by C. L. Quinn
If Marc had thought that his experiences in Afghanistan had fucked him up, this pushed him over the edge. This, he would not let happen. He didn’t care if he had to burn this place down around his ears, this would not happen.
“Take me to her,” he said, his voice cracking.
Taggert hesitated, but the compulsion from Bas was too strong and he headed from the newly dug lower level of this building up to ground floor and through several corridors to an interior room. Double doors responded to Taggert’s handprint and slid open soundlessly.
Two men wearing the same shirt that Marc now wore, stood rigidly with rifles on each side of a 10 by 10 foot cage near the back of the room. As he approached, Marc could see a figure lying on the floor, and his heart clenched when he saw the cloud of blonde hair spread out around the head of the figure. Intense emotion clogged his head and he couldn’t speak.
Now, standing outside the cage, he saw the deplorable conditions in which they’d kept Tamesine. She lay prone on a dirty floor, her wrists and feet bound in thick metal cuffs and held down by chains. Blood covered her clothes and arms. He knew it was her own.
Taggert looked away until Marc spoke.
“Tell them to leave.”
Again, Taggert hesitated, but complied. “Get some dinner,” he said, and the men with the rifles handed the guns to Taggert and walked out.
Alone in the room except for Taggert, Marc squatted and reached through the cage bars to touch Tamesine’s hair. Just that contact hit him in the gut. This woman was his, he knew it now, and he would stop at nothing to protect her.
“Can you open the cage?”
“I have the codes, yeah.”
Marc turned his head to stare into Taggert’s eyes
“Then do it, now.”
Keying some numbers into a locking bar on the cage, the door snicked, and popped open.
Marc walked in and dropped to his knees.
“Tam? Can you hear me? Baby, wake up.”
She didn’t. Marc looked up at Taggert, who was watching with interest.
“How long before she wakes?”
“Depends on when they dosed her last. What’s going on, Marc? We’re not allowed to enter the cage.”
“You agree with me that this is wrong.”
Taggert came into the cage with Marc. “I agree. But we can’t do anything for her. She belongs to Lamont.”
“She belongs to me,” Marc revealed.
Taggert stepped back. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m here to rescue her. Her name is Tam, and she’s a kind, beautiful woman, not a monster like this SRS says she is. I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but I’ve met several vampires now, and they seem to be good people. You’ve been misled, but I think you already know that.”
“Doesn’t change things. This company has deep pockets and a lot of power. I’ve seen them do things that I still can’t believe they can do. We need to get out of here, buddy, before they find out you’re working against them. They’ll kill you, Marc, without hesitation.”
“I know. That’s enough to know who the real bad guys are, right? Taggert, you opened the cage for me and I thank you. Now help me get her out of here.”
“That’s harder. The bands have electronic releases that have to be attached to open them, and they’re not kept in this room.”
“Do you have access to them?”
“Maybe. But there isn’t time. The lab workers will be back anytime now.”
“I’m not leaving without her.”
Staring at Marc, on the floor with Tamesine’s head in his lap,Taggert sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Fuck me,” he said suddenly. “All right, but you have to get out of there and close the door until we can come back with the release units. If they suspect what we’re doing, we’re both dead.”
Slowly, Marc kissed Tamesine’s forehead, gently laid her head back on the floor, and stood. “I’m coming back, baby.”
He walked out just moments before he heard voices outside of the room, and closed the door quickly.
Two young men and one older one came in, actively discussing a television show they’d watched the night before. The older man looked up at Taggert and Marc standing too close to the cage. He recognized Taggert.
“Hey. You guys might want to move back. Where are the sentries?”
“I sent them to dinner while we were here. Say, do you know where the lock-releases are kept for her cuffs? We’re moving her to the new cage tomorrow and are here to check the details.”
“Lamont keeps them. He’s paranoid. I don’t think he lets them out of his sight.”
“Okay, then, I’ll check with him. The sentries should be right back. Thanks.” Taggert motioned for Marc to follow him and he did.
After they were clear of the room, Taggert turned to Marc. “We can’t get them. I don’t know how we will if he keeps them near him.”
“I’ll work on that. Meanwhile, everything we’ve just said and done, you will mention nothing about it at all to anyone, understand?”
Taggert agreed, and Marc wondered how much of that was because of the compulsion, or because he really didn’t believe in this job anymore. He suspected that Taggert was a good man who just got caught in the dirt one day, and hadn’t left.
Once they were back in Taggert’s office, Marc flipped open the cell phone that Eillia had given him.
“They have her. It’s complicated, but I’m working on getting her free. It’s horrible, Eillia, what they’re doing to her, how they’re keeping her.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
“No. I think I can get her free on my own. I’m going to try…”
“No, Marc. When you’re ready to bring her out, call me and we’ll all be there to assure you two make it. At that point, there’s no reason for stealth.”
“You’re right. Okay, then as soon as we get the releases, I’ll call you.”
Taggert had watched the entire conversation.
“Who are you working with?” Taggert asked, confused.
