The Goddess and The Vampire Read online

Chapter Ten

  “I think your return to work was a bit premature, Fedor.” Jake said and knelt to look into the Ancient’s face. “And you, Wil, appear to be suffering a few lingering effects as well.”

  “Let me up, Wilhem.” Fedor said and squinted at Jake. “I need to open a window.”

  “How did you do that?” I said to Jake as Fedor found a small fan and turned it on. “Fedor smokes in here all the time. And the room was filled with The Little Death smoke last time we were here.”

  “He doesn’t smoke clove cigarettes in here.” Jake said and slid the black papered Kretek back into the pack. “He’s told me several times how much he hates the smell of clove cigarettes. So I always keep a pack handy. Just to piss him off.”

  ANDY WAS SITTING behind the receptionist’s desk when I walked out. He was eating a BBQ sandwich and staring out the window in a contemplative way. He looked up at me and wiped a bit of barbecue sauce off his chin. He offered me a wedge fry covered with a red powder. I waved it away. He nodded and took a big bite out of the potato.

  I looked around the waiting room. I found Katie sitting on the sofa flipping through a magazine with a large mouth bass on the cover. She licked a finger loudly and turned one of the glossy pages.

  “It says here jerk baits aren’t as popular as they used to be.” Katie said without looking up. “Funny. I always loved a good jerk.”

  Andy swallowed loudly and almost choked. Katie rolled up the magazine. She ran her hand up and down the tube with a few quick strokes. She let the magazine flap open and fall onto the table in front of the couch. Andy cut his eyes to me and then turned his face back to the front window.

  “Where’s Jackie?” I said.

  “Who?” Katie said and smiled sweetly at me. “I didn’t quite catch the name.”

  “When was the last time you ate, Katie?” I said and headed for the door.

  “Oh, I haven’t swallowed anything good in hours.” Katie said and winked at Andy.

  I opened the door and pushed Katie out ahead of me. I waved at Andy, but he seemed to be lost in thought.

  I DROVE ACROSS town to the Coffee Spot. I zipped in and out of the early evening traffic. Katie listened to an iPod that looked a lot like the one Andy recently bought. It was just after two when we pulled into the crowded parking lot. Katie perked up and looked through the big pane glass window.

  “Ooh.” Katie said and leaned into me. “Drunks.”

  “Behave yourself.” I said as we exited the Dodge.

  “You really can’t trust Elves.” Izumi said as she stepped out from behind a van and glided toward me. “But I can trust you’d show up at your girlfriend’s place of work.”

  “Well, one of your girlfriends anyway.” Raoul said as he leaned out of the Suburban’s window. “I hear you got another honey at the Consulate. Not counting your little chica here”

  “I almost killed you last time we met, sweetie.” Katie said as she stepped forward. “Your boss ain’t paying you enough to die, is he?”

  “Hey, chill girl.” Raoul said and raised his hand, showing off a tall brown paper cup with a white plastic top. “We’re just here for the coffee.”

  “Yes.” Izumi said and held up some kind of frothy green tea drink. “Just wanted to say hi.”

  I shook my head and walked into the Coffee Spot. It was crowded, but there were still a few open booths. I waved at Sally who just nodded back at me. The smile froze when Katie walked in behind me. She rolled her eyes and went back to the table she was waiting on. Everyone in the room seemed to be a little drunk and all of them stared at Katie. Elves are rare and her natural beauty had a magnetic quality. I took her hand and led her to a booth where we would be out of everyone’s sight. After a few minutes, Sally came to take our order.

  “I’ll have a double Espresso and Katie will have a Greek Salad and a green tea.” I said.

  “Got it.” Sally said and looked around. “It’ll be a while before I can talk.”

  “No hurry.” I said. “I just need you to do some research for me.”

  “Silly me, I thought you were just here to see me.” Sally said and dashed off.

  “Why did you order for me?” Katie said with her accustomed pout. “I’m not really a child. I can read a menu.”

  “The salad’s good.” I said over the crowd’s murmurs. “And if you keep acting like a child, I’ll treat you like one.”

  Katie responded by taking out the iPod and unwrapping the ear buds with a practiced twirl of the wrist. She ate the salad when it came, but refused to drink the green tea.

