Blood Red Dawn

by Karen E. Taylor

  “Your brother?”

  “A figure of speech, Deirdre. As you are my grandchild in vampiric reckoning, Eduard was my brother. Remember how it took all of our combined energy to kill Eduard?”

  “No, I remember only that you killed him. On your own. None of us could approach him, he had us all petrified.”

  “But you see, I was drawing strength from each of you. Your inability to move wasn’t just an effect of Eduard’s powers, it was also partly my doing.”

  “But Max is not like Eduard.” I paused, searching Victor’s eyes and began to doubt my statement. “Is he?”

  “More’s the pity, my dear, I believe that he is. And that he is more powerful than any of us suspect. As well as being less concerned with consequences than even our delightful Vivienne.”

  I still hesitated.

  “Deirdre,” he reached his hand out and gently touched my cheek. With his touch, I felt the truth of his being. He really was Victor. No one could possibly impersonate him this well.

  He put his other hand on the other side of my face and pulled me closer to him, so that I could see deep into his eyes. A flood of memories washed over me, their images flashing so quickly that I could barely take them all in. The final flash was of Victor and me, standing alone in the Cadre council room. We spoke of Max and his reasons for allowing me to kill him. For, we thought, he had made it possible for me to do so.

  I moved back from Victor, dizzy and nauseated. “We thought that we’d communicated with his soul or his ghost, didn’t we?”

  Victor nodded. “Yes, he seemed so peaceful in your visions, and I very much wanted to believe he was content to let his life go, to let the striving end. I myself have felt that way so many times before that his rationale seemed conceivable. I’d venture a guess that even you, as young as you are, have also felt that way.”

  I nodded.

  “Max set us up to believe what he wanted us to believe, that he was dead and at rest. Instead, what he truly wanted was a continuation of the game he’d started with you decades before. Even sleeping safely in the body of the baby born as Steven DeRouchard, suckling at the breast of his mother, he was undoubtedly already plotting his return, filling your mind and mine with lies.”

  “If he has this much power, and this much influence over all of us, what does he want with it? What does he want with me?”

  “Deirdre,” he said, touching my cheek again, “you are more important than you think. Do you even realize what you are? What you could be? Max planned to poison you, to steal your memories and turn you against your vampiric nature. He thought to make you human enough so that you could be utilized as his Breeder.” Victor laughed unpleasantly. “I must admit that it’s nice to know that even Max is not all-knowing; his plans have backfired. He didn’t transform you into a docile mate. Instead, he managed to do what none of us have ever managed to do. It has been countless centuries since something new evolved. There have been humans and vampires and Others. And now you, you are something else. Something new. Not really human, nor vampire, nor Other, but a hybrid of all three. I’m not sure I understand entirely. But I do know that I want you kept safe.”

  I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter what I am. I don’t care, Victor. I’m goddamned tired being used and being manipulated. I just want to go home.”

  “And where is home, Deirdre?”

  I answered without hesitation. “Wherever Mitch is.”

  He smiled at me. For the first time since I’d met Victor, it seemed a genuine smile, lacking in his usual condescension and scorn. “That is quite fortunate. Because that’s where we’re going. But first, you must feed. Even at a distance, I can feel the hunger gnawing at you, soon it will become a consuming desire and in satisfying that desire, you may overreach yourself. I know that you and I have never been close, but I don’t want to lose you. Not now.”

  I licked my dry lips. He was right, I ached with hunger every waking minute and it had been getting worse. “I have tried to feed, Victor,” I said, “but it doesn’t do any good. I can’t keep the blood in my system long enough to sate the hunger. It’s as if my body rejects it.”

  “Human blood will do that to you now, yes, that’s true. But I wasn’t speaking of human blood.”

  “Animal blood? But it doesn’t really satisfy—”

  “Not animal blood,” he said, interrupting me. “My blood. It will stay with you and fortify you. And the very taking of the blood will tie the two of us closer together; a bond we both may need in order to deal with Max.”

  I hesitated, not sure I really wanted to be bound to Victor. I didn’t trust him, even after all he said. The history between us was too full of betrayals.

