16. Boom

"The house is coated in silver, I can't get in," Eric informed Roderick Epping, the leader of the Blackwater forces they had hired for this job.

"Your vampires have been taken. We have captured some of his men, but we don't know where the women are. We're ready with the cannons, but..." he shrugged, making it clear he was uncertain if Eric wanted him to fire or not with the two women still inside. "The American humans have been moved to another location. They will not tell us where."

By 'cannons', Eric knew he didn't mean cannons at all, but light artillery hand-held rocket launchers. He had every single intention of blowing the house if he couldn't root Alphonsio out. The ring operating out of his bar would end here, one way or another. He'd buy Alexis a new house—she'd probably prefer one in the US anyway.

He stood assessing the situation. He couldn't let the cannons loose with his women in there. But he also couldn't get in, and of them all, he was the best equipped to do so.

"Take me to your captives," he told Epping finally.

"This way," Epping gestured.

Eric gripped the nearest one by the hair, twisting his neck backwards. Subsuming the man's will with his own, he demanded, "¿Dónde están mis mujeres?", or in English, "Where are my women?"

The man soon admitted that they were currently being held on the second floor in the room right over the balcony. The walls were covered in silver-laced wallpaper and the doors had silver handles and silver encircled the windows. Eric had been expected for almost two years.

Infuriated, Eric drank him dry, then dropped him.

"I'm going in there," he told Epping.

"How?" the other man asked, his tone curious rather than disbelieving.

Eric smiled at him, blood still on his face and his fangs out. He had to give the man credit, he didn't flinch, though he did blanch. "You see that crane? One of your men is going to swing it into the house right through the wall while I hold onto it."

He climbed it easily, shimmying up to the top without hesitation. He lodged himself into it and gave the men below a thumbs up sign. The machine lumbered forward with a lurch, and he laid back, covered in black leather from neck to toes. He could only hope it would be enough to protect him from the silver.

Gunfire sounded again, and one of the men escorting the crane fell. Eric held tightly to the crane as it moved forward. Then it began to swing and pick up speed. He wasn't ready for it to slam into the building, despite the fact that he expected it. It shuddered and metal screamed in protest. The wood of the building groaned in response as it was pillaged by the relentless crane.

Gunfire blazed again, and Eric jumped down into the room the women were supposed to be in. At first, he thought it was empty, then he realized that there was a body lying limp and whimpering. He rushed over and jerked the silver-lined hood off. It was Pam, he recognized only her hair and her bloodshot eyes.

"Eric!" she cried. "I want to kill those fuckers so bad."

He dug silver off of her, protected somewhat by the leather he was wearing. A few minutes later, she was free, lacerations on her body and her face smoking and unrecognizable. It was, however, nothing that either a day in the ground or a feeding wouldn't fix.

"They were going to rape us, when Carlos showed up. He took Alexis. I don't know where they went."

"Let's go," he told her. "You can eat on the way."

He led the way through the house using the leather gloves to get beyond the silver doorknobs. After three corpses had struck the floor, Pam was mostly restored.

"I hate this guy," Pam told him. "I am going to tear him apart before I eat him."

They heard screams then. Eric raised an eyebrow and Pam shrugged, licking some blood off of one of her fingers before checking to be sure none was still left on the pink polish. "She was in silver last I saw her."

They headed back down the hallway and off to the lower floors. Halfway down the lower hallway, the sounds ceased. Finally, Eric reached the door it had been coming from and opened it slowly, trying to see what was happening inside. He saw two mangled corpses and then heard grunting.

Pushing the door all the way, he blinked in stunned surprise as he saw a bloody, half naked Alexis squatting over Carlos. His hands were tied behind his back and he was obviously dying.

Alexis was pulling his skin off, then looking at the exposed muscle and blood beneath.

"Alexis," Eric said, surprised to find himself slightly sickened.

"Oh great, she's drunk," Pam said. "Who would have thought she'd go from barely eating to pigging out on multiple humans in one night."

