Angel Falls (Cassandra Bick Chronicles Book 3)

by Sinclair, Tracey

  Lest we miss a moment of the excitement, there was a camera mounted inside the box, and large screens throughout the walkway relayed the scene. It was disconcerting to see Laclos’ beauty digitally relayed onto TV; finally, he really was a rock star. The vampires were taking no chances – they didn’t just want witnesses; they were getting this on tape. But that meant I didn’t need to be looking at Laclos when he realised we were here. I saw something flicker in his face, unreadable, and my Sense spiked as if he were deliberately trying to trigger it, though I had no idea how. He raised his glass and gazed at the camera through lowered eyes and long lashes, a slow smile spreading across his lips as he wet them with a hint of champagne, and the temperature in the room went up about five degrees. Several of the guests fanned themselves, almost unconsciously, and I had to smile in response: even held prisoner, Laclos could switch on the charm. But there was a sadness behind that smile, and more than that, forgiveness. He knew we were here, and he expected us to fail.

  ***

  Although from the ground, the walkways looked narrow, they were actually broad enough not to be cramped. I’d expected us to feel like we were in a window-lined corridor, but instead it felt like a standard party venue – a long, broad room, albeit one that wasn’t great if you suffered from vertigo. The darkness outside meant that the view consisted mainly of the city lights and those buildings that were illuminated, and provided you didn’t look down directly at the liquid blackness of the river beneath us, which seemed to absorb any light that was near it, it was actually easy to forget how high up we were. We accepted drinks from one of the human waiters who bobbed around us with canapés and glasses of champagne; booze wouldn’t affect Cain, and the rest of us were sorely in need of Dutch courage. Medea and I exchanged glances as we both selected a tiny sausage roll, and I knew we were thinking the same thing: our first break of the night, and the vampires themselves had given us it. Then I was distracted from that thought by a spike of power. I turned, straining to see, and tapped Cain lightly on the arm. He leaned down and kissed my neck, gently, seemingly just being attentive, but, feeling thrillingly like a Bond girl, I used the movement to twist slightly, steering his gaze to the other side of the walkway, where, near the far entrance, I had Sensed older vampires walk in. I also noticed his eyes follow the waiter as he left us, and realised he’d spotted the same thing we had.

  But before we could discuss either of these things, a voice boomed out across the room and we turned to see a man – a vampire, my Sense informed me – climb onto a small platform stationed midway along the length of the walkway, furnished with one of the large TV screens and a podium, and right next to one of the narrow tables behind which human serving staff bustled to ensure that, should you have somehow missed one of the waiters doing the rounds with silver platters, you could get a drink here. They were slightly crammed in, working in the sliver of space between the fridges of fizz and boxes of red wine lined up against the windows and the table that groaned under glasses of champagne and jugs of juice and water, but it was smart planning at a British gig. Stand near the booze, and you’re sure to get everyone’s attention.

  ***

  ‘Ladies, gentlemen, others!’ he called, voice smooth and mellifluous, amplified by the mic he wore at his lapel. ‘Welcome to our charity event! Your generosity is most appreciated – healthy blood is a boon to us all.’

  There were some knowing smiles among the attendees, but I saw a few humans grimace. Fuck, I thought, recognising those grumpy expressions. Cain and Jonesy weren’t the only hunters here.

  ‘We hope you will forgive us this unusually late start time for an event, but we have a unique illusion for you tonight.’

  He waved a hand, airily, at the screen behind him, and Laclos – whether able to hear him or just making out what the general sense of what he was saying – obligingly waved, which disconcerted the speaker slightly, though he hid it well. Whatever leverage they’d used, they’d clearly expected Laclos to cooperate, but this unfailing cheeriness was unnerving them. ‘With us tonight is Laclos, the well-known… illusionist…’ Again, knowing smirks from several in the crowd. ‘He has kindly agreed to grace our party until dawn and then, at the first sign of sunshine, he will disappear into mist!’

