The dark is warm and soft, hiding all flaws and perfections equally. A glaring bright white light hovers nearby, beckoning him gently. Rayflo looks to the light. It's too bright, he can never hope to go near it. His dark and tainted soul is stained obsidian black. But still the light calls to him.
Master
He takes a timid step towards the light. He is only an arms length away when something so cold it feels wet and slimy latches onto his wrists from behind.
You can't go. You belong here…Addie.
A shiver runs up his spine and he knows he can't escape.
He's too tired to try this time.
He closes his eyes and lets the black abyss pull him down.
Master!
A hand flies out of the light and snatches his collar. The dark hisses in revulsion and hatred.
Chris
Another hand shoots out to grab him.
The darkness writhes and tires to drag him down but Chris holds on tight. Rayflo grasps at the hands, clinging to them for dear life.
But the darkness inevitably wins, their hands slipping apart and Rayflo is wrenched away.
Chris!
"Chris!" Rayflo screams, lurching forward.
"What? What!"
There's a bang from another room and Charley comes racing in.
"You're awake!"
He runs to his side. Rayflo seizes Charley's hand, the other flying to his chest where he was shot. He heaves long gasping breaths, his desperate heart racing. Charley clasps his hand and is surprised to find it trembling. He draws Rayflo to him, wrapping his arms protectively around him and laying his head against his shoulder. His breathing slows and calms and he stops shaking. He looks around, suddenly confused.
"I'm…back here." He says, voice echoing the obvious confusion on his face.
God, Charley hopes he hasn't lost his memory.
"You were shot. You came back and I brought you up here. I had to take the bullet out, remember?"
Rayflo releases Charley's hand tenderly drifts to the closed wound on his chest.
"Yeah, yeah I remember now." He says slowly, still looking around in a daze. The slightly glazed look in his eyes makes it seem like he's seeing things that aren't really there.
Charley tries to draw his attention back.
"Master, what happened?"
The groggy Vampire looks to him briefly before he turns away and stares at the wall.
"Have you ever been to a Vampire Bar?"
He shakes his head. He'd be too far gone if he ever let that happen.
"It's strange to find them in rural areas. The Vampire population in backwater towns like this are usually too small for such establishments. Not enough donors."
Charley frowns but holds his silence. The fact he can make jokes is a good sign he's not as damaged as he appears.
"There was one here though, down town surrounded by a lot of empty shops. There was lot Vampires there. I'd say over fifty of them. That's a lot for any one area of a large city let alone a small town. But they were all kind of unusual."
As Rayflo continues to explain what happened and the strange Vampires Charley's uneasiness grows.
"And what of these pills?"
Rayflo retrieves the now crusty and stiff pants out of the trash can and manages to wrestle the baggie from his pocket and tosses them to Charley.
He inspects the contents but doesn't recognize it as anything he's seen before.
"You don't know what these are? And yet you took them anyway?" Charley asks, amazed at the density of Vampire in front of him.
"Hey, I brought them for you, Mr. Cyborg-Vampire-Hunter. Maybe I shouldn't be so generous in your hunts anymore." He pouts.
Charley examines the pills, removing one. Miraculously, they're still dry and intact.
"Sacra, come here girl."
The dog pads over and Charley carefully holds the pill out for her to sniff. She barks and paws her nose. He accesses the data from her but isn't surprised as to what it reads. It's a drug, not one of those new blood tablets that have been appearing on the black market recently but something with synthetic and organic elements. He'll have to send it to a lab for further testing.
"So?" Rayflo asks as he materializes a new pair of pants and shirt draped over his shoulders.
"It's a drug but I don't know what. The man who gave it to you seemed off you say?"
Rayflo inspects the mark on his chest in the mirror, frowning at it as he touches it.
"'Off' is nice way to describe him. Brain dead would be more appropriate."
"Don't most drugs have no affect on Vampires?"
"Yeah, save a few but this one could probably throw us both for a loop or whatever it's supposed to do. They weren't normal Cherry. And despite being a Vampire we aren't immure to everything. I'd be willing to bet it on that drug."
Rayflo scoots closer to Charley and rests his chin on his shoulder.
"Hey, you're hungry, aren't you?"
Even though Charley attempts to bat him away Rayflo can feel his heart skip a beat then beat faster. He knows it's true and so does Charley. He's amazed at how well he's been holding it together, after all when he found him he was more blood than man it had seemed.
"Cherry deserves a reward for being such a good starving wolf." He chuckles
Charley sighs and bats again at his Master, fending him off.
