He won’t let me see the cuts, I added instead. He claims they’re from practicing swords with Cowboy, but maybe that’s just cover. Maybe he’s hiding bite marks.
I paused, listening to my uncle’s silence.
When he continued to not speak, I bit my tongue.
Is that possible? I sent. Could you tell me if it’s possible, at least, that he wouldn’t know? Could they make him forget?
I swallowed, fighting not to think about the way the woman smiled at him as she stroked his hair, the knowing look in her eyes.
Maybe that woman at the studio was testing him, I sent. Making sure he didn’t remember? Making sure whatever they’d done to him was still in place?
My uncle didn’t answer.
In that silence, I felt his disquiet, however, a fainter whisper of what might even have been alarm. He hid it well. After a bare pause, nothing but a vague sense of conflict remained, as though he were thinking about my words, trying to decide something.
He let out a light-filled sigh.
You think Black killed those humans. Garrison, Horne, and that other one?
My jaw hardened, but I didn’t slow my pace. I think it’s a good possibility. He was acting so strange in Garrison’s office, I asked him outright if he’d had anything to do with it. He denied it, and as far as I know he’s never lied to my face before, but maybe he really didn’t remember. If they’re feeding off him, and he doesn’t remember, he might not remember a lot of things.
Another silence fell between us.
Miri, Charles’ mind grew cautious, but contained a flat warning. You’re not going to like what I’m about to say. You won’t like it at all, I expect… but I beg you to heed my words. You need to leave this alone. You can’t ask Black about that woman... or accuse him of killing those men again. Let me handle it. Me and my people.
For a long moment I couldn’t answer him.
I ran, not seeing the path in front of me, or Cowboy running at my side, or anything around me. My brain briefly phased out.
I think, until he said that, I’d hoped my uncle would tell me I was crazy.
I’d hoped he’d say it wasn’t possible, that there was no way vampires could be feeding on Black. That there was no way Black wouldn’t know, if they were.
What? I sent finally. My jaw clenched as I ran. Did you just tell me not to talk to Black about the possibility he might be under Brick’s control? That vampires might be feeding on him?
Charles’ thoughts grew stronger. Yes. That’s exactly what I’m telling you.
At my silence, he sighed.
Miri, he sent. I’m trying to protect him. I’m trying to protect you both. You have no idea the kind of pressure he’s under right now... or how delicate the situation is. Don’t assume the worst of him right now, Miri. No matter what you suspect.
My silence deepened. For a long-feeling number of breaths, I was lost there, lost in the implications I could hear around my uncle’s words.
Black did this. I exhaled the thought, almost involuntarily. My jaw hardened as it solidified in my mind. Jesus Christ. Black did this on purpose. That son of a bitch…
Miriam...
He’s letting them do this, I sent, feeling that pain in my chest worsen. That’s what you’re saying, right? That this is some kind of espionage bullshit you and he cooked up, to get close to Brick. My throat closed. So him avoiding sex with me, all of his disappearances, the cuts on his arms and chest, the killings… you knew about this. You knew about this all along...
Charles sighed again.
A plume of regret left his light, along with what might have been an apology.
You are too perceptive for your own good at times, Miriam.
How the fuck could you let him do this? Fury exploded over me, throwing adrenaline through my limbs, making me run faster. I know you don’t give a damn about him, but what about me? How could you do this to me?
Miri. My uncle’s mental voice grew warning. You need to leave this alone. You need to do everything in your power to pretend you do not possess this information... to go on as if nothing has changed. Including with Black himself.
Do I? And why is that?
My uncle’s voice grew cold as ice. Because you’re going to get your husband killed, if you do not.
He paused, letting his words sink in.
Miri, he sent, his voice still hard. What he is doing is dangerous enough. Can you not simply trust that he’s working in your best interests? He paused, his thoughts growing more subdued. And no, I’m not saying he killed those men. Or that he committed the terrorist attacks in Texas or Louisiana. I have no idea if he did those things or not. But if he did, I wouldn’t blame him for it... and nor should you. The issue is bigger than that.
