The II AM Trilogy Collection

by Christopher Buecheler

“Yes!”

  “Do they love you?”

  “I … I think so? I mean, they say they do.”

  “I am absolutely sure you know the answer to this question,” Sasha said.

  Molly nodded. “Yes, they do. I … when I’m with them, I can feel it.”

  “Think of how you would feel if they died.”

  “Been thinking about that for days,” Molly croaked.

  “Now think of how they would feel if you died.”

  “But …”

  “Do it. Take the time and actually think about it. If your parents live through this and come back to find you dead, what will it do to them?”

  Molly thought and, at last, took in a deep, hitching breath. She blew it outwards, head down, in a weary sigh.

  “It would ruin their lives,” Sasha said.

  Molly nodded.

  “I cannot protect you from what may happen at Aros’s base. I am not sure I will come through this alive, and I will not let that uncertainty extend to you. I … this may not mean much to you, but it would be fair to say that, at present, you are absolutely my favorite human in the world.”

  Molly turned a shade of pink at this but said nothing.

  “I don’t want to see you hurt, or killed, and I would never put your parents through such a thing. You’ve all been through too much as it is.”

  “I want to help them,” Molly said.

  “You’ve given them so much help already, but it will all be worthless if they come home to a murdered daughter.”

  Molly opened her mouth to protest this but couldn’t seem to find the words. Finally, she shut her mouth and stared out the window. Sasha gave her the time she needed, not speaking.

  “OK,” Molly said at last. “OK, fine … but I’m coming to the meeting. No one’s going to try to kill me there. Once you know what’s going on, I’ll stay out of it, but I want to be there.”

  Sasha thought that was fair. “You won’t try to stow away or anything else equally foolish?”

  “No, I won’t. I’m … you’re right. I can’t fight vampires.”

  “Do you have somewhere to go in the event that … I mean, should your parents be …”

  “If they’re dead, I’ll go see Sid,” Molly said. “They’re not dead. I don’t want to talk about that.”

  Sasha couldn’t blame her.

  “Thank you, Molly,” she said. “Thank you for your help, and for accepting this. I … you’ve changed my view on humans quite a bit.”

  Molly glanced over at her and said, “Good. We’re not all assholes … just most of us.”

  Sasha was feeling in substantially better spirits now that William had agreed to help her. She produced her pretty laugh again and said, “Most vampires, too.”

  * * *

  There were ten, so far, who had arrived at the cathedral. William, Sasha, Lewis and Richard had been the first to arrive, followed by the two remaining Ashayt council members, Samuel and his apprentice Wilson. Leonore was sitting in the back of the church, looking simultaneously annoyed and curious. Her apprentice, a dimwitted vampire named James, looked dumbfounded as usual. Sasha had expected these two to arrive early, and they had not disappointed her. Leonore desperately wished to be involved in anything of significance that was happening in the vampire world.

  The last two vampires in the cathedral were both Ay’Araf. The elder, who was standing near William and glancing around with interest, originally came from England and was named Peter Markham. Of the Ay’Araf in the country, he was younger only than Malik and Jakob, nearly three hundred years old. His apprentice Kanene, a strikingly beautiful woman with jet-black skin who had become a vampire on board a slave ship bound for the Caribbean, stood at his side.

  “This is highly unorthodox, William,” Markham commented.

  “I understand your concern, Peter. I assure you, if there were any other choice …” William let the sentence trail off, shrugging. The vampires of this country knew that he, of all people, would not break protocol without a reason.

  “Do you think more will show?” Sasha asked. She had barely left William’s side since arriving at the cathedral, understanding that if she did so, she and Molly would only be ostracized. The other vampires would avoid them both, Molly for her humanity and Sasha for her role in this seeming coup d’état. William was protection, and not only of a political sort; as the single most physically powerful vampire in the new world, with Abraham and Theroen dead, he could offer support that no other could give.

  “Malik will show, certainly,” William said. “I assume he will bring Theresa with him.”

