by John Conroe
The monster inside me demanded out.
“So I’ll be challenging Gordon here for you. He’s no proper kind of choice. I’ll show you a real choice!” the big vampire continued, making a show of hip thrusts.
“A formal Challenge then?” Tanya asked her voice dangerously quiet.
“Oh yes, it’s official,” said Langsford, nodding at Dominick who instantly started his rush my way.
‘You’re up!’ I told my inner demon, letting Grim take over. Immediately, the world became sharper and brighter, as every detail of the room around me was mapped and laid out on a mental grid. Every vampire’s position was plotted, their bodies shaded in thermal vision, their slow beating hearts visible to my eyes as orange lumps in dark chests.
Dominick’s blinding rush slowed to a molasses crawl as Grim side-stepped , moving closer to Langsford’s desk. I watched my right hand snatch up the crystal brandy decanter as my left hand, which was wreathed with a monomolecular edge of hardened purple aura, sliced off the neck and top of the thick lead glass at an angle. The result was a heavy crystal jar with a sharp glass edge, like the tip of a giant hypodermic needle. Grim put the container to use as I/we spun behind the slow moving Dominick, shoving the jar through the vampire’s back, slightly to the left of center.
The blow was powerful enough to jam the decanter all the way through the ninety year old vampire’s chest, his heart instantly canned like last summer’s tomatoes. My left hand caught the sudden corpse by its hair, arresting the forward movement and then pulled back, throwing Dominick’s remains off my right arm which was elbow deep, and into the same marble fireplace that was already stained with Lenny’s brains and blood.
Grim stood us in front of Langsford’s desk, gently setting the bloody jar full of heart on the cherry surface. My combat persona can drive my virus modified body at speeds that equal Tanya’s and at somewhat greater power. Tanya was the only vampire in the room who had followed my actions, the rest not being able to perceive the movements as anything but a continuous blur, although most of Langsford’s side of the room was now speckled with a fine misting of blood.
It takes a great deal to horrify a vampire, especially one as old as Calvin Langsford, and I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t grossed out by the crystal decanter of blood and heart, a bit of aorta spilling over the edge. But when his eyes flicked up to look at mine, seeing Grim staring back at him, the fear was blatant. He froze as the realization of how close he was to his own death hit home.
Older vampires grow contemptuous of most threats, only fearing older and more powerful vampires than themselves. Growing stronger and more impervious as they age, they find it that much harder to face a true threat when it does show up.
“Anyone else want to Challenge Christian?” Tanya asked in a soft voice.
“How about you Langsford? Want to see how far you get with my human pet?” she continued.
Langsford flicked his eyes to hers then quickly back to me, carefully not moving any other part of his body. Every other vampire in the room was frozen, watching me like I was a Black Mamba.
“No?” Tanya said. “Well, congratulations, it looks like you beat the odds. The office pool back in the Citadel had you down as one of the casualties of our visit.”
He finally found his voice, looking back her way. “Office pool?”
“Yeah, Headquarters has a running betting pool on the number and identity of vampires that will die when our team visits a Coven location. Some, like Cincinnati, have a big zero down, as the Darkkin in that city tend to be more adaptable and quicker to believe the grapevine. Chicago, on the other hand, had as many as seven Darkkin down for ‘Death by Christian’, and your name was listed at the top.”
My Grim side watched him even as it tracked all movement in the building. Blood ran down my right arm, dripping on a priceless Persian rug.
“You see, Master Langsford..” she said, twisting his tile and name a bit, “..the stories about Christian don’t really do him justice. You see and smell him as human, and a delectable one at that. The reality is that he’s a predator of us. He kills vampires and weres like you consume prostitutes, and he’s so good at it that he makes the Elders nervous, and he’s two of our years old!”
Grim retreated, leaving me control of my voice as I protested her words.
“Tanya, I’m not two!” I said.
“Only by our way of measuring age, zayka,” she said. “It just boggles the mind thinking what you will be like at ten or twenty, let alone a hundred years of age.”
Calvin’s facial expression was priceless as the impact of her words hit him, especially as I think he understood the Russian word zayka as bunny, the equivalent term of endearment as honey.
I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever be more of a threat than I am now, but the vampires sure seem to think so.
“Now Master Langsford, if the question of my Chosen is settled – “ she glanced around at the frozen vampires, then not seeing any new contenders, she continued, “ we can get to the bottom of which of your flock here is responsible for negligently creating Lenny the rogue.”
Tanya had been strolling closer to the desk and as she finished her sentence she picked up the jar with Dominick’s canned heart in it. She studied it for a moment then without warning tossed it to the blonde vampire behind Langsford, further spattering her already blood speckled dress.
The blonde automatically caught the crystal container, eyes widening at the implication. She looked up at Tanya, then me, finally turning to her Master in panic.
“Master you can’t think…., I didn’t do it….. why are you accusing me? You don’t have proof!” she said in a flurry.
