by A K Blake
There was a moment of silence in response to his question. His mother stabbed at her food it particular ferocity.
“We’re renting out midhouse for now.”
“That’s a good way to make some extra money.”
“It’s for your father’s medical bills.”
“Oh. Right.”
As if on cue, his father’s face suddenly contorted into a grimace, and he became very still. Luca’s mother grabbed his father’s hand in what was, for Luca, an uncharacteristic display of affection, squeezing it as if to siphon away the pain. After a few moments his father’s body relaxed slightly, and his mother’s hand withdrew.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“On and off. They give me something for the pain, but it makes me nauseated. Supposed to be a common side effect of the...cheaper stuff.”
Utensils clinked loudly in the silence that followed. Luca’s father looked intently at his plate, the lines of his face deep and weary. Luca looked away.
***
After dinner, Luca helped his mother collect the dishes, as his father adjourned to the living room for his usual round of gladiator games. Watching a match was possibly the last thing Luca wanted to do, but as he picked up a towel to dry, his mother gave him a meaningful look and nodded in his father’s direction. He put the towel down, stopping to grab a beer, wishing it were something stronger. Feeling a growing sense of trepidation, he took a seat on the worn couch next to Auezal.
They watched Artemon’s latest round with Vleg in silence until his father finally spoke.
“So, I guess I should’ve asked earlier, any chance you’ve found a lucky someone to settle down with there in the city?”
“Not really. Well, I mean, there is one person, but...you know. I don’t know how serious it is.”
“Well, as long as he’s—I assume it’s a he—as long as he’s good to you, that’s what matters. He a family man?”
“Um, I’m not really sure. I think so.”
His father grunted. “It’d be nice to actually get to meet one of these beaus of yours some night.”
Luca laughed nervously, rubbing his hands on his pants. “Yeah, I mean, we haven’t really been together all that long.”
His father fixed him with a grave look. “Well, it’s important to find the right partner. If I didn’t have your mother, Dieda knows where I’d be. Probably dead of drink in a gutter somewhere before I even had a chance to develop this malignancy. You’re getting to the age where you need to be careful who you spend time with, because they might just become your family. Take your poor mother, she’s got nobody else. Haven’t heard from that worthless sister of hers in almost ten years, except to tell us we’d need to cover the funeral costs when her parents passed. Can’t be counting on help from that direction. You and I are the only real family she’s got. You see what I’m saying?”
Luca nodded, not liking where this was going.
“So I need to know I can count on you when I’m gone. Your mother, she’s going to need taking care of. She’s not as young as she used to be, and Dieda knows I’m more of a burden than a help to her already. Soon she’ll be alone, and she needs her own blood here. She needs her only son to come take care of her. You understand?”
Luca blanched. “You want me to move back? I can’t just pack up and leave. I’ve got my own place, my own stuff. My own life!”
“And how do you think you got to where you are? Who nursed you, and washed you, and put a roof over your head for sixteen years? It’s the least you can do to help your mother for a few years. Count yourself lucky she’s still in good health. Hell, you can move her to the city with you if you have to, but I need you to promise me.”
“Promise you?”
“I need to know someone is going to take care of her. This is important, son, it’s not going away. Promise me.”
Luca imagined his mother walking into his filthy apartment, her belonging scrunched into sad little bags. He pictured her clutching her things to herself as she looked around, appalled, at the squalor.
“There’s got to be some other way. What if you get someone to help her out, come around every so often?”
His father laughed incredulously, a barking sounds that quickly devolving into coughing. “With what money? You heard your mother, we can’t even afford to move into midhouse. So unless you’ve got some kind of hidden fortune I don’t know about, I don’t see that happening.”
Luca groaned in frustration. “I’ve barely even got myself settled. Look, I-ok, fine, I promise. I’ll do my best. Maybe not your way, but I’ll make sure she’s ok.”
Auezal grunted. He might have said more if Luca’s mother hadn’t finished up the dishes. She entered the living room, still wiping her hands against her sweater to dry them, and they all returned to watching the games in silence.
***
Later, Luca was shown to his room, though it no longer felt as if it was his space. His mother’s sewing machine had been pushed into a corner, scraps of fabric hanging off of it that had clearly been spread across his desk, and his things were now in storage to make room for stuff his parents actually used.
“If you need anything, just holler.”
Maris started to close the door.
“Mom, what’s really happening with Dad? What are his options, how long-what’s the prognosis?”
“They said with the good stuff, ten or fifteen years. With the drugs we can afford,” she shrugged, “six months to a year.”
Luca swallowed hard, his hands clenched tightly to stop them from shaking or from breaking something. Seeing him, his mother’s face softened as much as it could.
“It was good you of you to come down.”
He nodded. When she finally closed the door, the silence felt heavy against him.
Chapter 12
Kaius was having a strange week.
Things had not been going particularly well for him at the Progressive outpost. Capturing and tagging humans illegally didn’t especially agree with him. Neither did daytime schedules, the outdoors, nor the complete lack of social life. He’d been on the verge of quitting and going home, his mother’s formidable wrath be damned, when everything had quite suddenly changed.
