by Cat Devon
“Who are you?” she asked the other woman. Voicing her questions prevented the panic inside from bubbling out of control. Yes, there were spaces between the bars of the cage, but the bottom line was that she was still trapped and captured liked an animal.
“I’m Fiona.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because I’m a witch.”
“A witch who has lost her powers,” Lynch said as he entered the room.
“I didn’t lose them,” Fiona said. “They were stolen from me.”
Keira had never heard a vampire tsk before, but Lynch was doing a good job of it. “It’s all a matter of semantics, isn’t it?” Turning to face Keira, he said, “Welcome, my dear. I’m so happy you’ve joined my menagerie.”
“I haven’t joined anything. I was taken against my will,” Keira said.
Lynch waved his perfectly manicured hand in the air. “Semantics, semantics. I must say that having a vampire hunter’s granddaughter in my collection is quite a coup. And not just any vampire hunter, but The Executioner no less. Quite impressive indeed.”
“So you’re behind the blood thefts,” Keira said as if she already knew that was a fact. Not that she did, but she liked the confident way she spoke. Her gut told her this was the enemy responsible for more trouble than she realized.
“Naturally.”
“Why? It’s not like you’re trying to cure cancer or something.”
“Actually that’s exactly what it is,” he said.
His comment momentarily threw her. Was it possible that she’d somehow misjudged him?
Probably not. He had her locked up in a cage after all.
“I find it hard to believe that your goal is to cure cancer,” she said.
He planted his hand over his perfectly tailored Italian suit’s lapel. “I am wounded, but you are right. That isn’t the goal. Increasing the wealth of the Gold Coast vamps is my goal. Always has been and always will be.”
“So why are you stealing blood?” she demanded. “To sell it at a higher price on the vampire black market? To deplete the supply so that the demand can’t keep up?”
“My, my, my. You do have an active imagination.” Lynch smiled at her, his teeth brilliant white against his tanned face. No sign of fangs, but his congeniality dripped with evil intent. “I like that in my pets.”
She refused to focus on what being his pet might involve and stayed on topic. “Am I right?”
“No. I told you the truth when I talked about curing cancer and other deadly human diseases. Vampires are immune to those diseases. Our blood has special antibodies that are super powerful. But humans can’t tolerate unadulterated vampire blood. It either turns them into vampires or kills them. It has to be mixed with human blood. The trick is in the details. Getting that ratio of human to vampire blood just right requires a lot of human blood. I certainly wasn’t going to risk depleting our own food supply from our regular locations so I outsourced it.”
“Stole it.”
“There you go again. Semantics.”
“People need that blood.”
“And they shall get it. Actually they’ll get an even better blood. For a price,” Lynch said.
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve just recently gotten the mix right and are ready to offer our product to those able to afford it. What is the going price for life these days? It depends on the bidder. There are sick billionaires all over the world who are vying for the cure in an extremely elite high-end auction as we speak.
“You see, it’s brilliant economics. Just like making the pitiful vampires in Vamptown think you were to blame for vampire deaths was a brilliant strategy of mine. They panicked and you hit the road.”
“But one of the vampires killed was with your clan. You killed a member of your own clan?”
Lynch nodded. “Indeed. I’ve done it several times and I’d do it again. Right, Seymour?” he added to the vampire standing near the door.
“Yes, master.”
“Why do they put up with it?” Keira said.
“Because I’m their master,” Lynch said. “This isn’t a freaking democracy like Vamptown.”
As long as she kept asking questions, she was able to keep the panic at bay. “How did you become their master?”
“I sired them.”
“Vampires can’t kill the one who sired them?”
“Not in my case, no. A specialty of mine. Something else I’ve perfected. By adding a certain blend of chemicals and an otherwise deadly poison to my blood, I was able to make it happen. Another goal I’ve attained. Right, Seymour?”
“Right, master.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Keira said.
