Once Upon a Time in Veronaville

"Romeo, you look like hell," Mercutio said. "You really need to cut back on the partying. A guy's gotta sleep sometime."

"Yeah, yeah," Romeo said, rubbing his face with his hands. "I'll sleep when I'm dead." He was wearing a shirt with long sleeves and a collar with his usual leather pants.

"You really don't look so good," Juliet said, touching his forehead with her hand. He jerked away, but not before she felt how cold and clammy he was. "My god, Romeo, what's going on? You feel like death."

"I'm fine. Look, I just came over to chat but if you two are going to go all Florence Nightengale I think I'll split. Later." He got up and went to his motorcycle.

Juliet followed him out. "Romeo, we all miss Eliza, but that's no reason to let yourself get sick," she said. "I'm really worried about you."

"You don't know what you're talking about," he said, readjusting his collar, but not before she saw the bitemarks.

"Romeo, what the --"

"Gotta go," he said, and started up the motorcycle.

"Romeo!"

"What? Can't hear you," he said, and sped off down the street.

 

"Romeo has bite marks on his neck," Juliet said as she came back into the house. "The same kind Eliza was found with. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think my Uncle Richard is a ... "

"Vampire," Mercutio said, nodding. "I came to that conculsion already. I just wanted to hear someone else say it first. We sound nuts, you know? This is real life, not a late night horror movie."

"And yet, people we care about are dying and then walking around town. It seems like the only explanation, nuts or not."

"So what now?" Mercutio asked.

"So now we save Romeo from himself," she said. "We find Eliza and kill her. Before she kills him."

 

"I want you to do something for me, my son," the old man said.

"Name it, Father," Richard replied.

"Make me like you," Consort Capp said. "I am old and will die soon. I do not wish to go. Make me immortal like you."

"As you wish," said the vampire.

 

Just dropped in for a few seconds in the middle of housecleaning. Glad I did! You've posted! Consort Capp was mean enough as an ordinary old man. As a vampire he's going to be truly creepy. Can't wait for more...

And Tybalt! Wake up! Stubborn, he is.

 

Totally agree there

& there

 

whew....creepy! I want more!

 

Juliet was pregnant again, and putting a brave face on it, although Mercutio could tell she was miserable. At least this time she wasn't on bed rest. Still, he wasn't going to have his pregnant wife running all over town on a vampire hunt, so it was up to him.

No one else would believe him.

He drove around town slowly, examining all vacant properties for clues.

It was almost too easy. Romeo's chopper, unmistakeable, was mostly hidden by a tarp, leaning against the oldest, spookiest house yet. It wasn't nightfall yet. Mercutio stopped the car a few blocks away and circled back.

The house appeared deserted. He opened the door cautiously. No sign of Romeo. But did the vampire sleep up the stairs or behind the door to his right? He crept through the house, grasping the wooden stake in his hand so tightly it was giving him splinters. He'd always considered himself a brave man, but his heart was pounding like a squirrel on caffeine.

He chose the door to his right. The floorboards creaked under his feet. Dusty sunlight filtered through the broken windows, where spiders, undisturbed, lived their lives. The kitchen was ancient, but free of dust, a sure sign of habitation.

Mercutio opened the door, and there it was. A plain wooden box, its lid shut tight. The windows in the room were all boarded up. Jackpot. Gotcha.

He raised the lid and she sprang at him. He jumped back, dropping it. He hadn't really expected to see her, despite everything. He thought, somehow, that this was all just a game, yeah right, vampires, ha ha. But it was Eliza, and she wasn't alive, but not dead either, and he had to finish her off. He had never dreaded anything more. This wasn't her fault, but he couldn't have her wandering around town, either. He couldn't let her kill his brother. He stepped toward the coffin.

He heard a noise behind him and started to turn, felt something hit his head and then everything went black.

 

When Eliza had fed she seemed more lucid, as if she almost remembered who she was. But Romeo knew if she fed on him that would be it for him. And he had to stay human just a bit longer.

There was nothing for it. He needed her coherent, so he let her have Mercutio. He had to pull her off of him, finally. "Stop it, you'll kill him."

