by Deborah Noel
We went on to share notes. The conversation was intriguing to me. He confirmed what Remmie had said about fledglings. He was very interested in my theories of fang bites and slash marks.
We switched to the subject of vampire body functions.
“Have you done any autopsies on vampires?”
“Well,” he chuckled again, “that has proven to be a bit of a challenge. A vampire’s healing process is top notch. Any time I tried to cut a specimen, if it was still alive, the cut would heal almost instantly. I could never find a dead vampire to work on. Their bodies self-destruct. There is never anything left of them to examine.”
Before we knew it, the others returned. Rogi interrupted us by saying they had an appointment they needed to get to.
Benipal stood up and extended his hand towards me. “It was my utmost pleasure in talking with you, Ms. Cianna. I would really like to spend some time with you again. I am sorry we didn’t get to talk about your heritage. Rogi says you have some Irish pixie in your bloodline. I am particularly interested in learning about that,” he paused for a second.
“Rogi doesn’t seem to think I have pixie qualities.”
He tilted his head to the side, “I’m afraid I would tend to agree with him. I have met a few pixies in my line of work, and I don’t see their particular traits in you.”
“Well, it goes back a few generations, so maybe the distance has something to do with it” I suggested.
“Hmm, something for us to explore, perhaps.”
Rogi laid his hand upon Benipal’s shoulder, “That can be arranged. Our workload has calmed down, you have vacation coming.”
Benipal slapped his free hand on the back of mine which was grasped in his other. “Wonderful news!”
He let go and quickly fished a business card from his pocket. “Please call me and we will arrange some time together.”
“I promise,” I said to him.
Rogi smiled at us, “Good evening friends. Please tell Ms. Brae I am sorry she couldn’t join us.”
Declan said he would.
And with that, Rogi and the doctor left by walking through the backyard and fading into the shadows of the wood-line.
Sam explained to me that Rogi had told them he could smell many different scents bordering our property. He offered to station a few of his bodyguards for our protection, but Declan declined politely.
Rogi didn’t ask once about Bolton or his family. He was, though, quite interested in our investigative qualities. Rogi had said he would be interested in hiring us if the need arose. Declan said he wouldn’t take on a job without knowing the entire circumstances behind whoever he might be looking for.
Rogi agreed.
Shane and Brae joined us. Brae was pleased that we hadn’t invited Rogi nor Benipal into the house.
“Why Benipal?” I asked.
“Well, think about it. If you invited him into the house, he could invite Rogi.”
Made sense to me.
They had brought back Chinese take-out for supper. We stayed outside to eat.
Halfway through dinner, the cell phone that Jondra gave me vibrated in my pocket. I flipped it open and read the message:
I am coming to see you. Evelyn has been killed. Tortured. I will be there soon.
I passed the phone around.
“Damn,” Declan expressed.
We couldn’t finish our meal. We sat in silence.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Jondra wasn’t kidding. She walked out of the woods a half an hour later and joined us on the patio. She was cloaked in a black cape similar to the one I was covered with while we were in Germany. She lowered her hood, but before we could bombard her with our sympathy, she raised her hand. She looked questioningly at Sam and Shane. Knowing her concerns, I assured her they were okay, explaining who they were. Her body eased. She took a seat in the chair Rogi had been sitting in a short time ago.
“Jondra,” Declan began. “Please accept our deepest condolences for Evelyn’s death. What happened?”
A stream of red tears fell down her cheeks.
“It was gruesome, to say the least.”
“Oxmeade?” Brae asked.
She snorted. “He was there, but Evelyn didn’t die by his hand. No one ever does, unless he is feeding or creating.”
We were bewildered.
“Do you know who it was?” I asked.
Sam spoke up, “Jondra, it would be best if you started at the beginning.”
“Well,” she began, “I’m here, first and foremost, to hire you guys to find Evelyn’s killer and bring him to justice in front of the panel. Although Oxmeade was there overseeing the scene, since he didn’t do any harm, our law sees him as untouchable, though we all know he had something to do with it. He works the system to his favor.”
