Blood Lure (20 page)
“
I fear my uncle has taken Tommy, the young fireman who saved my life, but his mind has been
closed to me since I last saw him at the Vampire Council’s chambers
.”
“Jared told me of your uncle’s duplicity. I will contact all my friends and associates to see if
anyone can detect your uncle’s whereabouts. In the meantime, why don’t you come here to be with us?
Searching alone when the man could be anywhere will only serve to frustrate you
.”
“Thank you, Marcus. I can only pray that he hasn’t harmed Tommy—that he’s simply holding
him as a way to coerce me into doing whatever it is he now wants
.”
Marcus met his friend Joseph’s grim expression with one of his own.
“Marek must be insane to think he can get away with this kind of devious ploy.”
“There has to be a reason he’s willing to go to such lengths,” Joseph said. “To have one nephew killed and attempt the murder of the other is the work of a man desperate for something—but what? Andrew says there is no wealth to speak of, and after two hundred years, if there had been, would it not have surfaced long ago? Is it possible Marek simply wants the young man for himself?”
“I don’t believe he loves men as we do,” Marcus replied. “No, I have to think greed is the explanation. It’s possible neither Michael nor Andrew knew of any fortune. If only Marek is privy to it, he could have sealed the information away from his nephews.”
“So why then kill them?”
Marcus shrugged. “To stop any challenge if it should come to light that he has taken what is rightly Michael and Andrew’s. Ah…” He paused and smiled at Joseph. “André in Argentina bids us good health.” He chuckled. “But he wants to know why we’re interrupting when he has a beautiful mortal woman in his arms.”
Joseph rolled his eyes. “André never changes.”
“He has discerned nothing out of the ordinary but will keep his mind open.”
They looked to the doorway as Roger entered accompanied by Andrew.
“Found this guy on the doorstep.” Roger grinned at them. “Says he knows you.”
Marcus frowned. “Roger, your humour is ill-timed. Andrew has some disturbing news.
His friend Tommy has been abducted, we think, by Andrew’s uncle.”
“Sorry.” Roger grimaced. “See that’s what I get for not reading other people’s minds, like you keep telling me not to.”
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“That’s all right, Roger.” Andrew gave him a weak smile then turned to Marcus. “I’m only sorry that I have once again to involve you in my troubles.”
“Andrew, let me ask you this,” Marcus said carefully. “Have you wondered why your uncle wanted you and Michael out of the way? Is it possible that money or property or some other form of wealth is at the root of the problem? Marek’s interest in Tommy cannot be a sexual one, therefore it seems to me that he is holding the young man hostage in order to have you give him something of value.”
Andrew looked perplexed.
“Jared suggested that also, but I swear to you Marcus, if there is some kind of family fortune, neither Michael nor I had knowledge of it. Our parents were not poor, but certainly not wealthy. Uncle Lazlo always said the best thing that happened to Michael and I was that even though he changed us against our will, he took us from a life destined to be one of monotony. In addition, if we’d had money to spare, then Michael would not have been in debt, nor would he have had to borrow from Fieldman.”
“And Fieldman wouldn’t have known Michael was vampire if your uncle had not told him.” Marcus paused in thought. “So, it would seem that Marek used your brother’s weakness to set him up for destruction, then convinced you that Jared had done the deed.
Perhaps he thought that you would kill Jared, or Jared kill you, either way ridding himself of you standing in his way for whatever prize he thinks is in his grasp.”
Andrew shuddered. “When I think that in my rage, I almost gave him what he wanted.
I am once more filled with remorse for what I put Jared through.”
“But that’s over with now,” Roger said, punching Andrew lightly on the arm. “You and Jared are buddies again, and now we have to find Tommy so you and the hunky fireman can get it on for real.”
Marcus sighed. “Roger…”
“I know, I know, my humour is
ill-timed,
but I’m only trying to make Andrew feel better.”
Andrew gave Roger’s shoulder an affectionate squeeze. “And your attempts are appreciated. If only I knew where my uncle has taken Tommy. If I could but reason with him.”