Is it? I let him feel my angry disbelief. Is it bigger than that? Really, uncle?
Yes. It is. He paused again, then added, This is about the survival of our species, Miriam. It is also about the survival of the human race... so if it is the loss of human life that bothers you, you might want to think on that, as well. My uncle’s thoughts grew harder. You certainly shouldn’t shed any tears over David Garrison. He is responsible for more human deaths than you can possibly imagine. Far more than a dozen terrorist attacks could accomplish.
My anger only worsened. Is this where you give me some speech about the horrors of capitalism, uncle? Because, really, you can spare me.
No, Miriam, Charles sent, cold. This is where I tell you I knew Garrison. He and his Wall Street cohorts facilitated aspects of the truce we had with the vampires.
My light spiked again, even as I fought to control it.
What the hell are you talking about? I sent. What about the truce needed “facilitating,” exactly, Uncle Charles?
Miri. I could almost see my uncle shaking his head. You need to leave this alone.
My thoughts grew cold. No. I need you to explain to me what the hell you’re talking about. What did the truce entail? Are you going to tell me? Or am I going to have to ask Black that, too?
I felt him sigh.
Silence fell between us. That time, it stretched longer.
In it, I felt my uncle thinking again, even as frustration swam through his light.
He sighed, exuding a kind of defeat.
Fine. We are in this. I suppose you must know the rest. His thoughts grew harder, more business-like. You already know I was trafficking humans. What you might not have pieced together yet is why I was doing it.
My thoughts remained cold. Actually, I didn’t give it much thought, uncle. I figured money was the reason. That, and a complete lack of a conscience.
Charles sent an impatient affirmative. Yes. Of course, money. That was part of it, and I make no apologies for that fact, niece. I started this fight with nothing. With less than nothing. I had people whose lives were my sole responsibility––your people, Miriam. We needed the resources to compete on the world stage. It necessitated cutting corners.
Exhaling light, he let his thoughts grow even more curt.
But there was another reason, Miriam. A bigger one. After our initial fights with the vampires, they demanded tribute. Payment stipulated as part of the truce. His thoughts turned grim. They didn’t want money, Miri.
Pausing to let his words sink in, he continued in the same blunt tone.
I stopped delivery of that tribute when they took your husband captive in Los Angeles. The vampires were not pleased. Even before the coup that killed Konstantin, I received threats. I also received legal summons... including several from Garrison and his firm, since they handled the logistics of the tribute shipments, which were sent to several different locations around the world, including two here in the United States.
My hands clenched into fists as I ran. Increasing the length of my strides, I did my best to turn over this information.
Kids, too? I sent finally.
That time, my uncle didn’t hesitate.
Yes, he sent, blunt. It was broken out into percentag
es within the treaty’s provisions, in terms of sexes and ages of those delivered. It was part of the effort to mutually protect one another from exposure, in part by disguising their eating habits... Disgust touched my uncle’s thoughts. It was felt by Konstantin and others that we might demonstrate our goodwill by aiding them in their attempts to remain inconspicuous. We agreed this could be done most efficiently by disguising deliveries as trafficking for sex work and other purposes. It didn’t account for all of their feeding, of course, but a healthy percentage of it, certainly.
Charles’ emotions remained shielded, out of my reach. I could feel him watching me for reaction, however, gauging my light with his.
When I didn’t speak, he went on.
Do you remember that male ‘seer’ your husband interacted with in Paris? he sent. Grigiore? The one who had the female seer chained to the floor?
I grimaced. Yes. Thinking about his words, I felt my throat close, even as my breath started burning in my lungs. Jesus. He wasn’t just pretending to be a vampire. He actually was one.
Yes. Charles’ light grew hotter as well. Grigiore being housed as a “guest” of our people constituted another part of the truce.
