Daughter of Night and Flesh

Chapter One

There is an old quote, “I know not with what weapons WWIII will be fought, but WWIV will be fought with sticks and stones.” Looking through the crowd from my place on the wall I mused again that outcome likely would have been better.
Civilization survived, but it had changed. All those things logical people thought didn’t exist had been awakened or brought to the open by nuclear war. It had been those nightmares attacking troops and civilians that had drawn humanity back from self-destruction. Although it had not really stopped the war, hostilities continued on a more covert and sabotage level.
But the nightmares hadn’t just slunk back to wherever they had been hiding once general war had ceased. They had flourished.
Not all of them had been total nightmares. A few of the faeries had even helped governments get back on their feet. A few of the vampires had helped with the prisons, at first. The price tag of free feedings off the inmates was judged too high, however, and it didn’t last very long.
I looked into the crowd. It was a nightclub, loud, pounding music, drinks, and anything you wanted you could probably find. What I wanted was a vampire named Vanessa, she was my contact tonight. So far tonight I had spotted three, none of them Vanessa.
They looked human enough in that strobing light that they may have been able to pass for it. But I was not some half drunk college butterfly. I was a state representative to the vampire community. It meant a lot of things, most of them I didn’t get paid enough to do. Tonight was one of them.
Tonight I was running negotiations. Since the city had been taken off martial law four months ago violent crimes had sky rocketed. Some of the things the police were coming across equaled a bad vampire crime scene in sheer brutality and horror. The court was backlogged with criminals; some would undoubtedly go to an already packed death row. The courts and cops were so overbooked that the city council was beginning to turn longing eyes on the vampire community, at least the respectable front.
I told them to send Eric. He had lest experience working with the vampires than I did, but he was the legal expert. Eric, however, had killed a vamp last week and was still getting death threats. It was a legitimate hunt for a killer vampire, and the vampires I was supposed to talk to tonight had no angst over a government sanctioned hunt or the hunter, officially. Accidents happened, however, and so I was stuck with the duty.
The vampires didn’t want the government to know where they lived, or rather, slept, which meant we met on neutral ground. Although neutral was never quiet accurate. It was normally a nightclub, which one depended on which vampire you were trying to speak to.
Despite repeated warnings of danger the college age group thought vampires were very ‘in’ right now. College campuses, nightclubs, and the like had become the most popular haunts.
I didn’t know if I could fully blame them. The vampires knew a good thing when they saw it. While there were one or two bites or vampire attacks registered a night in the downtown area there hadn’t been one from a campus of friendly nigh clubs in two months. And no psycho human was going to attack you with a vampire at your arm. When the humans were acting monstrous some times the monsters were the safer choice. Still, I didn’t have to like it.
The slim vamp named Vanessa started through the crowd towards me. She looked more like an over the edge college Goth than a ‘respectable’ vampire, but then vampires had a sense of fashion too. She probably did every bit of her outfit on purpose.
She slid up to me. Vanessa wasn’t that old, maybe 20 years a vamp. Come to think of it, she could have been a Goth before she had been turned.
“Good evening. You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself. Such a nice little club and you are acting the wall flower.”
“I’m here on business Vanessa.” I told her. She was about my height, hovering around 5’7”. Not tall enough to be noticed in a crowd, not small enough to look delicate. It was an awkward size, even on her.
“Well then follow me Dawn.”
“It’s Sarah, Vanessa.” My name was Sarah Dawn La’Croix. I go by Sarah, but I’ve yet to meet a vampire that didn’t know my name and think it was some kind of joke. If my father hadn’t disappeared when I was two I might have asked him if it was. Vanessa chuckled, but she did start walking through the crowd. I followed.
She led me to the back of the dance floor and into a private hallway. I knew that was where we were headed and the fact that I had to be late because I had to wait for her to show me the way irked me. I’d been back here before but it was vampire protocol to escort any human, state sanctioned or not.
A tall vampire stood lounging next to the door. One look at him sent shivers up my spine. It normally did. Lawrence was over two hundred years old. He was very good at what vampires were supposed to be good at. He couldn’t as much pass for human as he could deceive most humans into accepting him. Towards me he didn’t waste the energy, as good as he was he wasn’t good enough to cloud my mind.
His power made me shiver though, for he didn’t hide or bottle it up like most did. For most vampires it would have been a sign of weakness to let that much power bleed out for anyone sensitive to pick up on; Lawrence somehow got away with it. My guess was he got away with it because he had made a name for himself as a good subordinate. No one liked their right hand men messed with and Lawrence’s master being the most powerful vampire in town few were up to picking fights with Lawrence, regardless of how he flaunted himself.
All in all he was not my favorite vampire. I could deal with him civilly enough, but preferred to stay away. But given his place as lackey to the Lord of the city I had dealings with him often enough.
“Haven’t seen you in three weeks Dawn. I thought Eric was coming tonight.” My name rolled off his tongue in a rich, smooth voice, one well suited to wooing women. A smile flickered across his lips and hints of fangs peeked when he spoke. It was all on purpose. Lawrence could have filled his bed the night long if he wished, rumor said he sometimes did, but he never let go a chance at a pass at me, however circumspect or unwished.
“He was,” I said ignoring the tone and coy smile, “but he got another blood soaked letter this morning. It didn’t seem prudent to let him come down.”
“We wouldn’t have hurt your friend Dawn.” He stepped closer when he said it. I didn’t give him the satisfaction of forcing me back, even if it put me within easy reach of him. He said it like you’d sooth a child. Lawrence knew me well enough to know that such would go much further towards aggravating me than seducing me, so I supposed that was his goal for tonight.
“My name is Sarah, Lawrence.” I had a feeling I was going to be saying that a lot tonight, but I’d outlast them on that point if it killed me.
There are two kinds of vampires, those that try to pass as human as those that revel in not being such. I was never sure where Lawrence fit in. He was about six and a half feet tall, slender, with pale blue eyes and soft blonde hair. He wore dark blue velvet and pale cream silk on top and tight pale brown pants with calf high boots on bottom. He looked like a rich gentleman from the late 1800’s. It was what he always wore. Yet at just over two hundred he was too young to have worn it as a human.
Everything about him screamed vampire yet he clouded the minds of nearly all who saw him. He could walk through a packed room and most everyone would remember nothing more than a regular Joe, if they remembered him at all. That kind of mind control set my teeth on edge, even though he was smart enough not to try it against me.
The vampires were divided into three general groups, new bloods, elders, and ancients. New bloods were those that had been turned since the war and the mainstreaming of vampires. The oldest in that group were a shy forty years, and there were surprisingly few of them. Turning someone was a death penalty in all but a few countries. America sided with the majority.
The elders were next on the higherarchy and were the largest group, incorporating vampires from the Renaissance to WWWIII. Lawrence was a elder, albeit a young one.
Then there were the ancients. More common than one would think, most larger cities had at least one or two. They were powerful, dangerous, and deadly. But their powers ranged. I’ve met ancients less powerful than Lawrence. I’ve never met an ancient over three thousand. Eric claims to have met one about five thousand. I believe him. A vampire hunter in Washington D.C., or what is left of it, claims to have met one over eight thousand. I don’t believe him.
The one I was about to parlay with twelve hundred, give or take a few decades, which put his turning at the heyday of the dark ages. He had lived thought a lot, and was one of the more elegant persons I had ever met.
He was also the most dangerous vampire I had common dealings with. Normally he behaved himself. I was hoping tonight would be one of the normallies.
Meanwhile Lawrence had yet to remove himself from my personal space. He stood there, peering down at me with a heavy lidded, sensual look on that too pretty face of him.
“Yes?” I finally asked.
“I’ll have to search you.”
“You already know what I’m carrying, and it’s all government sanctioned. Disarming me would hardly make you look all that trustworthy.”
“Yes, because showing up armed shows so much trust.” He mocked.
“Fine. Tell the Lord and his associates to muzzle and blindfold themselves with silver bindings so they approach the meeting unarmed, and I will gladly relinquish my weapons.” Lawrence actually laughed. What a vampire will decide to find funny or insulting is a continuing morphing line.
“What if I search you, so I can inform the Lord of what arms you bear, but not disarm you. Will that make you more comfortable?” He proposed with another flickering smile. I was going to say no, that anything that caused him to touch me was uncomfortable enough. I kept my peace, however, both because I knew it was protocol or because I didn’t feel like admitting he made me uncomfortable. No use dwelling on which reason was stronger. I spread my arms with a longsuffering look.
I wore a long sleeved loose blouse over a black tank top. The blouse was unbuttoned enough to show the shirt underneath. Baggy shorts of black jean hung to my knees. My only visible weapon was a neat ankle sheath, clearly visible above my low cut running shoes. An almost delicate silver handle glinted in the dim light. A small pouch of black velvet held several ounces of fine silver powder around my neck.
Lawrence searched me, but it was routine, and he knew what I carried this night. The knife and powdered silver, a slim berretta shoved in my shorts at the hollow of my hip – I had never had much luck with holsters so I avoided them- and a flashlight in my back pocket. The flashlight was silver as well. The government had all had a collective apoplexy when they had found out that only pure silver did any real damage against an older vampire. Anything over a hundred was just annoyed by anything not pure silver. Anymore silver was about ten times more expensive than gold.
The flashlight was likely my most trusted and oft pulled weapon. It was an U.V. ray beam. My own little sun. I’d had more luck with it than with the silver bullets.
I’d left my silver choker and bracelets at home. I didn’t really think I would get attacked tonight. Besides, they made me look like a gypsy.
“All there and accounted for.” Lawrence said with a flash of fangs. He ran a light finger over my cheek. I didn’t really like him touching me, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it short of violence so I let it stand. “You look so much nicer without all that silver powder on Dawn.”
“It only goes on my skin for special purposes; I’m sure you remember how difficult it was to get off.” I smiled at him. The last time I had seen him, he had been helping the police catch a rogue vampire. Since the vampire was young and prone to biting I had covered my face, neck, and arms with silver powder mixed with hand cream. I had looked like a teenage sparkle mistake, but it had kept me from being bit, even after he rushed me.
Lawrence touched my face, despite my warning. He ended up with the equivalent of minor chemical burn on his hand. Red, sore, and annoyance, but the cream had been oily so he hadn’t been able to get it off his hands until he had rubbed them with gold powder, several hours later. Gold neutralizes silver-burns for vampires, like baking soda on a bleach burn.
He frowned at me. I could see him searching for the right rebuff, probably something that would make my last comment seem lewd. He didn’t have the chance to decide.
“Don’t make the cities little emissary any later than she already is Lawrence.” Came Nathaniel’s smooth voice. Lawrence frowned again, but stepped around me to open the door a few steps down the hall. I bit my tongue before I protested that I hadn’t been late until Vanessa and Lawrence made me such.
The room was brightly lit. Nathaniel was the only ancient I knew that didn’t prefer the semi-darkness of candlelight. The lighting was were the modern world ended, however, as ancient tapestries, old Chinese silk screens, and ancient weaponry decorated the room.
Nathaniel wasn’t Chinese, but he had spent a long time there. Now Chinese decorum surrounded us. There was a beautiful Chinese gold dragon, with emerald eyes and ruby claws supported a leaded glass, crystal cut table before a wine dark couch. A beautiful oriental rug was on the floor, and his desk had ivory and jade figures of Chinese dragons, samurai, and Chinese ladies with flowing dresses. I was always tempted to pick up one of the jade ones, just to see if it really felt cold.
The Lord of the city himself reclined on the couch. I had expected a few of the other master vampires, at the very least Lawrence, to be included in this meeting. Lawrence had shut the door, however, and I shared the rich room solely with the lord vampire of the city.
The only other occupant in the room was a beautiful white Siamese cat. Most animals avoided vampires, but a few vampires were capable of winning over domesticated varieties. Nathaniel was the only one I knew that actually kept one as a pet.
“Have a seat.” He said softly, motioning to the other end of the couch. I rarely looked strong vampires in the eyes, and Nathaniel was no exception. Even out of the corner of my eye, however, his were such a vivid green it seemed that he must be able to see straight through me. It wasn’t a vampire mind trick, it was just the colour of his eyes; I’ve seen humans with that colour. His hair looked as smooth as silk and it was as black as obsidian. Obsidian, that was exactly what it was like, silky liquid obsidian held back with a gold clasp and flowing down his back.
Not all vampires were totally pale, but Nathaniel was. His skin was nearly marbleized. It was so perfectly pale. Even if the vampire dressed in rags he’s stand out in a crowd and you’d never forget his face.
He hardly wore rags. Tonight he wore a loose white blouse that looked sixteenth century French court. His leather pants were black and nearly shammy thin and soft. Black boots, with leather not much thicker than the pants, were tooled in gold and folded down just below the knee. White lace, spilling all the way down from the collar of his shirt, was nearly luminescent against the soft black leather of his pants. The waist coat that would have completed the time period look lay on the glass table. The gold flur de lece embroider on the coat matched the gold pendant hung around his neck.
Nathaniel was no more French than he was Chinese, at least according to our sources. He’d spent several centuries in each, however, and both times as a noble. It made him a gentleman of surprising versatility, even more so since rumour was he was born a Scottish or Irish peasant. Personally I voted for Irish since I’ve heard him speak Gaelic, but then, I’ve also seen him write Japanese.
I took a seat on the couch and he held out a hand for mine. Normally it would have been a nod of my head for manners and then a quick shake to deny him my hand. Given that tonight I was the supplicant from the government I offered my hand politely, and he brushed his lips against it. He spoke with a soft French accent. Sometimes he spoke with a Chinese accent, sometimes he spoke American English as clear as a native. It didn’t really make the French one fake.
“I have to apologize, I was expecting Monsieur Eric. I have sent to the kitchen for some fruit.”
I hadn’t seen him for nearly four weeks, and, as usual, his mannerisms set me off guard and confused. I was never sure if he was doing it on purpose and was just good enough for me not to realize it or if it was just the mannerisms of a bygone age simply left me at a loss.
“Well Mademoiselle, shall we await the refreshments or begin?” The cat jumped into his lap and he stroked it idly.
“It’s already late Lord Nathaniel, let’s just get down to business. I assume by now you know why I’m here?”
“Only partially. I know it has something to do with all these wicked crimes and frazzled officers and judges. And I know the city council has been in a tizzy with two weeks of solid debate. About what I am unable to glean.”
“What did you do? Bite the wrong secretary?” I asked. A vampire bite isn’t really all that physically dangerous. It hurt as bad as one would expect but there was something in their bite that made it heal quickly, cleanly, and without scaring. The dangerous part was for two, sometimes three nights if the vamp was powerful enough, they could read your mind. Not your thoughts, a good vampire could do that anyway, but your mind. Past, present, even plans for the future it was all there if they wanted to look. Not physically painful or damaging, but for most people it was emotionally traumatizing. Legally it was considered a type of identity rape.
Nathaniel smiled. It was a gentle curving of lips that showed no fangs.
“Nothing as spectacular as that. Simple word of mouth, no pun intended.”
“I bet.” I sighed and got to work. “The council wants your help in the trial process. Everyone knows a vampire can tell if a human is lying or telling the truth.”
“They want vampire jurors?” He sounded slightly amused, a tone that from him could just as likely mean she had surprised him as amused him. It annoyed me that I couldn’t tell the difference.
“No, the idea is to shorten the process. They want a vampire to go through cases quickly with a judge. Try to get this backlog of cases taken care of. Maybe even lower the crime rate if people start to get afraid, knowing that they can’t lie in court.” I shrugged. “The defendant goes to prison, death row, or back to the streets.”
“You don’t like the idea.” Nathaniel said, his voice mild and pleasant.
“I’ve been around vampires. I’ve met with them, conversed with them, hunted them, and been attacked by them. Vampires got kicked out of the prisons thirty years ago for feeding on and torturing inmates. I told the council it would be better to put the city back under martial control than to invite you back into our legal system.”
“You weren’t even born when those,” He paused. “Atrocities happened.”
“I’ve seen pictures.” I said bluntly. “And I’ve seen what vampire do to amuse themselves.”
“What some vampires do.” Nathaniel said, raising a slim hand in his defense.
“It wouldn’t surprise me.” I stated simply. Nathaniel could be as charming as he wanted to. He could serve me fruit and champagne and make my mind spin with courtly manners, but I would bet he was as sadistic as the next vampire. He let my remark pass.
“I find it difficult that the judges or city council would trust a vampire’s word over someone’s guilt or innocence.”
“They won’t. My gifts,” I said the word with a twist of scorn. “Are what they trust. They know I can tell if a vampire is lying as easily as a vampire can tell if a human is lying. I am to be present for all of the questioning.”
“Perhaps not quite as easily as that.” He noted.
“The results are the same.” It took me a little bit more in the way of effort, but not so much that I couldn’t do it for hours consistently.
“You seem even less happy about that.” He smiled.
The fruit tray, brought by a handsome young man who seemed perfectly human to me, arrived then. There were thin slices of apples, pears, kiwis, and strawberries along with two glasses, one a glass champagne flute filled with pale bubbling liquid and the other a dark metal goblet; I was betting blood.
“I am and I’m not. If they insist on this insanity at least I will know there is a failsafe in place. Unless one of you manage to trick me. But I don’t like the idea of spending a couple of hours each night with some vampire.”
“Is our company that repugnant to you Mademoiselle?”
“What is it with you tonight?” I asked. “Normally you are perfectly polite but this.” I motioned to him. “You know how I feel about vamps.”
“Perhaps I am just feeling friendly tonight.” He picked up the two glasses and handed me the champagne. He tried to toast with his metal chalice. I set my glass down before he could.
“Yeah, right. Can we get back to business?”
“Are you in a hurry?”
“I have to meet with the council tomorrow at 9, I’d like to get a little sleep before that.”
“Very well.” He pulled out a gold pocket watch. “It’s just after 11 right now. I’ll make sure our business is concluded by midnight if you agree to continue in my company until 12:30.”
“What do you want Nathaniel?” I sighed.
“Just your company.” He took a sip from his cup carefully. I had to admit I appreciated his niceties. Talking to someone with blood stained lips had always been unnerving. “We’ve known each other for over two years now, have I ever offered you harm?” I had to shake my head. “Then you have nothing to fear. Just your company for half an hour when we aren’t discussing government business. Call it a bribe.” He smiled with amusement. I was pretty sure 12:30 would be far earlier than I would get out of here if I denied him my company. Even if he was polite, all vampires could be incredibly vindictive.
“Very well. Down to business then. The council wants the use of a vampire for upwards of three hours a night, preferably between 1 am and 4 am, hours subject to slight change. It can be the same vampire or several, the division of work is up to you.”
“Tell me, d you want these negotiations to go through?” He asked.
“It doesn’t matter what I want.”
“But it does Mademoiselle, and I’ll know if you tell me the truth.” I frowned at his teasing tone. I wasn’t sure why he was being so sociable, but it wasn’t like him. I tore my mind from that and to the question at hand.
For a long moment I thought about it. Could you use something bad for good? My gut said no, but as much as I’d spoken against this, even spoken in favor of martial law again, I wasn’t sure which was the better choice. The war had been over for nearly forty years now, but it had never really stopped, simply changed. Citizen riots, suicide troop drops, mercenaries, rogue vampires, rogue lycanthropes, angry faeries, even the occasional open conflict still plagued the world. Four months ago this city had recidivated martial law. Six months before that it had been forced into declaring it after mercenaries from a still unidentified source had started citizen riots that had covered three states. Martial law in a city this big had been horrible. I had been jailed twice for being out after dark. Despite my government i.d. they hadn’t believed me that I had legal business after dark. The club we sat in now had closed like every other business at dusk. It had meant more vampire attacks against the police, and it would again. They had to feed, and if their willing prey was locked behind doors by the time they got up then anyone out after dark would get attacked. I’d been bitten several times in my life, but the only time I’d truly been attacked had been in those six months.
“I don’t want the city under martial law again.” I finally said.
“That’s not particularly an answer to my question.”
“The council doesn’t think there is another option. If I don’t successfully negotiate a deal with you tonight then they will vote for martial law. Right now, vampires are the lesser of two evils.” I admitted grudgingly.
“Very well, what is the council offering us in return? And I do not want to waste time bargaining with you. What is their final offer?” He asked, sipping again at the cup. I wondered briefly if he’s fed yet tonight. Vampires didn’t like the taste of disembodied blood. Most of them would drink it if they were hungry though. I sighed and decided to do as he had requested.
“They’ll go as high as five hundred dollars an hour and the privilege of feeding on anyone who is condemned. But only one per vampire. They are offering a replacement for the time you could be hunting not running a snack bar or an all you can ear buffet. They want me to be very clear on that.”
“What was the base offer you were to start with?”
“The blood and fifty dollars an hour.”
“We’ll take if for two-fifty an hour and the blood.” He said with a nod. “But the blood is to be taken from the body, not drained first.” He raised his cup with a slight grimace. I nodded.
“Then why are you drinking it?”
“To be polite Mademoiselle. I have provided food and drink for you. It would be quiet rude for me to sit and watch you partake. But it would hardly be polite for me to call in someone to feed upon while we talked.” Nathaniel replied. For a moment I was taken aback. Nathaniel had drunk from a cup in front of me before. Come to think of it he had done it whenever he had laid food for me. It had never occurred to me that he was drinking something distasteful simply to be polite.
“What about water?” I asked.
“Some vampires can drink water, but the ability normally lessons with age. Even when I was younger my body didn’t tolerate water well. I’d prefer not to be sick around a lady.” He said with a small smile.
“So it’s done then? Two-fifty and the blood?” I asked. He nodded. “That went much quicker and easier than I had expected.” I told him.
“It will be good for the vampire of the community to do something that will perhaps bring us a bit of respect. Perhaps the cops will stop shooting us on site if we do them a consistent service.”
“Perhaps. May I make a request?” I asked. He nodded. “I’m not sure how you are planning on dividing up the work, but this is a fairly large vampire community to handle it. There are a few vampires I’d really like not to have to spend several hours with, around the police no less.”
“Name them.” He said with a smile that showed a bit of teeth, but no fang.
“Vanessa, Mark, Geoffrey, Elizabeth, and Jacque.”
“Vanessa?” Nathaniel asked; he seemed amused again.
“She’s young and both times I’ve seen her around cops she was trying to seduce them.”
“Is that so bad? Cops need some fun too.”
“Most cops don’t think vamps are fun Nathaniel. And yes, it’s so bad because she was using illusion and mind tricks on them.” I stated. He frowned slightly. After a few minutes he nodded.
“I understand the rest, and if Vanessa is playing mind ticks on cops, yes, I’ll keep them out of the deal. And I’ll talk to Vanessa. I’m surprised you didn’t add Lawrence.”
“I don’t much like Lawrence, but I do know him better than most of the vampires in the city.” I paused. “And strangely enough I trust him not to try lying.”
“You mean you know he’s not strong enough to lie to you and get away with it?” Nathaniel quipped.
“And he knows it.” I asserted. Nathaniel nodded his ascension.
“Which of us would you find most appropriate for the job?” He asked. Nathaniel had leaned back, the purring cat half on his lap and half on his chest. I thought about it for a while. Who would I pick?
“Lawrence, Louise, Carlos, Mary, and yourself.” I asked the last almost hesitantly. I think I trusted him the most to behave himself around a bunch of cops, but the idea of spending several hours scrutinizing him made me a bit uneasy. Plus I was pretty sure he could trick me if he really wanted to. I was also pretty sure I would have some kind of indication that he was doing so. A smile flickered over his face.
“Lawrence and the four eldest vampires in the city, including the lord. Most people try to stay away from old vampires.”
“Old vampires are more powerful, so more dangerous, but they have better self control. Plus they remember the days when they were actively hunted, and when they hid as nightmares and fairy tales from everyone.”
“True. We have to be careful now. A vampire caught out by there selves can be shot on sight by a cop. But since most of them don’t carry silver bullets.” He shrugged. “Their pen lights don’t have a very long range. Regardless, I’d prefer to live the life I did several hundred years ago than go into hiding again.”
“Exactly. You might have your own motives, but almost all of the older elders and ancients will behave themselves among the public.”
“You read us truly. Of course there are those of us that would prefer to go back to how it was during the last year of the war. When some vampires were keeping herds of people lie cattle and walking freely through a terrified population.” Nathaniel commented. His face was carefully neutral.
“Thirty years ago you were one of the first vampire lords to announce themselves to the general public and reign in the lesser vampires publicly. You made this city safe. You police the city better than the humans. And you lend your servants to helping us hunt down rogue vampires. You’ve even offered Mark, Eric, and I your personal protection when a group of vampires is angry over a kill. It’s the reason Eric is getting bloody letters instead of attacks.” He nodded his agreement. And you rarely miss a chance to tell me that you aren’t the monster, that vampires in general aren’t the monsters we, I think they are. Consider my choices an opportunity to prove it.” I told him. I picked up another piece of fruity, a sliver of strawberry. It was sweet and fresh. Since it was October I was slightly surprised it didn’t taste hothouse grown.
I picked up the papers the council had drawn up from where I had set them. Nathaniel offered me a pen, and I filled in the terms we had agreed upon.
“The council wants your signature.” I told him, spreading the papers in front of him on the table. I ate a few more strawberries while he read through them. I didn’t blame him. Given a choice between trusting his word or the city council’s I think I’d have to pick his.
“If I sign to seal this contract by human terms I want to seal it on my terms as well.” He stated. “Did they plan for that?” I nodded with a deep sigh. They had; I’d argued with them over it. But the government had my signature on a very binding contract. Right now the federal government had me on loan to the police force and the city council. So refusing wouldn’t have done a whole lot of good.
“Yes they had hoped you wouldn’t ask, but they planned for the contingency.”
“And?”
“You know how much my service is treasured by the government, including the police and city council. I am supposed to be surety.” I said it. I wasn’t happy about it, but I said it anyway.
Nathaniel tossed his head back and laughed. In the tow years I’d know him It was only the second time I’d seen him laugh so. It was also the second time I’d seen his fangs clearly.
Some vampires, even old vampires didn’t seem to fit their fangs, like even after centuries their mouths hadn’t accustomed itself to the elongated canines. Never vampires often were seen with their mouths slightly open, like a kid with plastic fangs in for Halloween.
Nathaniel didn’t have such a problem. His teeth were perfectly white and straight. The elongated canines looked like those of a cat’s, thin, delicate, sharp. It sounded stupid even to myself but I didn’t think I’d ever seen a nicer set of teeth, even among humans. Still, I was a little put of by his laughter.
“I’m glad you find it amusing.”
“Mademoiselle I assure you, I am not laughing at your discomfort but at their choice. It either shows much assurance ad not little amount of trust or simple self-preservation fear. They must mean this bargain they propose since breaking it would almost surely cause you harm. Or you are being deemed expendable.”
“They don’t mean to give you expendable surety, they just aren’t going to give themselves. So call it both.” I told him.
He rose, setting the cat on the couch, and went to his desk. The Siamese crawled into my lap.
“What’s her name?” I asked, stroking the affectionate cat. It rubbed against me, purring loudly. It was nice; most animals liked me little better than they liked vampires.
