A Summoner's Tale - The Vampire's Confessor (Black Swan 3)

by Danann, Victoria

  Glen's expression was somber as he searched Ram's face trying to imagine how in the world they would do that. "Yes sir." He hoped Rammel had a plan. In any case, he couldn't think of anything else to say. "Simon sent me. You're needed downstairs."

  Ram nodded. "Back soon." He kissed Elora on the forehead and, smiling, kissed Helm on his incredibly soft and perfect little cheek. He didn't know if he would ever get used to the idea of being a dad.

  On the way downstairs Glen turned to Ram. "Do you actually plan to go back for those wolves?"

  Ram drew up and looked at Glen. "I do no' lie to my mate. O' course I will clean up the mess those buggers made. Partly for Elora and partly for the Forest. 'Twas sullied by this incident. Violated. Understand?"

  Glen nodded. "I think so."

  Ram motioned for them to talk while they were walking. "I think the best thin' will be to gather the bodies of the wolves and burn them. I have no' thought of a way to do that without tranquilizin' the creatures in the pack once again. I know 'tis no' ideal, but no' one thin' about this is desirable. If you have a better idea, brin' it forward. You'll find me receptive and grateful for suggestions."

  "I hate doing that, too, but I don't know of a better way."

  Ram glanced at him. "You're a good lad, Catch."

  0740

  The personnel directly involved had reassembled at 0730 as directed. There were nine shooters: four knights and a trainee from Jefferson Unit and four knights recalled from London. All of them had vampire hunting experience except for Glen. Storm planned to situate him at a safe distance and use him as backup only. The only other essential personnel was Heaven.

  Simon and Prince Torquil were to be there as observers, more or less, because Storm was technically in charge of this phase of the mission. Additionally there were twenty-odd volunteer staff who were to function in the capacity of forming a barricade at either end of Warriston Close. They were divided into two groups called the north barricade and the south barricade.

  Everyone knew what part they were to play and where to take up a position so that formation could be accomplished within minutes. Last, they were advised to terminate all conversation once they crossed the bridge. Low profile was the phrase of the day.

  In working with Simon, Storm had discovered the Director was no slouch at planning. In fact the speed and thoroughness he brought to this task earned him Storm's respect and admiration. He had even remembered to take the weather into account. Because of the heavy cloud cover and drizzle, the sky was going to be gray even at midday, which meant that sunrise would be dark as charcoal. At the last minute he conscripted four very surprised clericals who never expected to ever see a day's worth of field duty and called them "light bearers" because it would be their job to shine battery operated lanterns on the entrance to Mary King's Close for the shooters. And, though Simon might seem easygoing and affable at first appraisal, gods help them if they ran away - no matter what.

  By the time the special ops unit reached Warriston Close, everyone was so well prepared that it took only three minutes to be in place. The eight knights formed a semicircle arc blocking the entrance. Glen stood behind that line with Simon and the prince. The light bearers stood in between and just behind the knights, spaced at quarter intervals.

  When everyone and everything was in place, Storm motioned for Heaven to come stand by him at the head of the arc directly across from the center of the entrance. She had to remove her gloves one at a time because she was the only thing holding her flute up inside her clothing. Storm looked down and saw that her hands were shaking.

  On impulse, he put one arm around her shoulders. "You're safe here. Nothing will hurt you."

  She looked up at him with big, liquid eyes. "That's not what I fear," she whispered. "I'm afraid of letting all these people down. Mr. Baka, too."

  He nodded, understanding dawning. That particular fear was an up close and personal acquaintance of his.

  "Baka is a friend of mine. Did you know that?"

  Heaven shook her head. "Not really."

  "I'm mad as hell at him for putting us in this position. And I'm grateful to you for trying. Do you understand? Whatever happens, his friends will still be grateful that you tried."

