Ofelia smiled. ‘Great, so does that mean I get a three hundred million cut?’
‘No. All along, you’ve been telling me you don’t trust me. If you want us to be a team, and you want to share the rewards, then you need to trust me. My pay to you is to hide you, see to your every need and to make sure you’re well looked after. You came here with nothing. You have a home, and I am prepared to get you anything you want to make your life here more comfortable, but these are my contacts, whom I’ve been nurturing for years.’
‘So I get nothing?’
‘I’ve already given you so much. I want to see you appreciate it. In time, maybe on future transactions, I’ll be willing to share. For now though, the money is all mine.’
‘Sounds like I don’t have choice.’
Victor nodded solemnly. ‘For now no, but if you continue to be obedient and supply me with blood samples when I need them... Well, things might change.’
Ofelia leaned forward now. ‘One question. Why my blood? What’s special about it?’
Victor glanced to the side shiftily. ‘It’s not special. I just... Look, you’re from a good bloodline. Your blood parents were Simion Dracul and Magdalena Florescu.’
Ofelia knocked the last of her drink back and stood. ‘You’re lying to me. I don’t know why you are, but I can tell. If you want me to show you trust, show me trust. Why my blood? Why not turn one of your servants, then use them for this -’
‘Fine! I’ll tell you.’ Victor snapped. ‘At the moment you and I are the only people in the world that I know of that can create vampires. I want to keep it that way. A male vampire cannot make more vampires with his own blood children. Nobody knows why this is, but it’s true. If I make Nancy or Amy into vampires - they don’t know I’m a vampire you understand - I can’t make more vampires with them. The same isn’t true of female vampires. Females can make more blood children with their blood children. So if I turned a female, I’d risk losing control of who can become a vampire. Scarcity and rarity should help keep the price high. If I keep one female vampire to-’
A look of horror grew on Victor’s face. He’d said too much, he’d given information away which he’d intended to keep secret. Ofelia sighed though. ‘You don’t need to worry. I know how to make the vampire. I worked it out. You need blood of male and female vampire to make another.’
‘So you can see why you’re so important to me?’ Victor asked.
Ofelia clicked her empty glass down and headed for the door. ‘I can. You can make this vampire if you want. I owe you that. But if you want any more - I want a fair cut. Maybe we can be partners on this endeavour?’
Victor smiled and raised his glass. ‘Good. Good night Ofelia. Or should I say Ilona.’
Chapter 23 - The Future
Ofelia went to bed feeling pleased with herself. Living a life of relative freedom and luxury with Victor was starting to appeal. She’d intended to become mortal again, but was being immortal such a bad thing? Maybe children could go where adults couldn’t go in some circumstances, and... She closed the curtains around her four-poster bed and went to sleep mulling this over in her head.
***
Recently, Ofelia had been dreaming of the past. This was different. This felt like it was the future. She found herself standing in what appeared to be a large open plan office in a tower block. The floor was gleaming black granite and lost in the middle of the huge room was an ebony desk topped with red leather. A good ten feet behind the desk was a wall of glass with glittering city lights beyond. She stepped closer, the click of her heels echoing around the room. That surprised her too, she’d never jumped on the high-heel bandwagon, but as her heels clicked she realised she was wearing tall stilettos. Ofelia strode up to the vast wall of glass and stared at herself. In her reflection, blurred by the rain-smeared glass, she saw she was wearing a smart business suit. Despite being much older than she appeared, she’d generally always worn clothes typical of an eleven year old. In the distance, she thought she could see the Shard, and the Thames, showing that she was in London. None of this made sense. It made more sense when she saw Victor’s reflection stepping up to the window too. She turned to him. ‘Victor.’
He stared out at the city beyond. ‘Ilona... Look at it! This is our city. I have you to thank for this. What we have, is exactly what the old order was striving towards. Only it would never have worked. They were always fighting and squabbling for status. Yes, they had leaders, but they were all seeking to depose whoever the current leader at any given time, was. It’s only a shame it took me three centuries to find you. We could have started sooner.’
