The II AM Trilogy Collection

by Christopher Buecheler

  “And this is something you want to do?”

  “Totally. I want to go beat up some Ay’Araf. It’ll be fun. Will you come watch me?”

  “Are you sure you want me there? I might be all atwitter from nerves,” Theroen said, glancing sidelong at her, and Two grinned.

  “It would be so worth it just to see you … what’d you say? ‘All atwitter.’”

  “Then I would be happy to attend.”

  “Awesome.” Two leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment.

  “Naomi called,” Theroen said. He was keeping his tone neutral, but Two could hear a certain cautiousness there. Theroen had never quite made peace with the knowledge that Two and Naomi had been in a relationship. It was one of the few areas in which it seemed she could genuinely hurt him if she wanted to – or even if she was simply careless.

  “What’d she say?”

  “She is going to be at L’Obscurité – how did she put it? – ‘annoying Thomas’ at around one. We are welcome to join her.”

  “I don’t think she’s ever annoyed Thomas,” Two said.

  “He seems quite fond of her,” Theroen agreed. “All the more so when one considers that he is an agent for a group of cultists who wish us all dead. It’s a remarkable acting job.”

  “Not sure he’s acting … least, not about liking her,” Two replied.

  “You may be right. At any rate, I am not against joining her for a drink.”

  Two glanced at her watch. They had twenty minutes or so. “I could do that.”

  L’Obscurité, the Manhattan nightclub at which Two and Naomi had met, was a short walk from the apartment she shared with Theroen, and just across the street from Naomi’s own dwelling in the West Village. Thomas had been there for years, ostensibly serving as head bartender. In reality, he was a member of the Children of the Sun, a secretive cult of vampire hunters, and had been posted there to spy on Naomi. That she was also spying on him was something he either didn’t know or didn’t care about. Two was still not sure of the truth.

  “Have we any plans for this week?” Theroen asked. He scratched at the back of his head, his fingers disappearing into his dark brown hair, still short but shaggier than when she had first met him, and stretched.

  “Council meeting on Friday,” Two replied. Theroen sighed, frowning.

  “I am growing to resent their schedule.”

  “At least William usually keeps things short.”

  “It is easy to do that when they never have any news about Tori.”

  Two grimaced. Tori’s situation was a particular sore spot for her and Theroen both. Once upon a time the girl had been a vampire, Theroen’s “sister,” also sired by Abraham. Now she was mostly human again and working for the Children. Or at least, she had been; shortly after the council had begun investigating her actions, Tori had disappeared completely, and the abductions of Burilgi vampires had come to a halt.

  “Yeah, it gets old,” Two said after a pause. She sipped her wine, felt Theroen’s eyes on her, and gave him a questioning look.

  “They don’t care about her,” Theroen said.

  “Some of them do. Naomi does. Jakob does.”

  “No. They care about you, and so they make a token effort on her behalf, but most of them would be very glad indeed if she was gone for good.”

  Two shrugged. “I guess I don’t see it that way.”

  “I understand,” Theroen said. “They are your friends.”

  “They could be your friends too, if you’d let them,” Two said. She heard the trace of acid in her voice but was powerless to stop it. Theroen tilted his head, saying nothing.

  Two sighed, put her hand against her forehead for a moment, looked up at Theroen, and said, “It’s hard. She just vanished. What are they supposed to do?”

  “I know you wish I was more social,” Theroen said.

  “That’s not what we’re talking about.”

  “Is it not?”

  “We’re talking about Tori. I know you think they don’t care, but they do, even if only because they don’t want her to pop back up and start killing people. We still don’t know whatever happened to those Burilgi she took, but it’s not like they’ve come back.”

  “No,” Theroen said. “They are surely dead. I know this troubles Jakob and Naomi, and I know that if given the opportunity to learn Tori’s whereabouts, they would take it, but I do not think we should mistake that for their caring about her. What do you suppose they would do to her should they find her?”

  “If they find her guilty, they’ll try to kill her,” Two said. “I know that.”

  “Try and succeed, I’m afraid, even with her gifts.”

