Ten, p.45
Ten, page 45
“It’s not real,” Mr. Lambley choked out as he grabbed his assistant. “Not real, not real, not real—”
A vampire in the crowd finally dared to leap at the monster.
Georgia watched as one bash sent the poor bloodsucker flying into a crowd of stunned onlookers. This show of strength was enough to send the crowd into a stampede.
Georgia grabbed her back and stared in horror at the sticky, red mess on her hands. Her own fear turned into pure terror as she saw a worse wound on Mr. Lambley’s side.
“We need help over here!” she screamed over the terrified mob.
“Won’t anyone help us?”
Paige and Kyle grabbed their heads as they fought against the rush of terrified bloodsuckers. Kyle popped two syringes out of his pocket and jabbed them both before Paige could react. Dizzy and bleary eyed, they pushed their way to the dance floor where a fully transformed golden werewolf growled and gnashed his teeth at two stalwart vampires.
“Oh god, that’s—” Kyle started.
“Morgan!” Paige cried. The werewolf flicked his ears but remained fixated on terrorizing the vampires. She could see a wolf mask across the room.
“Lorcan, please,” she begged. “Please help him.”
Lord Pendragon remained frozen. Paige finally turned to Kyle.
“We have to help him,” she growled.
“What the hell are we going to do against all these vampires?” he asked.
“Give me a black syringe,” she commanded.
Kyle shook his head. “Are you crazy?” he asked.
Paige dropped her voice and stared into his eyes. “You will give me a black syringe, now,” she ordered.
He snarled even as he bowed his head. Before he could reach into his pocket, however, a vampire in a dragon mask grabbed his arm. The stranger made a tisk-tisk noise and wrenched Kyle’s hand behind his back. Paige bared her teeth, but before she could move, a pair of handcuffs slapped around her wrist. She whirled around to find herself eye-to-eye with a face full of freckles.
“We were hoping that you’d show up,” the strange woman said in a thick German accent.
Paige reared back her other fist. Instead of landing squarely on the stranger’s smug little nose, the air shimmered in front of Paige, and a gloved hand blocked her.
“What the hell—?” she asked as an invisible vampire suddenly became visible before her. He cocked his head and smiled under his hood.
“Boo!” the stranger said before slamming Paige’s fist back into her face. As she reeled, she watched in horror as Lorcan somehow made it behind Morgan with a stun gun in hand.
She tried to cry out, but the invisible one decked her again so hard that she spat out a tooth. Kyle roared and was rewarded with a shot in the neck.
She glowered at the hooded bastard, while Freckle-Face finished with the handcuffs. Paige lowered her head and tried her best to look beaten, even as she started working her thumb out of its socket.
“I know what you are,” the hooded one whispered in her ear. “And you are going to tell me what happened to my sister.”
She stared at his now bright, green eyes, though his features were clearly Asian. He smiled a particularly crazy smile.
“Sister?” she choked out as blood dribbled over her split lip.
“You might have known her as Ping-Pong Lung,” he whispered so softly that even her superhuman hearing had trouble picking it up.
“Mr. Lambley, come on,” Georgia pleaded as she tugged on his lapels. “We need to get you help.”
A shadow loomed over her. She saw the edges of the wolf mask.
“Damn it, he’s your son!” Georgia snapped. “Help us!”
The monster reared again. Minerva and Steve managed to roll out of the way, but the new unobstructed view turned Mr. Lambley’s terror into full-blown catatonia. Steve landed one punch but was immediately sent flying. Georgia heard an audible crunch as he landed on the floor beside her.
Minerva hissed and dug in her heels. Somehow, Lord Pendragon had now gotten behind the werewolf. A crackle sounded over the din. Georgia watched as the vampire lord managed to shoot the monster just as he was lunging for the Jaeger. The creature howled and threw its arms wide. Lord Pendragon took a surprised step back as the monster ripped the electrodes out of his back and whirled around to face the other vampire.
“Geoffrey, come back to me,” Georgia heard. She turned to see none other than Lord Pendragon crouched next to Mr. Lambley, even as he also battled a werewolf.
