Blood Work

by L.J. Hayward

  Chapter 14

  “Mr Hawkins? Are you all right?”

  I shook off the memory, grateful that my glasses hid the tears from Aurum. “Yeah, fine.” But he gave me another couple of minutes to get my cool back. A real gentleman.

  “Was there anything strange about the vampires who attacked you last night?”

  “Technically, I attacked them. They came in peace, apparently. It was a whacked out version of Deal or No Deal.”

  Aurum stared at me through is dark shades. “You broke a peace?”

  I scoffed. “Like it really meant anything to them. They had a recorded message to give me, nothing more. They don’t really understand what they’re saying.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “The fact that vampires are little better than savage animals. I know them. They don’t fully comprehend humanity anymore, they don’t understand honour or trust or the difference between truth and lies. Coming to me with talk of a deal just doesn’t ring true. I saw it in Mercy when she first turned. She was wild, violent. Didn’t care about the damage she caused herself in an effort to feed or just destroy.” I repressed the memory of her latest tantrum. “But I managed to train her out of that state. I domesticated her.”

  The old fella was quiet for a while. We strolled around a fountain, clean, clear water splashing cool drops across my face.

  “You broke her, in other words.” His tone was quiet, contemplative, not at all accusatory.

  “I guess.” I didn’t like remembering those days, weeks… months. I hated myself for what I put her through, what I intentionally did to hurt her, to punish her. The previous morning had been an action replay of that time, for both of us. She would throw herself against the bars of her cage and I would throw myself against the knives of my own morality.

  “Mercy’s—” I air quoted, “—‘humanity’ is nothing more than a series of trained responses. She doesn’t understand why when someone introduces themselves to her she should respond in kind, but she does it.”

  “But isn’t everyone’s ‘humanity’ just a series of trained responses? A child isn’t born knowing how to interact with other children. He must watch and learn as he grows up, is guided in what is appropriate and what is not by his parents.”

  “Yes, but eventually he comes to understand why this is appropriate and that isn’t. Mercy doesn’t.”

  “And you’re basing your opinions on vampires in general on Mercy, an admittedly freakish anomaly?”

  Bugger. I hated it when my working parameters where shown to be faulty. “It’s kinda hard to study other vampires. They don’t exactly sit around in social groups just so I can nut out their ecology.”

  “But you do admit that your theorems are skewed because of your study group’s bias?”

  I didn’t want to agree out loud, so I did a little, vague shrug that could go either way.

  “You have much to learn about vampires, my young friend,” Aurum said. “Last night you faced a colonel of the Reds. An elder. He’s at least 300 years old. That’s 150 times Mercy’s age, in terms of the years she’s been turned. Do you think you killed him?”

  I gritted my teeth. “He was one of the ones that got away?”

  “I don’t know. I only know two survived, not which two. Do you think he survived?”

  The sight of Big Red’s face sizzling under the paint came back to me. Part of one cheek had been burned away, flesh hung in strips from his jaw, but he’d been upright when I took out his balls. In less time than that, my Holy water paint had melted the face and brain of a baby vampire the previous night.

  “He probably did.” It cost me to say it.

  “I can’t be certain, but I would say he was the only opponent of substance you faced last night. The rest were probably less than half a century old. Very fragile in comparison.”

  “Way to make a guy feel butch.”

  Aurum patted my shoulder. “Four Reds, even young ones, is no small matter. Don’t let me make you feel bad. But this is something you need to know if you’re to survive. Things will only get tougher for you and Mercy from here on in.”

  I shoved my hands through my hair. “Why will it get tough now? We’ve been at this for a year and nothing much has changed.”

  “Mr Hawkins, there are many warriors around the world who work as you do, battling vampires and other supernatural beasts in their territory. Some few who have managed to be as successful as you, comparatively. And in every case, there has come a saturation point where the vampires are suddenly forced to take active notice of this warrior. The number of their dead rises above what they believe to be acceptable levels.”

  Boy oh boy. Wishing I’d worn the brown pants instead. “And me and Mercy have hit that point?”

  “If not, then you are very close to it. The vampire eyes of this city have now turned toward you. Their pounce is not that far away.”

  “And this is why you’re here? To warn me?”

  He nodded. “Among other things.”

  “Oh that’s right. You wanted to study me and Mercy.”

  “Have you changed your mind regarding that, knowing what you now know?”

  I considered it. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. He might be able to help me smooth out some of the rough edges. But it didn’t taste right, thinking about someone else watching us, interacting with us on that sort of intimate level. Me and Mercy, well, we were me and Mercy. Roberts got to play occasionally. He’d found his own little sidecar on the rollercoaster ride that was the Mercy Express, but that was different. He wasn’t poking his nose into our business. He didn’t give me his opinions on how to handle her. And I never did develop that knack for taking advice with any sort of grace, even well intentioned advice.

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “I’ll listen to what you can tell me about the vampires, but I wouldn’t be comfortable with you too close to Mercy. She’s a bit unpredictable with strangers.”

  “I can take care of myself.”

  “I’m sure you can. I just wouldn’t want you to take such good care of yourself you jabbed a stake through her heart.”

  He gave me that indulgent smile again. My inner school boy glowed.

  “I understand.” Aurum grew serious again. “You said before that the Reds came to you in peace last night. What did they want?”

  “Your mysterious intelligence gathering system didn’t whisper that goodie in your ear? I’m disappointed.”

  With a little sigh, he said, “My means are not foolproof.”

  Ah ha! A chink in his superiority complex. Crap. Who was I kidding? It wasn’t a complex, it was a reality.

  “They never came right out and said it. Too busy letting fly with the same old same old tough talking routine. That alone should lend credence to my theory about them not really understanding what they were doing.”

