Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (56 page)

    J
ENNY WENT DOWNSTAIRS IN HER PURPLE PAJAMAS
with yellow stars,
the lion cub following close behind.
She continued to wait for Jareth to show up and escort her to the wizard with the Blood Book, but since it might actually be the end of her she was in no rush.
She had discovered a few spells on the Internet but most of them were rubbish and she didn’t trust any of the enchantments. She was just as likely to kill herself as to accomplish anything with those spells.
Her mother was in the kitchen cooking pancakes for breakfast as Dracula sat in the living room reading the newspaper.
Beside the Master on the floor was the lifeless Moon Diamond
that appeared to be dead but wasn’t yet quite so
.

  
Zacharia was floating around attempt
ing to kick th
ings but couldn’t.  He also attempted
to strangle Dracula in jest
but his hands went right through him
.
Try being a ghost if you want to be ignored.
The vampire had discovered that he’d rather be in the cat than float
ing around
. He assumed that because the cat wasn’t dead his soul continued to be attached to it, like a string on a
kite. His soul would most likely move on once the cat perished.  Zacharia had tried to go back inside the cat but it was so utterly dark in there and he just drifted out.

  
Jenny sat at the table and looked tired.

   
Allison placed a stack of three pancakes on her plate
.
“Jenny, why do you put flakes of blood on your pancakes when you don’t have to?”

    “I don’t know I just like it I guess.
Must be the vampire in me.
”
She showed her mother her fangs.

    Allison put the frying pan
on the stove and stared at her daughter.
Life was evolving too fast for her liking, although she was certainly enjoying being reunited with Dracula.
A year could change so much in a person, and she considered that everyone continued to evolve in their own way.
“What are you going to do with that dead cat?”

    “Mother, the cat isn’t dead it’s in a coma.”

   
Allison crossed her arms and leaned against the stove.
“Oh good lord. I listened to the cat’s chest and I can’t hear anything.
Perhaps Sarah will eat it.
”

    “Mother!
Moon Diamond’s heartbeat is faint but I can hear it.
Your human ears are insufficient.
”

    “Un huh.”

   
The lion cub pawed at Jenny’s left leg
asking for food
. She
got up and took a large
steak out of the
bottom of the
fridge and gave it to the cub; it morphed into the full grown lioness to eat it. Allison stared at the lion and shook her head
; she didn’t think that she would ever get used to a
full grown lion in the house
. The doorbell rang and
Jenny thought that it might be Jareth. Allison went to the door
and soon returned with an RCMP Officer named John Cormier.
He was a tall and imposing fellow though not as tall or impressive as Dracula.

    John went for his gun at the sight of the lion but Jenny blurred and took the gun from him, and of course he was more than a little surprised
, and not the least bit amused
. “You can’t have a lion here!”

    Jenny shook her head. “
Relax Officer.
It’s not a real lion it
’
s an entity of magic. Sarah, cub Sarah.”
She looked into his eyes and went into his mind so that he would believe whatever they told him.

   Sarah turned into a cub and the officer was most impressed. He picked it up
and Sarah turned back into a full size lion,
causing him to fall
on his head into the corner.
He got up and attempted to look confident but it didn’t work.
“Oh my, she won’t eat any of the neighbors will she?”

    The girl wizard shook her head. “Nope, only bad vampires.”

    “Well that’s good to know.”
John was trying to be brave but they could see the stress and fear in his face.
Officer Cormier was
n’t
trained to deal with such things but as long as it wasn’t a genuine lion that was good enough for him, but he was certai
n that there would be more
complaints forthcoming
. He had been trained to always take charge of the situation but there was no accomplishing that here. His hands were still shaking a little. “All right then, I’ll leave you to your breakfast.”

    When the officer left Jenny and Allison had to laugh.

    After breakfast Dracula and Allison snuggled up on the sofa.
Jenny sat in the recliner chair with her feet up
and her arms crossed,
occasionally glancing at the affectionate couple
then
she commenced to read
.

    “I believe that our daughter is annoyed at us.” Dracula twirled his fingers pretending that he was putting a spell on Jenny.

    “Mother, must you do that?” Jenny was going through Wang’s wizard book, but there didn’t appear to be much in it that she could use, if anything.

    “Do what? Affection is a normal part of life. We’re simply holding hands.”

    Sarah had become interested in Zacharia
floating around.

    “I know that but … oh never mind. You know I’m still annoyed with you
father.
”

    “I know but all things change in time. I would imagine that in years to come you’ll
gladly
give me hugs and kisses. I can’t wait.”

    “Don’t make me wretch. Hey, look at Sarah.”

    Sarah, in cub form, was following something. She would stop and swat at it and then move to another location. Zacharia’s ghost was playing with the cat and rather enjoying it, especially since she was the only one that could see him.
The cub tried to stand
to swat Zacharia
and it fell over.

    Jenny had an idea. “Dracula,
you don’t suppose that Sarah might be
playing with Zacharia’s ghost?”

   
The Master looked distant as he considered it.
“It’s possible. Why don’t you mind her and find out.”

    Jenny went into Sarah’s mind and sure enough
, she could see what the cub was seeing, Zacharia’s ghost floating around. It was the first time she had seen him in the so-called flesh; she thought he was old but handsome enough.
He looked kingly she thought.
“Yup, his ghost is here. Boy, does he look annoyed.”

    Allison shook her head. “So we have a dead cat, a lion and now a ghost? What’s next?”

    Dracula nodded. “Life
has become more interesting than
I would have thought possible. So Zacharia, how’s life treating you? Or should I say death?”

    Jenny shook her head. “He just gave you the finger.”

     Allison suddenly had a peculiar look on her face. “Dracula, you don’t suppose he watches us at night do you?”

    “I have no idea
. Perhaps he’s using us for entertainment purposes
.”

    Jenny got on the floor with the cub. It morphed into a lioness and they started to wrestle.

    “Oh good lord.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

    L
AUREN WAS
SO
SEXY
in her short black dress. She felt naked without her swords but with them she was unlikely to be attacked by the rapist. Her blue-black hair simply looked black at night, unless the light caught it just right. Last night she had smelled the
rapist’s scent but the wind ha
d kicked up at just the wrong time and she was unable to track it.
She was hoping for better luck this time.

   It was a relatively quiet night as most humans didn’
t dare venture out after dark
.
But in New York there were enough brave souls to keep the vampires satisfied.
She had detected
the scent and then lost it, the night was filled with odors, some not pleasant at all. Someone was burning their sirloin steak.
Someone else was cooking cabbage at this time of night.
Lauren
quickly climbed up a fire escape
in the alley and again caught the scent
, and now she could tell the general direction from which it originated. She would have to walk t
owards it lest she
herself disturb the smell with her excessive speed.
A garbage can was knocked over behind her and made an awful
racket;
it was
a large racoon looking for food
.

    Michael had to stay behind this time as it was unlikely that a rapist would attack a couple, but the fact that this guy remained in the same part of the city told her he was either stupid, wanted to be caught, or simply figured that he was too smart for the law.
Even though Michael knew she could handle herself better than anyone he knew, he was at home worrying. Lauren had to reassure him and to tell him to stop calling.