After the Fall: A Vampire Chronicle (Book One) (13 page)

             
“You’re okay now.”

             
“But…” she sputtered. “I was attacked. They were vampires. And you killed them. You saved my life.” A sound of awe entered her voice and he was caught off guard by her spontaneous hug. She pulled back and gazed wondrously into his eyes.

             
“What are you, some kind of superhero?”

             
“No. Do you have some place to go?” He was worried. If she was homeless, she didn’t have any family. He couldn’t have her sleeping on the street, and much as he hated to admit it, he had himself in a new predicament, because she didn’t seem so out of it that she didn’t know what it was that had attacked her.

“Did you see them?” she asked in awe.
“Vampires! Real, honest to God vampires! Am I crazy?”

She certainly looked it, and Christian thought if he just left her here and she kept going
on about it, other people would think she sounded crazy and avoid her. The two vamps who got away didn’t know whether or not she had survived. They probably wouldn’t come after her. Unless they got wind of the redheaded waif who wouldn’t shut up about vampires roaming the nighttime streets of New York. He was torn. Maybe if he just took her in for the night, got her to calm down enough so she would stop babbling and putting herself in danger…

             
She was shaking her head now, in response to his question about her lodgings. “No, I don’t have any place to go. I could go to that shelter down on Church Street. I’ve been there a few times and it’s fairly clean and fairly safe. They are not going to believe what happened to me tonight!”

             
Great. She was still at it. Christian sighed. He couldn’t have her yapping to anyone and everyone about what had happened. Even if most people dismissed it as the ramblings of a crazy person, the wrong someone might hear her and believe. That wrong someone included any vampires lurking around the city. There was only one thing he could do.

             
“Come. You can stay with me tonight.”

             
“But who are you?”

             
“I’m someone who’s trying to save your life.” He started walking, and the girl started following him. Lorenzo was going to kill him. He frowned.

             
“By the way, my name is Christian. What’s your name?” he asked.

             
The girl smiled, cold and empty, when she answered, but Christian didn’t see.

             
“I’m Angel.”

              Caroline was asleep in his bedroom when Christian got back, and Angel fell asleep soon after on the roll-away cot he set up next to the bed. He and Lorenzo convened in the sitting room.

             
“You did the right thing,” Lorenzo tried to reassure Christian, but the frown and worried look on the old man’s face belied his words.

             
“She’s not safe,” Christian repeated. “I couldn’t just leave her to get herself killed.”

             
“I know,” Lorenzo sighed. “And I mean it. You did the right thing. It’s just awkward. I don’t know how we can explain to Brother Anselm having to divulge our secrets to two civilians in less than a month. It’s simply unacceptable.”

             
“Well, maybe we don’t have to tell her everything,” Christian said. Lorenzo pursed his lips for a second, thoughtful, and then nodded.

             
“Yes, I agree,” he said. “We don’t have to tell her what we do. We don’t have to tell her about Manus Dei or the Master Hunter or any of that. Obviously she knows about vampires, so if she keeps talking about it, we can confirm that and stress the importance of keeping quiet about that knowledge, and just tell her that we fight them.”

             
“I don’t know if she’ll buy that,” Lorenzo continued, sounding worried. “But I suppose it’ll have to do.”

             
“Okay, well, I’ll tell Caroline in the morning,” Christian said. “She’ll understand. And who knows? Maybe Angel will be someone Caroline can finally talk to.”

             
He hadn’t meant that last part to come out as bitterly as it did. Lorenzo heard it, but decided to ignore it.

             
“You’re tired, Christian. Get some sleep. We’ll deal with this in the morning.”

Christian sighed heavily and Lorenzo waited for him to say what was weighing on his mind.

“It’s just,” Christian said thoughtfully, “that sometimes I think there must be somebody better for this job.”

Lorenzo put his hand on top of Christian’s, and the weight of it was comforting, even as his words were not.

“My son… there isn’t.”

              Caroline was sitting up in bed when Angel awoke. She had already spoken to Christian and had agreed to keep his and Lorenzo’s secrets, but she was curious about her new roommate, especially since she was so familiar.

             
“I know you,” Caroline said as Angel sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It took her a moment to focus, to wake up, but when she did, her eyes lit up with recognition.

             
“I bumped into you on the street,” Caroline continued. “You said something really weird and freaked me out.”

             
The girl gave a short laugh.

             
“Sorry about that.”

             
“And now you’re here,” Caroline mused. “This really is a small world, huh?”

             
“Definitely.”

             
It was strange, running into Angel again. Caroline didn’t believe in coincidences, but stranger things had happened. All she knew was that as much as she enjoyed Chris and Lorenzo’s company, it was nice to have a new face around. A female face around. No matter how close you got to a guy, there were just some things only another female would ever understand. From where she was sitting, Caroline heard Angel’s stomach grumble. She smiled.

             
“Let’s go get something to eat, okay?” Caroline suggested, getting up. “I’m starved.”

