by J. C. Diem
“Are you becoming suspicious of the Americans, my love?” Luc asked me.
“Yes,” I replied truthfully. “Thanks to Nicholas and Anna-Eve’s treachery, I can’t shake the feeling that everyone is out to get us.”
Studying me silently, Luc’s brows lowered in a frown. “I wonder if this is a side effect of being fed imp blood.”
“What are you talking about?” A few side effects had cropped up since I’d ingested the imp blood. He would have to be more specific.
“Your increasing paranoia.” He said it calmly and without accusation, which took a bit of the sting out of it. “From what I understand, the First suffered from mistrust quite badly. The Second engineered the deaths of his closest companions, which is a sign he also lacks the ability to trust even those closest to him.”
Putting some thought into it, I tried to ascertain whether I was harbouring secret doubts about everyone on the planet. “I trust you, our friends, Ishida, Kokoro and most of the Japanese warriors,” I decided. “I trust Aventius and his people to a certain extent.” Now that Joshua was no longer a problem, my trust towards the Europeans had increased slightly.
Luc bestowed a relieved smile on me. “Then hopefully you are just feeling natural caution instead of true paranoia.”
The thought that I might become like the First or his head disciple was disturbing. Both were or had been power mad megalomaniacs without a shred of concern for anyone else. I’d rather be dead than end up like them. My subconscious stirred at that thought but I stomped it down before it could voice its opinion. I didn’t need yet another reminder of my inability to die.
Chapter Eleven
Strolling along arm in arm, Luc and I appeared to be just a normal couple out for a late night walk. Wearing the long black coat he’d stolen for me in Russia, most of my distinctive leather suit was covered. Also dressed all in black, Luc’s pale face seemed to float above his cashmere sweater each time we found ourselves in a pool of darkness between each street light.
Spying movement ahead, we increased our pace and caught up to a lone man. He was staggering along rather than walking and alcohol fumes wafted off his clothes. We had passed a bar a couple of blocks back and I assumed he had recently left it. “Excuse me,” I said to his back. “Do you speak English?”
Turning, he almost tripped over his own feet and squinted at us. His eyes widened when he saw my face. They dropped down to my chest before performing a full body sweep. He wouldn’t be able to see my figure with the coat blocking his view but he licked his lips in a decidedly creepy manor. “I don’t speak English,” he replied in his native tongue. “Do you understand Bulgarian?” It sounded slurry but my innate talent managed to translate his words.
“We do not speak your language,” Luc replied, accurately guessing the man’s reply, and moved to leave.
“In that case,” the drunken man grinned as he reached for what I assumed was a weapon in the small of his back, “I’m going to stab you to death then screw your woman’s brains out before slitting her throat.”
My hand was moving before I could stop it, not that I particularly wanted to. A slap, followed by a snapping noise, rang out. The human fell to the ground and made no move to catch himself. His nose crunched and blood spurted as he landed on his face. I nudged him with my boot, rolling him onto his back, but I already knew he’d never get up again. His eyes were wide, surprised and unblinking. Hunkering down, Luc felt the drunk’s neck for a pulse and shook his head.
“He deserved it,” I said darkly.
“What did he say to anger you so much?” Luc asked as he hefted the man over his shoulder and stood. The knife lying on the ground would have partially answered his question but I relayed what the dead man had said anyway. “You are a beautiful woman,” he said philosophically when I had finished my explanation. “It is no wonder some men are driven to murder just to have a chance to touch you.”
“I’m only beautiful because I’m a vampire,” I reminded him. “I was pretty ordinary as a human.”
Entering a narrow alley, Luc looked at me askance. “To me, you have always been beautiful.” I’d already been a vampire when we had first met but it had taken a few days for my face and body to be transformed. I had only attained true beauty after some horrible things had happened to me, most of which had involved my dismemberment.
“That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” I confessed and earned a wink. “Did you become more gorgeous when you were turned or were you always this hot?”
