Chapter 9

Camus had come down from his crack trip in a dumpster where he had an enlightening conversation with a tramp about prison sex. He then went his merry way with only a bad headache to show for it. He rounded on the steps of his apartment building and was instantly met with a blood curdling wail, he leaped backwards just in time to dodge a flying black figure landing down before him, it rose up to its full considerable height, its skin pale, its hair the darkest black which matched with its clothes, its eyes a blood red and with a look of viscous malevolence, it stretched its claw out and said

"I am the Wampire!!" In a ridiculous Romanian accent, it then followed up with "I vant to suck your blood!" Camus sighed

"Get outta my way Jimmy." He said, the vampire gave him a stern look "Sorry, get out of my way, Neclord." He said with another impatient sigh, the vampire looks satisfied. Camus walked past him, pinching the bridge of his nose to stem the pain in his sinuses.

He walked into his room and flopped down on his bed, removing his shoes. He hadn't been in his apartment for days now. He knew he would be attacked again at some point but for now he just wanted to sleep.

He awoke with a start, sat up and rubbed his eyes, he looked at his watch and saw that he had only slept for two hours, yawning he got up and shaved, he had not shaved in a few days and stubble was beginning to mount on his chin, after shaving delicately he went to have another sleep, but then a knot of dread tightened in his stomach.

Miklotov. Was he dead, he had to find out right away, so despite the fact that his body was crying out in protest, Camus grabbed his hooded top and ran out the door, pushing a disgruntled vampire over on his way out.

Humphrey walked home briskly as he always did, it hadn't been very long since had got custody of Futch and he had wanted to look after the boy well, perhaps a little over protectively but he just didn't want to see any harm befall the kid.

He walked around the alley that Futch had taken Flik earlier and walked down the small flight of steps to the grubby entrance to his house. The club he was a bouncer in had provided this for him, it was possibly the only club in the district not controlled by the Highland Mafia and he was glad for that, however it was only a matter of time before it was, therefor Humphrey had arranged for him and Futch to move to New York in the next two months as soon as he had enough money.

He opened the door with a grubby key and was met with the slightly loud sound of the TV, Futch was watching South Park again. He walked through the small but neat kitchen and moved into the living room.

"Hey Futch, what's up?" He said, sitting down heavily on the couch and removing his tie

"Nuthin'" Said Futch, still not taking his eyes from the TV "Oh except-" However he was cut off by the unmistakable sound of a door shutting, Humphrey stood up.

"Be quiet." He whispered, "we have an intruder."

"Yeah, that's what I was-" But he was cut off again as Humphrey left the room and began to move quickly but quietly upstairs

Flik left the bathroom after a refreshing shave and was instantly met with the angry eyes of the man on all those pictures in Futch's living room, the big man instantly gripped him by the collar and slammed him into the wall. He raised a large fist to strike but Flik was able to slide out of his assailants grip and the man's fist connected with the wall making a painful smashing noise, Flik saw his chance and leaped, the two went crashing to the ground and then rolled downstairs, bashing their heads off every step as they tried to gain the upper hand. They reached the bottom of the stairs and Flik felt a gun barrel press against his head, he looked up to see Futch pointing a sawn off shotgun at them

"Ok fella's." He said calmly "I think we all need to have a long chat."

Miklotov watched as the young girl fell asleep, he decided to stay as far away from her as possible, he had fervently apologised for his outburst but she was obviously still a little weary of him and he was kind of embarrassed so he decided to sleep in the corner of the neat room, his back uncomfortably pressed against the wall, he slid down a little. He had to get out of here. He didn't know what time it was, but it was obviously night time, the girl, Jillia, obviously wasn't going anywhere what with all the guards around her room. And neither was he apparently. But he had to do something.

Standing up slowly he moved his way to the door, looking through the keyhole, he saw that there were three guards there, and there might have been more as the rest of the corridor was obscured by the edge of the keyhole. He then walked over to the centre of the room and spotted an air grate not to far up. Trying not to make too much sound he stood on tip toes and pulled the grate off gently. It looked big enough for him to get through, so, utilising his height, Miklotov managed to pull himself up and into the air vent. It was not as dark as he would have expected, the main source of light was that from the other rooms, creeping into the vent. He moved along as quietly as possible when your on all fours until he heard a familiar voice. It was the same gruff, mocking voice that belonged to someone who was on Miklotov's personal hate list. Gorudo.

"Jesus Leon, I don't know what you see in him. He's crazy for christs sake!"

"Yes, but we need someone crazy to do the things his father could not." Said another voice, cold and bored, it obviously belonged to this Leon character "Plus he'll kill you if he hears you talking about him like that." Said the voice, Gorudo made a low growl as if he were about to swear but Leon interjected "Tea?" He asked quickly, Gorudo declined with a grunt. Miklotov kept silent. These two were obviously important members of the Mafia, Leon spoke of Luca as if he knew him, and Miklotov realised this must be the fabled genius Leon Silverburg. He gasped inwardly, that's why the Mafia were untouchable, if they had Leon on their side! Leon then spoke again.

"There's someone in the air vents." He said calmly "No doubt its that impetuous young fellow we brought in earlier." He said and Miklotov heard a pistol being loaded "Come out, or I'll shoot you." He said, Miklotov hadn't even had time to be surprised before he was forced to climb out of the air vent awkwardly and landed rather heavily on the floor. He looked up and saw the two men staring at him, Gorudo had a mixture of surprise and satisfaction on his face. Leon looked highly amused.

"My boy, that was possibly one of the most pathetic escape attempts I have witnessed." He said, his gun still pointed at Miklotov "But neither you or your friend have ever been famed for your subtlety."

"You dumb fuck." Grinned the huge bear-like Gorudo "Do you think we'd talk about anything secret here?" He said and indicated around the room "There's camera's everywhere, anyone could hear us. What if we had a traitorous security guard?" Miklotov said nothing

"No we have an entirely different place where we discuss such matters." Said Leon calmly "I shall be contacting a guard to take you to your cell" He went for a cell phone when there was a loud noise that rocked the building. All three men looked surprised, however Miklotov recovered first and leaped forwards, knocking Leon to the ground and going for his gun, Gorudo attempted to draw his own but the policeman shot him twice in his flabby neck, he screamed with pain and hit the floor, his ruptured voice box making a terrifying squealing noise totally alien to his massive form.

Leon got up quickly and was about to go for his shoulder holster when another explosion knocked both men to the floor, Miklotov dropped his gun and fell backwards, Leon however got a good hold of his and went to shoot the tall cop, Miklotov dodged the first shot and ran frantically to the door, before he reached it, he felt a bullet rip through his calf, he screamed with pain and fell forwards, he span round and saw Leon putting another clip into his gun with shaky fingers, however before he could do so his face drained of colour as he stared at something above Miklotov, he then ran from the room. Confused Miklotov looked up, but found it hurt to do so. Groaning with pain he felt himself being dragged from the room by strong arms, the pain in his leg was unbearable now. As he drifted into unconsciousness he saw a face that would remain in his memory and his heart forever.