Heart of the Dead: Vampire Superheroes (Perpetual Creatures Book 1)

by Gabriel Beyers

  “So if Jerusa is lying about her sunlight savior, do you think she’s lying about seeing spirits?”

  Suhail looked out his window for a long moment, lost in his own thoughts. Just when Taos thought an answer wasn’t coming, Suhail said, “She’s lying. About everything. The vampire spirit has always washed that gift away. Why would it make an exception for common trash such as her?” A mix of sadness and anger flashed in his eyes. “Believe me. I know.”

  “But why would she lie?” It was a dangerous question to ask, and Taos regretted it right away.

  “She knows the Stewards will never accept her with that hideous scar dividing her breasts.” Suhail’s voice seemed almost cheerful at this thought. “Her only hope of survival is to manifest some ‘gift’ that will impress the Stewards enough that they might grant her mercy. Shufah knows this as much as I do. And the Stewards will not be fooled.”

  “Then why is Shufah going along with this? I mean, if we have no hope of finding Kole, wouldn’t we be better off going into hiding?”

  “Hiding?” Suhail said, his face screwed up as if the word was bitter in his mouth. “Why should we hide? If not for Shufah’s constant slighting of the Stewards, we would be Stewards ourselves. But she mocks them, challenges them, disobeys them, and I am made to suffer for it. But no more, I tell you.”

  Suhail stared at his reflection in the glass, his hands knotted into fists, and for a moment, Taos thought he might punch out the window. Perhaps he couldn’t stand to look at a face so similar to his sister’s. Or maybe he couldn’t abide the betrayal in his own eyes. He didn’t break the window, but looked away at the endless road slipping beneath them.

  “We have the age,” Suhail said, “the power, the beauty, but her hatred of the Stewards pollutes her thoughts. Was I not wronged just as much as she was?” Taos had no idea what this meant. Suhail seemed to be speaking to himself now. “When she broke the law and allowed that mewling human, Foster, to live, giving him not just one bite but many, it was I who convinced the Stewards to spare her. When she presented them with her plan to alter Foster’s appearance to match their standards, the Stewards would have killed them both right where they stood had it not been for me. I convinced them to wait, that if they yielded to her wish that she may join with them. Never for a moment did I believe she and Foster would achieve their goal. Kole, that wretched fool, was supposed to deny Foster.”

  “It was you that called for us.” It wasn’t a question, but a revelation. “I thought we had been summoned by the Stewards.”

  Suhail looked at Taos as if he just now noticed he was in the car. “You’re more of a fool than Kole. The Stewards spared Shufah because I convinced them that Foster would never reach his goal. Kole was supposed to kill Foster in the name of the Stewards.”

  “But why?” Taos asked. He was treading treacherous waters now, but it was too late to bail out. He had a feeling the answer would cost him dearly.

  “Shufah is my twin,” he said in a low, sullen voice. “My eternal companion. But it seems I was not enough for her. She met Foster and instead of killing him, she fell in love with him.”

  “So this is nothing more than jealousy?”

  “I’ll admit that I am jealous, but that is not all there is.” Suhail sighed as if he was too weary to continue, but after a moment, he spoke again. “The Stewards will not accept me while my sister is at odds with them. They want us both, but her hatred of them runs deep. With Foster in her life, she no longer needs me. She will go off with her love and so will vanish my chances of becoming a Steward. But if Foster is dead, I will be all that she has.”

  “But if she believes that the Stewards have condemned Foster, won’t her hatred of them fester even more?” Taos sensed dishonesty in Suhail’s words. Perhaps it was just madness. Either way, he couldn’t trust Suhail.

  “It is possible that if the death of her lover does not crush her that it will instead empower her vision of war against the Stewards — a dream she has long held to.” Suhail’s voice grew cold, almost robotic. “If she chooses the latter path, then I will plead her treason before the Stewards, convincing them of the danger she poses until they relent and send out the Hunters.”

  “You would slaughter your own sister to gain a seat with the Stewards?”

  “If I must.”

