"Fuck," I muttered. I wanted to shout it, but didn't know how much trouble I'd be in if I did. This was their plan—just to dump me somewhere and leave me to my own affairs?
"They sent a vampire," the brown-haired man declared. Well, it was nice to meet him, too. He was dressed in something that looked like surgery scrubs—in blue. The Asian man was barefoot and wore dark, loose pants with a long-sleeved white shirt. He might have been handsome—I mean really handsome—if he'd get rid of the scowl plastered on his face. It didn't look as if that might happen any time soon.
"They told me I'd have clothing and blood supplied," I said, since neither of them seemed willing to speak after the vampire comment. At least brown-haired guy hadn't called me a fucking vampire.
"Down the hall, second bedroom on the right," the brown-haired man said, jerking his head in that direction. Okay, maybe I wasn't supposed to know their names.
"You will not be biting either of us, if you wish to keep your life," the Asian-looking man finally said something. All righty, then.
"Honey," I said, "as hard as you are, I'd probably break a fang." I stalked away from both of them, going to the designated second bedroom on the right. The Asian-looking guy had to be Dragon, I thought, as I checked out my bedroom. At least Griffin had been correct about the supplies—there was a full-size refrigerator contraption, with cold blood in the bottom half, frozen blood in the top. Clothes were in the closet—the styles differed from Earth; I saw that right away. Loose trousers, loose tunics; Pheligar was dressed better for this place than I was. The shoes were fabric, with rope soles on most of them. A couple pairs had hard rubber soles and there was a pair of rubber rain boots. I'd need those if it were wet out.
Pheligar hadn't lied about communication—there was a stack of newspapers lying on the bed that I could easily read, with plenty of articles about a religion imported from another star system (yeah, I said star system) that was attempting to take over. I sat down to read, and the more I read, the angrier I became. The rogue religion was attempting to take over the entire planet, looked like. Journalists were being killed, along with politicians and public servants, or just about anybody who disagreed with these guys or stood in their way. But the priests and such were so sneaky and slick that nobody could pin the crimes on them or their church. And there were tales that they had a lot of law enforcement either too frightened to arrest them or paid off in some way. These were only rumors at this point, which served to unsettle the population and terrify everybody.
The religion called itself Solar Red, whatever that meant. Maybe my translation was too literal. The other thing that drew my attention in this particular newspaper was that these Solar Red priests were rumored to practice human sacrifice. Why didn't somebody go and shut them down? I grabbed a newspaper and stalked out to the living area. Nobody was there, so I walked into the kitchen.
"Is all this true? About these Solar Red assholes?" I shook the newspaper I held at the brown-haired man. "Are they really killing people?"
"Yes," he shrugged indifferently, scrubbing a mug. He had his shirt sleeves rolled up and was washing dishes.
"How much night do I have left?" I watched as he rinsed the mug and placed it on a draining mat.
"Around six Earth hours," he grumbled.
"Good. Where's the nearest Solar Red temple?"
"About two miles that way," he pointed to his left, not really looking at me.
"Good. See ya before dawn," I said, dropping the newspaper on the kitchen table and turning to mist right in front of him. I then went straight through the wall. The city I flew over that night was as large as many Earth cities, and was lit half as brightly. I'd already discovered that Refizan was solar powered. Like any city I was used to, it had its share of tall, rectangular buildings. A few Refizani had gone wild and built something circular or in a pyramid shape. I guess geometry is the same, no matter where you are.
The brown-haired guy was right; I found the temple about two miles away. The guards posted outside had guns and looked to be serious about shooting trespassers, but my mist didn't set off any warning bells. I misted inside and found a gathering of priests, all dressed in formal, dark red robes. They smelled evil, and the fact that they were taking bites out of a human heart before passing it on to the next guy didn't improve my opinion of them. Well, I'd misted over a river on my way to the temple. Too bad nobody was there to see what I did next. I had sixteen heads lopped off sixteen priests in about thirty seconds. Then I hauled them as mist to the river; it was flowing swiftly as I hovered above its surface. Sixteen bodies were dropped into the dark waters with a quiet splash. My clothes were bloodied afterward, but at least the job was done.
