CHAPTER 40 Interrogation
They all turned to the back of the room where their feral was still taped to a chair and gathered about him.
"What's your name?" demanded Cosmina.
"Jašić," he said, eyes darting about the room.
"Who sent you?" asked Cosmina. "Was it Alu?"
"No talk," he said.
"I know of no torture that will work on a vampire," said Cosmina looking at Mary. "Particularly a feral. Waterboarding the Undead is a waste of time. Thumbscrews? The wrack? They experience pain but aren't afraid of it."
Alex stepped closer. He struggled against his restraints and growled. She put her hand up where he could smell her. "How would you like to bite into my flesh? Just a few answers, and perhaps I will allow a little blood."
Jašić went crazy struggling to get to her.
"Wow!" said Cosmina. "I've not seen that reaction out of any of them."
"How long have you known Alu?" Alex asked. "If you'll answer, I'll let you taste me. Promise."
Jašić calmed. His speech slowed. "Turned twenty years ago. Just a bite now, please."
"Not until you've told all," said Alex. "If you're really cooperative, I'll let you drink your fill. No matter the cost to me."
"Much pain. Bring girl closer," he said. "Jašić tell. Don't like to remember though. Much pain." He started crying. "Poor Ismana. Lost the wife. Hear the kids screaming. Yes, Alu turned me. As a blessing. Kids screaming. Died in pain. Brought partial forgetfulness to Jašić. No troubled sleep now. No dreams. No sleep at all. Secret, that Alu. Always withholding. Can't stop the kids from screaming. Alu so disappointed when turned me. Many curses. Almost staked. Had to run. Some prize ones though. Won't let us see. Stop the kids from screaming, Mirna. Stop the kids from screaming. Need blood from nice vampire. Bring her close. Jašić knows more. Yes he does. Bring good vampire."
"He sounds like Gollum," said Jaklin.
"Minus the schizophrenia," added Mikhail.
"You'll get the good vampire once you've told us everything," said Cosmina.
"I won't let them kill you, if you tell all," said Alex.
"You can't promise that," said Katsumi.
"Yes, I can. And I did. Stand back or you'll be in more trouble than he is."
"Don't push it, Katsumi," said Cosmina. "We have to trust each other."
"That's the way they all are," said Catherine. "Since they're no longer on Millennium Road, they have been psychically destroyed and are in constant emotional pain. They have no reference and are obsessed with the ruin of their lives. Blood only relieves it for a short while."
Gradually, Alex got it out of him. He had lived in Romania all his life. He wanted to be turned after his wife and kids died in the revolution that swept Romanian in the early nineties. He was away from home fighting when they were killed. Then he came home. Normally, Alu wouldn't turn someone who was bitter and resentful, but Alu had paid the man for his and his family's blood for years. Jašić still couldn't get over the death of his wife and children, and Alu thought that this new change might be good for him. To create a feral, Alu has a normal vampire bite him. It only takes a little blood.
And then Jašić came out with something unexpected. "Sometimes, don't become feral. Doesn't know how, but sometimes, vamp goes see Alu, doesn't come out. Does he die? Maybe not. Perhaps something else. Rumors of supervamp. No one sees new vampire. Very secret. Only Alu turn supervamp."
Jašić became restless again, flopped and jiggled about, his elbows flailing but his arms restrained at the wrists. "Not good for Alu. So disappointed in me. 'Away!' he shouted, 'Get that piece of trash out of here,' Alu said. Later he come back. Had a use for me after all. He'd given up on his great woman, the one who'd change everything. Had his own path now. Found answer without girl."
Their questioning continued on into the night. It was obvious that Alu had created some sort of super-violent vampire, a new breed that could spread this new form of vampirism throughout the world. He may have achieved vampirism without the Centaur's pain or the stigmata. Perhaps they could even go out into sunlight. It seemed they still had the terrible violent streak of a feral. Jašić wondered if they even required blood to maintain their immortality. The one thing that really puzzled them was that he'd heard Alu mention Peleș Castle, but Jašić didn't know within what context. Further questioning became futile. Finally, they were through with him. He'd become more and more enraged at not being fed.
"We should kill him," said Katsumi.
"No," said Alex. "I promised him a taste of me, and I'll be true to my word."
"No telling what a bite from a feral will do to you. We can't take the chance. You could turn on us."
"I've seen it. It's something to behold," said Catherine. "Trust her."
