Sweats diffusing all over me. Every inch of my skin is drenched. My legs are starting to ache from being crushed into such a tiny place for over an hour. My stomach sounds like an oil barrel rolling down a hill as I haven't eaten since breakfast and it's almost midnight! And there are men with guns. About 16 of them, all with silver bullets. Thank god they haven't found me yet. Then again, I can't see anything because it's so dark if you're inside a wooden crate with only 2 tiny holes for air. I never thought this morning that I would be in this mess.
I had got up expecting a pleasant day. I had work from 2 till 7. But after that I expected to have a nice night, Amelia and I planned to go out for a late dinner, just as soon as she got in from work at 8. I didn't have enough time to have lunch at work, and then passed hunger. Now I was saving myself up for dinner tonight. But as soon as the sun went down I heard a knock at the door. It was Pam and Bill. My day was on a downward slope, every time they knocked my door together, they'd never had any good news to tell me.
"Come in." I said to them. Taking them into the living room. I sat down, because I bet that they had a long and depressing story to tell me.
"We're this close to discovering who funded the Fellowship of the Sun. The last of the militant members have all banded together for a meeting with the benefactor in an old warehouse in Shreveport that they purchased to interrogate supes and supe sympathisers at." Pam said as she clenched 2 fingers together. I knew that this meant that Bill would give the not so good part now.
"We sent Jake Purifoy to spy on it. But they caught him. He's in danger. We need your help. We'll be in your debt." Bill said. That seemed pretty much like positively shit news to me. Jake Purifoy was a were who was turned into a vampire by my (truly) deceased cousin Hadley. I always felt sorry for him; he seemed lost, as if he didn't know where he belonged. But the little I knew about the vampire hierarchy, I knew that he was working his way up pretty sharpish considering.
"Can't you send vampires to rescue him?" I asked, but I assumed they had some stupid thing stopping them, as what usually happens to people on TV in situations like this.
"They've sprayed the place with nano silver. No vampire can set foot inside. What we need you to do is to get them outside, anyway you can. We'll take it from there. We need you though; Felipe DeCastro and Victor Madden are in Fangtasia as we speak. They demand to know who this benefactor is. We kind of told them we knew who it was see." Bill replied. A huge part of me wanted to tell them to get lost, but some stupid part of me agreed to help. Maybe because I thought that it was what Sookie would do. But mostly because I could do with the vampires owing me a favour, especially seeing that Sandra Pelt was still after me.
So then like a lamb to the slaughter, I left with Bill and Pam. I texted Amelia, saying that I couldn't make dinner tonight because something super important that I would explain to her later came up. She text back almost instantly saying "kk". She must have been very disappointed; I had to make it up to her massively as soon as I could.
The drive to Shreveport was quick thankfully. I wanted to get this over and done with. I sighed. Pam tried to cheer me up, the typical black humour. I decided to play her at her own game.
"Have you ever written a letter to Dear Abby? On the 12th June?" I asked her. Knowing that was the day she wrote in about me. I hadn't seen much more readable emotion on a vampires face, her eyebrows rose alarmed, her mouth open in embarrassment.
"How did you know?" She said as she eventually realised
"It was in the paper I bought for you that day." I said.
"Bitch! I wrote that letter to her 8 times! And that day she wrote back!" Pam said. I didn't know if she was joking, but Bill and I laughed along anyway.
"It's ok Jason. I heard down the grapevine about you and that delicious witch friend of Sookie's. I'll move my attentions onto someone who's single." She added. A light bulb flashed above my head.
"It's ok. Sam's single. And looking for someone." I said with a grin. They could be a supernatural power couple!
"You've always had a soft spot for him as well. Why don't you arrange a date?" Bill said.
"Sounds lovely. I've always wondered what he's like underneath those tight jeans and checked shirts." Pam said. I somehow hoped that she was joking here, but I doubted it greatly.
