The Vampire Keeper (22 page)

All too soon, Larkin and Jezalyn found themselves back at Wyler’s bookstore. Soon after entering the shop, they happened upon Wyler and Ana sitting next to a man with jet-black hair. It was short and stopped at the nape of his neck like most clean cut men’s hair, but the top was several inches long with no part. He styled it down toward the face and the back of the neck; Jezalyn could not see any sideburns. However, she assumed that if he had some, his hairstyle probably covered them. She noticed he wore a black tee and denim, but regardless of his fashion, she concluded he seemed well put together, almost like a model. Although she knew she should find him attractive and interesting on appearance alone, she did not.

Jezalyn completely by-passed everyone and ran up to Ana, swung her arms around her neck, and squeezed, “Are you okay? Larkin told me about your patient. What happened? Do you feel up to talking about it yet?”

Hugging her back, Ana said, “I am okay now. I am glad you’re back home safe.”

“We are all safe,” replied Jezalyn, and Ana could not keep herself from wishing she was as innocent and trusting as Jezalyn.

Wyler introduced Julius, who stood up and shook her hand. Jezalyn shuttered at the iciness of his hand. “I’m sorry; I got here only moments before you. I couldn’t find my gloves, so I jogged over without them anyway.”

“It’s okay; it’s unusually cold out tonight. How about I make us all some tea?” replied Jezalyn running water into the kettle before anyone could respond.

“Good idea,” said Wyler. Then jerking his head toward the downstairs door he continued, “Larkin, we’re all upstairs because the heater went out downstairs, do you think you could come take a look at it with me?”

“Sure,” replied Larkin somewhat hesitantly. “Perhaps Julius should join us, too.”

Julius responded to Larkin’s request with a mischievous smile as he said, “Nah, my fingers are frozen as popsicles; I won’t be any help to you. I think it’s best if I remain upstairs with the ladies,” lifting his eyebrows playfully to taunt Larkin.

Jezalyn and Ana blurted-out simultaneously, “I agree!”

As Larkin headed down the stairs to the underground apartment, he found himself perplexed by the emotions and thoughts garbled up inside his head. He needed to find a release of all these bonds, his brother, Ana, and at this point even Jezalyn.

He cleared his own thoughts long enough to survey the premises. Theron had done a good job of ransacking the loft; he had left the space broken and trashed.

“Scan for missing things; we need to find what he was searching for.”

“We don’t have to; Ana told me what Theron was after,” said Wyler.

“What?”

“Herbs! Theron made her think he was you, so she told him where to find them.”

“And where would that be?” asked Larkin.

“In the safe, behind the fridge.”

Larkin pushed the fridge to the side to reveal a mangled safe; the door hung down by one hinge exposing a large hole in the wall. Wyler rushed past him and grabbed the remaining contents and brought them over to the counter.

“Looks like they took the Saltbush, Wood Avens, and some Lavender,” said Wyler glancing over his herbs again. “What do they need this combination of herbs for? I understand the Wood Avens because it’s difficult to find, but Lavender, really!”

“I figured he would come after them,” replied Larkin. “After he scampered off into the woods, our connection was still linked. His body was slowing down, and he started staggering about and hallucinating. When he stopped at the creek, the connection was lost until an intense pain radiated through my chest. His intense emotions reconnected us long enough to discover that the arrow Blaise shot him with was poisoned.”

“Poisoned!”

“Yes, poisoned.”

“What kind of poison would need Lavender?”

“It’s not the Lavender that concerns me. We need to get our hands on some more Wood Avens.”

Wyler darted into the bedroom stumbling over clutter as he went. “Ah-ha!” called out Wyler as he removed the bed knobs. He ripped them off and ran into the kitchen with Larkin, “Look,” he said twisting off the stub that fit into the bedpost. He shook the contents out of each one in front of him. Larkin dug through the small bags and discovered they had two bags of Wood Avens, one bag of Snakeweed stems, and several bags of other miscellaneous herbs used to ward off maladies.

