“This just became Argos, Rourke. Your checkpoint B, I’ve paid, got my receipt, now your job is to just give me what I want.” I snatched the paper from her hand, refolded it and slid it back into my coat. I swear she looked like she was going to growl at me or perhaps her head would explode, it was turning a comical shade of red. Sometimes I wished life was a cartoon so I could watch steam come shooting out of her ears.
“I suppose I can spare someone,” she said turning back to her paperwork. I picked myself up out of the chair and gave a little bow.
“So very kind.” I walked towards the main office.
“Shut the door.” I pulled the door closed behind me and slid onto the edge of LeBron’s desk. He looked up at me and smiled. LeBron is maybe just the young side of thirty with jet black hair that he combs back in almost an attempt to look like Elvis. It suited him though in a strange way. LeBron was also about the only member of PCU that was ever pleased to see me as he thought I made things get more interesting.
“What’s wrong with her now?” he asked in a whisper his eyes trolling the room for where Benjamin was.
“She’s mad because uncle police chief is letting me play with her toys. You’re coming with me. You’ll need civvies and your unmarked car.”
“Civvies? Someone’s been watching too much crime scene drama again.”
“What can I say, it keeps me busy. Let’s go. We’ve got werewolf errands to run.”
LeBron perked up at the mention of his favorite supernatural group. He’d been big into researching them and had loved the book I’d gotten him for Christmas. He’d gotten me a get out of jail free card, literally, after I’d gotten the bike he’d gotten me out of no less than three speeding tickets. I liked to think that he and I were friends, as much as his job could allow, I mean we’d never go drinking together-as I think I had established that I like to drink alone in misery and pity, but we got on and I forwarded him amusing emails. If that’s not friendship then I don’t know what is. We got up to go when Benjamin, who I had noticed from the corner of my eye skulking off to one side, moved his barrel-like form into our path. I looked at him and signaled for LeBron to try to go around him but Benjamin was deliberately getting in the way.
“Where do you think you’re taking him?” he grumbled crossing his arms over his gut which in his rugby playing days had been a very muscular chest. I smiled wrapping my hand around his arm. To his credit LeBron didn’t flinch.
“I thought a light dinner then a movie, don’t want to rush into anything, I’ve been hurt before.”
“LeBron isn’t so desperate to bang leftover coffin-bait like you.”
I’d heard some nasty names for women who dated vampires, coffin-bait, fang-banger, deader fodder, vamp humper but usually they were things people wouldn’t call you to your face, like they did if they thought you were a bitch or a slut.
“We all make some dodgy choices when it comes to love. The overwhelming power of the sex drive is demonstrated by the fact that someone was willing to father you.”
LeBron tugged on my arm. The last time Benjamin and I had gotten into a slagging match, he’d taken a swing at me. He’d been good for a little while after I had severely winded him but it appeared that his bravado has recovered.
“Cassandra, don’t do this,” LeBron begged. I patted his arm and let him go; he stepped to the side of us. He looked like a helpless little kid trying to stop his parents from having another row. I had plenty of anger in me at that moment and I needed a new outlet because booze had not worked out well for me.
“You can’t just waltz in here and swan off with one of my officers whenever you feel like, even if he is a sympathizer.” Benjamin said sympathizer with a sneer and from the look LeBron got on his face, he had this little vein on the side of his neck that popped a little when he was suppressing anger, he had been taunted by that for a while now.
“Just because I believe in playing fair,” he snapped forgetting himself. Benjamin stared at him and despite the fact that it might be breaking the guy code I stepped in front of him taking Benjamin’s attention away from him.
“Everyone’s entitled to be a little stupid, Benjamin, but you’re really abusing the privilege.” Benjamin snarled and was working his way up to a retort. LeBron squeezed my shoulder. “I’d tell you to hold that thought, Benjamin, but it might still be a long time coming. We have work to do, I have permission to borrow a body from this unit from Rourke’s boss, so that’s way further up the food chain than you. I’ll bring him back when we’re done.”
