What Happens in the Darkness (36 page)

Martin joined his group and led them through the streets. 

*** 

Rudy had taken four dozen of his men to destroy Martin, leaving Luke and Tim in the competent hands of Billy the redneck and another three of his good ol’ boys.

“We’re gonna kill us some bloodsuckers!” Rudy had yelled, lifting his can of beer high overhead in some sort of salute, encouraging the brainless idiots in the room to do the same. One man stood off to the side watching, his boot planted behind him against the wall.

“Damn, Rudy,” Billy whined, “why can’t we go with? These two’ll be fine by themselfs. They don’t need no babysitter.”

“They’re sneaky,” Rudy said. “Just in case.” He wrapped a beefy arm around Billy’s thick neck. “But listen up.” Rudy looked around as if conspiring with Billy.

Luke and Tim were only a few feet away, still propped up in their boxes, still surrounded by finely honed pikes and stakes. Wishing to ignore the foul-breathed morons but unable to turn away.

Rudy continued, lowering his style of speech to something he knew they felt more comfortable with. He knew it made him seem like one of the good ol’ boys. “You can do some experimentin’, right? Remember what I said about regeneratin’?” He walked over to the covered table he’d wheeled in earlier and left by the door. “Okay, check this out. I was gonna do this myself later, but why should I have all the fun?”

Rudy lifted the tablecloth, revealing an assortment of tools and instruments: scalpels, knives, rope, cloths, an axe, a chainsaw, a blowtorch, and an amber-colored bottle that looked like cough medicine.

“What’s in the bottle?” Billy asked. “Holy water?”

Rudy grinned. “Nahhh, somethin’ better.” He picked up the bottle and looked at the blank label. “Chloroform.”

“For what?”

Rudy stared at Billy for a moment, perhaps considering whether leaving Billy in charge was the brightest idea after all. “For knockin’ them out. Then you tie ’em to those tables in the next room and do your surgeries.”

“Surgeries? Like takin’ out their appendix?”

Rudy glanced over at the guy standing silently in the corner. “Teddy? You wanna take over?”

“No way!” Billy cried. “I got this.”

Teddy stepped up. “We can do this together, man. But the kinda operation Rudy’s talking ’bout is more like choppin’ off they’s fuckin’ arms and legs and shit, see if they grow back.”

“Fuckin’ wild,” Billy had said.

Half an hour after Rudy had left to kill hisself some vampires, Billy, Teddy, and their two accomplices decided it was time to perform some surgery. At least that was what they’d announced to Luke and Tim, who’d been forced to watch their conversations, to see the joy on their faces at the thought of wreaking havoc on the two bloodsuckers, literally tearing them apart.

Teddy picked up a rag and tossed one to Billy. He put on a pair of vinyl gloves and tossed a pair to Billy. Then Teddy grabbed the bottle of chloroform.

He said to the other two guys, “Secure their heads to the post. I don’t want them slumping forward and impaling themselves.” He turned to Billy and said, “You pour some on the cloth, but just enough to dampen it. You don’t want to soak it. And Billy”—he stared him square in the eye as he slowly said this—“stay away from the cloth. Do
not
breathe into the cloth, or the bottle! to see how they smell. Okay?”

Billy nodded. They poured chloroform onto their cloths, and Teddy set the bottle on the table.

The two approached Luke and Tim.

“They may be weak,” Teddy said, “but stay away from their fangs. Got it? Be ready to jump back if they try to bite you.”

“Damn, look how scared they look!” Billy said.

“Wouldn’t you?” Teddy asked.

Billy dangled his fingers in front of the vampire’s face. “Which one’s this?”

“No clue.”

Billy moved in close, offering his neck, as if presenting himself as a snack but then pulled quickly back.

“Billy! Stop teasin’ the vampires!”

“I ain’t—”

“It’s like torturing a dumb animal or somethin’,” Teddy said. “Let’s just do this.”

Cloths were placed over Luke and Tim’s noses and mouths, and both vampires tried to move their heads, but there was no place to go. Moments later their heads slumped forward, their bodies lax, falling into the dozens of ropes holding them up. The two other men rushed forward and pulled back their heads.

Teddy said, “Shane, man, what are you doin’?”

Shane looked over at Teddy and brushed a curl out of his eye. “I didn’t want ’im to choke on the rope or nothin’ …”

“They’re not gonna choke … they’re already dead, man.”

