The Vampire's Seduction (18 page)

He smiled and I knew I’d somehow made a mistake. Instead of stepping into me, however, he turned. The blurred world of humans came back into sudden focus, and Jack’s face stood out most prominently.

It was clear to me that he intended to kill Jack; but first he would use him to make me obey. Reedrek reached into the lingering crowd and dragged my little swan Shari to his chest. With his pointed glare trained on me, he bit into her neck like a savage. Blood splattered the front of my jacket and she whimpered in surprise before Reedrek silenced her with his poisonous mind.

I’m not completely sure what happened next. My vision blurred and a bloodred mist began to rise out of me. Then with the sound of a gunshot, the fury I’d kept inside for so long exploded outward like a sonic boom, trailed by the red mist. Immediately the human crowd around us changed. Half the mortal occupants of the club seemed to fall on one another with fists and chairs—punches were thrown, tables overturned. A hand gripped my arm and I focused on Olivia’s face, her pale skin splattered with tiny drops of blood. She drew me down until my feet once again were solid on the floor.

“Where’s Reedrek?” she shouted over the noise.

Only then did I notice that Reedrek had disappeared with Shari. It was too much to hope the ground had opened up and he’d fallen into hell. “Where’s Jack?” I said.

A chair sailed toward us and Olivia pushed it away. Bodies were tumbling, and at the center of the largest pile stood Jack, one hand keeping the fists at bay and the other dangling a pale, skinny human arrayed in black leather. The anger rolled and reverberated through the crowd like waves of booming sound.

“Do something!” Olivia shouted.

Fury was my consort. I was constantly drawn to it and repulsed by it at the same time. In this case, my own pent-up anger seemed intent on the destruction of this place and every human inside it.

So I took it back.

I tore open my shirt, shoved it, and the lapels of my blessed blue protection aside and called to my constant companion, my life force. Faster than a human eye could detect, the destructive mist gathered into a spinning spiral as it was sucked back into my heart, my well of hate.

Perfect silence followed the tornadolike roar.

I looked down at the sheen of blood on my chest as the last of it slowly disappeared through my skin. I heard Olivia’s voice as if from a distance. “I’m going after him.”

When I looked up, the entire room seemed to be staring at me and I realized that Olivia had vanished as well.

Jack

I dropped Werm and went to William. “Where did Olivia go?”

“I didn’t see. She said she was going after Reedrek.” William leveled on me a gaze so full of anger that I took at step back.

“Let’s go. We’ve got to find her,” he said.

He made for the door and I followed him. By that time, Werm had caught up with me.

“What the hell just happened?” He was about to shake out of his shoes. He reminded me of one of those nervous little dogs, a Chihuahua. I expected him to start peeing on people’s feet at any second.

“Never you mind. Just go back into the club and forget what you saw.”

Werm lowered his voice. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That was some serious undead special effects in there. I can’t forget that! I’ve got to know more.”

“Not now.”

“Aren’t you at least going to introduce me to your friend?” he asked.

“No.”

“Come on.”

“Get lost.”

When we got outside, William stopped and swore viciously. “He’s taken the mayor’s SUV.”

“Damn. Not another one.” In addition to being one scary sonofabitch, dear old Granddad was a prodigious car thief. If I was of a mind to open a chop shop, we could start a family business. “The Corvette’s over there,” I told William.

“Can I go?”

I wheeled on Werm, incredulous that he was still following us. What good is being a vampire if you can’t even scare away a five-and-a-half-foot pissant? “What part of ‘get lost’ did you not get? I’m
busy
here.”

“I—I felt a force in there.”

“Yeah, well you’re about to feel the force of my foot in your ass.”

“Seriously, Jack, I’ve just got to know what’s going on.”

“No, Werm, you just don’t.”

William was in the passenger seat by this time. I jumped into the driver’s seat and cranked the engine.

“Let me go with you.”

“Do you see an empty seat here?”

Werm clasped the top sides of the car in a death grip. This was insane. I was tempted to drain him right there.

“Get rid of him, Jack,” William said.

