Ren promised to be good. Trusting her I looked up to the darkness. Dawn was still a few hours away. I hoped my plan worked.
“YURIC!!! Hear me Yuric! I need to speak with you!” I screamed into the night, drawing a number of stares from the handful of people out at that ungodly hour.
“Jesus Kieran, I thought you meant call on your cell phone! This is the 21st Century after all! Christ!” Ren hissed at me under her breath as she was glancing around embarrassed to be seen with me.
“A cell phone is not necessary, Detective Michaels.”
Yuric appeared at my side so fast, it was like he materialized out of thin air looking as creepy as ever in his long black coat. I jumped back a little. Ren pulled her gun by reflex. Yuric simply raised his hands in surrender.
“Officer Grey called me, I assure you that I mean you no harm Detective.” Ren put her gun back under her thick coat very hesitantly, never pulling her hand back away from the coat. “What do you wish of me Child?” Yuric asked me.
“We have a few new leads on Jacob.”
“Excellent. That is indeed good news.”
“The thing is that, one of the suspects we’ve identified is working directly underneath Ahmed Targ.”
“Ah yes, the Head Master Vampire of this Region. Why is that a problem?”
“Yuric, if we follow this lead and it takes us . . . to . . . well . . . I need to know if the Council will honor their support even if it leads to someone like Targ.”
“Ahmed Targ is over two-thousand-years-old. He is a very powerful Master Vampire. But no vampire is above the Council themselves. If he is helping Jacob, then, naturally you have our blessing to kill him.”
“Just like that?! No more immunity, just kill ‘im!?!” Ren demanded. The shock was thick in her voice.
“He knows full well that Jacob is a fugitive amongst our people. If he is helping Jacob, then he has already forfeited all of his rights–including his life–from the Council. So, yes Detective, just like that.”
“Will you tell him?” I had to ask.
“No. He is not Master over me. I do not answer to him. Only those who live in this area have to answer to him. I only have the Council themselves to answer to. I will tell the Council of your findings, but not of your speculations. They are only interested in facts and results. They will be most pleased that you have unmasked one of Jacob’s followers. Now, I must return. Call again when you learn more.” With that he was gone almost as fast as he appeared, simply dematerializing into thin air.
“Creepy,” Ren whispered under her breath, shivering from more than just the cold.
“You haven’t heard him laugh.”
* * *
The morgue was in the basement of the police station. When the elevator doors opened the first things I saw were the guns. There were large military .50 caliber machine guns mounted behind a barricade of sandbags on each side of the hallway pointing away from the elevators. Three officers manned each gun. They were dressed in full riot gear, including assault rifles and oddly enough, oversized flamethrowers.
“What’s with the guns?” I asked carefully as we walked past.
“A few years ago in Louisiana there was a mass murder. Fifteen people were killed. The bodies were all taken to the local morgue. A few hours after their arrival, the corpses all got up and slaughtered the staff. The zombies left the morgue to kill, or rather DEVOUR another two dozen people before they were finally stopped by flamethrowers. That’s the only way to stop raging zombies really, burning them to ash. They never did figure out what created the zombies though. Or who killed all those people in the first place. The guns are a precaution to make sure what comes in dead, goes out dead.”
Ask a silly question, get a silly answer. Why does the thought of the flesh-eating-living-dead surprisingly not make me feel any better about going inside the morgue?
We passed through the double doors at the end of the hall. The room looked like something from a movie. A cross between a mad scientist’s lab and a hospital morgue. I half expected to see Igor working in the room. Instead there was a short balding man staring into a microscope. Almost an Igor, but not quite.
“Dr. Peters, we’re here to see the new Jacob victim,” Ren announced our presence to him.
The small man turned to us. He stared at my badge.
Or is he just staring at my chest? Hard to say.
“Centurion, well, don’t have many of you around here. You usually don’t leave much behind when you die. Come look.”
Guess he’s looking at the badge after all. Personally I’d be looking at the chest. But that’s just me.
He led us to the rows of steel doors on the wall. After opening a door, he slid out a tray covered in a sheet. He made no pretense about pulling off the sheet, no grand presentation, he just simply pulled it off and hung it on the door.
“Oh my god!” Ren choked out before turning away gaging.
I hadn’t let myself look yet. I was still looking at Dr. Peters. He caught my gaze, then told me to look down with his eyes. His face was void of all emotion. This was just another job for him. Someone that had seen too much death to be shocked by it anymore.
I finally looked at the body.
I focused on her face first. The next thing I saw was the branding mark behind her ear.
Jacob’s mark alright.
I took a while to force myself to look down the body. My mind took a few minutes more to register what it was seeing.
Her legs and arms were all missing. But that wasn’t what had my attention.
Her abdomen was cut up badly. The cuts made symbols, no, they were letters. Once I could see the letters then I could see the words.
Do You like this One Kieran?
He knows I’m the one looking for him!?!
Fear overtook my senses. I screamed. Backing away until I could go no further when I slammed against the far wall.
THIS GIRL WAS TORTURED AND KILLED AS A MESSAGE TO ME!?!
