Exceprt from "Brother"
As if syblings weren’t difficult enough…
Exceprt from "Brother" belongs to the following groups:
Pulp NoirThe brothers walked in silence. Eight-first street, eight-second…
“She’s living well,” Vincent said, gazing around at the buildings that housed some of the most expensive living spaces in the world. Lots of glass and stone and red canopies.
Sam didn’t say anything.
“So, what are we gonna use to…”
Sam interrupted. “There’s a medieval Scottish sword, a claymore, hanging on the wall above the hearth in the living room. I’m sure we can use that.”
Another twenty minutes of walking brought the brothers to a high-rise near Central Park West. They kept walking past the building, never looking at the door.
“There’s a door man and a security guy in the lobby. They won’t let us through without an appointment or an invitation from Victoria,” Sam explained.
“Let’s walk back,” Vincent said. He quickly told his brother the plan he just thought up.
“Good evening!” Vincent called, smiling at the doorman.
“Sir.” The doorman opened the door and stepped aside. Sam blurred by them like the wind. There was a muffled sound from the lobby.
Vincent turned to the doorman. “Could you tell me…” As soon as the doorman leaned forward Vincent clocked him. He was out, poor old guy. Vincent dragged him into the lobby and put him behind the desk with the security guard. Sam was holding the elevator already.
“You know the number?” Vincent asked.
“I know it.”
Crappy elevator music played. The elevator stopped, the door sounded a ‘ding’ and opened. The brothers stepped into the hall. Sam put both his hands up to his head and groaned as he doubled over.
“What is it?”
“She’s in my head” Sam spat in a harsh whisper. “She knows I’m here.” Sam gasped and went down to one knee.
“What’s happening?” Vincent asked, frantically. He put an arm around his brother and helped him stand up.
Sam blew out a long sigh. “I’m all right now. She knows I’m here. I don’t think she knows you’re here with me. I tried not to think about what we’re doing so she couldn’t read it.”
“Good job, Sam.” Vincent patted his brother on the back. “Let’s go.”
“All the way down this hall and then left,” Sam explained.
“Smells like a hospital. Not a lot of doors in this hall.”
“That’s because the apartments are huge.”
At the end of the hall Vincent stopped and grabbed his brother’s arm. “What should we do now? I didn’t think this far ahead.”
“What have we got to lose, let’s knock on the door,” Sam said.
“I’ve got a lot to lose, stupid,” Vincent grumbled with his jaw clenched. “I can’t die here, Sam.”
“We can do this, she’s always alone. We can take her together,” Sam said, speaking quickly with nervous energy.
A clicking sound came from down the hall. A door opened.
“That’s her door,” Sam whispered.
“Rush it, Sam,” Vincent whispered back. “Go.”
Sam blurred down the hall and hit the door so hard it flew into the apartment, ripping from its hinges. Ten feet beyond the doorway, standing face to face with Sam was a tall, slender woman in a flowing, black gown. Her dark hair was done up at the top of her head and she stood calmly with a bit of a smile on her face.
“Hi Sam,” she said. Her voice was hypnotizing and pleasant, it seemed to float in the air. It was melodic and sweet.
Vincent walked swiftly down the hall. He fingered the stake in his pocket.
“And you brought someone. How nice,” she said with a grin. Victoria turned and walked toward a huge floor-to-ceiling window. She glanced over her shoulder at Sam. She seemed to not have a care about the potential threat that Sam and Vincent posed to her. “To what do I owe this visit?” Victoria asked.
The room was huge. There was a couch and a few leather club-style chairs. Along the wall to the left was a large wooden media center stuffed with top of the line equipment. Behind Victoria there were tall French-style doors that led onto a balcony. There was a doorway in the wall on the right side. Classical music played softly.
She turned to face the brothers who were now standing side-by-side in the middle of the room staring back at her. Suddenly her face changed and she leapt at Vincent with lightning speed. Sam dove to the side to intercept her. Vincent dropped to the floor and rolled clear. Sam was on the floor grappling with Victoria. Vincent scanned the room for the sword.
“Through that doorway!” Sam yelled. “The other room!”
