Ambushed (15 page)

"Pull
around, there's a gravel road behind the service station. Follow it."

It
wasn't much of a road. I wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or
not. Surely the vampires wouldn't just kill me and dump my body right
behind the gas station. If they did this all the time then eventually
someone would realize that all the missing people had stopped here
before disappearing.

Then
again, maybe the police wouldn't be able to figure even that out.
There hadn't been a credit card reader outside. If they made people
pay with cash then there wouldn't be an electronic trail for the
police to follow.

The
gravel road ended almost as soon as it began and now we were inside
of a kind of miniature gravel pit. It was big enough to hide a
semi-truck and trailer, but not much more than that.

"What
now?"

"You
shut up and wait."

I
was terrified, which precluded snapping back at him, but I decided if
I survived long enough to fall asleep tonight that I was going to try
and pull this vampire into my dreams. Maybe it would be wasted
effort, maybe he'd still prove too strong for me to defeat, but if I
could I was going to kill him.

I
didn't necessarily want to become the weapon that Taggart already
said I was, and this didn't change my concerns when it came to
fighting the Coun'hij, or anyone else, on nothing more than Taggart's
say-so, but this was different. This guy, this vampire, had just
kidnapped me and he'd probably killed dozens, maybe even hundreds of
people just over the last few years.

Unless
proven otherwise, vampires were fair game. Sure, most predators
killed to feed, but just because it was their nature didn't make it
okay. You don't give a lion a pass when it starts hunting down
children, you get a bunch of people with guns together and do your
best to kill it before it strikes again.

"Do
you have a name?"

"I
told you to shut up." There wasn't any of the anger that I would
have expected underlying his words, but he more than made up for it
by shoving his gun up tight against my temple. The unyielding steel
connected hard enough that I knew it was going to leave a bruise, and
even worse, I was positive that his finger was still on the trigger.

I
was half convinced that I was going to die, but at that moment the
ground in front of us started moving. The vampire was obviously
expecting it, but it served as enough of a distraction for him to
withdraw his gun.

"Pull
in there."

'There'
proved to be a gigantic underground bunker that was completely
undetectable when the garage door, a massive concrete slab whose
outside surface had been covered with real live grass, was closed. It
was the kind of thing that I'd always thought existed only in novels,
but I couldn't argue with my own eyes as I slowly brought the car
forward and into the enormous cavern.

There
were cars parked along each side, but there wasn't any way to know
for sure whether they belonged to the vampires or were vehicles
they'd stolen from other travelers. Deeper inside the bunker we came
to an open parking spot and my captor waved me into it.

For
the briefest of moments I considered waiting until the vampire got
out and then trying to back Taggart's car outside, but the vampire
reached over and turned off the engine before pocketing the keys. I'd
known all along that I didn't have much chance of escaping, but I
could feel my options narrowing even more quickly as the vampire
opened the passenger door.

"Get
out, very slowly."

I
complied and then marched, still at gunpoint, even further into the
bunker. We passed what looked like a paint booth and a shop area that
I figured was used for disassembling some of the cars for sale as
parts.

When
the screams started up I felt the tears that had been threatening to
escape my eyes finally succeed. I probably would have started bawling
right then, but the vampire behind me seemed just as disturbed by the
screams as I was.

Another
man—this one a short, bearded guy with a gut—stepped out
of some kind of hallway. He reached up and pushed a large red button
mounted on the wall next to the hallway. A second later the massive
exterior door started to rumble down.

"What's
going on up there, Pete?"

The
newcomer shook his head. "I don't know, maybe someone couldn't
bring themselves to wait before starting in on the old man."

"Paulo
isn't going to like that, there's never as much blood to go around
when that happens."

Pete
shrugged. "Maybe we should just do the girl right here."

The
first vampire casually backhanded Pete. There was enough force behind
the blow that the fat man careened off of the wall, but the gun never
even shook.

"You're
lucky you're so good with cars, Pete. If you were anyone else you'd
probably be dead by now. Paulo usually punishes disobedience much
more strongly than he's done with you."

My
captor's voice had changed slightly. I couldn't tell if it was
because he was angry or for some other reason, but he had a faint
accent now. I half expected Pete to be angry, but he just shrugged.

"The
world isn't much different whether you're a vampire or a human,
Benito. The best way to make sure that you don't go hungry is to
develop a skill that someone else needs badly enough that they can't
afford to treat you like dirt."

"You're
not the only decent mechanic out there."

"Sure,
but I'm one of the best. Paulo would have to look for a long time to
replace me and, given how little he makes it out of the bunker these
days, he doesn't exactly get much chance to scout out new talent."

I
blinked and the gun was gone, replaced by a long, slender knife.
Benito was fast, even for a vampire. He got the point of the knife up
under Pete's chin and had him backed up against the wall before Pete
could back out of his way. I was able to follow what had happened,
but there was no way I was going to overpower Benito. Even if I
caught him off guard I still had zero chance of taking him out before
he killed me.

"You
would be well advised to show Paulo more respect. Our fortunes may be
on the wane right now, but it's only a matter of time before we move
back into one of the cities and Paulo rewards those who supported him
in exile. Eventually we'll return to the old land where the real
power lies and we'll be made princes."

I
was desperately trying to find something in their conversation that I
could use against them, but there just wasn't anything there that
would allow someone my size to take down or outsmart a century-old
vampire.

Pete
opened his mouth, probably to say something calming, and then the
screaming started back up. This time there couldn't be any doubt but
that it wasn't Taggart. There were two voices and they both sounded
different than the first one had.

Benito
spun around and grabbed me, shoving me into Pete's arms before
handing the other vampire the pistol that he'd concealed underneath
his shirt.

