Kill Wilson (Petersburg Vampires) (8 page)

------

Amp didn’t have a clue how to find somebody in Skagit
Valley, Washington. She decided that she would find a place to stay, and then
follow her instincts in her search for the crew of guys she had met in Alaska.
She and Kate flew into SeaTac airport on an evening flight. The next night they
took the late Amtrak for the two hour trip to Mount Vernon. They checked into
the Tulip Inn, a nice hotel just off of Highway 5.
 

“So how are we going to find these guys?” Katy asked
after they unpacked their few belongings in the nice suite Amp had rented for a
week.

“We are not going to find them,” Amp answered. “You are
going to stay right here. Showing up in the middle of a group of strange vamps
with a cute little human would not be politically correct,” she laughed. “They would
probably think I was bringing a treat.”

Katy looked a bit hurt, but nodded at Amp’s decision.
“Okay, I can find something to do around here. You just be careful.”

Pulling on her long duster over her jeans and t-shirt, she
checked herself in the mirror. After a moment, she took the duster off and
threw it on the bed, replacing it with a hooded Jayhawk sweatshirt. Remembering
Silas’s advice about playing the little girl card, the last thing she wanted
was to look like a tough-guy wannabe.

She had looked in the yellow pages for forms of nighttime
entertainment in the area, and had picked out a few clubs that might be beacons
for vampires. It was midnight when she gave Katy a hug, then took to the street
in search of friends. Pushing aside her thoughts about bringing Katy with her,
she put her mind on high alert, knowing that walking the street of an area where
vampires existed was dangerous. As she walked down the clean street towards the
downtown area of Mount Vernon, she started to have doubts about her plan to
recruit Ernie and his friends. After all, she had only spoken to them for a few
moments in that bar over a year ago. Why would they even welcome her to their
area, much less consider fighting with her against her enemies. There had been
something there, she told herself. An offer of something; friendship, lust, she
wasn’t certain. But considering her choices, any move forward was better than
what was behind her.

The Night Train Bar was her first stop, and it was
everything she had imagined; dark with red lights in the background high on the
walls, a long wooden bar, and tables scattered in the shadows. An empty dance
floor was off to the right, a lone pool table in the back to the left. Amp saw
perfectly inside the establishment, her night vision as good as a humans
perfect day vision. Knowing what tables were occupied, she walked casually to
the bar, taking a seat with a view of most of the room.

“See an
i.d
., sis?” the large,
black bartender demanded in a no-nonsense voice.

Turning to face him, catching his eyes, Amp spoke in a
low voice meant only for him. “I have one and you’ve seen it. I’d like a bottle
of water, please.”

The bartender paused for a beat, smiled at her, and
reached back and took a bottle of water from his mini fridge. Amp laid a five
dollar bill down and smiled back.

“Thanks,” she said. “Hey, maybe you can help me, I’m
looking for a couple guys I met last year in Alaska, and they told me they were
from around here. Names are Ernie and Will. You have any clue
who
they are?”

“Not a bill collector or the law, are you?” the big man
asked, more than halfway serious. His eyes were appraising her a bit closer
now, wondering if she was legit, or a danger to two of his semi-regular
customers.

“Just tell me how to find them,” she demanded, her eyes
burning glamour into the man’s brain. She was wasting time, and this yahoo
wasn’t helping.

“Sure, sorry…Ernie hangs around at the Blue Goose Tavern,
right on the water, about six blocks east of here. Probably there right now.”

Without another word, Amp turned and walked out of the
dive, the bartender staring after her, his mind wondering what she had wanted.
Funny, he didn’t remember saying a word to her.

------

“You want us to what?” Ernie asked incredulously.

Amp had found the guys she was looking for rather easily,
and thankfully they had remembered her from the brief time they had met. They
were now sitting around the living room of Ernie’s house several miles outside
of Mount Vernon, a three story farm house set back from the county road it was
on. The exterior of the house needed painting, and several major repairs, the
interior pretty much worse. The furniture was second hand, used, mismatched and
broken, the wooden floors scarred and worn,
the
large
round rug in the center of the living room worn to the thinness of a cheap
motel’s bath towel.

From listening to the guys as they talked, the majority
of the crew lived here off and on. There was only one other female vampire in
the room besides Amp, a girl several inches taller than her, a wavy-hair blonde
on the skinny side, but with a face that was, although not beautiful, was unique
and lovely. She had been introduced as Nikka, and she didn’t say a word
throughout the conversation that took place.

“I have to go back to Petersburg and destroy the coven
there,” she repeated, having told the story of the attack in Petersburg,
stopping at the point where she had made her escape on the fishing boat.

“So why come to us…just because you met us in a bar one
day?” Will
asked
incredulously.

“Well…yeah, that, but I…I don’t know what I was thinking.
Danner and Riley were my world. Now I don’t have anything except a burning need
to kill those animals. If I knew a bunch of friends that I could call on, I
would have done it. But I don’t. I just…”

“Listen to me, Amp,” Ernie interrupted, feeling sorry for
the girl, but needing to set her straight. “We aren’t warriors, we’re a bunch
of guys that try to stay out of the limelight, a lot like you and your two
friends did. We have a little something going on in this area, and it pays the
bills. Whenever we need to hunt, we hop on Amtrak, and go into Seattle or
Portland, sometimes up into Canada. We don’t fight; we don’t do anything that
would draw attention to ourselves. We have never had any interference from
other vamps, and we hope that we never will. So as answer to your request; not
only no, but hell no. No offense, honey.”

Amp sat staring at the man, sick and defeated. Thinking
about it now, she saw what a fool she had been coming to ask this of complete
strangers. She should have recognized that these vampires were what they were:
non-aggressive loners. Standing, she tried to retain her dignity.

