Shades of Red

by T L Christianson

  “I’m so sorry. I’m not ready for this.” I gulped as I watched his eyes seem to snap out of their bite induced stupor.

  Shaking his head, he expelled a deep breath, leaned his head back without saying anything. “I didn’t mean this when I offered you blood, you know that, don’t you? But I still want you.”

  I began to crawl toward him, and it was his turn to hold out a warning hand to me.

  “No, just hold on,” he whispered, taking slow, deep breaths. Then his eyes snapped back to mine, and he raised a brow at me. “But not like this.”

  My lips parted to speak, and he moved off the bed, hunting for his clothing, pulling them on with efficient gestures.

  “I’m sorry,” I told him again, but he only shook his head saying, ‘no problem’ in Russian which sounds like ‘nyet problem.’

  When the door closed behind him, I pulled a pillow to my shaking chest. Tears spilled from my eyes.

  In some terrible way, I’d wanted to erase my memory of being with Aurev.

  It hurt too much, thinking of angel.

  But Alexei was right; if we were together, then it should be for the right reasons.

  Aurev had taken my heart. He’d taken my heart and my job and my apartment.

  When had my angel become a man who I couldn’t trust?

  A man who might very well want me dead. A man who I defended even though I knew all these terrible accusations looked like they could be true.

  Yet…

  I still wanted only him.

  I could think of only Aurev when beautiful, sexy, vibrant Alexei touched me. Every movement, every trace of his fingers on my body were compared to Aurev in my head.

  Why couldn’t I have this one simple thing to ease my pain?

  After a long cry, I pulled myself from my bed and turned the water on in the shower again. I felt dirty, like I’d betrayed my dark angel.

  Scrubbing at my skin with soap, I cried again in the shower, until I turned the water off.

  I didn’t understand myself. I didn’t understand my irrational feelings.

  Dressing in my room, I brushed my long hair out. On the table sat the forgotten wine bottle the Russian had left behind.

  Twisting the top open, I drank a few sips, then set it down. The tangy flavor washed the taste of Alexei’s blood from my mouth and settled my nerves a bit.

  It was time to do some breaking and entering.

  Around 3 a.m. Alexei and I stood outside Dr. Seal’s lab. There was an apartment above, but the windows were dark.

  I tried the door and examined the deadbolt.

  “Do you know how to pick locks?” I asked the Russian.

  He shook his head and examined the windows. “Not like that. Look, alarm system,” he said, pointing to the small contacts barely visible on the window casing.

  Sighing, I slumped into a squat against the building. Alexei sauntered over and stood over me, holding a hand down to pull me up.

  “It’s okay, we’ll just come back tomorrow and the next day until she talks to us.”

  I nodded as our gazes met.

  “Are we okay?” He asked me.

  Letting out a breath I hadn’t been aware I’d been holding, I nodded again. “Are we okay?”

  “Yeah, I think so. One day at a time, right?” He chuckled silently, causing creases to form around his eyes.

  As we began walking toward our hotel, he poked my arm, “At least I got to see you naked.”

  I gasped and swatted him, giving him an exasperated look.

  Our steps echoed on the surrounding old buildings, the city reasonably busy for this early in the morning.

  “What is it that you want Hazel?” His voice broke the silence between us.

  I stopped walking. “Honestly? I have no idea.”

  Alexei gave me a sad look as we continued. Maybe he understood at that time, or perhaps not, but in a way, we both knew that this was the end of whatever had been between us.

  Unlocking my cell phone in my room, I pursed my lips. 3 new text messages.

  Sarah: You’d better call me bitch. I swear to God, if you’re dead in a ditch somewhere, I’m going after that Russian SOB, and I WILL KILL HIM!!!

  Strangely I believed her.

  Text to Sarah: I’m in Rome. Mary is involved with the disease. I’ll fill you in on everything when I see you again.

  Sighing, I read the following messages from Aurev:

  Where are you? Call or text ASAP

  Please, some things are going on with the Clan, I only want you to be safe.

  Please call me, tell me what happened.

  I love you.

