by Deborah Noel
“Who is watching us? Rogi?”
“Among others. Be ready in five minutes.” The line went dead.
I returned to Declan. He was sitting in the chair finishing his dinner. Brae was chatting with Shane.
“That was quick,” he said and motioned for me to come and sit with him.
“I could say the same for your conversation. “
He scribbled on the paper, we are being bugged. Sam’s computer alerted him of spyware.
I nodded my head. He winked at me and ripped the paper out of the notebook and threw it in the fireplace.
I ripped the next piece out and wrote: Jondra told me we are being watched. She is sending the bellhop for me and he will take me to her.
Reading as I wrote, Declan shook his head in protest.
Brae joined us at the table. She quickly brought herself up to speed by reading the paper. She took the pencil from my hand and jotted: She will be safe Declan. She is wearing an amulet for protection. She tapped the bracelet around my wrist.
He blinked once to let me know he understood.
Brae leaned over and whispered in my ear explaining how the amulet worked.
A thud came from the door. Brae went to answer it. Declan stood and walked over to me. He drew me into him and whispered in my ear, “If you need me you call for me.” He squeezed me tighter to stop my protest this time. “I know we agreed not to let anyone in our minds while we are here, but if you need me, just do it.”
He kissed me on the top of my head to try to quiet my worries and rebellion.
Two bellhops were at the door. Quietly they entered. One pointed to Brae’s fleece shirt. She surrendered it. The girl pulled out Brae’s room key from the pocket. She pointed for Brae to sit on the sofa. My jacket was tossed to Brae, who quickly put it on. The woman smiled, turned to grab Brae’s dinner plate and left. We watched her enter Brae’s room.
The other, a small sized man, shook Declan’s hand. Then took mine into his. Declan blinked once, as did I, and the gentleman throw a dark cloak over my head then led me from my room and my husband.
Chapter Thirty-one
I was taken down the hall and into a room marked Maintenance on the door. And, lo and behold, there was the elevator that I suspected was somewhere. We traveled down to the basement. The doors opened to a dark and damp cinderblock corridor.
Without a word the bellhop, whose name I was never told, led me to the back of the basement and out a door into the chilly night. It was well after midnight and I felt a bit spooked to be out here with a stranger on my way to meet a vampire in a foreign country by myself.
I was guided to a dark medium sized car. My quiet companion opened the passenger door for me, then walked around and climbed into the backseat behind me. Terrified, I sat motionless. From behind some bushes to my left, a tall figure walked towards the car and took a seat beside me. Without any words the man started the car and we drove off.
The night air was chilled and the sky darker than any I had ever seen. Dread seemed to want to choke me as I drove further into the darkness in a land I knew nothing about to meet a vampire with whom I had had a tenuous introduction. I felt like a mouse on its way to the snake pit.
The man beside me offered nothing, no conversation, no hint as to where he was taking me, not even a smile. His pale fingers clung tightly to the steering wheel and his eyes darted from the road ahead to the rearview mirror and back again. His hair was long, the ends just peeking out from underneath the brim of his backward baseball cap. His features were dull, forgettable. They matched his personality and demeanor.
Suddenly the man behind me started mumbling. I turned back to look at him, to ask him to repeat himself when I saw a cell phone against his ear. Though the car was silent, he spoke so low I couldn’t make out whether he was speaking in German or English, nor could I comprehend what he was saying.
A few twists and turns later, the car came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the road. My door opened suddenly and I was pulled from the car by another dark figure. Before I had a chance to utter a peep, the car sped away and I was dragged by the hand into the tall brush on the side of the road. I was quickly ushered deeper in the darkness, tripping over my own two feet and the branches beneath them, going who knows where with who knows who or what.
The amulet around my wrist was warm and the scent emanating from it was unrecognizable, though calming. I dared not to say a word and felt a strange peace about my current predicament.
We passed through a clearing and I could see embers from a fire glowing softly in the darkness. Yet another dark figure seemed to be pacing at the edge of the red glow. The person leading me let go of my hand and simply pointed in the direction of the fire. I couldn’t tell whether it was a man or a woman who brought me to this point, and in a blink of an eye it no longer mattered, there was no one around me.
I focused on the embers and carefully made my way the few hundred feet I apparently needed to go. The figure by the fire stopped pacing and looked toward me. Pale hands emerged from out of the black sleeves and lowered the hood unveiling Jondra. I smiled in relief.
“Sorry about all of the secrecy. It is for both of our protection,” she looked at me and sniffed at the air. “Although I can smell the aroma of protection already around you.”
I touched the amulet at the bottom of my palm.
“Impressive.”
“Not my doing. I don’t know the first thing about it,” I took no credit that didn’t belong to me. “How will I get back to Rodeck?”
She cackled. “Don’t worry, it’s been arranged. You will be safely returned.”
I took a step closer to the fire and outstretched my hands toward the warmth it offered. We stood in silence for a few moments.
