“I hope this is it.” She pressed the stones into the wall accordingly. When she pressed the third one a huge slab of granite fell in with a huge crash, displacing dust and loudly echoing off the walls, permitting her entry into the next chamber. The sound of it falling into the next chamber had been deafening and had made her jump.
“What the heck is going on in here? If this was a movie it would be called The Temple of Dust.”
Two large gentlemen dressed in Egyptian garb, both wearing pleated see-through linen robes were arguing. They both wore colorful beads around their necks. Wosret and Hebeny pushed one another. It was a heated argument with angry faces.
“I told you she would make it this far!” Wosret pushed Hebeny hard, almost knocking him over.
“Well, she won’t make it past this one!” said Hebeny.
“Yes she will!”
“No she won’t!”
“I told you she would make it this far!” Worset pushed Hebeny hard, almost knocking him over.
“What the?”
It was then that Jenny realized that the two gentlemen weren’t real; they were on a magical loop. She walked up to them and her hand went right through Worset. Even from a foot away they looked so real, amazing. She ignored the two Egyptians and explored the room, but the problem was there wasn’t much to see. It was a huge chamber made of white granite with nothing in it. She felt around the base of the wall for another hint but didn’t find anything. The first few times the magical entities went through their so-called act it was interesting. Then they became annoying and not long after that the two were aggravating.
“I told you she would make it this far!”
“Shut up!” Jenny screamed at the both of them. They were now infuriating. She attacked and cut through them with her sword, but of course there was no effect; she may as well have been fighting a ghost.
“I told you she would make it this far!” Worset pushed Hebeny hard, almost knocking him over.
“Please shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Jenny wanted to bang her head against the wall when they started over again. She had had enough. She just wanted to get out of there.
The room was solid, no way out.
“Oh no.”
“I told you she would make it this far!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
STEPHEN, LUKE AND NOAH had found the entrance to another vampire museum. This one was in a patch of forest in Wyoming’s Shoshone National Forest. They had hoped that the genuine Hithroma dagger was located within. Whoever would plunge the dagger into Dracula’s chest would supposedly usurp Dracula’s power and become the new Master. Following a map that had been purchased for five thousand dollars, they had been warned that the entrance was a trap. Circling the area they had been unable to discover the entrance.
Stephen was having nightmares of being pursued by Dracula but he told no one. They were awful dreams of pain and torture, so vivid that he could still taste the blood when his eyes opened. He desperately hoped that when he killed him the incubuses would vanish. He had heard tales of the Master seeking people in their dreams and now he was living it.
Stephen stopped to get his bearings and to stare at the map. He was a large black man built like a football player, with brown eyes and gleaming teeth. “I know we’re close I can feel it.”
“You said that an hour ago.”
Luke looked at Stephen and was unimpressed. He cracked his knuckles out of habit. He had hypnotic blue eyes and short brown hair. “Why don’t we just give it up? We were lucky to have survived that encounter with Dracula. A mouse would have as much luck attacking a cat. Stephen, I have a bad feeling about this. We’re all gonna end up being bones. Give it up man, vampire, or whatever the hell you are. We may as well cut all our own heads off right now. I don’t want to be bones.”
Stephen looked at Luke and blinked several times. He started to sing and his voice was quite nice. “I don’t want to be bones; I don’t want to be bones. I like to bite, I like to fight, and I like to traipse around at night. Oh, I don’t want to be bones.”
It was uncharacteristic of him and the others stared at him as if to say What the hell?
Noah’s blue eyes glanced Stephen and then at Luke. “What if all the daggers are phony? Then we die for nothing.”
Stephen looked up from the map. “You want to live forever?”
“Yes please.”
“Noah, look at the map. That tree on the map is this one. You can tell that it’s not a real tree when you get right up to it. This is supposed to be the entrance but how do we get in there?”
Luke shook his head. “See that’s not the problem. The problem is that we know it’s a trap. Just like one of those stupid movies where they know there’s a serial killer in the attic, but they go up there anyway. Maybe we’ll like being killed. Same scenario. We know it’s a trap but we’re gonna go in there anyway?”
“If Hithroma is in there then there would be a trap wouldn’t there? We’ll figure it out?” Stephen nodded and smiled.
Luke again cracked his knuckles. “You know what I think. I think that our only chance of surviving is if we don’t find a way in there. I’d run away right now if Steven wouldn’t chase me down and kill me.”
“Luke,” said Stephen. “Climb the damn tree and see if there’s a way in from the top.”