After a few moments, Marc made a decision to read Taggert in. “Vampires. Her friends. You’re right when you suspected Lamont wasn’t telling you the truth. This entire operation, the SRS, is an organization of criminals, on the same kind of hunt as every other hate-crime group in history. All these people want is to be left alone to live their lives. I need your help, Taggert.”
“How do I know you? I mean, I know that I know you, and yet I have no real memory of how I do. Did you guys do something to me? I know vampires can control people.”
Marc nodded. “You won’t remember unless I command you to.”
“So you’re a vampire?”
“No. I’m just an ordinary man just like you. But when Bas, he’s the vampire that compelled you, when he did so, he made you compliant to anything I ask you to do. I don’t know how it works, but it’s pretty amazing. I am telling you the truth now, because I believe you are a man of honor and you won’t want to continue to be a part of this. Am I wrong?”
Taggert lowered himself into his desk chair and looked up at the dropped-ceiling. “This is fucking crazy.” After a long pause, he looked back at Marc. “But I’m with you. And I still don’t know how we’re going to get the releases.”
“I do. We’re just going to ask for them. You said we have to move her tomorrow to that new cage. The guy has to know we need to release the cuffs to do that, so no matter how paranoid he is, Lamont still has to give us access.”
“Or he’ll just release them himself when the time comes.”
“Let’s make that a problem for him. Let’s put this place under attack.”
“Ah,” said Taggert.
THIRTEEN
“We’re ready, Marc,” Eillia told him on the cell phone she’d given to him.
“Okay, Taggert and I will get into position,” Marc replied.
“Please remember that Lamont has vampire powers, and that it might not be as
easy as you think. I doubt we will be able to control him. We weren’t able to in Brazil after he ingested blood from numerous vampires and gained some vampire abilities. Plus, he’s a fucking psycho. You’ll be very careful?”
“Promise. See you soon.”
He ended the call, and turned to Taggert.
“They’re in position. In about two hours, they’ll breach the outside walls of this hotel. We just need to make sure that no one has the vampire-stopping serum.”
“I’ll call my teams in. I have thirty-two men on duty tonight, and we’ll round up the weapons. We’re going to be so fucking lucky if we can pull this off. If Lamont gets wind, we’re toast.”
“I know. You’re doing the right thing, though, brother.”
Taggart smiled. “Brother. Oh, yeah. That was a nice touch.”
“Bas seems to have a wicked sense of humor.”
“Well, I hope he has a nice job for me, because I am going to be unemployed after tonight.”
“You just might not be. Either way, I’ll take you out for breakfast and as many bottles of whisky as you can handle.”
“Deal.”
The crash reverberated through Lamont’s oversized office. Six of his staff stood in the back of the room, very, very worried. They knew this strange man was indescribably powerful and frighteningly unstable, more so with each day. They were sure someone would die.
“This entire thing has been one big bumblefuck! I should be a vampire by now!”
Two of his assistants slipped out of a side door as quickly as they could when Lamont looked away for a few moments, but the others stood frozen, waiting to see if they were going to live through this. Three of them promised themselves that if they did live through this tantrum, they were gone as soon as they could get out of here. Out of this city.
One brave soul stepped forward.
Viktor put up his hands. “Sir, she’s going to be transferred to the new holding cell tomorrow. Then you will have absolute control once the new serum takes effect. Please, sir, remember that it’s all going to work out exactly the way you want it to, just a day from now. Please. Would you like something to eat or drink?”
Lamont stilled, his attention suddenly locked on Viktor.
Viktor closed his eyes and waited to see if his boss would use his stolen vampire ability to end him. He opened them again a few moments later when the room remained silent and looked at Lamont, who still stared at him, but with a hint of a smile.
“You’re a good man, Viktor. Just what I needed, a reasonable mind to calm mine. You’re right, of course. The vampire will be at my command tomorrow. I’ve become such an impatient man. Go down to the cafeteria and tell the chefs to cater the finest dinner and deserts for everyone tonight. We shall feast!”
With just a slight nod, Viktor caught the eyes of the remaining staff and tilted his head, letting them know they should leave the room now, which they did. He followed quickly.
This entire situation was out of control. He’d worked too hard in his life to get out of the tiny fishing village he’d been raised in, to find a lucrative position with a big company, and the SRS was certainly that, but this just wasn’t worth it. He’d return to a life of fish and guts before he stayed here. Before that monster forced the bound vampire to convert him, Viktor determined he would be gone.
He called down to speak to the young girl who had taken over for the professional cook who had quit two weeks earlier, and gave her the order to cater a feast from the most popular restaurant in town.
Then Viktor went to the hotel room on the fifth floor that had been a high-dollar suite at one time, but was now his quarters while serving Lamont. He lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling.
He didn’t have a choice, he was going to have to leave.
Taggert and Marc followed the corridor to the underground lab that held Tamesine’s cell. They planned to be present when the attack began, forcing Lamont to surrender the release badges so they could get Tamesine out of the hotel.
