B008IFNJZM EBOK, page 9
***
He woke to the sound of two of the women talking. He adjusted his covers and opened his eyes. It was Iolana and Chelsea. As he sat up and rubbed his face, Chelsea came over.
“Sleep Good?”
“Yes thank you.”
“You might want to check you cell phone, I think it rang a short time ago.”
Chelsea handed him the phone. It was his sister. She sent a text message that again addressed his well-being. He responded with his location and made sure to go out of his way to sound upbeat and in great physical condition. Actually, that was not a stretch of the imagination; he really had been feeling stronger and better with each passing day. Hadiya came back on board and told the group that it was time to visit her great, great, grandfather. These were vampires of the old school, maybe even some of those who still hate werewolves. He could feel his nerves and his senses rise.
***
The limo they took drove over the winding countryside roads. As the women talked on the way, Tom looked out at the fields that had stones piled along the edges as fences. He wondered how many years ago they were removed from the fields and stacked along the land borders. The vehicle came to stop in front of a home that resembled a miniature castle. He followed the girls out into the cool Irish night air. Tom thought that the only thing missing would be a rain storm and the scene would be something out of a horror movie. He stood behind the women as Hadiya lifted and dropped the door’s knocker to announce her return with the others. The door opened and a man in his forties with white streaks in his hair opened it and peered out. There was blood on the corners of his mouth.
“Enter, the elders are assembled to see you.”
Tom followed them in but the red eyed man’s eyes never left him. He noticed two empty medical cases by the door. He figured correctly that Hadiya made sure these victims of the curse were fed well before the meeting. He took a chair at the far end of the table and Iolana put her hand on one of his shoulders and Hadiya put her hand on the other.
“Grandfather, this is Tom. He is the one we are trying to save.”
Mr. Hart looked across at those who now were his only hope. Four of them were men and two were women and the ranged in age from maybe thirty to forty-something. Time had truly stood still for them if they were in fact, the elders. There were other shadows out of sight in the dark candle lit chamber.
The one who answered the door spoke first.
“My granddaughter has asked us for our assistance in helping you Mr. Hart.”
“I consider myself to be blessed with good fortune sir.”
“Aye, it is this younger generation Mr. Hart. Back in the day, those at this table would have not thought twice about dismantling you. You see Mr. Hart no blood is bad blood and I think I can speak for all of us that we would have gorged ourselves sick to insure your death. You may meet others on your journey that still feel that way about your kind to this day. We believe you have only a couple of weeks to find a cure.”
The figure looked back at his great, great granddaughter.
“Hadiya, we thank you for the meal. It was wise to make sure we all had been fed before this meeting.”
One of the females in the room added her comment.
“You see Mr. Hart diseases of the blood like your condition or HIV does not affect us. All human warm blood is just as nourishing to us whether contaminated by the plague or any human disease. Our bodies do not react to your illnesses. You are fortunate that a meal has been provided to us.”
“Yes, I am very fortunate. Thank you for this audience.”
Iolana spoke up.
“Elders, can you help him?”
Out of the shadows a voice came and all looked at the male as he stood up. This was the only person in the room who actually looked old. He must have been turned in his late fifties.
“I am called Shawn. It was I who traveled with your grandfather to track down the creature that caused you to become one of us Hadiya.”
Hadiya’s grandfather looked up at his friend.
“Yes it took us several years but Shawn had gotten word that the one who turned you had traveled to Australia.”
“It seems he went there looking for a cure that somehow he had discovered information about in some ancient writings.”
Hadiya’s grandfather continued the story.
“We followed him there. I was going to have my revenge on the man who would dare turn my beautiful, young granddaughter, Hadiya into one of us.”
“It seems that he once stayed with the Aborigines long enough to learn the language and with the help of a native shaman, learned what he would have to do in order to be changed back into…”
“Into a ‘warm blood..’.”
Her grandfather stood up.
“By the time we got there he was in fact, no longer a vampire but the shaman was turned. We don’t know why. To this day we believe he is still one of us living off the blood of animals. When we last saw him, he had not spread his infection to any of the other members of his tribe.”
Iolana was curious about someone wanting to stay a vampire if that individual actually had a choice.
“But why wouldn’t he have wanted to be normal again as well?”
“He would not say. To this very day, he still is the tribe’s elder and shaman. His name is Khu. He is your friend’s only hope. If whatever worked on your attacker to change him back, might be a way to change your friend as well.”
