Bloodliner

by Robert T. Jeschonek

  Mavis touched his face, running her fingers down one rough cheek. "Don't ever leave me again, Arthur. Please."

  "Nothing will keep me from your side, my love." Arthur took her hand and kissed it. "For you are my destiny, Mavis. Now and always."

  This time, he kissed her on the lips.

  *****

  Chapter 79

  In the heart of the roaring battle, Jonah was well-protected and secured...by the wrong side. Genghis' men encircled him, fending off Shakespeare and Hercules' forces—the very people Jonah wanted to rescue him.

  "Protect the Key!" said the leader of Jonah's unwanted guardians, a middle-aged black man with a thick French accent. "Do not let them take him!"

  Jonah looked around frantically, wondering what to do next. Maybe if he fought from the inside, it would weaken his "protectors" enough for Shakespeare's men to crack the wall surrounding him.

  Unfortunately, there were no weapons inside the ring, nothing he could use to even the odds. Without a rock or a branch, Jonah had nothing to help him fight the vampires, to counteract their many physical advantages.

  Almost nothing. The ground itself was marshy, so Jonah did have mud. It wasn't much, but it might just help.

  Yeah, right. Using mud against vampires. Sounds like a sure thing.

  Dropping, Jonah squatted in the circle and thrust his hands into the thick muck. He scooped up two big handfuls and stood, mud oozing between his fingers.

  He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, gathering the courage to make his move...thinking too much about the possibilities. On the one hand, he knew the vampires' mission was to protect him so he could open Empyrea, so he doubted they would kill him. On the other hand, they might just forget their mission in the heat of the moment...or they might leave him alive but really mess him up. A fight between a vampire and an unarmed human with no combat training would bring new meaning to the term "no contest."

  Still, Jonah could see no other way to escape. Even now, the five vampires surrounding him were crushing a mob of opponents, downing one enemy vampire after another in a flurry of violent acrobatics.

  Heart pounding, blood thundering in his ears, Jonah gulped another deep breath and picked a target—a short, wiry male with silver hair. He looked elderly, like a little old man, which gave Jonah some slight hope...though he knew appearance meant nothing when it came to vampires, and in fact the little old man was in the process of a kicking the ass of someone twice his size and half his age.

  Just do it. Get it over with.

  Jonah counted backward from three and lunged at the little old vampire. He flung his hands around in front of the vampire's face and slopped mud in his eyes, then pulled before the vampire could grab him.

  Howling, the little old vampire staggered, bumping into fellow fighters on either side of him...distracting them, so their opponents could get in some strong shots. Reaching up, he swiped the worst of the gunk from his face and opened his eyes, instantly focusing in on Jonah.

  The little old vampire raised his claws and hissed menacingly, taking a step toward Jonah.

  Maybe I shouldn't have done that.

  Jonah backed up, but there was nowhere to go in the circle. Quickly dropping, he scooped up more mud, as if that would do any good against an advancing vampire.

  Then, snarling, the little old vampire leaped.

  Jonah fell on his ass in the mud and swung up his arms to shield himself. He clenched his teeth and looked away from what he was sure was the face of his own death.

  At that exact moment, a gunshot exploded nearby, so close the blast was deafening. In the same instant, Jonah heard a strangled gasp, followed by a splattering impact. The sound of something colliding with a soggy surface.

  When Jonah looked back, he saw it had actually been the sound of the little old vampire falling in the mud. A blossom of inky black blood soaked the back of his shirt, steaming and expanding as he lay there.

  He'd been shot, and Jonah quickly realized who'd done the shooting. She stood ten feet away, smoking guns in each hand, aimed in two different directions...and as Jonah watched, she pulled the triggers, firing at two more vampires.

  "Stanza!" Jonah's heart leaped at the sight of her...the proof that she'd told the truth about being on his side.

  Stanza squeezed off two more shots without blinking, taking out the rest of Genghis' Jonah-protection team. As the last body dropped, she holstered one of the guns, stepped over the body of the little old vampire she'd killed, and reached out a hand to Jonah.

