by Drew D'Amato
“We killed you,” Jericho said in disbelief.
“No, you thought you killed me,” Radu said with a smirk. “My panic room had a panic room. Actually it’s an escape route that leads out to mountains. When Vlad fired off those grenades in the confusion, I escaped to my second panic room. He never saw what happened through all that smoke in that small room.”
“Even so, the place was swarming with cops afterward.”
“And they never found the passage. I waited in there until it was night.”
“How the fuck did you survive?” Jericho pointed to Gabriel. “You were down there when the ceiling came in.”
“I was on the stairs killing your friend Andrew,” Gabriel said. “Then I ran upstairs.”
“And a panic room wouldn’t have much value to it, if it only had one entry from the basement.”
“So you just waited, and didn’t fight like a bunch of cowards?” Malachi said.
“What were we going to do, come outside and play in the sun?” Radu said.
Jericho pointed at Ash. “I didn’t see his ugly ass at all. Was he just too afraid to fight?” They were stalling them. They had no guns, no vampire strength, and no idea what to do next.
“It is apparent now that we knew before hand about your surprise visit. We were on our way to Europe before Vlad even called me. Ash stayed behind to make sure you guys left from LA.”
“That girl of Vlad’s is one beautiful thing. Makes me almost want to become human again myself,” Ash said, licking his lips.
“Don’t you even think about touching her,” Jericho said.
“No, we won’t,” Radu said. “He is my brother after all. I’ll let him have his woman and his human life, while I have the world. He is no longer a threat to me. You however, Jericho, have killed more of my men then any other of Vlad’s bloodline. And you are not my brother, so sorry, I don’t have much mercy for you.”
“So you’re just going to kill me like this?”
“No, I am,” Ash said.
“But this isn’t very fair, Ash,” Radu said. “I don’t think these humans are even armed.”
Radu took out a Beretta with a silencer from his jacket. He cocked it, and a shell popped out. He caught it and held it up to Jericho and Malachi. “Silver, you see.” Radu quickly slid out the magazine, displayed it loaded with silver bullets, and then slid it back into the gun.
Radu threw the gun and it landed right at Jericho’s foot. Jericho didn’t move for it yet. He wanted to stall these bastards. They were in an open parking garage, the street was right next to them. Maybe something could happen on 9th street to distract them and they could get away. He had to stall them.
“How did you find us?” Jericho asked.
“Michael told us everything.” Jericho and Malachi flinched at that statement. The truth hurts. Radu continued. “He told us Vlad was hoping to become a human again, so after what happened at my house we decided to let you think it was safe to give it a try. That is why Ash was keeping tabs on you, but even though he found Jasmine, he didn’t know where Vlad’s new house was. I didn’t know how long it would take us to find you again, or even if you had carried through on the process. But then tonight when we got off our plane, the televisions at a bar in LAX showed the Lakers game. And there the two of you were, sitting courtside, very photogenic I must say. We tracked you down and here we are. Ash had the guns for us. Now, are you going to pick up that gun?”
Jericho paused, trying to think of something quick. He looked over at Malachi, but he had no idea what to do either. “I have no chance to pick that up before he fires a shot.”
“Very true, Ash, put your gun down.” Ash looked at Radu is disbelief. “Trust me,” Radu told him.
Ash put his gun down. Radu walked over and kicked the gun ten feet away from Ash. Ash turned to Radu with a betrayed look on his face. But Radu’s face told him not to worry.
Ash and Jericho stared at each other. “I’ve been waiting centuries for this,” Ash said. “Your move.”
Jericho looked back at Malachi, unsure what to do next. Malachi was hinting at him with his eyes to not make a move. Delay, wait for something to happen. But it didn’t seem like anything was going to. The garage was empty, the cars whizzed by on the street paying no attention to the men who had their guns drawn.
Jericho knew it was a bad move, but it was still a move. He wouldn’t aim at Ash, he would aim at Radu. Killing him killed all of them. They had made a mistake, they were overconfident. Putting a bullet through Radu’s heart now would still make everything right. He could tell Malachi was advising against it, but what other choice did he have?