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“What he has done shows he has lost all reason,” Joseph remarked. “But I am curious. If there is in fact a fortune that only he knows about, why has he waited so long to claim it as his own?”
“Perhaps he has only recently discovered it,” Marcus suggested.
“If such a fortune exists.” Andrew shook his head. “I still can’t quite believe it does.”
“But if it does,” Roger said, his eyes shining, “think of all the fun you and Tommy could have once you get it back from your evil uncle. You could have a ball—or two!”
“
Roger
.”
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Tommy awoke, a deep throbbing pain on the side of his neck. He groaned and tried to sit up, but could not.
Jeez, I’m so weak. What the hell happened?
The last thing he remembered was walking to his apartment. He’d wanted to get there before Andrew arrived, tidy up a bit, take a shower. He had been excited by Andrew’s phone call saying he was back in town and could they meet?
Could they ever!
But now? He looked around him at the strange surroundings.
Where am I? Why can’t I move?
“Ah, I see you have finally awakened.”
Tommy managed to turn his head and peer into the dimly lit room. The voice, heavily accented, came from a man reclining in an armchair near where Tommy lay.
“Who’re you?” Tommy could barely manage a whisper. His throat ached and his mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton.
“I am Lazlo Marek, Andrew’s uncle. Has he mentioned me?”
“I don’t think so.”
Andrew’s uncle?
Tommy mulled over that information. “But why am I here? Where’s Andrew?”
Marek sniggered. “Still flying about in circles, I expect, looking for you. Of course he’s not going to find you, until I am ready for him.”
A prickle of anger mingled with fear stabbed at the base of Tommy’s skull.
“What d’you mean?”
Marek rose from his armchair and moved into Tommy’s line of vision. “You don’t know what Andrew is, do you, mortal?”
“You mean what he does for a living?” Tommy stared up at Marek, at the stern hawk-like features. “No, I don’t think we got into that. And what’s this
mortal
shit?”
Marek’s chuckle was sinister, and Tommy shivered involuntarily as he sensed a kind of madness in the sound.
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“You are human,” Marek rasped. “Andrew is not. You are a living being, Andrew is one of the undead—he is vampire.”
“
What?
” Tommy glared at Marek. “You are one stupid asshole if you expect me to believe that bullshit. There’s no such things as—Whoa!” Tommy’s eyes widened as Marek slid onto the couch beside him and bared his fangs.
“Hey, man, aren’t you a bit old to be playing with those phoney Halloween teeth?”
Marek gave a dry chuckle. “I can assure you these are not phoney.” He leant over Tommy and nipped at his neck.
“Ow!” Tommy glared up at him. “Cut that out!” He tried to raise his arms to push the man away from him, but found he could not move a muscle.
Marek’s cold eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “I have already drunk from you,” he hissed.
Tommy could not avoid flinching when Marek’s fingers pressed painfully against the place on Tommy’s neck where he’d bitten him.
“Andrew has too, I could sense it. But he didn’t tell you what he is. He wanted to spare you that. He has
feelings
for you,” he added with a smirk. “You, the brave fire fighter who saved his life.”
Tommy’s memory snapped back to a moment when he and Andrew had been in bed together and he’d teased Andrew about calling him a ‘mortman’ after they’d made love…
Jesus, he’d been about to call me a mortal. It’s true what this moron just said, Andrew’s a fuckin’
vampire! Oh, God
…
He tried to curl his right hand into a fist in preparation to slug Marek on the jaw, but again he could barely lift it off the couch.
Still so weak!
Marek’s grin was fiendish. “Your strength will not return until I will it so. You can forget any ideas you might have of acting the stalwart hero. But don’t worry, I have no designs on your body. As handsome as Andrew may find you, you are merely a mortal man to me, and have no sexual allure.”
“Thank fuck for that,” Tommy rasped. “You are definitely not my type either.”
“Nor will Andrew be, I suspect.” Marek’s voice was cold with satisfaction. “Now that you know his true nature.”