I made one more trip to the temple, found the Refizani equivalent of a garden hose, dragged it in and washed down the marble floor. Then, taking the hose with me, I shredded it before dropping it into the river. I could smell the ocean five miles away and hoped that the priests would end up there or in a shark's belly before it was over.
* * *
"Where the hell have you been?" Dragon guy demanded when I showed up at the apartment again, my clothes covered in blood.
"I did a little worshiping at the Solar Red temple," I said, brushing past him and heading toward my bedroom, second door on the right.
* * *
As messages go, mine was received loud and clear; the news program I heard when I walked into the living area the following evening was abuzz with it. I was the only one in the apartment, so I drank my dinner as I watched the news on a flat, built-in screen on the wall.
"And to worsen the insult, the perpetrators washed the floor of the inner temple before leaving, without alerting any of the others to their presence. There are no leads or explanations as to what happened to these priests," the reporter said. He sounded almost gleeful, to be honest. "The remaining six hundred priests in the temple on Red Street are threatening retaliation of course, but that has been their stance for months now."
I waited an hour but Dragon dude and no-name didn't show so I went out to the street after dressing in my local, non-sexy, shapeless duds. I could go back to the temple, I suppose, but they'd be on their guard now and I didn't know anyone that I might trust to yank a bullet out of my body if I were shot. I roamed the streets instead. I heard whispers of where retaliations might take place. The consensus seemed to be the poor side of town, wherever that might be.
"Where is that, what you're talking about?" I asked one man, who didn't seem to worry whether he was overheard or not.
"The pity streets?"
"Yeah." I guess I gave him the Refizani equivalent of an Earth "yeah."
"If you go to the southeastern edge of the city, you'll find them," he replied. "Are you a journalist?"
"Yeah. That's exactly what I am," I lied. I went to find a deserted alley. That super dude had his phone booths; I had alleys. Not a bit of glamour in my less than super-hero changing place. I went to mist and flew over rooftops, going right through tall buildings instead of leaping them if they were in my way. I found the pity streets. Strange lingo these Refizani had. Very strange.
Normally, I think children might have been playing in those narrow, brick-lined streets. This was a very old portion of the city, with crumbling facades lining the uneven walks out front. I smelled fear throughout the place. Misting overhead, I passed over buildings that had scraps of laundry drying on lines hanging across rooftops. Somewhere, perhaps a mile away, bells rang out to mark the hours. Refizani days were divided into twenty-eight hours. Around second bell, I heard the noise; a car was coming down one of the narrow lanes. So far, I hadn't seen one of the solar powered cars anywhere in these neighborhoods. I misted toward the sound, eventually flying over the thing. It looked like a van of some sort.
It pulled up outside a house and three men, dressed in the red uniforms of Solar Red guards and armed with rifles stepped out silently. They didn't smell pure to me and were certainly up to no good. "Grab them," one whispered to the
others. "If the man fights, kill him. We'll dump the body elsewhere." I didn't like where this was going one bit. Those fuckers didn't get a chance to knock on the apartment door; I knew by scent that a man, a woman and five children slept inside. No way was I going to take chances with babies' lives. Or their parents, for that matter.
Hauling three frightened, gun-toting men across town was no picnic let me tell you, and the farther I hauled them the more frightened they became. What I did learn, though, was that they couldn't fly. I dropped them from about a hundred feet up, right over the street that ran in front of the temple. Then I went back for their van.
* * *
"You mean she figured everything out this quickly?" Kiarra stared at Pheligar of the Larentii as he reported the latest events on Refizan.
"The first night, after reading the newspapers Dragon left on her bed," Pheligar replied. He seldom smiled, but a corner of his mouth quirked slightly, surprising Kiarra. "We took a chance, hoping she would take the initiative without our interference," he added.
