“No offence girl, but you taste terrible, like clone.” Darcy winced and swallowed hard trying to remove the taste.
“What happened?” I asked breathlessly.
“You were screaming in your sleep. When we came to check on you, you attacked us. Darcy bit you to calm you down.” Tanaka pointed to my wrist.
“It’s a vamp trick. Feeding is a calming almost orgasmic euphoric experience, once you get past the terror of becoming food.” Darcy shrugged a little as she made faces about the taste in her mouth.
Emmy burst in the room with an injector in hand. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me.
“Oh– you’re you now, right? Do you want something to help you back to sleep?”
She held up the injector. I shook my head at her. As soon as I could get everyone off me I sat up on the shredded bed. I had ripped the bed apart during my nightmare. The nice expensive mattress was destroyed, along with the spider-silk bulletproof sheets.
I guess my knuckle-blades are sharp enough to cut through Steel-Spider silk.
Darcy picked at the gashes in the bed. “What a waste. I loved that bed. Oh, uh, I sortta borrowed your bed while you were out. Hope you don’t mind?” she answered the question on my face.
“What can we do to help you?” Julie asked kneeling in front of me.
“Take me to Arkon.”
* * *
Julie drove because I didn’t feel like it, and Darcy didn’t have a driver’s license since she always took the bus before she got vamped.
Come to think of it, does Julie have a license? Can a robot even get a license? I wonder what the local cops would say if they pulled us over? Sorry officer, I had my sexy robot drive for us because my vampire bodyguard didn’t have a license, and I was just too pissed off at the world to think straight.
Arkon was asleep when we arrived. I ignored Julie and Darcy and ran to him, hugging his neck and crying. He snorted and stirred awake, then just let me hold him and cry. Since I’d met him, Arkon had become a great confidant and advice giver. It probably had something to do with him being old enough to remember things like when man first discovered fire.
As soon as I could talk I spilled my guts to Arkon between sobs. Everything I felt, including not feeling human anymore, was laid out on the table. Darcy and Julie sat in the corner silently, never commenting even when I complained about them. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them, I was just hating myself.
“I can’t even protect myself from my own dreams, how am I supposed to protect Cassie and the others?”
“By accepting help young one. You are but one person, you cannot save everyone. That is not your job. You are not a god, not even Supergirl, you are Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter. Your job is to hunt down rogue psionics, not save the world from every catastrophe that befalls it. No one expects you to do more than you can. You are putting too high of expectations on yourself.”
“But–”
“No buts. You have been through a lot lately. Some of what you have experienced would have been too much for even the best soldiers. You have done great good, and you will continue to do more. But, you need a break. Take a vacation; learn to accept your body again. No one will fault you for taking some time to adjust. Your scars will heal, becoming smaller in a few days. And your nails, and other tissues will grow back in a week or two with the nanite implants working on them. In time you will be fine.”
“I can’t rest knowing they’re out there.” I knew I didn’t have to tell him who “they” were.
Arkon sighed. His large chest pressed against me as the air filled his lungs. “I said the same thing many centuries ago. All that I am, and I was unable to exact revenge for my fallen King. I swore to never again rest until I had destroyed each one of the Nine Immortals. Just as you, I was not the first to make such a vow. Everyone that has, either died tracking them, or gave up the search long ago. They cannot be stopped. Nothing can destroy them.”
“I CAN!!!” I growled through my clenched teeth and sniffed away my tears as the anger took over.
Darcy lifted her head and leaned towards us, taking an interest in the conversation the first time. I ignored her.
“I could stop them, if I had my powers back. I know I could stop them. They bleed, I saw it when I shot the first one, if it bleeds it can be killed, right? Tell me, tell me how I can get my powers back.”
“I wish I knew young one. I really do.”
“I have a suggestion,” Darcy interrupted with her hand up as if we were in a classroom. “What about Project Adam?”
“What’s that?” I asked with hope.
Arkon shifted enough to fully look at me. “Project Adam was a pet project of our late Doc. He was attempting to activate psionics in normal humans. All it managed to do was amplify the powers of those with psionics already. At least that’s what his files say. No tangible proof was ever given one way or another. I suppose it is possible that you could use it to return your powers, in theory. It would take time to set up the procedure. Shall I start for you?”
“Yes, let me know as soon as you are ready.”
“Very well.”
“Once I have my shields back, I will destroy each of those bastards, one piece at a time if I have to. They will be stopped!”
* * *
I left Arkon for the first time without giving him any chocolate. Believe me, I felt really guilty about it. Darcy had a stop to make before we returned home. I followed her into the dark room. She stood me just inside the door and went to turn on the light.
I choked as I saw the rows and rows of people lying on beds with tubes attached to their bodies. The people ranged in age from children to adults. No infants or elderly.
“This is the Blood Farm.”
“But, they’re people!” I screamed in shock.
Darcy chuckled and stood next to me. “No, they’re clones. Each one of them is a mindless, soulless clone. Copies of an original, just like you, almost.”
“Huh?!”
