I went to the truck and opened the back door. Lauren was sitting up, the pup’s head in her lap. He was wheezing softly.
“How’s he doing?”
“Fine.”
“I can’t leave you alone out here,” I told her. She looked down at the pup, rubbing his head gently, clearly not wanting to leave the truck. “I need rest; tomorrow we will go to my FBI contact, and we can work out a solution for you.” She got up reluctantly and led the pup inside. She settled herself on the far bed. I closed and locked the door, then grabbed a pillow and lay down in front of the door. I rested my hand on my 1911 and let sleep take me.
The next morning, I woke to something wet. The pup was standing over me, licking my face. I got up. Lauren hadn’t moved from where she sat on the bed, though she must have because she was wearing a new set of clothes. “You scream in your sleep,” Lauren stated. I sat up stiffly, wiped my wet face, and pushed the happy pup away from me. He didn’t care and bounced back in my lap. I held him down, rubbing his head. Content that I seemed to be alright, he bounced back on the bed with Lauren.
“I do that,” I grumbled, getting up. I walked to the bathroom, turned on the hot water, and splashed it over my face, washing off the dog slobber.
She got up and leaned on the bathroom door frame. She was close, less than an arm’s length away. “What could make you scream like that?” She took another step closer like a curious, yet skittish cat. She looked at me, really looked, and cocked her head to the side.
I looked at her, water dripping off my face. I grabbed a towel and wiped it clean. I looked into her eyes. “You’re scared of me!” She glanced away, backing up. “You should be. Every vampire I have ever met is dead. You were almost one of them. You embraced your fear. The only thing you didn’t do right was take the 1911 and put a cap in my head. Why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I don’t know why I didn’t kill you either.” This wasn’t quite true. She had proven herself to be harmless up to this point at least. “You need the restroom?” I asked.
“No.”
“Well, then, I am going to take a shower and get changed before we leave.” She backed out of the doorway, and I shut it roughly after her.
She was strange. She clung to the opposite side of the room to get as far from me as possible last night, but today she was too close. She was a problem. If I could be ninety-five percent sure she was not going to bite anyone, she would probably do alright without supervision. I don’t know if I could ever trust her that much. In that moment, I was one-hundred percent sure that Lauren would not dare bite someone in front of me, but I was not certain that if she were with someone weak that she would be able to resist. She probably would, but I couldn’t take that chance. I needed Grace to pick up her phone. I had called her on the drive to the hotel with no response. For now, though, Lauren could probably live at my cabin until Grace got back to me. I could get another freezer and load it full of cow’s blood. Whatever else she needed, I could just have delivered. She probably wouldn’t go after a delivery truck driver, especially if she was not starving. As long as no one dropped by on the full moon, it should be safe. At least, I hoped that was the case.
I finished up my shower and put on new clothes. Lauren was not in the hotel room. The door was open. My heart stopped, and I rushed to the door without socks. Lauren was walking the dog outside on the grass. She looked up at me, frightened at what I might do. “Rudy needed to relieve himself. I’m sorry.”
“Well, bring him in when he’s done.” I went back in but left the door cracked. I put on my boots and began cleaning things up.
As I was wrapping up, my phone buzzed. I answered, hoping it was Grace. Chris’s gruff voice cracked over the phone, “Someone dropped off an envelope that has some information on this group. It’s as we expected. They were transforming people into vampires and the like. We are getting a team together to raid their base on the Virginia coast. I was wondering if I could get your help with the vampire and werewolf side of things.” I wondered if Hobbs had dropped off the note. He probably didn’t want me going after these people alone.
“I can get you a list of items each man will need to fight them, but I think that the ones you find might not be very dangerous,” I glanced over at Lauren playing with the pup on a grass strip.
“I thought they all were dangerous.”
“They are, but these people are likely killing the most aggressive ones. I would suspect their product can’t be too dangerous or people wouldn’t buy them.”
“I would still like you there,” Chris responded.
“Something came up. Silver bayonets will do the job temporarily. Leave them fixed in the chest, put them in coffins wrapped with silver wire, and I can dispose of them properly for you. If you have the time, have each man carry a clip with five or so silver rounds.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Where on earth do you find real silver bullets?” Chris asked.
“Who knows. I make my own. If you have a man or two with silver buckshot in shotgun shells, that will stun them well. It’s easier to make in a crunch. When in doubt, blow or cut their heads off and wrap the writhing bodies in blankets, then put them in coffins wrapped in silver wire like I said. I will get rid of them for you.” I explained.
“If we catch any alive, how do you hold them?”
“If they are caged, leave them until l can come and evaluate them. If they will allow you, wrap them in a blanket and fasten them down with rachet straps so they can’t move, and then wrap silver wire around them.”
“Where do you get that much silver wire?” Chris asked.
“It’s like sixteen bucks for five feet on Amazon. Make sure it’s sterling silver. I like to have ten feet for each vampire or wolf.”
“Alright, sounds like we will be chopping up some of that wire and going in with shotguns. I will let you know if we need you after the fact,” Chris said. I hung up on him. Lauren was making her way back.
