Supernatural Fresh Meat - By Alice Henderson Page 0,43
around for the other vampire who had hightailed it. She could be circling around like Rockabilly had just done. Something whizzed by his ear, thunking into the trunk of a tree right next to him. He snapped his head that way, seeing a crossbow bolt thrumming in the wood.
“I’m on it!” Marta shouted, and tucked and rolled as another crossbow bolt hit the dirt when it missed her head. Sam caught movement in the corner of his eye and saw the last vampire, standing up on a small hill, putting another bolt in the weapon. Marta was on her so fast that Sam almost couldn’t believe it. Marta thrust a leg out, kicking the vampire in the chest and knocking her down. Marta punched her in the trachea, then brought the machete down on her neck. Sam heard a sickening shick and the head came rolling down the hill, landing at Leather Jacket’s feet.
He really looked nervous now, glancing around for an escape route. Bobby advanced, gripping the machete, while Sam circled around. Leather Jacket turned to run away, but Sam intercepted him. He felt the chainsaw bite into bone as he slid the blade across the top of the vampire’s shoulders. Blood showered Sam, and he wiped his face off with his jacket sleeve. Marta came running down the hill in time to see Leather Jacket’s head fly off his torso and land in some weeds. In one hand she carried the newly acquired crossbow.
Sam did another pass with the jacket sleeve and checked around cautiously for other vampires.
“That was weird,” Bobby said. “Vampires seeking us out?”
“Dad said once, they get your scent, they never lose it.”
“You’re thinking old vendetta?”
Sam turned the chainsaw off. “Maybe.”
Marta was staring at her still-burning restaurant.
“That’s quite a blaze,” Johennie said.
The firefighters were making headway though, and Sam let himself hope that they would be able to put it out and some of the structure could be salvaged. They watched for a few minutes longer, but Sam didn’t feel safe in the open. The vampires had sought them out, and something told him that they might see more of them.
“I have to get back to check on my shop. If those jerks set fire to my place…” Johennie’s voice trailed off. “I’m getting too old for this.”
Sam withheld a laugh; he sounded just like Bobby. “I’ll drive you.”
They left Bobby and Marta staring at the blaze, and Sam returned Johennie to his store. He heard Johennie sigh with relief when they found it untouched. “I’m ready for sleep. Live on the upper floor,” he told Sam.
“It’s been a pleasure meeting you,” Sam told him, and meant it. He hoped he was just as spry when he got to be Johennie’s age.
“You, too.” Johennie shook his hand in another painfully tight grip, and got out of the van. When he was safely inside, Sam retrieved the spices from under the VW Rabbit. None of the bottles had broken. Relieved, he drove back to the Pelican’s Nest.
Bobby and Marta were still watching the terrible fire. Sam joined them, seeing sadness consume Marta’s face. He could feel the heat blasting over him, even from hundreds of feet away.
“I hate to rain on this joy parade,” Bobby said, “but we still need to finish that weapon.”
Marta tore her eyes away from the flames. “We salvaged everything, but we need a place.”
“Not enough room in the van.”
“We can go to my house, but I live with my niece. She doesn’t know squat about hunters and monsters, and I want it to stay that way. So no mention of ghoulies or things that go bump in the night.”
Bobby nodded. “Understood. We’d be much obliged.”
“Okay, then.” She looked at Sam’s bleeding head wound. “First we need to get you cleaned up. Let’s stop at a gas station.”
They piled in the van and reluctantly Marta closed the passenger door behind herself.
From the back seat, Sam tried to reassure her. “I’m sure they’ll notify you as soon as they get it under control.”
She frowned. “Yeah, but there’s some kind of perverse longing to watch it. Like if I take my eyes off it for an instant, it’s going to burn to ashes. What’s that old saying? ‘A watched pot never boils?’ Maybe a watched restaurant doesn’t burn.”
Bobby turned in the driver’s seat and met her eyes. His voice was compassionate. “There’s nothing you can do here. I know what this feels like.”