Blackjack

by Kristopher Norris

  “What’s Terry up to?” I had to ask.

  “Out of town.” Hum, maybe he wasn’t still pissed at me. “The powers that be thought it would be a good idea to send him on a hit.”

  “Anyone of importance?” I was wondering if the hit was Amun.

  “Not that I know of. I think just some low life that has indulged his blood lust a bit too much.”

  “Have you been in contact with Amun anymore?”

  “No,” she had a look of sadness when she said it. “No, I haven’t heard from him at all.”

  “You look like that disappoints you some?” I asked her.

  She didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know. For years I’ve hunted and killed his kind and now I think I need his help.” She took another pause, searching for what she wanted to say. “I don’t know why, but I trust him. It’s no trance that he put me in or some spell I’m under. People aren’t supposed to trust vampires. They hunt us for Christ sakes!”

  “We hunt each other. How are we better than them?” At first this question annoyed her, but then the annoyance faded from her eyes. She saw the logic I placed before her. “Carmen, have you ever killed a man?”

  “You mean a human?”

  “Yeah, have you ever taken the life of one of your own kind?”

  “No.” she didn’t hesitate answering.

  “I have,” I spoke in a somber tone staring off into nothing reflecting on the lives I had taken. I turned to face her when I continued my train of thought after a moment of silence, “How can you befriend me so quickly when I have killed so much? And fear trusting him when all he does is kill to eat?” She looked baffled by the question. “Do vampires share the same emotions as humans?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You’ve never spoken with one?”

  “I’ve spoken with them, but it was never about their feelings.” She laughed a bit.

  “All I’m trying to say is that after speaking with Amun days ago I can’t see the difference between them and us.”

  “It’s can’t be that simple.”

  “They make war as do we. They kill, so do humans.”

  She looked down the road for a moment contemplating “Do they love?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “If they do love, if they care, then everything that I’ve worked for has been a lie.” She sighed brushing some hair behind her ear. “My life’s work and my father’s life’s work have all been for a cause with no justification. So, my dear, Mr. Black,” she turned and grinned at me, yet there was a tear in her eye. “Where will that leave me? What will become of me when I find that the monsters that I have hated and hunted and killed don’t exist?”

  She didn’t need answers, right then at that moment she needed nothing more than a friend. Since I was the only one in the car, that’s right folks, even a cold-hearted bastard like me can be a comfort. Her hand rested over the shift knob, I placed mine over it. “I don’t know.” She choked back tears and we drove in silence.

  By the time we reached downtown London, she had her cold hard face back on. Sometimes people just need a good cry. Some people, not ruthless Vegas card players of course. With the emotion of the car ride behind us, our conversation had turned back to the lighthearted flirting that we normally have. Not that I minded the real conversations but the joking around just felt more comfortable. I was glad that she had not chosen to hate me over whatever the hell I was to vampires. I still say that I was innocent of lying to anyone about powers or anything like that. But as it often is, our relaxed time together was short lived, Johnny B, Amun’s werewolf approached us just before we entered the restaurant.

  “Miss Piper, Mr. Black, Amun sent me to find you. He needs to speak with you.”

  Coming from a dead run down the side walk it amazed me that he was completely composed. Not a hint out of breath.

  “What does he need?” I asked impatiently, though I was looking forward to seeing Amun again. “We are about to have lunch.”

  “He didn’t tell me what he wanted to talk to you about just that it was very important that he does.” For being a dirty little mutt, he has very polite and well spoken.

  “Johnny, does he need us now or is this another one of his introductions that can wait ‘til after we’ve eaten?” Carmen asked with the same level of interest and annoyance as I had spoken with.

  “I believe that it can wait until after you’ve eaten. I do not know how long he will require your company.”

  “Alright, we’re hungry. Tell him that we will be along in awhile.”

  “Yes, sir.” He bowed his head and left. He spoke to us, and acted like he was our servant.

  “What the fuck do you think that was all about?” I asked Carmen.

