A Darker Crimson

by Carolyn Jewel

  “Claudia?”

  She turned to see her neighbor looking at her from the crack in the doorway. “Hey, Ruth.”

  Ruth Wells peeked through the gap allowed by the inside chain. You couldn’t tell right now but Ruth was a petite brunette with neon blue eyes who’d fought off a coke habit and had supermodel looks on a five-foot-one-inch frame. “You aren’t dead.”

  “Nope.”

  “Holly okay? Where you been, girl?” The door closed. From the other side of the door, the chain rattled, and then the door opened wider. Claudia watched Korzha’s reaction when her neighbor emerged wearing a short wrap-around robe of lime-green satin.

  “Yes, Holly’s okay. We’re not dead. We’ve been on vacation. Kind of unexpected,” said Claudia. Tiber smiled politely. “You still clean, Ruth?”

  The woman’s attention was riveted on Tiber. “Nine months, three weeks, two days. I didn’t tell them anything,” she said.

  Tiber bowed. “Thank you.”

  Ruth stuck a hand out at him. “Hi, there. I’m Ruth.” Her voice dropped to an on-the-prowl purr. “And you are?”

  “Completely charmed. Ruth.”

  Her eyes opened wide. “Damn.”

  “I’m delighted to meet one of Claudia’s friends.”

  “I’m supposed to call if I hear from you.” Ruth shifted her weight between her feet.

  Tiber stared into the woman’s face. Suddenly, the hallway felt a lot narrower. “You have heard nothing, of course.”

  Ruth goggled, and Tiber faced Claudia’s door. A moment later the locks clicked. Claudia was pretty sure Ruth didn’t notice nobody had keys. With one arm draped around Claudia’s shoulder, Tiber pushed open the door and went inside.

  “Later,” Ruth called.

  Claudia flipped the light switch and looked over her shoulder. A grinning Ruth gave her two thumbs up. She smiled back at her friend then closed the door. Home. Home at last. The harsh glow of the electric light startled her. She’d gotten used to the softer illuminations in Orcus.

  “Oh, no.” Claudia held back a sob as Holly looked around. Her heart sank through the floor. Her apartment was thoroughly tossed. A disaster. Plants had been yanked from their pots, the couch cushions had been slashed, her decorative pillows were destroyed. Cabinets and drawers were open, their contents on the floor. All books were off the shelves.

  Tiber surveyed the living room with her. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for such a slob, Donovan.” He put an arm around her shoulder, and she leaned against him, just as if they were a couple. Pesky tears welled up in her eyes again. From somewhere inside she found the strength to pretend she wasn’t devastated. “If it’s any consolation, there’s no one here,” he said. “Human, demon, dog or fang, whoever it was no one stuck around to collect you.”

  She swallowed the lump in her throat. “B-Ops. This has B-Ops written all over it.”

  “A fair conclusion,” he said.

  “Can I let Whiskers out now?” Holly asked, holding up the satchel.

  “Yes, sweetpea.”

  Holly bent down and released the mink. The animal wound itself around the girl’s legs, tail twitching, yellow eyes gleaming. “Well…” Claudia looked at Korzha. “I guess we’ll get something to eat, take showers and get Holly to bed while I clean up.” She put her arms around her daughter and hugged her. “I’ll be right back, okay?” The last part she directed at Tiber. She went back to Ruth’s, and ten minutes later returned with two cans of cat food and a change of clothes for Tiber. Ruth’s on-again off-again boyfriend was about his size. She found Tiber and Holly in the kitchen. The room had been tidied, the drawers closed, the pots put away and the dishes were stacked on the counter. Holly sat at the table, watching Tiber chop an onion. The edge of his knife flashed like he was an Iron Chef. “I got you a change of clothes,” Claudia said.

  He twisted his upper body toward her. “You and Holly shower, I’ll cook.”

  “You know how to cook?” she asked.

  “Shower,” he replied with a glance at Holly. “Go. Shower. Both of you.”