Jondra began to pace again.
“Are you in trouble?”
“No. Why do you ask, Mrs. Fitzgerald?”
“You seem on edge.”
“Can I trust you?”
I looked into her eyes. They were dark. “As much as I can trust you.”
She fused her lips together and nodded. We both knew her answer would set the tone of this meeting and the future.
“Fair enough,” she said and thrust her hand towards mine for a shake. I took her hand into mine and shook once. “Very well. Bolton and Morticina have gone underground in hopes of hiding their sons and their friend, Crevan. My whole family, of course, had to stay together to save their lives. Because I live with my grandmother and hardly associate with them, I am in little trouble, though I have been visited and am being watched. Since your visit to our farm yesterday you are now being watched. Whatever my idiot brother has done, it must be a whopper of a foul-up to conjure up this much attention.”
She paused only for a moment. “I do not know what he is wanted for, to answer your question.”
“Can you read minds then?”
“No. I figured it was on your mind to ask, as it would be the first thing I would ask. My powers are for another time.”
“Ah.”
“Although, if I was venture to guess, I would say it has something to do with Crevan. I have always had an uneasy feeling about him. He is too arrogant for his own good. If I were a man, I’d knock his head straight off his shoulders. He irritates me that much.”
“I’ve met him once or twice myself, but never got that vibe from him.”
She looked at me questioningly.
“I have a Jeep and he commented one day about it when I parked next to him at a convenience store. Declan and I also saw him at a Jeep jamboree a little while ago.”
“You have seen him during the daylight? And what is this Jeep jamboree you speak of?”
“Yes, I have seen him during the day…”
She cut me off. “How is that possible?” She wasn’t interested in the meaning of a Jeep jamboree.
“I don’t understand.”
“Crevan is a vampire.”
My mind instantly remembered the earlier conversation with
Rogi about the virgin blood allowing vampires to be able to be in the sunlight with no ill effects. Then it hit me. His grandson, CD. CD, Crevan Duskvick. CD.
“Crevan is Rogi’s grandson?”
Jondra slowly nodded her head. “Yes. So how could you have seen him during the day?”
I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to put anyone in jeopardy. Then it dawned on me, “Wait a minute, Jondra, I’ve seen you during the day and you are a vampire, so you should know how I’ve seen him.”
“So the day you saw him it was rainy and overcast?”
Slowly I answered her, trying to be believable to her without causing her to get suspicious that I knew more. “The sun wasn’t shining.”
She began to pace again, trying to wrap her mind around the concept of a vampire being exposed to sunlight and living through it. She mumbled to herself in German so quickly I couldn’t make out any words.
Trying to get Jondra to refocus I asked, “Did you talk with Bolton or Morticina? Do they have my daughter?”
“What?” She snapped out of her own mind and back into the present. “Oh, oh. No, I didn’t talk to Bolton. I was able to message Morticina. She wouldn’t give up their location, and the messenger was killed as soon as she left me. Don’t ask, I don’t know.” She looked at me and winked.
I nodded, “Another obvious unasked question.”
She continued. “I was told that Lucas and Crevan were being hunted by many in authority, Rogi for one, and a few different country leaders. She couldn’t give any details. She told me to tell you she was sorry for the upheaval and no goodbyes. She said to tell you Lucas isn’t a bad boy and Crevan just needed a family to show him the proper way to live. Do you know what that means?”
“Kind of.”
“What’s this ‘kind of’ mean?”
“It means that Crevan is a product of his upbringing, or lack thereof, which Rogi explained to me over dinner.”
She interrupted me again. “Why would Rogi tell you this?”
“It’s a long story for another time. We need to find out what it is that Crevan and Lucas did. Please, Jondra, did she mention Mattie?”
“Your daughter?”
“Yes.”
“She told me to tell you that your daughter is not with them and as far as she knew, her boys have had no contact with her ever and didn’t even know who she was.”
I was relieved to hear that the boys had nothing to do with Mattie. Of course, this raised a whole new set of questions for me, like who had her kidnapped, where she was and why were vampires at her school the day she was kidnapped.
“Jondra, can you explain your world to me?”
She looked up at the moon. “Quickly, we haven’t much time.”
I, too, looked up to the moon and saw nothing other than eerily grey clouds dancing across its slivered shape in the darkness of the sky.
“Wait,” I said as I planted myself firmly in place. “Why are we so rushed and why has this night been so scattered feeling, jumpy?”
She ran over to a huge boulder and picked it up like it was a feather. She placed it on the fading embers of the fire. Dust particles filled the air around me, slowly sinking to the ground. A fine mist of dust settled on me as well. She grabbed my hand and yanked me out of that place.
“Because we ARE in a hurry. We can’t be seen together like this. We must leave this spot now.”
“Why should I go with you?”
“Because you want answers to your questions.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because you have no choice,” Jondra answered as a matter of fact.
I did have a choice, but I decided to go along with her.
