Mrs. Russell nodded. “Robert had cancer, as you know.”
I gasped. “You’re right! And he . . . you gradually got better. I just assumed it was because the chemo and radiation were working.”
Mr. Russell shook his head, a sad expression crossing his face. “Sadly, that was not the case.”
“Did you kill him?”
Mr. and Mrs. Russell both gasped, giving me shocked expressions.
“Of course not!” Mrs. Russell said. “We would never, ever—”
“Ever kill someone!” Mr. Russell interrupted.
I raised my hands. “I’m sorry. I apologize. I didn’t mean to offend.”
“Yes, it’s understandable you would assume that.” Mrs. Russell turned back to Mr. Russell. “Go ahead.”
“Well, once we realized his cancer was terminal, we approached Mr. and Mrs. Russell and explained to them who we were.”
“I’ll bet that was an exciting conversation,” I said.
“Oh, yes, it was,” Mrs. Russell said. “Understandably, they were stressed and anxious and quite freaked out. But we visited them over several weeks, and gradually, they came to see that what we wanted was in their best interest too.”
“And what was that?” I asked, getting impatient for them to tell me.
“We would take over their bodies and lives and continue living for them. Nobody would ever need to know they had passed on, not even their children.”
I frowned. “How?”
Eleanora put her hand on my arm. “You remember the Croents you and Nicole encountered?”
Yes, I did. They drank blood through their fingertips and could completely disappear. They also had the ability to emulate other people. Eleanora had told me a while back that they were a type of vampire.
“We are equivalents,” Mrs. Russell said. “And because we are of a pure bloodline, some of the usual restraints don’t apply to us.”
“What restraints?”
“Most only can temporarily resemble someone else. The amount of time they’re able to do it gets longer the purer their bloodline is. Because we have the purest lineage, we have no limit on how long we can take on another creature’s appearance.”
Mr. Russell nodded. “Indeed. Hundreds of years ago, Croents didn’t have any restrictions whatsoever. But the royal family wanted to prevent someone of impure blood being able to resemble, say, the king, and oust the family from the throne.”
Mrs. Russell nodded. “Yes. Kings and queens are perhaps a bit old-fashioned, but we’ve maintained a pure bloodline, and those benefits have served us well.”
“So,” I said, “you took over Mr. Russell’s body when he died from cancer, I’m assuming?”
Mr. Russell nodded. “All I had to do was drink just a little of his blood once, and I was able to take on his appearance. We’d been watching them for so long and had been meeting with them nearly daily for over three months. It wasn’t difficult for me to impersonate him.”
“Yes, and Mrs. Russell was still alive for the last year, and was able to correct Mr. Russell whenever he did something that was uncharacteristic for her former husband.”
My mind was reeling. I couldn’t believe what they were telling me. “If he took over for Mr. Russell only a year and a half ago, that would mean Mrs. Russell has only been gone for six or so months.”
Mrs. Russell nodded, and it surprised me when I saw tears in her eyes. “Yes. She was a lovely lady. She passed in her sleep.”
Tears gathered in my own eyes. I hadn’t been able to mourn the passing of two very dear friends. I felt cheated, robbed, and I couldn’t help the anger that swelled up inside me.
Mr. Russell took his wife’s hand, sending her a glance of compassion. “We grew quite attached to both of them. They were very good people.”
I swallowed, forcing my feelings aside. I’d address them later—for now, I needed to continue letting the new knowledge flow over me. “And that brings me to another question,” I said. “Why do it at all?”
“To experience life as a human.”
I shook my head. “I don’t buy it.”
Mrs. Russell gave a soft laugh. “Honey, not everyone has an ulterior motive. We also wanted to be near you and to interact with you so that hopefully, one day, we could help if the need ever arose.”
“Which it has,” Mr. Russell interjected.
“Beyond that, we were tired of our former lives. You’ve been to the dimension we’re from. You know what it’s like. It’s nowhere near as beautiful as your earth.”
She was right—their home was stark and boring.
Mr. Russell motioned out the window. “I will never grow tired of the beauty of the desert.”
I nodded. I knew what he was talking about. I’d quickly come to love and appreciate how dry it was in Utah. The heat enveloped you, warming you through and through, and the sunshine was almost always present. It filled my soul with happiness. It was a lot like where I was from in Texas, which probably helped. During the four years I’d spent in Seattle, I could never get fully warm.
“You really don’t plan to murder me in my sleep?”
Mrs. Russell chuckled. “Of course not. We’re being honest when we say we want to help you as much as possible. And like the Russells, we’ve come to care for you deeply.”
Her sincerity was fairly palpable, and I knew she spoke the truth. But still, I couldn’t help but mourn inside for my lost friends.
“What did you do with the Russells’ bodies? What happens when the family finds out you’re not them?”
“Their bodies have been buried in our dimension,” Mr. Russell said. “They will be preserved there. And we fully intend to bring their children in on the truth eventually.”
