Drew D'Amato:Bloodlines:02 (18 page)

Vlad again spoke for both of them.  “My cousin is, how do you say,
off the grid.
”

“Why is he
off the grid?”
she asked with a hint of suspicion.

“Have you ever heard a guy say,
‘If anyone ever raped my child, I’d kill them
.’?”

She nodded yes.  “My father is one of those guys.  He always says that about his little girls.”

“Well, my cousin is one of those guys who actually did it.”  The story had just struck him and he went with it.

A fugitive from the law, but not someone you could hate. 
Pacami chimed in.

“It was his son, it was by a priest.  That was Vlad’s aversion to the church when we met. I told him there is evil everywhere, but he should not let it shake his faith.”

Vlad turned to Pacami pleased.  He seemed apt at bullshitting. 
He should, he’s a priest.

“Well killing the priest started a man hunt.  The priest had family connected to the IRA, very bad people to upset.  His wife and child are still with the rest of my family in Ireland. 
They have nothing to fear because he faked his own death—took his boat out to sea, and blew it up—and that was the real reason why we moved out here.  I have a fake name for safety’s sake more or less.  I need an ID when I’m doing anything involving him.  I used one when we traveled together last week.  I stalled at his name, because I had no idea which alias he had on him when the police discovered him.  He has a few.”

“I’m sorry Vlad, I didn’t think of it when I spoke to you,” Pacami said. 

“It’s all right.  Pacami also helped convince my cousin to get back into the faith, too.  That is why he asked for Pacami specifically.”

Jasmine processed it all.  It was a story so crazy it was easier to believe than deny.  “You’re probably the only priest he trusts,” she said to Pacami.

“Yes, exactly,” Pacami said rather fast.

“I never heard about this priest killing.”

“It happened back in Ireland, not much of our news travels over to America,” Vlad said.

“So was that why you really went to Ireland last week?”

“Oh no, someone from my family
did die
.  But while over in Ireland, he avoided running into his wife and child.  He didn’t want to risk putting them in harm’s way.  That’s why he avoids contact—they stay over there and he stays over here.”

Jasmine turned her head forward.  She believed them, she had no more questions.

“They always come in threes,” she said.

“What does?”

“Death, it always comes in threes.  First your family member in Ireland, now your cousin Jericho.”

Vlad didn’t like that omen.

5

T
hey got to room 542.  A middle-aged doctor of Indian descent, Dr. Patel, greated them at the door. 

“Mr. Wellington, Mr. Patterson is your cousin, the nurse informed me?  She also explained to all of you only one at a time can see him?”  He looked at all three of them.

“Yes, it’s no problem.  Doctor, how does he look?”

“Well he was beaten up pretty bad.  He has dark urine, like the color of soda.  It’s a sign of kidney trouble, he has
rhabdomyolysis.  It usually happens to victims that are crushed.  He wasn’t attacked with many blows, but the blows he did get had some force.  His femur broke. We can’t break that on a skeleton with a hammer.  It takes up to 550 lbs of pressure to break.  The kidney trouble is tied to the muscles in his leg.  They ruptured in his leg and myoglobin has gotten into his kidneys.  This is rhabdomyolysis, the kidneys cannot do their job.  The waste that should be coming out of his urine is now poisoning his body.”

“Oh my God, whats going to happen?”

“Well he’s on hydration and dialysis.  He should make a full recovery, but nothing is guaranteed.  If he hadn’t been discovered he might have died.  You can speak to him, but in five minutes I will be in to let him rest.”

“Thank you doctor.”

Vlad looked back at Jasmine and Pacami, and then made his way through the door.

In the room, Malachi was hooked up to machines.  He had a cast over his right leg.  A bandage covered the right side of his face.  Vlad saw the movement of his left eye, the only eye that was uncovered.  He knew Vlad was in the room.  Vlad stood over him and almost cried.

“Stop, I know you don’t have much time,” Malachi said.

“How could this happen?  A day of being mortal and two punks almost kill both of you.”

Malachi was confused, and then realized.  “Vlad, it wasn’t some punks.  I just told the cops that.  It was Radu.”

“Radu!  How
can
it be Radu
?”

“
There was an escape route to his panic room.  He ran to it while his panic room was filled with smoke.  You never had a chance to see him, he moved too fast.  Last night, he landed in LA.  He saw us on the court at the Laker game on television and tracked us down.  He told me, to tell you, he will let you and Jasmine live your life, as long as you don’t interfere with him taking over the world.”

Vlad did not need long to decide.

“Fuck that.  A promise from Radu is not a promise at all.  And I cannot stand by and let every human suffer for my own selfish love.  I would give the world for her, but I will not give Radu the world.  If he is alive, we must kill him.”

