by Gayla Twist
Jessie added his name to a clipboard sign-in sheet then handed me the pen. “Colette,” he said, giving me a significant look.
Begrudgingly, I signed in as Colette Gibson. Jessie obviously had his reasons for forcing me to take on the name of my dead aunt.
As Jessie pushed the button and we waited for the elevator, the Duke approached the desk and gave his name. “Should we wait for him?” I asked.
“No.” Jessie shook his head. “We should be safe in here. You’re the only human in the building, and no vampire is going to attack us right under the Bishops’ roof.”
“What will the vampires do to those guys shooting at us?” I asked.
Jessie looked me in the eyes. “Do you really want the answer to that question?”
The light came on, a bell chimed, and the elevator doors opened. We stepped aboard, and Jessie pushed the button for the thirteenth floor. “The Bishops are on the thirteenth floor?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “They own the whole building. The thirteenth floor is just where they hold the inquests. Someone’s idea of a joke.”
I pawed through my bag for a brush, wishing I had tied my hair back—if only I’d known we were going to fly. “This seems like a very strange place for a bunch of vampires to hold a trial,” I commented.
“Does it?” Jessie glanced around at the interior of the elevator. “Where did you think we’d hold it? In a basement somewhere?”
“Or a crypt,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Okay, no more of that talk, Colette,” he said, putting his arm around me. “Just remember, you’re the reincarnation of Colette Gibson, and we’re madly in love.” Looking up at his handsome face and his ruffled black hair, I knew I could at least remember the second part.
The doors opened, and we were in another lobby—just like in a medical building. We signed in again and took a seat on one of the brown leather sofas. Muzak was being piped in, and I thought maybe it was The Girl from Ipanema. “This reminds me of the elevator scene from The Blues Brothers,” I commented.
“What?” Jessie gave me a peculiar look.
“Never mind.” I shook my head. “I just watch too many eighties movies with my mom.”
The woman at the desk answered her phone after it buzzed. She looked over at us. “The Bishops will see you now. Conference room number three.” We got up, and she directed us with, “It’s through the doors, down the hall, and to your left.”
Maybe it was just a delayed reaction from having been shot at, but suddenly my legs weren’t working very well. Or maybe I suddenly realized that I was entering a room full of judgmental vampires and might never come out again. Either way, I had to clutch at Jessie’s arm to keep upright. I started trembling all over, and I was seeing spots behind my eyes.
“Aurora,” Jessie said in a very quiet voice, “you’re going to be all right.” He put his hand underneath my trembling chin and raised my head. “Look at me, Aurora. You have to trust me on this when I say, no matter what, you will be fine.” He was looking straight into my eyes. His eyes were so gray, like storm clouds in a dark sky, that I just had to believe him. I literally trusted him with my life.
Feeling steadier, I allowed him to lead me down the hall to conference room number three. Jessie reached up, and as he was about to knock, the door opened. “Come in,” said a silver-haired man wearing a well-cut blue pinstripe suit. “It’s nice to see you, Jessie.” He extended his hand, and Jessie shook it.
“Same here, Winston,” Jessie said. “May I present my fiancée, Miss Colette Gibson.” Then to me, he added, “Colette, this is Winston Hawthorn.”
“I’ve heard so much about you,” Winston said, taking my hand in both of his. “And none of the praise has been exaggerated.” He looked my face over carefully and then added, mostly to himself, “So young and fresh.” I felt like a recently slaughtered slab of veal on display in a butcher’s window.
“How do you do,” I said. It was the most old-fashioned thing I could think to say. If my life depended on being Colette, than I had damn well better try to be Colette.
“Come in.” Winston ushered us into the room. “We’re just waiting for a few more witnesses, and we’ll be ready to get started.”
There was a long, rectangular table in the center of the room with a variety of vampires sitting around it. Most of them were dressed like bankers, but there were one or two dressed in leather, trying to convey to the world that, even though they were undead, they still knew how to rock. There was a whiteboard on one wall and an overhead projector in the corner. I felt like I’d accidentally stumbled into a stockholders meeting.
