by Karin Cox
On the butcher’s block, Kettle squirmed again and mumbled through his gag.
“Bring him Trudie,” Karl suggested. “She’d make a big meal. Or the lioness.”
“What have you done with her?” I screamed. “I will kill you both for this.”
“When we are stronger, we will dispose of the lioness together,” Joslyn told Gandler.
“Good. She has a debt to pay—a blood debt. Now, do it!” Gandler urged. “Enough of this infernal talk. Kill him, or I shall do it myself.” He made to snatch the syringe, but Joslyn held it away.
Her lips pursed. Then she reached out with her other hand to stroke Gandler’s balding pate. “Precautions, my Lord. Remember I have done this before. You have not. It is natural to be afraid, to be cautious. Tell us where the keys are, just in case.”
Gandler’s eyes burned. “Nothing will happen to me, you bitch, or I shall haunt you to the gates of hell.” He pointed a quivering finger at me, his face near apoplectic with age and anticipation. “Now inject him. I will tell Karl afterward, to thank him for his service.”
Joslyn approached my bed, leaning over me so close that I could smell her: she smelled as she always had, of rosemary and regret, and some tincture I could not define. Betrayal? Guilt? Desire! Even after all these centuries. Some part of it smelled just as my hope had tasted, high in the tower of Sezanne.
I struggled, not to escape her, but in my longing for her. Obligation coursed through me. Need and desire. Rise up and take her! Kill her! Own her, my heartbeat thrummed. You must. But Karl had tied my arms tautly up near my head and even with every muscle tensed, my frantically jerking neck could not reach hers.
“Death is a dream,” she whispered, bending low over my arm. “And life is a curse. Nothing is ever as it seems.” She stroked the juncture of my inner elbow, her fingertips gentling out the vein. The cool touch drew my hot blood like a magnet. Then she slid the needle into me and quickly pushed the plunger all the way in. I felt the adrenalin course through me, bucking my body with a sudden sweet rapture, and then … nothing.
How sweet oblivion is after torment. Cool and still, it filled and hollowed me at the same time. And when its rapturous blackness gave way to a dull, weak light above, I heard the voices. At first, I thought it a host of Seraphim, singing me to my Maker. The unnatural surging in my veins, the ecstasy that, since my confinement in Sezanne tower, I had felt only at the taste of Danette’s blood began to subside. Then the words themselves seemed to grow wings like bumblebees and buzz in the gauze of air around me, gradually becoming clearer.
“Untie him.”
“Mademoiselle?”
“Untie him! He is dead. What can a dead man do to you, Karl?”
A lot, I thought. A dead man is the most dangerous kind.
I tried to swivel my eyes to see who spoke but could not. My eyelids were heavy, my vision opaque. Over the shallow cadence of my own pulse, I could hear Karl bustling about my body. Rope being untied. Sensation began to trickle back to my fingers like a runnel of water back into the sea.
“If Gandler should die, I will kill you myself.” Karl’s thick threat.
Then a laugh. Hers. Sweet as a brook’s song. “I did not know you cared so much for Gandler. He won’t die, not unless I let him.” She moved to my side. “I have drained him of blood. He is just weak, that is all. It is part of the process of becoming a Vampire.”
“You shouldn’t have done this! You should have made him tell you where he was keeping them.” I made out Kettle’s voice.
“How did you get the gag off, little man?” Karl.
“Leave him,” commanded Joslyn. “He is harmless. Soon, he will be Gandler’s first meal anyway. What he overhears is irrelevant.” She turned to Kettle. “Anyway, you heard him. What could I do? He refused to reveal it until after the Cruxim was dead.”
“Stupid,” Kettle growled. “Why would he tell you now? Once he is immortal, he will rule over us forever. What need does he have to tell? He will never let them go.”
“He is weak. Look at him. His breath comes so slightly. Only Vampire blood will make him immortal now. If I do not let him drink from me, he will die within hours, but first he will tell us what we need to know.”
“He better. Then a savage hell awaits him.”
“No!” Karl’s voice. “He moved them all, Kettle. All of his ‘insurances,’ as he calls them. If he dies, so do they.” I heard Karl’s heavy footsteps moving in the direction of Joslyn’s voice. “If you let him die, you fanged bitch, I will force this into your heart.”
