Dead Force Rising (5 page)

John pulled the car into the drive
and turned off the motor. He did a quick inventory of the area. It was a small
house with a fairly good size yard and two large oak trees, one of which
reached up near the upstairs window he guessed was her bedroom. It would make
an excellent perch for him to observe from.

“I was wondering if you might have
dinner with me on Friday?” he asked as he handed Thorn her keys. There was a
tight knot in his gut as John waited for her to answer.

“Umm, I don’t know,” Thorn responded,
looking around as if his question made her uncomfortable.

“How about you think about it and
I’ll give you a call Thursday?” He suggested.

She had not said no, but he didn't
want her to feel pressured to make a decision that moment.

“Ok,” she agreed. “We’ll talk
Thursday,” Thorn agreed.

John felt like shouting for joy.
It
 
wasn't
a decisive
victory but he most definitely made headway. Smiling wide as Thorn took his
hand, she exited the vehicle this time, another small win.

“Thanks again, really,” Thorn told
him as she stopped on the doorstep, giving him a crooked little smile.

“It was my pleasure,” he replied, his
heart skipping a beat. He wanted to kiss her good night but didn't know if he
should dare. Never had he felt this unsure.

He nearly imploded when Thorn stood
on her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss against his cheek.

“Let me give you my number before you
head back to the base,” she breathed against his skin.

John watched her turn the key in the
lock and
disappear
inside, returning moments later
with an ink pen. Taking his hand, she rolled it over and wrote her number in his
palm.

“Good night, Sergeant,” Thorn said as
she closed the door, leaving him standing like a statue on her doorstep.

John couldn't wipe the stupid grin
from his face as he began jogging back toward the base. He hoped he could hold
out the three days to dial the number. He would definitely need to find a way
to occupy the time, which he was certain, would simply crawl.

He caught a hint about some strange
happenings before leaving the club tonight and needed to check them out more
thoroughly. There wasn’t anything definitive as far as deaths or attacks yet,
however that didn't mean
there
 
wasn't
a vamp crawling about. With his
team still confined to base for a while longer, John would need to be cautious
that they were dealing with a single creature rather than an entire clan. He didn't
want to go charging in without knowing the odds.

****

Thorn tossed her keys onto the small
table in the entranceway after securing the door. She smiled, still tasting him
on her lips. He caused strange thoughts to run through her head when he was
close. Thoughts she swore she would never allow herself to feel, a possibility
for more than a Thornitary life.

Losing her clothes as she moved
through her house toward the bedroom, she hummed a happy tune, anxious to climb
beneath her grandmother’s quilt and fall asleep. Tonight Thorn knew one thing
for
certain,
the hero in her dreams would finally have
a face.
A strong face with a shadow of growth across his jaw
and a set of unique, amber colored eyes.

Glancing at the calendar as she
stepped into her bedroom, she grinned wondering if it would truly take him
until Thursday to call. Thorn hoped not.
 

CHAPTER FIVE

Thorn looked at her watch and
frowned. She still had another four hours until the end of her shift. She’d
worked three days straight on the three pm -
 
three am shift and was anxious to call it a night, not that it had
anything to do with it being Wednesday, well almost Thursday, and her having
the next three days off. The radio squelch made her screw the lid back on her
bottle of water and head for the ambulance. At least a call would make the time
go a bit faster.

“Unit three respond, alleyway behind
First and Gordian Street South, report man down,” the dispatcher announced
across the units speakers as both she and the driver fastened their seat belts.

Great, Thorn thought to herself as
she grabbed the jump kit she kept between the seat and her driver, Keith Boyd,
as he pulled out onto the ice-covered streets. It had been snowing off and on
for the past few days but tonight Mother Nature seemed to be throwing
everything she had on the roads. Most likely, this call involved yet another
person succumbing to the bitter weather and was another slip and fall on an icy
patch of ground. She’d taken in three such cases in the past five hours.

As they approached the scene,
however, Thorn noted that no one was around the body, which was lying face down
in a snowdrift the wind had created alongside a decaying stonewall. She thought
it strange that the caller didn't hang around. When Keith pulled about twenty
feet away, Thorn climbed out the door and headed for the body as the Keith went
to grab the cot and some warm blankets from the back.

The bitter, cold wind cut through
Thorn's uniform, making it feel as though she were wearing nothing at all.
Kneeling beside the body she could now confirm as male, she felt the victim's
neck for a pulse. Feeling nothing, she withdrew her hand, grabbed the body by
the shoulders, and rolled the man face up. The site caught her off guard and
Thorn stumbled back landing on her ass in the snow. The man’s entire neck had
been torn open, his dead eyes locked wide in what appeared to be absolute
horror.

A loud thump and yelp from Keith drew
her attention from the body. Jumping back to her feet, she hurried around the
ambulance fearing he might have fallen on the icy street. Instead, she came to
a sliding stop at the back of the unit with her eyes wide. Keith was on the
ground about five feet from the back doors of the ambulance, her jump bag lying
on the ground, its contents spilling across the snow. Her driver lay sprawled
across the cold ground, eyes staring into the sky, a silent scream on his face
as a man dressed in jet black leaned over his throat. Blood turned the snow
around Keith a bright red in the flickering lights of the dim street lamp.

Thorn knew, despite her minds attempt
to deny it, what this was and what had happened not only to the victim they’d been
called to help but to Travis as well.

“Vampire,” she whispered into the
wind that whipped around her.

The creature raised it face, Keith’s
blood running from the corners of it mouth. Looking straight at her it smiled,
a grisly fang filled grin that made her skin crawl.

