Michael caught the facial expression and raised an eyebrow, but then continued. Michael assumed she was pissed; it was better to not ask. “The problem is when you kill him, you will have a major uprising among the Forsaken in all of South America. He is the lesser of two evils.”
Her face carefully controlled, she asked, “So, kill him and potentially hundreds or thousands die due to vampire politics as others try to take control?”
Michael nodded. “Yes. That is the sum of it.”
Chippendales forgotten, Bethany Anne thought out loud, “We went through a period of this in San Jose.” Michael looked at her. “Costa Rica, not California.” No one seemed to have updated him on anything that had gone on since they rescued him. Then again, he had been asleep for a large part of the time, too.
She stood up and started pacing the living room. “What happens now if a powerful vampire kills the highest level vampire in an area to take control?”
Michael didn’t like the direction this conversation was starting to go, but answered anyway. “Unless someone challenges him, or her, then the new vampire controls what goes on. But if you have a non-Forsaken take over a Forsaken area, you will still need to clean up everyone who believes vampires should rule humans.”
She decided not to correct him. Vampires were humans, just genetically modified. Which, when you went down that path meant they had genetic mutations over humans and that left you with vampires are mutants. Back to square one.
“Michael, why did you allow this bullshit to continue?” She wasn’t accusing him, but genuinely curious.
Everyone looked at Michael. He wasn’t giving off the Patriarchal air he was accustomed to wearing and no one seemed to be judging him. He sat back in his chair. “Two reasons. When it started, I lost them. It wasn’t easy to track people back in those centuries.” Frank was nodding along, it made sense to him. “The second was I thought it was a phase, like teenage boys? Something they would grow out of eventually. The men they were before they were vampires weren’t the men they became. It was like when they changed into vampires, something within their minds changed as well. I felt a duty to the men I had changed to give them another chance. Over time, my inactivity allowed them to grow until fixing the…”
Bethany Anne finished his sentence. “Fixing the problem was a bigger challenge than leaving it alone.” He nodded his agreement. She could understand both the emotional issues and the practical issues. It didn’t make her happy. She still had a little girl’s desire to slap the shit out of him.
She went back to her seat and sat down. “Which brings us back to Anton. I’m sorry, but that psychotic bastard is going to die. Not just for having been the head of the group which killed Martin, but all of the people in those camps and I’m sure the hundreds if not thousands since. He is messing with the formula in some form or fashion. He has to go.”
Nathan took up the conversation, “So, there it is in a nutshell. We have the place, we have the time, we have the beginning of the plan. You couldn’t have done anything with the information before now and after talking with Michael, I understand the political situation better. I don’t have a solution for the massive amount of San Jose style operations we will have to do to clean up South America.”
Bethany Anne put her elbows on her knees and put her chin on her hands, thinking. “Michael, what do vampires understand more than anything else?”
Michael was quick to answer, “Power.”
“Who is the most powerful Vampire in all of history, as far as they know?”
Michael was a lot slower answering this question, with significantly less enthusiasm, “Me.”
She turned to him with a smile, “So, once Anton is dead, and I will be there making sure that bastard is dead, you are going to clean up South America. Consider it your penance for making this mistake so many centuries ago.” Her voice got a little harder, and little more commanding. “In fact, consider the penance for the thousands of people he has killed over the decades and the hundreds of thousands he probably was at least partially responsible for. Your Honor has been compromised and I will beat you with it until you make this right. David and Anton have signed their own death warrants.” Michael’s face got a decidedly less friendly look when she mentioned David. “And we will collect. Both because they deserve it and because I can’t have a problem on my back if I’m dealing with other… things.” She didn’t want to mention the aliens at the moment and lose the momentum on the present subject.
She softened her voice, adding the honey where before she was using a stick. “Will you do this, Michael? Will you take control in South America when Anton is out of the way?”
He pursed his lips. “What about Europe?”
Stephen said, “I’ve got Europe. I might need a new house after the latest dustup, but I’ve already committed to fixing Europe.”
Bethany Anne cocked her head, “How about two houses? Of the floating variety?”
Stephen looked at her. “Your ships?”
She nodded, “Yes. I’m about to move to a fixed base in Colorado, at least I hope so. The ships need to move, they’ve been in and around South America too long. I will ‘sell’ them to you so that if someone tracks me, it looks like a legitimate change of ownership. The Guardians need to get some seasoning. I’ll be here in North and South America, so the TQB can help if Michael needs it and the CG will help you. We need to get a few more fronts going. Keep my translocation areas clear for me and a…” She looked at John, “Small team can come over on short notice, and a much larger team with planning. Plus, Nathan needs to work in Europe too.” Nathan seemed surprised at that.
She turned to Nathan. “I don’t want you in America while dealing with Chinese, or what we think are Chinese, network attacks. Plus, if ADAM comes online.”
This time Michael interrupted, “Adam?” She put up a hand to ‘shush’ him. He was both surprised at her rudeness and amused that he didn’t cause her to shiver in her boots. He had spent a long time in that device under David’s castle and it had caused him to rethink a lot of his previous attitudes. Being a little less quick to take offense had been one of his choices.
