20 October 1485
The two vampirus from Madrid and Gibraltar have been brought to Aljaferia, have been interrogated with the strappado, and have confessed their abominations. Like the others who have been detained, they admitted to knowing other vampirus, six in all. Three in Spain, who have already been arrested and interrogated, and three others not yet identified living elsewhere in Europe. There appear to be no more vampirus in Spain, at least according to those detained within Aljaferia. I pray that they are truthful, for I don’t know if even God can help this realm from these demons.
As for the other countries tainted by the vampirus, they are on their own since the jurisdiction of the Inquisition does not extend to them. But as a man of God, I cannot ignore the presence of evil, so I have dispatched priests to meet with officials of the local dioceses where these vampirus reportedly dwell to try and convince them of the danger their countries face. I am not confident of success, for no one in their right minds would believe what will be related unless they have experienced it for themselves. I barely believe it myself. Still, I pray that God blesses those who receive my delegations and gives them the foresight to recognize the demons within their midst.
In the meantime, the five vampirus we have in custody are being kept in sealed coffins immersed in holy water, and are being fed just enough to keep them alive until I can decide on their fate.
“Fifteen minutes,” announced the archivist from the doorway.
Damn. Translating the diary was taking much longer than Reese anticipated. He thumbed through the remaining pages. Seven hours of reading, and he still had five pages left. He contemplated scanning them quickly for the mystery of the Vampyrnomicon, but between his rusty translation skills and the minimal time remaining, he probably would mess it up. Besides, he needed time to place the diary back into the front cover of the Bible and return the Bible to its basswood case. He could finish it tomorrow.
Damn again. Tomorrow was Saturday, so the archive room would be closed. For a quick second, Reese considered plowing ahead with the translation, but thought better of it. As difficult as it would be, he would wait until Monday to finish the diary.
When he met Drake tomorrow for lunch, he would relate what he had discovered thus far.
* * *
“Can we get this underway?” huffed Melinda.
“Patience, little one.” Walker stood in his usual spot by the window overlooking the neighborhood.
“I don’t like that name.”
“Then stop acting your human age.”
Melinda gritted her teeth, but wisely kept silent.
“We’re waiting for Akers.” Chiang Shih sat in her chair between the two sofas, one leg draped over the knee of the other, her forearms on the armrests. She wore black heels and a black evening gown split down one side. The way she glared at her youngest master testified to her displeasure with Melinda’s impatience.
Melinda grunted, then made a quiet aside to Toni who sat beside her on the sofa. “I don’t see why we have to wait on a human.”
“Shhh,” admonished Toni.
“When’s he supposed to be here?” asked Treja.
“Eight o’clock,” answered Chiang Shih.
Melinda looked at her watch. “He’s eight minutes late.”
“I told Akers to be careful whenever he comes here to make sure he’s not followed.” Walker turned from the window to face Melinda. “So be patient, little one.”
Melinda’s upper lip trembled with fury.
A knock sounded on the front door. Walker nodded to Treja, who stood and went to answer it. A minute later he returned with Akers.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it.” Walker picked up a box from off of the end table and walked over to Akers, handing it to the human. “This is for you.”
“What is it?”
“An electronic listening device with a miniature microphone that you can attach to the hunter’s clothes. It has a range of one hundred yards, so you should be able to eavesdrop on them from safety.”
“Thanks.” Akers examined the box. “I’ll get this onto Drake as soon as possible.”
Akers started to leave, but Chiang Shih called after him. She motioned to the empty seat on the sofa beside Treja. “Please stay. What I have to say is for all of you.”
Though apprehensive, Akers obeyed. As he walked over to the sofa, his eyes darted from vampire to vampire, as if he expected to be set upon at any moment. Chiang Shih smiled. He was more perceptive than she gave him credit for. Once he sat down, Chiang Shih stood and crossed over to in front of Akers, making an effort to appear non-threatening.
“I want you to know that I appreciate what you’re doing for us. Being human, you have access to the hunters that we don’t. We’re counting on you.”
