Bloodliner (27 page)

*****

Part Six: In Flight

Chapter 74

Jonah gazed out the window of the airplane, watching the cottony cloud deck slide past far below. That far up, with the clouds so thick, he couldn't make out a single landmark to tell him where he was going...where Genghis Khan was taking him. All he knew for sure was they were headed for Empyrea, but that didn't clear things up at all.

Only Stanza knew where Empyrea was, and apparently she was telling only her new boss, Genghis—the vampire bastard for whom she'd betrayed Jonah and the others.

Jonah wished he could get up from his seat and show Stanza how he felt about what she'd done. Throw her off the plane, in other words. If only he hadn't been manacled to his seat.

Ever since Genghis' lackeys had loaded Jonah on the plane in Moscow (after a wild ride in a van from Kitezh to the airport), he'd been locked in place, unable to move. The good news was, he and Mavis had a compartment all to themselves on the big private plane; the bad news was, they were trapped in their seats, at the mercy of Genghis and his crew.

It was enough to make Jonah feel utterly miserable and hopeless. The woman he loved had betrayed him, and there was no help in sight. Genghis Khan himself was about to use him and Mavis to bestow godlike powers on vampires and set off Armageddon. The best Jonah thought he could hope for at the end of the road was to die without too much suffering.

The only consolation was that he had Mavis to talk to. She sat across the compartment from him, looking even more hopeless and unhappy than he was. She was just as trapped and doomed as Jonah...but at least, for now, they could talk.

"Where do you think we are?" Jonah watched the cloud deck, then looked over at Mavis. "Any ideas?"

"You should ask your traitor girlfriend," said Mavis.

Jonah cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'll bet she'd tell me." He said it with heavy sarcasm.

He still couldn't believe Stanza had turned on him. The memory of her pointing the gun at him played over and over in his mind. He would never forget that moment: the giant red hawk looming, Mavis sprawled on the floor, Stanza's eyes stony as the eyes of a granite statue as she stared at him.

What happened to her?
Things were going so well.

Was it all an act to get what she wanted?

"I didn't like her from the start," said Mavis. "I
told
you we had to watch our backs around her."

Jonah sighed. "She totally fooled me. I really thought she was on our side."

"Love is blind." Mavis clanked her manacles as she shifted in her seat. "Or, in my case, love is
screwed
. Thanks to Stanza, I'll probably never see
Arthur
again."

"Face it," said Jonah. "We're
both
screwed. The whole
world
is screwed."

Just then, someone pushed open the black curtain hanging across the aisle at the front of the compartment. Jonah's gaze instantly snapped forward to see who was approaching.

James and Thomas.

Jonah knew the boys were working for Genghis Khan, but he was still glad to see them. After all, they'd saved him from Nicolo back in Kitezh.

"Hi, Jonah." James pulled the black curtain shut across the aisle behind him. He carried a beige plastic tray with sandwiches on it. "Hi, Mavis."

Thomas toted two Styrofoam cups. "If you don't like your coffee black, tough luck."

James took the tray to Mavis first, and she shook her head. "I don't want anything."

Jonah hadn't eaten for at least a day and a half. His mouth watered and his stomach growled as soon as James put the tray in front of him.

Jonah dug in immediately. When the chains on the manacles around his wrists wouldn't let him lift the sandwich high enough, he leaned down to the tray and stuffed the food in his mouth.

"Thanks," Jonah said between bites. "I was starving."

"You're welcome." James took a cup of coffee from Thomas and handed it to Jonah. "Here you go."

"What are you going to do to us?" said Mavis.

"How should we know, lady?" Thomas laughed. "We're just the
help
."

"Not by choice," James said quietly.

"Speak for yourself," said Thomas.

"Where's Stanza?" Jonah talked with his mouth full and didn't care.

"Not here, obviously," said Thomas. "Guess you'll have to tell her off later. Tell her how bad it made you feel when she screwed you over like that."

Jonah swallowed. Thomas' sharp tone made him decide to proceed with caution. "Maybe she had a good reason for what she did."

Thomas sneered down at him. "Face it, she screwed you over
big time.
" He punched Jonah in the shoulder. "And I am
lovin'
it. How's it
feel
having the shoe on the other
foot?
"

Jonah frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't know
why
I said that." Thomas moved in close. "It's not like
you
ever screwed anyone over, is it?"

Jonah found himself staring at Thomas' gleaming fangs. "I don't understand."

