The Cactus Killer (The Inglewood Chronicles) (29 page)

As I came out the door from
the building, she looked up and motioned for me to come over. As I
did, I saw in what was supposed to be my parking spot, a tarp
covered car. “What’s going on here?”

“
No talking, just get over
here faster!”

I picked up the pace and
soon was right beside her. “Okay, now what?”

“
Close your
eyes.”

“
I’m not five, why do I
have to close my eyes?”

Her look quickly changed my
mind; I closed my eyes. “Better?”

“
Yes, it is. Now do not
open until I tell you too.” I could hear the swoosh of the tarp
coming off whatever she was hiding. “Now open!”

I did as I was commanded
and I was speechless. In front of me was a sixty-seven charcoal
blue Mustang. “No way, is this my car?”

Her bright blue eyes lit
up, “Well, not your old car, but the exact same model. I had to pay
an arm and a leg to get the paint color right, but it turned out
well. Do you like it?”

Did I like it? I was still
staring at the car in total awe. I turned to her and a giant smile
broke out across my face. I ran over and picked her up in a giant
bear bug. “I love it!”

I continued to twirl her
around for a few moments until she threatened to throw up on me if
I didn’t stop. I set her back down on the ground. “I am very happy
you like it. I felt like this was the least I could do for you.
After all, if it was not for you and your town, I do not think we
would have ever stopped Warren Tucker in time.”

“
Don’t sell yourself short
now; if it wasn’t for you, I probably would have been dead two or
three times.”

“
Then I am glad we met and
equally helped each other out.”

“
I am too boss,
lady.”

I moved in and gave her
quite the kiss. The moment was perfect and could have lasted
forever. Unfortunately, we were interrupted by her phone
ringing.

“
I am sorry, let me take
this really quick.” She pulled the phone out of her pants pocket
and answered. “Ambassador Swansea.”

I didn’t know if it was a
private call or not, so I did my best not to hear what was going
on. I walked over to my new car and started inspecting it. Not a
scratch or rust mark marred her exterior. This beauty was in top
notch shape.

“
Hang on a second,
Roderick. Vic, can you come over here?”

I looked over and saw her
motion me. “What’s up?”

“
How would you like to go
to England? Roderick has a job for us if we are up to
it.”

Holy crap! I was still in
shock I wasn’t living in New Mexico, and now we are being offered a
job in England. “Well then, I guess I need to get a
passport.”

“
Give us a few weeks
Roderick and we will be there.” After a quick goodbye, she hung
up.

“
Is everything okay across
the pond?”

Judging by the defeated
look on her face, no, everything was not okay. “With everything
that has happened, Roderick decided to check in on the island Peter
Pan is banished to.”

I felt my headache
returning, “And?”

“
The barrier is down and
the island is deserted. Our worst fear has come true, Pan is
free.” 

I woke up in a dark room. I
touched my chest where Fortuna had stabbed me, but there was no
wound there. What was going on here? I continued looking around the
room, but saw nothing except bedroom furniture. I tried to get up
from the chair I was sitting in, but I was so weak. And hungry;
hungry for blood.

“
Well well, look who
decided to join us.” The door opened and a young man walked into
the room. He could have been no more than fourteen or
fifteen.

“
Who are you? What have you
done to me?”

He started laughing, a very
mocking laugh. “Oh Warren, we are going to have so much fun
together. Our employer has decided to give you another chance.
Baron Forte should not have tried to kill you like
that.”

The more he talked, the
more confused I became. My body started calling out the need for
blood. “Why do I crave blood?”

“
Easy old man, you are one
of us now. The Hammer of Jehovah personally turned you. Now, let’s
get you fed so we can start our fun.”

No! I reached up and
touched my mouth. I continued feeling around and pricked my finger
on something sharp.

The boy’s eyes lit up, “Yes
my dear Warren, you have fangs and all now. Kinda ironic how you
became the one thing you hated most, isn’t it?”

I started to break down;
this was not supposed to be how it ended. The Hammer of Jehovah
turned me? “Is he a vampire too?”

“
The
Hammer is the most powerful of us all. He freed me and my Lost Boys
from our wretched prison.” He motioned to someone and another young
boy came in. He was carrying a young lady, who was bound and
gagged. He walked over and dropped her at my feet.

“
Here she is, as you
requested, Pan.”

“
Excellent, the wolf got us
a real pretty one.” He then turned back to me. “What are you
waiting for, eat man! We do not have all night.”

I looked down at the young
lady who was in front of me. Her eyes were filled with terror,
pleading with me to help her. I got up and moved towards her, I had
to do something. My first thought was to free her, but then the
darkness took over, my hunger too great.

“
Good, you are truly one of
us.”

The young man called Pan
was right. I was one of them. The man who was Warren Tucker had
died that fateful night at The Devil’s Hollow. As I fed upon the
girl and life faded from her, I resigned myself to the fact I was
no longer a man of God. I was now a daemon.

The Wrath of Pan

By Jeremy Croston

Here is a preview to the
sequel to “The Cactus Killer”

We were sitting in my car,
a sixty-seven charcoal blue Mustang, outside a Phoenix nightclub. I
couldn’t tell you how long we’d been sitting there, but the lanky
vampire beside me was getting agitated.

“
Vic, this has turned out
to be a colossal waste of time. Let’s call it a night.”

Reno was definitely
impatient, but I wouldn’t break orders. “If Liz thinks Vincente
Divas is in there, more than likely he’s in there.”

“
Hmph.” But Reno knew it
was true. Liz, our boss, was always on top of things.

“
Tell you what. It’s
two-thirty in the morning and if he ain’t out here in another hour,
we’ll call it a night.”

