Immortal Coil: A Novel (Immortal Trilogy Book 1) (5 page)

How many times had these men used just this type of van to abduct their victims?
She thought.
Now
they
were going to get a taste of what it’s like to be thrown into the back of one.

She drove to the alley where she knew the first of her three targets would be loitering. She parked the van midway between the alley entrances, and then waited until she spotted him coming from the south. His aura was the right amount of red to tell her she had the right guy. She always imagined that their auras were filling up with their victims’ blood.

She slipped out of the driver’s seat and hid until her target walked by. He shuffled through the alley on the other side of the van. Her heart raced as she realized she would have to act, or lose the opportunity do what she planned. She took a deep breath and stepped away from the van. He didn’t notice her at first, so she scuffed her feet to attract his attention. When he turned, he locked eyes with her. She acted scared but, in truth, it wasn’t an act. She started to have second thoughts about her plan. But it was too late to turn back now. She could sense him approaching her from behind just as she reached the back door of the van. When he attempted to grab her, Maggie swiveled on her heel and hit him with the stun gun she had purchased off the internet, initially to use on Grover. As the 1200 volts hit this man, he toppled. She quickly tied his wrists together with a length of nylon rope using a square knot. First she wrapped the rope around, and then between the wrists. The more her victim would struggle the tighter the knot would bind. She used nylon because it was soft but strong. As long as he didn’t struggle too much he would be fine. She tied his legs the same way. She bound his mouth with duct tape to avoid anyone from hearing him scream. She lifted him into the van. In his stunned state he could do little to resist. She returned him to the house using the back door that opened directly into the cellar. She walked him to the panic room, and at the sight of the stun gun he gladly obeyed. She locked him in using the key pad on the wall.

Her second target was taken down the same way. She returned him to the panic room as well, and saw she was still doing fine. David still had not returned.

Her third target was not alone, which complicated things. She made sure he caught sight of her, and then smiled inwardly when he dismissed himself from his group to seek her out. She led him back to the van. She needed privacy, so she would have to lure him into the van before she made her move. She was nervous being so close to such a dangerous predator in the confines of the van’s interior but she had no choice.

“Hey there, Doll,” he said as he climbed into the van.

What a dumbass
, she thought. She pulled the stun gun and hit him in the chest. The man instinctively protected himself, and knocked it out of her hand before it could incapacitate him. He recovered quickly and struggled to get out of the van. She scrambled for the stun gun and went at him again.

“What the hell, stupid bitch.” Spittle flew from his mouth. He knocked the gun from her grasp again. He drooled because enough of the volts had hit him to make his mouth go numb, as well as his hands, which caused him to have trouble opening the sliding door. She didn’t have time to retrieve the stunner again so instead she picked up the tire iron that had been lying on a grease-stained blanket and hit him as hard as she could in the back of the head, low and near the neck. She didn’t want to kill him, merely prevent him from moving for a few seconds. Her plan was effective. He dropped to the floor of the van just as he had managed to get the door open. As he fell away from the door, she peered out to see if anyone had heard the struggle. No one was approaching so she closed the door and positioned him where she could tie him up comfortably. She allowed herself a moment to catch her breath and stop shaking before returning him to the panic room with the others. David had still not returned by the time she had finished with her task.

He’s going to be so surpris
ed, she thought with a devilish giggle, and then waited for David to see what she had done.

Using a GPS and the target’s Facebook status, David located the first man on his list. This man had killed his girlfriend and gotten off due to no physical evidence. The man, 27-year-old Hugh Winters, actually bragged to friends how he had gotten away with murder. If the code had allowed, David would have also snatched the friends who had high-fived him for his success, but Antony would not accept that. Only the offender could be taken; it mattered little to Antony what the others may or may not have done to encourage or entice the offender. So instead David followed the mark, staying well out of sight until the killer was alone. The mark stumbled with his keys, trying to open the door to his apartment. The man was drunk at noon—what a loser, David thought and took aim with his tranq-gun. The tranquilizer was strong enough to take down a small bear. With Antony’s endless bank accounts and the internet there was no end to the number of toys David could buy for a successful hunt.

              The dart hit exactly where David wanted, and after a three second delay, the mark dropped. David collected his prize, throwing the man’s arm over his shoulder and dragging him back to the car as though he was the sober buddy taking care of an unconscious drunk friend. Anyone who knew this scumbag would no doubt believe this ruse. When no one was looking, David tossed the lump into the back seat.

              David’s second victim had a pedophile conviction. These were David’s favorite marks, and they always brought him back to his time as a 16-year-old runaway. Although this target had been released on good behavior, and most pedophiles never killed anyone, the damage done to a child’s psyche placed them on Antony’s kill list. Antony agreed that these vile creatures could not be redeemed. Taking them off the street was a necessity. David bagged the pedophile without incident.

The third member of David’s daily roundup was a suspected rapist the police had been trying to track down without success. The police were looking for Andrew Gregory for questioning in connection to the rapes, but had no way of knowing where to find him. They knew he was the son of a wealthy business man, and no one was willing to give Andy up. But David knew something the police apparently didn’t: according to Facebook, Andy frequented the White Dog Café. Andy was crafty. The police were looking for him in the posh part of town, but Ole Andy wasn’t there. He was slumming; hiding in plain sight, on the shadier side of town. And this was where David found him.

