Exsanguinate

by Killion Slade

  We looked at one another, and for the first time I stopped to consider our troop. Here I stood with a werewolf, vampire, and dragon in front of a green octopus lady.

  Khaldon stepped forward. “I think we’d like to dine together. Can you recommend a restaurant to suit multi-naturals, or are they all segregated?”

  “Absolutely,” Z’anima said as she laid a slimy suction cup on Khaldon’s arm. This informal gesture triggered an insane sensation of wanting to cut off her arm and make sushi out of her.

  Z’anima smiled at me. It qould awhile to get used to looking at blue teeth. “We have many fine restaurants to accommodate all of you – let me suggest The Rusty Anchor. It serves up a mean rack of ribs and some the best bloodwines available from The Broken Fang. How does that sound?”

  I couldn’t tell whose stomach growled louder, Harris’ or Briggs’.

  “Sounds damn good to me – let’s eat,” Harris said.

  “Might I suggest a wonderful dessert for the lady after your dinner and spa treatment?” Her farthest outreached suction cup landed next to a place called The Tasty Pastry. The sight of the name made my mouth water. I could smell the cinnamony, buttery, glazed sugar from here. All thoughts of serving her up Kobe style instantly disappeared from my thoughts.

  A loud whoosh of air and sea spray cascaded over the entrance way. I watched as dolphins and seahorses raced along the tank’s edge.

  The green lady laughed. “Silly boys – don’t mind them, they’re itching to get into the open sea tonight for the Atlantis Race trials.”

  “I love those games.” Briggs nodded and smiled at me. “Hopefully this mess will be cleared soon. Maybe we can take everyone to the Olympic Games.”

  “My favorite event is the long dive,” Harris chimed in.

  Our hostess smiled. “Again my name is Z’anima, and if you need anything, please find a server walking through the departments, and they will help you find whatever it is you are seeking.”

  We all thanked her for her attentive assessments and walked into the bustling hall. Never in my life had I dreamed of humanoids, kelpies, ghosts, banshees, tigers, and a variety of creatures I couldn’t begin to identify sitting and talking to one another in a cafe’ espresso shop.

  We followed the signs to The Rusty Anchor. I turned to Khaldon. “So … Rox, err, Khaldon … what was that all about?”

  “She’s a kraken.” Khaldon gestured as we walked farther into the Super Market past the oceanic tank. “Normally, you don’t see them out of the water much. Usually there is a merman at the information center, several times however, I have seen a mermaid there as well.”

  “A merman? A kraken? You mean as in big, angry, octopus-like, sea monster who bites ships in half and drags them to their watery graves kinda kraken? And merfolk who save the lives of sailors from those doomed ships?”

  “The distinctive invertebrate herself. Kraken possess an innate sense of personality and oftentimes pick up on sonar-like waves from your mind and are able to ascertain your name, needs, and your most primal desires. They work alongside the Sirens quite often.” He mussed up my hair and closed my open mouth. “It’s not polite to gawk and stare, Cheyenne. Try not to look so shocked. Did you think vampires, werewolves, and dragons were the only kinds of supers on the planet?”

  “No, but I … I don’t know. I had no clue. Honestly hadn’t thought about it. There’s just so much going on here. I really don’t know what to think. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that mermaids are real.” I stammered back at him.

  Briggs snorted at me.

  Just then a voice rang out across the vestibule. “Hey, Rox – wait up.”

  “Hey, Torchy, you silly bloke – where’ve you been? Shagging the ladies I presume?” Khaldon introduced a strawberry blond man who was heavy on the Scottish.

  “Aye! How ye dae’in? Ah’ve no seen ya for yonks. Wher’ve ye been?” Torchy inquired.

  I wasn’t quite sure what he said, but by Khaldon’s reply, I guessed it to be ‘a haven’t seen you in a while’ kind of thing.

  “You can call me Khaldon, they all know who I am now. Torch, I’d like you to meet my Lady Cazenove – Cheyenne O’Cuinn. Cheyenne, this here is my best bloke, Torchy. He’s the one who has been taking care of Beano and Stormaggedon while you were in the hospital and such.”

