Lavos - VLG – Book Five
By Laurann Dohner
Jadee unlocked the RV and stepped inside. “Dad?”
The silence seemed ominous but the lights were on. She entered and did a quick search of the interior. He wasn’t there but his bed had been made. She paused in the kitchen area, studying the gun sitting on the surface of the table. He usually kept his weapons locked up. The security shutters were all down, blocking out the sunlight. It was odd. A prick of apprehension stabbed at her.
She turned, going to the open door to peer out at the woods. It was late afternoon and the sun was going down fast. There was no sign of her dad or his car. She closed the door and locked it. There could be bears or other wildlife she didn’t want to meet up close and personal.
She walked to the front and sat down in the driver’s seat. The bad feeling increased tenfold as she stared at the metal over the windshield and side door windows. Why were they down? She turned on the CB and made sure it was on the channel her father usually used.
“Dad? Come back. It’s Jadee.”
She waited, hoping he was within range. The mountains were rugged and she doubted the antenna on top of this mobile tank would reach far. He might have gone to pick up supplies, but he’d been expecting her. Something was off.
“Jadee? Is that you, hon?”
The voice didn’t belong to her dad. The usual irritation rose as she identified the southern accent. “Mark?”
“Where are you?”
“Dad’s RV. Where is he?”
“Lock the doors. Do it now.”
“Don’t give me orders.” She leaned back as bitter memories of her childhood flashed through her mind. She always had that reaction to her father’s research partner. “Where’s my dad? Is he with you?”
“Listen to me, damn it! Lock the doors—and are the shutters down? Please tell me you didn’t open them. You’re in danger.”
“I locked the door after I came inside.”
“Are the shutters still down?”
She stared at the thick metal. “Yes.”
“Good. We didn’t know your father’s code to get inside. We’d hoped you would go there first whenever you arrived, and then reach our camp before the sun went down.”
Mark’s droning voice grated on her nerves. “Where is my dad?”
“Um…” Mark grew silent.
She tensed. “What’s going on?”
“They got your father,” he stated softly.
“What are you talking about?” A list of reasons why she hated Mark Tarnet filled her head, beginning with the way he could never just spit something out. He seemed to take pleasure from annoying others. “Who has my father? Was he arrested? What for this time? Did he trespass on private property again?”
“Do you see his tablet? Open it and let’s do this live.”
“Tell me what the hell is going on and where my dad is!”
The silence was on purpose. He refused to answer.
She cursed, hanging up the CB and rising from the seat. The tablet was charging on the kitchen counter and she turned it on. Within seconds, an incoming request came for video chat. She clicked it on and glared at her father’s research partner.
His appearance stunned her. His hair was wild and his usually rounded face looked slimmer. He sat in what appeared to be a metal room, and she saw two people crouched behind him. Peggy didn’t appear as if she’d brushed her hair in a good while and Brent’s normally clean-shaven face had days of growth. The siblings both seemed exhausted.
“You look like hell.” Jadee lifted the tablet, making sure the plug wasn’t pulled, and took a seat at the table in front of the gun. She used it to help prop up the device. “I take it that’s the interior of that new trailer my dad told me about? It looks industrial.”
“What did your father tell you about why we’re here?” Mark leaned in closer.
Jadee wasn’t in a mood to play games. “The same crap he always says. He thought he was finally going to have proof about his theories. I only came because he was so worked up. He’s already had one heart attack. Someone needed to talk some sense into him. I would have called to ask how to find him faster but my cell couldn’t pick up a signal. Speaking of, how come we can get the internet here?”
“It’s a short-distance signal we set up.” Peggy bent lower, peering at the camera over Mark’s shoulder. “Are you sure the doors are locked and the shutters are still down? It’s important.”
“Let me guess. It’s getting dark and you’re expecting visitors.” Jadee became more annoyed. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told my dad. Nobody in their right mind would want to live out here—including Vampires. They theoretically would stick to large cities with lots of people since they’re supposed to drink human blood. This was a bullshit trip you made. There isn’t even a hospital near here. What are you geniuses going to do if my dad gets sick again? Somebody has to look out for him since none of you will.”
Brent leaned forward, hogging the screen. “I’m so sorry, Jadee. We believe your dad is dead.”
