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“Never mind.” Votan paused, trying to figure out what was going on.
Damien added, “Cimil is the only deity I’ve spoken with recently, and she pulled me off that case—said there was nothing more to be done. At the moment, she has me working on reviving the vampire race.”
What!Votan’s blood boiled. He should’ve known that Cimil wouldn’t stop meddling. “Anything else?”
“Normally, I do not believe in tattling, but I feel this situation calls for an exception.”
“Go on, tailor. Tell me everything.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Maxton absolutely hated the modern world except for one thing: Human “technology” made it fairly easy to locate someone. All he had to do was ask the “cell” (a magical device), as Maxton’s yellow automobile driver had done (“Where do I find this Stewart T. Hedgeworth, the vampire?”). And then plunkitty-plunk! The answer was pulled from thin air and displayed in the man’s hand.
Amazing.Maxton wondered what else he might find by asking the man’s shiny rectangle.
Stewart lived three hours from the LA city, in a town calledTee-who-anna.The ruffian had miraculously settled down and opened an establishment called Vampiro Stewart’s, where—according to the driver—young people listened to music, danced, and found partners for “getting busy.”
Maxton understood this to mean that they fornicated out of wedlock. Sounded enjoyable enough, but Maxton knew from experience that nothing Stewart did had respectable intentions. Wasn’t in his nature.
Maxton straightened his blood red tie and entered the place, taking in the odd decor—a coffin in the corner, black-velvet-upholstered furniture, and a set of fangs the size of an elephant stuck to the wall.
A vampire den?Obviously, it was only made to look like one, but why would Stewart be advertising his species, even going so far as to reveal himself on the placard above the exterior doorway?
Then Maxton realized something.Stewart is human again.He was aggrandizing his past.
Stewart appeared through a narrow door in the back, holding a box of bottles. “Hey, we’re closed. We open at ten tonight…” Stewart’s beady eyes met Maxton’s.
“Hello, Stewart.”
“Master?” Stewart fumbled with the box, nearly dropping it. “I meanMaxton. What-what’re you doing here? I thought you were dead. The undead kind of dead, I mean.”
“No. I am quite well.”
“What do you want?” Stewart’s voice trembled, like the weak slithering snake that he was.
“I have come for dance lessons.”
Stewart stared, his thin lips smashed together.
“Fool. I am here to settle old scores.”
Stewart set the box on the table to his side. “Look, man. It was a long, long time ago. We’re not even vamps anymore. Why don’t we just shake hands and let bygones be bygones? We both did things we aren’t proud of, yeah?”
Maxton smiled wickedly. “Oh, do not worry, friend. I am not here because you killed my wife and child. I blame myself for that.” It had been Maxton’s foolish decision to turn Stewart, an event that happened well before Maxton would meet Lou Ellen.
Lou Ellen had been a kind person with a pure heart. It was the reason Maxton spared her life instead of drinking her to death on that fateful night hundreds of years ago.
Weeks later, he would run into her again and warn her about being out alone so late at night. She explained how she’d been widowed recently and had a daughter, Mable. During the day, they worked in a kitchen for a wealthy family, but it wasn’t enough money. So at night, Lou Ellen worked for the town baker, making bread. She was saving to start a new life elsewhere for her and her child.
After that, Maxton began checking on Lou Ellen and Mable, and they formed a friendship. Eventually, Maxton would confess he was a vampire, but Lou Ellen did not care. She convinced him to turn his back on his violent vampire ways and find God. It was why he became a Catholic and a peaceful vampire. A married vampire. With a human daughter he claimed as his own. They were happy, though Maxton always feared his past would catch up to him.
And it did.
The three were living outside of Rome, running their own bakery, when Maxton ran into Stewart one evening. Stewart had become a violent, bloodthirsty sonofabitch, and Maxton tried to convince him to find a new way. Like a prideful fool, he brought Stewart home to meet Lou Ellen and Mable—proof of his moral accomplishment.
Stewart had laughed in his face and left.
The next night, Stewart returned while Maxton was out, and killed Lou Ellen and Mable. Finding their lifeless bodies broke something deep inside Maxton, causing him to break his vow to God to never kill again. Killing seemed to be the only thing that took the pain away while he hunted Stewart. But the vile monster was nowhere to be found, and over time, Maxton grew to understand how he alone had triggered the events. Vampires were abominations. End of story.
