I thought at least we didn’t fit the bill for terrorists. I was pretty sure anyways. I hoped we wouldn’t get hassled in any way. But even if we did, we’d come up clean, so it really didn’t matter.
We got everything settled, waited around a little, and boarded the plane when it was time.
The flight went by quickly. Probably because I was able to read the whole time. I didn’t sleep because I didn’t need too, though most people on the plane tried to get at least a little sleep because of the time zone change.
“You’re going to feel this tomorrow, you know,” said the young, handsome, male flight attendant who brought me my third bourbon.
I thought he meant the alcohol and I inwardly laughed. Then I realized he probably meant sleep.
“Well, I’m not very tired, and my trip won’t be short, so I figure I’ll get my sleep schedule worked out eventually,” I said and realized he was smiling at me with a really wide smile.
“You must be a tough one,” he said. If I hadn’t known better, it looked like he winked at me. I smiled back.
Matt must have heard our conversation and, sitting across the aisle, looked over at us. Then he looked directly at the flight attendant with, what I swear to God, was jealousy. I was amused and began to turn it on just a bit more with the attendant.
“Yeah, I am. What about you? You do this all the time. It must get to you.”
“Well, honestly, it does. I just know how to deal with it now. Say, when we land, I have several hours before I get on another plane. Want to have drinks or something?”
The gleam in his eye told me he’d prefer “something,” and if I had been closer to feeding time I would have absolutely said yes.
But, alas, I was on a mission here. And anyway, I think Matt was tortured enough by this point.
“No, I can’t. I’m headed right off to...meet relatives,” I said, and out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Matt breathe a sigh of relief.
“Ah, ok,” said the flight attendant. “Well, if we ever cross paths again, the offer still stands. Marcus, by the way.”
He held out his hand to me. I took it and said my own name.
“Vic, huh? Sounds like my car guy. Well, anyways, let me know when you want another drink.”
With that, he smiled and was off.
I put my nose back in my book and suddenly felt like someone was staring a hole in my head. I looked up and saw Matt across the aisle, giving me an amused, but irritated stare.
“What?” I said and smiled
“That poor man,” he said and shook his head.
“He came up to me,” I said with an exaggerated movement of my hands that said it was completely out of my control. “You know, people probably say that about you.”
Matt turned back to whatever he was doing on his phone.
“Yeah, well, they’d be right,” he said.
3
A few hours and a couple more bourbons later, we landed. I turned off my e-reader, and settled back into my seat until we were let go.
When all three of us were back in the terminal, we didn’t even need to wait for our luggage since all of it was small enough to carry on the plane. We were off again. This time in a completely different country. Different continent even.
“Well,” I said, “where’s one o’clock?”
Lola stood and looked around, right in the middle of the terminal. At one o’clock was a sign pointing down a corridor leading to the train station.
We all looked at each other, and finally Matt and I indicated that it was Lola’s call to make. She started toward the trains.
Through the crowds we went, and for the first time in a long time, I felt very ordinary. I wasn’t sure what to make of that.
We reached the trains, and once again we needed a map to figure out which direction we should head. All of us huddled around Matt’s phone and tried to figure out where we were and where one o’clock would take us.
Lola decided from what position we should figure out one o’ clock, and after that it was pretty easy to see where we were headed. Now we just needed a train.
We had to wait an hour or so until the train we needed would depart, so we bought tickets and hung around. Matt even bought and ate human food. Just for fun, of course. And then it was time to move again.
The train ride was, in a lot of ways, a lot more pleasant for me than the plane. I had more space, more windows to look out of, and, in general, more time and space to consider what needed to be done. It would be a long ride, so that was good.
Eventually, it got dark again, and I was suddenly, eternally grateful that I didn’t need to sleep. That would slow this whole thing down, considering that according to my clock, this day wasn’t done yet. But, on this part of the journey, it was, and without the need to sleep I could accept that better.
The more I thought about it, however, the better off I realized we were. We would have all night to explore after we stopped. Hell, maybe we’d even figure this out overnight and tomorrow we’d be back on a plane. Home.
Finally, the train stopped and we were back in a station again. I now wished one of us was a speaker (or for short, a tongue). I actually wasn’t sure what language was being spoken, but seeing as how none of us were tongues, we couldn’t figure it out anyway. I didn’t hear or see a lot of English, but hopefully we could get by.
We all turned to Lola, and I was just starting to get tired of never knowing where we were going. It was exhausting. Though Lola didn’t look the least bit worried, which made me feel better.
“Come on,” she said to both of us, and led us outside.
She walked purposefully once outside the station, past people waiting for cabs and buses and other people to pick them up, I guessed. But I started to get confused when we didn’t stop walking. I almost stopped to ask her, and then I thought, what the hell, she’s the locater and I’m not, so I might as well just follow. We kept on walking.
