by Lucy Lyons
“Why is she here?” he demanded, almost shouting.
“Yup, that was my question,” I cut in, “Thank you David, although I’m sure we could knock the volume down a little bit and still get an answer.” Clay covered a snicker with a cough and Simi didn’t bother hiding her chuckle.
“You’re here, because you know the vampires in question,” Cardinal Parelini explained.
“But, I don’t. Because the vampires who held me wouldn’t tear bodies apart and leave them to be found,” I countered.
“You admit they kill people and you helped them,” Vladikk charged. I shook my head.
“No. I never saw any vampire feed on a human. The few that I met during my stay with them said they didn’t feed to the point of death. They seemed to think it was beneath them. Like we talk about human murderers.” I fell silent. Nothing I said was going to help them, but the evil stares from across the table made my blood run cold.
“Surely, you have something to share with us about the master vampire, Nicholas?” Lady Sofia watched me with a detached expression. I got the impression that she was as acquainted with Nicholas as Dominique. Then why ask me?
“I’m sorry. I was only held for a few days. Not to mention that after I was attacked, I was unconscious for a lot of it… I guess,” I stammered. Sofia pursed her lips. Then I felt a slight pressure against the psychic shield Dominique had taught me to put up in my mind, a sort of tower of protection inside my head to keep people out. I waited for her to test it again, and slapped her away. I used more force than I meant to and she jolted upright in her seat like she’d been stung.
I stared straight into her eyes without blinking until she laughed and looked away. She seemed unconcerned, but I’d felt the fear-tinged surprise when she reacted to me. Dominique put her arm around me and I leaned into her; making myself look as small as possible. At a full-grown five-feet two inches, it wasn’t hard to look helpless.
“If you are done posturing, ladies, we should discuss the situation at hand,” Professor Eldritch drawled. Sofia motioned for him to continue as the hunters across the table eyed us warily. “Obviously, we have to stop this loss of life. Eru, I appreciate your voice of experience on this hunt. Please explain your strategy.” Somayo nodded and cleared his throat.
“I will take Dominique, Caroline and my new apprentice, Clayton to Los Angeles. When we are there, Caroline and Dominique will exert their influence on the master of the city to distract him, while Clay and I investigate.” Forgetting to look vulnerable, I shot up in my seat. I would be taken to Nicholas by the Venatores themselves. I tried to mask the sudden happy flutter in my stomach, then I felt Dominique brush my mind cautioning me to hide my feelings better. I glanced at the hunters and was chilled by the hungry look in Vladikk’s eyes.
“She will betray us. Look how eager she is to see her vampire lover again.” I sighed and bit my tongue.
“I will do my job as a Venatores watcher, like my mistress before me. I’m not there to fight your battles for you, hunter. I’m just a witch, remember?” Vladikk lunged at me across the table, and Eru and the professor both pulled out weapons I hadn’t seen them carrying.
“As I said,” continued the Moorish giant, “Once the ladies Borgia and Walker have infiltrated their midst, we will find the weakest point of entry and Vladikk and his men of choice will overtake them.” Somayo turned to me, “But, you are as much a soldier as anyone else at this table. I would fight by your side,” he said quietly and I flushed.
“What if they didn’t do this?” I blurted, unable to stop myself. Domonique’s fingernails bit into my thigh below my skirt; but my mouth was working faster than my brain. “Will we murder them?”
“You can’t murder the dead, Caroline,” David spat at me.
“We know vampirism is a virus, not a religious curse,” I retorted. “Killing them if they haven’t broken our laws is murder.”
“We already have the warrant of execution from the Pontiff, Miss Walker,” Eldritch replied. “Whatever evidence they found was damning enough to risk breaking the treaties. They are guilty.” I shook my head and glared at David.
“I don’t know how you did it. This is a new low, even for you,” I fumed. “You would put everyone in this room at risk in a childish fit of temper. Are you coming with an army? I’ve felt the barest brush of their power and it almost choked the life out of me without laying a hand on me.” I looked in turn at the professor and Somayo. “The master won’t be fooled by us. He can read our minds as easily as you’re reading your notes.” Dominique nodded her agreement.
“He is powerful and ancient. I will teach my apprentice how to lock this conversation away so that she can’t even remember it. We will leave you to your planning. We can’t afford to know what you’re going to do.” Somayo bowed as I pushed back my chair and stood up, bowing to the Cardinal and lady Sofia as I backed away from the table. I scowled as Vladikk scoffed and nudged David.
“I thought a warrant to eradicate an entire nest of vampires made for a good day. But, watching the fang-banger run away warms the cockles of my heart,” Vladikk laughed, leaning back in his chair and grabbing his crotch. I arched an eyebrow at David, who glowered at me and said nothing.
“Come on Caroline, you’ve got packing to do. When you’re done meet me in my office and we’ll take care of those pesky memories.” I backed away, bowed to the room, then spun on one heel to stride out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind me though, I broke into a run. I had to pack to see the master of Los Angeles, which meant poring over my closet for anything I thought might please him. My pulse raced as I thought about our last kiss. If only he hadn’t forgotten me.
