My life truly sucked.
"OK, what's this plan then?" I said moving to the table and sitting down with an exaggerated thump on one of the chairs.
Mark hesitated only for a second and then launched into the plan.
"If we can trap this Rogue, lure him in and catch him, then we get Stu off."
"Not gonna happen." He would destroy Central Police. "He will be staked if anything, but not handed over."
"Your vampire here, said the very same thing," Mark remarked. "So, the idea is to lure him in and tape his confession. Then you can stake the bastard. Self defence. But the evidence will free your man."
I liked it. Simple, but effective. Why hadn't I thought of it before? It could work.
Samson disagreed.
"You will not be using Georgia as bait."
I turned in my seat to look at Samson, his eyes were blazing that bistre/soot colour - and little else. I stared at him for a second and then returned my gaze to Mark.
"Of course I'll do it."
Mark nodded, as though he expected little else from me. Samson exploded.
"No you will not! This is too dangerous, he could harm you. Again!" The again was practically spat.
"And if I don't do this, he kills again. Innocents. And Stu gets stuck in prison until I bust his arse out." Mark grimaced and Samson appeared in front of my face.
"You stake him as soon as you see him, you do not muck around trying to trap the guy into a confession. It won't work. To delay is suicide."
I looked into his eyes, so foreign in colour from what I was used to, but still Samson's. Still his face, still him. Without thinking, I reached up and stroked his cheek. His whole body jerked back from the touch, but not far enough to break contact. I lifted my other hand and placed it on the opposite cheek, framing his beautiful face and held his gaze, looking directly into the bistre/soot depths, looking directly at his vampire-within.
"I am Nothus," I whispered and he frowned slightly in response. "I am a mixture of something not natural." He shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, I placed a finger over his lips. "Lucinda says it's a mixed blessing," I went on quickly to still him further. "I have never subscribed to that point of view. It's mixed, but it's not a blessing."
My hand went back to framing his face.
"I don't care anymore," I said, still whispering. "I am what I am." At that he smiled slightly, just the lift of his lips on each side. "But half of me is Light, and that half wants to do this." The semi-smile disappeared. "The part of me that is Dark will make sure I come out of it alive." He stared at me, his face now emotionless. His vampire mask slipped back in place.
"I need to do this, Samson. I need to know that I am not all Dark and even if it is not a mixed blessing, I need to prove to myself that it is not all bad. Everything I have been through, everything that I must still face, because of what I am. I need this for me."
We looked at each other for some time, I don't know how long and Mark didn't interrupt. Then finally Samson sighed and nodded and pulled back.
"I will be nearby," he said, his voice flat. "If I sense things going south, I will intervene. And I will kill him without a second thought." Meaning to hell with the evidence.
"We need the evidence to get Stu off."
"Stu is irrelevant to me. You are not."
"He's not irrelevant to me," I replied getting a little hot under the collar.
"Then I will assist you in freeing him from the prison." Mark coughed in the background. "I can change reality for those who guard him, we can get him out together."
It was a generous offer. I would need help, if that was the path I'd have to tread. But to ask him to alter so many realities, when evidence that altering a couple has made him so volatile right now, it was not something I wanted to embrace.
"I'd rather to it the legal way," I said and felt Mark's relief seep into the room. "Please, Samson. Let me try this first."
His lips were already in a thin line, but seemed to compress further at my request.
"I don't know, Georgia." I was starting to think Samson was going to be a thorn in my side. He'd come barging in before I even had a chance to get what we needed from my Sire. He'd ruin everything. I knew this was going to be tough. No doubt painful. And definitely pushing my luck. But my gut told me this could work. I just needed Samson to back off and let me do my thing.
But how to convince him?
"I'll mate with you," I said before I had even thought the words through.
Sanguis Vitam flooded the air around us, even Mark was aware that something supernatural had just happened. He rubbed his arms and took a step back into the corner of the room, then tried his best to blend in with the wall colouring. It was white.