“Asia, and she’s a hog for attention. A perfect lap cat.” I pet the purring Siamese. She had settled down on my lap by the time Nathaniel returned. “My pet likes you.” A smile that I couldn’t read crossed his face. There had been something very human in that look. I made myself look into those green eyes, not the causal glances that I safely make but actual mutual eye contact.
I felt the years stretch behind him, but he wasn’t trying to be-spell me so there was no pull, no drowning or falling. I was immune, or partially immune to a lot of vampire powers, but a vampire as old and as powerful as Nathaniel could have had me like a common human with our eyes locked. Strangely I felt like I was in control of the situation. Those vivid green eyes looked back at me and I had no fear of him controlling me. It wasn’t the feeling of trust, although somehow I did trust Nathaniel not to try to take my mind just then, it was something else, something different.
I could almost feel those green eyes looking out over centuries of life. Something old and sad wrapped around that vivid green. And some secret pain, sharper, newer. I had an overwhelming urge to look deeper, to delve that secret from those living emeralds.
Nathaniel broke eye contact. I blinked, confused and oddly tired.
“You shouldn’t do that right now Mademoiselle.” His voice soundly slightly strained, like he was tired, or had been struggling. The urge and sense of safety had disappeared along with the eye contact, but it still hadn’t felt like him. Nothing that I had felt from any vampire before.
“What was that?” I asked. He paused for a second, his face unreadable.
“Forgive me Mademoiselle. I haven’t fed yet tonight.” He said. I didn’t believe him. Well, I didn’t believe what I had felt was him relaxing control in a moment of opportunity. But I decided not to press it, instead I looked at what he was holding.
It was a beautifully cut crystal container. It had a fine thin neck and the body was about the size of a grapefruit. There was a large glass stopper that nestled snuggly in the slightly flared top. It looked like something from an old movie, something that might have expensive sherry or brandy in it. He also held a think knife, like a surgeon’s scalpel.
“Would you prefer to use one of your own knives?” He asked when he caught my eyes lingering on the scalpel. I shook my head.
“No, my blades are silver. I’m sure your steel holds a finer edge.” No reason to get cut with a dull blade. He nodded and took the stopper out of the bottle. Drat, I was going to let him do this. Nathaniel took my left hand and turned it palm up. He surveyed my pale forearm for a moment. His fingers were cold, but he held my hand gently. The knife hovered over a small blue vein in my forearm. Blood near the surface.
“To seal a bargain it must be of your free will.” He said. I nodded. I’d never had ot do this before, but I knew what it was we were doing. He would take my blood. Some he would drink now, from my veins, then some would be saved, with a drop of his own vampire blood to keep it from spoiling. Tomorrow or in fifty years he could drink the rest and know exactly where I was. Across the street, world, or even in my grave.
“Give me your word that you will keep this no longer than necessary for your surety.” I said.
“You have my honor on it Mademoiselle.”
“I freely give to you your surety. Take what you need from me.”
He lowered his head over my arm. The knife was a nicety for my sake. He could have bitten me with more ease. The knife made a quick stab over the shallow vein. Blood welled over my arm, maximum blood for minimum damage. I was thankful for that at least.
His lips closed gently over th wound. I felt no fangs, just the slightest press of his front teeth. He sucked ever so gently, and I wasn’t sure why. I could feel the slight tremor that ran through him and could smell his hunger thick on the air between us. He put his tongue to the cut and let the blood flow into his mouth. I felt him swallow twice, then he pulled his head away and held my arm so the blood dripped into the bottle. The flow was already starting to slow. When it had slowed to a few stray drops a long white nail scratched over the small cut, pulling the forming clot from the wound. The blood welled over my arm again and fell in a quick trickle into the bottle. When the glass was a quarter full he tipped my arm up and pressed a pocket-handkerchief to it.
He nicked his own arm and allowed the blood to fall into the bottle with mine. By the time a teaspoon had fallen, however, the skin was smooth again, unbroken. He replaced the stopper and set the bottle and the blade on the table. The pocket watch reappeared.
“There, a minute to midnight and our business is concluded.” He smiled at me.
“Thank you.” I said and meant it. “That could have gone much differently. You could have had a free meal.”
“I have no intention to hurt you Mademoiselle.” Nathaniel said. He leaned back, eyes fluttering shut briefly. “I have never tasted half-breed blood before.”
“Am I going to get bit now for real?” I asked, my tone was almost joking. He chuckled and shook his head.
“I told you I wouldn’t hurt you. I’ve never bitten you before, and I won’t unless you offer.” I nodded to him. Being able to tell when you’re being given the truth is helpful at times. I was safe for right now, no reason to be tense around the most powerful vampire in the city. I sampled some more fruit form the tray, pear this time, sweet with that sugary grittiness a good pear gets.
“So what do we do now?”
“Just friends chatting after work.” Nathaniel said. I gave him a long, slow look, my eyes flickering to his but lingering on his face and not his eyes.
“What’s up with you tonight?”
“As I said before, I am just feeling friendly.” He responded. I didn’t take my eyes off of him.
“That’s no more the truth now than it was the first time you said it.” He frowned at me.
“It is very much the truth.”
“Don’t patronize me Lord Nathaniel. That you are feeling friendly isn’t quiet a lie, but it isn’t quite the truth either. And that you are ‘just’ feeling friendly is a lie.” I let my eyes drop to the cat still snuggled in my lap. I was being to feel the fool staring at him. Nathaniel gave a deep sigh.
“I’m sure you know that before I was in America I lived in France. My, acquaintances send me news sometimes. You didn’t go to Illinois these past two weeks.”
“You’re right.” I said. “I went to visit my mother in France. I didn’t feel like letting the vampire community know my plans. The last time I did that I was met at the plane by four vampires offering to give me a tour of the city.” I said flatly. It had been difficult to explain to the police. Vampires were legal citizens in France, but they still got nervous when an apparent human showed up and immediately had vampire company. They had kept me in customs for three hours.
“I’m sorry you feel it necessary to lie to me. I can tell just as easily as you can.”
“Just returning the favor.” I grumbled.
“Mademoiselle, I am deeply sorry to hear of your mother’s death. My condolences.”
“Thank you Nathaniel.” I sighed. “I had hoped that the news wouldn’t spread. One dead woman didn’t seem like something that the vampires would pass among themselves as newsworthy.”
“When the woman was the mother of one of five half-breeds alive it gets noticed. Why would you try to hide if from us Dawn? The vampires are the only family you have left.” He leaned across the couch to lay a still cold hand on mine.
“The vampires aren’t my family Nathaniel.” I said, removing my hand from under his.
“You are a half-breed Dawn”
“My name is Sarah, and my mother was human, which makes me just a human as well. If my mother had been the vamp then we would have something to talk about.” I said firmly.
“Yes, your mother was the human pair which makes you human, but not just human.” He said. “You can look at us, are difficult to be-spell. You are stronger and more resilient, and heal faster than a normal human. And even with a bite some vampires wouldn’t be able to see your mind.”
“Nathaniel, my father left when I was two. I have no memory of him. I have nothing that belonged to him; I’ve never seen a picture of him. My mother never spoke of him. I am what I am and that has caused me far more grief than joy. You forgot to mention all the downsides.
“Sensitivity to sunlight, inability to eat meat. Vampires recognize me on site. Animals normally hate me. The government all but owns me. I’m for all practical purposes barren. Did I forget something? Oh, yeah, how about maturing fully by my tenth birthday? It’s been ten years and I’ve not aged a day, and I finally look my age.
“And to top it all off I’ve spent my life hearing my mother called a vamp whore by those who knew only to have her killed by a group of new bloods that figured since she was willing to sleep with one vamp she must be willing to sleep with others. They literally raped her to death and then drained her. The mortician had to remove her heart and brain to make sure she didn’t come back as a vamp.”
“Was it in her will?” He asked quietly.
“Yes Nathaniel, it was in her will.” I said bitterly. “And mine.”
“It would be a little more difficult to turn you Mademoiselle.”
“But according to legend it can be done.”
“I am sorry about your mother.”
“Just leave it be Nathaniel.” I told him. My appetite had deserted me, big surprise. I glanced at my watch; it was only ten after. Lovely. We sat quietly for a moment.
“Do you not like your champagne?”
“I rarely drink Nathaniel, you should know that by now. I spend far too much time around police to be drinking underage.”
“A whole other year huh?” Nathaniel smiled. I nodded. Truth was I even drank with cops sometimes, having a federal badge in your pocket opens a lot of doors. But I never did it in public.
“Shall I get you some fruit juice or water?” he paused. “Or blood?”
“I don’t drink blood.”
“You could Dawn. It would make you stronger, bring out your gifts as you call them.” He said it mildly. He wasn’t the first vampire to tell me that, it wasn’t even the first time he’s told me that. I knew vampire half-breeds, those with vampire mothers, were made stronger by non-blood food, normally fruit juice. Theoretically it worked the other way as well. I’d never been desperate or curious enough to try it. I wasn’t vampire enough to try it.
“I don’t drink blood Nathaniel.”
“It doesn’t have to be human.”
“Nathaniel I said I’d stay here till half past. If you keep tormenting me I’m going to leave now.”
“Forgive me Mademoiselle, we will speak of simpler things.” He picked up a piece of fruit and sniffed at it. It was sliver of apple.
“I always wonder if it would really make me sick, just to taste it.” He mused aloud.
“How old were you when you turned.” I asked. It had been a question I had wanted to ask for months. He smiled at me. The cat jumped down from my lap and padded behind the screen. He was so silent I thought he wasn’t going to answer.
“I was 26.” He finally said. I wanted to ask why. Why in the prime of his life he had given up life and death for the nocturnal half-life he had now. Why he gave up food and sunlight and a chance at a wife and kids. I didn’t. He answer hadn’t been the truth. Maybe he was vain enough not to what me to know how old his body was. But since his actual age was so much greater I didn’t see the need. We sat in silence.
He still turned the piece of apple in his fingers. The cat came back and jumped up to his lap. He put the apple down to pet the feline. I checked my watch. 12:20.
“Did you like growing up in France?” He asked me.
“Vampire capital of the world.” I replied.
“That’s hardly an answer.” He chuckled. I shrugged.
“I don’t know. My father might have left, but my mom had vampire friends until I was about ten. Kids my own age stayed away from me. People that looked my age avoided me as well. They thought I was a vampire flunky and talking to me would get them bit. I suppose if you’re going to have vampire babysitters there isn’t a city better than New Paris.”
“Old Paris.” He mused.
“Old Paris doesn’t exist anymore.” I said. “The German’s dropped an atom bomb on it.”
“Yes Mademoiselle I know. The blast woke me in the middle of the day.”
“I thought even an ancient vampire couldn’t survive the actual explosion.” I stared at him a bit wide-eyed.
“Vampires have perhaps a bit more forethought than most humans. If you were going to survive past a new blood you’d better. Vampires have been sleeping in lead-lined coffins since WWII. It seemed a prudent protection.” He smiled at me. “Still, most of the vampires in the city proper didn’t survive the blast. A lead-lined coffin doesn’t do you a whole lot of good if it breaks open.”
“I take it yours survived.”
“I was in basement. The coffin only go thrown about four feet before a foot of cement, three feet of dirt, and half a house fell on it. The cement and dirt held it and kept it from breaking open.” His face became unreadable, then he looked mildly amused towards me. I knew the look was n more than a mask. Vampire or no, no one could be buried alive like that and find if amusing.
I reigned in my curiosity. I had read survivor accounts from the Paris bombing in college, of vampires rising, weeks, even months after the initial blast. Many of the vampires looking like burned and stretched corpses descending on the survivor’s camps, feeding on anything that moved. Paris had been the first city where the vampires had appeared in force. The survivor’s accounts and what few picture there were had been a horrible part of one of my courses. I had nightmares of some of the pictures for months after the course finished.
The most vivid had been a picture of an infant. Its arms and legs wrapped in bandages, one arm noticeably shorter than the other. A large burn adorned the side of its face. That had all been done by the bomb, weeks earlier. The infant’s eyes had stared up at nothing, its eyes fixed forever in uncomprehending horror. It’s throat and lower jaw had been torn out, in some nameless vamps feeding frenzy.
Sitting across from Nathaniel, a Lord Vampire that had been in Old Paris, I wondered if he had risen all but insane like so many others. Was I having a civil conversation with the vamp that had killed that infant? After a long awkward silence I asked, “Was Paris as bad as the accounts say?” I wanted him to say no. Wanted him to tell me that the accounts were exaggerated stories from half crazed survivors. I turned my face completely away from him. I had to see a vampire to tell if they were lying. After another uncomfortable silence he sighed and answered.
“Probably worse Mademoiselle.”
“And you want me to believe you aren’t monsters.” I said. Horror edged my voice. My job kept me around these monsters and some of them were gentlemen, pleasant. It didn’t seem fair; evil should look evil.
“Any creature can be monstrous Mademoiselle. I think the crime in this city would prove it to you if history hadn’t already.”
I glanced at my watch, 12:36. My deal was fulfilled. I rose to leave.
“I’ll see the city get these.” I picked up the papers. “They’ll want to start as soon as possible.” My voice sounded bitter even to me. The council was wrong. They could use these murdering monsters to put some criminals in jail, maybe even a few murderers. But it wouldn’t make these ones any better. And I had helped them make the deal.
“I had not meant for the night to end so badly Dawn. Let me offer you an escort home to make up for it.”
“No thanks, and it’s Sarah.”
“I know you arrived in a cab Mademoiselle, let Patrick take you home, as an apology.”
“Patrick?” I looked at him with one brow raised. I thought I knew all the vampires in the city, at least by name. Which meant if Patrick was a vampire he was either new to the city or new to the blood. If the second was true I’d be getting someone’s butt in jail tonight for a nice dawn execution. I was in far too foul of a mood to let a turning slide.
Nathaniel smiled at me, and I had the distinct impression he could tell what I was thinking. Not reading my mind. He was powerful enough to read even my mind, but not without me noticing. He just knew me, and right now I hated that.
“Patrick is the nice young man who brought in the fruit. The nice human young man.” His slight smile widened a bit.
“No thanks, I’ll call a ride.”
“If you insist. I hope our next meeting goes more pleasantly.” I didn’t know quiet how to respond. Maybe if our meetings continued to be unpleasant I wouldn’t forget to think of them as monsters, nightmares. I had grown up around them and sometimes it was so easy to forget that what they showed to people wasn’t really them. I certainly didn’t need a vampire flunky chauffer besides I wasn’t calling a taxi.
Chapter Two

The cop car was a pale gold that looked luminescent in the moonlight and streetlights. Most cop cars these days were unmarked, most of them not even white. There were only a few cars in the cities garage that still looked like the classic black and white, mounted lights cop cars. I knew it was a cop car only because I knew the driver and the license plate started with 6a4, the designation of the Salem-Eugene metro police department.
My mother and I had moved to Idaho when I was twelve. Both of us were American citizens. My mother had moved to New Paris France three years before I was born because my father had been, big surprise, a French vampire. Also France was one of three countries that would bond a vampire and a human in legal marriage.
We had chosen Idaho because it had been one of the only states that A) had been untouched by the war and B) was still sparsely populated. But when we had decided to enroll me in college the next year we had moved to Salem-Eugene, in Oregon.
At one point in time they had been separate cities, both college towns. Before the war Portland had been the largest city in Oregon. It had been carpet bombed so badly during the last few months of the war that it was still a mess fifty years later. Most of the population had moved to Salem and Eugene, until they had skirted around each other on the borders. Then L.A. California had been bombed, one of two atom bombs dropped in the U.S.. To no ones surprise non-human’s came out of the woodwork. The bombing had been one of the last overt acts of war. A last, desperate attempt by the United Chinese Russian confederation to make the U.S Japanese Alliance withdraw from the Occupied Chinese Territories. Most of California had been given over to non-humans. And Salem-Eugene had gotten such a boost of population that it had merged into one huge city.
Mother had moved back to France when the government at 18 had snagged me, right after I’d completed my masters. I had meant to get a doctorate, but the government wouldn’t give me the time I needed. You don’t do doctorate courses via Internet.
Besides, I traveled too much to take classes. I was the only human half-breed in the country, which meant I went anywhere the feds told me too.
They had loaned me back to Oregon less than a year ago, which had stationed me in Salem-Eugene. So for at least a while my traveling was back down to a sane level. Of course since Eric and I were the only Sirens in the whole state of Oregon, there had been one more but Mark had been dead six months, we both traveled all over the state.
Sirens were our unofficial name. Our badges said SIR, NH division, which stood for State Interest Representatives, Non-Human division. There were four divisions of SIR: non-human which worked with vampires, faeries, and lycanthropes; special interest, which worked with any group that complained of discrimination; common interest, which ran pr for SIR to the general public; and then internal affairs, which came around and sat on the rest of us whenever they got board with reading the endless amounts of paperwork all the other SIR had to fill out.
The non-human division agents were called sirens. I suppose that was the only thing they could get out of sirnh. I’m still not sure how, or who. Special interest agents were called ‘yes sirs’, both because si meant yes and because it was their job to make any dissatisfied group happy. Common interest didn’t need a name other SIRs because they were the main cover that the general public had dealings with. Internal affairs was called Syria. I’m not up on my international Middle East politics right now but Syria has been causing trouble throughout most of recorded history. It seemed to fit.
The SIR’s badge wasn’t the only one in my wallet. I also had an FBI-NH badge. That one meant I had top-level clearance on anything non-human related. It also meant I was a card carrying member of the Nightmare Squad. The name was fitting. By the time FBI-NH badges started getting called in anything we were likely to see would be a certifiable nightmare. I had been under that badge for just under two years. I’d seen enough to make me have nightmares for the rest of my life, and I was only twenty.
My ride in his cop car had to circle the block three times before traffic would allow his to pull over long enough to pick me up. Even at ten to one on a Tuesday the club distract was packed.
He leaned over and opened the door. I had barely shut it before he started to ease back into traffic. Come to think of it traffic was even worse than it should have been.
“You get it done?” He asked. The intire police force knew what I had been doing tonight. They had all crossed fingers, but hoping for different outcomes. Nick was on my side. He thought it was a lousy set up. I nodded.
“Signed and agreed to. The stations going to have a vamp in it tomorrow night, on the cities payroll.”
“At least it’ll have a siren watching.”
“Whoopee for me. You should start an office pool on when my next full day off will be.” He chuckled and I sighed. Both noises seemed to carry the shared feeling of frustrated angst equally well. “There a wreck around a corner somewhere?” I asked as we continued to inch through traffic.
“I wish.” He muttered.
“Huh?”
“You had your cell turned off again.” He told me.
“Actually it ran out of batteries.” I replied. “It’s been on since yesterday evening about six when I left the house, and I had a four hour phone call this afternoon.”
“You’ve been on since yesterday at six?”
“No, I didn’t get to start counting time until 6:30 when I got to the office.” No wonder I was so anxious to get home and get some sleep.
“Man, I am going to start that pool if that’s a normal schedule before this three hour appointment each night.” I snorted rather indelicately. “You need to get a car charger.”
“I have one. My car’s in the shop, thus the reason you’re driving me at 1am.” I reminded him.
“Right, Eric had been trying to get a hold of you for the last hour. He’s waiting with soe detectives from homicide two miles from here. That’s what this jam is about.”
“Vampire killing?” I asked. I bet I didn’t want to know.
“Not sure.” He said. “No ones saying anything. Eric was called in just over an hour ago. He’s been trying to get to you since five minutes after he got on scene.”
“Eric’s got seniority on me, let him deal with it. I just want to go home.” I sounding like I was whining even to me.
“He’s not looking for the second siren on this one Sarah.”
“Please tell me he isn’t calling in the Nightmare Squad.”
“Not yet.” Nick said. “But he wants you there to look at it before anything happens.”
“Wonderful, have you seen it?”
“Nope, and I don’t want to. My badge doesn’t have an NH on it. The human murders, rapes, and assaults have been bad enough these days.” He stated. I nodded in response.
A normal vampire scene is fairly clean. Most commonly it’s a single person with a single new bite and several older ones that the coroner will tell us died of shock after being fed from too much. The majority of them were even willing victims up until the death part. Either that or you found some homeless guy with his neck snapped and a single bite because the vampire didn’t want an i.d. to put him away on an unwilling feed. Lycanthropes can be messy, but we hadn’t had a rogue lycanthrope in this state since before I moved here the first time. If a faerie killed someone you were unlikely to find a body. But if a sadistic vampire went rogue it could be very messy. If an unseelie faerie wanted to scare someone off it could be just as bad, sometimes worse. I wondered which we had.
The car inched its way towards the barricaded crime scene. I saw what had caused such a traffic jam. A large clothing boutique that sat right on the corner was barricaded. You can’t properly barricade a corner building without partially interrupting the flow of traffic from two blocks. Thank goodness it wasn’t rush hour or Friday night.
Nick flashed his badge to get a parking spot on the clear side of the fence. Police barriers were ten feet high nylon rope fences that unrolled from tall potable poles. Worked better than orange sawhorses and yellow tape like they had in old pictures. Once inside we got out and he tapped his police i.d. into a locked inner barricade. We slipped through.
The door to the building was closed. It was also smeared with blood, blood that was still wet. Nick held out a pair of plastic gloves.
“What about you?” I asked.
“Oh no.” He shook his head. “I’m not going in, remember, I’ll wait out here for you.” He handed over the gloves and went to lean against the fence.
Great, the 38-year-old cop with 12 years on the force got to lean against the fence. The 20-year-old with 2 years experience had to go in. I started to think, Eric had better have called me in for a good reason, then changed my mind. I’ rather that Eric had called me in on a wild hair and we could all go home with no new nightmare fodder.
I looked back at the door. The blood was definitely still wet. I touched it tentatively with my gloved pinky finger. It came away smeared with fresh blood.
“Nick.” I called. “How old is this crime scene?”
“Police have been on scene for close to 2 hours now.” He called back.
Great. Human blood would have been dried by now. It would have sunk into the wood and been a dark stain. Faerie and vampire blood didn’t spoil; it didn’t dry unless exposed to sunlight, it stayed fresh, even if it was on a warm, porous surface. I really didn’t want to enter now. When humans were killed by rogue non-humans it wasn’t pretty. It was normally sadistic and chilling. When non-humans killed other non-humans it was normally vindictive or straight out punishment. Not something you ever wanted to see, but the cops, even sirens normally stayed out of it as long as it didn’t happen in a crowded place. On the rare occasion when humans managed to kill non-humans it was often as gruesome, sometimes more so, than the other way around. Working on the Nightmare Squad a full 70% of our cases were human on non-human.
I walked into the clothing boutique. The lights were on and I wished they had been off. It was an upscale shop, expensive. Almost all the clothes were displayed on manikins, only a few hung neatly from racks in the wall. There were a few cops in the room, but I wasn’t looking at them.
The manikins had been mutilated like they were real, and there was blood on the wounds. In fact there was blood everywhere, too much blood. Some of it was dry, human, most of it was fresh, wet, slick looking against the mutilated plastic.
I’d never been bothered by blood much. It comes from a childhood being around vampires. If you fell down and got hurt your wound didn’t get washed clean they got licked clean. It was the only part of my childhood I found beneficial. Well, the no aversion to blood not the getting my wounds licked clean part.
I think children are so terrified of blood because the parents make such a big deal about it. “Ah! My baby’s bleeding. Oh, mommy’s poor baby!” Blah, blah, blah. I used to look at the neighbor kids like they and their parents were crazy.
Now there was so much blood even I felt a little sick. The cops, hardened all, looked a bit green. They were to the taking pictures part.
“Where are the bodies?” I asked after I’d swallowed a few times. Bodies, it had to be plural, dried blood and wet blood meant at least two victims. The amount of blood could have pointed to a whole lot more than 2.
One of the cops looked up from measuring a pool of blood for the camera. He pointed towards the back of the store where a door stood. I went.
The door was smeared too, more so than the outer door. Stairs led up a small corridor. The stairs were thankfully clean. Or perhaps not thankfully. I hadn’t seen so much as a partial shoe print in the outer room. Bloody stairs would have had a higher likelihood of leaving footprints than a bloody floor. Probably why they were perfectly clean. I went up.
Eric was standing at the top of them by the time I got there.
“Hi.” I said. Somehow ‘good evening’ just didn’t seem right.
“You aren’t going to like this.” He said.
“So I gathered. Are you calling in the Feds?” I asked. He shook his head.
“I’m leaving it up to you, but I don’t think so. I just put that out on the radio, I didn’t want anyone hearing what I really needed to say.”
“You going to let me past?”
“First I want to let you know that I’m the only one who’s seen this room. I got called as soon as the cops found the front room. I told them to hold fast, so front room’s all they’ve seen.”
“Is it that bad?”
“You’ll see.” He stepped through the parted door and we both stepped into a moonlit room. There were 2 bodies hanging from the ceiling by their wrists, something dangling at the feet of one. A third body lay on the ground at their feet.
I could see the blood, black in the moonlight around the floor, encircling the body on the ground. The bodies were naked and other than the circle on the floor there was no blood.
“You got a light that’s not U.V.?” I asked. If any of the blood was vampire than my U.V. flashlight would destroy it. And if the circle was unseelie faerie magic it could disappear or worse with sunlight.
“The lights in here are safe, just wanted to give you a minute to adjust before you saw the whole thing.” I motioned him to hit the lights.
They flared to life, seeming horribly bright after the pale moonlight from the one window. Tow of the figures were female, the one that lay on the floor and one hanging. The second hanging figure was male. He had a whole in his chest, and his heart hung from a cord from his ankle. All three figures were completely white, bloodless. The only injury on the woman were small cuts over her femoral arteries. The male had the same cuts. I glanced at the female on the ground. She too had been bled out her femoral arteries. There was something wrong about her face, and I looked closer. Her eyelids were closed, I didn’t have to open them.
“Have you found the eyes?” I said. My voice was the calm that came to try to protect your sanity. I’d seen faeries with their eyes torn out, but I knew this one.
“They’re downstairs in one of the manikins. You recognize him?” He nodded up at the male. I looked up at the face and nodded.
“Logan.” I said quietly. Logan was a local vampire, nice, popular with the college girls, elegant and always helpful to the cops. He was also an elder, an old one at about 600. I took another look at the hanging woman. She looked human, and I didn’t recognize her. Eric pointed at the laying figure. I nodded. “It’s Elise.” My voice still sounded too calm. Elise was one of the few faeries in the city proper. They normally preferred the country.
She was surrounded by an intricate faerie glamour symbols drawn in blood. As I looked at the sigils my heart just about stopped. My name was on the inside corner of the circle so close to Elise’s body that it was partically covered.
“I take it you saw it.” Eric said. I nodded dumbly. “Only you and I have seen it.” He reminded me.
“We don’t have much choice Eric.” I said. “We need an ambulance, now, particularly if we still have the eyes. And we need a high ranking faerie.”
“Why? The vampire is dead, the faerie is dead, and the human is dead.”
“The human is dead.” I said sadly. “But the other two may not be.” That was what was so horrifying about it. “The outer circle is a containment spell right?” Eric nodded. “And the inner circle?”
“Just a warning, not much magic really.”
“Then lets hope the inner one was drawn first. Maybe she had time to withdrawn to the ethereal realm before the blood draining stopped her heart.”