“Put these in your medical bag and have it at arm’s length at all times,” commanded Larkin holding several bagged herbs out for him to take. Wyler shoved them into his pocket, since he had left his bag upstairs.

“Okay now. How are we going to secure the door so that Ana will come back down without alarming Jezalyn?”

“We don’t have to worry about that tonight with the type of poison Blaise used on Theron. Besides, there are three of us here now.”

“What am I to tell Ana?”

“Tell her that we are setting up security perimeters, but before we go back up I need you to make me some special tea.”

“Okay,” replied Wyler moving to the cabinet without second-guessing his request even though Jezalyn was upstairs also making tea at that very moment. He filled one of the only remaining cups with water, put it in the microwave, and pressed the beverage button.

As the microwave counted down, Wyler asked, “Which flavor you want tonight blackberry, chai, or AB positive?”

“Neither, I need a special concoction. Grab a bowl and spoon,” said Larkin as he bent down to pick up several flowers off the floor. With the bowl next to him, he asked Larkin to search his pockets for some Snakeroot. The microwave buzzed as Wyler flipped out a baggie on the table.

“This is Snakeweed; I need White Snakeroot. Check again.”

Wyler carefully tip-toed through the debris to bring the hot cup of water over to the table. He sat it down next to Larkin before searching his pockets again. He placed the correct bag down next to Larkin and watched him pluck the tiny whiskers out of several flowers while he waited for his next order.

Larkin scooped the flower whisker into the bowl, added a pinch of Snakeroot, and ground it together. Once it was minced, he placed the mixture in the hot water and stirred.

Larkin blew into the cup before requesting Larkin to hand him a cube of ice since the steam burnt his lip as he blew. Wyler did as he requested, “That’s funny. We don’t have any.”

“No ice! Now I am certain that one of the poisons inflicted on Theron was Black Bat’s Flower.”

“Those plants were supposed to be extinct,” responded Wyler.

“I know, but when these flowers and vampire blood intertwine, one’s condition becomes extremely volatile.”

“So that’s why Theron attempted to come here. He was desperate.”

“Perhaps,” said Larkin, “but he could have had ulterior motives. My brother is not to be trusted.”

“Oh, I know all too well. I have not forgotten,” replied Wyler. “Do you want me to go upstairs and see if Jezalyn has some in her apartment?”

“No, I will chug it like this. If it burns going down, my body will restore after a while. I only wanted to avoid the irritation.”

After guzzling the hot tea, they sprinted upstairs to find Ana and Jezalyn laughing and joking with Julius. They were having such a good time that they did not even notice that Larkin and Wyler had returned. Wyler strolled over to Ana and wrapped his arms around her neck, kissed the top of her head, and quietly whispered in her ear, “I love you, Bunny,” but not quite loud enough for the rest of them to hear. Jezalyn watched Ana’s face beam with merriment before getting up to get Larkin a cup of tea.

“Here you go,” Jezalyn said handing him the cup of tea. “Two sugars, right?”

“Right,” replied Larkin taking the cup. He brought it to his lip and pretended to take a sip, his throat had not fully recovered yet, but he found himself not wanting to offend her by rejecting the tea, so he did what he had never done before and faked it to oblige someone else.

“Did you get the heater fixed?” asked Ana.

“Yes, darling, I do believe it is,” replied her husband, who then walked over to his medical bag to deposit the remaining herbs.

“How about a game of cards before bed?” asked Larkin trying to take the attention off of Wyler. Not to mention, he longed to know whether his concoction was as success for him as it was for Theron. Moreover, he needed both Ana and Jezalyn awake. Seeing how there was an odd number of players, pairs were out. Because not everyone knew the rules to other games, they finally decided to resign the cards and play dominoes instead. They decided to set a limit, two games to five-hundred before heading off to bed.

