by Drew D'Amato
She smiled, for some reason she did trust him.
“So yes overnight is possible, will this be a crewed or a bareboat charter?” the associate continued.
“What is the difference?”
“Crewed, a skipper comes along and steers the boat, bareboat one of you have to sail it. There are no crewed overnight charters.”
Vlad had not thought through this part of the plan. He had no idea how to sail a boat, but he really did not want to spend this romantic evening with some midlife captain on the boat trying to check out Jasmine while she was in her bathing suit. However, what other option did he have?”
“I can steer it,” Jasmine said from behind him.
“Okay, here is our resume you have to fill out.” The associate handed a piece of paper to Jasmine. “Do you have any certifications on you?”
“Yes,” Jasmine said as she took out her ASA card and gave it to her.
Of course, her father told me she taught them all how to sail. He watched as she marked almost all the boxes for the courses she was certified in on the resume. She was certified in class 101, 103, 104, 105, and 106. Vlad could tell she knew her way around a boat. The associate got on the phone and confirmed her qualifications. When Jasmine had finished filling it out the associate was ready.
“Okay, now you just have to choose a boat.”
“It’s your choice, skipper,” Vlad said to her.
“What powerboats are available? I don’t trust this landlubber doing his part on a sailboat,” Jasmine said, playfully elbowing Vlad in the stomach.
“That’s probably a good idea,” he told her.
The associate looked on her computer. “The Descubridor is available. It’s a Spindrift 40.”
“That’s perfect, I’ve been on a Spindrift before.”
“Okay, now we just have the issue of the bill.”
“Guess it’s time for the landlubber to do his role,” Vlad said and handed his credit card to the associate. Jasmine and Vlad playfully smiled at each other. He was falling deeper in love with her the more he looked at her.
“Okay, it’s going to take about an hour to get the boat prepped and fueled.” The associate handed the receipt and other paperwork to Vlad.
“So what should we do for an hour?” Jasmine asked.
“Check out the freaks on the boardwalk,” Vlad said.
Jasmine and the associate laughed.
“Actually it might be a good idea, to get some supplies for dinner if you haven’t already,” the associate said.
“Wow, I hadn’t even planned for that.”
The associate smiled. She could tell this was a man more interested in surprising his younger girlfriend, then the specifics of getting the surprise right. “There’s a Ralphs a few blocks down on Lincoln Boulevard. By the time you guys get back your boat should be ready. Oh, and we are not supposed to allow alcohol on the bareboat charters, but I don’t think a nice bottle of wine would hurt anyone.” She smiled at the two of them.
Vlad walked out into the sun of Venice beach with a beautiful girl in his hand. Life was perfect. He was in his glory. But all glory was fleeting.
4
The Descubridor was a white 40-foot long motor yacht with blue trim. The inside had teak woodwork. The bedroom was downstairs below the galley, which looked like a wooden cabin, with a beige rug and furniture. There was a fully enclosed flybridge above the galley.
Vlad had no specific destination, so Jasmine took them far enough out that they were just surrounded by the blue Pacific. “You don’t plan to kill me out here, do you?” Jasmine asked kidding around, from above in the flybridge.
“Of course not,” Vlad said from the galley below. “How the hell would I get back?”
Vlad worked on dinner in the galley as Jasmine steered from the flybridge. A little gender role reversal he figured, but so what. She did know boats and he could cook a mean steak. She tried telling him some of the nautical jargon, but he still could not understand why the bow and stern were not just called the front and rear respectively.
Vlad had chosen a dinner of filet and lobster with a dry Chianti for the wine.
“Didn’t you have filet last night went you went out to dinner?” Jasmine had asked in the supermarket. On the walk over to Ralphs she had told him about how busy the bar was last night, and he told her that he and his cousins went out for a late night dinner. Vlad had learned being not too far from the truth, was the best way to lie.
“Variety is overrated. I like what I like, and when I like something I can’t get enough of it.”
Jasmine liked hearing that. When the sun started its descent into the horizon, dinner was finished and it was time to eat. Jasmine dropped the anchor and Vlad served the meal in the galley. He had picked up some cheap candles at the store and lit them just as Jasmine came down to the galley to eat. They sat perpendicular to each other on the ninety-degree couch with the table in front of them. Jasmine sipped from her wine. The sun took on an orange and golden glow as it started to set. She bit into her steak, took the scene in and in one word described it as perfect.
“So I heard about Senator Kern losing the election. How did you feel about that?” Vlad asked her.
“A little guilty.”
“Really?”
“Well, not for Kevin or his father. But my dad explained to me that there were some people who lost their jobs because of my revelation. People who worked for his father. He also might have been the better candidate, so in a way it affected all of America.”
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
“Yeah, something like that. Unfortunately, Kevin’s dad also knows some people at the health inspector’s office and they have been breaking my father’s balls lately. But he is good when it comes to being sanitary. They won’t find anything.”
“They might not need to if they are powerful enough.”
