Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's)

by Albert Gallant

  Annie was tiny and fragile looking with silver hair and blue eyes. Some of her wrinkles had tightened during the transformation but unfortunately she still looked old. She thought that her vim and vinegar could power the entire city, and the fact was that she could lift that bus over her head had she wanted to do so. Being turned by the Master certainly had bonus points. Some nights she went out with her red purse displayed prominently, hoping to attract a mugger; she hadn’t yet succeeded but she thought that sooner or later she would bag one. In her mind it was time for the people to take back the streets. Annie would fight anyone that was taking advantage of another.

  Why Annie suspected that the fellow who resembled a banker was up to no good she had no idea. It was like a hunch but a lot stronger. She felt like attacking him even before he got on the bus, the feeling was that strong. The vampire took note of all the different people getting on the bus; she hoped that some of them weren’t in the process of taking their last breaths because of that bozo in front of her. Annie was new at this game and wasn’t at all sure how a fight would play out. A baker’s dozen entered the bus, including Annie. She sat behind Elmer in his fancy suit and kept a close eye on him. She wondered what he had in his briefcase. Annie watched and waited, she could feel him tensing as he looked around, probably searching for a suitable victim. A 4-year-old girl played with her Barbie at the back of the bus; she could detect how happy she was. The calm mood on the bus was about to change drastically.

  It didn’t take long after the bus pulled out before his fangs came out and he attacked the beautiful young blond in front of him. Elmer was exceptionally fast as his fangs went for the young woman’s neck to drink her blood, but Annie was faster. She punched him and knocked his fangs out even before he got to her neck, sending blood flying. His fangs grew back immediately but he was surprised he hadn’t sensed another vampire. The bus screeched to a halt and erupted in screams.

  “What the heck is going on back there?” screamed the bus driver.

  Every one feared for their lives. Vampires were on the bus! Annie grabbed Elmer by the seat of his pants and the scruff of his neck, tossing Elmer out through the window; she then went out after him. She figured everyone on the bus was scared enough so she had to get him out of there. It would be a lot easier to fight outside where there was more room.

  “What are you gonna do now?” said Annie. It was a bit of a humorous scene with the 90-year-old preparing for battle with the vampire that looked to be thirty something. She beckoned him towards her with slight movements of the fingers on her right hand. He couldn’t help but smile.

  “Death is coming for you.”

  Elmer couldn’t mind her; he couldn’t even read her aura. She made him more than a little nervous because he figured there must be powerful magic involved. Attempting to blur off rather than be the subject of perusal of all those faces on the bus, he found his way blocked each time. He was scared that if he remained too long a red sheriff could show up. Annie being at least twice as fast as he was, Elmer knew then and there he would have to fight the old woman. He pulled a machete out of his briefcase and tried to cut her head off, but she was so fast that she ended up behind him kicking him in the butt, driving him up and over the bus, catching his knees on the roof as he went over.

  Elmer screamed his loudest. “You die now you crazy bitch!”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Everyone on the bus watched the battle and cheered for the old woman, and because of that he showed them all his fangs as a threat. He attacked her four times with punches and kicks that would have killed a human, looking for the best opportunity to take her head but she simply deflected them. He tried his best to punch her in her little old face; the result was that she broke his arm at the elbow. It healed but it was painful. Elmer swung the machete viciously and each time it arrived into empty space.

  There were now sirens in the distance.

  The more she effortlessly dodged his attempts to kill her, the angrier he was getting. Elmer attacked Annie like a maniac, screaming and swinging. But on the third swing he discovered that his machete was gone and she was holding it. His look of disdain was a complement to Annie.

  “That’s impossible.”

  Annie cut Elmer’s head off as his bones fell to the pavement, almost everyone on the bus cheered for the old woman. She took a bow, kicked the bones across the street, and then blurred off.

  “Wish that was my grandmother.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  JENNY SAT ON A FELLED TREE that was covered in green moss and stared at the red bricks of the quaint cottage. She knew that Jeptha was in there; she also knew that she HAD to get in there but for the time being at least she couldn’t find a way into the small dwelling. She looked up into the sky and noticed that black clouds were forming above her, and they definitely weren’t normal. They moved unnaturally fast, faster than she had ever experienced. It didn’t take her long to figure that the wizard within was up to something. Suddenly it started pouring. It couldn’t rain any harder and Jenny was almost instantly soaked. The sound of the rain roared all around her as she imagined the smile on his face.

  “Are you getting wet out there girl?” Jeptha’s voice sounded like he was talking through a tube. “All your talent and you can’t stop a little rain?” He laughed until he coughed.

