The Vampire's War, page 15
Charon placed his hands on each of Jordan’s shoulders. “Listen to me. Gather everyone and get them into the panic room”—he pointed toward the boys huddled in the corner—“and find the others in the castle. No more questions. Fast. Go.”
Jordan sped off when Charon spun him around by the shoulders and pushed him forward. He raced to the group and instructed them to follow. Everyone ran away, leaving Jaret and Charon alone.
“Panic room?” Jaret arched a brow. “Vampire castles include panic rooms? Rather human of you.”
“Is this the time for questioning me?” Charon asked. “You’re all business until a real emergency, then you want to chat?”
“I’ve never heard of a vampire panic room!”
“Well, you don’t exist outside Vampire Council control, do you? I have from the beginning and needed additional protection. And no, I won’t tell you anything else about the room because I may need to hide from you or your little friends someday. So yeah, panic room. Now, we need to go address the fuck face out there threatening my castle.”
Charon stormed toward the tunnel entrance but Jaret grabbed his arm to stop him. Charon turned around and frowned. “What?”
“Take a minute.” Jaret rubbed him on the chest to calm him. “They can’t get in, so we should plan. Yeah, this sounds dangerous, but it could also be our opportunity.”
“Opportunity?” Charon spat.
“Lure Styx in. Make him think you want to cooperate.”
Charon paused before nodding agreement. “I hear you. So what’s your plan? What should I do? He’s straight so I can’t seduce him like I do you.”
“I thought you told me he was at least bi, even if he never admitted he liked dick? You told me you kind of had sex with him.”
Charon rolled his eyes. “Not sex. Foreplay. He transformed me by having me drink from his thigh while his hard cock slapped my face. But he refused my offer of a blow job. And there you go again, being Chatty Cathy while we face a crisis! Can you give me some help here?”
Jaret giggled. “You panic often for someone so calm, cool, and collected.” Jaret thought for a second. “You can’t act all buddy-buddy. Anything too obvious would alert him. You gotta start pissed off and angry. Then listen to his crazy ranting and pretend to consider his offer.”
“Sounds plausible. But how do we explain you?”
Jaret shook his head. “We don’t. We can’t.”
“Won’t he sense you?”
“I doubt Styx can feel me. He already knows vampires live here. I’m probably on his radar as another vampire but no one special. My magic conceals my specific identity. You can wing the situation if he mentions me.”
“Wing it?” Charon sputtered with exasperation.
“Yeah. Be in charge. What the fuck? Why am I Mr. In-Charge when you’re supposed to be I-Command Charon? Top Boy never taking orders from anyone! Get back to yourself and take care of the situation.”
“And where will you be?” Charon asked.
“Waiting.” Jaret pointed toward the room where he had hung with Brady before.
Jaret watched as Charon started up the tunnel at a cautious pace, as if collecting himself.
Jaret felt a nervous combination of fear and excitement. The war had reached a stage of surging forward instead of plodding along.
Sitting in one of the ornate parlors in Charon’s castle made Jaret impatient. He knew they had to hide Jaret’s presence from Styx. But Jaret was not one to hang out and wait for information.
At first, he resisted the use of magic for fear Styx would sense his unique magical imprint. Jaret reasoned, however, that Styx and Charon possessed enough sorcery between them to account for any magic in the air. Despite the risk, Jaret had to know what was going on outside the tunnel in case he needed to intervene.
Jaret cast a spell and a large sphere of magic appeared before him, giving him an aerial view of the scene unfolding outside the tunnel. He felt like the Wicked Witch of the West peering at Dorothy and friends as they linked arms and sang their way to danger, especially when Darth trotted into the room and sat next to him like a Flying Monkey. Where the heck had she been? Jaret would laugh so hard if Darth pooped in Charon’s bedroom. He patted her on the head.
Jaret looked into his magical image to see Charon standing rigid at the entrance to block entry, with four of the vampire minions facing him a dozen feet away. Jordan had described the situation well. The invaders had been transformed into vampires but swayed and stared with vacant expressions. They were vampire zombies, no doubt controlled by Styx and expendable to him.
