Anger sparked from the Magistrate. “What is it you’re implying, Lord Draco? Are you daring to question the Council and the Council’s authority?” They were quiet statements, but they held a threat of rolling violence.
“Most certainly not, Magistrate.” Luc looked appalled. “I was merely wondering how Loupgarin could have possibly known of your location. He only came here to find my family, to take his revenge. Isn’t that what we were told at our last meeting, what you wanted us to believe?” He sat facing the Magistrate, his own anger boiled in his eyes. “You’d inform my family if it was for another reason, wouldn’t you, Magistrate? You’d offer us the same protections as you’d like us to offer in return?” he spoke, angling his pale face away from the Magistrate, his lips drawn in tight lines, his eyebrows raised questioningly as he turned back to face his newest nemesis. We’d find no friends on the Council, and most likely, the entire Vampire Hierarchy.
The Magistrate showed us his eyes, glowing red with unspent anger and bottomless hungers, and we were the unlucky ones to be on the receiving end. “Ben Draco, rise and stand before me.”
To refuse would have drawn the Draugen down upon us. With little choice, I stood, feeling the pull of his age-old vampirism, mechanically drawing me forward. When I halted before him, his power slammed into me, forcing me to fall to my knees, the pain excruciating, fighting the need to respond.
“Magistrate, I’ve found his hunting grounds,” I wheezed. “The scent is heavy with freshly poisoned valerian. We’re trying to understand how this can be. But it has not deterred me in my mission to find and remove the vampire from his sick existence.” The pain burst fresh, rifling through my body, like the razor sharpness of a jagged blade. The Magistrate demanded my prostration, the weight of his ancientness pushing down on me until my hands and face scraped the rough carpet covering the subbasement concrete. It was frigidly cold, chilling my bones. The upsurge squeezed harder, and my bones started to give.
“Why is it you’ve had so little success in finding him, Ben?” His mind rushed into mine, his thoughts unclean as they probed. “Could it be you’re hoping for the old vampire to kill your current enemies? Maybe you’d like him to take the Council?”
I struggled against the intrusion, fought to push away his infectious touch. Along with his probing, and his thoughts of revenge seeping into mine, the deeper, darker ones he relished, bringing an end to humankind as we knew it. A vampire nation. Human slavery. This was the second time these violent thoughts had intruded into my own. I wanted to seek out Lucius’s gaze, draw him in along with me.
I tried to shake the thoughts away. I schooled my features, hiding my disgust. I had to keep these thoughts to myself as I worked to understand the glimpse into a proposed future couldn’t be right. The Council would never allow it. But, it made that part of me who searched for injustice roar to life.
One day the Magistrate and I would have a conversation, on the off chance I survived.
The Magistrate grinned at my efforts. “I could let you experience the Black Death again.”
As I cowered before him, pox bloomed, oozing pus, eviscerating my body as my arms and face blossomed with fresh trails. Pus coursed down my cheeks like sticky tears. Panic filled me even as I tried to fight it. I never thought to experience the horrific effects of the Black Death again. At that very moment, I wished for my own true death, and as if the old vampire heard me, he threw back his head and barked out a vicious laugh.
“I could accommodate your wish, young one, leaving you no more than a pile of dust for your family to grieve.”
Shuddering, I struggled harder, and it fed the Magistrate’s own sick desires. “Magistrate, what is it you want from me?” Speaking through clenched teeth, I tried to see past the illusion and pain.
“Or maybe … I’ll let you experience the end of your mortality.”
My heart ripped and seized as it tried to beat, a bullet lodged deep within, making me grind my teeth as I relived my last moment. A cry of pain broke from my lips as it chased all other thoughts away, my brain froze from the lack of oxygen. My heart stuttered, and my human life fled as death’s grimace encompassed my vision.
My beast could tolerate no more. Claws blossomed from my fingertips, it was ready to roar.
“Enough!” Lucius’s voice thundered through the subbasement room, echoing off the concrete walls, shaking loose bits of dusty cement and chipped paint. “This is not Ben’s fault. You know that as well as I do. So why don’t we cut this play of power and get down to it?”
