Blood Red Dawn

by Karen E. Taylor

  I nodded. The need to keep him hidden hadn’t actually occurred to me. I was glad the two of them were thinking. But a thought crossed my mind and I stepped away from the bar and back into the kitchen area.

  “Chris,” I said, leaning in the door, “since you can’t help out at the bar tonight, could you do me a favor?”

  “Sure, Dad. What’s up?”

  “Walk up to the abbey ruins, find Deirdre, and bring her back. I’m still not convinced that it’s safe for any of us to be out wandering alone, especially her. She’s not in the best of shape these days and neither am I.”

  He nodded, gave me a small salute that made me smile in remembrance of the boy he was. As I was heading back into the bar, he opened the door to the outside and I heard his sharp intake of breath.

  “Dad?” His voice cracked; he sounded frightened and young once again.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “One of the dogs. Curly. Or Larry. I never could tell the two of them apart. He’s hurt, I think.” Chris bent down and picked up the whimpering dog, carried it into the kitchen and laid it down on the floor. The room flooded with the scent of warm blood and triggered an involuntary hunger response. As I bent over the dog, my fangs grew and Chris drew back from me.

  “It’s Larry,” I said, ignoring Chris’s reaction. “Poor little guy. But”—and I gave the dog an encouraging pat—“he’s not that bad. It looks worse than it really is. Get me some clean towels and a basin of warm water and we’ll see if he’ll let me clean him up a bit.”

  Fortunately the animal trusted me, so I could tend his wounds without fear of him biting me. I’d never asked and had no idea if an animal could become vampiric with a taste of our blood. I didn’t think I wanted to find out. The injuries did prove to be minor, shallow gouges on his back and hindquarters. “Keep him quiet,” I said to Chris when I’d finished, “and try to keep him from licking at the cuts. Chances are Sam and Viv will be stopping by a little bit later, we’ll have him take a look.”

  “How did this happen?”

  I shook my head. “No idea. He may have gotten caught in barbed wire somewhere or maybe another animal attacked him. Could even have been Curly, I guess. Any sign of him?”

  “No.” Chris knelt next to the dog. “Do you still want me to go out looking for Deirdre?”

  “No, you stay here. I’ll go. Just let me tell Maggie where I’m going.”

  I stopped as I got to the door and turned back to him. The love of animals he’d developed when growing up as Phoenix had carried over, readily apparent in the care and regard he gave to the dog. And yet even as my heart twisted with gratitude at the sight of my still-too-young son back with me again, the details of another dog’s death nagged at my mind, feeding my natural wariness. Phoenix had been close to that animal too. In my years on the police force and the more recent years living as a vampire, all the brutal deaths I’d witnessed haunted me, but somehow the senseless cruelty of the beheading of an innocent and trusting creature had felt more obscene and depraved than most of them. Pointless and evil. And now, as had happened then, doubts entered my mind. How well did I know this boy? Was he his mother’s child after all? Maybe he wasn’t what he appeared to be on the surface, the innocent victim of the plots of an evil man. Did something more sinister and diabolical lurk under his skin, in his heart and mind?

  I cleared my throat. “Chris,” I said, “do you remember how Moe died? More importantly, have you been able to remember who did it?”

  His eyes glassed over a bit and his face seemed to grow blurred and vague. “No,” he said dragging the word out slowly, making it into a drawl. “I’ve really tried hard to remember, but it’s like there’s this wall in my mind.”

  I nodded, feeling my mouth tighten. Sooner or later we would know the real story. I only hoped there would be no more deaths before that happened. It seemed to me that he was deliberately evading the questions I asked. But I’d already had his mother in tears tonight. One of them was enough.

  Without another word, I went into the pub.

  Chapter 2

  “Everything okay, Mitch?” Maggie smiled at me as she wiped the bar.

  “One of the dogs is hurt. But he’ll be fine with a little rest. I fixed him up and Phoenix is keeping an eye on him.”

