Zara's Curse (Empire of Fangs) (14 page)

25.

It was rough finding parking even with the droves of weekend partiers going home, but Twig eventually found one.
  
They were a block away from the Church.
 
They both got out and Twig found an old sport coat in the backseat and threw it on to cover his stake belt.
 

They crept up to the front of the Church.
 
The door was locked but there were sounds coming from inside—the after-hours party no doubt.
 

“We don’t need to set off any alarms or get the cops involved.”

“I have an idea,” Zara announced.

“I’m all ears.”

“You hang out here.
 
I’ll use my new super powers and jump up onto the smoking patio and get in from there.
 
I think I can do it.”

“Your super powers?”
 
Twig raised an eyebrow.

“What else would you call them?”

“Fair enough,” Twig replied.
 
“Just be careful.
 
The organ might not even be there.”

Zara went around the side of the building and looked up at the smoking patio.
 
The metal spiked fence worried her.
 
She tried a few practice runs but chickened out.
 
Finally, she ran from across the street and jumped, high into the air and over the fence, barely clearing it by a few inches.
 
She landed flat-footed like a gymnast.
 
“Wow,” she said, and found herself looking around to see if anyone had seen that.

She sighed when she saw no one.
 
That would have killed on YouTube
, she thought.
 
Focus Zara.
 
Just find the organ and get out.
 

She opened the metal door leading into the Church, this time easily.
 
She stepped into the dark hallway.
 
Her eyes suddenly adjusted to the darkness, giving the corridor a red tint.
 
“Now…that is cool.
 
Nightvision…” Zara muttered, completely astonished.
 
She heard laughing and glass clinking together downstairs.
 
It was probably the bartenders having a few drinks of their own.
 

She walked down the long hallway, again captivated by the old pictures that hung on the walls.
 
She went room-to-room, opening the doors and peering in.
 
They seemed to be used mostly for storage, boxes and cleaning supplies.
 
One of the rooms was larger than the others, and appeared to be an old Bible study room for kids.
 
There were still crayon drawings of Jesus hanging on one wall, and a row of beanbag chairs lay on the floor.
 
After she checked all the rooms in the hallway she came to the end of the hall and found another flight of stairs leading up.
 
She went up and at the top there was a door, locked with a padlock.
 
She tugged on the padlock and it broke the latch right off.
 
She couldn’t help but giggle.
 
She was starting to see why the vampires scoffed at humans.
 

The third floor was a sight to behold.
 
She could see why there had been a lock on the door.
 
The ceiling rose thirty feet and slanted together to form the triangular roof of the Church.
 
There was a web of wooden buttresses that ran crisscross for support, and with her enhanced vision she could see they were thick with spider webs and mildew from years of neglect.
 

It was here that the people had come to worship and preach and bow, before the new owner had bought it.
 
Stretched out before her were rows of pews, and an altar at the other end, with a dusty podium in its center.
 

She spied the organ.
  
A dusty sheet shrouded it. She walked between the pews over to it, her footsteps loud in the hallowed space.
 
She felt strange in this room.
 
Different than she had been in the rest of the building.
 
There were holy trinkets that adorned the walls, and they seemed to bother her for reasons she couldn’t understand.
 

She pulled the sheet off the old organ.
 
It was a beautiful old thing, with shiny brass pedals and intricate woodwork on its legs.
 
She ran her fingers over the smooth keys, and imagined how wonderful it must have been when it filled this room with soothing hymns.

She crouched down and found the panel Twig’s father had described.
 
She put her nails in the grooves and popped it off, revealing a few ziplock bags coated in dust.
 
She pulled them out and set them on the organ bench.
 
There was something else, a small black crossbow and several sleek arrows, bound with a few rubber bands.
 
She grabbed the lot in her arms and stood back up.
 
She opened one of the bags and saw several vials that radiated light and one filled with a dull grey liquid.
 
She opened the other bag and almost fell over.
 
A stack of crisp hundred-dollar bills.
 
Zara flipped the corners of the cash.
 
Must be about five grand
, she thought, amazed.

She heard a noise and spun around.
 
Nothing.
 
The room was empty.
 
Perhaps it was just bats, she thought.

She heard it again, a knock above her in the support beams.
 
“Who’s there?” she shouted, and then quickly felt stupid for shouting.
 
She got to her feet and set the money back down on the bench.

“Dear, dear Zara Lane.
 
Breaking hearts and causing pain…” a voice echoed from above.
 

“I will crossbow you!” she shouted.
 
