'Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 22\r'

'22. impact at the Palace\r\nRIVERA\r\nThey traded in the Ford at the city motor pool for one that had a Plexiglas divider in the midst of the front and rustle seats. Cavutos knees were pressed against the glove comp inventionment, since the seat didnt ad entirely, solely it was cost the trade- bump despatch. It turned push through and through the organic dog biscuits that Rivera had bought gave Marvin gas. He now had his own little glass sectionalisation in which to exhaust, and the inspectors drank their coffee relatively free of doggy stench.\r\nâ€Å"I dont sleep well during the day,” Cavuto say.\r\nâ€Å"Roger that,” express Rivera. â€Å"I feel like Ive been up for a week.” He dialed his messages, past(prenominal) presented at his partner. â€Å"Fifteen unplayed messages? Are we come in of the service argona or any(prenominal) exquisiteg?”\r\nâ€Å"You turned it off when we were zeroing in on that litter of dangerous kittens.”\r \nRivera attempt to drink his coffee firearm handling the tele band set and ended up pulling the auto over to the curb. â€Å"Theyre all from the Emperor. Something ab come to the fore a ship overmaster at docking facility Nine being dependable of old vampires.”\r\nâ€Å"No,” say Cavuto. â€Å" in that lo disgorgeion be no more vampires until Ive had two full cups of coffee and a healthy piss. Thats my personal rule.”\r\nCavuto kheartd the radio and checked into dispatch. They did most of their communications by cellular phone phone these days, scarce in that respect were gloss over rules. If you were a axial rotation social unit, dispatch removeed to know where you were.\r\nâ€Å"Rivera and Cavuto,” say the dispatcher. â€Å"I nurture you guys tagged to call if there are any cases of cats assail hu manhoods, is that right?”\r\nâ€Å"Roger, dispatch.”\r\nâ€Å"Well, live the dream, Inspector, we soak up report of a fie nd cat attacking a man at Baker and Beach. We consider a unit on the scene inform nonhing.”\r\nCavuto looked at Rivera. â€Å"Thats the Palace of Fine Arts. The Marina is new territory.”\r\nâ€Å"There might not be anything now. The uniforms dont know to look for clothes with dust and I dont want them to. specialise them were on the way.”\r\nâ€Å"Dispatch, we are res pocket billiardsing. Tell unit on scene that well ratvas portion out of it. Part of an current investigation of a 5150 making false reports.” Cavuto grinned and looked at his partner.\r\nâ€Å"Nice improvisation.”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah, but I imply this cat might be out of the bag, Rivera.”\r\nâ€Å"I go for not.”\r\nThey rolled up to the great faux endo railcarp classical dome, the only when building left from the human being Exposition of 1911, when San Francisco was trying to show the world that it had vulcanized from the earthquake of 06. The uniform unit was on the remote side of the reflection pool, standing by their police squad car. Cavuto waved them on. â€Å"We got this, guys. Thanks.”\r\nWhat there wasnt, was a huge shaved vampire cat attacking a guy.\r\nâ€Å"You think its a hoax?” asked Cavuto.\r\nâ€Å"Pretty outrageous coincidence if it is.”\r\nCavuto got out of the car and let Marvin out, who waited for his leash to be attached, indeed dragged Cavuto over to a tree by the pond to have a wee. Swans who had settled low the trees for the night stirred and gave Marvin dirty looks.\r\nâ€Å"Nothing here,” said Cavuto. â€Å"Marvins not doing his signal thing.”\r\nRiveras phone chirped and he looked at the screen. â€Å"Its Allison Green, the offensive little Goth fille.”\r\nâ€Å"If she called this in I give erect her in Juvi overnight.”\r\nâ€Å"Rivera,” Rivera said into the phone.\r\nâ€Å"Turn your insolate jackets on right now,” she said. â€Å"Right fucki ng now, both(prenominal) of you.”\r\nRivera looked at Cavuto. â€Å"Turn on the LEDs on your coat, Nick.”\r\nâ€Å"What?”\r\nâ€Å"Do it. Shes not fucking with us.” Rivera hit the switch on the cuff of his sun jacket and the LEDs came on conspicuously bright. A few blocks extraneous they perceive a man scream. Marvin barked.\r\nâ€Å"Oh, tr??s bon, grasp. Byez,” Abby said. The line went of a sudden.\r\nâ€Å"The fuck was that or so?” said Cavuto.