“Fuck!” It was like putting my hand onto a hot stove. I jumped back instinctively, only to feel my backside bump into razor-sharp stone.
I turned, just in time to learn that the Jahabich’s first warning against Dave had been their last.
A club-like arm of solid stone smashed against my skull a split-second later, and I was mercifully carried away into darkness.
UNDEAD ALIVE
“C’mon, Bill, wake up.”
“Let me sleep a little longer, Mom. It’s Saturday.”
A hand grabbed my shoulder and gave it a shake. It was gentle at first, but then gradually got stronger – far stronger than my mother had ever been, even when I’d been a child. Hell, if she’d used half the strength being used on me right then, she’d have dislocated my arm.
I’m sure I’d done things as a kid to deserve it, but I wasn’t a kid anymore. My eyes popped open to find a beautiful face smiling down at me – light brown skin and dark eyes surrounded by a cascade of dark brown hair.
“Oh good, you’re awake.”
“Hey, Star,” I said, giving my head a shake. It was a good thing vampires healed so quickly, because otherwise, I’d need a CAT scan to go along with all the times I’d been knocked out as of ... wait a second. “Starlight?”
“It’s nice to see you too, Bill.”
My brain immediately went from fuzzy to “what the fuck?” I sat up and instinctively scooted back a bit until my hands felt nothing but air and I tumbled backward, landing clumsily on the floor. I glanced around and saw I was in a room. It was Spartan in appearance, and first I thought it might be a holding cell, but then I saw the whiteboard hanging on the wall above me. I looked up at the table I’d been lying on. It appeared I was in a conference room.
Had I died? After all, spending eternity as a cog in corporate America sure as shit fit my definition of Hell. Starlight’s presence didn’t help to quell that fear either. Don’t get me wrong. As far as ghosts went, her shapely form was a metric shit-ton more welcoming than some old dude wearing chains and moaning about Christmas past.
Then I noticed the sub-standard lighting. Where normally overly-bright fluorescents would be shining from the ceiling – their artificial glow burning away all semblance of motivation for most – the lighting instead had a soft flickering quality as if little more than a nightlight illuminated the place.
I was in the Boston complex.
“What happened?”
“They carried you in a little while ago. I thought it might be easier if you had a chance to wake up in a quiet place. The halls can be a bit chaotic.”
The pounding in my head was still noticeable, but starting to subside. My healing was taking care of any blunt head trauma. After a couple of seconds, I pulled myself up and regained my footing.
All the while, Star stood close by, concern on her face. She’d always been an odd duck amongst vamps; a gentle soul within the wolf pack. The problem there was the past tense part of it. When last I’d seen her, she’d just been newly promoted to master of Village Coven – the position having been vacated by Sally when she moved to Vegas. Unfortunately, our reunion had been short-lived as I’d brought baggage with me in the form of a two-thousand-year-old killing machine.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Star, but if you’re fucking with me, I’m going to be mighty pissed.”
“You didn’t know I was still here?”
“That’s one way of putting it. They told us you were dead.” She smiled at that, to which I added, “For real, as in dusted.”
“They?”
“Firebird.”
“Oh, her.” Star’s tone implied she didn’t find that all too surprising. “She definitely didn’t waste any time falling in line. Guess she was still angry that Sally chose me to take over. No offense, but I wouldn’t expect her to say anything other than whatever she thought would make her look better.”
“Or piss off Sally?”
“Or that. I don’t know what you’ve heard, but they have history.”
“I gathered that,” I replied. “Just not sure how much of that history she remembers.”
“Excuse me?”
“Never mind. So you’re saying that Firebird lied?”
“I’m standing here, aren’t I?”
That she was, in all her hotness. Even so, I wasn’t quite ready to concede the tearful reunion yet. “Speaking of Sally, where is she?”
“With the others.”
“My friends?”
She nodded. That was a good sign, but I thought it best to play it coy before demanding to be brought to them.
“Any other survivors beside you?”
“The rest of Village Coven are here. The new recruits, anyway. Although we’re not called that anymore.”
I’d been turning toward the door, curious to see what lay beyond, but her words caught me. “What do you mean by that?”
“At first, nobody was happy. Firebird sold us out. We were prisoners, forced to do as we were told.”
“What changed?”
“Everything. I can see why the Draculas forbid the Cult of Ib. There are no covens under their teachings, no strict code of control. We work toward the common good, but there are no quotas to meet, shadow treaties with the humans, that sort of thing. If someone wants to go out and hunt, they hunt. There’s freedom here that I haven’t known since before Night Razor turned me.”
“Freedom, huh? And yet you’re still here.”
“What was there to come back to?”
“Your friends.”
She let out a musical laugh. “Somehow, I knew you and Sally would make your way back here.”
“Oh? Do you know why we’re here?”
“I can guess.”
“So then the question is, where will you stand?”
“Just hear him out. Please.”
Ah, and here was the sales pitch. As much as my heart had leapt for joy upon seeing Starlight, I knew it was too good to be true. That Firebird had been lying about her death didn’t seem too much of a stretch. At the time, it had seemed she’d been way too into putting the screws to Sally, knowing that she and Starlight were friends of a sort. Those two had a history I really needed to ask about one of these days.
