by John Corwin
"Lovely," Ambria complained. "Sounds like another delay before we can rescue the orphans."
"Well, these brooms will get us to the orphanage and back a lot faster."
I cleared my throat as we crested the cliff and began our descent into Queens Gate. "Actually, I think we should go to Cumberbatch first and get this curse removed."
Max nodded. "That's a good idea."
"I think that's very selfish, Conrad." Ambria huffed. "For all we know, the Goodleighs will sell another poor soul into slavery in the time it takes us to convince the doctor to help you."
"What if this curse interferes with our rescue operation?" I said. "We have no idea how it'll affect me or others close to me, especially since it apparently killed or injured my other foster parents."
"I think we have until your next birthday before that happens again." Ambria narrowed her eyes. "Don't get me wrong, Conrad. I'm very concerned about your delicate condition, but we can't waste any more time before rescuing the orphans."
I wanted to disagree, but couldn't argue with her logic. "Okay. Rescuing the orphans comes first."
Her frown turned to a smile. "It's much easier to just agree with me, isn't it?"
Max groaned and rolled his eyes.
When we glided into the valley, Max waved goodbye and headed for his uncle's house. "Meet you at Chicken Little at seven for breakfast?" he said.
"See you then," I replied.
Ambria and I reached our new home on Baker Street a few minutes later and entered through the backdoor. I untied the supply sack and set the satchels on the table so we could sort through them, and set our new brooms in the corner of the dining room.
When Ambria opened a bag slightly larger than the others, her eyes lit up. "How nice of him." She withdrew two sets of bed linens and was about to close the bag when she realized there was another lump in it. "Goodness, these little sacks hold a lot."
We were both surprised when she tugged a down comforter from the bag.
I felt another lump in the bottom. "It's still not empty."
"Is it a magic sack?"
I shrugged. "How else could so much fit in there?" I pulled out another comforter followed by two feather pillows. Once I removed the last pillow, the sack flattened.
"Well, this certainly solves our linens issue for now." Ambria ran a hand along the sheets. "They're so soft."
"Let's go fit the beds," I suggested.
"Excellent idea." She sighed. "It's early, but I'm ready to collapse."
We left the kitchen and were about to head up the stairs when the metal door in the hallway clicked and swung open. A young woman stepped out, a yawn stretching her mouth wide. She sniffed and abruptly stopped. Her head flicked our way. She blurred toward us at inhuman speed.
My back hit the wall hard enough to drive the wind from my lungs. I heard Ambria grunt at the same time. Red irises blazing, the woman bared her teeth. Needle-sharp fangs extended from beneath plump pink lips.
We had just met our first vampire.
"Desmond, we've got visitors," the woman shouted.
Another figure blurred into view and stopped right behind the woman. Desmond stood much taller than me. Bulging muscles stretched tight his T-shirt, and his face looked as if an artist had carved it. The woman looked his feminine equal in attractiveness. Unfortunately, they also looked quite deadly with their fangs and glowing red eyes.
Desmond looked at us and laughed. "Children?" He leaned toward Ambria. "What are you doing here, little girl?"
"We should ask you the same thing," Ambria shot back. "This is our house."
"No it isn't," the woman hissed. "This place was abandoned when we moved in."
"Now, Sonia, let's show some manners toward our guests." Desmond pulled back her arm and released us.
Ambria and I took deep breaths. I wanted to run for my life, but Ambria regained her composure and stared defiantly at the two vampires. "How many more of you are there?"
"We're the only two," Desmond said.
Sonia snarled and moved toward Ambria. "Don't come into my house acting like you own the place, you little brat."
Desmond put an arm in front of her. "Behave, Sonia."
The woman stepped back but glowered at Ambria.
I decided to intervene before my friend made Desmond angry as well. "I'm Conrad, and this is my friend, Ambria."
"Nice to meet you," Desmond said. Sonia quietly glowered.
"We're orphans," I explained. "We were chased out of our old home by a frogre. We thought we'd found another place to live. If you already have a claim, we'll move on."
