There was a pause before he came back on, “Yeah? You think I’m concerned about you coming over here? No, you guys have lost it. You’re going to be running and gunning now for a while. Yeah, well, I’ll have the guys show you in, and we can talk. However, before you come over, why don’t you see if you can get your building back.” The phone slammed down before the man spat out, “Jackass!”
Michael took two steps and turned left into the doorway. The balding, older man noticed him coming in his office, “What the hell do you…” His eyes opened wide, taking in his black trench coat and bald head, “Oh shit. You’re him!”
Michael raised an eyebrow, “Which ‘him’ are we speaking about?”
The bald man put his hands up, “Look, I don’t want any problems with you guys. I thought this blood stuff was all legit, or I wouldn’t have done it.”
Michael stepped further into the office and sat on his desk, “Louis, isn’t it?” he asked, and the man nodded. “I heard your side of the conversation a minute ago, so I understand your side. So, two questions.” He received another nod, “What do you get for money from Europe?”
“Mostly same as here, coin. Although, if you have any Euro’s, they might work as a single. Doesn’t matter the denomination, though.”
Well, that explained some of the inflation trade-offs.
“Where does one get this coin?”
Louis shrugged, “We get it from time to time, but it sits here. It’s easier to take it and keep the customers happy. If any of my people go to Europe, we spot them.”
“Money exchange?” Michael asked.
“Usually you get half face value because it’s such a pain.” he admitted.
“I see,” Michael stood up, “Your blood is going down the drain.”
“What, tonight?” Louis asked in alarm, noticing Michael’s annoyance, “Yeah, sure, tonight. That bastard Wyznoski would probably confiscate it anyway, he will just think I’m doing this and rough up the place. I’ll hide the good liquor.”
Michael’s smile turned malicious, “How bad do you want to keep them from harming your club, Louis?”
The next day, Wyznoski showed up to take back the blood. After seeing the bandages, the black eyes and the sutures, Wyznoski believed Louis’s story that the Dark Messiah had been there.
After visiting two other clubs, Wyznoski decided that maybe he should get out of the blood trade as well. It wasn’t looking like it would remain a profitable operation.
Or good for his health.
—
Michael arrived back at his house to find the other two getting ready. Michael had shared blood with Mark, then pushed energy into him and sent him to bed earlier. Now, he was awake, but Mark was certainly tired. “I feel like I want to sleep for a month,” the younger vampire admitted while he was pulling on a shirt, talking to Michael who was watching him from the door.
Wearing a shirt that didn’t seem to fit him too well, Mark sat on his bed and stared at his arms. The shirt was at least a half-inch too short for him at the moment.
“Well, this is unexpected,” Michael admitted. “Try on your pants.”
Mark slipped his pants on. While they fit in the waist, maybe even a bit more loosely than before, the length was going to be a real problem.
Mark looked at his clothes, then up at Michael, “What’s going on?”
Michael thought back to his conversations with Bethany Anne and through her, with TOM. “Your genetics.”
Mark looked as confused as he must feel, “What’s wrong with my genetics?”
“Your genetics must have a better version of you designed in your DNA. The genes that made the original you weren’t the best choices apparently.”
“So…I’m growing again?” he asked, and Michael nodded.
“When will it stop?” he asked.
Michael shrugged, “Sometimes, people could be in the Pod-Doc for a month or more. But, I wasn’t expecting you to do anything this drastic, since the Pod-Doc can make proactive changes, more radical changes, and my blood shouldn’t be able to do anything like this. Frankly, this is surprising.”
“That’s not good,” Mark mumbled, looking down at himself.
Michael smirked, “Oh, it is going to be good long term, trust me.”
—-
“What happened to you?” Jacqueline asked, stopping in her tracks to take in her shopping partner. “Did your clothes shrink?” She started biting her lip, trying to figure out why he was so different.
He shook his head at her question.
She made a face and stepped closer to him, then grabbed his arm and pulled him next to her. She looked up, her eyes opening, “You’ve grown!” She grabbed him by his upper arm, “Flex!”
Mark made a muscle and then looked at Michael before returning his gaze to the Were. He hesitated before asking, “Are you purring?”
The purring stopped.
“No!” she replied, letting go of his arm, “of course not. However, you are getting stronger, that means more kata work for you!” She turned quickly and went towards the stairs to go to the street level. “Let’s go shopping!” she called out before turning the corner and stepping out of sight.