As Victor talked, Ofelia realised the context behind this conversation. They’d fashioned a world through wealth and political favours, all bought with the promise of immortality and eternal life. What didn’t make sense was how Victor was able to continue to hide the secret of immortality from the world. As soon as anyone else knew how to turn people, he’d have competition. The most wealth and power would come to him, if he could ensure only he and Ofelia knew the secret. At this point she realised she was dreaming. She was seeing a future where she had agreed to collaborate with Victor. Did it seem a bad future? She wasn’t sure. She had to ask Victor how he intended to keep their secret safe.
***
She slept soundly for the rest of the night, but remembered the dream. When she went to the kitchen for breakfast, Victor was already seated, eating a bowl of cereal. Ofelia grabbed a bowl and poured herself some, then sat opposite.
‘Victor, one thing I don’t understand?’
Victor frowned. ‘What?’
‘I know how to make the vampire. What I don’t understand is how you intend to sell the immortal paradox around the world and keep others from learning the-’
‘The secret?’ Victor finished for her. ‘It’s simple. I keep you secret. Then I only offer to sell the gift to males. No access to you, no way anyone can make more vampires. It’s simple. My flight leaves this afternoon. Nancy will take you to school.’
***
Nancy took Ofelia to school as promised and Victor wasn’t home when she got back. The rest of the week was uneventful and she didn’t have to endure any more prophetic dreams. She discussed her dream and Victor’s plans with Ollie every day. On Friday, Ollie suggested he came over on Saturday morning, they get rid of the servants and explore the house properly. It occurred to Ofelia that Victor suspected she might wander where she wasn’t supposed to while he was away. If they were going to do this, they had to be careful.
***
Ollie turned up the next morning at around ten o’clock. Ofelia had gotten up early and already eaten breakfast. Victor’s servant Amy let Ollie in and showed him to the kitchen. Ofelia poured him a glass of fresh orange and patted the seat next to her. ‘Sit.’
He obeyed, then leaned close and whispered into her ear, ‘What’s the plan then? How are we going to get rid of them?’
Ofelia shrugged, then beckoned to Amy. ‘Hey, did Victor give you special instructions while he was away?’
Amy shook her head. ‘No miss. He said you were in charge.’
Ofelia smiled, ‘You know what? You guys work too hard. I’m giving you both the day off. As long as you’re back before Victor gets back he need never know. Do you know when he is getting back?’
‘Tuesday miss. Well, that’s how long his airport parking is booked up for.’
Ofelia nodded and knocked back the dregs of her cold coffee. ‘Great, that’s settled then. Go tell Nancy the good news.’
Ollie watched the servant scuttle off and grinned. Maybe Victor had started to trust her?
***
As expected the servants took off for the day. Ofelia and Ollie watched two dilapidated old hatchbacks roll out from behind the stable block and trundle off down the drive. The house was theirs. Once they were sure the servants had left and weren’t doubling back, Ollie followed Ofelia to the main entrance hall. ‘Where do we start then?’
Ofelia
shrugged. ‘Well, he said not to go in the master bedroom or the wine cellar. But I reckon the only secrets in his bedroom are probably stuff to do with him being a vampire. We know he’s a vampire, so I don’t think there’s much to be gained there. Let’s go look in the cellar.’
The stairs to the cellar weren’t locked. It turned out the cellar beneath the house was huge. The gloomy section where the dark, narrow stairs ended up seemed to be full of old furniture and paintings, all under dustsheets. A labyrinth of wine racks lay behind a small wrought iron gate with an electronic lock. Ofelia and Ollie approached the gate and peered through. Ollie rattled the gate, testing it - but to no avail. ‘Rare wine is expensive, this lot must be worth a fortune. No wonder if he-’
Ofelia rattled the bars now, ‘This? This isn’t security for his wine. He’s hiding something down here - I know it.’