Sonia's face softened. "At least this one is nice." She flashed her fangs. "Can I have him first?"
I gulped and forced myself not to back away. "We'd really prefer it if you didn't drink our blood."
Desmond smirked. "I'm afraid Sonia is just trying to scare you. We don't feed on children."
The woman gave him a disgusted sideways look. "You didn't have to tell them."
"Well, that's very nice of you," Ambria said. "Feeding on children would be cruel."
Sonia's eyes flashed. "Are you wearing my dress, little girl?"
Desmond looked me up and down and burst into laughter. "I don't think my clothes fit you very well."
Sonia erupted again. "How dare you come into our house and steal my clothes!"
"I didn't realize they were yours." For the first time during this situation, Ambria actually seemed scared.
Stealing another girl's clothes must be very dangerous. "We'll put back your clothes and leave," I said. "Please, we didn't mean any harm."
"Of course you will," Sonia said. "I want you gone now!"
Desmond held up a hand. "Come now, sister. Remember when we were the ones looking for a place to live? Remember when we were forced into a life we didn't want?"
Sonia took a deep breath and looked away. "Yes."
"They're orphans, for goodness sake. We can't just turn them out on the streets."
"You seem rather nice for a vampire." Ambria directed the comment at Desmond. "Then again, you're the first vampires we've met."
"We are not vampires by choice," Desmond said. "In fact, we were once just normal people going about our lives."
"Spare them the sob story." Sonia crossed her arms. "My brother took me dancing for my seventeenth birthday. This man at the club gave us what I thought was alcohol, but was really some bizarre blood potion that turned us into blood-sucking leeches. The next thing we knew, we weren't in London anymore, but all the way across the world in Australia fighting our way into a huge castle with an army."
"You don't remember traveling?" I asked.
"The old vampires could control our minds," Desmond said. "We couldn't resist them."
"They call it compulsion," Sonia said. "Apparently, the vampire controlling us was killed during the battle and freed us. We tried to run, but Templars caught us and put us in prison for nearly four months. Later they told us since we'd been forced to fight, we were free to go so long as we took an orientation course and swore not to break Overworld rules."
"Wow," I said. "You've been through a lot."
"Sounds like you've had an interesting time too," Desmond said. "I haven't seen a frogre in years."
"It appears we have some stories to trade," Ambria said with a sigh. "I was so looking forward to bed."
"Can we at least stay here for the night?" I asked the vampires. "We have nowhere else to go."
Desmond nodded. "Be my guest."
Sonia huffed. "Fine, but only because the boy was polite about it." She gave Ambria a pointed look. "Now, kindly remove my dress and hang it."
Ambria curtsied. "At once, madam." She went upstairs.
"Well your day might be ending, but ours is just beginning," Desmond said. He cast a wistful look toward the metal door. "We need to eat, and then have to party the night away." He didn't look enthused about it.
"Oh yes, drink blood, party all night." Sonia frowned. "When I
was normal, that was all I wanted to do—well, except for drinking blood. As a vampire, you must be social or you'll make someone mad at you." She walked away and stormed upstairs. "I'm going to get ready."
When she was gone, Desmond let out a soft chuckle. "Life is so strange."
"I completely agree," I said.
His eyes softened with sympathy. "Despite what my sister says, I want you two to stay here as long as you'd like. We know what it's like to be homeless. We're still very young by vampire years, and we never had a chance to earn money. With the Overworld economy in shambles, we're barely making it."
"That would be great," I said. "We can help with groceries if you'd like."
Desmond laughed. "That's one thing in our favor. We can eat regular food, but we don't have to." He patted me on the shoulder. "Let's talk more tomorrow evening. We'll discuss an arrangement." With that, he went upstairs.
A sense of profound relief melted the anxiety knotting in my chest. It seemed with every solution we found, another problem surfaced. Living with vampires didn't seem like the ideal solution, but maybe it would work.