  Katie watched as I took out the book I had taken from the Jangling Spurs and flipped it open. I found the entry on Desiara and looked at the Goddess’s illustration as she glowed in the rapture of destruction. The city around her appeared to be something ancient and alien. Katie looked at the drawing and crinkled her nose.

  “Don’t like the picture?” I said and turned the book toward her.

  “I’ve seen worse.” Katie said and frowned at the book. “This was right before her imprisonment. She destroyed the old Capitol City and fed on the fear and despair. It was Foreseen. The Mages laid a trap for her and that was that.”

  “So she’s imprisoned now?” I said and looked at Katie.

  “Yeah.” Katie said and crossed her arms. “But she can have visitors. Elves aren’t monsters. Desiara can see people she loves and the people who love her.”

  “But doesn’t a God have a lot of people who love her?” I said.

  “Not that kind of love.” Katie said and smirked a little. “She can talk to her husbands and her lovers. There aren’t that many.”

  Katie pulled her hoodie over her face and stretched out in the booth. I read the entry on Desiara again. And a few related entries on other Gods, and Goddesses. Everyone was related to everyone else. Those Gods had children with mortals. This God created Elves. This one created the heavens. That one ruled in the afterlife. The family tree didn’t have too many branches. Several Gods just appeared out of the ether with no explanation given.

  Seems that Desiara was the go to Goddess for raining down ruin on the wicked. She would one day destroy the world and most of the space surrounding it. I tried to compare one of the pictures with Katie, but an Elf is an Elf. I found the book on Elven Gods pretty dull reading and pushed it away.

  Katie picked it up and thumbed through it for a few minutes. She found a passage, turned the book toward me, and put her finger on the opening of a paragraph.

  ‘Desiara’s imprisonment can only be broken by the blood of one of her True Loves. It’s known she had three true loves at the time. Each was depicted in the painting Desiara’s Hope. Two of them are on the Elven Homeworld. The third’s location remains a mystery at the time of this writing.

  ‘The Elven Conclave of Magicians put this key in place as an added safeguard. The Goddess of the World’s End leads a lonely life. It is believed she would be loath to kill one of her husbands, even in exchange for her freedom.

  ‘Among her lesser powers is the ability to inspire devotion and an uncontrollable lust. She is credited with the creation of many powerful love potions...’

  A small chill brought goose bumps to my neck. I looked up and saw a smile flicker across Katie’s face. A flash of green light glowed in her eyes. She mouthed the word ‘Beloved’ at me. I felt very cold for a moment and a ding like a distant bell sounded in my ring. I closed my eyes. When I looked up again, Katie was back to being Katie.

  The crowd was mostly gone an hour later and Katie was on her third Coke. She was leaning against the wall with her feet pointed toward the booth’s open end. She looked up and pulled on her earbuds, they popped out with a decisive gesture. She looked around and squinted into the darkness outside.

  “There’s something nearby.” Katie said. “Something old.”

  At that moment, Sally slid into the booth beside me and let out a tired sigh. She leaned her head on my shoulder and rubbed my arm. I patted her hand and cleared
my throat to get her attention. She looked up with a small smile and then saw the look on my face.

  “We need to go.” I said and nodded toward Katie. “Vampire business.”

  “Next time you want to take your new girlfriend out on a date.” Sally said and shoved against me as she slid out of the booth. “Take her somewhere I don’t have to watch.”

  “Hey.” Katie said and tilted her head at Sally. “Where’s that swinging chick that wanted a threesome with me?”

  “I’m at work, Elf.” Sally said and spread her hands to take in the Coffee Spot. “In public.”

  “I was hoping you two could be friends.” I said and squeezed Sally’s hand.

  “I can guess what you were hoping.” Sally said and pulled her hand away. “Keep dreaming.”

  “I would like you to do some digging for me.” I said and placed a hand on Sally’s shoulder and poured a little calmness into her. “Check your new contacts and see what they can tell you about an Elf named Desiara.”

  “I’m sorry.” Sally said and brushed my hand aside. Her eyebrows rose and she shook her head. “Since when do you need to enthrall me into doing something for you? And isn’t your little nymphet here Desiara?”

