Copyright © 2025 by Julien Gregg
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The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
Three
They made it to the ship unmolested. The wagon with the coffins and the horses were all on the ship. They paid extra for that. Bradly wondered where Mary and Tobias had come up with their money. He'd been told that Tobias was in shipping and receiving and that Mary was his business partner. Still, he'd thought that was a cover story. Maybe it wasn't.
The ship had rats and mice to sustain them, but with five vampires on board, they were hard pressed to find food and went back to the little drink on the passengers with much compulsion. That kept them fed. They slept in coffins and spent much time on the ship's deck and with the passengers. They met many people; some were interesting, while others were not.
They were headed back to America with their meager belongings. They'd bought clothing that would fit from the passengers on the ship. Tobias, Jason, Elan, and Bradly could get suits in Carson City. Mary had dresses at the house in Carson City. They'd stop there and pack before they went on to Woodland. Bradly was happy to be going to Woodland to be with his family.
Mary had said that Elizabeth wouldn't look for them on a farm. She was amused that they'd have to work on the farm, but Bradly told her that they would hire young men to work the farm and leave them alone. She thought that was perfect. She wasn't sure she'd like to live on livestock blood, but she said she would give it a try.
In Carson City, Bradly sent mail to his sister, brother, and parents to tell them that they were moving to Woodland. His father also sent him mail, telling him that the farm he'd always wanted was for sale again. He sent gold to buy the farm, and they had a destination. Bradly packed all of his suits and keepsakes. They bought more wagons for all of their possessions. They cleaned out the house in Carson City and put it up for sale.
Tobias opposed the sale, saying they'd likely have to come back at some point, but Bradly told him he never wanted to live in that house again. They were moving to the farm for the foreseeable future, where he'd return.
The farmhouse outside Woodland was large, with three stories, five bedrooms, a formal dining room, a living room, a kitchen, and an office on the ground floor. The house had indoor plumbing, which they didn't really need, but it was a selling point. They moved in overnight and slept in coffins in the root cellar, which they kept locked at all times.
They hired six young men to tend to the animals they bought. They had cows, horses, chickens, and pigs. The smell was horrendous for Mary and Tobias, but Jason, Elan, and Bradly had grown up on farms and were more used to the scent. The young men were all compelled to never speak about what they saw or heard on the farm. It went smoothly, and Bradly was happy to have his sister, her husband, Franklin, and their son, Parker, over for dinner that Elan had cooked in the kitchen.
Once again, the vampires ate very little. Anna witnessed this but did not comment on it. She was happy to have her brother in the Woodland area again. Bradly was delighted to meet his nephew and get to know his brother-in-law. Franklin was six feet tall with chestnut hair and brown eyes. Their ten-year-old son was the spitting image of his father at a younger age. His sister was as beautiful as she had been, with long dark hair in a bun behind her head, green eyes that were so much like Bradly's, and a way of moving through the house like she was gliding.
Mary and Tobias were on their best behavior while the family was in the house. They explained their shipping and receiving business in more detail to Anna and Franklin. They told them that all of them were involved in the industry now and that it was thriving. Bradly was happy to learn that this was not a fiction but a reality. The shipyard was in New York, and they got checks deposited in their bank from the company at regular intervals.
Anna and Franklin weren't the last guests invited to the farm. Bradly's mother and father were also invited and came to dinner. They were getting on in years, and Bradly wasn't surprised to learn that they had hired out work on the farm with the money he sent them continually. He was happy to know they were well taken care of.
Next, they had Jed, his wife Willa, and their twelve-year-old son, Jackson, come to dinner. Jackson was a chip of the block and could see the future like Bradly and his father. Willa had been let in on the secret, and she said he could see at least a week into the future. Tobias was amazed by this and told them so.
Jed was happy, and Willa was a great wife for him. They talked about when Bradly would have children, and he assured them that children weren't in the cards for him. He was a confirmed bachelor and had no plans to change that. No, Mary was not his wife. She was his business partner, and that's all she would ever be.
Bradly was happy to have caught up with all of his family. He was delighted to know Jackson, his nephew, who could see the future like him. They shared a gift he could talk to the boy about for years. Of course, they couldn't stay in Woodland for years. They could stay a year or two but they'd have to move on after that.