  She nodded. Her total lack of interest or concern aroused my suspicions again, at least until I remembered that Maggie had never been much of a dog lover. She’d even driven Moe out of the bar her first night armed only with a broom. I chuckled in spite of myself; Moe had been the size of a bear with the personality of a lion and still our little Maggie had beaten him at the intimidation game. She wasn’t our friend, that should have been apparent from the minute she walked into The Black Rose, but I couldn’t help admiring her courage. She would have made one hell of a vampire.

  As if sensing my thought she looked up at me and winked. “Thomas is hoping after a game of darts, Mitch. It would help all of us ever so much if you obliged him, then he can spend the rest of the night whining about how he lost, instead of how much he wants a game.”

  The men at the bar laughed and I glanced at the clock. Deirdre would be back soon. To be honest, I wasn’t too thrilled with going to find her, not because I didn’t want her here, safe and sound, but because she’d accuse me of being her jailor again, accuse me of being overprotective. We’d fought too much recently about my desire to keep her safe by my side. And after all she’d been through, maybe she needed some time to herself. The Others were no longer hunting us and she should be fine. I shrugged and ignored the feeling in my gut, reassuring myself that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. After all, she’d been doing exactly that for more than a century before I’d met her.

  “One game then, Thomas?” I said through clenched teeth as Maggie handed me the darts and a fresh drink. “Friendly game or are we wagering?”

  “Not on your life, Mitch, I know better than to waste my money betting you’ll lose.”

  We moved over to the dart board, but once there Thomas did not seem so eager to play. Instead he looked over his shoulder at his friends still sitting at the bar. I followed his gaze and saw that they were deep in conversation with Maggie. “I wanted a bit of a private talk with you, Mitch,” Thomas said in a low voice. “It ain’t all that easy to get you alone since that Maggie girl showed up. I wonder that old Pete ever recommended her for the position here. She just don’t seem right to me, not right at all.”

  “How so, Thomas?” I tossed my round of darts, two ended up dead center, the other fairly close to the first two.

  “See,” he said in a loud voice as he gathered the darts for his turn, “that’s why none of us will play you for money.” He dropped his voice again. “Jim told you he saw your Dot up at the abbey, but he didn’t tell you the whole story. He seems to have saved that for Maggie and I don’t like it, not one bit. She’s after you, you know. Set her cap for you, as it were. I can see it in her eyes. And she’d be more than happy to get Dot out of the way.”

  “Dot’s not going anywhere.”

  Thomas took his turn, making a half-whistling hiss through his teeth as he did so. Shaking his head slightly, he gave an exaggerated sigh. “Good enough to beat anyone else, but not you, Dead-Eye Greer.” He clapped me on the shoulder and went back to his conspiratorial half-whisper, “That’s not what Jim says. He says she was with someone up at the abbey, another man.”

  “And?” My voice sounded edgier than I’d intended. What Thomas said may have been true, but not for the reason that was implied. Deirdre probably met someone and fed from them. It didn’t have to be anything more sinister than that. But if that were so, why did the sinking feeling in my gut continue?

  “Well,” Thomas looked over his shoulder again, “you know how Jim is. A great teller of tales, our Jim is. Anyway, he told Maggie that one second he saw Dot, in the arms of another man. And then the next second they weren’t there.”

  “That’s ridiculous, Thomas. People don�
�t just disappear.”

  “And that’s what we said. And Jim agreed that it was odd, but he said all of a sudden there was this shining light around the two of them, like an egg or a cocoon. He blinked and then they were gone.” Thomas shrugged. “Some of the men here think Jim had too much to drink, some of the others think he’s seen too many television shows. I think he’s just trying to make trouble.”

  I didn’t know what to say, instead I nodded to keep him talking. The knot in my stomach felt like it would never untie. I’d witnessed that sort of display before from Eduard DeRouchard. I didn’t like it happening again. Not here, and not with Deirdre.

  “And then Maggie laughed. Like it was a good story she’d heard before. Then ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish,’ she said and laughed again. That’s why I don’t like her. She’s just not right and I don’t trust her. If I were you, Mitch, I’d speak with her as soon as possible. Fire her if you have to. Pete thinks the sun rises and sets with you. He won’t mind.”

