Shades of Red

by T L Christianson

  Chapter Thirteen

  I’d completely forgotten where we were or what had been going on since my Viking’s lips had touched my skin. When the car came to a stop in front of the Chronos building, I pulled away. His embrace loosened and I slid back into my own seat. Flustered, I finger combed my hair and straightened my shirt.

  Sten ran a hand through his own dirty blond hair and smiled at me.

  Parting ways in the lobby, I looked at my phone. There were 14 missed calls, 5 voice messages, and 29 texts.

  “Crap,” I muttered to myself, I hated getting behind. That would have to wait. I couldn’t deal with work things while my mind was full of my Viking and the Butcher. Instead, I took the computer disks I’d found in South Africa up to the IT department.

  When I entered, I noticed a rare human sitting at the reception desk. She sported a punk look with multi-colored chopped hair, several piercings, and black fingernails. Her clothes were a mix between fairy princess and goth.

  I took the box of disks from my bag and set it on the table. “Hi, I’m Dr. Shepard. I need to transfer the contents of these to a thumb drive or electronic file.”

  She eyed the old floppy disks and tapped her tongue ring against her teeth while she studied them. “Hmmm… I’ll give them to Fred.” She slid a form and large plastic sack over to me. “Here, fill this out and place them both inside.”

  I quickly scrawled out the necessary info for the disks. “You’re new, aren’t you?”

  She scowled, “I’ve been here for two years.”

  “Oh.” I pursed my lips; time moves differently to Moroi. “I haven’t been up here in a while.”

  “What department do you work for?”

  “Infectious Diseases.”

  She raised her penciled-in black brows at me.

  I wondered if she knew that she worked with vampires.

  Sealing the top of the bag so that the form was visible from the outside I told her, “Thanks…er…” Hesitating, I wondered if she’d tell me her name.

  “It’s Clem… Clementine.”

  I smiled, “Thank you, Clem.”

  She stood and picked up the bag. “I’ll give these to Fred.”

  I nodded and left. In the empty hallway, I pulled out my phone and texted Forest.

  After meeting back up with my Viking, we took the subway down toward the World Trade Center museum. Forest told us he’d meet us between the fountains.

  Sure enough, I almost didn’t recognize him. He wore low hanging baggy jeans, an oversized sports jersey and gold chains. A dew rag and backward hat completed the look.

  Sten recognized him first and strode toward the lanky PI.

  “Karsten, how are you?” Forest clasped his hand.

  “Forest!” I slugged him in the shoulder with my fist. “You bastard, I know you’re keeping shit from me.”

  Karsten took up a position between us. “Whoa, Sarah… easy.” Then he turned toward the P.I. “I think you know what she’s talking about. Let’s all sit down on the bench over there and have a chat.”

  Forest rubbed his shoulder and scowled at me. “You’re lucky I don’t hit women.”

  I glared at him behind Sten’s back. Yes, I know, it was very immature, but I was not in the mood to be messed with today.

  When we settled in on the bench, I could tell both men were paying attention to the tourists walking the area.

  Karsten spoke first. “We’ve been to Arkansas, and we saw them. You know a lot more than you’re telling us. We know Aurev is more involved in this. How long have you been watching the girl called Amy? What else aren’t you telling Sarah?”

  Forest sat between my Viking and me looking pale. “Look, man, I…”

  “Don’t.” Sten’s voice was almost a growl.

  “Ain’t nobody lived who crossed Aurev. Nobody!”

  Why was he scared? What did he know?

  I said softly, “We’re not trying to get you into any trouble. We just need to know what you’re keeping from us.”

  I locked eyes with him when he finally looked up.

  Forest’s gaze darted back down at his hands, and he fiddled with a sizeable gaudy ring he was wearing. “Nothin’ I ain’t tol’ you already.”

  Sten and I both spoke at the same time. “Who’s paying you?”

  “Is Aurev behind OVC?” I asked.

  He shook his head and tried to stand. The Viking pushed him back onto the bench.

