Blood Crusade

by Billita Jacobsen

  “Harold, wait. I have some bad news,” I didn’t know how to say it gently so I just spit it out, “your dog is turning into a vampire. He’ll have to be put down.”

  That was probably too blunt but I was already thinking of ways to put Go-Go out of his misery. The dog looked at me and snarled. The vampire blood wouldn’t take long to turn him; the virus was already coursing through his tiny body. We couldn’t take him to a vet; a needle wouldn’t work on him. Perhaps Harold could wait in the car with the children while I dispatched the dog with my dagger.

  The professor was hugging Go-Go. “Are you quite sure?”

  “Oh, I’m sure. I’m really sorry, Harold, but it’s for the best. Can you imagine what he’d be like as a bloodsucker? Euthanasia is the best option.”

  “I meant, are you quite sure he’s turned into a vampire?” he glared at me, shaking his head. “My poor, brave boy,” Harold cooed at the fanatical dog. “Now we can always be together, as Hypatia would have wanted.”

  “Wait, what?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “You’re not killing my dog, Nola, so just forget it. Let’s go.”

  Go-Go snarled at me, fangs showing, his teeth getting increasingly longer. “But, but, it’s for the best, he’ll be a menace to society,” I whispered.

  “I said forget it--leave my dog alone. I don’t care if he’s a vampire! You know full well that they have vampire dog trainers at Camelot who can help him adjust.”

  Of course I knew that, but they were good dogs, Go-Go was insane. No time to argue, we had to hit the road. It was dangerous, racing down the dark dirt road back to civilization. We passed Natalie the Betrayer’s cabin on the way to the highway. Her body was hanging backwards over her porch railing, her throat torn, the house light magnifying the horrible scene for anyone in the vicinity. “Poor Natalie,” Harold muttered, looking back as our car sped away. “Can’t we return and take her body down?”

  “She got what she deserved,” I coldly replied. “I can’t believe you trusted her, or that she was one person your dog liked.” I looked at Go-Go, showing his elongated vampire teeth at me. Stupid dog. Stupid neighbor.

  Humans should never trust a vampire, unless the vampire is a member of the Knights of Camelot. Camelot vampires have pledged to help humanity but they are in the minority; the psychopaths like Claudius are in charge. The killer vampires probably took great delight in murdering neighbor Natalie.

  “It’s not right to leave her there like that. She just wanted the reward money. She didn’t know they were vampires that wanted to kill us,” Harold said, petting the dim-witted dog. “You can be so callous, Nola.”

  I pouted the entire way back. Driving well past the speed limit, with anger pressing my pedal, we made it to Vegas in plenty of time to avoid the sunrise. Harold was sleeping with Go-Go on his lap and the babies slumbered in the back seat. I couldn’t wait to get into bed and get some needed rest before facing the apocalypse. “Professor! Wake up, we’re here!” I yelled, quite aware that he didn’t like to be addressed that way.

  We stumbled into the house, Harold clutching the dog, two babies in my arms, half asleep, and too tired to think. Unfortunately, I sensed a presence in the living room. The figure sat in the dark, tapping a toe, arms crossed. “Who’s there?” Harold asked, turning on the light.

  “It’s about time you got back,” Lance calmly said, looking back and forth at us. The briefcase was by his feet, open, papers scattered on the floor. “When in the hell were you going to tell me about this?”

  Chapter 14: The Lost are Finally Found

  Lance’s eyes were intense and he looked at me with a fury I’d only seen him use with those who were cruel to animals or children. “Why did you withhold this information from me? What were you thinking?” he questioned, looking at me with passion, but not the fervor I so longed to see from him, it was instead the cold-hearted passion of irritation.

  Sometimes it’s hard to read the “tell” in someone’s eyes but usually, if you’re observant, feelings and intentions are quite obvious. It was something The Master taught me long ago. “Proverbs are there to advise us,” he instructed me, “and it’s true that the eyes are the windows of the soul. They radiate emotions to the enlightened. You can see fear or love in a human or an animal.” With that, he proceeded to teach me the game of poker, so I could learn to become more perceptive and in control.

