Posted by The Black Knight on August 25, 2000 at 09:31:39:
Chapter 15
Five days after Van Helsing was killed Luke went into the cafeteria two hours before his first class. Madeline stood at the counter wiping off the metal counter top.
"How are your Halloween Dance preparations coming?" Madeline asked.
"A man's body turned up in the river this afternoon. According to the coroner he had been dead for four days, that was about the time that Professor Van Helsing disappeared. You wouldn't know anything
about that would you?" Luke asked.
"Come with me." Madeline said.
They walked down to the iron door and Madeline opened the new pad lock.
"I'm going to have to get you a new key. The good professor and his niece imprisoned Lorna and Catrina before we could get to him. They turned them over to a man named Seward, but we can't find him.
After they shipped the girls off they made their way down here." Madeline said.
She opened the door and they walked in. The room was basically the same but it was well lit. In the center of the room there stood a twelve foot long metal stake. On that stake hung Captain Carla Helsing with the point stuck in just above her belt buckle and
protruding at least four feet out her back. She still moaned in pain, but was well beyond delirium.
"She has an incredible constitution. She's been up there for five days, but she refuses to die. I've never seen a mortal cling to life just out of pure stubbornness and spite the way that she has."
Madeline said.
"I've seen them last for months hung like that. Let me guess she's the last of the Van Helsings." Luke said.
"Yes. She doesn't know where Lorna and Catrina are, nor how to contact Seward. The only way we found out about them is when she was delirious."
"Do you enjoy watching someone suffer like that?" Luke asked.
"A Van Helsing, after all they've done to us. I wish that the Count had agreed to heat the spike before goring her."
"Fortunately for Miss Helsing I am not as cruel and vindictive as you are." Luke said.
He floated up beside Carla. She kind of smiled when she saw him, but she was still out of her mind with pain. He lay one hand on Carla's chin and the other on the back of her head. She groaned as he twisted
her head slightly, breaking her neck.
"What did you do that for?" Madeline asked as he settled back to the floor.
"Even you don't deserve to suffer like that." Luke said as he walked back to the door.
"The Count will not be pleased when he finds her dead."
"I don't care. If he has a problem with me ending the suffering of a dying woman then he can tell it to me face to face." Luke said as he walked up the hall.
He walked out of the cafeteria and into Kim Faulkner.
"You don't look so good." Kim said.
"Hello to you too Kimber."
Kim's face brightened in her warm impish smile.
"How do you do that?" Luke asked.
"Do what?"
"You're the only woman I know you can be cute and adorable at the same time that she's irresistibly alluring." Luke said.
Kim laughed as she walked toward the cafeteria.
"Where are you going?" Luke asked.
"Into the basement. I haven't had a good conversation with Matty since she found out what I am." Kim said.
"That isn't a good idea right now."
"What do you mean?" Kim asked.
"Every time I think I've seen the depths of cruelty, he redefines them." Luke answered.
"Your father again?"
Luke nodded as he walked toward his office.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Kim asked.
"No. I want to forget what happened down there."
Kim walked after him. Luke walked into his office and looked at Charli's desk. She hadn't arrived at the University yet. Kim walked in after him and followed him into the inner office. Luke sat down at his desk and turned to face the window.
"I've never seen you like this. What happened down there?" Kim said.
"Van Helsing is dead. So is his niece. They didn't listen to my warning and they went ahead with their plans against the Count. Karen showed me the autopsy reports for the man that they pulled out of the
river this afternoon. His neck was squeezed so tightly that it was broken evenly. Only a vampire or you could do that. I know you too well and that leaves only one person. When I went down to the
basement to confront Madeline I found Captain Helsing. He had her impaled four days ago and she was still alive." Luke said.
"I thought impaling killed instantly."
Luke got up and walked around his desk in front of Kim.
"It is unless you drop them on the stake here." Luke said laying his hand on Kim's stomach.
Kim shuddered and closed her eyes.
"No one deserves that kind of torture. What did you do?" Kim asked.
"The only thing that I could do. I ended her suffering."
"Are we that familiar now Luke?" Charli asked as she came in.
Kim looked down at Luke's hand on her stomach and jerked back.
"It's not what you think Charlotte." Kim said.
"You were the one who tried to warn me about him aren't you?" Charli asked.
"I did try, but you're too stubborn to listen to me or anyone else."
"You're not exactly human are you? My back hurt for an hour after you pinned me to the wall." Charli said.
"Sorry about that, but I recognized something that neither of you have seen yet." Kim said.
"Do you have something for me?" Luke asked.
"No actually I have something for a Kimber Faulkner. Since I don't know her, I was hoping that you would." Charli answered.
"That's me." Kim said.
"Kimber. That's cute." Charli said.
"Thank you." Kim said.
Charli held out an envelope and Kim took it.
