ECCE MERCES PRODITIONIS.
Thad had taken a bit of Latin in high school, but it had been a blow-off class, so the only word he could translate was “treachery”.
Someone passed between him and the display, a white wisp with golden hair dragging near to the floor. Thad would have recoiled, but he feared that Heidi—probably the most cold and vindictive member of the High Council—might sense his presence.
Heidi moved to the display, observing the macabre collection as though they were the most beautiful pieces of art. Someone else entered the room. Thad couldn’t see a face, but the emblem of two curved blades, crossed and pointing down like a set of vampire fangs on the back of his leather duster revealed that it was one of the Hunters that stood guard over the great house.
“Any word from the Watchtower or from Midnight Fire?” Heidi asked the Hunter.
“Trevor reports that they have not yet seen Shufah, but no word about where she might be.” The Hunter’s voice remained monotone, cautious, maybe a bit fearful.
“How can the Watchtower not know?”
The Hunter shifted nervously in place. “With the movement of the savages and the attacks on the quarantine towns, the augurs seemed a little…overtaxed.”
Heidi made a derisive snort. “Overtaxed or perhaps purposefully distracted. I suspect the dwarf is behind it.” She seemed to be speaking to herself now. “It’s always a game with that foul little beast. If not for his extraordinary sight, I’d throw him in the pit and let the savages have him.” She glanced at a tall, ornate grandfather clock. “Where is that little disease, anyway? He said to meet him here. That he wanted to show me something.”
Thad felt dizzy. Why would the dwarf tell Heidi to meet him here? Now?
Too many questions, and not a single answer. His friends (not that he considered Taos a friend) were all out there in the world, fighting battles, facing danger, living their perpetual lives, and he was trapped here, forced into servitude because of the vampiric parasite growing within his cells. And when he finally did die, would he be permitted to reanimate? Of course not. He would go into the furnace just as Dot did.
A hot blast of fury settled behind his eyes and it felt as though his brain throbbed. He wanted to kill them all. The Stewards, the Hunters, the Watchtower. Even the other infected humans, all milling about like beaten horses, no will or spirit left in them. Maybe he could set the house on fire. Or blow it up. He didn’t really care if he died along with them.
Beth shifted beside him, turning to look behind them. He had almost forgotten that she was there. She didn’t deserve to be a part of his murderous fantasy. She made a startled little gasp and Thad knew, at that moment, they were in trouble.
Thad spun on his heels and found himself nose to nose with a twisted, grotesque visage. His brain, drunk on a cocktail of fear and anger, told him to scream, but he, somehow, managed to remain silent. The tiny creature, shorter on his feet than Thad was on his knees, smiled and his fangs appeared almost iridescent in the darkness.
“Sebastian,” Thad whispered.
“Hello, boy,” the dwarf said, making no attempt to be silent. “I can feel the maledictions for me in your heart. I’m afraid this won’t help the situation any.”
Though the dwarf was eternally locked within a small, twisted body, the vampire spirit and a few millennia of victims had nonetheless given him speed and strength unmatched by any human.
The dwarf moved in a blur, kicking Thad in the chest, sending him soaring backward through the wall. Thad slid across the floor in a cloud of plaster dust and fragments of slats, and came to rest up against the display case. His whole body was a war zone of pain. He could exhale, but no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t seem able to draw breath back in. Tiny pinpricks of light swelled and popped wherever he looked.
A silhouetted form stood over him, snatched him by the throat with iron fingers, and hoisted him up from the floor. Thad pried at the Hunter’s fingers, but he could no more loosen the vampire’s grip than he could smash the massive stone blocks of this house with his bare hands.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Hunter was a Japanese man with a broad, square chin, and a nose that had clearly been broken when he was still a mortal. His mouth hung open, his fangs exposed, like a slobbering dog yearning for a treat. Thad’s vision started to fade, but from the corner of his eye, he caught the sight of Sebastian dragging Beth from the hole in the wall.
“That’s enough,” Heidi said in an almost bored tone. “Drop him.”
