"Laughter In an Empty Room"
May. 21st, 2022 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"Laughter In an Empty Room"
3/22/2016
I.
There was only one living person in that crowded nightclub. Around the tables covered with spotless white linen and bearing wine goblets, a high-ceilinged room lit by numerous tall candles in wall scones, twenty old men in formal evening wear sat and laughed. But only one person there actually drew breath and had flesh warmer than room temperature. Her heart was the only one beating in that room, and it pounded dangerously fast from terror.
Not more than twenty, slim and attractive, she wore only a thin white gown which reached to her slippers. The girl had her hands tied behind her with wire and a linen cloth had been stuffed in her mouth. She was standing on a narrow platform which stretched out on support rods over a shallow pit crammed with needle-sharp spikes reaching up hungrily at her. Every few seconds, the platform tilted forward a tiny fraction of an inch. With nothing within reach and being bound as she was, the girl was shaking visibly. She knew that within seconds, she would slide off that platform face down onto those spikes.
And the Vampire Lords cackled at her distress with the hollow echoes of the Undead. They had to consciously draw in breath to speak or to laugh. Their glee at watching this victim suffer was so great that they felt compelled to give voice to it.
Now the girl's bare feet began to lose their final bit of traction. From beneath the gag came a final gasp of ultimate horror as she felt herself sliding.
From across that hellish nightclub, a gaunt figure in black hurtled headlong to leap up onto a table and then spring at the girl. The stranger seized the girl in both arms, his momentum carrying them both past the spiked pit to crash down upon a table where three of the Undead were seated. In an unbroken motion, the man in black rolled and was up on his feet, carrying the girl as if she were weightless.
From a dozen cold throats came cries of "Bane!" and "It's him! The Dire Wolf!" The Vampire Lords were kicking their chairs back as they shot to their feet with murderous gleams in red-irised eyes.
Holding the intended victim to him with one arm, Jeremy Bane darted his free hand hand inside his jacket and flung a round metal sphere up toward the ceiling. At the same time, he twisted his head away but there was no time to warn the girl. The brilliant magnesium flare exploded to fill the nightclub with intolerably bright white light. It was not sunlight, there was nothing holy about that chemical reaction, but it still left creatures of the night in helpless agony.
Squinting against the glare himself, the Dire Wolf carried the girl toward the open doorway through which he had entered only a few seconds earlier. She had no idea what was going on. Events had been too rapid and too unexpected for her brain to process yet, but she dimly was aware that she was still alive when she had expected to die.
Running through the elegant lobby, Bane was intercepted by one of the lesser minions. This was a living Human under the mesmeric thrall of his masters. He tried to stop the Dire Wolf and had his chest caved in by a savage side kick for his reward. Slamming open the outer door, Bane with his burden out into the night. They emerged on a side street at the upper end of Times Square, with no one in sight and only a stray taxi moving away from them.
When he got to the end of the block, Bane lowered the girl to her feet but she promptly fell and he lifted her up again with one arm across his shoulders. "Chelsea! Chelsea Waruch, listen to me," he snapped.
Her eyes went into focus for the first time, she seemed to become aware that they were outside. She took in that narrow intense face with its pale eyes watching her from inches away. "What? Who?" she mumbled.
"You're hyperventilating," he said. "Come on, start walking. Just concentrate on putting one foot ahead of the other. That's it. Breathe slower. Take a deeper breath each time. Good."
"What was that? Did it really happen? I was in this horrible place with monsters laughing at me..."
"What's important is that you're safe now. I've almost got this wire off your wrists. They didn't have to wind it this tight, your hands must be numb. Come on, keep moving."
Chelsea had stopped trembling, the mundane activity of walking gave her something to focus on. "I.. think I understand. You grabbed me and rushed me out of there. There was an explosion or something. I still see spots before my eyes."
"I'm taking you to the safest place in New York City," the man said. "Listen. My name is Jeremy Bane. I've been tracking down the Lords for a month now, and it was only an hour ago that I learned the location of their meeting place. By now, it's emptied out. They'll be scurrying in panic to their hiding holes. Those creatures aren't used to a living person defying them."
