Chapter 10
Before I could freeze the Count from the inside out, before the Count could bite me and drain the blood from my body, a fireball flew between us, forcing the Count to stop his advance toward me.
“You're not going to hurt her,” Gladrielle said. “You're not going to hurt anyone, not while I'm here.”
“Then it looks like you're going to be here awhile,” the Count said. “Because as soon as you leave, I'm going on a killing spree the likes of which the world has never seen.”
Gladrielle made another fireball, a big one, which sat in the palm of her hand. “I could kill you right now.”
The Count laughed. “We both known that's not going happen. You're an elf, and your kind doesn't believe in killing, not even abominations like myself.”
“You're right,” Gladrielle said. “I won't kill you. But if you try to harm her, I will hurt you.”
“The only way you can keep me from killing is to follow me around twenty-four seven. Personally, I'd love it, but we both know you don't want to do that.”
The fireball in Gladrielle's hand faded. She had the power to hurt the Count, maybe even kill him, but she didn't have the will. Which from my perspective was too bad. She could solve a lot of problems for a lot of people, myself included, if she used her power to get rid of the Count.
“You seem to have a dilemma,” the Count said to Gladrielle. “You don't want me to hurt anyone, but the only way you can prevent me from hurting others is to follow me around twenty-four seven, which we both know, you don't want to do. That of course raises the obvious question, what do you do?”
“Speaking as an ex-cop, I said. “I can tell you that killing a supernatural isn't a crime. There won't be any legal repercussions if you decide to get rid of him once and for all.”
The Count laughed. “Killing me might not carry any legal repercussions, but there would be repercussions. At least for her.”
“I don't understand,” I said.
“You want to tell her or should I?” the Count said.
Gladrielle looked at me. “If an elf takes the life of another, even the life of an abomination like him, we become what's known as a dark elf.”
“I don't know what that means.”
“It means she'll become an abomination herself,” the Count said. “Just like me.”
“Taking another life goes against our nature, against who we are, against everything we believe. It corrupts us.”
I looked at Gladrielle. “And this happens to all elves?”
Gladrielle nodded. “If they take a life.”
“You're sure?”
“Sometimes, when we've been forced to defend ourselves, an elf has gone too far and taken a life. Every time that's happened, that elf became a dark elf.”
“So what happens if you step on an ant? Or swat a mosquito?”
The Count chuckled at my question, finding it funny. Gladrielle ignored his chuckling and answered. “This only happens when we're dealing with sentient life forms. Life forms that know the difference between right and wrong.”
“Then I think you're probably safe.” I nodded at the Count. “Because he clearly doesn't know the difference between right and wrong.”
Gladrielle smiled, but it was a sad smile. Something she seemed to excel at, at least since I rolled into her life. It made me feel guilty for dragging her into this mess. Although she was kind of responsible for creating the Count.
“I'm thinking,” the Count said. “That this might be the solution to our problem.”
Gladrielle wrinkled her brow in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Kill the mermaid and become a dark elf. Then we can be together. Forever.”
“I'm not killing anybody,” Gladrielle said.
“We'll see about that?” the Count said.
He must've reached out with his mind, commanding Titus to join us, because Titus came sprinting up the stairs, moving at vampire speed. His eyes were still red, which told me that he still needed to feed.
“Drain her dry,” the Count said. He was compelling Titus to kill me, trying to force Gladrielle to come to my defense and kill Titus, thereby turning her into a dark elf.
Titus moved toward me, his eyes glowing red, his fangs protruding. I responded by reaching out with my mind, to the water in his blood, in his body. There wasn't as much water as there normally was, but there was enough for what I needed to do.
I ordered the water in his body, in his blood, in his cells, to freeze, flash freeze. Freezing the water inside a living being's body would kill them, but vampires weren't exactly living beings. All this would do is incapacitate Titus for an hour or so, until the water inside his body thawed out.
Titus was almost upon me when he stopped moving. He froze right in front of me, his arms reaching out to grab me by the shoulders. His mouth open, fangs bared for biting.
“Drain her dry,” the Count said, repeating his earlier order. When Titus didn't move he got angry. “I gave you an order, what's the matter with you?”
“He can't move,” I said.
“Why not?” a still angry Count said.
“Because I froze the water inside his body.”
“You can do that?” a surprised Gladrielle said.
“I can do anything I want with water, including the water that makes up a person's body.”
“Can all mermaids do that?”
“We all have the power to control water, although some of us are better at it than others.”
Gladrielle looked at the Count and smirked. “Nice try.”