“How?”

“The way we had intended to last week, as humans, with human powers, when he sleeps.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Why not, we were ready to do it a week ago?”

“A week ago we were fools.  We underestimated the discrepancy between a human and a vampire.  Seeing them move last night, I…I didn’t even see them move.  They are too fast, too strong, and we are too slow.  They toyed with us.  An infant has a better chance against a man,
than you do against a vampire.  Radu had more strength and speed than you when you were both vampires.  Now, there is no chance.”

“Strength doesn’t matter.  I’ll get them when they are sleeping.”

“How, you have to find him?  And don’t assume he will not keep someone on guard.  Now that you aren’t a threat how big do you think his army will be by tomorrow, by next week?  Just stay out of it.  He will let you have Jasmine and your life.  What else can you do?”

“Stay out of it, and stand by as he kills Jasmine’s family, and tell her I could have stopped it?”

“You can’t stop it.  There is no more Blood, you destroyed it.  You have no more power to counter his.  He is the only vampire left.  Stay with your love and hope he fails.  Hope the humans kill him.  We lost Vlad.”

“We have not lost anything as long as I still breathe.  How can I sit by and let him takeover the world?  If I choose not to fight, then I do not deserve Jasmine’s love.”

“Vlad it’s not a choice, not as a human, trust me.  If only we had the Blood.”

“Yes, but then I would still not be able to have Jasmine.  One cannot become a human again if one willingly drinks the Blood.”

“I would drink it.  I’ll become the master.  You can trust me.  And when it is all over, and we do kill him for good.  I will let you kill me.  You could still have Jasmine.”

“You would do that?”

Malachi stared at him with his one available eye.  “When I told you I would die for you, I meant it.  I never cared about dying.  Maybe that was why I fought so good, I was never scared.  I just cared about winning.  We have lived long enough, and once this war is won, I don’t have much to live for.”

“Malachi, I…I don’t know what to say.”  Vlad started to tear up again.  He truly was a good friend.

“Say nothing, because it doesn’t matter.  There is no more Blood.” 

Dr. Patel came into the room.  Without saying a word Vlad left.  He was mostly silent for the ride too as he drove Pacami and Jasmine back to her car.  He spoke when they arrived at the marina.

“I’m going to bring Pacami back to the church,” Vlad said to Jasmine.

“Do you want me to stay with you?”

“No, you can still make it to your later classes.  No need to miss them, too.  I’m just going back to the hospital after I get some things Malachi wanted.  I also have to handle what to do about Jericho’s body.”

“Vlad, I don’t want to leave you alone.  What kind of woman would I be if left you like this?”

“And what kind of man would I be to make you sacrifice when you don’t have to?  I’ll be all right, thank you.”  They kissed passionately.  He pulled her back and looked deep into her eyes.  “Thank you for everything.”

For Pacami it was sad to see them part.  It really was true love and worth everything that Vlad had sacrificed for, but Pacami knew for some reason it couldn’t be.  He had a feeling in his gut that this would be the last time he ever saw them together. 

F
OUR

1

A
s soon as Pacami and Vlad were alone in the Mulsanne the conversation got turned to the elephant in the room.

“He told me what happened in the attack when I gave him his last rites.  Did he tell you about it too?” Pacami asked in a way that he would not be the barer of bad news if it hadn’t already been brought.

“Yes, it was Radu.  He is still alive.  He also said I have no chance against him as a human.  He is far too quick, too strong.  If only I hadn’t destroyed that Blood,” Vlad said.

“But you wouldn’t be able to do the exorcism again.”

“Malachi could be the master vampire.”

“Yes, of course.  We could sneak it to him.  He is in and out of consciousness.  He wouldn’t
willingly
drink it.  That might work.”

“Yes F
ather
,
and if the
exorcism
didn’t work,
Malachi
offered do die so that I can still be
with Jasmine
.  But only if we
still
had the blood.
”

Silence filled the car, and Pacami let the silence stir.  Vlad was wracked with guilt.  He didn’t want his words to make things worse.

“That will be my fate, destroying the Blood,” Vlad started up again.  “Not trusting those close to me.  Shit, if I had kept it, maybe Michael wouldn’t have even betrayed me and then Radu would be dead.”

“Maybe, or maybe when you entered Radu’s house you would have really not been invited in, since there was no traitor on your side to set up the trap.  And what if since you were humans, you all died that day?  We can’t waste time thinking about the past and what if’s.  We have to think about the now and what is.”

“The now!  What now?  I can’t kill him as a human.  And I sure as shit can’t kill him as a vampire.  So what can I do but hope mankind defeats him?  And I don’t have much faith in that.”