The shock felt as if she’d been punched in the gut. Denial was instant. “What do you mean you think? What are you talking about, Brent?”
Mark shoved him aside, intently peering at her. “We found damaged night walkers.”
Jadee was about to lose her temper—big time. “I don’t want to hear this crap! Is he lost in the woods or something? Did you call in search and rescue?”
“It’s true,” Brent swore. “We were contacted by a reliable source via our website about a sighting of Vampires. He also said some people he knew had disappeared. He was certain the Vampires were taking them.”
Jadee resisted rolling her eyes. “Oh, someone from your website said so? It must have been true. How do you know he was reliable?”
Brent hesitated. “Well, he sounded sincere and he had specific details, so we packed up and headed here. We lost contact with him after that though and were worried that something happened to him. We arrived six days ago and set our trap a day later. We caught four of them!”
“They’re Vampires,” Peggy whispered shakily. “Real ones.”
“They were more animalistic than we expected,” Mark added. “They seemed mentally unstable too but they’re allergic to sunlight. It burns them. That’s why you’ve got to make sure you’re locked in and the shutters are down. It’s too late to reach you. It’s already getting dark. You’re going to have to stay there until morning.”
“The Vampires escaped!” Peggy blurted. “Your dad had already called you and you said you were flying here. We weren’t sure when you’d arrive and we can’t get cell service, so we weren’t able to warn you to stay away. We didn’t even know they’d escaped until we woke two days ago. They were too strong to handle at night so we were only running tests on them when the sun came up. Th-that’s when we discovered your father missing.”
“We locked ourselves inside every night, thankfully. Otherwise we’d all be dead.” Mark paused. “I’m so sorry, Jadee. They got him.”
“His car is gone. He must have driven to get groceries.” Jadee wondered if the extreme isolation had made them jump to the worst conclusions possible.
“They pushed it into a ravine,” Peggy whimpered. “The first thing they did was trash our cars. And we found tracks where they pushed the big rig that hauls this trailer into the river. They’ve stranded us!”
“Right.” She was fed up. “This guy who contacted you probably has friends and they’re seriously messing with you.”
“No! It’s all true!” Peggy swore. “This isn’t a hoax.”
“The RV is fine.” She glanced around.
“The undercarriage isn’t. We checked it during the day once we realized we were trapped. The RV’s impossible for them to move. There were signs that they’d crawled under it so we took a peek. Your father had activated the emergency pillars on the motor home. They are six footings that flatten to the ground. It’s a precaution for high winds and bad storms. The wheels won’t roll. We have the same setup here. It’s why they haven’t managed to kill us yet.”
Jadee was officially fed up. Their paranoid delusions had finally gotten the best of them. Her father ran for supplies often and his hunk-of-junk tow car had probably broken down again. He refused to spend money on it. “The RV has power. Notice the lights on?”
“It’s the solar panels. I’m telling you, we looked under it and they ripped out the oil pan on the motor home. It wasn’t shielded as well as the hood is with the reinforced steel.” Mark shook his head. “We’re stranded. They’ve taken out all our vehicles.”
Jadee clenched her jaw, ready to start screaming at the idiots. They were so gullible. “Have you guys been smoking pot? Been adding a little LSD to it again? Is that it? Or have you totally lost your damn minds? Dad probably went to a bigger town because he needed his car repaired. Remember New Mexico? You called to tell me you thought he’d been kidnapped by an army of ghosts. Instead, he was waiting on a new transmission to be installed in some out-of-the-way repair shop.”
“Wait until darkness falls,” Mark said, suddenly looking exhausted. “They tried to break into our trailer for hours last night.”
Peggy leaned in, her face close to the screen. “Do not let them in! I know you don’t believe us but damn it, we found Vampires, hon. These are real! They kill their victims by tearing out their throats and drinking the blood.”
“Show her the evidence,” Brent urged. “We found a few bodies of the locals. They decapitated them postmortem. We believe it’s so they won’t turn, if legend is accurate about their bites transmitting the Vampire disease. Maybe we should ask her to rush outside and make a run for it in her rental car. She could come back in the morning to rescue us.”
Jadee frowned. “I rented a truck from the airport, not a car. Dad said I’d need one to get to your camp.”
