Chapter 5: Chapter 5

The back alleys and cluttered streets of Budapest were as unsightly in the middle of the night as they were when the sun was shining, sometimes even more so if Eliza Wrath couldn’t see what she was stepping in. She’d spent enough time here now to distinguish urine from blood, even without the smell, but that didn’t make her any happier to get either on her expensive boots.

In the past two years, she’d been transferred more times than she could count. From KC to Cali, to Siberia, to Hungary, to Canada, a few stops on the way, back here. She never bothered to question the reasoning anymore, not since she’d learned to keep her mouth shut. Unfortunately, that was a hard-learned lesson, one that had taken at least a year and a half too long.

The alley up ahead of them was dark, but using her IAC, she could cut through most of the shadows. It didn’t appear as if there was anyone up there, though it was possible someone might be crouched behind a group of garbage cans, up on the left. She signaled to the other team member with her, a tall Hunter named Sergio who blended right in with the natives, even though he was originally from Georgia—not the state, she’d found out after asking if he liked the Braves—and slowly approached the obstacle.

It was clear, only a few discarded trash bags and an old blanket maybe one of the homeless people had been curled up on earlier. She took a heat reading and saw that it was cool now, so even if someone had been nearby, they were gone now. “Clear,” she said through her IAC and walked back over to where her tall, dark-haired, partner stood waiting.

“Maybe we should cut a few blocks over. He’s hit this area several times, but not in the last week.”

Eliza agreed and took another glance down the alley before following Sergio. They’d had several sightings of a tall Vampire with nearly translucent skin in the area, lots of reports of people going missing, mostly homeless people who didn’t show up at the soup kitchens or overnight shelters where they often slept, although there had been a few tourists and even a couple of locals who would definitely qualify as Innocents and shouldn’t have been claimed who’d gone missing as well. KC headquarters had been vague with their orders when Eliza had reported to Mila a few weeks ago, and she knew there had been a lot going on with Aaron and Cadence’s wedding, but she thought these missing persons were significant, especially since it began ramping up recently, right after Holland’s demise. Mila, the Area Leader, agreed and had put some teams together to start patrols.

Walking along behind Sergio, Eliza let her mind wander to Aaron a little too long. She hadn’t gone to the wedding. Part of that was because she hadn’t been invited. Who invites their ex-girlfriend to their wedding? But then... even if she had been invited, she wouldn’t have attended. That whole situation had been such a mess; every time she thought about how she’d handled it, her stomach began to churn. Not only had she blown any chance she’d ever have with Aaron by manipulating too much too soon, she’d also ruined a pretty sweet gig in Cali because she hadn’t been exactly forthcoming with the information Aaron needed from Laura. The ex-Hunter had never come right out and told Eliza she was planning to take Cadence out, but she’d hinted at it enough that Eliza could surmise that was the plan. In the end, Laura had pulled one over on her as well, trying to obliterate the whole team. If it had been Aaron who had died instead of Elliott, Eliza would’ve probably found a way to follow him.

But it wasn’t. And even Elliott wasn’t dead anymore. So the only thing Sierraville had really cost anyone was Eliza her role as Area Leader. She’d earned a little bit of her good standing back on that trip to Philly, though she probably shouldn’t have threatened to shoot Zabrina while she was holding Cadence’s sister Cassidy in front of her. Still, she’d been commended for how she’d handled the situation before the rest of the team arrived. That had gotten her transferred to Canada. When Mila asked her to come back a few months ago, about the time whispers of unusual numbers of Vampires in Budapest began to hit their ears, she’d agreed to come because she wanted to feel wanted again.

Searching for Holland had occupied most of her time until the Vampire Queen was ended, and Eliza and the rest of the team in the area assumed they’d be going back to twiddling their thumbs. But when Holland was destroyed, the carnage didn’t stop. In fact, it had picked up quite a bit recently. If anyone had any idea who the new ringleader was, they hadn’t told her. For now, she was searching for a Vampire fitting the description a few of the witnesses had given. Not that she wouldn’t be happy to end any Vampire she happened to come across.

“Any luck?” Mila’s heavily accented voice came across her IAC just as Sergio ducked down another alleyway. Eliza followed, something in the distance catching her eye.

“Not sure,” she replied. “Give us a moment.” Up ahead of them, a high pitched laugh echoed off of the sides of the brick buildings on either side of them. The alley dead-ended into a similar brick façade.

Sergio turned to look at her as another giggle filled their ears. Now, Eliza could see two forms huddled close together near the end of the alley, over on the right side, pressed up against the wall. A fire escape ladder hung twenty feet to the left, almost as many feet above their heads. If one of them happened to be a Vampire, getting to the bottom rung would be no problem.