“Thank you for listening to me,” she said softly. “I
would greatly appreciate it if you keep this conversation confidential. I’ll be
leaving now.”

“You don’t have to leave right away,” Ernie said,
although his tone and demeanor gave him away.

“Yes. Yes I do,” Amp said
,
smiling sadly at the man who she had thought was something he would never be.

Walking out the door and down the drive, trying to get
her bearings for town, she knew that somebody had followed her out. Turning,
she waited for Nikka to catch up with her.

“I’ll give you a lift back to town,” the blonde said, jerking
her head towards the cluster of cars parked at the side of the house.

Amp silently followed the girl, embarrassed at her
naiveté, wanting nothing more than to get back to the hotel, gather Katy, and
be gone from this town.

Nikka climbed into the driver’s side of a white Chevy
Silverado pickup, Amp walking around to the passenger side, Nikka heading the
truck back toward Mount Vernon. They drove in silence for the first mile, and
then Nikka looked over at the smaller girl.

“That was the most bizarre conversation I’ve ever
listened to,” she started. “You have got to be the most desperate thing…to
think that anyone would go to those assholes and ask them to fight. That, my
young friend, was insane.”

Amp jerked her head around, furious that this girl was
making fun at her. What she found was a face full of… not ridicule…but compassion.
Her fury died, replaced with the stupidity of the evening. Her emotions were in
turmoil, and she ended up laughing, both at the situation, and at herself.

“
Yada
yada
yada
, I know…my last and most desperate plan,” she finally
giggled. “I thought that crew was some big, badass vamps. Not true, huh?”

“Not true, right. Those guys, people call them the
Carnival Crew, are a bunch of reject losers that do nothing but
party
, and puke, and then party. They make their money
wholesaling a bit of drugs up the west coast from Portland to Seattle and into
Alaska, not a bunch, but enough. And not a one of them, I’d wager, has ever
battled another vampire…not ever. Every single one of those guys is a heroin
freak. I don’t think they can be addicts…I’m pretty sure the only thing we are
addicted to is blood, but they use a massive amount of the drug. They can’t die
from an overdose, so they get a kick out of injecting bigger and bigger doses.
They’re sick, and I don’t mean physically. I imagine if they could piss they
would have been wetting themselves listening to you talk about being in battle
against this Wilson character, about your guys dying. Ernie and his bunch have
lived for centuries without a shred of dignity. You were barking up the wrong
tree, sister.”

“So what the hell are you doing with them?” Amp asked.
Something was out of kilter here.

“I just live in the area,” Nikka replied. “Those guys are
acquaintances, not my friends. “It’s good to know each and every vampire that
is close to where you settle, and that’s what I do. When I saw you approach
them at the Blue Goose, I
kinda
joined the crowd. I
was curious, and I didn’t want them causing you any grief.”

Amp took all of this in, and then quietly replied. “Thank
you.”

“Welcome,” Nikka answered. “So where do you go from here?
Running out of options, right?”

“Yep, I’m so out of options. Back over to Seattle, I
think, and then go from there. One way or another, I’m going back to Alaska and
kill these guys. If I have to go alone, then I’ll do the most damage I can with
what I got.”

Nikka pulled up in front of the hotel, turning towards
Amp with a serious look on her face. “I don’t mean to sound
harsh,
Amp, but you are one tiny, little vampire girl. You need several warriors,
people who have trained and fought, and people who are not afraid of dying. You
stand not one chance in hell of doing any damage to this character on your own.
That, my little friend, would be a suicide run.”

Amp kept her silence, not revealing her background or the
fact that she had just completed an arduous course in killing. The less people
that knew she was a vampire warrior, the better her chance at surprise were.

“Yep, that it will be,” she replied. “That’s where I’m
at. Thanks for the lift, Nikka.” She opened the door. “See you.”

------

Nikka Olson was lost in her private thoughts as she drove
to her small cabin on the outskirts of Mount Vernon. The girl had lived in the
Pacific Northwest for many decades; in this particular cabin for eight years.
She was comfortable here, and after a very long lifetime of constantly watching
her back for the next battle, she had found an inner peace in her simple
lifestyle.

Now this little vampire had shown up with her story about
being wronged in Alaska, and suddenly Nikka found herself contemplating something
she had sworn she would never do again. But, she told herself, if I don’t help
her, she’ll go alone…and that would be suicide. She had no doubt that Amp would
go, could feel the need in the girl, the absolute resolve to right the terrible
wrong she had experienced. A blood debt was all about honor; and Amp was awash
in honor.
 

Walking around her small acreage, Nikka asked herself if
she was willing to give this good life
up?
It wasn’t
the first time she had thought about returning to the old life, but this time
it was different.
 
The girl needed help,
and who better to aid her than Nikka?

Picking up a novel she had been reading, she looked at
the page, shaking her head. Maybe it’s what I need, she chuckled. I like the
girl, even admire her. I’m lying to myself if I don’t admit that I’ve grown
restless lately. Maybe this is an omen, and it’s time to jump back in the game.
You are vampire, Nikka Olson; a vampire warrior. After all the wrongs you have
perpetrated throughout history, maybe it’s the right time to go to battle for
the forces of good. Pretty dramatic,
Nik
, she laughed
quietly…but maybe not so far off. Her mentor had told her that all things in
their world eventually balance themselves out. Nikka had tried many times to
make that fit her decisions, but that obviously was not the purpose of the
lesson. She had a lot of horror in her past, hidden away from all but a select
few. Maybe it was time to let things begin to balance.

Gently placing the book down, she carefully removed the
bookmark, dropping it in the trash. Don’t think I’m going to finish this, she
sighed, making up her mind. Grabbing an overnight bag, she started packing for
a trip to Seattle.