“I had a thought which might cheer you up,” she told me, her gentle smile colouring her voice, and I looked at her with the unspoken question.
“I’ve decided, since everyone knows about us now - and since I will personally knife anyone who talks shit about us - that I should move some of my stuff in here, and we should take some steps towards me staying here on a more permanent basis.” She chuckled again. “Hell, I’m here more than my own quarters anyway.”
At first the idea worried me, mainly because it felt as if we were moving faster than I’d wanted. But then I thought about the exact words she’d used, and realised that she was actually respecting my wishes about taking things slowly.
“That...would be great, actually,” I told her, giving her a weak smile and a short kiss.
“Well I’m glad you said that,” she replied, “because I’ve already commandeered your bottom drawer and this bedside table.”
I laughed. It was all I could do - it was just like Lori to ask permission for something after she’d already done it.
A short while later we were curled up in bed together again, and although I dreaded what the next day would bring, Lorelei’s presence was profoundly comforting. It was rapidly becoming impossible to imagine my life without her, which turned my mind to some rather pleasant thoughts as I drifted off to sleep.
We were woken up only a few hours later by someone pounding on my door, and I yelled at them to take it to someone less fed up.
They told me that everyone was fed up, and that there was an urgent situation down at the airfield’s arrivals room.
It wasn’t much of a ‘lounge’, since it was horribly uncomfortable. I just hadn’t gotten around to having that sorted.
I told the person I would be there presently, and prodded Lorelei into wakefulness.
“Mm, this had better be because you want to give me a proper wake-up call, and not because of work,” she mumbled drowsily, and I kissed her shoulder.
“’Fraid not, beautiful,” I told her. “It’s work related. I’ll make up for it tonight though.”
“You fucking better do,” she told me, reluctantly shoving the covers back. “And I mean you better work for it, Black. I want you down there for like, half an hour.”
Instead of offering any meaningful response I simply blushed, still unused to Lorelei’s candor when it came to matters of our sex life.
We left my room once we were dressed, and as we walked down the hallway is asked a favour from my girlfriend.
“I need you to head to Ops, hon,” I told her, mentally ticking off what I needed as I told her. “Pull all the data together and try to nail down where this woman is basing herself. Tap into anything and everything you can - satellites, CCTV, anything you can get into. I’m giving you sanction to use any means at your disposal to get what we need,”
“Are you sure?”
“Very. Secondly, put out an alert to all bases. I want every base we have on High Alert, and they’re to react to any reports of those ferals with extreme force. All Sentinels are to operate in pairs from now on until the end of this situation - if The First is trying to create an army of these things, we need to use force just to hold our own.”
Lorelei gave me a kiss on the cheek as we came to an intersection in the hall, pulling me in for a brief hug before she left me.
“I’ll see it done, Eyathehn,” she told me quietly. “Don’t worry, hon. I won’t let you down.”
She strode off down the other corridor, leaving me to carry on towards the airfield.
I knew she wouldn’t let me down - I knew how competent she was.
My own family, on the other hand...they were completely unknown to me now.
“Get your hands off me, you traitorous bastards!”
Someone was being roughly man-handled by a group of Omega Company soldiers, and the voice - the deep, gravelly voice that had echoed in my ears for most of my life - identified the unfortunate soul as Tyr Black, my father. He was currently being held back by three of my people, while apparently trying to lunge at another soldier. Two people had already restrained Remus, which was typical - my brother was always more talk than action.
I borrowed the sidearm of one of the soldiers, firing four shots into the ceiling to get everyone’s attention, and it worked - briefly.
As soon as his gaze settled on me, my father’s efforts to break free doubled. This time, he caught his captors by surprise, breaking free and running forwards to ram a silver blade into my chest.
He tried to carve it through my ribcage, but I knocked his hands away with ease, driving a knee into his gut and knocking him to the floor with a punch to his face.
“Hello to you too, dad,” I said through gritted teeth, pulling the blade free and throwing it aside. “When you decide to act maturely-”
“You are no child of mine!” he snarled, forcing himself to his feet to regard me with his intense grey eyes. I couldn’t help but notice the lines around them were just a bit deeper than before, the grey streaks in his thick dark hair just a bit more obvious. This war was taking its toll on him.
“You stopped being my child the minute you sided with these freaks,” he hissed into my face, and I had to resist the urge to plunge my fangs into his throat. “You are dead to me.”
“That’s funny, I’m technically dead to most people now,” I answered with a grin, and he lunged for me again. He hated being spoken back to in that manner.
This time, however, I used my speed to dodge the attack and appear behind him, dealing him a swift kick to the back of one knee which dropped him to the floor again.
“Listen to me, Tyr,” I told him, and my use of his given name stopped him for a moment. “We need to talk. All of us. We are all under threat and like it or not, we are going to need each other.”
“I don’t need anything from you, you little shit!”
“I do!” Remus cried, and I smirked as I looked at him. I dug a small box out of my pocket and threw it to him, giving him a broad grin.
“Take two and call me in the morning,” I said, and he looked at the box of flu medication as if he’d just been slapped.