  When Claudia came back from putting the bathroom into decent enough shape for her daughter to use, she sat on Holly’s chair. Thank goodness she’d stocked up in that hotel bathroom, because B-Ops had emptied everything, every bottle, tube or container. She watched him study the contents of the fridge and check expiration dates. He took out half a dozen eggs and a hunk of old Parmesan.

  “Do you have a whisk?” he asked. He looked good in his Orcus clothes, she thought.

  Claudia got up, pulled open the silverware drawer and handed him a fork, daring him to comment.

  Korzha stared at it a moment then set the utensil aside. “Sometime back, I got bored and enrolled at the CIA,” he said.

  She opened a can of cat food. “What, you’re a spy?”

  “Certified executive chef.” He brandished his knife. “The Culinary Institute of America. St. Helena, Napa County, Cal-i-for-ni-ay.”

  “Gee.” Claudia laughed. Whiskers sniffed, then deigned to eat what was placed before him. She saw a flash of sharp white teeth. “I didn’t know you knew how to speak rube.”

  “While I was there, I bought a winery in Sonoma. We’ll have to go there one day.”

  “Right.” Why was he teasing her like this? They couldn’t be anything. She stared at him and just couldn’t stand to think of him driving north up the coast. Without her.

  In the meantime, there was a vampire in her kitchen and he was cooking. For a guy who didn’t eat real food, he knew his way around a kitchen. He’d found her stash of spaghetti and was bringing a pot of water to a boil. Without putting the noodles in to soften up. She never waited. She figured noodles were done when they were twice as big as when they went in. He picked up a piece of sprouted garlic and twisted off the yellow-green top. He peeled it and then his knife flashed and Claudia smelled the spicy odor. Probably now was not a good time to tell him she wasn’t going to die, or about her promise to Lath. She ignored the rock that formed in her stomach. “I think I’ll go clean something,” she said.

  He winked. “I’ll call you when I’m done.”

  Holly came out of the shower while Claudia was putting the last parched plant back in its pot. The girl sniffed the air and went straight to the kitchen. Claudia followed, and insisted Korzha take his shower next, with a warning that he had twelve minutes before auto shut-off. He turned down the boiling water and the skillet, and came out fifteen minutes later wearing the new clothes Claudia had scrounged for him; loose fitting pants, a white tank-top and a pair of black, Chinese-style shoes. The scar on his shoulder gleamed a paler white than the rest of his skin. Damp hair curled around his face. Claudia showered next, and discovered that the demon’s thread in her hair wouldn’t come out. It was fused into her hair and impervious to scissors.

  When she was done with her shower and back in the kitchen, Korzha fed them cheese omelettes and Parmesan noodles with a hint of peanut sauce. Holly ate everything on her plate and asked for seconds on the noodles, which, as it happened, were not twice the size they’d been when they went in. Everything was delicious.

  Claudia took her time putting Holly to bed and sat for a long while watching her daughter sleep. Whiskers curled up on the pillow next to Holly, its sharp nose near her ear. She had Tiberiu Korzha to thank for this moment. Tears burned behind her eyes. Unless she got a grip on herself, she was building up to a pretty huge breakdown. Everything was supposed to be better now that they were back in L.A., but it wasn’t. She didn’t wander back into the kitchen until the evidence of her tears had faded and she had a pocket stuffed with toilet paper in case they welled up again.

  Tiber faced her when she came in. He’d cleaned up in the kitchen and was just putting away the last dish. His hair had dried, but he hadn’t fastened it back. She loved what long hair did for his face. It made her think about kissing him. She didn’t have any idea what to say.

  “In case you’re wondering.” He draped the dishtowel ove
r the oven handle, then tugged once on the collar of her bathrobe. “I’ve put our clothes, yours, mine and Holly’s, in the wash.”

  “The wash?”

  He glanced at the wall clock. “They’ll be ready for the dryer in about twenty minutes.”

  She was meeting a whole different vampire. “You do laundry? Where’d you get the quarters?”

  “I have a way with machinery. But don’t be surprised if one of your socks disappears.” He grinned at her. “And yes, I separated the colors. Your brassiere will not come out pink.”

  “Thanks. And thanks for cooking, too.” He stepped close. She let out a breath and forced herself to speak. “We have to talk, Korzha.”