Before the Count could do anything else, I reached out to the water that made up his body. Then I ordered that water to freeze, flash freeze.
“What's . . . happening . . . to . . . me?” the Count said, his teeth chattering.
“I'm freezing the water inside your body. It won't kill you, anymore than it will Titus, or any other vampire for that matter, but it will incapacitate you for awhile, until I can decide what to do with you.”'
The Count growled, like a feral animal, then he rushed me. Fortunately, he never reached me. He froze just in front of me, his arms reaching out, just like Titus.
I wasn't sure if my power would work on him, since he was way older and way more powerful than Titus, or any other vampire for that matter. Fortunately, water is water, and it responds to my commands no matter where it is, no matter whose body it's inside.
“You're very good at that,” Gladrielle said. She walked up to the Count and poked him with her finger. He rocked a little, like a statue would if you pushed it, but that was it. “My god! He really is frozen.”
“For about an hour. He'll thaw out eventually.”
“If you had the power to do this to him, why did you need my help?”
“I wasn't sure it would work on him. He's way more powerful than your average vampire.”
Gladrielle nodded. “And you wanted to have backup before you tried anything.”
“If it didn't work, and I didn't have backup, he would've killed me.”
“What are you going to do with him?”
“Turn him over to Titus. He can decide what to do with him.”
I reached out with my mind, to the frozen water inside Titus's body. Then I ordered it to return to its normal temperature.
Slowly, Titus began to move. At first he was stiff and awkward, moving more like a robot than a vampire. But that went away after a minute. While Titus collected himself, I reached out to the water inside the Count's body, then I ordered it to remain frozen. He had more water in his body than your average vampire, but he was also more powerful than your average vampire. I didn't want him thawing out before we could decide what to do with him.
“You okay?” I asked Titus.
“Fine,” Titus said. He looked at the Count. “You froze him?”
“I did.”
“What do you plan on doing with him?”
“I thought I'd leave that up to you.”
Titus circled around the Count, studying him as if he were a work of art. “I think there's only one thing we can do?”
“Which is?” I said.
“Stake him.”
“You mean put a wooden stake through his heart?” Gladrielle said.
Titus nodded. “Yes.”
“That will kill him?”
“Definitely.”
“You're sure it will work on him?” I asked. “He's not your average run of the mill vampire.”
“I'm a vampire,” Titus said. “I know what will and won't kill a vampire. And he may not be your average run of the mill vampire, as you put it, but he is a vampire.”
“In case you hadn't noticed, he's got a tan, how many vampires do you know have a tan? As far as I know, he's the only one.”
“Your point being?”
“I think I already said it, he's not your average vampire. What works on other vampires might not work on him.”
“Only one way to find out.” Titus turned and headed toward the stairs, instead of heading down the stairs, he headed through the door at the top of the stairs, the one that led to his office.
“Is he really going to kill Eradu?” Gladrielle asked me when we were alone.
“He's a vampire. Vampires don't really have a sense of humor. If they say they're going to kill someone, they're going to kill someone.” I looked at Gladrielle. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“I don't like seeing others die.”
“Even the Count?”
To you, he's the Count. To me, he's Eradu, the human doctor that asked me to help save his little sister.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“From your perspective, not from mine.”
Titus stepped out of his office, carrying a wooden stake in his right hand. It was about a foot long and a couple of inches thick. One end had been whittled to a sharp point. The wood was black, as if the stake had been carved from a piece of burnt wood.
“You're going to drive that into his heart?” Gladrielle asked.
“I am,” Titus said
“And that will kill him?”
“This is no ordinary stake. It was once part of the pole that Joan of Arc was tied to when the English burned her alive.” He transferred the stake to his left hand and showed us his right hand. It was burned, freshly burned, almost as if he had just pulled the wood from the fire that killed Joan of Arc. Titus looked at me. “You're keeping him frozen?”
I nodded. “Like an ice cube.”
“Good.”
Titus stepped in front of the Count, raised the stake, and pointed it at the Count's heart.
“Is this really necessary?” Gladrielle said. “Can't you just keep him frozen, like he is now?”
“That would require my being with him twenty-four seven,” I said.
“Couldn't you stick him in a freezer or something? Wouldn't the frozen water inside his body remain frozen if you did that?”
“To be honest, I don't know.”
“If it didn't,” Titus said. “He'd kill both of us as soon as he thawed out. And that's a risk I'm not willing to take.”
