Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

jälleen ,I believe is, I don’t know how you . . .” He frowned at Jubal. “‘Escaped’? ‘How you
     escaped me’?”
    Jubal nodded. “That’s what I got. And something about ‘not again.’”
    Gary nodded. “‘I do not know how you escaped me, but you will not again.’ That’s as
     close as I can get. Clearly he thinks he knows you.”
    “And the last part?” Riley insisted. “Andak a irgalomet terád it.”
    “That means, ‘I will have no mercy for you this time.’” Gary said the words in a rush,
     as if he wanted to get it over.
    “So who is he? What is he?” Riley demanded.
    Gary wiped at the ash on his jeans, not looking at her. “I’m afraid you’re dealing
     with a vampire. A very powerful vampire. The real deal. He’ll tear out your throat
     and drain you dry. He feeds off the suffering and terror of people. There’s no doubt
     in my mind that’s what was locked in that mountain.”
    Riley stared at him, openmouthed. She hadn’t expected him to say vampire . Vampires were mythical demons in horror movies or novels. She didn’t have a clue
     what she thought he’d say, but certainly not vampire . He was serious, too. She snuck a look at Jubal. He was just as serious.
    “All those weapons you have, you were expecting this. Clearly, from the beginning,
     you knew.”
    Gary shook his head. “No, that’s not true. We actually came here to research a particular
     plant we thought long extinct. A small group of adventurers had come here last year
     and one had a picture of the plant on his blog on the Internet. A friend of ours just
     happened to stumble across the photograph and sent it to me knowing my interest in
     rare plants. Jubal and I were both excited about it. I got in touch with the miner
     who described the plant and I became certain it was what we were looking for. We contacted
     a guide and came.”
    “But our guide was ill,” Jubal said. “Just like yours and Dr. Patton’s guide.”
    “And ours,” Ben added.
    Gary nodded. “So we threw in with everyone and figured since we were all going to
     the same general area, we could travel together and then go our own way when we got
     to the mountain. At that point we didn’t have a clue anything was wrong.”
    “We began to suspect we were dealing with the undead when all the strange things began
     happening and they were clearly directed at your mother,” Jubal added. “There’s a
     certain feel to evil, and we’ve both felt it before.”
    Ben shook his head. “No. No way. I’ve studied vampire lore around the world, and I’ll
     admit, there’s a part of me that wanted to believe something like that existed, like
     in the movies. I ran into a group of people in my travels that totally believe in
     vampires and claim they hunt and kill them. They were all nut jobs. Completely whacko.
     There are no such things as vampires. The people they killed were ill, or lived differently
     or had trouble being out in the sun. I investigated each victim and none of them were
     vampires. The few people who act like vampires, killing for blood, are in mental institutions
     for the criminally insane.”
    “True enough,” Gary agreed. “I know exactly the people you’re talking about. I was
     mixed up with them once, a long time ago, and yes, they kill indiscriminately. They
     target someone and then twist facts to fit what they want to believe, but that doesn’t
     negate the fact that vampires exist.”
    “If that’s true,” Ben argued, “why doesn’t anyone know about it?”
    Riley had to admit it was a good question. She kept her head on her knees, but watched
     Gary’s face carefully. He truly believed what he was saying. Jubal did as well. Neither
     struck her as insane. She’d felt evil when she’d plunged her hands into the soil.
     Even more, she’d heard it—heard its voice. There was no denying it, as much as she’d
     like to.
    “How was he able to get the bats and monkeys, even the piranha and that snake to target
     my mother if he was trapped in the volcano?” she asked, not waiting for Gary or Jubal
     to answer Ben’s very logical question. She believed Gary, and that was just plain
     terrifying.
    “Vampires can be very powerful. If this one has survived locked in that volcano, we’re
     dealing with an extremely powerful one. He has been around for more centuries than
     we can imagine, growing in power.”
    Riley closed her eyes briefly. She’d let something truly evil out into the