This chapter's divided into two parts: the build-up part, and the scary as all fucking hell part. At least it freaked me out as I was writing it. It has quite a bit of gore and such in it. I'm making a little page break thing so you can skip it if you don't feel comfortable with people being eaten.
There were five humans in the dive. Not counting Jane.
Five humans to three vampires. Good odds, if I was actually hunting and not being dragged here by my possibly insane wife and two definitely insane sociopaths. Severin leaned towards me across the table of our booth.
"You can have that tweakin' kid over in the corner, Ben," he said. "Me an' Violet have been holdin' out for a while."
I leaned back against the booth, closing my eyes. My mind was quickly working through the room, though. One bartender, two waitresses, one pool player, and the kid in the corner, jittering on some drug.
"Are you going to hunt them?" Jane asked. I shook my head slightly. Violet and Severin had claimed any good food already. I didn't want to subject myself to whatever high that guy was riding.
"When you're ready to turn, Chasecroft," Violet said to Jane. "We want you to know what you're doing."
Jane touched her stomach. "I wonder what the baby will eat."
Severin and Violet looked at each other.
"You four want anything to drink?"
We all looked up at the waitress. Jane's face contorted momentarily, then she looked down at her hands.
"Water," she breathed. The waitress made a note in her book, then looked back at the rest of us. I turned my head to look at Jane.
"Nothing," I said.
"Water," Violet murmured. Severin leaned toward the waitress and smiled a close-lipped, angelic smile.
"Nothin', yet," he said serenely. If you ignored the scars, Severin was pretty good looking. The waitress, who obviously noticed that, smiled for a second, then looked down at her book to hide her eyes. Then she noticed Jane's hands, and the stomach they were resting on. Her eyes lit up.
"Are you pregnant?" she asked. Jane's blue eyes flickered up, then back down at her hands.
"Yes," she murmured. "Four months."
"Aww," the waitress simpered. "Babies are so cute. You're lucky."
"Yes. Thank you," Jane said. She couldn't meet the young woman's face. The waitress beamed and hurried off to get our waters. Severin jerked instantly forward to Jane, locking eyes with her.
"Don't think she's worth saving just 'cause she's jealous of what's bakin' in your oven, Chasecroft. She's just an average, bubble-headed meal."
"Duh," Jane snapped back. Her hands flew up from her stomach, as if she wanted to grab Severin's head and shake him. Her hands clenched midair and fell to the table. I stroked her hair, and she leaned into my hand. She took a deep breath through her teeth. "I can't save her. I know that. She's probably not worth saving. I know that. But that doesn't change the fact that she… she spoke to me. Humans hardly ever speak to me."
She turned her face to the scratched varnish of the table, her hair making a curtain to guard her face. I leaned over, wrapping one arm around her and pressing my lips against her hair. My heart was clenching up. I didn't know she wanted more human companions. I'd talk to her about it during the day, when Violet and Severin weren't around to poke and prod and instigate.
"We'll wait until your water gets here, Jane," Violet said. "Then it'll start."
"Alright," Jane said shortly, impatiently. She looked up at me. Her face was calm and smooth. I smiled at her, and she slowly smiled back. Her eyes caught something over my shoulder, and she got a funny grimace on her face.
"Does it have to be like this?" she murmured as the waitress came up with two glasses of water.
"I'm sorry," I said. She closed her eyes and smiled, reaching up to touch the light pulse at my throat.
"If it keeps you with me," she breathed, almost inaudibly.
"Anything else?" the waitress asked.
"Yeah, actually," Severin said, standing up quickly and gently taking the waitress's hand. Violet scooted out of the booth, walking to the front -- and only -- door. There was a payphone right next to it on the wall. She shut the door discreetly, leaning against it with a small smile. She rested her left hand against the side of the payphone casually.
The hunt was starting.
Scary As All Fucking Hell Half of the Chapter. I personally rate it M, if I may be so bold. You can skip it if you want.
