Bloodliner (37 page)

*****

Chapter 108

Jonah was gazing up at the amber cylinder when Stanza came up behind him.

"I told you everything would work out, didn't I?" she said, and then she kissed his shoulder. "We did it."

Jonah nodded at the figure in the faraway cylinder. "
He
did it, you mean. Whoever
he
is."

"Him?" Stanza wrapped her arms around Jonah and hugged him. "He's Lazarus."

"
Lazarus?
" Scowling, Jonah squinted at the cylinder. "Not
the
Lazarus?"

"The one and only. The Progenitor." Stanza rested her head on Jonah's shoulder. "Lazarus who was raised from the dead. Lazarus, first of the vampires. Lazarus, soul of Empyrea."

Jonah's mouth fell open as he stared at the cylinder. "His remains are powerful enough to cast out
feratu
? Hundreds at a time?"

"Strictly speaking, those aren't his remains," said Stanza. "He's still alive."

"In there?" Jonah pointed at the cylinder. "Some kind of suspended animation?"

"He's just as alive and aware as he ever was," said Stanza. "Just a lot more fragile." Lifting her head from Jonah's shoulder, she kissed the back of his neck. "Hundreds of years ago, the Lazarites placed him in the amber to protect him. To preserve his power for the day when the balance between vampires and humans was upset and had to be restored."

"And that's what all of this was about." Jonah turned and slipped his arms around her. "From the beginning."

"Yes," said Stanza. "Genghis and his sect had grown too powerful. They were planning a war...a
big
one. Vampires versus humans." She set her jaw and met his gaze. "Your parents came up with a plan to stop them. Genghis had them killed before they could finish it, so they passed it along to us."

"There never was any godlike power," said Jonah. "This was all a trap."

Stanza nodded. "There were legends about Empyrea and how it bestowed infinite power. Your parents exploited those legends to draw in Genghis, but they knew the truth about what Empyrea could do. It was spelled out in an ancient scripture called the Gospel of Lazarus, which I found for them."

"And this is what it does." Jonah looked around and shook his head. "Turns vampires back into humans."

"Permanently," said Stanza. "They can never be infected again. They can never endanger humanity again."

"I wouldn't say
that
."

At the sound of Genghis' voice, Jonah broke his embrace with Mavis and whipped around, instantly expecting conflict. Adrenaline burned through his bloodstream, his heart flew into overdrive, every muscle tensed...

But the alarms were for nothing. Genghis wasn't free to attack. He was a prisoner under the power of Shakespeare and Alexander, who had his arms locked in two-handed grips. James and Thomas walked behind them with fists clenched and shoulders squared, ready for violent action.

"I'm Genghis Khan! I'm just as dangerous like
this
as I
ever
was." Genghis roared with laughter. "Hell, I'm
more
dangerous! Now that the clock's
ticking
again, I'm more
motivated
than ever!"

Stanza nodded. "You know, you're absolutely right. I think the rest of the ex-vampires in here will be fine back in the world. I think they'll be perfectly happy to get back to normal human life." Stanza walked up to Genghis and cocked her head to one side. "But
you
..."

"I know." Genghis cocked his head the same way and sneered. "I'm a
prick
, aren't I?"

"You said it," said Thomas. "Times a million."

"I'm actually looking forward to this," said Genghis. "Imagine Genghis Khan in the 21
^st
century, without all the vampire hangups. Sowing some wild oats. Taking the world by storm." He leaned toward Stanza, knotting his features into a smirk of pure, sadistic cruelty. "Wait till you see what I
do
with the place."

Stanza stared at him for a long, silent moment, her gaze locked to his as if by steel cables. Finally, she spoke. "I have lived a very long time, but my memory is incomplete."

"Much like my patience." Genghis tried to shrug free, but Shakespeare and Alexander tightened their grip.

Stanza leaned closer to him. "One of the things I remember about my past. One of the few things." She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "The man who buried me alive when I was little. Who walked away whistling and left me to go mad or kill myself.

"It was you."

"What?" Genghis frowned at her. "Seriously?"

Stanza nodded. "I'd forgotten, but it came back to me recently. When I first saw you in Kitezh, it all flooded back."

Genghis stared, cocking his head one way and then the other. "So you say I buried you alive? And then I walked away whistling?"

