The Font (8 page)

“Then what?” Elisha prodded when she offered no more.

Naya shrugged.  “
For the first few years
I didn’t know he was a vampire and
that
they were his servants.
  He made them stop being hateful to me.  He insisted they treat me well, and I was grateful to him.
”  She shook her head and straightened.  “So this
act of
kidnapping me is all for revenge.  You seek to weaken
Heriolf
so you can repay the death of your sire.”

Elisha snorted.  “Paying Heriolf back for
Thaddeus’
final death is only icing on the cake.  Your master has killed so many, both human and vampire alike.  His indiscretions threaten to expose us to the mortal world
.”

“What indiscretions?”

“He advocates turning all our victims into vampires or killing them.  He allows hunting in the populated areas where we might be seen.  Humans
will destroy us all
if they
discover our existence.
”

“You deny you do this for personal satisfaction?”  Naya’s green eyes narrowed
further
.

“
I will destroy him for my own pleasure, yes.  But there is a greater good to my actions.”

Naya’s arched eyebrow told Elisha she was not convinced of his motives.  It was no matter.  With or without her understanding, Heriolf would die.  Hopefully,
he’d be
screaming
as he did so
.

* * * *

After waking, Heriolf stalked through his mansion, his thoughts churning with impotent fury that had not waned
after
the previous day’s death.  He still possessed far more strength than the other vampires, but he could feel his
might
waning
already
.  Within days he would be no more
powerful
than any normal vampire if he didn’t recover Naya.

He reached the hall.  The massive fireplace was cold and dark, but the sconces were lit.  Only Lyndon, a
wailing
human woman, and a guard remained
.  T
he space seemed vast now that it was cleared of last night’s celebrants … and traitors.

The guard shoved the bruised and sobbing woman towards Heriolf as Lyndon bowed.  “Something to quench my lord’s thirst,” he said and stepped back. 

The woman, not old but not young, fell to her knees before the vampire lord.  “Please let me go.  I have children.  Whatever you want I’ll get it for you, but please let me go home to them.”

From her mind, he saw that his guard had taken her just before dawn as she’d been climbing her mini-van on her way to work as an office administrator.  She was a single parent, her infirm mother and two small children completely dependent on her.

Without a word, Heriolf tore off her pink sweater set and knee-length skirt.  The sex was satisfying and she screamed pleasingly right up until the moment she died, but her blood was weak and watery compared to Naya’s.  He felt little better despite gorging himself.  When he was finished he tossed the body aside for the servants to clear away, which they did quickly.

He turned to see Lyndon, the previous guard
,
and another guard awaiting him with one of the house slaves.  The human, a young male with features as delicate as a girl’s, was weeping and cringing already.

“What is this?” Heriolf growled at his underlings.  “I want a report on the search.  I have no time to deal with slaves.”

Lyndon answered.  “He saw something
,
my lord
.  It
may help us find your lady.”

Heriolf peered into the boy’s mind.  Immediately he saw a handsome jeans-clad vampire, his brown hair tied back in a short ponytail
.  In the memory of last night’s gathering, this subject
st
ood
at the back of
the
crowd.  He seemed to glare at Heriolf sitting on his throne before ducking behind others and slipping out the door into the mansion’s main hall.

“Who is he?” Heriolf demanded.

The young man
whimpered
, his dark curls plastered to his head from sweat.  Somehow he managed to answer, “I do not know his name, my lord.”

His mind gave Heriolf a better view of the other’s face.  Dark brown eyes and a serious cast to his expression.  It triggered a memory.

“I may know that one.  He and a Negro were often seen in the company of the last vampire on the council I had to kill for treachery.  They were abroad at the time
when I executed Thaddeus
, if I remember correctly.”

“A friend
looking for revenge
?” one of the guards hazarded.

“Hmm.  The council member was much older than they, almost as old as me.”  Heriolf scowled.   He’d thought that bastard holdout
Thaddeus
had sired no one.  Could a vampire son be the potential traitor who’d left early last night?

Lyndon smiled with growing excitement.  “Perhaps then it’s not a full rebellion, my lord. 
It may be j
ust the foolishness of a few
offspring
bent on
ill-conceived vengeance
.”

Heriolf bared fangs at him, and the smile disappeared in a hurry.  “Almost thirty vampires left early or escaped last night.  That is not a few.  Why did this blood bag not come forward sooner?”

The human was nearly facedown on the floor, desperately abasing himself before Heriolf.  He wailed, “I did not think it was important until later, my lord.”

Heriolf looked into his mind again.  Was it already more difficult to search out thoughts?  He did find blinding fear in th
e youth’s head
however, and that was a delight.  “You did not speak up because you were afraid to
approach
me.  As you should be.”  To his aide he asked, “Have you fed yet?”

Lyndon licked his lips greedily.  His groin swelled as he looked down on the young man, still lovely despite his wretched expression.  “No, my lord.  Bringing you this news was more important.”

“Indeed.  You may have this one for whatever uses you wish.”

The human screamed.  “Please, my lord Heriolf!  Mercy!  Mercy!”

None of the vampires acknowledged the desperate cries.  Lyndon bowed again.  “Thank you for such generosity, my lord.”