  “Who says they’ll find her guilty? They didn’t find me guilty, and I killed their boss.”

  “You killed an evil psychopath who had been lording over them for centuries, and you did it for honorable reasons. For most vampires in this country, Abraham’s death was a blessing. Tori, on the other hand, has abducted two dozen innocent vampires and most likely murdered them.”

  “We don’t know she killed them!” Two cried.

  “The Tori I knew would have killed them.” Theroen said. He paused a moment and then continued. “I apologize, my love. I know I am upsetting you, but … these meetings frustrate me. I am torn between my desire to find out what has happened to my sister and my knowledge of what will happen when they finally hunt her down.”

  Two leaned forward, setting her glass of wine on the coffee table, and turned sideways on the couch to look directly at her lover.

  “That’s why I want you to be more social,” she said. Theroen raised his eyebrows at this, inviting her to elaborate, and so she continued. “It’s just politics. It’s all the bullshit I swore I would never get involved with. If it was just us, if we only had to worry about you and me, I wouldn’t care. I’d say ‘fuck the council’ and go anywhere, do anything. I’d leave it behind if that’s what you wanted. You know that.”

  “I would never ask that of you,” Theroen said, and Two shook her head.

  “No, I know. I’m just explaining. I like the people on the council, but that doesn’t mean you have to, and I wouldn’t care if they liked you except …”

  “You hope that if they think favorably of us, they will be lenient with Tori,” Theroen finished for her.

  “Yes. Exactly. They might at least give us time to try and explain what she’s been through and why they should be lenient. If we’re there for her she has a chance, but if we give up on the council and they do end up catching her … it’s all over.”

  Theroen considered this in silence for a time, then he gave her a gentle smile. Leaning forward, he took her glass of wine from the coffee table, sipped from it, and set it back down.

  “Let’s go be social,” he said.

  * * *

  The girl sitting at the bar looked too young to be drinking despite having celebrated her twenty-first birthday in the early seventeenth century. Naomi’s body had been frozen forever in time at the age of seventeen, but she had been alive now for just over four hundred years. Lithe and beautiful, with hair the color of honey and large grey eyes, Naomi had been an object of desire wherever she went for all of her long life. She had become an expert at withdrawing into the shadows in crowded places, staying largely unnoticed, but tonight she didn’t seem to care. When she saw Two and Theroen, she leapt to her feet, swaying noticeably and waving.

  Two smiled, waved back, and made her way through the crowd. Naomi gave both Two and Theroen a brief hug and then sat back down, inviting them to do the same.

  “It’s so good to see you!” she said, taking a long drink from her glass of wine.

  “Nice to see you too,” Two said. “Been here long?”

  Naomi shook her head. “Perhaps twenty minutes.”

  “Cool.”

  Thomas made his way over to them, standing behind the counter and smiling his brilliant smile. A tall, gorgeous man with skin the color of dark chocolate and a smoothly s
haved head, Thomas reminded Two of the models she sometimes saw in fashion catalogs, skintight leather pants and overpriced T-shirt included. She gave him a small wave.

  “Hi, Thomas.”

  “Evening, Two. How are you tonight?”

  “I’m doing great. You?”

  “My bar is jumping, I’m surrounded by beautiful ladies, and the tips have been good. Can’t complain!”

  Two laughed. “Awesome. Can I have the usual?”

  “No problem. How about you, my man?”

  “Talisker eighteen, please,” Theroen said. “Just a drop of water.”

  “Sure thing. Coming right—”

  “Oh!” Naomi cried, leaping again to her feet. “I’ll be right back. I simply must dance to this song.”

  Two watched, amused, as Naomi made her way to the dance floor. Once there, she had her choice of several partners and picked a tall, muscular man with long, dark hair. Drunk or not, Naomi knew how to move her body, and her partner was quickly pressed against her, undulating in sinuous rhythm.

  “What the hell have you got her drinking?” Two asked Thomas, who had stopped mixing drinks for a moment to openly stare at Naomi’s sensual dancing.

