Curse Of Darkness By Steven Gilby - Chapter Ten

Razz looked at him questionably before saying, "What're you dancing all over the place for? And exactly how much of that was gone before you starting drinking it?"
In slurred words and uneasy steps he walked over and said, "I found out…a way to keep this stupit boy alive for…a leetle longer unteel I can find a…cure."
"Well don't keep it a secret you old fart, tell us, I'm dying here!"
He ran around like he forgot where things were. I don't blame him; if I drank that much Jack I would forget my own name, but after searching around he found a little vile filled with a black liquid. I think it was a liquid anyway; it might be a gel, but most likely it's a liquid.
Razz walked up and took it and looked closely at it. "What is it?" she asked without looking away from the dark mysterious life-giving concoction.
Eddie managed to put down the bottle and that stupid party toy and grabbed it back. It was almost like when she grabbed it it sobered him up fast. Maybe he thought she would break it. I wouldn't know; I haven't known him that long.
He cautiously set the vile in a small padded box. "This serum just suppresses the DNA in your body, all of it, no matter what it is. It makes them stop fighting over superiority for your body thus making them not kill each other as fast. Side effects may, and most likely include drowsiness, headache, and other bodily aching. The amount of pain is unknown, though. You might feel a stinging sensation, or the pain could literally paralyze you for a period of time."
Fucking side effects! There's always side effects.
"Well give me some of it! Don't just leave me standing here!"
He picked up the vile and questionable looked at it and then at me.
"What it is this time?" I asked.
"Zees formula…It suppresses you DNA but…"
"But what?" Razz asked for me.
"But you have to take it intravenously and orally to suppress all your DNA."
Yummy, I hope it's cherry flavored!
While I sat down on the couch wondering what that goo would taste like, Eddie loaded up a needle with some of it. Half of it was in the needle, the other half for my ever so anxious consumption. Come ooon CHERRY!
He wasted no time and shot me up with that junk. Afterwards, Razz handed me the rest that was in what I thought of as a little glass cup. I took it from her slowly and put it up to my nose and took a sniff. No smell. I dipped my finger in and gave it a taste. It was really bitter and made me cringe.
"Bottom's up, guys!" I said uneasily as I tilted it upside down and it poured into my mouth. I nearly gagged with the bitterness that took over my taste buds, but I managed to swallow all of it. EW!
"How do you feel?"
I looked up at Eddie, "I just took it, old man. Give it time to kick in."
In the mean time I stood up and went for the kitchen. Vincent had a pretty nice house. One story, two bathrooms, nice space to do whatever in. If you want a walk through then I'll give you the layout.
At the front of the house you have a nicely made wooden porch with a white steel insulated door with an eyehole so you can see who just rang the doorbell.
The inside was quite unique. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were all in the front. The kitchen and dining room on the right with the kitchen in the front. Its counters made up the boundaries for it as the island sat in the middle, rectangular in shape, with a pot rack hanging pots and pans of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The living room on the left, which was moved around to compensate for the equipment that Eddie was using, used to look normal. One long couch and a small love seat, formed into an "L" with a small table at each end of the "L" and one that made a sort of connecting joint so the "L" could turn into a "J" if need be. A fireplace sat in the corner but looked like it had not been lit in years. I see no point. What good is a fire to enjoy with no one to enjoy it with?
Going straight up through the middle of the house was a hall that had two rooms on each side with the giant master bedroom with a big bathroom. The first door on the right was an office used for…office stuff.
Next to it was a decently sized guest room with a nice king sized bed, small workspace with computer, and a closet, most likely empty. I wonder if he had guests often; at least guests that stayed the night.
On the other side of the hall was the bathroom with two sinks made of marble and a stand-in glass shower, and, of course, a toilet of white porcelain. Next to the bathroom was a room that was always locked. I don't think I could ever ask him what was in it, but he might show us…someday.
Right next to that door right next to the wall in the hall was the door that went into the basement. You already know what's down there.
Then there's Vincent's room. His room went from one side of the house to the other. Giant room. Big walk-in closet, giant bed like the one Magnus had in his room only Vincent had black all over his. His bathroom was covered in dark red tile, dark red grout, dark red everything. I wonder if it was to cover up anything that happened in there. Dirty jobs!
Like I said earlier; a very nice house indeed!
I had walked my way into the kitchen and now I was searching through his refrigerator for something will alcohol. Sadly, all he has was old milk, orange juice, and blood in a few twelve ounce water bottles. Damnit!
Seeing as how he had no alcohol that I could wash down my goo with I just chose to take the carton of orange juice out of the fridge and just drink from it. It was near full but I just needed to drink something that wasn't…goo.