“Well, we’ll see. My father told me though I have to be more considerate of my actions.”
“We all have to.”
“I guess. So what is your homeland like?”
“What, Ireland?”
“No, I know Ireland. My father has taken us there twice. Both times to visit Dublin. We have family over there. I was asking about Romania. I’ve never been on the continent of Europe.”
Vlad danced in his mind about what to say along the lines with the story he told her.
“What do you think it is like?” he said to stall her.
“I’m thinking mountains for some reason. I see mountains covered with dark green trees when I think of Romania. It’s like I can see it, but even in my studies I don’t remember ever seeing any pictures of the place, but I feel like I have this photograph in my mind of it. Like I have been there before.”
“Well your intuitiveness is pretty good. It is pretty close to that. The Carpathian Mountains make up almost the whole country.” Vlad felt a shiver run down his skin. She knew his land.
“Do you consider it your homeland? I know you said your family moved to Ireland when World War Two broke out.”
“Yes, that is what got us to move. Then once the war was over Romania was communist, and it didn’t seem to wise for rich descendants of royalty to move back to a communist country. However, by 1990 communism had fallen and some of my family had decided to move back. I just turned…twenty then,” Vlad paused to do the math. “I spent some time over there in ’95, but for only a few months. I consider Ireland more of my homeland, but you people drink too much.”
Jasmine laughed.
“Anyway, when I got to Romania it wasn’t communist anymore, but it was still miserable. It was chaos. I decided then that I didn’t want to live somewhere with so much misery, so I and a few cousins decided to move to a happier place.”
“Hollywood?”
“What’s a happier place than that?”
“So you have been here for almost twenty years? And in all that time you never found a wife?”
“I had found love only
once in my life.”
“What happened?”
“She died.” Vlad got quiet. Jasmine saw the despair in his eyes. She decided not to push it.
“Well better to love and lost, then to never love at all.”
“I don’t know how true that is.”
“Why not?”
“Well, if you are lucky enough to feel actual love, every relationship after that falls far too short of happiness. True love is irreplaceable, it is infinite—it moves mountains. At least if you never have loved I guess maybe when you get into a relationship you never really know what you are missing.”
“I guess. I thought Kevin and I had love and we were so far from it.” Now Jasmine looked a little distraught. Vlad reached for her hand across the table to comfort her.
“A good thing about losing a love, is that you know what the feeling really feels like, and you can identify it, and respect it when you find it again,” Vlad said as he rubbed her hand. Jasmine started to smile. “That love of mine died before I moved out here. I did not get involved with an inferior relationship since then. I knew what the real deal was about. It has kept me available, and now I have met you.”
“Do you love me?”
Vlad paused to think about what to say next. “I don’t want to rush the moment, or cheapen it by saying too early. I do feel very strongly about you. Very strongly.”
Jasmine smiled, she was blushing. “Say the truth Vlad, nothing less.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
They locked eyes. The boat was quiet, and all they could hear were their heartbeats. Then Vlad lunged across the table and kissed her. She kissed back passionately. He held her face, she wrapped her arms around his head. He moved onto her neck. He picked her up and carried her below deck into the bedroom.
He placed her on the bed and got on top of her, his lips never leaving hers. She unbuttoned his shirt. He worked his hands up her dress. He pulled off her pink panties and then looked down at her.
“You have waited all your life for this,” he said. “I don’t want you to look back at this like it was some mistake.”
“I waited my whole life for a moment like this, for someone like you. It feels so familiar with you, like you and I are meant to be. I don’t want to fight it. I don’t think the moment could be any better than this.”
He paused. His nerves ran all through his body. Then he kissed her and got on top of her. She unbuttoned his pants and grabbed a hold of him.
“Don’t hurt me,” she said to him. He didn’t.
He went gentle at first. They kept their eyes locked on each others like true lovers do. The boat rocked, the positions changed. They told each other their love for one another. Time stood still. Every moment a world within itself. She got on top. He noticed the blood on his leg. What a disaster this would have been if I was still a vampire, Vlad thought. His passion for her was too much right now, nevermind had he been an immortal. He took her dress off, and grabbed her breasts. She put his finger in her mouth. Their moaning built to a crescendo. They climaxed together.
When they finished they spent a few minutes just holding each other without saying a word, just telling stories to each other with their eyes. Then she asked, “What should we do next?”
“Has it been forty minutes since we ate?”
Jasmine looked at her watch. Her first sexual experience had taken about half an hour.
“Close to it. Why?” she asked with a laugh.
“Let’s got for a swim.”
5
Over in Rome, the working day was just getting started and Bandini was busy at work at his day job—Inspector General of the Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City—when he got a phone call at his desk.
“Ispettore Generale Bandini,” he anwered in Italian.
“Hello, Inspector General. My Italian isn’t too good, this is Special Agent Gonzalez. Can we speak in English?”
“Sure, Special Agent Gonzalez. How is the case going? I was curious if you guys found any strange books at all?”