  “No one ever taught me how to stop the rain, you arrogant ass! If it’s even possible. I know it’s a spell so I suppose it can be stopped.” Jenny considered that Jeptha might in fact be Caius, but if so he wasn’t much of an instructor so far. He was either the wizard she sought or one of his followers. The sound of the rain was now drowning out his voice, she didn’t think that it was possible to rain any harder but she was wrong. It was making her miserable. Jenny linked with his mind but didn’t go in too far. She actually put up extra walls for security and Jeptha was impressed although he didn’t let her know that.

  Mind to mind: “Jenny, what do you see?”

  “I can’t see much of anything; it’s raining too damn hard.”

  “Stop looking with your eyes, look with magic. Concentrate and observe. Do you feel that tingling in your hands?”

  “Yes.”

  “Bring both hands together, as if in prayer.”

  When the girl wizard did so the lenses on her eyes commenced to change color: blue, red, purple, pink. When her eyes shifted the lenses to yellow she could see brown sparkles of light in the rain and in the clouds as well. It was the properties of the incantation. Although they were tiny she could see light reflecting off them as they spun. The clouds now looked to be a sickly yellow with black highlights. “Ok, I see the stuff that’s in the rain and the clouds but now what?”

  “You have something that I have never ever observed in another wizard. You have what I would call unconscious magic. You’ve detected the elements of the spell, now destroy them.”

  “How?”

  “Make a snowball.”

  “There’s no snow out here. Not funny.”

  “Simply go through the motions.”

  “Go through the motions of what? Making a snowball?” Jenny went through the gesticulations of making a snowball out of air. Not only did she feel stupid but she was sure he was going to laugh at her. “Okay.”

  “Compact it and press hard as you would with real snow.”

  Jenny continued to feel dumb until a spherical ball of white light containing blue crystals appeared in her hands. She could feel the solidness of it, and seconds earlier it hadn’t even existed. She was amazed as it spun and tickled her, when she opened her hand further she received a warning.

  “Careful. Don’t let it get away.”

  The ball of energy flew out of her hands and hit at the base of a nearby tree, and with a bang as loud as a flash grenade the energy knocked down the tree. The noise hurt Jenny’s ears and made her jump; her ears rung from the explosion. “Holy cow!”

  “Now make another one if you can it takes a lot of energy. And don’t l
et it get away.”

  The rain continued to pummel her but at this point it was impossible to get any wetter. The sound of the heavy precipitation was loud and steady. She formed another ball of energy and was as impressed as she had been after forming the first one. It now made sense that she needed further instruction, and that book of spells. “Now what?”

  “Now, toss it up into the clouds where the spell originated. Throw it hard.”

  Jenny did so and the ball took off like a shooting star. It was a spherical mass of yellow energy that imploded on contact with the spell that originated from the clouds. It reversed and pulled the rain up behind it, sucking all the rain into in that had escaped. It was an incredible thing to see, and even more impressive was the fact that she had accomplished it. It even took all the moisture out of Jenny clothes; she was now as dry as if it hadn’t rained at all.

  Jenny closed her mouth. “That’s amazing. I really did that?”

  “Indeed.” Jeptha then spoke to someone else inside the cottage. “Did you see that?”

  “Yes, yes, quite impressive.”

  Jenny cocked her head as she listened. “Who else is in there?”

  “Oh my, she can hear us.”

  “Let me in there! Is that Caius in there with you?”

  “It’s not for me to tell you how to get in here; it’s for you to figure out a way in.”

  Jenny went and sat back down on the mossy log and considered. She could form another ball of energy and toss it at the cabin. It might actually blow it up. She looked down at her feet and saw a mole that was going around and around in circles. It appeared that even the animals were mocking her. Jenny watched as the mammal went back into its burrow.

  “Can you hear me?” No response.

  It was now sunny and humid. A slight refreshing breeze made its way through the forest carrying the scent of pine. She let go with a big sigh as she got up and again made her way around the cottage. She felt all along the bricks searching for a way in until she was back to where she had started. It was puzzling and more than a little aggravating; she knew there was a way in but where? Jeptha had gotten in there easy enough, but of course he already knew the way in. Jenny stared at the cottage with consternation and suddenly it vanished, as if it had never been there.

  “What the heck?” Jenny raised her eyebrows as she accessed the situation. Had she run out of time to figure a way into the cottage? Angry at herself a tree was kicked and knocked over and she immediately regretted that action. The planet needed more trees, not less. Now the brick path that had led to it had disappeared. She turned and spotted the cottage about a hundred yards to her rear. She ran to it and it was indeed the very same perplexing dwelling. She had an idea and so she made her way around the cottage, feeling lower this time, near the bottom of it. She touched and prodded near the base. The opening was discovered, it was a hole that was invisible to the eye because of a spell. It was a basic enchantment but quite effective. Almost falling into it, Jenny lay on her stomach sticking her head into the hole and bracing herself against its steep angle. It was some sort of slide that slid down into darkness. No way to see what was down there. Absolutely no way to tell what she would slide into; it could be a crocodile pit for all she knew. Jenny didn’t like the thought of launching herself down there.