I couldn’t tell what was
going on in his head. Reno always wore those damn reflective lens
sunglasses. “Fine, but this night is on you cowboy. I’m going back
to my crossword.”

Silence followed and I went
back to my task. One of the reasons I was out here tonight was my
enhanced senses. Werewolves had the best senses in the supernatural
world, but mine were even better. See, I can’t transform into a
wolf like most werewolves do. No one knows why, but I just can’t.
On the plus side, my five senses were off the chart.

Before we left, Liz gave me
a scent to follow. Vincente always wore a certain brand of cologne
and I knew what it was. With the window down, I kept sniffing the
air in hopes of picking it up.

Nothing of note happened
for awhile. Humans started stumbling out shortly after three, the
stench of sweat and alcohol filling the air. Reno was nose deep in
his crossword and I was about to wave the flag in defeat when I
picked it up.

“
Divas is coming out, look
alive!”

With reflexes faster than
anyone should have, the crossword was away and his pistol was out.
I picked up my Adams Percussion .50 caliber, nicknamed Roscoe, and
got myself ready.

“
What’s the plan
Vic?”

Liz wanted us to bring him
in alive. Divas has been peddling drugs to the humans, a mixture of
coke and a few drops of vampire blood. It’s a clear violation of
vampire law, so he was to be punished.

“
Let’s see where he goes
and try to ambush him along the way.”

Minutes started to pass,
the faint smell of his cologne still lingered in the air. Suddenly,
it began to get stronger. I narrowed my eyes are the entrance to
the club and saw our target. He looked to be a middle aged man with
slick backed black hair and a pot belly.

Reno started to laugh.
“Good lord, I’d only seen headshots! This guy’s a fat
ass!”

“
Don’t underestimate the
enemy. Besides, he has two henchmen with him and those dudes don’t
look like pushovers.”

One was a large black man
with a big old scar running down the side of his face. The other
looked like a guy named Cousin Vinnie. He was carrying a shotgun
with him. Were they expecting trouble?

“
I don’t like this Reno; I
think they’ve been tipped off.”

“
Don’t get cold feet on me.
I’m sure this is just his usual detail.”

I hoped Reno was right.
Divas kept walking and got to a pretty nice looking black car.
Cousin Vinnie opened the door and got the boss inside while the
other guy headed up front to the driver’s door. With everyone now
inside the car, it started going south. I counted to five before
turning on the Mustang and following.

I kept my distance, a good
four or five car lengths behind. “Any idea where they’re
heading?”

“
I’m not sure. The only
thing down here is a few abandoned buildings.”

One of those abandoned
buildings turned out to be the final destination. As the car turned
in and parked, I pulled the Mustang off the road, a few hundred
feet back from where Divas and his crew were. Something didn’t seem
right here, there were quite a few unusual smells in the
air.

Reno started to get out of
the car, but I put my hand on his shoulder. “Let’s be careful, I
got a bad feeling about this.”

“
We’ll be fine, just follow
my lead.”

He continued out of the
car. Leaving me no choice, I got out too and followed him. I tried
to tell what these scents were I was picking up, but I couldn’t put
my finger on it. Soon the scents were taken over by strange noises.
Almost like a moaning sound.

When we got into the
parking lot, the smells and sounds were very loud and making it
hard to concentrate. Looking over at Reno, “Can you hear all
this?”

Nodding, “I don’t know what
you’re talking about. What does it sound like?”

“
Moaning, like people are
in pain or something.”

“
Maybe he is running an
afterhour’s dental business or something.” He then started to laugh
at his own joke.

Reno’s lack of concern was
a problem, but this was the hand I was dealt. Thank God he was
useful in a fight. We kept moving forward, guns out and staying to
the shadows. We reached the door where Divas had entered with no
problems.

Reno moved in and slowly
opened the door. The weird smell came rushing out and it took
everything I had not to start coughing. Holding my breath, we
entered the building. Dim lights in the hallway produced a low
humming noise. There was also an underlying smell of mold; this
place hadn’t been used in a very long time.

The initial smell got
stronger as we went down the hallway. At the end was a set of
double doors. “You told me to follow your lead Reno, so after
you.”

He gave me one last look
and opened the right door. Immediately I regretted letting him do
that, as we found the source of the smell and the moaning noise.
Below us, in a large open space were fifty to sixty humans, all in
various states. Some were dead; others looked high as a
kite.

Sickening, that’s the best
word I can use. Imagine if you will, walking into a barn and seeing
animals in various states of slaughter. That’s what was below us, a
freaking slaughterhouse.

“
Welcome gentlemen to my
focus group! As you can see the participants are enjoying
themselves!”

The voice had a think
French accent to it. Looking to my left, I saw Vincente Divas
walking towards us. Reno and I pointed are guns at him.

“
What are those
pea-shooters going to do to me?”

Growling, “Each bullet in
this gun is laced with silver. It might not kill you but it’s going
to sting like a bitch.”

For effect Reno fired a
shot at Divas. Damn the big guy was fast, dodging the bullet like
it was in slow motion. “That was uncalled for Mr. Tavares, but what
should one expect with your reputation.”

“
Divas, we’re here to bring
you in. Why don’t you just come along nice like and you and
Ambassador Swansea can work things out amongst
yourselves?”

He gave me a look of pure
disgust. “I will not, as you law enforcement types are apt to say,
come quietly. Elizabeth Swansea has no power over me.”

As he said it, his two
henchmen came out of the doors behind us. Shit, we were surrounded.
Divas, knowing he had the upper hand, continued. “As for the two of
you, I would be most interested to see what Vanish does to
you.”