How I wished I could see, or move my limbs, but every part of my body was as cold and unyielding as stone. Was this the nightmare Sabine lived daily, ensconced in stone, hearing, feeling but with no way of communicating? Even my groan seemed far away. If only I could find a way to move!
But what would I do, even if I could? Save the woman who had just betrayed me? Kill the monstrosity that lay wretched on the bed? Or wrestle the man with the strength of ten men who had made Gandler’s freakshow possible?
A sudden yowling, snarling creature burst into the tent, startling me into the strange sensation of falling.
Sabine!
Blood warmed me and rushed to my extremities, but my motions were still stiff and groggy. I lurched to my feet, crashed against the wooden table, stumbled to my knees, and cried out, “Sabine!”
A blur of tawny fur and exposed teeth rushed past me. In the corner, I saw a smaller, darker figure grappling with Karl’s bulk. Gandler’s Herculean bodyguard had Theron by the neck, crushing the life out of him. One enormous, tree-trunk leg was busy trying to kick off Sabine, whose teeth gripped his ankle. She evaded him and pounced at Karl’s giant chest, a whirl of claws and lashing tail.
“Ame!”
Spinning clumsily around, I confronted Joslyn, my throat dry with bloodlust.
“No!” she called, throwing her hands up as I lurched towards her. “It is not what you think. I tried to warn you of that.”
“You betrayed me. Tried to kill me!” My speech was slurred, but another surge of strength egged me on. I half-leaped, half-swooped down on her, my hands clawing at her throat. “To make him a Vampire? A narcissist. A torturer. He would be an overlord. Worse than Beltran.” I wrenched her to me and pushed her head aside, exposing the curved lines of her neck, ready to bury myself in her veins. To end this.
“Feathers, stop!” A piercing pain shot through my calf. “Stop this!” And then another.
Glancing down, I saw Kettle plunging the syringe into my leg. “Stop this madness. Karl is your enemy, not Joslyn.”
“All Vampires are my enemy, Dwarf. Especially those who have betrayed me. Those who tried to kill me.”
“By God’s balls! She did not try to kill you, Feathers. She tried to free you.”
“Free me? From life? What a fine euphemism. And Gandler?” I threw out a hand towards where he lay feebly on his cot. “You would have him immortal?”
“I would have him in his grave, you fool! And so would she. But look at him.” Kettle’s stubby finger pointed to where Karl stood bellowing like a newly castrated bull in the corner. He had thrown Sabine off once more. Despite the blood that spurted from his forehead, Karl launched himself onto Theron with a shriek, in his rage upending a chest containing instruments. The clatter filled my ears like the paean of some almighty battle.
“What hope would we have of defeating Gandler and Karl without you? Even with Joslyn, Sabine is injured, and Theron is no wolf; he is just a man. And then there is me, Cruxim. A small man with big hopes. You think we could defeat Karl without you?”
I saw then how Sabine favored her left forepaw and the black smear of blood from a deep gash on her shoulder.
“We needed your strength. Needed you out of that cage.”
“Gandler is old,” Joslyn rasped.
I eased my hold on her throat. In the corner, Sabine snarled at Karl, who had paused, listening. His eyes were fixed on Joslyn. Theron lay crumpled a
nd lifeless at his feet.
“And old men are afraid of their mortality,” Joslyn continued. “All these years he has hated us, but still he would rather join us than die like a man. It was my opportunity to kill him.”
“What did you promise him, Joslyn!” My hands moved to her throat again, and fear widened those beautiful eyes. “Only this.” She swept a hand over her body. “And Sabine’s death, and yours. But that was a lie. The blood was mine, Ame. Mine! Mixed with a heavy dose of laudanum to make you appear dead. I drew it out while I spoke to you, when I asked you if you remembered that night near the Convent of Angels, while I warned you that sometimes things are not as they seem.”
I remembered the sharp look of pain that had crossed her face. I had thought it was at my words, those cruel but true words, but in truth, it had been the bite of the needle in her vein.
“Then, once he told us where he kept his prisoners,” she continued, “I would drain Gandler of his blood, and you would rouse and defeat Karl and Gandler both.”
