The Vampiric Housewife (40 page)

    
The drive to the hospital was silent and short. St. Vladimir itself looked menacing as it towered over her like something out of a horror film. At one time she only had good associations with the hospital. It was where her children were born. It provided Charlie with a job and supported their family. When her children were injured or sick, she went there for comfort and relief. Now, all she saw was evil.

    
The SUV entered the hospital from the back where barbed wire guarded the perimeter. Pulling right up to the door so the two vampires wouldn’t be exposed to the setting sun, they exited the vehicle. Valerie looked back at the sky, the sun was almost down. She didn’t have much time.

    
Rhett and Drew escorted her inside, each with a firm grip on an arm. There was a receptionist who barely glanced up at them. Human. She must be MaryAnne. Valerie made it a point not to look at her. The three of them got into the elevator. She had expected it to go down since that was where the secret offices were located, but Rhett pushed the button for the fifteenth floor. She couldn’t help thinking that that was a lot of flights of stairs to get down in a fire.

    
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Across the room was Charlie chained to a chair, dried blood matted in his hair, on his clothes and face. His left eye was gone leaving a bloody, black socket, the rest of his face was disfigured by a mass of scars. She had to restrain herself from calling out to him. Dr. Venjamin stood in a white coat with his back to them as he took in the view of the town.

    
With each vampire still grasping her arms, they walked her across the floor.

    
“Venjamin,” she said.

    
He turned around with a smile on his face though he did not look well either. His color was cinereal, his eyes and cheeks sunken in like a decomposing corpse. He slightly hunched forward as if he was battling a stomach pain. She smelled death on him, his blood already beginning to decay. “It is a pleasure to see you again, Valerie. I wish you would have come home sooner. We could have avoided all this nastiness.”

    
“Valerie,” Charlie croaked. “Run. Get out of here.”

    
“It’s going to be okay, Charlie,” she told him. It pained her to look at his battered body and tortured soul. Venjamin had broken him, scarred him in more than one way. She turned her eyes to Venjamin. “Do you think you can get your goons to take their hands off of me?” She felt Drew dig his fingernails into her arm. She refused to flinch or cry out.

    
He nodded at Rhett. Both men released her. Before she had a chance to touch her earring, Rhett bound her arms behind her back and handcuffed her wrists. “They’re silver, honey. You won’t be able to break free,” Rhett whispered in her ear, pleasure shimming in his voice. Valerie felt a panic attack arise within. How would she alert Ethan that she found Charlie? How would they pull her and Charlie out? But she fought it down. She could not afford to let Venjamin see her agitation.

    
“What is this all about?” she demanded. “I came here to make a deal with you, not become your prisoner.”

    
“What gave you the impression that I’m the type of man who makes deals?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    
The sun slipped down beyond the horizon to give daylight to the other face of the world as night settled down on this hemisphere. Ethan’s eyes were glued to Jonathan’s blackberry. He kept waiting for that red dot to appear so he’d know where she was, so they could get the hell out of here.

   
 
“What the hell is going on in there? Why hasn’t she turned the device on?”

    
“Maybe she doesn’t know where Charlie is. Venjamin may not want her to see him. Give her some time. The night shift doesn’t start quite yet. We still have time,” Alessandro said.

    
Ethan grunted. He may not like the idea of Valerie in there alone with Venjamin, but he wouldn’t be like Charlie—keep her in a bubble, a false safe environment. Valerie had proven to be an exceptional woman. He would have faith in that.

    
Suddenly his ears perked up. “Do you hear that?”

    
Alessandro and Jonathan listened.

    
“Three ATV’s headed this way, about a mile out,” Jonathan said.

    
“Venjamin knows we’re here,” Alessandro said. “I guess things aren’t going to go as planned.”

    
“We have to act now,” Ethan said loading a backpack full of gasoline, Molotov bombs, and torches onto his back and grabbed a crossbow equipped with wooden tipped arrows.

    
“You two to the hospital. Light it and get Valerie and Charlie out,” Alessandro said. “I’ll take care of our visitors.”

    
Using their vampire speed Ethan and Jonathan were at the guard station within seconds. With nightfall, the shifts had already changed. They were faced with two vampires armed with silver bullet rifles. Ethan shot one with his crossbow turning the hissing creature into a pile of dust. Jonathan preferred the up close and personal approach. He let the vampire attack him with a couple blows to the face then staked him in the heart.

    
“Let’s get to the hospital,” Ethan said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    
Alessandro took the jeep off the road and made a run for it leading his assailants far away from the town. Three all terrain vehicles followed behind him with bright lights and a mega phone, two passengers to each vehicle.

    
“Pull over immediately! This is a restricted area!”

    
Alessandro just laughed, his blonde hair coming loose as he bounced around in the jeep. He had been a sophisticated gentle-vampire for a long time. He had missed the thrill of a fight. Two vehicles flanked his sides, one lingering behind him. He made a quick turn kicking up dust to blind his pursuers.
     

