Bloodliner

by Robert T. Jeschonek

  Mavis caught herself staring into his eyes again.

  What is with me?

  "Nobody's measured up since Camelot," said Mavis. "Nobody's even come close. You're a legend."

  Arthur laughed. "Maybe you should get into politics. You almost have me talked into it."

  Mavis sighed and shrugged. "I'm just saying. Maybe, when this mess with Stanza's sorted out, you should stick around. Consider your options."

  "What if I already have plans?" Arthur smiled. "What if I already know what I'm going to do when this mess is sorted out?"

  "Do you?" said Mavis.

  "Wait and see," said Arthur as he handed her the last piece of chocolate bar. "Maybe you'll like it."

  "Why would I?" said Mavis.

  Arthur leaned closer. "Maybe you'll be part of it."

  Did he just say what I thought he said?

  Arthur patted her shoulder and got to his feet. "Can I get you more chocolate?"

  Mavis shook her head.

  "Well, I want some more," said Arthur. "Chocolate first, talk later, I say."

  Mavis watched him walk away. So much for all the "woe is me" crap. Her past and current problems had slipped neatly into the background.

  Instead of brooding, she found herself daydreaming.

  King Arthur has plans for me. King.

  Arthur.

  *****

  Chapter 38

  Hours later, by the light of a street-lamp in downtown Berlin, Germany, Jonah and the others stared down at an old beggar vampire sitting on a curb. He was an informant of Stanza's (an old friend, apparently, who'd fallen on hard times), and he spoke English, which was a good thing.

  "Conrad Kirkellan?" The vampire licked his fangs. "I might know where you can find him."

  "And where would that be, Gunther?" said Stanza.

  "I'll tell you." The old beggar leered at Jonah. "But first, I need a little something to wet my whistle."

  Jonah shook his head. "Uh-uh. No way." Everywhere he went—Tucson, Bluegiller, Lyonesse, and now Berlin—vampires craved his blood.

  "For the fiftieth time, no," said Stanza. "You can't drink my clients."

  "Come on, Brünnhilde," said Gunther. "For old times' sake."

  "The deal is, cash for information," said Stanza. "When we're done, you can buy all the black-market blood you want."

  "All right," said the old vampire, but he wouldn't take his eyes off Jonah. "He has a place in the Spandau District, off the Orlokplatz. A...boutique."

  "What kind of boutique?" said Stanza.

  "Specialty items." Gunther snickered. "For a discriminating clientele."

  Stanza scowled. "What's the address?"

  "Number 8 Schreckstrasse," said Gunther. "Top floor."

  "So that's our next stop." Mavis touched Arthur's shoulder when she said it.

  Jonah winced. To say the least, he wasn't in the mood for another road trip, especially one that involved Mavis. He wanted to get far away from her after the way she'd chewed him a new asshole on the train from England to Hamburg...not to mention, the face that she hadn't apologized for any of it since then. She hadn't said a word to Jonah, in fact...and it wasn't like she wasn't talking to anyone else, either. If anything, Mavis had become more talkative than ever.

  "Thanks, Gunther." Stanza counted out cash from a wad of bills and handed it over to the informant. "This should do it."

  "How about a little bonus?" Gunther pointed at Jonah. "For the Nibelungen. For Siegfried."

  "Who you betrayed and led to his death." Stanza looked disgusted. "As if the memory of that would earn you my favor."

  "Cut me some slack, Brünnhilde," said Gunther. "I had a thing for you. Shit happens."

  Stanza grabbed him by the front of his filthy shirt and hauled him up to face her. "Here's your bonus, animal." She shook him hard and dropped him to the pavement. "I'll let you live another day."

  Suddenly, Mavis turned to Jonah, eyes wide. "Oh my God. They're talking about Norse mythology! Wagner's Ring Cycle. As if she were a valkyrie warrior woman."

  Just then, Arthur swung an arm around Jonah's shoulders. "Anyway, you can't have Jonah." Arthur grinned and shook his head. "We're saving him for later."

  Jonah saw Arthur looking at him for his reaction, but he just turned away.

  Hilarious. King Arthur should've been a stand-up comedian.