I skirted around the large detective sergeant and headed for the doorway. Benjamin had finally managed to make his words find his mouth.
“After he’s been out with you, he’ll be soiled goods.”
I growled. He could insult me all he liked but LeBron was a good guy, a damn good police officer and a fairly decent friend. There was no way on earth that he should be allowed to talk about him like that. I turned back and clenched my fist prepared to give the man a blow to the gut he wouldn’t soon forget. LeBron’s hand clamped around my wrist and his eyes pleaded with me. I pointed a finger at Benjamin and he flinched, he thought I was going to use magic on him and I really wish I could have. I could get away with it, the council wouldn’t punish me, they didn’t have the power to, I had heard it from the Magus’s own mouth. My own people had to police me, if I had any. Well, they had been absent for nearly twenty-two years now. I reigned myself in.
“I’d slap you senseless but I can’t spare three seconds.” I turned on my heel and marched out of the room before he could get his mouth open. LeBron followed along behind me taking deep breathes.
“Why do you continue to goad him?”
“I like to live dangerously!” I beamed at him and he shook his head from side to side.
“Do you know you’re crazy?”
“Nope, but you hum a few bars and I’ll join in.”
* * * *
I undid the seal on my apartment door. I was prepared for shouting when I entered with both of them yelling at me but I was surprised to find them sitting on the couch watching the television.
“Hi guys.”
Incarra brought up her arm and the television clicked off, she placed the remote down slowly on the coffee table staring at me. Her eyes were cold.
“What did you do to the door?” I turned to look at the door and then looked at her guiltily. I wrung my hands slowly.
“I put a magic seal on it.”
Anton seemed to twitch at the word magic; he didn’t even try to hide it. He seemed to be more freaked out than Incarra. I slid a hand slowly up my back and with a little bit of magic twisted the lock and slid the latch across in case he tried to bolt.
“And why did you do that?” She looked at me, her little face the perfect mask of reason. This was a reasonable question and I know I hadn’t really offered them much in the way of answers. Yes I’d explained they were in another reality, yes I’d explained that I had been living this double life for some time and had been afraid to include them because they might think me mad. What I hadn’t explained was how easily they could get hurt over here. There were things that could kill you before you even knew it was coming and instead of explaining that I’d just told them they couldn’t leave the apartment and locked them in. At least I was sober now and maybe with a slightly clearer head I could deal with this better. The only thing was that now I really didn’t have much in the way of time. LeBron had gone home to change his uniform for street clothes and would be back in no time to pick me up.
“I’ll explain but I need to change,” I said pointing towards my bedroom. Incarra rose to her feet deciding to follow me but Anton stayed on the couch, he had big eyes like one of those Chihuahuas and was shaking just a little. I wanted to reassure him but I was not sure he would like me to touch him right now. We left him sitting on the couch. I pulled my door shut but didn’t close and lock it. Incarra sat on the corner of my bed in a near perfect lotus. She was all small l
imbs and dexterity so she could pull it off.
I sat on the stool in front of my dressing table and started pulling off my boots.
“Alright, let me have it!”
“How could you lie to me, Cassandra? This is a huge thing to keep from your best friend. I mean, we are best friends aren’t we?”
“Of course we are, and you have to believe me that I was only trying to protect you.”
“I don’t need to be protected,” said Incarra adamantly.
“I know you, you’d have wanted to come across with me and you don’t know how dangerous it is here, how easy to get hurt.” I pulled my dress over my head and Incarra watched. I’d turned the side to her with the large scars across my ribs. Incarra had never seen these. I had never shown them to her and always wore clothing that kept them hidden. She gasped her hands over her mouth, then slipping off the bed came over to me and traced the deep white ridges the scars made in my flesh.
“When did this happen? What did this?”
