Death Mask (Wraith's Rebellion Book 3)

by Aya DeAniege

  “In the meantime, we’ve been recovering. When news broke this evening, we were told not to reach out to police, that the Council would handle it. So, we let them.”

  “Why didn’t Quin reach out to us?”

  “Why didn’t you reach out to him?”

  “He hasn’t exactly got a listed number,” Moore said. “We contacted the Council for his contact information, but it was never delivered to us. We were only given his home address.”

  “Well, that’s unfortunate for you,” I grumbled. “But it’s not my bloody fault for doing what the immortals tell me to do. Sometimes they don’t eat you. Sometimes they keep you alive and just mess with you for the rest of your life. Lose your job, can’t get another one, wake up one day with an addiction to dirty cocks type of messing with you. And before they came out, you couldn’t tell people why these things were happening to you because you’d get locked up in the looney bin.”

  “Why do you say that?” Smith asked.

  “One, I was told so, two, they really do take the don’t murder mortals thing to heart.”

  Should I edit out all the lies?

  The Council had made it clear to both Troy and myself that they would not put up with bodies turning up, or washing up on the shore of the lake. Any messes we made had to be cleaned up by our Makers, who in turn had been very clear about what would happen if we made a mistake.

  We were still allowed to kill. We just couldn’t be caught. No mortal death could be linked to a vampire.

  In the modern age, it basically was a moratorium on eating mortals. Hard to kill someone and not get caught when your fingerprints and genetic material were on file for the last job you ever did while alive.

  Wonder if I can get them to ‘lose’ those files?

  “Perhaps we should have a conversation with Quin,” Smith said.

  “Hold on,” Moore said. “Helen, do you know anything about the incident on the highway this evening? Something falling from the sky?”

  “Vampires are like Superman,” I said. “They can’t fly, but they can jump really high.”

  “Were you on that stretch of highway?”

  “Well, yes, speaking with my parents was supposed to be the wrap-up of my interview.”

  “Should we be concerned?” Moore asked.

  “No,” I said with a shrug. “If it is a problem, it will be solved by dawn. Probably before that.”

  “You in the habit of taking a dog into a risky situation?”

  “Could be a werewolf,” I said. “Or another vampire, because some of them can shapeshift. Why do you assume I would put a dog into trouble? What kind of irresponsible person puts an innocent animal in the line of danger?”

  “The same kind that eats people,” Peter said.

  “Vampires don’t much torment animals. There’s not much an animal can do besides die. Listening to a human piece of trash scream and beg for his life on the other hand, that actually interests them.”

  We all looked at one another. Trying not to sigh, I set my hands on the table.

  “Do you have any more questions about my supposed murder? Because we are kind of on a schedule and need to get some things done before dawn.”

  “Have you met the Progenies?” Moore asked.

  “Just Progeny,” I corrected. “It’s both singular and plural for them. And yes, I’ve met both baby vampires. The method of blood delivery has been upgraded, let’s say. Like any new vampire, they have difficulty with bagged blood. Their Makers are not willing to break tradition and give them a stock at this time.

  “That doesn’t mean that they’re just out there hunting mortals. To feed a baby vampire, you need between one and three humans a night. That’s not the kind of number that can be hidden in a city of this size.”

  “Do you think they’ve been stripped of the humanity?” Smith asked. “The baby vampires, I mean. They say it comes back, but that remains to be seen.”

  “Being turned doesn’t change anything. Being immortal and almost untouchable does. It’s like one day realizing that when you’re home alone you can walk around naked and no one will ever know. One day you wear pyjamas instead of out and about clothing. Then you decide the pants are too restricting so off they go, and soon enough you’re walking about butt naked.

  “Does being a vampire make you more bloodthirsty? Yes, because that’s your food. There’s a numbing to mortal death in the first little bit. It’s a necessary part of the evolution from mortal to immortal. One of the baby vampires is numb. The other one has a hesitant fascination with blood and death. You could say he’s very curious about the human body but is held back by the remains of his mortality.”

  “And the other?” Moore asked.

  “Has ripped into more than one vampire with her teeth,” I said. “In the end, which version is more dangerous remains to be seen. We’ve been told that both will torture, rape, and murder. The only one that some vampires resist is rape, but if there was any kind of sexual assault on them during their mortal lives, they seem to replay it as vampires, taking out their frustrations on an unwilling body.”

  I shrugged and shook my head.

  “That’s repulsive,” Moore said.

  “In a hundred years, I won’t remember your name,” I said. “I might not remember Peter’s name in two hundred, or the name of this city in three hundred as it lays in ashes and dust. Immortality changes your world view. To survive, the emotions need to shut down, and once that happens, well, vampires are predators.”

  “Have the Progeny of Quintillus and Balor killed a mortal?”

  They were repeating themselves in slightly different ways. I assumed the repetition was in the hopes of catching me off guard and getting additional information.

  “Detective, do you feel remorse over eating meat?”

  “I’m actually a vegetarian,” Moore said.

