Death of the Vampire

by Gayla Twist

  I must have squirmed a little, or released a wistful sigh, because Jessie grunted out a stern, “Don’t even think about it. This isn’t easy, you know.”

  I buried my face in his chest, not quite ashamed, but a little embarrassed.

  After what felt like at least a quarter mile of twists and turns, Jessie came to a halt. “What is it?” I asked, trying to look past him.

  “The pipe is too narrow for us to keep going,” he said.

  “So, what do we do?” It would be getting light soon and we couldn’t exactly levitate in the sewers of Budapest for the entire day.

  “We passed an access point some ways back,” Jessie said. “I guess we need to test my skills of flying in reverse.”

  My fiancé was not quite as skilled at flying backwards while in a horizontal position as he was forwards. Plus, perched on his chest, I was in his way, so he couldn’t see. We immediately started drifting off course and bumping into the sides of the tunnel.

  “Aurora, could you please try to flatten yourself a little?” I could tell that Jessie was using all of his powers of concentration to fly, so I didn’t even try to nuzzle him.

  He stopped next to some metals rungs leading up toward the street. “Here,” he said. “Let’s see where this goes. We can always climb back down if we need to.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Just give me a sec.” I was completely wobbly, trying to slither off of him. I felt like I was going to tumble into the muck at any moment. “Whoa…!” I said, clinging to his shirt.

  “Aurora, you can fly,” Jessie pointed out. “You are a vampire and you can fly.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Apparently, it was something I needed to be reminded of frequently. “Thanks.” I wasn’t the world’s greatest flyer, but I could at least levitate enough to climb off Jessie.

  Once I was on the rung ladder, Jessie righted himself in mid-air. “Let me have a look, first,” he said, flying past me and then grabbing onto the rungs above my head. “I know Budapest a little better than you do.”

  I followed him up and when we reached the street level, Jessie wiggled loose a manhole cover and took a look around. “It’s pretty quiet,” he whispered, his voice echoing all around me and filling me with courage. “I think we should surface. It’ll be light, soon, and this is as good of a place as any.”

  “Okay,” I whispered up to him. I was more than ready to get out of the sewer. It was not my ideal place to hole up for the day, even with the love of my life.

  Jessie levitated upward, disappearing through the hole. But he was back in an instant, leaning over the opening to help me up. “Here,” he said, reaching for me, his black hair flopping onto his pale forehead. “I think this is the right decision. There will be traffic soon and that comes with its own risks.”

  As soon as I was on my feet, Jessie conscientiously bent over to replace the manhole cover. “Wouldn’t want anyone to blow a tire because of us.”

  And that was one of the million reasons why I loved him. We were fleeing for our lives, but he still didn’t want to ruin some mortal’s morning with a flat tire. Yes, we would probably have to spend eternity hiding in a remote region of the world, but that didn’t matter. I would be with the love of my life; the love of all my lives.

  Something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I froze, clutching Jessie’s shoulder. “What is it?” he asked in a voice no louder than a pin dropping.

  “Someone’s watching us,” I breathed.

  “Undead or mortal?”

  Lord Vagnar stepped out from where he was concealing himself in an alley. Behind him were a half-dozen of the mortal guards, all dressed in black, with their influence-deflecting helmets concealing their faces.

  “You were right,” Vagnar said to the captain of the guards. “There they are!”

  Jessie swooped me up into his arms and launched into the air. For a moment, I was just a terrified little mortal, but then I remembered that I could also fly. “I can do it; I’m flying,” I told him.

  Releasing my waist, he grabbed my hand, leading me toward the protection of a nearby building. I heard the sound of a gun being fired. Small pinpoints of pain began searing my body. I bit my tongue trying not to shriek.

  “Shotgun,” Jessie said, his voice choked with pain. He’d been hit, too, with the spray of silver shot.

  I began to lose altitude as I struggled with the pain. “Come on,” Jessie said, hooking a hand under my armpit to hoist me back up. “Fight past the pain; Vagnar’s the only one who can fly.”