Fumbling a bit, she loaded an arrow into the crossbow.
 

“Don’t bother little girl, you would only miss my heart again…” a black object dropped from the ceiling and landed behind one of the pews.
 
Zara, in her terror, shot wildly at the object and missed.
 
The object rose and took shape.
 
It looked like Micah, but its eyes were reddish and his face was contorted and sinister looking.

“You know, I really thought you were different,” he shouted, looking at her with fiery zeal from across the room.
 
“It was all Drake’s doing you know.
 
Seduce and conquer.
 
You see, James Sollero has become immune to our ways.
 
His secrets were locked up nice and tight in that deranged mind of his.
 
Drake knew you were close to the madman’s son.
 
Said you would lead us right to what we wanted, a weapon of great power.” His eyes seemed to burn for the bundle of Ziploc bags she had dropped to her feet.
 

Zara felt waves of different emotions sweep through her.
 
“So you used me?
 
The whole thing was just some sick plan?”
 
She looked at Micah, and for the first time saw that he was a monster, his once beautiful face had transformed into a real reflection of what he was on the inside.
 
Spidery veins pulsed under the skin of his neck and cheeks.
  

“Like I said.
 
It was Drake’s doing.
 
He arranged it so that we would both be at this place that night.
 
He was the one who drove you away from your friend so that I could make you mine. Only…I had grown attached to you.
 
I thought you would come to your senses and join me.
 
Join us.
 
Drake made a wager with me that you would betray me, that you were too damn stubborn to go peacefully.
 
Do you really think we would of let you run off like that at the museum?
 
We allowed it to happen.
 
And Vivian…oh sweet, hateful…Vivian.
 
Well, that was just a bonus.
 
Good riddance I say.”
 
He snarled and moved closer.

Zara was stunned by this new revelation, and didn’t have time to react when Micah kicked her hard in the stomach and sent her crashing into the organ.
 
It happened in a flash.
 
She rolled on the ground.
 
She knew the force of the blow should have killed her, but instead it only hurt like hell.
 
He reached down and picked up one of the Ziploc bags and opened it.
 
“Don’t try to stop me little girl,” he said, while lifting a small vial containing a liquid that seemed to radiate light.
 
Zara summoned her strength and dove at him—her anger overcoming her pain.

He quickly took hold of her wrists and pinned her down to the floor.
 
He was much too strong, she couldn’t push him off.

“Now now, little girl, you had your chance!” He held her down by her throat.
 
She clawed and swiped at him but he wouldn’t budge.
 
In his other hand he began to undo the top of one of the bottles of liquid sunlight.
 

“Let’s do a little quality control testing shall we?
 
See what a big gulp of this does to sad little Zara Lane,” he was moving in to try to force her to drink, tilting the vial near her lips.
  
Suddenly a voice called out, “Hey! Get off her creep!”
 
Micah took his grip off Zara’s neck and turned his body a bit to see Twig standing in the doorway with a stake in his hand.
 
Behind Twig stood the bartender and the huge bouncer from the other night, looking on with worry.
 

Micah howled with laughter.
 
“The itsy-bitsy cavalry has arrived!
 
I guess I give up!”
 
He threw his hands up in mock surrender.

Twig made a motion forward and the bouncer and the bartender grabbed hold of both his arms.
 

“What are you doing?” Twig shouted with surprise.
 
“I told you, this guy is psycho!
 
He is trying to kill my friend!”
 

The two big men paid no mind to him and looked over at Micah, who was still straddling Zara.
 
“What should we do with him Mister Caspari?”

Twig began to bellow and tried to shove them off, but the two men were strong and pushed him down to the ground.

 
“Did I not mention that I bought this place?”
 
Micah said with a cheery voice.
 
Then he narrowed his eyes at Twig.
 
“This one has served his purpose, drive one of those stakes into his heart.
 
Let the hipster die ironically.”
 
He went back to tilting the vial over Zara, who squirmed and cried out for him to stop.

The men clumsily went for Twig’s stakes, but he wriggled free of their grip and backed them off with his machete.
 
“Let her go!” He screamed.

Micah sighed and looked over at the nuisance.

While Micah was distracted, Zara jerked her knees up and sent Micah crashing into a pew.
 
He quickly recovered and scurried into the shadows.
 

She jumped to her feet and rushed to Twig’s aid.
 
She cast her fiery gaze at the two brutes.
 
“You were just leaving.”
 

The two men gave each other one last puzzled look then turned and left without a word, closing the door behind them.