Blueblood 4: Dracula - 22. Iustina and Repetate Arrive In Manhattan

We got to the caverns and went down to Iustina and Repetate. They were a little uneasy but smiled at me when I came in their cell.

“Okay,” I said to them as I also smiled so they would stay calm. “We’re going to take you for a little trip,” I explained and showed them again the imagines of a helicopter. “First, we’ll take you in this, then we get to the plane and we will get in the container and take a longer trip in the airplane.”

Dragon came in the cell. “La revedere, semenii. Nu vă faceţi griji, ne vedem din nou, dar nu pentru o perioada de timp. Acest lucru este pentru binele tau. Ok?” The translator I had told me Dragon told them goodbye and he would see them again, but not for a while. This was for their own good. He smiled at them. “Veţi fi în siguranţă, promit.” He assured them they would be safe and promised them. Then I swear, Dragon, now that he has the moisture even cried a little. He looked at me. “Take care of them, please, Devon.” He said and brought both Iustina and Repetate in a hug and then looked at them each. “A fi bun pentru, Devon. Ne vedem în curând.” He told them to be good for me and he’d see them soon.” They may be predators for people, but I could see Dragon loved them. What was more, they clearly loved him.

I nodded and touched Dragon’s arm. “I will take good care of them.”

Dragon nodded. “Nicolae and Helga will be meeting you at the base and going with you from there.” Dragon said. He looked worried. “They’ve not been outside in decades. Their sense of smell is remarkable. They might smell people in the area. It was how they located and tracked prey.”

I hated to use them, but… “They don’t have…” I thought of a kind word, but there was none, “…leashes or chains?”

“You couldn’t hold them.” He smiled. “They may not look it, but their very strong; especially when they smell blood.” Dragon shook his head.

“They would have to be if they can take down a grown man down, even by surprise.”

“That’s why we haven’t bothered with chains. I bet if they wanted to they could have pried open those iron bars. What’s odd was, they seem to like it down here. Just…lure them with blood and they should go willingly. That’s how we got them down here.” He grinned. “Though you might want to hold their hands.”

“They had a comfortable life and didn’t have to hunt for their meal. Sure, they liked it.” I grinned. “And perhaps someone that cared for them for the first time in their lives.”

“Probably.” Dragon smiled at them again as he ran his hand over Iustina’s face. “But they could get spooked.” Dragon offered. “It’s a scary world out there for the unprepared.”

“I know.” I pulled my jacket open. “I have a plan if they tried to get away and try to run.” The handgun was in a holster near my chest. “They won’t get far, but I swear I won’t use it unless I have to. I have it, just in case.”

“You could miss.” Dragon objected lightly.

“I was pretty good at small arms marksmanship,” I said hating what I was saying. “I won’t miss,” I said sadly.

Dragon nodded. “I hope you won’t have to use it.”

“Me, too,” I said. “I don’t want to.”

Colin came in behind Dragon. “Okay, they are about ten minutes away; there is a clearing of sorts…we’ll take them there. The pilot didn’t say he had trouble yet, but we need to get in and go.”

I looked at Repetate and Iustina, holding out my hands to them. “Okay. This will be a little scary, but I’m going, too. Trust me.” And I was smiling at them to reassure them. There was no hesitation, they looked at my hands and they each gave me theirs. “I’m not leaving you.” They trusted me. Other than Dragon, I wondered if they ever had someone to even offer to hold their hands, but they knew what to do. We went through the caverns toward the opening and went outside. It had been a long time since they’d done that and I saw them lift their noses and sniffed. It was colder now, but they didn’t seem bothered by it. They had lived their lives without clothing; they must have been used being naked. The clearing was a small patch of ground that had just enough room for the helicopter to land. When we got close, I felt Repetate hesitate in going toward the helicopter with its blades going creating a strong wind. I smiled again. “I know it’s noisy and makes wind. I’ll be with you. It won’t hurt me, so it won’t hurt you.” Colin had gotten on and was waving us toward him. “It’s okay.” I got them on, but I saw the pilot’s eyes grow when he saw them. He had flown us before and he may have transported vampires before, but I knew he’d never seen an Old One. I leaned forward. They were pale and didn’t wear clothes…that would be surprising for anyone. “You had the Disflavor?”

“Of course.” The pilot said.

“Then you’re fine,” I said smiling. “Relax, they won’t attack you.”

Colin patted the pilot on the shoulder. “Let’s go.” He said. “We need to land fast, get them in the container and take off quickly.”

“Do you think the authorities will be after us?” I asked Colin.

