by John Conroe
Creek, Roma and Duclair kept walking, never noticing the change that had come over me. I knew, with absolute certainty that I would kill every being in the room that was a threat to her. Part of me noticed that the mono edges had formed around my hands without my conscious thought, part of me heard Senka’s whisper across the room “Extraordinary!” and part of me tracked each individual heartbeat and body motion, in the room. There were fifteen soldiers, two vampires, seven security officers, one female technician type and Deckert, not to mention Roma, Duclair, the General, and myself.
Tanya blurred across the floor, much too fast for the humans to see, but it looked normal to me, stopping immediately in front of me. Her scent, lilac and jasmine, broke over me like a wave.
“Christian,” she said, the weight of her voice wrapping around me.
Just that fast, I was back from the abyss, mono edges gone, pooled power retracted, berserker caged. It took the humans a moment to realize one of the vampires was no longer by the door, but standing two feet from the senior officers. Professional soldiers are hard to surprise, but these men were seriously shocked at her speed. Tanya finally released my eyes, turning her head to pin Duclair with her gaze. Her eyes went black rim-to-rim, canines lengthened to two inches long, and when she spoke, it was in a quiet voice that was all the scarier for its lack of volume.
“If you ever go near him again, I will flay your skin from your body and drink you dry!” she hissed, the words distorted by the massive teeth in her mouth.
All three instinctively jumped away, Brianna backed against the wall, her heart racing in terror, handgun completely forgotten. Just as well, the ammo in it was useless. Rifles around the room came up and locked on my vampire, grounds for instant death, but for the fact that there was no viable ammo anywhere nearby.
Tanya’s eyes slipped back to brilliant blue, her fangs retracted and she turned to General Creek, holding out her slim white hand, its nails ruby red.
“General Creek, this is Tatiana Demidova, my sputnik jetzni,” I said as he dug deep and found the courage to shake her hand. Tanya’s head snapped around to look at me, her eyes widening ever so slightly, mouth sliding into a brilliant smile. When she turned back to him, still smiling, I heard the stutter in his heart beat. Welcome to my world, general.
Senka was suddenly next to us, watching me and Tanya with a strangely possessive look, and when her gaze slid to Creek, I took my cue and introduced her.
“General Tobias Creek, this is Senka,,” I said, “ and Mr. Deckert.” The former marine had walked up almost unnoticed. General Creek was still at a loss, but when he heard Deckert’s name, he flicked a quick glance at the stocky security specialist and nodded in recognition.
The humans were at a complete loss of what to do. On one hand I could commiserate, meeting the oldest living predator on the planet is a tad intimidating. But on the other hand, I couldn’t give a damn. Let ’em wallow.
“General,” Senka said in her wonderful Oxford English accent. “I’m breaking several rules by speaking with you today, but seeing as how I made the rules in the first place, I think we can probably bend them a bit.” Her tone was cool and utterly confident. “Although I might ask that you do something to keep the foot traffic down during our little chat.”
Still at a loss for words, Creek tersely ordered his second-in-command to block the two main entrances and lock down the elevators.
“Now then, General, I really must ask for your word, as an officer, that you’ll refrain from any further abductions of young Christian here. We’re really quite attached to him. In fact, my granddaughter was perfectly willing to slaughter the lot of you, but I think we’re most likely past that.”
Her tone was mild up until she got to the slaughtering part. She might have been admonishing a bad waiter for all the threat her tone implied, but then it somehow changed. When she spoke the word slaughter, her tone carried an underlying message, like some subliminal note that the primitive part of the human brain recognized from a time when we cowered in caves from things that roamed the night.
The room smelled of fear, it sounded of over two dozen thundering hearts as the humans responded.
“I trust that my point is made?” she asked.
“Ma’am, it’s not my habit to negotiate with threats!” The general had collected himself enough to stand his ground. My estimation of his intelligence had just dropped. Although he was a U.S. general, so I could understand some of his attitude, but frankly, he obviously didn’t have a great grasp of what he was dealing with.
“Nonsense, general, the very heart of armed conflict is dealing with threats. This is just a question of you understanding the nature of this threat,” she responded. There was that tone again. I shivered even knowing I was on her good side.
My attention shifted to a sudden change in the air currents in the room. Our group was just on the outside of the checkpoint about fifteen feet from the large embossed Department of Homeland Security emblem centered in the floor. A swirl of air had fluttered the papers at the checkpoint and now spun up into a familiar twister pattern near the emblem.
Tanya was studying me, looking for any wounds or marks, although those had healed in the first few minutes after I got them. She noticed my attention and immediately knew what was happening.
“Is Okwari here?” she asked.
“Yup,” I said, using my Sight to observe the green, red and purple bands of energy that were rapidly forming a giant bear shape.
I noticed that the vampire-federal government talks had stopped and all the participants were now looking at me. I waived at the spot where I could see Okwari.
“You might need to table your discussion,” I informed them.
Senka could see him, I was certain, her eyes were bright with first interest, than astonishment as he reached his full size. No one else could see him, though, and they all looked confused.
”Chris, you said he wouldn’t appear if we got you out in time?” Roma questioned.
