by Adam Thielen
“Sure, why not,” she replied, gazing into his eyes.
Taq felt the urge to kiss her overtake him. He felt young and unburdened, and she had given him something he thought he’d never experience again. But before he committed, she turned away.
“I’m going to get cleaned up,” she announced. “Then we can tour the town.”
Taq sighed. “I should check in with Tsenka, make sure she got back safely after the incident last night,” he said, stepping out into the hall.
To cap off their short visit, Anne took Taq to the Swaminarayan temple. They strolled its grounds, with its preserved beauty contrasting with the decaying remnants of a city that surrounded it. The two stood staring at a large colorful carving of lotus feet submerged in water.
“I’ve been thinking about something,” said Taq.
“Oh?” said Anne. “Sounds serious.” She nudged him with her elbow, then turned and leaned against the pool’s fence.
Taq mirrored her. “No, not too serious,” he replied. “But I would like to inspect the mage university.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t ask to earlier,” she said. “After we check out Thatta, that can be our next stop.”
“I’d like to go there first,” said Taq. “We’re headed that direction anyhow.”
“What for?” she asked with a concerned look. “Just to inspect our facilities?”
“When was the last time you took a tour?”
Anne looked down at the feet in the pool. “It’s been a while.”
“I need to see it,” said Taq, resolute. “I don’t think anyone on the outside can really say what’s going on inside.”
Courtemanche sighed without looking up. “Very well,” she said. She smiled faintly. “This has been very exciting. I always hoped I’d see you again one day.”
Taq grinned. “If I told you I remembered you now, would you believe me?”
“Not for a second,” she answered. “But I wouldn’t mind if you called me Annie once or twice for old time’s sake.”
“Alright, Annie, let’s get out of here.”
* * *
“What do you mean, get out?” asked Ajay.
“Forget it, I’ll get out,” said Tsenka. She opened the door and climbed out to see Pisha already standing on the opposite side. “This is not productive.”
“You can trust me, Tsenka,” he said.
“There’s something I have to do alone, and it can’t wait.”
“Go ahead, I’ll turn around,” said Pisha, turning and leaning against the car.
Tsenka slapped her hand against the roof of the cab. “Not that.”
Ajay turned his head wearing a sly grin.
“You’re an asshole,” she decided. “A funny asshole.”
“Ain’t I?” he said. “Now just tell me the business.”
“I can’t trust anyone,” said Cho. “You included. Go to the train station. I will follow shortly.”
Ajay shrugged. “Fine. You don’t show and my ass is in a sling. Just remember that, okay?”
“I’ll be there.”
Courtemanche’s man reluctantly drove away, leaving Tsenka Cho outside of a partially demolished city block belonging to a township that no longer existed. When the tail lights disappeared over a hill, Tsenka began to slowly turn in place. Her presence among the remains of shattered cinder blocks was hidden in the darkness, with only the stars and a crescent moon to provide light.
“Desre!” she shouted. “Show yourself!”
She received no response.
“You owe me answers or I am done chasing your bullshit.”
The image of Desre Somer appeared. She still wore the strange headgear and this time, a frown.
“Tsenka, it’s time for you to move on,” she said.
“Desre, what is going on?” wailed Cho. “That’s not an answer to anything.”
Somer blinked slowly. “I freed you from that facility in Libya because those people were going to kill you. I brought you here to make you aware of the persecution and fanaticism that has engulfed this culture.”
“It really doesn’t seem that bad,” remarked Cho.
“You have yet to see what I have,” said Somer. “And we are out of time for that now.”
“You always seem to be out of time. Why?”
“This gear I wear allows me to see so much. It allows me to talk to you and our mutual friend, Daria. But they don’t realize I’m using it for my own purposes. I know you don’t understand what I’m doing, but as I said, it’s time to move on.”
“Hold up, gal. I came here to save you,” said Tsenka.
“I left Taq a clue he will find in the morning. He will find me, but that message you received from Matthias cannot wait.”
“Stop telling me what to do,” Cho growled.
“Dammit, Tsenka, wake up,” rebuked Somer. “You got here too late, and now Matthias needs your help with something a lot more important.”
“And how do you know about the message?” demanded Cho. “Did you send it?”
Desre shook her head. “Please, Tsenka. It required a key, didn’t it?”
“I can’t leave Taq behind,” Tsenka argued. “You say he’s headed to you, but he’ll never make it there without me.”
“You don’t give him enough credit,” replied Desre. “If you want to spend your time babysitting Taq while Matthias waits, that is your choice. If you decide you still trust me, the great vampire slayer will meet you at the Terminus. Try to behave yourself.”
Somer’s visage faded away and Tsenka stomped the ground. She grunted in frustration then sat on the edge of the dirt road, impatiently awaiting her new cab. When it arrived she took it to the train station and discovered the next train was two hours out. As he had said, Ajay waited for her to arrive.
“Come on,” he said. “I know a place to get some drinks while we wait.”
He took her to a small outdoor bar with five metal stools set up, one of them occupied. They talked tradecraft and culture, but otherwise sat in silence for the first hour.
“How well do you know your boss?” asked Cho.
