Fall of the Mortals (Book 1) (6 page)

“Time to die,” the vampire growled as he forced the rest of his body through the torn hole in the door.

The three of them panicked. Shaun knew they were dead. There was no hope for them. The vampire was just about through the hole in the wall. They stumbled over each other and fell down in the corner of the room. The vampire flew in and rushed Yuri. He grabbed him and rammed him against the wall. Yuri screamed. The vampire lifted him up. Yuri was pale and terrified.

“Feast,” said the vampire, opening his mouth. His fangs were frightening, appearing long, white and razor sharp.

Shaun and Thai were scrunched on the floor looking up at them horrified at what was coming next. A ray of sunlight slowly entered the room. A streak of hope raced through Shaun.

“Hey!” shouted Shaun at the vampire.

The vampire glanced at him. Shaun parted the blinds over the window. A bright ray of sunlight burst into the room. The vampire dropped Yuri and tried to cover his eyes but the light was too great. The vampire burned and disintegrated.

The three of them lay on the floor catching their breath.

“Can we please get back to the tower now?” asked Thai.

***

At the tower, the three came through the double doors. They looked horrible. Their faces were dirty and their clothes had tears. Harold stood anxiously waiting for them.

“Oh thank God, you’re alive!” hollered Harold.

“We felt the earthquake. We were so worried!” said Betty.

The three of them collapsed on a sofa. They were tired and speechless.

Trang and Ni asked Thai something in Vietnamese. It was easy to tell they were terribly worried about him. Harold and Betty rushed over to Shaun.

“What happened?” asked Harold.

“Just a little trouble at the hospital,” answered Shaun.

Harold grinned but his face quickly turned deeply concerned.

“What is it?” asked Shaun.

“We got a big problem,” said Harold.

CHAPTER FOUR
Danger on the Freeway

Harold and Shaun went to the roof. Shaun could tell it was something bad by the way Harold was acting. Harold’s eyes were stressed and squinting. His facial expression was hardened. He seemed rigid.

“I know no one has come up here in a while, so in thought I would check on things,” said Harold, directing Shaun to a damaged area on the roof.

He glanced at Shaun with concern. Shaun marveled at the diligence the vampires had put into tearing a hole through the roof. It was six feet wide with jagged metal pulled up.

“They’re going to get in, Shaun,” said Harold. “Those nights we thought they were being quiet they were up here tearing away at the roofing.”

“What’s below this area?” asked Shaun darting his eyes at the damaged area, trying to think up a plan.

“The storage room,” said Harold. “Had I not checked on this, they could have gotten all the way through in two more days, possibly.”

“We got to get out of here, Harold,” said Shaun.

“I know that, but what is realistic today?” asked Harold. “I’ll be happy to just solve the roof problem.”

“Let’s pour out whatever beads we have up here,” stated Shaun. “That should buy us some time.”

***

Tommy, Chris and Yuri scattered beads all over the rooftop.

“Hey Yuri. Like, what do you put on these beads, anyway?” asked Chris.

“They are soaked in a special formula,” he responded.

“Like… What?” asked Chris.

“An extract from
Allivum Santium
which you call
garlic
combined with
Rosa
Jecare
, the white r—”

“—Okay, okay. I get it. You’re going to give me brain damage, dude,” said Chris.

Yuri smiled at Chris’ pathetic ability to learn anything.

“Chris, I fear you are smart but you afraid of being intelligent, yes?” asked Yuri.

“What?” asked Chris.

“You like chemistry?” asked Yuri.

“It’s kind of cool, I guess,” answered Chris. “Well, it would be cool to be like a wizard that knows how to make all these potions and–”

“—No, no,” Yuri interrupted, waving his hand. “That not chemistry, my friend. That is fantasy of small boy. Tomorrow, I teach you real chemistry.”

“What’s real chemistry?” asked Chris.

“Periodic table.”

Chris continued to scatter the beads over the rooftop of the building. Harold liked Yuri’s interest in Chris. He wished Chris wasn’t such a punk and would grow out of his teenage bull crap. He knew he had a lot more potential than he was showing everybody. He finished off the last corner of the roof and looked at the others.

“I think that’s good, guys,” said Harold. “Let’s wrap it up.”

