Heart of the Vampire (Vanderlind Castle) (20 page)

The vampires were all listening very attentively. “And why is this particular human of such value to you?” brought up the bunned vampiress who liked to hear herself ask questions.

“Colette and I are soul mates,” Jessie said with simplicity but also with a firmness that was in his voice as well as his posture.

“Ha!” said a vampire to the left of Winston. “You barely even knew her at the party.”

“At the time, I didn’t know Colette very well in her current manifestation,” Jessie told them, “but I felt an inexplicable need to protect her. We had previously fallen in love during her past life and had made the announcement that we intended to be conjoined. It was only her untimely death that kept us apart. That was until we met again on my maker’s day.”

“How do you know Colette is the reincarnation of the girl you loved before?” Winston asked.

“I feel it in every fiber of my being,” Jessie replied. “I knew it as soon as I saw her. We are connected in a way that defies a single human lifetime.”

“And you
, girl,” said the ancient young woman with the waxy skin. She snapped her fingers at me like she was a rude patron trying to signal a waiter. “Do you believe you’ve been reincarnated?”

I looked at her and with all honesty replied, “I don’t know.”

Chapter 30

All the vampires star
ed at me like I was juggling hand grenades with the pins pulled. “You’re fighting for your life, young lady,” the ancient vampiress reminded me. “That’s not a very good answer.”

“Well
, it’s not a very good question, either,” I fired back at her. Her eyes all but burned red, and I knew I was teetering on the edge of being killed on the spot. “I don’t mean to be rude, but look at it from my perspective,” I said, hoping to buy a few minutes to explain. “If I say no, then I’ll be killed. If I say yes, you’ll think I’m lying just to save my life. But I replied truthfully. I don’t know if I’ve been reincarnated or not. Colette Gibson...” and then I hurriedly corrected myself, “the first Colette Gibson was my great, great aunt. Her sister, my great grandmother, is still alive, and she has told me my whole life that I look exactly like her lost sister.” My voice started to sound a little shaky, so I took a moment to clear my throat. “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always been fascinated by the Vanderlind Castle. And my whole life, I’ve had these recurring dreams that never made any sense. It was only after I met Jessie and learned more about my namesake that I realized what I thought were dreams were probably past life memories.”

“So you bel
ieve in reincarnation?” the old-young woman asked, a little skeptically.

“I guess I have to or you’ll rule against me, right?” I said in reply. The vampires all chuckled a bit at the truth of it. Before they could throw anymore questions at me, I continued with, “Here’s what I know to be true. When I first saw Jessie, there was this intense feeling deep inside of me. I’d never felt anything like it before. I can only describe it as someone plucking a harp string that ha
d been still for many years. It was this vibrating emotion that woke me up in a way that I had never been awake before. But the more I’ve gotten to know Jessie, the more I’ve realized that we are truly connected in a way that I can’t explain with ordinary words. I don’t know if I’m Colette Gibson.” I hastily corrected myself again with, “I mean, the first Colette Gibson.” No one reacted, so I kept going. “I only know that the love I feel for Jessie has the power to last through time.” The vampires kept staring at me very impassively, so I finished with, “I’m not sure if that answers your questions, but it’s how I feel.”

“That was beautiful,” Winston said. “I swear the old heart almost started pumping again
.” He chuckled, thumping his chest. “Do you have anything else you’d like to add?”

“I’m not sure,” I hedged, glancing over at Jessie. Everything was so informal
, I wondered if it was the actual tribunal.

“It’s fine,”
Winston assured me. Then turning to the Bishops, he said, “Let’s hear from the witnesses. Shall we?”

I gulped. The witnesses? Did he mean there were witnesses when Viktor got staked? Because if he did, then I was dead. There was no saving me.

“Madame Csorbo,” Winston said. “Would you please tell us what you have observed pertaining to Jessie Vanderlind and the human called Colette Gibson?”

The lady cleared her throat. “As many of you know, Jessie and his human have been staying at my house under my protection while they are here in Budapest. It has not been easy. I have heard the rumors.” She shot a sharp look across the room. I couldn’t tell where it landed. “But I have known Jessie’s mother for close to a century
, and I felt it was only right.”

“Go on, Madame Csorbo,” Winston said. “Your loyalty and bravery
are to be commended.

