Undesirable Chapter 22
TITLE: Undesirable (A vampire novel)
RATING: NC-17 (This chapter PG-13)
SUMMARY: Just when things seem as bad as they can get for Wally and Geo, they get worse.
Word Count: 7124... man the chapters lengths are still creeping up!
Chapter 22
Wally dropped Darlene's arm. "Cannibal," he said, standing up and backing away from Abram. "You murdered her."
Abram's face darkened and he frowned. "Your former patron's body is upsetting you, Walter. It's time to leave."
"How could you? She trusted you! She paid for your help and you promised --!" said Wally, and that is as far as he got.
Abram's reaction was as sudden as a snakebite. "-Enough!" His voice echoed both in the room and in my head. In pure self-defense, I fell to a crouch and wrapped my arms around my ears. Wally's back hit the wall and he slid down. His face squinched up and he turned it hard to the side, bringing one arm protectively across his eyes.
In that second, Abram was on him, lifting Wally to his feet in one seemingly effortless pull. Wally's back hit the wall again with a solid thump, as Abram's smaller but broader body checked his. Wally fought him off, his hands and legs pushing to create some space between them, but Abram's hands were faster, much faster, and he wasn't going anywhere.
Panic gripping my heart, I rose from my crouch and launched myself across the room, my feet pounding, fists balled, mouth dry. I'd reached the corner Darlene's bed when the scuffle between Wally and Abram abruptly ended. Wally's arms flopped to his side in defeat. Abram rounded a glare my direction and my muscles locked in place. By sheer will power, I managed to oppose Abram long enough to put a balancing foot forwards and not suffer the added humiliation of pitching face first into the carpet. But that was it for my intervention. Fuck, I kicked myself. Once again I was completely, fucking, useless.
Dismissing me, Abram stepped back and held Wally at arms length, one hand pressing Wally's shoulder into the wall, the other cupping Wally's chin to force him to look forward. "I admire your loyalty, Walter," said Abram in a quick but quiet voice. "It is a highly… attractive trait." His hand released Wally's chin to run a thumb over Wally's wet cheek. "But so is practicality. It is time to think of yourself. She is gone, but you aren't abandoned. You have a place here, just waiting for you. A good life. Community. Friendship. Even love. It's here - don't fight - it's here." He grabbed Wally's hand and placed it on his chest. "She is gone. Let her go."
Wally's breath was coming in shallow puffs and his eyes were wide with terror, but I could almost see the conditioning start to take hold. Impotent rage bubbled up in me, threatening to wear holes in my stomach. I couldn't let down Wally like this. I had to do something! I concentrated on trying to make my vocal cords vibrate, to form words with my lips, but it was like someone had cut the wires between my brain and my mouth. The most I could do was breathe faster.
"Don't be frightened of me," said Abram, his voice soft and soothing, yet cutting the eerie silence of the room. "So long as you trust me to guide you, you won't go wrong."
Wally let his breath out slowly. He was starting to relax. The righteous anger melted from his features. Fear and wariness evaporated, leaving a dumbfounded innocence.
Abram continued: "What happened between Darlene and myself is a Vampire concern. You needn't trouble yourself about it. Vampires can be sometimes scary, but that's why you have a patron. So you needn't worry about these things. I'm your patron now. Other vampires no longer concern you."
"Oh," Wally said. It was the voice of a sleep-walker.
No, Wally, no, no, no! I tried to shake myself free of Abram's will. With so much attention directed at Wally, I could feel Abram's hold on me slipping. I pushed mentally sideways and found that connection to my body that I was looking for. Even though it felt like my limbs were limp noodles, I was able to take a lurching, awkward step forward. I felt a rush of triumph and pushed on, intent on showing Abram the business end of my fist.
Abram was aware of me again. He spun his head towards me and, unsurprisingly, I froze. This time he tried a different tactic. The anger in me died out like a sputtering flame and I was left with a belly full of heartburn and a kind of dazed, cottony mind. Once my passion was fully depleted, he released me. I staggered to the bed and put my hands flat against the filthy, stained sheet. My eyes fell on Darlene's supine form, but I could find no horror in it. It was just a thing, not a person, a shape. Part of the furniture.
Thankfully, my interruption, as pathetic as it was, did do some good after all. Abram let go of Wally, giving his white-blond hair an affectionate ruffle as he stepped away. "Come, let's take this conversation upstairs shall we? This place is too distracting." I stared as he walked right past me and out the doorway where he stood, hand out like a gentleman waiting for us to join him. Whatever control Abram had put on my mind eroded away quickly, but my incoherent rage didn't come back. The moment had passed and reason had returned. There was nothing to be gained by a kamikaze attack. I probably couldn't have bruised him.
Ignoring Abram's gesture, I went to Wally who startled and jumped as I touched his shoulder. I wordlessly asked him if he was okay, and he just as wordlessly put me off. A wall of will closed down over his expression. Whatever he was dealing with, he didn't want to share. Instead he pushed off from the wall and walked with firm, grim steps to where Abram beckoned. I followed. Abram waited until we were both out in the hall, then closed and locked the door behind us, sealing off Darlene's disgraced and discarded body. I was thankful to be free of the godawful stench of the room.
Then the reality of the situation hit and I felt a horrible wave of relief. The terrible awkwardness of being obligated to vampire who hated me was gone. Breathing fast, I realized that I'd been waiting for Darlene to inflict some kind of retribution on me from the moment Wally had turned the car around. She'd never do that now. As I climbed the stairs up to the main floor, my chest filled with a kind of bitter pleasure for having failed in the quest to save her - a job that I hadn't ever signed on for, didn't benefit me in any way, and yet for the better part of two days, I'd felt completely honor bound to do my best on.
At least now with Darlene gone, Wally and I would get to be together - even if it was in this ass backward rural nightmare of a town, with a creepy, religious nut of a Patron. That was quite a silver lining.
As we made our way back to the living area, I didn't bother to suppress my strong dislike of the Abram. Even now he was murmuring platitudes about happiness and home. So he wants us placid, happy and cooperative, but what was he really willing give to earn that? Bunkus, that's what. The only reason he was getting his way at all was because of the damn mind powers. Without them he'd have been just some average middle-aged, conservative schmuck who spent his time socializing around the bait coolers at the farm store.
Vampire superiority, my ass. They were just as petty, selfish and stupid as the human stock they'd come from. They didn't deserve the kind of power they wielded.
Abram didn't appear to react to my mental accusations, but just as we reached the Western room, he rounded on me. I sucked a quick breath in as I saw the steely quality of his gaze that suggested that he'd had more than enough. "It's time we got a few things straight about the future, George."
"You going to give me that lecture about loyalty and having a place?" I heard my voice asking, then bit my tongue painfully, because sarcasm wasn't at all the tone I was trying to go for.
For a second, Abram looked about one second away from backhanding my face into the wallpaper on the far side of the room. With considerable visible effort, Abram was able to school himself back from the brink. "An excess of loyalty hardly appears to be one of your failings. You had no love for Darlene, or any other patron." True enough. "And as for your place - well that is the discussion. Sit." It was a command, so I sat. "George, do you know what the difference between White and Yellow is?"
"White is rarer?" That was the major gist I'd figured. Maybe there was something else.
"Exactly," Abram confirmed. He sat down, keeping his eyes on me. His gaze was so piercing it made the back of my neck itch. "It is rare. Difficult to come by and impossible to replace once lost. But not better, understand? Once your novelty is gone, you are just the same as Yellow, only with more baggage."
I nodded, though I didn't really get what he was trying to say. Don't be cocky, you're nothing special? Probably something like that.
"Wrong. You are special," Abram contradicted, "But where your extra value comes in is not in the pleasure that you give to your patron - but rather what monetary and social rewards you can help your patron acquire. If I were to claim you, I would be expected - no, required - to open my territory and home to an endless parade of vampires, all desiring to spice up their already well fed and decadent lives with something unusual."