  “Tiber,” he reminded her. He moved closer, just inches away. “Tiberiu. Whichever you prefer, draga inima, but use my first name. And, let’s talk later, shall we?” His fingers stroked her throat.

  “Why are you doing this? All this cooking and cleaning and taking care of me? We’re in Crimson City. Home. You can have anybody you want, any way you want them.”

  He went still. Vamp-still. “At the portal,” he said at last, “I was surprised you came back for me.”

  “Why?”

  “I thought you chose Lath.” He touched her hair, fingering the thread that no amount of washing could remove. “Have you chosen him now?”

  “Let’s just say I made a deal with him.”

  “Ah. That explains my being alive, I take it.”

  “Maybe. Yes.”

  “I thought I’d lost you.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “When you and I finally met, you weren’t what I imagined or expected. Not at all. And…I thought you’d chosen him. With my reputation…” He shook his head. “At the moment, I am a wanted vamp and under a sentence of death, not that we knew that then, but still. I thought—”

  “I didn’t choose him. It’s you I want, Tiber.” She put her hands on his shoulders. “When he was with me, I never once stopped thinking about you and everything you’ve done for me, and he knows it. He knows I want you. You make me feel safe.” With a choked sob, she moved into his arms. “He’s still in my head. He’s still there, and I don’t think he’s ever going away.”

  “But you are here with me.” Slowly, he stroked her back. “With me.”

  “Yes.”

  “This is what you wish? Me?”

  “Yeah, Tiber. It is.”

  Tiber stroked her back and after a bit, his arms tightened around her. “Holly is asleep?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  He scooped her up and said, “Your room?” She pointed, and he walked there. She’d managed to neaten the worst of the mess, but she still felt a surge of embarrassment at the disorder. Korzha laid her on the bed, seemingly unperturbed. “I only want you,” he said. “No woman but you. No anything but you. For as long as we have.” He lay beside her, but Claudia stuck out her arms, stopping him.

  “I’m not going to die,” she blurted. She told him about Lath and what he’d done to her and waited for him to withdraw from her. Now, her closeness with Korzha would be gone. He’d be horrified by her agreement with the demon and he’d leave her, and she’d be alone again. And she didn’t want to be alone anymore, starting completely over but not knowing what she wanted…“Lath did something to me, Tiber. And now he says I’m not going to die.”

  His eyes glittered in the semi-dark. “Then I owe him a debt,” he said.

  Her heart turned over in her chest. “Korzha, this isn’t a joke.”

  “I’m not joking.” He leaned over her, using his forward movement to recline them both on the mattress. He put his mouth near her ear, then nuzzled her throat. “May I?”

  “Stop that.” But she threw her arms around him, pulling his shirt up and off. She slipped her hands along his stomach.

  “Only a little,” he whispered when he’d thrown his borrowed shirt to the side. Claudia stared at his chest. Jeez, he was hot. The vampire reached out and touched the side of her head, running his finger along the thread in her hair. “I need a taste,” he said, “of my beautiful Claudia.”

  “Okay.”

  Hours later, she awoke. Tiber slept next to her, arms around her. How about that? She was used to his motionless, cool body next to hers. She brushed a lock of hair from his forehead and then rose to find clean underwear, a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt. Her bedside clock flashed 12:00 p.m., but she figured it was more like eight or nine. After she’d dressed and checked on Holly who was still fast asleep, she wandered into the kitchen for a snack of stale bread. Yuck. But then she found an orange and an apple that looked to be in relatively safe shape. Fruit in hand, she went to the living room and booted up her computer. While she waited she peeled the orange.

  Her insides went cold. She and Korzha had never used any birth control. Ever. Including last night. The thought had never even entered her mind.

  Her computer booted up. It took her about twenty minutes to eliminate the keylogger, spyware, malware and various trackers, courtesy of B-Ops, installed on the primary partition. She was pretty certain they hadn’t found the other partition. A normal start up would take her to the main OS with the typical mail reader and internet access, but on bootup, if she hit a specific keystroke, up came the Linux partition. Slash dot. Ah, yes. Apache Tomcat server on Red Hat. Darknet on Linux was a wonderful thing. On her salary, all she could afford was one gig down, half a gig up and darknet from the same terminal. Risky, but she knew how to hide her tracks.