I felt like a rude jerk. Here Madame Csorbo had put herself and her family at risk
, and I hadn’t even so much as thanked her properly or anything. I wondered what you send a vampire as a thank you gift. Probably not a fruit basket.

“I have talked to the human girl. I used my influence over her. I compelled her to tell me the truth. I believe she loves the boy very deeply. She does not care that he is a vampire and she is a human. She wants to be with him.” Madame Csorbo leaned back in her chair and folded her hands. “As for her being some reincarnation, I cannot say. I have no knowledge of reincarnation and found no proof that she is who she says she is.” She leaned forward in her chair again. “But I have been compelling humans for many years. I would be able to tell if she was lying
, and she is not. That much I know is true.”

“Thank you for your testimony,” Winston said. Then he turned to the Duke and asked for his observations.

The Duke and the other vampires said pretty much the same thing. They could tell I was sincerely in love with Jessie but couldn’t tell if I was the reincarnation of the original girl Jessie loved. I couldn’t even really remember talking to the other vampires much beyond accommodating them at the dinner party. They all swore that they had tried to compel me to admit that I wasn’t truly in love with Jessie, but I had proven to them that I was. Apparently, every vampire in Budapest had been trying to mind meld me for the last twenty-four hours, and I hadn’t realized it. Still, no evidence of reincarnation, though.

I had thought after Jessie and I spoke that the Bishops were leaning in our favor, but as the witnesses gave their observations
, I couldn’t tell for sure.

“Is that all the evidence?” the grand dame vampiress asked. “Is there no one here to speak for Count Adami?”

“I’m afraid not,” Winston replied. I guess it was a good thing for me that most vampires also seemed to think Viktor was kind of a jerk. “But we do have one more witness that I am very eager to hear testify.” I wracked my brain trying to think who else was in the lineup. Winston checked his watch. “She should be here soon, I hope. I hear there was a little ugliness on the way over, and she was delayed.”

I froze at his words.
No
, I thought to myself,
he can’t mean...

Just the
n the door opened and in stalked Vilma. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, slinking across the room and sliding herself into the last open chair. “I had to stop off for a bite.”

Oh God
, I thought.
I am totally dead meat.

“As everyone knows, I am not a fan of these humans coming in and taking our men,” was how Vilma began her testimony
at Winston’s prompting, waving a derogatory hand in my direction. “I don’t condone companionism, let alone any vampire being insane enough to conjoin with a human.”

I shifted my sitting position
, and Jessie squeezed my hand under the table. No wonder Vilma had hated me before she’d even laid eyes on me. She just plain didn’t like humans.

“Your feelings are understood,” said Winston, “but would you please keep to your testimony and not allow your opinions to interfere with the facts.”

“Fine,” Vilma said with a sigh. “I used every ounce of my power to try to get Oh-I’m-So-Human over there to leave Jessie alone, but it was no use. The little nincompoop is sincerely in love with him.”

“But is she the reincarnation of Jessie’s first human? The one to whom he
had wanted to conjoin?” the grand dame snapped, obviously losing patience with the same testimony vampire after vampire.

“How am I supposed to know?” Vilma growled, tossing her hands in the air. “I tried to get that out of her
, too, and she said she didn’t know anything beyond that she feels connected to Jessie, and she has some crazy dreams that are probably memories of the dead girl. I guess that could indicate a past life, but it’s hard to know for sure.”

“Do you have anything else you want to add?” Winston asked.

“I think they’re both idiots,” the vampiress replied. “She’s got a death wish, and he’s got a human fixation. But,” she continued, “I do believe they sincerely care for each other as much as they can given their circumstances, so maybe killing Viktor was a natural thing to do. Twisted and wrong, but understandable.”

“And what about the witness from the Vanderlind’s maker’s day party?” the senior vampiress asked. “
He’s the one that started all of this. Why isn’t he here to give testimony?”

“He refused,” Winston told her. “He said giving testimony would jeopardize his standing in the community.”

“Coward,” Jessie hissed under his breath. I gave his hand a sharp squeeze to silence him. He was right; tattling but then not facing us was extreme cowardice, but Vilma’s testimony, although excessively bitchy, did put us in a good light. Maybe they would rule in our favor. I actually felt hopeful. It was hard, sitting in a conference room under the glare of fluorescent lights, to think they could actually order my execution.

Winston looked at the assembled Bishops. “Does anyone have any more questions before we deliberate?” When no one answered, he looked over at us and said, “Okay, you’re excused. We shall summon you when we’ve made our decision.”

