by T S Paul
“Ivan! What’s wrong?”
He whimpered again and then spoke. “My fault. Didn’t mean to.”
I groaned. “What did you do?”
The little Russian looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “I rented out the boat for charters and fishing. It’s not available for at least a week.”
“Why is it I’m just hearing about this now? On top of the other thing, this takes the cake. Did you plan a backup for the backup you changed?” I asked.
In the movies, Renfield was more intelligent than this. Even the funny one carried his own mice and bugs. Which God did I piss off to get this? I needed a human servant. Creating more Vampires would be counterproductive at this time. Besides, I have managed, so far, to not change anyone. It would be a sure sign of my existence to another of my kind.
That was one of the reasons I ran instead of reporting to the World Council. They would know for sure I still existed. The one thing that humans and other paranormals never understood about the Purge was why it happened in the first place. Killing off the Vampire race wasn’t the goal of the great spell. Bad timing, the wrong components, and circumstances are what did it.
If you kill an ancient, you kill all their children, too. All of them. The Vampire that volunteered to assist with the great spell was one of the oldest in Europe. He, like myself, was an Ambassador of sorts. His death was a whirlwind of destruction that led to even more deaths as cities fell into chaos and Master fought Master for control of our society. Each death caused the deaths of thousands of Vampires. The humans and Witches believe the Purge happened all at once. We have never refuted that to them. Better to have misdirection in place as a buffer of protection. That being said, I knew that I might be one of the few ancients still alive. Preserving my own life was paramount in all of my decisions.
“Call the marina anyway. Let them know you want the boat back at the soonest possible. Inquire as to renting another in the meantime,” I directed Ivan.
“Mistress, the money?”
“What money?” I asked.
“For the charter? That was the reason I rented it. My account was empty, and I thought we were broke.”
My chuckle was dark and not humorous. “If you think that small amount was all I saved in two thousand years of survival then I am a poor Vampire indeed. That was your money. I gave it to you to do with as you wished. If you need funds, just ask for them.” I gave Ivan a stern look. “You would make a poor Vampire. Not enough initiative in you. Make the call.”
I walked away from him and went down the stairs. I was hungry and drinking from a bag was not my goal right now. My snack needed to be living and vibrant.
If I didn’t get my mad out somehow, I would truly be caught in the act. Killing Ivan was not a good idea right now.
Chapter 16
Hunger and pain. Those were the first things that hit me inside the sarcophagus. As a Royal, I could smell traces of blood left from the thousands trapped before me. Even without light to see, I could imagine others trapped as I was, pounding endlessly for freedom. How many years were other Vampires left locked inside this thing? How did any of them survive the experience?
My heart slowed down as I embraced the darkness. It was peaceful in here. So quiet that I could actually think and plan. What was it the Goddess was telling me? Varro had described the transformation to me in detail, but he never mentioned a visitation. That would have been something to talk about and describe, but he left it out. Was I the only one that actually spoke to the Goddess during their transformation? I was educated. My father made sure of it, but Alukah taught me a different way. His was the way of experience and pain. My entire immortal life was before me. The choices that I made here would map my world. The Goddess might have a plan for me, but I would steer my own destiny.
I don’t like to remember what happened when the lid was finally withdrawn from the sarcophagi. Ravening beast comes to mind. My thirst was insatiable. There weren’t enough slaves in the city to slake it.
“You must pace yourself, girl. Slow your feeding and suppress your appetite. The Vampire way is one of survival and secrecy. Leaving these many bodies paints a target upon all of us.”
Looking up from another of my Master’s household slaves I could see Gaius Fortunus the city’s protector and master-at-arms. He was watching me with surprise in his eyes. “I’m hungry!”
He nodded. “As you should be. You lasted far longer than any of us thought you would. The Master likes his games. Slow down and savor them, girl. There are only so many humans in the city.”
Deep in my heart, I knew he spoke the truth. My time serving Varro taught me that much. Body disposal was always an issue. He was right about savoring the taste as well.
“Good, good. Now release him. Leave some for him to live upon. If you’re careful, they will survive your feeding. It takes practice to get it right,” Gaius instructed.
I could hear the servant’s labored breathing as I drank from him. The blood in his veins still pumped but slower, much slower. Carefully, I slid my fangs from his neck, dropping his quivering body to the floor. “He still lives. Barely.”
“Good girl. You have promise after all,” Gaius pronounced.
Wiping the blood from my lips, I gazed at the piles of bodies in the room. “How long?”
Gaius bent low over the servant. He rolled him over to one side of the room out of the way. “In the box?”
I nodded.
“A year.”
“For real?” I felt my bloody jaw drop open.
Gaius nodded. “Most don’t last that long. They give in to the madness and drain themselves dry. Revival after that is near impossible without more than these.” He waved at the piles of bodies.
My eyes followed his hands to the dead servants.
“Do not blame yourself, girl. They all volunteered.” Gaius explained.
At my look, he laughed. “I know you heard the Master on your first day. We don’t deal in slaves. Our servants come to us willingly. Only the bound have questionable loyalties.”
