by T S Paul
“She doesn’t look like much. Are you sure you grabbed the right one?”
“Sir, she is the one your chamberlain pointed us toward. We can take her back if you desire it.” The taller of the guards did the speaking.
“No. She bears a likeness to my wife’s family. You may depart. See Cassius for your extra payment.” Cassius was the Chamberlain, and if there was a meaner man in the province of Pannonia, I never met him.
Both guards departed leaving me lying flat on the stone floor looking up at a mural on the ceiling.
The man that I later learned was the Master of the house, my father, looked down at me for a moment. “Do you like the decorations?”
Having been taught some manners by my mother, I responded. “Yes, sir. What does it mean?”
The man smiled. Squatting, he pointed upward. “That is a copy of what is carved into two of the Emperor’s triumphal arches. Over there he is shown defeating the Dacian tribes. The one with the bulls depicts the sacrifices given to the Gods and members of the Senate who were awarded for great deeds.”
At the time I could only nod. The slave quarters didn’t have much in the way of decoration and this… this was magnificent. Little did I know it would be the tip of the iceberg of the things I would see and experience in the world.
“Why do you have it up there?” I pointed.
“Because I am the one that designed and built both arches. Do you not know who I am?” The man’s smile dropped away and was replaced with a scowl.
“No, sir.”
“Hmmm. Your education has been lacking then. Do you know your name and what your lineage is?” He stood and looked down at me.
Rolling over I stood up and looked up at his face. “Zina calls me Lina, but everyone else says my name is Aeliana.”
The man pursed his lips and frowned. “Zina is the Dacian, yes?”
I slowly shook my head. “Dacian? What is that?”
“A Dacian is what Zina is. She and several of the other slaves were part of my payment from Emperor Trajan for my work on the arches. She may have told you she was a Thracian?”
It was my eyes that gave me away. They widened at the name. I nodded.
“That is what they wish they were still. History shows us many things. Much of which you will learn in our household.
I didn’t miss the way he stressed the word ‘will.’ Little did I know the sort of education he would procure for me.
“My name is Apollodorus of Damascus. You are Aeliana, my daughter. Now is the time to rejoin your true family and take your place in society. You have a great deal to learn and so little time in which to do it. Do you understand?” My father looked sternly down at me.
I could only nod. Mother had mentioned my father many times, but I had zero reasons to guess he was the master of the house! Or that she wasn’t my real mother.
“Sir, father, where is my real mother?” I looked around as if to find her.
“With the Gods. She left us last year. Now come along. I will show you to your new rooms and introduce you to Demetrius, your tutor.”
My father might have sounded cold to my young ears, but that was the way of things in the Empire. The mortality rate was extremely high at that time. Parents didn’t want the burden and grief of caring for an infant to only have to bury it. They stayed detached until the child was of a teachable age. They were treasured and valued at that point. Father later told me that when my mother died, he could have brought me into the house sooner but custom, especially for one so high in society, took precedence. I would have loved to have known my mother. My real mother that is. Zina stayed far away from me and wouldn’t even acknowledge me. She never spoke a word of Latin in my presence again.
<<< >>>
I leaned forward on the railing. The waves crashed against the shoreline made a faint sound like thunder. Memories hurt. For Vampires the past is gone. Only the future remains. But I am an Elder. Possibly the only Elder that remembers the past such as it was. It is my job, my obsession, to bear witness. And remember those that came before and to mourn them.
“Mistress?”
Turning, I looked to see Ivan behind me standing in the doorway. Some kind of Vampire I am to not sense a human this close to me! He may be my servant and thrall, but he could still hurt me. I didn’t like to take all of my thrall’s will away. Too much like some of the slaves on father’s estate.
“Yes?”
“Dawn is coming. Do you wish to retire?” Ivan motioned toward the interior of the house.
