Encounters with Evil Pt. 02

"Yeah, sorry. But at least I got it back, right?"

His mother made a noncommittal sound.

"I've asked for some time off over Fourth of July. I thought I'd come down for a visit." Tigger sought to pull his mother's mind off of his shortcomings, which usually wasn't difficult. She was a pushover when it came to him, but he tried not to take too much advantage of that. She loved him.

"Wonderful! Margie is coming up that weekend too."

"Oh, great! I can't wait to see her." Margie was Tigger's sister, older by three years. She lived in San Diego and worked for Disney in their marketing department. She was one of the charmed few lucky enough to have landed her dream job right out of college. Tigger had always been close to his sister, and the house had seemed empty when she'd first left for school. Now that he was out on his own he didn't think of her as often, but he still missed her.

His mom went on, filling him in on their neighbors across the street, who had bought a new car that turned out to be a lemon; their old cat Mika, who she thought was now stone deaf; and their family friend, Natalie, who at the age of fifty-one had fallen in love with a sixty-year-old French clothing designer and was moving to Paris.

Tigger listened and made sympathetic noises at all the required places. His mother was winding down on her news, and he knew she was about to launch into the third degree about what was happening in his life—a conversation he really didn't want to have because his mother knew him too well. He was sure that after just a few questions she'd have him spilling his guts about Guy.

Luckily he was saved by the bell—or in this case, by a sharp rap on his door. He danced over to it and almost flung it wide before he remembered he had a shiny new peephole. He looked through it and froze.

Whoever was outside was covering the peephole with something—he couldn't see a thing. He tried to calm himself.It's probably just a friend joking around.The hair standing on end on the back of his neck told him otherwise.

He had the presence of mind to say, "Mom, I've got to go. I'll call you back later," before he hung up his phone.

Do I call the police? No, what if it's just one of our friends?

While he stood there debating, his heart hammering away in his chest, there was another quick rap on the door. He checked the peephole again—still dark. Summoning his courage, he called out calmly, "I'm not going to open the door if you won't let me see who you are."

His statement was met with an inhuman snarl and a terrific pounding on the door that reverberated through the room.

Tigger jumped back, watching in horror as the door shook in its frame. The knob rattled like crazy and then there was silence. Tigger's limbs felt like jelly and there was a roaring in his ears. He was positive that the demon was standing right outside his door.What is he doing?

He heard Mrs. McGruder's voice, shrill and imperious, "You don't belong here. I'm calling the police." There was another snarl from the vampire and he heard a squeak from Mrs. McGruder.

Holy shit! What'd he just do to Mrs. McGruder?Tigger crept to the door and looked out the peephole. The vampire was right there in front of his door, fiddling with the lock. There was no sign of Mrs. McGruder. The demon looked up at the peephole and grinned as if he could see Tigger clearly. The soulless black eyes chilled him to the marrow.

He suppressed a whimper of terror that threatened to come out of his mouth as he backed slowly away from the door.How long will it take him to pick the lock?Three steps away from the door he turned and fled to his bedroom, where he slammed and locked the door. The bedroom door wouldn't hold the vampire for more than a few seconds—he knew that.

His phone was still in his hand. With shaking fingers he punched in his security code and dialed 911.

"Nine-one-one—what's your emergency?" The woman's voice on the other end of the phone was all business.

Tigger gasped. It took him a fraction of a second to get his voice working and then he burst out, "Someone's trying to break into my apartment and I think he may have attacked my neighbor."

Later he would not remember giving his name and address or any of the rest of the conversation that took place. The dispatcher requested that he stay on the line and he was remotely aware that she was relaying his information to officers in the field. His hearing was attuned to the front of his apartment. He heard nothing.

He paced to his window and looked out. It was a long drop, but maybe his best option if he heard the vampire in the apartment. He unlocked the window and opened the sash, letting in a blast of cool air. It was drizzling outside, and even though it was June, the sun had set and it was barely over fifty degrees outside. His coat was in the front hall closet but he wasn't about to go get it. He had just shrugged into a sweater when he heard the dispatcher speaking to him.