At least Charon had regained his bravado. He rolled his eyes at the throng. “I’m not interested in talking to you zombies. I know you’re watching, Styx. You wanted to talk with me, so talk. But be a man and get over here. Where are you? In some tree?”
“You want trick master. But he trick you,” one zombie vampire announced. All of them raised a hand and pointed at Charon.
Charon laughed. “Me Tarzan. You Jane. What the fuck is going on, Styx? You can’t even get them to speak in complete sentences? Get over here.”
To Jaret’s surprise, the four creatures stepped back and created a space so Styx could walk forward. Styx stood ten feet from Charon, dressed in a pair of jeans and a designer hoodie. He smiled but appeared more like a cartoon villain than someone happy to see Charon.
“Were you trying to come kill more of my boys?” Charon asked. “I don’t make the same mistakes twice.” Charon stepped toward Styx. “Your zombie fuckers aren’t going to cut muster in coming after me. Besides, you’ve made your point. I hear you. I thought you were smarter than to pile up dead bodies like a stupid serial killer.”
Styx’s smile spread into a broad, genuine grin. “There’s the Charon I selected to become a vampire. Brash. In control. Never afraid. I’ve rattled you, haven’t I? But remember, I selected you to pester the Council, not join their cause. We can work together.”
“You always had delusions of grandeur about yourself. What’s the offer?”
Styx shrugged. “I thought I had made myself clear. Join me or die.”
“Such a negotiator. Almost as good as a car salesman.”
“You don’t have a choice, Charon. I’m trying to explain to you. I will defeat the Council. They’re nothing without Anthony. You think I took centuries to plot for the war and then allowed for gaps in the plan? No. Please. I targeted him and designed my trap. His lack of fight surprised me, but then I utilized an intricate magic, and he underestimated me. With him out of the picture, the rest of those fools will fall with ease. Come help me. Besides, as long as you worship me, I’ll leave you alone to do as you please.”
A second before he shot into view, Jaret’s vampiric alarm sounded about the approach of another vampire, not in a threatening way but sure to complicate the situation. One of Charon’s minions lurched to a stop several feet from the two men with a questioning look. The slight lad, beautiful in an innocent college way, stared at Charon with absolute alarm.
“I thought I ordered you to stay here,” Charon hissed through clenched teeth.
“I, uh—” the youngster stammered.
“Ah,” Styx blurted, “bait has arrived.” Before Charon or the boy could react, Styx sped over and clutched the young man in his grip, intoning a spell and then hurrying away. The four zombie things followed Styx but stumbled as they went.
Charon raced after them and out of the view of Jaret’s magic.
Jaret snapped his fingers and his magical sphere vanished. He ran up the tunnel. “Darth, come!” But she had hurried past him and out the tunnel already. Jaret followed the vampire footsteps in the snow. Despite running at vampiric speed, Jaret felt as if time stood still with each passing second.
Going too fast, Jaret slammed into the back of Charon who had come to a stop. In front of them, the four zombie vamps blocked their path. Thinking Charon ridiculous for worrying about them, Jaret shot forward but got slammed in the chest by a zombie fucker. He attempted to dart around that one but was flung back by another one.
Enraged, he returned to Charon.
“Styx controls them,” Charon said. “He left a magical shield behind.”
“I figured as much. What the fuck?”
Charon looked unamused. “This move will piss him off, but he left me no other choice. I studied their makeup and they have no control over themselves. Use fire magic, and we’ll blow their heads off.”
“He won’t counter us?” Jaret asked in disbelief. “How do you know?”
Charon took a deep breath of annoyance. “Because Styx wants us to kill the zombies and then follow him. Follow my lead.”
Charon closed his eyes and muttered a spell, creating an energy field around them. Jaret cast his own fire magic so they could concentrate the energy into little balls of fire and spin four of them at the vamp zombies. As Charon predicted, and with relative ease, the four former humans turned weird-ass tools of Styx exploded.
