“Damn it!”
A loud crash of thunder got her attention. Lightening lit up the place as it started to pour. It surprised her as the sun had just been shining through the window. The sound of the rain hitting the roof and windows would have been pleasant enough if it wasn’t for her situation. Lauren had always liked the sights and sounds of a rainstorm, and used to dance in it as a child; she loved the way it brought life to the world with its invigorating touch. Lauren had always though how the flowers and plants must love the rain. It was great atmosphere for what was perhaps the last day of her life. If she couldn’t get out of that damn coffin she was at the mercy of whoever put her there, and obviously he didn’t just want to bid her a good afternoon.
“Whoever did this is going to lose his damn head!”
Her concentration wasn’t exactly working properly; she had seconds of fuzziness ebbing and flowing through her mind. Her options were so limited that she really couldn’t think of any. That’s what really frightened her.
Lauren could hear a clock ticking somewhere in back, perhaps ticking away the seconds of her life. She could also hear a pair of zebra finches singing back there, with bird seed being scratched around. She tried hard to remember what happened but her mind was disjointed. Michael’s face popped into her head which saddened her; if this was how she was to suffer her demise he would never know her fate. Her mind suddenly became a little clearer. She now had an idea of why she was there, perhaps asshole wizard was looking to kill and drain the excess energy that Dracula had placed into her in order to augment his own energy. The Master had warned them about that possibility but as time went by she had put it out of her mind, more or less. It was really annoying that she couldn’t remember what happened. The last thing that she could recall was someone in Harlem requesting backup, and then heading out to the scene, but obviously she never made it. Perhaps someone had been waiting for her outside the building? There was no recollection of arriving in Harlem.
A cellphone rang and she recognised the tone. She turned her head and saw that it was her phone on the end of the coffee table, but without being able to move it may as well have been on the moon. The sound of it was frustrating as if it was teasing her, when it stopped it was as if her only opportunity had abandoned her. They should invent a phone that was voice activated because that would have saved her. No tracking device in that one either. The heavy rain eased off and then stopped. It had been a small system so a brief shower. She could see part of a rainbow in the distance through the crack in the curtains; she could also see a part of an old fashion fence out there. Apparently, she was in some sort of ranch house, and in fact on a ranch by the look of it. There was lots of space out there from what she could see. Probably not a working ranch as wizards tended to be solitary beings, especially the bad ones. Although she supposed that whoever had her could have killed the owners. Unfortunately, it appeared that no outside help was forthcoming. She tried to call for help with her mind, sent a shout out to Dracula but she sensed that the Master was too far away to hear it.
“Why the hell can’t I move! Ahhhhhhhhh!” If she survived this she was going to seek out a spell to make sure that it never happened again. She cursed and screamed her loudest but no one came. It did shut the birds up though. She even tried to mind the birds to come to her aid, which only served to confuse them.
Lauren thought that had she been a wizard it might be easy to get out of that thing, but she didn’t know a hell of a lot about spells or wizards. She tried to bang the back of her head through the coffin but it only served to make her dizzy. Even though she couldn’t feel much at all, somehow she still felt weak. What a predicament.
“I’m sorry Michael.”
The hourglass continued to flow and it bothered her. Why was it measuring time like in a countdown? Something familiar and disturbing nagged her about it. That yellow sand was just about at the halfway point. Now she could see tiny bugs inside it not much bigger than the grains of sand, when they collided they caused a blue sparks. What was going to happen when the sand ran out?
Suddenly she heard a loud thump. She tried hard to see what or who was making the noise. Sounded like someone outside on the steps. Was the wizard now returning to do her in? Her level of stress increased as she struggled to see what was going on. More steps on the porch outside. Someone or something was approaching.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
JENNY AND ALLISON TOOK THE LIMOUSINE that had been waiting for them at the airport to Dracula’s residence on Martin Street in Moncton. It was raining lightly when they arrived. The first thing that they both noticed was the new red Ferrari 458 Italia sitting in the yard. Jenny was immediately excited. Allison thought that Dracula wouldn’t dare as Jenny jumped out of the black stretch limo and danced in the yard. She kissed the car. It was exactly what she has asked for so how could it not be hers?
“Jenny, you don’t know that that’s your car,” Allison said to her daughter, but she was guessing that it was. “Dracula has a lot of famous friends you know.”
Jenny showed her mother a smirk. “That would be some coincidence Mother. You know it’s mine. It might not be so bad to have Dracula as a father after all. I’ll bet he could buy me a seat on the Russian Soyuz.” Jenny ran into the house and found Dracula sitting on the sofa talking to Piers Anthony. In between them was the cat Moon Diamond.
Dracula turned to his daughter. “Hello Jenny, this is the author Piers Anthony. Piers, this is my daughter.”
