by Raven Hart
“Thank you, master,” Diana said, reclothing herself. “Your every touch is much appreciated. Do you really think the Council is amenable to my plan?”
“Yes, Diana. I think that as a vampire Renee’s voodoo blood will benefit the Council immensely. Think of the power I—I mean they—will be able to control. And more power is of vital importance since the discovery of the prophecy.”
My first instinct was to vault the distance between Diana and me to rip her apart with my bare hands and fangs. That she had birthed the brainchild of sacrificing Renee to the Council drove me instantly toward madness. The horror of it nearly brought me to my knees. But I had to bide my time. I was able to overpower this monster Ulrich once, but I’d seen Diana display her own strength in Savannah, and even with the voodoo blood, I might not succeed in taking on both of them.
“The prophecy.” Diana rubbed her arms and looked troubled by something. “When is this abomination supposed to appear in our midst?”
“The dark lords do not seem to know for sure. For all we know, the Slayer may already be among us.”
Jack
Nate stomped over to where Wanda had fastened herself to Jerry on the dance floor. “Where in the hell have you been, woman?” he yelled. “And what are you doing with this sonofabitch?”
“I’ve been with Jerry. He knows how to treat a woman,” declared Wanda. “He ain’t always slapping me around like you done.”
“And where do you get off calling my mama a bitch?” Jerry demanded. “She was one of your own people, and you treated her like dirt.”
“I’ll treat whoever I want however I want, and that goes double for my wife!”
“Not no more, it don’t,” Wanda said, standing tall. “I’m through with you.”
Nate stepped forward, grabbed Wanda by the arm, and hauled her toward him. Behind him, Sally said, “Hey! Do you want to be with me or her?”
“Shut up, you cheap little hooker,” Nate said.
Jerry started to go after Nate, but before he could take a step, Huey the bodyguard got between them, opened his mouth as wide as he could, and bit down on the biceps of the arm Nate held Wanda with.
Looking at Nate, I couldn’t help but think: cheap hooker, fifty dollars; drinks at a goth club, fifteen dollars; getting bitten for the very first time by someone who wasn’t a fellow werewolf? Priceless.
The look on Nate’s face, sure enough, was something to behold. It was one thing to be bitten by a fellow wolf you were having a regular wolf fight with. But having a more or less ordinary-looking human put the bite on you with a set of normal Homo sapiens choppers had to be a new experience.
Nate shook him off, and Huey went flying backward, taking a big chunk of Nate’s biceps with him. Nate roared in pain and Huey wound up knocking three or four clubgoers in different directions like so many bowling pins. That got the people they knocked over all riled up, and before you know it, people all over the room were pushing, shoving, and punching.
Seth, Connie, and I started forward, pulling folks off of other folks and trying to calm people down. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sally pull Wanda’s hair about the same time that Jerry landed a punch on Nate’s jaw. On the other end of the room, I saw Rufus and Otis going toward the stage to rescue the lovely Lady Chianti from the unpleasantness.
About this time, I thought about the night I averted a massive fight at the swamp bar, and I wondered if the same thing would work here. But as I analyzed the situation I realized two things. One, in the swamp bar, I was afraid I was going to have to be a participant. And two, here in Werm’s bar, I was just having too much fun as an observer. Besides, the main combatants were werewolves, and my glamour probably wouldn’t work on them with all these people around anyway.
Otis and Rufus crawled up onto the stage. The lady reached down to give them each a hand, but Rufus, in his inebriated state, missed her proffered hand—as large and as strong as it was—and instead got a hank of her long, flowing hair.
To say that the lady flipped her wig over Rufus would not be an understatement. He came away holding up the hair of his lady fair like a knight showing off the favor he had been given by a noble maiden after winning a tournament. A drinking tournament maybe. As drunk as he was, it look him a couple of beats to figure out why he had a handful of hair. Perhaps in the melee he figured the lady had been scalped by a roaming band of wild Indians. Otis worked it out a little faster since he was on his feet on the stage by then and had gotten a closer look at the lady’s face—and probably her five o’clock shadow—in the footlights.
