They made proper obeisance to the four elements of the circle north, south, east, and west though their flowery language must have come from one of those dreadful Hollywood movies.
Simon could see that the children were quite involved with their ritual, and seemed to sincerely believe they"d erected a magick circle since they were careful not to disturb its barrier. How crushed they would be when they discovered he was the only supernatural force in this room.
After the preliminary rituals were complete and all instruments had been blessed by being pa.s.sed over a brazier filled with myrrh, Lady Cerridwen reached into her canvas backpack and fished out a worn, dog-eared paperback ent.i.tled The Necronomicon.
This was even more amusing than he"d expected! He knew of the cheap modern grimoire that claimed to be a faithful reproduction of ancient Sumerian spells. Of course, the writings were no more grounded in real magick than a stage magician"s black hat, Simon thought as he watched the girl read carefully from the book.
"Don"t you feel the monster"s presence?" Osiris demanded, startling Simon from his mocking thoughts at Lady Cerridwen"s fool words.
"Of course I don"t." Simon yawned, not bothering to mask his boredom.
"There"s nothing in this room."
"You lie and stand outside the protection of the magick circle," Lady Cerridwen screamed, relishing her role as sorceress. "Apologize or we will destroy you!"
"Do it," Simon challenged and moved toward the fake circle.
"Don"t break the circle!" Osiris ordered.
Simon put his foot over the imaginary circle and easily lifted Osiris off his feet with one hand under his chin. "You have failed to summon. There is nothing in this room and I will not indulge your silly fantasy one moment longer."
"Put him down!" Lady Cerridwen screeched.
Simon turned to her and said mildly, "Young lady, didn"t your parents teach you what happens to undisciplined children who speak to their elders in such a way? Now, you and your paramour, with that inane ritual, have lost your wager.
Let us see if I can do better."
Instead of the sword, Simon used Osiris to cast the circle though he didn"t really need such protection. Immediately, a line of whitish blue light appeared, drawing gasps from Lady Cerridwen and Osiris.
Simon flung the boy against his girlfriend and watched the couple clutch each other, unable to take their eyes from the sphere of light. "That, children, is only the beginning." Filled with a sense of mischief, Simon threw back his head and screamed out one of his favorite conjurations from the Key of Solomon, speaking in Latin for added effect on his impressionable audience. "I conjure ye and most urgently command ye, Marduk, officer of h.e.l.l, by the most mighty and powerful name of G.o.d El that ye in no way delay, but that ye come immediately hither before us!"
As he spoke, the temperature in the room dropped until his breath came out in frosty white puffs and the mortals cowering beside him shivered uncontrollably, their lips turning blue. Since Simon hadn"t told the daemon to appear without noise or hideousness, it made a great production of appearing, the repugnant smell of sulfur and decay overpowering the small room as a vicious being came before him, awaiting his commands.
Simon heard the girl murmuring incoherently and saw his guests were both in shock. "What is this?" he asked, careful not to take his eyes off his infernal visitor.
"I thought you adepts this devil here is but a minor soldier in h.e.l.l."
"No," Osiris choked. "No, no "
"So now, children, you discover you had no true ability after all your "religion" was merely an outlet to defy your parents, an elaborate fantasy game.
Perhaps you"re also discovering you have no real faith? I can see from your bulging eyes and the pulses hammering in your necks that this is your first encounter with something otherworldly. You are like so many other mortals I"ve encountered you give great lip service to the idea of being dedicated practioners of the black arts but the first time you are brought into the presence of evil, you want to run and hide." Impatient because he was ignoring it, the daemon reached out one specter claw to scratch Simon"s cheek and received a sharp reprimand. It bowed its head uneasily, understanding it could not intimidate him.
Simon had only called the monster to frighten his guests, and since that had succeeded wonderfully, he had no more need of it. He began the License to Depart and it sulked. Since nothing had been asked of it, Simon wasn"t beholden to it.
