by C. T. Phipps
So, Yuki’s punch hurt.
“Yeah,” Yuki said, pulling her fist back and rubbing it. “I’m fine now. Thank you.”
Well, I had that coming. I wondered what the polite way of saying, ‘Sorry for almost killing you because you tasted so damned good’ was? Oh, right, don’t do it in the first place. Maybe I should put that on a greeting card. I’d make a killing.
“Good to know,” I said, realizing I was sporting a ‘third fang’ between my pants. I immediately covered that up with my hands before looking away and trying to play it cool.
Yeah, this was embarrassing.
“Anything yet?” Yukie asked, looking down.
I frowned then looked up at her. “Listen, it doesn’t work that way.”
Except it did.
One moment I was getting up, the next I was flat on my back, staring up at the sky as my time powers kicked in.
They showed me everything I’d been forced to forget.
Chapter Sixteen
Time manipulation was damn weird.
I’d been confused as hell to find out it was a power that vampire had. I mean, stopping time and visions weren’t things mentioned in Dracula. However, a lot of powers that humans observed vampires as having were the result of the undead being slightly unstuck in time. Something to do with being both dead and alive, Schrodinger’s Cat, plus being of this world as well as the next.
The Ancients called it the Blood of Chronos, but it was the reason why we were able to remember things that happened a thousand years ago, move at superhuman speeds, freeze people in place, and know things we shouldn’t. The thing was most vampires didn’t have nearly the kind of control over it I did. All my other powers were damn near useless but time manipulation? Time manipulation I was awesome at. It turned out I hadn’t even probed the beginnings of what I could do with it.
Because I was in the past.
“Mothersucker,” I said, looking around my location.
I was standing in front of the door to Ashura’s ballroom in her mansion estate about twenty minutes outside of the city. It was a massive Old Money creation back when people owned small towns of servants. Steel barons during the heyday of Detroit had purchased the place, built it up, expanded it, and then found themselves ruined before the parasites had moved in. They’d made it even more ostentatious.
The place was the size of two basketball courts, had marble floors, massive curtains hanging from its walls, and an arching cathedral-like ceiling with Renaissance-style murals painted on the roof. The party extended out the glass doors to the garden beyond that had horses enchanted to look like unicorns and spellbound tigers looking like manticores. Also, not to freak the hell out in the presence of vampires.
Hundreds of guests were present, dozens of the richest vampires in the city among them, with a wide selection of attractive mortals enspelled to serve as walking meals. An actual orchestra was just off to the side, all of them playing with inhuman perfect precision under the domination of a sorcerer conductor. It was the kind of party you’d speculate the ancient Romans might have thrown if they had magic.
I was wearing a suit far nicer than anything I could afford. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a cellphone. It was three weeks ago. I tried to remember what had happened three weeks ago and couldn’t recall a dang thing.
“Okay, this is some Marty McFly B.S.,” I muttered, shaking my head.
“Peter?” Thoth’s voice spoke behind me.
I almost jumped and turned around to see my creator. He was wearing an all-white tux and a Fedora with a white rose on his lapel. Honestly, I’d never been very fond of white for vampires. I mean, I wasn’t a messy eater, but you were inevitably going to get stains on your outfit when you wore white. That was the real reason black was still the new black for vampires. That and it just looked good on most undead. Thoth wearing white was practically a challenge.
Wait, why the hell was I focused on his damn suit? “Hey!”
Thoth blinked. “Oh, sorry, I have a glamour woven around my rose. I forget that’s going to have double the normal effect on my creations.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head. “Listen, Thoth, I have a lot more problems right now than the fact I really love your outfit. Also, that it cost more than my house.”
“Oh, it costs way more than your house.”
“Ha-ha,” I said, fake smiling. “That joke never gets old. Mostly because it was never young. Listen, Thoth do you believe in time travel?”
“No,” Thoth said.
I blinked. “Really, with all the other weird and crazy shit in this world? Time-travel is where you draw the line?”
“Yes,” Thoth said. “I could explain to you in quantum physics why it’s impossible or in spiritual terms.”
“And both would sound like Greek to me.”
“I speak Greek.”
“Show off,” I muttered, grumbling. “Listen, this is going to sound crazy, but I am actually from a month in the future. Seconds ago, I drank from your step-granddaughter Yukie because I was trying to find out how tonight relates to some guy who is manipulating Enil. Oh, Enil is trying to kill a bunch of Old Ones and does so. Plus, also, I wish I knew some lotto numbers or stock tips to pass to you.”
“Interesting,” Thoth said.
“Her blood supercharged my powers, man, and sent me back in time!” I said.
Thoth lowered his snake-like eyes. “Well, I see two possibilities.”
“Which are?”
“One, you have astrally projected your consciousness back in time as some have speculated has been possible. Indeed, some have claimed.”
“Or?”
“You’re tripping balls,” Thoth said, opening his eyes.
I blinked then threw my hands up in the air. “Thanks, Thoth. Really. You’re supposed to be my go-to guy on this. The supernatural shit.”