  Theresa was Malik’s apprentice, only recently elected. When Abraham had still lived, neither he nor Malik had taken an apprentice. Malik had served the subordinate role, despite being older than any other vampire on the council, because Abraham had not wanted to involve Theroen in vampire politics. Naomi claimed that this was because Abraham both detested and feared Theroen’s nature. The other vampires, having had no contact with the Eresh-Chen, could only take her word for it.

  Theresa was a sycophant, able only to parrot Malik’s views on the rare occasions when she spoke to anyone. Her own sire had been killed by the Comanche in the years just following the Civil War, and she had spent the time since latching on to vampires in various positions of power. She worked diligently for whomever she served but seemed incapable of surviving on her own. Malik had chosen her not because he wished for a weak apprentice to control, but because there were no other Ay’Araf interested in the job.

  “Will he be angry?” Sasha asked.

  “I should think so,” William replied. “Don’t concern yourself. I will handle Malik.”

  “I will be concerned with all of this, until a decision is made,” Sasha said. William nodded at this, smiling slightly to himself.

  “You were wise to bring the girl,” he said. Molly was sitting on a church pew not far from them, playing a video game on her cell phone. She glanced up at this but said nothing.

  “It was her idea,” Sasha conceded. “Why do you think so?”

  “Although it sometimes seems like all those on the council – save perhaps Lewis and Richard – have lost touch with their humanity, we are all still at our cores the people that we once were. Molly can touch that. Her youth, her exuberance, her comfort with her more basic emotions … these things may be useful. They could help perhaps to reawaken the council members from what has become decades of complacency and apathy.”

  Sasha considered this. “She has certainly had some impact on me. I’ve become quite fond of her. It hadn’t occurred to me that she might have a similar effect on the others.”

  William turned toward her, eyebrows raised. “If you’re going to be successful in politics, you must learn how to manipulate people. You must do it consciously, without shame, no matter how distasteful you may sometimes find it.”

  “I’ve no interest in playing political games,” Sasha said.

  “Yet you serve as apprentice to a man who is quite adept at it. You must learn to connect with people, the way Jakob does, and use that to your advantage.”

  “Why?”

  “Do you believe the current structure will exist forever? People, even vampires, get old and tired. Sometimes they die. Jakob and Naomi will inherit this council soon enough, and you will find yourself even more deeply enmeshed than you already are in what goes on here.”

  Sasha frowned, trying to keep from betraying the concern that welled up within her at this statement. William put a hand on her shoulder.

  “There are many years yet before all of this comes to pass. Jakob has taught you well thus far, and will continue to do so, once we’ve found him.”

  “If he’s not dead,” Sasha said.

  William shrugged. “We’re working to prevent that, if it can still be prevented.”

  Sasha sighed and nodded. It was as she had told Molly on the night when they had visited her fixer, Jerry, they were doing all that they could. That would have to
be good enough.

  A few more Ay’Araf vampires entered the cathedral, greeting those who had already arrived, and more came after that. Sasha waited, observed, glancing occasionally at her watch. They were ten minutes past when the meeting was supposed to start and there were still six council members missing, including Malik and Theresa. Sasha was surprised by this last, having expected Malik to be one of the first to show up.

  Eventually, two more council members strolled in, and William turned to her.

  “I don’t believe the Janssen twins will show up,” he said. “They’re notoriously unconcerned with this sort of thing. That leaves only Malik and …”

  As if waiting for his name to be spoken, Malik banged through the cathedral doors, Theresa in tow, eyes ablaze. Sasha wondered if he had been sitting outside, waiting for the last vampires to show up before making his entrance. He made his way down the aisle and stood in the center of the arc of council members, glowering. William, standing at the podium, regarded him with a calm that impressed Sasha.

  “This is against every law, every policy, every—” Malik began. William interrupted him.

  “Then step up here, Malik, and lead. Your council needs you. Your people need you, and you have done nothing.”

