The Last of the Twenty: Broken Pawns

Chapter 30

Gabriel had no need for the cars built in GPS, Ethan was in essence his vampiric grandson, made by the vampire Gabriel had made himself. He could sense Ethan's location like a dog can sense home. He was close, but something was distorting Gabriel's senses. Dark magic. He pulled off the main road in sight of Mt. Chocorua, the dark flames covered the mountain's stone peak like a lit match head. He could feel its power pulsing out like radio waves, penetrating stone and flesh, calling out with a malicious melody only the supernatural could hear. Looking at the spectral flames, Gabriel smiled. Ethan was right, even if he didn't know what he was right about.

They were here.

Who "they" were was something neither Ethan nor his maker had ever known. Gabriel supposed it was time to tell, it was a secret he had kept longer than he could remember, knowledge of a race long forgotten by even the oldest vampires. Ethan had been hunting one for centuries, yes, but this was a battle much older than he could have ever imagined. And much deadlier.

Gabriel stepped out of the car. It was far too conspicuous to be of any use, and he felt he was close enough to town. Tossing the keys causally on the driver's seat, Gabriel made sure they were clearly visible and the doors unlocked. No matter what country he was in, it never took long for someone to take advantage and steal whatever car he had left behind. All the better, it kept unwanted attention off himself.

He glanced around quickly, double checking for any unwanted eyes that may catch him leaving the vehicle behind. Satisfied, he took off running, always staying in the trees alongside the road. Within minutes he was well past the mountain, the power emanating from the flames fading away to a dull whisper in his mind the further he ran.

As the roadside trees gave way to shopping centers and gas stations Gabriel slowed his pace. It was far more effective to blend into the crowds as an unknown tourist than to attempt to run and hide from humans like some action movie spy. He was far luckier than Ethan in that regard, he lacked the sheer physical size and good looks of his vampiric grandson, and therefore found blending into crowds far easier. Those who walked unnoticed were always able to notice more.

Looking like nothing more than a sight-seer, Gabriel listened closely to every conversation he passed as he walked along the side of the road. Mechanics in open garages, travelers and locals gassing their cars and trucks, humans loved to gossip. And human gossip was occasionally very valuable information. But the more he walked and the more he listened, it became abundantly clear that the town was blissfully unaware of what was taking place around and amongst them. It was both a good and bad sign.

The fire on the mountain told him whoever was here was as powerful as they were evil, the fact that the town wasn't riled up about murders or disappearances told him that person was also as smart as they were careful. Certainly much more careful than the one that had killed Ethan's maker.

Gabriel was about to give up when he felt it. A tiny ping in the back of his mind. He stopped, turning slowly to take in every inch of his surroundings. There was another vampire, a very young one, and they were close.

Normally this wouldn't surprise him, in fact Gabriel would have been more surprised to not feel another vampire in a small town, no matter what the age. But this was different, this was a young vampire unaffected by the dark fire that burned on the mountain top. He was no fool, although Gabriel wasn't a regular practitioner of magic himself, he knew exactly what that fire was. It was a summoning spell, one that captured and enslaved the minds of the supernatural.

"Where are you..." he whispered to himself, half singing the words. Gabriel didn't dare to move for fear of losing the scent, slowly turning in a circle on his heel sniffing at the air. Whoever this vampire was, it would be worth it to see them, to mark them in his mind and memorize their scent. One who could resist that level of spell could be valuable to him. Very valuable.

A light breeze blew at his face, carrying with it the vampire's scent. He stopped, staring intently in the direction of the wind. Sitting in front of a gas station was a police cruiser, its front windows rolled down and engine running. A lone figure sat in the passenger seat, face and head covered with a thick hood. No matter. Gabriel could smell her, could smell her youth, both her human youth before she was turned and her vampiric youth. She was only a few days' old, young enough to have been taken by the spell the moment she opened her eyes to her new life. He could also smell the cheap hair dye and feel her nervous energy, telling him she was trying to hide her identity. She was local.

Even better.

Someone like that could show him the roads and paths of the town, know who belonged and who was foreign. And to add to the bonus, she appeared to have an in with the local police. What a gift!

Gabriel closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in every detail of her scent and the emotions carried along with them. Then he relaxed, opening his mind, pushing his own mental energy out towards the girl, bonding himself to her mentally. It was a trick Ethan's wife Delilah was capable of, but not to the flawless degree he was. When she was old enough he would teach her to use the gift to its full potential, but for the moment she was too young and the gift too dangerous, even to her.

"Let's see what you know..." Gabriel whispered, concentrating harder on her mind. Images started flowing through his mind like a broken movie on rewind. He saw through her eyes, working his way backwards through her memories. She was standing in front of a house saying goodbye, hunting for animals in the woods at night, sitting in a small kitchen with two men, struck by a car, attacking one of the two men...

Gabriel shook his head, irritated. He didn't care about any of this, he just wanted to know who turned her. With extra effort he dug deeper, forcing the images to flow by his mind's eye faster. She was draining the blood of a man while he stabbed her with a knife, running through streets, standing naked in a room drinking blood bags, dying in a hospital bed while doctors tried desperately to hold her down, talking to one of the two men, a police officer, lying on the ground in the woods while two shadowy figures fought...

Gabriel felt a chill run down his spine. It wasn't the sight of the vampire dying that shocked him, but rather the figure who had killed him. The dark figure had easily overpowered the vampire, killing him with a sword he had literally pulled out of the air, its blade bursting into blue flames as it swung down for the killing blow. Most shocking of all, the figures eyes.

They were glowing yellow.

"Bingo." He said to himself, breaking his connection to her mind. One of the two men from her memories, the younger one, ran out of the gas station and hopped into the car juggling a huge cup of something in one hand and a couple hot dogs in the other, a piece of one hanging out of his mouth. Gabriel shuttered in disgust. "Human's..." he said, watching the two interact through the back window.

Gabriel stood silently, waiting until the car slowly backed out of its space and drove off. Through the open window he saw the young cop take a bite out of yet another disgusting hot dog. "Well... Kelly..." he said as the car passed by, "I'll be seeing you soon, until then, try to stay alive..."

Looking casual once more, Gabriel made his way slowly down the street, heading in the direction he last sensed Ethan. He hummed to himself as he walked along, visions of the dark figure with yellow glowing eyes filling his mind's eye. Ethan had led him to the right town.

Whether or not they all survived, however, wasyet to be seen.