Anna Van Helsing has finally met the members of the group called The Road Dogs. In an earlier chat with vampire hunters Perez Morales and Enrique Manuel she found out that the Bride of Dracula, the person she is searching for, has been roaming in Mexico. Anna also finds out that the Bride of Dracula also welds a sword called The Final Dawn. Anna joins two members of The Road Dogs who then travels to a neighborhood to meet their leader Bill Conner. Anna associates herself with them in order to find out more about the Bride of Dracula. The only problem was that night The Road Dogs were going to initiate a raid on the estate of vampire elder Benito Valdez. Anna was warned of the possible dangers that she would face in this raid, but Anna refuses to back down. In this raid someone is going to live and someone is going to die. Which category will Anna fall into?
Chapter 10
September 12th, 2005. It's been exactly two days that I've been in Mexican territory. Two days earlier I traveled to the U.S./Mexican border acting on advice from George Hunt, the leader of the vampire hunters Golden Rifles Association in order to find bounty hunters called The Road Dogs. I wanted to find these guys in order to finally solve the mystery of the Bride of Dracula. The Bride of Dracula wasn't initially my object of interest. There was this name that really bit my ass the day I first heard it: Mina Harker.
There were two incidents where her name popped up. Six members of the vampire group Damien's Hand were killed where one vampire who was close to death was able to give me the name of the one who was responsible: Mina Harker. Mina Harker came out of a confession from the survivor of a fucked up party that was thrown by the leader of The Kin of Ekimmu, Donavon Bradley in which he and all occupants of his estate died, except one. Obtaining files from my good friend Emily Lambert, I was able to descend upon my first target of interest: Nicolas White, the leader of The Omnipotent. In a meeting with one named Max Heinrich, I found out that one called the Bride of Dracula was responsible for the death of Max's brother, Gabriel Heinrich. Gabriel Heinrich was a vampire elder who led the group Neo Lunar whose body was found sucked out dry. The funny thing about it was that he had tooth marks in his neck. I found out that this Bride of Dracula had a knack for sucking on the blood of other vampires. I also found out from Golden Rifles Association that nine of its members were killed by this girl carrying a sword. Another thing to add to this story is that this girl was strong against silver nitrate. I was told to go the Mexican Border to find The Road Dogs in order to find out more about the Bride of Dracula. I stumbled upon these guys who belonged to this group of vampire hunters called Rojas la Noche after I got into some real shit at a motel where vampires were picking up new victims. I found out that the Bride of Dracula was around in Mexico for some time and she also carries this sword called The Final Dawn. It so happened that Perez and Enrique knew The Road Dogs so they told me to find them in this neighborhood south of the border town of Ciudad Puebla.
I eventually found some members of the Roads Dogs, but not without having a gun stuck up in my face and being molested after being accused of being a Fed. One of them, Dale Harris, was in charge while their leader was away. He was going to meet their leader in a town called Rio de Leon where their leader was keeping a stake out of the estate of this 425 vampire elder named Benito Valdez, the leader of The Rivers of Eternity. I wanted to join them in order to meet their leader. I wasn't listening to Dale Harris when he told me that he and his comrades were gonna wake up a hornet's nest, I just wanted to flush out any info their leader had about the Bride of Dracula. I was given a black combat uniform to wear, combat boots and a Heckler & Koch UMP submachine gun. Harris and I were joined by Ed Norris, who was probably the sexiest man I've met. I was taken to this neighborhood in Cortez Cruz where I eventually met the leader of The Road Dogs, Bill Conner. After a brief meeting we joined up with the rest of the members of The Road Dogs. Together with thirteen members of the group, we all made up a team of seventeen. Apparently the only girls in this team were me and a girl named Paulina Velez. We all ran in single file to the huge estate of Benito Valdez. The only question in my mind was would I live through this night and continue with my journey to find out the true identity of the Bride of Dracula or would I be buried on Mexican soil while Danny knows nothing of it?
Running for about thirty seconds we finally reached the gates of Benito Valdez's estate. Carrying ladders we were able to scale the walls and land flat on vampire territory with the huge house as our lead. We were prepped about our mission an hour before with Bill Conner warning us that other vampire hunters were close to killing Valdez but never lived to tell the story. We were warned that this mission was extremely dangerous and that their intelligence stated that Valdez had about fifty guards armed with the best weapons on the black market. This mission was to last no longer than 45 minutes. Usually with me I would get to know about a vampire elder's identity through surveillance footage or something like that. If I'm going after a vampire and I don't know how he looks like that's when it becomes hard for me. When I know a certain vampire looks I can determine what the advantages and disadvantages are. When I met Bill Conner I wasn't shown any kind of footage regarding the physical appearance of Benito Valdez. Now that was some real shit I was in. But either way, looks can be deceiving.
