The Vampire's Seduction (44 page)

I watched in awe as my own hand rose to point a finger at Reedrek. Greenish yellow fumes poured snakelike from the tip, twining around my grandsire head-to-foot as he twirled. The smell of sulfur—fire and brimstone—burned my nose. This voodoo stuff was pretty cool. Just as I was wondering what the smoke could do, a flame sparked from under my fingernail. Tiny flickering tongues of fire ignited along the rings of the circling smoke, surrounding Reedrek like a Christmas tree decorated with candles. His spinning slowed but the flames remained floating mere inches from his clothes. The warning was clear.

He was trapped.

I began to shrink down to regular size but still felt as supercharged as a fuely dragster revving for the green light.

I went to William first and raised him from the floor.
I have to help him. I only wanted to be like him—strong.
Suddenly the half-empty vial of blood floated before my eyes. I moved it to William’s lips.

“Drink the rest,” I said in a strange, French-tinged voice.

William’s eyes opened, but he only stared at me. “You’ve come back,” he mumbled, like a dying man seeing visions. I wasn’t sure he was talking to me since I hadn’t gone anywhere. And he was in bad shape. Half his face was melted from my bad holy-water aim, while his neck and chest oozed blood from Reedrek’s attack.

“Come on,” I coaxed in a voice closer to my own. “Drink it.”

He let me hold it to his mouth but took only a sip. “All the rest,” I ordered. Although I’d sort of enjoyed that whole ten-feet-tall thing, once was definitely enough. Let William see how he liked having someone as wild and powerful as Lalee inside his head.

I upended the vial to help him get it down. Then, as I watched, the damage from the holy water disappeared and the skin around his neck wound knitted together. A rushing sound came from his chest—flesh meeting flesh, healing. It was like an unholy miracle—if there is such a thing—a reversal of what William did for me on the battlefield that night. A repayment, a settling of scores. Blood for blood.

I propped him up against the closest piece of furniture before taking the dregs of blood left in the vial to Renee and Melaphia. As I squatted down, Renee and Melaphia both threw themselves into my arms, nearly knocking me over on my butt.

“Maman . . .” I heard Melaphia’s joyful whisper as her sturdy arms held me prisoner. When she finally loosened her grip to meet my gaze I saw tears in her eyes. She drew in a deep breath of relief. “Maman, you and Jack have saved us all.”

I didn’t know what she was seeing inside my head but I had the uncomfortable notion that I should say something. “I—uh—” My voice cracked and left me. Renee’s little arms stayed clamped around my neck.

“I am always about,” we said in that strange patois. “Come, chile, let me see what the nasty one has done to my baby.” With gentle hands I loosened Renee’s hold on my neck and let Lalee do her thing.

The blood,
she instructed. I ran a finger along the edge of the vial until it was wet and red. Then I smeared it on Renee’s injured arm. The damage Reedrek had caused healed so quickly I jerked my finger back in surprise. The scent of cinnamon and ginger flowers rose around us.

“There, chère. It’s all good now.”

Renee laced her fingers into mine. “Thank you, Maman.”

“I know you are a good girl—doing what your mama say. You’ll be like me someday soon. Yes? And you will help the sleeping goddess find her way?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“That’s right—nothing to fear. My blood guards you, as it guards those around you.”

“Jack?” William was shaking my shoulder. “Get Reedrek below, into the tunnels. I’ll clean up this mess and then we’ll take him to the river warehouse.” Before I could figure out how he supposed I could do that, he took the vial from my hand and moved over to the heap of five vampire bodies on the floor. One by one he painted their mouths and injuries with dabs of voodoo blood. They healed and began to revive.

I’d thought they were goners.

The tinkling of glass turned me around. The broken chandelier was rising, with William’s help. When it floated near the damaged ceiling, William waved a hand, sort of like a better-dressed Reedrek, and the people in the room returned to normal. Just in time for the chandelier to crash to the floor for the second time. That was our signal to get out of Dodge.

Soon, with Melaphia leading, we were all, except William and Tobey, filing down the cellar stairs. I brought up the rear with Reedrek floating behind me like a tethered balloon. Showers of sparks crackled and fell anytime he floated too close to the ceiling or a wall. If we weren’t careful, we might set the whole house on fire. It took only a few moments for me, using Lalee’s second sight, to locate an entrance to the tunnels behind a dusty wine rack in the eastern wall of the cellar.

