Running From the Night (5 page)

“Indulge a condemned soul.”

The vampire shrugged. “You’re blood is on fire, as it tries to expel the viruses that are making their way to your heart. If the shock is not too great once the viruses hit the heart, the change begins instantly. If the shock is too great, the heart bursts.”

Jelani struggled to maintain his composure as they rode the escalator to street level. If he could keep this guy talking he might be able to do something to survive this. “Sounds nice.”

“Not much fun to experience, but I must admit it’s fun to watch. You’ve never seen someone squirm like that.”

“Is there any vestige of humanity left in you at all? Any sliver of moral fiber?”

“Moral fiber.” He laughed. “Moral fiber is first, overrated, and second, depends on the person. I was rather aggressive before my re-creating. Now, all that has been enhanced.”

Despite his situation, Jelani was interested. “So whatever type of person you are is, what, intensified?”

“That’s one way of putting it.” The blond vampire smiled and narrowed his eyes. “Whatever your most dominant traits were as a human are greatly enhanced in your re-creating.” He gave Jelani a head to toe assessment. “Take you, for instance.” They crossed through the perfume department and exited into the light rain outside where they waited at the stoplight. Chapters was right across the street.

“From my experience with you so far, you would be extremely fast, even for one of us. You would also be very strong, and your fighting skills would be like nothing you can imagine with your limited human mind.” He scrutinized Jelani. “You know, the irony of this is that you would make an incredible Hunter. Maybe one of the best.” He shrugged. Guess we’ll never know.

Jelani glanced at the dark sky. “I thought you all can’t be in water?”

Blondie threw his head back and laughed as though it was the best joke he’d heard all day. The light turned green and the crowd, Jelani and his lethal shadow included, started across.

“Ah the lore. The famous, lovely, foolish human lore. No, all of those ridiculous weaknesses we suffer in your stories are wishful thinking. Water, whether blessed by one of your religious sheepherders or not, will yield you only a wet, and most likely irritated, vampire. As for the cross,” he shook his head, his mouth half-hanging open in quiet mirth, “let’s just say that if you pull one of those things out on me, I’ll take it from your crushed hand and jam it somewhere you don’t want it to be.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

“Hey, any time. You know, the truth is, I don’t dislike you. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a lengthy conversation, especially with a human.”

“So you don’t suffer from any of the weaknesses in the stories?” The other man glanced at him, grinning.

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Let’s just say that it depends on the particular vampire you encounter, though it really wouldn’t matter because you wouldn’t survive long enough to figure it out.”

They entered the bookstore and Jelani turned left, heading toward the connecting Starbucks. “I need to use the restroom, if that’s all right?”

The other man shrugged. “If you insist. Don’t worry, I’ll be right here when you’re done. Don’t take too long praying, though, it’s rude to keep other people waiting who need to go, you know.”

“How considerate of you.”

Luck was with him, and there was a line for the two restrooms. He needed to figure something out fast. Interesting though this conversation was, he was not about to sit for another couple hours and have a conversation with a thing that was going to kill him and drain the blood from his body. He wiped his sweating palms on his pants, thinking. The line moved two steps.

Okay. What do I know about vampires? This is crazy! There’s not supposed to be such a thing! Okay. Most of the stories have some religious background, so I’ll just leave the holy water and crosses alone. I’ve seen the guy’s reflection, so that’s proof he wasn’t totally lying.

The line moved again. Two more people in front of him.

Sunlight seems to be one weakness. He didn’t come after me till night, and he referred to me waiting him out till daylight. Too bad it’s the middle of the night. Okay, scratch that. What else?

The two girls in front of him went in, leaving him next.

Garlic, stakes, silver, fire?

A few minutes later one of the two girls came out of the door on the right. Glancing over his shoulder to see a line of at least five more people behind him, Jelani sighed in relief and went in. The vampire wouldn’t break down the door with people watching. Hopefully.