"Dragon and Karzac are there for our enemy. They can't go against Solar Red without violating the rules," Kiarra nodded. "Remind me to thank Merrill and find an appropriate gift for allowing this," she added.
"I fail to understand how the Reth Alliance allows Solar Red to remain in operation," Pheligar offered a rare opinion. Larentii seldom expressed their judgment or condemnation on anything.
"I agree—somebody should get rid of them. Some days I hate that no interference rule," Kiarra grumbled, patting Pheligar's back absently. He blinked at the unexpected contact before his slight smile widened.
* * *
"The van appears to have been dropped from a great height, although that in itself is impossible," the journalist declared. I was watching the news again while I had my usual for dinner. Footage was shown of the van in question; it was crumpled up in the same street where I'd dropped three armed men. There wasn't any word on those guys, though. Maybe the temple didn't report it when their hit men came up missing. I went to shower and dress.
* * *
"May I buy you a drink?" The man seemed nice enough and didn't smell evil, but I wasn't interested in a date and nobody had bothered to give me any money so I could reciprocate. Hell, I didn't even know where in the universe I was, for Pete's sake. If nobody came to retrieve me eventually, I could be stuck here forever. I'd just have to hope that didn't happen. I'd been hanging out near the bar, expecting to get a little more information, but these Refizani were tight-lipped tonight.
"No, but thank you for the offer," I was as polite as I could be before moving down the street. The street reminded me of one I'd seen in Paris in what might have been a lifetime ago. Merrill, Franklin, Greg and I had gone there to find a dress for me to wear to the annual vampire meeting. Cafés and restaurants lined both sides of the street and plenty of people were wandering toward a nearby wharf; we weren't far from a particularly scenic loop in the river.
"I heard they were bringing them downriver," someone said quietly. My ears immediately perked up.
"If you can't find locals to sacrifice, you pull some in from elsewhere," his companion observed. "An entire family disappeared last night. The local authorities claim they're searching for them." The man snorted as if that was the last thing he might believe. The two men were sitting at a tiny table outside a café, drinking something that smelled like tea, only a kind I'd never scented before. I trotted away as quickly as I could.
Where do you go if there are people coming down the river to be sacrificed? There weren't any flashing neon signs anywhere, proclaiming where that spot might be. Surely, there were landings somewhere. I'd seen ships and boats on the first night but they'd been far away when I'd dumped my dead priests into the water. I misted toward the river.
There was a huge landing area about three miles past the spot where I'd dumped my priests and about a half-mile from the temple, thanks to a bend in the river itself. There were priests and more gun-toters waiting in a van at one of the slips. Another good-sized ship was tied to a dock nearby and sailors were unloading crates and glaring at the priests while they did it. I had an idea. I'd already carried one van as mist. Why not one loaded down with priests and thugs? I heard the sailors calling out and shouting as the van simply disappeared before their eyes. These Solar Red guys got a trip to the ocean that night; I dropped the van from high enough that I had time to mist inside the van, kill all six inside it and then mist out again before it ever hit the water.
When a boat pulled up later at the same dock, seven priests and four guard thugs came off the boat searching for their escort. They turned this way and that, surprised that nobody was there to meet them. Except me, that is. The sailors and the other boat had left already, so there weren't any witnesses this time. The priests died; I then dumped them in the river half a mile away. Rushing back afterward, I went looking for the prisoners they'd brought with them.
A man, his wife, and their four and six-year-old children. Why were they attacking families? Was it to make everybody afraid? To tell the population that no one was safe, no life sacred? What kind of religion was this? "I don't know where to take you," I told them as I cut the ropes that bound them and took the gags from their mouths. They'd even gagged the kids. If I'd known that before, I might have shredded their kidnappers instead of decapitating them as I had.
"We have family here," the man said softly.
"Do you know where they are?" I didn't know one street from another—or the city's name. I also hadn't seen Dragon in two days, or the no-name guy. I didn't even know if they were still alive.
