The Cactus Killer (The Inglewood Chronicles) (30 page)

Reno started laughing
again. “What the hell is Vanish?”

“
A drug of my own creation.
Giving the human drug cocaine a few drops of vampire blood gives it
such a more potent punch. Look at how my customers are enjoying
it!”

If death was enjoyment then
I’d be inclined to agree with him. “I’m pretty sure your drug is
killing them.”

“
Yes, it does have that
little drawback, but in the weeks it takes for them to die, they
can’t stop taking it. The money that pours in from their usage is
tremendous.”

The spark of excitement
that was in his eyes as he talked about killing humans made me
sick. “Mark my words Divas, this will end.”

He made a quick motion to
his two goons. “Tough words coming from a dead wolf. Ugga, Nikko,
take out the trash.”

He gave us one last salute
and quickly retreated through the door. We had no time to chase as
both Reno and I had to jump down to the floor below to avoid the
attacks of Divas’s two goons.

“
Damnit Vic, he’s getting
away!”

I have Reno a no shit look.
“We got bigger problems to worry about.”

Ugga and Nikko followed us
down. It was obvious both were vampires, so Reno and I holstered
our guns. I got out my silver tanto my grandfather gave me a long
time ago. Reno had his steel baton, ready for action.

“
Look Ugga, the rodents
wish to challenge us.” Nikko’s voice had a hint of a Russian
accent, ruining my Cousin Vinnie nickname.

Ugga said nothing, just
grunted. He then looked at me and went all vampire on me, eyes red
and fangs extended. Nikko and Reno soon followed. It looked like
there was only one way out of this mess and that was through these
two.

Slowly, I started to walk
towards the drugged up humans. Ugga followed, excitement growing on
the big vampire’s face. Giving a quick glance back at Reno, I could
see him and Nikko circling each other. Reno had been around the
block for a long time, so I wasn’t all that worried.

Once I got to a spot that I
felt was a comfortable distance away, “So ugly, how do you want to
do this?”

In a surprisingly low and
soft voice, “My master deemed it necessary for your death, so shall
I deliver.”

There was a hint of
reluctance in his voice. “I don’t think you want to kill me, now do
you?”

“
I have no choice. If you
want to see another sunrise wolf, prepare yourself.”

Before I could offer a
rebuttal, the large vampire went on the attack.

When you get into a fight,
you always hope to be the bigger and faster man. Most of the times
you’re either one or the other. In this case, I was neither. I’d
been clipped twice already by the vampire’s punches. Let me tell
you what, they really hurt.

The second punch had sent
me into the crowd of humans. I unfortunately landed on a corpse and
from the smell, one of the first ones to pass away. I wanted to
vomit, but now wasn’t the time. The punch had also knocked my tanto
out of my hand and it skidded across the floor. Ugga was stalking
me and I had to think of something fast.

The only thing I noticed
that I could possibly use to my advantage was that big old scar on
his face. It must’ve happened before he was turned as it still had
a touch of green to it, like it had once been infected. If I could
get close enough, I might be able to hurt him.

Getting up, I used what
speed I could muster and ran straight at Ugga. As I got close, he
kicked at me, but I jumped over his leg and landed on his chest.
The massive man didn’t fall down, but I quickly through a punch to
his face. My hand hit the soft skin of the scar and Ugga dropped to
one knee in pain. His hands quickly went up, covering the
scar.

Being on one knee put him
more at my height and I kicked him in the ribs. The dude was all
muscle, but the force of the kick was enough to knock the wind
outta him. He leaned forward and I finished the job by bringing my
knee to his jaw. I felt a bit bad about fighting dirty, but then
again I was still alive.

I heard clapping and looked
over. Reno was standing there watching me. Nikko was lying on the
ground, beaten to a pulp. “Took you long enough.”

“
You didn’t feel the need
to help out?”

Walking over, “Nah, you
were doing fine. Let’s take a few pictures of this place and call
it a night huh?”

Pulling out my cell phone,
which somehow survived the short but nasty fight, I got the
pictures to show Liz. I still had one question though. “What’re we
going to do with the humans that are alive?”

We looked over at them.
Their eyes were sunk so far back in their heads and their skin was
so pale. It was obvious they had been here for a few
weeks.

“
Don’t judge me Vic, but I
think it’s best if we put them out of their misery.”

I wanted to protest his
decision, but I couldn’t. “Why don’t you call Liz and get us some
backup. We can take these two outside and decide how best to end
this nightmare.”

Reno obliged and by the
time we got outside with Nikko and Ugga, Liz and Phil Ruud where
waiting for us. Phil came over and relived me of the burden of
carrying Ugga.

