“What about him?”
“What do you know about him?”
“What you do mean, what do I know? I know he and his misses run this bar. What else is there to know?”
“Did you know he’s involved in magic?”
“What?”
“Black magic.” Aleksei shook his head. “It really surprised me, but I heard him chanting some spells earlier. Some sort of gibberish that sent a chill up my spine just to hear it.”
“Like some sort of devil worship, you mean?”
“I don’t know. I suppose that’s what witchcraft is, isn’t it?”
James set down his shot glass. “I don’t believe it.”
Aleksei held up his hands. “I understand, believe me. I didn’t want to believe what I was hearing.”
“What was he doing with this spell you heard?”
“I don’t know. Performing some kind of ritual, I imagine.”
“A ritual? You think these murders were some kind of ritual too maybe?”
Aleksei shook his head. “Well that’s quite a leap. I certainly didn’t mean to accuse Mr. Dzubenko of anything like that. But…” Aleksei paused.
“But what?”
“But it’s odd, isn’t it? All of the people who disappeared spent a lot of time here in the saloon, didn’t they? And Mr. Dzubenko was the one who asked the guards to come here.”
“It all started with Kenneth going missing. He worked here!”
Aleksei nodded. “Yes, I was thinking that too.”
“God damn. Who would have thought Mr. Dzubenko was a murderer? And some kind of devil-worshipper too!”
“Now James, really. We don’t have any proof…”
“Shoot, what more proof do we need?”
“Listen, I don’t want to start some kind of riot here.”
“Well I’m gonna let the other fellows know. We can take care of this…”
“Why don’t you let me talk to Mr. Dzubenko first? Maybe this is all just a misunderstanding.”
“Hell, Aleksei, you talk to him, he might up and kill you too!”
“I can take care of myself, trust me.”
“Well me and some of the other guys can be on alert ’til we get this straightened out.” James patted the gun and the hunting knife he always kept at his hip. “I can take care of myself too.”
“I’ve no doubt of that. But I think it’s best if you keep this to yourself for now. Meet me here again tomorrow evening after I’ve had a chance to talk with Mr. Dzubenko and I’ll tell you then if we need to get your friends involved. We don’t want to start a panic.”
James stood up from the barstool. “Sounds good, Aleksei. I’ll meet you here tomorrow and I’ll have your back, you can count on that.”
Aleksei smiled as he watched James leave the bar. He was reminded again of the livestock on his grandparents’ farm. One more lamb led to the slaughter.
***
Chapter 14
Lara scrubbed the bar for the tenth time that evening as she waited for Aleksei to arrive for his shift. She had to keep moving or she was sure her whole body would give way to trembling. She had never been more frightened. She was frightened for herself and for the camp, but mostly she was terrified for her husband.
Vasyl had assured her he knew what he was doing and could handle Aleksei Nechayev. It wasn’t that Lara didn’t trust her husband; she did with all of her heart. But this whole situation was so far out of the realm of her comprehension that she couldn’t stop herself from doubting that it could be handled. The simple fact that her husband was an accomplished witch had sent her reeling. And that was nothing compared to the fact that he had convinced her that the man she was now waiting for was not a man at all, but a vampire.
How could Lara trust that this would be okay? How could she be anything but terrified?
“Are you okay, Mrs. Dzubenko?”
The question from Aleksei interrupted her ruminating. She jumped and dropped the cloth she had been using to scrub the bar. Staring at the handsome young man in front of her, his face a mask of concern, she found herself doubting that he could possibly be the monster her husband claimed him to be. She forced herself to remember Vasyl’s insistence that Aleksei had the ability to put others into a near trance-like state. She looked away and broke his gaze.
“I’m fine, Aleksei. Why do you ask?”
“You looked upset, that’s all. And I’m surprised to find you here instead of your husband. You’ve usually retired for the night before I get here.”
Lara cleared her throat. “Right. Well, I’m covering for Vasyl, actually. He’d like to meet with you privately.”