Alexis poked the exposed spine of the man beneath her. "Pretty!" she crowed. She sniffed. "Smells good, too." Then, her face falling into a pathetic realization that she was being selfish, she held the bit of skin up and offered it to them. "Do you want some?"

"You're not supposed to eat him, Alexis. Just drink," Pam told her. "Otherwise you get high."

"I wasn't thirsty anymore," Alexis stated as if that explained everything. She reached for some more and Pam yanked it out of her hand. "Hey!" she objected, reaching for it again.

Pam grabbed Carlos's head and jerked it up, finishing him off with a quick bite and suck to the neck.

"Give that back," Alexis demanded. "I was eating!"

Pam tossed it and stopped her from going after it. "No eating, only drinking!" she admonished, wagging her finger in Alexis's face.

Eric sighed. "No impulse control," he said. "Though I never imagined she'd be an eater."

Pam shrugged. "Probably isn't. She just ate too much and got drunk."

"Do you really think she killed all of these people?" Eric demanded.

"She's not silvered anymore. She might have." She patted Alexis on her bloody cheek. "How did you get out of the silver, Alexis?"

Alexis's confused, bemused eyes met Pams. She reached up and touched her on the lips. "I can see you talking," she said with a delighted grin. "Do it again!"

Pam sighed. "You try. I'm over it."

"Alexis, how did you kill these men?" Eric asked her.

She looked around. "Oh, did I kill them all? I didn't mean to. Are you hungry? We can find more. I can hear some coming."

Eric felt a chill as he realized it was true. There were the heavy footsteps of men coming down the hallway. And they were below ground with a drunk newborn and only silver above them. Whether this had been a trap or not was irrelevant—they were trapped regardless. Alexis could not burrow out and neither Eric nor Pam would leave her.

But before he could stop her, Alexis was out the door and flitting down the hallway. He raced after her, but it was too late. She was in the midst of the oncoming group of men and had her teeth sank into one before he reached her.

She dropped him and reached for another. Eric was furious that he'd had no chance whatsoever to assess the situation. Finally, hoping against all hope that she would still obey him as she reached for another man, he barked. "Alexis, stop! No more!"

She blinked at him and dropped the man while Eric snapped to the next one and broke his neck. "Do it like this," he commanded her.

She did, to his relief, as Pam also came up behind them and began snapping necks. She ate the last one and the final bits of burn on her face disappeared.

"Eat now?" Alexis asked, reaching for one of the corpses. Eric was surprised to find he could still feel nausea after all these years.

"No. No more. You will die if you eat too much. You will be sick from the flesh you have eaten already."

"But it's so sweet," she said. "So yummy. One more bite?"

"It was easy to forget she's only a few days old," Pam admitted.

"You could have gotten her killed by not warning her against eating too much!" he snapped at her.

"She's your slut, you train her!" Pam barked back.

"Can I fight, too?" Alexis asked, childlike and fascinated.

"No!" they both told her at the same time.

"Well, jeez. Fine."

She walked over to the wall and touched a flower in the wallpaper. "Ouch!" she yelped. A few seconds later, as Eric was staring Pam down, she touched it again. "Oh!"

Eric and Pam turned to look at her. She touched the wallpaper, then yelped with pain. So she went to another flower and did the same thing again. Again and again, she tested each flower in turn to see if it would hurt.

Pam looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He sighed. "Bring her along, they've got the cannons ready."

"You bring her," Pam answered.

He hissed at her. "Do what you are told. I am wearing leather and can open the doors."

She sighed. "Fine."

"Keep her with you, Pam."

"I will," she objected. "Come along now," she said to Alexis.

"Pretty," Alexis said again. She followed obediently, though.

They moved toward the front of the house, but found the door blocked from the outside. Eric led them up the stairs towards the second floor. They would crawl down the arm of the crane and out. Then he would tell them to destroy the house.

He opened the door and walked into the room, only to stop and stare at Alphonsio.

"You people are like herding cats," he snarled. "Don't try anything. This is an automatic weapon loaded with wooden bullets. I know you can't outrun them."