“Of course I will. I already have. It’s not like your grandfather can rescue you. He’s dead.”
“Is he?” Keira knew he was, but perhaps she could use the fact that some vampires still thought he was alive as a way to keep Lynch at bay. If Pat from Vamptown thought so, maybe Lynch would as well.
“Oh, he’s dead,” Lynch said. “No doubt about that. I killed him myself. Gave him a poison that made it look like a brain aneurysm. I was an alchemist at one point in my long afterlife and then more recently a chemist with several degrees. I’m quite good at such things if I do say so myself. Being the modest sort that I am, I didn’t brag about besting the legendary vampire hunter. I could have done so. But I needed that journal of his. It has information about vampire blood that I would find most useful in my various endeavors. I compelled your mother to tell me where it was, but she didn’t have any idea. I suspected your grandfather had stashed it somewhere, but I didn’t know where. I lost patience two months ago and had her killed. Made it look like a car accident.”
Keira crumpled. Her poor mother. She’d had no idea what was going on. Had no idea that she was part of a vampire-hunting family. Had no idea of the dangers that entailed. Keira closed her eyes and saw her mother’s smiling face and longed to be held in her arms and told everything would be okay the way her mom did whenever Keira had nightmares as a kid.
Her grief was as fresh now as it had been the moment she’d learned of her mother’s death two months ago. It was all-consuming, stealing the breath from Keira’s body. Tears ran down her face.
“Come now, don’t be so dramatic,” Lynch chastised Keira. “I expected better of you. No one likes a crybaby.”
She wanted to be distant and emotionless but she was no good at it. Not anymore. Not now.
“Master, you’re needed,” Seymour said.
“Duty calls.” Lynch’s voice radiated civil-coated evil. “I’ll be back, my pets.”
* * *
Alex called the number on the card. “What do you want?” Alex growled.
“You know what I want. The Executioner’s journal.”
“Kidnapping humans is illegal according to our coexistence treaty.”
“You kidnapped her first,” Lynch said. “I just rescued her from your evil clutches.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t see it that way.”
“I really don’t care how she sees it. She’s in my evil clutches now, Detective. Deal with it,” Lynch said.
“Oh I intend to deal with it.”
“I’m glad to hear that. So you’ll be bringing me the journal. Excellent.”
“Where is she?”
Lynch sighed. “I suppose this is where you demand proof of life?”
“I suppose it is.” Alex couldn’t afford to show how terrified he was. Not at this point. He’d let his actions speak for themselves when he was face-to-face with Lynch.
“I’m sending you a link to a live video feed now,” Lynch said.
Alex almost lost it when he saw Keira crumpled inside a cage. “What the hell?”
“She’s fine. She just got a little emotional when I told her that I killed her grandfather and her mother. Humans get so hysterical about these things.”
Alex felt his fangs emerging and his vision going red as the scree
n on his smartphone went black.
“There. You’ve had your proof of life,” Lynch said. “Now bring me the journal or my latest pet won’t be staying alive much longer.”
* * *
Fiona put her hand on Keira’s back. “Lynch’s goal is to terrorize and traumatize.”
Keira sat up. “He succeeded.”
“Don’t let him.”
“He killed my family.”
“He killed mine as well. Don’t show fear, you can’t let him win.” Fiona helped Keira stand.
“How can you sound so calm?”
“I’ve had time to practice.”
“Are we being watched?”
“No doubt.”
“How long have you been held here?” Keira said.
“Too long.”
“Days? Weeks? Months?”
“I’ve lost track.”
Their conversation stopped as Lynch strolled back into the room with utter confidence. He held a vial of blood between his fingertips, turning it slowly as if admiring a fine wine.
“It doesn’t take much to do the job,” he said.
“What job is that?” she countered, straightening her shoulders. This was all a game to him. She wasn’t going to play the victim. Fiona was right. They couldn’t let him win.