"You cannot mate with me if you have met the final death," Samson said finally, his Sanguis Vitam still thrumming in the air.
"And I won't mate with you at all, if you don't let me try this." I held his gaze for a second and then added, "It could work."
"Or you could die," he reiterated.
"But it's my life to choose how I go out. And I choose this."
He collapsed to his knees beside me, making me draw in a surprised breath of air.
"I do not want this for you," he pleaded and my heart simply broke.
Samson had held my heart before, he had broken it then too, but this pain was different. This pain was mine to give freely and right then, seeing the truth in his words, I let him see it. He reached up and clasped a hand behind my neck, then brought our foreheads together softly. I think we both closed our eyes.
"Do you want to make an accord?" I murmured against him. Thinking he'd want an assurance of my commitment to mate.
"When you mate with me, Georgia Deverell, it will be because you want me. Not because you were exchanging your heart for my compliance." I stiffened, if I didn't contain him somehow, he could interfere in trapping my Sire. "I will agree to holding back while you attempt this, but please do not expect me not to enter the fray if all looks lost."
"Samson..."
"No, you have my word as vampyre, I will hold back as long as I physically can, to allow your chance to trap him. I can't give you more than that."
My word as vampyre. Not an accord, but words have meaning to vampires. He'd given me the best he could, without compromising his beliefs. My Dark Shadow approved.
I think I did too.
I pulled back and smiled at him, he half returned the gesture, but stood in a glide and walked to the far side of the room.
I watched him silently for a moment and then Mark said, "So, can I wire her up?"
"Be my guest," Samson said, his eyes not leaving mine.
Mark proceeded to tape wires and recording devices or transmitters or some such things to me, explaining as he did that his crew would be nearby and recording any conversation I have, but that I needed to get my Sire to say the words. Nodding, or hand movements weren't going to cut it, he had to say the words and they couldn't be ambiguous, there needed to be no doubt in the jury's minds if the evidence went to court.
There were a lot of other things to consider too; acoustics, environmental factors, ambient noise - all of which could compromise the recording. And to top it off, we didn't know where the hell he currently was. But Mark believed if I was visible, Xavier would come to me. That thought was not entirely comforting.
With nothing to go on, we headed out in an unmarked police van. Samson and I sitting in the back with two of Mark's police detectives and all of the surveillance equipment. Mark and a driver were in the front. I slipped a sliding window to my side open and began to inhale the night air, trying not to look like a lunatic to the officers in the back. I hadn't tried to hunt the Rogue before, his scent had always simply dissipated on the air at each scene, but Mark had profiled Xavier - a feat in itself considering Mark had never come across vampires before me - and he was sure that Xavier would want me to find him, and therefore his scent would no doubt trigger on the air.
&
nbsp; Another reason to freak out, but Mark seemed to indicate that this was all standard criminal psychotic behaviour. I took his word for it. Didn't like it. But what could I do? I'd committed to this course of action, there was no going back now.
The minutes ticked by unsuccessfully. We traversed street after street in the CBD. Mark even suggested we travel further afield, but both Samson and I quashed that idea. Crazy Rogue or not, Xavier would be waiting - or hunting - in Vampire Central, which in essence was the CBD.
Eventually, having started to feel a little carsick with all the twists and turns down one street after another, I'd had enough.
"I need to do this on foot," I said into the tense silence of the van.
"Is that wise?" Samson asked, his Sanguis Vitam stretching out across the space between us and caressed down my side. If he was aware he was trying to placate me, he didn't show it. I was thinking it was another natural movement for him. His need to touch me, in some way being satisfied by a supernatural pet.
"He can't see me in here," I countered, giving Samson a look that hopefully conveyed the fact that I couldn't hunt him from in the van either. I almost felt like we were talking in code around the police officers with us, but to my relief both Samson and Mark understood. Mark instructing the driver to pull over immediately, and Samson reluctantly nodding his acknowledgement.
