The Dead Game (22 page)

David finally relinquished his tough stance and followed Louise out of the burning room. Mike sneered to himself—the cowardly lion had let go of his tail for a few seconds and had almost appeared heroic; but of course, he ended up following his bossy girlfriend to safety.

They ran into an enormous chamber, where disputes were brought forth before the town council. A raised dais with a long table and chairs faced a room full of benches for spectators. Now there weren’t any spectators, but only the ghostly apparition with her fire raging toward them
. No justice will be brought here today,
Shana thought morosely.

Natalie drifted above the long table where the council members usually convened. Father John trailed in behind her, chanting phrases in Latin.

“Stop it, you old fool! You’ll never vanquish me!” Natalie taunted the priest.

“Why are you standing on the dais? Do you really believe that you will ever be welcome in this town to sit on a council board?” goaded Todd.

“Why would I want to be a part of this town? I will someday be the leader of the whole world—not just the fangless vampires of Oasis!” mocked Natalie haughtily.

The fire followed them into the room, bringing with it an intense heat. “Grilled humans,” screeched Natalie, “that should be a good snack for me.”

Natalie raised her arm and this time lifted Linda high up, directly above the raging fire. “I believe that this human should cook first, since she is Todd’s favorite treat,” decided Natalie.

The flying creatures continued to screech and dive down at them. One flew down really low and caught Shana by her hair, lifting her up to the ceiling. She struggled with the furry demon, trying to free her hair from its deadly grip.

Natalie shrieked happily, “We now have two useless humans caught!”

Sam yelled from below, “Don’t worry! Just hold on tight! Once we vanquish her, the creatures will also be destroyed!”

Shana continued to struggle against the creature. When she looked up at it, it glanced back down at her. She was shocked to see that while it had a human face, it also had a beak. But its body was the body of a huge bat, she realized. It kept staring at her, turning its head sideways—like a bird analyzing its prey.

She pulled at her long hair trapped in its sharp talons. Its hooked claws were very sharp; she could feel their edges digging into her scalp. She was in a bad, very bad situation. She looked down at the strange scene being played out beneath her.

Father John’s voice bellowed out loud, causing Natalie’s lit reflection to fade and flicker. “If you vanquish me, you silly fool, then Todd’s girlfriend will fall directly into the fire and burn up quickly. Humans roast very rapidly—if you need to know for the future,” laughed Natalie nastily.

Sam urgently whispered to the Father, “I’ve got it covered; just vanquish her as quickly as you can.”

The priest’s voice rose high up into the rafters. The great devotion in his voice made the wooden beams crack and tremble. The whole building shuddered and shook; sections of the ceiling crashed down upon them.

He smiled, lifted both his arms to heaven, and resumed chanting. Natalie caught on fire: beginning at her legs and then traveling up her tiny body. She screamed and moaned as she tried to fight off the flames. Rolling across the floor in a ball of fire, she continued to sizzle and burn until all that remained of her were ashes. With Natalie totally annihilated, Linda began to fall into the fire. Sam promptly opened the hose at full blast, which immediately extinguished the fire beneath her and protected her fall with soggy and wet firewood.

Shana felt the creature’s hold on her begin to slacken. Looking up, she saw its body begin to fade until it slowly turned to dust. Then she was falling. She closed her eyes and then suddenly felt arms around her. She looked up into Todd’s brown eyes. 
Wow, he is gorgeous
, she thought. Now she could see what Linda saw in him. He put her down safely.

He then helped Linda up from the ground. Clinging to his body, she asked, “Are we safe? Will others try to kill us?”

“No,” responded Todd, “I think we’ve finally rid the town of all the evil creatures.”

The famous last words chanted by every hero
, evilly thought Mike. He was hoping that there was more to come; he was beginning to vastly enjoy the parade of vampires and their superhuman display of tricks.

Chapter 35

T
he sun was slowly rising above the ravaged streets of Oasis. The damage from the raging storm was finally brought to the light of day. Glass from blown-out windows littered the usually sparkling clean sidewalks. Garbage and debris covered everything—like a torn and ravaged blanket thrown over an unsightly mess in a sorry attempt to conceal it.

The survivors of Natalie’s wrath carefully picked their way through the large pieces of roof that had fallen into the rooms of the town hall.