  "Good to see you." She smiled.

  Jonah smiled back as he took her hand. "Welcome back from the dark side."

  "I told you it was all going to work out," said Stanza.

  Just then, a blazing severed head flew past between them. "This is what you call 'working out?'" said Jonah.

  "This is what I call 'according to plan,'" said Stanza. "More or less." With that, she tugged him toward her...then caught and held him close. She kissed him passionately in the midst of the mayhem, flexing her lips and her body against his as the action swirled around them.

  Then, she turned him loose. "Follow me," she said. "We've got places to go, Mister Key."

  Jonah trailed after her, staying as close as possible. "I'm guessing you mean Empyrea."

  "Actually, I was talking about Poughkeepsie," said Stanza. "But since we're already here, what the hell? Empyrea it is."

  "So we're going in?" said Jonah. "We're cracking open Heaven?"

  "You betcha," said Stanza. "But first, we need to round up Mavis. This is one door we can't open without two keys."

  *****

  Chapter 80

  As Shakespeare leaped up onto Thomas' gray horse and pounded Thomas with one blow after another, he wondered what James was going to do.

  James was a few yards away, fighting off two of Shakespeare's men. His effort wasn't spirited; Shakespeare was fairly certain he wasn't fighting for Genghis willingly. Shakespeare was likewise certain that James would race to the aid of his brother before long. Even as James fought his opponents, he kept looking in Thomas' direction.

  The question was, what would James do to Shakespeare to rescue Thomas? Had Genghis somehow managed to corrupt him? Had he made it possible for James to harm his own mentor?

  Shakespeare hammered Thomas, striking him down before he could manage to retaliate, stopping short of fatal force. As Thomas fell unconscious against the horse's neck, Shakespeare saw James rout his opponents with a sudden burst of force. Wailing a war cry, James impelled his black-and-white steed through the jungle, narrowly dodging fresh enemies and weapons alike.

  Shakespeare waited for him grimly.

  Here it comes. A scene for which even I have no resolution scripted.

  As James hurtled toward him, Shakespeare raised his hands in the air. "Wait! I mean you no harm!"

  James brought his horse up short, stopping a few feet away.

  "Your brother will be fine." Shakespeare gestured toward Thomas' body in front of him. "Call me friend, not foe, and we shall sort our fate together."

  James continued to stare, looking from Shakespeare to the body of his brother. He shifted in the saddle and adjusted his grip on the reins. For a moment, Shakespeare wasn't sure which way he would go.

  Then, he knew.

  James trotted his horse over to stand alongside Shakespeare's. He drew back a hand, then plunged it forward...

  ...and caught Shakespeare in a vigorous handshake.

  "Thank God," said James. "I thought I'd never see you again."

  "Yet here I am," said Shakespeare, "come 'round the curve of the world to see to your welfare." He smiled. "I could do no less, as you are like my flesh and blood, my own son."

  James let go and leaned back on his horse. "Genghis has come to take Empyrea."

  "He will not." Shakespeare squared his shoulders. "Our forces shall stop him within the hour, on this very spot." He said it as if he were on stage, delivering a grand proclamation to a packed h
ouse.

  Just then, another voice spoke up from nearby. "No they won't! They can't!"

  Shakespeare turned to see Stanza, riding up with Jonah on the back of a jet black horse. Arthur and Mavis rode up alongside them astride a chestnut brown horse of their own.

  "You'll have to tell your forces to retreat!" said Stanza.

  "Retreat?" Shakespeare looked around at the ongoing battle. "But there is no need. Our men and women acquit themselves with valor! We are on the verge of turning the tide and pressing these vermin to the shores of Styx itself."

  "Listen to me!" said Stanza. "Hold them here for half an hour, then fall back to Empyrea! The castle on the central mountain!" She pointed toward the middle of the island. "Pass the word!"

  "Don't listen to her, Master," said James. "She's in service to Genghis now!"

  "All part of a ruse," said Stanza. "Part of a plan."

