Tail of the Devil (3 page)

Mathias could not breathe. His tongue seemed to stick to the back of his throat. Slowly, he unlocked the door and opened it.

One of the men cleared his throat.

A part of Mathias was praying that they had the wrong house. But he knew that they didn’t.

“Is this the Drvar residence, son?” the smaller cop asked.

Mathias nodded slowly. The world began to spin like a great merry-go-round. He felt a hand grab him and steady him.

“Come on, son. Sit down,” the tall cop said. He led Mathias to the couch.

Mathias looked around and realized he’d gotten to the sofa. He sat but didn’t even remember the cop leading him to it.

The next thing he knew a glass of water was in his hand.

“Breathe, just breathe.” The smaller one shook his head at the tall one. “I’m Officer Davis, and this is my partner, Officer Coombs. Is there anyone we can call for you?”

Mathias hated to say it, but he didn’t have a choice. He heard himself mumble through the drumming in his ears, “My Aunt Annette, she lives in Wheeling.”

Somehow, he managed to give the police his Aunt’s phone number from the depths of his memory.

He heard one of them call his aunt, but he didn’t pay attention to that. He was numb. And to make everything worse, the one woman in the world he could admit he hated was coming for him. His aunt was nothing like his mother. Her hair, while brown, was mousy and seemed almost burnt by her hairdresser’s attempts to make it blonde. Her eyes were brown and she had these crazy eyebrows. They gave Mathias the creeps, way too bushy for a woman. She was just off somehow.

He’d always dreaded the holidays when he’d been forced to play nice with her. She was one of those false people. In front of his parents, she was kind and sweet. But the minute she was alone with him, it was like the kid gloves would come off.

Over the years, she’d insulted him more times than he could count. There was something psychotic about her, just behind the eyes, but he’d never had enough proof to make her stop verbally abusing him. He didn’t know if it was jealousy, or if it was just that she was a bad person, but it felt like she enjoyed taking out her frustration on him anytime she got the chance. It was a mystery. Mathias had no idea why she hated him. It had just always been so, and it made it so that every holiday, he played the game, praying for the day to pass quickly.

Time passed. Mathias didn’t bother to look at the clock, but finally he watched his aunt come through the door, sobbing. “This is just the worst thing I can think of.” She allowed the cops to steady her as she howled.

“Ma’am, try to calm down,” Officer Davis said. “Let us get your contact information and you can take the boy.”

Mathias stopped paying attention. His head felt like it was filled with jelly. Everything looked like it was moving in slow motion.

Suddenly, a hand with sharp fingernails grabbed him by the shoulder. His aunt sunk the tips of the nails into his shoulder. It felt like a bear trap just starting to close. Not fun at all. But, it did bring him out of his daze.

“Oh, Mathias, are you okay honey?” His aunt asked sweetly.

He jerked his shoulder out of her grip. She smiled knowingly at him and patted his knee.

“These nice men have something important to tell us,” she said.

Officer Coombs cleared his throat. “This evening, at 10:48 p.m. the vehicle driven by Charles Drvar was struck behind by another vehicle. Unfortunately, Mr. Drvar lost control, and the car smashed into a tree. Both Charles and Linda Drvar...” He cleared his throat.

Mathias felt the tears begin to build in his eyes.

“The driver who hit them is currently being held at the county jail. He was drunk...” The cop paused. Mathias could tell that the man always hated this part of his job because of the sad look in his eye.

“What hospital are they at?” Mathias asked. He hoped his feeling was wrong, but he knew it wasn’t.

“Son,” the smaller cop said. “I’m sorry. They didn’t make it.”

Mathias could hold back no more. The tears flowed and his body was wracked with sobs. No more jokes with his father. No more of Mom’s meatloaf. It was gone, all gone. Perhaps the worst thing about finding out that his parents were gone was that his aunt let him sit and cry. She didn’t even bother to give him any semblance of comfort. Not that he would have wanted it, but she could have at least made the effort. Mathias had never felt so unloved in his whole life.

* * * * *

Mathias watched her take the policemen to the other side of the room. He could hear her voice telling them something, but she was whispering and he was too far away to hear. It wasn’t like anything she could say now would make any difference. The life he’d known was over.

Chapter Two

Something was happening to Mathias. The nerves throughout his body began twitching and his body started shaking uncontrollably. His bones lengthened and retracted.
Pain. So much pain.
His blood burned in his veins like liquid fire, like it was attacking everything. The pain was changing him, making him alive.

* * * * *

Mathias opened his eyes. Very slowly, things came into focus. Light, objects, if he could see those things, he wasn’t dead. It took him a few minutes to blink away the weird film that had developed… While he slept? Passed out? Where the hell was he? The room was white. He remembered hearing stories about people seeing a white light when they die, but he hadn’t seen any weird light. There had only been great pain and a void. Finally, he heard voices coming from outside the room. He turned his head. No one there yet. The room smelled. It had some sort of antiseptic scent, but it looked like a dormitory room he’d seen on TV. He waited, and tried to strain his ears so he could hear everything the voices were saying.