Chapter Eleven

Christian left the suite as soon as it was dark, but he waited until midnight before he made his way to the scene of the murder that had taken place the other day downtown. The police tape was still up, but the crowd was gone, as were the police. He decided against going into the apartment; he didn’t want to disturb any evidence, on the off chance that any was left behind. Besides, he already knew what he would find: the white chalk body outline, always disturbing, and dried blood. Dried blood everywhere.

             
He passed a drunken couple on the sidewalk. New York City, the city that never sleeps. No wonder the Master Vampire had come here. Manhattan was the perfect feeding ground. Long after dusk, even into the wee hours of the morning, the city was alive with people going to bars, to parties, to work. New York knew no off time. Two in the morning was as good a time as any to do your grocery shopping, and only in New York would you find a grocery store open at that hour. And so many people like Angel – no home, no family, no friends – who would never even be missed once they were gone.

             
Christian walked around a bit more before heading back to the hotel. He was a few blocks away when he realized he wasn’t alone; someone was keeping pace with him from behind, and suddenly, two black figures materialized out of the darkness in front of him, another on a fire escape above him. He stopped walking, watching as they approached. Unsure of whether they were simply muggers or creatures of a more unnatural sort, Christian watched as one passed under the white light of a streetlamp, outlining the harsh features of his face and the sharp fangs in his mouth.

             
“You guys picked the perfect night to show up,” he said to himself, as he crouched down low, ready to attack. “I’m just itching for a fight.”

             
Christian watched as they slowly circled him. He grabbed a stake from a hidden pouch in his pants leg. He was attacked from behind, but he was prepared. Vampires were notoriously unimaginative when they fought. He had learned to know what to expect in a fight. He easily flipped the vampire over his back, knocking over another in the process. A quick thrust of his arm, and one vanished into dust. Using his legs and fists as weapons, Christian defended himself against a simultaneous side and frontal attack. A swift kick to the solar plexus of one vamp doubled him over, an easy target for the pointy end of Christian’s stake. An uppercut and sweeping leg kick made quick work of yet another.

Fifteen minutes more, and the fourth vampire had now joined his companions as dust on the already dirty New York street. Christian quickly scanned his surroundings for more attackers, breathing hard and fast, a stitch in his side. They all seemed to be gone. Something was dripping into his eye. He wiped it away with his hand, but found that it wasn’t sweat – it was blood. One of the vamps must have gotten a decent shot in. Everything seemed quiet now, though, and he decided to head back to the hotel. Now that his adrenaline rush was dying down, he was starting to hurt all over. Grimacing, he began the long walk home.
Another night, another fight. If he was lucky, he’d get to do it all over again tomorrow.

While Christian continued walking towards his hotel, someone watched. High above him, on a dark catwalk overlooking a dark alley, a dark figure materialized out of the shadows. Slowly, he lit a cigarette, his silver lighter glinting in the small, red glowing of the burning tip. He brought the cigarette to his mouth, watching as Christian disappeared into the night, before disappearing into the shadows himself.

Chapter Twelve

“Are you in pain?” Lorenzo asked as he bandaged Christian’s knee.

              “No,” Christian answered through grit teeth.

             
“Then why are you gripping my shoulder so hard?
I’m
in pain.”

             
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, releasing the old man’s shoulder. One of the vampires had delivered a hard blow to his knee the night before; it had connected right with his kneecap. Christian was sure he’d be black and blue for awhile.

             
“How many did you say there were last night?” Lorenzo asked as he taped the bandage in place.

             
“Four,” Christian got out as he winced in pain. Caroline walked into the room with some more bandages, and though Lorenzo knew Christian was still in pain, saw it still swimming in his eyes, he stopped moaning and visibly wincing.

             
“How are you?” she asked, her voice heavy with concern.

             
“Much better,” Christian lied through his teeth. Lorenzo tried not to smile. Christian was not the macho type, but apparently, he didn’t want Caroline to know just how much of a baby he could be.

Angel continued to hang around, though she flitted in and out like the homeless waif she appeared to be. She no longer seemed to be in danger of running her mouth about vampires, but she and Caroline had bonded and were starting to spend time together. As much as Lorenzo did not like having another civilian in their midst, he knew that the female companionship was something Caroline had missed, now that her mother and sisters were gone. They had moved all
the research into the room Lorenzo and Christian now shared in the suite, which they kept locked, or back to Saint Joseph’s, and continued to keep Angel as much in the dark as possible.

As for Caroline and Christian, though, they had actually stopped fighting as much. Lorenzo hated to admit that he had not seen Christian so happy since Caroline came. They would not be able to stay friends, but their time together seemed to be doing the Hunter good.

              “Four vampires is a lot for one night,” Lorenzo said, trying to get back to the conversation. “They seem to be stepping up their activity. This is good.”

             
Caroline frowned in confusion.

             
“How is that good?”

             
“It means they’re getting nervous,” Christian answered. “It means we’re getting close.”

             
Angel walked into the room just then. While she had become a fixture at the hotel and a companion to Caroline, she still seemed a stranger to Lorenzo and Christian, probably because they only told her what they deemed necessary for her to know. For her part, Angel never asked any questions. She seemed quite content to just have a bed to sleep in and food to eat.