“Now you die vampire!” It rushed Alexander so fast that he didn’t have time to move. The collision sent him flying across the lawn with the flames sticking to him; he threw his sword and screamed in agony.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
LAUREN AND MICHAEL HAD FINISHED THEIR MEAL in the beautifully lush Barbetta garden with the century-old trees and flowered with the scented blossoms of jasmine, oleander, magnolia, wisteria, and gardenia. It was a wonderful place to dine. It was thought to be one of the most romantic places to eat in New York. Former president Clinton had been there a couple of days ago. Michael wore his black suit and Lauren wore an expensive ornately embroidered black cocktail dress. The cuisine of Piemonte and their Italian flavors were magnificent with the food being prepared in the same fashion that it was prepared in Italy. The restaurant had been Lauren’s idea but Michael had suggested that they take a carriage ride after dinner and so they did.
The ride through Central Park was exquisite; the clip clop of the horse was almost hypnotic. They kissed and held hands like teenagers. They stared lovingly into one another’s eyes. The ride included roses, chocolates and champagne. The chocolates contained a small amount of blood in the center of each one. Lauren appeared to be distracted at times as she stared off at one thing or another, and Michael wondered if she didn’t have some bad news for him, maybe that Dracula had taken him off the list to be transformed into a red sheriff. The time was fast approaching. If he would have been able to read her mind he would have. She had had a call earlier that morning that seemed to have changed her mood.
They watched as a young couple passed them in another horse-drawn carriage, and they were practically tearing off each other’s clothes. Lauren had to laugh but it actually gave Michael ideas. They lost an article of clothing and the woman told her husband to leave it. They both thought that the woman’s perfume was overpowering.
“Michael, I have some news for you. I’m not sure how you’re going to take it.” And with that she didn’t say another word for at least a mile. She liked to leave Michael hanging he had such an expressive face.
Michael attempted to wait her out and not say anything until she came out with it, whatever it was, but her mischievous smile was simply too much to take. “Is that all you’re going to say? Is that how the story ends? It wouldn’t make much of a movie.”
“I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you. It’s a lot more fun to see you squirm.”
“Lauren, you are a vixen. No wait, what is the definition of vixen? Well, woman, I have a secret too and I’m not telling. If you want to know my secret you’ll have to tell me yours. See how that works? We’ll exchange secrets like spies in the park.”
Lauren laughed at him. “Well man, I just minded you and I can see that you are just pretending to have a secret. What do you say to that?”
“Hey, you’re not playing fair. I thought that we agreed that since I can’t read your mind you wouldn’t read mine. It’s an invasion of privacy.”
“It was an accident.”
“You accidentally read my mind?”
“That’s all I could come up with on such short notice. If you could read my mind you’d be reading it all the time and you know it. I’ll try hard not to do it anymore. Your head is usually empty anyway.”
“I’ve never been so insulted.”
“Maybe I should insult you more often then?”
Michael kissed her, tasted her beautiful lips and it was wonderful to savor such a delightful mouth. It was nature’s gift to the opposite sexes. “Well if you’re not going to tell whatever it is, I say that we make out right here in the carriage.”
“I’m sure Michael, right here in public. I don’t think so.” She felt Michael’s hand on her breast. “I’ll throw you right out of this thing.”
“And then you’ll be going around the park all by yourself, how romantic would that be?”
“I wouldn’t be alone I’d still have the handsome driver up there. Do you want to hear what I have to tell you or not?”
“Does it have anything to do with us making out? Because I’d be a lot more interested if it has to do with us making out.”
“Actually it does have to do with making out.”
“Well then tell me, tell me, tell me.”
She slowly turned her head toward him. “I’m pregnant Michael.”
“You can’t make me believe that.”
“That’s all you have to say about the fact that I’m pregnant and you’re going to be a father.”
“Lauren, everyone knows that vampires can’t get pregnant, that’s not how it works.”
“They can get pregnant.”
“No they can’t.”
“Yes they can and yes I am.”
“No they can’t and no you’re not. How dumb do you think I am?”
“Do you really want me to answer that? Michael that phone call this morning was from the doctor. You can be in denial all you want but when the baby comes you’re going to be changing diapers.”
He studied her face and wasn’t sure what to think. “You are trying to make me believe that we are going to have a bouncing baby vampire?”
“Something like that.”
“Oh, you almost had me going there for a minute. I see that smile.”
“Michael, you’re going to be a father like it or not. If you say one more time that it’s not possible I’m gonna bite a chunk right out of your head.”
