The Case of the Parisian Vendetta: A Mark Julian Vampire PI Mystery #10 (Mark Julian Vampire PI Mysteries)

by L. G. Fabbo-Gonnella

  “Davy,” Mark gasped at seeing the young Englishman in traditional Maasai tribal dress along with their painted markings. He turned to look at the other man, “Jedi is that you too?”

  The two smiling vampire warriors nodded. They both were jointly carrying a rather lengthy squirming canvass bag. They immediately dropped to the ground. As it hit the floor of the room with a loud thud a muffled groan came from inside the bag.

  “Will someone explain this?” Jean-Claude said as he and the others took in the strange sight. “Mark who are these people? Who is in that bag?”

  “I believe some of you already know Collin,” Mark quickly interjected gazing with amusement at what was in the bag. He knew Collin loved drama and that the contents in that sack would surely provide it. “He is a vampire and a very good friend who I called upon for assistance.”

  “Ay this private eye once saved me life,” Collin winked as he gave a twinkling smile to Viola. “Sure and I’d be happy to tell you about it over a nice pint lass.”

  Viola sniffed. “Dream on,” she replied. Still she did find the quirky young Irish vampire to be cute and his body, though leaner than her usual preferences, did look tightly muscled and interestingly flexible.

  “Sure and we’d have a grand time of it lass,” Collin merrily persisted as he winked mischievously at her. “I’m always up fer a bit o fun ya know,” he winked again then let his eyes roll down towards his well-endowed crotch area. “Always up lass,” he suggestively told her with a devilish grin.

  Viola suppressed a smile but, to her shock, she realized she was blushing at him.

  “Hold that thought for now Collin,” Mark said as he quickly went on with his introductions of the other two men while trying to ignore this colloquy between Viola and Collin. He tried to ignore the thought that his cheerful Irish friend might get it on with Viola. “The rusty haired young man over here is Davy. I’m sure that Julio you will recall that he used to be assigned here as a member of our vampire security forces. He was later granted permission to be detailed as Collin’s bodyguard,” Mark decided to skip the part about how Davy had asked for the transfer because he had developed an immense crush on the totally straight Collin. He turned to the Maasai vampire next to Davy, “This is Jedi. I met him in Africa when I was investigating a case. He is obviously Maasai and still human correct? It has been awhile since we last met.”

  Jedi smiled. “Yes Mr. Julian it has been a while. Much has changed since then.” He gazed at Davy. “We are mated. Soon I will soon transform into your kind as well thanks to him.” He grinned at Davy who smiled back. “I now serve with my mate as the protector of my, no I mean our, people.” He gazed tenderly at Davy who returned that look with equal love. They reached out to hold hands.

  “Sure me boyo Jedi here took my advice about Davy. Told him to pounce and he did just that. Old Davy’s English reserve just needed a bit of a battering ram to break apart. The lad fell for Jedi like a ton of bricks right boyo,” Collin laughed as he winked at Davy. “Yeah a wee bit of Maasai spear work did him a whale of good. Right boyo of me heart.” Collin teased.

  Davy’s strong pale English features turned crimson while Jedi too blushed.

  Another low moan escaped from the canvass bag.

  “What or who is in this bag?” Jaime asked. While she found Collin to be endearing her curiosity about the sack’s occupant was killing her.

  “Ah lass tis the end of the war for ya that ye be hearing in those sounds,” a beaming Collin chuckled as he knelt down to cut at the bag’s seams. As soon as he did so he grabbed one end and pulled the bag open. “Tis not a latter day Cleopatra I’d be showing you but another just as sweet to your eyes.” To the shock of the entire assembly a very naked Sebastian rolled out. He was bound and gagged and his handsome face displayed two nice black eyes and a swollen split lip.

  A stunned silence hit the room. Tortego looked as if he had been physically struck. His dark eyes glanced about the room. Jean-Claude had gone pale. A stunned Jaime quickly reached out to touch his hand. Mark, having been alerted by Collin some time before about what the Irishman had discovered, glanced at Vinnie. The detective, who had been similarly told the facts, just shook his head. Julio’s face was a study in amazement. Viola’s face had an utterly blank look.

