“You girls really want to dance with me?”
One of the thugs looks closely at me. “Malone?”
I hold back the flap of my coat and show the hilt of my blade. The guy splays his arms out and gestures to his cohorts to back down. Call me petty if you want, but after receiving so many ass-kickings of late, it feels damn good to get some proper, fear-induced respect. I holster my pistol and push through the door into the bathroom. I hear some unpleasant grunting coming from the middle stall and make a beeline for it. Taking a knee, I reach under the door and grab the inseam of the jeans bunched around Nick’s ankles.
“What the fuck!” Nick yelps as I pull him out from under the door.
“Oh, fuck me, Malone! I didn’t do nothin’! Please! Come on!”
I drag him by his trouser-entwined legs across the dance floor and out of the back door. He scrambles to his feet and jerks up his pants when I toss his legs aside.
“Come on, Malone! What the fuck, man?”
“A little less methadone and a lot more fiber and you wouldn’t have so much trouble in the bathroom.”
“A lot less you and I wouldn’t have any troubles at all! Why do you have to humiliate me like this every time?”
“Because you’re a piece of shit, Nick, and I feel I would be neglecting my civic duty if I didn’t remind you and your friends of that once in a while.”
“The only shit around here is the way you treat me and the stripe now going up my back. What do you want?”
“Tell me about the vampire abductions.”
“Maybe I don’t know nothin’.”
“Maybe I come by for a regular visit. How does once or twice a month sound to you?”
“Fine, but you gotta stop busting my balls.”
“That depends on your usefulness.”
“We’ve heard about some full bloods getting snatched up by guys in black who are carrying serious hardware. They reek of fucking feds.”
“We?”
“Yeah, me and my people.”
“Since when do you have people?”
Nick straightens the lapels of his jacket. “I’m a legit businessman now.”
“What kind of business?”
“You know, information, drugs, a little fencing.”
“How many of your people are bloodlings?”
Nick shifts nervously. “Look, I know your kind don’t like us, but these are okay guys. We stick together and look out for each other. I make sure they know the rules and don’t draw attention to us or you.”
“When did you find these bloodlings?”
“Around the same time all the new full bloods started popping up around the city. The first one was maybe two years ago. Seven more have joined my crew over the last year.”
Once again, the ghost of Percy pops into the room, cuts a fart, and leaves. It looks like his vampire formula doesn’t just increase the likelihood of making vampires. This is the first I’m hearing about new bloodlings, so I assume it’s not a big problem. Bloodlings don’t need to feed on humans and are benign as long as they keep their heads down and don’t draw attention to themselves.
“Any of your boys see me taken?”
“Yeah. When Bryce told me, I laughed so hard I almost pissed myself.”
I double Nick up with a punch to the gut.
“Totally worth it,” he gasps.
“What can you tell me about them?”
Nick manages to catch his breath and straightens up. “We heard some things a few months ago. People disappearing, getting snatched up by guys in black SUVs. They were mostly the new vamps I was talking about, so we didn’t care much. A lot of these new guys are even bigger assholes than you, and they scare the shit out of us. I knew you were hunting some of the ones who were fucking up, so I thought I could use any information I dug up to get some favors. I started staking out some of the ones I thought might make good targets for these kidnappers. About a month ago, I got my first hit. Some loser who’d been picking off bums and whores got snatched up right in front of one of my guys.”
“He have any idea of where they went?”
“He followed them on his bike, but they shook him near Philadelphia. That was our best lead.”
“It helps, thanks, Nick.”
Nick beams like a kid being praised by an abusive father. “I know you’re chasing some of these new full bloods. I can get you a list of the ones we’ve identified and who’s breaking the rules.”
“Do that. You did good work. I tell you what; I’m going to give you a battlefield promotion. You’re now a warder of whatever territory you claim as yours. This means you’re the top guy amongst your bloodlings. You got a problem with someone muscling you, you let me know.”
“Thanks, Leo!”
“This also means you’re responsible for any misconduct. Your guys fuck up; it’s your head I’m coming for, so you best keep a clean house.”
“I will. I got a good crew going.”
“Good, keep it that way. You keep making yourself useful, you might start getting some regular paying work from me and the council.”
“I knew this was good stuff! I just didn’t think I had enough to bring you. Then you got snatched up, and I didn’t know what to do with it.”
“Now you know. Keep your head down for a while. The shit’s going to hit the fan soon, and you don’t want to get caught in the blast.”
“Yeah, I got enough shit on me now, thanks.”
My phone chirps and buzzes as I leave Nick in the alley. “Yeah?”
“Where are you?” Lesile asks. “We’re waiting for you at the lab.”
“Sorry, I thought finding out where our kidnappers are hiding was a better use of my time than Indian leg wrestling with my new gal pal.”
“Stop being a prick and get over here. I want this thing out as badly as you do.”
“The bomb or did you lose a toy?”
She hangs up and I call Raj with the address to the lab. I take a minute to consider Nick, his bloodling gang, and his newfound usefulness. I’m not sure what the council will think about having several new bloodlings amongst the populace nor how they might deal with it if they see it as a problem. I decide it’s best just not to mention it and call Marvin.