  A ripple of excitement through the crowd, disbelief, cynicism, and, yes, unease. I realised plenty of the vampires who were here had come not out of any great desire to see one of their own burn, but because they felt they had to. If regimes were changing, you needed to be seen to support the winners. I didn’t recognise anyone – my clients would be more low level than those invited to such an event – but despite vampires’ natural talent for dissembling, it was fairly easy for my Sense to pick out those here under duress. That was potentially good news. If things did kick off, they’d hopefully stay well out of it. It was also clear that even among Amalthea, Alastair and Josephine’s people – however that little trifecta shared out authority – there were many who were uncomfortable with the showy, public nature of the night’s events. And I could Sense plenty of them joining the compere in wondering just what it was Laclos had to smile about.

  ***

  ‘This isn’t just about Laclos,’ Cain muttered, as the four of us huddled together in an attempt to talk unobserved. ‘It’s about us.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Jonesy asked.

  ‘It’s not just about killing Laclos and proving he’s dead. It’s saying that… exposure isn’t the worst thing you can threaten us with, anymore. We’ve got the script and the PR consultants and we’re not scared. I mean, I’m guessing – they’re vampires, they could just like the idea of a party. But face it, Cass and I both have a rep in this town. If word gets out we stood and watched while Laclos burned, then it means we’re as neutered as he is.’

  I hadn’t even thought of that – though I also suspected he was giving me far more credit for a rep than I deserved.

  ‘I’m seeing a few faces I recognise,’ Jonesy said, his voice low, and Cain frowned and did a quick scan of the room, a nod confirming what I had thought: hunters. A couple returned his attention with a curt nod, though whether they knew him or just recognised one of their own, I was unsure. Cain’s life outside London was a mystery to me, so much of it unknown: they could think of him as a hero to their type, or see his allegiance to Laclos as a betrayal of what they stood for – I had no idea, which made their actions at this event worryingly hard to predict. Maybe they were just here to watch, to make sure if they weren’t getting whatever bounty was on Laclos’ head, no one else was either.

  ‘Half the vampires in London must be here,’ murmured Medea. ‘We should have brought business cards.’

  I smiled at her attempt at humour. But she had also given me an idea.

  Chapter 27

  ‘Good evening.’ We heard a voice and spun in what must have looked almost comical coordination to see Josephine, as dazzling as ever, though unlike the other patrons, she hadn’t really dressed up. Gold liner slicked along her eyelids and a darker shade of lipstick were her only concessions to the event, otherwise she had stuck to her vamp CEO look, as if she’d popped in to the party after executing a massive round of redundancies at some underperforming bank. In fairness, her outfit was so well-tailored it probably cost more than most of the clothes in here. Perhaps when you pay so much for your apparel, it makes sense to kill someone over a pair of ruined boots. She cast an involuntarily appreciative glance at Medea, but directed her remarks to me and Cain – and I noticed that, taken as she was with Medea, she wasn’t finding Cain hard on the eye, either.

  ‘Having abandoned your… companion to his fate, have you come to watch? Or is this a misguided attempt to stage a rescue?’

  She waved an encompassing hand, as if to illustrate the futility of any such endeavour: after all, we were in a glass and steel walkway 200 feet in the sky, surrounded by vampires, and with both exits clearly guarded. Cain shrugged. If there was one expression he could pull off magnificently, it was indif
ference.

  ‘Like you said, we betrayed him. For our own reasons, not yours.’ He cast a meaningful look at me, and I blushed, inadvertently selling the bit. Nobody would believe Cain was suddenly chummy with these vamps, but one glance at him would be enough to convince you he would throw a romantic rival under the bus without a second thought. ‘My mind’ll be a lot easier once I know he’s dead. A pile of dust never took their revenge on anybody.’

  She tilted her head, as if sensing he was lying, but not clear on what he was actually saying. Then she nodded, cautiously.

  ‘It is always wise to make sure your enemies are thoroughly neutralised,’ she agreed, coolly, and I felt the skin on my neck prickle, once again feeling as if we were in some invisible crosshairs.

  ‘Always pays to be smart about deciding who your enemies are,’ Cain said, his voice mild. She regarded him with glacial amusement.

