rejuvenating powers of the morning sun. He was on his back for the better part of two hours, lying motionless and without a heartbeat as the waves continued to crash into him.
The sun started to rise and its east-to-west rays worked its way down the Beach Haven shore. The light shot through Cal’s waterlogged body and steadily shot healing crystals to revitalize his organs. Water trickled out of his pours until the way was clear to start his heart pumping again. Cal coughed violently and sprayed water all around as he rolled over on his side in great pain.
Years of intense darkness had given way to the intense brightness of the new day. Cal rose to his feet, although he was weighed down by his water-soaked clothes and atrophied muscles. He then turned toward the sun and kept his eyes closed and his arms extended for the next five minutes while his body underwent extensive repair. And once he was as good as new, Cal pumped his fists defiantly toward the sky and yelled, “HARTWELL!”
“Well, that doesn’t look so good for you,” Manuel observed.
I used to know someone that must have looked like that before they did me in,” referring to his Carmen.
Cal was so locked in that he didn’t see Manuel and Hartwell standing on both sides of him. He dropped his fists toward his side and then crouched down in a sprinter’s position. Cal was focused on Hartwell, and only Hartwell, as he and the bookends blazed a trail toward the vampire’s lair.
Hartwell had been sitting on the fence of 99 deaths, which meant the next time he died would be his last as a vampire and everyone associated with him would return to mortality. Thaddeus Brewster told his daughter Emily that number 100 would be his for all the years he battled the vampire and his protector Garrison. But he gladly would have given the honor to his son if he knew that he was alive.
Cal longed to see his sister and father and the nephew he left behind, but the one person he thought about the entire time he was in captivity was his son Daniel. Not his wife Belinda or his mistress Sharon, who he thought had betrayed and abandoned him.
He turned the corner at top speed as the action continued to slow, modern-day Hartwell on the other side of the door ready to watch the action.
“I would assume that this angle would be preferable to the one I had back then,” Hartwell surmised.
“Did you see him coming?” Manuel asked his usually-loaded question.
“Not until the deed was already done.”
The other Hartwell opened the front door to go out and he was not visible to Cal, who was so hyped and focused that it appeared to the naked eye that he had run right past his intended target.
Hartwell fell back to the floor as Cal held his still-beating heart in his right hand. Moments later, Hartwell had died for the 100th time and Cal dropped the useless organ to the floor.
FOURTEEN
“So, your death not only triggered your own mortality, but it also led to the mortality of everyone else associated with you? How did that work out?” Manuel asked.
“Well, it started out a little rocky. We went through quite an adjustment period until things finally settled down.”
Hartwell’s death sent shockwaves through his community, as everyone was put into an extended slumber within minutes of his monumental expiration.
Some were luckier than others…
Emily Brewster was moving huge containers of dog food, which cushioned her drop, while Thaddeus had flown to the roof as a hawk and was fixing a shingle and he suffered from mostly sunburn damage when he awoke.
Across town, Sharon was working out in the basement on her treadmill, which ejected her limp body across the room and into a pile of clothes. Garrison Phillips had the easiest transition while remaining asleep in his La-Z-Boy recliner.
Brandon Justice, the lone vampire that Hartwell sired before Daniel, was on his way back to Beach Haven from Portland, Oregon, when his vampire wings stopped working about 50 miles from his target destination, and his body rested comfortably in the middle of a tree.
Most of the affected persons escaped injury until Drew and Carla took flight in their BMX bikes and literally hit the dirt with a broken leg and arm, respectively.
The only person that wasn’t impacted by Hartwell’s death was Daniel, who managed to keep his extended vampirism a secret from the group for some time.
“I think the only person that wasn’t satisfied in mortality was Cal,” Hartwell stated. “But he had a lot to be upset about.”
“Do you think part of the reason you buried him for so long was because of Daniel?” Manuel asked as they were back on the boardwalk bench.
“He was in the way,” Hartwell quietly, but intensely, replied.
Manuel smiled, “Funny thing was that he also thought you were in the way.”
Hartwell laughed, “Yeah that is so Cal!”
“How did you resolve your issues?”
Hartwell beamed, “It was a little thing called ‘bash therapy’!”
