Reign of Blood (11 page)

Before we left, one feral dared to lurch towards us only to end up in the woman’s grip. Her fangs flashed as she hissed right back at the squirming feral in her grasp. Without warning, she clamped down on its neck and sucked on its blood. I paled, feeling suddenly small in a room full of predators. Disgusted, I ran past her and out into the drenched streets. I hunched over as my stomach lurched. Of course they didn’t drink human blood, they drank other vampires’ blood!

“Not very sturdy are you?” Her voice bounced out from behind me. I turned, still bent over, trying to swallow the heavy knot that had formed in my stomach that was trying to lurch up and out. I shook my head, taking in deep breaths as my hair dripped with water from the downpour above me. The street was already soaked and rivers of rainwater were rushing down the sides of the road, running into the holes of the storm drains at the ends of the sidewalks. My clothes were slick and clung to my skin.

I watched my new companion as she studied me; her honey brown hair clung to her face, framing it in long, slithering strands. She seemed to somehow understand that we were kindred spirits in a sick sort of way. I still didn’t know what to think about her, My hesitation swirled in my head like a hurricane, scrambling up my senses.

We eyed one another for a moment, sizing each other up in the rain. Pushing my hair away from my face, I waited for her to speak. I was still too shocked to absorb what had just happened; nothing had taken away from the fact that this here was a vampire. No matter which way I looked at it, she could very well be responsible for my family’s disappearance.

“Who are you?” my voice finally sounded as my fingers fidgeted over the handle of my hatchet. Nervous was not what I would say I was. Paranoid, with a dose of disbelief, would be more like it. I wondered how hard I had hit my head. Reaching back, I felt the raw patch of skin under my tangle of hair. My fingers came back with blood, swirling in the droplets and running like watercolors in the rain. The sudden ache to my head made me groan, accompanied by a slight lurch in my stomach. I hated being so fragile but my main concern was the vampire in front of me, staring hungrily at the blood dripping down my arm.

I held the hatchet ready, waiting for her answer.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me, I told you, I don’t drink human blood.” She huffed back at me. I shook my head, not believing a word that slithered from her mouth.

“Look, I know you have a ton of questions so ask away, though I do suggest you return with me to our hideout. The sun will be gone in an hour and I’m sure not even you, miss vampire hunter, can take out the whole town after dark.” The woman, if you could call her that, since she looked to be barely older than I was, wiped away the crimson drops that ran down her chin from her feed.

“Why should I trust you? You’re one of them, an animal.” The thick cold in my voice surprised me. Long gone was the gentile, laughing girl that had once been in my heart. I felt as cold as I sounded too, hardened and numb.

“Look, I’m not the animal here. I am a person, like you. My name is Miranda, I’m nineteen years old and I used to live here with my family too, you know.” Miranda paused, almost choking on her words as she took a deep breath before continuing. “I am not a monster. I have just been watching you, seeing what it is you seek. You are the only full human left here that I know of and I was sent to investigate you. I want to help you find your family. I am also hoping that you can help save my family, too.” She stared back at me, her eyes never wavering.

Now with her standing so close to me, I realized how her eyes had two distinct circles of color, one outer ring of gold and an inner ring of grey-brown. The sheets of rain made us both blink faster to keep the water out our eyes. I wondered if hidden in the streams pouring down her cheeks were also tears, just like mine.

I was wishing I had someone else there, like my mother, to help me make a decision. Her infinite wisdom would be useful right now. But there was only me, and only my own thoughts and choices would get me through the day. I felt paralyzed as the minutes ticked by, my head spinning, the dull ache now a piercing pain that made me want to bang my head against a wall. Not even the coolness of the water pattering on my hair and snaking down my strands could calm it. Nothing but the beckoning in the woman’s eyes, a hint of hope spilling out of them, sent a renewed sense of peace washing over me.

“Alright.” My voice came out like a child’s, small and frightened. I straightened, bringing my eyes up to her gleaming vampiric gaze. “I’ll go with you. But I take my weapons and you promise me that my life will not be in danger.” I didn’t know why I asked that of her, but something told me that if I did, I would know if she was lying to me when she answered.

