Paranormal Realities Box Set (19 page)

“Oh. Queen’s bishop to castle six.”

He slid the piece across the board and smiled.

“Very good. I look forward to a time when
we may play each other in person.”

“Have you always been a vampire?” I
asked.

He glanced up seemingly startled by the
question.

“I meant no offense.” I offered a smile.

“No offense taken my dear.” The prince
fingered the crown of his black King. “I was not always as I am now. In my
human incarnation, I began life as sickly baby. When I was seven, doctors
diagnosed my malady: hemophilia. My mother was devastated.”

“I can imagine,” My mother was devastated
by the loss of Adam. “A mother should not be asked to outlive her child.”

“Yes,” he said. “But because of my
mother’s position as monarch of the realm, the disease brought not only a
mother’s natural concern for the jeopardy to her child’s life but also shame.
And since hemophilia is a disease of the family, my diagnosis posed a threat to
our dynasty’s rule and the continuation of the monarchy.”

"Every doctor of any reputation in
Europe and the colonies was consulted. They could do little." Prince
Leopold's brown eyes darkened with pain. "When I was seventeen, I took a
fall. No one could stop the hemorrhaging.” His lips curled into a wry smile.
The upward quirk at one side of his lips reminded me of Rom for a moment.

“By this time, my mother had been
studying spiritualism," he continued. "Through this she found an
alchemist, a wizard, by the name of Gethin. He promised to cure me of my
affliction and he did. But let us say the cure was less than ideal.” The prince’s
wry smile turned to a grin revealing his two gleaming incisors.

“I’m sorry, your Highness,” I said.

“Do not be, sweet Kizzy.” He chuckled.
“For a time I mourned my humanity and fought against the nature of being a
vampire. I soon discovered this cure was not only a curse but also a salvation
and so I embraced my darkness."

"In what way?" I asked not
certain I wanted the answer.

"I sought out other creatures like
me." His eyes gazed into the distance as if remembering. "Other
creatures humans thought were only mythical. Other creatures who had been
driven underground and into the shadows by human kind. I gathered them
together." His attention snapped back to me. "Then I created an
entire aristocracy of vampires."

"And also an army of ghouls," I
muttered.

"Quite so." He seemed pleased
at my understanding. "And not just an army. In fact, the ghouls serve me
faithfully in many areas of civil service, household staff..."

"You've created an empire of the
supernatural."

"I have ruled now for more than
one-hundred years." He sat back in his chair leaning there with happy
ease. "It is good to be the prince.”

Not being able to think of anything to
say in response, I joined him in silence for a few moments before he returned
his attention to the board.

“How is Juliette?” I asked finally.

“She is well,” he said, still examining
the position of the pieces.

“Why isn’t she with you?” Was she okay or
had he drained her dry?

He glanced up again. “I would not kill
her. You can trust my word.” The prince must have read uncertainty on my face
because he continued. “After all, if the fair Juliette were dead I would lose
my ghoul, Stephan.” The prince grinned. “He is my eyes, my ears, my hands in
your world. I would not like to give that up until I must. There are many
beautiful sights. Even your cemeteries are beautiful.”

The prince moved the black bishop to take
my white on the board, knocking it over. With a triumphant grin, he picked up
the piece and tossed it into the air. He caught the bishop in a tight,
strangling grip.

“All the same,” I said. “I would like to
see Juliette.”

A dark anger invaded his eyes and the
prince’s brows converged in a vee.

“I have given my word of her safety and
the word of a prince is not to be questioned,” he bellowed. “After all, I did
not kill your little friend, Franky. It was you who did that.”

“That’s enough.” I rose from my chair.
“You may be a prince but you are not my prince. I want to see Juliette.”

“How is your gorgeous friend Rom? Does he
feel quite well?” The prince’s smirk taunted me. “What a shame it would be to
lose another friend so soon. Poor Franky,” the prince cooed. “What a waste. He
was soooooo young and sweet. It made his blood quite tasty.” He made a smacking
sound.

Feeling the heat of an angry flush rise
up in my face, I backed away a step.

“I won’t listen to you,” I whispered.
Step-by-step I moved until the fog filled the mirror once again obscuring the
prince and his palace.

Outside the psychomanteum room, Zen
waited. “What did you find out?”

“Not much we didn’t know before,” I said.
“I lost my temper when he started taunting me.”

Pushing past Zen, I headed down the
stairs and found Rom and Petra in Zen’s living room. Each held a text and from
the looks of the book covers, quite old ones.

“We needed some clue if we are to find
the ghoul before tonight.” Zen yelled, stomping after me. “Need I remind you it
would be safer to locate him during daylight hours when he’s in a weakened
state? Prince Leopold was supposed to provide that clue.”

“I’m aware of all that but he was talking
about Franky and I lost it, okay?”

I kicked the copper umbrella stand near
the doorway and immediately felt ashamed at my loss of control. “Sorry,” I said
to Zen.

“It’s okay,” he reassured me. “I
shouldn’t have been so unreasonable.”

Wow. Even on a short acquaintance with
Zen I knew that was quite an admission.

“So have you two found anything in Zen’s
reference books?” I asked.

Petra nodded. “There’s a bit here about
how to kill a ghoul. Apparently they have remarkable healing powers, but they
can be destroyed by fire, electrocution, acid or decapitation.”

“Well, now we know what not to do, I
guess."

”It also says here ghouls can be disabled
by silver.” Petra glanced up at me. “So we know they’re pretty limited when
choosing affordable jewelry.”

I turned to Rom. “How about you? Find
anything?”

 
“Nothing of consequence.” Rom's gaze dropped to the book in
front of him.

