The Glass Vampire

by David Page

  “I do not know. Percival fed his blood to Colette, but I came back to the present too soon to see the result. The pain of the cross was too much.” He hung his head in defeat.

  Beth picked up the cross and held it towards him. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself! You’ve got to go back, Richard, you’ve got to see how it ends!”

  Richard glanced out his side window again. The sky behind the towers of the city was brightening with the coming dawn. In minutes, the sun would emerge from behind Capitol Hill and it would be the end of him.

  “Colette’s trying to tell you something and you’ve got to know what that is!”

  The car jerked as they hit a pothole at the intersection of Second Ave. Police cars blocked these side streets as well, funneling them inevitably towards the Space Needle and their ultimate doom.

  “Richard, hurry!” She thrust the cross towards him. “Take it with me!”

  Beth was right. He had never given up, not even in the camps and he was not going to now. He reached out and grabbed the cross from her again. The darkness came swiftly this time….

  ***

  “There is a problem, is there not?” Richard stood behind Percival in the hovel.

  The demon leaned over the bed and lifted Colette’s right eyelid with one long slender finger. He nodded but said nothing.

  Richard grabbed his arm and tried to pull him, but he may as well have been trying to move an oak. Percival turned slowly, mocking Richard’s weakness. He glared at him, eyes aflame, and then flashed his fangs.

  “You have spoken true. She is too far gone.” He looked away and sniffed the air. “The dawn is approaching.”

  “Is there nothing else we can do?” Richard released him and sighed. They had stood there, watching her for hours and if anything she looked worse than when they had started.

  Percival’s brows furrowed. He tilted his head to one side and then nodded to himself.

  “Percival?”

  The vampire looked at him again. “Only one thing remains.” He bent down and scooped Colette up into his arms. Her skeletal form must have weighed almost nothing.

  “What are you doing?” Richard demanded. He tried to get Colette’s attention, but her eyes were unfocused and she did not seem to notice him. She lay in his arms like a pile of sticks.

  Percival brushed past him and paused near the front of the hovel. “Come.” The front door flew open of its own volition and he carried her outside, into the clearing.

  Richard followed him, conscious of the brightening sky. He looked up and saw that in a matter of minutes the sun would rise, killing his love and most likely Percival as well.

  Percival gently lowered Colette to the ground in the center of the clearing and stepped back.

  “I do not understand!” Richard ran to them, staying just out of arm’s reach of Percival.

  “Nor can you, yet.” Percival stared into Colette’s eyes and Richard saw a flash of red light.

  The light vanished, before he could even be sure he had seen it, but Colette’s eyes grew focused in response. Her mouth moved but no sound came out.

  “Colette, the dawn comes. You will be killed by the sunlight.” Percival’s tone made it obvious that he cared little for her survival.

  The hurt and confusion in Colette’s eyes matched Richard’s own. Anger welled up within him and he reached for his sword. This had not been part of their agreement.

  “Draw that sword and I will kill you where you stand.” Percival did not look away from Colette. “I am doing as you asked. I am attempting to save her life.”

  “Explain.” Richard held his blade halfway out of its scabbard.

  “When a person becomes cursed as we are, the master envelops the victim’s soul with their own for a passing moment. When this happens, the victim has a choice to either move towards the light of judgment, where their souls will be viewed by Saint Peter and sent on to Heaven or to Hell, or to remain behind and become something more. The blood, energy and soul of the master gives them this choice. If their will to live is great enough, they can use this gift to change, to become as we are and to live again.”

  “But how does that help us now?” Richard did not understand how a being could take the soul of another and keep God’s Angels from passing judgment, but it had been done; they were proof of that.

  “She made the choice to survive on the day she became a creature of darkness. She had the strength of spirit to be reborn. When she drank from this plagued peasant, her soul took on its sickness, becoming a blackened thing, trapped between worlds once again. I have added something to this situation with my blood, something that will allow her to fight, but it was necessary to provide a more urgent form of imminent destruction than this illness. There is nothing more frightening to our kind than the sunlight. It is possible that her soul may fight for salvation against this new threat and, in doing so, cure her of the first.”

  Richard did not fully understand, but yielded to Percival’s experience and wisdom in such things. Regardless, if they simply left Colette in her hovel, she would be dead by nightfall. “You have my trust.”

  Percival narrowed his eyes and scrutinized him. After a moment, he nodded and then returned his attention to Colette. Sadness passed over his face and Richard realized that he actually did care what happened to her. Back in his own forest, he had said that he knew of her. Richard wondered if he knew her better than he had professed.

  “And you, lovely woman.” Percival continued to stare into her eyes. “Do you understand the sun will rise shortly and kill you? Do you have the will to live? The choice is yours.”

  Her eyes flashed from red to green and back again, but she did not move.

  Percival stood and turned towards him. “Stay with her, Richard Saxon. If this is to be the end for her, then let her spend it in the company of someone who loves her. I will find you when the sun sets this night and collect my debt.”