Ren stood over me as I screamed and cursed. She cradled me in her arms as I began to rock. Fear, grief, and anger pushed me to tears.
It took a few minutes to calm down. After all, I shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew who I was, he had sent his cronies to kill me. Dr. Peters covered the body with the sheet again.
Just think of it as a body, not a person. A thing, not a being.
“Detective, are you going to do your thing, or do you want me to put her back?”
“Right, I’m coming.”
Ren left me on the floor. I was totally freaked out over the message. I couldn’t stop shaking. Ren moved to the head of the body. She breathed deep a few times while taking off her gloves, then pulled back the sheet again. As soon as she touched the body’s head, she fell to her knees screaming. I rushed to her side, but Dr. Peters pulled me back, keeping me from touching her.
“Don’t touch her,” he warned.
Ren passed out from screaming. Then the doctor let me go. I cradled Ren’s head in my lap. Dr. Peters slid the body back behind the metal door. He never said anything to us, he just went back to work on the other side of the room like nothing had happened. Ren slowly regained consciousness again. I helped her sit up, then to stand in slow stages.
“He did that to her just to scare you,” she said once she could speak again.
“Well it worked. I am well beyond scared. Hell, I already passed fucking terrified! We have got to stop this guy.”
“Ladies, the only thing found at the scene with the body was this note,” Dr. Peters said holding up a piece of paper in a plastic baggy.
We both looked at the note:
Back off Hunter, you will just loose again,
and this time it will be more than just your memories.
Jacob.
It was the same calligraphy as the brands. I shivered, not from the cold either.
“There’s nothing we can do for a few hours until businesses open. Then we can go asking around. I have reports to fill out, then I
’ll catch a hopefully dreamless nap. Why don’t you go home and change. Get some rest if you can.”
“What about Vicki?” I asked while I tried in vain to will away the fear.
“Let’s let her decide what she wants to do.”
Chapter 19
Vicki didn’t want to be alone and I didn’t blame her, so she came home with me. My apartment was more secure than hers. But, most importantly I had more guns at my place, and she didn’t own any. By the time our police escort reached my building, her claws had retracted leaving her hands perfectly human again. Her fangs were receding, and her voice was normal again, but her eyes were still cat eyes. We entered the building. The large man that had escorted me to my apartment yesterday ran to meet us at the doors.
“Miss Grey, is everything alright?”
“What’s your name?” I asked him still slightly in a daze from Jacob’s note. “I’m sorry, I never asked earlier.”
“Charles, my name is Charles.”
That’s right, Emmy told me that already.
I told him about the attack on my life. He promised to double security for me. Inside the elevator I asked him about the glass windows.
“All the glass used in this building is bulletproof. The locks are all designed against lockpicks. You are safe here. Nothing will get by us downstairs, and we have snipers on the roof at all times to take out an aerial threat. You’d have an easier time breaking into the White House.”
“Thank you Charles. I won’t forget this.”
“My pleasure Miss Grey. Do you wish to have a guard posted in your apartment for the time being?”
I had to think about that. It sounded like a good idea, but it also seemed like overkill.
“Thank you, but no. I think we’ll be fine.”
Once the elevator stopped, Charles entered the hall first. We followed him to the doors. He stopped at the doors and turned to look at us.
“Miss Grey, I would feel better if you would allow me to escort you inside. Just in case.”
I started to argue that we were safer than he was against an attack, then he pulled a small machine gun from under his long coat. I caught glimpses of other weapons under there as well. He was armed to the teeth.
Why not let him play the knight in shining armor?
I gestured him through the door. He began to systematically clear each room. It reminded me of footage of SWAT teams entering houses. After he went through each room he went through checking the locks.
“Everything is as secure as I can make it without leaving you a guard. Are you sure you will be alright?” he asked again.
“Thank you Charles we should be fine.” Vicki edged past us sitting down on one of the couches. Charles was heading for the door. “Charles, who all has access to my apartment?”
“Your sister and Mary are both allowed in at any time. Do you wish to limit their access?”
“No. Wait, where is Mary? I thought she would’ve moved in by now. I hope she didn’t change her mind. . . . Actually Charles, I was wondering if you can add Vicki to the list. That way she has a safe place to come to if she needs it.”
“Of course, I will see to it right away. And Mary is safely downstairs at the moment. . . . Please call if you need me for anything.” He turned and left.
I turned back to Vicki. “Do you think you could get some rest?”
“Not at the moment,” she muttered staring vacantly out the windows on the other side of the room.
“Would you like to do something. I’ve got a lot of movies and video games here. I saw them when I was looking around earlier. It might take your mind off things.”
“No, I just want to relax a while.”
I thought for a moment. “How about a soak in the hot tub?”
“You have a hot tub?” she asked as she turned to look at me.
“Yeah, it’s huge. Come on!” I pulled her to her feet, dragging her to the spa room.
“Wow! That is huge.” She went over sticking her hand in. “Warm too.”
“I’ll go find us some suits and we can get in if you want.”