Jenny was immediately disappointed. “Mister Anthony, is that your car out there? It is, isn’t it?”
Piers looked up at Jenny. “As a matter of fact it isn’t.”
Jenny stared at the Siamese. “What a beautiful cat. Is that MY car?”
“He is quite fetching, isn’t he.” Piers petted the cat which made it stick its butt in the air, and of course that irritated Zacharia.
Jenny turned her attention to Dracula and waited for him to say it. Allison entered behind her. Jenny and her father both stared at one another waiting for the other to speak first. Piers was enjoying the pseudo confrontation. Allison was aware of the awkward silence and the grin on the author. Jenny glanced at the cat and then back at her father; she was getting weird vibes from the animal that was gazing up at her. The cat gave the Master a high five for having such a beautiful daughter.
Dracula finally spoke. “Jenny, what’s my name?”
She smiled. “You don’t know your own name?”
“What’s my name?”
“Dracula? King of the vampires? The head honcho? Chief biter? Did that cat just give you a high five?”
“What’s my name?”
Jenny hesitated as both Piers and Allison waited to see if she would say it. “Father?”
Dracula nodded. “There you go, that wasn’t so difficult?”
“Yes, FATHER, it was difficult. Is that my car in the driveway or isn’t it?”
And again Dracula nodded. “It is.”
“I knew it!” Jenny ran out the door and jumped in the car. In less than a minute they could all hear the music blaring from inside the Ferrari. Allison gave him a stern look but didn’t want to say too much in front of the author.
Dracula shrugged. “I know but look how happy she is. She deserves something nice because of you lying to her for all those years. It’s a good distraction don’t you think?”
“I thought we agreed not to get her a freaking Ferrari!”
“It was on sale.”
“Oh, it was not. Those things don’t go on sale.”
“Half price.”
“Dracula, you are not the least bit funny.”
“This is Piers Anthony, the author. And Zacharia here is an old friend of mine. His soul is trapped inside his cat.”
Allison turned to Piers. “Is he being funny?”
“I’m afraid not,” said Piers. “I’ll let him explain it to you.”
Allison sat down on the love seat facing them as she stared at the cat. “I’m
listening.”
Dracula thought before he spoke. “I’m getting tired of telling this story I can tell you that. Zacharia had this cat and instead of letting it perish of natural causes, he used a small part of his soul to keep it alive. But when he was killed in a fight, his soul, instead of moving on it was pulled into the cat.”
Allison scrunched her eyebrows and looked confused. “What happened to the cat’s soul?”
“They’re both in there. Zacharia has no body to return to so he’s stuck in there.”
Allison considered it but couldn’t imagine it. “How awful.”
“He’s getting used to it. At least he’s not complaining as much.”
Allison noticed Moon Diamond shaking his head in disagreement. “You poor thing. Hello to you Piers.”
“It’s nice to meet you Allison.”
Allison turned to Dracula. “When are they coming?”
Dracula looked at his Rolex. “They should be here within the hour.”
“She really has to do this?”
“Allison, she’s a top of the line blood wizard with no training. She could be a danger to herself and you. Her dreams can help her to a degree but she really needs the guidance that she’ll receive from Caius. Something came up with the other guy that I had in mind.”
Piers stood as he didn’t want to be in the way and he was sure they had plenty of things to discuss. “I have someone to see but I’ll be back later. It was nice to meet you Allison.” And with that the author blurred out of the house.”
Allison turned to Dracula. “Why did you buy her that stupid Ferrari when I told you not to do it?”
“Let’s me assure you that a Ferrari is never stupid.”
“Things like that that can change her personality. Now how am I supposed to make her give it up? She’ll hate me and love you.”
“It would take more than a dozen sports cars to make her love me. Anyway, her light is of the white variety and cannot be changed. At least that’s my story. The only thing we have to worry about is getting her killed. And don’t think that I don’t know about Jenny being shot. We’ll talk about it later.”
That was quite a shock to Allison. “How on earth did you find out about that?”
“That is not important.”
Allison looked out the window at Jenny in her new Ferrari 458; she was beaming as she moved to the beat of the music. The rain was now moderate and Jenny had the wipers going in the car. It was then that she realized she didn’t have the heart to take the car from her. What an expensive playhouse. It aggravated her that Dracula had gotten away with it.
At just after three, two gentlemen dressed in black suits entered the house. One had a handlebar mustache and the other had a deep scar across his left cheek. The scar had been earned in a fight long ago and for some reason remained with him even after he had been turned into a vampire. They had the shiniest black shoes that Allison had ever seen, reminding her of secret service agents in their style and the way they handled themselves. Not many handled themselves with such style.
