by Jon F. Merz
But in that desire to seek his love and approval, I realized a long time ago he was aware of what I did now. That even if he was technically dead, he was still with me. Around me. And I gave thanks for that on many occasions when things got pretty hairy for me.
Nowadays, I looked forward to visiting his gravesite. It was more of a homecoming or a visit for me. I sat with him, talked to him, and generally felt good about being there.
After all, I was proud of the man I’d become.
And most of the credit belonged to him.
As his only son, I felt he’d poured a lot of himself into me. He taught me what it meant to be a man. To strive. To succeed. And even accept failure, but only as something to learn from and a means to excel even more.
But most of all, he taught me to live my life with no regrets. To seize what I had been presented with and run with it as far as I possibly could. To learn.
And so much more.
I didn’t know it back then. Hell, it always seemed so much like punishment for not being able to live up to his ideals. He told me what he showed me was stuff I needed to know, stuff that would help me later in life. I did it, learned it, all grudgingly, longing more times than not to be off playing with my friends whose own fathers cared less about them and never spent the time that my father did making certain I grew into a man.
It wasn’t a sudden stark revelation that brought me to this understanding, but more of a gentle, nudging realization. By the time I graduated Fixer training and spent a few years abroad, often under the gun and in some bad situations, I instinctively realized that I was who I was, due to his direct influence throughout my life.
It felt good.
For a long time growing up I’d wanted to be someone else. I’d wanted a different life, imagining, fantasizing about some heroic ideal that belonged more in fairy tale books than on the pages of my real life. But with the realization came a sense of pride about who I really was, about who I’d grown into.
It felt really good.
I knelt in front of the headstone, tracing the outline of my father’s name in the carved granite face. I had no sadness left in me for his passing. Only happy memories and an undying sense of gratitude.
I heard Zero’s car slow to a stop and stood corkscrewing around to face him. He came walking over without saying a word, placed a small bouquet of carnations on top of the headstone, and stood with his head bent forward for a moment. Zero’s respect for the dead knew no limits.
He looked up. "Let’s walk."
We moved away from the plot and crunched leaves underfoot that the grounds crew hadn’t swept up yet.
"It’s worse than I thought."
Exactly what I did not want to hear. "What’d the elder say?"
"I’ll get to that in a second. McKinley’s already buttoned up New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont."
"Jesus." I stopped. "We’re all that’s left?"
Zero nodded. "I knew it wasn’t good, but by god I didn’t think they’d move so damned fast."
"But what’s he sold them on? The idea that if the humans know about us it’ll be a better world?"
We walked further along the path as a breeze swept over us, rustling more leaves and twigs.
Zero shook his head. "I don’t think it’s that grand. Cosgrove doesn’t try to appeal to anyone’s philosophical outlook. He sticks with what works: greed, ego, power."
I nodded. "In other words, a share in the new government."
"I think so."
"Who can we count on?"
Zero stopped. "I was hoping you could tell me."
"Anyone out of the service you know who’d come back?"
"There’s a problem if we try. If Cosgrove has passed word that he’s looking for help, if we try to recruit, it might send back alarms to McKinley and Cosgrove."
"But we can’t take them out alone."
"Well, we could, but it’ll be tough."
"Nothing’s ever easy."
"It’s going to get a whole lot worse, too, according to my friend."
"So, what’s the deal with the missing Kavnora?"
"Apparently," said Zero snapping a twig underfoot, "along with a lot of other old ceremonies, the book also outlines the proper method for the resurrection of the Sargoth."
"The what?"
"You never paid attention in history class, did you?"
"Girls occupied my time during school."
Zero sighed. "The Sargoth and the Jarog are the two polar extremes of vampire deities. They were brothers, like the human Cain and Abel. One guess what the Sargoth is like."
"Not the Avon lady, huh?"
"Not even close. And according to the elder, a successful resurrection of the Sargoth would enable the summoner to reap untold power. That sound like something Cosgrove might be interested in?"
I nodded. "What now, then? He summons this Sargoth and we all die?"
"Not that easy, thankfully. The Kavnora only lists the necessary items for the ceremony, not the ceremony itself. That has to be pieced together once all the items are assembled."
"So, Cosgrove’s on a scavenger hunt is what you’re telling me?"
"That’s one way of putting it, yes."
"Where does he find these items?"
"They’re safeguarded by a small cadre of vampires loyalists."
"Loyalists?"
Zero paused. "Humans."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Calm down, Lawson. It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Give the items to humans who are loyal to us. No one would ever suspect it."
"But that means the Balance has been compromised. Humans knowing about us endangers our society."
"We’re talking about five people, not a community."
"Still, the temptation to talk, to whisper about us must be overwhelming."
"Who’d believe them? Five people insisting vampires exist? I don’t think that would get much air time on the national news, do you?"
"It’s still risky. How are they going to protect themselves if Cosgrove shows up?"
