Suburban Vampire Ragnarok

Chapter 46

"Arise, Fenrir! Fenrir, Arise!"

Mayor Knight was chanting loudly, holding the reproduction Viking sword aloft, when he felt a tug on the back of his cloak.

"Umm, Mr. Knight?" Natasha asked, interrupting the macabre ritual. "Um, yeah..."

"What? Can't you see you are interrupting a very solemn occasion? How would you like it if I interrupted one of your solemn occasions?"

"Where's my money?"

"It's in the trunk of your car, just as I told you it would be."

"And the other assignment you were going to give me?"

"Oh!" Knight snapped his fingers. "Darn it all. I apologize, you are right! It's just that I was very excited, now that we're about to raise Fenrir and end the world as it is, I forgot all about it! Yes! Four of my children, my wolves, were murdered. Three of those were killed by our Mr. Campbell here. Since he is going to be sacrificed, that will suffice as far as he is concerned. One, however, was killed by a Clackamas County Deputy Sheriff. Now, should this succeed it will be a moot point, but it always pays to have a failsafe in place. Should I fail, I want you to find this police woman and kill her."

"Oh cool! I get to kill a cop! I haven't done that yet!"

Scott knew they were talking about Detective, or rather Deputy, Montoya. "Hey, wait a minute, Knight!"

"You said something, Mr. Campbell?"

"Leave Montoya alone!"

"Leave Montoya alone! Let Jane go! Don't hurt Zed! My goodness, Mr. Campbell, you are nothing if not persistent. This 'Montoya' murdered one of my most trusted operatives, a true Aryan warrior and a loyal wolf. And besides, she's of a 'mud race' anyway. So, she dies. Sorry, you're not in a position to negotiate."

"They were going to kill her!"

"She should have let them. Now, she becomes vampire fodder. Sucks to be her, does it not?"

Natasha strutted up to Scott, put her arms around his neck, then leaned in and kissed him hard on the lips. Scott struggled against it, and found it more painful than pleasurable. Natasha, however, seemed to enjoy it.

"A kiss before dying, as they say," Natasha said.

"I've had punches to the face that were a lot more fun than that."

"Oh, Scotty, Scotty, Scotty. I'd like to say it's been great, but it hasn't been. Have fun dying."

Natasha turned to leave. "Wait!" Scott cried.

"What now?"

Knight slapped his hand to his forehead. "Really, can't we get this show on the road, already?"

"You owe me some truth, for once. That story about your reluctance at being turned. That was bullshit, wasn't it?"

"Completely. I wanted to be turned. I wanted that power, that immortality. I didn't want to be restrained by the expectations of my culture or society. So, I sought it out. And then Jack found me."

"And of course, he turned you."

"Wrong. Jack didn't turn me."

"Then who did?"

"Well, he doesn't want me to tell, for reasons that will become obvious. He himself had been sired by Jack. Of course, he kept all that off the record, and successfully, too. Naturally, he remained—remains—loyal to Jack and his vision. After all Jack was a visionary, a revolutionary, a true vampire among so many false ones. My sire fully embraced the revolution. He still does. Sadly, now that his master is dead he is forced to hide, and hidden he is, in plain sight."