by ID Johnson
“You got that right,” Cadence muttered. They had reached the building that contained the underground cells where Laura and Sam were being kept. Laura had been there for several months as they still tried to determine exactly what should be done with her. Sam was moved here a few days before, after Jamie decided he was stable enough to leave the hospital rooms he had near his office. Though they had not done much to help Sam heal, they did give him an oxygen machine to make it easier for him to breath and some mildly effective pain medicine.
Aaron pulled the door open and led the way down the stairs. “By the way, do you know what Eliza and her team are up to?”
“I have heard rumors that she is leading a raid tonight, though I’m not sure how good her intel is. Do you really think that she’s found Giovani’s lair?”
“I have no idea,” Aaron admitted. “She seems to think she’s got some good eye-witness reports that he’s there, though.”
“Well, if she manages to bring him in or destroy him, I say we put her back on our team,” Cadence replied as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
“I take it you don’t have a lot of faith in her ability to do either of those things?” he laughed.
“Should I?” Cadence asked as they stopped outside of Sam’s cell.
“She might just surprise us,” he offered.
“Sure. Who knows? Maybe he’ll just surrender and we can all call it a day!”
“That may be more probable than Eliza actually catching him or destroying him,” Aaron replied.
“I agree. Now, let’s get this over with.”
They paused outside of the door, waiting for Cassidy and Brandon to catch up. Before Aaron unlocked the door, Cadence reminded them, “He’s in pretty bad shape, but he’s still a cantankerous old fart, so stay back. And, Brandon, whatever you plan to say to him, don’t expect any sort of polite response.”
“I understand,” Brandon replied, nodding. He looked at Cassidy, who smiled at him reassuringly and squeezed his arm, before Aaron opened the door and they all made their way into the tiny cell.
Sam lay on a hospital gurney, which took up the majority of the space. He was hooked up to an oxygen machine and a heart rate monitor, both of which were making their respective whirring and beeping noises. His head was propped up a bit, and he appeared to be sleeping, though it was difficult to see in the poorly lit room. Even though Cadence pulled the chain to turn on the bare light bulb that hung from a chain in the middle of the room, it did little in the way of illumination.
Brandon stood with them by the door for a second, surveying the man on the cot. His face was misshapen, swollen, and bruised. He still had dried blood on the side of his head and his hair was matted on one side. Though he had a thin blanket covering his body, it was obvious his legs were twisted beneath, and one arm hung limply as if it were no longer of any use; he certainly didn’t look like a formidable opponent now.
Cadence wrapped her arms around her sister, partially to protect her but mostly for comfort; this couldn’t be easy for her either. Though she was concerned this new independent Cassidy might pull away, instead she placed both hands on her big sister’s arms and pulled her closer, and Cadence could see she had tears forming in her eyes.
After a moment, Brandon took a few steps forward, standing next to Sam’s bed. He waited patiently as if staring at the Hunter long enough would cause him to open his eyes. Eventually, without opening them, Sam said, “Whatcha staring at, boy?” in his gruff voice, though the weariness was evident in each word.
Brandon swallowed hard, surprised that the man was awake. “You the Cowboy Sam who shot Elliott?” he asked after a moment to compose himself.
Sam opened his eyes slowly. A flicker of recognition crossed his face, and then he slowly closed his eyes again before replying, “That’s me. What’s left of me, anyhow.”
Glancing over his broken body, Brandon wanted to feel a bit of sympathy for what he was going through, but his disdain for what this man had dared to do was atrocious, and all he felt was rage. “How could you do that?” he asked, slowly shaking his head. “How could you turn a gun on one of your own? How could you pull the trigger knowing you were killing one of your own teammates?”
Sam made a noise that sounded a bit like a sigh crossed with a groan of pain. He opened his eyes again and moved his head and shoulders as if he were attempting to sit up. Realizing that wasn’t going to happen, he stopped, and looking Brandon in the eyes, he said simply, “The need for revenge will make you do all sorts of things, boy.”
