He woke and sat up in bed. He drew a deep breath. Mentor. He called to him telepathically. Mentor, they’re here.
He would sleep no more this night. He rose from bed and found his slippers. He padded quietly from the bedroom and through the house to the kitchen where he turned on the light. He made coffee, standing at the counter while it dripped. He sat at the kitchen table drinking it.
Mentor would come soon. He’d know what Malachi meant with his cryptic message. He had tried his best to find out the enemy’s whereabouts and until now he hadn’t any clue. He only knew their abode had changed dramatically and it was close by. How close, he didn’t know.
Mentor appeared before Malachi had finished his first cup of coffee. “Where?” he asked.
Malachi lifted a weary gaze to the oldest vampire in the North American vampire nations. “I wish I could tell you. It’s like before. I can’t get to a window or a door, I can’t get outside of the room where they are. But I know some way they’re closer than before. Much closer.”
“In this country?”
“In this state. I’d place a bet on it.”
Mentor took a chair and joined Malachi at the table. Sunlight streaked the eastern sky and lightened the kitchen windows.
“You’re the only one able to get in touch with them,” Mentor said. “They’re cloaked to the rest of us. I can’t find them.”
“Even the human with Upton?”
“Even him.”
“That’s because he’s not…he’s not right. He isn’t a vampire, but he’s not a normal man either. He’s the only one who knows I’m around when I travel to them. He can see me. He can hear me.”
“You spoke to him?”
“I asked what they wanted. I didn’t know if he would be able to hear me or not. But he did. He didn’t answer me, though. He told Upton what I said, then Upton ranted and raved about killing me this time.”
“The human is indeed unusual. That must be why Upton has him along as a companion. He means to use him against us. We have to be very vigilant.”
Malachi was determined to speak of his fears. “They’ve changed residences. The other house was for living in. The one they’re in now is some old empty house people left long ago. They’re hiding in it and I know it’s near us. If there’s another Predator war, my family’s vulnerable.”
Mentor nodded in agreement. “Humans always are.”
“Should I send them away?”
“That’s up to you.” Mentor stood as if to go.
“Would you?”
Mentor paused. He, too, loved and protected a human. Would he send Bette away? Could he? His life was a desert without her. His heart clenched in his chest at the thought of being alone.
“I don’t know,” he said finally.
“Me either,” Malachi said.
Once Mentor was gone, Malachi poured more coffee and sat again at the kitchen table while the sun dawned and filled the room with light.
If only he could discover Upton’s whereabouts! Why couldn’t he find them? Why was he locked into place, as if an invisible bond connected him fast to the two men?
Oh God, he didn’t know what to do. He had to explain these things to Danielle and warn her she might have to flee their home at a moment’s notice. Without him. She’d have to take Eli and run. Not to her parents home, either. She’d have to leave the whole area and disappear.
He had plans to implement. Money to free up and have on hand in case she needed it. Packed bags for his wife and son. A full tank of gas in the hybrid hydrogen-gasoline car.
And he wouldn’t want to know where she was headed when she left. If he knew, Upton might glean the information from him.
When Danielle woke and wandered into the kitchen, her face worried that he was up before her, he gestured that she sit down with him.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“We have plans to make, Danielle.”
“Sounds ominous.”
Malachi swallowed coffee and thought how his wife knew him and his moods so well. Things were ominous all right. War sat on their doorstep. A war in the vampire nations.
Chapter 11
Upton had brought his hundreds of Predators with him to Irving, a bedroom community of Dallas, Texas. Just beyond the many housing developments and apartment complexes lay flat treeless land not nearly as rich as land further east and not quite as arid as land further west.
Upton scouted these barren spaces and found an abandoned compound miles from town. The buildings were ramshackle, without running water or electricity, but they would do as hiding places for a short time. Many of the Predators, like Upton, were used to luxury and pleasant surroundings, but he had told them if they sacrificed now, the rewards would be sweeter.
Not one of his followers grumbled. He had promised them power, action, and a chance to be part of a ruling faction that would first control the state of Texas, then the Southwest corridor, and finally the American nation. Once they’d enlisted all the Predators left after the war to their side, they could advance to other continents. Until…until, Upton thought with satisfaction, they finally controlled the world.
Jacques wandered the compound easing the mood among the vampires. They respected this human who had become the right hand man to their leader. He walked among them without fear. They had never detected fear from him during all the time he’d interacted with them.
Most of the rogue vampires admired and liked him. That he had not yet become one of them was a mystery, but they expected he would sooner or later.
“We’re waiting to move,” Jacques told the Predators as he moved from shack to house to dilapidated barn, greeting the several groups.
“How are we to feed?” one of the Predators questioned. “We’ll starve here.”
“Abductions.”
“What?”
Jacques grinned. “Go into the night to the city and abduct what you need. Take them from their beds, from their homes, and bring them here.”
“There’ll be corpses!”
“We’ll handle that problem when we come to it,” Jacques said, moving on through the crowd to visit the next house in the compound.
As the first day waned for the Predators in their new homes, Jacques made the rounds and finally returned to Upton.
