couldn’t listen to him talk another second! That’s my dad? You married him?” Drew exclaimed.
“He was a lot more charming when we were younger. Hey, next time I get to shut him up! Okay?”
“Okay,” Drew reluctantly agreed.
TWENTY-FIVE
Three matchups remained. The first of which was Agent Blake Wallace and his wife Belinda against Wallace’s former cohort at the FBI, Agent Terrence Carter. Carter was killed while on Blake’s team and was renewed by Billinglsey because he had an ax to grind with Blake.
Belinda the vampire and Daniel’s mother in the world took the fight to Carter by extending her long fingernails and slicing both sides of his neck with a cross-cut. Carter grabbed both sides of his neck, primarily out of instinct, for fear that his head might separate from his shoulders. Blake took the opportunity to charge at Carter as a rhinoceros, striking him squarely in his upper body and causing his head to remain on the spot of the impact while his body was dragged by rhino Blake for another 75 yards.
Once Blake realized that Carter, or what was left of him, was not offering any resistance, he stopped and morphed back into his human form. He walked back to Belinda and she exclaimed, “That was easy!”
And he hugged his wife and replied, “No doubt.”
Belinda’s proclamation of ease could be heard by Daniel and Nicole, who were about to square off with Alexander Lowery, but Hartwell ignored the elation as he and Maggie were about to drum up and old trick on what they knew as a dog with fleas.
“It’s been a long time since we tried the human sippy box,” Hartwell said to Maggie.
“Too long!” she concurred, as she was pleasantly surprised to see her husband let loose and have some fun for a change.
Obviously, the group’s memory was rather short on this night because the last time they attempted such a move victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat by Kayla, who wasn’t even supposed to be in the fight that night. The vampires had cornered her father Andrew, and had punctured long straws through his body and were draining him of his blood until Kayla could take no more. She came off the sideline before she and Maxwell had turned 18 and removed Hartwell’s head from his body with one mighty cut through the hitting zone. She was so amped up that she then went after Maxwell, who was had also come off the sideline to try and calm her down. If either child were killed before their 18th birthdays there would have been no recourse for either of them. Luckily, no one was hurt other than Hartwell and then Drew, who expired just after Hartwell lost his head. But they came back on line the next day when the sun reinvigorated them.
Hartwell didn’t like Gabriel, so killing him the rather quick conventional way was definitely not preferable. Gabriel had befriended Hartwell after leaving Maggie and staging his death in order to get out from under a pile of debt and escape this world, only to come back by the guiding hand of Brenda Vinson as an ape. Not only had Maggie lost Billinglsey, she also lost couple’s child she was carrying in the process. Brenda also used her powers to shield Billingsley’s true identity to Hartwell, who thought he was gallivanting around the country with a fellow vampire. By leaving, Gabriel had opened the door to Maggie’s heart and it was Hartwell who stepped through the door and more than filled the void.
Hartwell came back with two long sippy straws and handed one to Maggie as Billingsley charged at them completely unaware in his angry ape persona.
“Not yet!” Hartwell yelled as Gabriel drew closer and closer with each thundering step.
Daniel and Nicole were en route to Lowery, but stopped or a moment to take in the action.
“No way!” Daniel yelled in a surprised but excited tone.
This statement of joy also got the attention of Carla, who was guarding a motionless and curiously detached Manuel.
Billingsley was now within 10 feet of the Maggie and Hartwell and Hartwell grunted, “NOW!”
They both sidestepped Gabriel and then reached their arms and straws over their heads and then plunged into both sides of Gabriel’s neck. They both starting drinking the apes supercharged blood, weakening him with each passing sip. Daniel, Nicole and Carla all clapped in appreciation of the move, while Lowery focused his attention on his intended target once he realized that the night would be a total loss unless he immediately made a bold move.
Lowery was headed directly at Daniel and Nicole until he swerved around them with his borrowed vampire wings and was continuing on a course that would take him behind both Manuel and his protector Carla. Alexander Lowery had reached his 100th death and then was subsequently killed by his protector Abraham Ellison once he turned mortal the morning after his vampire death. So his reincarnation as an ape and part-time vampire came with smoke and mirrors and a few other tricks performed by Brenda Vinson.