Jaret grimaced at the disgusting scene: body parts and blood everywhere.
“You’d make a horrible soldier if you got sick every time someone died.” Charon walked toward the bodies but continued through them instead of stopping. “How do you stomach killing as a vampire?”
“First,” Jaret yelled after him, “I never fancied myself a soldier. And I don’t mind killing assholes. These people are innocent.” He hurried forward but stopped at the bodies. “Shouldn’t we clean up?”
“Always with the Council rules and you,” Charon shouted as he sauntered away. “Here.” He snapped his fingers, and all the body parts burst into flames.
Jaret scurried to catch up. “Shouldn’t we hurry? He might kill the kid he kidnapped.”
“He’s not going to kill Todd. Styx wants us there, and he needs Todd alive to get me to come.”
“Us? He wants us?”
Charon smirked. “Pretty sure you were wrong about being concealed from him.”
They walked through the mountains. At first they followed the path in the snow but then a little purple fairy appeared, motioning for them to follow and cut across a mountain.
“Dude, is that Tinkerbell?” Jaret asked Charon as they trailed the little fairy.
“Something like her.” Charon sighed. “I doubt happy little Peter Pan is waiting at the other end. I told you Styx is fucking twisted. He told me about farting butterflies once when he worked on the magic to conceal vampires from the Council. I still don’t know if the butterflies from the ass happened, if he made the story up to amuse himself, or if he hallucinated the scene. Styx is bonkers. His insanity explains the centuries-long war against the Council. And thus, we follow a little purple fairy through the mountains at a serious moment. Fucking crazy.”
“Yet he’s powerful.”
“A lot of crazy fuckers become pretty powerful. We better be cautious.”
The purple fairy flew over the last mountain and Jaret saw Estes Park spread out in the valley below. Having grown up here after his family moved to Colorado from Nebraska, he recognized the place and wondered why on earth Styx had brought them here.
They meandered down a slope, near one of Estes’s icons, a huge cross on the side of the mountain they lit up at night. The structure glowed before them.
“Why is this here?” Charon spat as they passed by. “I should knock the fucker over.”
“Feeling hostile? How does a cross harm anyone?”
“You know as well as I how many of those totally religious fuckers hate us.”
“Vampires?” Jaret asked with a smile.
“Stop.” Charon shot Jaret a look of exasperation. “Fags. Christians hate fags.”
“Not all Christians do. Where is he taking us?” Jaret asked.
They arrived at the path around Lake Estes, devoid of people at this time of night in the winter cold. The fairy turned east, went up the large hill, then headed down below the dam, came around the putt-putt golf course, and then went back up a hill on the other side of the dam. They wound back toward the lake, crossed the river next to a golf course, and then headed toward the downtown.
“We went in a huge fucking circle,” Jaret pointed out.
Charon laughed. “Styx thinks he’s being funny.”
They crossed the highway leading into downtown and climbed another pretty steep hill, passed the grocery store, and walked around the back toward a small residential community. Jaret lurched to a stop as Tinkerbell disappeared.
“Oh, fuck,” Jaret muttered. “Not good.”
Charon halted a few feet in front of Jaret and turned around. “What? Something new?”
“No. Something old.” Jaret pointed behind Charon at the large structure looming over them.
“You think he went to get a hotel room?” Charon returned to Jaret’s side, where they stared at the large white wooden hotel with the maroon roof looming ahead.
“Not any hotel,” Jaret answered. “The Stanley Hotel. Haunted as fuck. Not good.”
“Oh! The place where Stephen King set The Shining, right?”
“Yeah, but the Stanley is haunted by actual ghosts, not made-up shit. Talk about a nasty vortex.”
“He has Todd, so we have no choice.” Charon headed forward, no longer moseying but jogging.
“Wait!” Jaret screamed. “No!” But he shot into motion behind Charon with Darth next to him. “Styx picked a magical location. He knows about vortexes! We can’t charge in there!”
