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Gidion's Hunt Page 21
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He reached at her face, hoping to stab her eyes with his fingers. She held her arm straight, and her reach was longer than his. No chance of that attack. Goddammit, think! Act! He scratched at her arm. His fingernails drew blood, but not enough to make her release him.
“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t choke you to death, just enough to put you down and drink every last bloody drop from you.” A line of blood dripped from above her right eye and down into her mouth. Red shined at the edges of her fanged teeth, and he knew his blood would be there soon if he didn’t do something in the next few seconds.
The sides of his head ached as if his skull might explode. His vision blurred, and his body felt as if it was falling in a wicked spin even though he wasn’t moving.
Elizabeth stood, lifting him off his feet. Crap, he was going to pass out. He tried to kick at her, but he wasn’t sure his legs were answering his commands.
He realized he was going to die with Elizabeth’s fanged smile for his last vision. The thought angered him, but all the fury in the world wasn’t going to put air back in his lungs.
Then the smile on Elizabeth’s face vanished. Her jaw dropped open with a gasp. Her eyes which had been boring into his looked down. Gidion fell to the floor. He tried to land on his feet, a vain hope. He was too close to the brink to jump back like that. The best he managed was to keep on his knees and his body somewhat upright. Blood flowed down the front of Elizabeth’s body. The shattered end of his sword jutted out from between her breasts.
She turned with a hiss. Gidion looked past her to see Tamara. Her body shook, probably from the exhaustion of being fed on and getting free of Pete, however she’d managed it.
Gidion needed his box cutter. He’d dropped it and saw it on the floor between him and Elizabeth.
The vampire rushed at Tamara, who collapsed to the floor. Tamara’s shrill scream threatened to shatter his eardrums, but it pushed him into action. He scrambled to his feet and snatched up his box cutter.
Elizabeth grabbed Tamara by her face and shoulder. She was pulling her close to bite her throat open.
Gidion snagged hold of Elizabeth’s long hair and yanked hard. In the same move, he slit open her throat and shoved her head forward, her chin pressed against the top of her chest, much as he had with the vampire on the Canal Walk a week ago. The hilt of his sword, sticking out of her back, made holding her that way difficult.
She tried to shake him loose. He refused to release his hold. She thrashed about, but the narrow corridor helped pin her. He slammed the top of her head against the wall, the crack audible above her growls. His hands shook as he struggled to maintain his hold. Blood splattered from her wounds onto the white walls like a red Rorschach. Her attempts to break free devolved into stumbles. She ran into the walls until she dropped to her knees and crawled.
Gidion shoved her face to the floor. He ripped the bottom half of his sword free from her back. It didn’t have much length left, but it would be enough.
The narrow space combined with his shortened weapon made her beheading a gruesome act that required several attempts. Each swing cut deeper until her head came free. He wouldn’t settle for anything less than a certain death for Elizabeth. For good measure he tossed her head into the shelter’s empty room.
Pathetic sobs and screams drew his attention back to the far end of the corridor. Tamara stared at him. Blood covered her face. She’d probably been covered when Gidion slit open Elizabeth’s throat. The weak cries weren’t from her, but rather from Pete, still chained in his cell. She was on the edge, though. That she wasn’t a bubbling mess surprised him, but he needed to focus her.
He snatched the keys off the hook on the wall and went to Tamara. “The house is on fire.” He kept his voice calm and soothing. “Don’t talk, just run. I’ll be right behind you, as soon as I free Pete.” She reached out for his hand, and he pulled her to her feet.
Her grip on his hand tightened. “I’m not walking out of here without you.”
He didn’t argue with her. “Wait here.”
She let him go as he went back into the small room with Pete. He was still sobbing in the room as Gidion went to him. His body was sprawled across the floor.
“Pete, we have to go.” He wasn’t as gentle with Pete as he’d been with Tamara. He jerked him up and slammed him back against the bench.
“I’m sorry.” Tears and snot ran down his face, and he didn’t seem to care enough to wipe off either.
Gidion unlocked his shackles and jerked him to his feet.
“Just shut up and move! I’m not going to die in a fire, because you’re fucking sorry.” He shoved him into the corridor. “Move!”
Gidion had to hold him by the back of his shirt and push him forward to keep him moving. Tamara kept a step ahead of them, stepping around Elizabeth’s headless corpse, trying without success to not step in the puddle of her blood. Pete stared at the blood and groaned. He only turned his head forward when they reached the top of the steps.
The heat crushed against them. The kitchen and living room were consumed in fire.
“Keep low!” Gidion nodded to Tamara, and she ran out first. He went right behind her, pushing Pete out of the shelter’s safety. If no one had called 911 yet, it would be a damn miracle. Flames were licking out through the windows and the open door. By the time they went out the back, Pete no longer needed Gidion’s prompts. They raced into the backyard.
Tamara was sitting on the ground on her knees. He was shocked to see her smile. “I didn’t think we’d make it out of there.”
He hugged her. “I’m sorry.” She clung to him, and her body felt good. His own exhaustion nearly bested him then, but they couldn’t stop yet. The flames were rushing around the house where he’d sprayed the gasoline. “We have to go before the fire department gets here.”
