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Authors: Rich Douglas

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BOOK: Vampire World
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MR
.
FREECUT

S
SACRIFICE

 

“NOOOO!” I
screamed, rushing forward to confront Rob. When we'd battled before it had been
simply a game. But this time it was freakin war! Drawing my blade, I gazed into
his evil eyes.

   
“You may have beaten me
once,” he snarled. “But you’re going down bitch, just like your little fake
daddy did.”

   
I caught a glimpse of a badly
injured Mr. FreeCut on the ground, the stake still sticking out of his
shoulder. I was also aware that the remaining X-Fangers and TriFang newcomers
were now battling it out all around me. Then I focused on the selfish dick in
front of me.

   
“That's what you think,
scumball!”

   
With vengeance raging, I
swung my sword this way and that, hoping to cut Rob so badly that he would lose
enough blood to die. However, his immense blade easily blocked my swings.

   
I battled on, all the time
thinking about Mr. FreeCut suffering on the ground. How dare this asshole hurt
the man who loved me just like a real father! I’d had enough of Rob’s
selfishness. He was like a festering disease, trying to bring the world down
with his sickness. He needed to die. Trouble was, I was making little
impression on him with my attacks.

   
Rob laughed as he blocked
another of my swings. “Looks like you’re not only too stupid to beat me, but
too weak as well, little vampire.”

   
Not getting anywhere, I tried
a new tactic of quickly backing up and putting some space between us. Then I
aimed my stake gun and fired.

   
I missed. Rob was just too
damn quick.

   
I wondered what the hell to
try next. If such a thing was possible, he seemed to be getting even quicker.
Then, in what was no more than a mere blur of movement, he knocked me violently
to the floor. I landed flat on my back. With the monster sitting on top of me
and a stake poking hard into my chest, I was absolutely at his mercy.

   
Hi giggled. “Let me give you
one more kiss before you die.”

   
Just before his foul lips
reached mine, with all the strength left in my body, I twisted my head and bit
hard into his neck. Rob jerked back, releasing some of the pressure on me. With
his blood on my lips and my left hand free, I slipped out a stake from my belt
and thrust it straight into his heart.

   
I glanced into his suddenly
drained face and wiggled the stake around. Blood shot from out of his mouth.
“Looks like you're the one too weak to fight now,” I told him.

   
Rolling his decaying body off
of me, I could see that Mr. Stake, Brett and the rest of the X-Fang team were
finishing off the TriFangers with ease.

   
Recognizing that they had
control, I rushed over to tend Mr. FreeCut. Already his face was green and
peeling. But with Bloodstop ointment and reserve canisters of blood, I knew I
could save him.
 
The stake lodged in
his shoulder was a more than safe distance away from his heart.

   
“It’s going to be okay!” I
said while applying ointment around the wound. The clotting was virtually
instant.

   
Yet something wicked hit
me.
 
A ghastly stench that caused my
eyes to burn. I had smelled and breathed this crap before. As I looked at the
stake again, an awful realization dawned. It was covered in garlic. And the
garlic was inside of Mr. FreeCut.

   
“J….Janice…” he said.
“I’m…dying….”

   
“No!” I shouted at him.
“You’re going to make it! Drink this blood!”

   
Losing control, I shoved the
life-saving blood into his mouth. But it wasn't working. Mr. Stake and Brett
came rushing over.

   
“Help him!” I screamed.

   
Using a cloth, Mr. Stake
attempted to wipe as much garlic as possible away from the wound entry point.
But this was not easy to do. The garlic soon soaked through the cloth, burning
his bare hands. He also applied more Bloodstop ointment.

   
“Come on old friend,” he
urged. “You can make it!”

   
My caretaker’s skin appeared
nastier each time I blinked. I knew this was not going to end well. “Come on!”
I shouted.

   
“Janice,” Mr. FreeCut managed
to gasp out. “Remember…w…what I said….you are the best thing….that ever
happened to….m…m….me.”

   
“Don’t go!” I cried, my tears
falling all over his now completely emerald face.

   
But it was no use. With my
arms wrapped tightly around him, I watched him slip into death.

   
While I wept, a million
pleasant memories of Mr. FreeCut all mingled together in my mind. The time he
took me out of that hellish orphanage - all the delicious and bloody meals we'd
shared together – even the time when I borrowed his car and crashed it
into a tree.

   
“I love you,” I told him. I
knew he couldn't hear me, but I still hated that he didn’t respond.

   
Grief momentarily switched to
anger when I gazed at the dust that had once been Rob’s body. I eyed his still
intact golden gloves; gloves that Mr. Stake told me protected his hands from
the burning garlic and so allowed him to murder my beloved Mr. FreeCut with the
poisoned stake.

   
Damn, I’d kill Rob again if I
could. But what was the point of continuing to hate? He was dead. Let it end
there.

   
Mr. Stake and Brett tried
their best to comfort me. “I’m so sorry, Janice,” Mr. Stake said. “I’m just as
devastated as you. Even though we had our disagreements, he was a great
friend.”

   
I couldn’t stop crying. “He
was like a second father to me,” I sobbed. “And in this world, he
was
my
father.”