Victoria stood up and lifted Sam up with her and tossed him across the room. Sam hit the floor hard and slid into a wall. Victoria blurred past Vincent and into the next room. “Can I help you with something?”
“No, I’m good.”
Victoria took two quick steps and had her hands on Vincent’s head and shoulder with her mouth open and teeth poised just above the skin of his neck. Sam flew into the room and popped her in the face with a quick punch. Vincent ran across the room and grabbed the sword mounted to the wall. Victoria shook her head and snarled at Sam. Sam, realizing that he had Victoria’s attention now, tried to lead her to another room but she turned her attention to Vincent again.
Suddenly she froze. She turned slowly back toward Sam and looked past him. Sam turned.
Gregor.
Victoria hissed. “You!”
Vincent caused quite a commotion as he finally pried the claymore from the wall. Victoria turned and growled a horrid sound, bearing her teeth and making ready to lunge. Vincent held the sword with two hands and steadied himself.
Victoria was too fast. Sam knew that she’d reach his brother before he could come around with the sword. Sam blurred past her, before she moved, and turned to face her. For a split second he looked at his brother over his shoulder. “Do it,” he said.
Vincent began to swing the sword as Victoria crashed into Sam. Sam couldn’t hold her and they struggled as they came closer to Vincent. Sam had slowed her down just enough…the sword came around and cut clean through Victoria’s neck…and Sam’s too.
Bodies and heads thudded to the ground.
Gregor approached slowly, eyeing the mess on the floor. Vincent held the sword out in front of him and admired it. He walked to the couch, grabbed a pillow and wiped the blood off the sword. The sword seemed to hum.
“You are not upset?” Gregor asked, cocking a brow. His German accent and mustache were gone, replaced with a slight English accent and a cane.
“He wasn’t really Sam anymore. He was a vampire. It’s upsetting. I’ll get over it.”
“Was this your plan all along?” Gregor asked. He walked to the wall and pulled the sword’s scabbard down.
Vincent smirked. “No, but Sam wanted to die anyway. It’s better like this. He thought that if she was killed before he died that he’d have a nice afterlife…some bullshit like that.”
“So many misconceptions,” Gregor chuckled. “His curse would have been broken. He could have lived like a human if he pleased, but he would have remained a vampire in essence.” Gregor paused, studying the scabbard. “I’m glad you called. Let me have the sword.”
“Sam didn’t know that…neither did I. It doesn’t matter now.”
“So how does it feel to hunt the big boys…or girls in this case?” Gregor asked, putting his hand out for the sword.
Vincent let out a short laugh. “This was nothing. You distracted her. If you hadn’t come I’d be dead, too.”
“That is how you hunt the masters – in teams. It takes teamwork.” Gregor’s voice boomed. He was excited about the sword. “The guild has been seeking this sword for ages. I cannot wait to return it. They wish to study this.”
Vincent looked dismayed. “Shit, I was hoping to keep it.”
Vincent’s cell phone rang. “Hey…I’ll be home in the morning…Love you, too.” He hung up and put the phone back in his pocket.
“I’ve never killed one this way,” Vincent said, walking to the kitchen to search for a plastic bag to put the heads in. “Why didn’t they turn to dust?”
Gregor chuckled again. “Let’s go. We have to wrap these up and bury them before the sun rises if you’d like to have a chance to save your brother. We can and take them upstate; it’ll be easier. You drive.”
Vincent froze. “We can save him?”
“I think it’s possible. We’ll talk about it later. It’s a long drive, no?”
“What about the doorman and the guard.”
“I took care of them when I came in,” Gregor said, smirking. Vincent thought this probably meant they’d been drugged and locked in a janitor’s closet.
“We can wrap them in rugs,” Vincent thought aloud as he scanned the room. There were Persian area rugs everywhere.
“Good idea. Let’s get going.”
Banalheed
Thanks for adding this to Pulp Noir – the dark and seedy underbelly of life! I was a bit concerned at first with the notion of being an “extract” – but I think it works as a stand alone short. This played through my mind like Vincent and Jules from Pulp Fiction working their way through Highlander, with vampires thrown in for good measure! Definitely a twisted, crazy piece of Pulp Noir
Vincent Sapone replied
Thanks for your kind words, Banal. I’m excited to be part of this group.