by Greg Hair
“You are not my Carina?” Alessandro asked Annelise.
“I’m afraid not,” she said, full of pity for the newfound vampire. “Who is Carina?”
“His wife,” said Ryker.
The group walked back toward the field where Ryker first encountered Alessandro and sat him by the small canal. Alessandro, still not removing his gaze from Annelise, broke down.
“Oh, Carina,” he sobbed, embracing Annelise around her waist. “Oh, my Carina.
Please forgive me. Alessandro is so sorry.”
Ryker suddenly had an idea. “Play along,” he whispered to his wife.
“No, that’s cruel,” she said.
“You obviously look like her. It’s the only way we’re going to find out who and where Carina is.”
Annelise gave her husband a look of disappointment, but nonetheless, went along with the plan.
“It’s okay, my darling,” she said. “It’s okay. I forgive you. But remind me, my dear Alessandro, what did you do that I must forgive you for?”
“Do you not remember,” he cried, looking up at her face. “I killed all of you. It’s all my fault.”
“Sshhhhh, it’s okay. All is forgiven. Just remind me what happened.”
“Alessandro tried to feed only on those without families, those that had no homes.
But when I discovered I had fed and killed on the man you called husband, and father to your child, Alessandro was full of guilt and shame. So I found you, and your infant son, and watched over you for many months. Then Alessandro discoverd that he was in love with you.
That’s when I met you and, over time, you loved me. We were married, in Venice, our birthplace. But you did not know what I was or what I did. I lied to you and did not tell you. Until I decide I could not let you die and be without you forever, so Alessandro turned you.”
Ryker struggled to make out the remaining story as Alessandro’s sobbing increased dramatically.
“And you hated Alessandro. You cursed Alessandro for making you a monster.
But you had not yet learned to control your hunger, so you fed on your son, and couldn’t stop. He died. Then you took your own life.”
Everyone in the group had tears in their eyes. The teens got up and walked away, leaving Alessandro with Ryker and Annelise.
“I killed you. I killed all of you. Alessandro is bad.”
“Sshhhhh, I forgive you. I’m not in pain, anymore.” Ryker leaned back. “That’s the other reason why he’s mad,” he said to himself.
Chapter 20
The Senate convened in the early morning hours, just outside the ruins. The arguments and discourse that began at Burghausen regarding Landon, continued at Poveglia.
“He is guilty,” said one Senator.
“He’s not,” said another.
And this is how it was. For the remaining Senators, there was practically an even split as to what to do with Landon. Guilty or not guilty. Ryker, not being a Senator, was allowed no say. He could only sit and watch. Annelise’s hand rested on his.
“Then there’s the matter of the Consuls,” said Bijan. “We must replace those we have lost immediately.”
“Do you have candidates in mind?” asked Petros.
“I do—Ryker and Landon.”
A wave of low whispering and kinetic arms moved over the crowd, as Ryker’s mouth dropped open. He was allowed no say.
“Surely, you’re not serious,” Petros said. “I mean, Ryker is one thing, but Landon? It’s not that I think he’s guilty of the alleged offenses, but his nomination will only cause more distress.”
“You are beginning to sound like Tsukiko, my friend.”
“Not necessarily a bad thing. It is fortunate we did not find her body in the destruction. I’m hopeful she made it out alive.” Ryker squeezed his wife’s hand with a quiet fury until she finally tapped his arm from the pain.
“It is obvious that she more than made it out alive. She was a conspirator, I believe, along with Nicholas and the two vampires Ryker and his group found.”
“All unproven allegations.”
“As are those levied against Landon Murphy.”
Silence fell.
“Then we vote,” Petros said sternly. “If Landon is chosen as Consul Werewolf, I will relinquish my position as Senator afterward and take my leave. The Senate will fracture again today as I know that some will choose to stay and others will follow my lead.”
“I understand, my friend,” said Bijan. “Should we part today, may Allah be gracious unto you with his gifts.”