  "So you say," said Shakespeare. "Yet many's the claim of trust that in the morning shines like gold, only to fade to dullest dross 'pon twilight's fall."

  "I swear to God, I'm not working for Genghis," said Stanza.

  "I vouchsafe her oath," said Arthur. "Stanza speaks the truth."

  "You've got to cooperate!" said Stanza. "You weren't even supposed to be here. If you don't go along with the plan, the whole thing will fall apart!"

  "But we can stop Genghis here," said Shakespeare. "I'm sure of it."

  "And I promise you," said Stanza, "everything depends on your forces falling back!"

  Shakespeare frowned. "But if we do that, we'll lead them to Empyrea."

  "Exactly!" said Stanza. "That's what I need you to do!"

  "But they want to get to Empyrea," said James.

  "And they'll get there." Stanza nodded. "Trust me, we want them to get there."

  "We do?" said James.

  "As long as I get there first," said Stanza, and then she whipped her horse around and galloped off across the battlefield, followed by Arthur and Mavis.

  *****

  Chapter 81

  As Stanza's horse charged from the jungle, Jonah caught his first glimpse of the castle.

  It was enormous, rising from the peak of the mountain in the center of the island. It was built of black stone, and its architecture was gothic—all towers and arches and parapets and gargoyles. It looked completely out of place in the tropical setting of Niihau...more like something that belonged in Eastern Europe.

  "What is this place?" said Jonah, shouting over the wind and the horse's hoofbeats.

  "Welcome to Empyrea," said Stanza.

  Jonah gaped at the approaching castle. The closer he got, the more spectacular it looked.

  This is what we've been heading for all along.

  Jonah looked over at Mavis, who was riding behind Arthur on his horse. She met Jonah's gaze with a smile, then turned her wide eyes back to the castle.

  Jonah looked there, too, and his heart raced. Whatever happens, we'll be in the middle of it. It'll come down to us.

  The fate of the world might actually be on our shoulders.

  *****

  They rode hard up the slope of the mountain and reached the castle in what felt to Jonah like fifteen or twenty minutes. That won't leave us much time. Stanza told Shakespeare to fall back after half an hour.

  Stanza and Arthur led their horses to the castle gate—a huge door of wood and iron, a medieval portcullis topped with enormous chains. The chains fed into massive winches installed overhead to raise and lower the door.

  "We need to hurry." Stanza dismounted her horse and helped Jonah do the same. "We need to open this door."

  Arthur and Mavis got down from their horse and followed Stanza and Jonah to the gate. Stanza went straight to an opaque scarlet square set into the stone wall at eye level.

  "This is it." She stepped up and took a close look at the polished pane. "This is the lock."

  "There's another on the other side of the gate," said Arthur.

  "Which is why we have two keys." Stanza stepped away and gestured for Jonah to come closer. "When I give the signal, place the palm of your hand on that block."

  Jonah nodded. "Will do."

  "Do the same with the other block, Mavis." Stanza gestured toward the scarlet panel on the other side of the gate. "Just press your palm against it."

  "Okay." Mavis crossed to the other lock and stood in front of it. Arthur stood beside her with Excalibur drawn, watching for trouble.

  Stanza waited a moment, then clapped her hands once. "Do it!"

  Jonah pressed his palm firmly against the lock. Looking over, he saw Mavis do the same thing at the same time.

  But nothing happened.

  Stanza touched Jonah's shoulder. "Feel anything?"

  "No." Jonah shook his head. "Not a thing."

  "Do you feel anything unusual, Mavis?" said Stanza.

  "Nothing," said Mavis.

  Stanza waited another moment, then took hold of Jonah's wrist. "I guess it's not convinced," she said, lowering his hand from the scarlet panel and turning it palm-up. "It needs stronger proof that you're a key."

  Jonah sighed. "I think I can guess where this is going."

  "It needs a taste of you." Stanza whipped out her knife and slid the edge across his palm before he could protest. "Like a DNA test."

  "It figures," said Jonah. "Even Empyrea wants my blood."