  “Haven’t a clue.” She stared in the direction that Johnny B had run off in. “I don’t know and I don’t like to assume anything. So let’s eat and go find out what he wants.”

  I liked that plan.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Lunch was quick. We both were interested in what Amun wanted with us. And since neither of us had any clue what he wanted, our only option was to go see him. When we reached the faded green door of Johnny’s store, he was waiting for us just outside.

  “Amun is expecting you.” With a nod of his head he opened the door for us. I still wasn’t sure I liked him being behind me, but they’ve had time and opportunity to kill us. I didn’t see them suddenly growing the need for us to be dead. “You remember the way, don’t you?”

  “Yeah I think we can find it.” Unlike our last visit to Amun’s underground hideout, lights lined the stairwell and hallways. Just as before the doors opened as we approached. And again I could feel all of the vampires lying on their beds. And I knew that Amun sat in the room in which we’d last spoken.

  “Where are we going? Which room do you think he’s in?” Carmen whispered to me as we walked past the sleeping vampires. I would hate to have to get out in a rush, not with these vamps in between the door and us.

  “I don’t think you have to whisper in here.” I didn’t realize it, but I was whispering as well. She looked at me like I was an idiot. I think I turned a bit red. “He’s in the conference room.”

  “How do you know?” When I didn’t answer she just shook her head, “I don’t want to know.”

  “If I knew how I knew, I’d tell you.” I tried to smile but couldn’t really manage one. I hadn’t a clue why I could do any of these neat little tricks. We pushed on, making our way to the conference room where Amun waited for us. “Do we knock?” I asked Carmen trying to make a joke. She replied with one of her cute shoulder shrugs. Meaning she didn’t know. Just as I was raising my hand to knock on the large oak door, it flew open just like the others.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting,” It was Amun; he sat on one end of the table. For a brief moment we just stood there in the doorway not sure whether we should take this last step into the room or not. We weren’t afraid, but unsure. He sensed our hesitation, he rose to his feet and with one graceful movement of his hand he beckoned us to enter. “Please, come in. My oath that no harm will fall upon you while you are in my home stands. You have nothing to fear.”

  At this comment I stepped inside the room. “You’re slipping Amun.”

  He cocked his head to one side. “Slipping?” he asked as he returned to his seat.

  “Yeah, you’re slipping.” I said as I took as seat right next to him. Carmen sat on my other side. No point in sitting away from him. He could have run a lap around this room and we would have no clue that he’d even left his chair. So why strain to hear when distance of an attack didn’t matter? “You should have known that we aren’t afraid.” I continued. “I thought that was one of your cool little parlor tricks.”

  He grinned at that comment. “Yes. You are right, Mr. Black, that is one of my parlor tricks. But I do have so many others. I do hope you find those more than amusing,” He paused for a brief moment, “when the time comes.” I wasn’t sure what th
at was supposed to mean, but I didn’t want to press it just then.

  Carmen quickly took up the roll of starting the meeting. “Why did you call us here?”

  “News, Miss Piper. I’ve received some news regarding your father as well as some concerns in The Guild.” Her eyes and ears where now wide open. “He is alive and has not been turned into one of us.”

  “Thank you, Amun,” She spoke softly but still cold. “Do you know where he is?”

  “No, I’m sorry. We as yet do not have that information. I do have it being worked on. We know the coven involved is of one of the council members.”

  She nodded, “and the news about The Guild?”

  “Ah yes,” he said, his voice cool, dead of emotion. “We have been told that one of your very own set up a pact with your father’s abductors. Whoever it was, told the coven, which perpetrated the abduction, when and where your convoy would be.

  “Where did all this information come from?” I wasn’t about to just take his word on this. I didn’t think that Carmen would either, not if she was clearheaded. Right now she was far too emotionally involved with the situation. I also couldn’t blame her. Granted I would not have given a rat’s ass if it was my father, but I could understand how someone that felt close to the person taken would grasp at any type of hope. Carmen needed someone to look out for her. She needed me. “How do you have an inside track on the situation?”