"Nice to see you like to use a glass!"
I nearly choked when Vincent surprised me. When you get scared you breathe in a bit and make a high pitch sound. I breathed in but didn't make the sound as I was drinking, but I did almost suck orange juice down into my lungs. At least I wont die…I hope.
I set the carton down on the counter and wiped off the juice I spit on my face during the surprise.
"I just wanted to get the bitter taste out of my mouth. That goop Eddie made was really disgusting!"
He looked at Eddie and then back at me and asked if it worked.
Eddie spoke up for me, "Vee don't know yet Vincent! He only just took eet. No tellink how long eet vill take to start vorking."
"Do you feel anything yet, Steven?"
I opened my mouth and all of a sudden my vision got blurry and my body almost felt like Jell-O. I fell over on the floor as everyone ran to my aid. Vincent put his arms under mind and lifted me up and then draped one arm over him and he walked me to the couch. I tried squinting my eyes, making them wide, blinking several times and rubbing them but it was all still fuzzy. I tried moving one of my arms and it moved like I had been laying on it wrong and it went numb but I could feel everything still. My arm just flopped like a fish out of water so I just leaned over and made myself fall into a laying position on the couch. I started to get exponentially tired. In a matter of maybe thirty seconds I felt like I hadn't slept in a couple days. My eyes got really heavy and when I tried to move again I felt sore. This gives new meaning to fast acting medicine. That stuff started working, gave me the drowsiness, and knocked me out within, maybe, three minutes at most. No aching as of yet, though I did fall asleep. I have no idea how long I was out.
When I woke up I was in a bed, I had no shirt, and it was freezing cold in the room I was in. There was no one else in the room with me but I wouldn't be surprised if Razz was standing outside the door waiting for me to wake up. I decided to test my theory by calling her name. I wouldn't mind a little more alone time with her anyway. Being with just her makes me feel at peace and one with myself. She has a soothing presence. Her being with me even makes me forget that I'm dying. It's intoxicating.
I called her name and in almost no time at all she swung the door open and ran to my side. Eddie and Vincent were outside the door as well. Don't they have anything better to do?
I asked if they could leave us along for a little bit. Vincent nodded and then winked at me. It's not like we were going to have sex again.
They left as I requested and Razz came and sat on the bed next to me. I was sitting up with my legs stretched out so I was a human "L". Would you like me to spell my name?
"Razz…"
She didn't say anything but she nearly jumped forward and wrapped her arms around me. This was the best feeling I have felt in a while. I mean, sure, sex is good, but it's just sex. Being close; being this close, it's just like a dream come true. Was I actually in love?

“I love you!” A faint whisper in my ear. Was it my imagination or had Razz actually said it?
I love you, too! I said it in my head first. She held me tighter and I managed to squeeze out those words. My voice was hoarse, probably from that stuff Eddie gave me, but I said it nonetheless.
I held her a little tighter. Love runs deeper than any ocean. It is sharper than any blade can ever be. I hate to sound like a Saturday morning cartoon but no matter how hard you laugh at it the words “Love can conquer anything” are true. Now that doesn’t mean I’ll spit out this monolog about love to every bad person I meet, I’m only saying that it is mostly true.
I kissed Razz on the cheek softly. She moved so that our faces were close to one another. She leaned in really close to me and tilted her head to one side. Our lips pressed together and, I don’t know about her, I closed my eyes. My right hand was on her cheek like I was holding her head up while my left hand was lightly placed on her waist. After a few seconds my right hand slid from her cheek and I ran my fingers through her hair and it met up with my other hand at the opposite side of her body. She had a nice figure with the perfect curves. Her lips were soft, like miniature pillow that I was kissing. Every few seconds or so some tongue would slip out from one of us or both but I didn’t mind and I didn’t think she did either. This, in essence, was our first true kiss. It was like a little taste of heaven. No time to breathe in through my mouth, it was busy. Breathing through your nose is the only way to take in air. Deep breathes in and then slowly let it out or hold it like you were swimming.
Her hands were on my head and she was playing with my hair, which had grown out since I died. It was about eight inches long but I got used to it and decided to keep it, maybe even grow it longer. It just felt so good with her hands in my hair and our lips together. Magic!
She stopped and just looked into my eyes as I opened them and looked at hers. As short lived as it was, it was still magical.
She looked deep into my eyes, not saying a word but smiling big. She was finally happy. Happier, anyway. The subject of me dying even after I died and became an immortal vampire wasn’t very happy news to her. Now that there’s a chance that Eddie could save me, things started to look up.
“Feeling better I see.” Razz said with an even bigger smile.