    
“This is your last warning, pull over now or we’ll be forced to use force.”

    
“Forced to use force,” Alessandro laughed. “Shakespeare, these men are not.”

    
Bullets struck the side of the jeep and driver’s side window. “Bullet proof, always spring for top of the line!”

    
He heard a loud thud on the top of the jeep. He laughed out loud and tried to shake the intruder from the roof. Another thud. A second vampire. A hand punched through the metal ceiling above him. Bullet proof but not vampire proof.

    
The vampire rolled the metal back like a tin can and two claws grasped him by the shoulders. The other vampire punctured a hole in the back seat and climbed in. He now had four arms attacking him, the top pair trying to gouge his eyes out, the back pair digging into his flesh. That particular vampire was in desperate need of a manicure. Alessandro slammed on the breaks. The vampire surfing on his roof went flying forward and rolled in the desert sand. Alessandro’s seatbelt kept him from breaking through the windshield but the bridge of his nose banged into steering wheel. Blood dripped down his face, but he wasn’t fazed. With only one attacker to fend off, Alessandro reached behind him and threw the vampire over his shoulder and through the windshield so he landed not far from his accomplice.

    
“I forgot how much fun this could be,” he said and reached under his seat to retrieve two axes. Since his human days, axes had always been his weapon of choice. Armed, he jumped through the broken windshield, his bloodlust renewed. The Saxon in him had been resurrected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    
“I’m yours. You can do whatever you want with me. Just stop hunting my children,” she told Venjamin.

    
“What makes you think that I want you? I won’t lie, you’re not dried up yet, but you are past your prime. John, Amelia, Harry, they’re just coming into theirs,” Venjamin said. “But for now you will do just fine.”

    
“You have a whole town of born and crossbred vampires. You don’t need my children.”

    
Venjamin turned towards the view. Houses were lighting up across the valley like Christmas lights as everyone woke up thinking it was just another day, that their lives were peaceful and ordinary, unaware of the lie that they lived. “It’s like we’re standing above the stars, don’t you think? Like we’re in the heavens with the gods.” He turned back to her. “Your children are the gods. I still have a lot of research ahead of me, but I will locate the gene for immorality and I will formulate a way to share that gift with humans.”

    
“So it’s true, you are nothing more than a pill peddler working for some pharmaceutical company, out to make a buck.”

    
“Is that what your friend told you? They may fund my project, but I’m not interested in money. You know that. So does Ethan.” He turned to Charlie. “Do you know the type of vampires she’s been consorting with? We discovered the identity of your mystery vampire.” He looked back at Valerie. “Did Ethan tell you that we had a history? He taught me a valuable lesson about vampires. It will be good to see him again. Oh, I have a patrol rounding him up as we speak as well as any other friends you may have brought along.”

    
For the first time her calm exterior cracked and her panic and fear shown through.

    
“What are you going to do with them?” she asked.

    
“Charlie sets a good example. Don’t worry though, I—“

    
A siren suddenly sounded. Venjamin looked around. “Rhett, Drew, find out what’s going on!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    
Jonathan had launched the first Molotov bomb through the back reception area of the hospital then switched to a flame thrower. Ethan showered the upper floors with flaming arrows. They had to make sure the Sangre Valley Fire Department couldn’t put the fire out. Alarms sounded and humans began pouring out of the doors in a cloud of black smoke. They saw MaryAnne make it out. That was their cue to go in.

 
    
“You ready for this?” Jonathan asked.

    
Ethan just looked at him. “How long to download the information you need?”

    
“Fifteen minutes tops. Which direction are you going? Up or down?”

    
“Down first. It’s the logical choice. Soon as you get the data, get out. Don’t wait for me.”

    
“Here.” He handed Ethan the blackberry. “In case she shows up on there.” With that, both vampires charged into the burning building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    
Rhett and Drew bolted down the stairs as smoke seeped into the stairwell. Ever since Venjamin called them back to Sangre Valley, Drew had a sick, ominous feeling in his stomach. He knew Venjamin no longer trusted him and that his usefulness would expire soon as the family was captured. With Valerie here, it was only a matter of time now. He saw how easily Venjamin could dispose of one of his beloved born-vampires. He wouldn’t blink at killing Drew. It didn’t help matters that since he tasted Amelia Murray’s blood, no other blood could satisfy his hunger. He had even lost interest in all other blood leaving him weak. Now a fire in the most secure building in the town. This was a sign. An omen that it was time to get out.

    
“We have to tell Venjamin. Shanahan must have gotten past the patrol.”

    
Drew continued down the stairs. Rhett grabbed his shoulder and slammed him against the wall.

    
“What the hell are you doing?”

    
“I’m not going up in flames for some crazy doctor or freak family! Let me go!” He had survived for centuries. He could not go down like this. Life on the run from Venjamin was better than a life with Venjamin.