That time it was easy––almost effortless.
I barely had time to feel guilty about how easy it was to invade and twist their light.
Within seconds, I had them yanking on the steering wheels of their police cruisers.
Two of them slammed into one another, forcing one patrol car off the road. I watched it skid out of control; it hopped the curb and left the street, moving so fast it plowed into and through the front wall of a house alongside the road.
I glanced back, wincing. I was mildly reassured when I saw there were no lights on in that front room, at least––meaning the one where the police car was now parked.
“Miri!” Black yelled from above. “Get them to go around us!”
Remembering what he’d said before, I focused back on the drivers’ minds. My concentration broke briefly when a bullet slammed into the open car door above me, close enough to make me flinch.
I had my light back under control in a second, though. That time, instead of having the patrol cars run into one other, I had them swerve around us, like Black said.
Then I had them hit the gas, aiming them straight for the Home-Sec SUVs.
I heard the first crash and turned my head, right as one of the cruisers slammed headlong into the lead SUV, which had been speeding up, trying to come up alongside us on the left.
I winced, pulling in slightly at the impact.
More bullets plinked and thunked into and off the car’s armor around me.
I saw the other two SUVs swerve, trying to get around the accident, then to get away from the line of police cruisers headed straight at them.
Just then, we hit a larger expressway road.
Alice spun the wheel, hard, probably going eighty or ninety through the intersection. The back of the limousine fish-tailed, forcing me to grip the car door hard, and nearly lose the gun.
In the process, cop cars skidded sideways, trying to turn around to follow us.
The ones I controlled were still trying to hit the SUVs.
I turned around to check the SUV directly behind us and raised the gun again, firing on the wheels and windshields if only to divert their attention away from Black, and maybe distract the drivers away from where they were trying to dodge the cop cars. I saw one of the drivers lose control of the closest SUV when either Black or Lex hit the engine block with something bigger than a handgun.
Then the front right tire of the lead SUV finally blew.
The car swerved violently and flipped.
I heard Black slam his hand on the roof, talking to Alice.
“Faster!” he yelled into the wind.
Focusing back on the SUVs, I tried to find the minds of the police officers I’d been controlling. I looked for them in the Barrier, going higher in the space. Within seconds, I had those with still-functioning cars turn around to follow the Home-Sec SUVs.
Once they were close enough, I also had them fire on them.
I could feel other presences around me though.
There were a lot of them.
Suddenly it felt like there were a lot of them––dozens, maybe more.
They were fighting me for control of the minds of the police officers driving the cars, taking them from me one by one. I got hit by one hard enough in the space, it actually rocked my head back in the physical.
Still gripping onto the door, hanging over the dark, blurred asphalt of the road, I tasted blood, and realized my nose was bleeding.
I’ve still got a few of them, Miri, Dalejem told me in the space, speaking directly into my mind. Your husband has some, too. There are a lot of police cars back there now. It’ll take them a little time to gain control of all of them. Just focus on the few you can still reach––
There was a loud crash behind me, turning my head.
I watched a police cruiser slam into the side of one of the remaining SUVs, knocking it into a second one, even as the officer sitting shotgun fired wildly through the passenger side window with what looked like a Mossberg shotgun.
I could feel Dalejem controlling that one.
I couldn’t help wincing when I saw the cop hit one of the Home-Sec agents with the Mossberg right in the chest through the open window. The remaining SUV slammed into another patrol car when it maneuvered in front of them and they couldn’t brake in time.
A police cruiser slammed into the back of that SUV, too.
I felt Black holding onto that one. The one I still controlled slammed into it from the other side, forcing it back towards Dalejem’s police car, and the Mossberg.
Three more hit into the pile-up that had already started.
Hands grabbed me again, yanking me back into the car.
I gripped the car door as I rose, slamming it closed behind me. Then I was in the seat next to Black and the sunroof and the far window where Lex had been firing began to close.
I wiped my nose on the back of my hand, gasping a little. Taking a handkerchief from Lawless when he offered it, I wiped off my hands and my nose a second time. Luckily it wasn’t bleeding really anymore. Even so, I winced, looking at my reflection in the one-way window to get off the last of the blood.
Still fighting to get my breath back, I avoided Black’s eyes and light at first. Gripping the handkerchief in my hand, I knelt on the seat instead, peering through the partition window to Alice.
“How are we doing?” I asked her.
She nodded, once, giving me a sideways smile. “We’re good. No helicopters so far. Maybe they’re trying to avoid media coverage. I’ll have us to the airport soon.”
I nodded. “Thanks for the gun.”
Sliding backwards through the opening, I exhaled as my rear met the leather seat.
Only then did I look at Black.
He probably looked like I looked.
His hair was windblown from being above the car, his face flushed, his gold eyes faintly glassy from operating in the Barrier, and maybe from alcohol as well. I was still looking at him, doing a kind of silent inventory of how he was, when he wrapped an arm around me, yanking me up against him. Before I could let out a sound, he kissed me, yanking me up against his chest and opening his light.