“They tore out her eyes Sarah.”
“Isn’t it still technically possible?” I asked. He looked like he was going to argue then nodded.
“Technically.” He admitted. “If they didn’t bind her with steel. If she was conscious when she was taken. If the outer circle wasn’t drawn first. If she was strong enough to enter the ethereal realm mentally without morphing her physical body. And if she was strong enough to survive in the ethereal realm mentally while her physical body wasn’t only un-shifted but dying.” He added. I glared at him.
“She’s more your friend than she is mine Eric. Get the eyes, get an ambulance, and get a high order faerie.”
“Okay, okay.” He started to pull out a cell phone. “What about the vamp?”
“Logan’s 600 Eric. You have to take head and heart damage to kill a vamp that old. If he’s brains untouched then he’s probably comatose, probably alive.”
“What are we going to go? Put his heart back in? He can’t heal the heart.” Eric was exasperated. I didn’t blame him. What I was talking about wasn’t common knowledge. Eric was the master in the subject of Faerie glyphs, faerie speech, lycanthropes, and legal issues. He was pretty good at killing vampires. But he didn’t have a lot of the lure knowledge that I had, from college, growing up, and working with the Nightmare Squad.
“I’ll take care of the vamp Eric. Just get two ambulances and tell them they aren’t getting them back right away. I’ll need to take Logan to the vampire community and you’ll probably need to take Elise to the faerie community. Only a high court faerie is going to be able to help sustain her in the ethereal realm.”
“I know what I’m doing with the Faeries Sarah, but the chance you’re talking about is nearly zero.”
“Maybe one of them knows who did this.”
“Police aren’t going to like this.”
“I don’t care Eric. Sirens trump them cold with something like this. This is our crime scene now.” I said firmly. Eric nodded and started down the stairs even as he dialed. I didn’t like having to command him. He was my senior by nearly ten years and he had seniority.
His knowledge was different than mine though. If we were around lycanthropes I stood behind him, kept my mouth shut, and tried to look dangerous, unless he told me differently. He dealt with faeries that didn’t speak English or French, and he normally dealt with any of the legal issues between non-humans and the state. When he wasn’t getting bloody letters that was. I’d been hesitant to give my blood to Nathaniel, but lord vampires all over the state had his, given over the last 10 years or so.
I looked at the two non-humans. Why was it the monsters we might be able to save? All right, so I didn’t really think of Elise as a monster, I’d even had lunch with her once or twice. But she wasn’t human.
I couldn’t do anything for Logan here. Elise I could help, a little. Faeries didn’t heal as well as vampires, but the did heal. Give them enough time and they’d heal things even a vamp couldn’t, like a lost limb.
To a Faerie, silver was a healing metal, gold a lesser one. Steel was more dangerous to them than silver was to a vampire. In fact any mixed metal was dangerous to them in some degree or another. Stab them in the heart with any mixed metal and they were dead. Not much else could kill them, but even something as small as a needle to the heart would.
I took the pouch of silver dust from around my neck and opened it. Carefully peeling open one eyelid I sprinkled silver dust into the open hole. Eric came in with two cops and an EMS then. The cops snapped quick pictures of the crime scene and then Eric and the EMS took Elise from the room. The cops continued to snap pictures. I could see their eyes flicker to me when they saw my name, stark English letters next to the faerie glyphs.
Eric was back up with another EMS shortly.
“Did we get blood samples from downstairs?”
“Yeah, three types, faerie, vamp, and human.”
“We get a name from the human blood?” I asked. Eric shook his head.
“Nope. She’s got no criminal or civil servant record. They’re sending it to Public First to see if she registered herself.”
“They ready to take her for an autopsy?”
“Almost, we’ll see if she has any other injuries.”
“Check missing persons. I have difficulties believing something could surprise and overwhelm both a faerie and a vampire. Maybe they knew their attacker. Which means maybe she knew him.”
“I’ll set the police to find family.”
“I suppose clothes with identification would be too easy huh?”
“Yeah, at least, not within two blocks of here. It’s as far as the canvas has gotten.”
“Figured.”
“Let’s hope Elise or Logan wake up.”
“Let’s hope they wake up and they saw their attacker.”
“That too.” He nodded. He still looked like he didn’t believe me. Like we were wasting our time. I couldn’t blame him too much. A vampire’s brain could shut down, holding blood inside, in cases of extreme injury. If his heart was taken out before his blood was drained than it was entirely likely that it had. But just because his brain might still have enough blood in it to keep Logan from being truly and irrevocably dead didn’t mean that he would wake back up. I’d seen this work twice before. I’d seen it tried several times more than that.
“I’ll take the body down to the ambulance now.” The EMS said.
“Try not to jousel him. And you can leave the heart here for at the crime scene. I’ll be down in a minute. Don’t go anywhere until you speak to me again.” I told him. Truthfully I was planning on dismissing the EMS crew for that particular ambulance but I didn’t need to tell them that yet. I looked at Eric. “My cell is dead, may I use yours?” He handed it over and I dialed.
Nathaniel was the only vampire I had a number for that was remotely reliable. The club I’d met him in tonight wasn’t his. It was illegal for vampires to own property in the state of Oregon, or to rent or lease a place of public business. He was, however, very friendly with the owner.
I was also pretty sure it wasn’t where he slept during the day, but it was the place to contact him during the night. The line, however, didn’t go directly to him.
It took about 10 minutes to get Nathaniel on the phone. By then Eric had left with his charge, leaving me to return his cell phone tomorrow. He borrowed mine and plugged it in to his car charger.
“Mademoiselle?” It was a question, as if he hadn’t believed Lawrence who I had spoken to last in the phone relay that it was really I.
“Good Evening Lord Nathaniel.” I answered. Righ tnow I needed his help to save Logan so I figured I’d be polite.
“This is a pleasant surprise. How may I help you Sarah Dawn?” It was the first time he’d called me Sarah Dawn instead of Dawn or Mademoiselle in nearly as long as I could remember. I didn’t correct him.
“I wish I had pleasant news. I have a serious problem on my hands and I need your help.” There was a slightly surprised silence from the other end, so I rushed on. “I’m at a crime scene. I’ve got Logan here. His heart has been cut out, and he’s been drained. The bleeding probably took several minutes, and I don’t know if he lost the blood or the heart first.”
“Are you trying to save the life of a vampire?” He asked. There was something in his voice, something too calm.
“This is a bad scene Nathaniel, but it’s sloppy. Two of three victims have a slim chance at recovery. If Logan can be saved he might be able to tell me who the killer is.”
“Do you have a way of transporting him?”
“An ambulance.”
“Then you drive it. I’ll give you directions but it’s you and he. Anyone else shows up and it’s going to get messy.”
“Are you threatening me?” I asked. While I was planning on driving myself I didn’t appreciate the threat.
“I am about to give you directions to my daylight resting place. I’ll have our sworn word you won’t tell another soul, and I have your blood as surety, or you can try to contact another vampire to take care of Logan.” Nathaniel’s voice was firm. Something in me told me he was bluffing but I wasn’t going to chance it just to save a little face.
“I’ll come alone in the ambulance, and not tell anyone where I am going.” I said quietly. I’d had a feeling Eric wouldn’t be as sympathetic. He’d definitely want to know where I had gone.
“Are you on your phone?” Nathaniel asked.
“No, I had to borrow Eric’s.”
“Then instead of giving you directions why don’t you come pick me up at Last Exam then.” Last Exam was the name of the nightclub. Since it catered to college students I guess it made sense.
“Isn’t time of the essence?” I asked.
“Where are you?” He asked. I told him. “It’s barely out of the way. And no, time is not of the essence.” He sighed. “If his body shut down in time then he has the same chance of being revived in two minutes or two hours. It will be days before time becomes of the essence.” I wasn’t positive I believed him, but I wasn’t going to argue with him.
I’d never driven an ambulance before. Truth was I’d never driven anything bigger than my dully pick-up. I was pretty sure at twenty I wasn’t legal to drive one. But at twenty I wasn’t legal to work for the FBI-NH either. The government would get around even its own rules if it wanted something bad enough.
I suppose if someone pulled me over I could flash my badge and say I was transporting a wounded vampire. Everyone knew wounded vampires could go blood crazy so I didn’t think anyone would protest. I wasn’t really planning on getting pulled over though.
Course I hadn’t planned on running over the curb and into the streetlight with the Lord Vampire of the City standing on the sidewalk looking impassive. Better impassive than amused I guess. Had he laughed just then I may have been tempted to run over him. As it was my face was bright red when he entered the passenger side door.
He carried a backpack of all things. I don’t’ think I’d ever seen a vampire carry something as mundane as a backpack. My curiosity got the better of me.
“What’s in the backpack?” I asked. It didn’t even look like something he’d own. It was light tan with dark brown seams and straps. One of the straps looked more wan than the other. He carried it by the handle and laid it gently at his feet.
“Blood.” He said. I spared a glance at him as I eased into traffic. Nathaniel’s eyes glittered in amusement. He unzipped the bag and withdrew a squirt bottle filled neatly to the top with blood.
“Unless you are planning on draining someone to death than I am going to need some donations from several people. I told the girls at the club it was for Logan, several were willing to risk a little cut to help him.” He looked at my surprised face. “If we don’t put enough blood in him to heal him completely he’ll wake out of control. You want a vampire as old as Logan to wake up rogue?” He asked. I shook my head. I hadn’t thought of that.
“Is that enough?” I asked. Even if the backpack was full of such bottles I still didn’t think there was a full body’s worth of blood in there. Nathaniel shook his head.
“No, but I have three people where we are going that will give blood. And you make four.” His lips quirked into a smile at the end. I started to protest but knew he was right.
“All right, but I don’t have to like it.” I muttered.
“Of course Mademoiselle.”
“Speaking of where we’re going?”
“Head out 45th like you’re going to Old Town Springfield.” He told me. I turned on my blinker and tried to ease over. The 2am bar rush was beginning and traffic was no better than it had been earlier.
As soon as we got out of the college district the traffic disappeared. Suddenly it was 2am on a Tuesday night and all the sane people were in bed, exactly where I wanted to be.
“Did you get to feed tonight?” I asked. Normally I wasn’t one for small talk, but going on 32 hours awake and was driving I figured it might be smart. Nathaniel shook his head.
“The girl I was wooing gave blood for Logan instead. And my servants will be doing the same.”
I glanced over at him. He must have known what I was thinking. He laughed.
“The night is still young to me Mademoiselle. And even if I don’t get a chance, not feeding for a night will make me hungry, nothing more. I am too old to be bothered by such things.”
“How long before it makes you more than hungry?”
“You mean until I’m not safe to be around?” There was amusement in his voice. I nodded. “If I was otherwise healthy, 11, maybe 12 day. By the end of two weeks I’d bite anything that moved.” He admitted. I nodded.
“We’re in old town Springfield.” I told him.
“Do you know how to get to the old creamery?”
“Where the museums store their stuff?” I asked. It was the only ‘old creamery’ I knew of, a fairly well known building actually. Well known but always locked. There were two museums in the Salem-Eugene area and they bother used the building to store exhibits that weren’t on display.
Nathaniel nodded. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Nice hiding place.” I said. Heck the coffins probably wouldn’t even arouse suspicion if they looked old. “Does the museum know?”
“Of course. We’ve donated some very nice pieces for the privileged of using the building. They don’t know which vampires sleep there and the rooms we use have our locks on them. It’s a good arrangement.” He told me.
“Does Logan normally sleep there?” I asked. He looked at me for a long moment.
“Dawn, I may be Lord of vampires in this city, but if I started giving away where they sleep, especially to a siren, I’d have a rebellion on my hands. Suffice to say there is an extra coffin there that he can use.”
“Doesn’t that get morbid even for you guys?” I asked.
“Sleeping in a museum?”
“Sleeping in a coffin.”
“You know why.”
“Still air. But I’d think a closed room would take care of it.”
“Not just still air Dawn. Completely still air. And yes, a small room with no fans, vents, or drafts will work, but they’re hardly portable, or inconspicuous.”
“Still. Since most of you now sleep in a reliable place.”
“They are making coffins so plush and comfortable, like the dead really care, it’s worth our time to have a nice one made.”
“I suppose it makes sense, still morbid.” I replied.
“Do you find it morbid to sleep in a bed?”
“Of course not.”
“More people die in beds than in coffins. It’s the act of dying that’s morbid, not the state of being dead.” He said softly. I glanced at him briefly. It made a type of sense when he put it that way. Great, now I was going to have a case of the heebie-jeebies when I went to bed for the next week.
“I think it’s more the idea of being put in a place where the dead are when one is still alive than a reminder of your own mortality.” I said. That made sense too. I was still going to toss and turn in my bed for the next several days. He got a briefly haunted look. And for once I understood it. What would it have been like to wake up in a buried coffin? Injured, starving, and with all the time in the world stretched out in front of you? I pulled my mind away from the thought.
“I am surprised you are doing this Mademoiselle.” He said after a brief silence.
“Saving Logan? I need him”
“Easier to make it a selfish need than a compassionate act?” His voice breathed. I barely heard it, but knew I had been meant to.
“If that’s how you think of it.”
“Well I’m also surprised you knew how.”
“I know a lot about vampire Nathaniel. We had at least two vampires living with us until I was ten. Mom kicked them all out when I finished maturing and they all started looking at me differently.”
“You were an adult to them.”
“I was ten Nathaniel. I was bright, intelligent, heck I’ve been called brilliant, and I looked twenty. But I still only had ten years of life. I was hardly a grown up.”
“Many creatures are fully grown long before they are ten.:
“I’m not many creatures Nathaniel. I’m a human and humans don’t mature that quickly.”
“You’re a half-breed, they do Mademoiselle.”
“Is it really that difficult to use my name?”
“Of course not Dawn. I’ll call you by name if you prefer.”
“I prefer Sarah.” I stated.
“Why do you insist on not being called Dawn?”
“Dawn is not my name. My mother called my Sarah. The vampires that hung around called me Dawn. I had two names until I turned ten. Then the vamps left and I learned what they really were. People you like and trust can call me whatever they want. No vampire falls into that category anymore. They can be rude and call me a name I don’t approve of and I will be polite and grown-up enough not to throw a fit. But I will correct them. It could be worse; I could insist you all call me Miss La’Croix.”
“La’Croix is not your mother’s maiden name mademoiselle. I think you’d have more luck getting vampires to call you Miss La’Croix.”
“Thus I stick to Sarah, my name.”
“Unless I’ve read it wrong in the siren’s handout you’re full legal name is Sarah Dawn Eryn La’Croix.”
“I usually use Dawn as my middle name and leave out Eryn, but yeah, it’s what’s on my birth certificate.”
“So we are calling you by name.”
“Drop it Nathaniel.” I told him as I pulled the ambulance into the parking lot of the old creamery. The sign said Museum Depot; unauthorized persons caught on premises will be prosecuted. I was betting any unauthorized person wouldn’t make it to court if they disturbed the resting place of a bunch of vampires, but right then I was more interested in preserving the victim of a crime than I was in looking for a possible old crime. Besides, I’d given my word that I wouldn’t tell anyone where this place was. It would only tick me off to find something and then to bale to prosecute. Heck, I was just in a bad mood. The night might be young to Nathaniel, but this time of year he could stay up till about 7am before the sun caught him. I had to be up at 7. Kind of put a different spin on half past 2.
“I’ll get Logan.” Nathaniel said. “If you’ll carry the backpack.” I took it from him.
Even with a six-foot frame cradled in his arms he managed to walk gracefully. He seemed to hold him gently, cradling instead of just carrying. Despite his unhurried and unworried manner I wondered how much Logan meant to him, wondered if the Lord Vampire was worried about the likely death of a centuries old friend. He shifted Logan in his arms so he could enter a code onto the door lock.
The door beeped and clicked open an inch. He gave it a shove with his shoulder and we were inside. The place was packed with cataloged items, mostly in boxes and crates.
Nathaniel wove gracefully through the mess to another locked door at the back. He juggled Logan again and the keypad beeped. I head dad bolts slide open. He stepped back.
“Open the door please Mademoiselle.” Nathaniel asked.
The door was too heavy for the same opening mechanism that had been in place on the outside door. I turned the antique glass handle and pulled the door open. It lead to a tight downward spiral of stairs, plain concrete close on either side. Why was I not surprised? I stepped back and let Nathaniel go down first.
“Do a bit of remodeling?”
“Only on the downstairs, the stairwell itself predates our occupancy of the building.” It stirred my curiosity, but not enough to check original floor plans or anything.
I was suddenly glad we hadn’t carried Logan on the stretcher. As it was Nathaniel was forced to go down the stairs sideways to avoid hitting Logan’s head or feet. He still managed it gracefully.
The stair well took us down a long flight to spill us into a large central room with cloth-draped doors going off of it. There was some furniture about. Three easy chairs and one heavy carved wooden one. Two long couches, a plethora of thick carpets, and draperies on the wall in red, gold, black, blue and rich green. A long table with what looked like a white silk tablecloth overlaid with red lace stood against one wall. It was covered with food. The diversity would have made me laugh had I not been following Nathaniel and a near dead Logan. The table held all kids of food, from donuts and cold pizza to a still steaming roast. An inordinate amount was meat. The smell turned my stomach. The only fruit I saw at all was a whipped cream covered fruit salad. The last thing in the room was a coffee table, spread with cards and chips, before the couches.
Five people sat playing cards. Two were vampires, three were humans. The humans each had a plate of food. They had the couches drug close to the coffee table, and they sat together laughing. The two vampires, Emily and Alex, were both new bloods. In fact I’d have eaten a full plate of meat if either were over two years turned.
I had looked into it when they showed up in town three months ago. But an 18-month-old trail that led out of state was too cold to go after. Particularly when no one was being helpful. Emily and Alex had wanted to be turned. They were brother and sister, orphans. Alex was the eldest by a little over a year. Emily had been nineteen, which made Alex a little over twenty. Ages that their bodies would never age past.
The three servants and two vampires put down there cards and came over. Nathaniel handed Logan over to the servants, who took him silently and gently.
“Put him in the spare coffin. Emily, go get my gold.” Emily’s head bobbed. Her face was just the slightest touch exotic, a little Spanish blood, true Spanish, showed in her face and her raven locks. Her brother had gotten more of it. He had darkly exotic features, a handsome face and brown eyes that glowed with the vampire power he hadn’t learned to hide yet. He was very weak, but with it all laid bare it gave him the impression of being stronger. It was likely to get him killed if he didn’t learn to control it soon.
The vamp and three humans disappeared through one doorway, pushing the heavy curtain aside while carrying Logan. Emily came back out of another with an iron bound wood box. It was about a foot by a foot in a half, and another foot deep.
“Is that filled with gold!?” I exclaimed. I had to. I wore a pouch of silver around my next and I had about a pure pound of it at home, but the government had bought it for me. Silver might be more expensive than gold sine the vampires appeared, but gold was still at an all time high.
Nathaniel took the box from Emily and tossed it at me. Had I been a regular human catching that would have put me on my butt. Gold is heavy. As it was I grunted and cast a glare at him.
“Open it and see for yourself, but follow me as you do.” He turned and headed in to where they had carried Logan. I did.
The box was filled with gold dust, packed and shaken. It was an insane amount of money. Why did it always have to be so expensive? Why couldn’t it be something simple for once? You know, wood burns and glass heals or something like that. Would make all of the un-rich ones happy.
I followed the two vamps. There were four coffins in the room, each spaced precisely apart. There was a large freestanding wardrobe in one corner.
Logan had been dressed in pants, his chest bare, and laid in a mahogany coffin wit a plush cream interior. A white, lacy shirt was resting on the open lid of the coffin. His pale blonde hair had been combed out of his face. If you didn’t look at the gapping wound in his chest he looked in quiet repose. If he was lucky he was fully unconscious and as still internally as he seemed. Not all vampires went truly unconscious in such a state.
Nathaniel opened the box while I still held it. He scooped out a double handful and let it trickle through his fingers and spill into Logan’s chest.
“When do we know if it works?” I asked. He turned to look at me with the slightest hint of anger in his eyes. The last of the gold ran through his fingers.
“Why are you trying to save this man?” He asked.
“He may have seen who or what did this, and why.”
“Is that all?” Anger did ride his voice then, and I knew he was allowing me to hear it on purpose. I thought for a moment, was it? No, I supposed not.
“I might not like you guys, but I’m not someone who shoots vampires on site. I’d shed no personal tears over Logan’s death. But I’d never leave someone like that if they were alive. He might be conscious right?”
“It’s a possibility.” Nathaniel replied.
“I wouldn’t wish that on the foulest murderer, conscious but helpless, in pan, and with the rest of time in front of you? He’s probably done something worth killing in the past. And if I ever catch him at something I’ll kill him, but I’ll take his head and his heart.” I said. It was a suitable explanation I thought.
“I’ve known Logan for most of his life. I’ll be the first at his coffin tomorrow as soon as the sun falls. We’ll know then. We must feed him now.” He motioned to me, and I realized I was still wearing the backpack.
That made me a bit angry. I was carrying the backpack and the box of gold while three human servants and three vampires stood and watched me. I pushed the lid on the box closed with my chin and head it click closed. I thought about tossing it to one of the human servants. But unless one of them was a lot stronger than they looked it would knock them flat. They were all slender females, pale and anemic looking. Constantly feeding vampire can do that to some people.
In comparison to the stories vampire didn’t really drink all that much. A healthy male vampire of normal build would gorge themselves on a full pint. It varied in proportion to size and females drank a little less. Most vampires were satisfied with a little over half a pint. At least the cordial ones that wooed the college students.
Some people could loose that much blood every night and be fine. Some people put themselves into the hospital trying. Sometimes people were unlucky or the vampire drank a little too much or a little too fast and they went into shock and died. With being a vampire host a very in thing right now nearly all the cases sirens were called to were where someone had gone into shock.
If they survived it was up to them to press charges. If they died it didn’t matter. Some people argued that it wasn’t murder if a willing bite victim went into shock and died. In some cases I almost agreed with them. But for right now it was still a death sentence.
That kind of blood intake, however, was for a healthy vampire. A wounded one needed much more.
A healthy vampire took in blood much like a human took in food. Into the stomach and nutrients absorbed through the ling of the stomach and intestines. Some of it was diverted to refresh their blood, but most of it just went to bolster the nutrients to the blood. And yes, a healthy vampire went to the bathroom. Not as much as a human, but they still needed to flush waste form their system, absorbed blood simply didn’t have as much waste as normal food.
It was when a vampire was wounded that things changed. Blood still went into the stomach, but it didn’t absorb slowly, instead veins from the stomach to the heart opened up and pushed any blood drank directly to the heart.
A wounded vampire would bleed when they fed. Their bodies forced the spent blood from their bodies as the life-giving fresh blood entered. At best it was s ghastly sight. It would last as long as it took the vampire to heal.
Their bodies could heal like quicksilver, but they still needed all the nutrients a human did to do it. Which meant their systems would flush out the old blood until they healed. And they’d need new blood to replace it.
I looked down at Logan. We had four humans and a backpack of blood to fill his body and stomach with blood. But his body wouldn’t bleed out and heal, not right now, not like this. Even if we did fill him.
“He’s still going to wake up rogue.” I said.
“I’m Lord Vampire and his master. I can control him Mademoiselle.”
“You better have a cow waiting down here for him.” I told him. Nathaniel laughed.
“I’m not going through all this trouble and expenses to heal Logan just to have him killed by sirens because he went on a bloodbath. If we gorge him he’ll be healed enough to be sane, which means I will be able to control him.”
“You want me to drop a cow off tomorrow?” I asked. Nathaniel made a growl in the back of his throat. Vampires were good at that noise, it raised the hair on even my neck, so bestial and animalistic.
“Mademoiselle La’Croix, I will handle this. Now give me that backpack.” His voice had a hint of growling power.
I ignored the threat and the prick of power along my skin. A normal human probably would have been terrified. I knew he was expending energy just to make me feel it. I handed him the backpack after I set down the chest.
Nathaniel opened it up and snagged a bottle. The blood had cooled and poured thickly into Logan’s open mouth. For some reason I didn’t think Logan would mind the taste.
We all stood silently as Nathaniel emptied the contents of the bottles into Logan. He had to stroke Logan’s throat to get it to open up, after that it seemed to drain directly into his stomach. I knew it would take awhile for the blood to seep into his stomach, for the right nerves to be triggered. The third bottle was nearly empty before the first trickle of blood stained the gold dust, pumped in a slow, steady motion from a large vein with a frayed end where it had been cut.
When the backpack was empty one of the servants stepped forward and held out an arm. Nathaniel’s nails extended, elongating until they were almost claw like. Most vampires could grow their nails at will, from human like to knife sharp claws. Nathaniel’s were cat like, curved and slender. They looked odd coming out of hands, but his first knuckles had cocked back to allow it. His hands looked feral.
The quick slash left a three two inch cuts across the woman’s forearm. She made s light gasp, but let the blood drip into Logan’s mouth. Personally I’d have thought a knife more fitting, but I knew that his claw marks would heal quicker and cleaner than a knife. It wasn’t quiet as quick and certain as a bite, but it wasn’t really that far from it.
By the time the third servant had been bleed the chest cavity had filled with blood that moved sluggishly even as we watched. It slipped around the gold and seemed to writhe, like it was solid when it touched the gold instead of liquid.
“Is it supposed to do that?” I asked. Nathaniel frowned slightly.
“It can happen. It depends on a lot of things.” He held up his feral hand. “Your turn.”
“I’ll use my knife.” I told him.
“My claws will heal faster.” He looked at me in curiosity. He knew I only had silver blades. I sighed and held and out my hand; I was just being squeamish.
My blood hit his mouth and he twitched. Before I could remark on it the top layer of blood in his chest rolled over the edges of the wound, black and thick. He was healing. We all spent one startled moment looking at the chest wound, blood dripping out to run down his skin as quickly as my blood entered his mouth.
“Mademoiselle do not move your arm.” Nathaniel’s voice was low, steady, a breathy whisper. It sounded soothing even to me.
“Nathaniel, what’s going on? He’s not supposed to be doing this.”
“I misjudged. I’ll explain later, but it is imperative that you continue feeding him. Do not remove his source of blood.” His voice was very serious. I didn’t know what was going on, but I had a feeling trusting Nathaniel was my best bet.
He was losing more blood than he was taking in now. His body looked gaunt and haggard, but the hole in his chest was closing. Skin literally congealed around the pulsing blood that had been solidified by the gold.
“Nathaniel.” My voice was strained. My flow of blood was slowing. If the heart was re-growing itself it was hid behind a dark veil of half formed muscle and spent blood. Logan’s features were nearly skeletal, his body drawing any reserve it had to heal; there simply was not enough blood.
Logan’s hand snaked out of the coffin so fast that everyone but Nathaniel gave a startle gasp. Mine was closer to a scream as that nearly skeletal hand clamped around my forearm.
His grip was still weak by vampire standards, but I’d have bruises tomorrow. I was going for my flashlight when his other hand grabbed my wrist. He jerked my arm to his face so fast I fell to my knees.
His bite wasn’t that neat, sharp stab like two knives that most bites had. Instead he tore at my flesh and I screamed as his teeth rent into the cut and then clamped over it. He was sucking hard enough to put me in shock within minutes.