  “Jakob—” Malik began again.

  “It is not up to Jakob to do these things, and would not be even had he not been abducted.”

  Malik paused, frowned, his eyes narrowing.

  “I am not here to take your council from you,” William told him, and then he smiled. “Though when Naomi gets back …”

  Malik’s lip curled. “Taunt me as much as you like, William. You left your responsibility, and I had no choice but to pick up the load. If Naomi wants this council, she may come and try to take it. I doubt very much she will.”

  “Oh, no?”

  “Your apprentice has run away with her Eresh-Chen friend and that idiot Stephen. She’s been gone for months, impossible to contact. We’ve heard nothing from her, but I’ve heard from the European council. They passed their judgment weeks ago. Where is she, William? Where do you suppose she’s gone?”

  William was about to respond to this when he was interrupted.

  “Think what you will of me, Malik, but Naomi is very much alive,” Stephen said, walking toward the front of the cathedral with a sarcastic grin on his face. He and another guest, who was trailing behind him, her face obscured by shadows, had slipped through the doors unnoticed.

  “Stephen?” Sasha asked, and she saw his grin widen at the shock clearly visible on her face.

  “So surprised to see me, Sasha?” he asked. “Naomi called Jakob and told him we were on our way home. Did he not communicate the news to you?”

  “Jakob has been abducted by the Burilgi,” William said. “It’s good to see you, Stephen. There is much to talk about.”

  “Finally standing where you belong,” Stephen said to him with an approving nod. “Good. Yes, there is much to talk about. More than you know … but there must be more than I know as well, because this information about Jakob is new to me. I suppose this means he hasn’t rented the apartment Naomi requested.”

  “Where is Naomi?” William asked.

  “She’s here … but not here, clearly. There was another matter that she and Two had to attend to.”

  “The Eresh-Chen?” William asked. “Is she a vampire again?”

  Stephen grinned again at this but didn’t answer.

  “The Eresh-Chen is not a concern right now,” Malik said. Stephen gave him an amused glance and looked back at William.

  “Stephen, please, where is Naomi?” William asked.

  “She and Two had an errand to run. They’ll be back in the city later tonight.”

  “What errand?”

  “One that’s going to wait for her to tell. Never fear, though, I’ve my own surprise for you. Why don’t you say hello, dear?”

  Stephen’s guest stepped out of the shadows and glanced around at the other vampires, a small, serene smile on her face. She was short, thin but well-muscled, her skin dark and her hair black. She had straightened it and pulled it tight into a high ponytail, banded with gold. She was wearing a jade-colored sleeveless gown and every exposed inch of her brown skin, including her face, was covered with interweaving blue-black tattoos. These markings seemed almost to move on their own, as if forming words in some ancient, forgotten language.

  “Greetings, children,” the woman said, and her accent was unlike anything the vampires assembled in the room had ever heard before. She bowed her head momentarily to William, still standing at the podium. “It is good to see that even in this modern age, you attempt to hold to the codes laid down by Eresh herself, so long ago.”

  William tilted his head, inspecting this newcomer, unable to take his eyes away from her. “Madame … I’m sorry, but I must ask, who are you?”

  The woman’s smile grew broad, her white teeth contrasting against her dark, inked skin. She looked up at William and spoke in that same calm, even voice.

  “But child … surely you know who I am?”

  There was a momentary pause, and then William’s body actually jerked with the force of his recognition, and he grabbed the sides of the podium tightly. His eyes grew wide, his jaw dropped, and when he spoke it was with a breathless tone that none in the audience had ever before heard from him.

  “Oh,” he said, and then, after another moment, “oh my dear God …”

  Chapter 21

  The Offer

  “Something is happening amongst the vampire council,” Jakob said. He was sitting with Rhes and Sarah in the living room of their temporary home, fingers tented and pressed against his chin.

  “About time,” Sarah commented, and Jakob nodded.

