The Dragon Coin by Aiden James Read Free Book Online Page B

decided to bring along that night. As of late, my cell phone served as my preferred time-tracking device. However, it lay dormant in my pocket and would serve as a backup should it become appropriate to dial 911 from the depths of Dracul’s dungeons. “I guess we should keep an eye out for the soccer kids again, huh?”
    “You know him, Judas,” said Roderick, tersely. “Your thoughts and words aren’t helping. Stay focused on the ripples in the air…. I sense another illusion is coming. Maybe not as dramatic as a dozen teenage boys accosting us, but something.”
    “Something fun? You mean those brats weren’t just a bunch of miscreants from a local reform school?”
    That brought a sterner look, but then he whipped his head toward the east. It took me a moment to detect what had embraced his advanced senses.
    “The kids seemed real,” I said, quietly, when he remained focused on the area where we had last seen Dracul’s youthful messengers. “You’re sure it wasn’t something else involved…maybe spirit possession?”
    “You make it all sound like a joke,” he replied, quietly, while his gaze remained fixed upon the deserted beach. “I know you are trying to keep things light, but it isn’t working. And, as for your point, yes, I believe it was a form of possession. But it happened long before you assume. The mist was Dracul’s means of influence, and while we were admiring the mist like a pair of buffoons, he was scouring the area for the right messenger. The right….”
    He didn’t finish his words; distracted by a sound once common to this area just over a century ago. The sound of horses neighing and pounding the sand as they raced toward us. The horses sounded quite real, and yet were invisible. A thick mist billowed toward us from the east, and under the moon’s glow I saw the top of a large black carriage. The mode of transportation Van Helsing claimed Dracul preferred most in the nineteenth century.
    “Here they come,” I whispered, surprised by the literal truth of the advisement by the kid named Mortis to us earlier. I could feel the swell from Roderick’s growing terror. I suddenly remembered more from the night he nearly died at the hands of Dracul in Madrid, with enough details peppering my awareness to inspire immense guilt for being so damned jovial a moment ago.
    The carriage-driven mist raced toward us on the moonlit beach, picking up speed as it approached. I prepared to be trampled underfoot from a team of horses. Suddenly, the carriage morphed into a black Jaguar, most likely one of the newer XJ sedan models, from the look of it. The automobile swerved to an abrupt halt a few feet away.
    For a moment, the car’s occupants remained inside, in all likelihood studying us. Was Dracul physically present, as well?
    “No. He is waiting elsewhere, Judas,” Roderick advised, quietly.
    The front passenger door swung open. A blonde roughly my build and height stepped out, grinning wryly as if privy to some private amusement.
    “Very good, Roderick,” he said. “If only Judas would regard our master as earnestly as you. Come, join us, as Dracul awaits your arrival.”
    The man pointed to the empty sea, presently bathed in the moon’s glow. Roderick regarded me warily, as if needing assurance what we were about to do was indeed the wise choice. For me, it was more the inevitability we could no longer elude Dracul and his obsession to track us down.
    We stepped over to the car. The back passenger doors opened and another man stepped out. This one’s long hair and complexion were dark, reminding me of my Greek compatriots from before the Ottoman invasion that conquered nearly all of the Mediterranean. He motioned for us to enter the back seat.
    “We should arrive at the castle in the next few minutes,” the blonde advised. “You will have much to discuss with our Lord of Darkness.”
    “Do you share his gifts, or are you merely a puppet for his ventriloquist