I swallowed. I didn't want to hear this. I didn't want to contemplate being a fucking whore to vampires. The horror of the tasting came back. So many hands, so many mouths, all grabbing at me, leaving no part unmolested. Nothing left to myself. I could have been imagining it but I thought I saw a flash of sympathy in his eyes, but it was over before I could really get a sense of it and in its place was the much more familiar look of contempt.
"Perhaps other vampires can enjoy sharing their harem. Perhaps other vampires can desire another vampire's company. But I am not that vampire. I live in a small protectorate for a reason. I do not socialize with my kind and I do not like sharing. Though your scent intrigues me, you come with too many strings."
"If I'm worthless to you," I asked, "What will you do with me?"
"Of course, you aren't worthless to me," Abram snapped with impatience, as if he thought I were being very stupid about the situation, which maybe I was. "Far from it. You are a gift to my community. You are the bargaining chip I've been looking for, that I very desperately need. Nadette has an Intel chip fabrication plant that she's been waving around to the local protectorates, hoping we'd jump through her hoops and support her agendas in exchange. I mean to have that plant."
Blood fled my face. He was going to give me back to Nadette? All this running was for nothing. Less than nothing because now Wally was screwed and there was nothing, nothing at all gained from it.
"No," I said. "Please don't."
Abram ignored my words but a small, tight smile appeared on his face "She will save face for having lost you, and my people will have a second industry - a better paying one. A more stable one. One that will attract many, many more to my territory."
My heartburn redoubled. "You mean, more taxes for you," I said, bitterly. "A better lifestyle."
"And a better variety of harem as well," agreed Abram. "I fully admit that I have a tremendous amount to personally gain from this."
"And Wally?"
"Will be the first yellow in my Harem, but thanks to you, not the last."
Wally hung his head and said nothing. Christ, could things go worse?
"What of Rose?" I was grasping straws here, hoping to find an argument I could turn in my favor. Or perhaps something more to hate him for. "Will she be out of a job?" I looked around but she was nowhere in sight.
To my surprise, Abram looked appalled at the idea. "Oh no, no. Even if I garner such a glut of yellows that I may retire her from harem duties, I will always have a job for her." Abram looked fondly off to the other wing of the house where presumably Rose was about. "In my protectorate, loyalty is always rewarded, much as disloyalty is … " he glanced at Wally, "Dealt with. Rose was mine from the day she was born, and she'll be mine until the day of her death. And one thing you should know by now about me, I take care of my flock." He gave me an oily smile.
"Why kill Darlene?" Wally suddenly spoke up. "How could she have interfered with this plan? She was weak, she wasn't a threat to anyone! She'd already given me to you."
Abram's attention snapped back to him and Wally sucked in a startled breath. "Do you really think that Nadette would bargain with me if I were helping one that she personally decreed must die? Her vanity wouldn't allow cooperation in the face of such defiance. It was Darlene or that factory." He sat back, a look of complacency on his face. "I did weigh out the alternatives. In the end, Darlene was simply not the solution to Serenity's problems. George is worth more to me than she would or could ever be. My people's needs have to come first."
"You broke her trust," said Wally, enunciating each of the words carefully.
"Keeping her alive was no mercy, Walter," said Abram, dismissively. "As a human, I don't expect you to understand, but to be caught permanently between two worlds like Darlene was is a fate no one should have to suffer for long. To be an abomination and have committed a crime against the whole of vampire society - it was selfishness to keep her alive only for the betterment of my people. And before you think to lecture me on her sad background, I do know her situation intimately and I have nothing but condemnation for her Sire and the despicable act he committed in creating her." Abram crossed himself and looked up at the ceiling, then bowed in silent prayer, with his hand gracefully over his heart.
When his eyes opened all his anger and frustration with us had seemed to evaporate. "Death is a blessing for her, Walter. She's in a better place now. Free of pain and worry and doubt. She's with God -- I made sure of that. Even now I'm sure she looks down upon us, thankful to have cast off the imprisonment of her flawed mortal shell. Do not fret for her, Walter. The pain and suffering of grief is the onus of the living, not the dead."
Wally's lips drew down and I saw rebellion in his eyes. Good. He wasn't buying it, that meant that whatever hocus pocus Abram was trying to perform on him earlier hadn't taken.
Abram sensed it as well. He stood up, suddenly all businesslike. "I don't expect to fully convince either of you tonight, but this was the best thing for everyone. Walter was wasted in the harem of that abomination. And you, George, are worse than wasted. Downright poisoned by the cynicism of modern human life. I pity the vampire who will have to tame you."
He leaned over Wally and gave him a quick kiss to the top of his head. "All this fear and anxiety will be a thing of the past soon enough. Once George has left us, your world will fall into place and you will indeed find happiness here. Trust me. You aren't the first reluctant citizen I've gathered into my family. Tomorrow I'll go and introduce you to a few of them, and you will see, though they all had their doubts once upon a time, you couldn't pay them to leave Serenity now."
Wally's face blanched.
"Now, if you two don't mind, given what I've just found out about George's history of light feet, I'm going to confine the two of you to your bedroom until such time as Nadette can come and retrieve George. I don't imagine that will be that long. Kansas City is only about two hours away."
Abram gestured for the two of us to rise, and we did, like puppets, but we hadn't gone more than three steps from our seats when the strings were suddenly cut. Rose burst into the hallway behind us and leaned out over the white half wall. Her face was completely pale and her eyes so wide open that I could see the whites completely surrounding her bright blue irises.
"Dan called!" she said in breathless panic. "The checkpoints been compromised - they found Robert asleep in the squad car. He'd been fed on."
"What reading did the checkpoint register?"
"Lord Jeffrey, Sir."
"How long!"
"Nearly two hours ago - he must have been camping right outside our borders. He was through minutes after you told him off."
"So that's how it's going to be." Abram clicked his tongue. "That ex of yours is mighty persistent," he said to me. "Did you know he offered me $50,000 just for me to hand you back, no questions asked? I had to wonder, why is it that a Chicago vampire would want an undesirable so badly. What had you done to raise his wrath to that extent? Well, once I looked into it didn't take long to figure you out. You are apparently the talk of the vampire town, George."
Well that figures. "Does this mean you going to give me to him?" I asked. Jeffrey was better than Nadette. Not much better, but better. He only tossed me off to three other people, not twelve.
Abram looked at me as if I were daft. "Fifty thousand quick cash is nothing compared to a 20 million dollar facility and jobs enough to double my population. Forget about him, George. Jeffrey picked the wrong night to disregard my 'no.'" Abram's grin was pure predator. "If he's wise enough he'll run for his life. But don't expect there be much left of him when I get through. No one feeds off my people without permission."
I shuddered with horror, remembering Abram's last meal. Vampires were strong enough on human blood, who knew how powerful they were when flushed with blood from another vampire.
"Rose, hold off on that call to Nadette. I need to deal with this situation first."
I felt a ray of hope. If Abram went searching for Jeffrey, Wally and I would be alone … stop thinking, stop thinking, oh God, stop…
"You plan to escape of course." Abram shook his head. "I know your history, George. I have no intention of leaving my home to chase after this rogue. My territory is almost two thousand square miles, it would be a waste of my time and effort to scour it for a moving target. It he wants you, and it's clear he must, Lord Jeffrey will come to me soon enough." The strings tightened again and Wally and I found ourselves walking to the hall and then down it to our room.
"Get some sleep," Abram told us as he stood just inside our bedroom door. "This is vampire business. When you wake, this will probably be over." He hesitated, then with a look of affection he smiled. "Though it isn't much, I can give you one last night in each others arms. One can't accuse me of having no sense of romance."
The strings pulled again, Wally and I climbed into the narrow bed, fully clothed. Without in the least willing it, I tucked myself against the curve of Wally's body and he wrapped his arm around my waist. He felt warm and good against my back, but I couldn't help but feeling frustrated that the only reason we were in this position was to titillate Abram. He was playing dolls with our bodies.
"Sleep," ordered Abram. My eyes started to shut. I fought it with all my will. I didn't want to sleep, I didn't feel sleepy, but my eyes closed anyway and with it went my consciousness.