Ajay cut off a laugh. “I probably know her better than anyone, even her children. But don’t tell her I said that.”
“Ground rule,” said Tsenka. “Nothing leaves this… bar.”
“Agreed.”
“That out of the way,” she began, “what’s the real story on Cepheid?”
“How you mean?”
“They don’t run this place yet?” she said, tipping a tall can of beer back.
“Yet,” Ajay echoed. “Right. The writing’s on the wall. Liberty party barely survived the last election. Their days are numbered.”
Tsenka set the can down. “Their?”
Ajay raised an eyebrow. “I’m not political. I just work.”
“You don’t care who for?”
“Sure, sure,” he said. “And I’m lucky. Anne cares about the country. She’s done a lot for the UTI, and most people will never know.”
“Hrm,” she uttered. The vampire stared ahead at the rack of alcohol, thinking about Desre’s words and what her next move should be.
The two boarded the train together, where Ajay promptly fell asleep on the small bench across from Tsenka. She stared at him, feeling a sense of longing, and began concocting fantasies, wondering why she didn’t act on them or why he hadn’t made an attempt outside of his earlier joke. Was it professionalism? Was it distrust? She decided to nap for the remainder of the trip and worry about it later.
“You going to be alright?” asked Ajay, standing next to one of the loading platforms at the Terminus.
“Yup,” responded Cho. Then, as he started to turn away, “Hey, Ajay. Thanks for standing by me at the lab.”
He smirked. “Of course, Ms. Cho.” He stared for a moment. “You aren’t staying, are you?”
“I hadn’t decided,” she said.
“Well, if you come back, look me up.”
“Sure, Mr. Pish
a.”
He grimaced, then turned his back and waved his hand in the air as he descended a flight of stairs.
Tsenka felt something poke into her back.
“Don’t move,” commanded a tinny voice with a strange New England accent.
Cho tensed, then relaxed. “That’s a finger, isn’t it?”
“Depends,” said a more familiar-sounding voice. “You like it?”
Tsenka spun around to face her nemesis and savior, Daria Cretu. “Do I like it?” she said. “Not in the spine.”
Daria grinned, her thin lips thinning further as they stretched. The young woman stared with bright green eyes at Cho, unsure how else to respond.
“Desre said you’d be here,” said Tsenka.
“If the goddess commands me, I obey,” said Cretu.
“I appreciate that, but she’s no goddess.”
Daria poked her finger into Tsenka’s ribcage. “She said to help you, but watch your tongue.”
“Or what?” said Cho.
“Or… m-maybe I’ll find a better use for it,” stammered Cretu.
Tsenka grabbed Daria’s wrist. “Oh really?”
“Mhmm.”
Cho released her. “What is wrong with you?”
“I’m a vampire slayer,” she said proudly. “But you defeated me. I suppose there’s nothing I could do to stop you from having your way with me.” The slayer stepped closer to Tsenka.
“Wait, are you—” Cho started, then stopped. “We are not role-playing.”
“You tasted my blood,” said Daria, raising her hand to Tsenka’s mouth. Tsenka instinctively leaned away. “How was it?”
Cute, but potentially insane, thought Cho. “It was just okay.”
“Excuse me? Just okay?” said Daria, stunned. “Try again.” She leaned forward and tilted her head to the side to expose her neck.
“Maybe later,” said Tsenka. “I’m good for now. I assume there’s some reason why I was supposed to meet up with you.”
Daria shrugged. “I’unno. Maybe I’m your bodyguard.”
“I need time to think,” said Cho.
“It will be dawn soon,” cautioned Cretu. She slapped herself in the face. “Oh, right, you’re rule-breaker when it comes to that.”
“I’ll let you in on a secret. It is still uncomfortable.”
“Ooh. Ey, I know,” said Daria, “we need to find that feckin’ body mage and obliterate him.”
“I can get onboard with that. Know where he’s at?”
“Nep.”
“I’m going to my monocopter,” announced Cho.
“A’ight, guess I can escort you there.”
* * *
While most mage universities, as they were euphemistically labeled, were effectively prisons more than places of learning, the mage university in Mumbai had historically been a literal jail located in the Byculla area of the city, not far from the southern shore.
It had been renovated a couple times over its seventy years of service and outfitted with high-level security systems and guard towers. The dinginess of the exterior with brightly colored paint peeling from the walls, however, had been a consistent look.
Anne led Taq up to the large metal gate where a security guard in body armor stood inside a booth behind transparent steel. The director of Mage Affairs stepped up to the window and presented her face for scanning.
“Welcome, Ms. Courtemanche,” said the man.
The gate buzzed, and Anne pushed on it, causing the heavy metal to slowly move. Taq joined her in the effort, opening it just enough for both to step through. The gate buzzed again and shut itself.
The two walked through a small courtyard and through another set of doors that led to a man-trap that funneled them into an office with two lightly geared officers sitting at desks. The female officer stood and presented a tablet to Anne.
“When we were informed of your visit, I prepared a report for you,” the woman said.
“Thank you,” said Courtemanche. “Will you be our escort?”
The woman looked at Taq, then back to Anne. “Yes, sir. Where shall I take you?”