  Another blast rang out, searing my back. Jessie took the spray of silver straight in the face. I screamed as he clawed at his eye, tearing the flesh away in an attempt to dislodge the shot.

  Adrenaline rushed through me. They weren’t going to take us. They weren’t going to torture my love. Grabbing him by the collar, I started flying for all I was worth. We could land on a rooftop and regain our strength before the mortals would be able to catch us.

  “Aurora, leave me!” Jessie shouted. “Just go!”

  “Never!” I wrapped my arms around him and kept straining against gravity.

  A third blast rang through the air and we were falling, spiraling toward the pavement. “No!” I shrieked. My body was wracked with pain, but I refused to give up. There had to be a way for us to get away from the shotgun’s blast.

  The guards charged up to us, their weapons drawn. “Don’t move unless you want to taste more silver!”

  Vagnar drew up next to the guards. “I’m sorry, my pets. Tunnels are tunnels. They only run a few different ways.”

  I hated him. I hated him so much I could have spit in his face. Jessie had a bloody hand pressed up against his eye. He had gouged out his eyeball just to expel the burning silver from his flesh. I wanted to help him but there was nothing I could do; I was too busy trying to claw the silver shot out from under my own flesh

  “Cuff ‘em,” the captain of the guards said, causing two of his lackeys to step forward.

  “Give them a moment,” Lord Vagar said in an imperious voice, causing the guards to hold back. “You cannot truly understand the pain that is silver to a member of the undead.” He eyed the guard in charge for a moment before adding, “Unless you’ve experienced napalm. I’ve heard that can also be quite unpleasant.”

  It took several minutes for Jessie and me to expel all the silver shot. Ridding my skin of the last fragment was ecstasy. But my relief was quickly followed by the crushing agony of being caught. And then there was my poor darling; his beautiful face was a horror show of blood and torn flesh. I knew it wouldn’t take long for him to heal, but his being in pain still wrenched at my heart.

  “Okay,” the leader of the guards said. “They’ve had their moment.” He pulled a set of silver handcuffs off of his utility belt.

  “Just so you know,” Lord Vagnar said in a casual, yet firm voice. “They will be taken to the Bishops and officially processed through the system.”

  The captain shook his masked face. “Those aren’t my orders.”

  “But that’s what’s going to happen,” Vagnar countered.

  “Your influence doesn’t work on me,” the guard said, tapping his helmet.

  “I wasn’t trying to influence you; I was just explaining the facts. Perhaps you are unaware that I am a judge in the high court.”

  The captain was not impressed. “I know who you are, and I know my orders. I send these two in for due process and I don’t get my bonus.” He waived a hand toward the rest of the guards. “None of us do.”

  Lord Vagnar scratched his chin. “So, this isn’t so much a case of loyalty; this is a case of money.”

  The guard shrugged. “Why else do you think we’d risk our necks dealing with blood suckers?”

  “Good point.” Vagnar pulled a phone from his pocket and handed it to the man. “Pull up your account.”

  “What for?” the guard wanted to know.

  Vagnar was frank. “I thought I’d throw a whole lot of money at the probl
em until I got my way?”

  The guard pulled back slightly. “How much money?”

  Vagnar reached over and tapped at the phone, entering a number.

  “That’s a little more than we’re getting paid now,” the guard said. “But it’s not worth the risk.”

  “That’s just the first payment,” Lord Vagnar informed him. “I’ll transfer that amount right now. Once my two, dear friends, here are safely in Bishop custody, then I’ll make another transfer. It’ll be double that amount.”

  The lead guard shifted his weight, obviously struggling with the potential complexities of this new windfall being offered. “Why do you want these two locked up so bad?”

  Vagnar shrugged. “I just want to see justice done.”

  “You might have a deal, but before I agree, you gotta tell me one thing.” The vampire nodded, so the man continued. “What am I supposed to tell Armin?”

  The conversation suddenly drew Jessie’s attention and he looked up. I could see the gaping, bloody socket where his eyeball used to be. If I had still been mortal, I would have barfed all over the cobblestones. I knew it would regenerate. I knew I would be able to gaze into his beautiful gray eyes again. But the amount of pain I knew he must have gone through made me sick.