“Meet with me? What about?”
“He didn’t tell me that. But he said you’d know what it was about.”
“I can’t say that I do but I’ll meet with him and find out. Is he in the kitchen, then?”
“No, no…he said he thought it would be best if the two of you met outside. Away from the camp so you wouldn’t be interrupted. He asked me to tell you to meet him out back in the woods by your tent.”
“Interesting,” Aleksei said. “Your husband can be full of surprises, can’t he?”
Lara picked up her cloth and returned her attention to the bar. “I suppose he can.” She couldn’t bring herself to look at Aleksei. “He’s waiting for you though. I’ll cover here if you want to go to him.”
Aleksei nodded. “Of course. Not a good idea to keep my employer waiting, is it?”
Lara didn’t answer and continued her scrubbing.
Aleksei noticed James and three of his closest allies huddled at a table in the corner of the room. Hawkins stopped talking and stared at him as if waiting for instructions. Just as he’d hoped.
Without saying a word, Aleksei gestured to James to follow him outside. He could barely keep the smile from his face as the man immediately jumped up to follow him like an obedient dog.
When they got outside the saloon and out of earshot of its proprietor and customers, Aleksei stopped and turned to James.
“I’m meeting Mr. Dzubenko to talk with him. I’ll need you to come with me. But stay back so he doesn’t know you’re there. I don’t want him to panic and run off. I think he’s realized we’re on to him and he may want to confess.”
“What if he’s planning on killing you now?”
“Give me a minute to talk to him. If it goes wrong, make yourself known.” Aleksei stared solemnly at James. “I’m trusting you with my life here. I hope I’m not making a mistake.”
“You’re not. I gave it some more thought and I think you’re right on the money about Dzubenko. You can count on me. Everybody in the camp just wants this over.”
Aleksei nodded. “You’re a good man, James.”
He headed off towards the tent he nominally called home and entered the woods behind it. He heard Vasyl’s footsteps crunching through the leaves and twigs that dotted the floor of the forest. If his heart was still beating, he knew it would have been racing with anticipation. He turned towards his nemesis with relish.
“Mr. Dzubenko. This is an odd place to call a meeting.”
“I don’t want anyone else getting hurt by what I have to do, Nechayev.”
Aleksei glanced at the tattered book Dzubenko held in his hand, his finger clearly serving as a placeholder.
“What is it you have to do? Are you going to read to me? What story are we reading?”
Vasyl gingerly set the book beside the lantern at his feet, leaving it open to the page he had marked. He thrust a crucifix towards Aleksei.
“Never mind about the book. I won’t be reading to you. Just keep your distance.”
Aleksei chuckled. “I will, but only because I’m so curious what you’ve got planned. Haven’t we already established that I could knock that crucifix out of your hand and break your arm before it so much as singed me? It really doesn’t protect you like you think it does.”
“For all your taunting about it, I notice you don’t come near
it. You don’t like it.”
“That’s true, I don’t. I didn’t say I liked it. I said it won’t stop me from doing whatever I want to you.”
“We’ll see about that.” Vasyl glanced down at his book and grimaced as he realized he couldn’t read the text from this distance in spite of the lantern light. He should have known that would be the case. He cursed silently to himself and squared his shoulders. He didn’t need to be able to read it, he told himself as his eyes left the book and returned to the monster in front of him. He could recite it from memory. He was a Dzubenko, and no vampire was a match for his family’s power.
“At what point do you plan on telling me what you called me out here for?” Aleksei said. “Your wife seemed terribly worried about it. Surely it wasn’t just to talk about the power or lack thereof of your crucifix?”
“YA zaklykayu BEELZEBUTH~, LUCIFER~,” Vasyl said, his eyes boring into Aleksei. “MADILON…”
“What are you saying?” Aleksei asked. “What is this about?”
Vasyl ignored him and continued his incantation. “SOLYMO~, SAROY ~, Заходьте!”
“Dzubenko?”