Heriolf thought about his next move as he watched his aide have the young man.  There was no
pity
from Lyndon
either, as
he
elected to not kill
the boy
right away.  When he was done, Lyndon excused himself, dragging the naked, semi-conscious youth to be chained in Heriolf’s torture chamber for a future feeding and more play.

“Return as soon as he is stored away.  We leave in five minutes.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Gather all the guards,” Heriolf told the two that had stood on silent watch the whole time.  They bowed and left to carry out his orders.

Heriolf went outside and stared at the moon.  It was time to find Naya, and to do that it was obvious he must lead the search himself.

* * * *

             
As Elisha flew them through the cold night, Naya struggled to understand her feelings.  She had betrayed Heriolf twice now.  True, Elisha’s
second
taking had been without consent, something to hold him responsible for
.  B
ut she had wanted
him
.  There was no denying that.  Before he’d wakened
,
she’d been touching and kissing him, enjoying her body’s response to the feel of him.  Had he asked for her permission, she would have been sorely pressed to refuse.

             
Even now
that
her desire ha
d
been sated, she fought to not run her hands over the parts of
Elisha
she could reach.  She thought how glorious it would be to have sex with him right now, flying through the air with the chill wind blowing through her hair.

             
What is wrong with me?  Despite all his assurances, Elisha may still decide it’s better for me to die so that Heriolf can never claim me again.  I must stop thinking of him as
a temptation
and remember he’s the enemy of my protector.

             
Before she could pursue further thoughts their travel slowed, and the lights of Savannah were below them.  Minutes later, they landed in the midst of the city.

             
Naya’s first impression was that Elisha
must be incredibly
foolhardy to alight in such a busy area where humans might see the amazing sight of a man and woman drop from the sky.  But after a moment she realized he’d brought her to a quiet place.  A strange place.

             
She recognized it as a roundhouse, a place where locomotives and train cars of all sorts were garaged.  There were steam engines, black workhorses of sizes ranging from tremendous to no longer than a pickup truck.  A couple of diesel engines, more fuel efficient but lacking in
the
artistry and romance
of
their predecessors, also rested within the dark cavern of the roundhouse.  A
n obligatory red
caboose and coaches had been restored to former
gleaming
glory with placards attached to their railings that announced
,
Tours at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m.

             
“The train museum,” Elisha confirmed.  “Have you seen it?”

             
“No.”  Naya turned to take in the rest of what she could see.  Security lighting illuminated the turntable and another building in which derelict engines and cars sat lonely and seemingly forgotten.

             
“They restore them here.  The whole yard is a work in progress.  Come.  The others are meeting in the
blacksmith’s
shop.”

             
Elisha
led her through a brick archway between the roundhouse and repair shop.  Then they
picked
their way through a maze of courtyards that were a part of the huge complex.  Naya hadn’t even known the place existed despite living near Savannah all her life, but that was no surprise.  Heriolf had kept her sheltered for her protection.

             
Near one of the many brick buildings, a voice crept out of the darkest of shadows.  “Elisha.”  A tall vampire, one Naya
vaguely
recognized, stepped out to greet them.  She thought his name was Lars.  He looked her over with what could only be called satisfaction.  “Good work.”

Elisha looked at her too, his expression unreadable.  “We’ll congratulate ourselves when Heriolf meets his final death.”

“Now that we have his Font, that celebration will be soon.”

Elisha led Naya into the building Lars was apparently guarding, the unlocked door swinging open without a sound.  Naya reflected that a human servant must be on the museum’s staff, allowing the vampires to come and go here as they pleased.

She stepped into the room, its floor made up of the same bricks that constituted its walls.  Various industrial machines with placards identifying them dotted throughout, but their heavy and somewhat alien forms didn’t grab her attention.  Not when there were so many vampires clustered in the gloom.  Naya guessed there might be
almost fifty
of them. 

Heriolf had a full-scale rebellion on his hands.

A female vampire stepped forward.  She was as dark as Naya was fair, her skin color hinting at possible Native American ancestry.  Her coal-black hair was pulled back in a braid that reached her knees.  She wore jeans and a tank top, immune to the cold.  Somehow, she made the casual outfit look elegant, her beauty elevating it.  High-cheekbones and an upturned nose gave her an almost haughty cast, but her gaze on Naya was avid. 

She had a deep, throaty voice for a woman.  “Elisha.  We owe you a
huge
debt of gratitude for capturing Heriolf’s Font.”

Elisha’s hand closed around Naya’s upper arm.  It might have been a possessive hold or protective.  She couldn’t tell.  To the woman he said, “Not at all, Mariel.  I couldn’t have done it without the rest of you.”

A black male vampire approached
.  T
hough Elisha’s expression remained guarded and watchful,
Naya
felt how her kidnapper’s body relaxed next to her.  A friend of his, she surmised and gave the new vampire her full attention.

Dressed as casually as Elisha and Mariel in jeans and a black tee-shirt, this man was lean and muscled in the way of someone who had done hard physical work during life.  His cap of tight black curls was neatly parted on one side, as done in a long-ago era, perhaps pre-Civil War.  Despite the predator’s eyes he gazed at her with, there was something good and noble in his mien.  Just like Elisha, in fact.