Read Vampire Affliction Online

Authors: Eva Pohler

Tags: #Teen & Young Adult, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy, #Myths & Legends, #Greek & Roman, #Paranormal & Urban

Vampire Affliction (8 page)

BOOK: Vampire Affliction
9.12Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Chapter Ten: Damien and Phoebe

 

Gertie scrambled from the rooftop of the Angelis apartment building, flew into the first unlocked window she found, and rushed to the basement to see, firsthand, the open, empty tomb that belonged to Damien.

Mamá and Babá seemed unaware that Damien was missing, too. Hadn’t anyone come looking here for Phoebe? If the police had searched for her here, the empty tomb would mean nothing to him. But wouldn’t her parents have also searched in case Phoebe had come down to hide? No, of course not. Phoebe never went to the basement. Ever.

Gertie should tell them, shouldn’t she? Wasn’t it better for them to know, even if it would rip them apart with worry? If only she had a crystal ball to tell her what to do, or an oracle of Apollo, or anything.

They would blame Gertie for this and hate her even more than they already did. Tears streamed from her eyes as she imagined what they would say. But she had to tell them, anyway. It was the right thing to do.

She locked onto Mamá’s mind:
Mamá, it’s Gertie. Please don’t be afraid. I have some bad news. Can you come to the basement?

Gertie? Is this about Phoebe?

I think so.
It seemed unlikely that Damien’s disappearance was unrelated to Phoebe’s.

Are you alone? Or are there others with you? Jeno?

I’m alone. I promise it’s safe. I won’t hurt you, Mamá. Please don’t be frightened.

Gertie could sense how terrified Mamá was to go to the basement. She was scared of a trap. She was worried that Gertie was being used as bait to lure her into a nest of vampires. But her need to find her daughter propelled her down the stairs.

Mamá pulled the string over the basement steps, illuminating the otherwise dark room. Her trembling was painful for Gertie to watch.

“Mamá, it’s okay,” Gertie said. “It’s just me. I won’t hurt you. Please don’t be afraid.”

“Gertie?” Mamá’s teeth were chattering with fear.

“I wanted you to see for yourself.” Gertie pointed to Damien’s open tomb. “Damien is gone. Whoever took him must have taken Phoebe, too.”

Mamá covered her mouth with shaking hands. “Oh my heavens. Oh my heavens. My poor babies. You don’t know where they are?”

Gertie shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh my God. Please help me!” Mamá slumped onto the bottom step and covered her face.

Gertie dared to move closer to her. “I will do everything I can to bring them back to you. I promise.” Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she, too, was trembling. “If I have to die to make it happen, I will. Please believe me.”

Mamá looked up at her and then reached out her hands. “Come here, Gertoula.”

Sobs literally shook Gertie’s entire body as she fell into Mamá’s embrace.

“Oh, my sweet Gertoula,” Mamá said.

Gertie held on for dear life. “I’m so sorry, Mamá . I love you so much.”

“And I love you, koureetsi mou. I’ve just been so frightened.”

“I know. I promise to protect you and your family as best as I can.”

Mamá stroked Gertie’s hair. “I believe you. And thank you. You are my only hope of ever seeing my babies again.”

As much as Gertie wished she could stay longer in Mamá’s loving arms, she stood up to face her and said, “Listen to me. The vampires have organized themselves. It’s not safe at night.”

“It’s never safe at night.”

“It’s even worse. Don’t go out tonight especially. I’ll search for Damien and Phoebe, but you and the others have to stay indoors. Okay?”

Mamá nodded. “Thank you, Gertoula. Please be careful. I fear for your safety, too. You are another of my babies, you know.”

Gertie smiled as more tears streamed down her cheeks. Her throat tightened. She couldn’t speak.

“Your mother is here in Athens. Did you know that?”

Gertie nodded. “Yes.” She wanted to add,
and I’m looking right at her
, but she didn’t. Instead, she said, “I’ll come back with news as soon as possible.”

