The Meridian Gamble (68 page)

“Well, I refuse you,” he says,
coldly. “I will never grant you permission to grant her the transformation.”

Roland looks stunned, and utterly
confused.

“But if I don’t change her, how
will she fulfill her destiny?“

A look of rage comes over the elder
vampire’s face.

“How dare you question me, you pig!
I will never give the honor of the vampire gift to your Luminos whore!”

His anger shakes the walls, and I
can almost picture the other beings in the catacombs trembling in fear. Even
the third one looks up for a moment, roused from the meditation. But, he
quickly returns to his transcendent state. And though Roland seems taken aback,
he somehow musters the courage to continue on.

“Forgive me,” Roland says, calmly.
“But I only wish to understand. You said she would bring balance to our
struggle. You said she would lead us.”

And a playful smile crosses the
Elder’s face. He looks like a petulant boy, causing mischief. A very ugly one,
at that.

“Is that what I said? Perhaps I
should have been more specific. I never said she would lead our people. How
absurd would that be, for one of the Luminos to rule us,” he says. “No, where
she leads us will be a place. And I’m not quite sure that you need to know
where it is.”

And he stares me down.

“Though you’ve finally guessed by
now. Haven’t you, my dear?”

Roland looks bewildered for a
moment, but suddenly, it all clicks in my mind. I know what I feared has been
true all along. They have a more sinister agenda, and it’s far worse than what
I had imagined. But I have to know for sure.

And I don’t care anymore if I’m
supposed to be quiet or afraid. It doesn’t matter. Something far more important
is at stake.

“Where? Where is it I’m going to
lead you?” I ask. “Say it.”

And his disgusting grin widens.

“You’re going to lead us into the
Golden Realm.”

That place in the clouds that I
saw, with Adam. The one I tried to escape to again, in vain. It’s real. There’s
no point denying it, anymore. It’s not some creation of my imagination. It
really is the place where the Luminos go between lifetimes. And the vampires
want to go there. They have plans for that place.

God only knows what they want from
it, or how they think I’m going to take them there.

“Go now, protect her as I’ve
instructed you to do. And you’ll need to act fast. She is Luminos, and I grant
you safe passage through this city for the next 24 hours, but no more. After
that, any vampire may slay you both, if they so desire.”

“Not if you want me to take you to
the Realm, they won’t,” I say.

And the bald one rolls back his
head, and laughs.

“Again, such fire. You will never
give up until the bitter end. And that’s exactly what I’m counting on,” he
says.

And Roland takes me by the hand.

“Come on, we need to leave.”

He starts to lead me away. We get
to the door, but I stop him. I’m not supposed to do it, but I turn back to the
Elders and face them, as Roland looks on, dismayed.

“You still haven’t told me one
thing,” I say.

And the jagged one looks at me with
surprise.

“Which would be?”

“What are your names?”

And he rolls back his head, and
laughs.

“You are full of surprises, aren’t
you?” he says. “No human has ever known our names. Most vampires do not know
them, but I will give that gift to you. I am known as ‘O’ and my sister is Lilliah.
Our brother’s name in the vampire tongue would hold no meaning for you, but the
closest word in your language would be ‘Now.’ But tell me, why do you feel the
need to know?”

I don’t answer him. Instead, I look
the woman in the eye, and she returns my gaze, startled.

“You’re still beautiful,” I say.

And she screams. Her death howl
echoes through the chambers so deeply I can feel it in my bones, and the sound
mixes with her brother’s cackle, as Roland finally pulls me away with a greater
force. And the second we step through the threshold of the door, she slams it
with a telekinetic fury.

And we run.

We rush through the corridors, and
climb the stairs to the upper level. We pass the torture chambers, and head
toward the opening that looks down on the garden.

The vampire chambers all around us
are empty, not even Vincenzo is about, and I wonder if they’ve all been
banished to their rooms, or are simply cowering in fear.

We get to the circular door that
leads to the catacombs, and it’s propped open, as though someone has left it
that way for us. And I’m thrilled to enter the filthy tunnels again, which seem
a thousand times more appealing than the place I’ve just been.

