To Hell And Back_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by Natalie Grey

  “Yes, of course. At once. Sir.”

  “How do you know how to do all of this?” Irina asked Stephen curiously.

  “Centuries of practice,” Stephen told her. He paused. “Although I like it better now, I think.”

  “How do you mean?” she asked him as they followed their guide a bit more slowly.

  “What he just did—touching me like that—is something that would once have been forbidden. I like that the rules are more relaxed about some things now.” Stephen smiled. “Though no one gets a free pass.”

  Irina smiled. She had once been over-awed by this man and did not understand how Jennifer could be so comfortable in his presence. Her whole life, she had been taught to respect vampires—and, if possible, not be noticed by them. Mothers taught their children that it was better to keep one’s head down and follow the rules than risk coming to the attention of the Patriarch.

  And no matter how much those same children argued that the Patriarch didn’t care about a Wechselbalg that stayed up past their bedtime or refused to eat their vegetables, there was still a superstitious thrill of fear every time someone mentioned him.

  But now that Irina had met Stephen and Bethany Anne, she was rethinking her worries.

  It turned out vampires just really, really didn’t like people absolving themselves of responsibility, or messing with innocents.

  And Irina couldn’t find any problem with that.

  Postojna, Slovenia

  “All right.” Hsu smiled at the others in the Pod. “Does anyone else want to be the self-important bitch this time?”

  Jennifer laughed. “I do like the sound of that, but I don’t think anyone is going to believe you’re a bodyguard. You’re barely five feet tall.”

  “I will have you know,” Hsu said with great dignity, “that I am very dangerous when I need to be.”

  “Uh-huh. And I’m guessing you have a good element of surprise.” Jennifer was still laughing. “Plus, I like seeing your self-important bitch act.”

  Hsu grinned. She had seen so many self-important party officials come to visit her facility back in China that she had plenty of inspiration to draw on for her act.

  She had learned that it was essential to act as though it was completely unbelievable that anyone would question you. It was also important to believe that everyone in the system was dishonest—that the administrators, therefore, were very susceptible to blackmail. She had seen how to hint at illicit dealings without any details, causing her targets to believe that she knew a lot more about them than she really did.

  As much as she hated to admit it, she enjoyed play-acting as all those people she despised.

  The Pod let them out in a stand of trees where they waited for ADAM’s confirmation that there were no signs of alarm from the facility.

  They approached from the road. Hsu’s badge had the gates sliding open before anyone even appeared at the doors of the facility itself.

  Unfortunately, when they did, they were armed and clearly not willing to accept unexpected visitors.

  Crap.

  “Who are you?” one of the guards yelled.

  Hsu drew herself up to her full height, “Your readiness is commendable,” she called across the yard. “Hugo will be pleased.”

  The men wavered, the barrels of their guns swinging slightly as they looked at one another.

  Hsu announced. “I am Chief Administrator Zhang. I have been sent by Hugo to oversee the facilities as they dismantle operations.”

  There was a small flurry of activity, and the door opened to let a swarthy man through. He wore a suit beneath his lab coat and looked displeased to see Hsu.

  “Chief Administrator?” he asked. He switched to Catalan the next minute: “Why would Hugo appoint a foreigner to be his chief administrator? You are lying.”

  Hsu rolled her eyes before she could stop herself, then decided that this was exactly what an official would do, as well.

  “Your prejudice against foreigners is noted,” she informed him. She decided not to point out that, as a Spanish man assigned to a Slovenian facility, he was also a foreigner. “Hugo, however, is not as foolish as you. Should you wish to rise in this organization, I suggest you spend less time worrying about heritage, and more time worrying about your job performance.”

  The administrator flushed angrily, and Hsu held up a hand to forestall any angry outbursts.

  “I do not have any information on Hugo’s opinion of your work. If you feel you should have my job, you are of course welcome to discuss this with him when you return to Spain. However, we will first need to shutter this facility.”

  The man looked at her hatefully but shut his mouth.

  “Please accompany me to my office,” he suggested. It was clear that every pleasant word pained him to speak. “Your guards may remain outside.”

  “My chief of security will accompany me,” Hsu replied, trying to act as carelessly arrogant as the party officials she remembered. “There are important matters she will need to be present for.” She gave a tiny nod to Jennifer.

  The administrator seemed very much like he wanted to object, but he knew it was a reasonable request.

  Hsu swept into the facility behind him—Jennifer at one shoulder, and they walked through the hallways in stony silence.

  It was only once they were in the administrator’s office with the door closed securely behind them that the man turned to her with a nasty smile.

  “So, Chief Administrator Zhang, let us be honest with one another.”

  Hsu forced herself to keep a bored expression on her face, although she felt a sudden chill. At her shoulder, Jennifer stood lazily, arms crossed, but Hsu knew from experience that the woman was ready to leap into action at any moment.

  “I fear something has happened to Hugo,” the administrator admitted quietly. “Perhaps he is being coerced in some way.”

  “He is not in any way being coerced,” Hsu told him confidently. “I can assure you of that. And I can also assure you that he is in no danger.”

  After all, it was hard to be in danger when one was already dead.