We were in a town, or maybe you could call it a small city. Old looking to us, even given our three centuries of life. Certainly older looking than the city I now called home. Lots of brick and lots of wood gave it a very grounded feel. I almost started to feel comfortable.
We walked farther and farther through the town. Matt didn’t seem too bothered by not knowing where we were going, so I figured I shouldn’t be either. I had thought we would be getting into another mode of transportation. I had guessed wrong.
Eventually, the brick and stone of the town gave way to grass and trees, which with my night vision looked really spectacular. Even more spectacular than at home for some reason. Maybe it was being in a foreign place. I don’t know. Whatever it was, I was a little mesmerized by it, and I was suddenly glad we were walking.
There was a house every now and then as we now walked along a curvy, sleepy road. Cars only drove by occasionally, but the three of us kept up our pace, not saying a word. If we weren’t vampires, it would have been downright creepy, but luckily we were the monsters.
We walked for an hour, maybe more. I don’t know, maybe it was even more than that. I felt like my night vision was playing tricks on me. Things were brighter, more outlined than usual. More beautiful. Or maybe, in the dark, sublime was the better word.
I got caught up in my own vision, my own imagination, my own mind and my feet just happened to keep walking. I think that’s why the time was passing so funny.
Anyway, we walked and walked, and eventually we came to a place where the trees got thicker on either side of us, and therefore darker. But not to me. To me it got brighter, and these trees were some of the best trees I had ever laid eyes upon.
Large, leafy, curvy, twisty. Old, but eternal. It was comforting. They seemed to speak in a whisper as we went by, the three of us still not having said anything. I felt like they told me we were on the right path. In fact, I knew we were on the right path. For some reason.
And then we stopped, and still without a word, Lola led us onto a path, maybe a driveway, off of
the road.
It was all gravel as we crunched along through the trees and into further darkness. But I didn’t question it.
It made me think of Raven’s house, a little, and as I thought about that witch, I realized this was actually her doing. The fact that we were here. She had led us here. And it flashed into my memory at that moment that she had also said “I knew.”
“Victoria knows,” was what she said. At the time I just wanted to get out of there and hadn’t considered it (in fact, I just figured it was her usual gibberish), but it came back to me now and I wasn’t sure why.
There were lights up ahead now. Through the trees. We must be on a driveway, I thought, although this path didn’t seem wide enough for a car. It might be okay for horses, but who was riding a horse up to their house in this day and age.
Even when I was human, I hadn’t liked riding horses much, though it was sometimes required. When the twentieth century arrived, I much preferred the automobile. And anyway, a horse didn’t come with a radio.
The lights got closer and we kept moving. Uphill.
There was a large house taking shape in the darkness. Really huge. And I almost wondered how a home this large could stay hidden out here. Of course, maybe whoever owned it wanted it to stay hidden, but either way, this was our destination. Lola finally spoke.
“This is it.”
“You mean, this is the final destination?” Matt asked, and I was comforted by his voice.
“Yep.”
“Who lives here?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Lola said.
“I think I do,” I said, but I didn’t say anymore as we were twenty feet away from finding out for certain.
The home towered above us with massive columns that seemed to hold up the front of the place. We stopped before the dozen or so steps leading to the door.
Lola looked at me like I was supposed to do something. So I walked up the steps and rang the bell.
A few seconds passed and then the massive door was pulled open. At first there seemed to be nobody there. And then a woman, definitely a vampire, came into view and I knew immediately who she was. Or at least, who she was by her gift.
She was a keeper.
“Victoria,” she said and smiled in an odd but gentle way. “We’ve been expecting you.”
Another person using my human name. Interesting.
“It’s Vic now, actually. For the last three centuries or so.”
“Of course,” the woman said politely. “I’m Skye.”
“Is that because you have trouble keeping your feet on the ground?” I said, making a joke to cover my rising discomfort.
Skye simply walked away, leaving me in the grand foyer.
Matt and Lola, who stood outside while Skye and I were giving introductions, gingerly crossed the threshold of the front door. Both of them looked around at the inside of the ornate, yet oddly modern old house.
“Vampires,” Lola whispered, and I nodded. I was curious if Matt could feel it yet, the presence of other vampires, but I was, frankly, a little too nervous to ask right now.
I didn’t want to tell Lola that they were keepers, for some reason. She may have already known, but I couldn’t be sure. Most vampires never ran into a keeper. They were such a small group and had such a specific purpose.
I heard footsteps. Big, heavy footsteps. I expected a male to come into view in any second. And I was right.
The man who walked into view was dark skinned, with his hair in short twists. He was stocky with broad shoulders, though he wasn’t very tall. About average height for a man. He smiled and in a gentle manner began to introduce himself.
“My name is Clopse,” he said, without holding a hand in greeting to any of us, but exuding peace. “You are here for a purpose,” he said, and I was surprised that it wasn’t a question.
I hesitated and chastised myself for looking so weak in front of him. Was I here for a purpose?