Ollie pointed at the keypad next to the gate. ‘This must be the keypad. Do you think he’ll tell if we try loads of codes to get in?’
‘I guess it might lock out if the wrong code is entered too many times in a row. Looks like a four digit code. I wonder what it could be?’
‘It’ll be a year. People use dates for six digits and years for four.’
Ofelia grinned. ‘You may be onto something. A memorable year for Victor, but which nobody else will know? I wonder if he’s changed the code since he met me?’
Frowning, Ollie peered closer at the electronic keypad. ‘I doubt it. People don’t like changing their passwords. They’re worried they’ll forget the new one. I reckon this thing’s ancient. It’s probably a right faff to change the code. What are you thinking? Do you know what year he was born?’
Ofelia shook her head. ‘No, but I don’t think he use that. I know roughly, he was born in early sixteen-hundreds, but I don’t know the exact year.’
‘So?’
Ofelia muttered to herself; ‘what is important year for Victor that he probably thought nobody knew?’
There was a long pause, while the cogs in Ollie’s mind turned. Eventually realisation dawned on him. ‘The year he got turned?’
‘Right! The year he got turned. He thinks nobody knows that. But I do. I’ve worked it out from what he said. Victor became vampire in 1666. The year of the Great Fire of London.’
Ollie rubbed his chin, deep in thought. ‘Are you sure?’
Without another word Ofelia reached forward and tapped one, six, six, six, enter. There was a click and the wrought iron gate swung open.
They were into the wine cellar but there looked to be no particular clues as to Victor’s history or intentions, or anything. Ofelia led Ollie through rows upon rows of neatly stacked but dusty bottles of wine. This didn’t look like wine for drinking; it looked like wine for collecting. The most recent bottle they found was from the early nineteen hundreds. Ollie eventually turned to Ofelia. ‘Are you sure he wasn’t just worried about you breaking his valuable bottles of wine? There’s nothing here.’
She shook her head, her eyes still scanning the rows of bottles. ‘There IS something here. I’m sure of it. I’ve been around for a long time. I can tell when people are lying or hiding something from me. Look around. Look for something... different.’
They split up and walked the aisles again. Eventually Ofelia heard Ollie call her from the far side of the cellar. ‘Ofelia!’
She jogged over. ‘What?’
‘He must have drank some of that one?’
Ofelia looked where Ollie was pointing. He was pointing to an old, old bottle of wine. But unlike the others it wasn’t covered in an inch-thick layer of dust. The neck looked clean and polished. ‘I wonder what’s special about this one?’ Ofelia asked as she grasped the neck of the bottle. However, when she tried to remove it from the rack it wouldn’t move more than a centimetre, but there was audible click. Ofelia gave the wall a gentle push. The rack hinged and swung away to reveal a dark passage.
Chapter 24 - The Secret Cellar
Ofelia led the way into the gloom. As she walked through, lights on sensors illuminated the corridor. On either side of the corridor were what looked like prison cells. They had no windows, not even straw on the floor. The only furnishing was an ancient wooden bucket in the corner of each and a twisted, wooden plank bed suspended from the walls on rusty chains. Ollie stopped and stared into the first cell. ‘What the bloody hell were these for?’
Ofelia chuckled. ‘They all had cells in their homes. Think of it as a vampire’s larder. Only these don’t look like they’ve been used for a long time. Come on.’
When they exited the corridor into a large oblong room, Ofelia gasped. There, in the centre of the room was a gleaming black slab of basalt. Ollie frowned, ‘What is it?’
Ofelia pointed at what looked like a black altar. ‘That... I think that’s the blood stone.’
‘What?’ Olli said.
Ofelia grabbed his arm, ‘Didn’t I tell you? I wanted to perform a ritual to become human again, but I lost the instructions and the ritual had to be performed on a special stone at Stonehenge, except that stone is missing. I think this is that stone. Why would Victor have it?’
Ollie’s eyes had wandered. Now he pointed at a desk in the corner with a corkboard above it. ‘Hey! That’s you!’
