Sharkbait Down Under

Alpha Steven Dauntless POV

The wolves remaining in Cancun had five hours left before we’d lose our only shot at taking out the local Vampire coven. At eight PM, we either attacked, or they’d disappear.

Killing Mateo and his Coven mates would be immensely satisfying, and I wasn’t going to miss my chance. We needed a way to do it away from the heavily policed, camera-thick Cancun hotel area if we wanted to escape jail.

The plan we came up with was complicated, and we had little time to implement it. I sent most of the people left from the Southern Cross, Stillwater, and Miesville Packs out to set up our ambush.

At five in the afternoon, I gave Mateo a call on the number he’d left for me. “I got a call from the kidnappers,” I told him. “They want a million dollars per woman. We’re going to pay it tonight.”

“That’s good news,” Mateo said. He was an excellent liar because I didn’t sense any deception. He damn well knew the girls weren’t here, and money would never get them back. “How can I help?”

“We’ll be carrying a fortune and meeting up with bad people,” I said. “I need everyone you can get me for backup and to help us past any checkpoints. I can’t get stopped carrying guns or money in this town.”

“It’s a good way to end up dead,” Mateo agreed. “When and where?”

“We’ve got cars, so if you can meet us in the hotel parking lot at seven, that would be perfect.”

“We’ll be there,” he promised.

I could imagine. Mateo probably figured to get us out in the jungle, kill us, and keep the money.

At seven, I had eight warriors in two vehicles, plus a van with a single driver, waiting in the lot. We’d retrieved all of the guns from the hiding place in the garden, and I had them in the trunk of my vehicle. We’d gone over our plan, and I reminded everyone to stay in the cars until I called for them. I got a call from Mateo. “We’re pulling in now,” he said.

“Drive through, and we’ll follow you out,” I said.

“No. You come to my car, and I’ll send one of my people back to yours,” he said. “That way, there won’t be any communication issues.”

Shit. I didn’t have a choice. “You have the machetes,” I asked Luna Karen. The Stillwater Luna was sitting behind me in the car, her mate in Mexico City with Leo.

“Of course,” she said.

I nodded. “Take his fucking head off as soon as I give the word.”

I got out of the passenger seat and walked forward; it was Esmerelda who exited the back seat of Mateo’s car. I said hello to the petite vampire as we passed, then I took her place in the back of Mateo’s ride. “We appreciate your help in this,” I said. “The guns are in my vehicle.”

“I know, that is why Esmerelda is there. She’s old enough to get you past any searches.” I suppose that was good, but I was also putting my people next to a powerful vampire. Any slip-ups, and we were all dead. “Where are we headed?”

“West, towards Valladolid,” I told him. The city in the center of the Yucatan Peninsula was over an hour away.

The vampires got us through two checkpoints on the way out of town; no searches, but we did get warnings about ‘recent kidnappings’ outside the area. It was dark as we drove through the jungle, with a few towns interrupted by long expanses of nothing. The tollway was moving along fast, and pretty soon, we were coming up at the exit for 305D towards Playa del Carmen.

“Everyone in place at the site,” I asked.

“In place and waiting,” came the response.

“Two minutes out.”

“We need to gear up and test-fire our weapons now that we’re past the checkpoints,” I told Mateo. “The satellite map shows a cleared area with an access road coming up on the right in one kilometer. Can you pull off there?”

“Of course,” he said. His driver slowed as I called down the distance, and we pulled off the pavement and onto a logging road. When we reached the clearing, I asked them to stop. “It will only be a few minutes,” I said as I got out.

Walking back to my car, my warriors already had the bag out and were handing out pistols. I took two, cocking one and putting it into my pocket before our group walked away from our cars, facing the open area. Looking at my phone, it was one minute to eight at night. I joined the group, firing one round from each pistol to make sure it worked. “Anyone not ready, say so now.” There were no responses. “Five, four, three, two, one, GO.” As one, we turned and opened fire on the vampire’s car.

Luna Karen’s POV

For a vampire, Esmerelda was pretty cool.