  He released her and stepped back. As she reached to pull the flute from inside its warm cocoon she closed her eyes and pictured everything she knew about vampire. Their chillingly macabre pale eyes. Their long sharp fangs. Their soulless expressions. When she formed a clear impression in her mind, she could almost feel the flute vibrating in her hand like a living thing. She just raised the flute toward her lips. When her eyes came open, she heard her own voice and felt her vocal cords vibrate as she involuntarily spoke in a clear, resonant, confident tone.

  "Come to me."

  Song opened the door as quietly as possible while Litha and Katrina waited behind her in the hall. Her intent was to make sure Elora was awake before they barged in. It was only half past seven in the morning. Elora had her legs drawn up so that she could hold Helm in front of her while she cooed at him. She looked up when she heard the soft drag of the door.

  "Song! Come in. Helm's awake! He just ate, but didn't go back to sleep right away." She looked back at the baby. "Helm. Look who's here. Auntie Song."

  "And Katrina and Litha," Katrina said.

  "Great Paddy. It's a party!" Elora was clearly delighted and certainly didn't look like someone who had been the target of an emergency rescue from an epic ordeal just twenty four hours before. "Hey, you two. How are you? Thank you for the flowers. Each one of the bouquets is beautiful."

  "Hey, yourself. We're the ones who are supposed to be asking how you are." Katrina leaned over and air kissed. "I'm afraid to touch you. So that will have to do."

  Elora laughed. "I'm not easily broken, but thank you for being considerate."

  Katrina looked down and saw the baby for the first time. Her eyes widened and got so big Elora had to glance back down at Helm to make sure he wasn't choking.

  "Trina. What's wrong?"

  Aelsong answered for her. "She's lookin' at him that way because he's no' a baby. He's a fuckin' masterpiece."

  "Can I hold him?" Katrina had lost every bit of her characteristic, brash and buoyant manner. Her request was almost reverent.

  "Course. Get ready. I'm told he's heavier than he looks."

  Song snorted. Everyone turned and looked at her.

  Elora said, "Please excuse my sister-in-law. She's old to be just now learning her farm animal sounds, but she's cute and fun and can see the future, so we forgive her."

  "No! You will no' blame me for the disgustin' snortin' behavior. I learned it from her..." She pointed at Elora. "...and now I can no' seem to stop."

  "Anyway... " Elora turned back to Katrina. "...be careful to support his head."

  Trina nodded vigorously. When she got one hand under his warm little body, her eyes filled with tears.

  "Uh oh," Song said. "Appears we have a breeder in the room."

  "What does that mean?" Litha asked.

  "Just look at her. She can no' wait to be holdin' one of her own. You know, she..."

  Song turned to look at Litha and stopped abruptly. Her eyes traveled downward to Litha's belly before giving Litha a knowing smile. Litha shook her head. Song got the message.

  "...'tis only a matter of time before Trina's tellin' others to be careful about heads and such." Song helped Katrina figure out how to hold the baby against her shoulder so that she could walk around and jiggle him.

  "How are you feeling?" Litha asked Elora seriously.

  "Not all that bad. Believe it or not, I've been through worse."

  Right on cue the door opened wide and a cart was wheeled in by a nurse who appeared surprised to find a crowd. And a dog. "Time for vitals."

  "Okay, we'll step outside," Katrina said.

  "No. No reason. They're not going to do anything that would embarrass you or make you barf." Elora looked at the nurse. "Are you?"

&nb
sp; The nurse smiled and said, "Not in the next few minutes. But this is pushing the number of people you should have visiting at once."

  "Noted."

  The nurse finished her checklist, asked if Elora or the baby needed anything, and left without closing the door.

  "Would somebody close the door? You would think all medics were raised in a barn." Litha pushed the door closed. Elora looked at Song. "Along with my sister-in-law," she teased. "So what's everybody been up to?"

  "Well, as a matter of fact," Song said, "I just happen to have a really, really, really good story."

  "I'm not going anywhere," Elora said.

  "You sure you do no' need to sleep?"

  "Dish. Now."

  Song sat on the foot of Elora's bed. Litha jumped up to sit on the wide windowsill ledge and let her feet dangle. Katrina sat in the reclining chair with the baby and started rocking, looking for all the world like she had found her life's purpose.

