Van Hell v2.0 Chapter Four

Van Hell v2.0 Chapter Four

Chapter Four: A Night at the Races

“Are you ever going to get rid of this relic?” Maximus’ voice cut through the relative silence of my car as we drove through the city. He sat next to me in the passenger seat of my drag racer, a green and pink, restored Hyundai Tiburon.

He looked at home in the bucket seat, wearing a pair of faded, holey jeans that were tailored for him by someone with a French name. His black, vintage styled shirt was probably by the same designer as the pants. He always did like to match.

My fingers tensed slightly around the steering wheel at his words. “It’s not that old, Max.” I said, defending my car. It had been mine since I turned 17. Mikale had gotten it for me as a birthday gift, as well as a new hobby for me to take up with him. He loved restoring cars and racing them.

He’d given me quite a bit of help. I had to admit that.

“It’s nearly as old as you are.” He laughed softly.

“And you’re how old?” I retorted.

He chuckled deeply as he turned his gaze back to the window. “Touché.”

We rode in silence for a while.

As we did, I reached over and gently turned up the knob of my stereo to give myself some distance to think. Some old song was playing on the satellite radio station. The words flashed in neon on the little stereo screen. “Click Click Boom.”

It irked me at times that he didn’t like my car. Sort of in the way that if you were a single mom and your new boyfriend said he really didn’t like your kid.

Of course, it wasn’t like he was asking me to get rid of my child really. Still, it struck a cord, though.

I had put a lot into the car over the years. New tires, new paint, new interior. Everything was salvaged from old junkyard Tiburon’s, even the body kit I’d added just recently. All the way down to the neon lighting on the under carriage.

Well, save for one thing.

They say the engine in a 2005 Bugatti Veyron could reach speeds of 250 miles per hour. My Tiburon engine had been replaced with the much more advanced version of the Veyron’s. My little Hyundai’s hood hid a force to reckoned with. The Virule 3600 engine could accelerate my car 0 to 60 in 2.1 seconds and it boasted a top speed of 360 miles per hour.

Not that I ever actually drove my car that fast even in a drag race, but that extra edge of speed had won my car quite a few street fights. No one could touch my car.

It was one of the reasons I had started hanging away from the racing circuit lately. After all, who wanted to race when you already knew you would win?

Tonight was different though. Maximus had some reason to bring me here. I wasn’t sure yet what that reason was, but I figured he would clue me in when the time was right.

We rode in silence the rest of the way to the loading docks. It was the only legal place we could race these days. The cops had really cracked down in 2020 to get rid of the drug and sex rings in the city. Which meant that our illegal racing was also being stomped out.

Good for the police, I supposed. At least they were doing something with taxpayer money, but they were fighting in vein.

The drugs were still on the streets and so were the pimps and whores. They’d just found ways to dodge the system. Like always.

As for we racers, our meetings now were a testament to our survival. However, we hung to the fringes of the new laws and to the safety of our restricted play areas.

We far from play nice though.

I drove through the thick crowd of people out on the piers and sighed. It seemed the parties were getting even bigger these days. The area was packed car to car. People were wandering about like there was some sort of concert going on.

I pulled into an empty spot between a silver Ferrari and a red Volkswagen. I reached up to stop the cross on my rear view mirror from swinging to and fro and paused in the act when I felt a hand touch mine. I looked to Maximus as he turned in his seat to face me.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Didn’t really give me much of a choice there.” I smiled, but the expression fell to a frown when I noted the seriousness of his gaze. “What is it?”

He laced his fingers with mine and lifted his eyes to meet my own. “I want to know where we stand, Nikolai.”

“Max…”

He cut me off, gently squeezing my hand. “You’ve been with me nearly a year, Nikki. All I want is an answer. Am I your informant…or am I something more?”

I didn’t know how to answer him. I sat in the silence of my car for a long moment, the crowds outside seeming worlds away. “…I don’t know, Max.”

He looked away from me at that, towards the people outside the car.

I sighed heavily. I should have seen it coming with him. We couldn’t avoid it forever. Why should it matter at all though?

I kept my mouth shut as I looked toward the radio on my dashboard as if it held my answer.

