Hunters Hit List (Fox Brothers Book 1) (14 page)

Janette turned to see Jason behind her. She was smart enough to know that she couldn’t take on two Fox brothers and some self-loathing vigilante vampire.

She broke out in a sprint that rivaled Bruce Jenner. She fled down a nearby stairwell before Jerry’s body had even had time to gain permanent residency on the floor.

Ryan and Max stared at Jason in his vampire form. Jason glared back. He was ready for a fight. He was a wild animal of sorts. He repressed it most days but he always had a killer instinct and fight in his vampire blood.

“Where’s my sister!” Jason roared and it echoed in the lofty room.

“Calm down kid.” Max angered.

“No! Where’s Scar?”

“We think Walt took--” Ryan tried to explain but Jason ran away as soon as he heard the name Walt. He leapt down the same stairwell that Janette used to disappear. Max looked over at his brother. They hesitated for just a moment before they took off running after Jason.

A fanged Janette ran for her life. She turned the darkened halls and ran until she saw Walt and Scar. Walt had drug Scar into a small backroom. Walt turned when he felt Janette presence and smelled her fusty scent.

“What are you doing here?” Walt angrily asked as soon as he laid eyes on Janette.

“I came to warn you. Ryan and Max Fox are on the way.” Janette eagerly shared. She was scared shitless. Walt could see that much.

Walt backed away from Scar. Janette could see Walt had given Scar quite a beating. Walt extended his fangs and left the room to investigate. He went toward the steps to listen for Ryan and Max.

Janette seized the moment and her opportunity for revenge. She ran over to Scar. She grabbed her by the arms and tried to bite Scar’s neck. Scar raised her hands and blocked her neck with her forearm. Walt rushed back into the room. He rushed over and knocked Janette off of Scar. Janette plowed into a wall and crash landed on the floor.

Walt bit hard into his own wrist. When his darkened blood came to the surface he rubbed it into Scar’s mouth and all over her lips. Scar passed out.

“Walt!” Walt turned to see Ryan and Max standing a few feet away. Scar’s body was limp, laid on the unfinished floor.

“What did you do to her?” Max asked although he had a definite clue.

Walt grinned as he stood to face Ryan and Max. Walt shrugged. “There was an exchange of bodily fluids.”

“You douchebag asshole.”

“Did I hit a nerve?” Walt goaded.

“It’s over Walt.” Ryan replied in his deepest voice. “There’s no way you leave here in one piece.”

Walt ignored Ryan and focused in on Max. “Max, you have to kill your new love interest. She’s one step from la vamp Nikita. She has my blood in her. She’s no longer on your team. She’s team vampire.”

Janette stood and tried to inch toward the door. It was her goal to dash down the stairwell.

Ryan charged toward Janette. He swiftly raised his machete like an Olympian with a discus. He sliced deep into Janette’s neck. Decapitated.

A la Cirque du Soleil, Walt jumped into an opening in the ceiling. He disappeared as Ryan and Max rushed to reach him, to kill him, to take him the vampire hell. Walt was gone and the brothers didn’t have vampire strength. They had no way to get into the opening in the high ceiling.

Max slowly staggered over to Scar. He checked for a pulse. He silently mourned the end of her human life. He was too late. It was a long shot but he knew what he had to do. He had to find a way to save her. Sometimes the cure for vampirism didn’t work. There was no way Max wasn’t going to try. Max was becoming overwhelmed with emotion. His hazel eyes became glossy. He really didn’t have time for a meltdown.

“Max we need to get out of here. I’ll help you with Scar.”

Max pushed his arms under Scar’s body. He cradled her head against his chest. He wrapped her up in his arms.

Ryan moved to help Max with her dead weight.

“No, no I got her.” Max didn’t need assistance. He easily rose from the ground carrying Scar’s small frame.

Max refused to let a tear fall from his eyes. He held his girl in his arms and followed his brother as he led the way out of the nightclub and to the truck. She had taken a beating from Walt. Max knew that he would pummel Walt and then cut him into a million pieces when he found him. Max would find him one day sooner or later. He was definitely voting for sooner.

The drive to find a rural abandoned farmhouse was somber. Max drove until he found just the right barn. It was set far from the road. The area was slovenly. He was sure they would have all the privacy they needed.

Ryan used bolt cutters to break the lock that had the barn doors closed off from the public. He pushed the door open so Max could bring Scar in. She was still unconscious. Max knew that as soon as she woke, she would crave blood. Scar could not ingest any blood. If she got one taste of human blood she would turn into a fully functional bloodthirsty vampire. He could and would never let that happen. He had to get her the cure for vampirism. He had to help her.

They placed Scar’s limp and lifeless body in a wooden chair. They tied her to the chair as securely as possible. They tied her hands behind her back. The wrapped rope around her and the back of the chair. They even tied her feet to the legs of the chair.

“We need the blood of the vamp that turned her to give her the cure.”

“Let’s go find Walt.”

Max shook his head yes. “Let’s go kill Walt.”

Max quickly stormed out of the barn with Ryan.

***

Without any leads the Fox brothers decided to go back to REDDOG. It was their only lead. Maybe they could snoop around and find a lead to where Walt went.

Ryan and Max cautiously entered with their weapons at the ready. They inspected every inch of the place and then went back to where Jerry had been decapitated on the stage.

As soon as they entered the room they saw things amiss. On the small stage Scar’s brother Jason was standing over the headless body of Walt. Jason was in a savage and animalistic trance that ended when he was startled by Ryan and Max’s presence. He had ripped Walt to shreds. He had used his labrys to slice Walt into various pieces. He had severed his feet from his legs and legs from their knees and thighs from Walt’s torso. There were various body parts strewn haphazardly about.

