The King's Vampire (15 page)

Something dangerous flickered in his eyes. “Nobody owns me.”

“What?”

He pushed his powerful jaw forward. “Buckingham isn’t my master. I might follow his orders, but no one owns a shape-shifter.”

She masked her smile. “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, but I don’t want to find any human or beast under my bed, unless it’s my dog or one of the king’s spaniels. Is that understood?”

Lance squinted at Charlie, who snapped and growled at him, while still managing to keep his distance. “That runty little dog doesn’t look like he’d be much protection for a kitten, much less a grown woman.” Lance gave a low growl, and Charlie whined, darting back beneath Elizabeth’s petticoat.

She lifted up the little dog and shielded him with her arms. “Don’t bother me or threaten my dog again.”

“Yes, Your Ladyship, I do understand. I’ll not trouble you again, and I’ll relay the message to Buckingham.” Lance gave Elizabeth a grin, his teeth wolfish and white. He transfigured back into a wolf and sprang out the window before she had time to blink.

Once he’d gone, she heard a mournful howl that caused the hairs on her arms to stand up on end. She found herself thinking her first evening at Whitehall was proving to be more eventful than she’d hoped for.

She climbed up onto her bed and pulled the coverlet around her, feeling a raw longing and thirst, but feared getting caught outside when the dawn came. She fought back her hunger and blood lust, closing her eyes, hoping desperately for sleep. Outside her window, a wolf gave a deep-throated cry again, and she shivered.

Chapter 14

Darius stood in the middle of chaos. The meeting at the George and Dragon had been reduced to vampires standing in the middle of the room yelling and accusing one another of being the cause of the witch hunter coming to London. He raised one hand to silence them and then raised both hands. Finally, he shouted, “If you don’t all sit down this minute, I’m leaving this meeting and you’re on your own.

“You can’t do that,” Godfrey said. “We’ve done made you Lord Mayor of the Vampires again. You’re obligated to help us, you are.”

“I can leave and I will.” Suddenly, the commotion ceased and everyone settled down at the wooden tables. “I insist you all remain as circumspect as possible from now on. Ever since Fr. Francois Richard linked vampirism and witchcraft in his newly written treatise, as well as the German text on vampires written by Phillip Rohr, a wave of vampire hysteria has swept throughout Europe. No vampire is safe, especially after the atrocities some of you have committed on innocent humans.”

The Duke of Denham stood up. “What do you suggest we do to protect ourselves?”

“Be very careful, John. I might suggest all vampires make quiet preparations in case you are forced to leave London quickly. The witch hunters are likely to work with great speed once they arrive.”

“Nobody’s going to force me out of London. Those villages in Romania and Hungary are barbarous, and they have scant respect for vampires.” Godfrey bounced to his feet, his ferret-face intense.

“I’m not trying to force you out of London, but I think it’s wise to be prepared for the worst,” Darius said. “I believe Constanta, in Romania, is still a safe haven for vampires, or even Sighisoara, which is where Vladimir Dracula was born. There are strong vampire communities in those two villages where our immortal vampires might flee.”

The temperature in the room suddenly dipped, and a creeping mist entered. A stench of rotting, decaying flesh rose from the floor. Darius heard the clotted gurgle of Julian’s breath before he saw him surrounded by ten other psychic demons. They came through the solid walls of the tavern, circling the vampires, effectively cutting off any escape. Outside the rim of the psychic vampires, twelve shape-shifters paced the perimeter of the room, closely watching the immortals.

“Get the shape-shifters out of here, Julian. We’ve nothing to do with them.” Darius stood with his hands on his hips, glowering at the demon leader.

Julian traveled across the room so swiftly he was nose-to-nose with Darius before he’d hardly realized the demon had moved. “We’ve heard your idiot immortal vampires have attracted the attention of the witch hunters. If they discover my shape-shifters, those hunters will be all over my werewolves in a heartbeat when they arrive.”

“They’re your werewolves?” Darius’s mouth turned down in a cynical smirk and he glanced over at the largest wolf, apparently the leader of the pack, who snarled viciously.

This wolf lunged toward Julian, but he turned into a man before he reached the demon’s leathery throat. Snarling, Lance said in a deep growl, “We are shape-shifters. We are your allies, and give you our loyalty, but we belong to no one.”

