Nightmare City

I clutched Alice, holding the both of us close to the ground. The shotgun blast left my ears ringing. I looked frantically back at Gabriel, who had taken the brunt of the blast.

He had brought his arms up to protect his face and chest, but the buckshot had ripped his shirt ragged, leaving the skin underneath torn and bleeding. He was gritting his teeth against the pain so hard, one of his fangs had cut his lip. It was a miracle that he was still standing.

“Tch.” the woman sucked at her teeth, pumping her shotgun for a second shot.

“Silver buckshot, really?!” I shrieked in terror. “What the hell is wrong with you!?” My ‘flight or fight’ instinct kicked in and I opted for the latter, kicking out at the woman’s calf.

She turned on me at once, aiming the butt of the gun for my head now. I raised up both hands, grabbing the wooden handle, trying to force it away from my face. Her eyes were covered by dark glasses, but her mouth was twisted in frustration. “Just settle down.” she said in a husky voice. “You think you love him, but you don’t. Wait for the glamour to wear off.”

Alice lay on the floor, her hand covering her cheek, whimpering lightly. Blood oozed from between her fingers. I moved away from her so she wouldn’t get hurt again. I grappled with the armed woman in the narrow hallway. “I’m not under ‘glamour’. Gabriel’s influence doesn’t work on me.” I tried to disarm her, but her grip was strong. I sure as hell wasn’t letting go of the shotgun, so we were deadlocked.

“And she sure as hell isn’t in love with me.” Gabriel stepped forward then, kicking the woman strongly in the side. The shotgun was ripped from her hands and she flew out into the hallway. She clutched her side, gasping for breath.

Gabriel walked over to her slowly, clenching his teeth against the pain in his arms and chest. I followed behind him, looking over the shotgun. I had never seen anything like it before. It had a huge revolver like chamber where the bullets went, and it certainly looked homemade. Carved into the grip were the initials A.S. “Is this thing part magnum?” I asked incredulously. “I’ll hazard a guess and say you’re a hunter.”

As Gabriel reached the woman, she frantically tried to scoot back, reaching into her coat. I aimed the shotgun at her and she raised her hands in the air. “You have two broken ribs, you’re better off than I am.” he said bitterly, and stepped over her.

She blinked in surprise as he pressed the button for the elevator. She visibly shaken and probably wasn’t used to a vampire just leaving her be and ignoring her. “You’re not going to kill me?” she asked in surprise.

“Don’t tempt me.” he snarled, jabbing the button again.

“I would let him get away with self defense, too.” I said. I don’t think I would really let Gabriel kill her, but it was best if she didn’t know that. “Alice, you okay?” I called back without taking my eyes of the hunter.

“I’ll live.” she said faintly. “I’ve already called the police.” I could see a small remote in her hand, her thumb over a red button.

There was a ding, and the elevator doors slid open. “That’s our ride.” I said, walking around the hunter, keeping the shotgun aimed at her. Gabriel entered first, pressing the button for the garage. I stepped in next to him, keeping the shotgun ready until the doors closed, then I lowered it with a heavy sigh and turned to him. “Lemme see.” I said, reaching for his arm.

He pulled his arm away from me, and grimaced in pain. “Leave it.” He kept his eyes at the decreasing numbers on the LCD panel.

I leaned the gun against the wall and grasped his shoulders with both hands, leaning him back against the wall as well. “Let me see.” I repeated more sternly.

His white shirt was soaked in red. I pushed the tatters aside, revealing the skin underneath. The wounds were small and angry, pulsing red as the silver continued to burn him. “God, you’re not going to be able to heal this. These’ll all have to be pulled out.”

“I’ll probably bleed out before then.” His voice was getting weaker, and what little blood he had in his face was draining away. “Fresh blood would help.” He focused his eyes on me, and they flashed red briefly.

“There’s a cooler in the trunk, you’ll live till then.” I told him. “I don’t have to remind you that if you kill me, David will never let you have the house. It’ll just go to Chris and my Mom.” I had signed the paperwork not too long after I had met Gabriel. He would inherit the house free and clear after I died. As long as it was from natural causes. It had been originally his house, before Katrina Riley had stolen it from him, so he was rather determined to get it back.

It was late, so the elevator went straight to the parking garage without any other stops. I picked up the shotgun as it let us out, not one to pass up a particularly sweet piece of loot after a fight. If anyone approached us, I was hoping Gabriel would still be able to use his influence to obscure his wounds and the shotgun.

“Do you remember where we parked the car?” His voice was sounding hazy. He stumbled into my shoulder and leaned his weight on me.

“It’s this way, come on.” I wrapped an arm around his waist to steady him.