“It’s too late,” Peggy moaned. “It’s miles to the main highway. You’ve seen how fast those things run. They’d catch up to her and attack. Hell, they’d probably be on her before she made it ten feet out the door. Look at the cameras. The sun is too far down. It’s already dark enough for them to be awake and moving around in the shade of all the trees.”
“They have us cut off,” Mark agreed. “She’d never get out of here in time to escape.”
A bad feeling settled in the pit of Jadee’s stomach but she didn’t want to believe what they had to say. In decades of searching, her father and his team had never found anything real. They sure weren’t going to locate a nest of Vampires in the middle of the Alaskan woods. “Hey, loco researchers,” Jadee interrupted. “I’m done playing this game. Where the hell is my father, really?”
“Maybe they won’t go to the motor home since they already took Victor.” Mark ignored her to instead stare at Peggy. “It’s possible they won’t find her rental if we make a lot of noise and keep them occupied. At first light, we can make it out together.”
“That means they’ll attack us again!” Peggy backed up and bumped against the wall. The terror on her face appeared genuine enough as she frantically looked around. “Can the exterior take it?”
Mark stood, approaching her with his hands outstretched to grip her by the shoulders. “The trailer shell is two inches of solid steel. We’re safe. Stay calm. We built it to withstand a Sasquatch attack. They’re supposedly bigger and stronger than night walkers. We made it the last two nights, didn’t we?”
Jadee rolled her eyes. “Sasquatch?”
Brent dropped into Mark’s empty seat. “We were on Bigfoot’s trail, and your dad had designed this trailer after hearing about how the creatures were breaking into cabins. He wanted us to be safe. It’s a nine-by-twenty-five-foot container with all our monitoring equipment. We even have a toilet and two pull-down bunks for taking naps.”
“Oh my God. Does it have windows? Maybe you guys are experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning or something. Open a door and let in fresh air. How long have you been locked in there?” Jadee wondered if that was the reason they’d lost their minds.
A loud thump sounded over the speakers and all three people on the screen looked upward toward the roof of the metal container they were inside. Brent’s eyes widened as he gasped, “They’re back!”
Peggy began to sob.
Mark hugged her against his chest. “Quiet!”
“Where’s the trailer?” Jadee stood. “I’m coming over there to prove that you guys are nuts. Or your so-called source is just some asshole having fun at your expense. You’ve lost it. You need to open the doors and I’ll take you to a nice hospital where they’ll treat you for whatever the hell is wrong with you.”
“Hook her into the outside monitors,” Mark hissed. “Show her what we’re seeing.”
“Did you hear me?” Jadee’s frustration rose. “Tell me where you guys set up in relation to the RV and I’ll come to you.”
Brent twisted to the side and suddenly her view changed. She could tell by the gray-toned images that they were using the night-vision cameras. The trees were crisp and clearly outlined, and they seemed to be set up in a small clearing without any signs of civilization. The image switched, going to another camera angle.
A man stood on top of what appeared to be a shipping trailer, the kind usually hooked to a big rig. It was a view from the top of the roof looking down the length. Jadee frowned, staring at the back of the person. He wore slacks and a ripped-up dark shirt. His hair was shoulder-length and scraggly. He turned, facing the camera as he jumped once, seeming to test the roof of the trailer. The night camera made him look really pale, and his eyes appeared black as he scanned the top of the roof.
She gasped when a second figure suddenly seemed to drop from the sky next to the first man. The sound was loud when he landed and it happened so fast, she hadn’t expected it. It was another man, his hair almost as stark white as his skin. He wore a dark t-shirt and jeans.
Jadee gripped the tablet with both hands and sank back into the seat.
The image changed to a view of the back of the container. It had double doors, just like any other big-rig trailer she’d ever seen, and a woman in a long black dress was trying to pry them apart with her bare hands. Her hair was dark, hanging down to her ass in a ratty mess. The angle was from above, and she looked up, almost as if peering into the lens. Her mouth opened, revealing some gnarly, sharp-looking fangs.
“Holy fuck,” Jadee whispered. Shock kept her gaze glued to the screen.
