“You’ve perked up the place quite a bit since I was last here.”
“Oh yes.” She paused to stay with Alex, who had stopped to better take in the refurbished room.
“We’ve had a change in philosophy and we’ve changed our decor to reflect our optimism.”
In the light, she didn’t appear as beautiful as he’d first thought. She was still very pretty, but her skin was almost transparent and he could see every vein. She was also too thin and had a look about her of someone who hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in years. Aguirre encouraged members of his flock to abandon their nocturnal lifestyle, eschew all blood except for synth blood, and try to incorporate actual human foods into their diet. They were putting themselves through hell, and it showed on this woman.
She caught him staring at her. “My apologies. I am Adeline.” She held out her hand to greet him.
Alex took it. It felt warm. Not like a vampire’s at all. But not human either. Stranger and stranger.
“I’m Alejandro Romer. But everyone calls me Alex.”
“And which do you prefer?”
“Whichever. It doesn’t matter much to me.”
“Alejandro then. It sounds truer to you. Though not entirely true. You seem older than you look.”
Alex smiled but said nothing.
She continued walking down the aisle, but now Alex’s curiosity was aroused. He was sure she was a vampire. They approached another wide sunbeam and he saw her make a little halting stutter step before crossing it. He would have missed such a slight gesture had he not been looking for it.
He stopped and let his ka slip out of his body. He had to know.
Adeline had the negative-space projection of a vampire, but a golden glow suffused it, almost like an electrical discharge. Aguirre’s methods were actually getting results.
He slipped back into his body and almost fell. He stifled a gasp and put a hand on one of the pews to steady himself.
“How is it possible that you’re crossing…?”
“Into the sunlight?” She gave a little laugh. “Well, we’ve known for years that it is the ultraviolet component in sunlight that damages us. Not much different than humans really, except that the damage done to vampire physiology happens much more rapidly. Humans tan. We burn. We’ve discovered a nice film, clear to the eye, that filters out the ultraviolet wavelengths. Father Aguirre had all the church windows covered with it.”
Alex wondered why other vampires hadn’t thought of this. The technology wasn’t new. UV protection had been in sunglasses for how long?
As they reached the crossing, she turned right, toward the south transept.
She led Alex to a cloistered garden. Previously there had been a large storeroom with benches for studying. Aguirre had changed his plans to turn it into a library. Now, Alex could see sunlight streaming in through open archways. Each archway had two gauzelike drapes fastened in the middle by Velcro strips. Alex could see gray-clad figures tending the garden.
They were covered head-to-toe in a gray clinging fabric that looked like spandex, making them look like superheroes or faceless assassins out of a Hollywood film. Some wore gray cloaks over the outfits. All of them wore goggles.
“Father Aguirre,” Adeline called out. “You have a visitor.”
One of the figures stood up from where it had been squatting near some flowers. It waved, and then moved with urgency when it saw Alex. The figure stepped toward the archway and peeled apart the gauzy drapes. Alex noticed that Adeline stepped well out of the way. Aguirre turned and pressed the Velcro strips together again. He turned to Alex and pulled off his balaclava and goggles. He moved his hand through his dirty brown hair in a useless attempt to straighten it and gave Alex a reserved smile, which quickly turned sour.
“Marcus sent you, did he not?”
“Yeah. I’ve been trying to reach him all morning. Have you heard from him?”
“No. We must talk.” He turned to Adeline. “Thank you, my dear. You may return to your work.”
She gave a slight bow and smiled, then stepped back into the main church.
“She’s helping restore the pipe organ. She is quite the accomplished musician. Played with Bach I’m told.” Aguirre’s tone never changed, never lost that “hey, how’s it going” kind of feeling. But Alex could tell that something was wrong.
“I don’t have much time. There are things going on this morning…”
Aguirre smiled again. “Not here, Alex. We’ll speak in my chambers. It’s worse than you think.”
“Shit.”
Aguirre spun and glared at him, and pointed upward at the church’s ceiling. “Language, Alex.” Then he continued onward.
Alex followed him through an opening and into one of the covered walkways. Here it was darker, with only minimal lighting. Alex’s eyes had trouble adjusting to the sudden change.
“I must apologize for these conditions. We have not renovated this section yet. Can you see?”
“I’ll manage.” Alex put one hand on the wall to help guide himself. “That renovation project is really something.”
“Yes. We’re making great strides.”
Aguirre’s voice was strained. He was trying to hide it, but wasn’t doing a very good job. Alex could tell him what great strides he was really making. What he’d seen when he’d taken an astral peek at Adeline hinted that Aguirre’s people might be growing their souls back. He decided it would be a subject better broached later. He didn’t need Aguirre going off on a metaphysics tangent right now. He wasn’t here to speak to Aguirre the priest, but Aguirre the operative.
Aguirre broke the silence by continuing the discussion of the renovation. “That film that covers the windows, the same company produces a fabric that does the same. It still tingles a bit, but it makes things tolerable. It isn’t cheap, but I have no shortage of resources. The old decor with all the candles and somber plainchant atmosphere, it drove the newer nocturns away. I was fond of it, of course. But the youngbloods thought it seemed rather too medieval for the current age and to be honest it did grow rather depressing at times. So we undertook the renovations. Ironically, we did most of them at night. Once they were completed we returned to normal.”