She was strong, stronger than him, but she obeyed, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. Romeo tried not to look at his brother. What had he become? Just how far would he go for love? He wasn't sure which way was up, anymore. It was like he was in a sort of trance, and all that mattered was Eliza's survival.

"We can't stay here," he said, forcing himself to feel his brother's pulse. He was alive. "He'll be back, with reinforcements."

"So, kill him," she said.

"NO!!"

She stepped back, eyes widening, and hissed at him.

"No, Liza, we aren't going to kill my brother," he said, forcing himself to stay calm. "I feel sick that I even let you feed on him. Come on. I know where we can go."

They got on the chopper and sped away.

 

Mercutio's neck hurt like crazy and his head was beating like a tom-tom. He couldn't remember what had happened. Where was he?

"Good, you're awake," said an unfamiliar voice. "Think you can stand?"

He looked up and saw a woman looking down at him. She looked like she'd been through a war. "Who are you?"

"Adrienne Black. You must be Mercutio Monty."

"Yes."

"You're lucky to be alive," she said, helping him to his feet. The room swam. She shoved a chair under him. "Sit for a spell."

"What happened?"

"My guess? Your brother's under his sweetheart's thrall. He hit you over the head while you were busy playing hero, and then sweetie pie had a little snack."

Mercutio put his hand to his neck and immediately withdrew it. "I'm bleeding."

"It's already closing up, don't worry," she said. "Vampire bites do that."

"So, you believe in vampires?"

She gave a humorless laugh. "How do you think I lost my eye?"

"So, who are you?"

"The latest in a long line of kooks who hunt vampires," she said. "Family curse. No one believes you, do they?"

"Juliet's cousin's not even speaking to her."

"Some people would rather not believe," she said. "Can't say I blame 'em. It turns the world upside down. Where do you think they've gone?"

"Who?"

"Your brother and his darling. We've got to get to them, soon, or he's toast. She's a new vampire, so her thrall isn't strong, but he loves her, so that's a minus. He'll do anything to keep her alive. I take it he's the romantic type."

"Um, yeah."

"Too bad. Anyway, any ideas?"

"He might have gone to my grandparents' house. Grandma would do anything for him. He's her favorite. Ever since our dad died, she's been super protective of us both."

"Let's ride."

 

Oh, so exciting. The game's afoot!

 

Good stuff! I am ENTHRALLED!

 

Heh. Enthralled. I get it.

 

It was dark when they left the shack, and a cold wind whipped against them as they ran for their cars. Mercutio led the way to his grandparents' house, Adrienne following.

Lights were on in the house and country music played on the radio as they made their way across the lawn. Romeo's bike was nowhere to be seen, probably in the garage, Mercutio thought.

They were having a party. He'd forgotten he'd been invited, so wrapped up as he'd been in saving his brother's life.

"Mercutio!" Isabella gave her grandson a hug. "And, who's this?"

"Happy anniversary, Grandmother," he said, giving her a kiss. "This is my friend Adrienne. Is Romeo here?"

"Why of course. He lives here, silly. He's right over there, with his charming new girlfriend."

Mercutio stared at Isabella. Charming was not a word he'd use to describe the undead, but then his grandmother always did have a blind spot where Romeo was concerned.

Mercutio pushed through the crowd. Eliza Stone looked up at him and grinned, licking her lips, and Romeo stepped between them. The two brothers locked eyes.

"Step aside," Mercutio said.

"No."

"Romeo, you don't know what you're saying."

"Yes, I do. I said No."

"She's a monster. Is that what you want to be?"

"Hey, now," Eliza said, a purr in her voice. "That's not very nice."

Mercutio tried to lunge at her but Romeo pushed him, hard.

"She's going to kill you, you idiot. Just let me put an end to this."

Romeo pushed him again. "Stay out of it."

Mercutio punched him, Romeo punched him back, and they ended up rolling around on the floor.

The music and talking stopped. Strong hands pried them apart.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Patrizio said. "I won't have this disrespect at my anniversary party."

"Grandfather, she's a monster!" Mercutio said, straining against the hands that held him. "She's going to kill him."