“Tell your other man to put his gun down too.” Jericho looked at Gabriel. “I’m not walking into a trap.”
“Gabriel,” Radu said to him. Gabriel reluctantly put his gun back in its holster under his leather jacket.
There was a bit of a distraction as they watched Gabriel do this. Jericho had his opening, he made his move. He went for the gun. He bent, got his hand around the barrel and then WHOOT—the sound of a silenced bullet pierced the night. Jericho dropped the gun as there was now a hole in his right hand. Ash held the smoking gun.
Jericho held his hand and watched the blood pour out of it. He was not used to feeling pain for this long. Radu laughed, clapping his hands with the cane in his right hand.
“Haha, the speed of a human versus the speed of a vampire is not competitive. Did you guys forget how fast you used to move?”
Malachi had noticed it then. They wouldn’t have had a chance in Radu’s house if they had lost their vampiric powers. Vampires moved like a blur. He never got to notice that before, because before their speed was normal, and humans moved slowly to him. But now he was a human, and witnessing it, he knew they had no chance. Ash moved ten feet, picked up the gun, aimed and shot it, before Jericho could even pick up a gun right in front of him. Malachi saw the whole thing. Comparing their two speeds was like Speedy Gonzales versus his cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez.
“I had hoped you would have been humans at my place, but I guess you can’t not invite someone when you are setting a trap for them,” Radu said.
Malachi wanted to do something, but he didn’t want to do something stupid. The gun was a few feet away from Jericho. There was no way he could get to it in time.
“Master, killing him with a gun is not amusing anymore. He is no longer a challenge,” Ash said to Radu.
“So what do you have in mind?”
Ash smiled.
Like a blur he dashed at Jericho, and picked him up by his neck off the ground. Malachi braced to see the painful death of his friend. But then Ash disappeared. Jericho stood there with blood coming out of his right hand, and his lucky Cross sterling silver pen in his left. He had pierced Ash’s heart with it. Jericho got to take out his rival. Malachi smiled proudly at his friend. The victory did not last long. Two silenced bullets entered Jericho’s chest. Malachi ran over to him.
Malachi held his friend’s head in his hands.
“Malachi,” Jericho said coughing up blood. A bullet had pierced his lungs. “You must survive, you must warn Vlad.”
“Jericho don’t die, you can pull through this,” Malachi whispered to him, tears starting to fall from his eyes.
Jericho shook his head. “Malachi…it was a hell of a show.”
Jericho died in his arms then. Malachi looked up holding his friends body. Gabriel had his arm extended, the smoke still rising from the silencer of his gun.
“So you’re going to kill me too?” Malachi asked.
“No,” Radu said. “I need you around to tell Vlad. Tell him he can keep his woman and his human life as long as he doesn’t interfere in my plans.”
Gabriel started to walk over to Malachi.
“I thought you were going to let me live,” Malachi said.
“Oh I am, but I’m not going to leave you unscathed.”
Malachi turned his attention to Jericho’s silver pen. Gabriel noticed
it and kicked it out into the street.
Malachi stood up and stared right into Gabriel’s face. “You better kill me now motherfucker, or I will kill you.”
“Oh I doubt that very much,” Gabriel said and then backhanded Malachi. He felt his left cheek crack as he was hit. Gabriel threw a pulled punch into Malachi’s gut. Malachi collapsed in pain. It felt as if all his internal organs had exploded inside him. He fell to the ground. Gabriel did one last stomp with his foot on Michael’s right leg. He heard his femur—the strongest bone in the human body, it can take up to a ton of stress—break. He lied in unbearable pain. Radu walked over and looked down at him.
“Remember to tell my brother not to try anything. And I’ll let him and his love live.”
Radu walked away. Malachi stared up at the cloudless night sky. Then everything went black.