Elan liked the family and said he would cook for them whenever they were invited. He liked the farm and said he was getting used to the smell. Of course, Jason and Bradly went to Carson City to play poker and make money of their own. They weren't getting checks from the shipping company after all.
They made quite a bit of money playing poker and funded the farm. They both got out there at night and helped with the farm work. Of course, they were bleeding the livestock at regular intervals. They had bottles of livestock blood in the cooler. It had to be cooled to keep it viable, but it only lasted a day or two before they had to do it again. One cow died from blood loss, and they burned the body in the incinerator that Bradly had paid to have installed on the land.
"This life is tedious," Tobias said. "I miss the city where there are criminals to feed on."
"We're here so Bradly can be close to his family," Mary reminded him. "You're the one who talked me into this. We'll be here for at least a few years until people realize we don't age."
"Yes," he said. "Or if Elizabeth tracks us here."
"Let's not borrow trouble," Mary said. "Bradly has been looking into the future to see what's happening on that front, and she's still in Paris."
"That's to the good," Tobias said. "The last thing that we want is to bring her here."
"She has no way of knowing where we are, Tobias," Mary said. "We compelled everyone that we passed so that no one could tell her we were seen, even if she compelled them."
"All right," Tobias said. "I get it. We're safe here. I just wish we could go hunt from time to time."
"Take a trip into Carson City," she said. "Go with Bradly and Jason when they go to play poker and make their money. You can hunt with them on those nights."
"There's a plan," he said.
Tobias was chaffing with the decision to move to the farm and live on livestock blood. He was used to parties for the rich and a city to stroll the streets of to hunt for criminals that wouldn't be missed. They were all happy there, except Tobias. Bradly was starting to see what he meant about the separation between them. He wasn't ready to let go of Tobias yet, but it seemed that Tobias was about ready to let go of him.
That made him sad. Yes, he was learning all of the tips and tricks of being a vampire, and yes, he was becoming less and less reliant upon Tobias, but he loved him no less. He talked with him about it, and Tobias assured him that he was in no way ready to leave him yet. They'd have a very different conversation when the time came.
Bradly was already a wealthy man with over four thousand dollars in his bank account. He often gave money to his mother and father, but it didn't dent his savings. He sent no money to his brother or sister as they were proud people, and Franklin and Jed owned a lumber mill in Woodland. That had shocked Bradly, but he was thrilled to know that the money he had sent over the years had paid for the mill and the lumber to start them off.
Things were moving really well for the family. Bradly was at the head of it all and had been responsible for making his brother and brother-in-law financially stable. They also gave money to his mother and father. Bradly went to his family home to find it much the same as it had been the last time he'd been there.
His mother was happy to have him under her roof once again. She made his favorite foods for him and complained that he didn't eat enough. He assured her his belly was full, and she relented but didn't seem happy about it.
"You don't look gaunt or anything," she said. "I'm just used to men with healthy appetites."
"I assure you that I get plenty to eat," he said with a smile.
"You're much more sure of yourself now, and you dress so nicely," she said, smiling back at him. "You have no idea how proud of you we are, Bradly."
"Thank you, Mother," he said. "I'm doing fine."
"Your brother and sister are confused by everyone living with you," she said.
"They live with me until a farm becomes available to buy for Mary, Elan, and Jason to take care of," he said. "We're a bit cramped but happy enough. I assure you all is well in my house, Mother."
"Thank you for the beef and pork you sent home with your father," she said. "You've filled our smoke house."
"That was the plan," he said. "We slaughter much more than we need. I sell to the butcher in Woodland, but much is left over. I divided it between you, Pa, Jed, Willa, Anna, and Franklin. They're all so happy with what I give them."
"You are taking care of the entire family," she said. "That makes me proud. I'm so happy for you, sweetheart."
"Thank you, Mother," he said. "I'm a happy person myself."
"That's all we wanted for you," she said. "For you to be happy and successful at what you do."
"I am, Mother," he said, smiling.
"Good," she said. "There are a lot of workers on your farm."
"Yes," he said. "I hired out the work because I spend so much time in Carson City that the farm would suffer without me. Mary or Elan are usually there when I'm not, but they aren't farmers."