“I don’t like the idea of the roof being ripped up,” said Shaun. “The rain may seep in and cause mildew.”

“Did they teach you how to do roofing on the force?” asked Harold.

“We should at least try to fix it,” said Shaun. “Maybe a patch job.”

“What do you suggest?” asked Harold. “Last I heard, Home Depot is no longer in business.”

“I’ll just have to re-open it,” Shaun responded.

“We’ll need awning sheets, plywood and tools,” said Harold. “Also, you’re going to need a truck.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” said Shaun.

“Can’t get all that with a Ferrari, let alone a motorcycle,” stated Harold. “So, where would you go?”

“Get a truck first off,” answered Shaun. “Somewhere between here and Ventura.”

“Please be damn careful,” said Harold in a worried voice. “Your stay over at the hospital nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“I’ll leave in the morning,” said Shaun smiling.

***

In the kitchen, Betty was opening some canned food with a can opener preparing for dinner. Kim and Ni sat at the dining table opening jarred tomatoes from the storage supply.

“Hi guys,” said Shaun, entering the kitchen.

“Shaun. Will you help me with these?” asked Betty, setting another can opener on the counter.

“You bet. Whatcha makin?” he asked, opening one of the cans.

“I’m going to try to make salsa.”

“Sounds good. Goin’ Mexican tonight, huh?”

“Harold and I loved this joint down in Orange called the El Toro,” said Betty, still opening the cans. “Ever hear of it?”

“Nah. Orange wasn’t my neighborhood.”

“Anyway, this place had the best damn service I ever saw. I mean them Mexican boys looked so great in their waiter uniforms and talked so nice,” said Betty, smiling, pouring diced olives and tomato chunks into a mixing bowl.

Shaun cracked up at her bold sense of humor.

“One time, Harold spilled his orange soda pop. Stuff went flowing across the table. I got so upset at him,“ said Betty. “I mean I put on a pretty dress for him that night and everything cuz we was out on a date.”

“Right,” stated Shaun.

“Anyway, there must have been a dozen of them waiters rushing over to our table cleaning up the mess like it was an emergency or something,” stated Betty, mixing her salsa in a bowl. “They were so nice, saying, ‘
Yes Senora, No Senora, Right away amigos.’
They had our table spick n’ span in ten seconds flat.”

“Sounds like it was a nice place,” stated Shaun, setting the opened cans of olives on the counter. “Did you ever go back?”

“Oh yeah. In fact, the next time, you know what I did?” asked Betty.

“What?” asked Shaun with a curious smile. 

“I knocked over my soda pop on purpose cuz I wanted to see those cute waiters in action again,” said Betty in a fun, whispery voice.

They broke up into laughter.

“You’re bad,” said Shaun, chuckling with her. “That’s funny.”

They laughed on for a moment. Shaun’s eyes darted to the stack of paper cups at the other end of the counter. A dark feeling came over him thinking about sneaking the cups out of the kitchen without her noticing. He glanced at Betty who was still mixing her salsa, smiling at her funny story. He made his way across the counter and lifted a stack of twelve cups inconspicuously. He concealed them at his side and left the kitchen. A certain feeling of confidence came over him knowing that he had what he needed to give Sharon what she wanted until the plan to leave was intact.

***

It was one fifty a.m. Everyone was asleep. Shaun was wide awake and knew it was time to see Sharon. He lay there, staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, thinking about her. He missed her the night before being trapped at the hospital. Although it was a sickening attachment forming, he didn’t care. He knew he wasn’t being honest with the others either. What would they say? There wouldn’t be anything to say. It would explode into a mess of distrust. He looked over the room to see if anyone was awake. Everyone’s eyes were closed. He pulled away his blanket, quietly took one of Mr. Jones’ crucifixes, carried another paper cup and left the room.  He was anxious but scared to see Sharon again.

On the way down the elevator, he likened his rendezvous with Sharon with the time he had a pet black widow spider in jar, when he was eight years old. She was fun to look at through the glass but it would be catastrophic if she ever got to him through the glass. Her bite would be deadly and he knew it. The elevator landed. The doors opened. There she was again, waiting for him on the other side of the window, like the black widow in a glass jar.