Chapter 3
Nicholas had come to me in my dreams for months after I’d returned to Seattle, but he hadn’t come to me in recent weeks. I was torn between sheer joy at seeing him again and fear that his absence was related to the deaths in his city. If I had to choose between him forgetting me or becoming a mindless, flesh-eating revenant; I would happily nurse my wounded pride at being forgotten. I was almost eighteen and I’d been counting the days till I saw him again.
Dominique made me drink a foul elixir from a dusty old potion in her storage closet. I held my nose while she poured it down my throat, then used her psychic ability to seal my mouth shut so I couldn’t throw it up before it had time to act on me.
“Please, God, why would you have this on hand?” I asked when she’d released me and I was done vomiting up potion and stomach acids.
“Bad dates,” she sneered.
“Liar.” She laughed and took a deep breath, then poured the noxious sludge down her own throat. Shuddering; she leaned over her desk and I could see her shoulders jerk as she heaved.
“God, that’s awful stuff. I’m glad I only have to do that once every few hundred years.”
“Which is about how long it would take me to forget the experience,” I quipped as she scoffed.
“Maybe more.” Dominique’s face grew serious and she motioned me to a chair. “We will not remember anything from hours before we took that disgusting concoction, so we have to plan now, while we still have our memories intact.” I chewed my lip, considering how much of my relationship with Nicholas I should share with my mistress. “Speak child, I know that look.” I managed a wan smile.
“Nicholas used to come to me in my dreams. We’d talk, and he taught me spells. Nothing I would ever consider a betrayal of the Venatores you understand. It was like having a private tutor… and he made me feel…” I broke off and looked down at my hands. “He hasn’t come in a while. No warning, just stopped one night. What if they’re right about him?”
“Then you will not tell another soul what you just told me,” she railed. “Damn you Caroline. You should’ve told me sooner. All this time we’ve spent trying to protect you from him then you turn around and betray my trust!” She paced the room, her face in her hands.
“He never even asked about the Venatores,” I offered, lam
ely.
“He didn’t have to, did he? He could crawl around in your head and you’d let him, because he was pretty to look at!” She was in my face so fast that I hadn’t seen her move; then I threw myself backward. I tumbled over the wooden slats of the chair with a clatter and landed on my feet, crouched to fight. “Stupid child,” she seethed. I continued to watch her as she righted the chair and pointed to it emphatically. “You. Butt. Chair,” she demanded. “Now.”
I sat cautiously and she placed a hand on the back of the chair and leaned over me with her forehead almost touching mine.
“I didn’t know, Dominique,” I sniffed. Seeing how badly my confession scared her made me nauseated again.
“Oh, my sweet little girl, of course you didn’t. This is my fault. I should’ve known he’d try to keep his claws in you. Look at you!” she stroked my hair and pressed my face against her. “He was human once, you know,” she said, gently running one hand over my long hair. “Her name was Bella, and she was beautiful.” She pulled away from me and sat on the chair opposite. “I don’t suppose you can guess what she looked like?” I looked down at a tendril of hair that had fallen over my shoulder.
“Brown hair, green eyes?” I said, the words sticking in my mouth.
“With pale skin and elfin features,” she nodded. “She was a tiny force of nature, before she was taken.” I sighed as I felt my shoulders sag.
“What happened?” I queried. She shrugged.
“He never found her. But he found the master who turned her. He and his brother went hunting and they lost the fight” she answered quickly making me shudder.
“And if we lose the fight?” I asked. Dominique shook her head and stood; offering me her hand.
“Nicholas doesn’t change his enemies, he destroys them. The master who changed him was the first to learn that lesson.”
“That’s why you think he could do this?”
“There was a time when I would’ve believed the earth was flat, before I thought Nicholas as being the monster they’re saying he is. But if these deaths are going unanswered; even if it’s a lone vampire; well he’s the king. That means he is accountable, even if he’s not responsible.” She walked me to the door. “Get some sleep, if you can. I’ll come for you when the place is ready. She shut the door and for a moment I saw an image of her in my mind as I leaned against the wooden panels. I felt her heart breaking and it made tears pour down my own cheeks from the pain. Her choice was simple and tragic. She had to either betray her people or the one she had loved, unrequited, for a millennium longer than I’d been alive.
I dragged my feet back to my quarters. I showered and dressed in black spandex and leather leggings, black tank top and black fitted jacket that I wore for my training runs. Any joy at seeing Nicholas had drained away with the knowledge that his interest in me was my passing resemblance to a woman he’d loved. I felt deflated as I lay down; I found it increasingly difficult to remember why I was so sad. Glad that the potion was working at least; I closed my eyes and sleep overtook me.
“Get up, you lazy thing,” A heavily accented voice laughed at me, while cool fingers pried my eyelids up.
“I will shoot you,” I growled and tried to roll over despite the weight pinning me to the bed. A sweet, girlish laugh rang out again.
“What on earth did you give her, Dom? She’s half dead here.” I peered through slits at the girl straddling me on the bed.
