Nadya’s Nights: Road to Vengeance
Night Two: Race for the Cure
Chapter Seventeen: Filling Up
by Indy McDaniel
Copyright © 2009 Indy McDaniel
“That was the werewolf from last night?” Ulbrecht asked. “The one that infected me?”
For a few minutes after they’d gotten into the Maserati and taken off, he’d been quiet. Nadya had glanced over a couple times and it looked to her as if he was trying not to be sick. What had happened to Elise had been gruesome but she’d seen worse. If he were planning on becoming a doctor, he’d have to toughen up a bit.
By the time he finally spoke, her mind had drifted a bit. Trying to think about the new complications their situation had. She suspected Remy wouldn’t just let them take off and leave him behind, so it was a sure bet he was trailing them.
The question was whether or not Elise had said anything to him about where they were going before he’d thrown her through the window. She had to plan as if she had. Again, she was caught without any proper weapons to deal with her enemy and this time she couldn’t call anyone for help.
She blinked and looked over at Ulbrecht when he spoke. “Yes,” she said, simply.
He didn’t look so nauseous now, just confused. It helped to remind her how little he actually knew about the way the world really worked.
“How is that possible?” he asked. “I thought you killed that thing.”
She wasn’t sure how to properly explain the way werewolves worked, or how vampires worked, especially since she wasn’t exactly sure how they worked herself. She sighed, lit another cigarette, and attempted to explain it to the best of her ability.
“Werewolves… they’re a sort of genetic disease. The wolf virus gets in you, makes you one of them. The only things that can kill you are dismemberment and silver through the heart. If someone puts silver through your heart, you’ll die… but you’ll come back as a vampire. The virus mutates and makes you a vampire. I don’t know exactly why, but that’s how it works.”
She slammed the palm of her hand into the steering wheel. “Should’ve taken the fucker’s head! Stupid!”
Ulbrecht fell silent again. Taking in the new information, Nadya figured.
She took a drag from her cigarette and glanced at the gas gauge.
Near empty. They’d have to fill up soon.
She needed some more cigarettes, too.
She spotted a gas station and pulled in, stopping at one of the pumps. Pulling out her wallet, she opened it to survey the status of things. Grimacing, she pulled out the few bills she had left and looked through them. It wouldn’t be enough, not with the car wanting high-grade petrol. It looked as though she was going to have to hold up the whole damn store just to keep going.
She looked over at Ulbrecht. “Get ready to pump the gas. This isn’t exactly going to be a legal transaction.”
She got out of the car and walked around it, heading for the station. Behind her, Ulbrecht got out and started getting ready to pump the gas.
Entering the station, the Russian girl took a look around and saw she was the only person in the station aside from the cashier. He was an old man with plenty of wrinkles and white hair. At least that would make things easier. She walked up to the counter and asked for a pack of her brand of cigarettes. When the old man turned to fetch the cigarettes, Nadya pulled her pistol out and pointed it at the man. His eyes went wide as he turned around and saw the weapon.
With her free hand, she reached for the cigarettes and he handed them over. “Don’t do anything stupid. Turn on the pumps so my friend can fill the tank and we’ll be out of your way before you can say boo.”
The old man turned and flicked the pump on. Nadya looked out of the shop to see Ulbrecht pumping the gas.
So far, so good.
She heard the sound of a shotgun being pumped and turned back to see a younger man stepping out from the back of the shop, aiming the shotgun at her. He walked around the counter and held the barrel up close to the side of her head.
“Drop the gun,” he told her in heavily accented English.
Nadya lowered the gun slowly to the counter, setting it down. As soon as the gun left her hand and she saw the man relax ever so slightly, her slow movements transformed into lightning fast ones. She turned, lifting a hand and grabbing the side of the shotgun’s barrel, shoving it away from her before lifting her leg and slamming her booted foot into the man’s gut. He went flying backwards, releasing the shotgun, and collided with a shelf of foodstuffs. The shelf collapsed under the man and the foodstuffs went flying.
She flipped the shotgun in the air, grabbing hold of the stock and sliding her hand into the grip before turning and lowering the barrel to aim at the old man behind the counter who had been reaching for her discarded pistol. The old man froze and Nadya reached down to pick up her handgun, sliding it into her waistband.
Just then, she caught movement from outside and turned her head to see Ulbrecht signaling her that the tank was full. She turned back to the old man and gave him a nod and a smile.
“Thanks, old timer.” She turned and walked out of the station, heading for the car.
Ulbrecht had already gotten back into the passenger seat. Nadya rounded the car and handed him the shotgun through the open window, then opened the door to get in. She stopped suddenly as something flashed in her eyes.
She blinked and the car was gone.
A confused look crossed her face and she looked around herself to see she was no longer in front of the gas station at all. She was surrounded by darkness. She reached for the pistol in her waistband and felt only bare skin. Growing alarmed, she looked down to find herself completely nude. She looked up and looked around herself again, trying to look through the darkness that surrounded her, feeling increasingly uneasy with every new development she discovered.
She sensed movement in the blackness, rushing around her. She spun, her pigtails swaying with the movement, and tried to track the perceived movement through the darkness. She was feeling very vulnerable, with good reason. Being stripped and doused into impenetrable darkness wasn’t exactly her idea of a good time.
Nadya caught sight of something and stopped turning, focusing her sight on the small glimmers. They appeared to be yellow eyes, glistening in the dark. Dread filled her and she tensed herself, ready to attack or defend.
She gasped in surprise as light illuminated the figure before her, blinding her momentarily. When her vision cleared, her surprise intensified as she recognized the person before her.
“Impossible. You can’t be here,” she said.
Remy gave her a smirk and stepped towards her. “I’m closer than you think, little girl,” he told her. He reached out for one of her small breasts and Nadya stepped back quickly, bringing a hand up to smack his away.
Instead, her hand passed right through his. The move left her unbalanced and unable to react when he advanced on her again, much quicker.
Nadya gasped as she felt one of his hands grip her slender throat and squeeze firmly before lifting her off her feet. She swung a fist at his head only to see it pass through him with no effect. She kicked at his crotch with the same outcome.
“Vampires can’t do this,” she croaked out as he choked her.
Remy’s smirk became a wicked grin. “Some can.” His grip tightened, cutting off her ability to breathe. “There’s a particularly special bond between a murderess and her victim.”
“You started it, asshole,” Nadya croaked out, continuing to struggle. She kept attempting to pound him, but only managed to flail her fists and feet through him instead of into him.
“See you real soon, you little bitch.”
With that, Remy hurled Nadya into the darkness that surrounded them. She fell but didn’t hit the ground. The image of the vampire shrank as she continued to drop, arms and legs spread apart from her body, hair fluttering about her.
Finally, Remy’s form was no longer visible, but she kept dropping. Then came the flashes in her eyes again.
Nadya hit the pavement hard, cringing in pain. She looked up and saw she was back where she had been before the strange vision or hallucination or whatever it had been.
The Maserati was right in front of her, she was fully clothed, and her pistol was in her waistband. Nadya got to her feet to see a concerned Ulbrecht looking at her from the passenger seat.
“It was nothing. We need to go,” she told him, getting into the car and firing it up. She hit the gas pedal and pulled back out onto the road, speeding off.