  ‘I am nearly 700 years old, hunter. You do not live that long without choosing both your allies and your enemies with care.’

  Cain smiled that switchblade smile.

  ‘Tell that to the 1,000-year-old vampire about to get a suntan.’

  Her eye twitched, ever so slightly, at that and Cain lifted his own hand, echoing her expansive gesture. As he did, there was a tiny tremor in the floor beneath us. Not enough to scare anyone, but enough for her to pick up on – Laclos, too, as he looked slightly alarmed at the fact his glass cage rocked, even if just a fraction. Josephine did a good job of hiding her shock, but I stepped back, grabbing Jonesy’s arm for support as my Sense recoiled. As Cain unleashed his own power, she instinctively did the same; like most older vampires, she normally kept it tamped down. But even as I tried to shield myself from this, holding onto Jonesy, I shoved myself up against Cain’s back, offering him physical support. I knew how much even such a minor display cost him, these days – not only in doing it, but controlling it, and if he keeled over now we’d be in serious trouble.

  ‘Laclos’ mistake was to confuse cooperation with weakness,’ he said, conversationally. ‘I liked Laclos. Quite a lot, actually.’ And something in the way he said that made me realise this, at least, was true. ‘And I‘m here to drink champagne as he burns for no other reason than he became inconvenient to me.’

  Josephine took a small step back, and nodded. She was a smart woman, and I could see her making some fast connections. If Cain was this powerful, then surely he could have protected Laclos if he wanted? It certainly made his betrayal seem convincing, though it wasn’t exactly painting me in the most flattering of lights, ready to throw my lot in with whichever suitor was strongest. Or maybe, to a vampire, it was: they generally approved of a ‘to the victor the spoils’ attitude, and it made sense for a weak and feeble human to align herself with whichever man could protect her best. She was looking at me, appraisingly, and I could tell we were not unobserved: the hunters in the room were naturally watching to see what was happening, and several of the vampires stared with open curiosity, and, in some cases, ill-disguised unease. I’m guessing every vampire with a couple of centuries under their belt could sense Cain’s power, now, and I hoped that wouldn’t backfire. If they all suddenly felt the kind of bloodlust – or even straightforward lust – that he triggered in Laclos, this could get messy fast. At the very least, a crowd of ardent suitors would cramp our plans.

  Josephine’s smile tightened, and she turned fully to me, staring at me with patient condescension until I was forced by sheer politeness to emerge from behind Cain. She nodded slightly, and laid a hand on my wrist. She was warm, for a vampire, and had clearly fed before the party.

  ‘Since, in the new order of things, we are likely to have much to do with your organisation, perhaps we should begin our fresh footing this evening? Would you allow me to give you a little tour?’ She smiled back at Cain, an open challenge. ‘You don’t mind if I borrow your charming date? I promise to be nice to her.’

  ‘Not too nice, I hope.’ He nodded towards Laclos. ‘Look what happened to the last guy.’

  Her smile faltered for a second, suddenly brittle, because the threat in his tone was unmistakeable. Obviously he didn’t expect Josephine to try and seduce me in front of him, but he was making it clear I was under his protection. I found it a little chest-beating for my tastes, but to a vampire, such proprietorial behaviour was the norm. She inclined her head to him in acknowledgement and then held out her arm in an oddly formal gesture, like some regency beau offering to escort a maiden to dine, and I had no choice but to take it, even if it – deliberately, I guessed – kept us in uncomfortable proximity. Under Cain’s unshakeable gaze and trailed by concerned looks from Medea and Jonesy, I allowed myself to be steered away from our group.

  ***

  Up close, I Sensed both Josephine’s power and, beneath that, unease, though she moved with the serenity of a swan, leading me back towards the now-empty stage, and the busier-than-ever drinks tables.

  ‘I do not pretend to understand the strange allegiances you and your paramour have, or your clearly very different opinions on Laclos. You are obviously a woman with hidden… depths, and I suspect the one calling himself Cain is even less bound by human mores than I am. Is it true what they say about him? That he is the Burner, reborn?’

