And of course the thought that the Emperor could simply be lying to him and the drugs could be lethal had also occurred to him. Jonny didn't think that was the case though. This was now personal to Caesar. Jonny could tell. The Emperor wanted to make sure beyond a doubt that Hank and the threat he represented were disposed of. He wanted the pleasure of watching the man's death with his own eyes.
"Ah... Mr. Cross, I see you're right on schedule."
Speak of the devil.
"Yes, sir." Jonny covered his mouth and let out a quiet cough. "I should be there in about five minutes or less now."
"Very well. Remember there had better be no tricks or surprises, Mr. Cross. We don't want you tipping off Mr. Evans about our little deal, now do we?"
Jonny gritted his teeth slowly. He knew a threat when he heard one. "No, sir. We definitely don't want that to happen."
"Good. Very good indeed. Keep that in mind when you approach Mr. Evans and I will uphold my end of our arrangement. For the time being though, I will be watching. Do not give me reason to find void in our agreement."
A loud obnoxious dissonant tone began to stretch out from the beacon.
"Excellent, Mr. Cross, you're just about there. Lessen your acceleration. The house will be on your immediate left. You are to keep going once you have it in sight. There's a place you can conceal your vehicle a little over half a mile up the road."
There was a long pause as Jonny crept up the hill. A quick glance left revealed a line of trees and nothing more. Until... Almost immediately there was a clearing and an old house. Jonny eased into the gas and let the house drift off to his side. The road curved again and at the bottom of a steep hill, he could make out an old dirt road intersecting on the right and disappearing into a dark expanse of forest.
"There, Mr. Cross. Turn into that road on the right."
Jonny let off the gas and let the truck roll then turned into the dusty bumpy excuse for a road. He killed the engine and sat there for a long moment collecting himself.
"When you are ready you will enter the house through the back door. From there you will have to find the subterranean entrance in that room. My sources were only able to tell me that much and no more. I will be here the entire time, listening... So do not fail..."
Jonny reached into the glove compartment and pulled out the small black duffel bag and pulled it over his shoulder. "What if he realizes what's going on before I can manage to stick him?"
"Then you are on your own, Mr. Cross. Be mindful and move with stealth and you will succeed."
Jonny sighed. "Right. Mindful... Stealth..." He whispered under his breath, "Fuck!"
The Emperor let out a gentle hackle of amusement. Jonny did his best to ignore it and started making his way along the dirt road. From this distance, the large oak trees wrapping their way around the back of the property nearly covered the entire house in darkness except for the tall chimney reaching up for the sky. Jonny stepped on pavement then, and began working his way against the steep incline of the hill. It was an overcast night. Not even the glow of the moon shone through the clouds anymore. Blackness begat blackness and Jonny could no longer keep his bearings on where he was. He reached into the duffel bag and blindly felt for the flashlight. When he pulled it out, there was an immediate response from Caesar.
"Mr. Cross, put that thing away. Take a moment and let your eyes adjust to your surroundings. The more advance notice Mr. Evans has that you are here, the smaller your window of incapacitating him will be. Do you understand me, Mr. Cross?"
Jonny swallowed. "Yes, sir." He stopped walking and shoved the flashlight back into the bag and waited. The darkness pulsated around him. Dim grainy colors rotated around in his field of vision and blinked in and out of existence until the faint impression of depth and space began to resolve. Without hesitation, Jonny started walking again. The house was coming into view, its white siding glowing brightly in contrast to the darkness. Stepping into the grass of the field just behind the house, Jonny was immediately engulfed by the tall stalks of grain. He continued walking, aligning himself between the rows of crops which led a path perpendicular with the back of the house.
When Jonny was in line with the back door, he gazed around for a moment to get an idea of the easiest route to get over there without being out in the open. The way was through and only through. He squeezed in between the crops and slid forward, pushing aside grains and grass and other unidentified things growing from the ground as he went. At the edge of the open yard, it became obvious that it only took up a small portion of the entire property, his best estimate judged it to be about a hundred feet from where he stood now to the bottom concrete step that led up to the dull gray metal screen door. Jonny was just about to step forward when the Emperor spoke up in his ear.
"Not just yet, Mr. Cross. Take another look at the grass in front of your feet."
Jonny gazed down at the ground before him and saw nothing worth his attention. He whispered, "I don't see anything."
***
As soon as she saw Ishan through the eyes of her children, standing there in the middle of the cave, metal restraints torn asunder, eyes glaring up at them, the Queen knew something was very wrong. First of all, she felt no connection from him at all. Even when he had been unconscious before she had felt some connection, albeit slight, from his mind. She ordered her children to stand watch over him so that she could track his movements. Of which, for a long time there seemed to be none. He just stared up into their eyes like he was trying to get her attention on purpose. The Queen was sure then that whatever was happening to him, whatever Bellona's blood had done to his mind, right now it was no longer present on the surface. Only Bellona remained on a conscious level. Whether there was anything left to save of her most beloved, she did not know.
The anxiety of that realization hit her like a ton of bricks after all that she had endured as of late. And even now in mid contraction, the anguish of just the possibility of losing him was more pain than she had ever known.
