The Vampire’S Woman

By Herb Cunningham

They walked in both the darkness and the light, but they preferred the darkness. They were something like vampires, something like African vampires. But, unlike their European counterparts, the sun could not harm them. Indeed, African vampires loved the sun. Of course, they loved the moon even more...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Nov 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490749600

Herb Cunningham

The author was born on July 4, 1943, in Earlington, Kentucky, to Herbert Cunningham Sr. and Elsie Cunningham. He studied in the Gary Community School System, and then in Indiana University in Gary and Bloomington. He also went to Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, Indiana. He has a master’s degree in education, and he went to medical school. His employment consists of twenty-six years in teaching in the Gary, Indiana, school system.

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The Vampire’s

Woman

HERB CUNNINGHAM

© Copyright 2014, 2015 Herb Cunningham.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4959-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4961-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4960-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014918815

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

CHAPTER FORTY

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

CHAPTER FIFTY

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

CHAPTER SIXTY

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

T hey walked in both the darkness and the light, but they preferred the darkness. They were something like vampires, something like African vampires. But, unlike their European counterparts, the sun could not harm them. Indeed, African vampires loved the sun. Of course, they loved the moon even more…

CHAPTER ONE

S ervice was slow at the small-storefront restaurant in downtown Gary. The two men were the only customers and they wondered why the carryout dinners were taking so long. It was late evening and the sun was dipping below the rooftops of the slum buildings and houses to the west. Darkness was coming much too quickly. The streets of Gary, Indiana are always dangerous, but they are especially dangerous at night. The two men were walking and they wanted to make it home before dark.

John The Beast Wechakhulia was dark, keen featured, and wore his dense-black hair and full beard very short and neatly trimmed He was six-three or six-four, two hundred sixty pounds, and muscled like an NFL fullback, linebacker, or tight end. He was in his late twenties. His friend Lysander was slim, of average height, movie-star handsome, and he had medium-brown hair of medium length and in a ponytail. He was clean shaven. Lysander was in his mid-forties. Both men were highly intelligent and highly educated. John the Beast had majored in the humanities and fine arts. Lysander was an engineer. Both men were bitalos—African vampires.

As it grew darker, the bitalos became even more afraid. Then finally the dinners were ready, and the two men hurried away, walking as fast as they could. Broadway was dark and dangerous and looked like a scene from a nightmare or a horror movie. They headed north past huge, tall, black, long-dead, burnt-out and abandoned buildings, and vacant lots infested with weeds, vines, bushes, and small trees. They saw five or six young black men, two skinny young black women, and an elderly black woman waiting on the bus. At least four Gary police cars passed by and the bitalos felt safer. They turned west on Sixth Avenue, which was even darker than Broadway. They were greatly relieved when they finally reached home. They had just purchased an old, once-elegant three-story house in the near northwest quadrant of Gary known as the Horace Mann area.

Make sure that door is locked! John the Beast warned. I can’t tell you anything! I told you, you’re going to need a gun if you plan on walking the streets of Gary! We were very lucky tonight!

CHAPTER TWO

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

T he African vampires were on a blood hunt. They were on the trail of two of their ancient, most hated enemies, two Irungu Knights. One was a seventy-year-old man named John Irungu, who was a master African vampire hunter and killer. Short, slim, and dark, John Irungu resembled the Yoda character in the STAR WARS movies. The other man was younger, forty or fifty, and was believed to be Irungu’s apprentice. His name was John David Hunter, and he was called the Preacher. He did look like a black Baptist minister. Hunter was dark, a little shorter than average, and had that well-fed look. He also dressed like a preacher.

Looking for clues, African vampires burglarized the Preacher’s house. They found closets full of Armani, Kuppenheimer, and Brooks Brothers suits, overcoats, and sports coats. They found Murphy Johnson shoes, and other items of clothing with very expensive names. Very little was known about this Preacher. He was a mysterious figure. Quite a bit was known about John Irungu. He had killed many bitalos.

An African vampire named Machupa had spotted John Irungu at Los Angeles International Airport. Irungu was waiting to board a flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Irungu had killed Machupa’s parents. African vampires in Chicago were alerted to wait for Irungu at O’Hare, but due to a storm, Irungu’s plane sat on the runway for three hours. Then his flight was cancelled and he caught a Southwest Airlines flight the next day. Southwest Airlines does not go to O’Hare. It flies out of Midway. Eventually, the Chicago bitalos figured out what had happened and they traced Irungu to Gary, Indiana.

Meanwhile, a group of young male and female gang-member African vampires from Los Angeles, without authorization, had organized their own hunt. The gang-member bitalos shot it out with the Preacher in the woods surrounding the Little Calumet River. Their action ran both Irungu Knights out of town and into hiding. Now the trail was cold.

Lysander was still angry. I should kill them! he raged. If it hadn’t been for those young punks, we could have gotten every Irungu Knight in this area. Irungu is a senile old man. He would have led us back to the rest of them.

If it hadn’t been for those young punks, we wouldn’t have known anything about this new guy, this Preacher, or what his capabilities might be, John the Beast replied.

There’s something I don’t understand, Lysander said. If he is an apprentice Irungu Knight, then why is he trying to kill us with silver bullets? What does he think we are? Werewolves? What is John Irungu teaching him?

I don’t understand that either. This Preacher didn’t have the slightest idea of what he was supposed to be doing. Otherwise, he would have killed up quite a few of our fine young people, John the Beast said.

Well, it really doesn’t matter, Lysander shrugged. Neither one of them is that big of a problem. Whether we kill him or not, Irungu is an old man, and he has but a few days left in the land of the living. And this Preacher is an ignoramus and a minor irritant.

"But this ignoramus and