Otis wisely excused himself and jumped down from the stage. The last I saw of him, he was staggering out the door, leaving the lady—as well as the bar tab—to the better man.
Chianti, whose real name I found out later was Eric, hauled Rufus to his feet, slapped her wig back on her head, and like the trouper she was, continued the show. By the time she started in on the high-leg kicks, Rufus had figured things out and was looking for a graceful exit. The younger patrons, who had crowded the stage earlier, were totally ignoring the fight behind them. Instead they attempted to form themselves into a mosh pit and regaled Rufus with shouts of “Dive! Dive!”
He dove. Right about that time the moshers decided to renege on their implied support, and poor Rufus went sprawling. Fortunately for him, he was so pickled I doubt if he felt a thing.
About that time, Werm materialized at my elbow. “Jack, do something!” he said.
“What?”
“You know. That glamour thing. Put the whammy on ’em. They’re busting up the bar stools. We’re losing money here. Your money.”
That got my attention and made it worth a try. “Oh, okay.” I thought about having people dance again, but I wanted to try something new, so I concentrated on a different command.
Don’t worry. Be happy.
The disc jockey got my psychic suggestion right away and actually started playing the record. Dang, I thought. I’m good. People started calming down immediately and started swaying to the island beat instead of waling on one another. Who’d’ve thought he’d even have that song in his collection?
“Thanks, Jack. I owe you one,” Werm said.
“That and a lot of green,” I said.
I joined back up with Seth, Rennie, and Connie at the bar. “Everybody okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” Connie said. “Much more fighting and I might have had to arrest somebody. It’s funny how the brawl just stopped like that. Just like that fight at the swamp bar stopped before it had a chance to get going.” She looked at Seth and me for an explanation.
“Don’t look at me,” Seth said. “I’m not the one with the undead mojo.”
“It’s kind of a vampire trick,” I said. “I’ve only used it a couple of times. I just learned lately that I could do it at all.”
Connie looked at me with something like fascination. “What are your other vampire tricks?”
I wiggled my eyebrows. “Play your cards right and you might find out.”
Seth made a little snort of disgust. “I think that’s my cue to leave. I’ve got to get my beauty sleep.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Connie said, growing serious. “You have a fight tomorrow night. Are you sure I can’t talk you out of it?”
“I’m sure,” Seth said, laying a bill on the bar.
“Good luck then.” Connie stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Break a leg. Or whatever it is that would be a lucky charm for a dominance fight.”
“‘Break a leg’ will do. Jack talked you out of going, I hope.” Seth looked at me and I shrugged.
“He tried,” Connie said.
“Connie—” Seth began.
“Okay, okay,” she said. “I won’t go.”
Seth heaved a sigh of relief, which only proved to me that he didn’t know Connie half as well as I did. If he thought she was staying away from the swamp tomorrow night, well, I had some of that swampland I’d sell him real cheap.
“Jack, can I speak to you for a minute? I want to go over a couple of things before I leave.”
“Sure.” I put my arm around Connie’s waist and gave her a little squeeze. “I’ll be right back, darlin’.”
Seth and I stepped out into the cold night. Groups of young people clustered in twos and threes smoking and laughing in the parking lot. Seth led me to a spot out of their earshot.
“What the hell are you thinking, Jack?”
Seth’s tone took me completely by surprise. “What the hell do you mean, what the hell am I thinking?”
“The electricity between you and Connie comes close to setting that place on fire, and an hour later you’re joking about showing her your vampire tricks?”
“What are you getting at exactly?”
“I don’t know what’s going on between you and Connie but it looks to me like you’re literally playing with fire. Something potentially dangerous is passing back and forth between you. I know you must be able to feel it because even I can. Hell, maybe even humans can, it’s so strong.”
