Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (51 page)

    “Lauren, you look so beautiful today.”

    “And you, Michael, were so handsome when you were running around naked last night.”

    “I was naked but I wasn’t running around.”

    The couple sat on the edge of Bethesda Fountain, in the center was a winged female bronze eight-foot angel statue touching down on the f
ountain where the water cascaded
down into the upper basin and then down into the adjacent pool.
There were also four cherubs under the angel that represented Purity, Health, Temperance and Peace. With a lily in o
ne hand for purity, and with her
other
hand
the angel blessed the water.
The sculpture had been
designed by Emma Stebbins in 1868.
The Angel of the Waters was a favorite place for Lauren to sit and ponder, but with Michael at her side it was even better.
It was also a great place for sharing.

    It was a nice place to take photos and there were plenty of cameras around.
People making memories that they could take home and frame, a moment of time captured.

    “Michael, I have news that you might or might not like.”

   
Michael smiled at her and kissed her hand. “Really?
I
might or might
not
like?
Is it something that I could guess? Are the odds in favor of my liking it?”

    Lauren shrugged and
then leaned over kissing
his face. “That depends on whether you were lying to me or not?
People say a lot of things but they don’t mean all of them.
”

    Michael thought hard on it but really didn’t know what she was talking about.
Of course he was the fish on the end of the hook.
“
I don’t remember lying to you.
I don’t really have enough information
to guess at what the heck you’
re talking about? You’re going to turn me into a vampire? That c
an’t be it since I’m already one
handsome vampire.”

    Lauren looked into his hazel eyes and smiled. “What did you tell me you wanted to be?”

    At first Michael shrugged. “I don’t know. A red sheriff?”

    “Bingo.
”

    “So you’re saying what?
Dracula’s making more red sheriffs?”

     “
Yes, with all the crap that’s going on he’s finally going to make more sheriffs. 
It s
hould
have been done years ago. N
ot only that my love, but I got you on the list.
So if you weren’t really serious about it I would say that now is the time to bow out.
”

    Michael jumped up. “
I’m going to get to meet Dracula?
Yes! We can work together? Killing bad guys? I’m not going to be out there by myself?
I’ll be you and me?
”

    “
Relax; we’ll be side-by-side
until we drive each other nuts.”

    “Cool. We’ll go insane together. How soon do I get to be a red sheriff?”

     “There’s no date for the ceremony yet so we’ll just have to wait and see.
You’ll have to pass his inspection. He’s going to go into your mind and dig around in there. So I would caution you, if you are a
closet
serial killer you might not want to let him poke around in there.
”

    “Lauren, you know what might be cool? If the Master could marry us. Can he do that and would he?
Is that possible?
”

    Lauren
was surprised
and pleased by
the idea but didn’t think it would be possible. “That would be nice
Michael
but I’ve
never heard of such a thing. I’m no expert on Dracula that’s for sure but what a memory that would be.”

    “I can
just
picture it.”

    “
I ask around and see what I can come up with.
What should we do? Should we head for home and chill in front of the television?”

    Michael knew exactly what he wanted to do. “Well, we could watch some TV or make out. Or have something to eat and
then
make out. Or just make out and make out. What do you want to do?
Make out?
”

   
“Let’s go home
.”

    They blurred off hand in hand.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

    T
HE DAY HAD BEEN MELLOW
and enjoyable, with an apparent lull in all the
killings. It was walking weather as Wei and Bao were on patrol. They were definitely looking forward to some normalcy, even if it was only for twenty-four hours. They noticed that a lot of people appeared to be in a good mood, as if there was s
omething in the air. The bees flew happily from flower to flower. So far it had been a perfect day with not a single call.

    Wei placed his hand on his sword. “I could get used to days like this.”

    “The world deserves days like this.”

    W
ei and Bao couldn’t believe
what they were seeing
. It was
something
that should
only appear in one’s nightmare
. They had dealt with
a lot over the centuries
but nothing like this
.
Bao thought it looked a little like a walking cartoon, it was that unreal. The thing
looked left and right as they watched it.
The Chinese sheriffs stood momentarily bewildered.

  
On the east side o
f Fifth Avenue
there was
a
skeleton that was
ablaze,
walking on the sidewalk in
front of
St
Patrick’s Cathedral.
People ran across the street
toward Rockefeller Center
to get away from it, cars screeched to a halt to gawk at it.
Even a crow on the church stared down
at something that it had never before observed.
The bird was smart enough not to approach it.
Two police officers attempted to confront it and f
or their trouble it spat fire on
both of them, they were quickly consum
ed by the magical fire with
nothing
remaining of them
but black dust
on the sidewalk
.
They had
managed a couple of screams but
that was it, even their guns had been disintegrated into dust.

  
As Wei approached
he thought that it
had rather rank BO, even though it had no body it
smelled like vomit, nasty and sour
, which was a peculiar odor for something that was on fire
.
Bao
pulled his sword and tried to block its way but
it threw
fire on him
; the flames stuck
like burnt marshmallows tossed on a wall. His
skin melted as
he screamed in agony
, backing up he
fell
; he healed but it took longer than normal. Wei blurred and attacked with his magical sword, but i
t went right through the enchanted
thing as if it was only cutting through fire
, no contact with its bones
.
This thing was definitely going to be a big problem.
He had tried to take its head off but it didn’t work. The fiery bones looked around as if it was hunting for someone or something, like a puzzled tourist not exactly
sure
where to go.
It was attempting to orient
on its location.
It wasn’t qu
ite used to its new condition and
it attempted to figure things out
, with no brain to speak of it was running on magical thoughts
.

    Bao looked at Wei. “God that was painful. What are we going to do if we can’t kill it?”

    Wei swung his blade several times t
hrough the entity of fire accomplishing
nothing. “Now I’m definitely wishing I had some magical training.
I think magic need
s
to be fought with magic.
”
He
knew there was a degree of magic in all vampires, but
not strong enough.  T
his
thing looked to be nothing but pure evil. He believed it had a single task and that it would die to accomplish it, assuming it could be killed.