The Magistrate sneered at him, a promise in his eyes that he would be next.
“Ben was ultimately the one the Council chose to be the law enforcer, and yet you try to limit his abilities, try to work against him.” Lucius’s voice grew lower, becoming menacing as he paced the gun metal colored space.
The ugliness and lowliness of the Magistrate’s new home made itself known, and it was probably the reason for his current temper. How far the mighty had fallen. Still the Magistrate persisted. My face was pressed harder against the cold carpeted concrete floor, blood trickling from my nose, from my ears.
“Magistrate, stop this madness!” Lucius rumbled urgently. “I need Ben if we’re going to destroy Loupgarin, his beast is the strongest.” He turned away from the struggle between the Magistrate and myself, dropping his head. “If you’re going to kill him, I advise killing us all, for I will not rest until he is avenged. None of us will. By his death, so shall you bring your own.”
The quiet menace in Luc’s voice was sufficient to stop even the worst of enemies. The golden-eyed guards answered to the Council, but with his words, they took a cautious step backward. The power rolling off him was a killing force, and the Magistrate began to feel its effects. The skin on his bald, alabaster skull glowed. Blue veins zigzagged across the paper-thin skin, bulging and pulsing with a grotesqueness. Lucius’s might erupted, ready to rupture arteries. He was going to kill the old vampire even as he ended my undead existence.
The Magistrate loosened his grip. “Lord Draco, do not question the Council again, or the pain this young one suffered will only be the beginning!” Then he grinned. “I assume you brought your wife?”
Lucius howled with outrage. “If she comes to any harm, you, Magistrate, will pay the price.” As if the strength he had used to halt the Magistrate’s torture had been a mere show, true power now zinged across the room, causing the Magistrate to almost crumple at his feet.
Pushing back with little effect and struggling to keep his feet, the Magistrate fought for control. He blustered, backing away, “I expect you to have this problem resolved before our next meeting.” He stumbled another step. “Vampires can heal almost any wound, but it can be very painful when layer after layer of skin is removed, even as it tries to regrow.” The Magistrate showed me his thoughts, this time intentionally, and I felt exactly how painful the torture could be.
With a change of tactics, Lucius growled out an unexpected response. “Magistrate,” he began, “is Lord Rafael amongst you?” He glanced at me, but the old vampire was instantly distracted, giving us our answer even as he tried to deny it.
“Why should it be any of your concern if he was, Lord Draco? The Council answers to no one but the whole of the Hierarchy.” But his eyes darted away. Rafael couldn’t be far, probably listening to every word, every nuance the Magistrate used. It was now the Magistrate who treaded with caution.
“How was Loupgarin held, tortured, and poisoned? At Lord Rafael’s hands? For how long? Years? A century? More? He is mad, you know, with valerian poisoning, and I fear the exposure of vampirekind.” He sighed. Council politics would be the death of all of us.
The Magistrate spun around, hands thrown out in a quick burst, and he lashed out at us. But Lucius returned the volley with one of his own, nudging the Magistrate backward. Luc pushed him back a step, and then another, his anger soaring around the room.
“I will not let you,” he grounded, the angles of his face s
harpening, “harm any of my people for your own mistake.” His voice grew to a thundering crescendo.
The golden-eyed guards hesitated to surround the Magistrate as he gestured for them.
“I’ll be taking my family and leaving, now. Further repercussions will be sent immediately to the highest level of the Hierarchical Command. If I and my family are to be destroyed, at least one of the Council will answer their wrath as well.” He eyed the Magistrate with disgust.
I knew in that moment, once Loupgarin was destroyed, the Magistrate was going to make a bid for Lucius’s life, and with him, the rest of us. At that time, my beast would best him. Just because I’d held it in check didn’t mean I wouldn’t set it free upon him, the Council, and the entirety of Vampire Hierarchy if necessary. I’d have little left to live for anyway.