“Marvin, narrow your search to a twenty-five mile radius of Philadelphia.”
“Philadelphia?”
“I got a lead, and my rough estimate of how long I was in that truck puts their hideout within that vicinity.”
“All right, but that’s still a lot of territory. It’s not as if Philly is short on decrepit, abandoned buildings.”
“Keep outside the city limits. I would have known by smell and sound if I was near a population center.”
“Okay, I’m on it.”
I zip across town, narrowly avoiding the morning rush. Lesile and Dr. Johnston are waiting when I arrive, and Raj makes his appearance fifteen minutes later.
“Leo, who is this man and what is he doing here?” Sandra asks.
“He’s a friend and someone I have come to rely on for quite a while now.”
“If the council finds out…”
“If the council finds out, I know who to blame. I think it’s in everyone’s best interest that they don’t.”
“Does everyone who comes in contact with you face the threat of a significantly reduced lifespan?”
“Huh, yeah it seems like it. I should come with a Surgeon General’s warning or something.”
Dr. Johnston leads us into the lab. “Fine, but if anyone asks, I’m telling them you threatened me.”
“At least you’ll be telling the truth.”
Raj is looking quite nervous now. “Um, Leo, I want to help and all, but I really don’t want to become anyone’s breakfast.”
“Don’t worry. Once you prove your worth, even the council will be reasonable.”
“I don’t know if I can remove this.”
I shrug. “Best not fuck it up.”
Raj is looking queasy as Dr.
Johnston uses her access badge to pass through several security doors to reach the laboratory’s heart.
“This is where we cryogenically freeze mostly viruses and bacteria, but I should be able to rig up something to do what we need.”
“So what do we do, jump in a tub of liquid nitrogen?” I ask.
“No, that would almost certainly kill even us. We need to replace the liquids in the brain with a cryoprotectant. Then we freeze your head with dry ice, encase it in a metal container, and submerge it in the liquid nitrogen until it’s frozen solid.”
“This is beginning to sound unpleasant.”
“Beginning?” Raj mutters.
“It is going to be very unpleasant. The freezing part shouldn’t be too bad if you can close off all your sensory receptors. It’s the thawing that will be truly hellish. Once frozen, your friend can then carve out the device however he sees fit.”
“Hooray for me. It would be best if I open the skull and expose the brain before freezing. It would be especially helpful if I could create a path as close to the device as I can first. The less frozen brain matter I have to remove the better.”
“It’s not the first time someone performed brain surgery on me this week, so let’s get to it. Dr. Frankenstein, I put my brain in your hands.”
Raj lays me on a table and starts cutting while Sandra gathers supplies for my deepfreeze. I tune out the sound and vibration of the oscillating saw as it removes the top of my skull. Raj pokes around in my brain for several minutes until he steps back and wipes his sweat-covered brow with his sleeve.
“I managed to expose the very top of the device. I can’t go any farther without risking moving the surrounding tissue and setting it off.”
Dr. Johnston pushes a cart piled with equipment next to the table. “Since we only want to freeze your head, I’ll have to put a tourniquet around your neck. This shouldn’t be a problem and will help keep the cryoprotectant in your brain when you lose consciousness and the ability to regulate your blood flow.”
“Ugh, that’s just weird,” Raj says when Sandra cinches the leather strap around my neck.
She then inserts a needle attached to an IV bag into my carotid and a siphon in my jugular just above the ligature. I feel a profound sense of starvation as my blood drains away. It is all I can do to keep myself from flying off the table and tearing Raj apart to get to his warm, liquid center. I feel my grip on reality slipping away as the fluid from the IV bag replaces my precious blood. Then I lose all consciousness.
***
I awaken to the sound of screaming and the crashing of metal. It takes me a full minute to realize I am the source of both. A metal operating table lies in a twisted wreck against the wall of a secured room. I’m writhing and shrieking on the floor. I have no idea where or even who I am. I tear at the walls with my fingernails and pound on the steel door. When it fails to yield, I do my best to tear through the wall.
A voice comes through a speaker in the ceiling. “Leo, you need to focus. Send your blood into your brain and repair it.”
Blood, it’s all over the room. The smell of it drives my insatiable hunger. Images of a jungle, a grass hut, crying children, and a young Vietnamese girl cursing my existence flash through my mind, but they aren’t the source of the blood. An IV catheter with a length of plastic tubing hangs from the inside of my thigh. The bag containing the blood that once fed into my femoral artery lies on the floor nearby. I dive for the bag, tear it open with my teeth, and down the sweet contents as fast as I can swallow. I lie on the floor softly mewling as I force the blood to my brain.
“Leonard, are you all right? Leo?”
It takes me a minute to recover my faculties before I can form words. “Oh, fuck me. That was the most horrible thing I have ever experienced in my life. I am so glad I went first. I think I would have taken my chances with the bomb if I watched you go through this.”
“It is a good thing I am more of a man than you are.”