“What’s your name?” I asked. She jumped when I spoke to her, as if she was shocked that I could actually talk and form words.
“Chantel,” she answered, then turned back to Langsford to continue her pleading.
“Master, you aren’t going to let them accuse me, are you? They have no proof.”
He looked at her stricken face for a moment then turned back to Tanya.
“What proof do you have of Chantel’s guilt?” he said, which struck me as a very odd way to phrase things.
“Actually, none. But both she and the rogue reacted to seeing each other when we came in,” Tanya admitted.
“That’s hardly proof, Ms. Demidova,” he said.
“Oh, it’s not any kind of proof at all. But it is suspicious and I find it unlikely that the two would know each other if she wasn’t his Maker,” Tanya said. “But vampires operate in tight knit groups, closer than a similar mix of humans would be. I’m willing to bet someone in this room knows if it was Chantel or not. My hope is to clear this up now, rather than have to bring in a Reader, like say Nika, to get this solved. “
Readers are telepaths, and Nika, who was almost as close to Tanya as Lydia, was one of the most powerful in the Coven. Older vampires could block her, but bringing in a Reader was akin to a lie detector test in the human world. All vampires would be expected to lower their mental shields and cooperate with the investigation.
“The goal here, Master Langsford, is to clear this up as quickly as possible, so Christian and I can get on our way. Bringing in Nika would most likely turn up all manner of other problems and issues, don’t you think?” she asked.
Every territory of vampires in the Coven was run by a Master, none of who desired the upper echelon to delve too deep into their personal kingdoms. Nika would rip through the Chicago Coven’s secrets in minutes, finding indiscretions, mistakes, and crimes against the vampire society. Every Coven had them and every Master wanted them kept buried.
Langsfords eyes glittered as he mentally ran through the implications.
“Chantel, my dear, I’m afraid you must own up to this,” he said after a moment. Wow, nice to know your boss had your back – not! But then vampires are just people, violent, blood sucking predatory people, but people nonetheless.
To give her credit, Chantel wasted no tim
e in protesting her innocence, she simply fled at top speed. Her rush to the door went unimpeded, either by Tanya and I or any of the Chicago vampires. But when she yanked opened the door and went through it, she ran into a wall of brown fur. The furry barrier stood nine and a half feet tall on its hind legs and weighted a solid thousand pounds. Those figures aren’t guesses, I know them because I measure and weigh the furry wall on a regular basis, in both of his forms, to keep track of his growth.
Chantel bounced off of Awasos’s massive bear form and into the arms of two vampires, too shocked to resist.
Chapter 4
The rest of the trip went fast. Chantel was tried, judged and sentenced by Langsford, who then oversaw her execution. Tanya, Awasos and I witnessed the proceedings then left Chicago quickly.
“Master Langsford will, of course, blame us for this, Chris, so we don’t want to hang around waiting for retaliation. Better to get out of the city,” Tanya said, as she drove the big SUV North on I-94. Within several miles we found a rest stop, where we pulled over and went over the car with one of Chet Akins sophisticated bug scanners. Sure enough it had two trackers on it, one under the lip of the hood, the other in left rear wheel well. We got back on the Interstate and continued north.
After a time she exited the Interstate and took side roads, finally stopping at an Italian restaurant outside of Milwaukee. I ate enough ziti and pasta fagioli for both of us, bought a family-sized takeout tray of eggplant parmesan and another of lasagna for Awasos, then we stopped in a small park near one of the hundreds of lakes in that area and I fed Tanya, while Awasos terrorized the nocturnal wildlife.
When she had finished her dinner, we called Citadel on one of the encrypted cell phones that we carry. Tanya gave a pretty full report to Lydia, including the names of the deceased vampires and the identity of the rogue.
“Only two dead?” Lydia asked over the speaker, her voice incredulous. “Jeeze Chris, this is no time for you to develop self-control, I’ve got a lot riding on these visits!”
“There really is a pool?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of it until Tanya mentioned it back in Chicago.
“Yeah, but sadly I’m forbidden from participating. Some people think I would use my position to influence the results,” she replied in mock outrage. “But I do consult with the ones in the pool, offering my expert opinion…for a fee.”
“Gee Lydia, that’s shocking! Who could believe that you might lead Chris to believe that this vampire or that vampire had been courting me for years before he came on scene,” Tanya said, smirking in my direction.
“Wait, vampires have been courting you?” I asked, suddenly getting angry.
“Damn, it would have been easier than I thought!” Lydia, blurted.
“Hah! Caught you Lyd!” Tanya said into the phone before turning to me. “And yes, Chris, many vampires sought my attention before you came along.”
“They still do,” Lydia said.
“What? Who?” I demanded.
“You’re so not helping Lydia. Stop baiting him,” Tanya said while touching my hand. My anger fell away as her touch and our bond fed me reassurance.