"Master, you lost like two gallons of blood. You need to heal first."
Rayflo snorts.
"First time you've ever cared about my health. I can assure you though. I'm fine."
Charley looks at him. Just by looking he can tell he's not fine. His skin is still extremely pale and clammy looking but where his cheek touches his neck it's boiling hot. And that strange mark on his chest hasn't healed yet.
He's wondering himself where his hunger has gone but the minute he thinks about that it comes dancing back but for some odd reason its not as strong as it was only hours ago. Maybe just breathing in the smell of Rayflo's blood has somehow sated him. But either way if he's going to keep offering there's no way he can refuse forever.
And besides, he has a job to do right now.
Charley disappears into the bathroom for a minute. He retrieves a small vial of clear liquid carefully prepared an hour previously. He feels a stab of guilt as he soaks a wash cloth with the evil smelling liquid. Even for him garlic still smells a little toxic. Rayflo feels the deceptive spike in the air as Charley returns. It's the same feeling he often gets right before Charley attacks him. He eyes the cyborg warily as he comes towards the bed.
"Cherry…"
Charley suddenly lunges, grabbing both of Rayflo's wrists in one hand and pinning him to the bed with his body.
"Cherry! What are-!"
He holds the cloth over his mouth. The odour of garlic is vile and overwhelming. Rayflo struggles against Charley and tries to hold his breath but in his weakened state he's no match for the cyborg's strength. He knees him twice in the stomach but it's the equivalent of kicking a rock and produces about the same results. His lungs cry out for air and his flailing weakens him. Finally, he's forced to breathe. One microscopic breath is all it takes to send his head spinning. Rayflo's eyes widen and his hands fly to his throat but it's too late.
"Damn…it…Cherry." He slurs.
His eyes roll back in his head. The black pit of unconsciousness swallows him once more.
Only when Charley is certain that Rayflo is unconscious does he release him.
One of the little known facts about garlic is the anestitizing effect it has on Vampires. He'll be out for a full day. Charley discovered this during one of his attacks a couple years back when he tried using concentrated garlic fumes to slow the old Vampire down. Instead, Rayflo passed out and nearly fell from the second story of the mansion. The poor vassal was terrified that he'd killed him or knocked him into a coma. When Rayflo finally regained consciousness the following day he had awakened to a very frightened and stunned Charley.
He brushes a couple strands of hair out of Rayflo's eyes and gently caresses his face, calm and unmarked by worry lines.
But now that he doesn't have to worry about him he can go out and find out what the hell is happening in this town.
"Sorry, Master."
He is sorry but he justifies it with it being necessary. And it is necessary he tells himself.
As much as Rayflo mocked his vassal's profession he often participated in those tricky cases or ones where he knew the target Vampire. More often than not he followed Charley wherever he went. Even when it got too dangerous for him if he worried he'd show up.
And after what happened tonight there's little doubt that he'd let Charley go alone, he'd try to follow even in the daylight to look out for him. And that's too dangerous, especially when he's wounded and weak like this.
Rayflo loved to say how ridiculous and reckless Charley was but he sometimes wonders who the basket case really is.
He grabs his sword, checks all of his weaponry before calling Sacra. She bounds to him then out the door.
Charley glances back one last time before leaving. Rayflo lies still, chest rising and falling gently with each breath. If he's lucky he'll make it back before he wakes up.
And then he knows there will be hell to pay.
It doesn't take long to find the place. The streets are filled with people, they all look worried and scared. Very few stand close to the barricade the police have set up, preferring to hover nervously further away. Charley shows his license the Vatican issued to the obviously shaken cop who tries to stop him from crossing.
"You're some kind of specialist?" He questions
Charley hesitates.
"Yes."
"Good Lord, we could use you. It's right over there."
He points to a windowless, bullet and claw mark ridden store front. The door is torn clean off its worn hinges.
As he approaches the building a cop approaches him. He recognizes the man as Chief of the force here mentioned in his briefing before hand. The man, Carlos Abernathy, looks more than a little shaken.
"You must be the expert they sent?"
Charley nods again.
"Well, then come on."
He leads Charley through the tangle of cops, vans and paramedics. Everyone is more or less at a stand still, not quite sure what to do next. Especially if what Master said is true there's not much need for a paramedic here.
Abernathy stops in front of the building and turns to Charley.
"We came in the morning and found it like this. It's a bar that opened up little over a month ago and became quite seedy."