  “Not exactly.” I said and looked at Katie. “We do need to go. We’ll talk later.”

  “We’ll see.” Sally said and walked off. I left the book on Elven folklore on the table for Sally. Maybe she could make more sense of it than I did. If she agreed to talk to me again any time soon.

  Outside we saw Raoul and Izumi standing on the sidewalk by the street. They both looked a little edgy. Katie and I could relate. I walked toward the Dodge and Izumi spotted me. She glided over and held her hand up like a traffic cop.

  “Where are you off to?” Izumi said and let her eyes dart around in search of something. “Don’t you feel that?”

  “Uh, feel what?” I said as I clicked the door locks open.

  “I’m not sure.” Izumi said, turning her head one way and then the other. “It reminds me of that abandoned house where your redneck sidekick tried to kill Raoul.”

  I looked up at the traffic rolling by on Camp Bowie. I noticed one car that seemed to be rolling a little faster than the rest. An aura of magic was boiling off the car. I could see a pair of glowing blue eyes above the steering wheel. As the black sedan got closer, I could see Vladlena’s face. I could clearly see the twisted smile and the focused stare. Her hands gripped the steering wheel and she hunched forward.

  “Raoul, look out!” Izumi yelled as Vladlena drove over the curb and barreled toward me. I could feel the power of her stare. She was definitely aiming at me. She used her power over time and I felt my feet freeze in place. I watched helplessly as Raoul fell to one side and Vladlena ran over his foot. She corrected her course toward me.

  I watched the front grille of the car grow larger in my view. There was a lot of chrome in the grille and on the bumper. Then the four headlights blinded me. I couldn’t look away. The idea of getting killed by a rogue Russian vampire driving a magically enhanced 1962 Bel Air Low-rider had a certain romantic feel to it. I blinked and could see again. The car was much closer. With time slowed down, I was able to admire all the electric blue pinstripes on the hood. Nice craftsmanship.

  Izumi was also frozen to the spot. So I was a little surprised to see the Suburban back out in front of the Bel Air. Vladlena was surprised too. She yanked on the steering wheel. She sent a ton and a half of Detroit’s finest crashing into the Suburban’s rear end.

  A shower of sparks and a flash of enchantment showed a shimmering wall of force projected a few inches away from the front of the Bel Air. The shield glowed as the Bel Air ripped the Suburban in half.

  With her concentration broken, time rushed forward again. Vladlena drove back into the night and powered up the car’s hydraulics making it shift and bounce. She sounded her horn as she drove away. It played La Cucaracha.

  “Well.” Katie said as she crawled out of the crumpled Suburban. “That was fun.”

  “That crazy bitch ran over my foot.” Raoul said and held his leg with the damaged foot dangling. “The full moon isn’t for another five days. I can’t fully heal without changing. You people need to stop hurting me.”

  Sirens somewhere in the distance were getting closer. I motioned for Katie to get in and she hopped into the Dodge. We left before the Cops arrived. I didn’t want to be seen around chaos, Izumi, and Raoul again. I wasn’t too sure I wanted to be around Sally when she saw the parking lot of the Coffee Spot. Broken glass, twisted metal, and a quickly growing pool of automotive fluids littered the area. We were a couple of blocks away when the first fire truck passed us. I was entering the onramp to the freeway before Sally yelled in my mind that the parking lot was on fire. I told her the fire department was on its way.

  “Do you think Sally is going to be mad?” Katie said as we cruised towards downtown Fort Worth.

  “She can be a bit moody.” I said and let visions of the small inferno in front of the Coffee Spot waft through my mind. “But she’s usually pretty forgiving.”

  Sally sent me a mental image of the sign for the Coffee Spot falling over and crushing several cars. I was sure one of the cars belonged to Sally. Since it had already been scorched pretty badly, I didn’t really see the problem. Sally yelled in my head in a most distracting fashion as part of the building began to burn.

  “Usually she’s pretty forgiving.” I said again. Once I saw she was safe I pushed Sally out of my mind. “I haven’t even told her how much time I spend thinking about Jackie yet.”

  Katie noticed that when I exited I-30 we seemed to be heading toward Carlo’s place. She stiffened in her seat and crossed her arms.

