by P. S. Power
"Do you have a number for this man?"
He did, pulled directly from the head Manthori's mind even. He marched into the back of his store, eating from the paper cup in his hands the whole time. The frosty thing was good, if poorly made. The ingredients were well made, but Barb had sort of slapped the thing together, which probably meant she was secretly freaking out. There were too many high ranking and powerful people around and for a fairly young Vampire like herself, being only about fifty years dead, that wasn't a good thing.
Anyone in that room might rape her, or simply kill her out of hand, after all. Even Rebekah might, as far as she knew. It was bad enough having Edom and Lenore around all the time, and they were her people. Bey was basically the baby Vampire boogie-man, for goodness sake. He was the threat that came during the day and killed you, if you didn't learn fast enough, or wouldn't behave. It was a huge thing that the girl hadn't lost control of bodily functions with them all there.
It was probably good for her. Unpleasant, but it would eventually be important for her to be known to the higher ups.
He signaled Edom to go directly back to his little office, and pointed at the chair, so that the man would sit. As that happened, he picked up the small black phone and dialed, then put the thing to his own ear.
"Hello?" The voice was spooky deep, meaning a large person, since there was a hollow tone to it. People that were faking a deep voice like that always sounded strained and fake. This man, whoever he was, didn't need to bother with that.
"John?" It was just polite small talk, since that was the name of the man he was calling.
"Yeah? Who's this?"
Not wanting a ten minute conversation about what a nice guy he was, and only there to help, Zack lied. It was a new enough thing that he almost added magic to it, before he realized he didn't need to.
"This is Edom's secretary. He's the one the Council has tasked with seeing to the project you mentioned? Please hold." Then, smiling he handed the hand unit over. It didn't have a cord, and the black man didn't smile, taking the whole thing seriously.
"This is Edom. What's needed?"
The conversation was short, and after about three minutes, Edom looked at him and nodded.
"We have the Line Walker contracted to get us into place. A full strike team as well. It doesn't sound like we'll need them all, does it?" There was a pause. "Yes... The Line Walker. The Council traded this with him for other work. We aren't supposed to mention it, but this, saving these children, is his payment."
There was a deep voice from the other end, and finally Edom smiled, though he kept it grim.
"Perhaps. Do you have a map?"
That turned out to be needed, since the children were being kept on a small island twenty miles off the coast of Cuba. In international waters, so no one had real control of the situation. That meant, oddly enough, that what they were doing, taking in a strike team, wasn't even illegal at all. It was a first, as far as Zack knew. Useful.
John the Manthori was actually at the Florida Nexus, which was a place that Zack had been before, pretty often even. He glanced into the node, and saw the nearly seven foot tall white being easily, though he was in the other room. That place was basically like a real embassy, or an office building, rather than a store. That was a shame, since he needed to keep eating. It meant that he was going to have to raid the cafe. Luckily there was a baked goods tray that had been left on the counter for him. At least Zack had seen it and assumed it was for him.
He was going to eat it at least, and just had to hope that Palma wouldn't get too mad about it.
The operation itself seemed to take forever to put together, right until the armed and armored troops from Denver were in place, and ready to go. The hardest part was that Zack needed to create a node point using his own energy, on the island. What he wanted was a permanent one, if possible. There was a technique for doing that in the library of memories that Tarsus had given him a few weeks before. All he needed to do for it to work... was kill about ten thousand virgins. Violently while they writhed in pain would work best as to the needed energy release.
He smiled, and analyzed what was needed, which honestly just required him to make a point, which he could already do, and tie it into the lines, so that space itself would feed into it. There was a time component, but he could set that without too many problems. If he wanted he could make it last for a few hundred years, for about the cost of that tray of food he needed to go and munch. He sort of understood that most Greater Demons just wouldn't have been able to do it. He was special, that way.
It got done, and then he assembled everyone in Denver, since it was faster that way. John was, as he'd noticed, vast. Not just tall and thin, but thick and powerful looking. It probably meant he could have cleared the island himself without any problem, but what he'd needed the whole time was a way to get there and people to help with the kids on the other side of the event itself. He'd actually contacted Harland's secretary in hopes of getting funds to pay for a boat, planning to do it all himself.
Still, faced with a Greater Demon or not, the being knew what had to be done and had a plan. The Vampire hit team didn't like all of it, since, as the Hispanic woman that spoke pointed out, it left them with almost nothing to do. They had all those weapons, and it was a shame not to use them.
John nodded, but grumbled at her, his voice actually quite pleasant.
"We have twenty Vampires of good age, ready to face five drug using Human men of no particular power or combat ability. I do not think we need to frighten the children. I'd like to take these men alive, if allowed?" That got addressed to Edom, who nodded.
It did make sense, after all.
"To see if they have useful information, as to your work?"
"Indeed, sir."
"All right. Line Walker, we'll move when you allow it." That was him being polite and not making it seem like Zack had asked him to arrange the whole thing. It was smart, as far as career building went.