"Thomas?" James put a hand on Thomas' shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Thomas whispered in Jonah's ear. "You don't recognize us?"

Jonah tried to stay calm, though Thomas' fangs were inches from his throat. "Should I?"

Suddenly, Thomas grabbed Jonah by the shirt and shoved him back against the seat, sending his sandwich and coffee flying. "You're lucky Genghis needs you...for now."

"Stop it, Thomas," said James.

"Piece of crap!" Thomas hauled back a hand and slapped Jonah hard across the face. "Coward!"

James grabbed his arm before he could hit Jonah again. "That's enough!"

"Then again, I should probably
thank
you." Thomas bared his fangs. "Without
you
, I never would've become
this
."

That was when Jonah knew. When the realization finally burst to life within him.

When he'd first met James and Thomas in Kitezh, he'd been too caught up in the chaos to realize who they were. Maybe the fact that they were vampires had thrown him. Maybe it was seeing them out of context. Maybe it was the very fact that they didn't look any different than they had five years ago, and they
should
have.

Now there was no getting around it. These were the same two faces that had screamed in his nightmares since he was thirteen years old.

"Oh my God." Jonah's voice was hushed. "
Tommy
?"

Thomas snorted. "You are so
thick
, you know that?"

Heart hammering, Jonah looked at James. "
Jimmy
?"

James nodded.

What do I say? Oh God, what do I say to them?

They're my brothers, who were kidnapped five years ago. Stolen away as I watched. As I did nothing to save them.

"What happened to you?" It was all Jonah could think to say to them.

"The good witch took us to Candyland, where we danced with our sugar-coated playmates from sunrise to sunset." Thomas laughed. "And by that I mean we were turned into bloodsucking
monsters
and sold into
slavery
."

Jonah could feel the hate radiating from Thomas like the heat of the sun. James held back, but his eyes sparked with resentment and anger.

This is my worst nightmare.
Coming face to face with them and hearing how miserable their lives have been because of me.

"What happened to
you
?" said Thomas. "Live a cushy life playing video games and banging schoolgirls? More to go around, since Mom and Dad didn't have
us
to take care of?"

"Mom and Dad are dead," said Jonah.

Thomas' hateful sneer dissolved into a blank stare, as if he were trying to understand words spoken in a foreign language. James' scowl turned into a look of wide-eyed surprise and confusion.

"Car wreck," said Jonah. "It happened a few weeks ago."

James nodded. Thomas stared at the ground.

"They never stopped looking for you," said Jonah. "I wish they could've lived to see this."

"I'm glad they
didn't
," snapped Thomas. "I wouldn't've wanted them to see us like
this
. Like
vampire freaks
."

"They wouldn't have cared," said Jonah. "Believe me."

"What do
you
know?" Thomas drew back a fist and aimed a blow at Jonah...but before he could let it fly, the curtain across the aisle whipped open behind him.

Stanza leaned in from the forward compartment, face impassive as a sheet of paper. "He wants to see them. Bring them in now."

Jonah searched her stony gaze for some trace of recognizable emotion but found nothing. "Stanza?" She wouldn't look in his direction or meet his eyes for even an instant.

"You backstabbing bitch!" said Mavis. Her manacles clanked as she lunged toward Stanza. "You better
pray
I never get my
hands
on you!"

Stanza looked at Mavis, then spun on her heel and hurried out of the compartment. "Shackle them," she said over her shoulder. "And hurry it up. The in-flight show is about to start."

*****

 

Chapter 75

Mavis and Jonah hobbled into the next compartment after James and Thomas, wrists and ankles bound by heavy iron shackles. They were greeted by a round of applause.

Startled, Mavis looked around the dimly lit compartment, which was packed with people. Every seat in every row was occupied, and everyone was looking at Mavis and Jonah. There were at least a hundred people, all of them clapping and smiling...and from what Mavis could see as she staggered up the aisle, all of them had fangs.

All vampires. Just great.

Genghis Khan himself stood in front of a big video screen at the end of the aisle, watching Mavis and Jonah with arms folded over his broad chest. His red and black silk robe was embroidered with gleaming golden thread in elaborate patterns, his fingers were studded with huge rings of gold and silver and every color of gemstone.