That was not the answer Brandon was expecting, and his face crinkled up as he considered the response. “Revenge? For what? Elliott never did anything to you.”
“No, that’s true,” Sam admitted nonchalantly. “But she did.” He gestured in Cadence’s general direction. “And he got in the way. That’s all. Pure and simple.”
Brandon turned and looked at Cadence, a questioning expression on his face. “All I did was take out a Vampire that needed to be destroyed,” Cadence explained as calmly as she could.
“And with him, you destroyed my only chance at getting revenge for the death of my family member that Henry slaughtered in cold blood,” Sam said, his voice as loud as it had been since the plane crash. “You see, boy, revenge is a funny thing. It’ll make you do all kinds of stupid things. I let my anger at Cadence cloud my judgment, and I took it out on Elliott because he was in the way. Now, I’m laying here, praying to die, knowing I can’t, knowing God wouldn’t let me even if it were possible.”
“Does that mean you’re sorry you killed Elliott?” Brandon asked.
“No, it means he’s sorry Cadence didn’t kill him, that’s all,” Cassidy said, taking a step forward.
Sam could barely see her from where he lay, but he stared in her general direction for quite some time before saying, “Don’t matter. Even if I was sorry, they’d never believe me. I’ll just lay her in agony for the next several years ‘til my body finally puts itself back together. Then… who knows. These walls may be my home for the rest of my life.”
“Was it worth it?” Brandon asked, gritting his teeth.
Sam didn’t answer, though. Closing his eyes, he said, “Sorry ‘bout your dad, boy. I know what it’s like to lose your family. Happened to me twice. Hope you can get Giovani. Punk deserves to die.”
“How did you know Elliot was my dad?” Brandon asked, surprised.
For the first time in days, Sam cracked a small smile. “Cause you look just like ‘im.” He turned his head towards the wall, eyes still shut, an indication that the conversation was over.
Brandon was clearly frustrated; he hadn’t gotten the answers he wanted. He hadn’t even gotten an apology, not really. But he realized that would have to come on a different day because, clearly, Sam was done talking. With one last shake of his head and a piercing stare at the sleeping cowboy, he turned to go, secretly glad Sam had survived the airplane crash, and Cadence and Aaron were letting him suffer.
***
The tunnels beneath the town of Cesky Krumlov were damp, dark, and not designer-clothing friendly at all. Wrinkling her nose against the smell of old and mildew, Eliza led her team onward, hopeful that the payoff at the end of this mission would be worth it; if she could bring down Giovani, they’d have to let her back on the Kansas City team.
She’d gotten a tip just the day before from an ex-Hunter who said she was almost certain she had seen someone fitting Giovani’s description entering the premises above this elaborate system of tunnels and that there had been rumors for centuries that Vampires held captives beneath the city, using them as living blood banks of sorts. While Eliza had heard of such a thing, she’d never witnessed it before, and she was hoping that wasn’t the case tonight. She was optimistic that this tip was legitimate, however, and that eventually this dank, dark, tunnel would lead straight to Giovani.
The Hunters and Guardians with her were local Czechs who had been working together for some time, though not
very successfully. The entire country had gotten a bit out of hand after the Sierraville Incident, and the former Leader, Honza, was accompanying her now. He had stepped down willingly when Aaron suggested bringing Eliza in a few weeks ago. Even though Eliza had messed up royally with her handling of the San Francisco Area team last summer, she had a lot of valuable experience and the drive to be more successful this time. She’d also done a bang up job while she worked in Siberia, even though there really weren’t that many Vampires to take down. Now, using her night vision through her IAC, she led the way, Honza, a Hunter named Katka, and a newer Guardian by the name of Marek, right behind her.
“The tunnel turns up here, according to the sketch we procured from the family of the previous owner,” Honza explained through the IAC. “Then, there is a door that leads to the interior chamber. If Giovani is here, this is where he should be.”
