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Yes! I thought. Tonight’s my lucky night.
My target, walking with two other girls, all of three wearing entirely too much black makeup, appeared to be the same height and frame, along with the same general facial structure, as Julie.
I’d found her!
Last week, after the disillusioned teen had called her parents to tell them not to worry about her, I’d traced the call she’d placed to Texas, specifically, to one of the few remaining pay phones in the state. A pay phone approximately two miles away from my current position.
Rising from my semi-concealed position across the street, I thought briefly about my hunt for Julie. Although I’d only been attempting to locate the young runaway for about a week, I’d caught a lucky break when someone matching her description had been seen in the area as recently as yesterday.
Now I had visual confirmation.
Fortunately for me, my search, and current stakeout, runaways in the city of El Vista tended to congregate in a specific part of town - a dangerous part - this part. From what I could gather, teenage runaways tended to hang out with their own kind out a false sense of security. That is, they hung out together until some predator snatched them away, never to be heard from again.
Luckily, I’d located Julie before that happened to her.
Dressed as a “street person” in an effort to keep other curious pedestrians away from me and to blend into my surroundings, I stood from my crouched position between two dumpsters, partly obscured by wooden pallets and other trash.
Crossing the street, I called out to the runaway as she joked with her fellow juveniles, oblivious to my presence. “Julie! Julie Patterson!”
All three of the teenagers turned towards me, but only Julie’s face showed recognition in the name I used, the other two girls only turned to see who had shouted at them.
“Gross.” One runaway stated, repulsed by my disguise.
“Right?” The other replied.
“You know me?” Julie asked apprehensively as I approached.
One of the other girls grabbed Julie’s arm and pulled her away from me as I answered. “Yes. Yes, Julie. Your parents…”
Exiting the same rundown building Julie and her friends emerged from, two young men interrupted me as I attempted to explain who I was to the runaways. “Leave them alone, freak!”
Damn it.
So much for my luck holding out.
“Julie, let’s go!” The runaway with Julie’s arm in her grasp commanded as the pair of young men continued to close the distance to me.
I stopped in the middle of the street. On my right, Julie and her friends began cautiously moving away. On my left, two local toughs, I could now see they were well older than teenagers, strode aggressively towards me.
“Sarah.” One of the men shouted. “You girls get out of here. We’ll hand this loser. I’ll find you babes later.”
The three girls escaped down the street as I calculated my next course of action. I could easily catch up with the girls, but not before the two men would catch up with me. In that scenario, I pictured my back toward the pair of street thugs, not a good position to be in. On the other hand, if I dealt with the two men, even if I fought them off quickly, the girls might still get away.
As I calculated the odds of success in my head, the two men decided for me.
“Let’s roll this punk.”
“You like scaring little girls you ‘pedo’ piece of…”
“Fellas.” I pleaded, keeping the three girls who continued running down the street in the corner of my eye. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“You the jackass who’s been asking around about the missing kids?” One of the punks asked.
What?
“He’s dead either way.” The other man stated plainly.
As the girls rounded a corner, I knew I’d lost them. I comforted myself with the knowledge at least I knew where Julie hung out. I could catch up with her later when I wasn’t dressed like someone who hadn’t showered in a year.
“Again. This isn’t what it looks like.” I told the pair, I unconsciously labeled them PUNK ONE and PUNK TWO in my mind, as they stopped several feet in front of me.
“It looks like we caught you creeping on our girls.” PUNK TWO spat.
“I’ve been hired to bring one of them back home. Her parents are worried about her.” I explained. “Now back off. I don’t want any trouble.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to go home.” PUNK ONE countered.
“She’s a minor.” I explained. “She doesn’t have a choice.”
“Molester or kidnapper,” PUNK ONE stated, “doesn’t matter. You’re dead.”
PUNK TWO spat between us and wiped his chin.
How do I get myself into these messes?
“Back off. He’s with me.” A female voice ordered from directly behind me.
Startled, I whirled around reflexively to find an attractive woman, a woman I’d never seen before, smiling invitingly at me as if we were old friends.
Where the hell did you come from?