  Instantly I liked this man. He had taken very good care of our dogs.

  “An O’Cuinn you say? Can ye tell me, from where on the Emerald ye are from?” Torchy looked at me as if I was supposed to know how to answer him.

  “He wants to know where in Ireland are you from.” Khaldon explained, quickly saving me from utter embarrassment.

  “Oh yes, of course.” I blushed at not being able to understand his thick accent. “My sisters and I left Ireland when we were very young. I believe we’re from Kerry. My parents never spoke too much about Ireland. I’m not sure why, truthfully.”

  “Torch here is a Celtic dragon, technically Welsh, but he is from Scotland so he is twice as confusing. He and I have been hanging for well, let’s just say a very long time.”

  Briggs shot a look at Torchy and then back at Khaldon. His eyes squinted closed just a bit and then he stretched out his arm for a welcome fist bump. “Nice Bro – always great to meet another dragon.”

  Torchy smiled and gave Briggs a dragonly fist tap of acceptance. “Ye looking for some grub? Ah could eat a scabby horse a’tween two pishy mattresses.”

  I looked at Khaldon for a translation. “Yes, all right. Let’s move along – I could really go for some chips myself – I’m famished.” He slapped Torchy across the back. “Hey, Torch, you might want to go easy on the Scottish, or no one here is going to understand a bloody word you say.”

  “Aye, you’ve got a point, mate. Fair enough. I’m starved – let’s eat.” Torchy noogied me on top of my head as if he’d known me for years.

  “C’mon, Chey, you’ll feel better after we get some clean blood in you. We have a lot to catch Briggs up on and Torchy needs to come in on this party as well. Once we get everyone settled, and up to speed we’ll get you home.” Khaldon put his hand in the small of my back to guide me down the torch-lit hallway.

  Home. I thought of what home used to be and how much my life had changed in such a short period of time. Just a couple weeks ago, home meant, my office, my computers, Dakota swinging in borrowing some money, going to the bars, and me playing inside my virtual game with this man standing next to me. Everything had changed.

  The loss of my sisters gnawed at the fringes of my thoughts and deep into the pit of my stomach. How were we going to save them? Did we still have time? Any minute Ludovic could renege and do something horrific to them. Was that really Dakota’s toe? Had other women been kidnapped as well?

  We only had until morning and then Ludovic was poised to contact me again. Maybe now I had a fighting chance with Puff, Shaft, Scrappy Doo, and Dracula on my side.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  The Rusty Anchor

  In no time at all we were seated, beverages poured, and the boys were up to their eyeballs in BBQ sauce. Who knew dragons and werewolves could eat so much? I was actually beginning to wonder who was gonna pay for this feast. Torchy and Briggs both decided on a dark ale called Moose Drool, and Harris decided to indulge in a beer called Blue Moon. Khaldon had the waiter serve us up a bottle of Apple bloodwine, which had a wonderful aftertaste of warmed cinnamon. I wondered if he knew I was craving it from when we were out in the vestibule.

  Briggs stopped chewing a few times when Khaldon and I explained what we had found at the haunted barn and then when I explained about Dakota’s toe.

  “That’s okay – she doesn’t need all ten toes – I still love her and want to get her the hell out of there.” Briggs shrugged. “I don’t care where in the world she’s at. I’m not leaving until we bring everyone home.”

  “Hey, Briggs, has Dakota ever mentioned anything to you about GC 89?”

  He shook hi
s head.

  “The first night Ludovic contacted me, I heard Dakota scream GC 89 over the phone, and we’ve been trying to figure out what it means. We think it’s a reference to a geo cache. We’ve gone through everything. Her room, her ExsanguiNation account. Hell, I even turned her car inside out, and I can’t find a trace of it anywhere. I was really hoping you could help with this piece of her puzzle.”

  Harris stopped chewing and put down his fork. “I went through the boxes I had at the house, Chey. I brought them with me, but I didn’t find anything that went that high in numbers. The last entry I found was GC 82.”

  “What? Really?”