I went to the trunk first. “Hold this.” I thrust the shotgun into his hands and fumbled in my pocket for my keys. I popped the trunk one handed and pulled out the cooler.

Gabriel buried his face in my neck, and electricity shot down my spine. My body stiffened in fear and, to my chagrin, excitement. “I’ve got the cooler, hold your horses.” I muttered, my cheeks heating up. I removed my arm from around his waist and propped the cooler up on the rear bumper so I could open it.

“Something... is wrong.” his voice grew stronger as alarm spread through it. He wrapped his arms around me, pinning my arms to my body, then jumped away from the car as hard as he could.

That was when the car exploded in a ball of fire.

A high pitched whine filled my ears, but Gabriel had gotten us away from the heat of the blast. The cooler slipped from my hand and slid across the floor, bursting open, white bottles scattering. A couple broke against the concrete, splattering it with blood.

Gabriel hadn’t really planned before he jumped, and we had landed on another car. He had shattered the windshield into thousands of tiny cracks, and dented the hood. Since he was holding me, I was relatively unscathed. He let me go, turning to a new threat. My ears were still useless, so I just followed his lead.

A man approached us from behind another car. He wore a long coat similar to the hunter upstairs, but his was far more worn and tattered. It appeared to have not been washed in a while, either.

He was an older man, his grizzly facial hair graying to white. Sharp brown eyes glittered from under intimidating eyebrows. He was speaking, but I had no idea what he was saying. The shotgun/revolver hybrid in his hands made his intentions clear, though.

Gabriel pulled himself out of the car, standing straight and facing the older man, who was aiming his shotgun. He thrust the other shotgun into my hands and jumped up high.

The hunter fired into the air, but missed Gabriel. I scrambled off the car and onto the floor, ducking low behind it. I searched around, looking for the closest bottle of pig’s blood. Gabriel was strong, but with his wounds sapping all of his blood, he was going to burn out fast.

I found two bottles nearby and grabbed both of them. I stood up, getting ready to toss them to Gabriel. He was continuing to jump away from the hunter’s shotgun blasts, leading him around till the hunter was facing away from me.

I lifted up one of the bottles, waving it wildly to catch his attention, then I threw it. The hunter turned quickly, firing at the projectile. Blood splattered everywhere, much to his surprise. I threw the other bottle while he was distracted.

Gabriel caught it, opened it, and drained it in mere seconds. Then he advanced towards the main threat.

The hunter got over his surprise quickly, bringing up his shotgun again. Gabriel moved in too close for him to fire, though, and the fight began anew. Gabriel launched fast, but graceful kicks and swipes from his claws, while the hunter parried and blocked with his shotgun. For a man of his apparent age, he seemed able to keep up with Gabriel with little trouble.

Meanwhile, the car was flaming energetically. The heat from the fire damaging the cars on either side, which had been pretty much totaled from the initial blast. I scrambled around, hunting for more intact bottles.

“Gabriel!” I shouted before hurling another bottle his way.

The hunter turned to me as Gabriel caught the next bottle. He shouted at me angrily, but I had no idea what he was saying. “What did you say? I can’t hear you because you blew out my eardrums when you exploded my car!” I shouted back just as angrily and threw another bottle.

Gabriel had enough strength now to disarm the hunter. He wrenched the shotgun from his hands, then kicked him in the abdomen. The hunter fell on his back, fetching up against an undamaged car. Then Gabriel rushed up to me, grabbing me around the waist roughly. He then ran for the exit just as red and blue lights flashed in the distance.

It wasn’t till we were safely away from the parking garage that my hearing started coming back. “What the hell was that just now?” I asked as we rested on a nearby rooftop.

“Hunters.” he answered, shrugging. “I’ve dealt with them for years. Though they’ve updated their approach a bit.”

“They exploded our car, how are we supposed to get home?” Horror dawned on me again. “Our check was in the car! And Katrina’s gun! And the glove!” I rushed towards the edge of the roof, but Gabriel grabbed the back of my jeans, preventing me from getting far.

“I am not going back there.” he said with finality.

“But I loved that glove!” I sat on the rooftop heavily, crossing my legs and huffing.

“It’s gone, get over it. Nothing could have survived that fire.”

“How the hell are we supposed to get home?” I grumped.

“Call your brother. Maybe he’s still in the city.” Gabriel leaned against the brick railing lining the rooftop, too tired from his wounds to do much else.

“I suppose.” I pulled out my cellphone and hit Chris’ picture on my speed dial.

He picked up on the third ring. “What’s up Evie?”

I could hear traffic in the background. “Are you driving?” I asked incredulously. “That’s illegal in this state.”