  Lord Vagnar thought it over. “Tell him that after a bloody fight, you recaptured Jessie Vanderlind, but that a brigade of the Bishops’ guards took him from you.”

  “And how am I supposed to prove that?” the head guard wanted to know.

  “Show him this.” Vagnar scooped something wet and squishy off of the ground and handed it to the mortal. “He should recognize the Vanderlind gray.”

  “Oh, God.” I began dry heaving. Vagnar had handed the man Jessie’s eyeball.

  Chapter 10

  Jessie and I were arrested, handcuffed, and shoved into the back of an armored truck. Much to my surprise, Lord Vagnar climbed in after us. “What do you think you’re doing?” I hissed at him. This would probably be the last few moments my soulmate and I had together; I didn’t need it ruined by the presence of psychotic, fake royalty.

  Jessie looked at me and gave a slight shake his head. His left eye, the missing one, was swollen shut.

  “What’s the bright idea?” the captain of the guards asked.

  “You mortals worry about the transportation,” Vagnar told him. “I’ll keep an eye on these two. It’s costing me a lot of money to make this happen and I want to enjoy every dollar’s worth.”

  “Suit yourself,” the captain said, slamming the door shut. We could hear him locking it from the other side.

  “Why… you…” I went to lunge for Vagnar, but Jessie caught me.

  “Settle down,” he said in a low voice.

  “Sorry about all the fuss,” Lord Vagnar said, dusting one of the seats with a lace handkerchief before perching upon it. At least it wasn’t the silver lined truck that had brought me to Jessie. “Once they discovered you were in the sewers, it was only a matter of time before they found you, simply by tracing the pipes.” He crossed his legs and then cupped his knee with folded hands. “Upon reflection, it would have been advisable to surface much earlier.”

  “But you told them where we were,” I growled at him. “You pointed us out.”

  “That’s true; I did,” Vagnar admitted. “I have no wish to deny it.”

  My muscles coiled as I readied to fly at him again. I would claw both of his eyes out of his head, even if I was handcuffed.

  “Aurora, stop,” Jessie said in a calm voice. “We owe Lord Vagnar a debt of gratitude for having us taken into official custody. Otherwise, we’d be back in the coffin.” Then he turned to the man. “Who is Armin, by the way? And why does he hate us so passionately?”

  “Ah, yes, Armin” Vagnar raised his eyebrows and lowered his lids. “I believe you murdered his brother. All over some silly little mortal. At least that’s what I’ve heard.”

  “Viktor?” Jessie asked. He received a nod as a reply.

  Viktor Adami had become obsessed with draining me after Blossom and I had snuck into the Vanderlind Castle and found ourselves in the middle of a vampire celebration. The man just wouldn’t leave me alone, so eventually Jessie flung him at a broken piece of wood that I was holding and that was the end of him.

  “How can it be Viktor? That can’t be true,” I blurted. “We’ve already been terrorized by some with a vendetta because of Viktor. And had to go through a trial. Where was this brother, then?”

  Vagnar shrugged. “Perhaps he is only a half-brother. Or maybe he’s been marooned on an island for the last couple of decades.” This was a dig at Jessie. His grandfather had suffered through something similar in a failed plot by the family to rid themselves of his tyranny.

  “Either way, it doesn’t matter. Jessie was acquitted of those charges,” I insisted. “Viktor was trying to kill me. The Bishops ruled in his favor.”

  “That doesn’t mean his brother doesn’t hate me with every fiber of his being,” Jessie said in a low voice.

  “Very true,” Lord Vagnar added. “I mean, how would you feel if someone murdered your brother for some vapid little mortal?”

  I glared at him; he wasn’t being funny.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Vagnar feigned remorse. “I forgot.”

  Jessie hung his head. He had staked his brother, Daniel, for me when I was a mortal. Even though his brother had a habit of murdering the women that Jessie loved, that didn’t mean Daniel’s death didn’t weigh heavy on him.