  He grinned, this time allowing his fangs to show. “Still untrusting of my intent, Mr. Black?”

  I took a moment to just look at him, trying to see if I could take whatever powers I did have and use them to see deeper into him. I wanted to know what his intent was. I was having trouble bringing myself to trust him. I dug deep into myself looking for that place where I go to escape life. I wanted that part of me that disconnects me from the world, where I am a heartless killer. When I found it I embraced it with every part of my conscience then I turned it onto Amun. The power flowed out of me toward him, but not. I didn’t throw it toward the vampire sitting next to me. I throw it at the aura that surrounded him. I could feel the impact of my energy against his. And I pushed. I wanted in his head. I knew he could feel what I was doing. I knew because he pushed back. I had hit a stonewall before I could read anything from him. Not a moment before I gave up trying the wall faded and I heard him speak to me. Not aloud but mind to mind. “I can only let you in so far, Mr. Black.” He said to me. “I have many secrets that are not mine to give away. But I will allow you to look for what you want to see.”

  “Thank you.” I replied. The sensation was quite unnerving. I’d never spoken to someone mind to mind before. But it was nowhere near as strange as being inside someone else’s head. I could hear his thoughts and feel what he felt. What I found was the mind of a caring leader, intelligent and ruthless; he was everything he said he was and meant us no harm. He looked at us as possible allies, which he needed. Satisfied I pulled myself away from him. “You truly do not have any negative intentions for us.”

  “No.” His answer was simple and to the point.

  Carmen’s eyes darted back and forth between us. I could tell she was concerned about the moment of silence, which had just taken place. “You want to let me in on this conversation?” she asked mockingly to me. But it was Amun that answered.

  “My apologizes, Miss Piper. Mr. Black was testing my intentions. Which I hope he found satisfactory.” He turned to me for an answer.

  “Yes. I am satisfied.”

  “I know that it must be hard on both of you to think that I have no ill will towards you.” He slowly stood. “Our situation is new to all. No hunters have ever sided with vampires. Never in our long history of war have two sides such as us aided one another.” Standing in front of the hearth he began to stare into the fire, longingly. “But the rules have changed. We are fighting a war without the safety of old friends. The lines are blurred and the sides unstable. The Council grows tired of losing control of powerful covens. The survival of my people depends on making new alliances and allies. We shall continue our search for information. I ask your help to look into The Guild, find out what you can. There is a traitor among your people. If you can find out who that traitor is and whom they are supporting we may better figure out where your father is.”

  “Do you really think there is anything we can do once we find out where he is?” Carmen asked. Worry showed in her voice though she tried so hard to hide it.

  “I pray there is,” He answered her. “If there is nothing to be done to save him, vengeance will be yours.” At that comment she grinned. I thought to myself that even if we save him revenge would still be hers.

  “When do we get to meet your warriors?” I spun in my chair to look at Amun. “I do like to know who I’m going into battle with.”

  “Soon.” He continued to stare at the fire.

  “And how big is your army?” I kept up my line of questioning.

  “Worldwide I have the support of three hundred vampires and that again in shape shifters. We have a force of six hundred strong, only a tenth of the Council’s forces. But our strength will not come in numbers.” Amun spoke quietly, deep in his thought. He paused for a moment as we waited for him to continue. After a brief moment he spoke again, “No, our forces will not be in numbers. This war will not be fought as an epic battle.” Amun’s voice hung heavy with the dread of the upcoming fight. “I knew one day it would come to pass that the council would no longer tolerate our existence. I knew that one day they would see us as too much of a threat to allow us to be. This great battle will not be fought in the old style, two armies rushing at each other across an open field driven by the desire for their enemies’ blood. This final battle will remain the burden of a few key players. Even though this may be our last stand, we must still strive to keep the rest of the world unaware of us, the children of the eternal night.”