  “Look, y'all shouldn’t be messin’ with this, yo.” He twisted his ring.

  I placed my hand on his arm, our skin tones contrasting.

  “Look, Forest, I’m trying to save lives. I’m trying to help people. I know you’re afraid, but only Karsten and I will know what you tell us.”

  He didn’t meet our gaze, and I wondered if he was going to keep quiet. His eyes looked glazed and his pulse was elevated. Forest was a Moroi like us, but he was scared.

  “If you’re afraid of Aurev... We won’t say a word to anyone.” Sten’s smooth voice was quiet and reassuring.

  “Shoot. I’m not naming any names, but I been working with some people from Chronos. I found him though,” he pounded his chest, “The Butcher, after reports of missing Moroi popped up in Oregon all them years ago. Then now, I knowed he in Arkansas ‘cause I gots some dudes watchin’ him all this time, but you showed up and spooked ‘um off.”

  My heart sank. “So, you don’t know where they’ve gone? The Butcher and Amy?”

  His elbows were resting on his knees, his fingers steepled in front of him. “Shoot! I know that bitch. Nah, they long gone. Aurev ain’t involved the way you think. Other than that, I ain’t saying shit.”

  Karsten gave me a look over Forest’s back.

  “Alright,” I said. “Here’s the rest of your money. I handed him the wad of cash, still wrapped in bank slips. “Thanks.”

  “Yeah, okay.” He told me begrudgingly as he quickly counted the cash. “I don’t want no trouble, ‘specially not with the New York Clan.”

  I nodded.

  I found myself sitting on an antique bench in the waiting room outside Aurev’s office. I’d been summoned, so I sat there perched on the delicate seat, hoping it would hold my weight.

  Usually, I stood near the window to look out over the city. However, Aurev’s personal assistant, Ms. Smith, a no-nonsense Moroi, knew of my proclivity to hover near her desk on my feet, and had pointed to the fragile piece of furniture and ordered me to sit.

  “It’ll be awhile, Dr. Shepard.”

  There I sat for almost three hours until Ms. Smith motioned me to go in.

  Closing my laptop, I gathered up my things. When I neared the large ancient double doors, a guard opened one for me to walk through.

  I’d known Aurev since I was a child and I’d never, ever feared him.

  Today was different.

  I’d learned that he might be behind the Moroi plague. Chewing my bottom lip, I tried to act casual as my steps led me across a large plush carpet.

  “Sarah.” His voice boomed.

  I sucked in a deep breath and looked out the floor to ceiling windows, then back at the ground.

  Slowly, my eyes made their way up the desk, over my boss’ neatly tailored pinstripe suit to his face. Aurev, the head of the New York Clan and Chronos Corporation, looked like a college student. He had a smooth pale face with large black eyes, a straight nose, and delicate rose petal lips. His black hair was groomed so that it stuck straight up in natural-looking waves, with the sides neatly trimmed.

  I thought of how silly I was to be afraid of what looked like a frat boy, but I could feel the power coming off him, and my courage faltered.

  “You said you needed to see me?” My voice sounded breathless.

  He eyed me and motioned to come toward him and take a seat in one of the modern chairs that sat across from him.

  “You… child.” The richness of his voice was soothing, and I relaxed minutely. “What has you so worked up?”

  Standing, he
approached and sat next to me in the matching chair.

  I blinked furiously. My mind warred with itself.

  Aurev had protected me–he’d always taken care of me. He’d paid for all my education, my homes, my vacations. He’d given me the best doctors Chronos had to offer so that I could have children when the human doctors told me no. But…

  Becoming a Moroi had taken me away from the man I’d loved, the children I’d always wanted, my home and my job in Colorado.

  It was rumored that Aurev could read minds.

  As a scientist, I knew how Moroi could mesmerize humans by altering their brain waves, but I didn’t think mind reading was possible.

  A sigh whooshed out of me, and I debated on what and how much I should tell him.

