Heart of the Dead: Vampire Superheroes (Perpetual Creatures Book 1) (30 page)

Thad swung the light side to side, probing the blackened crevices between stacks of boxes or behind the hulking machines. They moved at a slow but steady pace, as though they were traversing an active mine field. It took a great act of concentration for Jerusa to filter out the noise of beating hearts and shallow breaths, especially Thad’s, which seemed so much more erratic.

Something darted in front of them, spilling out from behind a pile of collapsed boxes. The group tensed, flinching in unison, but the perpetrator turned out to be a couple of rats chasing each other across the catwalk. With a collective sigh, the group moved on.

Dust motes danced in the moonlight. The breeze from the broken windows tickled cobwebs as big as mountain lions. An inch of grime covered everything. Whatever fresh air seeped in seemed to be hiding on the third floor. The building stank of engine grease, burnt electrical wiring, and the memory of a thousand hobo fires.

A loud
bang
echoed across the open space from the other end of the building. The tinkling of glass shards slipping through the steel grating lingered for a moment, like the tittering of an insolent child. They all turned with a start. Thad sent the flashlight beam leaping over the void, but it was not strong enough to reach the other catwalk.

Taos grabbed Thad’s arm and pointed the flashlight to the floor below.

“What is it?” Fosters asked.

“I thought I saw something moving around down there.” Taos directed the flashlight, still in Thad’s hand, back and forth, but nothing stirred on the first floor. “I’m sure there’s someone down there. I think we should go have a look.”

“All right,” Foster said. He looked up and down the catwalk. “There’s probably some stairs or a ladder around here somewhere.”

Without a word, Taos let go of Thad’s arm, took hold of the metal railing, and leapt over the side. Jerusa, caught up in the moment and perhaps spurred by Taos’s advice to act instead of think, cleared the railing like a practiced hurdler and followed him down to the dusty first floor. Foster cursed under his breath and Jerusa couldn’t help but smile. It felt good to be mischievous and throw caution to the wind. Moments later, Foster followed them down with Thad clinging to his back.

It didn’t take long for the exhilaration to wear off. From up above, they had a sniper’s view of the factory floor. But now that they were in among the rusted hulks of discarded machinery, the shadows seemed tangible and the dust a blinding smog.

They stayed close to one another as they maneuvered the maze of extinct machines, piles of trash and tangles of twisted pipes and fallen air ducts. Taos took point, Jerusa and Thad followed close behind, and Foster brought up the rear. If Kole was still in the building there was no way he didn’t know their position. He remained hidden, perhaps stalking them from the deep shadows or lying in wait for them to blunder by.

It occurred to Jerusa that perhaps savage vampires weren’t as mindless as she had been led to believe. If she understood it right, the Hunters were a well-trained, highly organized troop of vampires, possessing above-average skills in pyro- and telekinesis. Warriors like that weren’t needed to dispatch the dimwitted flesh-eaters of the movies. Kole was more dangerous than any of them were giving him credit for.

The path through the refuse narrowed and they were forced to move single file between the rotting corpse of a massive assembly line and one of the large pits set in the concrete floor. The pit was filled almost to the brim with rain water from the storm the previous night. The water was as black as ink, making it impossible to know the depth. The water ebbed and flowed in tiny waves stirred by the tread of their feet and the slight breeze of their passing.

Jerusa turned her back to the assembly line, not wishing to have the black water out of her sight for even a moment. It seemed more a toxic sludge than mere water, and Jerusa imagined it reaching up to snatch her foot, pulling her down into an endless sticky blackness. Jerusa didn’t need to breathe any more, nor could she be suffocated. How terrible would it be to be bound in darkness for an eternity with no hope of escape and no ability to die? She could think of nothing worse.

As they passed the midpoint of the narrow path beside the pit, something stirred in the water. It wasn’t a large movement, but just enough to create a small eddy in the center of the pit. A few bubbles trickled to the surface. Jerusa stopped dead, causing Thad and Foster to nudge into her. She caught Taos by the shoulder before he could get outside of her reach.

“What’s wrong?” Taos asked. His voice was low and annoyed. He didn’t like being bottlenecked between the assembly line and the water-filled pit.

Jerusa pointed to where the water had stirred. “I saw something moving in the water. There were bubbles.”

