Death Betrays

by J. C. Diem

  “Is that the castle from your dream, chérie?” Geordie asked. He’d worked his way in beside me and squinted at the bright screen as if the harsh light hurt his eyes.

  “No, but I think it might be in the same country. The trees and shrubbery look just like the ones I dreamt about.”

  Gregor’s face came over my other shoulder. “Where is this castle located?”

  Clicking on the photo, I read the blurb that had been written on the derelict building. “It’s in Bulgaria.”

  Sanderson sighed and rubbed his face with both hands. “It is going to take time for my superiors to negotiate our entry into yet another foreign country.”

  Ishida tipped his head to the side and gave the colonel a sly smile. “I have transportation that can get us into Bulgaria quickly and with a minimum of fuss.”

  Gregor immediately grinned but it took me a few seconds longer to remember that we’d travelled to Africa via a private plane. I wondered if the pilot had stayed with the aircraft or if his hypnotism had worn off by now. If it had, I could only imagine the man’s surprise at finding himself in Africa rather than Japan. Kokoro shook her head at my thought and smiled faintly. Her hypnotism must be a thing of legend if the pilot still remained bamboozled.

  Turning to me, Sanderson sought an explanation. “Emperor Ishida has a private plane standing by. We just need to find an airport somewhere in the area where he can land and pick us up.” It would be far quicker than waiting for the US government to wrangle a deal with the Bulgarians to allow the American soldiers into their country.

  Debating about it, the colonel finally reached a decision. “How many people can the plane carry?”

  “There are enough seats for us and a couple of dozen of your men.” I hadn’t taken an exact count of seats but thought it was a fairly accurate guess.

  “We’ll have to land in a remote airstrip or we won’t be able to bring any weapons with us,” Sanderson warned me.

  “I’d advise you to use your computer to search for private landing strips,” Gregor said to the colonel. “We can make sure no one remembers us once we have landed.”

  “Maybe our plane will have a small malfunction that will force us to land,” Igor proposed.

  Geordie stared at his mentor in puzzlement. “You can’t possibly predict that that is going to happen.”

  “I think he means we can fake a malfunction so we can land at the airport of our choice,” I explained to the teen.

  “Oh. That makes sense.” Unable to flush with embarrassment, Geordie shrugged his narrow shoulders instead and gave me a sheepish smile.

  Chapter Eight

  While Sanderson took to his computer to search for a suitable airfield nearby, I moved to intercept Ishida before his people could surround him again.

  “Emperor Ishida, can I speak to you for a moment?” I sounded strangely awkward and formal and completely unlike myself as I made the request.

  Halting, the teen waved his guards back. His expression was neutral with a hint of trepidation. Call me petty but I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one who’d been suffering. “You may speak,” Ishida said. From the corner of my eye, I saw Geordie puff up at the pompous sounding phrasing. Igor clapped a hand over his protégé’s mouth to prevent him from ruining the moment.

  “I wish to apologize for any offence I or my friends may have caused you.” I could have listed all the things I’d said to upset Ishida but I didn’t want to drag this out. Either he would forgive me and we could move on or he could continue to be snotty. The choice was his.

  “I also would like to make amends,” he said and offered me a stiff bow. I noticed my friend’s annoyance at the child king’s lack of apology in my peripheral vision but I wasn’t bothered by it. We had both been wrong and had admitted the fault in our own way.

  “Maybe when Geordie comes to your island for a visit, I could tag along with him?”

  Ishida smiled slightly. His warriors took that as a sign that all was forgiven and the tension seeped out of the air. “You may bring all of your friends, if you wish.”

  Watching from the sidelines, Joshua couldn’t help himself and blurted out his opinion once more. “I’m guessing the invitation doesn’t extend to the rest of us,” he muttered sourly.

  Ishida swept an icy glance across the disgruntled young vampire and chose to ignore the dig. Knowing him, Joshua was beneath his notice, much like Geordie was to Anna-Eve. Kokoro put her hand on her ruler’s arm and he guided her away. Someone handed her a phone and she quietly began giving instructions to their pilot.