Silence took over the carriage like pirates taking over a ship. Michael did in fact want to reiterate that it was impossible but he didn’t dare. Another silent mile went by as he imagined having a baby. What would a vampire baby be like? Would he awake in the middle of the night with the baby chewing on his leg? How would anyone control a vampire baby? Would it really be a vampire or a human? Finally he couldn’t help himself. “You’re teasing me? Right?”
“Michael!”
“But, but, but …”
“Don’t say it.”
“If you are pregnant. You’ll have to stop being a sheriff for a while.”
“We’ll see. Aren’t you excited to be a father? Vampires seem to be a lot more fertile these days and no one knows why.”
He stared at her as she was so serious. “If it was true it would be so cool. Come on; tell me you’re fooling so that we can get on with our date. This line of conversation is quite distracting. ”
Lauren threw Michael out of the carriage; he bounced and rolled and blurred back in. He was laughing as he sat beside her. The driver just kept on going as if nothing had happened; he was used to crazy vampires.
She grabbed his hand. “I know how to settle this. Michael, here, you can sense vampires. Put both hands on my stomach and tell me how many vampires you sense.”
Michael couldn’t believe it. Even at this early stage he could sense the baby. His mouth dropped open and he looked so confused. “There’s a baby in there! We’re gonna have a baby? Holy shit we’re gonna have a baby! Michael junior.”
“What if she’s a girl?”
“Then we’ll call her Michaelerina.”
“Yeah right.”
“Is this some sort of mind trick?”
“Michael!”
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
JENNY WAS WALKING down a blood soaked sidewalk, with the sound of each step being unnerving. She could only imagine what the blood was doing to her new shoes. It was midnight in New York City but it was so dark. Not a single light for illumination, no moon and no stars either, almost as if a cloak had been dropped. It appeared that most of the city had been abandoned, although there were creepy red eyes staring out some windows. It one particular window two sets of eyes were pushing at one another, battling for space to look out. It looked as though they were becoming more and more aggressive.
Several large bats flew by, with one purposely touching the top of her head; she swung at it but missed. It circled back to torment her but decided against it when it realized that she had zeroed in on it and so i
t turned and flew off into the New York night. It knew it had managed to touch her because she had not been expecting it.
Jenny stopped as she sensed something. Listening intently she waited for sound or movement. Smelling the odor of bad breath on her neck, she turned quickly and saw no one but the disgusting odor remained. In between two skyscrapers was a glow, perhaps some sort fire concealed around the corner. Someone or something was dancing in those shadows.
Bats were screeching in the distance.
There was the sound of two cats fighting somewhere.
There were heavy footsteps reverberating off walls from some alley.
She crossed the street with the sound of her walking through puddles of blood. Jenny leaned against something to pause and get her bearings, and discovered that she was leaning into a large pile of rotting meat. She dislodged a chunk of the putrid meat from her left arm and heard it slap the ground like a pound of raw hamburger. Her exceptional vision appeared to have deserted her.
“Hey ya ho ahhhh.” Chanting in the distance? There were whispers that floated around her like ghosts in the air. The whispers approached and then became distant, as if beckoning her to follow. The night itself appeared to be alive with a myriad of flying insects.
As Jenny walked into the alley more than a dozen eyes appeared into more than a dozen windows, red threatening eyes. They stared down judging her. She knew the fire was just around the corner but she feared what else was there, how many waiting to pounce on her she couldn’t say. Yet she was compelled to continue on. Above her the sky was turning a purplish red as if some sort of magic pollution was taking on a life of its own. It smelled like vomit? Something smelled like vomit. Drops of it commenced to fall on her.
There was the sound of a garbage can being knocked over.
There was sound of a cat crying.
The sound of a baby crying tore at her emotions.
She made a ball of magical light as she approached the source of the fire. The girl was now knee deep in blood and mud. A vampire climbed out the window of a fire escape, and then another; her ball of magical light destroyed them both, giving a splash of light to the area as it did so. Jenny was frightened to continue on but did so nonetheless; she had to see what danced around those flames.
“Hey!” A large insect flew into her face and she swatted it away.
It looked as though there was a shadow of a book being projected by the fire against the brick wall. Was it the book that was pulling her forward? The dark clouds were getting darker as bats flew into them. A vampire smashed through a window high up and jumped on a fire escape, causing shards of glass to rain down near Jenny, its harsh sound bouncing through the alley.
“She’s coming.”
“It’s that girl wizard.”
Jenny struggled to get close enough to see what was going on, and suddenly a fiery skeleton stepped out showing itself. Its laughter reverberated through the alley. It started towards her and it was too frightening to contemplate. She felt hotter and hotter with each step it took towards her.
