Romani Armada (Beloved Bloody Time)

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  One of the journalists was speaking. “Gabriel, you said that others were allowed to live unmonitored and unchecked. Were you referring to vampires?”

  Gabriel spread his hands. “Apart from humans and psi, there are only vampires. Draw your own conclusions.”

  “Gabriel! Gabriel!” the cry went up.

  “A follow up, please,” the journalist insisted. “Vampires are monitored. The Historical Defense Bureau was constructed to monitor vampire activities.”

  “The Bureau monitors the activities of the Chronometric Conservation Agency, not vampires,” Gabriel replied. “The Bureau is designed to ensure history is kept intact for human preservation and that is all. Outside Agency regulations, vampires can do what they please…and they have.” He gave a grim smile. “Think about that for a moment and then consider that psi-filers are catalogued. Numbered. Now, our very numbers are limited.”

  “Oh, shit,” Justin breathed. “They’re going to kill us now.”

  “Why?” Rosa asked, sounding bewildered.

  Gabriel was still talking. “We are controlled. We’re not even allowed off planet. But vampires…. They can jump anywhere they please, even into history. And just how many of them are there, anyway?”

  * * * * *

  “Ah, fuck,” Cáel said softly, staring at the screen. “This is already a disaster and he hasn’t dropped the bomb yet.”

  “Assemblyman?” came the soft query beside him.

  “Go home, Iason,” Cáel told the assistant. “It’s late and I’m going to be lousy company, now.”

  * * * * *

  “Do you know how many vampires there are?” came the question.

  “No,” Gabriel replied, “and that scares me. I know there’s more vampires out there, passing as humans, than have ever come forward and declared themselves for what they are. Humans didn’t dent their numbers at all during the Censure years. While we psi have steadily lost all our rights, one by one, including our right to reproduce, they have stealthily added to theirs through misdirection and subterfuge.”

  * * * * *

  “He’s making it sound like we plotted the conspiracy of the fucking century,” Brenden said, scowling at the screen.

  “We didn’t do it with malice aforethought,” Ryan replied, his gaze never shifting from the screen he was watching. “But any lawyer fresh out of legal school could prove inside five minutes that we conspired to hide this from humans, because we did. Gabriel has us cold on that one. He plucked it straight out of Nia’s mind.”

  Nayara moaned softly and sank into a chair in front of one of the smaller screens. “Why won’t he just say it and put us out of our misery?” she said to the screen.

  “The rat bastard is enjoying himself is why not,” Brenden growled.

  “Here it comes,” Ryan warned.

  * * * * *

  “Now,” Justin whispered.

  “Now, what?” Rosa whispered back.

  He pointed at the screen.

  “Gabriel! Gabriel! Are you saying the vampires are hiding a conspiracy?”

  “What is the subterfuge?”

  “Are you saying they’ve stolen rights?”

  The questions were thrown at Gabriel in a fast staccato from all directions.

  Gabriel held up his hands, calling for silence and a chance to answer. The room settled down to a seething mass instead of near chaos.

  “As psi-filers, we have added advantages when it comes to…hearing things. That fact makes most humans uncomfortable, but sometimes we hear the most extraordinary facts. The fact that has come to our attention is that vampires are now bearing children just as humans do.”

  There was a stunned silence. Gabriel smiled at them all, his smile full of joy. “They’re breeding, ladies and gentlemen.”

  The silence lasted for a second more, then the two hundred or so representatives of the world media simultaneously opened their mouths and began to speak, as their recording equipment worked furiously to capture this historic moment.

  * * * * *

  “I think I might be sick,” Nayara murmured, gripping the edge of the desk.

  Ryan squeezed her arm. “You’re stressing your symbiot,” he murmured. “Breathe, Nia. Shallow and slow until it passes.” He turned, leaning heavily on the cane and looked at Brenden. “Senior staff and advisors, at a safe location, as soon as they can be assembled.”

  Brenden nodded. “The agency branch in San Francisco is nice and big.”

