by C. L. Quinn
After throwing on a fluffy robe with his initials in tacky gold letters, he answered the cell phone that had disturbed him.
“Yes!” he called aggressively, expectantly.
“Sir…” Taggert began.
Lamont cut him off. “You have her?”
“We do, sir. She’s contained and compliant.”
“Splendid! Bring her directly here to the cells!”
“We’re on our way. Sir, the serum that was supposed to make her unconscious and block her powers, it didn’t work on her.”
“It should have. What did you do wrong?”
“Nothing, sir. We shot twelve into her body, but it only knocked her out for about half an hour. When she woke up, she was pissed.”
“Well, of course she was! So, how is it that you captured her? She should have eviscerated all of you!”
“The assassin. He apparently knew the serum wouldn’t work, so he’d arranged a contingency plan. He abducted someone she cares about, with a fatal threat. She is voluntarily compliant to protect this individual.”
“Isn’t that interesting? I thought Claude was just a fine henchman. It appears I underestimated his skills. Get her secured, shoot her with fifty times the dose, see if you can keep her out. And tell Claude to come to my office the minute you arrive.”
Pitching the cell phone onto the bed, he crawled back to the center, his hand working his penis, which was hard again. This was getting annoying.
Then again, he thought, perhaps I just need someone more worthy for it to play with. Vampire to vampire.
The most powerful vampire known would convert him. Once she changed him, she would service him. The thought, the excitement, made him come, hard, his body jerking from the intensity. He would be a god.
TEN
Marc had fallen asleep, his own cell phone and Tamesine’s beside him. The apartment wasn’t secure with the door blown off, but that didn’t concern him. He was hoping he would dream, that he would connect with her in the dream and be able to find out what happened to her. But his sleep was deep and dreamless.
It had been an exhausting day of frustration and dread. He’d come back here because it was the closest he could be to Tamesine and any clue to her whereabouts. Plus, he wanted to be there if this woman Eillia showed up. He’d grabbed a hamburger and fries from a grill next to this apartment and crashed on Tamesine’s mattress.
“This must be the man. He isn’t.”
Marc woke to a woman’s voice, barely above a whisper. Hearing the sudden voice, he sat upright quickly, disoriented, rubbing his eyes to clear them, then looked around.
He had to do a double-take as his eyes moved from one face to another just a few feet from him. A woman stood closest to the bed, petite, Asian, stunning, with a smile that could melt gold. Behind her, another off-the-charts beautiful woman with long red hair snatched up into a ponytail was in front of two of the biggest men he’d ever seen in his life. They looked like they could have walked off of a WWF set. Muscled, handsome, alpha-type males. None of this made any sense.
The Asian woman moved closer.
“I assume you are Marc,” she said, with a very slight French accent. “I must say, Tamesine does have good taste. Nice equipment.”
His eyes followed hers as she looked down at the mattress.
Fuck! He’d torn off his clothes last night and just dropped onto the thick mattress. Now, the sheets slipped aside, his naked body was completely revealed to all four newcomers standing there, apparently assessing his assets.
He shot off of the mattress and pulled his jeans on, zipping them with lightning speed. “Uh, sorry. I didn’t expect company so soon. Didn’t you come from France?”
“Yes, but we’re quick. I’m Eillia.”
“I guessed. Marc.”
She smiled. “I guessed. Marc, Tamesine is a dear friend, more family actually, these days. The woman behind me is Park, and the men are Bas, Park’s husband, and my oldest friend, Koen. We are here to find Tamesine.”
Because there were so many of them, Marc just gave them the two finger salute to greet them. “Good to meet you guys. I searched all day, but there’s no trace. They must have been in and out, there’s nothing left behind in the apartment. I’m going to call the authorities today so they can run a trace for fingerprints, but I’m sure they won’t find any.”
“It’s night, Marc. And the police can’t help. We’ll take over from here. We appreciate your help, but you can go home now.”
Eillia looked around the apartment. Then looked up at the other three in her group. “I’m not sensing anything, but I’ll try using touch.”
This was sounding familiar, Marc thought. More odd behavior. He wondered…
As she moved around the room, Eillia looked at Marc, who hadn’t moved at all. “You may go, Marc. I promise I will let you know when we find her. Don’t worry, I’m sure she’s okay.”
When he still didn’t move, she looked at her companions, then walked to Marc. He kept his eyes on the wood floor.
“Would you look me in the eye, Marc?”
“No.”
Eillia drew back. “What?”
“No.” He kept his gaze on the floor, trying to decide how he should do this. Could he even say the words, they were so wild?
“Are you guys like Tamesine? Are you different?”
Marc suddenly looked up when the largest of the men came forward slowly, the tone of his voice deep and insistent. “You want to explain what you mean?”
What the hell, he might as well go for it.
“Are you guys…vampires?”
“And now we know,” the red-head named Park said.
Eillia took Marc’s chin in her hand and forced him to look into her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to compel you. Now I need to know what you know, how much you know, and what your relationship really was with Tamesine.”
Marc walked over to the sofa and sat down. “I need some whiskey,” he said, mostly to himself. But Eillia came over to the sofa and sat down beside him.
