Bloodlines Part 1

by Drew D'Amato

  “I understand, but we will be wasting time.”

  “No we won’t. Once we land at Geneva I want to stay at the airport for the Crusaders, and avoid as many security checks as possible. I would like to arrive there after nightfall, so we can transform and carry the weapons through customs.

  “So we will leave tomorrow afternoon. It’s practically a twenty-four hour flight with regard to the time zone changes.”

  “Good, and don’t worry Jericho, I will be at my best, and this woman will help me be that.”

  “Just be ready, Casanova.”

  Vlad made his way to the kitchen. Jericho stood by the window. Even though it was daylight he could still not put his nerves at ease. His master thought this Jasmine was his saving grace, the light that would carry him through to the end of this war. Jericho thought she was a distraction—and dangerous.

  3

  Jasmine got to his house a little before nine. She was anxious and nervous. Vlad could tell that from her face as she came in. He had told his men to try to be out of the house by eight, before she got there. That was fine, but Michael told him James said they would be cleared for take-off at 4:35 Monday afternoon—cutting it close to nightfall but it left a chance for some wiggle room if they got delayed. This was a one-shot deal. The flight itself would be a little short of twenty-four hours including the stop for gas in New York and considering the time changes. James was ready to move on short notice. It was imperative that they got to Switzerland while it was dark out. Some of the men needed to transform into small creatures—insects—and it would be those that would hide the weapons on their body, that way the others could pass through customs at the airport with their fake ID’s without raising any questions.

  Vlad understood and in no way would he risk the mission for the sake of Jasmine. He was falling in love with her, but he could not be with her if at first he could not be a human, and he could not be a human at all if he did not have the coffer. Priorities, he had to get them straight.

  He gave Jasmine a tour of the house. She was impressed. After checking it out, they went back to the couch where he had a bottle of chianti and two wine glasses waiting for them at the coffee table. He turned on the big flat screen TV. They chose a movie on HBO to watch. It was a romantic comedy, what people would call a chick flick but Vlad couldn’t have cared less. When she got comfortable, Vlad asked her about Kevin.

  “It hasn’t really hit me yet,” she said. “I’m thinking it should, I’m thinking I should have been bawling my eyes out last night after learning that he was unfaithful, but I didn’t. It felt to me more like a release. Like now I could get away without thinking leaving him was a mistake. I had this feeling to leave him for a while. I guess I felt I just needed to be sure. I don’t know, I mean it hurt that he did that to me, but it doesn’t hurt that the relationship is over. This whole experience has been so surreal.”

  “It might be shock,” Vlad suggested

  “Could be. I told my parents and they were shocked. My mom didn’t expect that from him, but my father…”

  “Your father what?”

  “My father approved of my engagement with Kevin. He wasn’t a loser. But after the news of his father’s affairs came to light, he just felt that the apple probably didn’t fall too far from the tree. Then he gave me this look.”

  “A look, do you think he…”

  “Yes, I think he knows that I was the one that released the story. He was right, he knows his little girls. He didn’t seem like he really disapproved, but didn’t approve either. My mom didn’t put two and two together. She just believes in coincidences and fate. She’s very spiritual like that.”

  “So you’re a lot like your father?”

  “Yes, but why do you say that? People have said it before, but usually it’s people who have known both of us for a while. You’re just starting to know me, and you barely met my father. What led you to that connection?”

  “Well your father seems like a guy with integrity, but at the same time managing to be a realist in regard to people. It’s hard to manage those two things for most people. Realists tend to be cynical, and people with integrity tend to be optimistic, to a point almost delusional in their views to the world. But you seem to pull them both off. You have good morals, yet you’re not afraid to learn the truth.”

  Jasmine was taken aback by his observation. It was dead on.

  “My father asked about you.”

  “What did he ask?”

  “If you were single. He said you looked like a stand-up guy. That’s weird because last night before you came over he was giving me the third degree for going out with some strange dude since I had a fiancé. I told them we were friends from school just talking about class, and there was no funny business. He still didn’t approve then, but yet this morning he was speaking highly of you. Maybe it was because he learned you were a prince?”

  Maybe there was a little more to him changing his mind, Vlad thought.

  “I don’t understand, maybe it’s because I am single now,” Jasmine finished.

  “Yes, you are.” Vlad smiled, Jasmine smiled back. He moved his head half-way, and she closed the gap. It was one of the most meaningful kisses he ever had in his life. It was worth the wait, it was worth everything. He started light, like he was kissing Sleeping Beauty. She responded and turned the passion up. They went back and forth in an intimate tennis match.

  He moved on top of her. She was wearing a V-cut purple sweater and her crucifix slightly burned Vlad as his chest rubbed against it. With all his might he managed to not wince at the pain. He kept going but then he thought of what it would seem if she noticed the slight hole it was making through his shirt. He had not felt passion like this in over five hundred years but it would have to wait another week. He got off of her.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “No, not at all, that was great.”