“Weren’t you listening before?” Lynch said. “This is überblood, which can cure any human disease. Doesn’t matter what it is. The bidding has begun and we are fast approaching the billion-dollar range. That’s billion with a B.”
Lynch paused to gaze directly at Keira. Her ears started ringing and then she heard the loud SShhhhhish sound that cable TV makes when it goes out before posting the INTERRUPTION TO YOUR SERVICE notice. Her thought processes felt momentarily interrupted before the noise stopped as suddenly as it had started.
Lynch’s perfectly trimmed eyebrows lifted. “I’d heard a rumor that you couldn’t be compelled but I didn’t think that applied to my compelling you. No problem. I love setting new goals. I’ll be able to compel you eventually.”
“Never.”
“Never say never, especially to a vampire,” Lynch said. “You’ll see. You’ll have a long time, a longer-than-usual lifetime, to enjoy being my pet.”
“What do you mean ‘longer-than-usual lifetime’?”
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Lynch said in a mocking singsong voice.
Infuriated, she shot back, “What are we? Twelve?”
He smiled. “You have such a delightful sense of humor. I shall have to eradicate that, of course. As for my own sense of humor, I delighted in hacking the Vamptown security system to make them think that they were being invaded. Child’s play but worth a momentary laugh.”
Tapping into her inner reporter, Keira said, “Is that the only vial of your specialty blood?”
“Of course not. We have half a dozen more.”
“And you are auctioning them all off?”
“Why the interest? Were you thinking of using it for your little buddy … what is his name again? Oh yes, Benji.”
“Would it cure him?”
“Of course it would. But you couldn’t afford the price of even a tiny drop from this vial. And you’d need the entire vial. Unless you’ve got a billion dollars stashed that I don’t know about.”
“No.” She kept her face impassive, but the knowledge that the blood could help Benji renewed her courage.
“No.” He glanced at his watch before pointing to the two women Seymour brought into the room. “I get really light-headed around three o’clock if I don’t have a snack.”
“Type O Negative or A Positive,” Seymour said. “Which would you prefer, master?”
Keira could tell by the blank look on the women’s faces that they had been compelled.
“I do believe I’m feeling positive,” Lynch said.
Seymour handed over one of the women, who didn’t seem to have any bite marks on her neck as yet.
Keira turned away. She couldn’t watch. She could hear the sucking sounds as Lynch took his fill. When that noise stopped she turned to see him wipe his bloody mouth with a monogrammed linen handkerchief.
“I’m a vampire. This is what we do,” Lynch told Keira. “So get that look off your face. It will be Happy Hour soon and I’ll feed again.”
“My blood is toxic.”
“So is the witch’s,” Lynch said. “For now. I’m working on a cure for that. With my talent in the biochemical arena, I’m certain that neutralizing your blood toxicity won’t take me very long. Not that I’d kill you.” He reached through the bars of her cage to stroke her face but she jerked away. “I look forward to having you as my pretty pet.”
It was as if the proverbial elephant in the room were sitting on her chest. What exactly did being Lynch’s pet mean? Nothing good, she was sure.
She needed to focus. Alex would find her. She had to have confidence in that. He’d find her and he’d free her.
She deliberately hadn’t mentioned his name to Lynch. Not that Lynch had mentioned Alex’s name to her, either.
“Was that really Benji that I saw at the Taste of Chicago?” she asked him.
“Of course not. It was a hologram. Another project we’ve been having fun with. Really, the Gold Coast vamps are the fun clan. Those Vamptowners are a bunch of mollycoddlers.”
She should never have let go of Alex’s hand. She hadn’t done so on purpose. Her hand had slipped from his. If she saw him again … when she saw him again, she’d never let him go. Not a realistic vow, perhaps. But here she was, locked in a cage with a malevolent vampire talking about having her as his pet. A vampire who had killed her family.
Her earlier grief was replaced with anger. She wondered if it was enough to blast her out of the cage. She had a feeling it wasn’t. What was missing?
