Diana waded back across, keeping her crossbow above her head. Jake couldn’t help but notice her wet body suit clinging to her body. His heart filled with shame and he looked away.
What are you doing
he screamed in his head.
You just lost two of your friends!
“It’s okay Jake,” she said, standing next to him. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. It’s just . . .” The water in the stream bubbled. Diana’s attention immediately focused on it.
Jake turned to see what she was looking at. “What? What is it? What did you see?”
“Nothing.” She placed a finger up to her lips. “That’s it Jake, we better get back.” She pointed at the water with her crossbow. Jake looked up at the cloud covered sky.
Can’t we catch one damn break?!
Diana stepped back into the stream. Jake’s hand gently touched her shoulder. He shook his head no. Rage filled her eyes and she yanked away from him stepping further into the stream.
“No!” he whispered then pointed above at the dark clouds keeping the sun from penetrating the thick trees.
“I don’t care!” She suddenly charged into the water.
“Diana no!” He splashed into the stream next to her and grabbed her around the waist pulling her from the water.
“Let me go!” She screamed struggling against him, dropping her crossbow into the water and punching at him with her fists. “We have to kill her!” she cried.
“Shh!” He tried to quiet her pleas. “She’ll hear us!”
“I don’t care!” Diana screamed out. “You hear me bitch! I’m going to kill you! I’m going to rip you from the ground and cut your fucking head off!”
“Diana we don’t have the sun! We’ve got a crossbow with only one bolt and an axe! She’s a Maker! Without the sun she’ll kill us both!”
“I don’t care!” She cried hysterically. “Please Jake! Let me go! Let me go! Whisper!” She screamed out for her sister.
The stream erupted into a shower of mud and water. The redheaded demon flew ten feet into the air landing inches from Jake and Diana. She slapped Jake away with a wave of her hand and picked Diana up by her throat. Amber’s barbed trident was still stuck firmly into her back. “Hello children!” She screamed at them, her skin smoking.
Jake crawled on his hands and knees to Donnie’s axe nearly six feet away. He rose with it gripped firmly in both hands, the side of his face caked in dark black mud. “Let go of her you vampire bitch! I swear I’ll chop you into a million pieces!”
Diana pounded her fist into the monsters face, but the evil creature didn’t even blink an eye. “I will kill you both for what you’ve done today! My family! My children! You murdered them!”
“Murder? Murder! You killed two of my best friends!”
“What do you know of friendship boy?! I’ve lived longer than you can imagine! I am Julia Livilla! The oldest living Immortal in this world! How dare you attack
my
home! I will kill you all for this! Mark my words boy!”
Julia Livilla? Tiberius . . . it’s her!
“I’ve heard that before you vampire whore! If I had a nickel for every time one of you freaks claimed to be the oldest living vampire, I'd be a rich man! You're nothing to me but another bloodsucker! Drop the girl and lets you and me settle this!”
“Why would I do that child? It would be so much more fun to turn her. I could turn you both and together we could live forever!" she laughed.
Alright then, you wanna play games? Let’s dance!
“Do you have any idea who
I
am? I’m Jacob Bishop!” he gripped the large axe handle tighter in his grip. “Son of John Bishop! My family has been slaughtering your kind for hundreds of years! You’re just another notch on my family’s wall! I’ll wear your teeth as a trophy around my neck!”
To Jake’s surprise, she dropped Diana’s now unconscious form to the wet earth. “My, my, young Bishop. You have grown into quite a specimen!” She licked her lips and looked Jake up and down. A cold shiver of disgust ran up his spine. “Come boy! Join me! I will make you my child. Oh how it would anger Michael if I changed you!” She giggled clapping her hands together.
Michael? Wait a second! The Maker from Riker’s and . . . somewhere else . . . the night of the attack, back at Grandpa’s . . . he saved me. How could I forget that?
Jake spit on the ground at her feet. “I’d rather die than join you.”
“I could force you. You wouldn’t be the first.”
“No, but I bet you I will be your last! Come on then! Let’s do this vampire!” She took two steps closer and Jake lifted the heavy double bladed axe over his head. In the blink of an eye, she had it in her hands and Jake was shoved hard to the ground. With both hands, she bent the hardened steel wrapping the axe head around itself then snapped the handle tossing it through the air completely out of sight.