Once we landed on the Valdez compound we dispersed in our respected teams. In our team of seventeen we separated ourselves into small groups called "Pins". Conner, Norris, Velez and I, together with another guy named Pedro Diaz, formed Pin 2. Dale Harris fell into this group called Pin 3. The plan was for Pin1 to enter the front, Pin 2 to enter the back and for Pins 3 and 4 to enter into anyone of the windows of the house. Members of Pin 1 stopped and kneeled down aiming their weapons waiting for me and the members of Pin 2 to move up. Conner, Norris, Velez, Diaz and I moved ahead in single file. As we moved ahead I could hear the footsteps of Pin 1 behind us. The members of Pin 2 and I finally descended around the back of the house towards the back door. I watched Velez move ahead to place a plastic explosive on the door. How come I never get to do something like that? As she was fixing the bomb on the door I could hear glass breaking and gunfire erupting. It was soon followed buy the thud of a plastic explosive in the front and the screams of women. In an instant beads of cold sweat began to form on my forehead and my heart started to beat at a fast paste. When Velez was finished fixing the plastic explosive on the door she set the timer and we all moved out of the way. In about ten seconds the bomb exploded with a thud and the door swung open and in single file we all moved in.
We entered in what appeared to be a kitchen when suddenly two guys appeared in our sights armed with a UZI and a twelve gage shotgun. We fired immediately taking out both leaving them to turn into ash and dust. We left the kitchen running over the vampires' burning remains and entered the living room. We found women running and screaming trying to escape as members of Pin 1 were engaging heavy resistance from about seven guards armed with H&K MP, H&K MPK submachine guns and Colt Commando rifles and one armed with a Colt Double Eagle Commander pistol. It was hell. Members of Pin 1 were taking cover behind the walls of a nearby dining room and the opposing side took cover behind the walls of another room. Bullets were flying left to right destroying pieces of the furniture and chipping away at the walls scattering debris into the air. Pin 1 and I joined the fight. I followed Conner as he took cover behind the wall at the right of Pin 1 and we both blasted away at Valdez's guards. I turned to my left and saw Norris, Velez and Diaz firing from behind the walls of the kitchen. My face screwed as I pointed my weapon at the opposing post and fired away. My body was entirely exposed as I fired the guards' position. I had a blurred vision of one of the guards falling into a pile of burning ash and dust. I turned away and saw Conner firing his H&K MP5K at the guards' post; He then turned away down and started to reload his weapon. At that moment I pointed my weapon and fired widely taking out two more guards. "I got three!" I said.
"Damn," said Conner. "I didn't think you were that good a shooter." We both pointed our weapons at the enemy's side and fired away. Suddenly we saw the four remaining guards run away. It appeared to be all over for the moment. We all came out from our defending post and some reloaded their weapons. "How's it going so far Dale?" said Conner. "Where's Valdez?"
"He ran upstairs with a couple more guys. Al and his team are right on their asses."
"Alright, we're gonna have to split up. You guys go right, we're gonna go upstairs." Suddenly I heard a crackling in Conner's headset. All I could've made out was the shouts of a man and probably the sound of gunfire. "Alright, Al, we're on our way," said Conner. "We gotta move. Al's pinned down up the stairs." I slipped in a new magazine clip in my weapon and followed Conner and the rest of Pin 1 upstairs. Wait a minute, I've been here before; God, not again.
We reached the top and turned into a hall and proceeded to run down the end. Motherfucker! As Conner stepped out first about six guys armed with H&K MP5K, H&K MP5 submachine guns, Colt Commander rifles, a UZI and one FAMAS-1 rifle. At least four of the guys looked familiar; they were the same guys that we engaged with downstairs. They blasted their weapons in our position, every bullet chipping away the walls. One piece of the wall somehow managed to cut me over my right eyebrow. Fuck, that hurt like shit! It was like I was slashed with a knife. I started to bleed profoundly from my wound, then, in a fit of range I stood up and fired a blast into the enemy's post. I didn't hit anybody. Shit. Velez, however, managed to take out one of the guys while lying on her stomach. In the intense gun battle I looked over at Conner and saw him pull out a small object from his pocket. He pressed a small button and the object made an eerie beep. He then threw it at the opposing post. "Fall back!" he yelled. As we all pulled away there was a loud explosion and a piercing white light soon followed. There were then screams from the opposing post and suddenly silence. The members of Pin 2 and I got up from the floor and walked to what was left of the opposing post. The walls of the hallway were stained in black and floor was littered with burning skeletal remains. "What the fuck was that?" I said puzzled.
