Jess frowned. “A brothel wouldn’t be very safe for humans. Wouldn’t the vampires just use them as a food source?
“Most likely. But this brothel is for vampires only. Since they are partially healed, they’re developing needs they haven’t had for many years. The brothels, as far as I’ve learned, are raking in a lot more money than the healing sessions themselves. Fisk’s got quite the system going on.”
“Holy hell! I hadn’t thought of that.” She, herself, had had a partial soul for many years and she had a healthy sex life with Britt. So it only stood to reason that the newly healed would want the same thing. Fisk was a dirty bastard, but smart. He also had the blade that healed him when his own blue light waned. Britt needed a power source like that, and he needed it tonight.
“I wanted to talk to Fisk, but he’s away for a couple of days. It’s urgent that I find him. I don’t suppose you have any idea where he is?”
Jane grinned. “I sure do. I’ve been doing my job the best way I know how. I want to repay you for everything you’ve done for me. Fisk isn’t actually gone, though his people think he is. I followed him. He’s got a secret level in the subbasement of his building. It took me a while to find out how he accesses it, but I finally realized it’s a camouflaged button on his private elevator.”
“But how did you get into his private elevator without his peons opening the door for you?”
“I’ve made myself quite useful around here. I even polish the chrome in all of the elevators,” she said, winking.
Jess leaned against the brick building and looked up at the nearly full moon. Would a blood moon really affect the vampire at the rectory? If so, she had to get into that subbasement, now.
“But we can’t get into the private elevator from the lobby. Not with the keeners in the lobby welcome booth guarding it.”
Jane grinned again. “Not to worry, follow me.” They walked to the back of the building where Jane stopped in front of a service door. She pulled out a keycard and opened it.
“How’d you manage to get that?” Jess asked.
“I’m used to going around the city unnoticed,” she said. “I’ve always been able to connect with people like me. The unnoticed of society. The garbage people use this entrance, and they thought I was homeless. One of them gave me the key so I could sleep here at night.”
“Wow, that’s really nice,” Jess said. “That’s why humanity deserves every chance they can get without monsters hunting them at night.”
Jane opened the door and slipped inside with Jess close on her heels. Jane led her down a long, dark hallway full of pipes and electrical outlets. The elevator door was hidden in a recessed hall at the end.
“This must be an escape route for Fisk if the crap hits the fan,” Jane said. “Unfortunately, there’s no button to open the elevator here.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
Jess looked at the door for a second, assessing it. Then she pressed her hands on each side and forced them open. They both peered into the shaft. The elevator sat a floor below them. Most likely in the subbasement.
“You coming with me?” Jess asked.
“If you want me to,” Jane said.
“Sure. No, wait. Maybe it’s better that you don’t. I don’t want to give you away. We still might need someone on the inside,” she said. “Would you stay and keep watch here, though?”
Jane nodded. “Sure. Good luck down there. The symbol you have to press to come back up looks like the stripes on the rest of the wall, but if you look closely, one of the stripes is a button.”
“I’m glad you’re on my side,” Jess said. She didn’t want to inundate Jane with too much praise. The poor gal wasn’t used to it.
Instead, Jess jumped across the elevator shaft and grabbed the cable. She slid down and opened the top hatch on the elevator, then dropped inside.
When she heard no sound on the other side of the door, she pressed the button and cringed at the ding when the door opened.
Luckily, the elevator opened into an empty hallway.
She heard loud music playing at the far end of the hall. Malcolm Fisk liked the blues, apparently.
The whole level was like a five-star hotel. A sheik would live happily in a set of rooms like this. She approached an open concept suite with a bed in one corner, complete with silk tassels and the works.
A lounge spread out at the end, with very rich leather and mahogany shelving full of books and speakers for the sound system that was still blasting.
From here, she could only see the back of Fisk’s head as it rested against his leather sofa. He was either asleep, or listening to the music. Either way, he had no idea she was here.
She sneaked over to him and touched his shoulder.
He jerked then jumped to his feet. “Holy fuck! Who’s in here?”
Her mouth dropped open at the sight in front of her.
Malcolm Fisk couldn’t see her because his eyes were covered with a thick white film. Could he have developed glaucoma overnight?
He was, for all intents and purposes, blind. No wonder he’d escaped to this sanctuary.
“Fisk, it’s me, Jess,” she said, noting that he’d backed up and opened a drawer behind him.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” she said. “I need your help. Britt’s in trouble and he needs your expertise.”
Fisk made a disgusted sound. “How can I help him like this?”
“What happened to you?”
“This happens when I do too many healings. It takes me a few days to regain my vision. But this time, I really overdid it. My man Brewster double-crossed me. He had a vampire named Roland killed because Brewster thought he was a spy. I was so angry, I smacked Brewster too hard. He fell and hit his head. I was afraid I killed him. Well,” he paused, “I did kill him.” Fisk shook his head and stared into nothingness. “It was the extra energy I used to bring Brewster back that was the final straw. My penance for killing a human being, I guess.”
“You actually saved him?”
Fisk made a face. “Yes, the useless slob. But he’s promised never to interfere again. And he won’t—he’s been demoted to the front desk.”