  “But while you were passed out this afternoon, I found a GC to-do list inside her account. I was going to see if there was anything under that file name while we were here tonight.”

  “Chey Chey – you were passed out? A little too much nipping on the bloodwine I take it?” Briggs elbowed me.

  “Not quite, Briggs. Wait until I tell you the story of how Lady Caz here bagged her first dhampir. She was attacked early this morning and she turned him into her own Battle Kroc snak-pak.” Harris seemed to be bragging about my weird victory.

  “No shit, Caz?”

  “Yeah, Briggs, no shite.”

  “Someone came after you? What the hell is going on? Is this from the same ass hat who has Dakota, Sheridan, and now your dad?” Briggs asked.

  I nodded. “We’ve got a lot to catch you up on.” I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Look, Cheyenne, I found some of Dakota’s geo-cache to-do lists.” Harris picked up his tablet phone and logged into the gaming portal.

  “What are you doing? We don’t have a mobile version of the game.”

  “Oh yes we do. You aren’t the only one who can code and develop. I’ve been working with Briggs to show you the mock-ups on the dev server of what the mobile versions could look like.”

  I smiled at him. I wanted to be terrifically excited that our game had mobile and tablet versions for the next rollout, but the news of that victory was overshadowed by the current events. After I had gotten my family back, I would remember to handsomely reward them both for such a tremendous achievement.

  It wasn’t long until my fettuccine Alfredo with sundried tomato-crusted scallops arrived.

  “Eat and I’ll log in and see what I can reference.” Harris pointed to my plate with his phone.

  Khaldon threw down a plate of lasagna and garlic bread in nothing flat and hailed a waiter.

  “Dude, aren’t you supposed to be allergic to garlic or something?” Briggs asked.

  “Not any more than people are allergic to peanuts. We all have our quirks.”

  Khaldon drained the rest of his third glass of bloodwine and heaved a heavy sigh. “Listen, I have some bad news, and it pertains to last night and why I wasn’t back like I said.”

  I didn’t want to ask him and even though we were technically dating and exclusive, I also didn’t feel I had a right to pry, but now that he had opened the proverbial can of worms. I didn’t hold back any longer.

  Torchy hailed another server. “Another round o’ firewater if ye please.”

  “So what happened? You said you were gonna be back – did she not show up or something?” I tried to hold down the snideness in my voice. I didn’t want to seem too creepy a girlfriend already. “Thank the heavens Harris was close by or he would’ve had to drive up from Tampa to help me.”

  “Thanks, Harris. I sincerely appreciate you showing up. You’ve always been a good chap to her.” Khaldon’s face scrunched up in pain as if he were trying to squelch down an awful headache. His eyes narrowed and then began to shift from side to side.

  “I can tell you’re upset, but we’re all here – your friends. Tell us what happened that has you so shaken.” I ran my knuckle down the side of his face and then grabbed his shoulder. His eyes softened, but he remained silent.

  Torchy was a little less subtle and kind from my point of view, but they’d been best pals for ages. “Just bloody well spit it out – what’s troublin’ ye?”

  “Going to see Amicula was a lot worse than I had intended it to be. There is another whole thing going on bigger than your sisters, Chey.”

  “Get the fuck out o’ here, that Amicula nutter again? She’s a pure mad mental,” Torchy said.

  “You know her, too?” I asked.

  “Aye, and I ain’t saying as I like the queer-hawk,” he replied.

  “Rox – who’s this Amicula chick and what does she have to do with the kidnapping?” Briggs asked then chugged down a bit more beer.

  “What do you mean, worse than Dakota and Sheridan being taken by that crackpot, Ludovic?” I set down my glass and tried to compose myself, but all of this was just too much. “How could there be more problems over and above me finding my family?”

  Harris put down his phone to listen.

  Khaldon continued, “You see, it is even worse than I understood at first. I knew there had been an attack on the theme park. Several vampires were found guilty of using the Solunarae lunar blood and that is what caused the attacks. I found out Amicula is the one giving out the Solunarae lunar blood and caused much of the chaos. The whole attack on the park that night was a huge ruse to kidnap you and your sisters. Cheyenne, you were attacked by one of the vampires Amicula infected with the lunar blood instead. You were only supposed to be kidnapped not attacked. Now she’s trying to entrap you by having you find Dakota and Sheridan. She wants you too, Chey.”