  I clapped Thomas on the shoulder. “I will talk with her, Thomas, and thanks for the game.”

  “Thanks for nothing, you mean.” His laughing complaint followed me to the bar. “Just one time I’d think you could let the old bloke win.”

  “I’m going out,” I said to Maggie as I hurried past her. “I don’t think I’ll be too long.”

  “But, Mitch, we’re busy here. Don’t you think you could stay a little bit longer? I know you’re worried about Dottie, but I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

  Glaring at her, I held my tongue and went into the kitchen. To my surprise, Vivienne and Sam were there, Sam examining the dog as Chris knelt by with a worried expression.

  Viv came over and stood on her tiptoes to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Mitch, mon cher, we are here.” She gave Chris a glance and lowered her voice to a whisper. “We came in the back door so as to avoid the Breeder. I do not know how you stand having that woman close to you. She gives me fits.”

  “Me too, Viv.” I ruffled her hair. “You didn’t happen to see Deirdre on the way over here, did you?”

  Sam stood up. “She’s not here? I need to speak with her and you as soon as possible. I’ve been testing the blood samples she gave me the other day and, well”—he gave Chris a concerned look—“let’s go upstairs.”

  “I was just about to go out looking for her, Sam. Can’t it wait?”

  “No. I’m afraid not. Chris?” He smiled his best doctor smile at the boy, “Why don’t you take the dog into your room if you can carry him? He should sleep for a while and he’ll be more comfortable there.”

  Chris carefully picked up the sedated dog and went into the small bedroom off the kitchen.

  “Shall we go upstairs then, Mitch?” Viv crooked her hand into my arm and hugged me to her briefly, resting her head lightly on my shoulder. From that, if nothing else, I knew. And my heart fell.

  “Damn. Is the news that bad, Sam?”

  He looked at me and shook his head. “Let’s talk about it upstairs. There are things I need to say that can’t be done with”—and he cocked his head in the direction of the bar—“her listening.”

  Holding the door open, I gestured for them to precede me, then followed the two of them up the stairs and, ignoring Maggie’s curious look, unlocked the door to our apartment and closed it behind us. The flat was small, with a tiny bathroom and kitchen, a seating area of couch and chairs around the fireplace, and our bed on the other side of the room. The steel door and shutters had been Deirdre’s and my addition to the decor, sure as hell not pretty but they served their purpose. With them shut, we could sleep in safety, knowing that not one ray of sun would ever penetrate our nest. The steel also served as a deterrent to Others armed with crossbows and guns with wooden bullets.

  I looked over to where Sam and Vivienne stood hesitating right in front of the closed door. “So what is it?”

  Sam cleared his throat. “Sit down, this may take a while. And afterward we’ll all go out and help you find Deirdre.”

  “Fine.”

  I settled down on the couch and Sam on one of the chairs, but Vivienne did not join us in the seating area. Instead she seemed uncharacteristically nervous and paced around before walking into our tiny kitchen. “Have you any wine, Mitch?” she called. “I could use a drink, we probably all could.”

  “You’ll find a few bottles in there. Open what you like. I’ll have a scotch, thanks. And if you’re hungry, there are still some bags of blood left in the fridge.”

  Sam looked uncomfortable. “Probably best if you throw those out, Mitch. It’s part of what I have to tell you. But first I want to say that it’s not all bad news.”

  “Are we playing the doctor’s good news/bad news game now? Just tell me, damn it. It’s not like you to sugarcoat the medicine, Sam. Get to it.”

  Vivienne walked back into the room, carrying a tray with drinks, scotch for me and wine for her and Sam. She put it on the coffee table, picked up the two wineglasses and sat on the far arm of Sam’s chair. He sipped at his wine, then set it down and cleared his throat.