It tried again to frighten him, making objects fly all about the room and howling with a great voice Simon had no doubt was going to temporarily deafen his mortal guests. But Simon had dealt with far worse imps than this and stood his ground, knowing the only way one could lose to a daemon was by showing or feeling any kind of fear.
"Be ye accursed, d.a.m.ned, and eternally reproved if ye do not immediately obey my command to depart!" Simon thundered, and the thing whined, but still refused to leave. Only after Simon tormented it by calling upon the power of devils greater than it did it finally.
The magick circle disappeared and Simon waved his hand to make the overhead lights come on, shaking his head at the shambles the room was in.
Simon put his hand to his cheek and winced at the sharp pain and blood on his fingertips. No matter the wound would heal once he fed. That in mind, he yanked Osiris away from his girlfriend and gave the boy a menacing smile.
"Please," Osiris whimpered, saying words Simon had heard a thousand times before. "Don"t hurt me."
"Would you like to be like me?" Simon asked softly. "Have the power I just displayed?"
"Ye ye yes "
Simon"s grin broadened and he allowed his blood teeth to emerge.
"Vampire " the boy choked when he saw the ivory fangs. "Undead "
Simon didn"t bother telling his victim that he was as alive as Osiris was. "Yes, a vampire immortal and filled with powers you just witnessed. Do you want my power?"
"Yes," the boy said and his fear appeared to be subsiding.
"What would you do for it?"
"Anything!"
Simon raised an eyebrow. "Would you indeed?"
"Yes!" Osiris yelled, all his terror vanished. The boy threw himself at Simon"s feet, kissing his black wing tip shoes frenziedly. "Please, please, please!"
"Would you kill?"
"I"ll kill every night for the Dark Gift!"
Dark Gift Simon rolled his eyes but continued with the charade. He reached into a small wooden cupboard and withdrew a scimitar blade that Meghann, of all people, had given him for their first anniversary.
As he brought the weapon to Osiris, Simon remembered how touched he"d been by the gift, an antique Meghann had obviously spent a great deal of the allowance he gave her on and devoted much thought to finding something he"d enjoy.
Perhaps he would send his servant to Carrier"s, after all. For now, Simon put the knife in Osiris"s slack hand and said, "Kill her."
"Huh?" The boy blinked and turned his horror-struck gaze to Lady Cerridwen, a silent witness until now.
"Show me you are willing to pay the price I exact for immortality. Sever your ties to humanity and kill this girl you claim to love."
"No!" Lady Cerridwen screamed and made a frantic run for the door.
Lightning quick, Simon"s arm lashed out and he caught the girl, throwing her toward Osiris.
He thought the boy might protest maybe even try to turn the blade on Simon to save his girlfriend. But the boy, tantalized by immortality, raised the blade over his head and tried to stab Lady Cerridwen in the heart.
The girl, despite her weight, was quick and rolled out of harm"s way. Simon moved against the door of the study and wished Meghann were here with him.
Would she dare lecture him on mortals" innate goodness if she could see these two who claimed such love for each other fight like the baited bears he used to watch as a mortal?
"Hold still, you b.i.t.c.h!" Osiris panted and tried to pin his victim to the ground.
"f.u.c.k you!" the foul-mouthed girl snarled and put her hands up to wrestle the scimitar from her puny boyfriend.
With a small cry, Osiris dropped the knife and Lady Cerridwen smothered his body with her bulk. Emitting a warrior"s cry, she picked up the blade and stabbed Osiris repeatedly.
"Enough he"s quite dead." Simon moved toward her and s.n.a.t.c.hed the scimitar from her, licking the unfortunate boy"s blood off the blade.
"I killed him!" Lady Cerridwen panted, insanity shining in her eyes. "I earned your Dark Gift!"
"That is what you crave eternal life?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
"So be it," Simon said and drew the unresisting girl close to him. "But you really should ask questions when you strike a bargain with the devil. I shall give you eternal life by draining your blood and allowing your soul to flee your dead body."