Declan commented, “Jondra, we will help you in any way we can. We will exhaust all avenues. Please tell us what happened.”
She seemed to go into a stupor. Her eyes glazed over and I saw a familiar glint of orange pass through them. She wiped the bloody tears from her cheeks. This, of course, was in vain, as more fell freely. Shane went inside to retrieve a box of tissues for her. She thanked him.
She began, “We were warned that Oxmeade was coming to our property.”
“Who is the wizard helping you?” Brae asked.
“If you don’t mind, the less you know, the safer we all are.”
Brae nodded, understanding completely.
Jondra continued on, “It was a few hours after midnight. Evelyn insisted on hiding certain things that could or most likely would be used against us. She instructed me to go check the store and leave a note for any visitors that may come the next day, apologizing for being closed. On my way back to the house, I heard her cries. I hid in the gardens like we had planned years ago and helplessly watched as she was taken away. She looked to where I was hiding, knowing I was there, and I read her eyes. She knew her fate. And so did I. You saw the beginning on the news. What followed was horrendous. Oxmeade’s hired hands moved Evelyn by day. She was carried in a silver-draped coffin etched with slats in various places to let in the sun’s rays. Her screams were muffled by whatever gagged her mouth.”
I interrupted Jondra, “Can you please tell me what the sun does to a vampire?”
“Have you ever seen dead grass?”
I nodded, “Of course, it wilts and turns brown.”
“And in the light of the sun, it burns, then inevitably dries out and turns to hay,” Jondra added to my answer. “The same with a vampire. We burn, dry up and turn to dust.”
My question of why would have to wait and put to Benipal. “Thank you. Please go on.”
Jondra seemed to sink deeper into her chair. She was quiet for a moment, took a deep breath and continued. “I had a concoction that my brother gave me that allowed me to be in the sun with no worries about dying and took that so I could follow them in the morning as they trekked my grandmother, in her coffin, through the streets to Hellbound Prison. I was able to work my way up with the growing crowd and was close enough to sneak inside the gates before they were closed. The prison is dark, cold and damp. Quite fitting for vampires, since there are few windows. Shadows clung to the walls and floors like a wetsuit to a diver. I was able to fade into the darkness and stayed close behind them as they took Evelyn deeper into the huge converted castle. They laid her sarcophagus in the middle of a grand room where she was freed from her enclosure. She was tied to a wooden chair and politely asked to confess she was a vampire. Of course she denied the fact. Then her true torture began.”
Jondra told the details of her grandmother’s demise. They used old medieval techniques that were used on witches to try to get them to confess: knotting (where they knotted her hair around a stick and twirled it tighter and tighter until the hair would rip from the scalp); thumbscrews (they brought out a vice-like device that her thumbs were place into and they screwed it tighter and tighter, crushing her thumbs); and the spider (which was
an iron clamp with finger-like ends that were heated to red hot then used to mutilate and tear her breast off). Through it all, Evelyn remained silent. The different forms of torture barely even had an effect on the elder vampire. So they tried different approaches. They hung garlic around her neck; they hung crucifixes over her. Nothing was effective. They took a mirror and placed it in front of her. She smiled at her reflection. But then they angled it so it caught a ray of the sun barely poking in from a slit in the ceiling above. It was the only trace of sun that penetrated the converted stone castle of Hellbound Prison. Evelyn’s flesh began to sizzle. Her captors became elated with her increasing moans. They draped silver crosses over her. Her strength quickly diminished. Tears of blood streamed down her cheeks.
Happy with the proof they needed, Jondra said she watched as they secured Evelyn to a sterling cross with nails made of silver. Then they hung her against a wall just above where the sun was shining in from the ceiling. A guard was stationed in front of her as they waited until nightfall. Jondra said she tried to think of a way to save her, but any way down put Evelyn’s battered body into the sunlight, which would have been certain death. Jondra could only stick to the shadows and wait for what was coming next, just like her grandmother.