  The administrator sat back in his chair.

  “Your caution is, again, commendable,” Hsu assured him. “I understand that Hugo’s transmission about Gerard must have caused some distress.”

  The administrator watched her carefully.

  “However, other than that unfortunate falling out, there is little reason for concern.”

  “So you wouldn’t mind…” The administrator said, reaching out for a button, “if we made a quick video call to Hugo to confirm that?”

  Gordes, France

  Stephen was led into the sitting room of a house that was, indeed, quite nice. Though it was clear that the owners were not affluent, it was far from the wreck that the outside would suggest.

  It was not long before a man with hair so white it appeared silver ducked into the room. Though he was getting older, he still walked strongly, and his grip was firm when he shook Stephen’s hand.

  “I am Jean-Marc Carre,” he announced.

  Stephen introduced himself and Irina, and the three of them sat as the surly-looking young man came to hover at the back of the room.

  “I will guess that you are aware of the laboratories on the outskirts of town,” Stephen offered.

  Jean-Marc looked, abruptly, far older. His shoulders slumped. “Yes,” he answered quietly. “And you say you have news?”

  Stephen could see that the Alpha did not believe that it would be good news. He had long since given up thinking that things might change for the better. The younger man, however, still had hope.

  “Last night we learned—my team and I—that the human staff and scientists had been killed, and that the Wechselbalg were gone.”

  A new thought occurred to him now. What if the bodies they found were only a portion of guard staff? What if Gerard had called in more mercenaries, and the trucks held cages to transport the Wechselbalg to a new facility? ADAM had had a
short gap in satellite coverage, even after rerouting a few satellites, and it was possible that cages had been carried out during that time.

  Not knowing was maddening.

  The Alpha stared at him. It was clear that his thoughts were moving along the same lines at Stephen’s.

  Irina cleared her throat, trying to find words. “I was in one of the facilities like this one, sir.”

  “What—” The Alpha’s voice broke. “What happened to you there?”

  “I’m not going to say.” Irina went to sit beside him on the couch. “It won’t help anyone to dwell on the past. All I can say is that after everything, when I escaped, I didn’t want to go back to my pack. I knew that, like you, they would feel guilty and they would want to know what happened. I devoted myself to bringing justice to the people who did this. I think perhaps that’s what happened here. It’s one explanation, anyway.”

  Jean-Marc pushed himself up, away from the dark-haired girl with the strange accent, away from the vampire.

  The people who ran this facility, whoever they were, had snatched away members of his pack so quickly that there was no chance to protect them: a young man helping a farmer, a little girl playing in the street, a young mother who had gone to the market for oranges.

  Twice, whole families had been taken, and the other packs nearby sent emissaries to say that their people were missing as well.

  There had been a media circus, one that Jean-Marc tried to hide from as much as possible.

  None of the humans had the good sense to suspect the facility that had just been set up nearby…but, then again, none of the rest of them could smell blood on the evening breeze. So they gave interviews pleading for the return of their family members.

  Jean-Marc had given no interviews to the press because he knew he would speak the truth—the humans were dead. Someone wanted to experiment on Wechselbalg, and humans were useless. Especially humans who had seen things they shouldn’t see.

  Now this woman was telling him that he should not even ask what had happened to his family—but that it had been so bad that she, having been subjected to the same, feared to see her own kin ever again.

  And then the truth came to him.

  “You said you devoted yourself to bringing justice to these people.” He did not turn around.

  “Yes.” The girl sounded uncertain.

  “That is where they have gone.”

  He heard the silence and knew that they were trying to figure out how to tell him not to get his hopes up.

  “You don’t understand.” He turned back to them. “My son, Emeric. He was taken.” He saw the pain in their eyes, and he struggled for the words to explain this. “He was always resentful of the life we lived. He did not like that we were forced to keep to the shadows for our own protection. He said many distressing things over the years—that we were better than they were, that we should take our rightful place at the head of society. I never agreed with him, and eventually, he stopped saying those things.

  “But I know he never stopped believing them. If he suffered terrible things at their hands and he still lives, he is going to take vengeance. And it...” His voice cracked. “You cannot allow it. I cannot. I must go to him.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” the man replied at once. “We think he may have been lied to by a man named Gerard Cordova, a human who worked in this program. He betrayed the man who started it and may be trying to collect the army for himself. I fear he is telling them lies to trick them into doing his dirty work for him.”

  Jean-Marc’s hands clenched. “I cannot think Emeric would trust such a man. I cannot even think he would give this Gerard the time to speak. If you want my thoughts—truly want them—then I must tell you I think Gerard is dead if he ever met my son.” He paused, shuddering. “And I think my son is going to do something terrible. He must be stopped.”

  Irina and Stephen looked sharply at one another, but before they could respond, a voice spoke in Stephen’s ear:

  “There’s a problem in Postojna,” ADAM told him. “The director wanted to confirm face to face with Hugo that the facility should be shut down. I cut the call off, of course, but it looks like it will be a fight. If you want to be there for that, you should leave now.”

  7

  Gordes, France

  A Pod was waiting for Stephen and Irina on the edge of town as they hurried away from Jean-Marc Carre’s house.