  “We used that last time. The psi might count on us using it again. Pick another location,” Nayara told him.

  “I’ll find somewhere,” Brenden assured them. He dropped into a chair and pulled it up to the desk. Then he threaded his big fingers together and cracked the knuckles.

  Ryan laughed. “Hell’s hounds, where did you pick that up from?”

  “I love it,” Nayara added. “It’s incredibly human.”

  Brenden grinned. “Justin does it. I thought I’d try it. It does help humans relax around me.”

  “Especially the woman, I’m guessing,” Ryan replied, with a smile.

  Nayara stood up and touched Ryan’s shoulder. “Justin should be there.”

  Ryan nodded. “Yes. Brenden, make sure he comes, too.”

  * * * * *

  Justin closed the commlink. “Rosa!”

  It took nearly a minute for her to appear at his door and in that time, he had synchronized his communications and shut down all the power to the desk.

  “You know you have an admin assistant assigned to you, right?” Rosa asked, with one hand resting against the doorframe.

  “I can never remember her name.”

  “Kelly will be thrilled to hear that,” Rosa replied dryly.

  “Kelly,” he said. “You’d think I’d remember that name, too.”

  “I thought vampires didn’t forget anything?” Rosa asked.

  “Once we’ve bothered to remember it in the first place.” He picked up his Akubra. “I’m leaving again.”

  “You just got here.”

  “I’ve been called back to a senior staff meeting.”

  “Because of…?” She glanced toward the screens on his desk, now blank.

  “And now you know why I called you and not Kelly,” he told her. “As far as the rest of the world is concerned, I’m taking a holiday, alright?”

  Rosa bit her lip. “Is it true, Justin? What he said?”

  He stopped in front of her, studying her worried face. “What do you think?”

  She worried at her lip some more with her teeth. “It’s just that he’s right, in a way. Vampires never have been counted or recorded. Even humans have a census every five years and we all have identity papers.”

  “And those vampires who are passing as human get counted amongst them just as you do,” Justin pointed out. “In the last two hundred years, vampires who have declared themselves as vampire have been recorded in the census just as humans have. So vampires have been counted one way or the other.”

  “And you really can have babies now?”

  Justin sighed. “It’s not that simple, Rosa. You have to consider who was giving you the story and what his agenda might be. Gabriel is a psi-filer who hates humans and vampires and three weeks ago he blew up the Agency space station for no better reason than that. He’s not going to simply tell the truth to a bunch of media. He’s going to make it look as black and bad as possible.”

  “So…you can’t have children?”

  Justin hesitated. “One of us gave birth to a baby,” he admitted. “It was when she was back in time and she had to stay back in time to give birth. She was back there so long she nearly died of stasis poisoning. It was a rare, one-off thing. A freak set of circumstances that just happened to break right. No vampire in his right mind would deliberately try to do the same thing. The odds against everything happening just right – conception, the onset of stasis poisoning being delayed long enough to give birth, are way too high to gamble the life of a child upon.”


  Rosa let out a breath. “Okay, then.”

  “That makes you feel better?” Justin asked curiously.

  She grimaced. “Well, there’s already so many of you…”

  “You bought what Gabriel said,” Justin breathed, staring at her. “And you work with us. You know us better than most humans. That’s just…great.”

  Rosa’s face reddened. “Sometimes it’s like I don’t know you at all. Like that shawl thing.”

  Justin’s gut tightened. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I don’t even understand it!”

  He stepped past her and headed for the reception area. “I’ll explain later!” he called over his shoulder. Maybe, he added to himself. He already felt like a right stupid bastard about it. But now he couldn’t get the memory of the shawl out of his mind. The shawl…and the way it exactly matched Deonne’s eyes.

  Chapter Four

  Stockholm, Sweden, 2264 A.D.: Deonne straightened up from the impact of landing as Tally let her go. “Thank you for bringing me back here, Natalia. I know…well, I don’t know. I can’t imagine how difficult things are for you now, so I appreciate you acting as courier for me. It’s so good to be home.”