  “Hello …. Hello, hello, hello, hello!” Her voice echoed off the walls but no response was forthcoming. The 12-year-old carefully eased her way into the tunnel and slid down. She slid and slid and slid, picking up speed as she went. That was the problem with jumping into the unknown. It turned out to be almost a mile long in complete darkness, with several disturbing twists and turns. She was moving so fast that her eyes couldn’t adjust. Finally she shot out into a small section of cavern, landing hard on her derriere. She stood and dusted herself off and examined what she had gotten herself into. Torches on the wall lit up the small cavern; she could see another door off to her left and there was a peculiar feeling about it, and not a good one.

  “All this inside that freaking cottage?”

  On Jenny’s immediate left were a dozen cannon balls, an old chest with a key protruding from its lock, and a coiled length of rope on the floor beside it. On the floor to her right was the skeleton of some dead vampire with a Cuban Montecristo cigar stuck in its eye socket, and a double guillotine-style cigar cutter on its bony left hand. There was a damp smell but not too bad. Jenny could hear what she thought might be footsteps far off in the distance somewhere.

  The king cobra appeared from behind the chest startling her. She put up her right foot and the serpent struck her sole, and as it did so it replicated. The blow striking her sneaker had been substantial. Jenny now faced two snakes with neurotoxins and they were also cardio toxic. She pulled her sword and cut the head off the one on the right and it turned into three more snakes; they were tapping into her energy and reproducing. Another cobra struck her heel and this one turned into two more snakes. At this rate she would soon be overrun, it would be impossible to defend against all of them.

  Jenny quickly backed herself up against the wall. She wanted to scream but didn’t want Jeptha to hear. How was this teaching anyone anything if she was killed in the process? The snakes advanced but Jenny had nowhere to run. She tried to blur away from them but they were just as fast and blocked her way. Jenny considered that now would be a good time to panic, not that it would help.

  She was trapped.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  ACHAK CARRIED THE DEAD DEER having just drained its blood into the large black pot that was over a robust crackling fire. He was satisfied with himself and his deeds, looking forward to a future where no one would able to stand up to him. Achak cut out the animal’s heart, liver and lungs with his curved boning knife and tossed it in as if making a statement. Nature didn’t have a chance with his supremacy over the elements. The organs joined others in the pot that was now half full. The wizard was tired from lack of sleep but was determined to complete the spell before lying down on his bed inside the wigwam. There was nothing more important than his work.

  He had had to search through a hundred pages of changing spells until he found one that he considered suitable. Staring at the round domed wigwam and getting lost in his thoughts, he finally went over to the Blood Book on the small antique table and gazed onto its red pages with the black lettering. Each page contained over seven hundred spells that were rotated through, magically appearing and disappearing, showing only the enchantments that were possible with his level of wizardry. He knew that as his power was augmented, so would the number of spells that appeared. The sorcerer with the most powerful spells always had an advantage. Once the spell was selected all he had to do was touch the page for it to remain. Depending on who stared into the tome the knowledge released was different.

  The more that Achak delved into black magic the more it consumed him, once past the halfway point there was no turning back, and unfortunately for him he had just passed it. He may as well have had tossed his soul into the nether regions because the result was the same. It would not be fun battling other evil entities for eternity when his spirit finally left his body. He would be sorry then but it was already too late. Or if his soul got black enough perhaps he would enjoy battling the other devils.

  A large raven landed on his left shoulder squawking. He looked at its black plumage and big beak. It was a bird that he had instilled some magic in and now it worked for him as a sentry. “I know I’m tired bird, you don’t have to tell me. And yes, I’m being careful with the ingredients.”

  Although the wizard knew a lot about magic, he didn’t know as much as he thought. Achak was unaware that the caustic fumes that were released from his spells were changing vampires worldwide. The vapours drove a few insane; others were only slightly altered by augmenting their levels of magic. Some were losing IQ points while others were being made more aggressive. Some were becoming more fertile. His caustic stew was changing the very nature of certain vampires.

&n
bsp; The raven squawked once again. “You are going to make me make a mistake if you continue. Now shut your beak!”

  Dark magic sometimes had a way of taking on a life of its own. Achak’s black magic was slowly accumulating like centuries of pollution. Some of it intensified as it took to the wind, combining with the elements in the air. It had no effect whatsoever on humans, but vampires were gradually being affected by the remnants of the black magic being spewed. Winds carried it for thousands of miles, and as its levels increased the consequences were unpredictable. This specific spell was meant to lure a red sheriff with high levels of magical ability; it was meant to pull as much magical essence out of a sheriff as possible.