Angry at myself for letting the woman approach me from behind undetected, undoubtedly because of my “tunnel vision” toward the perceived danger the two men posed, I turned back towards my more immediate threat, the two men.
“We... We didn’t know.” PUNK TWO sputtered.
“Is this ‘POS’ enough tribute for this week?” PUNK ONE asked the woman.
What?
Speaking as if I wasn’t standing there, she licked her lips and answered the man. “Maybe. Probably.”
“Told you.” PUNK ONE told me cryptically.
Told me what?
Without any further comment, the two men walked purposely down the street away from the woman and me. I noticed the punks left in the same direction as Julie and her friends had fled.
Unsure of what had just occurred, I turned toward the woman, my mind racing for answers.
Who are you? A gang leader, pimp or something else?
“I’ve been watching you.” The woman explained, doing little to clear up the situation I found myself in.
“What?” I asked, still confused.
“Follow me.” The woman commanded as she turned around and entered the alley I’d been hiding in.
For reasons I couldn’t immediately comprehend, maybe because of her beauty, maybe because I wanted more answers, I followed her into the darkness.
Once completely concealed from the street, the woman stopped and turned toward me, her face illuminated by the moonlight shining down between the brick buildings.
“What’s your name?”
“Nash.” I replied, surprised at how quickly I answered her and doubly surprised at myself for revealing my real name to the woman. Usually, I would refuse to answer, make up a fake name or use my code name of “Corsair”, depending upon the situation.
“You’re not a bum.” The woman explained. “That much is obvious. You’re some sort of detective. Undercover I’d guess. You’re in disguise. And a crappy one if I don’t say so myself. You don’t fool me. I can tell you’re quite physically fit under all those rags. Very healthy. Very healthy.”
“How did…”
“No one knows where you are, do they?” The woman interrupted me. “Not exactly?”
“No, but…”
“Good. I knew it. Come with me. I want to take you to my home.”
Something’s not right here.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
Focus, Nash!
I instinctively became hyper-aware. My instincts told me I found myself in a dangerous situation. Quickly, I glanced around us, searching for other threats, maybe people waiting to jump me. Verifying I found myself alone with the woman, I replied to her without revealing I had absolutely no intention of leaving with her, attractive as she may be or not. “Where to?” I asked, searching for more information.
“To my house, handsome. My car is down here.” She explained, turning and walking further up the alley.
Finding myself at a decision point, I stood my ground. “I’m sorry, but like you said, I’m some kind of detective and I need to get back to work. Maybe some other time.”
The woman stopped, turned back around, cocked her head to the side and stared at me with a look of surprise combined with interest. “You won’t comply? How curious?”
“Like I said…”
Closing the distance between us, the woman interrupted me. “I guess we can do this here, there.”
“What’s that?” I asked, my mind screaming at me to run, although I still couldn’t identify the exact threat.
“I want you.” The woman purred after a few moments, her face now inches in front of me.
“What? What exactly… You want me?” I whispered, unsure of how to react to the woman’s extreme forwardness.
Everything instantly became crystal clear to me as the woman smiled wickedly at my question, slightly opening her mouth and exposing her razor-sharp fangs.
​
* * * * * * *
​
“What the hell?” I spurted, reflexively pushing the alluring woman away from me.
Still smiling and displaying her fangs, the woman pretended to be offended. “Really? You realize you’re the first man to ever push me away? Don’t you want me?” She teased. “Don’t you think I’m sexy?”
“What? What’re you doing?” I asked. “Pretending to be some sort of vampire? Press-on fangs? Is this some sort of kinky game?”
“Not pretending.” The woman teased, walking back towards me, exaggerating the sway of her hips.
Vampires aren’t real. I silently reminded myself.
“Look. No offense, but I’m really not into this.” I told her. “Now, if you don’t mind…”
“Too late for that, Nash.”
Before I changed my mind and succumbed, I turned away from the woman. Whatever she wanted from me, in this shady part of town, in this dark alley, wasn’t something I had time for. As I turned away, leaving my back exposed to her, I came face to face with another woman - an exact double.
What?
Glancing backward, I found the original woman gone. Whipping my head back to the front, realizing I faced only one opponent, not two, the women were impossibly the same person.
