The Cross

Chapter Thirty-Four

The Ridings

The two ghouls were waiting nervously as the chopper touched down on the helipad at The Ridings.

‘Master,’ Geoffrey Hopley croaked, scurrying beneath the spinning rotors to welcome Gabriel, ‘some friends of yours have arrived.’

Gabriel batted him aside. ‘Yes, yes, they were expected. Away with you, now. Lillith, Zachary, bring the human inside and prepare him. I will join you shortly.’

‘Gabriel!’ cried a chorus of familiar voices as he strode inside the hallway of the manor house. He turned, spread his arms in pleasure and greeted each of his trusted old allies in turn. Moustachioed Victor, silver-haired Yuri, the blond and handsome Rolando, the short, swarthy Petroc, fat Albrecht in the fedora hat and the shaven-headed Elspeth had all been part of the Trad assault team that had so effectively destroyed the Federation’s pharmaceutical plant in the Italian Alps. Tiberius, tall and muscular with an air of nobility, had been Gabriel’s comrade during his brief, and in retrospect ill-judged, stint with the Roman Praetorian Guard and they’d remained in contact ever since.

As for Kali, resplendent in the same exotic silks and jewels Gabriel remembered so well, seeing her again evoked many delicious memories from years past.

‘Gabriel, sweet, how long has it been?’ she asked, beaming, her diamond-studded gold bangles jinking as she tenderly stroked his face. ‘You haven’t changed a bit,’ she added, and they laughed. It was an old joke among vampires.

‘And you, my dear, are as magnificent as ever,’ Gabriel said, caressing her slender arm with real affection. The dusky, willowy, black-haired Asian she-vampire was, if anything, even more devastatingly beautiful than Lillith. The passionate liaison between her and Gabriel, which had lasted on and off for three centuries, had threatened for a time to cause a jealous rift between him and his sister and was a subject never discussed.

‘You have found a fine new home for yourself, I see,’ Tiberius grinned. ‘We should have expected no less from a vampire of such taste.’

‘Can’t say I think much of your ghouls, though,’ Elspeth said with a sniff. ‘The male one is slow-witted and the female one smells.’

Gabriel dismissed it with a wave. ‘Merely a temporary arrangement. More adequate replacements will be appointed soon.’

‘But tell us,’ said Yuri, looking concerned. ‘You are well? We heard you had been badly injured. Is it true about the cross?’

‘I am afraid it is true,’ Gabriel said. ‘And it grieves me to tell you of the loss of many of our comrades, including Anton and Anastasia. But all is not lost, as you will see. I have devised a plan that will presently turn the tide back in our favour. Ah, my friends, it gives me such pleasure to be reunited with you all, and to see our numbers replenished again.’

‘More than you think, Gabriel. You have a surprise visitor waiting for you in the library.’ Yuri opened a door, and a tanned, square-jawed vampire with a dazzling white smile and a rhinestone shirt came swaggering into the hallway.

‘Who is he?’ Gabriel said, his smile dropping, scrutinising the stranger with a look of faint distaste.

‘His name’s Baxter Burnett,’ Victor said. ‘He’s a film star, Gabriel.’

‘The name is familiar. But what is he doing here?’

‘Our spy at VIA in London put him in touch with us,’ said Rolando. ‘He wants to join the cause.’

‘Fuckin’ A,’ Baxter spat. ‘I’m sick of being bossed around by a bunch of goddamn fascists tellin’ me what to do. Heard about you guys, think you’re doin’ a great thing here, figured I oughtta hook up with you. Rolando here set up the RV. So here I am, m’man, ready to join the cause, just like he said. Baxter Burnett, a votre service.‘ He held out his hand.

Gabriel ignored the hand. ‘I am not your man,’ he said.

The pearly smile widened even more. ‘Hey, if it’s security you’re worried about, no sweat. The guys here blindfolded me on the way over, so, abso-goddamn-lutely no idea where this little hideout of yours is. Not that I’d breathe a word to a soul. Say, you like movies, Gabe?’

‘You may address me as Mr Stone. I regret to say I have not had the pleasure of seeing one of yours.’ Gabriel paused, staring at him with some disgust. The California tan alone told Gabriel all he needed to know: the vulgar cretin hadn’t yet realised that his obvious heavy reliance on the Federation’s Solazal was something the Traditionalist revolution aimed to sweep away completely; and with it the freedom that too many vampires had enjoyed for too long to betray their sacred traditions and pursue such degenerate human activities as, for instance, film acting.

Gabriel was formulating the most crushing way to put this to Baxter, when a thought came to him and he changed tack. Laying a hand on Baxter’s shoulder, he led him off to the side, leaving the others to chatter among themselves. ‘The motion picture industry must surely be a fascinating world,’ he said in a suddenly far friendlier tone.

‘Sure is that,’ Baxter said proudly.

‘Tell me, Baxter — I may call you Baxter? — I suppose that performers of your stellar calibre must be very handsomely remunerated. Paid,’ he added in response to the blank stare.

Baxter gave a modest shrug. ‘If you call eighty million bucks in the bank well paid, I guess, then yeah. Not to mention real estate and a whole bunch of other investments, man.’

‘Wonderful, wonderful. Such wealth must allow you to enjoy the very best in material comforts. A fine home, no doubt … as well as your own personal aircraft, perhaps?’

‘Citation Bravo,’ Baxter replied, delighted to be asked about his pride and joy. ‘She’s small, only an eight-seater, but she’s got everything, Gabe. I use her all the time. She’s sitting at Heathrow right now, waiting to take me back to sunny LA.’

Gabriel smiled. ‘Please forgive my rudeness earlier, Baxter, and do call me Gabriel. Welcome to our little family.’ He turned to the others. ‘Now you must all come and meet our new acquisition.’

