by P. S. Power
She waved a little, in a fashion which was decently cute seeming.
“Hi! I’m here to get the boys. Mr. Sturges sent me?”
He nodded at her, and smiled.
“This way. I’m Liam. Please, come in.” He moved back, turning to do so, even though he was looking at her the whole time.
The other men as well. The room was nicely large, so he had room to keep his distance. The female didn’t try to rush him or anything, even when she saw three of her people sitting on the carpeted floor. She looked at them all and nodded.
“I was told, though it seemed hard to credit. That… Not everyone can take down three vampires like this. Did you get the drop on them?”
He didn't understand what that meant, but Manny, the biggest attacker, shook his head.
“I flat out blindsided him, as soon as the door opened. Hit him with a pipe, which did nothing to him at all. Then he did this to us. It… It was a mistake coming. He didn't beat us for hours Junie. All of this was done in seconds. Then he was… polite to us.” The words were a warning. One for the woman who had come.
She took it that way too. Liam could pick that much up from her.
“Okay. That… Well, William asked me to look into this. I guess that we should do as you asked, then, if that will get us our people back alive. We won’t tell anyone you were here, at least for six months. Unless asked by those above us. We can’t really go against them… is that…” She seemed to think that might be a deal breaker.
It wasn’t.
“That would be fine, thank you. Gentlemen, I’m sorry for any inconvenience I made for you and wish you all a speedy recovery. I understand that you may feel the need to come at me again… I hope not, however.” He didn’t know how to tell them that he’d kill them if they did that.
Being impolite wasn’t his way, after all. Even a casual mention of such things was too rude for him to consider as a valid statement. Interestingly, all of them sitting on the floor slowly tried to get up then. The one that he’d struck last needing to be helped by the woman, Junie, who had come to get them.
It was that one who spoke. He laughed weakly, his fang teeth put well away and his eyes slightly downcast.
“We won’t be doing that. Thank you for our lives. If we meet again, let’s do that as friends? I apologize for interrupting your evening like this.”
That got a chorus of similar sentiments from the others, except the woman, who hadn’t done anything to him at all. It took a few minutes but they all left, leaving Liam sitting there by his bags. The floor was a bit spongy were the vampires had hit it, but not visibly warped.
A thing that meant he could leave in good conscience. No one would be falling through the hole or anything. It was barely noticeable, really. He waited ten minutes, so that the vampires could remove themselves, and then took his bags to the SUV and then re-parked the thing in front of the main office. The man inside was older, easily in his sixties, and was watching a television program in the background when Liam waved to him.
“I was called in to work, so have to leave. I had the Master Suite.” The man looked at him blankly, then nodded.
“I can’t give you a full refund. We could give you credit, for your next visit? Or comp a night, at a later date?”
Given Liam had figured he’d get nothing at all, that sounded kind of the man.
“Thanks. It’s a nice room. I just don’t get to have a simple vacation, I guess.” That, it seemed was the truth, which had the older fellow nodding at him.
“That can happen. Here we go, let me… There, all logged. You should be able to get that room any time in the next nine months. Just give your name when you make the reservation. I hope work goes well for you.”
Nodding, he left, driving off into the night in a random direction. After about ten minutes he decided not to stay in any more hotels. After all, that was a hazard, apparently. At half an hour, almost twenty miles from where he’d been staying, he pulled the yellow vehicle over and got his phone out again.
Then he sighed and put in a number. It was the first one that came to mind, even if he wasn’t totally happy with the woman who was going to answer.
Agent Tiffany Brenner spoke as soon as she picked up.
“Liam? Is everything all right?” From her voice it sounded as if she might understand that it truly wasn’t.
“Three vampires tried to kill me a few hours ago. It seems there’s a hit out on me? A large bounty on my head. They found it on Under-Page, but it’s on most of the other community’s deep web pages. I checked. You know about this, of course. There’s no other reason to send me on a road trip, all alone, like this.” He had few doubts there. It was too obvious that the woman had known, hence getting him out of town like she and the others had. Which would be about buying the others time to handle things for him, without leaving him in fear, rather than playing games with him. That was his guess on the matter.
There was a low, nearly growling sound from her. It seemed frustrated.
“Crap. And yes, I knew about it. I was hoping to work out who was behind it and handle the whole thing before bothering you. Vamps though… I hadn’t thought that they’d be the ones to make a move on you. What… What happened there?”
He sighed and looked out into the darkness. The night was lovely, in its own way. There was a glossy quality to the black, outside his window and a gentle rain was falling that hadn’t been there earlier. The small water droplets caught the bits of light from passing cars and trucks, shining like jewels as they ran down the outside of his front and side windows.
“I made a deal with the local leader in the area for their return, if they promised not to tell people where I was. That should last six months, unless their own higher ups ask, of course. They should all heal. I wasn’t hurt at all. They didn’t even mess up my clothing, for once. Now… I’m not totally certain what to do. I’ve never been hunted before.”
Brenner spoke quickly, clearly having thought about it a bit.
