by P. S. Power
Liam held her back, doing it to be polite. Not that the woman wasn’t a friend of his, more or less. She honestly was. It had been in the projection he’d just gone over. In each case, meaning it was a very likely thing to take place. They were, he thought, going to be closer over time.
When he let her go, he stood back a few feet, his travel pack in his left hand, since it needed to be emptied and washed. It was mainly clothing but even if he wasn’t staining it, that kind of thing collected dust and road grime. He was fine for guests still, though a shower would have been nice about then.
“Hello, everyone. I was working on the problem. The one with the government? I have a plan that will work, from the projections. It won’t be as good for the vampires as it will for most of the groups but we can help even there. The biggest problem is that it’s very different than what you’ve all been working on and no one will want to believe me, due to other factors, even if it’s correct. I had a vision.” He didn’t bother to explain the nature of it, since in the projection, hinting that he knew the future was part of what would get everyone to go along with him.
Just as in his projection, Mitchel moved in, his hand held out to shake. His words were similar to what Liam had figured as well. It wasn’t exact but it didn't have to be.
“Okay. I can let go of my doubt and anxiety, if you have something like that behind you. What’s your plan? If we can know about it.” He seemed interested, rather than embarrassed.
Brenner looked doubting, while Robert seemed pleased that there might be a different plan to try. The current one was for all out war against various agencies, in a very terroristic fashion. They didn’t know who was involved in most cases, after all. Which steered the plan toward the murder of hundreds or thousands of innocent men and women, who wouldn’t have believed who was behind it at all.
“We get Agent Carlisle to send a memo to all the affected agencies. I have a list of which departments and who needs to see it. Not by name in most cases. That will need to be looked up. The offices though and the right general direction. It needs to say that the other groups aren’t a threat and that all actions need to be taken through his office. That’s all. Most of the people getting it won’t take it seriously. They’ll make fun of Agent Carlisle, or think he’s being funny, though he’ll get the AIC job officially. That, the one memo, will stop almost everything. Most of the people that are concerned don’t think that anyone is really trying to do anything to even monitor or control the situation. The rest… Well, that will be harder. Some of the people involved have personal anger and fear involvement. We’ll need to go and find the ones responsible and convince them in person that fighting isn’t the best plan. Everyone will more or less be fine by then, except for your people, Sondra. Not that it won’t cut the severity of the attacks in that direction as well. Those people who have already been modified genetically or by magic will be a problem. So will Vincent. That, talking him out of his plan, will have to be done by you, father.”
The heavy featured, monstrous looking man, his tan skin showing enough yellow that it was clearly time for him to eat some meat. That would bind the proteins causing him to change coloration again. Liam would need to do the same thing inside the next week or two, even if it felt like being on fire for nearly a full day when he did it.
Oaks smiled. It wasn’t sincere.
“How do you recommend I do that, exactly? We haven’t seen eye to eye on almost anything for decades. He’s rather set against my personal plans, which must put us at odds.” His tone sounded very final on the topic.
Liam nodded, knowing what to say. It had been in the projections, since it was clearly an important portion of what was needed in order to fix everything else.
“Then tell him that you’ll drop your plans for world domination in exchange for him doing the same in regard to his plans to stop you. Not forever, just for thirty years. You won’t be taking over in that time frame, anyway. By the time you come back to it, people will be far more accepting of our kind. Not perfectly but enough to build real influence without using force.”
For a moment the man simply stood, very still, then shook his head.
“Even if you aren’t lying to me, to manipulate my actions, Vincent won’t believe that I’d actually do that. Simply give up like that, even for a short time period.”
Liam held up one large finger then, his face curling into a smile.
“First, I’m not lying. Not even exaggerating. Abbie, can you back that up?” He looked at her, as did Sondra, Robert and Mitchel.
For her part, the girl nodded, speaking slowly and loudly. That was so the others could hear her. Liam had no trouble that way, for some reason. Probably an accident of his creation.
“That really does fit the pattern I was shown on the other side. Not perfectly but well enough that it should work close to that way. I think it might take longer than that for you to win, Oaks. You can though. By doing very little, except living well and helping others. It’s pretty different, as plans go.”
Everyone nodded when Mitchel repeated the words.
Then, with only a little argument at almost every point, they covered the rest of the plan. It was far from perfect, but even Sondra figured it was better than setting the world on fire due to ignorance and bigotry.
Chapter nine
Liam hadn’t really forgotten about the plan to have a meeting under the guise of his first birthday party. Even if it was half a year late for that. He simply hadn’t understood what that would really entail. There was cake, as promised, which was a thing he’d seen online before, in pictures, without really having any thought as to it being actual food. The one in front of him was oddly large, compared to most of the images he’d monitored. A single flame adorned the top of it, which he was supposed to blow out. Without spitting all over the top of the cake, of course.