Jenny sat up in bed with a gasp.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
ANNIE AND ALASTAIR CAME OUT OF MADAME TUSSAUDS WAX MUSEUM and were most impressed. Annie especially liked Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King, Leonardo DiCaprio and Princess Diana. She thought Leonardo was so handsome that she wished she could take him home and stand him in the corner. Alastair was most fascinated by Madonna and Elvis.
Their relationship was progressing faster than Annie expected.
Annie carried her rose with her almost everywhere, and until the butterfly showed up she couldn’t relax. Thankfully, the butterfly usually made its appearance in the morning, but one day it didn’t show up until seven in the evening, and she was sure she had missed it until there it was. She had always had a fascination with butterflies, that’s why Alastair had hit the jackpot with that gift. She danced in the field with them when she was eight. They represented the beauty of nature and seeing one on her rose every single day was a gift that was born out of anticipation; she never knew what type of butterfly was going to show up.
This time the butterfly showed up in the wax museum, the rare glasswinged butterfly (Greta oto) mostly found in Mexico and Panama, lit on her rose and started to draw a crowd until it flew off and out of sight. The border of its wings was orange with a splash of yellow. Annie was fascinated by it as a large part of its wings were like glass and see-through. She had never seen one before and it made her laugh.
Outside the museum Annie glanced at the Justin Bieber sign with the two exclamation points. “I enjoyed that more than I thought I would. That was a good idea to come here Alastair.”
Alastair was glad to hear it. “Maybe I shouldn’t have given you that magical rose as you seem obsessed with it. You can’t think of anything else until you see the butterfly. Some mornings I can’t even talk to you until it shows up.”
“Oh you exaggerate. It is a bit silly I suppose, but until I see that butterfly I’m beside myself. I know it’s coming but I can’t relax until I see it.” They kissed as they started to walk, and for the moment they were both satisfied with life.
“Annie, I probably shouldn’t tell you this but on occasion, I think he said twice a year, you will see two instead of one.”
Her face lit up at the prospect of seeing two butterflies on the same day. “No, really? And what does it mean if I see two?”
They walked by the MacDonald’s restaurant as she continued to stare at the rose. She took in the flower’s scent which appeared to have changed slightly. She waved at a young business woman that passed her as if to say look what I have.
“Two means one more than one.”
Annie showed him a smirk. “Why won’t you tell me how much you paid for it?”
“Annie, why do you continue to ask that same question? I will only say that I paid more than I should have. The date on that line of questioning has now officially expired. They have places to wean people off of drugs; perhaps we can find one to wean you off that flower. What would happen if one morning you awoke to find that I’d hidden your rose?”
She didn’t like the sound of that. The fact that he had mentioned it was perhaps proof that he had entertained the thought. “Well, I would imagine that that beautiful mansion of yours would become a mountain of wood and rubble, as if a tornado had gone through it searching for a rose.”
“A tornado named Annie.”
She touched his face with the rose and then made him bend down to her level so she could kiss him. “Alastair, tell me something about yourself that I might not want to hear. You know something sordid about your past.”
He immediately stopped. “You want me to tell you something that might actually chase you away? I don’t believe I want to play this game. I was a different vampire in the past.”
The area was a busy place with lots of people walking. Eight police cars lined one side of the street, with eight on the other. A young blond boy was following the couple; he had a spell on him to remain undetected. Having been turned so young had its advantages because not many would suspect such a nice looking boy dressed in new clothes to be up to something.
“Honesty will always bring you closer to a woman.” Her smile was like a beautiful sunset over the ocean to the old vampire. She could get things out of him that no one else could.
“Annie, honesty with some women will bring you a hit in the head or a knife in the heart. But all right, a long long time ago I used to be a bit of a bad guy. I killed a few people that shouldn’t have been killed. Innocents.”
She looked at Alistair in a different light. The thing she now worried about was had he really changed or was he just pretending? Men were great pretenders with most having enough talent in that area to be nominated for an academy award she was sure. But the fact that he told her was both enlightening and spoke of a changed character. She knew that people did change if they sincerely wanted to change. “How long ago?”
“Over thre
e hundred years. See, now you look at me with different eyes. Suddenly, I am a different vampire, a monster. Are we now finished? Are you going to run off? I should have known better than to tell the truth.”
Annie could see that he was genuinely distraught. “Vampire, you need to relax, if you are a bad guy it’ll come out in time and I will kill you and eat you, bones and all. I’ve always been a pretty good judge of character.” She kissed his hand and felt him relax. That kiss was the best medicine.
The boy, a vampire thief by the name of Maxwell blurred by and grabbed Annie’s rose and took off. What made the boy vampire such a good thief was his exceptional speed. He was over a hundred years old so not really a boy in that sense. They took off in pursuit but they simply couldn’t keep up with him. The lad was gone and so was that magnificent rose.
Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) Page 26