Jess thought about poor Roland’s body on the street and wasn’t quite sure Brewster got what was coming to him. She’d have to keep an eye on him in the future.
“Can’t the blade heal your eyes? Can’t it fix you?”
He looked irritated for a moment. “It can, but every now and then, it reminds me who, or what’s, in charge. Sometimes it lets me go blind to prove a point.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Most likely without realizing he’d done it, he turned his head in the direction of the dining room. She followed his gaze and saw the blade glowing on the table top. Practically buzzing, as if it knew why she was here. “I think it wants you to pick it up now,” she said. “It’s glowing over there like a mini blue supernova.”
He ran a hand over his eyes. “That’s odd. I usually have to pay at least two days’ penance before I can be repaired.” He made his way to the table, feeling his way along. Jess watched. She needed Fisk to be fully capable, and apparently, the blade wanted him that way, too.
He picked it up and the blue light swelled out and enveloped Fisk in its glow.
He shuddered and suddenly bent over while holding the blade in both hands, as if it were a rare treasure. It continued to glow around him, until his eyes began to clear. Within minutes, he was visibly healed.
He turned back to the table and set the blade in a velvet cushion inside a strange blue wooden box with symbols embellishing the borders of the wood. He closed the lid.
“I guess whatever you want from me is important to my friend, here,” he said, leaning his head in the direction of the knife.
“Does that mean you’re going to help?” she asked.
He chewed on his lip and for a minute, she thought he might turn her down. Maybe he even considered it until the box st
arted to vibrate on the table. Fisk looked a little scared. “Yes, it definitely means I’m going to help you.”
“Good.”
“Tell me what you need from me.”
She briefly filled him in. “Britt can’t do it alone,” she said at last. “I know that for a fact, after seeing how difficult it was to heal an olde one in your office.”
“Is this vampire old?” Fisk looked worried. He’d just used all of his energy on an olde vampire.
“I have no idea. But he’s large and he’s hungrier than anything I’ve ever seen. If he ever got loose, he’d terrorize the city.”
“Why don’t they just stake him when he’s asleep?”
She pursed her mouth. “I don’t believe he does sleep,” she said at last.
“Whoa!”
“Yeah.” The blade vibrated again, and she glanced at it as it practically bounced on the table.
“Let’s go,” Fisk said. “We might as well get this over with. I’m not too thrilled that they think they can force a Grigoroi to help them against his will.”
“Apparently your blade thinks it’s important, too,” she said, still trying to come to terms with a knife having some sort of sentience. Almost in answer to her thought, a blue glow emitted from the cracks of the box and a low-grade hum started. It got louder and louder as they neared the exit, leaving it behind.
Fisk looked back just before he pressed the button for the elevator.
“I think it wants to come with you,” she said.
“You might be right,” Fisk said. “It’s never done that before.” He frowned and suddenly looked worried.
“Maybe there’s a reason.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said.
He grabbed the box and tucked it under his arm as they got on the elevator.
When the elevator hit the lobby, they got out and exited the building. For a second, Jess was afraid Jane might still be waiting for her in the basement. Would she see the elevator light indicating their ascent to the lobby? But as they stepped outside, Jess saw Jane come out of the side of the building. She nodded quickly to her, without giving her away to Fisk.
Jane quickly moved down the street in the opposite direction.
As they walked, Jess realized Fisk couldn’t keep up the way Britt did. Maybe because he was only partially healed?
“Should we grab a cab?” She couldn’t stand the slow pace. She needed to get to Britt as quickly as possible. They finally hailed a taxi and made their way to the rectory.
Chapter Twenty-One
LIGHTS GLOWED from every window of the rectory. Jess wondered what the parishioners thought about that. Regent had always been a night owl out of necessity for her, as much as anything, but as he got older, he went to bed earlier and earlier.
She followed Fisk to the front door. He might have been repaired by the blade, but he still looked weak. Her stomach twisted. How could he help Britt like this?
She rang the bell and hated having to do so. This was her place as much as Regent’s. It had been her home for decades. She resented this Vasilli guy coming here and making demands of her brother—right down to changing him physically, then taking over the building and their lives. Damn him.
The door opened and Vasilli himself stood there. Jess surveyed the hall behind him. She’d expected a soldier.
He narrowed his gaze on her. “This is a surprise.”
“Thought I’d be dead, didn’t you?” She showed him a hint of her teeth.
He inhaled and quickly stepped back. Strange, that a man who dealt with a monster in the basement would be afraid of her.
Maybe that gave her a little more leverage.
“We weren’t going to kill you …” His words wandered off.
“Unless?” she said.
“Unless you gave us no alternative.”
“Good to know.”
Vasilli opened the door wider to get a better look at Malcolm Fisk. “Who have you brought with you?” And he didn’t look happy about the new arrival. He snapped his fingers, and soldiers appeared out of nowhere. No surprise, they’d been waiting behind the door.
“This is Malcolm Fisk. He might be able to help Britt. You’ll get Britt killed if he tries to do this alone.”
