Kill Wilson (Petersburg Vampires) (2 page)

------

 
“Danner,
I’m needing
to feed, man,” Riley Toole called from the
backseat of the black Ford Edge, the vehicle cruising down the highway, its
headlights cutting through the black mist of the Oregon night. Danner Gray was
the leader of this tiny clan of three, and the others would always defer to
him.

“I hear you,” Danner said from the passenger seat. “Where
we close to, Amp?” he asked the driver, a unique looking girl; half Chinese and
half Irish.

Forever sixteen, Anne Marie Paine barely looked her age, five
foot four and weighing right at a hundred and ten pounds. Thin with long legs
and small breasts, she would fit in at any high school with no problem. Her coal
black hair was cut short on the sides and
punked
on
top, this week streaks of blue threading through the confusion. Her eyes were as
black as her hair, and if she was in a good mood, they twinkled; if not, they
could look as dead as a corpse. The darkness of her hair and eyes contrasted
sharply with her pale, flawless skin. Her nose was small and pug, fitting her
face perfectly.

She wasn’t a beauty, but she was just different enough
her look stayed in a man’s mind longer than it should; and in plenty of female
minds, too.

“
Lookin
’ like a town somewhere
up ahead, I think. Hell, we’re in the middle of
who
the hell knows, but I think I see a glow.
Should be the first
signs of Portland, maybe suburbs or something.
GPS says about half an hour
until downtown.”

“Good,” Riley said. “I’m feeling a bit peaked.”

“You are the biggest puss I’ve ever known,” Amp called
over her shoulder. “You fed night before last in Vegas. You’re not peaked;
you’re spoiled.”

The three had been on the road since early evening, Amp
driving the entire time. She liked to drive, and the other two didn’t, so it
worked well. They were a good team, each
secure
with
the knowledge whatever the circumstance, they would have two loyal friends
 
 
watching their back.

The bantering with Riley made her smile, the two very
much like siblings. Riley, turned at the human age of twenty-four, was like a
big brother, although Amp was almost 70 years older. The two couldn’t have
looked any different, with Amp’s oriental features and Riley’s blonde surfer
looks
and
 
radiant
smile. Females of all ages look twice when he walked by. The obvious affection
for the other overcame all else in their relationship. Amp knew Riley was
always near as her protector and, quite often, her antagonist.

------

Parking the car on a dark corner of downtown Portland,
the three vampires prepared themselves to sample the local nightlife. They
seldom hunted together, each having their own preference when it came to feeding.
They had no rules, only Danner’s wish they try to keep from killing; and if
they did kill, try like hell to make it someone who needed to be dead.

“Hey, three hours max,” Danner said before they split up.
“Let’s be careful.
Strange town, strange people.
Just
get what you need and let’s meet back here on time.”

Then they were gone in three different directions.

Twenty minutes later, Amp was sitting in a downtown Portland
teen club, sipping on a bottle of water, eyeing the crowd as they screamed to
the DJ’s music. They showed off for each other, and did the things kids
everywhere did. As Amp took in the scene she had watched more times than she
could count, she saw the one she wanted.

 
Every part of the
vampire’s focus was on the thin girl walking towards the bar. A redhead, 18 or
19, not beautiful, but pretty in a nerdy way, not a curvy girl at all; waiting
to grow into her frame.
 
The girl was
wearing white shorts, a green retro Stones t-shirt, and black mid-high Nikes. Amp
loved the girls who nobody else had learned to appreciate, and this one was
perfect.

“Just a bottle of water,” the girl called to the guy
behind the bar.
 
She didn’t look much different
than Amp, and when she turned, sipping on her bottle, she found the dark-haired
vamp staring at her.

“Hey, what’s up?” Amp asked, smiling her sweetheart
smile.

‘
Chillin
’,” the girl answered.
“You?”

“Just got in town and ditched my friends for a while,
thought I’d see what downtown Portland was all about.
You a
regular here?”

“Sometimes,” the girl answered, looking around. “I
thought I’d meet my friends down here, but I don’t see any of them. It figures,
they’re always ditching me. I’m Katy.”

“Bad on them,” the vampire said. “”I’m Amp. Good to meet
you, Katy.”

She waited for the girl to look back at her, finally
making eye contact, her intensity riveting the girl to the spot, Amp’s control
dominant. The movies and books Amp had seen about fictional vamps called this
glamouring
, but she thought of it as her control stare. She
knew she could accomplish just about anything in the world by taking control of
human minds and emotions. It came in handy when getting stopped for speeding or
not having a credit card handy at the gas station.
Or being
hungry.

“Me and you are going to go outside and go for a little
walk, just the two of us,” Amp said softly. “And screw your friends; I’m going
to make this a night you’ll never forget. I’m
gonna
rock your world, cutie.”

Amp started for the door, taking the girl’s hand and
leading her out into the warm spring night. It was the time of year that still
held promise of cool nights, but was leaning heavily toward summertime. The two
walked down the street, moving away from the lights of the clubs, finding a
park. “Come on, let’s find somewhere to sit,” Amp said to the girl.

