FDTD Ch 28
The sun had gone down an hour ago but they had kept driving, knowing they were running out of time.
Hotch was starting to get more anxious by the minute, fearing that they would miss their rendezvous in the morning just because they had decided to go look at some shady bar in the middle of nowhere.
For three hours they had driven along the highway, seeing nothing but dust and sand until even Gideon had almost given in and agreed to turn around.
Just then, a light in the distance had caught their attention. It had turned out to be the place they were looking for, a large building with bright neon lights and shady clientele included.
A couple of trucks were parked in front of the entrance and music blasted from the inside. Everybody stared at them as they neared the door in their neat suits and ties, looking completely out of place between all the lowlifes and whores.
Hotch kept his stern glace ahead, remaining professional and focused. He didn't actually believe that Seth Gecko would be stupid enough to hide in this hell hole out of all places but there wasn't anything left they hadn't tried yet and this was their last chance to catch the brothers unprepared, meeting them on their own terms.
He looked over at Gideon's worried expression and at Elle's scowl as she eyed the half naked dancers by the entrance and the crude announcer.
His colleague met his eye and nodded and Hotch signaled for the three deputies they had brought along to follow him inside. Even if it wasn't likely, he didn't want to risk walking in there unprepared.
Before they went in he made sure everybody had their guns with them and paused in confusion at the devices he saw the three Mexican cops carrying. They looked like large wooden sticks.
"What are those?" he asked in the little Spanish he knew.
One of the men said something he couldn't understand and Elle translated: "Stakes. You know, against the vampires."
Hotch looked at her, then at the men and back at her, trying to see if they could be joking but the men looked dead serious and more than a little scared.
He sighed heavily, letting it go. There was nothing he could do now concerning superstitious small towners and there was no harm really in having some 'stakes'. He just wished he could have some sane people on his side. He looked at Elle, glad the other two agents were with him at least.
"Have you told them that that is ridiculous?"
In response, Elle merely pulled at a chain around her neck, revealing a little silver cross to him, "You tell them."
He looked at her incredulously, realizing she wasn't laughing either. He turned to Gideon, hoping that at least his old friend wouldn't disappoint him.
"How about you? Any hidden stakes I need to know about?"
Gideon shrugged, looking mildly amused by his annoyance, "No. But I had some garlic bread for lunch so I was hoping I'm covered anyways."
Hotch had no choice but to file his words under joke, otherwise he might have thrown a fit right there in the desert.
This was going to be one hell of a night, he could feel it already.
They made their way through the door and were faced with a large room with several tables, a bar and a stage; the air was full of smoke, sweat and heady perfume.
Next to him, Elle made another face seeing the girls dancing by the wall and one the tables. It would almost have been funny if not for their dire situation. A swift look around revealed that if the brothers and Reid where here, they were at least hiding somewhere out of sight.
Hotch walked up to the bar and waved the barkeeper over. The man walked over to them with a skeptical look on his face, "This bar is only for truckers. Go get a drink elsewhere."
"We're not here for a drink," Gideon said next to him, flashing his credentials along with pictures of Seth and Richard, "We just need some information. We are looking for two men: Seth and Richard Gecko."
As though he had said a magic word, suddenly all eyes in the room seemed to land on them, all conversations dying until there was only the music left. The bar keeper eyed them with an eerie expression as he took the pictures from him.
"Are you, now?" he sneered.
xxx
Just five hours earlier, Seth Gecko had been a fugitive with an unstable brother to take care of and the utterly self-destructive urge to kiss someone who was supposed to be his enemy slash victim.
Five hours ago he had thought his day couldn't possibly get worse.
Seth gripped the gun in his hand tighter as he stared at the army of bloodthirsty creatures which occupied the wide room in front of them, staring at them with hunger in their eyes.
Next to him, Richie cursed under his breath, and he heard Reid take a shuddering breath when he realized just how much danger they were really in.