"Oh my God. Oh my God. They were going to kill me for entertainment. It's a nightmare. They'll come for me again."
As they passed under a streetlamp, the Dire Wolf quietly said, "They'll have to go through me first."
II.
By the time they reached Sixth Avenue heading east, Chelsea had recovered her composure enough to start asking questions. "Are you a cop?"
"No. Just a licensed private investigator," Bane said. Those grey eyes were constantly moving, checking doorways and alleys, always suspicious and never still for a second. "I specialize in the weird and the supernatural."
"Okay, okay," she said, struggling to keep up with his long impatient strides. "Maybe I'm crazy, but those horrible old men... what were they?"
"You're not crazy. They ARE vampires. Very old and powerful ones, too. Those are the aristocracy of their kind, the Vampire Lords." The Dire Wolf slowed with reluctance so as not to get too far ahead of her. "They've never gathered in any numbers in this area before, though."
"Oh God, I thought so. Their hands were so cold. I swore I saw fangs, but I tried to fool myself into thinking they were just psychos."
As they moved onto the corner of Park, Bane slowed to gesture at the empty streets. "Notice anything unusual?"
"Yeah. I was going to mention it," she said. "Where is everyone? It's one in the morning but even so, there's always traffic and people on the sidewalks. This is spooky."
The Dire Wolf started moving at a quicker pace, making her trot alongside him. "People sense when the supernatural is active. It's deeper than any conscious thought. They decide to take another route home or to skip going for cigarettes, but they couldn't say why. Right now, everybody in this area is pulling the blinds and making sure the windows are locked."
"You're giving me the creeps big time! And another thing, how do you know my name anyway? I never met you before."
"That's something I'll be able to explain once we get you in a safe place... GET DOWN!" As he spoke, Bane shoved her down to the sidewalk so roughly that she hit her cheek on the stone. Something big and black swooped down from the darkness to clutch at where she had been a split-second ago. There was a lightning blur of silver flashing, a gasping cry and a strange beast bigger than a dog thumped dead next to their feet.
It was a bat. A bat with leathery wings that stretched three feet across, its torso slashed open with two deep wounds. As Chelsea gaped in complete confusion, the mutilated creature began to collapse in on itself and melt into decay.
She scrambled up to her feet, grabbing for Bane. He was holding a narrow-bladed throwing dagger in each hand, glaring up at the sky and obviously ready for another attack. Chelsea seized his arm for support. "I'm going to have a heart attack," she said. "I can't handle this. I can't catch my breath."
The Dire Wolf slid one of the knives into a sheath on his left forearm beneath his jacket sleeve, keeping the other weapon ready. "You're going to be all right," he told her without trying to sound comforting. "You're stronger than you think. Come on, we only have three blocks to go."
III.
They barely reached East 38th Street before Bane spotted the dozen dark shapes loping behind them. He immediately scooped Chelsea up in his arms again and took off at a full run. Carrying a grown person did not seem to encumber him at all. At the corner where 38th Street met Lexington Avenue stood a ten story granite building with its front door propped open.
In the fan of light from within that doorway, a tall man hopped down the steps to the sidewalk. He wore across his back a Y-shaped quiver which held ten arrows in each compartment and he held a handcrafted yew longbow in one hand. Stranger than even his armament was the fact that he had pulled a black silk band down over his eyes.
Seeing the archer, Bane dove down to the pavement, stretching out on top of the flustered Chelsea. By this point, her traumatized mind somehow was getting used to bizarre and unexpected events. Even as she flattened out on the cold sidewalk, she heard the twang of a bowstring rapidly released and the hiss of arrows cutting through the air where she had been standing a second earlier.
The quick succession of arrows must mean that this bowman wasn't really aiming, she thought. He must be just trying to scare their pursuers away. But Chelsea managed to twist her head enough to look behind her in time to see the last of the arrows slam home into the final pursuer's torso. Bane got up off her and half-lifted her to her feet but Chelsea was barely aware of that. She was staring wide-eyed at all the bodies sprawled along 38th Street, each with an arrow sticking up out of its chest. Not one of their pursuers had escaped.