She pulled the girl into the darkness of the park,
finding a bench. The two sat, Amp’s arm around the girl’s shoulders, hugging
her tight. She leaned in and kissed the girl, the redhead not certain why she
was doing these things; it just seemed so right.

“I’ve never…you know, kissed a girl,” the girl murmured.
 

Amp chuckled, her right hand moving up under the girl’s
t-shirt, feeling the smoothness of the girl’s stomach.

 
“Oh my god, I’m
about to pass out,” the girl whispered, her breath coming in jags.

 
“I’m going to make
you feel things you won’t ever feel again, so just relax and enjoy this,” Amp
whispered.

As the girl groaned, Amp bent to her neck, bit cleanly to
the jugular and fed, the potent serum stored within her gums releasing through
her fangs into the girl’s bloodstream and giving the girl the first of several small,
potent orgasms building to a crescendo of pure pleasure. Amp, in frenzy at the girl’s
delicious blood, tried desperately to gauge her intake and not bleed the girl
out. She fed from the teenager, reluctantly pulling her fangs away from the
girl’s neck after two minutes. She carefully licked the incision, her serum sealing
the tiny puncture marks almost immediately, leaving no sign of the invasion.
 

The action brought the girl back to a state of semi-normalcy,
Amp letting her sag back against the bench. She was still under Amp’s mind
control, but little by little she was recovering.

“Oh my God, what the hell happened?” Katy gasped, pulling
her shirt down and straightening her clothes. “It…it was like nothing I ever
imagined…shit, I’ve waited my whole life for this.”

Amp chuckled, hugging the girl to her. “Poor baby,” she
whispered. “I think I ruined every relationship you’re ever going to have. I
think it would be good if I just helped you not to remember, then you won’t go
through life comparing everybody else with this night.”

“What do you mean, not remember?” the girl asked. “I
don’t want to forget you…or it. It was so
cool,
I want
to be with you again…and again. I promise you, I need you so much; I’ve always
needed someone like you. Please.”

“Can’t do it again, sugar. I’m leaving town real soon.
But if you keep this a secret between us, I’ll let you remember it. Don’t drive
yourself crazy trying to figure it out, just remember it as my gift to you. You
gave me a hell of a treat, too. You taste so
good,
I
could do you over and over. Come on, fix your clothes and let’s walk back to
the club.”

------

Danner Gray had been reborn as a vampire shortly after
the Revolutionary War. Tall and lean with thick brown hair touching his ears,
he was classically handsome, a man who fit well in any time period. For all of his
first hundred years he had been a loner, having few links among the human
population, even fewer among the scattered vampires of North America. The man
had no desire to be responsible for deciding the destiny of others; survival was
his only focus.

Even the best laid plans don’t always go according to
script.

Danner had moved to Cincinnati from Philadelphia in 1882,
looking for a new home and a safer environment. Philadelphia had seen a recent
influx of rogue vampires created during the Civil War, and they didn’t care who
they hurt, or how badly, including fellow vampires. He had been in Ohio less
than a year, and had established a few non-threatening associations with other
vampires in the area, always careful not to let anyone know where he stayed. A
vampire could live a long, safe life if he had a touch of paranoia ingrained in
his psyche, and Danner had more than a touch.

He had been living in a two room shanty along the shores
of the Ohio River, keeping a low profile, finding plenty of drunks and river
vagrants to feed from at night. He had spent several evenings digging a small
cellar under one room in his shack, equipping it with a solid trapdoor he was
able to lock from the inside. There he was able to sleep during the day without
the worry of being discovered.

One evening, walking the shore of the river and enjoying
the summer breeze, he was startled by a horrific scream from nearby. Locating
the source of the terror, he found a large red-haired man stabbing a young girl
with a butcher knife, the girl covered with her own blood, her mouth working
but no sound coming out of it. Danner, with superhuman speed and strength, stopped
the man from delivering the killing blow, breaking the man’s neck and
discarding him into the water like the trash he was.

Dropping down beside the girl, Danner took her in his
arms, searching for signs of life. The blood pouring out of her was
intoxicating, the pulsing of the flow evidence she still lived, but not for
long. Without any experience in the art of healing, Danner did what came
natural to him; he fed from the girl, but in a slow, patient, methodical
manner, trying to release as much of himself back into the girl as he was
taking, then allowing the girl to feed from his wrists, letting her take
whatever he could coax into her.

He didn’t realize he had been working on her for hours
until he felt the dawn approaching. Picking the girl up and moving with his incredible
speed, Danner made it to his home, into the darkness of his shack. He had done
all he could to save the girl’s life, but from the look of her, he felt he had
failed. She still breathed shallowly, but her color was grey, and she had never
regained consciousness. Nevertheless, he gently laid her beside him in the
cellar, a feeling of disappointment the last thing he felt before sleeping.

When Danner sat up, wide awake, knowing it was close to
dusk, he immediately looked at the girl lying beside him, expecting to find her
corpse, knowing he would have to dispose of it immediately. He was shocked to
see the girl slept soundly, her breathing regular and strong. Pushing up the
trap door, he easily picked the girl up and lifted her out of the cellar,
climbing out after. It was then he noticed the beautiful glow about her, no
longer grey but a healthy, clear complexion. Her wounds were healed, and when
she awoke, her eyes were bright and alive…and she was hungry.