He took the edge of his razor sharp right wing and sweeped it from right to left, severing the head of Manuel Ortiz before anyone had a chance to know what was going on. It was the sound of Ortiz’s head making contact with the ground that snapped the group back into a sobering reality. Although none of them had lost their individual battles, it was the death of Manuel that ended the night on a losing note for this group of unbeatables.
Carla turned around in shock and said, “Where did he come from?”
And Daniel was quick to supply an answer, “Over here,” as Lowery landed in front of Hartwell and Maggie and was about to shove his improbable victory in their smug faces.
The couple had drained the lost ounces from Gabriel via extremely long straws and released their lip locks, sending Billingsley’s limp body falling backwards toward the turf. Hartwell wiped the blood from his lips with the sleeve of his shirt, but then realized that he was a vampire and such messy conduct had to be rectified. So he zipped back to the house and furiously used a stain remover, lifting the stain clean before he returned a split-second later with what appeared to be a brand new shirt. He then Hoovered Maggie’s excess blood up before turning his attention back to Lowery.
“Are you done yet?” Lowery asked with a huge hint of impatience. “Because I haven’t had ample time to gloat yet about this victory and I would like to commence that celebration.”
Hartwell became so angry that he was not able to acknowledge that the fight was indeed over and further action was not recommended. He stomped over to Lowery and pushed up, while Lowery pushed him back. They started throwing punches until Thaddeus and Harrison caught wind of the action and separated the two men once they realized saw that Manuel had been beheaded and the fight was over. Cal Brewster wasn’t such a good loser because losing was always unacceptable in his book of competition. After Lowery was separated from the group, he walked over and smiled at Lowery in order to mentally disarm the ex-vampire and then he hauled off and flattened him with one massive punch to the face. Lowery was out cold even before he hit the ground.
Hartwell and Cal were always going at it.
“Ahhh! You always get to have all of the fun!” Hartwell yelled at Cal.
“Me?” Cal questioned. “You just put two straws in a guy and were drinking his blood!”
They started walking together and then Cal picked up Manuel’s head and Hartwell picked up his body.
“I can’t argue with that. But I want first crack at him tomorrow night!” Hartwell stated.
“Done!” Cal replied.
Maggie and Sharon were walking behind the men and Maggie shook her head in disbelief, “Boys…”
TWENTY-SIX
Once Lowery awoke from his knock out, he gathered the body parts of his fallen comrades and placed them in the brightest room of their house, where they would be reenergized in a matter of hours. Hartwell and Cal placed Manuel’s head back on top of his body once they returned to the house and walked into the darkened sun room.
“That didn’t end the way I thought it would,” Hartwell said to Cal.
“Tell me about it,” Cal replied as they sat in chairs on either side of Manuel.
&nb
sp; “What do you think he’s up to?” Hartwell asked as he nodded his head toward Manuel.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is I didn’t see a lot of movement out of him tonight,” Hartwell said and then summoned Daniel internally.
Daniel walked into the dark room that was dimly lit from the hallway light and said, ”You rang?”
“Yeah, can you do us a favor and tap into this guy and see what kind of warrior he was,” Hartwell asked his son.
“He’s definitely built for power,” an observant Cal stated.
Daniel rubbed his hands together to create the necessary friction like a jumper cable or EMT electro-shock machine for a human. He then placed his left hand on top of Manuel’s head and then channeled a large image against the windowed back wall of the room.
Andrew was walking past the room with Blake and Drew said, “What are we watching?”
One by one and two by two the rest of the family made their way in the room and the usual popcorn and refreshments were served.
“Cal and I were wondering what was up with Manuel tonight? And I’m sure that many of you had the same question. So we thought that Daniel could tap into his memories and see what kind of warrior we are dealing with here.”
Although the group now knew that Manuel was only two deaths away from both his and the group’s mortality, they weren’t used to just laying down and shrinking at a challenge.
“If we’re going to do