It was a new day. They walked outside into the dazzling sunshine.

Father John departed to check on the extent of damage that had been done to the church, while the rest of them continued slowly through town.

Todd slipped his arm around Linda’s shoulders as they strolled together to her apartment.

Linda unhappily gazed at all the empty stores along Main Street that had once belonged to the vanquished human vampires. The town used to be peaceful and serene. Now all she could see was death and destruction. She softly commented to Todd, “I wonder who will replace Shirley, Hank, Minnie, and Frank in these stores? How will new people fit into this strange town of vampires and human vampires?”

“Don’t forget about all the humans,” added Todd. “You, Mike, David, Shana, and Louise are human.”

“I think some of us will be switching over. Shana and Sam look like a serious couple.”

“What about you?” he asked. “Would you be willing to become a human vampire?”

“Are you asking?”

“Of course I am.”

“Just out of curiosity or for some personal reason?” prompted Linda.

“I like to keep my options open. In this case, I would like to know what we mean to each other.”

“That answer is much too vague for me. I prefer straight answers,” insisted Linda. She had grown tired of games, especially the games being played by vampires.

Todd had somehow backed her against a tall tree on the deserted walkway. She couldn’t move back and if she moved forward, well…Todd’s large, muscular body was blocking the way.

They stood in the tree’s cool shade, colorful leaves falling all around them. Staring intently into each other’s eyes, each one was afraid to make the first move. Todd finally moved closer, encircling her and giving her the long, heartfelt kiss that she’d been waiting for—for a very long time.

She couldn’t believe that he was finally holding and kissing her so passionately. His mouth was soft and hard at the same time—pulling her deeper and deeper into his world of heightened feelings. When he touched her, she felt somehow different—not herself anymore. He took total control of her mind and her body. It felt unbelievably good, but scary at the same time. She still wasn’t sure that she was ready to give up her freedom to be under Todd’s control.

He was staring down at her—as if trying to commit her face to memory. Reverently, he caressed her eyelids with his lips. Then his warm lips moved down her face to her mouth once more. She shivered in delight. Who knew that he could be so gentle and caring?

The kisses grew more ardent, but her mind remained focused on the way he had been memorizing her features. Why? Was he going away? Was there something he wasn’t telling her? Of course there was—he and his friends were always keeping secrets. She didn’t know if she would ever be able to truly trust him.

But darn, he was a good kisser. And he was beautiful: his big brown eyes had those long lashes that any woman would die for; she loved his cleft chin and his finely chiseled features. She ran her fingers through his soft, curly brown hair. But she had to be able to trust him—with her life, if need be.

His lips were trailing down her neck, down her chest, ending at the deep V of her neckline. He was licking her skin, causing her limbs to tremble. She felt warmth flowing down her body, awakening her nerve endings with the sudden totally unexpected thrill. She threw her head back and softly moaned. Groaning in response, his playful tongue reversed direction, picking up speed until it reached her mouth once again. Then he descended upon her with his mouth; his warm mouth, which was molding itself to hers. His whole body was molding itself to hers, until she felt as one with him. She was falling…falling into his embrace….

Right in the middle of their passionate embrace, Todd abruptly lifted his head to look down at her. “Are you sure that you wouldn’t rather be with a strong vampire like Hayden or a dashing vampire leader like Reece?” He was searching her eyes for her reaction.

“Why would you think that I would be interested in either of them?” declared Linda. She felt lost without his touch, without his lips pressing down on hers, seeking entrance to her body. Why had he stopped kissing her? How could he turn himself on and off so rapidly? Her body was still humming from his kisses…and from that tongue….

For some unknown reason he was suddenly acting insecure, but he was never unsure of himself. Maybe he plainly didn’t trust her after witnessing the passionate scene between her and Wolf. Or even worse, maybe he wasn’t as lost in their passion as she had been?

Determined to change the subject, she asked, “Do you have any family? I have a large family with many cousins. I have two older brothers, who have always insisted on looking out for me. But do human vampires have families?” She was beginning to nervously ramble on, so she stopped talking.

Grinning down at her, he replied, “Of course I have a family. My father, who is a vampire, fell in love with a human and therefore, had chosen to join the experiment. The same thing had happened to Sam, Gregg, Judy, and Ryan.”

