by Aiden James
He was right. I couldn’t recall anyone dying during the past millennium without some sort of psychic fanfare. No one ever merely slips away from our dysfunctional fraternity. Same for the ladies, too. And, why a three hundred year qualifier for this? It has something to do with the carbon in an immortal’s body, which breaks down differently than a mortal. Sounds like bullshit, but Roderick has the documented research compiled by Comte St, Germain detailing how it happens. Some normal human beings are susceptible to a smaller version of this, but it generally doesn’t happen except to those who make it past their one hundred and twentieth birthday. Yeah, not a big membership for the alumni in that group, I’m sure.
“Another has imprisoned Dracul’s life force for a new purpose,” Roderick continued, after nearly a minute in silence. “I hear his screams. Wherever his soul is, he is in agony, which is exactly what this other person wants. It is someone we have met in passing, familiar, but not a friend.”
“Another immortal?”
“Yes.”
“But one you can’t identify yet?”
“Correct,” he said, and I sensed his fear. “I sense the power of this one, and whoever it is can be so much worse than Dracul in his prime.”
“Oh, shit,” I muttered, pushing the bike’s speed to its max.
It was too much to take in and assimilate, and so I focused my attention instead on the road ahead—a road that kept forming, seemingly out of nothing—and the whereabouts of my family. I didn’t allow myself to consider they might already be dead.
Soon, the beach came into view. I think we both wondered how this would work. Would the thousands of patrons present see the strange phenomenon racing toward them? And, if so, would it be as the familiar cloud-like mist embracing the beach as we made our approach?
The speedometer was approaching two hundred kilometers per hour, and the mist steadily thickened, making visibility an ever-increasing problem. I could only see the front of the bike and nothing else. Then, without warning, the highway ended. Instead of landing on Budva’s famed sandy beach, the bike fell into shallow water, where it rolled and skidded into a reef. I took the brunt of the impact, and by the time we broke the surface of the water, I was mostly healed. Roderick could stand up, though still painful to do so, and after a few steps toward the beach I could stand as well. I assumed we were near the dilapidated pier, but it had changed.
“Oh my God, there they are!” shouted Amy, excitedly.
“What in the hell are you two doing in the water?” added Alistair.
At first I couldn’t see either one. Everything was mostly blurred until we stepped onto the beach. Roderick gasped first, though I admit my response was similar. Somehow, the pier from the past two evenings had been transformed into a pier fully intact and much bigger, and crowded. People were everywhere, surrounding street performers and a handful of venders with pushcarts.
What the…?
But the mind-fuck grew worse when Beatrice, Alistair, and Amy stepped into view. They were dressed as we had seen them the previous night, but instead of soiled garments streaked with each one’s blood, their clothing was clean. And the wounds to their faces were missing. I could smell Alistair’s favorite Dolce-Gabanna cologne, as well as a Chanel scent from Amy when we met them at the base of the pier. Beatrice followed behind them, with her hair pinned up to where the delicate contours of her slender neck were exposed—an even younger ‘her’ than the woman I said goodbye to just hours earlier.
I wanted to run up the intact wooden stairs and throw my arms around them all! They were safe, and most importantly, they were alive!
But, all I could do was stare in stunned silence.
It looked and felt like another of Dracul’s illusions—only worse—and when I looked over at my near-naked druid companion, his expression revealed the same confusion and wariness.
“Well, what in the hell have you two been up to?” Alistair asked. “Hey, Roderick...this isn’t the nude beach, man. That one’s up the road apiece.”
Roderick simply nodded in response to my son’s joke, wearing a wan smile that told me the wheels were turning as furiously inside his head as they were in mine. He scarcely noticed that his trousers had fallen off in the water. Instead, he glanced around himself, surely taking in everything and on the lookout for whatever, or whomever, was behind this latest trick. I removed my shirt and asked for Alistair’s sunglasses, promising him their return or a new pair as soon as we were safe enough to do so.
“Safe enough from what?”