“Come on, you didn’t think I would ever figure it out? Your blood tastes the same as theirs. You are a clone, not the original, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I whispered to myself.
“I see. So how come you have a mind?”
I had found out from Emmy that Darcy already had clearance, and we were stuck together. So I decided to tell her the truth.
“Mind switch. I used to be a guy.”
“NO SHIT?!? Well that would explain a few things. So you weren’t forced out of a coma like the rumors say?”
“No. I was sent to the Archives for a partial memory erasure decommissioning. Emmy made me the deal that I took the place of her sister and look for who was responsible for erasing Kieran’s mind. That led me to Jacob, Doc, and Vixen. Vixen was actually the original Kieran. She wanted to disappear so she had a clone of herself dumped in an alley. Everyone thought that she had been mind wiped.”
“Why’d the GCP want to wipe your mind?”
“I was an advisor on a mission, a psionic that could detect heat patterns. Like finding hidden bodies and such. It was my first field job. Things went bad, my guards were killed, and I destroyed an office building. That was my last mistake in my old life, there had been others. Many others.”
“That was you?! You were the one that fucked up and trashed a five-story office building? I’d heard about that. No wonder they wanted you decommissioned.”
“Story of my non-human life.”
“Yea, about that. I brought you here to show you this. You called these clones people when you first saw them. And you are right in a way. But there is a difference. They don’t think, or feel, love, talk, play, grieve, worry, or give a damn about others even the slightest. They are nothing but mindless husks. You are nothing like them. You have a life and are living it. You love, and are loved, something that you couldn’t do if you weren’t human. And if you still feel like complaining about not being human anymore, we can talk about me, the blood sucking super-undead.”
“Are you trying to cheer me up?”
“Only if it’s working.”
“It is, a little.”
“Good, now let’s go home and get you back to bed. You need rest, and you have to be up early to see Cassie off.”
“Alright. Darcy, thanks.”
“Just part of the job. I can’t protect you if you go crazy on me.”
“Can I ask you something? What’s with your makeup? It never smeared or anything, even when you . . . uh, sucked my blood. I figured that would’ve at least smeared your lipstick.”
“Before I was turned, I was a student at City University. A Junior studying Biochemistry. My best friend and I had plans to be perfume designers. We developed a handful of perfumes, and makeup. We based the makeup off the temporary tattoos. You know, the ones where they stain the pattern into your skin for a few days? Well it was mostly her idea, but I designed the formula. Anyway, you put the makeup on once and it stains the pigment of the skin like a temporary tattoo. It lasts just over two weeks, and then you have to reapply. However it’s a bitch to cover up if you make a mistake, trust me. My friend developed a sealer to put on our lips. It’s like a semi-permanent lip-gloss. It keeps your lips moist and shiny for days. It never comes off even in water. Basically, I do my makeup once and only have to touch it up every five or six days. It works perfectly if you don’t change your look often.”
“I used to be able to do something like that with my shields. It made Ren and Emmy jealous.”
“I have some makeup at home that matches some of the shades you use. We could try them on you if you want.”
“That might be fun.”
* * *
Cassie was dressed in a sailor suit outfit like they wear in modern Japan schools. When I asked her about it she said that they only dressed like that for school activities off campus. I was good and only hugged her for two minutes before I let her get on the bus. After she left, Darcy gave me a makeover with her semi-permanent makeup from her giant tackle box of cosmetics. She was conservative, nothing as bold as the makeup job she did on herself. It looked good, natural, with a subtle kick of color. The sealer tasted bitter and sour until it dried, then it was tasteless.
“I’m curious how long the makeup will last on the synthetic skin.”
“I guess we’ll find out in a few days. It looks great, thanks Darcy.”
“I did Vicki before she went to work earlier. Maybe I should get a job as a makeup artist, everyone seems to like my work. I, uh, need to talk to you about something.”
“What?” I was startled by the sudden shift of conversation.
“You know I only drink stored clone blood. But sometimes it is better to get live blood straight from the source. And shifter blood is like a triple espresso of human blood. It is so much more potent, it’s like a drug rush. Shifter blood is a great boost for healing and a pre-war supercharge. Anyway, Vicki offered to open a vein for me. But I don’t want to snack on anyone here without your permission, especially not your girlfriend. I promise it would only be once and a while, and no one else would ever really know.”
The entire visual sent shivers down my spine.
“You want my permission to drink Vicki’s blood? I don’t know what to say. She is an adult, if she wants to ‘open a vein’, I guess it’s her choice as long as she gets to make it willingly.”
“No problem. Uh, one more thing. Cassie kinda overheard us. She offered herself as well. Now I have no intention of drinking from her, but like she said, the blood loss wouldn’t really affect her because of her healing abilities.”
“You want to feed off of a child?!”
“No. But there could be an emergency sometime and–”
“Darcy, if and when that emergency ever happens, then we’ll talk about it. I’m not comfortable with the idea of you snacking on my little Cassie.”
Darcy looked away hurt.
Damn, I didn’t mean it to sound like that.
I started to apologize when Vampirina started singing.
