Luke didn’t see Pablo and Delilah for a week after his near fatal brush with mortality. Except to pick up his car or the occasional excursion out for supplies, Luke didn’t leave the house. He spent the nights passed out and the days napping on the couch. Alfred, always the opportunist, used this to his favor and demanded near constant cuddles and attention. Luke enjoyed his furry companion; the comfort his feline friend brought helped settle his mind and soothe his wounded heart. By the time Delilah and Pablo came knocking a week after their last conversation, Luke was more ambulatory but still nowhere near top shape.
“Hey, Pablo. Delilah. Come on in.” Luke led the way into the kitchen, grabbing beers for everyone.
A palpably awkward silence drifted between them as they drank their beers.
Luke broke the silence. “I’ll just say it. I can’t do this alone tonight. I need your help. I’m still too weak, and if I’m not out on the street, that’s more people disappearing. More people dead.”
“Just tonight?” Delilah asked, a snarky expression on her face.
“Let’s try out tonight and see how it goes. That’s the best I can promise for now. I’m still not thinking straight with this concussion.”
“What can we do to help?” Pablo cut in.
“We’ll need to find a solo vampire. That’s been harder and harder to find lately, as you saw last week. I’m not going to heal fast enough if I can’t get my rudis into a vampire, and I’m in no shape to handle one myself.” Luke sighed, looking down at his hands folded together on the table. “I’m going to need you to catch one and hold them down for me. Damn it, this is so fucking embarrassing.”
“Hey, man. It’s OK. You can ask your friends for help when you need it,” Pablo replied.
Luke raised an eyebrow. “We’re friends?”
“I can’t speak for Delilah, but you and I are headed that way.”
“Speaking of which, how are you involved in this? I know Ms.… I don’t know your last name,” Luke said to Delilah.
“Johnson.”
Luke nodded his thanks to her. “I know Ms. Johnson followed me home after our meeting. I can only assume she’s been following me as I go out hunting.”
Delilah looked straight into Luke’s eyes with a mix of mild embarrassment and boldness. Luke smirked at her and turned his attention back to Pablo.
“But you, Mr. Pablo the Werewolf, how are you mixed up in all of this?” Luke tilted his head to the side.
“My last name is currently Sandoval, by the way, since we’re getting to know each other. I have a bad habit of eavesdropping on my customers. I caught Delilah when she got mad at you and left for the restroom and informed her I was also interested in joining you for some late-night stake capers after we’d sent the ones behind the pub on their mushy way. We’ve been hunting together over the last few weeks.” Pablo said.
“Stake capers?” Luke asked.
Pablo shrugged. “You know how it is. You live long enough, you get bored with the normal routine. Besides, how often do you get to hang around with someone older than any werewolf I’ve ever met?”
“So what you’re telling me, Pablo, is that you’re an old guy looking for kicks?”
Pablo shrugged and smiled at Luke.
Luke shook his head. “So I have a thrill-seeking werewolf and a human with unknown motives who want to join me in killing vampires?”
Pablo and Delilah looked at each other, then nodded at Luke.
“That about sums it up,” Pablo confirmed.
Luke looked at them, then sighed.
“OK,” Luke started. “If we’re going to do this, we need to make some things clear. I’m in charge. I’ve been doing this for many times longer than either of you has been alive. From the bodies I’ve come across, it’s apparent you’ve had some success, but things are getting a lot more serious, more serious than I’ve seen in a long time. Can you take orders from me?”
They mumbled their assent.
“Good. We’ll need to start training together to see what we each bring to the table and how to integrate it so we can keep each other alive. I don’t fancy a repeat of the other night.”
“Yeah. You’re lucky you didn’t get killed,” Delilah chimed in.
“I was. I’ve been thinking about it though… Seems like that’s all that’s been running through my head lately.” Luke paused, looking down at his folded hands. “I don’t think they were trying to kill me. They were only using blunt weapons and mostly avoided my head. Also, just before you showed up, one of them was trying to call the others off. I think I heard something about binding my hands and feet and taking me to their boss. I’m not sure though. It’s all very hazy.”