“Not sure, but I’d like to return to our hotel immediately,” I said. I handed my shirt for Roderick to tie around his waist and to shelter his eyes with the glasses. The makeup he had caked on earlier had also washed off in the water. He had already drawn a number of curious looks from passersby on the beach, and surely his powder white complexion drew many more looks from the pier above us. “Someone’s watching us. We can explain more from there.”
“The Astoria?”
“Yes, but how in the hell did you know we were staying in that hotel?” An icy chill traveled down my spine, despite the sun beating down hotly upon my shoulders and back. I reached into my pocket, relieved my coin was still there.
“That’s where they said we could find you and Roderick, my love. Remember also it’s the same place you mentioned the other day, when I asked about your itinerary,” said Beatrice, stepping past our son and his fiancée down the steps to greet me. A familiar floral scent wafted by, possibly Gucci, although she favored several perfume makers with similar scents. “The nice men who picked us up at the airport and later escorted us here arranged for our rooms to be next to yours…. Who’s watching?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, eyeing her suspiciously before performing my own wary scan around us. If this was all illusory, I prayed for a quick confirmation. I had never dreamed my loved ones could be used against me, and there I was, faced with that very possibility. “Lately, very little has been as it appeared to be. Tell me about these ‘nice men’, darling.”
“Sure,” she said, chuckling while she eyed me just as suspiciously as I had her. “Their names are Arso, Gajo, and Jevrem.”
Chapter Eighteen
The trip back to the hotel was incredibly awkward. Hugging my wife at the pier eased the initial tension between us, since it was definitely her body that clung to mine, and her spirit speaking to my soul, silently in our reunion. I drew confidence from that fact to believe at least she was truly who she appeared to be. But no sooner than I hugged my son and Amy, whom I half-expected to withdraw from me as she had just hours earlier, a black stretch limousine pulled off the road above the beach.
“Ah, they’re here earlier than expected,” remarked Alistair, pausing to wave to the limo driver, who had stepped out of the car. We were presently a few hundred feet away, and would need to navigate through a sea of sunbathers to reach the narrow parking area. “Pops, it looks like you and Roderick will need a moment to get dressed and then it will be time for dinner.”
“What?! What time is it?” I looked around me until I could locate the sun above us toward the west, but it was still several hours away from setting. It threw me off my concentration to discern who and what was real and was not. “What day is it?”
“Just a few minutes past four o’clock, Tuesday, Adriatic time,” he laughed. “Budva’s in the same time zone as Rome, Pops.”
“Yes, I know,” I said, again looking over at Roderick. I silently mouthed to him that it should be Wednesday morning. He nodded subtly for me to just roll with it unless I wanted to appear more like a dumbass than I already did. Apparently he was fine with where things stood, and we were safe for now. Without a better reference point to work from, I decided to let things lie, as well. But damned straight my instincts were on high alert.
Alistair led our trek to the limo. My legs were fatigued from our prior adventure, and they almost went out from under me while moving through the sand. It made me wonder even more what had actually taken pl
ace.
“Darling, you look a little confused. What were the two of you doing in the water?” Beatrice asked, after locking her arm inside mine. I felt embarrassed for her, since certainly I looked like a drenched muskrat that had been pulled out of a bog.
“Well, after escaping Dracul’s crumbling castle, we raced along a vanishing highway on a Suzuki motorcycle,” I said, watching her expression again. “When we ran out of road we fell into the sea.”
The truth as I saw it, and as I believed I had experienced. She smiled as if suppressing her laughter, and reached up to lovingly stroke my face. I grasped her hand and kissed it, smiling sheepishly. Hell, why not? I wouldn’t believe me either.
“That’s quite a tale, Pops,” Alistair said over his shoulder. He picked up his pace, ignited by something I said. “Probably thought you saw your coin out there in the water and dove in after it, huh?”
“Ahhh, right…very good, son!”