For now, though, it was probably wise to keep my emotions in check and not be distracted by the one piece of potentially good news I’d seen in some time. “I already heard him out,” I replied, bitterness creeping into my voice. “When he was done feeding me his bullshit, he killed my best friend.”
I expected her to fall in line like a good thrall, tell me that it wasn’t Vehron’s fault or that maybe one couldn’t make a world domination omelet without breaking a few human eggs. Thus, I was caught off guard when she stepped up to me and put a hand on my arm.
“I’m so sorry, Bill.”
“So am I. So is Christy.”
“The witch? So the baby is his?”
“Yeah.”
She appeared to think about it for a moment. “I don’t know if that can ever be made right with you. I imagine not, but I’m telling you things are not as you think they are here.”
“So again, I ask why haven’t you just left?”
A sardonic smile spread across her face. “And again, I ask you, what would we return to? I know how things work. It would be endless compulsions to pry the truth out of us, even more to bend our wills to theirs, ensure our loyalty to the Draculas. Then what?”
I knew what would happen then. They’d be given tasks to prove that loyalty, more of Alexander’s dirty work. However, that had come back to bite him in the ass. Somehow, a young vampire schmuck by the name of Farley had been insulated against not only Alex’s compulsion ability – something that was terrifyingly powerful in itself – but also that of other members of the Draculas.
Starlight had a point. Who knew what paranoia the Dracs would adopt now that they knew their power wasn’t absolute? Hell, might they not just take a scorched earth policy and dust any vamps they c
ouldn’t be entirely sure about? It’s not like they couldn’t just make more to replace them.
Damnit, I hated when logic that ran counter to my beliefs made sense. Still, it didn’t do much to dissuade me either. I knew Vehron was an animal. I’d seen him in action, seen what he’d done, and would have to live with the fact that I was the one who’d unleashed him onto the world.
“Fine,” I replied, looking deep into her brown eyes. No trace of glazed compulsion stared back at me, but that didn’t mean anything. That look was usually only present when a vamp’s full will was being subjugated. Who was to say whether Vehron’s mind-messings weren’t of a more subtle nature? “I can understand why you might not want to leave, but don’t forget, he’s the one who kidnapped you to begin with.”
“I know,” she said, heading to the door. “Believe me, I’ve thought long and hard on that one. The vampires from Village Coven were my responsibility. Any decision I made had to be with them in mind. The thing is, once the choice was made, it was surprisingly easy to live with it.”
Had any other vampire said those words, I’d have laughed my ass off. Most of the undead were nothing if not self-absorbed douche canoes. The only thought most coven masters would give to their charges was how many to use as cannon fodder. But not Starlight. Though older than me by a fair bit, she managed to retain her compassion for others. I’d often been mocked for keeping in touch with my humanity, but, if anything, Starlight might have been the one vamp even more human than I tried to be.
Which makes you both fools.
Oh, now he wanted to talk to me again? “Shut up.”
“What?” Star asked, turning back from the door.
“Sorry. Talking to myself.” And if that wasn’t the truth, I didn’t know what was.
* * *
I half expected Star to tell me to stay put, followed by her stepping out the door and multiple heavy locks engaging. Instead, she waved me on.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m going to bring you to your friends.”
“All of them?”
A guilty look crossed her face. “Not all.”
“What did you do with...”
“That Chinese girl, Gansetseg – her and her men have been separated from the rest. They’re down in holding being guarded. Sorry, but it was felt they were too unpredictable, potentially dangerous.”
“Oh,” I replied, surprised. “I didn’t really mean her.”
“Then the others should be waiting for you.”
“Have you seen them yet?” I asked as we stepped out of the door. I’d been right; this was a conference room. Beyond it lay little more than a sea of cubicles. Things didn’t appear to be quite the same as I remembered it, though. They weren’t all filled, and those that were seemed to have maps and other tactical information in them. No dreary paperwork in sight.
“No. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Also, I heard that Sally is acting a little weird.”
I thought back to what Star had said about the Draculas compelling the shit out of anyone who tried to leave this place, and I found a streak of anger worming its way through me. Hell, hadn’t I seen it firsthand, the way Alex casually wiped Sally of her memories? Who knew what else he did to her, all in the name of proving that I was nothing to him but a Freewill guinea pig – a gun to be aimed and fired at his discretion. “You don’t know the half of it.”
Starlight led me through the cubes. I couldn’t help but notice another change – the place definitely had more security than before. Vamps with silver stakes and other riot gear stood guard at every entrance and intersection. Although whether they were protecting against outside intrusion or keeping an eye on the vamps working the cubes, I couldn’t say.
Still, things didn’t look as drastically different as I had thought. Hell, one could have almost confused this place now with how it had been run under James if not for the lack of...
“Hey, Star, where are the zombies?”
“Huh?” she grunted as she continued to lead the way.
“Zombies. Before things got all clusterfucked, there were zombies all over the place doing paperwork, running errands, dripping bodily fluids everywhere.”
