Reign of Blood (The Vampires of Vegas Book 1)

Chapter Eleven

The next day I geared up at sunrise and readied to leave. Having not slept well that night, I felt strangely energized and awaited the day with an elated anticipation. I was relieved that the motion sensors had not gone off at all the entire night. Maybe the woman had been more scared of me than I thought. Or maybe she would be back later. Who knew? I wasn't going to let her ruin my plans to continue my search for my mother and brother.

The drive to the city was uneventful; it felt different in the smaller car than the minivan I was used to. It was almost cramped with the weapons I liked stashed in it. It would have to do for now. The meteor hammer I had brought along today was rocking in the chair, trying to roll out of the rope that cradled it. I didn't use it often but its deadly force was amazing when one got it right. I felt like swinging it around, smashing things. Today was a good day to do exactly that.

Once I arrived at the nearest gas station, I filled two gallon containers with gasoline for the mischief I had planned. Riding with the containers full was not comfortable when the fumes that seeped from them made me nauseous. Once I'd had enough siphoned from the station and several abandoned cars parked along the streets, I hopped back into my car and crossed over the freeway overpass to the Strip. I parked in front of the Imperial Palace, glancing down each way at the smaller casinos. If any ferals were lurking about, I was going to take care of them for sure. I wasn't about to deal with too much hand to hand combat today. Today was my retribution and I wanted to burn the place down.

I wrapped the rope around my chest diagonally and strapped one machete to my right side down my thigh. The actual meteor hammer ball I twisted into the rope loops so it wouldn't swing around and hit me as I moved. I grabbed one gasoline container and placed it outside the nearest casino, looking into the reflective one-way mirror tint that glared back at me on the windows. The woman that stared back seemed to change and flashed back to the image of the woman up in the mountains for a moment. I blinked her away, knowing how she gnawed on my mind but tried to clear my thoughts for the task at hand. I pushed in the door and scanned the front of the casino, illuminated somewhat through the deeply tinted glass.

This place was a mess–it had not been left undisturbed at all. The card tables were upturned and chips were scattered across the floor. The chairs had not remained untouched either; some were torn into two pieces, with their stuffing spilt out across the carpet. I stared back into the blackness at the rear of the casino, wondering what lurked in the shadows. The dark stared right back at me like a gaping mouth waiting to take a bite and rip me to shreds. I was certain I wasn't alone–only the boundaries of the sun's span kept a wall between me and whatever feral creatures awaited a taste of my sweet, crimson blood. I sneered, feeling the sudden rush of adrenaline rising to ready me for the thrill of the fight.

Pulling the meteor hammer off my body, I let the rope fall to the ground as I unwound it and looped it through my left hand. I let the remaining rope dangle and dragged it with my right hand as I walked forward. I was happy that the vaulted ceilings were so high; there was more than enough room to let me swing around my seldom-used toy. I felt ferocious as I pulled it along, feeling the familiar buzz along my skin that the ferals seemed to bring out when they were near. It vibrated up my arms and made my senses expand as they neared me. I hardly felt the smile across my face as the first of the wild ones crept over to me from a dark pillar on the edge of the room, hidden enough in the shadow so as not to make it cringe in pain from the sunlight outside but enough to let me see them with my human vision.

I started swinging the hammer, letting its momentum build as the rope hummed out its ominous whoosh. I loved the feeling it gave me, almost like a cowboy with a lasso, but this lasso could smash a feral's head to smithereens. Just as it stepped closer, growling and snapping its fanged mouth in my direction, I released the meteor hammer so it could do its work. The result was an explosion of thick chunks of brain matter and skull all across the wall and upturned tables.