“Thank you. I won’t let you down.”
“I’m confident you won’t. You can imagine the price of failure or disloyalty.”
Akers swallowed hard. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Or disobedience.”
Chiang Shih spun toward Melinda, swinging her right arm so the back of her hand connected with the child’s cheek. A loud crack echoed through the room as Melinda’s jaw shattered along the hinge. Melinda morphed into her vampiric form. She glared at Chiang Shih with eyes red with fury, her body tense as if she were about to lunge. Instead, she hissed, even that act of defiance distorted by her hanging lower jaw. Chiang Shih grabbed the child by the neck, yanked her out of the chair, and lifted her into the air. Her feet dangled and kicked helplessly. Chiang Shih slammed Melinda against the wall, pressing her neck against the surface until her spine reached its breaking point. Chiang Shih’s fingernails transformed into claws, which dug into Melinda’s neck and around the larynx until the tips touched. Blood flowed down the child’s neck, staining her blouse. Melinda’s defiance was replaced with a new look—terror.
Leaning her face into Melinda, Chiang Shih spoke in a voice so low and guttural it barely sounded human. “I gave explicit orders that no one was to feed off of any humans other than the homeless. Yet you defied me and killed that vice principal.”
“’E wuz a child ’oles—”
“I don’t want excuses!” Chiang Shih bellowed. She tightened her grip around Melinda’s neck, closing off the larynx. “By feeding off of a prominent human, you’ve drawn attention to us and jeopardized everything. The only reason I don’t rip out your throat is because I need four covens to complete my plan. Having to bring in a new master to replace you will throw off my schedule. Do I make myself clear?”
Melinda could only respond with a barely perceptible nod.
“My patience with you is at an end. If you defy me again, I’ll drag you into the street during the middle of the day and toss you into the sunlight.”
Chiang Shih released her grip, her hand returning to its human form. Melinda slid down the wall, crumbling into a heap on the floor, gasping and coughing. She covered the wounds on her neck with one hand. Blood seeped between her fingers. Melinda kept her gaze focused on the floor.
Chiang Shih looked at Walker. “The little bitch is your responsibility. Keep her in line, or kill her.”
“With pleasure.” Walker stepped over to Melinda. Grabbing her by the back of her neck, he lifted the master to her feet and forced her to look at him. “And I won’t be as gentle about it as the Mistress was.”
Chiang Shih walked back to her chair and sat down. Walker dragged Melinda over to the sofa and flung her onto it. The young master whimpered and curled into a fetal position, her arms wrapped around her knees. Walker circled around behind the sofa, hovering over Melinda.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Chiang Shih spoke to Akers in her normal, sultry voice as if the last minute had never happened. “You’ll find that I’m very magnanimous to work for, and the rewards are more than satisfactory. Just don’t disobey me. I don’t tolerate insolence or disobedience. Unfortunately, as you saw, I often have to remind my maste
rs.”
Akers sat in his chair, shaking, unable to acknowledge.
“You can leave,” Walker said to Akers. “Let me know if the hunters find the Vampyrnomicon.”
Akers hesitated. Finally he stood up. “Yes, of course.”
“Thank you,” said Chiang Shih.
Akers headed out, throwing a surreptitious glance at Melinda as he raced by. Chiang Shih withheld the urge to grin. Two of her minions learned valuable lessons tonight. She felt confident no one would defy her again.
When the front door closed behind Akers, Chiang Shih resumed. “Now that the human has left, I want to discuss the status of your covens.”
Treja leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ve set up my coven in an abandoned subway tunnel near Union Station. The only person who knew about it is now one of us.”
“How secure is it?”
“I have sole control over who gets in or out, so there’s no chance anyone will stumble across it or that one of the coven will go wandering for food.”
“Excellent.” Chiang Shih turned to Toni.
Toni lowered her head to hide her deformity. “I took over an abandoned apartment building near the riverfront. Not many humans go down there at night, and those who do won’t be missed. I already have two vampires in the coven. A teenage runaway and a mugger.”