Slightly uncomfortable with the question, Luc dropped the body into a half empty dumpster and closed the lid. The drunk would be found soon enough once his corpse began to ripen. “According to the courtiers I was ordered to…entertain, I became more attractive once I became a monster.” He glanced at my face to judge my reaction at the reminder that he had been used as a sex toy for several hundred years. That had been one of his maker’s favourite past times. The Comtesse would order him to have sex with anyone who was horny and sometimes he had to perform for an audience.
Keeping my expression as bland as possible, I wanted to tell Luc that he wasn’t a monster but that would have been a lie. We were supernatural creatures that drank blood to survive. What better description could there be for us? With our mood far more sombre now, we resumed our hunt.
Several hours later, most humans were asleep and our pickings were slim so we decided to head back to the warehouse. We’d both fed, which had improved our mood enough to stop for a quickie. Our tryst was held on the rooftop of an apartment building. If any other vampires in the area heard our antics, they kept it to themselves.
Using the fire escape, we climbed down to the first floor then jumped the rest of the way to the ground. Landing quietly, I came very close to stepping on a pair of legs. By the odour of unwashed flesh wafting from the body, I knew it had to be a homeless person. He was lying still and I assumed he was either dead drunk or dead in reality. When he suddenly let out a resounding belch, I cleverly ascertained that he was neither.
Even in the dim light of the alley, Luc’s expression was easy for me to read thanks to my enhanced vision. He lifted an eyebrow in query. I debated about skipping questioning the wino but decided we might as well give it a try. So far, we’d only found two people who had spoken English and neither had known anything about the mystery castle.
Crouching beside the vagrant, I was glad I didn’t need to breathe. The fumes coming off him would have been enough to make my eyes water if they’d still been capable of it. Somewhere between sixty and four hundred years old, his face was mostly hidden by a bushy grey beard. Layers of wrinkles made his eyes seem small and squinty even when they were shut. A jug of wine lay in the crook of one arm. It was held tightly enough and was in no danger of smashing to the ground. He would be well practiced at securely cradling bottles of alcohol.
Aware that I’d have to wash my hands after touching the hobo, I reached out and touched his arm. Eyes snapping open instantly, he cowered away from me. “Don’t kill me!” he whisper-screamed in Bulgarian. He’d clearly heard the news reports of his fellow homeless people going missing.
“I’m not going to kill you,” I said soothingly. “Do you speak English?”
Glaring at me suspiciously, he hugged his wine bottle to his thin chest. “What do you want?” His English was pretty good, for a street bum.
“Do you know of any castles in the area that aren’t generally known to the public?”
It took him a moment to translate the words and his fear increased. “Why do you want to know about that cursed place?”
Gregor had been right, the castle did have a reputation of being unsavoury. I could have made up a lie about being a tourist but I decided to go with the truth. “I’m pretty sure the person taking the homeless people of this city is holed up in there. We’re planning on making sure he doesn’t kidnap any more of your friends.” I had no idea whether he had been friends with any of the missing people but ‘associ
ates’ just didn’t seem to be the appropriate word to use to describe them.
Eyes flicking past me to study Luc, the wino took a long gulp from his bottle. He belched out fumes almost putrid enough to make my hair fall out then motioned for me to move closer. Moving closer was the last thing I wanted to do but I obligingly leaned in. “Are you a vamphyri?” he whispered hoarsely. I assumed that was an archaic term for vampire. I nodded and he grinned at me, revealing a mostly toothless pair of gums. The few teeth he still had were black and canted in different directions. “I knew you were! I can tell by your black, soulless eyes.” He lifted a shaky hand and pointed at his own eyes and then at mine.
“What can you tell me about the castle?” I asked him, ignoring the comment that I was soulless. For all I knew, he was right and my soul had departed from my body the instant I had died and been reborn as a creature of the night. That would explain why my kin couldn’t abide holy objects. Since I could abide them, maybe my soul was still intact. Now wasn’t the time to bring the subject up so I let it go.