She continued, “If ADAM comes online, I don’t want him in the United States. I’m not sure how we are going to move him around yet, but I would rather he be somewhere outside of a major world power, I think.”
She stopped herself, “Oh! That gives me an idea, hold on folks.” She walked back over to Ecaterina and put her hand out, retrieving her phone. She typed into the messages app for just a second and then put it away in her pocket.
“Ok, consider what I just said.” She turned to Michael. “ADAM is a potential artificial intelligence my team, well used to be your team, in Las Vegas, is working on.”
Michael asked, “How much have you accomplished since I was taken?”
She looked at all of the people in this room alone, thinking about how many dozens of others she had spread out across the world. “A fair few. But let’s focus on killing Anton at the moment and I’ll bring you up to speed on the rest, ok?”
He nodded his agreement. Bethany Anne was beginning to like Michael 2.0. She didn’t know Michael 1.0 for very long, but he had been a ranting scrotum lord. Well, thinking back, she hadn’t been the easiest person to deal with either, but hey, she was the one who was going to freeze before Michael did. At least, that was the excuse she gave herself.
Wait until she explained the Wechselbalg, then she’d see just how changed the man had become.
21
Congressman Pepper hadn’t been too hard to convince. He was invited on a private jet with Ecaterina as his hostess, then Chris flew them both to the Polarus in the Sikorsky. They hid Shelly over on the Ad Aeternitatem and kept the ship far enough away that he couldn’t see it when on deck.
The crews of both ships had been ready to move. While some downtime was appreciated, the crews on both were adrenaline junkies in one form or another.
Bethany Anne had translocated Mi
chael, Stephen and Nathan through the Etheric. John and Eric were to stay in Miami. John didn’t like it, but he had to admit that with Michael, Stephen and Gabrielle, she should be adequately protected. She wanted to ask him, ‘what about my mad skills? Don’t they count for anything?’ but just grabbed his ears and pulled his tall-ass head down so she could kiss his forehead. The whole time the beast of a man was yelling, “Ow, Ow OOWW!” Eric smiled and ducked his head down, he was no fool. She kissed his head, too and then took the group in two trips.
Michael, fully awake for this trip, was amazed. He had some memories of the trip from Romania, but he had still been too dazed to remember much. He looked around her closet on the Polarus. Ashur left, probably to hit up someone for handouts in the galley.
Michael looked around the closet. “Shoes. You really, really like…” A finger was suddenly two inches in front of his face, followed closely by Bethany Anne’s eyes, squinting.
She looked up at him, speaking in a decidedly curt tone. “Don’t. Say. One. Fucking. Word. You deal with your stress your way, I deal with mine my way. My psychiatrists are named Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, an occasional meeting with Blahnik and a couple of others. Lay off, and if you so much as mention Imelda Marcos I will send you to your maker early, got me buster?”
He agreed serenely, but on the inside he was smiling. He had another hot button to push; she was deliciously full of fun. This was the first time in ten centuries a woman could stand up to him and he understood what Stephen saw in her. Now, if he could just understand this Chippendale name he had caught a glimpse of earlier before she stopped thinking about it hard enough for him to mentally eavesdrop, he would be golden. He might ask Stephen about it, or maybe Gabrielle, she seemed fun loving.
He followed her out of the closet and closed the door behind him.
The ship’s crew kept Pepper happy until Bethany Anne was ready to meet him. She despised him immediately as being slimy and pretentious in the extreme. But he was an easy ticket to the party, so she put up with the man.
She had taken Ecaterina and Killian over to the Ad Aeternitatem. Those two plus a couple of others took off in Shelly and went to Buenos Aires early. She assumed to get good hides before the party, she really didn’t know. She trusted Dan to have her team ready when it was time.
On the day of the event, Pepper and Bethany Anne were to be ferried to a landing spot just a hundred yards from the party location. The team couldn’t have any vampires onboard, as Anton might be able to spot them by their scents. That was the same reason she couldn’t have any of Pete’s team, either.
She had worried about a lack of decent armament and Michael had noticed her down mood the previous evening. She finally confessed to him she hated not going in with her pistols or her sword. She would have a knife under her hair, but that wasn’t as comfortable a feeling. She had refused to go in a dress, so she would secret a small pistol on herself, but it would only be enough to shoot a human. Basically, not much good for anything as she didn’t want to be killing humans.
Michael took her aside and provided the nicest gift, other than an extended life, he could have given her. He taught her the method to creating cutting surfaces with his hands. She could almost kiss him for that alone. With TOM’s help, what took Michael a significant amount of time to perfect, she was able to make useable within the first two hours.
It seemed that Michael figured out a way to pull energy from the Etheric and channel it down his hands and forearms. Studying the blades Michael formed closely in this world, she then went into the Etheric, telling Michael not to move a centimeter. She was able to figure out what was going on from that side as she felt the energy flow. She appeared back in the room and started concentrating, mentally thinking about a small hole of energy releasing power, running along her forearm and up the side of her hand and then to her pinky finger. It didn’t look like much, but she could feel the energy. She walked over to a metal serving tray the crew used to bring her food. She wasn’t particularly fond of the design and had complained a couple of times it was gaudy. She picked it up with her left hand and swiped at it. She produced about a quarter inch cut before her hand hit it and the cutting stopped.