Blood poured over the skin of his chest. I forgot the flashlight and went for my gun. Head and heart, I wouldn’t die for Logan. Nathaniel grabbed my arm in a vice grip.
“Let him feed Dawn. You’re far too strong of a half-breed to die from shock. If you take away his food now he might wake for real. He isn’t healed enough for me to control him yet.”
“Let go of me.” I gasped, tugging as hard as I could. It was no use; even a half-breed isn’t as strong as a vampire. Even Logan’s ‘weak’ grip held me irrevocably. I’d have more luck ripping my arm from its own socket than from either of their grips.
My head had begun to swim; my legs tingled painfully. Was Nathaniel right, or would the shock of this much blood loss this quickly kill me. I guess I was going to find out.
“Nathaniel.” It was a plea this time.
“I won’t let him kill you Mademoiselle.” His voice was low and comforting. He reached his free hand out and stoked my hair away from my face. I was so frightened I didn’t try to stop that seeping power I felt with his touch. It felt good, comforting. My breathing slowed a bit.
Logan’s eyes snapped open. They were so blood shot they looked like he was crying blood. Maybe he was.
My vision stated to dance. Someone said something, but it came as if through water, and I couldn’t understand it.
Power flowed over me, a crashing wave. No, not over me, over Logan. I saw his blood red eyes close. His grip on my arm slackened. I pulled it away and pressed the wound to my body. Nathaniel released my other hand and my gun slipped out. Lot of good that did now.
I fell over backwards on the floor. My vision danced black around the edges and my head swam. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, too loud, too fast. My body was unresponsive. But it had stopped, no more blood seeped from my body.
I was laid down on one of the couches. I didn’t remember being carried. Something cool was on my lips. Sweet, thin. Apple juice. I gulped at it. Too fast. The glass was pulled away as I was reduced to a ragged coughing fit.
“It’s alright Mademoiselle. Drink slowly.” The cup was back and my visions began to clear. Nathaniel knelt on the floor near me. It was he who held the glass. A cool hand stroked my hair. My head was slowing its spinning. My body was starting to come back.
I groaned. It came out like a whimper. My arm hurt. My arm definitely hurt.
“Oh you blood sucking bastard!” I said with a gasp. I had meant to say more but it came out a low moan instead. My whole body felt like it had fallen asleep, pins and needles stabbing from head to toe. My arm was a sharper, deeper stab of pain. I rolled over and threw up.
Nathaniel had been prepared for the inevitable. A ceramic pot sat beside the couch. Pity. Would have served him right to have me throw up all over him. Instead he held back my long curly red hair while my stomach emptied itself of everything I had eaten recently, mainly the apple juice. Even worse he stroked my hair and made comforting noises in French as I stayed hunched over the side of the couch and cried. All the nerves, shock, and emotions that my stomach couldn’t empty my system of drained out.
I wasn’t too fond of crying. But it happened sometimes. While I’d had colleagues tease me about my inclination to tears, even Eric had joked about it once or twice in good humor, as well as my peers in general, I’d never had a vampire give me a hard time. I had cried a lot when I was younger. A 10 year old who looks 20, and a 13 year old who looks 20 and is a freshman in college, can get into situations that are above them emotionally. At least, that’s how my mother used to comfort me. She reminded me that regular kids my age, not my appearance, cried as much as I did. Of course, since I now looked my age I don’t suppose that was good excuse anymore. But with the Lord Vampire all but holding my head I didn’t want to think about why I was crying; I just wanted to stop.
I pushed away from him and into a sitting position. Spears of pain laced up my arm. If I hadn’t bee leaned into the end of the couch, propped neatly between the armrest and the backrest, I’d have fallen over.
My hands ached to draw a weapon. My gun or the flashlight came to mind. But they were shaking so bad I didn’t dare. Finally, I regained enough of myself to be angry.
“I could kill you for that stunt.” I growled.
“Is she talking about me or you?”
I spun my head about to face the voice. Too fast, everything danced again. I made a mental note. No death threats when you are too weak to turn your head. A gasp escaped my throat.
Logan was sitting in one of the chairs behind and to the right of me. His blonde hair spilled practically in front of his blue eyes. He’d put a shirt on, a silver shirt with bright blue embroidery. It made his eyes shine like sapphires. His face was still gaunt looking, pale. I could smell his hunger from across the room. With a start I realized I could smell Nathaniel’s as well. They both seemed, eager.
“Both of you!” I finally said. “You aren’t supposed to be awake.” I pointed a shaking finger at Logan.
“Remember how I told you I had never tasted half-breed blood before Mademoiselle? It is strong. The sip I had this evening was more like drinking from nothing human, a faerie maybe.” Nathaniel’s voice seemed almost heady, and I knew we was telling the truth. Blast, no wonder it was always me the vampires picked over Eric to collect payment for services from.
“Tonight was entirely my fault Dawn. I had not counted on how quickly Logan’s body had shut down. His heart was taken first, some time before his blood was drained. He might have awakened before dawn even if your blood had been purely human. As it was.” He shrugged his shoulders. “As I said it was my fault Mademoiselle. He healed much faster than I thought. Quick enough to wake while the scent of blood was still near. Your fortitude saved the night Mademoiselle. Had he lost that he would have woken truly frenzied. Three humans and two vampires would not have survived. Perhaps four humans.” He didn’t mention that he had kept me from drawing my gun. The look he gave me told me he had left it out on purpose. Maybe Logan didn’t know. Maybe Nathaniel didn’t want to tell him.
I let the omission stand. Heck, I’d long enough dignity vomiting and crying. Maybe if we ignored my hysterics earlier it would give me a little of it back.
“Is that why you are awake?” I asked. Logan nodded. I could feel his power flittering at the edges of my mind. I could smell his hunger, his need so strongly it was difficult to not hug myself. His power fluttered around, oh for the love of, he’d actually bit me. “Stay out of my mind.” I told him firmly.
“I have not looked Sarah.” He was the only vampire I knew that called me Sarah without prompting.
“I can feel you.”
“I can not help the flares of power. I can still taste you.” His eyes closed briefly. “I can still smell you.” He shuddered. “I’m so hungry.” His voice sounded broken, like he had barely gotten the words out.
“Control yourself Logan.” Nathaniel told him.
“He needs to eat doesn’t he?” I asked softly. Nathaniel nodded.
“The girls went to find him something. Although it’s likely to be animal.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.” Logan said.
“Are you here?” I asked. Feeling the fleeting touches of his power was making me testy.
“Do not provoke him Mademoiselle.” His voice was calm.
“I’m here.” Logan said. His rose and came to sit on the couch.
“Perhaps it is not the best idea for you to closer to her.” Nathaniel suggested.
“The smell of her is driving me crazy.” He went to pick up my cradled arm. I pulled away from him. “I’ll just clean the wound.” His voice sounded almost desperate. “I promise.” Getting bitten wasn’t always a one-way street. I could feel his emotions thrum through me. Could feel his need pull at me. I struggled to fight it.
“I’ll clean it.” I told him, swinging my legs over the couch.
“And waste even a drop of that blood?” His want tugged at me.
“I don’t think I trust you just now Logan.” I looked about. Nathaniel and Logan were the only other people in the room. “Nathaniel, can you help me to a bathroom so I can clean up.” I didn’t like asking, but I didn’t think I could walk by myself. Nathaniel scooped me up in his arms. I made an awkward squawk. I hadn’t expected him to pick me up completely. Logan leaned back on the couch, one skeletal hand cradling his face.
“Yes.” He said quietly. “Take her away. I don’t want to hurt her.” His voice quavered.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked once Nathaniel had set me down in the small bathroom.
“Do not blame him Mademoiselle. The scent of your blood pulls at me, and I am healthy.”
“But hungry.” I said. He nodded, glancing at my bloody arm. I could tell what he was thinking. I shook my head and turned on the sink. “I can’t loose any more blood and still be functional Nathaniel.” He glanced at the running water. I ignored him and trust my arm under it. “And I haven’t let a vampire clean a wound since I was seven.”
“Pity.” He said, but he didn’t ask. His green eyes watched me tend myself. I could see him in the mirror.
The wound wasn’t very neat. Only the fact that it was from a vampire would heal it quickly without scaring. Washing the blood gently from the wound I wasn’t even sure of that. This might scare. Lovely. Even the attack I had suffered hadn’t left me with scars. Oh, I had some nice ones, but they weren’t from vampires.
I had a jagged one on the back of my neck from a glass bottle. A stab wound low on my right side, just above my hip. Several small scars on my back from broken window glass as well. And a pure white scar on my left shin that looks like something smashed against my skin. Bones going through skin have a tendency of making interesting scars.
I had a few other minor ones. Those were the major ones though. They had all occurred on the same night. A group of juniors and seniors at the first college I attended found out I was a half-breed. They decided I was an abomination and attacked me. More of a monster than a vampire because I could pass as human, it had been a fairly vicious attack. The doctors had been surprised I got through it as easily as I did. I’d been in the hospital for close to two months. Wore a cast several months longer.
“Do you have anything to bandage it with?” I asked. Nathaniel motioned to the mirror. I found gauze and bandages in the medicine cabinet. It was a little awkward bandaging it with one hand. Nathaniel didn’t offer help, and I didn’t ask for it.
When we went back out the servants, Alex, and Emily were there. One carcass of a dog was already on the floor. Logan held another one in his arm, feeding. The dog was quiet, unmoving. Either because he was already unconscious or simply put under by one of the vamps. Logan had taken off his nice shirt so to not get blood on it. It lay on the couch next to him. His chest seemed almost healed, although it was difficult to tell since it seeped used blood. Two more dogs waited on rope leases by the door.
“Where’d you get the dogs?” I asked.
“The pound.” One of the servants said. I sighed. I didn’t have to like it, but it was legal. The pound would give away any dog scheduled for termination to any vamp who asked. The city did it for two reasons. Theoretically it gave the vampires an alternate food source and it cut down on the expense of putting the dogs to sleep.
Most vampires wouldn’t eat a dog when they had access to willing college students. Occasionally someone picked one up. The vampires I knew of that did it were those without regular hosts that came up empty for a night. They preferred dog blood to possible legal entanglements from hypnotizing someone who didn’t really want to be bit.
With the only one exception, every vampire I knew disliked the taste of animal blood. How bad it tasted seemed to go in a high archy. Vampires would only eat mammals, period. The more intelligent the animal the better they liked the taste.
There were a couple different theories on that. The one I put the most stock in was the more intelligent animals were more complex, which meant more of a variety of hormones to spice the blood. It didn’t cover all the bases, but more than some of the other theories.
In a morbid way I admired Logan’s ability to accept inferior food when warm bodies stood around him. I hoped I had used enough soap on my hands and around the wound that it was the predominate smell about me, not blood.
Logan let eh second dog drop. Emily brought over a third. The dog looked like a German Shepard mutt and had turned looking nearly asleep eyes to the room. Good, one of the vamps was taking the power to calm the animals. I approved of that.
Logan spread the hair from the dog’s throat and bit him. The dog’s body slowly grew limp. He didn’t struggle or freak out. In fact he curled his body around Logan’s and wagged his tail.
The wound in Logan’s chest stopped seeping blood. By the time the dog’s tail had stopped wagging his face had the barest of flushes that full vampires got. He sat the dog on the floor, and I could see that it was still breathing, shallow and slow.
Someone brought a towel and Logan wiped his chest. He snagged his shirt from the couch and rose to meet me.
“Sarah, let me drive you home.” He said. Logan looked healthy and flushed. I felt half asleep and grouchy. It was past three.
“No thank you.”
“Mademoiselle, you can not drive yourself, and your own word prevents you from calling someone to you. Logan has an unnatural obsession with the last few centuries. He drives perfectly fine.”
“I know he drives Nathaniel. I’ve been in a car with him before.” I grumbled. I didn’t want to be close to Logan. I could feel his power flittering around the edges of my mind. I shot him a glance just short of a glare. “Stop touches my mind.” He actually looked sheepish. I don’t think I’d ever seen a vampire look sheepish before.
“I’m sorry Sarah. I really am trying. I haven’t looked yet and I won’t. You’ve known me for years. You can trust my word.”
Truth was, looking right at him; I knew he was telling the truth. This night was never going to end. I wondered if I could get Eric to approve me for time and a half for this night. I certainly deserved it. I didn’t really think I was going to get it however. I didn’t get overtime pay; I only got extra pay for ‘extenuating circumstances’. Giving blood ‘when dictated or required’ was part of my job description. Which meant unless Eric was feeling generous. I sighed.
“Are you feeling up to answering questions about your attempted murder?” I asked. He nodded. “Alright, then you can drive me home.” Besides, I could be halfway around the world right now and he’d have the same access to my mind. Out of sight out of mind didn’t work with a vampire bite. I’d have to spend some time in the sunshine today. With someone as old as Logan it probably wouldn’t make a difference, but I could always hope.
“I heard about your mother Sarah, I’m sorry.” It was the first thing he said when we got out to the ambulance.
“What? Was it posted on some vampire hotline or something?” I asked irritably. I wasn’t really expecting an answer but he nodded.
“Kind of. Maybe if you’d kept it out of the papers in New Paris you could have kept it a secret for a while.”
“I tried. They said since she was legally married the paper had to run a death notice unless the husband waived it.” I shook my head. “I know they never formally divorced, but after not being around for 18 years I didn’t think anyone would think them still married.”
“It was so the husband might have some chance of hearing about the death, since you had no way of contacting him.”
“I understand the reasoning, Logan, but after 18 years.”
“Did you get the last effects?”
“Logan, you are probably the friendliest vampire I have know, but my personal affairs, despite what the vampire community may think, are none of your business.”
“What do you know about your father?”
“Logan.” I gave him a warning glance. He was driving but he probably saw it anyway.
“I’m serious, tell me.”
“I let you drive me home so I could ask you if you know anything about your attacker.”
“I wish I had something to tell you.”
“Well what happened this night?”
“I was at Bonny’s talking to some of my college girls. They all had exams tomorrow so they said they had to leave early. I was just about to go to a private table with tow of them when a nice looking young man came up and offered them drinks. I don’t sleep with my girls, we’re just friends. It was only about half and hour after dusk, so I was pretty sure I could find some other willing host.”
“Did you recognize the young man?”
“No, but I recognized his description, Amanda had been flirting with him lately. All the girl’s have been able to talk about was him. I thought it fairly rude of him to interrupt us, but I wasn’t going to risk my friendship with the girls just to get back at him.”
“Of course.” I said. I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, but I couldn’t imagine it happening just as he said for the reasons he said. And I was too tired to know when it was good for me to keep my mouth shut. He glared at me, and I could feel anger flicker across my mind, his anger.
“Believe what you wish Sarah, but I’ve never forced so much as a kiss out of a woman.”
“You’re telling me that in over 600 years you’ve never bitten someone against their will? Never bespelled anyone to get your way with them?” I asked him, this time I let the sarcasm show in my voice.
Logan didn’t answer, and I thought that gave me my answer. Then he pulled the ambulance over to the side of the empty road. I was about to say something, but he held up his hand.
“Look me in the eye Sarah, so you can know the truth of what I say.” His voice was serious. Logan could have bespelled me, but even with the extra strength of a bite against me he couldn’t do it without some sort of warning. Enough to look away. I met his eyes. “Sarah, in 614 years I have taken blood from an unwilling host three times. The night I first hunted, the night after Seattle was carpet bombed, and tonight when I bit you. I am sorry Sarah.” He put is hand out to gently touch my face.
“You’re lying.” My voice came out a breathy whisper.
“You know I’m not.” He said. He was right. I was staring directly into his blue eyes. Anything but the absolute truth and I would have known. But I still didn’t believe it. He was telling the truth , no omissions and no partial truths.
“You really never have.” I said. There wasn’t anything I could say to that. How did you respond when the monsters could prove they were civilized?
I knew there were good faeries and bad faeries, seelie and unseelie, but even the seelie ones could do things that seemed cruel simply because they looked at things differently than humans. They went into the monster category person by person.
I’d yet to meet a lycanthrope that had been turned willingly. Most places considered them citizens with the same rights as humans. I wasn’t the lycanthrope expert Eric was, but I’d never head or seen anything that places lycanthropes as a whole as monsters. I agreed that as a lot they were very violent, and there were whole battalions in nearly every army in the world made up purely of lycanthropes. I was wary around them, but little else. Legally they were considered non-humans with human rights in most places. Most of the intellectual and medical community considered them human. People with a disease that most scientists still thought they could cure, eventually.
But vampires? Most of them may have been human once, but no longer. They feed and torture and kill. A vampire was worse than an unseelie faerie. They were simply evil. But wasn’t what made them monsters what they did? What every vampire did? Here was one that never fed from an unwilling human. I had met one before who preferred the taste of pigs blood to human’s blood. On the other hand he had been horribly sadistic. He kept human servants, closer to slaves, and was horrible to them. Was there some part of Logan that made him as much of a classic vampire monster as the next?
“Have you invaded someone’s mind before?” I asked. With his touch still pressing on my mind it was the first thing that came to my lips. He dropped his hand away from my face and chuckled lowly. More of sigh than a true laugh.
“There was a time when that was considered part of feeding.” He told me. “Anyone who agreed to being bitten knew we would know them utterly.” Something akin to a poignant smile played across his lips. “It made feeding different. Particularly the first time. Vampires gave that up when we went ‘mainstream’ now it’s so rarely done. But it was a lot to give up. It never tastes the same without the rush of memories. Every vampire likes certain tastes, fear, desire, safety, but it still lacks without the memories.”
“Lucky me that you were able to contain yourself when you bit me.” I was a bit on the testy side, I admitted that, but even if I hadn’t been I would have been a little unsettled by what he said. He didn’t say anything back. I think he knew how tired I was. I sighed and ignored it. I’d ignore the whole conversation if I could.
“What happened after the girls left?” I asked. Logan sighed and headed back down the road again.
“I went looking about. Met a girl I hadn’t seen before. She seemed pretty receptive. In half an hour we had gotten a private booth at the back of the bar. I bit her and she tasted, odd. The next thing I remember is the taste of your blood.” He shuddered. “And the pain.” He added.
“Great.” I sighed.
“At least you know whoever it was head a vampire in it.” He said. I didn’t correct him. There were two things that could drop a vamp of his age like that and still leave the human up and about. The one he was referring to was a belly full of vampire blood, or just some injected into your veins. Drink a cup of vampire blood, or inject a syringe of it and any vampire who drank from you, provided he wasn’t where you got the blood, and he wasn’t going to be awake anytime soon.
There was another way. A drug cocktail developed by the FBI-NH a short five years ago. But as far as we knew only the FBI had knowledge of it. I certainly wasn’t going to tell a vamp about it. I nodded; it was likely true anyway.
“Do you have a particular connection with the faerie community in whole or Elise Calle’ in particular?”
“I had dealings with them on the level of most vampires. There aren’t very many around here so yeah, I know Elise. What’s that have to do with this?”
“You’re, murder scene, wasn’t just your own. We’ve got an unidentified human, not your girl since she had no bite marks, and Elise was there as well.
“Is she dead?”
“I don’t know. Eric took her to the faerie community to see. It’s a long shot, but possible.”
“Something is bothering you.”
“Remember I can tell if you are lying. IS there any reason you can think of that you or the vampire community as a whole would face danger from me or that I have something to fear from you or the vampire community as a whole?” I asked. He thought for a moment.
“Nothing out of the ordinary.” He said.
“Specify ordinary.” I prompted.
“Well, your mother is dead. A lot of vampires are going to want you t embrace this side of your family more. Not all of them may be as civil about it as others.”
“Is that all?”
“Normal legal stuff, you are a siren. Any vampire that isn’t at least a little on guard around you is a fool.”
“Yourself included?”
“Sarah, you were right earlier. You could kill me and get paid for it after what I did to you.” He reached hesitantly over and touched the dressings on my left forearm. At least it was on my left arm.
“Yeah, I could. Help me out with this mess and stay out of my mind, and I wont even put it in the records.” I could feel his relief rush over me.
“I will.” He smiled briefly. “I may be technically healed, but it will take some time for me to be fully refreshed. Expose the wound to sunlight today. Normally I’d still have you for another night. But I don’t know that I’d be strong enough to hold on without a struggle. I won’t struggle, I’ll let the bond go.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you have any other questions for me?”
“Would you recognize the woman if we find her?”
“Of course.”
“Nothing else right now then, but keep yourself available.” It sounded like the end of a conversation. Thanks, bye, see you later. But if he was taking me home we were still over 20 minutes away.
“What do you know about your father?” He asked. I sighed. I’d been hoping he’d forget about that line of questioning. I might as well humor him. It wasn’t like my knowledge, or lack there of, was a secret.
“He was a French vampire and left my mother and I when I was two.”
“You have no memory of him?”
“I was two Logan.”
“And you were fully mature at ten.” He pointed out. I shook my head.
“My rapid maturing didn’t star until I was about three in a half. I was a little ahead of things before that, but not much.”
“Was there anything in your mother’s things that pertained to him?”
“Logan, why are you asking me these things?”
“Just answer the question please.”
“You going to explain yourself afterwards?” I asked. He nodded. “Very well, among my mother things no. But there was a letter found on my mother’s casket on the morning of her funeral, parchment with a black silk cord and a red seal of wax. It was addressed to Miss Dawn La’Croix.”
“Since we are having this conversation I take it you haven’t opened it.”
“No, I didn’t. Although how you would know any of this.” I left it hanging.
“Read the letter Sarah. Then I think I’ll be hearing from you.”
“Logan.”
“No, just read it.” He fell silent, that vampire stillness washing visibly over him. I didn’t much like that being the end of the conversation but I knew that look. No body could be as stubborn as a vampire, with the possible exception of a very old faerie. Logan wasn’t saying another word. Great, just great. Now I was going to have to read the blasted letter. Or at least open it.
Chapter Three

I broke the seal. The letter was addressed to Dawn. No dear, beloved, miss, mademoiselle, or anything of the sort, just ‘Dawn’. It was done in a flowing, spidery script that looked old. I would have bet a weeks salary it had been done with a quill, or at the very least a calligraphy nibbed pen.
I will not blame you if this letter is small comfort, or is even wished. Let me begin by telling you that I am deeply grieved to learn of your mother’s death. Understand something. Your mother did not marry something she thought a monster. Nor did your father abandon you and her. You may believe it or not but I have no reason to lie to you.
There is some money for you, a legacy from your mother and father. It is in the care of one of your father’s old friends. If my information is correct them you know him as the vampire Logan.
Take this message with you as credence to your claim. It will not make up for the years you spent without a father but perhaps it will ease your life now.
It was signed with a flourish and it took me a few moments to read the name as Shamus. I let the letter drop to the table and put a hand to my head. I didn’t need this right now.
Of course I had two options. I could take the letter to Logan tonight. Or I could just ignore it. I didn’t know whom ‘Shamus’ was, and the letter didn’t come out and say whom it was. Someone who knew my mother and father, or a hoax, some vampire practical joke. Or, maybe it was my father. My father, though, was supposed to be French. I’m pretty sure Shamus didn’t have a French origin, in any century. I didn’t need this.
Literally, I didn’t. The government had paid off all my student loans; there hadn’t been that many to begin with. My mother had always been just shy of rich, and she had put me through most of my college. Plus, I was in line as my mother’s sole heir, as soon as the lawyers got done arguing with France and the US as to how much tax was due which country. The state paid the rent on my apartment; it was nice enough for me not to go searching on my own. They had furnished my car and I had a government credit card for my gas.
My expenditures consisted of a monthly payment for an entertainment center I had bought a few months ago, my utilities, and my grocery bill. Fruit didn’t cost that much. Since most of my clothes were ruined during the job I also had a clothing allowance. It was pretty flexible. Anything I used as a weapon, even if it wasn’t state issued, I got automatic approval for funds to purchase it.
In addition to that I’d earn about 2,400 a month, give or take a hundred dollars or so, and that was after taxes. Most people thought it was a pretty slick deal. Thought that I was gouging Uncle Sam, particular when they saw my lovely weapons collection. When I thought about all the duties my job required me to do I felt like I was the one getting bent over most of the time. Like last night. And addressing the city council this morning hadn’t been in my list of fun job experiences. Add to that frequent 18-hour plus shifts and I don’t care how much I make, it’s still a joke.
Now they ‘weren’t sure’ when my next night off would be. For me to have a night off meant the vampires would have a night off. Lovely. The point, however, was I didn’t’ really need the money. I also didn’t need a connection to my long lost father. Closer to reality was that I didn’t want one. Yeah, maybe if I repeated that enough I’d be able to toss the letter before I saw Logan next.
I looked at the clock. It was ten to five. I’d actually had the afternoon off. After leaving the city council meeting at 10:30 I had office duties until 2, then I got to come home. I turned in for a two-hour nap at 2:30. I had three hours until I had to be on patrol. Patrol was about the only thing a siren did that we weren’t underpaid for.
Patrol consisted of wandering around the popular vampire hangouts, bars, clubs, and college functions and letting all the fanged know we were watching. Since every non-human in the city knew Eric and I by sight we were encouraged to dress for the environment so we didn’t scare away regular people or business in general. It gave me a great deal of license on what was considered into my clothing allowance and what I could classify as protection or weaponry.
It also meant that Eric had the possibility of picking up girls, and I could bring what few friends I had. Of course any non-sirens would have to leave if we ran into problems or were called to a problem elsewhere. Those types of problems weren’t nearly as common as one would think. All the accidental shock victims are taken care of by the police unless the victim died or wanted to press charges. That only happened once a month or so, mostly Eric and I did busy work to keep stuff like that from happening.
So I had three hours before I needed to be patrolling, and a problem that definitely needed another voice. I frowned at the letter again and headed to my phone.
I stared at the list of numbers above the cordless phone. The phone was practically an antique these days, but if I wanted to talk to someone face-to-face I could call them from my computer. The list wasn’t very long, and I had them all memorized anyway. I kept the list so others would know whom to contact in case I was in trouble, hut, or dead.
Who did I want to call? Tony? Normally I’d have said yes but the last time we’d hung out he’d been acting like he was trying to get the nerve up to ask me out. Didn’t need that right now. Alexander was next on the list, maybe, but I felt like female company for once.
My eyes skipped to the bottom of the list. Allana and Alalese, a set of twins, but we were mainly shopping buddies. The last name on the list was Shauna. That her name was the last on the list surprised everyone but she and I. I’d simply had her number memorized for so long that I hadn’t thought of putting it on the list until someone had asked why it wasn’t there.
I had met Shauna on the first day of classes at my second college. The sever beating had made me leave the first one. I had been fourteen and had come in as a sophomore. She had been twenty, a sophomore. It had been six months before I told her how old I was, and another six months before I told her my ‘secret’. The fact that I was a half-breed had been much more of a secret before the city had made an issue of it when they got me as a siren. They thought it would be comforting for the public to know they had someone so qualified to protect them.
It had backfired, like I said it would, but only in the really extreme groups. They had been right, the majority of the populace had been happy. Of course they had to relocate me five times to keep me safe and stop the hate mail from the extremist groups.