  I typed in several replies but realized that nothing I could say here meant anything until I found answers.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Waking up, an emptiness filled my soul when I thought of the night before.

  Pushing the two men from my mind, I pondered what Dr. Seals had said. She’d lied to us, but maybe there was a way to get her to talk.

  In the restaurant of our hotel, Alexei and I sipped our coffees and ate breakfast rolls in silence. Leaving my phone off, I kept lifting it out of reflex to check for messages. I couldn’t see what Aurev would say back. I didn’t want to see it if he admitted guilt to me but I was unsure if I’d believe him if he claimed innocence. Would he order me home? I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that I needed more courage and maybe a lot of wine before I could handle what he had to say.

  After tearing apart my roll and eating little, I began to ponder ways to make Mary talk to me. After all, I could get all my clients to spill their beans…

  “I have an idea to get the doctor to talk.” I pinned the Russian with my eyes. “Will you come with me?”

  He shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

  At a leisurely pace, the walk took only about fifteen minutes. When we entered the building, a petite young human woman sat at the reception desk. I spoke to her in Italian, “Hello, can you let Dr. Seals know that Hazel Richards is here again to see her. Tell her it’s a matter of life or death.”

  She nodded and after taking a call, sauntered into the back hall. When she returned, she whispered in the empty room, “I’m sorry, she won’t see you.”

  “This won’t work,” Alexei told the woman and pushed his way past her, through the door separating the two spaces into the back hallway.

  The receptionist protested and called for Dr. Seals, who stood, eyes narrowed, hands on hips in the hallway. She addressed me in English, “I told you I’m not talking to you. You need to leave before I call the police or the local moroi clan.”

  Having planned ahead, I wore a navy-blue suit, and heels. Raising one eyebrow at her, I curved the corner of my mouth into a half smile. “That’s fine. We’ll leave. However, I came all this way to protect you…I assume you know who I am and what I do?” She did, I could see it in her eyes. “Let’s go, Alexei, I guess Dr. Seals will be representing herself in front of the GC tribunal.”

  Alexei shrugged before taking a step to follow me. When I got to the door to the reception area, Dr. Seals called out.

  “Stop! Come back! I don’t have anything to hide. I’ve done nothing wrong! Come, come sit in my office.”

  We followed her back to her office, where she paced before finally sitting down. Lighting a cigarette, she sucked in a deep breath and let it out the corner of her mouth.

  “Well? What do I do? How can you help?” She asked, sucking on the cigarette as if her life depended on it. Alexei nudged her, and she gave him a cig from her silver embossed case. Leaning over the desk, she lit it for him.

  Normally this is where I’d give the prospective client my speech about how they needed to tell me everything. Most human work I did was pro-bono or free. However, I didn’t really want the doctor as my client, I wanted information. This was a dirty trick, but when in Rome…literally. And I knew the doctor had done some whoppers of her own.

  “Mary, I know you were told to create the vampire plague. What I want to know
is who gave you the order?”

  “Mr. Vatia,” she said, shaking her head. “Who else?”

  “Aurev Vatia, the New York Clan leader?”

  “Yes. It’s not commonly known, but I am part of Chronos. Elsbet Smith is my maker.”

  Alexei and I exchanged a glance.

  Dr. Mary Seals is Elsbet’s other female offspring on Owen’s chart back in Colorado.

  Elsbet made Mary, Fatima, and Forest?

  “Okay, so Aurev Vatia told you himself to make the virus.”

  “No, no no no. Mr. Vatia is much too busy to deal with me himself. Ms. Smith tells me what to do. Do you think I want to spend my time making an abomination like the disease? No. But Fatima and I make anyway.” Her smooth Italian accent softened her nervous words.

  I shook my head, “Dr. Fatima Khatri helped you make OVC?”

  She gave me an indolent look, “Yes. We do it, and we don’t ask questions.” She stood and leaned to open a side window, stubbing out her cigarette on the window seal. “What does GC know of all this? What do I do? Are you my lawyer now? What do I sign?”

  Pursing my lips, I asked, “Has the New York Clan leader ever spoken to you in person, video chat, or on the phone about the disease?”

