by Captain Sammitch and Danny
Danny Hearn couldn't speak, couldn't move, could barely breathe. He had slowly drifted back to consciousness and almost instantly regretted it. Not only did everything still hurt like hell, the pureblood vampire was still standing over him. Apparently, Count Crapula wasn't merciful enough to dispatch him while Danny was in the relatively painless throes of unconsciousness.
"I was wondering how long I would have to wait," the vampire remarked coldly.
Danny wanted to say something but couldn't.
"You must wonder why I'm doing this," the vamp went on. "Why don't I just kill you outright or drain you? Well, it's simple. I like pain. I like inflicting it on others. And I like watching them suffer."
"Bloody... sadist," Danny managed to wheeze.
The vampire shrugged. "At any rate, since you're wide awake now, I suppose I owe it to you to end all this."
Danny didn't respond.
"Say," the vampire asked, "do you know what death looks like?"
Danny didn't answer. He seemed to be concentrating on something far away.
The vampire didn't like being ignored. "I said, do you know what death looks like?"
No answer.
"Now, don't ruin my fun by being a poor conversationalist. Do you know what death looks like?"
Danny looked at the vampire, and smiled and nodded.
That wasn't the answer the vampire was expecting. "Then I suppose you can tell me exactly what death looks like."
Danny pointed up.
The vampire turned and was met by a vicious right hook delivered by none other than Grimm, the avatar of... you guessed it.
"Comic timing is a beautiful thing," the big biker said as he proceeded to kick the vampire's undead ass.
"Still talking to your friends?"
Phil Smith turned around. Leslie Kline had come up behind him. She put a delicate hand on Phil's shoulder.
"How long have you been following me?" Phil asked. "I've been all over this cave, and I didn't know you were back there."
"You mean you couldn't sense me?" Leslie asked.
"What do you mean?"
Leslie smiled. "You are a telepath, no matter how good an act you put on. You sense other people's presence and even read their thoughts sometimes." She pointed to her head. "Can you read mine?"
Phil looked at her. "Look, I don't want to read yours, Leslie. I've got things to do. My friends are out there, and at least one may be badly hurt. I'm not in the mood for games right now."
Leslie rolled her eyes. "Fine, jerk. Keep walking all over this cave like a weirdo. I'm going to get out of here sooner or later, and if you wanna waste time looking around this rock -- time you could be enjoying with me -- help yourself." She turned her back, waiting for Phil to cave in, just like everyone else did.
"Maybe later." Phil headed back toward the others.
Leslie's jaw dropped. Nobody ignored her! The strong ones could fight off her influence for a while, but everyone eventually gave in to Leslie's wishes.
Maybe she needed to try a different tactic.
"Sweetie, I was only kidding," she said as she jogged along after Phil. "I just would like to get to know you a bit better," Leslie said as Phil turned around. She tossed her strawberry blonde -- today it was strawberry blonde -- hair back and smiled at him, batting her bluish-green -- today they were bluish-green -- eyes. She faked a yawn and stretched her arms over her head, giving the telepath a good view of her generous bust-line. "I know you're busy now, silly. When this is all over, maybe you and I should go... take in the sights, or something."
Phil snorted aloud. "When the second half of the storm is past, there won't be any sights to take in."
"We can get out of here." Leslie was running low on ideas. "I know a guy with a boat who can get us to Fort Lauderdale in a hurry. I don't like all this destruction, either." She was pretty sure her charm power was running at full blast, and began rocking back and forth, subtly showing off her perfect curves, while still smiling at him. "Let's just leave, Phil. Please?"
Phil smiled. "No."
Leslie gawked at him.
"I don't think so," Phil said. "First of all, I am not about to ditch my friends, no matter what... gorgeous... women... who are... coming on to me... have to say. Yeah." Phil thought a moment. "Second, I don't recall anyone telling you my name."
"You told me," Leslie insisted. How could my charm power NOT work on him?
Phil shook his head. "Nope."
"Telepathically!"
"I may not be in complete control of my abilities," Phil replied, "but I'm pretty sure that I don't go around saying 'Hello, my name is Phil Smith,' in people's heads."
"I... guessed." Leslie looked down, fresh out of weapons.
Phil smiled at her. "Leslie, Leslie, Leslie, tell me the truth. Who are you? How do you know my name? And why can't I get a telepathic reading from you except when you're using some kind of super-charm meta power? And that thing's like a thousand-watt bug zapper!"
Leslie didn't look at him. "I'll... I'll tell you after the storm is over," she said sheepishly. He can sense everyone else telepathically, just not me. I can charm everyone else into doing what I want, just not him. What does that mean?
Phil smiled at her. "Since you're not going anywhere in a big hurry, you can tell me all about it over dinner, after we have things under control and get some rebuilding done around here." He put a hand on her arm and was surprised at the density of muscle he felt.
Leslie nodded. "Then... what happens now?"
Phil shrugged. "I don't really know." He looked up. "But I sure wish I knew what was going on outside."
Reeling from the force of Grimm's initial blow, the vampire stepped backward before regaining his balance. "You took me by surprise. You won't get that lucky twice," it said.
"We'll see," Grimm replied, standing in front of the unconscious bodies of Priest and Danny.
The vampire leaped at Grimm, its arms outstretched. Grimm ducked, clasped his hands together, and drove them upward into its ribcage. It collapsed to the ground. Grimm kicked it hard in the stomach, sending it skidding a few feet along the ground. Raising his foot to stomp on its chest, it grabbed his ankle and flung Grimm down to the ground. It stood and placed a foot firmly on his throat. It grinned as it heard him struggle to breathe.
Grimm shot his leg out, sweeping it under the vampire's other leg and bringing it crashing down on top of him. He threw it off and shot upright, unclasping his axe from his belt as he did so. The vampire stood just in time to see Grimm hurling his weapon right at it.