Jenny was brought into the house from her Ferrari as they all sat around the kitchen table; she was more interested in the car than what they had to say. Moon Diamond sat in on the conversation and listened intently. Dracula explained the cat to Jenny and she was both impressed and sorry for Zacharia.
Dracula introduced the two gentlemen. “Jenny, this is Edwin and Floyd. Floyd’s the one with the handlebar.”
Jenny accessed the two and discovered that they were quite powerful. “Hello.”
Dracula got straight to the point. “These two fellas are going to escort you deep into the forest of British Columbia. There you will find a small cottage. You’ll spend the night there or perhaps even longer. The cottage will lead you to a blood wizard called Caius. You should not come back until you get into that cottage.”
Jenny looked at her mother and shook her head. “You want me to go where with the who and the what now FATHER.” She placed emphasis on father because she knew that it annoyed him.
Edwin and Floyd looked at one another and were surprised at the information. Dracula had a child? That was the most remarkable thing that they had ever heard. Why hadn’t they heard about the child before now? They both wondered how powerful such a child would be having Dracula for a father. They had many questions but didn’t dare ask any.
“Caius is not in the cottage but it leads to him. No one can help you with that. It’s something that you have to figure out for yourself. Many have given up getting into that cabin.”
“I thought you said it was a cottage?”
“Whatever,” said Dracula.
“Why don’t you just give him a call and order him to come here?”
“It doesn’t work that way?”
Jenny looked at her mother. “Why not?”
He knew that Jenny was going to push his buttons and there wasn’t much he could do about it. “Because blood wizards are fickle creatures and I am unable to order them around, at least some of them.”
“It sucks to be you.”
“Jenny!”
Jenny continued to be angry at both her parents. “Well, he does suck, he’s a vampire.”
Edwin showed the slightest smile. He of course had never heard anyone talk to the Master like that, but he guessed that being an offspring had its perks. How he would love to follow those two around and observe their interactions for a week.
“Edwin, you have something to say on the matter?” Dracula had noticed the smile.
“I have nothing to say Master.”
“Father, what did he call you?”
“Never mind.”
Jenny continued to be angry as she observed her mother and then her father. Unfortunately the gift of the car did get him some points. “Let’s me get this straight. My PARENTS are sending me off into the woods with two strange men? Nice parenting. We’ll be on Jerry Springer in no time. Should I run with scissors? Would you like to sharpen them first? I’m just asking.”
“Run with grenades if it’s your heart’s desire.” Dracula was a bit aggravated and that was surprising to him. “Let me just say a couple of things Jenny. One, neither of these fellows would dare to touch you. I would tie them up with their own intestines. (Jenny’s face showed distaste as she imagined it.) Two, I’ve read all three of you and I can tell that you have the ability to kick both their asses, simultaneously. That’s at the same time if you don’t understand that big word. And hey, I did buy you a car.”
Allison had to laugh. The budding relationship between Jenny and Dracula was going to be an interesting one indeed. They did at times have similar character traits that neither realized.
Jenny had to smile even though she didn’t want to. “Buying me that car put up the broken fence Father but it didn’t fix it. The fence is still broken. I can’t wait to go down the road at two hundred miles per hour Mother.”
Dracula turned to Allison as he raised his eyebrows. “Does she talk like that all the time? You know she wants to kick me? I am able to delve only slightly into her mind and that’s what I discover, she wants to kick me.”
“See, that’s what happens when you buy her a Ferrari.”
Jenny stared at her mother and then at her father; she examined Edwin and Floyd as they were both forced to look away. “And this little adventure is absolutely necessary?”
“If you were a powerful bodybuilder but didn’t know how to properly lift weights what would happen?”
Jenny smiled. “I’d hurt myself. BUT. If I was a powerful bodybuilder I already know how to lift weights wouldn’t I. Otherwise, how’d I get to be so powerful?”
Dracula nodded slightly. “Do I have to take you over my knee?”
Those were definitely fighting words to his daughter. “Oh? You want to go? Come on, bring it on!”
They all had to laugh.
“I think she’s serious.”
Jenny realized the error. “All right, so maybe I can’t take you yet. Just wait unt
il you fall asleep Dad. You have to sleep sometime.”
Dracula slapped his hand on the table. “She called me DAD. Mark it down on the calendar. You heard it Edwin, she called me Dad. What was that crack about me sleeping?”
Allison shook her head. “I have no idea, and I don’t think I want to know.”
Dracula stared into his daughter’s eyes, attempting to enter her mind but she wouldn’t let him. “Jenny, let me impart this to you. Evil eyes can be closed but you must be more determined than they are.”
“Un huh. Listen Dad; stop trying to poke around in my brain.”
“I didn’t.”
“Yes you did.”
Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) Page 7