  "She looks like she's in heaven," Song said. "And that brin's me to the subject of my story."

  While they sat in the overcast light of a misty Scotia morning, Aelsong related the tale of Heaven's reincarnation and the discovery that her unique ability could be the thing needed to save Baka. Elora was alarmed when she learned that Baka was missing, but Song convinced her that it was temporary and that all was well in hand; that the rest of B Team and Finnemore were on the case, but that there was nothing dangerous about it.

  When Song finished describing Heaven's talent and the research Rue had dug up on it, Elora burst out laughing.

  "She's a Pied Piper!"

  "A what?"

  Elora shook her head. "It's a thing in one of my stories."

  "Are there bears?" Litha asked.

  "Bears? No. What makes you ask that?"

  "Um. Storm mentioned something about bears in your stories."

  Elora looked delighted. "Storm told you the story of 'The Three Bears'?"

  "Not exactly."

  "Hmmm. Well, this is just nothing less than amazing. It also makes me realize that... In my world people were fond of saying that every myth and fairytale... - that's what they call the stories - that every one of them is supposed to be based on a fact or factual event. The longer I work for The Order, the more I come to realize that could be true. There's a lot of magic in your world."

  "Our world," Song said. "This is your home now. Look at that elflin' and tell me I'm wrong."

  "It's true. It also makes me wonder if all these things weren't part of my dimension as well. I mean I could have been every bit as blissfully ignorant as all the people here who think vampire are someone's dark, twisted fantasy."

  "'Tis possible. But people here with Heaven's gift? They are no' called Pied Pipers. They're called Summoners."

  "Well, let's hope it's a tale with a happy ending. Ram told me he had something to sort out this morning, but didn't hint that it was a vampire recovery. He probably thought I'd ask him not to go. And, of course, I didn't know about Baka although I was surprised that he hadn't been in to visit."

  The women stayed a little longer. Litha got a turn at holding Storm's namesake, who opened his mesmerizing turquoise eyes a little and wrinkled his brow as if to say, "You're no' me mum."

  It made Litha smile and feel a little giddy about the future.

  When everyone had left, Elora was alone with a sleeping baby and the sound of drizzle on the window. She certainly hoped their elaborate scheme worked because, if not, she was going to have to hunt Baka. Personally. And she really didn't want it to come to that.

  When Heaven blew across the hole of her flute, everyone was stunned into silence. The music was so pure it was otherworldly. Heaven didn't try to control the melody or the speed. She, more or less, let the flute play itself. She felt like it was working.

  After she had been playing for a minute, Storm told the shooters to look alert. After another minute, they began to emerge, looking stiff and controlled almost like "B" movie zombies. They headed straight for Heaven, who, to her credit, never faltered for an instant. She trusted Storm and the other knights to protect her.

  The effect of the canister recipe was almost instantaneous. They fell where they were shot so that others who came after stumbled over the fallen bodies and were shot after they were already on the ground. Kay ran out of rounds when the second wave started. One of them turned on Kay and snarled, as if he momentarily remembered what he was. Kay turned him, then grabbed and held him in place from behind while Ram shot the vamp in the chest then handed Kay a pistol with fresh rounds.

  Employing quick thinking worthy of field agents, on seeing how many vamps were pouring out of the entrance to countless hidey holes, some of the people who had originally been assigned to form the barricades had left their posts half manned and come running to help reload the guns and move the bodies out of the way.

  After five more minutes without any activity, it seemed reasonable to think that the last vampire who was coming to the party had already surfaced. Heaven shoved the flute into Storm's body and he took it out of reflex. She started toward the entrance to Mary King's Close yelling the name of the one she had come for.

  "Baka! Baka!"

  Storm grabbed her from behind. She tried to struggle free which, in itself spoke to her state of mind. If she was thinking clearly, she would have recognized the utter futility of trying to out-wrestle a Black Swan knight. She was scared, but heard Storm when he spoke next to her ear. "Just wait! We're not going to leave him. We're going with you. Use your head and we'll end up with both of you out and safe." Heaven calmed enough to stop trying to free herself from Storm's grasp, but she was shaking all over. "I'm going to release you and you're going to stand right where you are. Agreed?"