Somehow, instead of talking about tactics, which we should have. We blindly descended into a conversation on sex and relationships. Which lasted until we reached our stop, hidden about 500 yards away from the warehouse. Vampires were situated all around the perimeter. All I had to do was sneak in and get all of the Fellowship grunts out somehow. Which was perhaps the greatest example of something being easier said than done.
I focused. And started sniffing. My shifter abilities were still weak in my human form; I needed to practice more to be honest. But they were still potent enough to be useful here. I smelt about 16 of them inside. And I smelt 2 vampires, they smell different to humans; a sterile scent, the only thing I can compare it to is antiseptic gel.
I crept inside through a metal fire exit. Ensuring that I didn't make any noise as I closed it. I took a look around the warehouse. It was vast. The ceiling seemed to blend into the sky, the harsh halogen lights flickering like shooting stars. The floor was concrete, and cluttered with debris. Small crates seemed to surround me. I could hear someone hit someone. And someone yell. Shit they were torturing Jake, and I couldn't do anything to stop it.
I peered over a crate to see what was happening. Jake was beaten up badly, and tied to a chair by silver. The Fellowship thugs were all around him watching. Several taking turns to beat him. He screeched in pain. Not only that, but the nano silver particles must have been causing him huge pain.
They must have been doing this to him for hours on end, which made my skin crawl. Especially seeing as I had received treatment like this from Steve Newlin not that long ago, my back still stung from that sometimes, but it was getting better thankfully.
I went closer and closer towards them. No one could see me. Thank god. But nor could I see them. I crawled on my knees to reduce my height, apparently that made you less visible; I learnt that from playing video games. I stayed to the shadows as well.
I heard someone say that there were vampires outside. A few were about to leave, but someone told them not to. A female voice. Cold and calculating. She said that the vampires were unable to get in, so they shouldn't go out into their trap. Instead, she made a group of them patrol the warehouse, as she told them that they may have sent a non vampire in to flush them out.
Shit that was me! 2 were approaching me fast; they would shoot me as soon as they saw me. I had to hide. A small crate was the only thing near me; I quickly and quietly opened it up and climbed in, closing it behind me.
And here I was now. Over an hour later. My legs screaming from the lack of oxygen. But I couldn't even move, every time I had tried to get out and hide elsewhere, guards came close to me. It was like some stupid carousel that I couldn't get off.
I hummed to myself, to try and ignore all the discomfort I was feeling. But it was getting harder, every while a tear or two would drip down my cheek. I prayed for the moment when they would leave this warehouse, to go to kill someone, to get a coffee from Starbucks, to go audition on American Idol, I just wanted them to leave so that I could leave this goddamn crate!
Eventually the lady asked most of the goons to leave with her, she must've thought the vampires got bored and left them. That was the mistake that most people made. She was one ambiguous bitch whoever she was, all she told them, was that they were going to help her achieve her goal tonight. She made 4 of them stay behind to finish Jake off.
As soon as the majority of them had left. I realised that it was either strike now, or never. I left the crate, and quickly threw off all my clothes as I crouched behind it. I had felt weird being naked in public places before shifting at first, but shifters don't have much for modesty, so I had grown fine with it.
I changed into panther form quickly, and ran out of cover and pounced. They were off guard; I ripped out one of their throats within instants. I knocked the chair apart with a fist, freeing Jake from his silver chains. I then broke another's neck with a quick chop. But the other 2 were completely aware by now, and started firing at me. I ran across the concrete on all floors, leaping over obstacles along the way. I ran laps around them. I hoped that they were starting to get dizzy. I did this for ages, until I was sure that they would be disorientated by all the spinning, and struck. Clawing open both their jugulars in one swipe. They died in instants.
I turned back into human form and redressed, right before I dragged a delirious Jake across the floor, and made him lap up the puddle of blood on the floor. I could see his injuries slowly heal. It was so cool to watch, they literally disintegrated before my eyes, a bit like Wolverine does in X-Men. The life threatening injuries healed, but he was still pretty badly hurt,
"Thank you shifter.' Jake said, short of breath.