Eliza’s partner moved first, drawing his Glock and clicking the after-market safety off as quietly as possible. It seemed to have no effect on the couple. The woman giggled again, and the other form, certainly a tall man, though Eliza couldn’t see his face because it was turned away from them, let out a low moan. If this was anything other than a Vampire attack or a murder in progress, she and Sergio were going to have a lot of explaining to do for intruding. In fairness, if they really wanted privacy, maybe they could’ve found some place other than a public alley.

Eliza also took out her weapon, readied it, and then followed along behind Sergio, giving him enough space so that, if it was a Vampire and it charged him, she could be the next line of defense. A stirring sensation in her stomach heightened as she drew closer, and it became clearer that one of these two was undead.

The Vampire sensed them, too. Only it wasn’t the man, as Eliza had suspected. Instead, the woman, whose fangs were bared as she leaned toward his neck, spun her ugly head around and roared at them, pushing her would-be lover aside and dodging at Sergio. He fired as the man on the ground screamed in surprise. His bullet went wide, ricocheting off of the brick as the Vampire leapt up into the air and grabbed the bottom rung of the fire escape, pulling herself up to the steps with little effort.

“You go around that way, I’ll follow her!” Eliza shouted as the monster climbed the stairwell on all fours like some sort of an animal. Eliza easily leapt up to the first landing. As soon as she landed, she took careful aim and fired, but the Vampire was too quick and was already several floors above her.

Holstering her Glock, Eliza gave chase, hoping she could corner her on the rooftop. It didn’t look as if the creature was pausing long enough to consider trying any of the windows, so hopefully, she wouldn’t dart inside where people might get in the way. Even with the firing of two bullets, not a single light inside of the building had come on, which didn’t surprise Eliza considering the neighborhood they were in.

The woman reached the roof when Eliza was about to the twentieth floor, at least ten levels below her. She stood at the top for a moment, gazing down, her long blonde hair loose and blowing in the wind. She was dressed like a prostitute, her lips red, her heavy eyeshadow dark blue, and her fangs promising more than a little hickey to anyone who wanted a nibble on the neck. It appeared to Eliza as if she were smiling as she turned and ran away.

Continuing to climb up from one floor to the next as quickly as possible, Eliza tried not to worry too much about what that smile might mean. She also didn’t dwell on the fact that if she had received a second dose of Transformation serum, the way many of her KC area colleagues had, she would’ve already caught the bitch. She reached the rooftop and pulled herself over the top, hopeful there were no adjoining buildings and no places to hide.

The woman wasn’t trying to hide, and neither were the other six Vampires who were roused from their hiding places. Eliza stood on the edge of the wall that ran around the top of the building watching as the seven of them took up a formation about twenty yards away from her.

All shapes and sizes, older, younger, tall, short, male, female, they reminded her a little of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video when the dead come out to play. Except instead of hanging flesh and stuttered steps, these suckers would be fast. And they all had fangs.

She didn’t wait to open fire on them. She shot the prostitute first and then peppered the rest of them with bullets. One of the smaller figures, a pre-teen boy, she thought, fell back slightly. The others didn’t slow at all.

Eliza had heard about this sort of Vampire, the kind that didn’t die from regular silver bullets. Not even the titanium had done too much to stop them when other areas had faced them. She’d been under the impression that should all end when Holland died, but not a single whiff of ash emanated from the six Vampires who continued in her direction, telling her that this was not her mother’s breed of Vampire.

“Sergio, I have a problem.”

“I see.” He had been watching through her IAC. “Maybe you should come back down.”

“And just leave them here? I can’t do that.” They were getting closer. Eliza tried shooting them again, and though there was smoke this time, none of them slowed their pace.

“Why not? We’ll get the rest of the team over here and try again. Mila’s headed this way now.”

Eliza didn’t have time to respond. She needed to move, or she’d end up on the pavement below her. Falling thirty stories didn’t sound like a lot of fun, even if it wouldn’t kill her, and since there wasn’t a Healer anywhere in the city, it wouldn’t feel great either.

Just as the prostitute was about to reach her, Eliza leapt up into the air and did a front flip, flying over the top of all of them and landing behind them. She had a silver tipped knife in her pocket, which she drew out, glad she’d taken that advice from Mila before she left the office earlier. It might not be practical to take a knife to a Vampire show, but it had to do better than the gun, which she stuck back in its holster.

The two that hit her first were an older man with a bald head wearing a ratty suit and a woman who looked like she probably wasn’t much older than Eliza, dressed like a waitress. Eliza kicked the man backward into his friends, knocking several of them to the ground as she jabbed her knife into the woman’s throat. The Vampire sputtered, ash flying everywhere, as Eliza twisted it and then pulled it out, sending her onto her back with a quick shove as the young boy flung himself at her.

She caught him, though he pushed her backward several feet. Since she’d already made a hole in his shoulder, she went there first, sinking in the knife and pulling it straight down. It didn’t take long before he exploded in a puff of ash. But the Guardian didn’t have time to rejoice in her victory. The suit was up again, and he was joined by two others who looked like they may have been homeless before they were turned.