That wasn’t impossible for him but as he did it he had to think that humans might have some trouble with the same task, if a person were going to be picky about it. Then, he didn’t have any germs of note, as far as he understood the concept. Mary had always said that was the case.
She was standing directly next to him, even if they hadn’t had a lot to do with one another, other than phone calls and a few meetings, over the last six months. After the legal issues had come and gone, Liam had been left away from her, with different excuses being used to keep them separated. That, he had to think, was down to her not really loving him. It should have hurt to learn that but inside of himself, Liam was actually more or less fine with it. The odd portion was that, at least that day, she seemed to be taking her job as his mother in a serious and complete fashion.
The other part of things that he never would have thought of as being real was that people, almost everyone that came in fact, had brought him things. Presents. Most of those but not all, were wrapped in colored paper or in two cases cloth, and sitting on the other end of the table. His table, with his laptop not on it at all for the moment. A few of those were rather large.
The group in the room weren’t totally who he would have expected either. They were holding it at night, since half a dozen vampires, three he didn’t know at all, had shown up. They were there to get certain people to the side and question them, without being noticed, if possible. Clarissa the young werewolf girl had come with her parents, for some reason, even if there was no real reason for that.
At least as far as the meeting went. They, it seemed, had actually shown up because it was his party and they liked him. At least Vernon the werewolf had patted him on the back, and only raised his eyebrows a bit when Clarissa had hugged him a bit too long coming through the door.
Liam thought that the strangest thing wasn’t how many FBI Agents were there, since that was part of the plan for the evening. It was that five prometheans had shown up. They’d all been invited, since as Tiffany had mentioned, they were as close to family as Liam had, and he either made that real or it wouldn’t be. That didn’t mean he would have thought
that anyone he didn't know from that side of things would have shown up like that.
Oaks, Lissette and Vincent were all there, along with a rather small and stooped fellow who had incredibly large eyes and almost white skin, like snow. His name had been given as Opal. As far as that evening went, the being hadn’t spoken at all. He was even smaller than Liam was. His face was pleasant, in a goofy way. Of interest, everyone else in the room, especially the elves, avoided him as if he might be dangerous on a level that no one else there could be.
The vampires were doing that as well, covertly watching the tiny being as they worked the room.
The last of his people to come was a woman named Martha. She was dark skinned, had brown eyes and a rather plain seeming face. It wasn’t out of the ordinary at all. She was symmetrical, and perhaps a bit strong through the face, in a way that no one would have thought anything about if she walked down the street. Her frame was ordinary as well, for a human woman. Really, she looked a lot like Brenner that way, except that her hair was black and straight. Only her long nose made her special, though even that was well within what people would find unexceptional.
Unlike Opal, almost everyone in the room seemed fine with her. To the point where she was almost ignored, most of the evening. At least to that point.
There were in all, about sixty people that had shown up to celebrate the day of his creation. Almost six and a half months late. No one mentioned that part of things at all. Not even Mary, who leaned in and touched his arm, gently. As if she were really his mother.
Then, in many ways, she was.
“Blow out the candle and make a wish!”
He took in some air and rather carefully extinguished the single flame in front of him with a puff of air that did nothing but took out the point of plasma. Before the wax could roll down the side of the blue and green candle. It was rather small, in the shape of the number one, to show how old he was. Which was a nice touch, he supposed, though everyone there probably understood that to be the case, it being the reason for the event that had been given in the first place.
Everyone clapped for him, as if he’d managed a feat of skill or power in taking the flame away. That or he’d saved them from the fire that would have killed them all. None of that was true, but he understood it was about tradition, not anything important or pertinent to the events of the day.
What they needed was for there to be mingling and distractions. Things that Liam hadn’t really planned for, having been involved in studying for the last three days. That and taking care of medical and dental issues for people, which took up a few hours each day or night, for him. Brenner slipped in next to him, holding a silver spatula as well as a dull thick bladed knife.
She was, he noticed, oriented on the white and light blue cake. The large sheet of frosting and carbohydrates didn’t seem intimidated by her approach. That was a mistake, since she moved right in and started to cut it. Into pieces, so that it’s body could be parted out to the others. Sacrificed to celebrate his creation. Then, while made of things that had once been living, the construct itself never had. It wouldn’t now, either. Not after they consumed it.
Tiff smiled at him.
“I have this, let’s start filling some plates. Um, Mitchel? There’s ice cream in the kitchen, on the counter? We have several kinds.”
They were supposed to stand in a line, to get the different things. Taking the cake first. It was a very different thing, since he only had a single, rather small piece of the frosted delicacy. The others of his kind, except for Opal, had larger servings of things. Oaks had two scoops of ice cream even, though the others took one. They ate it, as well. Opal took nothing, though he smiled and waved at Liam when he looked over, to show that he was happy enough with the proceedings.
Eating seemed the course of the moment. The cake was rich and different than most foods he’d ever eaten. It reminded him of donuts, except that it was even sweeter and not fried. It was a bit different in texture as well. As he considered that, Sondra moved in and patted him on the shoulder, leaving her hand there, delicately.