“Thanks to the immortal vampires you’ll be getting a silver bullet in the heart if you don’t listen to me.” He pushed Lance away with his withered hands. Lance transformed back into a snarling wolf.

Julian confronted the immortals. “Listen, vampires, if you want to survive, you’d best join us. With your soulless, immortal bodies, we can rule the pitiful humans from earth and lead them into hell. Darius has grown old and weak. No one need listen to him anymore. The humans will follow us like the sheep they are if we show them our strength.”

Ten of the vampires, with Godfrey at the head, listened closely to Julian. “What is it you can do for us, gov’ner?”

“When I find the witch hunters, I’ll turn them into psychic vampire demons who will serve us. The immortal vampires need not fear witch hunters ever again.”

“Don’t you think you’ve already condemned the immortal vampires enough when you became Lord Mayor, Godfrey, and told them it was all right to kill the humans? Now if you join the psychic vampire demons, you’ll become nothing more than their slaves,” Darius said.

A lightning flash of red ripped through the inn, and moss formed so quickly along the floor that it created a great fissure. Throbbing and rumbling came from the chasm, while a stench worse than rotting fish poured out. Inhuman moaning echoed from below as withered, mummified-looking bodies of psychic demons scrabbled up from the pit.

Darius felt the air being totally sucked out of the room, and he and the vampires drifted to the ceiling. They hovered there in a vacuum, and Julian gave a cackling laugh. “Don’t you immortal vampires see you have no choice but to join us? We demons will overtake the world, and all will bow down to the dark one.”

Furious he’d been caught unprepared, Darius tried to raise his arm and generate the lightning energy needed to destroy a psychic vampire demon, but he was paralyzed. What kind of demon slayer was he when he’d let himself be taken unaware by Julian? He’d spent so much time trying to be fair and reason with Julian and the immortal vampires Julian had managed to leave him powerless.

He’d let the demons and the shape-shifters intimidate him through psychic and metaphysical force. He couldn’t blame the immortals for no longer following his leadership. He must focus on releasing his spirit from his flesh so he could overcome the trap. It would be difficult because the demons had created such chaos they were now feeding on everyone’s fear.

Even the shape-shifters acted intimidated by the demons swarming out of the abyss. The wolves clustered together in a tightly formed pack, while the psychic demons kept changing into form and out of form. At last, they presented solid shapes, each one more horrifying than the one before. Some demons had charred remaining body parts peeling from their bones, some had putrefied, shriveled flesh, which created a horrid stench, while others had eye sockets that oozed pus, and yet others possessed fiery red eyes that glowed with an eerie red light.

Julian stood at the helm of the demon band. He ordered them, “Go and seek out the most desperate nonbelievers you can find. Inhabit their troubled souls, and we will soon overrun London with more psychic demons than we ever imagined.” He looked up at the immortal vampires. “If any of you manage to survive and change your minds, I’ll be back to discuss what I expect of my slaves.” After the demons disappeared, the abyss creaked and the ground shuddered in waves before it closed back up.

Still trapped and hovering in the air, Darius struggled for an escape, despising himself for allowing the immortal vampires to fall into such a trap. He heard a roaring in his ears and was unable to face the vampires’ accusing eyes, so he looked up toward the ceiling, and gave a silent cry of anguish deep within his newly freed soul.

When he looked down again, all the demons had disappeared and the wolves were jumping out the window. The wolf, who appeared to be the leader, looked at Darius and gave a low-throated growl before leaping out after the rest of his wolves.

Still suspended, Darius knew he desperately needed a mentor who could lead him on the spiritual path that would help him overcome the psychic demons. Even though a demon slayer, he didn’t have the experience to deal with Julian and his minions. He lacked the skill to protect those whom he meant to protect. How could Julian have created an abyss in the tavern? In horror, he realized if the demons could open the porthole of hell here, then they could open it anywhere.

Darius knew Julian had to be thwarted at the main abyss in St. Paul’s ruins, or there would be no stopping him. That’s where the great battle between light and darkness would take place. The immortal vampires must survive and remain free before that battle. He understood a lack of air wouldn’t kill them, but it would weaken their resistance to the psychic demons.