“You don’t love me, do you?”

I jerked my hand from his at that. “I never said that, Maximus!” He turned narrowed eyes toward me.

“Stop jerking me about, Nikolai. You always know what you want and how you feel. Why won’t you just admit it?” He sounded hurt now as he spoke.

I shut my eyes for a moment, raising a hand to rub the headache from my temples.

Why should I even care whether I hurt him or not? I shouldn’t.

“Do you love me, or not?”

My jaw clenched at his tone. If he wanted the truth…who was I to deny him?

“I can’t love you. You know that.”

His hands fell to his lap and he leaned back in his seat. “Because I’m a vampire.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.” I admitted, looking to my steering wheel. I couldn’t look at him, no matter what I told myself about not giving a crap.

He was quiet again for a long time. Then his voice came as a soft whisper in the darkness of the car. “When are you going to accept what you are, Nikolai?”

I turned back to him at that, my own eyes narrowed to dark slits. “Never.” I reasoned coolly, though I knew my temper was starting to heat up.

“You can’t change it, you know that. You are a vampire, Nikolai. And you are always going to be a vampire.” He reached for me again to touch my face and I pulled back as if his touch had burned me.

“I’m not a vampire.” I hissed at him.

He smirked bitterly and shook his head. “No…not yet anyway. ” He turned to the windshield and glanced over the crowds. “How much longer do you really think those pills of yours will hold off the change? You already thirst. I can see it in your eyes…It won’t be much longer until you’re one of us…”

I set my jaw to keep my cool. But he was pushing it too far.

He cut his eyes back to me and his tone was accusing now. “Then what will your excuse be for not admitting you love me?”

“Get out.”

He seemed taken a back by my suddenly neutral tone. He didn’t trust it. He knew better than to trust me when I used that voice. It was the voice of my indifference…the voice I used when hunting.

“Nik-“

“I said ‘get out’.” I repeated and wrapped my fingers around my steering wheel.

He sighed. “Don’t you want to know why I brought you here?” My eyes rolled at the change of subject.

“No.” I lied. I just wanted him out of my car.

“I heard Thalia’s master might be here tonight. He might know something about what happened at the club that night.”

Thalia had been another of my informants. She’d been killed second, right after Jay and right before Joseph. She was a vampire though…so the cops would never trace her back to me. There was no body after all.

“That’s just what I need.” I scoffed. “Tai Wi will want to kill me.”

“Tai does not want to kill you, I can assure you. Any vampire worth his fangs knows you couldn’t have committed the murders.” That stung my ego a little.

“Couldn’t…or wouldn’t…?”

He smiled sheepishly at that, ducking his head in apology. “They know there would be no strategy in killing your strongest allies…”

“I guess vampires would know a thing or two about burning bridges.” I muttered and he sighed in frustration.

“Funny.” He muttered back and his tone was flat of any emotion. It sent chills up my spine. “Do you want to talk to him or not?”

I leaned my head back on my seat. “…not tonight.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not in the mood tonight. Not now anyway.” I made sure my voice was a razor’s edge of frigid ice. This time though, he didn’t flinch at the sound. Good for him.

He did frown, however. Though, in the same instance there was a certain smugness to his face, if that were at all possible. “Did I ruin your mood?”

I didn’t answer him again, merely sat there in the driver’s seat, stewing in my own simmering irritation.

When he finally did sigh once more and reach for me, I didn’t fight him. I didn’t exactly comply either, though. I remained lax in his hold as he drew me closer across the car to meet me in the middle. His nose found my hair and he nuzzled into my head and hair.

“I’m sorry, Nikki…” The words were a whisper against the top of my head. “You’re going through so much...I shouldn’t have brought it up…”

Again, I was silent, though my eyes did shut as I breathed in the smell of him. The scent of his cologne, the hint of his fabric softener, and the underlying touch of earthy scent that I knew was his vampiric scent.

He turned my face up to him and again I didn’t fight or comply. Slowly, I found I was starting to respond, returning the kiss softly and he smiled lightly to himself.

His lips and tongue moved with my own and I opened for him tentatively as if all was forgiven. And maybe in my weakened state, it could have been.