For a split second, I debated informing him of my status and enjoying the sunrise, but I corrected myself. I would save that secret for another time. Gazing out at the waves I said a prayer for Zina. Maybe one day she forgave my father for stealing me away. Or maybe it was Sabazios that cursed me after all.
Chapter 3
“Agatha, doesn’t Director Mills understand how impossible this search is going to be? Anastasia trained me, remember? She knows how to hide from us. Hell, she may have planned to do this all along and made sure that these computers can’t find her!” Chuck pulled his hand away from the keyboard and looked down in frustration for a moment.
Cat smiled at the antics of her pack member. Establishing herself as an Alpha at the Academy and forming her first pack was one of the best things she had ever done. They might be a small pack, but they made up for that with power and humor. “Chuck, your computer isn’t out to get you. Do you seriously believe that Ana would sabotage us? She couldn’t have known we would be the ones sent after her. We might have been assigned to that case in the Pacific Northwest.”
“I wish we were. Jack Dalton’s records of that part of the country are a little vague. He chased what he thought was a Wendigo through the woods up there. I can find only two interviews that he did with the locals.” Chuck replied.
“Only two? That’s strange. Jack was a professional. According to the Director, even twenty years ago he always followed up on things. We can call and ask if you like?” Agatha whipped out her cell phone.
Chuck tapped the keys a few more times frowning. “If we call do you think he would tell us what this symbol is? It’s popped up on quite a few files in the system. Many are locked down requiring authorization far beyond what I can provide.”
“Symbol? What symbol?” Agatha looked over Chuck’s shoulder.
Chuck pointed. “This one. Right here.”
Agatha squinted and saw a small green Celtic knotwork star. “Ah. One of those. That one means that the Fae are somehow involved. The only person on this team with authorization to access that mark is Anastasia. They had a tendency to erase Jack’s brain after most cases involving them. He didn’t think they were real when we encountered them on my Probi tour even though he logged multiple cases involving them.”
“With Ana gone, how can we get access?” Cat peered down at the screen.
“Maybe when pigs fly in formation around the Capitol building. The Director said that some things need to stay private and eyes only.” Agatha replied.
“Couldn’t you?” Chuck wiggled his fingers.
“No. That is so against both the council's rules and the FBI. Do you really want me fired and have to be a local detective like Mongo?” Agatha put her hands on her hips and glared at the back of Chuck’s head.
Cat did a Gibbs maneuver on Chuck’s head. “If you screw this up I will pound you!”
“Whoa!” Chuck held up his hands. “Just kidding. I was making a joke. Promise!”
“You better be. Looking for lost pets and cars isn’t my thing,” Agatha pointed out.
“It must be low blood sugar. Seriously. I was just kidding. Do you want to order a pizza? I’m hungry.” Chuck rubbed his stomach.
“Pizza!” A faint voice could be heard from down near the floor.
Cat covered her eyes with her hand. “Now you’ve done it. You’ve woken the beast.”
Suddenly there was a Unicorn on the table next to Chuck’s computer. “Pizza! Pizza! What kin
d are we getting?”
“Dude, keep your hooves off my keyboard!” Chuck pushed the tiny Unicorn over to one side.
“Pizza!” Fergus didn’t seem to care about being moved. He hopped off the keyboard and danced across the table.
Agatha looked at her team including her familiar and sighed. She was outnumbered. “Fergus, what kind of pizza do you want?”
Fergus froze. “I get to choose?”
“Sure. Chuck, call up the local place. We’ll use the team account for this one. Call it an exercise in moral,” Agatha said.
“Pepperoni with banana peppers, jalapenos, and cheddar cheese.”
Agatha and the others all looked down at the Unicorn. Fergus was standing on the pizza menu peering at the words.
“Are you asking or telling? Since when did you learn to read?” Agatha asked.
“That’s what I want.” Fergus looked up at his friend.
“OK. When did you learn to read?” Agatha asked again.
“Read? What’s that? I have no idea what you’re saying here.” Fergus began trotting or maybe dancing across the table.