“No one is allowed to harm you; we have strict orders not to.” She paused. “Besides, we need you more than you will ever know.” Miranda tilted her head down as she gave her answer. Her face was sincere, filled with curiosity and a sort of wonderment. I began to suspect that maybe she was right. Maybe I was the only ‘full’ human left here in Las Vegas. The way she stared at me, I felt like a specimen about to be dissected. Gulping, I pushed the thought way into the back of my mind as I nodded toward her. I prayed I wouldn’t regret my decision.

Chapter Fourteen

“Hold on, where exactly are we going anyway?” I asked as Miranda began taking a few steps in the direction she wanted to go. She stopped dead in her tracks, looking like she had forgotten about something and was wondering how to go about doing it.

“We’re heading to the airport,” she stated, still glancing around, looking a bit lost for a moment.

“The airport? Why on earth would you want to go there? There’s nothing there. You really live at the airport?” My torrent of questions poured out of my mouth before I could press my lips together and stop the verbal attack. Miranda refocused on me and laughed, shaking her head at the seriousness permeating my face.

“The airport tunnel. We live down in the underground below the airport, where the tunnel is.”

I continued to stare at her as she resumed walking, realizing she expected me to follow her.

“You’re walking there? We’d never make it before sunset!” I sighed, swiping away my wet hair from my face. “We can take my car, it’s right over there.” I waved toward the car, wishing I could just drive home. Why do these things happen to me? It was bad enough I had to go with a stranger, but to her lair where surely more of her kind were lingering about? I snorted, pulling the car door open and sliding into the seat as I thought about the gravity of my situation.

Slamming my door shut, I gripped the steering wheel as I watched Miranda make her way to the passenger side. She plopped in next to me, happy to be out of the rain. She smiled, looking around my little car and eyeing the array of weapons strewn across the back seat. Her face fell ever so slightly but she tried to cover it just as fast with a flashing smile of fangs. I shuddered, turning the key as I pushed the lever into drive. The car hummed smoothly as I waited for her to give me a sign of which direction to go. The windshield wipers squeaked across the glass as the sheets of rain pummeled down. When she didn’t speak, I turned to find her still staring at the weapons, the ones strapped to my own body.

“Shall I just drive in that general direction or do you want to be dinner tonight for some hungry, hungry hippos?” I huffed; surprised I could even crack a joke with my body aching the way that it was. I eyed her, watching her dual-colored eyes searching the blades and other contraband that were my own security blankets.

“So you do kill vampires a lot, don’t you?” Her voice seemed smaller for the moment as she watched me. Watching her, I nodded my head.

“Look, they are not human anymore and they try to kill me any chance they get. Why does it matter?” My patience was growing thin with her, or maybe I was just worn out.

“They are vampires like me.” She almost sounded angered as her tone grew tighter.

“They are not like you–you speak, you are in control of yourself and they are not. You are not a wild animal, like them. They are but remnants of what they once were, not what is. I find them to be very much like ferocious, rabid animals. I’m sure they don’t think as much about me as I think about them,” I spat out at her, disgusted that I even had to say those things.

I glanced back over to Miranda, waiting for her response to my words. Her face had gone blank as she now stared out the windshield, into the street. She seemed pensive, lost in her thoughts, for what felt like forever. I hated to interrupt her reverie but I was not going to wait until her memories released their grip on her mind. The sun was starting to set and the orange purple colors of the evening sky blazed like a warning of the dark soon to come. I needed to get to shelter fast, with or without her.

I pushed on the gas, turning my car toward the freeway that would connect to the airport. I could make it in ten minutes flat, leaving plenty of time to enter the airport tunnel to whatever lay underneath it. I hoped I hadn’t miscalculated at all. I could already see some feral vampires gathering on the east sides of the buildings around us, hungrily watching and waiting for sunset. I gulped, thankful that the freeway was wide open and not really in the shadows of any buildings.

“So, how many are back where you live?” I asked, trying to ease the tension with my curiosity about my new ‘friend.’

