I shook my head "no, it's okay. I can get there by myself, after all the vampires are not around right now, unless you want the added protection of having me around."
Nodding a goodbye, I waited till the door closed and looked about, sun was up and people were starting to come out. I tried to hide my weapons as best as I could and headed back without seeming rushed.
After an hour or two of evading police and most people in general, I managed to make it back and went up to my room, putting my stuff down, I put the gun under my pillow and went to sleep.
After they had gotten back to his house and unloaded his cycle, Dahmnall walked in the door. and went to the kitchen to brew his elixir, he went to the refrigerator and pulled out a dark bottle of stout and lit a cigarette. He opened the bottle and sat down at the table examining his face in a mirror, "Bloody hell" he said looking at the hole in his face where his eye once was. He took a big swig of his beer, and took a strip of dark green cloth and tied it as an eye patch. He cleaned his sword, axe, kitar, knives and gun. and put them in the closet. He poured the elxir into a syringe, and shot into his arm, feeling the searing heat and terrible pain from it. Then feeling drained, he stumbled to his bedroom, checked the .45 under his pillow and the machete on the bedpost, then fell into sleep.
Lorien noted the scent each one there possessed. They had not answered her but felt that she was okey just the same. She wandered the streets looking in and out of alley ways until she came to her little apartment. It was sparsely furnished with just the esentials. Stripping to her bare skin she slipped between the sheets and sighed. There was more to the story they were not telling her. Dracius was around and he was gathering power. They would have to stop him and soon or it would mean the end of all of them. With that thought courseing through her veins she fell into a deep and unbroken sleep.
It was already night when Amelia walked up the steps of the church. She was running late after having been called into work. A body had been found last night in the park near where Dahmnall had fought Cecillia. The victim had a bite mark on her neck which was why Amelia had been called in to look at it. The bite mark was similar to the rest of the ones in her case, except that the bite was from a woman. Everyone else was calling it the work of a copycat and Amelia would have normally agreed with them. She would have agreed had she gone home when she left the bar instead going back to have a drink with Dahmnall. But it is better this way, at least I know more of what is going on, she thought. She walked into the church and looked around to see who was there already.
Robert had always been struggling to make ends meet. The bill collectors, landlords and creditors didn't care who you were or what you did, they just wanted to get paid on time. So when he had finally gotten a good paying job on the docks, he didn't care if it was a midnight shift or not. Yes, some of his co-workers and managers were whackos, wierdos and creeps and Rob had noticed that much of the cargo seemed to be missing the bill of lading or recepts, but at $37.00 and hour, he could keep his mouth shut and work.
Until last night anyway...
For whatever reason, Austin, the general manager, had ordered the entire facility to be closed down and packed. All of the management had gone into a sudden near frantic burst of activity. Not only that, but most of the shift had been dismissed and sent home early around 3 AM. Rob hadn't minded being sent home early, he could actually spend some quality time with his wife for a change, but Eddie, the person he carpooled with, forgot his wallet and the had to go back. They had walked into a scene from some horor movie or something.
There were three people hanging in the locker room showers like a side of beef. All three were being bled out and cut apart by a couple of whackos being overseen by Pedro, his shift manager. Both Rob abd Ed had bolted back to the car, but Ed hadn't even made it out of the warehouse. Someone had lept down on him from the overhead catwalk and literally torn Ed apart. Rob hadn't even considered the fact that it was a 20 foot fall until much later, he'd just run for it. God only knew how'd he gotten away......
Maybe it was the 'God only knew' part, or just blind luck, but Rob found himself at the church, babbling like a fool to Father O'Daugherty. The Father at least had seemed to be understanding, moreso than he himself might have been if some wild-eyed lunatic had come running in, babbling about crazy, unbelievable stories. The preacher had told Rob that it would be ok and to stay here, that he 'knew people' who could help, and let him stay the night, but then he remembered Suzy, his wife and had gone to collect her as well to bring her to the church.
No one ever saw either of them again.