“How are they?” Upton asked.
“Restless, but they’ll settle in.”
Upton sat on an overturned twenty-gallon plastic paint bucket, his skeletal hands resting on his knees. At his feet stood the attaché case with the information about his conglomerate, Upton Enterprises. The profitable business it had taken him all his life to create only to see it lost to Ross. He would get it back, by God. Get it back and use it to reward his minions.
Daylight had faded and twilight crept through the broken windows to leave jagged shadows lengthening across the littered floor. He had been busy all day.
“Do you think Malachi knew where we are?”
“He didn’t know. He might have noted we were in different surroundings, that’s all.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Jacques cocked his head to the side quizzically. “I don’t know. I’m just sure.”
“You are the most enigmatic man I’ve ever known.”
Jacques smiled and rested a hand on Upton’s shoulder. “And you are the strangest supernatural I’ve ever known.”
The shadows sucked in the last remaining light of day and threw the room into deep night.
“I’m hungry,” Upton said suddenly.
Jacques went to a cooler and a picnic basket stashed in the corner. Stooping, he withdrew a loaf of crusty French bread and a bottle of California red wine. “Join me?” he asked, laughing.
Upton stood, an elegant man in a fine suit, his height dwarfing the human. He was not amused. “I’ll be back later,” he said, going for the opening where the door hung like a gallows’ victim from its broken hinges.
Jacques’ chuckle followed Upton as he left the house, never looki
ng back as he rose into the dark sky.
Chapter 12
Jacques sat on a blanket on the floor, his back against the wall. He sipped a glass of wine and wrote in his journal by the light of a kerosene lantern.
We are almost to the point of engagement. Upton explained about his last attempt and failure. He assures me this time he will win. I don’t know if I care one way or the other. Win, lose, it’s all a great experiment and I am the witness. At first Upton thought to send me into the offices of Upton Enterprises in Dallas, insinuate myself into the company as an employee to spy. Later he changed his mind, saying he didn’t want to take the time. I didn’t mention that his rush to action might have been his downfall before and could signal it again. But who am I to dictate to a vampire?
I sit here in a house falling down—a house in the worst condition I’ve ever encountered. I’m not used to sitting on the floor and eating my meals from a cooler. This Texas is a wild country. So wide and empty once we left the city. Tonight I can hear sounds outside the house that must be those of creeping animals. I don’t know what they are, but they lurk around the corners and growl low in the throat. If I didn’t know better I’d say it was the vampires prowling for my blood.
No. It must be wild things. The vampires stay clear of me. They fear Upton’s wrath if they touch me. They know they need me yet.
Even though Upton has detailed to me his history and why he pursues this Texas band of vampires, it makes little sense to me. I am along for the ride, as they say, a spectator at strange event. Despite the fact a demon came to me in Cannes to predict I will have something to do with leading vampires myself, I have no ambition or plans to do so. Demons, by nature, are liars. It’s true he took a chunk of my flesh as payment, but he could have still been lying to me. They like nothing better than to confuse and betray humans.
Tonight, just as Upton left the house to find a victim, I saw a shadow solidify and become a monster. If I knew why these beings come to me, I’d stop them. They don’t frighten me, but their appearances put a wrinkle into my day; they upset the order and contentment of my mind. This monster was taller than I and obese, fat rolling over fat on his naked torso, neck thick as a post. His face was stupid and blubbery, with a wide, flat nose and slack lips. He stared at me dumbly from watery blue eyes set too close together. “What do you want?” I asked.
“When you die, I’ll be the one waiting for you,” he said.
“Why should I care,” I asked. “I’ll be dead.”
“Dead only to this world. Not too dead to know me.”
“What if I never die?”
I have been mulling over becoming a vampire. The life doesn’t look so bad to me when it offers immortality.
“Everything dies,” the monster said, as if reading my mind about immortality. “Even you. It won’t matter how long I wait.”
I banished the being with my inattention. The more it talked of doom, the more I shut my ears to it until the thing went away. I, who have wrestled angels and demons, can’t be intimidated by a roly-poly fat guy slobbering to suck my soul away.
Lately I have been plagued by nightmare. If I could be made afraid, the nightmares come closest to causing me a thrill of fear. In the nightmares, which reoccur each night, taking up where the last left off, I wander a world changed beyond recognition. Civilization has collapsed. In its place is chaos. Cities are in ruins, whole populations are on the move with only what they can carry on their backs, and the dead are everywhere.
We are in bad shape in the world today, with drought and poverty and terrorism and disease, but nothing like the destruction shown to me in the nightmares.
If that is the future being shown me, it might be better to test my fate with the monster in death, than to live and suffer with the living. Even a vampire would lead a poor existence in such a devastated world as that.
If only I could ascertain what manner of man I am and what I am meant to do. Without fear or conscience I recognize I am a freak, but why was I born and what is my mission? This sojourn with Upton and his Predator army is only that—a sojourn. An adventure. If I live through it, can it mean the vampire life is my destiny? I don’t think that is true. I think I will move on to some other adventure. And keep wandering until it’s clear to me what I’m supposed to do.