   
A melancholy Brett held me
close. I thought about how his father had disowned him. At least I still had my
real father to go back to. Even so, this was torture.

   
Soon, my tears began to burn
even more uncomfortably. The stench of garlic fumes within the room was
increasing.

   
Mr. Stake's voice became
brisk. “Look,” he said, “I was wrong. I will support your decision and not
destroy the machine. In fact, I'll go with you and help you get home. I'll also
use X-Fang resources to protect you and others from TriFang in Vampire World,
and on Earth.”

   
His words were uplifting.

   
“But you must go to your
world now,” he continued. “Garlic levels in this room could become fatal soon.”

   
“Wait!” I cried out. “I have
to bury him.”

   
“There is no time,” Mr. Stake
warned. “Do you want to die?”

“I WANT TO BURY
HIM!” I screamed. The way I felt right now, I would rather have died down here
than leave Mr. FreeCut like this.

With the garlic
stench now making him cough, Mr. Stake gave in. “Have it your way,” he said,
moving quickly. “I’ll set the machine to Bitemore Cemetery. But you must hurry.
TriFang is looking for you. Be careful!”

Using Rob's
start-up clicker, Mr. Stake revved up the machine. Once the neon blue force
field was visible again, he went to a control panel and pressed several
buttons.

“It is now set
to Bitemore Cemetery,” he said. “Hurry, and when you’re ready to return, just
press this green button on the clicker.”

Helped by Brett
and Senator BloodHunt, I carried Mr. FreeCut’s body over to the portal and,
with some difficulty, all of us jumped through together. Next thing, we were
being whizzed around like we were caught up in a savage cyclone.

Then things
settled down and beautiful Garlic Moon was shining down on the iconic graves of
Bitemore Cemetery. I sighed. Okay, so I wouldn’t be able to give Mr. FreeCut
the elaborate towering gargoyle or golden pyramid grave he deserved. But I’d be
able to bury him and mark the spot where he rested. He deserved at least that.

I couldn’t stop
whimpering as we grabbed some shovels and started digging. I thought back to
the decision I'd made to forgive him for lying to me about my true identity. I
couldn’t imagine the terrible pain I would be feeling now if I'd continued to
hold a grudge. At the end, we had both loved each other dearly.

After digging a
hole big enough, the memories continued to flood my mind. But the one that
dominated them all was seeing his face for the first time at the orphanage. I’d
never forget him staring at me through the prison bars of Bitemore Orphanage.
Somehow I'd known he was mine, even before I was thrown to the floor by a bunch
of other kids scrambling to get his attention. And I was right. Since then, his
loyalty and kindness had been a constant and most treasured gift. Even though
he was now gone, that gift would always remain with me.

I helped Brett
and a tearful Senator BloodHunt lower Mr. FreeCut’s body into the grave.
Setting him gently down, I took one final look at the great vampire who'd
changed my world.

“Goodbye, old
friend,” Senator BloodHunt cried.

I wanted to say
something, but couldn’t at first. Then, two simple but heartfelt words that
seemed to sum up everything just slipped out.

“Thank you.”

I couldn’t bring
myself to watch as Brett and Senator BloodHunt shoveled the red dirt over his
body.
 
I'd just lost a father. He
was gone, but not really. His spirit would be inside of me for as long as I
lived.

Once the grave
was set, I curled up the necklace that Mr. FreeCut had given to me and placed
it on the dirt to mark the grave. I hated parting with something so precious,
but I had to mark this very special place with something suitable.

I’d be back here
to give my respects.

Someday.

CONCLUSION

 

Transporting
back into the portal room, the smell of garlic was overpowering.

“I’ve set the
portal to your planet!” Mr. Stake shouted. “We’ve got to go now! The garlic
exposure will kill us!”

Yes. I was ready
to go home. Clutching Brett’s arm, I witnessed his precious face turning a
chilling dark green. I couldn’t lose him now. He was all I had!

Mr. Stake handed
us both clickers shaped like skulls, along with red pills.

“You must never
lose your clickers,” he said. “They are your tickets back to Vampire World.
Click them, and you will be transported back here. And don't lose these pills
either. We’ll be arriving on Earth at night, but the sunlight there is lethal
to vampires. Take the pills for protection.”

By now, all of
us were coughing and turning green. There wasn’t much time. The shiny portal
was disappearing behind a dense yellow cloud.

“We’ve got to
go!” screamed Mr. Stake. “NOW! I’ll follow behind you.”

I took one last
look at Brett. He was amazing when I first met him. But now he was a miracle.
As a vampire, I was keenly aware that I may never be able to see my mother,
father or friends again. But I had Brett - a beautiful angel to comfort me,
hold me, and most importantly, love me.

We ran through
the portal, my only way back to Earth. But was it really still my home?

There was only
one way to find out.

 
 

END OF BOOK ONE

About
the Author

 

 

Rich Douglas is from
New Orleans, Louisiana where he has lived the majority of his life. He loves
reading, writing, storm-chasing, traveling and drinking orange soda while he
writes young adult fiction, urban fantasy and science fiction.

 
BOOK: Vampire World
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