Vampire Affliction (15 page)

Do you want to take another sip of wine and see if you see anything?

Gertie was afraid, but she nodded.

Are you afraid of what you might see?
he asked.

She shook her head and whispered, “I’m more afraid of not having a talent. The snake thing might have been a fluke. I don’t want to let you and everyone else down.”

Jeno kissed the tip of her nose. “Never.”

She smiled back at him, wishing she felt as sure as he did.

Then Jeno grabbed the bottle of wine from Hector’s desk and passed it over to her. She took a sip and sank back in the sofa, passing the bottle back. The room began to spin as the dizziness swept over her.

She was running through a thick forest toward something. The branches snapped into her face as she picked through them in the darkness. Then she heard voices up ahead. She dodged another tree, turned around a bend, and saw a bonfire up ahead, on the side of the mountain. She ran to it.

As she neared the fire, she recognized the faces of vampires encircling it. Maenads and satyrs were also present. Her father must be among them too. She searched and searched and cried out for him.

Then she heard a scream. Gertie plunged through the crowd to the center near the fire to find Hector’s mother tied to a wooden post. Her wrists and ankles were bound with rope. Vladimir stood in front of her with a sword in his hand and Damien on his back. Before Gertie could say or do anything, Vladimir whipped the blade through the air and across Dori’s neck, slicing off her head. Gertie flinched and screamed as the vampires crowded Dori’s body to feed. They moved through Gertie like she wasn’t even there, like her body was nothing but air.

Gertie tried to wake from the vision, but she couldn’t. Not wanting to face the horrible sight before her, she turned to run away. On the outskirts of the crowd, waiting for her, was the golden ram, Dionysus.

Unlike the others in the vision, he looked at her like he saw her. Then he transformed from a ram into a man. He was large and muscular and beautiful, wearing a leather girdle and boots and a golden sword strapped across his chest.

“Why did you let them do that?” she asked him, as she caught her breath. “She was already tied up. She was no longer a threat. Why did they have to kill her?”

“This is war,” the god said simply. “But now that you have seen it, maybe you can prevent it.”

“You mean I have the power to alter my visions? They aren’t set in stone?”

“Only the Fates can see what is certain,” he said.

“Tell me what to do.”

“Don’t trust Hades.”

Gertie was taken aback. “But we need the helm. We made a deal.”

“When Erichthonius delivers Athena’s shield to you, bring it to me at Mount Kithairon.”

Gertie woke from the vision, gasping.

“Are you okay?” Jeno whispered.

She glanced at Hector’s sleeping figure on the bed before meeting Jeno’s gaze, feeling more confused than ever.

Chapter Twenty: Athena’s Shield

When Hector finally awoke a few hours later, Gertie described her vision to him.

“My mom!” He grabbed his phone from his desk and texted her. “Why didn’t you wake me up right away?”

“It’s not set in stone,” Gertie said. “And we can’t really do anything until nightfall.” Gertie hadn’t thought about texting Dori. Her stomach clenched as she glanced at Jeno. They should have woken up Hector hours ago.

“She’s not replying. We have to get to Mount Kithairon. We have to go now!”

“So you think we should betray Hades?” Jeno asked.

“We don’t have a choice,” Hector said. “That vision sounds like a threat. It sounds like Dionysus is saying to bring him the shield, or else my mom gets killed.”

Gertie crossed the room and put her hands on Hector’s shoulders. “That’s not how it felt. Now, calm down. We’re not going to let anything happen to her. Okay?”

Hector took a deep breath. “Okay.”

“But just to be safe, maybe you should go to Mount Kithairon and wait for me and Gertie to bring the shield,” Jeno said. “Gertie should bite you, so you can fly there right away. She’s probably starving, and we don’t have time to stop and feed.”

“I think we need to stick together,” Gertie said. “What if Hector gets captured?”

“No, I think Jeno is right. Bite me, so I can keep in touch with you.”

If Gertie had been told, “Bite me, so I can keep in touch with you,” say, four months ago, she would have found the sentence to be nonsensical. But tonight it made perfect sense.

“Are you sure, Hector?” she asked. “What if we need you to call Erich? What if we need you to sing?”

“She’s got a point,” Jeno said. “I didn’t think about that. We’ll be quick. All right, mate?”

He sighed. “Well, bite me anyway, so I can take off if I need to.”

Gertie’s mouth watered. She was hungry. For Jeno’s sake, she probably should have drunk from Hector’s wrist, but she wanted to comfort Hector. So she put her arms around his waist, kissed him on the cheek, and then quickly pierced his throat with her fangs.

She stopped herself at exactly eight ounces—a half pint.

Once Hector had recovered from the temporary paralysis, he grabbed his sword and his ukulele and said, “Let’s go.”

When they reached what was left of the Erichtheion, they were surprised by the sudden appearance of the golden snake. And balanced on the end of his tail was the shield of Athena.

“Brilliant!” Hector cried, reaching out for the shield.