\r\nROLF Rolf was actually disembodied spirit forward to racking someone. afterward hundreds of years, you invite bored with extinguishing, with hunting. The three of them had gone through cycles of stealthy killing of the unwanted, to outright slaughter of full villages, to long periods where there was no killing at all. But it had been fifty years since hed actually had to blast someone. The change of pace was nice.\r\nOf course, it was messy, bodies, waste of good blood, but better t hat than having policemen running around telling heap most them. No matter what kind of debaucheries they had indulged in over the years, and there had been many kinds-these besides went in cycles-the one rule they held fast to was â€Å" preserve hidden.” And to stay hidden, you couldnt permit yourself to croak so bored that you didnt care astir(predicate) living. Well, surviving.\r\nMaybe it was estimable the two cops from sustain night. Elijah, in a rare moment of lucidity finally admitted that there were only two policemen that he knew of, and because they had taken money from the sale of the old vampires art collection, they did not want the secret known. Clearly though, they were beyond their depth with the cats.\r\nHe and Bella had made short cash in ones chips of the smaller cats. They used rapid-fire pellet guns, nearly silent, that fire pellets integrateing a liquid that destroyed vampire systema skeletale on contact-a heinous, herbal mixture that someon e in China had discovered hundreds of years ago. A shaky UV ethereal on the front of the weapons held the animals in solid form long enough for the pellets to impact. The pellets would scandalize a human vampire, but they were devastating to a feline. The Chinese had somehow tuned it to the cats. They had used the mixture to contain every outbreak since its discovery. Rolf remembered firing it from crossbows.\r\nRolf keyed his cell phone, therefore(prenominal) called the emergency number and reported a man being attacked by a giant cat. so he set up the bipod on his locomote, zeroed the twenty-power scope in on one of the swans under a eucalyptus tree, and lay gobble up to wait.\r\nseptenary minutes later the police cruiser arrived. They were both fresh-faced young men with bright pink life auras. From his ceilingtop, four blocks away, Rolf could just make out the squawking of their radios. They knew nothing. They panned their flashlights under the bushes surrounding the pond, and he watched them shake their heads to one another.\r\n 17 minutes after the call, the brown unmarked car pulled up and Rolf relaxed into his dispeling posture. These were the two from the night before. The liberal red dog. The dog looked his way, briefly, thusly dragged the big cop subdue to a tree by the pond.\r\nHe put the crosshairs on the thinner cops face. But no, a headshot was arrogant. He had to make two shots, very rapidly, so he would go for the center of their bodies. Shoot the thin cop first, then pan to the big one. A bigger tar incur. Even if his first shot didnt kill him, it would drop him.\r\nHe waited, waited for them to get clear of the car and the cover. The thin cop was walking toward the other one, then halt to take a phone call. Rolf put the crosshairs over his heart and began to squeeze the trigger.\r\nThen the sinless side of his head seemed to explode with pain and he screamed and crackingbed at the flames that were shooting out of his empty eye socket.\r\nTOMMY â€Å"Are we doing this right?” Tommy asked. They were several blocks behind Rolf, who was travel so smoothly and easily through the Marina govern that Tommy would have vox populi he lived there and was out for his evening jog. Except that no one in the Marina would be wearing a drear duster. It would every be cashmere or Gore-Tex, business or fitness. The Marina was a rich, fit neighborhood.\r\nâ€Å"Were following him,” said Abby. â€Å"How many ship canal can you do that?”\r\nJody was leading them. She held up a hand for them to pinch. The blond vampire had stopped at the quoin of a four-story apartment building and was marking it using just the space between the bricks as handholds.\r\nTommy looked around and spotted a flat-roofed building down the alley. â€Å"That one has a fire escape. Well be in a higher place him, we can watch him.”\r\nâ€Å"I dont think watch is outlet to be enough,” Jody said.\r\nâ€Å"He looks badass,” said Abby.\r\nâ€Å"Hes watching those cops over at the Palace.”\r\nâ€Å"He wont just shoot a cop,” said Tommy. â€Å"Why would he shoot a cop?”\r\nâ€Å"Plain clothes unit pulling in,” Jody said. â€Å"Its Rivera and Cavuto.”\r\nâ€Å"And Marvin,” Abby said.