First Job (Chronicles of the Moonshine Wizard) (2 page)

             
It wasn't that Bert was afraid of the dark, it had never really bothered him before. This time, however, that fear that children have about monsters in the dark was quite real. If the Boss's information was correct, then there was a human killing monster hiding in the darkness. For the first time ever, Bert was experiencing just how truly terrifying that could be.

             
He was impressed with the professionalism and skill of the bounty hunters. Their nerves seemed iron cold. There wasn't the least hint of fear as they went through a practiced dance of slowly lighting and sweeping the house. As Bert's head came closer to one of the lights, he realized that there was the putrid stink of garlic filtering off of it. That must be how they keep the vampires from taking down the lights, he thought.

             
He was also impressed with the fact that he couldn't hear the other half of the team. They must have entered in an area with better floors. Still though, he was surprised they couldn't hear them or see their lights.

             
The Boss suddenly stopped and held up his hand. Bert held his position and started calling more energy to his shield. The feeling that something might be wrong slithered into his mind.

              The Boss suddenly spoke up, “Jack Anderson! We know you're in here! Surrender! This doesn't have to get ugly!”

             
Bert's innards twisted in fright as the sickening laughter responded from the darkness.

             
“You wish for me to surrender human? That's what you want?” the voice paused and then continued, “But what do I get in return? Hmm? Will you let me feast upon one of your underlings?”
              “No.” said the Boss firmly.

             
“Oh?” said the vampire from the darkness, “But perhaps you don't have a say in the matter. Your boys in the back are now my hostages. There is nothing you can do to stop me from draining the life blood from their veins.”

             
“Your fangs touch any of them, and I'll watch you burn.” said the Boss calmly, but Bert got the feeling he meant it.

             
“Is that so?” asked the vampire, “Well, we seem to find ourselves in a bit of a standoff then, don't we? The first problem, you see, is that I'm quite simply not going to one of the Hand's infamous prisons. That just isn't going to happen.”

             
“And the second problem?” asked the Boss.

             
“Well, the second problem is that I have the hunger. I have it something mighty fierce.” the vampire said with a cackling southern drawl. “I have the hunger bounty hunter, and sometimes the hunger is just too much. You know, maybe I could control it. Just maybe. But...”

             
“But what?” asked the Boss through gritted teeth. Bert knew that his patience was running out.

             
The vampire laughed, “But I don't think they can.”

             
The walls suddenly exploded, showering them in debris and drywall dust. From within the walls the vampires poured out and onto them. Bert never had time to respond, as the form of two vampires knocked him from his feet. His staff clanked to the floor next to him, but he managed to hold on to his shotgun. The vampires' momentum carried them right over top of him, and he struggled to regain his feet.

             
He glanced over to see that Rogue was also down as a vampire attempted to pin her arms. She rolled to her back and tucked herself into a ball, pushing her feet into the monster's chest. Bert could see the light glinting from its fangs as it pushed toward her face. She suddenly kicked both feet up, and broke free from its grasp.

             
The Boss seemed to have never lost his footing, but was facing off with a vampire hand to hand. From out of the darkness came the vampire they were there to catch screaming, “Die hunter!”

             
It plowed into the Boss, and they both hit the ground in a squirming pile.

             
Bert found that to his surprise, the vampires attacking him weren't all that strong. As one closed in, he realized that they appeared malnourished. Of course, he thought, they are living off the grid and only snacking on people. They would have had to be careful about who they took, and covering their tracks. They probably didn't get a lot of opportunities to feed.

             
He proved his point by punching the closest one in the face and knocking it to the ground. Unfortunately, vampires didn't hurt as easily as humans and it was right back on the attack. He punched another one, and realized that fighting this way was pointless.

             
Glancing up, he saw that the Boss was getting pinned down. Rogue wasn't doing much better, but she was managing to evade their grasps.

             
Bert grabbed the nearest attacking vampire and swung it awkwardly into the next one. They stumbled clumsily, but didn't fall. Before they could recover, he turned and shoulder charged one of the vampires attacking Rogue. This helped clear some of the pressure off her, but the vampire clutched on to Bert and dragged him down as he fell.

             
Bert glanced up and saw that the Boss was completely pinned. The target vampire was moving in for the kill, he was hefting a broken piece of wall eager to smash into the Boss's face. Bert swung the short shot gun like a blunt weapon smashing it into the skull of the vampire pulling him down. The vampire fell away, but continued grabbing at him. It gave him the free moment he needed to lift the gun and fire it into the gut of the target. The gun made a deafening roar, and the impact knocked the vampire off of the Boss.

             
Back to his own problems, Bert slammed the gun down in the face of the vampire that was clutching him once again. He leaned up and swung it around cracking it into the face of another of the vampires charging him.

             
Rogue's gun suddenly went off with a thunderous boom. A moment later it went off again. The vampires were falling away from her screaming. The Boss was back to his knees and was reaching for his shotgun. The target decided to run. He vaulted over the Boss, sprinted past Rogue, and pushed Bert out of his way.

             
“The target!” screamed the Boss.