Eliza didn’t respond, only paused to pull her Glock from the holster on her hip. With a nod that it was time, she rounded the corner, increasing her speed. She had no way of knowing what she may encounter around the bend. The door stood directly in front of them. Though the ancient oak showed its wear, it was substantial. Eliza hoped it wouldn’t be too difficult to get through so that she would have the element of surprise.
Honza took position on the other side of the door, Katka and Marek at the ready with their guns drawn. “We’ll go on my count,” Eliza instructed. “One, two, three!”
The team burst through the door, even though it was locked, tearing it from it’s hinges. It thundered onto the ground, the echo ricocheting off the walls of the chamber. Ascertaining that the room appeared to be empty, the team moved in quickly, the Guardians ensuring Katka, the sole Hunter, was protected as they did so.
Another tunnel led off into the distance, and Honza hurried to see if it were clear while Eliza and the rest of the team checked the chamber. A cluttered table sat in the middle of the room, two throne-like chairs flanking it, a cobweb covered chandelier hanging overhead. Even though the light was on, the room was still dark, and shadows fell over the far reaches of every corner. Eliza saw an archway to her right, and with her gun drawn, she entered, cautiously. What she found inside had her gasping in horror. Despite everything she had seen over the last several years as a Guardian, she had never seen anything like this.
Bodies--four of them--thin and pale, recently deceased, lay sprawled out on the floor, each of them with just one arm chained to the wall by means of a rusted shackle. Three women and one man, all dressed in current clothing, no shoes, covered in dirt and their own waste, each of them with a deplorable expression on their emaciated faces. Eliza put her hand over her mouth, willing herself not to be sick.
“Reserva de sange,” Katka whispered over Eliza’s shoulder just behind her. “It’s true.”
“What the hell is this?” Eliza asked. Though she had heard rumors, she never thought she’d actually see something like this in real-life.
“They are humans, captured by the Vampires, brought here, kept alive so that they may feed from their blood. They are sustained only enough to continue to provide the sange, the blood the Vampires crave,” Katka explained in her thick Czech accent.
“What keeps them from Resurrecting?” Eliza asked, cautiously stepping towards the victims.
“It is a delicate balance,” Katka continued. She entered the cell and began to check the bodies for pulses, just in case. “Only the Vampires know for sure how it is done, and it takes skill to prevent Resurrection.... or death. Eventually, one or the other must happen.”
“And they just… sit here all day long, chained to the wall?” Eliza asked, still snarling.
“Yes,” Katka confirmed. She stood now, having had no luck at finding a heartbeat amongst the victims. “They are given enough food to keep them alive as long as necessary before Resurrection becomes inevitable, and then they are killed; they would never be loyal to their masters having gone through this type of torture.”
“Eliza,” Marek called from the other room, “you should see this.”
With one last shudder, Eliza left the chamber and crossed the room to where Marek stood next to the table. It was obvious by now that the room was clear, and Honza sent word that the tunnel leading out of the chamber appeared to be empty as well. Eliza was disappointed that they had not found Giovani, but at this point she had no reason to believe he had been involved in this particular underground Vampire ring at all--not until she saw what Marek was pointing at on the table.
Dear Purple-Haired Vixen,
Please give my regards to Miss Findley, and tell her this:
Missed me, missed me….
Do you know what comes next?
I await your arrival,
G
Hesitating to pick it up, Eliza stooped over the table and read the letter again. “Man, this guy is batshit crazy,” she mumbled. “What the hell does this even mean?”
“I do not know,” Marek admitted as Honza and Katka joined them in re-reading the letter. “But it seems he is taunting us, no?”
“For sure,” Eliza agreed. “We need visuals on every airport, every train station, every major mode of transportation out of Europe. We need a cleanup crew in here to take care of those bodies. And most importantly, we need Aaron. If he can’t figure this out, no one can.”
Chapter Ten
The flight from London Heathrow would be much longer than the initial flight from Vienna, but it would give Giovani and Zabrina a chance to strategize, and there wasn’t too much to complain about while sitting in first class, sipping champagne.
