Dead Surround - The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles (19 page)

“Go see what they want.” To Maclemar Poe had never looked so beautiful. Her black hair, billowing about her and framing her large eyes and much kissed lips, made his heart skip a beat. He punched the bed and reluctantly pulled out between her legs.

Maclemar stepped into his boxers and jeans then looked over his shoulder. Poe was safely hidden under the sheet. He opened the door only to see the master vampire himself leaning against the door frame.

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“Sainvire,” Maclemar said with disgust. “Of course it had to be you.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Sainvire began. His voice was calm, too calm for the awkward moment. “But I need to talk to Poe for a minute.”

“You expect me to leave this trailer, do you?”

“Yes, I do,” said Sainvire. He met the Welshman’s dark gaze.

Not wanting to be alone with the master vampire in near nakedness, Poe quickly said, “Um, whatever you need to say to me, you can say in front of Maclemar here.”

“No need, luv. I’m not the jealous type. I’ll wait outside,” said Maclemar. He let the vampire enter. He shut the door behind him and walked outside barefoot to join the patient Penny and Chops sitting dutifully under a redwood tree.

Poe peeked out from under the blanket. “What is it?”

Sainvire, seeming to compose himself, bore his gray eyes into hers. She wished Maclemar had turned off the lights. “They’re having problems inducing the birth. Megan will need to have a Caesarean soon or her life and the child’s will be compromised.”

“What can I do?” Poe asked. She sat up quickly and forgot about her nakedness. Sainvire caught an eyeful of perky breasts before she could cover herself once more. It dawned on her, despite the gravity of the situation, that Sainvire had seen her nude before.

No time to be shy. She flung the sheets away and reached for her clothes. Before Sainvire she dressed herself. She could feel the vampire’s eyes following her every movement.

Do you still desire me, Kaleb?

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Sainvire stood motionless in the sweltering trailer, but his sharp eyes never missed an inch of skin, curvature of the neck and thighs, or toss of hair that drove him to hunger. At that moment he despised Maclemar for having what he couldn’t.

“Okay, so what now?” asked Poe, breathless.

She could barely contain her lust for him.
Two
beautiful men in the span of twenty minutes?
What a
slut
.

“The hospitals within a thirty-mile radius have been ransacked many times by our people. The supplies the midwife needs are depleted. Three of us will go north to San Jose to borrow medical provisions. The hospital we’re targeting lies in Peter Newbitt’s jurisdiction. There might be some trouble, and we’ll need a sure-shot like you on the team.” The vampire spoke while his predatory eyes watched Poe carefully. Her long black hair and tousled appearance drove him to ball his fist.

“When are we leaving?” Poe asked. She draped her black bra on and hooked it from behind. There was a time when Poe didn’t even consider wearing such luxuries because no one had told her to. Sainvire remembered the days all too well.

“Right away. You may want to know that this is a night job. We need to operate on Megan as soon as possible. We’ll need anesthetics most of all.” His eyes drew together in anger. The girl was standing in front of him in her underwear like a goddess. She’d just coupled with Maclemar, a warm-blooded man of decent character. Sainvire could smell their scent in the heat of the room. He had never felt such jealousy in his long life as a man and vampire.

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Poe pulled on her dark shirt and stepped into her olive green pants. Sainvire watched her double-knot her Adidas. “Let me get my gear,” she said. She walked briskly past him and let herself out of the oppressive trailer.



More than half the camp had been deployed to their new locations. The 400 had been split to ensure a better rate of survival. Sainvire quartered the 175

remaining survivors and ordered them to stand ready for deployment. Mechanics worked around the clock on buses and RVs. They gave each vehicle the Mad Max treatment by applying gratings and metal sidings coated with garlic oil to deflect bullets and hungry vamps. The allies understood that the destinations would be kept secret from each group in case of capture. No one could give up vital information under duress or torture.

Buses and trucks stuffed with bug-eyed passengers traveling alongside barnyard animals that could fit through the door evacuated when Joseph and Morales deemed it safe. Moving had never been easy for both ex-cattle and vampire escorts, and the last trip was no exception.