"An M-1 flash bang," said Conner. "It's designed to give off ultra rays of light to kill vampires. It's the first time we're using it."
"Holy shit!" I said. Suddenly there was crackling in Conner's headset again. The only thing I could make out was "Go to the right. You'll see some stairs." It's probably Al. "Al's this way. Let's go!" said Conner leading the way.
We turned to the right and found a long corridor. See what I mean? Fuck! As we started to run down this corridor we heard the faint sound of gunfire. The further we ran the louder the gunfire increased. At the right we met this flight of stairs. The loud gunfire was coming from up these stairs. In single file we ran up the flight of about twelve stairs and met what appeared to be a library. So Valdez likes to read, huh? There wasn't any time to stop and look up a few bestsellers because at that moment a huge firefight was underway. Pin 2 and I took cover as bullets started to fly over our heads. We hid behind one of about thirteen book shelves defending ourselves from an unseen force. The book shelves just made a maze in this huge room. I suddenly heard a thud above us. I appeared to be the only one to have heard it because the others were too distracted by the noise of the gunfire. A Latino man was standing at the top of the bookshelf we were taking cover from. This guy was armed with a Heckler & Koch Gewehr 36 assault rifle pointing right at us. He was a vampire. In an instant I aimed my weapon at him and blasted away at him alerting the others. Conner, Norris, Velez and Diaz turned their heads into my direction to see the burning remains of the vampire that was right over us. "Whoa, thanks for getting our backs," said Norris. Hey, anything for you, babes.
Suddenly I saw a man running and stopping to take cover from about ten feet away from us. Velez saw him too and alerted Conner. The man was dressed in a black combat uniform, with black hair, blue eyes and armed with an H&K MP UMP. We all ran towards him and Conner said "Al, thank God we caught up with you." Al's full name was Al Middleton. I was introduced to him and many others before we initiated our mission. Al was the leader of Pin 3. "Whoa, real good timing, Bill," said Middleton.
"Where's the rest of your team?" said Conner.
"All over the fucking place; they're trying to save their own dicks right now in this shit hole."
"Any sign of Tony and his team?"
"We got separated after we ran in some hot shit in the back there."
"What about Valdez?"
"Lost him."
"What do you mean you lost him?" Suddenly a vampire armed with a Mac 10 submachine gun jumped on top of the bookshelf we were taking cover from and aimed his weapon at Middleton. "Al, look out!" a man yelled. A young man probably in his early twenties, with brown hair and hazel eyes ran and pushed Al away from the vampire's line of fire. The Latino vampire pulled the trigger of his Mac 10 and fired a blast at the man shooting him seven times, killing him instantly. We all aimed our weapons our weapons at the vampire firing several rounds, finally bringing him down to a pile of ash and dust. Al ran up the young man and held him in his arms. The man's eyes were already rolled back in his head. "Oh my God, Darryl!" said Al. Within that moment about seven vampires were flying in the air and landing on the bookshelves. We all ran for cover anywhere possible. The vampires were just jumping from bookshelf to bookshelf firing their weapons trying to catch us. Bullets were chipping away at the wooden shelves and hitting the books sending paper flying into the air. We all hid behind one shelf taking cover. I rested my chin against the shelf trying to catch my breath when all of a sudden I looked up and saw a female Latino vampire armed with an H&K MP5K pointing right at me. I fired my weapon at her instantly turning her into ash and dust. At moment three other vampires, two men, one woman, landed in front us aiming their weapons at us. Conner, Middleton, Norris, Diaz, Velez and I ran away down a line of three bookshelves trying to escape. Two vampires then appeared at the top of the third bookshelf and at that moment we all broke apart. This wasn't intentional, but when your life's on the line shit tends to happen.