"Jason Stackhouse. And it was nothing." I replied, lying. Of course it was something! I saved his life for crying out loud. But he seemed a nice guy and was very grateful, not to mention he seemed to be a good ally to have. The nano silver particles were already burning him again, so I put an arm around him, and ran with him outside.
The sight that greeted us was very much unexpected. The rest of the Fellowship fanatics were all piled into a heap of corpses. A group of vampires I didn't know stood there, along with Pam, Bill, and a girl who only looked about 16, in an expensive white pantsuit, complete with a waistcoat that made her seem older, a bit like something out of that music video that Britney and Madonna did together. Her long dark auburn hair was wavy and ethereal.
"Meet the Fellowships secret benefactor. The presumed dead former vampire queen of Louisiana, Sophie-Ann Leclerq." Pam said in a dramatic narrator voice, as she pushed her towards me.
I don't know much about vampire politics, but I know that after that attack by the Fellowship of the Sun on that vampire summit in Rhodes that apparently both her legs blew off. And while she was in this weak state, Felipe DeCastro the king of Nevada, took the opportunity to assassinate her and take control of the kingdoms of Louisiana and Arkansas for himself. But obviously she wasn't dead after all!
I took a better look at her. On a closer inspection, it was obvious she was a vampire. She was pale, her eyes pierced coldly. But something, probably her young appearance made her seem naive and friendly. But after seeing that Alexei a few months back, I knew that it would be a dangerous to make about her. She took off a pair of transparent gloves and an equally transparent face mask, that must have been what protected her from the nano silver.
"Jason Stackhouse. I've met your sister and your cousin. I'm glad that I've finally met you. Both spoke of you highly." She said her voice steady and icy, with a sense of grandeur. Holding her hand out at me, as if she expected me to kiss it
Before I could respond to her, Bill yanked her wrist back.
"Don't try anything!" He shouted. Before leading her into the back of a white van, slamming it shut. She wouldn't escape; it was surrounded with solid silver bars.
"So much still doesn't make sense. Why the hell was she supporting anti vampire terrorists. And how did she fake her own death? How'd she stay hidden for so long?" I bombarded Pam.
"It doesn't make much sense to me. Hopefully she'll come clean once we reach Fangtasia; otherwise she's going to wish we killed her then." She replied.
I drove to Fangtasia with Pam, following the white van. Bill was travelling in the white van with some other vamps to guard Sophie-Anne. Pam and I talked about all the inconsistencies and things which still didn't make sense besides her motives.
We arrived at Fangtasia. Pam and Bill went in with Sophie-Anne. I stayed in the car, I didn't want to see anyone being tortured, even her. I lay across the back seat, hopefully to get some rest. But that idea was short lived, as Bill and Pam returned to the car without Sophie-Anne. They couldn't have killed her that quickly.
"Felipe demanded that we leave him and Victor to question her alone." Pam sighed as she opened the car door, blasting humidity into the air conditioned bliss of the car. I was about to ask them why they listened to him, then I realised that he was their king, so they'd have to.
"Why don't we go then?" I suggested to Bill. Who just rested his arms on the wheel.
"Can't you listen in?" I asked.
"Eric installed super expensive soundproofing that stops even vampires. I thought he was crazy for doing that too." Pam laughed at the irony.
"We're staying a bit longer. Something still doesn't make sense." I would have argued with Bill, I was so fucking tired and hungry, not to mention that I was damp to my underwear from sweat. Too much info, but it was true. But Bill had already decided, as far as vampires go, he is a pushover but once he makes his mind up, it's impossible to change it.
"Let's just say she solicited the Fellowship's attack on the vampire summit. She get's injured and I use that very loosely, as that bitch was probably faking that. What does she gain from that?" Pam threw into the air, to start the investigation.