George
I was awake. The room was very dim, but not fully dark. The slit of a window let in the low grey predawn light. I stretched, feeling the bulk and warmth of Wally besides me. His breathing was slow. He hadn't spoken to me.
George, the voice repeated.
I turned once more to the outside wall. "Jeffrey?" I whispered, uncertain.
Indeed, were you expecting someone else?
"Abram is going to give me back to Nadette." I sat up and slid my legs off the bed. "Where are you?"
Casing the grounds. There's a rather lot of people in the house right now, but they haven't spotted me yet. Could you be a dear and give me a layout of the place? I'm afraid I can't take the time to properly explore the inside. It would be best if I were to go to you immediately. How are you imprisoned?
"I'm sure Abram locked the door on us."
Us? Oh yes… there's another with you, but he must be deeply asleep.
"Wally's with me." I reached out a hand and pushed his shoulder. Wally snuffed once and then woke with a jerk.
Yes, I hear him now. There was a long hesitation. George, I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear this, but I can't rescue both of you.
"Why not?" I whispered.
"Who are you talking to?" asked Wally.
My plan was rather simple… I was going to rush the place and snatch you, carry you over my shoulder back to my car and make a run for it. I can't carry two people, and Wally can't possibly keep up with me…. I could come back for him later, I suppose.
It wasn't a lie, but it was damn close to one. But what could I do. If I helped him, I'd be separated from Wally, if I didn't … I'd still be separated from Wally. If only Jeffrey hadn't given away who I was to Abram.
Sorry about that, replied Jeffrey with a note of contrition. When you abruptly turned around and started heading East again, I'd hoped you had seen reason and were headed to Chicago, but then you made this perplexing side trip to Serenity and your path stopped. The next logical assumption was abduction. I only figured out that Abram was ignorant of you after I'd made my offer to buy you back. Honestly, my dear, you have a talent for getting yourself into interesting situations.
Some talent. "Wally, Jeffrey is around here somewhere."
"You better warn him off," said Wally. "Unless you want him to end up like Darlene." He was silent for a moment then suddenly he said, "He drained her, like a human."
I was about to reply when I realized that he was probably talking to Jeffrey. That gave me a note of hope. If Jeffery took an interest in Wally… But no, he'd already said he couldn't carry both of us.
George, there's something of a change of plan, said Jeffrey, and my stomach bottomed out when I noticed the tinge of fear. New information. I daren't do a frontal attack on Abram while he is flushed with another vampire's blood. Even with Darlene's injuries depleting her, and her own natural weakness, he'll have the advantage on me both in strength and in mental facilities. In fact, that explains a few things. I rather expect he's toying with me at the moment, waiting for me to make my move. My goodness, isn't this is a slice of the olden turf warfare days! Jeffrey's mental voice laughed with that bitter humor.
I felt a pang of fear for him. "Be careful." What was it with me getting everyone around into trouble? I must be cursed.
Oh, I'll be careful, George. Trust me, I will. I've been watching my back for many, many years. Here's the change, I'm going to draw him away on a merry chase, then give him the slip and circle back for you. It won't be very brave, but perhaps effective. The sun is coming up soon, and can use that to my advantage. Sometimes it pays to be a little perverse; most vampires hate daylight, but I rather like mornings.
"Will the sunlight burn him?" It seemed like a good time for there to be some truth to the old legends.
Oh, ha, no, sadly. Sunlight won't hurt a vampire. The radiation sets up a rather disconcerting interference with our telepathic abilities, a bit like a very loud white noise in your mind. Not fatal, not even particularly difficult to overcome, but very distracting if you aren't used to it. That extra blood he's drunk will probably make daylight even more uncomfortable for him, and perhaps level the playing field a little. That's my hope at least. As I said, I'm just fine with the sun. Call me a bit of a masochist.
I snorted. It figures that Jeffrey would enjoy the pain of daylight. Only a complete masochist would devote this kind of effort into getting me back.
There was a sudden click and the door to our room opened up. I looked up to see Officer Douche in full uniform striding up to us. "Yeah," he called out to someone I didn't see. "They are awake." His eyes flicked toward a wall for a second, before he nodded and said. "Okay."
Wally pulled himself up to sit up in bed and I quickly moved stand. We were fully dressed but the position we'd been lying in was uncomfortably intimate given the situation.
Officer Douche held up a hand in gesture meaning for us to stop what we were doing. "Stay right where you are, boys. We got a bit of an incident going on right now. Hold a second." He pulled a pair of cuffs from his belt. "Back on the bed, Handle, get yourself comfy, you might be here an hour or so." He grabbed Wally's left wrist and snapped one cuff around it, then threaded the short chain through one of the poles in the white painted metal headboard. He then grabbed my right hand and snapped the other cuff on it.
Wally tested the cuffs and snapped my hand back against the metal with a ringing wack. I winced and Wally gasped in embarassment. "Sorry."
"Won't be long, boys," Officer Douche repeated. "You two just behave and keep quiet. Maybe go back to sleep." Then he looked at the wall and called out, "They're secure." He said a few other things as well but I didn't hear him because Jeffery was suddenly in my mind again.
They've gotten tired of waiting for me to rush the building, said Jeffrey. I can see five, no, eight of humans spreading out. Oh my, Abram has armed them with rifles, he must be pretty confident about their loyalty. They are looking for me. His voice was sounding more distant. And there's Abram now, with another couple. So many guns… I have to leave. There's not much in the way of cover around here. I'll need as much of a head start as I can get. Stay still, I'll be back.
Good luck, I told him, but there was no reply.
I looked around the room. Officer Douche was gone and the door to our room was closed again. Wally was sitting up besides me trying to squeeze his hand through the cuff.
"Don't bother with that," I said in a low, conspiratorial voice. "You'll hurt yourself." With my left hand I fished into my front pocket and pulled out the handcuff key Wally had bought me three days before. I vowed to always keep one of these in my pocket. At the rate I seemed to be cuffed to things, it seemed prudent.
"Oh, awesome," said Wally, his voice equally hushed. "You still have that." He grabbed it from me and tried to use it. There was a moment of fear when we both worried that the key wouldn't fit but apparently it did. With a twist the cuff snapped open and Wally drew out his wrist then he unlocked mine.
"The door is still locked," Wally pointed out. "Got anything for that?" This is what I love about Wally. He didn't even ask if we were running away. He knew we were, and he was two steps out in front of me already.
The two of us started rifling the room for anything we could use to pry the nails out of the door hinges. At one point, I dumped the content of my pockets to find a starlight mint, the key to Nadette's dormitory, and the card key from the Motel 6. I looked at the last one for a moment. It was flimsy, it was plastic. It was highly disposable.
"I have no idea if this will work, but I saw it in a movie once," I picked up the card and went to the door. The card key was thin and flexible enough to fit into the crack.
Wally stopped trying to improvise a chisel using a disposable razor and rubber door wedge and wandered over to me. "Nah that won't work."
"Sure it will." I wiggled the card into the crack next to the lock, feeling the edge butt up against the lock with no effect.
"Bet you, it won't," whispered Wally.
Still wiggling the card, I bent it as far as I could towards the knob and felt it suddenly slip further in. I pulled it back and heard the lock open. "Bet I just did," I replied smugly. I turned the knob and eased the door open an inch.
"The fuck," said Wally, smiling appreciatively. "Okay, grab your stuff," he said in a breathy whisper. "I got mine packed." His heavy, wheeled luggage lay open and rifled through on the floor, and while I watched he pushed a shirt into a pillowcase, which was half filled with something. "We're going to have to run fast, so don't take too much."
I took a moment to stuff my other change of clothes into Wally's pillowcase. My wallet was already in my pocket. I peeked out into the hall. It was quiet, but the door to the public portion of the house was left wide open. I thought I saw some movement from all the way down the other end of the hall. There was a jolting click/hiss/ring of a police radio and then a loud indecipherable mumble seemed to echo about. Whoever it was in the distance disappeared out of sight.