"About as well as that other elder did I guess," said Zero. "Look, the system isn’t perfect, I certainly didn’t have a hand in creating it. But we’ve got to work with what we’ve got. And right now, we’ve got a desperate Cosgrove out hunting for the pieces of this puzzle. If he finds out about the human loyalists, he’ll kill them, get the keys, and unlock a very, very bad Pandora’s Box."
"Wonderful. So now not only do we have to hunt down Cosgrove, but we’ve also got to protect these loyalists?"
"Looks that way."
"Do you at least have the addresses of these people?"
Zero frowned. "That’s going to be tough."
"Jesus, you don’t even know where they are?"
"It’s a cutout system, Lawson. The address of one loyalist is stored at the Council here in town. That loyalist has the contact information for the other loyalist in line and so on."
"Nifty."
"I’m just letting you know what we’re up against here."
"Yeah, I know it. I’m just sick of chasing this bastard all over the city. I had another damned run in with him last night."
"What happened?"
I filled him in. He looked at me funny. I frowned. "What?"
"You like this girl?"
"Talya? She’s a real pro. She’s got my respect, I mean, for a human." I started walking again. Zero fell in beside me.
"You know you can’t."
"Can’t what?"
He grabbed my arm. "Come on Lawson, we’ve known each other too damned long for this. You know as well as I do that you’re nuts about her. Jesus, I can smell it on you."
I sighed. "Yeah. Dammit, I know. I wish to hell I didn’t."
"Hey, I’m not passing judgment on you Lawson. Take her to bed. Do what you’ve got to do to get her out of your system. I know it’s not easy, but it’s also forbidden."
"Yeah." What the hell could I say to him? We passed the next few mome
nts in silence. Zero watched a red tailed hawk swoop low over an undeveloped field and pluck a mouse out of it for lunch, then cleared his throat.
"I’ve been there, pal. I know what it’s like."
I looked at him. "When?"
He smiled. "Remember Cairo?"
"How could I forget? Two weeks of hunting that damned fool Nadi down. I had sand in my crap for weeks it seemed like."
"Remember the hotel we stayed at?"
"Yeah." It suddenly dawned on me. "Wait a minute, you mean the waitress in the cafe downstairs? What was her name?"
"Wajiah."
I chuckled. "Sure enough." I looked at him. "Really?"
He shrugged. "I’ve always had a thing for Middle Eastern women."
"You and my father both." I shook my head. "I’ve never seen it."
"Once again, I will say your father was obviously man of refined taste. My respect for him has grown by leaps and bounds."
"I’ll bet. Finish the story, Romeo."
"Well, we were done in Cairo, you flew back to the States for some rest. I stayed behind to clean things up."
"Right, I remember you saying something about making sure everything was buttoned up."
"Yeah, well, I lied."
"Yeah?"
"I married her Lawson."
My jaw dropped. "What?"
"It’s true. I was so smitten, I couldn’t live without her. I asked her to marry me and she agreed. We did it in secret. She lived with me in Bonn for the two years I was stationed there."
I didn’t want to ask but I had to. "What happened?"
He turned away. "It’s not like I could go on with it forever, Lawson. We’re a small community after all, word spreads."
"But you could have written her off as a maid or a servant or something?"
Zero shook his head. "No. They knew." He shrugged. "But more importantly, she knew."
"Knew what?"
"What I was, Lawson. I hadn’t told her I was a vampire."
"Damn."
"She left me. Broke my heart, but she left me. The Council placed me on administrative leave pending an investigation. Luckily, she’d left prior to the hearing. It saved my life. That and my record. They suspended me for a time and then brought me back to the States where I could be watched closer. I haven’t strayed since."
"But-"
"No buts, Lawson. It won’t work. Forget whatever you’re trying to come up with, it can’t happen. And we’ve got more important things to concentrate on like killing Cosgrove and making sure this conspiracy doesn’t come to pass. That’s where your head has to be. You read me?"
I didn’t like it. But I had to accept it. At least for right now. We’d see what the future held when the future came to pass.
"Yeah, I read you."
He nodded. "Good, now let’s see what we can do to make sure Cosgrove’s dreams never become a reality."
Chapter Twenty-Three
Disrupting Cosgrove’s plans meant that we had to get the addresses of the loyalists and safeguard them before Cosgrove could use his unique and permanent charm on them.
Unfortunately, the fact that the address for the first loyalist was stored at the Council’s chambers on Beacon Hill did nothing to make me feel confident. After all, we couldn’t just go waltzing in and ask for it. We had no way of knowing who was on our side. And technically, we probably weren’t even supposed to know about the whole cutout system. I wondered aloud about the elder Zero had gotten the information from.
"Interesting case, that one," he said as I drove us down Boylston Street, passing the FAO Schwartz toy store’s giant bronze Teddy bear out front. "Been around for a long time."
"His age make him special?"
"No, the fact that he’s a soaked-through sponge of a drunk and still manages to help preserve our heritage."
I swerved to miss a bicycle messenger. "Drunk? You sure about his information? Couldn’t he just be feeding us anything for the price of a drink?"
"Not likely. He and I go way back."
