Days rolled into nights and back around as Luke continued his lonely routine. Days, he filled with exercise to increase his stamina and reading to stimulate his mind with periodic social media breaks to ensure he numbed it back down while keeping up with the latest memes and lingo. Nights, he spent wandering the neighborhoods of Portland seeking out those who fed from the city’s late-night denizens. Some nights he went home covered in the blood of vampires, the others he came up empty.
While he was used to finding vampires in ones and twos, he increasingly encountered more and more working in coordination, canvasing a neighborhood for snacks. Largely, they’d either been sticking to catch and release or were finding creative ways of disposing of their more indiscriminate kills since the news had been strangely silent about new corpses found with few marks and even fewer blood cells.
Luke pulled his old Volvo onto one of the dark side streets in the Sunnyside neighborhood along Southeast Belmont Avenue in the hip and hipster-filled inner southeast of Portland. Popping the wagon’s hatch, he pulled the plastic tub forward and opened it. He wrapped the heavy scarf around his neck and pulled his armor over it, snugging the leather laces together and sealing himself inside his tin can. Next, he slung his swords into their positions on his back before covering everything up with the oversized, black zip hoodie he’d bought to replace yet another one ruined by the claws of a vampire. Overall, the process took only a few moments. Luke had gone through variations of the procedure so many times over the centuries, he could do it in a near sleep and had a few times when a barbarian or vampire had breached the defenses.
Bundled up in his hoodie with a scarf, he looked like anyone else in the drizzly Portland fall, except with the physique of a linebacker thanks to the added bulk of the lorica segmentata. He wandered up to Belmont and strolled east looking like any of the nighttime pedestrians heading out to a bar or home from wherever. He wandered into the little market on 34th and bought a bottle of water before heading back into the night.
The bars along Belmont lacked the more fangy pub goers Luke was looking for, so he wound his way up 30th to Hawthorne toward the other popular bar districts in shallower southeast. He knew he had a good shot of finding vamps in the area with a large pub and movie theater and a small rock venue up near Cesar Chavez Boulevard. He wasn’t wrong.
A show spilled its crowd onto Hawthorne and with it, the twinge that set off Luke’s fanger alarm.
“Let’s go back to our place. We can throw on some records, and we got fresh herb ready to spark up.” A short, thin man with a cool, shaggy cut that was equally parts styled to within an inch of its life and perfect bedhead gestured to a small group to follow him. Several of the men and women had the telltale slightly glazed and infatuated eyes of the glamoured. Many had the slight stagger of the inebriated, and all seemed perfectly happy to follow along with the vampire’s offer to keep the party going.
Luke blended into the back of the crowd, affecting a slight stagger of his own, nodding when it seemed appropriate, and agreeing with the kids that the show was either great or crap, depending on who was offering the opinion. No one noticed. The humans were all tipsy on booze and magic, and the thought of heading home was anathema. They worked their way through the streets and houses southwest of Hawthorne, which was an odd mix of punk flop houses, “trustafarians”—rich kids living a hippie-ish life on mom and dad’s money—or the wealthy in their renovated old Portland homes. The house the vampiric pied piper led everyone to would definitely classify as the first of the three categories. The huge house in the Portland Farmhouse style featured old windows, peeling paint, and a surprising amount of shabbiness.
The group filed through the door and milled about the entryway and living room. The leader fished a set of keys out of his pocked and walked toward a door.
“Follow me. Beer fridge is in the basement along with the dank bud, buds.” He chuckled at his own joke.
Luke hoped there weren’t any more vampires lurking down there. His hands would be full with the three he’d followed here, not to mention the bystanders. Luke joined the parade downstairs and got in line to grab a cold tallboy can of Pabst Blue Ribbon out of the fridge.
“Fuckin’ hipster vampires, of course they only have PBR,” he mumbled to himself. He cracked the can open and took a sip, wandering over to check out the wall of records against one wall. If not to his taste, at least the beer was cold and refreshing. The vampire, however, had good taste in music. Over one shoulder, he noticed the lead vamp walking down the stairs. He’d probably locked the door before joining his all you can eat buffet. He looked over at Luke.
