CHAPTER TEN

Nick ran down the hallway that he and Michelle had gone through earlier that day.  Michelle and Mr. Greenway were following him close behind.  When Nick reached the door, he pulled at it.  It was locked.  Michelle pushed him aside and unlocked it with her key.  He then ran through the now dark stone hallway.  When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he bolted up them.  He reached the top and saw that there was no door, just a blank wall.  I can't wait for Michelle.  He thought, so he tried to wave his hand in front of the wall.  To his surprise, the door appeared in front of him.  He opened it and just dashed down stairs.  

When he reached the bottom, a horrible sight reached his eyes. The entrance to the inn was now larger.  Instead, it was a huge hole.  The bar was a mess with glasses still falling off the shelves.  The chairs and tables were smoking and some were still on fire.   There were people running around the scene.  They were all wearing long black coats with familiar symbol on it.  Two men were interviewing Stan and his family.  Nick heard Stan say things like, "Just came in and blew it up, just like that!  Ya think that insurance is gonna believe this?  Hell no!" Nick noticed a group of them huddled in the middle of the room. He jogged over to them and pushed through the crowd.
"Poor kid," one of the men said.  "Looks so young, too bad for those two guys..."

Nick's blood ran cold.  

He pushed harder until he came to the front.  A.J was lying on the ground.  His face was covered in cuts of all sizes.  His shirt was ripped and shredded.  Nick could see a few visible gashes on his friend's chest.  His legs were no better.  One pant leg was ripped off to show scrapes and bruises.  It looked like the other one was broken, judging from the way it was lying on the ground.  Nick screamed and rushed to his side.  "A.J!  A.J, please, answer me!  A.J!  A.J!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Nick felt himself being pulled back.  He stood up and turned around to see Mr. Greenway.  "What happened?!" Nick asked in panicked tone.  "Is he..."  

"Dead?"  Mr. Greenway finished for him.  "No, merely unconscious.  He is alive."  

Nick smiled slightly.  At least he's not dead, he thought.  When he turned back to face A.J, Nick noticed two body bags in a corner.  They looked like both of them were full.  
"Who?"  Nick asked Mr. Greenway.  Mr. Greenway turned around and saw the body bags too.  
"Your bus driver and the bartender.  When Janet blew up the door, a splinter of wood flew and stabbed your bus driver. Janet killed Joey herself with her powers."  Nick sniffed, he was going to cry.  Not in front of all these people, he thought.  
"What about A.J, how..." He stopped, first considering if he really wanted to know.  

Mr. Greenway answered anyway.  "Janet beat him.  She used glass to slash him and her powers to throw him across the room..." Nick turned away from Mr. Greenway once again.  He didn't want to hear about his friend getting hurt.  If Kevin was here, he would demand a full report.  Nick stopped.  Kevin, Howie, and Brian.  Nick turned back to Mr. Greenway.
"What about the others?!" he rushed, "Howie and Kevin and Brian?  What happened to them?  Are they O.K?"  

Mr. Greenway shook his head.  "As far as we are concerned, they are not here.  We think that they are with Janet."  

Nick shivered.  "What do you mean, 'with Janet?'" he asked.

Mr. Greenway looked at him.  He took off his hat and put it to his chest.  "Janet has kidnapped them."  

Nick gasped.  At that same moment a man came down stairs from the bedrooms.
  
"Sir," said the man, talking to Mr. Greenway, "We found the book."  The man wearing thick, heavy gloves and was holding a very old, tattered leather book.  On the front cover, it read The Mark of the Vampire.  It looked very different from when Brian showed it to him.  When Brian showed it to him, it was a clean and very new looking.  When Nick asked Mr. Greenway why this was, Mr. Greenway took the book from the man. When his fingers touched the binding, it changed on contact into the appearance that Nick remembered.  "What the..." Nick stammered.  "How did you..."

"Do that?"  Mr. Greenway finished for him.  Nick nodded.  "Well, this book is very strange.  It was made, probably in the 1400s. A man and a vampire wrote it.  Only God knows why such a thing would happen.  Anyway, when this book was bound together, the man and the vampire found that the book changed when each of them laid hands on it.  The appearance changed.  The also found that when they both touched it, the book would change in to a spell book."

"A spell book, why?"

"Because that is what the vampire wanted it to be.  He went behind the man's back and wrote out all the spells that a vampire might use in the future.  Only the descendent of the man and the vampire can change the book into a spell book today.  The man was terrified.  Of course, he had no idea that it was the vampire who wrote all those spells, but he did know about the relations part."

"Relations?"  Nick asked.

"Only the descendents could change the book.  So he and the vampire swore never to change the book and to forget about it.  But the vampire never kept his part of the bargain.  When the man died of old age, the vampire took the book and kept his eye on the man's family."

"Wait, can Vampires have children?"  

Mr. Greenway laughed.  "No, no, no the vampire's descendents were those that have been bitten.  Janet is the last remaining heir.  The vampire that bit her was a descendent of the vampire that helped make the book.  But the vampire that bit Janet also bit another person and changed him."  

Nick shook his head.  "Okay, I think I get it."  

Mr. Greenway smiled.  "Anyway, we found out that Janet met up with the other victim, who's name was John, after both of them became vampires.  They ended up being lovers, but about twelve years ago, your father killed John without realizing who he was.  Janet got away though.  Just after John gave her the ring that triggers the spells.  Only when Janet has the book and the ring and the heir of the man who helped create the book is when she can get powerful.  When that happens, hell rises and takes over the heavens and the earth, and Janet becomes the evil queen."  

Nick, who was now sitting in a chair, had his eyes open wide.
"Whoa," was all he could say, "this is just like one of those fairy tale stories."  

Mr. Greenway smiled.  "I've lived with this kind of stuff for over 50 years."  He said.  At that same moment, a man in a long coat came up to Nick and Mr. Greenway.

"Sir," the man said in a panicked tone, "we have a letter.  It's from Janet."  The man held out an old envelope that was sealed with red wax.  "We found it on what was left of the bar."  

Mr. Greenway took the envelope from the man with out saying thank-you.  He tore it open and read it aloud.  The note was written in blood.

 

Bring me the book and the heir to the castle on the hill, or the mortals become no more!