"You should all see this anyway," said Alex. "It's both the power I have over them and the way I dispose of them. Turn him loose."
The Silent Scythe backed to the dark corners of the room.
"He'll get away," said Katsumi. "He's very quick."
"Won't be a problem, " said Alex. "You might want to open the door though."
They started cutting the tape that bound him, and he ripped off the rest. Jašić lunged at Alex. Cosmina and Katsumi started to come to her aid, but it was too late. Alex had deliberately exposed her neck, and he pounced on it. She put her arms around him like a lover and held his head to her throat.
"It'll only take a second." She sounded sad. "Take all you want, Jašić. I won't let them hurt you."
The feral had already stopped sucking. He released Alex and stepped back, no longer ferocious but startled, confused. Smoke started rising up from his body.
"You might want to get him outside. He'll stink up the house. Quickly!"
Sparks appeared around his mouth and spread over his face. By the time they got him to the door, he was on fire. They shoved him out back.
Alex went to open the front door to let a breeze blow through. "Shouldn't breathe the smoke. It'll make you dizzy."
The Silent Scythe stepped back from Alex.
"What is this?" asked Cosmina. "You've been bitten before by vampires. As a matter of fact, I saw two vampires bite you, Rutfen and Emelia, and this didn't happen."
"Only ferals," said Alex.
"But she also has a special talent with regular vampires," said Catherine.
"Let's not get into that right now," said Alex, looking at Catherine and shaking her head no.
"What's this? Secrets? We tell you ours, but you won't level with us?" said Katsumi.
"Please!" said Alex. "Give me a little time on this one. I don't mind telling you, but it should come at the proper place and time. Perhaps later on."
That seemed to satisfy most, but some still grumbled.
"This is what I don't understand about your escape, Catherine," said Cosmina. "It was still light out. No vampire could step outside that cavern entrance in broad daylight."
"That's just it. I couldn't have, if it hadn't been for Alex. She turned me back, and we stepped out into the sunlight."
"Turned you back?"
"Back human. I'm human, again."
Alex heard a gasp come from Mary.
"I was turned by a divine creature. I'm able to turn vampires back human. This I did for Catherine just two days ago."
Mary was quiet a long time, then tried to speak but couldn't the find words. Alex could tell that this revelation had touched her at a personal level. Alex remembered that Mary had been turned against her will, also. All of Silent Scythe had. A hush fell over the room, then whispers. A murmur went through Silent Scythe.
"It's true," said Catherine. "She can bring the Undead back alive."
"Yes. From undead to alive. That is my gift."
Mary continued to struggle but finally found her voice. "For some that could be a godsend. But let us not speak more of it now. We have pressing problems." Still, she seemed lost in thought. Slowly she managed, "We must stop him. Alu, that is."
Alex sa
id, "Even though I'm not as against his whole immortality-for-the-living thing as is the Divine World, I will help end the misery I saw in the Ichor Dome. I can't bear to think that it's going on right now."
"We have the forces to stop him, but we'll need your help to prevent escape out the daylight tunnel through which Catherine entered. Will you help us with this?"
"I was afraid I was going to have to attempt this on my own, with help from those in the Cathedral, of course, but they aren't even used to violence. I suspect we'll experience heavy resistance. Fighting ferals is not like fighting normal vampires. It's kill or be killed."
"As we found out upstairs," said Katsumi. "We had to take out the two normals quickly, so we could concentrate on the feral. We had orders to capture not kill."
Mary said, "I view it as a matter of concern anytime we end the life of a vampire and doom them to Millennium Road."
"You don't have to worry about ferals," said Alex. "When they became feral, their souls have dissolved back into the ether. They are soulless."
"You know this for a fact?"
"Where could they be? They are no longer on Millennium Road. Being soulless makes them ruthless."
"Besides," said Catherine, "it's not as if they can get to Heaven someday from Millennium Road."
"Heaven knows nothing of Millennium Road," said Alex. "Catalin said so."
"Not true," said Mary. "Velinar knows. She was there while a vampire. She disappeared and Alex emerged within a heartbeat, a vampire's heartbeat anyway."
"You saw her there?" asked Alex.
"Yes. Velinar knows about Millennium Road but clearly isn't telling anyone in the Divine World."
"She also came to Earth, took on human form and tried to turn Alu back human, without telling Catalin," said Alex. "After letting him bite her, she had to bite him back, otherwise she wouldn't have become a vampire. Yet, she's telling Catalin none of this. What is going on in the Divine World?"