Gabriel led his growing little army of vampires outside into the grounds behind the house. Beyond the gazebo, the moonlight shone brightly down over the moss-covered ruins of what had once been a small Cistercian abbey.

‘Twelfth century,’ Gabriel murmured, running his hand down the craggy remains of a stone column.

‘Glory days for us, Gabriel,’ Kali smiled, and touched his arm. Across the other side of the ruins, Lillith shot her a furiously hostile look that Gabriel pretended not to notice as he walked over to where Lillith and Zachary were stand ing guarding the human. Ash was utterly still and silent, study ing his moonlit surroundings with a watchful eye. They’d dressed him in the black silk kimono that Gabriel had selected for him earlier.

‘We haven’t told him yet,’ Lillith said to Gabriel. ‘Thought we’d leave that bit to you.’

‘Human, you have been chosen,’ Gabriel said to Ash, his raised voice throwing a faint echo among the stone ruins. ‘You have seen something of our prowess tonight. You must know that we are not ordinary mortals like yourself. However, in order that you fully comprehend your situation, and to dispel any doubts that may still linger in your mind, allow me to make a further demonstration. Lillith, your sabre, please.’

Lillith drew it and passed it to him hilt-first. Without a word, Gabriel walked over to where Baxter Burnett stood next to the others and, before the actor could react, thrust the sword violently through his stomach; then wrenched it out again and tossed it back to Lillith.

‘Ohhh, that hurt like fuck,’ Baxter groaned, bending double with his hands to his belly, as the other vampires broke into a chorus of laughter. ‘That was a hell of a mean trick, Gabe.’

‘Now tell me, human,’ Gabriel said, turning back to Ash. ‘Have you any notion at all of who we are?’

‘Vampires,’ Ash said softly. ‘That’s what you are.’

More laughter.

‘That is one of the many names by which we have been known throughout the history of your race,’ Gabriel said. ‘We have walked this earth for centuries, for millennia, feasting on the blood of humans. Long has your abject species lived in dread of us. And yet, I sense little of that fear in you. I know of your fascination with our kind. Tell me, human, what is your greatest desire?’

Ash kneeled down in front of him. ‘I want to be like you. I want to be a vampire. I want it more than anything.’

‘Seems like everybody these days wants to be one of us,’ Kali chuckled.

‘Get up, get up,’ Gabriel said testily. ‘Who can blame a hapless, enfeebled mortal for aspiring to a state of total perfection? It is as I thought. We, and we alone in this world, can grant you this wish, and grant it we will. You shall have power, you shall have immortality, and wealth and comforts beyond your wildest imaginings. But this privilege is not bestowed unconditionally. You must earn it by completing a task for us. Succeed, and you have my solemn word of honour as a noble vampire that you will be inducted into our circle: turned, as you humans put it. But fail, and you will die the most terrible death any man has ever endured.’

‘I’ll do anything,’ Ash said, his whole body quivering with excitement. ‘Name it. I won’t let you down, I swear.’

Gabriel smiled. ‘Good. Very good. But before I can send you on your mission, I must be satisfied that you are equal to the task. Now, I understand you have a certain ability with the blade?’

‘I like killing people with swords,’ Ash said.

‘We approve. A weapon of distinction, belonging to a more chivalrous age.’ Gabriel moved across to where a red velvet drape lay across a flat section of the ruined wall. He whisked away the drape to reveal a long, broad sword in a battered brown leather scabbard. ‘I have selected this for you,’ he told Ash. ‘I believe it an apt choice.’

The corner of Ash’s mouth twitched. He walked over to where the sword lay, and at Gabriel’s nod he tentatively picked it up and slid the scabbard off the heavy, broad, engraved blade. Its double edges were still razor sharp, drawing a bead of blood from the finger he caressed along them. Standing the weapon on its tip, the heavy steel pommel reached almost to his chest.

He’d missed his cheap reproduction sword extremely while in prison. Not any more. This was the real thing, and he could tell it had been used to kill: moonlight shone on the patches of dark staining on the blade that blood could leave if the steel wasn’t cleaned soon afterwards.

Ash was in love. He swished the sword a couple of times, testing its weight and balance.

‘I thought it would appeal to you,’ Gabriel said, pleased by his rapt expression. ‘This is an eighteenth-century German executioner’s sword. The inscription reads “Wenn ich das Richtschwerdt wohle Gott gnad der armen Seele, 1709“. Roughly translated, “On whom I use this sword of justice God give grace to his poor soul”.’ Gabriel smiled. ‘I have no time for human superstitions. But God or no God, this will serve its purpose admirably.’

Lillith was getting impatient, slashing at the weeds with her sabre. ‘Get on with it, brother. We’re all waiting.’

‘You want me to fight,’ Ash said.

‘Single combat,’ Lillith purred. ‘With me.’

‘And may the best man win,’ Kali said. Lillith ignored her.

Baxter Burnett, fully recovered now from being run through and only slightly humiliated, let out a snort. ‘A human against a vampire? Give me a break. You’ve gotta be kidding, Gabe.’

‘He’s right,’ Lillith said to Ash as she cut the air with a couple more vicious practice slashes. ‘You don’t stand a chance, bloodbag.’

Ash hefted the executioner’s sword, spat on the ground and he and Lillith approached one another in the middle of the moonlit ruins as the rest of the vampires crowded around at a safe distance.

‘Slice him and dice him, Lillith,’ Elspeth called out, and licked her lips. ‘We all fancy a feed.’

‘Take off her head, Ash,’ Kali joked, drawing a jewelled finger across her throat. She flashed an alluring smile at Gabriel that Lillith noticed, and gave Kali a warning snarl.

‘En garde,’ Gabriel said. The fight had formally begun.