Fanghunters by Leo Romero

What’s going on with him? Dom asked himself.
    Before he could come up with an answer, the
vamp’s back straightened; it came off the floorboards with the flexibility of a
gymnast. Everything went rigid. The screeching stopped. And then he came
crashing back to the floorboards.
    Everything then went calm. Silent.
    The buzzing in Dom’s spine abruptly shut off
like the music at the end of a party.
    Dom kept his eyes on the vamp’s motionless
body, wary of it springing back into life. It lay where it was. Unmoving and
hopefully dead.
    Dom caught his breath. What the hell
just happened?
    Holy water, buddy. She told you.
    “Jesus Christ,” he groaned in exhaustion,
his head flopping back onto the floorboards. Terrified excitement juddered
through him like he’d just come off a fairground ride. His chest heaved.
    Man, that was intense... he thought to himself between heavy breaths.
    It ain’t over yet, buddy, a voice piped up in his mind. You still gotta get him outta
here...
    Dom rolled his eyes to the side to meet the
dead vamp sprawled on the floor.
    He grabbed his forehead. “Oh, man...” he
groaned.
     

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
     
     
     
     
    Dom got to his feet straight away. He
knew he didn’t have much time before the guards got back to their posts. He had to get the body to his car, then over to Beauchamp’s for him to
see that the vamp was actually dead. If he didn’t, he might hold back on his
ransom. And Dom couldn’t afford to risk that. But, something else then came up.
He just now remembered that his car was parked in that garage across the
street.
    He grabbed his forehead. I haven’t planned
this well at all. How am I gonna carry a body across street to the trunk of
my car without risking anyone seeing?
        Then it hit him like a fully charged
stun gun.
        The rug on the upstairs landing.
        He could wrap Dracula up in that, so if
a car rushed by him or someone walked past on the sidewalk, at first glance,
they’d just see some guy carrying a rug on his shoulder. Even if they did think
of looking twice, the body would be nicely hidden from view.
    Good idea, buddy, now get going before tweedledum
and tweedledee come back.
    He stuffed his dart gun in his belt and
before leaving the room. There was enough light spilling out of the room he was
just in to put the landing in gloom. He could make out the stairwell, where the
rug was. He went straight for it, no longer concerned by the noise the
floorboards made. The house had been cleared. Another good thing was that the
annoying tingling up and down his spine had stopped. That made things easier.
He reached the rug. Before he picked it up, he poked his head down the
stairwell. Sleeping Beauty was still catching Z’s. Nice. He turned back,
grabbed the edge of the rug and rolled it up. He grabbed it and then took it
back to the vampire’s bedroom. Once in there, he slung the rug down next to his
dead body. It hit the floorboards with a thwump! Dust was sent raining
all over the vamp. Dom then unraveled the rug. The two lay next to one another,
one waiting for the other.
    Your carriage awaits...
    The vamp’s dead face stared up at him as
Dom went and stood over him. His eyes were black, like the eyes of a shark.
They totally lacked that ‘icing’ glimmer. They looked freaky; nasty. Dom
shivered. He went to pick him up but felt repulsed; he didn’t wanna lay a
finger on him.
    Come on, buddy. You gotta get that body
in that rug and over to Beauchamp’s. Now, stop pussying out and pick him up!
    Dom swallowed, even though his mouth was
dry. He swiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He composed himself,
then reached down and grabbed the vamp under the armpits. He groaned. It felt
horrible; heavy, cold like a joint of meat ready for the barbeque. He looked
away in disgust, nausea suddenly rising in the pit of his stomach.
    Am I actually lugging around a dead
body?
    Yeah, you are, bud!
    I think I’m gonna throw up.
    He glanced down; the