As he approached her, his eyes were magnetized to her orange irises through the blinds. She floated a couple feet away from the broken window. His anxiety rose as he drew closer.

“Hi,” said Shaun in a whispery tone.

“Where were you last night?” asked Sharon glaringly. “Kylie was here waiting for you.”

“I was trapped somewhere but I’m here now,” Shaun responded.

Sharon licked her fangs at him. She started to weep.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m so thirsty, Shaun. So thirsty,” answered Sharon, her voice shaking in riveting pain.

An idea flashed into Shaun’s mind. Despite she was his mortal enemy, they could help each other. He could use her and the other vampires’ immortal capabilities to his advantage.

“Help us and I’ll help you,” said Shaun.

“Go on.”

He held out the small cup. Sharon’s eyes widened with thirst.

“More,” said Sharon.

He took out his knife and slowly sliced his hand, letting several drops of blood fill the bottom of the cup. Sharon’s eyes went large with craving. She frantically fluttered her tongue on her top lip. Her fangs were exposed. She glared and panted at the sight of the fresh blood. She hissed at Shaun for teasing her.

“You can have this but you have to help me,” said Shaun in a serious tone.

She paused and flew around the window for a moment.

“What is it you want?”

“The people here and I need to leave.”

“And go where?” asked Sharon, staring at him coldly.

“I can’t tell you,” answered Shaun.

She squinted at him with suspicion. 

“Find me a vehicle for twelve people,” stated Shaun.

“Clever Shaun.”

“Come back tomorrow night. Just you. You can have more when I tell you more.”

“Give me the blood,” demanded Sharon.

“Do we have a deal?”

“Yes! Now give it to me!” she said furiously.

He carefully handed the paper cup out to her through the broken window. She grabbed it from him and drank as if she had been dying of thirst for days. She exhaled closing her eyes in an intoxicating, euphoric state and then flew around the window again in a joyous stupor. She floated back to the window and looked at Shaun as if she just had the best sex of her life.

“I’ll look for your vehicle,” she said with a calm voice and dazed eyes.

“Meet me here again at three a.m. tomorrow,” he said.

Sharon flew off into the night. Shaun felt strange. His vampire wife was helping him find a way for them to escape their dilemma in exchange for blood. It was necessary. Soon the supplies would run out in the tower and he and the others would be in a serious predicament. This was his dark secret. He wasn’t telling the others. They didn’t need to know about it.

***

Shaun woke the next day at two thirty p.m. to the loud voices of Tommy and Chris bickering over a TV. Chris held Tommy back. He was flipping through the channels on a remote control trying to find a station.

“You’re going the wrong way,” said Tommy in frustration.

“No, I’m not!” said Chris.

“You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“Shut up!” hollered Chris.

Shaun sluggishly walked by them.

“Will you guys knock it off?” blared Shaun.

“He won’t let me find the channel!” Tommy hollered.

“What channel?” asked Shaun.

“The government. There’s other people out there,” said Chris.

“Where?” asked Shaun intensely.

“I don’t know. This little jerk-off made me lose the channel,” said Chris.

“I found the channel first and then he took it out of my hands!” hollered Tommy.

“Both of you stop it!” said Shaun, taking the remote from Chris and flipping through the channels.

It was no use.  There was nothing but snow on every channel.

“What else did they say, Tommy?” asked Shaun, trying not to be irritated.

“A final gathering.”

“What else?” asked Shaun.

“Um. Come to D.C. before it’s too late?” Tommy guessed.

Shaun’s face sunk.

“Tell me, Tommy. What else?” Shaun asked with high interest.

“Major cities will be first,” said Tommy.

“Oh no,” said Shaun, his voice wracked with worry.

 “What?” asked Chris, becoming worried seeing Shaun so troubled.

“This isn’t good,” said Shaun tossing Chris the remote.

“What?” Chris asked intensely.

“Just find that channel again!” Shaun blared before he left the room.

***

Harold and Betty sat at the dining room table. Shaun came in and sat down. They could tell he was anxious about something.

“Problem, Shaun?” asked Harold.

“We got to get out of here,” answered Shaun. “Like now.”

“We’re aware of that. Did something happen?” asked Betty.

“The government is gathering the last of the people in D.C.”

“What?” said Harold.

“Where did you hear this?” asked Betty.