“Don’t be. There is very little that I know.”
“Interesting,” she said. “Nevertheless, the High Council’s plan became moot. The Divines were warned of the betrayal and they vanished with the wind, never to be seen again…until now.”
Silvanus sat silent, watching the Erinyes across the fire. “How do you know so much of this tale? You were members of the High Council, weren’t you?”
The three nodded in unison.
“And it was you three that warned the Divines of the plan to take them.”
Again they nodded.
“That is why the other Stewards punished you.”
“Yes,” Tisiphone said. “For our treachery, for what we saw and heard and spoke, we were made to suffer greatly. We were cast into a pit, left to feed on rats to stave off the Gray Death. But it was more than that. You see, blood drinkers cannot regenerate a limb that is taken from them. It can be returned and will heal, but another will not grow in its place. They placed us together for a reason. If one of us chose to steal from the other two, or even go savage, we could regain our lost senses. It was the mental torment that the Stewards enjoyed the most. They checked on us nightly, taunting us to give in.”
“Monstrous,” Silvanus whispered to the fire. “How did you escape?”
“It is a long tale. Let us just say that we soon discovered that by feeding from each other, we could combine our remaining senses. It didn’t help us escape the pit, but it did drive away the madness. There was another vampire that shared our hatred of the Stewards. It was she that set us free.”
“Shufah,” Silvanus said.
The three nodded in unison.
“Shufah released us and her twin, Suhail, hid us away. That was centuries ago. We have been on the run ever since, moving from place to place, hiding in holes and hovels, waiting for our chance for revenge.”
The sound of Tisiphone’s voice reverberated off of the close walls of the cavern. The lions above roared in protest. The silence afterwards was deep and consuming. Silvanus hated to break it, but a question gnawed at him.
“Tell me, was I one of the ten Divines that fought off the savages?”
“No,” Tisiphone said. “We don’t know who you are.”
Silvanus’s heart fell just a bit.
“Why does it matter who you were?” Tisiphone asked the question, but it was in Alecto’s eyes that he saw the puzzlement. “We no longer remember our true names. The pit stole it from us. But it no longer matters. All that is important is who we are now.”
Silvanus nodded. He couldn’t help but feel that they were hiding something from him. It may have been the disorienting effect of addressing three as though they were only one, but he didn’t think so. Tisiphone talked around his questions and Alecto’s eyes betrayed her. Megaera, the ears of the three, could not speak and had no eyes to read, but her facial expressions were like a whisper in a quiet room.
“You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?” The directness of his question caught them off guard. All three slid back from the fire in unison, giving him his answer. “You know something that you aren’t telling me. You hide it because you think that once I have all I need that I will either turn you over to the Stewards or kill you myself. Tell me I am wrong.”
Tisiphone and Megaera leaned into Alecto as they had one of their silent psychic conversations. Alecto kept her soft brown eyes tethered to Silvanus, a mix of fear and distrust swimming in her expressions. With their conversation finished, Tisiphone and Megaera turned their blind faces toward him as well.
“Why do you fear me?” Silvanus asked. His frustration with their silence bubbled to the surface of his emotions. “I came to you in peace. It was you that attacked me. I came for answers and all I get are stories and riddles.”
Alecto watched him, her intense eyes peeling back the layers of his existence as one who searches a tome for the secrets of life. She gave a quick glace toward Tisiphone.
“We were truthful when we said that we have never seen you before. You were not among the ten. You are correct. We do fear you, as we feared them.”
“Why?”
“Though the ten Divine Vampires vanquished the savage horde, it was not for the sake of blood drinkers. It was the humans they fought to save. They looked upon us as though we were a disease. The High Council believed that when the savages were destroyed that the Divine would turn their wrath upon us. This is why they moved to overtake the Divine before it was too late.”
“If you thought this, why did you warn them?”