“The bound?” I asked.
“Servants bound by blood to their Master. Some call them halves. They are similar to created Vampires. You will learn.”
“I have to,” I replied
“Come with me, we have much to discuss.”
“Aeliana. My name is Aeliana,” I told him.
<<< >>>
“Ivan, you’re an idiot. I can’t believe you rented out our escape plan!” This was the second time I had yelled at him. He was crunched up in the corner trying to make himself look small, but I knew where he was.
“Mistress I…” I gave him my angry eye look, and he shut right up. I had a backup to my backup, but it wasn’t something I was considering doing. There were several options actually. Only one had the best chance of succeeding.
Sighing, I sat down on one of the couches in the main room. Looking in Ivan’s direction, I began to explain things. “We have several options here. The van is outside. We can drop everything and leave now. If the FBI and other law enforcement are not wise to you, we can dump it and get another car. Second. We can purchase another vehicle. If they are wise and watching, it will be a dead giveaway. Third. You stay here, and I escape. I can assume any identity and take over any car, truck, or boat. That leaves me with witnesses. I would have to attempt to wipe their minds or kill them. Four. It is possible to use the Navy base to escape. I have military codes that should work. They are a bit old, but still in the system as valid. I made sure of that.”
Ivan stared at me. “Can we just stay here?”
I nodded. “That is option five. We assume that your traffic stop led nowhere and that my old team missed it.”
“Do you think they did?” He asked.
“No. I trained them better than that.” Pulling out my phone I stared at the map function for a moment. “Go try and buy a camper. There are two state parks around here. Maybe we can camp out until everything blows over a bit.”
Standing and walking outside I leaned on the rail. I was starting to feel like a rat, trapped in a maze.
<<< >>>
“Agatha we have confirmation.” Cat gave her best friend and boss a nudge.
Opening her eyes, Agatha turned her chair around. “On what?”
Cat thrust a large tablet at her. Several images flashed on the screen. “She was definitely on the bus. Here she is at all four of these stations.”
Agatha leaned forward taking the tablet into her hand. She could see a woman that looked very much like Anastasia standing, sitting, and walking at what looked to be small-town bus stations. “What about Salt Lake City and Atlanta?”
Cat shook her head. “The tapes are missing. She either didn’t know the cameras were there or couldn't get behind the scenes to stop them at these four places.”
Agatha pointed her finger. “Extrapolate and compare the stations missing footage against the bus routes. See if you can figure where she got off.”
“Already ahead of you, boss. The last stop with a camera missing is Dothan, Alabama.” Chuck replied.
“Start checking…” Agatha started to say.
“... traffic cams, ATM machines, and all public safety cams. On it!” Chuck yelled.
“So nice to have a team that works so well together. Bill, check with your contacts and notify them of the BOLO and all points on Ana. Did your NSA guy come through with the cell phone data?” Agatha asked.
Bill nodded his head for her to come over. Agatha stepped over and sat down next to him. She looked expectantly at him. “Well?”
“My friend. We’ll call him John. John used the parameters we gave him and came up with nothing. Then he got creative. Using that program I didn’t mention, he scanned for Russian and other Slavic accents. He looked for phone calls that were short and contained small phrases such as code words. This is the same sort of scan they do for espionage reports by-the-way.” Bill replied.
“What did John find?”
Bill chuckled. “A lot. There are actually seven teams of Russian or Ukrainian merc teams working the southeastern United States. Four of them are officially licensed by the American Witches Council, and the other three are rogue.”
Agatha groaned. “Is he sending us the report?”
“No. He said he’ll pass it along through official channels. They stumble across those guys all the time. Ever since you joined and clarified their rules of contact, most government agencies have been super careful who they use.” Bill smiled.
“That’s one thing good I did. Anything else?”
“Yup. He thinks he found Ivan’s cell phone.” Bill replied.
Agatha straightened up and leaned forward. “Where?”
“A scan picked up a Russian voice speaking to a woman using what sounded like code in short bursts during the time period I gave them. The call originated in Dothan, Alabama.”
“Is he sure it was Ivan?” Agatha asked.
“He’s pretty sure. The background noises include what sounds like a large commercial vehicle like a bus along with the sounds of people and underbelly doors being opened and closed. He was at the bus station,” Bill answered.
“Can they track it down again? If he still has it, we will know for sure.”
“They do, Agatha. That special chunk of electronics at the Agency that doesn’t exist is able to strip the numbers and locator codes from any and all brands of phone. According to John, the number Ivan is using went South toward Florida. The moment he uses it again, John will process it and send us the location.” Bill replied.
“Thanks, Bill. Tell your buddy, John, I owe him one.” Agatha stood and walked back to Chuck and Cat. They were both smiling too. Supernatural hearing and all that.
“Shift surveillance to Florida. Start checking hotels first and look for short-term rentals that match the profile. Chuck, next time you talk to Mongo thank him for me,” Agatha asked.
Chuck looked surprised. “What did Mongo do?”
“Way back at the start of this, he said she would be where no one would look for a Vampire. Now we find she went to Florida. How many Vampires do you know that go sunbathing?” Agatha replied with a smile.