"These are old vampires," said the bowman as casually as if discussing a used car for sale. "They are already turning to slime or dust. Good. Less evidence we have to dispose of."
"Great shooting, Josef!" Bane said, clapping the man on the shoulder. "I knew I could count on our Blind Archer."
"Praise from the master," Josef Jubilec chuckled. He lowered his bow but did not unstring it. "I count eleven of the enemy destroyed, captain."
"Twelve, with the bat I killed a few blocks back. Our information was that fifteen of the Vampire Lords were assembled here by Nuborus. He's too sly and crafty to have been at that nightclub, I'm betting he's still loose."
"We'll get them before we're done," the Blind Archer said. "Captain, I'm going to retrieve my arrows. With these monsters destroyed, civilians will start coming out again. Better to keep secret what should be secret."
"Okay, Josef. Meet us in the reception room. I have a feeling our guest here has some questions about what's been going on."
"Yeah," began Chelsea in a torrent. "Like why haven't I had a complete mental breakdown over all this craziness! Who ARE you guys? How long have real no-fooling vampires been running around New York? And another thing..."
Bane led her by one arm up the stone steps toward the still-open door of the KDF building. "Let's get inside and I'll try to explain. The Lords aren't finished off yet."
IV.
The mundane act of drinking two cups of strong black coffee and devouring a buttered hard roll calmed Chelsea down faster than she would have thought possible. She sat back on a comfortable brown leather couch in a warm well-lit room and suddenly felt the world had become sane again.
There were many curious sights in the reception room. A solid oak desk stood under a gorgeous hand-painted map of the world that took up most of one wall. Near at hand where she could see it clearly was a fish tank atop a low bookshelf. The more she looked, the odder those fish appeared. Was that a seahorse with fangs? An orange starfish with a single red eye in the hub of its body? She had never heard of such creatures. What were those hermit crabs doing anyway? It looked as if they had dug a tunnel in the gravel lining the bottom of the tank and were scuttling madly from one end to the other. But why?
The man who called himself Bane set the pewter tray with the coffee pot down on a low table and brought a chair over for himself. This was the first chance Chelsea had to get a clear look at him. She saw a man about forty, maybe six foot even, wiry in build and even a bit thin. He had a narrow intense face, short black hair and startling pale grey eyes. She noticed he didn't take any coffee for himself.
"I'm sorry I haven't thanked you yet," she began, "When I was up on that table, I knew I was going to die in a second. But then you ran in from absolutely nowhere. It was like a miracle."
"Glad to help," the Dire Wolf said. "Chelsea Waruch, listen carefully. Tonight you have been dragged into a secret world very few people ever learn about. We call it the Midnight War. As awful as those vampires seem to you, there are much worse things out there in the dark."
Before she could reply, the bowman came into the room. He was about the same height and build as Bane, but broader across the shoulders, with sandy blond hair and deepset dark blue eyes. He unslung his quiver, leaning it and his unstrung bow against the wall just inside the hallway door. "The building is secured, Jeremy. None of the enemy are identifiable at this point. Civilians may wonder what those stinking puddles of goo are in the street but they will not suspect the truth. They never do."
He then seated himself on the couch as far from Chelsea as he reasonably could, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees, and did not seem inclined to speak further.
"This is Josef Jubilec, one of the Blind Archers of Chujir," Bane announced.
"Hello," Chelsea responded politely. "All I understood was the name Joseph."
"You seem to be getting your bearings quick enough after what happened," the Dire Wolf said. "Good. Miss Waruch, it's not random chance that you were abducted by the Vampire Lords. You know your family came from Eastern Europe, of course?"
"Sure. Grandpa and Nan were from a village in Romania... Hey. That's where Transylvania used to be, right?" She put her coffee cup down and starting working her hands together nervously. "Where is this going?"
Bane watched her reactions as if he were interrogating her. "Your family is related to Nuborus. Not closely, I'm thinking maybe your grandfather was a remote descendant. Nuborus is more than three hundred years old, after all. He ordered you brought to the nightclub because your death would amuse his warren."
"That's sick."