  Mary, being a highly intelligent woman turned, eyes wide to us. “No.”

  “Email?”

  “No, we get that from Elsbet.” Sinking back into her chair, she covered her face. “Oh my God. Those orders weren’t from Mr. Vatia, were they?”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. This is what I’m trying to get to the bottom of. However, Aurev—Mr. Vatia is very hands on. I don’t see him ordering something like this unless he oversaw it personally.”

  “Or, he’s trying to have…” Alexei snapped his fingers. “What is it called…deny…”

  I closed my eyes, praying the Russian was wrong. “Plausible deniability.”

  “I will not take the blame for this!” Mary slapped her hand on the table before lighting another smoke.

  “You know they’re going to kill Amy for creating the disease,” I asked her.

  She let out an exasperated sigh, “Child, when you live as long as I have, you just want to survive. Do what your boss says. Live another day. Now tell me, how can you help me?”

  “I believe you, Mary. However, this is more complicated than just you. I’ll do what I can in my power to help you, but I’m not making any promises at this point.”

  “No.” She began to usher us out saying, “If you can’t help me, you must leave now.”

  “I’ll be back tomorrow,” I told her with raised eyebrows.

  “Fine, but now you go.”

  Once the door closed, we could hear the locks being thrown behind us.

  “She’s going to run,” Alexei told me.

  I nodded and pulled out my phone.

  There were two messages. One from Sarah and one from Aurev.

  Sarah: Holy crap! I was right! Honestly, I didn’t think Mary had it in her. TTYL. Love you!

  Aurev: I’m on my way to Rome. Please don’t run away from me again. Now that you’re involved, I’ll tell you everything I know.

  After writing out and deleting several messages to Aurev, I decided against it. He was right, we should talk in person.

  Walking down the narrow sidewalk, Alexei seemed deep in thought. “I don’t think she’s going to give us more answers than that.”

  My mind whirled. “She said that Ms. Smith is her maker.”

  “Who’s Ms. Smith?” He asked.

  “Aurev’s personal assistant, Elsbet.”

  He shrugged. “Why does it matter?”

  “Elsbet does a lot of business on behalf of Aurev. He’s delegated many things to her, she shouldn’t really be his personal assistant. Elsbet does the work of a Chief Administrator Officer or CAO if she were in any other company. Aurev’s old fashioned. Now it looks like she’s gone off and done something terrible.”

  “Well if she’s been overlooked and wanted to stir up trouble for Chronos then she’s done it,” Alexei said with a frown.

  I nodded. “It just doesn’t make sense. We’re missing something.” A revelation of sorts began to form in my mind but I needed confirmation.

  Heading back to the hotel, Alexei and I sat in the hotel lounge with my computer. Logging on, I started a video chat with Sarah.

  “Oh my god, Hazel! The shit is going down at the main office.” Her face animated, “Guards went to arrest Ms. Smith. Do you know what that’s about? Does it have anything to do with what you’re looking into?”

  “I don’t always have the answers,” I told her with exasperation. “But yes. I think so.”

  Brow furrowed above her large blue eyes, she whispered, “Karsten told me that he took an elite team to track her down.” She groaned and blew a strand of hair out of her face. “I always hated her.”

  “Oh my…Sarah! I think Aurev has been investigating the exact same thing I have. He said he had a ‘Chronos matter.’ I think he’s been playing this close to the vest because he didn’t know who was involved. It’s Elsbet, she’s the traitor. She’s the creator of Mary Seals, Fatima Khatri, and Forest. Who made the disease? Mary. Who spied on the Chronos team working on a cure? Fatima. Who spread disinformation, naming the notorious serial killer, the Butcher, as the creator? Forest. It’s her team, her offspring. She has to be the ringleader.”

  Sarah pursed her lips. “Maybe. But why frame Amy? I mean, she’s already done tons of illegal stuff.” She froze. “Oh-my-gosh. She meant to kill Amy to get rid of the evidence. Karsten and I were constantly attacked by other moroi. I could never get how they always seemed a step ahead of us.”

