Melabeth the Vampire (39 page)

I turned my gun on to the second, and I was fast. I fired again, and this time something went wrong. My aim was dead on, and, at this range, less than fifty yards, I couldn’t miss.

If I hadn’t been shooting tracer rounds, I would have no idea why I missed. The bullets spun around this solider as if he were behind some shield. I emptied my whole clip, and this gave him time to fire at me.

The bullets ripped through my shoulder and part of my neck. I fell back onto the ground with a screech of pain.

The bullets hurt, yes, but they also burned. I rolled behind the tree as another spray of bullets hit the ground where I just was. I pulled myself up and leaned against the tree.

Lucky… lucky is my middle name. The bullets didn’t find bone, and he was also at close range using a high power rifle. The bullets passed right through my body, not having time to set my blood on fire. Ezra had told me this could happen but not to count on it.

It still hurt; it hurt a lot more than regular bullets. I could still feel where it burned me all the way through my body. It only took a few seconds for the pain and the bleeding to stop.

My rifle was out of reach, but, then again, it wouldn’t do any good against this guy. He had some kind of spell protecting him against bullets. Where could I get that?

I tried to stick my head out, but, as I did, he almost
blew it off. Great, he can shoot. The nearest cover was fifty yards, and, even if I flashed, I might not make it, if this guy is as quick as I think he is.

He wasn’t moving in on me. I bet this spell doesn’t help him in close range fighting like with a knife. The question is how do I get that close without him blowing my head off?

Whatever the answer, I needed to figure it out quick. He will have reinforcements soon, and I need to check on David.

Worrying about David right now may be a bad thing according to Ezra, but it motivated me. I looked up into the big oak I was hiding behind, and I knew what I must do. I climbed fast but quiet. I moved around the tree and onto a large branch.

Now if the soldier was to look up, he would see me, but he wasn’t going to look up; he was using all his concentration on the base of the tree. He had to be ready because I could come out from either side of the tree.

I ran to the end of the branch. Then I jumped off and flew through the air. I spun around, and landed right behind the soldier.

He never saw me in the dark and I didn’t make enough noise for him to hear me when I landed. I needed to make sure I was well feed before I could go into the next fight, so I checked my second sight and made sure there was no one coming.

I grabbed his face, pulled him back and fed.

He tasted good; there is something about magic user’s blood. It has more kick to it than human blood. I was completely healed and feeling good. Grabbing his rifle, I headed back toward the original plan. I hope David and his family are ok.

I moved carefully to the crest of the hill. I came over the top and took cover behind a gravestone.

It took me a few seconds to process what I was seeing. There were no less than a dozen men with guns, plus four different people wearing trench coats. I couldn’t make out their faces; I was too far away.

In front of the gravestones that protected David, I could see Carrie standing. Around her feet four men lay on the ground. The four trench coats were heading toward her while the gunmen moved around looking for more targets.

It’s then that I noticed the other bodies. David's mom lay lifeless on the ground; only a few feet away I could make out the back of Kelly's head.

Then I saw her, Lizzie… her body was draped over a gravestone. A pool of blood was around the base of the stone.

She might be dead.

Things got a little blurry as my eyes began to water. I had to get a hold of my emotions; I could cry later. Lizzie is going to be fine; I tried lying to myself with no luck. I was trying to stay calm so that I could protect David and kill all these people.

"They had killed… they had killed Lizzie." As I whispered to myself, I could hear the pain in my own voice.

One of the wizards in the trench coat pushed his hands forward. Then a beam of light came out; it was so bright. It hit Carrie, and she let out a scream, but it was cut off as she dissipated into nothing.

Now there was nothing or no one between them and David, and does that mean they had destroyed Carrie?

How could I get there in time to save David?

My worst nightmare was unfolding as David stood up from in between the gravestones. He had just awakened from Tony's spell and he was a little confused as he looked at all the men with guns. Then he looked at his dead mother and sister Kelly. His eyes swept around until they fell on his little sister’s body lying over the gravestone.

Then he just froze.

I was yelling in my mind, move, run, do something. I didn’t want to watch him die.

The next thing I did brought shame to my heart as soon as I did it. I lowered my head below the gravestone and closed my eyes. I can't watch them kill him, and it did not matter for I would be joining him shortly. I hope I see him in the afterlife.

All I heard was the sound of gunfire.

I heard screaming… screaming as if someone was in great pain.

Then I realized it was me.

I forced myself to be quiet; so much for being emotionless; I can't avenge David… and David's family’s death if I don’t get it together. I don’t expect to win tonight, but I will leave a pile of dead Order members before I die.

I started to lift my head…

Something hit me.

I opened my eyes and could see the stars.

I sat up quickly and looked around; all around me it
was quiet. My M16 lay in the grass; all my other weapons were still attached to me.

What just happened?

Must have been some kind of spell; I was ready to come out from behind the gravestone and kick some ass. I picked up my rifle and got to my knees. I looked over at the gravestone where David was.

Everyone was starting to stand back up. David was still standing in the middle of the gravestones that I set up for him, and he was surrounded by ghosts. David was alive; my heart would have beaten faster if it could.

I looked a little closer. That’s when I noticed David's eyes were glowing a bright green. I noticed that the ghosts were the ghosts of his family. Lizzie stood in front with her arms crossed.

I could see the other four wizards now standing in front of David. They started to cast some spells. The ground began to shake.

What now?

I aimed my rifle at the wizards; I was about to fire.

