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DeathWalker II

A Vampire's DomainBy Edwin F. Becker

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Edwin F. Becker
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-3805-2

Contents

Chapter One..........................1Chapter Two..........................20Chapter Three........................39Chapter Four.........................58Chapter Five.........................75Chapter Six..........................93Chapter Seven........................112Chapter Eight........................129Chapter Nine.........................147Chapter Ten..........................166Chapter Eleven.......................185About the Author.....................203

Chapter One

"Vampires my ass!" Don stated as they trudged through the wilderness in northern Minnesota.

"Hey, Professor Steiner is paying us good money to find this corpse. That is, if there even is one," John replied, reminding his friend that this was a paid excursion.

"Ah BS! That old guy is senile. First, who in the hell believes in vampires? Second, why would he possibly think the body of one is hidden in these woods? This ain't Transylvania!"

"Well, the story is that a good friend of his actually killed one. It was supposedly a female vampire, and her mate hunted down the Professor's friend and killed him in revenge. He believes that the remains of the female vampire are hidden out here somewhere. All I know is that he said they are likely not buried, and are possibly tucked away somewhere, protected from the sunlight ... we should really start heading back soon ... it's beginning to get dark."

"Come on, we can just camp out here. I'll protect you from the boogeyman. This way we will save a lot of time going back and forth," Don stated sarcastically.

Don was a hunter and tracker, and he felt very much at home sleeping in the wild. He was a big muscular man that looked like he belonged in the woods and could easily be mistaken for a lumberjack. John had taken him on as a guide, and to come along in helping search for the vampire's remains. John was skeptical of the whole purpose, but had a high respect for Professor Steiner, who had hired him. John was a smaller man, and appeared more the academic type—more of a bookworm or nerd. He had been told the story of a Ted Scott, who had accidentally met up with a female vampire and killed her with a crossbow. Supposedly, her mate hunted Ted down in Minneapolis and killed him in a gruesome manner. The Professor swore that he not only saw the vampire, he actually had words with him. John knew the Professor for over twenty years, and believed that there had to be "some" element of truth to the story. So there they were, following the Professor's directions, combing the wilderness in the northwest corner of the state searching caves, sink holes, and rock piles.

"I'm really not sure we should camp out here ..." John was only reluctant because of the Professor's warnings.

"What? Afraid the boogeyman will get us?" Don laughed. "Look, we have to walk miles back to the car, and then search for a motel. Let's just stay out here."

"Maybe you're right. We would definitely save a lot of time and cover a lot more ground. I did promise the Professor that we would cover as much territory as possible in three days. I guess we should look for a small clearing and make camp."

Don led the way. They soon came upon a clearing which had a huge boulder the size of a house in the center. "Here is a great place; we can literally sleep with our back to the wall." He was pointing at the giant boulder. Don was an expert in the north woods and his instincts were finely tuned, so John agreed. Little did they realize that the body they were looking for was very close, and the boulder they chose to sleep next to was the favorite resting place of Christian, the hundred year old vampire, and his new mate, Katherine.

"Tell me about this professor guy," Don asked, getting comfortable.

"Professor Steiner is an expert in the field of anthropology and I studied under him. He has a brilliant mind, so I believe there must be some substance to his story. He has the courage to consider himself a vampire expert. Honestly, I'm not much for the vampire theory, but I'd like to believe he has some sound basis for this search."

"Well, you watch out for the killer vampires, and I'll keep an eye out for Bigfoot!" Don joked.

As they talked, darkness quickly fell. Being as there are no lights in the woods, they swiftly put a campfire together. Slowly, the silent woods became full of sounds, as crickets, frogs, and even owls began their songs of the night. They both carried MRE's in their backpacks—meals ready to eat—popular with hunters and survivalists. Outside of the glow of their campfire was utter darkness. It becomes so dark that people have been known to suffer from claustrophobia, being enveloped in darkness that seems to totally encase them.

"When you're done eating that, throw the tins in the fire. That will destroy the scent of food so a bear won't come sniffing around. I really don't want to have to shoot a bear. I am curious, if we do find some remains, how will you identify it as being those of a vampire?" Don questioned.

"Well, the Professor said firstly, not to move them, for he believes they will deteriorate should they be exposed to sunlight. He said that the jaws and teeth will make it obvious. It will have fangs that may be as long as four or five inches, and all of the teeth will appear as pointed and sharp as canines," John explained. "Should we find it, after we are done staring at it, I'm to leave a tracking device and get to a land line and call him immediately, as there is no cell phone coverage out here. However, he swears that if we find it we will be in dangerous territory, because her mate will definitely be in the area."

"You don't really believe all that vampire crap do you?"

"Let me ask you this; the FBI says over three quarter of a million people disappear every year. Where do you think they all go?" John asked.

"How many?"

"Over seven hundred fifty thousand."

"I have no clue. Given the way our government is going, maybe they all head for Canada. I would also guess that maybe there's a giant homeless camp in Area 51," Don joked.

As they bantered, they never noticed the woods becoming strangely silent, as the night creatures became quiet all at once. Just ten feet above them, on the flat top of the boulder, sat two vampires ... listening.

"So you think that vampires are killing people and nobody is aware of them?"

"It's certainly possible. I mean, even if they find a mutilated body, who would have courage enough to attribute the killing to a vampire? Can you imagine what would happen to anyone in law enforcement that might even imply such a thing? They would be sent to the loony bin. The Professor says a detective he knows is very aware of the problem, but any word to the public would simply create chaos. Imagine how many of these kids wearing that 'Goth' make-up would get staked in the heart by a paranoid John Q. Public?"

Christian whispered to Katherine. "It seems they are hunting for us once again ..."

"So? We'll just eat a little early tonight," she answered with a smile.

"No, you don't understand. They know this is my domain, and they will continue to come. The old man is obsessed with finding us. He is relentless. I'm afraid we must change our territory."

"So we cannot just eat them both?"

"We will only feed off one and leave the other to spread the word that we are here....