Strange City

by Anth

  The corpse, however, was clean. Emily whistled with happy expectation as she picked up her scalpel She had fresh blood and, more importantly, she had lean-Claude.

  "What happened, Barr?" Emily reached back into the car and pulled out the black bag she carried to crime scenes. The flashing lights of a multitude of police cars and ambulances tinted the entire scene red. She hated field calls, but at least she got to the bodies quickly.

  Drug gang mostly, Dr Grange." The lieutenant squirmed under the weight of the bulletproof vest he carried, then set it down altogether. "Might have been some cult activity—I heard chanting or something. Some gangs are like that. You felt that big quake a while ago? That happened while we were going in/' He opened the door into the gang's warehouse hideout for her. "After you,"

  Emily stepped past him. It was surprisingly quiet inside. Barr fell into step beside her. his face grim. An ambulance crew was taking a wounded officer out on a stretcher. He murmured weakly and reached out for Barr as they passed, Barr held on to his hand for a moment, then iet him go. One of the ambulance attendants caught Emily's eye and shook her head with resignation. The man on the stretcher had lost a lot of blood. It was obvious that he would be dead before morning. The smell of the dying man's blood, the smell of a great deal of blood, was heavy in the air. She was glad she had fed before coming.

  The center of the warehouse was clear of crates. This had been the scene of a gun battle, dirty and brutal, in the close quarters. Barr dismissed the two constables who stood guard. Emily knelt to examine one of the several bodies lying scattered around the area. "How many of them were there?" she asked.

  "These ones and about ten more that got away down into the sewers." Barr indicated an open trap door nearby. "We're looking for them now. They were tough bastards—just stood right up to it."

  "How many wounded?"

  "On their side? Not a one. They only left the dead behind."

  She looked up at him. "And on ours?"

  "lust Long." He struggled to maintain a stolid face. "Everyone else got off lucky, but Long took one in the chest. Cop-killer bullet, must have been. Cut through his vest like butter."

  "Wasn't he under some sort of cover?" Emily opened her bag and pulled out a syringe.

  "He was being a damned hero Said he was going to take out the big man. I was near him. He pumped four good shots into that son of a bitch but they took him down anyways." He regarded the bodies of the gang members sourly, then cursed loudly and slammed his fist into the side of crate.

  Emily turned to look at him evenly. Barr, why don't you go back outside, i only have to get some blood samples. You don't have to stay."

  "I have to . ."

  "Go," She locked eyes with him. His will was strong, but hardly strong enough to resist her. His mouth moved on its own for a moment, then he smiled and laughed.

  "Sure, why not!" He turned to leave Til just send the Forensics crew on in when they get here "

  "Oh, I'll probably be finished before that." She almost smiled herself. It was so much simpler to do what she had to without the idiots from Forensics fumbling around in her way. It was fairly standard to take blood samples at the scene, but not her usual two or three from each body. One of the first things she had done after her Embrace was condition the Forensics crew to arrive on the crime scene a good thirty minutes late. Forensics had since become leg­endary on the police force for their tardiness. And no one else really wanted to be around when a forensic pathologist was working.

  Emity took a syringe of blood from the first body, transferred it into a capped plastic vial, labeled ith and placed it carefully in her bag. She filled another and then moved on to the next body. Each gang member cou Id provide her easily with two vials of blood. Three was greedy, and Forensics, for all their stupidity, might notice. Once the bodies were in the Medical Examiners Office, she could take as much blood from them as she wanted.

  At least the cause of their deaths was obvious. All of the gang members had come down in a hail of police bullets, Most lay in a cluster near the trap door to the sewers. She ran her hands through their cloth­ing quickly, then stared in surprise at the ring she pulled from the pocket of one gang member.

  The head of a cobra with exaggerated fangs stared back at her. The symbol of a Follower of Set. She double-checked the other bodies. Two others wore similar rings on their fingers, the third wore one beside a St. Christopher medal on a chain around his neck. All Followers of Set, but mortals. Emily ..."

