Vampire Lord 6 Chapter 12

“Johnny Wilde, how on God’s green earth did you use up twenty damn pounds of black powder in the last week?” Celia demanded of the dark-haired man, who was probably only about ten years younger than her. “I know you had at least that much stashed away in this tornado you call a garage. Don’t you forget, I was in here just last Thursday borrowing your socket wrenches.”

“I know you were. Well, you know how I have my, er, you know, hobbies…” Johnny tugged on the straps of his overalls, and he scuffed the toe of his paint splattered boot at the gravel driveway. “Well, what with the world ending and all, I decided it was probably as good a time as any to finally try out one particular idea I’d been thinking about for a while now.”

“And what, exactly, would that idea be?” Celia narrowed her eyes at the curly-haired man.

“Well, nothing all that legal, ma’am,” Johnny confessed. “You see, that’s why I hadn’t delved into the idea up ‘til now. I wasn’t even sure if it was going to work, but I guess this ol’ brain of mine is useful for more than just fixin’ cars. And with the way things been goin’ with the vamps over in Black Betsy and all, I thought now would be an ideal time to figure out if I can make ‘em work. I thought they might be useful, you see.”

“Johnny.” I squinted my eyes at the man. “I think I have an idea already, but what, exactly, did you use the black powder for?”

“Well, you see, I thought we might be wantin’ something with a little more, er, fire power, a little more punch, for when those fanged bastards upriver come to town,” Johnny replied as he turned back toward his garage, and then he waved a hand at us to follow him inside.

“Do you think he had the same idea as us?” Erika whispered quietly at me as we stepped cautiously around Johnny’s towering piles of hobbies and supplies, and we followed him inside.

“Maybe,” I answered in a hushed tone. “There’s only one way to find out.”

“Why, Jonny Wilde, you ol’ son of a bitch.” Celia’s voice rang out with amusement from behind a stack of old lumber a few feet in front of us.

“You think this’ll do?” The black-haired man scratched his fingers through his stubble, and he gestured at several old milk crates filled to the brim with six inch pieces of copper pipe. The pipes were capped at both ends, and there were short black wires stuck out of one side of every one of them.

“You made pipe bombs?” I asked Johnny with a smirk.

“Well, you see, I just figured they’d be more useful than twenty plastic bottles of black powder were.” Johnny grinned widely at us, and he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s smokeless powder, actually. I still have a little black powder left, but it’s not as good as the smokeless for this kind of thing, you know.”

“This is amazing,” Erika murmured, and she knelt down to take a closer look at Johnny’s handiwork. “You soldered the end caps on?”

“Sure did,” the curly-haired man answered with a proud smile. “It’s best to keep that combustion exactly where you want it. That is, until you want it everywhere.”

“How many pipe bombs did you make?” Natalie asked as she looked over the half a dozen milk crates filled with copper pipe.

“Oh, I’d say there’s at least a hundred and fifty here.” Johnny combed with short fingernails through his bushy mustache, and then he pointed further back into the overflowing garage. “And then I’ve got another seventy five or so back there, too.”

“That’s incredible,” I laughed, and I held one hand out to the county’s best mechanic. “This is actually exactly what we were hoping to build, and you already went and did all the work for us. I hope you don’t mind sharing them with us, they’ll be an enormous help in protecting Red House and wiping out those fanged assholes and their fatass boss, Thaddeus.”

“Well, Sam, that’s what I made ‘em for, isn’t it?” Johnny smiled as he reached out to clasp my hand in his, and he gave me a firm handshake. “I’m just glad to be of some use out here, never been able to contribute a whole lot with all my tinkering, you see. Sure, I can fix cars better than anyone in the county, but that was more Daddy’s dream than mine. I much prefer to fiddle with things, take something old without purpose and turn it into something useful, you see.”

“That reminds me, I actually had another job for you,” I interrupted before the man could get going on another tangent again. “James’s jeep won’t start, and Valerie told me you were the man to see. She said you could fix anything on wheels.”