Knowing he had to keep a level head, he quickly assessed the room. There were three hallways leading away from this room into the dark and unknown. One of them was right behind them and obviously a cul-de-sac. The other two were blocked by monsters dying to rip their throats out.
And opposing that tremendous threat was a dream team that couldn't have been a worse fit.
Terrific.
Now, how to get out of here…there were a couple of tables and more torches in this room, things they could use as stakes…but even with that he wasn't sure they'd be able to make it to the exit. If it were only he and Richie, maybe, but he had Spencer to think of as well. The kid had barely swallowed the fact that there were vampires…he didn't look ready to fight them by far. On top of that, his fighting skills so far hadn't been very impressive…
He eyed their opponents carefully, waiting for them to strike immediately but they just stayed in place, some shifting restlessly towards them but none openly attacking. Why not?
Last time he had been here all it had taken was one order from the table dance chick and every fucking creature in this joint had pounced on them like rabid dogs. Where was she by the way? Were they maybe not allowed to attack without her here? Then they might have a chance…
"Stay close," Seth said, too low for the vampires to hear, "We're gonna try and make our way to one of those tunnels."
Next to him, Richie nodded and he decided to take Reid's silence as approval. They moved forward slowly, keeping their respective weapons in front of them which even succeeded in warding off the vampires closest to them -until they closed in again once they had passed them. They were quickly becoming surrounded.
Behind him, Reid gasped when one made a jump at his turned back; he spun around and struck out with the torch instinctively, making the beast retreat with a snarl. Seconds later, Seth jabbed his torch at it as well, causing some more to step back.
"Back the fuck off!", he snarled, not even caring if they could comprehend him in their current state.
To his surprise he got an actual answer.
"Now, why so rude? Don't tell me you're leaving already? We haven't even had dinner yet…"
All three of them looked to where the eerily soft voice came from, watched as the crowd separated to let the speaker through.
Seth recognized the woman immediately. There she was.
She was one of the few who hadn't fully transformed yet, her thick dark hair falling heavily around her stunning face.
Santanico Pandemonium, he finally remembered her name. The so called Mistress.
He remembered her doing a table dance for Richie over a week ago, the way she had moved and looked so seductively, wordlessly promising bliss to every man she looked at. Until she had morphed into an especially vicious vampire, almost ripping off some guy's head as she plunged her fangs into his throat.
She was giving him a smile now but didn't do much to hide the fire burning behind her eyes, promising him the same fate.
"So we meet again," she leered at them, slowly moving closer still with graceful steps, "I was beginning to fear I wouldn't get to repay you for trashing my lair and killing my family."
"What makes you think this time will be different, bitch?" Seth hissed, lifting his torch, ready to attack. Even if he was going to die, he refused to let her get to him.
The female vampire just laughed at his action, her eyes flashing yellow, "Last time you were lucky. This time, you will be dead before sunrise. Or at least you'll wish you were."
She took a moment to let that notion sink in, knowing full well that her implication wasn't lost on any of them.
Xxx
Reid couldn't move.
Literally. They were surrounded by monsters out to tear them apart and he was frozen with fear.
He didn't know why he'd thought going with the brothers would somehow make a difference where his fate was concerned. They weren't getting out of here. There were just too many of them.
The vampire mistress gave them about ten seconds to come to terms with their imminent demise, assessing first Seth, then Richie with a cold, calculating smile before turning to Reid and faltering for a second.
Reid shuddered as she fixated him with narrowed eyes.
Pretty as she undoubtedly was, that woman's smile almost scared him more than the horrific creatures surrounding them. He shuddered in terror. His mind was racing along with his heart, just trying not to panic at the situation and keep it together. This was a thousand times worse than any nightmare he'd ever had.
How long would a burning stick keep him safe?
Probably for the better part of a minute.
Looking at the sheer amount of monsters they were faced with he realized that he wouldn't even have to worry about whether or not Seth would keep his word -because he wouldn't have the opportunity to break it.
"Where's the girl?" the female vampire suddenly interrupted his thoughts, looking annoyed, "I told you I wanted her, too."
