The Night Eternal

He strapped one Luma lamp to his free hand and readied his sword and set off to fuck up some bloodsuckers.

Eph made his way to a flight of stairs, looking for an exit. He had to get outside.

A door gave way to a loading area and the humid coolness of the night air. Eph switched off his flashlight, trying to orient himself. No vampires, not at the moment. The helicopter was somewhere on the other side of the library, over the quad. Eph started off toward the maintenance garage, where Gus stored his larger weapons. They were vastly outnumbered, and this hand-to-sword combat worked in the Master’s favor. They needed more firepower.

As Eph ran from building to building, anticipating attacks from any direction, he became aware of a presence racing along the rooftops of the campus buildings. A creature following him. Eph caught only glimpses of a partial silhouette, but that was all he needed. He was certain he knew who it was.

As he approached the garage, he noticed a light on inside. That meant a lamp, and a lamp meant a human. Eph ran up to the entrance, close enough to see that the garage door was open. He saw the tricked-out silver grille of a vehicle, Creem’s yellow Hummer backed inside.

Eph had believed Creem to be long gone. Eph turned the corner and saw Creem’s unmistakable barrel- shaped shadow, loading tools and batteries into the rear of the vehicle.

Eph moved quickly but silently, hoping to sneak up on the much larger man. But Creem was on high alert, and something made him spin around, confronting Eph. He grabbed Eph’s wrist, immobilizing his sword arm, then flattened Eph against the Hummer.

Creem got right up in Eph’s face, so close Eph could smell the dog treats on his breath, could see the crumbs still stuck in his silver teeth. “Did you think I was going to be outplayed by some white-bread fuckup with a library card?”

Creem reared back his massive hand, forming a silver-knuckled fist. As he brought it forward toward Eph’s face, a thin figure ran at him from the front of the car, hooking his arm, driving the bigger Creem back toward the rear of the garage.

Eph came off the Hummer coughing for air. Creem was fighting off the intruder in the shadows of the back. Eph found his flashlight, turning it on.

It was a vampire, snarling and scratching at Creem, who was able to hold his own only because of the repellent silver bling on his fingers and the thick silver chains around his neck. The vampire hissed and weaved, slashing with its long talon finger at Creem’s thigh, cutting him, the pain such that the top-heavy Creem collapsed under his own weight.

Eph raised his flashlight beam to the vampire’s face. It was Kelly. She had saved him from Creem because she wanted Eph for herself. The flashlight reminded her of this, and she snarled into its brightness, leaving the wounded Creem and starting toward Eph.

Eph searched the cement floor of the garage for his sword but could not find it. He reached into his pack for his spare but remembered that Mr. Quinlan had taken it.

He had nothing. He backed up, hoping to nudge his fallen sword with his heel, but to no avail.

Kelly approached, crouched low, a sneer of anticipatory ecstasy crossing her vampire face. At long last, she was about to have her Dear One.

And then the look was gone, replaced by a startled expression of fear as she looked past Eph with narrow eyes.

Mr. Quinlan had arrived. The Born stepped next to Eph, its silver sword in hand, tipped in white blood.

Kelly went into full hissing mode, her body tense, ready to spring and escape. Eph did not know what words or sounds the Born was putting into her head, but they distracted and enraged her. He checked Mr. Quinlan’s other hand and did not see Fet’s bag. The book was gone.

Eph, by now at the Hummer’s front door, saw inside the automatic weapons that Gus had delivered to Creem. While the Born compelled Kelly, Eph went into the truck and grabbed the nearest weapon, wrapping its shoulder sling around his forearm. He stepped out and fired past Mr. Quinlan at Kelly, the machine gun suddenly coming to life in his hands.

He missed her with his first volley. Now she was moving, darting up and over the roof of the Hummer to avoid his fire. Eph went quickly around the rear of the truck, shooting at will, chasing the leaping Kelly back out of the garage, firing at her as she raced up the side of the building to the roof and away.

Eph went immediately back inside, to the rear, where Creem was on his feet, trying to get to the Hummer. Eph walked right up to him with the smoking-hot weapon pointed at the gang leader’s considerable chest.

“What the fuck was that?” yelled Creem, looking down at the blood staining his slashed pant leg. “How many of these bloodsuckers you got fighting over you?”

Eph turned to Mr. Quinlan. “What happened?”

The Master. It got away. Far away.

“With the Lumen.”

Fet and Nora came running inside, doubling over, out of breath.

“Watch him,” Eph told Mr. Quinlan before darting outside to cut down any pursuers. But he saw none.

Back inside, Fet was checking Nora for blood worms. They were still trying to catch their breath, exhausted from fright, the fight, and the escape.

“We gotta get the hell outta here,” said Fet between gasps.

“The Master has the Lumen,” said Eph.

“Is everyone all right?” said Nora, seeing Creem in back with Mr. Quinlan. “Where’s Gus?”

Eph said, “Did you hear me? The Master’s got it. It’s gone. We’re through.”

Nora looked at Fet and smiled. Fet made a swirling motion with his finger and she turned around so that Fet could unzip the pack on her back. He pulled out a parcel of old newspaper and unwrapped it.

Inside was the silverless Lumen.

“The Master got the Gutenberg Bible I was working on,” said Fet, smiling more at his own cleverness than the happy outcome.

Eph had to touch it to convince himself that it was real. He looked to Mr. Quinlan to confirm that it was.

Nora said, “The Master’s going to be pissed.”

Fet said, “No. It looks really good. I think he will be pleased…”

Eph said, “Holy shit.” He looked to Mr. Quinlan. “We should leave. Now.”

Mr. Quinlan grabbed Creed roughly by the thick back of his neck.

“What’s this?” asked Nora, referring to Mr. Quinlan’s rough treatment of Creem.

Eph said, “Creem is the one who brought the Master here.” He briefly pointed the weapon at the big man. “But he’s had a change of heart. Now he’s going to help us. He’s going to lead us to the armory to get the detonator. But first we need the bomb.”

Fet was wrapping up the Lumen and returning it to Nora’s backpack. “I can lead you there.”

Eph climbed into the driver’s seat, setting the machine gun on the broad dashboard. “Lead on.”

“Wait,” said Fet, jumping into the passenger seat. “First we need Gus.”

The others jumped in, and Eph started the engine. The headlamps came on, illuminating two vampires coming their way. “Hold on!”

He punched the gas, rolling out toward the surprised strigoi. Eph drove right into them, the creatures perishing on impact with the silver grille. He cut right, off the road, over a dirt lawn, bumping up two steps and onto a campus walkway. Fet took the machine gun and rolled down his window, climbing half out. He sprayed down any pairs or groups of strigoi advancing on them.

Eph turned the corner around one of the larger university halls, crushing an old bicycle rack. He saw the rear of the library and gunned it, avoiding a dry fountain and crushing two more straggling vampires. He came out around the front of the library and saw the helicopter hovering over the campus quad.

He was so focused on the helicopter that he did not see, until the last moment, the long flight of broad stone steps leading down in front of him. “Hang on!” he yelled, both to Fet, hanging outside the window, and to Nora, who was moving weapons in back.

The Hummer dipped down hard and jounced along the stairs like a yellow turtle bumping down a washboard set at a forty-five-degree angle. They rattled around fiercely inside the vehicle, Eph knocking his head against the