Exsanguination

by DeDanaan, Sean

  “I told him I was cursing him and his family and they’d experience the horrors of the damned.”

  Jack shook his head. “Nice sense of humour.”

  “I take my laughs where I can, Jack,” she smiled widely at him and then looked around, raising her voice.

  “Everyone!” she raised her voice. “The detective has asked that all of you leave so he may deal with the crime scene. Please make your way calmly to the door. There are many other clubs that are open.”

  After all the patrons had made their way out, Vanessa looked at Jack. “So, how is life at home?”

  “Huh?” he seemed a bit surprised at the question.

  “Is everything working out for you?”

  He sighed and smiled with a nod. “I need to thank you for that. You probably saved my marriage.”

  “Glad to help a friend, Jack,” Vanessa walked behind the bar. “Drink?”

  “I really shouldn’t but . . . what the hell.”

  She looked at Phillip and the remainder of the group still in the bar. “Here’s your chance to see me bartend. What’ll it be?”

  Five minutes later she leaned on the bar, staring at Jack who sat on a stool.

  “We may have more problems in the not too distant future.”

  “How’s that?” he sipped at his drink.

  “There are small groups of what we call feral vampires migrating across Europe. Some call them strigoi. They’re mindless things – barely human and easily recognized. Imagine a ghoul, crossed with a vampire and with no coherent thought – just an instinct to kill and feed. Nasty buggers, they’re usually controlled by some sort of leader who’s comparatively intelligent.”

  “Oh, fucking joy. You think they’re going to come here?”

  “Probably. They’re moving slowly across the continent but I suspect they’ll get here eventually. Their numbers are fairly low but may be increasing. They’re not an immediate threat but they’re likely coming. Right now, the biggest threat would be newly made lycans – ones that were bitten but survived the attacks.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Jack frowned.

  Vanessa nodded. “We’ll have a full moon in a few days and that’s when they’ll be out as they probably don’t yet possess the ability to change at will.”

  “Well, that’s a blessing.”

  “The lot of us will be doing a bit of hunting this Friday. I don’t know if we’ll be successful as they may well be spread out all over the city,” Vanessa glanced at Phillip standing at the bar some ten feet away with Sara on one arm and Mara on the other. Jack followed her gaze.

  “Lucky guy, eh?”

  “I’d like to think so but not for the reason you perceive.”

  “Oh! That’s right! The two of you are engaged now. I didn’t know that vampires got married.”

  Vanessa nodded. “We normally scoff at marriage but we do mate for life.

  “Well, good luck on your hunting this Friday.” Jack took a deep breath, “I really don’t want to see any more deaths if we can avoid it. Has Nikki been keeping her guns under wrap?”

  “Actually, no. She says she wants to get people acclimatized to seeing them. Most people don’t seem to be disturbed as she’s become something of a well-known figure,” she tilted her head and smiled. “How is the old commissioner doing?”

  “Truth be told, he’s gone a bit mad, he has.”

  “Glad to hear it. If anyone deserves it, he does.”

  “Well, I’d better get going. Reports to file and all that.”

  “You should get a promotion, Jack, I would think that you’d be entitled.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t want it. I’m perfectly happy where I am right now.”

  Vanessa squeezed his shoulder. “Take care of yourself, stay out of trouble and give my regards to Margaret.”

  “I will and I’ll see what I can dig up on our blind friend. He may be just a crazed loner or he may be involved in some organization or church.”

  As Jack left, she looked at Phillip. “Well, some of us still need to feed,” she moved Mara away from him.

  XXVII

  “I think I’ve figured this out,” Phillip nodded.

  “Figured what out, darling?”

  “How it is that we move from one spot to another without seeming to be anywhere in-between. When you do it, everything around you goes a hazy kind of grey, right?”

  Vanessa nodded.

  “You actually enter a parallel dimension or something. A place where the normal temporal laws don’t apply.”

  “And?” Nikki asked.