“To gain their favor, of course. To show them that not all blood drinkers were without redemption. When we were punished and thrown into the pit, none of the ten came back to save us. It was within their power, but they abandoned us to our fate. How are we to know if you will do the same once you have what you desire?”
“If you cannot trust me, then trust in the judgment of your friend, Shufah. It is she that sent me in search of you.”
The three Erinyes sighed in unison.
“We do not know you, but we do know this. You were once a blood drinker as we are now. You were not born Divine. You became Divine.”
“How?”
“What is your first memory?”
“I remember waking up in a laboratory hidden in the mountains. I was naked, surrounded by black glass, as though I had been born from some strange egg.”
Alecto raised her eyebrows, letting him know he was close to the answer.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jerusa stepped in between her mother and the two strange men.
“What do you want?” her mother asked in a frail, squeaking voice. “Why are you in my house? Get out before I call the police.”
The men cocked their heads as though the concept escaped them. Both were large and well-muscled. Their heads and faces were bald. Not shaved, but hairless, as if they lacked the follicles to grow hair. Even their eyebrows and eyelashes were missing. Long, dark veins, grayish-green in color, ran down the sides of their faces, made even more visible by their pale, almost translucent, skin. They had no teeth, which caused their lips to pucker inward. Jerusa couldn’t decide if they looked like the world’s oldest men or a pair of oversized mutant babies.
“I thought Light Bearers just stood on the sidelines and watched.” If they were surprised that Jerusa knew who they were, they didn’t show it and she began to wonder if Taos had been wrong. “If you boys are looking for dates, you’re in the wrong house. The Phoenix girls aren’t interested.” The men cocked their heads again, confused by her snarky babble.
She didn’t know what else to do but stall for time. She couldn’t engage them in front of her mother, yet as the seconds passed, she felt more and more threatened. The men were repulsive to look at. She could feel the heat of their flesh, hear the rapid stuttering of their hearts. The scent of their blood seemed tainted and alien somehow. They had been in the sunlight when she had witnessed them on the security monitor, so she knew they weren’t vampires. But they weren’t human, either. She hoped that Shufah and Taos were on their way to help.
“We’re looking for Lazarus. Where is he?” one of the men asked. From the rattling of his voice he either had a terrible sore throat or his larynx had been crushed. His jaundiced eyes were piercing and Jerusa felt a bit dizzy, as if he were attempting to enter her mind.
“We know he has been here,” the other man said, his voice just as raspy. “Is he hidden or has he teleported elsewhere?”
A jolt of shock knocked the wind from her. The only person she knew that had that talent was Silvanus.
Jerusa shrugged her shoulders. “Sorry. Never heard of him.”
“You must come with us.”
“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline. You two don’t seem so well. Maybe you should go see a doctor.”
Both men were sweating heavily, giving off the sickly-sweet aroma of rotting meat. The sweat dripped down their foreheads and off their noses, but neither man moved to wipe his face. One of t
hem looked down to a watch-like device strapped to his wrist, but instead of a clock-face there was a digital readout flashing the number 92.6% in bright red.
The one checking his watch looked to the other. “We should feed on them.”
The other man shook his head. “Our orders are clear. We can feed on the human, but the vampire must be returned to base.”
The man touched the back of his head and Jerusa thought she caught the high, whining sound of an electrical device. “Father has changed our parameters. We won’t be able to subdue the vampire unless we have replenished our blood. Let’s feed on these two, then apprehend one of the other vampires.”
“True,” the other said. “I get to feed on the vampire.”
“That’s not fair.”
“We can’t split her. You can feed on one of the other vampires.”
The man’s face puckered in a grotesque way as he considered this. “I guess I could. We were only ordered to bring in one.”
It was disturbing watching this discussion. They were like petulant children fighting over a stash of candy and felt neither the need to hide their agenda, nor the fear that they could be stopped.