After flying up the basement stairs, Gertie whisked out the front door and up into the foggy sky. She reached her mind out to Jeno, to Vladimir, and to the rest of their clan. Surprisingly she sensed them just a few miles away. Terrified but resolved, she followed their scents to the south.

Jeno’s mind was guarded, so she was unable to get through to him until she was less than a mile away. He must have sensed her, for he reached out to her.

Gertie! It’s not safe!

She came to a halt and hung in the foggy air, full of indecision. Before she could make up her mind over what to do, she was surrounded by members of Vladimir’s clan.

With shocking speed, Vladimir flew to her and halted less than two feet away from her. “Welcome back. It’s your turn to hold the baby.”

Damien was thrust into her arms. He hissed at her and struggled to be free, but she held him tightly. “Please, Damien. It’s okay. I’m your friend.”

His mind was full of fear and hate.

“I wouldn’t trust her, if I were you,” Vladimir said. “I once thought she was my friend too. In fact, I had begun to love her like a daughter.”

Vladimir spit at her and turned away.

“I want Babá!” Damien cried.

She couldn’t believe Vladimir would spit on her. She was still reeling from the shock when Jeno appeared before her.

“Where’s Phoebe?” Gertie asked.

To her surprise and horror, Jeno stretched out his hand, and out of the fog appeared Nikita and Klaus’s little sister. She had been turned into a vampire.

“What?” Gertie covered her mouth, reading the fear and despair in Phoebe’s young mind. “How could you let this happen?” she asked Jeno.

“My father went to rescue Damien,” Jeno said. “He felt sorry for him, buried alive in the tomb, just as he had been.”

“But what about Phoebe? Why is she…?”

“Damien slipped from my father’s arms. Baby vampires are the most dangerous and least predictable, and….”

“Oh no,” Daphne cried.

“Damien went directly to Phoebe and drained her. She would have died if my father hadn’t given her blood.”

“I want Sissy,” Damien said.

“Oh, no,” Daphne repeated.

I’m scared
, Phoebe said directly to Gertie’s mind.

Phoebe?
Gertie replied telepathically.
I promise to take care of you. Don’t be scared.

Gertie wished she could do something—anything—to make the little girl feel better.

“I want my Babá,” Damien said, struggling against Gertie’s hold.

“We move on!” Vladimir shouted from the front of the ranks. “Bring the prisoners!”

That’s when Gertie noticed the struggling demigod bound and held by four vampires. At first she mistook the boy for Hector, but as she read his mind, she learned his name was Timothy. Gertie asked him telepathically if he knew where Hector was. The boy looked at her and shook his head.

Vladimir noticed the exchange and narrowed his eyes at Gertie.

Jeno gave Gertie a desperate look.
Get away from us as fast as you can. I’ll distract the others somehow. Go!

Even if she could escape with Damien, how could she leave Phoebe behind?

I can’t
.

A fellow clansman curled his hand around Gertie’s free arm and said, “Let’s go.”

Jeno moved in and asserted himself between the other vampire and Gertie. “I’ll take her from here.”

Damien hissed in her arms.

“Please, Damien. It’s all right. Jeno won’t hurt you.”

“It’s not me he’s afraid of,” Jeno said as they took off toward the sea. “It’s you.”

“Why would he be afraid of me?” she asked.

“Vampire killer,” Damien said in his little toddler voice.

Gertie’s mouth dropped open. She glanced at Phoebe on one side of her and Jeno on the other before turning back to the little boy struggling in her arms. “Why would you say that to me?”

“Those were my father’s words,” Jeno said.

Gertie jerked up her chin. “I’ve never killed a vampire.”

“Maybe not intentionally,” Jeno said. “But by warning the demigods about our plan, well, we lost a lot of our people tonight.”

Gertie didn’t know what to say. She stared down at the sea below them and swallowed hard. “How many?”

“Two whole clans were annihilated, and the surviving clans lost at least one or two vampires each. Maybe a hundred total.”

Faltering in the air, Gertie struggled to breathe. A balloon burst in her chest. As soon as she could speak, she asked, “How is that possible?”