They ran out the gate. The sky was still black but the stars were lost with dawn drawing near. He led them to the vampires’ Corolla. They piled into the car, cranked it up and sped away. As they turned out of the subdivision onto the main road, a yellow fire engine screamed past them, its sirens strong enough to shake the car.
Gidion pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store that was still closed and not far from the subdivision. He parked as close to the edge of the road as he could get. Some stores like this set up cameras on the parking lot, and he didn’t want to risk being caught on camera.
Another yellow fire unit, this one a large truck, raced past them. Its red lights washed over them for a few seconds before disappearing down the road.
Tamara and Pete both looked confused but neither mustered up the obvious question as to why they’d stopped here. Pete was still crying, his sobs more muted than within the shelter. Tamara was in better control of herself. She’d probably already cried more than once for her parents.
“We aren’t done. We need to be smart about this, or all of this could blow up in our faces.” He looked Tamara in the eyes, trying to decide if she was really up for this. “Tamara, what comes next is up to you.”
He hoped she’d forgive him for what he was about to ask of her.
Chapter Thirty-Five
A pair of police cars rolled into the parking lot of the convenience store. The headlights revealed Tamara sitting on the ground beside the payphone, near the corner of the building. Gidion wondered what it was she said as the officers got out and approached her. He didn’t wait to find out.
Gidion had parked across the street in the back lot of a car mechanic shop. The lot opened onto an intersecting street. Now that he knew Tamara was safe with the police, he pulled out onto the connecting road and drove away. If she did what they’d discussed, Tamara would claim to have been abducted by Elizabeth and her cohorts, saying they were a bunch of freaks who “thought” they were vampires. She wouldn’t know why they came after her. She still didn’t know. There hadn’t been time for Gidion to tell her about Stephanie’s vendetta with her and his teacher. Her story would still include a rescuer, but she wou
ldn’t tell them it was Gidion, rather that it had been a stranger. They’d agree that she would describe her ex-boyfriend, just to make sure she’d be able to give a consistent description. There was no hiding her abduction. The best thing was to keep it as close to the truth as possible. Only in this scenario, she’d run until she’d gotten out of the neighborhood and to the nearest payphone. Grandpa Murphy said the best lies were always easier to cover with lots of truth.
Gidion had saved her, and now, he needed her to do the same for him. Police didn’t believe in vampires, and there was no hiding the bodies in that house. Not even a fire that big could hide the corpses or that they’d all died before the house was torched. If she didn’t convince the police and fire investigators with a consistent story, then he could end up in jail for murder.
Pete sat next to him. They didn’t say anything. Gidion remembered how tense things had been between them after Pete had broken that window all those years ago. Pete had never thanked him for taking the fall, and Gidion had resented that. He’d never admitted that, not even to himself, not until now when he had something worse to hold against him.
The silence lasted all the way to Pete’s house. Gidion parked across the street, same as he had the day he’d confronted him about being a feeder.
Pete stared at the floorboard. The tears had stopped, but their memories had trailed through the smoke stains on his face to make him look like some kind of goth clown. “I didn’t want to hurt her.” Gidion realized Pete was talking about Tamara. “I couldn’t bring myself to let her go, though.”
Gidion nodded. He already knew that. Part of him had hoped Tamara had gotten free, because Pete had found the willpower to let her go. Tamara had told Gidion how she’d managed enough strength to smack the bottom of Pete’s chin with the top of her head. Doing that had taken most of her strength, but it had been enough to get free of him and into the corridor where she’d found the sword to drive through Elizabeth’s heart.
“Pete, the point is that it’s over. They’re dead, and they can’t hurt you anymore.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“You’re safe.” Gidion put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and felt Pete flinch at the contact. “We can get back to our lives, the way they were before all of this. Who knows, maybe you can even get your job back at the car shop?”
Pete nodded. He glanced at Gidion and then at his house. He licked his lips. “I’m tired.”
“Me, too. I’m definitely not going to school today.” He laughed, but his heart wasn’t in it. “Look, get some rest. We can talk about all this later, if you want to.”
“Yeah, good idea.” Pete forced a smile, and it reminded Gidion of that day in the parking lot outside the comic book shop. He hadn’t understood then what his friend had been trying to hide.
Pete climbed out before Gidion could say anything else. He stopped a few feet from the car. After a moment, he walked back and stopped in front of the driver side door.
Gidion rolled down his window. “Pete?”
He never looked up from the road. “You need to change the oil in your car next week.” This noncommittal smile cracked his face. “Life blood of a car, you know.”
Pete crossed the street and disappeared inside his house without giving Gidion a chance to respond. It was good to see something of the old Pete was still there.
Gidion didn’t linger. There was more he needed to do. He drove towards 288. He needed to release Stephanie from where he’d left her on I-64. With any luck, she’d have enough sense to realize that if she ever opened her mouth, Gidion could implicate her in Tamara’s abduction.
On the way, he called Grandpa, got him to call the school to report he’d be out sick. With Grandpa calling, he wouldn’t have to worry about Dad finding out. Gidion needed to shower and sleep, and at this point, the order was optional.