“Strange books, why would you ask that?”
“Well, you thought this Remus was some sick, gothic, wanna-be vampire kind of guy. I was curious if he had any strange looking books on the occult or something. I’m just asking out of curiousity. Religion is also part of my job. I was wondering if something threatening was circulating out there; a following of people into the occult that may want to attack a symbol of Christianity—like my boss.”
“No, we found no strange books at the house. You know what else I didn’t find? I didn’t find that file on Remus Frumos, because you never sent it to my office.” Gonzalez was growing frustrated with Bandini.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I heard what happened in Munich and I thought the case was solved.”
“This case is very far from solved. Munich just helped with my theory that a lot of dirty cops are behind this and they are police from all over Europe. That’s why my boss is keeping me on this case, but we still have no one in custody, and no idea about who this Remus is.”
“Well I wish there was something I could give you, but once the Vatican learned of the true nature of Remus they destroyed all files linking him to the Vatican.”
“What the hell Bandini, you can’t do that. You just tampered with an Interpol investigation.”
“First, Agent Rodriguez, you have no proof except for my word off the record that the Vatican was in anyway involved with this Remus Frumos, so legally you do not have much ground to stand on. Second, I would like you to consider that my employer feels that regardless if you ever apprehend this Remus, the crimes he is involved in will still have their role in Europe. Drugs and people will still be traded; however now, the image of the Church will also be damaged if a connection to him is ever leaked. The Church felt its image to the faithful was more important than this investigation. I hope you respect our priorities, and that you understand it wasn’t my decision nor did I have any power to affect what happened to his file.”
“Well I guess I should have figured this much from the Church. But I can understand your position. However, we believe Remus is still on the loose, so if he makes any contact with you, I implore you to let me know, and I give you my word I will keep all involvement with the Vatican out of all official reports.”
“Well it would not be very Christian of me to allow an evil like this Remus to remain on the loose if I can in anyway help. If any contact is made I will let you know, but I am curious why you are so sure he is on the loose?”
“Besides not finding his body?”
“Yeah.” Bandini laughed at his own faux pas. “Besides not finding his body.”
“Well, when we were dismantling the NSV, the agents dropped a large part of the gun on the floor. When it hit, there was a hollow thud. This interested us, and we inspected it closely. We used an axe to break through and found that there was a trap door under the panic room. This trap door was deadbolted from the inside, so someone had to have been in there. We have to assume Remus got into the trap door, and locked it, preventing anyone else from following after him. The trap door led to a five-foot high corridor. We followed the corridor and halfway through, there was a ladder that led up to a closet in the master bedroom. The path to this ladder was behind a fake wall in the back of the closet, which was why none of my men noticed it when they first inspected the house. It was just another way to this underground corridor. Well, this corridor led to outside, about three hundred yards from the mansion. We assume Remus escaped this way as the police searched his house.”
“Interesting. Yes, Gonzalez I would definitely let you know if I hear anything.”
“Will you really, Ispettore Generale?”
“Yes, what kind of cop would I be if I didn’t?”
6
Vlad was not the only one who decided tonight to do something they were not able to do before as a vampire. Jericho had always wanted to sit courtside at a Lakers game. Right up close to the action and the
celebrities. Never before though would he dare to think about sitting that close to nationally televised cameras. It would start with the cameramen at the game noticing a few people sitting right next to Jack Nicholson or the other celebrities. However, on screen these men would be completely empty in the frame. They would try with different cameras and then everyone working for the television crew would wonder about this anamoly. The curiosity would become stronger and the vampires risked exposure.
They have been to a few sporting events before, but even then they had to worry about not getting caught by those cameras that patrol the fans during commercial time-outs. Now with the help of online scalping and enough cash Malachi and Jericho sat courtside right across from the Lakers bench.
The Lakers blew out the Nuggets. Not much action was happening at the basket they sat under in the third quarter since it was Denver’s. The two of them decided to leave before the end of the quarter. All the Lakers’ stars would spend most of the time on the bench in the fourth with a comfortable 30-point lead. They walked to the Cadillac EXT in lot 10 on the corner of Figueroa and 9th. It was an outside lot, but the people who had been taking tickets had left for the night. The lot was empty, but Jericho and Malachi felt a sensation that someone was behind them.
When they approached the car Jericho went to the driver’s side and Malachi to the passenger’s side. They both had been thinking about an idea of what to do next when they heard a voice that sent a cold hand down their spine.
“Well, well, well.”
They both turned around, their eyes in disbelief as to what was before them. He was dead.
“I take it the exorcism worked,” Radu said.
He stood there with Gabriel to his left and Ash to his right. The three of them wore shit eating grins. Gabriel and Ash pointed their handguns with silencers on them. Radu just held his black cane in his hand. Malachi and Jericho both instinctively went to where their guns would have been. They found nothing. Now that they were human, now they had to face security checks, now they could risk jailtime, now the war was over.