  Taos wasn’t offended by this idea. His natural family was centuries dead, and even when they had been alive he hadn’t cared much for them. A few even met their end under his fangs. But to hear these words come from the mouth of Suhail left him in awe. It was true that the vampire spirit held many gifts, great and small. Suhail’s gift was deception.

  “Why do you think Kole backed out of our bargain?”

  Taos felt the penetrating pain of this question. The wrong answer could be his doom. “I’m not sure. He kept his own council.” Suhail didn’t seem to like this response. “Maybe he had a human pet hidden away somewhere. Someone he wanted to turn but knew the Stewards would never accept. Perhaps he thought that if the Stewards would allow Foster to live, then he could do the same for his human.” It was a weak theory, but it was all he could come up with.

  “Perhaps,” Suhail said. “Kole betrayed me, but you, Taos, will not. I extend to you the same contract I extended to Kole. Help me, and when I am a Steward, I will not forget you.”

  Taos glanced at Suhail from the side of his eye. “And if I defer?”

  “Please don’t. I’ve come to think of you as a friend. And there is nothing I hate more than slowly killing one of my friends.”

  Taos remembered the iron grip Suhail had had on his throat. “What would you like me to do?”

  “Kole is not our priority. The Hunters will take care of him when they arrive. But he may be a tool for us to use. No matter what else happens, the fledglings and the human must die.” Suhail shifted in his seat. “And if need be, Shufah as well. Our goal is to find this vampire, Silvanus. He is the key.”

  “I understand,” Taos said aloud. But in his heart, he thought: He’s gone mad, and if I don’t find a way out of this, he’ll kill me along with the rest.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jerusa felt a rolling ball of nausea bouncing about her stomach as Thad maneuvered the Jeep through the twisting side roads as he headed back toward town. It wasn’t the bouncing of the Jeep or the swaying side to side. It was the thought of hunting.

  Jerusa sat behind the driver seat so she had a clear view of Shufah. The woman was extraordinary in every way: eternal youth, strong in both body and spirit, and on top of that, flawlessly beautiful. Her hair danced like strands of black corn silk in the wind, and her brown skin seemed radiant, even in the dim moonlight. She was dressed in a soft green sari that reminded Jerusa of Silvanus’s eyes. She tried to imagine Shufah as a young woman, truly young, a fledgling vampire. Had she ever been timid or submissive? Had she been terrified the first time she’d had to hunt?

  Jerusa doubted it. Shufah had probably been a force to reckon with even from the beginning. And that had most likely been in some ancient form of the Middle East where women were little more than property and any sign of independence was likely to get you killed. What was Jerusa in comparison? She couldn’t even escape from under her mother’s thumb. She had put up quite a fight against Taos, which she was kind of proud of, but that was a moment of uncontrolled rage. Shufah’s every word and movement seemed measured and precise. She seemed the type that could stand toe to toe with the apocalypse and with just a focused stare, force it to retreat.

  Thad drove into an area of town known as Rock Dove Estates, though, why it was called that, no one seemed to quite remember. The nickname would suggest a lovely neighborhood filled with expensive homes sitting upon large pristine lawns, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

  Rock Dove Estates was the oldest part of town and had all of the charm of an elephant graveyard. Five square blocks stood crammed full of mobile-home parks, tiny, desiccated houses left over from the 50’s, government housing, a h
omeless shelter, and a methadone clinic. It was the part of town that always seemed to get omitted from the city’s webpage and town tour brochures.

  Thad drove past a gas station convenient store. Standing in the shadows behind the store were two men engaging in some sort of transaction that they obviously preferred to be clandestine. He continued down the block and parked behind a burned-out shell that, at one time, had been a small auto mechanic shop.

  Shufah turned in her seat so that she could speak to both Foster and Jerusa. “The hardest part will be approaching them. Use your senses. Read their body language. Smell their evil deeds.” Her soft, gentle hands swam before her face like a pair of exotic fish, hypnotic in their dance. “Dazzle them with your beauty, with the fierceness of your eyes. Disarm them with your voice. And if they are not drawn in — ” She smacked her hands together, producing a starling pop. “Then take them with your speed and strength. Once you have them, do not think. Just let your new nature take over. Your vampire body was built for this. It will not lead you astray.”

