Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (14 page)

    T
he Master was impressed by the outcome.

    Piers Anthony was also impressed. “Did you see that?”

    “Indeed.”

    Annie picked up the cat and gave it a hug.

    Wei and Bao both nodded at Zacharia’s accomplishment
.

   
After the battle had ended Annie continued to make her round
s
and kick
ed
the bones of every single vampire that lay dead on the floor.
She took quite a bit of satisfaction in kicking the now
deceased vampire bullies. The senior had to pause and catch her breath and then
slowly made her way over to the Master as she cont
inued to struggle for air
.
It was necessary to rest before she proceeded.
She
approached, looking
way up at him as she was a little thing
, clearing her throat for what she was about to say
. “Mr. Dracula, would you be so kind as to turn me into a vampire? I  am  so  tired of struggling for my breath. Would you do that for me? Please. Or you could kill me?
That would be okay too. This old body has had it.
Just too many miles.”

    Everyone turned their attention to Dracula; they were curious as to his reaction to the request. Piers Anthony showed a slight smile as he raised his eyebrows.
Was Dracula made uncomfortable by the request?
Wei and Bao stared at the Master but said nothing, though they were definitely interested in how he would handle th
e request from little old Annie; they slowly sheathed their swords. Annie
took a step closer to him and smiled. He had been impressed with her bravado, as the battle had raged on around her, she had gone about her business of kicking the bones and hadn’t cared if someone would have killed her or not.
The battle
hadn’t
phased
her one iota.
Dracula thought that she had bigger balls that most.

   
Old man Brian peeked around the corner from his walker.
He had been a well-respected doctor
in his time
but now most days he wasn’t even sure of where he was.
He would take off his belt and listen to it with his imaginary stethoscope. Brian
accessed the mess that was strewn about from the fight.
“Who’s gonna clean up this mess?”

    The Master smiled at Annie. “Are you sure that’s what you want Annie? If I turn you there’s no going back. You must realize that the only way out of the vampire condition is death. Are you agreeable to that?”

    “Oh yes. It can’t be worse than my current condition. Either kill me or cure me. Please and thank you.”

   
Dracula minded the old woman and
saw that she was a good person; he saw how beautiful she had been as a young woman.
He picked her up an
d she turned her neck to him as
he bit her, a small amount of blood ran down her neck
.
Annie stiffened and pointed her toes.
When Dracula put her down all her pain was gone, and she was stronger and faster than she ever believed possible. She picked up her canister of oxygen and was tempted to throw it through the window but then thought better of it. Why should they be forced to replace the window because of her carelessness?
Her energy was through the roof. She couldn’t ever remember feeling this good.

    “You wouldn’t believe how good I feel
.
This is incredible.
”

    Dracula looked down at Annie and smiled. “Annie, be good or I’ll have to come back and get you.”

    “I will.”

    Brian shouted his loudest. “Annie’s a vampire!”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

    I
N THE FINGER LAKES NATIONAL FOREST
of New York State
the sun shone and was alternately blocked by the puffy clouds of summer.
The scents of the nearby pine trees were defeated.
The bird
s that had been singing stopped as s
upernatural whispers glided
around them
. Two
newly constructed military type barracks were out of place in the middle of the woods.
The dwellings
were miles from everywhere and would soon be under the cover of an enchantment.
Painted in dark olive green no roads let to them.
The empty barracks
stood side-by-side and awaited the vampires that would reside within. Animals shunned the area, with a few rabbits running for their lives as they felt pursued by the stench
of burning flesh
.

  
A mid-level blood wizard
named Ahmet
was putting the final touches to a spell that would keep all humans several miles away from the place
.
He was dressed in black with a leather
motorcycle vest and black chaps, including a
leather skull cap with red flames.
He was a mean looking dude in his mid-fifties, only he had been born in San Francisco in 1852 to parents of the famous gold rush.
He had killed his parents long ago
; h
is father had been a nasty vampire
.
The idea was to make the buildings
invisible from curious eyes.
The enchantment
was
also
supposed to kee
p the vampires away,
however
the wizard was unsure of that part of the spell, but he wasn’t about to notify Sharpton of that. He was going to take the mo
ney, disappear
and never look back.

    Ahmet
was a mountain man with his salt-and-pepper beard down to his chest.
His arms were tattooed with demons that looked real from a distance.
One of the
tattoos was
a
skeleton holding a double-edged axe dripping blood was particularly scary
, it certainly frightened small children
. Ahmet
had two dozen dead animals stacked in a pile in front of the buildings; they were set ablaze and burned with
peculiar
black and orange flames.
There were deer, foxes, crows,
rabbits,
porcupines and a large cow moose at the base of the fire. He went through stylized movements and hand strikes in the air that magically push
ed the smoke, engulfing the
buildings.
His hands cut through
the air like a master of Kung F
u, with strength, concentration and a
mantra that circled the buildings
,
his rough voice
echoed around and returned
to him.
It looked impressive.

    “Sssshhhhhhhhhhooooo!” Ahmet’s vocals produced a sound that nearly mimicked an arrow cutting through the air.
He stood very still and listened, it was as if all sound had been removed from the environment; he stood with both hands extended as he felt
a small amo
unt of energy leave his body,
mix with the air
. His extremities tingled
, emitting sparks
and he was therefore satisfied with the
enchantment
.
Ahmet whispered to the dark spirits and they hissed back at him.

    Sharpton blurred into the area with a leather satchel containing the payment for the deed, twenty thousand dollars in cash.
He was just over six feet two inches tall with black hair down to his
shoulders, dark complexion and
amber eyes. His mother had been black and his father had been a nasty Irishman that liked to beat anyone that he could get his hands on.
He was partially the product of incompetent parents.
Sharpton was handsome enough, better than average looking. He faced Ahmet and held up the satchel
and shook it. Sharpton was a blood wizard himself, but at such a low level that he hadn’t bothered with it; he thought it a waste of time to learn spells that couldn’t kill anyone.

    “Sharpton,” said Ahmet, “how’s life treating you?”

    “Pretty damn good.” Sharpton tossed the satchel and Ahmet caught it. He noticed the wizard was tired and sweaty, probably due to the fact that the spell had taken a lot out of him. “Is it done?”

   
“Yes
.”

    “You of course guarantee your work?”

    Ahmet hesitated but only briefly. “Enchantments are tricky but the spell seems to be working just fine.”

    “
I’m not going to be at all happy if this doesn’t hold together.” Sharpton smiled and raised his eyebrows at him.

    A white-tailed deer ran through the area and smashed right into the building on the left as it had been invisible to the animal,
getting up it
again walked right into it. Sharpton watched as it
finally made its way around and continued into the forest; he was impressed.
He nodded
at the wizard to indicate that he approved.

    “See. The building
s
are invisible so that they ca
n’t be spotted from a distance. More important is that most will shun this area
.
That small bag I gave you of sulphur and salt allows you access to the area, but the vampires that you are bringing here will have to be led in.”