  “You play the hand you’re dealt,” he told me, “you must know inside whether to walk away or pursue the win.” People have a manner of giving themselves away--a subconscious “tell.” At the poker table, it could be a subtle licking of the lips, a phony smile, or a change in posture. You just have to notice it and surmise what it means. And the eyes usually give you that knowledge.

  Every emotion shines clearly through Lance’s eyes, even if he wished to hide it, and he never beat me at poker since I clearly knew when he was bluffing. Tonight, however, he was so pissed at me he didn’t even attempt to conceal his disdain.

  “I’m so disappointed in you, Nola,” he said, wielding the final blow to shatter me completely. What else could I do but become angry?

  “You have no idea what I’ve been through!” I shouted. “This fucking assignment you sent me on has been a living nightmare! Have you even noticed that I’m carrying two babies, for Christ’s sake?!”

  Breathing in, not sure what else would come out of my mouth but irate enough that there was sure to be more, I noticed Go-Go fly from Harold’s arms. He sailed through the air with his nasty vampire dog mouth fully opened and headed straight towards Lance’s handsome face. Surely this horrible dog was finally going to pay for his viciousness.

  Lance was too quick for such an attack. He grabbed the dog in midair and quickly brought him to his chest. Go-Go began to whine and lick Lance’s face. “Well, hello my old friend, how are you?” Lance cooed to the crazy canine, shocking me to my core.

  “You know that dog? And he likes you?” I asked with amazement.

  “Of course. Go-Go trusts and loves Lance,” Harold said, looking at me with full acknowledgement of my plans to dispatch the dog, making me feel guilty. “Lance, I apologize about all this, it’s my fault, it’s a long story and I’d like to explain.”

  Stoking Go-Go’s back, Lance sat down with grace, as he always did, sitting erect and looking like a king on a throne. “Hypatia is dead,” Harold began, “Claudius killed her. Nola saved my life…”

  Lance looked at me with now compassionate blue eyes, the fury gone, replaced with questioning forgiveness. I couldn’t take anymore. The children needed to be put to bed and I would nap beside them. Harold could fill Lance in on our misadventures and Go-Go could revel in the glory of being stroked by the vampire I loved. My one hope was that Harold didn’t tell Lance about Mark Antony. Although you can’t really cheat on someone you’ve never slept with, feelings of remorse began to wear me down, and I didn’t want Lance to know.

  Taking the feelings to bed, I placed the children next to me. It was an unsafe venture for Robin, who could fall off the bed, so I placed her between Alexander and myself. The children were sleeping soundly and I reasoned that better arrangements could be made the next day.

  There were no dreams of whales or my daughter. I slept with the deepness and blackness of the profoundly tired. Voices would drift in, as Harold told our tale to Lance. They were heard occasionally as I intermittingly fell in and out of sleep.

  At one point, my subconscious perception roused my eyelids to reveal a snarling Go-Go approaching my face. Would this little monster really attack someone who was sleeping? Half-asleep and without the fortitude to change into a werewolf, the decision was sleepily made to let him proceed. He simply hopped over me and settled in by the children, snuggling by their feet. It was an unexpected sweetness from such a despicable dog.

  The aroma of freshly brewed coffee woke me from my slumber to find Alexander gently pulling on my hair, talking baby talk. Robin too, was wide awake, but seemed con
tent to suck on her thumb and kick her legs into the air.

  Lance sat on the bed beside me with his offering of my favorite beverage, black like I favored it. “I’m sorry, Nola. I didn’t understand,” he said, looking truly forlorn. Harold was behind him, holding the bottles for the babies, one with blood, the other milk. He reached over and picked up Alexander and began to feed him. Lance took the bottle with milk and snuggled Robin in his arms, gently looking down on her.

  “They’ll be safe at Camelot. You and Harold can take them on the private jet. We’ll put a team to work on the information from Hypatia and stop the council,” Lance announced, as if that was that, everything had been decided.

  “I’m not leaving until I see my daughter,” I declared, sipping my coffee. Fuck you Lance, I thought.

  “Listen Nola, you haven’t been making the best decisions. Harold told me everything. Did you know that you killed an informant I’d been working with for years? Cornelia had inside information on the council and was extremely helpful in our quest to protect humans. I think you need to gather your thoughts and get some rest at Camelot,” he said, his voice laced with disapproval over the death of Poker Babe.

