by Nick Freo
“I should rest, after all,” she said. “Thank you for that, my lord. My spirit is already greatly improved. I will leave you to... whatever you have planned for the rest of the night. Until the morrow?”
“Until the morrow,” I said, dismissing her for the night. She slinked elegantly out of the room, still naked and dripping.
I leaned back in the bed and put my hands behind my head, my eyes moving back to look at Alia. She had not moved from the corner, but she was sitting on her hands now and staring at me with a look that was equal parts subservient and hungry. I smiled. Not yet, little bloodsucker.
“I don’t know if you require sleep,” I said.
“I do,” she replied.
“Well, you may choose any bed in the cathedral. Or you may sleep by my feet. The choice is yours.”
I closed my eyes. I did not require sleep, but it was a luxury I could afford for the last few hours of the night. It had a way of putting my thoughts in order. And I was curious where Alia would be when I woke up.
Chapter 12
I woke up once during the night to find Alia curled at my feet, then slept again until well after the sun had risen. When I woke, I ventured out onto the balcony for a breath of fresh air. I leaned on the railing and stared at the harsh stone wall of the next building across the alley, letting the sun warm my clothing and body as I prepared myself for the day. There would be much to do, many concerns to address, and details to finesse. Fortunately, I had faith in myself and my companions old and new.
I strode through the cathedral wearing a fresh shirt and pants that I’d found in one of the former king’s wardrobes. I followed the sound of swiftly patterned footsteps and the smell of fresh sweat. In the basement, Pride was training with her daggers in full armor, using the room where we had found the sacrificial humans. She had scrubbed away the blood and stacked the cages against the wall, leaving a large clear space through which she flowed, twirled, stabbed, and slashed. She was a bladed whirlwind, seeming to be in two places at once, attacking and defending simultaneously.
“I slept last night,” I said unceremoniously, interrupting her rhythm. She stopped and pushed the loose golden strands that had sprung from her ponytail behind her ears. “I feel rested, and yet my memory is no clearer. I still cannot comprehend how the Enemy defeated us, especially not when I see how well you fight.”
“I slept as well,” she said, sliding her blades into their sheaths as naturally as a breeze slipping between trees. “Is this world making us soft?”
“Perhaps,” I mused, scratching a hand over the stubble on my cheek, “or perhaps it is some effect of our passage through the portal, or whatever impacted our memories. There are many possibilities. Perhaps life on this world is more taxing.”
“I hope that is not the case,” Pride laughed. “I would hate to waste so much time in bed every night.”
“Not all of it was wasted,” I reminded her.
“No,” she smiled, “not all. Time is never wasted in your bed.” A shadow crossed her face as she wiped sweat from her brow and turned to fetch a towel from a nearby chair. “But you spoke of the Enemy. I think we should consider His approach immediate. This cathedral is well positioned but poorly fortified. We should convert it into a proper defensive base and be more cautious in conquering this world. I do not believe that our next steps will be as easy as slaying a failing vampire king.”
I crossed my arms and nodded, moving to stand closer to her. I spoke softly. “You are right. We entered this building with absolute ease. The lower entrances must be sealed and barricaded. Until we can arrange a proper escape route, we will have only one entrance and exit—the front door. We could hold a small army on those steps.”
“Or about three bullet priests,” she pointed out.
“Hush,” I replied. “They took us unaware. Up until we met them, everyone in this world had been pathetically weak. Now we know what we are up against, and we will triumph over them all.”
“We must do more than barricade the lower entrances and windows,” she pointed out. “We have resources. What more can we do to defend ourselves?”
I stroked my chin. “You could cast a permanent illusion to hide us from the eyes of most foes, could you not? I know you will need a different kind of resource for work of such magnitude, of course, but perhaps this world can provide that as well.”
“You mean starfire?” she asked in surprise. “With even a small amount, I could extend an illusion that would cover the entire cathedral for years to come. But it was one of the rarest substances on our former world. What are the odds we can find the ashes of a dead star when we have need of one?”
“You have not learned as much of this world’s technology as I have,” I informed her, thinking of the advanced functions of the cars, and how easily Alia had manipulated them to her will. “I put my faith in two things concerning the humans of this world. They are weak, but they have great ingenuity and determination.”
Pride raised an eyebrow. “It seems a night’s sleep has given you a fresh perspective.”
“I blame it on the pungent airs of this world. It is not as fresh as what we are accustomed to.”
She laughed and shook her head before tossing her towel back onto the chair. “You truly believe the people of this world could... create starfire? Or even collect it? It is a harsh substance. It causes lesions and sickness to those who handle it save with the utmost knowledge and care. And save for me, of course.”
“If you were as weak as these people, would you not learn to exercise great knowledge and care?” I bounced on the balls of my feet, feeling light without the weight of my armor. “I am confident we will find all the starfire we need.”
“What’s starfire?” Alia’s meek voice asked from the doorway. Pride and I turned towards her as the vampire walked in. She wore tight black clothing as usual and had done her dark and pale makeup thicker than usual today. “Sorry, my lord. I couldn’t help but overhear.”
