Vampire Affliction (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Surprise at the Acropolis

“I can’t just lie here all night, thinking about her,” Hector said to Gertie and Jeno once the boy had returned to his farmhouse. “Let’s go tonight and do whatever it takes to get Athena’s shield. We need that helm.”

“You want to help the vampires after what they did?” Gertie asked.

“No,” Hector said. “I want to make them think I’m helping, so I can get close enough to Vladimir. I want to kill him and rescue Damien and Phoebe. That’s my plan. Are you with me?”

“I know you both hate the vampires right now,” Jeno said. “But what happened tonight was caused by Dionysus. The vampires are still victims hoping for liberation. They do whatever their lord tells them to do.”

“Including your father?” Hector asked.

Jeno rubbed his forehead, as though he were massaging away a headache. “Yes.”

Gertie jumped to her feet. “Does this mean…?”

“No. I still want him dead,” Jeno assured her. “He of all the vampires could have stood up to Dionysus, and he didn’t. The other vampires are innocent.”

“So what are you saying?” Hector asked.

Jeno stood up and looked out the window with his back to them. “If by some miracle we can rejoin the vampires, when we finally do turn on my father, let’s try to keep the casualties to a minimum.” He turned to face them. “Agreed?”

Gertie and Hector nodded.

“Of course,” Hector said. “Now let’s go catch a golden snake. I want to wring its neck.”

Hector jumped past Jeno through the loft window and out into the night. Jeno looked back at Gertie before following. She grabbed the shield and took up the rear, not sure what Hector planned to do, but knowing he couldn’t sit and think about his mother. He had to be doing something, even if it wasn’t productive.

When they reached the place where the Erichtheion once stood, Hector shocked Gertie when he unzipped his pants and urinated as he sang:

I wish that I could feel alive again.

I don’t know where, where I’ve been.

I’ve been away, away somewhere.

Hector was so full of anger, and Jeno had been right when he had said that the lyrics took on a new meaning from the mouth of a vampire.

The golden snake appeared before Hector had started the second verse of his song.

“What do you think you are doing, ssson of Hephaestusss?” Erich hissed angrily.

Hector tucked and zipped. “Your mean trick got my mother killed! She was a daughter to Apollo!”

“What mean trick, ssson of Hephaestusss? I did exactly asss you asssked.”

Gertie stepped forward. “This shield is the fake, the one Hephaestus made.”

“You are missstaken, little vampire,” Erich said. “That isss the shield of Athena.”

The three teens looked at one another, confused.

“Are you certain?” Jeno asked.

“Yesss. That shield bearsss the head of Medusssa.”

“Why did Dionysus think it was a fake?” Gertie whispered to the others.

“Dionysusss? I thought you intended to hide the shield in the Underworld.”

“We were threatened by the lord of the vampires,” Hector explained. “He took the shield but thought it was a fake. He killed my mother because of it.”

“He thought it was a fake becaussse he doesssn’t know how to reanimate the head of Medusssa.”

“How could he not know?” Gertie asked.

“Very few know,” the snake said.

Hector dropped down on one knee. “I’m so sorry, my brother. Please accept my apology.”

“Don’t call me your brother, vampire! You may be a ssson of Hephaestusss, but no vampire isss a brother to me!”

Hector jumped to his feet yelling expletives Gertie could never have said herself, but Jeno took him by the elbow and said, “Let’s get out of here. Now.”

Gertie and Hector followed Jeno back to the sinkhole they had uncovered at the edge of the acropolis—their entrance to the Underworld.

“Don’t forget about the Hydra,” Jeno warned just before he dove in.

It wasn’t easy to get Athena’s shield though the narrow tunnels from the one sinkhole to the Hydra’s, so the two boys helped her manipulate it though the openings. This slowed them down quite a bit, but eventually they emerged to the screeching cries of the dragon-headed monster.

Hector and Gertie followed Jeno’s lead and flattened against the ceiling, waiting.

“It’s okay, girl,” Jeno said. “It’s just me. Lord Hades is expecting us.”

She cried out again, but did not throw flames. Jeno took each of their arms and carefully guided them through the huge archway leading to the Phlegethon.

As they followed the river of fire to where it met the River Styx, Hector asked, “Do you ever get used to it?”

“Used to what?” Jeno asked, and then, after reading Hector’s thoughts, said, “Ah. The insults. No, not me. It hurts every time. But that could just be me.”