Pablo chuckled. “I bet it is. Hazy, that is. That was one hell of a beating you took. So what next?”
“Let’s see if we can find some lone vampires. Pablo, do you mind driving? I’m not sure I’m strong enough or quick enough right now to hop in and out of my car and put my armor on.” Luke stood up.
“You’ll fit in the back seat easily enough,” Pablo replied.
Luke gave a closed-mouth smile. “Help me suit up, and we’ll go hunt us down a fanger.”
They drove around the more popular bar districts of Portland for several hours before Luke felt comfortable the circumstances were right—either there’d been no vampires, too many human witnesses, or too many vampires. As Luke signaled he’d sensed a potential target, they saw a man walk out of a bar on NE Forty-second Avenue and walk north before turning west onto NE Tillamook. A moment or so later, a woman dressed in motorcycle boots and a leather jacket popped out of the same bar and followed the man. While his walk was casual with the slightly off-balance gait of intoxication, hers was steady, determined, yet quiet.
“Bingo!” Luke muttered. “Follow that man.”
Pablo turned left on Tillamook. “I’m going to turn into the neighborhood up here. We can park and use the trees and bushes to hide.”
“Good plan.”
Pablo turned right onto NE Forty-first Avenue and parked alongside the curb about halfway down the block. They exited Pablo’s truck, holding the handles and gently pushing the truck’s doors in to keep them from making a sound as they shut them. They slunk around the trees back toward Tillamook when they saw the man cross Forty-first with the woman just behind him, still seemingly unnoticed by the intoxicated man. He continued, unaware of the danger stalking him, while she closed the gap, oblivious to the danger about to find her.
Trying to step up onto the curb that wasn’t there, the man’s foot dropped onto the ramped curb and twisted, sending him sprawling to the ground. The woman seized the opportunity.
“Oh! Let me help you up.” She bent over to offer him a hand as he rolled onto his butt.
He went completely still as his eyes made contact with hers, and her vampire magic easily overcame his intoxicated brain, glamouring him. He rose with her help and followed her into the nearby sheltered alcove entrance of the Hollywood branch of the Multnomah County Library. She hauled him to the back corner of the alcove and latched on to his neck. To anyone passing, it would look like a young couple simply couldn’t wait to make it home and stopped for a bit of passionate necking. The look of ecstasy and arousal on the man’s face would confirm that assumption.
Luke motioned for his companions to move out. They stalked forward until they reached Tillamook. Luke signaled Pablo to walk down the block to the right and approach from that side. Delilah looped to the left and came back at the alcove the other way. Luke stood in the shadows of the bushes on the corner while his friends got into position. Once they were in their respective corners, Luke waved them both to a halt. He strolled across the crosswalk until he was behind the huge brick pillar that blocked his view of the vampire and her meal.
So far, they’d remained undetected. She must be a young vampire to be so involved in her snack that she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings. Her vampiric survival senses weren’t yet honed by years of hunting and stealth. Standing at the corner of the pillar so he was visible to Delilah and Pablo, he waved them in. They darted around their corners and caught the vampire completely by surprise. They dragged her backwards until her back was pinned up against the pillar and her arms pinned back on either side. Though she was young, she was vampire strong. The only option Delilah and Pablo had was to take her straight back. At least with her arms pinned that far back, it reduced her strength significantly. She still kicked and thrashed, but she couldn’t break the werewolf’s hold. Delilah, though not as strong as the werewolf or vampire, used all her ability to keep the arm pinned, so that she had leverage and the advantage.
Luke shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered around the corner.
“Hello, my blood sucking friend. Sorry to interrupt your tasty snack,” Luke said, tilting his head toward the passed-out man who’d slumped to the ground, his chest rising and falling with the rhythm of life. “I’m afraid this is your last night among the living and the undead.”
The vampire focused her intense stare on Luke’s face, trying to glamour him.
“Sorry. That shit ain’t gonna work on me. Let’s get this over with.” Luke slid his rudis out of its sheath. The vampire’s eyes widened when she caught sight of the wooden blade with its silver inlay. She renewed her thrashing. Pablo and Delilah were using every ounce of strength and determination they could muster to keep her still.
