Bella Flores Urban Fantasy Collection

by R D Martin

  "Is that so?"

  "Yes, yes, it is. He's actually expecting me now." If she could have ripped her tongue out at that moment, she would have.

  "Is he?" His tone shifted from curiosity to frank disbelief.

  Bella couldn't blame him. The words sounded like a lie in her own ears. She nodded anyway.

  "Well, I'll have someone escort you to your own chambers. If the Representative wishes to see you, I'm sure he'll send someone to fetch you." He raised a hand and one of the passersby veered off to join them.

  Today just wasn't her day. But in for a penny…

  "I'm sure Darius won't be happy." The sound of the Elder's name stopped the vampire in his tracks. "He was the one to suggest I speak with the Representative."

  "Was he?"

  "Yes, actually. I'd be more than happy to wait here if you'd like. I'm sure it won't take long for you to speak with him, though I don't think he'll be happy that you left me lost in a hall somewhere. I wouldn't worry, though. He seems like an… understanding person."

  The vampire's eyes widened, and his tongue darted out. It was probably a habit left over from his human days, but it was still recognizable. He was uncertain and more scared of his Elder than anything else. A moment later, the vampire nodded the slightest bit and held out a hand. Just like his master's grip, his was cool and firm. Unlike Darius, however, the younger vampire didn't take the time to be gentle. Tugging on her arm with a jerk that made her shoulder pop, he pulled her to her feet in one motion.

  "Follow me. And do try to keep up." His haughty tone suggested he wouldn't be slowing down for her and if she didn't move fast, it would be of no consequence to him. Whirling around, he set off at a brisk pace, and Bella scrambled to keep up.

  10

  This is a mistake. Don't do it. It's a mistake. Bella repeated the phrase in her head over and over again, and though she knew how true it was, she continued to ignore her own advice. But what else could she do? Sit and wait in her room until the vote tomorrow? She needed to find out what was going on. Holding her breath, she reached out and, with one shaking fist, knocked on the door to the Imperium Representative's suite.

  Her knuckles rapped the door lightly at first, as though she believed if she was quiet enough, she could pretend no one was on the other side. She imagined the light brush of her hand on the door to be as loud as the boom of a cannon and winced. Seconds ticked over into eons, and no one answered. Her cheeks tightened as her lips twisted and she allowed her anger some free rein, enough to burn away the fear gnawing at her belly. This time when she knocked, the boom was more than just her imagination.

  An ice age later, the door opened wide enough for a woman to peer out at Bella. Her face was pinched in an expression that said either she'd smelled something horrible or she enjoyed eating lemons and she reminded Bella of the old schoolteacher portrayed in early black-and-white movies.

  "Yes?" Her voice was curt and nasally, as though she was trying to talk and breathe at the same time.

  "I'm here, I'm here to…" Why was it so hard to say what she wanted? The expression on the woman's face screwed tighter.

  As seconds ticked and Bella said nothing, the woman gave a small sigh and began pushing the door closed. This was Bella’s opportunity to find out if the Imperium did something to the Finder and why they'd executed her father, and she was literally letting the door close on it. She needed to do something, to say something.

  Her hand shot out and slapped against the closing door. She didn't have the strength of a vampire, but neither did the woman on the other side. The door came to a halt, and the pinched look on the woman's face shifted through shock and anger before settling on thin-lipped determination.

  "I'm sorry. Please. I'm here to see the Representative. I think he knew my father before he died. It's important." Her words all came out in a rush, but they came out nonetheless, though just saying them sapped her of more energy than she'd thought possible. Taking a step back, she breathed hard, trying to regain her composure without breaking eye contact with the woman. Bella felt her cheeks flush as the woman stared at her, studying her like an insect about to be pinned to a board.

  "Please wait," she said before closing the door with a soft whoosh.

  Bella's stomach did back flips with each second ticking by. Standing in the hall at that moment felt like more torture than shown on any of the wall hangings. Her ears perked up when she heard a thump, and a moment later, the door swung open wide. The woman stood in the doorway, and though she was slightly built, she still blocked it as thoroughly as if she'd been a football linebacker.

  "The Representative will see you." It was like she was fighting to force out each word but, having done so, was resigned to let Bella in. Stepping aside, she made a sweeping gesture and cleared the way. Bella leaned forward, ready to walk past, but paused as her doubts caught up with her. Was she doing the right thing? Should she be here? What if this was all part of the Finder's plan and she was messing things up, again?

  The woman's lips pursed, and Bella steeled herself. Stepping forward, she entered the Imperium Representative's chambers and only jumped a little when the door shut behind her.

  Glowing orbs floated in each corner of the room, lighting the space up enough for her to see that, unlike the rooms assigned to her and the Finder, the Representative's chambers were very well furnished. They were also large. Two wide armchairs sat across from each other. Each one had an end table flanking its right side. Off to the right, a rolltop desk stood, its cover closed to conceal its contents from prying eyes. A few other chairs were scattered around the room, but they were smaller, wooden ones. Two doors, one on either side of the room, led to what Bella suspected to be the bedrooms.