Was he hiding something?

“In all these books, there’s only one
reference to ghouls?” I asked, centering my attention on Rom. He didn’t
respond. I’d have to read that text myself. I turned to Zen with an irritated
huff. “What about the internet?”

“Mostly, the information on the web is
what we already know. But last night I located one thing I hadn’t seen before,”
Zen said. “An anecdote about a ghoul hanging out with his vampire in a burial
ground. But I don’t see how that could be useful.”

“Wait a minute.” I strode to the window.
Staring outside, I was actually staring into my memory. What was it Prince
Leopold had said? “Burial ground!” I murmured. “That might be something.” I
spun around. “The prince said the ghoul was his eyes and ears and hands in this
world.”

“We already know that,” Zen said. “The
ghoul can channel his master. So what?”

“The prince said 'even your cemeteries
are beautiful.'” I crossed to Zen. “Couldn’t that mean the ghoul is hiding out
in one of the cemeteries? Maybe that’s where we can find him.”

Rom stood. “You have reason.”

“Yes,” Zen said. “I think you may be
right.”

“Now we just have to figure out which
cemetery.”

“The most likely cemetery is one of these
three.” Zen touched three spots on a map he'd spread across his dining room
table.

“Not Bonaventure,” I said, referring to
the first one he’d indicated.

“It’s considered the most beautiful,” Zen
responded. "The prince said the cemetery was beautiful."

“Yes, but Bonaventure's at least five
miles from downtown. I can’t believe the ghoul would travel that far from the
vortex portal.”

“Good point,” Zen observed.

As we all stood around the table, Rom
seemed distracted.

“Which one do you think it is, Rom?” I
asked. He didn’t respond. Instead he lifted his arm and examined the Band-Aid.
“Rom?”

He jerked and his head came up.

“I know not.”

“What?” Why was he being so unresponsive?

“I know not which of these burial grounds
to target.” Rom walked away and into Zen’s living room library.

“Colonial Park is the closest.” Petra
pointed to the map. “It’s right in the Historic District.”

“Yes, but it’s full of tourists for most
of the day,” Zen noted. “Wouldn’t he prefer someplace relatively close but not
as touristy, like Laurel Grove over here?”

“We’ll have to check them both out.” I
glanced over my shoulder to where Rom had gone. “I’m gonna go see about
him."

I found Rom sitting on the sofa and
staring straight ahead. Taking a place next to him, I grasped his hand and gave
it a little shake.

“Hey. Are you okay? Is your arm hurting?”

“The wound will not be permitted to be a
problem.” Rom's voice was barely a whisper.

“That’s not what I asked.” Tugging his
arm toward me, I reached for the Band-Aid.

“Do not,” he said but didn't pull away.

When I peeled back the covering, I
gasped. Not only was the wound a bright red but there were angry streaks
emanating outward.

“Rom. This is much worse than last
night.” Zen and Petra entered the room. “Look at this.” I motioned them over.
“We have to get him to the doctor. Maybe even the emergency room.”

“We don’t want to go on grid with this,”
Zen said. “Come with me.”

As Rom and I rose from the sofa, there
was a disturbance of stomping on the porch. The front door crashed open,
slamming into the inside wall. Senji and Chase barreled in and skidded to a
halt in front of us.

“Hey guys,” Zen shouted. “This isn’t your
mc² clubhouse you know.”

“Sorry Zen.” Chase put both hands in the
air.

“Yeah, we were a little distracted,”
Senji said.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Petra
leaned up and gave Chase a peck on the cheek. “I thought you two were going to
school today.”

“We were.” Senji pushed his glasses up
the bridge of his nose. “But the principal sent everyone home early.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because the police found Franky’s body,”
Chase replied “And there's worse news.”

Long seconds of silence passed.

“What! What's worse?” Petra demanded.

“The police are looking to question you, Kizzy,”
Senji answered.

“Omigod, Kizzy,” Petra said. “It just
seems like the universe is messing with you lately.”

“Just
one
universe?” I drawled. “At least three.
Never mind the police right now. We gotta deal with Rom’s arm.”

“What about it?” Chase asked and glanced
down at the limb I held. “Oh, dude. That’s serious bad.”

“Shut up, honey bunny,” Petra cooed.
“Nobody asked for your opinion.”

Rolling my eyes I continued on with Rom
and Zen toward the kitchen.

“Yeah. Just be quiet and look pretty,
honey bunny,” Senji said.

“Dude, you are asking for a pound down.”
Chase raised a fisted hand.

“Let me know when somebody arrives who
can do it.” Senji smirked.

“Seriously guys?” I glared over my
shoulder at them. “We’re a little busy here. There’s no time for this.”

The expressions on their faces satisfied
me that they were chastened for a few minutes anyway and I continued into the
kitchen.

Behind the wall in Zen’s pantry was a
better stock of medical supplies and equipment than in most clinics. Zen
applied a salve to the wound before handing him two pills and a glass of water.
Rom just stared at them.

“Just take the antibiotics.” I moved to
stand in front of him and placed my hands on my hips. “Don’t make me get
tough.”

Rom swallowed the pills and handed me the
glass as Petra, Chase and Senji entered the room.

“I’ve done as you wished but this will be
of no effect.”

“How do you know?” Zen asked.

“This is the bite of a ghoul.”

“Yeah, so?” I remembered Rom’s
evasiveness when I’d asked about the text earlier. “Did you find something
about a ghoul bite in that book?”

Rom hesitated and then nodded.

Petra retrieved the text and opened it to
an earmarked page. After scanning the contents, she groaned.

"This isn’t good." She
continued scanning. “This is like really not good.”