"We can find our way," the man said. "I don't know how you did this, but we thank you."
"Well, honey, I can't have you remembering me." I placed compulsion on all four of them to forget me. I told them that they'd been abandoned by the priests and gotten loose by themselves.
Dragon and no-name were both waiting on me when I returned to the apartment two hours before dawn. They stood at the hallway entrance, blocking the way to my bedroom.
I started to shoulder my way past them; I wanted a shower and a little more blood before going to bed. Hauling a van five miles to the ocean, even as mist, is harder than it sounds.
"Wait," Dragon dude said, reaching out a hand to stop me.
"What?" I didn't sound very friendly, honestly. But then they'd been less than receptive when Pheligar dumped me in the apartment and just took off. The only nice thing I could say about them is that at least they hadn't called me leech, bloodsucker or fucking vampire.
"I am Dragon," he held out his hand. He was introducing himself? That was a shock.
"You'll stoop to shake hands with a vampire?" I asked sarcastically.
"I deserve that," he said, still holding out his hand.
"Lissa," I said, and grasped his fingers with mine.
"Karzac," the other man held out his hand. "I am Dragon's healer and this is my home planet."
"Honey," I said, shaking Karzac's hand, "your planet has gone to the dogs. I've dumped a bunch priests and several of their thugs into the river, after they had their heads removed, of course. Another three were dropped in the street in front of the temple. Too bad they didn't know how to fly; they might have gotten away. Two vans are in the river and a third was dumped in front of the temple. If I had longer nights, I might be able to get more of them."
"You've done more damage than that; they're frightened and they have no idea who could do this sort of thing without our enemy feeling the power signature," Dragon almost smiled, his dark eyes lighting up a little.
"I'm just a force of nature, I guess," I said. "You say they can feel a power signature?"
"Our enemy, who is not Solar Red, can. That's why Karzac and I are so tightly shielded—to prevent him from locating us. He is allied with Solar Red, but we are not allowed to attack them. Our power to combat the enemy was given to us—it is not natural. Yours on the other hand, is. Attempting to detect you would be like searching
for a single blade of grass among other blades of grass. We had no idea what Pheligar was doing when he dropped you in our apartment. Any other vampire would have been easily seen by Solar Red and would certainly be unable to do these things."
"I'm special," I grumbled.
"You don't sound pleased about it." Karzac examined me carefully. His eyes were a green-gold. He had nice eyes.
"Right now I'm pooped," I told him. "I'd really just like a bath and a little more blood before I pass out."
"Are your supplies adequate?" Dragon asked, standing aside and giving me a clear path to my bedroom.
"There's enough in there for two more vampires, I think," I said. "I'm glad I don't have to hunt for my dinner."
"If you have need of more, let me know. I will send mindspeech to Pheligar," Dragon offered.
"He can hear mindspeech? Wow. Maybe I'll send him mindspeech myself and let him know that as instructions go, his are non-existent. Goodnight." I started down the hall toward my bedroom.
"You have mindspeech?" Dragon was surprised again.
What do you think? I sent to him.
I think your voice comes through quite clearly, he replied. Pleasant dreams.
Would that it were possible, I returned, shutting the door of my bedroom behind me.
Chapter 3
I might have to ask Dragon and Karzac where they go while I'm asleep. They were never there when I woke. Not that I minded—it allowed me to drink my dinner while I watched the evening news before going out. Journalists were reporting that Solar Red was threatening the local police after their priests and thugs disappeared from the boat slip. The temple sent out a press release, saying the local authorities weren't doing their jobs, and then made an offer to the government of Refizan to provide their own security to the population. If that wasn't an offer from the fox to watch over the hen house, then I was still human and just about anybody would tell you I wasn't. It wasn't the local population that was in danger from attacks—except attacks from Solar Red, that is. The ones in the most danger were the priests of Solar Red and I was about to go out and put even more of them in danger.
Blood Domination (Blood Destiny #4) Page 4