"Well, as long as it works for you," she said. "As you know, we hire out the farm work to others with the money you give us."
"I do know that," he said. "I'm happy to provide for you so that you can."
"Your father is getting a little too old for most of the work," she said. "Thank you for helping us when we needed it."
"You're more than welcome, Mother," he said. "I'm just giving back to the family that raised me."
"Yes," she said. "Things are running smoothly around here."
"That's good," he said. "How is your health?"
"I have pain sometimes, but nothing major," she said.
"Good," he said. "There's a new doctor in Woodland."
"Yes," she said. "We saw him for this and that not long ago. He's a good doctor."
"Yes," said Bradly. "He came from Carson City."
"Did he now?" she asked. "Did you know him there?"
"Not really," Bradly said. "Carson City is so large that you can not see the same people every day if you choose."
"That's big," she said. "I wouldn't know what to do in a city that size."
"I make it around there just fine," he said. "I check on the business through contacts in Carson City, and I get a bit of the city life when I travel there."
"That's good, you seemed to thrive in Carson City," she said. "I was always so upset that you had to leave, but it seems that it was the best thing for you. I wondered about that for so long."
"Yes," he said. "It was the best thing for me. I'm happy and healthy, and I have a great farm that produces far more than I need, so I can sell it to the town, make a little money, and make sure that my family doesn't have to pay for meat."
"Yes, you do a lot for us," she said.
"I don't need recognition, Mother," he said. "I do this because I love you all so very much."
Later, back at his farm, Bradly reflected on everything his mother told him. She was in pain from time to time, but his father was the one he worried most about. He did the brunt of the work all of Bradly's life. It seemed he was getting older now and doing less. He was still working every day, but at least he could still do it. More would have to be done when they couldn't get around.
He constantly looked at the future for any sign of Elizabeth, but she was still in Paris. She hadn't followed them to London, so they were safe in Woodland. She would decide to hunt for Tobias and Jason again sooner or later. He wasn't sure if she even knew that Bradly Fell existed. She'd find out when she came for Tobias, though.
He and Jason went to Carson City, and Tobias and Elan accompanied them this time. They played four poker games and made a little money. They hunted the city and found victims that wouldn't be missed. They incinerated them afterward and moved on. The house was sold, and Bradly made much money from the sale.
Back at the farm, Mary told them that a vampire of the other sort was in town. Bradly had smelled him as he rode into town. Tobias looked all around the road they were on but saw nothing. He hadn't come to the house, so he wasn't after them.
Bradly wondered what he was doing in Woodland. Had he come there because he could smell them, too? He hoped not, but until the vampire made himself known, there was no telling what had brought him to Woodland.
"He's here for some reason," Mary said. "We can't know what it is. I know that they smell us much the way we smell them. So he knows we're here. He hasn't attacked, so I don't know what to think."
"He's coming here," Bradly said as he looked into the future. "But we have nothing to fear from him. He rejects his vampire family and has come home to watch over his human family. I even know who he is. I know him personally as a human."
"What's this?" Tobias asked.
"His name is Matthew Donner," he said. "We came here to celebrate his brother's wedding."
"That's right," said Jason. "James Donner."
"Yes," he said. "Matthew was still human then. He met the vampire that turned him between then and now. He hasn't been a vampire long."
"Well then, we need not fear him," Mary said. "If he isn't with the other vampires of his kind, then maybe he's no threat. But I'm uncomfortable with him so close to us."
"He'll be closer still," Bradly said. "He's going to come here and plead his case. He's more scared of us than we are of him because there are five of us and only one of him."
"Then we'll treat this as any other event," Tobias said. "When the vampire comes here, we'll treat him respectfully."
"Yes," Bradly said. "I'll meet him as an old friend. Maybe there will be no killing this time, but he will know that we cannot be friends."
"How will he know that?" Mary asked.
"Instinct," he said. "It is their instinct to kill us. They hate us deeply, they don't even know why."
"That makes it worse," said Elan. "Vampires of one type working to exterminate the vampires of another type, and they don't even know why."
"It is what it is," Bradly said. "There's no changing what it is."
"We could try to change it with Matthew," said Mary. "If he won't try to kill us and we don't try to kill him, then aren't we friendly?"