“No worries, I’m good. I have my headset on.”

I would argue about his driving habits later. “Are you still in the city?”

“Yeah...”

“Good, I’ll make this quick. Please come and pick me and Gabriel up. Our car was exploded by hunters.”

There was a long moment of silence, then “Text me the address.”

Chris pulled his yellow Jeep up to the building we were perched on. He had to climb up the fire escape and help me with Gabriel, who had passed out just minutes before. He lifted him up and over his shoulder easily. “Damn vampires.” he muttered. “Does he get messed up like this a lot?”

“At least three times while we were in Paris” I answered as we carefully made our way down to the car. I wrapped the shotguns up in Chris’ jacket before carrying them down.

“You were only gone a week.”

“...yeah. Stuff happened.”

“At least YOU came back unhurt.”

“I dunno, my ankle bothers me a bit sometimes.”

“Get the door.” Chris said. I hurried and opened the door to the backseat so he could put Gabriel down. “I’m seriously having my doubts about letting you consort with vampires, little sister.”

“Except, you don’t tell me what to do anymore.” I reminded him. “Not since you went overseas and left me behind.”

Chris climbed out of the car and turned to me. He towered over me and was at least twice my mass, but I never found him intimidating, least of all now. I had known him as a scrawny boy with freckles who stuttered a lot. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared back at him.

We stood like this for several moments. “I’m telling Mom.” he said at last.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh hells yes, I would.”

“She won’t believe you. She’ll think you lost your marbles.”

“Then she’ll just have to put me away in the loony bin forever and it will be all your fault.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You fight like a baby.”

“I know what you are, but what am I?”

I sighed, dropping my arms. “Can’t we just get back to the house? I’m tired and Gabriel needs me to save his life.”

He sighed too. “Fine! It’s always about you, isn’t it?” He pulled out his keys and shut the door to the backseat.

I climbed up into the passenger’s seat, shutting my door firmly and pulling on my seat belt. I knew Chris was half joking around with me, like always. I also knew that he was worried about me, but I didn’t know what I could do to put him at ease.

I had been drawn into Great Aunt Katrina’s world, and getting out of it now now would be impossible for me. I was invested in the house, Gabriel, and Callie. Besides, if I let Gabriel out of my sight he’d end up dead in a ditch in a week.

The drive back to Long Island was silent and I dozed for most of it. When we got back to the house, Chris got out of the car first and went to check on Gabriel. “He better not have bled on my seats.” he warned.

I shifted in my seat, unbuckling my seat belt while I figured out which parts of my body were still asleep. Pins and needles were attacking both legs so far.

“Evie, he’s not breathing.”

“He’s a vampire.”

“Oh yeah, duh.” There was a moment’s pause. “Is he supposed to have a heartbeat?”

“A slow one.” I turned in my seat, starting to feel worried. Had Gabriel expired on the drive home? Then again, he had survived in a box without blood for fifty years, he could deal with some silver buckshot. Right?

“I’ve got nothing here.” Chris said, two fingers on Gabriel’s neck. “Wait, there’s one.”

“He’s still alive, then.”

“Funny thing for a vampire to be, aren’t they the undead?”

“Don’t let Gabriel hear you say that, he’s sensitive about that sort of thing.”

Chris hoisted Gabriel’s limp body out of the car and carried him to the house. I unlocked the door for him and he headed into the living room. He dropped Gabriel unceremoniously on the couch. “Okay, you take over from here. I’m hungry. What do you want for dinner?”

“Aren’t you tired?” I asked, fighting the urge to yawn.

“Nah, in Germany I was on thirty-six hour days, I’m good for another four hours. Do you have anything frozen?” He opened up on of the fridge doors and started rummaging inside.

“All my food is fresh, because I actually cook instead of eating MREs all the time.”

“These white bottles are filled with blood, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, can you get me a bowl of warm water?” I asked while I hunted around for a pair of tweezers.

“Tell me it’s not human. Tell me it’s not yours.” Chris started the tap running.

“It’s not human. I told you already, the vampires in this house drink pig’s blood.”

“How do you know that Gabrielle’s not running out and snacking on humans while you’re sleeping?”

“Well, it’s not like I watch him 24/7, but he...” I started, then paused. Gabriel couldn’t lie, to me or to anyone. I didn’t know why, just that he couldn’t. I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell that to my older brother, though. It was Gabriel’s weakness, and I had learned in Paris that he was pretty unhappy when I televised it. “I just trust him.”

I sat on the floor next to the couch and unbuttoned Gabriel’s shirt. I surveyed the wounds on his chest and arms, which were numerous. Some were large, but many more were impossibly tiny. This was going to take a while.