Miranda sucked in her breath and turned toward me. I kept my eyes on the road as the debris and broken down cars kept me alert, summoning my attention and making the trip interesting.

“Hundreds,” she said quietly. I nodded, feeling my heart jump into a faster pace as I imagined the hordes of vampires that I was about to insanely waltz into. I suddenly felt the urge to whip the car around and head home. Gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles flashed white, I waited for her to continue. “It is an underground fallout shelter, fortified and well-built. After the initial chaos of the viral outbreak, those of us that had changed into vampires discovered we were not like the ‘zombified’ ones. We call them wildlings. We gathered together, at first hiding from both humans and wildlings alike. We then met another group like us that knew about this compound and it has been our home ever since.” Miranda’s voice was steady and calm as she described a chance meeting with an ex-military officer named Blaze, who had become their leader.

“So, does this ‘Blaze’ know that I’m coming with you?” I asked, afraid that I was going to run into some very surprised vampires.

“Yes, he has had me follow you for a while, ever since we discovered your hideaway. Sorry we disturbed you but we lost one of our own out there and had to return to find her. You wouldn’t happen to know what became of her, would you?” Her tone was slightly accusative, making me sit up straighter in my seat.

“Yes, I do.” I glanced at her quickly, wondering what she would do if she only knew what had gone down. “I killed her. She trespassed and I killed her.” I turned back toward the road but kept her in my peripheral vision, hoping she wouldn’t pounce on me and kill us both in a crash.

All I got was a sigh in return.

“I wish you hadn’t done that. I understand your reasons for killing her, she being a vampire on your property and all. But I have to warn you, she was part of our group and some will not be happy to hear that you dispatched her so easily, without remorse.” She watched me press my lips together in a tight line, absorbing her words with distain.

“Will they want to avenge her? Because if so, I might as well drop you off now.” I waited as I slowed the car down, exiting onto the connecting 215 freeway toward the airport. I waited quietly for her to answer, knowing we were getting very close to our destination as the sun’s light began to recede.

“They will not harm you; we are not allowed. Blaze will protect you. He is an honorable man and a great fighter, and no one messes with him.” She chuckled a bit to herself, making me wonder what she was thinking about. “He’s pretty much a badass if you ask me.”

“A badass, huh? Well I hope you know what’s going to happen, I’m going in with my gear whether you like it or not. I’m not above dispatching your pals. I only wish to find my family.” My voice came out hard but straight and to the point. I glanced at her, wondering if she was now thinking she had made a grave mistake.

“You know,” Miranda shot back. “I think that this is the start of a very awesome friendship. I don’t like many in our group; they are not so street-wise and tough like you. I think we could benefit from your insight of the world. It may not be a nice place to live in anymore but here we are, alive and as well as we can be. I’m certain many will see you as a threat. But I can tell you right now that Blaze and I see you as the future of mankind.”

Giving her a sideways look that pretty much said I thought she was out of her mind, I shook my head, half grinning at her words. She was out of her mind, that’s all it was. I was out of my own mind for that matter. Feeling like I was walking into a lion’s den with raw meat strapped about my body, dripping sanguineous blood down my clothes for the vampires to drool and snap at. I still couldn’t believe I was doing this. I still couldn’t believe that this was my life right now. The only thing I wanted was to find my family and everything I had come to believe in was now skewed.

Questioning myself was not helping. I could only hope that the road was spread out before me in the direction I needed to go. I had no leads otherwise, and I knew that there was bound to be someone there that could help me, even if I had to risk everything to find them.

Chapter Fifteen

Pulling up to the remnants of the underground freeway tunnel situated below the runways of the McCarran International Airport, I wondered where exactly it was that Miranda’s hive lived. The tunnel had collapsed at the entrance, blocking anything from entering it. I studied the rubble of concrete and rebar dangling across the mess and shook my head, glancing at Miranda and hoping it was meant to look this way for one reason or another. The sun was fading fast, and unless we planned on dying when the hordes of feral vampires poured into the streets, we had to get to shelter fast.