  Shufah’s voice was soothing, her words reassuring. Jerusa could sense the volumes of wisdom contained within her. What would it be like to spend the ages walking by her side, learning all she had to teach? Foster was a lucky man.

  Alicia materialized next to the Jeep, startling Jerusa out of her wandering thoughts. She stood in her patented stance: arms crossed over her chest, face pursed in disapproval, shaking her head. But there was something different in her eyes. Since whatever force that governed the grave had forged the law that no lingering spirit could speak to Jerusa — perhaps for fear that they may divulge some arcane fact that no living person should know — Jerusa had become a master at reading the eyes of spirits, especially Alicia’s. The young ghost’s eyes, which no longer held any trace of the playful and mischievous temperament that Jerusa had grown to love, now seemed filled with an obsessive determination. Alicia’s eyes said, I will not let you do this.

  They all noticed Jerusa’s startled jump, but it was Thad who spoke up first.

  “Are you all right?”

  Though they were steeped in deep shadows, Jerusa’s new eyes revealed every line, every pore in Thad’s face. If she chose to, she could focus on the minutest detail, his eyelashes for instance, until his features melted into a collage of sharp angles and splashes of harsh colors. He was as beautiful and delicate a creature as any she had ever witnessed.

  Jerusa looked away from all of them, even Alicia. “I don’t think I can go through with this.”

  “Child,” Shufah said, “you have no choice. This is your life now, and if you listen to me, it can be a long one.”

  She could hear the men speaking behind the convenience store, haggling over the price of some prescription pills. I have some rejection medication that I don’t need any more. How much does that go for per pill? The intense new instincts now awake within her testified that these men were far worse than just drug addicts. They had innocent blood on their hands, but how she knew this Jerusa couldn’t say. Shufah was right. Something about their scent, wafting over the breeze, told her that these men had done terrible things. Even so, she didn’t want them dead, or at least she didn’t want to be the one to kill them. Maybe she would feel different when the blood-thirst overtook her, but for now, it was beyond her.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t do it.” Panic gripped Jerusa. Would Shufah cast her away? Would she kill Jerusa?

  Shufah motioned for Jerusa to lean closer to her. Jerusa swallowed her fear and did as she was told. She kept her eyes fastened to Shufah, waiting to see the flash of anger or contempt that would quickly precede her death. But instead, Shufah reached up with a slow, steady hand and caressed Jerusa’s cheek. She ran her thumb over Jerusa’s lips, gingerly lifted each eyelid. Her head made a slight tilt to the side as she considered something in Jerusa’s eyes.

  “You don’t seem to need blood, at least not right now,” Shufah said, an amused look drifting across her face. “You are an exceptional fledgling, Jerusa Phoenix. In all of my centuries, I’ve never come across one quite like you. You are sure to make an impressive vampire once you’ve come to your blood strength. But to do that, you must drink blood.”

  “But — ” Jerusa started to interject, but Shufah cut her off with a gentle touch to the lips.

  “But that will not be tonight. Though you have been born of blood, you have been denied any instruction on how to survive. I will do my best to remedy that if you will promise me one thing.”

  Jerusa was relieved that Shufah wasn’t angry with her, but still feared she would disappoint her. “I will do my best.”

  Shufah smiled. “Don’t be so cautious with me, young one. All I ask is that you trust me. I will guide you if you let me.”

  Tears welled up in Jerusa’s eyes, but she fought them back, more to keep from frightening Thad at the sight of blood dripping from her eyes than anything else. “Thank you. I do trust you.”

  Shufah leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, and though it was an act of kindness, Jerusa could sense that it pained her to do so.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “You may hate me before it’s all over. When you start to show signs of hunger, when I decide it is time, you must feed. No putting it off next time. Agreed?”

  Jerusa nodded, but somehow, she knew that when the moment came, she would end up disappointing Shufah regardless of her promise.

  Shufah considered Jerusa’s eyes for a moment, then turned to Foster in the seat behind her. “You, my love, however, must hunt.” They leaned together for a kiss.

