The Vigiles Urbani Chronicles- Year One

by Ken Lange

  Andrew took Cole from me. “Kimberly’s in the back. We’ll take care of it.”

  Waving, I said, “Thanks. I’ve got to go tend to the assholes who did this to him.”

  Reappearing next to Vasile, I sighed. “That’s handled. How about these douchebags?”

  He shrugged. “They aren’t going anywhere.” Using his foot, he lifted the nearest one’s head. “Except maybe this guy. He’s probably going to die.”

  I knelt beside him and scooped him up. “Give me a second—”

  Before I could finish the sentence, the man shuddered then his body went limp as he stopped breathing.

  Damn.

  Laying him on the ground, I said, “Guess that leaves Darius and the other two.”

  Vasile glanced around and sighed. “Now, we have to figure out how to get them out of here.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve never transported a human before, but I’m willing to give it a shot.”

  He didn’t exactly look comfortable with the idea. “You sure you want to do that?”

  I shook my head. “Not at all, but I’m not going to carry them out of here.”

  He held up his hands. “Hey, don’t look at me…they wouldn’t survive the flight.”

  The memory of my own trip with him told me he was right. “I’d like to talk to them first…just in case teleporting them turns out to be a bad idea.”

  We had to wait about twenty minutes for the first one to wake up.

  The man struggled against his restraints. “I’ll kill you when I get loose.”

  Vasile snatched the man off the ground. “No, you won’t.” His tone became odd, and it hurt my head as he spoke. “What’s your name?”

  The guard’s body went slack. “Scott.”

  That weird voice came out of Vasile’s mouth again. “Okay, Scott, who are you working for and why were you holding Cole hostage?”

  Scott’s face drooped. “I’m a foreman over at Barrowman’s Construction. As for the man we were keeping prisoner, Darius called me the other night and said we had a situation.”

  Vasile narrowed his eyes. “We?”

  Scott bobbed his head up and down. “Yeah, we’re the local chapter of the Gotteskinder, and Darius is our contact to the rest of the group. When he says jump, we ask how high.”

  Vasile’s tone turned hard. “Why?”

  Scott sneered. “We can’t let Cole’s type run around. They’re dangerous, and out of control. They’re the cause of every war, plague, and mishap that’s ever happened to humanity.”

  Vasile turned his head to me. “Does this make any sense to you?”

  I nodded. “Unfortunately. We discovered the Gotteskinder a few days ago. It appears their main goal is to wipe out everyone with abilities. I would’ve sent a memo, but without some tangible information, I would’ve come across as a conspiracy theorist.”

  He roughly dropped the man on the ground. “I’m hearing it with my own ears and I’m still having a hard time believing it.” He gestured at them. “Would you like to know anything else?”

  “Loads, but everything else can wait until we see if he survives the trip to New Orleans. If he doesn’t, we’ll have to finish questioning the others here.”

  I grabbed Scott, who struggled in my grip, and blue flames engulfed us. A moment later, we were in the facility out in Elmwood.

  Sam popped her head up and gave me a curious look. “You all right there, boss?”

  Scott had stopped struggling. When I glanced down at him, he was shivering and blue, but alive, so I dropped him.

  Pointing at the man, I said, “He’s a member of the Gotteskinder who was holding Cole hostage. Do me a favor and keep an eye on him while I pick up the rest of them.” I paused for a moment. “Give Baptist a call and let him know we’re going to need the use of a few cells. All told, we have three bad guys, and I’d like to keep them separated until we can question them.”

  Anger flashed in her eyes. “You sure he’s worth the effort?”

  Translation: she wanted to rip his head off and shit down his neck.

  I nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  I stepped back and retrieved the others, including Vasile, who wanted to come and oversee their interrogation. If he could make the rest as cooperative as he’d made Scott, it’d save me the trouble of having Andrew rip their minds apart. Mind you, he might still do that once he got involved, but that was something to worry about later.