7
“Vlad escaped from his home in Romania!” Bandini told the person on the other end of his cell phone. He was still in his office. Even though it was his own office, he kept his voice lower than normal during conversations regading his real job. He also hid this part of his life from his wife. He, in turn, allowed her to have her affairs. He didn’t care. He knew he wasn’t around, and she wasn’t a priority to him. The wife was just a good cover, and he loved his two kids. If he could enjoy them with the little effort he puts into his family, he would take her affairs with her old boyfriend. He knew. He hunted vampires? He wouldn’t be able to spot an unfaithful wife? It’s actually easy when your heart is not into it.
He was fine, she was part of his cover. Being married helped him be chosen for Inspector General. The Crusaders were so secretive, not one person involved in his appointment to this position from the Security and Civil Defense Services Department for the state knew of his other work. The Crusaders did not get him this position, he got where he was on his own. He also had no ace up his sleeve if he fucked up. Every Crusader was on his own.
He had a lunch meeting that was scheduled five minutes ago. He would already be a little late at best, but this was more important.
“He is dead,” the voice on the other line said.
“They found an escape route attached to the panic room. And it was used, it was deadbolted from the inside.”
“Trust me he is not a threat. I have seen it with my own eyes.”
“They also didn’t find any ancient, weird looking books. I thought you said it was destroyed in the battle.”
“It was destroyed, blown up. Interpol wouldn’t find a book but scraps of paper they couldn’t give a shit about with the rest of the enigma they had to figure out in front of them. Now speaking about things being destroyed was the Blood of the Betrayer also destroyed? Did you give Vlad the real thing?”
“Yes Radu, you are the only master vampire left.”
Radu hung up. Radu had been in bed with the Crusaders for over a hundred years. That was why he was not that concerned about them discovering the coffer. If the enemy of their enemy is their friend, the Crusaders could be friends with either allegiance of vampires—as long as they worked together to destroy their mutual enemy. It was very Machiavellian in dealing with two forces. Play one against the other, instead of fighting a two-front war. Why risk those two aligning in regards to the destruction of the Crusaders?
When the Crusaders started out they dealt with mostly the vampiric attacks in Southeast Europe—Radu’s bodies. Radu had to clean up his act, the Crusaders were closing in. Humans had a fair shot aginst Radu, if they could find him unguarded during the day. The pursuit of Radu led by Van Helsing had been what kept him in check. This led Radu to briefly visit the New World and the fear of vampires had died down due to his brief absence and the publication of Vampyrismus by Gerard van Swieten. The Crusaders were not even aware of his return, and it took a while for them to close in on him again. But by the end of the 19th century the Crusaders were again getting too close, and so Radu decided to extend an olive branch.
Radu was always a more astute politician than Vlad. He knew he and the Crusaders shared one goal—to kill Vlad. If he could use the Crusaders to destroy Vlad, why not? Then he could crush the Crusaders.
He started a correspondence of letters to the head of the Crusaders at the time, an Adolf Koch, who was a distant relative of Larz Van Helsing. He told them Vlad had lied to Van Helsing and Radu presented his case that he was an innocent man trapped with this curse, and his brother was the monster tearing up the countryside. He implored them to look at the history of the man and ask how he could not be a monster. Then he told them where Vlad normally hunted at. Six Crusaders went out to that area and they were all killed.
Radu and his men killed all of them. Vlad was still in America but the Crusaders didn’t know that. Radu just wanted to rev up their hatred toward Vlad. It worked. The Crusaders now wanted revenge. Radu had started to gain some credit with the Crusaders.
As a final act of good faith, Radu inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. Stoker raised some eyebrows in the Crusaders’ circle when he starting asking too many questions about the folklore about vampires. The Crusaders learned he was doing this research for a book, a horror novel. The Crusaders asked Radu for a favor, and like any favor with a devil, it had its catch.
Radu inspired Stoker, and showed him his powers as a vampire, threatened his life, and then promised him he would tell him the truth about vampires. However, he painted a story where Vlad was the only master, and he was an evil, cruel bastard. Radu took interest in doing it to fuck with Vlad and turn the attention back on him.