The woman resembled something right out of a horror movie with that scary open mouth. It got worse when she bent, suddenly jumping. Her body passed the camera at least twelve feet above her, her clothes a blur. She was gone from view in a flash.
The camera feed switched back to the top of the trailer, showing all three of them on the roof. They jumped around, the sounds loud and relentless. Their erratic, weird movements reminded Jadee of marionette dolls being jerked upright, only they didn’t have strings attached, helping them to leap that high. They fell hard enough that it made her wince every time their feet hit metal. It should have hurt, possible even broken their bones.
The feed changed again, showing Brent’s face very close to the camera. “Did you see them? Make a run for it,” he hissed. “While they’re here.”
“Don’t! There’s only three of them. The fourth one might be close to her.” Mark was suddenly there, tearing the tablet out of Brent’s hands. “They run fast, damn it! It’s too quiet without the wind blowing and they might hear your engine start. Sound carries in these mountains. Stay there until the sun rises. You’re the only hope we have!”
“Shut up!” Peggy hissed. “Listen. They stopped.”
Mark turned his head, staring at something to the side of the camera. His mouth parted. “They’re gone. I don’t see them on any of the cameras.” He looked at Jadee. “You’re locked in, right? You didn’t open the shutters?”
“You think they heard us talking to her?” Brent cursed. “Fuck!”
She abandoned the tablet on the table. Pure fear coursed through Jadee and it helped launch her to her feet, moving fast to the side door. She reached it and threw the bolts and bars that helped secure the door in place. She glanced at the windows, making certain all the security shutters were down. They were.
“Jadee!”
She returned to the table and picked up the forgotten tablet. “What?”
Brent’s eyes were wide with fear. “Are you locked in with all the shutters down?”
“Yes.”
“Keep quiet and turn off the lights. You don’t want to draw their attention if they don’t know you’re there,” he whispered.
“She said the shutters are down. They can’t see if the lights are on or not,” Peggy whispered. “Be quiet.”
Jadee didn’t move. No way was she going to turn off the lights and sit in the dark to startle at every sound.
She remembered the camping trip on her twelfth birthday, when they’d told her Werewolves were coming, and her father’s team had played some recorded wolf howls. She’d damn near peed herself sitting in front of the campfire until they’d laughed, pointing out the speakers.
Then there was the time they’d left fake gold coins around her bed when she’d been eight, telling her leprechauns had visited while she slept. Saying how luck she’d been not to be carried off by them. She’d believed it until she’d realized the coins were made of chocolate, covered with foil. Other pranks they’d pulled flashed through her mind, too many. It made her think this had to be another joke. They could have put footage together of the so-called Vampires and staged the entire thing.
It had sucked being Victor Trollis’s daughter at times, thanks to her father and his team of researchers dragging her all over the world hunting for mythical creatures. It had only stopped after she’d demanded to live with her grandmother, to have some semblance of normalcy.
She got a grip on her hammering heart and glared at the camera. “You guys suck. Put my dad on now. Is this payback for not driving to Arizona for his birthday two months ago? Some of us have to work real jobs instead of living off my dad’s trust fund, pursuing crazy notions of myths. How did that last trip work out for you guys, anyway? Did you find a Chupacabra? No? Big surprise!”
Something landed on the roof of the RV hard enough to make it rock.
Jadee lifted her gaze, her mouth parting.
“Be quiet,” Brent breathed.
Heavy tread stomped from the kitchen area above her to the back, toward her father’s bedroom.
She put the tablet down, ignoring it, and grabbed her dad’s gun.
The handle of the door she’d used to get inside rattled but the lock held. Something smashed into it, sounding very much like a fist. A deep hiss followed.
“Fuck me,” Jadee muttered. She stood, only glancing down to make sure the safety was off on the gun.
The stomping ceased for a second. Whoever was up there turned around, walking back. Each footstep was loud enough for her to track easily.
She slid out the gun’s clip and checked the ammunition. It was loaded with real bullets, not blanks. She’d been raised around enough guns to know the difference by sight. She slid the clip back in and checked the chamber, seeing a round already loaded. “Dad? Not funny.”
Something smashed into the glass behind one of the shutters. The sound assured her it did enough damage to probably web the safety glass. That had to be either a baseball bat or something equally destructive.