“I’ll drop you two off outside. When you are done, I’ll meet you back in the park.”
—
Captain Miles O’Banion was stationed ten miles off the New York City-State coast. He had been roped into the damned invasion, and now he had an airship, twenty damned Nosferatu in his hold with no vampires aboard, and fuck-all idea of what to do next.
The trip back to Europe, if he showed up empty handed and The Duke found out, would be a one-way trip ... with excruciating pain at the end. Not much of an option, if you asked him. With eighteen other men and women looking to him for leadership, he wanted to ask them what the hell was he supposed to do? He had been pulled out of his home, tossed on the air-ship and told what to do. That he gave half a flying shit about these people looking to him was a curse, not a damned benefit for him personally.
He wouldn’t fly the jolly roger, that was out, and he shut up the two guys who even mentioned it. Either of them, he told both emphatically, would take a short hop off the side of the ship if they ever brought it up again.
Miles walked out to the top deck, feeling the wind in his hair. The storms from the previous night could be seen in the west, and another group of clouds could possibly be forming to the east. No one on the radio was coming across right now and talking, so he had no other information to make his decision on whether to go back, or stay right here. Until he figured out what to do with those damned Nosferatu, or they died, he couldn’t take any freight on with them in the hold.
“Captain O’Banion,” a voice called out from behind him. He turned from looking over the side to see a bald man in a black trench coat, his hands behind his back staring at him.
“Aye,” he acknowledged, “I am. Who are you and …” The flashbacks to the screaming on the radio last night, the people talking about the Dark Messiah, the man in the black coat, raining lightning down on the Nosferatu. He swallowed, “I mean, yes?”
Michael’s smile didn’t warm Miles’s heart, “That is better, Captain O’Banion. I’m not too happy with the effort to bring those Nosferatu into New York, be glad I don’t just drop this airship into the water below.”
Miles made a face and turned to spit over the side, keeping his eyes on the man, “If I knew how to toss them over my side right here, I would have done it already. I didn’t hire on to this mess, I was shanghaied if you understand my meaning.” He pointed to the few people who had stuck their heads out or were watching this new man, wondering what he was saying to the Captain.
And how the hell had he gotten on the ship?
Michael turned his head slightly, “You are worried about The Duke?”
“Of course,” Miles agreed, “Anyone with half a brain worries about a Vampire,” he narrowed his eyes, “Except you.”
Michael’s smile reached his eye
s, “No, I don’t,” he agreed. His smile disappeared.
“But they all worry about me,” he finished.
—
Michael tossed half the Nosferatu off the ship by simply commanding ten to climb out before he grabbed them, and threw them over the side. He could have had them climb over the side and jump, but that wasn’t as impressive as physically grabbing a grown human being and throwing them through the air as if they weighed the same as a small rock.
He had the Captain bring everyone out onto the deck when Michael explained what they would be doing and then explained he would be back.
Then, he disappeared.
Unfortunately, for the one loudmouth who decided it was past time to push for his idea of turning pirate, Michael hadn’t left.
Everyone realized he hadn’t left when Michael appeared right behind the wanna-be pirate, eyes flaring red and grabbed him by the neck. “The Captain,” Michael told the man as he picked him up and walked to the side of the ship, the man’s legs kicking futilely as he tried to break Michael’s grip on his neck, “told you no to turning pirate once already. That was sufficient.”
The falling man’s screams after Michael tossed him off the ship reinforced the idea that the Captain was in charge. Michael disappeared once more.
This time, no one assumed he was gone.
—
Michael found his two charges in the park, arguing.
“And I’m telling you,” her finger stabbing Mark in his chest, “that this looks good and you will grow into it!”
“I look like a jock!” Mark exclaimed a look of horror on his face.
“Exactly!” she replied, “Hot!”
“How does this,” his voice was heated, his hand waving up and down his body, “say hot?”
“Listen,” Jacqueline huffed, “for now you have to imagine you packing on another ten pounds of muscle, because when you do, this is going to fill out. It won’t look like an oversized sack on you, I promise.”
“And if you are wrong,” he countered, “how does it get fixed?”
“I can fix it,” she assured him.
“Hooooowww?” Mark emphasized his question by drawing it out.
“Needle and thread, easy-peasy,” she told him.
Mark stared at her for a moment, “You are going to take in these clothes?”
“If I’m wrong?” she looked at him a second time and put out her hand, “I will!” He reached for her hand, and she jerked it back, “BUT!” she told him, “If I’m right, what do I get?”