As it dawned on me I faced something supernatural, I also discovered the woman standing behind and in front of me almost instantaneously had completely disappeared.
What the hell?
Turning my head from left to right, up and down and finding myself alone in the alley, I began to panic.
Focus, Nash!
With her voice echoing off the walls, concealing her exact location, the mysterious woman taunted me. “You know. I really shouldn’t play with my food, but you’re so much fun! Different than the others. Unique. Besides, I prefer my meals heated up. You understand?”
Vampires aren’t real!
I broke into a sprint and ran out of the alley. At least I planned to run out of the alley. In reality, I only made it a couple of steps.
From thin air, a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders from behind, lifting me off my feet and throwing me approximately ten-feet backward.
Damn!
A pile of wooden pallets broke my fall enough that the incredibly powerful throw didn’t knock me out or kill me.
The alluring woman, now standing in the middle of the alley, began laughing as I attempted to regain my feet.
Interrupting her laughter, behind the fanged woman, PUNK ONE had joined us in the alley. “Hey, lady!” He shouted at the woman as he walked forward. “I was thinking. A deal is a deal. If we give your group this guy, our tribute for the week is paid in full! No more hunting us.”
In a blur of motion, the woman snarled and leaped on PUNK ONE, sinking her teeth deep into the man’s neck. As I watched in horror, blood poured out onto the man’s torso and covered the woman’s face as she hungrily and deeply drank the man’s blood.
Vampire!
Frozen in shock, unable to comprehend the scene unfolding in front of me, I watched the woman callously drop the dead man’s body. Blood continued to pour out onto the ground from the man’s grizzly wound.
Wiping the blood from her face until only a little drop remained at the corner of her mouth, the woman turned and smiled evilly at me. “Now, where were we?”
“You’re a vampire!” I accused the woman from my vulnerable position in the middle of the broken pallets and other trash, unsure of what else to say, my mind still racing.
“Duh.”
As she had with PUNK ONE, the woman leaped into the air towards me. Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed whatever I could from around me and instinctively brought my hands up defensively.
Inadvertently, in a last-second attempt to protect myself, I snatched up two pieces of broken wood from the ruins of the pallet I fell into. I instinctively formed a makeshift cross with them; a cross poised directly between my semi-prone form and the murdering undead creature of the night.
“No!” The female vampire screamed, stopping inches from me and raising her own hands in defense. As the legends foretold, glamorized in both print and film, the cross I held kept the vampire at bay.
Exhaling in relief and holding the makeshift cross between us, I carefully regained my feet.
As I stood, I found myself at another decision point. Several feet away, a man lay dead, bleeding all over the ground. Directly in front of me, a vampire, a creature from ancient folklore I never believed actually existed, hissed at me angrily. Between us, I held out the two pieces of the broken pallet, forming a makeshift cross.
As I contemplated my next move, the unholy thing turned her head away from me and continued to hold her hands out in front of her to keep the cross away.
I absorbed all of this information instantly and formulated my plan.
Now!
Breaking the cross I’d formed, and with all my might, I stabbed the creature in the heart with the sharp piece of wood I held.
Unfortunately, the sharpened edge of the wooden plank stopped inches from her chest.
Effortlessly, the vampire immobilized my stabbing arm by grabbing my wrist with both of her hands. I instantly realized I couldn’t overcome her supernatural strength.
She also knew it and smiled at me in triumph.
So I stabbed her in the heart with the stake in my other hand.
The vampire’s eyes opened wide in shock as she glanced unbelievably at the piece of wood sticking out of her chest.
Releasing my arm and involuntarily staggering a couple of steps backward, the vampire clutched ineffectively at the wooden stake in her heart before falling to the ground.
Moments passed with my heart beating hard in my chest. The female vampire didn’t move and I knew I’d killed the beast.
I killed a vampire!
Fighting off the shock creeping up on me, I stared in disbelief at the beautiful woman, a large piece of wood sticking out of her, lying motionless on the ground. A few feet away, another dead body, this one with half his neck missing, rested gruesomely in a pool of his own blood.
What the hell just happened?