As we run, Roland looks back at me,
as though he can’t resist any longer.

“The Golden Realm?” he says.

“It’s the place the Luminos go
between lifetimes.”

“And how do you know this?” he
says, in surprise.

“I just know. I’ll explain it all
when we get out of here. If we get out of here.”

Our journey goes quicker this time,
maybe because I’m more familiar with the tunnels. And somehow, I’m not worried
about my shoes, anymore. Soon, we reach the corridor that leads to the hotel,
and we find the stairway that takes us to the upper floors.

When we finally get to our rooms,
the dinner plates have been cleared away, and Roland turns to me once more.

“Pack what you want to take from
this place. There should be a suitcase in the closet. But only take one, we
need to travel light.

“And where are we going?”

“I have no idea,” Roland says,
staring off. And it’s strange to see him in something less than complete
control. “What did you have in mind?”

“Somewhere warm would be nice, so
there’s lot of sunlight for them to be weak in.

And Roland smiles.

“South America it is,” he says.

We both head off to our rooms, and
I grab a suitcase from the closet. It’s so cruel that I can only have one,
because there are so many designer labels to choose from. Best to start
sensibly, I think, and go looking for some jeans and underwear. But then, I
change my mind.

“Screw it,” I say. And I rummage
through all the boxes that say “Manolo” on the side.

If I’m going to be running for my
life from vampires, I might as well do it in style.

I pack a few more items, and soon
I’m back in the living area with Roland, who already has his own piece of
luggage that looks full. And we head to the lobby of the building. This time,
we find a cab waiting at the curb, not a limousine, and we get inside.

“To the airport,” Roland says, with
a sense of urgency.

And we drive away, signaling the
end to my trip to Paris. Sure enough, I didn’t get to enjoy it one bit. And I
wonder if I’ll ever see the city again in this lifetime.

But, more importantly, I wonder
what kind of new dangers I’m about to face.

“This place is amazing, I can’t
wait for you to see it. We rented it for the film shoot, but now that it’s
ended, we’re staying on a few weeks to take in the sights. In fact, Nivina and
I are thinking of buying it as an investment. The sequel will probably shoot
down here, and we’ll still have an awesome vacation getaway.”

“Sounds like you’re quite the
businessman, Lenny,” Roland says with a smile.

“You don’t become a producer in
Hollywood by age 28 without being savvy, brah,” Lenny says, with a cocky smile.

He opens the door, and the sight
we’re greeted with is an impressive one. The penthouse apartment is on the 20th
floor of the building, and the view of the night sky is quite nice.

I’ve never been to Mexico City
before, and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the luxury here rivals anything
you’d see in New York. The apartment itself is mostly one big space, with a
sunken area that separates the living room, and a gleaming steel kitchen next
to the big windows that look out over the city. There’s lots of leather couches
and modern artwork on the wall, and even a couple of samurai swords that are
mounted for decoration.

Our hostess, Nivina, rushes past us
and goes to the kitchen. She takes out a bottle from a mini-fridge that seems
dedicated to chilling wine.

“Thank God Lenny had his assistant
stock the bar before we got down here,” she calls out. “Say, Meri, do you like
sushi? There’s a great place that delivers. I should order us some.”

“Sushi sounds fantastic,” I say.

“Go ahead and put your things in
the guest room, and I’ll order us some.”

We go down a long hallway, and
Roland smiles at me, mischievously. He seems pleased with our latest catch, as
am I.

We picked these two up at a bar,
one of the hottest places in the city, and they were just perfect. Young, rich
and brimming with entitlement issues. Lenny is a movie producer still in his
20’s, and Nivina is his girlfriend recently turned wife, a blonde made over to
perfection by the best plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills. She’s gorgeous, but
the unfortunate side effect of all the work she’s has done is that she looks
generic. Nivina has the same puffy lips and Botox riddled forehead of every
other Tinseltown blonde you see in the tabloids, which she no doubt hopes to
make some day.

