Always the Vampire

“Shut up, Starrack,” I snapped, “or I swear I’ll kick you into next year and back before I kill you.”


“You know the truth, vampire. You know you are dying with each breath. My Void is a black cancer, eating every cell. And when my pet has completed its task, it will find other victims. The Void cannot be destroyed.”

“Lia, Cosmil, can you put a muzzle on this piece of crap? Oh, and flip him over while you’re at it?”

“Delighted,” Lia said.

Cosmil gave his brother’s prone form a long look before he sighed and straightened his shoulders. “Pandora, stand down.”

The panther moved but sat on alert. I unzipped my left pocket and palmed my amulet as Lia and Cosmil made flipping motions with their hands. Starrack’s rigid body levitated three feet, rotated face-up, and thudded back to the packed ground.

The amulet pulsed with warmth, and my skin glowed with Mu symbols. I nodded at Triton. He knelt at Starrack’s right, and I knelt on his left. Then I did something I would never have imagined. I saw Starrack’s blood in the grass and rubbed my flattened right palm into the congealing pool, smearing the blood from my inner wrist to my fingertips.

“Lia,” I said softly, “do you remember the spell you found. The one Starrack used to make the Void?”

“I remember. Why?”

I held up my hand. “Because I believe we have not only the bloodline, but the very blood to unmake the spell. Don’t we, Starrack?”

I looked into the wizard’s white face and knew that whatever instinct I’d followed, it was right.

“Ready?” Triton asked.

“One more thing.” I stared into the cold gray eyes now dilated with fright. “However much this hurts, it isn’t enough.”

I slammed my amulet on Starrack’s chest, Triton hit him on the right, and we chanted the banishing in unison. We chanted the phrase over and over, the rhythm of the foreign words feeling familiar now, weaving power with each repetition.

Bright beams burst from both crystals. Rays shot out in a supernova, piercing the night, boring into Starrack’s bucking body. I thought of the murdered homeless couple, even the murdered thugs. I thought of the vampires driven to madness and death, and of those still infected. I fed on the far-flung misery the illness had caused and channeled justice for all of them into the amulet.

Starrack’s body suddenly dissolved, leaving only his clothing on the ground, and the light drew back into the crystals so fast, I had spots dancing in my vision.

“Well done,” Cosmil said quietly.

“Agreed,” a new voice said behind me, “though she is nothing like you reported to the Council, Cosmil.”

Triton and I whirled toward the fort’s sally port at the south wall to confront the new threat. A man who appeared to be in his twenties strolled toward us, dark hair flowing to the collar of a white shirt. Long, lean, and mean, my senses screamed.

“Legrand?” Lia said as if she mistrusted her eyes. “But you’re dead.”

“Well, yes. I am a vampire, Lia.” His tone mocked, but the Frenchman said the words mildly, with no discernable accent and no particular rancor. “It was very convenient to have Cosmil come looking for me in the Veil, by the way.”

“You attacked me?” Cosmil probed, moving a step closer to me.

My muscles trembled with tension, and the gash on my chest still bled sluggishly, but power coiled, too. I prepared to strike at any provocation.

Legrand stopped thirty feet from us. “No, it was Starrack’s pet that attacked you. I only provided a body for you to discover, and a duplicate ring, of course. Although I did set the bomb in the Council headquarters. No loss. We needed to redecorate.”

“And your ring?” Cosmil asked the question of Legrand, even as he spoke in my head.

Release the amulet to me.

Cosmil’s fingers brushed mine, and I didn’t question the request but let the disk roll out of my palm into his.

“My ring is right here.” Legrand held up his hand, wiggled his fingers, and the carats-huge ruby ring, the one that looked exactly like Normand’s, flashed fire in the moonlight.

I looked into his head and sucked a harsh breath. “You were behind Starrack all the time. Why?”

“Although one cannot have enough money, my motive is as always. Power.”

“You ran the protection money scheme,” I accused. “You bled your own kind.”

“You sound so righteous,” he said on a chuckle. “In truth, the oldest vampires have paid me for decades to represent their interests with the Council. Sadly, the stateside vampires balked when my price increased. Then last July I acquired Normand’s ring, and you were resurrected in August. With both rings, I doubled my power and saw the opportunity to put a new plan in motion.”

“You sicced Starrack and the Void on the reluctant vampires. They acted as your enforcers.”

He sketched a bow. “Indeed, and the scheme worked, but you were a threat to my continued success.”