  "Let's get rolling." Stanza turned away from Gunther and clapped her hands.

  "Good!" Arthur hurried past her, aiming for the red rent-a-car parked across the street. "I want to drive this time!"

  "Forget it," said Stanza.

  Arthur turned to face her, walking backward as he spoke. "I'm a king! I can do anything I want to!"

  "These days, a king needs a chauffer to drive him," said Stanza. "It's the law, your Majesty."

  Arthur sagged and shook his head. "Perhaps this new era is not as marvelous in every way as I thought."

  As Jonah walked toward the car, Stanza fell in step beside him and lowered her voice. "Are you okay?"

  Jonah nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

  "No you're not."

  "Yes I am," said Jonah.

  Stanza touched his arm. "You know you can talk to me, right? If you're having a hard time with all this craziness?"

  "Okay." Jonah stopped and stared at her. "I'll tell you something if you tell me something."

  Stanza fixed her big dark eyes on him and tipped her head to one side. "What do you want to know?"

  Jonah asked the first question that came to mind. "How old are you, anyway?"

  "I don't know." Stanza shook her head slowly. "I truly don't know."

  "You lived through Camelot," said Jonah. "Apparently, you lived through Norse mythology, too. What does that make you? Two thousand years old? Three?"

  "Like I said, I don't know." Stanza shrugged.

  Jonah snorted. "Right."

  "Well, I don't," said Stanza.

  "Then tell me something else," said Jonah. "What are you really after? We're not just tracing my family tree, are we?"

  Stanza looked away. "I don't know what gave you that idea."

  "I thought that's what you'd say." With a dismissive wave of his hand, Jonah walked away from her toward the rent-a-car.

  "All right then." Stanza took a deep breath, then straightened her red leather jacket and followed him. "Everyone's fine, I guess. Time to tangle with some vampires."

  *****

  Chapter 39

  "It'll be the comedy of the century!" said Genghis. "The laugh-out-loud fun-fest that treats audiences to the biggest joke of all time!"

  "You, writing a play about me?" Shakespeare laughed. "First you'd have to learn the English alphabet, my feathered friend."

  Genghis, in his hawk-form, bumped against Shakespeare's bat-wing. Along with James and Thomas, they flew high in the night sky over Berlin, following the red rent-a-car carrying Stanza, Jonah, Mavis, and Arthur far below.

  "Act One, Scene One," said Genghis. "Shakespeare enters, wearing a frilly pink dress and a floppy bonnet with a sunflower front and center. His make-believe tea party goes awry when his imaginary friends, Lady Macbeth and Richard the Third, beat him over the head with metaphor and symbolism."

  "You've got the action, then," said Shakespeare, "but what of the romance? Have you never written a play before?"

  "Isn't it obvious?" said Genghis. "He's in love with his own publicity! The problem is, he and his publicity have nothing in common, because his publicity has absolutely no connection to reality."

  "How clever," said Shakespeare. "If only I'd written such a crowd-pleaser instead of drivel like Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet."

  "You read my mind," said Genghis. "And I'm prepared to cast you, sans audition, as yourself."

  "Shakespeare as Shakespeare. Ingenious." Shakespeare banked to follow the rent-a-car as it rolled around a bend in the highway.

  "It's the only role you'd be believable in," said Genghis. "A lousy actor pretending to be a lousy actor."

/>   Shakespeare sighed. He looked at James, intending to share a sympathetic eye-roll...but James was talking to Thomas and didn't notice.

  Now there's a change of pace. Why do I have a feeling the future's taking shape in that exchange?

  Will the good twin influence the bad, or vice versa? I've done my best to raise James well, but vampires, of all people, know how thick blood can be.

  "How do you like that, Shakespeare?" said Genghis. "Our kids have hit it off."

  Is that what you expected when you surprised us with Thomas in the first place? If so, what's the ultimate goal of your plan?

  Do you wish to distract me at a crucial moment? Turn the boy against me altogether? Or something more devious and disastrous?

  Something I cannot yet see.

  "Orlokplatz, dead ahead," said Genghis. "Do you think the rabbits know they might die here?"

  Shakespeare stared into Berlin's twinkling lights. "We'll see they leave intact."