  “I understand.” Richard swallowed and found that he could not look away from his eyes. They no longer glowed red, having settled back into their dark brown color, but they were still mesmerizing.

  Percival took several steps back and held his arms to either side. Mist rose from the ground, its vapors swirling around his feet and slowly enveloping him. He shimmered and faded. A moment later, he vanished into the mist completely. Richard watched the swirling fog move away, disappearing into the trees and dispersing until he could see no more.

  The instant it vanished, he ran to Colette’s side, knelt, and took her hands. “Do not leave me, Colette!”

  Her green eyes widened.

  “I love you!” he said, squeezing her hands gently.

  “Bargain?” Her question was barely audible through her decaying lips.

  “Percival will kill me whether you survive or not. That was the price for his aid.” Richard could not lie to her, even now.

  Her eyes changed, the fiery red swallowing the green. A sudden heat flared and Richard had to lean back to avoid having his face scorched. Her hand released his and the skeletal limb pushed gently against him. Somehow, he knew that she wanted him to stand back. He got to his feet and stepped away, never taking his eyes from her.

  She looked past him up at the sky. Turning, Richard saw that it had grown even brighter. A breath of air escaped her lips, another wordless scream followed by the snapping of sticks or bones. Turning back, Richard nearly cried out. Colette’s skin writhed as her muscles moved beneath. Her limbs thickened, her face filled out and her skin changed from the dried brown color to a beautiful white before his very eyes. Another wave of hot air buffeted Richard, causing him to take another step back.

  She threw back her head and uttered an ear-shattering scream. Richard put his hands to his ears. His horse stamped at the ground and whinnied behind the hovel. Dozens of distant wolves answered the cry, their howls merging together in an eerie chorus. Around the clearing, the very trees swayed with the sound.

  She sprang to her feet as her body continued to
fill out into the dress, reforming her perfect curves. The wispy remnants of her diseased hair fell away to be replaced by the long light brown tresses that Richard remembered. She looked up at him, her face flawless, lips full, and eyes filled with love. Her mouth quivered, slowly turning up in a radiant smile. She blurred, shooting across the clearing and catching him in an embrace. She lifted him off the ground and spun around.

  “Oh, Richard!” she cried. “I love you!” She stopped abruptly and dropped him.

  Richard staggered, barely catching his footing. As he straightened, he saw the fear spread across her face as she glanced at the sky.

  The sun was coming.

  With inhuman speed, Colette turned and launched herself into her shelter. Richard ran inside after her. The door slammed shut behind him. Colette lay on the bed looking at him.

  “You have saved my life.” She held out her arms to him. “Sleep the day with me and when Percival returns this evening, I will save you from him.”

  Richard fell into her arms and found his lips pressed warmly against hers before he settled into the bed.

  33

  “That’s it!” Richard dropped the cross and realized that his hand no longer hurt. “I remember!” Adrenalin pounded through him as excitement sought to overload his senses.

  “Remember what?” Beth retrieved the cross and shoved it into her pants pocket.

  Richard turned his hand over and gasped as he saw the smooth, unblemished skin of his palm. Somehow, he had healed the damage of the cross. He had never been able to do such a thing, even in the prime of his vampire powers. He smiled broadly. There was still time for him to survive and to reclaim his past glory. The glass vampire was about to become as strong as stone again.

  “What the hell? I thought you couldn’t heal damage from a cross?” She turned the wheel to the left, narrowly avoiding a large pothole while simultaneously glancing at him sidelong.

  “I do not know.” Nor did he care. What mattered was what he had learned. He shook his head. “Never mind about my hand. I have the answer!” He paused. “I can save myself and all vampires.” He wondered at what point they had become his people.

  “Tell me!” She turned to the right as another police barricade forced them onto Mercer. “Shit.”

  The Space Needle loomed above them. Its bizarre metal frame twisted skyward ending in the flying-saucer-like restaurant and observation deck. The clear, night sky had brightened to a dark blue. One by one, what stars could be seen against the background lights of the city, winked out. Dawn was nearly upon them. Richard swallowed slowly. Fate had guided him here to this tower, and in doing so had offered him the exact set of conditions he needed to fulfill his task and save them. God, fate, time, or perhaps the universe itself, was looking out for him.

  The cul-de-sac in front of the grassy field surrounding the base of the tower was completely devoid of traffic, although Richard could see the flashing blue lights of a dozen or so police cars moving down Mercer Street towards them. They effectively prevented them from moving anywhere other than heading to the tower’s base. He could see the bright colored buildings and metal beams of the small amusement park beyond the tower. At the edge of the left most portion of the field, the white 1960’s Science Center formed an ugly barrier, while the bizarre cement rail of the Monorail blocked the opposite side.

  “Damn it, we’re trapped!” Beth pointed to the oncoming cars.

  “Drive up to the needle, we need to get inside!” He pointed to entryway at the edge of the cul-de-sac.

  Beth frowned. “The needle? What the hell do….”

  Held up his hand. “Please trust me, Beth. There is no more time!”

  “Okay, we’ve got nothing to lose I guess.” She gritted her teeth, tightened her hold on the wheel and spun into the cul-de-sac.