"Yes," said Stanza.

"Could you be more specific?" said Genghis.

Stanza slid her hand into a pocket of her red leather jacket. "You were right about being dangerous. Fangs or no fangs."

Genghis leered. "You don't know the half of it."

"I spend my life digging up the past. But sometimes..." Stanza's hand flashed out of her pocket and across Genghis' throat. Only when the hand had stopped moving did Jonah notice the gleaming silver blade in it. "Sometimes, the past is best left buried."

A crimson line formed on Genghis' throat, opening from ear to ear. Drops of blood oozed from the line, sliding down onto his chest...and then the blood was running...pouring...gushing. Cascading like wine from an overfilled glass.

Gasping and gurgling, Genghis bucked in his captors' grasp, thrashing with increasing desperation. They let him go, and he fell to his knees. He clutched at his throat with both hands, as if trying to hold everything in, but it was beyond repair. His new heart, just minutes old, kept pushing out the blood he needed to live...and this time, he couldn't just steal some from someone else to replace it.

There were no last words from Genghis Khan. Collapsing on his side among the dead
feratu
, he choked and spasmed. As the flow of blood slowed, he seized up, then went limp, sprawling at Stanza's feet...twitching, lifeless, and drained of blood, like one of the countless victims of his vampiric hunger throughout the ages.

"It's over." Stanza let out a deep breath and nodded. "All done."

Then, she dropped the knife and turned to Jonah. Tears ran down her face, glistening in the golden light of Lazarus from above. "So there," she said. "No more Genghis Khan."

"I guess you showed him." Jonah opened his arms.

Stanza threw herself into them. "I'd call it a win."

They stood there, in the middle of Empyrea, under Lazarus himself, and held each other as if they'd been apart for years. As they embraced, Shakespeare applauded, and Alexander and James and Thomas joined in. So did Arthur and Mavis, and Hercules, too, his claps like booming thunder. The standing ovation spread to Shakespeare's troops and beyond.

And in the heart of it all, Jonah kissed Stanza. She smiled and kissed him back. "I love you," she said.

"I love you, too." Jonah couldn't be sure, but he thought the applause got even louder when he kissed her again.

*****

 

Epilogue

Outside Tucson, Arizona, Three Months Later

"I pronounce you husband and wife," said Shakespeare. "You may now kiss the bride."

Arthur, resplendent in his kingly robes of royal purple, swept Mavis into his arms and kissed her. The audience clapped and cheered beneath the desert full moon, Hercules loudest among them.

Arthur's best man, Jonah, looked around at the scene and smiled. He couldn't suppress a rush of affection for the people gathered there, people who'd stood by him through amazing trials and tribulations. In a few short months, they'd gone from complete strangers to his closest friends, and now here they were, celebrating the wedding of two of their own.

For a moment, Jonah was struck by the strangeness of it all. He stood side by side with the one and only William Shakespeare, King Arthur, Hercules, and Alexander the Great...figures out of history and myth, doers of incredible deeds, shapers of the world and its nations. They were truly larger than life, yet they were as solid and friendly and human as any ordinary person Jonah had ever known. Sometimes, he had to remind himself that they
weren't
ordinary.

And sometimes, that wasn't so much of a problem.

As Arthur and Mavis continued to kiss, Shakespeare cleared his throat and spoke. "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments." He spread his arms to encompass the happy couple. "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove.

"O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken.

 
It is the star to every wand'ring bark, whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

"Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass come. Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out ev'n to the edge of doom.

"If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Shakespeare used his big stage voice and actorly enunciation as he pulled apart the kissing bride and groom and turned them to face the guests. "I present Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Pendragon!"

All at once, the guests pushed forward to embrace the happy couple.

"Congratulations!" said Hercules. "This is a union worthy of
Olympus
itself!"

"How does it feel to be a queen?" James said to Mavis.

Mavis' face glowed with moonlight and pure joy. "On your knees when you say that!" she said, and everyone laughed.

Jonah was happy for her. He wished her all the happiness she could get.

Thanks to Stanza, he finally knew how wonderful happiness could be. Because of her, for the first time in his life, he
was
happy.

His heart pounded as he gazed at her now, standing across from him in front of the audience as Mavis' maid of honor. She wore a strapless red satin gown trimmed with black, and her long hair was up, styled in elegant swirls and curls. A few stray strands poked out of the careful arrangement, enhancing the effect with hints of disarray.