The Hunter immediately obeyed and Thad fell hard to the floor, only then realizing that his feet hadn’t been touching the ground. In a primal, instinctual lust for life, his mouth opened and into his lungs rushed a draught of air that felt more like fire. Thad laid upon the floor, attempting to stop the tremors invading every muscle, and failing miserably.
“This is what you wanted to show me?” Heidi asked Sebastian. “You think I don’t know that this boy has been sneaking through the hidden parts of the house?”
“I know that not much escapes your attention,” Sebastian said. “But it is what he’s searching for that you should be concerned with.”
Heidi turned to Thad. “I assumed you were looking for a way out, but I can see from that grim and betrayed look upon your face, that just isn’t true. What are you searching for, boy?”
Thad pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. His burning gaze went from the dwarf to Heidi. He pushed out his chin, clenched his jaw, and prepared for the pain that his silence would purchase.
“Make him talk,” Heidi said to the Hunter.
Thad barely had the time to register what had been said before the Hunter appeared at his side, once again snatching him from the floor by his throat, and slamming him into the wall near the newly formed hole. Clouds of plaster dust swirled around his head. Thad was tall enough that the Hunter couldn’t hoist him off of the ground very far, but the inch separating his toes from the floor felt like a mile. Not to mention, the vampire’s fingers were dangerously close to crushing his windpipe.
“If you want information from someone,” Sebastian said with an air of boredom, “then it’s not very wise to strangle them before they talk.”
The Hunter looked at Heidi. He probably hadn’t had a thought of his own in centuries. Heidi coiled her arm around her floor-length lock of blonde hair, rolling her eyes in disgust. “Release him.” The Hunter did as he was told.
Thad took a greedy gulp of air. His knees nearly buckled, but he remained standing. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing him drop.
“Are you going to tell me what you were searching for?” Heidi asked.
“The door to Narnia,” Thad said, a dark giggle escaping him.
Heidi turned to the Hunter. “Break his arm. Slowly.”
The Hunter grasped Thad’s right forearm. Thad stared defiantly at Heidi, refusing even an attempt to pull his arm away. It was no use anyway. He couldn’t overpower the dwarf, let alone this Hunter. He would be made to feel pain. He swallowed hard in anticipation, welcoming it in a way.
The Hunter’s grip grew almost imperceptibly tighter. At first, Thad only felt a throbbing pressure in his fingertips. Then came the pins-and-needles in his hand. The skin of his forearm began to burn, as though seared by a noose made of hot steel. When his radius and ulna bones started creeping closer to each other, his legs wilted beneath him. The Hunter’s arm never budged under Thad’s weight, and dangling there caused the pain to triple. Thad struggled to get his feet fixed beneath him when the first of the two bones broke, sending a crack echoing around the room as loud as a dead branch snapping beneath a heavy snow.
Thad screamed, but when he saw the look of delight on Heidi’s beautiful yet wicked face, the scream rolled into a roar. He clenched his teeth, stood ridged as a board. The second bone shattered and a rushing wave of liquid agony washed over him. He punched the Hunter in the face, but he might as well have been striking a bolder. The vampire never even bl
inked and all Thad managed to do was break his hand.
“Do you wish to tell me something?” Heidi asked.
“Yes,” Thad growled through his gritted teeth. Heidi raised her eyebrows in victorious anticipation. “Go to Hell.”
Any glimmer of patience she might have had dwindled from her eyes. “Burn him. But don’t kill him.”
The Hunter released his arm and Thad dropped to the floor. The room felt as though it might capsize any moment. A small ball of fire erupted in the palm of the Hunter’s hand as he reached for Thad.
“Wait,” Sebastian said. “He’s stubborn enough to keep his secrets even if you burn him to cinders. Burn the girl instead.”
Thad clutched his arm to his chest and watched in horror as the Hunter approached Beth. She tried to back away, but the dwarf snatched her wrist and held her in place. Her angelic face stiffened in fright.
Sebastian watched intently, his scar-like mouth slightly puckered. Thad had never seen the dwarf so interested in anything before.