Roughly thirty-five warm-blooded people and ten vampires, those willing to wait for Megan to have her child, were still in Gilroy. To Poe’s surprise Michelle and her club members were the first to volunteer to be among the last. Many others stayed because they could only feel safe with Sainvire and Joseph, who represented tangible power and fealty to human plight.

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The mood in the desolate camp was of high-strung fretfulness, as if they expected to be the fattened veal sacrifice for the new head honcho. Men and women carried their duffel bags and luggage with them at all times, and some had corralled their animals in case of a quick exit. A monster was coming. It was in the air. It was in their arthritic bones.

Megan was ensconced in the sick room. She was ashen and pinched by the infant that refused to leave her body.

“If Miriam doesn’t perform a C-section, Megan will lose her life and her baby,” Morales whispered outside the makeshift birthing room. His face had taken its toll from many a wakeful night anticipating the birth that refused to happen. “The trouble is the midwife has never performed one in her life.”

“She’ll do fine. We’ll get the supplies. No problem,” said Poe.

“Yeah. We’ll be back in a jiffy,” said Michelle who was wearing fatigues.

The team consisted of Sainvire, Poe, and Michelle.

Jenna, who had never once spoken to Poe, turned to Sainvire. “Why can’t I come? I would be better at this than these two regulars,” she said in an offended voice. She looked at Poe. “And I don’t mean any disrespect by that, ladies.”

“None taken,” mumbled Poe.

Sainvire steered her away from the group and draped an arm around her shoulder. “I told you, Jenna. I never leave my people without a strong vampire to look after things when I’m away.”

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“There’s Joseph,” she said, and she gazed at Poe once again.

“Joseph will be with Megan. Listen. Just please do this for me,” implored the master vampire with his hypnotic gray eyes until she nodded her assent.

“Sometimes,” Jenna said, “It feels like you’re using me. I’m a master vampire, too, if you remember.”

Sainvire cradled her face and gave her a brief kiss.

Poe, who’d been watching the exchange between the two striking vampires, felt ill from unrequited passion. Hard as she tried to forget him, Sainvire still weighed heavily in her heart.

“Joseph and I appreciate your help, guys,” said Morales to Poe and Michelle. His voice cracked.

“He’s in there with her now. Won’t leave her side.”

Poe got on tiptoes, kissed Morales on the cheek, and gave him the warmest hug she could muster.

“It’ll be okay, dear friend,” she whispered in his ear.

“Let’s go,” said Sainvire who stood behind Morales. He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and said, “All will be well, my friend.”

Michelle took the helm of a black Mini Cooper that proved too small for the three of them. Poe was surprised that Sainvire’s legs fit inside the vehicle at all. The compact car, serviced by Maclemar, was the perfect size to zigzag through the stranded cars on the Pacheco Pass and onto the crowded 101 Freeway to San Jose. The confident young woman drove with ease even when the sky turned dark and she had to don night vision goggles.

Sainvire sat in the passenger seat and was monosyllabic to say the least. He only spoke when a direct question was asked. Michelle shrugged and began interrogating Poe.

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“So you hid out all those years since you were eight?”

“Yeah. Until I discovered an underground bomb shelter. Then I lived there until a couple years ago.”

“Were you shitting your pants?”

“All the frikkin’ time,” said Poe. “I used to stutter, too. I was a mess. Scrounging for food was the scariest. But hey, being cattle is no picnic, either.”

“Nope,” Michelle agreed, bobbing her curly hair.

“Being drugged-out was horrible. I was aware of leeches up on me, but I couldn’t snap out of the fog to defend myself. It was like I was being held underwater. Thank God I never got pregnant. I don’t think I could get over that.”

The conversation ended. Something crunchy slammed into the tiny car and cracked the windshield.

“What was that?” asked Poe. She massaged her forehead after hitting the back of Michelle’s seat.

Jolted, she put on her seatbelt after the fact. She prayed that it wasn’t another half-starved country vamp.

“Keep driving, Michelle,” said Sainvire. “It was a Revenent who won’t be getting up anytime soon.”

“Revs? That’s bad news.”

“It’s the third I’ve seen,” said the vampire.

“That means Trench is close, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” was all Sainvire said. He calmly laced his fingers together. The enemy commonly dumped Revenents as a tactic to clear the way in advance of a main assault.