“No matter,” I said, beckoning for her to join us. “Perhaps you will have some knowledge of this. Starfire is the most potent fuel known to our world. So potent, as Pride was saying, that it causes great harm to living creatures. The everlasting power of the stars burns within, and it glows with an ethereal presence. Starfire bears its name because it is born in the corpse of a dying star.”
“Dying star... like a supernova? Hm. Uranium comes from supernovas, right? Do you mean nuclear fuel?” Alia popped a hip to the side, leaning her fist on it. “I can see why you might call it... starfire. It sounds like your world was a little... no offense, primitive.”
“A super what?” Pride asked.
“It’s what we call a dying star. Stars go boom-boom. Space dust becomes new planets and stars... never mind. We have entire factories dedicated to creating and using uranium as a fuel source.”
Pride and I shared a hungry glance. It sounded as though our needs could be filled with ease. Such a valuable and dangerous substance would certainly be well defended, but would that matter to ones such as us?
“Where is the nearest one of these uranium factories?” I demanded.
“Well, they’re called nuclear power plants,” she chuckled, “but you’re actually in luck. There’s one not too far from here. It’s maybe an hour’s drive outside the city. But we’d need... resources.”
I frowned. “Is this a problem which your paper currency cannot solve?”
“What, cash?” Her dark eyebrows rose to her matching hairline. “Cash can solve pretty much any problem on Earth, if you’ve got enough of it.”
“Come,” I said and walked out of the room. Both women followed me up two flights of stairs and back to my chambers, where I opened the damaged safe and gestured at the remaining pile of money. “Will this suffice?”
“Whoa,” Alia breathed. “I knew the vampire king was loaded, but... yeah, this should do fine.” She reached into the safe and gathered a thick wad of the bills. I had no concept of how much value it held, bu
t I assumed a great deal by the expression on her face. “I’ll need this to get started. We need to buy some crypto, as much as I can, so that I can start buying what we need off the deep web.”
Pride and I shared another glance, this one borne of pure confusion.
“Crypts? Necromancy?” Pride asked.
I frowned. “Deep web? I have not heard of this dark magic before.”
“Oookay,” Alia rolled her eyes, “I guess I forgot who I’m dealing with for a moment. Why don’t you leave everything to me? It’ll go much faster that way.”
“No,” I shook my head. “Teach me everything you do.”
She sighed. “Alright... follow me.”
She led us to what must have been her bedroom. It contained a large bed and dresser, a number of expensive looking pieces of art, and a shiny humming machine with a smooth glass face that lit up when she touched it.
“This is my computer,” she explained. “I’ll be able to order pretty much everything we need through here, but first I have to set up a meeting with a contact who can get us the crypto. Electronic currency. Cash to crypto is virtually untraceable.”
“Hold fast there,” I said, placing a hand on the back of the wheeled chair she had sat in. “How does the computer work?”
“It would take me literally a week to explain that,” she said dismissively, “but I use it by typing on this keyboard and touching things on the screen. Or clicking this mouse. See?”
“Interesting.” I examined the instruments connected to the machine as she used them. “And you are sending a message to your courier?”
“Yes,” she smiled up at me. “That’s all you really need to know, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely not,” I retorted. “I will accompany you to the meeting. Pride, you stay here and continue fortifying the base.”
“Yes, my lord.” If my second-in-command felt any jealousy at me spending time with a female outside of the Viceguard, she did not show it. She returned to the basement while Alia and I headed out the front doors, down the stone steps, and along the sidewalk. She raised her hood and donned a pair of dark glasses, scowling as if the sun put her in a foul mood.
“Are we taking the same car as yesterday?” I asked.
“No, we can walk. It’s not far. But if we were taking a car, it’d need to be a different one. The authorities around here are actually pretty sharp, after a fashion. They’d figure out what we were up to if we used the same stolen vehicle two days in a row.”
Side by side we strode along the street, past small shops and tall residential buildings with balconies not unlike the one outside my chambers.
“Are you sure that this contact of yours can deliver the... ethereal currency that we need?” I asked, thinking of the sizeable lump of cash Alia had stuffed beneath her jacket.
“Oh yeah, I’ve worked with him before. Cyborg is the best,” she said with a grin.
I sensed that there was some relevance to the name, but I did not understand it so I lapsed into silence. We came to a strange structure formed of the same smooth stone as the path we walked on. It was a walled platform supported on pillars and filled top to bottom with vehicles of all kinds.
“What is this?” I asked, “a market display of some kind?”
“No,” Alia laughed. “It’s a parking garage for that big building right next door. Cyborg always meets in parking garages and deals out of the trunk of rental cars. He’s pretty smart that way.”
“Deal? Are we buying something?”
“Not today,” she said. “Unless there’s something you want?” I shook my head, and she shrugged. “Well, we brought plenty of cash.”
Cyborg was a middle-aged man with a slight belly and a short, grizzled, graying beard. He stood in the shadows at the back of the garage, behind a low heavy-looking car. He snuffed a burning stick of foul incense beneath his shoe when he saw us and came forward to meet us in the light.
