grief from across the room. He was picturing that moment in his head as he talked, judging by his far-away look and the visceral tightness she could feel in the air around him. “The monster turned my sister. Turned an eight-year-old girl into one of them. She came home. Killed my parents. I…had been riding the property, checking on the fences. When I came back, it was too late. I saw her kneeling in our parents’ blood, licking it up from the floor, crying because it had gone cold. She was a rabid animal. Like a dog, chewing off its own leg in madness.”
“What did you do?”
“I do what you do with any rabid animal. I got my rifle. I put her down.”
Maxine shut her eyes and lowered her head. “I am so sorry, Eddie.”
“Thank you. It’s long over. It’s because of him that it happened. He’s the source of the poison. I’m not the only tragic story. I’m not the only victim.”
“I know.”
“But you feel for him. I…watched you at the opera through my scope. You took his hand. You let him kiss you. You touch him. It isn’t merely physical, either. I see how you look at him. You weren’t his prisoner.”
She felt the shame creep over her slowly. “No. I was not.”
“He’s a mass murderer. He’s responsible for millions of deaths over the course of humanity. Think about that.”
“I know.”
“You know, but you don’t understand.” He put down the last piece of his gun and began putting it back together. “You haven’t seen it. I hope you never do.”
“I fear that choice will not be up to me.”
They fell back into silence. She lay back down on the blanket, shutting her eyes, trying to get her head to stop hurting as badly as it was. Alfonzo had hit her hard.
She wasn’t certain how much time had passed before she heard a resounding boom from her courtyard outside like an explosion before a voice carried easily through the windows in the foundation by the back of the house. A voice that she would never forget.
“Hunters.”
Dracula.
25
It was astonishing how quickly Maxine forgot how terrifying Vlad could be. That one word alone sent a tremor up her spine. That deep, resonant voice that was loud without shouting. Heard without insisting. It reflected the effortless power of the creature himself. Eddie looked as though he shared a similar reaction.
She looked out at the sun streaming through the window and furrowed her brow. He had come for her…in broad daylight.
It was clear Eddie had the same thought. “What the fuck?” He stood from the chair and quickly loaded his guns and tucked one into his holster. He kept the other down at his side.
The basement door was pushed open with a creak. “Eddie. Up here. Now. Bring Maxine,” Alfonzo barked down the stairs.
Eddie picked up the end of the chain that attached to her shackles and undid the lock that fastened it to the column. He slipped the key and the lock in his pocket. Looking at her mournfully, he jerked his head in the direction of the stairs. “C’mon. Let’s go.”
It was not like she had any say in the matter. And so, she stood and followed Eddie, picking up the weight of the chain to carry it as they climbed the stairs. He kept glancing back at her regretfully.
“I’m sorry about this,” he muttered. “It’s not fair. It’s for your own good.”
She nodded once, not knowing what to say. Bella and Alfonzo were standing by the large glass doors that led out to the courtyard in the back of her house. There, standing in the middle of the yard, looking freakishly out of place, was the Vampire King himself. The sun was shining. Her gardens looked peaceful and perfect. Save for the black inkblot that stood in the center of it, long hair loose and hanging around his gray and pallid features.
He did not belong amongst the life of the garden. He belonged amongst dead things.
Alfonzo turned to look at her and Eddie as they approached. She let the chain she had gathered up in her hands fall to the wood floor with a loud clatter, glaring back at the older hunter.
He didn’t miss the point she was making. He sighed. “I’m sorry. I really am. But you are unwell. He’s twisted your mind. You can’t see it, I know, but you’ll understand when he is defeated. When you’re free.”
I am not sure if I will ever be free of