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Tommy was silent, thinking how crazy he’d been about Andrew, how he couldn’t wait to see him again, kiss him, hold him, feel that hard body pressed to his—but now? The guy was a vampire. The undead. A monster he’d read about and seen in movies, tearing people’s throats out, always ending up being staked, or burned, or—but try as he might he just couldn’t equate any of that with Andrew. The man who had made love to him with such incredible passion, whose kisses were the greatest he had ever known. No, it just couldn’t be true.
It
wasn’t
true, dammit!
“You’re lying,” he said, through clenched teeth. “This is all some kind of trick. What’s the real story here?”
Marek laughed without mirth. He stood and walked away from Tommy, returning a moment later with a framed photograph in his hand.
“Take a good look at this,” he said, sinking onto the couch again. “Tell me what you see.”
Tommy squinted at the photo. It was old, not even black and white, more creamy looking.
Sepia, I think that’s what it’s called
.
Standing alongside another young man, Andrew smiled happily at him from the picture, and Tommy felt a pang of warmth blossom in his chest.
He looks so young and beautiful
…
“It’s Andrew and some other dude.”
“His brother Michael, now deceased.” Marek said. “Taken in Budapest two years before they were changed. Before
I
changed them. When that picture was taken, Andrew was twenty-three, and the year was eighteen-hundred-andfive.”
“You are one sick son-of-a-bitch,” Tommy muttered. “You changed them, made them vampires? What? They asked you for this favour?”
Marek’s eyes flared with amusement.
“No. They struggled quite a bit in the beginning, I’m afraid. I had to wean them into their new existence, nurture them if you will, although I fear that now the trust Andrew had in me will have diminished somewhat.” He laughed again as if this was something that delighted him. “Now he knows I had his brother killed and arranged the attempt on his life—the fire you rescued him from.”
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“God, but you’re a fuckin’ bastard!” Tommy silently willed his strength to return to his body so he could take this moron apart. “What did they ever do to you that you’d want to kill them?”
“They have something I want. Something I cannot have while Andrew still lives.”
“You mean like money?”
“More money than you could dream of, young Tommy.” Marek rose and threw the framed photograph on top of a nearby bureau. “A fortune languishing in a Swiss bank for over two hundred years, untouched, and gaining in value every year.”
“And it’s Andrew’s?”
Marek scowled. “The fool doesn’t even know of its existence. His parents
died
, quite young. Andrew and Michael were just boys—it was unfortunate.”
“You killed them, didn’t you?” Tommy snapped, in a moment of intuition. “How come you didn’t take the money and run then?”
“I was unaware that their grandfather had opened a trust for the boys after their parents died. The old fool died of a heart attack before he could tell anyone what he’d done.
It wasn’t even mentioned in his will. It wasn’t until quite recently that some enterprising clerk in the bank came across the account, quite by accident. The bank manager wrote to Michael and Andrew to inform them of their good fortune.”
“I thought you said—”
“I intercepted the letter while I was staying at Michael’s apartment in New York,”
Marek said, anticipating Tommy’s remark.
“Some guest you are.” Tommy curled his upper lip. “Remind me never to have you stay over.”
Marek chuckled. “Quite the comedian. Tell me, young Tommy, are you as unafraid as you seem to be, or simply arrogant?”
Tommy shrugged. “I’d be a fool not to be afraid of someone like you—not only a vampire, but a homicidal maniac. I could lie here and piss my pants, but I won’t give you that satisfaction.”
“Good, that’s a rather expensive couch you’re lying on.”
“Har, har…” Tommy bared his teeth at Marek.
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“So, what happens now? You waitin’ for Andrew to fly to my rescue? ‘Cause I don’t think that’s gonna happen, seeing as how he doesn’t even know where I am. And even if he did, what makes you think he’d want to?”
“Because I can read his mind, Tommy, and you are uppermost in his thoughts. I told you he has feelings for you.” Marek grimaced. “You have replaced Jared in his affections.”
“Jared? That’s the guy I talked to when Andrew got hurt.”
“They were lovers once.” Marek paused as if listening to something, or someone.
“Interesting…”
“What?” Tommy tried to sit up, but still his body wouldn’t respond.
“It seems I may have to hurry along my plans a little.” He knelt at Tommy’s side. “This will hurt, I’m afraid.”