“Have a seat,” Winston said, motioning toward a couple of empty chairs on the opposite side of the table from where most of the vampires were sitting. Jessie pulled out my chair for me. I’d never really taken a seat in front of him before, so I didn’t know if this was his habit or if it was all part of the “You’re Colette,” routine.
Winston addressed me directly. “Do you speak any Hungarian?” he asked.
“No, I’m sorry, but I don’t,” I replied. “I only found out I had to come here a few days ago.”
“Do not worry yourself,” he said, holding up a hand. “We can just as easily have the proceedings in English, if that would be a comfort to you.”
The idea of being on trial for my life was bad enough; not being able to understand a word was twice as horrible. “That would be great,” I told him. “I’d really appreciate it.”
“As you wish,” he replied. Then, turning to the room, he cleared his throat. “Everyone, you all know Jessie. And this is his lovely human, Colette Gibson,” Winston said, using game show hostess hands to show me off like a new car.
There were mumbled greetings from some of the Bishops. Jessie said hello to a few vampires by name. I had to sit there having them look me over, so I decided I might as well look back. None of them were exactly young, in the vampire sense. I was sure quite a few of them had been turned before their thirtieth birthdays, but they all appeared to have been vampires for a very long time. I was beginning to be able to gauge better who had been a vampire for a few decades and who had been a vampire for a couple of centuries. With the older ones, there was kind of a papery thinness to their flesh like with extreme vegans—when you meet them, all you want to do is jam a stick of butter in their mouths so that their skin doesn’t start blowing off like ash from a burning log. Plus there was something about their eyes. Vampires’ faces could still appear young, but it was hard to conceal hundreds of years of watching the world from their eyes.
At the far end of the table sat a vampire that looked both like a teenage girl and a centenarian. Her hair was lustrous and a youthful color of blonde; her flesh wasn’t sagging like it does on old people, but there was something weird about her skin, something wrong. It was lumpy and a bit translucent, like the melting wax of a lit candle. I wondered about her. How old was she? I’d never seen a vampire that looked quite like her and, after the ball, I’d seen hundreds. If I had to guess, she was probably the head of the Bishops. In my mind, I thought of her as the mother of all vampires.
“Tell me,” said a vampiress who was wearing a suit and had her hair pulled back in a severe bun. “What does it feel like to be human?” She turned to the rock-n-roll vampire next to her and added, “It’s been so long that I can barely remember anymore.”
I tried to think of an answer. How did it feel to be human? But the vampiress went on chatting to her neighbor, completely ignoring me. It was obvious she only wanted to hear herself ask the question.
The door opened again, and in walked Madame Csorbo, the Duke, and three more vampires that I recognized from dinner. I shot a glance in Jessie’s direction, but he didn’t appear to be surprised or alarmed. Winston got up to greet them. He had a hushed conversation with Madame Csorbo, and then they all sat down in the remaining seats, leaving just one chair vacant.
“Shall we begin?” Winston asked, looking around the room. When
no one protested, he turned to face us. “Jessie Vanderlind of the Vanderlind family, you are accused of killing a vampire for the sake of a human. How do you plead?”
“Not guilty due to extenuating circumstances,” was Jessie’s firm reply.
Winston turned his eyes to me. “Colette Gibson, human, you are accused of conspiring to kill a vampire for the sake of a human. How do you plead?”
I wanted to say, “Are you kidding?” Instead, I glanced at Jessie, causing him to reach over and take my hand, shaking his head with just the tiniest micromovement. I managed to pry the words, “Not guilty,” out of my lips.
“Please,” Winston said, turning back to Jessie. “In your own words, tell us what happened. How was Count Viktor Adami killed? Explain the extenuating circumstances.”