“Lord P?” Steve groaned as he crawled over. “There’s two of you
—”
“Just help, Geoffrey,” this Lord Pendragon ordered as he stood up and approached the werewolf.
“What the hell is going on?” Georgia asked as she watched Minerva start to get the upper hand and actually throw the slavering wolfman into the stage. Her victory was short-lived, however, as that same monster had the presence of mind to claw out a hunk of the round table and slash the stunned vampire with a handful of splinters.
“Minerva!” Georgia cried as she saw her stumble backwards.
“Enough!” a new voice cried.
All eyes turned to a woman in red. Mina Pendragon yanked off her mask and raised a hand towards the monster. “Mina!” an Eastern European voice cried from the stunned crowd.
Lady Pendragon strode confidently between the two Lord Pendragons and pointed her finger right at the beast. Her eyes
softened, and she let the werewolf sniff the tips of her fingers.
“You don’t want to hurt anyone, do you?” Mina asked softly. “You are just a gentle creature who got scared, aren’t you?”
The werewolf let out a whimper and dropped to his knees in front of the unarmed, unassuming vampire. She stroked the top of his head.
“There, there,” Mina cooed. “There is nothing more to be afraid of, child. The vampires aren’t going to hurt you—”
Georgia and the crowd watched in awe as the monster bowed to Mina. She gave a little nod to the other Lord Pendragon and to a small group on the other side of the dance floor. For a moment, Georgia could see Lord Pendragon’s date struggling against Lady Claudia. She could also see a familiar man in a white hood waving to her from across the room.
The faraway Lord Pendragon jabbed the enthralled creature with a handful of syringes. The monster roared and reared up once before collapsing to the floor. Once the werewolf was safely unconscious, Lord Pendragon turned his attentions to the other Lord Pendragon.
“You’re an imposter,” the Lord Pendragon closest to Georgia said.
“And you’re a liar. Now that that’s been established, shall we go on with the show?” Lord Pendragon asked.
Next to Georgia, Steve wiped his lips and then pressed his fingers to the stunned Geoffrey. “Just have a little nap, old friend,”
Steve said. “This will all seem like a bad dream—”
“What are you doing?” Georgia hissed.
“Helping him!” Steve snapped. He then turned to the crowd.
“Won’t anyone help us?”
Georgia crawled over to Minerva who was trying her best to be stoic and out of the way. However, one glance at the angry red welts already radiating from Minerva’s breast sent Georgia into crisis mode. She ripped off some of her own dress tape and started stripping the splinters out of the wound. The vampire snarled and bared her fangs, but she didn’t strike at her human nurse.
“If you ever tell anyone about this, I will kill you, Berliner,” Minerva hissed.
“Well, there are only a few hundred witnesses,” Georgia muttered as she yanked out the last hunk of wood.
Minerva kept her eyes glued on the two Lord Pendragons circling each other in the middle of the ballroom and an unconscious werewolf. The Jaeger smiled.
“Somehow, I don’t think they will remember I vas here,” Minnie noted as the crowd continued to form around the scene. “Now stop fussing over me and find out what zee hell is going on!”
Georgia pushed to her feet and joined the entranced throng.
Across the circle, she could see Merlin munching on a box of crickets. He met her gaze and smiled smugly before popping a particularly large insect into his mouth. Georgia’s heart dropped into the pit of her stomach.
Mina climbed onto the stage and shouted to the crowd. “Are you not entertained?” she asked. “Now, please give a hand to our actors for such a stirring display.”
The crowd erupted in gasps and titters as the entertainment rushed to spirit away Steve, Minerva, and Mr. Lambley. As they crowded around the unconscious beast, a few naysayers decided to heckle.
“You mean that wasn’t a real werewolf?”
“It looked real!”
Lady Pendragon gesticulated broadly and gave one of her winning smiles. “Ladies and gentlemen, please. We all know that werewolves are myth, but they are also the fights of legends. I would like to thank Lady Claudia Jaeger and her children for ensuring that the battle looked ever so real! Our dear sheriff and her entourage are here as well, just to address any concerns about our little display.”