My demon tainted blood is a huge boost to my combat skills, but it’s hell on my temper. Everyone gets angry and annoyed from time to time. The standard frustrations of everyday life guarantee it. The aggressive driver that cuts you off, the old lady counting change to pay for her groceries and holding up ten people, the loud mouth who cuts line at the Burger King; they’re all going to raise our blood pressure and make us see red. The difference is that my demonically altered blood urges me to take action, to make the violent images that run through my head a graphic reality. The standard run-of-the-mill anger management class is sooo not gonna work for me.
But I’m getting there, bit by bit. Tanya can calm me with a touch or word. Oddly, Awasos, my furry were-bear-wolf (not sure what else to call him) is also a good influence on my violent temper. His huge head, in either form, has a tendency to shove itself under my hand when I’m struggling to keep from quite literally tearing the head off the 90th guy of the day to hit on Tanya, right in front of me like I wasn’t there beside her. She handles them adeptly, often making them look like fools, but ultimately leaving them unharmed. Still my anger bubbles just beneath the surface, so I have to keep control, keep my dark side reined in. But hey, we all have problems, right?
“They never believe that you could have Chosen me, because I’m not vampire,” I stated, my voice flat.
“Vampires are the original racists Chris,” Lydia said over the speaker, “which is why they flock to Tanya – she’s the purest of our race.”
Tanya slid across my lap, straddling my thighs and holding my face in both white hands.
“Listen, this Rover assignment is all about us – “ she shook my head slightly, “ – meeting the Darkkin world head on and educating them on who we are. Do you think that any Chicago vampire would fail to take you seriously after tonight?”
I shook my head side to side.
“Chris, wanna bet on how fast the word of Citadel’s death pool spreads from Chicago? Langsford’s people are some of the biggest gossips in the Coven,” Lydia said.
Tanya looked into my eyes, gauging my expression, all while reading the bond that we share.
“Okay, back to business,” she said, concluding I was reassured. “Lyd, we’re gonna want a new vehicle, I don’t trust Langsford not to retaliate,” she said into the phone.
A dark form moved by the edge of the clearing we were parked in. The heavy bulk of Awasos in bear form moved out of the gloom, his shape outlined by the faint light of dawn that was beginning to show in the eastern sky.
“Already on it. I’ve gotta white Tahoe waiting for you in Milwaukee,” Lydia responded. “Here are the directions.”
I lifted Tanya off of my lap and slid out of the vehicle while she talked logistics with the little vampire who was her closest friend, confidant and girl Friday.
All of our vehicles came equipped with boxes of non-perishable food, stuff like granola bars, trail mix, protein shakes and the like. It was considered standard equipment for any car that I would be traveling in. I grabbed the current ride’s offerings and headed over to my bear. He was sprawled on the ground looking east, head on his paws, but his massive skull swiveled around to me as I approached.
“Hey bud, wanna snack?” I asked, flopping down next to him. Silly question. Weres are always hungry and the only were-bear-wolf in existence had a metabolism higher than mine. I ripped open a case of blueberry Cliff bars and piled them in front of him, holding back two for myself. We munched quietly, listening to Tanya and Lydia plot plan the next leg of our trip.
“Ferry?” I asked around a mouthful of dry protein bar. “We’re really gonna take a ferry across Lake Michigan?”
“It’s the most direct route to Michigan and our next assignment is in the Upper Peninsula,” Tanya explained.
I poured three chocolate energy shakes down Awasos black hole of a mouth, then sipped one of my own as I thought about crossing the lake. Water can be an issue for supernaturals and there seemed very little natural about me these days. Weres and vampires are denser than humans, especially weres, so swimming is problematic. Vampires can go long periods on a single breath, but not so weres. An accident in the middle of Lake Michigan could be a real issue for Awasos, myself and to a lesser degree, Tanya. Of course a basic life vest or in Awasos’s case, several life vests, could go a long way toward mitigating the problem. I made a mental note to keep a close eye on the Coast Guard required safety gear on board the ship.
Dawn was fast approaching as we finished our snack, Tanya starting to yawn as the sun’s presence weighed upon her vampire mind. She had a pretty good tolerance for sunlight and could walk in direct light, but it still made her sleepy. Our routine was now honed after three months on the road. I drove in the mornings, she drove in the early evenings and we shared the driving during the dark of night. We could, and had, driven straight throu
gh to many of our assignments without rest, but if time wasn’t a factor we generally holed up in the middle of the day, both asleep, with Awasos on watch.
Time was a factor in this case, both to remove ourselves from Chicago’s zone of influence as well as get to the next problem, which I still didn’t know the details of.
Tanya handed me the directions for the next vehicle switch, then curled up in the back seat, protected by the special window tinting that all Coven vehicles were equipped with. Awasos ambled to the back, changing form in mid-step from a 1,000 pound grizzly to a 250 pound wolf. He just fits much better in the SUV in the smaller form, plus the extra 750 pounds would absolutely kill our gas mileage – gotta stay as green as we can.