"You know how perty you are?" Severin asked, baring his pointed teeth in a smile. The girl's own smile faded, turned into a frown of confusion. I heard her heart start to pick up. Nervous.
"Well?" Severin pressed, taking a step forward. The waitress took a step back. The second waitress came up, her heart slamming in her chest but her face brave.
"Hey, mister, quit scaring her," she said authoritatively. Severin turned to her, bared his teeth, and growled. It was a fierce, wolfy sound, and it made my hair stand on end. The second waitress stumbled back, her eyes wide. Severin grabbed the nape of the first girl's neck, pulling her back, off-balance. She stumbled, her heels clattering helplessly against the wood floor. Her hands reached back, trying to dislodge his fingers. Severin's grabbed one searching hand, turning it to let him sink his teeth into her wrist. She shrieked, squirming and crying.
"Jimmy! Jimmy!" the other waitress screamed at the barkeep, lunging forward, trying desperately to get a hold of Severin's face. "Katie!"
Jimmy had hurried over to the payphone. Violet bared a smile, then shoved the pay phone off the wall. A good chunk of the wall came away with it.
Katie was still screaming, and her howls reached a crescendo as Severin shook his head, worrying her wrist like a dog worries a bone. Jane's hands were bent into claws.
"Whoops," Violet said as Jimmy staggered back. "Line's dead. Too bad."
"Laurie, get him off, get him off, make him stop," Katie screeched, trying to squirm out of Severin's jaws.
I had to give it to Laurie. She turned, vaulted over the bar, and came back with an aluminum baseball bat. I mean, I didn't know people could think that fast under pressure. Laurie cocked the bat back, then let it fly at Severin's head. It crumpled against his thick skull like a tin can under an eighteen wheeler. Laurie screamed angrily at the shock-wave reverberating off her arm, and I heard one of her bones crack. The bat fell to the floor, totally useless.
"What the fuck!" she screamed, staggering back with tears sliding down her face.
Jimmy was back-pedaling, escaping to the safety of the bar. The guy playing pool bore down on Violet, pool cue held up like a club. Violet flew out from under it, around behind him. She dug her fingers into his sides, and he yelled in surprised pain.
"Tickle tickle!" Violet squealed giddily, dancing back out of the cue's reach.
Severin had gotten tired of Katie's screaming. He let go of her wrist, then flung her behind the bar. She smashed into the shelves of liquor, wailing.
A new song came onto the jukebox. "Wake up one morning and realize, your life is one big compromise, stuck in the job you swore was only temporary…"
Jimmy was struggling with something under the bar, his eyes flickering around at the sudden chaos, then back down.
He finally pulled out a shotgun. I had no idea what he was actually going to do with it, or who he was going to do it to. I just knew I didn't appreciate seeing it so close to my pregnant wife.
I stood fluidly, then ran forward. Jimmy's eyes widened, and I could only guess at what he saw: People moving impossibly fast, doing impossible things. He raised the gun.
I caught the barrel and shoved upwards. He fired, and the round hit the ceiling with a huge crash. We both looked up instinctively to inspect the damage.
Violet caught the pool cue as it soared towards her head. She snapped it in half, then whisked the shattered end across the guy's throat. Blood spurted across her face, and she smiled broadly, catching some in her mouth. The guy gurgled, then fell into her arms. She crooned, pressing her face into his throat.
"Holy shit," I said to the sky through the hole. I was too bewildered to be too good for swearing. "There's no fucking way that's legal in this state."
Jimmy grunted and pulled the barrel back. I grabbed it with one hand and bent it back with the other. Jimmy gagged, dropping the gun. I turned and walked back to the booth quickly. Jane was watching Severin circle Laurie.
"You don't have to watch," I said, sliding into the booth. Violet's head snapped up. Her face was smeared, dripping, covered with blood.
"Yes she does," she growled. Her voice was thick and guttural. "She'll have to learn to be this way."