\r\nâ€Å"He knows they know,” said Tommy.\r\nâ€Å"We need to go,” Jody said. â€Å"Abby, you have Riveras number?”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah.”\r\nâ€Å" scratch him. set in me that optical maser thing.”\r\nâ€Å"The light from their jackets magnified through the scope go forth work,” Tommy said.\r\nâ€Å"Lets go.” Jody ran to the border of the roof and stopped.\r\n Abby hopped on her toes. â€Å"Spider-Man it, Countess.”\r\nâ€Å"No fucking way,” Jody said, looking down just as Tommy ran by her and jumped across the alley to the next building.\r\nThey were coming across the roof of a building a block away w hen they saw the side of the vampires head ignite and heard him scream. He rolled away from the gun, clawing at his face.\r\nâ€Å" also far,” Jody said. The final gap between roofs was over a full street, not an alley, and they were a floor set about than the blond vampire. â€Å"Down.”\r\nWithout thinking, Tommy jumped, then said, â€Å"What the fuck did I just do?” He landed on the balls of his feet and went down to crouch, catching himself just as he was about to drive his knee into the concrete. He looked up. Jody was still on the roof.\r\nâ€Å"Cmon, Red, Im not passing game up there alone.”\r\nâ€Å"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” she said, and then landed beside him and rolled.\r\nWhen he saw she wasnt hurt, he said, â€Å"Graceful.”\r\nâ€Å"Hes get up,” she said, and she pointed at the next building.\r\nTommy knew if he thought about it, hed never do it, so he just started climbing up the corner of the building as fast as he could. Hed done this before. He didnt remember it, but his body did. Climbing the ring like a cat. Jody was right behind him. As he pass oned the top of the wall he stopped and looked sticker. â€Å"Sunglasses,” he whispered so faintly that only someone with vampire hearing would hear.\r\nHe fix his right hand between the bricks, then reached into his garb pocket, flung open the sunglasses, and put them on. He couldnt climb with the laser in his hand. Hed have to clear the top, then grab the weapon out of his pants pocket.\r\nJody had her glasses on, too. She nodded for him to go.\r\nHe coiled, and sprang to catapult himself over the edge of the wall, but in midair a bright light went off in his head and he felt himself spinning, then a bone-crushing impact on the ground. Something had hit him, in all likelihood the rifle butt. He rolled over and looked up the wall.\r\nJody was still clinging there, six feet below the edge, too far to be hit with the rifle. The blond vampire, his face charred, was turning the rifle, on the job(p) the bolt. He was going to shoot her in the face.\r\nâ€Å"Jody!”\r\nHe saw her let go with one hand, reach for the small of her back, then there was another blinding light. Hed lost his sunglasses during the fall. Something splatted beside him on the pavement. He could smell burned flesh, and blood.\r\nâ€Å"You hunky-dory?” she said.\r\nHe felt a hand on his face. â€Å"Im kinda blind. And I think I have a couple of low-spirited ribs.” He blinked the blood tears out of his eyes, then saw something dark, circular on the pavement.\r\nâ€Å"Whats that?”\r\nâ€Å"Thats the top of his skull,” Jody said.\r\nFootsteps, then Abby was there. â€Å"That was awesome. Gruesome, but awesome. You were amazing, Countess.”\r\nâ€Å"Not feeling all that amazing.”\r\nâ€Å"You probably should drink some blood, Tommy. Youre kind of fucked up.”\r\nHe took the formative blood pac k from her and bit into it, draining some the whole pint in seconds, feeling his hit the books and skin knitting together. Then Abby snatched it away from him and started drinking herself.\r\nâ€Å"I feel like death on toast. I probably shouldnt have eaten that pigeon.”\r\nMARVIN Marvin ruffed three measure fast, â€Å"Biscuit, biscuit, biscuit.” Then, as he pulled Cavuto around the corner and smelled the stern dead one he ruffed again. â€Å"Another biscuit.” Then, heraldic bearing accomplished. He sat.\r\nâ€Å"Marvin!” Abby said. She dropped the empty blood bag and scratched between his ears, then fed him a Gummi bear.\r\nRivera came around the corner with his Glock drawn. Jody stood, reached past the gun, and snagged the battery out of the cops inside pocket. Abby did the kindred to Cavuto, who leveled a long orange Super alky at her.\r\nâ€Å"Really, Ass Bear?” she said. â€Å"Really?” She snatched the squeeze out gun out of hi s hand and back hand it a full block down the street where it shattered.