************************************************************
Patrick was still setting the table while he waited for his guests to arrive. His nephew, Dahmnall was coming and had invited Amelia over for dinner as well. It was a good thing too, he had been worrying that the boy had been sheltering himself too much, not that it wasn't expected given their line of work. Once you knew the truth about what was out there in the dark, you never saw the world in the same way again. At least he had had his brother when he had been a slayer, but after he had been killed, Patrick had joined the clergy and did his best to raise Seamus and Dahmnall both as a surrogate father and as a slayer. Both had shown promise, but when Seamus had disappeared, Dahmnall had sunk into a true isolation and had been hitting the bottle far too much. Hopefully, Amelia would be able to help get him back to something similar to 'normal'.
There was a knock at the door and imeadiatly Patrick's hackles rose. Dahmnall never knocked. Not like that and not at the front door. His home was strategically located so that for someone to knock, they had to jump the back fence or pass through the chapel and it's concecrated ground or ring the buzzer there. So Pat wasn't suprised when the knocking became a pounding, instead he bolted through the house, coming to his bedroom when he heard the sound of breaking glass. He dragged out a old footlocker, scrambling to open the lock as heavy footsteps were heard inside and the back door being flung open. The lock opened at last and Pat dug into the contents of the trunk as his bedroom door opened. A somewhat short Latino man stood there, smiling arrogantly at him from the doorway.
"Father Patrick?" he asked. "Robert says 'Hi'. You know Padre, you really shouldn't pick up strays..even when they tell such tales about..."
Patrick didn't let him finish. No sense letting a fool yammer on anyway while his cohorts did whatever they wanted to do. Instead, he threw an orb made of silvery ceramic at the Latino. One of several which were kept in the chest. The ceramic struck the intruder high on the chest and shattered, splattering him with the holy water within. The Latino shreaked and staggered back as smoking, festering burns appeared wherever the water touched skin and he gave way. A second orb smacked him square on the back of his head as he turned away and he fled screaming. Patrick took the moment to break out, grabbing his weapon from the trunk as he did so. There was a great deal of commotion inside, telling Pat that there were several intruders and three more appeared in the dining room as he tried to pass through. Patrick held his weapon upright, a short barreded, pump action shotgun with a chrome cross piece attached to the pump. Holding it aloft, it became a cross held out before him.
The three stopped in their tracks hissing, cursing and bearing fangs at him, but could not advance. Still, Patrick knew he couldn't stay where he was. His faith kept them back, but it would do nothing to stop bullets or keep them from setting the house on fire or whatever else they wanted to do once their initial surprise was overcome. With that in mind, Pat lowered the cross, immeadiatly, the first one surged forward, intending to fling the table out if it's way as he came. Instead patrick leveled the barrel of the cross and fired. The silvered buckshot took the vampire full in the chest, throwing him backwards and into his comrades. Patrick bolted past, firing a wild shot at the remaining two even as the first vampire crumbled to ash and dust whilke he fled into the chapel.
**************************************************************
Pedro came staggering back to the van, his skin still smoldering and hissing. Much of his hair was gone and his neck, chin and one cheek were pitted with bloody burns.
"He knew we were coming, sir." he practically spit out. "He has weapons to fight us."
Austin's eyes narrowed with anger. "Fool." he said. "You only had to kill a single mortal and still you are a bungler. Finish him or do not come back."
Pedro was not happy, but did not dare to rouse Austin's anger. Tragically, they had all been forbidden to use their vampiric powers, why, Pedro didn't understand, but the decision was oronclad. Pedro had already seen Austin kill one of his own for breaking the rule. Instead, the trunk opened, and Pedro retrieved three shotguns from the back before running back to the house as Austin's vehicle pulled away.
"The son of a bitch's in the chapel." one of his boys said as the guns were handed out. "He's killed Kenny too."
Pedro led two vampires up to where a third stood next to a closed door.
"You." Pedro said to the one up front. "Kick in the door and storm in. We'll follow."
The vampire up front turned a slight shade of pale. A considerable feat given his already pale complexion. "Holy ground boss, I --"
"Just. Do. It!" Pedro hissed, anger boiling in his eyes and voice, giving him a much more terrifying appearance than even his ruined face. The first vampire gulped and then racked his weapon, readying himself for a very unpleasant moment. He charged forward, hitting the door and breaking the lock and catch, he almost fell inside and was imeadiatly siezed with a searing pain which mage him gag as white light blinded him.
