dark paint.

Max followed with his 9mm pistol in hand.

Scar followed just a few steps behind Max. She brandished the katana that belonged to the late Dustin Dixon. The hunter trio slowly and cautiously reached the top landing of the stairwell. They crept in a single file line through the darkness.

A sliding wall appeared and quickly separated Scar from Max and Ryan. The sliding wall sealed Scar alone. Her panic took ahold and choked her with a fear she tried to repress. Max and Ryan turned back too late to stop the wall from separating them from Scar.

“Max!” Scar yelled out in anguish. She banged the wall with her fists not even sure if he could hear her.

Max was forced to think of a plan. He always felt anger before panic or fear. “Scar get out! Go back out!” Max yelled through the thick stoned wall barrier. He didn’t even know if she could hear him. “Go back the way we came!”

Max and Ryan used their fists to bang the separating wall. They tried to move the wall by pushing it and sliding it but the wall refused to budge. Max was growing more and more frustrated so he even try kicking the wall.

“Max, Max, stop!” Ryan yelled out. “It’s not going to move.”

“We have to find Scar.” Max couldn’t hear Scar. He didn’t know if she was alive on the other side of the wall. He had to find a way to get to her.

Scar turned to exit the way she came. She hadn’t heard Max scream over the music. It was just the common sense thing to do.

As soon as she moved Walt leapt down from a hole in the ceiling knocking the katana from Scar’s hand.

Before she could recover, Walt kicked her in the stomach, knocking her to her knees.

“Someone has been a naughty girl.” Walt grinned as he looked down on her. “I smell him on you.”

Scar gasped for air. She was face to face with her ex, the vamp that killed her parents and the vamp that turned her brother into a bloodsucker.

“So you’re here to kill me?” Walt hissed.

Scar quickly glanced over at the katana. She wished she had it in her hands. Maybe then she would have a fighting chance. “You killed my parents and turned my brother. Don’t you think you hurt me enough?”

“Not really. I didn’t kill your sister. But then again I couldn’t find her.”

“What did I do to you?”

“Nothing really I’m just a bitter vampire.”

“You know that we are supposed to kill ourselves or have someone else do it if we’re turned. That’s the code.” She rattled off to him trying to buy herself more time.

“Fuck the hunter code! Kill myself for what?”

“Because you’re a monster.”

“I was good as a hunter and I’m even better as a vampire.”

“If you call killing innocent people better.”

Walt shrugged as he paced around Scar. “So you spread your legs for that dick, Max Fox.”

“He’s one of the good guys. You were a hunter. One of the best hunter’s ever.”

Walt bent down and grabbed Scar by the throat. “Being a good guy is overrated.”

On the other side of the barrier the brothers were in a controlled panic. Ryan and Max tried desperately to move the wall. They gave up within seconds because wasting time wasn’t really an option. They stopped and jogged further down the hall toward the intoxicating sound of the techno music.

The hallway was dark but there was just enough light to guide them to somewhere other than the darkness of the hall. After a quick jog down the hall toward the music Max and Ryan entered a large room with caution and weapons drawn. This room housed a small stage and a large dance floor.

Ryan had his old 13-inch, silver machete in his hand. Max put his gun away. He was sure this was a vampire emergency and not a human one. He entered with his antique silver bladed dagger. Max held tight to the white and yellow gold handle. He was ready for whatever danger they were sure to encounter. He was ready to find Scar.

The music that blared in the nightclub came to an abrupt stop. Ryan and Max stopped pushing forward to evaluate the scene. The music was a nuisance but the quiet was daunting and uneasy.

Janette and Jerry appeared from behind a huge wall that was exactly a speaker that amplified the now defunct music.

They all locked eyes with each other eager to get this party started.

“Do you know how much street cred I’ll get when I kill you two?” Janette beamed at the thought of the accolades she would receive. These weren’t regular hunters. She had feasted her red vampire eyes on the Fox brothers.

“Vampire whores already have street cred.” Max taunted.

“Oh you slay me Max Fox.” Janette roared.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do, slay you.” Max made his intentions crystal clear.

Ryan and Max were the first one’s to notice Scar’s brother Jason slowly creeping up behind Jerry and Janette. They didn’t give him away as they were clueless of his intentions.

Ryan and Max remained quiet even after they noticed Jason had fangs. He was a vampire. Scar never mentioned it and a tinge of hurt tapped at Max’s heart. Did she know this all along?

Jerry pulled a gun from the small of his back.

“Can you dodge bullets Maxi-pad?” Jerry chimed. He directed the question at Max.

Before Max could respond with an equally clever quip Jason produced a gold and silver ancient labrys. It was a beautiful double bladed axe. Jason stepped into a batters stance. He swung his labrys and swiftly chopped Jerry’s head off with grace and precision. Jerry’s head dropped from his shoulders and his body fell flat making a loud thud.