Ryker was escorted away from the Senate. He was taken to the field where he had previously met Alessandro. Annelise waited back at the ruins. Ryker had been told by those old enough to remember when Joseph and Seamus were elected Consuls, that he had to be removed from the rest of the group, for everyone else’s safety, during his ascension. Now he only hoped that Landon was also in an unpopulated area once the votes came through.
Left isolated and segregated, Ryker grew nervous. At least I know it’s coming, he thought. Landon has no idea. He paced among the tall grass, waiting, expecting something to happen at any second.
He wandered the field for what seemed like hours, with nothing taking place.
Growing impatient, Ryker began the walk back, approaching the bridge that spanned the canal. They must have changed their minds. They picked someone else. Suddenly, he froze. It was beginning.
A terrible aching shot through his body, his fangs growing and retreating, sometimes in unison, other times separately. He stumbled further back into the field, away from the waterway. He dropped to his knees, eyes closed, and doubled over in pain.
A sudden scream shot from his throat, echoing across the island, then the lagoon, all the way to Venice proper.
Gathering his strength, he stood, only to find himself sinking into the ground, inch by inch. He was unable to move. Deeper and deeper he sank as the ground around him gave way, forming a large pit, like a sinkhole. Opening his eyes, he saw the skeletal remains, hundreds, thousands of bones, of those that had died and been buried in the field. Plague victims and Alessandro’s meals.
Then, standing at the bottom of the pit, the ground began to close back up. Still unable to budge, he watched as the sky grew smaller while the hole filled in with dirt.
The bones of the dead fell around him. The whisperings he thought he heard when he first met Alessandro returned. Finally, in a matter of minutes, Ryker was buried.
There, in the dark soil, amidst the fragments of thousands of skeletons, Ryker attempted to claw his way out. He stopped when he felt the ground begin to shake. It felt as if the entire island was in the middle of a violent, high-magnitude, earthquake.
Suddenly, Ryker was ejected from the earth, spit out like a seed, and hovered over his former burial spot. He watched the canal drain, becoming an empty river bed, then fill again quickly, the water rising out of its earthly confines to form a wall of water separating the two islands that formed Poveglia.
In an instant, he shot from his levitating position, through the water wall, over the island, and crashed through the bell tower, continuing until landing in the lagoon itself.
Moments later, Ryker felt himself being pulled to the surface and up onto the island. He opened his eyes to see Annelise kneeling by his side, her clothes dry. Looking around, he found Alessandro dripping wet.
“He jumped in after you before I had the chance,” she said, smiling. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so.” He tried to sit up, then collapsed back into her arms.
“What was it like? How do you feel?”
Ryker thought for a moment, still reeling from his experience. “God help Landon, and anyone else who may be there, when it happens. I know now how the immortal Consuls before me, died.”
Landon and LillyAnna walked along the river in downtown Savannah. Landon reflected on his dad and Celeste, and thought about the night with LillyAnna. He smelled the whiskey on his breath as he exha
led and walked through the invisible cloud of liquor.
“Ryker hasn’t called since he let me know the kids made it to Burghausen,” he said, looking out across the harbor. “We need to get back on Nicholas’ trail.”
“For some reason,” said LillyAnna, “you seem to be some kind of barrier to getting what he wants. I don’t quite understand it myself. And I really don’t understand why Jamie insists on going with him.”
“He sees Nicholas as a father figure. The kind I never was. I tried so hard, Lilly. I did my best during the last few months to try to be a dad, trying to bring some normalcy.
I couldn’t do it.”
“I think you should try again with giving up the drinking. I know you wanted to go cold turkey a couple of nights ago, before Celeste and your dad. I just don’t think you can do it without help.”
The stores and shops along the waterfront began to open for business as the traffic on the bridge started to swell from morning rush hour. Nearing the Pirates’ House, where Landon had left his BMW, a sharp pain began running through his chest. He clutched his shirt and whinced.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I don’t know. I suddenly have…chest pains.”