I dialed Shauna’s number. She picked up on the third ring.
“Hi Sarah.” Caller i.d. was a good thing. “What’s up?”
“Hi Shauna, you busy tonight?” Shauna was 27, single, and doing her doctorate work in ancient history. She wanted to be a teacher at a university. There were several that wanted her.
“Kind of. Have some papers I need to grade, but it won’t take me long. You on patrol tonight?”
“Yeah, but I was hoping to see you before then.” I told her.
“Any rule where you got to be tonight?”
“Nope.”
“Well get dressed and head over. By the time you get here I should have enough done to justify saving the rest for later. There aren’t as many clubs over here as in the college district but there is a bar or two. Maybe showing up unexpected places will give you some bonus points.” I could hear her smile over the phone. Actually Shauna disliked what I did for a living. But she was okay with the wondering around while I scared the vampires. It was the polite interaction that I had with them that she disliked. Shauna had a silver knife and wore it. She’s had to get a concealed weapons permit for it since the blade was nearly a foot long. She wore it naked at her waist whenever she left the house.
On a lot of people it would have looked stupid. On some, vampires would almost have taken it as a challenge, but Shauna looked like she knew how to use it. She walked with it like she expected it to be there.
I told her I’d be there in about half an hour, and we hung up. Too soon. I remembered my truck was still in the blasted shop after I set the phone down. I called a cab to come pick me up in fifteen, and headed to my bedroom.
The rest of my house was plain, even Spartan. A couch, a coffee table, a dining room table with four chairs, and a big plant in one corner. There were no pictures or posters on the walls. The drapes were the ugly white ones that had come with the apartment. That was the living room and adjoining kitchen/dining room.
My bedroom was where I had made the place my own. Although the extra room, which I had made into an entertainment center, was definitely mine too. The three rooms looked like they belonged to different people, all my friends except for Shauna agreed on that.
The spare bedroom had the entertainment center in it. The centerpiece was a huge television screen, meant to show people life sized on most shots it took up nearly the entire wall from floor to ceiling. To either side of it were speakers as tall as it was. Other speakers, some little, some tall and skinny, some set into walls and ceiling were scattered about. Professionally installed, state of the art, surround sound. Of course, only movies made for the format got full use of the system, but anything was still good.
Mirrors interspersed with shelves covered two walls. The shelves were filled with old DVDs and newer mini laser disks. There were even a few antique VHS tapes on them. I even had a player for them, but they were part of my antique collection. I wouldn’t have actually watched one. After all these years it probably would have broken the tape if I tried.
Where the mirrors and shelves weren’t were movie posters. Some of them were new, in fact I’d bought one last week, and some of them were behind glass. My oldest was about 125 years old. It had a creepy greenish creature coming after a screaming woman. It read The Creature from the Black Lagoon in faded letters. I’d never seen the movie, and I wasn’t particularly fond of horror flicks. I’d bought it because I’d had a chance to purchase something older than anything else in my collection.
There was a large overstuffed couch against the last wall, opposite the TV. It was dark tan leather with big floppy pillows and throws that spilled all over it to trickle onto the floor. The floor was littered with thick rugs and beanbags. There was a wet bar in one corner, fully stocked with pretty much anything you could want alcoholic or not. I had hung different colored cup holders above the couch. You could reach them if you were slouched down but wouldn’t hit your head even if you were ramrod straight. They folded up out of the way so right now they just looked like colored bulges out of the wall.
The cabinet that held the stereo and different players also held games. Plenty of the DVDs and MLDs on the shelves were music, so the games came in handy. Collecting music and movies was a big hobby of mine. And since I had the money to indulge I had quiet the collection.
My bedroom was completely different. My heritage had left my eyes not only sunlight sensitive but light sensitive in general. There were bulbs in the electric lights, but I had the setting on very low, and rarely turned them on. The late evening sun left only the slightest haze around the bottom edges of the curtains. The thick dark red curtains let even direct full sunlight in as a hazy twilight. It was helpful since I spent more time sleeping during the day then the night.
My bed hung from the ceiling. I had ordered it special made. It was thin, a woven rattan pad with a thin covering to soften it a bit. There was a down covering over that. All together it was still less than six inches thick. I had read silk sheets and a woven blankets in a earthy cream color. The comforter was down filled red silk with a dark brown pattern that looked like a woven reed mat was stitched to the red silk. I thought it was pretty.
It hung from thick metal wire, making it safe for up to 500 pounds, but that had been covered in red silk wrapped in brown velvet. Unless you touched it you’d never know it was twisted wire, which had been the idea.
The floor was covered in reed mats bought from an import shop. They felt good on my feet. The dresser was wicker and had an ivory and mother of pearl mirror set on it. It had come from an antique shop out of necessity more than want, you can’t buy ivory anymore. Wroth iron stands stood around the room, holding thick cream candles. I used the candles more than the lights.
I had hired a very expensive painter to do the walls. Old growth bamboo, rattan, vines and the occasional tropical looking tree trunk covered my walls. Here and there, if you looked, were tigers. Some of them stared at you, some of them stalked towards unseen prey. One nursed two little cubs. One ate, maw and teeth bloody but whatever he was eating hidden behind the flora.
A plethora of birds, butterflies, flowering vines, and a monkeys lent a slightly less dangerous look to the scene. When it was candle lit the room danced with shadows, some of those realistically painted plants were 3D, some extra plaster under the paint lending a very darkly realistic quality to it.
The room unnerved everyone but me. A few people I knew refused to step foot in it, at least without all the lights on. The painter had been worth the money. Wherever you stood in the room you could lock eyes with a tiger. All around the room the walls were lined with stuffed tigers, as in the teddy bear kind. The bed held several too. Some thought that it made the room friendlier. Others thought it made it creepier. The animals ranged from ones you could fit in your pocket to a nearly life sized one that lay curled under the bed.
I collected stuffed animals in general; the ones that weren’t tigers were in the closet and bathroom. I bought at least one a month. My friends said it made me easy to shop for. Give me anything with a tiger on it or a stuffed toy and I’m happy. Sometimes I slept with the ones on my bed, but most of the time they were kicked off the bed ten minutes after I’d lain down. I had a bunch of tiger posters too, but I like the painting better. So right now they were all in a box. I was trying to decide if I wanted them up in the living room or if I’d put them on the ceiling in this room.
The landlord hadn’t been too happy about it. But I had a four-year lease on the place and my employers, all of them, had given me their written agreement that they wouldn’t move my home base of employment for those four years. So I told the landlord I’d repaint the walls before I left to original condition and if he didn’t like it he could take it up with the head of SIRs, since it was actually his name on the lease.
Since at that point in time I’d been moved five times in three months I knew SIRs was not going to move me again, even if they had to calm an angry landlord. As far as I know the landlord had bitten back his objections after that.
I went to the closet and stared at what I had. With fifteen minutes to get dressed I couldn’t afford anything elaborate. Not that I normally dressed elaborately.
I ended up wit ha black tank top with embroidered red poppies and dark green leaves around the bottom. The matching pants were tight and had red poppies on a green vine with darker green leaves along the outside seam line. The tank top hung past my waist enough to hide the gun shoved in at the hip. The pants were tight all the way down and caught with black buttons at my ankle, which meant the silver knife in its sheath was even more visible than it had been last night. It had to be strapped on over the pants.
I wore a pair of slim black slippers that fit my feet like a glove. The pants didn’t have a pocket big enough to shove my wallet into so I had bought a little matching purse, black with a silver chain. Originally the chain had been a pretty little antiquated silver plated thing. I’d replaced it. The only metal I wore was pure silver if I had anything to say about it.
Just touching pure silver would at best give a vamp chemical burn, at least it felt like sandpaper. Silver against broken skin, however, was somewhere between acid and fire. It didn’t heal very well either. It was rarely what killed them, but it could be a good deterrent. If I had to I could snap the chain off the purse and use it as a garrote, or wrap it around my fist. That wasn’t the point though, it wouldn’t come to that. The point was simply to let vampires see that I carried silver, openly and flauntingly. Made them less touchy feely around me.
The flashlight did fit in the little back pocket and it was even covered by the shirt, a fashion bonus. I put on a pair of wide silver bracelets that looked more like lace cut bracers. The matching necklace went around my neck. The pulse of my neck was covered by lacy silver, perfect. I kept meaning to get some stones set in it. The wide jewelry was actually in style right now, although the type that was actually in style had cut outs over the inside of the wrist for bracelets and the side of the neck on necklaces. It left the area most commonly bit accessible. It was being called ‘bitten jewelry’. I looked okay in it, and it gave me some form of protection if I bought the kind without the ‘bite holes’.
The wound on my arm distracted a little. Between the vampire bite and my own quick healing it looked about four or five days old though, so I left it uncovered. It could use the air.
I glanced at myself in the mirror above my dresser as I slipped the pouch of silver in its little black bag over my head. The black made me look pale, big surprise. The silver at my neck and wrists only emphasized it, lending an almost marble tone to my skin as blue veins peeked out close to the surface. Didn’t like that much, made vampires hungry, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. My skin did not tan.
The red of the poppies picked up my hair and made it catch fire. I liked my hair. It was the one truly remarkable feature about me. My eyes were green, but not a very impressive green, just green. I had gotten most of my looks from my mother, who had been mainly Irish. In fact, I didn’t look French at all. I looked Irish.
My beautiful red hair was a frothy mess. I glance at the clock. I had clocks in every room of the house even though I wore a little black and silver watch whenever I was awake. I didn’t have time to do my hair. I slipped into my bathroom to grab a comb.
The person who had designed the layout had been more interested in fitting one last apartment against the uneven corner wall of the building than ease of living in the apartment. The only bathroom access was through the master bedroom. Of course, it was billed as a one-bedroom apartment, with a hobby room. It was illegal to consider a room without a window a ‘bedroom’, but with the population shift and following boom a lot of ‘hobby rooms’ started showing up in one-bedroom apartments. No one really cared much anymore. Public inspectors had more pressing things to deal with, so did local legislation and law enforcement.
It’s kind of amusing when I have parties. Watching closer to drunk than not people walk through my candlelit bedroom to get to the bathroom can be, funny. I’ve had some that weren’t too funny as well. But I didn’t throw that many parties. I think there have been two since I’ve moved in, and I’ve been here for several months.
The bathroom made up for it’s bad placement by being large and luxurious. There was a full sized bathtub and a separate shower. The toilet and shower were discreetly separated by one of the showers two solid walls. It was perfectly decent to use the toilet while someone else was in the shower. Hadn’t come in handy yet, but I’m sure it would someday.
The other two sides of the shower were clear glass. I guess whoever had designed it thought the two solid walls were more than enough covering. I’d hung a shower curtain with, yep, bamboo and tigers on it.
There was a tub against the far wall, but it was raised slightly. If you came into the bathroom and someone was in the tub you’d only see their head, a little bit more indecent if they were sitting straight up. I wasn’t sure why the bathroom in a one-bedroom apartment had been made so discreet, but I liked it.
A long counter ran down the other side. It had two large sinks and mirrors with cabinets behind them. There were cupboards under the counter too. And I’d put up shelves on what wall there was near the door.
What counter top that didn’t have hygiene things on it had stuffed animals. So did the shelves I had installed. Since I’d never actually seen anyone enter a tub from the front or back, just the side, there were most stuffed animals on the floor there as well.
I snagged a comb from the counter top and slipped it in my purse. A black hair band with little red sparkles on it went around my wrist.
I tool another glance at myself. The gun bulged a little under the shirt. I took it out of my waistband and tried the purse. Nope, now I could feel where it should have pressed into me, and it made a large bulge in the too small purse. I put it back and hurried out. I’d comb through my hair in the cab. I had to turn back at the door to snag the letter off the table.
The cabdriver glared at me sullenly from the rearview mirror for most of the way over. It wasn’t like I was intentionally shedding in his car. Besides, I tried to catch all the curly red hair that came off the comb.
Doing anything past a ponytail with my hair in a moving car was beyond me. Even not in a moving car anything but a braid was normally beyond me. My girlfriends could do amazing things with my hair, so could a stylist. Having a full head of long red hair to play with when I wanted to dress up was more than a reason to keep it long. But the real reason was that I was too lazy and busy to have short hair. People with short hair rarely understood that line of logic. But longhaired people did.
Unless I wanted it boyishly short, I’d still have to comb it just as much as I did now. Hair got dirty from the roots down. With long hair I could just pile the curly mass on top of my head to hide greasy roots, if I didn’t have time for the shower. Lastly long hair grew to long hair, no big problem there. Short hair had to be cut to keep it short. I haven’t had a hair cut in close to four years. I know, I know, split ends, but it was so curly it didn’t really matter if the ends were a little scraggly. I’d never understand why people thought long hair was more trouble that short hair.
I knocked at Shauna’s door, and then entered when she yelled at me to come in. She actually lived in a house, course she lived in it because her parents had willed it to her. She shared it with her younger brother.
Their parents had left them quiet a picket of money, enough for them to keep the house and for Shauna to stay in school. Her brother was 24 and had graduated college last year with a degree in business. He was a salesman that doubled as an accountant at a small but growing firm. He was doing pretty well. He didn’t like me very much so I rarely saw him.
Shauna sat at the dinning room table, books, paper, and binders spread out. Her long raven hair fell about her as straight as mine was curly.
There had been a little Asia in her mother’s blood and it had hit her hard. Her hair was that perfectly straight, shimmery black that Asians had. Her eyes were such a deep brown they were almost black and were ever so softly tilted. The skin tone that graced her 5’10” frame was just a tiny bit yellowish, but it got beautifully dark in the summer.
Her mother had been adopted so they didn’t know for sure what type of Asian blood, or how much of it, Shauna had inherited. The general consensus was Korean.
She was lithe and supple and toned by workouts in the gym and in tae-kwon-do. Shauna was one of those women other women are jealous of, who could turn every eye in the room. That was one of the reasons she was still single. All the ner-do-well boys flocked around her despite her cold shoulder and all the nice decent boys thought she was surely taken, or at least out of their league.
Right now she wore jeans and a dark blue tee shirt. Even in those clothes she wore them like they were part of her. They fell around her seated form with grace and I wish I had a camera. Maybe if I could have caught her off guard I could prove to her that she really did look that good.
That would be the other reason Shauna was still single. She was a total bookworm scholastic that couldn’t tell a pick up line from a dead stick. Even the nice boys get discouraged if you don’t respond at least a little to their flirting.
She’s probably end up the teacher on campus that every boy wanted no matter what she taught. And she’s probably not notice.
“Shauna?” I said, taking a seat at the table.
“Hey Sarah.” She glanced up at me. “You look nice tonight.”
“Thanks. You almost done?” I asked. She frowned briefly at the mess, then up at me.
“You look awfully serious. I have a feeling I can be done now.” She shoved the papers away from her. “You want something?” Shauna asked as she got up.
“You got that hot cider still?”
“You’re going to give yourself a stomach ache.”
“I’d get a bigger one from coco and I fell like something hot.”
“I’ll get it.” She said from the kitchen. She filled two mugs from that hot water tap some homes have and made tea for herself and cider for me. I’d had tea exactly once in my life. Stuff I actually throw up I don’t eat again, even if they do taste good. Same with coffee and pops. I could drink carbonated water and those ‘all natural’ pops, which were just carbonated fruit juice.
We headed to her bedroom upstairs. Since it was the same room she’s been in most of her life you could see her grow up just by looking around her room. There were some first-day-of-school pictures on the wall. There were the few treasured kid’s toys that had managed to survive. Children through graduate studies books were on the shelf. Her bedspread had pick butterflies on it. There were stickers on her vanity mirror. A dried corsage from senior prom hung on the wall. A few trophies and ribbons decorated the room.
When she was younger Shauna had been on equestrian team and a gymnastic squad. In junior high she’s played volleyball and in high school she’s run track. The equestrian team trophies went all the way through high school. She hadn’t had the money to continue it into college. Plus she’d been doing tae-kwon-do since she was five.
I’d taken about every fighting class I could, tae-kwon-do, karate, ju-jitsu, kickboxing, and kendo. I still took tae-kwon-do, with Shauna, and ju-jitsu. I also took private sword lessons. I wasn’t particularly good at any one style. But I was a good all around fighter.
Shauna was a black belt and a good one. She rarely lost a fight just out and about. Course she wasn’t really the type of person that got into too many fights outside of dojo.
She did hang out with me, however, so she got a chance to fight on occasion. Sometimes I thought that was the reason she went patrolling with me. She didn’t like vampire; she didn’t like any non-humans. Besides her silver blade she carried a steel one for faeries or normal people. The steel one was smaller and had a sheath for her arm or to sit at the small of her back.
I’d suggested she buy a UV flashlight from the police and a gun. She had told me that she wore the knife to keep trouble from happening and to protect herself, not to start trouble. It made sense; a foot long knife is a pretty big deterrent. She figured a gun would be a bit too proactive for her.
We both sat on her bed, cradling out hot drinks. She looked happy and solemn at the same time. It was a neat trick.
“That’s quiet the bite you got.” She said after we’d bother sipped at our drinks for a while. “Was it willing?”
“No, not really. But we’re pretending it was. Eric doesn’t know it wasn’t just a messy bite.”
“Lying to your boss?”
“He’s not really my boss Shauna.”
“Okay, your superior, why?”
“Because I needed his heal and the bite was an unfortunate side effect.” I could see the question in her eyes, but she didn’t ask. She never did. Shauna knew that it was illegal for me to talk about a lot of my job. I’d tell her what I could. She knew I’d tell her if she asked so she didn’t. Didn’t want to add that strain into our friendship. It was nice of her.
“So what did you want to talk about?” She asked. I sighed and pulled the letter out of the little purse.
“Here, this is pretty self explanatory.” I handed it to her. She read it, then frowned at the signature.
“Shamus?
“Not a clue.” I shook my head. “Certainly doesn’t sound French.”
“It isn’t.”
“You know what origin it is?” I asked. She shook her head.
“I can tell you what it’s not. It’s not of Latin or Greek origin. Which means none of the romance languages, cultures.”
“Which would include English and German right?”
“There both Latin based but if you remember at the time of the Romans.”
“Germania already had a language base as did Britannia. I knew that.”
“Yes you did. So it rules out most of newer German and English, but if it’s an old tribal based word. Also it doesn’t sound like a cognitive to any Mandarin word I know, or Japanese, but I don’t speak that fluently, and what I do know is older.”
“So what does that leave us with?”
“Might be middle east, Hebrew, Indian, Arabic, or something old. English before Roman influence, old Germanic, possibly Norwegian, Viking, Irish, Scottish, Gaelic, you get the idea. But I’m guessing.”
“Thanks. If it’s not old French it’s probably a friend of my father’s.”
“Does it really matter? The person who wrote this doesn’t say ‘lets meet’. Unless you think Logan wrote it?”
“No, but Logan knew about it.”
“That was going to be my guess. Does he know that you got it?”
“Yeah, he knows that I got it.”
“You have to work with Logan don’t you?” She asked.
“Yeah.”
“Then he’s not going to let you forget this.”
“Thus my predicament.” I sighed.
“Predicament nothing. If Logan didn’t know or was willing to leave you alone then you’d have a predicament. See what he wants. Then if he’ll leave you alone I say good. Never talk about it again. But you know I don’t like vampires. You don’t need the money.”
“I don’t particularly like vampires either.” I said. I could see the question in her eyes, the one she’d never ask. I had always thought that someday I’d answer her, that when we were close enough for her to believe, really believe me, I would. Now, after last night and my shook up feelings over what Logan had told me I suddenly couldn’t promise that to myself anymore. Because right now I wasn’t sure I could look her in the eyes and tell her that I hated them, that I’d cut the heart out of my own sire because he was a vampire. That I’d cut the heats out of all of them if I could, I’d rid the world of ever last vampire if I only knew how.
Because she would. She hated them all perfectly. She’d never been bitten, never had a bad run in with one, they hadn’t slaughtered anyone she’d known. No, it was simply the base human fear and hatred of something that thought of you as food.
If Shauna came across a vampire in private she’d kill him or die trying. That was legal. If a vamp came up to you in a private place, a lone ally, a walk in the woods, you had automatic self-defense if you wounded or killed the vampire. If three human witnesses came forward within 48 hours to say it hadn’t been self defense the state would try you.
Excessive assault against a non-human fro an attack or lethal assault against a non-human if you killed them before witnesses. That was the formal charge. A conviction carried an automatic 2 to 5 year sentence. The rules were a little different for a lycanthrope in human form. But not much, they were still much stronger and faster than humans, even while un-shifted.
Shauna had one self-defense kill to her name. For a normal human it was actually pretty impressive. Most ‘self-defense’ kills had two or three humans involved. I’d never asked her if it had actually been self-defense. She would have said yes and meant it. But I’d have bet that vamp hadn’t attacked her.
It didn’t bother me. I had two self-defense kills on the books. I’d actually been charged for one of them. Stinking human servants had been hiding in the shadows. The only way I’d stayed out of jail was it had been decided that as an FBI-NH I had the legal right to execute a vampire for reasons ‘the FBI or subsidies there of, saw fit.’ Even thought the vamp hadn’t been on my payroll list of executions the judge had decided if I had killed it then it must have needed killing. Smart judge.
It had been the truth anyway. There had been no visible provocation that nigh tbecause I hadn’t given him the chance to start any. He had sent me two blood soaked letters, death threats. Vampires didn’t threaten lightly. The only reason why Eric wasn’t hunting down the vampires that had sent him the blood soaked letters was because they were only a show of anger, and we both knew it. Nathaniel had extended his protection over both of the sirens. I had been outside of his territory when I had my problem.
I looked at Shauna. She handed the letter back to me. I supposed that for right now my problem with it had been dealt with.
“Thanks.” I told her. “You want to come with me for a while?”
“For a while, yeah.” She glanced at her watch. “You want me to do something with your hair? We’ve got plenty of time.” She asked, pulling my ponytail over my shoulder.
“Sure.” I shrugged. I normally didn’t take the time to wear my hair up unless it was a special occasion, but I understood why she had offered. It was a safe, personal thing to do that would wash away the uncertainly of the conversation.
She didn’t do much really. AS she brushed it we talked of nothing, whatever we could think of htat wasn’t serious. It ended up in a thick French braid. The braid was nearly as big around as my wrist and it fell nearly to my waist. I loved my hair.
Shauna combed hers and put it up in pretty combs that had lapis lazuli insets, they had been hand me downs from her paternal grandma. It swept her hair back in two waves and made her look more oriental. It was a pretty effect.
When we left the house she wore a Chinese cut scarlet shirt with silver embroidery and a pair of black slacks. Her knife hung naked and heavy at her waist, and I watched her fit a smaller steel blade at the small of her back. She had a pair of slippers identical to my own. We had bought them on the same day, totally independent of each other. Laughter and knowing glances about how close we were had followed the showing off of the days shopping finds.
She drove. I could get a taxi later in the night. I was only on patrol until 1 anyway. Then I had to be at the police station to stare at a vamp for a couple of hours. Then I needed to drum up Logan. But unless something happened I had most of tomorrow off, the day at least. Which was nice since I’d only gotten about three hours of sleep last, skip that, this morning.
By the time we got to the bars I had a slight frown on my face. Shauna leaned into me and whispered,
“Told you so.” I grimaced, more at her than the stomachache. It didn’t hurt that much.
“Let’s go see if they have some fruit juice.”
“It’s a bar Sarah, not a club.” She reminded me.
“So? They have to have orange juice to make Tequila Sunrises don’t they?”
“I guess so, but I don’t think I’d want to drink it straight, probably not very good.”
“There a store around here?” I asked. She was more familiar with this part of town than I was.
“Couple blocks. Aren’t you supposed to stay in the likely vampire hang outs?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vampire in a store.” She said, her voice teasing slightly. If Shauna worried about me every time I got a little stomachache we probably wouldn’t still be friends. She would have gotten angry with me long before now. I ignored her and let me wash over the crowd. I didn’t feel anything.
“It’s okay, we can go. There aren’t any vampires here.” I told her. She didn’t like it when I did that, and she frowned slightly at me. Served her right for teasing me.
We left and the night began in earnest. It went okay until we ended up at Last Exam around 11. I was kind of surprised she had stayed with me even after we hit the college district. I had gone to nearly every club and bar in the district, leaving Last Exam for last. I knew we’d hit more vampires there than anywhere else. Not really a bad thing, even with Shauna here. The problem was most of the vamps at Last Exam were friendly towards me, more so than the others at least. Several of them also had enough of a sadistic streak to have fun pulling on the chords between Shauna and I.
The night had been quiet, oddly so. We’d seen fewer vamps than we should have. And most of them had been young. As soon as we rounded the street towards Last Exam I had a pretty good idea why. There was a line that stretched three doors down waiting to get in.
I flashed my badge so we could skip line. There were some angry murmurs from the people we’d just glided past. I didn’t pay much attention to them; there were no vampires in the crowd.
As soon as we entered I staggered backwards against Shauna with a gasp. She clasped my smaller form to her in protection, nearly maternal.
“What’s wrong?” She hissed close to my ear as her eyes searched the crowd. I shook my head and stood away from her.
“Nothing, I’m fine. Keep your eyes close.” I told her. She got my drift and cast her eyes about chest high. The press of people was nearly standing room only. The dance floor was packed and the disk jockey’s booth was nearly hidden from sight. Every table was full.
I pushed our way to a corner. Shauna had her hand over the blade of her knife, pressing it to her leg so someone didn’t catch a stay hand or leg on the naked blade. She followed me, sliding through the crowd as well as I.
When I had gotten us a space on the wall I pulled her face close. Even inches away I nearly had to shout for her to hear me.
“I think you might want to go home.” I told her.
“Why?”
“A gathering of this size should have been registered to sirens before it happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean nearly every vamp over 50 in the city is here and their power is so thick in the air that I don’t think and human could be in here for more than a few minutes before they were taken by it. Even if no one was specifically trying for them.”
“Isn’t that illegal?” She shouted back. Shauna was looked around the room, probably trying to spot vamps. I shook my head.
“No, but Eric and I are supposed to be notified before hand so one of us can be here the whole night.”
“This happens often?”
“No, normally only on big party days. First day of spring break, last day of the semester, stuff like that.”
“Is it dangerous?” A slightly worried look was starting to creep into her seeking eyes. I shook my head.
“Not as a whole. Unless you are being concentrated on you’ll just get caught up in the general atmosphere.” I pointed to the dance floor.
The dance floor was a press of bodies. They moved like one organism. Like they were all high on the same powerful drug. Which wasn’t far from the truth. Their desire and hunger rode the air so thick that I bet even Shauna could have smelled it, maybe she did. Human pheromones so strong I expected to see people coupling on the dance floor. I didn’t, but that didn’t mean the emotions, adrenalin, and the high, was any less powerful.
I looked back to Shauna. She watched the press enraptured. A hunger and desire that Shauna never had was creeping into her eyes. For the briefest of moments I thought about letting her go. It wouldn’t hurt her and Shauna could use a real night on the town. But she’d never forgive me and any boy she did meet here was unlikely to be the good kind. I shook her slightly.
“Shauna, you should leave.” I told her. She blinked down at me then licked her lips.