“Go ahead and put something on. Let’s keep the party going.” A selection of “woos” filled the basement as everyone chimed in their agreement with the host’s idea. Luke continued flipping through the records until he found something he wanted. He pulled The Killer’s “Hot Fuss” album down and fired up side one on the record player.
“Nice choice!” someone shouted.
Luke turned around to the gurgling sound of someone taking a large rip from a bong and the scent of marijuana filling the confined space of the basement. The woman passed it to the person next to her as she coughed out a lung full of smoke. More beers were passed around as the bong made its rounds. Luke found a place out of the way and leaned up against the wall to keep the scene firmly in front of him. Everyone was riding high.
The sound of the door opening and feet squeaking their way down the stairs, along with his tingly vampy senses, alerted him to more vampires joining the party. Two more, a man and a woman, joined their three fangy friends. The lead vampire tossed them a couple beers and grabbed one more for himself.
“Hey, you guys wanna see something freaky?”
The captive audience nodded. Luke switched from casual to hyper-aware as he watched the vampire’s fangs slowly lengthen into needle sharp points. The vampire tilted his head sideways so the can in his hands could remain vertical, bit into the side of the can with his fangs, cracked the tab, and shotgunned the can, vampire style. Everyone in the room watched entranced while the other four vampires eyed their juice boxes. He finished the can in short order, then sketched an elaborate bow.
He slid into a spot on the couch next to a woman who had been staring longingly at him for a while, then latched onto her neck. A tiny dribble of blood wound its way down her neck. Her heavy breathing and the look of ecstasy on her face combined with alcohol, THC, and a heavy dose of vampire glamour tipped a few more people into a make-out session. More fangs came out. So far, the vamps were playing nice, but that could change any moment. Luke, however, was not really in the mood to play nice with fangers, not that he ever was.
Slowly and steadily, he reached up and slid his gladius out of its sheath. He casually lowered it to his side, shifting so his body and leg were between the crowd and his sword. He followed it up by freeing his rudis. With two blades and a wall to back him, he could command the room while trying to keep the vampires from tearing him apart. The only trick would be keeping the civilian casualties down.
A scream interrupted the opening bars of “All These Things That I’ve Done.”
“He’s got a knife!”
That killed the mood. More screams joined the first as everyone turned toward the large man with two swords. The sudden change in tone transformed the vampires from sexy to sadistic in the blink of an eye. Claws joined fangs as rage filled their eyes. The lingering arousal vanished as fear and adrenalin replaced the good times. One woman, the first to feel teeth, slumped over against the side of the couch. Luke hoped she had only passed out. He’d check her pulse when he had a chance.
“Well.” He brought the gladius up to his forehead and saluted the vampires. “Here’s to all the things I’m about to do…”
He waited until the humans made a break for the door and tripped up three of the vampires who were hanging back as two of their companions advanced on Luke. The intoxicated humans were too concerned with escaping up the tiny stairway to reach for their cell phones. By the time they’d shaken off the glamour and calmed down enough to think about calling 911, Luke hoped to be long gone.
He darted left, stabbing at the vampire’s chest, who deflected the swing down and across Luke’s body. Luke used the change of angles to bring a backhanded swing up and back across his body. The first vampire he’d attacked leaned back, but the second wasn’t nearly as agile, and the gladius opened his throat. He went down, clutching his neck as thick black blood oozed from the gash. Distracted by the fate of his friend, the first vampire didn’t see the rudis Luke plunged deep into his chest until it had destroyed his heart. Falling backwards and grasping the wooden sword protruding from his chest, he yanked the blade from Luke’s hand. Luke kicked out, launching the vamp further away to clear his space and foul the crowd of vampires waiting their turn. Taking a moment to look at the other vampire, he brought his blade down, removing the vamp’s head entirely.