He was summoned to an area of the compound he was unfamiliar with, the appointment popping up on his spore mere minutes before he was meant to attend. Rushing to find the place, he’d arrived disheveled and out of breath, not to mention annoyed. Most of this gave way to curiosity, however, when he saw who he was meeting with: it was the religious nutjob from a few weeks back, the Cleric with the subdermal ripples in his hands. He looked cool and collected, everything in his sparsely decorated office the same monochromatic palette as his attire. In this immaculate room Kaius felt loud, sweaty and dirty, flailing about like a stuck pig. The effect was no doubt intentional.
“Ah yes, Mr. Amicus. I’m glad you could make it.”
Kaius gave a tight smile, willing himself to breathe more slowly, like a normal person.
“Please, have a seat. How are you liking your tenure here with us?”
“It’s been a bit of an adjustment, but fine. I’m learning a lot.”
This much was true, though what he was mainly getting out of it was material with which to blackmail people.
“And how are you finding your opportunities for advancement?”
“To be honest, they aren’t quite as I expected. I guess you could say that has been a bit of an adjustment as well.”
It hadn’t taken Kaius long to realize the most direct way for him to move up would be to take Citra’s position. This would mean moving him from lowly, plausibly uniformed and therefore un-arrestable grunt, to ringleader of a criminal operation that would definitely get pinned on him and see him thrown in jail for the next hundred and fifty years. Needless to say, this was not the dream career he’d always imagined for himself. His aspirations had involved a lot more drinking and ordering around of underlings and a lot less felonious physical exertion.
“Yes, I rather expected as much. In that case, to get directly to the point, I have an offer in which I believe you may be interested. We have a position opening up that could be a good fit for someone like you. As we were assured by those who know your family, you have proven yourself to be both effective and discreet, and we would like to transition you to something more in line with your stature. This would be a public-facing post and would allow you to work under conditions which you would likely find more comfortable.”
That had his attention.
“More comfortable how?”
“You would be operating from the palace, a sort of liaison for Representative deManthus. You would attend palace functions, circulating and making yourself known, in order to promote the Progressive message. Housing, food, and attire would be provided, as well as a monthly salary and generous nightly sum for any unexpected expenses when entertaining guests.”
Kaius swallowed hard to keep his mouth from watering. It was finally happening. He was finally achieving A-level playboy, complete with work-funded partying, suits, and fine dining. He’d never have to be awake during the day again, unless he’d drunk his way through until morning. And the best part was that his mother would love it even more than he did. He’d finally have her off his back once and for all. It was a dream come true. Or perhaps a dream too good to be true. He cleared his throat and tried to act calm.
“Yes well, that sounds...nice, very agreeable.”
“Excellent. I will inform the relevant parties. Before we finalize things, however, there is a small favor we would request.”
Ah, and there was the catch. Chief among the things Kaius had “learned” in this place was that there were all kinds of happenings going on that the powers-that-be didn’t want certain people finding out about. If he was being offered a cushy job like this, there was a reason.
“I see. And what exactly is this favor?”
“You are familiar with a human, Lucaris Vorbith?”
Kaius was surprised and tried quickly to stifle the reaction before it showed on his face. The last thing he wanted was to give this creepy boss man the satisfaction of knowing he had the upper hand.
“I...am. He was the son of some of my family’s servants. But he hasn’t lived or worked on our estate for quite a while.”
“Yes, we’re aware. However, we have intelligence that he will be visiting his parents within the next few nights. Before you transition into your new role, we’re sending you home for a short stay. We’d like you to meet with him and uncover leverage.”
“Leverage?”
“Yes. We believe he has something we need, but conventional methods have so far been ineffective.”
“What do you mean conventional methods?”
“That is none of your concern. Suffice it to say that we are unsure at this time where the information he seems to possess is coming from. Our computer experts have assured us that what we are looking for is not stored on his personal computerized module. Therefore, we have reason to believe it is kept elsewhere or may even be information he is being fed from another source. In such a delicate situation, we find it more effective to elicit willing cooperation than to use blunt force.”
“Are you sure we’re talking about the same human? I can’t see Luca having anything the Party would want.”
The vampire’s washed out eyes narrowed. “I am quite sure, but again, that is none of your concern.”
His curiosity was peaked, but Kaius willed himself to bite his tongue.
“I see. Well I hate to tell you this, but Luca doesn’t strike me as the kind of person with enough stakes for blackmailing to work. He’s openly into men, and as far as I know he doesn’t have the kind of job he’d care about getting fired from.”
“You misunderstand. It needn't be something so sordid. Perhaps there is something he wants that we can provide, or something he’d like disappeared that we can expunge or dispose of for him. Your objective is merely to find something he desires. We will handle the negotiations from there.”
“And what if there is nothing he wants? What if he’s just a simple guy with a simple life?”
“Your most vigorous effort is all we can ask. However, it would be unfortunate for your friend if we did, in fact, find that force was our only recourse. For yourself as well, I regret to say that we cannot guarantee the indefinite availability of the liaison job. Your success in this endeavor would go a long way toward ensuring that you are our top choice.”