  “You can’t return me.” Katie said and narrowed her eyes. “I’m yours now.”

  “Yeah.” I said. I slowed down a couple of blocks from Carlo’s place and rolled into an empty parking spot. “I’m kind of getting used to the idea of having someone else around to talk to. Andy’s good to have around, but there are times when I don’t want to listen to Randy Travis. That’s why he bought an iPod.”

  Katie stopped fiddling with the iPod. She slid it quietly into her leather messenger bag.

  “You’re not going to replace Andy as my Vampire Consulate backup.” I said and stared out the windshield. “But you have proven yourself to be pretty useful at times.”

  I could see the lights on in Carlo’s house, but then, the lights were always on in Carlo’s house. I rolled down the window and let the cool night air in. Even in November there were still bugs singing and moths fluttering around the street lights. I had a few spare hours until dawn.

  “How long were you in Carlo’s service?” I said and fiddled with the radio stations.

  “Not long.” Katie said and stared out into the night. “He’s a lot like you. He never really wanted me around.”

  “Did he really win you in a card game?” I said and looked over at her, but she didn’t turn her head.

  “Yeah.” Katie said and took a few deep breaths. “That’s the way I remember it.”

  “How long have you been a slave?” I said and averted my eyes and turned my attention back to Carlo’s house. Maybe this was a touchy subject for her.

  “214 years.” Katie said and scrunched down in her seat. “Born into servitude thanks to my Father. You wouldn’t understand. Your parents love you.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.” I said. “Sometimes I think they just need me the same way that I need them.”

  “I was with Carlo a couple of months.” Katie said and pulled her hoodie tighter. “He wasn’t nice.”

  Katie turned her face toward me and batted her eyes. “Not like you.”

  “OK.” I said. “Did Carlo ever go anywhere special? Was he the one that sent you to Mexico?”

  “Fredric spent more time with me than Carlo.” Katie said and looked down at her feet. “He’s the one that sent me to Mexico. He also wanted me to translate passages for him
and help him do spells. He was scary good at magic. A lot better than me. But his Elvish was total rubbish. I don’t know where he got those books, either. Some of them were filled with seriously forbidden knowledge. Stuff I wouldn’t translate for him.”

  “Do you know what he was trying to do?” I said and looked over at Katie.

  “He wanted more power.” Katie said and looked into my eyes. “Like all vampires.”

  “What about Carlo?” I said and let a little power flash in my eyes. “What did he want?”

  “Carlo kept me in a cage and walked me on a leash. He wanted to hurt me.” Katie said and shuddered. “He knew I wasn’t going to be easy to kill, so he could let his passions go.”

  “Did he treat Fredric the same way?” I said, trying to recall any impressions from my handful of interactions with Carlo. “Did he have other people he tortured for fun?”

  “I saw two other cages next to mine and they often had people in them.” Katie said and her eyes took on a distant stare. “They were just people, humans, not vampires or anything. It was seldom the same people twice. One of them talked about how much they liked it when Carlo took them for an outing in the country.”

  “Did they say where this outing was?”

  “No and I didn’t ask.” Katie said and frowned at me. “They might have told Carlo I wanted to go next time.”

  A pair of headlights flashed from Carlo’s driveway and headed our way. The long black Hummer turned at the corner and headed west on Jacksboro Highway. I fired up the Dodge and started to follow them. I decided to be a bit more subtle in my pursuit. The two of us and a handful of garbage trucks were the only ones on the roads now.

  Hwy 199, aka Jacksboro Highway, heads northwest out of Fort Worth. It remains an urban surface street for several miles. It opens up on the other side of Lake Worth and becomes less urban and more countryside.

  The Hummer rolled ahead of us as I did my best to keep far enough back to be just another car. I found a bit of cover behind a rock hauler. I noticed a small row of coffins with X’s through them on the back above the mud flaps. I didn’t get too close.

  “What if this has nothing to do with Carlo’s ranch or whatever?” Katie said as she watched the taillights come in and out of view. “What if this was just someone visiting and now they’re going home?”

  “Then I’ll need to ask them for a place to crash for the day.” I said and checked the clock. Sunrise was only two hours away. I was getting close to the point of no return for getting back to the Mansion. “Of course, I can always trust you to watch over me during the day.”