“Very good.” Chiang Shih’s pleasantry faded. “Melinda?”
The young master pulled her knees tighter against her chest.
“Melinda?” Chiang Shih asked again.
“M… mine’s in an old school in northeast Washington.” Melinda never looked away from her knees.
“How many do you have?”
“None. I would have had one, but—” Melinda censored herself.
“Get to work on it.”
Melinda nodded weakly.
Chiang Shih looked at Walker.
“Sorry, Mistress. I’ve been getting the listening device for Akers and haven’t had a chance to establish one yet.”
“You know you’re behind schedule?”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Chiang Shih looked around the room. “If no one has anything else they want to talk about, then our business is done. We’ll meet again Monday night,”
The masters stood and headed for the door. Melinda remained on the sofa, still in the fetal position. Toni reached out her hand and offered it to Melinda. A long pause elapsed before the girl looked up, clasped the hand, and allowed herself to be escorted out. They had just reached the foyer when Chiang Shih called to them.
“Nelson, stay behind.”
Walker fell back from the rest of the group. Once the others left, Chiang Shih stood and strutted toward the bedroom. She glanced over her shoulder, the gleam in her eye declaring her intentions. Walker followed, unbuttoning his shirt. When he reached the bedroom, Chiang Shih sat on the bed. Her legs were spread wide, one foot planted on the floor, the other propped up on the bed. She raised her dress, exposing her sex.
Walker slid out of his shirt and dropped it on the floor. “Is this my punishment for not starting a coven?”
“If I was going to punish you, I’d shut you off. But then, I’d be punishing myself.” Chiang Shih placed her hand over her mound and inserted a finger, frigging herself. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been together.”
“Almost two weeks. Ever since you ordered me to Washington.” Walker unzipped his trousers. His eight-inch erection popped free, pointing at Chiang Shih.
“That’s been way too long.” Chiang Shih wrapped her fingers around his cock. At her touch, it throbbed. She stroked it, her fingers gliding over the cold skin and caressing the bulbous head. Chiang Shih’s thumbnail elongated into a short talon. She placed the tip in Walker’s pee hole, and flicked. “Give it to me now.”
Walker pushed Chiang Shih back onto the bed and climbed on top of her. He hesitated, taking a moment to admire her beauty. To breathe in the scent of her pussy, gorged with blood and flowing with juices. With a single, powerful thrust he plunged his erection deep inside her, driving it in to the hilt. Chiang Shih cried out in painful ecstasy and arched her back to meet his thrusts. Walker pistoned his cock into her. With each upward stroke, she ground her pelvis into him, their bodies slamming together. The more aroused he became, the harder and faster he fucked her.
Chiang Shih felt her passion growing. She verged on an orgasm, and could not wait any longer. Wrapping her legs around Walker, she dug the points of her heels into his ass cheeks, tearing away at the skin. The pain only excited him more. He drove deep into Chiang Shih with long, vicious strokes. She could tell by his panting and by the throbbing of his cock that he was ready to cum. Chiang Shih plunged her heels through the skin of Walker’s ass cheeks. Walker howled and morphed, which further increased the size of his erection. Throwing her head back, Chiang Shih cried out as an orgasm raced through her. As she did, Walker bent forward and plunged his fangs into her neck, sucking her blood as he erupted inside of her.
His energy spent, Walker returned to his human form and collapsed onto the bed beside Chiang Shih. She lay beside him, satisfied and content. She cared for Walker as much as she could care for anyone else. Those feelings were based on more than just sex. They had met nearly six hundred years ago and been inseparable since, their relationship only growing stronger as they descended upon Europe in an orgy of death and destruction.
Now they stood on the brink of not only bringing that same nightmare to the United States, but of turning it into the first vampire kingdom.
