Authors: John James Gregory
The answer seemed acceptable and the officer caught up to the others already behind him in the back of the jet. Within a few moments, they had left the aircraft and Hadiya closed the door. The other women all came forward. And Iolana now finally sat across from Tom.
“I told the girls to go out of their way to make you feel comfortable.”
“Oh they have done that.”
“Most ‘warm bloods’ would be in a state of terror being around us this long.”
“I’m rather enjoying it.”
“There is a pair of seats back by the coffins. They fold down into a bed and you can sleep there until we wake you. I’m sorry we can’t let you sleep with any of us. Our coffins have air tight seals to keep all the light out.”
“How do you breathe?”
“That is one of the reasons we drink blood of the ‘warm bloods’ or animals. Our bodies pull all the oxygen out and store it up like a camel stores water. We need very little during our sleep time to sustain us.”
“Tell me Mr. Hart, which of the girls are you attracted to? They both think you are a ‘hottie’. That is really quite an honor. They would probably give up their own lives to protect you. I can’t say I have ever seen them take to someone like that before.”
“Well if I were forced to choose right now, I’d pick the girl sitting across from me.”
Iolana smiled.
“Yes well I am not part of the competition at this point.”
“For the record Miss Iolana Hellenberg , you may not be a ‘warm blood’ but I will argue with my dying breath that you have a warm heart and I cannot say ‘thank you’ enough.”
This made it an awkward moment for the both of them. Neither knew what to say. It was like they together had just dug a hole that neither could climb out of. They were relieved to see the girls come back to them.
“We’ve got water and soon it will be hot!”
Iolana stood up. She looked at Tom still dreaming about really being wanted not because of his appreciation but of his feelings of the heart.
“Alright then, we are going to change, hit the showers and turn in. We are now locked down for the day. Remember give us an hour before coming back.”
“I will.”
Tom looked at his watch and his eyes followed Iolana back with her two friends. For the first time in his young life he wondered about being with any woman and making a ‘lifelong’ commitment.
Tom sat there looking out the window as the customs car stayed in position until the refueling tanker pulled up. A man signaled that he wanted to come aboard and Tom figured out the door and opened it. The man sat in the cockpit on external power during the refueling process. Tom had never watched that kind of operation and it did make the time go by faster. He closed the door behind the man when he left and watched the others put away their lines and disconnect the grounding cables. He wrote a few more notes and waited well beyond the hour before going back. The girls had moved his luggage out and set up the chairs into a bed. He undressed in the dim light and took a shower. The water was warm and comfortable. He extracted a few frozen dinners and a soda and fixed himself a meal. He realized that the meal was not raw and therefore seemed to lack his new acquired taste for very lightly cooked food. He slept in his shorts and T-shirt. The cabin air was comfortable and he nodded off quickly.
***
He woke to the sound of two of the women talking. He adjusted his covers and opened his eyes. It was Iolana and Chelsea. As he sat up and rubbed his face, Chelsea came over.
“Sleep Good?”
“Yes thank you.”
“You might want to check you cell phone, I think it rang a short time ago.”
Chelsea handed him the phone. It was his sister. She sent a text message that again addressed his well-being. He responded with his location and made sure to go out of his way to sound upbeat and in great physical condition. Actually, that was not a stretch of the imagination; he really had been feeling stronger and better with each passing day. Hadiya came back on board and told the group that it was time to visit her great, great, grandfather. These were vampires of the old school, maybe even some of those who still hate werewolves. He could feel his nerves and his senses rise.
***
The limo they took drove over the winding countryside roads. As the women talked on the way, Tom looked out at the fields that had stones piled along the edges as fences. He wondered how many years ago they were removed from the fields and stacked along the land borders. The vehicle came to stop in front of a home that resembled a miniature castle. He followed the girls out into the cool Irish night air. Tom thought that the only thing missing would be a rain storm and the scene would be something out of a horror movie. He stood behind the women as Hadiya lifted and dropped the door’s knocker to announce her return with the others. The door opened and a man in his forties with white streaks in his hair opened it and peered out. There was blood on the corners of his mouth.
“Enter, the elders are assembled to see you.”
Tom followed them in but the red eyed man’s eyes never left him. He noticed two empty medical cases by the door. He figured correctly that Hadiya made sure these victims of the curse were fed well before the meeting. He took a chair at the far end of the table and Iolana put her hand on one of his shoulders and Hadiya put her hand on the other.