  "I almost hope the gateway's not here," said Genghis.

  "Why is that?" said Shakespeare.

  Genghis brushed the red feathers of one huge wing over Shakespeare's back. "Maybe I don't want this alliance to end so soon. Maybe I've seen the light."

  "Or maybe we haven't gotten to the 'good' part yet," said Shakespeare. "Good for you, that is."

  Genghis chuckled. "I wish I'd had you with me back in the day," he said, "back when I was slaughtering villagers across the steppes and deserts of Asia."

  "And I wish I'd had you on stage with me at the Old Globe Theatre in London," said Shakespeare.

  "Why do you say that?" said Genghis.

  "For the same reason, I suspect," said Shakespeare. "To have someone to throw to the wolves while I slip out the back way."

  Genghis laughed. "How right you are," he said. "You're a better asshole than an actor, that's for sure."

  "Coming from you," said Shakespeare, "that is high praise indeed."

  *****

  Chapter 40

  Elephants trumpeted in the Berlin night. Somewhere nearby, a lion roared as Stanza got out of the red rent-a-car. "Here we are."

  Mavis jumped at the sound of screeching monkeys when she set foot on the cobblestone street. "What was that?"

  "The Berlin Zoo's a few streets over." Stanza gestured in the direction of a tree-lined park a block away, then pointed at an old brownstone building across the street from the rent-a-car. "And that right there is Number 8 Schreckstrasse. Perfect location."

  Mavis shivered from the chill in the air. "Why is it so perfect?" She sank her cold hands in the pockets of her navy blue hoodie sweatshirt.

  "The closer to a blood supply, the better," said Stanza.

  "The zoo?" said Mavis. "They drink animal blood?"

  "We can," said Arthur. "But human blood tastes better. It's like the difference between water and wine."

  "Whoops." Mavis smiled sheepishly. "I forgot you're one of them."

  "I'll take that as a compliment." Arthur bowed. "And I'll return it. Your beauty and grace make me forget you're not a vampire."

  Mavis felt herself blush.

  Just then, she thought she heard Jonah mumble something...but she couldn't be sure. Jonah stood apart from the rest of the group, keeping to himself unless asked a direct question. Ever since his argument with Mavis on the train, there had been a wall between them.

  Mavis felt a little bad about that, but not bad enough to apologize. Maybe it had been unfair to beat up Jonah for not watching out for her in Lyonesse, but Mavis couldn't let go of her anger at his parents. Jonah was guilty by association, and Mavis wasn't feeling big enough to let him off the hook.

  Mavis turned her back on him. "So what do we do now?"

  "We go up and see if Conrad Kirkellan's home," said Stanza.

  Stanza crossed the street and headed for the building's glass front door. Arthur and Mavis followed. Jonah was dead last. He didn't hurry, though Arthur waited and held the door open for him.

  After entering the outer door, everyone squeezed into a vestibule facing a metal door painted coppery reddish-brown. Stanza couldn't budge it—but Arthur flung it wide open as if it had never been locked or latched.

  "Ladies," he said, bowing and ushering Stanza and Mavis inside.

  On her way past, Mavis stole a glance at the door jamb. She saw that Arthur had snapped off the deadbolt in the lock.

  Inside the musty lobby of the old building, there was no elevator. Without a word, Stanza led everyone down a short hall and through a copper-colored fire door into a stairwell. Arthur, Mavis, and Jonah fell in behind her as she climbed the dimly lit stairs.

  At the top floor, the fourth, Stanza opened another fire door and stepped through. Arthur followed.

  When Mavis tried to walk through after them, however, she ran smack into Arthur's hand. He was holding her back. He was holding on to Stanza, too, gripping her right arm. Something else had hold of her left.

  It was shaped like a man, and it was two feet taller than Arthur. It looked like it was made of rippling, ruby-red fluid.

  It looked like it was made of blood.

  *****

  Chapter 41

  As soon as Jonah stepped through the door and saw the blood-man, he knew what it was. He remembered similar constructs made from his own blood by the beautiful blonde vampire in the alley back in Tucson.

  Only they weren't in human form.