  Sitting in one of the two large armchairs was the man she'd seen on the central dais, though his long black coat was replaced with a high-collared shirt that made him look more like a banker returned home after a long day.

  The man's right eye twitched as he watched her cross the room, and Bella's heart felt as though it were being squeezed. For a single moment she was back at her father's funeral. The moment passed when he stood and invited her to sit.

  "So," he said as she sank into her seat. The overstuffed cushions threatened to swallow her, and she shifted to find a comfortable position. This wasn't how she'd imagined confronting the man, and it left her feeling a little off balance. "What can I do for you?" His tone was light and pleasant, the practiced voice of a politician used to putting people at their ease.

  "I'm here, um, I'm here to…" Should she tell him the Finder was missing? Was that something to approach head-on or maybe just hint at? And if he was responsible, what would happen then? Coming here was a bad idea. A really, really bad idea.

  "Yes?"

  "I'm here to, um…" To hell with it. "I'm here because you kidnapped my employer and I demand you release him." There. Let's see him worm his way out of that.

  The man jerked as though she'd struck him, and his eyes went wide. "Your employer? He's missing?"

  "Yes, he's missing. Our room was broken into and he was kidnapped. I know you had something to do with it." Now that she was face-to-face with her childhood nightmares, she felt her anger burn as hot as it ever had.

  "Young lady, I assure you—"

  "Don't lie. You're Imperium. Nobody else would do something like that."

  The man's expression shifted from shock to outrage, and his cheeks reddened. Rising from the seat in one smooth motion, he towered over her. His arms and shoulders vibrated while his hands clenched and unclenched.

  "How dare you!" he shouted. Electric-blue sparks jumped between his fingers. "This is the Conclave. The peace hasn't been broken for a thousand years, and you would accuse me of doing so?"

  Bella jumped to her feet, though not with the same grace the man had shown. Power flooded through her as she opened herself to magic, filling every crevice and cell of her being. If this man wanted to fight, she'd give him a fight. She was done letting people push
her around, making a fool out of her. She would take him on and anyone else.

  "Why not?" she shouted back. "It's what you people do, isn't it? Snatch innocent people off the street and make them disappear. There are probably graveyards full of people you've murdered, just like my father." Her rage was out of control. She wanted to burn him down, to burn them all down.

  The blue sparks jumping between his fingers disappeared and he looked as though she'd punched him in the stomach. His eyebrows drew together and his pained expression reminded her of the way he'd looked at the funeral.

  "I, I would never have hurt Oberon. He is, was, one of my oldest friends." He dropped into his seat, slouching as though every bit of anger had drained from him like air from a balloon.

  "You'd say that, wouldn't you?" She heard the venom dripping from her words, but she didn't care. The man was a monster and a liar, only interested in saving his own skin. Raising her hands, she let the power build. It would be so easy to turn him to ash right now. Just a flick of her finger and—

  "Stand down, Amalga," the man said, looking past Bella.

  Bella turned her head enough to see the woman from the corner of her eye. In her anger, she'd forgotten there was someone else in the room, but if they wanted to fight two-on-one, she'd fight them both.

  The rage in her stomach died as fast as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water on her head, and she lost her grip on magic. She'd never liked guns, but had to admit staring down the very dark, very large barrel of the one pointed at her head was an effective deterrent. Death by spell was a threat she'd grown up with. Death by bullet was something else.

  The gun held steady for a moment until the Representative barked another order, then it disappeared as though it had never been. The attendant took a step back, but Bella couldn't help noticing it wasn't far enough to keep her out of the action if a fight broke out. Suddenly, she wasn't sure which of the two, the Representative or his assistant, was more dangerous.

  "Please, Bella, have a seat."

  She whipped her head back around at hearing her name. The Representative was now sitting up and the pained expression on his face made him look like a kicked puppy. She didn't trust him, but since direct confrontation had failed, maybe diplomacy would work. Besides, she had nothing left to lose at this point.

  "How, how do you know me? How did you know my father?" She squinted at him as though determined to find the lie in every word he would say.

  "It's, well, it's complicated," he said, pausing just long enough for Bella to feel antsy. Before she could say anything, however, he resumed. "I can't tell you everything. There's too much I'm not allowed to say. But I will tell you what I can."

  He stood and, hands clasped behind his back, began pacing back and forth in the space between them, walking with the same straight back he'd shown in the procession to the Conclave dais. He mumbled as he moved, and every time he turned around, Bella could see the twitch in his eye moving faster and faster until it seemed his eye was closed more often than opened. After a few more moments, he stopped with his back to her and his hands dropped away from his back to fall limp at his sides.

  "I met Oberon a long time ago, before you were even born. We studied together at school."

  "My father never went to school." He was just starting out and already lying.

  "Not that kind of school. School is just what we call the training academy for fresh recruits. It doesn't have an official name to keep it out of the public eye."

  "Recruits for what?"

  "To become members of the Imperium. They require everyone to undergo training to ensure—"

  "Wait, what? The Imperium? You're saying my dad worked for the Imperium? Now I know you're lying." She sat back and crossed her arms beneath her chest, though the effect was ruined by having to catch herself. The chair was really thick.