“Are you really going to order that for him?” Chuck picked up the menu.
“Sure. It’s what he wants. Why?” Agatha replied.
Chuck waved the menu. “This says it’s a college special by-the-way. Peppers and pepperoni? That Unicorn will have more gas than this bus! You should think about letting him ride outside.”
Agatha winced. “Trust me when I say that this won’t be as bad as when he ate Russian food for the first time. He stunk up the whole place.”
Cat stepped around her boss and sat down next to Chuck. Looking up, she asked, “When did he have Russian food?”
Agatha realized her mistake and froze for just a moment. “Uh, I took him to a restaurant in Maine.”
Cat shook her head. “You, my friend, are a terrible liar. We will have this conversation again.” Cat pointed her finger at Agatha. “Count on it.”
Ignoring the potential rabbit hole that could be, Agatha looked back at Cat and asked, “How are we with the search for Ana?”
Chuck shook his head and looked back at his screen. He had been continuously typing all through the conversation.
It was Cat’s turn to wince. She shook her head. “It’s an impossible task! Unless someone spots her, she’s practically invisible. Anastasia knows us too well.”
“Keep looking. I reminded the Director and my Grandmother that we might not be able to find her. They suggested we contact the Were Association and have them help find her,” Agatha replied.
“I’ll call Dad and pass that along, but Ana isn’t the only Vampire in North America. We might end up just pissing off more Vamps and still not find Anastasia,” Cat pointed out.
“They can argue with my Grandmother and Lord Clearchus if they protest too much. Normally I don’t want to have anything whatsoever with that Council, but we can use them as a big stick to force compliance if we have to. Vampires understand power. Probably more than we do.” Agatha pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. “What’s up with him?”
Fergus was staring at Chuck’s computer screen. His head was cocked to one side, and he was frozen in place.
“I don’t know. He watched a surveillance video I was sent and froze up.” Chuck replied.
“What was in the video?”
Chuck typed a command into his computer. “One of the European field offices sent it to me. They thought it might be a Fae sighting. The creature they caught on camera looks like a sylph or a fairy to me. I wasn’t sure.”
Agatha made a come-on motion. “Let me see it.”
Chuck spun his laptop around so Agatha could see. Like Fergus, she froze.
“That. Is. Not. A Fae creature.” Reaching out Agatha pulled the screen closer.
“It’s not? Do you know what it is?” Chuck asked.
“Demon. An Imp I think. Where did you say this came from?”
“One of the guys from school is stationed in Rome. He sends me all the strange stuff that comes across his desk for fun. Since we have the only Witch in service, they think you might be able to ID stuff.” Chuck replied.
“How come this is the first time I’m seeing this?” Agatha asked.
Chuck blushed. “I usually run them through the database or Ana tells me what it is. Demons are in the Eyes-only file.”
“We need to check with your friend to make sure this is recent rather than historical. It should be investigated. Call your classmate. Use the secure line. No need to touch off a panic. Make sure he sends us every last bit of information about where this came from. When you get it, I’ll call the Director. Demons are a big fricking deal.” Agatha stood and walked toward her office area.
A wide-eyed Chuck looked at Cat who only nodded to him.
“Chuck, who’s your contact in Rome? I know the section chief.” Bill stepped out of the darkened area and into the light.
Chapter 4
School is hard.
The strict discipline of being educated clashed severely with my lackadaisical life in the slave quarters. It was my tutor Demetrius that explained the very harsh reality of it all.
“Demetrius?”
Demetrius was a short man with a bald head. He claimed that if the Gods wanted us to have hair, we needed to do goodly works. When I asked, he would say he was an evil man that didn’t deserve hair. In truth, he gambled and whored too much.
“Yes, Lady Aeliana?”
That was something else that took awhile to get used to. “Why did my real parents leave me in the slave quarters?”
Demetrius sighed. “We discussed economics and how money is distributed in the Empire, yes?”