  It was Collin who broke the silence. “Mark asked me to go undercover and scout out your enemy in Paris. He was hoping to find evidence tying a certain wily person to some nasty business. Well I owed him. Besides, I was the logical choice since I was not part of your community. I did a wee bit of sniffing around. To my shock I found out that this laddie was alive and well.” he gently kicked Sebastian’s ribs causing the bound French werewolf to grunt. Collin laughed. “So I thought to myself let’s hunt the boyo down and bring him to you.” He glanced at Davy and Jedi. “I had some help mind you in that area. Nothing these two young Maasai bucks like better than a good lion hunt. Well if ye don’t count their loud and vigorous bedroom escapades. I swear I didn’t get a wink of sleep with them staying in the bedroom. Strictly in an observer capacity lass,” he chuckled as he once more winked at Viola. He quickly went onward with his tale. “To be frank I had help finding him from another grand lad that ye must know.”

  “Who?” A dumbfounded Jean-Claude quizzed as he stared at Sebastian. Ever since his cousin had fallen out of the bag the werewolf had focused his eyes solely upon him. A myriad of emotions swirled around in his mind. He had grieved for a death that never happened. He had questions surrounding the exact circumstances of the how and why of this event. They would soon need an answer. He glanced up at Collin, “Who helped you?”

  “It was your cousin Laurent, me laddie,” Collin softly added. “Thanks to some friends, he discovered my connection to you and arranged for me to attend one of his family’s swanky parties. He pulled me aside and we spoke. At first I feared he knew about my spying. I thought I was a dead vampire but he had been frantically trying to find someone to help him stop this war madness. He told me about Sebastian and that aunt of yours. By the way boyo, your aunt over there is one blood crazy bitch if you don’t mind me saying it. Her and this one here on the floor are the driving forces behind this war. To me a solution seemed obvious. Laurent heard my plan and decided I could end the bloodshed by bringing this one to you. It was he who let me know what whorehouse Sebastian liked to visit and the times old Sebastian here made his regular visits. Thanks to that information me and me lads here grabbed your randy cousin in mid-coitus so to speak hence his undressed situation. He put up a good fight but we got him. Squirming like an eel he was as we bagged him. Laurent made the arrangements to helped us slip him out of Paris in a private jet. Quite a fight Sebastian gave us all during the journey too. Sorry he is a bit used for wear. But here he is, beaten and bruised but trussed up like a prize goose.” Collin lowered his voice. “Though I imagine tis not the first time men or women tied you up eh boyo,”

  Collin sneered at Sebastian whose blue eyes flashed with hate at the Irish vampire. “Oh go on Sebbie o’darlin, I heard the tales in that whore house. Quite the blood-lust you got for the nasty and violent.” Collin returned his gazed at the others. “So that should end matters. Old man Roué in Paris cannot afford to have his allies know his supposedly dead son is alive. I mean the whole point of the war was revenge for a killing that never happened. I imagine he will quickly come to terms rather than risk retribution from the European supernatural world for their losses in a bloody stupid war. By the way one peace term I’d insist upon is Laurent taking over that werewolf branch of your family. Good stock that boyo and quite a moral lad. Ye should know it was he who did in Lucius but only to save his worthless brother from an attack. He meant to knock Lucius out and take the camera Mark’s friend used to tape Sebastian’s activities on that night. Lucius went vampire and things went badly wrong in their fight. Ya should know all the facts. The lad is willing to come here to be executed by you for killing Lucius if it brings peace. Know this, if you try to do it I’l
l fight you all for his life and so will my friends, right lads. He took a dangerous risk in helping me. They have him guarded and I’m sure his brother and his dear old bitch of a máthair would not hesitate to kill him.”

  Davy and Jedi nodded.