As my mind accepted the events of the few minutes and the reality of vampires, I figured I had to leave. I knew I could never explain this scene to the authorities. They would peg me as a serial killer or something.
Time to go, Nash.
As I turned to walk out of the alley, I felt a sudden ping of guilt. The horrific scene of a wooden stake sticking out of the attractive woman in the middle of an alley reeking of urine and trash didn’t sit well with me. It simply didn’t seem right somehow.
Sighing, I removed the stake from the woman’s heart and tossed the blood-covered weapon on the ground next to the vampire’s body.
A slight improvement.
Cautiously walking around the pool of man’s blood, I began my retreat from the nightmarish alley and the horrors which had transpired there. As I walked away, from behind me, I heard a sound which made my blood freeze.
A voice.
A woman’s voice.
A voice I instantly recognized as coming from the vampire woman I’d just stabbed through the heart.
“Leaving so soon, Nash?”
No. Please no.
I slowly turned around. Standing exactly where I left her prone body seconds earlier, the female vampire smiled wickedly at me. “Thanks for pulling that stake out, handsome. Now, where were we?”
​
* * * * * * *
​
The last time I turned my back on the creature, it tossed me across the alley, almost knocking me out. I knew I’d have to change my tactics.
This time, instead of walking away, I ran.
It didn’t help.
After only a few steps, the vampire instantly appeared directly in front of me, causing me to skid to a stop.
Before I could react, the undead thing gently pushed me backward with a flick of her wrists. I knew she didn’t use as much force as she could have, just enough to cause me to fall.
Sitting on the ground, I watched helplessly as the female monster approached, licking her lips hungrily as she did.
Only I wasn’t as helpless as I appeared.
Once the vampire came close enough, I swept out with my legs, trapping her ankles, locking my legs and taking her balance.
The vampire fell to the ground as I sprung to my feet.
Reaching into the small of my back, I drew my “partner”. The subcompact pistol I keep there.
As I completed my draw stroke, the vampire quickly recovered and stood as I pointed my weapon directly into her heart, the bloodstain on her shirt providing an easy to locate target.
“Did you think I would go on a stakeout without my partner?” I asked.
“What?” She replied, obviously confused. “What are you talking about?” I explained it to her with a double-tap to the chest.
BANG! BANG!
The rounds had no immediate effect.
I switched my aim from her chest to her head and again pulled the trigger in rapid succession.
BANG! BANG!
I could clearly see the entry wounds from the rounds impacting her face, but an instant after I observed the bullets strike her, the vampire’s face miraculously healed.
What the hell?
She laughed at me.
Before I could pull the trigger again, the vampire grabbed the hot barrel of my weapon.
“Ouch!” The creature squealed, withdrawing her hand in pain.
Before I could process the events unfolding directly in front of me, the vampire lashed out again and swatted my pistol away.
Everything occurred so rapidly, I didn’t have time to react or even to see exactly where my weapon landed.
Not that my pistol would do any good anyway. Bullets did not affect the undead thing.
With no other options, I raised my hands between us and formed a cross with my fingers to repeal the unholy thing.
The vampire laughed so hard at me, I thought she might pass out.
Bitch.
After a few moments, the vampire controlled her laughter and spoke. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”
“Glad I could help.” I replied sarcastically, glancing around us, my mind racing for a way to either escape or kill the vampire again.
With a hastily formed plan in my head, I slowly began walking backward. The vampire matched my slow pace and maintained the distance, only a couple of feet, between us.
“You know what comes next?” She taunted.
“You die?” I asked, continuing my agonizing slow pace.
“Sorry, handsome.” The vampire countered. “I died long ago. Plus, we already tried that, didn’t we.”
I stepped backward over the body of the man the vampire had already drained. “Call it a practice run.” I retorted, sounding more confident than I felt.
“Enough foreplay.” The vampire teased, also stepping over the dead body. “Time for the real thing now.”
Foreplay?
“What’s that?” I feigned ignorance.
“You know. We go back to my place, engage in some more pillow talk on the way, maybe whisper in each other’s ears and then I introduce you to my family.”
Family? There’s more vampires?
“Doesn’t sound like much fun. And then?”