"Is she a vampire?" Charli asked as Kim walked into the corner of the room to open the envelope.
"No she's not a vampire, but she is immortal." Luke said.
"Do you need me for anything? My parents are in town and I thought I would take the night off." Charli said.
"I don't need anything, but you do have a term paper due Monday." Luke said.
Charli smiled and walked out of the office. Luke shut the door behind her.
"Oh no!" Kim cried.
Luke locked the door and walked over to Kim.
"What's wrong?" Luke asked.
"There's a man in Ireland named William O'Shea. It seems that he came across his great-great-great-grandfather's research and found his notes about me." Kim said.
"And your problem would be?"
"He's trying to find me and he's trying to duplicate the experiment. He looked where my people's villages used to be, but their mortal friends warned them in time to get out. He's on his way to
America now trying to find me." Kim said.
"Why are you so worried. He is technically your nephew. I thought you liked family."
"Not on the mortal side I don't. They were all evil and I cannot help but believe that the evil has been passed down through the generations." Kim said.
"How bad could Doctor O'Shea have been after all he did make you."
"Flattery won't work with me. After I was born he dissected my mother in front of me because she refused to cooperate again." Kim said.
"That's pretty bad."
Kim held the envelope toward him. Her tiny hand trembled as he took the envelope from her grasp.
"Kim if I didn't know better I would say that you're scared." Luke said.
"I know that if he tries to dissect me that I won't die, but I do not like pain."
"And if he knows so much about you, then he may know what copper does to you." Luke said.
"That too." Kim fairly whimpered.
Luke put his arms around her small frame and she leaned against him.
"Don't worry about it Kimber. Remember he has to come through me to get to you." Luke said.
Kim smiled as she put her arms around him. Luke lay his hand on her cheek and she stepped back. He ran his thumb over the top of her ear and stopped just short of the point on her ear. Her eyes began to
glow an eerie bright green color.
"Believe me Kimber, I take the words 'blood of my blood and kin of my kin' very seriously." Luke said.
His eyes glowed bright red and his fangs were visible.
Two days later as Luke entered his office at the University Kim was waiting on him. Charli sat at her desk with a shocked look on her face.
"Charli what's wrong?" Luke asked as he walked to her desk.
"O'Shea is in town and he knows where to find me. He sent me something just to show me that he could do it." Kim said.
"What are you talking about?" Luke asked.
Kim pointed at a small watch box on the table. It had been unwrapped there because the wrapping paper still lay under it. Luke opened the box and stepped back. In the box lay a tiny woman who would have stood almost six inches tall. She was obviously an elf. An copper pin stuck through the elf's chest and pinned her to the box. Luke hissed as he shut the box and walked toward the door.
"You can't find him. I've already tried." Kim said.
"I don't intend to find him. I'm going to let him find you." Luke said.
"Do you know what he'll do when he finds me?" Kim asked.
"I know what he will try. Charli tell Miss Francis that I will not be in today." Luke said.
Charli nodded as Kim picked up the box. Luke and Kim went out the door and out of the Science Building. They went to Kim's car but stopped just before they reached it. A young man with bright red hair
stood leaning on the front fender of the car.
"I'm guessing that you are William O'Shea." Kim said.
"And you are Kimber." O'Shea said.
"I am. Why are you trying to hurt my people?"
"Because it is necessary to obtain what I seek." O'Shea said.
"What exactly would that be?" Luke asked.
"You can tell your boyfriend to take a hike Kimber. This is between you and me." O'Shea said.
"I am the one who rescued Kimber from your ancestor. He was less than impressed with reason, I hope that you are wiser than he was." Luke said.
"She isn't even human so why should she concern you?" O'Shea asked.
"She is a friend, a good friend." Luke said as he moved toward O'Shea.
"All I want is the girl and I'll leave you alone." O'Shea said.
"I can't allow you to do that." Luke said.
O'Shea stepped by Luke and toward Kim.
"She is a very attractive woman isn't she?" O'Shea said.
"Many men have died for beauty, but I have often questioned why." Luke said.
"You're not a romantic man are you? It is not the beauty of a woman, but the love of a woman." O'Shea said.
"Believe me after what you've done love is the farthest thing from what I feel for you." Kim said.
"You're right I did go too far. Killing that poor girl was just a little over the top." O'Shea said.
He smiled a little as he drew a knife.
"If you know what I am, then you should know better than that." Kim said.
"I realize that stabbing you will cause a great deal of pain, and perhaps render you unconscious. I have no desire to kill you. You
are one of a kind and a gorgeous woman as well." he said.
Kim smiled as she grabbed him by the collar. Her eyes glowed as she picked him up off the ground.
"That was really stupid." Kim said.
"Me insulting you, or you picking me up?" O'Shea asked.
