Nightfall: Caulborn 5

by Nicholas Olivo

  “Yeah, but do they have the manpower?” I asked. “They lost a lot of people after the riot.”

  “Additional personnel were brought in from New York and Delaware two days ago,” Galahad said. “I’m sure they’ll be able to spare a small group for us.”

  “Have you met the new warden yet?” Julius Garside, the former warden, had been killed by Ulysses Pendleton—the only prisoner ever to successfully escape from Ashgate Penitentiary.

  “We have spoken on the telephone, but I have not met her in person. Her name is Alexis Mimsington, and her résumé is very impressive. I think she will appreciate an opportunity to capture a known clan of assassins. I’ll see what I can do to mobilize a group today.”

  “So that leaves the leader, Vasylna. How do we get her? Another Ashgate detail?”

  Galahad leaned back in his chair. “I believe that will fall primarily to you and me, Vincent.”

  “Us?” I’d seen Galahad in action and knew he was an amazing swordsman, but I hadn’t expected the boss to take a hands-on role in this.

  “Yes, us,” Galahad smiled. “The two of us are uniquely qualified to handle vampiric undead. I would bring Megan along, as well, but Mrs. Rita tells me that she’s still foggy from being drugged. Let me make some phone calls, and I will see if I can get some assistance from the warden. I’d rather we not go in alone.”

  “While you do that, I’ll do some research on the upyr. They had some tricks that I’ve never seen a vamp use before,” I said, thinking back to how they’d become miasmic clouds. “The more you know, and all.”

  Galahad smiled at me. “Excellent. I’ll ring your desk line when I have some news from Ashgate.”

  As I walked back to my office, I saw Megan’s light on. I stuck my head in. “Hey,” I said. “How are you feeling?”

  Megan was sitting at her desk, rubbing her forehead with the heels of her hands. “Like I got hit by a truck,” she said. “Mrs. Rita said that whatever they hit me with has worn off, and that I’ll be groggy for a while. She wasn’t kidding. Do you have any aspirin?”

  I ducked back into my office, grabbed a bottle of Advil, and tossed it to her. She gave me a smile. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it,” I said, taking a seat across from her. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

  “You just did,” she said.

  “Walked right into that one, didn’t I?” I replied. “Then, can I ask you one more question after this one?”

  “Shoot.”

  “I tracked you by using my Glimpse,” I said. “I saw the encounter you had with the upyr. You guys had sort of… well, like a battle of wills. Like you were compelling it.”

  Megan laid her head down on the desk. “I was hoping to not have to talk about this,” she said into the desk.

  “Sorry,” I said. “I don’t mean to pry. If you don’t want to—”

  “No,” she said, raising her head. “It’s something I’m going to have to get used to talking about. It turns out this is a perk,” she made air quotes around the word, “of being strigoi viu.”

  Megan is the first Caulborn agent in who knows how long to be a strigoi viu. Many cultures had myths about what people born with cauls can do. Some say we’ll be good looking, others say we’ll be rich and successful, and still others say we’ll be extraordinarily lucky. But in Romania, they have a legend that a child born with a caul is a strigoi viu, or living vampire. When that child dies, they become a strigoi mort, sort of a vampire lord with the power to command armies of undead.

  Megan continued. “Mrs. Rita suggested that I try it out, to see if even in life, I could control or compel other undead. We’ve done some tests. Believe it or not, vampires are the easiest kind of undead to compel, because their minds still work much like a normal human’s. Zombies are the hardest, because they’re essentially mindless. Ghouls and wights fall somewhere in between.”

  “How potent is the compulsion?” I asked.

  “It depends on how strong the vampire’s will is,” Megan said as she downed a couple of Advil. “I’ve been able to compel some of the weaker members of the Midnight Clan to do small, simple things: telling me about their lives as humans or giving me a bit of inside information that’s not vital to clan security. I haven’t dared try it on Tom Bruli yet. That vamp that attacked me in the street, though, he was way stronger than anyone I’ve tried this on before.”