As we waited, Olivia touched my face as if she’d never seen me before. “Wow. You feel like a bloody lightning storm is going on under your skin. I’m surprised you’re not setting your clothes on fire.” She bared her fangs in a half-serious way. “What I wouldn’t give for a taste of that kind of power.” Then her gaze moved to Reedrek where he hung unconscious and suspended. “Then again, I wasn’t so lucky upstairs.”

I felt Lalee rise inside me. “Keep your teeth to yourself. You were all foolish to take on one such as he,” she said. “The blood the Captain gave you the night you set foot in Savannah is the only reason you survived. Don’t try it again.”

William

It required two hours and a great measure of Tobey’s charm to calm the guests. While he entertained them with stories of great magicians and their most ambitious failures, I held quick conferences with the city officials present about faulty wiring and building-code violations. Since none of the mortals had been injured, they were willing, even eager, for the party to go on. But I did use the incident to educate them on the need for the new hospital emergency wing and blood bank we were there to support. Money and publicity—that was the name of this particular game. Jack could take up the plans where I left off.

Placating Eleanor was another matter altogether.

She who must be obeyed had felt the menace in the room and knew something threatening had taken place but remained as calm and serene as Aphrodite. She made a point to stay within touching distance as I soothed wealthy feathers and laughed off concerns, her gaze speaking volumes when our eyes met.

But I couldn’t help her understand, or promise her any sort of tomorrow. I, a creature with unending patience and time, had a date with death. My fate waited below, in the tunnels.

Jack

When Melaphia was satisfied that Lalee had left the building, so to speak, and it was clear we vampires could take care of Reedrek from there, she left us at the entrance to the tunnels and took Renee home to bed.

By the time our little fang gang got Reedrek through the maze of tunnels to the warehouse, Lalee’s magic was fading. Since I didn’t know how to bring it back now that the voodoo blood was gone, we tied him up in a generous length of anchor chain with links as big as my fists put together and left him in a dark corner of the building behind some antique furniture—just in case any of William’s workers came in before daylight and wondered why we had an old dude tied up on the floor. Weakened by the holy water and the other vamps’ suckfest, he’d be safe enough to handle for a while. He was still caterwauling about how if we managed to kill him, other vamps would come to kick our uppity New World asses when I stuffed an oily rag in his mouth and told him to suck on it.

“Is he telling the truth?” Werm asked.

The rest of us looked at one another. Finally Gerard, who seemed to know more about the global bloodsucker situation than the rest of us, said, “Almost certainly.”

“You know what? I’m sick of worrying about tomorrow. Why don’t we deal with right now?” I suggested. After the infusion of Lalee’s blood, I was feeling like the Incredible Hulk on steroids, ready to take on Reedrek or anything else for that matter. And it wasn’t just the physical strength talking. I had a brand-new sense of confidence, too. Whether it was from the voodoo blood, the rush of gaining William’s trust, or my satisfaction in actually tricking Reedrek with the holy water, I didn’t know. All I knew—it was coming from inside me, not from some damned sissy jacket.

Even the other vamps were looking at me like I was large and in charge. Olivia said, with something like awe in her voice, “Yes, Jack. Whatever you think we should do. Just tell us.”

“Okay, y’all. Listen up. I’m not rattled by Reedrek’s weird threats, but I’m getting the sun’s-fixing-to-rise-so-get-me-the-hell-outta-here heebie-jeebies. It took so long to get Reedrek, with his personal version of hell swirling around him, through the tunnels that the party should be well over, so—”

Just then William and Tobey came through the passageway from the tunnels to the warehouse, interrupting me.

“We thought you’d never get here,” Olivia declared, rubbing the tension from her crossed arms.

So much for
my
fifteen minutes of fame.

“We had to tie up some loose ends,” William said. He looked toward the place where Reedrek was hidden, sensing him there. Then he turned to me with the barest hint of a smile. “Good work at the party, Jack. I knew all along you would have a plan.”

