“Are you sure this is the right neighborhood?” Luke asked.
“Pretty sure. Based on the scout teams we’ve had out, there have been a lot of scent pings in the area. Too many to be coincidence. At least I hope…” Pablo replied.
Based on an idea Pablo and Luke had come up with prior to the Wapato raid, they’d sent out small teams of werewolves at night to comb popular bar districts around Portland to see if they could detect specific nests or areas being worked heavily. According to the data points they’d mapped, somewhere within a series of blocks in southeast Portland between Belmont and Hawthorne, there was a vampire nest, or at least chances of stumbling on a vamp out hunting. It was a better plan than last fall when they primarily relied on walking around until Luke’s vampy senses went off.
“So… You just drive around and hope to stumble on a vampire? That’s your whole plan?” Sam asked, sounding incredulous.
“Pretty much,” Luke replied.
“I mean, we’re sending out scouts to get better odds. That’s an improvement,” Pablo chimed in, defending Luke.
“Guys. There has to be a better way to do this.” Sam shook her head.
“Well, Delilah used to wait in bars until she could pick up a vampire…” Luke offered feebly.
“You keep my name out of your mouth. As you told me so pointedly when we first met, I was an amateur.”
Luke inhaled sharply as shame washed over him. “I’m… I’m so sorry.” Putting his head in his hands, he shook it. “I keep failing at my duty. I’m not equipped for this anymore. The world has changed too much while I hid in my house.”
Sam patted his knee. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re not wrong, Sam,” Luke replied. “I used to be a leader of soldiers. I commanded the most feared legion in the empire. I’ve outlived empires. I survived the trenches in Belgium and France…”
“Luke, buddy, we’ll figure this out. You don’t have to go it alone. You have resources, that means more than bodies. That also means brains.” Pablo stopped, sniffing at the vents pulling in air from outside. Rolling down the window further, he popped his nose out to grab a few more breaths of air. “I think there’s one around. Smells fresh-ish.”
“Ish?” Delilah asked.
“Like one passed through sometime in the last couple hours maybe? Cut me some slack. I’m not a trained bloodhound. I’ve been living in cities for a long time. Haven’t needed to hunt for a meal in a while. Whup. It’s gone. Let me circle the block and see if we can get a bead on it.”
Luke put away his self-pity now that the hunt was imminent. He tried to pick up the vibrations that let him know his age-old enemy was near. When they’d rounded the block, Luke felt it.
“They’re near and still here,” Luke said.
As they cruised down the quiet residential street, Luke felt the presence get closer. Out of the shadows, a figure emerged, walking down the street casually, hands in pockets. They could be anyone out for any reason, except Luke knew what the reason was.
“OK, Pablo. Turn at the next block and park a ways back. We’ll drop off Delilah and Sam to follow him. You and I will circle back and park a few blocks ahead of where he might be going. Ladies, we’ll meet you in the middle.”
Delilah and Sam jumped out of Pablo’s truck, shutting the doors before jogging back to the corner and turning to get the vamp back in their sights. Pablo took off quickly and grabbed the next turn that’d take them parallel and ahead of the fanger. Pablo pulled far enough forward that the chances of seeing the brake lights from the other corner would be non-existent. Once parked, Pablo jumped out and helped Luke down out of the cab.
Luke sighed. “I hate this.”
“I know, dude. But you have to learn to get by with a little help from your friends. Let’s start out slow; let your body warm up a little.”
They set off at a brisk walk instead of a run. Rounding the corner, they checked to see if they could spot their suspected vampire. Unfortunately, the street was empty. Pablo reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“Sam says he went into a house. They sent the address. She and Delilah are hiding on the corner out of sight.”
“Which corner?”
Pablo texted and waited for an answer back. “Taylor and 31st.”
Luke looked up at the street signs above him. “Salmon and 33rd. OK. Let them know we’ll contact them when we’re at Taylor and 32nd.”
“Got it…and confirmed. Ready?”
Luke grimaced, trying to stand straight. “As I’ll ever be…”
Luke started at a light jog, just above a fast walk. He rotated his left shoulder and extended and contracted his elbow as he went, getting his sword arm warmed up. Pablo quickly caught up. By the time they reached their corner, Luke was winded. Leaning against a post to catch his breath and try to take some pressure off his ribs, Luke shook his head, his jaw clenching, brow furrowed.
“You OK, buddy?”
Luke shook his head.
“You hurting bad?”
Luke nodded. He took several deep and steadying breaths, trying to breathe his way through the pain.