***
The phone in George's quarters rang, dissolving the previous silence into a loud monotonous dissonance. He picked up the receiver and answered in his polite "official" tone. "Deacon Nelson, may I help you?"
"Yes, I'd like to report a couple of moral fugitives. They're currently staying in my home and I'm afraid they will corrupt my family. Please send someone quickly to take care of them."
"That's a delicate matter indeed, sir. May I have your name and address so we can send over an Imperial officer immediately?"
The man identified himself as Chandler Dixon and gave George his street address along with several details about the two staying with him including their names and a handful of ethnic slurs for good measure. When the man was done, George said a pleasant goodbye and hung up the phone immediately, then took out the old telegraph machine and without a second's hesitation began tapping out a quick message to his contact with the Foederati.
Typically the response was immediate but after an hour or so passed, George was beginning to grow concerned that something was wrong. He looked at the information he had written down. Yusef and Umar Tahir were in danger. George didn't care what he had to do to make this right. He knew he had to act and quickly. He stormed up and began grabbing items that might help with his journey. Within an hour he was in the driver seat of his silver El Dorado. He didn't know if he would be able to provide much more than a glorified taxi service, but George was firm in his decision. He wanted to help the Tahir family in any way he could. And right now, no one else was going to do it, so he resolved that he would take care of it himself.
***
They watched her as she stood tall and proud in Ishan's body. She watched back with curious anticipation qute sure the enemy queen was watching her as well through those eyes. For what seemed like hours a sort of staring contest went on back and forth between Bellona from inside Ishan's body and the ancient vampires looking down on her from the cave ceiling. Then their mouths opened as
one and the high screech of the ancient tongue cried out from each of their lips, each one speaking in unison.
Mother of War, what have you done with my beloved? If you have hurt him you will never stop regretting what you have done from the molten pits of the hell I will cast you in.
A great deep and heady laugh escape Ishan's lips. "You and I both know the only hell that exists was created in the minds of the weak."
I will create a very real hell just for you if something has happened to him.
Ishan's voice rang out with laughter again. "Oh, I'm sure you will. Let us test this power you think you have." Ishan's body stepped forward one pace and waited. When nothing happened, Bellona willed him to move again and there seemed to be no resistance from the enemy queen and her children. Very well then... If you won't try to stop me, that will just make this easier.
Bellona willed Ishan to step slowly as she contemplated which exit was the safest.
Chapter 37
Taken
"You'll need to step forward about two feet, keeping your shoes at least two and a half feet above the ground to avoid the wire that is currently waiting to be tripped in front of you, Mr. Cross. Do you think you can manage?"
Jonny still couldn't make out that anything was there but he knew better than to doubt what the old bastard was telling him. Jonny backed away for a moment and stretched his legs to be sure he could bend them properly. A moment later and he very slowly lifted his right leg and reached his calf forward one long pace forward, being sure to keep it steady in the air as he bent forward. He was about as acrobatic as a clown with big bright shoes. When his foot flattened down on the ground and nothing exploded, no alarms screamed out for his blood, he let out the breath he'd been holding.
Then he brought his other leg forward, a little more confident he could manage this time. His left foot stepped down safely with the other one and he wiped his forehead of the sweat building up along his brow.
"Very good, Mr. Cross. Now let's see how you do with the next task."
Jonny ran as silently as he could toward the back door of the house. He carefully and quietly tried the handle and found it unlocked just like Hank had said it would be. The Emperor's brazen voice punched in, "It looks as though, unlike yourself, Mr. Evans is a man of his word." He gave a light chuckle at his own joke and then went silent. Jonny gritted his teeth in response. He opened up the door and snuck inside, careful to close the door as quietly as possible.
Inside, he set foot on tiled linoleum floors, the moonlight shining in a small window above a large kitchen sink. He traced a line along the tiles with his eyes, studying them for any signs of a trapdoor. At first he couldn't find anything but then, slowly at first, a small pattern began to emerge and he realized quickly that he was standing on the very spot he was looking for. He stepped away and double checked and, sure enough, the trapdoor was there. How to open it, however, was still a mystery. Sliding his hands softly against the floor revealed nothing. Scraping at the tiles with his fingernails had no effect either.
He sat there on the floor trying to figure out how to open the door when he leaned back against the cabinets and pushed against something dull and unpleasant. He turned around to find a small odd handle poking out from one of the cabinet doors. The others didn't have such a handle and so, he took hold of the handle and pulled downward on it. A draft blew up suddenly and Jonny knew the trapdoor was open behind him. But when he turned around and looked down inside, he hadn't been prepared for just how dark it was in the depths of this house.
His eyes had adjusted to everything else so far, but now he wasn't quite sure they could take on this task. It was like utter blackness down there. He reached his hand in and felt for the stairs and found them easily accessible save for the needing to use touch over any other senses. He hated doing that. Especially in dank dark places like basements or cellars. It made his skin crawl to think what all might be slithering about in the deep recesses of this old building. Jonny swiveled his backside so that his feet dangled just over the trapdoor opening. He set them down on the first step and began to make his way downward.