  “A lot of this is theory, Mitch, but I’ll give it to you in layman’s terms as much as possible. Simply put, Deirdre is changing; the poison in her blood has done more than block her memories. It’s done something unprecedented, something I’d not have believed possible, if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes. I went to reexamine the samples I’d collected from her just two days ago and saw that even in the test tubes, the cells were changing. Evolving. Transforming into something completely different from what they’d been before. And into something different from any blood cells I’d ever seen, human, animal, or even vampire.”

  “What?”

  Sam shook his head. “I don’t know exactly. I have my theories on it, of course, but I can’t know for sure. In fact the only way I can know anything certain is to continue with my tests.”

  “Okay,” I said, “Deirdre is changing. What exactly does this change mean?”

  “It means,” he paused and sipped his wine. Vivienne rubbed his shoulders gently. “If the poison can’t be arrested or reversed, but is allowed to continue in its purpose, it means, simply, that Deirdre won’t be a vampire for much longer. The change is occurring rapidly in the dormant blood samples. I’ve no way to gauge how quickly it could occur in her, but I can only assume the process will be accelerated.”

  “And when she changes? What then? She’ll be human?”

  “No, as far as I can tell she won’t be human either.”

  I reached over, grabbed my glass, and drained half of it in one gulp. It didn’t help. Laying my head against the back of the couch, I closed my eyes for a second, trying to get a grip on what Sam said. Deirdre, not a vampire? Not human? Transforming into what? What the hell else was there?

  When I opened my eyes again, Vivienne nodded at me. I’d never seen her this serious. Ever. And with a cold slap of realization I saw that she was frightened. Frightened for Deirdre. Frightened for herself. Frightened for all of us. This very formidable woman had lived through the French Revolution, lived through the destruction of Cadre headquarters, lived through the recent years of persecution and through God knows how many other disasters and tragedies, and had managed all of it with a smile on her face, secure in her self and her powers. And she was frightened now?

  Shivering slightly, I finished my drink and slammed the glass down on the coffee table. Both Sam and Vivienne jumped and I gave them a weak smile. “Sorry. It slipped. So what do we do now?”

  Sam looked guilty. There was more he wasn’t telling me. What on earth could be worse than what he’d already said? “We go and find her, if she’s not already back, Mitch. And then we’ll see what I can find out. There may very likely be a way to hold back the change, maybe even to reverse it. I feel sure of it. But I can’t do anything unless she’s present.”

  “And if there’s not a way?”

  Sam looked away, but Vivienne got up from her perch on the arm of the chair, crossed o
ver to me, and placed tiny cold hands on my cheeks, searched my face with gray eyes slightly misted over with tears. “She will die, Mitch, mon amour. She will die.”

  Chapter 3

  The abbey was deserted when we got there. No sign of Deirdre, no sign of anyone else either. Even by Whitby’s tough standards it was a cold, wet night. And everything was so quiet. Too quiet, as they’d say in the old war movies I liked to watch. Even the sound of the ocean was muted, as if the world stood still.

  All three of us took turns calling her name and only the eerie echoes of our voices answered back.

  I pulled my black T-shirt over my head and unbuckled my belt.

  “Mitch?” Sam gave me an odd look. “I doubt that she’s swimming in this cold.”

  Vivienne gave a half laugh and patted him on the cheek. “No, no, mon cher, you misunderstand. He is going to change his form, which is an excellent idea. And I will join him. We can cover more ground that way, as well as get better scents. So turn your back, please, Sam, and we will get on with it.”

  I glanced at Viv, surprised at her modesty. She smiled and shrugged. “I do not wish to be observed during the change. Sam knows this, but he insists on trying to sneak a peek anyway.”

  “Research,” he grunted. “No other reason than that.” But he folded his arms and turned his back.

  I undressed completely and moved into my wolf form almost immediately. Not a painful experience for me, the transformation was almost a celebration of life, of the power I possessed. Deirdre struggled with it, always, fearful of dropping her human form for too long. She clung to her humanity, nurtured it. I couldn’t blame her, I suppose, we are what we are. I’d not have wanted her any different. As for me, though, I had no compunction about changing. During my years on the force, I’d seen enough of the horrors that humanity could produce to regard the human form with more reverence than any other.