"Yeah, I can't disagree with that," Bane said. "We will load you with some silver crucifixes and other protective talismans. But let me be honest, we have found that they are not always effective. A lot depends on how strong the Undead are and how strong your will to resist is."
Chelsea glanced over at the unreadable poker face of Josef Jubilec, then back at Bane. "So, I'm hosed? Freaking vampires will drag me off again to give them a good laugh as I die?"
"They can't hurt you because we destroyed them." Bane stood up and started pacing around the room so Chelsea and Josef had to watch him. His enhanced metabolism made him hopelessly restless and fidgety, he was aware he couldn't sit still for long. "Tonight we got rid of the known Vampire Lords in this country. I think there is only their leader left with maybe one or two servitors. He's too sharp to have been at that nightclub. He hasn't survived three hundred years without learning caution. I bet he's on his way out of this country right now."
"Nuborus knows we are hunting him," added Josef. "He will stay far away until after we are dead."
"I wish he'd stick around. The case isn't closed until we tag him, too." Bane looked down at their guest and tried to make his voice warmer. "I think you're as safe now as anyone is, miss. After tonight, not many Undead will be turning up in the town."
"Stop it, you're making my hair stand up." Chelsea hugged herself as if freezing even though the room was warm and snug. "But... I saw you guys in action tonight. You with the knives and Josef with the arrows. I guess I'm as safe with you two as I would be anywhere else."
"Of course you can stay here tonight if you want," the Dire Wolf told her.
"We do have guest rooms on the third floor," the Archer added. "In the morning, you'll feel better. Sunlight is a great comfort."
"Wait a minute. Hold on." She glanced back and forth between the two men. "I thought of something. It's funny. You guys could have had a car waiting outside that hellhole. Or a taxi. But instead you made me walk all the way back here."
Josef Jubilec gazed down at the floor as if unwilling to hear this.
"You WANTED those monsters to chase us," she said directly to Bane. "Am I right? You lured them into the trap where this guy could cut them down with his arrows. I was used as bait. Am I right?"
The Dire Wolf met her glare without visible reaction. His voice remained even. "I'll give it to you straight. Yes, we did. You're right."
12/29/2021
3/22/2016
I.
There was only one living person in that crowded nightclub. Around the tables covered with spotless white linen and bearing wine goblets, a high-ceilinged room lit by numerous tall candles in wall scones, twenty old men in formal evening wear sat and laughed. But only one person there actually drew breath and had flesh warmer than room temperature. Her heart was the only one beating in that room, and it pounded dangerously fast from terror.
Not more than twenty, slim and attractive, she wore only a thin white gown which reached to her slippers. The girl had her hands tied behind her with wire and a linen cloth had been stuffed in her mouth. She was standing on a narrow platform which stretched out on support rods over a shallow pit crammed with needle-sharp spikes reaching up hungrily at her. Every few seconds, the platform tilted forward a tiny fraction of an inch. With nothing within reach and being bound as she was, the girl was shaking visibly. She knew that within seconds, she would slide off that platform face down onto those spikes.
And the Vampire Lords cackled at her distress with the hollow echoes of the Undead. They had to consciously draw in breath to speak or to laugh. Their glee at watching this victim suffer was so great that they felt compelled to give voice to it.
Now the girl's bare feet began to lose their final bit of traction. From beneath the gag came a final gasp of ultimate horror as she felt herself sliding.
From across that hellish nightclub, a gaunt figure in black hurtled headlong to leap up onto a table and then spring at the girl. The stranger seized the girl in both arms, his momentum carrying them both past the spiked pit to crash down upon a table where three of the Undead were seated. In an unbroken motion, the man in black rolled and was up on his feet, carrying the girl as if she were weightless.
From a dozen cold throats came cries of "Bane!" and "It's him! The Dire Wolf!" The Vampire Lords were kicking their chairs back as they shot to their feet with murderous gleams in red-irised eyes.
Holding the intended victim to him with one arm, Jeremy Bane darted his free hand hand inside his jacket and flung a round metal sphere up toward the ceiling. At the same time, he twisted his head away but there was no time to warn the girl. The brilliant magnesium flare exploded to fill the nightclub with intolerably bright white light. It was not sunlight, there was nothing holy about that chemical reaction, but it still left creatures of the night in helpless agony.