The crowed ooh and ahhed and then cheered as the unconscious monster disappeared backstage. A spotlight centered on a rather unassuming old lady who saw no need to wear a mask at a masquerade ball. The sheriff nodded towards Lady Pendragon.
“But as you can see, the night’s entertainment is far from over,”
Mina said as she gestured to the two men in masks. “Lord Merlin has
seen fit to provide us with an even greater display of his magic.”
Mina stepped to the side so that the spotlight could sweep from her to the sword in the stone. “Behold, Excalibur, sword of the Pendragon Clan. Only the true lord of the house knows the secret to pull it from the stone, a secret taught by none other than Merlin himself.”
“This is ridiculous,” one of the Lord Pendragons snapped as he ripped off his mask. The crowd gasped as they saw the familiar pale face and green eyes. “I am clearly Lorcan Darcy, Lord of the Pendragon house, and you are an imposter who claimed my name.”
Lorcan pointed to the other Lord Pendragon who made a surprised gesture. He then pranced to the edge of the stage and pushed himself up to join the smiling Mina. He gave her a polite little bow before turning back to address the crowd.
“My dear subjects, please know that never once did I ever claim the name of Lorcan Darcy,” he said. “I am not the bastard son of King Arthur raised on the battlefield as an act of desperation—”
Lorcan jumped onto the stage, the shadows swirling around his feet. Mina rushed to his side and shook her head. He tried to take a step, but his wife held him back.
“I am Lord Pendragon,” the imposter said before climbing over the table and onto the central stone. “I earned my name through my works, and my deeds, and by ruling the most successful vampire kingdom ever known.”
The crowd erupted with more noise. Georgia used the chaos as opportunity to slip closer to the stage. In fact, the crowd of vampires was so entranced that even the open wounds on her back provided no temptation as she pushed to the front.
“What the hell are you saying?” Lorcan asked.
The other Lord Pendragon smiled and put his hand on the hilt.
“I’m saying that fate is your most faithful dog, my son. It always comes back to haunt you,” he said before sliding the blade out of its lithic sheath.
“It can’t be,” Lorcan gasped as he watched Excalibur point to the sky. The din in the room rose to a roar.
“My name is Arcturus Marcus Draco, but you know me now as Arthur Pendragon, Lord of the Pendragon House, and King of the Britons,” the stranger said as he slid his sword into his own scabbard. The din turned to utter silence as Merlin joined them on stage.
“Well, I’m happy to report it’s true, Lorcan. It took almost two millennia, but I finally brought your father back,” the wizard said proudly. “Let’s just say, I hedged my bets at Camlann.”
Georgia suddenly became painfully aware of a new spotlight in the room, shining right on top of her head. She pulled off her mask and showed off her streaky makeup for all the world to see. She kept staring at Arthur’s forearm as he clutched the hilt at his side.
“I suppose, I shouldn’t keep my subjects in suspense any longer, should I?” Arthur asked. “While Merlin was unable to restore my original body, after years of experimentation and exploration, the old wizard was finally able to find a new one for me. I cannot thank our allies, the Jaeger and the Lung, enough for finally enabling the return of the once and future king.”
“Lung?” a few people exclaimed.
“It’s time that we made peace with our old enemies, as they have made peace with me,” Arthur explained. “For it was only with the technology of Lord Kuleleele Bam-Yin Lung that I would be standing here tonight. Lord Lung’s son, Doctor Pang, furthered Merlin’s efforts while being held for ransom by the Jaeger—further proof of the willingness for the Lung to one day make peace with the West.”
A few in the crowd finally turned to notice the other spotlight.
Georgia gulped as Merlin walked over to her corner and reached out his hand. “Would you join us?” he asked.
“What?” Georgia asked as she was lifted onto the stage. She couldn’t feel her feet as she drifted to the table where she was unceremoniously shoved towards the rock and the eager arms of Arthur. She shoved away from him and would have toppled off the stage if the damn vampire king hadn’t snatched her right back. A few giggles echoed through the hall.
“Above all else, I wouldn’t be here without the help of one courageous, amazing human woman. Georgia Sutherland, please
know that I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long—”
“This can’t be happening,” Georgia said as she closed her eyes.