“Chest pains? You can’t be having chest pains. Have you eaten—“ Landon suddenly doubled over beside the car, his nails growing long, scratching the black paint off the surface. He heard LillyAnna gasp as she helped him to his feet, and walked him to the tunnel that ran under the restaurant.
The tunnel stunk. Like nothing Landon had ever smelled before. The rotting flesh and blood that had been down there for days hit him like a sandbag. He fell out of arms and crawled into the dark.
“Stay back,” he said, almost growling. “I don’t know what’s happening.” He groaned as he began shifting form, back and forth, in the darkness, eyes red, then blue, and back again. The pain that came with the shifts was nothing he’d experienced since his first transformation.
He kept his eyes locked on LillyAnna, trying to focus on stopping whatever was causing the changes, the pain, like a woman focus on a ceramic bunny rabbit as she’s giving birth. She started to approach. He growled at her like he was looking at Nicholas.
Stay away, he thought. I don’t know what this is.
Then, as quickly as it began, the shifting stopped. He was in human form.
“Lilly.” She crept slowly into the darkness.
Suddenly, he shot out of the tube, flying past LillyAnna and knocking her over, and into the Savannah harbor, sinking. His phone fell out of his pocket and floated casually to the bottom.
The waters around him churned and swirled as he felt the water level in the whole harbor rise. A minor earthquake was taking place. Water entered his lungs and rushed out just as quickly. An airtight bubble formed around him. Airtight to the point that he had no air. He extended his claws, trying desperately, panicking, to get out.
The waters took on an amber glow as the harbor bubbled and boiled. Landon heard LillyAnna’s crying echo out of the tunnel to the waters below. He went into the fetal position, still gasping for air, and suddenly extended his limbs outward, bursting in a quiet scream, and shifted to a red werewolf. The bubble he was in exploded and released him. Landon sank to the bottom of the harbor.
Moments later, he crawled out of the cold Savannah Harbor, disoriented, his body steaming like it’d been set on fire. LillyAnna helped him out, pulling his nude body back into the tunnel.
“Are you okay? Landon? Honey? You okay?” she asked, running her hands feverishly over his body, checking for any injuries.
“I’m okay,” he said, breathing quickly and heavily, shivering, almost convulsing.
“I’m okay. Are you okay? Anyone hurt up here?”
“I’m okay. There’s minor damage, but I don’t think anyone’s hurt. What the hell was that?” He was still getting wet as her tears fell unceasingly on him.
“It was God. I was touched by God. They made me Consul Werewolf—I’ve ascended. So has Ryker, I think. And that’s not all—something terrible has happened in Germany. The Consuls are dead. I think, for some reason, they relinquished their immortality. And now, Ryker and I have it.”
Chapter 21
A few days later, Nicholas and Jamie stood among the heather of the wind-blown Scottish Highlands. They watched the small group of wayward travelers trickle down the hills, like a miniature cascading waterfall. Tsukiko approached and stopped beside them.
“You know there are vampires with them, right?” she asked.
“Moths to the flame, my dear geisha,” said Nicholas.
“I’m not a geisha,” Tsukiko responded condescendingly.
Nicholas turned to her, saying coldly, “You’re whatever I want you to be.”
“Now run along,” Jamie said.
“I don’t take orders from you.” Tsukiko stepped in front of Jamie, blocking his view of the coming refugees.
“Yes, run along,” said Nicholas, not taking his eyes off the inbound Senators.
The Japanese Senator stormed off as Nicholas looked at Jamie, smiling. He was still smiling when Petros and several other Senators finally made it to the bottom of the hill. Behind Nicholas and Jamie, standing lonely next to Loch Awe, was Kilchurn Castle.
Their new home.
“It’s good to see you, friend,” Nicholas said, hand outstretched to Petros’s. “I’m glad you and those with you made it out of that horrible explosion alive. I believe it was two vampires, no? Tsukiko has kept us well informed. We have been quite fearful ourselves, living as though the specter of Landon haunted our every step. Perhaps you will be able to allay the fears of the rest of the Senate, regarding us, after your visit.”
