A Sharpness On The Neck (Saberhagen's Dracula Book 9), Fred Saberhagen [some good books to read TXT] 📗

      Thanks,” said Philip, bemused.

      Told you, we’re not out to do you any harm. Did you watch the tape all the way through?”

      Philip wanted to yell that he wanted to hear no more about the goddamned tape. He considered saying that he had watched it—but then decided not to make false claims. There might be some gem of information buried in the video that he would then be assumed to know.

      At last he fell back on the truth. “Have to admit that we gave up on it again.” He didn’t admit how quickly the collapse had come. “We were falling asleep on the sofa. Now that we’ve had a little rest, we’ll try again.”

      The rubber mummy mask nodded solemnly. “You’d better watch it. Really. Think about the ideas it presents. Nothing else is going to make sense until you accept that.” And the watcher strolled away.

      June was trying on the women’s shoes. “Phil. They fit. Everything fits. They even know our sizes.”

      Radcliffe could find nothing to say.

* * *

      Hours passed, while Mr. Graves and his cohort kept on persistently trying to brainwash Radcliffe into accepting their mad tale. As Graves himself was absent most of the time, the others continually urged Philip to absorb the story from the videotape. This was a persistent but patient effort, and no one pretended to be surprised that Radcliffe considered it mad. They cheerfully acknowledged that he would need some evidence before he gave it credence.

      Eventually he and June, fully awake, did see the tape all the way through.

      No, this wasn’t any joke. Whatever the original motive, duration and intensity had taken it out of that category. Some kind of a crazy cult, then, even though these people were missing the aura of fanaticism that Radcliffe presumed all hard-core cultists must exhibit. And they had worked long and hard and skillfully to get the Radcliffes in this position. But still neither victim could imagine what they hoped to accomplish by their kidnapping.

* * *

      Approximately at sunset, Graves was back.

      Phil was ready to confront him. Things couldn’t go on like this. “Mr. Graves, you said it isn’t ransom you people are after.”

      “Correct.”

      “Then what? I mean, what do you want from me?”

      “Again I must ask you: Did you watch the tape all the way through?”

      Philip drew a deep breath. “Dammit, we have. We’ve seen the whole thing. It’s quite a story, I’ll give you that. I’ll also admit that we’ve learned some fascinating details about the French Revolution. And we’re up to date regarding your theories on some other subjects.”

      “So. Your reactions? Conclusions?”

      “Okay, let’s discuss. On the tape you keep talking about someone who bears my name, and is evidently supposed to be my ancestor. There’s a kind of family tradition about him, and I can’t prove that anything you say about this other Philip Radcliffe is wrong. But I still don’t see what all this has to do with June and me being—”

      Graves’s voice had suddenly acquired a sharp bite. “The tape is not solely or even chiefly concerned with the French Revolution. Do you agree?”

      “Well…”

      “The tape presents an incomplete history of that epoch, but it does much more. That is the whole point of its existence. The historical relevance of that material to your own situation is its raison d’etre.”

      The business about vampires. One of them in particular, who’s out to get my family, for some reason. Yes, of course I understood that.”

      “Yes, of course. ‘For some reason.’ ” Graves mouthed the words as if they tasted strange. “Evidently you understand the message of the tape, but you do not believe it.”

      “I…”

      “It seems to me that you are remarkably more stupid than your ancestor of two hundred years ago—and you, madam?”

      June was adrift in anger and confusion. “Well…”

      “I see.” Graves, as if confirming some unfavorable estimate, nodded at them both in turn. “Instead of wasting my time on tape, on attempting a reasonable, logical approach, I should have listened to certain of my advisers, who … but never mind that. It is too late to change our approach now.

      “Your reaction to the business about vampires, as you call it, has been to turn off your brain. Instantly you recognize the serious discussion of such a topic as a symptom of madness, and your own minds are still locked closed.” Graves uttered a small hissing noise, a disturbingly reptilian sound. “Well, at least you are watching the tape. I still have no time to argue with you. No energy to waste on demonstrations. Pray watch it all over again.”

      He turned his gaze on June, and she nodded. “We will,” she breathed.

      “Good.” Graves’s look softened somewhat. “I realize that you find yourselves in a difficult situation. But once you accept the essential information the tape contains, your own position will be much clearer.”

      Once more he faced Radcliffe. “To answer your question, we want nothing that will be harmful to you, believe it or not. Quite the opposite. I insist that you accept my protection until I have reached an accommodation with my brother.”

      “The one who wants to drink my blood.”

      Graves nodded.

      “So where do we go from—Never mind, I know, you’re going to tell me to watch the tape to find the answer. Everything I really need to know is there.”

      Graves, smiling faintly, continued nodding.

      “Just tell me one thing first, okay?”

      Graves raised an eyebrow, a gesture of unstudied elegance. “How do you hope to reach this accommodation? Is your brother coming here?”

      “That is one possibility, but I think a faint one. And if he does not come here—then I must seek him out.” It was plain that Graves was not looking forward to the prospect.

       “You’ll seek him out. Then what? You’ll talk to him?”

      “I shall try to do so.” The speaker paused, staring into the distance. Then he added, as if speaking more to himself than to Radcliffe: “And he will doubtless try to kill me.”

      “He will? Why will he do that?”

      “I should have thought it obvious, to one