Fortunatly, he didn't suffer long as a round of silvered buckshot literally swept his head off, ending his misery. Pedro and the others did not follow behind as they had said they would, but instead fired wildly through the open doorway at the location where the shot had come from. The priest took a hit, and then another, spattering his white shirt red in an instant and he fell backwards behind the pews and out of sight.
Lorien slept soundly most nights her dreams invaded by events that will most likely happen or not. This night was to be no exception. There was a staleness in the air as she stood aloof in her dreams watching the night shift and then the voices come. Screaming, pain and suffereing. Something was very wrong. Dracius was on the move of that she was certain. He was cunning and yet, as a master vampire he was linked to each one servant through blood. Now that Cecillia was dead, her connection was still strong but lacking. She tossed and turned in her fitful sleep moaning about and winding herself into a cocoon of sheets and blankets. Suddenly, she snapped awake, she would have to find the others even if it meant tracking them by smell. There was more to what was happening than any of them really knew.
The events of late were more than enough to get them all together. They should share whats thoughts they were having or what events had brought them to this place. For some reason, she was aware of a female prescence. Her face she could not see but always, she was looking through her eyes. She saw Cecillia, Amelia, Dahmnall and another. This female vampire was linked to Dracius also but what connection Lorien could not figure out.
Sighing, she rose from her bed, the day had slipped away fast. She sat at the window looking out over the city and listening to the familiar sounds of the cars and people. She raised her head sniffing the air. She caught no familiar scent. Oh, well, she thought rising and walking to her dresser. A shower and some clean clothing later, she stood eyeing herself in the mirror.
A faint smile traced her lips. She did look much like Buffy after all.
Since Father Patrick wasn't in the chapel, Amelia started to head towards the back. Her sister had been up before she left for work and had wanted to know what had happened with Dahmnall. She just told her that they went out for coffee and met up with friends. Apparently Elizabeth hadn't seen Dahmnall's hasty exit from the bar and her running after him. Luckily Elizabeth had an extra drama class that day so couldn't stay around to demand a more in depth explaination.
She heard something that sounded like a the gunshot coming from the direction of Father Patricks house. When she heard the second shot she pulled her gun and quickly started towards the door. Father Patrick ran into her when he burst into the chapel carrying a shotgun. They hit the ground and Patrick told Amelia that he was being attacked by vampires. He got up and locked the door behind them and decided that they didn't have time to baracade the door. He moved them to where they would have cover no matter if the vampires followed from the back or through the front door. Amelia found it interesting to see a priest she had known for many years
wielding a gun and getting ready to fight off vampires. Obviously this wasn't going to be a slow night.
The door was kicked in and a man stumbled in. Father Patrick stood up and shot him. Who ever was still outside was armed and started to fire through the open door. Father Patrick was hit twice and fell to the ground. Amelia fired a few shots from her gun towards door even though the bullets from her gun wouldn't have killed them, but they didn't know that. Hopefully they would be confused and it would buy her sometime. She grabbed the shot gun from Father Patrick and reloaded it with the extra bullets he had and then reloaded her own. The vampire's outside hadn't made a move yet so she tried to help Father Patrick.
Amelia's shots thwapped into the doorframe and walls, causing the shotgun-wielding attackers to duck back around their respective corners.
"Fuck! Who the fuck is that??" One of them called out. Another shotgun blast was fired, but it was unaimed and only a few pellets splintered the frontmost pews, well away from where Amelia now lay.
Father Patrick was crumpled on the floor behind one of the wooden isles, seperating teh pipe organ from the floor. He was still alive but Amelia could see he was in bad shape. His entire front was coated with red stickiness and he shook from head to toe.
"Am-m-elia.." he gasped, blood flecking from his lips as he forced words out of them. "Go, run..they're vam..vam.."
Amelia used her jacket and got Patrick to press it down on his wounds.
