Deadman's Blood (42 page)

Agitated, he answered, “What is it now?

...

You imbecile. How could you let Rosenthal follow you?”

Alyssa was heading down to the cottage and was just about to turn the corner of the house when she heard a man speaking. She thought to herself,
did he just say Mark’s last name?
She peeked around the corner under the cover of the shadows starting to form. It wasn’t too dark that she couldn’t see the speaker as he was looking down towards the cottage. She knew him - it was Dr. Rowe. She kept to the shadows and tight to the corner to hear the rest of the conversation.

...

“I paid you for a job. I don’t care how you take care of it, just take care of it. God, why can’t you be more like your predecessor?

...

Then give the old man another sedative and tie him up a bit tighter this time

…

Fine. I’ll be there in the morning to check on him.”

He hung up, then grumbled something under his breath as he got into the car and started it. Alyssa moved backward quickly and ducked behind a large potted plant when the car turned around and made its way down the driveway and out towards the road. She ran down to the cottage and made a desperate phone call to Mark to back off of whoever he was tailing, and get the heck out of there. Then she explained what she had heard and he assured her he was heading home to report his findings to Dominic.

Later that evening after all had conferred about Doctor Rowe and what had gone on during his visit, the telephone rang. Dominic reluctantly answered it.

“Hello?”

“Dominic? It’s Doctor Donaldson. I ran a test on each of the patients after your call earlier to see if anything had significantly changed since the visit of our unexpected guest, and I’m sorry to say that all the tests came back with disturbing results. Their red blood cell count has dropped again significantly. So much so that I would wager to say they were each poisoned again.”

“I see. Is there anything that can be done?”

“Well, I wouldn’t normally recommend this, but I’d like to perform a rather new procedure. This hemopurifier is similar to the last, however, it targets viruses selectively,” the doctor explained. “The way the Deadman’s Blood is behaving, devouring red blood cells as it does, it acts somewhat like a virus. With the proper antibodies, I’m hoping we can target the Deadman’s Blood in their systems.”

“How long will it take?” Dominic asked.

“The entire process takes less then a few hours, but I won’t be able to get them set up until tomorrow morning with the proper antibodies. Plus since its experimental, we only have one machine available, so we will have to do it one patient at a time,” the doctor explained.

“Is there anything we can do?” Dominic asked.

“I don’t think so. Your security team has already arrived and we’ve gotten them up to speed on what to look for and expect. I will call you with any changes or issues,” Dr. Donaldson said.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Dominic said. They said their goodbyes and Dominic hung up.

“Well?” Katarina said urgently.

“Well, they’ve taken a turn for the worse. The doctor’s quite sure that they were re-poisoned and I guess we know who the culprit is; I just wish I knew why?” Dominic said.

“So what now?” Melanie asked.

“He wants to try some new procedure that targets the Deadman’s Blood with antibodies. He said they should probably be ready to start it in the morning. It will only take a few hours. By the way, did anyone call Julianna yet?” Dominic said.

“I did. She’s on her way. She says she’s got some information that might explain some things,” Josh said.

“Oh? What’s that?” Dominic asked.

“She didn’t say, but I think it had to do with the book she brought home from the archive,” Josh answered.

“I guess I have an apology to make,” Mark said.

“I think that would mean a lot to her, Mark,” Josh admitted.

“So, Mark, tell us about this guy you were tailing,” Dominic asked.

“Well, first I was checking on this guy Kompton that Julianna told us about. He’s a real piece of work, but he has an associate he usually deals with that is the epitome of a bad guy gone berserk. His name is Harry Drek. I followed him to some seedy office building near the airport and I’m wondering if it might be the office that Julianna spoke of. I’ll ask her when she gets here, but I staked out the place and he seems to be going there on pretty regular intervals. If what Alyssa overheard was right, my suspicion is that Bernard might be who they are sedating. It would make sense. If he sensed something was wrong with the blood shipment, he may have called Rowe to confront him and they took him out of the picture.”

“I hate to even say this, but why wouldn’t they just kill him, instead of hiding him and sedating him all this time?” Dominic asked.

“Because Dr. Rowe knows how close you are to Bernard. He may be useful as a bargaining tool at some point,” Mark relayed.

Just then the doorbell rang. Katarina offered to get it. She found a worried Julianna at the door with a large, old tome in her arms, and escorted her into the study with the others.

Dominic received her with a hug and said, “I’m sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news, but Dr. Rowe got to Anton and the boys today. Thankfully, Katarina interrupted him and he fled the room. Dr. Donaldson feels that they were poisoned again.”

“Are they okay?” Julianna asked.

“Their red blood cell count is down again and they were each given another transfusion, but he plans on treating them with something new starting tomorrow morning that he hopes will help. In the meantime, I’ve acquired some security guards to be posted in and outside the room to prevent him or anyone on his payroll from getting in,” Dominic explained.

“Well, that’s good. When will we know if the treatment is working?” Julianna asked.

“It will only take a few hours, so hopefully before the day is out,” Dominic said.

“Good,” Julianna said, slightly relieved.

“Julianna, I wanted to ask you a few questions about Dr. Rowe’s office you searched,” Mark interrupted.

“Sure. What do you need to know?” Julianna said.

“It wouldn’t be located at 1408 Harbor Drive, would it?”

“Yeah. How did you know that?” she wondered.

“I’ve been there. Staked it out even. I think they may be holding Bernard there,” Mark said.

“Bernard?” Julianna asked.

“That’s right, you haven’t had a chance to meet Bernard. He’s the butler here and Dominic’s buddy. He’s been missing for a few weeks now. We think they may have him there sedated,” Mark explained.