“I...I don’t know. My friend,” I indicated Lola, “she located us here, and...”
God, I sounded like an idiot.
“I know,” replied Clopse. “We sent her the location.”
“The location of what?” I said, though I was beginning to know.
“This location. They want to speak to you.”
I looked over at Lola, who was starting to put two and two together at the same time I was. Matt still looked like he was in the dark on all of this. I couldn’t really blame him.
“The Three, they’re waiting.”
4
Chills erupted all over my body.
“They’re awake?” I said, as it was the only thing I could muster.
“Oh yes, for days now,” Clopse said. “We had to prepare for your arrival.”
He began walking back in the direction he had come, and without any indication we knew we were supposed to follow.
“Wait,” I said in a louder voice than I had meant. “What do you mean you’ve been waiting for me? Why do the...” I had a hard time saying their name, “The Three want to see me. What have I done?”
Clopse turned back around, his arms clasped behind his back and another smile on his face.
“Nothing. It’s simply your time. They’ve been increasingly...aware of you. It was time for them to wake up.”
“When is the last time they were awake?” I asked.
“Five-hundred and fifty-five years ago,” Clopse said. He turned around once again and began walking.
I followed this time, with Lola and Matt right behind me.
We walked down a long corridor, Clopse’s heavy feet sounding the way, and turned left down another long corridor. We saw no one else, and I didn’t dare ask any more questions.
At the end of this corridor was a staircase heading down. We descended.
It twisted downward for many feet, and as we steadily lowered ourselves deep into the earth, my body began to tingle and I felt an electricity ignite me. I wasn’t sure whether it was fear or excitement or both.
Finally, we were at the bottom on a small landing, and before us were two double doors. Wooden, very plain. Kind of made me feel like we were going to walk into a shed.
Clopse pushed open the doors in one movement. Whether they were heavy or not I couldn’t tell. Clopse’s strength may have just made opening the doors look easy. I don’t think I would have opened them with the same ease.
The smells that hit my nostrils were earth and decay. The moist air felt cool and pleasant against my skin. It was dark, but that didn’t bother any of us. Clopse led us forward into another corridor, though this one was made entirely of earth.
We walked and walked, and just when I thought I couldn’t walk anymore, we stopped. The corridor opened up into a large cavern, just as dark and moist as the corridor had been, and Clopse turned to me.
“This is where I leave you. Your companions may stay with you, but you must go forward without me.”
I knew there was going to be a fucking riddle in here somewhere.
Clopse smiled one final time, turned around and took his heavy footsteps all the way back up the earth corridor. After a few minutes we didn’t hear them anymore.
The room we were in was large, if you could call it a room. The ceiling was hundreds of feet high, and the walls were hundreds of feet wide. A couple of hundred feet in front of us, it looked like there was a chasm between the side we stood on and the other side of the cavern. I had this feeling...
“We have to cross to the other side,” Lola said, looking at me with frustration on her face. “I just got that really strongly,” she added.
I wasn’t surprised.
I walked to the edge of the abyss and for some reason, looked down, which made my stomach turn. There was no end in sight. I looked across to the other side.
If any of us had been jumpers we could have done it, but that wasn’t an option.
“Matt?” I asked as he walked up beside me. “Do you think you could jump that?”
“You m
ean if I got up enough speed?” he asked. I nodded.
He considered and then backed up almost to where we had entered the cavern. Before I knew it, a flash of a body went past me.
The next thing I heard was the sound of rock breaking, and the next thing I saw was Matt’s foot hitting the edge of the other side. He slipped and caught the edge with both hands.
“Matt!” I yelled out before realizing he could easily lift himself up on to the ledge.
He stood up on the other side, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Well, I made it,” he yelled across. “But if you were thinking I could carry the two of you or something like that, there’s no way.”
That was clear.
I ran my hand through my hair, nervous and thinking.
“I need a surface,” Matt said. I refrained from responding, “Yes, obviously,” the way I wanted to and just looked at him.
He walked around looking at the floor and the walls with his lips moving in the form of words, but with no sounds coming out.
I guessed he was working out with himself how he might get the three of us across safely.
He reminded me of a master craftsman, looking at his medium and trying to solve a particularly difficult problem—one he had never seen before. I thought it was sexy.
Finally, he crossed his arms and stared at the wall to our right. After a moment, he walked up to the edge of the chasm, right next to the wall, and put his hand out on the rock.
“I’ve got an idea,” he said. “But it’s insane.”
I thought I knew what he had come up with.
He stepped back from the wall twenty feet or so, but angled himself toward the corner where the ledge met the wall, and hesitated.
He seemed a lot less sure of this than he had simply jumping over the chasm, but before either Lola or I could say anything he took off.
It looked to me as if he was running along the wall, which I guess he was, but before I had the chance to think about it too much. He was back on our side.
“Made it,” he said and flashed a smile. Now I really thought he was sexy.
Bored To Death: A Vampire Thriller Page 11