  “Already like that when she got here,” he replied. “Actually trying to slow her down a little …”

  “She’ll be fine,” Two said. “I’ll make sure.”

  Thomas nodded and set their drinks down, moving on to other customers. Two picked up her bourbon and sipped it, then she glanced at Theroen and smiled.

  “How you doing?” she asked him.

  Theroen lifted his glass of scotch to his nose, breathed deeply, smiled, and set it back down.

  “I used to drink this on trips to London,” he said. “I am well, Two. It’s good to see Naomi relaxing a bit.”

  “Now we just need to work on you,” Two said, giving him a sly grin.

  Theroen chuckled and took a sip of scotch, clearly savoring it.

  “Can I try?” Two asked. Theroen handed her the glass and she tasted it, then made a face.

  “Oh, my God …”

  “It’s an acquired taste,” Theroen conceded.

  “It’s like taking a swig from a bottle of liquid smoke!”

  Theroen laughed. “Yes, that’s not far off.”

  Naomi was returning to the bar, having turned down an invitation to keep dancing. Her temporary partner looked unhappy, but he had grudgingly given up and settled for following her rump with his eyes as she strode away.

  “I think he likes you,” Two commented, tilting her head toward the man, and Naomi smiled a little.

  “The dancing was enjoyable. Too bad he absolutely bathed in cheap cologne,” she said.

  “The perils of L’Obscurité,” Two replied, and Naomi nodded. She finished her glass of wine in a single gulp and set it on the bar. Thomas swooped in to refill it without a word, moving just as quickly on to his other patrons.

  “Do you want to find a … oh, merde, comment dit-on? One of those places where you … sit?”

  “A booth?” Two suggested.

  “Yes! Sorry. Desolée. My English sometimes escapes me when I’ve … had a lot of wine.”

  “Are you OK?” Two asked. She had seen Naomi this drunk, but only a few times in her life, and never this early in the evening.

  “Do I look not OK?” Naomi asked in a tone that warned Two against answering the question, but before Two could make a choice, Naomi stood and began making her way through the crowd, leaving her companions to follow. Two glanced at Theroen, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

  “Guess she’ll tell us if she needs to,” Two said, and Theroen nodded. He turned and began to follow Naomi. Two picked up her glass and made her way after them.

  Once comfortably settled into the booth, situated in a dark corner of the club, Naomi seemed fine. She chatted with them easily, the conversation moving in a fractured, circuitous way as she latched onto different topics. She spoke of William, her mentor and the head of the American council, and of the inroads they were making with the Burilgi. She spoke also of a recent fashion show she had attended, and of her plans to visit South America in the winter.

  “We never get the chance to talk like this at the council meetings,” she said. “I know I’m prattling on, but I don’t even remember the last time we got together to talk. How have you both been? What’s new in your lives?”

  Two glanced at her shoulder and smiled. “Well, Jakob almost chopped my arm off at practice earlier, but he says I’m ready to go fight at the clubs.”

  “Oh, how exciting!”

  “And let’s see … Rhes and Sarah had their baby. Did you know she was pregnant?”

  “You had mentioned it. How lovely for them! Was it a boy or a girl?”

  “Boy. Nathan James. Born about a week ago. I have some pictures but haven’t seen him in person yet … they only got home from the hospital on Monday.”

  “That’s so wonderful. I’m glad they still keep in touch. I know they mean a lot to you.”

  “They’re good people, and they nearly got themselves killed just trying to help me. Least I can do is respond to a few emails and Facebook posts, right?”

  Naomi smiled, nodded, drank from her glass and emptied it. “I need another.”

  “Are you sure?” Theroen asked. The words were delivered in the same calm tone that was his signature, but the question nonetheless earned him a glare.

  “I’m quite capable of handling my alcohol, Mr. Anders,” Naomi said. “You needn’t worry on my behalf.”

  “It was only a question, Naomi. I meant nothing by it,” Theroen said. He finished up his drink and, glancing at Two’s nearly empty glass, stood up. “Let me make it up to you by making the trip to the bar.”

