5. Intercession

It's time to make a plan. Aaron shows he may have picked up a few useful things.

                “Alright,” Samantha concluded, “I think I understand the situation.” She turned to Aaron. “Now, is there any evidence whatsoever at your flat?”

                The bearded man shook his head. “A bunch of sleeping pills and a lingering vomit smell, that’s about the extent of it.”

                “Excellent. Have you got a gun?”

                He nodded. “Taurus revolver. He never came near it. It’s still locked up there.” He saw June grin and roll her eyes.

                “Is there anything else of absolute necessity there?”

                Aaron pondered this for a few moments, then shook his head slowly. “I guess not.”

                Sam looked at Cory now. “I suppose you already know what to do.”

                Cory nodded, but he didn’t look happy about it. “I’m not an experienced burglar, you know.”

                She smiled at him warmly in contrast to her response, “I know for a fact you’ve already had to do it once, and you’re about to get more experience. Go now, scope it out and work quickly. You know the scene to set.” She saw him instinctively glance toward his friend, and she added, “It’s alright, I’ll be here to keep her safe. Cory �" be careful. Find the right timing. Use the dark.”

                “I know.” He nodded solemnly as he pulled on a jacket and walked to the door. He shot Aaron one last look, still not of malice but of grave warning, before pulling the door closed behind him.

                The air in the room was thick with the heavy silence. June felt the pressure enclose around her and tighten until she finally asked, “What do we do now?”

                Sam looked around at the apartment. “Unfortunately, now that he’s found you and you’re recovering, it’s time to start moving again. I assume he’s paying a lease scammer of some sort for this place?” June nodded with a sly grin, and Sam continued. “Then, if you’re not opposed to traveling together, June, I’ve got a case Cory can take that should be far enough away that Aaron can hide effectively. Once we get there…” she looked between the two of them. “I suppose it’s up to you. Go your separate ways if you choose. Or… perhaps don’t, if you choose. Now,” she stood up, “I have a few strings to pull for you.” She moved to the kitchen to make her phone calls, out of earshot but within vigilance.

                Aaron turned his body to face June gingerly. “So, we’re leaving. All of you, with me.”

                She shrugged. “This is what life is like for us. It’s gonna be that way for you too.”

                “But, I mean, you’re not bothered traveling with me? It doesn’t make you nervous?”

                She held up her hand matter-of-factly and held her wrist steady, displaying to him a significant involuntary tremble through her hand. “I never said it didn’t make me nervous. There’s scarier s**t out there than you, though, and it’s s**t that might actually want to hurt me. Cory’s right, I chose this life knowing it wasn’t going to be comfortable.”

                “What exactly happened with you two?” He asked.

                She leaned back. “About a year ago, Cory was walking back from this studio we used to commandeer at the back of this family-owned music shop back home in Pennsylvania, and he got attacked. He woke up and this f*****g-“ She stopped, took a deep breath, and softened her sharpening tone. “There’s this ‘legend’ about vampires who can keep themselves away from the cannibalism s**t, and use what they can do to stop the ones that are killing people. George has been running around making an urban legend of himself, dropping evil s**t since color TV was all the rage. Now he’s dumped all that on Cory too, given him nowhere near enough to go on, and then disappeared.”

                “And how did you get involved?”

                She scoffed lightly. “My life wasn’t going anywhere. My s****y little radiology degree got me a s****y little job. All I had was the music we made together. Plus, there’s a reason I was splitting rent instead of living on my own. I don’t know where else I would have gone, so when he disappeared, I tracked him.” She looked away. “Sorry, I don’t really know how to explain any of this. I haven’t had anyone to talk to about it, I guess.”

                “Right. Mind if I smoke?” She shook her head and Aaron lit a cigar. “So why did Cory go along with it? Why didn’t he just tell George to stick it?”

                “He tried to,” she replied. “He tried to go back to his normal life, but it didn’t even last a day. It doesn’t work like that once you’re involved, I guess.”

                “But didn’t George turn him into what he is in the first place? Didn’t he basically kill him?”

                “Yeah. He did.”

                “Why?”

                Sam’s voice came from the doorway, startling them both. “Because he knew this fight might be his last.” Her eyes shot to the floor and she swallowed. “I fear it may already have been.”

                “What do you mean?” June asked.

