Bloodliner (16 page)

Will the good twin influence the bad, or vice versa? I've done my best to raise James well, but vampires, of all people, know how thick blood can be.

"How do you like that, Shakespeare?" said Genghis. "Our kids have hit it off."

Is that what you expected when you surprised us with Thomas in the first place? If so, what's the ultimate goal of your plan?

Do you wish to distract me at a crucial moment? Turn the boy against me altogether? Or something more devious and disastrous?

Something I cannot yet see.

"Orlokplatz, dead ahead," said Genghis. "Do you think the rabbits know they might die here?"

Shakespeare stared into Berlin's twinkling lights. "We'll see they leave intact."

"I almost hope the gateway's not here," said Genghis.

"Why is that?" said Shakespeare.

Genghis brushed the red feathers of one huge wing over Shakespeare's back. "Maybe I don't want this alliance to end so soon. Maybe I've seen the light."

"Or maybe we haven't gotten to the 'good' part yet," said Shakespeare. "Good for
you
, that is."

Genghis chuckled. "I wish I'd had you with me back in the day," he said, "back when I was slaughtering villagers across the steppes and deserts of Asia."

"And I wish I'd had you on stage with me at the Old Globe Theatre in London," said Shakespeare.

"Why do you say that?" said Genghis.

"For the same reason, I suspect," said Shakespeare. "To have someone to throw to the wolves while I slip out the back way."

Genghis laughed. "How right you are," he said. "You're a better
asshole
than an
actor
, that's for sure."

"Coming from you," said Shakespeare, "that is high praise indeed."

*****

 

Chapter 40

Elephants trumpeted in the Berlin night. Somewhere nearby, a lion roared as Stanza got out of the red rent-a-car. "Here we are."

Mavis jumped at the sound of screeching monkeys when she set foot on the cobblestone street. "What was that?"

"The Berlin Zoo's a few streets over." Stanza gestured in the direction of a tree-lined park a block away, then pointed at an old brownstone building across the street from the rent-a-car. "And that right there is Number 8 Schreckstrasse. Perfect location."

Mavis shivered from the chill in the air. "Why is it so perfect?" She sank her cold hands in the pockets of her navy blue hoodie sweatshirt.

"The closer to a blood supply, the better," said Stanza.

"The zoo?" said Mavis. "They drink
animal
blood?"

"We
can
," said Arthur. "But human blood tastes better. It's like the difference between water and wine."

"Whoops." Mavis smiled sheepishly. "I forgot you're one of them."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Arthur bowed. "And I'll return it. Your beauty and grace make me forget
you're
not a
vampire
."

Mavis felt herself blush.

Just then, she thought she heard Jonah mumble something...but she couldn't be sure. Jonah stood apart from the rest of the group, keeping to himself unless asked a direct question. Ever since his argument with Mavis on the train, there had been a wall between them.

Mavis felt a little bad about that, but not bad enough to apologize. Maybe it had been unfair to beat up Jonah for not watching out for her in Lyonesse, but Mavis couldn't let go of her anger at his parents. Jonah was guilty by association, and Mavis wasn't feeling big enough to let him off the hook.

Mavis turned her back on him. "So what do we do now?"

"We go up and see if Conrad Kirkellan's home," said Stanza.

Stanza crossed the street and headed for the building's glass front door. Arthur and Mavis followed. Jonah was dead last. He didn't hurry, though Arthur waited and held the door open for him.

After entering the outer door, everyone squeezed into a vestibule facing a metal door painted coppery reddish-brown. Stanza couldn't budge it—but Arthur flung it wide open as if it had never been locked or latched.

"Ladies," he said, bowing and ushering Stanza and Mavis inside.

On her way past, Mavis stole a glance at the door jamb. She saw that Arthur had snapped off the deadbolt in the lock.

Inside the musty lobby of the old building, there was no elevator. Without a word, Stanza led everyone down a short hall and through a copper-colored fire door into a stairwell. Arthur, Mavis, and Jonah fell in behind her as she climbed the dimly lit stairs.