  Jean-Claude glanced at his supposedly dead cousin then he turned towards Tortego. “You … you,” he sputtered in rage as he glared at the Spaniard. Jean-Claude paused to take a deep breath. In a calmer voice that was still filled with anger he addressed Tortego. “You were in charge of his execution. You did not do it and you kept this fact from me”

  Tortego was aware all eyes were now focused upon him. He glanced around the room then spoke. “I could not bring myself to murder him. You know I argued against giving him a death sentence. I spoke with Sebastian during his last confession and based upon information he gave to me, which I cannot reveal, I had no choice but to save him. So my not following your orders was clearly for the best don’t you agree? As for informing you of his survival well, how could I justify my actions? I could not break a confessional seal and thus could not explain why Sebastian was not executed. Frankly I’m surprised you are not all thanking me for acting to prevent a miscarriage of justice.” The former Inquisitor stopped speaking. He waited in defiance for someone to challenge him. Everyone was totally stunned by his reply.

  “Say what you want about the bastard but he does have balls,” Vinnie whispered to Mark who nodded in agreement. The private eye was amazed by the Tortego’s audacity and his dexterity in logic.

  “Shouldn’t you be asking why Sebastian took the blame for a murder he was innocent of committing?” Tortego quickly interjected. By now, he was anxious to shift the conversation to less risky grounds. “Perhaps our knowledgeable Irish vampire can fill us in on that fact since the silence of confession forbids me to tell you.”

  Jean-Claude stood there and tried to wrap his mind around the cascade of facts he had just heard. Sebastian was alive. He and his aunt were pursuing the war against him based on a lie to everyone. Tortego had lied at every level. All the war casualties were a waste. Now it also appeared that Laurent had killed Lucius. “Why did he take the blame,” Jean-Claude muttered to Collin. He gazed at Sebastian. “Why say that lie that began all these later lies? Why cousin, I thought you loved me? Why begin this horror by taking blame for a murder you never did? Causing all this...” he stopped speaking.

  Collin gazed down at the struggling Sebastian with contempt. “Sebastian feared the human murders would get him arrested by Vinnie or, if he left for home first, he’d have an outstanding warrant for his arrest if he ever came back here. This boyo had no desire to have that hanging over his head and not be able to visit you here in New York City. This scum and their mother convinced Laurent to take the blame for the killing of those two women in Central Park and flee back home. She told Laurent he would be killed if he were tried for Lucius murder. Sebastian insisted that he would assume the guilt for murdering Lucius. Laurent gave in only when his own mum said she would kill herself and his dad if he refused to go along with it. Seems that saintly she-bitch didn’t mind if her younger boy lived as a fugitive from human justice. Nice piece of work that one all right. Anyway this smug bastard here was convinced he’d get away with killing Lucius. When you agreed to his death sentence he went bonkers. The war was his revenge for your not setting him free. Laurent has regretted his decision ever since and he always wanted to tell the truth no matter the cost. He tried to fly here but their mother and this one,” Collin grunted as he tapped Sebastian with a foot, “had Laurent under constant watch. I was lucky he found a way to contact me without tipping off his keepers.” He mentally recalled their secret meeting in a sleazy part of Paris.

  “I truly do love my brother,” Laurent vehemently insisted to Collin. “But my love for him does not blind me to the fact that he is filled with blood-lust. He cannot control himself. He must be stopped from continuing with his killings.” As Laurent spoke to Collin he gazed off at some far off point in the distance. It was as if he was speaking to himself as well as to the Irish vampire. “There was no need for this war except in Sebastian’s mind. He went insane when Jean-Claude acquiesced in his death sentence. On some basic level I now realize that deep within my brother’s inner core of being his emotions towards Jean-Claude were not normal. I’m now certain that there always was a latent sexual attraction. That is the only rationale for Sebastian’s current behavior. He is obsessed with Jean-Claude to the point of madness. He wants my cousin to be thrown into the dirt and degraded. I swear he gets sexually aroused when he talks to me about that desire.” Laurent blinked then turned his head to face Collin. “My father is too weak to prevent any of this. My mother is, unfortunately, equally guilty of this insanity. In fact she is reveling in this bloodletting. Just know I will no longer be a coward. I will stop this madness. Handing you my brother is the first step.”

  “So there is. Tis truly not a pretty tale I be telling but it is what it is boyo,” Collin concluded.

  By now Jean-Claude, Jaime, Julio and even Viola felt as if their world had been turned upside down.