“I had Doc give me a couple pain killers for you, since you won’t ask for them. It’s just some heavy-duty ibuprofen. Gel caps. They’ll kick in fast.”
Luke snagged them out of Pablo’s hands, swallowing them dry. Pablo pulled his phone out to check in with Delilah and Sam.
“OK. No one has left. They can see two people sitting on the porch drinking, but they’re too alert. So guards. What do you think, Luke?”
“We might have stumbled on a nest.”
“You want to call it off? Try again tomorrow? Or check another neighborhood?”
Luke thought about it for a moment. “No, there’re four of us. The house’s confines will neutralize any numerical superiority they might have. And if I can get one of the guys at the door, I can get juiced up.”
“Alright, boss. How do you want to do it? We can’t all four rush the porch, and you can’t rush at all.”
“How’s our approach looking?”
Pablo stepped out slightly so he could check out the sidewalk down toward the address Sam had sent. “Lots of trees and bushes. We can get pretty close without being seen.”
“Good. No wind…” Luke looked up. “And now a drizzle.”
“Too bad you can’t use your hood…” Pablo pulled up the hood on his jacket.
Luke scratched his nose with his middle finger.
“Got an itchy nose, bud?”
“Something like that. But this is good, too. Rain will pull particles out of the air. Should help hide our scent.”
“Plus, with our pack scouts roaming around, they’re probably used to werewolf scent passing through.”
“OK, Pablo. Grab my rudis. Here’s how we play it…”
* * *
Pablo and Luke strolled down the street, trying to look like two people just walking down the block. Once the house came into sight, they saw Delilah and Sam standing on the porch, chatting up the two guys who were ostensibly keeping guard on the door. One of the vamps said something, and both Sam and Delilah laughed, Sam selling it better than Delilah, who was having trouble making her chuckle sound sincere. One of the guys handed Delilah and Sam beers from the cooler next to him on the porch.
Luke’s senses tightened, his pain receding—although not disappearing—into the background. The sound of loud music underscored the conversation on the porch. A moment later, he heard the hiss of the tabs cracking the seal on the can, letting its CO2 escape, followed by the crunch of the tab pushing in the aluminum lid. Sam turned her head slightly and gave Delilah a nearly imperceptible nod. One of the guys cracked another joke. Playing their part, both women started laughing. Delilah who’d had the can to her lips a moment before spit beer and started coughing. She turned, hunching over the railing of the porch, coughing. One of the vampires stepped forward to check on her.
As she coughed, her hand slid into her coat and gripped a stake. The vamp’s hand lowered to her shoulder—Luke’s vision sliding into slow motion. With a cushion of air separating his hand and her shoulder, she spun hard, punching him in the chest with the heel of her left hand. The vamp stumbled backwards into the side of the house. The last thing his shocked eyes saw was Delilah plunging a stake into his heart, sending him splashing onto the deck in a messy goo.
The other vampire, shocked and slow to react, took a step toward Delilah. Seizing the moment—and his arm—Sam turned and spun him into the wall with a loud thump. She followed it with a nose-shattering punch. As the black sludge the vampire called blood dribbled down his face, he dribbled down the wall, dazed. As soon as he hit the ground, Delilah and Sam dragged him to the back corner of the porch, which was shrouded by two large shrubs, providing some privacy.
Not waiting for Luke, Pablo sprinted ahead, leaping up the stairs. Luke tried to jog but quit after a couple steps. The weight of the armor may have been a mistake before getting healed. At least the wrappings Maggie had applied kept his chest stable. Huffing and puffing, he gingerly climbed the three steps up to the porch. His rudis stood straight up in the vampire’s chest.
Pablo pointed to the rudis. “Just like you said.”
“Thank you. Can you help me down?” Luke asked.
Pablo took his good arm and helped him kneel over the stabbed but not dissolving vampire. Grimacing and grunting in pain, Luke placed his hands around the hilt of the rudis and lowered his forehead to the pommel button on the end of the pommel. He recited the incantation that activated the rudis, sending a glow of white light down the silver filigree of the wood blade down into the vampire and back up again into the pommel button and ultimately, Luke.
Taking a deep breath, he stood stiffly but without help. He attempted some torso movement to assess his condition.
“How you feeling?” Sam asked.
“Better, I think. The pain isn’t quite as intense. I feel brittle, but better. I’ll probably need at least another vampire before I’m all the way up to snuff.” The burning pain in his ribs lessened to a dull throb and his focus felt sharper, though he wasn’t sure if that was the concussion healing some or just the presence of vampires.
