Something of the Night (29 page)

Chapter
Forty-Five

The Airstreamer bucked and swayed. It had been over an
hour now since they had moved over smooth ground. Inside, the occupants were
continually jostled about as the trailer rolled over rough earth. Ezekiel’s
army had almost reached its destination.

Jacob’s eyes locked to those
of the vampire. Ezekiel’s normally cool demeanour was replaced by doubt and
suspicion, while Jacob’s eyes contained nothing but hatred. He held the vampire’s
gaze.

“If you value them, I suggest
you stop staring,” Ezekiel advised.

“Value what?” Jacob snarled.

“Your eyes.”

Brother Trask bent over the tracker
and his fingers flexed. “I’ll pull them both right out of your head,” he
warned.

Jacob didn’t even blink.

Ezekiel broke the tension
with a genuine, hearty laugh. “What is it about you, human? Why do you not fear
me?”

“What have I to fear?” Jacob
asked.

Ezekiel went quiet. A good
question, he thought. What did the human have to fear? It had become apparent
the tracker was not going to be killed or inducted into the ranks of the
undead. Not yet anyway.

Both Jacob and Elliot were
tied at the back of the Airstreamer. Hands bound above their heads and fixed to
the walls. Rope pulled their wrists together, looped tightly around two hooks,
which were fixed high enough so that both Jacob and Elliot had been left to
half dangle and half sit. The young tracker was slouched unconscious by Jacob’s
side. He had taken a swipe at the black Frankenstein and come off second best.
A purple bruise darkened his chin. Jacob was surprised that that was all Elliot
had suffered. The huge vampire’s strength was unmatchable. Earlier, he had
peeled open the buckled door of the trailer with ease to free those inside.

Jacob had almost wept with
relief on seeing his son. He’d kept his emotions in check, though, for the
boy’s safety was paramount, and under no circumstances must Ezekiel find out
the truth. Knowledge was power, and the vampire already had his fair share of
that. Jacob had done his best to avoid looking at the boy, but had found
himself continually drawn to his young, innocent face though. The little boy
had stared back, a look of confusion on his face.

Ezekiel had ordered the thin
vampire, Brother Franklin, to take the young boy by the hand and lead him
outside. Then, thankfully, the burnt vampire had followed, yet the stench of
overcooked meat still hung thickly in the air.

As for Pet, he’d simply
disappeared. And Jacob guessed it would not have been too difficult for a
vampire to hide out amongst thousands.

The vampire leader sat behind
a table, a handgun nearby. Only Brother Trask remained standing, and he rocked
and swayed in unconscious synchronisation with the trailer.

Ezekiel gave Jacob an answer
to his question: “You have nothing to fear from me.” He nodded, adding
sincerity to his words.

This surprised Jacob and he
fell quiet for a moment, trying to understand his enemy. “If I’ve nothing to
fear, then why am I bound?” he asked finally.

Ezekiel laughed again, but
this time it was sad and pitying. “I said, ‘you have nothing to fear from me.’
I didn’t say you had nothing to
fear
.”

Jacob frowned. “Say what’s on
your tongue, vampire.”

Trask grabbed a handful of
Jacob’s hair. He yanked the tracker’s head back and spat, “Show my master some
respect, or I’ll be forced to cut your tongue from out of its blasphemous
head.”

Ezekiel stood, then moved
around the table and laid his hand on Trask’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Brother. We
shouldn’t punish them for being merely bad-mannered.”

Trask growled in Jacob’s face
before releasing him. He leaned against the side of the trailer and fixed the
tracker with a deadly stare.

Behind the vampire, most of
the inside wall was covered by patches of dried blood. The black Frankenstein
had punched the trailer back into shape with its bare fists, doing little more
to itself than venting its anger and bloodying its knuckles. It was once the dark
monstrosity had left that Jacob realised that most of Ezekiel’s inner circle
was either nervous or edgy, and deeply troubled. He expected them to be pumped
up and ready for battle, like the soldiers outside, and not apprehensive.

What were they afraid of?

“I’m sick of their
stupidity,” Trask moaned.

“It’s not their fault they’re
uneducated. You have to remember, they’ve been hiding underground like rats for
many years, and have unwittingly adopted a few irritating habits,” Ezekiel
explained.

The stocky vampire grumbled a
concurrence and the moment of tension slipped away unnoticed.

