by Hayden, Sean
"Agent Ashlyn, would you do me the honor of a dance?"
"Governor Greer, I can hardly keep you safe trapped in your embrace," I retorted. I felt quite proud of myself for my quick thinking.
"Don't be silly, we are completely surrounded by an army of your fellow agents. We couldn't be safer dancing in a vault at Fort Knox. Please, don't embarrass me in front of my guests." He held out his hand and I couldn't say no. I wanted to, but I couldn't. I reached out and placed my hand in his and he led me through the shocked guests to the hardwood floor.
Without releasing my hand, he held it up and out and encircled my waist with his free hand, pulling me closer than I imagined or desired. Without so much as asking me if I wanted to lead, he took a step to the left and pushed me. Greer had taken lessons. He twirled and spun us around the floor like professional ballroom dancers. Hell, for all I knew, he could have invented the waltz or whatever it was we were doing. Gods know he had been around long enough.
I avoided talking to him and looking at him, concentrating at the guests staring at the homely girl dancing with the elegant governor. Nobody joined us on the floor, and my silent pleas for anybody to start dancing so we wouldn't be the only people out here went unanswered. I finally saw Thompson, still at his post by the door. I held my breath, waiting for a look of disproval and he didn't disappoint me. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head before rolling his eyes and focusing his attention elsewhere.
"Are you not having fun, agent?"
"I'm just keeping an eye on things, sir."
"I promise you nothing will happen during our dance. You can relax."
"I'll try. I've never danced at a ball, sir. I hope I'm not embarrassing you."
He gave a deep throaty chuckle and spun me from his chest, out to arms length, and pulled me back. "You can relax, you're a natural. Being a vampire gives us a distinct edge over the humans. I've seen people who have been dancing for years who weren't half as good as you are."
I heated a little at the compliment. I didn't like blushing, at all. I pushed down the embarrassment and focused instead on the crowd around us. About halfway through the dance, adventurous couples began making their way out to the floor to join us in dancing hell. "Could they play something a little more modern," I muttered under my breath, forgetting the company I kept. The governor had no trouble hearing my muttered wish.
"Be careful, young one. This piece used to be modern when I was young. I remember the first time I, or anyone else, heard it."
I laughed, thinking he was joking, but he stiffened and I realized my error. "I thought you were joking, sir."
"No, young one, I wasn't. As I said, I have been around a very long time. I have seen famine, flood, and plague. I have seen miraculous inventions. I have seen the humans of this world create wonders that give them ways to kill vampires and other immortals, which they should not have. Ashlyn, the world is changing again, and I fear it won't be in a good way. It is because of those changes, I chose to lead the people of this state. I like things the way they are right now. I intend to make California a Mecca of stability."
"Good luck with that, Governor. Change is inevitable."
"Not if you fight hard enough, agent. Not if you fight hard enough."
Chapter 23
"Governor, your guest is here," one of Greer's aids said to him as we walked off the hardwood floor after our dance.
"Ah, yes. Thank you, Michael. Tell her I'll be right there. If you would excuse me, Ashlyn, one of my people is here from San Francisco. I'll be back in a few moments."
"I'm going to have to insist on coming with you, sir."
"I'm going to have to insist you stay here and keep my guests safe, Ashlyn. I'll be fine. I'm going right across the hall to see one of the people I have trusted for the better part of two centuries. In my absence, she has been ruling San Francisco's vampires. She is here to make her report and join the ball. If you would like, call your friend Victoria and have her join us. No reason for you to be alone at such a festive occasion."
Before I could argue, Greer turned and led his aid through the ballroom and disappeared through the doors behind Thompson who gave me a classic "what the fuck" look. I shrugged and went back to keeping an eye out on the rest of the room. I wandered around staring at everything and everyone. I thought about following Greer's advice and calling Vic. Then I thought about what Thompson would do to me if I did. I had a purpose for being here, and it didn't include dancing with my hot girlfriend.
I almost stumbled when the girlfriend thought crossed my mind. I did stop walking and stared at nothing in particular as I rolled the word around on my tongue. It didn't hurt, it didn't taste bad, and it didn't make me feel guilty, like I thought it would. Either she was growing on me, or I was getting a little more mature about the whole thing. Either way, things were looking up. It was nice of Greer to offer up an invitation for her to come. It was really nice to…
I'd never had an epiphany in my short life, and this one caught me off guard. Immediately, my mind started piecing things together that had no correlation until that moment. Greer just offered an invitation by name to someone he'd never met, nor had I talked about her to him. Greer was the master of San Francisco. Victoria had been sent as a gift to the master of Sacramento from her abusive previous master. Vic was from San Francisco. Greer had every master of every major city in California gathered neatly in one spot. Greer had just left. Oh, fuck.
When I had been attending the FBI academy in Quantico, one of my instructors read me the riot act for showing off my vampire skills in front of humans. Humans as it turned out, feel comfortable around supernatural beings, but only when they aren't doing supernatural things. When that happened, they were often reminded of being surrounded by dangerous predators. It was all very true. They just didn't like being reminded of their vulnerability. Right at that moment, I didn't give a shit. I took off at full speed and burst through the door Greer had exited through, ran across the hall where he was supposed to be meeting with his vampire lieutenant, and came to a screeching halt when the room sat empty. "Son of a bitch," I swore as I heard Thompson run into the room behind me.