He just moved to the node, the back room of the Denver node actually being carpeted. It was nice enough, but not great for heavy traffic. In years past that hadn't been a thing really, but in the last months business had picked up there, hadn't it? Thanks to him. Martinez, the woman, touched his arm, ready to go first.
"So... Demon? And here I was planning on inviting you over for dinner." She grinned, meaning that she wanted to eat him, and not in a way he ever would have found pleasant in particular. He wasn't into biting. It was an issue with Lenore, too. Vampires always got bitey during sex, apparently. It was one reason why he'd done Rebekah face down. Mirror Him had considered that, apparently. He knew it now.
She had short hair and was cute, but in a slightly butch way. Now that he was picking up information from people he touched, he got that she didn't just look like the woman he recognized from the movies, normally playing a female marine, or space marine to be exact, but she actually was that person.
Zack smiled.
"Well, my blood won't help you, but we can still get together and chat sometime?" He didn't particularly want to think about sex at the moment, but a small part of him, one that probably once belonged to Mirror Him, was wondering if she did anal on the first date. Odds were, he knew, that she would, at least for him. The thought took magic to suppress however, since a cascade of pain tried to fill Zack's mind then, the old memories wanting to flood into place again.
It was still taking a lot of energy to hold things together. It didn't seem right, but he was using nearly as much to do that, suppress some emotions, as it had taken to make a semi-permanent node point where one hadn't existed at all an hour before.
"Ready to move?" He changed topics smoothly enough, and she nodded.
"Like before? Jump on three?"
"Exactly."
They were faster this time, and didn't all have to cram into a tiny space, being in a clearing that had decent cover thanks to shrubbery. Right outside the single story building that the kids were being kept in.
Zack did twenty-two transfers, which took two and a half minutes, and then stood there with five armed and black clad Vampires while John, Martinez and the rest went in, and silently brought the five unconscious men out of the building. Two women too. All adult, though it was pretty easy to see that the ladies had been prisoners. They didn't have chains, but their eyes were dead.
He walked over to where the people had been sat on the ground, and touched each of them, before they could wake. It was sickening, of course.
"The women have both been treated for years with burundanga, which is basically scopolamine. They won't recover at this point. They'll do what they're told however. The men..." He walked up to one of them, and thought about things for a second. He was evil, and had raped children daily, just for fun.
It wasn't that he was a dedicated pedophile. He wasn't overly attracted to kids, and had also used the women for sex, but he loved making people miserable, and hurting them.
He also didn't know anything of use about other operations. Not like two of the other men, who were, in their own ways, even worse.
"This one has nothing to tell us." The rest though, all had a bit of information. So he kept going. "These two have some, mainly about things happening in Europe and these two..." He had to keep himself from slapping them, but managed, if barely. They were the ones that were nicely dressed and had on shoes that didn't fit island living. Of course. Shiny things that were out of place. "These two are CIA operatives, here to arrange kids for delivery to politicians in the States."
He had to fight a shocked and betrayed feeling, even though he knew what he said was true, but all of the Vampires simply nodded. As if that was simply a known and accepted thing. Politicians could be pretty awful people, at times.
Martinez glanced at John, "so, where do you want the kids?"
That turned out, was in several places, since the little ones, and they were all under ten, had been taken from three different continents. That meant Zack had to deliver them to nodes in France, the U.S. and, as strange as it seemed, North Korea. It was delicate, doing that without all the kids freaking out, and they didn't manage it all that well, since not all of them were totally shattered yet, having been taken within the last few weeks.
Still, by five in the morning, Zack was back home, at his real house, so he could get something to eat and shower. It took a lot of scrubbing and more magic, but by six he was almost clean again and felt that way. Inside. When he came out of the bathroom, he found Troy, his best friend and roommate sitting on the sofa, playing a video game. It seemed so normal, after the day before. Good and wholesome.
He pointed at the screen, which was a new thing, and about fifty inches wide.
"Macros Connection. It's pretty decent. You play as a spy, going on special operations missions." Pausing the game, since it would be rude otherwise, he smiled. "How did the first day go in the mines?"
Zack made himself not feel tired, since sleep wasn't happening, and removed any hint of depression from his being.
"Not horrible, as far as that went. I think I'll avoid games about things like that for a while though." He waved at the screen. "I'm making pancakes and eggs, do you want some? We have some real maple syrup."
His roomie blinked. "We do? Wow. I don't think I've ever had that. Sure, that sounds better than the bowl of bran flakes I had planned for later."
There was an affable acceptance to Troy, that Zack could see now was due to his tie with Finias. In part. He'd started out a nice guy, but had been given orders to treat Zack well. He didn't know about that, which was a thing that Zack was going to leave him. It was bad enough being a slave. Worrying about it wasn't going to help him.
He got to work on the food, setting things up first, even as hunger gnawed at his middle. That meant carefully cracking two dozen eggs, and getting both of his new griddles out, as well as the large, and very deep, cast iron skillet. As he worked, Troy walked in, his face happy, holding up two slips of paper, as if they were real prizes.