              But Andy was not an easy takedown. The first tranq did not put him out right away, and like the pig that he was, Andy squealed. Worried that Andy would draw attention, David used a second dart. If the second dart killed him, David would need a fourth mark, someone Antony could track down himself. This was not a big deal; it happened all the time.

              With Hugh and the pedophile back seat, Andy got to ride shotgun as David drove home. He pulled up to the back, opened the outer door leading to the basement and started unloading bodies. Using zip ties, David bound his quarry’s arms and legs. As he was working, Maggie strolled into the basement through the inner entrance stairway.

              “Need any help?” she asked smiling.

              David was suspicious. “No.”

He dragged his first victim to the panic room, and stopped when he came face to face with three gagged and bound men who were already in there. He stared at them with the same shocked and confused expression he could see mirrored on their faces. David looked at Maggie. “You?” He mouthed this with a nearly inaudible whisper. She nodded vigorously, still smiling. “How?” he asked, louder this time. She relished the surprise on his face.

              “I told you. I have mad skills.” She helped him pull the other two into the panic room and locked them in.

              “You tell me your tricks, and I’ll tell you mine.”

              “I’m a psychic; I already know your tricks.”

              “You’re lying.”

              She smiled ruefully then relented. She told him, only leaving out the part where her last target had almost escaped. “Sounds dangerous and Antony will kill me if anything happened to you. But the stun gun is sheer genius. I want one.”

              “I lived with a man who beat me on a regular basis. Trust me when I say I can handle myself.”

David grinned. “I think I finally understand.” He bowed to her. But then a thought occurred to him. “If you knew Antony was coming for you, why didn’t you use that thing on him? I’m sure it would have worked.”

“I didn’t use it in my vision,” she said as if this explained it all. He supposed it did.

Later, when Antony rose, they discovered that poor Andy did not revive. Antony looked into the panic room at the five scared and sweating faces. Poor Andy still breathed and his heart still pumped, but he was slumped over in an irreversible coma. And thanks to Maggie, there was no need to hunt again for another night.

Andy, who had an uncertain shelf life, was first. Maggie’s three had to watch this, knowing the same fate awaited them. Antony studied these three men carefully. Their eyes confirmed that they were exactly what Maggie suspected them to be: rapists. She waited at the doorway to the panic room for his approval.

“Well done,” Antony told her.

“Yes!” Maggie cheered. Then to the three men she said, “How does it feel to be the victim for a change?”

She watched as Antony drained the first of her three.

“Don’t worry,” she said mocking sorrow. “You only have to wait one more night and this will be your fate as well.”

Maggie’s smile faded, however; when her eyes met that of her first victim’s and the pain and fear she saw there took away her desire to celebrate. They were being taken off the street, and that was good, but lavishing in their agony caused her to cringe. She had no right, she decided; to be so happy. It was for the families of his victims to make that decision. She left the basement and let Antony do his thing privately.

              Later on that night David, Antony and Maggie converged in the living room, and Antony remembered something from the previous night. “Last night you were talking about something you thought could be important, but did not say due to Maggie’s presence. Please, now, speak freely and explain what you meant to say.”

              David thought a moment and remembered.

“Yes, I came across this one article. A possible future victim, but the M.O. was so close to home it was eerie. The FBI is investigating a serial killer that invades homes...three family homes. All three victims are drained of blood and decapitated. I…”

              “Let me see that.”

              This was the first time David had seen worry on Antony’s smooth, ageless face and it scared him.

              “What is it?” Maggie asked.

              “It’s another vampire.”

              “Are you sure?” David asked. “This could be a human—or humans—who just happen to have an M.O. that mimics a vampire.”

              “No, it is a vampire.”

Maggie chimed in.               “He’s right, and if it is a vampire I can help you track him.”

              “How?” David asked.

              “He will have the same black aura as Antony. If we get close enough for me to see the aura, I’ll know.”

“We will need to be very careful with this one. He has been feeding on the innocent for a very long time. He is not trying to hide his presence. These are all signs that he may be well beyond any kind of rational thinking. He is…”

              “Insane.” Maggie finished Antony’s sentence. He nodded agreement.

              “About this aura stuff,” David said. “I’m still not happy that you said my aura is as clean as a baby’s.”

“What?” Maggie was bewildered.

“I’m no angel. I’ve committed crimes.”

“Well, your aura is clean, so you must be doing something right.”

David returned to the original topic. “This…insane…vampire, if he is one, has caught the attention of the FBI. They have been tracking his movements. I have much of their information through newspaper clippings and internet details. With this information and your abilities, we should be able to do what the FBI can’t.”

              “Where is he now?” Antony asked. He was talking to David.

              “The FBI last placed him somewhere in Pennsylvania. His last victims were in the suburbs of Philadelphia. They believe he has moved on from there though, and do not have any idea where he will strike next. Maggie, does your sixth sense tell you anything?”

              “I’ll need time. But yes, I believe I can. Unfortunately, it will be much easier after he takes his next victims. Their pain and suffering will be like a beacon leading us directly to him.”

              David grimaced. “That’s gruesome.”

              “But at least we will be able to stop him,” Antony said.

              “Hey, you know what this means, don’t you?” David asked with an excitement that caused the other two in the room to look at him. “It means a road trip is in order!”

              Maggie tilted her head slightly. She glanced at him, confused. “So,” she said and he mocked utter shock at her lack of enthusiasm.

              “Didn’t you see it in the parking garage?”

              “See what?”

              “The Zephyr!”