"Only you hunt this way!" I snarled back. "This is horrible, Violet, no aristocratic vampire--"
Violet's fingers shot through the dead man's throat like a knife through butter. I flinched as I heard skin tear, and ground my teeth as she dug her nails between his vertebrae, separating them. His head tore off like an old baby tooth. Jane shoved her knuckles into her own mouth to stifle a scream. I put my arm around her, and she pressed into my chest.
"Jane, come," I said, moving to stand up.
"Hold your horses, there, cowboy," Severin said, holding one hand out in a stop gesture.
Jimmy the bartender had picked up a bottle of something, and flung it. It smashed against Severin's head.
"God fucking dammit!" Severin cried, whipping around and leaping onto the bar. Jimmy staggered back against the shelves. Severin reached up and caught a hold of a ceiling beam. His spurs jingled as he cocked one leg back, then swung it around.
The spurs cut raggedly into Jimmy's throat. Severin swung his leg back and forth a few more times, like some sick sort of pendulum. When he was thoroughly finished, he slammed his boot down solidly on the bar. Jimmy crumpled without so much as a whimper. Severin dropped down behind the bar, his whole body quivering with delight.
There. You can start reading now, if you skipped over the crazy part. :)
"Benedikt," Jane murmured. "What about that boy?"
I turned to look at the stoned kid in the corner. He was rocking back and forth.
"What about him?" I asked.
"When I'm turned, I'm not drinking from Carmen or Nathan," she said icily.
"Are you kidding me?" I demanded. It was weird, how easily I was distracted from the death and destruction all around me. How could she affect me like that?
She sighed. "Why are you never forward thinking, darling?"
I pursed my lips, glowering. She looked up at me and smiled her benign little smile. I softened instantly.
"Do you really want some random druggie for stock?" I stalled.
"We're rich, aren't we? Send him to rehab or something," she said. I laughed. Her eyes widened, startled.
"What?" she asked. "What's funny about this?"
"We don't need to put him through rehab when we can just have him locked in a room until he's clean," I said. "And Jane, what happens when you become friends with him, too? You won't want him as stock then, and vampires don't just randomly turn humans they feel a liking to. Why are you always complicating these things?"
"Why do vampires need rules?" she countered irritably.
Laurie slammed, face-first, down on our table.
"Violet!" Jane snarled. Violet pulled the human girl back sheepishly.
"My bad," she said.
"Excuse me, love," Jane said. I stood and moved out of the booth. She followed, pressing her hand against her lower back with lazy grace. She drifted towards the boy, and I followed closely after her. She stopped in front of him.
"You look like an Anthony," she said. He got a bewildered look on his face. "Is your name Anthony?"
"N…no."
"Well, it is now, Anthony. Smile."
The boy, the newly baptized Anthony, bared his teeth in a startled smile. Jane's hand pistoned forward, catching his chin as she examined his teeth.
"He doesn't look diseased," she said. "What are you on, Anthony?"
"It was a one time thing," he said desperately. "I wouldn't do it again, I was just gonna trip with my friend Nick, we were supposed to meet here--"
"What?" Violet cried, looking up from Laurie's body. Severin shot up from behind the bar. "You mean someone's coming?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Anthony chanted. Jane turned to look at me.
"Should we leave?" she asked. I looked up at Severin and Violet.
"You two brought this on yourselves, and it could lead to Chasecroft. You better clean this up perfectly," I said. "Let's go, Jane. Move faster, Anthony. We're in a hurry thanks to you."
I wrapped one arm around Jane's slender shoulders, and grabbed Anthony by his collar.
"Don't worry about it, Ben," Severin said, grinning. His teeth were blood-stained. "We're professionals."
We left the Creeds behind to clean up their mess.
Too much? I'm sorry. I considered editing it out, but then I'm like... nah. I personally liked the flow of the crazy part. Please tell me what you think. :)
"Did that scare you? I fucking hope so."
~Destery, youtube video "Halloween Farts"