The Crusaders were disappointed though with the final product. Their other goal after killing vampires, was proving them to the world. They left no bodies so they had nothing conclusive. The Crusaders up to this point had to keep their silence—like Bandini did with Interpol—out of self-preservation. If any of them came out and said anything they risked discrediting and disbanding the entire order. So they wanted Stoker’s book to be accepted as a work of non-fiction. They wanted people to believe it as a fact. But even Stoker himself stated that it was fiction.
Radu did not share in their desire for the world to know the truth about vampires. He didn’t want everyone in the world hunting them out, so he warned Stoker. He promised him, he would never see him again and if the book was a hit, Radu would ask for nothing monetarily. But, if he ever tried to insinuate to anyone that his book was based on fact, Stoker would not wake up the next morning. Stoker was wise enough to not test a vampire on their threat.
He did throw the Crusaders a bone though. The hero of the book was a Van Helsing, albeit named Abraham, but that was after the writer’s and his father’s real name. What could Radu do? Writers were always weird with how they created their character’s names.
Still, the relationship was strained in the aftermath of Dracula, but then Europe saw two world wars, and Radu offered the Church protection. The two groups worked together in regards to getting Nazi war criminals out of Europe and in protecting the Church from the Soviet Bloc. They had a mutual relationship, but that was no longer necessary. The status quo has changed. Radu would crush them along with the rest of the world.
He would do that in a month, but not now. Now was not the time to make any sort of move. Now was the time to set up the dominoes. He will knock down the first one just before Christmas. He has the gift that keeps on giving.
The Crusaders were fools, who thought they knew far more then they did. They believed that house in Romania was Vlad’s even though the last name on the house was Frumos—Frumos, handsome, Radu’s nickname—and that Radu had killed him. But people believed what they wanted to. Radu was guilty of that too. He believed the Crusaders posed no threat.
Radu was not the only deceitful one. The Crusaders had planned on killing Radu once Vlad was out of the picture. Now they could work on that and at the same time their second goal. Bandini made his way to his lunch meeting, and even though he would be late, there was a smile on his face.
There was only one master
vampire left, but Bandini knew there would soon be others.
THREE
1
Jasmine woke up dizzy. It wasn’t from sleeping all night on a boat, she had slept on boats many times before. It was from the dream she had that started to fade as she woke, but it was vivid enough to stay in her mind like a stain. She was in a castle, and she knew she was the lady of the house, even though she had not spoken to anyone. It was her dream and she just knew. She walked to a tower. The view from it opened to a landscape of rolling trees with brown mountains rising above them. She looked below her and saw the fall was long. At the bottom, she made out a river that flowed along the scenery like a vein. Between the tops of the trees and the river there was an orange light—the woods were on fire. There was an army below.
She looked closer at them and got dizzier. One face stood out to her. A handsome face with evil eyes. She leaned over to get a better view and felt her footing slip. She was also aware that she was letting it happen. She slipped and was now falling. The river grew closer. Her speed was too fast even for a dream.
She willed herself to wake before she crashed. She ejected out of the dream. As she woke she heard the sound of a body splash into water. The sound of someone falling into water made the transition of that dream to reality even harder, but she got her bearings. It was Vlad. That guy loved swimming last night, like he had never done it before. She woke up naked, her breasts hanging from her body. She felt a little umcomfortble to find the bed empty. But then she smelled the bacon.
On the counter next to the sink (which had clean pans inside it) was a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and a note. I would never want to disturb such a beautiful sight as you sleeping. I’m taking another swim, love Vlad. The note warmed her heart.
She grew a tad concerned, she wasn’t known to be a late sleeper, and yet, Vlad had cooked an entire meal and didn’t disturb her. She put her hand over the food, it was still warm. She checked her cell phone. The time was 10:42 but the screen also read: No Service. She knew her father would be upset. He didn’t mind when she slept out, he was liberal like that, but he didn’t like when he couldn’t get in touch with her.