“Too bad we gooed the other one,” Pablo said.
“It was the safer plan,” Luke countered. “There will be more inside. I can feel them.”
Luke reached down and pulled the rudis from the corpse, allowing it to decompose into a second puddle of vampire sludge.
“So…question,” Sam said. “Why didn’t it dissolve after your thing?”
“My thing? Oh… The rudis,” he held it up for emphasis, “acts like an interrupter. It effectively breaks the circuit. Renders a vamp inert, allowing me to do my ‘thing’ safely. Then when I remove it, the natural process of vampire death continues. If they dissolved as soon as I put the wood through their heart, I couldn’t get any juice. The gladius, however, starts the death process as soon as it enters.”
“Interesting,” Sam said.
Pablo and Delilah were searching through the pockets of vampires trying to find keys.
“Yuck. We should have checked the other one before Luke finished him up,” Delilah complained.
“Got ‘em,” Pablo called. He stood up and tried different keys in the lock until one slid in and turned, the sound of music from inside covering the noise. “OK, everyone get your weapons ready.”
Delilah slid her machete out of the backpack she was carrying and strapped it to her thigh. She handed Sam a wakizashi. Sam slid the Japanese short sword and its wooden scabbard under the belt of her jeans. Luke flipped the rudis around and handed it to Pablo before drawing his gladius with his left hand, keeping his right arm safely in the sling.
“Here Pablo. If we get a chance, stick another one for me. But let’s be safe, so choose the kill over subduing one. Y’all ready?” Luke looked around, collecting a nod from each of his companions. Luke gave Pablo the signal to go.
Before Pablo could open the door, someone yanked it open from inside.
“Quit playing with the… What the fuck?” the vamp said, eyes going wide.
Sam, thinking quicker than the others, grabbed the fanger’s arm and yanked him out the door. The vamp tumbled over Pablo, falling flat on his face. Bring her short sword down, she lopped the vampire’s head off, spraying vamp blood on Pablo and the porch.
Delilah, after her momentary freeze, scooped up the head and moved it into the shadows behind the hedges surrounding the porch. Between them, Sam and Pablo moved the body into the shadows cast along the back of the porch.
“Will that do, Luke?” She extended a hand to help Pablo up.
“Yup.” He turned to Pablo. “My rudis, sir?”
“Blech,” Pablo said, wiping the vamp’s blood off his face and hands.
“Here.” Delilah grabbed the rudis. Instead of handing it to Luke, she stabbed it through the vampire’s chest and stepped away. “Need help down?”
“Nah, I think I can get it on my own.” Luke propped himself on rail and lowered himself carefully to repeat the process, all the sore spots in his body loudly reminding him of their existence.
The team fanned out, guarding him while he finished the ritual. He stood a little quicker than before and slid the sling off, rotating his right arm a bit.
“Back to one hundred?” Delilah asked.
“Not quite. I don’t get the full charge out of a beheaded one.”
“My apologies,” Sam said.
“No worries. He surprised us there. We needed him down, and I got some juice. Win-win. Let’s get inside.” He pointed to the open door. “Not too much talk. The music will cover most of the sound and they’ll assume it’s just house mates unless we do something too noisy. I’m still sensing a lot of vamps.”
They stepped into the house, pulling the keys from the lock on the way in. Pablo locked the door once they were all in.
“Can either of you get any idea about scents?” Luke asked the werewolves.
“Too many, dude. I’m kind of overwhelmed. Plus there’s some other scents mingled in adding to the chaos. Sam?” He pointed to the smears of vampire sludge spotting his skin and clothes.
“Same.”
Luke nodded and headed into the kitchen. He pulled open the pantry closet and peeked in. It just looked like any other home pantry—shelves with dried goods and canned food. It was hard to tell where the other vampires were. There were enough that his senses were jumbling them together.
“Alright, let’s head upstairs. We can clean it out and then we won’t have to worry about anyone coming downstairs,” Luke whispered. “Delilah, Sam, you lead the way. Pablo, you bring up the rear. No need to be sneaky, really. They know there are others in the house, so just act natural.”
They headed toward the staircase in the living room. With weapons drawn, they headed upstairs, keeping a solid gap between each other in case they needed room to fight. When they reached the top of the stairs, Luke swapped his gladius for his rudis, leaving Pablo to guard against intrusions. He signaled for Sam and Delilah to start with the first room on the right.