“I mean that you could very much be hallucinating a five-sense vision of the past with your time powers,” Thoth said, waving his forefinger in front of my eyes to see if I followed it. “It would bear superficial similarities to time travel, but the events of the past would be unaffected. A dream, effectively. Mind you, all astral time travel interpretations I’ve read suggest time is incapable of being changed. Which I suppose we could test by assassinating someone who you know to be alive in the future.”
I stared at Thoth then grabbed his hand. “Let’s not and see we did.”
“Fair enough.”
“Besides, wouldn’t you know you’re not a hallucination?”
“Yes, but saying I’m not is exactly what a hallucination would say.”
I felt my head. “Man, do all Old Ones get bugfuck crazy when they hit two hundred or are you just special?”
“I’m a wizard and a Haitian Vodou priest so I admit I bring a little extra to any discussions of the supernatural,” Thoth said, putting his right hand back in his pocket. “In any case, mad or inspired, tonight is a very special occasion for me. Your statements about Yukie are also apropos and relate to a plan you should have no idea about.”
I was about to ask him more when a pale-skinned eerily beautiful woman dressed like a 1920s flapper walked up. You know, with the little helmet-like bonnet, pearls, and long dress. I saw the Great Gatsby once, what can I say. I say eerie because she was one of those vampires who wasn’t doing a very good job of impersonating a human being. She was gorgeous mind you, like virtually every other vampire other than me, and had skin like marble with inhuman yellow eyes.
You couldn’t precisely estimate how old or powerful a vampire was by looking at them, but there were certain ranges that had physical attributes. I put her about eight hundred years old. That was the age when vampires started transitioning between Old One and Ancient One. It was also about the time vampires started to forget how to behave like a human.
“Hi!” the woman said, showing a little fang while speaking. It was a surprisingly threatening gesture since my inner monster knew I was outmatc
hed. It was a feeling I only had in the presence of Enil nowadays.
“Uh, hey,” I said, looking at Thoth. “You his date?”
“He’s mine,” the woman said, putting her arm under Thoth’s. “Are you sure these clothes are still appropriate.”
“The twenties are making a comeback,” Thoth said. “Peter, this is Lucinda.”
Lucinda smiled, looking a bit like a shark. Well, a shark who looked like a Spanish Eva Green. Both incredibly desirable and leaving you aware you wouldn’t survive the experience.
I blinked. “The voivode of Mexico. Yeah, I heard you two were married. Uh, is Ashura going to mind this?”
Thoth actually looked panicked for a second.
“Do not mention the poacher to me,” Lucinda said, her voice low as a hiss. “She only desired to marry my consort because she is incapable of managing her silver and gold. I intend to speak with her at length about taking someone else’s property.”
Thoth immediately broke contact. “I am no man or woman’s property, Lucia. Never again.”
“My apologies. I meant it figuratively, not literally. I am yours as much as you are mine,” Lucinda said, lowering her head. “So this is your creation? Fascinating. Why choose to make another now? He doesn’t look special.”
I decided I wasn’t going to like Lucinda. “Really?”
“What?” Lucinda asked, blinking.
“Peter struck me as the sort of individual who would actually benefit from being turned into a vampire. His life was directionless, without merit—”
“Hey!” I snapped.
“About six months from eating his own gun,” Thoth added.
I didn’t like to talk about that. “Yeah.”
“But capable and ambitious,” Thoth added. “I was wrong about the last part but everything else.”
“You’ve only made two in two hundred years,” Lucinda said, confused. “I was just wondering what else he might have going on.”
“He reminded me of my younger brother,” Thoth said, sharing something about my creation I never knew.
Thoth’s creator, Doubye, had been a real son of a bitch. Doubye had preyed on the pre-revolt slave population of Haiti and left the plantation class alone. He’d turned Thoth and freed him from slavery, only to enslave him in return. When Thoth had broken away to rejoin his brother, now married with his own family, Doubye had slaughtered them all. It surprised me I had any resemblance to the man, but it filled in some missing pieces for me about why Thoth had created me.
“Ah,” Lucinda said. “Well, that explains it. Well, Peter, you can call me mom.”
I stared at her. “No.”
Lucinda frowned. “Oh darn. I was going to give you diamonds and emeralds too.”
There was nothing weirder than an Old One saying darn. “Wait, what?”
“I find jewelry doesn’t lose its value like currencies,” Lucinda said. “Also, they tend to last longer than food.”
“Actually, Peter, could you do me a favor?” Thoth asked, looking at me intently.
“Could we go back to the box of jewels?” I asked.
Thoth continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Tonight is Ashura’s 421st birthday.”
“Vampires celebrate birthdays?” I asked.
“Vain stupid bitches do,” Lucinda said.
“Meow,” I said.
“Do you turn into a cat?” Lucinda said, cocking her head to one side.
Thoth reached into his pocket and pulled out a rock. I’m serious, he pulled out a smooth oval-shaped stone with some stick figures engraved on it. Even to my untrained and magically deficient senses, I could feel the power radiating from this.
“Please take this,” Thoth said, handing the rock over.
“Uh, thanks,” I said, taking it. “What’s it do?”
“I have business here tonight,” Thoth said, putting an ominous spin on the words. “I’ve called in every favor I have as well as leveraged a few more to get it done. I’ve distributed these rocks to my allies throughout the party, but I’m not sure it’s enough.”