But Charon never heard him. An unseen force halted Charon in his tracks. Alarmed, Jaret stopped but too late realized he’d already stepped onto Stanley Hotel land. The magic buzzed around him, spirits flew toward him, and his entire body seized up. He attempted to cast a spell, but nothing happened, even when he concentrated on the power of his jewels in his pocket. Nothing freed him. The family heirloom gems burned against his side but otherwise proved useless and then went cold.
Against his will, Jaret’s body moved toward the hotel, entered the visitor tour entrance at the lowest level, and followed Charon’s also-compliant form into a basement storage room where ghost energy sizzled. Styx stood in the center of the room, smiling and laughing, with Todd nearby and also incapacitated.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Styx shook his head. “You youngsters thought you could outwit me, did you? I knew you were in the palace.” He stared at Jaret. “And you”—he pointed at Charon—“naughty boy, thought to hide him from me. Your little game failed, I’m afraid. Shall we reconsider whether you want to help me?”
Chapter Seventeen
Stanley Hotel Hauntings
7 MARCH 2019
Estes Park, CO
With no ability to move or counteract Styx’s spell, Jaret closed his eyes and centered his concentration to avoid panic and to seek any solution to their captivity. He felt stupid at being manipulated because he had underestimated Styx’s power and never grasped his intent in the first place.
Styx had bided his time until they got to the Stanley Hotel, then he threw magic as powerful as the Vampire Council’s at Jaret and Charon, somehow hooking his forces onto the ghosts and evil energy of the famous hotel and capturing the two witch vampires before they could protect themselves.
Jaret felt the ghosts looping around him, sending tendrils of energy into his body, linking with Styx’s enchantment and rendering Jaret’s gems ineffective. Jaret opened his eyes and scanned the room, noticing how Charon stood immobile too. He saw Styx pace about in a casual manner and spotted Todd off to the side staring with vacant zombie eyes.
“Well, boys.” Jaret flinched at the sound of Styx’s voice. “A penny for your thoughts? I know magic. Of course, I do. And the hotel adds to my ability, as you know,” he lowered his eyebrows. “A vortex can enhance a spell. And then together, my spirit friends and I turned your magic against you. This hotel contains some creepy ghosts.”
Styx circled them, eyeing them up and down and smiling. “Here, let’s be civil,” Styx said. He released their bodies to move at their own discretion, yet a spell held them captive in the room and prohibited Jaret from reaching any of his magic. The gems were dead in his pocket.
“Let him go, at least.” Charon motioned his head toward Todd. “You got what you wanted. We’re here and under your control. He’s not part of this.”
Styx wandered over to Todd and patted him on the head. “Another nice specimen you chose. All your boys are so pretty. Again, Charon, you almost make me want a man.” Styx kissed Todd on the cheek and then walked over to stand in front of Charon. “Remember when you begged to suck my cock and I refused?”
Despite the predicament, Charon spoke with the same nonchalance as Styx.
“Unbelievable,” Charon said and grinned. “I recall offering you as much, yeah. You have a nice cock. But I never begged, and you know I never would. I’ve never begged for a dick in my life. As for you, you can pretend you’re straight as an arrow, but you sure love kissing guys and dreaming about having sex with them. Let Todd go and the three of us can discuss a hot, gooey threesome.”
Styx roared a laugh, thrust his hand toward Todd, and released the young vampire from the spell. Todd stumbled, peered around the room in bewilderment, then concentrated on Charon. “Where are we? Who is this?”
“Listen to me,” Charon spoke to Todd. “Leave. Go home. Find Jordan. Don’t worry about us. Return to the castle as fast as possible and find Jordan.”
Todd stared incredulously at his master but after a pause nodded and walked out of the room.
“So what do you want?” Charon sneered at Styx. “Remember how unstable you were during the game to create me? How you can’t concentrate and go off the rails because you’re a little loony tune? Actually, a lot loony tune. Well, you’re getting even crazier this time.”
Jaret stifled a groan, questioning if Charon’s antagonism made sense. He was supposed to deceive Styx by pretending to come to his side. He remained silent since he had nothing to counter Charon’s strategy.