Colin grinned. “Well, they might have questions. The flight team is going to be radioing they are having trouble and have to set down.” He shrugged. “The only available landing site will be the Base. They will set down; we’ll load up and take off again. As soon as we land the chopper, we load them in the container and then signal the pilots to land the plane. We load the container and leave.”

“I never saw the container before,” I said. “What’s special about it?”

“It’s totally enclosed,” Colin explained. “Inside has a few seats, it circulates air and has power. It’s not big for easier placing in cargo. The little bathroom is very small.”

I nodded. “I’m riding with Iustina and Repetate.”

Colin looked a little surprised for a second but then nodded. “It should be comfortable. We transported the First One, Marissa in it, remember her?” He smiled. “Nothing too sloppy for the queen of Vampires in the United States.” He bumped me. “It even has a TV!”

“Great!” I nodded. “We’ll be able to watch cartoons! They love those.”

Colin laughed. “George is also going to try what he gave Willie when we took him out of the abandoned subway. It should work, but their blood system is all venom. We’ll see if it works.”

I noticed that when we took off, they were a little uneasy, but when I pointed lights on the many houses as we flew over; telling Iustina and Repetate they were flying like birds now. They got interested as we passed of the dark world below! Seeing I was okay, they calmed down. They were having an adventure!

We landed and we didn’t have a lot of time. I got a couple of bags of blood out and opened the valve so they could smell the blood. Iustina and Repetate were very interested as I waved in front of them and they followed me into the hanger. This was an abandoned hanger, so there was metal rusting in places, if it was there at all. The area surrounding the hanger was overgrown with some weeds, grass growing through cracks in the pavement, but there was a hanger door slightly open and in the middle of this massive vacant floor was…it was a giant black box. A cube…ten or twelve feet by ten or twelve feet. It had a door like you would see on ships or submarines. I led the two Old Ones to the box as Colin rotated the wheel to open the door. Once inside, I was pleased. It wasn’t bad! There were three chairs along the wall to the right. A large TV on the wall to the left. A tiny little section to the side I saw was a toilet, but vampires just urinated ammonia, so it wasn’t a full bathroom. Basically a urinal and a little sink. Small lights were on the inside, like emergency lights until we were connected with the plane’s power.

I looked at him smiling. “You’re riding with us?”

Colin shrugged. “They never sit in a chair and don’t sleep on a bed; preferring the floor, so there’s room.” He said kissing me.

Using only our hearing did we, Colin and I, knew what was happening. The box was pretty soundproof and heard nothing something touched the container.

“The power needs to be hooked up when we’re loaded,” Colin explained.

They were drinking the blood, but that was just the beginning. The door opened again and George came in. He waved to Iustina and Repetate.

“Hello, guys.” He held up another few bags of blood. “I’ve included something to hopefully make them sleep.” He said to Colin and me. “I’m not sure how they will react to any sedative. It worked for Willie, it should work for them.”

I took the bags and put them in a cooler. The two of them saw me put the blood away and I smiled at them. “You’ll get it. We just need to get started.” I said and did my hand showing we needed to take off.

We heard a thump and then was raised a little. They weren’t sure about that.

“It’s okay.” We moved shakily and then an angle I knew we were being loaded. Another thump and then lowered with another thump. “You need to hang on,” I told them showing them as I grabbed the arms of the chair and reconsidered and went down with them. I pulled them to me and said. “It will be quick.”

“Shouldn’t you be in the seat buckled in?” Colin asked me.

“Nate’s good. It will be bumpy, but Repetate and Iustina will do better if I’m right with them.” I waved at the chairs. “They wouldn’t understand about those seats or seatbelts.”

“Well, the actual flight time is about twelve hours,” Colin said. “We will have to refuel, but we go down, top the tanks off and back up; very little delay.”

“And I have over ten hours of cartoons!” I said brightly. “Of course, with the sedative in the blood, they hopefully will sleep.”

“And hopefully we will, too,” Colin said smiling. “Why cartoons?”

I felt the engine rev though there was a rumble as it radiated through the metal container. “Tom and Jerry are the best, they have almost no dialog; just a lot of action. They love it.” I smiled as Repetate and Iustina got even closer because of the movement and noise. “It’s okay. This has to happen.” I assured them again. Then they were startled with we suddenly had power and there was air flowing now. Then I felt the bumps and I knew we were moving down the runway and then the sudden freedom of the rumble and vibration as we rose on the air currents. It wasn’t too long before my ears popped and theirs did, too, which surprised them. I smiled and nodded pointing at my own ear. “Yes, pop.” Things evened out and I hooked up my computer to the big screen TV and they were distracted as the Tom and Jerry music started and they turned to the screen. They had seen the monitor and enjoyed that, now it was on a bigger screen. As we were cruising, I gave them the other bags of blood which they consumed as they watched. “We might have a market for TV blood dinners.”