  “Deirdre, I will make this offer only once. And we must act quickly. We’ve already wasted too much time.”

  “I thought you had aeons at your disposal.”

  “It’s not my time I’m concerned about, it’s yours. When Max finds you again, he’ll use all of his powers to draw you back to him. And that must not happen.”

  “But we’re talking about Max, and well, I’m sorry, Victor, but he cannot be as powerful as you say.”

  “And there’s your second problem. You have always underestimated the man. Think, Deirdre. Use your brain for once instead of your heart.”

  I did as he asked, for once I shut off all the emotional ties I shared with Max and saw him clearly for what he was. I shivered. “Of course, Victor. You’re right.”

  He nodded. “Now you must feed.” Taking off his suit jacket and draping it carefully over his left arm, he rolled up the right sleeve of his immaculate white shirt and held his wrist out to me. “You can get more blood this way.”

  My hands shook as I pulled his wrist to my mouth. The smell of his skin alone intoxicated me, making me feel strong and impervious. And the taste of his blood went straight to my head, straight to my heart, carrying with it the heat of the flames that had disintegrated the seemingly infinite body of Eduard DeRouchard. It was as if I had never tasted blood before this moment, for human blood resembled Victor’s blood only in the way water might resemble a fine aged wine. Human blood quenched the thirst but not the passion. Ah, but Victor’s blood tasted of endless life and I glimpsed the distant shores of his beginnings, felt him enfold me in silken wings and lift me high to stare at the sun. From this time on, nothing would ever compare to this moment, to this taste. Even as I felt the nourishment heal my weakened body, even as I felt stronger and healthier than ever before, this shared intimacy filled me with an ecstasy higher and a despair deeper than any I’d ever experienced, than any I’d ever want to experience again.

  After what seemed like hours, he finally pried my mouth away from his wrist. I couldn’t decide if it was a blessing or a curse. Perhaps it was both. But I knew with certainty that I would never feed like this again. Somehow, I also knew that I’d never take another drop of blood from any living creature. Victor’s blood would be the last.

  The sound of my own sobbing drew me back into Terri’s apartment. Victor patted my back and made little hushing sounds until I stopped crying.

  “Feel better?” he asked, crooking that eyebrow again.

  I smiled at him through the last of the tears. “Yes. Thank you.”

  “Good. Do you trust me now?”

  I gave a rueful chuckle. “Implicitly. But you didn’t have to ask, did you?”

  He shrugged. “I like reinforcement as much as the next creature. Lily knew that instinctively. She’s a good woman, your daughter. And part of the reason I’m here.”

  “Lily.” I grinned. “She’s so vibrant, so angry. And I’m thrilled that I can remember that.”

  “Your memory shouldn’t give you any more trouble. I daresay my blood will neutralize all of the poisons. And it should keep you and the little one going for quite some time until your system reaches a balance.”

  “Little one?”

  “You’re pregnant, Deirdre. That’s why I said that Max had done what none of us had
ever been able to do. He reversed the vampiric clock with you, so that even though you aren’t quite human and may never be, you are still able to conceive.”

  “Little one?” The tears started again as I cradled my abdomen, searching for signs of life. “A baby? My baby? Mitch’s baby? But Mitch hasn’t changed, has he? How is that possible?”

  “Remember the blood Sam gave you while you were in Whitby? It contained small amounts of the same poison that you carried. But it didn’t have the same effect without the catalyst of Maggie’s blood. Plus, Mitch is still relatively young in vampire terms. It’s possible that his reproductive organs had not yet stagnated.”

  I blushed and Victor laughed. “I forget that you are still a product of your times, Deirdre, and I apologize for speaking so bluntly. But it’s necessary that you know these things. Now, are you ready to go?”

  I glanced at the curtained window, the sun was low in the sky but not close enough to setting to be safe.

  “Don’t we need to wait until sundown?”

  Victor shook his head. “Not if you travel with me. You never even asked how I managed to get here during the day.”

  “I didn’t think about it until now. How did you manage it?”