  Sebastian was alive and innocent of the murder of the vampire Lucius. To compound the horror of what he’d heard, Jean-Claude also realized that young Laurent had admitted to Lucius’ murderer. The thought of bringing his cousin to trial and facing a possible execution was too much to endure. He also knew Collin’s threat to violently act to prevent Laurent’s arrest was serious. I’m tired of the bloodshed, he thought.

  Mark sensed what his friend was thinking and spoke first. “Sebastian was convicted, let that stand. I will go with Collin’s explanation of what occurred that night. It was an accidental killing. Laurent suffered enough on this matter. I was Lucius’ friend. I know he would agree to this solution. Let us just end the carnage.”

  “I cannot endorse a death sentence upon someone who did not commit any crime,” Jean-Claude quietly replied. “Even if it is Sebastian,” he coldly concluded as he finally saw his cousin for what he was.

  “I’ve a solution boyo,” Collin interjected. “I know a very nasty female Aztec serpent god who would love to have this young good-looking werewolf as a slave. Your cousin is a stone cold multiple killer. Because of his deception, he now has war crimes on his hands. Let him go there as his punishment. Sebastian finally gets placed where he will kill no more and trust me he will suffer.” Collin glared as the squirming Sebastian whose muffled cries of objection to this solution were obvious. “Let Laurent takeover your French werewolf clan as one of the conditions of a peace treaty.”

  Collin waited as the others in the room discussed his proposal. As they did he bent down to whisper into Sebastian’s ear. “Her name is Coatlicue but you will probably call her Serpent Skirt. I met her. Not much of a looker mind ya boyo. Her face is made up of two fanged serpents, which matches her skirt of interwoven snakes. Her breasts are flabby and her fingers and toes are claws. She does have odd tastes in jewelry too. She likes to wear a necklace of hands, hearts, and a skull. Oh, by the way, I should tell ya me bucko that the dear girl regularly feeds on corpses. If I were you, I’d order a large amount of mouthwash and insist she use it before she kisses you.” Sebastian’s eyes grew wide in horror as a delighted Collin continued. “You will be spending an eternity being abused physically and sexually by her, bucko. I also arraigned it for a few of her male servants to sodomize you from time to time. I think you might actually enjoy the that but let’s keep this part just between us. No use telling them and getting your cousin upset. After all your murderous crimes I think this will balance things. Oh and if ya don’t please her sexually she will cut off your … well let’s just say afterwards ya might talk a just a wee bit higher,” he leaned back up watching with amusement the fury in Sebastian gaze.

  Finally a decision was reached.

  Jaime gazed at her husband. She gently touched his hand. “It is a highly justified sentence my love,” she murmured to him. “This Sebastian is not the teenager you grew
up with as a boy in Paris. Maybe he never was that person you believed him to be. If you let him loose he will continue to hunt women. Worse, he would return to kill you … and our boy,” she added knowing the effect that last set of words would have on Jean-Claude.

  Jean-Claude stared for a long time at his cousin. “Yes, hand him to the Aztec,” he said showing an unemotional hardened resolve. As Sebastian heard these words he began to violently struggle in his bindings. He growled his muffled protests but it did not affect Jean-Claude in his decision. Collin nodded and signaled to Davy and Jedi. The two men lifted the violently squirming Sebastian and carted him off. Next the werewolf looked at Julio. “Use back sources to contact Paris. Inform my uncle of these facts and tell him that he and I will speak. Also inform him that Laurent must be there too when we video conference. This war will end.” He turned to face Tortego. “You go to your dwelling while I ponder how to deal with this matter. I’ve more questions to ask of you and, if you value your undead existence, you had best be honest with the answers when we two meet.” The werewolf faced everyone else. “Shall we all go home and process all these events. Tomorrow we have a big day ahead of us and much work to do,” he said in a manner that showed to everyone the old Jean-Claude was back with them.

  As Viola left she tried to come to grips with everything she had heard. She had mourned for a death that never happened. More importantly, Sebastian had not done anything to contact her. That thought stirred a growing rage within her. He played me for a fool, she silently told herself. He never cared about me. I was just an easy lay for him. I have been an idiot in this matter. I blamed Jean-Claude for something that never happened. Sebastian deserved to die. He is heartless and a rogue killer. She paused to compose herself. Well that is a good lesson learned. I need to make better choices in men.