“That’s it?” I asked Jessie as vampires started getting to their feet to leave.

“Yes,” he nodded. “What did you expect?”

“I don’t know. Something a little more formal, at least.” It felt like we’d just agreed to proceed with a business merger or something. Not at all like a vampire tribunal. It seemed like the worst they were going to do was deny me stock options.

As we headed through the lobby and back
toward the elevators, Jessie pulled me to one side. “Would you mind waiting here for just one second?” He strode over to Vilma, who appeared to be waiting for him, and they had a quick, hushed conversation. I was listening very attentively and couldn’t pick up one single word.

As we headed over to the elevators, one of the doors was open
, and there were quite a few vampires crowded inside. I could almost feel them sniffing my humanness. “We’ll wait for the next one,” Jessie told them, adding a little wave to keep it friendly.

It was just Vilma, Jessie
, and me riding down to the lobby. I, for one, kept my mouth shut. Jessie and Vilma chose to do the same. As we exited the building, Jessie looked over at the vampiress. “So, we’ll hear from you soon?” Vilma nodded before signaling a black sedan that was waiting for her.

“Is that the way you expected things to go?” I asked, once we were alone.

“Not really,” he told me. “I thought the questioning would be a lot more intense. I thought they would pry a lot more into our lives to see what kind of relationship we had. It makes me nervous that they didn’t.”

“What do you think that means?”

He lifted his shoulders in a bewildered shrug. “I don’t know.”

“What do we do now?” I asked.

“We run,” Jessie replied, sweeping me into his arms and launching into the sky.

Chapter 31

Between the cold, my surprise, and the speed of Jessie’s flight, I was having trouble catching my breath. He flew higher with me than he had ever flown before and faster than I realized was even possible. It was like being on one of those amusement park rides that uses centrifugal force. For a few seconds, everything was very blurry. But once we got high enough and I no longer had the buildings of Budapest as a frame of reference, it was a little less nauseating.

“Where are we going?” I managed to ask
.

“A safe house,” he told me, barely moving his lips he was so focused on making our getaway. “It’s something I set up with Vilma. If it looks like things will go in our favor
, we’ll return. Otherwise, we’ll already have a good head start.”

“Vilma?” I exclaimed, doing very little to conceal my surprise.

“Yes. She’ll contact me once she feels confident she knows the decision.”

Of all the vampires in the world, Vilma would be on the top of my “don’t trust” list. I couldn’t say that to Jessie, though. He obviously trusted her with both our lives
, and he’d known her a lot longer than I had. “If you say so,” I told him, trying to shrink down into my coat. It was damn cold out, hurtling through the night.

I don’t know how long we flew. Maybe twenty minutes, maybe an hour. Jessie was focusing all his energy on flying as fast as he could and not letting me fall, I presumed, so I kept my mouth shut and tried to concentrate on not shivering to death.

Finally, I noticed we were starting to descend. I could make out silhouettes of the countryside, and it was a rocky, mountainous place. I didn’t know where we were, but it was obviously a long way from the lights and bustle of Budapest. There was a river below us, so I asked, “Is that still the Danube?”

“Yes.”

“Still?”

Jessie laughed. “The Danube is the second longest river in Europe. After the Volga, of course.”

“Of course,” I said, wishing I’d paid closer attention in geography class.

We approached a small town.
Jessie came down very close to the road. From what I could make out, there were houses and various buildings lining the river and butting up against the mountains. Instead of landing, Jessie just floated a few inches above the ground as we went along. I felt like a ghost bride being carried over a threshold. “I can just as easily walk,” I told him.

“No,” he replied. “I don’t want you to leave a scent trail.”

“Oh.” I resisted the urge to sniff my armpits. Well, if he wasn’t going to let me walk, he could at least answer my next question. “Where are we?”

“Durnstein,” Jessie said. After I gave him a blank stare
, he added, “Austria.”

“Austria?” I was a little stunned. I knew we’d traveled a long distance, but I didn’t realize we’d left Hungary. “Jessie, I can’t be in Austria. I left my passport back in my room.”

Jessie chuckled. “You won’t need it for the moment.” He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “Don’t worry. We’re almost there.”

“Where?” I was tired, cold
, and starting to feel a little annoyed.

“The castle,” he said, nodding
toward a distant peak above the town. Its top looked irregular, and I tried to see a castle but wasn’t having much luck.