Jacob understood that if he
got the chance, Trask would happily cut his throat and dance in his blood as he
lay dying. Ezekiel, on the other hand, was a completely different story.
Something other than hatred or bloodlust was driving him, but what? He was
smart, but so was Jacob. The tracker realised instantly that Ezekiel’s comment
about rats had been more aimed at pacifying Trask than a direct insult to him.
The vampire’s reign appeared fragile and he was pulling out all the stops to
keep those around him in order.

They fell quiet for a moment,
and the slight squeal of the suspension and the drum of rain above filled in
the silence. They felt the sway of the trailer lessen. Eventually the
Airstreamer drew to a halt. A moment later an urgent thud sounded. Trask opened
it to find an anxious-looking foot-soldier standing outside. The soldier – no
more than a teenager – offered the stocky vampire a respectful salute, then
looked past him and towards Ezekiel.

“I bring grave news,” he
said, tension clear in his voice.

“What news?” Trask asked.

The soldier shuffled from one
boot to the other.

“Speak!” Trask said, his
fragile patience about ready to crack.

“Perhaps we should speak in
private.” The young man’s eyes darted towards Jacob and Elliot.

Ezekiel caught the look. He
moved beside Trask. “Come in, son, and tell me your news.”

The vampire paused for a
second then climbed inside. He shook his overcoat and rainwater pooled around
his feet.

“What is it?” Ezekiel asked.

The soldier looked towards
the prisoners for a second time.

“It’s okay,” Ezekiel said.
“You can speak with them present. It seems they’ve been given the same path as
us to follow.”

The soldier frowned, unsure
of his master’s comment.

“C’mon, soldier, speak before
I die of old age,” Trask growled.

Taking a breath, the soldier
said, “It appears we have a problem.”

“Problem?” Ezekiel asked.

“Bara,” the soldier said,
with trepidation. “Her truck has been abandoned on the highway.”

The vampire leader visually
tensed. “Where is she?” he asked.

The soldier shrugged. “I-I’m
not sure.”

“Damn that idiot,” Trask
spat. “She’s become a liability.”

Ezekiel looked physically
pained. “And her cargo?”

“Gone also,” the soldier
replied, unable to hold his master’s gaze.

“NO!” Ezekiel snapped.

The soldier reared back, but
not fast enough to avoid Ezekiel’s hand. The vampire leader clutched at the
other’s throat. “How did this happen?”

“I’m not sure… ” the soldier
croaked.

“Fool!” Ezekiel roared, and
pushed the vampire against the trailer. His jaws opened wide and he readied to
strike.

“Please … It wasn’t my
fault,” the teenage vampire cried.

“Then whose?” Ezekiel
demanded.

The soldier’s eyes darted
towards Jacob and Elliot. “Theirs?”

All three vampires turned
towards the two captives. Ezekiel reached out and took the handgun from the
table. He took two strides and knelt beside Jacob. “Is there any truth in
this?” he asked.

Jacob just grinned back
silently.

Ezekiel pressed the weapon
against the tracker’s skull. “Well?”

No response came.

“You have no idea what you’re
jeopardising,” Ezekiel said.

Jacob said nothing. The
weapon moved away from his head and instead rested against Elliot’s. The young
tracker moaned as he battled towards consciousness.

“Now let’s try again. Do you
know where my transport’s gone?”

Unwilling to put Elliot’s
safety at risk, Jacob answered, “No.”

“What about him?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you do know who he is?”

Jacob nodded.

“Good,” Ezekiel said.

The vampire reached out and
pulled Jacob’s lip upwards to reveal the artificial fangs. He laughed bitterly,
genuinely impressed. “I’ve a feeling those would be unlikely to go unnoticed.”
He paused for a moment, his mind working out certain possibilities. “And I
believe only one of high stature would be given such a task, to masquerade as
one of my own.” The vampire remembered what name the other human had used, and
said, “Who are you, Jacob? A leader of men perhaps?”

Jacob’s eyes narrowed with
suspicion. “You think you know me?”

Ezekiel shook his head. “No…
but I will.” The vampire stood and the handgun disappeared into his waistband.
He returned to the table and leafed through a stack of papers. He found the
list of names that corresponded to Bara’s cargo. Twelve names made up the list.
Each of the prisoners had a number beside their name, which related to the
amount of time they had spent in captivity. Most had been imprisoned for at
least three years, some as many as five. Ezekiel sat for a moment in silence,
his mind working overtime. Three to five years was a long time for humans. Many
would have died, either in battle, from hunger or from illness, and the
prisoners’ loved ones may have perished a long time ago. His gesture of
goodwill might have been nothing more than freeing prisoners to a band of
strangers, and a total waste of time. Yet this Jacob, well,
he
may just
turn out to be the pivotal point in this whole encounter.

