by Deborah Noel
“I have a doctor on my payroll. Let’s say he does experiments to determine cause and effects. Why does silver have an ill effect on my kind? What happens if we drink human blood versus animal blood? That type of thing. His brother worked with him on other projects. My son, Druce, was created as his guinea pig. Druce was a good specimen. He was strong willed; could withstand all the tests Benipal put him through. Benipal was like a mad scientist, while his brother, Marscell, was a more dedicated doctor, always looking to help people, all the supernaturals he got involved with, but especially fledglings, which are newly born vampires,” Rogi explained.
“Druce created my grandson a few dozen or so years ago, out of spite against Benipal when he started helping Marscell with his projects. Druce felt,” he paused as he searched his English for right word. “My son began to feel left out, unimportant, unloved. Part of it was my fault as I, as his creator, didn’t create him for anything more than a disposable creature. I didn’t spend time with him. I didn’t look after him. To be honest, I didn’t think he would survive some of the tests.”
He paused his own story to pretend to quench his thirst by throwing back the alcohol served earlier.
“What was this secret that Lucas exploited?” Brae coaxed.
“I didn’t know what it was to be a parent. I was killing a human and turning it into a vampire. What did I know? I didn’t know a man turned vampire would be like a child. I didn’t know what it entailed, what it meant. I had no way of knowing how dependent a child would be, how much a child would look to his parent for everything--answers to every question, help to figure out the right thing and what the consequences would be if wrong choices were made,” Rogi blurted out, ignoring Brae’s question.
“I failed Drake and he never forgave me for it,” he looked at each of us, stopping at Brae. “Many years ago during an experiment, Benipal discovered powers of blood from a virgin when ingested by Drake.”
I sat up a little straighter.
“For some reason, still not known to us, virgin blood allows a vampire the ability to be able to move about in sunlight as humans do with no deadly result.”
He let that fact hang in the air over us, watching silently. I looked at Declan. A couple hundred thoughts and questions went whizzing through my mind.
Brae leaned over and whispered, “Our guests.”
Declan and I nodded together.
Rogi looked at us, “Your guests?”
Brae quickly returned her interest to Rogi. “Please go on.”
“At first we didn’t tell Druce of the significance of the virgin’s blood. We just documented the powers it enabled him. He eventually figured out himself that he couldn’t go out into the sun without it.”
Declan asked during his pause, “How long would this last?”
“It would depend on the quantity ingested. Obviously, the more, the longer. Generally, a human body holds five or six liters of blood. We have found that that amount of a virgin’s blood will enable a vampire three days of sun exposure. We don’t know what the components are in the virgin’s blood that allows this. That was something we were trying to identify.”
“Are there any other powers that come along with the blood of a virgin?”
“We were in the process of doing more testing when all hell broke loose.”
The three of us drew in a breath, waiting for the bad news.
“Druce got fed up with all the testing. He was extremely angry at Benipal for leaving him to work with Marscell, only to come back and spend time with him for testing purposes. Druce left the compound and hunted down Marscell and threatened to kill him and the projects he was working on. My son disappeared for a time, then he created my grandson. CD he was called, a fledging left on my door step. That was his statement for me. I created Druce then abandoned him. He followed in my footsteps; like father like son.”
His pain showed in his face. The guilt did, too.
“After CD’s fledging period was finished, Druce came back during the day while the rest of us were sleeping and took him underground with him. Many unexplained and unwarranted killings began happening here in Germany, including Marscell, and it took me many years to restore the peace between my world and yours. I was able to track my grandson when he befriended Lucas Dethstare. And now I’m afraid they are causing chaos in your world.”
“Unsolved murders, missing people, younger people gone missing,” Declan muttered.
I couldn’t help but think of Marcy’s cousin. Witnessing the vampire take her life was forefront in my mind. I shivered. I thought of the telephone conversation I overheard Morticina having at dinner the night we first met Rogi. Then the thought of Mattie’s kidnapping almost stopped my heart. I couldn’t catch my breath. Declan instantly reached for my hand and squeezed.
The room went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Declan’s actions brought the room back into focus. He stood up so quickly his chair fell backwards. He slammed his fist on the table so hard all of the glasses jumped again and spilled their contents. Every one of us at the table jumped in our seats, including me.
“Where is Druce?” I had never heard such fury in Declan’s voice.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, six huge (and I mean HUGE) vampires stood behind Rogi ready to defend him. It seemed as though they morphed out of the walls. Each of them was over six foot tall, with anywhere from two to four inches in differences between them. Tanks tops showed that their shoulders were broad and their muscular builds as enormous as a top body-builder. Jeans clung like second skin to their oversized legs. They wore their hair tightly cropped to their heads. They bared their fangs to show they meant business.
A bright light flashed to my right and made everything around the room white. It took a few seconds for the room to return to focus and when it did, eight bodies of mist took on human shapes surrounding us. These beings matched the size of the vampires opposite them. They sported ponytails, keeping their long hair behind their heads. They were better dressed in buttoned-down shirts and jeans. Though they bore no fangs and their faces weren’t pale and twisted, they held a certain element of intimidation. Colored amulets draped their necks. They, too, were poised for battle. Brae was chanting beside me.