“Can’t you feel it?” She breathed. If I’d been just human I never would have heard her. I paused for a moment before I answered her. There wasn’t anyone powerful enough to bespell me without catching my eye. Oh, if I hung around long enough and left myself go I might feel part of what she, what they, were feeling. But not now, not like them. I hated to admit it but I was more likely to get ‘drunk’ on the simple power that was flooding the place. It might have similar outcomes, but it still wasn’t quiet the same.
“Shauna, you should go.” I repeated again. She licked her lips and shook her head.
“No, not yet. What are you going to do?”
“Go find whoever is in charge and chew them out royally.” I told her. Her smile was almost vicious.
“I want to see that.” She glanced at the dance floor and licked her lips again. “Just slap me if I do anything out of the ordinary okay?”
“Try paying attention to things you’re used to, like the weight of your knife or your breathing. It helps Eric.” I didn’t tell her it only helped Eric for about 15 minutes. After that he carried a little pin and pricked himself with it every few minutes to keep his head clear. I didn’t really want Shauna to poke herself with her knife, either of them, and I certainly didn’t have a pin or a needle to give her. Besides, if I had my way she’d be out of here before that became a necessity.
“How are you going to find who is in charge?” She shouted at me.
“Follow the power.” I replied.
I let myself wash over the crowd as we pushed along the wall, trying to fell where the most power was coming from. It wasn’t very exact and didn’t work wonderfully even under better-controlled circumstances. Now I guessed wrong twice before I found Nathaniel. I wasn’t surprised that it was he behind this.
He was lounging in a booth towards the back. A girl clung to either side of him. They caressed his body and nuzzled into him, flooded with his power, drunk on the night. Likely they had both come here hoping exactly for that. Just as likely neither would regret it in the morning and they’d jump at the chance to do it again. Or maybe friends had dragged them here and they had simply lost themselves. Like Shauna would eventually. Even she would have fawned at his feet if she spent a few hours in here. And she would have loved it, until she woke up the next morning. Or maybe it would change her forever and she would wake as much of a junky as these girls likely would.
I wanted the first to be true for the girls, better, more legal, that way. I wanted the second to never be true for Shauna. When we stopped Shauna raised her eyes from her feet. She forced her eyes almost violently back when she recognized Nathaniel as a vampire. Good for her.
Nathaniel’s eyes were closed. No, not quiet closed, rolled back and fluttering. His lips were parted slightly. The look on his face was enough to tell me he was feeding. Vampires could feed on more than just blood. Oh, they still had to partake of blood, but by the time the vampires here did they’d be so heady on the power in the room, the desire, the sheer humanity of it, the blood would be secondary. It was also likely to be sexual. Despite my parents marriage every time I was in one of these situations I wondered if I had been conceived on a night like this.
“Nathaniel.” I said. I didn’t shout. I didn’t need to; even through the din he could hear me. His eyes fluttered open. They were heavy lidded and the power in the m was drowning. I didn’t look at them directly.
“Mademoiselle.” His voice was thick. It carried because he wanted it to carry, as simple as that. I slid into the booth, dragging Shauna with me. Nathaniel lifted the girl that was between us and set her on the other side with the other one. They didn’t even seem to notice. They curled around each other. Both trying to touch as much of him as possible.
“Why weren’t Eric and I informed of this Nathaniel?”
“Your friend isn’t having fun.” He almost purred it. Shauna was sweating now. I knew I should have made her leave.
“Leave her alone Nathaniel, leave her out of your mind tricks or I’ll have cops down here with UV lights and silver hand cuffs before you can clear your vamps out.” I warned. He laughed and the sound rolled over even me. I squeezed Shauna’s hand tight and she squeezed back.
“I’m alright.” She said close to my ear. I glared at Nathaniel.
“You weren’t informed Mademoiselle because it wasn’t planned until the sun had sank tonight. There was no time.”
“You should have made time. Now clear this place out.”
“Mademoiselle!” He said shocked. “We are doing nothing illegal. I do not own this club; I can’t just shut it down.”
“Fine, then you and your vamps get out.”
“We were hired as entertainment. We have done nothing wrong. The night’s entertainment was posted. No one entered unwillingly. I bet even your friend had clear warning from you and choose to remain.” He reached his hand past me to touch her face.
Shauna had her knife out in the briefest of moments, pressed close to his chest. Nathaniel hadn’t stopped her. He could have, heck, I could have. He just sat there, breathing in this new rush of emotion, his hand balanced just above her skin.
“I’m not that gone.” Shauna hissed. I could feel the flood of power in the room shift. Violence crept along its edges.
“Go ahead little human, this night could use a little blood.” As soon as he said it the air was laden with the want of it.
“Put the knife up Shauna.” I told her.
“Not in this lifetime.” She couldn’t feel the swell of violence, how much the vampires wanted it to break and wash over the crowd.
“Put it up.” I said, grabbing her wrist. “If you don’t this place is going to turn into one big fight.” She hesitated. “Trust me.” I looked at her calmly. I had to remain calm. I could force the knife from her grip. Heck if I explained it carefully enough tomorrow she’d even forgive me for it. But my violence or hers this place would erupt. Thankfully Shauna decided to trust me and put her weapon down. She didn’t put it back in the loop on her belt. I knew why.
“Drop your bloody hand Nathaniel. I told you leave her out of this.” I pushed at his hand, and he let it drop. “Into the back Nathaniel. We need to talk, and I can’t have Shauna in this environment anymore.” I told him. He looked at the two blonde haired beauties. “Forget them Nathaniel. There’s been thousands before and there’s likely to be thousands still.” He sighed and gave each girl a kiss on the forehead.
“Stay here my pretties, have fun while I am gone.” On command their eyes turned out to the crowd and relaxed down. Their eyes seemed perfectly happy and contented too.
I followed him and Shauna followed me, hand clutched around my shoulder. I felt eyes on me and turned, searching for them. Lawrence stared at me with hungry eyes. I continued following, ignoring him.
The office looked the same as it had last night, except the cat was not in attendance. As soon as we walked in Shauna gasped like she was coming out of cold water. She glared at Nathaniel and drew her knife again, coming towards him. He held up his hands and backed away from her.
“Mademoiselle these premises are video taped and I have offered your friend no harm.” He watched her closely. I stepped in front of Shauna. I didn’t like giving Nathaniel my back, but he wasn’t going to attack me.
“Shawn, he’s right. Please don’t make me disarm you.” I told her. Shauna’s eyes held angry tears.
“I felt them! I felt him!” She shuddered. I glanced at Nathaniel and he shook his head ever so slightly. He hadn’t gone personally into her mind, it had just been the power of the place. “I felt their hunger Sarah, they wanted me, he wanted me. Kill him Sarah!” Her voice was nearly frantic.
“She is bleeding Mademoiselle. She is the only blood in the place; we all smelled it. She was trying so hard to keep herself out of it that she felt things we weren’t broadcasting to the whole group. No one touched her, in any sense.” His voice was still calm. He could have dropped her were she stood. Could have snagged her mind and had her fawning at his feet. He was a 1200-year-old vampire and she was just a normal human. She didn’t need to look him in the eye for him to stop her armed advance. But he did nothing. He was against eh wall now. His hands still raised, open. And I’d heard his voice; I’d watched him as he said it. He was telling the truth. Shauna had not been personally touched by anyone here tonight.
I looked back at Shauna. She was bleeding, a fine cut on her left hand, from holding her knife in the press of people I expected.
“Shauna,” He said calmly, no power rode his voice. “We did not harm you, please put up your knife, no one here wishes you harm.”
“Harm? You wanted to ear me!”
“No Mademoiselle, I wanted to taste you. It would not have hurt you.” He told her softly. I didn’t’ argue, they were both right. It would not have physically hurt her, but to Shauna feeling the vampire’s hunger had hurt her more than I had easy words for.
“Shauna has never been touched by a vampire before Nathaniel, not even in such a situation. She doesn’t understand the progression. To her you invaded her mind.” I told him. I still stood between them but Shauna was getting awfully close. He tipped his head and looked at her with a blank face.
“Indeed.” He seemed slightly surprised. I didn’t blame him. In today’s world someone her age to not have had interaction with vampires would have meant she was very sheltered or part of a hate group that avoided them like the plague. As far as I knew she didn’t actually belong to any groups, but she shared most of their ideals. He stepped around me and bowed at the waist.
“Mademoiselle Shauna, you have my humble apologies. Tonight was meant for those well seasoned in our powers. The people out there knew what they were getting into when they stepped through the door and they wanted it. We had no idea you were otherwise when you entered. Without truly invading your thoughts we had no knowledge.” He was within striking distance of Shauna now, and I was getting just a bit nervous. I didn’t want to have to arrest my best friend.
“Shauna, please put up the knife. You could not kill Nathaniel even if you surprised him. It is by his good graces you are still armed.”
“Nice of you to notice Mademoiselle.” Nathaniel breathed, glancing at me through long lashes. I knew Shauna’s only human ears would never have picked it up. Shauna finally dropped the knife arm, letting it swing almost woodenly down.
The tears started to come, hot and helpless and I stepped towards her. She leaned against my back, her head bowed to my shoulder to cry. Her hands were clasp around my waist, knife still clutched in her right hand. It was an awkward position but it allowed me to wrap my arms around hers, give her some comfort, while still facing Nathaniel. I knew Shauna didn’t and wouldn’t feel uncomfortable crying in front of him. To her he was a beast, and you don’t feel embarrassed in front of a beast.
“Would you like some privacy Dawn?” Shauna stood up straight then. She unwrapped her arms, but she let her hands stay gripped in mine.
“Her name is Sarah.” She said. Good, she was going to pull herself together so I could do my job. I’d give her a big hug later.
“No thank you Nathaniel, we need to discuss what’s going on out there.” I jerked my head towards the main part of the club.
“There is nothing to discuss Mademoiselle. We have done nothing illegal. Bad form of us perhaps to not inform the sirens, but it’s not illegal if we don’t. In fact we are tonight’s paid entertainment, if you have a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with the manager of the establishment.” He told me.
“If you are paid entertainment let me see the contract.” I told him. To my surprise and chagrin he pulled out a neatly folded typed page. I read it.
There was a price stated and means of entertainment neatly spelled out. $50 per vampire to bespell and dazzle the minds of anyone who walked through door was the cut and dry of it. They owners signature and Nathaniel’s were on the bottom of the page.
I handed it back to him. It was so perfectly legal I couldn’t even fine the owner of the club, much less drag a few vamps down to a jail cell for the rest of the night. And the date on it had been tonight, they had singed it after the sun went down. Apparently the owner didn’t think they needed so much as a day to get the word out. Judging by the crowd he had been right.
“There is still something fishy about this Nathaniel. I’ve chaperoned three of these events since the city went off marshal law and I’ve never seen this many vampires participating in one gathering, particularly the old bloods. You’ve got every vampire over 200 in the city here.” I said it with a faint hint of accusation.
“Yes Mademoiselle, we do.”
“Why?” I asked, annoyed. Nathaniel could dodge my questions with the best of them, but tonight I would get an answer. I was too frustrated with the whole event to back out. He glanced behind me at Shauna.
“Let me call your friend a cab first.”
“She drove.” I stated flatly.
“Then let me offer an escort to the car.” He offered.
“Why?” I repeated, not entirely sure which question I expected him to answer. I’d have liked the first; I had a feeling he’d choose the second. He made an angry noise in the back of his throat.
“I am willing to talk internal affairs to you Dawn, but not one of your friends who I have never before met an who obviously does not like us.” His voice held the warm undercurrents of anger to it. He had a point. I turned to look at Shauna.
“Maybe you should go. I really can’t discuss everything we may need to talk about in front of you.” I told her. She glanced at the door, concern evident on her face.
“I don’t want to go back out there.” She said, her voice small.
“We will both walk you to the back door Mademoiselle Shauna, and I will have an escort, a human one, walk you to your car from there.” Nathaniel said.
“No escort.” Shauna told him firmly. I agree with her. Any human he could order to escort her would almost certainly be someone’s servant, if not necessarily bonded. Nathaniel nodded graciously and we all head out the back way. When we got to the small back entrance we left a still shaken Shauna to walk to her car. I gave her a hug first and promised to call her tomorrow.
Nathaniel didn’t immediately turn back inside. He stood in the ally, looking refined and still in the midnight city lights. The closest streetlight was a good twenty feet away. The light right above the door had no bulb in it. His black hair blood into the night and when he turned to me his eyes were almost glowing they were so green. I dropped my eyes quickly away form his. I did not need him bespelling me right now.
“All right Nathaniel, what’s up?”
“You are persistent.” His voice whispered into the night and caressed around me. It was like he spoke only to me. Not just that he was speaking to me but that if anyone else was around they wouldn’t have heard him speak at all. It was one of the more unnerving qualities his voice could hold. I’d never been in a position to actually test it, but I’d have bet the effect wasn’t as real as the sound. If he could really make his voice selectively heard he wouldn’t fell the need for privacy.
“It’s part of the job description, now stop dodging the question and stop with the voice tricks. You know you can’t distract me so easily.”
“One has to try every now and again.” A smile flickered across his lips. “Very well. We thought we might be able to draw Logan’s girl from last night back with enough of a showing of vampires.”
“Has she showed?” I asked. I was pretty sure she hadn’t. That would make my job way too easy. Neither Eric nor I were that lucky. His shake assured me.
“No, and the midnight hour is almost past. The night lengthens and I will have to let them feed soon or we may have an accident.”
“I don’t think you’ll entice her back, even if she is still in town.”
“What do you know that you aren’t telling me Dawn?”
“My name is Sarah.” I said, but it was an automatic response and we both ignored it. I sighed, I had more important stuff to worry about then what name he called me by tonight. “It wasn’t a random killing Nathaniel, and I doubt it will repeated.” My voice was tired all of a sudden.
Eric had given me his finished translation of the inside circle this morning. As close as he could get it to English was ‘let the daughter of night and flesh beware. Let her forsake the night. We hunt.’ He was almost positive that ‘night’ stood for vampire and ‘flesh’ for human. And since it had begun and ended, closing the circle with my name, I thought it was decent enough guess. As far as he could tell there had been no actual magic in the smaller circle. Which didn’t make a lot of sense. Why nearly kill a faerie and use faerie blood magic if you weren’t going to cast a spell? It had been nearly kill too, Eric’s faerie contacts were fairly sure Elise would wake up, eventually. Intimidation I guess. But I wasn’t particularly intimidated; I was ticked instead. Logan was alive and well, or as close to both as he had been for centuries. Elise would likely recover. The woman, still unidentified, was just plain dead. I was ticked.
“Mademoiselle?” He prodded and I realized I had been quiet for several moments. I made an unhappy noise in the back of my throat. I might as well tell him. Maybe he’d know who ‘we’ were or who ‘we’ were ‘hunting’.
“The murder was a warning to me Nathaniel.” I pulled out my wallet and snagged the Polaroid of the inner blood circle with its glyphs and my name in bold English. The translation was on a folded piece of paper that had been stapled to it. I handed it to him. The picture was just of the inner circle, after the body had been moved.
He looked at it impassively for a moment then handed it back. A slight frown had crept to the corners of his mouth.
“This is not good Dawn.” His voice was still. I felt like saying ‘no, really?’ but I bit back the smart remark and nodded instead.
“I think the vampire and the woman are supposed to stand for my parentage. I don’t know what the faerie was for.” I told him. He nodded slowly then ran an ivory hand through his black hair.
“Faerie blood magic only works with faerie blood.” He said.
“But there is no spell in the warning. The only other circle was a control circle around Elise’s body.”
“There was no other spell?” His face looked briefly troubled.
“None that we could find, trust me, we looked.”
“How was the faerie found?”
“Drained, like Logan, with her eyes cut out so she couldn’t see magic.”
“Was al her blood accounted for?” He asked. I blinked at him. He nodded to the picture now back in my hand. “That circle, even one twice as big, didn’t take all of her blood. Was the rest accounted for?”
“I don’t know. There was no way to tell. There was blood everywhere and some of it tested as hers, but.” I shrugged. “There is no way of telling if it was enough to fill her entire body.”
“Then perhaps the death of the faerie was only meant to scare you with the power of the act, perhaps the blood will be used later. Faerie blood spoils no more than vampire blood does and it does not need to be warm to be used.” He said. I nodded. I hadn’t thought of that.
“Since it looks like Elise will recover is there something we can, that she can do, to keep the power from her spilt blood?” I asked. Eric might be able to answer that but Nathaniel was here now. He paused and thought for a moment. When he did continue it was with the slightest of hesitations.
“If you know the name of the person who holds the blood, then yes. She or a faerie controlling her could revoke it.”
“I have a feeling by the time we find out what this things name is we will be beyond the point where that will be helpful.” My voice was rueful. He spread his hands wide briefly then turned and opened the door.
“After you Mademoiselle.” I inclined my head but motioned him forward.
“No monsters at my back.”
“Even those who you trust?” He flickered a smile at me.
“I don’t trust you Nathaniel, I simply distrust you less than most vamps. And most of that is because I can tell if you are lying.”
“What will y6ou do when you run into a vampire good enough to trick your senses of falsehood?” He asked as he entered. I followed him.
“Never thought about it I guess, you are the most powerful vampire I know, and I can tell when you lie.”
“You should not put too much faith in your gifts. Be assured there are those strong enough to overwelm them or even to use them against you.”
“Concerned for me Nathaniel? How touching.” Okay, so I was still in a foul mood.
“The police trust you Dawn, allowing you like a watchful school teacher gives us more freedom than in many other cities.” I couldn’t see his smile since his back was to me, but I could hear it in his words..
“Wouldn’t want me to fail the police at the wrong moment.” My sarcasm matched his smile.
“Of course.” He said simply. We were back to the office now, and we both stopped.
The power in the outer room was building, even without his presence. I could feel it just standing in the hall. I caught the look on his face. Surely he had felt it before but here he stopped to savor it.
He seemed to roll it around his mouth like fine wine. His tongue touched his slightly parted lips. At his side his fingers trailed through the air like it was warm water, or perhaps something thicker.
It wasn’t that strong to me. Not yet. Had I taken those extra steps, opened the door and stepped out to the dance floor then yes, I would have been able to taste it, feel it along my skin like something physical. Right now it was just a pressing at my mind. A heady feeling like I had just breathed in the scent of the same wine he now tasted.
“Unless you have other business to discuss Mademoiselle, I have two very lovely young women I would like to get back to. Logan is out there; check one of the front booths. He will take you to the police station when it is time.”
“I can get a cab.”
“Do not be rude Dawn, Logan is going there anyway.” And with that he strode out of the hall.
I wanted to ask what he meant. I didn’t really need to. Logan appeared to have drawn the first duty at the station tonight. I really did not want to spend that long with him. Not with the letter burning a whole in my purse. Not that I had any choice. But there had been a reason Logan’s name had to been on my list of vampire that I would like at the station.
True, Logan was the first eldest in the city, and if he was 614 like he had said that made him barely 20 years behind Mary, the fourth, which made him a god candidate with my earlier qualifications in mind. Logan, however, was just a little too good for me. He already worked around cops quiet a bit. I didn’t want the uniforms getting used to a friendly, seemingly harmless, vampire. It might make them underestimate the danger of another.
The four eldest vampires plus Lawrence would behave themselves. Probably they would even be civil to all involved. But they were also likely to scare most to the police force stiff. Well Lawrence already did since he’d helped them on hunts before.
All things considering I thought that was a good thing. Being afraid of the vampires, seeing them as dangerous, cold-hearted nightmares might make the difference at the critical moment. At least, I hoped so. If nothing else maybe it would give them another reason to warn their children away form nights like this.
I looked down the hall where the door had swung shut behind Nathaniel. The power was building in front of that door. The Lord Vampire was there now, adding his power to the room. It was more than just that thought they were feeding now. I could feel it creeping along my skin.
Of all the things my heritage gave me this was what I hated the most. Felling their power could be helpful, it had alerted me to their presence more than once, and knowing if they lied was just as good. But this, to feel their power inside of me, to fell its pull, like if I stretched out I could join in, to be nearly drunk with the heady rush of them feeding, wanting to bathe in that warm rush and wrap it around me to make it my own.
It remind me too much of what I was. A half-breed and a strong one. Something in me was tugged at by their power, and something in me wanted to respond. I could feed like they could. Drink blood.
Part of me wanted it so badly it hurt at time. I could feel the warm blood at the back of my throat, taste it. Not my memory. I never had. But the tickle of thousands of their memories, pushed along my skin and into my mind by the sheer power of it.
But it was more than just their power that made me remember things I had never done. No. It was the connection we shared. The blood that pulsed through my veins. A sire I’d never met, a power I’d never fully embarrassed. That I didn’t want to.
I forced myself under control, forced them out of my mind. It was more than just forcing them out though; it was forcing part of myself back as well. If I didn’t get control of myself now I’d never make it to wherever Logan was.
By the time I walked out I was as calm as I could be. I did find Logan in a booth near the front. To my surprise he was alone. He watched the crowd, his face as heavy as Nathaniel’s had been earlier, his lips parted just a big. But there were no girls around him.
When I approached his table there was a small but welcomed downgrade of energy. Logan might be feeding off the power in the room, but he wasn’t contributing to its influence. For some reason that made me feel better.
I glanced at my watch as I sat down next to him. It was 12:30. If we didn’t leave soon we’d be late. His eyes were heavy lidded but he watched me as I slid in next to him.
“Nathaniel said you’d drive me to the police department. Said you were headed there anyway.” I kept it simple, no hello or complicated thoughts. Better to sound abrupt then take concentration away from pushing down the pull of power.
Logan nodded and exited the booth wordlessly. He didn’t look longingly at what he was leaving, or ask for a few more minutes. He looked like he had already fed anyway. There was a softness about his eyes and I sensed no hunger from him. Good, I’d already been on the menu for him once this week. No reason to push my luck on a night like this.
Chapter Four

It was late, or early, depending on how you look at things. Prisoners backlogged waiting for trial had been bussed in. A judge had sat in on all the questioning. In the three hours we had gone through nearly two hundred criminals, from purse-snatchers to murders. Excuse, accused murderers, only one of them had been found guilty. Some of the accused had been found innocent and let go, some had been sentenced.
In a way it had felt good, binding and releasing the guilty and the innocent. There were no questions left, no doubts. Logan knew when they were lying. I knew when he was lying. He hadn’t that night; several of the humans had tried. I knew we had seen everyone where they belonged.
In a way it had been disturbing. Staring at Logan, watching him judge the guilt or innocent of humans, was unnerving. No formal trial, no jury, no lawyers, just Logan, a judge, a criminal, and myself. 100 years ago, heck, 40 years ago, people would have been screaming about it. But it wasn’t 40 years ago, and the government had changed on nearly every level. There would be no lawsuits filed, no complaints to the cops.
America was still one of the best paces for legal niceties and equalities. Which said a lot for the other nations.
Only Switzerland had us beat. They had remained neutral during and after the war, strictly neutral, period. Big surprise. They had remained prosperous while most of the rest of the world had been struggling to retain something resembling a civilized living environment. They had even given vampires, lycanthropes, and faeries that came forward and announced themselves, citizenship. They had done it even before France had. In response to all the outrage of the other nations for the move they had made nearly every diplomat and emissary a non-human. So far they hadn’t been a single international incident, not in 37 years.
The only incident we had the entire night with our little experiment was one criminal who, upon seeing Logan and myself, had refused to talk. Nothing we could do would persuade him to speak. The judge had told Logan to bite him, to know his mind.
Logan had politely declined, telling the judge that he did not bite unwilling humans. When the judge had pushed I had to step in. I reminded the judge that biting one of the accused for the purpose of knowing their mind had not been in the contract and some vampires would have different comfort levels with accepting the judges word that they wouldn’t’ find a siren after them for mind-rape, particularly if the person turned out to be innocent. The judge hadn’t been too happy about that. I had reminded him that there would be other vampires working with us, likely tomorrow night. That vampire might be willing to settle this particular case.
It wasn’t the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but it was close enough to work. The judge still hadn’t been very happy, but he had finally ordered the prisoner back to a holding cell until tomorrow night.
Now it was a little after 4:30 am and the night court was finally clearing out. Most people had already left. Logan and I shred the room with a tired reporter who was still packing his bag. I was just as tired. Logan seemed just fine. Of course he’d slept all day and was nocturnal by nature. My body actually agreed with a nocturnal schedula as easily as a daylight one, but either way it still wanted sleep. What little I’d gotten yesterday morning had not been enough. At least today I was supposed to have the daylight hours off.
I realized Logan was watching me, and the court reporter had left. I was too tired to do this. Since I didn’t really feel like finding Logan again tonight it didn’t much matter how tired I was. I didn’t bother with preliminaries. I took the letter form out of my purse and tossed it at him.
“Explain.” I said shortly as I rubbed my eyes. I had a headache.
He plucked it from the air and smiled at me. The seal had been noticeably broken so I assumed he’d known I’d actually read it.
“What is there to explain? If you wish the legacy I will bring it to you.”
“I haven’t decided if I want the legacy. I want an explanation first.”
“Your father was very wealthy. He arranged for your mother to have enough to keep you both comfortable when he left. This legacy was entrusted to your mother and I. I was to hand it over to you when your mother died.” He raised his hand. “And before you sound all affronted, yes, I knew your mother.” It was news to me but I let it pass.
“This is my sire’s money then?”
“Originally.” Logan admitted. I shook my head.
“I don’t think I want it.”
“Do you hate him that much then?” His voice sounded slightly sad and I didn’t answer him.
“Who is Shamus?” I asked him after a brief silence.
“An old friend of all involved.” I was looking right at him when he said it. Since I’d spent several hours this night staring at him I was very accustomed to him.
“You should be smarter than that. That may not be precisely a lie, but it’s not quiet the truth either.” He swung his eyes up to meet mine.
“Sorry Sarah, tat is all I’m going to say about Shamus.”
“Very well. I don’t need the money Logan. And I don’t need a connection to my sire.”
“Is it so difficult to call him your father?”
“Father represents someone who you know and who knows you. The male who helped raise you. Whoever sired me does not deserve the name father.” I told him.
“Did it ever occur to you that he left to keep you safe?”
“No.” I said simply, with a slight shake of my head. There was no curiosity or hesitation in my voice. “Why do you care?”
“As the letter says, I am an old friend of your father’s.”
“Then give him a message from me. I don’t’ want anything to do with him. Tell him to leave me alone.”
“I’ll get the message to him. Do you think, I know it would mean a lot to him, if you had a picture I could send him?”
“Which means he is still alive.” I didn’t realize I’d said it out loud until Logan answered.
“Yes your sire is still alive. A picture perhaps?” He asked again.
My first response was to say no. I didn’t have very many pictures of me anyway. But when I went to say it something stopped me. The look on Logan’s face perhaps, or maybe some wish I didn’t want to admit. Some type of want to have family, any family. I’d never really known if my father was still alive. I assumed, even tonight, talking with Logan I had assumed he was alive, somewhere. But assuming and actually hearing it was different. I don’t think I realized how different until Logan had said it.
My whole life my mother had been the only family I had. She had been an only child, and he parents had been dead by the time I had been born. Her father had died in the skirmishes that had followed the war, and her mother in riots not long afterwards. She had been 22 when her mother had died. I had been born 13 years later.