  Chapter 17

  Everyone at Elmwood was tense. We weren’t equipped to handle prisoners, but we’d made do by clearing out a couple of unused offices. Thank god whoever’d designed this place hadn’t been big on windows.

  While we waited for Baptist, Vasile used the downtime to get some rest, since he’d been on the move for the better part of a day. Plus, he hadn’t taken so well to being transported to New Orleans. The moment we’d arrived, he’d nearly collapsed with a sudden, massive headache. Weird thing was he hadn’t turned blue, nor was he shivering; the only side effect appeared to be the migraine.

  I turned my attention to the pile of papers from the church on my desk and shook my head. “Nope, not going to happen.” Instead, I flipped on my computer and started reading the reports from the other vigiles. I was about halfway through the European sector when my phone beeped.

  Glancing down, I found a message from Baptist.

  I’ll be there in thirty.

  The clock at the bottom of the screen read 1:12. Time to get this show on the road.

  I made my way down the hall and knocked on the open door.

  Alexander smiled. “Hey, how’s it going?”

  I shrugged. “Well enough. I wanted to let you know Baptist will be here soon. Would you alert the others? I’m going to wake up Vasile.”

  Alexander nodded. “I can do that… Will Vasile be staying long?”

  “Not sure. Why?”

  He got to his feet and frowned. “He’s making some of the centurions nervous. Most of the visitors have never met such a powerful vampire before, and it’s put them on edge.”

  Even with Vasile’s limited interaction with the others, it would seem he left a lasting impression. “I don’t think they’ve got anything to worry about.”

  Alexander’s voice dropped slightly. “Agreed, it’s just that he’s…well…intimidating.”

  It was wrong of me, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “What? You’ve got like six or seven inches on the guy, not to mention a good fifty pounds.”

  He gave me a look that said I had to be a special kind of stupid. “Okay…what the fuck does that have to do with anything?”

  Leaning against the doorframe, I shrugged. “Figured that’d put you guys on an even playing field with him, even if he is nearly six hundred years old.”

  Alexander sat stock still for a moment then laughed. “Where the hell did you get that information?”

  Shifting on the spot, I said, “It was in his file…why?”

  He cleared his throat. “I don’t have hard proof, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it that Vasile is way older than that.” Motioning me in, he said, “Close the door.”

  I did as he asked. “Okay.”

  Alexander’s voice dropped slightly. “You know I’m the secret keeper for my clan, right?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, and it was your grandfather before you.”

  “Correct.” Shaking his head, he sighed. “So, what I’m about to tell you has been handed down for generations.”

  Long before the pyramids were built, weres and vampires had a contentious relationship. The vampire kings—yeah, he knew about them and hadn’t shared the information with me either—weren’t exactly thrilled with the were community for reasons unknown to anyone but themselves. They’d intended to either enslave the weres, or if that wasn’t possible, wipe them out.

  A number of the kings took to the battlefield to challenge the weres in combat, but things didn’t go as well as they’d hoped. The weres fought them to a stalema
te, with both sides taking heavy casualties. Afterward, they settled into a cold war. Skirmishes would break out here and there, but no one pressed the issue until one of the vampire kings made a deal with a pack of necromancers. They cornered a dozen were clans in the mountains and, by all accounts, would’ve wiped them out completely, but someone intervened.

  A powerful vampire with golden eyes landed in the midst of the battle and forced the vampire king and his new allies to a standstill singlehandedly. That was when the vampire kings went underground, and they passed the laws about procreating.

  I plopped into the chair next to Alexander. “And you think that golden-eyed vampire is Vasile?”

  Alexander nodded. “I do. Have you ever heard of another one with eyes like that?”

  I shook my head. “No, but if you’re right, that’d make Vasile at least five thousand years old.”

  He scratched the top of his head. “If he was able to push back a vampire king, his followers, and a bunch of necromancers by himself, I’d say he’s a lot older than that.”

  It took a second for that to sink in. “Guess I should talk to him about that.”