His long black ponytail hung over his right shoulder, braided with golden cord. His coppery skin glittered like the metallic scales of a snake in the light from the video screen. When he smiled, the corners of his thin mustache rose, lifting the tips from below his chin to brush his jawline.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Genghis' voice was deep and rough, the growl of a wolf about to pounce on prey. "I give you the keys to
Empyrea!
"

The applause intensified as Mavis and Jonah reached the end of the compartment. James and Thomas led them by their shackles to stand alongside Genghis, facing the crowd of bloodsucking passengers. Stanza stood on the other side of the video screen, staring into space, dressed in red and black as always—just like Genghis.

Of course they match. They must have been in cahoots from the start.

Genghis threw an arm around Mavis and rocked her against his side. "These two will bestow upon us the power of the
gods
! The power we
need
to remake this
world
in our
image
!"

The crowd clapped louder at that one. Within seconds, everyone was on their feet, giving Genghis a standing ovation.

"We race toward paradise even now!" Genghis raised his voice above the shouts and applause. "Aboard this mighty aircraft, the
Karakorum
—named for the capital of my mighty Mongol empire—we prepare to begin a
new
empire! One that
truly
encompasses the
entire
world!"

As the room again erupted with applause, Mavis looked at Jonah. When he met her gaze, she saw a look of utter hopelessness and defeat in his eyes. No hope, no chance of escape or rescue, no salvation. Nothing there for her to cling to, no reason to fight.

How I wish Arthur were here.

"Empyrea awaits!" Genghis punched his fists in the air and howled with triumph. "Nothing can stop us now!"

Mavis felt herself shrivel inside.
I almost wish I'd never met Arthur, so I wouldn't know what I'm losing. So I wouldn't know how wonderful life could be.

Only to lose it forever.

"Now that we are so close, it is time!" said Genghis. "Time to reveal to all of you the greatest secret of the ages! The location of our great
legacy
, our magnificent
destiny
...eternal
Empyrea!
"

With that, Genghis pressed a button on a remote control, and a map of the world appeared on the video screen behind him. He walked in front of it, handed the remote to Stanza, then stepped back.

"I give you now the
keeper
of the
secret
," said Genghis. "The
bringer
of the
keys
. Our transcendent saint and savior...my personal
guiding light
since the most ancient of days! A
miracle worker
in
name
as well as
deed
. Stanza Miracolo!"

The applause was deafening. Everyone in the room was on their feet.

When it died down, Genghis gestured with a flourish at Stanza. "Show us, o' beautiful angel of darkness! Show us the cradle of our new and glorious empire! Show us
Empyrea!
"

With a blank expression on her face, Stanza turned to the screen and raised the remote. She pressed buttons, and the map on the screen zoomed in; the rest of the world slid off the edges, leaving only blue with a few scattered, rough-edged specks of beige.

Stanza continued manipulating the remote, and the map kept zooming...pushing in tighter and tighter on a string of those specks, those islands in the Pacific Ocean. Even then, it zoomed tighter still, shunting aside one island of the chain after another.

Then, finally, it came to rest on one solitary speck. One apostrophe of land hanging like a lonely leaf from the top of the chain. It glowed red when Stanza pressed another button on the remote, soft red like a South Pacific sunset.

Stanza tapped the screen with a black fingernail. "Niihau," she said. "Empyrea is
here
."

Genghis leaned closer to the screen, frowning at the glowing shard of land. "Empyrea's one of the
Hawaiian Islands
?"

"Niihau is the 'forbidden island,'" said Stanza. "Owned by one family and off-limits to the general public. What better place to hide a secret refuge?"

Genghis snorted and leaned back. "It doesn't look big enough to be Heaven."

"It's bigger than it looks," said Stanza. "Cloaked by ancient magic."

Genghis turned slowly, fixing his piercing gaze on Stanza. "You're sure about this?"

"I am, my Lord," said Stanza.

'My Lord?'

Mavis winced and looked at Jonah. His face was still expressionless.

Suddenly, Genghis lunged at Stanza and swept her into his arms. She didn't fight him as he pressed a lingering kiss on her lips.

When Genghis broke away, he grinned at the image of Niihau on the screen. "Soon." His voice was a whisper only Mavis could hear as he touched the forbidden island in its computer-generated ocean of blue. "Soon, you will be mine."

Whirling, he raised his arms in the air and beamed at the crowd. "Soon, the entire
world
will be
ours
."

He closed his eyes blissfully as the compartment full of vampires broke from their seats and rushed forward to embrace him.