I smiled, showing teeth, and said I was feeling much better.
“Where’s Eddie?”
She told me he and Vincent probably went to work on things a little more.
I got up from the bed and Razz stood up and helped me as I might still be a little woozy from that junk Eddie gave me earlier.
I thanked her for helping me. My steps were a little uneasy and my balance was a little off but with Razz’s help I managed to get to the door with only a few slips here and there.
We walked together to the front of the house where Eddie and Vincent were sitting in different places. Eddie was on the love seat and Vincent was at the other end of the “L” shape on the couch that sat as the long part of the “L”.
They both stood up when we walked in. Eddie walked over towards us while Vincent went to the kitchen and started looking through the refrigerator, for what, I have no idea.
“Zee side effects are worse than anticipated. Vee vill need some sort of countermeasure for zees results.”
I shook my head and told him it would be alright.
“Even so, I vill need to take a blood sample for analysis just to see how it affected your blood.”
I swallowed hard. “It isn’t going to be a big needle is it?”
He shook his head and it made me calm down a bit. I don’t like the feel of a tiny needle going into a vein on my arm. It just isn’t a natural feeling for me. Gives me the creeps.
Eddie already had a tiny needle ready with a tube connected to it with a thing that you would connect those little tubes to like if you were getting blood drawn at the doctor.
He swabbed my arm with alcohol, put a tube in the thing, and stuck the needles in a vein in my right arm. OW!
Two vials of my blood were taken. Blood looks cool in those little jar things. Its dark red and more watery than ooze-like.
Now that I got my blood taken by the mad scientist I had no idea what was next; so I looked over to Razz and asked her what was next. She said we had to go by Mick’s place to get some blood in case we run low.
“What about the blood that’s in Vincent’s fridge?”
“That’s my blood, kid.”
“You can get more from Mick later or something, can’t you?
“No, I mean that it’s mine as in it’s from my body. It’s quite literally my blood. It’s used for helping out with Eddie’s little science projects like when we were dealing with your blood. We didn’t have enough of your blood to test out all the possible angles on so we mixed some of that blood with yours and let it sit for ten minutes until golden brown and testable in a tube.”
“Golden brown?” I asked.
“That was a joke. A joke is something you laugh at; or have you forgotten?”
I didn’t have a response to that because, truth is, I don’t remember when the last time I laughed was. Even if I did laugh it was usually short lived.
“Steven,” it was Razz, “We need to go to Mick’s so let’s get going.”
I nodded and we left. We were taking Eddie’s car again because I don’t think Vincent would let us take his car, and our stuff was already in Eddie’s car. So Razz and I get in the car and head over to Mick’s place for some blood.
We drove up to the curb and got out and walked in. Everything was as it should be; only there was no Mick. Razz and I both called out his name but there was no answer. We looked around the place for him. Not many places to look in a butcher shop, just the front and the freezer in the back. Nothing.
“Where is he, Razz?”
She didn’t know. It didn’t look like he had been taken by force. Maybe he went with a friend to go somewhere. Yeah, that’s it. He went somewhere with an old buddy of his that just came into town.
The phone rang. It was and old pale blue phone with push buttons and a thing that hooks onto the back of the receiver so you can rest it on your shoulder and write something down if need be.
It rang a few times before Razz told me to pick it up. I slowly lifted the phone up and put it to my ear and said hello. I did not recognize the voice. It was a man though. He told me to give the phone to Razz. It was a short conversation. Just a “Yeah?” and then a few interrupted sentences and she slammed down the phone.
“God damnit!”
I asked what was wrong and where Mick was. She only said one word. Rogues!
“I have no idea where we’re going to even start looking for them. Rogues are hard to track.”
The phone rang again and Razz picked it up and yelled into it, “What?!”
A few seconds of silence and then she said we’d be right there.
“Grab some blood and get in the car. We’re going to see Magnus!”
I went to the back and looked for a second and found a small refrigerator. I opened it and saw the blood in little clear plastic pouches. I grabbed all I could carry and went outside and put them in the back seat of the car and quickly got in the front seat.
Razz sped over to Magnus’s place. When we got there she got out and walked quickly up to the door. That kind of fast walk that doesn’t mean you’re in a hurry but that you’re pissed off about something.
She didn’t even knock. She kicked the door open and kept on going to find Magnus. I was barely out of the car by the time she got to the door. I ran up and apologized for her behavior and followed her upstairs. She busted into Magnus’s room and yelled out, “Where is he, Magnus?!”
Magnus was sitting on the end of his bed, apparently waiting for us to show up.
“I do not know. But I have someone who does, but you must promise to keep your anger to yourself or I fear you might not get anything out of this one.”
