HORROR THRILLERS-A Box Set of Horror Novels (68 page)

They walked through
the quiet neighborhood in the dark. Now and then a car turned down
the street, splashing them in their headlights. Parents coming home
from late hours at work.

"This is about
Ryan, isn't it?"

"You're
getting good with that."

"With what?"

"Knowing. It's
part of your powers."

She shrugged. "I
guess so. That means it is about Ryan. We've already talked about
that. And I've talked with my mom, too."

"And neither
talk deterred you from the direction you're heading?"

"Hey! Do I
have my own life or what? I'm eighteen now. I go to college next
year. I'm not a baby all of you have to keep scolding, you know."

"Temper,
girl." Mentor's voice had dropped several registers, enough so
that it sounded menacing. He saw Dell cringe.

"I'm sorry,
Mentor, it's just that I can't help it. I get mad easy, all the time
I'm angry, and I just don't know what the big deal is anyway. I like
him, that's all. It's not a crime to like someone, is it?"

"I'll try to
answer that question. Let's take a trip. Take my hand."

"What?"

"You're going
to try your first transformation. Take my hand."

"I'm scared,
Mentor."

He had her hand and
held it, looking into her face. "I'm going to be with you.
Nothing's going to harm you."

"Tell me what
happens then. I'm still scared."

"You know that
all matter is made of atoms." She nodded her head. Mentor
continued, "We're supernatural now, not diseased or dead, but
supernatural. Our atoms are under our control. Our minds can cause
them to separate, without destroying us. Our minds stay intact,
though the atoms scatter and become invisible. The very first of our
kind stumbled on transformation by accident. Since then, we have all
been able to transform. We can cause the atoms to gather again,
through willpower. They can create another form, if we were to want
one. Most of us don't do that often because form affects mind. If I
were to become an eagle, I would be me, but eagle as well, do you
understand?"

"Kind of."

"Only
experience teaches. My words can merely describe. That's why you're
going with me on your first trip. I'll keep you safe. After this,
you'll be able to do it yourself. Are you ready?"

She hesitated. "I
guess so."

"It's natural
to be afraid. You've felt some of the emotions and heightened sensory
abilities of a vampire, but this is different. I promise you'll be
all right. I'll be at your side every minute."

As he stared at
her, he turned all his attention inside himself, feeling the
molecules that made up his physical body begin to spin and bump one
off the other. The world outside dimmed only a moment as he
transformed, and then it was bright and real again. Directing his
attention to where Dell had been standing beside him he saw that she
was coming along nicely, her corporeal body shimmering as if stars
danced inside the shell of her skin. She winked out, at least to the
human eye, but he could sense the darkness she became, darker than
the surrounding night, and he tugged at her, bringing her with him as
he ascended toward the sky.

She was crying out
for him, terrified, and he sent her soothing thoughts. She would have
to learn how to do this on her own eventually. It would not terrify
her then. He sped with her clasped tightly to his consciousness
across the skies and higher, higher until they were beyond the
atmosphere and the world below looked like a blue globe swirling
coldly through black space.

He was taking her
to the monastery. It was located half a world away from Dallas,
Texas, in a remote region of Thailand. Vampire monks had inhabited it
for centuries. The monks were the guards, unusual men who devoted
their lives to the monastery. Had they been human, they would have
been men who joined a religious retreat. Mentor's clan kept it as a
safe place, or used it as a prison when needed.

Mentor and Dell
descended in a flash, the world having turned enough that Thailand
was just below them. Pulling Dell along with him, he drew her
earthward again and through the red-tiled roof of one of the
monastery's buildings arranged in a semicircle in the isolated
enclave.

Then he let her go.

With his silent
guidance she began to shimmer into existence from the darkness. He
also waited for his own molecules to group again, creating the being
known as Mentor.

They stood on a
stone floor in a dim room with thick wooden rafters overhead. It was
a gloomy, damp place, smelling of wet stone and rusty iron.

Gasping for breath,
the way a mortal might, Dell jerked this way and that, throwing out
her arms and twirling. He touched her arm and she was suddenly still,
her eyes focused on his. "Dell? You're all right. You're in your
body again."

She glanced down at
herself with surprise. "What happened? I thought I saw the Earth
at my feet. It was making me sick. I thought I'd passed out. Where
are we?" She looked finally around at their surroundings.

"We descended
so high into the stratosphere that the Earth turned below us. When we
descended, we were at another place on the globe. We can do that,
with practice. I'm sorry it shocked you so badly, but this was
important to your development."

"And this
place?"

She wrapped her
arms around her body and shivered, looking around the dismal room.

"It's our
safe, secure place. We're in Northern Thailand. This is an old
monastery and the original order of monks deserted it a long time
ago. We took it over. Now it's run by monks who are like us."

"Naturals?"

"Well, not
really. They actually border on being Predators. They have, shall we
say, 'aggressive' instincts. They stay here. Some have been here for
centuries."

"What do they
do here?"

"That's why
we've come, Dell. I wanted you to see someone who is kept here."

"Kept?"

"She's
imprisoned."

"Is she
vampire?"