  She whirled The voice came from nearby, from a narrow gap between two large crates. There didn't seem to be anyone there, but even as her eyes wan­dered away there was a flicker of movement. lean-Claude appeared from out of the shadows, propping himself upright against the cases. He was bleeding from a number of gur>shot wounds. Four, she realized. The blood that fell from the wounds turned to dust before it hit the floor.

  "Help me," he begged her. "Take me out of here." He stepped out away from the crates and managed a few steps before he fell. Even so, he continued to drag himself toward her.

  Emily kept her distance from him. He desperately needed blood, and a desperate vampire wasn't picky about where he got it. She tried to think as she moved away. He was virtually at her mercy. If she wanted to, she could probably capture him easily, The Prince had been unsuccessfully hunting for the Setite temple since the first rumors of jean-Claude's arrival in San Francisco had begun to circulate. If she presented ]ean-Claude to Vannevar Thomas at his court, she could become the toast of Kindred society.

  However . . she bit her lip in thought. Vannevar Thomas knew about fean-Claude himself. He hated him in fact. Even the most accidental encounter between the two of them inevitably resulted in harsh and icy words, though nothing more The Prince had never moved against Jean-Claude personally. Rumor in the Kindred community had it that he regarded it as simply too dangerous. Was presenting the Setite to him likely to change that? And what if lean-Claude escaped or was set free? Emily had no illusions about the treatment she would receive from him. She had already invested in him by covering up for him. If she saved him now, he would be very firmly in her debt.

  She pulled two viats of blood from her bag. "Drink these." She rolled the vials carefully across the floor to him, Jean-Claude pounced on them like a cat, although the coordination necessary to open the vials seemed to have eluded him. He simply put the ends of the vials in his mouth and bit down until the plastic shattered. The fact that this caused more dam­age to his abused body didn't appear to matter to him. He swallowed the biood and the bits of plastic together. The worst of his wounds began to close.

  "More!" he gasped, "Please, Emily! Give me more!"

  Reluctantly, she pulled out two more vials and rolled them to him. This time he got the caps off and drank more neatly. When he finished, he was still gaunt from lack of blood, but his wounds had healed. Emily risked coming closer She almost panicked when he jumped at her and wrapped his arms around her, but then she realized he was hugging her.

  "I never thought I would be so happy to see a Ventrue. We were conducting a ceremony and the cops came , .."

  "Quiet!" She pushed him away. "Tell me later—I don't have you out of here yet."

  "I'll go through the sewers!"

  "No! They're searching them already, and they're armed. You aren't strong enough to fight them. I have a better idea. Don't go away!" She pushed another vial of blood into his hands. "Try to leave the bodies alone."

  She walked quickly back out of the warehouse. Most of the ambulances were gone now. A few waited behind to carry the bodies back to the morgue Forensics had finally arrived as well and was chatting with the remaining police officers as they unpacked their equipment. She picked one of the ambulance attendants at random. "You. Get a stretcher and a body bag and come with me."

  "My partner. .."

  "Can warm up the ambulance. You don't need him. Come with me" Emily let a trace of ire creep into her voice. "Now." The attendant didn't question her again. Once t
hey were back inside the warehouse, she stopped and made sure that he wouldn't remember anything about what was going to happen.

  lean-Ciaude was pacing nervously when they returned When he first saw the attendant, he stiffened.

  She realized that the hungry vampire probably only saw the man as a source of warm blood and hastily stepped between them. '"He's your escape, not your supper" She pulled the body bag off the stretcher and unfolded it. "Get in.I'

  "You must be joking " lean-Claude regarded the heavy black plastic with undisguised loathing and poorly hidden fear

  Emily crossed her arms and shook her head sternly. "It's the only way you're going to get out of here with­out arousing suspicion about where you came from. I can control one or two mortals, but not the ten or twelve that you would have to walk past outside. You barely have the strength to walk anyway."

  The Setite crouched down beside the bag. "It stinks like a corpse," he muttered resignedly,

  "It should."

  "Isn't there any other way to do this?"

  "No. Besides, you'll only be in it for a few blocks. Ill follow in my car. The ambulance will stop once we're away from here and I'll take you the rest of the way with me."