  “Technically,” I said, “he was an upyr. Would that make a difference?”

  Megan pursed her lips. “It might. I did some digging on the upyr after they moved into town, and they’re a little different from normal vampires. They tend to be much stronger willed. That might be why I couldn’t drive him off.” Megan chewed her lip.

  “When I was learning to telepathically compel animals,” I said, “I found that having an emotional component helped. If I was scared or angry, it was easier to channel that into the animal to get it to do what I wanted. It made the compulsion stronger.”

  Megan nodded. “Mrs. Rita said something very much the same. It’s something I need to practice; my initial Caulborn training was all about masking and mastering my emotions, so tapping them like this goes against how my mind works.” She shook her head. “Was there something else you needed?”

  “Yeah, are there any other differences between the upyr and the other bloodsuckers we know and love?”

  “For starters, they don’t need to be invited into your house to feed on you. They can also assume a mist form that allows them to suffocate their victims.”

  “Yeah, I found out about that one the hard way. What about sunlight?”

  “As far as I know, all vampiric paranormals are UV-light sensitive,” Megan replied. “Though I have read some accounts that say upyr don’t burn as fast as vampires do. Put a vamp in direct sunlight, and he’ll go up like a torch. Do that with an upyr, and he’ll smolder and it’ll hurt him, but it may take a minute or two for him to burn away completely.”

  “What about illusions?”

  “Those work the same,” Megan said. “The one that jumped me was nothing but mottled, rotting flesh and a few wisps of hair under his illusion.”

  “Same mental powers? Compulsion and stuff like that?”

  “Yes, some can just compel humans, and some can control small animals, like rats or wolves. I’ve heard that some really strong ones can compel other paranormal creatures, too.”

  I thought about the rusalka and the undead sailors I’d fought earlier. If they’d been compelled, then that upyr I’d killed had been very powerful to split his mental focus three ways in a fight.

  Megan was looking at me. “You’re going after them, aren’t you?”

  I hesitated. We’d recently learned that Treggen had somehow been gathering knowledge directly from Megan’s mind; I wasn’t sure if what I told her now would find its way back to Treggen, and ultimately, the upyr.

  “Come on,” Megan said, getting to her feet. “We need to go talk to Tom Bruli.”

  “What? Megan, you’re in no shape to—”

  Megan glared at me, her eyes blue chips of ice. “I am quite capable of handling myself, Vincent. I have been through much, much worse lately. I am fine.” There was a tiny bit of venom in that last statement. She brushed past me and into the hall. I hurried after her, down a flight of stairs and into the lobby.

  “Okay,” I said. “I’m all for seeing the vamps, but you said it yourself, you’re still groggy from whatever the upyr drugged you with. You should talk with Mrs. Rita.”

  “Talk with me about what?” Mrs. Rita said, coming out of Medical.

  Megan faced the aged medicine woman. “I need to speak with Tom Bruli and the Midnight Clan. They will know something about these upyr that we can use.”

  “I see,” Mrs. Rita said, her expression thoughtf
ul.

  “Can’t you just call them?” I asked. “Megan, someone’s stalking Caulborn out there.”

  “No,” Megan said without taking her eyes off Mrs. Rita. “This is the sort of thing that needs to be done in person.”

  Mrs. Rita nodded. “Vincent, you will accompany Megan. I will inform Galahad of your whereabouts.” To Megan, she said. “If you falter, if you feel yourself weakening, if anything goes amiss, have Vincent portal you to safety. Is that clear, Megan Hayes?”

  “Quite clear,” Megan replied. “Let’s go, Vincent.”

  Chapter 5

  “How?” I asked as we left HQ and rounded the corner to the back alley where I could portal. “How did you do that? Mrs. Rita always reads me the riot act if I try to get out of bed too soon.”

  “That’s because you have a reputation for being reckless, Vincent,” Megan said.

  “Ouch.”

  Megan turned to me, her voice softening. “I’m sorry, that was harsh. There’s been a lot going on lately.” She waved a hand. “Mrs. Rita knows I need to speak to vampires in person. They have more respect for that.”

