Samantha Moon Phantasm, page 78
part #9 of Vampire for Hire Series
Something swooped down the hallway, over our heads, something that flapped with great wings, only to disappear through the far wall. Allison, had she not been seeing through my own inner eye, would have missed it.
“I wish I had missed it, Sam.”
“No, you don’t.”
She nodded. “No, I don’t. This is so fascinating and kind of scary. That was no bird. It was...”
“A dragon,” I said.
“The ghost of a dragon?”
I paused. “I didn’t get a sense it was a ghost.”
“It felt real, huh, Sam? Like it was just passing through.”
My friend, I think, was right.
“What’s happening, Sam?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But let’s get back to loverboy before he runs off to Vegas and marries his phone bill.”
***
The night was uneventful.
Queen Autumn didn’t make another appearance, although Charlie’s side hallway was a veritable superhighway of creation. Animals swept across the arched opening, and from where we sat in the office, Allison and I could see deer and rabbits and wolves and, once, long processions of people—all of which came and went quickly, flowing down the hallway, wavering in and out of existence. It was, quite frankly, the ultimate light show.
All the while, Charlie stared down at his AT&T phone bill, lovingly touching it and stroking it like a star-crossed lover.
Chapter Fifteen
I left my minivan parked in front of Charlie’s home, disrobed on his bedroom balcony under the dark of night, and, with Allison on her way home and Charlie snoozing—thanks to a suggestion of mine—I launched myself out as far and wide as possible.
Now, as his pool came rushing at me, something else rushed at me, too. Something beastly, and located directly in the center of the single flame. A flame that I had conjured. A flame that I had come to know as a portal between worlds—and a portal between time and space, too. If not time, then definitely space.
Now I felt myself rushing toward the creature in the flame. Except, of course, I wasn’t rushing. I was still falling toward the covered pool.
But that’s exactly what it felt like: rushing, movement forward, the sense of two creatures meeting somewhere in the middle. The middle of where, I didn’t know, but suddenly I wasn’t falling anymore. No, not at all. I was gliding, with great outstretched arms that manipulated the air. Now, I was riding a cushion of air up and over the brick wall that separated Charlie’s house from his neighbor’s. I flapped once, twice, and now I was rocketing up, higher and higher.
And higher.
Hi Talos, I thought.
Hello Sam, came the voice in my head. A deep voice, with melodic overtones. A gentle and wise voice, too. I knew that in Talos’s world, communication was done primarily through telepathy, but I had a question.
Do you have a voice, Talos?
I have no need for a voice, Sam.
If you were to open your mouth and speak?
It would sound as a great roar.
Then why does your “voice” sound deep to me? Why wouldn’t it sound, I dunno, neutral?
I leveled off at a free-flowing air current that I knew to be a jet stream. Had I chosen to ride it to Hawaii, I could have. I knew Talos was capable of reaching great speeds, too. No doubt I would be there before sunrise. Then what? I couldn’t afford a hotel room out there.
The internal voice is nearly as real as the physical, Sam.
So someone could have a high or deep internal voice?
Of course.
At present, Talos’s wings were outstretched and flapping just enough to keep me level—us level, since I was pretty sure I was the one doing the flying.
Indeed, Sam. We’ve talked about this.
But isn’t it a little like giving the keys to a dopey teenager?
You’re hardly dopey.
But I’d never flown before.
No, but you were a quick learner. Nearly expert now.
Nearly?
Oh, there are some things I can do that you haven’t tried.
I haven’t pushed you to your limits yet, you’re saying.
Something like that.
I could only shake my head. Hell, I’d taken him deep beneath the ocean, and all the way out into space, the moon and Mars, respectively. What else could the big fella do?
You need only ask, Sam.
Okay, maybe I will. Someday.
I’m always here, Sam.
I know, I thought. I mean, I think I know. Tell me again how we connected, Talos? Tell me how you found me, or I found you?
The answer is multifaceted and far-reaching, Sam.
I have all the time in the world.
My world and your world are deeply connected, as evidenced by the dragons in your mythology, both past and present.
I’m following so far.
We have a keen interest in your world, which is not very different from our own.
Except yours is much more highly evolved.
Much, much more.
Okay, no need to rub it in.
No rubbing, Sam. We are many millions of years ahead of you.
That’s a lot of evolving going on, I thought.
Precisely. And your highly evolved dark masters reached out to us.
How did they find you?
The worlds are not as separated as you might think, Sam. Indeed, you and I are only a flame away. But in their case, before a connection was made with us, they used astral traveling.
Conscious sleep? I asked.
Close, Sam. Meditation would be a better word. Many on your planet do it. But not all travel to new worlds.
And you formed a friendship with them?
Not quite. We saw an opportunity.
You do understand they are called dark masters for a reason? I asked.
We knew their nature, Sam.