  Alexander put his hand out and shook his head. “Are you stupid?”

  “Huh?”

  His cheeks burned red. “Ah, sorry…forgot myself for a minute. Look, you’re a powerful guy. And you’re used to getting to the bottom of things, but this isn’t something you want to mess with. He apparently wants to blend in…and if he can do that with a convenient lie about how old he is, I say let him. There’s no way I’d go poking that bear without good cause. If he wants you to know who he is, I’m sure he’ll tell you. Right now, what are you going to go to him with? A story that’s been passed down in my family for millennia? At best, he denies it and sticks around. At worst, he takes offense and disappears, and you lose a powerful ally.”

  It went against my nature to let things go, but he made a fair point. “How about this? I’ll let it go for now, but I will eventually talk to the man about it.”

  Alexander didn’t appear pleased. “Fine, but could you at least get him drunk beforehand?”

  I laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  He got to his feet and clapped me on the back. “Let’s handle our current situation first.”

  By the time I made it to my office, the atmosphere in the facility had changed dramatically. Before, everything had been still and deathly quiet. Now, there were people moving through the halls, Alexander was calling out orders over the radio, and the place vibrated with activity.

  Allowing them to do their jobs, I stepped out front to wait. A few minutes later, Baptist and six other UCD officers pulled into the lot in four unmarked cruisers.

  Baptist made his way over and held out his hand to Vasile. “I’m William Baptist, and you must be Vasile Ciocan.”

  Vasile smiled. “Pleasure to meet you.”

  Baptist patted me on the shoulder. “I hear you’ve got a few individuals who need to be detained.”

  I nodded. “I do.”

  Before I could say another word, Sam and two others perp-walked the members of the Gotteskinder out the front doors, each of them headed to a different vehicle.

  I shrugged. “And there they are.” Pointing at Darius, I said, “He’s the one in charge, and Duncan’s father.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “That was his son?”

  I sighed. “Yep.”

  Vasile gestured at Baptist’s cruiser. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to tag along and help with the interrogation.”

  Baptist glanced between us. “As long as Gavin’s good with it.”

  “It’s fine by me. I hope we can get some answers that’ll help us dismantle these idiots.”

  Baptist grimaced. “Me too.”

  I held up my hand. “Sorry to change the subject, but I wanted to let you know that we’ve reworked the budget for your department. You’re fully funded again, and you’ve got a generous allotment for a new headquarters.”

  He grinned. “Thanks. I’ll get the wheels moving on that as soon as we finish up with these guys.”

  My phone rang. Kimberly. “Excuse me, gentlemen. I need to take this.” Swiping the answer button, I said, “Hello.”

  Kimberly sounded tired. “Hi. I wanted to let you know that Cole’s stable, and we’ve moved him into a private room at Touro.”

  I frowned. “Thanks. I was hoping for more, but as long as he isn’t getting worse, I’m good with that.”

  She blew out a long breath. “We’re working on it.”

  I craned my neck from side to side. “I really do appreciate it.”

  Her tone turned somber. “I’ve got some other news for you as well.”

  “What’s that?”

  She cleared her throat. “The Coast Guard called. They’ve started finding bodies. The first one they were able to identify was Commander Kevlin. I know you two weren’t exactly friends, but I’m still sorry for your loss.”

  I blinked. “Wow…okay. Thank you. Is there anything else?”

  She hesitated for a moment. “I’m on my way over. There are a few other things I’d like to discuss with you in person.”

  I nodded. “Okay…sure. See you soon.”

  Ending the call, I glanced up at Baptist. “Do you guys need me for anything right now? Kimberly’s on her way over to talk to me about…I haven’t got a clue, actually, but it sounds important.”

  He shook his head. “Nope, I think we’re good.”

  Vasile patted Baptist on the back. “I’m ready when you are.”

  They walked over to the cruiser and pulled out of the parking lot.