She took a deep breath and said, “Fine!”
Magnus stood up off his bed and walked over to a closet and opened the door and grabbed something that was inside. It was a person! A person in tattered clothes and a mask that only showed the eyes. Her hands were bound behind her.
“Do you recognize this person, Razz?”
She looked at the person closely and said no.
“Well you should,” he pulled off the mask, “She was with the rogues that attacked my house.”
Razz walked up to her and grabbed her by the throat, “If you don’t tell me where Mick is I swear to God I will kill you right here, right now!”
I went over and grabbed Razz. “Calm down. That won’t get you anywhere, Razz,” I looked at the rogue, “Where is Mick. If you cooperate then I won’t unleash Razz again. If you do not cooperate then I’ll let her loose on you, and trust me, it won’t be pretty.”
Magnus set the woman down on his bed.
“Please be gentle with this one. She is…rather new in our culture.”
Razz’s eyes got wide. I had no idea what he meant.
“What do you mean by new?”
He stood near her and then bent over and pulled back her pant leg near the bottom.
“Like you she has been forced to live as one of us. She, like you, was bitten by the werewolf we have been looking for for quite some time now. Even though I swore the next time we met she would die I will not kill her. She came to my house for sanctuary and I cannot turn away one in need. Now please show her the compassion and kindness I have.”
I had no business in this so I let Razz talk. She walked up to the rogue woman and kneeled down by her. “Please! Tell me where Mick is. Whether you like to admit it or not you are one of us now and there is no going back to the other rogues.”
“I’ll tell you,” she said, “On one condition.”
“What is that?” Magnus asked.
“I wish to talk to him!”
She was looking at me.
“Why me?”
“Because you are the one who has been rumored to have been bitten by a werewolf and a vampire and are still alive. There is considerable talk of how you are still alive.”
“Yeah, well we can talk about that later. Right now we need to know where Mick is. Remember, I’m holding the leash here!”
She took a deep breath. I could tell she was feeling uneasy about this whole situation. She was a hunter of our kind and now she would have to join the kind she had hunted for so long.
“Look, I know it’s going to be hard to be one of us-”
She interrupted me, “What do you mean ‘one of you’? I’ve been a werewolf for most of my life. I came to this place because the small group I was out on reconnaissance with was attacked by a werewolf. It was unlike any werewolf I had ever seen. It was gigantic, bigger than any wolf I’ve ever seen in my life. It tore through us like we were chew toys. I got away by crawling into the sewer but it got my leg as I was trying to squeeze through the drainage ditch on the side of the road.”
Imagine that. Someone like Razz; a werewolf hunting and killing werewolves and vampires just like Razz, but Razz is a vampire.
She went on to say that Mick had already been taken to their base and that the only reason he wasn’t torn apart by that thing was because they were coming back to collect a fee from their anonymous tip.
I asked her to tell us where Mick was after hearing her story.
“They’re outside of town about 2 miles north of the storage facility; straight into the forest. Now if you’re done with me I would like to go see someone.”
She got her hands around to her front by going under her legs and pulled out a small knife from inside her outfit and cut the ropes and stood up. Razz walked up quickly to her and pushed her back down onto the bed.
“You go nowhere until we get Mick back.”
“I see,” she stood up again but didn’t move, “I am sorry if he is already dead. I knew him also. He gave me meat to suppress the hunger. He is my uncle.”
I nodded and then looked over at Razz. She was almost furious. Mick was as much of a father to her as Eddie was. Losing either one would be devastating.
“Come on, Razz. Let’s get Mick back.”
She didn’t say anything. I started out of the room and she followed me a second or two later. She was in to much of a rage to drive so half way down the stairs I asked her for the keys. She didn’t even hesitate and tossed them my way. I stumbled catching them and almost dropped them.
I took the shortest routs I knew to get to the storage facility. It may sound like a huge place where drug deals go down and where bad people hang out, but it’s just a place for people to put the extra things they have in their houses when they run out of room, like a garage that holds only junk and that’s far from your house.
There was silence as we drove there. When we got there she got out fast and started running north into the forest. I ran after her after getting only our swords from the trunk of the car. I was far behind. The swords were heavy as I ran but they seem so light when you’re just standing there.
A long run and many deep breathes later Razz stopped and hid behind a tree. I ducked down into the long grass near the tree and asked why she stopped.
“Lookouts!” she whispered.
She pointed to the three lookout posts that were in the trees.
“How do you expect us to get by?”
She grabbed the handle of her sword and unsheathed it, not caring about the sheath. “Like this!”