Sam took the doorknob and turned it slowly, trying to keep noise to a minimum. When she cracked the door, they were assailed with the sounds of sex. Sam clamped her lips shut against the mirth Luke could see on her face. She peeked in, then held up two fingers to indicate the number of occupants before pointing out which wall the bed was on. Sam slowly pushed the door open enough that she and Delilah could slip through, stopping it before it was noticeable. Sliding through the door silently, Sam disappeared, Delilah following.
A moment later, Luke heard the sound of a head being removed and a brief scream followed by the crunch of fist meeting face. Luke walked into the room and shut the door without letting it latch. On the bed, a decapitated body was slumped over the back of a live woman, the leaking neck covering her in the vampire’s gore. Sam grabbed the vampire’s arm and pulled its corpse off the woman. She was human. That’s why she’d been knocked out instead of executed.
Luke peeled her eyelids back to check her eyes. Standing, he found Delilah next to him.
Delilah leaned in and whispered into his ear, “Do we tie her up?”
Luke thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. He pantomimed sleep. By the time she awoke, they would have the upstairs cleaned out. While Luke and Delilah had their brief exchange, Sam was checking the closet. Giving the thumbs up for all clear, Luke quickly stabbed the vampire’s corpse with his rudis and sucked its energy into his body. Finished, Luke pointed toward the door. They slid back out of the room and closed the door quietly behind them, the drone of music filling the house covering any incidental noises.
They repeated the procedure in the rest of the rooms, clearing each one, Luke taking what juice he could as they went. Luke was feeling nearly himself and reclaimed his gladius from Pablo. Stashing the arm sling in Delilah’s backpack, he rotated his right arm, enjoying the feel of being nearly whole and mostly functional.
Luke wasn’t sure how many might be in the bigger room, but he was prepared for more than the twos and threes they’d encountered so far. Sam, hand on the doorknob, waited for Luke’s signal. Delilah, a stake in one hand and her machete in the other, stood behind Sam. Luke nodded and Sam quietly opened the door and slid in. Delilah followed, then Luke.
Except for the door zone, the entire floor was covered in mattresses. Whipping his head around as he heard chains clanking, his eyes jumped open when a vampire in a vinyl suit with a full mask strained against massive restraints. They’d been spotted, although he couldn’t really alert anyone since the mouth hole of the mask was filled with a red ball gag. The muffled noises he was making were ignored by the handful of people on the other side of the room who were too engrossed in their sex. The wall behind the vampire was starting to bow as the bound vampire strained to free himself.
Luke pointed toward the people and vampires in the far corner. Delilah and Sam flared out, stepping carefully on the springy mattresses. Luke headed toward a vampire that’d backed up toward the wall. Once Luke stepped within range, the vamp surged forward. Adjusting his aim, Luke let the vampire impale itself on the rudis. Behind him, the sounds of screams and the splatter of blades hitting body pulled him around. Leaving his rudis in the vamp’s chest, he cautiously walked back to the door just as someone made a break for it, squeezing past Delilah and Sam. As they approached, Luke punched out, catching them in the temple and sending the human flopping onto a mattress, Luke’s supernatural strength rendering them unconscious. Once the last vampire went down, they were left in the room with the human Luke had knocked out, the heart stabbed vamp in vinyl, and a large pool of goo soaking into the mattresses.
Wobbling her way to the closet, Delilah checked to make sure it was unoccupied.
“Empty here,” Delilah said.
“This was an interesting upstairs,” Sam commented. “Vamps just having a good old time. Only two humans. Not sure if that’s good or bad.”
“At least we were able to spare them,” Delilah replied.
Luke popped the door open to check on Pablo who gave him the all clear. Leaving the door open so Pablo could hear, he checked in on everyone to make sure there weren’t any incidental injuries.
“OK. I’m going to take care of this last vamp, then we’ll head downstairs and see if we can find the rest,” Luke said as he walked toward the vamp dangling from the wall.
Standing over the vamp, Luke shook his head. Kneeling, he shoved the vampire back and held it in place with his left arm so the rudis was at a better angle. He wrapped his right fist around the hilt, placed his forehead against the pommel, and activated the rudis, sucking the vampire dry. Without the body to fill the suit, it fell into a pile on the ground, dust drifting from the few openings.
“Must have been an old one,” Sam commented. “How you feeling?”
He twisted his torso, enjoying the lack of pain in his ribs. “After him? Pretty good. I think I’m back to 100%. Let’s go see what’s downstairs.”
This wasn’t Luke’s first encounter with vampires and their hobbies. By the standards of some of the things he’d seen, this all seemed fairly tame. He’d need to check in with the gang to see how they were handling it. At least he felt good after draining so many vampires.