“Homer was destroyed.”

Gertie covered her mouth. “And he was the maker of…”

“Maybe thirty. But they were also makers.”

“None reverted back to their human form? None of his clan survived?”

“He obeyed the laws against turning vampires. The members of his clan were all ancient bodies that disintegrated as soon as he was killed.”

“Vampire killer,” Damien said again.

“Please stop saying that,” Gertie insisted. “You’re frightening your sister.”

Will I ever be human again?
Phoebe asked her telepathically.

It dawned on Gertie that the only way to save Phoebe was to destroy Damien. How could she keep her promise to Mamá to save both of her babies? Tears pricked her eyes. She thought she would be sick, but she fought the overwhelming feelings of doom to be strong for Phoebe.

I will think of something, Phoeboula,
Gertie replied.
Don’t you worry, koureetsi mou.

Phoebe turned her big brown eyes to Gertie and gave her the faintest smile.

That’s when Gertie noticed that they had passed Alexander. She turned to Jeno. “Where are we going?”

“To the Minotaur’s Labyrinth,” Jeno said.
It’s not too late to run away
, he added.

I told you. I can’t. Why are you looking at me like that, Jeno?

I’m afraid for your life
, he said, squeezing her arm.
I think my father intends to execute you.

 

 

Chapter Eleven: The Mermaid and the Cave

 

Gertie blinked in disbelief.
But I can’t leave Phoebe and Damien behind. I promised Mamá
.

Then grab Phoebe’s arm and follow my lead.

Jeno took Gertie’s hand, and they all four plummeted toward the water at the speed of light. Jeno dragged them down deep, toward the ocean floor, winding this way and that. Gertie lost her sense of direction and wasn’t sure where they were in relation to the mainland. Just when Gertie thought she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, they swam up to the surface and found themselves in an enormous, dark cave.

All four vampires sat on the rocky bank of the water and caught at the air.

“If they don’t show up right on our heels, then we should be safe here,” Jeno said.

They clustered close together, all eyes on the water. Gertie thought of the trash compactor scene in
A New Hope
, when Luke Skywalker and friends know the monster is lurking in the oozy garbage they’re standing in.

“I want my Babá,” Damien said.

Gertie held onto the little vampire, patting his back and rocking him back and forth as she stared anxiously at the sea.

Tears flooded Phoebe’s eyes and streamed down her cheeks.

Gertie wiped them with one of her thumbs and said, “It’s all going to be okay. You’ll see.”

Phoebe’s tears turned to sobs. “I want to go home.”

Gertie’s eyes widened. She and Jeno exchanged grins.

“Phoebe! You can talk!”

Phoebe looked just as surprised as they, smiling through her tears. She pointed at her brother. “He let me go.”

“What do you mean?” Gertie asked.

“Now that he’s free, he let me go. He stopped possessing my mind.”

Gertie adjusted Damien in her lap so that she could study his face. He had such a sweet little face with round brown eyes and dark wavy hair. He looked more like Nikita than any of the others, and this made Gertie smile and hug him. “I don’t think he meant to possess your mind. I don’t think he understands what’s happening to him.”

Phoebe pursed her lips and shook her head. “All he cares about is being free, nothing else.”

“I don’t think they’re coming,” Jeno said. “That means you have a fighting chance. And this cave is a perfect hideout. Better than I imagined.”

“You’ve never been here before?” Gertie asked.

“No. I had no idea where I was going. I’m not even sure where we are, but I’ll figure it out.”

Gertie put an arm around Phoebe and said to Jeno, “Must have been hard for you to go against your father.”

Jeno frowned. “He gave me no choice. I couldn’t let him kill you.”

“I want my Babá,” Damien said again. “I’m hungry.”

“We’re all hungry.” Gertie appealed to Jeno. “What should we do?”

“I’ll go scout for a place to hide for the day, and then we’ll feed at night.”

“Don’t leave us,” Phoebe said, her face scrunched up again in tears. “I’m so scared.”