Her father wouldn’t harm his precious Road Warrior—the title he’d dubbed his RV—for a joke. It had cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars to specially outfit it the way he’d wanted.
“Shut up!” Mark demanded, his voice coming from the forgotten tablet on the table.
She turned, glancing down to see all three of her father’s team staring at her, huddled around their camera. She reached over and found the volume, muting them as she stood in the middle of the aisle, body tense.
A loud boom came from the top of the roof. In seconds, it repeated, and in her mind, she could almost imagine one of those things doing the same thing to her father’s RV that they’d done to the trailer, those freaky, weird leaps into the air only to slam down moments later. A third and fourth loud boom assured her one of them seemed to be testing the strength of the roof.
Jadee looked at the gun in her hand. The Glock 19 suddenly didn’t make her feel safe. She kept hold of it and inched down the short hallway, going directly under the loud thumps from above to reach the hall closet. She yanked it open, shoving coats aside to get to the hidden back panel. The six-digit code had always been her birthday. She opened the safe and reached for the thigh holster. It took about a minute to secure it on and snuggly slip the handgun into the cradle, the weight of it comforting. She felt a little safer gripping the Bushmaster ACR rifle. It only took seconds to slide in a clip.
Her hands trembled as she shoved another clip down the front of her shirt. She kicked the closet door shut, hugging the weapon close.
“I’m loaded for bear,” she yelled. “Break in and I’ll open fire on you. I don’t give a shit what the hell you are. Having holes ripping through your body is going to ruin your fun! I’ve got enough rounds to turn your ass into Swiss cheese.”
A female scream coming from outside made Jadee jerk, shoving her back against the closet. She was afraid she might fire out of pure fear and pressed her finger down along the underside of the weapon. She used her left hand to chamber a round so it was ready to go if the side door gave way.
A second set of footsteps stormed closer from above and suddenly what sounded like a heavy body dropped flat. She winced, swearing she could hear something scratching the roof.
“Do you hear me?” she yelled louder. “I have live ammunition and I will shoot you!”
Something slammed against the door but the locks held. There wasn’t a window there, and the closed shutters next to it didn’t give her a view outside. She braced her legs, worried her knees might collapse under her otherwise. The last thing she wanted to do was fall over from fright.
Another loud thump came from up top, near the back. That made three she could count, since the scratching sounds didn’t stop and the person on the other side of the door continued to batter it with what sounded like a heavy object.
“Assholes!” Jadee shouted. “Enough! I’m not screwing around. I have an arsenal at my back and I’m gripping an assault rifle. My dad is a paranoid gun fanatic who made me learn how to fire anything that took bullets or shells from the time I could walk. I won’t miss, and I’ll keep firing. I can reload faster than you can say ‘oh shit’. Take your freaky circus act somewhere else!”
Silence reigned. It was eerie and sudden.
Jadee sucked in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. It was possible her threats had made them reconsider making her a target. She bit her bottom lip, relaxing her grip on the rifle. The weight of the handgun against her outer thigh seemed suddenly heavy.
“Goddamn,” she rasped. Her dad and his geek squad had actually found a fucking nest of Vampires. What are they doing in the middle of Nowhere, Alaska? It didn’t make sense.
“Come out,” a man’s creepy voice crooned.
Jadee stopped breathing, trapping air inside her lungs. It sounded as if a nail slid across metal above her, from where the voice had originated.
“We want to play,” a female voice called out from the other side of the door.
“And make you bleed.” Another man laughed above.
“And scream!” the female added.
Jadee forced herself to breathe and tightened her grip on the rifle, sliding her finger over the trigger. A chill ran down her spine. They sounded deranged. She was tempted to tell them to break in and find out who did the bleeding, but she remained mute, waiting to see what they’d do next. The RV was a tank on wheels. Her father had designed it to withstand anything he hunted.
She moved fast toward the front cab area, reaching up to the control panel that was mounted on the ceiling right above the driver’s seat. She read each button and hovered her finger over the one labeled Panic.
She hesitated. The siren blasting might scare them off. She debated pressing it. Another scenario popped into her head.
Someone might hear it and come. Like the cops.
* * * * *
“What are we doing way out here?” Kar jerked his coat tighter around his body. “It’s a Friday night.”