  “You do know she was a lunatic, right? She would have betrayed you. You’re lucky I killed her. Besides, I warned you that might happen if you didn’t tell me who the informant was,” I said, lying, since Poker Babe would have been killed regardless.

  Lance just gave me a weary glance, he was well aware that my mind was made up and he wasn’t going to change it. “Very well, stay and see your daughter. Then we fly to Camelot.”

  Alexander had hovered to the dresser and was teething on my amulet with his vampire fangs. “Could you not chew on my artifact?” I laughed, taking the amulet from him and placing it around my neck. It felt strangely hot to the touch.

  Lance was still hanging around so I handed him Alexander, asking, “Could you please take him into the living room and entertain him?”

  “Very well,” he said, holding the baby high in the air and cooing at him. Alexander was bedazzled and giggled loudly.

  Dressing in a hurry, with fresh energy, I quickly joined my new found family and Lance. Harold was sitting yoga-style, legs crossed, wearing a headset, his ears covered. I assumed he was listening to meditation tapes, the first step in training to control the beast within. Lance was sitting in a chair petting that stupid dog. Alexander was hovering, as he seemed to love to do, and Robin was crawling around looking for trouble.

  “Listen, Nola, don’t be mad at Percy, but…” Lance said, playing with Go-Go’s ears, something he said to me too many times. Of course I was about to be very angry at Percy, that idiot was always doing something to annoy me.

  “He’s known where Heather has been for a year. In fact, he’s been taking university courses with her, to protect and get to know her, Nola. He didn’t want you to know because he was worried about her. In fact, he only told me recently.”

  This topped everything that rotten Percy has ever done to me. I exploded, “That dirty mother…”

  “What’s going on?” Harold asked, removing his headphones and interrupting my tirade.

  “That rotten asshole Percy has hidden my daughter from me for a year!” I complained. “Oh my God--he is going to regret this!”

  “Now, now, Nola,” Harold said, putting an arm around my shoulder, “it’s okay. At least you know where your daughter is now. And she’s safe, I’m sure Percy was looking after her.”

  Lance stood up, putting the dog on the floor. Go-Go looked at me, as if losing Lance’s golden touch was my entire fault, and snarled. “Please, calm down Nola. Percy will be here this evening to take you to Heather. They’re meeting downtown for a buffet and drinks to celebrate Heather getting her teaching degree. He said you can go with and he’ll introduce you as his cousin. Now, isn’t that nice?” Lance gave me his signature boyish grin, as if that always made everything okay, which it usually did, but not today.

  “He’ll introduce me as his cousin? That sounds pretty stupid, actually. Doesn’t he think she’ll recognize her own mother?”

  Lance squinted his eyes and cleared his throat. “Actually, Percy doesn’t think so. Heather doesn’t remember you and your husband disposed of all photos of you. I’m sorry Nola, but perhaps that will work to your advantage. You can get to know her first and then tell her the truth.”

  I was still shaking with anger that evening, when Percy arrived with Mr. Fructose, walking in the door without knocking. He hugged Lance and stared at me without a greeting. I was faced with two of my least favorite creatures in the world. “I’m here to stand guard,” Fructose announced. Percy, dressed attractively in all shades of black—faded black jeans, short sleeved top, and shiny dark boots, stood looking at me with his usual arrogant stance and smirk.

  “Percy, thank you for looking after Nola’s daughter,” Lance prattled, “but I wish you would have told us you’d found her a year ago.”

  Brushing his hair back, Percy looked down at me and murmured, “Heather deserves better. I don’t want you entering her life again and making her unhappy.”

  I was stunned that he was so bold. He usually just smirked at me without speaking, especially in front of Lance. “Are you kidding me?” I shouted, “Just who do you think you are?” I advanced to stand in his personal space, feeling the tingling that revealed an unexpected turn into a werewolf.

  Percy took a step back, holding his hands up. “Listen, Nola, I just don’t think Heather can handle the truth. And you might as well know that I’m quite fond of her and I just want her to be happy.”