Thad sent the light skipping across the surface, but it merely illuminated the film of translucent oil slicks dancing upon the black water like migrating jellyfish. “Maybe it was just a frog,” he said, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself. “Could’ve been a turtle or even a muskrat.”

“I don’t think so,” Jerusa said. “It seemed bigger than that.”

Taos shushed them, then stood staring across the pit as he listened for the slightest sound. The building became eerily silent, as if the black water absorbed all sound. Jerusa cleared her throat just to test the theory.

“Maybe we should keep going,” Foster said.

Jerusa nodded to Taos. “My mind must just be playing tricks on me. Let’s go.”

Alicia appeared on the water, her eyes wide, her mouth drawn tight with fear.

“Don’t go yet,” a voice whispered in Jerusa’s ear. “You won’t want to miss this.”

The grouped flinched at the sound of Suhail’s voice, but it was too late to flee.

Suhail perched above them, hidden in a small recess in the assembly line machinery directly behind Jerusa. He snatched Jerusa by the hair at the nape of her neck, hauling her off of the ground and dragging her up a steel beam. The others moved to grab her legs, but just then, Kole exploded up out of the water-filled pit, landing where Jerusa had been only seconds before.

The pain in her skull was near unbearable, as though someone had set her head on fire. Jerusa struggled to free herself from Suhail’s grip, but could not wrench her hair free from his fingers. Suhail climbed almost to the ceiling of the building, hanging by his free hand from a support girder. He dangled Jerusa over the open floor like a treat for a hungry crocodile, giving her an all-too-clear view of what was happening below.

Kole clung to the wall formed by the assembly line, balancing on his remaining leg. He lashed out at Thad, but the water raining down from his ragged clothes made the concrete slick and he faltered to his knee. Thad thrust the flashlight into Kole’s face and the close proximity and intensity of the beam was more than his savage eyes could take.

Kole threw his hands up before his face as an ear-splitting screech echoed through the hollow building. Foster grabbed Thad and tossed him like a feather pillow on top of the assembly line machinery, out of harm’s way.

Taos and Foster turned and fled in opposite directions away from Kole and off of the narrow walkway next to the pit. Kole regained his sight, sniffed the air like a hunting wolf, then jumped up into the small alcove in the machinery where Suhail had been hiding. He jumped again, landing on top of the machinery, right next to Thad.

Thad scurried backward on his hands and feet. Kole rushed to overtake him. Thad brought the flashlight beam up, but Kole anticipated this move and batted it out of his hand. The flashlight tumbled over and over, sending its beam dancing all around until it hit the pit and the black water swallowed it whole.

Kole snapped his powerful jaws at Thad in what appeared to be a mocking gesture. It seemed that savages were capable of taking pleasure in the fear of their prey. He mounted Thad like a spider preparing to spin its web. He took Thad’s head in his hands.

“No,” Jerusa screamed as she beat against Suhail’s grip. “Leave him alone,” she said to Kole, but the savage ignored her. “Help! Please, somebody help him.”

Suhail laughed. “Yes. Call for help. Call for Silvanus. Beg him to come and save you. Because if he doesn’t appear, then when Kole is finished with your friends, I will feed you to him last. Call to him. Call to Silvanus.”

Kole lunged for Thad’s throat, but before his teeth could meet flesh, Foster leapt onto his back. With one quick thrust, Foster rammed his garden shears into the side of Kole’s neck, and downward through his collarbone. Kole bucked like a mad horse, throwing Foster back and knocking Thad off of the assembly line machinery.

Kole spun on his remaining knee to face Foster. He grasped the handles of the shears and pulled them from his neck with a sickening
slurp
. The blades were painted with Kole’s thick crimson blood, and it oozed in slow drips over the handles and across his hand. Kole tossed the garden shears away and they vanished with a loud
clank
into the dusty shadows.

Foster was backed up to the edge of the machinery, facing the water-filled pit. Kole was too close for him to make a successful run in any direction. Kole seemed to realize this as well, because he crept closer, in a slow, methodical crawl.

Taos landed on top of the machinery, bringing a loud bellow from the metal shell. Jerusa had been struggling to free herself again and hadn’t noticed from where he had come, but she had never been happier to see the blond giant in all the short time she had known him.

