Page 15 of How to Stake a Vampire (Diary of a Reluctant Werewolf #2)

DARK RELATIONS

An hour later, we were back at Springhill General Hospital, this time to visit Lord Chudwell in the supernatural ward. Victoria and the Tremaines had gone home and Rita had returned to the medical examiner’s office.

The vampire was sitting up in bed and looked remarkably chipper for someone who’d recently had his head reattached.

“I must say, the service here is simply marvelous,” he was telling Barney when we entered his room.

“It is?” Hazel asked warily where she was attaching a blood bag to a stand.

“Indeed.” Lord Chudwell beamed at the pixie. “You ladies are absolute angels. I’ve never felt in safer hands.”

Suspicion clouded Hazel’s eyes. “Do you have a concussion?”

My wolf’s superhearing picked up a heated discussion at the nurses’ station outside.

“Maybe he hit his head?” Hilda hissed.

“According to the paramedics, he lost his head,” Irene corrected. “As in, it detached from his body.”

“Well, whatever happened, it’s a fresh change from dealing with the other lun—I mean, patients currently under our care,” Joyce said firmly.

There was a brief hush.

“Should we keep this one?” Hilda suggested with a grunt. “Trade him in for Count Vlacula?”

The sound of a buzzer made the dwarf swear. “Speak of the devil.”

“How about we draw straws again?” Irene asked hopefully.

“Oh, come on, I always lose at straws!” Hilda grumbled.

A faint wailing echoed across the ward.

Joyce sighed heavily. “And now it’s the baron.”

I focused on the conversation in the room.

Samuel had settled into one of the visitor chairs and was addressing Lord Chudwell. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thank you. The Type AB-negative transfusion is helping.” He watched us solemnly for a moment. “Something tells me you have more questions for me.”

Hazel read the room and left.

“We never asked you about the letters your butler claimed you received,” I said carefully. “You know? The threats.”

Lord Chudwell’s expression grew shuttered. “Quincy should really mind his own business.”

Detective Johnson frowned. “He was worried about you.”

Lord Chudwell pursed his lips.

I pulled out my phone. “We found something at the funeral parlor. The man we believe attacked you turned up after you’d left. He left a signature in the guest book.” I showed him and Barney the photo I’d taken.

Barney stared at the signature like he’d seen a ghost.

Lord Chudwell sat frozen for a moment. He finally looked at Barney.

“Barnabas,” he said quietly. “You need to tell them.”

The others exchanged confused looks.

My pulse quickened. I’d been right all along.

Barney knew who the perp was.

A muscle worked in the vampire’s jawline. “Giles, I—” he started reluctantly.

“If he’s here, in Amberford, then your friends and the vampire community need to know what they’re dealing with.

” Lord Chudwell’s voice carried surprising authority for someone’s whose head had just been inside my dog’s jaws.

He reached over and took a gentle hold of Barney’s shoulder.

“You can’t keep hiding from this, old friend. ”

The room went dead silent except for the beeping of monitoring equipment.

“You know who L. B. is?” Samuel asked Barney, his voice a mixture of hurt and shock.

Barney looked down at his fisted hands for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and hard.

“It’s Ludvik Bludworth. My great-nephew.”

Samuel cursed.

Didi’s eyes rounded. “Your great-nephew?!”

Gavin’s nostrils started smoking.

Barney’s next words lifted the hairs on the back of my neck.

“I thought—or rather I hoped—that he was long dead by now.”

Bo gulped noisily in the fraught hush.

“Why would you hope your own family member was dead?” Detective Johnson asked nervously.

“Because Ludvik is—” Barney stopped, searching for the right words. “Imagine the most entitled, spoiled vampire aristocrat you’ve ever met. Now imagine he’s also convinced he’s destined to rule over all supernatural beings. That’s Ludvik.”

I grimaced. “So he’s a giant prick?”

Samuel sighed. Lord Chudwell looked impressed.

The others gave me slightly disapproving looks.

“She’s right.” Barney sighed. “He’s the biggest and proudest prick of them all.”

Joyce, who’d been about to enter the room with a glass of water and some pills, spun smartly on her heels and retraced her steps.