  I’d intended to head for the truck but my feet had another destination in mind. I stopped in front of Joshua and stared at him coldly.

  His upper lip curled in a nervous sneer. “What?”

  “Do you realize how precarious things are between Emperor Ishida and me right now?”

  “So what? Why should I care if you two aren’t the best of buddies?” Crossing his arms, Joshua silently dared me to take action. Surrounded by his friends, he thought he was safe from my wrath. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t realize that he’d put them all in jeopardy as well.

  Aventius’ expression turned mournful at his follower’s continued belligerence. Our eyes met and he gave me a tiny nod. Placing a hand on Joshua’s shoulder, he turned the young vampire towards him.

  Joshua’s bravado withered beneath his leader’s disappointment and he hung his head in shame for embarrassing him yet again. Aventius didn’t give his follower a chance to dredge up an apology. His hand dipped to the dagger at his waist then thrust it into Joshua’s chest. Everyone except Aventius took a step back when he pulled his dagger free. His youngest follower disintegrated, leaving behind only his clothing, weapons and the usual puddle of ooze.

  Bowing his head, the ex-councillor walked away and his entourage moved to surround him. Not all of them had liked Joshua but all of them would mourn him.

  Sidling up to me, Geordie took my hand. “Why did he kill his servant?” he asked me softly.

  “Because if he didn’t, I would have,” I replied just as quietly. I felt bad for Aventius but I wasn’t sorry that Joshua was dead. He had been a liability and would have continued to cause trouble between the Europeans and Japanese nations.

  The teen tried to make sense of what had just happened. “He was an ass but I do not understand why he had to die.”

  Gregor took pity on me and tried to explain it to the teen. “Joshua had been repeatedly warned about his behaviour. He chose to ignore the warnings and paid the price because of it. As a species, our numbers are becoming dangerously low. We simply cannot afford to endanger ourselves by allowing fools to live.”

  Staring into my eyes, Geordie’s bottom lip quivered. “Would you kill me just because I speak my mind, chérie?”

  Pulling him in close, I hugged him tightly. “Of course not!” I was appalled that he’d even asked me the question.

  Luc and Gregor exchanged a disturbingly knowing look, as if they knew me better than I knew myself. You’ve changed, my inner voice suddenly roused itself to say. Like it or not, you are their leader now, even if it is just temporary. You’ve learned to play their version of politics and sometimes you have to do things you don’t like. It subsided again, leaving me feeling cold on the inside. I could admit to myself that I wasn’t the same person anymore. But I refused to believe I would ever be heartless enough to kill one of my friends just because he could be childish at times.

  Sanderson handed the computer back to one of his lackeys then called his men together. They were too far away for me to hear what he was saying but I could read his body language easily enough. Picking a dozen men, he appointed one of his subordinates to be in charge of the bulk of his army while he and his chosen few joined us on our mission.

  With his small group of soldiers in tow, he headed towards us. The colonel was the only human who was willing to mingle with their undead allies. His men had become slightly less wary of us but meal times were still a ten
se affair. We were all waiting for one of the vampires to take too big a bite out of someone. That hadn’t happened yet but that could change at any meal time.

  “I’ve located an airstrip about an hour away from our current position,” he informed us.

  “Emperor Ishida’s pilot is probably already in the air,” I advised him. I looked around for Kokoro and found her standing a few feet away.

  “I have just given our pilot the directions,” she said as she handed the phone back to the female warrior.

  “How did you…” Stopping himself, the colonel blew out a breath. “I don’t even want to know. I’ve picked the men who will be travelling to Bulgaria with us. We’re ready to leave whenever you are.”

  With only a few of his men coming with us, we would have to find our food elsewhere. We would have to be very careful to bamboozle the humans into forgetting they’d ever seen us whenever we stopped for a snack. If the Bulgarian authorities became involved, the news that vampires were in the country might spread. The Second could catch wind that we were on our way and flee before we could track him to his lair.