Upton says he has something for me to do. I’m ready for anything, I told him. Use me as your instrument, I said. He knows that I’m willing.
So I have some deed to commit soon, though I haven’t been enlightened about what it might be. What can I possibly perform for Upton that he or his followers can’t do themselves?
It’s a tasty mystery. Upton knows me well enough to keep information from me to heighten my anticipation. He is truly a great leader. Except for his need to rush in angry confrontation, I think he might be undefeatable.
Now the night deepens and the wild things have grown quiet as they prowl about the house. Upton won’t be back for hours. I’ll make my bed on the floor and hope the nightmare won’t return so I can sleep without frequent awakenings.
I am in the United States, a place I have never visited, brought here in a whirlwind that scrambled my mind, and I await the next step. It should be interesting, if nothing else.
Chapter 13
The anniversary party Ross had planned for Malachi and Danielle would not be put off. Malachi asked Mentor if it was wise to gather so many together in one place with Upton nearby. Ross insists on it, Mentor replied. He wasn’t going to let his plans be ruined because of Upton.
Malachi’s parents, his grandparents, his aunts and uncles and cousins were all coming from various Texas towns to Ross’s ranch for the weekend occasion. The morning of the party, Malachi rose bone tired from his bed, feeling as if he hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours all night.Danielle looked radiant. She was already dressed in a long chiffon dress of a violet print over a silky under-slip. Pretty sandals were on her feet and she’d even placed a spray of flowers in her hair she’d swept into a French bun at the back of her head.
“You’re beautiful,” he breathed, clasping her in his arms and kissing her cheek. Oh God, she was like an angel.
Eli clamored to be picked up. Malachi lifted him between them and together they hugged him. “We’re going to a party, Daddy!”
Malachi laughed. “Yes, we are, Scout. Isn’t your mommy pretty?”
Eli turned to his mother and wrapped his chubby arms around her neck. “She’s bea-u-ti-ful.”
“Oh, you’re such a sweet boy,” Danielle cooed, kissing him all over the face.
Malachi showered, feeling better afterward, and dressed. He had a box of candy and a pair of diamond earrings for Danielle’s anniversary presents. He had already secreted them in the trunk of the car to take along to Ross’s party so he could surprise Danielle later.
As they climbed into the car, he saw across the pasture his mother helping his father into the truck. She’d already put the wheelchair in the truck bed and now waved at Malachi to let him know they’d follow.
It was a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Malachi belted Eli into his car seat. He had a sudden premonition that shook him to the core. He looked at his son and felt a disaster looming just over the child’s head, like a thundercloud about to burst with lightning hotter than the sun’s surface.
“Malachi?” Danielle, noticing his hesitancy, twisted in the front seat, and stared at him.
“I…it’s nothing. I felt dizzy for a minute, that’s all.”
“You’re sure you’re all right?”
He reassured her he was, but in his heart he knew something bad was on the way. Something terrible. He felt helpless to avoid it.
Chapter 14
So far Sereny had kept Jeremy at her side and out of danger. It was just a reprieve, she knew, because eventually he’d roam again and she would follow him to take him away.
Today he helped her prepare the house for the party. Together they draped silver and red crepe paper streamers and little fo
lding red paper hearts from the balconies and ceiling. They covered a long table with silver lame’ and sprinkled glittery red hearts and stars over the top of it. There was a punch bowl filled with rounded scoops of strawberry ice cream floating in icy Sprite for the humans who were attending the party. In an ice bucket lay a chilled bottle of vastly overrated and overpriced French champagne for the anniversary couple’s toast.
Sereny carefully arranged two silver goblets on the table for Malachi and Danielle. They had been married five years. It was so sweet. Sereny wondered if she felt about Ross the way Danielle felt about Malachi. Ah, but how could she? She loved many people, and simply, at the moment, loved Ross more.
Ross had never hosted a party before. Sereny might have thought it would be out of character for him, but he surprised her. She had never seen him grin so much. He flitted around getting in the way, fussing with the decorations and flower arrangements. “Let me do it,” Sereny insisted, taking a bowl of white chrysanthemums and red roses from his hands. She brought the flowers to her nose and inhaled deeply. “These smell exquisite.” The roses were fragrant and the mums gave off a spicy green scent. She smiled at him in a teasing way.
“I’ll go check the pool.” He nervously adjusted the belt holding up his black silk slacks.
Sereny didn’t expect anyone would swim, so they’d floated candles and roses in the pool and aimed spotlights on it for when dark fell. It would look like an Olympic float in a football parade.
Within an hour most of their guests where there. Malachi and his family, Dell and Ryan, Mentor, Dolan, Bette, and Ross’s employee vampires from the blood banks he controlled. There were people milling all over the house and spilling outside to the pool area and patio. Sereny rushed from here to there, stacking the anniversary gifts on a table, refreshing the punch bowl, taking used glasses to the kitchen. Jeremy followed her every step and even helped carry things when she asked.
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