“What? You didn’t honestly think I actually injected you with something like I described, do you?” I turned back to Tyr, adding, “the boys in R and D would kill me if I wasted that shit.”
Tyr pushed himself to his feet once again, favouring right knee this time. He glared at me, and all I could think was how tired he looked.
“Whatever you have to say,” he growled, “we are not going to listen. I have no desire to listen to you or your lies.”
“And yet you still came here, knowing what I had to say.”
“I came to bring you home!” he snapped, and he genuinely looked like he believed his own bullshit. He had never cared for me as much as he cared for Remus. I was just a waste of DNA to him.
I brought my face to within an inch of his, speaking to him with quiet menace.
“Look closely at me, father,” I said, “at my teeth. My eyes. Do you honestly think you can ever offer me any kind of home again?”
His silence answered for him, and I straightened up again.
“You have nothing to offer me, Tyr. You never have. If you expect me to believe you wanted me back home purely because I was family, you’re deluded. Now, we can either discuss the threats we face like civilised adults, or I’ll have you both shipped back home.”
Tyr looked at me in shock, and I spread my arms wide.
“We aren’t what you made us out to be. We are not monsters, and we aren’t psychopaths. Your call.”
Tyr looked from me to my troops, all of whom had their weapons held low, then looked to me again.
“Fine,” he growled, and I ordered the gathered soldiers to escort them to the mess hall for a meal, before bringing them to my office.
CHAPTER 9
A visit to mother
The meeting with Remus and Tyr went much as you might expect. There was a lot of swearing, thre
ats of violence and posturing on their part, and a lot of attempts to convince them of our sincerity on mine. My father and brother were both extremely stubborn and convinced of their own superiority, but I was above that now - I waited it out, let them brag themselves into exhaustion, and then told them what they needed to hear. I explained how I could have just let them suffer alone, but I was going to be extending this offer of a truce to all hunters - I was serious when I said that The First was a threat to all of us.
Naturally, I did not tell them about her fascination with me, or tendency to think of me as her child. That wasn’t necessary.
Reluctantly, very reluctantly, they began to see the truth of what I was saying. They realised I had more to lose by offering this truce than they suspected, and that it was as big a risk for me to offer it as it was for them to attend that meeting at all. In the end, they agreed to talk it over with some of the other hunters. Not that they would promise any help, but they would discuss it. And that, really, was all I needed. If I kept them talking long enough, I could even negotiate a cease-fire between the two parties.
They were escorted from the office by a few Omega Company guards, and I leaned back in my chair pinching the bridge of my nose. I opened an eye warily, and finding nothing untoward I carried on.
“How did it go?”
I snapped upright in shock, only to find Lorelei standing in front of me, clutching a small document file.
“When did you get there?” I asked suspiciously, realising I sounded like some crackpot conspiracy theorist.
“Um...just now,” she told me, her confusion evident in her tone.
“Sorry hon, I’m just...just sick of that woman showing up out of nowhere,” I explained, leaning forward and rubbing my head. I swear the whole thing was giving me headaches.
“Well, it’s a good thing I come bearing glad tidings, then,” she told me, stepping forward with a broad grin. “Through a mixture of satellites, street cameras and good old-fashioned technological harassment, I found out mother dearest is hiding here.” She laid the file in front of me, open on the map image with her location marked.
“Canterbury?” An odd location I felt, and yet wholly appropriate, as it turned out.
“Canterbury Cathedral, to be exact,” she corrected, referring me to a handful of satellite images, showing several of the feral vampires prowling the grounds of the massive religious icon.
I sifted through the images, and Lorelei chose to speak her mind as I did.
“I sincerely hope you aren’t planning what I think you’re planning,” she told me. “A one-man strike against the Firstborn would be, to put it mildly, suicide. Oh, and fucking stupid, as well. Just in case you didn’t already work that bit out.”
I looked up at her and smiled. I honestly didn’t know what I was planning at that time, but facts were always useful.
“I’m not planning anything yet, Eyathehn,” I told her reassuringly. “I just needed to know where the fuck she was hiding, in case I decide something stupid is needed.”
“Well it wouldn’t be your first dumb idea, as I’ve said before,” she added with a chuckle. “Anyway, you didn’t answer me. How did it go with the family reunion?”
I made a noise of disgust and attempted to slam the file closed, but it lacked the weight to do so with any real force.
“That bad?”
“Worse,” I told her. “Sure, they’ve agreed to talk it over with some of the others, and put the idea to a vote, but I know the ‘others’ they mentioned - narrow-minded, black-or-white-thinking idiots who think that its either us or them. We won’t get any help from the independent hunter groups, I’m certain of it.”
“And the government-sponsored ones?”
“We’d have to deal directly with the politicians for that,” I answered, looking directly at her. As my aide, that would be her department. And she hated politicians.
“Shit. Well, I can get in touch with them if you want me to. It is my job, after all.”
“I’d appreciate it, hon, thanks.”
“I’ll just add it to the list of things you’re repaying me for tonight,” she added with a sly grin, moving over to her desk. I chuckled at her, more grateful than ever for her presence.