Chapter 26
When the vampires left for their night out on the town, Ambria took the linens provided by Galfandor and made the two wire-frame beds in the room at the opposite end of the hallway from the bedroom the vampires used as a walk-in closet.
"I really don't like the idea of sleeping in the same room as a boy," Ambria said. "Maybe we can move a bed into the middle room for me tomorrow."
"I can move my mattress to the other room if you'd like."
She smiled and batted her eyelashes. "Oh, would you?"
"Sure. Can you help?"
"Of course."
We each took an end of the mattress and hauled it into the center bedroom. Ambria helped me put the sheets back on.
"Now I don't have to listen to you snore," I said.
She giggled. "It's nice to hear you making jokes, Conrad. You're always so serious."
I hadn't really thought about it. "Maybe I'm just not a funny person."
"You are what you want to be." She kissed my cheek. "Good night."
It had been a busy, hectic day. I closed my eyes and dozed off quickly.
"Conrad." A faint, whispering voice called my name again and again.
My eyes flicked open. Everything in the bedroom was stark white except for a shadowy visitor and me.
The cat-like wraith strolled forward, eyes glowing bright green. "Release the curse, Conrad."
Black smoke roiled from my nose and mouth. I tried to scream, but the smoke choked my windpipe. I flailed and tried to get up, but an invisible force pinned me to the bed. The smoke morphed into the shape of a large spider with eight large eyes burning red as embers. "Go to the doctor," the spider hissed.
"What does the curse do?" I asked.
The cat purred. "It changes everything."
"Everything," the spider hissed.
The nightmares stalked and skittered toward me. I cried out. "Leave me alone! Go away!"
"Only you can make us leave," they said in unison. "Go to the doctor."
They leapt into my mouth, their smoky forms burning into my throat. I couldn't breathe or move. Terror spiked my heart. Everything went black and cold.
When I woke up, it was still dark outside, but the phone clock told me it was six in the morning. My sweat-soaked shirt and shorts clung to my skin. When I sat up, I realized my sheets were every bit as wet as me. I quickly bundled the linens and stowed them in a corner until I could figure out how to clean them. Laughter echoed from downstairs. I threw on the old worn pants and shirt from the orphanage and went down the stairs.
Sonia and Desmond were there with a man and woman who looked about their age. I realized with a shock that blood trickled down the necks of the visitors. The sight stopped me cold. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to creep back upstairs.
Desmond's head flicked around in an instant. His red eyes locked onto me and he frowned. Sonia giggled. Mouth wide, long fangs protruding beneath her lips, she moved as if to bite the other man's neck. Desmond gripped her shoulder and shook his head. "It's time to get ready for bed."
Sonia's lip curled into a sneer. Her nostrils flared and she looked back at me. Anger burned in her eyes. "I told you it was a bad idea."
"A bad idea?" the other woman asked in a very slurred voice. "We're a great idea."
"Been fun, nice having you over," Desmond said as he ushered them to the door. "Time for bed."
"Goodnight!" the man called drunkenly as Desmond shut the door behind him.
Sonia blurred up the stairs too fast for me to see. She stopped, nose less than an inch from mine, eyes burning. "Maybe I should feed on you."
"That's enough, Sonia." Desmond's voice was cold and firm. "Go to bed."
Her mouth sprang wide and she hissed at me. I flinched back and struck my head on the wall. Sonia burst into cruel laughter. "That's what you get, little boy." She sauntered down the stairs, making it look easy despite the tall, spiked heels she wore.
After she'd gone through the steel door, Desmond emerged from the kitchen, his lips clean of blood. "She can be difficult at times, plus she's had too much to drink."
"Too much blood or alcohol?"
He grinned. "Both." His eyes wandered up and down me. "Those clothes aren't fit for rats. Do you have anything else?"
I shook my head. "We lost them to the frogre. Is there any way to clean them here?"
He nodded. "There's a wash downstairs. Won't take but a few minutes."
"To wash and dry?"
"Yep." Desmond put a hand to the expensive-looking black shirt he wore. "A magic wash is something no vampire with a sense of style can live without. I supposed that includes most of my kind."