  I could tell that Amun feared the Council and what it may cost his people. He continued for hours discussing the finer points of vampire warfare and history. I learned much more in those few hours deep within the home of this master vampire then I ever would in the vast library of The Guild. I learned that once upon a time the vampire race was much more prominent and though Amun never said so, I got the impression that the vampires were dying off, not because of the hunters and not because of their war but because fewer vampires were made. During the glory days of the vampire race, when they held more political strength than even the Kings or Queens of the day, vampires would make more of themselves at exponential rates. Between the rapid growth of vampires as well as their shape shifting brothers they became too great in numbers to remain hidden from the general public. Factions began forming; alliances were made and broken and so started the beginnings of the vampires’ first civil war. The first war came to a halt when the leaders of the thirteen strongest covens aligned themselves with one another becoming the governing body of the vampire world and hence the Council was begun. Over the following years, the Council destroyed smaller covens, killing vampires and shape shifters alike diminishing their numbers to a more controllable level. Their powers grew along with their lust for both it and blood. Their oppression soon covered the whole world of the night. And thus was the first cleansing by the Council of the vampire world.

  Our host paused collecting his thoughts. “I believe,” he spoke solemnly, “that this time, there’ll be no room for prisoners and no room for forgiveness. They will kill everyone who does not serve them. Miss Piper, Mr. Black, my people will die if victory is not to be ours. I cannot allow that to happen. We’ve survived for centuries outside of the reign of the vampires’ council.”

  “All or nothing, then?” I asked.

  He responded with a simple node; an elegant gesture. He returned to his seat letting out a slow exhale feeling the frustrations of leadership. I found it odd to see a vampire who did not need air, show such a human gesture as a sigh. I had not realized how long we sat intently listening to our history lesson of vampires.
It wasn’t until that gut feeling brought me back to my senses. There were vampires moving towards us. The sun must’ve been setting or already set. I knew that two vampires were heading towards the conference room. One was coming from the doors we had entered, the other from the floor above us making its way toward a spiraling cast iron staircase in the corner of the room. It was the vampire on the other side of the oak doors that would make it first.

  “We have company.”

  “Yes, the sun is beginning to set and more of my kind are awakening to a new night. Remember my words; you will not be harmed in my house.” Amun spoke softly trying to calm us. And rightly so, he may have had my trust but his subordinates did not. And he did not have the level of trust from me to take his word on others harming me and mine.

  Not one moment later, the doors flew open. The room went silent as we all turned to look at the newest addition. The vampire, a male, strode into the room. He stood at the high end of five foot, broad shoulders and powerful arms showed underneath his black tshirt, he was not somebody I would like to go to fists with. He was clean-shaven with a squared off jaw, dark eyes. His auburn hair was cut in the style of a Roman. “I see you ordered take-out Amun,” I don’t think he expected me to laugh. My laughing quickly shut his comments down, at least for a moment. Even Carmen, who hadn’t said much in the time we were there, cracked a smile. The history lesson was over and we had to go back to being us, cold, ruthless, strong, and deadly or the vampires would never respect us. If there was any way to survive the vampire’s world it was through power and strength, we had plenty of each. “So, Amun, are these the new friends we’ve been hearing so much about?” The large vampire chuckled. His voice deep and resonating, but I know it was more than just the fullness of his laughter. I could feel his aura trying to cut at me; he was trying to dive into my mind. I watched as Carmen’s hand slowly made its way toward her gun. I shook my head gently there were no need for guns. She knew he was playing mind tricks and I knew he was not powerful enough to ensnare me and none of his energy was focused at Carmen. I thought it a good opportunity to play with my new toys. I pushed against his aura the way I had done to read Amun’s mind but this time I didn’t care to learn anything. I wanted control. I wanted to make sure that this new vampire knew whom he was fucking with. This vampire was strong, not as strong as the master vampire sitting to my right but he was strong. Despite his strength, it didn’t take me long to break through his mind’s defenses. His real strength was only physical.