What did they want from you?
A partnership, of sorts. They sought to use us in their wars.
And you agreed?
We do not fight wars, Sam.
I thought about that. I also thought about the few times I had summoned Talos to fight my own wars.
I used you to kill, I thought.
Indeed.
And you are okay with that?
I give myself to you, Sam, for you to use as you see fit.
Would you prefer I didn’t use you to kill?
I trust you are making the best choices for you and those you love.
I flapped his great wings. The process seemed effortless, but I could feel the great force behind each downthrust, a blast of wind that, I imagined, raced all the way to the land far below. Somewhere down there a man’s toupee had just blown off. That gave me a giggle.
That’s a lot of trust, I finally thought.
The trust goes both ways, Sam.
I nodded at that. My body is with you, in your world.
Safe and sound.
Am I in my body? I asked. I mean, am I holding a conversation with you there?
No, Sam. You are sitting next to me, quietly, waiting.
Because I have not mastered the art to being in two places at the same time.
Not yet. No.
But maybe someday?
Maybe, Sam. If it serves a purpose for you.
I considered the full extent of his words. So the dark masters thought they were using you, but, in fact, you were using them?
That is safe to say.
And how, exactly, are you using them?
By finding our way to you. And others like you.
Other vampires?
Yes, Sam.
For what purpose?
To help and guide and to spread the truth of what they are. To show them another way. To remind them that they are much more than the entity within.
Thank you, Talos. And thank the others.
I sensed him nodding in my mind.
I asked, How many vampires can presently summon creatures like you?
Perhaps a half dozen.
Wow. I feel honored.
You should.
But how did we—you and I—link up, so to speak? How did you know to find me? How did I find you? How did you know to come to me on that night, five years ago, when I jumped out of the hotel balcony?
You could say we have a special bond, Sam.
How special?
We will save that for another time, and I will answer your question then.
I’m holding you to it.
He laughed lightly, although I sensed a lot of emotion behind his words, which confused and fascinated me.
We were silent for a long time, when I asked, Talos, should Elizabeth take over me completely, could she still summon you?
Yes.
And control you?
Yes.
But I thought you said she gets ejected each time I connect with you. That this is our safe place. But before he could answer, the answer came to me. Never mind. I think I know. I would be the one who is ejected, then.
Indeed, Sam.
And Dracula? I know he, too, can transform into his own dragon.
The man you call Dracula is doing his best to fight the entity within him.
But he’s mostly losing, I thought.
He is in, it is safe to say, the fight of his life.
We were silent, even as the wind thundered over Talos’s ears. That is, if he even had ears. I twitched... something. I think it was an ear.
I have ears, Sam.
Good to know.
I continued flapping, each movement slow and methodical, effortless yet powerful. I sensed this was Talos’s optimum speed. His trot so to speak. His natural gait. I also sensed that Talos could fly like this from now until eternity.
Not quite that long, Sam. But put it this way: we could see much of your world before I needed rest.
What about eating?
I do not eat, Sam.
This was news to me. I had always assumed the big fellow partook in a fat cow or two, at least every now and then.
Maybe back in the day, Sam. But not anymore.
I frowned at this. Or tried to frown. For all I knew, Talos’s face did nothing at all.
So what do you do for nourishment? Pardon me for pointing out the obvious, but you are a big son-of-a-bitch. And with all of this flying and spouting fire, well, I can only imagine the calories you burn through. No pun intended.
I heard a light flicker of laughter in my head. All good points, Sam. But those of my kind consume universal energy.
Say again.
Universal energy. A life source that is available to all, continuously.
Not quite all, I thought.
Not true, Sam. There are those on your earth who do not eat—at least, not in the traditional sense. These are what you would call a master’s master.
Um, what is this universal energy? Where is it?
It is everywhere, Sam.
Are you eating now? Did I just consume a universal cheeseburger and not know it?
More chuckling. In a way, yes. Those who are open to it are satiated continuously.
So you are never hungry?
Never.
And your belly is full or empty?
My belly, for the most part, has been shut down.
Because you have no use for it.
Something like that.
And how often do you eat?
Continuously.
What does universal energy taste like?
There is no taste, Sam. There is only a sense of contentment, of nourishment, of strength.
Do I have access to this now? I thought.
Now? There was a long pause. A really long pause. I do not know, Sam. It is for you to decide.
I thought about this. I also thought about never drinking blood again. And I was intrigued. I asked: What, exactly, is it?
It is best described as a source of well-being that permeates everything.
Is it God?
It is from God. From the creator. You have heard this before. This is not new information to you, Sam.
I did not know this well-being could also, you know, be a midnight snack too.
Like your kind says: you learn something new every day.
I thought about this in silence, flapping Talos’s great wings, and soaring high over Southern California and its glittering, rolling hills.