“I hate you, Simi. Get off me before I wet the bed all over you.” She jumped up with a curse and I heard Dominique laugh loudly behind her.
“Serves you right Simi; waking the poor thing up like that after she’d been knocked on her ass by my potion. Get up Caroline, the jet takes off in thirty minutes.” I sat up with a jerk and swung my legs over the edge of the bed; testing the floor with my toes before trying to stand.
“I’ll be ready in five.” I used the toilet, then brushed out my waist-length hair and tied it back in a heavy braid down my back. I walked out of the bathroom at five minutes exactly and Simi helped me with my bags.
“Which one of these is clothes?” she asked as she hefted the duffel full of my weapons onto her shoulder. I pointed at the small backpack nearest to the door. She set down the bag of weapons and glanced at both bags.
“The duffel looks fuller because of the shotgun and the crossbow. Other than that, it’s holy water, handguns, and a couple flash-bangs and frag grenades.” Her mouth twitched as she nodded in appreciation.
“I’ll take the guns. I feel safer already.” I didn’t tell her I wasn’t sure who I was planning to use them on. All I knew, was that I was getting on a jet with every weapon I owned and whatever was in the backpack. There was a big, black hole in my memories that scared me, but I’d wait until I had Dominique to myself to ask about it. I didn’t want anything stopping me from going on my first real mission; whatever it was.
Somayo escorted us to the jet and promised he’d be close behind. Once we boarded and the Captain had closed the cockpit, Simi showed Dominique my bag of guns. By contrast, my mentor kept her weaponry limited to a few flash-bangs on her utility belt and a 9 mm Glock in a shoulder holster. Simi admitted she would have preferred her crossbow, but she had settled for throwing knives in her hair, a butterfly knife at her back and her Beretta. I reminded them that I was functioning with a dysfunctional memory and it was my first mission; then they laughed some more.
After we took off, Dominique explained about my foggy memory. It wasn’t much comfort to be told I’d done it to myself on purpose. However, I began to understand why. As we planned our visit to Nicholas, Simi constantly stopped herself mid-sentence to avoid telling us something we shouldn’t know.
“Do we go in blind a lot?” I asked, after she refused to answer any of my questions.
“Don’t worry. The memories will come back in a couple of days,” Dominique promised. I curled up on the wide leather seat and napped for the remainder of the two-hour flight. I was disheartened by the feeling that my visit with Nicholas wouldn’t be the happy reunion I’d been dreaming of for almost a year. More than that; I felt like I was betraying him by coming to him as a Venatores, instead of the woman he’d kissed with the promise of a hundred more.
Chapter 4
I learned quickly that it was much more difficult to get an audience with the master of the city when you weren’t kidnapped. Once we landed we went straight to Nicholas’ giant stone castle on the cliffs but we were turned away by his human servants. Dominique made a formal request with his social secretary; a woman I’d never seen before. I started to realize that what little I’d seen of his world was nothing like the day to day reality of it. No wonder he’d disappeared for hours on end sometimes. He was a real-life king to his people. When I was fantasizing about him draining little virgins like me; he was probably doing all the mundane things any leader did for their people.
I hated myself a little for how high I’d raised his pedestal. I knew the Venatores had sent me to him but I couldn’t remember the specifics of why. Dominique was worried that the potion would wear off and Nicholas would be able to read our thoughts by the time we saw him. So she sat with me in our hotel room and practiced every protective spell in her expansive repertoire. Simi went out to a wiccan shop and brought back the ingredients for ointment to protect us from glamour (a fancy word for being charmed by vampires).
I mixed my ointment to my own preferences, adding lavender and bergamot to the mix of herbs and oil; then smeared the fragrant concoction on my eyelids and mouth and ears. Dominique advised me to put some over my heart as well. Blushing, I did as she asked. I hated that she knew I had feelings for the master vampire of a city, but she didn’t judge me. I shuddered to think what would happen to me if it was David who knew that what he suspected was true.
The concierge called up to our suite to tell us that tickets to the ballet had been delivered for us. Simi requested they deliver them to the room and asked Dominique if she knew who had ordered them.
> “I don’t know. Possibly Professor Eldritch,” She offered. I had another thought. Hope blossomed in the hollow cavity of my chest and filled it with butterflies. Nicholas had spoken of the ballet in our dream-talks. It seemed impossible that Eldritch would have thought to do anything nice for us, or at least for me. I took the strappy red dress out of the knapsack and hung it up in the bathroom. The wrinkles would steam out while we took turns showering. Maybe tonight Nicholas would see me in it.
Even Simi and Dominique were excited about going out to the ballet and taking a break from the business of the Venatores. We got ready for a night on the town in the city of Los Angeles like any young women would. Dinner was a quick bite at a bistro down the street from the Performing Arts Center where our tickets were for box seats.
I felt someone watching me; I reached out as I did when Clayton tried to play his tricks on me. Every time I got close to the object of my search, I would run into a wall. Whoever was stalking us had a shield of their own. It was nothing like I’d ever felt before; powerful and so controlled it had pinpoint accuracy. It was slapping my power away without giving any other sign that it was there.