I opened my light when he did, maybe in surprise as much as anything.
Pain shot through his light when he felt mine, intense enough that he groaned against my mouth, pulling me up into his lap. He kissed me again, harder, still holding his gun as his fingers wrapped into my hair and the gun at the same time.
I don’t know how long we were kissing before I remembered the others sharing the back of the limousine with us.
Black and I still hadn’t gotten anywhere near enough time alone.
After being separated for a few months while I was in Hawaii, we’d really only been back together for a few days when he got the call about the Colonel. Most of our time in New Mexico hadn’t exactly been a honeymoon either.
I’d never been all that comfortable with public displays of affection, though.
Pushing Black back with a a palm to the chest, I disentangled myself from his hands and light with an effort, feeling my light and skin flush as soon as I separated us.
He continued to hold onto me, but let me pull us apart.
I was still looking at him, watching him look at me in the short, black dress where I sat on his lap, when I heard a chuckle from behind me. I turned my head, flushing hotter, and found Manny and Lawless shaking their heads at both of us.
Manny took a drink of the bourbon while I watched.
Somehow, he still gripped the neck of the bottle in his hand.
“Only you would get horny from that,” Manny said to Black, handing the bottle his way. “Here, drink some of this. Maybe it’ll remind you that you’re too drunk to be any good in the sack right now.”
From next to him, Lawless burst out in a laugh.
Black took the bottle, tilting his head back as he took a long drink.
Gasping a little, he offered it to me, then to Lex when I waved him off.
Lex propped the rifle he’d been firing earlier against his leg and the car door, frowning as he took the bottle. Like Black, he tilted his head back, taking a long few swallows.
“What the hell is going on, Black?” he said, disbelief in his voice as he lowered the bottle, handing it on to Lawless. “Who were those people? Were they really Home-Sec? And why the hell couldn’t you do your mind thing to make them let you go?”
Black didn’t answer at first.
Holding my gaze, his eyes grim, he took the bottle from Manny when it came back around. He took an even longer drink that time before he handed it back to Lex.
He never took his eyes off mine.
“We’ll explain some of that on the plane,” he said, watching me another beat before he turned, glancing first at Lex, then around at the others.
“If it is what I think it is, you’re not going to like it,” he added sourly.
5
HOLDING THE LEASH
LOGAN SILVER SMILED, looking over the creature’s angular, chalk-white face, its full lips, the near-black hair that hung to its muscular shoulders in thick waves.
It was a good-looking specimen, he noted.
He found himself thinking about how he could make use of that fact, contemplating the different ways he could exploit its handsome features and physical beauty in his favor. It would be hell on wheels with any female they might want to target, for one.
Or any gay man, for that matter.
Hell, this thing could probably seduce a lesbian.
Logan gave the vampire’s body a more thorough once-over, again noting the near-perfect musculature, the athletic build, its inhumanly-perfect skin. Even the paleness worked for it, giving the creature an otherworldly, timeless, statue-like kind of beauty that only made it look more unreal, like that famous statue of the naked guy he’d seen once in Italy.
Logan remembered seeing that statue as a kid with his father in one museum or another, on a private tour only the very wealthy got. His dad had a new wife at the time––Stacia? Logan was pretty sure it was her––so he’d probably done it to impress her.
Logan mostly remembered being bored out of his mind.
That statue, though, maybe just the sheer size of it, not to mention its nakedness, and whiteness, stuck in his mind as an image.
Anyway, more to the point, this thing evoked that rock star, goth, heroin-chic thing that a lot of girls got wet over nowadays. That whole brooding, dark, mystery-man view of vampires was why chicks wanted to fuck vampires in novels and movies in the first place.
He really couldn’t have asked for better.
The damned thing even looked like a vampire.
Moreover, according to the creature itself, not all of them did.
A near gleeful grin warmed the corners of his mouth as he returned his gaze to the creature’s face, taking in the slightly extended fangs, the high cheekbones, the porcelain skin, the crystal-like eyes that shone with a strange light––a light that almost negated light somehow.
The thing looked dangerous, which would only make people want it more.
Those eyes alone, how they changed colors like a blood-filled snow-globe being shaken when the creature grew hungry or aroused––they were completely riveting.
Its beauty would only make it more dangerous.
Even Logan could barely look away from it, and he was as straight as straight could get.
Watching it eat Colonel Harrison Holmes had been positively exhilarating.
He could admit it––he’d been completely mesmerized.
He never took his eyes off the creature, not once through the whole process. About halfway through, he’d even considered videotaping it, just so he could watch it all again in private. His common sense kicked it when it occurred to him he couldn’t risk having something like that on him, not until his father had solidified control over more of the security apparatus, but the thought had been damned tempting.
He’d definitely do it at some point. If nothing else, he couldn’t wait to show his father.
