Bloodliner (23 page)

*****

Part Five: Russia

Chapter 61

The flight from Rome to Moscow was pure paradise for Arthur...and pure hell for Hercules. It was the first time either of them had flown in a plane, but their reactions couldn't have been more different. Love it or hate it, they had one thing in common: neither one would shut up about it.

"I still can't believe it." Arthur leaned across Hercules to gaze out the window, eyes protected from the bright daylight by sunglasses. "Thousands of feet in the air! Held aloft by nothing but the air itself!"

Hercules, also shielded by sunglasses, grumbled and swatted him away. "Don't keep
reminding
me."

"But it's a
miracle
!" said Arthur. "To see the world as the Lord God Himself, looking down from above. Skimming the currents of Heaven. A glorious
miracle
."

"Tell that to my friend
Icarus
," said Hercules. "Not so
miraculous
when your
wings
melt."

Sitting behind them, Jonah listened and laughed to himself. The constant bickering might have gotten on his nerves, especially because he couldn't escape it...but instead, it amused him. The team was flying aboard a small chartered jet (commercial airliners were no place for sword-and-gun-toting vampires) so there was nowhere to get away from the constant back-and-forth between the living legends. But nothing could ruin his mood today. Not after Stanza had kissed him.
 

Every time Jonah thought about it, he smiled. And every time he looked at Stanza, sitting in the seat beside him, she smiled back at him. The centuries they'd spent buried alive together in Herculaneum had done the trick, tearing down the barriers between them. Some of them, anyway.

Reaching over, he took her hand, and she didn't resist. It was something, only days ago, he could not have imagined happening.

Maybe things would work out for them after all.

"So what next?" said Jonah. "What happens when we get to Moscow?"

"Rent a van and drive to Lake Svetloyar." Stanza glanced at the open map of Russia on her lap. "Then call the lost city and hope it answers."

"How are we going to do that?" said Jonah.

"Hercules claims he can summon it," said Stanza.

Just then, Hercules turned and shouted back at them. "I don't
claim
I can. I
know
I can! Gelonus and I are
old friends
, and she will
always
answer my call!"

"
She
?" said Jonah.

"This city is a woman, and a
beauty
at that!" Hercules grinned and nodded. "Her charms could rival fair
Helen's
."

Suddenly, Arthur leaned over Hercules and pointed out the window. "Look down there! The ships on that sea look so tiny, it seems we're
miles
above them, not just thousands of
feet
."

"Be silent, oaf!" said Hercules.

"Oh, don't worry, old woman," said Arthur. "The pilot said if we crash from this high up, we'll be instantly vaporized and won't feel a thing."

"Where is that bag?" Hercules sounded queasy as he rummaged through the seat-back pocket in front of him. "The one that eases sickness of the air?"

Chuckling, Stanza squeezed Jonah's hand. "I think I better find something to relax him. Maybe a little airplane-sized bottle of mead."

"Good plan." Jonah gave her hand a last squeeze and let go of it. "See you when you get back."

With that, Stanza tucked her map in the seat-back pocket, got up, and headed for the back of the plane. A moment later, Mavis sat down beside Jonah in her place.

"Hey." Mavis looked happy and relaxed. Jonah had never seen her in such a good mood. "What's going on?"

"Well, you probably heard everything already," said Jonah. "We're landing in Moscow, driving to Lake Svetloyar, and Hercules'll take it from there."

"No, I mean with you," said Mavis. "How are you doing?"

Jonah shrugged. "All right, I guess." He and Mavis hadn't talked much since Lyonesse, and he wasn't sure what to make of her sudden interest. "How about you?"

"Great, great." Suddenly, Mavis seemed to get nervous. She reached back and adjusted her frizzy red ponytail. "So, uh, listen. I've been thinking. I probably shouldn't have treated you like I did after Lyonesse."

"Okay." Jonah nodded.

"I guess I had a lot of anger bottled up inside," said Mavis. "You didn't deserve to have me take it out on you like that."

"Right," said Jonah.

"And I know you did your best to watch out for me in Lyonesse," said Mavis. "I see that now. I'm sorry for treating you like shit."

"Thanks," said Jonah. "I'm sorry for not always being so nice to you, too."

"Friends?" Mavis reached out one hand.

And Jonah shook it. "Friends."

"You know, in the beginning, I was mad at you for getting me involved in all this," said Mavis. "Now I'm grateful. You and Stanza have changed my life for the better."

"Yeah?" said Jonah.

"Without you, I never would have met
him
." Beaming, Mavis looked at the man in the seat in front of her—King Arthur himself, looking out the airplane window with childlike delight. "And I never would have known what I was missing."

Jonah let go of her hand. "I'm glad things are working out for you."

"Same here." Mavis flashed him a wink. "You and Stanza seem to be getting along pretty well."

"So far, so good," said Jonah.

"Now if we can just avoid getting killed by evil vampires or Lampreyus or hemoforms or whatever," said Mavis.

"Maybe we've been through the worst of it," said Jonah. "Maybe things'll get easier."