Charley had run a check on the history of Vampire attacks in the region and had come up with incredibly low numbers until recently of course when they had spiked dramatically. Only two Hunters had previously been assigned missions in this region in the past fifty years. Many more crimes had been reported in the last couple months, any of which could indicate a rise in criminal activity or could be caused by Vampires.
"Excuse me, sir but what sort of criminal activity goes on in a place like this?" Charley asks tersely.
Abernathy looks around nervously.
"This used to be a pretty quiet place, not too many nasty things going on. But recently it's all gone to hell in a hand basket. Strange things are happening. People are disappearing then reports come in that they were seen walking along the beach at night or heading into the woods, never to be seen again. More people are disappearing daily, well really I should say nightly. There's more crime then there has ever been murders, thefts, disappearances and drive by shootings. We're a regular big city here. Things have been going wrong for a long time now. I assume you've read the reports?"
Charley nods.
"It all started when the Bailey girl went missing two months ago. Ever since then people have been disappearing left, right and center. The attacks are always after dark. People don't go out at night anymore and if they do they're gone the next morning. The only ones brave enough to venture out are the drunkards and then they often stay at the bars till sunrise. We sent out an advisory a month ago forbidding anyone to be out past dark. The attacks stopped shortly after save the odd one who didn't listen. We haven't found a single body or even any evidence to where they could have disappeared to. They're just gone as far as anyone can tell. It's spiralled out of control. But I just don't understand how one more man is going to help fix this."
Charley suppresses a smile.
"I have special qualifications in this field, sir. I don't want to scare you but I would agree you might have a problem here. I only just arrived and I'm already aware of some very odd behaviours going on."
"Well, wait till you see this."
He leads Charley over to the building and ducks under the yellow tape. He follows him into the dark store. His eyes widen in absolute shock at what he sees.
The room doesn't look to be touched at all by the police. Bodies are scattered all across the store in various states. Some are even stacked rather unceremoniously on top of each other. Charley is surprised that where the sun spills in the bodies caught in its wake haven't turned to dust. He frowns. Even dead Vampire bodies turn to dust once exposed to the light. He kneels and runs his fingers over a bloody arm splayed in the sunlight. It doesn't change or crumble to dust. He moves the body, rolling it over onto its back. It's a woman, her chest covered in congealed blood from three horrifically large bullet holes. The flesh around the holes is charred and blackened like it burned right through her. Charley gently props open her mouth. Four abnormally large fangs protrude farther than the rest of her teeth. She's a Vampire for sure. Then why isn't she turning to dust?
"What are you looking for?" Abernathy asks.
"Nothing. Just a dead end hunch."
He turns his attention to the rest of the bodies. Blood has soaked into almost every surface. The place reeks of the caustic smell. Which is strange in itself though, Vampire blood shouldn't smell this bad. He would know, he drinks Rayflo's blood and it doesn't smell like this at all. Charley carefully picks his way around the bodies and through the dark room. He checks half a dozen of them, looking for fangs and the cause of death. It's pretty clear that every one of these Vampires died from bullet wounds or the subsequent silver poisoning. Out of curiosity he gently lifts the eyelids on one. The creepiest black eyes he's ever seen stare back. The entire eye is a cloudy black mess save a small ring of white on the outside which must be the schelera. It's far from normal, even for a Vampire. Rayflo was right when he said they were 'off.' He lets it drop back down and goes to inspect behind the bar. Jars have been blown off the shelves, spilling their red contents on the floor to congeal in hideous puddles. Bullets are imbedded all along the wall, like something from a mobster shoot-out movie. He hesitantly touches one, prying it loose. Its silver, the exact same as the one Master had. He pockets the small orb and moves onto the jars. Charley carefully removes an intact one from the shelf and sniffs the contents. He holds it out for Sacra to check too. Her data is immediately conveyed to him.
A child's blood. Type B.
He quickly replaces the jar and looks to Abernathy who is hovering nervously in the doorway.
"How many children have disappeared?"
"Twenty-five children under thirteen years old, seventeen teenagers and thirty-two adults."
The numbers are staggering. Charley is starting to wonder why no one was dispatched sooner.
"Was there any discrimination in gender?"
"None."
"Hmmmm." Is this the first time this has happened?" He gestures to the walls and bodies.
"I wish I could say 'yes' to that. This is becoming so damn common. Shoot-outs that is. People are real spooked around here. We've been getting a lot of calls recently about 'posses' raiding places believed to be in league with this Underground business. That why a lot of shops are shut down. We've got men running around with rifles at night shooting places like this up hoping to kill some murderer but they end up killing innocent people and get themselves killed. And some of our more outspoken community members have 'disappeared' after a bad remark here or there. We've got the locals freaking out and then whatever else is freaking out back. It's not a good thing."
