Dracula Hearts of Fire Book two of Dracula Hearts

THE DAY HAD BEEN MELLOW and enjoyable, with an apparent lull in all the killings. It was walking weather as Wei and Bao were on patrol. They were looking forward to some normalcy, even if it was only for twenty-four hours. They noticed that many people appeared to be in a good mood, as if something was in the air. The bees flew happily from flower to flower. So far, it had been a perfect day with not a single call.

Wei placed his hand on his sword. “I could get used to days like this.”

“The world deserves days like this.”

Wei and Bao couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was something that should only appear in one’s nightmare. They had dealt with a lot over the centuries, but nothing like this. Bao thought it looked a little like a walking cartoon; it was that unreal. The thing looked left and right as they watched it. The Chinese sheriffs stood momentarily bewildered.

On the east side of Fifth Avenue, a skeleton was ablaze, walking on the sidewalk in front of St Patrick’s Cathedral. People ran across the street toward Rockefeller Center to escape; cars screeched to a halt to gawk at it. Even a crow on the church stared at something it had never observed before. The bird was smart enough not to approach it. Two police officers attempted to confront it, and it spat fire at both of them for their trouble. The magical fire quickly consumed them, with nothing remaining but black dust on the sidewalk. They had managed a couple of screams, but that was it. Even their guns had disintegrated into dust.

As Wei approached, he thought that it had rancid BO; even though it had no body, it smelled like vomit, nasty and sour, which was a peculiar odor for something that was on fire. Bao pulled his sword and tried to block its way, but it threw fire at him; the flames stuck like burnt marshmallows tossed on a wall. His skin melted as he backed up, screaming in agony. He fell; he healed, but it took longer than usual.

Wei blurred and attacked with his magical sword, but it went right through the enchanted thing as if it was only cutting through the fire, with no contact with its bones. This thing was going to be a big problem. He had tried to take its head off, but it didn’t work. The fiery bones looked around as if it was hunting for someone or something, like a puzzled tourist not exactly sure where to go. It was attempting to orient on its location. It wasn’t quite used to its new condition and tried to figure things out. With no brain to speak of, it was running on magical thoughts.

Bao looked at Wei. “God, that was painful. What are we going to do if we can’t kill it?”

Wei swung his blade several times through the entity of fire, accomplishing nothing. “Now I wish I had some magical training. I think magic needs to be fought with magic.” He knew all vampires had a degree of magic, but not substantial. This thing looked to be nothing but pure evil. He believed it had a single task and would die to accomplish it, assuming it could be killed.

The frame of bones threw more fire at Bao, and again he screamed with pain as he was consumed. Half of the sheriff’s legs were bones before he commenced healing. Wei kicked it and drove it back several feet, only to set his foot on fire; he danced around to put it out, realizing what agony Bao had endured.

“What the hell are we going to do with this thing?” Bao again attacked it but to no avail.

The crow flew from just above the church’s entrance, and as it got over the street, the skeleton hit it with a ball of fire, exploding several feathers gently floated down. The skeleton showed satisfaction at killing the bird; it cocked its head as it appeared to concentrate.

The cathedral’s doors slowly opened as someone inside peeked out. Jarman exited the cathedral dressed in a white robe and attacked the skeleton. He threw a net of ice over it but was surprised when it melted. He was obviously a wizard, but Jarman didn’t know that the beast had been searching for him. The skeleton sensed his energy and tracked him to the church’s vicinity. However, it had been unable to zero in on him until now.

It fixated on the wizard as it created a ball of blue flame between both hands. Jarman started to throw exploding balls of light at it; they exploded in the air sending fragments of glass-like fragments at it and drove the thing back, but otherwise, it didn’t appear to hurt it much. The skeleton blurred and knocked the wizard down, sending him flying against the church door, and then it jumped on him, stealing his energy and burning him alive. The sheriffs had tried hard to get the thing off of him, but there was nothing they could do. When the flaming thing stood up, all that remained of the wizard was a scorched sidewalk.

Wei turned to Bao. “What is this thing?”

Bao only shook his head. “Something evil that was created by an evil wizard. I wonder if that Jenny girl would have a spell to at least contain it?”

“You know what some are saying about her, that’s she’s Dracula’s daughter.”

“I doubt that.” Bao stared at it, wondering what to do next.

Vincent blurred into the area. He was dressed all in black and greeted the two sheriffs with a nod. “What the hell is that?”

Wei returned Vincent’s nod. “We have no idea.”

Vincent pulled out his gun and shot it three times. Only the bullets were deflected and went off at crazy angles. He attacked it with his sword and was surprised when his blade went through it without any effect. The red sheriff stepped back to assess the situation. He despised magical creations as they could be the most difficult to defeat.

While they talked, the skeleton stood motionless as the space within its chest cavity, where its heart would have been, turned a dark purple swirling mist. Tiny skulls could be observed within the purplish haze; it had taken some of the souls from Achak’s fire. Wei’s sword glowed a bright orange, and he hit the skeleton with it, and its right arm came off but then went right back on. He thought that it was in some discomfort but couldn’t be sure. He swung at it several times, but now the blade was going right through it. What had changed? The creature spat fire at Wei, but the edge instinctively blocked it. It also tried to blast Boa, and Wei’s magical blade thwarted that fire. The thing then turned and blurred off so fast that they couldn’t follow it.

Bao looked down at the spot where the wizard had been killed. “That poor guy.”

“Bao, maybe we should see if Jenny can’t track that thing down and kill it.”

“I don’t know; she’s just a girl.”

“She’s far from just a girl.” Bao looked at the expression on Wei’s face and knew what was coming.

“I hate it when they get away! Hate it!”

“Believe me, I know. I’ll be hearing this for months.”

“Hate it!”