My Familiar Stranger

by Victoria Danann

  A shower did nothing to take the edge off her indignation. As the bathroom grew steamier from the hot water, her anger escalated from irate to seething, first conjuring images of how the lascivious incident must have played out and then imagining what she would do to Rammel Hawking for taking advantage of her when she was inebriated.

  She might have suspected Ram of perpetrating a bit of duplicitous voyeurism, but she knew he wasn’t a rapist. When she noticed some vaginal soreness, she attributed it to being stuck with the spin bike on the end; the one that no one wants because it’s absolute torture to the crotch. She promised herself to forego spinning the next time no other bike was available.

  After pulling on a turtleneck and lululemon go-anywhere pants, she went back in the bathroom to blow dry her hair. She sensed, more than heard, someone come in.

  Poking her head out and around the corner she saw that Ram had let himself in and that he was looking freshly showered, relaxed and happy, wearing that little boy smile that would be so disarming if she wasn’t utterly infuriated with him.

  She put down the brush and blow dryer and stalked toward the living room.

  He held out a cup toward her. “Brought you a hot chocolate.”

  Looking at Elora, his expression was starting to falter.

  She grabbed the note and waved it in the air.

  “Don’t be embarrassed? Don’t be mad?” He set the cup down and blinked. “How could you?”

  “I, em…”

  “How did I end up drunk, Ram?”

  “Drunk?” He said it like he wasn’t familiar with the term.

  “I don’t even remember having more than one drink.” He blinked again. “You brought me back here, undressed me, and left me in bed naked.”

  “Now, wait a minute.”

  Ram was beginning to recover from the shock of learning that, not only did she not remember their night together, but she was accusing him of behaving like a deviant - a painful affront coming from her.

  “I did no’ undress you.”

  “No? And you didn’t leave my clothes on the chair either.”

  “I did bring you back here last night. I did take Blackie out for his walk this mornin’ because you were no’ up to it. And you’re welcome by the way. I did pick your clothes up where you left them on the floor and I did put them on the chair. You’re welcome for that as well.”

  She thought she knew all of Ram’s facial expressions. She didn’t know how to read this one, but she was sure it wasn’t shame. That could only mean she had jumped to a faulty conclusion. Her shoulders slumped as she started to feel guilty about the unjustified ambush.

  “I’m sorry. I know there’s nothing worse than being accused of something you didn’t do. I just… I’ve never been drunk before. Waking up and not remembering what happened is a new thing.” She glanced toward the bedroom door. “And I don’t like it.”

  Ram thought it best not to point out that she had none of the symptoms associated with hangovers.

  “Happens to the best of us.”

  “Well, now I am embarrassed.”

  He smiled. “I’ll do my best to make sure it does no’ happen again.”

  Then the reality hit him like a drive-by. He’d been so caught up in the drama. And the sex. He hadn’t stopped to wonder how she ingested the drug, who gave it to her, or why she was a target. He couldn’t confide in Storm or Kay without revealing what happened and that would compromise Elora. So he had to figure it out by himself. And quickly.

  ***

  CHAPTER 18

  The second week was so uneventful that B Team started to feel like serving drinks and club security were their real jobs. Friday, near midnight, Elora approached a table for drink orders and found herself looking down at three pale eyed men with blank expressions buying drinks for a young woman who appeared agitated. The look on the girl’s face was alarming to Elora for some reason that was just out of reach. In any case, she knew she needed to alert Ram without taking her attention away from them long enough to lose them.

  There were too many people between her and the bar for him to see there was a problem. Likewise, the crowd prevented visually locating Storm or Kay. She waited until the three were absorbed in what they were doing, then, putting a booted foot on one of the bench seats lining the back wall, she stepped up onto a table top hoping to catch Ram’s eye.

  Even though she was only there for a second, he saw her head pop up and locked on to her location in the room. He swung himself over the bar not caring if he mowed down a few casual drinkers.

  He was thanking the heavens that she was tall because, after he got past the throng standing by the bar, he could see her heading for the restrooms. He ran to get there ahead of her, but she had already placed herself between the disguised tunnel entrance and the three vampire attempting to abscond with a victim.

  Ram was charging toward them. Great Paddy’s balls afire. She'lll be the death of us both.

  She had staked one vamp and engaged another. The third had pulled a knife, but, instead of the annoying girl, he suddenly found himself facing an experienced and quite lethal Black Swan knight who had more cause than usual to be angry.

  Ram would have put down the third vamp in little time with little difficulty had it not been for the two women who chose that exact moment to emerge from the Ladies’ room giggling, oblivious to danger, and with the worst timing possible.

  Taking full advantage of the situation, the vamp with the knife slashed one of the women across the side of her neck with gruesome results as jugular blood began to spurt in time with her accelerated heart rate like a macabre fountain synchronized to “dance” with music.

  Since keeping innocents safe from harm is the overriding mission of Black Swan, the top priority and first commandment of a knight’s directive, Ram had no choice but to put himself in front of the second woman and protect her with not just his skill, but his body as well. Even though he was distracted for less than the one second it took to move into place, it gave the vampire the opening necessary. Ram deflected the descending knife so that it missed his own jugular, but it caught the side of his face and sliced open a deep gash that descended down his chest. As Ram went into shock, the vamp grabbed him and threw him back into the wall.