As tired as he was, though, Gidion felt a renewed buzz of excitement. Against all the odds, he’d saved all of them: Tamara, Ms. Aldgate, and even Pete. The relief gave him the energy to keep going but faltered once he reached the place he’d left Stephanie.
She was gone.
All that was left to show she’d been there were the bungee cords he’d used to tie her to the tree. Someone had piled them neatly at the tree’s base. He worried over that long into the weekend, but she never showed up at school again. Perhaps she’d freed herself and realized that no matter how Gidion’s battle with Elizabeth ended, her safest option was self-exile from Richmond.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Grandpa’s theory that the previous Sunday was the last for cooking on the grill turned out wrong. He was back on the deck of their porch cooking steaks to help them stomach yet another Washington Redskins loss.
“Damn proud of you, boy,” Grandpa said when Dad went back inside to cut up some vegetables to cook on the grill after the steaks were done.
“Yeah, but I think I’ve put myself out of a job.”
Grandpa laughed as he reached down to check one of the steaks by pressing a knuckle into it, the way he always did. “Naw, plenty of strays to watch for, but best to let you lay low a while. After a kill that big, too risky to jump right back into the hunt.”
Gidion sat on the back porch’s railing. Grandpa had always seemed bigger than life when he’d been growing up. Somehow, the past few days had diminished his view of him. The old man was frailer than he’d realized.
“Grandpa, do you always drink like you did the other night?” He still remembered that shotgun’s barrel pointing at him, how close he’d come to getting shot.
The question didn’t get an immediate answer, but Gidion felt the sudden stillness in the air between them.
“Boy, I got a lot of mileage on me. I’ll be fine.”
“I might not.” Gidion glanced towards the back window at Dad. “I need you here, if I’m going to keep doing this.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He looked at him as if Gidion wasn’t making any sense.
“Why do you drink like that?”
“What the hell kind of question is that?” Grandpa snapped.
“I’ve seen how you are, what Dad is like, and you were both hunters, too. Just kind of worried that—” He stopped when he realized what it was he was about to say, that he was scared of ending up like both of them—scared to live.
“I’m not in the habit of explaining the way I choose to live, Gidion.” He grumped as he flipped one of the steaks. “We’ve got a good thing going here. Let’s not mess it up by talking it into the crapper.”
Gidion sighed. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with this.
“Dad’s going to figure it out eventually,” Gidion said. “You do realize that, right?”
“Yep, and he’ll be one pissed hombre.” Grandpa smirked over at him. “And when he’s done fumin’ and bitchin’, he’ll be like me—damn proud of ya. He still believes in the hunt, just ain’t up for it anymore.”
He looked back through the window at Dad. Gidion felt like he understood him a little better than he used to.
“Any chance I could get an advance on my next paycheck?” he asked.
Grandpa laughed. “How much of an advance are you talking about? You’ve got a lot of vampire corpses on that check.”
“A hundred would be nice. Dad’s letting me take Tamara out tomorrow night.”
“On a school night? He actually agreed to that?” Grandpa looked over his shoulder at Gidion’s dad.
“It’s the only time I’m probably going to get to take her anywhere. She’s been staying with a friend’s family, but her aunt and uncle are flying into town on Tuesday morning. They’re going to have her move in with them in Arizona.”
Grandpa grumbled. “Sorry, boy. Tough break.”
“So does that mean I get the advance?”
Grandpa smiled at him. “Yeah, you’ll get it. I’ll even throw in an extra hundred so you can take her somewhere really nice. Make it count. You don’t want regrets when it comes to women.�
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“Thanks, Grandpa. By the way, do I get a bonus for killing an elder vampire?”
Grandpa scowled at him. “Don’t push it. You’re lucky I popped for those two new tires on your car.”
It was good to have his car back in drivable condition. Grandpa had gotten it towed and the tires replaced by the time Gidion had woken up at his house. He’d gotten two slightly used tires, too, to keep Dad from noticing they’d been replaced.
The anticipation of his date with Tamara had Gidion’s spirits riding high even as he went back to school Monday morning. The excitement took a dive when he pulled the Little Hearse into the campus parking lot. There was almost always at least one cop on duty at the school, but today there were four. The cars were parked in the carpool drop-off in front of the main office.
Two police officers were standing on the front sidewalk. Gidion gripped the shoulder straps to his backpack to conceal the shake in his hands. The officers looked right at him, but as he walked past them, he realized they weren’t looking for him. They were simply noting another arrival for the school day.
The mood on the campus just felt off. Students were gathered in all the usual places with their usual crowds, but everyone seemed quieter. What the hell was going on?
He got to the bench where his crowd hung out. Pete, Seth and Andrea had yet to arrive. During the past few days, he realized that it was time to cut Andrea some slack. She wasn’t going anywhere, and the only reason he’d found her annoying was because he hadn’t wanted her there. For better or worse, she was part of the group. In light of how she’d helped him the other night, it was time to accept those lemons. Besides, at this point, facing Pete on a daily basis was going to be more difficult than putting up with Andrea’s motormouth.