She actually loves him, Roland told
me, after scanning their minds. But it’s mixed with more than a bit of avarice,
a relief that she no longer has to struggle with an acting career that never
quite took off, and can live off his wealth. She’s thrilled that she actually
landed him.

And it’s weird that they’re acting
like we’re their best friends in the world. But it was necessary for Roland to
implant the idea in their minds, so that we could quickly get off the streets.
And now Lenny and Nivina are convinced that he’s an art dealer they met back in
L.A., and that I’m his devoted girlfriend, at least of the moment. And that
it’s all good fun that we’ve hooked up again, in Mexico City, of all places.

The guest room is pleasant enough,
though it looks as if it’s the one spot in the house that hasn’t been
renovated. There’s simple white furniture, and full length mirrors over the
closet doors that remind me of the 70’s, for some reason. But the bathroom is
wide and spacious, and I plan on enjoying the tub later.

After Roland has fed off them.

“Do you like it? I can convince
them to let us have the master bedroom if you want.”

“Nah, let them have it,” I say.
“It’s the least we can do.”

I throw down my suitcase by the
bed, and I should unpack, but I decide to leave it for later. I’m starving, and
the thought of good sushi is just too appealing.

I come out to the living room, and
Nivina is sitting on one of the couches, already drinking some champagne she’s
opened. We go to join her, as Lenny futzes about in the kitchen. She really is
a beautiful girl, and I can see why he’s crazy about her. Lenny looks at her
with such love in his eyes. She has pretty blonde hair that falls in curly
locks, and Nivina wears a dress with sheer fabric in a floral pattern that
shows off her figure, especially her expansive cleavage, which puts even mine
to shame.

And I wonder if Roland chose her
because he only chooses to eat the finest.

“So Meridian, what is it you do,
again?” she asks, questioningly.

“Oh, I still work at the
advertising agency. Creative Quorum.”

“Aren’t they in New York?”

“Wow, you know advertising?” I say,
just a bit surprised. And I realize I should have lied. “Yeah, I’m in the new
L.A. office.”

“Oh. I didn’t know they have an
L.A. office.”

“No one does. We’re just opening it
up. That’s why it’s new,” I say. “Kind of a secret.”

She seems confused for a moment,
but the look goes away, and it quickly turns to a smile. She stares at Roland
and I with an almost flirtatious gaze.

“You guys are so much fun. I’m glad
we ran into you again.”

Roland leans over to me and
whispers, as though she can’t even hear us.

“Nivina is thinking naughty
thoughts. She’s under the impression that we had a three-way back in L.A.”

And he turns back to her.

“Nivina, dear. Why don’t you come
over here for a moment? I’ve a secret of my own to tell you.”

She giggles, and crosses over to
the couch we’re sitting on. Nivina stands in front of Roland, and he pulls her
onto his lap, playfully.

Roland brushes her hair aside,
exposing her neck. And the fangs pop out of his mouth.

It would shock me, but this is
hardly the first time I’ve seen him feed since we’ve been on the run.

“Do you mind, Meridian? I need to
keep my strength up if we’re to survive. And it will make them easier to
control.”

Them. He means to feed on both of
them.

“Go ahead,” I say, almost casually.

He buries his face in her neck, and
Nivina begins to groan in an erotic way. And Roland wasn’t kidding about her
being a naughty girl. She begins rubbing a hand over her exposed leg, and
slowly slides it over his crotch, massaging him. But he bats it away, and
finally pulls out of her.

But Nivina still groans in ecstasy,
and the rush of the venom and her loss of blood combine to make her pass out.
Or maybe it’s something Roland does, so we won’t have to talk to her anymore.
Lenny comes over with a tray of crackers and cheese that he’s been preparing,
and a few little bowls, for us to mix the soy sauce for our sushi. He looks to
his love, alarmed. Roland grabs one of the napkins he’s brought and wipes away
the blood that’s dribbling from her neck. And the wounds quickly seal.

“Is she okay?” Lenny asks, full of
concern.

“Oh, she’ll be fine. It’s just the
effect of the champagne. Plus, I made her go to sleep.”