  Fighting back and shaking off the werewolf inside from turning into the werewolf outside and tearing up Lance’s son in front of him, I took a deep breath and tried to be present in the moment. Percy loved Heather, that seemed clear, and love is good. I tried to picture myself sitting by a stream, surrounded by wildflowers. It didn’t work.

  “You dirty bastard!” I screamed, jumping on Percy, landing a fist into his cheek.

  “Nola, stop!” Lance yelled.

  Mr. Fructose threw all his weight on me and I went down. “Okay. Okay,” I said, pushing him off and surrendering, “I’m done.”

  Lance took control, as he usually did when Percy and I went at it. “That’s it, you two! Enough is enough. Heather’s going to meet your father, Percy. I’m going with the two of you and I better not see any more nonsense.”

  Percy, rubbing his cheek, sheepishly stuttered, “But Father, she started it.”

  Leaving Harold to watch the babies with Mr. Fructose standing guard, Percy drove us downtown. We rode in silence. Percy was still pouting. Lance was in a fatherly, stern, silent mood. I thought about finally seeing my daughter, after all these years.

  The bright lights of Downtown Vegas greeted us as we pulled up at The Golden Nugget and Lance dropped the car off at valet parking. Downtown always had a special appeal for me, kind of like going to the circus, with color and glitz blinding your eyes, earning the area its nickname, “Glitter Gulch.” Walking the Las Vegas Strip is like an excursion to the circus too but it’s more like Ringling Brothers. Downtown was the grittier, sawdust on the floor, P.T. Barnum Circus where a sucker was born every minute and people drink and dance in the streets.

  Heading towards the buffet, my mouth could no longer control my thoughts and since I’m not known for being subtle, I simply and loudly asked Percy, “What did you mean when you said you were fond of Heather? You’re not dating my daughter or anything, are you?”

  The little jerk just smirked. Percy knew I wasn’t starting any trouble now, not when I was so close to seeing my daughter again. He was a smart little jerk. Lance touched my shoulder and pointed in the direction of the bar. “I’ll meet you at the buffet. I see an old friend over there and I just want to say hello.”

  A familiar fear hit the pit of my stomach. I had a sudden urge to pee. The fight or flight reflex was mixing with the pain in my groin. Lance was heading towards Mark Antony, who w
as sitting at the bar with an amazing-looking redhead, dazzling her with his James Bond eyes. The bar overlooked the impressive shark aquarium and it seemed quite appropriate that Antony would be seated there with the predators circling overhead while various terrified fish darted through the water. I could only hope to fate that he wouldn’t see me.

  “Ok, we’ll meet you at the buffet,” I said, grabbing Percy’s elbow and trying to recover. Percy seemed surprised and the smirk on his face disappeared. I actually smiled at him, “Let’s go, cuz.”

  We surveyed the scene at the buffet entrance. The Golden Nugget has been renovated in recent years but for some reason, they neglected to include this area. It was a small buffet by Vegas standards and offered nothing out of the ordinary.

  “There she is,” Percy announced and I instantly had the answer to my question. His eyes were shining with admiration and affection. Damn it, Percy was in love with my daughter.

  I looked at the people in line, spooning food onto their plates and noticed the striking blond who had the attention of several men. “She looks beautiful,” I uttered. No wonder Percy was in love. My long lost daughter was a knockout. I could hardly wait to talk to her.

  Percy’s smirk returned. “Nola, that’s not Heather. Your daughter is by the mashed potatoes.”

  Embarrassed that I didn’t immediately recognize her, I tentatively looked at the graceful young lady spooning mashed potatoes onto her plate. She wore a most unassuming blouse and slacks with plain black shoes. Her hair was in a simple, elegant ponytail but lacked luster, she obviously didn’t use expensive conditioners. She wore no makeup and still, she was lovely. I could sense the appeal to Percy who always had the heavy on the makeup, low-cut blouse types throwing themselves at him. Heather was clearly different.

  She turned away from the buffet and immediately caught Percy’s eyes. Damn it, she loved him too, there was no missing that look. Then she gazed at me. I looked for a sign of recognition but only saw signs of jealousy as she squinted her eyes. Percy waved and we walked towards each other.