We gathered Isabella and David, and with steps quicker than the human eye could see, we left Magistrate Dumas and what remained of his guards to wonder if the threat offered would be executed. The answer that came to my mind was a resounding, yes. Death would be coming for the Magistrate and, if need be, to myself in turn.
*
With the first brush of dusk, I rose and searched out David, bringing him quickly from his death-like slumber. We didn’t bother with one of the cars, we could travel faster by foot.
Arriving in one of Vintonie’s neighborhoods, one lost to the destruction of drugs and fury, I pulled in a lungful of air. Loupgarin had been all through the area, but the stink of valerian stayed strongest in one direction. Following his malodor, we tracked him as he circled his hunting grounds, looking for the perfect prey. The circle grew wider, elliptical, and I realized he was also scenting and trailing a flavor familiar to me as well.
Digging out my cell, I called Vintonie’s residence, reaching Donny after a few rings. “I need to talk to Anton now,” I grounded out into the phone, teeth clenched.
Donny flustered for a few seconds. “Yes, sir, Mr. Draco.”
“Ben, what can I do for you?” Vintonie’s voice belied his nervous tension.
“Have you checked on Michela? Are there guards with her?” They would be mostly ineffective, but it would slow Loupgarin down, obstacles to overcome. It would also give me time to reach her.
“’Course I do, they check in every thirty minutes. Donny, when did Michela’s guards last make contact?” I could hear Anton demanding.
“’Bout twenty minutes ago …” Donny’s tinny reply bled into the phone.
“Anton, pull your guards tighter around your home and Michela’s. The one we’ve been hunting, his name is Loupgarin.” I was breaking all kinds of rules tonight. “He’s extremely old and powerful, insane with a vampire poisoning, and he’s tracking you and your family. For some reason, he’s focused on Michela. Call her guards, Anton! Do it now!”
The phone thudded, and I heard him barking orders. Men scuttling to comply with the boss’s demands. Donny yelled to his men as phone calls were made. Then Anton was back on the line, his voice strong, but a new fear echoed in it, etching into the very lines through which it traveled.
“I’ve pulled the guards in. She’s inside her home, and my guards are at her door, but there’s a problem. She’s so damn hard-headed, just like her mother. She’s demanding to leave. Got her fucking keys in her hand, threatening to gouge their eyes unless they get the hell out of her way.”
Closing my eyes, I could see her, riled and pissed, ready to take on the world. “I’ll take care of it.”
I ended the call and found her number. She answered in what could only be described as a murderous tone. “Look, Dad, get the guards out of here! I’m not going to be a prisoner!”
“Ms. Jennings, it’s Ben Draco, and I asked your father to bring the guards in closer to your home. I know it’s not what you want to hear …”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Draco, but you know my feelings,” she replied icily. “Why would you do that?” As she spoke, her tone rose higher, each word had a cutting edge.
“Because there’s a murderer on the loose, and I’m afraid he’s coming your way,” I said as my patience started to slip. “The guards are there until I can arrive myself. He’ll kill you if he can. Please let the guards stay until I arrive.” Begging isn’t something I did on a regular basis, but if I had to get down on my knees and plead, I would.
“I told you before and I’ll say it again, I can take care of myself,” she ground out quietly. “I’ve fought off muggers, my father’s ‘boys’, the old farts he’s tried to foist on me. I know how to handle myself.” She ended the call with a resounding thud.
Cursing, I turned to David. “Go to Anton Vintonie’s house.” I touched his mind, showing him the home in all its gaudy glory. “Now!” He blurred in the next moment and was gone, but his thoughts remained with me.
Bringing my own burst of speed, I headed for the Jennings’ home and for what was soon to be the new hunting grounds for our old rogue. Only one question remained, where would he hunt first? Anton Vintonie’s stronghold or the home of his daughter—which was to his best advantage? Would he take the easier prey or work to get what he really wanted? Without another thought, I called Lucius, urging Isabella and him to Vintonie’s. It was larger with more access points.