“This won’t take us long to uncover. Oaks has people on it and they’re a good bit better than the FBI resources. It will be at least a few days though. Maybe a few weeks. You should keep moving. Really, I’m kind of shocked that anyone found you at all. Try paying in cash and using ATMs, instead of your card at the pump or if you stop places. That won’t throw people off if they’re master hackers or anything but most people won’t be. On the great side, not that many people will be trying for you. We did put the word out not to do it. That won’t stop everyone. It’s a good chunk of change. On the nice side, it seems to only be on offer to the supernatural community. That will cut the numbers down a lot.”
Which was true, most likely. If nothing else those types of people weren’t generally the most technologically savvy in the world. They could use the deep web without being caught, but that wasn’t the same as finding all his secret banking records or which hotel or gas station he used.
“Okay. I’ll be in touch in a few days. Until then… I guess I should see the sights. Not that I have anything in mind. I saw the ocean today.”
There was a considering sound then. The woman actually sounding like she meant it when she spoke.
“The Grand Canyon is impressive, if you can head that way? Yellowstone National Park as well. It would be different going in the winter, too. I don’t know if they’re open or not, strictly speaking. Avoid the mountains right now. That’s more of a summer thing, unless you want to learn to ski.” She paused for a bit then. “Florida? It’s warmer there. Not bad this time of year. In the seventies.”
He nodded, the cool plastic against the side of his smooth face feeling nice.
“I’ll see about some of that, maybe. Talk to you soon.”
“Be careful. This will blow over and you’re probably safe enough. That doesn’t mean it won’t be dangerous for those around you.”
Which, he understood would be a good reason not to meet or talk to a lot of people, in particular. His mistake so far had bee
n checking into a hotel. Even that had, in the end, been mainly happenstance. Kendra had recognized him, based on his name and description. There were probably no more than a thousand people in the entire country that would know those things like that. Even if he was wrong and the number was five times that, he could drive the entire length and breadth of the whole thing and never once run into any of them again.
Moving, staying in motion without rest, seemed like a good idea, given that. A boring one as well. That, boredom was a new thing in his life. Until that car trip, Liam hadn’t even thought for a moment that it was an emotional state that he was capable of. Now he knew better. In that way, the supposed vacation was being rather informative to him.
So, pulling the book of maps from the glove compartment he worked out how to get to the Grand Canyon from where he was. He’d heard the name before but had never had reason to research it or anything. Really, he wasn’t up on what a canyon was at all. From the elevation markers it was a ditch. A very large one.
After that, he did nothing but drive and stop for fuel for the next day and a half. Part of that was him overshooting his planned route on purpose, then turning around and coming back from a different angle, simply to stay in motion. He didn't know if it would prevent someone from seeing into the future to find him, but it was something to do.
In that time, in that short time space of less than two days, Liam was attacked three more times. Each of them was human and male, with two of them being quite elderly. In all three cases he simply spun, ran, dodged and didn’t allow the men to hit him, staying out of reach until they got so tired that they couldn’t really come for him again.
Then he drove off, as soon as possible.
Really, he didn't know who would be coming for him and police involvement was a thing he really didn't want in his life. That kind of person was armed and prone to shooting at innocent people, compared to most that he’d ever met. Jumping out of the way instead of hitting people was hard to manage, but so far that trick had kept anyone from calling the men and women in blue into the situation. No one thought of him being attacked and never being struck at all as a real problem, it seemed.
At daybreak, he was parked, alone, near the edge of a giant hole in the ground. It was impressive, actually. Grand even, which was probably where the name had come from. The brilliant red and orange colors came to life as the sun rose in the sky, and there were no other people around at all, as he moved to the very edge of the canyon, to look at the shining silver at the bottom.
At least, as he stood there, and noon approached, a long time later, the water glinted up at him. It was too dark before that, the entire area down below being in shadow for a nice chunk of the day. He considered going to the bottom, since there was a hiking trail that wound back and forth, but decided against it. Mainly because there wouldn’t be any real cell phone service down there.
That fact was on a sign he read, meaning that it was probably a real enough thing to consider. Given that he might be needed, or even warned that running away was in order, he kind of wanted to keep that option open. It was a bit of a shame, really. After all, the cut in the Earth was impressive. Looking up from the bottom would be different than anything he’d ever experienced as well.
His desire to explore couldn’t be allowed to overwhelm his need to be practical, however. To that end, he drove off as mid-afternoon came, resetting to head over to Yellowstone. Again, he headed to the east, and made a circle, going in the other direction this time, coming back nearly three full days later. Killing time while staying so mobile that it would be difficult for most people to come for him.
The government would be able to manage it and at least some computer hackers could probably figure it out. By staying in motion, he was trying to make it more difficult to trap him, though. For some reason, no one tried to come for him at all, this time. For three full days, even meeting people and talking to them in stores and truck stops, where he got fuel and the little bit of food he needed, he simply wasn’t attacked.
A thing that he had to like, really.