  Stanza told Arthur to open Mavis' palm, which he did, and then they tried to open the locks again. Simultaneously, Jonah and Mavis pressed their bleeding palms to the scarlet panels and held them there, waiting for something to happen.

  This time, it did.

  Almost immediately, Jonah's hand started to tingle, and the plate glittered with bright red sparks. "I feel something!" he said as the tingling intensified. "Something's happening!"

  Seconds later, he heard the clanking of chains and the groaning of wood as the huge portcullis inched upward.

  "It's opening!" said Mavis. "We did it!"

  "You're the only ones in the world who could," said Stanza. "One living descendant from each of the great warring families cast out of Empyrea."

  "Wow," said Mavis. "So we really were meant to come here and do this."

  "And much more besides," said Stanza. "By the time we're done, nothing will be the same."

  Suddenly, Jonah had a worrisome thought. "You mean because of those godlike powers Genghis was talking about? Are you planning to make sure someone other than him gets them?" Like you?

  "I'll make sure nobody gets them," said Stanza.

  The portcullis raised a little more, high enough to walk under, and Stanza yanked Jonah's hand from the lock panel. "Let's go." She pulled him through the opening under the portcullis, waving for Mavis and Arthur to follow. "Come on! Hurry!"

  In the dim light on the other side, Jonah looked around for another lock panel. "Wait..."

  "No time for sightseeing." Stanza tugged his elbow, trying to pull him along with her.

  "But aren't there locks inside here?" said Jonah. "Shouldn't we close the door before Genghis and his forces get here?"

  "Only if we don't want them to come in." Stanza smirked. "Now come on! We don't have all day!"

  *****

  Chapter 82

  Mavis held tight to Arthur's hand as he led her through the gateway into the castle. At first, she saw nothing but stone floor and shadows. As the portcullis opened further, letting in more light, she saw stone walls on either side, a tunnel marching off into absolute blackness.

  "What's ahead of us?" Mavis whispered to Arthur, guessing his vampire eyes could penetrate any darkness. "What's in there?"

  Arthur pocketed his sunglasses. "Just a tunnel." He squinted hard and shook his head. "I can't see where it leads."

  "Let's go." Stanza raised her arm and switched on the light beacon under her sleeve, the one she'd used to blind vampires. "We have work to do."

  Jonah reluctantly followed her. "This is Heaven? A dark, musty castle?"

  "There's more to
it than that." Stanza marched forward into the darkness. "You'll see."

  Chills ran up and down Mavis' spine as she and Arthur fell in behind Stanza and Jonah. The further they walked down the winding corridor, with only Stanza's wrist light to break the complete darkness, the more scared Mavis got. Her imagination conjured phantoms in the shadows, shades of vampires and Lampreyus and blood demons lurking just out of sight, waiting to snatch her and spirit her away before Arthur could stop them.

  Anything could be out there, following us. Reaching for me.

  Shivering, she latched on to Arthur's arm with both hands, holding on for dear life. Praying she wouldn't be taken.

  "Here we are." Stanza stopped and ran her light over something in their path, something dead ahead. A door. "This is where it's all going to happen."

  Mavis picked out details in the flashlight beam—plates of gleaming black metal, bolts the size of her fist, strange symbols chalked or painted in white all around the frame. And in the very center, two square panels of polished scarlet, mounted side by side.

  "Jonah? Mavis?" Stanza bobbed her head, calling them over. "Still bleeding, I hope?"

  In her fear of the darkness, Mavis had forgotten about the cut. Releasing her grip on Arthur's arm, she stepped forward and held her hand up to the light. A thin line of bright red glistened in her palm. "Still bleeding," she said.

  "Me, too," said Jonah.

  "Good." Stanza focused the light on the twin scarlet panels set into the door. "Could you open these locks for me? Just like you did before."

  Mavis and Jonah pressed their bloody palms to the panels and waited. After a long moment, Mavis noticed a change—sharp tingling, like before, and a flurry of bright red sparks swirling inside the panel. She felt light-headed and clenched her teeth to hold steady.