She's more beautiful than ever. She's everything I've ever wanted.

In the month since the Battle of Niihau, Jonah and Stanza had gotten closer and more deeply involved. Their relationship had thrived and grown as they'd worked together to help the unmade vampires start new lives as humans. He loved her, plain and simple, and he knew she loved him, too.

Life is good.
He could finally say that. He was in love, his brothers had been returned to him, and he was at peace with the secrets and disappointments of the past.

Life is great.

At the front of the makeshift open-air chapel, Mavis and Arthur beamed and laughed and hugged their guests. One after another, the friends who'd helped bring them to this happy ending stepped up and congratulated them.

"From one once and perhaps future king to another." Alexander shook Arthur's hand vigorously and clapped his shoulder. "I wish you only the best that life has to offer."

Arthur bowed to Alexander. "I already have the best in friends and comrades."

Suddenly, Hercules produced a jug of red wine. "Time for a toast!" He yanked out the cork with his teeth and hoisted the jug high overhead. "To new beginnings!"

"New beginnings!" said everyone.

*****

Jonah and Stanza joined them for the second dance, slipping into each other's arms with practiced ease. Her sparkling gaze held his as they moved around the circle, rocking and turning slowly in time with the music.

"Great wedding, huh?" Jonah couldn't stop smiling. He couldn't believe how beautiful Stanza looked, how much he loved her, how happy they were. It was a moment that for the longest time he hadn't dared expect or imagine, and now he savored it.

"Best wedding ever." The desert breeze stirred Stanza's hair and earrings. Her skin had a faint golden cast from the bonfire built for the party. "They make a great couple."

"We're a great couple, too," said Jonah. "Wouldn't you say?"

Stanza tipped her head to one side and scrunched up her eyes as if she had to think about it. "Well..." She chewed her lip and sighed...then shrugged. "Sure. I guess I'd say that."

Jonah laughed and gave her a quick spin. He dipped her, kissed her, and scooped her back up. Hercules and Thomas whooped and wolf-whistled, so he kissed her again after that.

"I'm so glad I met you," said Jonah. "You've changed my life."

Gazing into his eyes, Stanza reached up and brushed her fingers over his cheek. "I love you so much it scares me." Her voice was a whisper.

Jonah frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I've lived for ages," said Stanza. "I've lost and forgotten so much." She winced. "What if I lose you, too? What if I forget you?"

Jonah leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "Wouldn't it be worse if we weren't together at all? If we didn't make the most of this while we have it?"

Stanza's eyes glistened. She nodded.

"Some people never find love at all, right?" said Jonah. "We're lucky."

"I know." Stanza smiled and laid her head against his shoulder. "Maybe this is what it takes for me to remember. Maybe this is what I've been looking for all my life. True love."

"I like that theory," said Jonah. "I say let's run with it."

"Deal," said Stanza.

Jonah breathed in her perfume and closed his eyes, delirious with joy. He wished the moment would last forever, the two of them dancing close in the Arizona night, ripe with promise.

"So what's next?" he said.

"Well, the former vampires will take time to assimilate," said Stanza. "But I think they'll be all right, thanks to the support group we've set up. We couldn't ask for a better counselor than William Shakespeare."

"No," said Jonah. "I mean for you. What's next for you?"

"I
do
have a new case, now that you mention it." Stanza lifted her head from his shoulder and smiled eagerly. "A world leader's hiring me to trace the werewolves in his family tree. He's starting to show symptoms. I'm leaving in two days."

"Oh." The excitement drained out of Jonah. "Two days."

"So." Stanza put her head back on his shoulder. "What are you doing in two days?"

Jonah smiled and pressed his cheek against her hair. "Going to meet a werewolf world leader?"

"I've already bought your ticket," said Stanza. "I hope you don't mind."

Jonah leaned back, and she smiled up at him. "Of course I mind," he said. "Don't ever do that again."

Then, as the song reached its end, they stopped dancing. Jonah took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and pulled her toward him.

They kissed for a long time in the moonlight, in the starlight, in the firelight, oblivious to the friends watching and clapping and wolf-whistling, only dreaming of each other and adventures yet to come.