  Tally gave a ghost of a smile. “I like to stay busy right now. It keeps my mind occupied. I think I’d go crazy, otherwise. When you’re ready to go back, I’d be happy to jump you back, too. I always liked China.” She pushed the door of the arrival chamber open.

  Deonne looked around at the arrival reception, which was sparse and neat. “Where is home, this time?”

  “Sweden. Do you know any Scandinavian languages? Common hasn’t really taken off here.”

  “Not at all.”

  Tally gave another of her small smiles. “Maybe Justin does.”

  Deonne caught her breath. “He’s here? He’s coming to the meeting?” Her whole body seemed to pulse and her breath halted as she waited for Tally’s confirmation. She halted and Tally was forced to turn and look back at her.

  “Justin is here,” Tally replied.

  The wave of joy that swept through Deonne almost burned in its intensity. She scrabbled for breath as her eyes stung. Even her knees seemed to weaken.

  “Are you okay?” Tally asked, stepping closer. She reached out to touch Deonne’s arm, but didn’t quite connect. She peered into her face. “Are you crying?” she asked, her voice very soft.

  “No!” Deonne shook her head and tried to smile, but her senses were all scrambled. She glanced around for witnesses to her humiliation.

  “You’re safe,” Tally assured her. “No one comes back here unless they’re heading for the chambers.”

  Deonne walked over to the window and gripped the sill, drawing in air and gathering her composure. Tally stepped up next to her. “He’s really under your skin, hmm?”

  “Is that where he is? Most of the time, he’s nowhere to be seen.” She pummeled the windowsill. “Damn him.”

  Tally squeezed her shoulder. “That sounds a lot like Lee, before Rob came along. He never would stick around, either.” She smiled and this time it wasn’t sad or ghostly. There was warmth and compassion in it. “Sometimes they need a proverbial whack on the head to see things straight.”

  “I can’t imagine Justin letting anyone hit him on the head.” Deonne felt a smile tugging at her lips. “He has a temper, you know. He hides it behind all that Australian charm and good humor, but it’s there. Black Irish. I think he got it from his father’s side of the family.”

  Tally’s smile broadened. “That’s something he’s hidden from all of us a long, long time then.” She tilted her head. “Are you ready to go, now?”

  Deonne turned away from the window and smoothed down her skirt. Then she glanced down at it and frowned. “I can’t wear this to the meeting, Tally. It’s twenty-first century fashion.”

  “I think you look marvelous,” Tally told her. “That silk looks fabulous on you. Everyone in the meeting room knows where you came from, anyway.”

  Horror spread through her. Deonne shook her head. “I have a reputation to maintain. An image. I can’t possibly be taken seriously wearing what amounts to an historical costume!” She glanced around, looking for the atomic readout that she knew would have to be somewhere in the arrival lounge. “How long until the meeting starts?”

  “Not long,” Tally began.

  Deonne spotted the read out. “I have an hour. That’s time enough to find something for me to wear that belongs to this century, at least.”

  Tally looked doubtful. “I don’t think Nayara wants any of us wandering around in public and especially not non-vampires.”

  “You’ll be with me. Bring someone else if you want reinforcement,” Deonne told her. “Please, Tally. I simply can’t walk into that room looking like a refugee from a theatrical production.”

  “I don’t think anyone would mind. You wouldn’t be the first of us to do it.”

  Deonne shook her head. “I can’t, Tally. Please.” She didn’t know Tally well enough to reveal the deep uneasiness she normally felt dealing with Ryan and Nayara and the other vampires she mentally catalogued as the movers and shakers in the agency. Dressed like this, she would feel even more self-conscious and awkward.

  Tally tilted her head and gave Deonne a small smile. “You didn’t give a thought to what you were wearing until I mentioned Justin. Now suddenly, you’re panicking. It has nothing to do with your professional image.”

  Deonne stared at Tally, her mind swirling as she scrambled to accept this unpalatable truth. She really hadn’t considered her appearance until the subject of Justin’s presence at the meeting had been raised. All she had cared about was being back in the twenty-third century.