Over the course of the following few days, more reports came in of those odd feral vampires turning up, and they were appearing at a faster rate. It was possible that The First had figured out what I was doing, which I prayed wasn’t the case - I needed to keep her guessing for a little while longer.
The problem was that I’m not a subtle man, never have been. It was all too easy to think she’d figured me out.
But somehow, it never seemed that she did know what I was up to.
One particular morning, I was getting dressed for a meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister when something caused me to stop suddenly. My back itched, my skin crawling at another presence in the room - and Lorelei had already gone ahead to prepare the meeting room.
“Hello mother,” I said, not daring to turn around.
“Oh please, don’t stop on my account,” The First giggled from somewhere behind me, the whispers mimicking her. “I was quite enjoying the show.”
I had been about to change my trousers when I’d felt her presence; I re-fastened them and turned around, less worried about being shirtless. She was lying on my bed again, and she clicked her tongue in disappointment.
“You are a spoilsport,” she told me, and grinned wickedly.
Everything about her made me feel immensely uneasy, no matter how often I saw her.
“Just ‘checking on your investment’ again?” I asked impatiently, walking over to fetch my shirt. She appeared in front of me in a burst of black mist, holding my shirt on the the end of an outstretched finger.
“Visiting my cherished child,” she answered, offering the shirt towards me. “Is that such a crime?”
I grabbed for my shirt, only for her to move it out of reach.
“Ah-ah,” she chided, that sickening grin on her lips again, “no kiss for your dear mother?”
I shuddered involuntarily as I recalled the last time she kissed me.
“I don’t fancy my mouth bleeding for three hours straight again, if you don’t mind.”
She held my shirt out of reach for a moment, seeming to look me up and down, as if she was mentally undressing me. I felt sick at the thought.
She finally held my shirt out to me and I snatched it from her, turning away from her as I finished dressing.
“You should relish the suffering,” she told me in a completely serious tone. “Often it’s the most real thing in the world. It’s what makes us who we are, when all is said and done.”
“Do you really believe that?” I growled at her, and she sat on the bed again.
“Do you not?” she countered. “Look at yourself, Deimos - all that you are, all that you’re capable of, is a by-product of suffering. You suffered at the hands of Irenae, and you were remade into this more glorious form. You suffered at Corvina’s death, and now wield abilities most vampires can scarcely understand, let alone match. Even before you joined The Order, suffering altered your life. Like it or not, my love, you are a creature crafted entirely by the suffering he has endured.”
It was alarming just how right she was, when it was put that way.
“I was hoping I could ask you something,” I said after a minute, and I heard her ‘teleport’ again. I looked over to see her standing at my dresser, sniffing the small cask of ale that sat there.
“You can ask me anything, my sweet, you should know that by now,” she told me, pouring a small measure of the drink.
“I’m curious...why do you need me to ‘take your gift’, an act I assume would give me some amount of your ability, when you’re clearly capable of doing everything yourself?”
She leaned against my dresser, smiling at me as she drank the ale quickly.
“That was vile,” she said idly. “I might have some more. But yes, I could do it m
yself - however, I don’t intend to be around forever. Let’s just say I have my own business to attend to, which would require me to leave someone in charge of vampiric society in my absence. Someone I trusted implicitly, someone very dear to me who I felt deserved what I was giving them - like, say, a favoured child.” She gestured to me with that phrase, indicating what she meant in case of misunderstanding.
While it answered my initial question, it left a lot of other questions. Where would she be going? What did she need to attend to? And exactly what would be left of the world to inherit after she had finished?
As if reading my mind, she moved away from the dresser and walked towards me, placing a reassuring hand against my chest, and for once I realised how tall she was - although barefoot, she actually had an extra two inches over me.
“I know you have a lot of questions, my love, but please believe me when I say that all will become clear in time. Things must be done properly so that you inherit the legacy I want for you.” She downed the last of the second glass of ale she’d poured for herself and set the glass aside.
“Speaking of which, I must dash - I have a few things to take care of, before I start really getting to work.” She gave me that wicked grin again, and I shuddered. “As usual, my sweet, I will see you again soon. Be safe.”
Before I could even attempt to stop her, she’d gripped my jaw and pulled me in for another kiss, although this one was blessedly shorter than the last - but it wasn’t less painful, unfortunately, nor was it any less sickening.
As always she was gone as suddenly as she appeared, leaving me alone to be violently sick once again.
I’d made it to my meeting - late, but I made it - and I offered the excuse of having to deal with ‘an unexpected guest’, which Lorelei thankfully understood and backed up. We managed to arrange a trade agreement, part of the terms of which decreed that hostile activity against The Order’s forces in Canada would cease. The Prime Minister agreed, albeit reluctantly, but the fact was that trade between The Order and Canada gave us a lot more legitimacy, while at the same time allowing them to make a bit more money on certain military developments they would rather keep relatively secret - since our actions were often more decisive than full-scale military engagements, there was less chance of anything we used falling into enemy hands.
Of Angel's Blood (Chronicles of The Order Book 2) Page 13
