"I, Vampyre" - Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT: The Portal

 

            We all left Siren’s office several minutes later, and we reencountered Bellissima and Draconus almost immediately.  Belli’s hair was disheveled, she now had on a revealing black leather halter-top… and she was sporting a satisfied smile.  My sensitive nose twitched with displeasure at the new fragrance she was wearing: Eau de Drac.

            “Drac, love,” Siren uttered, “I’m going to show our guests the ‘back-room.’  Go on into the office, won’t you?  See if you can find that delightful little bauble you got for me recently…”

            Draconus -- his damnable arm still around Bellissima -- just blinked at Siren, uncomprehendingly.  Siren’s aquamarine eyes just stared back, but I could tell that she was, wordlessly, clarifying her wishes.  I whimsically wished for a magic net to catch the impalpable butterflies of Siren’s transmitted thoughts… but that wish was left unfulfilled.

            Nodding at last, Drac turned to face Belli, speaking to her softly in an amalgam of Spanish and Italian.  As I watched them engage in what was essentially pillow-talk, it occurred to me that I wanted one of those newfangled Rosetta Stone cybernetic implants.  Those were chips that you could plug into your brain to instantly become fluent in any language.  It was prohibitively expensive, and I wasn’t at all sure that it would work with the ‘unnatural’ brain-waves of a vampire, but it’d be worth checking out.  Someday soon.

            Draconus pushed roughly past me as he opened the office door.  He leaned in, whispering fiercely in my ear: “If I ever find out who gave Bellissima that awful scar on her otherwise perfect belly, I’ll break him in half and pick my teeth with the splinters of his bones.”  With a sly wink, Drac stepped into the office and slammed the door.

            Spike poked me in the ribs as I stared at the closed door, alerting me to the fact that Siren and Adrianos were sauntering away.  She and I gave chase, and soon we were walking behind the rather lengthy bar area.  Siren snapped her fingers at one of the bartenders, and he tossed her a crumpled mass of fabric.  Not breaking stride, Siren shot the ‘ball’ back over her shoulder -- a no-look pass -- and I caught it, barely.

            Walking next to me, Spike looked on with interest as I untangled the fabric.  It was another black T-shirt… this one had ‘The Underworld Club’ printed on it, in a fiery red font, with an image of a fiendish imp cavorting above the ‘U.’  I suppressed a smirk as I threw the shirt on, ignoring the muffled sniggers from Spike.

            Spike and I continued to follow Siren and Adrianos.  As we weaved through a labyrinth of hallways and closed-off rooms, the music from the as-yet-unseen dance floor eventually died out.  I could tell that the way Siren was clutching Ad’s arm was upsetting Spike… I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of it, either.  But I didn’t really mind the way Spike was holding on to me.  I glanced behind us, and Bellissima was still the caboose of our little caravan… staring up at the ceiling as she walked, sniffing at the air from time to time, lost in her own reverie.

            “Have you heard from Makenna lately?” I asked Spike, trying to brighten her spirits.  I was also weary of overhearing unintelligible portions of Adrianos and Siren’s muted conversation.  It sounded like they were speaking in French… again, where was that cyber-chip when I needed it?

            “No,” Spike responded, and she only burrowed further into her deepening funk. “Last I knew, she was going ‘home’ for a while…”

            “Home… huh… and just where is that??”

            Before Spike had a chance to answer, there was a loud noise in front of us.  Adrianos’s wheezing cough -- the longest and worst-sounding I’d heard yet -- echoed in the enclosed hallway.  Siren massaged his back as he was doubled-over in distress, and she turned her head to glare at me, like I was somehow to blame for his sorry state.

            “We’re almost there, my lovelies,” Siren announced.  She started to adjust the knot on Ad’s necktie as he stood up again… but then changed her mind and took the tie off completely, draping it over her shoulders.  “The portal to the continent of Australia will be the last door on the right.”

            I snorted disbelievingly.  Was it really going to be that simple?

            “Yes, it is” Siren answered, plucking the question from my unguarded mind as easily as she might pick a ripe grape from a vine.  “As a matter of fact, if you ever fancy a return to Valeria, for old times’ sake… that can be arranged as well.”

            Bellissima, her attention refocused on the here and now, misted past Spike and me, reappearing between Siren and Adrianos.  Her unruly mane of red hair was inches from Ad’s face as she seized the loose tie from Siren’s neck and, with inhuman speed, fastened it into an elaborate knot on her own forearm.

            “Do you smell that?” Belli asked, inhaling deeply yet again as she looked back at Spike and me.  I sniffed, then shrugged -- all I smelled was a bunch of nervous Kindred.

            Siren stared at Bellissima’s back, incredulous, as Belli walked further down the hall, pausing with her hand on the knob of the indicated door.  When she looked back, she alternated her blistering gaze between Adrianos and myself.

            “I suppose you’re going to try and convince me to come along with you, ja?” Siren asked.  She turned her head to the side, and moved her sienna-colored hair away from her dainty ear.  Ad wiped his blood-frothed mouth with the back of his hand, and looked to be about to speak… but if Siren was expecting me, or him, to beg and plead for the pleasure of her continued company, she was going to be sorely disappointed.

            “No,” I said.  “Thank you for your helpful assistance, Lady Siren, but I do believe we can take it from here…”

            Siren was nonplussed.  “Pardon me?”

            “You heard me,” I said, more firmly.  “Last door on the right… we got it.”

            Siren looked back at Adrianos for a tick or two, perhaps waiting for him to disagree with me.  But he just stood there, stoic.

