The Vampire from Hell

Epilogue

Epilogue

"Rayea, what are you doing?" 

I ignored Blick's question and typed in the number. I was surprised I still had it in my list of contacts. The phone rang for what seemed like an eternity. This was a bad idea, but I had no choice. I jumped out of bed and walked over to the windows. 

"Beelzebub, are you there?" 

Hearing a few voices in the background, I waited for him to speak into the phone. 

Blick immediately placed his hands on the sides of his cleanly-shaven face, shaking his head back and forth several times. 

I motioned to the door and waved at him. 

He ignored my desire for privacy and plopped down in a chair near the dresser, folding his well-toned arms over his chest. He thrust his chin out at me in defiance. "I'm not going anywhere," he replied telepathically. 

I rolled my eyes at Blick's comment and his stubbornness while noting that he was letting his dark hair grow out. It was almost to his shoulders and accentuated his round face and square jaw. Putting the phone on speaker, I carefully walked over to the dresser and set it down in front of us and mouthed "there" to Blick. For a few more seconds, we hovered over the phone, eyeballing it. 

Finally Beelzebub's voice replied, "Why Rayea! How good to hear your voice." His sarcastic tone made my skin crawl. 

"I'll get straight to the point. I have a favor to ask." 

"Really? Favors come with a price, you know." 

"Let's say then that I want to hire you for some freelance work. You're the best tracker I know, Beel." 

"You speak the truth. I'm not going to argue with that. We can keep it simple. How about we do a trade?" 

"Okay," I said, knowing I had something in my possession he'd be interested in acquiring. Beelzebub was always looking for a good deal. 

"What do you want me to do?" he inquired. 

"Meet me at the Gates of Hell and I'll tell you," I replied. 

"Indeed!" Beelzebub did little to hide his enthusiasm. "I hear things are in chaos there. You sure about going home now? You'll need protection." 

"I know. I have that taken care of." 

"Uh huh," he replied, not believing me. "Your hellhound I take it?" 

"No, Beelzebub. That's over actually." 

"Ohhh." The inflection in his tone lifted. 

"Yes, I've moved on actually," I lied. "I have a new friend. You'll meet him." 

"Who?" he asked, growing bored with my cat and mouse game. 

"Typhean." 

Blick's head jerked in my direction as I let a huge grin cover my face. We both heard Beelzebub gasp into the phone. 

"Yeah, right. I'll believe that when I see it. A blood god. Ha!" Beelzebub scoffed. "Blood gods only hang out with other blood gods. I highly doubt that is the case here." 

"Don't believe me," I replied. "But if you and your brothers want a chance of getting an inside tour of Hell, I can accommodate you. Maybe even put you in charge to run it, if it suits my purpose. But you have to do something for me first." I let those sentences hang out there, waiting to see if he'd bite. 

"Who do I have to find? Your sister I bet." 

"I think she's still on the run and I need to know where she is. I think she's at a bar in San Francisco called the Golden Skull. She says she's returning home."