"Watch
the girl. If you feed on her I'll kill you myself."

It
took only seconds for Benito to vanish into the near darkness up
ahead and then it was just Pete and I standing there in the shop, him
with a gun, me with a sinking pit where my stomach should have been.

Taggart
was obviously still alive. The first scream had been close enough to
his voice that I hadn't been able to tell for sure, but neither of
those last screams had been him. That was a good sign, but he was
obviously outnumbered and the vampires knew their way around the
bunker.

Jackson
hadn't proved to be a match for Taggart, but then again Taggart had
taken Jackson by surprise. I moved my hand slowly towards a large
wrench that was lying on one edge of the workbench behind me, but
Pete noticed and waved his gun at me.

"Just
because I can't feed on you doesn't mean that I'm going to let you
arm yourself. Step away from the workbench."

A
new set of screams broke out, and metal struck against metal as
someone tried to stop Taggart. A second later some kind of explosion
went off. A hot wind swept down the tunnel towards us and it was
strong enough to scatter some of the screws sitting on the workbench
next to me.

There
was a howl which I knew had to be from Taggart, but it wasn't a howl
of rage, it was a howl of pain. My fingernails sliced into my palms
and I realized for the first time just how tight my fists were. I
needed to help him, needed to be more than just another bystander,
more than just someone who had to be protected all of the time.

Taggart
roared again, this time in anger, and there was a loud crash that
seemed like it was just around the corner from us. Pete looked away
for a split second; I grabbed the wrench I'd been eyeing and threw it
at him with every ounce of force I could muster as I stepped to the
side in an effort to get out of the line of fire.

Another
wave of heat raced down the corridor and this time it was fierce
enough to almost scorch my eyebrows. Pete ducked down a split second
before the wrench would have taken him in the side of the head. He
wasn't as fast as Benito, but he was still too fast for me to
possibly beat him.

Pete
blurred into motion, gun down at his side and one hand forward to
grab me. I couldn't escape, so I didn't even try. I grabbed a
screwdriver off of the table behind me and brought my hand up just as
he reached me. I didn't stab him, he impaled himself on it.

My
only mistake was not getting the point of my improvised weapon up
high enough to do actual damage to him. I'd been worried that he
would see it at the last second and dodge to one side, but by playing
things safe I'd stabbed him in the stomach, which wasn't going to
kill, at least not quickly.

Pete
threw me against the wall and then pulled the bloody screwdriver out
of his gut.

"You've
got fight, I've got to give you that. You made a big mistake though.
You just wasted your one chance to take me by surprise."

The
screwdriver was up against my neck now with its point dimpling my
skin. I was having a hard time breathing, but it wasn't fear. Or
maybe it was fear, but it wasn't
just
fear. I was mad. Guys like Benito and Pete weren't any better than
the bullies I'd dealt with back in Minnesota.

If
I'd been strong enough or fast enough to provide any kind of threat
to them they'd never have picked on me. They liked sure things; they
were in it for the sadistic enjoyment rather than for the challenge.

"If
you let me go then he might let you live. If you kill me then he'll
make your death painful. They call him Dream Stealer."

"I
don't care what they call him, he's not going to defeat Paulo. I
might be new at this whole vampire thing, but I know scary when I see
it. Paulo is one of the strongest pyrokinetics alive. He'll take care
of your friend, it's just a matter of time."

"If
he's so strong what is he doing out here in the middle of nowhere
living on table scraps?"

"It
doesn't matter how strong you are, to rule a city, even one here in
the U.S., you need an army to keep everyone else in line. Benito's an
ass, but he's not wrong about the fact that it's just a matter of
time. Us Americans think that we're a big noise, but things are
exactly the opposite in the vampire world. America is for the
rejects, the vampires who aren't old and powerful enough to rule in
Europe."

There
was a crash like someone had thrown metal rods against a wall and
then another scream, this time a vampire. I opened my mouth to tell
Pete that his master was dead, but before I could get the words out a
blast of fire shot out of the corridor.

If
Pete hadn't moved towards me he would have died. I'd made a mistake
in throwing the wrench at him and causing him to move into the alcove
with all of the tools, but there hadn't been any way to know it at
the time.

Pete
grabbed the back of my neck and force-marched me out into the
corridor. He still had the gun in his right hand and I could feel the
handle of the screwdriver sandwiched between his hand and my neck,
but I was too busy trying to keep from falling down to worry about
that.

It
was a risk to go back out into the corridor, but after Paulo's last
blast of heat Pete apparently figured it was most important to get
far enough away that the fringes of the next blast wouldn't start us
on fire. We ducked around the paint booth less than a second before
there was another crash. This time it sounded like someone had thrown
an oil drum against a wall.

I
was waiting for another jet of fire, but it didn't come. The quick,
sharp sounds of steel on steel floated down the corridor and then
everything went quiet. I hadn't noticed it before, but one of the
attacks had knocked out most of the lights. The bunker had been
fairly dark even before Taggart had started killing the vampires; now
we had little more than the flicker of a couple of computer monitors
to see by.

I
heard the breathing even before I heard the footsteps, which was
saying something because the footsteps were incredibly loud.

"I'm
in here with another vampire, he's got a gun…"

Pete's
hand on the back of my neck clamped down so tightly that I let out a
hiss of pain. My outcry was answered by a low growl that seemed to
come from everywhere. The sound reverberated through the darkness,
giving me goose bumps before it finally died out.

"Let
the girl go."

"I'm
not an idiot, if I let the girl go then I'll have zero leverage."

Pete's
voice cracked and I found myself laughing. I stopped myself before
Pete could respond. He was terrified, breathing hard and eighty
pounds overweight. Some vampire.