  “Well,” he spread his hands, having expected more of a reaction, “that’s it! That’s how it happens!”

  “So?” his sister asked.

  “What do you mean ‘so’? It’s amazing!”

  “Ok, colour me amazed,” Nikki shrugged.

  Vanessa grinned. “Ah, brother and sister. It’s just wonderful watching the two of you interact,” Vanessa grinned. “I think it’s absolutely marvellous that you’ve figured it out, Phillip.”

  “Well, I’m glad someone appreciates it,” he grumbled.

  “Have you had any success with blood banks or the like?”

  “Actually, I have. Three of them are willing to sell us small amounts – two or three pints a week. I had to drop your name a few times before I could begin to negotiate. In fact, a delivery service is bringing some today.”

  Vanessa smiled. “I’m so glad to hear it. Be a dear and let me know when it arrives.”

  Phillip nodded. “I understand that Parliamentary elections have been scheduled a few months out. You sure you won’t stand?”

  “I’d sooner jump into an active volcano, darling but I suspect there may be a few of our number who might get elected. Additionally, the best and brightest plan that I’ve implemented should have an effect.”

  “You’re offering MPs immortality?”

  Vanessa nodded. “While they might not be the best and brightest, they will likely be useful in the future.”

  “It should be interesting to see if they pass any bills regarding our people.”

  “Knowing politicians, there’s a high likelihood that they’ll do something stupid but we’ll see.”

  The intercom in the foyer buzzed and Phillip moved past Robert to get it.

  “Delivery for Countess Vanessa.”

  Phillip opened the gates and the van rolled in, stopping in front of the door. He opened it and the driver handed him a box.

  “Please sign here, sir.”

  Phillip walked in, looking at the box. Emblazoned across the top was ‘Refrigerate Upon Delivery. He smiled.

  “Vanessa? I think the blood has arrived.”

  “Excellent!” she opened the box to find three pints of whole blood packed in dry ice. She picked one up. “Phillip, be a darling and put the rest in the fridge.” She turned to Sara who seemed to never be far from Phillip. “Put this in your armpit to warm it up, Sara.”

  “Are you going to drink it?” the girl asked.

  “No, dear, this is a gift for someone,” Vanessa smiled and Sara did as she was instructed. An hour later, Vanessa judged that the contents were probably warm enough. Slipping the container into her pants pocket, she tugged the bell pull in the drawing room.

  Minutes later, Robert tottered into the room.

  “Yes, Countess?”

  “We’re going upstairs, Robert.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t possibly, mum. It’s my knees, you see.”

  She smiled sympathetically at him. “No matter,” she quickly scooped up his frail frame and walked to the stairs. He was in a state of confusion. Moments later, Vanessa gently laid him on her bed and sat down on the edge.

  “Many years ago, my old friend, I made you a promise and it is time I kept that promise. I could do this the quick way with a syringe but you deserve far better than that. Are you ready?”

  He nodded once, tears coming to his eyes, both of which had cataracts.

  S
he smiled at him. “It will be a sweet delight for you.”

  In his feeble condition, there was no arching of the back or writhing with pleasure. He moaned as she slowly took ounce after ounce, extending his experience as much as possible. Then she sank her teeth into her own wrist and pressed it to his cracked lips. As he came back to full consciousness, she bit the corner of the blood bag open and held it to his mouth. He drained it quickly. She smiled at him.

  “Promise kept. Would you like to relax a while here?”

  He smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Countess. You know, I never doubted you.”

  Vanessa nodded and smiled. “I know,” she said softly, walked to the door and turned. “Do come down to the drawing room when you’re ready.”

  The man wept as he realized that he could hear and see again.

  In the drawing room, Vanessa joined the rest of the group and poured herself some wine. She lifted her glass with a smile.

  “I don’t think anyone will be outrunning Robert when someone is at the door. I’ve kept my oath to him.”

  There were smiles throughout.