“Ah, James’s been bringing his jeep to me for years, I know her well.” The black-haired man nodded at me as he pursed his lips. “What’s wrong with the old girl?”

“She may have taken a tumble down a hill,” Natalie said, and she threw me a little smile.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” I added with a grin. “The windows are all pretty much fucked, and one headlight is damaged, but the bigger problem is the engine won’t start.”

“A ‘tumble down a hill,’ hmm?” Johnny mused. “Interesting, well I’d be happy to give her a look and see what I can do about it, it might even be something easy. And if she tumbled down a hill, a whole slew of things could’ve been shaken loose or dislodged that would keep her from turning over. Maybe a spark plug, or a wire got ripped out. Yeah, I bet I can get her going again quick.”

“That would be very helpful, thank you.” I smiled at the middle aged mechanic, and then I gestured at the milk crates of explosives before us. “Do you mind if we start bringing these down to the general store so we can get a full count?”

“Sure thing, boss,” Johnny chuckled. “In fact, if you want, I can load them up in my truck and bring them all down at once, if that would be easier for you?”

“That would be great.” Erika smiled kindly at the man.

“Thank you, Johnny,” I added. “I don’t think Thaddeus will wait much longer before he brings every last one of his vampires down on us, so the sooner you can have them down to the general store, the better.”

“You got it, boss.” Johnny tipped one finger at his eyebrow in a casual imitation of a salute. “I’ll have ‘em down there in a jiffy for ya.”

“We can help you bring them out of the garage, at least,” Natalie offered and picked up the milk crate closest to her.

“Of course we can,” Celia agreed, and she lifted another into her arms.

“Come on ladies.” I picked up a crate in each hand and nodded at Natalie, Erika, and Celia. “Lieutenant Perkins and the rest of the vets will probably be waiting for us in the general store by now.”

“Mhm,” Erika hummed as she picked up a milk crate delicately, and she cradled it in her hands. “Let’s go, we’ve still got a lot to do.”

“You can just leave those right outside the bay door on the gravel, and I’ll load ‘em up in my truck.” Johnny lifted the final crate in his hands. “I’ll have ‘em down to the store for you within the hour.”

“Thanks again,” I called over my shoulder as Natalie, Erika, Celia, and I walked back down the road toward town.

“I like him,” Erika said with a thoughtful smile.

“Yeah, he seems clever and funny,” Natalie added.

“Well, he’s certainly going to be useful,” I chuckled.

“He’s a little scatter-brained, but all in all he’s a good boy.” Celia smiled lightly.

“Come on, I see Lieutenant Perkins and Ross heading back to the general store with the others.” I walked a little faster down the street. “I’d like to meet up with them and then go get some rest.”

“That’s a good idea, you haven’t had any sleep in more than twenty four hours.” Natalie glanced at me. “And we’ll need you at full strength when those Black Betsy vamps finally decide to show their ugly faces.”

“Mhm.” I nodded and realized I’d started to feel a little worn down. So much had happened over the last day. I needed some sleep and probably a little blood, too. “I want to give the veterans some directions first, so we can get more defenses in place, and then, Erika, would you explain to them more about your grenade tripwire idea?”

“Sure, Sam.” The dark-haired girl nodded.

“Alright, let’s go inspire the troops,” Natalie chuckled lightly as we climbed the front steps of the general store.

“Hey, there, Sam,” James greeted us from his spot where he leaned on a metal stool behind the counter. “Heard you had a little trouble with my jeep?”

“You heard right, James.” I smiled ruefully at Catherine’s uncle. “Sorry about that. Johnny Wilde says he can probably fix it up and get it running again for you, though.”

“Eh, no big deal,” the gray-bearded man chuckled, and he waved his hand dismissively in the air. “Not like she’d have run forever anyway, what with the shortage of gasoline that’s most certainly coming our way.”

“That’s true,” I chuckled.

“Sir?” Lieutenant Perkins stepped up close to me as his hand raised to give me another perfect salute. “The poor souls from this morning have been laid peacefully to rest out behind the church, just as you ordered.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” I nodded at the retired soldier and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Well done.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” The gray-haired man nodded in return, and he fell back a few paces to stand at attention amidst the other veterans gathered inside the general store.