Once he’d closed and locked the door, Jelani started pacing. There’s no way he would last till dawn, and he obviously couldn’t overpower or outrun the guy.

“If I at least had my knife I could make a try,” Jelani whispered to himself. He turned and looked in the mirror at himself. “I’m about to die,” he whispered to the reflection staring nervously back at him. He sighed and closed his eyes.

After a moment, he opened his eyes again and reached up and put his hands on the mirror, leaning forward to press his forehead on the glass. The mirror made little ticking sounds from his weight, and he froze. He looked up at the mirror, then at the corner, an idea forming.

Seconds later, he took off his shirt and bunched it in his hand to muffle the sound, then he pressed it to the bottom corner of the mirror and gave it a thrust with the butt of his hand. There was a muffled crack and a six-inch shard of the mirror broke away. He went to the other side and did the same, coming away with a similar sized piece. After cleaning up the glass from the floor, he wrapped the shards with toilet paper and carefully placed them in each of his pant pockets. Only got one shot at this.

He exited the bathroom, passing down the hall and by several waiting patrons. True to his word, the blond bloodsucker was waiting for him near the counter, smartly placing himself between Jelani and the exit to the coffee shop as well as the bookstore.

“Have a good pray? Get a good cry out while you were at it? So what now? Did you want to peruse the store a bit before we go? Maybe read a few verses from the Bible to get yourself prepared?” Jelani walked right by him, never looking back. “You look pretty determined there, bud. You got some kind of daring escape planned? You think you can take me down before I drain you dry?”

Jelani put his hands in his pockets and quickened his pace. “Do you torment everyone you kill with so many questions?”

The vampire went quiet for a minute as they exited the bookstore and turned left on Howe Street. “You know, I’ve been pleasant for this long because this isn’t personal, but if you speak to me like that again, I will snatch out your throat.”

Jelani said nothing.

“And speaking of throats, you must not value yours as much as you let on. It’s a pretty dark street, and there’s no one around.”

Jelani’s pulse quickened. The man’s voice had gone deep and raspy. This is it. Live or die.

A cold, firm hand grabbed his arm and spun him around. In that same motion, Jelani whipped his hand out of his pocket and stabbed at the vampires smiling face. The blond man easily caught his wrist and squeezed. The thick piece of mirror fell to the ground. The vampire
tsked
at him.

“Nice try, but predictable. I thought you would have come up with something better—” he never finished talking, for the weapon in Jelani’s left hand was only meant as a distraction while the piece in his right hand came out of his pocket and straight up under the vampire’s chin. Jelani didn’t hesitate, and drove the glass as far into the other man’s chin as he could. There was a sickening gurgle, and the vampire slapped him across the head and sent him spinning to the ground.

He shook his head slowly and tried to rise. That blow left him as dazed as if he’d been kicked. When his blurred vision started to clear, he saw the vampire, gurgling curses as he slowly, painfully extricated the glass from his neck. Blood seeped through his gritted teeth, and Jelani knew he’d scored a painful injury. He started to run, but before he could think twice about it, he ran forward and grabbed the other piece of the broken mirror, still wrapped in the toilet tissue.

The vampire had squinted his eyes closed as he slid the glass out of his chin, and so he didn’t see Jelani grab the other piece. When he opened his eyes, it was just in time to see the sharp edge coming for his right eye.

Jelani put all his weight behind the stab, and drove the glass as far in as he could. By the time the vampire screamed Jelani was already sprinting in the opposite direction. He looked over his shoulder and saw that some bystanders had heard the wailing and had come closer to see what was going on.

He hoped the vampire wouldn’t attack any of them, but there was nothing he could do about it. He just hoped he’d slowed his attacker down long enough to put some distance between them.

He turned left on Smithe Street, then right on Granville. He had to find a place to hide!