“Of course I can feel it. Connie and I have something really special.”
“Don’t give me that ‘something special’ crap. Whatever it is, you obviously can’t control it.”
“What’s your point?” By that time we’d raised our voices and the humans nearby were starting to look our way, maybe anticipating another fight.
“The point is, you’re getting into something over your head.” Seth lowered his voice again. “Listen, Connie and you are both my friends and I don’t want to see either of you get hurt physically or mentally. I know that she hasn’t worked out…what she is exactly yet, and maybe that has something to do with what’s going on. I guess all I’m saying is…for God’s sake, Jack, be careful.”
At that moment, all my frustration with being undead, my little affliction, as I like to call it, bubbled to the surface. The not being able to see Connie in the sunlight, the not being able to sleep with her—everything. “What’s this really about, Seth?”
Seth narrowed his gold-green eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
“One day you tell me you’re going to bow out where Connie’s concerned and then the next you’re coming up with excuses why her and me shouldn’t be together.”
“You can’t be serious,” Seth growled.
I’d heard werewolves start getting twitchy in the days leading up to the full moon. I could believe it. Despite the cold, Seth wore a short-sleeved polo shirt. I could see that the hairs on his arms were raised.
“I’m just saying,” I said.
Seth took a menacing step toward me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the humans back off, even though they were already a safe distance away. “If I thought I could get Connie to take me back, I would be with her right now, and there’s not a damn thing you could do about it.”
“Bullshit. She’s into me, man. You’re just jealous. You can’t have her yourself, so you don’t want anybody else to have her, especially not me. Especially not a vampire.”
I think I may have forgotten to mention something kind of important about vampires and werewolves. They mostly don’t get along. Jerry and Seth being friends with me is not the normal state of things. I don’t know why it is, but in most cases we’re natural enemies. I’d never felt that way about Seth until right then.
“I’m going to forget you said that,” Seth said in a low, rumbling voice.
“Whatever,” I said, showing fang.
“I’m going to leave now, before I say something I’m going to regret. But let me tell you this, pal. Don’t show up at the swamp tomorrow night. I don’t want you there. I don’t trust you enough to watch my back, so just stay home.”
I took a breath to answer him something snarky right back, but I stopped myself. This was serious. He couldn’t go into that fight without a second. I wanted to speak out, tell him I was sorry, that I didn’t mean what I’d said, but I couldn’t.
It was a man thing. So instead, I watched my friend walk away, maybe for the last time.
“Fine,” I said to his back.
Thirteen
William
Prophecy? Slayer? I made a mental note to ask Olivia, the scholar, about the matter of a slayer in some prophecy. I didn’t like the sound of a vampire slayer, but I would have to think about that another time. Right now, getting Renee back was my first and only priority.
“What about the matter of Hugo, my lord?” Diana said, reverting to a kind of speech I hadn’t heard in hundreds of years.
“I take it you wish to be rid of him?”
“Yes, my lord,” Diana said, her eyes downcast like a maiden’s.
“The Council will be expecting an offering of food. We’ll serve up Hugo. A human virgin is the traditional sacrifice, of course, but as we are making Renee a vampire, we’ll substitute Hugo. He’s old enough and powerful enough to satisfy their thirst. I’ll go and summon him whenever the Council says it is ready. He’ll come along on the pretense that you suggested.”
“I don’t know how to thank you, my lord.”
Ulrich leered, his yellowed fangs flashing. “Oh, yes you do.”
I almost felt sorry for Hugo. Almost. He had outlived his usefulness with Diana at long last, and she would serve him up like a suckling pig. Diana and Ulrich left, disappearing through a passage on the other side of the cavern. I had begun to follow them when my head suddenly rang with calls for help. The voices were not as strong as Jack’s were whenever he contacted me through the psychic connection of offspring to sire. But thanks to traces of the voodoo blood and a familial bond, I could hear them. They vibrated with alarm.