"No," Lady Cerridwen whimpered as Simon"s fangs moved toward her jugular.
"Please my dad is rich I can give you "
Simon raised his eyes to the doomed girl. "Look around you, child. Do you think I have any need of more money? I only offer transformation when I receive something in return. Your plump body is of no interest to me and your ba.n.a.l intellect bores me. The only one way you can serve me is as food," he said over her hysterical sobs.
Simon glanced at the scimitar, and considered giving the girl a lesson in the proper way to use it. But his gold and ruby Rolex informed him that it was already nine o"clock he simply didn"t have the time for a long, drawn-out death. So he bent his head to her jugular and drank rapidly.
Youthful, he thought, tasting the blood like a connoisseur of fine wine. But not quite as potent as he"d hoped. Still, his cheek was healed and he now had the energy he needed to find Meghann and deal with the guests he expected in another hour.
Freshly showered and groomed, Simon peered at his reflection in the full - length mirror in his dressing room. See-through though it was, a vampire could make out enough of his features to ascertain that his tie was properly knotted, hair neatly in place.
Simon smoothed an unruly chestnut cowlick back into place, and reflected on the guests he was expecting momentarily. When he"d gone into hiding, he"d been forced to leave all his holdings vulnerable (minus the lockboxes stuffed with cash that he"d hidden all over the world) to maintain the illusion he was truly dead.
Eager young vampires had seized his property, glorying in the thought that their master was dead.
Now that he"d emerged from hiding, prudent vampires had already returned his wealth to him; some had even doubled it. But others, perhaps thinking he was finally showing weakness by allowing Meghann to live, had not rendered onto Caesar what was Caesar"s. The evening ahead should solve that problem.
Simon"s sharp ears detected sounds downstairs his human servant opening the front door and admitting two vampires to the drawing room. Simon decided to greet his guests with a small display of his new power. He narrowed his energy field down to the smallest pinp.r.i.c.k, allowing no hint of his presence to escape the thick blackness he wrapped around himself. Thus disguised, he entered the drawing room of his town house, and observed his guests.
"Why has he summoned us here, do you know?" The question came from Isaac Spears, a male vampire. He was a pretty young man with carefully tousled blond curls and a full, pouting mouth. Simon had transformed the boy in the eighteenth century after he"d been useful in helping him obtain some ancient ma.n.u.scripts from Alcuin.
"Lord Baldevar no longer shares his thoughts with me," the female vampire said shortly, and Simon grinned at the open jealousy in her voice. Gabrielle De Moire, an exquisite beauty he"d transformed during the French Revolution. She"d been one of his favorites until Meghann, that is. So Gabrielle still regretted losing his affections?
"Perhaps he wishes our aid in destroying that jade he"s so besotted with,"
Gabrielle continued, and Simon"s grin widened. She was indeed jealous. "I would love to help our master tear that drab to shreds. She has humiliated Lord Baldevar by leaving him, and then taking mortal lovers like a common harlot. Do you suppose our master knows of his consort"s promiscuous ways?"
"I do know I consider it the height of hypocrisy for you to criticize my consort when you made your fortune as a mortal by selling your favors to the highest bidder." Lord Baldevar grasped Gabrielle"s chin and smiled gently at her shock.
"Come now. I transformed you nearly three centuries ago. Surely you have better things to do with your immortality than gossip like an old woman?"
"I merely consider your interests, master," Gabrielle said hastily and knelt before him, Isaac following suit.
Simon did not give them permission to rise, preferring to make them address him from their knees. "My thanks for your concern," he said wryly. "However, what is between me and my lady does not concern you."
"Master," Isaac said reverently, trying to control his fear. He had not been in the same room with his master in over forty years. The power Lord Baldevar always held loosely in check was now a thousand times stronger you could almost see a dark light surrounding him. Lord Baldevar seemed nearly invincible, but then Isaac smiled to himself. He remembered there was one thing that made his master vulnerable a pretty young vampire with bright red hair and green eyes.