“I understand. When did she reveal her nature to you? You still look shell-shocked.”
“Last night. That’s why she was coming over. Once she told me, of course I didn’t believe her. But I wanted to try to help her. I thought she was just, you know, ill.”
“She has been. In the most devastating way. But she’s been getting better. And now this.”
Eillia looked up at Koen, who was bringing what looked like a juice glass over to Marc. He handed Marc the glass.
“You’re right. Whiskey helps. This is mind-blowing and extremely difficult to accept. But Tamesine isn’t crazy.”
Koen rolled his eyes. “Not about this, anyway.”
“Koen, behave.” Eillia stood. “Now, everyone stay quiet while I try to find any echo in this room that might help.”
Watching her move around the room, her hands held out and up, Marc’s mind was chugging through the fact that what Tamesine had told him had to be true. All of these people were anything on this earth but normal. They had verified Tamesine’s claims, and made it clear that they were vampire’s too. While it defied any sense of probability, the combination of his experiences with Tamesine, the abduction, these impressive people, and his own need to find order out of this unreal mess, he was beginning to accept the impossibility as real. Vampires did exist, and they were standing in this room with him right now. He downed the warm whiskey the big guy had brought him.
Everyone waited the few minutes it took for Eillia to finish her sweep of the room. She shook her head.
“There’s nothing. I can feel Tamesine’s presence on everything.” She looked at Marc. “Especially you. But you never took her blood, did you?”
“What? No.”
“Okay, blood trace is out. There’s no life signal, either. They must be blocking it somehow, or making her do so. But it doesn’t make sense. Park, you said that the SRS’s serum didn’t work on Tamesine for more than a short time, right?”
“It didn’t. Tamesine woke long before anyone else, and brought us to. You’re right, he shouldn’t have been able to take her or keep her. I’m afraid he might have found a way to increase the efficacy of the serum. If he has, then things just went from bad to worse. Shit, I hate when things go from bad to worse.”
“All right, then. I don’t think we’re getting anything else here. Koen, will you and Park check with the neighbors and see if they’ve seen anything at all?”
Koen nodded and led Park out of the apartment.
“Bas, would you check with Tim and see if he’s found anything yet? Then we’ll go to the airport. They were likely in a private jet, so we may be able to track them from that.”
She turned to Marc. “You, tell me everything about your relationship with Tamesine, from the first time you met, to last night when she revealed herself to you. By the way, you realize that is an enormous moment of trust? When a vampire tells a human what they are, it implies a trust that goes beyond friendship. You should be honored that she accepted you. I hope you can accept her.”
Marc was feeling heavy chest pressure again, but he held it together. “I can. I had. So you think you know who has her?”
“I’m sure of it.”
He waited, but when she didn’t elaborate, he stood. “Well, who the fuck has her?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you, but it’s more important right now for you to tell me about you and Tamesine.”
“I really don’t know how to begin. It’s as strange as all of this vampire nonsense. Sorry, no offense, but I’m still grappling with acceptance that vampire’s aren’t just movie stuff.”
“You wouldn’t be normal if you didn’t. But, stay focused, please.”
Bas walked over to the sofa. “Tim’s trying to track any private planes scheduled for departure from France in the past 48 hours that might have filed a flight plan to California. He says he has an ongoing investigation into Lamont’s financing. He’s trying to track contributions to the SRS. I’m going out to help my wife and Koen. Call me if you need me.”
Eillia nodded.
“The SRS?” Marc said.
“Yes, it’s a research society manned by psychos who think that supernaturals, especially vampires, are abominations that need to be purged. That’s who I believe took Tamesine. So, you were saying.”
“Yeah. Okay. I first met her in the diner next to the bar I work at. It’s called Frank’s Place, kind of a hole-in-the-wall place, but it’s popular. Tamesine waitresses there and she brought me my dinner one night about a week ago.”
Eillia smiled suddenly. “She was waitressing? Good for her.”
“Now that I think about it, things were sort of weird between us even then. She acted odd, and I remember feeling edgy and off-center around her. Anyway, that night, I had a dream. I’ve had a lot of bad dreams for a lot of years, for a different reason, but this one was unique. I was in a storm, battered by thunder and lightning, and she was there, holding me. She told me that she had me, that I would be all right. At that moment, in the dream, I felt more loved and secure than I had since I was a child.”
“You dream-walked together.”
“That’s what she called it. I didn’t want to believe that either. But I knew we had a connection of some kind, and I was becoming more and more attracted to her, not just physically. I mean, she’s gorgeous, yes, but I found I really wanted to be with her.”
“The dream connection transcends beyond the dream. Marc, it’s as real as we are, sitting here in this room. Especially with a vampire as powerful as Tamesine.”
“You’re not all alike?”
“Oh, no. Our abilities, our talents, vary from first blood to first blood. So do our power levels. Tamesine may have had mental and emotion issues for centuries, but she is exponentially more powerful than most of us.”
Each moment, Marc’s mind whirled more. His small, sweet waitress was an extremely powerful urban legend. The lightheadedness that assaulted him last night was returning.
