Richard turned his head, “Who are you calling senile? You might look strong but…”
Gabrielle cut him off, “Don’t Richard.” He turned and looked at her, “The reason that I’m talking with you is because these two have killed enough Nosferatu to fill a pool with their blood and have plenty left over. They would just as soon break your backs over their legs as talk with you. Since the two of you are, somewhat, old friends of mine I’ve been tasked with trying to keep this as bloodless as possible.”
Richard hissed, “These two Gabrielle?” He sniffed, “I can smell their humanity on them from across the coffee shop.”
Gabrielle lowered her face to Richard’s level, “You fucking idiot. These are two of the Queen’s Own. They restrain because I’ve been put in the lead, but don’t assume I control them. They can and will put you into the grave a final time if you fail to help me.” She stood back up, “So, who’s going to talk about the false queen first?”
Samuel spat, “False? Tell that to Hichoi and his group. They have seen their last moonrise.”
Gabrielle nodded, “That was the information I received. That’s why she’s been tagged. Vamp on Vamp violence has been outlawed.”
“By Michael? He hasn’t been to this side of the world, ever. His edicts mean little to us here.”
“No.” Gabrielle said, “By Bethany Anne.”
“Who?” Richard asked.
Richard noticed the human man turn his head towards him. “She is talking about the Queen Bitch, you poor excuse for a sentient being. If you say one disparaging word about my Queen, I will pull your intestines out through your mouth and sit on your useless ass until the sun comes up.” Richard was about to make a disparaging remark when he noticed something that made him stop and stare.
The human’s eyes were glowing red.
CHAPTER SIX
Washington D.C. – USA
Barb tilted her chair back and leaned her head against the headrest. Then, she leaned back further and stared up at the ceiling as she twirled in the chair, causing the ceiling to go round-and-round.
That lasted about three turns before she closed her eyes, “Good going, Barbie girl, you just successfully made yourself nauseous!”
It was a nice Saturday afternoon outside and Barb was stuck.
She was pretty far down the rabbit trail on the report. She couldn’t completely pin down the group, but enough smoking trails were there to lead her to this new TQB Enterprises.
When she looked into the taxes and roster, it was pretty damning. They had a retired General as the Company Operations Officer and a group of black-ops guys had disappeared into the mix. Not to mention a fuck-ton of ex-Navy people were floating around the Mediterranean Sea during the time of the Turkey operation. To top it all off they had purchased or, at minimum, indefinitely leased a major army base in Colorado that had just conveniently been decommissioned.
Why the hell hadn’t anyone else pulled this information together?
The companies under the umbrella were old. Some of them centuries old and some as recent as a couple of years ago. The elusive head of the company had real estate down in the Miami area but she hadn’t been seen there recently.
Barb had tried to track credit card receipts, but they didn’t make sense. She might have purchased something in Miami for lunch and then in France at night with no method of travel that Barb could tell.
She had been able to confirm that the company had private jets, but she had tracked the flight plans. Occasionally they matched up, but frequently they didn’t.
It was pissing her off. It was like she was missing pieces of the puzzle and couldn’t put it all together.
But that wasn’t the worst aspect. The part that really concerned her was ‘who’ she was doing this research for. There were plenty of potential clues, but they kept pointing to a non-entity. The kind of non-entity you would use if your group was black and deniable.
The kind of group that might get rid of any pointer back to them.
Sydney, Australia
Samuel snapped in irritation, “Gabrielle, there is no way that…” He stopped talking when he felt the gun barrel touching his skull. Samuel noticed that Richard’s eyes were wide open across the little table.
The human bent down next to Samuel and hissed into his ear, “Please give me an excuse to blow your fucking brains all over the place. The humans here would get money and might receive memory modification. I, on the other hand, would have the pleasure of ending your useless ass. The next words out of your mouth better respect Gabrielle or I’ll personally take you out and kick your ass.”
Samuel looked at Gabrielle but she just shrugged and pulled out a small knife to clean her beautifully manicured nails.
Samuel never saw Richard’s minute head shake.
“What the hell,” Samuel hissed, “I’ll go for door number two but I get to suck on your neck when I win this fight you disrespecting ass. I’m not Nosferatu and there is a world of difference as I’ll show you.”
“Then you had better bring your ‘A’ game, old-timer.” Scott said.