“Yes, I can see how you need more rocks,” I said, holding it.
“It’ll protect you from possession or being incinerated with a thought,” Thoth said.
“Always useful,” I said, putting the rock in my pocket.
“It will also vibrate in the presence of a demon,” Thoth said.
“A demon,” I said, making sure I’d heard that correctly. “Like Yukie’s father?”
“Yes,” Thoth said, a warning in his tone.
“What do you know of Yukie?” Lucinda asked, her voice sounding like she was debating whether to kill me immediately or later.
“That she is a super girl!” I said, deciding not to piss off the homicidal older vampire.
Lucinda narrowed her eyes then put on a fake smile. “I see.”
“Yukie’s father is among the party guests tonight,” Thoth said, looking around.
“You mean Mag—”
“Don’t say his name or he’ll be alerted,” Thoth said.
“Like Voldemort?”
“Who?” Lucinda blinked.
Thoth chuckled. “Just try to find him and signal us when it’s the case. If we’re lucky, we can trap him and get—”
“Your revenge, gotcha,” I said, nodding. “You have a good chance of succeeding.”
Was this what my vision was trying to show me? That what was really going on was related to Magog? If so, I wasn’t sure that was a big revelation. It seemed the demon’s influence was everywhere. Still, I found it was probably best to let this play out and see where it led me. I wasn’t sure if I had time traveled back to my body three weeks ago or if this was, as Thoth suggested, just my mind making up things. Hell, I could be having a seizure at Yukie’s feet due to my brain being fried by dhampyr-werefox-demonkin blood.
“Good to hear you believe so,” Lucinda said, looking over at Thoth and offering her hand.
Thoth took it. “Lucinda and I have a debt to settle.”
“I bet you do.”
Lucinda smiled. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to robbing the cradle with this two-hundred-year-old Youngblood.”
I snorted. “Yeah, you two kids have fun. Don’t stay out too late and don’t take any candy from strangers. Hunters put garlic and razor blades in them.”
Lucinda pretended to know what the hell I was talking about.
“Enjoy the party, Peter,” Thoth said. “Try not to wreck time by getting yourself killed before you go back.”
“Right,” I said, deciding to go anywhere else but here.
The party was the creme de la creme of New Detroit society, so I saw plenty of people who would normally cross the street to avoid me. Weirdly, I did remember receiving an invitation to this party, but I’d never intended to go since, well, it wasn’t my scene. Also, even if the tux I was in was a rental, that was a more than I could afford on a clerk’s salary. Maybe I’d robbed another guest and stole his outfit.
“I can’t believe you ate a child. You are disgusting,” Dead Debbie said, standing nearby.
Debbie was a voluptuous redheaded woman with curly hair and a cleavage-baring outfit. She was talking to Colonel Bellefonte, who looked like he belonged on a vampire remake of Dallas with a ten-gallon hat and pinstripe suit.
Colonel Bellefonte shrugged. “I wasn’t the one who offered her. It was at a party just like this, and it would have been rude to refuse. You know how the Texan vampires are: always talking about how we’re the supreme race and need to show our dominance over lesser beings.”
“A child,” Debbie said.
“Children die all the time, Debbie,” Colonel Bellefonte shrugged. “Besides, do I really need to point out what you’ve been up to since your last breakup? Three college boys? All from the same football team? The Cleaners must have charged you a fortune.”
Debbie sneered. “They were comfort food.”
Yeah, the world was really going to miss these two. I won
der what I ever saw in Dead Debbie. Oh, right, she was hot.
“Hello, Peter,” Debbie said.
“Piss off,” I said, ignoring her. I was still ticked off about the verbal on-air beat down she’d given me. Then again, watching her growl at me, I wondered if she gave me one because I snubbed her here.
Weird.
Strangely, as I passed those two, I felt a slight tingling from the rock in my pocket. Not so much that I thought they were possessed by the demon but that they might have been carrying some themselves. If Thoth had recruited the City Council to help him against Magog, it might explain why they were being targeted. Then again, it was hard to imagine what Thoth would have to bribe vampires as selfish as those two to help against a demon.
“Archdemon,” a voice spoke behind me. It had a thick Japanese accent and more than the slightest trace of contempt. “Magog is one of the Princes of Hell, second only to Lucifer and the Ten Kings. Hello, Peter, it’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
The rock in my pocket started vibrating like crazy.
Chapter Seventeen
I turned around and was surprised by the sight of a four-foot-five man with a thick goatee, mutton chops, and unkempt wavy black hair greeting me. He was dressed in a finely customized tailored suit and was holding a cane like Thoth’s that was covered in many of the same sorts of runes. His face was slightly “off” and malformed, looking like his skull had grown out too much along with his mouth.
This is also going to sound bizarre, but a part of me was terrified of the guy. I’m a frigging vampire, right, yet this guy caused me to want to start running in the other direction. There was just something that reminded me of my breathing days as a child when I was in a dark unfamiliar location or all alone. I pushed those feelings down, summoning the kind of training I’d had to deal with firefights and explosions.