Beth looked to Heidi, opened her mouth to plead her case, but realized she had nothing to threaten nor barter in exchange for her own life. Her full lips trembled as she closed her mouth. Her eyes flicked to Thad. The tears welled up, making her radiant blue irises look even larger, then spilled down her cheeks in rivers.
“Wait,” Thad said. The pain in his arm was immense and he found it hard to speak. “Leave Beth alone. She isn’t part of this. She was trying to convince me to come back.”
“I don’t care what she was doing,” Heidi said. “Tell me what you were doing, or else she burns.”
“I’m looking for Debra Phoenix.” Thad sent a scathing gaze toward the dwarf. He considered telling Heidi that it was Sebastian who sent him searching through the hidden parts of the great house, but thought better of it. The dwarf was too valuable to the Stewards. Even if Heidi believed Thad, he doubted that she would sacrifice the most powerful augur in the Watchtower. “You carried her away the night we first arrived. I want to know what you did with her. I know she isn’t dead, so save the lies. Where is she?”
Heidi’s face remained calm, but Thad sensed a hesitation in her voice. “The blood witch’s mother is close by. We are watching out for her. The blood of those strange creatures you encountered has done terrible things to her. You should be thankful that we didn’t destroy her the moment she crossed our threshold.”
Thad had never actually seen the horrible creatures calling themselves umbilicus, but Jerusa’s description of them rose in his mind and sent an icy trickle down his spine. “I want to see her.”
Heidi shot toward him so fast that she seemed to disappear and reappear right before him. She gripped his face in her petite, yet deadly, hand, squeezing his cheeks so hard he felt as though his face might collapse under the pressure.
“You would do well not to speak to me in such a manner again. You are only here as leverage. Once the blood witch has discovered Suhail, or fails to find him, you will no longer be necessary. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to go astray. There are far worse ways to die than being burned alive.”
A tall form darkened the doorway.
“What is the meaning of this?” Marjek asked. The massive vampire, who stood almost as tall as the giant Taos (though not as broad or well-muscled), drifted into the room like a shark hunting in shallow waters. “Why have you invaded my trophy room?”
Heidi released Thad and the blood rushed into his cheeks with a painful heat. With his face no longer in danger of being crushed, the agony of his broken arm brought on a dizzying nausea. Thad forced himself to stay on his feet, but only because he didn’t want Marjek to think he was kneeling before him.
“The boy was discovered lurking in the secret passages.” Heidi motioned toward the gaping hole in the wall, as if Marjek wouldn’t notice it on his own. “He was searching for the blood witch’s mother.”
The dwarf cleared his throat in an almost comically loud manner. “Don’t forget that the girl was with him.” Beth looked down on the tiny, disfigured vampire with a scowl that gave Thad cold chills. Heidi shot Sebastian a stern look, warning him not to speak out of turn again.
Marjek rubbed his short beard, and it was then that Thad realized how much it resembled his own beard. He sighed in boredom, and waving his hand at the humans, he said, “Kill them.”
A cold numbness swept over Thad. Beth’s legs gave out and she crumpled to the floor. The Hunter turned toward Beth and started forward, but Heidi threw up her hand, motioning for him to halt.
“That is not wise, Marjek. We need the boy. If you kill him, Shufah will not return to you.” It seemed to make Heidi sick to mention Shufah.
Marjek brightened at the mention of his unrequited love. He turned his attention to Sebastian. “Has there been any word? Have they located Suhail yet?”
“I’m afraid not,” the dwarf replied. “They are closing in on him. I can feel it. But he is a slippery foe. Shufah may be gone a while longer.”
Heidi eyed the dwarf with suspicion, but said nothing against him. “So you see, we can’t kill the boy.”
“Perhaps not,” Marjek said in a tone that struck a chord of dread in Thad’s heart. The prince of vampires moved toward the macabre display case. He stood before it for a long moment, as if each stolen body part brought him peace. When he seemed to have gathered his thoughts, he moved to the side where a short yet brutal looking whip hung on the wall.
He uncoiled the whip as though he were charming a viper. It was six foot long, tip to handle, made of braided leather that Thad suspected came from human skin. Woven in the last twelve inches were sharp, white objects that he recognized as vampire fangs.