Liz ran over and gave me a
hug. Did I mention I happen to be dating my boss? “Victor, are you
and Reno well?”

The sun was starting to
peak over the horizon. “Yeah, we’re good. But I think for the sake
of Reno and Phil, we can wait until we get back to the office to
discuss matters.”

A millennia old European
vampire, Liz was always prim and proper in both communication and
appearance. Even at five in the morning, she was dressed in a
business suit and five inch heels. How she ever managed to do
anything was beyond me, but that was probably the difference
between men and women.

“
Yes, you make an excellent
point.” Pointing to the two beaten vampires, “Ruud, load them into
the van and if you would, put them in the holding
cells.”

The big, bald man nodded.
Reno went over and helped him load them up. With the tasks done, we
were all off back to our office, located in a high-rise downtown.
Liz hopped in with me and we were off.

“
I know I will see for
myself when I get back to cleanse the area, but how bad was
it?”

Words didn’t really do the
scene justice. “It was truly terrible. What Divas did to those poor
humans proved the point to the few that know about our existence.
He’s a monster.”

“
He saw an advantage with
me preoccupied with the late Warren Tucker and used it. The man is
not a fool that much he has shown.”

Putting my hand on her leg,
“Don’t worry beautiful, we’ll get the bastard.”

She put her hand on top of
mine. As always, it was cool to the touch. “Thank you Victor, I
know we will.”

“
Any word on my passport
yet?”

“
No.” The tone of her voice
went from sad to full of venom. “I do not know how the United
States government gets anything done. We put that request in three
weeks ago.”

The lady at the passport
office said it would take four to six weeks, so I wasn’t surprised.
I was amused with the irony of an impatient vampire who was
effectively immortal. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it soon and we can
go.”

Not that long ago, I was
the sheriff of an all werewolf community, Full Moon, in New Mexico.
Liz came to town and enlisted my help in catching a lunatic serial
killer named Warren Tucker. To keep a long story short, a lot of
people died and I left my post to take up a job with her, Chief
Inspector of the Southwest.

When we had returned to
Phoenix, her brother Jonathan and her oldest friend, Roderick,
called her with a huge problem. A very bad dude had broken out of
his island prison and was on the loose in London. They wanted our
help, but the problem was I don’t have a passport.

“
I know, I am just very
anxious about all of this. Pan was never to leave that
island.”

The fugitive in question
goes by Peter Pan. Apparently it’s not his real name, but the title
fits. Liz’s brother saved a young boy by turning him into a
vampire. Unfortunately, you’re stuck at the age you’re turned and
being a teenager for all eternity has its drawbacks, namely one’s
sanity.

We were at a red light, so
I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Hell, no need to
worry about this Pan yet. We still need to catch Divas before he
ruins the city and all.”

“
He was fortunate to escape
this time. Next time, we will be much better prepared for
him.”

When we pulled into the
parking garage, Liz was in a much better mood. Her lust to make
Divas pay for the crimes he’d committed got her mind off what was
happening across the pond.

When the two of us got to
her office, I pulled my phone out and attached it to her computer.
The images I took appeared on her screen.

“
Victor, this is
horrifying! How did the smell not overwhelm you?”

Smiling, “I’ve been
practicing that new age meditation crap. It actually seems to be
working.”

“
And you did not believe
me!” Yeah, the meditation had been her idea.

Believe it or not, over the
years I had trained myself as best I could to keep my senses under
control in certain situations. Liz had seen my struggles firsthand
a few times and when we got to Phoenix recommended meditation. At
first I passed it off as hippie crap, but even I couldn’t deny the
results after a few sessions.

“
It’s not that I didn’t
believe you, as you probably invented meditation, but I just
thought it was weird.”

The evil eye made its daily
appearance. “Just because I’m over a thousand years old does not
mean I invented everything!”

Were age related jokes
mean? Yes, yes they were. But I also knew it drove her nuts that
she had fallen for someone like me, especially when most vampires
are her age tended to have mates of equal age.

Not pushing it much
further, “I know and I’m really lucky to have you in my
life.”

It took a second, but the
death stare went away, replaced by a smile. “As am I Victor. You
certainly have brought certain energy back to all of us
here.”

“
Well, let’s use this
energy to find Vincente Divas and put an end his crazy
schemes.”

Ragnarok on Ice
Series:

Blood and Arrows
(Prequel)

Power Play (Book
1)

Hat Trick (Book
1.5)

Penalty Kill (Book
2)

The Inglewood
Chronicles

The Cactus Killer (Volume
1)

The Wrath of Pan (Volume
2)

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Jeremy Croston

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