Shane grinned. “Oh yeah. I forgot.”

Teddy said, “Hold this one up while I move these stakes and untie ’im. You guys do the same.” They all moved into position, but Teddy suddenly yelled, “Hold up! Forgot the damned tables. Jackson, come with.”

The two men rushed into the next room and returned with two carts.

“All right,” Teddy said, “let’s go—before everyone gets back and tries to take over an’ ruin everything.”

Billy giggled. “This’s gonna be fun … do they bleed?”

They removed the stakes and ropes and caught the vampires as the bodies slumped toward the floor.

“Dunno,” Teddy said. “Guess we’ll find out.”

They lifted Tim and Luke onto the tables and reached around for rope and straps to secure them.

Shane laughed. “Did you see the way—”

Before he could finish the sentence, Tim and Luke sat up.

Chapter 31 

The look on Teddy’s face was beautiful, and Luke wished he could see it over and over …

“What the fuck?” Teddy screamed, his eyes widening, his face paling.

Luke grabbed Shane by the throat and tore it out, throwing the chunk of meat and its dead body far across the room. It hit the wall with a loud smack, the impact so strong the head smashed into half a dozen pulpy chunks.

Jackson tried to run, but Tim grabbed him from behind, claws digging into the back of the man’s head. Tim ripped out a hunk of his skull, and the redneck dropped to his knees before face-planting on the floor. Tim kicked the body hard and it went flying out of the room. He threw the piece of the man’s scalp at him.

Luke grabbed Teddy and Tim grabbed Billy, and the vampires lifted the men and slammed them into the wall, holding them several feet off the floor by their armpits. They both leaned in, their faces inches from the men’s necks.

Neither man struggled, and both grew decidedly pale.

Luke pulled back, glanced at the puddle forming at his feet, and glanced up at Teddy. “Really?” he said.

“B-b-but
how
?” Teddy stammered, obviously referring to the chloroform.

“Oh, that.” Luke winked. “We don’t breathe. Remember?” He looked over at Tim. “Are you ready, brother?”

Tim smiled, slowly nodded.

Luke snarled. He grabbed Teddy and threw him upside down across the room. Teddy smashed into the wall and crashed to the floor, landing on his head, arms and legs scrambling to figure out which way was up. Teddy cried out, begging for mercy.

Luke moved across the room and grabbed Teddy by his throat, lifting him off the floor. Teddy grasped Luke’s arms with both hands, trying desperately to catch his breath.

Luke reached toward Teddy’s stomach, planning to rip out anything the man had ever eaten when Tim yelled, “Wait!”

Luke looked over.

“I have a better idea,” Tim said, slamming Billy on one of the operating tables and quickly strapping him down.

Luke brought Teddy over and did the same.

Teddy screamed and begged the entire time. “Please! I wasn’t gonna do nothin’ to ya! It was all Billy!
Pleeeeease
!” he shrieked.

“Fuck you!” Billy cried, struggling against his restraints.

Luke looked at Tim and laughed.

Tim shrugged. He reached the implement table and lifted the chain saw. “And you?”

Luke wandered over and picked up a scalpel. “Call me old fashioned …”

They clinked instruments in a salute.

Tim reached for the pull cord on his chain saw, but Luke held up his hand. “Really? Fully clothed?”

Luke slowly pulled off Teddy’s boots and socks, enjoying the look of terror spreading across the man’s face. He clearly had an imagination, Luke marveled, looking forward to this.

Teddy grew even more panicked and bucked wildly beneath his restraints.

“He’s going to dislocate himself,” Tim warned.

Luke nodded, grabbing more rope, tying Teddy more securely to the table.

Teddy babbled hysterically, begging for mercy.

“I think I’ll gag him.”

“Why bother?” Tim asked, nodding at the saw. “It’ll drown him out.”

He removed Billy’s sneakers and socks.

“What are you doing?” Billy cried. “What’re, what, what’re you—”

Tim pulled hard on the starter rope. Three pulls later and the chain saw roared to life.

Billy shrieked so loudly he popped a blood vessel in his eye. No one heard him over the sound of the saw.

Tim handled the saw by the handlebar, leaving his other hand free. He grabbed Billy’s ankle, holding him tightly, Billy struggling fiercely but unable to move. Tim used the chainsaw’s jagged blade to slice Billy’s toes off one by one. They dropped to the floor or shot across the room, pinging off the edge of the surgical table. Sweat poured off Billy’s face, drenching him. His body shivered in the warm room.

