Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (7 page)

    They were surrounded by
a circle dug into the ground around them,
about three inches deep,
which was filled with broken glass crystal. It created a temporary spell that allowed them to go undetected from Jenny.
That small area had become invisible to her magical mind, like radar bouncing off a stealth fighter.
Sharpton’s instructions had been precise on how to accomplish it, and it had taken
them
two days to complete the circle as they had run out of crystal. They were told that the
crystals had to form a solid
circle or it simply wouldn’t work.
A spell that wouldn’t function was a waste of time and energy.
Any space where crystal wasn’t touching crystal and the spell would be nullified. The fragments
had to originate from enchanted
crystal
balls that had
been
smashed
and sprinkle with flakes of dried vampire blood
that contained a high level of magical properties
, but at least Sharpton had taken
care of that end of it
having
supplied the glass
.
The blood had been purchased from a w
izard that dealt in such things, and in fact had been his own blood.
Wizard’s blood had a reputation of being unpredictable when consumed, with tales of vampires melting from the inside out.
But some tales
were just that, perhaps
put out there by a wizard.

    Bernard stroked the blade of his 17
^th
century katana sword
and looked nervous, starting
to cut his hand open in s
lices and watch it heal.
Even his
own
blood was appealing as he stared at it.
He
loved killing and terrifying
humans, but killing a child?
This day would not be one to remember.
In fact
he thought that he might
use a spell to make sure that he would forget
, but those things were expensive so he wasn’t sure that he wanted to dish out that kind of money
.
A conscience that was wiped was
often
a happy one.
“That was so cool the way Nash took that red sheriffs head off, I wish it had been me.
Take a sheriff’s head and the way other vampires look at you changes.
”

    Anthony
ran his hand t
hrough his
hair. He
watched as Bernard sighted the rifle at Jenn
y. “
Bernard, w
hen
the girl
stands up
you
shoot her in the heart. We’ll run over and I’ll cut her head off and put it in the bag
, then we can put this business behind us
.
Do not hesitate.
In this business nothing good comes from hesitation.
Do you understand?
”

    “You’re obviously hesitating when it comes to shutting up!”

     Bernard
’s dull green eyes looked as though they had seen too much nasty busi
ness
; he
shook his head. “
Aw yeah? Making the right decision just mi
ght come from hesitating. What
the hell is next? Are we going to kill a baby in its cradle?
I don’t know if Sharpton knows what the hell
he’s talking about or not?
She just looks like an ordinary girl to me.
”
But maybe
the en
ergy he was feeling was
the girl’s.

    “
What the hell do you expect to see? Magical dust flying out of her ass?
Hey, moron, i
f you
want to cut yourself like that
do it when I’m not around.
Supposed to be somethin
g special about her but I don’t know
.
She looks like an innocent to me.
”

    “Aw yeah.
Well, she won’t be so sp
ecial with her head in the bag.”

   
Anthony stared at Jenny and knew that her head would soon be in the black gym bag at his feet. “Life is a lot more interesting
now than
it used to be I can tell you that.
I can’t wait until we run everything, and it’s coming.
Humans are just too weak.
”

    “Aw yeah? Shit is coming, that’s what’s coming. A big heaping pile of it, all stinky and nasty.
Everyone’s going to be covered in it. Vampires and humans.
We’ll be able to draw some nice and big stink lines on it.”

    “Who spit in your blood?
A vampire’s gotta do what a vampire’s gotta do.
”

    Jenny sat on the lawn chair on her front lawn facing h
er mother; she had a Steven King
paperback in her hand but she wasn’t reading.
The girl
was wearing
a
red blouse and a skort made with patches of
black
velvet with a single two inch long blood red diamond for color above her right thigh, she had had a lot of fun making the ensemble with her mother.
It was just one of the things that they shared that made them happy.
“So where did Dracula go?”

    “Your father went back up to his place in Canada.”

    “Sure, now he’s my father. Before that he was a blood sucking monster that liked to eat kids and kittens.
”

    “I can assure you that he was never that. Anyway, h
e’s got some business up there that apparently involves you.” Allison knew that it was difficult for Jenny to come to terms with the fact that Dracula was her father; she could see the trouble
d
look on her face.
Perhaps it was more annoyed than troubled.

    “What the heck is that supposed to mean? He better not start bossing me around.
What kind of father shows up when you’re twelve?
Are you really my mother, Mother? Or did you find me in some garbage can?”

   
“Oh, you’re mine. I remember the day you were born. You hurt.”

    “
And why are you getting back with him now? Why did you break up in the first place?
If you would have never broken up I would have always known.
”

    “It’s complicated.”

    Jenny slowly shook her head. “People always say it’s complicated when they don’t
want to tell you something
. 
Everything is complicated if you look at it from the right angle.
Just tell me why you broke up in the first place.
It’s a simple
question Mother, so let’s hear a simple answer.
”

    “He wanted to t
urn me.”
     “He wanted to turn you into a vampire?”

    “No, into a piano.”

    “Funny. So Dracula wanted to turn you into a vampire but you didn’t want to be turned?”

    “That’s right. He didn’t want me to grow old and die on him. No way
was I
letting him do that to me, but you know what, someday I might actually reconsider.
Time has a way of changing a person.
”

    “You’d really let him turn you into a vampire?
You want to be turned before you’re all old and ugly?
Not sure how I feel about that.
I guess it beats the alternative, dead in a box.
”

    “It’s complicated. And don’t tell him what I just told you. Oh, h
e said it’s dangerous for you to use your magic without proper training.”

    “Oh Mother, it is not.”

   
“No? Have you forgotten the window incident?”

    Jenny tapped herself on the forehead with the book.
Conceivably she could have accidentally tossed her mother out the window and killed her.
The realization of it commenced to sink in. Her life would have been over; it would have been impossible to get over something like that.
Maybe her father was right.
“So I’m not supposed to enchant anything?”

    “In a few days we’re going to his place in Moncton. He wants you to meet someone up there, someone that
knows
a blood wizard that can train you properly. Your father said that a lot of them claim to know what’s what, but only a few actually do.
He wants you to be trained by someone that knows what’s what.
”

    “And what about school?”

    “We’ll figure something out.”

    “And where is Moncton?”

    “Up in New Brunswick, Canada.
He says that he has a cat that he wants you to meet?
”

    Jenny looked into her mother’s green eyes with a little contempt.
Her face tightened with curiosity.
“He wants me to meet a cat? Does he have mental problems or what?”

    “He said it’s a special cat.”

    “Un huh. A cat is a cat Mother, unless it has two heads or something.
Hey, d
o you think anyone can beat up Dracula?”

    “I don’t know the answer to that question
but I sure wouldn’t want to try it. Jenny, I
didn’t finish
that book, you’re supposed to wait your turn.
”

   
“Oh yeah, well I didn’t know that Dracula was my father. See how that works?”
She wasn’t as angry as she was pretending to be.
“Hey, I could go to school and say that
my father can beat up your father.
I could say it to anyone and it would be true.”