                Sam sighed. “George never, ever wanted to spread his curse. Why do you think he never turned me, even though I was a target? Giving someone else the dose he got was the last thing he ever wanted to do. He hated ripping Cory away from a perfectly normal life, like he’d hated having his own life destroyed in the same way. It took him months to bring himself to do it, you know. There were four other times he’d followed him home and just couldn’t actually go through with it.” She sat down and rubbed the bridge of her nose worriedly. “I remember when he came to me. ‘I need your help. I think I’m going to die soon.’ That’s what he said. He hasn’t been up against someone this powerful since ’80, and Christ knows that went arseways. He’s not letting anyone take a knife for him this time, so he had to fill his shoes.”

                To all of their surprise, there was a knock at the door yet again. Aaron put out his cigar and slid to the side of the door, hidden from view, and Sam pulled out a gun that had been strapped to her leg and kept it ready next to where she sat. June opened the door to a short, muscular bald man with a crown of thorns tattoo across his forehead.

                “Rent’s due,” he grunted in a rude mousy voice before the door had even completely open.

                June let go of a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “He’s out. I’ll tell him to bring it to you when he gets back.” She started to close the door, and the thug shot his arm out and held it open.

                “The way I see it,” he sneered, “someone’s standing in my unit right now, and there’s no rent in my hand.”

                It took all her willpower not to roll her eyes. “He has all of it with him. He’ll be back within a few hours.”

                “I’ll take it now,” he snarled, and he shoved June by the chest. Her fingers flew to her gun, but even before she or Sam could draw their weapons, Aaron had flown in from the side, lifting the bald man and pinning him to the wall by the throat.

                “Turn around,” Aaron growled, low and gravely threatening. “Walk away. You will get your money.” He drew his face close to the man’s ear as he sputtered and tried to pry Aaron’s arm away. “And if you come near her again, we’re going to find out what happens if I keep you just like this until you don’t go back to breathing. Do you understand me?”

                The thug nodded frantically, his entire head going purple and tears coming out of the corners of his eyes. Aaron released his grip, allowing the shorter man to drop crumpling to the ground, gasping and wheezing and clutching his throat. He shoved the man out of the doorway with his foot, caring not whether he left bruises, and slammed the door closed again. “June, are you alright?”

                June still stood with her gun aimed where the man’s head had been at first, now nothing but a section of door, trembling from her feet to the barrel of her gun and staring into nothing with wide eyes.

                Gelert shoved her backward roughly. “Are you going to fight me back, my feisty little kitten?” His words disgusted her and she tried in vain to block him before he pushed her again, hard. “Or are you going to start enjoying yourself a little? I know I am,” he laughed, pushing her back by the chest a third time. June spat in his face, pulled her knee up into his groin with all her strength, and ducked to the side to run around him. He bent over and grunted in pain, but was still able to catch June with one massive arm before she slipped away and throw her back in front of him. When she scrambled back to her feet, he struck her across the face with his knuckles and then shoved her yet again. “You little c**t,” he seethed. Another shove, and she was back against the wall. She attempted to escape to the side again, and he effortlessly pulled her back and held her against the wall with his entire body.

                He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You’re beginning to get on my nerves, pet. You don’t want to do that.” His breath felt like needles on her skin. She writhed, but every part of her was pinned with such force that she couldn’t budge even slightly. Her captor stopped in the middle of undressing her and laughed, watching her drain away her strength completely unable to move. “Look at you, you pathetic little thing!” He was almost giggling. “You can’t do s**t! All that bark and your bite is a love nibble.”

                She panicked. She was stuck. There was no way out, and she couldn’t even struggle against him. He smelled like Camels, scotch, and chloroform, and she wanted to vomit. No one was ever going to come for her, and she’d never be able to fight her way out for herself. He’d get bored of her one day and invent some slow and entertaining way of killing her, and until then this would keep happening. Her limbs were numbing, and her vision blurred. He brought himself back to her ear and whispered, “Are you having fun yet?”

                “June?” Aaron repeated her name worriedly. She stood frozen in the same position, hands aimed though Sam had pried the gun from them, and was growing paler and shaking more intensely. Suddenly, her entire body gave way and she collapsed. Aaron was at her side instantly, and he lifted her up and brought her into what he assumed to be her bedroom, laying her down on her “bed”; a mattress in the middle of the floor. He tucked her hair away from her face as her eyes, which had been rolled to the back of her head, lulled closed.

Author's Note

Sorry I've been so busy.
I like to think my own disdain for the overused supernatural element comes across in my characters. It's not a vampire story. Don't come expecting one.