  Suddenly, Arthur hauled Jonah forward by the shoulder. "Take this!" Arthur grabbed Jonah's hand and clamped it tight around Stanza's free arm. "Don't let go!"

  The second Arthur let go of Stanza, the blood-man tugged hard, nearly wrenching her arm from Jonah's grasp. Jonah managed to hold on, though, and didn't lose any more ground.

  With Stanza in Jonah's care, Arthur charged around the blood-man into the dimly lit recesses of the fourth floor.

  The blood-man tugged on Stanza again, yanking her forward. Grunting, Jonah fought to pull her back, without success...and then he got help. Without a word, Mavis clamped her hands on Stanza's arm alongside Jonah's.

  Together, Jonah and Mavis held Stanza steady. Jonah stared at the blood-man's blank face, swirling with shades of crimson and scarlet...and then, sudden motion caught his eye.

  Jonah looked behind the blood-man in time to see Arthur hurl open a door and plunge through the doorway. A moment later, when Arthur stumbled back into the hall, he was enveloped in a shell of blood. Another blood-man came after him, striking and kicking him, making him spin around blindly.

  "What should we do?" said Mavis.

  "This is...hemomancy." Stanza's voice was strained. "Blood magic. Somewhere in here...there's a bloodcaster...creating these hemoforms. You have to find the bloodcaster...and stop him."

  Jonah redoubled his efforts to pull Stanza free, to no avail. "If we let go, you'll be sucked in!"

  "Just go!" said Stanza. "It's our only chance!"

  Mavis grimaced from the effort she was exerting. "We can't just let go of you!"

  "Do it!" said Stanza. "I know you don't have...a better idea."

  Jonah met Stanza's gaze. She started fighting him, trying to pull her arm from his grip.

  "Cut it out!" said Jonah.

  Stanza kept fighting. "Do what I said! Let go!"

  Jonah swallowed hard and looked at Mavis.

  "One," he said.

  "No!" said Mavis.

  "Two," said Jonah. "Three." With that, he released Stanza's arm. Mavis held on a second longer; then she let go, too.

  And as they watched, Stanza was sucked back into the rippling crimson body of the hemoform. The blood flowed over her like a shroud and sealed itself, closing her off from the outside world.

  "Come on!" Jonah bolted around the staggering, crimson-shelled form of Stanza, heading deeper into the fourth floor. Mavis ran after him.

  *****

  Chapter 42

  As Jonah and Mavis ran down the hallway, two hemoforms grabbed for them from opposite sides. The liquefied creatures spat
tered them both with blood but didn't otherwise manage to touch them.

  Jonah wondered how much longer they'd be lucky like that. Now that Arthur and Stanza were down, he and Mavis were the only cavalry in town.

  Find the bloodcaster. You can do it. You've got no idea what to do after that, of course...but keep looking. Cross that bridge when you come to it.

  Jonah stopped and threw open a door, prepared to leap away if a hemoform made a grab for him. He quickly realized the room was empty and sprinted across the hall to the next door.

  That room was empty, too, and Jonah moved on to the next. He tried not to pay attention to the muffled cries of Stanza and Arthur behind him.

  Jonah reached for another doorknob—and it jumped out of his hand before he could turn it. The door flew inward, and something slammed into him in a blur of red.

  Jonah went down hard on his back. The red blur vaulted over him, and he heard Mavis scream.

  Jonah tried to sit up, but something hit him in the chest, and he crashed back down to the floor. The next thing he knew, he was staring up at someone's boot.

  Looking further, Jonah saw that the boot on his chest belonged to a snarling bald man. A snarling bald man with the fangs of a vampire.

  And a familiar face.

  Conrad Kirkellan. Jonah recognized him instantly from his vision in the Garden of Tears.

  Mavis screamed again. There were muffled cries from the direction of Stanza and Arthur, and something heavy hit the floor back there.

  Jonah's heart hammered under the boot. His nose filled with the smell of leather and body odor.

  Conrad wiped his bloody hands on his red t-shirt and black pants. "Who sent you?" He spoke with a thick German accent. He ran his hands over his scalp, which was tattooed with elaborate black curlicues. "Darkhauser? That bitch Ingrid?"