“Do you have brothers and sisters?”

“I don’t, but I have many vampire and human cousins.”

Linda was amazed at this and laughingly remarked, “That should make for some interesting family gatherings. What about the older human vampires in town—who are now all dead?” She suddenly felt bereft without them.

“Shirley, Hank, Minnie, and Frank were the original human vampires. They were created over forty years before our group. They never had children. Minnie and Frank were much older than they appeared. Human vampires don’t look their age, and live much longer than humans.”

“You will age slowly while I grow old ungracefully,” she murmured unhappily.

“You will never age ungracefully,” he promised.

Todd was seriously beginning to doubt the wisdom of his decision to include Linda into his dark life. He didn’t know if he should ever turn her into a human vampire. He dreaded the possibility that one day she might regret her choice, once she saw how her life had been turned upside down, and once she realized that she had to exist on the dark side with no turning back.

Human vampires had to be extremely careful in order to fit in well with the rest of society—without allowing anyone to dig up their dark secrets. They lived in their own little society—separate from the rest of the world, without fitting in with vampires or humans. It was a hard secret to carry around every day. He’d had to carry this secret for years with only the elders and the other human vampires knowing his bitter truth.

Even though he wasn’t a full vampire, the temptation to drink blood was always present. Human vampires could be very easily turned by a vampire. Vampires held the lure of great power and immortality. Once human blood was tasted, there was no going back. The older human vampires in town had turned at the end, and he sadly realized there was no guarantee that any of them wouldn’t turn in the future. Their meager powers as human vampires did not make up for their lack of a normal life, and were nothing at all compared to the almost limitless powers of vampires.

Linda had already fallen prey to Wolf’s magnetic spell, which could mean that others like him might be able to tempt her away from her human side and woo her with the rough, seedy playground of demons—filled with weapons, gore, and sick games. However, as he gazed into Linda’s trusting eyes, he knew in his heart that he had always trusted her and always would. He really didn’t believe that she would ever switch sides. But he still wasn’t sure if vampirism was right for her. She was pure and innocent, and he wanted her to remain that way. Because he wanted and desired her was not a good enough reason to have her give up her life.

Chapter 36

A
t Linda’s apartment, Todd walked in first. Almost immediately his highly attuned senses picked up an unusual scent. It smelled of flowers and cinnamon. He stood completely still, trying to place the unique aroma. It seemed somehow seemed familiar to him. Linda never wore fragrances and neither did Shana. He looked down the dark hall and wondered who had been in this apartment…or maybe still was?

From the living room, he heard a woman’s voice. “Welcome! What took you so long?”

He had assumed that everyone was accounted for in town, but this woman didn’t live in town. Now he placed the scent. He strode into the living room. “You’re not really Hank’s daughter are you, Frances? Is that even your real name?”

“Very astute of you, even though you are a mere human vampire. My name is Maxell and I am Natalie’s granddaughter,” responded the woman. “You killed my grandmother and now I will return the favor and kill all of you.”

The woman was beautiful with her blonde hair and voluptuous figure, but underneath she was as cold as ice, realized Todd.

“Natalie was one of The Dead before becoming a saint. Are you the same thing?” Linda asked.

“No, silly human, I am not a saint but the last of The Dead in town. You’ve completely ruined all of our carefully laid out plans. We were waiting for Wolf and his gang to rid the world of unwanted vampires before we annihilated every last vampire, including all members of The Dead. I would then be ready to ascend to become La Santa Muerte, like my grandmother. We were to be the only true power on earth. Finally we would be free to be worshipped properly and fully by humans.”

Furious that they had another rogue vampire to deal with, Todd shouted at her, “You’re just another sniveling follower. The world will be a much better place with you gone.” He quickly turned to find a weapon, but by the time he turned back, Maxell and Linda had already disappeared together. The living room was empty.

Feeling helpless, he pulled out his cell phone, quickly dialing the sheriff’s office. As soon as Sam answered, he yelled anxiously into the phone, “Linda is gone! Natalie had a granddaughter who’d posed as Hank’s daughter. She is the last of The Dead. This Maxell woman has abducted Linda! We need to quickly rally the forces! Call everyone! We must find them before she harms Linda!”

