Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (16 page)

   
Suddenly she heard a
loud
thump
. S
he tried
hard to see what or who was making
the noise.
Sounded like someone outside on the steps.
Was the wizard now returning to do her in?
He
r
level of stress increased as she struggled to see what was going on.
More
steps on the porch outside. Someone or something was approaching.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

    J
ENNY AND ALLISON TOOK THE LIMOUSINE
that
had
been
waiting for them at the airport to Dracula’s residence on Martin Street in Moncton.
It was raining lightly when
they arrived.
The first thing that they both noticed was the new red Ferrari 458 Italia
sitting in the yard.
Jenny was immediately excited.
All
ison
thought that Dracula
wouldn’t dare as Jenny jumped out of the black stretch limo and danced in the yard.
She kissed the car.
It was exactly what she has asked for so how could it not be hers?

    “Jenny, you don’t
know
that that’s your car,” Allison said to her daughter, but she
was guessing
that it was. “Dracula has a lot of famous friends you know.”

   
Jenny showed her mother a smirk.
“That would be some coincidence Mother.
You know it’s mine.
I
t might not be so bad to have Dracula
as a father
after all
. I’ll bet he could buy me a seat
on the Russian Soyuz.
” Jenny ran into the house and found Dracula sitting on the sofa talking to Piers Anthony.
In between them was the cat Moon Diamond.

   Dracula turned to his daughter. “Hello Jenny, this is the author Piers Anthony. Piers, this is my daughter.”

    Jenny was immediately disappointed. “
Mister Anthony, i
s that your
car out there? It is, isn’t it?”

 
Piers looked up at Jenny. “As a matter of fact it isn’t.”

    Jenny stared at the Siamese. “What a beautiful cat.
Is that MY car?
”

    “He is quite fetching, isn’t he.”
Piers petted the cat which made it stick its butt in the air, and of course that irritated Zacharia.

    Jenny turned her attention to Dracula and waited for him to say it. Allison entered behind her. Jenny and her father both stared at one another waiting for the other to speak first.
Piers was enjoying the pseudo confrontation. Allison was aware of the awkward silence and the grin on the author.
Jenny glanced at the cat and then back at her father; she was gett
ing weird vibes from the animal that was gazing up at her. The cat gave the Master a high five for having such a beautiful daughter.

    Dracula finally spoke. “Jenny, what’s my name?”

    She smiled. “You don’t know your own name?”

    “What’s my name?”

    “Dracula? King of the vampires? The head honcho? Chief biter?
Did that
cat just give you a high five?
”

    “What’s my name?”

   
Jenny hesitated as both Piers and Allison waited to see if she would say it. “Father?”

    Dracula nodded. “There you go, that wasn’t so difficult?”

    “Yes, F
ATHER, it was difficult
. Is that my car in the driveway
or isn’t it
?”

    And again Dracula nodded. “It is.”

   
“I knew it!”
Jenny ran out the door and jumped in the car. In less than a minute they could all hear the music blaring
from insi
de the Ferrari
. Allison gave him a stern look but didn’t want to say too much in front of the author.

   Dracula shrugged. “I know
but look how happy she is
.
She deserves something nice because of you lying to her for all those years. It’s a good distraction don’t you think?
”

    “I thought we agreed not to get her a freaking Ferrari!”

    “It was on sale.”

    “Oh, it was not.
Those things don’t go on sale.
”

    “Half price.”

    “Dracula, you are not the least bit funny.”

    “This is Piers Anthony, the author. And Zacharia here is an old friend of mine. His soul is trapped inside his cat.”

    Allison turned to Piers. “Is he being funny?”

    “I’m afraid not,” said Piers
. “I’ll let him explain it to you.”

    Allison sat down on the love seat facing them as she stared at the cat. “I’m listening.”

   
Dracula
thought before he spoke. “
I’m getting tired of telling this story I can tell you that.
Zacharia had this cat and instead of letting it perish of natural causes, he used a small part of his soul to keep it alive.  But when he was killed in a fight,
his soul, instead of moving on
it was pulled into the cat.”

    Allison scrunched her eyebrows and looked confused. “What happened to the cat’s soul?”

    “T
hey’re both in there. Zacharia
has no body to return to so he’s stuck in there.”

     Allison considered it but could
n’t
imagine it. “How awful.”

    “He’s getting used to it.
At least he’s not complaining as much.
”

    Allison noticed Moon Diamond shaking his head in disagr
eement. “You poor thing
. Hello to you Piers.”

    “
It’s n
ice to meet you
Allison
.”

    Allison turned to Dracula. “When are they coming?”

    Dracula looked at his
Rolex. “They should be here within the hour.”

    “She really has to do this?”

    “Allison, she’s a top of the line blood wizard with no training. She could be a danger to
herself and you
. Her dreams can help her to a degree but s
he really
need
s
the guidance
that she
’ll
receive from Caius
.
Something came up with the other guy that I had in mind.
”

   
Piers stood as he didn’t want to be in the way and he was sure they had plenty of things to discuss.
“I have someone to see
but I’ll be back later. It was nice to meet you Allison.” And with that the author blurred out of the house.”

   
Allison turned to Dracula.
“W
hy did you buy her that stupid Ferrari
when I told you not to do it
?”

    “Let’s me assure you that a Ferrari is never stupid.”

    “T
hings like that that can change her personality. Now how am I supposed to make her give it up?
She’ll hate me and love you.
”

  
“It would take more than a dozen sports cars to make her love me. Anyway, h
er light is of the white variety and cannot be changed.
At least that’s my story.
The only thing we have to worry about is getting
her
killed. And don’t think that I don’t know about Jenny being shot
.
We’ll talk about it later.
”

   
That was quite a shock to Allison.
“How on earth did you find out about that?”

    “That is not important.”

    Allison looked out the window at Jenny
in her new Ferrari 458; she was
beaming as she moved to the beat of the music. The rain was now moderate a
nd Jenny had the wipers going in
the car. It was then that sh
e realized
she didn’t have the heart to take the car from her. What an expensive playhouse.
It aggravated her that Dracula had gotten away with it.

    At just after three, two gentlemen dressed in black
suits
entered the house.
One had a handlebar mustache and the other had a deep scar across his left cheek
. The scar had been earned in a fight long ago and for some reason remained with him even after he had been turned into a vampire.
They had the shiniest black shoes that Alli
son had ever seen, reminding
her of secret service agents in their style and the way they handled themselves
.
Not many handled themselves with such style.