Barney cast a chagrined look at the disappearing nurse.

“How long have you suspected he was the one we were looking for?” I asked cautiously.

The vampire shifted uncomfortably under our stares.

“Since the ghouls at Eternal Reserves told us about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It was his calling card back in the day when he was terrorizing human villages in Europe.”

Didi pinched the bridge of her nose. Gavin’s tail popped out.

Samuel scowled. “You should have told us, Barney. It could have prevented the other attacks!”

“No, it wouldn’t have,” Barney said with chilling confidence. “It’s clear from the accounts we’ve collected these past few days that Ludvik is far more dangerous now than he was the last time I saw him. Case in point, the speed at which he’s reported to move. That’s unnatural, even for a vampire.”

That sounded pretty bad.

“Can you tell us more about him?”

“Ludvik was always getting into trouble, even as a child.” The vampire’s voice turned bitter.

“The society we lived in at the time didn’t help.

It filled his head with stupid thoughts of vampire supremacy.

He was forever coming up with harebrained schemes to ‘purify’ the bloodlines.

He constantly picked fights with werewolf cubs and refused to associate with anyone who wasn’t a pureblood vampire.

His parents covered for him every time, which didn’t help in the long run. ”

“Let me guess,” Detective Johnson said darkly. “Rich vampire family with too much influence?”

“You could say that,” Barney muttered.

“The Bludworths were one of the most powerful vampire houses in Europe,” Lord Chudwell explained calmly. “Until one of Ludvik’s schemes went spectacularly wrong and almost got their entire bloodline erased from vampire royal history.”

Didi sucked in air. Gavin’s eyes bulged.

My mouth went dry. “You were vampire royalty?” I mumbled.

“For my sins.” Barney rubbed his forehead. “Eight hundred years of watching vampire aristocracy repeat the same foolish mistakes over and over again made me leave. I came to America for some peace and quiet.”

Detective Johnson stared. “Eight hundred years?!”

“Give or take some centuries,” Barney said with a dismissive shrug. “Time gets a bit fuzzy after the first few hundred years.”

I stared. “And you decided working for a werewolf firm in New England was your best option?” I couldn’t completely mask my disbelief.

Barney sighed. “Believe me, werewolves are positively pleasant compared to vampires.”

“That’s true,” Lord Chudwell confirmed with a nod. “They don’t start wars over bloodline purity or challenge people to duels over dinner seating arrangements. More importantly, they don’t stab you in the back.”

“No, they just go straight for the jugular,” Samuel muttered. My alpha’s expression had grown increasingly grim. “What kind of scheme went wrong in Europe?” He clenched his jaw. “Does it have anything to do with what he’s attempting here in Amberford?”

Barney’s face grew shuttered.

“Ludvik tried to convince the vampire courts that all common-blood vampires should be eliminated,” he said in a lifeless voice.

“He claimed vampires who’d associated with other supernatural races were contaminated and should similarly be exterminated.

My great-nephew gathered quite a following among the younger vampires. ”

“He was charismatic,” Lord Chudwell admitted reluctantly. “Ludvik could make almost anyone believe in his cause. He convinced dozens of newborn vampires to join his movement in the old country.”

My heart raced as I watched Barney. “What happened to them?”

“They died,” he said flatly. “All of them. Ludvik led them into a battle they couldn’t win against the vampire courts. It was a bloodbath. They attempted to overthrow the established order, after all. I’d received reports Ludvik was killed in the final battle. Those were evidently wrong.”

I knew I wasn’t the only one who heard the anger and pain in his voice.

The vampire must have been agonizing over the horrors his great-nephew had committed for centuries.

“If Ludvik is here, collecting and drinking blood from vampire aristocracy, then I fear he’s up to his old schemes again,” Barney said darkly.

“So the reason he’s targeting specific bloodlines has to do with his blood purity plans?” Samuel asked stiffly.

“Yes.”

I furrowed my brow. “How exactly does drinking from other vampires and taking their blood samples help his cause?”

Lord Chudwell and Barney exchanged another look.

“There were rumors,” Barney said reluctantly, “about an ancient ritual that would allow a vampire to absorb the power and abilities of other bloodlines.”