"We can be friendly but not friends," Bradly said. "It would never work. We're too different. For one, he smells, and his smell is offensive to us. I'm sure our smell is offensive to him as well."
But as he said he would, Matthew came to the house. He sat in the living room with them all and pleaded his case. He was alone and had no way of contacting other vampires like himself, nor would he if he could. He was turned against his will and rejected all that they were. He was not in the war between their two species and didn't want to be.
"You know we cannot be friends," Bradly told him. "I mean, I know you. I knew you as a human, but we're both vampires now on different sides of an issue. We can be allies, but we cannot be friends."
"I figured that out when I smelled you as I came into town," he said. "I remembered what I'd been told by the vampires that turned me. So I thought I'd come to you and tell you you have nothing to fear from me. Like you, I've come to Woodland to watch over my family. I bear you no ill will."
"That is to the good because there are five of us and one of you," Bradly said. "The odds are in our favor at the moment."
"Can you let me live?" he asked, fully expecting to be killed.
"We'll not harm you," Bradly said. "As I said, we can be allies. We just can't be friends."
"Well then, I will leave you," he said. "But if you need me, I have an apartment in town. You can follow your nose or send word to me, and I will come to you."
"That is all we can ask and offer the same," Bradly said. "Now we'll part as allies but not friends."
"Yes," he said. "Thank you for not killing me."
He left, and they were all sitting there trying to clear their noses of the stench. Mary was of a mind to kill him and get it over with, but Bradly had told her that he would be of service to them when they needed him.
Tobias was impressed with Bradly's conduct while the vampire was in the house. One difference between them was that they didn't have to be invited into a private home, and no humans lived in the house.
Life went on. They continued to have dinner parties with Bradly's family, attend holidays and events with the family, and buy presents for the children on birthdays and Christmas. Parker got to know them as friends and his uncle, Bradley. Jackson was a bit more standoffish with them. He didn't quite know what they were, but he knew they were something dark.
He didn't tell his father about it, though. So, in a way, he was also an ally—not friends but friendly. He accepted the gifts they bought him for his birthday and Christmas. He ate at their table but wasn't comfortable in their presence.
They talked about what it meant endlessly. As long as Jackson meant them no ill will, Bradly was prepared to accept him the same way they accepted Matthew. Besides, they'd have to leave the farm in another year anyway. It would stay in Bradly's name, and the hired men would continue to work the farm. They just wouldn't be there.
He supposed they could return to Carson City, but none really wanted to go there. Instead, they headed east and went to New York. Elizabeth was still in Paris, so they were safe enough in New York. They bought a pair of houses in the city and split up. Tobias and Bradley were happier alone together than with the group. It seemed that Tobias was tired of living as a family and not living with Bradly.
These houses were huge, with a hundred rooms. They had a Ballroom, a Billiard Room, a Conservatory, a Lounge, an office that was called a Study, and bedroom suites on twelve floors. They had steam-powered lifts and incinerators installed and really lived it up there. Depending on the kind of party, they held parties for the wealthy in the city in the Ballroom or the Billiard Room.
Bradly was happy in the house, and Tobias was restless. He said there was too much house with too much staff to be completely happy there. They had compelled the staff. They didn't even mind that Bradly and Tobias ate nothing but drank bottles of strange wine. There was nothing to fear in their house.
He'd looked into the future and saw that Elizabeth was in London now, but she seemed to be staying put. She was hunting Edward instead of them, convinced he'd made another fledgling. Tobias knew nothing of this but wouldn't have been surprised to learn it was true.
Mary continued to call out to Edward, but Edward continued to refuse to heed her call. She was growing increasingly angry with her little brother, but there was nothing that any of them could do. He had made her, not the other way around. He could find her anywhere, but she could not find him.
It was the same for her and Elizabeth. Edward had made them both. He could find them both whenever and if ever he wanted. But they could not find him. They could track his movements if they knew where he'd been, but they couldn't walk straight to him as he could.
It was frustrating for Mary, but she accepted the way things were. Edward knew she was calling for him but he wasn't coming. She had to go on with things the way she had for over a century without Edward's help.