"All the vampire kingdoms were hit terribly. Oregon, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Wyoming, Illinois and New Mexico all went bankrupt this year, and that's because they've been struggling to make money since the summit. And another 20 are near bankruptcy. Most of them are going to fall by the end of the year." Bill added.
"What happens when a kingdom goes bankrupt?" I asked.
"The kingdom kind of gets swallowed up into another. Felipe bought out all of them, so he rules 8 states! That makes him the most powerful vampire in the country by far! A bit like how Sophie-Anne ended up being Queen of Arkansas as well as Louisiana." Bill replied.
"I still don't get why she faked her death either. Who was meant to have killed her?" I said.
"Victor.." Pam replied. It twigged with Bill and I in quick succession.
In sync, the 3 of us slammed open the card doors and ran into Fangtasia and into Eric's office. The door was open; a topless picture that my sister took for Eric was glued to the other side. There was some things I was better off not knowing. Like that. But that was the least of our problems. Sophie-Anne and Victor stood side by side, over a pile of dust which used to be Felipe DeCastro. Victor clutched a stake in his hands.
"Mind explaining everything to us." I said.
"If you're dumb enough to say that to try to distract me, you'd best think about it, we're both far older than them 2, it'll be over without breaking a sweat." Victor snickered. I actually had hoped that it would distract him.
"Now now Victor. We must at least at humour them. I admit it, I've been giving millions to the Fellowship under aliases since the beginning. I was the one who told them to destroy the conference. You need to break some eggs to make an omelette." Sophie-Anne said.
"You faked your own death; put yourself into financial ruin allowing your own kingdoms to be taken over. Just so that you could retire?" Pam said with disbelief.
"We weren't broke; I transferred all of my fortune into safeguarded accounts just before the attack on the summit. It hit a burden on all other states, a pretty bad burden. I heard most of them want to be bought out."
It finally started to make sense to me. Sophie-Anne crippled the vampire economy while secretly remaining prosperous. Then faked her death so that she could watch all the states crumble; all of them being bought by Felipe, while waiting for the ideal moment to kill him and regain control herself. Then she could strike when the iron was hot and take over the rest of the US, and the general vampire community wouldn't be able to stop her.
"How does he come into it?" Bill asked, pointing at Victor.
"Her majesty turned me when I was walking out alone outside of my village in Bavaria, in the 15th century. I'd do anything for her. So she told me to burrow into the Nevada hierarchy and become Felipe's most trusted assistant. And then encourage him to start buying out the bankrupt states before her majesty's return. And being second in command of Felipe's land, I would name her as the new Queen on Louisiana, Arkansas, Nevada, Tennessee, Illinois... the list continues." Victor grinned.
All this time Pam, Bill and Eric were suspicious of Victor, as if he had a master plan, when he was just a lackey. As my sister said, behind every great man, is a greater women pulling the strings and cutting the cream off the top.
Victor hurled the stake at Bill, who leaped out of the way and swung for him. Sophie-Anne charged at Pam, and began bashing her head against Eric's desk. Smashing through the brittle wood. I picked the stake up off the floor and tossed it to Bill, who rammed it swiftly through Victor's heart. Causing him to burst into a firework of blood.
Sophie-Anne screeched in pain as her child was destroyed, loosening her grip on Pam. Who wasted no time in plunging the broken chair leg through her chest. Another firework of blood followed. Now that was a slight anti-climax, not that I was complaining because I didn't have to do much!
Ten minutes later. I had finished devouring a plate full of food that I had put together from the contents of the Fangtasia stock cupboard when Pam and Bill came out of Eric's office, with mops and buckets of bloody water.
"We're going to have a lot of explaining to do!" Pam exclaimed excitedly.
"Can one of you take me home now please?" I asked. Bill eventually agreed that he would."You know this doesn't count as that favour you owe me." I said, tapping him on the back as we left the bar.