Pacami thought for a moment.  “Maybe there is still some more Blood?”

“What do you mean?”

“Radu was not the only one who was setting a trap.  The Crusaders were too.  Your source was in league with them, not you.  Now, I am sure they have their own computer files of the translated Dark Bible, and could risk the orginal copy getting destroyed in their ruse.  It’s a book.  The only thing that is important is what’s inside it, not the cover.  But the Blood was irreplaceable.  Why bring it to the airport and risk it getting destroyed, for the sake of an elaborate trap?”

Vlad nodded along in agreement.  “Yes, there is a chance that they still have it.  But I don’t know anyway to get in touch with them.  Our inside source was killed in Geneva.”

The sound of the wind as they drove down the Pacific Coast Highway ruffled through their minds.  Then Vlad realized something.

“I think we might have a lead.”  He took out his wallet, frantically flipped through it with one hand while he drove with the other until he found the card.  He gave it to Pacami.     

FAVORITE THINGS

William Henderson

Proprietor of Rare and Antique Works of Literature

Phone Number—20-7832-8280

57 Queen Anne St, Westminster, London W1G 7M4, UK

“That was the guy who translated the Dark Bible.  He might just be some random guy paid to translate something, or he might be a Crusader himself.  There is one way to find out if he is.”

“And what is that?”

“See if he’s still alive.”

Pacami was a little shocked at that simple test.  Vlad explained further.

“Father, these are not good men.  They would not let someone translate the Dark Bible, write down all the information and live, if he was not already one of them.  I know a cop in London.  He can help us.  But we have to think of something to tell this guy if he is alive, and he is a Crusader.”

“What could we say?”

“I don’t know, but we got about a half hour until we get to my place.  We have time to think of something.”

2

W
arburton had been in bed for less than an hour when his phone rang.  His wife grew concerned.  She always did whenever the house phone rang past a certain time.  Would it be for him, did he have to go out?  She got even worse when she was alone at night and it rang. 

“Hello.”

“Warburton, it’s Vlad.  Can you talk?”

“Give me a moment.”  He turned to his wife.  “I’m going to take this downstairs.”  She knew the drill and listened in on the line until she heard him pick up from the kitchen downstairs.  She then hung up on her end.  She did not want to know any of his business at work.

“Okay Vlad, what is the issue?  I thought last time I saw you everything was over.  You had the coffer and Radu was dead.”

“Well that’s the problem.”

“Radu isn’t dead!”

“No, he is.”  Vlad and Pacami had talked it over, and decided there was no need to panic Warburton over Radu’s status. 
Just let Warburton worry about the humans.
  He was a cop, he was trained for that.

“The issue is the coffer, and the Crusaders.  They didn’t give us the real blood.”

“How do you know it wasn’t the real thing?”

“Jericho took Peterson’s cell phone after what happened in Geneva.  He took it initially so that no one would discover it and trace the call log back to us.  We had forgotton all about it, but yesterday we searched through it.  We found text messages saying they were giving us fake blood.”

Vlad lied again using half-truths, it was the easiest way.  He couldn’t tell Warburton the truth.  He couldn’t expect Warburton to get so involved on a hunch, which was simply all Vlad had.  A hunch and hope.  So he lied to Warburton that the real Blood in fact did still exist, and the threat was real.

“Okay so they have the real Blood, what do you want me to do?”

“The Dark Bible was translated by someone in England.  A William Henderson.  I have a business card of his.  He deals in antiques, mostly books.  He must be a Crusader.”

“How can you be so sure?  He might have just been contracted to do it, and knows nothing more.”

“If he is alive, he is a Crusader.  The Crusaders wouldn’t let him live with that information unless he was one of them.”

“So what do you want me to do?  I can’t tap his phones.  For it to be worthwhile, I would have to tap his cell phone and that requires a whole world of technology and cooperation with other people and agencies, and I don’t know how I can justify why his line should be tapped.”

“No, I don’t want you to tap anything, and I don’t want anyone else involved.  What I want from you is simple.  His address is 57 Queen Anne St in Westminster.  His phone is
20-7832-8280
.  Scope him out.  Tell me what he looks like, and maybe what some of his daily routines are.”

“You plan on apprehending and interrogating him?”

“Yes, what other option do I have?”

“Do you want me to help you?”

I don’t think your presence would make much of a difference.  These men don’t fear any type of police force—they are above it.”

“Vlad are you still a vampire?”

“No, the exorcism worked.  It was conducted before we realized the Crusaders still had the blood.  I’m a human.”

“Well Vlad, how much more fear do you think you as a human would have over them than I as a cop?

“I don’t have to play by rules, you do.”