Chris brought the bowl over to me and set it down on the coffee table, which was low enough for me to reach comfortably. I picked up my tweezers and started digging the first piece of buckshot out of Gabriel’s arm. “Do you have another pair? I’ll help.”

“Nah, that’s okay. You go make some food. I’ll need some energy before this is all done.”

“Sure thing, Evie. Do you have any mac & cheese?”

“Third cabinet, bottom shelf.”

Chris set about boiling a pot of water, while I worked on Gabriel’s arm. Some pieces came out as silver slivers, while others were tiny nubs. Once a wound was completely empty, the redness went away and it slowly began to heal.

About half an hour later Chris set two blue bowls on the table, as well as the shotguns still wrapped in his jacket. “Was it these that did that?” he asked, nodding towards Gabriel. He picked up his bowl and dug in.

I dropped another silver piece into the bowl and cleaned off the tweezers, then I grabbed my own food. “Yeah.” I said between bites. “We were visiting David, when these hunters showed up. One shot him, and the other blew up the car.”

“Were they killed?”

I shook my head. “We just focused on getting away.” I put down my half empty bowl and got back to work, my stomach feeling much better. “I’m pissed about the car though. My silver weapons were in there. I’m not a hunter, but I feel uncomfortable being unable to protect myself.”

“You got these.” Chris nudged the shotguns.

“Not really inconspicuous.” I said. I was done with Gabriel’s right arm, so I switched to his left. “The glove I could fit into my pocket.”

“I might know a guy.”

I shook my head. “Not Danny, last time I asked him for something it took him forever to follow through. I don’t feel like bothering him any more anyway.”

“No, a different guy. We can go see him while we’re in Queens tomorrow.”

My brow furrowed as I dug out a particularly stubborn piece of silver. “Queens? Why are we going to Queens?”

“To visit Mom?” he asked, as if it was obvious.

My frown deepened. “I don’t feel like seeing Mom right now.”

Chris set his bowl down on the table and folded his hands together. “You forgot tomorrow’s Mother’s Day, didn’t you?”

I paused in my work, horror dawning on me. “Holy crap!” I turned to my brother. “Tomorrow’s Mother’s Day!”

“No... really?”

“I didn’t get Mom a present!”

“We can pick one up on the way.” Chris shrugged. “Get her a toaster, she’s always breaking hers trying to make quick grilled cheese.”

“No, I can’t go! I’ve got a vampire to look after now, people want to kill him.” Maybe it because of all my panicked yelling, but Gabriel chose that moment to start coming to. He stirred slightly, groaning in pain. “Quick, get me one of those white bottles. Nuke it for three minutes on high.”

Chris jumped up and grabbed a bottle from the fridge. “Do I have to open it first?”

“No.”

He placed the bottle in the microwave and pressed a few buttons. “You’re going to Queens tomorrow.” he said sternly from the kitchen.

“What am I supposed to do about Gabriel? If the hunters find him here it’ll be a disaster.”

“Bring him along, Mom would love him.”

“Oh yeah, they’d have a blast together.” I rolled my eyes. Gabriel started moving more, his eyes still closed. Sweat was forming on his forehead, and his lips parted, showing his very sharp fangs.

The microwave beeped and Chris hurried over to me. I shook the bottle a bit before opening it, so there were no hot spots, like one would with a baby bottle. I held the side of Gabriel’s face and tipped the bottle to his mouth.

He drank the blood greedily, finishing the bottle before opening his eyes. His expression was confused. “How did we get here?” he asked weakly.

“I carried you.” Chris said. “You’re welcome, princess.” He walked back into the kitchen to wash the dishes.

I picked up my tweezers again and started working on Gabriel’s chest. “You almost died.”

“That must be an exaggeration.” He lifted up his arms, watching the tiny tears shrink and heal over. He looked down at his chest. “What are you doing to me?”

I pulled out a particularly long sliver of silver, causing him to hiss in pain. “I’m de-buckshotting you.”

“Stop it, I’ll take care of the rest.” He reached for the tweezers, but I pushed his hands away.

“I’m almost done. It’s becoming kind of fun, pulling silver out of you.”

“You look exhausted.”

My eyes started to burn and droop heavily. “Stop that, you’re making me more tired.”

“You just like seeing me without my shirt.”

I dropped the tweezers on his chest and stood up abruptly. “I’m going to bed.” I turned and headed for the stairs, but paused before climbing them. “Oh, we’re visiting my Mother tomorrow.” I told him. “And you’re coming along.”

“Why?”

“It’s Mother’s Day.”

“So? Why am I going with you?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Because I hate you.” I said venomously, then climbed up the stairs to my room.