  I rubbed my temples, trying to understand what he was saying to me. “What is Solunarae lunar blood, and why does it make vampires go crazy?”

  “You see, Chey.” Harris took another swig of beer and set his glass down hard on the table. “The lunar blood gives supernaturals like me, werewolves, the ability to change our form. We carry the Solunarae gene, and we can usually control the blood and call upon its properties when we most need it. The lunar part of their blood is deadly to vamps, though. They go into a fugue, and if too much is ingested, it can bring out the blood demon inside us all.”

  “A fugue? You mean like a black out? You wouldn’t have any recollection of what had happened?’ I asked. I took another sip of my wine.

  Khaldon motioned to the waiter to bring another bottle. It was going to be a long night.

  “You mean this Solunarae blood is like meth or crack to you guys?”

  Torchy chimed in, “Aye, it’s been said ye get a few shots of the Solunarae blood in ye and ye’re good as zombified. Sometimes ye be singing to the porcelain goddess for days until it purges from ye backwards and forwards. I’ve even heard of some who have died of it.”

  “So let me get this straight,” I began sounding incredulous. “Amicula asked you to the bar last night to tell you how she drugged several vampires to attack the park to cause a riot so Dakota, Sheridan, and I could be kidnapped? Is that what you are saying?” I was having a difficult time accepting this. “But I thought Amicula was my friend. She said it was by her decision alone that I am still alive.”

  Khaldon ran his hand through his tousled black mane and ended up massaging the back of his neck. “That’s why I couldn’t figure out what her note meant about the sisters and that’s why I had to meet her. You need to remember she doesn’t know anything about you and me, Chey.” He took my hand. “Amicula has no idea you and I have been dating online for over two years. I had to wait and hear her out to try and find anything I could on where they might be so we could locate them.”

  “Did you get the bitch to spill her guts?” Briggs asked.

  I blinked up at him. “Khaldon, you mean, I could have been kidnapped as well that night? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Wait - why do you call him Khaldon?” Briggs asked me.

  Khaldon replied, “That’s my real name. I’ve been going by Roxas Morgwain for several centuries now.”

  Briggs nodded, took another swig of his beer, and leaned back in his chair.r />
  “Anyway, I believe that was the plan,” Khaldon continued. “You see, Amicula is called a gatherer. She has been finding descendants from pure ancestral races to help find qualified breeders to build Queen Civetateo’s dhampir army. They’ve been planning this for decades and it is soon to come to fruition.”

  “Are you saying that Dakota and Sheridan are being used to breed these … whatever you call them … dhampirs?” Briggs asked.

  “I’m afraid so,” Khaldon replied.

  “But I don’t understand why you didn’t come back until after noon.”

  “At the bar, Amicula told me of the Queen’s grand plans, and how I should be honored to be the prized Father of her army. I needed to listen to her plans, to learn more about Dakota and Sheridan, but I couldn’t accept what she was offering me. So I refused. I told her she was a right Charlie and crazy as a nutter. I thought the jig was up when she offered me her drink, but I knew better than to drink anything already poured. I wanted to get more information on the sisters as her email had implied so I waited until she got back from the loo.

  “She asked the bartender to pour us another round and he did. That’s where it all starts to go dark on me. All I know is this morning I woke up at her house in Cocoa Beach with silver bindings around one of my arms, but I could tell where she had chained me down to the bed. I honestly don’t know what happened. She must have slipped me the Solunarae blood because I cannot remember a damn thing from last night.”

  “Was there anything else you can remember from the night, Khaldon?” I asked.

  “So spill it, what else did she say?” Briggs looked directly at him.

  “She said the Queen is planning on annihilating all rogue vampires. Completely eradicating them from stealing the human food supply. Innocent rogue vampires are slated to be eliminated if they are not of pure blood descent.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “I totally am not getting this. Are you saying this Queenie is planning on some sort of vampire apocalypse?”