“You would deceive and defeat me!” yelled Karl. “Why must you all hate me so? I despise the man. I would choke him myself if only I knew where my mother was.” Karl raised his hands in a show of surrender. “Let me be, and I will force it out of him myself.”
Sabine snarled but did not leap again. Her green eyes bore into him, watching for any movement.
“What now, Kettle?” I called, pushing Joslyn away from me. I felt stupid, angry. Dissatisfied. Her blood still hummed in me, and my body craved it more than the laudanum. “Why did you not tell me?” I screamed at all of them.
“Gandler had to believe your death.” It was Sabine who answered. “And you had to believe it.”
“Had you known it was laudanum, that it was my blood,” said Joslyn, “you might have—”
“What?” I cut her off. “Attacked you? Killed him? Let me strangle him now. Would you give up your children, Kettle, to spare the world a Vampire like Gandler?”
“No!” Karl bellowed from the corner. He charged forward again, his right leg planting a kick in Sabine’s left ribs as he rushed towards Gandler’s bed. Sabine whimpered, and then a growl burst from her. A flap of her wings propelled her after him, but I could see she was hurt. Instead, Joslyn who sprang for Karl, teeth bared, but he pushed past her to me. “I will kill Gandler myself if you can force him to reveal where she is.”
“She must turn him,” Kettle agreed. “And then, when we know where he has imprisoned them, Amedeo must kill him.”
The thought of Gandler’s death tempted me.
“Joslyn…” The voice came thinner than the pale horizon that separates night from day. “Joslyn, I am so thirsty. Come to me. I need you.”
“No. Finish this,” I commanded. “Finish what you began. Drink from him. Drain him. Leave him a shell, a dead mortal. We cannot take the risk of him becoming immortal.”
“Yes, it is too dangerous!” Sabine’s breathy voice was laced with pain. “Kill him now.”
“And let my children die!” Kettle screeched.
A monstrous roar filled the air as Karl pummeled the makeshift table with one enormous fist. With the other, he snatched up Joslyn by the hair and pushed her down on top of Gandler’s bony body. “Drink!” he commanded Gandler. “Drink from her.”
“No!” I swooped into the air, kicking at the gigantor’s flat-nosed face, but Karl swatted me away one-handed. As Sabine flapped up to assist me, she copped the full force of Karl’s fist in the chest. With a hiss of breath, she crumpled back to the ground. “Ame,” she cried. “Stop him!”
From below came a slow, steady mewling, a slurping like an infant at the breast. A stream of sticky blood pooled at the corner of Gandler’s mouth.
“Sweet,” he murmured, and I saw the veins in his hands throb as he held Joslyn’s throat to his lips.
“Release her!” Sabine winced and leaped at Karl again, but her claws found no purchase and a blow to the jaw felled her with a groan. Still I flapped and punched and pushed at the mountainous man before me.
“It is too much!” Joslyn panicked, struggling against Karl’s one-handed grasp. “He wants too much of me. He drinks too much. Make him stop,” she wailed. “Oh, Ame, make him stop.”
“Tell me where my mother is, Master, if you want more,” Karl commanded Gandler. “Or I wrench her from you!”
But still the puckered lips kept on, draining the color from Joslyn’s face and body.
Karl wrenched Joslyn backward, his hand still knotted in her hand, and Gandler gasped as his lips sucked air.
“More!” Gandler snatched at her. “More!” Springing forward, he latched his newly minted fangs onto Joslyn’s bare breast and the awful slurping began again.
Again, Karl wrenched her away.
Joslyn was sobbing now, moaning.
“Where do you keep my mother, old man?” Karl shrieked.
“Not old man, no.” Gandler’s black eyes gleamed as he flexed his hands. “Not even man.” He cackled. The age spots, wrinkles, and prominent veins were replaced with skin taut with the healthy glow of blood. Hair grew thick and black from his crown, and muscles rippled in his chest. “More!” He sprang forward again. Once more, Karl stopped him.
“No more! Not more unless you tell me.”
“Out of town, on the Ruelle aux Vignes.” Gandler licked his scarlet-stained lips. “There is a tannery. There, in the basement.”
