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Copyright 2012 Albert J. Gallant
All rights reserved
No part of this novel may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Purchase only authorized editions. This book is a work of fiction. It is a product of the author’s creativity. Characters, names, incidents and places are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Dracula: Hearts of Fire is book 2 of the trilogy. Dracula: Hearts of Stone is the first of the series. Look for Dracula: Hearts of Glory in March 2013 or sooner.
To view other novels by A. J. Gallant visit his author page
http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/a-j-gallant.html
Cover art for this trilogy by Staci at Author Creations
In everyone’s life, at some time,
our inner fire goes out.
It is then burst into flame by an
encounter with another human being.
We should all be thankful for those people
who rekindle the inner spirit.
Albert Schweitzer
The adventure of a lifetime
begins with the first breath
A. J. Gallant
A. J. Gallant’s
DRACULA: HEARTS OF FIRE
CHAPTER ONE
DRACULA WALKED GINGERLY onto the brown carpeted living room floor as he carried his daughter Jenny and put her down on the sofa, with his strength she was as light as air. The 12-year-old awoke from her fainting spell; the reality of it was like running downstairs on Christmas morning and discovering that Christmas had been cancelled. Her father was Dracula! Who could have been prepared for such a revelation? She didn’t want it to be true but there he was looking all proud and effervescent. She definitely had to admit that he was a handsome vampire, although perhaps a monster, perhaps not.
Dracula felt sorry for the child having to meet her father for the first time under such circumstances, a bombshell that no one should have dropped upon them like that. The shrapnel from the revelation had cut through her, splattering warm thoughts and good feelings. Her mind was a jumble of feelings colliding into one another. Jenny didn’t want to believe it and yet she knew it was true. Her father was Dracula? Her father was Dracula! Jenny’s father WAS DRACULA.
But what did that make her exactly?
Dracula had attempted in the past to convince Allison to reveal the truth to his daughter, but she had always put it off to the future. She didn’t want her daughter to be burdened with the fact that her father was THE king of all vampires. There was a myriad of stories circulating about the Master, a lot of them horrible. He warned her that Jenny would feel cheated and that that hot potato should have been revealed from the beginning. Allison was frightened of how it would affect Jenny in her day-to-day life. She was sure the child would feel different about herself and that was worrying. She was also afraid that Jenny’s reaction would put an immovable wedge between them. But now the bat was out of his cave and no way to put him back in.
Allison didn’t want to be the type of mother that never heard a peep from their children as they grew into adults, or in this case her only child. Problem was Allison knew that the concealment had been wrong but as the years went by the wall that had hidden the truth had been reinforced by time itself. She had endured more than one sleepless night because of it, especially when Dracula had threatened to spill it. Allison had always been a smart and levelheaded individual, but perhaps she had erred in this situation. Now the truth had to be dealt with as there was no going back.
“Oh.” Jenny immediately sat up and stared at the both of them and was a little embarrassed in the fact that she had indeed fainted. She shook her white-blond hair out of her pretty green eyes and stared at her parents. Her parents! The information that she received had been quite a shock to her system, an overload of sorts. She was a hybrid with extraordinary talents, with a vampire for a father.
Jenny was in fact a wizard, and a very powerful one at that.
She had just discovered that her real father was THE vampire. As Jenny considered her young life it was all starting to make sense; she now knew why she was such a powerful little thing. Simultaneously mad and confused, she was unsure of her next move. She’d like to kick both of them in the butt, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen. Jenny was so mad that she was tempted to pick up the sofa and throw it, and she could do it. Her entire life had been a lie of sorts and she felt betrayed. It was an untruth deeper than the ocean.
Allison felt sorry for lying to her daughter for all those years; she felt the stress from the disclosure in the headache that was progressing. How was she ever to make up for it? She wished that she had told her years ago and now she wondered if she would ever be forgiven for such a transgression. The responsibility was all on her shoulders. “Jenny, are you okay?”
“I think so. What happened? Did I actually faint? How embarrassing!”
Her mother sat on the carpet gazing up at her. She had never felt awkward around her daughter until now. Perhaps this moment would be the start of her rebellious years, but she hoped not. What in the world had she been thinking? Knowing one’s parents was something that should be known to everyone, the basic nature of understanding oneself. The links that formed a family tree was important stuff. “You did faint and your father caught you.” Allison’s head gestured toward Dracula who was standing tall beside her.