“Not ssso fassst,” Erich hissed. “Before I entrust you with this ssshield, I need to know you’re worthy.”

“But…” Gertie started to object and then held her tongue.

“Anssswer thisss riddle correctly, and the ssshield is yoursss, but only temporarily, of courssse.”

The three teens glanced warily at one another.

“What walksss on four legsss in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?” the snake asked.

“I know this one,” Gertie whispered to the boys. “I’ve read this one a thousand times.” Aloud to the snake, she said, “The correct answer is
man.
The morning is really a symbol for infancy, when a man crawls on all fours. The afternoon represents adulthood, when a man walks on two legs. And evening is old age, when he walks with a cane, or a third leg.”

“Ssso it isss.” Erich moved his tail forward and passed the golden shield to Gertie, just as he had passed her the jug of wine in her vision.

“Thank you!” she said, finding the shield to be much heavier than it looked.

The snake vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

“Let’s go!” Hector said.

They flew northeast, toward Attica, and within minutes, the mountain came into view.

“There.” Jeno pointed.

Gertie followed his finger to find the smoke and flames dancing in a clearing surrounded by trees.

“Before we go, try your best to block your minds,” Jeno added.

Hector frowned. “You never taught me how.”

“Just try to pull the energy around you like a curtain, like a wall around your head,” Gertie said.

“Don’t worry.” Jeno clapped a hand on Hector’s shoulder. “All you care about right now is saving your mother. No one will begrudge you that.”

Hector squeezed Jeno’s hand. “May the gods help us.”

“Let’s fly to those trees first,” Gertie said. “So we can scope out the scene.”

Gertie led them to the branches of a tall pine, where they hovered and watched. Down below, Hector’s mother was already tied to the wooden post, exactly as Gertie had envisioned it!

In his animal form, Dionysus stood near the fire as the satyrs and Maenads encircled him in their dancing and pipe-playing. Some of the fifty or so vampires joined in the dance, but most hovered the perimeter as though they were keeping guard.

Gertie scoured the crowd and spotted Damien on Vladimir’s back and Phoebe standing not far behind. Gertie tried to penetrate Phoebe’s mind but found it powerfully blocked. Gertie suspected that Vladimir, who stood near the wooden post with a sword unsheathed and pointed at Dori, must have done something to prevent Phoebe from communicating with Gertie.

Hector handed his ukulele to Jeno. “Carry this for me? In case I need to use my sword?”

“Of course.”

“Ready?” Hector asked.

Gertie and Jeno nodded and followed Hector toward the golden ram.

“Aha!” Dionysus cried, and the crowd grew silent and watchful. “The three little friends have returned. I hope that’s Athena’s shield you are holding? And what weapon have you, Jeno? A ukulele?”

Dionysus and his entourage laughed.

“We’ve brought the shield. Now free my mother!” Hector insisted.

“First things first,” Dionysus replied. “I want to hear the vampire play a song. Don’t you?” he asked the crowd.

The Maenads, satyrs, and vampires cheered and applauded.

When their noise died down, Jeno said, “This doesn’t belong to me. It’s Hector’s.”

“Then let the young demigod play!” Dionysus commanded.

Hector looked at his mother, who gave him a reassuring nod. Then he took the instrument from Jeno and played the same song he’d played at the Erechtheion the previous night (to hear Hector’s song, go here:
https://soundcloud.com/travispohler/alive-again
):

I wish that I could feel alive again.

I don’t know where, where I’ve been.

I’ve been away, away somewhere.

I surely wanted to stay,

But I went, and I died, I died that day.

One day … I tried to stay.

I would have died either way,

And now my life has gone astray,

And I have felt Death’s embrace,

And I would like Death to delay,

And I would like to live another day.

One day … I want to stay.

I wish that I could feel alive again.

I don’t know where, where I’ve been.

I’ve been away, away somewhere.

“Lovely performance,” Dionysus said, and the crowd cheered.

Dionysus raised his hands to quiet the throng. “Don’t we all wish we could feel alive? That very wish is what my nighttime dances are all about. We hope to feel free in the moment, to
experience
the moment.”

Or to avoid things
, Gertie thought.

“Free my mother,” Hector insisted. “We brought you the shield.”

“Vladimir, when the shield of Athena is in my hands, cut his mother loose,” the golden ram commanded as the crowd quieted down again.

Carrying the shield, Gertie approached her father on shaky legs. Her feelings for him were mixed. She admired the fact that he wanted to help the vampires and was thankful that he had saved her from being executed by them, but she didn’t like the way he was treating Hector’s mother, or the way he was treating her. She was his daughter. Did he have no love for her?

As soon as she handed over the shield, Vladimir cut the ropes. Hector ran into his mother’s arms, embracing her and kissing her cheeks.

But before they could leave, Dionysus roared, “I have been tricked! This shield is a fake! Seize them! Execute them!”

They’d been deceived by the golden snake?