             
Bert glanced up to see the target running for the front door. Bert pushed a vampire away and charged after him, while calling his staff to his hand. It was a little wizard trick that he had practiced until he had it perfected. Despite the darkness, debris, and bodies, the staff lifted through the air and shot into his hand.

             
The target screamed, “I'd rather die than go to jail!”

             
Bert knew he could never catch him before he stepped out into the sunlight and killed himself.

             
Still sprinting, the target reached for the door knob. Time slowed down, as the vampire began swinging open the door. The first crack of daylight was already searing his face. He was still pushing forward when Bert released a small burst of raw energy from his staff. It slammed the door closed, and the vampire's momentum carried him into it face first. There was a violent smack and he fell to the ground. Much to Bert's surprise, the rickety old door held.

             
The vampire didn't move, but he approached it cautiously anyway. It took a lot more to render a vampire unconscious than it did a human. He called power to his staff and began preparing a lightning bolt. As far as attack magic went, Bert was best with lightning.

             
He heard the vampire let out a low growl, and as it sprang for him, Bert released the lightning bolt. A small electrical current, not much more than a stun gun, shot through the vampire's body. He fell back to the ground and stared back up at Bert with a surprised look on his face.

             
Bert put the end of his staff up to the vampire's forehead and started drawing power to himself again. As Bert drew power, his eyes began to glow bright blue. The vampire looked up into the glimmering blue eyes, a look of understanding crossed his face.

             
“Wizard.” he said, with a sound of both fear and disgust.

             
“Yup.” said Bert.

             
The vampires struggling with Rogue and the Boss stopped and simply stood up, starring at Bert with horror.

             
“But you can't be all too powerful,” said the vampire thoughtfully, “You're just a young one.”

             
Bert pressed the end of his wizard staff against the vampire's forehead a little harder, and said, “You sure you wanna find out?”
              The vampire stared at him with malice, but said nothing.

             
“Now then,” said Bert, “No one has to die here today. You still have a chance for a fair trial, but that all depends on if our friends are still alive.”

             
The vampire glared at him, and yelled, “Bring them out!”

             
There was a clutter of sound as several more vampires came out of the back leading the other three members of the team. They weren't happy, but they didn't appear to be in any worse shape. They were missing their guns, and the vampires didn't seem interested in letting them go.

             
“Now,” said Bert, “Tell the rest of your pals to come out from hiding.”

             
“Oh?” said the vampire with a devious smile, “You want to see the rest of my friends eh?”

             
The vampire laughed and then yelled, “Come on out boys and girls! Come meet our new friends!”

             
More walls began crumbling, and more vampires began crawling out. They didn't just come from the walls, but from the ceiling and the floor as well. They poured into the room. Bert stared around in horror as he realized that there was at least thirty or forty of them. The vampire at his feet began laughing again, that sickening cackle made Bert's skin crawl.

             
The Boss quickly stepped over by him and placed a cylinder device on the wall next to the door. Bert wasn't sure what it was, but he assumed that it was a small bomb that would drop the wall and let in daylight, were the vampires to overrun them.  Bert started drawing more power to himself. If things went south he could probably take the boards off one of the windows with a solid burst of energy.

             
“It seems like we are in a good position to make a deal. Eh, Wizard?” asked the cackling vampire.

             
Bert let loose a small amount of lightning through the tip of staff, causing another minor shock in the vampire. He took it in stride, and began laughing again.

             
He turned his head toward the boss and said, “You are obviously the one in charge. How much do you care about your team, huh? My friends will rip them to shreds before you could ever get to them. Let me go and your team lives. It's them or me hunter! Which do you want more?”

             
Bert glanced over at the others. The target was right. There was absolutely no way that they could get through the horde of vampires before the unarmed men were killed. He glanced over toward Rogue. She was standing between several vampires herself, but her hand slid to what looked like a grenade on her belt.

             
The Boss glanced at the target and said, “I don't ever let a target get away... Ever.”

             
As soon as he finished the sentence, Rogue was already moving. She hurled the grenade right at their allies. A puff of yellow smoke filled the area, and vampires fell away choking and screaming. It was Garlic! Bert was so surprised by the idea of a garlic grenade that he didn't realize until too late that yet another vampire was shooting through the wall at him. He was knocked from his feet, while the target regained to his.

             
Before Bert could warn him, the target jumped on the Boss's back and tried to sink his fangs into the Boss’s throat. Fortunately, the entire team had covered their necks with garlic cream. As the vampire's face moved in close it got a whiff and pulled away in disgust. The Boss spun and threw an elbow into the vampire's nose. Another vampire speared him in the stomach and he went down hard.

             
The target ran toward the back of house, and Bert followed. As he ran through the chaos there was an explosion behind him. He felt the daylight cross his shoulder. Vampires were screaming all around him as the sun burnt them alive.

             
Bert hit the hallway about a second after the vampire, but he was losing ground. He hefted his shotgun and fired at the back of the vampire's legs. The blast tripped him up, but didn't put him down. Bert tackled him at full speed. They both smashed through a small door, falling into a bedroom.

             
Bert was still struggling with the target, but the vampire was laughing beneath him. It was then he realized that there were three other vampires in the room. He had walked right into a trap.