“Alright, thanks for joining me, everyone,” I said to gather the group’s attention. “I’m sure you have all heard by now about the message Natalie and I delivered out in Black Betsy last night, and the response Thaddeus sent back to us this morning.”

A quiet wave of murmured agreement and disgust rumbled through the group, and I saw several heads nod in recognition.

“We heard about it,” an older woman said. She had silver-streaked hair pulled back away from her face in a severe bun that was so tight it gave me a headache just to look at her. She was narrow from head to toe and looked like she could slice clean through a piece of paper with just a single withering look. “I don’t like being disrespected like that, no I don’t.”

“Neither do we,” I told the sharp-looking woman as I gestured at my girls beside me. “What’s your name?”

“Caroline Kurtz,” the woman answered, and she pressed her thin lips together until they practically disappeared. “I served as a field nurse in the Vietnam War from when I enlisted on my eighteenth birthday in 1969 to the end of the war in 1975, and I’m ready to help however I can.”

“Thank you, Caroline,” I said softly to the silver-haired vet, and then I turned to glance around the group as a whole. “We have a good defensive start going around town with our patrols, look outs, and the barricades, but there are still too many weak points for my liking or our safety. We have a lot we need to do before those fanged assholes up river decide to come banging down our front door, so to speak. Erika had the idea to set up a tripwire with the last of our grenades all along the marshland that runs up from the river behind the church, in case they have the idea to hike off the main road on the other side of the barricade and sneak into town.”

“That’s a good plan, ma’am.” Lieutenant Perkins nodded at the dark-haired girl beside me.

“Thanks,” Erika replied. “We have about a dozen left, and if we space them evenly, we should be able to cover most of the waterfront. The tripwire will do double duty. It will alert us if any vampires try to come at us from that direction, and it will hopefully blow the first wave into little tiny pieces.”

“Or at least cause those vamps enough damage for us to finish them off quickly,” Natalie added.

“Exactly.” I nodded at my beautiful girlfriend. “We also have acquired somewhere around one-hundred and fifty pipe bombs this morning that will be arriving here at the general store within the hour.”

“Ah, old Johnny’s up to it again?” Ross chuckled from the back of the group.

“Heh.” I smirked and nodded. “Yes, those will be a huge help during the battle. I want to set up as much of a direct route into town as possible to guide the largest group of Thaddeus’s minions into one place, so we can take them out in larger numbers. We’ll set up our best shooters on the rooftops of the buildings here on the main road and then drive them into your crosshairs. Then all you’ll have to do is pick them off one by one.”

“Like herding cows to the slaughter, that’s a sound strategy, sir.” The lieutenant nodded again but his eyebrows furrowed together.

“What is it, Lieutenant?” I asked the older man. “I can see you’ve got concerns.”

“Well, sir,” Perkins answered, “I expect the enemy will attack at night, in order to give themselves the most advantage over us humans. They’ll want to be in as much darkness as they can.”

“Yes, that’s what I expected, too,” I said.

“Then, you see, sir,” the lieutenant went on. “Well, what if we set up spotlights on the roofs as well? Flood the main road with as much light as we can to give our snipers the best sightlines possible.”

“Do we have spotlights that could work for that?” I asked Celia, who had gone and sat beside James. “And enough generators to power them?”

“Oh sure, Sam, that’ll be easy enough.” Celia waved her hand casually. “Every store downtown here has a generator ready to go, and there’s plenty of shop lights in the hardware store, plus all the lights Johnny will have in his garage.”

“I have half a dozen lights up at my cabin, as well,” James added.

“I’ve got three or four laying around in my garage, too,” Ross offered.

“Mmhm, me, too,” another man said.

“As do I,” Caroline Kurtz added.