“What about room six, Doctor Evans?”a voice asked.

Mathias immediately thought “hospital”, but as he looked at the room he noticed it was more like a hotel room than a something you’d find in a hospital.

He sat up in bed. There was no pain. He peeked underneath the hospital gown, and found nothing. There was no evidence that he’d even been shot. His arm was sore, so he looked down. There was an IV sticking out of it. What looked like blood was slowly seeping into his body. He wanted none of it. With a jerk, he pulled the tubing from his arm. The IV machine began beeping annoyingly as soon as Mathias detached the tubing. He ignored it. Just as he got out of the bed, a group of white coated men and women rushed into the room.

“Come on now. It’s all right. Let’s get you back to bed,” the closest one said to him.

Mathias looked around like a caged animal.
What the hell do they want to do with me?
The closer any of them stepped, the further Mathias retreated to the wall.

“Who are you? What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Mathias snarled, trying to scare them away.

A female stepped forward. “We don’t want anything from you. We’re trying to help you.”

Mathias looked at them wildly. Everything that had been bottled up inside from the beginning let loose at once. He grabbed the bed, simply meaning to push it toward them, but managed to throw it across the room instead. The shock of throwing the bed dissipated his rage. “Did I just...”

One of the men in white stepped forward. He was huge with great big muscular arms that strained the sleeves of his white scrubs. He calmly moved the bed out of the way of the door. It was like nothing. He didn’t even strain. “Now, son. I suggest you calm down and begin acting a bit more civilized. We do things a bit differently here. You don’t want me to have to bring Master Tepes in here.”

“What the fuck do I care? You can’t tell me what to do! I don’t give a shit about any goddamn Master Tepes! Get the fuck out of here!” Mathias leaned forward, getting ready to fight if he had to.

In an instant, the light in the room dimmed slightly and Mathias felt a pair of cold hands rest on his shoulders. “Enough is enough, little one. It’s time to calm down.”

Mathias jumped and turned to the figure behind him. He recognized the tall dark figure with the glinting eyes from the alley. He watched the figure raise his hand, and in the next moment, everything went black.

* * * * *

Master Tepes sighed, and then motioned for several men; together they got the poor child back into his bed.

“You must remember, Alexander. This one has been through quite a lot. He doesn’t even know who he is. When next he wakes, offer food. Then, contact me at once,” Master Tepes nodded at Alexander, the large orderly, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

* * * * *

The next time Mathias woke, he found himself tied to the bed. “Goddamn it.” His eyes darted around the room, almost expecting to be attacked or something, but no one was there. The door to the room was closed. He could almost bet it was locked. There was no way out of it. He was a prisoner.

“Help!” Mathias yelled. He jerked against the straps holding him down, but they were too strong; they wouldn’t budge. It wasn’t long before he heard footsteps thumping down the hall headed for his room. The door opened and before he could do much else, a woman, whom Mathias guessed to be a nurse, was holding out a glass of red liquid. She crept over to him like he was going to hurt her.
I’m the one that’s tied down and she’s afraid of me?

“What is that?” he asked.

The nurse smiled, timidly. “You could call it—let’s see— What are they calling them these days? Oh yes, an energy drink.”

“What’s in it?” Mathias asked.

“Vitamins, things your body needs to get well,” the nurse replied.

He paused. “What’s going on here?”

The nurse grinned weakly at him and set the glass on the bedside table. It was almost like she was trying to keep him calm. Mathias watched as she untied him. He kept very still and almost jumped when she started rubbing his wrists where the straps had held him to the bed.

Guess I’m not so scary after all.

“Honey, Master Tepes will explain everything. I know you’ve been through one heck of a fright, but I need you to stay calm for me,” she patted his arm and helped him sit up. She then picked up the “energy drink” from the nightstand and handed it to him.

“You really expect me to drink this?” Mathias curled his lip and moved away from the glass. Who knew what was in it? It wasn’t like these people had made themselves trustworthy, they’d knocked him out and tied him to a bed.

The nurse sighed. “Look, I’ll take a sip. I promise; there is nothing in this drink that will harm you.”

Mathias watched her put the glass to her lips and took a drink. He still wasn’t convinced.

“Open your mouth!” He knew that his mother would be ashamed at the way he was acting, but he couldn’t help it. He’d been through too much to trust anyone.

The nurse complied, and when Mathias saw the red stain on her tongue, he took the glass from her outstretched hand.