  “It appears that you found the check that I wrote to Amelia.”

  Startled, I looked up at my boss, who gave me a kind smile. “I–I did,” I stammered honestly.

  “I think that you found much more than I hoped but less than I would’ve liked.” He patted my knee in a fatherly manner. “Come now, Sarah, I’ve gone over the initial reports from Arkansas… And those from Johannesburg are coming in. The cryotank is being shipped frozen as we speak.”

  I needed to trust someone, and I knew Aurev had set this adventure into motion. If he’d really been behind the disease, then why would he have sent me to try to discover anything at all?

  “What was the check for?” I pulled the slip of paper out of my pocket and unfolded it, before handing it to him.

  “The disease had just been discovered, and I was trying to buy the cure.” He reached out and set the check on his polished desk, probably made out of some extinct, exotic wood. “I have known Khama’at, or Amelia, Amy as you know her, for a very long time. She’s more than twice as old as I am. She was made a Moroi during the 4th dynasty in Egypt.”

  “Ancient Egypt?” I sucked in a breath and then slowly let it out.

  Aurev shrugged. “Yes. Known as Amelia for the past few centuries, she’s preferred Amy in recent years.”

  I was dumbfounded. “So, the old man isn’t…?”

  “All we know is that Amy is involved.”

  After that, we fell back into our old comfortable conversation, and I ended up telling my Roman boss everything–the house in Johannesburg, the mum, the dog tag. Everything we discovered, everything that happened.

  Then, after I’d answered all his questions, I told him, “I kissed Karsten.

  Aurev’s mouth formed a thin line. “He’s supposed to be good at training new Moroi. I’m glad you like him, but try to keep your distance, okay?” Mournfully, I nodded. “According to his reports, you’ve improved.”

  “No, I attacked a guy in Johannesburg.” I reminded him.

  He waved away my concern. “No, no. He was already going to die. You stopped drinking? That’s good.”

  I made an exaggerated sigh and resigned myself to the fact that my boss just knew things like this. He had always known things.

  “I need to get better.”

  “You’ll get there.”

  The silence between us thickened, and I knew he was going to say something else that I wouldn’t like. When he finally did, I sighed.

  “You saw your children?” Thinking about Rebecca and Jackson made me weak, made me fearful. They were my Everest, the thing I’d wanted more than life itself, but…

  I pursed my lips before I said, “We watched them from the car…” I trailed off.

  “You should visit them more. I think… you’ll be ready soon.” His strong fingers hovered over my shoulder before they settled there.

  The fatherly concern in his ancient chocolate eyes pinned me down.

  I shook my head and bit my bottom lip, feeling like that scared fourteen-year-old again. “No… I… I don’t know.”

  “Don’t live your life in fear, Sarah.” He squeezed the back of my neck affectionately. “I have never known you to live in fear, and I won’t let you do it now. You’re strong.”

  I shook my head again. “I…”

  “Go to Texas now. Find the Butcher.” He took my chin in his hand, reminding me of when Karsten had done the same. “Out of every Moroi I know, you are the one that can get the antidote, if there is one.” Nodding, he let me go.

  When he stood, I knew my time with my boss was up.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I chewed my fingernail as I looked out the window. The air was heavy with humidity. We were in the hill country, outside of Austin, Texas. The green hills and live oak trees flowed past my window. It was a sharp contrast to the skyscrapers of New York that I was used to.

  “Sten,” I asked as I continued to look out my window.

  He answered, and I felt his gaze on me for a moment.

  I tore my eyes away from the rain dotted landscape. “If we catch Amy this time, don’t let her go.”

  The corner of his mouth quirked up, and he laughed. “You think?”

  I punched his shoulder playfully and chuckled. “Yes, but I think you’d already figured that out.”

  I pulled into a small isolated Bar-B-Q restaurant parking lot and turned the engine off. “This is the location of the last three phone calls made from the cell number I found.”