  Piling into the back of our trucks, we had a mostly silent and contemplative ride to the airport. Geordie was still shaken by Joshua’s death. He snuck frequent wary glances in my direction. Maybe he was beginning to think that he didn’t know me anymore.

  Sensing my need to brood, Luc sat beside me but made no move to take my hand or to slide an arm over my shoulder. I hoped that was the reason he was keeping his hands to himself. Maybe he also thought I’d kill him if he annoyed me.

  Should I have brought a gift? My inner voice suddenly asked. What for? I asked in return. This is a pity party, isn’t it? I hear its customary to hand out gifts at a party. Its unwelcome insight didn’t go a long way towards making me feel any better.

  We arrived at a tiny airport and parked near the rundown building that was presumably the control centre. Colonel Sanderson strode over to inspect the seldom used runway to make sure it was usable. The airport wasn’t manned so we wouldn’t need to explain our presence to anyone. We could simply take off and head to Bulgaria without any fuss. I assumed our pilot had managed to refuel before taking off. If he hadn’t then we were going to have a very short trip before we crashed and burned.

  Following Sanderson’s direction, we all chipped in to help make the runway smoother. This involved removing rocks and pulling out any shrubs that had taken root. We’d only just finished making the surface usable when we heard the plane approaching.

  Sanderson’s men set up flares as the plane circled overhead. The twin lines of sporadic, flickering lights were better than no lights at all and the plane managed to land safely.

  Only minutes after he’d landed, the pilot took off again with the aircraft almost filled to capacity. The colonel and his twelve men took over the back of the plane. I suspected this decision came from not wanting to have anyone at their backs. We may be allies but we were superior in both strength and numbers and they would see us as a threat.

  Rows of male and female warriors separated Ishida, Kokoro, my friends and I from the soldiers. It would be suicide for the soldiers to use a gun or explosive while we were in the air but the warriors were still suspicious of the humans. They were subtle about it but they kept a close eye on our allies.

  Two rows from the front of the plane, Luc chose the window seat and I sat beside him. Ishida and Kokoro sat across from me. Geordie and Igor had the seats in front of the Japanese ruler and Gregor sat in front of me. He put his luggage on the spare seat beside him.

  “I wonder how long it will take us to find the Second?” Geordie said as the plane levelled off. Most of the vampires on board were nervous about flying. The teen covered his fear with chatter. “I hope we can locate his castle quickly. Maybe you’ll have another dream about him that might tell us more about where it is.” He gave me a hopeful grin then turned to speak to his mentor.

  I shared his hope but feared it wouldn’t be that easy. According to the last dream I’d had, the Second would have time to create several fledglings and be on the way to creating more before we tracked him down. Who knew how many ravenous new vampires would inhabit the broken down castle by the time we managed to find it?

  Chapter Nine

  When dawn arrived, it engulfed the plane in what used to feel like a suffocating burst of fire. I barely felt the heat at all this time and subsided into a shallow doze. Half of Ishida’s warriors remained alert while the rest turned into unmoving corpses.

  “They’re not exactly all that attractive when they die for the day, are they?” one of the soldiers at the back of the plane whispered to one of his comrades. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t speak quietly enough. Turning to glare at the man, I wasn’t the only one frowning at him. Shrinking into his seat, the soldier mouthed an apology to the Japanese and Europeans who were still awake.

  I tried to settle into sleep but the whispers of Ishida’s people and the rustling of the humans kept me from dropping off. Beside me, Luc’s head lolled against the closed window shutter. The soldier wasn’t wrong, most vamps did tend to lose their sex appeal while in their unanimated states. I found Luc to be as attractive as always. Studying him as impartially as possible, I ignored his utter stillness and tried to find any flaws.

  He’s damn near perfect in the looks department, I thought. At the mental image of his naked body, my flesh hunger tried to rise. Battling it back down took most of my concentration. Surrounded by my kin, some of them would be able to sense my hunger and I didn’t want to embarrass myself any more than I usually tended to simply by being me.

