Tale of a Vampire Assassin

Chapter 11

"Again," growled York.  For a moment I was disoriented from the smell of Max's blood and the taste of his angerin the air surrounding me. I could taste his essence on the tip of my tongue as if he's kissed me and I was tasting his lips.  What was I going to do about Max's bite?  I was scared. What happened to people who survived a deadly vampire bite without the venom seal?  He honestly should have died yesterday.  Probably sooner.  He sould have suffered a painful, slow death to his bitter end.  He deserved it.  All of it.

"Moon, what are you doing?  I said hit the cityscape!"  York was yelling at me.  Someone had to wrestle Max off me and drag him out of the room to keep him from upsetting me and setting me off.  "God damn it, Moon!  I said get back to training!"  York never called me by my last name.  It was always Shot or Andy; never had he ever called me Moon.

"Can I have my flask?  I'll go without a word if I'm given a flask full of vodka."  For a moment York just stood there, staring at me.  Finally, he sent Ian after what I wanted.  When he materialized with it I went right into the obstacle room after I took a tug of the vodka.

Again and again and again, I ran the obstacles.  I was given different and new obstacles and objectives, harder targets, and a smaller time outlet to finish my mission within.  I finished always with time to spare.

"That's it," growled York. "Hit the showers Moon."

I started to head for the showers when I heard one of the gear heads ask," What about the real ammo for the new gun?"

 I stopped in my tracks and growled, "What?"  I spun on my heel.  "You mean to tell me I've been shooting with blanks this whole time?"  I held up the gun for emphasis.  I still had it clutched tightly in my right hand.

No one says a word.

One of the gear heads tosses me a detachable and I switch out the magazines.  I noisily and angrily make my way back to the cityscape and wait until something worth shooting at passes by.

When I heard a brick fall from my right I spun and shot in that direction like a human would have.  My bullet whistled through the air perfectly.  When it hit there was an explosion.  I was stunned.  The moment I heard the loud expanse of air I leaped into air and scaled to the roof of the closest building in retreat.  Fire is not my friend.

I walk to the farthest edge of the roof away from the fire and leap down.  I make a beeline through the door and burst through it.  My fangs descended. I'm terrified of an uncontrolled flame.  nothing makes me panick more.

"What the Hell are you all trying to do?  Kill me?"  I slam the gun down on the table.  "I'm not using that!  You can forget it!"  I dig my flask out of my pocket and empty it trying to forget how close I was to incineration.  I'm actually shaking a little.  I can't believe that York had them make exploding bullets! What was he thinking?

"It's too much of a risk that Andy would be killed in that fire, too."  Ian is the one who has spoken up for me and I'm thankful for his words.  I can barely speak on my own.  I'm too busy trying to calm down from having the Hell scared out of me.  I smile at him, showing my fangs, and he laughs lightly before he slides a bottle of vodka into my hand.

I give him a look of thanks and the kid blushes.  This one is definitely taken with me.  He was becoming a real companion of mine.  I look at Ian's boyish face and feel myself calm down.  I have someone on the inside to comfort me and I am grateful.  Ian has already opened the bottle for me and I lift the bottle to my lips to chug half it's contents; calm my nerves. I look back up at Ian's blue-green eyes and feel myself relax. I'm going to have to thank him for this later.

"He's right," says Rodrick.  He crosses the room to stand by me; put his hand on my shoulder.  This is the ring leader of my team.  He is my best soldier.  He carried me when I was shot.  This meant much coming from him.  "We're no where if shot gets hurt."

York cusses.  He knows we are right.  He turns on the number one engineer and growls, "Fix the gun. Fast! And don't disappoint me."

~~~~~~~~~~~

I know I'm dreaming but I'm falling and burning.  I can't escape the downward spiral of pain no matter how hard I try.  I wish Ian would wake me up already.  I can feel my fangs slide and I know I have to be screaming.  This must be a trip to Hell because the fire in my throat won't abate.  I need blood badly.  It feels like rusty nails dragging up the inside of my esophagus.

Finally, a deep pain in my neck wakes me and Marcus, Grey, and Ian are leaning over me where I lay.  Grey wipes his lips free of my blood and stares down at me.  Ian looks worried.

"Andy," says Grey. "We need to talk."