A Scripta

Kalius was chased out of his room by the construction crew that the vampire had threatened them with yesterday.  He had slept until noon, with his blade next to him.  Armed with brunch and caffeine, he went downstairs to the garage.  He remembered seeing a Ford Mustang there, and wanted to take a closer look.

He walked around it, examining the silver car.  Billy was underneath one of the Cadilacs.  He crawled out from underneath, his white shirt stained and jeans stained with grease.  "Nice car, huh?"

"Very nice.  What year is it?"

"2009 1/2.  It's a Lee Iaccoca special edition.  Made for the 45th anniversary of the introduction of the Mustang."

"I didn't think your mistress would be into cars."

He smiled.  "It's daytime; we call her Rowena.  She's not; she's holding it for someone."

"Ah."

Billy turned and went to the wall where the keys for the cars were.  "Here," he tossed Kalius the keys.  "Take her out for a spin.  She's due anyway."

"You sure?"

"Yeah.  You're probably bored here, anyway."

"Let me go get my wallet."

Billy had the garage door open to the sunny day, as Kalius came back down the stairs.  "Can you stop off and get a pack of Marlboro lights, soft pack?"

"Sure," Kalius said, and climbed into the soft leather seats. 

Billy peeked in.  "The GPS has a home button so you can find your way home if you get lost."

"Yeah, I think I'll need that."  He started it up - it roared like a panther at first, and then started to purr.  He eased out of the garage, with Billy waving at him.  He got the cigarettes at the first convenience store he saw, then got the highway and let her rip.  It cruised beautifully at 90, and in ten minutes he was passing the city limits. 

He ended up at LaPorte, driving along the beaches that looked out at the Gulf of Mexico.  Kalius wondered if Dmitrius would want a home by the beach after their marriage, or if they would still stay in the base.  He didn't mind staying in the base, if it wasn't always so busy.  He started to head back to Houston.  He happened to see the exit for the stores that they went to last night, so he stopped there.  The parking lot was full.  He drove around a little and found a spot not too far from the main entrance.

Kalius wasn't the type to go shopping, but it was still too early to go back to Rowena's.  He picked up a smoothie and wandered through the shops aimlessly.  There was nothing special that he wanted to get or was looking for.  As he walked out of a natural science store, a young man in a Kansas City jacket came up to him and put an arm around his shoulders.  Kalius tried to pull away, but the man said, "Don't fuckin' move."  Something was thrust against Kalius' kidney.  Kalius knew exactly what it was.  "Walk."

The man started to take him down into an alleyway, and four other young men followed - they wore blue bandannas and more Kansas City shirts.  Kalius knew these type from California: Bloods.  They walked a short way and turned down an alley way, at the end of which was a white van, its doors open.

Two other Bloods stood at the van, and the man finally released him.  Kalius whirled, summoning his sword and shield.   The one who held him said, "What the fuck--"

Kalius didn't give him the dignity of a reply, as he ran him through.  He slammed the man behind him in the head with his shield.  Pivoting, he twirled around in the air, slashing at anything in striking distance.  Two other men stepped back, gouges slashed across their chest.  A third fired a gun.  Kalius blocked it with the shield, but the bullet plowed through it, hitting Kalius in the arm.  He winced, ignoring the pain, and cut off the gunman's arm at the elbow.  The Blood screamed, and Kalius saw a crowd beginning to gather at the alleyway mouth.  He needed to wrap this up, and to stop his bleeding arm.

Five men were down, and one bolted, jumping impossibly high and onto a roof.  Kalius turned and ran across the rear of a store, as it led out to the rear of the food court.  He dropped his sword and shield, and looked at his shattered arm.  He ran across the food court, heading to the parking lot.  His arm had finally stopped gushing blood.  He got to the car, unlocked it, and sat inside it.  He struggled to keep conscious.  He wished that Grim would have given him a healing spell in addition to his strength and dexterity in the amulet.  He let the blood soak his shirt instead of the leather seats.

He was able to start the car and get it into drive.  He followed the GPS home, and pulled into the garage, breathing heavily.  Billy was in the garage and looked over to see that Kalius hadn't gotten out of the car.  He walked over to see Kalius sweating and pasty white, his arm mangled.  "Holy shit--Tina!"