“What do you want?” he asked.
Jacqueline thought about it for a moment, remembering a story she read when she was young, “You have to say ‘as you wish’ for one whole day every time I ask you to do something.”
Mark squinted at her, “No more than three times,” he countered.
She pursed her lips, “Okay, deal,” she replied, reached out and the two shook hands.
“Wonderful,” Michael spoke, and the two jumped, turning to see him standing five feet away.
—
The sheets were strewn all over the bed, both people gasping for air.
BAM BAM BAM…
The woman spoke between breaths, “Maybe they will go away?”
BAM BAM BAM…
“No,” he answered, “I recognize that banging…”
BAM BAM BAM…
“How can you recognize banging?” she asked, running her hand along his side. His skin reacts, bumps rising.
BAM BAM BAM…
“Oh fuck it,” he griped, getting up from the bed. The woman admired his ass as he walked out of the bedroom. She wondered idly if he was going to answer the door naked.
BAM BAM BAM…
“Go away!” he yelled. She heard another male voice yelling, but can’t tell what he said.
BAM BAM BAM…
Finally, her lover opens the door, “Ted! I said no fucking way are you getting in here, I don’t care what time it is, they can all kiss my ass, I’ll see you tomorrow.” There was a pause before he adds, “Nice seeing you too, Milton.”
SLAM!
Janine smiled, she liked it when Ethan talked dirty.
—
Captain Miles O’Banion was eyeing a fresh storm brewing on the horizon, south of them. It shouldn’t come this way, but he’d normally move his ship to keep it a little further away from the turbulence. The extra air required them to run the gravitic generators more, taking a lot of battery power.
No way was he moving at the moment, though. He didn’t trust that he and his group weren’t being tested right at that very moment. While he appreciated the support of the new owner of the ship, he didn’t want to piss him off, either.
Certainly, not a day-walking Vampire.
Miles happened to be staring across the deck when three people appeared right in the middle, with luggage.
It was the man in the black coat accompanied by a strong-looking young man and a very attractive brunette with dark eyes.
They made a good looking family, he thought.
He nodded to the man and turned around. He walked into the ship’s bridge and picked up the radio mic, “Attention New York Air Control. This is the DMS ArchAngel, we are leaving your area, headed toward England, then Europe.”
“The is NYAC, ArchAngel, understood. Name change complete, heading to England. I imagine you have seen the storm to your south. One other storm reported off the west coast of France but is expected to also head south of your path. Please report all weather you find and pirates you see. Safe voyage, DMS ArchAngel.”
Miles clicked his Mic, “Understood. Safe times to you and yours. ArchAngel out.”
Miles O’Banion stepped out of his bridge and eyed the two youths. Neither seemed particularly afraid of the man, unlike The Duke back in Europe. In fact, they appeared to smile more than those around the other set of vampires.
He felt a little hope, that maybe this time he and his crew would be working for that rarest of mythological creatures.
An Honorable Vampire.
FINIS
The black pod was silently moving through the upper atmosphere much higher than the storm raging below when the person occupying the front seat received a message.
A moment later, the pod turned east, heading to the New York City-State.
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Written December 22nd, 2016
As always, can I say with a HUGE amount of appreciation how much it means to me that you not only read this book, but you are reading these notes as well?
Let me get some of the normal stuff out of the way, then I will talk Dark Messiah.
The last time I had my own Author’s Note (in a non-collaboration book) was “way back on November 12th, 2016” with Don’t Cross This Line.
It seems like forever ago that I published that book (It was 6 weeks). Why? Because since that time, I have published and worked on multiple books with multiple authors plus The Dark Messiah…and Thanksgiving was in the middle of that time somewhere.
I’m going to chat a little more about this, but let me talk the books, first.
Three of these books now out include:
JUSTICE IS CALLING (Reclaiming Honor Series) - (December 8th, 2016) Written with Justin Sloan. As of right now, it is still top #1,000 book on Amazon (here are the rankings):
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #845 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense > Paranormal > Vampires
#6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense > Paranormal > Werewolves & Shifters
#8 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Genetic Engineering
NOMAD FOUND (Terry Henry Walton Chronicles) - (December 21st, 2016) Written with Craig Martelle. As of right now, it is a top #1,000 book on Amazon (here are the rankings):
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #359 Paid in Kindle Store
(See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense > Paranormal > Werewolves & Shifters
#2 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy >
The Dark Messiah Page 27