Bradly and Tobias continued to have parties. Bradly hosted a poker game in his Billiard Room, a time or two, and high-stakes games that Jason joined each time. They played, and they won most of the time. They let others win the night from time to time, keeping them all coming back for more.
But all things must end, and their time in New York City ended with the influx of more of the other type of vampires. They loaded their wagons and moved to the Midwest. Chicago was just starting to be a boom town in the 1800s, and in 1890, it was off to a roaring start. They purchased homes there and moved to Chicago in June of 1890.
They quickly became part of the aristocratic population of the wealthier part of the city. They made friends with the mayor and several prominent families there. They hunted the streets for victims and tore the bodies apart. It was always blamed on an animal loose in the city. Authorities were always on the hunt for the animal. It struck about every other week, when they hunted the most.
Life settled for them again, and Bradly took a train back to Woodland to be there for his father's funeral. His mother had moved in with Anna and Franklin. The funeral was held at the church in Woodland, and Bradly was shocked that he could walk into the church like any other human participant. He did, though. He placed a white rose on his father's casket and then walked with the group of mourners to the burial spot in the cemetery there in Woodland. He stayed four nights. It was hell getting them to hold the funeral at night.
He looked into the future in Chicago and saw them there for ten years. They were happy there, but it was easy to be caught with so many around them daily. They had staff who were compelled, and they did a lot of compelling on the streets to convince people that they didn't see this or that. Twice, they compelled humans after a hunt.
There were vampires of their type in Chicago. They met them during a hunting trip. They were told to stick to one side of the city and stay out of the other side because it was controlled by Silas. That was fine with them. They stayed on their side of the city and told the others that their side of the city was controlled by Bradly.
They had a good life there in Chicago. They had dinner with the mayor, went to meet the authorities of this and that, rubbed noses with the wealthy and elite of the city, and basically ignored poverty at every turn. Bradly had trouble with that and gave money to the poor at every opportunity. Tobias told him that it was his money to do with as he pleased, but he was not feeding the hungry. Let them fend for themselves.
That wasn't the way that Bradly was made. He gave them money and food, paid for shelter, and did what he could for the less fortunate in the city. He spent so much time doing that that Tobias began to call him the Vampire Saint of Chicago. Bradly got angry when he called him that. He knew the poor who loved him would run screaming if they knew what he was.
It didn't take long for Mary, Jason, and Elan to leave the city. She went off to find Edward. Tobias and Bradly stayed in Chicago, continuing to hold parties for the wealthy, poker games for the rich, and to feed and clothe the poor.
They found homosexual men there and sampled them a time or two. They held orgies and got together with sometimes twenty men. They also had male and female orgies, and all manner of sex happened. Of course, the little drink was had among their guests at these parties. It was easy to bite the femoral artery in the thigh and then bite their tongue to seal the wounds.
No one was ever the wiser. Most thought the bite was a turn on and went wild for it. Bradly grew tired of the group scene rather quickly. Tobias did not. It was the beginning of the divide between them, but neither of them knew it. Bradly was growing tired of a lot of things that Tobias was into.
He finally met one of the vampires in the city. His name was Max, and he was forced out of his coven. Bradly moved Max in with them, which angered Tobias initially, but he got over it as he learned that Max could warp minds to do whatever he wanted. This was a talent that Tobias exploited on several occasions. Max grew tired of that fairly quickly.
Max was a six-foot-tall blonde-haired man with gray eyes and a long face. He wasn't an unattractive young man but wasn't the most attractive in the room. Tobias still held that honor, but Bradly was growing tired of Tobias. He still didn't want to leave him, though. He still loved him completely.
Time moved on, and Bradly became more and more despondent. Max was getting that way, too. But unlike Bradly, he could leave whenever he wanted, which would make no difference to Tobias. Max liked dressing in expensive clothes and moving among the people at the parties. He excelled at poker and played with Bradly and the wealthy men. He made more than he lost, but Bradly had the talent of looking into the future. He beat him more than he lost to him. They had a good time playing poker, and the men they played with were all happy. Bradly had made sure that they won quite a few hands. He still came out on top, but it looked natural to them.