  “Forest,” Alexei butted in.

  “I just can’t imagine Forest or Fatima being in on that,” Sarah told him.

  I answered, “Maybe they’re like Mary. She thought she was following Aurev’s commands. Maybe Forest and Fatima thought the same.”

  Sarah sucked in a breath, “Fatima maybe but Aurev works pretty closely with Forest.”

  Alexei raised his brows behind me; I could see his image in the small outgoing video chat. “Are they coming for Dr. Seals?”

  Both Sarah and I nodded, and I said, “Possibly.” We sat there in silence for a moment. “This all goes back to Amy. Aurev wouldn’t frame her.”

  “Why?” Alexei asked.

  Because Amy was his maker. “He couldn’t. Just believe me, but Elsbet could. Why though?”

  “Maybe Amy’s a loose end, maybe she knows something about Elsbet.” the Russian suggested.

  “I have to go guys.” Sarah sat at her kitchen table, “Emilie’s here with the kids! Hazel, call Aurev. He’s worried sick!” Then she ended the call.

  “Cryptic,” Came Alexei’s comment.

  “I’m going to try Owen,” I said and rang his cell phone.

  After exchanging a few pleasantries, I asked, “You identified one of Aurev’s offspring to have created three moroi in the Chronos database. I know who the third mystery person is—it’s Dr. Mary Seals.”

  He rubbed a hand over his stubbly beard on the screen, “Wow. That makes a lot of sense. If she created the virus, she’d want to be immune. Elsbet, Forest and Khatri are all immune.”

  “I’ve heard Ms. Smith, Aurev’s personal assistant, evaded arrest. Do you know anything about that?” Alexei butted in.

  Owen shook his head, “No, thank goodness. Em and I keep out of all the Manhattan drama.”

  “Do you have any idea why anyone would frame Amy like this?”

  A silent laugh escaped him, and he looked between Alexei and I. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Then as a side comment, he threw out, “maybe she murdered the wrong person during one of her killing sprees. I mean she can’t have a lack of enemies.”

  Shortly after that, I ended the call.

  Alexei wandered off to his room, and I pulled out a pad of post-its, re-creating the Chronos family tree similar to the one Owen had in his lab. I now coul
d fill in several blanks.

  Elsbet Smith.

  The creator of Dr. Seals who made the disease.

  The creator of Fatima, who worked on the cure and could keep an eye on Owen and Sarah’s progress.

  She’s the creator of Forest…the one person who claimed he knew the identity of the Butcher. Forest was the sole person responsible for resting the blame of the virus on Amy.

  I scrambled up. Elsbet had to be responsible for creating the virus and blaming Amy, but why? And what exactly did Aurev know?

  Aurev wouldn’t betray his own people. He’d have their back…unless Elsbet went rogue. I needed to speak to Dr. Seals again.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Pounding on Alexei’s door, I told him my theory.

  “Aurev’s known to kill off traitors. I think Mary is innocent…well that she thought she’d been given orders. We need to see if she’s left.”

  With that thought in my mind, we took off back to the clinic. It was after lunch now, and the streets were quiet.

  However, as I neared the building, we could see cop cars blocking the street and diverting traffic. My feet took over and I found myself running to get a better view. A large truck blocked the entrance to Mary’s clinic, and soldiers swarmed the area with the help of police.

  Ice ran through my veins.

  I ducked down behind a car and panted.

  “What?” Alexei startled me by asking.

  Gulping, I shivered, “Those are Chronos soldiers.”

  He stood there watching them and said, “No, they’re wearing an Italian patch on their sleeve.”

  I shook my head. “I know, that’s how they operate. Look at them, they have the Chronos emblem.” Biting my cheek, I couldn’t stand it anymore and asked, “What are they going to do?”

  He craned his head, before answering, “They’re emptying out her office. Carrying out boxes and computers. Lab equipment.”

  “There’s no sign of the doctor,” He angled his body to and fro to try to see something. “I’m going to walk up and get a better look.”

  I stilled him by grabbing his jeans near the ankle. “Be careful.”