“Load the pup up in the truck and then get your stuff together. We need to get out of here; my contract is up.” She did what I asked quietly and efficiently. Soon, we were on our way home. It took all day to reach my cabin, a nice little two-story log structure. It was in the center of one-hundred wooded acres and down a long dirt driveway in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. I pulled into the garage. Lauren got out and the pup followed. I opened the door for her, letting her in my home.
“Where are we?” She asked.
“This is my place.”
“Why did you bring me here? I thought we were meeting your FBI friend.”
“He is getting ready for a raid and is hopefully cleaning this mess up.” I pulled my pack from the truck and walked in after her. She carried in her bags and set them on the kitchen table. I boiled water for hot apple cider and invited her to take a seat at the table or couch. She sat down at the table as I worked on getting bowls for the pup. I also pulled out steaks to defrost. I gave her a cup of apple cider, then sat down across from her, sipping on mine. “I think this is the best place for you while we figure out what to do.”
She took a sip of her cider after smelling it. “So, what now?”
“You’re going to stay here. You seem to be in control of yourself, but I can’t take a chance that you would bite someone. Then I would definitely have to kill you and most likely whomever you bit. So, if you can keep from biting the 57-year-old Amazon driver, I think you might do okay here.”
“Just you and me, huh?” She asked as if I were up to something nefarious.
“I know; this idea of mine is uncomfortable on multiple levels. My objective is for you to not hurt anyone until Grace can take you.”
“Am I the first monster you’ve tried saving?”
“Interesting question; you are.”
“Why not others?”
“Not my job. Grace generally does this sort of thing, though not with vampires,” I responded. “The risks I face if you do bite someone or run away could be absolutely devastating, which brings me to my conditions. You can’t leave this property, and I will be giving you a phone. You are to always have it on you outside the house. If you leave the property, I will assume you are on the hunt and will find and kill you. I will not hesitate a second time. You understand?”
She looked at me, then nodded. “Fine, but you have to agree not to touch me and to let me have my space when you are around. I want a second party to know of our arrangement as well.”
“Do you still have that card I gave you? She is a psychologist of sorts. You can call and tell her whatever you would like, if she picks up. I’m having trouble getting ahold of her.”
“Alright. What about Rudy?”
“Who?” I asked. She pointed to the pup who was passed out on the floor. “He stays here, and you teach him how to track things and obey commands.”
Lauren looked at me baffled. “I don’t know how to train a dog basic commands, much less how to track people.”
“You’ll have the internet, a laptop, and plenty of time. You can figure it out. If you find books or programs you think would be helpful, send me the link, and I will have them sent here. Clearly, we will need to get you some other things as well.”
She frowned. “How long are you going to be keeping me?”
“I don’t know. I am hoping Grace will pick up her phone, and I can pawn you off on her, but in the meantime, we will just have to make it work.” I got up and checked on the steaks. They were thawing nicely. “I don’t want to sound rude because I think I already know the answer, but how do you like your steak?”
She shrugged. “If it’s thawed, it’s good to go.”
“You don’t want the ends seared?”
She thought for a moment. “No, just let it warm in the water.”
After dinner, I showed Lauren to my guest room, located upstairs to the left. It was my entertainment room with a tv, a pullout couch and a dresser that was full of a bunch of random stuff from my childhood like a stack of Yu-Gui-Oh cards and random toys. One drawer was filled with Legos mixed with Connects. I figured once my sister’s kids got big enough, they would like to play up here. She and her husband, Bill, had been meaning to stop by with their one-year-old boy. They kept on saying they were going to swing by and surprise me. They never did. Bill was a helicopter pilot for EMS out in Idaho, so I never went to visit them either.
I helped Lauren and Rudy get settled with the dog on the floor with a thick blanket, though I doubted he would stay there. Once they were comfortable, I walked down the open hallway that overlooked the living room and stopped, looking out the wall of big windows. The stars were bright along with the waning moon rising over a not-so-distant mountain. I just stood there taking in the sight. A long sigh escaped my lips. It was good to be home.
I opened my door with its sterling silver doorknob and walked into my room. A gun safe was next to my bed in the center of the room. I had a larger one in the basement, but this one was for easy access. I had an ornate desk set to the side, near a small balcony so that I could watch the sun set. My wood floorboards were joined with silver wire as an added precaution. I was going to line all the floorboards in my house, but I supposed it was good I didn’t.
I unlocked my gun safe and pulled out one of my AR 15s. I loaded up a 30-round mag with alternating green tip armor piercing rounds and sterling silver tip ammo. I did the same with my 1911. It still had my dried blood on it. I would have to clean it in the morning. After changing into pajamas and brushing my teeth, I pressed a button that lowered a net made of quarter-inch thick chains down around my bed. The links had silver wire woven through them every foot. I walked around, running a cable through the bottom links of the net and eye hooks set in the floor. I brought both ends of the cable to the foot of my bed and clipped them to a big eye hook with a carabiner. I got in bed, ready for a peaceful night’s sleep.