No Man's Land: An Imp World Novel

by Debra Dunbar

  “Then perhaps you should learn some skills. You’re a smart girl.” His fingers tightened again on her jaw, and he smacked her head against the refrigerator door. “I suggest you consider how you can perform this task while hunger eats at your sanity.”

  Letting her go, he tore open the bag of blood and poured it down the sink drain, rinsing the basin then leaving the trailer.

  She knew better than to check the sink for any stray blood, but she did anyway, climbing onto the counter and licking the stainless steel. After she’d covered every inch, she wept and curled up on the counter in a shaking ball. If anything, the few tastes she’d gotten had made her hunger worse. Muscles cramped deep inside her body, desperate for more.

  Finally she wiped her eyes and climbed down, holding the edge of the countertop for support as a dizzy spell hit hard. This was the worst she’d ever been. Even if a human walked through her door right now she doubted she could catch him. Would she wake up in the morning? Maybe that was for the best; a peaceful passing in her sleep as opposed to thrashing on the floor as her body attempted to devour itself.

  Shaking from hunger, Kelly walked to the back of the trailer and collapsed into her bed fully clothed. The Master was insane. He couldn’t possibly want her to spy, to capture and interrogate other vampires. That was like telling a baker he needed to sail a ship across the ocean. What in the world gave him the idea she could do this? She’d be killed instantly. She wasn’t a warrior, wasn’t a fighter — she was a casino manager! And by denying her even that small packet of blood, Rube had pretty much ensured she wouldn’t live long enough to do as he asked.

  Maybe that’s what he wants, Kelly thought as she drifted to sleep.

  ****

  Birds sang outside her window, and light pouring through a gap in the cardboard window coverings, hitting Kelly right in the eye. For a moment, she thought she was dead and this was the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, but the severe cramping in her legs and arms told her otherwise. Besides, there probably weren’t birds in heaven, or itchy polyester comforters. Blinking in the sunlight, Kelly heard her door slam and groaned. It had to be her neighborhood alarm clock. Or maybe Jaq?

  The thought got her to climb out of bed, only to have her hopes dashed as she heard Melody’s cheerful greeting. Kelly staggered into the main room of the trailer to see her neighbor sliding a plate of muffins onto her kitchen counter. This time, however, Melody had brought most of the neighborhood with her. Four women were crammed in her little trailer, all looking at her with resolute faces.

  “What?” Kelly asked with trepidation. Had the humans discovered there was a vampire in their midst? That she was devouring cute woodland animals and had attacked a guy at a strip club? It was bad enough that she was surrounded by werewolves that wanted her dead without the humans joining in too.

  “We’re here for an intervention,” Melody told her, taking Kelly firmly by the shoulders and pushing her down onto the couch.

  Kelly looked around at their faces. Barbara still had on her nurse uniform from her graveyard shift. Shanna yawned and ran a hand through her sleep–rumpled hair. Margaret looked longingly at the empty coffee pot. Melody stood before her, arms crossed and a determined look on her face. They didn’t look like a lynch mob, but that word ‘intervention’ was disturbing.

  “We know he was here,” Margaret accused, before succumbing to her need and starting a pot of coffee. “Did he try and convince you to come back home? Tell you he was sorry and beg you to come back?”

  “Did he threaten you?” Barbara asked sympathetically. “Is he going to keep all the money from you? Hurt your family if you don’t come back?”

  Oh no. They’d seen Rube. And they were under the crazy idea that he was her abusive ex–boyfriend. Immediately, Kelly’s thoughts turned to Jaq. Had she seen too? She must have. What did Jaq think of her? Just one more thing to drive a wedge between them. Kelly hadn’t even had a chance to apologize and make things right, and now this.

  “He was pretty hot,” Shanna admitted. “Did you see the coat he had on? That thing probably cost more than every trailer here combined. He can’t be that bad. I’d go back to him.”

  “Shanna!” everyone shrieked, glaring at the young woman.