I nodded my head.
“Here on the fringe of the Empire life is different, easier. If you were born closer to Rome, you might have been exposed to lessen the burden upon your family. For the upper class, such as your father, sons are what is important. They serve in the military and are the heirs that fortunes are expanded by. Only male children can inherit. Girls require dowries and constant care.” Demetrius pointed out.
“But that doesn’t explain the slave quarters,” I replied.
“No, it does not. The Gods give to us, and the Gods take away. Sickness and poor health cause many deaths among both adults and children. The very young are the most susceptible to illness. I have three children myself. The Gods chose to take another three from my wife and I. You were raised in the slave quarters to spare your real parents. If they grew attached to you and you died, the emotional burden might be too much for them. We are taught to wait. Wait until the child is old enough to survive and thrive without constant attention. You should be able to care for yourself without a servant. The slaves were to at least teach you that much. Has your father doted on you yet?” Demetrius asked.
I leaned back in my chair and nodded. “Yes. He bought me new robes and jewelry.”
“As befitting your station. He sits at the right hand of the Emperor. You are in a unique situation. There are no other siblings, and at the moment you are the only heir. Has it been explained to you about inheritance and marriage?”
BOOM!
My eyes popped open in surprise. I had the strangest dream. Remembering the past isn’t the best path for a vampire. Why am I living my life over again?
Boom!
I sat up in bed. That sounded like an explosion and not part of my dream! “Ivan! What’s going on?”
There was silence as Ivan didn’t answer. Damn that man. Throwing the covers off me, I jumped out of bed. My room was on the top level of the house. Not the master bedroom but close to it. Using Vampire logic, I had installed a hidden escape hatch in the floor of the walk-in closet, along with a secret window only observable from the outside. I could get out way faster than by the front door if need be. So obviously my bedroom was the closet. My management company was supposed to keep the doors locked when I was not in residence to preserve the secrets it held.
�
�Ivan?” I peeked out the doors into the large bedroom. It did contain a very nice king-sized bed. Ivan was supposed to use it as a backup guard.
There was a series of faint crackles as well as what sounded like a muffled voice coming from outside. Looking around, I crossed to the doors and peeked through the curtains. There was no way the FBI could have tracked me here. I was too careful.
“Welcome one and all to the tenth annual North American Were Games! This year we are privileged to have twenty-five of the largest packs and some of the best athletes in the world here in sunny Pensacola Beach, Florida! Get ready for ten full days of surf, sand, and watersport fun.” The words from the loudspeaker echoed down the beach and into my ears. What?
“IVAN!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
<<<>>>
Ivan was out grocery shopping. While I can eat food if I absolutely have to, I don’t need it to survive. He kept looking at the floor the entire time I raged at him about what I heard over the loudspeaker.
“Did you know about this?” I waved at the shuttered door.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe? What sort of answer is that? What did you know and when did you know it?” I fumed.
“Yesterday. There were signs all up and down the highway most of the way from central Texas to here. At first, I thought they were advertising last year’s event. But when we got to Louisiana, I realized that they all said this year. I thought about finding an alternative location, but you told me to come here, to this house. You ordered it actually,” Ivan replied.
I thought for a moment. “OK, my fault on that one. You should have told me. Finding out like this … is just bad form!” I waved at the window.
“How much trouble are we in? Did you find out anything on your trip to the store?” I glared at Ivan yet again.
He winced but stood his ground. It has been almost a century since I either made or needed a thrall. Unfortunately, I’m out of practice. I see that I will need to be much more forceful and less nice to him from now on.
“Just about every hotel and rental from here to Tallahassee is full or already rented. According to what I overheard at the store, this is a major event locally. There will be TV vans and other news media this week as well as local celebrities. The island is totally blocked off with a huge snarl of traffic coming in on both bridges. Even the state parks are booked up. My cashier told me this is the only event of its kind anywhere in the world and people come from all over to watch it.”