  Elora looked around in time to see Ram’s head hit the wall and his eyes roll back. She shoved the vamp she was fighting and lunged toward Ram catching him before he fell. The two vampire disappeared, with their victim, behind the secret door as Elora lowered Ram to the ground. There was so much blood she had no way of telling how badly he was hurt.

  The interest that the second woman had generated with her screaming caught the attention of the other half of B Team along with Istvan Baka.

  When they arrived, Kay took off his shirt and held it against as much of the wound as he could while Storm ran to street level to call in an emergency. He had to get out on the sidewalk because there was too much noise inside the club to be heard on the phone.

  Elora looked at Kay. “Stay with him. Promise me.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “You know what I’m doing, Kay. Baka is going with me.”

  She looked at Baka for confirmation of that and he nodded.

  Kay pressed his lips together. “Storm is going to seizure when he finds out.”

  She glanced down at Ram. “Keep him alive.”

  Kay’s jaw clenched as they had a wordless conversation. With his eyes he said he would go to hell himself to bring Ram back if he had to, that he wasn’t planning on losing another teammate, and that he didn’t need her to tell him that.

  It took a minute or two for Elora’s eyes to adjust to the low light in the tunnel system. She and Baka had been running for about ten minutes, following faint sounds ahead. Suddenly she realized she was running alone. She turned to see why Baka had stopped. He had a very strange look on his face and seemed to be trying to say something. She started back toward him just before he crumpled to the dirt floor. When he we
nt down, she saw that Ghost was standing behind him and, even in the dim light, she could see that he was wearing a hideous, vindictive gloat on his doughy face.

  In the blink of an eye, she took it all in - the dart sticking out of Baka’s back, no doubt silver coated - and the second dart poised for launch with her as target. She didn’t know what chemical surprise it was carrying, but knew she didn’t want to find out.

  Thinking there was a chance she was fast enough to outrun it, she dug in to sprint the opposite direction. She’d barely sprung into the turn when she felt the sting between her shoulder blades. Instinctively she reached back to try and pull it out, but it was too well placed to reach. In a few seconds, she stumbled, slowed and went to her knees. Her next to last thought before she lost consciousness was that going back for Baka had been a big mistake. Her last thought was that Ram would blame himself for losing another partner and she didn’t want that for him.

  Ghost planned to secure Elora and then return to finish off Baka. He would have liked to savor the thrill of shoving a stake through the vamp’s heart. He had earned a reputation for vampire slaying. Only he knew that his motivation was the exquisite rush he got from hearing the squishing sound a stake makes when it is driven into a heart with enough force. That coupled with the sound of a last breath being expelled was satisfaction like no other. What an irony that he was decorated for the vilest impulses of depravity! A slight twist of circumstance might have resulted in infamy at the least and execution at the most. But, no, he couldn’t linger to pursue personal pleasure. With her unpredictable constitution, he couldn’t know how long the sedative would last on Elora.

  D team arrived with the med van carrying a plain black bag stashed with firearms already loaded with wood core bullets. Storm and Kay turned Ram’s care over to the medics and lost no more time. Two members of D Team stayed to guard the tunnel entrance while the other two went with Storm and Kay.

  When they came across Baka, Storm reached down and pulled the dart free thereby releasing Baka from the paralysis of the silver.

  After a minute, Baka sat up slowly and said simply, “Gautier Nibelung.” As he got to his feet Storm thought he saw something more than concern on Baka’s face. Fear maybe. “We won’t find her by ourselves. Too many possibilities.”

  Storm cursed then turned back to Baka and looked at him for a minute wrestling with the inner conflict of replacing one idea – that Baka was an abomination of the highest degree – with another idea, that Baka might be his only chance. He never thought he would live to see the day that he’d be asking a vampire for advice, but, if it would save Elora, he’d beg the vamp to drain him dry.

  “Do you have a suggestion?”

  Baka glanced down the empty tunnel for a minute and then returned his attention to Storm.

  “I’ve been formulating a plan. I thought there would be time to check the details carefully, search for flaws, but this development means collapsing my time frame.

  I have been exploring the tunnel system, recreating the design in a sort of blueprint form. There are a few main intersections of tunnel and hundreds of dead ends, but there are only three entrances. If we formulate a concerted attack with forces stationed at each of the three access points, we could seal the system permanently with explosive by carbon fixation.

  Two birds with one stone. Get rid of the vampire infestation – or most of it – and render the tunnel system permanently useless.”

  “C4.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you think that could be done safely.”

  “Yes. Manhattan is rock. The right amount will seal the tunnels and, if anyone above ground feels anything at all, it would be a minor, momentary vibration.”

  “Okay. But right now the pressing problem is that one of my team members is missing, likely captured, and in need of immediate assistance.”

  “Indeed. First things first. During my interview with Lady Laiken in Romania, she indicated that she intended to train the large, black beast to track vampire.”