  “Yes, it could have been faster if there had been someone left in charge other than Malik, but something is happening nonetheless. Aros seemed quite agitated when he came to speak with me earlier. He didn’t explain much, only that my council was preparing to do something stupid and that he would be ready for it.”

  Rhes sat forward, then back, shifted his legs, perplexed. “And then he let you come over here? No offense, Jakob, but I don’t get why he’s keeping you around.”

  “He may have considered me a bargaining chip, but if that was the case, it no longer seems that he values me. He told me that if I had anything left to say to ‘the humans’ that now would be a good time. If the council is indeed planning something, I don’t think he intends that I be alive to see it.”

  “So basically, when you leave here, he’s going to kill you,” Sarah said.

  “That does seem likely,” Jakob said. His voice was calm, but he could not keep a note of distaste at his impending death from creeping into it.

  “Can you … I mean, will you try to escape?” Sarah asked.

  “Yes, and I’ll come for you if I can. I would prefer not to leave you here.”

  Rhes coughed. “We’d prefer that, too.”

  “There’s not much hope in an attack on the front gates, and I’m not sure I could climb a thirty-foot wall lined at the top with razor wire.”

  “Pretty sure we couldn’t anyway,” Sarah said.

  “Indeed. When we arrived, we came in below ground. We didn’t pass through the gates.”

  “How do you know that?” Rhes asked.

  “The drugs they used to knock you out won’t work on me. The best that Aros’s soldiers could do was blindfold me. Trust me: we entered a tunnel outside the grounds that led directly to the prisons in which we were initially kept.”

  Rhes glanced around. “What if he has this place bugged? He might be listening right now.”

  Jakob shrugged. “It’s a risk, but any escape attempt is a risk likely to end in our deaths. I’m not going to hide that fact from you. He will have all exits guarded. My hope is that there will be fewer guards below ground than above.”

  “Worth a shot,” Rhes said. Sarah seemed about to speak, but abruptly changed her mind and close
d her mouth.

  Jakob continued. “I believe we passed through at least four security doors in the process, which are made of metal and require a key. I won’t be able to break them down.”

  “Don’t need to,” Sarah told him.

  “No?”

  “Aros has a key.”

  “I … don’t think he is likely to part with it,” Jakob said.

  Sarah blew air upwards through her pursed lips. “You can take that patronizing bullshit tone elsewhere, Jakob. I’m not an idiot. He leaves the keys in his desk.”

  “You sure, hon?” Rhes asked.

  “I heard him drop his keys into the drawer the night he got us out of there. Remember when we stopped in his office? Left side, top drawer. Heard him open it, heard the keys drop, heard him close it.”

  “Did you hear anything?” Jakob asked Rhes.

  “No, but I was probably distracted, and anyway I don’t hear like she does. I’m not sure you hear like she does.”

  “I assure you—” Jakob began, and Sarah interrupted him.

  “I assure you that you don’t need to use your ears like I do. Whether they’re better or not doesn’t matter. Look, I know what we’re planning here. I know the stakes, and I’ll put our lives on what I heard. That’s where he put his keys.”

  “What if he moved them?” Rhes asked.

  Sarah shrugged. “What if we open the first door and he’s standing behind it with an army of guys, waiting for us? We’re trying to escape from a lunatic vampire who’s probably going to murder us all. I don’t think there’s any safe plan.”

  “Good point,” Jakob said. He was smiling slightly, amused and impressed by Sarah’s decisive manner. “My apologies for the ‘patronizing, bullshit tone’ in my voice.”

  Sarah made a shooing gesture with her hand. “Whatever, forget it. Help us get out of here and get somewhere safe, and all is forgiven. I just want this shit done with. I want to go home, find my daughter, bury my dog, put new locks on my door, and never deal with another vampire again.”

  “A reasonable list of desires,” Jakob said. “Very well, then I will—”

  He was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, and footsteps in the hallway. Aros emerged from the front foyer into the living room.