She quickly and quietly made her way under a tree that had a lookout in it. I unsheathed my sword and decided to make my way to one of the others. As I was going from tree to tree I though to myself, Why didn’t I bring the small knives?
Too late to think about that now. We were already here and we needed to take action. There were two rogues placed at each lookout making six altogether. I got to the post on the left, one post in the middle. Too bad we don’t have a third person.
Razz was making her way as slowly as possible up the tree ladder to sneak up on the guards and I did the same. As I made my way to the top I could help but think “What if they killed me?” Gulp!
I got to the top and just peered over the top to see them walking by. I watched them for a little while and noticed a pattern. Every now and then they would have to stop and look through binoculars. Duh, they were lookouts! I waited for them to look through their binoculars before I made my move. I climbed up the rest of the way and grabbed one by the mouth to cover up any noise he might make and I broke his neck. It took a little doing because I didn’t know how hard to twist. I think I just gave him whiplash the first try with my “movie neck break impersonation”.
After I heard the crack of his spine I let him down to the floor easy and worked my way to the next one. I unsheathed my sword quietly and said “Over here!” and when he came around the tree into sight I stabbed him in the stomach and pulled the blade up as hard as I could. It didn’t go very far, though, but he fell to the floor of the lookout with a thud and then blood started pooling around his body. I looked around the lookout for anything I could use to take out the other post. To my surprise I found a crossbow with four arrows and one already in the bow. I positioned myself so I could see the other two people and fired one shot. It missed horribly and alerted them. They saw where I was and started shooting back. Two arrows flew by and landed in the tree. I shot another arrow after wrestling with it to load it into place. It managed to hit one of them in the chest, but I’m sure it was just a lucky shot. As I struggled to put in another arrow another shot missed me by a mile and landed above me. No doubt it was from the guy I just shot. After and one more arrow zipped through the wind and landed in my left side. I dropped the crossbow and gripped the arrow and my side as if it would help the pain go away. A final arrow flew through the air and skimmed my head. I thought I had been hit in the brain with an arrow and fell over and blacked out.
When I came to I saw Razz. She was fine, not a scratch on her. I got up a little too fast and my head spun.
“Easy! You were hit with an arrow, probably poisonous.”
I grabbed my head, “What the hell is the point in having a poisonous arrow for a vampire?”
She laughed a little, “It’s mainly for werewolves.”
I nodded and she helped me up. She told me there was a lift used for supplied that I would be carried down in seeing as how I might not be well enough to climb down a fifty foot ladder.
So I get lowered down with this lift and I sit and wait a minute for Razz to get down the ladder and then we go deeper into the forest. I just hope there aren’t anymore lookouts.
After a somewhat brisk jog through the tall grass and dead leaves we found a small cabin. It didn’t look like there was anyone in it but we still approached it cautiously in case of any unwanted surprises.
Razz opened the door and we looked inside. There was nothing there. It was just a small cabin in the middle of the forest. It was like any other log cabin, it had a couple small chairs, a couch, a table, small fire place and some pictures hanging on the wall, small carpets spread out throughout the place.
“Well where the hell are the rogues? And where Mick?!”
“Well maybe-”
I always get interrupted. A small part of the floor by the fireplace came up and we could hear talking. We hid behind whatever was close. Razz was behind the couch and I was behind a small chair that barely hid me from sight.
There were two rogues that came up from the floor.
“Hey, did you hear about Tara?”
“Yeah, she was bitten by that werewolf that attacked her group when they went to pick up our reward for catching the vampire we have down there.”
“Too bad. She was kinda hot. But I guess if we see her again we would have to kill her. She is one of them now, after all.”
“Oh well. She may have been hot but she was a real bitch most of the time. The only time she wasn’t was when she was with that guy.”
They both sat down, one on the couch and one in the other chair that was across from it. This would be easy if we could just stab them through the chairs but my guy was in another chair.
“Do you think she knew about him?”
“What? That he was the leader of all the werewolves in all the states that sit on the Gulf of Mexico? I’m sure she did. Love blind the senses to what is right and what is inhuman.”
I don’t think Razz could take anymore of it. She shoved her sword through the couch and through the rogue that was sitting in it. The other rogue stood up when I stood up from behind the chair. He tried running but I threw my sword and it stuck in his lower back and he fell over and bled out for only a few seconds before he died.
I went and pulled my sword out of him, “Well I’ll be damned. I thought that only worked in the movies.”
“Swords aren’t made for throwing, Steven. It’s inaccurate.”
I ripped off some cloth from the dead rogues short to wipe the blood off my sword. “I know. I was aiming for his upper back to make it go through his chest like in the movies.”
She shook her head and said I watched too many movies.