  “So we won’t have to hire a new butler?” Nikki asked.

  “No, you will not!”

  Phillip could have sworn that Christopher Lee had entered the room as he heard the deep, robust voice resonate through the room. All eyes turned to the source.

  Robert was walking, ramrod straight, with a casual gait. There was none of the discomfort and pain that could previously be seen on his face as he moved.

  Vanessa raised her glass again and smiled. “To you, Robert.”

  Nikki passed him a glass of wine and smiled.

  Robert took a sip and then spread his arms wide. “With your permission My Lady, I would tell my story.”

  “Oh, Robert, there’s really no need to go into all of that,” she said, still smiling at him.

  “Nonetheless.”

  Phillip gestured to the man to move closer. “Let him speak, Vanessa.”

  Robert bowed slightly. “Thank you, sir.”

  “Let’s hear your story, Robert,” Joe prompted.

  The butler made no effort to sit but continued to stand, looking around the room.

  “I was born on the fifth of August in nineteen and twenty-seven. My parents were not well off but kept a roof over our heads and food on the table. I was a typical street urchin, getting into trouble here and there but there was never anything serious. When I was in my early teens we entered into the war with Germany. I didn’t think much of it at that age. I presumed that we would trounce them in no time. Then, in nineteen-forty, the blitz began. I couldn’t believe it. They were actually bombing London! I can’t remember how many times my father would grab me and, along with my mother, we would head into the tube. It acted as a bomb shelter. I don’t remember crying or complaining. I knew, as long as my father was with me, no harm could possibly come to me even as small pieces of concrete would fall from the ceiling and add to the dust in the underground. The earth itself would often shake with the explosions of the bombs.”

  “One night in early January of nineteen and forty-one, we didn’t hear the sirens in time and a bomb hit our home before we could get out. The concussion of it drove me to unconsciousness and, when I awoke, I found I was pinned under a large slab of concrete. I tried to wriggle out from under it but it was no use – it weighed tons. As I looked to my right, in the flashes given off by the bomb blasts, I could see my father’s face, his eyes open, unseeing. Through my tears, I called for help hour after hour, coughing with the dust that hung in the dark air like a miasma. I was coming close to giving up.”

  “Then . . . it was as if the very hand of God himself grasped that concrete slab and hurled it aside and I knew it was God because I saw the face of an angel.”

  Give me your hand, boy, the angel said and I knew I was being taken to heaven. Wrapped in my angel’s arms, I found myself here, in this very room. My angel tended my wounded legs and got me back on my feet. Many nights I would wake up screaming as a result of my experience and my angel would comfort me back to sleep.

  Robert extended his open hand toward Vanessa. “The angel who saved my life,” Robert choked on the words, overwrought with emotion. “And now, she has saved me yet again.”

  Vanessa smiled and stood. She walked to Robert and wrapped her arms around him. “You are so dear to my heart, Robert.”

  There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. No one spoke.

  After a few moments, Vanessa stepped back and returned to her chair.

  “What, in heaven’s name, were you doing roaming the streets of London during the blitz?” Phillip stared at her in amazement.

  “That, sir, is where the remainder of the story lays,” Robert nodded slowly.

  Vanessa shook her head in a resigned fashion, realizing he had no intention of stopping.

  “She was not just my angel but an Angel to many. Now I understand what it is to hear – to really hear. My Lady would hear the planes shortly after they were picked up by radar and whisk herself to the city. As much of the population rushed to the shelter of the tube, she stood, waiting in the centre of London, ignoring wardens who tried to send her to underground protection. Then, the bombs would come. Wherever the dust would settle for moments, she was there, listening for cries in the rubble, and digging through the devastation to help complete strangers to safety. Night after night, week after week, and month after month, she would return here, covered in dirt and mud.”

  “Had I not been a persistent fourteen-year-old, I might never have known but I dragged it out of her – why she was gone every night and what she did. I’m sure she saw me as a constant pest with my questions,” Robert smiled and stopped talking.