“Normal? You’ve got women in here now.” Alex smiled, bemused.
“Ah. Well. They need guidance as much as the men do. And we’ve never claimed to be celibate, Alex. We surrender much when we take up the battle against our burden. We don’t have to surrender it all. Besides, it’s become quite plain Our Friends in the See will never give our order the nod, despite their claims of tolerance and cooperation. So, what does it hurt? It makes the other inconveniences a bit easier to tolerate. We don’t have to be miserable while we seek salvation, even if our discipline takes its toll.”
Given the vampiric tendency of gravitating toward excess, Alex thought Aguirre’s sect might have just started down a slippery slope. He kept his own counsel. It wasn’t his problem.
They entered the residential building. Alex was thankful there was more light here, and they quickly reached Aguirre’s small room.
“Cell” was the word that came immediately to Alex’s mind. Faith was a wondrous and terrible thing. Here was a vampire who had once been a conquistador, who had taken part in violence on a grand scale, and then stood against the might of mother Spain. Yet now he was more than content to dwell in this tiny spartan room, with nothing more than a single bed, a small desk, a wall locker, and a crucifix for decoration. A Bible, a rosary, and a laptop lay on the desk. Aguirre closed the door, crossed the room, and sat on the bed. He motioned to Alex to sit in the chair.
Once Alex sat and made himself comfortable, they paused in a brief silence, as neither could decide where to start.
Aguirre finally spoke. “You’re the guest, Alex, you first.”
23
9:42 A.M.
Alex briefed Aguirre on the Abzu club and their encounters of the previous night. He told him Marcus suspected that someone in the
club had recognized him, and that the Ancient believed to be in the city was somehow associated with it. He also told him of this morning’s murders, the vampiric response to Abraham’s attack.
“Yes,” Aguirre answered, “We’ve heard of this last news. It is deeply troubling. What I find more troubling, Alex, is that we’ve heard no advance word of this. None. I had not heard anything even hinting at nocturns striking back at humans. The consensus in the nocturn community was that Abraham was a lone psycho, a serial killer that the authorities were doing everything within their ability to apprehend. This retaliation, from our point of view, comes unexpectedly. It could undo much of the good that has come about. It seeks to increase the divide between the human and the nocturn communities.”
“Yeah, kind of dovetails nicely with Abraham’s manifesto calling for a race war, don’t you think?”
Aguirre was distant. It was clear to Alex that he was thinking of something else.
“Lopé?”
“Yes. Well, the whole thing is beginning to sound very orchestrated. From what we know of Abraham, there has always been a possibility that he was not a lone killer, but actually a group of individuals. Could we be talking about the same group?”
“I don’t know if I buy that. You mean nocturns pretending to be serial killers and then taking reprisals against themselves?”
“No, I mean it could be humans playing both parts.”
“That’s even less likely.”
“Don’t be too sure. It would not be the first time such an event was engineered to bring about a larger conflagration. However, I understand your hesitation. Our survey data shows that nocturns and humans are finally beginning to accept each other for whom and what they are and are working with one another to the mutual benefit of both.”
“Maybe on the surface. You’re not out there. It’s getting worse in my opinion. The Standard Bearer didn’t print Abraham’s manifesto out of the kindness of its heart. The publishers know that kind of message resonates with a lot of people. It has an audience, and judging by its increase in circulation since it ran, a damned big one.”
“You have a point.” Aguirre’s thoughts were elsewhere again.
“What are you thinking?”
“Oh, a number of things. First, consider your theory that Abraham is a nocturn, or group of nocturns.”
“Not my theory.”
“Beside the point. It does explain a great many things.”
“Do tell?”
“Just to start. It explains how one lone serial killer could overpower and kill a vampire.”
“Most of his victims were youngbloods. But yeah, you’re right, there were a couple of older ones. Last night, he took down a whole blood club, sangers, bleeders, everyone. Hard to believe that’s the work of one dedicated individual.”
“Marcus could do it. Or you.”
“That’s giving us a lot of credit, and do you really see an Ancient taking the time out of his busy schedule to hit a rival blood club? I don’t. He’d be much more likely to frequent the establishment and try to buy it out.”
“True. Yet we know Abraham is powerful. Many consider him responsible for the death of Lelith’s predecessor at the Lightbearers.”
“There’s no evidence to support that. I don’t know all the specifics, but I’m pretty sure that aside from Abraham’s own empty boastings, there’s nothing to tie him to that.”
“Yes, well, something to consider.”
“Something else is bothering you. Why didn’t you want to talk until we were out of earshot of everyone else?”
“That subject is something else entirely. I will tell you in a moment. But there is something else I find troubling with your information.”
“Go.”
“Your informant, you said he was trafficking in human meat.”
“Yeah, freezers full. You have any idea what it’s for?”
“Unfortunately, I might. Your informant said it was for ‘the Pact’?”