Granville always being a busy street, he slowed his run to a jog, so as not to appear suspicious. By a stroke of luck he came across a nightclub called the Darkroom and turned in. The place was crowded and dark, but to his disbelief, there was no line at the door! Perfect. When he made it to the counter, he had a moment of panic and slapped at his legs, looking for any stray money. He sighed in relief and let his head hang back when he felt his wallet in his back pocket.

“You that desperate to get in here?” the girl at the register asked, smiling at him.

“I really need a drink,” he said. “It’s been a rough night like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I wouldn’t mind hearing it.”

He smiled politely. “Maybe another time. I’m really kind of wiped out and need to just sit down. I’m not much good to anyone right now.”

She shrugged. “Go on in.”

“Thanks.” He sifted through the many bodies dancing and standing around, and found a booth in the back corner of the club and made straight for it. A few minutes later he was sitting in the darkest corner of the Darkroom, making his best effort not to be noticeable while nursing an untouched vodka and soda. His eyes rarely left the hall that led to the front door, and once, he had been concentrating so hard on watching for his pursuer, that he unconsciously took a sip from his drink. It tasted so bad it was almost painful. Why did people drink this stuff?

The loud music pounded his ears, and he politely refused every offer to dance that came his way. After he’d turned down the fifth girl who tried to pull him onto the dance floor, a guy walked up and tried.

“Those were some pretty girls that tried to get you on the floor,” the guy said, and Jelani knew what was coming. He smiled tiredly at him.

“Yeah, I know. Especially that last one! Oh, my God! If it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve been on my feet all day and am just exhausted, I would’ve been grinding all over that!”

“Mmm. Well, have a good night then,” the other guy said, raising his glass and giving Jelani a regretful look.

“You, too, man.” Jelani said, raising his glass. Six hours, and one sweating glass of vodka soda later, the club started to clear out. Soon, no one was left but Jelani and the staff, who promptly turned the lights on. Squinting in the sudden light, he stood from the booth and stretched.

“You know,” his server said, walking up. She was nearly as tall as him and had sandy blonde hair. Not bad looking at all. “For someone who doesn’t dance or drink,” she nodded at his untouched glass, “you sure know how to hang around till the party’s over.”

“I just needed a place to just chill, you know?”

“I can understand that,” she said. “Come back any time and chill in my section. My name is Danielle.”

“I appreciate the invitation, Danielle,” Jelani said, smiling. He was sure she meant it since he’d given her a forty-dollar tip on a seven-dollar drink to let him just sit in her section. “Guess I better be on my way.”

“Sorry to have to kick you out. Sun’s coming up.”

“No problem at all,” he said. Never in his life had he been happier to hear those words. The sun was coming up. For now, at least, he was safe. He stepped outside the club and looked around. The street was more or less vacant, with the occasional homeless person or nightclub stragglers stumbling across the sidewalk.

“Where the hell am I supposed to go now?” He doubted he could go back to his apartment. Surely someone heard the glass shatter when Daniel had been thrown from the room. When he thought of his dead roommate, it sent a pang of guilt into his stomach and pain in his heart. He slid down the wall till he was sitting on the ground. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes and sighed.

“I didn’t mean for you to get wrapped up in this, Daniel. Dammit, why did I go home?”

He was drawn from his thoughts by a muffled tune coming from his pocket. He slowly reached his hand in his pocket and withdrew his phone. He hadn’t even realized he still had it in his pocket. When he looked at the screen, he saw that he had three text messages. One was from Alisha, the second from a friend he’d met while working at the restaurant, and the third was from … Daniel.

***

Chapter Eight

“Oh, this has got to be some kind of trap,” he said to himself as he read the text.

Dude. If you’re still alive, call me. DO NOT GO HOME!

Jelani hesitated only a second before pulling up Daniel’s phone number. His friend picked up on the first ring.

“Holy shit, man! I thought you might be dead. I’ve been hiding out all night, waiting to hear from you. I’d nearly given up. I didn’t know what to do!”

“I’m so glad to hear your voice!” Jelani said, trying to keep his own voice down. “How the hell did you survive that fall?”