My frown deepened as my mind spun over this. Didn’t Grigiore have seer abilities, though? I remember Black talking to him in his mind. Did I get that wrong?
Uncle Charles sent a plume of agreement.
No, you weren’t wrong. Well... not exactly, he amended. What Black heard in his mind was actually the female seer, speaking for Grigiore. She both read for him and projected his thoughts. Like a translator.
My jaw hardened as I turned that over, too. And how, exactly, did Grigiore obtain custody of her, Uncle Charles?
He exhaled another curl of emotion-laden light. That time I felt even more anger in it. More than anger, a kind of helpless rage coiled off him.
His mental voice remained flat.
She, too, was stipulated as part of the treaty. Not in so many words, of course. Charles’ anger grew hotter, more tangible. The treaty merely required a seer to be assigned to them, as part of the contract. Grigiore demanded a female, even knowing the extreme rarity of them here. He also demanded that she belong to him exclusively. I appealed to Konstantin but was told the point was non-negotiable.
Why did you agree to it? I snapped. Why agree to the truce at all?
There was a colder silence.
My uncle’s thoughts rose, painful in my head.
We. Had. No. Choice. He hammered each word, making me wince. Miri, you clearly don’t understand the reality we faced in those early years. When our races first encountered one another, we were outnumbered in every conceivable way. We knew nothing about them. We had no resources of our own. We had no idea of the full extent of their powers. We could fight them, yes, but if that battle had continued much longer, under our strength and numbers at the time, they would have wiped us out. Totally.
Charles’ mental voice grew even more bitter.
In the end, we had to take whatever horrible deal they offered, and count ourselves lucky for it. Many of Konstantin’s people were in favor of enslaving us totally––converting us into a permanent food source and form of sexual amusement. Grigiore took Ariana and broke her as a constant reminder of what they would do to us, if we refused to kneel.
Ariana? I said. That was the female seer’s name? Feeling Charles’ acquiescence, I frowned. Grigiore was the one who broke her? Black told me you did that.
I let it be said that I had, Charles acknowledged. She and I were... involved. It is the primary reason she was chosen. I had the rumor spread that she’d crossed me, that I’d made an example of her. That, too, was agreed upon in our negotiations.
He stopped. His mental voice faltered.
His thoughts grew harder when he went on.
There were logistical reasons, Miriam. Making myself appear to be the cause of Ariana’s suffering helped me maintain a certain image, one I felt I needed at the time. Also, the treaty required me to keep the vampires a secret from any among our people who didn’t already know of their existence. As our numbers grew and we found more of our kind down here, I needed a story to explain Grigiore. I needed a story to explain Ariana, too.
The silence returned.
Charles gave a mental shrug. That colder note never left his voice.
We tried to help her. For quite some time after Grigiore first took her, we would pull her aside in secret to correct the damage he had done to her mind. We would reverse it, and she would be herself again. Then he would harm her, and we would reverse it again. But it was too much for her in the end. Grigiore fed on her continuously. He broke her by beating her, psychologically abusing her... raping her...
He stopped.
Emitting another shrug, he went on in a neutral tone.
Mainly, however, he did it by using his mind tricks on her, the same as that vampire in the lab did to your mate. Only she went through this for years, Miri. Not days or weeks. Years. Given your background and training, I am certain you can guess what that might do to a person. His mental voice turned gruff. Those consequences are worse with our kind, I’m afraid. We tend to be significantly more emotional than humans.
I didn’t answer. Truthfully, for those few seconds, I couldn’t.
I could only think about Black.
I felt reactions play through Charles’ light in that silence. I felt him trying to decide how much to tell me, even now. His thoughts once more grew blunt.
We found them, Miri, he sent. Grigiore. Ariana.
Again, my heart stopped briefly in my chest. What? When?