"Have you ID'd any of these people?"
"Seven are locals, the rest are uncertain but I haven't seen them around. Doesn't mean they aren't local but when you live in a place like this there are only so many faces. But it would have to be some bullet to do that to them." He says, pointing at a particularity silver charred body."
"There's a lot of corrosive chemicals readily available on the market that can burn through human flesh. So, this was a raid by some locals? This bar belonged to some criminals or what?"
"Yeah, nothing good ever went on here, drugs mostly but who knows? We never could get a man to infiltrate. They all disappeared. They could tell if you weren't one of them. We lost two good men who tried to infiltrate. Disappeared without a trace."
That makes sense, Vampires can tell thee difference between their own kind and humans almost instantly. It's definitely pointing to Vampires though not your average kind.
"This was their base of operations?"
Somehow Charley is sceptical this is it, especially if there is so many missing
people…unless they're burying them in the walls like in Dilupo. But this place smells like rot and death anyway, he can't tell now without tearing the walls down.
"No, there's been rumours of a…a 'nest' of sorts. There used to be a resort in the mountains an hour out of town. It's been closed for a decade now but recently people driving along the mountain pass have said they saw people down in the valley near the resort. And not just a few, like dozens at one time. The rumour got started a while back now and no one goes up there any more, save the suicidal."
"Have you sent anyone to investigate?"
"Yes, took near the whole damn police force up there in an armoured truck just to be safe. We scouted the whole place out at mid-day. Didn't find a trace of anything up there."
"Then they were just rumours?"
"We're not sure. Since we did the sweep people are still reporting seeing more people up there. And that's why you're here now. We don't know what to do about it anymore."
Charley frowns again, mulling it all over.
"This is getting very unusual. What's the population of this town?"
"A little over 15,000 though 5,000 of that is people who drive in from the surrounding area."
"How many of these kidnappers or murders, do you think there are?"
He shrugs and widens his eyes.
"I'd think it would have to be a lot with the scale of these disappearances but we can't find anything so I can't give you any kind of number. We've got a lot of missing people and not enough evidence."
Charley scans the room again. Like Master said, there's around fifty here, which that's abnormally high. Could these Vampires be living up at this resort and coming down here to hunt? Or is this just a fraction of what's going on here? Or maybe this is it and now there is only a few left.
Nothing but an onsite inspection will truly give him any insight into what is happening.
"Keep this place shut off. I'll call for a forensics team to come here and study this." He says as he flips out his phone.
"Can you give me directions to this resort?"
The dark weight of unconsciousness holds Rayflo down like a mountain stacked on top of him. He struggles to regain consciousness, fighting the cloud hanging over his mind. The stench of garlic lingers in the air like a dead corpse. With great difficulty he manages to pry his eyes open, blinking like crazy.
The world slowly comes back into focus. The soft orange glow of the lamp fills the room. It takes a few minutes of staring blankly at the ceiling, blinking rapidly to clear the fog from his mind. When he recalls what happened he curses.
"Damn Cherry!"
He struggles to sit up, clutching his pounding head.
"What time is it?" He groans.
He claws his way over to the nightstand and fumbles to bring the clock where he can see it.
6:30 pm!
He tries to leap up but ends up crashing to the floor.
He's been out of it for over twelve hours! His mind races as he scrambles to unsteady feet and rushes through the small hotel room, banging into the walls as he goes. He hopes to find Charley somewhere, anywhere, even hiding as long as its here. But that's just a pipe dream and he knows it. Deep down inside him he knows he's in danger. When he can't find him his heart sinks.
Why did he have to do this?
The sun will just be going down now he figures.
There's not much time.
He creeps to the window, switching the lights off. No glow shows beneath the curtain so he peeks out. The sun has just sunk beneath the ocean's orange tinted waves.
"Goddamn it Cherry!"
There's nothing for it but to go.
"Goddamn Cherry, drugging me for heaven's sake!"
His head and chest throb as he sweeps aside the curtains and heaves up the window. His body begins to de-materialize, black bats launching themselves out into the night. He feels a stab of pain but ignores it. Now is not the time to be lying around.
Damn it Cherry!
After a couple more hours of questioning other police and the locals Charley decides to head for the resort. All leads are pointing there. Everyone he has talked to has a story about some missing neighbour, relative or family member. The creepier stories though were seeing said missing person walking through the streets and no matter how much they tried to reason with them they would run away. At least half said that they had run into the woods. All leads are pointing this way.