“It started at my maker’s day celebration,” Jessie began, getting to his feet. “Viktor took an unnatural interest in Colette. It wasn’t a feeding party, and I warned him that Colette was under my protection, but he refused to listen. When he became disrespectful, he was ejected from the house.” Jessie took a long breath and ran his fingers through his hair a few times. “Later in the evening, he returned to cause more trouble, and I’m afraid it came to blows, but he refused to listen to reason. After that, I just assumed he’d sobered up and felt a bit embarrassed. But it turned out he felt his honor had been slighted, and he planned to revenge himself upon me by killing Colette. When I stepped forward to protect her, he made it very clear that he was willing to fight to the death. It could have just as easily been me who was killed, and then Viktor would have killed Colette as well.” He cast a steady glare around the room. “But I doubt his actions would have brought him to trial if our fates had been reversed.”
The vampires were all listening very attentively. “And why is this particular human of such value to you?” brought up the bunned vampiress who liked to hear herself ask questions.
“Colette and I are soul mates,” Jessie said with simplicity but also with a firmness that was in his voice as well as his posture.
“Ha!” said a vampire to the left of Winston. “You barely even knew her at the party.”
“At the time, I didn’t know Colette very well in her current manifestation,” Jessie told them, “but I felt an inexplicable need to protect her. We had previously fallen in love during her past life and had made the announcement that we intended to be conjoined. It was only her untimely death that kept us apart. That was until we met again on my maker’s day.”
“How do you know Colette is the reincarnation of the girl you loved before?” Winston asked.
“I feel it in every fiber of my being,” Jessie replied. “I knew it as soon as I saw her. We are connected in a way that defies a single human lifetime.”
“And you, girl,” said the ancient young woman with the waxy skin. She snapped her fingers at me like she was a rude patron trying to signal a waiter. “Do you believe you’ve been reincarnated?”
I looked at her and with all honesty replied, “I don’t know.”
Chapter 30
All the vampires stared at me like I was juggling hand grenades with the pins pulled. “You’re fighting for your life, young lady,” the ancient vampiress reminded me. “That’s not a very good answer.”
“Well, it’s not a very good question, either,” I fired back at her. Her eyes all but burned red, and I knew I was teetering on the edge of being killed on the spot. “I don’t mean to be rude, but look at it from my perspective,” I said, hoping to buy a few minutes to explain. “If I say no, then I’ll be killed. If I say yes, you’ll think I’m lying just to save my life. But I replied truthfully. I don’t know if I’ve been reincarnated or not. Colette Gibson...” and then I hurriedly corrected myself, “the first Colette Gibson was my great, great aunt. Her sister, my great grandmother, is still alive, and she has told me my whole life that I look exactly like her lost sister.” My voice started to sound a little shaky, so I took a moment to clear my throat. “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always been fascinated by the Vanderlind Castle. And my whole life, I’ve had these recurring dreams that never made any sense. It was only after I met Jessie and learned more about my namesake that I realized what I thought were dreams were probably past life memories.”
“So you believe in reincarnation?” the old-young woman asked, a little skeptically.
“I guess I have to or you’ll rule against me, right?” I said in reply. The vampires all chuckled a bit at the truth of it. Before they could throw anymore questions at me, I continued with, “Here’s what I know to be true. When I first saw Jessie, there was this intense feeling deep inside of me. I’d never felt anything like it before. I can only describe it as someone plucking a harp string that had been still for many years. It was this vibrating emotion that woke me up in a way that I had never been awake before. But the more I’ve gotten to know Jessie, the more I’ve realized that we are truly connected in a way that I can’t explain with ordinary words. I don’t know if I’m Colette Gibson.” I hastily corrected myself again with, “I mean, the first Colette Gibson.” No one reacted, so I kept going. “I only know that the love I feel for Jessie has the power to last through time.” The vampires kept staring at me very impassively, so I finished with, “I’m not sure if that answers your questions, but it’s how I feel.”
“That was beautiful,” Winston said. “I swear the old heart almost started pumping again.” He chuckled, thumping his chest. “Do you have anything else you’d like to add?”