  “Have you ever squashed a bug?”

  “Yes, spiders, roaches,” Moore shrugged and shook his head, imitating the motions I had made a few minutes before. “It’s not the same thing.”

  “Wolves will attack and kill coyotes. Coyotes will attack and kill dogs. Fish will eat other fish. Birds will do the same. Vampires are at the top of the food chain. They choose not to subjugate mortals, maybe if mortals want it to stay like that, they shouldn’t insist that everything a vampire is, is wrong.”

  “You didn’t answer the question,” Smith said.

  “I can’t tell you whether a Progeny has killed a mortal,” I said. “I assume, like you do, that they must have by now. But as Peter said, if a vampire ate a mortal, would you know about it?”

  “Can you tell us where the baby vampires are right now?” Moore asked.

  “No, no one is being told their identities. If you have a problem with that, you could do one of two things. The first is to approach the Canadian government about changing the laws involving vampires. If it passes, you will find the country uniquely without immortals. They will find a country that accepts them and your economy will see instability.

  “Because they’re vicious, vindictive, and hold grudges for a long time.

  “The other option is to petition the Council. The trouble with that one is the new Younger Council. Wraith is friends with Quin. The two have mirrored lives. Wraith won’t pass a law that takes control back from Quin, not when it’s taken them this long to get it.”

  “And Balor?” Smith asked.

  I shrugged. “He sits the Council. They are discussing a payment of sorts, as to outsiders it appears the Council is ignoring their own rules, and that can’t happen.”

  The two detectives looked at one another, then at me.

  “Can I help you with anything else?” I asked.

  “No, but don’t leave the city,” Moore said.

  “I’d have to be dead for that to happen?” I responded. “After tonight, I go back to being little ole me. Broke and invisible.”

  “We’re just going to go have a conversation with Quin for a moment.”
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br />   “Okay,” I said.

  I watched the pair of them leave, then turned to Peter.

  “Get away from me, you fugly little man.”

  Peter grinned at me and slipped out of the booth, sliding into the other side.

  “What gave me away?” he asked.

  “My brother would never have apologized to me, for starters,” I said. “Can’t you view his memories even? You’re very bad at this.”

  “I can, but he folded like a cheap suit within moments of my slipping into him.”

  “I think that saying is dated,” I said, giving my head a little shake. “You can’t ride Quin or me. We’re protected from unwanted magics.”

  Remember to ask Daisy how protected from magic I am.

  Death was witch magic. Thinking and learning, but still witch magic. If I was protected from witches, surely he couldn’t harm me. That made me wonder if he could even touch me, or if he knew about the protection simply by being near me.

  “Why are you still doing that?”

  “This?” I asked, raising the tablet. “I feel obligated, I suppose. What’s your plan here? Slip on in? Catch me when my back is turned?”

  “No, you’re going to let me in.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because I’m the only one who can kill her. I’m the only one who knows how. She who raises the dead.”

  I made a sound at the back of my throat. “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

  “Just listen to my terms before you say no.”

  I stood with Daisy outside the cafe, playing with her, petting her. Trying to play fetch with a werewolf is a bit like trying to play fetch with a cat. Daisy was quite forgiving of my treatment of her. Normally she was least likely to enjoy being treated like a pet.

  I needed that, though. Seeing her in that form, I had to fight back the tears. After all the centuries of struggling to recall my dog’s name, it had come tumbling out of my mouth the moment I laid eyes on her new shape. It made me feel the fool for forgetting it for so long.

  Helen had been right to choose that form. If, somehow, Death was about, he would question my having the dog. He must have been watching my growth, adjusting things here and there. He would have seen the dog and known that Daisy looked very nearly exactly like that one.

  He would have thought me a sentimental moron, but at least he wouldn’t be expected the fang and claw that slammed into him a few seconds after meeting us. He might have even attacked Daisy, which would have been a mistake on his part.

  When I saw the detectives stand from the table, I fumbled to dig my phone out. I even missed part of the conversation, them greeting me, because I couldn’t seem to find the button to start recording. Once I did, however, the rest was quite a bit easier.

  “Why didn’t you contact police when you realized that there was a warrant out for your arrest?” Moore asked. “That would have saved us all a lot of trouble.”

  “Council business had to be tended to first,” I said casually. “We don’t follow your laws, recall. It’s the Council I answer to, and they said no. By coming forward, I may have inadvertently given away the identity of my Progeny and put her at risk.”

  “And you have no idea how the video was leaked?” Moore asked.

  Smith didn’t talk much after I snarled at him. I didn’t like the man. I felt that if he got too close, I’d end up with a bullet in my head. However temporary such an event might be, I didn’t want to take that risk, so I put distance between us then and there.

  “No,” I said. “By Council law, I must report that information to them. They will find the being involved, and if it is a vampire, you will not be given the opportunity to seek justice.”

  “Because the Younger Council, Wraith, will deal with it?”