  ‘I wouldn’t know about that,’ I said, but something in my heartbeat made her give a thoughtful nod. Shit, I really needed to start doing yoga or meditation or something. Though at least I was in such a state of generalised panic I hoped she couldn’t pick up on anything specific. But there was something off about her, too. Her tone was casual, conversational, but her expression was at odds with her words, as if she were willing me to see past them. She was as aware as I was that everything we said could be potentially overheard.

  ‘I feel I should tell you, that if your plan is to rescue him, that would be a futile and dangerous idea. There are over three dozen vampires in this room. Many of those are on our side, including some of the strongest in London. Indeed, the world, since this city has always appealed to the ancients.’ Her eyes flicked towards one of the doors and, while I could see Alastair, surrounded by a posse of younger vampires, I Sensed Amalthea as well, hidden – too young to be seen at such an event, too ancient to miss it. Josephine saw something register in my face, and I wondered how much she knew about me, about my Sense. Her next question made me even more curious.

  ‘And how are you to tell the innocent bystanders – human or vampire – from our people? They are here to see a little magic, raise a little money, make the world a better place. Would you risk their lives for a man with so much blood on his?’

  ‘Nobody is planning a rescue. Cain might be here to gloat but I’m… I’m here to say goodbye. That’s all.’

  She nodded, and gestured to a console tucked behind the podium, next to the drinks. It was clearly what controlled the lights, TV screens, etc. – or at least those they’d supplied themselves, as I imagined anything to do with the bridge itself would be off somewhere in a secure control room. It was so loaded with lights, bells and whistles it looked fake, like something out of a retro sci-fi movie like War Games. My suspicions about its purpose were confirmed by the fact that, slouched next to it, was a bloke who looked like a roadie from Black Sabbath, the only man here not wearing a suit – no matter how posh the gig, I’ve never seen the techie dress up, and suspected that was something even vampire compulsion couldn’t achieve. It took me a moment, though, to realise what else she was pointing at. Below the central console, suspended by a thick cable, hung a heavy-looking box. It looked like the kind of mechanism you see controlling a crane or a car-crusher in a scrapyard: basically, a box with a red button to push for stop and a green for go. Heavy duty equipment like that, they tended to not want you to make mistakes with what you were doing. It was this, then, that was the pneumatic control to whatever held Laclos’ prison in place.

  ‘One push of that button and the glass coffin will plunge 200 feet and shatter on the bridge below, with Laclos trapped inside
it,’ she said, coolly. I frowned. Why was she telling me this?

  ‘A betting woman might say a vampire of Laclos’ age could survive such a fall,’ I ventured, equally calm.

  ‘True. Though perhaps not in any physical condition one such as Laclos would wish to exist in. Some damage it can take centuries to repair.’

  OK, well, that put my ‘let’s just hope he can survive a splatting’ strategy on hold.

  ‘Besides, it would be a moot point. Anyone who pressed that button without our permission would be dead before the vampire hit the ground.’

  ‘In front of all these witnesses?’

  ‘A drunk guest, fainting? Who is to question that?’ She looked out of the window, as if she could see past the reflection of the lights in here to penetrate the darkness beyond. ‘And should anyone seek to sever the chains from out there, we have snipers on both sides of the river. This is a national monument, a high profile event. Armed police aren’t an unreasonable request, especially when one has… contacts in the service.’ Another glacial smile, but she still wasn’t looking at me. ‘You have been a friend to our kind, Cassandra Bick. I may not approve of some of your methods or your acquaintances, but I appreciate your motives. I would hate to see you suffer for your lover’s folly.’

  I nodded, though, embarrassingly, I wasn’t entirely sure which lover she was talking about. Then she finally turned back to me, though her gaze slid over me to my little party of rebel infiltrators.

  ‘Well, I shall let you get back to Cain, since he clearly does not like to share your attentions.’ Then, with another slight incline of her head, she glided back into the crowd, greeting guests as she moved away. I stared after her, my head spinning. Josephine was one of the key figures behind Laclos’ imprisonment – she was his enemy. So why did I feel that while she was superficially warning me off, she was also giving me an escape plan?