“They were dismissed.”
“Dismissed?”
“Yeah. They aren’t allowed by Ib. It’s a vamps-only club here now.”
That’s when I remembered James’s warning about the cult – how they were purists, not allowing those who were different. That had accounted for Vehron’s initial hostility toward Ed, even beyond my roommate’s normally surly personality. It was something to remember. That freedom that Star kept talking about came with a price – marching under the equivalent of a vampire Gestapo flag.
Thoughts of Ed brought me back to the present. “What about my other roommate?”
“Other roommate?”
We were walking through a set of double doors now, heading through another section filled with office drones. Awe-inspiring terror this was not.
“Yeah, Ed. They keep calling him ‘the pure one’ for some stupid reason.”
“No idea.”
“Really?” I asked, my tone dubious.
“Yes, really. Sorry, Bill, but I’m not exactly a general here. I just do my job and help out where I can. Outside of that, I don’t really ask a lot of questions. Unlike some others, I don’t have a place by the big guy’s side, or on his lap.”
There was a trace of bitterness in that last part that would have almost caused me to chuckle had Firebird not completely fucked us over last time we were here. “So what have you been up to all this time?”
“Helping to organize the city.”
“Organize Boston? How?”
“Much like in New York, there were a lot of back alley treaties here, agreements with the local authorities. Heck, there’s more because this place was such a big hub for us.”
“Yeah, I kinda figured that would be the case.”
“Well, those are all with the old regime. We’ve had to tear down those alliances, put new people in power, reorganize the police force; those sorts of things. Boston isn’t a small place. Those things take time and manpower. Believe it or not, working for Sally really gave me a good handle on administrative tasks. If you can manage the office of Village Coven, you can herd cats. So that’s where they’ve put me to work.”
What she was saying made a lot of sense. The old treaties were all under the Draculas’ power structure. That gave them a potential network of spies and allies once the time came to strike. That’s why Boston hadn’t been retaken yet. Vehron was fortifying his base of power, even as he expanded his sphere of influence.
It was smart. I was almost embarrassed to admit I probably wouldn’t have thought of it.
It was also disturbing. We’d come up here to stop Vehron, to free all of those conscripted into his service. However, if Starlight was to be believed – and I still wasn’t convinced there wasn’t some mind-fuckery going on – a lot of the vamps here were perfectly cool with his old world order. Why wouldn’t they be? On paper, it sounded pretty good, but then, so did Communism.
But Starlight had a point. Even if one wanted to escape, what was waiting for them outside: interrogations, compulsions, suicide missions to prove their loyalty?
Fighting a legion of compelled vampires and their Jahabich allies had sounded difficult enough, but if those vampires weren’t compelled – were actually true believers in this cause – then our mission had just taken a downturn from really fucking hard to downright impossible.
CLASS REUNION
My tour of the Boston facility didn’t turn up too many new or useful details. In many ways, it wasn’t much different from how I remembered it – a bustling place where stuff got done. As much as Starlight might have expounded upon the freedom of the new management, empires required plenty of bureaucracy, no matter who was in charge.
The main differences I saw were in the heightened security, albeit I hadn’t been to this place during wartime,
so perhaps that wasn’t such a major change. The zombies were gone – that much seemed to be obvious. I remembered seeing some loose on the street when last I’d been here. Were the rest now wandering around feral, attacking people like a scene straight out of The Walking Dead?
And what of the Jahabich? Had they merely shown up to be Vehron’s delivery boys? Did they drop me off, get a tip, and then leave? It would have seemed so, but it was hard to tell. The Jahabich had an earthy scent to them, but the majority of the Boston complex was underground. That didn’t help.
Likewise not helping were the various perfumes, deodorants, and aftershaves worn by the masses inhabiting this place. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fuck-load better than hundreds of unwashed bodies all congregating in one enclosed space, but it all mixed together into a fairly confusing stew of aromas. I mean, fuck, several of the cubicles even had air fresheners in them.
The problem was, I had no idea what Vehron’s motivation was with regards to those monsters. Was it an alliance? Had he subjugated them? Were a few of them poker playing buddies from millennia past? Without knowing that, there was no chance of ascertaining their place, if any, on the game board.
Starlight led me to a door labeled “Sparkle.” Two guards in full body armor stood outside, but it was more the name that caught my eye. “What the hell?”
“Yeah. All the lounges have names here. Don’t look at me. I didn’t choose it.”
“I’ll assume it was there pre-Vehron.” Or maybe not. For all I knew, Firebird was bringing Mr. Muscles up to speed on the modern age by having him sit through chick flicks. Now, there was an image. Maybe the way to beat him wasn’t through strength, but in forcing him to watch The Hunger Games over and over again.
Movie night would have to wait, though. Star opened the door and stepped inside. I followed, my fingers crossed that nothing more had befallen my friends.
* * *
All talk ceased the moment we entered. It was quite the interesting scene. The doll that housed Tom’s soul was sitting propped up on the edge of a table. Dave and Adam were standing in front of it, obviously engaged in some conversation.
The Tome of Bill (Book 7): The Wicked Dead Page 39