"They won't." Stanza said it as she scooted down the aisle with handfuls of mini booze bottles clinking between her fingers. "They're about to get much, much worse."

Mavis rolled her eyes. "Do you
always
have to rain on our parade, Stanza?"

"I just don't want you to get your hopes up and not be prepared," said Stanza. "You need to be ready for what's coming."

"You mean the stuff you won't tell us about?" said Mavis.

"Yes." Stanza sighed. "That stuff."

"Well, tough." Mavis sat up straighter and squared her shoulders. "I'm getting my hopes up anyway." She smiled at Arthur when he looked back at her.

"Suit yourself." Stanza shrugged and held out the bottles for Hercules. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."

"I believe things are going to get better," said Mavis. "What about the rest of you? What do you say?"

Before anyone could answer, Hercules threw up in his airsickness bag.

*****

 

Chapter 62

The church tower slid up out of the middle of the lake by moonlight and opened its golden onion dome like a submarine hatch beside the motorboat. Hercules' summons to the lost city of Kitezh had worked as promised.

"I told you!" Victoriously, he pumped his fists overhead. The upper half of his body was soaked from leaning into the lake to call out to Kitezh. "She cannot resist my song!"

"Hurry up!" said Stanza. "Everyone get inside."

Mavis hung back with the boat's ancient pilot, who leaned on the outboard engine and watched with a lack of surprise that baffled her.
An underwater cathedral. A
living
underwater cathedral reaching up for visitors. How could you
ever
get used to this?

Arthur was first off the boat, hopping onto the stone ledge around the mouth of the cylindrical tower. Reaching back, he took Hercules' hand and pulled the boat over to close the gap.

Next, Stanza stepped across and walked down spiral stairs inside the tower. Jonah followed—and almost fell in the water when the boat bobbed unexpectedly.

After Arthur steadied Jonah and helped him across, Hercules looked to Mavis. "Adventure awaits!" he said.

When Mavis hesitated to join the others, Arthur frowned and cocked his head. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no." Mavis eased from the stern of the boat to the prow. "No problem."

That was a lie, of course.

"You're a
priestess
," said Hercules as he took her hand. "This is a
cathedral
. You'll feel right at home here!"

That, of course, was exactly the problem.

The last time I was inside a church, there was a bloodbath. I've been rubbing shoulders with the dark side an awful lot since then.
I feel like I'd be better off just staying clear of churches for a while.

"Come on, Mavis." Arthur reached out for her. "It'll be fine. We'll watch out for you."

He's right.
King Arthur and Hercules. I couldn't ask for better bodyguards.

Mavis took Arthur's hand and stepped across to the ledge. As her foot found the first stair inside the tower, Arthur caught her eye with a lingering gaze.

That was all it took to make her heart pound faster.

Arthur nodded for her to start down the stairs. "I'll be right behind you."

Mavis followed the winding stairs down into the tower, guided by a faint light from below. With no railing along the central well, she hugged the wall, taking care with each step.

The wall was warm. It felt solid as stone where she touched it, yet pulsed with a steady beat from within.

It's alive. Just like Hercules said.

As Mavis descended, the light became brighter. Not too far below, she glimpsed a floor made of some kind of pinkish stone.

From above, she heard the voices of Arthur and Hercules. There was a great, hollow
bong
as the golden onion dome dropped shut.

"All's well, Mavis?" said Arthur.

"No worries," said Mavis.

Not as long as
you're
here.

After a few more turns down through the tower, Mavis stepped out onto a flat surface that looked like pink marble with veins of deep red. It curved along a wall made of a glowing, pearlescent substance.

A golden, waist-high rail ran along the opposite edge of the pink marble floor; a golden screen of cross-hatched mesh stretching between the rail and the floor. Curious, Mavis walked to the rail and looked down over it.

That was when she realized just how big the place was.

She was standing in a balcony gallery encircling the interior of a massive, glowing dome. A vast expanse opened up below her, at least the size of a football stadium.

Flying vampires criss-crossed the vast vault, swirling through the air with balletic grace. Far, far below them, mobs of people in colorful robes swarmed the floor of the cathedral, flowing in great currents around an enormous altar carved from what looked like ivory.

The walls of the cavernous space curved inward as they rose, lined with stained-glass windows in all shades of red and pink. Enormous, bowed pillars supported the walls and met at the apex of the dome, cut from the same ivory-like material as the altar. It took a moment for Mavis to realize what the curved pillars looked like.

Ribs.
This whole space is like one giant rib cage.

As Mavis gazed down at the vast place, she felt a breeze from behind. Turning, she saw Arthur standing there with bat wings unfurled and flapping, stirring the air.

"Care to take the short cut?" he said.

Mavis almost said "no." It was a long way down, and she'd never been a fan of heights.

But she knew she couldn't possibly be any safer than she'd be in his arms.

"I'm a knight of the Round Table." Arthur grinned and reached for her. "You can trust me."

Mavis wrapped her arms around his neck. Arthur lifted her off the floor with one arm behind her back and one behind her knees.

Then, he flapped his wings hard and rose into the air.