She looked around at her followers who cringed guilty while Reid blinked in confusion.
What girl? Hazel?
He heard a scoff and turned to look at Seth who by some mystery he didn't look scared at all. Or confused as to what she was talking about.
"Already getting sloppy, huh?" Seth mocked her condescendingly, "Well, don't you want to find Kate first? It would be a shame to let her get away."
Kate?
"Do not worry about that," Satanico smiled, compassionless, "We will find her eventually and she will die another day. I don't feel like waiting anymore."
She extended her arms, her red lips pulling back over rows of sharp fangs. Reid watched in horror as her hair retreated back into her scalp and her head turned into a lizard like monstrosity right before their eyes.
"Now, who wants to go first?" a deep voiced drawled from her twisted mouth.
Reid's heart skipped a beat at the sight, and then another when he felt Richard's stare on him at those words; the man shifted backwards in his direction but he stilled under a vicious glare from his brother.
Quickly, Seth stepped in front of both of them, making up for the ground Richie had lost with a murderous expression on his face. Reid found about two seconds to be yet again astounded at that action before he was distracted by fatal danger.
"Come and get us if you can," Seth taunted.
He didn't have to ask twice.
"As you wish," the vampire mistress hissed with a cruel sneer, retreating until she was standing shoulder to shoulder with the first row of vampires.
"Come on, children," she shrieked, jabbing her arms at them, "Time to play some with your food."
With one wave of her hand the vampires behind her suddenly moved -freed from their self-imposed stupor -and launched themselves at the three men without further restraint or control. They moved like one large organism, like their collective intellect had been compartmentalized, lusting for only one thing.
Blood.
"Shit," one of the brothers, he couldn't tell which one without looking, cursed.
And then all hell broke loose. The Gecko brothers fell into action immediately, years of practice showing as they deftly defended themselves with their torches, jabbing the fire at vampires and using the other end as stakes. They managed to hit some of them, the wood going through their hearts easily, like they were penetrating clay rather than flesh.
Reid stared with wide eyes as they dissolved into goo or going up in flames.
He barely had time to register the notion that a fight had actually broken out, that he would die if he didn't start moving when one of the creatures jumped at him with a shriek claws extended to wrap around his throat.
It was less than an inch away from him when Seth jumped forward, stabbing at it viciously so that the creature caught on fire and was thrown back into the sea of its companions, writhing in agony.
"Move!" Seth yelled right next to him, shaking him with one hand.
It snapped Reid out of his stupor like a douse of cold water and he instinctively jumped backwards and pulled his arms up in front of him, swinging the torch at the closest vampires.
They retreated with hisses and growls, only to close back in as soon as he turned to the ones next to them. Through the screeching and howling that filled the air mixed in with their own erratic breathing, Reid could hear Satanico laughing manically from somewhere in the crowd, cementing their doom.
It finally released all of the adrenaline needed into his blood and he started stabbing at their attackers more viciously, burning them if he could. Some part of his brain simply shut off, his body reacting on impulse rather than rational thought.
Seth was fighting right behind him, conveniently covering his back and Richard was somewhere close by as well, fighting like a madman.
Reid felt something like slime hit his face just as he jabbed the torch at another vampire, fending it off, but he didn't have the time or guts to turn around and see what it was or where it came from. His heart was beating all the way up in his throat, as his body whirled around fighting -all while his brain told him he didn't have a real shot no matter how hard he fought. They were too many, too strong, too ruthless.
He wasn't sure if Seth and Richie knew it too and if they had just decided to go down fighting. From the corner of his eye, he saw Richie draw a knife from somewhere and start stabbing everything he could reach almost manically.
Just as Reid was pushing away the feeling of dread that notion gave him even now in the middle of chaos, he heard someone call his name through the raucous.
Before he could think to react, he was pulled backwards roughly by the back of his shirt. He spun around his heart skipping in panic but it was only Seth, keeping him in formation. He caught a glimpse of the older man's eyes, saw the raw energy in them that left no room for fear or doubt and still didn't make him look crazy.
