The Blood: A Denouement

Kris Strauss was feeling tired, wrung out, sad and exhilarated, all at the same time. He wanted to sleep and never get out of bed, but even as he said that he wanted to press on and get to the end of this. They seemed so close to the end of things when he felt his phone humming, and was surprised because no one ever called him.

He pulled out his phone and blinked to see the name he’d longed to see, but didn’t think he would.

“Jenean?”

“Hey… Kris,” she sounded nervous. “I know... I was trying to give you your space, and I didn’t want to—”

“Jenean, I’m so glad you called,” Kris said, “and I probably should have called you. There’s just so much going on, but I am glad to hear you, and I don’t mind saying I can’t wait to see you.”

“That’s good,” Jenean said, her voice becoming more certain, “because I’m coming to you.”

“What?”

“With someone else. We’ll be there in a day.”

Kris wasn’t sure what to say, and so he said, “All…. Right.”

“You see,” Jenean continued, “it’s… This is very important. I can’t even bring myself to say it.”

She’s pregnant. No matter. This is a good thing. We have so much to offer this baby if that’s the case. We, this family. I know it. I have so much to give.

“Kris,” Jenean said. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Kris said.

“And I miss you,” she continued. “I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too, Jenean. There’s a hotel in town. Come right away.”

“And yet, as fascinating as it is that I was there,” Lewis said, “the most disappointing thing is that I do not remember it.”

“You must have had several lives,” Chris said.

“Yes, and the one I remember is this one, primarily, and others come and go. I remember Melek and Malachy, but there are more, back and back, and this one I do not remember. And yet, even though I thought the reason I came back into this world was for you, it cannot be the only reason. I must have also come back to fulfill what I said long ago.”

They were all sitting in the great parlor when a sound like a sonic thud touched the great front door. Lewis leaned forward, but Augustus lifted a finger.

It was Augustus who rose, and Lewis agreed. No matter what they had said, Long Lees was his uncle’s house, salvaged by him, inspelled by him, and when Augustus got up, Drusilla, Owen and Uriah followed. Augustus opened the door, and he looked upon Tanitha Kertesz, Lawrence Malone, Myron Keller and Daniel Rawlinson.

“Forgive the loud noise,” Dan said. “The landing was quick.”

At the sound of his voice, Loreal was down the hall in a shot. She pulled him and Laurie close to her and kissed them both in turn.

“Welcome,” Augustus said, making room, “refresh yourself in my home.”

“Witches,” Marabeth began, “made vampires?”

“Had you known this?” Chris turned to Lewis.

“But my love, you have to remember,” Lewis reminded him, “I did not even know there were vampires until I met you.”

“But you would have known,” Loreal said to her grandfather.

“I had suspected,” Augustus said. “I make it my business to know a great many things, but I cannot know all. It was for this knowledge Lewis needed to be here, and not simply for the Strausses. To be true head of the clan he must know all things, and, believe it or not, I do want the head of the clan to be as wise as knowledgeable as possible.

“Like,” Augustus said, turning to Tanitha Tzepesh, “I know that you have not come all this way only to speak of werewolves, that when you went to meet with your kinswoman Rosamunde, you learned something of import to witches.”

“Your grandson and granddaughter are with her.”

“Interesting,” Augustus said, “and yet not the most interesting thing you learned, I’m sure.”

Chris Ashby admired Augustus. He shared a glance with Dan and Laurie, amazement at the oldest member of the family their lovers were scions of, the wizard knew no fear.

“It is good that Lewis is here,” Tanitha said, “and good that you, who must be Marabeth, are here as well.”

“You may have heard that the Strausses and the vampires were in league,” Myron said to his cousin.

“A little,” she nodded.

“We had thought it was some type of mafia,” Laurie said, “for lack of a better word. Terrorizing people, maybe the Strauss counts and lords staying wealthy and powerful by terrorizing their people. And this was part of it.”

Lewis nodded, and so did Marabeth.

“And the other part?”

“They were guarding something. A ball of glass. Well, an orb.”

“An orb,” Lewis murmured as Loreal looked straight at Laurie, and he nodded.

“But our great family is divided into two clan,” Augustus said. “We have maintained the Bowl… or Chalice, and the Sword and they the Lantern and the Glass Orb. But why… no, you tell it,” Augustus said, shutting himself up.

“Apparently,” Laurie said, “when the Strausses were first made, it was with the aid of the head of your Clan, certainly one even older than Melek. He used the Chalice or the Crater, and he also used the Orb. How, I cannot say.”

“That was what you used,” Kris said to Lewis. “In the vision. Somehow you used the Orb to help turn Hagano the first time.”

“And he mentioned the Chalice, the Cup he said,” Jim remembered. “I drank from the Cup. But we were supposed to have both of those things.”

“The treasure,” Kris said.

Lewis looked to him.

“Remember how when we left… here… when you were Malachy… we went to find a treasure and bring it back with us to Chaperon?”

“It must have been the Orb,” Lewis said.

“It fell into my keeping,” Tanitha said, “which is to say it was in my father’s keeping, but I knew it was not ours. I journeyed with Genevieve and Piers, whom you now know, to place it at what is now 4848 Brummel Street.”

“In the 1600’s?” Lewis said.

“Yes. It was far from anyone who would have been interested in it. But when settlements appeared around there, when Europeans began to settle, then you—as Malachy—decided to have it moved it again, surrounded it in so many magics that not even you could remember what you were doing. You brought it to Chaperon to be in your keeping.”

“But somehow it passed out of my keeping.”

Tanitha nodded.

“And there is the mystery. Doubtless is has something to to with the Jacquillards who once kept Chaperon and with the Rosamunde or even Evangeline.”

Jim looked to Laurie and said, “Are you sure the Strausses—our ancestors—only had one of the treasures?”

“Yes,” Laurie said. “Evangeline and the clan she raised took the Chalice and they would have taken the Orb, but it was gone.”

“Well, then that is part of the story completed,” Peter said, “because, as I remember, everything would be made right when both of those treasures were returned, and so far, none of them has been.”

At this Myron jabbed Dan in the shoulder, and he said, “Oh, right.”

He picked up his book bag and opened it, producing a fine cup of beaten gold, and while even Lewis marveled over its detail, Augustus said, “That is our chalice, not the one we have made due with for hundreds of years. That is the true Chalice of Changing.”

He looked at Dan Rawlinson, holding out his hand, and the vampire guiltily placed in Augustus’s palm.

“And you had it in a book bag,” Augustus said.

He looked over it before passing the heavy thing to Lewis

“At first I thought the Chalice I used in my initiation was the true one,” Lewis said.

“It was true enough,” Augustus said. “It was the Crater in which the Chalice was contained.”

“Then we have the Chalice, the Sword, but not the Golden Lantern.” Loreal began.

“We have the Golden Lantern,” Augustus said.

She blinked at him.

“It is one of the hanging lanterns in this very house, indistinguishable from others because no one was looking, and one of the reasons the house was hidden. It is the Orb that the Strausses once had, The Orb is a tool of alchemy and changing as was the Chalice. But it is the one thing we lack.”

.A look of great sadness fell over Peter’s face, and it was Loreal who suddenly delighted Joyce MacNamara when the girl touched his hand and he looked at her.

“Do not despair,” Loreal said. “Can’t you see? Everything has come together. Right here, in this house. The things that are not here yet, are surely on their way.”