“You didn’t say you were bringing company,” he said, scowling.
“I didn’t think I was, but he’s cool. He’s the buyer,” she replied.
“Usually I don’t meet the buyer. That’s why I have an intermediary like you.” He seemed upset, but only vaguely so. I wrinkled my nose. The heady smell of his noxious incense had lingered.
“Well, you can have my cut this time. Double my cut. Just help us out, alright? We just want to cycle cash into crypto.”
Cyborg licked his lips and looked from me to Alia and back again. He seemed to be considering whether he could afford to make a crass remark and rightly realized that he could not.
“Alright, fine,” he said, looking around briefly, then leaning in and lowering his voice. “How much do you want?”
“As much as this gets us, after you take your cut and your bonus,” she said slyly, passing the stack of bills into his meaty palm. Cyborg’s eyes bulged, but he slid the stack into the folds of his trench coat without pausing to count or even examine it.
“Damn,” he said, “unless that was a newspaper or a bunch of ones bound together, you’ve moved up in the world, Alia.”
“I told you,” she jerked her thumb at me. “He’s the buyer. But yeah, you could say that. When can I expect the coins in my account?”
“Come on, baby girl. It’s me you’re talking to. By the time you get home and get that toaster oven you call a computer up and running, you’ll be the richest little vamp on the web. Anything else I can do for you?” He raised his eyebrows hopefully. “Any hardware?”
“Not today.” She stretched up on tiptoe and patted him on the cheek. Then we strolled out of the garage. As we walked home, I noticed the dark, low car cruising away. True to the man’s word, by the time we returned to the cathedral, Alia confirmed that we were wealthy in the intangible currency.
“Good,” I said, once again leaning over her shoulder while she sat at the computer. “Now, find us a map of this nuclear power plant you spoke of.”
“That will take a bit,” she explained. “I’ll have to put out some feelers on the deep web.”
“In the meantime, you can explain this deep web to me.” I turned and sat on the edge of the table so I could face both her and the glass wall she called a screen.
Alia sighed and steepled her fingers. “Okay. So, the web is the internet, which is basically a giant information repository. It’s more than that, but for now, just think about it as a collection of documents. All the documents in the world, stored electronically and accessible from any terminal.”
“An enchanted library of great power?”
“It is, I guess, except without the enchanted part.” She shrugged.
“But what of the deep web, then?”
“Well, the internet doesn’t literally contain all the documents in the world. Some things are censored by governments and other ruling bodies. The deep web is a place where people can share those types of documents and connect regarding... prohibited activities.”
I cracked my knuckles. “Such as buying and selling the layout of a nuclear power plant?”
She smiled. “Exactly.”
I turned around and looked at the computer again. “But how will it arrive?”
“Electronic delivery. Online.”
I pursed my lips, impressed by this deep web service. I watched over Alia’s shoulder while she sent several more messages, then gestured for her to follow me when she stood up.
“Come, you are strong but you still require training. While we wait, we can—“
“Actually,” she interrupted, “there’s something else I need to do. We’re going to need a truck in order to transport the uranium out of the power plant. It’d be best to have one all prepared and ready to go. I should be able to take care of that in a few hours, but it’ll be easiest if I go alone. Also, I’ll need a bit more cash.”
I nodded. “Take whatever you need.”
She returned before the gathering night, flashing a ring of keys and promising that the truck was stowed a short distance away
. I did not bother asking how she had obtained it. I was in her bedroom, studying a map of the city which I had managed to summon to her computer’s screen.
“Here, let me get in there.” She slid into the chair and manipulated the computer. More viewing windows appeared. “Good news.” She turned her pretty, youthful face up towards me. “I found someone willing to sell us the power plant’s blueprints.”
Chapter 13
“I should scout ahead,” Pride whispered in the dark of night. “My illusions will keep me safe from the guardsmen’s eyes. I will be swiftest and most silent on my own.”
The three of us crouched behind a stand of bushes two blocks away from the massive structure of the power plant. It was fortified and under heavy guard, the closest thing to a castle I had encountered in this strange world.
“No,” Alia replied tensely. “You don’t know the terrain or this world. You could trigger an alarm that you don’t even see. I should scout ahead first. I’ll come right back and report.”
“Perhaps,” Pride hesitated, looking to me. “My lord?”
“You know I trust you and your judgment as soundly as my aim with a sword’s thrust,” I said, “but Alia may be the best choice for this particular task. She has studied the blueprints and the surrounding area. And she is of this world.”
The first of my Viceguard nodded but seemed to waver.
“Do you not trust Alia?” I asked.
“No,” Pride said hesitantly. “I do.”
“Very well, then,” I replied. “Alia, go and survey the defenses.”
The vampire gave me a deferential nod, then scampered across the street and towards the power plant. She disappeared behind another hedge. I was alone with Pride and the sounds of the insects in the grass.
“I know what you are thinking,” Pride said softly, after a moment of silence.
“Really?” I jested. “I do not recall you having the power to look into a man’s mind.”