Then Bradly looked into the future and saw Elizabeth coming for Tobias. They packed up and moved back to Carson City. That was not a place she was thinking of looking for them in. With Bradly's talent, they moved from city to city around the Midwest and further west. He kept Tobias up to date on what Elizabeth was doing.
They never stayed anywhere more than a few nights. They hunted in different cities and began to leave bodies now and then to give them something to bury. Of course, the authorities thought it strange and couldn't explain why these bodies lacked blood. They'd bit their tongues and sealed the wounds on their necks so there was no way that they could see that the blood was drained from the body.
They stayed in hotels and boarding houses all over the country. Max got tired of this and left them when they reached St. Louis. They had to go back to Woodland for his mother's funeral, which was held at night. The wake was held all day, and his sister was a bit upset with him that it took him so long to get there. She got over it, though. He stayed for two nights at the farm, and then they were off again.
Once again, he and Tobias were needed by each other. Their survival was tied to each other. Bradly told Tobias that Elizabeth was in Chicago. She'd tracked them that far, Tobias swore. He couldn't figure out how she was finding their homes so quickly. She never went to Woodland, and she was never in the same city as them, but she was searching.
They stopped in the desert, which was hell for both of them. They moved on to California, and Bradly saw the state and its strangeness. He didn't find it all that strange. They went back to Chicago. Elizabeth had already been there and left. They were safe for a bit. They didn't stay there long, but stayed long enough to grab more clothing and go again.
Back in California, they went to a town called Osage. It wasn't a thriving city, but it wasn't a small town either. It was a medium-sized town that thrived due to the railroad. Steam trains were everywhere. It was the number one way to travel now. They sold their horses and wagons and moved into a hotel there in the city. Bradly saw that Elizabeth wouldn't be in town any time soon. In fact, he didn't see her at all. That was odd. She was hiding from his sight. He didn't even know that was possible.
"Where is she?" Tobias asked him.
"I can't find her," he said. "I don't see anything happening to us here in Osage, but I can't see Elizabeth anymore. It's like she's hiding from my vision."
"Then someone has told her about you," Tobias said. "She knows you exist now. You're in just as much danger as I am."
"Yes, but if I can't see her, I'm looking for something happening to us," Bradly said. "It makes it harder."
They existed there in Osage. They threw no parties and Bradly participated in no poker games. Men who won big at poker were a way for Elizabeth to track them. Bradly now had over fifty thousand in his accounts, so he didn't need to play poker. He just had to watch his money. He invested in this and that and made money for a while. Tobias invested some of his own money and made more.
They were in Osage a lot longer than they'd initially thought they would be. Bradly saw nothing happening to them in Osage, so they stayed there as long as that happened. They hunted the city at night. They found rats, mice, and other vermin to sustain them because there wasn't a population large enough to sustain killing humans. They would notice.
They were not opposed to the little drink that was compelling. They did that in the tavern under the apartment they were staying in. And so they were in Osage, California, when Elizabeth caught up with them. Bradly was surprised and dismayed to find Max with her. He'd sold them out. They took Bradly to their lair and held him captive while they did whatever they were doing to Tobias. He didn't scream, and Bradly still saw nothing happening that night, so he relaxed a bit.
Then they took him to a brick vault in the ground and threw him inside. They started to close the vault and bury it. He was screaming to be let out. Elizabeth actually laughed. Her blonde hair shook with her laughter.
He dug at the bricks with his fingers. The sun came up, and he slept. He could hear screaming in his sleep, but could not wake up and find out what it was. Instead, he slept until the sun went down. Then he went back to picking at the bricks with his fingers. He pulled them apart, and dirt fell. He held his breath and dug through the dirt until he was standing on the ground beside the grave they'd placed him in.
He looked and saw that a body had been burned in the sun. He walked over and noticed Tobias's necklace and wept. She had killed Tobias. They had left Bradly for dead and moved on once they killed Tobias. He wept as he stood there and looked at the ash that was his love.
He decided that he would track Elizabeth. He asked the people where the blonde woman had gone. They told him that she had boarded a train headed for Los Angeles. He took a shower and dressed in his silk suit. Then he boarded the next train to Los Angeles. He arrived in the city just after she did. He tracked her to a hotel and found her room. He didn't go in. He checked into the hotel under the name Matthew Donner and waited. He had twelve bottles of the accelerant to use on her and her fledglings.