Squinting against the glare himself, the Dire Wolf carried the girl toward the open doorway through which he had entered only a few seconds earlier. She had no idea what was going on. Events had been too rapid and too unexpected for her brain to process yet, but she dimly was aware that she was still alive when she had expected to die.
Running through the elegant lobby, Bane was intercepted by one of the lesser minions. This was a living Human under the mesmeric thrall of his masters. He tried to stop the Dire Wolf and had his chest caved in by a savage side kick for his reward. Slamming open the outer door, Bane with his burden out into the night. They emerged on a side street at the upper end of Times Square, with no one in sight and only a stray taxi moving away from them.
When he got to the end of the block, Bane lowered the girl to her feet but she promptly fell and he lifted her up again with one arm across his shoulders. "Chelsea! Chelsea Waruch, listen to me," he snapped.
Her eyes went into focus for the first time, she seemed to become aware that they were outside. She took in that narrow intense face with its pale eyes watching her from inches away. "What? Who?" she mumbled.
"You're hyperventilating," he said. "Come on, start walking. Just concentrate on putting one foot ahead of the other. That's it. Breathe slower. Take a deeper breath each time. Good."
"What was that? Did it really happen? I was in this horrible place with monsters laughing at me..."
"What's important is that you're safe now. I've almost got this wire off your wrists. They didn't have to wind it this tight, your hands must be numb. Come on, keep moving."
Chelsea had stopped trembling, the mundane activity of walking gave her something to focus on. "I.. think I understand. You grabbed me and rushed me out of there. There was an explosion or something. I still see spots before my eyes."
"I'm taking you to the safest place in New York City," the man said. "Listen. My name is Jeremy Bane. I've been tracking down the Lords for a month now, and it was only an hour ago that I learned the location of their meeting place. By now, it's emptied out. They'll be scurrying in panic to their hiding holes. Those creatures aren't used to a living person defying them."
"Oh my God. Oh my God. They were going to kill me for entertainment. It's a nightmare. They'll come for me again."
As they passed under a streetlamp, the Dire Wolf quietly said, "They'll have to go through me first."
II.
By the time they reached Sixth Avenue heading east, Chelsea had recovered her composure enough to start asking questions. "Are you a cop?"
"No. Just a licensed private investigator," Bane said. Those grey eyes were constantly moving, checking doorways and alleys, always suspicious and never still for a second. "I specialize in the weird and the supernatural."
"Okay, okay," she said, struggling to keep up with his long impatient strides. "Maybe I'm crazy, but those horrible old men... what were they?"
"You're not crazy. They ARE vampires. Very old and powerful ones, too. Those are the aristocracy of their kind, the Vampire Lords." The Dire Wolf slowed with reluctance so as not to get too far ahead of her. "They've never gathered in any numbers in this area before, though."
"Oh God, I thought so. Their hands were so cold. I swore I saw fangs, but I tried to fool myself into thinking they were just psychos."
As they moved onto the corner of Park, Bane slowed to gesture at the empty streets. "Notice anything unusual?"
"Yeah. I was going to mention it," she said. "Where is everyone? It's one in the morning but even so, there's always traffic and people on the sidewalks. This is spooky."
The Dire Wolf started moving at a quicker pace, making her trot alongside him. "People sense when the supernatural is active. It's deeper than any conscious thought. They decide to take another route home or to skip going for cigarettes, but they couldn't say why. Right now, everybody in this area is pulling the blinds and making sure the windows are locked."
"You're giving me the creeps big time! And another thing, how do you know my name anyway? I never met you before."
"That's something I'll be able to explain once we get you in a safe place... GET DOWN!" As he spoke, Bane shoved her down to the sidewalk so roughly that she hit her cheek on the stone. Something big and black swooped down from the darkness to clutch at where she had been a split-second ago. There was a lightning blur of silver flashing, a gasping cry and a strange beast bigger than a dog thumped dead next to their feet.