Creeping out into the hall, I signaling for Wally to follow me. The two of us headed the opposite direction from the public portion of the house, moving instead to the laundry nook at the far end of the hall. Attached was a narrow mudroom with a door to the back. It too was locked, but only with a simple latch, which I thumbed to the open position. Trying to be as silent as we could, we opened the squeaky hinged door out onto a paved patio.
For a moment the two of us stood there, looking around as if this were the first time we'd been there. Wally bit his lip grimly, and I had to second that notion. There was no cover whatsoever, just what seemed like miles of manicured lawn, angling ever-so-slightly downward toward the river. The nearest thing to cover was the gazebo, which to my terrified senses seemed to be about a mile away from the main house. The garden was nothing more than flower beds. Not even a decent rose bush.
Wally reached over and grabbed my hand in a brief press. Then he nodded at me. Next thing I knew he was running flat out across the lawn. I had no choice but to follow him. This was an all or nothing venture, anyway. We were in luck that the place had crazy cult-compound windows rather than normal plate glass. There was no way in hell we would have gotten away with what we did if the place had been constructed with normal human values in mind.
I ran concentrating on Wally ahead of me. He was faster than me, his long legs eating up the ground like sprinter. The pillowcase full of clothes beat against his hunched back in time with his pounding feet and his free arm pistoned back and forth by his waist. I was mesmerized by him to the point where I almost missed a sudden foot deep drop off right ahead of me. After that I paid less attention to Wally and more to my footing, lest I twist an ankle and put an end to our escape plans - forever.
The closer we got to the river the more rugged the ground was. Lawns switched to courser, longer tufts of river-grass. Thirty feet past the gazebo we came across a section of crumbly dirt and rocks and river weeds that dropped a good four feet to the stoney bank. The line of trees, which had seemed to full and verdant and large from the house now seemed rather scraggly and far apart now we were among them. As we eased ourselves down to the rocky shore of the river, I worried that we might still be visible.
Wally had come to a stop about 10 feet down river from me. He'd dropped the bag onto the stones next to him and was leaning over breathing hard and staring at the river with a blank look on his face. "This isn't going to work," he said, when his breath came back.
"Sure it is."
In the distance we heard the loud, echoing noise of a shotgun blast. Both Wally and I jumped and tried to gauge which direction it was coming from, but it seemed to be all of them.
"No it isn't, Geo," said Wally in a quieter voice. "They are going to find out we are gone any minute now, and there's nowhere for us to go. It's miles to the border with the next protectorate. I thought we could walk through the river and throw off our scent, but that's a dumb idea."
"Don't be a pessimist," I said, taking off my coat. I pulled one shoe off and handed it to Wally, then I pulled off the other. Sock, sock, and one quick yank and I'd taken my shirt off. "See that boat over there?" I said nodding off towards the far shore. "That's our way to safety."
Wally looked wildly around. "What boat? Where the hell you seeing a boat?"
I pointed across the water to a crude floating dock some way downriver from us on the far bank. Rose had been exaggerating a bit when she said that we could throw a stone over the river, but it was obviously low. I figured the distance to be perhaps 200 to 300 feet across. I'd swum longer distances with ease. The current looked sluggish and judging by the small stony islands poking up here and there, it wasn't even particularly deep for portions of it. "I'm going to swim over there and get that boat and bring it back to you. Then we'll both get away."
Wally leaned down and touched the water with his hand. "Geo, this river is freezing cold. I don't think that's safe."
I unzipped my pants. "There is no safe, Wally. It's this or be handed back to Nadette. And I'd rather drown." I meant it, too. In that moment I felt no fear at all. Water was my element. I could do this. I had to. I waded into the water, in my underwear, gingerly walking on the rounded stones. The cold made me gasp, but I was full of confidence. Wally was exaggerating. It was a good 50 degrees at least and, after all, I was a fucking champion swimmer.
The piercingly chilly water rose like a painfully tight band up my body the deeper I waded out, but after a second or so of exposure, I seemed to adjust and it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable anymore. No worse than those times I'd played in the Clackamas river. When the water passed my waist I threw myself forward into a lazy dive, and began swimming my hardest. I was on an adrenaline high. I didn't know how long it would be before they checked our room again. The thought of officer Dan crossing the lawns to see what happened to us had me pumping my arms and legs harder than I'd ever pushed them and I saw every time I glanced at the far shore that I was eating up the river with every stroke.
Half way across the river, all that changed. The first thing that happened was that the water went from ignorably painful to son-of-a-bitch excruciating. The pain was something between a bad cramp and a knife picking apart each of my finger bones. I ignored it with difficulty. I was making great time, the far shore was closer than ever. Seconds later that worrisome pain was in my feet as well and I began to doubt what I was doing. Hypothermia was starting to set in.
Never mind, it will work, I told myself. Yes, this was a bad idea, but it was the only idea. I had to make this. Had to, had to, had to. Had to, but the big bones of my arms and legs felt like they were being broken. My skull was killing me, my heart was beating so hard I thought it was going to explode. It was hard to catch a full breath with my diaphragm so tight. Wincing and tearing up, I kept swimming. My priorities shifted - I was no longer swimming to run away from Abram. I was now swimming to survive the next few minutes. Even if I wanted to give up and go back now, I couldn't. I'd gone too far.
Then, just as I thought I couldn't take any more, it got worse. My arms turned into rubber. My strength was giving out. No matter how hard I pushed, I couldn't seem to put any power in my stroke. I was making less and less headway. And then I wasn't making any headway at all. Reality kicked me. I'd lost too much body heat.
This was a huge mistake. There was no one to help me. I was going to drown, with the shore sweeping past me less than twelve feet away. I'd fucked up and now I was going to die.
My head went under the water and for the life of me, I couldn't get it up again. I saw the surface, rippling with light, rising away above me and felt my knees scrape the rocks at the bottom of the river. The bubbles from my lips danced their way in a trail towards a goal I couldn't even reach for. The current pulled my limp body into a quicker eddy and swung me around like a doll. My head connected soundly with a wooden post the size of a telephone pole.
I still don't know exactly how I did it, because by all rights, that ought to have been it for me. Somewhere inside of me must have been a reserve of energy I'd never tapped before, because I didn't pass out, despite being desperately hypothermic and having rapped my head pretty significantly. Instead, I realized I was caught against the dock, and that meant that my goal was at hand. Emboldened, I gave one last attempt to save my life and I got my feet under me. I stood up to discover that the river was something less than three feet deep where I was at. The water held me like cement, but I managed to half drag myself onto the shore.
At that point I was no longer even remotely thinking straight, which may have worked in my favor because I think if I weren't completely delusional I would have probably given up right there. Instead my head locked onto the goal of retrieving the boat and I kept doggedly working towards it, even though I was literally staggering down the dock. Ironically enough I didn't even feel cold anymore. With comedic clumsiness, I lowered myself into the 10 foot fishing boat and started to work on untying the rope. The knot perplexed me and it seemed eons before I managed to figure out what I needed to do. Eventually though, the line was freed and I began paddling my way back across the river.
In my delirium, I couldn't see Wally. I barely could see the far side of the river. A deep exhaustion settled over me and the urge to just lay down the paddle and collapse was nearly unbearable. But I kept going, not even quite remember why I was doing it anymore, just promising myself it was only one more stroke and then I could rest.
I weaved across the river like a drunkard, almost spinning around more than once. But eventually the bottom of the boat scraped against the rocks and I saw Wally splashing out, pillowcase in hand and his shoes, tied together by their laces, draped across his neck.
He climbed into the boat and setting it to rocking a bit, and I let myself fall forward, hitting his lap before finding my way to the floor of the boat. Wally's hands felt like brands against my numb skin, and suddenly he was piling clothes on me, mine, his, the case itself. I lay in a pile of clothes, with a tangle of fishing line next to my nose and Wally's bare feet inches away. I heard the sound of the paddle in the water and felt the boat rock gently.
And then, finally, I closed my eyes.