She watched him, eyes steady. Mathias slowly brought the glass up to his nose and sniffed. It didn’t smell like much of anything. He shrugged and took a sip and smacked his lips a few times.

“This stuff isn’t too bad. Kind of coppery, but all right I guess.”

The nurse smiled. “I’ll go let the Master know that you are ready to see him,” she patted him on the foot, “Enjoy your drink.”

The more he drank the more he liked it. When he finished, he set the glass on the nightstand and crossed his legs on the bed. It wasn’t long before Master Tepes came into the room. The man nodded in greeting and pulled a chair over to Mathias’ bed. He was tall, with long black hair and eyes that were so dark that they were black. He sported a long mustache and long shiny fingernails.

“Now, I believe it’s time for us to have a talk,” the man said.

Mathias nodded.

“How did you like the blood?” Master Tepes asked.

Mathias’ eyes grew wide. “The what?”
Holy shit.
His heart felt like it had stopped beating. No way was that stuff blood. It couldn’t be, not that Mathias had ever drank a glass of blood before.

“The blood, how did it taste?”

Mathias jumped off the bed. “That... that was blood?”

Master Tepes smiled. The man looked either amused or pleased with himself. Mathias wasn’t sure. Either way, it was so not cool.

“You gave me fucking blood? What kind of nut job are you?” Mathias said trying not to completely loose his mind.

“I am not insane, Mathias,” Master Tepes said.

The way he said it, Mathias could almost see the smile creeping onto the man’s face. Enough with all the crap. He was done with all the mystery, all the secrets. “And that’s another thing. Just how in the fuck do you know my name?”

Master Tepes laughed. “Oh dear boy, that is easy to answer. I am what you call a vampire.”

Mathias froze. “A vampire?” Thoughts whirled through Mathias’ mind. The things he read in books, Nic asking for a vampire skull, the pain he felt before he died; it all bounced around in his head like a ping pong ball. He shivered. Either this guy was a nutcase, or he was telling the truth. Both options sucked.

Master Tepes paused for a moment while he scratched him chin. After a minute, he stood from his chair. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Vlad Tsepesh, spelled T.E.P.E.S, former Voivod of Wallachia.”

Mathias raised an eyebrow. “Wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me that you’re Dracula?” Mathias looked at the man and stared. “You seriously don’t expect me to believe that.”

Master Tepes wiped a hand through his hair. “Please do not associate me with Bela Lugosi, for Father’s sake! That is exactly why I wish I was never given that nickname. If Bram Stoker hadn’t come across it, I would not be the laughing stock of the vampire world. I am not “Dracula”. I am Vlad Tepes. There is a great difference,” Master Tepes reached forward as if to pat him on the head; Mathias dodged him.

He climbed back onto his bed and thought for a moment. The pain, the dark figure, it all made sense now. “Holy shit,” he muttered.

Mathias opened his mouth and touched his teeth. “What the...” he mumbled and looked down at his fingertips, they were covered in blood.

“Yes, Mathias. You are now one of us. But do not be glum; it has certain advantages.”

Mathias took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was a vampire. They had turned him into a vampire. “How did you do it?”

Tepes smiled. “Did you know that not just anyone can be made into a vampire? The person has to have a certain magic within them. This magic is passed down through certain familial lines and has been there since humans and vampires began walking the earth. If anyone could be turned into a vampire, the world would be overrun with them.”

Mathias nodded.

“Did you know that you are a distant relative of mine?” He pointed at Mathias. “Your last name, Drvar, is the clue.” He sat back down in the chair and crossed his legs.

“Is that why you made me like this?” Mathias asked.

“There is much more to it than that, but that is one reason.”

Before Mathias had time to brood, he felt a strange stiffness in his back... almost painful. He leaned back and tried to stretch it out, but all he felt was a painful pop. He doubled over. Something was broken. He could feel the bones move apart. Master Tepes came close.

“Mathias, will you let me help you?” Tepes asked.

Mathias tried to nod, but the pain was too great. The bones or whatever in his back felt like they were going to slice through his skin.

“Don’t do that, let me help.” The elder vampire smacked him on the back so hard that he doubled over in the bed. He was about to jump up and beat the shit out of the guy, but after the initial jolt of pain, it started to fade. Something had burst from his back. Tepes ran his hands over whatever it was and Mathias felt complete relief.

“What the hell?”Last time he’d looked, his back was a normal back.

Master Tepes stepped in front of Mathias and smiled. Before Mathias’ eyes, wings, like those of a bat, billowed out from behind Tepes and settled gracefully around his shoulders. “It was time to pop out your wings.”

Vampires had wings. He took a deep breath. He had wings. Sweat pooled on his upper lip. His breath became short.
Don’t have a panic attack, not now.
“Wings?” He gasped. “I didn’t know vampires had wings.“ He gasped again. “I mean, I knew they changed into bats-“