All three men stared at each other although it was obvious what had transpired. It was also obvious Jason had tortured Walt meticulously before he killed him.

“This bastard killed my parents and he probably killed my sister!” Jason yelled and pointed at what was left of headless Walt. Jason felt the need to explain his actions. He had never killed anyone when he was human or after he was turned into a vampire. This was his first kill.

“Hey kid we know.” Max offered. “Scar is still alive.” He wanted to keep Jason calm.

“Where is she?”

“We have her. She’s safe. She is recovering. She was roughed up pretty bad.”

“But she’s okay?”

“Yes, she will be.” Max didn’t have the heart to tell Jason his sister was in the early stages of becoming a vampire.

“So what now? You kill me? I know you hunt vampires. I know who you are.”

Ryan and Max exchanged a look. They hadn’t actually thought about their next move. Things had gotten a bit more complicated than they imagined. They wanted to kill Walt. He was dead. They wanted Walt’s blood and it was all over the stage.

Jason ran to the left of the stage. He fled backstage. Ryan and Max stood there like statues. They both consciously let him escape.

“Let him go. We can hunt him later. We need blood for the cure.” Max stated. He had more important things to do. Saving Scar from a life as a vamp was his main priority. Jason did them a favor by killing Walt.

Ryan and Max jogged to the stage and jumped up on the stage. They hovered over the headless body of Walt. Max used a syringe to remove a few ounces of blood from one of the many puddles that surrounded the vampire body parts.

Time was of the essence. They moved fast and quick. Max blew the speed limit to speed back to the rural farmhouse. They hopped out the car and ran inside the barn.

Max entered holding a mason jar filled with a strange gooey concoction that looked like old blood and dirt. Ryan strode into the barn two steps behind him. Max looked over to a vacant wooden chair. Scar wasn’t in the chair. His eyes darted around.

“Scar” Max yelled out.

Ryan and Max’s eyes continued to roam the barn. Their eyes eventually landed on each other. They walked over to the chair the once held a tied up Scar Buckley.

“Max, where is she? Where the hell did Scar go?”

“She’s got to be here.” Max’s eyes darted around hoping to land on Scar. Maybe this time his eyes would see something he missed just seconds ago.

Ryan bent down on one knee in front of the vacant chair. He spotted the rope that they used to tie Scar up. He slowly picked up the shards of rope. He held them up in the air and gave them a quick inspection. There was really no need and he knew it.

Ryan had already figured the entire story out. Boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Girl turns into a vampire. Girl escapes. Ryan didn’t know how he was going to comfort his brother. Ryan knew Max’s feelings for Scar were genuine. He knew his brother all to well and this was going to hurt him to the core.

“She broke free.” Ryan stated the obvious.

“I didn’t even get a chance to tell her we had a cure.”

Max removed his cell phone from his inside jacket pocket. Ryan walked around the barn, searching for clues. There were no clues to find but he had to pace. He had to clear his mind of the horror that threatened to creep in. He knew Scar had fed. He knew Scar was probably a completely turned vamp. He knew he was going to have to hunt and kill her.

Max fished his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed Scar’s number and placed the cell to his ear. RING! RING! RING!

BRRRR! Scar’s discarded cell phone vibrated and lit up from underneath a thin layer of dirt.

“Son of a bitch.” Max huffed.

Ryan turned and looked at the cell phone in the dirt.

Ryan could see the hopelessness on his brother’s face. “Max, bro, you tried.”

“I didn’t try hard enough.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“Do I know it?”

“I know you really cared about her but we can’t save everybody. You know that.”

Max’s eyes filled with tears that would never fall from his eyes. When would it ever be his turn to be happy?

There was a lot of white noise in the college apartment. Everything had changed and nothing would ever be the same. Scar knew this as much as she knew she no longer had a heartbeat. She walked into the dimly lit room. Her brother Jason was at his computer desk watching the vampire movie
Blade
on the computer monitor. This would have been funny to Scar but the reality of the moment was too much to bear: the reality of bloodlust, the reality of never seeing the sun, the reality of never seeing Max again. She thought long and hard and the truth was she probably would see him again but he would no longer be her friend, her lover or her savior. He would be her sworn enemy.

“Jason.” Scar called out to her brother who was watching the vampire movie like he was doing research.

Jason swiveled in his chair to face her. “What’s up?”

Scar couldn’t help the grim look on her now pale face. “Jason, I don’t--.”

“Wait Scar don’t say it. I’m sorry. I didn’t want this for you.” Jason said.

Tears formed in Scar’s eyes as her fangs extended and cover her human teeth. Scar was so completely embarrassed by what she had turned into. “I’m a monster.

Jason stood and walked over to his sister. She wasn’t handling the transformation well. Somehow he knew she wouldn’t. He told himself she just needed time to adjust. She could be just like him. He had never killed a human. He realized what he was and his extensive love of vampire movies had prepared him. Jason made it his mission not to ever kill a human. Now he was going to have to be a mentor to his sister.

“It’s okay. You are not a monster. We are not monsters. I know it will be hard at first but you can do this. You can survive just like I have.”

Jason wrapped his arms around Scar. He wanted to console her but he wasn’t sure how to do it. Jason knew he was still himself but he was different. He thought he should say words that came from his heart but he realized his heart no longer beat. He wondered if that simple fact would make his words any less heartfelt.

“It’s okay sis, I’ll take care of you. We have each other now.”

“I’m so scared I will hurt someone.”

“You just have a reign in your thirst. I can teach you. It’s not that hard. You have to train yourself. It’s like portion control.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

“So you’ve been treating the vampire life like a Weight Watchers diet.”