Mrs. Russell shook her head at her husband. “No, we don’t. It would be cruel to tell our—er, the Russells’ children that their parents have been dead for some time and they didn’t know.” She looked at me. “When the time comes, we will fake our deaths and bring the Russells’ bodies back so their children may mourn them properly. In the meantime, we are enjoying having children to spend time with whenever they are able. And we love having you as our adopted daughter.”
I watched them, really watched them, especially as they spoke about “their” children. It surprised me to realize they were nearly as lonely as the Russells had been. It seemed having kids who lived on the other side of the country and rarely visited was something that would affect many, and not just humans. It really surprised me they felt such strong emotions for kids they’d had no hand in raising.
“How do you pull it off when they come to visit?”
“We were able to access the Russells’ memories when we took on their images. It’s helped a great deal.”
I nodded. That would make a difference.
“Another question—how did the other vampires know you? Are they also originally from your dimension?”
Mr. Russell shook his head. “No, they’re from their own planet. We allowed them to see through our disguises for a brief moment.”
“Why did they treat you with such respect?”
“Because technically, we are their king and queen too. Croents have come to rule over all forms of vampires.” He winked at me. “Something to do with being able to impersonate anyone. We allow them their own governments, but have found that occasionally, we must step in to prevent war between factions or now, discovery by humans.”
That was a satisfactory answer. My mind was completely blown, though, and I needed to take a mental break. Eleanora, who had been fairly quiet, started talking to the Russells about weather here versus on their planet, and my thoughts turned to Lord Kenan. It had been a while since I’d last heard from Omar.
I waited for a break in their conversation before asking, “Do either of you know anything about Lord Kenan?”
They glanced at each other before Mr. Russell responded.
“Yes. We know of him. And we actually . . .”
Mrs. Russell gave Mr. Russe
ll a slight smile. “We know more than just of him,” she said. “We helped banish him to the cemetery in Holland where he is currently imprisoned.”
I shook my head. “I hate to inform you of this, but he’s . . . uhhh . . . going to be breaking free from the prison any day now.”
Mr. and Mrs. Russell both paled, leaning back in their seats in shock.
“What do you mean?” Mrs. Russell asked.
I grasped the amulet, feeling my cheeks tinge with color. “In order to get the amulet functioning, I had to give him back his flame.”
Mrs. Russell gasped. “He has his flame back?”
My heart started beating double-time and my mouth went dry. “Yes. He does.”
Mr. Russell got to his feet and started pacing. “I’m not sure you’re aware of how serious this is. Lord Kenan without his fire is incredibly dangerous. We imprisoned him for a reason, even after we stole his flame. But with his flame?” He turned and stared at me. “He’s practically invincible.”
I felt my stomach drop. “I’ve had plenty of warnings about who he is and what he’s capable of, but I still had to get the amulet back. I had no choice.”
At Mrs. Russell’s insistence, Mr. Russell returned to his seat. “Why didn’t you have a choice?”
I explained to them everything that had happened. How Lord Kenan had been the previous owner of the amulet and how he’d kept back a portion of it. I told them about hunting him down to get the rest, and how he’d made me trek across the world to find his flame, which had been split into three.
“Of course it was split into three,” Mrs. Russell said. “There was nothing else we could do.”
“It’s the main reason we, and other vampires, left this planet. If he ever escaped, he’d destroy us. We realized the chances of Lord Kenan rising to power again were much slimmer if no supernaturals existed on earth.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Okay, tell me. What exactly is he?”
“He’s a vampire. An incredibly powerful and dangerous one.”
“How dangerous? How powerful?”
Mr. Russell shook his head. “Very. We’re not sure how much—he never had the opportunity to stretch his gifts fully, but what we saw was bad enough.”
“Wait. He’s a vampire? Is he a fire vampire? I’ll bet he is. I mean, he did originally have a flame, which I returned. So, if I steal it back . . .” I wasn’t sure where I was going with that, since taking Rauel’s flame hadn’t done anything. But it had been so very important to Lord Kenan, and it stood to reason that removing his fire would be a good idea.
Mrs. Russell nodded. “Yes, he is a fire vampire. And though we are royalty, he will not bend. He has never respected our roles. We can help you fight him, but you need a lot more than just our help to destroy him.”
“It goes without saying that I do need to destroy him, then?”
Mr. Russell nodded. “Definitely. He will stop at nothing until he gets your amulet and either destroys the entire world or turns everyone on it into vampires.”
Naturally. Why else would a vampire seek power? To get his own army, of course.
I didn’t miss the irony in the situation, though. I needed the amulet to hunt and destroy demons, and in order to get it, I had to release a demon . . . that I would also need to hunt and destroy. Sigh.
Eleanora glanced at me. “This is beyond my strength,” she said. “I hadn’t heard of him before by name, but I know who they speak of. He truly is a force to be reckoned with.”
“What do I do?”
“We have to gather as many supporters as possible. And that includes joining with others, even fire vampires.”
I shook my head. “No way. You saw them. There’s no way they’d be willing to work with me.”
Mr. Russell raised his hand. “Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. The two fire vampires who were causing problems for you weeks ago weren’t looking to destroy you, but to gain information. You said as much yourself.”
I nodded. “Good point.”