“But you’ll be safe here.” He patted Phoebe on the back. “If the others didn’t see where we went, they won’t be able to track us. Vampires can’t hear or smell underwater.”

“Thank you for that interesting education in the ways of vampires,” a female voice said from across the cave.

Jeno climbed to his feet and asked, “Who’s there?”

The beautiful face of a woman emerged from the water. She watched them carefully as she swam to a rock and pulled herself out and onto it. She had the tail of a fish.

“A mermaid!” Phoebe cried and happily clapped her hands.

Gertie blinked her eyes and gawked.

“Who are you running from?” The mermaid pulled her wavy brown hair over one shoulder and combed it with her fingers.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jeno said. “They aren’t coming.”

She flapped her tail against the rock, changing positions. “What makes you so sure?”

“They’d be here by now.”

She adjusted the seashell crown on her head. “How long do you expect to hideout here, in my cave.”


Your
cave?” Gertie asked.

“Just until we find another place,” Jeno said.

“You’d be a lot more comfortable in my husband’s palace at the bottom of the sea.”

“Wait,” Gertie said with a big smile on her face. “I know who you are. You’re Amphitrite, Poseidon’s wife. I’ve read about you. You’re a mermaid, you’re beautiful, you wear a seashell crown, and your husband has a palace at the bottom of the sea. I can’t believe I’m meeting Amphitrite.” She turned to Jeno. “She’s actually a Titaness—older than the Olympians, though you can’t tell by looking at her. She doesn’t age.”

The mermaid smiled. “Thank you. As I said, I can take you to my husband’s palace, if you wish. But I wouldn’t recommend that you stay here in this cave much longer.”

“Why?” Gertie asked.

Suddenly, a gigantic monster reared up from the water just behind the mermaid’s rock. The monster’s six necks were twice as long as the Hydra’s one, and its six serpent-like heads each had three rows of teeth and a darting, hissing tongue. It also had twelve long dangling legs, like tentacles, and the heads of six yelping dogs at its waist. Two long arms with pincers shot up from the monster’s sides as it roared. Gertie had read about this monster and had recognized it immediately.

Scylla.

The mermaid on the rock didn’t flinch but winked and whispered, “Coming?” just before she dove into the sea.

Jeno grabbed Gertie’s hand, and Gertie took Phoebe’s and held onto Damien as Jeno dragged them once again through the ocean on the heels of the goddess.

As they wound around coral and dodged schools of fish, Jeno said to her telepathically,
Just hold on. I’ll get us to safety soon.

It was weird hearing his thoughts in her mind but not hearing anything else in the whole wide sea. She realized Jeno had been right: vampires cannot hear or smell in water. She hadn’t really noticed before because they had done all of their communicating underwater telepathically.

Now that they were far away from Scylla, Gertie relaxed a bit to enjoy the scenery. Light filtered in from the surface, adding vibrant color to everything. And it was breathtaking—the colorful schools of fish, the coral and anemone on the ocean floor, and the interesting shells of the crustaceans hobbling along below them.

The light also meant dawn had come. Gertie hoped they could stay at Poseidon’s castle until dusk. She didn’t want Phoebe and Damien to experience the scorching pain from the sun. She tried not to worry and focused, instead, on the exciting possibility that she would soon meet Poseidon, one of the most amazing gods in the pantheon.

As they came upon a steep drop in the ocean floor, the castle in the distance came into view. It wasn’t what Gertie had expected. It looked more like a ruin than a lived-in castle and was covered in barnacles and seaweed. In books, the castle always appeared majestic and beautiful. Well, she supposed the stories didn’t always get everything right.

A drawbridge opened and they followed the goddess inside. Unlike the vampires, Amphitrite could breathe and speak underwater, and she said something to the guards, but Gertie couldn’t hear what. When she tried to read the goddess’s mind, she found a powerful wall blocking it.

The guards escorted them into an antechamber that was empty of water. The pressure felt strange and the air was dense and humid, making it less comfortable than the air above water.

“You can have a seat if you’d like.” The mermaid pointed at a bed of smooth boulders on one side of the room.