"That's my father," Alexis told Pam. "I'm going to kill him."

The gun switched to focus on Alexis.

"You fucking little whore. You have been more trouble than you were ever worth."

"I'm worth eighteen point eight million, and this house was only worth five hundred thousand American dollars. Which is actually pretty cheap, and certainly nothing near my net worth-"

"Alexis!" Eric snapped.

"What?" she objected. "Mormor was rich. It's not mine-"

"Shut. Up!"

She straightened up, crossing her arms and looking vaguely offended. She crossed her arms and looked straight forward.

"What do you want, then?" he asked Alphonsio.

"I simply wanted a grandson to raise as my own," he growled. "I'm sure you have no understanding at all of wanting a son to follow in your footsteps and ensure your legacy-"

"You'd be surprised," Eric told him.

"-but I want my family to continue. I have built nothing short of an empire here, and-"

"An empire of drugs and prostitution isn't exactly Rome," Pam interrupted him.

"But it's mine," he said. "In a few years, it will be even bigger. A grandson was all I wanted since I had no sons. A child of my line to pass it all on to."

He hefted the gun, his goons spreading out. "But you've stolen that from me. The three of you. And now you're going to pay and I'm going to find another way. But first, you're going to get me past the guys you've got outside."

"Why would I do that? You're going to kill us either way," Eric said, crossing his arms.

"Ouch." Alexis was poking the wallpaper again.

"Not true. I will let you and that one-" he pointed at Pam, "-live. You will agree not to return to any of my lands and everything will be fine. I won't use your bar anymore. This is a family affair, you can just walk away."

"Ow," Alexis said from behind him.

He was about to tell her to stop it when Alphonsio said, "What the hell is the matter with her?"

Eric grinned. "She's drunk off of your men's blood. Including Carlos."

"Oof."

"Alexis," Pam said. "No eating!"

He turned to see Alexis with her fangs out, staring at a man's neck.

"It sounds like heaven," Alexis said, reaching toward him with a finger. He scuttled away.

"Hmmm," she said, a sound between desire and a growl. The man's retreat was inflaming her vampire lusts and Eric knew that the situation was becoming critical.

If she gave in and ate, she would go wild and retain nothing of sanity. It was the worst possible time for him to be under a gun. She turned and caught his eye. She stopped and stared at him, a slow, sexy smile spreading across her face. He knew what she was thinking—or at least the general concept of it.

"She really is high, isn't she?" Alphonsio asked. "Crazy as a loon to begin with, now she's even worse."

Eric saw the gun waver, turning back to Alexis. If he didn't do something soon, he knew she would lose all self-control and start eating every human in sight. He flitted at Alphonsio and saw fire blaze from the end of the gun as he tried to turn it toward Eric and away from Alexis. He felt silver tear into him and gripped Alphonsio with all of his strength, throwing him against the wall and literally through it.

Gunfire erupted in the room and Eric realized immediately that all of these bullets were silver. Yet the hail of bullets didn't last long—a silver bullet could kill a human even more quickly than a vampire.

He pushed Alexis ahead of him and down the arm of the crane, dragging Pam as well. All three of them were badly injured, though, and he wasn't sure they were going to make it. He got to the bottom and staggered away from the crane, Pam and Alexis beside him. As they started toward the woods, he saw Pam stumble. Helping her, he lifted the radio on his shoulder.

"Blow it," he told Epping.

"But-"

"Do it now!" he snarled. The man dared disobey him?

"But your-"

"Now!"

"Yes, Sir," the man replied.

Eric held Pam against him as she groaned with pain. "Fucking humans," Pam grunted.

Eric turned to Alexis and felt something go first numb and then agonized inside him.

He turned back and saw her walking toward the house where Alphonsio lay on the ground, broken and battered, but still alive.

He screamed, "Alexis, run!" to the whistling whine of artillery shells screaming towards the house.

Fire the color of blood blossomed and he saw her silhouetted against it for a frozen instant and then Pam was jerking him to the ground.