He felt Eillia’s warm hand on his arm. “You guys aren’t cold.”
Laughing, Eillia stood. “We aren’t dead, Marc. It’s true that ultraviolet light is devastating with extended direct exposure, but most of the lore you’ve seen or heard isn’t true.”
“But you drink blood. Tamesine, she took mine.”
“During sex, I imagine. It’s necessary to take blood for nutrition. Sex, though, is enhanced by a blood draw, especially if the vampire is hungry. I imagine that had to be the reason, or she would have made sure you were ready first.”
Eillia sighed. “I wish she had fed you. If so, you would have her blood in you, and I could use you as a blood trace to find her.”
“Well, she drank my blood. Could you find her using mine?”
Eillia shook her head. “No. Human blood is too weak to trace through the spiritual plane. We’ll find her, though. Well, let’s finish your story. You guys connected in your dreams. And you’ve had sex. You don’t have to tell me that, the scent is in the air here. It’s okay, we are hardly prudes.”
It was still unsettling to know she was that aware of something so intimate.
“That’s pretty much it. We were bonding, getting to know each other. She decided to let me know she was a vampire. I wigged out for a night, and she was taken. That’s all I can really contribute.”
“It’s helpful. This diner, Frank’s Place. Will you take me there? I doubt there’s anything useful, but I want to check it out anyway.”
“Sure.”
Once Eillia let the others know she would be back shortly, Marc got into the SUV they’d taken from the airport and directed her the few blocks to the diner. Eillia parked right in front in an area marked no parking, and shrugged with a smile when Marc glanced at the sign.
Inside, a frazzled young waitress stopped long enough to tell them it might be a while.
“Our boss didn’t show up today. And he’s the cook! So we’re way behind. You might want to hit a fast food restaurant if you’re really hungry.”
Marc looked at Eillia.
“Were they close?” Eillia asked.
“I saw them at a midnight concert a few days ago. She seemed to really enjoy his company.”
“That’s how they got her. They took this man she cared about and now she’s sacrificing her freedom to protect him. This asshole, Lamont, the bastard that runs the society, I’m going to kill him someday soon.”
“Do you know where to find him?”
“No. He’s, in his own words, richer than God, and more powerful, too. Also his own words. So, with those resources, he’s been able to disappear. But he isn’t as good as he thinks he is and he’s certainly not as good as our combined skills. He will be found, and so will Tamesine. Come on, we need to return for the others.”
Collected back in Tamesine’s apartment, Koen gave Eillia and Marc an update.
“No one really had anything that would help us. Several people saw a dark van, but had no other details.”
“Okay, on to the airport.” Eillia turned to Marc. “Now what do we do with you?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“We can’t just leave you here.”
“You think I can be of some help in finding her?”
“I think you’ve slept with her and someone is going to know that. You’re another hostage, is what you are. You’ll need to come with us.”
“I have a job, lady.”
“Call your boss. Let him know you have an emergency. Marc, we can’t leave you unprotected. The safest place for you is with my family in France. Don’t argue, you’re coming. Call him now, or you’ll just be MIA from your job like Frank.”
Marc scanned the vampires who surrounded him and knew he was humped. Nothing he did would change this woman’s decision, so he took out his cell, dialed Joe, and left a voice message that he had to leave for a period of time and that he would contact him as soon as he could.
“All ri
ght. Can we stop by my apartment so I can get a few things?”
“You won’t need anything. Come on.”
They walked away from the basement apartment, the remains of Tamesine’s attempt at a normal life left behind, abandoned.
Marc buckled himself into the third row of seats in the large SUV, noticed the vampires didn’t, and dropped his head back against the headrest. He had no idea what would happen next in the mash-up between fantasy and reality he was living. Memory splashed Tamesine’s smile in front of his closed eyes, and he realized, there was nowhere else he’d rather be than here, part of the group of people who would find her and bring her home.
I’m no hero, he thought. His tour of duty proved that, but for this lost woman, he had to find a way to be one.
Tamesine had fallen asleep, locked now in a cage, her hands and feet bound, her head on the cold metal floor. The bindings didn’t matter, she could obliterate them with a thought, but for the moment, she didn’t care. She was exhausted and hungry, and didn’t want to deal with anything else today. Only two thoughts followed her into her sleep.
Frank, alone and terrified, beaten, a victim of her ever-present past, where in the hell that creep had him stashed. And Marc, who she knew would have already discovered she was gone. How was he dealing with the dual concern of her revelation and disappearance? She felt so powerless!
This man, this Claude, would have Frank killed, viciously, she knew that. His path of destruction was wide. He would have to be stopped.
No. Lamont. He was the one who must be stopped. He funded this entire tragic enterprise. With money that left few opportunities unavailable in this big world, he wielded a magic too powerful for a self-important monster who thought himself more important than anything or anyone. Once he was gone, all the rest would fall apart like a bad game of Jenga.
Once she woke, unaware of where or when she was, she pushed upright. There was little chance she would fall asleep again. Her hands felt like lead, with limited movement because of the chains, which were too tight, and she wouldn’t tolerate that now, so she snapped them.