Marjek slid a short but sturdy table into the center of the room. “Hold him,” he said to the Japanese Hunter. The Hunter grabbed Thad and tossed him face down onto the table. He then moved around to the other side and pinned both of Thad’s hands to the smooth, beautifully stained top. Thad suppressed a cry of pain when the Hunter laid hold of his broken arm. There were plenty of screams to come, and he didn’t want to give them any more than he had to.
“Do you know what this means?” Marjek said, indicating the Latin phrase written in gold above the display case. Thad was in too much pain to answer. “Roughly translated, it means ‘Behold the Price of Treachery’. I’m feeling merciful today. Remember that.” Marjek gave no more speeches or warnings. He simply breathed deep, as though clearing his thoughts, and let the whip strike.
Thad had never known such pain in all of his life. He tried to bite back his scream, but it exploded through his teeth, through his nasal passage, through his eye sockets. The whip hadn’t merely snapped against his back, leaving a bloody welt, as it does in movies. Instead, the vampire fangs woven into the tip pierced his flesh in a dozen places, pinning the whip to his back. Marjek waited a moment for Thad to feel the fullness of this terrible pain, then tripled the agony when he yanked the whip back to him, tearing Thad’s back open.
Given the choice of the whip and being mauled by a grizzly bear, at this moment, Thad would have chosen the bear. Blood gushed from the tears in his back. His legs gave out, and he would have fallen to the floor had the Hunter not had a firm grip on his wrists. The room became fiercely bright, to the point of blinding him, and even the pain of his broken arm was swallowed up. In the distance, vague and muffled, he thought he heard Beth screaming his name. For a moment, he thought he would black out, but then Marjek whipped him again.
Thad lost count somewhere in the twenties. All he knew was that he would be dead soon, not because he witnessed a brightly lit tunnel or visits from dead relatives, but because he could no longer feel the sting of the whip. Marjek must have realized this, too, for he ceased his attack and coiled the whip up.
Marjek turned to Sebastian. “Heal him.” Without argument, the dwarf crossed the room, tearing open his wrist with his sharp fangs. Once at his side, the dwarf let his vampiric blood pour down onto Thad’s wounds.
; The blood burned hot against his torn flesh, and Thad winced and twisted, but almost immediately, the pain evaporated. Thad remained kneeling, his hands pinned to the table, breathing deep and shivering with the kind of pleasure that only comes when terrible pain is quickly dispelled. He gasped as the lacerations in his back pulled closed, and he hadn’t realized the whip had broken a few of his ribs until he felt them slide back into place.
Thad’s eyes were closed, so he didn’t notice Sebastian’s bleeding wrist creeping toward his mouth. When the hot blood touched his lips, Thad instinctively opened his mouth and latched on. He took in a great gulp before he had the chance to consider that drinking blood was disgusting and wrong. Disgusting or not, the blood was a magic elixir that burned his throat and lit his insides on fire. For one brief moment, the world and all its pains vanished, and all that remained was the insatiable desire to drink until the vampire dwarf was a dry, withered husk.
Sebastian pulled his wrist away, permitting only the single swallow of blood, and a sort of desperate madness filled Thad. A deranged intoxication in which he would do anything for another taste of blood. The moment passed quickly, and he thought of Jerusa, the vampire who couldn’t feed. The horrible existence forced upon her was more than Thad could fathom. The vampire’s blood heightened every sense, brought every nerve to its zenith capacity, and he watched, with perfect clarity, as the bones of his broken arm reset themselves.
“Stand to your feet,” Marjek said.
Thad had almost forgotten anyone else was in the room with him. He stood up and looked into the face of the Hunter, who still held his wrists pinned to the table. The Hunter’s face was splattered with blood, except around his mouth, where the vampire had greedily licked it away. Thad’s shirt, shredded to pieces in the back, fell away from his chest and wadded up around his wrists. He couldn’t understand why the Hunter still pinned his arms to the table. It wasn’t until the vampire’s eyes widened in lustful anticipations that Thad realized what was to come.
Perpetual Creatures, Volumes 1-3: A Vampire and Ghost Thriller Series Page 63