“You must travel to Southern Australia and find him. He can speak English.”
Chelsea had been silent all this time. She had never heard of a vampire cure.
“But elders, if this is true, why haven’t you all traveled down there and seek such a cure for yourselves?”
“You must understand. We turned this attacker back into a vampire once again and then staked him out in the morning sun to kill him with as much pain as possible. His bones had dissolved in the sun and we found only the dust of his remains and his clothing the next night.”
“Khu vowed never to help one of our kind again. He would rather we stake him out than see any of us again.”
“We think he feared for his people. It may be the reason he has stayed all these years as one of us. His senses are keen like ours and he has all the same powers we do. None of us or you for that matter could sneak up on him. He stands guard over his people we believe to this very day.”
“But why would such a person help us now?”
“We really don’t know if he will. It is all we have on the subject of turning you or your friend back to normal. He may drive you away. If that happens, we have nothing else for you or your friend. If this fails, never bring him here again. We will no longer be this courteous or kind to an outsider.”
Iolana wanted to know all that these elders knew about their experience.
“Do you have any idea how this was done?”
“We will share our story with you and then you must leave here.”
“Yes of course, tell us.”
Chapter 15 The Creature
Shawn came forward and sat on the end of the conference table near their guests.
“The man who made you one of us was named ‘Charles’… I don’t remember now his last name…”
A voice could be heard from the far end of the table.
“His name was Charles J. Sallweachter.”
“Yes that is right… Charles J Sallweachter… a very cocky man.”
“Continue Shawn, I didn’t mean to interrupt you, go on.”
Shawn looked at Hadiya and everyone could tell he deeply loved this girl as a father would love his children.
“He loved the idea that he could force his will on females. When he turned you my dear we were outraged and our words got back to him in no uncertain terms that if we ever found him we would kill him. You see my dear, the whole idea that a male can dominate a female or for that matter any vampire is a Hollywood myth. Sure, we can at first after someone has just changed into one us, there is a short period of time where that is possible but only until that person figures out what powers we each have and how to use them. Once a person learns our ways, you cannot hope to control another and have that person do your bidding.”
“So he fled before you could catch up with him?”
“Yes my dear he did. The problem is that there is nowhere to hide without one of us knowing. There are many in our numbers and eventually we learned that he had gone to Australia.”
“But you said he went there to find a cure.”
“He did! He was no longer one of us.”
The voice from the back of the room interrupted again.
“Yes but we changed him back and with the native Khu, staked him out to be destroyed by the morning sun.”
Tom sees a ray of hope.
“Please tell us how you believe it was done, the changing back to normal?”
“Did you ever hear of a creature called a Meeratt (pronounced ‘mere rat’)?”
“No I can’t say I have.”
“You probably have heard of him by other names like Bigfoot or Sasquatch.”
Tom had an impulse of telling them about the security DVD showing a creature at the kennel on the night on which he lost his father, but bit his tongue.
“Yes I have.”
“There is an array of limestone caves in Southern Australia and one of them is oddly called the Merat cave. We don’t know the origin of the cave’s name but that is what this ‘Khu’ person called it. You must also understand that according to Khu, this creature not only exists but has the capability to change one of us back.”
“Make sure to tell him that the Meeratt hates us and werewolves.”
“Yes, but this Khu somehow persuaded one of these Meeratts to use whatever power it has to change our Mr. Sallweachter back to a ‘warm blood’. You must understand that his people, the Aborigines, have lived there for over forty or fifty thousand years”.
“Tell them the other story we heard about them.”
“We were told during our stay there that this creature is smarter than any ‘warm blood’ or us. We were also told that a Meeratt or a Bigfoot could never be caught by a human because he possesses the power to communicate with most of the animals in the animal kingdom. Limestone cave formations exist all over the word from the United States to France. If one does emerge from such a cave and if it can truly communicate with everything from a bird to a squirrel, you would not be able to even get close to one let alone capture one. And without this Khu character helping you it would appear to be impossible to communicate with one.”
“Tell them about Merlin.”
Shawn looks back at his friend.
“We don’t know if that is true.”
“Tell them anyhow.”
Shawn looked back at his guests.
` “We were told that one of Merlin’s parents was a Meeratt and that is why he had the knowledge to be such a great sorcerer…. Again, Merlin and that story may or may not be true. Your only hope is to travel to Australia and somehow convince this Khu to get you an audience with the creature. It is all we have on the subject.”