  “I move quickly.” He laughed and scooped me up in his arms as if I weighed nothing. “Part of the reason we shrivel in sunlight is that we have the expectation that we will.” He covered me with his coat. “Now you are safe. And as for me, I’m so old, I’ve lost all expectations of anything. The world of the living is a constant wonder.”

  I couldn’t even tell that we’d moved when he set me down on my feet outside a different door. I smiled at him. “Mitch is here?”

  Victor nodded, kissed me on the forehead and turned so fast his body became blurred and eventually disappeared halfway down the hallway.

  I took a deep breath and knocked at the door.

  Chapter 25

  Mitch Greer: New York City

  A policeman stopped me before I could get to the front desk to check in. “Sorry, sir, we’re not allowing anyone in for a few minutes. We’ve asked everyone to wait outside.”

  I glanced over my shoulder. Already the sky was streaked with the oncoming dawn. “I’d much rather wait inside, if you don’t mind. I won’t get in your way.”

  “Move along, sir.” I heard the impatience grow in his voice, but I stood my ground. I didn’t dare wait outside.

  At that moment a man in regular clothes walked up to the uniformed officer. They exchanged a few words concerning me and when the man turned to me his face almost immediately widened in a smile of welcome.

  “Goddamn it all, Mitchell Greer! You old son of a bitch, you! How the hell are you? When did you get back in town?”

  “Just this evening, Marty. And I’d really like to check in.”

  He nodded to the desk clerk. “He’s okay,” he said, “this is my former partner. Let him get some sleep, he looks like death warmed over.”

  “Thanks, Marty,” I said, moving over to the desk and getting my key, “it’s good to see you too. Give my regards to Barbara.”

  “Hey,” he said, “I’m going up too, I’ll ride on the elevator with you. This is a nasty one. Apparently there’s some little French wildcat up there throwing a hissy fit. Guy who got stabbed was her boyfriend, I gather, and the other men have been trying to question her. Unfortunately none of us speak French, otherwise, I’d suspect we’d all be learning some new cuss words.”

  “Ah, fuck.” I ran my fingers through my hair, not liking where this conversation was going. “You say she’s French?” I asked. “Blond, good looking, about this tall?” I held my hand up to my shoulder. “Name of Vivienne Courbet?”

  He nodded. “Damn, you’re good, Mitch. How on earth did you know?”

  The elevator door opened up and we both got off. “She’s a friend of mine,” I said, “as is her boyfriend.”

  “Was.”

  “What?”

  “Her boyfriend,” he checked his clipboard, “Dr. John Samuels. He’s dead.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Yeah. He was pretty badly cut up. Whoever it was got him in vital areas he never even knew he had. I haven’t seen that much blood in ages.”

  “Damn.” None of this seemed real to me. How could Sam be dead? What had happened? “Are you sure he’s dead?”

  Martin checked his clipboard again. “Yep. Pronounced dead on the scene. I’m sorry, Mitch.”

  “Me too. More than you know. Sam was a good man. But Vivienne didn’t do it.”

  “To tell you the truth, I didn’t think she did. No one could be that upset if they’d done it. But nevertheless, she’s an eyewitness and we need to ask her some questions. The murder actually occurred in the adjoining room and there’s a crew over there right now. So after we question her and get the whole story, we can close the door and pretty much leave her alone with her grief.”

  I nodded. “Let me come in with you. That will probably help.”

  “It certainly can’t hurt. Thanks.”

  I opened the door and was greeted with the crash of a vase hitting the door frame right next to me. Vivienne, covered in blood, and nothing else, was pacing the room, ranting and raving. I didn’t understand a word she said.

  “Viv,” I said, my voice shaking. “Don’t throw anything else. It’s Mitch.”

  “Oh.” She flung herself across the room and into my arms. “Mon Dieu, Mitch, il est mort.”

  I stroked the top of her head and made comforting sounds. “I know, Viv, I know. What happened?”

  “That bitch. That Maggie. She did it. I was taking a shower and heard Sam call out.”