Trask stepped forward. “Maybe
we should send out a search party to see if we can relocate Bara’s cargo? They
can’t have gone far. We could set up camp, and wait until they’ve been found.”

Ezekiel looked up and stared
at Jacob. “No,” he responded. “We must push on. If the humans flee, then all is
lost.” He stood and returned to the centre of the trailer. He fixed Jacob with
a stare and his canines glinted as he grinned. “I don’t want our friends to
arrive late for their reunion. Not even by a second.”

Chapter
Forty-Six

Jacob
felt the trailer bounce and sway violently. With
sickening certainty, he knew they were close to the underground. Very close.
The tracker pulled against his bonds. It was pointless. They were painfully
tight. At his side, Elliot slipped in and out of consciousness. Trask and the
young vampire had left earlier and had not returned. Ezekiel sat on his own
now, arms folded across his chest. He was staring openly at his captive.

“What?” Jacob asked, bothered
by the vampire’s continual interest.

“Nothing,” Ezekiel replied.

“C’mon, you’ve got my
attention. What is it?”

“Okay,” the vampire said,
ready to engage in conversation. “You.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“What about me?”

“There’s something very
familiar about you,” Ezekiel said.

Jacob dropped his head. No
matter what, he must not allow the vampire to discover his true identity. “I’m
nobody,” he replied quietly.

A soft, knowing chuckle
escaped from the vampire’s crimson lips. “On the contrary, you could prove to
be everything.”

Jacob cursed his own
arrogance. Why had he forced this conversation? He sat silent.

“Only a brave man would have
attempted what you did. To have killed me would have surely resulted in your
own death.”

Jacob looked back at the
vampire. “It would have been worth the price.”

“Are you sure of that?”

“Damn right I am.”

Ezekiel shook his head
sympathetically. “Your desire for revenge is deeply depressing.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he
retorted, anger creeping into his throat. “Your lust for blood is utterly
devastating.”

The vampire nodded – that was
undeniable. “It seems you and I have reached an agreement.”

“What agreement?” Jacob
asked.

“That our …
differences
are costing us both dearly.”

“Really?” Jacob said
sarcastically.

“Both our peoples are
struggling to survive,” Ezekiel continued undeterred. “And yet there is a
simple solution to all our problems.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, Jacob. There is.”

The vampire’s use of his name
made the tracker feel surprisingly uneasy and vulnerable. “Get to your point,
vampire.”

“My point is we could end
this war of ours. Once and for all.”

“And how do you propose to do
that?”

Ezekiel paused for a moment.
This would be the first time he had voiced his plans of an alliance to its
intended audience. “That we end this bloodshed and make way for peace.”

Jacob stared back, and only
his hatred towards the vampire stopped him from howling with uncontrollable
laughter. Still, his face must have turned comical.

“What is it you find
amusing?” Ezekiel asked.

“Amusing … no. Pathetic,
yes.”

The vampire frowned. “You
think the chance of peace pathetic?”

“Peace? How would you
implement such a bold gesture? Have us crawl onto your platter and cut our own
throats freely?”

Ezekiel shook his head. “Not
exactly, no.”

“Then what?”

“We set up a depository and
you… donate freely.”

“Depository?” Jacob echoed.
“You make it sound almost civilised.”

“Then what would you call
it?”

“At best, a cattle farm.”

“No – no,” Ezekiel disagreed.
“That isn’t my intention.”

“Then what are your
intentions?”

Ezekiel stood and walked
around the front of the table. He sat at its edge, remaining silent for a
moment, gathering his thoughts. “My intentions are to offer you and yours peace
and prosperity. And protection from extinction. Don’t you see? We can make the
future a better place for both you and yours
and
me and mine!”

“All I see is an army of
undead marching with nothing but hunger and lust in their eyes. Are you telling
me your men feel only passion for the return of their lost brothers?”

“No,” Ezekiel admitted. “Not
all have been told of our plans for a united alliance.”

“Why?” Jacob asked, then
immediately answered his own question. “Perhaps not all your men would freely
offer their hand if they knew their only reward was one of blissful harmony.”

The vampire surprised Jacob
when he nodded in agreement. “Yes, you are right. My men wouldn’t be so … eager
to march knowing what lies ahead. But they will adhere to my command and they
must understand what sense it makes. My men are all too familiar with how
hunger feels. A chance of sustained rations will not be quickly dismissed.”