  We got out and looked down the two-lane farm road. The morning was warming up with hot Texas sun. Two lone cars were parked in the back of the lot, and we could smell the smoke from a hickory smoker on the other side of the building.

  “The calls were made at all hours.” He said.

  “Do you think they’re in a cave again?” I asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine.” We wandered around and searched for scent trails, but there’d been so many people through the area that we couldn’t pick out Amy or the Butcher.

  “This is what I’m thinking…” We sat down at a picnic table, and I looked up at Sten as he tapped his knife on the table while speaking. “See that bank of trees near the river? Let’s set up camp there and wait it out. Sooner or later, someone’s going to make a call with that mobile phone. Then we follow them if they’re in sight or go to the location of the call.”

  After we’d moved the rental car, we hiked back up into the woods. Karsten set up camouflage nets around our camp. The underbrush was thick, so our shelter was small. Whacking at some bushes, I sat next to Sten.

  He handed me a bottle of water from his pack. I took it and smiled.

  “So,” I looked around. “I’ve never done a stakeout. Have you done this before?”

  He grunted and looked across the field to the empty restaurant. For a moment I wondered why he didn’t have binoculars, then I almost slapped my forehead. He was Moroi. We didn’t need them.

  It was hot, and a bead of sweat ran from his hairline down his face. He’d spotted something, or someone. Quietly, I alternately watched him and the building. There was nothing there.

  Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “What are you looking at?” I whispered.

  “Look, to the left. Look at the parked car.” Sten spoke so low that I could barely hear him.

  “Yeah.”

  “Tell me what you see.”

  “Oh, people are in it.”

  “Moroi are in it, and not just any Moroi, they are soldiers.”

  “What?” I reached out to move a branch for a better view when he caught my hand.

  “Don’t. They’re trained. They’ll see us.”

  My breath caught in my throat, and I pulled my hand back. “What are they doing here?”

  “Same thing as us, but not nearly as stealthily.”

  “They don’t expect other Moroi?”

  “They don’t expect competition. They’re hitmen.”

  My lips twisted and I grunted. “Well… one hitman and one hitwoman. How do you know they’re hitmen and not just scouting it out like us?”

  Sten crouched near me, and resting his head next to mine, he raised his finger and pointed. “Look, what is in the car?”

  “Shit!” He immedia
tely hushed me. “Is that a…”

  “Yes, keep your voice down. They probably have more weapons.”

  The barrel of a long rifle sat between the two.

  “Why are they so close?”

  “They’re scouting the area. My guess is that they… yep there they go.” The car’s idling turned into a purr as the grey car backed out and drove up the farm road. “They’re going to each take a position and snipe the Butcher.”

  “Do you think they know he’s human?”

  “They’ll think he’s Moroi, and use silver coated hollow bullets.”

  I cringed. I’d had a silver bracelet, and after I’d been changed, I picked it up, and it burned my fingers. I couldn’t even imagine a piece of silver inside my body. I shivered.

  “Will it kill them? Oh no, are they Chronos? They can’t be Chronos.” I deflated thinking about all the research I had yet to find.

  “A silver bullet to the head will kill a Moroi, no they’re not Chronos, and I’ll take them out before they can do anything.”

  His warm hand lingered on my bare upper arm, and I felt that fluttering sensation deep in my belly. Placing my hand over his, I looked up into his mismatched eyes.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked.

  “I’m going to take them out, hold on, stay here.” Turning, and after loading up with extra ammunition, he fitted his gun with a silencer. Patting down a few of the pockets on his tactical vest, he took off in a crouch through the brush. He moved so swiftly and quietly I lost him right away.

  That’s when I saw one of the hitmen begin wading through the tall Texas grasses toward me from the opposite direction.

  “Shit,” I whispered.

  Kneeling down, I pulled over Karsten’s bag and began to go through it until I found a handgun. I checked the chamber before clicking in the fully loaded clip.

  Turning, I looked for the man with the gun. “Fuuuuck.” In the time I’d spent to get the gun, he’d disappeared.