Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (50 page)

   
Sebastian
was in a happy mood
.  H
e
was recently
engaged, and his business of sell
ing
spells was picking up.
Yesterday he had made a cluster of real bees spell out
I Love You
to a new client who was most impressed
, and so was his new girl
.
Sebastian was also looking forward to moving out of New York to get away from the nasty vampire
s
. As a low level wizard he had limited protection, all it would take is for one vampire to be dissatisfied with his work for him to lose his head.
Some of them were so insistent that they were impossible to refuse.
But the day was bright and
things were h
eading in a positive direction
.

    Outside The Russian Tea Room Achak arrive
d, he blurred to the front of the building
knowing that Sebastian was inside waiting for him
. It was the first time in over a year that he had worn a suit and it felt foreign to him. He looked up at the
sign of the
dancing bears on the building and knew for sure that he was at the right location. The scent of food making its way to where he stood
under
the canopy covered sidewalk was making him hungry.
There was also the smell of strong coffee in the air from a nearby Starbucks. Achak
had memorized the new spell and his augmented energy should make it an easy undertaking, but a wizard
never
knew exactly what would happen when trying out an enchantment f
or the first time
.
Most of the surprises from a spell gone wrong were not pleasant ones.
He knew of one wizard that had accidentally killed himself and it looked as though his cabin in the woods had been hit by a tornado, nothing but boards and splinters
had
remained
when his spell
had gone awry.

    Achak walked into the restaurant confidently
a
fter scanning it and determining
that there were no vampires present, and no other wizards except for Sebastian. He walked ri
ght up to him
and weaved the
magical net over him
with a circular motion from both hands
going counterclockwise
;
it tightened around Sebastian
as a bag being twisted from the top
.
The net glowed as the small wizard
tried to scream
, but the net wouldn’t permit any sound to escape. Achak threw him over his shoulder, turned and walked straight out. Not a single person dared to interfere as he exited with Sebastian in the bag. Once outside he blurred in the direction of his fo
rest home in Quebec. He hadn’t been able to locate a
single wizard there
, but he knew that he would find one in New York. In a way, New
York City really was the premier city in North America.

    When Achak arrived at his wigwam in the Quebec forest, his magical fire continued to burn
, and had now been alive for almost a week
.
It was one of the most complicated spells that he had ever weaved.
The skulls that danced in the fire now had smiles on their bony faces as they floated around with anticipation; they could almost taste the wizard in the net.
They laughed and spit flames onto the ground
starting small fires that quickly dissipated
; they jostled for position as they faced toward Achak
, colliding with one another
.

  
Achak pulled out the Blood Book in order to study the spell some more to make absolutely sure that no ingredients were missing.
He was excited yet cautious.
He was confident yet aware of some of the things that could go wrong.
One of the skulls was coughing inside the fire as it spit embers out, and it struck at his funny bone. He imagined that one of the burning skulls had caught a cold which was impossible.

    “After this not many
will be able to stand up to me.”

    Inside the bag it was as if Sebastian was looking through
a checkered pattern into a
fog; he could see the fire and Achak but just barely.
Why was this fellow out to get him when
he appeared to be a stranger? Sebastian
had a fire enchantment
spell
but was afraid to use it. W
hat if it couldn’
t puncture what he was in
and the blaze raged within the confines of s
uch a small space?
He could be consumed by his own spell.
Life went from looking up to looking down from a great height without a parachute. He had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach and he felt sick.

    Achak retrieved four different colored pouches out of the wigwam and placed them on the Blood Book. One pouch was blue, one red, one black and the last one magenta. The magenta pouch popped into the air and fell on the ground. When he placed it back on the book, again it
was tossed on the ground.
He was puzzled as the book apparently didn’t like the ground up
Metaxymorpha meeki insects in the magenta bag.
When he examined it closer he realized that he
had selected the wrong pouch
, who know
s
what would have occurred had he used it.
What a foolish amateur error yet he was no amateur.
He ent
ered the wigwam and exchanged it for
a purple pouch. Satisfied with the ingredients he returned and took a pinch from each and tossed it into the fire. The flames grew hotter and higher and more colorful
as dark smoke headed up into the atmosphere
. The skulls pursued the ingredients inside the fire and hungrily devoured them.

  
Sebastian continued to kick occasionally but it was no use, none of his spells were strong enough to burst out
, except perhaps for the fire
.
All he could think was that if he didn’t survive this his beloved would never know what happened to him.
H
e was in big trouble.
When Achak picked up the bag with him in it, he realized that he was going to be tossed in the fire, and so with nothing to lose he attempted
to unleash his fire spell. T
he only thing that was released was
a small amount of
smoke from his fingertips.

    Inside the flames, parts had formed a complete skeleton
.
There were
other skulls that danced ar
ound in there, looking
unhappy as they had
n’t
been selected to be part of the
complete
skeleton.
Sebastian was tossed into the flames
bag and all;
his scream was cut short as he was killed almost instantly. Deep and heavy breathing surrounded the fire as the skeleton stepped out.
It was an unusual sight t
o behold as it burned
with magical flames.
The monster that had been created in the form of a skeleton continued to burn with enchanted blue and orange flame.
The sound of the flames consuming oxygen was striking.
Achak circled his creation and was happy with the result; he noticed that the heat from it was considerable.

    “Do you know what you have to do?”

    “Withdraw enchanted
energy from others and give it to you.”

    “How long do you think it will take?”

    The fiery skeleton was annoyed. “How can I know that?”

    It was a simple answer to a simple question but it bothered Achak.
Did that thing already have an attitude?
He expected the creation
to be totally compliant but if it wasn’t it was too late. He
wasn’t su
re if he could destroy it because
it had been created with some of the most powerful ingredients. He watched as the
skeleton blurred short distances as it headed off on its ungodly quest.
Trees caught fire as it approached but then were quickly extinguished without its energy to sustain it.

    “I want the girl wizard killed last. You will learn as you get stronger and progress. You will need that experience
to face her. Once I get her energy I should be sufficiently powerful to take on Dracula.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

   
T
HE MORNING WAS HOT AND UNCOMFORTABLE but not to the vampire couple;
Lauren and Michael had never been happier. They had taken in a Broadway show
, toured Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and walked hand-in-hand in Central Park as they discussed what date they would select for the wedding.
Lauren had
other
exciting news for Michael but
she wasn’t sure when to tell him
. The park was green and full of life, lots of people and the birds appeared to be having a concert.

   Lauren and Michael had come from the Belvedere
Castle
, where they had enjoyed panoramic views of the Great Lawn and the Turtle Pond. They snu
c
k
lots of kisses as if they were teens enjoying their very first love.
  They were feeding off one another’s energy and both were relieved that the other was okay.
Love was some of the most powerful magic that one could have, but of course it was a different kind of enchantment.