My stomach plummeted. “What?”

Samuel narrowed his eyes. “Absorb how?”

“By consuming their blood while they’re still alive but in a comatose state,” Barney replied uncomfortably. “The theory was that conscious vampires could resist the transfer, but unconscious ones couldn’t.”

I swallowed. “So he immobilized them not just because he needed them still?”

Bo’s ears flattened.

“Your great-nephew wants to turn himself into a super-vampire?” my dog asked, tail tucked firmly between his legs.

Detective Johnson scowled. “That’s impossi?—!”

“Essentially, yes,” Barney interrupted. “If Ludvik has found a way to make the ritual work…”

“He’ll be unstoppable,” Samuel concluded sourly. “And the first of a new race of vampires.”

Our mate bond thrummed with tension.

“And the blood samples?” Didi scowled. “Why take those?”

“So he can experiment and further refine the process. He was quite adept at running experiments, even in those days.”

Great, just what Amberford needed. A mad vampire scientist.

“What’s his next move?” I asked Barney. “I’m sure you have an idea.”

Barney hesitated. “He’ll target another powerful vampire family to extract their blood.”

Detective Johnson clenched his jaw. “Which one?”

“I’m not sure.” Barney grimaced and rubbed the back of his head. “There are at least five more in Amberford that meet his criteria.”

Samuel frowned at Detective Johnson. “We need to warn them. They’re going to need extra security until this is over.”

“Good luck with that,” Barney muttered. “Vampire aristocracy doesn’t respond well to being told they’re in danger. They’ll insist they can handle it themselves.”

“Barnabas is right,” Lord Chudwell said tiredly.

“Then we’ll just have to—” Samuel started.

My phone rang, cutting him off. I looked at the screen and frowned.

It was Virgil.

I answered the call. “Virgil? I’m in the middle of something right now?—”

“Abby!” Virgil’s voice was tight with panic. “You need to get to Bean Me Up. Now!”

I froze, dread forming a leaden ball in the pit of my stomach.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s Ellie.” Virgil’s voice cracked. “She’s—she’s been attacked!”

A ringing filled my ears. My vision went red.

I didn’t realize I was doing something until I heard Samuel shouting.

My heart stuttered when I looked up.

Didi, Gavin, and Detective Johnson were on their knees, their faces contorted into expressions of agony as they clutched their heads.

Bo was flat on the floor, paws over his head and jaws open in a howl of pure distress.

Lord Chudwell winced in bed. Barney’s eyes glowed crimson where he’d jumped to his feet.

The room was shaking, the equipment was clattering wildly, my phone had cracked in my hand, and the baron was wailing even louder somewhere close by.

Samuel closed the distance to me, his expression strained and his body leaning forward as if he were fighting a storm.

“Breathe, Abby!” he yelled, his alarm finally reaching me across our bond.

I unfroze and gulped down air, a bone-deep shudder shaking me from my head to my toes. Whatever power it was I had unconsciously unleashed started to abate.

A thunk had me spinning toward the door.

Hilda had hooked the blade of her axe over the edge of the jamb and was hanging onto it grimly as she attempted to get inside the room, her nursing colleagues clinging to her legs and beard.

“What the hell was that?!” the dwarf panted.

Joyce paled when she saw me. “Oh my gosh!”

Instinct had me turning to look in the mirror above the sink.

My pulse stuttered.

My hair had gone a pure white and my eyes were glowing an amber so deep they looked like fire. Other parts of my face had taken on an uncomfortable animal appearance.

My wolf was literally under my skin and we both looked ready to murder someone.

“Abby?” Samuel laid a hesitant hand on my shoulder, as if afraid I would break.

I swallowed and clasped his fingers, his touch lending me strength to force down the rage threatening to overwhelm me.

I realized Virgil was still shouting on the line and met Samuel’s worried gaze.

“Ellie’s been attacked,” I said in a flat voice.

My alpha swore. Bo raised his head, ears perking up and eyes round with fear.

I put my phone to my ear, my jaw set in a hard line.

“Virgil, calm down and tell me exactly what happened.”