  Tally’s smile warmed. Then she gave a small, soft laugh. “Relax, Deonne. I’m teasing. I can see from your expression that this is all new to you. You’re not going to step into that room until you feel like a woman Justin can drool over, so let’s get you suitably dressed.” She glanced at the readout over Deonne’s shoulder. “We’d better make it fast.”

  Deonne sighed. “Now I just feel stupid,” she confessed. “And about sixteen years old.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Tally told her. “But let’s hurry.”

  * * * * *

  The meeting room was a historical reproduction—a massive throne room from an ancient Viking’s hall. It had stone floors and thick tree trunks for beams, iron bands binding them together and round shields decorating the walls. Torches flickering with real flames provided additional lighting. There was a huge fire pit in the middle of the room and what looked like a hole in the roof, but was really a vented window protecting the room from the elements while filtering the smoke and heat from the fire below.

  Reproduction tables and benches were normally spread about the fire pit, enough to seat a few hundred people, for the branch often rented out the hall for weddings and other events as a useful subsidiary income. For now, two of the big tables had been joined end to end, which gave them enough seating for everyone at the meeting. The area around the tables had been cleared and the fire had been lit and was crackling merrily.

  Ryan worked his way over to the table where most of the senior staff and advisors waited for them. “Is everyone here?” he asked Nayara.

  “Deonne and Tally are yet to arrive.”

  “We can deal with other matters until they get here,” Ryan decided. “Everyone, have a seat.”

  There was a shuffling and murmur and some laughter as they clambered over the benches and good naturedly settled shoulder-to-shoulder along the tables.

  Ryan sat on the high chair that had been set for him at the symbolic head of the table, while Nayara took the chair at the other end.

  He settled the cane against the ancient timbers that made up the table and studied everyone. Brenden, Christian, Demyan and Fahmido ranged to his immediate left, while Ophelia, Rob, Kieren, Pritti and Justin sat on the right. There were spaces at the end closest to Nayara where Tally and Deonne
would sit, and the table would be full.

  Cáel’s absence was a heated wound, reminding him of the unfinished business he had before him.

  “It’s been a hard few weeks, hasn’t it?” he said, addressing the table. “I’m sorry I let this happen. Cáel—Stelios—warned us and I didn’t believe him. I didn’t take him as seriously as I ought to have done.” He spared a thought for the secret visit from his future self, who had tried to warn him, too. He’d been too distracted by the man’s prediction that Nayara would be lost to him. Even now, the thought sent a shudder through him.

  He looked down at his hands and saw that they trembled and frowned to himself. Why was he experiencing so many human reactions?

  Nayara spoke up. “I think you’re all aware of our two major priorities for right now, but I’ll repeat them for everyone’s benefit. One, we have to do everything we can to ensure the location of our home base remains a secret from Gabriel’s psi group. So far, so good. Gabriel’s psi-filers will force-read a mind as they see fit, but as long as we all remain in our contemporary time, they can’t read ours unless they are within physical touching distance of us…and we think only Gabriel can do that, so far.”

  “For now,” Brenden growled.

  Nayara ignored him. “Our second priority is to bring back all the travelers that were back in time when the station was destroyed. None of them are aware that the station doesn’t exist. If they try to jump back to its location, we’re not sure what will happen but even the best scenario is bad enough; they arrive in raw space saturated with nuclear waste.”

  “It’s possible a vampire would survive a few seconds’ exposure,” Fahmido said, her voice a weak echo after Nayara’s strong tone. “Enough to jump to a safer location.”

  “Vampires might,” Brenden growled, “but their companions wouldn’t. Even if they did, exposure to that level of radiation would be lethal.”

  Nayara nodded agreement. “So our first, most urgent task is to find all our stranded travelers and bring them back here.”

  “I had a thought about that,” Demyan said, lifting his hand a little to get attention. “Why don’t we just jump back in time to before the station was destroyed and take a record of the itinerary board?” He spread his hands as if it were an obvious thing to do.