In Gertie’s vision, the snake had given her a jug of her father’s wine, not a shield. Should she have recognized that as a sign?

In the next moment, Vladimir’s blade cut through the air and across Dori’s neck before Hector could unsheathe his sword. Then Vladimir seized Hector by the throat and drained him as the other vampires swarmed Dori’s body.

Jeno and Gertie, forgotten in the blood lust and chaos, entered the crowd for Hector. Together they pushed and shoved their way to the center as the vampires were leaving the still bodies of Hector and his mother and the smashed ukulele and joining in another frenzied dance to the music of the satyrs. Hector had been completely drained and would die in a manner of minutes, just like his mother already had.

Jeno scooped Hector up in his arms, and then Gertie followed him away from the scene before anyone might notice they were gone, but the voice of Dionysus rang out above the throng of dancers and players just as they had lifted up into the smoky sky:

“You better return with the helm of invisibility, as originally planned, if you wish to live.”

Dionysus hurled the fake shield of Athena at Gertie like a Frisbee. She caught it with two hands and said nothing in reply as they rushed with Hector’s body toward Athens, once again leaving Phoebe and Damien behind.

Chapter Twenty-One: Hector’s Choice

Jeno led Gertie back to the barn, to the loft, where they’d been hiding out. He gingerly laid Hector down on the hay. Hector was awake, but his lips were blue, and he didn’t seem to be all there.

“Why here?” Gertie asked, catching her breath as she dropped the shield on the floor beside them.

Jeno sat back on his heels. “We’ll call the boy.”

“Where’s my mother?” Hector muttered through parched lips. “Is she…?”

“Gone,” Gertie said. “I’m so sorry.”

Hector stared back blankly, and then nodded.

“You will be too,” Jeno said. “Unless you drink blood. Unless you turn into one of us.”

Gertie heard the barn latch lift and the door creak open. The boy was coming. Jeno had called to him already.

“What?” Hector looked horrified. “You want me to become a vampire?”

“Oh, Hector.” Gertie fought back tears. “It’s either that or die. I’m so sorry.”

Gertie heard the boy enter the barn and cross to the ladder, leading up to the loft.

“Just let me die. You two could, then you could…”

“Stop talking like that!” Gertie said. “I don’t want you to die. I can’t…”

“I don’t want to live the rest of my life as a vampire,” Hector said.

“Hector, please!” Gertie begged.

“It won’t be permanent,” Jeno said.

The boy made his way toward the top of the ladder. Jeno’s power to mesmerize him without eye contact was made easier by the fact that the boy had already been bitten once—by Gertie.

“What do you mean it won’t be permanent?” Hector asked. “Your father did this to me. Are you saying...?”

“I’m saying we will kill him,” Jeno said. “Then you and Gertie will be free.”

Air rushed from Gertie’s throat as her mouth dropped open in surprise. “Jeno, I…”

Hector frowned. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I don’t want you to die,” Jeno said. “Not yet, anyway. You two are the only friends I’ve got.”

Hector blinked back tears and clasped Jeno’s hand like an arm wrestler before releasing it. “We’ll figure this out together.”

The boy reached the loft and stared dumbly at them.

Jeno climbed to his feet and said, “Very good. Now come, and we will make you strong.”

The boy took several steps toward them and stopped a few feet away.

“You have to drink,” Gertie whispered to Hector.

She climbed to her feet as Jeno beckoned the boy. The boy held out his wrist in obedience. She took it, pierced his flesh with her fangs, and offered the arm, spilling over with blood, to Hector.

Hector stared at the boy’s bloody arm in horror. “I can’t.”

Recalling what Calandra had once told her, Gertie said, “It’s always hard the first time.” Then she added, “Don’t think. Just drink.”

Hector sat forward and, trembling, put his lips to the boy’s wrist. After several seconds, his hesitance turned to enthusiasm, as he lapped up the blood already spurting from the wrist.

When half a pint had been taken from the boy, Gertie pulled the arm away from Hector and applied pressure to the wound. Both the boy and Hector were momentarily paralyzed as the vampire virus worked its way through their bloodstreams. Hector’s mind was an open book as he felt the changes happening throughout his body. What was already a dense, muscular build became even more so. His hair, teeth, and nails, grew slightly longer. He had already been beautiful; now, he was magnificent.

Jeno took the boy out flying to reward him for his sacrifice while Gertie remained in the loft with Hector.

“Do you really think he can help us kill his father?” Hector asked her.

“I trust him,” she said.

“I trust him, too. But maybe, when the time comes…”

I will not fail you
, Jeno spoke to them telepathically.
You have my word.

Hector lay back on the hay, covered his face, and wept.

Gertie curled up beside him, feeling numb and angry, and realizing, for maybe the first time in her life, that there was no one who would save her, no one who would protect her, and no one who could determine her fate but herself. It was the same for Hector and Jeno. If they wanted to ever find happiness in this world, there was no one, not even the gods, who would hand it over to them. They would have to figure it out, all on their own.