Curled up in a secluded corner, tucked deep within a dark recess, Jondra was awakened by a parade of voices making their way into the grand room where Evelyn still hung.
Jondra continued, saying that the crowd quieted down to silence as Oxmeade entered the room. He took a seat at a plush chair to the left of where Evelyn hung. The young lady who appeared behind him on the newscast stood to the right of Oxmeade and quietly began to speak.
“’Guests,’ she began, ‘we have with us today leaders of all nations, as well as prominent local leaders and common local members of our society. You have all been summoned here to witness the execution of a vampire. Evelyn Dethstare walked among us as a well-loved and respected businesswoman who provided us with wonderful gardens so bountiful and beautiful people would spend hours wandering her land to take in the smells and lush scenery. But she lived a double life. She is also a murderous vampire who roamed the streets at night preying upon and killing innocent people, many the same whom marveled at her gardens. See the proof hang before you now and hail on the side of justice to bring death upon this murderer and return peace to our streets!’” And with that, she pointed towards Evelyn hanging on the cross.”
Jondra’s voice cracked, “My grandmother hung there with ripped clothing, her cheeks stained with a flow of bloody tears. Her body so weak, the silver nails were all that held her there. Her eyes, glowing orange, showing what little rage she had left, glared at Oxmeade.
“He stood and walked over to her. From under his cloak, he produced a long silver cane, with a thick handle made of carved wood, and poked Evelyn with it. The crowd whispered amongst themselves as Evelyn’s body sizzled in reaction to the silver tip of the cane. She hissed down at Oxmeade, exposing her long pointed fangs.
“’You’ll pay for killing me, Oxmeade,’ my grandmother spat at him.
“The crowd began to chant ‘guilty.’ Louder and louder with each breath. Oxmeade raised his hands to the Heavens and silence returned.
“He cackled with joy. ‘You have been found guilty. You shall now pay for your sins with death.’ He spun around and took his place back on the plush chair.”
Jondra paused her story. We all sat hanging on her words, waiting for the tale to be finished. I wiped a tear that fell freely for Evelyn from my cheek.
“They took my grandmother’s cross down from the wall. She looked to the corner in which I was hiding and looked me dead in the eyes. Her glance moved from me and brushed over the crowd. ‘For those that truly know me, spare yourselves my misery and turn away. Don’t watch the injustice that is about to happen. Remember me as you knew me. Take that and keep it close to your heart. This man is a liar and not what he appears to be.’
“A man hollered out from the crowd, yelling that it was Evelyn who was the liar and justice would be served. I knew my grandmother was talking to me. She didn’t want me to bear witness to her death. I couldn’t save her and we both knew it. I looked away as they pulled her fangs from her mouth with old rusty pliers. After that they carried her to a step-down circular pit on the far side of the room. The bottom of her sterling cross was placed into a pre-made slot so it stood erect in the center of the pit. Huge wooden doors were opened, revealing more people who had gathered outside the back of prison, seated in stadium chairs to watch the death of a vampire. Each person inside was lined up and marched past Evelyn. They were given a piece of wood that they threw at Evelyn’s feet in the pit as they walked around her and were ushered to the empty rows just outside the oak doors. There they took their seats to watch the execution.
“Oxmeade and the young girl who was always with him were last in the procession. Oxmeade carried a small torch.
“’You shall pay for your sins with death,’ he told my grandmother.
“Another man, cloaked and masked in black, placed a cooler under the feet of Evelyn. He pulled a long dagger from his waistband and cut open the bottom of my grandmother’s feet. Everyone watched as the blood drained from her body. Just before she was completely drained, he pushed together her skin, rubbed rock salt over the soles and wrapped tape around them to close the wound. He closed the cooler and handed it to Oxmeade. A different henchman took the cooler then disappeared down a dark corridor.