"You do realize you sound certifiable," Romeo said. Eliza hid behind him and smirked at Mercutio.

"Look at his neck!" Mercutio said. "How do you explain that?"

"I think you'd better leave," Patrizio said.

"Grandfather, that's Eliza Stone. She's dead. We went to her funeral."

"Mercutio, I think you've been working too hard. Go home, get some sleep."

Mercutio, thrown out of the party, had no choice but to leave. Adrienne was nowhere to be seen, so he just went home.

If Romeo wanted to be an idiot, he couldn't stop him.

 

Someone picked the lock as Romeo was seeing Eliza off to "bed." He hid behind the door and as it opened brought a chair down, hard, on Adrienne's head, knocking her out cold. He locked the door behind them and tied her to a chair, and sat down to wait.

He was dozing off when she finally woke up with a groan.

"My head," she said.

"You aren't very good at this stealth business," he said.

"So," she said, "you're really going to go through with it. You're going to let her kill you."

Romeo said nothing.

"You do know what will happen, right? You'll become a mindless killing machine. Oh, maybe not forever. Eventually you might recover some of yourself, but you'd better hope you don't. The guilt can be a real killer."

"Shut up."

"Why? Because you don't want to hear it? You'll be living it soon enough, if you can call it living."

"I'm not going to let her kill me."

Adrienne laughed. "You won't have a choice."

"You don't know what you're talking about. She's not mindless. She knows me, and she still loves me. She isn't going to kill me. And if you try to kill her you and I are going to have a problem."

"You don't scare me, pretty boy. I was tougher than you when I was nine years old."

"Maybe, but I'm not the one tied to a chair."

"So, what do we do now?"

"We trade. Your life for hers."

She snorted. "You're not a killer."

"I don't have to kill you. I just have to leave you here."

"So much for her not being a mindless killer."

"Nothing mindless about killing someone before they kill you," he said.

She fell silent.

"So," he said. "Do we have a deal?"

"It doesn't seem like I have a choice."

"I'll be responsible for her," he said. "She listens to me. Just ... back off, OK?"

"I'm not the only one who'll be after her, you know."

"She's not the problem. He is. And if I let you go, you'll be free to hunt the real villain."

"She'll turn you, you know," she said after a while. "And if she does, all bets are off."

"Fair enough." He stood up and untied her. "Now, get the hell out of here. I never want to see you again."

She looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face, then shocked him by reaching up and kissing his cheek.

"Goodbye, Romeo," she said, and left.

 

Two young blonde girls stood shivering in the cold on Nora's front step, and for a moment it was like she had stepped back in time. The teenager, with short hair and a serious face, looked dead on her feet. She was supporting her younger sister, who drooped against her.

"Can we come in?" asked Tybalt's cousin, Desdemona Capp.

They put Ariel, the child, to bed in the spare room. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow. Tybalt made the older girl a cup of tea and Nora wrapped her in a warm blanket. Desdemonda sat hunched in her chair, her hands trembling around the cup.

"Can we live with you guys?" she asked, finally, in a very small voice.

"What about your parents?" Tybalt asked.

"Mom died," Desdemonda said, her lip trembling, "and Uncle Richard buried her in the basement with Grandfather."

Tybalt's face went white. He looked about to say someting but Nora silenced him, placing her hand on his.

"Uncle Richard's mean, and cold," Desdemona said, "and I mean literally. His skin is like ice when he touches you. I thought he was dead but I guess he isn't because he's taken over the house. He has these two dogs that are huge and mean and scary. Ariel's terrified of them, and I don't like them much either."

"Goneril ... " Tybalt began.

"Is dead, but we didn't have a funeral. Daddy started drinking after she died, and then she ... " Desdemona paused for a long time. "She got up again. Grandfather too. Except now they were like Richard. Cold, mean, and ... kind of crazy. And then Daddy fell down the stairs," she said with a sob. "And Ariel and I couldn't stand it without him so we ran. And we've got nowhere to go. We can't live with Aunt Regan. She's horrid. Please let us live with you," she said, big tears falling down her face as she started to sob uncontrollably.

