Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (32 page)

    “I told you she would make it this far!”

    “Shut up!” Jenny screamed at the both of them. They were now infuriating. She attacked and cut through them with her sword, but of course there was no effect
; she may as well have been fighting a ghost
.

    “I told you she would make it this far!” Worset pushed Hebeny hard, almost knocking him over.

    “Please  shut  up!
Shut up, shut up, shut up!
”
Jenny wanted to bang her head against the wall when they started over again.
She had had enough.
She just wanted to get out of there
.

    The room was
solid, no way out.

    “Oh no.”

    “I told you she would make it this far!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

    S
TEPHEN, LUKE AND NOAH
had found the entrance to another vampire museum. This one was in a patch of forest in Wyoming
’s
Shoshone National Forest. They had hoped that the genuine Hithroma dagger was located within.
Whoever would plunge the dagger into Dracula’s chest would supposedly usurp Dracula’s power
and become the new Master.
Following
a map that had been purchase
d for five thousand dollars, they
had been warned that the entr
ance was a trap. Circling the area they had been
unable to discover the entrance.

    Stephen was having nightmares of being pursued by Dracula but he told no one.
They were a
wful dreams of pain and torture, so vivid that he could still taste the blood when his eyes opened.
He desperately hope
d
that when he killed him the incubuses would vanish.
He had heard tales of the Master seeking people in their dreams
and
now he was living it
.

   
Stephen stopped to get his bearings and to stare at the map. He was a large black man built like a football player, with brown eyes and gleaming teeth. “I know we’re close I can feel it.”

    “You said that an hour ago.”

    Luke looked at Stephen and was unimpressed.
He cracked his knuckles out of habit. He had hypnotic blue eyes and short brown hair. “Why don’t we just give it up? We were lucky to have survived that encounter with Dracula. A mouse would have as much luck attacking a cat. Stephen, I have a bad feeling about this. We’re all gonna end up being bones. Give it up man, vampire, or whatever the hell you are. We may as well cut all our own heads off right now. I don’t want to be bones.
”

    Stephen looked at Luke and blinked several times. He started to sing and his voice was quite nice. “I don’t want to be
bones;
I don’t want to be bones. I like to bite, I like to fight,
and I
like to traipse around at night. Oh, I don’t want to be bones.”

    It was uncharacteristic of him and the others stared at him as if to say
What the hell?

    Noah’s blue eyes glanced Stephen and then at Luke. “What if all the daggers are phony? Then we die for nothing.”

    Stephen looked up from the map. “You want to live forever?”

    “Yes please.”

    “Noah, look at the map. That tree on the map is this one. You can tell that it’s not a real tree when you get right up to it. This is supposed to be the entrance but how do we get in there?”

    Luke shook his head. “See that’s not the problem. The problem is tha
t we know it’s a trap. J
ust like one of those stupid movies where they know there’s a serial killer in the at
tic, but they
go up there anyway. Maybe we’ll like being killed.
Same scenario. We know it’s a trap but we’re gonna go in there anyway?”

    “If Hithroma is in there then
there would be a trap wouldn’t there? We’ll figure it out?” Stephen nodded and smiled.

    Luke again cracked his knuckles. “You know what I think. I think that our only chance of surviving is if we don’t find a way in there. I’d run away right now if Steven wouldn’t chase me down and kill me.”

    “Luke,” said Stephen. “Climb the damn tree and see if there’s a way in from the top.”

    Luke decided not to argue and so up the tree he went. In less than a minute he returned back to the ground. “
There’s n
othing up there that I can see.”

    Steven didn’t trust him so he went into his mind to check and discovered that he was telling the truth.
He went around and around the monster of a tree
but it seemed solid, impossible to penetrate. But this time when he reached a certain part of the tree he felt a gust of cold wind originating from the base of the tree. When he kicked at it his foot disappeared into it. He got on his hands and knees
and his head disappeared
. “This is the way in boys.”

   Neither Luke nor Noah looked happy. They simultaneously thought of the kill room in the other museum and they realized that whatever was down there may in fact be worst
, especially if the dagger was really in there
. When Steven stood up Luke stuck his head in to have a look, but it was so dark that he couldn’t see anything.
He was about to right himself when Steven kicked him in the rear and sent him flying down into the darkness.

    “Steven, after you.”

    “Nice try but you’re going in next. Wait a minute; I want to see what Luke ha
s to say about his new surroundings
.” Steven stuck his head in and hollered down. “Luke, can you hear me?”

    “I  hkar podk  hargavi
d!”

    Both Steven and Noah looked puzzled. They couldn’t understand a single word he was saying, it was all gobbledygook. Of course it was an enchantment.
Go down into that dark hole or don’t go was the choices at hand. But Steven hadn’t come this far to give up. He wasn’t as brave or as confident as he pretended; he knew it could be the end of all of them, but the possible reward was too good to give up. He couldn’t go through the rest of his life not knowing if he could have been the new Dracula or not. Not knowing would haunt him as
well
as any ghost.

    “What are you waiting for?”

    “Steven, come on. We can’t understand what he’s saying but he doesn’t sound happy.
That doesn’t sound like a happy voice.
”

    “Is he screaming
in agony
?”

   
“No but
he doesn’t sound happy!
”

    “Noah, are you going to get in there or do I have to throw you down?”

    “All right, all right. But I’m gonna be saying I told you so.” Noah went into the darkness feet first. Steven didn’t hesitate and down he went. He landed in a relatively small square room. Noah and Luke both looked annoyed. Skeletons
and old swords
were scattered all over the place, with a single vampire
lying
on the floor in the corner. The old and skinny fellow appeared to be sleeping.

    Noah gave Steven a nasty look. “What the hell did I tell
you?
We’re trapped in here?”

    Steven looked over at the slide leading out. “Why can’t we just go back up the
slide?
”

    “Go ahead, try it!” Luke was more than a little angry.

     Stephen looked a little like a cartoon with his legs going so fast that they were a blur. It was like attempting to climb up ice. It didn’t take long for him to realize that the effort was futile. He stared at the sleeping vampire.

  
“
What do you want to bet that all these other bones were vampires tha
t were trapped down here
.
” Luke was so mad that he felt like attacking Steven.

    Steven rubbed hi
s chin in contemplation. “When we don’t
e
at for a long, long time we go
dormant.
Don’t we
?
”

    Noah shook his head. “That’s not true and I know from experience. I was buried for a year and I didn’t go
dormant
. I tried to sleep a lot because I was bored. Vampires don’t need blood to live, they need it to thrive.”

  
The old vampire
suddenly opened his eyes.
He was on them so fast
they didn’t have time to react. He killed them all and savoured their blood.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

   
THE DAY WAS HOT AND SUNNY, but the elements no longer bothered her.
Old Annie was new again.
She was wearing a polo style blue top with matching pants as she carried her red purse.
She wasn’t exactly dressed to kill
but it was comfortable
.
The day was pleasant and inviting with plenty of things to ponder on. The life that had had plenty of twists and turns had certainly taken an unexpected one.
It was the beginning of a new adventure.