It was a bat. A bat with leathery wings that stretched three feet across, its torso slashed open with two deep wounds. As Chelsea gaped in complete confusion, the mutilated creature began to collapse in on itself and melt into decay.
She scrambled up to her feet, grabbing for Bane. He was holding a narrow-bladed throwing dagger in each hand, glaring up at the sky and obviously ready for another attack. Chelsea seized his arm for support. "I'm going to have a heart attack," she said. "I can't handle this. I can't catch my breath."
The Dire Wolf slid one of the knives into a sheath on his left forearm beneath his jacket sleeve, keeping the other weapon ready. "You're going to be all right," he told her without trying to sound comforting. "You're stronger than you think. Come on, we only have three blocks to go."
III.
They barely reached East 38th Street before Bane spotted the dozen dark shapes loping behind them. He immediately scooped Chelsea up in his arms again and took off at a full run. Carrying a grown person did not seem to encumber him at all. At the corner where 38th Street met Lexington Avenue stood a ten story granite building with its front door propped open.
In the fan of light from within that doorway, a tall man hopped down the steps to the sidewalk. He wore across his back a Y-shaped quiver which held ten arrows in each compartment and he held a handcrafted yew longbow in one hand. Stranger than even his armament was the fact that he had pulled a black silk band down over his eyes.
Seeing the archer, Bane dove down to the pavement, stretching out on top of the flustered Chelsea. By this point, her traumatized mind somehow was getting used to bizarre and unexpected events. Even as she flattened out on the cold sidewalk, she heard the twang of a bowstring rapidly released and the hiss of arrows cutting through the air where she had been standing a second earlier.
The quick succession of arrows must mean that this bowman wasn't really aiming, she thought. He must be just trying to scare their pursuers away. But Chelsea managed to twist her head enough to look behind her in time to see the last of the arrows slam home into the final pursuer's torso. Bane got up off her and half-lifted her to her feet but Chelsea was barely aware of that. She was staring wide-eyed at all the bodies sprawled along 38th Street, each with an arrow sticking up out of its chest. Not one of their pursuers had escaped.
"These are old vampires," said the bowman as casually as if discussing a used car for sale. "They are already turning to slime or dust. Good. Less evidence we have to dispose of."
"Great shooting, Josef!" Bane said, clapping the man on the shoulder. "I knew I could count on our Blind Archer."
"Praise from the master," Josef Jubilec chuckled. He lowered his bow but did not unstring it. "I count eleven of the enemy destroyed, captain."
"Twelve, with the bat I killed a few blocks back. Our information was that fifteen of the Vampire Lords were assembled here by Nuborus. He's too sly and crafty to have been at that nightclub, I'm betting he's still loose."
"We'll get them before we're done," the Blind Archer said. "Captain, I'm going to retrieve my arrows. With these monsters destroyed, civilians will start coming out again. Better to keep secret what should be secret."
"Okay, Josef. Meet us in the reception room. I have a feeling our guest here has some questions about what's been going on."
"Yeah," began Chelsea in a torrent. "Like why haven't I had a complete mental breakdown over all this craziness! Who ARE you guys? How long have real no-fooling vampires been running around New York? And another thing..."
Bane led her by one arm up the stone steps toward the still-open door of the KDF building. "Let's get inside and I'll try to explain. The Lords aren't finished off yet."
IV.
The mundane act of drinking two cups of strong black coffee and devouring a buttered hard roll calmed Chelsea down faster than she would have thought possible. She sat back on a comfortable brown leather couch in a warm well-lit room and suddenly felt the world had become sane again.
There were many curious sights in the reception room. A solid oak desk stood under a gorgeous hand-painted map of the world that took up most of one wall. Near at hand where she could see it clearly was a fish tank atop a low bookshelf. The more she looked, the odder those fish appeared. Was that a seahorse with fangs? An orange starfish with a single red eye in the hub of its body? She had never heard of such creatures. What were those hermit crabs doing anyway? It looked as if they had dug a tunnel in the gravel lining the bottom of the tank and were scuttling madly from one end to the other. But why?