Desdemona must have been thirteen or so, but Nora pulled her into her lap as if she was a small child and rocked her back and forth, holding her tight. "Of course you can live with us," she said, "of course you can."

 

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this," Tybalt said after they'd put Des to bed. "I'm going up there right now."

"You're not going alone," Nora said.

"Someone has to stay with the children," he said.

"Then take someone else."

"Yeah, right. Who? Who'd believe me, when I don't even believe it myself?"

"Mercutio," she said after a pause.

He stared at her as if she'd gone mad. "Mercutio."

"Yes."

"My sworn enemy, that Mercutio."

"It's him, or me, and if we both die our kids will be orphans and it'll be all your fault." Nora crossed her arms.

"Or I could go by myself."

"That would be stupid," she said, putting her hand on his arm. "That girl was telling the truth. There's something not right going on at that house, and you'd be walking into a death trap. You need backup. Take Mercutio."

"I don't think he'd go."

"You might be surprised. He's worried about Romeo."

"What does Romeo have to do with this?"

She said nothing.

"Nora."

"Apparently, my sister, the one who can't be walking around, has him under some sort of spell. Mercutio's worried he's going to be next."

"This just gets better all the time. All right, I'll take Mercutio."

"Thank you," she said, kissing his cheek.

"I must be out of my mind," he said, grabbing his coat.

 

:shocked: awesome story. I love it! Just wanted to pop in and say that even though i don't always write a comment i do read this and Porta de Luca all the time Keep up the great work!

~Hockey Girl

 

It is really exciting. I'm anxious to find out if Romeo survives, not that he's my favorite person, or anything, but if you love someone as much as he loves Eliza then I don't think you deserve a stake through the heart.

 

Adrienne joined them at the mansion, pulling up in her dented beater.

"Who's she?" Tybalt asked.

"You said you wanted back up. She's back up," Mercutio said.

Mercutio had been far easier to convince than Tybalt had expected. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this vampire mystery and my wife will divorce me if I go alone," he said.

"Not that I don't think she should anyway, but if you're asking for back up, I'm your man," Mercutio said, with a glance at his wife for confirmation. Juliet nodded tersely, clutching their new baby son like a lifeline.

"You both be careful," she said. "Come back safe."

And now, here they were, at the gates of the haunted mansion where Tybalt had grown up. Ghosts were just a normal part of life here. Maybe Juliet was right. Maybe it was silly to say there could be ghosts but not ...

Tybalt shook his head and looked at his two companions. He didn't much like a stranger tagging along, but he did like the fact that she was carrying a kick-a** axe.

"Ready?"

They nodded.

"OK. Let's go."

 

Tybalt considered himself a man of science. Seeing was believing. He found it hard to refute his young cousin's story but he wouldn't believe his father was back, walking around, until he saw it for himself. More likely it was some imposter, playing on an old man's grief. Richard had always been Consort's favorite.

Two wolves flanked them halfway up the stairs, growling and blocking their way out, but not attacking. Mercutio pulled out a wicked looking knife and Adrienne swirled her axe in a way that left no doubt she knew how to use it. The wolves kept their distance.

Tybalt didn't know what to expect, but he was itching for a fight. Whoever this person was, he had ripped his family apart, and he would pay.

A ghost headed toward them, across the lawn, a pale gray man in a pale gray suit. He was halfway to them when Tybalt realized it wasn't one of the usual dead ancestors.

It was his grandfather, and he wasn't transparent. He didn't look well, though. His skin was the same color as his hair, and his eyes glowed red.

"Grandfather?"

The old man hissed and ran away. Tybalt started after him but Adrienne stopped him, using her axe like a tollgate.

"Don't," she said. "He's one of them. He doesn't recognize you. It's safest if we stay together."

"This is impossible," Tybalt said. His heart hammered in his chest. "This isn't happening."

"You gonna freak out on us?" Adrienne asked. "Cuz if you are we should just leave."

"No," he said after a moment, "I'm fine."

"All right," she said, not sounding convinced. "Let's stick together."

"A wise plan," said Richard Capp. "Unfortunately, it won't save you."