“Come young man! Let us live an eternity together!” her mouth opened wide as she loomed above him. Jake closed his eyes tight.
I’m sorry Diana! I just got us both killed
.
Chapter 12
Jake
Twister, Oklahoma
July 20, 2001 10:05am
Jake heard a loud crunch. When he opened his eyes Livilla lay on the ground with a white bone protruding from her smoking right leg. A male figure dressed in black loomed above her, his skin smoking as well. He twisted the trident in her back causing a terrible scream to erupt from her lips. “I warned you Livilla!” he stomped on her other leg crushing her ankle under his foot. “I warned you! Leave the Bishops alone!”
“Michael!” Jake yelled out.
“I’m sorry Jake,” Michael said, grabbing Livilla by her throat. “This is all my fault.”
“Who are you?” Jake cried out.
The clouds parted in the sky and the sun came into view. Michael and Livilla screamed out in pain as flame erupted from their skin.
Voices carried toward Jake from somewhere in the woods. “Jake!” “Diana!” they screamed over and over.
“I’m over here!” he screamed at the top of his lungs. He turned back to see both vampires were gone. Disappeared into the relative safety of the tree’s canopy. He crawled over to Diana and checked her pulse. Her throat was bruised and cut badly. He let out a breath of relief when he felt her steady heart beat. “Diana?”
She opened her eyes and stared up at him. “Jake . . .” she said, in a weak, raspy voice. “Is Whisper okay? Donnie . . .”
“They’re just fine,” he lied. “Just fine.” Jake cradled her protectively. “Just take it easy and try not to move. Everything is going to be okay. The others are coming.”
“Jake!” Cort’s voice called to him.
“I’m over here!” Jake screamed. In a heartbeat, Cort and Chris were there with a bloodied Sergeant Major Castle.
“Jake!” Cort said, running to him. “Jake . . .” he said, looking down at Diana. “What happened?”
Emotions overwhelmed Jake and tears began pouring down his cheeks. “Grandpa . . . Diana’s hurt.”
“It’s alright, Jake,” Castle said, pulling his hands away from protecting Diana. “We’ll take good care of her.”
“Sergeant Major . . . there are Makers still out here!” he blurted out.
“We’ll take care of it. Morris, get on your radio tell the Colonel we need whatever men they can spare.
Chris nodded and spoke into his radio. After a minute the Colonel’s voice came back, “We can’t spare anymore men. Let them go.”
Cort placed his hands on Jake’s shoulders. “Come on son.” Jake stood up and his grandpa embraced him tightly. “It’s time to go.”
“Grandpa we can’t! We have to find her! She has to pay for what she did!”
“Bishop! You heard the Colonel!” Castle said, “Now follow your orders.”
“Yes Sergeant Major.” Though it killed him, Jake did as he was told.
The next few hours seemed to go on forever, the storm passed and the rain stopped. Diana was medevaced as was Whisper, who thankfully was still alive, though severely wounded.
Billy and Amber cried over Donnie’s now covered body. Someone had placed him in a black body bag. Jake stared at it, his mind in a thick haze. He’d never seen someone he cared for die before.
Of course, there’d been his mother, but he’d never seen her body. Over the years, he’d convinced himself it would have been easier to cope if he had seen her body. But staring at the shell that had once been his best friend, Jake came to the realization that it wasn’t easier at all. He knew that any time he’d think of Donnie, his smiling face would be replaced by one covered in blood. It would never leave him as long as he lived.
The battle inside the sanitarium soon ended. It had been costly for their side, but they'd pulled it off. Buck and his father both came back laughing, charred vampire skulls in their hands. Billy took one look at Turner and jerked up his machete. Only Cort and Chris together were able to hold him back from killing him.
"You bastard! You sorry bastard! I treated you like my son and this is how you repay me?!" Billy screamed spit flying from his mouth.
Shock filled Turner’s eyes. He had no idea of what had happened. “Billy . . . what?”
Jake wished they would just let him go.
Let Billy kill him. He deserves it.