At the top floor, the fourth, Stanza opened another fire door and stepped through. Arthur followed.

When Mavis tried to walk through after them, however, she ran smack into Arthur's hand. He was holding her back. He was holding on to Stanza, too, gripping her right arm. Something else had hold of her left.

It was shaped like a man, and it was two feet taller than Arthur. It looked like it was made of rippling, ruby-red fluid.

It looked like it was made of blood.

*****

 

Chapter 41

As soon as Jonah stepped through the door and saw the blood-man, he knew what it was. He remembered similar constructs made from his own blood by the beautiful blonde vampire in the alley back in Tucson.

Only they weren't in human form.

Suddenly, Arthur hauled Jonah forward by the shoulder. "Take this!" Arthur grabbed Jonah's hand and clamped it tight around Stanza's free arm. "Don't let go!"

The second Arthur let go of Stanza, the blood-man tugged hard, nearly wrenching her arm from Jonah's grasp. Jonah managed to hold on, though, and didn't lose any more ground.

With Stanza in Jonah's care, Arthur charged around the blood-man into the dimly lit recesses of the fourth floor.

The blood-man tugged on Stanza again, yanking her forward. Grunting, Jonah fought to pull her back, without success...and then he got help. Without a word, Mavis clamped her hands on Stanza's arm alongside Jonah's.

Together, Jonah and Mavis held Stanza steady. Jonah stared at the blood-man's blank face, swirling with shades of crimson and scarlet...and then, sudden motion caught his eye.

Jonah looked behind the blood-man in time to see Arthur hurl open a door and plunge through the doorway. A moment later, when Arthur stumbled back into the hall, he was enveloped in a shell of blood. Another blood-man came after him, striking and kicking him, making him spin around blindly.

"What should we do?" said Mavis.

"This is...hemomancy." Stanza's voice was strained. "Blood magic. Somewhere in here...there's a bloodcaster...creating these hemoforms. You have to find the bloodcaster...and stop him."

Jonah redoubled his efforts to pull Stanza free, to no avail. "If we let go, you'll be sucked in!"

"Just go!" said Stanza. "It's our only chance!"

Mavis grimaced from the effort she was exerting. "We can't just let go of you!"

"Do it!" said Stanza. "I
know
you don't have...a
better
idea."

Jonah met Stanza's gaze. She started fighting him, trying to pull her arm from his grip.

"Cut it out!" said Jonah.

Stanza kept fighting. "Do what I said! Let go!"

Jonah swallowed hard and looked at Mavis.

"One," he said.

"No!" said Mavis.

"Two," said Jonah. "
Three
." With that, he released Stanza's arm. Mavis held on a second longer; then she let go, too.

And as they watched, Stanza was sucked back into the rippling crimson body of the hemoform. The blood flowed over her like a shroud and sealed itself, closing her off from the outside world.

"Come on!" Jonah bolted around the staggering, crimson-shelled form of Stanza, heading deeper into the fourth floor. Mavis ran after him.

*****

 

Chapter 42

As Jonah and Mavis ran down the hallway, two hemoforms grabbed for them from opposite sides. The liquefied creatures spattered them both with blood but didn't otherwise manage to touch them.

Jonah wondered how much longer they'd be lucky like that. Now that Arthur and Stanza were down, he and Mavis were the only cavalry in town.

Find the bloodcaster. You can do it. You've got no idea what to do after that, of course...but keep looking. Cross that bridge when you come to it.

Jonah stopped and threw open a door, prepared to leap away if a hemoform made a grab for him. He quickly realized the room was empty and sprinted across the hall to the next door.

That room was empty, too, and Jonah moved on to the next. He tried not to pay attention to the muffled cries of Stanza and Arthur behind him.

Jonah reached for another doorknob—and it jumped out of his hand before he could turn it. The door flew inward, and something slammed into him in a blur of red.

Jonah went down hard on his back. The red blur vaulted over him, and he heard Mavis scream.

Jonah tried to sit up, but something hit him in the chest, and he crashed back down to the floor. The next thing he knew, he was staring up at someone's boot.

