Vampire Affliction (9 page)

Chapter Twelve: Death Sentence

Gertie woke up in darkness, slouched against a wall of rock. Someone sat close beside her—too close for her to get a look at the person’s face. Before she could reach out with her mind to figure out who it was, the person spoke.

“You’re awake?”

“Hector?” She couldn’t believe it. “Hector, is it really you?”

“Yes. Are you hurt?”

“Where’s Phoebe? Where’s Damien?”

“What do you mean? Why would you ask me about Phoebe and Damien?”

She explained to him what had happened.

“I can’t believe this! Man, I just can’t.” He jumped up and paced the chamber. “Are they hurt?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know where they are. I can’t sense them anymore.”

Hector balled his fists. “I’m going to kill those tramps.”

“Please don’t talk like that. What happened to you, anyway?”

He took a deep breath and let it out. “I went back to my father’s temple last night. I prayed to him, but he didn’t appear. I tried to tell him what you said, about vampires being people, about appealing to the other gods for help. On my way back home, I was captured and brought here.”

“I’m so sorry. Did they get anyone else?”

“I don’t know.”

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

He shook his head. “What about you? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.” She was exhausted and starving, but nothing felt broken. If she’d been injured in the battle at Keto and Phorcyth’s castle, she had already healed. “I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried they’d killed you.”

“I was better before you got here.”

She blanched. “How can you say that to me?”

“I thought maybe Jeno would protect you, keep you from this place. You here? Not good.”

“Oh. What is this place?”

“The Minotaur’s labyrinth.”

That was good news to her. “Asterion and Ariadne are my friends. Maybe they could…”

“No. They can’t. Dionysus controls them.”

“How?”

“He’s got something over them. I don’t know. All that matters is that we’re at his mercy.”

“What are they planning to do with us?” she asked.

He didn’t need to answer. She could read his mind.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” He pointed to the wooden door. “We’ll have to ambush the next person that comes through. Kill them, if possible. Think you can handle that?”

She wasn’t sure. “Kill them?”

“It’s either them or us now, Gertie. Do you get that? It’s them or us.”

She let that sink in and then nodded. “Okay.” She wasn’t sure if she could really do it, but she wanted to believe she could. “I’ll help you kill the next person who comes through that door.”

“I think we’ll have a better chance if you bite me.”

She wrinkled her brow. “Only if the person comes in the next six hours.”

“What if you keep biting me? Don’t drink, just bite?”

She licked her lips without thinking.

He blushed.

“I’m so sorry.” She turned white. “I’m just so hungry. I’m starving.”

“Then drink, Gertie. My God, please.” He cupped her face. “Seriously, do it.”

Her fangs extended of their own accord, and the shock in Hector’s eyes didn’t even deter her as she pressed them into his neck. He stroked her hair as she drew in the warm nourishment. When she had taken a half a pint, she stopped herself.

Hector held onto her as the dizzy ecstasy took over.

“Thank you,” she said. “You’re so kind. So selfless. I’m not.”

When he could speak, he said, “You are. I’ve seen it.”

“During the fall dance, I was trying to help, trying to figure out what had gotten into Phoebe. She’d stopped signing, you know?”

He nodded.

“Then when everything went all crazy, after I got kicked out and you took me in, I tried to go back to erase their minds, hoping for a fresh start.”

He pushed a strand of her hair out of her face and said, “I know.”

“That was selfish of me. None of this would be happening right now if…” she dropped off, crossing her arms, her throat too tight with regret to continue. She couldn’t stop the tears from coming. They poured down her cheeks as she cried over what she had done. All of this was her fault.

Hector put his arms around her and held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head.

“None of this is your fault,” he whispered. “This was building up long before either of us was born.”

“Why didn’t I listen to you and stay away from the vampires?”

“Maybe this is all part of a greater plan.”

They both sensed a presence at the door and heard a chink of keys in the padlock. Like a gust of wind, they lifted off the ground and flattened their backs against the ceiling of the cave, just above the door. The plan was to spring on whoever opened the door, spring to kill, and then make a run for it. Gertie’s heart hammered in her chest as she tried to get a reading on the person at the door.

Just as the door cracked open, she sensed who it was.

Wait!
she shouted into Hector’s mind.
It’s Phoebe!

Phoebe lifted her face toward them, her mouth wide open in surprise.

“Phoebe!” Hector moved to the ground beside her and hugged her. “Are you okay?”

“It was smart of them to send her,” Gertie said. “Very smart.”

“They’re right outside,” Phoebe said.

Hector stepped back and gawked. “You can talk?”

The little girl blushed and nodded.

Hector hugged Phoebe once more. Gertie sensed that he was too choked up to speak. She flew down beside them, and, together, they opened the door all the way and peered outside their chamber.

A legion of vampires was lined up all along the narrow corridor.

“Where’s Damien?” Hector whispered.

“On Vladimir’s back,” Phoebe said. “Just like a little backpack.”

Gertie and Hector exchanged looks of concern as Phoebe led them from the room.

“This way,” she said. “Vladimir is waiting for us.”

Hector took Gertie’s hand, and they followed Phoebe past the line of vampire guards. The tunnel eventually forked. They took the corridor to the right. Gertie searched for Jeno among the faces and reached out with her mind, but she could not find him. When the tunnel opened up into a much larger chamber, Gertie realized why she hadn’t seen Jeno. He was bound by chains to the stone wall. Was he to be executed, too? Would Vladimir kill his own son?