Vasyl’s eyes rolled back into his head. “Bогонь!” he yelled. “Cпалювати!”
Aleksei felt a flash of panic as the grass as his feet started to smolder with flame. He stepped back, only to have the flames follow him.
“James!” he yelled. “I need you, quickly!”
Vasyl was too entranced in his incantation to hear Aleksei’s calls for help. His head jerked up towards the sky. “Bогонь!”
Flames licked at Aleksei’s boots and the legs of his pants. “James!” he yelled.
James burst through the trees, his gun and knife at the ready. “What’s happening?” James called out. “Aleksei? What’s going on?”
“It’s the black magic, just as I told you,” Aleksei said. “Do you hear him? He’s reciting a spell. He’s a devil, James.”
“What in God’s name?”
The flames leaped onto Aleksei’s thighs and singed his fingers. “Make him stop, quickly,” he yelled. “Shoot him, you idiot!”
Vasyl’s voice thundered through the woods. “Cпалювати!”
“James!” Aleksei screamed.
James jumped as if he’d been shaken from a trance. He brought his rifle to his shoulder and fired.
The rifle’s bullet blasted out of the barrel of the gun and tore through Vasyl’s back, bringing an abrupt end to his chanting. He stumbled and turned to face his assailant. “James? Wha..”
Before Vasyl could finish his question James fired the gun again and another bullet blasted him. He fell to the ground as a geyser of blood erupted from his chest.
If Aleksei could breathe, he would have let out a sigh of relief as the flames that had been slowly engulfing his body immediately retreated and disappeared into the air. He walked to Vasyl’s writhing body and looked down at the man who had come far too close to killing him.
Vasyl stared up at Aleksei as the life drained out of his eyes. Within seconds, the writhing stopped.
“I told you to leave me alone, didn’t I, Mr. Dzubenko?” Aleksei whispered.
“You alright, Aleksei?” James asked.
“I’m fine, thank you. The burns will heal quickly. Can I have your knife please, James?”
The man handed Aleksei the knife. “Sure. Why do you want that?”
“To do this,” Aleksei said.
He grabbed James around his neck and quickly sliced his throat from one ear to the other. James grabbed his throat and stared at Aleksei with a puzzled expression as he fell to his knees.
The blood that gushed like a fountain from James’ severed artery made Aleksei dizzy with hunger and temptation. Unable to stop himself, he pulled the dying man up and sucked the last of the blood from his body.
“Thanks for your service to me, James,” he said as he let the corpse fall to the ground. “You really were the biggest fool I’ve ever met, but you certainly did help me.”
In his revelry, Aleksei didn’t notice the sound of the footsteps that came towards him through the woods. He jumped in shock as a woman’s scream bounced off the surrounding trees and penetrated his ears.
Covering his ears, Aleksei turned to see Lara standing over Vasyl’s body. He stared at her, his fangs bared and his face covered in the blood of James Hawkins. Lara’s screams were quickly replaced by a terrified silence.
“Lara,” Aleksei said. “A shame you had to come upon this mess.”
He could see Lara’s entire body shaking with fear.
“Let me tell you what happened,” he said. “I came out here to meet your husband just as you suggested. But before we could talk, James here came bursting through the trees accusing Mr. Dzubenko of being the camp murderer. I tried to tell him he was mad, but before I knew what was happening Mr. Dzubenko went at James with that knife you see right there.”
Aleksei pointed to the bloody knife he had used to slit James’ throat.
“What could James do but defend himself?” Aleksei continued. “Next thing I knew the gun went off and your husband fell to the ground. Before I knew it, both of them were dead.”
Lara shook her head. “You’re lying,” she said, staring at the blood on Aleksei’s face and the fangs protruding from his gums. “Vasyl was right about you. You’re a monster.”
Aleksei stepped closer to Lara and caught her gaze in his own. She stood frozen as she stared up into his face.