            “Very well, then… best of luck, I suppose.”  For a split-second, Siren seemed to shrink into her dress… but then she practically disappeared altogether, assuming her near-colorless Mist Form (the older and more-skilled an Elder Vamp, the closer their ‘Form was to completely invisible).  The hazy vapor passed right through me, I felt a deep chill throughout my body -- and then she was gone.

            Adrianos slumped his shoulders; he didn’t look happy.  “What was that all about, Nevik!?” he demanded.  “Why did you… we could use her talents, you know?  We need all the help we can get!”

            Spike hurried over to Ad, interlacing her fingers with his.  I heard a soft squeak, and looked over at Bellissima.  Belli was testing the doorknob -- it didn’t appear to be locked.  I raised my arms, placing one hand on Ad’s right shoulder, the other on Spike’s left, briefly binding our vampiric triumvirate.

            “Well,” I explained, “I can not think of a better way to get Siren to do something than to tell her she can’t do that something.”  Adrianos smirked in response to that, while Spike just rolled her eyes and blew a noisy raspberry at me.  “Now, then… let’s take a little walkabout ‘down under,’ what do you say?”

            Right on cue, Bellissima opened the wooden door, revealing a soft, reddish-orange glow.  The wonder that was on her face -- making her look very much like the late-teenager that she was in appearance, if not age -- piqued my curiosity.  Spike was the first to break the circle, bounding down the remainder of the hallway and peeking over Belli’s shoulder as she hugged her from behind.

            I took a step back, gesturing to my left and dipping my head slightly in deference to Lord Adrianos.  He patted my shoulder, walked past the huddled vampiresses, and barely paused before walking boldly into the revealed room.  Bellissima tailed him in, frowning as she slid her fingers across her still-dagger-less hip, and Spike soon followed.  With no excuses left to dawdle, I rounded the corner and stepped into the room as well.

            The orangey radiance was coming from what appeared to be a miniature sun, burning brightly in the middle of the otherwise empty, spartan room.  I covered my face in instinctive alarm, although I felt no heat at all… and none of the skin on our bodies was being burned to cinders.  So that was a good thing.

            “How, um… how do we make it work?” Spike asked. She didn’t sound quite sure whom she was asking.

            “This was sorta your ‘bright’ idea, Spike,” I pointed out.  “‘Aussie Donna,’ you said.  And there she is, right in the middle of that… big ball of fire.”

            “Atomized at the core… or through the astral door -- to soar?” Bellissima murmured, taking a few steps closer to the sphere.  Adrianos reached out with his hand, staying her for the moment.  And while her words were curiously poetic, they didn’t seem terribly helpful at the moment.

            “Lord Adrianos?” I queried, counting on Ad’s wisdom and… Elder-ness.  “Any ideas?”

            “Yes… I have an idea about how it would’ve been nice if you hadn’t scared Siren off, boy…”

            A familiar voice at the open doorway silenced our burgeoning argument: “I never did ‘scare-off’ easily.”

            That voice, that woman, who I still adored in so many ways, effortlessly drew my sight back to her.  Siren was, somehow, simultaneously dressed for travel and a fashion show.  Her leather boots were rugged-looking, but still very stylish, and the tops of lacy black stockings just reached her knees.  Her short-shorts and belt were ‘cyber-punky,’ likely all the rage in the mid-2070’s.  She wore a simple, black spaghetti-strap top, and her hair was pulled back into twin pigtails.

As she approached me, the blazing light of the portal reflected off her necklace, which appeared to be a rather large opal.  The bauble rolled to and fro across her chest, nestled snugly within her yummy-looking cleavage.  She reached up and ran the fingers of her right hand through my hair, flaring the shock of red near the front.  I once again saw the black ink of the tattoo that encircled her slender wrist, two words in German, ‘Ewigkeit Erwartet’... ‘Eternity Awaits.’

‘I saw right through your little manipulation, dear.’ -- Siren’s undeniably sexy voice, in my head -- ‘Clever boy.’  She sidled past me, and I worried that I might become hypnotized if I stared at her bare, milky-white thighs for too long.  My stomach grumbled and complained.  I hadn’t fed in a while… and she knew my favorite spot for a bite, all too well.

“Are we all ready to go and find your ‘Australian Donna,’ then?” Siren asked, standing fearlessly within the corona of the portal.

Bellissima pursed her lips.  “What about the ‘Club?  Who’s going to watch over it while you’re gone…?”

“My partner will be able to keep an eye on things.”  Siren touched her necklace.  “And Draconus will always be close to my heart.”

“Wait…” I cautioned, suddenly unsure of one rather important thing.  “What time is it?  If we pass through the portal, and it’s the middle of the day there…”  My voice tapered off -- the deadly implication was obvious.

“It’s nearly dawn here, Eastern Time,” Siren said.  “Which means…”

“…it’ll be close to midnight in Australia,” Adrianos finished.  Siren smiled that half-smile of hers, and bobbed her head once in agreement.

“How does it work?” Spike repeated.

Siren winked at us.  “Like this…”  She leaned into the heatless fireball… and she vanished.

            “How ‘bout that,” I observed, clucking my tongue in annoyance at our prior reticence.  “Not so bad after all, eh?  Who wants to go ne--…?”

            My chipper little question was cut off just then, by a high-pitched scream.  Siren’s scream, being broadcast through the portal, from a continent away!

            Not thinking twice, I dove into the light.  I sensed that Adrianos, Spike, and Bellissima were right behind me.

            And our arrival in the Land Down Under quickly disavowed us of any misguided notions that the Vampire War was over.

 

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