“So boys,” Gabrielle said putting up he knife, “Now that you have both enjoyed your ritual dick-beating, I have questions.”
“No.” Samuel replied, “You said that this irresponsible idiot could break my back over his knee. You don’t get an answer until he proves he should even be allowed to talk at the adults table.”
She shrugged, “Well, once your ass whipping is complete, we will finish this conversation. Come with me.”
Scott stood back to give them room to get up. They started following Gabrielle. Samuel turned his head and said in a very quiet voice, “See, she even seeks to protect them from me right now.”
“You arse, she isn’t protecting them, she is protecting you!”
Samuel frowned and turned to face his friend. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Richard shook his head, “These two aren’t human. The rumors of Michael’s Queen are apparently more accurate than we thought.” The two stepped outside and looked to the left where Gabrielle was stepping into an alley between the two buildings.
They caught up with her. She was easily seen in the ambient light originating from the street and business buildings around them.
Gabrielle asked, “How did you guys arrive?” Both admitted, taxis. “Figures.” She turned to Richard, “Do you still have that useless excuse for a house out on Point Piper?”
Richard raised an eye, “I didn’t know you knew about that house.”
Gabrielle eyed him, “There is a lot you don’t know about myself and my team. I imagine your education will be enhanced by the morning. We will meet you two there for the ‘discussion’ between the two of you.” She turned to walk back towards the street and said over her shoulder, “Don’t be late, Samuel. It’s so rude.”
Samuel turned to Richard after a few seconds, “What am I missing?”
Richard was still starring at the empty spot where Gabrielle had disappeared around the corner, “I’m pretty sure you missed the part where something dramatic happened on the other side of the world and now that tsunami is making itself known here.”
Samuel looked where Richard was starring, “You believe her human can do anything to me?”
Richard shrugged, “Have you ever known Gabrielle to allow someone to go into harm’s way.”
“Yes!” Samuel huffed. “That time back in ’1763 or maybe ’62.”
“Ok,” Richard agreed, “Point to you. How about have you ever known Gabrielle to unnecessarily allow a human to get hurt by a vampire?”
“No,” Samuel mused, “but it doesn’t mean I know everything that has changed about her in the last couple of centuries.”
“No?” Richard turned to him, “then you have laid dormant for too long.” Richard started towards the street, “Let’s go get a cab and get to the house. I don’t want to be late for this.”
Samuel caught up with him, “What’s ‘this’?”
>
Richard was waiving his arm and was lucky when a taxi coming down the other way made an illegal u-turn and stopped in front of them. Richard answered, “Hell if I know, I just feel life is changing and you know how I feel about change.”
Samuel got in the taxi thinking about Richard’s comment.
The taxi took them through the Cross city tunnel toll road and the two found themselves being dropped off just fifteen minutes later. Samuel had received a text that they were waiting for them in the back of the house.
The two of them walked around Richard’s tiny estate to the back where they found the other three sitting at one of the tables around his large pool. The lights were on a timer and the whole back yard had a beautiful glow from all of the decorative lights pointed up through the bushes and trees. The pool lights cast their own blue hue onto the back of his house.
The three stood up.
Richard asked as they came up, “What are the rules?”
Scott answered, “Don’t squeal like a little baby.”
Samuel looked at him and frowned in disapproval, “How dry.”
Gabrielle shrugged, “All fists, no weapons.”
Samuel considered, “How about he is allowed a knife if I’m allowed my fingers?”
Gabrielle looked over to Richard, “You will vouch that I tried to keep it as bloodless as possible?” Richard nodded to her. She turned back to the two, “Do try to keep the neighbors out of this.”
Samuel smiled and took off his white shirt, “Sorry, but this is custom tailored, I don’t want your blood ruining it.”
Scott asked, “Are you good to go, now?”
Samuel answered “Yes.” Then received the hardest left cross he had ever had the misfortune to feel, his neck whipping back as he heard he jaw break. He found himself trying to pick himself up off the concrete surround of Richard’s pool, his blood dripping into the pool.
Samuel’s eye didn’t need to change to red, they were already that way fueled by his anger. He stood up as Scott was walking to him, “First blood was yours, but don’t assume that one cheap shot…” He had to stop talking when the human came at him as fast as a vampire and Samuel ducked the first punch but failed to see the knee coming up to break his nose disorienting him for a moment.