"What the hell's the matter?"
"It's Greer."
"What's Greer?"
"He's behind it all, and now he's gone. Radio everyone and have them close in. We need to get everyone out of here now. Thompson, it's about to get real ugly in here."
I expected him to argue and ask for a further explanation, but he nodded and put his finger to his right ear and started talking to every FBI agent stationed around the mansion. "Everyone, converge on ballroom location double-time. Move it people."
I nodded and turned to head back to the ballroom. He fell in step behind me. The first of the agents rushed in through the doors at the far end of the hall and made their way to us. I didn't wait for them, I just ran back into the ballroom. I knew I needed to get everyone out of the massive room, I just didn't know how to do it without causing a panic and getting everyone hurt or dead. Waving my gun in the air and screaming at the top of my lungs probably wouldn't be the best idea either. I looked around the room and saw the massive podium Greer had used to deliver his double-edged speech and inspiration struck.
Without drawing untoward attention to myself, I wound through the multitude of guests and around the cherry wood pulpit. Greer stood taller than I did, so I lowered the microphone to a more acceptable level. I could see over the edge, but just barely. To get everyone's attention I poked the microphone with my talon three times. The audible thump, thump, thump did the trick. The music stopped playing, the couples stopped dancing, and the people sitting at their round dinner tables stopped talking. Everyone turned and faced the podium expecting more words of wisdom from the governor. A few turned back to their conversations after seeing me, ignoring the words of wisdom I was about to impart.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I apologize for the governor, but a situation has come to light that needs his attention. He regrets the unfortu
nate, unforeseeable incident, but I'm afraid the Governor's Ball has been officially cancelled. If you would make your way to the exits, it would be greatly appreciated. I and the governor apologize for the inconvenience." My voice didn't crack once during my announcement and I smiled. Public speaking wasn't one of my greatest talents. I ate monsters with the best of them, but put me in front of a crowd and I usually sounded like an idiot.
The human guests started gathering their personal things looking quite indignant. The vampires started looking around nervously. I think they might have understood the truth behind my little speech, the shit was about to hit the fan. Esperanza Garcia Ramirez waved her thanks and took off toward the open door at full vampiric speed. A flash of light and a resounding boom threw her back into the middle of the room. I spun and expected to see some sort of incendiary explosive had been used, but the door and the entire surrounding area remained untouched. A human couple had witnessed the entire thing and became frightened instead of indignant. The woman started screaming and her husband took off running, dragging her behind him toward the other exit. Again a flash of light and a loud boom threw them back into the room just like Esperanza. There was one major difference though. Vampires are damn near indestructible, but humans aren't. The couple who had hit the trap lay there in a bloody, broken heap. Judging from the angle of his neck, he was quite dead. She wasn't moving, but the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest told me she hadn't bought the farm.
"Everybody, stay where you are," I shouted. One of the other vampires had stopped at the door and held out a tentative hand to the exit. Before I could say anything, he touched the figurative threshold of the door. Because he hadn't hit the door at a full run, he didn't get thrown back into the room, but whatever kept everyone from crossing the exit knocked him on his butt with smaller pyrotechnics and a sizzle. We were trapped.
I walked over to the vampire and offered him a hand. He accepted it and I hauled him to his feet. "Are you okay?" He nodded, looking a little embarrassed. I pursed my lips and turned to the door. I didn't want to touch it, but I couldn't help myself. I raised my hand and put my palm out toward the door, slowly inching it forward to feel what was there. When my arm was halfway out the door I raised my eyebrow and strode forward. Nothing happened. I stood in the middle of the hallway and turned. The vampire who had been knocked on his ass, stood there looking at me curiously as Thompson came to a stop next to him.
"It must be gone," Thompson said and walked forward. He landed ten feet back from the door, trapped like the rest of them. I rushed back to him to check on him but he seemed fine. He smelled a little like burnt cat, but wasn't injured.
"What the hell is it?"
"It feels like magic," the vampire next to us said.
Magic didn't affect me for some reason, so his statement made complete sense. I could be killed by magic, but only indirectly. You couldn't cut me in half with a cutting spell, but you could use magic to drop a fifty-ton molten block of magma on me and I don't think I would survive. I could pass the doorway, but nobody else could. I wondered if touching me would make a difference.
"Thompson, come with me."
He extricated himself from the floor and followed me to the door. I faced forward and motioned for him to stand behind me. I took his hand and put it on my shoulder and walked forward. I couldn't feel anything until Thompson's hand hit the threshold. He blew backwards and I flew forward into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway with a sickening thud. Well, so much for that theory.
"You okay?"
"No. Let's not do that again," he replied.
I nodded and pulled myself from the Ashlyn shaped dent in the wall and turned around. A crowd had gathered around to see the results of our little science experiment. Great, I needed a crowd while I figured this out. I stopped at the frame of the door hoping to find some kind of runes or something that could be causing the explosive shield keeping everyone in. I didn't see anything outright and stopped to think. What is the source of the spell? How can I destroy it? How is he keeping everyone in there? Why?