  “Yeah it was. I feel like we’ve done this before. It’s weird, but you’re so familiar to me.

  There was nostalgic feel to their kiss—in another life, in another era. He sensed it, but what surprised him was that her, who had only lived one lifetime, had felt it too. And that was why he knew he had to stop—for now.

  He could have her. He could have her tonight if he wanted. He saw it in her eyes, something he had seen in women’s eyes for six hundred years, but no pair as beautiful as hers.

  She would let herself be seduced. She would fight—well, not really fight, just slow it down—but she would give herself to him. Was it true love? Was it the sign of something for real? Was he that good? Or was it something else? Did she just want to fill some void that was empty now because of what happened with Kevin? He looked at her again.

  It was a mix of feelings. She was in an unstable state. Part of her decision to act on her feelings was that she wanted some kind of revenge on Kevin. Maybe she would tell Kevin right after she slept with him? That was not how Vlad wanted their first time to be. Him taking advantage of her in an emotional state, her doing it to get back at her ex-fiance, and her later regretting it. He would have to refuse; yet, if he said no, there was no guarantee he would ever get the chance later.

  Either path was doomed, or either path was the right move, but only one choice was righteous.

  “I think we should stop now,” he told her. Jasmine looked as if she didn’t believe him, like he was trying instead to be nice in rejecting her. Her face went to shock. Vlad explained. “The passion of the flesh many times, has caused many people, many mistakes. I would not want us to fall victim to that tonight, you are worth more than that to me.”

  “This isn’t bullshit, is it?”

  “Nothing about me is bullshit.”

  She smiled at that. “So you don’t want just sex?”

  “I wouldn’t waste my time for just that.”

  “I believe you, but with you it just feels so right.”

  You can’t do it. If you don’t care about the state she is in, how about th
e state you’re in. He was still a vampire, and she was still a virgin. She will bleed. As she can fall to temptation, so can he. He couldn’t hold back centuries ago with Rose, what could possibly make him think he could control himself with her?

  “It feels so right, because it is right,” he told her. “But now is not the right time, and we’re playing with fire. We should stop.”

  All her life, since she was a teenager, men have been trying to get into her pants, and here was the first man she ever met who was not biting at a possible invitation. There was something special about him. There was something mysterious and yet familiar to him all at once.

  “In three years with Kevin, I never really felt this tangible feeling I’m having with you now.”

  “There was no woman I was ever with that I felt what I am feeling now. That’s why we should relax. When we see each other again, and this feeling is still there, we will know it is true and not just some impulse.”

  “And when can I see you next?”

  “In probably a week. I have to leave for Europe tomorrow.”

  Her face full of bliss turned to shock. The doubt crept into her mind again that he was really just subtly rejecting her.

  “Why are you going to Europe?”

  “A cousin of mine died in a car accident in Ireland.”

  “Oh my god, I’m sorry. How old was your cousin?”

  “He was forty-five, thank you, but we weren’t that close. I never really got a chance to tell you about it, with all the more important news that was happening with you.”

  “When is your flight?”

  “4:35 tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Did you even pack?”

  “Yes, today. My cousins that I live with are flying out with me.”

  “You live with your cousins? Where are they?”

  “Out on the town. Did you think I slept in all the beds in this place myself? We live together. A man could get lonely living alone.”

  “Oh.” There was something he said that disturbed her.

  “But I don’t plan to spend all my days living with them.”

  The light was back in her eyes. “Well, have a safe flight.”

  “I’m not nervous about the flight.”

  “Oh? What are you nervous about?”

  Vlad looked away. “Nothing,” he said, but she sensed there was something below the surface.

  “I should get going. I have class early tomorrow,” she said.

  “Yes, that’s probably the wise idea. My cousins will be home soon, too.”

  He walked her out and they kissed good-bye. Neither was able to physically pull away at first, but finally Jasmine was able to do it. Vlad promised he would call her from Europe when he got a chance.

  As Jasmine drove home she was unsure if he was really a great noble guy that cared about her, or if he was just letting her down softly. He wanted to stop making out with her, he suddenly was going to Europe, and he was hiding whatever it was that he was was nervous about. Her intuition—that had been right about Kevin—had told her something was up with Vlad. But she wasn’t exactly sure what. She didn’t feel he didn’t like her, or that he was rejecting her. She just felt like he was hiding something, but she couldn’t be sure if it was in regards to her or something else.

  She concluded she would just wait and see what happened when he got home from Europe. If he got back and wanted to see her, and everything was on the up and up, she wouldn’t think anything more about it. If she didn’t hear from him in a few days though, she would start to get nervous. If that happened, though, she had no understanding of what she really needed to be nervous about.