The panic. That was what she needed to combine with her fury. It shouldn’t be hard to conjure up.
“I want out of this cage,” she growled.
“Too bad, pet. That won’t be happening anytime soon. But do feel free to interview me if you like.” When she remained quiet, he said, “Then I’ll interview you. Do you consider yourself to be a brave shoot-from-the-hip kind of girl?” Lynch mocked her.
“No. I consider myself to be a pissed and panicked blast-from-the-hip kind of woman.” And with that Keira shot out her hands as her fury and fear flooded every cell in her body.
Chapter Twenty-One
Keira blasted through the bars of the cage and jumped out. Her hatred for Lynch was like a venom shooting through her. She wanted to obliterate him. But before she could do so, Alex appeared out of nowhere.
Lynch was stunned—by her blast or by Alex, she wasn’t sure. Lynch didn’t have time to speak or call for help because Alex moved in a blur of speed, grabbing Lynch’s knife from the top of the desk and sticking it into the evil vampire’s heart.
Sparks flew into the air, instantly turning into flames that enveloped Lynch. A flash like lightning filled the room, displaying him as a burning inferno that turned into a smoky pillar of stone before disintegrating into a pile of ash. The flames were gone as quickly as they appeared.
“What just happened?” Keira whispered.
“He’s gone, burning in hell right now,” Alex said.
“You should have let me kill him,” Keira said.
“You wouldn’t have been able to deal with the guilt,” Alex said.
“And you can?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Because you’re a vampire? I come from a long line of vampire killers. That SOB killed my family. Maybe I’d be fine.”
“And maybe you wouldn’t,” he said before enveloping her in his arms.
“How did you get in here?” Keira said unsteadily.
“I was cloaked. I wasn’t sure if it would work on the Gold Coast vamps, but it did. I tweaked it some.”
“Good job,” Fiona said. “Do you think you could cut me loose from these chains?”
“This is F
iona,” Keira said. “She’s a witch and she’s coming with us.”
“Okay.” Alex broke the chains and set her free.
“Don’t argue with me, okay?” Keira said.
“Okay.”
”She’s coming with us.”
“Yeah, I got that,” Alex said.
“No argument,” Keira said.
“No argument,” he agreed.
“Why are you being so nice?”
“Because you’ve had enough stress for one day.” He removed his shirt and wrapped it around her.
“What are you doing?” she said unsteadily.
“Covering you up. Is that okay?” He gently stroked her hair.
“Yeah, that’s fine. Thanks.”
“So you’re a blaster, Keira,” Fiona said. “I didn’t know they really existed.”
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Alex said. “I only had enough psychic energy to cloak to get in here.”
“Then how do we get out?” Keira asked.
“I called in reinforcements,” he said.
As if on cue, the windows shattered and two people entered the room. Well, probably not people since they flew in. One was male and one female. Vampires most likely. Both were dressed entirely in black except for the red cowboy boots the woman had on.
“Got your message, Alex,” the male vampire with light-brown hair and blue eyes said in a charming voice with a slight British accent. “Simon Howell at your service, miss.”
The woman with long blond hair said, “Fiona is that you? What are you doing in that bikini?”
Fiona looked at the woman as if unable to believe her eyes. “Pru? Pru Daniels?”
“Let’s talk later,” Alex said. “I just killed the head of the Gold Coast clan and I’m not sure how the rest of his vampires are going to feel about that.”
“Relieved,” Fiona muttered.
“Isn’t he the one who hired those demon mercenaries at the Christmas fair downtown the last time we were in Chicago?” Pru asked.
“Yes,” Simon said.
The door burst open. Keira was expecting to see Seymour and a band of Gold Coast vampires. Instead something even worse flew into the room.
“Demon mercenaries!” Simon shouted, sounding pleased to Keira’s incredulous ears.
Fiona put an arm around Keira and rushed her into a far corner. “Best to stay out of their way,” Fiona said.