Colin groaned as I got up and sat beside him. “Just watch the cartoons.” He said kissing me and leaned back putting his arm around me.

“Watching cartoons with the kids.” I smiled resting against Colin.

“Just watch the cartoons.” Colin chuckled lightly.

“I gather you got through to Edwin,” I said. “You weren’t worried when we left and I was busy with the kids.”

“He, Matt and one of their medical staff are on the way now.” He looked at his watch. “In fact, they should be there.” He said. “By the end of this week, we’ll have twenty more vampires on serum to help cover the crowd.”

“Good.” I smiled.

It didn’t take but an hour or so before I watched both Repetate and Iustina lay flat, the curled into the fetal position and go to sleep. George’s sedative worked. Instead of worrying about them, it was shortly after that both Colin and I pushed the seat back and were also asleep. I woke when we landed, but Repetate and Iustina hardly moved. We fueled, more to top off the tanks and then took off again. We had left Romania about 9 pm, the time there. We followed the sun…or the moon…it was a long night. It was a total of fourteen hours, but we got there in the morning hours of the East Coast. Of course, Colin and George had that covered as well. By this time, I was still the new guy at the VUN. We landed and then there was the thump again and the power went out. We were moved again. A flight again for about half an hour and another thump and we were moved again. I knew what was happening when we were suddenly going down. Then the door was opened as George stuck his smiling face in.

“We’re here.” George waved to us. “Come on out.”

Again, I took Repetate’s and Iustina’s hands again and led them out of the container and knew I was back at the VUN in Manhattan. I recognized the not quite white cinder brick walls as we stepped off of the freight elevator. No sunlight was getting in here. Leading them to a room, in fact, the very one we kept Willie when we got him out of the subway.

“How’d they travel?” George asked.

I nodded. “Fine.”

“They weren’t restless being confined for so long?”

“They were confined for decades, this is just a change in scenery,” I said bringing them in the room. “They are used to it.” I smiled at Iustina who smiled at me. I looked at Colin. “How’d we get in here?”

Colin smiled. “Well, there is a helicopter we use that can pick up the container and flew us here, we moved the container in the freight elevator and down we came.” He shrugged. “Simple.”

Getting Repetate and Iustina settled didn’t take long. They would be watched by employees that knew about vampires. I still thought the holding…room…was a little sterile. I had instructed them to install a TV for them, and that was really the only thing in the room.

“Devon!” I heard behind me. “Hi, Col-“ she froze.

Turning, there was Amanda standing at the door! The first vampire I’d met so quickly after being bitten, still blonde, but very pretty now. Hair done and makeup in a woman’s business pink suit. I smiled. “Hi, Amanda!”

She was staring at Repetate and Iustina beside me. “That’s the Old Ones you told us about?”

I nodded. “This is Iustina and Repetate.” I ran my hand over Repetate’s bald head as I smiled at Amanda. “Otherwise, in English…Earless and Repeat.” I pointed out Iustina’s missing ear. Looking at Amanda, she was clearly…let’s just say she wasn’t comfortable with them. “They really are harmless…” I said, “…well, to us they are.” I looked as Repetate was sort of cowering behind me. “They can be very sweet.” I looked at her. “They and others like them are what began this whole nightmare for all of us.” I returned my gaze to her. “But they are what they were made to be. I don’t blame them. What they have inside could be part of the answer for getting rid of the venom in us.”

Colin walked over. “What are your duties here?”

Amanda was still staring at the Old Ones and looked up and caught herself. “Oh, I work with Ursula.”

Ursula was one of the first vampires I’d met. Colin, then Gabriella and of course Brett and then George; when we arrived in Manhattan after the Christmas party where I was first bitten, Ursula was the woman that greeted us.

Colin smiled. “I mean, why are you here with them?” He said putting a hand on Iustina’s shoulder…and I don’t even think he was conscious of it. They were comfortable with Colin now and Colin was comfortable with them.

“Oh!” Amanda smiled. “I’m here to see that their…” she looked at the two, “…needs are met.”

“The first need they have is blood,” I said simply. “They drink about two to three pints of blood every day.” I looked around the room. “They urinate ammonia, so we will need something for them to do that. They don’t sleep on a bed or even sit in a chair. The prefer the floor.”

“But most important,” Colin stressed very seriously. “Do not let any person even in this part of the building in that isn’t a vampire or on the Disflavor,” He said firmly. “I mean it!”

I nodded. “Their reaction to Sorin was…pretty intense.”

“They will kill anyone up here that is human,” Colin added. “When George comes to do anything medical or takes them to the lab…no one should even be on this floor! They will smell their blood and try to attack.”