Poe adjusted her goggles and shivered.

“I hate those things,” Poe said.

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“Never got too close myself, but they’re creepy fuckers alright,” said Michelle. “You’ve had dealings with them?”

“Yes. On Maclemar’s boat. I was chained up, and all of a sudden they were dropped on the deck and started attacking me. What a nightmare.”

“Maclemar chained you up?” asked Sainvire in a curious voice.

Poe cleared her throat. “Well yeah. He didn’t trust people who—”

“Who what?” he asked. He turned his head to look back at her.

“You know. Who are friends with vampires and all that.”

“Friends?” Michelle asked. “You mean—”

“Yeah,” finished Poe. “He was a real asshole to me.”

“Glad to know you’re on kissing terms now,”

said the vampire with sarcasm.

Michelle guffawed, and she narrowly missed a motorcycle spilled out on the road. “Oops. So you and Maclemar are an item.”

Not liking the thread of conversation, Poe said rudely, “I’m with nobody, Michelle.”

“I thought you don’t lie, Poe,” said the master vampire.

Poe seethed quietly. She resolved never to speak again during the journey, but she soon couldn’t help herself. “It was only sex, and we didn’t even finish because some jerk interrupted us,” she said and added, “Not that it’s any of your business.”

Michelle’s eyebrows rose, but she kept her mouth shut. The drama unfolding before her was too good to interrupt.

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“You’re right,” Sainvire said. “It’s none of my business, but I just have to emphasize for you to use precaution. This isn’t the time to be having children, Poe.”

“Don’t worry about me. I don’t menstruate. That means I’ll never have babies.” Her nostrils flared.

“You ought to think about you and Jenna instead of bothering with me and Maclemar. You’re more likely to spawn little dead babies than me.”

Their argument ended when the Mini ran over two Revenents that had thrown themselves in front of the car. After a few bumps the car was stuck. “Make sure your guns have silencers,” said Sainvire while getting out of the car.

He lifted the Mini by the fender and pulled out the mangled bodies underneath. The Revs were already in the process of clicking back together. The nail on his forefinger shot up twelve inches long, and with brevity he cut off their leathery necks. From the darkness a flying vamp swooped down and hurled Sainvire onto a rickety van, and his body left a deep imprint on the metal.

Poe and Michelle got out of the car at the same time. They looked up in the air and around the vicinity for others but found none. They couldn’t help Sainvire. The two vampires fought like feral cats in fast forward mode.

Sainvire grabbed his nemesis by the throat and slammed him against a concrete road barrier. “I’m going to kill you, Sainvire, if it’s the last thing I do!”

screamed the vampire like a ridiculous cartoon charter. He was half-a-head shorter than Sainvire. “I used to be a Council member. Now I’m a fucking scout for Nesbitt and Trench!”

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“You should’ve joined us, Umberto. You can sniff out lies. You know Plasmacore is the best thing for the vampire race.”

Umberto Dali kicked Sainvire in the crotch and hurled him to the ground. His handsome face contorted and ugly from rage, he bitterly said, “We don’t want science, you fool! We want power. We want the old ways!”

Dali, an old-fashioned vampire in every way, procured a dagger from his belt and threw himself at Sainvire who quickly rolled out of the way. Sainvire got on his feet and faced Dali. “The old way’s empty.

And it’s dead.”

“It’s dead because you killed it, you of an insignificant bloodline!” Umberto Dali lunged at Sanvire again, but this time the gray-eyed vampire stepped quickly away in time to sever the ex-councilman’s left hand, the one holding the dagger.

Sainvire’s worker hands stoppered Dali’s curdling scream.

“That’s the kind of prejudicial thinking that’s going to wipe out your kind, Dali,” said Sainvire.

“The antiquated notion of Euro birthright is all in the past. In the new world we’re creating, humans will have the same rights as vampires no matter their background.”

“Your fucking idea—” The master vampire cracked Umberto’s head and quickly sliced it off before he could finish his thoughts. “Fleabag,” said Sainvire.

Poe watched Sainvire sling Dali’s body over his warped shoulder and pick up the head. He stuffed Dali into the back of the van he had dented minutes before. He threw the dead Revenents in there with 175