Vasilli eyed Fisk critically. “And what can you do to help Mr. Brittain?” he asked sarcastically, shutting the door hard behind them and locking it. One of the soldiers instantly blocked them from leaving. Or so he thought. If she’d wanted to leave, he wouldn’t have a chance in hell of stopping her. But she’d let them have their delusions for now.
“Britt will be stronger working with Fisk.”
Vasilli’s eyes widened in realization. “There are two of you. I don’t believe it. We believed Britt to be the last of his kind in North America.”
Why hadn’t she guessed that these people already knew about Britt? Damn it, everyone knew but them, it seemed.
Fisk made a slightly irritated face. “That’s probably because we don’t want everyone to know about us. We’re not likely to hang out a sign.”
Jess considered that. Fisk had, after all, pretty much hung out a sign for vampires. Hadn’t he considered it would make him visible to others, as well?
“Where is my brother? And Britt?”
“Father Vandermire is busy right now, praying.”
Jess tipped her head and listened for Regent’s whispers. If she tried really hard, she could hear him. “And Britt?”
“He’s downstairs preparing for what is to come. Maybe it’s a good thing you’re here after all. Tomorrow night will be too late. The blood moon will increase the strength of our guest beyond what we can control. If you really think this man can help, we won’t turn him away.”
“Why would he be affected by a blood moon? I’m a vampire and the moon does nothing to me.”
His shoulders lifted. “And what does that tell you, Captain?”
“I have no idea. Why don’t you fill us in?”
“Maybe that you’re just an average, run-of-the-mill vampire,” he said. “The one in the basement is special.”
She’d never been so insulted. Fisk broke her moment of irritation with a nervous laugh, and she snapped her head around to glare at him.
“This way,” Vasilli said, leading her to Regent’s office. As if she didn’t know the way… .
He shoved a key into a newly installed lock with a deadbolt.
Jess’s anger spiked. Regent was being held a prisoner inside his own office?
When she finally got inside, Regent was on his knees praying, and to her shock, Sampson was tied up in the corner with a gag in his mouth.
She started to go to Sampson to help him, but Vasilli grabbed her arm with strength that surprised her. He was more than just a wiry priest, after all. Interesting.
“Leave him be. He’s quite comfortable, aren’t you, doctor?”
Sampson glared at Vasilli but didn’t fight his bindings.
Jess inhaled and bit her lip. It wasn’t like Regent to keep praying while she was in the room. “Father, you may greet your sister,” Vasilli said at last.
Without turning his head in her direction, Regent leaned forward then pushed back on his heels to rise. When he turned to her, he opened his arms and Jess ran into them.
“What the hell’s going on?” she whispered in Regent’s ear.
“I wish I knew, dearest. But things are going from bad to worse. Britt is actually in the basement helping the soldiers shovel blood bags in at the beast. He’s nearly insatiable now.”
She lowered her head.
It was then that Regent caught sight of Fisk. “Who did you bring here, Jess? That might not have been a very good idea.”
“Regent, this is Malcolm Fisk,” she said.
Regent eyed Fisk up and down and then stared at the box under his arm. “I should never have doubted you, dear.” He grinned and reached out a hand to Fisk.
Fisk stepped forward. “Hello, Father.”
&
nbsp; Jess hated the way Vasilli stood back and watched them, as if they were lab rats in his cage. Maybe they were.
“I want to see Britt,” Jess said. “We need to let him know Fisk is here to help him.”
Vasilli inhaled and looked at the ceiling. His jaw clenched and he ran a hand through his hair.
“Are you really one of the Fallen?” Vasilli suddenly asked Fisk.
There was a pause before Fisk decided to speak. “No. The Fallen are long gone. I am one of the progeny of the Fallen.”
“What can you do?” Vasilli demanded, as if Fisk could do tricks.
“I have some of my ancestor’s abilities.”
“Big deal. For all I know, you’re merely able to do a few parlor tricks.”
Anger spiraled up Jess’s back. Her eyes darkened and her teeth elongated, and she had to fight her own inner demon not to drive that irritating man up against the wall.
Suddenly, Regent grabbed her hand again. “Calm down, dear. We don’t need two out-of-control vampires right now.”
She breathed and felt the love coming from her brother. She slowly let her dark side diminish.
As if oblivious to his near-death experience, Vasilli said, “We’ll see if you can help, Mister Fisk. If you can’t, well …” He raised his hands in the air.
Fisk’s tongue flicked over his lips several times and he looked wan and afraid.
“May I ask what you’re holding under your arm?” Vasilli asked.
“You may not,” Fisk said and clutched the box tighter.
Vasilli looked irritated but continued. “Can you prove who you are to me, then? Surely you don’t expect me to take your word for something so important.”
“I can.”
“Proceed.”
Fisk closed his eyes. For a mere second, a blue light burst from his solar plexus and hovered in front of him. The moment the light appeared, the vampire in the basement roared so loud, it shook the picture of the Virgin Mary on Regent’s wall.
“Quickly, put your light away,” Vasilli said. “I shouldn’t have asked you to do that.”
The vampire roared again and it sounded as if he’d started pounding on the ceiling of the thick iron bunker holding him.
Grave Expectations - Jess Vandermire 4 Page 22