“Let’s not get into it on the phone. Where are you?”

“No place specific. Are you near the mall?”

“Not too far.”

Jelani started to suggest they meet there, then thought better of it, wanting to be as far in the opposite direction as possible. “On second thought, meet me at the SkyTrain station in Yaletown. You got money?”

“Yeah. I have some. I’ll see you there in fifteen?”

“That should be enough time for me to get there. Text me when you’re close.” He ended the call and stood. After a long stretch, he turned and jogged toward Yaletown.

O O O

When Jelani had first seen the SkyTrain on his initial visit to Vancouver, his mind had immediately gone to the monorail at Disneyland. Several cars connected to each other on an electric track that went sometimes below ground, and sometimes thirty or forty feet above. It was a relatively quick way to get around town, and quite efficient. The location he was now nearing was called the Yaletown Roundhouse Station, named after the locomotive roundhouse that was on display on the other side of Davie Street.

The SkyTrain station was underground, so he went down the steps and waited for Daniel’s text. It came a few minutes later telling him he was on the train that was coming up on the next stop. When the train arrived, Jelani saw his roommate step out of one of the cars farther down. When he spotted Jelani, he trotted toward him. They clasped hands and shared a relieved, heartfelt hug before Jelani indicated they get back on the train. Since it was just past five o’clock in the morning, not many people were out, so they had a car to themselves.

“So you wanna tell me how you survived being thrown through the window and to the ground, ten floors down?”

Daniel huffed, shaking his head. His hair was disheveled, but he looked otherwise unharmed. “Only through a stroke of good luck that our friend hurled me a little too far. I cleared the walkways and flew right into the water. I’m not going to lie and say the impact didn’t hurt like a bitch, because it did. But other than that, I made out okay. When I finally made it back and climbed out, you and that guy were already gone.”

He leaned his elbows on his knees and ran a hand through his black hair. “Some of the neighbors were standing in the hallway, wondering what happened. Apparently they heard the glass break and then they heard a man hollering, so they called the police, who showed up about ten minutes later.” He took a deep breath and blew it out, his cheeks puffing. “Imagine what it was like trying to come up with a good lie to the police.”

“I’d like to know how you explained being dripping wet from your night swim with all your clothes on.”

Daniel grinned and reached inside his shirt, holding up a silver chain with a piece of smooth, carved jade dangling. “My great-grandmother gave me this for good luck,” he said. “There is no way I wouldn’t dive into the water to get it, so it was only half a lie, which is why I think they didn’t call me a liar outright. Whether they believed me is your guess or mine, but they wrote it down and let it go at that. All I had to do was pretend that I was surprised to see the shattered window and what was obviously a struggle that went on.”

The computerized female voice announced that they had reached Marine Drive. “Where exactly are we going?” Daniel asked. “When you said to jump on the SkyTrain and where you’d meet me, I figured you wanted to get someplace far away, so I bought a three-zone ticket.”

“Smart man,” Jelani said, nodding. It was then that he noticed Daniel was wearing his backpack. “Looks like you came prepared.”

Daniel slipped out of the straps and unzipped the back. Jelani peeked inside and felt some relief. His knife was in there, as well as a change of clothes.

“I searched everywhere for your wallet but couldn’t find it.”

“I’ve got it right here,” Jelani said, patting his thigh. “You really took a risk grabbing my knife and a change of clothes for both of us. It would have looked more than suspicious to the cops, don’t you think?”

“Hey, I was willing to risk it. I’m sorry I ever doubted you. That little flight through the glass and into the ocean made a quick believer out of me. I still can’t believe I’m alive. And speaking of alive, I’m ready to hear your side of what happened.”

Jelani related everything that happened after Daniel had been thrown from the window. His roommate listened quietly through the entire story until, finally, Jelani finished. They had ridden the train all the way to Richmond.

“Wow! That’s quite a story. Pretty smart with the mirror thing.”