Panic started to creep along my spine. Maybe how could wait. The why seemed a little more important at the moment. I ran through the door and parted the crowd, looking around. I held up my hands for silence, but couldn't hear anything but heartbeats and breathing from the non-vampires in the room.
"What is it, kid?"
"We're trapped for a reason. Why?"
"So we can't stop him?" Even I could hear the doubt in his voice.
Feedback from the microphone at the podium began low and started building. I looked at Thompson, and he looked at me. "Fuck," I said, earning a nod from my partner. We motioned everyone to get back against the wall while he and I made our way to the ornate wooden structure. Usually when you see a speaking podium, they're made of cheap pressed wood with wood grain laminate glued over it. The one Greer and I used looked like it had been put together with ornately carved pieces of dark oak or ash. I had a bad feeling that multiplied with every step I took toward the thing.
By the time we got to it, I was ready to turn around and run out the door saying, "Fuck everybody." I didn't though. Thompson looked afraid, too. I took a little consolation from that. "You're touching it first," I told him.
"Fuck you."
That made me feel a little better and I gave him a little smile. He hadn't taken his gaze off the four-and-a-half-foot tall podium, so he didn't see it. Oh well, his loss. I walked around the back and looked down. The lower half of the podium was cabinet. I don't know how I knew, but I knew. The root of all the evil in this room, rested inside. "Thompson, I really don't want to open those doors."
"I know, neither do I."
I sighed and squatted down, rather than bending or kneeling. If I had to get away quickly, as I imagined I would, I could do it faster if I remained upright on my feet. I gingerly reached out with both hands and grasped the smooth wooden knobs and very slowly pulled the doors open. I was hoping for a ceramic jar, or an artifact of some sort. What I didn't expect was the blackened skull of some sort of animal or monster sitting there. I'm immune to magic, but I could feel the evil pouring off the thing in hot waves.
"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say this is it."
"Ya think so?" Thompson said it like I was some sort of learning impaired grade school student.
"Give me something to grab it with. I am so not touching that thing."
Thompson stood from his leaning position and took off his suit jacket. He held it over my shoulder and I grabbed it. I opened it and gently lay it over the skull. One of the morons by the door must have figured that suit jackets magically dispel all traps in the vicinity and touched the empty space inside the doorframe. He landed with a crash and a groan on top of one of the round tables everyone had been seated at while not dancing. I rolled my eyes at Thompson and turned my attention back to the suit jacket covered dead thing inside the podium.
"I'm going to grab it and smash it. Good plan?"
"I can't think of a better one. Go for it."
I reached in slowly and knocked the skull over, pulling the jacket underneath it like an Armani shopping bag. I didn't want to touch it, even with the jacket. I pulled it out of the podium and stepped back, giving myself some room to work. I set it on the floor and reached over to Thompson's exposed shoulder harness and pulled out his gun. I hardly ever wore mine anymore, and I sure as shit wasn't wearing one with my dress. That would just clash. I cocked the weapon and pointed it at the skull. "I owe you a new jacket," I said and shot the skull from less than three feet away.
The gunshot echoed through the room like a clap of thunder. Everyone stood silent and stared at us. I half expected somebody else to try the door, but they didn't. I looked at Thompson and he nodded once. I reached down, grabbed the corner of the jacket and lifted it, spilling the contents onto the floor. Dust, sand, and chunks of bone poured out in a scattered heap. I stood and turned to check the door when the pile of debris started to smoke.
; "Kid!"
I turned, saw the smoke, and stepped back several paces. The smoke continued upward until it stood about seven feet above the floor and started to pool there like some sort of insane lava lamp. It grew in thickness and started to take the shape of some sort of large humanoid. Legs formed, two arms, and then a head. Two large orbs, glowing red, formed into eyes and then a maw full of sharp razor-like teeth smiled at us hungrily. I had Thompson's gun in my hand so I shot it, point blank. The bullets parted the smoky flesh but the wounds it left flowed together like water. I know Thompson packed silver ammunition in his weapon, most FBI agents did, yet it did nothing.
"Your silver cannot harm me, cousin," the thing hissed in a sibilant voice.
"I don't suppose you'll tell me what will?" I said it innocently and he hissed a chuckle before striking.
I expected him to go for me, but he swung his arm in a vicious backhand that knocked Thompson across the room. The humans backed up against the far wall, and surprisingly enough, the vampires closed in around me, facing off against the thing keeping us in the room. I figured if we destroyed it we could leave. Apparently the vampires thought the same thing.
I circled slowly, not wanting to jump in and get my ass kicked like Thompson. One of the other vampires feinted and made a quick lunge before leaping back. He didn't leap fast enough. The monster reached out and grabbed the vampire's wrist. He fought bravely but his strength was no match. I lunged to help, but within seconds, the creature literally tore the vampire apart. I gulped in air, trying to hold back the guilt I felt at the untimely demise of the master of some city I couldn't remember.