“Actually could we get in without suits? It would probably be more comfortable that way.”
Is she just looking for an excuse to see me naked? Oh well, I’ve already seen her, why not?
“Sure.”
We stripped down. Then I fumbled with the controls until I managed to turn on the bubbles and the waterfall. I placed my gun on the edge of the tub before climbing in.
After the day I just had, there is no way I’m going to be without a gun any farther then an arm’s length away EVER again.
I had to let my shields down to feel the warmth. It was like heaven. I sank into the water letting it come up to my chin. Vicki did the same in the seat next to me. Her hand brushed against mine. I laced my fingers around hers. Our hands fit perfectly with each other. We just sat there in silence. The warm bubbles caressing our skin. After a while I started to drift off.
“Hey, sleepyhead.” Vicki got out of the tub and started to dry off with one of the towels from the stack next to the massage table. “I think you need to get some sleep. You’ve got to go back to work in a few hours.”
“What about you?”
“I have today and tomorrow off.”
“No, I meant where are you going?”
“To keep you company in bed, if you want.” She held out a hand for me.
After we dried off, we went to the master bedroom. I placed my gun on the night stand, then took my spare guns out of the safe and placed one underneath each pillow. That way both of us had at least one gun in reach. Vicki told me that she’d been shooting with the old Kieran before, so she knew what she was doing. I trusted her. We crawled under the covers onto the most comfortable bed I’d ever stretched out on. The sheets were the same seamless material as my clothes.
Bulletproof sheets. Neat idea, but I hope I never have to use them for that. If that happens, I’ll never be able to sleep in a bed again.
We laid on our backs in silence for a while. Then I had an idea. Honestly I was thinking more of comfort than sex. I’d never really shared a bed before, and we’d both been shaken physically and emotionally. Comfort simply sounded like what I needed then.
“Vicki, can I lay up against you?” I asked quietly.
“Yes,” she said breathing heavily with sleep in her voice.
She rolled onto her side. I slid over against her, spooning her back. She pulled my arm under her head for a pillow. My other arm draped over her stomach. We laid like that for a few minutes.
“Thank you, this is nice,” I spoke into her hair reveling in the warmth of her body against mine.
She still smelled of raspberries. Her hand reached down for mine on her stomach. She pulled the hand up to cradle it between her breasts. I could feel her heartbeat. The gentle thumping of her heart carried me off to sleep.
“Yes, this is nice,” she said dreamily.
* * *
I woke in another strange bed when I heard movement in the room. I flexed my hand, slowly letting the shield-bubble fill the dark room with a violet glow only I could see. A figure was picking up the towels at the foot of the bed where we had left them before getting into the bed. I opened my eyes lifting my head slowly. Mary was tiptoeing around cleaning up after us. I pulled my arm out from under Vicki’s head, gently, trying not wake her.
“Morning Mary,” I said groggily.
I startled her a little. “Good morning, I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“No it’s okay. What time is it?”
“It’s almost eleven, would you like a brunch?”
“Yes, yes to food,” Vicki slurred still half asleep waiving her hand in the air.
“What would you like?” Mary asked.
“Surprise us.”
Mary left with a nod and the laundry. It was then that I realized I was naked in bed with Vicki, also very naked in my arms. That’s how Mary had to have first saw us, then I had sat up without covering my c
hest in front of her.
Am I just going to embarrass myself every day, or is this just part of the adjustment period?
Vicki stirred, almost falling as she got out of the bed.
“Dibs on first shower,” she blurted out crossing the room to the bathroom.
I had to smile. She acted like we were always like this. I liked the feeling. I listened to the water turn on. Suddenly Vicki shrieked. I grabbed the gun from under the pillow by reflex on my way racing to the bathroom. She stood outside the shower door dripping on the floor laughing.
“What is it?!” I demanded as I searched the bathroom for an attacker.
“Have you tried this shower?” she asked me with a wide smile, fully awake now.
“No, was the water cold or something?”
Why was she screaming?
“Drop your shields and step in. Trust me, you will love it.”
Is she crazy or something this morning?
I put the gun on the counter and stepped into the shower. I hesitated before dropping my shields. The warm water fell like a gentle rain from a number of showerheads above. It felt great.
So why was she screaming?
She knocked on the glass to get my attention. “Pull up on the bottom lever!” she yelled through the glass.
There were two nobs, one on each side of two levers, one above the other. I did as she said. Water jets opened up from knee level all around the shower spraying powerfully right at my crotch. No matter what direction I turned the water hit me right between the legs. The feeling was too intense. It only took a minute for the pleasure to wash over me. I had to fight to keep my legs underneath me. The orgasm subsided then the water jets became irritating. It took me three tries to reach over and pull the lever back down shutting off the jets. As soon as they were off, the door opened, and Vicki stepped into the manmade falling rain.
“That’s why I screamed. The water was unexpected was all. My god I forgot how cute you are when you get off.” She kissed the back of my neck. “Can I play in your shower?” she cooed teasingly while nuzzling my neck.
Survivor Reborn (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter) Page 21