“Well, alright, then.” I nodded at the group. “Okay, everybody who has lights at their places, go on out and bring them into town, and any extension cords you have, too. Lieutenant, would you please arrange them on the roof tops so we can set up a decently sized enclosed area to push all the vamps into from the eastern barricade? Somewhere with enough raised vantage points we can trap them in and give our snipers plenty of room and time to take out as many as they possibly can. I want to kill most of them like that, or all of them if we can manage it. It would be pretty ideal if we could avoid any hand-to-hand combat, but I don’t expect it will be that easy.”

“Yes, sir.” The lieutenant gave me another salute. “You can count on me, sir.”

“Alright, bring your lights into town and get them set up, oh, and any of you that have rifles at home, bring them into town, too,” I instructed. “The more firearms we have, the more shooters we can have. Then I want anyone with the knowledge to help Erika set up that tripwire of grenades. That’s priority number one after the lights. Then, once Johnny delivers our pipe bombs, we will divide them up evenly to all the positions where our snipers will hunker down. I want each position to have three people. One shooter, one person to help reload for them, and a third to throw down the pipe bombs. Make sure you have lighters.”

“Teams of three.” Ross nodded. “Made up of our best shots, quickest hands, and accurate throwers.”

“Yes, we’ll arrange our people based on their strongest skills,” I went on. “Then Natalie, Catherine, Erika, Lily, Brianna, Neko, and I will stay on ground level to finish off whoever’s left or any that may manage to escape from our kill pen. If we can play things right, we’ll kill those bastards before they get their fucking hands on another human being.”

“What about the rest of the people they have stashed away in the school over in Black Betsy?” Caroline asked, and a slight line of worry wove its way between her narrow silver eyebrows. “Assuming there are any of them left alive, that is?”

“We’ll save who can be saved, and we’ll invite them to join us here in Red House,” James stated just like he would’ve told us what day of the week it was.

I wondered again if James was the mayor of this little rural West Virginia town. The people listened to him like he was in charge and had been for years.

A few of their heads turned to look at me for confirmation.

“Yes, we will,” I declared. “They will be welcomed to join us. After all, more hands will be helpful when it comes time to begin preparing and planting all the crops we’ll need to feed all the people and the livestock in town.”

Quiet murmurs rippled through the group, and the rumble of an old pick up truck reached us from outside on the main road.

“It sounds like Johnny’s here with our delivery.” Celia stood from her seat beside James and wandered over to the front door of the general store. She peeked out the window and turned back to look at the group. “How about a few of you boys come help me and Johnny haul these things inside?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Perkins stood and marched out the door without another word.

Ross, Caroline, and a few others who looked to be the younger members of the group of veterans stood and followed the lieutenant out the door.

“Your fiefdom is going to be quite full if all those people are still alive in Black Betsy.” Natalie smiled up at me.

“It’s the right thing to do, if they’re still alive,” I murmured. “I hope they’re still alive. It’ll be nice to be able to save them.”

“Yes, it will,” Erika sighed, and her eyes shone with unshed tears. “So many people have died, it’ll be really great if we can save anyone who’s left to be saved.”

“I just hope Thaddeus doesn’t drain them all in preparation for his attack on Red House.” Natalie chewed on her bottom lip.

“I don’t think he will,” I assured her. “He’s too cocky. He’ll be so sure they’ll win that he’ll want to have plenty of blood bags to come back to. He won’t run through his entire supply just to wipe out a town he probably sees as more of a nuisance than an actual threat.”

“Sam’s right, Nat,” Erika said. “Thaddeus would be stupid to clear out his entire source of food. It’s in his best interest to keep as many humans alive as he can, for as long as possible.”

“Mm,” Natalie hummed as the front door opened, and Celia strode back in.

“Special delivery, Sam,” the mother hen called out with a grin as she carried in a milk crate filled with lengths of copper pipe.

Ross, Perkins, Caroline, and the others filed in behind her, each with their own milk crate filled with pipe bombs, and they placed the crates side by side along the floor in front of the glass counter.

“Thank you,” I said to them all, and then I turned to smile at Johnny as he stepped through the door. “And thank you.”

