The Vampire s Secret

by Raven Hart

  “After what you—what each of you suffered at the hands of your sires,” I went on, “I don’t think any can question the logic of keeping a low profile. If I were you, I would make yourselves and those closest to you hard to find. You could remain in your chosen city but perhaps move to a new home location, until we see what kind of threat we’re facing. One thing we can be certain of: They’ll want more from us than a quick kill.”

  “What about you? Will you run and hide?” Lucius asked.

  He had me there. I wasn’t going anywhere. “My sire has already made his bid to own my soul again. And he failed.” My gaze drifted to Eleanor before I continued, “Since Savannah has been exposed as my home, I feel a duty to protect it. So I’ll stay here. At least I can give warning to the rest of you.”

  “And I’ll be here for a few weeks yet,” Iban added. “We can plan a defense of the city.”

  “Thank you, old friend.” I moved on to the next point. “Now, in general terms what have your clans done so far? Gerard?”

  Gerard stood. Paler than the rest of us from years of working underground, he still cut an impressive figure. Tall, with a mane of gray-streaked hair that needed a trim, and wearing his ever-present reading glasses, he looked like a slightly absentminded academic. But there was nothing absent in his fine scientific mind.

  “As some of you know, our group in the Great Lakes region is rather specialized. We’ve spent most of our time researching vampiric bloodlines and genetic sequences. We tend to be out of the public scrutiny, hidden in our underground labs. I don’t worry about our own safety because of our low profile. We are scientists, not soldiers.

  “I have to confess, if any of us are in danger it would be me. Maulore, my sire, would have me chained in the deepest part of his hellish chateau in the name of research were he to capture me. I’m afraid he was the inspiration for the fictional Dr. Moreau and enjoys a certain fascination with shapeshifters. So much so that he began experiments that combined genetic material to form new species—his own horrible versions. To illustrate his twisted mind, you only have to imagine the genetically spliced offspring of a man and a pig, or worse, a child and a dog.” He shuddered and closed his eyes. He reached into a breast pocket and removed a slim stainless-steel case. He pressed a button and the case opened to reveal a wickedly sharp surgical knife. “I have the means to end my existence, rather than be taken. My kin have their own escape plans. We are ready in that respect.

  “We also have a small group of humans loyal to us, most of them those whose families we’ve helped with genetic afflictions. I believe they’ll be willing to repay our assistance by watching our backs. As far as the border and our Canadian counterparts, I have been assured they’ll follow any protocol for defense we formulate in this meeting.”

  “Thank you, Gerard.” I wanted to ask if his group of researchers had uncovered how our voodoo blood had mutated our vampire constitutions. But that was a conversation to be held in private.

  “Tobias?”

  Tobey stood, took the floor, and spoke about his blood kin. “My ancestors are feral, spread across the open country in the Northwest. We have very little contact with one another. But I have humans I trust in my racing crew and a few kindred who have taken up residence. That makes it a little easier for us to keep a lookout in our part of the country. Except for Calgary, most of the major airports and big cities are near the coast, so we can concentrate our volunteers there.” He rested his hands on his hips. “And as far as my racing goes, this is the off season anyway. I’ll stay mobile, keep my truck on the road. I’ve got plenty of time to organize, recruit, and generally kick butt if necessary.”

  “Excellent. Does anyone have any questions for Tobias?”

  Jack raised his hand. “Tobe, how’re you going to keep a low profile with your racing logo plastered all over that rig?”

  “You’re right, Jacko. Can you get some of your body and paint guys to give it a plain black paint job?”

  “You got it.”

  “Anyone else?” I asked. When no one else spoke I moved on. “Lucius?”

  “What about Iban?” Lucius asked. “He should speak before me.”

  I nearly smiled. I knew Lucius. He would act demure when in reality he wanted to be the last and most important person on any agenda. Lucius had never been an opening act. Vampires and their egos.

  “I thought Iban would speak last and lead us into the satellite conference he’s set up with our representative in England.”

  “I see,” Lucius snapped.

