Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (49 page)

    “What is it with you and that crow up there?”

    Oblivion shook his head slightly.
He was accessing whether it was a
namuhwoork or just a crow. As the so-called bird tried to fly away and sound the alarm, it was struck with a bolt of
lightning
from the wizard’s hand and killed.
When the dead bird hit the ground i
ts body
turned into the form of
a human, and then he
turned to bones
. “That was a namuhwoork. It listened to every word and could have caused us big trouble.”

    “I knew
there was a reason I didn’t kill you
. You will be my second in command when we take over the city but keep that to yourself for now. How goes the enchantment? We’re going to need enough of that stuff to control at least a couple of hundred and that’s only to start.”

    Oblivion was hesitant to tell him that it could take a month or more to get some of the rare
r
ingredients.
He nee
ded at least a dozen of the
ghostly white
Cyphochilus beetles
. He was in contact nightly via satellite phone with a colleague in Southeast Asia where the bugs camouflaged themselves in pearly fungi.
“I’m having a problem with finding two of the rarer ingredients.
It could
take a week or two.”

    Sharpton considered
issuing
a threat but now that the wizard had fully recovered it might not be a wise decision. “You need to be ready when I am. We have more vampires arriving today.
You can give them the grand tour.
”

CHAPTER
FIFTY-THREE

     A
LEXANDER, ABBEY AND ARYM
had finished watching the three Lord of the Ring movies on the huge flat screen TV
,
from the plush
brown
sectional sofa. Arym was told that she could explore the house if she liked and she went upstairs to do so.
It was a way to get some alone time.

    They talked and discovered things about one another, personality traits, and Abbey was surprised to discover that the sheriff had a degree
of shyness about him, although he tried hard not to show it. He had centuries of experience and she would have thought that any bashfulness would have been long gone
, but apparently it was part of what made Alexander who he was
. She guessed that he was most likely only shy with the opposite sex. Abbey found it an attra
ctive trait but wasn’t sure why.

    Alexander took
his classical guitar
out of the closet
and started to pick. It was the most beautiful melody that she had ever heard.
Unfamiliar with such sweetness to it; she had never
heard such perfection and it gave her goose bumps.
It was
a
haunting
melody that
played with her emotions. Even each pause was perfection. That was one advantage to living such a long life; one could play the same instrument for five hundred years or more.

   
Alexander’s voice was deep perfection.
“Love is like an island, but not a deserted one
. Palm trees and sand overlooking the ocean     so grand. Hand-in-hand on the beach, connected forever.
Fragrant flowers within your reach.
Millions of stars looking down as the embers
of fire
surround us.
Love is like an island, but not a deserted one.”

    Arym ran downstairs as she couldn’t believe her ears. He had the most beautiful voice that she had ever heard. “OH MY GOD!
You’re
like an angel singing!
You should have a singing career.”

    “Don’t want one. Abbey, I made up that melody over four hundred
years ago, but the words born only yesterday
.”

     
Arym was excited by his voice.
“I’m never going to get that song out of my head, and I don’t want to. Play some more.”

    “I’m afraid the moment has passed for now.” Alexander was a little shy when it came to his music
and usually only played for himself as an extension of his mood.

    Arym turned around and went back upstairs.
She didn’t know him well enough to push it any further.

    Abbey and Alexander stared into one another’
s eyes and got
lost in there. She was just a little uncomfortable as they were such a new couple; she smiled as he touched her face.
Abbey appreciated his strength and how he made her feel safe.
She had not felt secure since her husband
was taken from her.
She ran her hand through his thick black hair and then they kissed. The
ir
two
minds
had become one
, which was a new experience
.

    Arym
explored the upstairs, lingered on a painting of Pendennis Castle in 1557, with someone
standing by the gate in old fashion garb holding a sword over his right shoulder t
hat looked a lot like Alexander, but the character was so small that it was difficult to say for sure.
She
went down the hall peeking into bedrooms as she went. The third room on the right was
surprising indeed,
a weapons room. Most of the weapons were from the middle ages. There were
pole arms
,
razor-sharp blade
s
mounted on a wooden shaft
s
, battle axes, maces, two longbows, halberds, spears,
a
war
hammer,
scimitar with a curved blade, a 40 inch Falchion sword, double-edged
long sword
encrusted with rubies and looked
to be
fit for a king. There
were
also two lances and several medieval shields.
The best weapons were owned by vampires because often they were person
al weapons that they had
with them over the centuries.
V
ampire
s
always coveted weapons that had served them well in battle.

    The girl was drawn to the
weapons and fascinated by them; they had a strange pull on her.
She picked up the scimitar and for whatever reason it was familiar to her. It was
as if a cobbler had picked up a shoe after having been retired for ten years; it felt natura
l for her to wield it
. She swung the weapon with talent and precision, and it puzzled her.
She went through a series of moves that was most impressive. She was confused by her natural talent.
Abbey and Alexander appeared in the doorway as he was giving her mother a tour of the upstairs and both were amazed by her skill.

    Arym was startled when she saw them and accidentally cut through his heavy curtains. “Oh, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

    Alexander turned to Abbey. “
Don’t worry about that.
You see
Abbey
it is not uncommon for a vampire to inherit skills or talents from the biter that turned
him or
her. Obviously, there was a skilled swordsman
somewhere in his past.”

    “And I thought people were complicated.”

    Alexander picked up a sword and challenged her to a bit of a fight. Blades blurred and clashed with such speed that it was difficult for Abbey to follow them.
She knew that he wouldn’t hurt her but it was scary nonetheless.
What if she accidentally cut him? What would happen then?
The girl was surprised at how good it felt to fight, as if she had been born to do so.
Arym kept up with the experienced sheriff until he knocked the sword out of her hand.

    “You are so skillful
. Arym you must go with your natural in
stinct and not fight it so much; you over think when you fight.
In battle hesitation can either save you or kill you, depending upon what your adversary
is up to. But that was m
ost impressive.”

    Abbey didn’t know what to think.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

   
THE LITTLE WIZARD WAS DRINKING
Beluga vodka and loved
it;
it was made with hyaline artesian water from a spr
ing in Siberia. Sebastian
was dressed all in red and one would consider that he might be able to glow in the dark
he was so brightly colored
, definitely the loudest in the restaurant
.
He
loved The Russian Tea Room and frequented it whenever he had the time
. He
had met his fiancé at the establishment
. He was waiting for his contact to show
up
as well as
waiting for
his lobster salad.
The place was crowded but he liked the atmosphere nonetheless.
Going to the restaurant was a little like going home.