Jeno, are you okay?
She reached out to his mind, but it was blocked and he did not answer.

Across the room, with Damien on his back, stood Vladimir. He instructed two vampire guards to chain Gertie and Hector to the wall alongside Jeno. Gertie’s knees were so weak with fear that she found it easier to fly a few inches from the ground than to walk.

One of the vampires forced her back against the wall as the other chained her. A very large vampire stood in the center of the room holding a very heavy ax.

A beheading. This was the way she and her friends would die.

I don’t want to die,
she said to all who might be listening.
I didn’t mean for Homer and the others to get killed.

Phoebe was sobbing now, but Gertie refused to cry. She didn’t want to spend the last few moments of her life in tears.

Vladimir stepped toward the middle of the room and said, “My brothers and sisters, today we mourn the deaths of ninety-eight of our friends and family members, our fallen champions of the uprising.” He took a scroll from the inside of his cloak, opened it, and then read the names of every person who had died, starting with Homer. “Aesop, Agatha, Bartholomew, Bernice….” When he had finished, he said, “It’s important to remember that each of these warriors were people just like you and me, hoping for a better future. Most of the gods and humans don’t see that. They think of us as creatures rather than people; but we are people, and we demand justice.”

As the vampires in the cavern applauded, Gertie was overwhelmed by the thought that all those lives were on her conscience. She had been responsible for their deaths.

No.
Hector said in her mind.
The vampires were responsible for those deaths. They were the ones who decided to attack humans. You did the right thing.

Vladimir silenced the crowd. “History has shown us that if a civilization is in need of change, a monumental effort must be made, and that effort usually involves brute force, violence, and sacrifice.” Vladimir stepped closer to Hector. “Injustice never fixes itself. No one in power willingly gives up his power. If people are subjugated, they must take the power for themselves.”

Several of the vampires shouted words of approval.

“It’s unfortunate, but necessary,” Vladimir said. “Gertrude’s act of betrayal has sent the message to our enemies that we are weak and divided and that our cause is not to be taken seriously.”

The crowd moaned a horrific “boo” to express its disapproval.

Gertie’s knees nearly buckled beneath her. She hovered when she couldn’t stand.

Vladimir lifted his hand for silence and said, “I took her in as my own daughter, and she betrayed me. She betrayed
us
. Nearly one hundred lives were lost and our efforts have been severely thwarted. For this, Gertrude Morgan must die.”

A roar of applause exploded in the cavern, echoing and ringing in Gertie’s ears. She had to struggle not to vomit.

The axman raised his ax in the air as a way of cheering on the crowd.

She turned to Jeno and said, “I love you, and I’m so sorry.”

It is I who am sorry
, Jeno said telepathically.

She gave him a sad smile. Then she turned to Hector and said, “And I love you, too, Hector. Oh, Hector...” Her sobs overtook her, and she couldn’t speak.

Hector looked at her with sad and frightened eyes. “Pray to my father to save us.”

Instead, she prayed to the god she believed was her own—Dionysus.

Save your daughter and her friends. If Hector dies, so will this uprising. If you spare us, we can help you back. We can steal something from the Olympians to get their attention. Show us that you really care about your children and the children of the night.

Her teeth were shattering, but she was beginning to feel numb and surprisingly calm. It was like the time the dentist had used laughing gas on her. Everything had seemed so surreal. That’s how this felt, like she was floating outside of her body and it was all a dream.

Then, when the axman stepped forward, something clicked in her mind, and she turned to Vladimir and shouted, “You would kill your own son? Why are you fighting this war, if not for him?”

“I’m not going to kill him,” Vladimir sneered. “His punishment is to watch.”

“I’d rather you kill me,” Jeno said. “I’ve never been more ashamed to be a vampire.”

“Let’s get this over with,” Vladimir muttered.

The axman positioned himself right in front of Gertie. He lifted the heavy ax up in the air. Gertie closed her eyes and said goodbye to the world. Several more seconds went by and nothing happened. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a wall of thick, golden vines surrounding her, Jeno, and Hector. They grew between them and everyone else, reminding her of the dream she had had the night of the dance with the Maenads and satyrs.

“What’s happening?” She looked back and forth at her two friends, but they were as shocked as she was. “What’s going on?”

“It appears that our lord, Dionysus, does not want you killed,” Vladimir said angrily on the other side of the vines.

“I wonder why?” the axman muttered.

Gertie finally allowed the tears that had been pricking her eyes to fall down her face as relief swept over her. She had really thought it was going to be the end.

The golden vines twisted and turned and began to recede back down into the rocky ground, but something white was left behind in their place. It was flat, like a platter, but had something written on it. Vladimir commanded the nearest vampire to pick it up and bring it to him.

“It’s Persephone’s platter,” Vladimir said. “At least, it has her name, along with ‘Queen of the Underworld,’ inscribed on it. I wonder why Dionysus has left this for me.”

Suddenly a bunch of red, ripe grapes appeared on the platter.

“The grapes from the vine of our lord,” Vladimir said.

Gertie doubted it would prove to be enough leverage for negotiating for the vampires’ freedom. How much would they care about one goddess’s platter, even if it was magical?

Then inspiration struck her like a bolt of lightning. It was a gift.

“Dionysus wants us to deliver it to Persephone as a gift,” Gertie said. “Because he wants us to steal something while we’re there.”

“Steal something?” Vladimir repeated.

“What’s the most powerful thing in the Underworld?” she asked.