  “No matter,” Iban cut in with a wave of his hand. “I would only add that Tobey and I are in good communication. Southern California will be well guarded. Our greatest threat, as always, is the Mexican border. There are smugglers and tunnels, plenty of dark places. And there’s a surplus of food, since in any one night there are thousands of people who will do anything to cross the border.” He gazed directly into my eyes. “My sire will not come to torture me again; he will come to destroy me. He swore he would have my blood the very night I escaped.”

  “Wow, what did you do to deserve that?” Jack asked.

  Iban glanced in Jack’s direction. “Why, I seduced his mate, of course,” he said matter-of-factly. “She is the one who freed me.”

  “Oh—” Jack said, and for some ridiculous reason looked at Eleanor. Catching himself, he raised two hands and nodded to me in a pantomime of hands-off.

  “Travis? Thank you for coming.”

  Travis Rubio stood but remained silent for a long moment, waiting with the patience of a shaman for the attention of his audience. When all eyes were trained on him, he spoke. “As some of you know—” He looked in my direction. “—I travel alone. I have no clan or human helpers, as you call them. I follow the food and the seasons, trekking from Mexico up through the Big Bend, over into Nebraska, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona. It’s a lot of empty territory—empty of people or easy places to hide from the sun. I have learned to adapt, but it’s taken hundreds of years. Because of the difficulties, I doubt any attack would come from that direction. Also, there is no reason to fear my sire. He perished before this part of the world had a name.” He crossed his arms. “I’ll do my part to protect us. There are people familiar with me who would pass along news if I asked.” With a nod, he sat back down.

  “Excellent. Now, Lucius, are you ready to grace us with your wisdom?”

  Instead of sniping back at me, Lucius smiled and pushed gracefully to his feet. If a white tiger could wear a designer suit, he might be mistaken for Lucius’s brother. Dangerous, glorious, and so very pretty. He struck a poet’s languorous pose, cleared his throat and seized the room with his words.

  “I think we should create offspring and train them as our own personal assassins.” He inspected the heavy gold ring on his right hand. “Then we should send them back to the Old World to kill all the sires. If the old bastards are dead, they can’t harm anyone.”

  “Esclavo…” Iban whispered, then shot to his feet. “I will have nothing to do with the making of slaves.” He made a show of spitting his disgust. “When you had your turn at being a slave, did you enjoy serving your master, Lucius?”

  Lucius didn’t seem perturbed by Iban’s challenge. “Well, this would be different, wouldn’t it? They’d have free will; they’d simply have a job to do. And of course, they’d be well paid.”

  “And how do you suppose they would stand the slimmest chance of performing this job? Are they to walk up with a stake and say good afternoon, I’m here to kill you?”

  “Of course not,” Lucius answered.

  I felt the need to interrupt. “Gentlemen, please. Lucius, please stay on point. We’re discussing defenses. Iban, take your seat and let him finish.”

  Lucius frowned. “I was under the impression that the purpose of this meeting was to resolve the problem.”

  “The immediate problem is defense. Then we can plan for the inevitable.”

  “The inevitable being…?”


  “The killing.”

  Only momentarily distracted, Lucius went on to describe his connections at New York Harbor. The likeliest entry through the eastern seaboard would be in a container delivered by ship. Having no way to search each one, he had people collecting the way bills for the companies represented. It was a good place to start if one wanted to find a false front for illegal activities. And the sires would definitely be considered illegal by anyone’s estimation.

  “All right. Thank you, Lucius. Please be seated. Iban? Are you ready for our presentation?”

  Iban glanced at his watch. “We have five minutes before the satellite connection will begin. Jack, if you please, would you dim the lights?”

  As Jack heeded Iban’s request, I noticed him checking behind the sofa and patting the curtains. Odd behavior even for Jack. If Melaphia were present she’d probably ask him if he’d lost his marbles. But she was home with Reyha and Deylaud, leaving the vampires to conspire amongst ourselves.

  A short time later, after a few keystrokes on a computer, Olivia’s electronic image appeared in the center of the room. Everyone in the room gasped—the perfect reaction from beings who were used to being invisible to cameras and mirrors. This new holographic technology was cutting edge, invented and paid for by vampires, no doubt.

