Chapter 10 Maverick
Maverick
Iwatch as she leaves with her friend, remembering just how good she felt writhing beneath me, chocking my cock like it belongs to her.
I’m half regretting wiping her memory last night as she slept, knowing that eventually she’ll remember, but her jumbled thoughts on the way back to her cabin let me know she’s not ready.
She will be— soon. With a little more coaxing from myself, Hendricks, and Jack, she’ll come around.
“Any slop for you?” The old crone asks, holding up a spoonful of whatever concoction she’s put together today. The sight of it turns my stomach sour. Something about worms just doesn’t sit right with me.
“Nah, I prefer my meals warm blooded,” I say, lifting the trap door I’d come from up.
Its hinges are silent. Perfect for jumping out and catching someone unawares.
Whenever we want to travel between buildings during the daylight, we’re forced to go underground in the tunnels so that us vampires don’t burn to death.
But the witches like to use them too. They’ve carved sigils on the walls of the tunnels and on all the doors.
I have no idea what they stand for, but I want to assume it’s a protection of some sort.
Though I have my doubts. There’s an amalgamation of junk that’s accumulated down here over the years.
From broken bikes, balls, and jars full of who knows what.
If you can think of it, it’s probably stored down here, gathering dust and cobwebs.
A sudden burst of wind shoots past me and I know without even having to look that it’s Hendricks. He tries and fails to tackle me, ending up on his back with a shit-eating grin on his face and an ass full of dirt.
“Fucking asshole,” he says with a chuckle.
I shake my head at him and offer him a hand up. “When are you going to learn, I’m just too fast for you?”
“One of these days, I’m going to take you by surprise.”
“That’ll be a cold day in hell,” I say, slapping him on the back.
He takes a deep inhale as we walk together. “You dick. You saw her without me.”
I put my arms up in mock surrender. “Not my fault someone decided to get some beauty rest. You know what you’re like when you don’t get a solid two hours.”
“Not everyone has the same stamina as you, old man,” Hendricks says back, bumping his muscular arm into mine.
As an older vampire, I’m gifted with strength and endurance that he can only dream about. At most, I can go a few months without needing to recharge like a younger vampire has to. But with Hendricks being newer, he still has to rest nightly in order to keep up.
“How many do you think we caught?” He asks as we round the corner. We’re getting close, and I can smell that blood calling to me.
“I’d wager the whole frat party. They didn’t seem long for this world.”
“I’ll take that bet. I think we caught only a handful. Wouldn’t want to spoil all our fun at once. I like to spread it out over the week.”
I open the door to where our captives have fallen into and am immediately greeted with the Australian couple’s bare asses. They’re naked and covered in grime from head to toe. Both laying supine as if they haven’t been able to get up from where they fell.
Cracking my knuckles, I feel my fangs lengthen on instinct. The woman’s arm is bent at an odd angle, and the man has a deep gash in his thigh that’s still bleeding.
“What do you say to some breakfast, Hen?”
Hendricks’ eyes go pitch black and his fangs lengthen with hunger.
It’s then that the woman twitches and turns her head.
She sees us closing in and a delicious scream rips free from her soon to be dead throat.
Her brain is a sludge of crimes that I flit through easily.
She might be pretty and smile easily in her real life, but that only masks her true nature.
I might be considered a monster, but the things these two have done make me look like a fucking puppy.
“Are you seeing this shit?” I ask Hendricks, as I flit through her memories. Each one more vile than the next.
“There’s nothing I love more than ripping apart child molesters,” Hendricks says with venom dripping in every word.
I lean down, gripping onto the woman’s hair aggressively making her yelp. Her entire body is shaking. Her blood is pumping throughout her veins hard enough that I can hear it whooshing along her jugular.
“Please, please, stop! I’ll do anything! I can give you all the money you want!” She shrieks. Her husband is still passed out from all the blood loss. Shame he won’t be able to witness his partner in crime’s last moments.
“We don’t need your money. But I fear we do need your blood,” I say running my tongue along the sharp ends of my teeth. She watches in horror, realizing that I mean to bite her.
“Oh, you fucking piece of shit. I plan to do so much more than bite you,” I say reading her fear like a book— my words heavy with distain.
Leaning right next to her ear and holding onto her hair so close to her scalp that I know it’s hurting.
I can smell her fear, and it’s like a shot of adrenaline hitting my veins.
“I plan to murder you for what you’ve done to all those children.
Your time of torturing innocents is over.
Your luck’s run out and now it’s time to pay for all your sins.
Burn in hell, vermin,” I say before chomping down hard on her neck.