Kim looked confused until she felt the blade of his knife penetrate her side. Kim dropped him and stumbled back. She closed her eyes as she wrapped her hands around the handle of the knife. She tried to
pull it out, but she couldn't.
"There is an odd property about silver that once it enters your body it is unwilling to leave it." O'Shea said.
Luke put his hands on O'Shea's shoulders and threw him out of the way. O'Shea hit the ground and rolled to his feet.
"If you are who you say you are, you cannot remove the knife either." O'Shea said.
Luke wrapped his hand around the handle of the knife and suddenly jerked it back.
"The handle is silver and even a half-vampire cannot touch something as pure as silver." O'Shea said.
"As much as you hate it, you have no choice but do allow me to do with Kimber as I will. Other wise that knife will remain in her body and she will remain in a excruciating amount of pain." O'Shea said.
"You are a wise man for one who has only lived one life time." Luke said.
Kim blinked away tears as she stumbled toward her car.
"You must make the choice for her now. She is in so much pain that she is about to loose consciousness." O'Shea said.
"You leave me no choice." Luke said as he stepped back.
Kim moaned as she began to fall. O'Shea caught her and scooped her up off the ground. He put Kim into her own car and got in.
"I will assume that annoying little bat thing is only a myth so you have no way of following me." O'Shea said as he started the car.
He drove the car back out of the parking spot and then out of the parking lot.
"You are right Mister O'Shea that bat thing is a myth. But I can still follow you." Luke said.
With a simple jump Luke became airborne and flew high over the tiny city near Walton State. From even that distance Luke's acute eyes could see Kimber's car as it drove toward its mysterious destination. Luke smiled as it pulled into the Kinset warehouse. Inside the warehouse O'Shea pulled Kim out of the car. Most of the equipment from the days when Kinset had been an operating business had been removed, but some new modern scientific apparatus now filled the large
building. O'Shea carried Kim to the center of the warehouse and lay her inert form on a table. By now her blouse was soaked with a thick green liquid and some of it ran from the corner of Kim's mouth.
"No wonder he never bothered you too much. You have green blood." O'Shea said as he fastened clamps over Kim's wrists and ankles.
He lay his finger on Kim's throat across her jugular vein.
"I was right it's physically impossible for you to bleed to death." O'Shea said.
He pulled the knife straight out of Kim's side. He then picked up a piece of white cloth and wiped her blood away from her mouth and off her cheek. Kim's eyes snapped open and she tried to sit up, but
couldn't.
"I'm afraid that those restraints are made of copper. You can't break them even with your strength." O'Shea said.
"You know I get the strange feeling that I'm on an operating table."
"I'm debating that right now. I don't know whether to continue the experiment or keep you here until I die." O'Shea said.
"Sounds to me like another man smitten by the charm and beauty of the wee folk." Luke said as he stepped into the warehouse.
"There is no way that you could follow me here." O'Shea said.
"There is one important thing that the legends of vampires fail to mention." Luke said.
"What would that be?" O'Shea asked.
Luke ran across the room so fast that O'Shea couldn't see him, much less react. Luke grabbed O'Shea by the collar and floated up to the ceiling.
"The fact that we can fly." Luke said as he looked down.
"I'm impressed." O'Shea said.
"That was not my intention." Luke said opening his mouth to intentionally allow O'Shea to see his fangs.
"I thought that you were the one that didn't like to kill." O'Shea said.
"I don't, unless you make me angry. After all that happened to your family back in the fifteenth century you would think that the O'Sheas would have better sense than to antagonize a vampire."
"Alright you've made your point now put me down." O'Shea said.
"Whatever you say." Luke said then release O'Shea's collar.
William O'Shea screamed the entire forty feet down until he hit the hard concrete floor. Luke landed beside the table that Kim was lying on.
"And you say that I have a nasty temper." Kim said.
"I've known you since you were 'born' and I've never seen you so peaceful."
"This isn't funny Lucas. Get me out of these restraints." Kim said forcefully.
"I seem to remember a time in Scotland, in an old castle there. Our roles were reversed and you stood by for nearly an hour before you got me out."
"Alright ya blood suckin' wharf rat, ya've made yer point now get me outta here." Kim said with a very distinct Irish accent in her voice.
"It seems that Mister O'Shea rekindled that hot Irish blood. How's your temper doing?"
"It's gettin' worse by the minute." Kim said with an Irish accent unmistakable in her voice.
Luke smiled as he unfastened the copper restraints and helped Kim to her feet.
"And another thing you unfeeling hypocrite. I have always hated competing with Alexis Sweeton, or whatever her name really is, for your affection. That was bad enough, but you had to go and pick up this other girl, Charlotte Watson. For the first time in my life I've seen you in love and it's driving me crazy because it's her and not me." Kim said.
Luke shook his head as Kim stalked off toward the door.