He waited and decided to bide his time. He listened to the wall as he had the rooms next to hers. He heard her telling them that they could find Elan in St. Louis. They'd go there in a few weeks to try and take him by surprise. She wouldn't rest until all of their fledglings were dead. Then she'd kill Mary and Edward.
He'd heard all he needed to hear. He made up his mind. In the hallway of the hotel, the sun couldn't reach him. He stayed up even though it was hard for him. He waited until the sun was in the sky and broke down their door. Suddenly, there were two others in the room. He looked and saw that Jason and Elan were there! They were with him in this. He ripped the lids off the coffins of all four of them. They slept through it.
He poured the accelerant on each of them. Then he set them on fire. The fires were localized and only burned the bodies. It didn't burn the coffin. He listened to them scream as they burned. They screamed and they died. He was happy that Max was among them. When the fires were out, they left the room and went to Bradly's room.
"We killed Elizabeth," said Elan. "We actually killed her."
"Yes," Bradly said. "She killed Tobias."
"We know," Jason said. "We arrived in Osage right after you left. We compelled the first human we saw, and he told us what he saw that night. They strung him up with Elizabeth's hair and tied him to a post in the road. They left him there in the sun until he died."
"I heard him scream," Bradly wept. "She'd buried me alive. I picked and scratched my way out of the ground and brick. Then I saw him. I knew it was him because he wore the necklace I gave him in Carson City."
"Now we're alone," Elan said. "Mary left us to search for Edward alone. She thinks he'll answer her if he knows she's alone."
"Edward won't answer her," Bradly said. "He'll answer me, though."
He called out silently to Edward and told him that he was Tobias's only fledgling and that he was dead. Then he told him where to find him. He sat and sent that message over and over again. Then he heard him. "I will come."
"He's coming," he said, and then he fell asleep.
When the sun went fully down, he woke up. He found that he had bled from the ears, nose, and mouth. He was sure that was because he'd stayed up too long. He looked at Elan and Jason and saw they were in the same state. He got in the shower and washed away the blood. He put on another silk suit and waited while they got presentable. Then they hunted. After all of that, they needed sustenance. They hunted humans and used compelling to cover it up. They tore the bodies apart and made it look like animals had been at them.
Then they went back to the hotel. The authorities were already leaving. They hadn't asked them if they had seen anything. They just carried out the coffins and declared it a freak killing. Bradly was happy with that. He was delighted that she was dead. He'd killed her to save them, but mostly he'd killed her for killing Tobias.
"You said that Edward is coming?" Elan asked when he was cleaned up.
"He sent back that he was coming," Bradly said. "He'll be here when he gets here. I'm too upset to look at the future."
"No, it's all right," he said. "It's just that Mary is looking for Edward now."
"Well, soon she should come here because this is where he'll be," Bradly said. He was aware that he was grieving, but he wasn't crying. That was a plus because he already knew that tears were bloody.
"Are you all right?" Elan asked.
"She killed Tobias, of course, I'm not all right," he said. "She killed my sire vampire."
"Yes, forgive me," he said.
"Forgive you? You helped me kill her," Bradly said as Jason came into the room in a silk suit of his own.
"I could hear them working in the room next door while I was in the shower," said Jason. "They're saying that four people were killed next door."
"Max was with them," Bradly said.
"Who is Max?" Jason asked.
"He lived in the house with Tobias and me in Chicago," Bradly said. "He said he'd fallen out with his coven and couldn't return. I didn't see that he was Elizabeth's man the whole time. She was his sire vampire."
"Oh man," said Elan.
"He's the one who told her I could see her every decision, so she hid from my sight," he said. "I couldn't see her coming to kill us."
"That's awful," Jason said. "You and Tobias relied on your sight to see when she was coming."
"Yes, well, she came," he said. "I killed her for what she did."
"Yes, you did," Jason said.
"She deserved it," Elan said. "She's killed others, and she deserved to pay for it."
"She paid," Bradly said.
They were silent for a while after that. They went to the coffins when the sun started to come up. They didn't want the bleeds a second time. Bradly slept like the dead that he was. He woke up when the sun went down. He got out of the coffin and showered. Then he dressed in his favorite silk suit. It was the one that Tobias had bought for him. He realized that as he was tying his tie. Then he left the bathroom.