“I’m not sure,” I hedged, glancing over at Jessie. Everything was so informal, I wondered if it was the actual tribunal.
“It’s fine,” Winston assured me. Then turning to the Bishops, he said, “Let’s hear from the witnesses. Shall we?”
I gulped. The witnesses? Did he mean there were witnesses when Viktor got staked? Because if he did, then I was dead. There was no saving me.
“Madame Csorbo,” Winston said. “Would you please tell us what you have observed pertaining to Jessie Vanderlind and the human called Colette Gibson?”
The lady cleared her throat. “As many of you know, Jessie and his human have been staying at my house under my protection while they are here in Budapest. It has not been easy. I have heard the rumors.” She shot a sharp look across the room. I couldn’t tell where it landed. “But I have known Jessie’s mother for close to a century, and I felt it was only right.”
“Go on, Madame Csorbo,” Winston said. “Your loyalty and bravery are to be commended.
I felt like a rude jerk. Here Madame Csorbo had put herself and her family at risk, and I hadn’t even so much as thanked her properly or anything. I wondered what you send a vampire as a thank you gift. Probably not a fruit basket.
“I have talked to the human girl. I used my influence over her. I compelled her to tell me the truth. I believe she loves the boy very deeply. She does not care that he is a vampire and she is a human. She wants to be with him.” Madame Csorbo leaned back in her chair and folded her hands. “As for her being some reincarnation, I cannot say. I have no knowledge of reincarnation and found no proof that she is who she says she is.” She leaned forward in her chair again. “But I have been compelling humans for many years. I would be able to tell if she was lying, and she is not. That much I know is true.”
“Thank you for your testimony,” Winston said. Then he turned to the Duke and asked for his observations.
The Duke and the other vampires said pretty much the same thing. They could tell I was sincerely in love with Jessie but couldn’t tell if I was the reincarnation of the original girl Jessie loved. I couldn’t even really remember talking to the other vampires much beyond accommodating them at the dinner party. They all swore that they had tried to compel me to admit that I wasn’t truly in love with Jessie, but I had proven to them that I was. Apparently, every vampire in Budapest had been trying to mind meld me for the last twenty-four hours, and I hadn’t realized it. Still, no evidence of reincarnation, though.
I had thought after Jessie and I spoke that the Bishops were leaning in our favor, but as the witnesses gave their observations, I couldn’t tell for sure.
“Is that all the evidence?” the grand dame vampiress asked. “Is there no one here to speak for Count Adami?”
“I’m afraid not,” Winston replied. I guess it was a good thing for me that most vampires also seemed to think Viktor was kind of a jerk. “But we do have one more witness that I am very eager to hear testify.” I wracked my brain trying to think who else was in the lineup. Winston checked his watch. “She should be here soon, I hope. I hear there was a little ugliness on the way over, and she was delayed.”
I froze at his words. No, I thought to myself, he can’t mean...
Just then the door opened and in stalked Vilma. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, slinking across the room and sliding herself into the last open chair. “I had to stop off for a bite.”
Oh God, I thought. I am totally dead meat.
“As everyone knows, I am not a fan of these humans coming in and taking our men,” was how Vilma began her testimony at Winston’s prompting, waving a derogatory hand in my direction. “I don’t condone companionism, let alone any vampire being insane enough to conjoin with a human.”
I shifted my sitting position, and Jessie squeezed my hand under the table. No wonder Vilma had hated me before she’d even laid eyes on me. She just plain didn’t like humans.
“Your feelings are understood,” said Winston, “but would you please keep to your testimony and not allow your opinions to interfere with the facts.”
“Fine,” Vilma said with a sigh. “I used every ounce of my power to try to get Oh-I’m-So-Human over there to leave Jessie alone, but it was no use. The little nincompoop is sincerely in love with him.”
“But is she the reincarnation of Jessie’s first human? The one to whom he had wanted to conjoin?” the grand dame snapped, obviously losing patience with the same testimony vampire after vampire.