  Everyone’s eyes turned to Vanessa and she looked around the room.

  “All of you stop it. You’re embarrassing me,” she cautioned softly, unsmiling.

  Phillip shook his head in amazement. “I never would have imagined it of you!”

  “I wasn’t the only one,” she sighed. “There were hundreds of us about the city, doing what we could. I realized that the constant bombing could endanger our food supply.”

  “Oh, that is just bullshit, Vanessa,” Phillip frowned at her.

  She shrugged. “In any case, those days are gone. There are no more bombs falling.”

  “Saint Vanessa,” Nikki said with a slight smile.

  “That will be enough,” she said sharply and growled. “I am no angel and no saint!”

  “Say what you will, My Lady, but,” Robert’s sonorous voice resumed, “until the end of my days, you will always be my angel.”

  Irritated, Vanessa stood. “Reminisce all you please. I have work to do,” she walked from the room with Phillip close behind.

  Joe grabbed his laptop and began typing madly.

  In the morning room, Vanessa took out her phone and started to dial. Phillip put his hand over the screen.

  “Why? Why does this annoy and embarrass you?”

  She pushed the phone into the waistband of her leather pants. “I don’t like all this gushing over me and I certainly don’t want to be seen as some sort of saviour. I don’t regret what I did but, would I do it today? I don’t think so.”

  Phillip smiled. “I think you would. I don’t know why but, for some odd reason, you don’t want people to know what a big heart you have.”

  She sighed and held up her hand, smiling softly. “Can we please not discuss this anymore?”

  He restrained his smile. “As you wish.”

  She took her phone in hand. “I have to find us another maid and someone to help out cook. I may even need to search for another butler.”

  Phillip frowned. “You mean Robert won’t want to . . . butle anymore?”

  “Butle?” she started laughing.

  “Well, isn’t that what butlers do? They butle, don’t they?”

  Vanessa found relief in laughter. “I shall have to ask him if he wants to continue,” she retrieved her phone. “Now,
let me do this.” As the phone began to ring in her ear, she looked up at the ceiling, chuckling. “Butle.”

  The following afternoon, the group filtered down to the drawing room before having breakfast. As was his habit, Phillip glanced at the newspapers on a table to the side.

  “Oh, shit,” he whispered and, as Vanessa approached, he quickly moved The Times behind his back.

  “What are you about?” she frowned.

  “Oh, nothing,” guilt was obvious on his face.

  She was immediately behind him, pulling the newspaper from his hands. She looked at it, her face going dark with anger.

  “Joe!” she roared.

  “On my way!” he ran down the stairs.

  He kept a distance of about ten feet from her.`

  “This!,” she hissed, furious. “This is your doing! How dare you!” she held the paper up.

  “Wow!” he whispered. “Front page above the fold!”

  The single line read, in large block letters: Vampire Angel.

  She hurled the paper away from her and slowly walked toward him as he backed away.

  “I should never have taken you back in. You’re nothing but a slimy newspaper hack,” she growled, her lip curling in disgust.

  “Vanessa,” Phillip started softly and her hand snapped out toward him, palm outward.

  “I’m not done, yet,” she turned back to Joe.

  “You saw, yesterday, how uncomfortable I was with this and then you hung it all out for the world to see. You are despicable!”

  Joe stared at the floor, looking much like a small child being taken to task by an enraged mother. “I thought . . .” he mumbled.

  “You thought? You thought what?”

  He looked up from the floor. “I felt the world deserved to know that you have a compassionate heart – that there’s another side to you from the one who destroyed Parliament.”

  “Vanessa?” Phillip spoke. “A private word, please?”

  She glared at Joe as she walked past him with Phillip, her eyes glowing red. “Stay where you are until I’ve decided what to do with you,” she snapped at him.

  “I think you’ve really put your foot in it now, Joe,” Nikki remarked as Phillip and Vanessa left the room.