  “I’ll be damned,” Jack muttered, but he didn’t sound especially happy about seeing his former lover. Then again, lover might not be the right word. More like sparring partner. I felt a flurry of distress, like a cloud passing between Jack and myself, as I greeted Olivia.

  “It’s good to see you again, Olivia,” I said.

  “I’m honored to be here.” Now that was interesting. She looked down demurely rather than meeting my gaze when she spoke. Perhaps she was overwhelmed by the responsibility of her position as organizer and spy. I glanced in Jack’s direction to see his reaction. He was studying his boots and all I could glean from his thoughts was a loud hum.

  Jack

  I saw William’s eyes narrow as I tried to remember the infield fly rule. He knew I was hiding something. How did you figure slugging percentage? Aw, hell. How did people use baseball to get their mind off…things, anyway? It wasn’t working. He was going to read me for sure if I couldn’t get ahold of myself.

  At least I had Werm to think about. He was around here somewhere. I could smell him. I edged toward the windows and slapped at the velvet maroon curtain. A severe-looking dude from Lucius’s entourage gave me a dirty look. “House fly,” I whispered. “A whopper, too. Got him.” Maggot, more like. Lucius’s aide blinked once behind narrow, black-rimmed glasses and returned his attention to the official goings-on.

  The potion I had Werm get from Melaphia was really only loud perfume. I told her to douse him with the cheapest stuff she had, do a little “stickum” chant, then tell him she was “anointing” him with a special elixir to give him protection from harm. It was actually to let me know if he’d perfected his disappearing act enough to sneak into the meeting unseen. Vampires each have their own unique smell just like everybody else, but there were so many vamps in the room it would have been impossible for me to identify Werm if he took pains to keep clear of me. But there was no mistaking that perfume. I remembered it well. Jungle Gardenia, the same as Mel’s mother used to wear. When I’d first smelled it, I nearly got choked up remembering her. Then I realized what was happening. Werm had managed to turn himself invisible. But I couldn’t flush him out without drawing more attention to myself, so I’d just have to bide my time.

  Olivia, about one-third life-size, was right there in front of God and all us vampires. Only not. How the hell was I going to keep William from reading my thoughts? William wasn’t Olivia’s sire, but he was the most powerful master vamp in her bloodline and he ought to be able to read her like a book if she wasn’t blocking him as hard as I was. Also in her favor was that she wasn’t really here. I wondered if psychic vampire mind reading worked long-distance. I could pick up on her vibe from the hologram alone. I wondered what William thought of her skittishness. He probably assumed it was just stage fright.

  She was looking a mite nervous, all right. Either that or there was some technical difficulty making the hologram shake. The last time I’d talked to her, she’d been plenty up-tight about lying to a master vampire, as well she should be. It would be interesting to see how she handled her bit of the presentation.

  William was introducing Olivia and some of the dignitaries. Someone complimented Iban on the success of the hologram gizmo. He smiled modestly and said, “I can’t take the credit, I’m afraid, even though I would love to. My associate, Sullivan, was instrumental in spinning off from my production company a special effects division to rival Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic. It was one of his engineers who developed the technology to address some of our special needs, vis-à-vis imaging.”

  That was some fancy talk for the fact that we vampires didn’t cast a reflection and couldn’t be seen in a photograph. Last I heard, digital imagery couldn’t capture us any more than old-fashioned photography could. Goody for Sullivan.

  I felt my jaw tense just with the desire to bite him. I wondered how his lunch with Connie had gone. Lunch. What a concept. I was just getting to my best beauty sleep when humans were going to lunch. I pictured them in the outdoor cafés, strolling along the Riverwalk in the sun, eating taffy from River Street Sweets and lining up for paddleboat rides.

  “This thing is two-way, too, right?” Tobey asked.

  “Olivia can see our shadowlike forms on a computer monitor via that webcam mounted right over there,” Iban explained, pointing to a small camera he had mounted on the mantel right across from me. “That’s no ordinary camera, though. It’s the same kind of device we have focused on her in England.”