Jerusa heard what they were saying, she understood what it meant, but she didn’t feel as concerned as she knew she should be. An inexplicable warmth spread throughout her body, tingling her fingers and toes. She let her sleepy gaze fall on her mother. Debra Phoenix’s eyes were glassed over and a broad smile covered her face.
Alicia and Foster appeared in the room. The faces of the ghosts were stricken with fear, but Jerusa couldn’t help but find them comical. She waved at them and laughed.
The men looked to see who Jerusa was addressing, saw no one, then turned their attention back to Jerusa and her mother. The men were sweating so much now that the collars of their shirts were wet and the room was choked with the cloying sweet scent of their perspiration.
Jerusa could feel the muddy eyes of the men fastened to them, though she was unable to hold her head up straight to look at them. She felt drawn to them, as though an invisible tether were around her waist and the men were towing her in. She started to move forward, but Alicia held her back.
Jerusa’s mother stumbled forward, as if drunk. Foster tried to hold her back as Alicia had with Jerusa, but she passed right through him with only a slight shiver.
Jerusa brought her head up, but it teetered on her neck like an unstable boulder. She tried to walk toward the men again, but Alicia held her in place. The ghost-girl’s hands felt like slabs of ice against her skin. The scar on Jerusa’s chest began to ache, as though her borrowed heart was trying to leap through the old wound.
“She’s not coming to me,” said the man in front of Jerusa. The ridges above his eyes, where the brows should have been, furrowed with displeasure. “How is she resisting?”
“How should I know,” the other said. Jerusa’s mother stumbled into his arms and he caught her so that she wouldn’t fall. “You wanted the vampire. Go get her. Unless you want to trade.”
Jerusa’s head felt full and light, her eyes were heavy. A strange, almost pleasant burning filled her muscles, compelling her forward. Somewhere, deep inside, she felt horror grasp her heart when the man holding her mother opened his mouth and a long pointed tongue snaked out between his pink, glistening gums. He leaned in closer and with a quick flick, the tip of his tongue pierced the delicate skin on Debra’s neck.
The man made a wet, gulping sound and his vile tongue swelled and contracted as he siphoned the blood from Debra’s carotid artery. Jerusa went cold all over, but then the shirt around the area of his stomach started to writhe and spasm, and she managed to eek out a tiny scream. Out from the space between shirt buttons slithered a long, slender, serpentine appendage composed of sinew and veins with a sharp, dangerous barb on the end.
The appendage snaked its way upward, nuzzling against its master like a faithful pet, then turned toward Debra. With the speed of a striking cobra it pierced her chest above the heart.
Her mother gave a pain-filled gasp. She searched the room with wide, panicked eyes, but she seemed unable to move otherwise. She locked onto Jerusa’s face, silently imploring her to do something—anything—to save her. Tears streamed down both cheeks. Debra’s mouth hung open in a silent scream. She had no idea what was happening to her, but Jerusa’s enhanced senses painted an all-too-clear picture.
The creature was making a transfusion, drawing Debra’s clean blood out through his syringe-like tongue and replacing it with his own vile blood through the umbilical cord. Jerusa listened to the thundering of their synchronized hearts. She watched as the dark veins receded from the beast’s flesh only to resurface in her mother’s.
Alicia shook her by the shoulders, but Jerusa still couldn’t move. The other creature approached with caution at first, but his steps grew bolder the closer he came. He placed his hot, tacky hands on her shoulders. His serpentine tongue slithered out from between his lips just as the umbilical cord slipped out from under his shirt.
The beast moved in for the strike, but halted when a bright light exploded to his left. His unnatural, child-like face lit with surprise and he stared in awe at Foster, who glowed like the sun. He tilted his head as he tried to understand what he was seeing, but he didn’t release Jerusa from his grip. After a moment, when Foster didn’t attack, the man turned his attention back to his prey. Alicia’s spectral body erupted into light, but this time the creature seemed neither impressed nor concerned.