  4

  When Jasmine left, Vlad realized there was one last detail he had to do before he departed. He called the rectory of the Divine Saviour. He was embarrassed it was so late at night, but with everything else going on around him, he had forgotten about this important piece to the plan.

  “Divine Saviour,” Pacami answered before the second ring.

  “Father Pacami, thank God you answered.”

  “Well I’m having a tough time falling asleep tonight. I heard what happened to that house in Santa Barbara. The description of the dragon fountain, the pictures of the place. I knew it was your house, and yet I never heard from you. I feared the worst. Though you do not have a problem dropping by, I have no way to get in touch with you.”

  “I am sorry for that. Yes, that was my house. Radu attacked us, but we made it out all right. I’m sorry, I should have never forgotten about you, but I had been so busy lately with Jasmine.”

  “Jasmine? I heard about her boyfriend’s father. Vlad, were you behind that?”

  “Her ex-boyfriend, and no, I was not behind that. Jasmine did that herself. But yes, we have been seeing each other, and to relieve as much stress from you as I can, I will tell you she is in no way in any kind of danger.”

  “Vlad be careful. She is a good girl.” Vlad noticed the concern in the priest’s voice.

  “Because she is a good girl, is exactly why I will be careful. I will not see her again until I am a human once more.”

  “And when will that be?”

  “That is the reason for this late night phone call. Tomorrow my men and I are flying to Europe to destroy Radu. We will attack his house, it will be during the day, but we will be uninvited of course. That is the greatest risk. We will be humans going against vampires.”

  “But they won’t be conscious.”

  “They can be woken up. It is far from a sure thing, but after the attack on my house, we do not have many options or time left. We have to do this now. I should return within a week. When I get back, and he is dead, will you still perform the exorcism?”

  “Of course I will Vlad, I have told you this. But how does killing Radu give you the Dark Bible? Don’t you still need to get a hold of that to ascertain the exorcism that will make you a human again?”

  “We will be picking that up while in Europe also, before we kill Radu. It’s going to be one fell swoop for all the marbles, and when you hear from me again this war will be over.”

  “And what if I don’t hear from you again?”

  “Pray, Father. Pray.”

  5

  Michael had gotten away from Jericho and Malachi. Not every night for the vampires was a night at a posh nightclub seducing the VIP’s. Sometimes they took in a movie, sometimes a nice dinner. Sometimes they had projects.

  Jericho had a project. He feasted on wife beaters and child molesters. It required research on his part—police reports confirmed with some of his own actual observations. The decision to act required time, but every few months he found one. He had one in his sights that evening. Usually Michael came along with him. It was not at all because Jericho needed the help—he was still feasting on humans—but Jericho liked the company.

  This night, Michael suggested Malachi went in his place instead. He had never seen this little side to Jericho and he figured he might enjoy it. One human—who weighed less than 170 pounds, and liked to burn his four-year-old daughter with cigarettes—did not have enough blood for three vampires. This is why Jericho didn’t think it was odd when Michael declined to come along.

  Michael instead went to a secluded diner on the outskirts of town. He didn’t go there to eat, but to meet someone. This someone waited in a booth at the end of the place. The light was dark at that end of the restaurant. Without any apprehension, Michael sat with him.

  “Did anyone see you?” this someone asked.

  “No, they are all waiting for tomorrow, preparing,” Michael said.

  “Is anyone on to you?”

  “Vlad suspected something, then the trick with the rigged car helped win back some trust.”

  “Good, so what is the plan?”

  “We are leaving for Europe tomorrow.”

  “Europe, why?”

  “He will surrender himself to Radu. But his catch is he wants to die at his old castle. His real plan though, is to get all you guys back to
Europe, so that you will stay at your house, and then try to kill you there during the day.”

  “Ballsy move, he will just be a human if he enters uninvited. He is going for broke?”

  “Yes, he’s grasping at straws. Even though daylight kills you, you don’t have to sleep during the day, so you can be prepared.”

  “Do you know the exact day he will make this attempt?”

  “I can’t be sure right now, probably within a week. He’s going to want to take some time to make sure you are there. I will keep in contact and let you know when the attack is exactly going to happen.”

  “The other night was close. I underrated Vlad. He is a slippery character.”

  “That is why, for all these years, you have gotten nowhere without me. I expect Radu to be thankful enough to respect what I asked for?” Michael felt guilty being here, but he didn’t see another way out.

  “I assure you, I will make you one myself,” Gabriel said with a smile. “I never thought I would see the day loyal Michael would hate his master.”

  “I don’t hate him,” Michael said. “It’s just—” Michael thought to himself to get the words right. Vlad made me for his war. He gave me this power. He told me that giving up a human life for the good of the world was the right thing to do. I followed him faithfully and what is my payoff—to become human and die? He wants to love again, but why do I have to die? For what, for this woman? He pushed me to this betrayal, with his selfishness to those who have been with him for centuries. We don’t stand in his way. He won’t stand in mine.