Ofelia led the way to the desk and stared at the corkboard. Sure enough there was a recent photo of her pinned up. It looked like it had been taken as she’d left the hospital, possibly with a telephoto lens; she was wearing the first set of clothes Rita had bought for her, and she was standing next to what looked like Rita’s Audi. Beside the photo was a large, ancient map of Europe with drawing pins, some old, some new, pressed into it. Ollie pointed at the map. ‘What’s with the map then?’
Ofelia stared at the markers on the map, then reached up and traced her finger from pin to pin, murmuring as she did so. ‘It’s where I’ve been. Over the last five centuries. He doesn’t know everywhere I’ve been, but he must’ve had his eye on me for-’
‘What’s this?’ Ollie interrupted.
Ofelia looked at the yellowed scrap of paper he was holding up.
She sighed. ‘I didn’t know this. It’s German.’
‘I’d guessed that by the Nazi symbol and the Heil Hitler bit. But do you understand it?’
‘Yes. Himmler was known for having an interest in the occult. It seems Victor knew I was somewhere around Brasov at the time and was in contact with Himmler. How they communicated, I don’t know. But basically Victor had done a deal with the Nazis. In return for capturing me, he offered to turn some of their leaders into vampires. Or something like that.’
Ollie put the scrap of paper back where he’d found it. ‘Ofelia, Victor seems to know a lot about you. I wonder... Do you think you ended up coming to England entirely by cha-’
Ollie stopped mid-sentence. Ofelia’s eyes had drifted to something behind him. ‘What?’
Ofelia pointed at a carved stone lectern in the far corner of the room. Her voice trembled, ‘In Libro de Davoth.’
‘What?’
Ofelia pushed him aside and strode across to the lectern. A massive, ancient grimoire, sat on the plinth. It was bound in what looked like dark crimson leather. The yellowed vellum pages were a perfect match for the page she’d purchased some time ago. ‘I can’t believe he has a complete copy.’
Ollie followed her over. ‘Full copy of what?’
‘This is the book that contains the ritual to make me human again.’
Ollie put his thumb on one corner to save the page and started flicking through the pages. ‘Is it in here?’
Ofelia shrugged, pushed him aside and flicked a few more pages, taking note of the Roman numeral page numbers across the bottom. Eventually she stopped and stared at a page where only a sliver of vellum remained of a missing page. ‘It should be here. It’s gone.’
Ollie looked her in the eye. ‘You don’t think your page was actually from Victor’s book? This gets weirder and weirder.’
Ofelia carefully flick
ed the pages back to how they were, so Victor wouldn’t notice they’d been here. There was another scrap of paper on the lectern with a simple address scribbled on it:-
Ofelia stared at it for a moment. She wondered if this might be a good place to start looking for her missing page. She gestured towards it. ‘I bought my page through a Bercow. I wonder if it’s the same guy? Ollie, take a picture of this address with your phone. Perhaps it’s worth asking them about the missing page? I don’t want to do it on my phone in case Victor has hacked it or something.’
Ollie did as asked, then looked around and pointed to another door in the room, a heavy steel door with three mortise locks. ‘Where’s that lead?’
They took turns to try it, but neither could open it. Then they spent a while searching for the keys, but to no avail. Having seen all they could, Ofelia led the way back out of the cellar - taking every care to hide any sign they’d been here. By the time they left, they’d been in the cellar for a couple of hours. It turned out to be lucky they decided to leave. They’d only been back in the main house for ten minutes when the sound of tyres rolling on gravel alerted them to Nancy arriving back. Ofelia waited until Nancy had entered, then suggested they head out to the gardens to talk in private.
Chapter 25 - The Nazis come to Dealul Negru
Ofelia and Ollie trekked across the landscaped gardens to the forested area beyond. They found the large oak with a broad crown they’d sat in before and clambered up. Once they’d taken their seats reclined on the spreading boughs, Ollie spoke. ‘So what does it all mean?’
Ofelia (The Book of Davoth 1) Page 21
