Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Demetrius and the others watched as Lucia slammed out of the apartment building and ran to her Honda Pilot before speeding off down the street.
During those couple of minutes, the fire had brightened considerably, the tips of flames visible now over the trees.
More sirens pierced the humid night air, screaming over Demetrius’s nerves.
He spun away from the wall and practically ran toward the stairs. He heard Cody right behind him.
“Wait!” Clarabell shouted. “Before anyone leaves, arm yourselves!”
Demetrius paused at the top of the stairs to look back and Cody passed him, thundering down the steps.
Clarabell had placed a large bin made of clear plastic on the dining table and was reaching for another one.
Through the sides of the bin, Demetrius saw wooden stakes, strings of garlic bulbs, a handful of crosses and water rifles he knew would be filled with garlic water.
Cody had reached the bottom of the steps and opened the door, grabbing his attention.
Demetrius hurried down and pushed through the doors.
He could smell smoke in the air now, the sirens coming from all over town.
Cody was already at the back of the truck, digging items out of the tackle box.
Demetrius yanked open the passenger door and got in.
Blood roared in his ears, and his breaths were quick and shallow.
His skin tingled as if someone had touched a live wire to the top of his head.
With shaking hands, he unlocked his phone and tapped Amelia’s name.
The line connected, but each unanswered ring felt like a cold needle in his gut.
Cody climbed in behind the wheel, his arms loaded with supplies that he handed off. Water rifles, crosses, wooden stakes, and strands of garlic bulbs, their skins sticking to Demetrius’s sweaty palms.
“Amelia’s not answering,” Demetrius said.
“Keep trying her. Eileen, too.”
The door to the building opened again and the others rushed out, going to their own vehicles. Cody honked and opened his door, calling to Dave and Oliver.
“Dave! Come with us!”
He flipped his seat forward to allow Dave and Oliver to climb into the narrow bench seat in the back. They both carried water rifles and wore strings of garlic bulbs around their necks. They looked stunned, eyes darting back and forth, and Oliver’s face was pale.
“Where was my grandmother?” Oliver said. “She’s not answering her phone.”
“Amelia’s not answering either. They were at Margie’s, just sitting down to dinner together, all four of them.” He gripped the armrest as Cody burned rubber away from the curb. “They were in front, by the window.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God.”
“We don’t know what this is,” Dave said. “This could just be an equipment malfunction at the coffee shop. Let’s not jump to conclusions.”
“That’s one hell of a malfunction,” Cody said.
A woman ran screaming into the street in front of them.
Blood ran down one side of her face from a scalp wound.
She stopped, hands held out in front of her, eyes wide in the headlights.
Cody hit the brakes, and the truck screeched to a stop a few yards away.
Before any of them could say a word, before the woman could even lower her arms, a figure moving too fast for Demetrius to see clearly raced across the road and snatched her.
“Fuck!” Cody jerked back in his seat.
“Jesus Christ,” Oliver said. “Was that…?”
“A vampire, yes,” Demetrius said, hearing the calm in his voice even as his heart banged, and his muscles were screaming for him to move, to act, to do something. “We’ve got to get downtown.”
Cody drove again, faster now. In the side mirror, Demetrius could see the headlights of the rest of their group following. He disconnected the current unanswered call to Amelia and sent a text to the group chat: Vampire sighting. Stay alert and watch each other’s backs.
Dave and Oliver’s phones buzzed, as did Cody’s.
“That’s from me,” Demetrius said. “I let the others know it’s definitely vampires.”
Cody barely slowed for a stop sign before turning onto Main Street.
A block later, the road was cordoned off by sheriff’s cruisers, and beyond them Demetrius saw a wall of flames hungrily devouring Hollow Grounds.
The Purple Orchid, the gift shop next door, was also burning.
Demetrius pressed a hand against the center of his chest as he watched the flames reach into the sky.
Sparks and burning paper products rose above the flames then drifted away on the humid wind.
Cody parked at the curb, and they all got out.
Tracey pulled up behind them, Zenona in her passenger seat.
Jugs parked his pickup behind them and he, Agatha, and Clarabell got out.
Everyone held a water rifle, and half of them wore necklaces of garlic bulbs, while crosses hung around the necks of the others.