  “You are not going back to him,” Melody commanded, her eyes fierce. “Over my dead body will I let that man drag you off. I don’t care how hot he is, or how sorry he says he is, he’s going to kill you.”

  Yes. He probably was.

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” Kelly said, desperately trying to think of something. “He’s a family member. He just came by to check on me.”

  Melody made a disapproving clucking noise. “Sweetie, Barbara saw him smack you around. She saw him push you up against the fridge and threaten you.”

  Kelly frowned at Barbara, who was studiously ignoring her and helping fill the coffee maker. The woman had been peering through her windows! Everyone in this state was downright insane, humans and werewolves alike.

  “Don’t you blame Barbara,” Melody scolded. “I made her look in the window and tell us. No way I could get my round butt up there to see what was going on.”

  Melody could be very forceful, Kelly thought. She would be a difficult person to say no to.

  “That man is not welcome here,” Melody insisted. Kelly had never heard her sound so determined. “We are your family now. And we are not going to let him hurt you ever again.”

  We are your family now. Hadn’t Jaq said something similar? The whole idea was absurd. Werewolves, humans, they were crazy. Kelly looked around. The women all smiled warmly at her. Barbara nodded, and Margaret handed her a cup of coffee.

  “Well,” Melody said cheerfully. “Now that that is decided, let’s all have some coffee and those muffins I brought.”

  Everyone bustled about, chatting cheerfully and serving up coffee and muffins. Kelly sat on her sofa, numbly holding her coffee cup. She’d been adopted by a bunch of humans. They considered her family. What would they think if they really knew what she was? Oddly, she was beginning to like the safety of their care, actually enjoy their friendship, but they’d never be her family. These humans would cast her out, try to kill her, if they knew. No one wanted someone in their family who was liable to grab them and drink their blood, who was likely to kill them. She didn’t belong here. She needed to find a way to do this thing her family wanted and get back with her own people where she truly belonged.

  20

  Kyle spread a map out on the shipping table. It was late. Only he and Juan were in the warehouse. Still, every noise, every disturbance in the air set him on edge. This was treason. He may be a Born but it wouldn’t matter much if he were caught. He doubted his father would be lenient on his only son for what he was about to do.

  “We snatch West Virginia from the werewolves, no one will even notice that, then we make our move.”

  Juan curled his lip, leaning forward to see the map. “I hate those things. The whole state smells like them, even the humans. It will take us centuries to get rid of the stink.”

  “I really don’t care what it smells like. There’s enough industry there to give us a steady inflow of cash. It’s a perfect launching pad for our next move, especially since neither my father nor Kincaid will even notice we’ve taken the state. When we proceed with our next phase, no one will suspect a thing.”

  “And then?” Juan’s voice held a barely suppressed note of excitement. Kyle smiled. Second to a Prince was one thing, second to a Master another. He could completely count on Juan’s support and discretion, as long as the odds were in his favor.

  “Here and here,” Kyle indicated to the other vampire. “Southern Pennsylvania just waits for our word and they’re ours, western and southern Maryland too. Baltimore will be a fight, but we can grab it if we hold off until Durand is out of town. DC and the Maryland suburbs are going to be difficult. I’ll have to wait until the last moment to decide on them; they could go either way.”

 
“How about here,” Juan asked, pointing to the cluster of counties around the city of Frederick.

  “I’m not going head–to–head with a demon, especially that one. Those lands are off limits.”

  Juan nodded. “And the Kincaid territories?”

  “I need to have a base before I can move on them,” Kyle said. “I’ll have to hit them right away, though, because once I grab our lower states, not only will Kincaid know I’m on my way, but my father will be coming down on me like a hammer. He’ll back off if I have Kincaid’s territory. If not, we’re in for a big fight.”

  A losing fight, Kyle thought grimly. He could just go for Kincaid’s territory from West Virginia, and that was still an alternate plan in his arsenal, but the southern section of his own territory would give him might and much needed financial resources. With those states, the Kincaid lands would fall quickly to him, without and he’d be facing a bloody few years. Kyle wasn’t averse to getting his hands dirty, but if a clean and quick surgical strike would do the job, why try to bludgeon his way through the southeast?