"How far back?"
Zero smiled. "Let’s just say I could have easily ended up exactly like him."
"Drunk or an elder?"
"Yes."
Zero wasn’t the only person in my life who answered questions like that and I have enough sense now to let it lie. I steered around Boston Common and headed for the garage. Zero checked his watch.
"Almost five. They ought to be leaving soon. That will leave the butler."
"Have you ever been inside this place?"
"Once. A long time ago. It’s not that difficult."
Somehow the thought of breaking into the most respected institution of vampire society did not impress me as being easy. And given that Zero and I were about to break a few of the very laws we protected didn’t make me feel any better. Sure, maybe it was old hat for Zero, hell he’d married a human. But I was still a lawful citizen. Or at least for another ten minutes.
We mounted the steps leading upstairs from the Boston Common garage and hoofed across the buzz cut lawns toward the nearest entrance. Beacon Street sloped up toward the State House’s gold dome, but our destination rested a few door south of it. Darkness peppered the Common with pockets of shadows not compromised by the sodium anti-mugger lights that sprouted like metallic trees. We stayed close to the darker patches.
Zero checked his watch again. "Ready?"
"You sure they won’t be there?"
He paused. "No. But we don’t really have a choice."
"You sure we can’t just ask for it?"
"Let me put it this way: if Cosgrove knows the address is here, he’ll be coming for it very soon. If he doesn’t know it’s here, and we tip our hand by showing up and asking for it, someone on the inside we let him know, we lose our surprise and we’ll probably be dead by morning."
"Great options. I can’t decide which I hate more."
Zero led the way around to the back of the stately brownstone bordered by a high wrought iron fence that looked like six foot spears jutting out of the ground. Away from the traffic on beacon Street, silence blanketed the rear of the building, amplifying the noises of the stray animals working the night.
Zero pointed to the second floor window and I nodded. We’d go up to get in. The principle of penetrating the building was one based on the simple fact that people usually never secured what they thought would be too much trouble to break into. Who would climb up to the second floor using the drainpipe Zero had located to access what looked like a small bathroom window?
Obviously, only two fools like us.
But the principle held sound as Zero checked the window for alarms. He shook his head and eased it open, gesturing me inside.
The window was a tight fit for me and as I finally got myself in, I saw Zero struggling to haul his huge frame through it. He finally succeeded but his face was damp with sweat and strain by the time he finished.
I cupped my hand over his ear and whispered to him. "Where to?"
He pointed down. That made me nervous. The Council chambers were located in the bowels of the building, far away from the sunlight which many of them still did not embrace.
I pushed the bathroom door open and peeked outside. A long dimly-lit corridor stretched on either side, bathed in deep navy
carpet that fortunately looked plush. At least it would muffle any noise we might make.
Zero crept ahead of me, pausing at intervals to listen and try to feel the air ahead of us.
Finally, after ten minutes of creeping, we’d reached the ground floor which was dark and a new corridor with maroon carpet. We headed down it and toward a doorway at the end.
A small liquid crystal display blinked as we approached and I swore silently. The entrance to the chamber was obviously alarmed.
Zero peered close to the display and examined the box from all angles without touching it. Finally, while my heart hammered in my chest and I watched for the Council’s butler, he reached into his jacket and brought a small bo
x out that looked similar to the one on the doorway.
He flipped it open and held it close to the alarm system. He glanced back over his shoulder, smiled through the darkness, and shrugged. Then he flipped the switch.
The effect was instantaneous. The alarm shut off and the door clicked open. Zero’s shoulders slumped as he exhaled in a rush, caught himself and quietly opened the door.
A rush of cool air enveloped us as we stole downstairs. Despite the darkness, we could make out the details of the spiraling staircase and the room it led down to. I detest breaking my neck walking down dark staircases.
At the bottom, we paused, listened and then looked around the room. Six high-backed leather chairs sat like a crescent moon before a fireplace with small glowing embers almost out of life.
Zero moved immediately to the mantel and motioned me over, pointing at the carved wooden outline of a symbol I’d seen only a few time before. It was a letter in the old language and was in the exact center of the mantle.
"This is it." Zero pressed inward and instantly a small doorway opened to one side of the room. We walked over and entered.
Inside it looked more like an office with a large mahogany desk and several chairs. Zero walked behind the desk and began rifling through the drawers. Two minutes later, he held up his hand and showed me a slip of paper.
"Thank god. Can we go now?"
He nodded and we backtracked through the rooms and up the stairs. At the top, we paused and listened again but it seemed safe so I went ahead and beckoned to Zero once I reached the corner.
That’s when the lights came on.
Chapter Twenty-Four
"Going somewhere, lads?
The butler. Withered and tired-looking, he was nevertheless holding a shotgun in his hands. I couldn’t tell what kind if loads it might have taken. But he answered my questions soon enough.
"You boys managed to get past that alarm system with no dramas, so I’m assuming you’re part of the family. That said, you oughta know this lady’s got enough wood in her to put you both into a world of hurt."