“Georgia, open your eyes. Look on the face of your grateful king.”
She opened her eyes slowly and held her breath. The crowd gave a collective gasp as the second wolf mask clattered to the floor.
“Ren.”
33
“I’M PRETTY sure there was LSD in that mist,” Kyle said as they were led deeper into the bowels of Castle Pendragon, “Because that is the only way to explain that trippy shit that we just saw.”
Paige remained quiet with her thumb slowly working its way out of her handcuffs. The vampires identified as Bam-Yin and Claudia remained at her side, while the stone-faced Vlad the Impaler held Kyle. As they reached yet another set of spiral stone stairs, a face from their past joined the parade.
“Now, we have Ivan,” Kyle sighed as the muscular, blond behemoth grabbed Kyle’s arm. “So, what is this, a super villain convention? I mean, you are in masks and costumes—”
“Will you just shut up?” Claudia snapped as she slapped him upside the head. “You are such a prattling Pendragon.”
Bam-Yin giggled. He then nudged Paige and pointed down the hall. The moment she looked, he grabbed her right hand, and snapped her thumb into place. “Not the time, sweetie,” he whispered in her ear.
They ended up in a rather stereotypical dungeon with nasty-looking iron bars and all manners of whips and chains. Claudia squealed with delight as she saw an actual iron maiden in the corner.
“So, does Lady Pendragon ever take you down here, just for fun?” Bam-Yin asked the stoic Vlad. The Impaler merely glared and grunted something in Romanian.
Kyle was shoved into the first cage and slapped in full neck, wrist, and leg irons. Across the hall, a bloodied and bruised Morgan hung in an iron cross position, his muscles still shuddering as he returned to human form.
“Morgan!” Paige cried. He could only open one eye on account of the bruises.
“He needs food and medical attention,” Kyle said. Claudia responded by kicking him right in the balls.
“That thing needs to be skinned,” she spat. “Now you behave, or you get the next beating.”
Bam-Yin shoved Paige into a solitary confinement cell with only a tiny porthole on the solid, steel door. He left her in her cuffs and gave a little wave before shutting her in the total darkness.
“Come on Kyle, be smart and shut up,” she pleaded, but she could already hear him moaning as she heard the heavy sounds of fists hitting flesh. “Damn it.”
Paige curled in the corner trying her best to tune out the putrid smells. Her head swirled as she felt all the chemicals in her system and the total darkness quickly erased any sort of internal clock. After some indeterminate length of time, a ray of light poured into her room.
“Well, Miss DeMarco, would you like to have a chat?” the obnoxious voice of Merlin asked.
“Fuck off,” she snapped.
“Very well, but know that for every rude response I get from you, I let Claudia have five minutes with one of your mates,” the vampire said. “I’ll be back in five minutes.”
“Wait!” Paige cried. She covered her ears as she heard pained howling and the crunching of bone. “You bastards,” she roared as the claws burst from her fingers and she ripped her right hand out of the cuffs.
The porthole slid open again. “Now, she’s already bitten off an earlobe, Miss DeMarco. I’m afraid if you don’t chat with me this time, she might take off one of Mr. Blaylock’s ears,” Merlin said. “And remember, this will be a civilized conversation.”
“All right,” Paige said softly.
She squinted as Bam-Yin came into her cell. He jabbed her with another needle and waited until she drifted off to grab her. Paige came to in a perfectly civilized little sitting room with her hands now in thumbscrews and her bare toes chained to the floor. Merlin sat across a lovely antique desk with his feet propped up on a stool and a pipe in his hand.
Paige raised her bound thumbs. “Civilized, you said?” she asked.
“Well, you are a werewolf. I’m not an idiot,” the vampire said between puffs of his pipe.
“Smells more like you’re a Rastafarian,” Paige muttered as she got a whiff of what he was smoking. “More tricks to keep me calm?”
“More like ways to pass the time when you’ve seen and done everything,” Merlin said. “Now, before our other guests arrive, I think I owe you an explanation of your situation.”