Looking further, Jonah saw that the boot on his chest belonged to a snarling bald man. A snarling bald man with the fangs of a vampire.

And a familiar face.

Conrad Kirkellan.
Jonah recognized him instantly from his vision in the Garden of Tears.

Mavis screamed again. There were muffled cries from the direction of Stanza and Arthur, and something heavy hit the floor back there.

Jonah's heart hammered under the boot. His nose filled with the smell of leather and body odor.

Conrad wiped his bloody hands on his red t-shirt and black pants. "Who sent you?" He spoke with a thick German accent. He ran his hands over his scalp, which was tattooed with elaborate black curlicues. "Darkhauser? That bitch Ingrid?"

With everyone else off the board, Jonah knew he had to get his act together in a hurry. He had to improvise, no matter how scared he was. Forget about his chickenshit past.

And don't think about what this vampire can do to me.

Jonah drew a deep breath and released it. Then, he started talking. "Is this any way to treat customers, Conrad?"

"Customers? Who know my name?" Conrad's lips curled back in a sneer. "You've come to the wrong place then. Nothing for sale here."

"Sure there is," said Jonah. "We came all the way from Blutgeliebter, New Mexico to buy from you. Mother Nothing sent us."

The pressure of the boot on Jonah's chest let up a little. Conrad fixed him in a penetrating stare.

Jonah clenched his teeth and stared back with equal intensity. A long moment passed, during which he realized he couldn't hear a sound from Mavis, Stanza, or Arthur. No more muffled cries.

That's not a good sign.

Suddenly, Conrad swung his boot off Jonah. "All right then."

Jonah sat up and looked around. Down the hall, he saw three motionless blood-shrouded bodies on the floor—Stanza, Arthur, and Mavis.

"Deal's off," said Jonah.

"Why?" Conrad's voice trailed into a growl.

"Well, for one thing," said Jonah, "you killed my partners."
"You're full of
scheiss
," said Conrad. "Blood
magic
won't kill blood-
suckers
."

When Jonah heard that, his gaze went right to the largest shrouded body on the floor.

Arthur is a bloodsucker.

Jonah's view was soon blocked, however, by a rippling red form that stepped in front of him. When he looked up, the featureless face of a hemoform gazed back down at him.

So much for being creative.

Jonah turned, only to find more hemoforms sliding into place. In seconds, he was surrounded; the only space free of the blood-men was blocked by the bald vampire.

"Let's try this again from the top." Conrad hissed and grabbed a fistful of Jonah's Jethro Tull t-shirt. "Who sent you?"

Suddenly, something shoved Jonah forward, cracking his skull against Conrad's. As Conrad fell back, Jonah was tossed aside, right through the hemoforms.

As Jonah's butt hit the floor, he saw who was responsible: Arthur had broken free of his hemoform shell and was knocking the hell out of Conrad, bouncing him off the wall like a rattlesnake pulled from a baby's crib.

The longer the beating went on, the more the hemoforms melted away. Finally, after Arthur pumped one especially brutal hammer-punch into Conrad's face, all the hemoforms collapsed into puddles of blood. At the same instant, the bloody shrouds poured off Stanza and Mavis. Jonah leaped to his feet and ran straight for Stanza.

She looked dead. As soon as he touched her throat to search for a pulse, though, her eyes shot open.

"Jonah?" Her voice was shaky and hoarse.

Without a word, Jonah ran to where Mavis was curled up in a ball on the floor, drenched in blood. Unlike Stanza, Mavis didn't move a muscle when he felt for her pulse.

Nothing.

"Oh, God," said Jonah. "She's dead!"

"No she's not." Arthur dropped Conrad and stomped over. "I could hear her heart all the way over there."

Arthur pushed Jonah aside and fell to his knees alongside Mavis. Sliding his sword from its sheath at his waist, he laid the gleaming blade diagonally across Mavis' torso. Then, he leaned down and kissed Mavis on the lips.

Seconds later, Mavis' eyes flickered open. Smiling at Arthur, she reached up to run a fingertip along his jaw.

Arthur kissed her hand. "We meet again, milady."