  That left me the exciting task of waiting for Kimberly while I sifted through the stuff from the church. Overall, it was a miserable way to kill half an hour.

  I opened the door to the office and was about to step into the hall when Kimberly rounded the corner. “Good afternoon, Ms. Kim. Everything all right?”

  Unconsciously, she pulled the briefcase she was carrying up to her midsection. “We’ll see shortly.” She frowned. “Mind if we speak in private?”

  Ever get a sneaking suspicion that things are going to go poorly?

  I shook my head. “Not at all.”

  Kimberly unpacked several files and laid them out in an order only she understood.

  She opened the blue folder nearest to her and handed it to me. “Here, I made some notes for you.”

  I glanced down at an index with corresponding page numbers. “Okay…I take it there’s a lot for us to get through.”

  Kim frowned. “Unfortunately.”

  Over the next hour, I learned that the stationery from the mall was definitely from Touro. That, along with the equipment we’d found, had been purchased in a public auction that’d been overseen by none other than Robert Broussard, nearly ten years ago. According to the documents she’d brought with her, Christ the King had supposedly purchased the items in question to donate them to some relief program in Africa. Obviously, that hadn’t happened. The other items purchased during the auction hadn’t turned up, but I was betting they were in town as well.

  The next item on the list was the handwriting on the papers we’d found at the mall. Kimberly had recognized it, and after quite a bit of research, she figured out that the notes had been written by Dr. Phineas Levi, who’d turned in his notice in July of last year. Kim had asked the UCD to pay the man a visit, but he’d sold his house and, for all intents and purposes, fallen off the face of the earth. He’d liquidated his accounts and hadn’t been seen since.

  I put my notes aside. “Figures. The one solid lead we get and he’s a goddamn ghost.”

  Disappointment worked its way across her face. “Sorry.”

  What I couldn’t figure out was how someone like Robert was tied up with the Gotteskinder.

  “Do you think Robert knew who he was selling to, and who he was working with?”

  Kimberly’s shoulders slumped as she shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s hard for me t
o believe he didn’t. The man was a stickler for details.”

  If that were the case, it raised even more questions. “Why in the world would he ever work with them?”

  Her gaze hit the floor. “I don’t know.”

  Chapter 18

  It was nearly six thirty by the time I got everything sorted at the office and alerted the appropriate people about Dr. Levi. While there was still a lot to do, I was hungry and the thought of vending-machine cuisine didn’t appeal. I picked up my bag and made my way out to the Tucker. A half hour later, I pulled into the drive at home.

  The moment I stepped through the back door, the scent of Italian sausage, red sauce, and cheese hit me. My mouth watered, and my stomach growled loudly.

  Christ, whatever was on the menu smelled absolutely divine.

  I hurried to the kitchen where I found Gabriel leaning against the counter. “Evening. Whatcha making?”

  He grinned. “Lasagna. I found the recipe in the drawer over there and thought I’d give it a shot. It isn’t as if I get a lot of opportunities to practice my cooking skills out in Elmwood.”

  I chuckled. “Speaking of which, have you ever considered moving into a place of your own? You’re welcome to everything in Martha’s cubical, and there’s a nice relocation fund available as well.”

  Gabriel shrugged. “Thanks, but I’m good for now. That may change in the future. If it does, we’ll cross that bridge then.” His voice dropped. “It’s been nice having people around. I’ve spent so much of my life alone that this has been a welcome change…mostly, anyway.”

  I hadn’t even considered the fact that he’d been lonely for most of his life.

  “I bet.” I pointed upstairs. “Let me put my bag away, and I’ll come down and see what I can help with.”

  He shook his head. “You’re welcome to come back, of course, but I’m finishing up the last layer now.”

  I nodded. “Perfect.”

  He pulled open the oven and placed a rather large pan of lasagna in it. “Take your time. We’ve got at least forty-five minutes before dinner’s ready.”

  I smiled. “In that case, I’ll be upstairs for a bit.”