“Well, that would explain the sedatives and syringes I found on the desk, but I didn’t see him when I was there. But then again, I didn’t go anywhere but the office. I believe I saw some storage lockers in the back. I’d hate to think someone was in one of those, but I suppose it would be possible. There’s also a warehouse connected to the building,” Julianna said.

“Have you ever heard of a guy named Harry Drek?” Mark asked.

“I have. He’s a nasty street urchin Dr. Rowe sometimes hired when I wouldn’t do his bidding. I think he is how Dr. Rowe came to know Kompton,” Julianna surmised.

“My thoughts too. I’ve been following him, but he caught wind of me, and Alyssa overheard a telephone conversation Dr. Rowe had with Drek,” Mark told her.

“But how? Dr. Rowe didn’t come here, did he?” Julianna asked.

“Oh, yes, he did. I think he wanted information, just to get a feel for how much we might know, but I didn’t tell him much. His being here is how we know for a fact that he poisoned the boys. Katarina walked in on him at the hospital today. When we were all in talking to the doctor. He’s never met Katarina so it wasn’t until he showed up here and Katarina saw him leave that we knew he had been there,” Dominic said.

“Well, that’s very fortunate, because if he had seen her here and recognized her, things may have taken a very nasty turn. I think I have stumbled upon the ‘why’ you’ve been wondering about. I found a picture in this book you might find interesting,” Julianna said and leafed through the book to a page marked with a piece of yellow, lined paper. She turned it towards Dominic and handed the book to him.

“Oh my God. It can’t be. He’s the spitting image of this picture,” Dominic said as Katarina and Josh craned to look at the book also.

“I think he must be a relative. Probably the last like you are,” Julianna said.

“But the last relatives in the Wallace family died almost twelve hundred years ago,” Dominic protested.

“Unless that’s what they wanted you to think. I’m guessing that’s about how old he is,” Julianna suggested.

“You want to let the rest of us in on what you are all talking about?” Mark said.

Dominic turned the book around towards the rest of the room and there on the page was a picture of Dr. Rowe – well, his relative. The caption under the picture was ‘Wallace Julius Deschamp.’

“I never even knew the ancients had a last name,” Dominic noted in wonderment.

“So this is a picture of THE Wallace of the Ancient Ones - the four brothers?” Mark asked.

“Yes,” Julianna answered. There are pictures of all the ancients in this book, even the father of the brothers, but none of the women. Not one. No wives, no sisters or daughters, just the men.”

“Yes. The Ancients were quite chauvinistic back then. I believe I read somewhere that the four brothers actually had a sister, but she wasn’t recognized or noted. They were rather Neanderthal in their thinking, I’m sorry to say,” Dominic said.

“So…what are we saying here? That Dr. Rowe is a descendent of the Ancient Wallace?” Josh asked.

“Yes. That’s what I’m thinking,” Julianna said.

“What? He thinks the Larsens and the Wallaces are still feuding?” Josh asked.

“That or he knows about the prophecy by another means and doesn’t want the Larsens to have any power,” Dominic said.

“But that is so lame after all these years to start fighting again,” Alyssa said.

“True, but if he’s as old as we think he is, he may feel he is bound by honor to uphold his family’s dignity,” Sally said.

“Maybe but, geez. Give it a rest already,” Dean said.

“I agree, but then again, the Larsens never wanted to fight their brethren in the first place. It had always been the other three that kept the war going,” Dominic admitted.

“Those reasons may all be right, however, there is another possibility. Turn to the other page I have marked in the book. I think it may be related to the other indentations I found in the altar room,” Julianna said.

Dominic read the passage to himself and said, “Indeed, Julianna. I think you’re right. He may be honor bound to keep the prophecy from happening, but a great stash of ‘wealth and treasure’ might have a little bit to do with it. According to this, I think the way to open the wall is to have all four rings or at least their gems. Again, making them all the same size and shape is essential.” Then Dominic started to chuckle and then laugh harder and harder.

“What’s so funny, Dominic?” Mark asked.

“All this time Dr. Rowe was trying to stay close to the family to find the ring; wouldn’t it just kill him to know that the ring had been around the neck of his employee for four centuries?” Dominic laughed even harder.

Julianna laughed heartily too and they all joined in.

“I wonder, though, if he has the other three rings,” Josh thought.

“I would expect he does; why else would he be so attached to the Larsens? Otherwise, he’d be out there looking for the other rings, not just biding his time hanging out here,” Mark said.

“True, but the Blood Diamond was lost to the family years ago; why would he think it would magically come back?” Melanie asked.

“Unless he knew that eventually Dominic would uncover the secret. Dominic is known all over for the in-depth research he’s done on the ancients. If something significant was to be uncovered, like say the archives, it would most likely be due to Dominic and his research. I’ll bet he was just waiting for Dominic to uncover the secrets and then he’d jump in and seize what he could,” Josh speculated.

“Now that makes a lot of sense,” Mark said. Dominic was touched by all their confidence in him.

“So what do we do now?” Sally asked.

“I say we come up with a plan tonight and go down to the office tomorrow morning and find Bernard,” Dominic said.

“What about Drek and Dr. Rowe?” Mark asked.

“Well, we heavily outnumber them and despite his age, with all of us combined we have powers he can’t even imagine. I don’t think it should be too big of a problem; what about you, Julianna? Do you foresee any problems?” Dominic asked.

“Not at the moment, but don’t underestimate Dr. Rowe. Someone that’s been alive that long may just have something up his sleeve we haven’t thought of. Plus, if he is a 1200-year-old vampire, I can’t even fathom how strong he may be,” Julianna answered.