  “You really can.” Katie said in an unusually serious tone. “Even if you don’t believe it.”

  We were rolling among small hills when the gravel truck that had been our shield pulled off the freeway. It was then I noticed the Hummer had also pulled off. I made a quick adjustment and followed the Semi into the dusty darkness. We rumbled off the paved road and into the service road of a gravel pit. Gerald had been in Azle not too long ago looking for Kilestra and he had run into some trouble. Something about running over an armadillo when he wasn’t looking.

  “Watch out.” Katie said as I stomped on the brakes and skidded to a stop in a shower of gravel.

  A large armadillo was sitting in the middle of the road. It was surrounded by white chalk dust and frozen in my headlights. Its beady eyes shone as it tilted its tiny head this way and that, trying to get a good look at me. Then there was a bang on my window and Katie and I jumped like kids watching a scary movie.

  “You’re lost, pal.” A large man said as he leaned onto the car. “This is a Company road, and I don’t think you work here.”

  “I heard there was a pack of rogue armadillos out here.” I said, putting on my Master of the City voice and doing my best to look down my nose as I looked up at the man. “I’m Master Walengrave and I decided to check out the rumor first hand.”

  The man stood up straight and squared his shoulders. He looked like I was Patton and he was prepared to be slapped across the face with a leather glove. A shuffling of feet sounded behind him and a slightly smaller man stepped forward. I could see him in the darkness and like his larger friend, I could tell he was a Were. It wasn’t too big a leap to guess these were part of the Armadillo pack.

  “I’m Justin.” The smaller man said. “And this is Gravel. I’m the leader of the Armadillos of Azle, Chapter 12.”

  “Chapter 12?” Katie said in a stage whisper. “How many fucking armadillos are there in Azle?”

  “You must be the Elf.” Gravel said and relaxed his military posture. “I’ve heard about you.”

  “We’re not rogues.” Justin said, ignoring both Katie and Gravel. “We were told this territory didn’t have a Master. We didn’t think we needed to seek out the local Consulate. I’ll correct that error in the morning. Which isn’t that far off by the way.”

  “Since you’re not outlaws.” I said and looked Justin in the eye. “You won’t mind offering us accommodations for the day.”

  “We’d be honored, Sir.” Justin said. “Is there any other reason you paid us a visit tonight?”

  “I’m looking for some information.” I said. Justin relaxed. He was sure now that he had the real reason we were there and no longer tensed for battle.

  “Follow me.” Justin said and walked a few steps to where a large motorcycle rested by the roadside. It roared to life and its three headlights lit up the road like daylight. He rumbled off ahead of us and I nodded my farewell to Gravel as we followed Justin into the night.

  “Did you ever stop to think that these guys probably work for Carlo?” Katie said and shook her head “And that we lost the Hummer?”

  “Do some scouting during the day.” I said without taking my eyes off the motorbike and the road. “See if you can find out where it went. I haven’t seen any side roads and that Hummer isn’t really an off-road vehicle.”

  “If it’s safe.” Katie said and peered into the surrounding darkness. “I’ll see.”

  We passed two more biker dudes on our way. We drove past a couple of gravel pits that looked like hungry black holes. Pit mines were not as common here as in other places, but I did see one now and then. I could feel the sun getting ready to rise and there was a hint of light in the eastern sky. This was a little closer than I liked to cut it. I was about to pull over and dive into a gravel pit when the bike pulled into a small Western town set. He parked in front of the Saloon.

  We followed Justin into the Saloon but didn’t have time to look around. He took us to a flight of stairs. We went down. It was a surprisingly long flight of stairs. The wooden walls of the first level changed to smooth stone. Then the walls were rough stone as it opened into a large room. This looked like an old West style mine. The walls supported by thick wooden beams. Red hurricane lamps hung from rusty hooks. In a room off to one side behind a weathered wooden door, I found three coffins. A dozen cots lined the walls.

  I walked up to the first coffin and opened the heavy lid. It was empty and showed no sign of recent use. The usual weariness of a new day weighed down upon me as I climbed inside. I was out before the lid fell shut.