Like the officer said, the trip takes a little over an hour driving in the van up a road that's well maintained till it hits the high tree line. It then becomes little better than a mud trail. The van lurches and leaps, jumping over jutting rocks and sloughing into pot holes continuously. Charley is only going fifteen mph. Sacra barks and whines as the van lurches yet again, throwing her against the back of the seat.
"It's okay girl, its okay." He grits as he fights to keep control of the van.
The resort is just within sight when Charley pulls the van to the side of the road and steps out. Sacra leaps out behind him and sits, waiting for his command.
Charley stalks up to the abandoned resort. The ancient place is surrounded by a tall brick wall that has seen better days. The building itself looks worse than derelict, it's destroyed. The entire western wall is sagging like a deflated balloon and the garden has taken complete control of the grounds, weeds and grasses are five feet tall and nasty spiked vines scale the dirty gray walls. Windows have been smashed out then haphazardly boarded over. Even the trees are growing into the building, invading it with long branches. Nobody has lived here for a long time. It's a perfect, stereotypical Vampire hideout. Immortal beings never seem to change in Charley's opinion. But then again as one of these 'immortal beings,' neither is he.
He battles through the savage lawn, ready at any second for something to leap out of the high grass. Surprisingly, the main double doors are still attached but hacked apart with claw gouges. They creak something terrible as he opens them. It doesn't look like he'll get ot use the element of surprise here.
The second Charley steps over the threshold he knows something is wrong. He tenses up, ready for a fight and Sacra lowers her head, giving a low and threatening growl. Charley can feel they're not alone but the trashed lobby reveals no one. There are lots of places to hide, behind toppled and torn furniture to pitted doorways that lead to nothing but darkness.
Sword at the ready and prepared to electrocute the first thing that moves, Charley quietly and carefully begins to walk by the first set of doors leading to the front desk. He doesn't go near but peers into the inky blackness as he slips past. He's been to creepy places before but this place is just awful. The air reeks of age but nothing is covered in dust.
Three doors later he's at the front desk without any trouble. To his right is a grand staircase and two elevators leading up and to his left is another set of double doors but they're propped open a tad.
Its pitch black inside.
Charley feels his stomach do a flip as he knows what he's got to do. For some reason just the thought of entering is galling. And that in itself is ridiculous. He's been to far more terrifying and scarier places but this building has a horrible sense about it.
Sacra sniffs deeply, creeping closer to the entrance.
The foreboding presence suddenly intensifies tenfold. He's tempted right then and there to turn around and run.
It's that bad.
He's never felt something so hideous, just a feeling is all but it's so strong. But he can't just run, no he can't run for heaven's sake.
"Come girl." He whispers.
Quietly as he can to pads up to the door and slips through, sword first. Even in the pitch black Charley can see quite well.
It's a grand dining hall but it's ruined. Abandoned tables and chairs are torn, broken up and cast aside. The windows are boarded up so that not even an iota of light can enter. The reflective dots on Sacra's paws glow softly in the dark. The second he steps into the room the worst sense of dread and impending doom washes over him.
He doesn't know why but he gets the sudden impression he should look up. He doesn't fight it but follows it. Instincts can save your life.
He looks up.
Every inch of the rafters is crammed with dark shadowy shapes twisting and writhing in the black. A deep guttural hissing sound echoes throughout the room.
Sacra starts barking viciously, jumping up and down to snap at them. One of the shadows bears a mouth full of fangs at the mutt. A spot of blood drips to the ground in front of Charley. The shapes and shadows begin to hiss and screech, jostling and clawing at the rafters and each other. One leaps down to a collapsed beam ten feet above the ground and peers at Charley. It's a human, or a Vampire but none that he recognizes. Its deep soulless eyes simply stare, uncomprehendingly at him. Long claws gouge the wood it perches on, fangs protruding violently from between grey lips. Several others jump down to get a closer look too. Their clothes hang loosely from their emaciated bodies, making their eyes even larger.
He's almost paralyzed, the horror show in front of him not quite registering in his brain. This is hell.
But why haven't they attacked yet?
Charley doesn't care to stick around and find out. Slowly but quick enough not to give them a chance to react he reaches for a grenade in his pocket. One of the Vampires must sense something is wrong because an ear piercing shriek reverberates throughout the complex. The Vampires cry out and begin to leap down.
"Run, Sacra!"
To Be Continued…