  Aurum chuckled. “If you’ve been around as long as I suspect that colonel has, everything becomes the ‘same old same old’. But you know what they wanted, don’t you.”

  Hands shoved in my pockets, I hunched my shoulders. “Not too hard to figure out.”

  “Mercy.”

  “She’s strong and a lot more mentally stable than most of them. She’d be a great addition to any team.” I frowned. “But if what you told me yesterday is at all true, she needs me to operate on that level, doesn’t she? So if she was to be any sort of benefit to them, they need me as well. They turn me so I answer to their higher ranks, and therefore Mercy becomes their G.I. Jane.”

  “And you would become nigh unto immortal.”

  Now that right there stopped me dead in my tracks. I glared at him. He almost sounded wistful. What the…? I gathered up my wits and forced a half-hearted bark of laughter.

  “Until some idiot comes along, thinking he’s all that, and slaps my arse down in a paddling pool of Holy water. Besides, becoming a soul sucking fiend of the night, especially of the Red flavour?” I shuddered. “I can’t do winter wear in summer.”

&n
bsp; “But you wouldn’t know the difference would you. Does Mercy remember her life before the turn?”

  Talk about a sucker punch. I resumed walking, leaving him to catch up. “She used to, at the beginning. It tore her up, remembering what it was like to be normal, trying to reconcile that with the new and interesting hungers. At first, she was disgusted with herself for wanting the blood. Then she became disgusted with her memories of thinking blood as a food source was disgusting. Then she just forgot it all and now there’s no hesitation, no questioning. She is what she is.”

  Aurum nodded and we walked in silence for a while. The sun was starting to dip down toward the tops of the high rises in the middle of the city. All the plants around us created a cool, shadowy haven. I let my mind wander a bit, going over everything he’d told me, shying away from that moment where he seemed almost eager about the idea of becoming a vampire. I mean, ick.

  “This colonel guy, Big Red,” I said, still furiously thinking through this scary new prospect. “You really think he’s blowing out 301 candles on his cake next year?”

  “Thereabouts. Only a creature of substantial age has enough, as you call them, trained responses to act with a modicum of normalcy. I would posit Big Red did all of the talking.” He smiled as he used the name I’d given the giant.

  “He did. I don’t usually get into situations with vampires that involve a lot of talking.”

  “It’s not often a creature of that potency involves itself in affairs dealing with humans. I’m not surprised you haven’t encountered one quite like him. His rank is usually confined to matters of war.”

  “The war between the clans?”

  “There are skirmishes with other supernatural elements, as well.” Aurum slanted me a sideways glance. I could almost see his eyes in the dark behind his glasses. “There is a whole world out there you know nothing about, my boy.”

  I grimaced. “Yeah, about that. Can you get me any contacts in your loose circle? I have some acquaintances who would really love the chance to find out more.”

  “It doesn’t work that way. I’ll pass your name and location on and it will be up to them to contact you. For reasons I’m sure you understand, they don’t exactly advertise their lifestyle choices. Whom they have contact with is always their choice.”

  I grudgingly ceded the point.

  “So, what is your next move against Big Red?”

  “I don’t know. He’s not going to stop coming after us, is he?”

  Aurum smiled this grim little number that sent shivers down my spine. “No. You bloodied his nose last night.”

  “Not to mention other parts of his anatomy,” I muttered. “My best bet is to take him out ASAP. Hit him while he’s hurting.”

  “Smart idea. You will, of course, need to know where his base of operations is.”

  “HQ, eh? Can your spies help me out on that score?”

  We’d circled all the way back to the entrance. The gazebo was now empty but the open greens were starting to attract kids of all ages in all types of school uniforms.

  “I’m afraid I cannot help you with that.”

  “Some Kenobi you’re turning out to be.”

  A grey eyebrow arched up. “I hardly think Kenobi would have spoon fed his apprentice when the alternatives would lead to growth and developing strength and understanding.”

  “No fair. You aren’t allowed to turn my own amusing allegory back on me like that.”

  “Then think of a better allegory.”

  I was scuffing my foot along the path before I even realised. Scowling at my subconscious need for approval from this guy, I grumbled, “You weren’t out here about sixteen years ago, teaching in a high school up north, were you?”

  “No. Why?”

  “You just remind me of someone I used to know.”

  Well blow me down if his smile didn’t turn smug.

  “I have that effect on people. Now, do you have a means of finding out Big Red’s location?”

  We stopped by the gates of the garden. I squinted into the dropping sun through my shades. I still had a couple of hours to get back to Mercy. Time enough to swing by Kermit’s place.

  “Yeah, I have an ear I can put to the ground, and nail it there until its owner hears something worthwhile.”

  “Quaint.” Aurum glanced at a wrist watch that was undoubtedly more expensive than my own, and I’d paid a small, unimportant, very distantly removed member of the royal family’s ransom for mine. “I have other business I must attend to, Mr Hawkins. Do let me know how you go with tracking down Big Red.”

  He was walking away before I’d even opened my mouth. I just saluted, in that Third Reich, oh look, here’s the big man with the little moustache, manner. If he noticed, he didn’t show it.

  I leaned against the gatepost for a moment. Somewhere deep inside there was a little voice suggesting very heartily that I pack Mercy up in the boot of the car and skedaddle right this very minute. A 300 year old vampire was apparently now gunning for me. He’d caught a paintball balloon of Holy water with his face and took it like a man. Of course, he’d then scarpered. Coward. Or it was a very strategic retreat.

  More parts of me started chiming in on the get-out-of-town option. I wanted to listen to them, honestly. I’d listened once and run for my life. Didn’t work. The past just kept right in there, hanging on my tail like a huge carbuncle full of puss-filled grief.

  I straightened and walked to my car. I wasn’t going to run. I’d see this through to the end. Who’s ever end it might be.