"Don't be stupid, I'm not just going to leave without you."
She got out her cell phone and called the police. Hopefully the vampires weren't interested in the exposure of attacking police officers. She told the operator to send an ambulance and that there was an officer being fired at. She gave them the address and fired some more shots towards the door.
Dahmnall heard gunfire as he approached the church, "Uncle!" he yelled pulling his gun and running toward the church. He saw the attackers and with a roar of rage started shooting. "I"LL KILL ALL YOU FUCKIN' COCKSUCKERS!!" he unloaded on the attackersn killing all he saw. He burst into the door and saw Amelia kneeling over his Uncle. he ran over to them. "What happened Ami?" he said looking at his uncle. "Jaysus Christ," he said looking down at his wounded uncle "Don't be using the saviors name in vain in this church lad." Patrick said, weakly.
Lorien caught the scent of fresh blood on the air and found it intensely mouthwatering. She followed the smell until she heard the gunshots and cries. Quickly, she ran towards the sound. Staying just beyond sight, she watched as a group of renegade vamps fired into the church. She heard the cries of those inside as well as the voices of those outside. For now she would content herself to watch and learn.
"I don't know anything", Amelia told Dahmnall. "I was walking through the church and your uncle ran in and said that he was being attacked by vampires. He was shot; I called for an ambulance and back up and you showed up. Are they still out there?
Amelia looked down and noticed that she was covered in blood.
For the time being anyway, the shooting seemed to have stopped after Dahmnall had charged headling into them, but Father Patrick's conditioned continued to worsen. Already Amelia's jacket was being saturated with the old priests blood and his complexion whitened as the blood loss continued.
"Must go... must go..."He panted, feebly swatting at Amelia's cell phone. "Th-they, they own th- ... police.. an... hospitals... must go..."
The sounds of sirens were faintly heard in the distance, but also, they could detect the traces of smoke wafting into the church as well.
I am with the police, Amelia thought. Then she saw the smoke entering the church.
"Dahmnall pick up your Uncle and carry him to the front door. We have to get out of here."
As Dahmnall stood up and started to carry his Uncle towards the back of the church, Amelia fired her gun towards the door where the vampires were last and followed Dahmnall towards the front. When they got to the door, Amelia asked Dahmnall to stand to the side as she kicked open the door and rolled to the side, waiting to see if anyone was going to fire at them.
Pedro wasn't in a good mood. Despite being splattered with holy water, the old bastard had managed to get into the damned church and despite filling him full of buckshot, the stubborn bastard wouldn't die. Now more bastards had joined him and were both armed as well as barracaded on holy ground.
Austin was going to be pissed off over this one and the thought didn't bring Pedro any comfort.
"You," he said, pointing to one of his gang. "get the gas can out of the truck. Torch the fucking place."
Pedro planned to set the place alight, then watch both doorrs, shooting anyone who came out....It was a good plan so naturally, it went to shit right away.
Some hulking brute had appeared and gunned down Franco as he was reloading his shotgun. Fortunatly, the brute had been too disorganized to pursue outside of the church and into the house where Pedro was but that didn't help the fact that only two of them were left now. Instead he moved back as shots cracked from inside again. Sirens were being heard which only complicated things even further.
"Hey in there." he called out. "You friends of Rob too or just some poor lost souls comming to church? How's the padre anyway? hope I didn't wing him too badly now."
Miyu slipped out of bed. Something had awoken her and she could feel it inside her bones. Something was going on outside in the town nearby. She rubbed her temples trying to clear her head of the distraction while she quickly dressed in a midnight black rob. It was speckeled with spots of a moonlight color and had one glanced at it from afar would think the robe grey.
She walked to the small fridge to pull out a blood pouch. Though chilled they kept her from drinking from humans and later being discoverd. She shuddered at that thought as she opened the small fridge to discover it empty. "I knew I was forgetting something last night." She cursed under her breath and let the fridge close. Turning on heel she grabbed her Kitana and tied it to her side as she walked out of the house locking it before walking down the lane.