  “They will be dead and in many pieces. Try not to fear, if they are human, they will be delivered to you, and we will then sue for slander and libel, violation of privacy, harassment, stalking, and whatever forms of those which your legal system will allow us to use. We will broadcast it, allow press in, and then make the world watch as we lay waste to the one who dared to do such a thing. Legally, of course.”

  Both men shifted uncomfortably. I got the feeling Helen had told them something about vampiric justice. I was certain that I had expressed several instances of just such a thing to her over the past week, possibly even on the first day we had met.

  It was difficult to keep my lies straight, let alone separate the morsels of truth I had parsed out.

  “Helen’s stated that the baby vampires haven’t murdered anyone.”

  “I trust Helen would answer that question honestly,” I said.

  “Are you in the habit of letting your Progeny wander about without you?” Smith demanded.

  “No,” I said.

  It took Moore seconds to make the connection. When he did, there was a little intake of breath, and then the quiet stilling of a mortal who had made the decision to keep his mouth shut.

  Smart decision.

  Before Smith could make the same connection, I added. “Weaning of the Progeny is also important. For both parties. We leave them for an hour or so at a time. In the old days, this would be when we were feeding ourselves before returning to feed them.”

  “Can I ask a personal question?” Smith asked.

  There was almost a sneer in his voice.

  “What?” I asked, deciding that I didn’t like the man.

  “Helen mentioned that there was one male and one female Progeny. Which is yours?”

  Can we eat stupid mortals? Please say yes.

  I smiled before answering. “Female, most vampires give bisexuality a shot at some point, but we are still bound to humans. We are not all able to carry on a sexual relationship with all genders. I am one such, anything male or on the male grey spectrum doesn’t work for me.”

  “But it does for Balor?”

  “Balor was bisexual in life,” I said. “Though it’s my understanding he swayed towards males only because he wasn’t supposed to. His choice of gender in Progeny had more to do with circumstances than with actual choice.”

  “You mean to say that your Progeny would have died if they had not been turned?” Moore asked.

  “Yes, the Council takes this very seriously. Each turning involves a thorough investigation. These two were the first ones to not end in the death of the Maker. The only two exceptions since the law of almost a thousand years ago.

  “Do you have any other questions?”

  “Your home was abandoned,” Moore said.

  “My home?” I asked.

  “Yes, the one where your man was found.”

  The most basic rule of getting away with a lie is to never admit outright that it is a lie. Assume that the person you’re talking to doesn’t have the information they are claiming to have. If they did, most of the time they would come right out and say it.

  Despite the phone call that Kevin and I spoke on about his being my man, I wouldn’t tell them that. I didn’t know the full extent of Canadian policing technology. They could have the call, but be unable to access it for hours, days, or even weeks.

  Or they might have nothing at all.

  “My man?” I asked with a frown and a headshake. “I haven’t a clue what you are talking about. If you had arrested one of my stock for doing his job, that would be a very bad thing. There are several Council stock working in your police force. They would have missed the paperwork or saw to his accidental release. Tell me; is this man still in custody? If so, he may claim to be my man, but is not.”

  “The building was under your alias.”

  “I own a lot of buildings.”

  “But only one in this city.”

  “Only one in this city under that alias, which I do not live in, nor do I keep track of. Could he have been taking care of the building? I think a company does that or something.”

  “What’s the point of giving us your aliases if we can’t find you with that ali
as?” Moore demanded.

  “It’s how I pay taxes,” I said. “We just came out. I’m sorry the kinks are still being worked out, but living in the only building owned by my alias is a good way to get the building burned to the ground. We’ve all made enemies over the years, we all have that one vampire we’re looking for to torture. So we are as careful as we can be.”

  “We will probably be in contact again,” Moore said.

  “It would bode well for everyone if the matter was simply dropped and forgotten. A statement made about the falsification of documentation leading to the warrant and no leads on who falsified the document in question.”

  “And the man from your building?” Smith asked. “Who has representation from one of the largest firms in New York?”

  “I hear Americans are trigger happy and already want Canadian soil. I can only assume that because a lawyer came from New York for him, he is American. I might just give him back.”

  “With a ban on re-entering Canada for life.”

  “That’s a little excessive, but if it’s what you need to do to feel like you’re in control, by all means.”

  If I could convince them that Kevin wasn’t my man, that was one branch of the family that could continue to work for me in the open. I still needed to call the others, to bring it up to them and then have them all behave like sleeping members until this blew over.

  “Don’t be leaving the country.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Only plan it while awake.

  The detectives left, walking down the street and to what I presumed was their car. I knocked on the window of the café to draw Helen’s attention, then looked down at Daisy.

  “I do miss the times when we could eat meddling humans and just rescue our people however we pleased,” I said to her.

  Daisy woofed in agreement, then growled as the cafe door opened. Helen joined us, giving me a half-hearted smile as she did so.

  “Well?” I asked.

  “He did a name lookup online for an ancient god of death, didn’t know there might be a connection. Did they ask you about animal welfare?”

  “No, you?”