Then I felt his tongue run over my teeth where my canines were. Searching for points.

That was the straw. I shoved him from me and wiped my mouth on my sleeve.

“I’m sor-”

“Don’t.” I warned him and started the car once more. It purred to life under me. “I’m not going to say it again, Maximus. Get out of my car.”

This time he must have sensed that I really meant it. He opened the car door and got out. Before he turned, he ducked down to look into the car once more at me. “I’ll call you tonight.”

I revved the engine, staring blankly a head of me. “Don’t even bother.” I whispered and I knew he had heard me. He slammed the door shut and I slammed the car into gear before peeling away from the crowd.

The maddening silence soon enveloped my car once more as I drove away from the scene. My fingers returned to the stereo and I flicked the knob up to full. I recognized Marilyn Manson’s voice immediately as it blared through the speakers.

“If I was your vampire…”

As I pulled up to a red light, I listened for a moment to the words of the song. My eyes rolled at the words, but it was a good tune actually. I went to change the station once more and stopped as I heard a car revving next to me.

My brow rose as my gaze wandered to my open passenger window at the car that had pulled up next to me without me noticing. And my jaw dropped.

I had never seen a Lamborghini Reventon before. From what I knew, there were only ever 100 of them made back in 2007. And back then they would have run close to a cool million each.

Today, in mint condition, a Reventon would be worth nearly 3 Million.

And this car didn’t have a scratch, smudge, or so much as a speck of dirt on it. It was dark as the night, the windows tinted to a glossy black just like the body. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it.

The windows of the Reventon were rolled up so I couldn’t make out the driver, but as the car revved once more and lurched, I knew what he or she was getting at.

My car obviously was a racer. With the air brushed, lime green and pink paint and the charging werewolf on the back doors. And this person was baiting me into a race.

I smirked to myself, looking down the straight stretch of road ahead. The shipping yard houses stood on either side of the abandoned, dimly lit two way street.

Perfect.

I revved my engine in response to the Lamborghini and let my eyes flicker to the traffic light. Any second now…

Green.

I dropped into gear and charged forward. My opponent wasn’t far behind. We accelerated to 50 in a few heartbeats, driving neck and neck. Then the Reventon began to put the pressure on.

60.

100.

120 miles per hour.

We blazed down the straight between the empty warehouses. My adrenaline was pumping now. I smirked at the feel, and then narrowed my eyes when the other car lurched ahead of me.

Cursing under my breath, I put my foot down on the pedal and raced to make up that little gap it had on me.

145.

155.

170.

The Lamborghini wasn’t even breaking a sweat yet. I thumbed the trigger of the nitrous on my steering wheel as I shifted. We were nearing the end of the straight. One good push was all I needed to win the race. One push.

I hit the trigger and sailed forward as I accelerated. My eyes flickered to the passenger side mirror to see the Lamborghini growing smaller in the reflection. The lights flickered in an angry flash and I laughed.

So I was a dirty racer. It was the first time I’d actually had to use the nitrous to get a head.

I looked to my gage and smirked in pride. 260. Incredible.

As my eyes looked back to the road in front of me I let out another curse and dropped my gear down as I slammed on my brakes. Up ahead, a train went barreling across the street in between the warehouses.

My car jack-knifed just a few feet shy of the tracks. The train was still going past as I came to a jerky halt next to it.

I could feel my pulse thundering in my throat while I sat there, watching the cars of the train go past.

Too close.

I turned my attention back to my opponent, looking out my window and blinked at the empty streets.

The Lamborghini was nowhere in sight.

Something else did catch my eye though. Toward me came three sets of flashing lights. The cops.

Softly, I groaned and leaned my head back on the headrest behind me. The train was still rolling past. I was trapped. There was no use in running.

Someone must have called the police about our racing…

Shrugging at the thoughts, I turned my car off and got out as the police SUVs pulled up to box me in. As if I were running.

I didn’t bother disarming myself. It was pointless at the moment. They’d handle that. And I really didn’t feel like getting shot tonight. I laced my fingers behind my head and laid my forehead on the roof of my car.

And tonight was supposed to have been a good night.