“Pretty,
Pretty
,”
it said, keeping its yellow eyes on her while dropping its grip on Keith’s body
and standing. “Come to me, pretty.”

Thorn began to back pedal away from
the approaching creature. She had no plans of being dessert for this thing,
this vampire. Turning to run, Thorn made it only a few feet before the thing
was on her, seizing her by the hair and jerking her backwards with
a
ear splitting scream. She kicked and reached back to
scratch at the hand that held her as the beast began to drag her around toward
the back of the ambulance. As they reached the open doors, Thorn found herself
propelled up into the back, crashing on the cot as the creature crawled in
behind her.

“My pretty, pretty.
I am so going to enjoy you.” The creature
slurred as it used the back of its hand to wipe away the mixture of blood and
drool, which dripped off the end of its chin.

Thorn watched in horror as the thing
began to rub the front of its pants, its intent now obvious. Her heart pounded
hard in her chest, her mind racing in search of something she could use against
this thing. Jumping from the cot, she attempted to dash up to the front, hoping
to slip between the front seats and out one of the doors. Instead, the vampire
caught her shirt, ripping it from her body as it pulled her back to the cot and
beneath its large body. It groped her breast with one hand as it attempted to
pull off her pants, the entire time she slapped, scratched and screamed.

The vampire growled in frustration
when it was unable to release the buckle of her belt. Wrapping her hair around
one hand, it pulled her head backwards, intent on stilling her with a bite.
Terror gripped Thorn as she felt the heat of the creature’s breath as it
descended on the throbbing vessels of her throat. Was this truly to be her end?
Squeezing her eyes tight, Thorn waited for what she thought was inevitable.

Instantly the weight of the vampire
disappeared.
 
Opening her eyes, Thorn
watched in disbelief as a figure she recognized battled the thing. It was John.
There was something different about the man who visited her dreams, something
wild and untamed. He growled and hissed at the monster, snapping his jaws as
the two tumbled about the ground. Thorn stared at them in shock. John was
something other than human as well, she knew it for certain. Still she feared
for him. That thing had already killed two men and intended to rape and devour
her.

She crawled toward the open doors as
the two rolled out of sight. Thorn was unable to see far beyond the flash of
the ambulance lights, instead she relied on the sounds of the battle. When all
fell silent, the tension hit a nearly explosive point. Moving further back into
the unit, she waited nervously to see what would emerge from the darkness, the
beast or the man she thought she knew.

“Thorn!?”
John's voice reached her through the
whine of the winter wind causing her to shake and cry in relief.

He emerged through the darkness looking
at her from the back doors, red and white lights dancing and reflecting off the
snow in the background.
 
His face was red
with smears of what appeared to be suet, his eyes glistening as he looked at
her.

“Come here, Thorn. Let me get you out
of here and someplace safe.”

Moving as fast as she could, Thorn
exited the vehicle, crawling into him a sobbing, shivering, frozen mess. She
wanted to pretend this was all some sort of bizarre nightmare, at any moment
she would wake up, and things would be normal in her world once again. However,
she knew better than to cling to such hope, instead she clung to the only thing
Thorn had around her, John.

Thorn felt her feet leave the ground
as he scooped her up and headed toward a jeep she’d never heard arrive.
 
She stayed in his arms as he slid into the
back of the vehicle and signaled someone in the front to drive. The whole thing
seemed too much to take in at that moment and she hid her face against John's
shoulder and closed her eyes tight, attempting to block out anything but the
smell of his skin and the feel of his arms. She had no idea where they were headed
and at the moment, she could've cared less.

“We’re here, sweetie,” John said,
slowly
unwrapping
his arms from around her. “Let’s get
you inside and I’ll make certain you get a warm bed and a decent night's sleep
before we thrash this all out.
 
There's
nothing that can’t wait until morning,” he promised as he slid from the jeep
and slowly lowered her back to her feet.

Thorn wanted to argue, to complain
about him calling her sweetie, or presuming she would be here come morning,
however she just felt too tired, confused, and cold to care at this point. Instead,
she allowed him to lead her past a pair of sentries into an elevator, his hand
resting against the small of her back. It made her feel strangely safe as the
elevator descended to parts unknown. Safe was something no man other than
Thomas was ever able to make her feel and after what she’d seen tonight, she
wanted to feel safe above all else. Taking a deep breath, she suppressed all
the turmoil the night had seen fit to bring down on her. She was stronger than
this.

The next thousand steps she took at
his side brought them through long corridors and into a large circular room
occupied with three couches, a big screen television, a weight bench, and a pool
table. Spaced evenly around the entire circumference were five doors in
addition to the one they used to enter the area. No one else occupied the space.
This must some sort of dayroom she thought to herself as he guided her to the
right and through the very next opening. It was a very modest bedroom,
containing only a large bed and single dresser. Looking about a bit
apprehensive, Thorn swallowed the lump in her throat. Did this guy expect her
to simply hop into his bed? He might be sexy as hell but she didn’t know shit
about him, other than he was something more than her average male. Not only was
that a no, it was a hell no! Thorn turned and gave him her best 'I don’t think
so' attitude.

“The shower is right through that
door,” John told her. “And I’ll give you one of my t-shirts. You can have the
bed and I’ll crash on one of the couches in the other room. I suggest you lock
the door once I leave,” he added with a wide grin, which said he knew what
she
 
thought
he
intended.

“Uhm, ok,” Thorn said, looking about
a bit embarrassed about jumping to conclusions.