Come back quickly! Fire! Help! I heard Olivia shout.
I’m on my way now, Will said.
Damnation, what could be happening? I had only a moment to decide what to do. I couldn’t lose my chance to find Renee, but Olivia and the other vampires I was counting on to help me were in jeopardy.
The path to Renee led directly to wherever the old lords had ensconced themselves underground. That much I could tell. In fact, my sense of her was so strong that I was sure it would lead me straight to her. But Diana and Ulrich—and perhaps the lords themselves—were between me and her. I needed reinforcements, and the only vampires I could call on were in danger at this moment. I didn’t have any choice but to go to them.
I climbed as quickly as I could, glad that I hadn’t let Will go any farther with me. At least he was closer to Olivia’s house. When I got to the sewers I ran as fast as my legs would carry me.
When I reached the surface, I could see the flames shooting from the roof of the vampires’ house and could hear the sirens. I thought it best to approach from the back garden. Still, when I got there, I had to elbow my way past half a dozen gawkers. Several of the vampires lay coughing on the grass and were being tended to by a number of people I’d never met, probably neighbors.
I met Will coming out the door. With one hand he held Donovan across his shoulder. With the other he beat frantically at his own head and shoulders, trying to extinguish the flames that leapt from his body and clothing. I threw him and Donovan to the ground, removed my coat, and smothered the flames. Donovan was unconscious. He was alive and breathing, but I could see serious burns on his extremities.
“I had to break him out of his coffin,” Will gasped.
I turned to my son. His hair had burned on one side and was emitting a ghastly odor. The right side of his head, his neck, and his shoulders oozed with blood and charred, raw flesh. He must have been in enormous pain, but he gave no sign of it.
“Donovan’s going to be fine. So are you, but you need blood to heal.”
“There are more of Olivia’s kin in the house. I think they’re in the coffin room.”
“You’ll be fine here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Will nodded and lay back on the grass.
When I reached the back door, I could see flames down the hallway, but the door to the downstairs was clear and wi
de open. I ran down to the coffin room and found it engulfed in smoke. I could see the silhouettes of several of the vampires as they rushed around the room. One of them ran by me, his arms full of books and papers.
Through the smoke, I saw Andrew across the room. “What are you doing?” I demanded. “You’ve got to get out of here. The roof could collapse at any second.”
“Did Will get Donovan out?” he yelled between violent coughs.
“Yes. Did you hear me? You must go.” Andrew continued scrambling around in a small area in the corner. “Are you all mad? Everyone out!” I commanded.
The vampires save Andrew finally heeded me. They went running up the stairs, their arms laden with printed material. Some appeared to be carrying flat stones. This had to be the historical research Olivia had described earlier. They were risking their lives to save it.
“Where is Olivia?” I called. Andrew finally seemed to be moving toward the exit, dragging a trunk so full of material, the lid wouldn’t fully shut.
“She’s upstairs!” Some of the papers hanging from the trunk caught fire. Andrew didn’t pause to extinguish them, but instead chose to keep moving.
I cursed and ran back up to the foyer. The flames were licking at the staircase leading to the next floor, although they had not fully engulfed it. I charged up the steps two at a time. “Olivia!” I shouted.
“Here! Help me!” Olivia’s scream rang from the bedroom at the end of the hall. I could barely see the door for the flames. I crouched down and hugged my arms to my sides. When I pushed through the doorway, the heat wrapped around me as if I’d instantly plunged into the depths of hell.
Not even the keen eyesight of the vampire could penetrate the density of the smoke. Olivia was coughing on the floor—I felt her rather than saw her. I helped her to her feet, but she started in the wrong direction. “This way!” I yelled, hauling her along with me.
We were at the top of the staircase when a flaming rafter fell into our path. Olivia screamed again and I lifted her into my arms and leapt through the flames, coming to rest on the landing below. When we crossed the threshold of the back door, our clothes were on fire.
