The Vampires' Birthright (23 page)

“Who’s out there?” Garvan called out gruffly next to the door.

“What? Do you really expect a Nosferatu fucker to reply in coherent terms, unless it’s Ralu himself?” said a familiar thick German accent from the door’s other side.

“Franz? What in the hell are you doing here?”

This time Chanson voiced the question to our mysterious visitor.

“It’s
our
Franz?” I sat up straight while being careful not to disturb Alaia. “Do you think it’s really him?”

Garvan took a stronger stance as he considered my question. Chanson moved cautiously to the door with her eyes closed, as if determined to use her third eye to help her see outside the plane.

“Well, I’m trying to make sure no one eats Racco’s fuel crew since the local union won’t pay the airport’s security staff overtime to keep an eye out for trouble,” he said. “Goddamned ugly bastards!”

He laughed heartily, and I knew without any doubt that the guy on the other end was in fact my on again/off again guardian, Franz Blutliebhaber. Kazikli and Nora joined us from the cockpit.

“Why is Franz outside?” Kazikli eyed Chanson curiously. “Let him in so we can continue our flight!”

“He’s taking care of the little people,” slurred Armando. “The good men and women who are putting the tiger back in our tank!”

Tyreen chuckled, and even Raquel let out a delighted yelp from the back. Drunk or not, there were plenty of verbal alms for the perpetual comic.

Kazikli moved up to the door and released the latch. Even though I knew it was Franz, I still held my breath until he entered.

“Well, hello, everyone!” He nodded to all of the vampires before settling his gaze upon me. “Now that,
that
is interesting. You’re the first non-Asian girl I’ve ever seen wear a tricivara, Txema.”

“Well, does it look okay on me?” I felt self-conscious, where before that moment I’d pretty much forgotten how I was the only one not dressed in western fashion. Even Franz wore a business suit sans a tie. “I’m supposed to change into something more in line with everyone else… just haven’t gotten around to doing it yet.”

“You look ravishing!” he said, and came over to me. He reached down to give me a warm hug. When Franz saw my baby girl, who was soundly asleep, he let out a slight gasp. “She’s beyond gorgeous! May I hold her?”

“She’s sleeping you big oaf!” said Raquel, appearing in a blink. “The child will still be there for you to hold in a few hours. In the meantime, you can hold me!”

She added a seductive wink and slid up against his chest. I would’ve guessed that vampire males had more willpower to resist such antics as compared to the warm-blooded variety. But not this one. Franz went for the bait and as soon as he wrapped his strong arms around Raquel, she latched her fangs into his neck.

I suppose that’s foreplay in a sense. But with an ancient ‘old fashioned’ vampire in our presence, all it took was a stern ‘Ah-hem!’ from Kazikli, and Raquel’s little love nip of our newly arrived hunk was over.

“Sorry, boss,” said Franz, after he straightened his suit coat and shirt. “It’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other.”

“Understood, my son,” he said, wearing a knowing smile. “Perhaps you two can share a casket later on, and catch up on old times, eh?”

Kazikli chuckled while Franz’s face flushed a bit. Meanwhile, Nora motioned for our newcomer to take her seat, so he and Kazikli could catch up on important business once our trip to wherever resumed. Nora took an empty seat near mine, where she could continue to keep a loving eye on Alaia.

“I’m sure you would love to know where we’re going, Txema, but again you’ll have to wait until after we’ve arrived to learn that information,” said Kazikli, as he sat down with Franz. “Since this next one will be in an area where we hope to stay a day or two, you won’t be allowed to look outside until after we’ve landed.”

He motioned for Chanson to close the blinds on all the windows within my range of vision.

“It’s okay. I understand that it’s for the best if I don’t have any clue where we are,” I said, while looking around for something better to pass the time with, other than a science or fashion magazine. “Can you at least tell me how long it will be before we arrive at the next destination?”

“It will be almost as long a trip as this one was… maybe even half an hour longer,” he said, grimacing slightly. It may have been due to the length of the trip or perhaps in response to the ‘you’ve got to be fucking kidding me?’ look upon my face. “If you like, we can administer a sleep aid to help pass the time. Regardless, you’ll likely feel some jet lag. But at least you’ll be spared the sleep deprivation that all of us will soon experience.”

“He’s right about that,” said Chanson, wearing a grimace worse than his. “The longest I’ve gone without sleep is eighteen hours, and it wasn’t a good experience. This time it’s even worse; it will be at least twenty hours before any of us can escape the night’s pull.”

“It could be an ugly scene for the guys and me and Tyreen,” added Raquel. “Except for Kazikli and Nora―they’ve gone without sleep for more than twenty-four hours before.”

“Kazikli and I will keep an eye on everyone, to make sure we all come through with flying colors!” said Nora, smiling compassionately at everyone. “And, if we all falter, including me, Kazikli has brought along an elixir to tap us out.”

“Well, I guess I should count my blessings, huh?” I released a low sigh as I considered the continued craziness my life on the run had become. “I believe I’ll take you up on the sleep aid in a little bit.”