“What is your plan once we arrive in Philadelphia?” Zabrina asked, absently flipping through a fashion magazine.
Giovani turned his attention from the clouds outside the window and took another sip of his Chardonnay before replying, “I contacted some of our brothers and sisters in the area, and they recommended I get in touch with an ex-Black Op by the name of Frank Howard. They said if anyone can arrange to extract Gibbon from a high security hospital, he’s our guy. So… we’ve been chatting, and he’s going to meet us as soon as we arrive. He has a few compadres who will likely also be on board.”
Zabrina raised an eyebrow. “If he’s a Black Op, why doesn’t he just go ahead and get Gibbon now? Why wait?”
Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Giovani shot back, “Because I told him not to. I want to be there when this goes down, Zabrina. This is my coup d'etat. While I’m willing to share some of the credit, when this is over, it must be clear that I alone am the Vampire Leader.”
“It’s hardly a coup,” Zabrina muttered, returning her attention to her magazine.
“Pardon?” Giovani replied, the volume and tone of his voice showing his agitation. “It most certainly is, in every sense imaginable. We are throwing off the bonds of a despot. No longer will Guardians and Hunters tell us what we can and cannot do. This is epic, Zabrina. Surely you see the significance of what we are about to do.”
Realizing there was no point in arguing with him--especially since doing so may lead him to believe she thought his plan had flaws--Zabrina changed the subject. “Well, I’ve spoken to my contact, and Nina has assured me that everything will be in place beneath Jeweler’s Row by the time our plane lands.”
“Everything?” Giovani clarified.
Now it was Zabrina’s turn to be annoyed. “Yes, everything,” she assured him. “But no news from Robert, correct?”
Giovani returned his attention out the window. While white puffy clouds continued to surround their aircraft, off in the distance he could see storm clouds brewing. “No, nothing yet,” he replied quietly. “But he will get her. I’m sure of it.”
“Then all we have to do is lure in the rest,” Zabrina reminded him.
“One doesn’t necessarily have to proceed the other,” he answered. “I’m sure LIGHTS will be on our heels shortly, regardless of whether Robert’s mission is completed first or last. It may actually make it easier if we can get our portion
moving forward first.”
Again, the eyebrow went up, but there was no need to ask for clarification. If Giovani had already decided how things should--or could--be, then there would be no convincing him otherwise. “Well, it’s a solid plan, the best one anyone has ever had. Now, we just have to pull it off.”
“We will,” Giovani assured her. “It’s just a matter of time.”
***
Jamie had an operating room near his office, and after considering what had happened when Cadence Transformed, he decided that would be the safest place to go through with Brandon’s procedure, since his father was also of powerful stock. Though he didn’t anticipate needing anything other than the tools he always carried with him in his medical bag, it wouldn’t hurt to be precautious.
The walk from Sam’s cell to Jamie’s building had been a quiet one. Brandon and Cassidy were clearly shaken up a bit from their encounter with the trader, Cadence still felt like dragons were fighting in her stomach, and Aaron had to endure a lengthy explanation from Eliza regarding the botched Czech job. It wasn’t turning out to be a fabulous weekend after all.
“Wow, you guys all look super excited to be here,” Jamie said as they made their way into the operating room. He was just finishing setting up his supplies and equipment on a small table next to the bed Brandon would be occupying for the next several hours.
“Oh, I can hardly wait. Lots of pain and an indefinite amount of time unconscious. Who wouldn’t want that?” Brandon joked, eyeing the bed cautiously.
“Well, I thought this would be the safest place to do it, but I don’t foresee any problems,” Jamie assured him.
Brandon plopped himself onto the bed while the other three hung back a bit, Cassidy standing a few feet away, her arms crossed in apprehension. “May as well get it over with it,” he sighed, managing a small smile in her general direction.
“I know the procedure has been explained to you, but do you have any questions?” Jamie asked.