“That’s a common misconception. I’m a vampire, yes, but that doesn’t mean I’m a monster.” He reached out and cupped Lara’s cheek in his hand. “You know, Lara, if you were only a bit younger, you’d be so much like my Natasha. You could be with me just like I wanted her to be.” He wiped a tear from Lara’s face with his thumb. “You’re too old though, I’m sorry to say.”
Aleksei could almost taste Lara’s blood as he glanced down at her neck. He leaned towards her, relishing the sight of her trembling body, but pulled back before he bit into her flesh.
“I’d like to kill you,” he said. “In fact I’d love nothing more than to bite into your neck right now and drain every last drop of blood from your body. But that wouldn’t be the smartest move for me to make. Do you know why?”
Too frightened to speak, Lara shook her head.
“Because I don’t want another body here.” Aleksei gestured at the two dead bodies at their feet. “This scene right here tells the perfect story, doesn’t it? Adding a third body into the mix wouldn’t work nearly as well.”
Aleksei let go of Lara and stepped away from her.
“Of course,” he said, “I could kill you and take your body down to the inlet and get rid of you like I did all the rest. But people saw your husband and James and me all coming into the woods. And it’s a safe bet they heard James’ gun too, isn’t it? I don’t think we have a lot of time before people start sniffing around here. So I’d rather not take the time to get rid of you.”
“What are you going to do to me then?” Lara asked.
“I’m going to let you go,” Aleksei said. “Think of it as a gift to you since you remind me of my Natasha. What can I say? I have a weakness for blond women.”
Lara wondered if she could believe what she was hearing. Was he merely setting her up to walk into a trap?
“I need you to disappear,” Aleksei said. “Don’t go back to the saloon. I’ll kill you if I see you there, I can promise you that. And if you stay around the camp and I hear of it, I’ll track you down and snap your neck before you even know I’ve come for you.”
“Where am I going to go?”
Aleksei shrugged. “I don’t care. Just leave here and never come back.”
“I’ll tell people what you are. I’ll tell them what you did.”
“And you think they’ll believe you? Think about what you’re saying for a minute. You’re smarter than that, I’m sure of it.” Aleksei pulled in his fangs and wiped the blood from his face with h
is sleeve.
“I’m going back to the saloon,” he said. “My saloon. I own it now, do you understand?”
Lara nodded.
“I never want to see your pretty face again, Lara. And if you’re as smart as I think you are, you’ll never lay eyes on me again either.”
Aleksei turned away and calmly walked out of the woods, leaving Lara alone amidst the carnage. She crumpled to her knees beside Vasyl’s body and ran her hand through his blood-streaked hair.
Lara brought her lips to her husband’s and kissed him gently. “My darling Vasyl,” she said. “I should have come out here with you. I should have helped you get rid of him.”
She sobbed and hugged her husband’s dead body as she lifted it to her chest. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the book she had watched him read over and over again as he prepared to meet with Aleksei. His book of spells. Aleksei hadn’t bothered to take it with him.
Lara reached for the book and stared at the foreign words on its pages. She grimaced at the drops of blood that covered the book and stained the pages red. Vasyl’s blood, she was sure.
She leaned over and gave her husband a final kiss. “I love you, Vasyl,” she whispered.
Lara held the book to her chest and stood up. She didn’t know where she would go or what she would do, but she knew she didn’t have much time before Aleksei returned with others from the camp.
The monster had warned her never to lay eyes on him again. As Lara ran deeper into the woods and away from the Potter Creek camp, she knew she would heed that warning.
***
Chapter 15
Aleksei could hardly contain his glee as he made his way back towards the camp. He envisioned what was to come, smiling as he saw himself solemnly leading a group of villagers back to the scene where James Hawkins and Vasyl Dzubenko lay dead and telling them the story of how the deaths came about. He knew they would all be too excited to question the fact that Dzubenko had two gunshot wounds in his body. They were all too idiotic to wonder how Hawkins managed to get off two shots after Dzubenko had slit his throat. Imbeciles, every last one of them.
Polar (Prequel): The Turnagain Arm Page 6