  “ADAM, can you mimic Hugo’s voice?” Stephen stepped back to allow Irina to get into the Pod first.

  “Yes, I can do that. I assume that you have a plan to explain why it will be only a voice call and not a video call, as the administrator intends?”

  “I do. In fact...” Stephen considered. “Could you make my voice sound like Hugo’s while transmitting it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Put a call through, then.”

  “One moment.” There was a pause.

  Irina settled back in her seat. She was endlessly interested by the ability of Bethany Anne’s team to problem solve. Instead of just going in, guns blazing, Stephen planned to talk his way out of this. It was not a simple solution, but it would keep the captive Wechselbalg from being caught in the crossfire.

  But Stephen was still ready for a fight if there was no other option.

  She checked her own weapons carefully, being sure to point them away from Stephen at a specific point on the wall. ADAM had explained to her that some Pods now came with a square of material, designed by Jean Dukes—a woman Irina had never met, though everyone seemed to speak of her with reverence—that would absorb gunfire. That way, the inhabitants of the Pod could do last-minute weapons check without worrying that gunfire would reverberate around the Pod if there were a malfunction.

  “Patching you into the call,” ADAM informed Stephen.

  “Thank you.” Stephen waited until a voice answered.

  “Si?”

  “Good morning, Gomez.” Stephen was amused to hear his voice coming out sounding exactly like Hugo’s.

  Amused, but unnerved. The man really did sound not only relentlessly self-absorbed but also a bit on the whiny side.

  “Good morning, Mr. Marcari.” The administrator’s voice was unctuous.

  “What is the meaning of this, Gomez?” Stephen demanded.

  “I beg your pardon, Mr. Marcari?” The administrator sounded flustered now. “I have an unknown woman in my facility—”

  “Did I not make myself clear?” Stephen unconsciously folded his arms, the way he would if he were staring someone down. He saw Irina’s grin and had to stifle a laugh. “I informed you, did I not, that the research was to be discontinued and that I would send personnel to extract the experiments?”

  “Yes, sir, absolutely, you did, sir, but—”

  Stephen seized on the fatal ‘but,’ “But when I sent personnel, as I told you I would, you decided to question me?”

  “No, sir, I absolutely do not mean to question you!” The voice was full of panic now.

  “Am I also going to find out that you have been dealing with Gerard Cordova?” Stephen demanded. “Have you disobeyed those instructions, as well?”

  “No!”

  “So what is the meaning of this?” Stephen returned to the original point. What would Hugo complain about now? “Gerard’s betrayal has put me in mortal danger, and you have compromised my security by forcing me to call you.”

  “Sir, I cannot apologize enough. I meant only to verify that—”

  “That what?” Stephen snapped, cutting the man off on purpose. He had learned that when people were guilty and cut off mid-sentence, they seemed to believe somehow that they could have talked their way out of things if given half a chance. Not being given a chance to speak drove them into a frenzy. “I will be sending more personnel to aid in the extraction. They will be there in a few minutes.”

  “In...” Stephen could see the man in his mind’s eye. The administrator, ensconced in a remote facility, was no doubt standing up to check the
windows right now. “So soon?”

  “Gomez, I have technology at my disposal that you could not begin to understand. I expect you to cooperate with these officials, do you understand me? I will have them report to me on your behavior—and if I am not satisfied, I am afraid I will be unable to recommend you for any new positions. In fact, I am sure I will need to see you in person to discuss your failure in judgment.”

  “Sir, I will, of course, assist the personnel in any way—”

  Stephen cut the call off with a grimace and a chuckle. “That should do it,” he said to Irina.

  Postojna, Slovenia

  The door of the Pod slid open.

  “I took the liberty of leaving you at the same place as the last Pod,” ADAM announced.

  “Thank you, ADAM.” Stephen stepped down and offered Irina a hand. “We’ll take it from here. What is Hsu calling herself?”

  “Chief Administrator Zhang. No one else has provided names.”

  “Hmm. I think I will be Associate Administrator Cormanescu.” Stephen shot a grin at Irina.

  “Pleased to meet you, Associate Administrator.” Irina fluttered her lashes. “I’m just the hired muscle, don’t mind me, I don’t need a name.”

  Stephen laughed as they made their way around the fence to the outside of the facility. “Now the fun begins.”

  Hsu sat, a cup of truly terrible tea cradled in her hands as Administrator Gomez fluttered around her.

  Her link with ADAM had provided her a front row seat to the man’s conversation with Stephen. He had insisted that she take his seat behind the desk, had brought her the tea and some refreshments, and was now telling her just how much he admired her work.

  She appreciated that Stephen had made the man significantly more pliant, but he was also annoying her enough that she wanted to backhand him. She amused herself by picturing that, in detail, until there was a flurry of activity in the hallway and Stephen appeared, Irina at one shoulder.

  “Associate Administrator Cormanescu,” ADAM informed her.

  “Ah.” Hsu smiled. “Cormanescu. Gomez said someone would be joining us.” She shot a not-altogether-impressed look at the administrator, who was now fluttering around Stephen.