Anne looked to her mage companion. “Where to?”
“Let’s check out the living quarters,” he replied.
“You heard him,” said Anne.
The officer moved to the door and waved it open using the authority only her face could grant, then stepped through. Taq and Anne followed. As soon as air from the inner jail hit him, Jones felt slightly sick from the stink of it. He looked at Anne, who gave no indication that she smelled it as well.
After two turns down cement corridors, they came to another gate made of thick bars. This time the officer used a physical key that Jones noticed was made with polonium. Past the gate was a long wide hall with jail cells on each side. Taq was immediately aghast. No mage staying in such a place would have any privacy, and as he passed the first empty cell, he was appalled at the filth splattered on the walls and the lack of any comforts.
The place was nothing but a prison and an awful one at that. But each cell they passed was devoid of life. Jones turned to Anne, his face contorted in anger.
“Did you know it was like this?” he asked.
Anne kept walking. “Afraid so, Taq.”
“I don’t understand. Where are all the mages?”
“I suppose,” she said, “that, in a way, they are all free now.”
Anne stopped and turned to Taq. She nodded at the officer, and before he could react, Taq felt the woman’s arms wrap around his, pulling them behind his back. He tried to look behind him and yank himself free, but the woman was too strong.
Taq turned back to Courtemanche, who reached out her hand. It glowed a deep blue, and before the mage understood what was happening, a bolt of lightning arced from her palm to his chest. It was a low-power spell, but the jolt caused Taq’s body to seize and then his nervous system to falter. He went limp in the arms of the guard holding him.
The hall began to slowly spin. Jones tried to cast, but could not focus.
“I will give credit where it’s due,” she said. “That wasn’t easy, but it’s progress. I have you to thank for that if nothing else.”
“A-Anne,” he choked out. “Why?”
She leaned down and placed her hands on his cheeks. “We’re just trying to restore the world,” she said, her lips curling upward. “After all this time, you fell into my lap. Maybe if you hadn’t cast me aside like so much refuse, neither of us would be here.”
“Annie,” he forced out, choking back terror. “I don’t know what you think I did, but that was forty years ago. I would have been a dumb kid.”
“And you don’t even remember me,” she said, releasing his face. “That’s how important I was, after everything I did for you… to you.”
“Anne, please, don’t do this,” pleaded Jones.
“It’s done,” she said coldly before turning to the officer. “Take him to the interrogation room and dose him.” She turned back to Taq. “I’m not proud of this, but something had to be done.”
Jones tried to question her, but the words wouldn’t come. He could emit only a low-pitched moan as Courtemanche watched the guard drag him by the shoulders deeper inside the dungeon.
Episode 10: Bait
Daria stalked around the cabin of the monocopter as if searching for lost jewelry. She went from the entry cabin to the cockpit, then back. Then checked out the sleeping room, then went to the bathroom, then back to the main cabin. Tsenka closed the hatch, shutting out all light except that of soft luminescent panels along the inside of the hull.
“This thing is bigger than my place,” she exclaimed. “Do you live here? It’s like your vampire hideout.”
“I don’t live in it… most of the time,” said Tsenka. “It can be convenient during long trips, though.”
“Warn me before you take off,” said Cretu. She unstrapped the two upside-down blades on her back and dropped them onto the floor, then flopped into a large egg-shaped c
hair bolted to the hull.
“Why?”
“I don’t want you kidnapping me. Would be kinda hot, but I gotta stay here.”
“Here, as in Mumbai?”
“Yeah,” she said, her eyes studying fixtures attached to the walls. “She was very clear.”
Tsenka pushed a switch on a divider plate between the cockpit and main cabin, and small padded hexagons rose up from between metal framing, creating a soft cushion on the floor. Cho took off her sheath and holster, then pushed her boots off with her toes and sat in front of the egg chair.
“How long has Desre been communicating with you?” she asked.
Cretu leaned forward, pressing her chest against her knees so as to move her face close to Tsenka’s. “I so wanna brag, but some stuff is just for me and her… but okay, like almost a month.”
“I need to find her,” said Cho. “I think if she weren’t in danger, she would have found me in person or called me over the network.”
“You really think she’s a real person?”
Tsenka lay on her back with her hands folded under her head. “We used to work together.” She smiled. “As agents of the NRI.”
“I never heard of her, but you’re famous.”
“For a little while, maybe.”
“No, like now,” claimed Daria.
“I’m nothing next to the great vampire slayer Daria Cretu.”
“So you do know me!”
Tsenka playfully rolled her eyes. She gazed at the slayer’s face, subtly marred by earlier punches to her cheek and mouth. “I’m sorry I had to hit you.”
“Fuggit,” she said, looking up at the ceiling. “I wasn’t really trying to kill you, though. I just got caught up in the moment.”
“What kind of moment would that be, exactly?”
“Sometimes my thoughts are… disconnected,” she said, leaning back. Daria pulled a gumball from her pocket and placed it between her teeth, letting it rest there for a moment before chewing. “I’m joking, too, ’cause I’m not really a slayer. I just don’t want to be nothin’. I did kill a vampire once, in self-defense. It’s the only reason the gang takes me serious.”