  “Maggie?” Martin asked.

  “Margaret Richards.” I said, not taking my attention from Vivienne, but holding her securely in my arms. “Black curly hair, green eyes, very tall, I’d say about six foot. A good-looking woman. And crazy as a loon. Sam brought her with us so that she could get treatment; he was a psychiatrist, you know.”

  “He’s dead, Mitch.” Vivienne started to sob hysterically. “I don’t know where she got the knife. One minute she was out cold and the next she was slicing him up like a butcher. But I don’t want her arrested. No, no, that is too good for her. I want her for myself. I’ll tear her miserable Breeder body apart with my bare hands, slowly. I’ll tear her goddamned black heart out of her body and cram it down her miserable throat.”

  “Viv,” I said, taking her by the chin and pulling her face up so that I could look into her eyes. “We know you’re upset. Can you think of anything else that might help the police find her?”

  “Look for a woman matching her description, covered in blood, carrying a butcher knife. I cannot believe she managed to get far, she had enough Valium in her to tranquilize a grizzly bear.”

  “Or a cow?”

  “Oui, Mitch, mon cher.” She gave a small shaky laugh, “Exactly.” Then she started crying again. “What will I do without my Sam? Mon beau morsel?”

  “I don’t know, Viv. We’ll all miss him.” I turned my head to look at Martin. “Do you need anything else from her?”

  “I think I can work with what you’ve given me.” He bowed his head to Vivienne. “Miss Courbet? I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “Merci,” she said softly. “No sorrier than I, I fear.”

  “No. But still . . .” His voice dropped away and he moved toward the door. “You’ll be in town for a while, won’t you? In case we need anything else?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Thanks.”

  He shut the door and Viv and I were alone. “Where are the others, Viv? Claude and Chris?”

  She sniffed. “They had rooms on different floors, so they may not even know what happened. Perhaps you should call them.” She looked down at herself. “Pardon,” she said, “I think I need another shower. Lock the door. And”—she glanced around the room nervously—“keep it locked.”

  I’m not sure how long Vivienne stayed in the shower, but I did know that no one in the sur
rounding rooms would get any rest. The echoes of her sobbing rang clearly through the running water. Then again, it was daytime by now, so most of the hotel clientele should be out and about. And complaining to the hotel desk about the crying of a woman who just saw her boyfriend stabbed to death seemed too callous, even by tough New York standards.

  I did make a call to Chris’s room, but there was no answer. I hoped that he hadn’t heard about his mother’s actions and hoped even more if he had that he hadn’t tried to find her or calm her. He’d died in my arms once; two times was more than anyone should have to handle.

  Vivienne’s crying seemed to subside for a bit, then start up again, fiercer than before. I knew how she felt, but the luxury of tears was not allowed to me. What would we do without Sam? I relied on him, we all did, much more than I ever knew prior to this moment. And I couldn’t help but wonder, if somewhere, deep inside him, there hadn’t been a guilt reaction that caused him to be less cautious than normal in his treatment of Maggie. At that moment, the phone rang, thankfully pulling me out of that mire of thought.

  “Mitch?” Claude’s voice was less than steady. “I’m so glad you’re there. What’s happening? I’m on the floor below you. Earlier I heard screaming and a lot of activity. And now all I hear is water running and a woman crying. Is that Vivienne?”

  “Yes.” I hesitated, not quite wanting to break the bad news.

  “Good lord,” he said, “I didn’t know she was capable of crying. I don’t believe she’s ever been sad for more than a few minutes in her entire life. Just the sound of it is enough to break my heart. What the hell happened?”

  “Sam is dead.”

  “How? Why?”

  I gave him the reason in a single word. “Maggie.”

  “Oh. I knew we should have left her behind, kept her locked up in that cage. She couldn’t have hurt anyone there. But Sam wanted to help her. And Vivienne . . . well, she knew not to trust Maggie. That’s why she brought me along. Some guard I proved to be, huh? I should have been there, maybe I could have done something.”

  “No, Claude, don’t go there. It won’t do any good for you to start feeling guilty.”