They gathered as a group on the sidewalk and watched in silence as firefighters sprayed water on both buildings.
Waves of heat pulsed over them, and Demetrius thought it felt like the fire’s heartbeat.
The sound of it was louder than he’d expected, a primal and hungry roar as it consumed the buildings.
“Oh my God,” Oliver said. “What the hell?”
“Robin!” Clarabell shouted, trying to be heard over the fire and people shouting. “Robin!”
Demetrius stepped to one side to better see around the cruisers, and something in his chest loosened when he saw the windows and awning of Margie’s were intact. Now they just needed to find Amelia and the others.
Cody nudged him toward the sidewalk on the side of the street opposite the coffee shop. “Let’s try this way.”
One of the newer deputies stepped in front of them.
He was in his late thirties, wavy dark hair peeking out from beneath his campaign hat and his khaki uniform showing off a fit build.
His dark eyes were wary, and beneath a trim dark mustache, his lips pressed tight.
“Sorry, guys. Block’s off limits.” He looked them over with a frown.
“It’s nice you want to help, but those water guns aren’t going to do squat against this fire. ”
“My aunt was at Margie’s just a little while ago,” Demetrius said. “I need to find her.”
“From what we’ve been told, the whole block has been evacuated.”
“What started the fire?” Cody asked.
“No idea. When we got here, the place was already engulfed, and the Orchid was getting started.” He squinted slightly. “What’s with the garlic?”
“Everyone make it out okay?” Demetrius asked, ignoring his question.
“We don’t have a head count yet. There were some injuries, and a couple of ambulances took them to Memorial.”
“Ambulances,” Demetrius repeated as the sidewalk beneath him tilted.
Oliver and Dave came up behind them, and Oliver asked, “Any updates?”
“No,” Demetrius replied, then looked at the deputy again. The man’s name tag caught the light from the fire and Demetrius was able to read it: Deputy M. Alberti. “Is there anyone who can tell us about our family and friends?”
“I can radio in and see.” Alberti pointed down to where they stood. “Wait here.”
He walked off a few feet, head tipped as he spoke into his radio.
“What should we do?” Oliver was on his toes, trying to see over and around emergency vehicles and personnel.
The others joined them, huddling in close. Clarabell came up and stood beside Demetrius. “Any updates?”
“No. He’s on the radio asking how we can find out.”
“I know a better way,” Cody said quietly.
“What is it?” Demetrius asked.
“The back alley. We’ll have to dodge some dumpsters, and the lighting is spotty, but if we all stick together, we should be okay.”
Demetrius nodded as the deputy approached.
His steps faltered slightly when he saw how much larger their group had grown.
“Right now the focus is on containing the fire so it doesn’t spread beyond the two storefronts.
In a little while, the Sheriff will have us reach out to those whose family members have been taken to Memorial.
That’s all I can tell you for now.” He looked at all of them.
“The garlic ropes help with mosquitoes or something?”
“Thank you, Deputy Alberti,” Cody said. “We’ll check back later.”
The deputy nodded, and Cody took Demetrius’s elbow, turning him away from the sight of the fires and chaos.
As Cody led him down the sidewalk, Demetrius saw him glance back and jerk his head, signaling the others to follow.
Demetrius’s mind spun. Where was Amelia?
Where was Eileen? Where was everyone else they knew and loved?
When they reached the end of the connected shops on that side of the street, Cody checked over his shoulder once more before dodging left into the shadowy, narrow parking lot beside Gene & Jan’s Hair Style Shop. He tugged Demetrius along with him, the others right behind.
“Lucia should be training these deputies what garlic and wooden stakes are for,” Clarabell said. “I’m going to have a talk with her after this is all over.”
“Knock yourself out,” Cody said, swiveling his head back and forth. “I’m not going to visit you in jail.”
A few steps later, Cody stopped short. He released Demetrius and moved in front of him, aiming the water rifle at a tall, broad figure standing in the shadows.
“Evening, Linebacker. Looks like you brought the whole found family to the party.”
The voice was familiar, but Demetrius couldn’t place it. The sounds of the fire, the crew battling it, Amelia’s safety, all of it distracted him.
“Hey, Paul. Really didn’t want to see you here tonight,” Cody said.
The name put a face to the man blocking their path. Paul, the friendly butcher from Ike’s Market.