HUnger gnawed at her gently pulling her onwards. She shook her head, not now, wait for it. She could find something somehow. A drunkard passed by and she could almost smell his blood under his skin. Her arms prickeld at the thought of drinking from him, but she bit her tounge, "not now.." she told herself. There was a hospital close by. Perhaps she would be able to swipe a pouch from there.
As she contemplated this more, she looked up the street to see a flicker off in the distance. Unlike a light, it flickered continously, like..."A fire..." She murmered. Pushing aside her hunger once more, she started to jog over to see what was going on. Her curiosity peaked. Something was going on in the little town and she wanted to know what it was.
She listened as the sirens closed in around her. It was time to get out of the way. She slipped into the darkness and watched. The renegade vampires were something of a curiosity to her. Who were they really working for? Stirrings in her mind and body told her she needed to feed. Of course she did, she was a fucking vampire. With eerie silence she made her way back to the church steps where one of the low lifes stood making way to charge the church. She moved like the wind and within a second was on him. Two shots later, she was breaking the skin which was the real turn on to her. Savoring the taste she quickly made her meal and threw him to the steps as the images ran through her mind.
Nothing. He gave her nothing. As the shooting and screaming continued, she slipped once again into the darkness and waited. Her fangs beared, her mind racing, her primal instict kicking in. Tonight, she would feed. Hunter or not, she was still a vampire and that meant feeding. Be it what it may, she had a taste for live blood. It would soon get her killed, of that she was sure.
When no bullets flew through the door after Amelia kicked it open, she asked Dahmnall to wait inside with Patrick until she called. She cautiously stepped out scanning the area. She walked further out onto the steps at the front of the church.
Lorien knew someone was coming. She could sense it all around. Somewhere behind her it was another vampire. A human was in the church. Pretty damned sure he was hurt to. She had not tasted raw blood like that in a hundred years. She wanted to stop the change going on in her body. She screamed, screeched if you will. The sound high and menacing. She broke and ran down the alley. Whatever got in her way tonight would die. Human or not.
Pedro risked a peek around the doorway to check on what was happening, only to see them escaping out the opposite way on the far side of the building...and right into the ambush he had planned....
...except no one was shooting.
"Lennie!" Pedro shouted. " They're comming out, get em! Lennie!!"
Still nothing.
"Aww FUCK!" he cursed. Still cursing, he rose up firing at them from across the length of the church. The shotgun roared it's report, but for all it's devistating power as close range, the pellets did little or nothing at range. Still cursing in both English and Spanish, he finally vanished from sight as the others fled.
I woke up, and looked out, sensing no vampires nearby, I was alarmed, not even Miyu was near. I quickly dressed and brushed my teeth, walking out I realized I needed to go to the restroom and decided I'd hold it for now. I headed towards town to the church. Getting there as fast as I could, I realized I was a bit late. My hand went to my gun as I saw Amelia come out with her weapon in hand, I looked around watching and sensing for vampires as I approached her "what happened while I was brushing my teeth?" I asked.
Amelia was ecstatic to see Alaric standing on the steps rather than a vampire. She motioned for Dahmnall to bring Patrick outside and rushed them all to her car. Amelia told Alaric,
"We were attacked by vampires. Father Patrick was shot. He doesn't want to go to the hospital so we have to get out of here now."
She went to her car and opened the door so Dahmnall could get in the back with Father Patrick.
"Patrick said that the vampires own the police and hospital. If the vampires attacked him here they probably wouldn't have a problem attacking him in the hospital. We should take him to the doctor we saw last night. Dahmnall try to get your uncle to tell you what happened before he ran into me."
She got into her car wondering if the lack of ability to duck and cover ran in Dahmnall's family.
"Aye" he said and turned to his uncle. "Uncle what happened?" Dahmnall said looking right into his eyes. "Th-They came when I was saying me rosary," he said weakly. "I heard a sound, so i grabbed up o-" he started coughing "ole Brigid and had a look around, there was maybe five." he said breathing hard "I waxed one, then ran out and saw young amelia here and she can tell ye the res'" he said. "Fetching eye patch" patrick joked weakly, with a small chuckle, pointing to the dark green cloth tied around dahmnall's head.