  He slid his foot inside as if stepping into a sleeping bag. "Where are we going?*I

  "Back to the morgue. I have blood there."

  "Marvelous." He wriggled down into the bag and stared up at Emily as she tugged the zipper closed. More corpses."

  "Be thankful—you could have been one yourself." She gestured for the attendant to help her. Together they lifted the bag onto the stretcher, "Be quiet and hold still once we get outside We'll go out the side door to avoid everyone."

  "You're a wonder, Emily." lean-Claude's voice was muffled. "You are wasted working alone with the dead."

  She grimaced, though she knew he couldn't see it. Tell me about it!"

  "No vampire has helped me this way before"

  "It's not coming free ' She nodded for the atten­dant to start forward. She didn't want to run into the Forensics crew on the way out,

  "I know, but ... I mean, I'm almost sorry for drag­ging you into this thing with Doc Michaels."

  Emily stopped, stunned. A cold chill ran through her body. The attendant kept going, and she had to take several quick steps to catch up to him. "What thing?"

  "You don't know?" He sounded surprised "Doc was blackmailing me. Turns out the young man I brought you last week was a favorite vessel of his. He wanted revenge and a cut into my drug deals He said he knew where the temple was and that you helped me. I didn't believe him. He must have tipped off the police. He said he was blackmailing you, too." He paused, then added, 'Until Doc said that, I was wondering if you had betrayed me." There was the hint of an edge to his voice.

  If Emily hadn't already been dead, her heart would have stopped. She reached out and touched lean-Claude through the bag "No, f didn't. You're going to be coming out now, so be quiet I'll be right back—I'm going to take the ambulance with you."

  She felt numb inside as she ran around the building to the ambulances. "Doc" Michaels was a vampire of her Sire's generation. One of her Sire's blood siblings, in fact. One of the Prince's brood. He had his fingers in virtually every hospital and large clinic in the city, and she was the only other vampire in San Francisco with the medical training to understand how potentially powerful that made him. Her little domain in the Medical Examiner's Office brushed up against the bulk of his empire. Every time Doc stirred, Emily got shaken by it. If he knew about her dealings with lean-Claude . . . she swallowed, abruptly aware that she might be play­ing right into his hands. lean-Claude might not know it, but Doc Michaels' long fingers even extended into some of the ambulance companies. It was the only way out of the warehouse, though. She crossed her fingers and prayed that this ambulance crew was nothing more than what they seemed.

  It wasn't hard to spot the ambulance attendant's partner As she had suggested, he had the ambulance running, ready to leave. He sat in the driver's seat, hands tapping the wheel in time to music on the radio, Emily walked purposefully up to the passenger door and opened it When he glanced up, she caught his gaze and held it. "Go to the side door," she instructed him, climbing into the passenger seat, "then help load the body there into the back"

  She leaned her head against the cool glass of the window, letting the ambulance driver carry out her commands. How could Doc have found out about her? One of lean-Claude's followers? No, he had sworn they wouldn't talk about the murder. Except that Doc could be very persuasive, especially when he had a scalpel in his hand. lean-Claude? The Setites were devious, But why? He was in the same trouble as her. Could Doc have discovered his dead vessel and somehow Embraced him? Not likely. The body had been cremated right on schedule the morning after )ean-Claude had brought it to her.

  At least she knew why Doc hadn't actually contacted her with a blackmail threat like the one he had deliv­ered to [ean-Claude, Emily realized bitterly, it was [ean-Claude he was after He would have little to gain from blackmailing her, There was no prestige in running the Medical Examiner's Office, even though it was the oniy large medical-related institution in the city that he didn't control, There was no power either, really. It was without status and without power, just like her. She was beneath his notice. She choked back tears of blood. No Kindred, except lean-Claude, took any notice of her at all. Yet if Doc Michaels were suddenly to dis­appear, she would be the only one in the city who would realty be able to replace him effectively And he didn't even think she was worth blackmailing...