“Yeah, thanks. It was all I could come up with. I still can’t believe I’m alive. I can’t believe we’re both alive.”

Daniel nodded. “Well, I wouldn’t mind keeping it that way. And is this in some way related to why we just rode the SkyTrain to Hongcouver?”

Jelani laughed. The city of Vancouver had a large Asian population, particularly Chinese. After China had taken back Hong Kong from the British, many wealthy Chinese had immigrated to western Canada and settled in Richmond. The generation who were born in Canada, often referred to Richmond as “Hongcouver.”

“It was the first and farthest place I could think of to go on short notice.”

“Well, I had a little more time to think,” Daniel said, “so when I contacted the landlord, I told her that someone had broken into our apartment and apparently shattered the window for some reason.” He shrugged. “It was the best I could come up with on short notice. By some morbid way, it was actually good luck that he hurled me as far as he did. No one would believe I was actually thrown that far, so the cops didn’t really question that I wasn’t in the apartment when all this happened.”

“I thought you were dead, man,” Jelani said. “The whole night I didn’t have barely a second to think about it, but I thought I’d gotten you killed.”

Daniel waved the thought away. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not. Besides, I know you, you wouldn’t have come home if you’d have thought you were being followed.”

“I’d sure like to know how he got into our apartment,” Jelani said. “How the hell did he get inside the building?”

“People in the building are really good about not letting just anybody in. I can’t even guess how he pulled it off.”

Jelani shrugged. “Well, it’s not important right now. At this point we have to assume that we are both targets. I’m sorry you got pulled into this, and I’m not taking any more chances.…” he trailed off.

“What?” Daniel asked.

“He thinks you’re dead,” Jelani said, lighting up. “He hurled you through the glass and out the window ten stories up. He’ll think you’re dead, so if you get away from me till all this is done, he won’t think to come after you.”

Daniel was shaking his head before Jelani had finished. “I appreciate the logic, but it has a gaping hole. That vampire, and yes, I do believe you after my little flight, will be thorough. He will most likely have come back to our building in case you’re stupid enough to go back. He won’t see any of the remains of my apparent splatter on the ground either.”

“Dammit,” Jelani muttered. “And I doubt any of this has escaped that Hunter’s attention. Not for long, anyway.”

The train pulled into the last stop in Richmond, and they stepped out and made their way to the street. As in Vancouver, Richmond was gray and cloudy, the temperature a cold thirty degrees.

“I can’t lie,” Daniel said as they looked around. “That plane to the Caribbean is starting to sound more enticing by the second.”

The text alert sounded on Jelani’s phone. After reading it, he let out another sigh. He seemed to be doing a lot of sighing lately. “It’s Alisha.”

Daniel’s eyebrows rose. “A little early, isn’t it? What does she want?”

“Nothing. Just saying hello.”

“Best not answer it until we get all this sorted out.”

“I think you’re probably right,” Jelani agreed. “According to your account to the police, you don’t know what happened to me, which means nobody does. If I keep quiet for now, it’ll buy us some time.”

“Until they start canvassing the city and asking if anyone has seen you, or put it on the news.”

Jelani laughed. “It’s not that serious yet, dude. Nobody’s dead.”

“Except that guy from Stanley Park, the day before this happened,” Daniel countered. “Two incidents in less than twenty-four hours.”

“Alright, we need to focus.” Jelani pulled out his phone.

“What’re you doing?”

“Looking for a library,” he said absently. After a moment, he said, “There’s one not far from here. We’re at Richmond Brighouse Station. It shouldn’t take more than ten or fifteen minutes to get there.”

They started walking. “Is the library going to be our hideout?” Daniel asked.

“Hardly. Well, for a while at least. I want to at least have an idea how to defend myself against that bastard when he comes at me next time.”

“Next time?”

“He’s not going to give up, and neither is that Hunter. You remember what I told you that Indian girl said, they’re not going to give up.”

“You think most of the stuff from the stories is true?”