“Fuck you! I’ll rip your fucking throat out and drink you dry.” She continued using her unattended legs to try to kick Luke.
“It’s nice to die with delusions.” Something about her face tugged a string of memory in Luke’s mind. He hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out why.
“Bruh, just fucking finish it already,” Delilah grunted as she struggled to keep the vampire’s left arm contained.
Luke tried to position himself to get in, but a steady barrage of flailing kicks, combined with his greatly reduced speed and flexibility, were stymieing his attempt to get a clean kill. Delilah and Pablo had her arms firmly pinned against the brick column, essentially gluing her back into position. She used it to her advantage to keep Luke from closing within range of her heart.
Switching the rudis to his left hand, Luke reached over his shoulder and pulled out his gladius. He was hoping for an easier kill, but this was turning out to be a bit of an unintended mess. Delilah’s face glistened with perspiration as she strained to keep the vampire’s arm restrained. Luke could see cords rising in Pablo’s neck as he held onto the other arm. As soon as the vamp unleashed a kick with her left leg, Luke darted around to the side and brought his gladius down and through her femur before rotating and thrusting the rudis into her heart. The movement left him winded, his poorly recovered muscles protesting the sudden exertion. He left the rudis in the vamp’s chest as he stepped back to catch his breath.
“Should we lay her down?” asked Pablo.
“Yeah. Drag her a bit further back in the shadows and lay her out,” Luke replied.
“Sure.” Pablo pulled her around to join Delilah on her side of the post. Together they laid her flat, the rudis still sticking up from her chest. Pablo straightened up. “You were struggling a bit there, buddy.”
“Yeah, still not recovered.”
Delilah walked over and checked the victim’s pulse. “He’s alive. Pulse seems strong.”
Luke clumsily lowered himself to his knees, wrapped his hands around the hilt of the rudis, placed his forehead on the pommel, and spoke the words that activated the weapon’s ancient enchantment. The silver inlay glowed white, disappeared into the vampire’s chest, then ran back up the blade into the pommel and into Luke. He shuddered and released a euphoric sigh.
Luke got up, feeling steadier than he’d felt since before his epic beat down. He walked over to the slumped almost-victim.
“He probably just passed out from a mix of booze and vamp glamour. Well, and a bit of blood loss too.”
All three of their heads perked up as they heard the distant sound of sirens.
“I think your handiwork is drawing some attention,” Pablo said.
Luke nodded. “We probably better get out of here. He’ll be OK.”
“What about…” Delilah gestured over the liquefying vampire.
“It’s unknown goo and some clothes. Cops and police labs aren’t equipped to handle vampire remains. The dissipating magic is destroying any biological traces of her former humanity. Let’s go.”
Delilah and Pablo looked at each either and shrugged, then followed Luke as he stepped over the goo and crossed the street. Once he was in the shadows of the trees, he picked up his pace into a light jog until all three were back in Pablo’s truck. They pulled out onto the street and drove slowly through the dark neighborhood and away from the scene of the crime.
Delilah turned around in the front passenger seat to face Luke. “Bruh, what the hell took you so long?”
Pablo nodded his head in agreement.
“I was having trouble getting around her kicking. I’m not as recovered as I thought,” Luke replied.
Delilah shook her head. “I wasn’t talking about that. At the beginning, you hesitated.”
“Yeah, you kind of stared at her,” Pablo added.
“I knew her,” Luke replied.
“What?” Delilah and Pablo exclaimed in stereo.
“I’ve seen her before, before she was turned.” He stared out the window as Pablo drove toward NE Broadway.
“Where? Was she a friend?”
“No. I’m not sure I even knew her name.” He turned to make eye contact with Delilah. “She used to live at a houseless camp up on Greeley. I was afraid of this.”
“Dude, you want to quit vaguebooking us?” Pablo interjected.
“Sorry. My brain is still not running at full speed. I’m trying to gather my thoughts.” After a moment, he continued. “Vampires prey on the weak and the voiceless. They hunt victims who won’t be missed or won’t be believed—the sick, mentally ill, poor, marginalized, and the houseless.”