Mavis smiled and met his gaze. "I'm glad you didn't change completely into a bat."

Other than the wings, Arthur had maintained his human form. "Why is that?"

"Because I can still do this," said Mavis.

And then she kissed him on the lips.

*****

 

Chapter 63

"You make me feel like I'm flying," whispered Mavis.

"Don't look now," said Arthur, "but you are."

Mavis turned her head and looked down. She'd been so intent on kissing Arthur, she hadn't noticed that he'd carried her over the railing. The two of them drifted in the heights, with nowhere to go but what seemed like a mile straight down.

Not that she had any worry at all that he would drop her. His arms were rock solid around her, and his wings were firm and steady.

Arthur and Mavis descended in a lazy spiral, tracing wide loops around the heart of the cathedral. Other vampires rose and fell around them, but the only one who disrupted Arthur's flight was not a stranger.

"Slowpoke!" Hercules rocketed past, wings tucked in against his sides. "Bet you can't beat me, bull!"

Mavis flashed Arthur a stern look. "No way, José. Don't even think about it."

Arthur watched Hercules race downward. "The thought never crossed my mind."

"Good." Mavis pecked him on the cheek and resumed taking in the view.

Arthur carried her past enormous crystal chandeliers that floated in midair and tingled with music. Clouds of incense wafted from golden grates in the walls, smelling of cherry or coffee or cinnamon. Massive fountains fired plumes of water and blood dozens of feet in the air, drawing bat-formed vampires to splash and drink on the wing. Beams of multicolored light flared from below, creating a holographic image where they intersected.

Mavis thought she recognized the image—a scene from a familiar story, hovering above the altar. "Oh my God."
Could it be? Down here in a sunken cathedral swarming with vampires?
"Is that what I think it is?"

Arthur circled the shimmering image. "It's Lazarus. Yes."

"And Jesus Christ, raising him from the dead." Mavis gazed at the scene in wonder: Christ, robed and bearded, arms outstretched as Lazarus climbed from his tomb, wrapped in a burial shroud. "But why is it here?

"Because this is a church of
Cruentus Estus
," said Arthur. "And Lazarus is considered the father of this vampire faith."

"Lazarus?" said Mavis. "A
vampire
?"

"The
first
." Arthur shrugged. "Or so the Lazarites believe. It certainly explains how he came back from the dead, doesn't it?"
Mavis watched the shimmering scene as Arthur flew around it again. "In other words, they believe Jesus created
vampires
? And unleashed endless
suffering
on the world?"

"They believe men and vampires were meant to share the world," said Arthur. "That the two were created to live in harmony."

"They actually think that's going to happen?" said Mavis.

"Some of them do. Some of them don't." Arthur flapped away from the floating hologram. "Two sides to every story, I suppose."

"What about you?" Mavis gazed at his flinty features...his emerald eyes and fiery red hair. "What do you believe?"

"I worship the Lord Jesus Christ, not Lazarus." Arthur smiled at her with great warmth. "But I do believe harmony is possible between vampire and human."

With that, he kissed her and flew onward, swooping down through the flocks of soaring vampires. As they descended, one flock thickened around them, becoming a vast, whirling cloud like a school of bats...and Mavis heard them singing all at once. The air filled with the same unearthly music she'd heard in Mother Nothing's underground kingdom in Bluegiller, New Mexico, a beautiful mixture of whistling, whispering, and whalesong.

Without hesitating, Arthur navigated the throng, zigzagging among the fluttering vampires. He and Mavis emerged below them in open air, just above the peak of the towering ivory altar.

Arthur banked around the altar and glided toward the floor, descending in the heart of the cathedral. As he spiraled downward, Mavis saw Stanza, Jonah, and Hercules looking up. The three of them were standing by the altar with a tall man in flowing red robes.

Arthur landed gracefully near the group. He kissed Mavis on the forehead, then gently set her feet on the floor.

"Took you long enough!" Hercules grinned and punched Arthur in the shoulder. "Off on another tryst, I take it?"

Arthur patted Hercules' back, then gave him a payback punch in the arm. "We simply took the scenic route."

"I'll bet you did." Hercules leered and winked.

This time, it was Mavis who punched him. "How about a little decorum here? This isn't a locker room, y'know."

"'Locker room?'" said Hercules. "Sounds like some kind of dungeon or torture chamber."

"Close enough." Mavis turned to Stanza and Jonah. "What did we miss?"

"Mavis." Stanza gestured at the red-robed man beside her. "Meet your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great uncle, Father Alexander."

Alexander bowed. Up close, Mavis could see he was heavily muscled under the robes. He had thick, black hair and a black mustache and goatee.

What really caught her eye, though, were the scars. He had a long one down the left side of his face, from temple to chin, and another on the right, from ear to nose. Another ran crosswise over his forehead, stopping just short of his eye socket. Then there was the scar across the bridge of his nose and the one through both his lips. His face was like one big scar.

"Nice to meet you." Mavis bowed.

"Father Alexander has some information to share with us," said Stanza.

"Indeed." Alexander smiled. "I know where you can find Heaven."