Scooping the detached head with his foot and placing it in front of him, he took a step back, then kicked it at the remaining vampires, catching one in the nose. The sound of crunching cartilage brought a smirk to Luke’s lips. Humming the chorus to the song, Luke launched his next attack, feinting a jab toward the center vamp, he used his momentum to place a big roundhouse punch on the vampire to the right, sending him sprawling over the couch. The one with the broken nose seemed preoccupied with his face, while the other one was tangled in the body of the hopefully unconscious and not dead woman on the couch.
The humans who could reach it were pounding on the door, while the others were crowded behind them, trying to get as far from the action as possible. Someone tripped, and several people tumbled down the steps, taking out the vampire with the broken nose and knocking the one still standing off balance. Seizing the opportunity, Luke struck, burying the gladius in the vampire’s heart. He collapsed into the pile behind him and turned to dust.
The sound of splintering wood drew Luke’s attention back to the stairs where the press of humans finally broke the door down. They were flooding out as fast as they could, tripping over each other and plugging the doorway. Luke directed his attention back to the two remaining vampires. The one with the broken nose was still tangled up with the people who hadn’t made it up the stairs. The one on the couch was attempting to circumvent the pileup and get to the door.
Luke grabbed the back of his jacket, spun hard, and flung him up against the wall before administering a fatal stab. Since he was close, he pulled his rudis from the heart of the vampire corpse. Once the rudis left its body, it dissolved into a mess of goo. Luke turned and finished the beheaded torso with a kill shot to the heart. He spun around to address the last vampire, but only saw his back as he flew up the stairs and out the busted door. Luke sprinted after him, knocking down a guy who was trying to get out.
Emerging at the top of the stairs just in time to see the vampire throw his body through the big bay window like a stunt man going for broke, Luke didn’t hesitate. He followed the fanger, clearing a few dangling shards with a sword as he jumped through and landed nimbly on the ground. He sprinted deeper into the dark neighborhood after the vamp who must have been a track star before he’d been turned, because he was quickly pulling away from Luke. Luke tried to turn up the speed but wasn’t even keeping pace. The vamp took a right, and Luke lost sight of him.
Luke chased the vampire for a few blocks, turning corners just in time to see his prey turn another corner before eventually losing him. He slowed to a jog and concentrated on his vampire detection senses, hoping to get some clue as to where to look. He was so focused inward that he didn’t notice the goo slick until he slid through it, almost falling. Catching his balance, he looked down and saw a set of clothes that perfectly matched the hipster vamp he’d been chasing.
Except for his boot print, the size and shape of the puddle, coupled with some hair, meant it had probably been a head at one point. Wiping the sole of his boot on the nearby grass, he turned his attention to the clothes and liquefying body inside them. Noticing an odd shape under the fanger’s jacket, Luke used the tip of his sword to lift the edge of the coat. A stake. Another hunter had beaten him to the kill. The sound of sirens in the distance pulled him up.
“Well, fuck. Looks like someone objects to me crashing their party,” he muttered to himself.
He stabbed the stake with his gladius, not wanting to leave any more unusual evidence, and jogged further away from the house and the oncoming police. Once he was a few blocks away, he ducked in between a bush and a brick wall. He propped the gladius up against the wall with the stake on the ground. With one hand free, he pulled out a rag and wiped down the rudis before putting it away in its scabbard. He popped the stake off his gladius and then cleaned and sheathed it, too. He rolled the stake in the dirt and grass, trying to get it as clean as possible before he picked it up with his cleaning rag so he wouldn’t leave fingerprints, checked to see if it was clear, and continued on his way.
Luke walked further away from where he was parked, hoping to avoid any police making neighborhood sweeps. Once he’d judged that he’d gone far enough in the opposite direction, he angled back toward where he’d parked on Belmont. Along the way, he found a compost bin on the curb waiting for pickup the next morning. He shoved the stake deep down under the leaves and walked off into the night.