If Loupgarin wanted to bring death and destruction, he’d start there. If it was an easy kill he was looking for, quick revenge, it would be Anton’s daughter. For all I knew, he might make an insane vampire army in the here and now, Anton’s gang of low level criminals as his vampire crew. Even a few created in Loupgarin’s image may prove to be too great for my family. But, I had to try. It was going to be a bloody killing day, and only time would tell who would survive. I was hoping for us, but the odds were not in our favor.
Chapter Twenty-Six
When I arrived at Michela’s home, she met me at the door, fit to be tied. I attempted to explain why the guards were essential. Why I felt the need to protect her. Taking her hand, I led her to the sofa, and patted a cushion.
“Before you get too angry, there’s a story I must share.” My forehead furrowed with worry. “You don’t know much about my family or myself. It starts several centuries ago.” Now, I was no longer breaking just a few of the rules, but all of them. My insides quivered as I knelt down beside her and took her face gently in my hands, smoothing my thumbs across her cheeks and boring deep into her eyes, trying to be convincing without using any amount of influence. “This is going to be unbelievable, but I’m going to ask you to trust me, to keep an open mind, because everything I’m about to say goes against everything you think you know, and it’s all true. I swear.”
She grew calm and placed her hands over mine. “What is it? It can’t be that bad—look at my life. The daughter of a gangster and the widow of a murderer.” She gave me a lopsided grin.
So, I began the story of my life, both human and undead, explaining both Lucius’s and my own, how we came into existence. How Isabella joined us, and finally how David came to be.
Saying the word vampire to anyone outside our own closed society was forbidden. No mortal should ever know of our existence, we were supposed to be a myth or urban legends, a story to tell with the lights out on a dark and stormy night.
But at this point, I had little choice. As I finished the story, my thumbs brushed along her jawline, across her warm lips. “I know it’s impossible to believe, but I swear, it’s the truth.”
Her face didn’t give her emotions away, a deadpan expression practiced from many trying times. “You’re joking, right? My father sent you here to scare me, trying to force me to go to him? Please, I really don’t need all this crap in my life.” She looked over at me, like I’d committed a crime, and pushed my hands away. “Thanks a lot, just what I need … Look, maybe I led you on, maybe you’re just some sick bastard who’s getting his kicks by making fun of me. Damn it, you broke down my walls, and I don’t let anyone in …” Tears gathered in her eyes.
“I promise, everything I told you is the truth.” I repeat
ed, hands shaking. “I don’t share my story … ever … not in centuries. It’s because it’s you, because I want you to understand me, to believe me, to believe in me.” What else could I do to convince her? As my fangs fell into place, I smiled, just enough that my canines peeked below my upper lip. “Please, I’m not belittling you. I’m not like the other people in your life who make you feel small. I wouldn’t do that, I couldn’t, and you’re better than that …More important.”
Glancing down, I tried to gage her reaction. “I’d like to share in your life. I’d love you to be a part of mine, Anton Vintonie or not. It doesn’t matter to me, any of it.” I shrugged. “There are things in life not of our making, and the family you were born to is one of them. It’s what you make of your life that matters, that defines you, not who you’re related to. You can be proud of your life, your choices.”
She sat there and I watched fleeting questions form in her expressive eyes. Belief in the supernatural? Finally, she reached up, putting a hand on the sunglasses I was rarely without. Contacts would have hidden their glowing centers, but I liked the sunglasses and the way they hid the windows of my soul, even my undead one. Bringing my hand to rest on hers, together we pulled the dark glasses away to reveal the truth of my existence.
With a quick intake of breath, she peered into my eyes, something few people were able to do. Fewer wanted to try. The misty grey of my irises surrounded the ruddy pupil, not all vampires are cursed, some would say blessed, with this particular quality.
“I guess you’re telling the truth.” She thought for a moment. “Was it you—when Bobby didn’t come home?” She held her breath waiting for my answer. I was reluctant to admit the truth, but denial of my sins wasn’t part of my makeup. The room felt smaller as I turned to pace it, trying to hide from the transgressions I’d committed.
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