Dracula smiled as he raised his eyebrows. He was handsome in his Armani suit and had captivating brown eyes. He was as impressive as they came, even vampires wanted to run at the sight of him. His striking face was fortyish and exceptional; he made lots of pupils of the opposite sex widen with interest. Dracula looked down at Jenny and didn’t know what to say. It was strange being up close and personal with his daughter for the first time and not knowing much about her except for what Allison had told him. It was an awkward situation for all of them. The vampire had butterflies in his stomach for the first time in centuries. Jenny actually forced him to look away because of the guilt.
“What were you thinking Mother?” Jenny remained in a state of confusion. It’s not that she couldn’t believe it but it was a lot to process in such a short time. The truth could be like a sandstorm in the desert, a difficult thing to push through, but once beyond it everything was a lot clearer. It would take some time for her to sit comfortably in his presence. Her mind had shifted into high gear and she couldn’t slow it down. The girl wasn’t sure if she wanted to believe it or not, but the expressions on their faces was compelling evidence, besides the fact that her eyes resembled his. What would her friends say? Then she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. What a secret to be tasked with keeping. “So Dracula is really my father? And this is not some sort of sick joke?”
“No, yes he’s your father.”
“Luke, I mean Jenny I am your father.”
“You didn’t think it necessary to tell me that Dracula is my father? I mean Dracula, come on!”
Dracula attempted to infuse a bit of humor into the situation. “Look into my eyes.” He was immediately aware of the error in judgement and felt stupid. It was a rare thing for him to feel awkward but there it was. The Master was ill-at-ease, uncomfortable, and even a little self-conscious. No foe could ever faze him yet little Jenny had instantly instilled in him a state of guilt with just a tinge of panic. Life still had surprises for him after all and in a way he appreciated it. It had not been the boring day that he had expected. He crossed his arms but thought it might appear too stern for the situation. Dracula felt like running away, that made him shake his head slightly and smile. It was a cha
llenge for him to not change into a bat and fly off.
“Shut up,” said Jenny. “You owe me a hell of a lot of birthday presents, DAD. And that was some way to meet my FATHER, MOTHER.” She placed emphasis on both her parents. “Oh, by the way, you’re father just happens to be Dracula. Nice. What would you like for lunch and by the way your father is Dracula. Lots of ways to tell me MOTHER.” She gave stern looks to both of them, one at a time, and lingered on Dracula’s eyes. Neither parent knew what to say in their defence. He could technically blame it on Allison but he wasn’t going to do that. Dracula could not recall anyone ever staring at him for that length of time, and again it made him smile. It appeared that she was a chunk off the old block.
“What would you like for all of those birthdays?”
Jenny thought that she would hit him with something big and of course expensive. It was common knowledge that Dracula was rich; at least that’s what everyone thought. “A red Ferrari 458 Italia? Push button start, very nice.”
“Done,” said Dracula.
Allison shook her head. “You’re not buying her a Ferrari; she’s not old enough to drive.”
“She can play in it in the driveway until she’s old enough. Some kids have a dollhouse, she’ll have a Ferrari. What’s wrong with that?”
Jenny observed their bickering and liked it; it could be useful in the future. Perhaps she could pit one against the other as they would both have plenty of guilt for years to come; at least she hoped that would be the case. She could get her father to buy her a seat on one of those flights into orbit. She looked up at Dracula and then at her mother. “Mother, is he serious? I’ll bet he’s rich though. Does that mean we’re rich?”
There it was. Another reminder of things that should have been revealed, but Allison was beginning to doubt her own judgement. Should she inform or not inform, that was the question. A parent’s guidance was like walking a tightrope, one way or the other they were going to fall. Allison didn’t know how her daughter was going to deal with the information she was about to deal out, but the hand was a hot one. Maybe it was the occasion for a proper cleaning. It was time that all the cards were thrown on the table, although her conscience was waving a red flag on this one. She was starting to regret getting out of bed. “You’ve always been rich Jenny, from the day you were born.”
Jenny’s cute face scrunched as she attempted to figure out what she was now talking about. “Say what now? What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Jenny stared at both parents, first at one and then the other, and then back again. Sounded like gobbledygook unless it was an attempt at diversion. Of course this was the perfect place for diversionary tactics.
“Your father opened a bank account for you the day you were born, but you don’t get it until you’re eighteen.”
“Really? How much are we talking about? A million? Two?”
“Let’s just say that you’ll never want for money.”
“Nice answer. He was serious about the Ferrari?”
“Oh, he probably is, but no, you’re not getting a Ferrari. Dracula, what happens when she turns the key or presses the button and heads up the road at two hundred miles per hour?”
“That seems unlikely.”
“I wouldn’t go more than a hundred and fifty.”