The three vampires walked along the river of fire, passing the stables after Jeno popped his head in to say hello to Swift and Sure, who neighed their replies. Gertie could sense how much Jeno missed the stallions and his old routine. He missed Calandra and their home beneath the acropolis. He missed his clock collection and his library and his family portraits. She wondered if he regretted ever meeting her.

Never, koureetsi mou
, he said to her telepathically.

Hector’s mind, on the other hand, was full of revenge. He was more angry than sad over his mother’s death. He couldn’t wait to personally destroy Jeno’s father, now that Jeno supported it. He would help liberate the other vampires, but Vladimir would pay, and, if Hector could find allies among the gods—Hera, maybe—he wanted Dionysus to pay, too.

Gertie just wanted all of this to be over. Although she never again wished to be the girl that lived her life solely in books, she wanted to have the luxury of reading daily again, even if for just a few hours each night. And although she never wanted to go back to her old home in New York, she longed, more than anything, to be back with the Angelis family. They were home to her, they were family, and she missed them.

If she hoped to ever be accepted by them again, she had to bring Phoebe back. Damien was beyond saving, and she doubted anyone wanted him to go back to his tomb, buried alive. The only way to save Phoebe from the life of a vampire was to destroy Damien. Hector and Jeno must realize this, too.

Yes
, Jeno said in her mind.
I’m not sure Hector has worked it out yet, but he will.

Megaera appeared to them just before they reached the massive iron doors leading to the palace chambers of Hades and Persephone.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“Your father asked us to bring him Athena’s shield,” Hector said. “He’s expecting us.”

“No,” she said. “I don’t think he is.”

Then she faded from their sight, and they were left staring blankly at one another near the iron doors.

Before they knocked, the door opened, and Hecate poked out her head, her white and black hair falling over her shoulders.

“You’ve returned,” she said, with disbelief. “You actually succeeded in stealing Athena’s shield?”

“Let them in,” Hades’s voice rang eagerly from inside the palace chamber.

The three teens walked in to face the lord of the Underworld and his queen, who were gawking at them as though they were beings from another planet. Gertie stepped forward and presented the shield to Hades.

“The shield for the helm,” she said.

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Helm of Invisibility

Since Hector had just lost his mother, Gertie and Jeno decided to give him the honor of wearing the helm as they stepped from Charon’s raft and out into the bright day. As long as Hector held their hands, they were protected by the helm as well. It made them invisible and immune to light, just as Hades had said it would.

Even though she couldn’t actually
feel
the sunlight on her skin, it was nevertheless incredible to Gertie to be walking around in the daylight again after nearly two months of living in darkness. Her delight was somewhat overshadowed by Jeno’s, however, since, for him, it had been centuries. Tears streamed down his face, and his eyes were all but lost in his cheeks from his huge grin.

They flew above Athens, enjoying the sight of the city twinkling in Helios’s rays, but, after about an hour of this, Gertie and Hector decided that the day belonged to Jeno. The three flew to Hector’s house, and then Gertie and Hector remained behind so that Jeno could have the complete freedom of walking the streets in broad daylight beneath the protection of the helm.

Seeing Hector’s bed again reminded Gertie of the visions she’d had of the two of them entwined in a passionate embrace. Her cheeks flushed as she tried to think of something else, but the only thing running through her mind was this thought: now that she might become human again, well, maybe now a future with Hector wasn’t so impossible.

“You had a vision about us?” Hector asked, from where he’d been sitting at his desk texting the other demigods in his council.

“Get out of my head.” She’d forgotten that he could read her mind, and, if he had, that meant Jeno probably had privy to her thoughts, too.

Jeno?
she reached out.

He didn’t reply.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Hector stood up and stuffed his phone in his pocket.

Even if she’d done a decent job guarding her mind from Jeno, Hector’s was still an open book. There was no way this conversation was getting past Jeno, unless he was too absorbed in his daytime reveries.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” she said. “Not now.”

“But you
do
have feelings for me,” he said. “I knew it. You were just holding back because you didn’t believe you’d ever be human again.”

“For Jeno’s sake, stop right now. Let him enjoy his sunshine.”

“I love Jeno like a brother, but I just lost my mom. If there’s any hope for you and me, well, I need to know. I need
something
, Gertie.”

Jeno already knew of her feelings for Hector. Now that she thought about it, his willingness to kill his father to free her and Hector was probably his way of giving up, of setting her free of him.