It was the sort of thing dear old dad would probably get a kick out of.
Either way, bottom line––
He was going to make fucking millions off this thing.
Just one would be worth millions, much less a whole damned army of them.
He could imagine even just this one doing contract jobs for Silver Industries: infiltrating foreign governments, military bases, the homes of generals––ripping apart soldiers while they slept, or even just feeding on them and reading their minds for intel.
Then it would vanish, before anyone on the other side had a clue.
That didn’t even get into the commercial applications.
Logan’s grin grew wider as he thought about the possibilities.
His dad was going to shit a brick when he got a look at their last round of tests––at the physical speed and regeneration of the thing, the psychic abilities while it was feeding, the fact that it could totally manipulate the minds of its victims, sometimes for hours after it had fed, and it could track them for days, sometimes weeks after the fact. Logan had learned more in the past month about the damned things than he’d ever gotten from that Vietnamese bitch he’d hired to oversee the lab in Louisiana. They’d been so obsessed with “curing” vampirism, they’d missed the whole fucking point of them existing in the first place.
His dad would get it, though.
It took a lot to impress Malcolm Silver, but there’s no way he’d be confused about the commercial opportunities presented by a property like this. Good ol’ Malcolm likely would have taken over the project personally by now, if he had any idea what Logan truly had.
He’d definitely want this creature fully operational, like––yesterday.
The main thing now was the ability to run trial scenarios, which meant completing tech design for subduing uncaged vampires––whether via chemical restraint or some kind of device. He needed a reliable way to control the damned things. There was no way he could risk putting it out in the field if all they had to keep it in line was a kiss and a promise.
Up until now he’d managed the animal with short term deals and starving it periodically of food. Mostly though, they kept it caged––or drugged––or both.
Unfortunately, Logan knew how the squint-squad worked.
They’d want to spend months on every primary and secondary trait, mapping the creature’s DNA, its blood type, its biological resilience to disease, its strengths and weaknesses, organs, sleep patterns, regenerative ability, and probably a million other damned things.
They’d hold him up for years if he let them, claiming they couldn’t control for one or a handful of traits until they’d studied every single aspect of the creature’s biology, genealogy, behavioral patterns, and likely, its psychological and emotional quirks.
Then they’d likely demand additional subjects so they could compare traits to verify their initial results.
The whole thing made Logan tired, just thinking about it.
He knew he was right, though.
They’d want to know everything: how it ate, how it shat, how it bred, how it fucked, how it slept, how it maintained its longevity. The thing about the eyes alone would make them wax theoretical for anywhere between six months to ten years.
That was assuming Logan let them.
Logan didn’t intend to let them, though. To Logan, finding out vampires were real was like finding a living, human-sized, trainable velociraptor. The details were great, sure, but the main thing was, it was a damned velociraptor.
Only one that could talk.
And read minds.
“You’re quite pleased with yourself, aren’t you, friend?”
Logan flinched.
Refocusing on the creature, he realized only then that he was still staring at it, and that the animal had been watching him look. Seeing the knowing, shrewd look on the vampire’s face, Logan smiled, that time in surprise.
He’d forgotten j
ust how human it could sound, despite what it was.
He’d also forgotten it wasn’t currently wearing the dark-green muzzle. It could talk. Logan could also see its facial expressions with more detail and subtlety than usual.
That would change, of course, once they got it ready for transport.
“You ready to travel, friend?” Logan asked it, still smiling.
A long muscle in the vampire’s pale face twitched, almost like how a horse’s skin could move independently of the muscle and bone.
“You broke our agreement,” the vampire said.
Logan blinked.
Then, still studying its face, he gave it a feigned puzzled look.
Another part of him would have liked to roll his eyes.
Was this thing really stupid enough to have believed him, when he said he’d set it free? After everything it told him? After everything it demonstrated it could do? Did it really think him to be so monumentally stupid, that he, Logan Silver, would just let it go?
Sure, the vampire promised it would bring back some of its own in its place.
But how stupid would Logan have to be, to believe that? No way was this thing going to hand over its own people for enslavement, not once it was free. These things were clearly clannish, from everything the squints told him.
Even if this vampire king had a few minions he’d just as soon get rid of, Logan wasn’t looking for the bottom of the barrel from vampire-land. As their leader, Brick was far too valuable for Logan to ever let go, even apart from his value as a specimen.
If the creature really was dumb enough to have believed that––well, maybe that was a good thing. If the animals weren’t overly bright, it might make them easier to manage.
“Agreement?” Logan kept his voice puzzled. “I’ve broken no agreement with you, Mr. Brick. I agreed to free you from this horrible place, if you were willing to help me out by giving me information about Quentin Black… and this so-called ‘seer’ race you claim has infiltrated both of our races. We haven’t finished those discussions.”
“Do you doubt my word?” A Louisiana accent lilted the vampire’s voice. “I have told you everything I know. I assure you, I have.”
In Black We Trust Page 8