Tim took his hand off the throttle and the saw powered down.

“Done already?” his twin asked.

“Nope.” Tim grabbed the blowtorch and the cheap plastic lighter and ignited the torch. He adjusted the flame and went to work on Billy’s feet, cauterizing the wounds that used to be toes. Smoke sizzled off the flesh, the smell of cooked feet filling the air. The vampire twins may not have needed to breathe, but they could taste it on their tongues.

“Done now?”

“No, dammit. Stop asking me!” Tim plucked a toe up off the floor and held it above the flame, being careful not to singe his fingers. A few minutes later the meat was cooked.

Medium rare, Luke guessed.

Tim held it up as if looking at it in the light, as if inspecting it for flaws. “I do believe,” he said, now looking down at Billy, “this is the little piggy that went to market.”

“Good God, nooooo!” Billy sobbed, his attempts at escape renewed and just as useless as before.

Luke chuckled, nodding toward Teddy. “I think this idiot wishes he would have a heart attack and die.”

“No!” Teddy cried, head awkwardly contorted to stare mesmerized at Billy strapped to the table a few feet away. “I’m praying to the good Lord to rescue me! God Almighty, save me! Give these creatures a soul, dear God!”

“That’s what you’re praying for? That we’ll grow souls? Not that your asshole friends will return in time to save you?”

Teddy yelled, “Uh, I, I, I don’t know! Praise God!”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Hurry up, brother.”

“Go on,” Tim said. “Don’t wait for me.”

“Are you kidding? You want me to miss this?”

Tim snorted. He took the cooked toe over to Billy’s mouth. “Open up.”

Billy squeezed his mouth shut and shook his head.

“Open your mouth,” Tim said patiently.

Billy emphatically shook his head.

Tim grabbed the blowtorch and held it near Billy’s face. “Open your mouth or I’ll burn your fucking eyes out of your big fat fucking head.”

Billy bawled, great sobs shaking his body, snot bubbling in his nose and shooting across the room when he couldn’t breathe out of it any longer. “Don’t make me do that,” he cried through hiccups, fat tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Open. Your. Mouth.”

Billy opened his mouth.

“Take a bite.”

“No!
Please
!”

“Oh, God!” Teddy yelled from across the room.

Luke slapped him in the head.

“Take a bite!”

Billy took a bite. The toe snapped like a chunk of hotdog cooked in boiling water, the juices squirting out of it, coating Billy’s tongue and lips.

Billy shook his head so violently Luke thought it would snap.

Moments later Billy vomited, spewing great chunks of whatever his last meal had been—hamburgers, from what Luke could see—his throat filling with his regurgitated last meal. Every time he coughed, a geyser of partially digested meat sprayed the air, landing back on his face and the table. He gagged at the smell, which even to the vampires was rather putrid, and kept spitting, trying to empty his mouth and throat. But he kept dry-heaving and then kept vomiting, gobs of meat and bun and partially chewed tomato slices filling his mouth and nasal passages, never allowing himself a chance to clear his airway. He worked his throat, obviously trying to swallow the vomit back down, but it was coming up in great buckets, and there was just no way for him to keep up with the volume of chunks trapped between his stomach and lips.

Tim looked away, disgusted. “Oh, great! Do I have to clean this up?
Now
what—”

“Leave him,” Luke said. “We have this one.”

“But such a waste! I hardly used any—”

“You had fun, brother. It’s not worth the mess. I do think he suffered.”

Tim puffed out his lower lip and stared down at Billy. Billy had changed from various shades of pink to various shades of red and purple and was now decidedly blue. Less than a minute later it was obvious he was dead.

Tim joined his brother at the other table. “What did you have in mind?”

Luke extended his arms and brought his fingers together, cracking the knuckles. “Not sure.” He lifted the scalpel and examined it but put it back down. “This seems so mundane.”

“There’s the axe.”

“Meh.”

“Did you just say ‘Meh’?”

Luke laughed. “Sorry. We do have knives, axe … the chainsaw.”

“Well, if you want my opinion—”

“Always.”

“I was always one for the classics. Nothing like a good ol’ evisceration.”

Luke chuckled and looked down at the terrified man strapped to the gurney. This conversation was as much a mindfuck as anything else. Nothing like good mental torture. “True …”