"Officers are on their way. You hold tight now."

Just then Tigger heard more ferocious snarls and a great hammering at the front door. He had thought his heart couldn't beat any faster, but now he felt it pounding in his chest, forcing all the air out of his lungs. He gasped for air.Hold tight? You don't know what's out there! Will a regular bullet even slow a vampire down?

The racket at the door stopped abruptly. The silence was ominous.

Going back to the window, he was just about to knock the screen out when he saw the vampire coming out of the back door of the apartment. The demon moved swiftly to just below his window and without hesitation started to glide up the side of the building.

Holy shit!Terror screamed so loudly through Tigger that his brain short-circuited, his mind-channel turning to snow. Luckily his body functioned on its own accord. He jumped back, slammed the window shut, and snicked the lock into place. He could hear the dispatcher yammering on his phone, demanding to know what was happening. He jammed the phone into his back pocket, heedless of whether he cut the connection. Racing from his room, he yanked the door shut behind him.I need some way to lock that from the outside,he thought.

Still on autopilot, he ran into the dining room and grabbed one of the sturdy ladderback chairs. He was almost back to the room when he heard gun shots.

Thank God, the police are here!

He wedged the back of the chair behind the door handle so that the door couldn't be opened until the chair was dislodged or broken. Just as he was finishing, he heard the sound of breaking glass.Oh my God! Either the police missed or the bullets didn't slow him down any.

He dashed to front door and paused with his hand on the knob.Should I run outside?He heard the vampire snarling on the other side of his bedroom door and rattling it.That flimsy door is not going to hold for long.That thought made up his mind for him. He opened the front door silently and slipped out into the hallway. There was no sign of Mrs. McGruder. He had just reached the stairwell door when it flew open, almost giving him a heart attack. Guy's bulk filled the doorframe; his face was as grim as death.

Tigger didn't have time to say anything. He was thrown over a broad shoulder, very much like the first time Guy that had carried him. He grabbed fistfuls of leather jacket to steady himself as the big man leapt down the stairs in two jumps. They burst out the front door of the building and Guy picked up speed. This time Tigger was certain that a normal human-being couldn't run this fast. The world streaked by at an eye-watering pace. He heard the sound of sirens and some part of his mind registered that the police must have called for backup. Luckily Guy had found him—he saw no sign of the police. He was sure that they would not have been able to save him from the demon.

In no time at all Guy pulled him off his shoulder and threw him through the open driver's side door of a sports car. Tigger careened into the passenger door, his legs tangling with the gear shift. He scrambled around to a sitting position as Guy climbed in and the engine roared to life.

"Buckle up," Guy barked.

As Tigger hurried to comply, the door began sliding shut from a vertical position with a quiet whir. He saw a black blur streaking toward them. Just as the door finished closing, the blur collided with the vehicle, shaking it with such force it rocked on its wheels. The vampire's face appeared in the front window. Tigger heard a feral snarl and saw the gleam of the monster's elongated canines.

He heard himself whimper in terror. The blackhole eyes bored into him with a hunger that chilled his soul.

Then the car was moving, the force of their acceleration pushing him back against the seat. The vampire was left behind and they took a corner on two squealing tires. Their speed increased on the straight away. They were going much too fast for a suburban neighborhood.

"I knew that zero to sixty in less than three seconds would come in handy some day," Guy said, chuckling.

Tigger suddenly became aware of his heart still hammering in his chest. He took deep breaths, willing himself to calm down.I'm safe now. I'm with Guy.Perhaps the pounding of his heart wasn't all from fear.

Guy ran a red light and accelerated even more as he took the onramp to Highway 520, heading east over Lake Washington. Tigger eyed the speedometer as it jumped past a hundred miles an hour. They overtook the vehicle in front of them in a flat second. Luckily there weren't many cars on the bridge at that hour. He squirmed around in his seat to look out the back window apprehensively. There was no sign of the vampire.