“We have to go check on a human family and relay a message to them. Lorn wants us to do it and he’s our leader, so here we are. A human called the lodge because she can’t reach her family.” Lavos nonchalantly shrugged. “Besides, it’s not as if you had anything else to do.”
“Fuck you.”
Lavos grinned. “No thanks. You’re not my type.”
His friend flipped him off but grinned. “As if you could get that lucky.”
“Not even in jest, man. Although, you do have big tits.”
“I don’t have man boobies.”
“Yeah, you do. You get any bigger and we’re going to have to special order your shirts with built-in bras.”
“Shut up,” Garson groused from the backseat of the open Jeep. “The Tab sisters are visiting and I could be pounding Ginna if I hadn’t been assigned this bullshit task. I don’t want to hear anything about sex or tits.”
Kar snorted. “The only pounding you’d have been doing is with your fist after you watched Ginna walk off with me. Everyone knows she only visits our clan because I’m there. And who knows? Maybe Kinna’s given up her preference for men over sixty and would have bedded me too. I bet they’re crying right now because I’m out on this stupid drive.”
“I want a mate. You just like fucking. I’m a better choice than you, and I would have told Ginna so. She would have come home with me.”
Kar snorted and shot Garson an amused grin. “Your place is a mess. You ever take a woman there and they’d be convinced you’re looking for a maid instead.”
“It’s not that bad. I’m just not a neat freak. Why did you pick us to go with you, Lavos?” Garson asked. “What about Veso? Couldn’t you have called him?”
“He’s bonding with his new mate.”
“A human one at that.” Kar chuckled. “I never saw that coming in a million years. I almost feel sorry for her. He’s a grumpy bastard.”
“I couldn’t believe Lorn was so great about accepting her into our clan,” Garson mused. “Does Veso have blackmail on your older brother the way Davis had on Decker?”
Sometimes Lavos’s friends annoyed him. “No. Of course not, Garson. We wanted change in the clan.”
“That’s a big one,” Kar sighed. “Human-huge.”
“Lorn is very smart,” Lavos said. “We talked about it afterward. He figured some of the clan probably hoped Veso would challenge him for leadership once he showed up alive. They believed until then that he was loyal to Decker.”
“So Lorn accepted his mate as a thank you for not making him have to fight and kill another one of our clan members? I get that.” Kar nodded.
“Wrong. Lorn knew Veso had already made enemies who might come after him. Veso pledged loyalty to him, so my brother did the same. Only a dick like Decker would deny a man his mate.”
“So that means we can start testing matings with humans?” Garson sounded excited. “That’s going to be awesome! I’m so getting me a mate.”
“Wrong again. Keep your hands off women in the nearby towns.”
“That’s not fair,” Garson snarled. “I could rock a human chick’s world.”
“Maybe if you ever learned mind control,” Kar muttered. “And told her to pretend she was experiencing an earthquake.”
“I heard that.” Garson reached between the seats and punched him in the arm. “I’m great in bed.”
Lavos gripped the wheel and turned off onto a dirt road, slowing the Jeep. “The house is ahead. Knock off the banter before they overhear your conversation. We’re here on official business.”
“So who bitched because someone else had better things to do than answer their phone? I’m sure that’s all this is.” Garson cleared his throat. “They were probably avoiding talking to them.”
Lavos slowed more, on alert as he glanced all around, mindful of his surroundings. “It was the man’s mother. He didn’t call her when he should have. I’m not going into the full story but she’s worried. Lorn said to check on them and give them the message. That’s what we’re doing.”
“Why is this our problem?” Garson leaned forward between the seats. “Bullshit, I tell you.”
“You’re supposed to be an enforcer, not a whiner,” Kar replied. “Can you at least act like you take your duty seriously? And the task probably is bullshit but we still need to check it out. I’m sure the lines are down because of that storm that blew through and they’ll get fixed eventually. It’s normal, but people who don’t live in this area wouldn’t know that.”
“I’m hungry,” Garson muttered.
“Shut up.” Lavos frowned as the darkened house came into view. No lights shone in any windows of the two-story home set back into the woods. A truck was parked by the front door and a sat car next to it. “You should have eaten before we left.”