Even the deep murky blackness of the house's basement wasn't completely void of light. Jonny quickly found that faint rays of moonlight were easily finding their way into the room through sheer force of will and reflective angles. The main part of the basement appeared to split into several tiny rooms. Jonny edged forward, keeping an eye out for whatever Hank might have waiting for him down here. The bookshelves along the walls almost made him forget why he was there, but he did his best to ignore them after that.
At the far end of the room, a large doorway led out into what seemed like a parking area, though the earthiness of the odors coming from that way kept Jonny from venturing forward to try and find out. He was only here to find and capture and deliver Hank, there was no need to explore every nook and cranny. Jonny began checking the tiny living quarters housed within the small rooms along the left and the right of the great hall. The first three were empty and the fourth contained nothing but the remnants of a one-time occupant; blankets, a pillow, and about a half dozen magazines laid out on the bed. It was hard to make out anything in the fifth door at first and when Hank's shape took form beneath the shadow of the top bed bunk, the sight of it nearly gave Jonny a heart attack.
"I knew you would come," Hank said, his voice lined with the promise of a threat. Before Hank could say another word, Jonny spoke up, his hand pulling the needle from the safety of the plastic guard that covered it in the darkness.
Jonny laughed. "There's no point in playing the theatrics. I've already told Caesar everything. The escape plan for Julie, the electric jolt to disable my implant. It's too late to do anything now to stop it. Everything's already set in motion."
Hank stared back at Jonny, a look of deep wounded shock showing through the shadows below his eyes. In the opening that moment provided, Jonny lunged forward and stuck the needle in Hank's chest and plunged it inward with one fluid motion. Hank grabbed hold of Jonny's arm, twisting it, and Jonny screamed. A moment later he was on the floor and Hank was staggering to keep on his feet, mumbling something about a boy named Toby. "He's alive. I saw him. He's alive and before I die, I'm gonna find him..." He fell to the floor with a thud and lay still. Jonny reached forward and poked at his shoulder, flinching backward in a premature move of defense. But Hank didn't fight back, didn't so much as move.
***
Jonny wasn't exactly as strong as an ox. When the truck was in place outside, he came in and tried to no avail to lift Hank to his feet, his attempts ending in various bruises on Hank's body and a good kick in his own shin as well as a couple of stubbed toes. Finally, he just grabbed Hank under his arms and dragged him by his shoulders like a big sack of potatoes, allowing Hank's shoes to bounce along the steps as he made his way down from the front porch. The truck sat, engine running and exhaust floating up into the sky like the rising smoke of a burning building. The driver side extended cab door hung open as Jonny dragged Hank over and swung the man's back up into the floorboard. Jonny lifted up his feet and pushed with everything he had and, after a few minutes of putting every muscle in his body into the effort and a whole lot of grunting, he managed to get Hank's body completely inside. He closed the door and sat down, fighting to catch his breath.
Now the hard part was over and it was just a matter of driving and delivering. He'd certainly done enough of that over the years. Not much chance he could screw it up now. When he was rested as well as he was going to manage, he got up and climbed into the truck, shifted it into drive, and softly pressed down on the gas. The truck started forward and before long he was back on the road, making his way back to the highway.
The Emperor's voice piped into his ear. "Very good, Mr. Cross. You made the right decision in confessing your burden to me, son."
Jonny nodded. "What about Julie? You will keep your word, right?"
"Yes, Mr. Cross, I will make arrangements to have your sister released as
soon as you arrive at your destination and the package is delivered intact."
Jonny let out a long heavy sigh.
***
The red LED of the intercom began to blink and Joseph hit the mute button for the implant's input audio then pushed the answer button. "What is it?"
Lead Warden Tori Connor's voice came through the speaker. "My Lord, Detention Center 4215 has reported an escape."
"And why are you bothering me with this report? Can't you handle it?"
"Lord Caesar, you flagged this specific prisoner as high priority is all."
"Wait a minute. Just who is this prisoner?"
"Inmate 2633456, my Lord."
"I meant the name, Warden, what is the prisoner's given name?"
"Let me look... Lord Caesar, I have it right here. Her name is Julie Jennifer Cross. And... this just came through, my Lord, but apparently, she disappeared during an unauthorized prison transfer conducted by Imperial Officer... Jordan. Officer Matthew Jordan."
Joseph's hand gripped hold of a nearby pen and shattered it as soon as his fingers closed over it, sending ink splattering up toward the ceiling. "Find them, Warden. Find them and kill them. I want their heads brought to me in a sealed bag so I can burn them myself, do you understand, Warden?"
"Yes, my Lord. Your will be done."
The transmission ended in static.
Chapter 38
The Light in His Eyes
The pain of every contraction was becoming more and more bearable. It wasn't that it was lessening so much as the Queen was building up her tolerance for it as each renewed push from inside of her tempered her sensory threshold and strengthened her sense of focus on controlling her powers. Bellona would find her soon enough and she needed to have herself under control when the hour came to protect herself and her unborn children.
Empire of Blood: A Dystopian Vampire Trilogy (Bundle, Boxset) (Plus Two Empire of Blood Short Stories) Page 74