"He can't catch us now," Guy assured him.

Tigger eyed the speedometer. "Then why—"

"I just like going fast," Guy said, breaking into a broad smile. He eased off on the accelerator a bit, bringing their speed down to eighty. "I guess I'd better slow down. My boss will have my ass in a sling if I taunt the local cops."

"Holy, hell," Tigger said, finally starting to catch his breath. "I am so glad you rescued me. What were you doing there, anyway?"

"Looking for the vampire," Guy answered, his grin fading quickly to be replaced by his usual stony expression.

"Looking for the vampire?" Tigger echoed back in confusion. Suddenly the meaning of Guy's words hit him. "You were using me as bait!" he accused.

"No. No I wasn't. I would never," Guy said quickly. "I just knew he would be after you and didn't have any other leads. I'm glad my instincts were on target."

"Otherwise I'd be dead by now," Tigger confirmed.

"Not yet, but you'd wish you were."

Tigger sucked in a quick breath, trying not to think too much about what Guy had just said. "How did the vampire find me in the first place?"

"That's a very good question."

"You think that he was after me specifically? Why?"

"When he attacked you last weekend he tasted your blood, didn't he?" Guy glanced briefly at Tigger's face before turning his attention back to the freeway.

"Yes." Tigger shuddered. "After he cut me, he licked me." The last came out in a horrified whisper. Guy pressed his lips together in a tight line. "But why does that matter?" Tigger asked. "He didn't bite me."

"Thank God for that! But just having tasted your blood will put a compulsion on him to taste you again. He won't stop until he has you—or he's been destroyed." Guy fixed his intense eye on Tigger. "I intend to make sure it's the latter." Turning his attention back to the freeway, he moved the car into the lane to merge onto Highway 405, heading south.

Tigger tried not to stare at Guy's profile. He had a classic roman nose with a small hump on the bridge. Tigger wondered if it had been broken. Regardless, it was the perfect nose for Guy's masculine face.

"I assume your roommate wasn't there," Guy said, breaking the brief silence.

"Yes, Jon's working tonight."

"What time do you expect him home?"

"He works at The Pony and doesn't usually doesn't get home until one-thirty or two." The Pony was a lively gay bar in Seattle's Capital Hill neighborhood.

Guy raised an eyebrow. "He's a bartender?"

"Dancer, actually."

Guy made a disapproving sound and then said, "He can't go home."

"Do you think the vampire will be after him?" Tigger asked in alarm.

"I don't think Valjevo's hunting him, but I'm sure he's pissed as hell and likely still in the neighborhood. He won't hesitate to snag Jon if he gets a chance."

"Valjevo?"

"The vampire."

He has a name?This surprised Tigger.The vampire's soulless. Shouldn't he be nameless too?Turning his thoughts back to the problem at hand, he said, "Jon usually walks home. I'll call him and tell him he should find someplace else to go for tonight."

He struggled for a few moments wrestling his phone out of the back pocket of his skin-tight jeans. Once he'd finally retrieved it, he glanced at the panel and saw that he'd missed two calls, one from his mother and one from an unlisted number, undoubtedly the dispatcher attempting to call him back. He had been so distracted he must have missed it vibrating.

He punched in his security code and then hesitated, wondering who to call first.

"Got a new phone?" Guy asked, his tone deceptively light.

"No, it's my old phone. I found it," Tigger responded.

Guy's jaw tightened. "Where?"

"Huh? Oh, in the alley, where I lost it."

Faster than thought Guy snatched the phone out of his hand.

"Hey!" Tigger protested, turning to face the big man. Guy's face was a study in fury. Tigger registered that the driver's side window was sliding down. He lunged for his phone but Guy easily shifted it to his left hand and tossed it out the window.