I felt my face grow hot as I asked the next question. "I had a nightmare and got my sheets sweaty. Can you wash them too?"
Some of the levity in his eyes faded. He put a hand on my shoulder. "I'd be happy to."
"Thanks." I went upstairs and fetched my sheets. When I came down, Desmond handed me a stack of folded clothes. "You can wear these if you want. They should fit you better than mine."
"Where did you get them?" I asked.
His eyes saddened. "They belonged to our little brother. He died in the war."
Pain clenched my chest. "I'm very sorry to hear that, Desmond."
"Yeah." His voice sounded tight and dry. "You kind of look like him." He cleared his throat. "You can keep these clothes. Maybe they'll tide you over 'til you buy new ones."
I went into the downstairs bathroom and changed, then gave Desmond my old clothes to wash. "Can I get them to you in the evening?" he asked. "I'm really tired."
"Sure."
He went down the basement stairs, closing the steel door behind him. I stood there for a moment lost in thought about his little brother. I wondered how he'd ended up in the war and how he'd died. It seemed much clearer to me why Desmond had been so nice. He sees a little of his brother in me. Sonia, apparently, did not.
Ambria came downstairs half an hour later, showered, and wearing her old gray dress from the orphanage. She stopped when she saw me. "Where did you get those?"
I told her about Desmond's brother.
Her eyes reddened. "How awful it must be to lose someone like that."
"Losing someone is probably always awful," I replied.
We met Max for breakfast, and managed to eat a meal without incident, though he was shocked to hear about the vampires in our house.
"Friendly vampires?" His lip curled up. "Never heard of such a thing."
"Well, one of them, anyway," Ambria said. "So, what's next for the day?"
"Broom practice." Max grinned. "This is gonna be fun."
We took our new brooms to a pasture on the outskirts of town.
Max explained the advanced controls. "The accelerator notch acts the same, but to keep upright, you have to adjust the pressure on the stirrups."
The moment I sat
on the seat, I felt right at home and easily kept the broom from toppling over. Ambria, however, flipped upside down and fell on the grass the instant she boarded hers.
"I'd really like to know why you're such a natural," Max said to me. He helped Ambria back onto her broom, holding the handle to keep it from spinning, and spoke in a slow condescending voice. "Use the stirrups to balance."
"I understand that, you nincompoop!" Ambria popped him on the head. Max let go of the handle. Ambria promptly found herself lying on the ground again. "You did that on purpose."
"Of course I did." Max's face reddened. "You hit me on the head."
I took the broom for a lap around the pasture, flying higher and higher. I pulled back on the handle and looped upside down. A shout of joy burst from me. The flying carpet and old broomstick had nothing on this wonderful boomstick. As I zipped around, performing more and more elaborate tricks, my troubles seemed to melt away.
A while later, I saw Max flying nearby and waving his arms at me. "Conrad, will you come here?"
I drifted over and was pleased to see Ambria drift in a complete circle. "She's learning?"
"Yeah." He gave me a strange look. "I hate to say this, but it's impossible to fly one of these things the first time you try. You've obviously been on one before."
I shook my head. "Before coming here, I didn't even know flying brooms existed."
"Even the best racers had to start somewhere, Conrad." He threw up his hands. "Boomsticks require skill and grace. You're neither skilled nor graceful, at least when you're on the ground."
I probably should have been insulted, but he was right. "I know. I can't explain it, but I feel so confident on a broom, it's like I could do anything."
"Hmm." He put a hand to his chin. "We'll have to put that to the test. In the meantime"—he jabbed a finger at his student—"maybe you could teach her a thing or two."
"Oh, I don't think I could teach."
"Why not?"
I hesitated, unsure how to explain. "I can't explain how I'm able to fly so well. It's like I just know what I'm doing."
Max's gave me an incredulous wide-eyed look. "Well, Mr. Expert, if you figure it out, I sure could use a hand. Ambria is awful at this and she keeps yelling at me."