The creature ducked, leaving the axe to strike at nothing. Standing back up, it head-butted him in the chin. Grimm stepped backward, then regained his footing. He swung his left, axe-wielding arm toward the creature, who grabbed his wrist and stopped the blow. Grimm tried to connect with a punch from his right hand. The vampire grabbed his fist in its hand.
Grimm quickly raised his foot and kicked the creature in the stomach. It fell, sprawling to the ground. Grimm raised his axe and quickly brought it down towards its head.
Even quicker, the vampire shot its arms out and grabbed the shaft of the axe. Yanking it violently, it drove the axe into the ground just behind its head. Raising both feet, it placed them against Grimm's chest and pushed him.
Grimm toppled down to the ground as the vampire stood up. His axe was still lodged in the dirt. The vampire kicked him once in the face, then again in the stomach. He groaned loudly. Scrabbling across the ground, he pulled his axe out of the dirt and tried to stand. The vampire pushed him down again with its left foot.
Bringing his knee up, Grimm connected with his attacker's crotch. It's momentary doubling over in pain gave him a chance to stand.
With all the force he could muster, he punched the creature in the face. It took a few steps backward, stumbling. But it remained standing. Grimm swung his axe around. The vampire raised his left forearm and brought it across to meet Grimm's, blocking the blow. The axe's momentum sent it flying out of Grimm's hand, and it lodged in the rock wall opposite.
It punched Grimm in the face, then kicked him in the chest, sending him to the ground once more. With alarming speed, it was on top of him, its hands wrapped around his throat.
"Your people killed my troops. For that, you will all pay dearly," it hissed.
A hail of machine gun fire shot straight into the creature's back. It raised its head and turned its gaze, grunting in surprise.
"Get the hell off him," Dirk Bell said, gun raised to the creature's head from a few feet away. The distraction allowed Grimm to throw the creature off himself and get to his feet.
"That almost hurt -- almost, but not nearly enough," the vampire said, and ran at Dirk. He kept shooting, but it seemed to make little difference. It charged through the gunfire, shrugging off the bullets.
Some connected. Some even drew some blood. But it was going to take a lot more to take it down.
Before Dirk even realized it was close, its hand wrapped around his throat. It grabbed the front of his shirt collar with its other hand and raised him off the ground.
Charging at it, Grimm tackled its legs, causing it to fall to the ground and drop Dirk on top of itself. It pushed Dirk up and to the side with one leg and grabbed Grimm around the midsection. The two grappled for a few seconds, until the creature was on top, pinning Grimm to the ground. It punched him once in the chest, then raised its arm for another strike.
Dirk threw himself at them, hitting the vampire and sending them both tumbling to the ground once more. It grabbed Dirk and pushed him hard into the ground, knocking the wind out of him. It kicked him, and Dirk tumbled across the ground, coming to rest only when he slammed against the rock wall at the side of the ditch.
Approaching it from behind, Grimm wrapped his arms around the creature's throat. It leaned forward, grabbed Grimm by the shoulders, and threw him over itself, toward the wall. Dirk had to hurry out of the way to avoid the two men colliding. In one fluid movement, Dirk stood up, removed a gun from his belt, and fired at the vampire's face.
The creature squealed in pain when a bullet connected with its eye.
"Fuck! You actually managed to hurt me, human!" the creature yelled, stepping forward. With one huge swipe, it knocked the gun out of Dirk's hand and grabbed him by the throat. "None of you will survive the day. None," it said.
Grimm, still on the ground, raised a foot and kicked it in the knee. It lost its balance and fell down on top of Grimm. Dirk followed.
Quickly, the vampire stood and jumped up. It clung to the rock wall and turned its head to face them. "This battle it not over. My hour of vengeance will soon be upon you, if the storm doesn't kill you first."
It laughed once, then scaled the wall as nimbly as a spider.
Grimm stood, then helped Dirk to his feet. "What do you make of that?" Grimm asked.
"It's strong, stronger than any of the vamps we've run into before," Dirk replied.
"We should check on them..."
The two ran over to check on their injured teammates. They closely inspected both Danny and Priest. "They're unconscious, but alive. I think Priest overused his power," Dirk said.
"Danny looks badly beaten. I'm surprised he's not dead," Grimm said softly. A look of concern flashed over his skull.
"We have to get them both to the caves, now," Dirk said, trying not to let his voice show the anxiety he felt looking at Danny's broken body.
"And how are you?" Grimm asked, looking up at Dirk.
"Fine. Few bumps and bruises. I'll make it through the day. You?"
"I'm okay. But we need to get inside now." Grimm looked up. The hail had stopped, but the rain had started. It was arguable which was worse.
The storm would hit any second.
"Where are Jackie and Grissom?" Grimm asked.
"Ameristar left, off on her own solo mission again. Grissom is looking for an entrance to the caves somewhere on the beach."
"We have to trust that Grissom can find a way in. We need to find an entrance for ourselves, now."
Dirk nodded his agreement. They both stood. "What's the plan?" Dirk asked.
"The caves, they run all over the place, under the beach. Might be an entrance somewhere in this ditch."
They both walked along the walls on either side, looking for an opening. Grimm came to a fissure a few inches wide and a few feet tall. He contemplated it for a moment, then grabbed his axe from the wall. With a well-placed swing, he widened the crack. He could tell it extended further. A couple of swings later, and he had himself a cave entrance.
"Here. It'll be a tight squeeze, but it should get us somewhere safe," Grimm said, calling Dirk over.
And so, with Priest draped over Grimm's shoulder and Danny over Dirk's, they made their way inside.
Moments later, a deafening blast of thunder echoed to every corner of the island.
The storm was back.