“I don’t—“ began Petros.
“Please, let’s not speak of such matters now. Let us dine first. Tsukiko has prepared a wonderful meal. You will also see that Liam and Mara, Landon’s children, are well provided for, under the special care of our young, Bianca. Come my friends, this way.”
Following a dinner of venison, lamb, vegetable, and, of course, human blood, Nicholas had five carafes each of wine and more blood brought to the long table for his guests.
“Now, Petros, you wanted to say something when you arrived,” said Nicholas. “I know that, you being a vampire, you remember of what I speak.”
“Yes, Nicholas, I was going to respond to your suggestion that we may be able to persuade the remaining Senators on Poveglia, that—“
“Poveglia?” the werewolf interrupted. “Is that where they are? Interesting.”
“Yes, anyway, I don’t believe that we will be able to hold sway over the others at Poveglia.”
“And why not? Are you not also Senators? Would the voice of a Senator that has seen us not be respected?”
“Well, no sir, it would not as I am no longer a Senator. None of us here are.” Nicholas’s eyes darted to Tsukiko, then Jamie, each looking at him with wonderment, waiting for his response. He leaned forward, as if bringing the other end of the table where the Greek sat, closer to him.
“What do you mean none of you are Senators? What has happened?” Petros shifted his body, squirming in his seat, clearly uncomfortable. “As you may or may not know, Joseph and Seamus, the Consuls—“
“I know who the Consuls are. Get on with it.” Nicholas grew more impatient.
“Yes. They perished in the explosion. The Senate had to replace them, so new Consuls were chosen.”
“Who?” asked Nicholas, drawing the word out and rising slowly from his dinner throne, a hint of red in his eyes.
“Ryker and—“
“Say it. Say his name.”
“Landon.”
“Noooo,” Nicholas screamed, flying into a rage. He bounded from his seat, around Jamie’s chair and, claws extended, ran his hand through the back of a seat occupied by a vampire, until his hand protruded from the vamp’s chest. Pulling his arm back out, the vampire’s heart came with it. The heartless body fell to the floor. The bodile
ss heart rested in Nicholas’s hand.
“Do you realize what you’ve done?” Nicholas asked, staring at the heart, squeezing it until the warm, black blood within ran through his fingers and dripped to the cold, stone floor.
“Yes, sir—“
“Sshhh, don’t talk. It was a rhetorical question.” Jamie, still seated, posed a question. “Since we have some of the Senators here, could we not form our own Senate?”
Nicholas paused, heart still in hand, thinking.
“Yes,” he said quietly, as if answering his own question but wanted no one else to hear. “The Roman Empire was once split in two. The Church still is to this day.” He walked, slowly, casually, around the table, his mind working quickly. He felt the vampires in the room salivate at the blood dripping from his hand and wondered if they thought he were going to play some grotesque version of duck, duck, goose, giving the heart to whichever vampire, the goose, he stopped behind.
“I wonder,” he continued, “if there are two Senates, could there be four Consuls?”
“Sir,” began Petros, “I seriously—“
“Again, rhetorical, so shut up.”
“It’s never been tried,” said Tsukiko. “Which means it’s worth a try.”
“Petros,” said Nicholas, “form a Senate. Right here and now. I don’t know how it’s done, but do it. Whatever you have to do. You will then elect myself and Jamie as Consuls.”
Tsukiko shot up from her chair. “Nicholas!”
“Yes, you have been and continue to be loyal, but I have chosen Jamie. Petros, I hope no one else has to die to make this happen.” He finally tossed the heart into a corner and licked his hand clean.
“As you wish,” Petros responded gravely, rising from his seat. “We the Senate of Kilchurn Castle, having already voted by our mere presence, do bequeath upon Nicholas and Jamie, title and status of Consul, containing all powers related therein.” Nicholas, stood just behind Petros’s right shoulder, arms outstretched. Nothing happened.
“See,” said Petros. “It won’t work because two Consuls have already been chosen. There can only be two.”