My fangs penetrate her flesh, ripping into her carotid easily.
Her scream is cut short by the life draining from her with every gulp of her blood.
Some of it spills down her back and front, making an absolute mess of my meal.
I don’t care though. She deserves to hurt for all she’s done.
The blood hits my tastebuds. It’s warm and fills my senses with its coppery, metallic taste. I fucking love it.
The man begins to stir, and Hendricks is there, flipping him over without caution. He jolts awake with a yelp, eyes wide and full of terror.
“What the f—”
Hendricks doesn’t give him a moment to finish that thought before pouncing on his meal.
He’s dead within seconds as Hendricks feasts.
We leave the pair of corpses where they lay devoid of their blood. They’ll make excellent leftovers for the zombies.
My body feels energized and ready to take on the world. I crack my neck
Walking out of the room, we take the tunnel that leads back to the main house. The air here smells of rot and damp earth and something else.
I realize it’s smoke after a moment.
Hendricks realizes it at the same time I do, looking behind us where a trail of the scent emanates from. We lock eyes before turning back at vampire speed, trying to find the source.
The room we’d just left is ablaze. The corpses charred to a crisp as flames lick the ceiling. Hendricks and I move to close the door, hoping to shut away the fire, but it’s only a temporary solution.
There’s no one around. No source of what started the inferno. All I know is that fire is one of the only other ways us vampires can die, and we need to run.
The fire begins to spread up the ceiling and along the ground as we take off, knowing that the tunnels lead to all areas, and if we don’t contain it, the fire will destroy this place we call home.
It’s nowhere close to dark, but the only option we have is to head towards the lake. Maybe we can use the water to stop the spread somehow.
“Grab the bucket!” Hendricks calls to me, gesturing to the discarded pile of odd junk that’s spread along the wall. I do and pull my arm through the handle, climbing up the ladder tucked against the end of the tunnel.
The trapdoor under the pier is covered with algae and mud making it difficult to pry free, but once it gives way, I’m able to crawl through on my belly.
Sunlight streams through the small slats in the wood.
I do my best to avoid it, but there’s no time.
Army crawling, I pull myself towards the edge of the water.
I manage to dip the bucket under the water, but my hands pay the price.
They sizzle and burn under the intense rays of the sun.
It takes everything in me to not cry out as I fill the bucket up to the brim and pass it down to Hendrick’s waiting hands.
It’s not enough, but it’s better than nothing.
The bucket does little to stop the spread of the fire, and I fear that we’ll lose to quickly growing inferno.
Hendricks passes the bucket to me again and again, making me fill it with water as fast as possible. Even with our combined vampire speed, we aren’t able to make a dent in the destruction.
Just as I’m about to give up, Talon’s energy becomes palpable, and the alarm is raised.
Monsters from every corner of the woods come running to help and within minutes, the fire is nothing but embers and residual smoke.
“What happened here?” Talon roars once I’m back inside, coughing and wheezing, my hands burned to shit so badly that I can see bone.
I shake my head and struggle to take in a breath.
“We found the room on fire, boss,” Hendricks answers.
“How?” He asks, his anger coming off in waves.
We don’t have an answer for him and remain silent. He can see our intentions clearly and softens for a moment.
“Go get yourselves cleaned up. We’ll get to the bottom of this later.”
We do as he asks, feeling beat up and bewildered by the events that have transpired. As we walk, my toe hits a rogue bottle with a peeled off label. I bend down to pick it up, wincing with the effort.
In the bottom of the bottle lays a thin orange film that smells of… I take a deep whiff trying to place it.
“Elderberries?” Hendricks provides.
“And flint,” I say, deciding to bring the bottle with me.
As we walk, we pass a gaggle of witches whispering in an alcove. They immediately stop when they notice us and the hair on the back of my neck raises.
The thing about witches is they’ve figured out a way to ward their minds, making their motivations unpredictable.
With any other monster or being, I can tell instantly if I’m being lied to.
But with the witches? I have to blindly trust that they won’t somehow stab us in the back or lead us astray.
And having lived as long as I have, finding that trust to place in anyone like that feels untenable.
We nod and they nod back, stiffly as if being done out of requirement and not mutual respect. We might have to cohabitate, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.
“Looks like you’re going to have to rest after all,” Hendricks comments looking down at my two hands.
He’s not wrong. While my healing abilities are quick, these will take more time due to how extensively I was burned.
I just hope I’m able to mend by dusk so I can have more time with Lydia. I have so much planned for our little screamer and would hate to miss a moment of it.