Roderick cut me another look, but he didn’t need to worry. I wasn’t about to open a whole new can of worms by showing Alistair blood coin number twenty-five. Nothing would squash the jovial mood of the ‘real’ Alistair quicker than me providing proof that some of what I just said might possibly be true. But, it did mean we couldn’t return home to the States right away. The smug smile on Roderick’s face told me he was privy to my quandary. I hoped he had a workable solution in mind.
“Well, what were you doing out there in the water, William?” asked Amy, glancing at her beau before casting a knowing look my way.
“Roderick had an episode and I dove in after him,” I deadpanned, no longer caring if anyone believed me.
My buddy sighed and shook his head, but before anyone could continue the interrogation, we reached the steps leading to the limousine. Gajo stood at the top, waiting for us. Where before he had been stoic and cold, he smiled warmly. There remained the hint of deceit, like a kid who stole the biggest treat from a cookie jar. Seeing him like this chilled me worse than if he still held the Ceska assault rifle he carried earlier.
“Well, it’s good to see you again, my friends!” Greeted Arso, after stepping out of the front passenger seat. “Did you enjoy your afternoon excursion?”
“You ought to know,” I said, wearing my most hated plastic smile after assuming he addressed mainly Roderick and me. At least his smile was insincere enough to hint at the cold-hearted killer within. “So, is our destination truly the hotel?”
“Why, of course,” he said, brushing back his blonde bangs from his face. He returned my smile with a stiff grin, while motioning for us to move to the very back of the limo, where Jevrem waited for us. “Where else would we go? After all, we are here to serve your every need, Mr. Barrow.”
Such haughtiness, and addressing me by my most recent formal alias left me feeling vulnerable. As I mentioned, the ride in the limousine was quite uncomfortable. I kept a constant eye on our three escorts, as did Roderick, who endured a dose of subtle heckling from Arso and Jevrem about his pale complexion exposed to UV rays. In retrospect, I believe it was designed to call attention to his nakedness, and made me wonder what they knew about the reality shift we were presently engaged in. Their frequent smiles and seemingly carefree expressions couldn’t hide their uneasiness. As if they worried one of us would figure out what button to push to collapse their tepid facades.
But all I wanted right then was to protect my family from further harm, and make it to the hotel. I sorely needed a moment alone to reflect on what had happened, and what became of the previous reality we all had experienced. Surely those who hold a mystical outlook on reality would suggest that one of the myriad possible outcomes had been pulled from some netherworld and replaced the outcome Roderick and I had recently fled from. I’ve never been quite sure what to make of that sort of new age bullshit, but at the moment nothing else made logical sense.
Then there was the issue of making sure this current reality proved satisfactory to those I cherished most. It was now necessary to figure out a diversion to not only satisfy Alistair’s need to participate in every remaining coin search, but to also keep Amy and Beatrice engaged. Not to mention the need to get us all back to the States before something worse befell us all.
“You seem so tense, William,” said Beatrice, after we returned to the hotel. Roderick kept our room, and I joined my wife in her room. “Maybe I can help.”
“Perhaps you can,” I agreed, “But, I’d like a shower first, my love.”
She watched me as I stripped away my damp, soiled clothes, and I must admit to feeling a little bit like the prey to a hungry predator. But, those who have followed my story understand I’ve often enjoyed this kind of foreplay. I just hadn’t experienced it in a very long while with the one woman I’ve cherished above all others.
“Making up for lost time?” I teased, when she followed me into the bathroom and began loosening the buttons on her blouse. “And, here I thought I’d get to enjoy your exposed neckline lying next to you in bed.”
“You still can,” she said, huskily.
Her emerald eyes were on fire, and I wanted her more in that moment than I could recall wanting anyone or anything before. Her full lips were slightly parted as she continued to eye me hungrily, letting her long strawberry-blonde tresses fall softly upon tan shoulders as she sauntered, naked, toward me.