Elan and Jason took turns in the bathroom and were ready. They went out to see what was what in the city. They weren't hungry, so they didn't hunt. They stopped and watched a poker game. Then they played. Bradly was in such a bad mood that he didn't let the others win anything. He won it all. That pissed the other players off, but he got up, took his money, and left.
The others followed him, looking at each other, but he went to another game and did the same thing again. When he left that building, they decided to say something. They stopped him and stood before him.
"Why are you pissing off the natives?" Jason asked. "You win and lose a few, that's what you've always done. Tonight you're just winning every hand and making them mad."
"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I'm not myself tonight."
"We noticed," said Elan.
"I should probably just go back to the hotel," he said. "You guys can play if you want."
"No way," said Jason. "I'm staying by your side until Edward arrives."
"Then we're going back to the hotel," he said.
He went back to the hotel and began to write in his journal. He wrote it all down and told the whole story of how Tobias died and what he did in the aftermath. He wrote about killing Elizabeth and her cohorts. He wrote about calling Edward and telling him that he would come. Then he put the journal in a large vanilla envelope and addressed it to Richard duPoint at the address for the chapter house in Paris that he'd given them on the card he'd told them to destroy. He took it down to the desk and paid the postage on it. He asked that it go out in their morning mail. They assured him that it would.
He went back to the room and sat down. Elan and Jason were watching him closely, which was irritating. He wanted to tell them to stop it, but he was too depressed to bother. He sat there and thought about what it would be like to meet the fifteen-year-old King of England. It would be different from what he'd felt when he met Mary. But then, he hadn't known then that she was once Queen of England.
He supposed he'd treat him like he treated Mary, with dignity and respect. He didn't feel any different about Mary after he learned that she had once been queen. He felt mildly impressed, but she was a vampire like him, so it wasn't too deep.
Elan asked him if he wanted to have a drink. He wondered where they had got the blood to mix with the wine. He accepted the drink and drank it down. Then he sat there and thought about what it was like to kill Elizabeth. He hadn't thought about it. He'd just poured the accelerant over her sleeping body and lit the match that killed her. Elan and Jason had killed the others. Bradly only killed Elizabeth. That was what he went into the room for, and that was what he did.
He didn't feel any different after having killed her. He was still in mourning for his sire. She'd killed him. She'd really killed him. He'd killed her for it, but it didn't make him feel any better. He'd killed her, and that meant that Elan, Jason, Edward, Mary, and he could live without the threat of her coming for them. He'd killed her because she'd killed Tobias. That's why he'd killed her. He couldn't claim the other. That was a byproduct of the act. He'd actually killed her for killing Tobias.
He sat there and thought about it for the rest of the night. Then there was the money he'd won. He had put it on the table. He got up and counted it. There was a thousand dollars there. He put that in the safe and then crawled into his coffin naked and closed the lid.
He got up, showered, and dressed. Then he was sitting in the suite's living room and waiting for the other two to get showered and dressed. He had no idea what they were doing that night. He wasn't sure he wanted to leave the room. He wasn't hungry, so he didn't need to hunt. He didn't want to play poker and wasn't interested in the city's pulse. He just wanted to sit there and fester in his grief. They'd let him if he said he wasn't going anywhere.
They came out to the living room and sat down. They didn't ask any questions or make any comments. They simply sat down. He just watched them for a bit and then returned to staring at the table. He'd found the bottle of blood wine and had another glass. It wasn't hunger that drove him. It was the wine. They could drink alcohol if it was mixed with blood.
There was nothing to do but sit there and wait for the coming sun, and then he could return to bed. He was merely existing now. He was so upset. Then there was a knock on the door. He got up and walked over to the door to the suite and found a long blonde-haired Adonis at the door. He wondered who he was and what he wanted. Then he smelled it. Old death. This was a vampire. This was Edward? He wasn't a fifteen-year-old King of England. This man was at least in his twenties.
"You're not the King of England," he said.
"No, is Mary still telling that story?" he asked. "We're Tudors, but so far down the family line we weren't even royal. She tells that story to unsuspecting vampires to impress them."
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