Silence ensued as they all considered the situation in their own way. Dracula was happy with having the opportunity to stare at his progeny up close and personal, and like her mother she had fire in her eyes and he liked that. He expected nothing less. Jenny also had areas of her mind that was blocked even to him, and to her father that was most interesting. What kind of powerhouse had his genes created? He could tell that she was a little frightened of him but he also knew that an entire mafia family couldn’t make her cough up that information. He considered that she was probably exceptional to such a degree that even he couldn’t imagine it; this made Dracula very proud of his daughter.
Jenny considered that if Dracula was her father, how freaking powerful did that make her? Would she one day be the new Dracula? No, she knew that was a stupid thought. But if she was a wizard descended from Dracula did that make her the most powerful? The answer to that was probably not because a wizard was a mixture of power, knowledge and experience. She thought that if she was dumb enough to become overconfident it would most likely get her killed.
Allison was on a guilt trip and was afraid that it would be a one-way ticket. Would their relationship recover or would it be forever strained? One thing was certain; Jenny would never let her forget it. She would probably be jabbed with reminders for the rest of her life. Allison’s eyes searched for forgiveness, and then she remembered. “Jenny, your grandmother is outside waiting for you. Are you going to postpone or are you going to go out with her?”
They could almost see Jenny’s brain jumping into a lower gear. The time spent with her grandmother was always appreciated. “If we’re stinking rich why do we live here?”
“Jenny, you’re the one that’s stinking rich as you so eloquently put it.”
“I’ll bet he’s helping you out financially.”
“Maybe.”
“Mother, my whole life has been a stretch. What a complete lie I have lived not knowing my own father. Does that make any sense or am I babbling? Is there a bankbook around here with my name on it? Dracula, would you be so kind as to read her mind and tell me where it is. For whatever reason I can’t mind her. Otherwise I would have known years ago that my father is you-know-who, the big cheese with teeth. They say that you are the most powerful creature on the planet. Let me see your fangs.”
“No.” Dracula continued to feel uncomfortable.
Allison got up and stood beside Dracula and they held hands, and Jenny pointed at them and told them to stop it. Jenny stood and made her way to the window and looked out. Hannah was busy putting on rouge and Jenny could sense her excitement from where she was standing. She really didn’t feel like going out, but because her grandmother was looking forward to the outing she would go, although she knew her mind would be busy with the Dracula thing. “I’m gonna go. I don’t want to disappoint her. Mother, we have some talking to do when I get back.”
“Believe me I know.”
Dracula smiled as he looked down at Allison. “Ha, you’re going to get lectured.”
Jenny turned and looked up at her father. “Wait a minute. You’re the one that’s been standing out there and watching the house, like once a month?”
Dracula shrugged. “Maybe. Is it a crime to want to get a glimpse of my own daughter?”
Jenny wanted to give her father a good kick in the shin but didn’t dare. “I can’t wrap my brain around it that you’ve been lying to me for years. Does Martin even exit? Was he ever a real person?”
“No, I thought we’d established that.”
“So mister Dracula, do I have any brothers or sisters running around out there?”
Dracula shook his head at her tenacity. “No, I believe you’re the only one. There were others long ago.”
Jenny nodded. “Who, Jack the Ripper? Attila the Hun? Aren’t I special?”
“More than you know.” The Master raised his eyebrows for emphasis.
“Oh brother. And you Mother, how he sent you a card with a single word on it. Nice. What was the word, bullshit?” Jenny looked up at Dracula and examined him; he looked down at her and smiled as best he could. “And you, where’s my autograph?”
“What would you like me to sign?”
“Oh never mind I don’t even know if I want it anymore! It’s just not the same when Dracula’s your father! I bet I could sell your pants on eBay for a fortune. I suppose my uncle is a werewolf? Nice family tree Mother. Why don’t you just take a branch from the family tree and beat me with it. Oh wait, I think you just did.” Jenny left the house and slammed the door; she stuck her head back in with another statement. “If my grades fall off a cliff you’ll know why. I should tell Nan and you can deal with her stroke, heart attack and nervous breakdo
wn. Where the heck is my purse, on my shoulder, of course?” She slammed the door once more.
“That went well.”
Allison took her hand out of Dracula’s and gave him the look. “This is your fault you know.”
Dracula looked down at Allison and was enamored by her beauty. He went into her mind and asked her for a kiss but she refused. “How the hell is it my fault? You lied to her. I told you to tell her years ago but no, you refused and now it’s my fault? Tell me about this Martin guy.”
Allison slapped him. “Dracula that is not the least bit funny.”
“I’ll tear him to pieces.”
“It’s your fault because you didn’t force me to tell her. I’m only a defenseless woman, not a vampire.”
Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) Page 1