  “When?” Juan asked.

  “That’s the million–dollar question,” Kyle mused. “If I’m not back in New York next week, my father will begin to suspect something. Two weeks and he’ll send a crew to drag me back by my hair. I’m thinking we take West Virginia now, while I’m still here, and wait on the rest for a couple of years while I work things from up in New York.”

  “I can have everyone on the border ready to move on the werewolves in two nights. We should have them all cleaned out by sunrise.”

  “Good,” Kyle said, folding the map. “Do it.”

  ****

  Kelly knocked on Melody’s door, hesitant to walk right in. Everyone else did. She wasn’t sure how they avoided walking in on a private moment, or a spouse walking around naked. She shuddered at the thought. Ick.

  “Come in, dear!” Melody called. “Do you need to borrow something?”

  “Yes,” Kelly said walking into the trailer. “Can I use your computer for a few hours? I need to look some stuff up over the Internet.”

  “Of course,” Melody said, pouring her a cup of coffee from the pot that seemed to be full and fresh twenty–four hours a day. “I’m heading in to work, but you can stay and use the computer as much as you like.”

  “Are you sure?” She felt awkward being in the woman’s home while she was gone. “I can always come back later.”

  If she wasn’t dead later. Her legs had not stopped cramping on the way over, and she had nearly fallen walking through the door. Hopefully she wouldn’t die face down on Melody’s computer.

  “No, no. You go right ahead. Are you okay, sweetie? You look really sick. Do you have that flu that’s going around?”

  “Yes. The flu,” Kelly assured her.

  Melody looked alarmed, backing up somewhat. “Oh, you poor thing! Let me get you something to take. Be sure to use the hand wipes too. I’ve got some here in the kitchen and some beside the computer.”

  “I’m fine, really,” she assured the woman. “I’ll make sure I wipe down the computer before I leave. I won’t be here long; I promise.”

  Within minutes, Kelly was alone, a packet of cold medicine in one hand and hand sanitizer in the other. It felt good to be sitting in front of a computer again, even if she was in a trailer surrounded by colorful knitting projects and plates of cookies.

  Opening a browser window, Kelly quickly began navigating through companies in Virginia. Not all vampires knew the markers, but she’d managed the Casino, the drug trade, and several other businesses for the family and had picked up on the identifiers. The Kincaid ones would be different, but would follow the same patterns as her family’s.

  Within an hour, she had over five hundred businesses identified and their information pasted onto a spreadsheet. She printed the information out then unfolded a map of Virginia she’d picked up from the tourist–information shelf at Dale’s. Grabbing one of Melody’s highlighters, she began to note the concentrations of Kincaid businesses throughout the state and wasn’t surprised to see most of them clustered around the northern section, near the DC area. There. That and the list should help her gain favor with her family, and all from the safety of a trailer in West Virginia. There’s no need for any of them to know she didn’t gain this knowledge from dangerous scouting missions or capturing and interrogating the enemy.

  Kelly was just about to get up and leave, when, on a whim, she began to scan West Virginia, focusing on the casino in Charles Town. Oakwood Entertainment Enterprises expands their gambling division by acquiring a controlling interest in local racetrack and casino.

  Oakwood. That was one of the Master’s companies. That vampire Jaq had interrogated had been telling the truth after all. She clicked on the article and read through it. The heading was a bit deceptive. Oakwood had about ten percent of the shares and had been making a bid to buy more, but they’d been rebuffed. Instead, they were continuing to buy from individual investors in a long–term hostile takeover move. Typical business, but why would the Master suddenly be interested in West Virginia?