Chapter Sixteen
“You have a question, Sam,” said the young man who wasn’t so young after we’d greeted. Archibald Maximus, the Occult Reading Room Librarian, or guardian, depending on who showed up.
“I do, yes. And you don’t say hello anymore?”
“Hello, Sam. My apologies. I was busy back... there.” He gestured vaguely behind him, toward a short hallway with a number of doors leading off to either side, a hallway I’d never been down—or had even been invited down.
He’d hinted what was back there. Doorways to elsewhere, even doorways to the magical school where he taught. Once, he even hinted that his lab was back there, too.
A somewhat random thought occurred to me. “You’re not a teacher, are you? You run the school.”
“I’m the headmaster, yes.”
“Like Dumbledore,” I said.
He smiled at me. “Maybe. Little does J.K. Rowling know just how much she drew from the real world.”
“Is she a channel?”
“Yes, but more. A lot more.”
I nodded as if I knew what the hell he meant. I said, “Why aren’t you headmastering now? Okay, that sounded bad. But you know what I meant. Why aren’t you at school?”
“Because I am here, Sam.”
“But you are not here all the time. Only a few hours of the day. And surely you aren’t here when there is no need to be.”
“I come when summoned.”
“The doors behind you.” I counted eight of them. “Are doorways to other places, correct?”
“Portals, correct.”
“You can pop in here whenever you need to, and then pop back out to the school, or somewhere else.”
He nodded once. “Some of the doors lead to even more doors, Sam.”
“You be-bop around the country.”
He raised his eyes a little, waited.
“You be-bop around the world?”
He waited.
I swallowed. “Other worlds?”
“A handful of worlds. But there are still more to explore.”
“Am I really having this conversation?”
“You are.”
“What am I taking you away from, presently? I mean, prior to coming here, what were you doing?”
“I was inspecting the security of the school. Making my rounds, so to speak.”
“You really are Dumbledore,” I said. “But younger. And cuter.”
“Are you trying to make me blush, Sam?”
Except he hadn’t blushed, I noted. For all his cuteness and youth, the Alchemist was a bit of an enigma. He was, in essence, an immortal by choice. An immortal without the aid of a highly evolved dark master.
“I never said that, Sam,” he said. “You assumed this.”
I blinked. Outside, through the opaque glass window, I watched a student sashay by, her ponytail swinging back and forth, her backpack looking far lighter than any of mine ever had. I supposed many textbooks these days were available on Kindle.
I said, after processing his words, “You’ve been entrusted with a school to train Light Warriors. You watch over the world’s most dangerous books. You fight the good fight. There’s no way a highly evolved dark master is inside—” I stopped short.
He looked at me, waited again.
“It’s not a dark master,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows.
I nodded. “It’s an angel.”
“Very good, Sam. But I am not possessed. It is a mutual joining, if you will. He comes and goes as he sees fit, especially when I summon him.”
“Is the angel with you now?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“But why?”
“I find his presence... comforting.”
I got his meaning. “You mean, comforting when you are meeting me?”
Archibald Maximus opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. It was, I think, the first time he had ever been at a loss for words. He tried again. “Sam, you are not like the other vampires.”
“Because...?”
“My mother, for one thing. And she herself is not like other dark masters, either. She was particularly gifted in the dark arts, and particularly... evil. Worse, she was manipulative and vengeful. Combine her temperament and abilities with your own inherent witchy talents—”
“I never developed my witchy talents, not in this life, not yet, anyway—”
“No, but they are there, dormant.”
“But I thought I lost my ability to perform witchcraft once I became a vampire.”
“No, Sam. You only lost your place within the triad of your sisters.”
“I can still practice witchcraft?”
“Oh, yes. You will find it comes easy to you, much as it did with Allison.”
Witchcraft? I’d never thought... I’d never dreamed...
“You met someone yesterday,” he said suddenly.
I blinked, snapped out of it. “I did, kind of. We shared a pen, you could say.”
“Oh, you shared more than that. He shared something with you that is new information to me, too. I’m sorry if I am prying, but I can see it there, in your memory, plain as day.”
I knew of that which he spoke. I waited.
“I will admit,” he said, “that it never occurred to me that some of the vampires’ talents come from their very souls expressing themselves.”
“Like a big-ass dragon just told me, you learn something new every day.”
He was nodding. “This is huge, Sam.” The Librarian was pacing behind the help desk. I suppose I could also call him ‘Headmaster’ too. A man of many titles. “It means we have been giving the dark masters far too much credit. Note how they never corrected us. Note that they wanted us to believe in their power. But in fact, it was and is, your power all along.”
“But they are responsible for some things.”
“The dark things, Sam. The drinking of blood. The fear of light. The ugly nails.”
“Hey.”
“Sorry.”
I said, “Everyone makes fun of the nails until they need their Amazon packages opened.”