Smiling, he drove into the National Park, the world feeling strange under him. As if a violent eruption could take place at any moment. There was snow on the ground, though not a lot and the roads had been well plowed. The different attractions, mainly made up of steam, hot water, chemicals from the ground and lots of heat, were interesting. Very few other people were there to see it with him, which he as fine with. This time, he hiked and walked around for nearly half a week. Including at night, where he was left totally alone, except for some wildlife. No one called him, though he checked to make certain he stayed in cell phone reception range.
That lasted until the evening of the seventh day after the vampire attack. The tenth day of his road trip. Then a call came in, at about seven in the evening. He was outside, walking on a well-groomed trail, when his phone made a sudden, rather blaring, noise at him.
At first he jumped, not having been expecting anything at all. Then he pulled the flat screen device from his pocket and tabbed on.
“Hello?”
The voice that spoke then wasn’t one he recognized.
“Liam Frankenstein?”
“That’s me, how may I help you?”
There was silence for a moment, then a soft laugh.
“It is how I might help you that’s at question. My name is Vincent. Would you be open to a meeting with me? I… Have some things to discuss with you. Information that you might well be interested in.”
“I guess so. Would it be all right to ask why?”
Again, there was a silent pause. It lasted for about ten seconds. The deep voice, which sounded mellow compared to his own went on, finally.
“I have information about who put that bounty out on you. I think I might be able to have that withdrawn as well, if you like. Plus, I’m your brother. Is that enough to get a meeting, do you think?”
Liam nodded, even if no one could see him. It probably was, he had to admit.
Chapter four
The gas station Liam found himself at four days later was run down. Dingy and lacking in the care of many of the truck stops that he’d found along the nation’s highways. The contrast was stark, being that this particular place held an air of being empty as he pulled up. The pumps worked, allowing his card to be read and gas retrieved in a timely fashion.
Given that there was one, single and lonely seeming, run down cream colored car there, it looked likely that that someone was actually working inside. It was daylight out, being nearly eight in the morning as he stood in the chill air, his hand on the metal of the pump handle. In most places that hour had meant people would be in to get their morning coffee, donuts or lotto tickets. Even on the freeway people stopped at about that time, creating something of a rush. At this place there was only him and whoever stood inside.
That and one van, the old-fashioned kind that people online thought would work well for kidnapping, which pulled in just as he hung up the dingy pump nozzle. Liam watched it, not turning around to do so, since it pulled up directly behind him, trapping his body between Brenner’s yellow SUV and the other vehicle. Then, a bit nervously, two men and two nervous seeming women got out of the vehicle, a bit gracelessly. It was strange, since given the cold, most people would have stayed inside the dark colored conveyance.
All of them were staring at his back, with far too much interest. One of them actually pulling a tiny side arm. That was the first real clue that they weren’t there to buy a donut or some coffee cake from the vendor inside. Or, if they were, they didn’t have a clue about how to properly do that sort of thing. You obviously went and collected what you wanted from the shop first, then robbed the person on the way out. Starting with a gun out was a good way to invite a fight.
Not that they made a move to go inside at all.
He used the free washing fluid, which was almost all anti-freeze given where they were, and the squeegee provided to clean his windows. The two men were in the front,
though it was one of the women who stood back and formed a ball of yellow and gold flame around her right hand.
He chuckled a bit, not really meaning it. Liam spoke, trying to project. Even now that he’d developed something of a voice, the high and thin sound had trouble carrying. Worse, it would sound like he was nervous himself. That wasn’t a thing he actually felt. Not in the moment.
“That won’t work, Miss. If you use fire here, you and your friends will die when the pumps go up. Worse, that won’t stop me either. Sure, it will ruin my clothing and maybe the car, but I’ll still walk away. The little gun isn’t even enough to bother me… What else do you have?”
One of the men in front grimaced, the one on the left, who was likely the person in charge of the disastrous idea of fighting him that day. Liam still had his back turned, seeing them through the exposed skin on his tan neck. He actually seemed vaguely familiar to Liam, though it took a few moments to work out why that was. Really, he didn't get it until the man lifted his right hand, made a pained expression and held his right hand out, palm down, ripping a piece of broken blacktop up from the parking lot.
The fellow gasped when he did it, though the power level was impressive, given what Liam had been told about that sort of elemental. He’d been told that the Earth type was slow, compared to everyone else. All of them there were actually being fairly impressive so far, given his information. It probably meant they were some of the most powerful elementals in the world.
None of the others spoke, though it appeared that most of them were holding their breath. Liam just kept cleaning the windows, moving to the side. He smiled at the elementals and the possible humans, standing there. It was possible that the man with the gun was simply weak as far as his powers went. Liam simply asked about it.
Still being pleasant. There was very little reason not to be, so far.
“Is this your husband, Todd? I do have the right, don’t I? You’re Todd Warner and this is your husband, Freely?” That was an odd name, which was why it had been recalled at all. Mitchel had spoken about his brother and how he felt inadequate due to being an Earth Elemental, because that power set was slow, if very powerful. As in, some with that kind of ability could shape the world itself to make dwellings and underground structures. Causing hand sized pieces of rock-like material float in the air didn’t seem weak though. Liam couldn’t do it. That certainly wasn’t anything to feel bad about.