  “Is this a strigoi viu thing?” I asked.

  Megan nodded. “Talking over the phone lacks the sense of foreboding they feel when they speak to me in person. They’re less likely to evade or lie to me if I’m right there.”

  “All right, so how are we playing this?”

  “Like last time,” Megan said, referring to a meeting we’d had shortly after she’d been assigned to Boston. “We meet with Bruli in his office building and speak with him. He’s been keeping his distance from the upyr, but I’m confident he knows something that will be useful.”

  I created a portal to the spot outside Mass General Hospital. Doc Ryan’s car had been taken away, but the scent of melted rubber still hung in the air. We turned away from the hospital and headed down the alley, where, a few months back, we’d been ambushed by the Blood Runners, Boston’s other vampire clan.

  It might as well have been in a different life. Megan had just arrived here. I hadn’t made that stupid promise. I still had the Urisk as followers… I shook my head. No, stay in the here and now. Otherwise, we’d wind up getting killed. We’d crossed into Midnight Clan territory a few minutes ago, but we weren’t challenged until we were crossing the parking lot to Tom Bruli’s building. A pair of vampires melted out of the shadows and hailed us.

  “Agent Hayes,” the woman on the left called. “It is good to see you well. When you did not arrive on time, we were concerned.”

  “I apologize for the delay, Lucille,” Megan replied. “Is Mr. Bruli still available?”

  “For you, of course.”

  Megan had been the liaison between the Caulborn and the vampires for a few months now, but I hadn’t realized the rapport she’d built up with them. When Miguel Gomez had done that job, the vamps were always aloof to him, barely keeping their condescension for humanity and the Caulborn in check. With Megan, they genuinely seemed relieved to see her alive and well.

  And that made me wonder. Would Boston’s vampires be afraid of Megan’s death? Once she died, she was supposed to rise as a strigoi mort, something akin to a queen of the undead. Were they scared that if they didn’t treat Megan well in life, she might retaliate against them in undeath? Suddenly, I understood why Mrs. Rita was willing to let Megan go to this meeting. Megan was just as safe among the vampires as she was in Caulborn HQ.

  Lucille ushered us inside and took us straight up the stairs. That was a surprise. The last time we’d been here, Lucille had us surrender our weapons and objects of faith before meeting with Bruli. Now we were on the express track. I shot a glance at Megan, who merely flashed me a quick smile. If my earlier train of thought was right, then the vamps would do as little to inconvenience Megan as possible. We ascended several flights of stairs before Lucille opened the doors of a lavish office. Two female vampires, the ones who’d hit on me the last time I was here, lounged casually on the couch. The one on the left was Marla, but I’d never learned the other one’s name.

  Tom Bruli sat behind a desk, making notes on a legal pad. “Caulborn Hayes,” he said smiling as he stood. “I am relieved to see you well. When you did not arrive for our meeting on time, I telephoned the Galahad immediately.” He turned to me. “And Caulborn Corinthos, it has been some time. I trust you are well?”

  I nodded. “Mr. Bruli, may I ask why you always refer to him as ‘the Galahad’?”

  Bruli spread his hands. “Galahad is a title, an honorific that my people respect. It is like saying ‘the king.’ Calling him just ‘Galahad’ feels incorrect as it is not his true name.”

  Megan raised her eyebrows at me, as if asking if I was done indulging my curiosity. I gave a quick nod, and she stepped forward. “Mr. Bruli, I need to speak with you regarding the upyr who have moved into Boston.”

  A flicker of fear crossed Bruli’s face and was gone so fast I might have imagined it. I’d heard that Boston’s native vampires were scared of the upyr, but seeing it was something else. The only thing I’d ever seen rattle a vampire before was Megan’s strigoi viu-ness. “I will share what I can, Caulborn Hayes,” Bruli said, coming around the desk. He motioned for us to take seats in the recliners he had arranged in a circle. He took one across from Megan. The vampires on the couch shifted languidly, but their posture changed subtly, like they were on edge.