“I’m feeling the same way, sister, about what this next leg of our journey is gonna be like,” said Tyreen. She came over to where I sat and handed me an ebook reader that Raquel gave to her earlier.

Our jet taxied through the tarmac, and soon we were back in the air. The only clue I had about our next destination was from when I glimpsed the shrinking moon through Kazikli’s window to my left before he closed the blinds. It was in the same spot from where it had been earlier that night when we departed Kathmandu and headed west. But I couldn’t recall where the pilot had veered to in order to reach the fuel depot once we landed in Frankfurt. So, despite my best efforts, there was little I could determine about where we headed next.

Maybe that was just as well, since Ralu certainly knew by then that we had touched down in Frankfurt before taking off again.

While immersing myself in the book that launched Anne Rice’s illustrious career―
Interview with a Vampire
―I kept an occasional eye on Alaia and also on my vampire cohorts. I wanted to see first-hand what would happen when sleep deprivation got the better of the undead. Call it cheap entertainment.

It sure as hell beat out any dream visitations from Ralu.

he flight to our next destination took exactly nine hours and twenty-seven minutes. Luckily, I had plenty of excellent reading material and Franz shared his personal iPod with a ton of my favorite tunes on it. I was in semi-bliss! Especially since one of Racco’s chefs had prepared a fabulous cordon bleu dinner, along with a bottle of merlot from Racco’s private collection. It wasn’t quite the same as having him nearby, but it did make me believe he still thinks about me sometimes. It was also a good reminder that while simplicity is divine, civilization definitely has its perks.

So, yes, it was a decent start to the final leg of our overnight journey. My cheerful mood lasted longer than I expected, and didn’t begin to sour until we reached the halfway point of our flight.

By then, the effects of no sleep for my wicked friends had begun to catch up with everyone, and it started with a general irritation amongst the vampires. Every little thing became a big deal, and it wasn’t just Garvan and Armando fighting over some ‘I’m better than you’ bullshit issue. It was Tyreen and Raquel sniping at each other over petty fashion preferences, and then Chanson acting like Mommy Dearest to keep order. Even Nora didn’t seem quite like herself, although her reaction was to become almost listless in her movements as she huddled in her chair.

I should add here that the normally subdued ‘mix’ of vampire scents was also disrupted by the volatile mood. They hung heavy in the air around me, turning the normally pleasant odors wrong somehow. Like water left too long in a vase of wilting flowers, or fruit overripe in the hot sun. I felt overcome with a wave of smell-induced nausea, the likes of which I hadn’t experienced since I was first pregnant with Alaia.

If Franz hadn’t threatened to kick Garvan’s ass after a ‘brotherly’ wrestling match turned ugly, Kazikli might’ve waited until we reached our destination to pull out a tray of shot glasses filled with blood. Blood laced with an alchemical sedative, the specific ingredients unknown, but the smell of eucalyptus was strong enough that it overpowered the other cloying odors in the cabin. I was tempted to dab some on my upper lip like the medical examiners on television do when entering a particularly horrid crime scene, but the thought was a fleeting one.

The calming effect was immediate. As they all returned to their normal harmless eccentricities, Kazikli came over and sat next to me after Chanson excused herself briefly from the passenger cabin.

“I suppose it’s a good thing they care about you and your daughter’s welfare as much as they do,” he said, smiling tiredly. His own spice scent seemed weaker, like an old air freshener in need of replacement. It didn’t seem as if he had taken the same elixir as the others, since the strange attendant smell of eucalyptus wasn’t present with him. “Some vampires respond with an instinctive orneriness when faced with taking a tranquilizer or anything that feels unnatural to our bodies. Like when we were human, it takes time to build up a tolerance for foreign substances.”

“I guess it’s sort of like how Gustav could spike his blood drink with alcohol at the Christmas Eve party last year and be fine, where a younger vampire like Armando might not hold it together as well, huh?” I said, considering again how similar in many ways the undead are to the living. “I suppose you’re pretty experienced with how to keep things from getting out of hand, like Gustav, too.”

“Exactly… on both counts,” he said.

His blue eyes twinkled, and for a moment, I glimpsed how much knowledge, power, and decency were all wrapped up into one package with this ancient man. I also sensed Kazikli would make an exceptional vampire king, although it seemed clear that he had no such ambitions. I had no doubt he read these thoughts of mine verbatim.

“When we reach our next city, I’ll give you your itinerary for the day,” he said. “Everything has been planned for and already taken care of. All you have to do is follow your instructions and try to have as good a time as is possible.”

Lots of intrigue and a ton of vagueness. The only thing I gathered from this was something potentially fun had been arranged for me. That narrowed things down to everything from a day at an amusement park to sticking my head down a hungry alligator’s throat. It depended on how ‘fun’ was defined. With vampires, such a thing was especially hard to determine.

“You are such a silly girl at times, Txema,” said Kazikli, smiling tiredly as he studied my face. “I suppose you will simply have to trust that we have something special planned for you amid all of the violence and craziness going on, as well as the steady disintegration of the human world you used to roam freely in. Alaia will be joining you, so another clue is that you both will be participating in an event we’ve carefully arranged to take place in broad daylight―far from the reaches of any vampire.”