Billy shrugged Chris and Cort’s hands off him and ripped open the bag holding Donnie’s body.
Jake could see the indifference in Turner’s eyes. It was clear he could have cared less. Buck on the other hand looked very shaken. His face was pale, and his eyes were wide. He kept looking from Donnie's lifeless body to his father’s face.
Amber stood next to her grandfather, her arms crossed, and her eyes swollen and red. Buck started to say something to her but she stepped forward and punched him hard in his face knocking him to the ground. She climbed on top of him pounding his face into mush. Buck didn’t even try to defend himself.
Jake pulled her off him as gently as he could, she turned swinging at him. He held her tight as her fist hit his chest. Tears streamed from her eyes. She finally gave up and fell to her knees, sobs racking her body. Jake dropped with her and held her tightly. He looked over at Buck still lying on the ground with tears of his own streaming down his bloodied face.
Helping Amber to her feet Jake walked her over to Billy's van and wrapped a blanket over her shoulders. Billy sat down next to her, his face one of complete shock. He gently wrapped his arms around his granddaughter and together they cried. Hesitantly Jake walked away, leaving them to their grief. His father's form, covered in black vampire blood made him come back to reality. "Dad!"
John ran to his son embracing him in a hug. "Dad! I'm so glad you're alive!" Jake exclaimed.
"Same here kid!" John said, hugging him tight. "When I heard Chris’ call for a medic I imagined the worst." Cort walked up and hugged John as well. “What the hell is going on?” John asked. "What happened?"
“It’s Donnie,” Jake said. “They killed him. Whisper and Diana . . . they’re hurt badly.”
“My God, Jake. What happened?”
“It’s that goddamn Turner,” Cort said angrily. “He left the kids alone.”
It was at that very moment that Jake remembered his guns. Walking back to where he’d dropped them he picked them up and showed each them to his dad, explaining what had happened. John looked the guns over for several minutes and tried firing them. Again, the guns just clicked. "Jake has anyone been near your guns?"
He thought back for a few seconds remembering the unlocked case he’d found that morning. Then he remembered something else, both Turners had been in his room. They'd had access to his weapons. "Yeah! Both Buck and Mr. Turner were in my room last night!"
John’s face turned red and his brow creased. His left eye twitched. He was mad. Madder than Jake had ever seen him. He charged over to Turner and thrust the barrel of the shotgun into his chest. "Did you mess with Jake's guns Wes?"
"What are you talking about John?" he said, slapping the gun away.
"Someone pulled the firing pins in both his guns. Was it you? Or was it your son?"
"Get the hell out of here John! You think I'd do something like that?"
"Not long ago I wouldn’t have, but now . . . damn it Wes! Why would you leave these kids alone like that?!"
Turner started to say something but John held up his hand silencing him. He got within an inch of his face. "Only two people were in that room or had access to it other than Jake or myself. You and Buck. You do the math."
"Screw you Bishop. I can't help it if your kid is too dumb to take care of his own weapons. The damn things probably just jammed. Or maybe, maybe it was Billy’s girl! I heard she spent a little
special time
with your boy last night! Maybe if your kid spent more time keeping his fly up and taking care of his weapons this wouldn’t have happened!"
John lifted the pistol from his belt in one smooth motion, pointed it at Turner and pulled the trigger. It clicked.
Both Turners flinched." Are you nuts!?” Wes Turner yelled.
John pulled the trigger again then opened the chamber and spun it dropping all six rounds into his left palm. He tossed them one by one at Turner's chest. "Because we were once friends I'm giving you three minutes to get out of here. If you're not gone in that time I'm going to kill you."
"What!’ Turner exclaimed. “John why? We've been friends for years!"
"That's why I'm giving you a chance. You put my son in danger. You put them
all
in danger just to fill your ego. You don't leave a bunch of inexperienced teenagers in the middle of a hunt! You got Donnie killed and you got Whisper and Diana hurt! And after all the times Terry saved your skin,” he shook his head in disgust. “So I'm doing this for Donnie. For Billy and Sandra, God bless their souls. They’ve already buried one son now they have to bury another one. Pop was right about you. He always said you were no good. But I
always
defended you. No more Wes. Whatever friendship we had died with Donnie."