Shire Bottom Chronicles

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Komazzi held his breath as he pulled into the driveway. His iron gates were still wide open. He had never felt so violated. The organization had snuck into his house, killed his friend, and destroyed his home. The bloodstain on his stairs served as a horrifying reminder of what may lay inside. The front door blew slightly, opening and closing in the breeze. He suddenly realized he hadn't locked up in the rush to save Cat.

Matt noticed his father's hand trembling slightly as he pulled into the garage. He had never seen fear in the vampire's eyes, but it was obvious now. As the garage door closed behind them, only the dim light of the door opener lit the car, causing weird shadows to dance across the walls. Komazzi had insisted they drop Rory off at the hotel and make sure the house was safe before bringing her here.

"I need you to brace yourself. It's not pretty inside," Komazzi insisted, not moving to open his door. "I don't know how much damage was done, and there's blood...a lot of blood. Since you've had your first taste, you'll need to ignore the smell and focus on searching the house. Cat's blood especially can be intoxicating."

"I'll be fine. Can we just get this over with?" Matt shoved open his door. Komazzi hadn't cared about his well-being when he forced Matt to take his vampire DNA. Part of him wanted to punch the redhead, but the other half was just scared to find out what he really was.

"I guess," Komazzi said, his heart pounding as he followed Matt to the door. As it opened, the coppery smell hit his nose immediately.

Without hesitation, Matt stepped inside with Komazzi close behind. The automatic lights flicked on, and Matt glanced around the mudroom. The door leading outside to the front yard was still locked, but someone had broken the window. Shards of glass crunched under his feet as he slowly drew his Glock and crept down the hallway.

A man lay in a pool of blood just off the dining room. Something had ripped his abdomen wide open, and intestines spilled out of the gaping wound. The unmistakable stench of shit and rotting flesh permeated the air. Matt's throat burned as vomit rose up from his stomach. He couldn't get sick now—they had a job to do. He tore his gaze away from the corpse and followed a trail of what looked to be bloody animal tracks into the living room.

Flies buzzed around dozens of bodies strewn across the room. Many of the dead had been impaled on statues. Matt walked over to the fireplace and stared at the bullet-riddled wall that had once displayed family photographs. He looked down at the floor, smeared with blood and littered with hundreds of shell casings. Shattered picture frames mingled with the gore. He knelt and picked up a bloodstained photo of himself and Komazzi, taken eleven years ago at Cat's birthday party. He had just gotten out of the hospital for the third time, but they both looked happy.

"I'm going to have to rethink my security system," Komazzi mumbled, coming up beside Matt.

Matt rolled his eyes, realizing the security system was moot at this point. Suddenly, through the stench of corpses, he smelled something he couldn't quite place. It made his stomach growl in hunger. His eyes swept over the room, trying to find the source of the odor as it overwhelmed his senses. He moved toward the scorch marks and blood by the stairs, and the smell grew stronger. He had completely blocked out the world; all he could think about was licking the dried blood. A crash behind him snapped him out of the trance.

Matt's eyes darted around frantically. Komazzi was nowhere to be found. The closet under the stairs was now wide open, and a bloody vase was in pieces on the wood floor. There was another loud bang in the kitchen, followed by Komazzi yelling something Matt couldn't make out. He ran into the kitchen and spotted Komazzi struggling to fight off a man wearing a black combat uniform with a mask and cuff around his neck. The man looked to be overpowering the vampire.