In fact, Seth seemed in perfect functioning mode even while killing, other than Richard who seemed pretty absorbed in his slaughtering.
"That way!" Seth jerked his chin in the direction of the exit to the very left where the least vampires were.
They had moved closer to it while fighting, and the wall was free of vampires -with a good sprint and some well placed bullets they might just make it there.
Reid nodded quickly, incredibly relieved that apparently Seth was at least trying to keep him around to fight of the vampires.
He could deal with everything else later, if he just made it out of here.
He watched as Seth yelled for Richie who didn't seemed to hear him in his frenzy, not even paying attention to more and more vampires closing in on him while he executed the ones in front of him. He never saw a female one jump out of the crowd and launching herself at him like an over sized torpedo.
"Richie!" Seth yelled and Richard finally spun around to look at him, thereby turning his back even further on his attacker.
Everything happened incredibly fast then.
Seth yelled again, jumping forward to grab his brother but it was too late. The vampire latched onto his back like a monkey, wrapping her arms and legs around his torso in a viselike grip and plunging her fangs into his neck.
xxx
Seth's shock only lasted for the fraction of a second. His brother's screams in his ears, he ignored the blood splattering over his face as he jumped forward and shoved his torch right into the vampire's face, throwing her to the floor in flames.
Richard turned around to stare at her almost disbelievingly, staggering as he lifted a shaky hand to the mangled side of his neck, blood gushing over his fingers in a steady rhythm.
"Fucking bitch…" he rasped, before his eyes rolled back in his head and his legs gave in.
Seth cussed loudly, jumping forward to break his brother's fall, dragging him out of the vampires' reach.
He made it to the wall where Reid was already waiting, both tumbling to the ground under Richard's weight. The vampires had turned positively frantic at the sight of blood, baring their teeth and snapping at them.
Seth didn't look at him or the vampires, his face frozen in a mask of tension and dread.
One vampire advanced on them and Reid instinctively opposed it with his makeshift weapon, stabbing it at anyone who came to close to them, suddenly their sole defender when neither brother got back up.
The shock of seeing one of them actually being bitten was greater than he could have imagined. His mind was screaming at him to run now that he was so close to the exit, to at least having a shot at getting out even if he wasn't sure where he'd be running to.
And yet he couldn't seem to make his legs move, felt frozen to the ground by the simple sound of pain in Seth's voice as he was speaking frantically, hushed to his younger brother.
He couldn't leave.
Rationally, he knew it was idiotic of course, that he owed these men less than nothing, but the situation didn't allow for that kind of rationality.
It all suddenly seemed relative somehow. One minute they were one opposing sides of the spectrum, dark and light, good and evil and now it all meant nothing, not now that he was faced with actual true evil. All that remained were three humans fighting for their lives against the creatures of hell. Creatures that Seth hadn't left him with either when he could have just five minutes ago.
Reid didn't move.
Instead, he gripped the torch more tightly with shaking fingers and faced the vampires with bravery born out of hopelessness. Suddenly, it didn't seem so stupid to want to go down fighting, to want to die doing what was right.
He wouldn't turn away to leave the back of a man unguarded who was holding his dying brother. Even if that certain brother definitely deserved death. Seth didn't.
The vampires snarled at him as they tried to find a way past him, but he struck out over and over again until they finally backed off a bit, just hovering, staring at him out of yellow orbs.
He didn't understand why they would pause, why they hadn't pounced on them minutes ago. It would have been easy.
It had to be the mistress. Some kind of plan they weren't in on.
No quick death for them, he remembered, they were supposed to suffer revenge for a sin he hadn't had the opportunity to ask about.
Reid clenched his teeth, afraid that he might scream if he opened his mouth. He was scared to turn around and see what was happening with Seth and Richie, scared to ask even.
From what he'd seen, Richard was dying. He could hear his erratic breathing over Seth mumbling and cussing.
His… their time was running out.
Seth felt numb and nauseous and panicked and pissed at the same time.