“The dark cloaked man then drenched the wood-filled pit with gasoline. He even doused my grandmother’s feet for good measure. He carefully made his way out of the pit and took the torch from Oxmeade. With a nod of Oxmeade’s head, the man in black set the pit ablaze. I watched as the flame danced its way to her.
“The crowd started to chant: ‘hell bound is the vampire’ as the flames devoured the gasoline soaked wood and teased my grandmother’s feet. Seconds later I watched as she began to burn. The smell is something that will never leave me.”
Jondra dabbed her eyes, turning the white tissue red with her tears.
Declan stood and went to her. He placed his hand upon her shoulder, “We know what happened next, you need not relive it again.”
She looked to me, “I want you to find out who that beast’s henchmen were and capture them. I know they were under Oxmeade’s orders, but they can expose him for what he really is. Money is no object.”
I had a lump in my throat from her story. I couldn’t make any words come out, so I only nodded. I looked to Brae. We all knew who the young girl was. Maybe our way to the henchmen was through that young witch. We could kill two birds with one stone. Free her and get the henchmen. Of course, there was always Remmie, who might be able to help us out.
Jondra stood up abruptly. She inhaled deeply. “I must leave. Someone is coming.”
She walked over to me and handed me a small box. It was cold. “I thought you could use some of Evelyn’s blood for testing. I hope it helps to answer questions you may have. I won’t let her death be in vain.”
She leaned in closer to whisper in my ear. “The envelope you are looking for is under the mattress of your old bed in your parents’ home. Go with caution. Be prepared for a fight. Someone is hanging around there waiting to ambush you. Go in a day or so, they will think you aren’t coming by then and you will be safe. I only know this much. For your life, please heed my warning.” She kissed my cheek. I promised her I would wait a day or so before going to my parents’ house.
She turned to everyone else. “I am going into hiding. It will be some time before you hear from me again. Cianna, my friend, keep the phone with you always. I will send word if it becomes necessary. Let me know when you get the minions. One more thing before I go,” she lifted her nose to the air and inhaled deeply again. “Too many know of this place. If you stay here, you will not be safe. Go and hide.” With that she darted into the wood lines so quickly she was only a blur across the backyard.
We sat the
re staring at each other for a good long while. Whoever she smelled never revealed themselves to us. Finally we went inside.
Chapter Forty
I went to put the box Jondra gave me in the refrigerator to keep it cold, when I decided to open it up. Inside were six vials of blood. Under the vials was an envelope. Inside the envelope was a note and a thick pile of hundred dollar bills. Twenty-five thousand dollars worth of Benjamins to be exact. I unfolded her note.
This is a down payment. No argument. I want to avenge my grandmother’s death. She promised that beast would be exposed, and I will be the one to see to that happen. I will try to do it the right way first, but should you fail, I will get him my way.That bastard will pay for his sins! I promise.
May I suggest one more thing? Trust me when I say you and those closest to you will be in danger if you stay in the house. I’ll be in touch.
Your friend,
Jondra.
I passed the note around. We knew she meant what she said. If she feared for us, we should heed her warning. We all agreed that the Castle was the place we had to hide out in. We wasted no time in getting to work packing up the important stuff.
By the crack of dawn we were ready to move. We figured that would be the best time to go. Declan and I jumped in the Jeep with Bullet, while Shane and Brae hopped in theirs. Sam drove his truck with all of our important belongings secured in the back. He was going to make a pit-stop to get Remmie something to eat. I didn’t want to know what nor where. We agreed to all meet at the oak tree. We looked back at the house and left.
In no time we were at the big oak tree in the woods above our secret castle. Brae performed her magic to give Declan permission and his own access to open the tree as she for done to me. Sam arrived in time for his turn. She also cast a spell over our vehicles to make them blend in with the surrounding. I was astounded as our vehicles seemed to disappear before our eyes.