Delilah looked sad.
“Portland makes for a tasty hunting ground for vamps. A lot of dispossessed people have washed up in Portland. There are transients working their way up and down the west coast. People don’t pay attention to them while the cops harass them. They’re the perfect victims. Vampires kill some, turn others. No one’s looking for them. Who’s going to figure out they’re now bloodsucking monsters?”
Silence shrouded the cab of the truck as they pulled onto I-5 North.
Pablo looked at the clock on the truck’s dashboard. “It’s about closing time at the pub. You want to stop in for a few quiet after-hours beers?”
Delilah and Luke tucked into the back booth while Pablo helped his bartender close up for the evening. They enjoyed a couple pilsners while they waited for Pablo to finish and usher his employee out into the night.
Luke finally broke the silence, making eye contact with both of them. “Thanks for helping out tonight, and thanks for listening to my instructions.”
Delilah and Pablo nodded and continued sipping their beers.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve hunted with anyone. It’s…a bit weird, but not bad.” Luke drank from his beer and let the silence stand while he finished his first beer.
Pablo got another round before Luke continued. “It’s going to take us a bit of time to get used to working together, but I’m willing to see where this partnership goes.”
Delilah and Pablo relaxed but still were uncertainly eyeing Luke after the night’s events.
Luke continued, “Vampires are powerful and cunning creatures. I feel like…” He halted, took a drink, and sighed.
“How are you feeling?” Delilah interrupted.
“Still not one-hundred percent but much better. I think I’ll be fine as long as we don’t attempt another full gang fight. If we’re careful picking our engagements, we’ll be able to take care of business while I get fully recharged.”
“How many vampires will it take to juice you back up?” Pablo asked.
Luke shrugged. “I’m not sure. That’s the closest I’ve been to death in a long time. I’m hoping not too many. I don’t want to be at a disadvantage if we run into a big group, especially with you two still so green.”
Pablo and Delilah started to protest. Luke held up his hands to calm them.
“Look, I know you’ve both killed some vampires, and you saved my life. For that, I’m most appreciative, but I’ve been doing this for almost nineteen centuries. Trust me when I say I’m not insulting you. If we’re going to work together, we have to make sure all your skills are fine tuned. Most importantly, we need to learn to coordinate together. If we’re getting in each other’s way, that’ll be almost as dangerous as going it alone.”
They accepted his explanations and seemed mollified for now. Pablo pulled out his cell phone to select something to play over the pub’s sound system. The soundtrack to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon started playing. “I figured if we were going to be talking about fighting, we might as well have a good soundtrack. It was either this or Carl Douglas, and I didn’t know if either of you cats were fast as lightning.”
Delilah shook her head while Luke tried to stifle a laugh.
“Wait here. I have something special I want you to try.” Pablo disappeared behind the bar.
They heard the walk-in cooler door opening and shutting.
“Where does he think we’re going?” Luke asked.
Delilah shrugged and went back to drinking her beer in silence. The walk-in door opened and closed again. Luke peered out of the booth and watched Pablo grab a pitcher and clean out one of his beer lines. Soon, he returned with three footed tulip glasses filled with a thick, black beer with a rich brown head.
“And voilà! You get to be the first to try the new Imperial Stout. It’s a classic English-style Russian Imperial Stout. Although, I should call it a Roman Imperial Stout, eh?” Pablo winked at Luke. He raised his glass. “I want to propose a toast. To new partnerships and new friends!”
Luke, Delilah, and Pablo tapped their glasses together and said, “Cheers!”
The Russian Imperial stout was big and tasty with an air of danger thanks to the high alcohol level. Luke chuckled mentally. Tonight had an air of danger about it as well, relying on people for the first time in a long time, but it had gone smoothly, even considering his poor performance killing the vamp quickly. Maybe Delilah and Pablo would work out and be a good addition to his life. He just had to ensure they stayed alive long enough to get experienced enough to be truly dangerous hunters. Hope and the responsibility—two things he’d avoided for a long time—flared to life inside him.