I didn’t get a hint of emotion from him. He was blocking me again. That was okay, though. He’d come through when it counted. I had a lot to sort through mentally and a lot of questions to ask once we’d done away with Grandpappy dearest. At least now I knew he’d give me the answers. I acknowledged William’s compliment with a smile of my own. Even if he was back to lying, it was nice of him to say.

“What are we going to do with Reedrek?” Iban asked.

“We have to kill him,” Olivia stated flatly. “William can’t, and it would probably harm the others of us in Reedrek’s bloodline. But Tobey could. Just stake him and be done with it.”

“I wouldn’t mind giving the old stinky dude a poke myself. But what if one stake isn’t enough?” I said. I wasn’t in the mood for taking any more chances. Lalee might not help save us a second time.

William was oddly silent. I expected him to be the man with the plan as always, but he stood back and let the others argue over Reedrek’s fate—and argue they did.

“Okay. I’ll do it,” Tobey said. “How should I—”

“Wait. Why don’t we just drag him out to the dock and leave him there for the sun?” Olivia suggested.

“Sure,” Tobey said. “And who’s going to stand there and watch to make sure he doesn’t slip away instead? It’s too close to water to take that chance—thirty feet down and he’s safe from the sun. I know. I was a surfer.”

“I have a better idea,” Gerard said. “Help me get him back to my laboratory. He’s so ancient—if I could just study his genetic makeup—”

“No way!” Olivia said. “He killed my Alger. He has to burn in hell!”

“Hold on,” Iban said. “There might be other advantages to keeping him alive. What if the other dark sires come looking for him. Perhaps we can use him as a bargaining chip. Who knows what they’d trade for him?”

Olivia’s creamy skin began to redden. “And have Reedrek telepath them all our secrets? Like the potency of the voodoo blood and where the New World colonies are? I can vouch for the strength of his enthrallment. Who knows what kinds of information his mind can glean from us?”

The argument went on and on. I tried to jump in and point out
again
that the sun creeping toward the horizon was making my eyelids itch, but it was hard to get a word in edgewise. Finally, I looked toward William to see why he wasn’t stepping in to settle all this, seeing that he was our leader. But—just like that—he wasn’t there anymore.

“Where’s William?” I interrupted. The others looked around and then at one another. We couldn’t see William, and we could no longer smell Reedrek. I raced around to the spot where we’d left the old demon and, sure enough, he was gone, too.

“Why would William take him?” Tobey asked.

“
Where
would he take him?” said Gerard.

“I don’t know,” I said. “But wherever they went, it must be underground, because the sun’s about to come up. You all go back to that last big intersection we came through in the tunnels. Split up and go in different directions. I’m going to check the waterfront and I’ll join you if I don’t find them. Go.”

This time nobody argued. Only Werm gave me a last look back, for reassurance, I guess. I gave him a nod, and he turned and left with the others. I felt for the poor, confused little bastard for the first time since he’d been made. Who was going to teach him about being a vampire? He’d need my protection for the foreseeable future, and I’d give it, as William had given it to me.

Where the hell could William be?

I rushed out of the warehouse and onto the dock. In this small hour of the morning, a human being would have only heard silence, smelled nothing, felt only alone. My senses, already sharpened by my backward mating with Olivia, had exploded after I’d drunk the purest blood of the most powerful
mambo
who had ever drawn breath on these shores. Power rose inside me like oil through a wick. I heard the fish below me drawing water through their gills. Through the early-morning fog, I saw amphibians hibernating and felt the stubbly scrub grass on the far bank of the river. I could smell the catch of the nearest shrimp boat, four miles away.

And I knew by my mutated blood that if I gathered my concentration well enough, and if William let his guard down only slightly, I could get at his thoughts. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and called out to my sire, searching for him through the fog, feeling my way along the nerves and synapses of my mind for any path to him. The voodoo magic in my blood sought itself out in his. And I found him.

Take care of them, Jack. My humans and my city. They’re yours now. You are my rightful heir. Good-bye.

My eyes sprang open. “Good-bye, hell.”

William

As the bow of the motor launch cut through the glassy water of the river, headed for the sea, I felt elation rather than fear. The early-morning fog was thinning. I was about to see my first sunrise in more than five hundred years. Huzzah! It would be worth frying. Not only that, I would have the added bonus of watching my sire burn.