“You would not lie to me, old man. My mother is alive?”
“And Giselle? Kellane?” Kettle, on the floor, wriggled closer.
“Yes. They are. They are yours. The key is there.” He pointed to a small wooden chest that sat near the incunabulum. “Release them. Just give me this!” Gandler reached for Joslyn again. The strength of his fingers left instant dark bruises on her flesh.
“No!” Joslyn screamed, trying to struggle from the bed. “It is enough!” Blood streamed down her breast to stain her dress.
“I will say what is enough!” Encouraged by the Vampire blood that coursed through his veins, Gandler tugged her closer. Then his eyes sparkled as they fixed on Karl’s meaty paw. Tossing Joslyn aside, Gandler grabbed Karl’s hand, sank his fangs into the wrist with an audible crunch, and began to suck.
With a scream of terror, Karl threw up his hands, trying vainly to dislodge the beast clamped onto his wrist.
“Ame! It is time.” Joslyn stumbled away from them both, toward the butcher’s block, and clutched it to steady herself. “Kill him. Do it now.”
“Get him off!” Karl screamed, flinging his arm around wildly. “Off!” In his panic, he knocked over one of the candles. Gandler leaped for Karl’s throat, and the enormous man stumbled backwards, his weight coming down on Sabine and pulling the fabric of the tent down around him. The tent collapsed in on itself, and with a whoosh, the silk ignited.
Flapping desperately, I shot up into the air, hauling some silk after me.
“Sabine! Joslyn!” Like a falcon I plunged into the mess of writhing bodies, smoke and black silk, searching for Sabine’s yellow hair or twitching tail, or for Joslyn’s pale form, screaming their names incessantly.
“Ame!” Joslyn emerged first. She clutched the incunabulum and the trinket box, and blood and ash stained her cheeks as she stared heavenward. “Behind you.” Her whisper was almost ghostly.
“Where is Sabine?” I screamed.
“Behind you!” She pointed.
“Where is Sabine!” My head swiveled in the direction of her trembling finger. “What have you done to—” My words were deafened by the screech of a thousand descending bats.
“Did you think I would let you go, you silly, silly pretty little thing? Did you think I hadn’t heard of Gandler’s Circus of Curiosities and his new acts?”
I recognized Beltran’s voice as the first of the bats struck my face with its wings, slicing my cheek. Immediately, the creature became Beltran. He grabbed Joslyn’s arm. Fangs bared, he turned to me and screamed, “Did you think I would let you ha
ve her?”
I ignored him. “Sabine!” I cried, plummeting back into the inferno, where I could make out a golden shape being consumed by flame. My wings smoldered and the feathers curled in the heat, but I flew on to her, and with all my strength I lifted her to my chest. Smoke choked me, and her unconscious weight meant I could barely lift her more than six feet above the burning tent. The yew tree, too, was aflame, sending plumes of smoke up to hide the squalling bats that wheeled overhead. I fluttered above the flames until the smoke cleared, and then I made to land on the grass.
“No!” A monster sprang from the fire. A newly born Vampire with incredible strength. “The Sphinx is mine!” Gandler pitched himself at me, knocking me to my knees.
“She promised.” He pointed at Joslyn.
Beltran still clutched Joslyn two handed, and his eyes burned with hatred for me and with lust for her.
“She lied!” I bellowed. With a roar, I dropped Sabine on the grass and sprang at Gandler, pinning him backward. When my teeth found the hollow near his collarbone, I bit down with all my force. His blood rushed up to greet me. But his strength was amazing, as if the strength of Karl had flowed into him. He launched me back with a squeal, and a score or more of his Vampire cronies descended on me. The bats’ claws struck my face, split my lips, and tore at my eyes. Ever more spilt from the sky like a black rain until they surrounded me, their screeches drowning out Joslyn’s sobs.
I shot upwards, the only route afforded me, but still they clung to my clothes and wings, biting, tearing at my feathers until, lifted airborne with me, they morphed into Vampires to try to weigh me back down. I sank my teeth into one, drinking my fill in seconds, and then another. When their blood coursed through me, I found the strength to shake and kick the others off.
Beltran’s twisted laugh spewed out overhead as I spiraled up through the flock of bats.