  Naomi seemed to find this acceptable. She smiled and slid her glass across the table. “Thomas will know what to fill it with.”

  “Of course,” Theroen said. He took the empty glasses with him on his way back to the bar. Naomi turned to Two.

  “I’m going to go powder my nose … haven’t had dinner yet,” Naomi said. “Do you want to come?”

  Two shrugged. “Sure. Should we wait ‘til Theroen gets ba—”

  “He’ll figure it out. Let’s go!”

  She stood, taking Two’s hand and pulling her up. Two was surprised as always by the strength Naomi possessed, hidden so well in the vampire girl’s long, thin limbs. She could feel Naomi’s aura, a kind of pulsating warmth, roll over her like a wave. It was a rare gift possessed only by a few vampires of her kind, and Naomi had been working with the ancient vampire Ashayt – the source of her line – to gain control of it. Two was unsure if what she was feeling now was intentional or merely a sign that Naomi had lost some control in her intoxication.

  She knew what warmth like this meant. Two had felt it before, many times, usually while lying mostly naked in bed with Naomi, kissing and caressing. That time had long passed; it had been more than two and a half years since the last time she and Naomi had been intimate.

  “Naomi …” Two could hear the caution in her voice, the accusation, and hated herself for it.

  “Oh, relax,” Naomi said, not understanding. “He’ll be fine.”

  She tugged on Two’s hand and pulled her toward the bathroom. Somewhat against her better judgment, Two allowed herself to be led.

  The women’s bathroom was cool and dim, scented with lilac, lit by pink-tinged wall sconces. The slate-tiled walls reverberated with the thud of the music from beyond the door. There were four stalls, none in use, and a black granite countertop housing four stainless steel basins. Two could see a few specks of what she thought was cocaine on the counter, not an uncommon sight at the club.

  “Oh, boo … no one’s home,” Naomi pouted.

  “Give it a minute.”

  “Of course.”

  Naomi leaned forward, her belly pressing against the counter, inspecting her eyeliner in the mirror. Two stood back by the door, feeling awkward, unsure why Naomi ha
d invited her here and angry at herself for the suspicions running through her head.

  The door opened and a young Hispanic woman with long, dark hair came bustling in. She was wearing what looked like half a dozen bracelets on each arm and a silver dress that barely hid her underwear. She ignored the two women, shouting into her cellphone instead.

  “No, Stacey, Listen … you gotta come back. I heard him. Yeah, but … Stacey, come on. He’s not that bad.”

  Naomi glanced at Two, smirking, and Two laughed a little.

  “But I told your mom!” the girl whined, drawing the last word out into two distinct syllables. “Stop being a bitch and just … no, fuck you!”

  The girl jabbed at her phone, ending the call, and stood there looking at it for a moment in disgust. She slowly became aware that the other two women in the room were staring at her, and she looked up at Naomi.

  “What?! Don’t you have, like, anything better to do?”

  Naomi grinned. When vampire bodies were preparing to feed, muscles in the gums pushed their two canine teeth forward, and the effect made her smile look very predatory indeed. The young girl, sensing that something was not right, looked suddenly nervous.

  “Hey, just … I’ll just go, OK? I didn’t mean to interrupt or like, whatever, so …”

  Naomi was advancing on the girl, mesmerizing her with a combination of gaze and aura, the latter of which Two could feel from across the room.

  “Why don’t we go into that stall, and I’ll give you a little kiss?” Naomi said, her voice low and husky and hungry. Two shivered.

  “Oh, uh … ‘kay,” the girl said, breathless and unable to take her eyes off the vampire in from of her. Naomi led her into the stall and closed the door. Two heard a soft shuffling and a small thud. There were kissing noises, and the girl began to make a soft, urgent cooing that rapidly intensified.

  “Oh!” the girl cried out, and then there was no noise at all for a few moments. Two leaned against the bathroom wall, amused and mildly aroused, waiting for Naomi to finish. Eventually the other vampire emerged from the stall, grinning and licking her lips.

  “She OK?” Two asked.