The man who called himself Bane set the pewter tray with the coffee pot down on a low table and brought a chair over for himself. This was the first chance Chelsea had to get a clear look at him. She saw a man about forty, maybe six foot even, wiry in build and even a bit thin. He had a narrow intense face, short black hair and startling pale grey eyes. She noticed he didn't take any coffee for himself.
"I'm sorry I haven't thanked you yet," she began, "When I was up on that table, I knew I was going to die in a second. But then you ran in from absolutely nowhere. It was like a miracle."
"Glad to help," the Dire Wolf said. "Chelsea Waruch, listen carefully. Tonight you have been dragged into a secret world very few people ever learn about. We call it the Midnight War. As awful as those vampires seem to you, there are much worse things out there in the dark."
Before she could reply, the bowman came into the room. He was about the same height and build as Bane, but broader across the shoulders, with sandy blond hair and deepset dark blue eyes. He unslung his quiver, leaning it and his unstrung bow against the wall just inside the hallway door. "The building is secured, Jeremy. None of the enemy are identifiable at this point. Civilians may wonder what those stinking puddles of goo are in the street but they will not suspect the truth. They never do."
He then seated himself on the couch as far from Chelsea as he reasonably could, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees, and did not seem inclined to speak further.
"This is Josef Jubilec, one of the Blind Archers of Chujir," Bane announced.
"Hello," Chelsea responded politely. "All I understood was the name Joseph."
"You seem to be getting your bearings quick enough after what happened," the Dire Wolf said. "Good. Miss Waruch, it's not random chance that you were abducted by the Vampire Lords. You know your family came from Eastern Europe, of course?"
"Sure. Grandpa and Nan were from a village in Romania... Hey. That's where Transylvania used to be, right?" She put her coffee cup down and starting working her hands together nervously. "Where is this going?"
Bane watched her reactions as if he were interrogating her. "Your family is related to Nuborus. Not closely, I'm thinking maybe your grandfather was a remote descendant. Nuborus is more than three hundred years old, after all. He ordered you brought to the nightclub because your death would amuse his warren."
"That's sick."
"Yeah, I can't disagree with that," Bane said. "We will load you with some silver crucifixes and other protective talismans. But let me be honest, we have found that they are not always effective. A lot depends on how strong the Undead are and how strong your will to resist is."
Chelsea glanced over at the unreadable poker face of Josef Jubilec, then back at Bane. "So, I'm hosed? Freaking vampires will drag me off again to give them a good laugh as I die?"
"They can't hurt you because we destroyed them." Bane stood up and started pacing around the room so Chelsea and Josef had to watch him. His enhanced metabolism made him hopelessly restless and fidgety, he was aware he couldn't sit still for long. "Tonight we got rid of the known Vampire Lords in this country. I think there is only their leader left with maybe one or two servitors. He's too sharp to have been at that nightclub. He hasn't survived three hundred years without learning caution. I bet he's on his way out of this country right now."
"Nuborus knows we are hunting him," added Josef. "He will stay far away until after we are dead."
"I wish he'd stick around. The case isn't closed until we tag him, too." Bane looked down at their guest and tried to make his voice warmer. "I think you're as safe now as anyone is, miss. After tonight, not many Undead will be turning up in the town."
"Stop it, you're making my hair stand up." Chelsea hugged herself as if freezing even though the room was warm and snug. "But... I saw you guys in action tonight. You with the knives and Josef with the arrows. I guess I'm as safe with you two as I would be anywhere else."
"Of course you can stay here tonight if you want," the Dire Wolf told her.
"We do have guest rooms on the third floor," the Archer added. "In the morning, you'll feel better. Sunlight is a great comfort."
"Wait a minute. Hold on." She glanced back and forth between the two men. "I thought of something. It's funny. You guys could have had a car waiting outside that hellhole. Or a taxi. But instead you made me walk all the way back here."
Josef Jubilec gazed down at the floor as if unwilling to hear this.
"You WANTED those monsters to chase us," she said directly to Bane. "Am I right? You lured them into the trap where this guy could cut them down with his arrows. I was used as bait. Am I right?"
The Dire Wolf met her glare without visible reaction. His voice remained even. "I'll give it to you straight. Yes, we did. You're right."
12/29/2021