“You’re sure the vampires will be safe?” Marc asked Taggert as they checked their own weapons.
“I rounded up every bottle of serum they had, and told them that it was being replaced tonight with a more effective formula. These men don’t question authority, they just follow orders. Their weapons have regular bullets now. Fuck, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they have standard issue ordnance that won’t kill your friends. From the beginning, this whole supernatural species really exists thing has blown my mind.”
“It’s only a few days old for me. I found out this week.”
“Damn, you’re adjusting well.”
“Maybe. I won’t know for sure until this situation is over and I have time to drop down and think about what has happened. They can compel you to forget, and I’m not entirely sure I won’t have them do that so I can try to have a normal life.”
“Fuck, I might do the same. After this is finished, I’ll meet you in Ireland, we’ll find a nice pub, and drink ourselves into oblivion. Deal?”
“Sounds good to me. First, though, we have to survive.”
“No problem. You can’t kill an old military goat like me.” Taggert paused. “Or you. I can tell, you’re ex-military. It rides on you like a well-worn saddle.”
“Yeah, I guess it does.”
“I recognize other things, too. You didn’t escape unscathed.”
“No.”
After a few more moments, Marc stopped and looked Taggert in the eye. “Tam said she could make those memories go away too. I’m less inclined to do that because those moments happened, and they matter. But I’d like to breathe again, and sleep again, without guilt or those god-awful memories.”
“It wouldn’t be wrong, if you wanted to have her do that. You deserve some peace. Young men shouldn’t ever have to see those things.”
“Or do those things. I’m not innocent. They told me what to do, yeah…but I did them.”
“War isn’t a place for a boy to become a man. Don’t carry the rocks, brother. They put them on you, you didn’t.”
Both men drew deep breaths and let the subject drop. Neither of them had escaped unscathed. They both knew, they wouldn’t escape unscathed here, either.
Eillia hugged Koen, then Park and Bas together.
“Be careful. I know we have Marc and this guy Taggert on the inside, but I don’t trust Lamont, and I don’t know what he’ll have he can use against us. God, I hope they were able to secure the serum, or we might be screwed right away. But we go, we get Tamesine and Marc, and we close the place here, too, if we can.”
“We kill Lamont if we can, Eillia,” Koen said quietly.
She didn’t look at him, but busied herself tying her boot. Moments later, though, she looked up at her companions and nodded. “I’ve already agreed.”
She hated to take a life, but they all knew this man was too dangerous to leave alive. They knew he would never stop, and if he eventually managed to become vampire, then things would become exponentially worse. For all of his victims in the past, and especially those who would come in the future, he had to be eliminated. What a pity, too. With his resources and abilities, he could have done such good in the world.
“Ready,” she said, and stood, dressed for the cooler night air, and the battle ahead.
Four vampires had no difficulty getting past the sentries placed at the basement level access of Lamont’s facility. No one even remembered them passing and heading up the stairs. But after compelling one of the young men to make a quick phone call to Lamont’s office, Park smiled as an alarm bell chimed through the mostly empty basement rooms.
“He knows we’re here,” she said out loud.
Any other armed guards on that level abruptly found themselves curled up in a corner of one of the sparsely furnished rooms, asleep, compelled to do so for the next two hours.
So far, the four vampire intruder’s journey had been unimpeded. Now, if only Lamont would release the items Marc needed to free T
amesine, they would be halfway to their goal.
Koen and Bas were striding aggressively in front of Eillia and Park.
Eillia caught Park’s gaze. “They don’t want us to meet up with Lamont first.”
“I know. Even though Bas knows that I’m more powerful than he is, he still wants to protect me. He’s such an alpha male.” Park smiled. “I love that about him.”
“And Koen has always believed it is his job to protect everyone. This has been the best year of my life, with all of us finding each other. I don’t want to lose it.”
“I agree. Strange things are happening lately and I agree with Cherise…something is coming.”
“I feel the same sense of prophecy, and it makes me uneasy.”
Park took Eillia’s arm. “It will all be all right. We’re the most powerful creatures on earth. Ask Lamont, that’s why he’s so pissed at us.”
“And our children are even stronger. Tamesine was the first one who knew how powerful Caedmon was. I can’t believe I’m saying this, after what she has done in the past, but I can’t imagine our lives without her now.”
“True. The children have missed her.” Park drew a long breath. “Let’s go to battle, then.”
Lamont arrived at Tamesine’s cell moments after the alarms began to wail. He saw Taggart and Marc and raced up to them.
“I believe the vampires have come for her.”
“That’s what I hear. We should move her to the new cell immediately.” Taggart had his rifle raised, aimed at Tamesine, who was still prone in the cage.
“I agree. Here, let me release her and I will accompany you to the lower chambers.”
Fuck! Marc thought.
Taggert twisted to face Lamont. “Sir, if the vampires have found her, they may come to the new holding cell, and you’ll be in danger there. Why don’t you let my men surround the cell once she’s secured? They’ll be armed with the vampire serum and can take them down before they are a threat to you.”