  The first thing she did after she changed her IP address was check her email, starting with the anonymized account she didn’t give to anyone. She checked the logs she’d routed to the account. Shit. One of her B-Ops rootkits had been discovered, but the rest were still there. After that, she checked her log from the P.D.’s email server. As expected, the virtual private network password had been recently rotated. Her scripts filtered all the emails to tech support. Lots of people hadn’t read any of the warnings about the VPN password change. It didn’t take but half a minute to find one with the new password in it and an officer’s login. Some people never learned. The guy probably taped his bank login to his squad car laptop, and she’d bet money he used his badge number as his network password.

  And, what do you know, she was right. She logged into the L.A.P.D. VPN and authenticated without a hitch. From there, she logged into the mail server with a default sys admin ID no one had bothered to change. She started checking email accounts, starting with her boss’s. She’d been declared missing, feared dead at the hands of the vampire Tiberiu Korzha. Family Korzha had promised their utmost cooperation while the matter remained unresolved.

  The most recent message was from B-Ops. Short and sweet. B-Ops demanded to deal with any and all incidents involving unexplained paranormal activity or, and here it got interesting, with anything regarding Claudia Donovan or her daughter. Another email alert advised that B-Ops 911 access had been activated. That meant B-Ops monitored all 911 traffic in the city and could intercept calls and send them directly to their headquarters with P.D. dispatch none the wiser. And then she found a surprising thread for Laura Masters. She printed the exchange so she could show it to Tiber later.

  She logged off the VPN and brought up the B-Ops web server gateway. She had the router admin account info because one of the B-Ops Cisco engineers had been trying to get laid, and in the course of complaining about being underpaid and subject to the dominion of his idiot boss, talked a bit too much. By the end of his third beer she’d had the login, password and the port knocking sequence. One at a time, she got onto her root-kitted servers. She ate the last of the apple while she studied logs, ran queries and dumped the results onto her hard drive.

  “A little cracking, dear-heart?” Tiber’s voice rose behind her, enveloping and sweet.

  She didn’t jump because though he had approached with absolute silence, she’d seen his shadow on the monitor. Heart thudding, she sanitized the log entries for her server access so they looked like routine sys monit
or events. “You’re a wanted man, Tiber Korzha,” she said.

  “No surprise.”

  “Too bad I never saw that there’s a no-stop APB on you. I’ll have to call in, otherwise.”

  “Which means?”

  “Any cop who sees you notifies B-Ops ASAP. But there’s no stopping you. No questions, no nothing. We’re just supposed to advise of your location.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “If I were you, I’d be looking to find out what your Primary Assembly thinks of all this.”

  “I already know what they think. They’ve sicced the Vendix on me.”

  “What’s a Vendix?” She’d heard the term last night, but had been too tired to inquire.

  “A sort of executioner, if you will.”

  She threw the apple core at the waste basket. Two points. “That sucks.”

  He laughed. “A misunderstanding that needs to be cleared up sooner rather than later.”

  She swiveled on her chair. “Are you absolutely certain Laura Masters is dead?”

  “Yes.”

  “What if it doesn’t work the same in Orcus? Is that possible?”

  “Why do you ask, Claudia?”

  “You better sit down.”

  “Because?”

  “Last week, this picture was on the front page of every paper in the city.” She handed him a photo of Laura Masters. Despite the bite marks on her neck, she looked very much alive.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “Masters is dead,” Tiber said. Of that he was certain. “There’s no way she’s not.”

  “Last time I saw her, she looked dead to me, too, but if she is, how do you explain that?” She pointed at the photo. Claudia brushed her hair behind her ears and shivered when her fingers brushed over the platinum thread there. She turned back to the monitor. “Aslet dumped her body at the wharf. Leroux wolf territory.” Her slender fingers tapped on the keyboard. A screenful of data appeared, text in black on white. Tiber read what he could understand. “The M.E. called her at 8:24:02 p.m., PDT. Got her body-bagged and headed for an autopsy.”