“Oh with people like this, involved in something they want to keep secret, they usually don’t complain about their legal rights being infringed upon.” 

“Just keep a tab on him for now.  I don’t want you anymore involved than you have to be.  I will be landing in London in two days.  We will talk about what to do then.”

“Okay.”

Vlad hung up and turned to Pacami who sat in the family room of Vlad’s new house.

“What do you plan to do once you find this guy?” Pacami asked.

“Once
we
find this guy.”

“We?  I can’t go to Europe.”

“Father what we are doing here supercedes your lithurgical duties.”  Vlad sat on the couch across from him.  Pacami still didn’t understand.

“I don’t see why I have to come.  What do you have planned?”

“I don’t think we are going to able to get what we want just from breaking this guy.  These men have all been trained to surivive interrogations and are taught to give misinformation, before real information.  He’ll send us on some wild goose chase to the wrong
location and by the time we realize that he’ll be gone and we’ll never find him again.  That is a very real possibility.”

“So what do you have planned?”

“We have to offer some deal that will entice him.  We have the Dark Bible, the original, and those Crusaders want it back.”

“Why?”

“Because what these Crusaders want more than anything else is to prove to the world that vampires exist.”

“More than killing vampires?”

“Yes.”

“Why is that?”

“Because proof of vampires, proves another thing—proof of God.  How could any scientist or skeptic refute the existence of God, when one of his damnations exist?  That is why they sent the Blood to CERN.  They wanted CERN to find nothing, so that vampires cannot be given any scientific explanation.  Once proof of God is established, the Church will have inconceivable power.”

“If it was so important to them, why would they even risk bringing it to Geneva?”

“Because they couldn’t fake the Bible, I knew what it looked like.  It was a risk they had to take to attempt their ruse, but they still want it.  The Dark Bible, validated through carbon-14 dating is priceless.  They won’t be willing to trade the Blood for it, but if we could get close enough to the actual Blood that’s good enough.”

“So, how would
I
help you?”

“We need a story as to how we came into possession of the Bible.  We can say you were the priest that performed the exorcism on Vlad the Impaler, because he wanted to be a human again.”

“You can say
you
were the priest that performed the exorcism.” 

“No, that won’t work.”

Are you afraid Vlad?
Pacami thought.  He had not seen Vlad scared before, but before he was not just a man.  A man is vulnerable. 

“I will get in your way Vlad, what can an old man like me do?”

“You’re the old man who performed the exorcism on Vlad the Impaler.  It’s the truth, and the truth makes for the best lies.  And then I can be someone else…your insurance.  If I go alone, they will size me up for a lone priest.  It would be all too easy for them to just take me out.  But if
you
were the priest and I was someone else, then they would have to take us more seriously.”

“And who would you be?”

“I don’t know.  We have a day to work out the details, but I think along with seeing the actual bible in front of them they would have to listen.  For now though, I should bring you back to the rectory.  I have to go pick up a friend.” 

3

P
acami offered to go with Vlad to the county morgue.  The morgue was on North Mission Road, about five minutes away from The Divine Saviour on Cypress.  Vlad didn’t mind the company.  He might need it.  He also had no clue how this process worked.  He could use some guidance.

“Don’t worry Vlad.  People don’t falsely claim dead bodies.  Why risk falsely claiming a body, when the real family members could show up at anytime?  They won’t be inclined to suspect anything of you.”

“Yeah, I just have no idea what to expect and that makes me uneasy.”

Half way through the ride Vlad realized he would run into the same problem he did with Malachi at the hospital.  He had no idea which identity they had attributed to Jericho, or if he even had one. 

“Easy fix,” Pacami said and told Vlad to pull over at the next gas station.  He came back out with a copy of the Los Angeles Times.  On the second page he found the story written by Paul Dambros,
probably the kid Patrick liked.
 
Pacami skimmed over it quickly.  “George Patterson is in critical care at Cedars-Sinai, and Jack Bearfield was found dead at the scene.”  Pacami looked up at Vlad.  “Let’s go claim your cousin Jack Bearfield.”

Pacami did not mean anything by those words, except showing him how easily they had solved that problem, but still those words hurt.  Vlad’s face grew long.  Now he was going to face Jericho’s death.  He was depressed about it when he first drove to the hospital, but the shock of the news of Radu had put his mourning on pause.  Now it came back with a vengeance. 

“I’m sorry Vlad,” Pacami said seeing the pain in Vlad’s face. 

“It’s not what you said.  It’s just the fact that he is gone.  He was better than me.  A better fighter, a better warrior.  He wouldn’t have been dead if I let him keep the Blood.  If I let him stay a vampire.  How much guilt, how many lives do I have on my soul?”