  Richard thumbed the talk button on the microphone. “Frederick, Ray, this is Richard. Can you hear me?”

  A moment later the radio crackled.

  “This is a surprise, Richard. I am afraid that your friend Ray was injured by Montesquieu and remains unconscious in critical condition.”

  Richard felt a stab of remorse at that. It was he, after all, who had released the ancient vampire. “I’m sorry.”

  “Of course you are, vampire. Now… to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

  Before the Announcement, Frederick had been a minor nuisance to him. Afterwards, he had been the biggest threat to Richard’s life and the most brutal of all the agents. He relished torturing vampires, regardless of who they were, who they had been and what they had done. He was the master of the camps across the entire country. And through all of it, Richard had thought him twisted and evil…and yet he had just seen him call upon the pure power of the cross to ward off Montesquieu. For the first time since he had met the man, Richard was not sure he truly understood his motivations. It mattered little, now, as they neared a reckoning from which he might not survive.

  “I wanted you to know that I plan to offer my surrender from the top of the Space Needle.”

  “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

  “Yes.” Richard took a breath. “We will be at the top of the Needle in a few moments. Bring as many men as you would like. We will offer no resistance.”

  Silence.

  “Do you think he’ll do it?” Beth asked.

  The tires screeched as they drove into the cul-de-sac.

  “He will be there.” Richard turned off the radio.

  “Good thing it’s early. By ten in the morning, this place is usually crawling with tourists,” Beth guided them around the cul-de-sac heading straight for the main entrance to the needle’s visitor center. The car shook as it hopped the curb, throwing Richard forward despite having braced himself.

  Off to the right, a broad sidewalk stretched several hundred feet where it joined a parking lot. Several police cars had just entered that lot and were headed towards them. Another dozen cars approached them from every direction, but they were too late. Richard’s breath caught in his throat. He was going to make it!

  They came to a screeching halt in front of the glass double doors. Beth reached for her gun.

  “The guns will only place us in more danger. Leave them.” Richard pulled his own gun out and dropped it onto the seat.

  “Are you nuts!” Beth clutched her weapon tightly. “I’m keeping it.”

  “As you wish.”

  The sirens grew louder as the police drew closer. Richard sprang from the car and looked back to see the first of the police cars hit the curb near the cul-de-sac. They had seconds to act or they would be trapped.

  Beth looked past him, saw the other cars coming up the sidewalk and nodded. She slid across and climbed out his door.

  “Quickly!” Richard ran towards the glass doors of the squat visitor center at the base of the needle. Standing two stories high, it was a mass of glass and metal in the swooping architecture style of the 1960’s and matched the rest of the historic monument nicely. As much of it contained the gift shop, it would offer ample shielding should any overzealous officer decide to start shooting at them from outside.

  Beth followed, a step behind.

  The sky brightened.

  As Richard reached the doors, he risked a glance back. The police cars skidded to a halt forming a semicircle around their stolen squad car and facing the visitor center.

  Richard grabbed the door handle and pulled. It did not move. “It’s locked!”

  Beth fired at the lock without hesitation, and kicked the door open. It swung wide and she darted into the darkened interior.

  The police officers popped open their car doors and sprang up almost in unison, guns drawn. “Freeze!”

  Richard did not look back as he followed Beth inside. The carpeted interior was lit up only by the dim light of the coming dawn, and the reddish glow from the occasional exit sign, but it was enough. Rows of shelves containing Space Needle gifts, wine and other local treasures lined the walls while clothing
racks and display cases were arrayed before them stretching to the right and left in a circle that wrapped around the bank of elevators directly in the center of the room. The closer of the two elevators stood in front of them, its doors open. Richard sprinted to it, dodging around a display of stuffed sea creatures.

  They darted inside the vintage 1960’s elevator. Beth spun around and thumbed the button for the Observation Deck.

  Nothing happened.

  “There’s no power!” Fear hovered just beneath the surface of her normally steady voice, but she held herself together with impressive resolve.

  “There!” Richard pointed to a small panel near the bottom of the control buttons.

  Beth opened it and discovered an antiquated On/Off switch. He flipped it, the lights came on and the car vibrated with energy. The doors slid shut just as the first of the police officers reached the outer doors of the visitor center. She hit the button for the Observation Deck again. This time the car lurched upwards and then smoothed out.

  “Here we go.” Beth looked up at him, hope tainted by uncertainty in her eyes. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  Richard nodded. “So do I.”

  The car began its ascent up the outside of the Needle’s support frame. The view was spectacular. They could see the rows of police cars below them surrounding the needle. Several SWAT vehicles had joined in and men in flak jackets carrying M-16’s poured out of them. In the middle of it all, Frederick, strode forward, his overcoat billowing behind him. He paused to look up at them.

  Richard waved.

  Frederick raised his cane in acknowledgement and continued forward. Several officers ran over to him and they huddled in conversation. Richard did not need to have his abilities to know what they were saying. Frederick had no intention of allowing them to leave.