“You should open your gifts now. We also have some party games, for after that? Prizes for others, who win them as well.”
That was to the plan. A loose organization to the events to force people to move and interact, with periods for speaking between, where the vampires would get the FBI Agents to be questioned off to the side or out of the room for it. There were only three of them that had to be cleared. Kim Simpson, Agent Carlisle and Agent Daugherty. It was rather crucial to the current plan that they have Carlisle, either with them or under their control. No one loved that last option, since the man was strong enough to slip out of compulsion, if he worked out it was happening. Not in a few moments, but over the course of days or weeks, even the older vampires figured he’d manage it if given time. Interestingly, no such discussion had taken place for the other two.
Liam thought that might be the case though. At least if they were being held for a long enough time period. They might not be as intelligent or mentally firm as the other man, but they were still FBI Agents. People selected for their specific jobs because they could handle the idea that the world wasn’t exactly as they’d always been told.
It was, he had to think, that the vampires were being polite, due to Carlisle being in charge of the FBI Special Unit. They did seem to enjoy currying favor that way, with those who were powerful in one way or another. If it was the truth though, then they needed to work carefully with anyone that was being compelled.
A thing that had been done to him before, to make some vampires seem to vanish in front of him and several others. Which had been a dramatic and strong effect at the time, so Liam had figured that they had the ability to control any mind they encountered for as long as they wished. The stories were different than that, showing them to have good effects, that would break down over time. If they caught you unaware, you could be taken though, regardless of how strong you were mentally. At least for a short time period.
So far he hadn’t come up with a way to defeat it. Humans, if they understood it was happening, could silence their minds and focus on a single object or idea, while avoiding eye contact. His people couldn’t do that, since they didn't see through their eyes, using their entire skin for the purpose. Most of the time that was very useful, but it made it hard not to see someone who was staring at you intently from five feet away. Turning their heads wouldn’t be enough.
The rest of it could work though, he thought. Schooling his mind and forcing himself to think of something else. That might not be enough to really protect himself. Really, he needed to work on that, in case it came up at a later date. So far the vampires were friendly with him, personally. That could change over the course of years though.
A small, rather nicely wrapped package was put in front of him. From the shape inside the red and green paper, it was a book. Clarissa waved at him, her face turning slightly red.
“That’s, um, from me. It isn’t anything big.” She seemed embarrassed for some reason.
When he opened it, being coached by several of the others, since he didn't know how to do that kind of thing appropriately, it turned out to be a book with things, pictures and words that had been clipped out of other sources, in it. The theme was all about him. At least he thought that was the case. The cleverly assembled work was rather different to look at, being different than any book he’d ever seen. Interestingly, the word hero was in it a lot.
Liam understood the idea, since he’d helped to save the girl’s life, once. Mainly because it had seemed the right thing to do, even if it hadn’t really been his place at the time. Sondra and one of her friends had helped as well, fighting several werewolves that had wanted to kill the kid for bringing too much attention to her kind.
He looked at the whole thing, moving quickly, but actually memorizing every page of it. Smiling, Liam made eye contact with the girl. She grinned at him, then looked away. Shyly. Flirting with him. No one glared a
t her over it.
“I love it! This is amazing. Thank you, so much!” He got up, rounded the table and moved to her, then gave her a hug. It was part of what you were supposed to do in a case like that. Liam had looked it up.
People made noises, in the background. As if they were being sweet, or adorable. Liam moved back and settled into his chair again, the book being moved out of the way by Sondra, who selected another gift for him to open.
Over the course of half an hour he opened twenty different gifts. Several of them were, interestingly enough, being given by entire groups of people. That was fine, since most of them, while clearly well met, were being given to him by people he didn't know well. One of them, coming from Opal, of all people, was simply a collection of pharmaceuticals. A large wooden box, with at least twenty chemical compounds that were illegal in the United States. Useful though. He got a hug as well, which clearly made everyone else in the room uneasy, except the prometheans.
The last thing he was given, which was from Mary, Oaks and Tiffany, was a small box. It wasn’t wrapped, or even taped shut like most of the other things were. Inside, when opened, were a set of car keys. Ones that he hadn’t seen before.
Brenner smiled and waved.
“It’s the one outside with the bow on it.” She waved at the door, which he understood instantly. It was time for the vampires to get people off to the side. The crowd was going to be spread out, some inside the house, others outside, looking at whatever was there.
Sondra glanced at him and smiled as he stood, her pale hand on his shoulder, stroking it gently, trailing down his arm. She didn't speak, merely moving with him, at first, pulling away, heading toward Agent Carlisle. Nicodemus did the same thing, with the other four vampires there heading toward the others in teams of two.
His job was to be distracting, which wasn’t hard to manage. Not once he saw the present.
“You got me a van? It’s… Incredible!”