A few weeks ago. Grigiore is one of the vampires we’ve been studying in Germany. Him and several of his... companions. His voice grew colder. Black didn’t want you told. I imagine he thought you might have mixed feelings, given that Grigiore insisted on using Ariana on your husband that night in Paris. You know... in the dungeon.
He paused, likely to give me time to remember which night he meant.
He needn’t have bothered.
I knew exactly what night he meant.
Ariana––my uncle’s ex-girlfriend, apparently––had given Black head that night, against Black’s will and on my uncle’s orders. She’d likely done other things to him, too.
Charles added, Given their long-term connection to one another, we are learning more from Grigiore and Ariana than we are from the other vampires we have in custody. We are able to use Ariana against him at this point, too, as the dependency is mutual by now. Grigiore views Ariana very much as his possession. Much like how that vampire, Puzzle, started to see your mate, I imagine. He becomes utterly irrational if we take her away from him. Despite how he abuses her, she reacts to his absence much in the same way.
Charles emitted another shrug, his light a hard, blank wall.
Grigiore tried to flee when the truce collapsed. My people were able to track him, through Ariana. In the end, his addiction to her is what allowed us to capture him.
I bit my lip.
I felt sick. Sicker than I could entirely control at first.
I ran through that space, eyes closed, the sunlight playing on my lids. I wanted to shove my uncle out of my light totally. At that particular moment, I wanted to hurt him.
But it was too late. I understood.
I understood what he was telling me.
How much longer do you intend to let Black do this? I sent when the silence stretched. How much longer before you can’t fix whatever the vampires are doing to him?
Charles’ mind fell utterly silent.
How does it work? I sent, my thoughts harder. Obviously someone on Black’s team must work for Brick’s people––
I can’t tell you anything about that, Miri… or any other details of what is underway. Frankly, you know far too much already. Charles sighed, his thoughts swirling back into a harder anger. Really, what I should do is have Ravi and the others take you and erase your memory that this conversation ever occurred. Knowing
you, however, you’d just come to the same conclusion in a few days’ or weeks’ time, and we’d go through this all over again. So instead I’m appealing to your reason… and to your love for your mate.
That sickness in my gut twisted harder.
How long? I sent. How long has this been going on, Charles?
Miriam. Charles’ mind cut into mine. You cannot ask me any more questions about this. Most importantly, you cannot speak of this to Black. There is no way of knowing which mental state he is in... I will not let you risk his life, or your own, in being wrong. If I have to, I will tell my seers to detain you and separate you from Black entirely. I will take you to another continent if I have to... with a sight-restraint collar around your neck.
Waiting through another beat, he added more coldly, Do you think your husband would thank you for interfering in his work, Miriam? If you threw weeks of his suffering out the window, right when he is so near to accomplishing his goal?
My thoughts turned bitter, even as that pain in my gut worsened. And what ‘goal’ would that be, uncle? Apart from you and he getting him killed?
You know what he wants, Miri. Charles sent, warning. Don’t pretend it’s not important to him. Important enough that he’s willing to risk his life.
I didn’t answer.
I felt Charles thinking about how to deal with me again. I felt him contemplate removing me for real, erasing me, or relocating me somewhere out of harm’s way. I felt him consider various ways he might do those things, turning the variables over in his mind.
A few seconds later, I felt him dismiss them reluctantly.
He worried it would only raise suspicions among the vampires.
He worried Black wouldn’t be emotionally stable enough, with me gone.
His mental voice grew colder still.
You should have stayed out of this, Miri. You should have trusted your husband, if you can’t bring yourself to trust me. His thoughts grew more pointed. I promised Black, Miri. I promised him you wouldn’t be dragged into this. No more than you had to be.
So he’s, what... enthralled by them? Right now? Thinking about the night before, I felt my throat close, enough that I gasped out a breath. He’s in their power all the time?
Black Of Mood (Quentin Black: Shadow Wars #2): Quentin Black World Page 22