\r\nâ€Å"I have a gun on you, Missy,” said Rivera.\r\nâ€Å"Biscuit,” Marvin ruffed. Clearly there are three dead people here and part of a fourth, and biscuits are in order.\r\nJody snatched Riveras Glock out of his hand so quickly he was still in aiming position when she popped the reduce out of it. Cavuto started to draw the big Desert eagle and Abby caught his arm and leaned in close. â€Å"Ninja, please, unless youre going to use that to take your own life out of humiliation for the crowd out gun, just let it go.” She turned and looked at Tommy, who was academic term splayed-legged on the sidewalk, holding his ribs. â€Å"This fucking vampy power rocks my deepest dark.” Then back to Cavuto. â€Å"Id slap you around a little, but Im feeling kinda nauseous.”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah,” said Cavuto. â€Å"I get that. Thats how I know youre around.”\r\nâ€Å"So you thre e are, all, uh, them,” said Rivera.\r\nâ€Å"Not exactly them,” Tommy said. â€Å"Jody just took the top off the head of one of them.” He pointed at the charred brainpan.\r\nâ€Å"He was about to take you out with a sniper rifle,” Abby said. â€Å"Thats wherefore I called. Thanks for just doing what I said and not being an assbag, by the way.”\r\nâ€Å"Youll find the quiet of him along with the rifle on the roof,” Jody said.\r\nâ€Å"Thats who called in the vampire cat attack?” Cavuto said.\r\nTommy nodded. â€Å"There are at least three of them. Maybe two, now. Very old. They came in that black yacht thats down at Pier Nine. They are cleaning up the mess Elijah left. They essential know you guys are hunting Chet and the vampire cats.”\r\nâ€Å"He must have seen us last night, with the Animals. We thought the cats got Barry.”\r\nTommy climbed to his feet. â€Å"Barrys dead?”\r\nâ€Å"Sorry,” Rivera said. â€Å"So they know about the Animals, too?”\r\nTommy said, â€Å"The Animals were the ones who took Elijahs art collection and blew up his yacht. Of course, they know about the Animals.”\r\nâ€Å"Weve got to get over there,” Rivera said. â€Å"Theyll be hunting the Emperor, too. Hes been occupational group all day about a black ship. I thought it was just more craziness. I dont even know where to start looking for him.”\r\nJody handed Rivera back his gun and the battery to his jacket. â€Å"telegram those back up as soon as you get back in your car. They work.”\r\nMarvin let go with a barrage of barking, which translated, â€Å"I have found some dead people and I am going to make a fuss if I dont get a biscuit and the ear-scratch girl is dead and sick.”\r\nâ€Å"Easy, Marvin,” Abby said. She stabilize herself against the big dog and Cavuto caught her by the arm to persist in her from falling. â€Å"I really dont feel good.” S he crumpled to the sidewalk. Tommy caught her in time to keep her head from hitting the concrete. â€Å"My bottomland kind of hurts.”\r\nJody snatched Riveras gun out of his hand again. â€Å"Give Tommy your car keys.”\r\nâ€Å"What! No!”\r\nJody smacked Riveras jacket, heard a jingle, then reached in his pocket and took the keys. Rivera stood there like he was five, being dressed by his mother. Jody threw the keys to Tommy.\r\nâ€Å"Take her to the loft. Foo will still be there. Maybe he can change her back in time.”\r\nâ€Å"Where are you going?” Tommy said.\r\nâ€Å"Im going to the ship. Maybe I can stop one of them there. Theyre going to come to the loft, so be ready.”\r\nâ€Å"Not so fast, Red,” said Cavuto.\r\nâ€Å"You will close down the fuck up!” Jody said. â€Å"You guys are six blocks from the Marina Safeway. The Animals should be at work, or will be there in a few minutes. Thats where I went when I wanted to find them, thats where these vampires will go. So buttocks ass over there and warn them. Wire the batteries back into your jackets on the way there or theyll have you for lunch. Call for another car if you need to, but we just saved your lives and your car is ours.”\r\nRivera smiled. â€Å"Im okay with that.”\r\nCavuto said, â€Å"You are?”\r\nTommy picked Abby up and held her with one arm while he reached into her messenger bag, took out her phone, and handed it to Jody. â€Å"Call Foo, tell him were coming.”\r\nâ€Å"I will. Be careful.” She kissed him. â€Å"Save our minion.”\r\nâ€Å"Got it,” Tommy said.\r\nMarvin whimpered at them as they went away, which translated to, â€Å"Im worried about the ear-scratching dead girl with the Gummi bears.”\r\n'