Finally I gave a big sigh. He could always have gotten a picture off the web had he wanted. I guess I admired that I was being asked at all. Of course, just that I had been asked didn’t mean he already had pictures of me off the web, or from my mother for that point.
“I don’t have very many picture of myself. My mom had some, but I think I’ like to keep them as keepsakes. If you get a camera I will let you take some pictures. You can send those to him.”
“Will you agree to me setting up an appointment with a photographer? I may drive, but I’ve never been much for cameras.” I frowned. Consenting to a roll of film was bad enough. Having to get dressed up an sit in front of lights was worse. I rubbed my eyes and shoulders. I bet if I’d been less tired I’d have put up a fight. Tonight, I didn’t have it in me. Timing at its best, or worse.
“Very well. But I don’t know ho you’re going to plan it. I don’t’ normally know my schedule much in advance.”
“DO you know when your next day off is?” He asked. I didn’t want to say it; I really didn’t want to say it.
“Tomorrow.” I said it. He smiled.
“Can you meet me an hour before dusk at Benny’s?” He asked.
“Before dusk?” I looked at him.
“I’m 614 Sarah; I do not need to sleep the whole day.”
“Yes, I know, but unless someone is building underground roadways that we don’t know about you just told me where you sleep.”
“Sarah, if you ever come after me it won’t be a paid for kill. And I don’t think you’d try to kill me just because.” He smiled with a hint of fang. “Besides, I sleep in many places.” I rolled my eyes. It was just too late for vampire humor. “So I will see you tomorrow an hour before dusk?”
“Would it kill you to give me a time?” I asked. He smiled again.
“About 5?”
“Alright, I’ll be there. You owe me for this though.”
“I’ll remember. What time do you have to work tomorrow?” At least he was smart enough to know I didn’t have the whole day off.
“Today actually.” I said a bit gruffly. He nodded. “I’m on call. I need to be in the office by ten, then to the station, here, by 1. But unless Eric has an emergency I should be free until 10.”
“When do you leave for Bend?” He asked. I turned surprised eyes to him.
“Is my bloody itinerary posted somewhere on a bloody fangs only site?” I managed not to yell. He laughed. He tossed back his head and laughed. Why did the vampires find it so funny that they knew all the unpublished stuff about my life? “Logan, I didn’t even know I was going to Ben until three this afternoon!” He laughed harder. “Don’t suppose you guys could let me in on my own itinerary could you?”
“Sorry.” He said with mock seriousness. It didn’t quiet work; laughter was still biting around the edges. “Fangs only business.” He sat down hard in one of the benches, laughing again. I gave him a fake smile that was more grimace than anything else.
“See you tomorrow.” I said as I walked out. I’d call a cab in the lobby.
I was still sleeping peacefully in my bed when the phone rang. I groaned, rolled over and ignored it. The answering machine would pick it up.
“Hi, you’ve reached Sarah La’Croix. I’m probably working, so leave me a message and acceptable hours to call you and I’ll try to get back to you. Oh, and if you have some extra time call my boss and tell him to give me time off!” Beep! I changed my message fairly frequently and this one was new enough to still make me smile, even partially asleep. Eric’s voice picked up where the machine left off. I groaned again but fumbled for the phone on its hanging cradle under the bed.
“It’s 7:18 Eric.” I growled at him.
“Yeah, I know.”
“You’d better have a real good reason why you’re waking me after only two hours of sleep and it better pay over time.
“I’ve got good news and bad news and neither of them pay overtime which would you like first?” He asked. I gave a brief thought to hanging up on him, but he’d only call back annoyed. Technically Eric wasn’t my boss. But he was my only direct supervisor until you went to the state elected SIR’s director. He was my only technical boss. But Eric was who ‘boss’ meant not Clayton Stromgard SIR’s director.
“Oh, good news.” I finally grumped out.
“Most people pick bad news first so they can end on a high note.”
“Eric, I’m tired, grumpy, and want to go back to sleep. If you give me the bad news first I might hang up on you.”
“Boy you are grumpy.”
“You weren’t up until 5 am, now what’s up?”
“Okay, the good news is we know who the girl we found is and we know who Logan bit.”
“Okay, what’s the bad news?”
“Bad news is the girl is just a homeless woman from near Portland and the girl Logan bit is in the morgue. And you aren’t going to like what’s tattooed on her back.”
“You’re going to tell me anyway.”
“Of course. It’s a red sun with sanglante lever de soleil around it.” I sat straight up in bed.”
“What?” I nearly shouted it.
“I have perfectly fine hearing, please don’t shout. What is Bloody Sunrise doing after you?”
“How should I know?”
“You’re the vampire expert.”
“Eric, Bloody Sunrise hasn’t been knowingly active since the 1500’s.”
“Okay so you’re also the one with the degree in non-human history.” I sighed and fell back onto my bed.
“Bloody Sunrise was a group of vampire hunters who traced their roots back to before the Roman Empire. It’s been based out of France for most of it. It’s the group even vampires are afraid of. Supposedly it was them that realized if a vampire drank from a human that had drank another vamp’s blood they would be nearly comatose for several hours later. During most of written French history it was a mock group for bored rich adolescents and adventurous younger men. We know now it was far from a mock group and the members weren’t nearly as foppish as they acted. It suited their interests to appear as an exclusive club for the bored and you.
“It disappeared in 1604 and is now considered to have been wiped out by vampires at that time. In 2014 two political assassination attempts in Switzerland against two foreign ministers, both vampires, turned up a hit man with a tattoo of the Bloody Sunrise’s insignia. A red sun with sharp rays and ringed with the French for Bloody Sunrise. Everyone thought it was just a nut who know a bit about history.”
“That’s it?” He asked. I sighed.
“Eric, non-human history is guess work, believing in fairy tales and an occasion non-human teacher. Non-humans don’t record history like we do. They don’t find it necessary. In fact the most complete history any non-human source has is a list of faerie high court bloodlines traced back approximately 6,000 years. But there are no times or dates on the list, it’s just bloodlines. The class I learned about Bloody Sunrise was taught by a 700-year-old vampire. Most of it comes from his first hand account.”
“At least they now what they got against you. Sounds like a hate group crime.”
“No, all the information we have on them said they recruited human half-breeds. Historically speaking half-breeds do not like their vampire heritage. From history they should be tried to contact me, not scare me away. Particularly since I’ve made a very public stance about being on the human’s side.”
“Perhaps ‘we hunt’ means they are going after the vamps again. Maybe they want you to stay out of the cross fire?”
“Doesn’t sound very probably, but I guess it’s a possibility.”
“Well if it’s a human group that explains the bad faerie.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s why it took me so long to translate. The faerie glyphs don’t really make a lot of sense. That’s why I ended up giving you a strict translation, ‘daughter of night and flesh’.”
“Yeah, vampire and human.”
“That’s what we decided but faerie glyph for vampire isn’t the same for night, it’s the glyph for blood. And the whole thing was sloppy, the grammar doesn’t read like faerie is supposed to.”
“Okay, so we have someone who knows faerie, but not perfectly. Still, a human with enough knowledge to make a blood circle and control a faerie is almost worse news than a rogue vampire or an unseelie faerie. Plus he or she’s already shown themselves willing to kill humans.”
“I agree.” Eric said.
“Okay Eric, you got the news of out your system, can I go back to sleep now?”
“Yeah, you can go back to sleep, but I want you in the office by 8 not 10 tonight okay?” I was going to argue but since it would probably get me out of protracted photo shoot. Still.
“Why? I’m on call already once the sun sets.”
“Because I go on patrol at 9:30 and I may need to talk to you before I head out.”
“Very well, but if I have to come in early then I want all my info for my trip to Bend, tonight.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He promised.
“Good day Eric.”
“Good night Sarah.” We hung up. I went back to sleep.
I actually managed to get a decent block of sleep. Surprise, surprise. I didn’t roll out of bed until a little past 3, a full 9 hours of sleep, minus the Eric interruption. The taxi pulled up outside the car garage at quarter to 4. Which meant I had an hour to get the mechanics to relinquish my truck, get back home, get dressed, and get back to Benny’s to meet Logan. It was doable, kind of.
I had a full sized, 1 ton, 4x4, dully pick up. It was a Chevy American Heritage model; it had been an anniversary model, marking the 40th year since WWIII had been finally ended by mutual treaty. Which meant it was a year old.
The government had issued it to me white. I had paid for it to be painted black. Something about white cars irked me; they seemed so pointless.
The truck was big, awkward, loud, guzzled gas, and barely made it past emissions testing even brand new. I didn’t really care about gas mileage since the state paid for it, and if it failed emissions testing next year they state would either get it waved or buy me a new one. Company cars are great. I had gotten used to how big it was and its awkwardness. Besides, its advantages more than made up for it.
If I had the bed loaded and four-wheel drive engaged it would go nearly everywhere, some places even an ATV couldn’t reach. It was also nearly indestructible. Only a Humvee would beat it among civilian cars.
I say nearly because it had taken the mechanics two weeks to fix the damage Eric had done to it. He had borrowed it while I had been away to France.
Apparently even a 1ton dully pick up could not drive through a brick wall without damage. Although according to the photos of the accident I’d seen, my tuck had won.
I couldn’t say I was really angry with Eric over the accident. He had borrowed it with my permission; my truck had a better sound system than his did. The accident had been work related.
Eric had been transporting an injured werewolf to the non-human emergency center. The ambulance workers had flatly refused to carry the half shifted man-wolf. It was within their legal rights to refuse to transport a contagious lycanthrope. So Eric had put him in the back of the pick up. He knew the werewolf anyway.
Problem was the lycanthrope had woken up half way there and totally freaked out, which was understandable given the circumstances. He’d awoken in the lycanthrope version of rogue, needing food to heal faster, half crazed. When he came through the back window at Eric’s throat Eric had been a little too preoccupied to drive.
Eric had been wearing his seat belt and had two cracked ribs and a bunch of bruises. The werewolf had gone through the dash and ended up in a coma for three days, accelerated healing included. Apparently Eric had also been very lucky that the werewolf hadn’t drawn blood.
Eric’s MLD was still in the stereo when I turned it on half way back to my apartment. The mini disk started up with a shrill wail I recognized as a bagpipe. I winced and turned down the volume but didn’t turn it off. Mostly out of curiosity.
It was old style Celtic, maybe pure faerie music. Stringent bagpipes paused only in their piercing tones to wail low drones, flutes trilling and drums tattooing a beat in the background. It was pretty in a way. The more I listened the more I liked it. I left it in the stereo when I parked in my normal spot; it had been vacant for days now.
I wasn’t sure what this professional photo shoot would be, but I had decided to humor Logan, and I guess by extension my sire. That thought didn’t sit to well so I ignored it. Whatever good humor I had had last night that got me to agree to this had been stretched pretty thin by thinking about it.
By the time I pulled up to the back of Benny’s Bar and Grill I was in better spirits. Dressing up will do that sometimes.
I had brushed my hair until it shone around me in a fiery cloud. I was wearing a cream dress, so pale it was almost white, with a deep green lace over-dress. It had white mother of pearl buttons. My mother had bought it form an antique store when I had been a little girl. I had loved it the minute I saw it. She’d given it to me on my 16th birthday. The buttons ran from the low-scooped neck all the way to the ankle length hem.
The green lace over-dress was the favorite thing in my wardrobe and it looked best with the cream dress underneath, although I occasionally wore it with a black dress. The green brought out my eyes, made them just a little more brilliant. Not vivid by any stretch of the imagination, but pretty.
The nearly white cream dress that showed behind the small cut lace made my skin nearly luminescent. I looked so pale and translucent I nearly took it off. My skin was as pale as a vampire’s but instead of the marble quality of theirs mine was backed by pale blue lines. Warm, living blood. I had never found it attractive. But I knew those that thought pale was pretty, or had an archaic aristocratic sense of beauty liked it. So I left the dress on.
I didn’t bother much with make-up. Lip stick always looked too bright, blush too fake. I did put on a little silver and green eye shadow. That brought out my eyes just enough for me to pretend they would be worth noticing. Something someone would take the time to look at twice.
I wore a delicate dangly pair of silver earrings. They were tiny strands of Celtic designs, barely a 1/8th of an inch across but nearly an inch long. A tiny emerald drop sat at the bottom. They were all but hidden among my hair but it gave a flash of silver and green against the red.
There was a matching necklace and it’s fine chain curled around my neck. The Celtic design was a bit more noticeable on the necklace and it curved intricate and delicate over my collarbone to let the emerald spill into the hollow of my neck.
The necklace and earrings had been my mothers, also a gift for my 16th birthday. They had come with the dress. The tiny silver ring around my right ring finger had been my own purchase, nearly two years ago. I had bought it to match the rest of the outfit, a tiny Celtic knot with a green fleck in the middle. At the price I had paid for it, it was probably glass or crystal, but it was too small for it to really matter anyway, just the smallest hint of color in the middle of the silver. It made my hands look more delicate to have a ring on. I normally didn’t wear one.
I’d brought a change of clothes, as well as my weapons with me. Right now all I wore was my silver knife in its ankle sheath, for once hidden in the long folds of the dress.
The bar and grill was all but empty at 5ph and a full hour before dusk plus another before full dark. There were two tables full. Six college students, three boys, three girls, sat around one of the larger tables. They shared fries and cheese sticks and talked loudly. Their laughter filled the place and made it seem safer than it would in a few hours with the vamps roaming the room. The only other clientele was a young pair with a baby, sitting in the back and talking quietly over desert. They’d probably be long gone before full dark.
Logan was sitting at the counter, talking quietly to the bartender. He glanced up as I walked it. He looked human enough; the couple in the back probably didn’t know they were sharing the place with a vampire. Maybe the college students didn’t know either, although college kids were more used to picking up on such things.
He wore a black silk dress shirt and a pair of black slacks, probably both bought off the rack. Very simple, no adornments, but he looked nice. Logan broke off his conversation and stood. He held out a hand for me.
“Sarah, you look absolutely beautiful.” I let him take my hand and he graced the back of it with a kiss. His skin was chilled still. Big surprise. I wouldn’t have expected him to have fed by now. Still, he must have eaten well yesterday to look so human so early after getting up. Vampires weren’t dead, they just weren’t always alive on the same levels as humans were, like during the day.
“Thank you Logan. So what do we have going on?”
“Can I get you a drink or some food? The camera man is still setting up.”
“Apple juice.” I said, allowing him to help me up to the barstool. Normally I wasn’t this touchy, particularly with vampires. But the ankle length full skirt was a novelty to me and I didn’t want to tear the delicate lace dress by stepping on it while I climbed onto the stool.
The bartender sent to the kitchen for apple juice. Logan sat back down next to me. He reached his hand up and fished an earring out of my hair with one slender finger.
“You know how to dress for what you look like. Not many girls can do that anymore. They all dress how they want to look and do not care if it clashes with themselves.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” We sat in silence until my juice came and for ten minutes afterwards. Finally a young man, maybe 24ish came to Logan’s elbow and spoke a few brief words with him. The young man looked nervous. He had big brown eyes and an open face with just a hint of a five o’clock shadow on his face. Logan stood and offered me his hand again.
“Shall we? Mat here tells me he is all set up. He is a photo major at the top of his class. He said it should only take about an hour or so. Would you like to get something to eat afterwards?” He asked. I shook my head.
“No, I have to be at work by 8 tonight and was hoping to catch Nathaniel before then.”
“I know just where he’ll be.”
“At Last Exam I’d assume.”
“Not tonight, or at least, not right after dark.”
“Logan, I really don’t have the time or the wish to go have you watch me eat dinner.”
“Very well, but Nathaniel is going to be a L’Ranchenos tonight. He has a meeting at 8 and was planning on going there earlier, taking his three girls to dinner I think.”
“Why do I always feel like they plan meeting when they know Eric and I will both be in the office?”
“It’s not always purposeful.” He replied. Which meant that sometimes the meetings were planned with that in mind. I wasn’t sure why I’d be given that tidbit of information, but I’d remember it in case I ever needed it.
“Does he, sleep with all three of them?” I normally didn’t do gossip, particular bedroom gossip, but it was actually in my job description to know if any vampires had a steady sleeping partner. Logan laughed and shook his head.
“Vampires rarely bed the people they drink from regularly, can have complications.”
“Like more vampires.” I muttered.
“Since that is illegal in this county, and vampires don’t do such things by accident, I seriously doubt Nathaniel touches any of them.”
“Good.” I nodded firmly.
Vampirism wasn’t as contagious as some of the legends made it but it wasn’t that difficult to be turned either. It is a type of disease, or at least infection, and is transmitted via saliva. The saliva is what makes the wound hurt less and heal sooner, but it carries the taint of vampirism. A normal, healthy human body makes antibodies against it and no harm other than a loss of blood.
But vampires also carry a protein that disables that particular antibody production. A human infected with vampire blood wouldn’t be able to produce the necessary antibodies. If you couldn’t produce the antibodies and were infected with the saliva you would turn.
It wasn’t just the blood though. Vampirism was contagious through the salvia; anything else just infected you with the disabling protein. So having sex with a vampire before you were bit was enough to turn most people, particularly with a male vampire.
Theoretically even tears were enough. I was pretty sure that was a vampire myth, but since I’d never heard of anyone ingesting or injecting vampire tears I wasn’t sure. Normally it was blood or semen.
Most doctors compared vampire blood to AIDs. It didn’t kill you but it lowered the defenses so something else could, vampire saliva in this case. It hadn’t officially been termed a disease, but it had been termed incurable.
Each vampire’s saliva and blood were different. You could ingest blood from vampire A and then be bit by vampire B and not be turned, most of the time. It was medically known that some vampires shared the same strand, but normally it mutated even between sire and offspring.
Given the right circumstances the bite alone would be enough to turn someone. Vampirism was ramped in parts of Africa. In some places in Africa the number of HIV positive cases had risen to nearly 1 in 5 before the war. In certain small demographics that had been estimated as 1 in 3 by the end of the war.
HIV positive cases statistically had a 50-60% chance f contracting vampirism from the bite alone. An AIDs patient had a 100%. But vampires didn’t get AIDs, and it wiped out the disease if it was already there. Several parts of Africa had napalmed whole cities trying to rid itself of a vampire population that suddenly numbered in the hundred thousands.
The old bloods and the ancients had agreed with the extermination. Vampires didn’t turn very many people and most of them were afraid that with that kind of out of control population vampires would spread too quickly, would decimate the food source. Vampirism had suddenly become a cancer, and vampires can’t feed on other vampires.
Today Africa had a standing bounty on vampires, something like $100 a head. Not much here, but to an impoverished place like Africa people tried, and sometimes succeeded.
I guess it didn’t surprise me that the vampire community in America was actually obeying the no turning law, for the most part. They knew we’d reinstate our bounty if they didn’t.
It did take nearly an hour to do pictures. Mat had several sets with backdrops and props and we took several poses of each, plus some on black and white film. I felt like I was taking senior pictures all over again.
I’d graduated from high school at the ripe old age of 11, looking 20 of course. Mom had insisted I get pictures taken so I’d have something to swap next year as a college frosh. Actually most of the pictures hadn’t been handed out until senior year of graduate school. But they all did. I had a scrapbook of senior pictures and Polaroid’s from all 6 years of college friends.
Maybe someday I’d appreciate these too. By the time we were done I was feeling like I darn well better or else I was going to wring Logan’s neck. I was sore from all that posing and holding still. Perched on a tall stool held up by tiptoes and one hand may look pretty in a picture but it’s nasty to hold for ten minutes.
“For all this I better get copies of these.” I told Logan as I stretched. “Finished?” I asked Mat.
“You were great. Hey, do you suppose I could keep your name? I’ve got a final project coming up soon that I need models for.”
I started to say no, another obligation was the last thing I needed. But I stopped myself. It would be nice being around people my age when I wasn’t on the job. I nodded.
“Sure. I’ll give you my number. I’m pretty busy so I don’t know what good it’s going to be.” I told him as I strapped my knife back on. I’d been convinced to take it off for some of the shots that it showed.
I’d planned on leaving it on regardless, but Mat and Logan had united. They were right, it did look tacky. Still, I’d felt completely unarmed. I didn’t realistically think Logan was going to attack me and had anyone else tried to come in the locked door I could have gotten to the knife in time.
Mat fished a piece of paper for me to write my name and phone number down for him. AS soon as that was finished I snagged my backpack of clothes and weapons and headed to the bathroom.
By now full dark had just descended in earnest and the place was packed with people waiting for the first vampire to appear. It was Thursday; at least I thought it was Thursday. The college district was going to be a mess tonight. Tomorrow and Saturday would be worse but a lot of kid made sure they had few to no classes on Fridays so the could get a jump start on the weekend.
I was glad I didn’t have patrol tonight, but I was pretty sure I’d have it tomorrow, which was worse. On the other hand as long as no one acted up it could be fun. If everyone behaved themselves maybe all we’d have was a police report or two of homeless people not remembering how they got bit in the poorer side of town.
That was a pretty big if. Probably the vampires in the clubs would behave themselves; they were under orders to do so. Nathaniel didn’t want his people kicked off of a ready and willing food source.
But while Nathaniel was lord over the city problems still occurred. Maybe it would be an accident at a college or a club. Maybe it would be elsewhere, some vamp that had gone hunting for real, wanting the taste of terror. A lot of vampires figured they could feed like that as long as they killed the victim. Unfortunately they were often right. Without the cooperation of the vampire community tracking down a rogue vampire was next to impossible unless there were some really obvious clues.
It wasn’t like we could measure the bites and consult some database. Although that had been tried in England. It had caused more problems than solutions. They hadn’t been nearly as unique as they had hoped.
A vampire’s fingerprint was unique, and even the same before and after being turned. But they had very few oils on their skin so they didn’t leave fingerprints very often. Find a vampire victim and we were reduced to early 1800’s detective work. Which was why Eric and I worked so closely with the police force and the vampire community. In a lot of ways it was much easier to give a little to the vampires to keep they generally happy than to truly police them, particularly after a crime had been committed.
I returned to Logan armed and in more practical clothing. My black jean shorts, black tank top, and a red velvet button up shirt that doubled as a light jacket. Since I wasn’t on patrol tonight I’d left the more dressy fashionable clothes at home along with the silver jewelry. Knife, gun, UV flashlight, and silver powder. I was set. I’d left my hair down but I had a hair band around my wrist. I would put it back in a ponytail later.
“Well, you look more normal again.” Logan said when I rejoined him. I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by it so I ignored it.
“You said L’Rancheros?” I asked, flipping keys in and out of my hand.
“Yeah, and he should be there by the time you get there. Can I catch a ride?” Logan had a car, he’d given me a ride in it early this week, but it rarely seemed to be in the same place he was.
“Can’t you get there quicker by yourself?” I asked. Vampires couldn’t truly fly, at least, not that I’d seen. Some could levitate, but not much. Most of them could move very fast. Not even a vampire could give me a decent description of how they just went from one place to another like nothing else could. They called it moving in shadows, but I’d never seen one have to stop and walk across an un-shadowed area so I was pretty sure that was a little bit of a stretch to impress humans. Logan shrugged.
“I could. But I’m hungry and I don’t feel like expending the energy like that until I eat something.” I looked at him for a moment then shook my head with a small laugh. “What?” He said.
“It just seemed like such a human thing to say. Like saying your tired or lost or something.” I had stopped laughing but a big smile remained on my face, I wasn’t even sure why.
“Never heard a vampire say they were tired?”
“A few times, but never the way I’d say it, mean it. Always like depressed tired, wore out.” I shrugged. “I also don’t hear you referring to yourself as vampires very often.” It was his turn to shrug.
“I’m a vampire, it doesn’t bother me. Does it bother you to refer to yourself as a half-breed?” He asked.
“Sometimes. But I was born that, nothing I could have done about it. Different with a vampire.” I replied.
“Not always.” He shook his head slightly. “Some vampires are pure bloods, some half-breeds, and not all human turned vampire were turned willingly.”
“Not many, very rare, and not very often.” I replied.
“Would you be more sympathetic towards a pure blood then someone who was turned? Or towards a half-breed or someone who was unwillingly turned?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe what?” He pressed. I thought about it for a moment. I’d never really thought about it. Heck, as far as I knew I’d never even met any of those categories. Course, there weren’t any obvious signs of them, so maybe I had and not realized it.
“I think I’d have more sympathy towards a half-breed or someone unwilling. I think I’d classify a pure blood as a monster born. No few years of humanity to balance them monster. But at the same time, I think I’d have a grudging respect for them if all they did was hunt to feed. Predator instead of monster.” I answered truthfully; if I was going to answer I might as well tell the truth. He’d know if I didn’t anyway.
“Do you really think all vampires are monsters?” His blue eyes were soft and very real. I was beginning to like him too much. With everything going on I realized I had gotten closer to a few of the vampires recently. I was trying to heal from my mother’s brutal murder, these were not who I should be being friendly around though. I made myself lock eyes, green with blue.
“You’re a creature out of nightmare Logan. A nightmare may begin pleasantly enough, or you might manage to hide from the monster for a while. But sooner or later he’ll come back. Vampires are monsters Logan, and you’re a vampire. I don’t think I’m going to the restaurant. You’ll have to find another ride.” I said and then turned and left. It hurt something inside me to say it, but it was true, it had to be.
Logan showed more emotion on his face than any almost any vampire I’d ever met, but as I turned his face was blank. A mask as perfect as Nathaniel’s. I hoped he couldn’t smell or sense the tremor of fear that shuddered up my spine at the brief glance I got of those dead masked eyes. It was probably too much to hope for. I wondered if he’d liked it.
Chapter Five

It was close to 5 am, Friday morning, and I was fumbling with my keypad to my door. I’d input my code two times and it had read invalid.
I would have sworn I wasn’t mistyping it. 3,6,2,1 invalid. That was the third time. If it read out invalid again my burglar alarm was going to go off. I tried to remember how long it took to reset its count, half an hour? I’d rather have some uniform at my door in ten minutes to reset the bloody code than wait half an hour and still not have it work. These things were not supposed to do this. They were suppose to be no-hassle, no keys to loose, no lock to pick. If it didn’t let me in I was replacing it with a dead bolt! 3,6,2,1 welcome.
Welcome, not invalid. I opened my door before it changed its mind. I’d complain to my landlord this afternoon.
Halfway in my door I stopped dead in my tracks. My white carpet had blood on it. With the weak little light from the hall I couldn’t tell anything but that. My foot had stopped short of its step and had hunched with the other on my doorstep. If I’d taken that full step I’d have planted my foot right into that dark stain. Instead I’d stepped on something else, parchment. It had been shoved in between the door and the frame. It had cut off the sensor that told my keypad the door was shut. Which explained its misbehavior. To reprogram these locks you had to have the door open, and it read invalid as you did it. I’d just reprogrammed my door to the same code. Go figure.
Rather belatedly I pulled out my gun and pointed it into the darkness of my home. I stepped carefully around the blood. Not just the blood, the blood circle. My eyes were adjusting.