* * *
Strait of Messina. October 1347. A warm autumn sun beat down on the tiny fleet of twelve Genoese galleys, occasionally being obscured by a billowy cloud before shining through again. Blowing from the south, a gentle breeze wafted across the waters, rippling the azure surface while driving the galleys northward. The tiny fleet hugged the east coast of Sicily, gently slipping past the island’s mountains and green vistas. Like thousands of ships from scores of nations and city-states before them, these twelve ships sliced through the warm waters, swaying with the waves as they plied their way to their destination.
Whereas those other ships bore commerce, this fleet brought death.
Below decks, in the vile, darkened environment that reeked of feces, urine, and body odor, and where the air was humid and stagnant, a lethal disease had taken hold. Several passengers had lentil-sized boils on their thighs and arms. Those that carried them knew full well their significance, as did those whom the eruptions had yet to infect. Their symptoms generated fear and desperation throughout the fleet, for it signified the horrible fate that awaited all the passengers. No one spoke the word. No one had to. The boils meant only one thing.
Plague.
Those making this desperate journey tried to block out that thought. Most had witnessed these horrors before and had them engraved in their memories. When the passengers boarded the galleys at Kaffa in the Crimea, the Black Sea region already suffered from the ravages of plague. Those who survived Kaffa knew all too well that the appearance of the boils indicated the first sign of a slow, agonizing death. Once infected, the bearers experienced a violent coughing up of blood, which rapidly degenerated into a gangrenous inflammation of the throat and lungs. Chest pains and incessant vomiting soon followed and, for the fortunate ones, death. The living wallowed in a stench of puke and decay, surrounded by the dead and the dying, praying to God that they would be spared. When the last galley pulled out of Kaffa and the fleet set sail south, passengers and crew felt confident they had cheated death. Little did anyone on board realize that, in fact, they were its messengers.
As the fleet passed through the Bosporus for the Mediterranean, docking for a brief respite at Constantinople, it unwittingly put the plague ashore. By the time the disease gripped Constantinople in its full fury, unsuspecting infected travelers had carried it south across the Dardanelles, east into the Middle East, and north into the Balkans. By then, the Genoese fleet moved on toward home
, unaware of the chaos it left in its wake as it transported its cargo of death to Europe.
No one in the fleet knew that the spread of plague was being manipulated by two individuals aboard one of the galleys.
Muhammad al Muhammad Abu Bakir strutted below deck, careful to avoid the rays of sunlight flowing in through the hatches and portals. No one talked to or made eye contact with him, everyone shunning interaction with others in hopes of avoiding the plague. He made his way to the galley’s stern to one of the few private cabins on board. Abu Bakir knocked on the door, waited for the voice on the other side to answer, and entered.
The two small portals on the port beam were covered over with Persian rugs, plunging the cabin into darkness. Even so, Abu Bakir could see Chiang Shih lying on a pile of straw in the corner. She rested peacefully, her brunette hair flowing over her bodice.
“Mistress, we’re about to arrive.”
“What time is it?”
“Early afternoon.”
“Is everything set?
“Yes. The last cage is ready to be released.”
“Good.”
Chiang Shih opened her eyes and stood up, brushing off the hay as she rose. She crossed the cabin and knelt before the last of three metal cages they had smuggled aboard the vessel at Kaffa. The cage measured three feet in width and length and one foot in depth. Like the other cages before it, two dozen rats filled this one. Not just any rats, though. Rats collected from the alleys and garbage dumps of Kaffa. Rats carrying the plague.
Abu Bakir marveled at her ingenuity. Chiang Shih had noticed long ago that the spread of the plague across Russia and Asia Minor coincided with the migration of the rat population. Although never able to determine exactly why the rats brought death and destruction in their wake, she realized the corollary was unmistakable. Before boarding the galleys, they had scoured the streets of Kaffa, finding as many rats as possible and placing them in the three cages, which they then snuck into her cabin. They kept the rats alive during the voyage by feeding them food scraps and chunks of bread soaked in water.
The Vampire Hunters (Book 2): Vampyrnomicon Page 23
