Maxim Darko: The Greatest Gift of Evil. A Vampire Chronicle

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT ENDLESS ESCAPES

Ten-feet above the ground, Maxim leapt gracefully from the rain spout, and softly alighted on the cobblestoned courtyard. To his surprise, he alighted in the middle of a crowd. Look before you leap. He grimly thought of the ancient adage, before reacting to his dire situation. Three-feet away from him, two police officers, and two of The Archbishop's security agents were kneeling over the old man he had killed. The large crowd of onlookers, who had gathered around to gawk at the ghastly murder scene, surrounded Maxim.

"A monster!" Someone in the crowd screamed. A wave of panic rapidly spread through the crowd. "The monster killed that poor man!" The crowd collectively panicked. Men, women, and children alike screamed in terror, and began to scatter. Frightened mothers pulled their children into their arms to keep them from being trampled underfoot.

One of the security agent's eyes opened wide with surprise when he saw Maxim. "There's the beast! Get him!" He reached for his pistol.

The two police officers began to charge Maxim, but hesitated when they saw the blood drenched, black scaled monster crouched before them.

That was all the time Maxim needed. He began to run.

After the police officers recovered from their initial shock, they un-holstered their Glocks. In frustration, they pointed the muzzles of their guns at the ground. They couldn't risk shooting. Maxim's black form was already deeply entangled in the sea of people.

As Maxim fled, his claws fully extended. He started to violently throw anyone blocking his way to the ground. A path of innocent bystanders lay bleeding on the cobblestones. The hell-born shrieks exploding from his throat further terrorized the crowd. In a panic, the crowd parted to make way for him. Within seconds, Maxim was running through the courtyard arch between the Cathedral, and the quarters building. Leaving, a trail of carnage behind him.

The police officers pursued him through the crowd, while the agents ran to their powerful Mercedes AMG-GT sedan.

Maxim put on a surge of speed to distance his body from the Cathedral, its holy power was slowly burning through his scales. He burst onto the sidewalk in front of the Cathedral and ran full speed into the mid-day traffic of the Rue de NotreDame. Horns blasted. And cars bumped into one another to avoid the beast, who had just run onto the avenue. The fastest of the police officers, chased Maxim into the traffic.

Upon hearing the commotion, Ciril and Ahad left Bodashka hanging on the organ pipes and rushed outside. They hurried down the Cathedrals grand stairs, just in time to see an SUV run into Maxim. From the force of the SUV's impact, his scaled body soared into the air, and over the car in front of him. On his way back to Earth, his falling body disappeared into the mass of traffic on the avenue.

"Finally, he is ours," Ciril said in anticipation of Maxim's ultimate capture.

Ahad ignored his Father and charged headlong into the traffic. Ciril smiled with pride, at his Son's aggressiveness. He drew the Taser from inside of his coat and waded into the traffic. Horns blasted from some cars, while other drivers dove to the floors of their vehicles, in fear of the unfolding chaos.

The sudden loud thump of the SUV hitting Maxim, caused the lead police officer to lose focus. Maxim's soaring body drew his eyes to the sky. It was a fatal mistake. A sturdy Volvo barreled into him, slamming his body to the street. A speeding Audi rear-ended the Volvo. Before the Volvo's driver could stop, her front tire rolled over the police officer's rib-cage. A sickening bone fracturing sound seeped out from under the tire. The police officer gasped for breath. The driver stepped out of her Volvo to see if she could help. The injured police officer's partner cried out in fear. He pushed the frantic Volvo driver out of his way and kneeled next to his partner's broken body. The police officer hung his head in anguish. There was nothing he could do. His partner lay crushed beneath the wheel of the heavy car.

One car length ahead of the Volvo, Maxim rolled to his feet into a crouching position. He put his hands on the hood in the car in front of him and raised his head just high enough to survey the scene. Immediately upon seeing the kneeling police officer, he hit him hard with a telepathic burst. The unconscious police officer collapsed to the pavement. Two down, Maxim thought.

In his peripheral vision, he detected Ahad, and Ciril weaving through the cars. You must wait my friends. He saw no use in wasting his telepathic energy on the pair, who were immune to his powers.

Maxim saw the two security agents forcing black their Mercedes into the flow of traffic. He was about to hit them with a telepathic burst but thought of a better idea. He slammed his hand on the hood of the car he was hiding in front of, and mouthed, "Thank you," to the driver of the car.

The driver's mouth opened, but nothing came out. His white knuckles gripped the steering wheel. He tried but could not will his hands to let go. Maxim grinned, fully displaying his blood drenched fangs. The driver's heart was in his mouth. Maxim was in his element. He was enjoying the chase along with the accompanying adrenalin rush. To the driver's everlasting relief, Maxim ducked out of sight. Racing forward in a crouch, Maxim managed to stay hidden from Ciril and Ahad. He slowed when he spotted a blue truck, with German writing, and a picture of a herring on its back door. That one is going out of town, he thought. He dove and rolled under the truck. Wiggling over, he centered his body on the truck's frame, and willed his body to levitate upwards. Once his body contacted metal, it began to mold itself to the under-carriage of the truck.

As always, the coming coma caused his body, and mind to relax. The overdose of adrenaline began to drain from his body. For the first time in a while, he felt his skin ache from the holy water burns. Before his body completely sealed itself to the truck. He sent a telepathic burst at his pursuers in the Mercedes. Your prey is in the red semi-truck headed west towards France. Follow it.

A split-second later, both security agents said, "The red truck. I saw him get on the red truck!" The driver forced the Mercedes to the far-left side of the avenue and followed the turning red truck.

The driver of the blue truck floored his accelerator when he was free of the traffic jam and headed north. He had a schedule to keep, and wanted nothing to do with the police, and their never-ending paperwork.

Maxim further relaxed when he felt the truck accelerate. As the last scale sealed his body off from the atmosphere, tears formed in his eyes. He was thinking of Bodashka's beautiful smile, and her warm embrace. So much wasted time. So much loneliness in my life. Mustafa, you shall suffer a thousand deaths, before I let you die.

He took a moment to reflect on the past week's events. I can't run any longer. My only way out of this is to finish off Mustafa's family, and his allies. The other thing I must do is destroy all records of Mangata's dark magic. No one must know of the power; a vampire's blood possesses.

Thick, dark scales involuntarily eased out from his skull, to protect his eyes during the long journey ahead. As the scales sealed out the light, they trapped the tears in Maxim's eyes...and his sadness. Before losing consciousness, Maxim's final thought was: The loneliness is always the worst. His body entered into the healing of the deep, self-induced coma.

Chaos swirled around Ciril and Ahad, as they desperately searched for any sign of Maxim in the traffic jam. Disregarding the scared, and frustrated drivers around him, Ciril raised his arms to the sky, and roared in rage. For the second time that day, Ciril was left wanting in Luxembourg City.