“About six months after mom died, I was attacked by a goblin. Goblins are small and vicious, they’ve got these fingers like needles and it went for me trying to scoop out my insides. I was very lucky.” I grabbed a pair of trousers that were tossed over my French couch and yanked them on.
“So your neck?” she asked resuming her seat on the bed. I looked at her and scrubbed the back of neck with my hand.
“Well...”
“Full disclosure!” she demanded smacking her hands against her knees for emphasis. I nodded, I was sick of lying as much as she was sick of listening to them.
“It’s a vampire bite. In fact it’s Aram’s vampire bite.”
“How come it’s so angry looking?”
“Apparently I’m very tasty,” I said blushing slightly. “It was before I started healing better so it’s stayed as a scar, I mean the other nips he’s given me healed real fast, one was a little uncomfortable when I walked for a while but...” Incarra giggled. I grabbed a T-shirt from my drawer and turned to face her, she giggled slightly again at that and I felt something inside me relax. If she could laugh even after all this then maybe we were going to be alright with each other.
“I can’t believe you were dating a real life vampire. Do you know how many Anne Rice fans would give their left arm for that?”
“They don’t really know the reality of it. Not all vampires are nice like Aram. The younger vamps, ones under about fifty can tend to go all crazy and wild. Rules no longer apply to them, they don’t just feed, they kill.” I pulled on some smaller boots zipping them up, they had less of a heel and I could run in them if I needed to. I wasn’t planning on running but if I had to, I could.
“I have so much I want to ask, but every time I decide on a question five more pop up and it’s just so much to want to know.” I placed my hands on her shoulders and she looked up at me. She always had to, after all I was taller than her but now it seemed like she was looking up to me because she respected how tough I’d had to be. Surviving here, dealing with all the secrecy and keeping all the hurt to myself.
“I will answer every one of them I promise, as soon as I can but I have to work tonight and I can’t let you go outside alone. I don’t want to have to leave you here but it’s best, as soon as morning comes you can go home but till then.”
“I understand that but couldn’t you have had some more food in the house? We raided the cupboards and you are seriously lacking on tasty treats.” I laughed and was glad of the sound of her joining in with me. I walked to the door to my bedroom.
“Hey, this was your intervention remember.”
I stepped into the living room and looked about me. The front door was swinging open and Anton was gone.
Chapter Eleven
Incarra and I rushed out of my apartment, into the elevator and bounced on the spot when we weren’t able to make the elevator go any faster. I gave it a swift kick, which I think Incarra took as frustration not as necessity when we passed the fourth floor and tore out into the street. I looked around, it was dark and each way was clear. He could have made an escape anytime while we were talking, he’d been so quiet taking the latch off and sliding the lock round.
“Where would he go?” I asked scanning the street.
“I’d guess at home but I really don’t know. You go one way and I’ll go the other.”
“Not a plan,” I said and I pushed her onto her butt on the steps outside my building. “I can’t let you go off on your own. Wait right here. If anyone comes along you don’t like the look of slink back into the building and hide. I’ll find Anton.”
She nodded in agreement when she looked up at the night sky to see that it was almost tinged with a purplish haze. The sky on this side got like that some nights especially if there had been a large amount of magic thrown up recently.
I turn and ran towards town. I had no time to sit and work a proper spell to track my very confused and upset friend. Anton could get himself into trouble very easily just by mouthing off to the wrong person. There were a lot of warlocks that lived in this end of town, mainly because rent was cheap and people didn’t mess with anyone they met down here. I was hoping he hadn’t gone too far, he couldn’t have gotten into a cab because they didn’t tend to come down this end. I was just passing the library when I saw him up ahead shambling towards the railway bridge. He wasn’t walking very fast, in fact he was stumbling about a bit which indicated to me that he was somewhat in shock still and not thinking about where he was going or what he was doing. Unfortunately for him that would make him a prime target for the three or four warlock boys, in their dark clothes and Goth makeup that were lurking in the shadows under the bridge he was approaching. Even with the coming out of vampires being nearly over fifty years ago we’d not managed to avoid the Goth movement. I was on the fringes of the look myself but I did not go in for the white face, the dark rimmed eyes and the dog collars. I did not want to look like someone who had decided to keep a panda for a pet. Anton in his artfully ripped blue jeans, his pop hairstyle of brown spikes with blonde tips and his bright pink and blue top that sported the adage, “Yes, I like piña colada” was not going to work in his favor this time. They moved to intercept him, they might want to mug him but I pretty much figured they just wanted to mess with him. He bumped right into the guy with the dog collar and fell backwards on his butt snapping enough out of his funk to see the people he’d walked into. He crawled backwards on his butt away from him.