Titus aimed the stake at the Count's heart, then pulled his hand back, intending to use his enhanced speed and strength to plunge the stake into the Count's heart.
“I'm not sure I can allow this,” Gladrielle said.
“It's either him or us,” Titus said.
“You must have a walk-in freezer in this place. Can't you just put him in there? Please.”
“If he thaws out, he'll kill Low and me. That's why he ordered me to drain her dry. He wanted me to kill her so you'd be forced to kill me.”
“There will be no killing,” Gladrielle said. “Not while I'm here.”
She was holding her right hand palm up. There was another fireball in it, a big fireball. I could feel the heat radiating off it from where I was standing, which was a good ten feet from her.
“Maybe I should take you home,” I said. “There's no reason for you to see this.”
Gladrielle nodded and let the fireball fade. She lowered her hand and followed me toward the stairs. Titus watched her for a second, then turned his attention back to the Count. He pointed the stake at the Count's heart and pulled his hand back, preparing to plunge the stake into the Count's heart.
Only it didn't happen. A fireball flew through the air, struck Titus in the back, and set him on fire. The flames consumed him so quickly that he didn't even have time to scream. He burned up in a matter of seconds, like a match. A paper match. A paper match dipped in gasoline.
For a few seconds he just stood there, a blackened and charred body, then he crumbled, until he was nothing more than a pile of ash at the Count's feet.
Interestingly enough, the wooden stake didn't burn. It just fell to the ground, landing in the middle of the pile of ash that had once been Titus Hawthorn.
I turned to Gladrielle and said the first thing that came to mind. “What have you done?”
Gladrielle seemed as stunned by what she did as I was. “I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to make him back off, to leave Eradu alone. He shouldn't have burned up like that.”
“Vampires have about half the water in their body as a living being. Titus hadn't ate in awhile so he had even less in his body.”
“I don't understand.”
“Tossing a fireball at a hungry vampire is kind of like tossing a fireball at a mummy. They're both dry and brittle and extremely flammable.”
“You need to get out of here,” Gladrielle said. “Before it's too late.”
She started to change, physically change. Her dark blue hair became as black as coal. Then her blue eyes turned black, until they looked just like the Count's eyes. Two black orbs in which you couldn't see the pupils, or the irises, or the whites.
It took me a second to realize what was happening. She was changing, into a dark elf. Whatever that meant.
Gladrielle writhed, as if she was in pain. Her fingernails lengthened, then darkened, until they were as black as her hair and her eyes, until they looked more like claws than fingernails.
“You need to run,” she screeched. Even her voice was changing, from something that was soothing and melodic, to something that sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard. “Now!”
I didn't know what else to do, so I took her advice. I ran. I sprinted down two flights of stairs and across the club's deserted dance floor. I jumped into the deserted elevator and hit the down button.
As the elevator doors closed and the elevator started down, I could hear Gladrielle screaming in agony.
When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, I dashed across the street, hopped in my emerald green Honda Del Sol, and roared off.
It wasn't until I was several blocks away, that I slowed down, and breathed, literally taking my first breath since Gladrielle told me to run.
Like all mermaids, I have a membrane in my nasal passages. Before diving underwater, I take a deep breath and close those membranes, so I don't have to worry about water getting into my lungs.
In a state of panic, I do the same thing, I take a deep breath and close the membranes in my nasal passages. It's a natural reaction, something mermaids do without even thinking about it. Kind of the way birds take flight when they panic.
I stopped for a red light, tried to calm my breathing, and tried to sort out what had just happened. Titus Hawthorn, the vampire that hired me to protect him was dead, killed by Gladrielle, the elf I brought in to stop the Count from killing Titus and Savanna. How ironic was that.
Gladrielle in turn, had done something no elf was supposed to do. She had taken the life of another sentient being, that was causing her to turn into something called a dark elf. I wasn't sure what that meant, but from what she said, and what I saw and heard, it didn't seem to be a good thing.
The question was, what did I do now? I knew what I wanted to do, namely go for a swim. A nice long swim, like all the way to the Hawaiian Islands. Unfortun
ately, that would be the coward's way out. I needed to stick around and clean up the mess I had made.
That meant going back to Gladrielle's hometown and telling the other elves what happened.
“Hey guys remember me? I borrowed the girl that ran the bed and breakfast. You won't believe this but the funniest thing happened. She sort of killed the guy I was hired to protect and turned into a dark elf.”
Suddenly, living in a coral castle at the bottom of the ocean didn't seem like such a bad life, even if there was nothing down there but a bunch of weird looking fish.