  Jerusa turned her head, a bit embarrassed to spy on this intimate exchange. She caught Thad’s eyes and felt her cheeks blush hot. She turned away to look for Alicia, but she was nowhere to be found.

  Without a word, Foster leaned away from Shufah, leapt from the Jeep, and waded out into the shadows. He waited for one of the two men, presumably the buyer in the transaction, to finish his business and walk away. When the dealer was alone, Foster made his move.

  Without turning around, Shufah spoke. “There is another reason why you didn’t want to hunt, isn’t there?”

  Jerusa considered playing dumb. It wasn’t that she wanted to hide anything from Shufah, but that she had for so long hidden her second sight from others that it now was second nature.

  “I’m nervous,” Jerusa said. “I don’t want to kill anyone. But you’re right. It’s more than that. It’s Alicia.”

  Shufah turned in her seat. “What about her?”

  “She doesn’t want me to hunt.” Jerusa felt foolish saying that.

  If Shufah judged her foolish, she kept her thoughts from showing on her face. She looked at Jerusa with calm, half-lidded eyes. “She needs to know that that is an impossibility for you now. To not feed at all is to bring on the Gray Death.”

  Jerusa grimaced. “That sounds pleasant.”

  “Oh, it’s far worse than you think. The Gray Death is a disease brought on by starvation. One so terrible that the Stewards sometimes use it as a punishment for vampires who oppose their rule. That is why it is so important that you feed.” Shufah’s eyes glazed over a bit. She shook herself. “Anyway, you can suppress the thirst for a while with the blood of animals, but sooner or later, you will need human blood.”

  Jerusa had never felt more childish than right now. Her diminutive eighteen years was a mere blip on the screen compared to Shufah’s countless centuries. She was glad Thad was the only other one here to listen to her babbling excuses. Suhail, though near identical to his sister, held none of her wisdom and understanding. He would look upon her as though she were something to be pitied. And Taos would scorn her raw. Foster would have compassion on her, but he had been preparing for this moment for a while, so his understanding would be limited.

  Thad just continued to stare at the two women with a blank face.

  “I think Alicia just doesn’t want me to kill anyone,” Jerusa said, succumbing to her need to explain further. “When I chan
ged, she changed, too. Her eyes … they’re so haunted now. Like she knows something terrible is about to happen, but she’s powerless to change it. Is there any way to drink blood and not kill someone?”

  Shufah eyes grew sad. “It’s possible to train yourself to take little drinks, but the Stewards have forbidden it. To slake your thirst, you would have to drink from several people. Each one you bite would potentially be infected. And with each infected, you run the risk of not only massive births of vampires, all feeding and infecting others, but of weak vampires dying and becoming savage.”

  “You make it sound like this has happened before,” Thad said. He was slumped forward, elbows on knees, his curiosity suddenly piqued.

  “It has,” Shufah said. “Historians call it the Black Plague.” She gave a little laugh at the shocked faces staring back at her. “Oh, the historians don’t have it all wrong. The bubonic plague did ravage the land, but the truth is, the war claimed more lives than the disease did. It was a confusing time. The mortals didn’t care where death had come from, only that it was there.” She seemed lost in her own thoughts for a moment. “It took the Hunters years to exterminate all of the savages. We almost went extinct. And not just vampires, mind you.”

  “What do you mean?” Jerusa asked.

  “Savages are opportunistic predators,” Shufah said. “They will kill and feast on whomever crosses their path. But if they had a choice between humans and vampires, well . . .”

  “They’d choose the vampire,” Thad said.

  “Because we’re a better meal,” Jerusa added.

  Shufah nodded. “So to speak. If a human’s flesh can regenerate a savage’s body and a human brain can bring a measure of cognitive reasoning back to its ravaged mind, just imagine what happens when they feed upon vampires.” A small, almost imperceptible, shudder overtook her. “I’ve never witnessed it for myself, but I’ve heard rumors that when the great slaughter came there were savages that arose with unimaginable power, able to destroy even the most powerful and ancient of vampires.”