Michael came over. “You have to think harder, like you’re pushing more energy into it when cutting.”
She pulled the tray back up. “It takes more energy once you’re cutting?” He nodded.
She tried again and made it all of the way through. She noticed the drag on the energy as she had pulled more from the Etheric. She looked around the room, trying to find another object to test. Nothing that she would want to replace caught her attention, so she turned the tray on its side and swiped it again. This time, the cut was quick and clean, the second piece dropping to the floor. She studied the cuts, amazed at the cleanliness.
She said in a whisper, “This is seriously badass.” He smiled.
Now, they were landing. If they found her little pistol it was fine with her. Pepper had been talking about himself the whole damn trip. She had been tempted to put him to sleep. If she knew how to do that correctly, she would have tried. Since she didn’t, she suffered, and suffered, and fucking suffered some more. She had no one to blame but herself for accepting this little part of the assignment. No wonder Frank had been smiling at her the whole time he laid out the plan.
The land around Buenos Aires is relatively flat, no mountains close enough to block the sun, so the party was scheduled in the evening. Sunset was around eight, the party was scheduled at nine, but the invite suggested those arriving via helicopter arrive early. They chose to arrive at eight thirty.
Chris landed them nice and clean. He had been taking lessons from Bobcat. Bethany Anne surmised Bobcat was doing something in Shelly tonight. If everything worked out, she would come in, meet Anton, Anton would die and then she’d translocate through the Etheric back to the boat. Wham, bam, kill a man and leave.
There was a nice group of people gathered and she let Pepper take the lead. He seemed to know some of those present and having an American congressman was a nice front. Most considered her window dressing for the man. She wanted to kick a couple of ladies who looked down at her pantsuit from their beautiful dresses and sparkling jewelry. That most of the men ignored those women and were captivated by Bethany Anne only irritated the sparkly women more.
If the women had realized Bethany Anne had no makeup on, their heads might have exploded.
Pepper was capitalizing on the opportunity to meet and greet, not realizing his sudden popularity had little to do with himself or his name.
The walking around and talking lasted about an hour, when the buzz in the crowd changed decidedly. Bethany Anne inhaled and tasted the scents.
Vampires had arrived.
Anton walked through the underground tunnel to the party. He bought the house decades before and used it for most of his lavish affairs. He had two hulking Nosferatu walking behind him.
He was inordinately proud of these two creations. Out of the fifty-two subjects, these two had survived. Unfortunately, the previous two subjects had been able to break out of the straps and had killed three of the research support staff and put one of his scientists in a coma. He had been close enough to provide a little of his blood to the man, so he would heal and be able to work for him soon enough.
These two hulks were not as easily commanded as the subjects who had been injected with the Japanese serum. He had to be there to tell them what to do, and the massive musculature was abnormal for most humans, so he couldn’t use them in crowds without causing a minor panic.
But for tonight they would be very useful. His contacts had told him the Polarus had left, heading south. Further, he found Pepper had decided to join him after all. Imagine his surprise to find out Pepper was going to be arriving on the Polarus itself.
Stupid bitch, who did she think she was messing with?
He had enough information to know she could walk in the sun, so she was either Michael’s or Stephen’s
. Since Stephen seemed to work for her, then she was one of Michael’s. Anton was aware Michael was free, somewhere, but David was supposed to clean up that mess. He made it, he needed to fix it.
Or at least die trying.
Anton had his top three children with him. They would move through the crowd and fetch those Anton needed to speak with. It was a shame Clarita died, she used to do it so nicely. A smile, a word in the ear and they would be practically running to speak with him.
Another annoyance Bethany Anne needed to answer for. He had toyed, no matter what he told David, with considering how to turn her mind towards what the world needed with the Forsaken as leaders, but decided she would be too much of a handful. He had been lucky with Clarita; she was a fairly subservient woman and hadn’t been too much trouble afterwards. He understood Stephen had decades if not centuries of pestering from his daughter.
Oh well, he would take care of Michael’s mistake. Michael could thank him later.
He came into his office from the back stairs, hidden from view. When he entered the room, he opened the drapes and looked out over the courtyard. It was an acre of carefully cultivated bushes and trees with tasteful decorative lighting throughout. It had two large fountains, lighted from within the water and one stony brook between them. It was very tranquil and occasionally he would have the groundskeepers light it up and he would come here to contemplate the future. The efforts he had undertaken to help create a centralized world government and what to do next. He turned around and stood in front of his desk, the dark wood gleaming in the lights from the walls. He touched it with his finger. It was too oily.
Reaching into the second drawer, he pulled out a towel. He had learned long ago that killing the maid only created more problems. He would find out if she was good in other ways and not let her oil his desk again.
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set One: Books 1-7, Death Becomes Her, Queen Bitch, Love Lost, Bite This, Never Forsaken, Under My Heel, Kneel or Die (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets) Page 103