"Oh, yes, she
is." He took Dell's hand and whisked her down a corridor. As
they passed one of the hooded monks, Mentor nodded and the monk
barely acknowledged them with a glance before moving on.

"They're not
surprised we're here?" Dell asked, looking back at the monk as
his orange robe swept along the stone floor behind him.

"No, I come
here quite often. They know me well."

Mentor led her down
stone steps into an underground corridor, this one with low,
soot-stained ceilings. Electric lights hadn't been installed. Iron
sconces flickered with candlelight. Along each side of the corridor
were cells with iron gates that served as doors. Mentor paused at
one. He brought a key from his pocket and slipped it into the large
black iron padlock hanging from a hasp. He unlocked it, and swung
open the heavy door. "Go in," Mentor said.

Dell stepped inside
and moved toward a figure who had its back to them at a primitive oak
writing table. As Dell approached, she saw it was a woman. Her hair
was long, to her waist, and very shiny, sparkling with light from the
candle sitting on the table next to her. She was dressed in a plain
dark dress that buttoned at her throat. Around one of her ankles Dell
saw an iron collar attached to a heavy chain. "Hello?" Dell
said.

The woman did not
turn. She said, "Mentor, your little new-girl vampires are a
bore to me. How many years do I have to bear this intrusion?"

"As long as
there are others like you," he said. He touched Dell's arm and
said, "Madeline here was like you. She fell in love with a
mortal. Didn't you, Madeline?"

"You tell the
story, Mentor. I'm busy."

"Madeline is
writing her memoirs." Mentor indicated the shuffled papers on
the desk. "Madeline is kept here for her own good. When her
mortal lover died, she tried to kill herself. But first, she tried to
attract attention from the world media. She was going to cause a
scene, weren't you, Madeline?"

Madeline refused to
answer. She kept her head down over the papers on the desk, writing
furiously.

"You're
scaring me, Mentor," Dell said, her face looking heavy and sad.

"I wanted you
to see what becomes of vampires sometimes when they take a mortal
lover."

"As if you
didn't!" Madeline turned in the chair, her long hair swinging
wide over her shoulder. Her face was deformed with rage. Her incisors
showed, her lips were pulled back from all her teeth, and they shone
yellow in the light filtering in from the barred corridor.

Dell turned to
Mentor. "What does she mean?"

"I'll tell you
what I mean, girl. Mentor fell in love and married a mortal, too. He
should be here with me, chained for eternity in a cell with nothing
of the world but paper and pen."

Mentor spoke
softly, "Madeline, I didn't lose my mind when I lost my mortal."

Madeline rose and
Dell stepped back, startled. Mentor stood his ground.

"Oh, didn't
you?" she shouted. "Didn't you lose your mind, Mentor? Are
you saying you're impervious to the pain of separation? That you're
heartless? That you didn't beat your breast and weep and gnash your
teeth?"

"Calm down,
Madeline. You get this way every time I come to visit. It's tedious."

"And why
shouldn't I get enraged?" The chain attached to her ankle and
connected to the wall clinked like doom as she stepped toward them.
"Why shouldn't I let your little secret out? You're as mad as I
am. You've been mad for a hundred years!"

Mentor saw her rash
movement coming a second before she made it. She always attacked him.
She was always furious when he brought a youth to see her, to witness
her madness and imprisonment. He reached up and grabbed her raised
clawed hand before it could touch him. "We're leaving now,
Madeline. You're a terrible hostess. You need to work on your
manners."

Now the chained
woman went for him tooth and claw. Mentor threw her back against the
writing desk and ushered Dell through the open door before Madeline
could recover. He swung the door shut with a crash and with his key
locked the door.

He looked at Dell.
"Do you understand?"

"Was she
right? Did you love a mortal, too?"

"Yes, I did.
And that's why I want to spare you that kind of pain. Madeline never
got over it. You can see she's insane and vengeful. She would tear me
apart if she could. She'd do great damage if she were let loose in
the world. She wants to bring us all down. Make sure we're hunted and
found and killed. It's her mission now, so of course we can't allow
her freedom. Ever again."

"Why doesn't
she do what we did? Transform and leave?"

"Someone's
attention is turned on her all the time, every second. One of the
monks is assigned to her. Many of the captives here don't know they
can transform, but Madeline knows. She was quite talented in her day.
And she knows she wouldn't get far. Her monk would come for her and
bring her back within seconds. It would be a useless gesture on her
part. Not that she hasn't done it. But she's given all that up now
and sits in the cell, finally realizing there is no escape."

Mentor led Dell up
the stairs. As they stood in the big open room where they'd first
appeared, monks silently came and went, hoods shielding their faces,
ignoring the presence of the two outsiders.

"I don't want
this for you, Dell." Mentor hoped she could see what might
happen to her if she continued falling in love with her young man.

"But you
didn't really lose your mind, did you, Mentor?"

"No. At least
not to the extent Madeline did. And others like her. They're all
here, locked away for their own good. For the sake of us all."

"But it's my
choice, isn't it, Mentor?"

Mentor sighed.
"Yes," he said. "It's your choice. I've just shown you
the usual repercussions of such a choice. I only want to help you,
Dell."

"I'll think
about it."

Mentor took her arm
and said, "Yes, you must. You must think about it."