Samuel’s left fingers changed to half inch daggers and he swiped up as his body was lifted off the ground and was tossed back fifteen feet to land in the grassy back yard. He rolled backwards to get his feet under him.
Scott ripped off his shirt, the three eight inch scratches across his torso from Samuel’s sharpened fingers starting to heal in front of Samuel’s eyes.
“So,” Samuel said, “Some sort of vampire then?”
Scott grunted, “You are so old-school I’m not sure you are capable of learning any more, are you?”
Samuel pivoted quickly, blindingly fast and whipped his leg around in a roundhouse kick.
Scott blocked it and stepped back a step allowing Samuel to return to his own ready position.
Samuel noticed Scott’s red eyes, matching his own. “What?” Samuel asked, “are you recognizing the difference between Nosferatu and a real Vampire now?”
Scott laughed, “Motherfucker, I’ve worked out with the best and I’ve been beaten by the best. My brothers work to take out monsters who make you seem like a high-school workout.”
“Monsters? You haven’t seen a monster yet!”
Samuel’s right hand fingers grew their own nails. He kicked off his shoes as his toes stretched and then claws erupted through his socks.
Scott looked down and noticed the new danger, “You seriously need to man-scape.” At Samuel’s hiss, Scott shrugged, “Just a suggestion.”
Samuel’s blood lust was incensed. Not only was this upstart causing him pain, but his insolence was driving Samuel beyond his normally controlled calm. His toes tore into the turf as he launched himself at the human. He swiped at him, but he had dodged to Samuels’ right. He did score another set of shallow cuts in a small action where he should have eviscerated him.
He pivoted to face the human and received a large boot imprint on his chest and what felt like four cracked ribs as he flew back towards the pool area, narrowly missing a metal table.
Both men heard Richard hiss, “Dammit, you two cock-ups better miss my eighteenth century furniture!”
Richard heard the deep voice from the human named Darryl, “If you want anything saved, I’d suggest you move it. Scott isn’t even working hard yet.”
Richard turned, his mouth open, “Truly?”
Darryl nodded, “Yes. Here, I’ll help you, let’s do this.”
Richard was caught unaware when the big man switched to his own vampire speed and jumped across Richard’s pool to start grabbing chairs and other stuff, moving them to the side. Richard did the same and when they both arrived back, next to Gabrielle, Richard had to appreciate how easily the man had told him that Gabrielle hadn’t mislead them at all.
These two men were beyond capable.
Resigned, Richard asked Gabrielle, “Am I going to lose him tonight?”
Gabrielle looked to him, “Are you going to tell me what I want to know?”
Richard looked back to the two guys fighting. Scott had a few more rips across his chest. But even at this distance he could see that they were healing at an incredible rate. “Are you going to deal with her?”
Gabrielle snorted, “My Queen has given her Own a task. We don’t quit. She is going to answer for her crimes.”
Richard was thinking and mused out loud, “Why isn’t he fighting back much?”
Gabrielle asked again, “Are you going to tell me what I want to know?” Richard nodded, “We will, but I have to say that Samuel knows more than me.”
Gabrielle turned back to the two men and spoke in a conversational voice, “Scott, end this please.”
---
Scott was dodging the fast vampire one more time when he heard Gabrielle’s command. He used his foot that was moving out of the way of Samuel and set it into the ground. Samuel pivoted and dodged low, expecting another kick from Scott and was surprised when he saw the human grinning in feral delight.
And coming straight at him.
He tried to dodge to his right, swiping up with his left hand to strike across the ribs when his wrist was caught in a grip that cracked his wrist bones. The next instant, the man twisted behind him pulling Samuel off his feet and bodily throw him into a tree twenty feet away. Samuel crunched into the tree trunk and bounced down. By the time he got his hands underneath him that damned large-as-a-shovel boot kicked his head to bounce it off the trunk.
That fucked up Samuel’s world. The pain was almost too much for Samuel to handle when he felt his body lifted up in the sky, he opened his eyes to see the stars through the tree limbs. “Do you yield to the Queen’s Own, or do you die?”
Samuel couldn’t operate his arms, they splayed down his sides as he coughed through the blood disgorging from his mouth
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