“Don’t worry. She obviously took Linda hostage as a way to trap us. She’ll hold onto her until she has us,” Sam replied. “Where should we look for them? Do you have any ideas?”

“Natalie loved Wolf’s house. Now that I think about it: Natalie adored Wolf and his house way too much. Before she became a saint, they must have been secretly meeting there, devising their warped plans. I wonder when Natalie had become involved with vampires; she used to be such a sweet old lady. We should meet at Wolf’s house and see if that is where Maxell is holding Linda.”

“I hope that this is the last of them. I’ll get in touch with everyone, even the elders. Please don’t do anything rash—like going in without back-up,” cautioned Sam.

“Okay, but just don’t bring any humans; they’ll just get in the way. I don’t need any more people to worry about.”

“Fine,” agreed Sam, “I’ll meet you there.”

Judy, Gregg, and Ryan were blocking the front door of Wolf’s house, waiting until Sam arrived with reinforcements. They insisted that they were only following the sheriff’s strict orders, but Todd was impatient to be inside already.

He didn’t have to wait long. Sam arrived with Father John as his sole back-up. Todd was shocked to see only the two of them. He descended upon them, shouting out rapid-fire questions: “How are we going to free Linda? Where is our vampire back-up?” He knew that there was no way they could be successful without adequate supernatural support.

“Leanne, Diane, and Reece are coming; they told me to go in and check out the situation. Hayden will be here shortly,” responded Sam.

Refusing to wait any longer, Todd charged up the steps, aggressively pushing his way between the three human vampires. Inside he spotted Shana, Mike, David, and Louise, standing close together waiting for them. He turned to Sam, quickly grabbing him by the neck. “I thought I’d told you to steer clear of humans! How did they find out so quickly?”

“Let go of me! I didn’t say anything to them!”

Shana stepped forward, “Each one of us received a note requesting our presence at Wolf’s house. Sam didn’t tell us!” She threw Todd a cold, angry look.

“I’m sorry,” replied Todd as he stepped away from Sam, releasing his neck from his strong hold.

“I understand—just don’t do it again.”

Marching down the hall, Todd began issuing orders. “I’ll go in first and then the rest of you can follow. We will first check out the alligator tank. Take my lead and make no abrupt decisions on your own! Linda’s life is at stake!”

He led the way through the house until they reached the alligator pool. He suspected that Linda and Maxell were there: alligators would be easy weapons.

Just as he suspected, Maxell was standing in front of the open alligator tank. From the corner of his eye, Todd detected movement from above. He looked up and was startled to find Linda suspended by a rope hanging from the glass-domed ceiling. She was hanging directly above the alligator-filled water, a huge snake tightly coiled around her neck.

Sam and Father John stepped forward, but Todd abruptly motioned for them to move back. He didn’t want to anger Maxell any further before the others arrived. He had to buy them extra time.

He moved forward. “Why are you doing this? You didn’t have to join with the evil forces in town. Our town used to be quiet and pleasant. We could have that again. You could remain a vampire or join with a human.”

“‘Quiet and pleasant’ means boring! I would rather die than live an uneventful and boring life in a small unknown town!”

Mike was thrilled that he’d finally found a woman after his own heart. Too bad she was going to be killed off so quickly.

“We’ll be happy to grant your dying wish,” announced Reece as he appeared with Leanne and Diane.

“Welcome, weak and spineless vampires! If you kill me, then my hold on the snake will break and this gorgeous reptile will be free to strangle this stupid human. Whatever he fails to eat, I’m sure the alligators will be happy to finish off. Everyone will be happy—except of course for this human.”

Since the elders were standing in front of Maxell, they had lost any element of surprise. Their only chance was Hayden again. Mike couldn’t understand why the elders weren’t capable of following through with a simple plan. If they had effectively surprised this Maxell vampire, then they would have been able to overcome her. Now, they had to stand there like idiots, anxiously waiting for Hayden to save the day again.

Staring up at Linda, Todd unhappily gazed into her beautiful eyes. He wanted to offer her some kind of reassurance that everything would turn out fine, but her eyes remained fixated on the tank of alligators. He had to do something to help her; he couldn’t just stand there and watch her die. What could he do? What powers did he possess that he could use to save Linda? He knew that his only true power was of suggestion. An idea came to him.