“Phawne call! Phawne call! Detective Michaels calling Darcy Queen of Darkness!”
Darcy lifted the little hissing vampire off the chain tied to her pants.
How can she sit in those so small pants and not flash her ass to the world? What type of fabric are they made from?
“Receive.”
Ren’s image flickered to life between the little vamps hands. “I thought you two would be together. We have another mess here. A new slaughter by the Immortals. The chief is really on me to solve this. He doesn’t believe the whole immortal angle; he thinks it’s some sick vamp or something. Oh, I’m sorry Darcy.”
“Don’t worry about it, everyone likes to remind me I’m different.”
Ren stumbled over what to say next. I saved her the trouble.
“Ren, tell us where you are. Julie, Darcy and I will be there as soon as we can.”
Chapter 16
Tanaka was still investigating the house in the suburbs and the place Darcy had found me at the other night. So far no leads, nothing to connect the victims. Those we could identify anyway.
We ended up at another apartment building on the south side. Ren hustled to meet us in the hall before we reached the door of the scene. The crutches were gone, but she still limped a little. She held up her hands stopping us in the hall.
“Hi, uh nice look.” She gave me a sour once-over.
I was wearing jeans and boots with a turtleneck and left glove under my arsenal and long leather duster. Everything was black. Since I’d woke up after being taken, I hadn’t been comfortable with myself especially when naked, so I hadn’t taken my socks or glove off except to change them, with my eyes closed, in the dark. I even wore socks in the hot tub. The look of my feet without nails made me lose my lunch each and every time. I was hiding every scar as best I could with my wardrobe. I even left my hair down to help cover the scars on my face, not that it did much good, damned short bangs.
“Anyway, the scene is intact. No movement or thermal images inside the apartment. We even cracked the door, no smell. Well no weird smell, it’s like normal in there. You know, normal for a murder scene where the body is torn up.”
“Slaughterhouse mixed with a touch of outhouse and rotten watermelon?” I cringed.
“Yea, that’s it. Uh, I wanted you to see this place for one reason, but it isn’t a good reason.”
“What is it?”
“I understand if you don’t want to see it. You can leave if you want, no questions asked.”
“Ren.” I let the frustration fill my voice.
She dug in her pocket holding out an evidence bag to me. “This was found nailed to the front door. It was how we found the scene.”
I took the bag from her. It held an old rusted regular metal nail, nothing fancy there, and a chunk of flesh. A square chunk that reminded me of my neck. I flipped the bag over. There it was, the chunk of flesh that they had cut out of me after branding me. The fancy J was burned deep into the skin. My stomach flipped on me. Julie was ready. She raced and shoved a garbage can from down the hall under my chin just in time.
Once my stomach settled we searched the apartment. It was the same as the others. Blood covering every inch of the kitchen, body parts strung around the bedroom. Really, after the others, this one was tame. No killer Immortals, no falling through the floor, nothing.
We finished the sweep of the apartment in little over an hour. Back in the hall we looked over what little useable evidence was found. I was looking at the evidence bags when I felt Darcy shudder next to me. I looked at her. Her dilated eyes had gone pure black; no gold was left in them at all. She kept looking around her at a mile a minute, eyes never staying long to look at one thing. She looked like an addict in need of a fix. She was even shaking a little.
“You okay Darcy?”
She whipped her head around to look at me, look at me like I was food. “Fine, I’m fine. No problem.”
Through her half-assed grin I sa
w her wicked looking fangs sticking out. She ran her tongue over her fangs and glanced back at the apartment door.
Shit, not good. Other than Ren and Julie, no one else here knows Darcy’s a vamp. If she vamps out and goes rogue in front of these cops they’ll throw everything they have at her. It’ll become a bloodbath when she retaliates.
I leaned in to whisper to her, “When did you feed last?”
“Last night, but I’m okay. I only really need to feed once every few days.”
“Bullshit! Your shaking like a junky, and your eyes . . . you need a fix?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you need to feed?”
“No. But the blood, it smells sooo goooood.” she looked over her shoulder at the apartment door longingly.
“That’s it. Come with me.”
I stood and yanked her to her feet behind me. I ushered her to the stairwell around the corner from the cops. Once inside I pulled up the sleeve on my left arm and took off my watch. I shoved my wrist in her face.
“Just a little, enough so that you can think straight again.”
She looked at my wrist and licked her lips, then looked at my face with those wild hungry eyes. I nodded and closed my eyes. She never said a word. I felt her fangs slip through my skin like silk. It never even hurt, not really. A second later she was sucking lightly. She quit just before I was going to tell her she had enough as I started to feel the loss.
I put pressure on the small puncture wounds willing the bleeding to stop. Darcy slid down the wall with a look of horror on her face.
“I-I’m sorry. I’ve never been to a real crime scene before. I-I lost it there. Did I hurt you?”
I looked at my wrist. The bleeding had already stopped, and the wound was healing. I showed her my wrist. She let out a sigh of relief. We waited while I healed enough to put my watch back on and pull down my sleeve.
Immortal Death (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter Book 3) Page 15