  "No, he didn't work for the Imperium. He did work with us on certain projects after that, though."

  "But you just said you went to school together."

  "We did, but he quit. Couldn't stand the organization and structure they forced on us. Can't blame him, really. There were days I wanted to quit too."

  The growing tension in Bella's shoulders eased a little. That sounded like her father. He was obsessed with learning about the world and classifying every part he could, but didn't like to be forced to follow other people's structure.

  "Anyway. While we were at school, he stepped in and saved me from taking a well-deserved beating from some upperclassmen. I was, um, well, I was a bit of a loudmouth and my tongue got me into trouble. A lot of trouble. Your father was a magical genius even then, and could cast spells I still don't understand. After he saved me, we began talking and became friends. Kept in touch even after he left the school."

  "If you were such good friends, why did you have him killed?" She felt the fire reignite in her stomach, though this time she kept it as tamped down as she could. She was getting answers, though not the ones she expected.

  "I told you, I didn't kill him."

  His voice was tinted with just enough anger for her to believe him, but there was something off. Maybe it was the slight hesitation before he denied it, but it put her on edge. She'd learned to trust her feelings, and they shouted at her now, telling her either he was lying or he was hiding something.

  "Then what happened to him? I got a letter. Just one stinking letter saying he'd been tried and executed for murder. It didn't even say who he killed."

  "Marco Rossi."

  "What?"

  "Marco Rossi," he repeated. "That's who he's supposed to have murdered. I looked him up after…" He shook his head as if to dislodge an unpleasant memory. "He was working with your father on something and was found mostly murdered."

  "Mostly? How can you be mostly murdered?" Something was either dead or alive, there was no in between. Creatures like vampires were called the undead, but that was really a misnomer. A vampire was created by having a soul possess its own body before it could pass beyond. Once the soul was on the other side, though, there was no coming back.

  "They, Rossi and your father, were working on something experimental and very dangerous. I still don't know all the details, but when agents arrived to investigate, they found Rossi in pieces. Some of those pieces still moved and reacted, while others, others weren't found at all." Almost as if planned, he and she both shuddered at the same time. Magic was dangerous, but testing unknown magic was just crazy.

  "So they were experimenting with spells. Everyone knows that's dangerous. There must have been an accident, but why did they accuse him of murder?"

  "I don't know. I'm not privy to everything that happens within the Imperium. I was just a functionary, someone to send to different corners of the planet to keep things under control."

  "Representative—"

  "Wallace."

  "Wallace? Wallace, the Imperium, your bosses, put my father to death for something I don't believe he did. I think you don't believe it either." She waited for him to agree. Again, there was a hesitation before he nodded. He knew something, but what? What could be worth hiding from the daughter of the man who he said was a friend? Was he trying to protect her from the truth? "I need to know what happened. What really happened. You said you were his friend. Can, can you find out for me? Please?"

  She watched him as close as he seemed to watch her. He pulled at his lower lip, and the tic in his eye jerked as though connected to his pulse. Slowly, ever so slowly, he nodded.

  She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath until that moment. As his head came down, she exhaled and felt the weight of the world lift from her shoulders. Years of agonizing, of trying to fit the man she knew into the picture the Imperium painted of him, seemed to evaporate like mist in the sun. She felt so light she could have floated out of the room.

  Her head drooped and hair fell to cover her face, but she didn't care. She'd learned more in an hour than she'd learned in years. If he found nothing, she still had a clearer picture.
And if he found something, that would be icing on her cake.

  "Thank you," she said. It was almost a whisper, but to her it felt like a shout. "Thank you."

  Her fire was out and the anger festering in her gut was gone, at least for now. She felt as though she'd run a marathon in record time without moving from her seat. She'd come looking for answers and gotten at least some, though there seemed to be even more questions whirling about like a tornado in her mind. But there would be time for them later. Maybe she could talk them through with Cat. As sarcastic as he was, he was a good listener. She smiled at the thought of her familiar. He was probably stretched out on their bed, stuffed by whatever he found in the kitchen and napping in a warm spot. When she got back to the Finder's chambers…

  The Finder!

  "What about the Finder?" The question forced its way between her lips before her brain processed it. "Did you, I mean, did the Imperium do anything to him?"

  "Your boss?" His lips pressed into a thin line, and his forehead creased. "No, no, we did nothing. Like I said, there's a peace agreement between Conclave members. If anyone breaks it, well, technically the Representative would be executed and the race could face being hunted down to the last man."

  "Killing again? Is that really all the Imperium does? Kill people that step out of line?"

  He nodded. "We used to. And I'll be the first to admit that our methods were harsh, but for a long time it was necessary. It kept us out of another war with humans, and by making sure everyone was afraid of us, we could keep them in line. But we haven't had to do anything like that in hundreds of years. That's why the Conclave exists and we work with the community. We remain the 'bad guys' and everyone stays safe. It's a small price to pay, don't you think?"

  She didn't agree and said as much, but when he began lecturing her on the history of the Imperium, she changed the subject. "So, what did happen to the Finder? If you're not responsible, who is?"