  Kelly continued searching, noticing lots of businesses on the verge of acquisition by corporations she recognized. Industrial complexes, manufacturing, energy industry, along with some large medical centers. Plus there appeared to be a good–sized drug market from the newspaper articles and arrest reports. Nothing huge, but still some profitable investments for any vampire family that managed to toss out the werewolves. Of course, nothing here would be worth the bloodshed that kind of war would cause.

  Kelly frowned in concentration. Oakwood. Kings Green, Snyder and Sons, Marwick Incorporated — they were all Fournier companies, but they were all companies under the management of the Prince. The Master was always careful to spread acquisition activity around to keep his powerful elite from gaining too much of the pie. Doing so fostered ugly competition, and vampires fighting each other and jockeying for position were unlikely to be trying to stick a knife in their Master’s back. So why the sudden change in a strategy that had worked for thousands of years? According to the rumors, the Prince was beginning to be a threat — why make him even more of one by basically giving him West Virginia?

  Of course there would be that pesky little problem of the werewolves. Not that vampires had ever considered werewolves to be a problem. In spite of whatever contract they’d signed centuries ago, none of her family would bat an eye at killing them all and snatching the state if they thought it had any value. So why, after centuries of being a worthless buffer zone, would the Prince suddenly take interest in West Virginia? He’d be the weakest Master on the continent if he thought to rule over only West Virginia. No, there had to be some other significance to the state, some other reason to risk aggravating over a thousand werewolves and ejecting them from their homes. Unless her family didn’t realize how many were here, or how strong they really were. It wasn’t improbable. Vampires regarded every other species on the planet as a speck of dirt on their shoe. Wipe them off and move on.

  Perplexed, Kelly made note of the companies and printed out a list of targeted businesses. While she was here, she might as well continue her search to any Maryland and Pennsylvania companies along the West Virginia border.

  Oakwood. Kings Green, Snyder and Sons, Marwick Incorporated. What the heck? She knew those areas were managed by the Prince, but why would they all be held by the same shell corporation? Oakwood alone had enough revenue to support a family on its own. What was the Master’s son up to? Clearly there was more on his mind than a raid on Kincaid lands. Was he possibly foolish enough to attempt to seize territory from his own father?

  Kelly carefully noted them down and printed out the information, deciding to keep this bit of data to herself. She was trading in information with her own family, but there might come a day when she’d need to barter with someone else — either the Kincaids or the werewolves.

  Glancing up at the clock, she realized that she had plenty of time befo
re her shift began at Dale’s. With some trepidation, she typed in the web address of a bank in New Jersey and stared at the login screen. Had they found the money?

  Probably not. If they’d been able to trace it to her, she’d be dead. What if they were just monitoring the account, waiting for someone to access it so they could determine who the culprit was? If she transferred it to a West Virginia account, it would leave the equivalent of a big neon flashing paper trail.

  She needed that money. Jaq’s cooperation had ended with their argument; her family was probably as likely to kill her as the Kincaids were, and the werewolves would be happy to see her decapitated at the bottom of a ditch. This money could buy her safety. She’d heard the Rochelle family in Vegas was open to refugees if they saw an advantage to taking them in. As an outsider, she’d always be at the bottom of their hierarchy, but the money could guarantee that another family would at least bring her in and protect her.

  She’d not planned on accessing it for a few–hundred years — enough time to move it around in various accounts and hide the transactions. Hundreds of years was no longer a viable plan. If she didn’t dig herself out of this hole, she’d be lucky to see tomorrow’s sunrise. Money would make everything easier.

  Her finger hovered over the enter key, wanting to just check and see if the money was still even in the account. Could they trace the IP address? If it led back to Melody, they’d know it was her. She was the only vampire in West Virginia.

  If they found out, any faint chance she had of being accepted back into the family would be gone. Better to wait than ruin her slim chance of ending this exile. Sighing, she closed the web browser and headed back to her trailer to change for her shift.

  21

  The tall vampire seemed bored as he leaned against the tree by the fence line. Kelly saw him check his phone twice, sending brief text messages before snapping it shut with a click and looking around impatiently.

  “Come on Wes,” he muttered under his breath.