Back to Chapter 21
Forward to Chapter 23
RATING: NC-17 (This chapter PG-13)
SUMMARY: Just when things seem as bad as they can get for Wally and Geo, they get worse.
Word Count: 7124... man the chapters lengths are still creeping up!
Chapter 22
Wally dropped Darlene's arm. "Cannibal," he said, standing up and backing away from Abram. "You murdered her."
Abram's face darkened and he frowned. "Your former patron's body is upsetting you, Walter. It's time to leave."
"How could you? She trusted you! She paid for your help and you promised --!" said Wally, and that is as far as he got.
Abram's reaction was as sudden as a snakebite. "-Enough!" His voice echoed both in the room and in my head. In pure self-defense, I fell to a crouch and wrapped my arms around my ears. Wally's back hit the wall and he slid down. His face squinched up and he turned it hard to the side, bringing one arm protectively across his eyes.
In that second, Abram was on him, lifting Wally to his feet in one seemingly effortless pull. Wally's back hit the wall again with a solid thump, as Abram's smaller but broader body checked his. Wally fought him off, his hands and legs pushing to create some space between them, but Abram's hands were faster, much faster, and he wasn't going anywhere.
Panic gripping my heart, I rose from my crouch and launched myself across the room, my feet pounding, fists balled, mouth dry. I'd reached the corner Darlene's bed when the scuffle between Wally and Abram abruptly ended. Wally's arms flopped to his side in defeat. Abram rounded a glare my direction and my muscles locked in place. By sheer will power, I managed to oppose Abram long enough to put a balancing foot forwards and not suffer the added humiliation of pitching face first into the carpet. But that was it for my intervention. Fuck, I kicked myself. Once again I was completely, fucking, useless.
Dismissing me, Abram stepped back and held Wally at arms length, one hand pressing Wally's shoulder into the wall, the other cupping Wally's chin to force him to look forward. "I admire your loyalty, Walter," said Abram in a quick but quiet voice. "It is a highly… attractive trait." His hand released Wally's chin to run a thumb over Wally's wet cheek. "But so is practicality. It is time to think of yourself. She is gone, but you aren't abandoned. You have a place here, just waiting for you. A good life. Community. Friendship. Even love. It's here - don't fight - it's here." He grabbed Wally's hand and placed it on his chest. "She is gone. Let her go."
Wally's breath was coming in shallow puffs and his eyes were wide with terror, but I could almost see the conditioning start to take hold. Impotent rage bubbled up in me, threatening to wear holes in my stomach. I couldn't let down Wally like this. I had to do something! I concentrated on trying to make my vocal cords vibrate, to form words with my lips, but it was like someone had cut the wires between my brain and my mouth. The most I could do was breathe faster.
"Don't be frightened of me," said Abram, his voice soft and soothing, yet cutting the eerie silence of the room. "So long as you trust me to guide you, you won't go wrong."
Wally let his breath out slowly. He was starting to relax. The righteous anger melted from his features. Fear and wariness evaporated, leaving a dumbfounded innocence.
Abram continued: "What happened between Darlene and myself is a Vampire concern. You needn't trouble yourself about it. Vampires can be sometimes scary, but that's why you have a patron. So you needn't worry about these things. I'm your patron now. Other vampires no longer concern you."
"Oh," Wally said. It was the voice of a sleep-walker.
No, Wally, no, no, no! I tried to shake myself free of Abram's will. With so much attention directed at Wally, I could feel Abram's hold on me slipping. I pushed mentally sideways and found that connection to my body that I was looking for. Even though it felt like my limbs were limp noodles, I was able to take a lurching, awkward step forward. I felt a rush of triumph and pushed on, intent on showing Abram the business end of my fist.
Abram was aware of me again. He spun his head towards me and, unsurprisingly, I froze. This time he tried a different tactic. The anger in me died out like a sputtering flame and I was left with a belly full of heartburn and a kind of dazed, cottony mind. Once my passion was fully depleted, he released me. I staggered to the bed and put my hands flat against the filthy, stained sheet. My eyes fell on Darlene's supine form, but I could find no horror in it. It was just a thing, not a person, a shape. Part of the furniture.
Thankfully, my interruption, as pathetic as it was, did do some good after all. Abram let go of Wally, giving his white-blond hair an affectionate ruffle as he stepped away. "Come, let's take this conversation upstairs shall we? This place is too distracting." I stared as he walked right past me and out the doorway where he stood, hand out like a gentleman waiting for us to join him. Whatever control Abram had put on my mind eroded away quickly, but my incoherent rage didn't come back. The moment had passed and reason had returned. There was nothing to be gained by a kamikaze attack. I probably couldn't have bruised him.
Ignoring Abram's gesture, I went to Wally who startled and jumped as I touched his shoulder. I wordlessly asked him if he was okay, and he just as wordlessly put me off. A wall of will closed down over his expression. Whatever he was dealing with, he didn't want to share. Instead he pushed off from the wall and walked with firm, grim steps to where Abram beckoned. I followed. Abram waited until we were both out in the hall, then closed and locked the door behind us, sealing off Darlene's disgraced and discarded body. I was thankful to be free of the godawful stench of the room.
Then the reality of the situation hit and I felt a horrible wave of relief. The terrible awkwardness of being obligated to vampire who hated me was gone. Breathing fast, I realized that I'd been waiting for Darlene to inflict some kind of retribution on me from the moment Wally had turned the car around. She'd never do that now. As I climbed the stairs up to the main floor, my chest filled with a kind of bitter pleasure for having failed in the quest to save her - a job that I hadn't ever signed on for, didn't benefit me in any way, and yet for the better part of two days, I'd felt completely honor bound to do my best on.
At least now with Darlene gone, Wally and I would get to be together - even if it was in this ass backward rural nightmare of a town, with a creepy, religious nut of a Patron. That was quite a silver lining.
As we made our way back to the living area, I didn't bother to suppress my strong dislike of the Abram. Even now he was murmuring platitudes about happiness and home. So he wants us placid, happy and cooperative, but what was he really willing give to earn that? Bunkus, that's what. The only reason he was getting his way at all was because of the damn mind powers. Without them he'd have been just some average middle-aged, conservative schmuck who spent his time socializing around the bait coolers at the farm store.
Vampire superiority, my ass. They were just as petty, selfish and stupid as the human stock they'd come from. They didn't deserve the kind of power they wielded.
Abram didn't appear to react to my mental accusations, but just as we reached the Western room, he rounded on me. I sucked a quick breath in as I saw the steely quality of his gaze that suggested that he'd had more than enough. "It's time we got a few things straight about the future, George."
"You going to give me that lecture about loyalty and having a place?" I heard my voice asking, then bit my tongue painfully, because sarcasm wasn't at all the tone I was trying to go for.
For a second, Abram looked about one second away from backhanding my face into the wallpaper on the far side of the room. With considerable visible effort, Abram was able to school himself back from the brink. "An excess of loyalty hardly appears to be one of your failings. You had no love for Darlene, or any other patron." True enough. "And as for your place - well that is the discussion. Sit." It was a command, so I sat. "George, do you know what the difference between White and Yellow is?"
"White is rarer?" That was the major gist I'd figured. Maybe there was something else.
"Exactly," Abram confirmed. He sat down, keeping his eyes on me. His gaze was so piercing it made the back of my neck itch. "It is rare. Difficult to come by and impossible to replace once lost. But not better, understand? Once your novelty is gone, you are just the same as Yellow, only with more baggage."
I nodded, though I didn't really get what he was trying to say. Don't be cocky, you're nothing special? Probably something like that.
"Wrong. You are special," Abram contradicted, "But where your extra value comes in is not in the pleasure that you give to your patron - but rather what monetary and social rewards you can help your patron acquire. If I were to claim you, I would be expected - no, required - to open my territory and home to an endless parade of vampires, all desiring to spice up their already well fed and decadent lives with something unusual."