I’d gotten most of her story on the drive through the jungle. Mateo had killed her family when she was twenty and a student at University in Mexico City. She’d come after him with a knife, not that it did any good. Instead of killing her, the sick fuck turned her and bent her to his will. She’d adapted to her vampire nature, using her brains to survive in a world ruled by raw power.

She got quiet as we turned off the highway and onto the empty road. “Mateo is going to betray you,” she said quietly. “He’ll wait until you meet the kidnappers, then kill you all and take the money.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. “Why?”

“Power, money, and control,” he said. “The same things vampires always want.”

“Why warn us?”

“I don’t want to be destroyed over Mateo’s hubris. He’s smart enough to stay away but keep Vespucci’s favor as he grows in power. There is no one around to challenge him. At least, not until your group arrived. All I ask is that you let me go free. I’m in the human records as his wife, so when he dies, I’ll inherit his empire.”

“You’re willing to betray him so you can take over?”

She laughed. “Vampire life is nothing like what I’ve seen from you. I didn’t choose this life. A newborn vampire wishes for the life of a slave, and even after all these decades, Mateo still takes me when he wants. My only chance at a better life is to take his place. I won’t forget the favor.” She looked forward again, letting me think.

I didn’t have a link with Alpha Steven, but others in the car did. “Alpha Steven agrees. If you do not interfere with us, the Alpha will let you go and inform Master Cyprian of your assistance,” his warrior said. It was a good deal, especially since Cyprian would be establishing the new Mexican Coven. She was bound to survive if Alpha Steven vouched for her. “We’re pulling off the road soon.”

I took the machete out of its sheath, placing it against Esmerelda’s neck, one hand on each side. One move and she’d decapitate herself. She was short enough that you’d never see the blade through the windshield. “I want to believe you, but I can’t trust you just yet,” I said. “When it goes down, don’t move a muscle.”

“I’m the one placing blind trust in you,” she said. “Your kind can find solace in death. I’m already dead, and Mateo can heal me and torture me again until he tires of my screams. You have the information. Kill me now if you don’t trust me.”

“Trust, but verify,” I responded.

We came to a halt, and everyone else got out. The back of the SUV opened up, and one of the warriors started handing out guns from the bag to everyone. “Fire a couple of rounds, and make sure they work,” Alpha Steven said. “Once you’re satisfied, top off the ammo and put them in the bags so they stay with you when you shift.” A line of people moved away, pointing their firearms into the darkness as they did their test firings.

As one, they spun and opened fire on the car containing the vampires. Twenty shooters opened up, firing pistol and rifle rounds at the five trapped vampires as fast as they could. The shooting sounded like thunder for a few seconds, and then it stopped.

A dozen men and women ran forward, from the woods and hiding places in the cleared section, flaming cloths stuffed in gasoline-soaked bottles that smashed inside the bullet-riddled vehicle. It didn’t burn like gasoline; the wolves had dissolved bags of Styrofoam peanuts into the gas. The foam turned it into a thick, sticky, napalm-like substance.

Five seconds after the first shot and the SUV was in flames. The five vampires inside tried to get out, but the burning goop was melting their flesh. The second group fell back, allowing the shooters to continue firing as they tried to get out. The flames and the bullets were too much to heal from, even for a powerful vampire. Ten seconds later, all movement had stopped.

Esmerelda hadn’t moved, but I saw a smile appear on her face as she watched her nemesis die.

“There never was a meeting, and you don’t have any money with you, do you,” she asked.

“This has always been a one-way trip for Mateo. We found out the girls are prisoners of Master Vespucci in Mexico City. He should be dead by now.” I let go of the machete, bringing it back over the seat.

“Good,” she said. “Thank you for trusting me.”

“I’ll be back,” I said. Walking out, I went to each of the smoking corpses, hacking the heads free of their bodies to make sure they didn’t come back. The men tossed their weapons into the burning car, letting the fire destroy the evidence. When I finished, I dumped the machete in the back seat. “We should go,” I said.

We loaded into the vehicles, and one of the warriors used a tree branch to erase the tire prints. He hopped into the van while Alpha Steven got in the back with me. “Done, no issues,” he texted to Leo from a burner phone.

Less than five minutes after pulling off the road, we were on our way back to Cancun.