The two men were transported to the dewy pitch of the great lawn at Beach Haven Park. The individual matchups had been predetermined by the Winters’ family, who were in town on a peacemaking mission.
“If those people hadn’t come to town, we’d probably still be fighting,” Hartwell said to Manuel as they sat in two folding chairs behind some brush across the field from the Winters’ family—Joseph, Katherine, Victoria, Brandon, Bryce and Cheryl—who were also nestled in obscurity behind some brush.
Momma Katherine passed out drinks and popcorn for everyone in the group.
“Do I smell popping corn?” an enticed Manuel sniffed.
Hartwell looked across the way and retraced Katherine’s steps to getting the popcorn. He was back from the Beach Haven Bar & Grill seconds later with two tubs of popcorn and couple of hearty mugs of ale.
“Nice touch,” Manuel said. “Thank you,” he added in what was the first acknowledgement that the two men were peers.
“You’re very welcome,” Hartwell replied.
Many things had transpired since Hartwell’s 100th death, the families turning mortal, Daniel concealing his vampiracy, Cal attempting to kill a mortal Hartwell—only to have Daniel save him by turning him back into a vampire—and then everyone coming back on line as extraordinary beings. But the one thing that hadn’t changed was the mountain of unresolved issues between rivals lining up across the field from each other on this night.
Maxwell prepared battle strategy for the vampires and protectors, and Kayla did the same for the team of hunters. But their strategy on this night was planned by Joe Winters in order to get the most out of the individual matchups.
“The concept behind ‘bash therapy’ was fairly simple,” Hartwell explained as he and Manuel stuffed their faces with popcorn. “We all were supposed to beat the heck out of each other until we were physically exhausted. Then the mental battle could begin and we could actually make progress.”
“Makes sense,” Manuel said after he took a big swig of beer and let out a loud burp, which bordered on a belch. He was really enjoying himself for the first time in more than a century.
The battle started with on-field Hartwell and Thaddeus Brewster, which was apropos because that’s how it all began with Thad impaling Hartwell on a tree for the vampire’s first death. Agent Blake Wallace, Nicole’s father, was going against the one person of the group that flat-out disrespect him, Andrew Brewster. Maybe it was because Brewster was not the father of Nicole’s child, or maybe he just didn’t like Blake?
Blake walked slowly toward Drew, which had sort of a hypnotic affect in him. Drew often called Blake “frog man because of his work in the F.B.I. aquatics unit, so Blake simply said “Ribbet!” and then slapped Andrew across the face with his open right hand, sending Drew spinning toward the ground.
Drew gathered himself and yelled, “Bad froggy!” as he soared through the air as a hawk and then changed into a mighty ram just as he swooping vertically toward Blake. The agent was mesmerized by the flight of the bird until he witnessed the exter
ior change, but it was too late. He was head-butted by Drew the ram and then changed into an Orca killer whale for the flight through the air.
Next up were former sister-in-law’s, Belinda Wallace and Emily Brewster. They didn’t really like each other going back to the days when Belinda was married to Cal. A power struggle between the ladies for their favorite man left them both bitter and basically unfulfilled.
“You’re mine!” usually-aggressive Emily shouted as they locked arms like Greco-Roman wrestlers.
“Oh, I like trash talk!” Manuel cooed.
Hartwell shook his head in disagreement, “Not so much, unless it’s used in place of a physical advantage.”
Emily was always the alpha female dog, and she changed into a Pit Bull Terrier and showed her fangs after she engaged from the Hungarian death grip. Belinda smiled as Emily went airborne and was headed for her jugular vein and an easy victory. Emily zipped over to a local newsstand and retrieved a bunch of rolled-up papers while the dog was still in the air.
“Bad doggy!” Belinda yelled as she swatted Emily on the snout. Emily yelped and then returned to her human form as her butt hit the ground.
“Oh, it’s gonna’ be like that?” she defiantly stated.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be like that!” Emily shot back.
Manuel turned to Hartwell and he finally agreed, “Yeah that was hot!”
Garrison Phillips and his daughter Sharon had been estranged for quite some time after she defected from the protector ranks