I swallowed. I didn't want to hear this. I didn't want to contemplate being a fucking whore to vampires. The horror of the tasting came back. So many hands, so many mouths, all grabbing at me, leaving no part unmolested. Nothing left to myself. I could have been imagining it but I thought I saw a flash of sympathy in his eyes, but it was over before I could really get a sense of it and in its place was the much more familiar look of contempt.
"Perhaps other vampires can enjoy sharing their harem. Perhaps other vampires can desire another vampire's company. But I am not that vampire. I live in a small protectorate for a reason. I do not socialize with my kind and I do not like sharing. Though your scent intrigues me, you come with too many strings."
"If I'm worthless to you," I asked, "What will you do with me?"
"Of course, you aren't worthless to me," Abram snapped with impatience, as if he thought I were being very stupid about the situation, which maybe I was. "Far from it. You are a gift to my community. You are the bargaining chip I've been looking for, that I very desperately need. Nadette has an Intel chip fabrication plant that she's been waving around to the local protectorates, hoping we'd jump through her hoops and support her agendas in exchange. I mean to have that plant."
Blood fled my face. He was going to give me back to Nadette? All this running was for nothing. Less than nothing because now Wally was screwed and there was nothing, nothing at all gained from it.
"No," I said. "Please don't."
Abram ignored my words but a small, tight smile appeared on his face "She will save face for having lost you, and my people will have a second industry - a better paying one. A more stable one. One that will attract many, many more to my territory."
My heartburn redoubled. "You mean, more taxes for you," I said, bitterly. "A better lifestyle."
"And a better variety of harem as well," agreed Abram. "I fully admit that I have a tremendous amount to personally gain from this."
"And Wally?"
"Will be the first yellow in my Harem, but thanks to you, not the last."
Wally hung his head and said nothing. Christ, could things go worse?
"What of Rose?" I was grasping straws here, hoping to find an argument I could turn in my favor. Or perhaps something more to hate him for. "Will she be out of a job?" I looked around but she was nowhere in sight.
To my surprise, Abram looked appalled at the idea. "Oh no, no. Even if I garner such a glut of yellows that I may retire her from harem duties, I will always have a job for her." Abram looked fondly off to the other wing of the house where presumably Rose was about. "In my protectorate, loyalty is always rewarded, much as disloyalty is … " he glanced at Wally, "Dealt with. Rose was mine from the day she was born, and she'll be mine until the day of her death. And one thing you should know by now about me, I take care of my flock." He gave me an oily smile.
"Why kill Darlene?" Wally suddenly spoke up. "How could she have interfered with this plan? She was weak, she wasn't a threat to anyone! She'd already given me to you."
Abram's attention snapped back to him and Wally sucked in a startled breath. "Do you really think that Nadette would bargain with me if I were helping one that she personally decreed must die? Her vanity wouldn't allow cooperation in the face of such defiance. It was Darlene or that factory." He sat back, a look of complacency on his face. "I did weigh out the alternatives. In the end, Darlene was simply not the solution to Serenity's problems. George is worth more to me than she would or could ever be. My people's needs have to come first."
"You broke her trust," said Wally, enunciating each of the words carefully.
"Keeping her alive was no mercy, Walter," said Abram, dismissively. "As a human, I don't expect you to understand, but to be caught permanently between two worlds like Darlene was is a fate no one should have to suffer for long. To be an abomination and have committed a crime against the whole of vampire society - it was selfishness to keep her alive only for the betterment of my people. And before you think to lecture me on her sad background, I do know her situation intimately and I have nothing but condemnation for her Sire and the despicable act he committed in creating her." Abram crossed himself and looked up at the ceiling, then bowed in silent prayer, with his hand gracefully over his heart.
When his eyes opened all his anger and frustration with us had seemed to evaporate. "Death is a blessing for her, Walter. She's in a better place now. Free of pain and worry and doubt. She's with God -- I made sure of that. Even now I'm sure she looks down upon us, thankful to have cast off the imprisonment of her flawed mortal shell. Do not fret for her, Walter. The pain and suffering of grief is the onus of the living, not the dead."
Wally's lips drew down and I saw rebellion in his eyes. Good. He wasn't buying it, that meant that whatever hocus pocus Abram was trying to perform on him earlier hadn't taken.
Abram sensed it as well. He stood up, suddenly all businesslike. "I don't expect to fully convince either of you tonight, but this was the best thing for everyone. Walter was wasted in the harem of that abomination. And you, George, are worse than wasted. Downright poisoned by the cynicism of modern human life. I pity the vampire who will have to tame you."
He leaned over Wally and gave him a quick kiss to the top of his head. "All this fear and anxiety will be a thing of the past soon enough. Once George has left us, your world will fall into place and you will indeed find happiness here. Trust me. You aren't the first reluctant citizen I've gathered into my family. Tomorrow I'll go and introduce you to a few of them, and you will see, though they all had their doubts once upon a time, you couldn't pay them to leave Serenity now."
Wally's face blanched.
"Now, if you two don't mind, given what I've just found out about George's history of light feet, I'm going to confine the two of you to your bedroom until such time as Nadette can come and retrieve George. I don't imagine that will be that long. Kansas City is only about two hours away."
Abram gestured for the two of us to rise, and we did, like puppets, but we hadn't gone more than three steps from our seats when the strings were suddenly cut. Rose burst into the hallway behind us and leaned out over the white half wall. Her face was completely pale and her eyes so wide open that I could see the whites completely surrounding her bright blue irises.
"Dan called!" she said in breathless panic. "The checkpoints been compromised - they found Robert asleep in the squad car. He'd been fed on."
"What reading did the checkpoint register?"
"Lord Jeffrey, Sir."
"How long!"
"Nearly two hours ago - he must have been camping right outside our borders. He was through minutes after you told him off."
"So that's how it's going to be." Abram clicked his tongue. "That ex of yours is mighty persistent," he said to me. "Did you know he offered me $50,000 just for me to hand you back, no questions asked? I had to wonder, why is it that a Chicago vampire would want an undesirable so badly. What had you done to raise his wrath to that extent? Well, once I looked into it didn't take long to figure you out. You are apparently the talk of the vampire town, George."
Well that figures. "Does this mean you going to give me to him?" I asked. Jeffrey was better than Nadette. Not much better, but better. He only tossed me off to three other people, not twelve.
Abram looked at me as if I were daft. "Fifty thousand quick cash is nothing compared to a 20 million dollar facility and jobs enough to double my population. Forget about him, George. Jeffrey picked the wrong night to disregard my 'no.'" Abram's grin was pure predator. "If he's wise enough he'll run for his life. But don't expect there be much left of him when I get through. No one feeds off my people without permission."
I shuddered with horror, remembering Abram's last meal. Vampires were strong enough on human blood, who knew how powerful they were when flushed with blood from another vampire.
"Rose, hold off on that call to Nadette. I need to deal with this situation first."
I felt a ray of hope. If Abram went searching for Jeffrey, Wally and I would be alone … stop thinking, stop thinking, oh God, stop…
"You plan to escape of course." Abram shook his head. "I know your history, George. I have no intention of leaving my home to chase after this rogue. My territory is almost two thousand square miles, it would be a waste of my time and effort to scour it for a moving target. It he wants you, and it's clear he must, Lord Jeffrey will come to me soon enough." The strings tightened again and Wally and I found ourselves walking to the hall and then down it to our room.
"Get some sleep," Abram told us as he stood just inside our bedroom door. "This is vampire business. When you wake, this will probably be over." He hesitated, then with a look of affection he smiled. "Though it isn't much, I can give you one last night in each others arms. One can't accuse me of having no sense of romance."
The strings pulled again, Wally and I climbed into the narrow bed, fully clothed. Without in the least willing it, I tucked myself against the curve of Wally's body and he wrapped his arm around my waist. He felt warm and good against my back, but I couldn't help but feeling frustrated that the only reason we were in this position was to titillate Abram. He was playing dolls with our bodies.
"Sleep," ordered Abram. My eyes started to shut. I fought it with all my will. I didn't want to sleep, I didn't feel sleepy, but my eyes closed anyway and with it went my consciousness.