Disregarding all, Declan stuck to his guns, “Druce, where is he?”
Rogi stood to take control of the mounting hostility in the restaurant. “Das reicht! Zurücktreten und ruhig bleiben. SOFORT!" (Enough! Stand down and relax. NOW!)
Rogi turned to Brae, “Witch, call off your vapors!”
He took a breath as if to relax, “Mr. Fitzgerald, please calm down. I assure you your daughter is not with Druce.”
“How?”
“No word of Druce, and there hasn’t been for a long time.”
“What does that mean?” Declan was not calming down any. I gently laid my hand upon his arm. Without looking at me, he shrugged me off.
Brae started chanting the same phrases she was earlier. She tapped my arm and placed a small bracelet in my hand, which I found to be an odd thing to do at a time like this. I glanced her way and she pointed to her own wrist where she was wore something similar. I put mine on.
“Declan!” I hollered in his head.
That did the trick. He abruptly looked at me. I, again, placed my hand upon his arm. His glare focused on me and I could see him begin to breathe. He looked back to Rogi and for the first time saw the array of vampires and witches surrounding the table. My husband looked confused.
“Please,” Rogi gestured for each of us to take our seats again. He sat first. “Let’s all remain calm.” He looked to Brae, “Nice trick.”
“I knew you would be armed. I am here to protect my friends.”
“Very well.”
The exchange between Rogi and Brae was unexpected and a little bizarre but I was glad that Brae had planned ahead.
“How did you know?”
“I do my homework, Mr. Kilmoor.”
He nodded in admiration and
approval.
“Mr. Fitzgerald,” he began as he settled back in his seat. “There is an underground world where vampires can live without hassle. They can easily disappear. I have many friends and confidants in that world, but I also have many enemies. My son, Druce, entered the underworld to escape his life with me. He made friends with my enemies. When he came back for CD, again they disappeared underground. Every now and then I’d hear tidbits about them. Then six years ago dribbles of Druce ceased. CD showed up one night at my door asking for a place to stay. Apparently, he had angered the wrong man underground. He was caught in bed with an underboss’s human protector. CD was about to turn her into a vampire but he was stopped. But not before he was exiled from the underworld.”
Rogi saw the confusion on our faces. “I cannot go into politics now.”
“Not the point, “ Declan assured him. Although I thought of a few questions, I did not voice them.
“CD never told me the truth of what became of my son. But being his creator, I knew his existence was no longer. And because CD’s creator was no longer, he had no obligations to anyone. He was a free vampire. When CD could no longer use me for what he needed or wanted, he left. He boarded the next ship to the Americas. He hasn’t visited me since. It was shortly after that when I created my daughter, Chloe.”
My eyebrows arched, though I held my tongue.
“Chloe was brought to Benipal, dying from AIDS. Benipal wanted to try a transfusion to see if it would work. It did. Chloe became a vampire.”
I took a moment to drink in this information. Rogi continued on.
“I learned my lesson from Druce and was a much better father to Chloe. I stood by her through her fledging period and taught her all I could. She volunteered, against my better judgment, to help Benipal with some more testing to see if things were different for male vampires versus female vampires. Some things were, some things weren’t, in case you were wondering. By the time she was mature, CD befriended Lucas, and Chloe used herself to seduce Lucas and keep tabs on CD for me.”
“And Emily?” I asked.
Rogi seemed to be taken back a bit. “I guess you would know of the girls if you knew Bolton and Morticana. Emily was CD’s idea. He thought that Blake would be happy with her. Turns out he wasn’t. CD was a no father figure, so Chloe took her under her wing.”
I could see that. Emily was always so shy and timid. I knew that Rogi was telling the truth. I knew, somehow, that Mattie wasn’t taken by crazy rebel vampires and hiding in their underground world. I just knew… she was fine.
The room I was in faded from view. I was suddenly sitting across from an empty seat in a dark pub. I was waiting to meet someone. I had a note in my hands. Mattie’s scribble marked the page: “Mommy I am fine. Come get me.”
Under her words was an address I couldn’t quite make out. I heard her giggle and she ran up to me and threw her arms around me.
I snapped back to my reality. I looked around, scanning the room to see what was truly before my eyes. Everyone in the room was staring back at me. Declan grabbed my arm.
“What is wrong?” he asked.
“I had a note from Mattie. She came running to me,” I was shaking.
“Where?”
“I don’t know, I couldn’t see the address on the paper.”
Declan turned to Rogi. “Our dinner is done. We don’t want any trouble with you.” He walked behind me and pulled out my chair. I stood. I walked around Brae and the maze of witches and stopped beside Rogi. The vampires closest to me leaned a step closer.
“Sie sollten sich entspannen (you need to relax),” I hissed at them.
I stuck my hand out to shake Rogi’s. “No hard feelings, I would like to sit down when things calm down and ask you some questions, maybe talk to your doctor friend.”
He took my hand, “I will arrange a meeting with Benipal for you.”
“Vielen Dank fürs Abendessen. (Thank you for dinner.)”
He nodded.