"Hey!" Tigger cried again, twisting quickly around to watch the gadget disappear underneath the car behind them. "That's my phone! I need that. You have to go back and get it!"

"How do you think the vampire found you?" Guy asked through clenched teeth.

Tigger was silent for a few seconds as the meaning of Guy's words sunk in. "You mean he traced me through my phone?"

"Of course."

"But did you have to throw it away? I mean, couldn't we have fixed it?"

"It's possible, but I wouldn't want to take a chance. Never underestimate a vampire. It was ridiculously naïve of you to go back to that alley. I'm surprised you've managed to survive to the ripe age of twenty-one if you make a habit of decisions like that one."

Tigger let out a huff of air. He didn't have a snappy comeback, but he was definitely irritated about the loss of his phone. "How am I going to call Jon?" he demanded. "How am I going to call my mother back? She'll be worried about me. The police will be looking for me too. I was on the phone with 911 when he started climbing the building."

"Nine-one-one?" Guy shook his head. "The local police can't do anything about a vampire."

"Well, I didn't haveyourphone number because you wouldn't give it to me," Tigger pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest and sticking his lower lip out in a pout.

Guy glanced at him but said nothing. Tigger stared out the window as they got onto I-90 heading west across the lake again. He had a million questions for Guy, but he was too upset to ask them just then. He was sure he'd sound snarky and he didn't want to fight with Guy; the older man seemed agitated. Tigger wanted to blame his anger on Guy, but he realized he was probably more upset about the vampire attack than he was about his phone.

"You can call Jon on my phone," Guy finally said. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pay-as-you-go phone, offering it to Tigger.

Tigger looked at it and blinked. It didn't seem like the kind of phone Guy would own. He shook his head. "I don't have Jon's number memorized. It was on my phone and it's unlisted."

"I can get it for you, but it might take some time. It'll be faster for me to go by there," Guy said, pocketing the phone once more. He took an exit onto Mercer Island and headed down a street that ran along the west side of the long narrow strip of land.

"Where are we going?" Tigger asked.

"Someplace safe," Guy replied.

Tigger was about to push for an answer when he realized that it was probably pointless. He didn't know Guy well, but his jaw was set and his lips were pressed into a tight line. Wherever it was, they would be there soon. Mercer Island wasn't that big.

Guy had slowed to a normal speed and Tigger continued to watch out the window as they drove across the heavily wooded island, passing multi-million dollar homes of various ages, sizes, and architectures, many partially hidden in the trees or behind high fences.

He had time to notice that the interior of the vehicle was sleek, the seats of the highest quality leather, and the electronics cutting edge. He glanced at the label on the dashboard: "Koenigsegg, Agera."

"Holy shit! This is like a million dollar car!" he burst out.

Guy let out a low laugh, his tension seeming to ease. "Well, I didn't pay quite that much for it," he said modestly. They had reached the south end of the island, and Guy slowed the car to pull onto a small gravel road. The street disappeared through the trees behind them as they drove down a long driveway to, what was for Mercer Island, a very modest house. Guy punched a button on a gadget that was attached to his sun visor and the garage door slid open.

He pulled the car in and punched the button again to close the door behind them. Tigger started to unbuckle his seat belt.

"Hold," Guy said, putting his hand up in a halt gesture. "We're not quite there yet."

Not there? Where the hell can we go from here?The garage was empty save for a golf cart parked to one side and some neatly arrayed garden tools.

Guy punched another button on the sun visor gadget and there was a quiet whir. Tigger became aware that the car was sinking. The entire garage floor was going down, as if it were an elevator.

"What the hell?"

"Welcome to my humble abode," Guy muttered.

Presently a long tunnel stretched out before them, illuminated by the headlights of the sports car. The garage floor settled with a small clunk and Guy eased the car forward, pressing the button again to raise the garage floor behind them.

"Who the hell are you?" Tigger demanded, his voice coming out as a squeak. "Bruce Wayne?"

A broad grin broke across Guy's face. "Something like that," he replied.