  She nodded.

  Storm turned to look for Ram and Kay, but they were already standing right beside him. As was Glen. Storm handed the flute to Glen.

  "Give this to Simon for safekeeping." As he said it, he glanced toward Simon who was on the phone ordering vans to carry the inert vampire away from the side street before the city began to bustle and get really curious. "We're going after Baka."

  "I'll go with you."

  "Thank you for that offer, Mr. Catch. You're not ready. First, you haven't chosen Hunter Division and, second, you haven't had either the right kind of training or enough of it."

  "I'm not a trainee."

  Storm looked behind Glen to see Finnemore stepping forward to volunteer.

  Storm nodded at him. "We need every one of those four lanterns. One for each of us. Make sure you're all fully loaded. Just in case."

  Ram smirked at Kay. "Shootin' ducks in a barrel, eh?" He glanced at Storm. "We're goin' to have to make a pact agreein' no' to tell our wives about this part of the outin' or we'll all be swimmin' in scaldin' duck soup."

  "Agreed."

  "Agreed."

  "Aye. I'm in. We'll go fetch the bloody, fuckin', trouble-makin' vampire then he'll probably turn around and thank us for it by tryin' to score our wives."

  Out of the corner of his eye Ram saw Heaven wince when he said that. Was that hurt he saw on her face? If it was, he'd just stepped in a smelly plop of it with his big Irish mouth. When Storm turned to say something to Finnemore, Ram moved to stand next to Heaven.

  "I did no' know you had feelin's for the...em... for Baka or I would no' have mentioned his penchant for feminine company. He did recently tell me he had put that part of his life aside, turned a corner if you will."

  Heaven looked interested. "He did?"

  "Aye. I did no' think anythin' of it at the time, but perhaps he had some powerful motivation for changin' his ways."

  Heaven gave Ram a tentative smile. He had distracted her from her worry and given her a little hope - both at the same time.

  Baka was sentient in the sense that his brain took direction from the sensory perception fed him by nerve endings, but he was not sentient in the sense of being self-aware. What his ice-colored eyes saw in the vacuous space aroun
d him was not the pitch-black of human eyes, but the reddish, heat-seeking haze seen by vampire.

  Hunger. He felt a hunger that stabbed his solar plexus. Blood. Need Blood.

  Baka's need held no anticipation of pleasure. There was no thought of taste or delight. There was only a void that had to be filled and could only be filled by blood. If he didn't feed, he would die. Survival instinct is pronounced in vampire. His brain told him two things. Feed and survive. Survive and feed.

  He looked around the darkness. Nothing. He went statue still, as only vampire can do, listening. Nothing. He pulled on the chains. They answered with a bite into his wrists. He howled. He had to get free. He had to feed. The need to hunt overrode every other instinct. It was overpowering. In spite of his added boost of strength fueled by adrenaline, the chains held firm.

  His poor mind was addled by the restricted brain function that comes as a side effect of the vampire virus. Still, he could think just enough to think things couldn't get any worse for him. Unfortunately for Baka, the powers that be like to have a bit of fun with such faulty conclusions whether originated by human or vampire.

  If Baka was thinking with his generous portion of human intellect, he would have known not to tempt the lords of the cosmos with such a proclamation, even one uttered silently, because everyone knows the natural result. Things got worse.

  He heard something and stopped flailing against the chains. He listened hard. Did he hear it? There. He turned his head in every direction straining to hear. There. What was it? He couldn't identify an audible sound, but knew he was being called. Summoned. And he wanted to go to the beckoner. No. He had to go to the beckoner.

  A compulsion settled over him as if he'd been doused in a thick, tangible substance that robbed him of everything except the desire to reach the summoner. That was his goal. His every priority. Even the blood hunger was inconsequential next to his need to respond to the call.