  Olivia continued her presentation. “As many of you know, I’ve long been involved in documenting certain aspects of our race—primarily the genealogy of female vampires but also to some extent the migration of various clans of blood drinkers across Europe. Alger before me had built a large and loyal coven in and around London, along with a large group of trusted humans. Using our knowledge of the city’s nooks and crannies, as well as an efficient communications network, we were able to live relatively free from the harassment of the old sires, who seemed to prefer to haunt the countryside.

  “When I returned to England after Alger was killed, we shifted our focus to identifying as many of the dark lords as possible, figuring out where their clans are located, and counting their numbers. Alger had already begun this work for his own reasons, and so we had a starting point for my own research. It seems Alger had a premonition of his death that he never shared with me. I found out too late, when I began to examine his papers. He thought the investigative work he was doing would help those of us who were left behind to survive, and that his passage to America would be his salvation.”

  Olivia looked down momentarily, trying to control the sorrow I knew she felt each time she talked about Alger. Her sire had been murdered by Reedrek on his way to Savannah, a senseless act of evil that had led directly to this day and this meeting.

  Olivia got herself under control and went on. “In the past few weeks we have fanned out across Europe. Some of the more intrepid among us even volunteered to infiltrate the evil clans, pretending to have been ousted from London. The deadline for returning with any information was three days ago, just enough time for me to organize their findings to present to this assembly.”

  Here, Olivia’s composure faltered again. Her mouth quivered, but she lifted her chin and continued. “Only a few returned. One of our spies managed to make her way back home, but has not spoken since and cannot sleep in the day or night. She begs for death.”

  Olivia took a deep breath and said, “The others did not return at all.”

  A few moments of silence passed before Gerard asked, “The one who cannot speak or sleep—can she feed?”

  “Oh,” Olivia replied, “she feeds.” A look of horror regis
tered on her face that made my blood run colder.

  Holy crap. What did that mean? I glanced at William, who looked all steely around the eyes. He didn’t like what he was hearing either. “So did you get no information at all on the clans?” he asked. “And have you notified the Abductors of our losses?”

  “No on both counts. It’s as though they disappeared off the face of the earth. And sending in the Abductors too soon will expose our plans.

  “The spies who came back safely gathered what knowledge each clan had of the others, or at least what they were prepared to speak of to a newcomer. So some of this information is secondhand and a bit dated, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.”

  “Tell me something, Liv,” Tobey said. “Before you start in on all the heavy stuff, is there any good news in all of this?”

  Olivia pondered the question for a moment. “The only thing we have going for us is the fact that the clans of the old lords are not as organized as we are, and the lords themselves still don’t get along very well. There are loose affiliations, of course. Most clans can claim kin with most other clans, and bonds of communication are sometimes still maintained, if sporadically. But, there’s no movement to assault us en masse, necessarily.” Olivia herself didn’t seem to go all smiley with this news, though. She remained as somber as ever. “That is, unless they’re canny enough to let our spies escape with deliberately false information.”

  “Always a possibility,” William observed.

  “If that’s the good news, then what’s the bad news?” I asked.

  “The bad news is, there is at least one clan whose numbers are so large and whose members are so vicious, that it could be a formidable opponent on its own, without having to band together with any other clans.”

  Yeah. That was pretty bad, all right. Before she launched into a more detailed report on that clan and the others, Lucius interrupted her with some question about who her spies were and how they penetrated the other clans. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A huge sideboard at the back of the banquet hall was covered with large decanters of blood, some iced down in crystal bowls, others kept warm in chafing dishes with golden ladles. Alongside was the usual spread of the finest domestic and imported liquors. I spied one of the decanters moving out of an ice bucket on its own. It hovered and tipped long enough to pour a tumbler of blood, and then seated itself right back where it had come from. I quietly left the circle of vamps around the hologram. While the others were focused on Olivia’s grave news, I sauntered as casually as I could back to the sideboard like I was going to pour myself a cocktail.