Lavos hit the brakes and stopped behind the truck. He didn’t bother to wear a seat belt so he slid out of the driver’s seat and quickly approached the front door.
He was three steps up the porch before he came to an abrupt halt.
Kar bumped into his back. “Why’d you stop?”
Lavos sniffed again. “Smell.”
His friend inhaled and suddenly moved to his side. “Shit.”
“That stinks,” Garson whispered. “What the hell died?”
Lavos took a few more steps, his vision adjusting to the darkness. The door was closed but upon closer inspection, he saw the splintered wood near the handle and lock. He kicked out, slamming his boot against the door to send it flying inward. He entered the house first, knowing his friends followed close behind. The stench greatly intensified now that there wasn’t a barrier between them and the interior.
The dining room table lay in pieces with glass fragments all around it. Lavos reached out and flipped on the lights. They instantly came on, and more destruction awaited, with the couch in the living room on its back. Dry red stains were smeared all over it.
“Blood,” Kar confirmed. “A lot of it.”
“Shit,” Garson muttered from another room. “It looks like someone was slaughtered in the kitchen. There’s enough splatter in here on the walls and ceiling to assure me they didn’t survive.”
Lavos spun, following the source of the putrid stench of death, tracking it up the stairs. Dark stains on the carpet revealed more blood. He located all three bodies in the master bedroom. He hesitated inside the room, his gaze traveling over the horror of what remained of the family that had lived in the house.
“What the hell did this?” Kar inched around him. “They’re in pieces. I don’t pick up any traces of gunpowder. This sure wasn’t a murder/suicide of someone going on a bender and losing their shit.”
“It wasn’t an animal,” Garson announced. “It would have eaten them where they were killed instead of obviously carrying them upstairs to dump in this room.”
“No shit,” Kar muttered. “Animals wouldn’t have politely closed the front door either after they were gone.”
Lavos approached the body closest to him and crouched, studying it. “They’ve been dead for at least two days, and you’re right. This was done with intent.” He reached out and dreaded touching the head but had no choice as he pressed his fingers against the back of blood-matted hair. He studied the way they’d been torn apart and cursed. “This wasn’t done by an animal or one of ours. I’m thinking Vampire.”
Garson walked around the carnage, studying the other two corpses. “How the hell can you tell?”
Lavos sighed. “They’d be even more shredded if a Lycan had done this.”
“This wasn’t a feeding,” Kar spat. “Too much blood was spilled. This was outright cruel and vicious. It had to be a human.”
“No.” Lavos examined the remains. “See this? The bones were snapped and this person’s arm was ripped off. A Lycan would have used his claws. We’d see a lot more shredding of the skin. A human wouldn’t have been strong enough to do this without a weapon. I’m not seeing any sharp instrument marks on the exposed bones.”
“GarLycan? Gargoyle?” Kar inched closer.
Lavos shook his head. “They would have disposed of the bodies. They’re anal about that. Whatever did this was stronger than a human but not a shifter. There’s no animal hair in this mess. Look at the hand over there.” He pointed. “They grabbed some long hair from whoever killed them. It looks human, and it’s black. Notice these people have light brown to blonde hair? It came from whoever attacked them.”
“Fucking crazy Vamps,” Garson cursed. “Why are they screwing with us so much recently? Who wants to make the call?”
Lavos rose up. “There’s no cell signal this far out and I didn’t bring a satellite phone. I wasn’t expecting to find this kind of trouble.”
Kar grimly stared at Lavos. “Are you thinking what I am? They must have intentionally taken out a pole somewhere so these people couldn’t call for help. How many Vamps do you think did this? A nest of bloodsuckers or just one sick bastard?”
“I’m guessing it wasn’t a full nest. They wouldn’t have allowed that much blood to go to waste. The stink of death is too strong to detect how many were here,” Lavos stated. “We’d better check the neighbors.”
“Shit. You think there could be more victims?” Kar didn’t wait for an answer. “What are we going to do with these three to hide their murder? The state troopers can’t find this shit. Burn the house down?”
“It’s too close to the woods. We’d risk it spreading despite all that rain that came down in this area a week ago,” Lavos decided. He shot a look at Garson. “Tag, you’re it.”
“Fuck no.” The other man shook his head. “No way.”