“Aw, don’t say that, Linebacker. I’ve been looking for you.”
Twin spots of red glowed in the shadows hiding Paul’s face. The plastic of Demetrius’s water rifle creaked under his fingers.
“I’m flattered,” Cody said, “really. But we need to be going.”
“Yeah, about that.” Paul stepped into the glow of an overhead LED, smiling and showing his fangs. “I can’t let you do that.”
Cody triggered his gun, releasing a long stream of water. The powerful smell of the garlic made Demetrius’s eyes water, but he could still see well enough to realize Paul had dodged the shot and was nowhere in sight.
Demetrius held his own water rifle low and ready. “Everyone back to back!”
The group shifted, all of them facing in a different direction standing hip to hip. Behind Demetrius, Jugs let out a gasp and pulled his trigger. Then Clarabell, followed by Tracey.
“He just keeps darting into view and running off again,” Agatha said. “Fucking vampires.”
“We need to keep going,” Demetrius said to Cody.
“I know,” Cody said. “You get everyone else out of here.”
“No.” Demetrius looked at Cody’s profile. “We stay together, remember?”
Demetrius had just turned back when he saw Paul rushing directly at him.
His mouth was open wide, eyes glowing within his furious expression, and the security light above gleamed along his fangs.
Demetrius pulled his trigger at the same time as Cody.
Both streams caught him in the chest, the water splashing up onto his neck and the lower part of his face.
Paul’s shriek echoed off the brick wall behind them, making everyone flinch. Seconds later, there was no sign of Paul.
“Guess that took care of it,” Demetrius said as he tried to see everywhere at once.
“For now.” Cody started forward again. “Let’s go.”
They made it to the back of the hair salon before they heard the first scream out on the street. The sound made them all stop in their tracks.
“What the fuck was that?” Agatha’s voice was just above a whisper.
“Are they attacking the firefighters?” Oliver said. “Do they want the whole town to burn?”
Zenona’s voice was calm when she answered him. “Probably. It would leave everyone outside, exposed and vulnerable.”
“No thresholds they’d have to ask permission to cross,” Tracey added.
“Son of a bitch,” Jugs turned in a circle in his spot. “Why do all the monsters hate on your town?”
“The mummy was over in Glenmont,” Oliver said. “Weird to say, but I miss that limping relic right now.”
Dave pulled him in against his side. “Vampires are a whole different lineup.” He looked at Cody. “Any thoughts, big brother?”
“Stay alive until dawn.”
“We need to help the firefighters,” Demetrius said. “Let’s go down to the cut-through, see if we can get out to Main Street that way.”
They moved quickly along the back alley, taking turns checking the dark corners and behind dumpsters.
Demetrius didn’t know which was worse, running into a vampire or not finding them.
The cut-through was a walkway that ran between Main Street and the alley behind the storefronts, and it mirrored the one on the other side of the street that led to the big public parking lot.
Over the years, the downtown merchant’s guild had commissioned a local artist to paint murals on one wall of both cut throughs.
The mural in this one depicted farms with different crops and the woods surrounding town.
Decorative trees inside large concrete planters provided shaded spots for people to sit at wrought iron cafe tables and chairs and socialize, but the tables and chairs had been overturned, and splashes of red stained the mural closer to Main Street.
“Not looking good,” Jugs said, barely audible.
Demetrius and Cody were in front, cautiously leading the others past the planters and seating arrangements.
The blaze roared out of their sightline, the orange light flickering off the walls ahead.
Smoke stung Demetrius’s nose, and he could feel the heat crowding into the narrow space.
The fire had devoured all the moisture in the air, and his skin was tight and lips dry, almost chapped.
Another shout from out in the street, high-pitched and terrified. It made him jump, and he heard Cody let out a quiet curse. How many vampires did Bastian have on his side? Would Marlowe be able to help them?
When they were a few yards from the end, two figures stepped out from either side, blocking their path. They were only silhouettes against the backdrop of the fire, but Demetrius figured one was Leo, the vampire who had murdered Andy Wilkerson, and by the height and body shape, the other was Paul.
“Guys,” Tracey said quietly.
Demetrius looked over his shoulder. Bastian and Annie walked slowly toward them from the alley, both smiling and eyes glowing red.
They were trapped.