“Some of it, I think. The religious stuff you can pretty much throw out. I’m putting my money on the more realistic weaknesses.”

Daniel looked at him. “Like wooden stakes, or fire?”

Jelani nodded. “I can’t pretend to be the expert, but I think some of those things might apply. The first time I got away from the blond guy, I put my thumbs in his eyes. If he had been human, he’d be blind. Still, it was enough to buy me some time to get away. The second time, I put a sharp piece of mirror through his chin, then drove a second piece in his eye. That must have done some damage, because I made it all the way to the Darkroom and he never caught me.”

They turned right on Minoru Boulevard and were soon within sight of the library. As they reached the building, a crow landed on the chain link fence to their left.

“Looks like we’ve got a buddy,” Jelani said, smiling at the crow. The bird regarded him with a dark eye.

“You and your crows,” Daniel said, eyeing the bird. “Why do you like those creepy things anyway?”

“Crows are highly intelligent and adaptable. They’re beautiful birds and highly resourceful.”

“Oh, why did I get you started?” Daniel said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s true, man! Did you know that if a crow is trying to open something with a hard shell, it will actually place it in the street where it can be run over by a car? And they have a varying and complex degree of speech.”

“Well, that’s admirable and all, but that crow seems to have a special interest in you.” The crow leaped from the fence and glided ahead, landing right beside them as they walked. It took a few steps alongside them, then took wing again, landing a few steps ahead, all the while watching.

“Yeah, I know.” Jelani chuckled. “It probably thinks I’ve got food. They do that, you know.”

“But you’re not holding anything,” Daniel pointed out.

“It might be used to being fed.”

“Do they always look you in the eye like that?”

“Actually,” Jelani said. “They do look you in the eye. Crows actually recognize faces. Twenty people could walk by that bird, but it would know the minute I walked by, if it took an interest in me for whatever reason.”

“Well, it’s interested in you now, and it’s kind of freaking me out.”

Jelani couldn’t deny that the crow did seem unusually focused on him. It was looking directly in his eyes, but it hadn’t made a sound. “I don’t have any food for you, buddy,” he said to the bird. In response, it cawed at him. Jelani stopped Daniel a few steps farther down and turned to look back at him.

“Did you see that?” Jelani said. “I could swear that crow just responded to me when I told it I didn’t have any food!”

“Looks like you’ve got a new best friend. You gonna bring your avian Rhodes Scholar buddy into the library with us? Maybe it needs you to get in because it doesn’t have the opposable thumbs to fill out an application for a library card.”

“It doesn’t need opposable thumbs. Its toes are positioned on its feet so that it could hold a pen effectively to write, if it knew how.”

“Dude, you’re starting to make me nervous.”

Jelani continued to stare at the bird. “Are you trying to tell me something?”

“Jelani, you’re talking to a bird!”

The crow cawed angrily at Daniel.

“I think you offended it,” Jelani said.

“I’m so sorry.”

The crow cawed at him again, spreading its wings. Despite himself, Daniel took a step back, laughing nervously. “Sorry, man, sorry.”

The crow cawed in a less harsh tone at Jelani, then leaped from the fence and climbed into the sky. In seconds it was gone.

“I wonder what all that was about,” Jelani said, staring after the diminishing bird.

“You know, you’re the only person I know that actually has stood and tried to have a conversation with a bird, and a crow, at that.”

“Crows have an undeserved bad rap.”

“They’re mean.”

“They don’t take shit.”

“Whatever.”

They walked into the library and Jelani went to an available computer. After a few minutes of searching, he found the section, and the two friends were sitting at a table with two stacks of books pertaining to vampiric lore.

“This stuff is all really interesting,” Daniel said, thumbing through a particularly thick tome. “I would probably be able to enjoy this more if I wasn’t looking for something to help me survive.” He looked out the window at the cloudy day. “Funny thing. If ever there was a perfect environment for a vampire, it would be here. From October to April we get more gray and rain than sun.”