“Yeah. Does that mean anything to you?”
“Could he have said ‘the Pack’?”
“Sure, the guy was blubbering and about to blow his own head off. Why? Does that mean something?”
Aguirre shrugged. “There have always been rumors of a secret organization of therianthropes. It was doubly hidden, both because of the stigma attached to therianthropy and because of its practices. We never discovered their identities, nor could we confirm they actually ever existed, but there were some among us who never doubted their presence.”
“You’re talking something more substantial than a support group for folks suffering from the Curse, I take it.”
“Most certainly. Members of this group were rumored to take part in certain rituals. During these rituals, they would be encouraged to embrace their beastly natures, to commune with the monsters within, and try to mend their fractured natures into one. The culminating act of these rituals was that of consuming human flesh.”
“The same could be said for your—”
Aguirre’s eyes flared. “Watch your blasphemy, Menkaure!”
Alex laughed. “I’m sorry, but when you’ve been the Morning and Evening star, it’s a little hard to take these things seriously. I used to be a god once, you know.”
“But now you know better, right?”
“Now? I’m not so sure I’m not. Given what I’ve done, what I’ve endured. Perhaps it is the priests, such as yourself, who are to blame by overselling what a god can do.”
Aguirre threw up his hands. “You are the proof, Menkaure.”
“Hardly. I’ve conversed with the foulest denizens of this plane and worse—”
“You were deceived.”
“And that absolves me?” Menkaure asked.
“Though I wear the vestments of a priest, if it is absolution you seek, you’ve come to the wrong place.”
Menkaure sat quietly for a moment, then continued. “I’m so very tired. It weighs upon me, this existence. This life without living.”
“You wish you could find her and be done with it?”
“Neithikret? Aye. Some days, when I see what has become of the world, I’m not entirely sure she was wrong. Maybe I was simply unlucky to have gotten in her way.”
The two unlikely beings, the immortal pharaoh and the conquistador-cum-priest vampire sat for a few minutes in silence.
Aguirre broke it. “Are you through feeling sorry for yourself?”
“Yeah. I guess. What were we talking about?”
“The Pack eating human flesh. In any case, I am not speaking metaphorically. They did it literally. The point of such rituals was to allow them to control their dual natures, to allow them to control the change. Their human aspect would become more animalistic and the animal would become more human. You may have stumbled onto them.”
“You just said you weren’t even sure they existed. That it was all rumors and speculation.”
“Yes, but you act as if you’ve never heard this before.”
“I haven’t. I thought all the thropes were loners by default. The only time they get together is in support groups. The only secret groups I knew about were before the Reveal, and UMBRA used to keep tabs on them. To make sure they were medicated or put them down if they got out of hand.”
Aguirre’s laugh was sharp and incredulous.
Alex continued in surprise, “So you’re saying they’re something else.”
“Most assuredly.”
“But you don’t know anything about it.”
“I’ve told you what I can. Have you never heard of the Luperci?”
“No. I mean, I can figure out it has something to do with wolves, but I can’t say it’s ringing any bells.”
“And the festival of the Lupercalia?”
“Look, I haven’t been up and about forever and a day like you. Just spill it, okay?”
Aguirre looked uncomfortable.
“Lopé. Seriously. Does Marcus know about this?”
Aguirre chuckled. It wa
s the kind of “I know something you don’t” chuckle that pissed Alex off.
“Marcus was a knight commander in the Order of Malta. That’s all I’ll say. And honestly, it is such a better story coming from a Roman.”
“So what I’m hearing is there’s no way he wouldn’t know about this, but he didn’t say anything last night. You damned vampires and your secrets.” Alex got to his feet.
“Alex, wait.”
“Why?”
“I’ve heard your side of things. You have yet to hear mine. Sit back down, Alex. It’s worse than you think.”
24
Alex sat down.
“We’ve had numerous incidents with nocturns entering a blood-frenzied state after consuming what they thought were artificial blood products. We all believed that it was some new effort to smuggle bootleg blood supplies disguised as legitimate Hemo-Synth blood products. It happens with alcohol, cigarettes, almost everything there is a demand for. The quality of the counterfeits is always lacking and the producers are somewhat more compromising in their selection of ingredients.
“With any other product, there would be public notices, product recalls. The FDA would be out there reassuring the public that there was nothing to worry about. Why not this time?”
“The answer is pretty obvious, Lopé. Folks would panic, both humans and vampires.”
“Have you given much thought, Alex, as to exactly what would happen if someone were to deliberately tamper with the supply of synthetic-blood products in this city? In this country?”
Alex sucked in a breath.
Aguirre continued, “It is something I consider every single day. I’ve carved myself a nice little niche here. I’d like to believe I’m somewhat self-sufficient. I can even pray to the good Lord under the sun and I can light the church the way it should be. I’m self-sufficient but for one thing, the truckloads of synthetic blood that arrive here on a weekly basis and allow us to survive.
“Those followers out there, you understand we must sequester them from all human contact. Temptation is the first tool of the Adversary after all. But no matter how strong our faith, our true nature always intervenes.”
Graveyard Shift Page 19