George
I was awake. The room was very dim, but not fully dark. The slit of a window let in the low grey predawn light. I stretched, feeling the bulk and warmth of Wally besides me. His breathing was slow. He hadn't spoken to me.
George, the voice repeated.
I turned once more to the outside wall. "Jeffrey?" I whispered, uncertain.
Indeed, were you expecting someone else?
"Abram is going to give me back to Nadette." I sat up and slid my legs off the bed. "Where are you?"
Casing the grounds. There's a rather lot of people in the house right now, but they haven't spotted me yet. Could you be a dear and give me a layout of the place? I'm afraid I can't take the time to properly explore the inside. It would be best if I were to go to you immediately. How are you imprisoned?
"I'm sure Abram locked the door on us."
Us? Oh yes… there's another with you, but he must be deeply asleep.
"Wally's with me." I reached out a hand and pushed his shoulder. Wally snuffed once and then woke with a jerk.
Yes, I hear him now. There was a long hesitation. George, I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear this, but I can't rescue both of you.
"Why not?" I whispered.
"Who are you talking to?" asked Wally.
My plan was rather simple… I was going to rush the place and snatch you, carry you over my shoulder back to my car and make a run for it. I can't carry two people, and Wally can't possibly keep up with me…. I could come back for him later, I suppose.
It wasn't a lie, but it was damn close to one. But what could I do. If I helped him, I'd be separated from Wally, if I didn't … I'd still be separated from Wally. If only Jeffrey hadn't given away who I was to Abram.
Sorry about that, replied Jeffrey with a note of contrition. When you abruptly turned around and started heading East again, I'd hoped you had seen reason and were headed to Chicago, but then you made this perplexing side trip to Serenity and your path stopped. The next logical assumption was abduction. I only figured out that Abram was ignorant of you after I'd made my offer to buy you back. Honestly, my dear, you have a talent for getting yourself into interesting situations.
Some talent. "Wally, Jeffrey is around here somewhere."
"You better warn him off," said Wally. "Unless you want him to end up like Darlene." He was silent for a moment then suddenly he said, "He drained her, like a human."
I was about to reply when I realized that he was probably talking to Jeffrey. That gave me a note of hope. If Jeffery took an interest in Wally… But no, he'd already said he couldn't carry both of us.
George, there's something of a change of plan, said Jeffrey, and my stomach bottomed out when I noticed the tinge of fear. New information. I daren't do a frontal attack on Abram while he is flushed with another vampire's blood. Even with Darlene's injuries depleting her, and her own natural weakness, he'll have the advantage on me both in strength and in mental facilities. In fact, that explains a few things. I rather expect he's toying with me at the moment, waiting for me to make my move. My goodness, isn't this is a slice of the olden turf warfare days! Jeffrey's mental voice laughed with that bitter humor.
I felt a pang of fear for him. "Be careful." What was it with me getting everyone around into trouble? I must be cursed.
Oh, I'll be careful, George. Trust me, I will. I've been watching my back for many, many years. Here's the change, I'm going to draw him away on a merry chase, then give him the slip and circle back for you. It won't be very brave, but perhaps effective. The sun is coming up soon, and can use that to my advantage. Sometimes it pays to be a little perverse; most vampires hate daylight, but I rather like mornings.
"Will the sunlight burn him?" It seemed like a good time for there to be some truth to the old legends.
Oh, ha, no, sadly. Sunlight won't hurt a vampire. The radiation sets up a rather disconcerting interference with our telepathic abilities, a bit like a very loud white noise in your mind. Not fatal, not even particularly difficult to overcome, but very distracting if you aren't used to it. That extra blood he's drunk will probably make daylight even more uncomfortable for him, and perhaps level the playing field a little. That's my hope at least. As I said, I'm just fine with the sun. Call me a bit of a masochist.
I snorted. It figures that Jeffrey would enjoy the pain of daylight. Only a complete masochist would devote this kind of effort into getting me back.
There was a sudden click and the door to our room opened up. I looked up to see Officer Douche in full uniform striding up to us. "Yeah," he called out to someone I didn't see. "They are awake." His eyes flicked toward a wall for a second, before he nodded and said. "Okay."
Wally pulled himself up to sit up in bed and I quickly moved stand. We were fully dressed but the position we'd been lying in was uncomfortably intimate given the situation.
Officer Douche held up a hand in gesture meaning for us to stop what we were doing. "Stay right where you are, boys. We got a bit of an incident going on right now. Hold a second." He pulled a pair of cuffs from his belt. "Back on the bed, Handle, get yourself comfy, you might be here an hour or so." He grabbed Wally's left wrist and snapped one cuff around it, then threaded the short chain through one of the poles in the white painted metal headboard. He then grabbed my right hand and snapped the other cuff on it.
Wally tested the cuffs and snapped my hand back against the metal with a ringing wack. I winced and Wally gasped in embarassment. "Sorry."
"Won't be long, boys," Officer Douche repeated. "You two just behave and keep quiet. Maybe go back to sleep." Then he looked at the wall and called out, "They're secure." He said a few other things as well but I didn't hear him because Jeffery was suddenly in my mind again.
They've gotten tired of waiting for me to rush the building, said Jeffrey. I can see five, no, eight of humans spreading out. Oh my, Abram has armed them with rifles, he must be pretty confident about their loyalty. They are looking for me. His voice was sounding more distant. And there's Abram now, with another couple. So many guns… I have to leave. There's not much in the way of cover around here. I'll need as much of a head start as I can get. Stay still, I'll be back.
Good luck, I told him, but there was no reply.
I looked around the room. Officer Douche was gone and the door to our room was closed again. Wally was sitting up besides me trying to squeeze his hand through the cuff.
"Don't bother with that," I said in a low, conspiratorial voice. "You'll hurt yourself." With my left hand I fished into my front pocket and pulled out the handcuff key Wally had bought me three days before. I vowed to always keep one of these in my pocket. At the rate I seemed to be cuffed to things, it seemed prudent.
"Oh, awesome," said Wally, his voice equally hushed. "You still have that." He grabbed it from me and tried to use it. There was a moment of fear when we both worried that the key wouldn't fit but apparently it did. With a twist the cuff snapped open and Wally drew out his wrist then he unlocked mine.
"The door is still locked," Wally pointed out. "Got anything for that?" This is what I love about Wally. He didn't even ask if we were running away. He knew we were, and he was two steps out in front of me already.
The two of us started rifling the room for anything we could use to pry the nails out of the door hinges. At one point, I dumped the content of my pockets to find a starlight mint, the key to Nadette's dormitory, and the card key from the Motel 6. I looked at the last one for a moment. It was flimsy, it was plastic. It was highly disposable.
"I have no idea if this will work, but I saw it in a movie once," I picked up the card and went to the door. The card key was thin and flexible enough to fit into the crack.
Wally stopped trying to improvise a chisel using a disposable razor and rubber door wedge and wandered over to me. "Nah that won't work."
"Sure it will." I wiggled the card into the crack next to the lock, feeling the edge butt up against the lock with no effect.
"Bet you, it won't," whispered Wally.
Still wiggling the card, I bent it as far as I could towards the knob and felt it suddenly slip further in. I pulled it back and heard the lock open. "Bet I just did," I replied smugly. I turned the knob and eased the door open an inch.
"The fuck," said Wally, smiling appreciatively. "Okay, grab your stuff," he said in a breathy whisper. "I got mine packed." His heavy, wheeled luggage lay open and rifled through on the floor, and while I watched he pushed a shirt into a pillowcase, which was half filled with something. "We're going to have to run fast, so don't take too much."
I took a moment to stuff my other change of clothes into Wally's pillowcase. My wallet was already in my pocket. I peeked out into the hall. It was quiet, but the door to the public portion of the house was left wide open. I thought I saw some movement from all the way down the other end of the hall. There was a jolting click/hiss/ring of a police radio and then a loud indecipherable mumble seemed to echo about. Whoever it was in the distance disappeared out of sight.