“Slow down your hearts and breathe as little as possible,” Darius commanded the vampires. “If you don’t, you’ll be too weak when Julian returns and be at his mercy.”

“What is the great demon-slayer going to do to save us?”

Godfrey’s scornful question cut through Darius like a knife. With an anguishing wrench, he tore his spirit away from his flesh, allowing his spirit to soar outside the airless space. He looked down, trying to perceive the best way possible to break through the force field. He had to save the immortals.

Chapter 15

A shock wave jolted Elizabeth out of her sleep. She sat up in bed, staring around the room in wild confusion. “Darius!” she said aloud. He was sending her a message, and she knew he was in desperate trouble.

When she leapt out of bed, Charlie whined and tried to follow. She set the little dog on her bed and shut the draperies. With only a few hours until daylight, and no time to waste, she tossed on a dressing gown and slipped through the hallway until reaching a secret staircase leading to the river.

Outside, she ran across the cobblestoned courtyard to the carriage house. There she found a footman’s trunk, and in it were stockings, breeches, linen shirt, vest, cape, hat, and some sturdy boots. She put on the men’s clothing and thrust a cavalier’s feather-loaded hat upon her head, tucking her long hair tucked up inside. Once dressed, she drew in a deep breath, focusing on where Darius might be. In the still night, she felt him pulling her to him. Her first instinct was the ruins of St. Paul’s, but she sensed him drawing her in another direction.

She spotted a wherryman docked on the Thames near the palace, and so she ran to the river. After tossing him some coins, the man paddled her down the Thames to Fleet Street, where she jumped out and headed straight for the George and Dragon. The sky had turned an eerie green. Rain rushed down in slanted torrents. Fear whipped through her veins. Lightning shot across the sky, and thunder rumbled. Drenched, she felt an icy cold down to the marrow of her bones and a stabbing pain in her chest, but still, she plunged onward.

When she approached the George and Dragon, she found it dark and forbidding, appearing deserted, but she pushed her way inside anyway. Only a few candles burned in wall sconces, but her extraordinary vision caused her to dash into the dimly lit dining hall. At first she saw nothing, but then Darius shouted out a warning.

Stepping farther inside the room, she realized the place was an airless space. She grabbed hold of a doorpost to keep from drifting up to the ceiling. Looking up, she saw Darius and the others trapped above. She held on tightly, but her fingers slipped and she drifted up to the ceiling, too.

Darius floated with the others, but she sensed his spirit outside the circle of nothingness, forming white orbs of energy he blasted at the ring of dead space. When she reached the ceiling, Darius’s spirit reentered the circle.

“We’re weakening in here without air. Make sure you slow down your breathing almost unto death. We’ve got to get down before Julian and his demons come back. Join hands and use our physical force to connect with the spiritual force I created outside the ring so we can break through Julian’s psychic power,” Darius said.

Elizabeth slowed down her heart rate and all the vampires merged and formed a circle together with Darius. A yellow color formed outside the ring, turning orange before bursting into a red energy. There was an explosive sound created through the psychic vacuum and air drew back into the room. Elizabeth’s lungs felt like they were locked, almost ready to burst, until she drew in the sweet, sweet breaths of air. They all slowly drifted back down to the ground.

Darius hugged her to him. “How did you know to come?”

“I felt you were in trouble, and I knew I had to find you. Our minds are linked now. What happened?”

“I’ll tell you what happened, lad.” Godfrey said. “Darius, the great demon slayer did nothing to save us from Julian’s psychic vampire demons, and now there are more demons in London than ever. I vote we let this lad be our new Lord Mayor of the Vampires. He couldn’t do no worse than any what’s gone before.”

She saw Darius’s neck and face turn a dusky red, before he bowed his head and started to say, “This isn’t a—”

Elizabeth gave a swift shake of her head. “I’m no hero, sir, just His Lordship’s poor footman.” She nodded in Darius’s direction. “If my eyes didn’t deceive me, it was him that saved us from the demons. He broke through their power, because otherwise, we’d all be weakened so Julian could enslave us.”

“Perhaps you’re right about that, lad, but he shouldn’t be letting demons bully us.”