“I’m sure they have a shovel in the shed,” Kar snickered. “You said you wanted to pound something. Try earth while you bury them deep, and make sure it’s far enough away from the house that they aren’t found.”
“What about all the blood?”
Lavos felt a headache coming on. “We’ll handle that later, once we call for reinforcements. Maybe Davis can set a few bombs along the foundation and bring it down without causing a fire. He might be able to make it look like a propane accident. Nobody is going to want to waste the resources to rummage through the rubble if there’s no smell of death. They like to bring in cadaver dogs for that shit. No bodies means no digging. Get rid of every piece of those poor victims. Wrap them up in the destroyed carpets and bury them far from here. We’re going to go check out the nearby houses.”
“You guys suck ass!” Garson stomped toward the door.
Kar grinned, following Lavos. “That’s what you get for bitching so much in the Jeep.”
“Shut up,” Lavos warned. “Or you can do the digging.”
Kar frowned but didn’t make another comment.
Lavos hurried down the stairs and walked outside. He bypassed the Jeep and his gaze roamed the landscape. “That way.” He pointed.
“You picked up the scent of the prick who did this?”
“Nope. I see a faint light coming from that hill over there.”
“Why not drive?”
“It’s faster to run, and quieter.” Lavos took a deep breath. “Race you.” He rushed forward before his friend could respond.
Ten minutes later they walked out of the second cabin. Lavos fought his rage. “Two people lived there, and they didn’t leave willingly.”
“No shit. It looks like someone put up a fight. Why did they take these ones away when they left the bodies of the other family? Do you think these are victims of that nest that attacked us? Those soldiers had to come from somewhere.”
Lavos shook his head. “Those bodies in the other house aren’t more than maybe a couple days old. We’d taken that nest out before then.”
“Shit. More Vampires in the area?”
Lavos glanced up at the night sky. “I’m hoping they didn’t turn them. What if they’re starting a new nest? That first family could have been slaughtered by a newbie group if they put up too much of a fight. You know how nuts they are right after they change.”
“Fuck.” Kar lifted a hand and ran it through his hair. “Why would they do that?”
“Decker already sent some of these assholes to cause trouble. I’m sure he’s heard from someone that Lorn took the clan and we extinguished Borrow’s nest. Payback. To be a prick. Should I go on?”
“Nope. Do you want me to take the Jeep and drive until I get a cell signal to call in reinforcements? We could be dealing with a blanket effect in this area if they’ve decided to take it over. How many residents do you think live within the Kegslee town limits?”
“Maybe twenty-five tops. That’s a lot of Vampires to support in a nest, and it still doesn’t account for why the master allowed the waste of that family of three. You saw all the blood spilled. Every drop would be precious, unless they’re killing the wildlife to feed from.”
“This is all kinds of fucked up. But this town is close enough to launch an attack against us.”
Lavos blew out a breath. “Exactly. Stick close. Let’s go check out more homes. We need to discover what we’re dealing with before we ask more of our people to come here to clean up this mess. I don’t want them walking into a trap.”
“What about us?” Kar frowned. “I don’t want to end up facing down a few dozen Vamps.”
“You were bitching about no excitement on a Friday evening. Feeling bored now?”
“Sometimes I hate you.”
Lavos grinned. “You don’t mean that.”
“How can you smile? We might end up tangling with a nest of suckheads. It’s just the two of us,” Kar reminded him. “Three, if we go back and grab Garson.”
Lavos lifted his hand, concentrating until claws slid out of his fingertips. The deadly tips were a menacing sight. “Decapitate the fuckers. We can handle some Vamps.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I’m pissed,” Lavos admitted. “Lorn’s got enough shit to deal with right now. He doesn’t need this on top of it all. Stay close and alert.”
“Fuck.” Kar allowed his own claws to slide out. “I liked these clothes. I got dressed up for the Tab twins because I figured we wouldn’t be gone long. Blood is a bitch to wash out.”
“This is more important.”
They went north, jogging through the woods. Lavos came to a sudden halt and cocked his head. “Do you hear that?”
“It sounds like someone’s car alarm.”
“The battery would have died if it had been going for more than a few hours. That means the scene will be fresh. Let’s go.” Lavos zeroed in on the direction of the sound.