Then something grabbed my leg. I looked down, and there was a hand coming out of the ground. A half fleshed skeleton hand was wrapped around my ankle.

I jumped up and pulled my leg free; the only thing was the rotted hand was still wrapped around my ankle. I reached down and ripped it off…how gross!

I looked up and couldn’t believe my eyes. There were corpses coming out of the ground; they were crawling out, and getting to their feet. I may be a dead vampire who lives on blood, but this is gross.

Half rotted bodies with bugs coming out of them; some of them were part, or whole skeletons. Their faces were twisted pictures of horror, and some of them were even moaning... moaning… really is that necessary
?

I am totally freaked out.
A vampire that’s afraid of dead people; someone should write a book.

Then one of them grabbed me from behind… I screamed like a girl. With all my strength, I ripped his arms away,
and then I turned around and faced the undead man.

Without even thinking about it, I used the butt of my rifle and slammed him in the face. I was so freaked out that I used all my strength. The head exploded on impact, and the body fell to the ground.

I stood there with this undead corpse juice all over me, rotted brain matter; I could even see some bugs coming out of the corpse slime that was on my arm.

Yuk… nasty… disgusting… gross.

The corpses were starting to circle me. This time I used the business end of my rifle, and I shot three of them down by blowing their heads off. Then I flashed through the hole I made. A lot of good it did me; I flashed right into another pile of dead.

They were everywhere.

It only took me a second to come to the realization, that, if I shot or hit them anywhere other than the head, it didn’t hurt them. No time to think about David; plus I think he is the one who did this. I need to work my way toward the edge of the graveyard. There will be less undead there.

It only took a few seconds; after I started fighting
the corpse, I heard the sound of gunfire mixed with screaming. Yep, David did this.

It only took me a few minutes to empty every bullet from my rifle. I wish these things knew that I was on David's side. They came at me in all directions, but I was strong enough to fight them off. I pulled out my handguns and continued to work my way to the edge of the graveyard.

I shot, kicked, and used my guns as hammers. It wasn’t hard to kill them, but there were too many to kill. I ducked under their arms, and jumped over their shoulders; it was hard to move through the crowd of corpses.

I came across the body of two dead soldiers. One of them had a hatchet; he also had a string of grenades strapped around his chest. I had run out of pistol ammo, so I punched and kicked my way over to the dead soldiers’ bodies. There were too many dead to flash, but I was still too quick for them to get a hold of me.

I grabbed a grenade and the hatchet; the guns weren't that effective anyway. You had to shoot the head right off their shoulders to get them to stop. The hatchet was much easier; I hacked my way through the sea of bodies.

I came up to a tree, where I climbed my way up. I needed to get my bearings. I stood upon a branch about twenty five feet up. What I saw was… scary… I don’t know how to even think about it.

There were corpses of men and woman, bags of bones, and their clothes and flesh were in different stages of decay. I could see the edge of the cemetery. It was less than a hundred yards away; hardly any dead were there. They were all heading slowly toward David.

Quick supply check…still had two hunting knifes in my belt. One knife was tucked in front of my skirt and the other behind me. I hadn’t dressed well for this. In my right hand I had a hatchet. I had tied the grenade into the bottom of my shirt; now my belly showed. After a closer look…it wasn’t a grenade. It was a smoke bomb.

Time to go; the dead were starting to circle around the tree. They were looking up at me moaning and reaching. I needed to keep moving or else they might overwhelm me. I leaped away from the tree.

I landed on two different heads, and then jumped again before they could grab me. I landed away from the crowd of dead and headed for the edge of the graveyard.

I reached the edge of the graveyard only to run into a wall, not a wall I could see but a magic wall. I knew this spell; it keeps spirits from passing through. It is the same spell they put over houses to keep the dead out. I would need the living to invite me out.

Some of the dead were now heading toward me. I will have to figure this out on the move. I started by heading down the side of the graveyard. I knew I was moving in a large circle, but I am not sure what else I can do.

Five minutes later I was now coming around the hill and toward the front of the graveyard. I could now make out a couple of sedans and a van. I knew the van right away, it was Devon’s van... there he was.

As I looked to my right, I could see Devon walking towards his van. His men were covering his retreat, but it was costing them their lives.  One gunman after another fell into the wave of undead. I saw two guys with rifles take up position and start laying down cover fire. They
were close to me, and they were going to make a path for Devon.

I flashed up to them, and, with my hatchet, I cut their rifles in half. Then I smiled at them and said. "Now you boys have a good time."

I flashed back to the edge of the graveyard. When I looked back, I could see the undead grabbing the two men; they pulled them back into a crowd of corpses.

All I heard after that were their screams.

Devon had broken free from the mass of dead. If one of them even got close to Devon, he would reach his hand up, and then squeeze his fist, and their head would explode.  When he got a little bit closer, I could make out what he was doing.

Out of both hands were two shadows; it was night time so it was hard to see even with vampire eyes. The shadows coming out of his hands were in the shape of his hands, only they were as big as his body. When he reached out to grab one of the corpses, the shadow stretched out, and the hand became smaller the further out it went.

So he has a range with this spell, and he had not noticed me. He was too busy taking care of the dead that were trying to block his path. The last of the soldiers fell to their deaths behind Devon; he didn’t even give them a backwards glance.

I would need to move fast; before he had a chance to use those shadow hands on me. I wish I still had a rifle.
He moved clear of the undead and now was walking quickly toward the van. Before he spotted me or got past the wall and to his van, I flashed.