“Ah. So if I fail, Luca gets his knees capped, and it’s back to kidnappings and human labor camps for me?”
Kaius could hear the scorn in his voice and knew immediately he’d made a mistake. The vampire became very still. After a moment of rigid silence, the Cleric leaned forward slightly, his voice low and level to ensure his point was made.
“If you fail, the Party will no longer require your services. If you have a problem keeping your mouth shut, you may find that the charges brought by the police are in fact against yourself rather than those you would seek to accuse.”
Kaius reeled back slightly in his chair. Surely he was bluffing. Did the Progressive’s really have that much pull? To think they had spies in the police was expected, but he hadn’t thought they had the power to put him away. Kaius felt his slow-kindling anger waver a bit. He could feel a lurking sort of fear in the pit of his stomach.
Swallowing hard, he put on his best amiable, Amicus smile.
“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to see what I can do.”
The Cleric relaxed his posture, leaning back into his chair. He smiled, that pale, unnerving smile.
“We look forward to reviewing your results.”
***
Kaius stressed the entire way home, his mind running over the same thoughts again and again. What did the Progressives want with Luca? How was he going to get them their leverage? What was he going to tell his mother if he failed? Yet in the end, it hadn’t been as difficult as he’d expected. His mother practically hit him in the face with it as soon as he came home. It was almost like she knew what he needed. Maybe the Progressives communicated more with her than he realized. Maybe she did.
In any case, she was ecstatic to hear the news about his new position. He was climbing the grand stone steps leading to the front entrance, the centers worn smooth and slightly bowed from all the vampires and servants who had tread them, when his mother flung open the massive oak doors and ran the rest of the way to meet him. The servant whose job it was to open them was left standing to the side in the entryway in a sort of existential panic as she pointedly ignored the shock on his face. Kaius wasn’t sure she’d actually touched the wood of the doors herself in his entire life.
She even hugged him, squeezing him carefully so as not to crinkle her expensive blouse.
“My darling boy!”
Now it was his turn to question his grasp on reality. His mother’s usual reception of him was a raised eyebrow from her seat in the parlor and a polite inquiry into his general health.
“Hello...Mother.”
“I can’t tell you how proud I am, Kaius.”
She released him, and he moved back a step, only to realize she was still holding him by both shoulders at arm's length.
“Personal Political Liaison to the Party? This is exactly what we’ve been hoping for. I always knew you would achieve your full potential in the end. Well, if we’re being honest, I was unsure. But I’m very glad now that you have.”
Kaius had actually intentionally not mentioned the new job posting, considering it rested on such tenuous requirements, but it seemed the Progressives had seen fit to inform her for him. No doubt this was exactly the reception they’d wanted. He certainly felt the pressure, though now that he finally saw this happy, victorious version of his mother he wasn’t so sure he preferred it to her usual disdain.
“Yes, well, thank you. Or...you’re welcome.”
“Well come in and sit down. Vhed, take his things up to his r
oom.” She gestured at the servant who was still standing where she’d left him, looking as if he wasn’t sure what to do with his hands.
“Why is Vhed doorman today? Did Auezal finally take a vacation?”
“Oh, no. Well...Lucaris is visiting.”
Something about his mother’s response was strange. She blinked several times and pursed her lips in the way she did when a topic arose that she considered ‘unsavory.’
“What’s wrong with Luca?”
“Nothing, nothing at all. Come on, let’s get you something to eat. Though you’ve finally got some muscle on you, perhaps I should keep you on whatever diet the Party was giving you.”
She laughed, though he wasn’t sure she really meant it as a joke. Regardless, he was too afraid to respond to this new conquering hero of a mother.
The house was unchanged since he’d left. Something about more than a thousand years of tradition made redecorating slow. The servants had, however, switched out some of the “summer rooms” for “winter rooms,” meaning they’d covered the furniture in the moonroom and uncovered the furniture in the study. Kaius had never considered himself a homebody, but he had to admit that the thought of a night spent in the dark leather chairs in front of a crackling fire greatly appealed to him after his time in a plain white box. For now he settled into one of the plush parlor chairs, his mother pressing the doorpad controls to signal for a drink.
Perhaps the study would be a good place to meet with Luca. The last time he remembered seeing him, the boy had been a teenager, his limbs too long for his body, his face still round with baby fat. It would be a shock to see him all grown up, adult enough to be mixed up in whatever nefarious scheme the Progressives had going. Kaius felt a sudden pang of sadness, regret for the childhood Luca had lost. It was ridiculous, he knew, to mourn something that was not even his, that the owner himself likely did not miss, but it was a strange byproduct of being a vampire he supposed. In almost no respects did he envy humans, save one: their closeness to their own childhood.
Kaius looked down at his spore, willing the sadness away. He couldn’t very well go through life making choices based on what was best for some human he hardly knew. For all he knew, he would never even see him again. If Kaius managed to weasel his way into the palace, his post might not end until Luca was gone, dead and long buried. There was a consoling thought.