Taking another swig, the wino tucked the bottle back into the crook of his arm and sat up straighter. “My grandmother told me about the cursed place when I was small.” He indicated a height that meant he’d probably been about five or six at the time. “She was a superstitious old crone but she knew how to tell a story.”
His smile was fond and far off as he recalled his long dead relative. “She said the castle had been built a thousand years ago by an evil vamphyri.” I started slightly at that revelation and a shiver went down my spine. “The creature took many of the nearby villagers, turning them into his devoted slaves.” I doubted they’d really been particularly devoted to him. Like any servant, they had been helpless to resist following the commands of their master.
His gaze turned inwards, remembering the story he’d heard many decades ago. “After three hundred years of terror, the villagers grew tired of their oppression and revolted. They stormed the castle on a bright summer’s day, dragging every evil creature they found inside out into the light.”
Luc shifted uncomfortably, probably at the thought of being roasted to death by the sun. It wasn’t pleasant knowing how vulnerable we were during daylight hours. I could picture the scene of humans swarming through the castle all too easily.
Still staring into the past, the hobo continued. “The vamphyri master was awake and expecting the villagers, almost as if he’d known they were coming. He put up a fierce fight but they slew him with holy water and fire.”
Neither was harmful to me but for any other vampire, it was a deadly combination. The holy water acted like acid and fire couldn’t be put out once it touched our flesh. “Do you know where the cursed castle is?” I asked him quietly, snapping him out of his memories.
His expression turned crafty and he wiggled his eyebrows. “What’s in it for me if I tell you?”
Personally, I’d have thought the prospect of not being turned into my slave would have been enough but I was wrong about that. Luc stepped forward and his hand came over my shoulder. I took the notes he offered and handed them to the bum.
Quickly tallying the money, the wino made the notes disappear inside his filthy shirt and took another swig from his bottle. He gestured me even closer and I leaned in again, cringing on the inside at the amount of germs that had to be crawling all over him. “The castle lies to the north and east,” he divulged in a hushed whisper. “It will take you an hour to get close to it by car and then another hour on foot. It is surrounded by a dense forest. I journeyed to the castle when I was a young man. Even then the paths had become overgrown. It is as if the earth itself is warning humans to stay away.” Lucky for us, we weren’t human.
He’d sobered while telling us the story and his eyes became slightly clearer. He had a final warning for me and stopped me from standing with a grimy hand on my arm. “Beware, vamphyri, the castle still retains its curse to this day. Any of your kind who steps foot inside those crumbling walls will die.”
Despite myself, I felt a flare of fright rise up and had to force it back down. I could have hypnotized him into forgetting he’d talked to us but I didn’t bother to. Who’d believe a crazy old drunk like that anyway? My subconscious had a response ready. Are you telling me you don’t believe every word he just uttered? It had me there. He might be old, he might be a bum but he’d also been utterly believable in his conviction that the castle was cursed.
Chapter Twelve
Gregor and his entourage of soldiers had returned while Luc and I had been out for our stroll. Everyone was waiting for us by the time we made our way back to the warehouse. I could tell instantly that something had happened during our absence. Ishida stood with his arms crossed and his face was even more expressionless than usual. Kokoro stood close beside him with her hand on his shoulder. She was speaking quietly but urgently into his ear. All of their warriors were on full alert. Some had donned their masks, hiding their faces from just beneath the eyes down to their chins. They were poised for battle and it didn’t look like it would take much to set them off.
Igor, Gregor and Geordie were huddled together in a small, worried group. Geordie gave me a relieved smile when we entered the warehouse but it immediately turned into a frown again. Aventius and his followers were off to one side, standing very still and mostly speechless. I had the sense that they were trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves.
