Of the Blood
Disclaimer: see Chapter 1
I'm sorry PrincessEilonwy, but a romance between Nadine and Corwin would surely break poor old Janus' heart.
Oh, and that would mean that my girlfriend would get really angry with me, something I (of course) wish to avoid under all circumstances... ;-)
Chapter 8
Does it never hurt to help?
"Uhm... Nadine?"
Nadine paused from sipping her Truly Bloody Mary (a name she and Janus had come up with while mixing drinks and the contents of several plasma bags.) "Yes, Janus?" she asked.
Janus, though relaxed, fidgeted around uncomfortably with a jar of bath salt. "Well, you see," he murmured in his broken voice, "I've been meaning to ask you something – ah, for quite some time..."
"Yes?" Nadine inquired drowsily.
"The point is..." Janus began.
Just then, the doorknob turned. Both vampires froze in surprise.
Nadine, Corwin thought, I must find Nadine. She should be somewhere on Shadow Earth – or possibly near it, if she had somehow picked up the basics of shadow shifting. Yet the Pattern led him away from the place. Maybe inside the old mansion that seemed to block his path whenever he tried to walk around it...
Corwin opened the front door and looked around the huge room. There was a jacuzzi, a bar, small palm and fig trees and soothing music. But no Nadine. Wait! Those clothes...
Suddenly, some naked, hideously deformed humanoid clambered out of the pool, screaming: "Go away, you..." Then it stopped as Greyswandir pointed straight at its chest.
"What have you done to Nadine, foul creature?!" Corwin barked. His heart pumped. If the monster had hurt her, he had failed to protect her... Amber would have lost a potential saviour... Still, he could at least take revenge.
"Stop that!" a female voice shouted. Corwin and his adversary looked around to see Nadine emerging from the bathtub, glowering with rage. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"I thought he was going to attack you," both men replied, then looked at each other in surprise.
Uh oh, Corwin thought, this is not going well. Quickly, he lowered his sword.
"Ah... I came to ask a favour of you," he muttered.
"Well," Nadine said after a moment's hesitation. "You arrived at an inconvenient time. Mind if I call you back later?"
"Actually, I do have reason to hurry," Corwin said, staring intently at the blank wall behind the beautiful vampire to avoid more embarassment. "Could I please talk to you for a moment?"
Janus grumbled, but Nadine shrugged. "All right then," she said. "Just give me a moment to..."
Corwin walked to a clothes cabinet in a corner of the room, took out the black bathrobe that just had to be there and handed it to a surprised Nadine. "Of course," he said. "Mind if I fix myself a drink?"
"Not at all," Nadine answered.
"As long as you make me one, too," Janus shouted after him. "Do I need one," he grumbled softly as he picked up a towel.
Five minutes later, Nadine and Corwin were sitting on two luxurious chairs near the jacuzzi. Janus stood behind the bar, still muttering to himself and mixing another strong cocktail.
"Okay," Nadine said. "Tell me why you disturbed our quiet evening."
"I didn't mean to disturb you," Corwin hesitated, "but something has happened. Do you remember what I told you about my mad brother Brand?"
Nadine nodded.
"Well," Corwin sighed, "it seems as if he's trying to rush things. If we don't stop him soon, he might stand a good change of taking over Amber and destroying all possible worlds as they are now – including Earth."
"So why did you come to me?" Nadine asked sarcastically. "The way I understood you, your family should be superior to me in any aspect whatsoever."
"Not in any aspect, I guarantee you," Corwin sighed. "Ethics, for example... But I digress. My mad brother has set up his stronghold in a place where only the dead may go. And, well, since you... Er... Because of your condition..." he fumbled with the silver rose clasp of his mantle. Damn! Where had his legendary eloquence gone?! Now, the vampire would surely laugh and say...
"All right," Nadine said briskly, "I'll help you."
Corwin looked at her, almost unable to believe that she had actually agreed.
"Well," Nadine shrugged, "if I'm the best qualified candidate to do the job, and otherwise I would surely be destroyed – along with all I hold dear – it is the logical choice, isn't it?"
"Yes... Indeed," Corwin admitted, wondering if the vampire could even begin to comprehend what she was up to. Still, she was right: she was the best qualified candidate to do the job.
"So... Do we have to go now?" Nadine asked.
Corwin nodded. "There is no time to waste. I will brief you on the way."
"Good," Nadine said. "But we have to pass Earth."
"Why?" Corwin asked. "If you need anything, I can..."
Janus cleared his throat with a sound as if a drain was being unclogged. "First you take away my girl," he rasped, "then you leave without even bringing me home? Didn't think so, bud."
"I will bring you back first," Corwin said. "And I will do my utmost to bring Nadine back safely as well. That's a promise."
"You'd better," Janus grumbled.
Meanwhile, an emergency meeting was held in castle Amber.
King Random sat at the head of the table, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Not only was this his first major crisis, he also had to handle it without his royal symbol: the Jewel of Judgement. To make matters worse, his crisis team consisted of elder brothers and sisters, all of whom would be watching him very closely, evaluating all the strenghts and weaknesses in his words, his gestures, his actions to later use them to their advantage.
It was a good thing he was the best poker player Amber had ever known.
Random looked at the four siblings gathered around him. Fiona, at his left, returned his stare with a comforting smile he found not really that comforting. Next to her sat her full brother Bleys, juggling two knifes and two apples in such a way that the apples got neatly sliced in mid-air.
On Random's right side sat Caine, seemingly desinterestedly shuffling his deck of trumps. Next to him waited Benedict, dour and silent as ever, sitting still as a statue until the absolute need would come for him to say something.
"So," Random opened the meeting, "You all know about the current situation: now it's the time to find a solution. Fiona, you told me that a certain vampire carrying the blood of Amber could penetrate Brand's hiding place. Where is she now?"
"Corwin is fetching her as we speak," Fiona said.
Random thought about that. Corwin had promised him to bring him Nadine, but only after he'd last spoken to Fiona. How would she know? Undoubtedly a question she wouldn't answer. Just like how she had found Nadine in the first place.
No, correct that. She would give him a perfect, intelligible answer, then letting him walk away with the feeling that she had not told him the complete truth, but unable to put his finger on what was missing.
Best to go on to the next subject.
"OK," Random said. "Assuming the vampire will work for us, how is she going to get by Brand's undead clone army all by herself?"
"Trump," Benedict said.
"Excuse me?" Random asked.
Benedict motioned to Bleys, who caught both apples and daggers in one hand, while withdrawing his older brother's trump with the other. He focused on the picture until it changed into the image of Benedict sitting at the table. Then, he turned it around.
With a casual flick of his wrist, Amber's arms master threw a knife at Bleys. It disappeared in the trump and reappeared instantly flying at Benedict, who snatched it away and tucked it back into his belt in one fluid motion.
"Projectile transmission through trump," Bleys explained to a puzzled Random. "The vampire points the trump at the army, we do the projectile transmission." He tossed his daggers casually up in the air. The worst was probably, the king throught, that Benedict wasn't even showing off.
"Good. And Brand?" Random asked. "How will she tackle him?"
"Same principle," Fiona said. "Bleys and I will take it onto us to reach him through trump. Weakened as he is, he won't be able to resist us both."
"All right," Random concluded. So the whole plan had already been worked out beforehand. Probably as well: now the Jewel was gone, undoubtedly through the doing of Brand or one of his minions, quick action was in order. Fiona had said that her mad brother, even though not fully attuned to it, could probably still wield the Jewel's frightening power with reasonable ease. If he already had it in his disembodied hands, of course.
"Any questions?" There were none. "Let's get this show on the road then," the King of Amber decided.