“Some of them will be embittered against you because you did release Lord Kenan, but others will be willing to fight with you. They’ll see why you had to do it.”
“And because you’re a different type of vampire,” I said. “I really do need to go see the one in the hospital.”
“Yes, you do.”
I leaned back in my seat, folding my arms. I didn’t know what would be expected of me once I got to the hospital, but I recognized that I would need to do some bargaining. That was fine. I was willing to do anything but help Rauel get his fire back. There was no way I would ever do that again. Traveling all over the world—let alone to Iraq—and being forced to enter ancient temples that didn’t actually exist . . . Yeah, not going to repeat that.
Still, maybe Rauel wouldn’t ask. Maybe all he’d want would be for me to help him get back into good health.
Something in the pit of my stomach told me that wouldn’t be the case, but I chose to be optimistic—er, idealistic.
“So, what do I call you two?” I asked. “Do you have other names I should be using?”
Mrs. Russell shook her head. “Just keeping using the Russell name. You wouldn’t be able to pronounce our real names, anyway.”
“That’s easy enough.”
Eleanora and I thanked them, then returned to my home. We were silent as I prepared dinner and Eleanora put in another batch of cookies to bake. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t gained extra weight with how many cookies I’d been eating lately. I knew that was due to my active, Fire Impeder lifestyle, but the extra calories wouldn’t always fall off. I was going to have to exercise some self-restraint soon.
Ha ha. Exercise restraint. By exercising. Puns are fun.
I obviously wasn’t getting enough sleep lately.
I called the hospital to find out if I could visit Rauel. He was in the ICU, and visiting hours were already over. I’d have to drop by the next day.
The call came to fight a fire on the mountain above Orem not long after. Again, Eleanora accompanied me, but this time, she didn’t have her men come too. I argued with her, but she was stubborn.
And . . . she surprised me by keeping up with me physically. I didn’t know how—maybe magic was strengthening her—but much like the last fire, fighting it went seriously fast with her there.
We still had no clue as to who or what was starting the fires, though.
***
As soon as visiting hours were about to begin, I walked through the doors of the American Fork Hospital. They were hesitant to let me visit Rauel until I showed them my badge.
He was so frail, so gaunt. Nothing like the vampire I’d seen in the living room so long ago. His cheeks were gray and sunken in, and dark rings surrounded his eyes. I noticed immediately that the window was completely covered.
“He’s not responding to medications or anything in the IV,” the nurse whispered. “And we think he’s allergic to the sun.”
I slowly shook my head. I could understand why he wasn’t responding to their treatment. “Do you know why he’s like this?”
Rauel’s eyes popped open, and he stared at me, recognition crossing his face. “Fix it,” he rasped.
The nurse glanced at me, probably wondering what Rauel was referring to, then patted my arm. “If you’re sure you’re okay, I’ll check back in a little while.”
I thanked her, then took the chair and dragged it farther away from the bed than it had been before.
“Fix it,” he repeated.
“Fix what? You need to be more specific than that.” Yeah, I knew what he was talking about, but I wanted to hear him say it all the same.
His hand fluttered as he tried to raise it, but it didn’t go up more than a couple of inches. “My fire,” he said. “You stole it. Bring it back.”
“No way.”
“Then I can’t help you.”
“Do you even know what I need?”
“To stop Lord Kenan. And to do that, you need a
ssistance from the fire vampires.”
I nodded. “I sure do.” I glared at the wall above him. “Why do you need the fire, anyway? I obviously didn’t kill you when I took it away.”
His voice was a little stronger now. Maybe the hope that I’d help was giving him strength. Or maybe it was only getting better now because he was using it again. “Of course I need it. Without it, I am a regular vampire.”
“I know what a regular vampire is, but what does the fire do for you?”
“Regular vampires burn up in the sun. Fire vampires harness the sun’s power, which, of course, is actual fire. Along with other things, it grants us the ability to walk in sunlight. And when we consume things with our flame, we gain power and strength that regular vampires do not have.”
His eyes were closed while he spoke, but when he finished, he opened them and stared at me. “By removing my flame, you’ve turned me into a regular vampire. But I’m a fire vampire, not a regular one, and not having my flame is slowly starving me to death. Blood will only take me so far. I must also use flame, and I need to be in the sun, but only if I have my fire—sunlight burns me otherwise. Without the sun and without my flame, it is impossible for me to survive.”
“Will it eventually kill you, then?”
He chuckled mirthlessly. “No. I will starve, but not to death, because I’m immortal. I will starve and suffer in agony until someone takes mercy on me and stakes me through the heart.”
I realized now was not the time to joke, but I couldn’t help it. “Do you want me to do that? I mean, I keep stakes with me now.”
He frowned at me. “Of course I don’t. Why would I want you to destroy my life? More than you already have, of course.”
“I’m sorry. I was just joking.” I looked at the window, barely able to see the sunlight through the edges of the curtain. “What about Lord Kenan? He’s a fire vampire, right?”
“Yes. Yes, he is. But he’s more than just a fire vampire. He has other powers that were just coming to the surface when he was imprisoned. No one knows exactly what he can do yet. We hoped never to learn.”
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