The vampire’s tone instantly changed. “Then you’ll die in the most painful way imaginable! You arrogant human piece of…”
Yes!
I felt my foot brush against something and I stopped my backward momentum, interrupting the vampire. “Arrogant?”
The vampire screamed at me in rage, displaying her fangs.
Feigning fear, I shrunk down into a ball.
And grabbed the wooden stake at my feet.
Raising the wooden stake, the creature’s blood still on it, I held the weapon low, ready to plunge it into the creature’s heart a second time.
Immediately recognizing the danger, the vampire ceased screaming and stared at me with hatred in her eyes. Testing each other, the vampire and I began slowly circling each other, each waiting for the other to make a move.
I knew if I lunged at her, she would be quick enough to stop me and I didn’t have another stake this time. I also knew she couldn’t rush me without me stabbing her.
After several rotations circling around each other in the dark alley, the vampire spoke, using my name to grab my attention. “Nash. Nash, can I ask you a question?”
“What?” I reflexively answered, waiting for some unexpected trickery from the vampire.
“Do you want to live forever?”
“What?” I asked, genuinely surprised by the question.
“You’re not like the others.” The vampire explained. “We could welcome you. You could be one of us. I’m sure the others would agree. Think about it. You could hunt with us. I’ll show you how. You can be with me. With us. Forever. Just drop that silly stick.” When I didn’t answer, she continued. “Come with me. Drop it and come with me.”
I stopped circling. The vampire also stopped and smiled warmly at me.
Was she serious?
“I’ll drop it.” I lied. “But how do I know you won’t kill me when I do.”
“You’re a man of the world. I can tell. This disguise you’re wearing doesn’t fool me. You know women and you know I’m telling you the truth. Now drop that silly stick."
I understood women as much as any man did, and I didn’t buy a word of it. “I don’t know.” I replied.
The vampire feigned sadness. “Nash. Please? Please, Nash?”
“Let me think about it.” I lied again, attempting to gain more time.
“No.”
“No?”
“The sun is going to rise soon.” The vampire purred. “Decide now, Nash. Now or never.”
Never.
After several heartbeats, I decided on what to do. “I trust you.” I lied. “I’ll drop the stake, but there is one other thing.”
I only had one move left and had run out of time. Either the vampire would attack or flee before the sun rose. “What is it, Nash? Anything.”
“Don’t call me, Nash.” I stated, extended my arm and dropped the wooden stake directly in front of me in surrender.
The vampire smiled as she observed me drop the weapon, and in an instant, with the stake still falling in the air, hissed angrily and leaped at me, her fangs aimed directly at my neck.
“Call me, ‘The Corsair’!” I shouted as the wooden stake struck my foot. I kicked the weapon back up, grabbed it and held it out between us as the vampire tackled me to the ground.
Am I dead?
I fought to regain my breath as I pushed the vampire’s lifeless body off of mine, noticing before I did, the wooden stake sticking disgustingly out of the back of the vampire and her open mouth, fangs and all, inches from my jugular vein.
Slowly standing, I glared gruesomely at the woman’s dead body lying on her side, a piece of the wooden pallet sticking out of her front and back, directly through her heart.
Searching the area, I eventually located my partner in a shallow pool of what I hoped was water and waited for the morning sun to shine into the alleyway. Based on what the vampire had said about sunlight, I assumed the legends held true about that as well.
I sat with my back against a brick wall and waited for daybreak. As daylight illuminated the body of the dead man in the alley, I cringed at the horrible wound, made even more visible in the sunlight, on his neck. As the morning’s rays reached further into the dark and illuminated the dead woman, she suddenly burst into flame.
Shielding my eyes, I watched as the vampire, and the wooden stake which had killed her twice, both turned to ash before my eyes.
Walking out of the alley and into the sunrise, it dawned on me how I now had a new obligation, apart from finding and returning Julie to her home…
I had to hunt down and stop all the vampires in El Vista.
Sighing heavily as I reached the street, despite everything which had occurred during the night, I only had one thought repeating over and over again in my head.
Damn vampires.
* * * * * * *
​
The CORSAIR will return!
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