I ran down a column of two shelves and started squatting. I started to breathe hard as I began to realize that I was virtually alone in this shit hole of a library. Conner, Norris, Velez and Diaz were no longer by my side. That really bites the ass. I started to get the feeling that there was a vampire at the top of the shelf where I was hiding behind. I raised my head slowly ready to look at death in the eyes. As my eyes focused at the top I realized to my astonishment there was nobody there. Thank God. Before I could breathe I sigh of relief I vampire armed with a Colt Commander Rifle appeared in my presence. I watched in horror as he just stood there firing away from his weapon. He was firing at a different direction. I then stood up and fired away at him. His burning remains then fell down and I stepped out of the way leaving it to land on the ground. I started to run through this maze of fucking bookshelves and then I hid behind the one that was located at the end of the room. I squatted down trying to catch my breath. I started to hyperventilate due to the intense fear that now had control over me. There was nothing but gunfire after gunfire, it was just echoing in the room. There were instances where the gunfire would stop and then start again, stop then start again. There was just no end in sight. I slowly turned to my right and saw a Latino man dressed in black combat gear with a radio headset armed with an H&K G36 submachine gun. He was kneeling and taking cover. He then turned to his left and when he saw me he was startled. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay," I said. "I'm with the team."
"You're Anna Van Helsing, right?" the man said.
"Yeah. Who are you?"
"Antonio Rivera."
"Which group you fall in?"
"Pin 4"
"Really? Where are the others?"
"Fuck, man. We ran into Valdez's guys earlier on. There were about fifteen of them. We got separated in the whole fuck up."
"Any sign of Valdez?"
"That pussy's somewhere in this fuck hole, I don't know." This is just great. I'm stuck here in a shit infested library where these motherfuckers won't give us a chance and with a guy whose head is in his ass. "Alfonso, Brent, Miguel, come in!" said Rivera trying to contact the others. It turned out that he was unsuccessful. "Yo. Yeah I'm here with Annie. Come to the end of the room you'll find us. Haul ass!" he then said. "How many of those pricks you got so far?"
"I don't know, probably about six," I said. Rivera didn't respond. He just laid back his head in a defensive position. I then did the same waiting for anything that was coming by the corner.
About ten seconds went by as there were scattered gunfire and screaming from the vampires. Suddenly four vampires landed above us pointing their weapons at us. Rivera and I got up and started to run firing away as we ran to the left corner of the library. We managed to take out two of the vampires in the ensuing escape. We both stopped at the side of the bookshelf and Rivera pointed his weapon at the other side killing the last pursuing vampires. We both started to breathe a sigh of relief when I started to hear footsteps. As they started to grow loud I gripped unto my weapon aimed as I saw a foot appear at the side of me. As I proceeded to squeeze the trigger Rivera stopped me. There were two guys dressed in black combat gear, one white, one Latino, armed with H&K MP5K and H&K UMP submachine guns. Rivera introduced them as Jeff Rivers and Jose Chavez. They were part of Pin 3. Before we initiated this raid I didn't really get to know anybody so Rivera did the honors. "C'mon, we gotta meet the others," Rivers said.
As we walked down the aisle of bookshelves it was evident that this place was all fucked up! The floors were littered with the burning body parts of vampires and of books and pages. There were bullet holes all in the walls and in the bookshelves and human blood was splattered here and there. We reached the top of the library and met Conner, Velez, Diaz, Norris and Middleton who were waiting for us. "So how'd it go for you guys?" asked Conner.
"Well for one thing, we were like a stick in a pile of dog shit," said the brown haired, green eyed Rivers. "We followed Valdez and the dick head escaped through that door over there, that's where we ran into those pricks."
"Well I'm glad you guys are safe," said Middleton.
"C'mon, let's try to catch up with the others and get Velez," said Conner. "Whatever we do, guys, we cannot let that prick leave this estate." We slipped in new clips of ammo and proceeded to the door that was at left corner. I was told that Pin 4 got separated that way. Suddenly there was a thud and the door swung open. A Latino came in through the door. This guy was huge! He was approximately 7ft 2 inches tall probably weighing at about 545 pounds. I saw yellow in his eyes indicating he was clearly a vampire. He was bald and bare backed wearing black pants and black boots. He was armed with a portable mini-gun, the kind of Gatling machine guns used on military helicopters. The huge gun just looked small in his hands. He cocked the mini-gun and pointed it right at us. He smirked and then all of a sudden fired away.