Alicia looked at Jerusa, her eyes apologetic. Before Jerusa had time to ponder Alicia’s look, the ghost reached down and placed both hands over Jerusa’s scar. The fiery lightning exploded throughout Jerusa’s body, filling her with a level of pain she had never felt before. Her senses were devoured by a vicious, consuming force, causing the entire world around her to melt into a bright white void, a bottomless pit in which the only substance that existed was excruciating pain.
She didn’t know how long she existed in this hellish limbo, but it was long enough to beg for death. Death did not oblige her request, however. When the white pain subsided, Jerusa found herself on the floor, on her hands and knees. The creature that attacked her lay on his back not far away, writhing and screaming.
Jerusa staggered to her feet, once again in full control of her body.
The beast on the floor rose to his feet. The other, now finished with the transfusion, dropped Debra Phoenix on the floor in a heap. Their umbilical cords retracted back into their shirts. The men, one now pink and human-looking, the other still jaundiced and sickly, stood poised for attack.
“What did she do to you?” asked the one.
“I don’t know, but it was painful. There are others with her.”
“Others?”
“We cannot feed on her. She must be taken back to Purgatory.”
Droplets of sweat formed on the tops of their heads and once again Jerusa felt the nauseating swoon threatening to overtake her, as the air in the kitchen filled with that sickly-sweet aroma.
Jerusa spun in a tight circle, snatching a butcher’s knife from the block as she passed and sent the blade flying at the beasts with all of her strength. The creatures’ reflexes were every bit as fast as her own. The jaundiced one brought his hands up in an attempt to catch the blade and succeeded, just not in the way he had hoped.
Jerusa had been aiming for his throat, but instead the knife buried itself up to the handle in his forearm. The creature clutched his arm as a teeth-rattling screech poured from his mouth.
Jerusa didn’t wait around to see what was going to happen next. Continuing in the momentum of her spin she flipped up onto the counter and jumped feet-first out of the tiny kitchen window above the sink.
Jerusa rolled to her feet and took a deep breath. The crisp autumn air quickly cleared her senses.
The beasts barreled head-first out the window with impressive agility. They hit the ground like jungle cats and came at her without hesitation. Jerusa turned
and fled, pressing her vampiric speed to the limit. She had to get clear of the neighboring houses, find an isolated place where she could make her stand. She would not allow her actions to put any more people in danger.
Jerusa ran for the deep forest, nestled around the abandoned train tracks. The place where she had first met Silvanus and this strange new life of hers had begun. She darted between houses, just a blur in the night.
She was fast, but the creatures were faster still. No sooner had Jerusa cleared the trees than the men were upon her. One swiped low, snatching her ankle. The other tackled her around the waist and the three of them tumbled through the dead foliage and crashed into the thick trunk of a beach tree.
Jerusa fought to her feet, dodging punches and blocking kicks. She tried her best to break free of them, but whenever she knocked one back the other came at her again. They were as ferocious as a pair of savages, yet focused in their purpose. One of them caught her across the jaw with a hammering fist and for a moment the world was filled with stars.
A vision of her mother lying on the kitchen floor like discarded trash filled her mind and a burst of hatred flashed within her. Jerusa sprang to her feet, thrusting an uppercut into the face of the beast that attacked her mother and driving him backward. She then turned on the other man. He lashed out at her, but she caught his wounded arm, wrenched the butcher’s knife free and slashed at his throat.
He sprawled backward, but not soon enough. Jerusa managed to open two deep gashes in his throat, spilling out a foul smelling dark blood. She smiled, but it was short lived. The two neck wounds zippered shut almost immediately.
The other man rushed in from the side and smashed the knife from her hand with a downward blow. She spun to face him with the intent of tearing open his chest with her bare hands, but the jaundiced man snatched her from behind in a hug so tight that she felt her ribs crack.
Perpetual Creatures, Volumes 1-3: A Vampire and Ghost Thriller Series Page 34