Colonel Sanderson whirled around when one of his men pointed at us. Fury had turned his face an unnatural shade of red. Striding over until he was standing right in front of me, he bent down until his face was only inches away from mine. “I did not give you authorization to unleash your…people on this city!”
Luc tensed beside me. I wasn’t sure if it was due to affront on my behalf or concern at how I was going to react to being shouted at. “I know where the castle is,” I told Sanderson quietly, cutting off his tirade before it could get into full swing. I surprised myself and everyone else by staying calm in the face of his rage.
Veins bulging in his forehead, the colonel strived for control. I wasn’t sure what had him so worked up. Did he think my ‘people’ had been out slaughtering humans indiscriminately? Uh, you did slap that guy to death, remember? I mentally snarled at my inner voice for pointing that out. It seemed safer to take my annoyance out on it rather than unleashing it on the soldier. He had twelve armed men to back him up and their weapons had been designed to take us down. Getting into a shouting match probably wouldn’t be the brightest idea.
“Where is it?” Sanderson snapped, straightening up and putting some distance between us. His soldiers had moved closer to surround their leader. They weren’t pointing their guns at anyone but their tense postures made me think they were ready to do so.
“A street bum told us about it. He says he went to see it when he was young and that it’s somewhere to the north-east,” I replied. “It’ll take us an hour to reach it by road and another hour on foot.”
Rubbing his face with both hands, the colonel let out a sigh and snapped his fingers at one of his men. “Bring me the laptop. We need to find this castle. It might not be marked on any maps but satellite photos might be able to help us narrow the search down.”
Sensing that the danger had passed, some of the tension eased. Ishida’s warriors didn’t relax their vigilance and remained on high alert. Luc strolled over to our friends but I detoured to speak to the emperor first. “What did we miss?” I asked the teen bluntly.
Still too annoyed to speak, Ishida clamped his lips together and allowed his seer to respond on his behalf. “Colonel Sanderson raised his voice to Emperor Ishida,” Kokoro said with a hint of ire. “He seems to be under the impression that we defied his orders by leaving the warehouse to question our food.”
One thing I’d learned about being in charge was that it was difficult to sit on the fence and not favour one side over the other. Sanderson had told us only to leave in small groups so we’d have a better chance of remai
ning unnoticed. Then again vampires were well used to not being seen and making humans forget that we existed. I agreed with both of their arguments but couldn’t outright support either side.
“I’m sorry the Colonel treated you with disrespect, Emperor Ishida.” Good manners and ten thousand years of tradition made him return my bow. “Thanks for not beheading him,” I said to the teen less formally.
A tiny smile broke through Ishida’s reserve. “The only reason I did not give the order for his death was because I thought it might displease you.”
“I appreciate that.” We clasped forearms, which was their version of a hug. Kokoro gave me a small nod of thanks for my diplomacy but worry creased her forehead. I’d try to speak to her alone and see what was on her mind if I got the chance.
I checked on Aventius and his group next. The ex-councillor had managed to keep his followers calm but the strain was showing in their frightened glances and worried whispers. “This will all be over soon,” I told them. They would all have heard me telling Sanderson that I’d found the castle but more reassurance couldn’t hurt. “Once we’ve killed the Second and his fledglings, we can all return to our homes.” I felt a sharp stab of pain that I had no home to return to. My old life was gone forever and my new life had been chaotic from the first moment I had become aware that I was now undead. Luc had promised me that we would have a house of our own one day. If we managed to live through this, maybe I’d even hold him to it.
“We are with you, Mortis,” Aventius said and offered me his hand. It was a brave gesture since I had a deadly holy mark embedded on my palm. Some of his people flinched when I shook with him and were relieved when he didn’t turn into a puddle of ooze.
Finished with calming down my allies, I joined my small group of friends. Geordie hugged me tightly. He was still trembling slightly. His level of fright told me just how tense it must have been during our absence. “I am glad you are back, chérie,” he murmured. “I thought Sanderson’s men were going to open fire on us at one point.”