I stepped out onto Queen Street, near the intersection with Mayoral Drive. I could see the Town Hall several metres away, the clock tower lit up with strategically placed lighting, showing that it was well after one in the morning, but still so many Norms walked the street. I felt a momentary pang of disquiet. Innocents could get caught up in this, even though the hour was late there were still too many not to be concerned.
I inhaled deeply, trying to sift through the multitude of scents on the air. It was impossible to get an immediate understanding of what was what, and my concentration was not at its best, constant worry that a Norm would get harmed tonight causing adrenaline to thrum through my veins and my Dark Shadow to prowl in agitation inside.
"Well?" Mark asked from the front seat of the van at my side. His window was down and he was leaning out, watching me sniff the air. I cringed internally. Did he need any more evidence of the fact that I was other?
"Give her time to get her bearings," Samson offered in my defence, his words spoken softly, but he'd somehow directed them straight to my ears. I tipped my head to the side, ignoring them both.
And then I found him.
In amongst the plethora of smells, hidden between signature scents of Norms and other vampires, a fairy or two in amongst their depths. The emotional scents of a night time Auckland; hyped up, excited, living life. It was there, surrounded by the natural aroma of a city; the dirt and grit and diesel on the air.
Slightly burnt peaches, apple and cinnamon. A scent I was never going to forget for the rest of my very long life.
"I've got him," I said, a little excitedly. My Dark Shadow already alert and ready to hunt.
I started in the direction of my Sire's scent, trailing it like a hound dog hunts the blood of its prey. Xavier was my prey tonight, and although it wasn't his blood I hunted, as a vampire hunts their next meal, I was still hunting. And he was still my prey.
I tried to keep my velocity at a level that was not unnatural, but the urge to flash, to call on the vampire-within to assist in this hunt was so great. I felt myself pulling away from the police van that followed, more and more space coming between us as my legs stretched out further and my arms pumped the air with a greater speed.
It didn't take long to find myself alone on a side street, Samson and Mark nowhere to be seen. The sounds of Auckland City, in the middle of a warm and vibrant night, felt as distant as my back-up, but my Dark Shadow was not concerned, she knew Xavier - our Sire - was nearby. And right then, all that mattered, was getting to him, ending this once and for all.
He was close, I could scent him. He would have been aware I was on my own, unprotected, alone. I waited for him to come to me. I waited for him to show himself. I forced myself not to pull out the stake inside my jacket. It wasn't easy, my Dark Shadow wanted to bare fangs and attack. But I couldn't see him to attack him, so I willed her to wait instead.
Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe I should have forced his hand, at least prepared to defend myself with a silver stake in my hand. I was a sitting duck, I wasn't acting as vampire - or a vampire hunter for that fact - I was acting as bait.
And I think he knew it, because his scent suddenly disappeared.
"Fuck!" I muttered under my breath, just as the police van rounded the corner and screeched to a halt at my back.
"What the hell are you doing, Georgia?" Mark demanded, springing from the front passenger seat of the vehicle to point an agitated finger at me. "We almost lost you!" He shouted into the still eerily quiet street.
"Then keep up," I said evenly, not looking at him but again scenting the air. Nothing. Frustration clawed at my chest, threatening a growl to erupt from deep inside. Something barely audible must have slipped out, because in the next instant Samson's Sanguis Vitam wrapped around me to soothe, taking the frustration away as easily as picking lint off a sleeve to make it smooth once again.
"I'm fine," I gritted between my teeth, only loud enough for the vampire with me to hear.
"No, you are not," he whispered back. "Your eyes have bled to red."
I closed my lids and let out a long sigh, praying my Dark Shadow would get the message and behave. I gave it a good thirty seconds then carefully opened them again, twisting my head to look directly at Samson standing beside the van. I raised my eyebrows in a question and caught the small twitch of his lips at the edge.