  Bruli smoothed his pants unnecessarily as he sat down. He was nervous. “Understand that the upyr are quite secretive. They have not shared much with me. I was told that they were here for a short amount of time and that my clan should stay out of their way.”

  Megan leaned forward in her chair. “Is that all they said?”

  Bruli shook his head. “No. They told me if I did anything to oppose them, they would cut off my arms and legs and then tie my torso to the roof of the Prudential Building and let the sun take me.”

  “Did they say what they were doing here?” Megan’s eyes were fixed on Bruli. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to compel him or not.

  “Caulborn Hayes, with respect, may I ask why you are inquiring about this?”

  “I was attacked and held captive by an upyr earlier tonight. It is why I was late for my appointment with you.”

  Bruli’s eyes widened. “They had the audacity to attack Caulborn?” Megan nodded, and the two of them just looked at each other for a moment. Bruli got to his feet. “This cannot stand. There has been a peace between our people for centuries. Upyr or not, I will not allow any upstarts to come into my city and destroy that which I have worked so hard to build.”

  I had to admit, I was impressed with Tom Bruli. He genuinely seemed concerned about his clan and what had happened to Megan. Maybe—

  One of the vamps on the couch, Marla, shot forward, zipping past me so fast her backdraft knocked me over. Time slowed down, allowing me to watch what was happening in slow motion. Bruli turned to her, surprise evident on his features, as Marla pulled a silver flask from her garter belt, popped the cap off, and splashed its contents over Bruli’s face. As the liquid made contact with Bruli’s skin, it burst into blue flames.

  Holy water.

  Time returned to its normal speed. Bruli screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his ruined face, which continued to burn. Marla was kneeling atop him, clawing at him. Megan rolled her wrist, conjured a 9mm from her pocket dimension and began barking orders at the vamp. Then something hit me from behind. I crashed to the ground and found the other vampire woman standing over me, claws raised. I conjured holy light, burning her and driving her back. She howled and charged forward, heedless of the damage to herself. She burst into flames, and by the time she reached me, she was nothing more than a flaming skeleton, which collapsed into ash a moment later.

  I turned my attention to Megan. Her eyes were glowing white, as were those
of the vamp sitting atop Bruli. She’d stopped her assault on him and was glowering at Megan.

  “You presume much, little one,” Marla said in a voice that was unlike her own. The voice was female, cold and harsh, and had an accent similar to Marci’s. Could this be the voice of Vasylna?

  “Who are you?” Megan demanded, and I sensed she was pushing her own compulsion.

  The vamp started, as if she were just coming awake. “I—” her voice was different, more like what I’d heard the last time we were here. Then it changed back to the harsher voice. “I am not someone to trifle with. You have much to learn. If you stay away from the Caulborn, you will be safe. You are not the issue.”

  “Who is the issue?” Megan asked.

  In response, the vampire pointed at me. “Him, and everyone else associated with him.”

  “I am associated with him,” Megan said, an edge to her voice.

  The vamp made a dismissive gesture. “I have already told you that you are not the issue. But that may change if you continue to interfere with my compulsions.” Blood was starting to leak from the vamp’s ears. “You see? Already this one’s mind is failing. Stay away, little one. Some day, we will meet, I am sure, but for now, avoid the other Caulborn. Find somewhere safe and hide.”

  And with that, the vamp’s eyes burst from her head, and she collapsed in a pool of gore.

  Megan staggered, and I caught her by the shoulders. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded and wiped a bit of blood from her nose. “Someone else was compelling these vampires,” Megan said. “Someone really strong.” She knelt down next to Tom Bruli. The clan leader’s head had completely melted, black ichor oozing from his stump of a neck. Holy water did not kill cleanly or painlessly.

  Lucille and a handful of other vamp guards rushed into the room. “We heard screaming, is everything—” she cut off as she surveyed the scene. “What happened?” She stiffened. “You have killed Mr. Bruli!”