“Lights on.” They blazed on. I hadn’t left them on that high. “Lights, 60%” I said. The lights agreeably darkened to a more comfortable brightness. I checked my housefirst, taking mind to go far around the blood circle in the living room. When I was sure I was alone I opened the piece of parchment. I wasn’t all that surprised when a red sun with French words bordering it met my eye. At least it had been done in red ink, not blood.
I pulled out my cell phone and pressed 2, police station on speed dial. After I told themt o send a crime scene squad over I called Eric, number 1 on my speed dial. I needed a social life. I go his answering machine.
“Hi, this is Eric Valley please leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you.” How original.
“Eric, pay backs a pain, pick up the phone, I know you’re home.”
“This had better be more than paybacks Sarah.” His voice was thick with sleep, you couldn’t have been home for more than an hour and a half.
“You know it is.” I told him. He groaned.
“I take it back. I’d prefer paybacks, that would mean I could go back to sleep.”
“Sorry boss. I got what looks like a faerie blood circle on my living room floor. Heavily gylphed. Sun will be up in less than two hours. I need a translation by then or we’ll lose it.”
“Take a picture.” He suggested.
“CSI are on their way. I am not going to sleep until I know what this is doing here.”
“It will be harmless at dawn.”
“Get your butt out of bed Eric, this is my living room. Bloody Sunrise was in my home. Now get over here or I’ll send the nice lycanthrope down the hall to collect you.” I threatened. There really was a lycanthrope that lived down the hall from me. Pleasant fellow really, owned a pig-slaughtering house that was strictly closed the day before and after the full moon.
Apparently he was real popular with the rest of the lycanthrope community. Hunting pigs in a warehouse wasn’t as fun as deer in a forest but when the closest forest with anything bigger than a rabbit was a ways away I guess one made allowances. The pains of living in the big city.
Eric knew it was a mainly empty threat. I would hardly go stir a man I barely knew out of bed at 5 am just to send him on a fetching trip. But he grumbled and told me he’d be over soon. I refused to feel bad. It wasn’t my fault that Bloody Sunrise had invaded my home. At least, I didn’t think it was.
The cops got there first. I told them not to touch the circle, not to step in it or on it. Told them not to use any UV flashlights or flashbulbs. I even let them turn the lights back up.
They were still flashing pictures and taking very careful samples of the blood, with inert plastic instruments, when Eric got there. He looked at the circle then up to me. I was sitting on the couch sipping a lemon taudy, which was a fancy name for hot lemon water.
“Don’t suppose that’s coffee?” I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him. He looked down at the circle. The outer edges had a diameter of exactly 7’7”. The clear inside was exactly 5’7”. The significance had not been lost on me. The two-foot difference was covered in Faerie glyphs.
“Don’t suppose you have any coffee to make?” He asked.
“I can go get you some if you want, but I don’t have any here.”
“You’re offering to go get coffee?” He looked startled.
“I’m not going to be any good helping you translate it and sitting her staring at it isn’t doing any good.”
“Okay, you go get coffee.” He agreed. I picked up a pen and note pad that had been sitting near my phone. The four cops looked up at me, hopeful. I nodded.
I wrote down orders for all then collected money and left. When I got back one cop was swirling samples in vials. Another was out of sight and the last two were dusting for fingerprints. Eric was standing on my couch in stocking feet and writing in a notepad, muttering to himself.
I’d put up money for a double order so I was balancing ten cups of coffee in three four-cup trays.
“Coffee’s here. Eric, what are you doing?”
“Trying to get a better angle to read it. I don’t want to step inside the circle yet.” That made sense. I brought him his coffee. The cops had already collected their first cup, murmuring thanks.
“So what’s up?” I asked.
“So far all we got is faerie blood, the same type as the other crime scene.” Said the office swirling two vials.
“Same blood.”
“Can’t tell exact match until we take it to the real lab. Same type of faerie is all I can tell you.” I nodded, I was betting it was Elise’s blood.
“Your living room is bare of prints, there are barely any of yours in here.”
“I don’t spend that much time in here.”
“We’re still checking the rest of the house, but it looks clean.”
“You have a freaky bedroom.” Called the last cop from in there. I couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s clean though, I’m checking the bathroom.” Eric glanced up from his translation.
“Do I want to know?” He asked. I’d forgotten he’d never actually been in my house before. I smiled slightly.
“You can look later, no big secret or anything.”
“Beautiful entertainment center by the way.” The out of sight cop called. Eric cast me another glance, then shook his head.
“And you complain about not getting enough overtime pay.”
“I complain about it because I work the hours not because I need the money. So it’s your turn, what do you got?”
“A big mess.” He grumped and sat down on the couch.
“Could you be a bit more precise?”
“I can give you a straight translation but it’s not going to make much sense.”
“First tell me what it’s for.”
“It’s a containment circle, actually it’s a binding circle.”
“A binding circle? I’ve never heard the term.”
“I’ve never seen one, they’re considered too powerful to fully control unless you are very, very specific, which is what all these glyphs are for. It’s also considered redundant by every faerie I’ve ever spoken to about them.”
“Great, so what’s a binding circle?”
“A containment circle allows whoever is in control of the circle to control whoever is bound by it.”
“Skip the preliminaries.”
“Okay, well a binding spell will only work on one person and only binds them to a very specific taste. Any order that doesn’t correspond to the binding circle is still within the person’s power to ignore.”
“Do you know who it’s for?”
“You I think.”
“Okay my faerie magic 101 might be a little rusty but I’m pretty sure I remember that containment and control spells/circles only work on non-humans. Are binding spells different?” He shook his head at me. “So what, this elaborate mess is just to scare me?”
“You’re not human Sarah.” He held up his hands before I could yell at him. “You may not be non-human, and the government considers you human but if you touched that blood circle you’d be bound to whoever is controlling it. Don’t kill the messenger all right?” I still wanted to yell at him, but I gave him an angry nod instead and motioned him to continue. “I can read you a direct translation of what it says, but I’m going to have to consult with Amanda on it before I can give you a proper translation.” Amanda was the head faerie in the area and Eric had known her for just shy of ten years now.
“Just read what you got.” I edged around the circle to the dinning room. I wanted another lemon taudy.
“Behold, the daughter or night and flesh shall be revealed for she is. No daughter of blood is she. Sire of night not blood. Her blood is death not sleep. Blood as weapon. Bloody Sunrise will hunt. Hunt will kill. Blood of night and flesh in Bloody Sunrise will kill. That which is impossible will stop night and blood. Sunrise will prevail with daughter of night and flesh.” He finished with a disgusted look. “Gibberish. Although I think we can assume you are supposed to be the daughter of night and flesh.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“I read you the specifics of the bindings. The circle starts with, ‘bind Sarah Dawn La’Croix’. It’s the part right here that isn’t glyphs; it’s simple faerie script. Makes the spell a little bit more difficult to close, but since they already closed one using English so I don’t think they would be bothered by that detail.”
“No faerie glyphs for names huh?” I said half sarcastically.
“Only for traditional faerie names.” He motioned to the circle. “I think it’s safe to expose this now. UV lights will work but I’d suggest real sunlight once it’s up.”
“Are you sure it’s safe to expose?” I asked. He frowned at me.
“I don’t know, no, not sure, but as sure as I can be.”
“Eric, find out. It’s not too early to call someone. You got a phone number for Amanda?”
“You got a phone?” He asked. I pointed to the kitchen counter and he picked up the headset with a shake of his head. “I didn’t know they made these anymore.” He grumped as he dialed the number. I didn’t bother answering. It had been pretty difficult for me to find a store that still carried them.
I didn’t want to ease drop on his conversation. It might be work related but he was calling a friend at 6:17 am. I’d yet to meet a faerie that slept more than 3 or 4 hours a day, but maybe 6:17 fell within that time frame for Amanda. I wondered into my bedroom.
The cop had finished dusting for prints or other sighs of blood in the bathroom and was back in my bedroom. He had leaned close to the wall, hand fingering one of the pieces of raised bamboo, eyes fixed on the painting. The lights were blazing bright. But they had been in the living room too so my eyes were as adjusted as they were going to get.
“You like?” I asked.
“It’s unbelievable. This must have cost an arm and a leg.” He stepped back and shook his head.
“It was worth it.” I said. “You should see it in the candle light.”
“I don’t understand how you can sleep in this room. Although all the stuffed tigers make it a bit more friendly.” He glanced up at the bed. Right then it hung about two feet from the ceiling, a good six feet from the floor. “Is that the bed?” He asked. He was over six feet tall so he could see the bedding and animals on the bed if he craned his neck up.
“Yeah, had it special made.” I nodded. He pointed to the ceiling and gave me a questioning look. “It’s up for the day, or night as my schedule goes. It hands, sets about three feet off the floor when I sleep.”
“My kid would kill for something like that.” His voice sounded almost wistful.
“I can get you the name of the guy who made it. Wasn’t any more expensive than a good normal bed. The mechanism in the ceiling that raises and lowers it actually cost more.”
“How much?” He asked, reaching up to finger the bed, seeing how comfortable it was I suppose.
“$300 for the bed, that included the mat and the feather cover, and nearly $700 for the mechanism, most of which was labor costs.” I told him. He whistled.
“Sure, give me the name. I bet I could install it myself, or find a way to do it cheaper.” He told me. I nodded and went to see if I still had a business card.
By the time I’d found it in the pile of papers in my bottom dresser drawer Eric was walking in. He looked around the room for a long moment while I handed the business card to the cop. A slow smile spread across Eric’s face.
“I keep forgetting how young you are.”
“What’s that have to do with this?”
“This is the bedroom of a rich college kid.”
“I’m 20 Eric, I graduated from graduate school at 18.”
“I know I just don’t get very many reminders.”
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah, I do. It’s a little off the beaten path, but I bet it looks real neat with the candles lit. Still, I wouldn’t want to sleep with them watching me.” He motioned around the room. “But then I don’t get the point of the hanging bed or all the reed mats.” He grinned at me then. “I bet the lycanthrope down the hall likes this room.”
“He’s never seen it.”
“You should let him.”
“I’ll consider it. What about Amanda?” I asked. He sighed.
“Amanda wants to keep the sun off of it, don’t expose it. She’ll be here as soon as she can. She wants to see it for herself.”
“She’s coming?”
“Yep, you’ll soon be entertaining a faerie noblewoman.”
“A high court faerie?” Asked the cop still in the room with us.
“High court.” Eric agreed. “And highest ranking faerie in this town.”
“Which means more powerful.” I input.
“Indeed.” Came a soft feminine voice. I jumped and spun about.
Amanda stood in my bedroom doorway. I hated it when they did that. She was still in faerie form. I’d never seen anything but her human form before, but I still recognized her. A faerie from the high court she was.
Her feet didn’t quite touch the floor. Amanda’s skin was normally a pale Irish tone, now it shone and seemed to glitter. She was swathed head to below feet in billowing nearly see-through robes and wraps and veils. All pale shades of white, blue, and green. A silver circuit shone on her forehead and looked the only solid thing about her. The air about her seemed to shimmer with sunlight, the type of sunlight found in small clearings in a bright wood with water just out of sight. The sunlight caught in the robes and they shimmered like they were of the finest silk, interwoven with silver and gold thread. There was a warm breeze that wove through it all, setting the cloth to movement and blowing bits of gold hair through the veil over her head and face.
There was so much power emanating from her I probably could have passed my hand right through her. I didn’t think she was very firmly in this reality. I didn’t, that would have been a childish and rude gesture with even the weakest of faeries. Of course anything less than high court wouldn’t have been able to just appear inside someone else’s house who knows how far away.
Besides faeries didn’t like vampires, perhaps hate was a better word. Elise was the only faerie I’d ever met that didn’t include me in the group hatred. I tried to keep on the good side of faeries.
Slowly the power faded out of her until she stood there quite plainly. 5’4”, green-blue eyes, long gold hair just this side of being strawberry blonde. She looked in her late 20’s, maybe well preserved early 30’s, but there was something about her eyes that hinted at age and power.
I could tell a faerie by looking at them, feeling them. The first time I’d met Amanda I’d known she was high court. She had identified me as quickly, and disliked me with the first glance.
Eric made a graceful bow. I bent my knees a bit and bowed my head and shoulders. Had I been in a skirt it would have been a curtsy, in shorts it was just a humble showing of submission. The cop stood there looking startled.
Amanda frowned at me. I didn’t let it bother me. Faeries had a very defined knowledge of what was male and what was female. She would have frowned more had I bowed, shorts or no shorts.
“Welcome to my home Amanda.” I greeted her politely. I tried to stay away from faeries most of the time, but I’d had enough interactions to know I’d better be polite. Never tick off a faerie unless absolutely necessary. Even then it’s still a bad idea.
“I didn’t expect you so.” Eric said, advancing on her to take her now very human hand and kiss it.
“I wanted to see it before the sun rose. Even if you were able to shield it completely from the sun it still may have lost power or changed. Dawn does not always have to be seen to be felt.” Amanda watched me as she spoke.
“Is something wrong?” I asked. She shook her head.
“Nothing amiss. I have not seen you since you turned 20.” I didn’t really think Amanda meant to wish me a belated happy birthday. Particularly not a several months belated. But I didn’t’ know what to say, so I stayed silent.
She approached me then, gliding forward. Some faeries made a point to act human. Amanda didn’t strike me as one of them.
“Open your mouth half-breed.” Frankly I think I preferred Dawn to half-breed. I looked at her in curiosity. Open my mouth?
“Why?”
“Because I wish to see if you have blood fangs. You are past your 20th birthday. Your powers have finally matured. If you have been drinking blood to tap into all of them then you will have blood fangs.” She put a gentle hand on my cheek.
“I don’t drink blood.” I fought down my indignation.
“Then you won’t mind opening your mouth and letting me see your teeth little one.” She said it pleasantly enough, but there were hints of steel in her voice. She wanted her way, and she’d get it. I clenched my fists at my sides but politely opened my mouth. Never tick off a faerie and all. She pushed my lip up with her small hand and pressed at my canines. I guess blood fangs, whatever they were, were retractable.
Her hand fell away and she stepped back. She took Eric’s hand like she was used to holding it. Either Eric was more than just friends with her or she was just one of those touchy people.
“Let’s go see this blood circle.” She said as she and Eric left eh room. The cop scooted up beside me.
“Are all faeries like that?” He breathed.
“Never seen if before?” I asked. He shook his head. I wanted to say something smart but instead I just shrugged. “Some are. Amanda is very powerful and very, proper. Just act like you would around the governor, or perhaps the president is a better analogy.” I frowned slightly and followed the two quickly before I made the faerie wait. Not that I really though she would wait for me.
She hadn’t. Amanda was standing on the inside of the circle and peering down at the writing.
“Awkward hand.” She murmured. Eric agreed with her. “Let me see your translation.” He handed it over to her. She read it and then handed it back to him. “Your translation is correct.”
“But it doesn’t make any sense.” Eric said. “Would the spell work with so much gibberish?”
“It isn’t gibberish Eric, you simply don’t understand it.” Amanda turned those blue-green eyes to me. “Perhaps if the police are finished with their job you could dismiss them.” That had an ominous quality to it, but the police were finished. Besides, it wasn’t there job to deal with faeries and blood circles.
Amanda stayed silent while they left. The first soft brushes of dawn were starting to filter through the bottom of the curtains by the time they were headed out.
“Is that all right?” I asked. Amanda turned those eyes to me again. Did I mention she didn’t like me?
“I am here.” She said like that explained everything. Well, maybe it did. I didn’t fell like admitting it didn’t to me.
Once the three of us were alone she turned to me.
“Elise should have left you alone when I told her to.” She said.
“What does this mean?” Eric asked her.
“I would have expected you to have figured part of this out by yourself. What is the other translation for blood?” She asked Eric.
“Vampire.”
“Not precisely. Blood is a turned vampire.” Amanda corrected him. Eric frowned at her.
“I’d never heard that.”
“Perhaps you hadn’t. Night is also glyph for a pure blood vampire.”
“Then it is gibberish.” I stated. “Daughter of night and flesh. A half-breed can only come from a turned vampire. Pure bloods can’t impregnate humans.”
“ ‘That which is impossible.’” She quoted, looking right at me.
“Pure bloods and humans can not interbreed.” I said.
“She’s right Amanda.” Eric agreed with me.
“Silly humans, it can happen. Just so rarely that humanity doesn’t admit it, or perhaps never really knew. Whoever your sire is half-breed he was never human.”
“I have a name.” I told her.
“Yes, you do. Sarah Dawn. Sarah to humans, Dawn to vampires. I know this half-breed.”
“Enough of this. We have no reason to believe you Amanda, what you suggest is impossible.”
“The realm of non-human has never needed human permission to exist, nor human understanding.”
“I’m human.” I virtually spit it out, remembering Eric’s earlier pronouncement. I’d had lots of people call me non-human or monster before. But never people I counted as friends, and never before an actual non-human. Amanda watched me calmly for a minute then held out one hand.
Something thrummed though every nerve in my body. It didn’t hurt, not really, but it was unnatural, wrong. I fell to my knees with a ragged gasp.
“Faerie glamour can affect humans, but only glamour. Nothing else of my powers can touch a human. I hold you in my powers, like I could hold a weaker faerie, like I could hold a weaker vampire.” I was on my hands and knees now, and her power flared over me. Her human form was drifting away with the effort. Eric stood like one too shocked to do anything. “I can not control a normal half-breed. Too much human. But you are a true half-breed. Daughter of night and flesh, you are an abomination.”
“Eric!” I gasped out.
“He can not see you half-breed; he can not hear you.” That was it, she was attacking 2 sirens now. I went for my gun. I wasn’t entirely sure I could reach it, or if the silver bullets would do any damage against her, but I had to try.
The movement caused me to fall flat on my face, but I felt the grip of my gun in my hand. Felt my palm close about it.
“If you truly think you are human little half-breed then touch the circle. Reach out and touch the blood. The circle will only catch the true daughter of night and flesh, of pure blood vampire and human decent. And it can only catch a non-human.”
And she was right. I was terrified of touching that circle. It pulled at me like a thing alive. Like a cliff pulls at you and gives you the feeling of falling when you are standing firm. I knew it would catch me. Bloody mess. I wasn’t any more bloody human than she.
It should have rocked me to the floor. It should have torn something fundamentals from me. It didn’t. It ticked me off.
If I wasn’t human than I should b able to defend myself against her. Okay so she was faerie with several millennia of life and I was a half-breed 20 years old, but I should still be able to do something.
Only I’d never done anything like this before in my life. No, that wasn’t true. I kept vampires out of my mind. I pushed at her power. It was the only word for it.
A shocked look came over her face and her power flared around her. She lost human form entirely. For a moment I saw her outlined in all her radiance. Just before all that power washed over me like an ocean I fired at her. I really didn’t have time to aim. I had the gun pointed roughly in her direction and I pulled the trigger. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had been aiming directly at her heart. All the bullets could do were distract her. Silver wouldn’t have a chance of touching her in the ethereal realm.
I pulled the trigger. I don’t remember it clicking empty. All I remember was a blinding flash of power like a tidal wave hitting me. Never tick off a high court faerie.
When I woke up the sun had been up nearly three hours. My drapes were thrown back. The blood circle was gone like it never had been. Eric was gone as well. For a moment I wondered if I had dreamed it.
No, no dream. My gun was in my hand, the chamber clicked back, empty. Most of the bullets had made neat holes in the walls. Only the fact that this was an apartment facing the outside, that my outside wall was plaster over concrete had kept the bullets from exiting and continuing. Silver bullets weren’t meant to go through walls.
No, I could have fired in my sleep. I’d never done that before, but then, I’d never slept with a gun still on my person. Eric, Eric had been here.
I scrambled to my feet to get to my phone. I didn’t make it. There was a micro recorder on my counter next to the phone. I didn’t own one. I snagged it. Play. Amanda’s cool voice filled my head.
“You didn’t dream what you remember half-breed. It all happened as you remember.” Her voice held a slight hint of amusement at that last, stronger when she continued. “Although for someone who is supposed to be an ‘expert’ on non-humans.” There was a soft chiding sound. “Silver bullets on a high court faerie in full ethereal form?” Her voice grew serious again. “Do not bother Eric about this morning, he remembers nothing. The police remember coming to investigate a break in, finding no clues and nothing gone you decided not to press charges. You and I know what truly happened, what you truly are little half-breed. Life is sacred to me so I will not kill you. You are not an immediate danger to me. But I would shed no tear is you died and I will not protect you. However, if Bloody Sunrise captures you many lives will be lost because of it. Even if it will be vampires who die I cannot let so many die when a word of warning may save them. Bloody Sunrise wants you, badly. Protect yourself any way you can. Know this; your human friends like Eric and the police cannot and likely will not be protection. If they knew what you w3ere the government may use you for more deaths than even Bloody Sunrise. So I can not suggest telling them your little secret.” She paused. “The Faerie I hold sway over will not offer you aid, and I doubt any will. What you are is written across the ethereal plane as bright as a sun now that you have admitted it and come to the first fruits of your power. Beware whom you tell of your sire’s race. Some will find you too dangerous to let live.” With that the recorder clicked off, at the end of its message.
I swore in French. I don’t normally swear, in face I normally avoid it if at all possible. Sometimes, however, it is appropriate.
I tried to think of what to do, but my head was swimming. Half-breed I was used to. My mother married to a man that had been born human and had become a vampire. A half-breed was human. They couldn’t control non-humans less powerful than themselves, couldn’t’ be controlled by non-humans more powerful. They might share a few odd characteristics with non-humans, but that didn’t make them non-human. It was the human part of their turned sire that had allowed a pregnancy to take place.
Most vampires were infertile towards humans. But on some the right parts still worked in a human way. Genetically speaking ‘half-breeds’ were fully human.
What had she called me? A true half-breed. It had been nothing human that had sired me. I was truly as much vampire as I was human then.
This morning it had ticked me off. Now it shook me. I wasn’t a monster. Nothing I did was monstrous. The only time I killed was state issued executions. Heck, I didn’t even kill animals since I ate no meat. I wasn’t mean. I had friends.
What did it truly matter if my father had been a true vamp? It didn’t, it couldn’t. I’d never even met the man. What I was born as could not make me a monster.
And Logan’s blue eyes stole into my mind. My own words tumbled through my head. Monster born, I’d said. And I’d believed it.
Was there a difference? I wanted to say yes. Wanted to say that I was only half vampire. That humanity a born vampire lacked at birth I had though my human mother. But even my own mind didn’t believe it. Not really. Not enough to stop the churning in my gut.
I heaved but my stomach was empty. I heaved until I wept. Or perhaps I was weeping anyway. I needed to talk to someone. I crawled towards the phone.
“Good morning Sarah, time to wake up.” My computer’s cheery voice spoke loudly. “Wake up Sarah.” It repeated.
“Shut up!” I screamed at it. It ignored me and kept repeating its wake up call. Shut up was not a command it was programmed to respond to. “Shut up!” I yelled again. Yelling helped. I shouted at my computer a few more times. Yeah, that made me feel better. I hit the floor. That was good too. I hit the carpet as hard as I could. Carpet and a thick pad I could still feel the concrete underneath, it still send shock waves up my arm. Good. I’d stopped crying. For a while longer I sat on the floor and breathed.
“I’m awake.” I finally told my computer. My throat hurt from yelling.
“Good morning Sarah. Perhaps you should adjust my volume. It took you 4.2 minutes to wake this morning.” The computer voice was so normal, just like it was every day.
“No, that’s all right.” I stood and went to my bathroom. Looking in the mirror the same face stared back at me that had yesterday. A little tear stained perhaps. I bared my teeth. There were still smooth and even white. No elongated canines. No vampire fangs with their hallow tube to pull blood into the mouth. My teeth were all solid, even, white. I stripped off my shirt and pants and stared at my nearly naked form in the mirror. My veins still showed living blood in thin blue lines behind pale skin. No marbleized alabaster that hid the withdrawn, smaller veins of a vampire. There was nothing different about me. Nothing. I laughed.
I was still me. I was still exactly the same as I had been before I knew. I saw that like waking from a bad dream. Okay, I didn’t like the news, and I’d need to do some thinking, and I definitely owned Logan an apology. But I’d lived every day since my birth with the same truth about me. I just hadn’t known. Knowing didn’t change me, not really. Yesterday I was the same person and I was today. Today I was the same Sarah Dawn La’Croix as I had been yesterday.
I wondered if Amanda had thought I’d have a protracted bout of hysterics and a major breakdown. If she had I was going to be happy to disappoint her. If my birth made me a non-human than I’d been one since my birth. If my sire made me a monster, ditto. But I’d done pretty well for myself in 20 years. I had a good job, a good house, and a good education. Whatever I was I was pretty sure that meant I was going a fine job. And I could continue to do one. I smiled at myself in the mirror. Perhaps it was a little forced. Perhaps ignorance is bliss. But not all knowledge made a difference.
I looked in the mirror again. Calmed, at least mostly, and the same me or not I looked a mess. And I was exhausted. I don’t really think three hours of unconsciousness counted as sleep. My little bout of hysterics hadn’t helped matters.
I was tear-streaked, puffy eyed, and the knuckles of my hand had started to flush a spreading purple. That I expected. What I didn’t expect was the bone deep stiffness and the faint spreading of bruise over most of my torso. I had a feeling the stiffness and the faint bruise, like my torso had been dabbed with a pale purple sponge, was Amanda’s doing. The physical effects of having all that power throw at me. A vampire’s power could bruise or cut another non-human, I’d not know a faerie’s could until now. If the bruise deepened before it healed I was going to look like someone had rolled me in purple ink.
My computer chimed back in again telling me the date, temperature, and time. 10:15. It was programmed to give me the information 15 minutes after my wake up. 10 o’clock, 10 o’clock. I couldn’t remember.
“Computer do you have my schedule for today?” There was a brief pause. I had a plethora of commands programmed into the computer. More than most, but that was because I couldn’t work the stupid thing. So instead of bumbling around and making a mess trying to find something myself I’d had everything I could think of preprogrammed. Half the time it still didn’t work because I forgot exactly how to ask for things. The person who had done the programming had made it pick up key words in what I said instead of the whole phrase. It was helpful, but it made it just a tad slow.
“Yes.” It said. Okay, so I still couldn’t remember not to ask questions that could be interpreted as a yes or no question.
“What is my schedule for today?”
“11 a.m. appointment with Phyllis and Jeffery. 12 p.m. lunch meeting with lycanthrope representatives.”
“Okay, that’s enough. Thank you.” I was going to be late. I’d completely forgotten I had office work today. So sue me. “Computer contact my office, message three.” I hit the shower.
Amazingly I was only ten minutes late. Mr. Wagner, out office secretary, handed me my necessary papers as soon as I hit the door.
“I received your message Miss La’Croix. Miss Phyllis and Mr. Jeffery are in your office.” He didn’t look happy. He rarely did. He was one of those coke-bottle glasses bookworm types. Near fifty he called everyone by their last name, dressed in tweed with leather over the elbows, looked down his long nose at anyone who messed up his neatly planned schedule, and actually corrected people if they called him anything but a secretary. He was one of those people that probably had every second of his life planned out in some little book.
Message three which he had received via e-mail simply told him I was running lat and would be there as soon as possible. Please make my appointments comfortable and don’t reschedule anyone.