On my right, Mateo pulled out his sword while I considered my options. When Working Man told me I couldn’t be the Rocket on this team, I’d put most of my work into my motorcycle and only a little into my costume.
On a practical level, that didn’t leave me with much beyond strength to work with. I’d worked up a paralysis gun, but I doubted that vampiric watermelons would have a similar enough nervous system and brain to be affected by it. Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 16
Mateo looked over at me, “Let’s walk through the neighborhood around here and see if I get any hints of where they went.”
He waved toward the church parking lot. It ran down the side of the church and around the back, taking up the middle of this block. If the vampires had gone anywhere close, we’d be able to see the backyard of every house or business on the block. That might be enough to pick up a sign.
He gave Officer White a smile, “We’re going to take a walk. We’ll be back before you know it, but if you need us, just follow the parking lot and look around the edges.” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 15
Mateo shook his head, “I don’t know. At the rate that a vampire infestation can grow from what I’ve read, you probably should, but, they choose not to grow at that rate most of the time. They’re not stupid. They know that if they grow too much, they’ll be destroyed. Their best bet is to stay in the shadows.”
Officer White nodded, “I’m looking for a recommendation to pass up the chain. What do you think we should do?” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 14
The thing that I assumed had been Paula Hart, secretary of Downtown Marketing looked over all of us, stopping at Officer White—who held the cross out in front of it.
“I don’t recall asking for the law for help. I don’t recall calling in the Motor City Heroes either.”
the vampire took a step back from Officer White, staring at the cross, “Now that’s just unfriendly.” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 13
He turned back to Officer White, “I think we’re going to have to go in. Are you going to have to stop us?”
Her lips twitched, hinting at a smile, “No, because there’s a person who may be in danger, and because I got permission from the owner.”
A thought struck me. “How are we planning to get in? I don’t think we should wait for him to open the door. And while we could break it down, I can probably unlock the door. Um… Unless that would be illegal.” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 12
“Okay. When you say it’s not alone, what else are you seeing?” I looked over at the house, failing to see anything on my own. I needed to talk to Amy about seeing if she could set up magic that I could power with whatever power source the Artificer aspect of myself could tap into. Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 11
With that, the meeting was over—mostly anyway. It’s not as we jumped up from our seats and ran to our bikes. As Mateo stood up, he asked, “Is our highest priority finding them for now? I’m asking because there’s going to be a wait before Athletica, you, or V8 can get here if we press the panic button.
“You know as well as I do that sometimes the situation will move too quickly for us to locate them and bring in help. We’ll have to save someone immediately or they’re done for. Do you want me to call Unity in if we need backup?” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 10
Mateo half sat on the table behind him. “Do you have a plan for using a holy igloo?”
I shook my head. “That was more of an illustration. A better use of that much holy water might be trapping a vampire in a house covered with holy ice. In the winter, it might hold them for a while. Mixing holy water into concrete might be an even better idea.”
Mateo opened his mouth without saying anything, half-closed it, and said, “That’s not a bad idea if we had enough holy water. You’ll want to hang on to your creativity, though, because we have a new development in the vampire case. Working Man and Athletica are in the conference room to talk about it.” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 9
Following her advice, I followed my schedule—I took the night off. I read for a while, tinkered with a couple my own things, and drew a few devices that based on current events were stuck in my head.
I’m meaning, of course, an automatic rifle that fired stakes, a “water” gun that turned holy water into a fine mist that would stay in the air for a few minutes, and a garlic grenade. Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 8
Then we walked up the stairs, finding the spot where the woman died not by the cars, but just past the door that led into the stairwell from the fourth floor. I didn’t see anything, but Mateo looked over the little room from floor to ceiling.
In the end he turned to me, “She saw the vampire, or whatever it was, and tried to run, but it stopped her before she got out the door. That’s where the feeding starts. It looks like she never stopped struggling. There are marks from blood magic all the way down the wall next to the door and around the corner. The last marks are at the top of the stairwell. Bits of power are scattered around the spot as if she was still fighting it even then. I can’t know for sure what kind of vampire it was, but what I’m seeing is that it was human-shaped and strong—or at least stronger than she was.” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 7