“You bumped me!” snarled dog collar boy. I was close enough to hear Anton mumble a meek apology. This however was not going to be enough for this guy, with his two friends there to egg him on, he was amping up power. “You, bumped, me!” I slid myself in front of Anton forcing the guy to have to stop walking forward menacingly to assess who was interrupting his fun.
“Saying it louder won’t make it anymore true. Now he apologized,” I said and I slid my arms out a little from my side palms up to say I wasn’t going to start the violence but shield Anton at the same time. The dog collared guy sneered at me and it was almost as if his eyes told me I was just a woman. I hated stares like that, they’re practically a challenge. “My friend here has had a bad night and wasn’t watching where he was going, he’s sorry and there is no need for any more on the subject.”
“He,” growled dog collar boy pointing at Anton who was still sitting on the floor looking dazed and afraid, “bumped me.”
“You’ve said that already. Cry me a river, build yourself a bridge and get over it.” That’s it Cassandra, I thought to myself, taunt the badly dressed warlock who has a complete lack of moral fiber. I felt the flare of his magic as it rolled up his spine, an aura of green surrounded his fists and he started to chant something low under his breath. It was my turn to snarl.
“Back down,” I told him. He gave me a cocky “or what” smile and cocked his fist back. It looked like he was getting ready to punch me, but I knew his fingers would spring open when they got close to me and unleash the sp
ell he was working on. I waited till he decided to throw the punch and before he would open his fingers; I snapped mine over his knuckles and squeezed with all the new strength in me. He wailed like a girl dropping to his knees. I let my power peek out and his eyes widened feeling the strength of it, I saw the fire in my eyes reflected back in his. I was mad, mad at him for being so cocky, mad at Anton for running off, mad at this guy for thinking he could hit a girl, and just hell plain mad on top of all the rest of that. I pushed with the muscles in my arm that were rippling with the tension of keeping his spell from releasing and made him cower even lower.
“I warned you.” There was a little menace in my voice. “You think you don’t know the meaning for the word fear-but then I’m guessing you don’t know the meaning of most words anyway, so I will say this very slowly one more time. Back down.” He nodded frantically and I waited until the green aura around his fist and arm faded out completely before I let go of him. He cradled his hand to his chest looking up at me. I tried to ignore that mixed in with his fear was a sudden huge great wave of lust.
“Now you’ll want to be getting home and putting some ice on that hand, take your friends with you.” The two slightly lanky teens behind him helped him up and they hurried away ahead of the boy with the collar who stopped a couple of times to look back at me. As soon as they were gone, I turned around and taking Anton by the wrist pulled him to his feet. He wobbled for a bit and when he was stable I swung my hand smacking him around the back of the head.
“Idiot!” He glared at me rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head. “When I tell you, do not leave my place it’s dangerous, I mean it!”
“I just want to go home,” he whined. I made a dramatic gesture with my arms at our surroundings.
“This is not your home, Anton, this is not your world. It’s a Friday night and there are hardly any people. Does that seem normal to you?” Anton looked around him slowly, he noticed there were no queues outside the cinema and the doors were all shut closed. There were no people heading for the pub or clubs dressed up. It was just him and me standing in an eerily quiet street, no traffic, no parked cars and dark shadows looking from all corners.
Inhuman Heritage Page 10