Creeping out into the hall, I signaling for Wally to follow me. The two of us headed the opposite direction from the public portion of the house, moving instead to the laundry nook at the far end of the hall. Attached was a narrow mudroom with a door to the back. It too was locked, but only with a simple latch, which I thumbed to the open position. Trying to be as silent as we could, we opened the squeaky hinged door out onto a paved patio.
For a moment the two of us stood there, looking around as if this were the first time we'd been there. Wally bit his lip grimly, and I had to second that notion. There was no cover whatsoever, just what seemed like miles of manicured lawn, angling ever-so-slightly downward toward the river. The nearest thing to cover was the gazebo, which to my terrified senses seemed to be about a mile away from the main house. The garden was nothing more than flower beds. Not even a decent rose bush.
Wally reached over and grabbed my hand in a brief press. Then he nodded at me. Next thing I knew he was running flat out across the lawn. I had no choice but to follow him. This was an all or nothing venture, anyway. We were in luck that the place had crazy cult-compound windows rather than normal plate glass. There was no way in hell we would have gotten away with what we did if the place had been constructed with normal human values in mind.
I ran concentrating on Wally ahead of me. He was faster than me, his long legs eating up the ground like sprinter. The pillowcase full of clothes beat against his hunched back in time with his pounding feet and his free arm pistoned back and forth by his waist. I was mesmerized by him to the point where I almost missed a sudden foot deep drop off right ahead of me. After that I paid less attention to Wally and more to my footing, lest I twist an ankle and put an end to our escape plans - forever.
The closer we got to the river the more rugged the ground was. Lawns switched to courser, longer tufts of river-grass. Thirty feet past the gazebo we came across a section of crumbly dirt and rocks and river weeds that dropped a good four feet to the stoney bank. The line of trees, which had seemed to full and verdant and large from the house now seemed rather scraggly and far apart now we were among them. As we eased ourselves down to the rocky shore of the river, I worried that we might still be visible.
Wally had come to a stop about 10 feet down river from me. He'd dropped the bag onto the stones next to him and was leaning over breathing hard and staring at the river with a blank look on his face. "This isn't going to work," he said, when his breath came back.
"Sure it is."
In the distance we heard the loud, echoing noise of a shotgun blast. Both Wally and I jumped and tried to gauge which direction it was coming from, but it seemed to be all of them.
"No it isn't, Geo," said Wally in a quieter voice. "They are going to find out we are gone any minute now, and there's nowhere for us to go. It's miles to the border with the next protectorate. I thought we could walk through the river and throw off our scent, but that's a dumb idea."
"Don't be a pessimist," I said, taking off my coat. I pulled one shoe off and handed it to Wally, then I pulled off the other. Sock, sock, and one quick yank and I'd taken my shirt off. "See that boat over there?" I said nodding off towards the far shore. "That's our way to safety."
Wally looked wildly around. "What boat? Where the hell you seeing a boat?"
I pointed across the water to a crude floating dock some way downriver from us on the far bank. Rose had been exaggerating a bit when she said that we could throw a stone over the river, but it was obviously low. I figured the distance to be perhaps 200 to 300 feet across. I'd swum longer distances with ease. The current looked sluggish and judging by the small stony islands poking up here and there, it wasn't even particularly deep for portions of it. "I'm going to swim over there and get that boat and bring it back to you. Then we'll both get away."
Wally leaned down and touched the water with his hand. "Geo, this river is freezing cold. I don't think that's safe."
I unzipped my pants. "There is no safe, Wally. It's this or be handed back to Nadette. And I'd rather drown." I meant it, too. In that moment I felt no fear at all. Water was my element. I could do this. I had to. I waded into the water, in my underwear, gingerly walking on the rounded stones. The cold made me gasp, but I was full of confidence. Wally was exaggerating. It was a good 50 degrees at least and, after all, I was a fucking champion swimmer.
The piercingly chilly water rose like a painfully tight band up my body the deeper I waded out, but after a second or so of exposure, I seemed to adjust and it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable anymore. No worse than those times I'd played in the Clackamas river. When the water passed my waist I threw myself forward into a lazy dive, and began swimming my hardest. I was on an adrenaline high. I didn't know how long it would be before they checked our room again. The thought of officer Dan crossing the lawns to see what happened to us had me pumping my arms and legs harder than I'd ever pushed them and I saw every time I glanced at the far shore that I was eating up the river with every stroke.
Half way across the river, all that changed. The first thing that happened was that the water went from ignorably painful to son-of-a-bitch excruciating. The pain was something between a bad cramp and a knife picking apart each of my finger bones. I ignored it with difficulty. I was making great time, the far shore was closer than ever. Seconds later that worrisome pain was in my feet as well and I began to doubt what I was doing. Hypothermia was starting to set in.
Never mind, it will work, I told myself. Yes, this was a bad idea, but it was the only idea. I had to make this. Had to, had to, had to. Had to, but the big bones of my arms and legs felt like they were being broken. My skull was killing me, my heart was beating so hard I thought it was going to explode. It was hard to catch a full breath with my diaphragm so tight. Wincing and tearing up, I kept swimming. My priorities shifted - I was no longer swimming to run away from Abram. I was now swimming to survive the next few minutes. Even if I wanted to give up and go back now, I couldn't. I'd gone too far.
Then, just as I thought I couldn't take any more, it got worse. My arms turned into rubber. My strength was giving out. No matter how hard I pushed, I couldn't seem to put any power in my stroke. I was making less and less headway. And then I wasn't making any headway at all. Reality kicked me. I'd lost too much body heat.
This was a huge mistake. There was no one to help me. I was going to drown, with the shore sweeping past me less than twelve feet away. I'd fucked up and now I was going to die.
My head went under the water and for the life of me, I couldn't get it up again. I saw the surface, rippling with light, rising away above me and felt my knees scrape the rocks at the bottom of the river. The bubbles from my lips danced their way in a trail towards a goal I couldn't even reach for. The current pulled my limp body into a quicker eddy and swung me around like a doll. My head connected soundly with a wooden post the size of a telephone pole.
I still don't know exactly how I did it, because by all rights, that ought to have been it for me. Somewhere inside of me must have been a reserve of energy I'd never tapped before, because I didn't pass out, despite being desperately hypothermic and having rapped my head pretty significantly. Instead, I realized I was caught against the dock, and that meant that my goal was at hand. Emboldened, I gave one last attempt to save my life and I got my feet under me. I stood up to discover that the river was something less than three feet deep where I was at. The water held me like cement, but I managed to half drag myself onto the shore.
At that point I was no longer even remotely thinking straight, which may have worked in my favor because I think if I weren't completely delusional I would have probably given up right there. Instead my head locked onto the goal of retrieving the boat and I kept doggedly working towards it, even though I was literally staggering down the dock. Ironically enough I didn't even feel cold anymore. With comedic clumsiness, I lowered myself into the 10 foot fishing boat and started to work on untying the rope. The knot perplexed me and it seemed eons before I managed to figure out what I needed to do. Eventually though, the line was freed and I began paddling my way back across the river.
In my delirium, I couldn't see Wally. I barely could see the far side of the river. A deep exhaustion settled over me and the urge to just lay down the paddle and collapse was nearly unbearable. But I kept going, not even quite remember why I was doing it anymore, just promising myself it was only one more stroke and then I could rest.
I weaved across the river like a drunkard, almost spinning around more than once. But eventually the bottom of the boat scraped against the rocks and I saw Wally splashing out, pillowcase in hand and his shoes, tied together by their laces, draped across his neck.
He climbed into the boat and setting it to rocking a bit, and I let myself fall forward, hitting his lap before finding my way to the floor of the boat. Wally's hands felt like brands against my numb skin, and suddenly he was piling clothes on me, mine, his, the case itself. I lay in a pile of clothes, with a tangle of fishing line next to my nose and Wally's bare feet inches away. I heard the sound of the paddle in the water and felt the boat rock gently.
And then, finally, I closed my eyes.
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