I want to issue a biting retort, but it’s all I can do just to flip her off. They give me several minutes to return to my charming self before unlocking the door and letting me out.
“How’d it go?” I ask.
“Good. The freezing kept the pins from tripping and froze the liquid, so even if I did set it off, it could not have been released into your system.”
“Nice work. I guess it’s time to pull up a chair for the second act. I hear this is the best part of the show.”
“Are you really so pathetic to take pleasure in my misery?” Lesile asks.
“Looks that way.”
“You are a real shit, Leonard.”
“Yep.”
CHAPTER 12
I have to admit, I enjoyed watching Lesile come out of her deepfreeze. Knowing what a painful, terrifying, and outright god-awful near-death experience it was, filled me with a satisfaction bordering on the sexual.
There are two cars and a van I don’t recognize parked in front of my loft. Well, the cars I don’t recognize, but the van is unpleasantly familiar. I mentally prepare myself as best I can before entering. Inside my loft are three enclave heads and half a dozen Sheriffs. Sven is doing his best impression of a statue of Thor and succeeding rather well. Nikolaj Henrik Sen, Jake Hobbs, and Harriet Shaw, who is in charge with Vincent out of the picture, stand shoulder to shoulder glaring at me when I walk in.
“You guys throw a party at my house and I don’t even get an invite? That’s rude.”
Harriet scowls even deeper and glances at Marvin who is trying to look as if he is still working. “Send your boy away. He is not one of us and cannot be privy to this conversation.”
“Wow, two deeply racist comments in such a short statement. I know you’re old and set in your ways, but we don’t speak like that anymore.”
“You know what I mean, Malone. What we have to discuss is not for outside ears.”
“He’s doing something useful. You go somewhere else.”
“Do not tempt my patience. There are important matters to discuss and no time to waste.”
“Maybe you should have called first.”
“How the hell can we call when your number changes every few days because you cannot spend a week without destroying your phone for fear of incrimination?” she shouts, finally breaking her frigid façade.
“You do have a point. You know what’s really criminal, the early contract termination fees. You would think I would be smart enough to stick with pay as you go plans, but they make it look so tempting with the free phones and unlimited data.”
“I do not find you amusing at the best of times, Malone, and this is one of our bleaker moments. Now send him away, or we can discuss this openly and deal with damage control afterward.”
“Marvin, can you work upstairs in my office?”
“Gladly.”
Marvin flips his laptop shut, bounds up the stairs two steps at a time, and disappears through the steel door at the top.
“How much does he know?”
“Enough to help us.”
“He seems awfully nervous.”
“He’s a young black man surrounded by armed white people.”
“We already have a massive security breach. We will not permit outside knowledge of our existence to continue. We have become lax in our efforts to maintain our anonymity, and it is time to take measures to correct our oversights.”
“Think very carefully before you decide who gets kicked out of the club and who stays.”
“Do not threaten me, Leo Malone.”
“Don’t threaten my…employees or business partners.”
Jake Hobbs cuts in before we can draw steel and start hacking at each other. “We need to focus on the primary threat at hand. We can discuss additional security measures later and at length.”
“I assume you have been talking to the wolves,” I say.
“Fortunately, they have taken this problem seriously and have been more forthcoming in sharing their information than you have been.
Why did you not come to us the moment you discovered the problem?”
“Well, first I was kidnapped and sent to Bumfuck, Yemen to kill some Betty Crocker ready to bake vampires where I had to crash a jet plane into the fucking Atlantic to escape. Oh yeah, then there was the small matter of the bomb planted in my head, which necessitated turning it into a giant ice cube in order to remove it. So, sorry if I’ve been a little preoccupied. I was going to come to the council when I had a little more information to share than what you likely already possess, to expedite a mission plan so we didn’t spend needless hours pissing up flagpoles like we are now.”
Sven growls, “Watch your tone, Malone.”
“Lick my sack, Jack. I can play the rhyme game too. You want to come at me? Because I’m in a really foul mood right now, and I could use the stress relief.”
Sven twitches, but he doesn’t show more than half a foot of steel before my blade touches his Adam’s apple and I point Shalonda between Harriet’s eyes. Nikolaj reacts with impressive speed, drawing his sword and slapping mine away from Bjork’s neck within a second.
“Enough of this! We have a problem that threatens our existence. We do not have time for petty bickering!”
I holster my weapons. “Fine. What do you want from me?”
“Some active and cohesive participation for a start,” Harriet replies.
“Active—did you not hear the part about me being kidnapped and forced to hunt rogues on the other side of the planet?”
“I mean active within the council. You have done nothing to keep us apprised of the situation. You cannot do this alone.”
“I know I can’t. That’s why I had Meat gather his people and contact you.”
“Who is Meat?”
Jake leans in. “He is the werewolf who helped Malone in Yemen and informed us of their return.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Do you know they abducted Vincent as well?”
“We knew within hours of his capture and have been using our full resources to locate him.”
Blood Conspiracy (Brooklyn Shadows Book 2) Page 15