  By the time we reached our destination, my hands were clenched on the armrests with enough force to leave finger marks in the upholstery. Thankfully, most of the vampires in the front half of the plane were unconscious and were unaware of my struggle. Someone a few rows behind me gave a low chuckle and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was at my expense. Losing control of my flesh hunger would be amusing for someone who was centuries older than me but I wouldn’t find it to be funny at all.

  Our landing was rough and the aircraft bumped over rocks and other debris that had found its way onto the runway. Geordie had forgotten to put his seatbelt on and pitched forward when we bounced over a particularly large obstacle. He hit the wall that separated us from the cockpit then slid to his face on the floor.

  Wherever we’d landed, it seemed to be as remote and abandoned as the airstrip we had left from back in Africa. I couldn’t hear any sounds of human activity outside the plane. Once we came to a stop, I undid my seatbelt and settled Geordie back into his seat. I strapped him in just in case we were forced into an emergency take off.

  “Keep watch, I’ll be back in a minute,” Sanderson murmured to one of his soldiers then made his way to the front of the aircraft. He paused beside me as I took my seat again. “Are you feeling alright?”

  “Yep. Why?” Surely he couldn’t sense the struggle I was going through to control my flesh hunger?

  “Your eyes are orange. I thought that only happened when you were in battle.”

  Normally it did. It was a surprise to me that they were reacting to my rising hunger. “I’ve been thinking about taking down the Second and his new fledglings,” I lied. “His plan to take over the world makes me pretty angry.” As far as excuses went, it was a pitiful one. The colonel nodded in understanding but the quick glance he sent back over his shoulder told me he didn’t entirely believe my explanation.

  Sliding the privacy curtain shut, the soldier knocked on the cockpit door. It was opened a few seconds later and the two humans exchanged a quiet conversation. As far as I could tell, the pilot had talked his way into Bulgaria and explained mechanical failure as the reason why he’d had to land. Whoever he was talking to was miles away from us. The sun was scheduled to set soon so we’d be long gone before we could be discovered and detained for questioning.

  Leaving the cockpit, Sanderson closed the door to make sure none of us would
be fried before ducking around the curtain back into the main cabin. After a short and almost curt nod at me, he made his way towards the back of the plane again.

  I couldn’t shake the niggling feeling that something had changed between us. We would probably never be friends but I thought we had at least become firm allies. I tried to pinpoint exactly when the colonel had started to cool towards me. Before I could put my finger on it, the sun waned then vanished and my kin began to rouse.

  When he woke, Luc’s flesh hunger rose as well. His control was usually absolute but not this time. Seeing a raw need in his eyes that matched mine, I grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. I was glad Geordie was still dead to the world as I wrenched the door open and leaped to the ground. The knowing grins from Gregor, Igor and pretty much every other vampire that was awake were bad enough to endure. Geordie’s ridicule would have been far too embarrassing to suffer through.

  Landing noiselessly, we sprinted towards a building far in the distance. Up close, it turned out to be a rundown office that hadn’t been used in years. Luc peered in through a cracked window to make sure the offices were unoccupied. They were, so he shouldered the door open, dragged me inside and kicked the door shut. I pounced on him and wrapped my legs around his waist. He didn’t bother to undo the laces that kept my suit together and simply tore them apart. Peeling my suit down to my waist, he lifted me up and his cold mouth closed around my nipple.

  It was difficult but I managed to get the rest of my suit off without my feet touching the ground once. Luc spun us around so my back was to the door. Nipping my neck almost hard enough to draw blood, he plunged inside me and proceeded to pound out his need. The door protested with each thrust and I figured it was about to break when it gave a tortured squeal. Beyond having the ability to care about the welfare of the door, I moaned Luc’s name and my legs tightened as I found my release. The door chose that moment to break, joining several of my beloved’s bones as we thumped to the ground. Luc barely even noticed our new position and increased his pace until he found his own ecstasy. Rolling off me, he gave me a rueful smile as his shattered bones began to mend.