And with that, dinner was over. Declan, Brae and myself left to return to our rooms.
Chapter Thirty
Declan closed the door to our room behind us. “What the hell just happened?”
Brae chimed in, “Well, we had drinks that were supposed to be dinner with the head-honcho vampire of Germany, which almost turned into a blood bath.”
A knock on our door interrupted our conversation. Declan, who hadn’t taken a step away from the door yet, turned and opened it. A bellhop pushed a wheeled cart into our room. He looked at Brae, who was in front of him, “Your dinner.”
He stopped the cart in the center of the room and began to lift the silver dome tops of the plates of food. “Shall I prepare the table?”
Brae stepped aside, “By all means.”
He nodded and whipped out a tablecloth and covered the small round table in the corner of the room by the fireplace. He set out the plates of food, silverware and napkins. He produced glasses from a shelf underneath the covered cart as well as a pitcher of water. He left the pitcher in the center of the table. The young man fussed over particular placement of everything, then stepped back and smiled in satisfaction. He backed the cart toward the door, “How do you say… bon apetit.”
Declan reached in his pocket to tip the man.
He raised his hand, “No need, Rogi’s orders.” And with that the man disappeared through the door and down the hall.
I laughed, “What the hell?”
Declan pulled out a chair for each Brae and I. “Why not?” he shrugged.
Over dinner I told the tale of my second-ever premonition about Mattie’s return.
“Can you recognize the place where it happened?” Declan asked me.
“No. It was a dark pub-like place. I was sitting at a small table staring at an empty seat across from me with the note in my hand. Mattie came running toward me from my right. She leapt into my arms. That was it. I don’t know how these premonitions work. I don’t know if I can control them. I don’t know when they will start or what triggers them.”
Brae spoke between bites, “I’ll do some research to see if we can do anything. Shane should know.”
“Shane?” Declan and I said together.
“If anyone will know that, a wizard would.”
Again in stereo, “Wizard?”
Brae slapped her hand over her mouth. “Crap!” She said between her fingers. “He wanted to explain when the time was right.”
Declan spoke faster than me, “Why didn’t he explain when we were all sitting in the conference room spilling secrets?”
She smiled slyly. “We were talking secrets technically, not heritages. And I don’t recall you guys spilling your Irish pixie genes in the conference room”
“Touché.”
My cell phone announced a message. It was Sam telling me to jump online as soon as I could.
When the computer connection was made, Sam and Shane were sitting in Sam’s office.
“Good news, bad news. Which do you guys want first?” He didn’t wait for a delayed answer. “One of our vampire guests committed suicide. I went down to try to talk to them both and he freaked after a few questions. They refused to talk so I went back upstairs. We were watching them on camera, they got into an argument and all of the sudden he ripped his wrists open and drank his own blood. It was pretty creepy, kids. Guess it’s true what they say: Vampires cannot drink blood of the dead.”
We were speechless. The three of us.
Sam continued, “Blood was everywhere. It sizzled as it dripped down the silver bars and lining. I guarantee you will never forget the sound of a vampire’s death. Words can’t do justice to what we witnessed. You have to see it for yourselves when you get back here. There wasn’t much left to even perform an autopsy. All of it is on film for your viewing pleasure. I won’t spoil the movie for yas.”
We were still in shock. Brae spoke up first. “So what is the good news, Sam?”
That seemed to get Sam and Shane to sit up a little
straighter. Shane slapped Sam on the arm, “Can I tell ‘em?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Shane looked into the camera. “The other one sang like a canary! Told us everything we wanted to know.” The transmission delay made it seem like slow motion. “We filmed it for you, Cianna, so you could review it over and over to your heart’s content.”
I smiled. And then blurted out “Mattie isn’t in Germany.”
“How’d you know?” Sam asked in a disappointed tone.
“Premonition,” Declan answered.
“Do you know where she is?”
“No, but Cianna had a note and she was in a pub-like place. It was dark, so there was no detail.
“We had dinner with that Rogi dude tonight.”
Sam quickly leaned into the camera, “Watch him, Declan. There’s something about him I can’t put my finger on.”
“Yeah, I can. He’s the head vampire of Germany.”
Shane smacked Sam in the arm again. “Hey, can you guys talk to this Rogi guy again?”
“Probably,” I answered, now glad I left on the terms I had.
“Brae, set up some safety and protection spells. Have some vapor fighters at your disposal.”
“All ready done and already had to use them.” Then she quickly added, “All is well. Just a ‘had to prove I wasn’t to be toyed with’ move on my part.”
Shane nodded his head in understanding. “Good, fill me in later. Cianna, meet with Rogi again. Ask him about an Oxmeade Carlsburg.”
Declan grabbed my notebook, “Any background on this Oxmeade character for us, Shane, so we can tell if Rogi is telling us the truth? “
Just then my cell phone rang. It was Jondra. I excused myself from the online conversation to take her call. I went into the quiet darkness of the bathroom.
“I must see you now.”
“Where?”
“The bellhop will bring you to me. You must come alone. You all are being watched. I cannot risk you all coming to me. I have arranged for one of you to meet me undercover.”