"Better," he whispered in my ear, pulling his Sanguis Vitam back, but not before he patted me affectionately with it on my rear.
I shook my head, gave a nod to Mark to indicate we were off again, and started towards the Central City Library on Lorne Street, nothing but a gut feeling to lead me in that direction. But as nothing else was tempting me, I decided gut was good enough.
I'd made it as far as a tiny lane that lead through to Kitchener Street, before I found him again. His scent reaching out and wrapping around me, tempting me, teasing me, luring me in.
The fucker was toying with me. I may have started this as the hunter, but I had the distinct feeling I was now prey.
"All right then," I said under my breath, squaring my shoulders and preparing for the worst. "If that's the way it has to be. Bring it!"
The gates of Albert Park met me by the time I reached Kitchener Street. Images of the murder scene that I attended here slipping through my mind. Yes, he was playing with me, but two could do that. I only hoped I'd be able to contain the entire event within this park.
The van parked nearby, and after a quick nod of his head from Mark, I walked alone into the park itself. Cloud cover had caused the night to be darker than usual, no moon to light my way. If I had been a Norm, I would have had to rely on the lit pathways, but as a Nothus I called on my vampire side and slipped through the shadows - not hidden, but hidden from sight. It was windy too, unfortunately. The wind created rustling in the branches of the park's trees, leaves tumbled across the pathways, litter adding to the ambient noise we really didn't need tonight.
Mark had said the recording equipment was sensitive and even in a slight breeze, we'd be OK, but the worsening weather conditions didn't make me feel confident and the look Mark had on his face as I walked away from the van toward my Sire, matched the mood seeping into my bones right now. This was going to be tricky, and Xavier was tricky enough without added pressure like this. I knew to make this work I needed to corner him in a sheltered area, so my first task was to locate one in the park that would do.
Five minutes of searching proved fairly useless, there was one spot over the corner by an exit that could work, but the rest was well and truly too exposed. I was thinking it was time to move on when I scented him closer on the air. At the
same time the wind picked up and created mini flurries or tornadoes with the loose leaves and garbage that had accumulated throughout the day.
It was going to be impossible to converse with him outside, I needed shelter and no time left to source a suitable spot as he was clearly gearing up for a confrontation now. The closeness of his scent making me think play time was indeed over. I scanned the park but couldn't see him, but what I did spot was a tall concrete building standing sentinel above the rest not far from the park's grounds.
I'm not sure why I picked that one, but I knew inside I'd have better acoustics and no wind, so I headed there, hoping and praying he would follow. If he was finished with taunting me, I could only hope he'd agree to a private meeting inside.
He obviously wanted me to find him, he'd lead me on a little wild goose chase and now he'd come closer than before here in the park.
The building had a sign out the front saying The Connaught, boxed hedges in planters that made the entranceway seem upmarket and two separate, but side by side, blue doors with gold trim at the top of a small set of steps. It was a nice building, an apartment complex unfortunately, instead of a business that would be empty at this time of night. But it was too late to reconsider, I knew he was close, so I threw out some Sanguis Vitam and unlocked the front door, slipping into a tiled entrance with way too much light.
I felt exposed, even though I had got rid of the wind, so didn't hesitate to slam through the emergency stairwell and start to climb.
I had no idea what I was doing, just following a half baked plan to find shelter so I could have a little conversation with my Sire and trap him into admitting he killed Alison and exonerate Stu. The fact that Norms were all around me, watching T.V., having late dinners, making love, sleeping, was quite frankly, frightening, but I had walked us to this point, trapped myself inside this building, there was no escape now.
I could just imagine what Mark and Samson were saying in the van. I knew I'd made a mistake, sweat had started to break out all over my skin, making me shiver despite there being no more wind inside the building to chill my flesh. But still I climbed those stairs.
Mixed Blessing (Mixed Blessing Mystery, Book 1) Page 38