  The plan seemed to spring fully formed into her head, jerking her upright with the force of its entry. Emily pursed her lips tightly as she thought. Doc had played himself into a losing position She turned to look at the ambulance attendants as they loaded lean-Claude into the rear of the ambulance. Take me to a phone booth."

  A dog skittered out of the way as the ambulance accelerated.

  "Emily?" Doc Michaels called as he stepped into the morgue. "Are you here?"

  Emily was pleased to note that his nose wrinkled in distaste at the odor in the room. She had turned the ventilation system off when she arrived several hours ago. "I'm here," she said quietly, in her smallest voice. She stood up from her desk and came around in front of it to greet him. Sitting behind a desk was a position of power—she wanted him to perceive her as weak Please. Come in."

  He continued to stand in the doorway. "Perhaps it would be better if we went somewhere more com­fortable?"

  "I don't want any of the others to know about this. I can't go out." She stepped back as if she were nervous, and accidentally bumped into a corpse on a gurney. The room was packed with them "Does anyone know now?"

  "I haven't told anyone about your call." He started to step away from the door, then stopped. Emily won­dered if he was suspicious. "My car is just outside though—and very private."

  "No!" She forced a note of panic into her voice.

  "Very well then." He walked completely into the room, twitching violently as the cramped conditions forced him to edge between two more corpses. "I must admit, your message last night mystified me. You sounded frightened. It's no secret your Sire and I are not on the best of terms, but the Followers of Set? Why would you think I.. ."

  Emily saw lean-Claude appear from the shadows by the door only a second before he leaped at Doc. The Ventrue's words ended in a sudden grunt of sur­prise as lean-Claude tackled him. "Now, Emily!" screamed the Setite. "Now!"

  Her hand went almost automatically to the nearest sheet-draped corpse and felt for the sharp stake that was hidden there, There were several others like it around the room, since she had no idea exactly where she would be when the time came to act. She almost had the stake in her grasp when lean-Claude and Doc Michaels crashed into the gurney and spun it aside. Emily was left with only a sheet in her hand. She dived for another stake.

  Doc Michaels had been an old man when he was Embraced He still looked like a kindly, grandfatherly family
doctor. Unfortunately, physical appearances meant little among the Kindred. lean-Claude seemed young and strong, but the old man was matching him blow for blow. Emily had suspected that wouid hap­pen. The two vampires rolled over and over on the ground as they fought. She couldn't get a clear chance at Doc. At the same time, she didn't want to try to separate them physically for fear of being drawn into the fight. She saw only one thing to do. When their struggle brought them close to a gurney, she tipped its dead burden off and on top of them. The two sprang apart instantly, repulsed by the corpse, fean-Claude actually retched. Doc snarled and coiled, preparing to leap at his distracted attacker.

  The stake went into his back and through his heart with a kind of dry hiss, as if she were stabbing a desic­cated mummy. Doc Michaels shrieked and tried to lash out behind him. His fingers caught at her cloth­ing, then fell away loosely as paralysis spread through his body, He tumbled to the floor. A horrible expres­sion of rage and shock was frozen on his face.

  Emily bent down and lifted him, careful not to dis­lodge the stake. He was surprisingly light. She held him with one hand as she opened one of the drawers that lined the wall of the morgue. It almost felt as if she were tucking a child into bed when she laid him out on the cold metal. Doc Michaels made a very natural-looking corpse, as if he had only recently died. Suddenly, she felt her Hunger rising. Ventrue were very particular about the source of their nourishment, Emily had discovered quite early that her Embrace had left her with a cruel and ironic need for cold blood taken from dead bodies. The body of a vampire was as cold and as dead as a body could be. She brushed Doc Michaels' collar aside to reveal his neck- The tempta­tion was strong to drain the life out of him. to make the transfer of power complete. Very strong. She bent down, lips drawing back from eager fangs.

  lean-Claude grabbed her from behind and pulled her away. "No!"

  "Let me go!" She struggled against him, but he held her firmly, "I want his blood, lean-Claude, I need it!"

  He twisted her around so that she could no longer see Doc Michaels' body. "You need him more! What if you need something someday? Information? Kill him now and all you will have done is commit Diablerie! Is it worth it?"