  Immediately grasping the gist of where that line of thinking was headed, Storm started to look hopeful.

  “I need to get above ground so I can call Sol.”

  Storm made a concise report to Sol, saying that Blackie would let Sanction handle him, that they needed the dog there right away and to bring something from Elora’s clothes hamper. Something she had worn. Storm jerked when Baka came up behind him and touched his arm to get his attention.

  “Just a minute.” He told Sol to wait.

  “Tell them to bring blood. Her type. A lot of it along with someone who knows how to do a field transfusion.” Storm stared at Baka for half a beat allowing the implications to sink in. “And a few syringes of sedative. Strong.”

  Storm relayed that information. Sol said everyone available would be called in for the operation and that Monq would verify the safety and feasibility of Baka’s plan along with providing the necessary materials.

  Being purely objective, a Black Swan knight is a valuable commodity, not just in terms of the money it costs to train one and the time it takes to train one, but also the relative rarity of the ideal psychological profile. When a knight is injured in the field, they don’t send paramedics. They send the best doctors money can buy.

  When the med team reached Ram, it took only a couple of minutes to diagnose the concussion. They staunched the wounds so that they could contain the blood loss until they reached the state-of-the-edge, tricked out facilities at Jefferson Unit.

  Just as they were starting an I.V. with sedative for transport, Ram regained consciousness and asked for Elora. He heard voices saying, “Just rest,” which caused a momentary panic and thrashing about before he blacked out again.

  Ghost had carefully crafted a plan to create a vacancy on B Team, a vacancy that had been promised to him and, by all rights, should have been his. He had visited Monq’s offices in the middle of the night to access Laiken’s files in the pursuit of information about her possible weaknesses. He had tested the aphrodisiac being utilized by vampire for its effectiveness on Elora and had reason to believe she had succumbed.

  After getting a brief tour, courtesy of Baka, the system creator no less, Ghost had returned to the tunnel system armed and ready for a proper exploration. Three times he took turns that dead ended. Fifty yards into the fourth tunnel branch, he came across a detention cell complete with traditional jailhouse bars. Judging by the rings in the ceiling he guessed it had probably been used to imprison victims at one time. He opened and closed the iron door, rusty, but still strong enough to hold.

  He followed the black spray can markers he had left to find his way back knowing they would blend into the surroundings and be unnoticeable unless someone knew what to look for specifically.

  The next day he returned carrying two heavy duty padlocks, two lengths of heavy chain that could not be broken by an angry vampire, fifteen feet of rope, two rods with shark hooks, and two sets of titanium handcuffs one of which had been modified in the shop in sublevel two in the early morning when everyone else was sleeping. He doubled a length of rope in two and used one of the hooks to thread it through the ceiling ring. The other was used to grasp the folded section and pull the free end clear. Next he attached the rope to one of the lengths of chain and pulled it through the ring. Once the facility was ready for use, he found a nearby indention in the tunnel wall where he could await prospective accomplices.

  He had learned the skill of stationary stalking by deer hunting with his father when he was a twelve-year-old; the necessity of staying statue still for hours at a time, not moving no matter how cold it was, no matter how hungry you might be, or how much you might need to urinate. He was forced to leave empty handed in time to return to Jefferson Unit for his shift with E Team, but he came back the next two days. The third day, he hit the jackpot.

  Just an hour after he arrived he heard movement and went so still he was practically holding his breath. Two vampire came his way. It was as easy as sho
oting ducks in a barrel. All he had to do was step out and throw two silver coated darts. The vampire were down and immobilized before they had time to realize what happened.

  Ghost pulled them into the cell and left them there, paralyzed by silver, unable to move, hunt for food, or even defend themselves from rats. He wound several feet of chain between the first rung of the gate and the gate post, then fastened one of the padlocks.

  The entire time he worked he talked to the paralyzed vampire saying he was sorry to leave them so, but that he would be back before they starved with meal delivery both lovely and tasty.

  One thing he hadn’t taken into account was how heavy Elora was. He wished he’d read the file more carefully. She weighed twice what she should have. By the time he dragged her to the cell he was exhausted, soaked wet with sweat, and hating her even more - if that was possible.

  He stripped her clothes, secured her wrists and ankles with the cuffs, then ran the chain through the loops he had welded onto the manacles for that purpose. He raised her from the ground using the angled leverage of running the chain through the wall ring and suspended her from the ceiling with her feet just ten inches from touching ground. The second padlock was used to secure the chain connected to the wall ring.

  He threw two sedative darts into the paralyzed vamps. After a couple of minutes, giving the chemicals time to work their magic, he removed the silver coated darts knowing that the two vampire would awake soon and hungry. Very, very hungry.

  For the piece de resistance of sadism, he had made a special aphrodisiac laced dart for Elora and marked it as the only one with red feathers. Unfortunately he couldn’t find it. He searched the pocket of his cargo pants where he had stashed it, but it was gone. After going through every pocket and looking around the area, he decided he would have to be satisfied without the additional torture of the aphrodisiac. He removed the sedative darts which were the only evidence linking him to the carnage about to take place. Even if the scene should be discovered by The Order, he would never be implicated.