I looked at Werm and could tell by the thin, tight line of his mouth that he wasn’t going to budge. He’d found himself a real, live vampire, by crackey, and he was hanging on like a leech. About then I remembered what Reedrek had done to Connie. How did he do it? In desperation (I hated it when people embarrassed me in front of William) I looked deeply into Werm’s eyes and concentrated as hard as I could. “You want to go away now.”

His mouth twitched and he blinked a couple of times. “I do?”

“Yes. Go back into the club and hang out with your friends.”

Without another word, or the worn-out explanation that he didn’t have any friends, he took a couple of halting steps backward, then made a robotic turn toward the building and walked away.

“Well, I’ll be a . . .” I muttered to myself. I put the ’Vette in reverse and backed out of the parking space, but not before catching William’s expression in the corner of my eye.

“What else did he teach you?” The iciness in his voice could have frozen the balls off a brass monkey.

I bristled immediately. “Where do you get off using that tone with me? At least he was willing to teach me something about what I’m capable of, which is more than I can say for you,
Dad
!” I only called William that when I
really
wanted to piss him off. I think if I wasn’t driving, he would have slugged me.

“Everything I’ve ever told you and everything I’ve ever
not
told you over the past century and a half has been for your own good. I hope I live long enough to see you realize that.”

“You lay a guilt trip on me and expect me to be grateful to you for manipulating me? For keeping me in the dark? Even for locking me up tonight, for cripes sake? Are you out of your evil freakin’ mind? Maybe I
ought
to break ties with you and go with this Reedrek guy.”

William grabbed the steering wheel, and I swore and stomped the brakes to the floor but not before I ran over the nearest curb. It’s a good thing I do killer front-end alignments.

He let go of the steering wheel and gripped me by the neck. “Don’t say that. Don’t
ever
say that. You have no idea—”

“That’s right! I have no idea! No clue what this guy is about, what he’s come for, or anything else that’s going on because you won’t tell me. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t let him teach me everything you won’t.”

William sat back wearily. “Jack, you’ve trusted me all these decades, and you’ve stayed safe and done quite well for yourself. I only ask that you continue to trust me. I have every expectation that before too much longer, you’re going to know everything there is to know.”

We stared at each other for a moment. I owed him everything I had. If it weren’t for him, I’d be pushing up daisies at the foot of a cold marble cross in some Confederate cemetery who knew where. I sighed. “All right, but you’d better spill before too long.”

William stared at the place where he’d released my neck. “Jack, where’s Lalee’s charm?”

“I gave it away.”

“You what?”

I backed the Stingray off of the curb—changing directions and changing the subject. “Where are we going, anyway?”

“We have to find Olivia. Drive to Colonial Cemetery.”

“What makes you think she’s there?”

“I have no idea where she is, but if she’s following Reedrek, perhaps he’s leading her to his resting place. And you didn’t answer my question. Why did you give the charm away? And how did you get out of my vault?”

“Holy hell.” It was going to be a long night. “I broke the door down.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I’m not telling you how I got out of the vault in case you ever lock me in again. As for the charm, I gave it to Connie.” I told him about Reedrek dropping into my car, how the charm worked, and about Connie stopping us.

“So you used influence on that youth after seeing it demonstrated only once.” William’s eyes lit with interest. “Very impressive. I think we may have discovered another of your many talents, Jack.”

“That’s what it’s called? Influence?”

“The ability to ‘dance in the mind’ of humans and other weaker creatures vulnerable to our powers. It usually takes years for a vampire to master. Some are completely incapable of learning the skill. And yet you did it on your first try.”

I bit my lip to keep from screaming. “I could’ve been going around all this time making people do what I tell them to do just by thinking about it real hard. And you didn’t tell me about it. Great. That’s just great.”

“You’ve always been able to charm people, Jack, just by using your amiable personality.”

“I guess it runs in the family. So what are my other talents?”

William ignored the jab and answered my question with a question. “What else did Reedrek tell you?”

“Nothing. But he
promised
to tell me everything.”