“I said he ‘probably’ wouldn’t appear. He has his own ideas.”
Those ideas were streaming through my head in a series of images and emotions. This is Okwari’s method of speech. It was much faster than usual and the underlying theme was one of intense anger.
I was fluent in Okwari’s form of communication after seven months of it, but this was really fast and I was still working out his meanings when he started to become visible.
He can, of course, turn visible as easily as he stays invisible. But he is at heart a predator, and what predator doesn’t like to be hidden from view?
There was a rapid exodus from the immediate area, which left just me and Tanya standing near the giant as he became fully visible. I rarely see him like this and Tanya has only seen it one or two times. He is impressive.
Born a short-faced bear on the Pleistocene plains of western North America, his preferred form is only slightly different than it was in life. On all fours, his shoulder is over my head, about six feet, five inches off the ground. His eyes in this position are at about seven feet. The truck scales at the NYPD impound yard in Brooklyn, tell me he weighs just a few pounds shy of one and one-half tons. That makes him twice as heavy as a really large Kodiak or polar bear. But Arctodus simus is built for speed, longer of limb and rangier than modern bears. His snout is shorter and wider, built to crush bone. His fur is black and tan, the black on his head and back, running down to a point on each limb. The fur on his lower half and underside is a wheat color. The overall effect is as if he had a black Kodiak skin draped over his skull and back. The only real differences from when he was just a bear are the two backswept horns that protrude from his skull. Leftovers from his time as a Damnedthing. His eyes are deep brown when he is relaxed, red when agitated. Today they were molten lava red. He was pissed.
I was so wrapped up in decoding his message that it took a moment to notice the deep, rumbling growl that he was producing from the cavern of his chest.
* * *
Nobody had moved the whole time he was solidifying. His massive nail keg head swiveled around and his big red eyes were studying General Creek, Duclair and Roma. Suddenly, Okwari lunged and swatted the big security x-ray machine, sending it flying across the foyer and into one of the elevators. It must have been pretty heavy, ‘cause the metal doors on the elevator crumpled like a soda can. The white shirted security guys were scrambling every which way. The conveyor belt thingy (the one you put your watch and wallet and crap through) took the next hit and it left the ground in a twisted pile of metal and plastic, crashing into the left hand revolving entrance door. Then he stood on his hind legs, raising his head fifteen or sixteen feet off the ground, and roared.
It may have been the single loudest noise I’ve ever heard. The air was suddenly filled with the smell of urine, a lot of urine and another odor that made me think someone had dropped a load in their drawers.
Roar finished, he slammed back to the ground, his two front paws smashing the DHS emblem along with a goodly portion of the marble floor.
The soldiers finally reacted, raising their M4’s and pulling the triggers. Nothing but clicks. Bolts slammed back and fresh rounds were run into the chambers and once again, clicks.
“Ah…General, none of the ammo on this floor will be any good. Probably not the floor above either. Oh and the agents on the floor you were holding me on will need new ammo as well. Actually, you should probably have everyone in the building get new ammo just to be safe,” I said.
“You transmuted all the ammo in the building, Chris?” Roma asked.
“Probably most of it, but who wants to take a chance.”
Okwari sent me question, then he grunted and swung away, his form vanishing from sight. A small swirl of air told me he had left.
“Is it g-gone?” Duclair asked, her voice unsteady.
“He has left for the moment, but I don’t think he’s ever very far away. At least that’s how it seems to me,” I answered. “Listen, General, he wanted me to convey a message.”
General Creek was looking around the lobby, slightly wild-eyed, but now he turned back to me, his eyebrows raised in question.
“Sir, he wants you to know that he can go anywhere, anytime,” I said.
“Meaning?”
“Well, the images he was showing me were pictures of the White House, the Capitol building, your house, and CNN studios.”
He gaped at me, processing that info for a moment.
“CNN?” Senka asked.
“Yeah, see he doesn’t like CNN much. He’s more of a FOX bear. I think he’s just looking for an excuse to trash the place.”
“He’s threatening the President of the United States, if we take you into custody?” Creek asked, his thoughts apparently in order.
“Actually, it would be more like a declaration of war on the US government, if you abduct me.”
“He thinks he can take on the entire US military?” Creek asked, incredulous.
“General, he’s a lot more powerful than I thought. He’s way beyond demigod status, more like elder god. He can appear anywhere, anytime, his claws cut through anything, who knows what else he can do!” Roma said, looking at me for additional information.
I shrugged. Hell, I didn’t know what he could do. Elder god?
“Christian, you could have avoided capture or escaped, right?” Tanya asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Okwari knows this?” she asked.
“Yeah, but see here’s the thing. He spent a thousand years as a slave in Hell. I set him free. His math is pretty simple.”
It was quiet for a moment, except for the personnel trying to clean up the lobby.
“Major Deckert, how are you hooked up in all this?” the general asked, obviously acquainted with the security chief.
“I work for Ms. Demidova, General,” he said, rocking back on his heels, hands clasped behind his back. “For what it’s worth, General, in my opinion, I wouldn’t touch Gordon here with a four-mile pole.”
“You think that monster could really fight the government?” Creek asked.