Amanda nodded and pulled a small leather-bound notebook out and wrote it down.

“No one!” Colin said firmly again.

Then I bounced. “Second, when they aren’t with George and here in this room.” I waved at the TV. “Make sure there is nonstop cartoons showing.” I grinned. “They love those.” I watched as Colin wavered a little. I steadied him. “And you need to eat. That sandwich you had on the plane wasn’t enough.”

Colin smiled feeling the drain. “I’ll be fine.”

“We got Nicolae and these two here,” I said. “They’re safe now. You will come with me and eat.” I said lovingly, but firm.

Colin grinned. “You’re the boss.”

“Is there a remote? Or should I use my computer?” I asked about the TV.

“I’ll make sure the library has what’s needed. You will have to use your computer until I get the connection.” She said but was still looking at them. “They are just so…”

I raised my eyebrows and waited.

“…so odd.” She continued.

I nodded. “They are that.” I agreed. “But once you get used to their appearance, and you will…” I said smiling at her. “…they grow on you.” I brought Iustina and Repetate in for a quick hug. “I actually love them.” I looked at them again. “Colin is hungry,” I explained. “We’re going to get him and me something to eat.” I saw their eyes light up. “No, not for you. You had your meal.” I waved at the ceiling. “It’s daylight out and you would be hurt, so…I’ll be back.” I saw them nod, but looked at the TV. “Yes, I’ll hook it up.” They had slept a good portion of the way and I had several hours of cartoons they hadn’t seen. Hooking it up quickly began the cartoons. I told them again I would be back. I walked back into the hall with Colin and Amanda. “I don’t think they will, but the door needs to be locked…always. They are used to being confined, that shouldn’t be a problem. I just don’t want to take chances. They are very, very strong.”

Amanda nodded. “I’ll make sure everyone knows this.” Then she smiled at me. “But it’s clear they love you and follow every word you say.”

Colin nodded. “I don’t want to seem…overbearing, but…this is so vital…nothing takes more importance…I can’t say it enough…if they do get out. They can’t get out!” He said gravely. “They are a great, great threat. A lot of people will die and we will have a lot more wild vampires in Manhattan. These two are the most dangerous creatures on this planet to men, women, and children everywhere…and has ever been. They can not GET OUT!” He emphasized those last words.

“I’ll make sure everyone here knows and push it even deeper,” Amanda assured. “I promise.”

“As sweet as I think they seem now; how friendly and docile…” I looked at Repetae and Iustina, ”even innocent as they seem…don’t be deceived…the deaths to men and women over the thousands of years of their lives...is over a thousand, hundreds of thousands…perhaps a million or more…they have killed and will again if they get out.” I added. “As much as I love them…and I do.” I showed her the gun I had on me. “I would do it, if needed. I will kill them. No regrets and no second thoughts.”

I heard Amanda swallow and look at Iustina and Repetate again with more understanding. “I’ll make sure the guards clearly understand that.” She said as her voice shook only a little. “I’ll even double what we scheduled. They will be kept confined. I swear it.”

“Countless lives depend on it,” Colin said and wavered again.

“Okay, husband.” I took him by the arm and threw it over my shoulder as I kept him standing. “You eat. Right now! Let’s go.”

I took Colin to the restaurant at the VUN who knew to make food in volumes for certain people and Colin was one of those certain people. A meal was made and soon Colin was shoveling it in.

“I’m glad you understand about those two. You drove that home very well with Amanda.” Colin said sighing. “Could you kill them?”

“Of course,” I said shrugging. “It would hurt me, but with them, there’d be no choice. I know what they’ve done and I know what they are. They are no threat for us, so I didn’t want them to be won over by their charms. They are strange at first, but they can’t let down their guard even once.” I said smiling as Colin didn’t stop eating. I took the arm closest to me. “We did what we needed to do. We got them safe. George can continue his work on them and find something with their venom. We have Nicolae and his wife here, their children. They’re safe. George has his lab, he is going to find a way to help us stop the venom naturally with Nicolae’s blood.” I smiled. “This will end.”

Colin sighed. “If it doesn’t?”

I shook my head. “I can’t believe that. There is a solution here. George will find it and we will be free. Until he does, we’ll give others that are going through this help and make things better.”

Colin smiled. “We need a few hours alone time.” He said leaning closer.

“You’re not tired?”

“I have the energy for you.” He leaned in kissing me gently. “I love you, Devon.”

I ran my fingers in his hair. “I believe you,” I said kissing him. “I love you, Colin.”

He put his fork down and put his napkin on the table. “Let’s go and prove it to each other.” His eyebrows danced when he said that.