  “But your mother said it was about money,” I said, clutching Jessie’s arm while trying to keep the silver handcuffs away from his skin. “She said it was like an accusation of witchcraft when a woman becomes a widow. It’s a land grab. Or a power grab. Or…”

  Both men gave me bemused looks.

  “It is about money, to some extent,” Jessie explained. “I’m sure that’s why some vampires are going along with it. But, if it was Armin who hired those mortal guards to lock us away, then it’s mostly about revenge.”

  “The kind of revenge you would probably try to extract if someone murdered your brother.” Lord Vagnar couldn’t help himself from getting in another dig.

  “But…” I stammered, shaking my head rapidly back and forth. “How… How are we supposed to get away from this? How do we get clear? Even if the Bishop’s find Jessie innocent, Armin will still come after us.”

  “That’s true,” Vagnar said with a shrug. “But don’t worry, pet. As I understand it, Armin doesn’t have much money. And those mortal guards cost an arm and a leg, so I’m sure he can’t keep paying them forever.”

  The armored truck went over a speed bump, pulled forward a few feet and then stopped, engine still running. “Ah, I think we’re here,” Vagnar said clapping his hands together. “We must be at the gate.”

  Lord Vagnar was right. After idling for a few moments, we pulled forward, but at parking lot speed. Twenty seconds later, we stopped again.

  “Jessie…” I whispered, terror rising in my chest. His face wasn’t so swollen anymore; his body was starting to heal.

  “Aurora,” he whispered, gripping my hands. “You have to be brave. We’ll see this through, I swear it. But you must be brave. No matter who talks to you or what they say, tell them nothing. Don’t talk about any of it,” he said, speaking rapidly. “They’ll want you to confess, or turn against me, or lie to protect me, but it’s all a trick. They’re just trying to gather information before the trial. Whatever you say they will use against us.”

  “But what if I tell them the truth?” I said, my voice filling with emotion.

  “No!” he practically shouted. “That would be the worst of all. We’ll stick to what we’ve said. They can’t break us, as long as we’re united with what’s already been established.”

  “But…” I choked. I knew Jessie only wanted to protect me, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to protect him. We could hear the guards outside, unlocking the truck’s door. These were our last seco
nds together. Maybe forever. “Jessie…?”

  “Aurora, I need you to tell me you understand,” he said, his voice as stern as stone. He shook my hands to force me to focus. "Look at me and tell me you understand.”

  “I understand.”

  Jessie gave a sigh of relief. “Good.”

  I nodded, looking deep into his remaining eye, getting lost in that one gray moon. “I love you,” I said as the truck’s back door swung open.

  “I love you, too,” he whispered, leaning in and giving me a soft kiss. “More than life itself.”

  “And I love that we’re not going to be in this truck, anymore,” Lord Vagnar said, rising to his feet. “I thought it might be a lark, but there wasn’t much fun in it.” A brief flash of melancholy passed over his ruggedly handsome face. “It’s so hard to find something novel to do these days.”

  There were at least a dozen guards outside the vehicle, all clutching their weapons. They’d strung a net across the opening so that no one could make a break for it. “Stand aside,” Lord Vagnar said to the guards, in his most imperious voice as he floated down from the truck. “And get that net out of the way. I’m not getting scorched due to your incompetence.”

  The guards quickly complied. Vagnar paused to give us a backward glance. “I’m sure I’ll never see you again, but I wish you both the best of luck.” Then he said to the closest guard, “There’s a date with the sun waiting for these two. Take them away and lock them up.”

  The guards pointed shotguns at us as Jessie descended from the truck. I assumed the weapons were filled with silver shot. When my love turned to help me down from the vehicle, a guard viciously thrust him aside. “Out of the way, lover boy. I’m sure Dracula’s bride can get down all on her own.”

  I could see that the truck was parked on what was probably the backside of a massive building. It was made of a pale stone and had a red tiled roof. Once on the ground, I went to reach for Jessie, but we were immediately wrenched apart. Two guards grabbed Jessie’s arms and marched him through a small doorway. I saw one last glimpse of his face as the guard following him pulled a heavy wooden door shut.