“Hell, Sir, I was talking about my employer,” He waved in Tanya’s direction. “I didn’t even know that thing existed. But nothing surprises me with Gordon around.”
I gave him my best glare, but it just bounced right off.
Chapter 24
“For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.” – Kipling
Twenty-two minutes later I was sitting in the living room of an extremely ritzy Park Avenue apartment. I say apartment but it occupied the top three floors of the building, which the Coven owned. The ride from the DHS building has been a little weird. I sat next to Tanya, of course, and she held my hand the whole way to the apartment. No one said a word. When I tried to break the silence, she just smiled, a little smile, and put one scarlet-tipped finger over my mouth. So we rode in silence, not to Willow Street in Brooklyn, but instead to this new place.
When we got into the penthouse, I saw familiar faces everywhere, as well as familiar things from the Willow Street house. It was as if the entire household had up and moved. In five days.
“Chris, I’m sure you are hungry. Remy is up and making you some food. Why don’t you get something to eat and then we’ll get together and talk,” Senka said, turning away before I could answer.
Tanya smiled at me again, but this smile was sad, then she followed her grandmother out of the foyer.
Benson was one of the two security guards on duty, the day shift still on the job. He nodded to me and pointed the way to the kitchen. Something was going on and I didn’t like it, a pit forming in my stomach.
Remy, at least, was happy to see me. He fussed over me, exclaiming in shock at my skinny self. I didn’t think I was any lighter, but he did. So I sat down to a huge bowl of bouillabaisse and half a loaf of French bread. I asked him about the move to the new digs but he suddenly had to place a food order he had forgotten.
I was just finishing my second bowl, when I heard a familiar voice.
“So the rumors are true, the prodigal human is back.”
I turned to find the spiky haired little vampire who specialized in tormenting me.
“Hi Lyd! How ya doing?” I smiled.
She was grinning at me, looking like a college freshmen, albeit a Goth one. But there was something different, something wrong about her carriage. She was holding something in.
“Lydia, what’s going on? Why did everyone move to this place? Why won’t anyone talk to me?”
“Well, that’s what we’re going to do next. Come with me, we want to talk to you.”
We? The pit in my stomach was growing into an abyss.
She led me through a veritable maze of rooms, finally ending up what I could only call a library. Ceiling-to-floor bookshelves of rich cherry, Turkish carpets on the floor, leather chairs and loveseats set up in a ring. Senka, Tanya, Nika, Galina and Elder Tzao all waited, frozen like statues. I wasn’t excited to see Nika, as her ability to dig every thought out of my head creeped me out. Galina and I had mutually agreed to dislike each other almost from the start. Elder Tzao was an outright shock. I had never heard her speak, and had only met her once. She’s a tiny Chinese woman with an ageless face. She’s also the other half of the ruling body of the Darkkin. All three were watching me carefully. Shadows moved in the corner of the room and the largest individual I had ever seen slid silently into sight. All of seven feet tall, built like a bull, with heavy Slavic features, brown shaggy hair and ice blue eyes.
My personal demon lurched in my chest, the cage door shaking. Another movement in the other corner revealed a muscular male vampire of Asian descent, about five-six, built like a gymnast, but he moved like liquid.
Oddly enough, that one calmed me down, as he was obviously Tzao’s bodyguard, which would make the giant, Senka’s.
“Chris, we need to talk to you. We need answers from you – about your actions,” Senka started to speak as Lydia took a seat near
Nika. Tanya said nothing, just watched me carefully, something vulnerable about her expression. What was going on?
“W-what actions?” I squashed the tremor in my traitorous voice.
“The fights..with the weres, for the girl,” Lydia offered.
“What about them?” I was completely puzzled.
“You fought for the wolf girl, three times. Do you mean to claim her? What is she to you?”
What? I paused to think about what she had said. Wolf girl had to be Stacia. Fought three times, though, was odd.
“Okay, I’m a little baffled. I’m thinking that you mean Stacia Reynolds when you say wolf girl. I’m not sure what you mean about three fights though. And just what the hell does ‘claim’ her mean?”
Despite myself, I could feel the anger rising, the dark brooding looks from the bodyguards didn’t help.
“Did you not fight three times today for this Stacia?” Galina asked.
“I did not! I fought once, and I didn’t fight for her like some champion or something! What the hell has Afina been saying?” My voice was rising. The deadliest vampires on the planet looked at Nika, who shook her head without taking her eyes from me.
Lydia looked puzzled. “Explain.” When I just kept staring at them she added a “Please?”
“Look, I went to Vermont a few days ago, the morning after the…ah ... incident. There was a rogue. I ran it down and killed it, but it bit the girl and now she’s a were. It never should have bit her. My fault!” I took a breath and shoved the image of George Lassiter’s final moments deep down in my memory.
“I called in favors with Brock and Afina to get her a place with weres that would help her through the change. I’m trying to make this right!”
“What about the fights?”
“It was one fight. The weres who caused the rogue showed up to claim her. They’re bad. Loki’s Spawn. Brock said she would have to go with them unless she fought the leader. She obviously couldn’t do that, but I could, as her sponsor.”