“Hey, boss, remember me?” Taos asked with a mocking grin. He swirled the container of gas around before him, soliciting a hiss from Kole. “I think it’s time for a cookout.” Taos squeezed the lever atop the container and the nozzle opened with a burp of gasoline fumes that Jerusa could smell from up high.

Kole snapped as he raised a single hand toward Taos. The air between Kole and Taos became distorted as an intense and near invisible fire exploded between them. Taos, realizing a bit too late what was happening, dropped the container, and tried to jump, but the flame ignited the gas fumes and set off a small but powerful explosion.

Foster stood frozen with shock at the revelation that Kole the savage still retained his pyro-kinesis. It must have been news to them all. Even Suhail gasped in awe of the explosion.

Jerusa didn’t know just how much of Kole’s mind remained in the festering shell of his body, whether there was a residual consciousness awakened by the brain matter he had devoured, or if the savage entity was in complete control. Whichever it was, Kole had enough presence of mind to take advantage of Foster’s stunned shock.

Kole rushed Foster, leaping through the air like a pouncing tiger. Foster had no weapon to defend himself with, but he didn’t turn and run. Kole and Foster collided in midair. They landed in a twisted knot. Kole lunged at Foster, nearly clamping down on his neck with his poisonous teeth. Foster shifted just in time, cracked Kole in the head with his fist, but was unable to dislodge him. They turned over and over, trading bone-cracking blows. As the battle raged one, it became clear to Foster that he couldn’t overpower Kole on his own.

Foster locked his hands together and smashed Kole in the face, dealing the savage enough damage to cause him to release his grip. Foster leapt to his feet and ran, but Kole was not far behind him. Kole caught Foster in the ribs, wrapped his arms around his chest, and the pair tumbled off the edge of the pit and vanished beneath the surface of the black water.

The air fled from Jerusa’s lungs in an uncontrolled scream so loud it threatened to deafen the surrounding town. She thrashed with all of her strength, tearing against Suhail’s grip, almost relishing the fiery pain spilling from her head, dulling the hole of anguish in her soul. Jerusa tried to make her hair rip loose by sheer force of will, but her vampiric body would not allow it.

The water in the pit raged, washing up over the rim in tumultuous waves. The scent of blood filled the air. It enraged Jerusa, both out of desire and anger, knowing that it was Foster’s blood that she smelled. The water settled into a gentle roll and Kole came slithering out of the pit like a demon born from a womb of darkness.

Kole rolled over onto his back, heaving and panting as if in great pain. His leg began to regenerate and Jerusa felt her stomach roll, not because of the grotesquery of the act, but because she knew that the tissue he was using to regrow his leg had come from Foster.

And there was no scenario where this worked out well for Foster. Either he was beneath the water undergoing the change from vampire to savage, or Kole had claimed his brain as well, which meant —

Jerusa couldn’t bear to think about it. The collapsing hole within her chest burned with instant white-hot fury. She punched and kicked the air, numb now to the pain in her scalp. She wanted to hurt someone, anyone, make them pay for Foster’s death.

She reached up and took hold of Suhail’s wrist with both hands. She called for Alicia to come, to appear and help her. And the ghost was there, standing in midair in her eternal prom dress, her face a mask of anger, her skin a glowing lamp.

Suhail looked up at Alicia with a start, but his shock faded fast. “You do have a truly unique gift, fledgling. One that might have found you favor with the Stewards. But if you do not call Silvanus right now, they will never witness it.”

The light emanating from Alicia intensified, focused. She rushed at Suhail, diving at him as though she meant to tackle him. But even though Suhail could see Alicia through Jerusa’s touch, Alicia was still just a ghost. She passed through Suhail without stirring a single hair on his head.

Suhail laughed. “A wonderful show, really, it is, but this is my last warning. Call Silvanus here to us or I will toss you down to Kole.”

Something leapt through the darkness just then and took hold of Suhail. For a moment, Jerusa feared that Kole had climbed the beam while they were distracted with Alicia, but he was still writhing on the floor as his leg completed its regeneration. Jerusa tried to see who the attacker was, but Suhail, unwilling to release either the girder or Jerusa, kicked back and forth attempting to dislodge whoever was on his back.