“I’m sure he didn’t inform you of what he wanted in return. My head, perhaps? Or Olivia’s? I understand why you gave that charm to Officer Jones, but you shouldn’t have. Now she’s more vulnerable than ever because he knows you care for her.” William gave me a calculating glance and I shrugged. “That’s why he took my little swan; he could smell my touch on her. That’s the problem with making connections, especially human ones. Rogue vampires kill family . . .” He paused as though he’d said too much, then continued, “You must get the charm back.”

“How can I do that? You just told me that Connie is in danger from him now. Besides, he was in the car with me, as close as you are. He could’ve killed me anytime he wanted.” But then I remembered he might have tried when he almost grabbed me. Before the charm had stopped him.

“He made his intentions clear during our little confrontation. He’s more likely to go after you to get to me than he is to go after Consuela to get to you. I’ve told you, we’re the ones he wants. Just get it back.”

I stared straight ahead.

“Jack? Give me your word!”

“Okay. Okay.” Of course, I had no intention of getting it back. But I did need to talk to Connie as soon as possible to convince her to wear it. When she came to her senses and found that nasty-ass thing around her neck, she’d probably toss it in the nearest Dumpster.

By that time we were at Colonial Cemetery. We vaulted the fence and did a quick sweep, arguing the whole time about the relative merits of voodoo and why it wasn’t important that I know the whole story of the charms. There were no other vampires in the cemetery. If there had been, we probably would’ve scared ’em off with our bickering. “Where now?” I asked when we got back to the car.

“Bonaventure,” William said.

We jumped into the car and headed toward my own backyard. “What do you think he’s going to do with Shari?”

“I feel sure we’ll find her in much the same condition as your friend Huey.”

“What about Olivia? What if he catches her?”

As if I didn’t already suspect how much trouble Olivia was in, he then said something I never thought I’d ever hear from him.

“Step on it.”

William

Bonaventure turned out to be a dead end in more ways than one. Jack and I paced down each avenue but Reedrek’s scent was diffused. He’d been there, no doubt, and might return, but I couldn’t feel his presence.

We did find my Jag, however. It was parked on the grass at the easternmost boundary where the venerable old cemetery gave way to river marsh. It would have been the perfect place to watch the sun come up. Jack checked inside for the keys while I tested the air for a trap.

“No keys, but I can hot-wire it. I’ll need the tools in my ’Vette.”

I watched Jack walk away in the darkness, then turned to gaze at the water. The moon had risen and was flying, almost full. I studied the wavering reflection in the water among the saw grass and did my best to reach out without the aid of Lalee’s shells.

Other beings heard my call and, out of curiosity, I suppose, floated toward me. Faded faces, bloodless shapes tired of being abandoned under cold stone or abiding in tombs. They gathered in small knots near statues of angels and hovered among the swaying beards of moss in the trees. I ignored them—let them have their fun.

Come home, Olivia. Come back to us. We are stronger together.

I did not sense her here, but I hoped she would feel my call on the breeze. But instead of Olivia, it was Jack who returned in his rumbling car and set to work on the Jag. In less than two minutes he had it purring.

He opened the door for me to get in. “It stinks like the old man but there’s no damage that I can see.”

When I touched the door, I had a sudden vision of little Shari. “Open the trunk, Jack.”

He looked at me as if I was joking. “I’ll have to punch out the lock—in case you didn’t notice, we don’t have any keys.”

“Open it.”

Grumbling, Jack retrieved a crowbar from his car and placed the end of it against the lock. “It’s a damn shame to vandalize a fancy ride like this,” he said as he hit the bar. The lock popped inward and the trunk opened partway. Jack shoved it up. “Now what exactly—” He stopped when he saw the body. “I’ll be damned.” He dropped the crowbar and gently rolled her over.

Her skin looked so pale under the moonlight it seemed like milky glass. Blood was still seeping from the wounds in her neck, yet she had what could only be called a look of contented bliss. At least she hadn’t died screaming.

“Hey,” Jack said, pressing a hand to her neck. “She’s still alive.”

It was then that the true horror hit me. Reedrek had sworn to make me feed, he’d sworn to force me to increase my power and in turn his. I could only do that to any significant degree by making more of our kind. I could either allow Shari to die, or I could make her.