“Not that many. I’ll let him know.”
Agatha looked around her and peered out one of the side windows on the bus. “How soon can we pull up stakes and head to Florida?”
“Twenty, thirty minutes. I need to drop the tanks and fill us up with water and gas,” Chuck pointed out.
“Then let’s get rolling. We have a team member to catch. Better us than some local LEO.”
<<< >>>
“Well, what do they say?” Director Madeline Mills looked at her two assistants.
“The same. Something is coming, and it’s big.” Beatrice answered.
“Did the clairvoyants happen to say when this would happen?”
Betsy shook her head. “No, Ma’am. They just keep repeating that it’s big.”
Director Mills sighed, “And this has nothing to do with the Demon sighting over Sicily?”
Beatrice shook her head no.
“Let me guess, big,” Mills stated.
“So, helpful. Pass a thank you on from me and tell them good work. Have we heard anything from our other sources?” Mills asked.
Betsy looked at the tablet in her hand. “Not a lot. The Corps is investigating Sicily. Early reports are that it’s an anomaly, but they are watching a specific monastery complex in the northern region of the country. Inquiries have been sent to our counterparts at both the Vatican and Italian military.”
The Director nodded. “Dig into our own archives. Double check that the Imp didn’t come from a hold-out in Europe or escaped from one of the magical enclaves.”
“Ma’am, are there any of those even left in the world?” Betsy asked.
Mills winced. “Sort of. They really took a pounding in the last war along with most of the regular magical communities. There are two not associated with either the Witches Council or our former associates. One is Golden Dawn and the other Thulist.”
Beatrice jumped into the conversation. “Thulist? Really? I would have thought with the political climate over there that a group like that was impossible!”
“They aren’t called that anymore. The new name is Neuordnung,” Mills answered.
“Reorganization? How does that relate to the Thules?” Betsy asked.
“Think ‘New World Order’ rather than reorganizing. Someone, somewhere, thought that changing the name to that was hilarious. They aren’t the hotheads their predecessors were, but some of them are magically capable of raising a demon, albeit a small one.” The Director smiled.
“Ma’am, can I ask a crazy question?”
Director Mills looked at Beatrice. “Nothing we do is crazy. What’s up?”
“Why are you in charge of the Magical Division and worrying about things like Demons? Doesn’t the FBI have other resources? I mean, we have the Academy to run as well.
Director Mills sat in her chair for a moment. Looking down she glanced at herself in a small mirror. Reaching up she fixed a hair that was out of place. She looked back at the B’s. “Funny story that. Think of it as an exercise in politics and manpower. When Agatha left to go on her internship, I asked higher up if Jack was the right person to cultivate and supervise our one and only authorized magical asset. My question bounced around the halls of power for a few weeks and came back at me. Their answer was no.”
“They said no?” Beatrice asked.
“Yes. They agreed with me actually. It was politics. It’s sort of the same reason why Jack had worked alone for so long with so little resources. Those in power were either ignoring the situation or putting all their money into the Arcane Corps. Agatha wouldn’t be a good fit for them. All three of us know it. We need her here out in the regular world fixing what’s wrong, not battling it out on a suicide mission.”
Betsy unconsciously rubbed the scar that peeked out from her left shirt sleeve. “You’ve got that
right.”
“Since the Academy has both the access and the trust of our one authorized magical asset, they assigned her and Jack’s division to me. All this other stuff was lumped in as well. You have to know that the suits in Washington were all patting each other on the back for doing that. It got the files and the reports all condensed into one office. Mine. And by association yours,” the Director stated.
“So, it really is just the three of us?” Betsy pointed to her sister and the Director.
“Us and Agatha’s team. We are supposed to be able to request help from Arcane in emergencies and are allowed to use qualified students as filler.”
“Filler?” Betsy asked.
“Not my word. I assumed, at the time, they meant students like Catherine Moore or Mongo.”
Beatrice let out a bark of a laugh. “Mongo? Really? He was a bit too goofy for government service.”
“That may be, but according to Agatha he predicted where Anastasia would go.” Director Mills waved a notepad.
“Did they locate her then?” Betsy asked.
“Not yet. She’s in Florida. The team is on their way now. If they can get hold of her before any of the other teams catch up, it will be a feather in our cap. Arcane has a unit shadowing Agatha, but they haven’t made much progress,” Mills answered.
“What about Robert Moore’s group?” Beatrice asked.
“He’s around. His daughter has actually kept him out of the loop. I’m not sure she trusts him on this one.”
“I like that man. He’s cute,” Betsy smiled.
Director Mills snorted. “Robert is way too old for you Betsy, and he’s married.”
“So? I can look can’t I?”
“Just be careful. He bites,” Director Mills said with a smile.
“How would you know that?” Betsy asked.
“A girl has to have some secrets. Seriously though, keep a close eye on his team. They have resources that none of the others have and are more capable than even our teams.”
“Will do. Oh, before I forget. Does Agatha call in regularly?” Beatrice asked.
“Not every day but regularly. Why?” the Director asked.