“Grandfather, this is Tom. He is the one we are trying to save.”
Mr. Hart looked across at those who now were his only hope. Four of them were men and two were women and the ranged in age from maybe thirty to forty-something. Time had truly stood still for them if they were in fact, the elders. There were other shadows out of sight in the dark candle lit chamber.
The one who answered the door spoke first.
“My granddaughter has asked us for our assistance in helping you Mr. Hart.”
“I consider myself to be blessed with good fortune sir.”
“Aye, it is this younger generation Mr. Hart. Back in the day, those at this table would have not thought twice about dismantling you. You see Mr. Hart no blood is bad blood and I think I can speak for all of us that we would have gorged ourselves sick to insure your death. You may meet others on your journey that still feel that way about your kind to this day. We believe you have only a couple of weeks to find a cure.”
The figure looked back at his great, great granddaughter.
“Hadiya, we thank you for the meal. It was wise to make sure we all had been fed before this meeting.”
One of the females in the room added her comment.
“You see Mr. Hart diseases of the blood like your condition or HIV does not affect us. All human warm blood is just as nourishing to us whether contaminated by the plague or any human disease. Our bodies do not react to your illnesses. You are fortunate that a meal has been provided to us.”
“Yes, I am very fortunate. Thank you for this audience.”
Iolana spoke up.
“Elders, can you help him?”
Out of the shadows a voice came and all looked at the male as he stood up. This was the only person in the room who actually looked old. He must have been turned in his late fifties.
“I am called Shawn. It was I who traveled with your grandfather to track down the creature that caused you to become one of us Hadiya.”
Hadiya’s grandfather looked up at his friend.
“Yes it took us several years but Shawn had gotten word that the one who turned you had traveled to Australia.”
“It seems he went there looking for a cure that somehow he had discovered information about in some ancient writings.”
Hadiya’s grandfather continued the story.
“We followed him there. I was going to have my revenge on the man who would dare turn my beautiful, young granddaughter, Hadiya into one of us.”
“It seems that he once stayed with the
Aborigines
long enough to learn the language and with the help of a native shaman, learned what he would have to do in order to be changed back into…”
“Into a ‘warm blood..’.”
Her grandfather stood up.
“By the time we got there he was in fact, no longer a vampire but the shaman was turned. We don’t know why. To this day we believe he is still one of us living off the blood of animals. When we last saw him, he had not spread his infection to any of the other members of his tribe.”
Iolana was curious about someone wanting to stay a vampire if that individual actually had a choice.
“But why wouldn’t he have wanted to be normal again as well?”
“He would not say. To this very day, he still is the tribe’s elder and shaman. His name is Khu. He is your friend’s only hope. If whatever worked on your attacker to change him back, might be a way to change your friend as well.”
“You must travel to Southern Australia and find him. He can speak English.”
Chelsea had been silent all this time. She had never heard of a vampire cure.
“But elders, if this is true, why haven’t you all traveled down there and seek such a cure for yourselves?”
“You must understand. We turned this attacker back into a vampire once again and then staked him out in the morning sun to kill him with as much pain as possible. His bones had dissolved in the sun and we found only the dust of his remains and his clothing the next night.”
“Khu vowed never to help one of our kind again. He would rather we stake him out than see any of us again.”
“We think he feared for his people. It may be the reason he has stayed all these years as one of us. His senses are keen like ours and he has all the same powers we do. None of us or you for that matter could sneak up on him. He stands guard over his people we believe to this very day.”
“But why would such a person help us now?”
“We really don’t know if he will. It is all we have on the subject of turning you or your friend back to normal. He may drive you away. If that happens, we have nothing else for you or your friend. If this fails, never bring him here again. We will no longer be this courteous or kind to an outsider.”
Iolana wanted to know all that these elders knew about their experience.
“Do you have any idea how this was done?”
“We will share our story with you and then you must leave here.”
“Yes of course, tell us.”
Shawn came forward and sat on the end of the conference table near their guests.
“The man who made you one of us was named ‘Charles’… I don’t remember now his last name…”
A voice could be heard from the far end of the table.
“His name was Charles J. Sallweachter.”
“Yes that is right… Charles J Sallweachter… a very cocky man.”
“Continue Shawn, I didn’t mean to interrupt you, go on.”