Iolana squeezed Tom’s shoulder.
“If you are willing, I, we, will help you.”
Tom looked up and smiled.
“Thank You.”
“You have got to stop saying that.”
The meeting was over with the elders and Chelsea, Tom and Iolana left. Hadiya would stay and visit with her great, great, grandfather and his friends. She would also see if there was any other information they might have forgotten about the Meeratt incident.
***
On the ride back, Tom was thinking.
“We must return to Kentucky.”
“Why?”
“Two reason. First we will need some help. The flight time down to Australia is very long. I have two dear friends with multiengine jet licenses. They could speed us up by continuing to fly the plane during daylight hours.”
“And the second reason?”
“We are going to need a considerable amount of equipment if we have to go below ground to make contact with them. I know just the people who could help us acquire the right equipment quickly.”
“Okay, we will return to New York if Hadiya returns early enough. We will have the wind at our back and that will shave an hour maybe two off the return flight. Chelsea, when we arrive, file a flight plan for us. Make it New York Tonight and Louisville tomorrow night.”
“Okay will do.”
“I am going to make sure to have a good supply of blood brought on board in New York. I do not think I would like Kangaroo or a Wombat substitute. I will also check the location of the Merat cave and see where the nearest airport for us is at. Also, I will begin to search for some form of rental transportation.”
“We are probably going to need a guide too.”
“Yes Chelsea. You might be right.”
Chelsea looked at Tom and grinned.
“Whoever is our guide will only have to get us close. After that, we should be able to find one of our own.”
“What are you going to do about the coffins? Are you going to have to ‘brown bag’ your soil and utilize sleeping bags?”
“Good question. Maybe your friend could help us with that one. We could use some cover story about needing three housings big enough to hold an object the size of a coffin but substitute some other container like three large wooden crates of equipment.”
“We will have to work on that story.”
Everyone was’ searched’ as was the custom (sorry, I couldn’t resist…) and then the customs agents allowed everyone to board the aircraft.
Chapter 16 Help Us
There was a knock on the door and then Nathan’s door bell sounded at the same time. He glanced over at the clock. , It was two in the morning. He sat on the bed as the bell continued to ring. He reached over to a chair and grabbed his robe.
“I’m coming.”
The figure outside the door couldn’t hear him but stopped ringing the bell when the lights inside went on. He came down stairs and answered the door.
It was Elizabeth. Nathan was surprised by her visit.
“Are you alone?’
“The life of a single male does not automatically mean I would have someone here on a weekday night.”
Nathan could see the troubled look on the doctor’s face.
“Good. Can I come in?”
“Sure. Want some coffee?”
“That would be nice.”
Nathan led her around to his kitchen and began to fix her a pot.
“So how come you are not asking me why I didn’t call first or text you?”
“I have known you and your brother my entire life. You have never come over in the middle of the night before, even though I may have dreamed about that possibility. I figure whatever it is must be important.”
He turned to see the doctor taking a seat and smiling back at him.
“Why, did someone change their minds about promoting me to head of all the research departments?”
“Of course not... Don’t be so insecure about that. Even if you weren’t so close to my family, I still think you would have gotten the job.”
Nathan put the third scoop in the paper filter. He inserted it in the machine and began to pour the water into the tank of his coffee maker.
“Come on, I just turned thirty-one! I have to supervise department heads who are all in their fifties and I cannot justify in their eyes why I was made their boss instead of one of them.”
“It’s not part of your job to justify why you were promoted.”
“Easy for you to say… I am the one who has to work and live with these folks, not you.”
“We all feel Uncle Joe did the right thing and made the right choice.”
“Well it still puts me in an awkward position… So what brings you out in the middle of the night? Is everything Okay?”
“Yes and no.”
Nathan looked at Elizabeth and knew she would tell him what it was.
“Have you talked to my brother lately?”
“No, the last time I talked to him was at the funeral.”
“He needs your help… I need your help.”
Elizabeth took an empty cup as Nat set out a creamer and a sugar substitute. She walked over to stand by him as the flowing water continued to be transformed into coffee below. She removed a piece of paper and put it on the counter. It was a personal check for one hundred thousand dollars.
“Sorry, the banks are closed and I could not get a cashier’s check. It is good.”
A woman he always had been somewhat infatuated with just gave him a large check in the middle of the night. He kept looking at it as Elizabeth removed the pot and poured a cup. Nathan put the check down and far away from the coffee brewing machine.