“That’s what we are …
rations?”

Ezekiel’s hands rose in front
of him. “Sorry, bad choice of word. But you understand its meaning. I need you
and you need me. It’s that simple.”

“I …
We
don’t need
anything from you.” Jacob said.

Ezekiel grinned malevolently.
“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Then how do you intend on
surviving what Raphael and his southern clans throw at you?”

“We’ll fight, as we always
do.”

“And how many men do you
stand at?”

At long last the laughter
came. Jacob roared with bitter amusement. “What am I, a fool? Do your own
intelligence.”

Ezekiel frowned, unsure about
Jacob’s reaction.

“Shall I tell you of all our
weaknesses, too?” Jacob said.

Ezekiel understood. “No – no,
you misunderstand. I’m not trying to determine what level of threat you pose,
but merely trying to make you understand that fighting will be the end of your
people. You can’t possible win against so many.”

“Then I guess it’ll be the
end of us both if Raphael decides to wage war. Unless he can offer better
protection,” Jacob said. His last comment was meant to be sarcastic, but it
made the vampire look back with concern deep in his eyes.

“You’d swear allegiance to
him?”

Jacob laughed again,
bitterly. “Never. Not to him. Not to you. Not to any vampire’s banner.”

An uncomfortable silence fell
upon them. The trailer seemed to be slowing, in an attempt to navigate around
deeper holes and fissures. It drew to a slow, gradual halt.

Ezekiel stood and opened the
door. Outside, soldiers and transports whipped by as they took up position. The
vampire took a deep breath, clearing his mind of the troubles that resided
there. He turned back to Jacob, said, “I hope for all our sakes the rest of
your people think differently than you. Or this may be the beginning of the end
for both our peoples,” then he took the handgun from the tabletop before
stepping outside and slamming the door behind him.

The air felt heavy outside,
and Ezekiel could not be sure if it was from the oppressive weather conditions
or tension itself. He strode purposefully away from the trailer and towards the
front line of his army. His men were quickly taking up positions at the base of
the hill, behind a long line of transports, already parked in a tight
semicircle that stretched for a half-mile and was three vehicles deep.

The first line of vehicles
consisted of eighteen-wheelers and other trucks or wagons. All had been emptied
of their valuable cargo. At least fifty or so prisoners stood huddled together,
surrounded by a platoon of soldiers. The trucks were spaced apart by one truck
length each, and only darkness filled in the spaces, for now. The second line
of vehicles looked more menacing. Most were either bristling with automatic
weapons or fixed spikes, or constructed from armour-plating, but all were
sufficiently small or nimble enough to quickly fill the gaps left by the
eighteen-wheelers. If need be, Ezekiel could close his ranks within seconds.
The third row comprised an endless column of soldiers. Some of them stood
around fixed artillery. Others were already taking up positions around the
armoured vehicles. The rest stood back in an endless wave of foot-soldiers.
From the outside, his army would look no more menacing than a convoy of trucks.
In reality it was a rotten swell of death and destruction. Capable of smashing
any human resistance it encountered.

“Master, we are ready.”

Ezekiel turned to find
Brothers Trask and Franklin standing behind him.

“We are ready,” Trask
repeated. He had his rifle at his side, and the nails hammered through its
stock glinted with the same eagerness for bloodshed, as did the stocky
vampire’s eyes.

“Good,” Ezekiel said. He
looked through the steady flow of vampires in an attempt to find Thalamus and
the boy. “Where is Brother Thalamus?” he asked.

“He’s taken the boy to the
safety of the trailer,”
Franklin
replied.

Ezekiel’s heart skipped a
beat. For some unknown reason he felt uneasy about the boy being near the
humans. Especially Jacob. But why? Both had warm blood pumping through their
veins and a soul in their hearts.

“The humans pose no threat,”
Trask said, reading his master’s concern. “I’ve tied them up good and tight.
They aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.”

Ezekiel nodded. “Good.” The
thought of Thalamus guarding the boy was comforting, and the huge vampire’s
appearance would only serve to unnerve the rest of the prisoners. For now, it
was better for them both to remain safely hidden from the immediate situation and
its unpredictable possibilities.

“Follow me,” Ezekiel said,
and moved towards the throng of prisoners. They look terrified, huddled
together in one tight group. The vampire leader moved closer and the soldiers
guarding them parted to allow him access.

“Do not fear,” he said. “It
is time for me to return you to your loved ones.”