Lord Baldevar raised an eyebrow at his still kneeling protigi, and Isaac paled. It was impossible; Lord Baldevar could not have heard his thoughts. Vampires could read mortals; sometimes they could read the thoughts of vampires in their own bloodline, but Isaac was too strong for his master to penetrate his shields he hoped.
"You cannot imagine my thoughts when I found out you were alive, master,"
Isaac finally blurted out, unable to take his master"s piercing stare.
Actually, Simon thought he could imagine his feelings quite well shock, resentment, and then dawning horror. He did not blame Isaac for trying to usurp his power; Simon would have done the same thing in Isaac"s place. The difference was that he had had the strength to seize power from his enemies when he was a young vampire carving a place for himself, but Isaac was no match for him. He would crush the boy like a bug.
"Enlighten me, Isaac. But first, stand up both of you. May I offer you a drink?" Simon held up a crystal decanter filled with a ruby liquid. "Perhaps the blood of a saint?"
"Master!" Gabrielle breathed. "That is Alcuin"s blood?"
"All that remains of him on this earth," Simon said with a vicious smile and offered his guests one port gla.s.s each of the dead prelate"s blood.
Isaac raised his gla.s.s high and offered a toast. "To your well-deserved victory, master."
"Did you ever doubt I"d triumph, Isaac?" Simon said softly before clinking his gla.s.s against Isaac"s.
Isaac said nothing, and he and Gabrielle perched awkwardly on Charles VI chairs while Simon made himself comfortable on a green damask sofa. After a long silence, Isaac began to speak again.
"Master, I will not pry into matters that concern your your lady." By Simon"s referring to her that way, both vampires knew Meghann had not lost their master"s favor. Now they had to see if they had. "But let me a.s.sure you right now that we came here tonight to offer you any aid we can provide."
Simon raised an eyebrow, pleased that Isaac managed to set a trap for himself.
"Did you?"
"Oh, yes," Isaac said hurriedly. "We are, in all matters, your devoted servants."
"You will swear to that?" Simon asked, giving the boy one last chance to save himself. "That you are loyal to me and have never entertained notions of challenging my rightful position?"
Isaac knelt before him once more. "I greeted the news that you had not been destroyed with gladness, master." "Is that why you hastened to return all my holdings?"
Isaac paled. "What holdings, master?"
Lord Baldevar opened a Chippendale desk in the corner of the room, holding several thick doc.u.ments. "The minor matter of this town house. You cannot manage your property any better than a mortal, boy. You lost this exquisite house several years ago in a bad investment. I was the dummy corporation that picked it up at auction. Then, there was the IBM stock I bought in 1955, my pharmaceutical company, several Swiss accounts in other words, Isaac, the lion"s share of my wealth that vultures like yourself seized upon my "death." Understand, I am not angered by your actions of forty years ago; you saw an opportunity to profit from my misfortune. However, I am quite dismayed that you have not made any attempt to repay me. Were you hoping Alcuin would slay me before I got around to demanding my wealth be returned to me?"
"Of of course not, master." The vampire was all but shaking on his knees.
In a pretense of boredom with the conversation, Simon inspected a solid-gold letter opener on the desk while Isaac continued to babble anything he thought might save his worthless hide. "Master, I was busy making plans to to to trap Meghann for you! I thought to find her and offer my aid in destroying you, then disable her and bring her to you "
"If I want Meghann by my side, I do not require your a.s.sistance. Is this half- truth the best you can come up with?" Simon spun around and hurled the letter opener at Isaac. It spun through the air before landing in the center of his forehead. Isaac screamed in agony, trying to dislodge the thing from his brain.
Simon was at his side instantly, hand firm on the letter opener, watching blood and brain matter seep from the wound.