He knew instantly; she was vampire.

And the two had been together for the past 130 years.

Riley had come along much later.

------

The girl Amp had fed from was sticking in her mind, her
face and taste and body not fading as others had in the past.
Fricken
human, she thought to herself. What the hell am I
doing fixating on a human? They’re supposed to be nothing but food. But she had
tasted so damn good.

“Danner, how come you’ve never taken a human mate?” she
finally asked.

“Too much commitment,” Danner answered. “There’s good and
bad parts of a deal with humans. Since vamps can’t feed off of each other,
having someone at home to feed on every night is a plus. The danger and
uncertainty of hunting strangers is minimized. Then there’s the sex. With
humans sex rocks…although sex with vamps isn’t anything to sneeze at; just
different.
 
The big deal is anytime a
person makes a commitment, it cuts down on the rest of their time. I like to
roll whenever I get the urge, and I roll with you guys.”

“Did you ever come close, you know, falling for a human?”
Riley asked, minimally interested in the conversation.

“I’ve met a few who I really liked, but not anyone I
wanted to spend most of my time with.”

“If you turn them, then it screws up the dynamic, right?”
Amp said.

“Right.
Vamps either mate with humans, or they don’t mate. A vamp can keep their mate
alive for a long time by feeding them our blood; for several hundred years, if
done correctly. It’s a weird thing, and I’m not interested. I like the idea of
hunting and feeding, as long as I feed off of babes who I can get busy with,
and then erase. Or hunt bad people who I permanently erase.
Why
all the questions?”

“I don’t know…just
thinkin
’
‘bout something.
Doesn’t matter.”

“Okay, let’s talk about this trip. I told you I’d explain
where we were going, and why we’re going there.”

Danner was talking as he drove, the car heading north out
of Portland, their stay lasting but a brief few hours. All three had been
sated, and would be comfortable for the next few days.

“Don’t matter a whole lot, Danner,” Amp said from the
backseat. “Where you go, we go. Always have, always will.”

“Yeah, I know,” Danner answered. “But this is different,
this isn’t a normal move. I’m being called, actually ordered to appear to my
sire. We’ve never talked about my sire, mainly because there’s nothing to talk
about. He turned me, kept me around for a month or so, and then disappeared. I
was so not equipped to be vampire and had no one to mentor me. I only knew one
thing during those days; I was always hungry. I fed from anyone and everyone.
It was a long, difficult process of mistakes, corrections, and finally figuring
how to do this gig the right way. It’s why I was so overbearing with both of
you guys. Riley was easy, you listened, did what you were told, and never made
a mistake twice. Amp on the other hand was a hellion. The morning you woke up
in Cincinnati, I ended up kicking the shit out of you, and kicked your ass
every day for a month. You wanted to feed, didn’t give a shit about who you
hurt, who you killed, just knew you needed what they had, and you were going to
take it. It was quite a relief when you finally mellowed. I never regretted saving
either one of you guys, but Amp gave me a few moments of serious reflection.
Anyway, I’ve always been honest with you both; have never tried to bullshit
you. So I’m telling you now, we’re going to see why I’m being beckoned, and
then we’ll kind of figure out where to go from there.”

“How were you beckoned?” Riley asked.

The three vampires were rarely apart, so neither Riley
nor Amp could understand the power of an absent sire on one of his children.
Danner had seldom used his force on his two children, in fact treated them like
equals most of the time. When he had been forced to use his raw power, he had
tempered it so Amp or Riley had imagined they had made the deciding choices.
Neither had ever suspected Danner’s mind control had actually solved the
issues.

“I felt it, was ordered to leave whatever I was doing and
get my ass to Alaska. So let’s see what happens, what’s so important. There’s
another thing we need to talk about. When this trip is over, and I hope it’s
going to be soon, we need to find something a bit more permanent. I’m tired of
the moving, and even though you guys have never complained of my paranoid
behavior, I know it gets to you. Amp has always wanted to live somewhere for
more than a couple of years, and I think it’s time.
Going to
have to be near a big city, just from the food standpoint.
You guys talk
it over, and after this, we’ll find something we can all live with.”

The two were speechless, both wanting this for a long
time, but willing to go along with Danner out of loyalty and devotion to their
sire.

“Thanks, Danner,” Amp finally managed. “It’s about the
best present you’ve ever given me.”

“Good stuff,” Riley chimed in, the three vampires
smiling.

“What I was trying to say before, I don’t have a clue
whether this is going to be dangerous or not, and since we pretty much have a relationship
based on doing our own thing, if either of you doesn’t want to make this trip,
it’s okay. I’m not going to force you into whatever this is. This is my
problem, and if you don’t want to go, it’s okay.”

“Screw you, Danner,” Amp said in her typical straightforward
manner. “We’re a team. We spit on danger. Bring it on.”

“Me too,” Riley chuckled. “What she said.”