The thoughts running through Larkin’s head began to become vague about an hour into the first game. Larkin may have been losing his hand, but he was overjoyed to be winning his sanity back. Furthermore, as time ticked past, the intrusive thoughts grew vaguer until they were so indistinct that he could no longer distinguish who thought what or even what the thought was. Larkin pondered as to how such a cure was not unearthed throughout his extensive years of existence. Yet, he could only blame himself for such a lack of wisdom, seeing how it was he who had suppressed himself from the world whenever the loss of Isadora became too painful to bear. For a moment his happy grin slanted into a melancholy stare, but Larkin quickly regained his smile when Jezalyn played the five-two to gain herself fifteen points.

He became increasingly irritated with the attention that Julius had shown her all night. Larkin knew he was doing it just to get under his skin, so he flashed him a smile and laid down a domino out of his hand.

When the last game finally ended, Jezalyn helped Ana pick up the dominoes while Larkin pulled Wyler to the side.

“The mixture is working. There’s haziness in my head, and I can’t hear anything that is going on in either of their heads.”

“That’s good,” replied Wyler.

“Now I need you to make Ana feel something, so I can determine if the emotions are blocked as well.”

Uncomfortable at the suggestion Larkin gave him as a test to heighten Ana’s feelings, Wyler still put the plan into action. Larkin slid a forgotten domino toward Ana, with the aim of missing her and when she bent over to pick it up Wyler gave her a playful, but rather painful smack on the bottom.

“Wyler!” Ana exclaimed as she popped up and rubbed her bottom. “What in the hell is wrong with you?”

Jezalyn tried not to laugh as a shell shocked Wyler stuttered the word, “S-s-s-sorry, Bunny, I was just goofing around.” Larkin was rather amused, but not at the conflict but at the assurance that he felt nothing. He did not feel the sensation of the slap on his buttocks or the embarrassment and anger Ana felt toward Wyler.

“Let’s head to bed, and I will rub it for you,” joked Wyler trying to ease the tension.

“You will not be rubbing anything tonight mister,” replied Ana angrily.

“Good night everyone; I’ll see y’all in the morning,” said Jezalyn as she grabbed her sweater.

“Hey, let me walk you up,” said Julius beating Larkin to the punch.

“Okay,” replied Jezalyn as she glanced at Larkin, who was trying not to show much attention to the situation. Larkin was furious at Julius for requesting to accompany Jezalyn upstairs, but also at himself for drinking that stupid concoction that now blocked all Jezalyn’s thoughts and emotions. As Julius and Jezalyn navigated up to her apartment door, Larkin could not tell if Jezalyn wanted Julius to walk her up, or if she was just being polite. Wyler and Ana had gone downstairs leaving Larkin in the shop impatiently waiting for Julius to return. Julius did not directly return downstairs, and the fury mounted in Larkin with each passing moment.

Upon his return, Larkin exploded at the sight of Julius when he finally emerged downstairs with a devious grin plastered across his face. He rushed at him, but Julius deflected the move, and Larkin crashed into a bookshelf.

“Why all the hostility, friend?” Julius asked somewhat intrigued and cocky.

“Tell me what you were doing up there for so long?”

“You should know. I am sure you read her every thought.”

“I can’t read her thoughts anymore.”

“Really?” responded Julius fairly surprised and yet amused at the situation.

Julius’s refusal to tell him immediately along with his newfound amusement over the situation re-invoked Larkin’s rage. Sprawled out all over the floor, books lay beneath his feet, so Larkin bent down, picked one up, and flung it at Julius. Larkin was not quick enough because Julius ducked and the book flew past him embedding itself in the wall.

“You should calm down or our little girlfriend will hear us,” Julius teased. “What will you tell her?”

After several minutes of trying to calm himself, Larkin finally replied, “I told you to stay away from her.”

“I must say, I can see why you’re so keen on her now.”

The implications of that one statement caused Larkin’s blind rage to get the better of him, and he charged Julius. The force of the impact shoved Julius back into the stockroom where Larkin firmly gripped Julius around the waist; and power drove his body into the solid concrete floor. Still recovering from his prior wounds, Julius spat up blood.

“You are starting to piss me off, so I suggest you back up before this gets serious,” warned Julius.