Exactly, koureetsi mou.

“Oh, my God!” she sat on the bed and covered her face. Jeno
had
been listening. He
did
know. “Jeno.”

“My name is Hector,” Hector said with an edge of bitterness to his voice.

She looked up at him.  Tears welled in his eyes. Whatever she chose to do, someone would get hurt. There was no good choice.

I give you my blessing,
Jeno said to them telepathically.
I’m going to take a flight around the sunny side of the world and will return at dusk.

Jeno, you’re breaking my heart
, Gertie replied.
I’m not ready to choose.

Then I’ve just made the choice for you
, he said.

Suddenly she could no longer read his thoughts or sense him. It was as if he had vanished.
Jeno?

Nothing.

Gertie guarded her mind with the strongest shield she could muster as she gazed up at Hector. Although she felt guilty for Jeno’s pain, the thought of loving Hector—fully and completely—filled her heart with joy.

“I need to teach you to block…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Hector hurled himself across the room to the bed, whisking her up in a feverish embrace.

“I can’t wait another second,” he said, just before he pressed his lips to hers.

He took her up in his arms and moved her to the center of the bed, so he could lie beside her and hold her close. They lay side by side with their arms around one another, kissing and kissing, and Gertie couldn’t get enough. All the pent-up feelings she’d had for Hector for many months now were finally set free, and she was left wondering if this could really be possible, if she could really be loving Hector as he loved her back.

She had a vision of Jeno flying over Italy, of him weeping and thinking he had to be strong, had to keep up his guard. Then the vision was gone.

Poor Jeno!

Guarding her own mind, she allowed herself to realize that her feelings for Jeno had always been based on pity. They’d been part admiration and part pity, but her feelings for Hector hinged on desire—on a physical attraction that had been made stronger by her growing fondness for him.

Now she saw Jeno soaring over France. He faltered with his guard for a split second and then pulled it back up.

She had desired Jeno for the power he had given her with his bite before she had become a vampire, and once she had turned, that desire had faded away. It had been replaced by admiration, respect, and pity. Her love for him was real, but it was different than her love for Hector.

For, although she felt sorry for Hector for having just lost his mother, she didn’t pity him the way she did Jeno. Jeno was more resigned about life, whereas Hector was a fighter. She could admire him without pity.

Her feelings for Hector overwhelmed her and took her breath away, and now, here she was, finally being held by him.

Gertie fell back on the bed, and Hector leaned over her with his elbows pressed into the pillow—one on each side of her head. He used his hands to cup her face as he gazed into her eyes.

“Tell me I’m not dreaming,” he said.

“I’m not sure myself.”

Jeno was flying over Ireland now, and his feelings of sadness and happiness were both so severe and equally present—she could sense them—that he wept and smiled at the same time, even as his guard went back up.

Hector rolled to his back and pulled her onto him as their legs entwined, just as she had seen it happen in her vision.

Hector and Gertie spent most of the day lying on his bed, talking and kissing and remembering and dreaming. For several hours, they were able to forget that they were vampires in the middle of a war. They were able to forget what they’d already lost and were able to dream of what they hoped would one day be.

Hector said he wanted to marry her one day, after they were human again, and have demigod babies with her. He said their children would probably have strong hidden talents.

Gertie laughed hysterically at this talk of marriage and babies. But after more of it from Hector, she joined in the game and said that maybe, by then, all would be forgiven by Mamá and Babá. Maybe Babá could even give her away, and Nikita and Phoebe could be her bridesmaids.

“Jeno and Klaus would be my groomsman,” Hector said.

“Who would be your best man?”

“Jeno for sure. I love Klaus, but I’ve never had a friend like Jeno.”

At some point, they each took a shower and changed into fresh clothes, and as they sat on the sofa in his room flipping through the channels on the television, they began to feel their craving for blood. When night fell, they became worried about Jeno.

“What do you think is keeping him?” Hector asked.

Gertie reached out with her mind, but couldn’t sense him. “I don’t know.”

Fear swept through Hector’s mind. It was brief and he dismissed it, but she had caught it, nonetheless. Hector had wondered if it was possible that Jeno might have betrayed them. Maybe he had taken the helm to the vampires without them.

But on the heels of that thought came another: Jeno would never do that. They both knew him well enough to feel confident that he wouldn’t betray them.

Could something have happened to him?

“If he doesn’t get here soon, I’m going to be really worried,” Gertie said.

“Me, too.”