He had dropped to one knee, still distractedly aiming his torch at the vampires with one hand while he grasped for his brother's face with the other. What he saw made his blood go cold.
Richie was writhing on the floor, blood gushing out of his mouth and the hole in his neck. His stomach turned.
"Richie, Richie! Hang on… look at me!" he demanded, hating that his voice was suddenly just as unsteady as his fingers.
He was vaguely aware that it wasn't the time to turn his back on the room, that they were still in the middle of a fight but he couldn't make himself get up or look away from Richard's face.
His brother, his little…
"Bit me…fu…cking bitch bit me," his brother wheezed, fighting to get air into his blood filled lungs. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he took on last shuddering breath before going limp in his arms.
"Shit. No! Don't do this buddy," Seth cursed, pressing his fingers into Richard's neck hard, trying to stop the blood flow, "Come on!"
It was futile of course, he could see that. Not only because he could hardly stop an arterial bleed like this but because his brother was suffocating on his own blood at the same time. There was nothing he could do.
Behind him, Reid shifted hectically, stepping backwards. Even now there was still some part of Seth's brain screaming at him to get up, to stand by his side…but his body wouldn't oblige.
"Seth, he's-"
"NO!" Seth snapped, cutting him off with much more vigor in his voice than he himself would have thought.
He didn't want to hear it. Didn't need to.
He had seen a lot of blood in his life, a lot of deadly wounds and this one was different.
It seemed all his strength and calm was evaporating over his outside shell -leaving only dread, and cold panic. He looked back at Richie to find his eyes closed, and his skin waxen under splatters of blood. He wasn't breathing.
"No..." he rasped, "No, don't do this…come on buddy…I need you…"
Not Richie. Not his little brother.
That wasn't part of the plan.
Reid winced.
He really wished he only cared to shake Seth out of his stupor because he needed some backup against the monsters trying to eat them. But the truth was he really just wanted to not have to hear him talk to Richie in that desperate, agonized voice anymore that made it impossible not to feel his pain. Impossible not to see him as human, not to empathize.
It was getting to him, despite his feeling about Richard. All else aside, he was someone's family, someone's little brother. He could only imagine how he would feel if this were happening to someone he loved.
Reid shook his head harshly, trying to clear it. He had to stay focused. Right now he was all that stood between them and death.
Or was he?
He blinked to find that none of the vampires were really advancing anymore.
They seemed to be hovering and waiting just like before the attack, merely gaping at the blood on the floor with hunger. But they weren't lunging at him anymore.
What-?
He got his answer when once again, a familiar figure separated from the crowd and Santanico Pandemonium emerged, her blood red lips pulled into a sickening smile. She grinned at Seth and Richie, fallen apart each in their own way on the floor, waving back her impatient servants.
And Reid knew he had been right. This was just the beginning for her, for them.
Staring into her eyes he couldn't help but feel in his bones that they would all meet the same fate. They would all die here -but it wasn't going to be in the next five minutes.
"Stay away," he warned her, trying to get his voice to stop shaking and she only laughed at him.
"Oh, don't worry about me," Santanico smiled at him, her eyes flickering excitedly, "Worry about him."
Reid didn't have time to question her words because in that moment he saw Richard's body jerk violently from the corner of his eye, sitting up with one fluid inhuman motion. His eyes flew open, flashing a vicious shade of yellow and when a snarl ripped from his throat it was from behind razor-sharp teeth.
Seth leapt to his feet and away from him in shock and the vampire princess laughed cruelly.
Seth stared incredulously as he saw his brother come back to life before his eyes. Only it wasn't his brother anymore.
"Richie?" he asked tonelessly, freezing cold once again from the ice filling his veins.
As Richard turned his head to face him, his whole face seemed to morph, bones being moved and growing until he could barely recognize his brother under a grotesque horror mask.
"Yes, Seth?" he replied grinning, in a voice that wasn't his, that belonged to a demon.
Seth stared at him in horror, unable to move or think even.
This had to be a nightmare.
It had to be.