Chapter 5. Fit of Rage

“I hate what you made me do!” Rick lashed out in anger. He drove the blade in his hand upward with one powerful thrust, waving it at Daryl’s face threateningly.

They lived alone in a mansion they had both acquired after moving to New Orleans. It wasn’t to their taste, but they worked together to make it their own. Starting with the gate, Daryl insisted on using a new iron-wrought gate that had a very gothic look. He was an old-fashioned vampire and loved the atmosphere that reminded him of who he was. The inside of the mansion was decorated with heavy, dark, and ornate furniture. Large, elaborate leafing frames of themselves were hung in strategic places inside the mansion. Though there was electricity in the mansion, they preferred candles as the source of light in most strategic places, like the dining hall, the hallways, and the bathrooms.

“But you loved it!” Daryl sneered. “Come on, brother, put that sword away. You know it won’t kill me.”

Rick glared. “No one is talking about killing you—even though I will enjoy it.” Trying to get away from Daryl and live a quiet life alone without Daryl seemed impossible. He had tried it several times and failed. Rick’s eyes were lit with rage. He moved toward Daryl faster than the eyes could see and drove the sword through his chest. Bringing his mouth closer to his ear, he whispered. “I will enjoy hurting you just like you have been hurting and taunting me.” He pulled the sword out and drove it through Daryl’s chest once more and pushed him to the ground.

Daryl gasped in pain. With both hands on the sword, he emitted a scream of agonizing pain as he pulled it out. The steel sword was one of the weapons that couldn’t kill a vampire. Only a wooden stake through the heart could do the job with ease.

Rick stood and watched him drag himself to his feet.

He tossed the sword away and locked his gaze on Rick. “You will pay for this,” he snarled, moving faster than the eyes could see. He grabbed Rick and flung him, slamming him against the wall. “All I did was make you remember who you are!” His voice was distorted with rage. The feeling of violent anger that couldn’t be controlled had taken over him. Breaking the leg of a wooden table, he made a stake out of it, gripping it with his dominant hand.

As Rick sprang back to his feet, his face flushed with indignation. “Because of you, I had to lie to the detective in front of the person I’ve fallen in love with!” It was a long conversation with Detective Sam questioning him, as he did with others.

All he did was lie to cover up his atrocity with his brother. Nancy was there too and listened to everything he said, starting from how the pipe from the men’s room splashed water on him, ruining his best suit.

“Did I hear you say ‘love’?” Daryl chuckled. “Does she even know you love her?” he scoffed at Rick.

Rick gnashed his teeth with hate in his eyes. “Screw you, Daryl, screw you!”

He was pissed at Daryl for ruining everything for him. Because of Daryl, he had left Norway just to get away from him and live his life the best way he could without preying on humans. It was only a matter of time before Daryl caught up with him in Rome, ruining his life again like he always did.

Daryl furrowed his brows. “Screw me? Really? Screw me?” He hastily shifted his weight from his dominant to his non-dominant leg and swung his forearm forward from his elbow as he released the wooden stake he had made out of the wooden table toward Rick. He threw it like a knife.

Just like Daryl’s movement, the wooden stake moved toward Rick faster than the eye could see. He didn’t see what was coming until the stake ran through his lower abdomen. He collapsed to the ground, emitting a scream like a banshee.

Unlike a steel sword, a wooden stake could hurt a vampire even if it wasn’t driven through its heart.

Daryl approached and stood over Rick’s body. His shadow hovered over Rick. Staring down at Rick, he opened his mouth to speak, “Next time, I won’t miss your heart. Trust me, brother.” He bent and pulled out the stake from Rick’s lower abdomen.

Thinking Daryl was being kind to him by pulling the stake out, Rick was left in shock when Daryl drove the stake into his thigh. He cried out in a loud, agonizing voice, with deep groans that words couldn’t express. He was in pain.

“I will kill you, Daryl!” he cried out.

“No, you won’t,” Daryl pulled out the stake once more and drove it into the other thigh. “That’s for stopping me from preying on my victim last night.”

Rick let out an agonizing scream. He watched as his brother moved with leopard-like grace as he walked away, leaving him helpless on the floor with a stake through his thigh. He groaned deeply as he held the stake with both hands and slowly pulled it out.

Daryl was a ruthless predator who didn’t want anyone to cross him or insult him. He was older than Rick before they got turned into vampires. Even though Rick was turned first, Daryl showed dominance over Rick since he stopped feeding directly from the carotid arteries and radial arteries of the humans.

***

A full-fisted knock interrupted Nancy’s deep thoughts. She had been thinking about the incident that had taken place, claiming the life of the janitor. She slid down her leather couch and headed to the door.

She still had not forgotten the unease she had felt last night from the strange things she had encountered. Peeping through the peephole, she grabbed the doorknob and twisted its lock.

Nancy opened the door and invited Dave in, then shut the door gently. She was surprised to see him. Dave wasn’t the type to keep friends or visit folks from the office. “You look nervous,” she said, staring at him intently.

“That’s because I am,” he said. He moved away from Nancy and then turned around in haste with his eyes fixed on Nancy. “The police have concluded their investigation to be an animal attack, but I dispute that.”

Nancy stared back with wide-eyed amazement as she hastily spoke up. “Don’t be ridiculous, Dave. That’s what it looks like.”

“No, that’s not true!” Dave protested. “How possible is it for an animal to walk the streets just to get to Cast News to kill a janitor without anyone spotting the animal on the road?”

Nancy smirked. “Seems like you have a different perspective from the police department.”

“Yes, I do,” he stated without relenting. “I am certain the janitor was killed by vampires,” he said with certainty and without a doubt. He moved closer to Nancy and continued in a refined voice, “I can find the vampire that did this.”