“Eh, it’s no problem at all.” The curly-haired man waved a hand dismissively. “I’m just happy my random tinkering finally brought about something useful.”

“More like invaluable, really,” Natalie corrected.

“Now, now.” Johnny blushed lightly under his mustache and two days of stubble. Then he cleared his throat loudly. “Alright, I’m gonna go see about James’s jeep, unless you needed anything else?”

“Nope, seeing about the jeep would be great, thanks,” I said.

“Get her going again for me, would ya, Johnny?” James called from the back of the group.

“I’ll see what all I can do for ya, James,” Johnny chuckled, and he gave Catherine’s uncle a wink. “See y’all later.”

“Is there anything else you need us to do, sir?” Lieutenant Perkins asked after the rumbling of the mechanic’s engine faded as he drove off to the western barricade.

“Yes, one more thing,” I answered, and every head in the room turned to listen closely to my instructions. “Neko, Brianna, and Lily went to the jeep to bring in the last of the supplies. When they get back, sort through all the rifles and ammo and begin to organize them so we can easily ration them out to the sniper groups when the time comes. Lieutenant, I trust you can arrange the snipers with their best options for rifles around the kill pen so we can have the most accuracy possible?”

“Yes, sir.” Perkins saluted. “I’ll arrange the kill pen positions for maximum efficiency.”

“Neko, Brianna, and Lily are back,” Erika said from where she looked out the front window of the general store.

“Erika and I will go let them know everything we decided,” Natalie said, and then she turned to me. “Sam, you should go get some rest.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I sighed. My muscles were exhausted, and I’d started to feel the fatigue from all the events of the last twenty four hours. “Go ahead everyone, you know what needs to be done, so let’s get it done.”

“We’re on it, Sam,” Celia assured me with a kind smile, and then she turned to the group. “Quit your lazing about you slugs, let’s get things going.”

The group quickly dispersed and headed in different directions to fetch their spotlights, extension cords, and rifles. Only Celia lingered behind with James.

“I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, Sam, but you’re looking awfully tired.” Celia leaned in close, and I could suddenly feel how scratchy my eyes were and how exhausted I was.

“You need something to eat.” James nodded in agreement and held out his arm. “Here, it’s the least I can do, at least until the battle starts.”

“No, James, you can’t fight with your leg like that,” I argued, but I lifted the gray-bearded man’s wrist to my mouth and sank my pointed canines into his artery. The salty sweet flavor of his blood hit my tongue and slid down my throat. The itch in my eyes disappeared, and my body was filled with energy like a strong cup of hot coffee first thing in the morning as I drank mouthful after mouthful of James’s blood.

“Now, Sam,” James replied as I pulled my mouth away from his wrist and closed up the wound. “I’m one of the best shots in town, and this old leg won’t stop me from sitting pretty on the roof and picking off those bastards one by one.”

“Alright, then,” I chuckled at the older man and nodded in agreement. “I can see there’s no sense in keeping one of my best players off the field.”

“Besides, there's no point in arguing with this one.” Celia smirked at James as she lifted her wrist in an offer to me. “Here, Sam, have some more, you’ll need all your strength before this is over.”

“Thank you, Celia,” I said, and then my teeth pierced quickly through the older woman’s skin. Her blood flowed steadily into my mouth, and I swallowed it down gratefully.

The people of Red House had welcomed me so completely into their town, and I was a little amazed how quickly they had accepted me and even my women when they’d all decided to turn into vampires to fight alongside me. I supposed it was an easy choice when the only other option was to surely be slaughtered by Thaddeus and his minions or to become the latest additions to his blood bank, but I was grateful nonetheless.

I licked Celia’s wrist gently to close up the wounds, and then I gave her hand a little squeeze before I let go.

“Anytime, now why don’t you go on down the road and grab a room at the motel, there’s hardly ever anybody staying in town, but it’s got about half a dozen nice little rooms. It’s plenty close to town and will be much more comfortable than those pews in the church!” Celia shooed her hands at me as she scolded me softly in her mother hen sort of way.

“That sounds really good,” I sighed. “Where is it?”