Luke decided not to argue and so up the tree he went. In less than a minute he returned back to the ground. “There’s nothing up there that I can see.”
Steven didn’t trust him so he went into his mind to check and discovered that he was telling the truth. He went around and around the monster of a tree but it seemed solid, impossible to penetrate. But this time when he reached a certain part of the tree he felt a gust of cold wind originating from the base of the tree. When he kicked at it his foot disappeared into it. He got on his hands and knees and his head disappeared. “This is the way in boys.”
Neither Luke nor Noah looked happy. They simultaneously thought of the kill room in the other museum and they realized that whatever was down there may in fact be worst, especially if the dagger was really in there. When Steven stood up Luke stuck his head in to have a look, but it was so dark that he couldn’t see anything. He was about to right himself when Steven kicked him in the rear and sent him flying down into the darkness.
“Steven, after you.”
“Nice try but you’re going in next. Wait a minute; I want to see what Luke has to say about his new surroundings.” Steven stuck his head in and hollered down. “Luke, can you hear me?”
“I hkar podk hargavid!”
Both Steven and Noah looked puzzled. They couldn’t understand a single word he was saying, it was all gobbledygook. Of course it was an enchantment. Go down into that dark hole or don’t go was the choices at hand. But Steven hadn’t come this far to give up. He wasn’t as brave or as confident as he pretended; he knew it could be the end of all of them, but the possible reward was too good to give up. He couldn’t go through the rest of his life not knowing if he could have been the new Dracula or not. Not knowing would haunt him as well as any ghost.
“What are you waiting for?”
“Steven, come on. We can’t understand what he’s saying but he doesn’t sound happy. That doesn’t sound like a happy voice.”
“Is he screaming in agony?”
“No but he doesn’t sound happy!”
“Noah, are you going to get in there or do I have to throw you down?”
“All right, all right. But I’m gonna be saying I told you so.” Noah went into the darkness feet first. Steven didn’t hesitate and down he went. He landed in a relatively small square room. Noah and Luke both looked annoyed. Skeletons and old swords were scattered all over the place, with a single vampire lying on the floor in the corner. The old and skinny fellow appeared to be sleeping.
Noah gave Steven a nasty look. “What the hell did I tell you? We’re trapped in here?”
Steven looked over at the slide leading out.
“Why can’t we just go back up the slide?”
“Go ahead, try it!” Luke was more than a little angry.
Stephen looked a little like a cartoon with his legs going so fast that they were a blur. It was like attempting to climb up ice. It didn’t take long for him to realize that the effort was futile. He stared at the sleeping vampire.
“What do you want to bet that all these other bones were vampires that were trapped down here.” Luke was so mad that he felt like attacking Steven.
Steven rubbed his chin in contemplation. “When we don’t eat for a long, long time we go dormant. Don’t we?”
Noah shook his head. “That’s not true and I know from experience. I was buried for a year and I didn’t go dormant. I tried to sleep a lot because I was bored. Vampires don’t need blood to live, they need it to thrive.”
The old vampire suddenly opened his eyes. He was on them so fast they didn’t have time to react. He killed them all and savoured their blood.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
THE DAY WAS HOT AND SUNNY, but the elements no longer bothered her. Old Annie was new again. She was wearing a polo style blue top with matching pants as she carried her red purse. She wasn’t exactly dressed to kill but it was comfortable. The day was pleasant and inviting with plenty of things to ponder on. The life that had had plenty of twists and turns had certainly taken an unexpected one. It was the beginning of a new adventure.
Annie stood and gazed at the Burnett Fountain in Central park and thought it was so beautiful. The fountain, standing at the center of the conservatory garden’s south garden was a tribute to the author of The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett. The attractive sculpture was of a young reclining boy playing a flute with a girl standing over him holding a bowl, with the bowl being a birdbath. Annie remembered the story of The Secret Garden, and thought that the statues were supposed to be the characters Mary and Dickon. The place was beautifully landscaped with benches, green hedges and colorful pink flowers in the background. The statue was on the edge of a small concrete pool, with water lilies and reflections of the flowers and greenery in its water. It was a most contemplative place to be.