Before the jets of water warmed to the appropriate temperature, we embraced as the long lost lovers we truly were. Nearly sixty-two years in waiting, we finally were the couple we once had been in Glasgow, before I got scared and left her and our young son to fend for themselves. Forgiveness had already been granted, but until that moment, we were a couple trying to lock into that blissful oneness we all seek, and almost never can find.
“I love you more than anything,” I told her, afterward, when we lay close together in bed. We had dinner reservations within the hour, but were reluctant to leave each other’s embrace. “Promise me that you’ll never do anything as foolish as this again.”
She lifted her head to study me, wearing the same smirk she wore earlier when I thought she might burst out laughing.
“I love you more than anything, too, you know,” she said, laying her head back down upon my chest. “But if you go to the ends of the earth, I can’t promise I won’t follow.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning you need to be wiser with your choices, and not scurry off willy-nilly when you get a wild hair,” she said, chuckling. “Okay?”
“I’ll do my best to comply.” My turn to laugh.
“As will I,” she said, reaching up to place her forefinger across my lips, to end the debate.
I kissed her finger and brought her closer. Despite not knowing if another voyeur threat would continue to pursue us, or not, I felt safe in her presence. Love can do that, so they say. But, can it fully heal the heart and make all things right forever?
I sincerely hope so.
Chapter Nineteen
We stayed in Budva for only that night, which was a challenge to pull off. Both Roderick and I began to believe the reality shift was genuine in regard to our family. We might never know about the three thugs working for Dracul, but they were out of the picture…or so I hoped. Regardless, Alistair came to the Adriatic coast to help his father find a coin, and damned if he wasn’t leaving without it! And, of course, how could I tell him I had it on my person? We all know how that would’ve gone over.
When I finally had a private moment with Roderick, just before midnight, he shushed me as I stepped into his room.
“I still don’t know what to think of all this craziness,” he said, shaking his head. “I doubt Gajo and Jevrem are aware of the shift, but the thoughts I picked up from Arso told me he understood what had happened. And, as much of an asshole as the guy is, he’s scared shitless about it all. I guarantee he won’t be loitering around to see what we do next, unless forced to do so by this mysterious immortal.”
I nodded thoughtfully, fighting my own queasiness
about this. I went back to the drill of happy thoughts, as I worried my mind would fall prey to our new menace.
“I don’t sense anyone listening in on us, as things have changed in that regard,” Roderick assured me. “Perhaps whoever’s involved has gone into a brief hibernation after spending the energy to enforce what happened today. But, your observations about Beatrice, Ali, and Amy are spot on…at least they are the same as mine. Their reality did shift, and everything we witnessed in regard to them has been wiped clean from our plane, and exists only in my head and yours, and maybe Arso’s.”
“And maybe Dracul’s,” I added. “If he’s in the hellish prison you suggested earlier.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s true,” agreed Roderick. He moved over to the dinette by the window and sat down, motioning for me to join him. “I’ve got a plan that should work to keep Alistair from ever knowing about our little coin collecting adventure.”
“Oh? Let’s hear it.”
I slid into the chair across from him, and he told me about a meeting in Rome he had arranged earlier that evening with our esteemed part-time colleague, Benevento Vitorio. We were to meet with him at his palatial home just outside the city, where he resided in the very same residence he purchased in 1483. He agreed to pretend to be the owner of the coin and we were coming to his place to make the purchase.
“We are set for a seven o’clock dinner with him, and he agreed to allow Beatrice and Amy to also join us,” said Roderick. “He doesn’t care for much company, and preferred a face-to-face with just you and me. But he relented when I explained what had happened, and now his biggest qualm is his reluctance to touch anything associated with Dracul. Like us, he believes this other individual connected to him presents real danger to us all. However, he agrees that he owes you this favor after turning his back on us in Madrid, though his cooperation comes with a mandate.”
“What could that little bastard possibly demand?” I immediately went from feeling pretty good about things to seething. Old wounds heal? …Well they don’t actually heal at all, to be honest. “Screw him and his mandate.”