"I know that you're pretty busy, but I managed to get these. We had a raffle for them at work. The gods of luck are with me this week it seems. Tickets to see a private show from the All Vampire Band. Edom arranged it. They're really good." He shook his head and then shrugged a bit. "I don't know if they're real Vampires or not. The front woman, Rebekah, she doesn't look like it. Red contacts and too many fake teeth. Bleached skin. Still, I wouldn't kick her out of bed, you know? That's tonight."
Zack nodded, but figured that the whole thing had been thrown together in the last hour or two before Troy left the club for the evening. Probably by Keeley. It felt like the kind of things she'd do. The flow of food didn't get interrupted, but he smiled.
"Thanks for thinking of me. I'm in. She's a Manthori Vampire, so, yeah, real. Say, any news on Stocky the Bunny Boiler?" She was a crazy girl, as in legitimately having mental problems, who had been stalking Troy after a one night stand... for about a month. It would have been funny, if not for the fact that she was so aggressive about it. If she'd been a bit more sane, Zack would have just suggested that his friend date her for a while and see where it went. She wasn't hot, being a bit chubby, but not ugly or anything.
Of course, if she'd been sane at all, she wouldn't stand around outside the club telling all the hot women that Troy the bartender had syphilis. Not if she wanted a shot with him any time in the future. That was why Zack was getting invited to the club, he was willing to bet. Not that he wouldn't have been otherwise, but taking a girl would probably assure some action. The thing there was that no women really wanted anything to do with Troy that week, just in case they had to deal with Stocky. Plus, even the hint that he had diseases was going to put a lot of people off.
His friend grunted and looked away.
"She keyed my car. Worse, she keyed Edom's too. It's one thing to go after my economically priced future rust bucket, but have you seen what Ed drives? It's worth more than this house."
Zack winced.
"Damn... It's a fiberglass body too, not just a new paint job. I don't know what that will cost to fix, but it's more than a few thousand dollars, I bet."
Troy nodded, his face looking miserable.
"It's all my fault, too. I should have known that she was off, and not gone there. Now my life is being ruined. I could get fired over this. I mean, she's starting to impact business and Edom isn't going to let her keep on doing things like that, is he?" The hint there, no doubt, was that they, he and Zack, should do something about her before Edom had her killed.
Short of killing her themselves though, what was there to do? Cure her? There were ways to do that, but from what he could tell from the memories being dropped into his head, all of them would take a lot more effort than they were worth. The simplest thing to do would be to make a deal with her and order her to fix it herself. He didn't take slaves though and wasn't starting, just to save a vandal. Still, it did give him an idea.
He went to the phone and dialed a number from memory. That part of being a Greater Demon was pretty sweet, once he had enough to eat. It meant that, on the second ring, when Keeley picked up her cell, he was holding the phone with the side of his head, flipping pancakes, but it still worked, more or less.
"Mistress of Souls." He intoned it, so she'd get that he wasn't all that pleased with her still.
"Line Walker. Am I still allowed to visit?"
He nearly told her no, after what she'd done, but instead relented.
"Breakfast in about seven minutes. I'll make more." She already knew she had to pay, so he wasn't reminding her again. It was an insult to feed her without asking her to pay, but that had already been taken care of in advance. She'd remember.
They both hung up, and he managed to get the kitchen phone back on the hook without letting anything burn and started more eggs, and some bacon to go with it, if they were going to have guests. There was a knock on the door about the time the pink strips of meat were starting to sizzle, and Troy went to answer
it.
It was funny, listening to him do it.
"Hey, Keeley! Finally come to spend some time with me? Come in. Zack, Keeley's here! We're going to go to my room..." He was kidding, since they always flirted back and forth when they met, politely enough given that the girl was actually too young for him.
Except that this time she took him by the hand and started to walk off, trying to avoid Zack. That wasn't going to happen though.
"Could you set the table Troy? Keeley." He didn't know what to say, but dished the food up and then broke out several packages of store bought Danish, and set them on a large tray. It was clear that he'd need the calories to get through the day and Keeley had a tendency to under eat, if Xenses could be trusted.
His roommate looked at the temptingly hot young woman with her dark hair, nice bust line and perfect features and sighed.
"Well, duty calls, I guess. So, Keeley, what brings you to our neck of the woods? I thought you were down in Arizona?"
She waved at Zack.
"Visiting you two! You know I can't resist. Darla is busy all weekend with meetings, so she asked me to spend some time with Zack and make sure our brother doesn't bother him."
Troy actually knew all about that, and made a face. The last person he'd managed to get into bed had looked like a famous actress, and pretended to be her, but had actually been a Greater Demon. A dude too. For him that wasn't happy news.
Keeley patted his arm slightly, answering without needed him to speak about it all.
"Don't worry, with Greater Demons gender doesn't matter. Now, what's this I hear about a stalker? It sounds fascinating..."
Zack let her deflect from anything important while he served food, then sat down and started eating some eggs and pancakes, along with melted butter and real syrup. He let the others serve themselves.
Troy went over the whole story again, including the bits about how Xenses and he got busy, along with Stocky, who'd given her name as Ann, at the time, which had gotten him into a big mess. He ended with the cars being damaged, which got a gentle nod from the Demon.