“There’s a castle up there?” I asked
, squinting into the dark.

“There used to be,” Jessie admitted as we started floating up a steep incline of rocks piled upon each other. “Now there’s mostly just a ruin.”

“Why are we hiding in a ruined castle?” I had to ask.

“Because I knew you’d be disappointed by the Bishops
’ sterile office building. It was hardly romantic. And hiding in a ruined castle is very romantic,” Jessie said, giving me a bit of a squeeze. “Plus I know a secret room in the castle, so I thought, why not?”

He knew me too well.

We started to ascend the side of a very old stone wall. From what I could tell by the light of the waning moon, there was moss growing in between irregularly shaped boulders. I looked up to see the ruining castle teetering above us. “Are you sure that thing is stable?” I asked. “It looks like it would fall over in a stiff breeze.”

Jessie glanced up
toward the Jenga tower of stones. “It’s been around for about a thousand years, so it should last a couple more nights.”

Eventually
, we came to a large chink in the wall. It was not very tall but wider than a man. Jessie fed me through it like he was loading a pizza in an oven. “Step down,” he told me.

Feeling around with my feet, I found the floor was only a few feet below me. The room was pitch black, so I just crouched there, trying not to flounder while Jessie floated in.

“What do you think?” Jessie’s voice came out of the inky darkness. He sounded pleased with himself and eager for praise.

“Of what?” I asked. I tentatively felt along the damp, cold stone floor and found what felt like a rug a foot away from where I was crouching.

“The room,” Jessie said, sounding a little exasperated by my thickness. It had been a long night for him, too, after all.

“Jessie, I can’t see the room,” I explained. “I can’t see my hand in front of my face. Is there a light you can turn on or something.”

“Oh,” he said, his voice much smaller as he realized his mistake. “I... I’m sorry, Aurora. I didn’t think about a light.” I felt hands upon me, which made me involuntarily flinch, but then I realized they were his. “I can go get one real quick,” he said, coaxing me to my feet and guiding me across the room.

“Don’t you dare leave me alone in here,” I told him. Even though I knew he’d hurry, he would still have to leave me for a few minutes
, and that was a few minutes longer than I could take sitting alone in the pitch black of a ruined castle. “I’m telling you, I will freak out.”

“Shhh, it’s okay
.” He hushed me. “I won’t leave you. There’s a couch right in front of you. I’m going to sit you down on it.”

I sat, finding the couch surprisingly low to the ground
, and Jessie settled next to me, sliding his arms around me and snuggling me tight. I closed my eyes and tried to stop trembling. Jessie shifted around a bit and then pulled a blanket around me. From the nylon sound and feel of it, I assumed it was down filled. “I feel like a jerk about the light,” Jessie said in a quiet voice quite close to my ear. “I remembered food and water and this couch as a place for you to sleep, but a way for you to see never occurred to me.”

“It’s okay,” I assured him. “Most guys wouldn’t even think to pack a few snacks. I’m safe and warm and with you. I can look at the room in the morning.” I fought back a yawn. “Are you sure no one can find us here? German tourists aren’t going to climb over a pile of rocks and wonder what we’re doing here, are they?”

“No,” Jessie replied, giving me a little squeeze. “Not unless they can lift a few tons of stone. The entrance to this room is blocked. That little fissure is the only way in or out.”

His words ech
oed in my brain. “Jessie, don’t you think there should be at least one other exit? I mean, what if we’re attacked or something? Vampires could easily block off that hole in the wall.”

“Okay, there is one more secret way
out,” he admitted, “but I don’t think any humans know about it, and most vampires wouldn’t realize it’s there. You’d have to spend a lot of time flying around the castle to find it.”

“Would you mind telling me how to find
it?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said, “but it would be impossible for you to use.”

“Yeah, I understand that,” I told him, “but what do I do if something happens to you? What if you take off somewhere and don’t come back? How the hell would I get out of here?”

“Oh,” he said. I couldn’t see his face, but I assumed he was frowning. He shifted a little
, and I knew he was running his fingers through his hair. “I guess you could always try to signal someone on the road. Wave a shirt or something. But I really don’t think it’ll come to that.”

“I hope not,” I said with a yawn.
I wondered what time it was. It felt like I’d been awake for days. “Tell me how you know about this place,” I said, cuddling against his chest.