Gertie held Damien in her arms and sat between Phoebe and Jeno on the black rocks. Across from them was an object that resembled a scale. On the bottom was a silver square platform, and above it was a gauge with a red needle. On the left, in green letters, the gauge read, “kalós,” the Greek word for “good.” On the right, in red letters, it read, “kakós,” the Greek word for “bad.”

Amphitrite noticed them studying it. She glided on her tail over to it and said, “This was once Apollo’s. It’s a magical scale that tells me which of my guests is good and which is bad. The good guests get my husband’s assistance; but the bad ones are fed to our children.”

Gertie’s throat tightened.

“Fed to your children?” Jeno asked, squeezing Gertie’s hand.

“You should have nothing to fear. From your conversation in the cave, it sounds as though you are all good people, even if you
are
vampires.”

But Gertie did have something to fear. She wasn’t sure if any of them were completely good, especially her.

“Who are your children?” Gertie asked.

“You met one of them in the cave,” the mermaid said with a wry grin.

Oh, no!
Gertie said to Jeno.
I think I was wrong.

Yeah, I figured that out, too.

“Your husband isn’t Poseidon, is it?” Gertie asked in a quavering voice.

The mermaid shook her head. “His name is Phorcys.”

“I know who you are.” Gertie swallowed hard. Her throat was tight and felt like it had a lump in it.

“Oh?” the mermaid taunted.

“Keto,” Gertie said. “The mother of monsters.”

“I’m glad we got that straightened out,” Keto said. “I didn’t want to correct you before and appear rude. Who would like to climb onto the scale first?”

“That’s okay,” Jeno said. “Thank you anyway. We’ll be on our way.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Keto said. “The only way I can let you leave is if you have a pure heart. If your heart isn’t pure, well, then, it would be wrong to let you go.”

Gertie tightened her hold on Damien as Phoebe’s eyes filled with tears.

“Then I’ll go first.” Jeno climbed onto the silver platform.

Gertie was afraid to look at the gauge. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She hugged Damien close and squeezed Phoebe’s hand. She was shocked and relieved when the needle swung to the “good” side.

“Now the little girl,” Keto demanded.

Trembling, Phoebe stepped to the platform.

Gertie held her breath but wasn’t surprised when the needle swung to the “good” side.

“All right, then,” the goddess said. “See? I said you have nothing to fear.”

“I’ll go next,” Gertie said, handing Damien over to Phoebe.

Her legs were shaking uncontrollably as she stepped onto the silver platform. Unable to see the gauge herself, she was terrified when Jeno frowned.

“I’m bad?” Gertie asked. “I don’t have a pure heart?”

“Not bad and not good,” Keto said. “The needle stayed right in the middle.”

“What does that mean?” Gertie asked through chattering teeth.

“It means your destiny is still undecided,” Keto said. “You could go either way.”

“So you won’t feed me to your children?” Gertie asked.

Keto pulled her brown hair over one shoulder and began combing it with her fingers. “I don’t think I can risk letting you go. What if you end up a villain?”

Gertie ran to Jeno’s arms.
What can we do? Don’t let her feed me to the monsters!

“I need the baby to get on the scale.” Keto slid over to Phoebe and pried Damien from her arms. “Stand here, little boy.”

“I want my Babá!” Damien cried, breaking into sobs.

Keto stepped back from the scale and all of them looked up at the gauge. To Gertie’s horror, the needle swung fully over to the “bad” side.

“Oh, dear,” Keto said, smiling.

Just then, the door to the antechamber burst open, and a legion of vampires swarmed inside, flying in all directions as the water spilled in and began filling up the room.

Before Damien was overtaken by the flood, he said with glee, “Babá! You came!”

 

BOOK: Vampire Affliction
9.12Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Raine on Me by Dohner, Laurann
Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Screening Room by Alan Lightman
The Truce by Mario Benedetti
Danger! Wizard at Work! by Kate McMullan
Armed Humanitarians by Nathan Hodge
The Immorality Clause by Brian Parker