Turning to face Maxell, he spoke to someone over her shoulder. “You’re back, Wolf! I’d assumed that we’d finally seen the last of you.”

Maxell spun around and gawked at Wolf. “How could you possibly be alive? You died in the alligator pool.”

“Who told you that, your grandmother? Do you believe your grandmother or your own father?”

“Are you trying to tell me that you’re my father? My father died when I was born,” emphatically replied Maxell.

“No, I didn’t. I left your mother. She made up the whole story to hide the truth.”

“Prove it!” cried out Maxell.

Wolf hesitated for a brief moment and then pointed out, “Your mother has always been extremely organized and kept very strict schedules. She was dreadfully difficult to live with.”

“Yes! She was too strict! She never let me be me! I wanted to be free from her.”

“Be free now! Come with me! We could go away together and start a new life,” promised Wolf.

Maxell began walking slowly toward Wolf. Then Wolf abruptly disappeared, leaving Maxell standing alone in the middle of the alligator pool. As she fell to her death she looked up at Todd, who mockingly smiled down at her. Reece opened the glass dome as she hit the water. She sizzled and burned from the dazzling sunlight—all the while knowing that she’d been tricked by an apparition created by a weak and spineless human vampire, thought Todd victoriously.

“Stupid, stupid vampire,” mumbled Mike out loud.

Linda was snatched from the body of the large snake by Reece, who had flown up to her. Freeing her, he brought her down into Todd’s waiting arms.

“I hope all the evil in town has been effectively eliminated. Am I finally correct this time?” Todd asked the elders.

You haven’t been correct once so far
, answered Mike mockingly to himself.

Reece responded, “I believe all the evil has been finally eradicated. You can all go home.”

“Where was Hayden during all this?” asked Sam.

“We sent him to Europe to take care of a few matters for us. We knew that either you or Sam would successfully resolve this situation,” replied Reece, walking over to shake Todd’s hand.

“How did you know that one of us would be stepping in to save everyone? I was waiting for Hayden. I was only attempting to buy us some time,” admitted Todd.

You were just lucky this time
, mocked Mike. 
If you had really tried, then things wouldn’t have worked out so well.

“I knew that one of you would be successful, since you both have untapped powers that need to be further developed,” explained Reece.

“What type of powers?” Mike asked.

“That’s for another day,” declared Reece. He then disappeared with Leanne and Diane right behind him.

Mike curiously glanced over at Todd and Sam, trying to figure out what these untapped powers could possibly be.

Todd suggested to Linda, “Let’s get out of here. I never want to see this house again.”

“I agree,” Shana heard Linda respond. “By the way, how did you know about Maxell’s mother in such detail?”

“Since Natalie was extremely strict, living her whole life by her schedules, I had assumed the same for her daughter—who was Maxell’s mother.”

“Very clever, Sherlock Holmes,” teased Linda as she kissed Todd’s cheek.

“What was that for?”

“For being so smart and for saving my life again,” replied Linda.

Todd bowed deeply. “Glad to be of service, madam.”

Father John waved goodbye to everyone. “I’m having the church’s roof fixed today, so I need to hurry back. I can’t believe it is Monday morning already.”

“Wait! Father, how do you know that your housekeeper isn’t a vampire? I spotted her eavesdropping on our conversation at the church. She could be spying for the other side,” suggested a worried Shana.

“That’s pretty funny. She is the sweetest old lady, who’s always willing to help anyone in need. She was most probably listening to see if she could offer you any help,” assured Father John. He then turned to leave the house.

“What about Wolf’s housekeeper? He’d informed us that his housekeeper was fixing us some tea, but I never saw tea or a housekeeper,” asked Shana of her friends, who were staring at the alligator tank. They looked exhausted from the endless battles with the vampires.

“Wolf would have no need for a housekeeper. Vampires have always been loners, without servants to spy on them,” explained Sam. This reminded Shana of the vampire James at the mansion. He had a huge mansion with beautifully furnished rooms, but with no one to share it with.

“The life of a vampire seems to be very lonely. Do they form close alliances like the elders?” asked Shana curiously.

“Many vampires form alliances and even marry. As human vampires, we need support and friends—just like humans,” explained Sam.

Sam took Shana’s hand and led them out of Wolf’s empty house. Hopefully for the very last time, prayed Shana.