We ran as fast as my legs would allow. Frustrated with the lack of speed, Jondra hoisted me onto her back in one effortless move.
“Hold on. Tight.”
Before I could focus at the blur of everything streaming past me, we stopped at the foot of a mountain. Then we were on the mountain’s top. We traveled through some more trees and came to a small shack. On both sides of the door stood massive gargoyles. We entered.
Jondra put me down and offered me a seat at the only round table in the place. I took one chair and left the other for her. There were only four walls and each had a window. She checked each of the windows on each wall, then closed the tattered curtains hanging in front of them. There was nothing else in the place, except for a tiny potbelly stove. The floors were old, warped wood planks with some screw holes that were missing their screws. The place was dank, cold and incredibly eerie.
Burnt candles were piled on the floor in the corners, melted wax held them in place. There was nothing else in the place.
“What is this place?” I asked in a whisper.
“A place that gives us little time.”
“Time?”
“A short time for me to answer what questions of yours I can.”
“Why will you answer my questions?”
“Because no one else will honestly.”
“Why will you?”
She looked hard into my eyes. I could tell she thought carefully of her answer by her body language.
“Honestly, there is something about you that appeals to me.”
I didn’t know whether I should be scared or impressed.
“What questions do you have?”
“Who is after us?”
“The new one, at least. Probably Rogi’s crew and a few of the other elders’ crew trying to capture me to find my brother.”
“Explain, please.”
She took the seat across the table from me. I could see she was searching her mind to get the correct English translations.
“The elders looking for Crevan and Lucas have sent a crew to hunt me down in hopes of being led to them. If I am caught, I will be tortured until I give up their location, which I do not know. I could be killed during the torture.
“We vampires live in a strict world. There are rules that must be kept for us to continue to be able to live. Crevan and Lucas have broken some rules and now must be punished. Punishment can be cruel and even result in death. Rogi is also looking for Crevan, in hopes of saving him from torture. He is tailing you and me in hopes to find him, “she paused.
“And the new one?”
She shuttered. She leaned closer to the tabletop. She lowered her voice to just under a whisper. “The new one is a horrid vampire. It is mean, cunning and careless. It has been hunting down vampires, killing them and humans for the past few years. No one knows where it is from or why it is killing its own kind.”
“Do the elders believe Crevan has something to do with the new one?”
She pondered this for a moment. “I never thought of that. It is possible.”
“What do you know about Crevan?”
“Crevan,” she repeated. “I don’t know much about him other than he is a vampire that my brother befriended. I didn’t know he was part of Rogi’s clan until Morticina told me.”
“What can you tell me about Rogi?”
“Rogi is the sitting Vampire President of Germany, I’m sure you know that already.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he’s the boss. He carries out the final punishments or orders them to be carried out. He knows all that enter into his territory. He meets with the other leaders once a month in Copenhagen to review issues, holds court, make laws, that sort of thing.”
“How does a new vampire learn your laws?”
She smiled at me, “How do you learn of yours?”
“My parents taught them to me as I grew up. They taught me right from wrong.”
She gave me a few moments to realize I answered my own question.
“Fair enough. Are your laws written down anywhere?”
“That is a question for Rogi. I don’t do anything to have to appear before the elders. I was taught what was acceptable vampire conduct and never got out of line. Our time is running low,” she said to hurry me along.
> So I brought out the big gun question. “Who is Oxmeade Carlsburg?”
She drew back as if I reached out and slapped her. She raised her finger to her lips. Without a word she stood and went to the rickety door and sniffed the air. She returned to join me at the table again. She looked around to double check the windows.
“Where did you hear the name?”
“That doesn’t matter. Who is he?”
“Oxmeade is the most powerful vampire in the world. If you are in his company, you should expect to die. He is who the elders go to for carrying out death sentences. He is a cruel torturer. “
I shivered.
“He enjoys killing. He loves to torture his prey. Trouble makers or first time light offenders are often sentenced to watch him carry out a death sentence. I have never been to an execution, but have heard many stories. He is brutal, a beast. And he doesn’t just kill my kind. He provides his services to all supernatural elders.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Any more questions?”
“I have lots of questions.”
“We don’t have time for lots of questions.”
“Okay…”
Jondra cut me off. “We are done here. You’ll have to save the rest of your questions for another time. We must leave now.”
She abruptly pulled me from the tattered chair I sat in. It fell to the floor with a thump. She didn’t allow me to pick it up. We were out the door and further in the woods faster than I could blink. I could hear a motor humming close by. We zigged and zagged through the woods until we came upon a small clearing. There waiting for us was a dark figure on a dirt bike.
The amulet around my wrist began to get warm again. This time there was no odor from it. Jondra sneezed. Under her breath I heard her utter “stupid smelly spells.”
Jondra literally lifted me up and sat me on the back of the dirt bike. “Go home.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Most likely. Don’t forget to hold on.” She tapped the man in front of me.