“Just down past Duke’s Diner,” Celia answered. “It’s off the road a little, and there’s a line of pine trees that block it mostly from view. If you hit the post office, you’ve gone too far.”

“Okay, so long as you guys have things under control here?” I looked at my girlfriend.

“Go on, Sam, we’ve got everything covered,” Natalie said, and she gave me a tight hug.

“Alright, come and get me if anything happens.” I kissed my beautiful brunette girlfriend on the cheek and walked tiredly out of the general store, and I waved at Brianna, Neko, and Lily as I walked down the street toward the little motel.

A real bed sounded absolutely delightful at the moment. Even with James and Celia’s blood fresh in my veins I was tired, and I knew a few hours of restful sleep was exactly what I needed.

A few minutes later, I spotted the row of trees Celia had mentioned as I looked closely between the evergreens’ needles, and I saw the rundown sign for the tiny motel. I wandered up the cracked driveway and picked the first room I came across. The door was locked, but the handle gave way with just a little pressure, and I stepped inside the dark room. There was a full size bed with two pillows covered in a threadbare striped quilt. A dusty looking lamp sat beside the bed, and an old bubble TV was perched on the wooden dresser along the opposite wall. I assumed there was a bathroom at the far end of the room where the sunlight that streamed between the faded curtains didn’t quite reach.

I plopped down on the bed as I kicked off my boots, and they landed with a thud on the outdated carpet. I sighed heavily, and I felt all my muscles relax into the firm mattress as I fell quickly asleep.

Later, a soft tap on the door woke me up, and I looked around the room to find the light had faded in the early hours of dusk. I figured I must have been asleep for at least four hours, and then Neko’s faded pink hair peeked around the door as she opened it.

“Hey,” the japanese girl whispered, and she stepped softly into the dark room. “Feeling better?”

“Mmm,” I grumbled as I stretched my stiff limbs out across the bed. “Yeah, much.”

“Good,” Neko said as she closed the door behind her, and then she walked over to perch on the corner of the bed by my feet. “I’m glad.”

“How’re things going in town?” I asked as I rolled onto my back to look at the pink-haired girl.

“Really good,” Neko answered. “They’ve got most of the lights set up, and they were running out the extension cords when I left. The lieutenant was laying out a map of where he wanted to arrange people around the kill pen. He had a list of all the guns we have, too, and was matching them up with the right shooters. And Natalie counted all the pipe bombs, we have 239 in total.”

“That’s great, sounds like they’re getting a lot done.” I nodded, and I moved to sit up against the wooden bedframe.

“Yeah, Ross thinks we’ll be mostly set up by sundown, unless Erika or Lieutenant Perkins came up with any more strategic ideas to put in place before that,” Neko said. “Valerie thinks Thaddeus will probably come tonight, that he’ll be too impatient and impetus to wait any longer than that to get back at you for killing his brother.”

“I didn’t expect he would give us a whole lot of time,” I said ruefully, and I shook my head. “Doesn’t much matter, anyway, there’s only so much prepping we can do before we’ve done everything we can with what we’ve got. Why put off the inevitable?”

“That’s true, I suppose,” the Japanese girl conceded. “And I guess if we had to wait for days without knowing when he was going to attack, that would just drive us all completely insane.”

“Yeah, I’d rather get this over with as soon as we can, one way or the other,” I agreed.

“Me, too,” Neko sighed heavily and picked an invisible speck of lint from the hem of my jeans.

“Don’t worry,” I assured the beautiful pink-haired girl as I leaned forward and laid my hand gently on hers.

“Sam…” Neko chewed on her bottom lip a moment, and then she stared up into my eyes.

“What is it?” Despite the darkness of the room, I could see the flush that had started to spread up her neck and across her cheeks.

“I don’t know how tonight is going to go,” the Japanese girl murmured. “And… I just couldn’t stand the thought of not getting fucked by you at least one more time.”

“Mmm,” I hummed as my cock instantly got rock hard from Neko’s words. “Then what are you waiting for? Take off your clothes.”