That’s what Annie was doing, thinking of things in general and her life in particular. Her being a vampire was going to take some time to get accustomed to. Time shaped everything like flowing water shaped boulders, and so she wondered what time had in store for her. The seasons of her life were now expanded beyond her imagination. What on earth was she going to do with such a stretch? She had retaken control of her finances. Her daughter Lacey wasn’t exactly happy with her mother regaining control of her bank account because she had plans for that money, but those were the breaks. Her daughter was a retired doctor and didn’t need her money she simply wanted it. Greed was an affliction that mankind could have done without. Annie didn’t need to be taken care of any longer. Unfortunately all of her friends were dead and gone. Her only child never produced any grandchildren. Her husband of fifty years was long gone as well. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do with herself. She had moved out of the home into an apartment, that place was no longer the proper atmosphere for her.
“Oh, you cute little darlings.” Annie observed the chickadees bathe in the bowl and then fly off in search of food no doubt. She sat on a bench and watched the people go by, paying specific attention to all the vampires. It seemed to her that one out of every fifty or so was a vampire, and that was surprising, she hadn’t thought that there were that many of them around, although it was said that there were more in New York than any place else. She could enter and read the minds of the vampires but not the humans. It was strange not thinking of herself as human anymore, but the things that she could now accomplish was a great reminder. Annie had held her bed up with one hand that morning as she had swept under it.
She considered again that being a vampire gave her new lease on life, but how she was going to occupy her time. It repeated itself over and over. Maybe she had not thought this vampire thing through well enough. What if she lived another hundred years? What if she lived another thousand? Annie could not wrap her mind around that as it was unfathomable. Boredom may turn out to be her biggest problem. She knew that some vampires were over a thousand years old. What they must have experienced in their lifetimes and who they could have met was almost beyond comprehension. They could have been present at the building of the Great Wall of China, and perhaps even helped build it. They could have been there when construction began on the Leaning Tower of Pisa on that August morning in 1173. That was a peculiar fact to remember, another side effect of being a vampire no doubt, although she could not remember where she had read it, or if it was indeed a fact. She might have the strength to straighten that thing up, although such force might actually knock it down.
Annie watched a blue jay taking a quick bath in the bowl and thought it must be a popular place for the birds. The jay had only just departed when a black bird flew into it. How wonderful must it be to take flight like a bird? Good God could she or could she not turn into a bat? Preoccupied with so many other things she hadn’t considered it until just now. She must be able to as all vampires could. She assumed that it would be instinct but she didn’t know how to do it, and she definitely wanted to experience flying. She flapped her arms and concentrated but nothing happened. There must be some trick to it. Was it something that could only be accomplished after the sun went down?
A young man passed holding a soccer ball and stopped briefly to stare at Annie. “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know when you’re going to run into a nut.” With that he continued on his way.
Annie would have to figure out the bat thing later, too many nosy people around. She considered that she was old and young at the same time. Being a vampire hadn’t done much for her looks, tightened up a few wrinkles but that’s about it. She continued to look like a ninety-year-old and yet she was a brand new vampire; she shook her head at the thought of it. Her mind was so full of wonder that some of it was spilling out. She had already figured out a few things; she knew how to purchase blood for her personal consumption, which tasted better than anything she had ever savoured. That taste was unbelievable. It would be impossible to describe it to a human no matter how hard she tried. One had to be a vampire to appreciate it.
Annie was overwhelmed in a sense with too much information to process.
She could now defend the helpless instead of being one of them, which was more satisfying than she would have ever believed. She had met Dracula in person and what a handsome fellow he was. Annie wondered if the king of vampires was attached. Of course she wasn’t good enough in the department of looks to snatch such a handsome fella. In that department she’d be on one of the back shelves covered in dust.
Her mind was higgledy-piggledy.
Annie could go back to nursing but somehow that didn’t appeal to her.
A young man in shabby clothes with hair like Mr. T and an actual bone through his nose took notice of Annie and her red purse. He was laughable but with some effort she managed to control herself. Who knows what the poor fellow had gone through in his life? He sat on the middle bench as Annie was on the bench to his left. Although the old woman couldn’t read his mind she was getting weird vibes from him, it was only a guess but she figured that he was up to no good. In fact Eric needed a fix and would do pretty much anything to get the money to satisfy his hunger for heroin. He had almost killed a senior a week ago for his wallet and he remained in the hospital broken and battered. Annie looked him up and down as he looked the other way to show his disinterest in her and she smiled at that. When she looked the other way he stared at her purse as he nervously shook his right leg he waited for what he considered the proper moment to attack. He would grab the frail old woman’s purse and be off. That was the thing with seniors, they were easily manhandled.
Annie thought that she could adorn herself with a red cape and become Super Senior; she laughed out loud at the thought of it. “What a silly though
t.” Her brain continued to get accustomed to her new condition.
Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) Page 14