"This is the detonation switch to the vest on Christopher Taylor. If my finger leaves this red button, it will explode, killing him and most of the others as well. Do not try anything with me or they die."
---------------------
"Dammit," the negotiator yelled, slamming his fist down on the console. "He found the ear bud and destroyed it. We don't have a clue what's going on and Michael is flying blind.”
Marcus and Silas looked at one another. Alec was smart and had abilities none of the humans could guess at, when he could access them. They both focused their hearing towards the building and what was going on inside, but there was too much distance and too much noise going on for them to hear anything. One of them would have to get closer.
------------------------
The masked man looked Alec up and down.
"So you're a vampire?"
Alec hesitated a moment.
"No. I'm a representative of the vampires. I work with them." Alec figured with his ear bud destroyed he didn't have to be as careful with what he said. No one on the other end could hear him now if he gave any secrets away. Actually, he realized that wasn't completely true. Silas and Marcus might be able to hear him from outside. He wasn't sure but he might still be able to relay information through them and they could still advise him. He trained his hearing towards the outside of the building but there was just too much going on out there. Damn.
"What?!" the masked man exploded. "I asked for a vampire! What sort of game are you playing here?" He was practically yelling now and leveled his gun at Alec.
"Calm down, calm down," Alec said motioning with his hands for the man to chill. He figured what the hell; the truth couldn’t hurt so he addressed the man.
"The vampires couldn't get near you with all the silver so they sent me instead. I work with them and speak on their behalf."
The man was breathing heavily.
"How do I know this isn't a trick of some sort?"
Alec shrugged. "You will have to trust me."
The masked man scoffed at this. "Trust you?"
"Yes," Alec said calmly. "Why would I put my life in danger to come in here and lie to you? Does that make any kind of sense?"
The man paused then, thinking.
"I'll tell you what. I am going to test you. For every answer you get wrong I kill a hostage. If I think you are lying, I kill a hostage. You still willing to stick to your story?" The man was acting very erratic. It made Alec nervous, but he nodded once.
The man pulled one of the silver crosses off his belt and tossed it to Alec. "Catch." Alec didn't know if he was immune to silver or not. This could go bad pretty quickly. He caught the cross in his hand. To his relief, nothing happened. He was immune to silver as well.
"Silver doesn't hurt me," Alec said out loud.
"Okay, so you aren't a vampire," the man said thinking. He focused on Alec again.
"What would have happened to you if you had been a vampire and caught the cross?"
"It would have blistered my skin and made me very weak," Alec answered without hesitation. "But crosses and religious artifacts don't hurt vampires. It's the silver they are 'allergic' to." The man narrowed his eyes but nodded his head slightly.
"Can vampires turn into bats or fly?"
Alec almost laughed at the question.
"No. That's part of the myth." Alec hoped he was just testing him and not a lunatic that believed all the stories he'd read. Obviously the man wasn't just going on stories from books because he nodded.
"Can a vampire compel people to do things by looking into their eyes?" the man asked carefully.
Alec sighed. "Oh yeah. That they can do."
The masked man looked uncomfortable with the answer that Alec gave him but Alec could tell it was what he’d been expecting.
"Are we done with the tests? I work with the vampires. I'm like a human-vampire liaison. What's your name by the way? If we are going to be working on all this," Alec said motioning around him to the hostages, "together, then I need to know what to call you."
"You can call me Jinx."
"You can call me Michael," Alec said. He'd almost given his real name out of habit.
"What is your real name Jinx?"
The man shook his head and laughed.
"Oh no, that I'm not telling you. If I escape here alive I don't want you tracking me down."
“Alec, it’s Marcus. Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” Alec said before he’d realized what he was doing.
“I went across to the other building and entered through the connected basements. There are cops on every floor above you. Silas didn’t want you to be alone in there.”
Alec felt a lot better knowing that Marcus was somewhere close by, just in case things went bad or he needed advice.
Jinx was frowning at him now.
"So what is it you want here?" Alec continued and took a chance to walk a little closer. He couldn't see everyone in the room from his vantage point and didn't like being close to the doors in case there was a firefight. He walked further in, around Jinx, who eyed him warily and kept his gun trained on Alec. Alec scanned the room and counted quickly.
"I want some answers. I want to be left alone. I just want to live my life peacefully without being threatened all the time."
Alec frowned at that. "Who's threatening you?"
The man laughed a high-pitched laugh. "The vampires. I want them to leave me alone."
"So is this everyone, all the hostages? Just these twenty three people kneeling on the floor, the guy typing on his computer and Mister Taylor, naked on the floor with a bomb strapped to his chest?"
The twenty-three men and women looked uncomfortable kneeling on the floor. It had to hurt their knees. Their ages ranged from early teens to some in their sixties. Alec wasn’t sure who the man on the computer was, but he looked like he was feverishly working away. Every now and then, he’d stop to push his brownish-red hair out of his face.
Alec heard Marcus relay the information to Silas and the FBI. Alec was glad that Marcus was there.
Jinx squinted at him.
"Why are you being so specific with the details, and why are you asking?" He was getting suspicious. His gun had been trailing away from Alec, but the masked man snapped it back in line.
"Sorry," Alec said shaking his head. "I'm trying to make sure that there are no wounded or dead from earlier when you opened fire."
"No, this is it. No one is injured." Jinx didn't quite look convinced with Alec's explanation.
"These people don't look comfortable on their knees." Some of the older people were wincing in pain. "Why don't you let them sit? Show them, there is nothing to be afraid of and this will be over soon." Alec looked at the young man on the computer. He was wearing the same type of tactical vest Jinx was.
“And who is the gentleman on the computer?” Alec asked.
The man looked up at Alec then. He was in his twenties; his green eyes looked more than a little scared.
“Steven Reynolds, computer hacker and hostage,” he said raising his hand.
Jinx glared at him then and Steven dropped his eyes and hand back to his computer quickly.
“Do you mind if I ask, why is Mister Taylor naked?" Alec asked, looking at Jinx.
"To teach him a lesson in humility," Jinx said bitterly. There was something here, a relationship of some sort. Old friends? Rivals?
"I think Mister Taylor has learned some humility. He looks miserable." That much was true. The man looked like he'd been crying. The hair on his head and chest was plastered down with sweat.
"People like Chris never learn their lessons. They go through life with rich daddies that pay everything for them and let them run all over people." Jinx was bitter and sounded like he was talking from personal experience. And he'd called him Chris instead of Christopher or Mister Taylor. They knew one another.
He decided to try something.
"Jinx, I'm sure Mister Taylor is a very nice man if you got to know him. Not all rich people are bad."
Jinx barked out a "Ha!" and shook his head. "He's an ass. He and his father both. Even after I went to the Senator and told him Chris was bullying me he didn't do anything. All he said was, 'They're just having some fun, be a man'. Well are you having fun now, Chris? Are you?"
Chris shook his head. "No."
Jinx didn't even realize that in his madness he'd let something slip. He was just angry and hurt. Alec could hear Marcus relaying the information to Silas via radio, and knew that Silas would be searching for Senator Taylor to question him about the incident, asking him to remember who it was. While they were working on information, Alec decided to switch gears. He didn't want Jinx to realize he'd given anything away and get pissed at Alec.
"Why don't you show Mister Taylor here that you are the better man and let him get dressed, and please let these people sit down. Some of them look like they are going to fall over."
"Stop calling him Mister Taylor. His name is Chris. He doesn't deserve your respect, or mine." Jinx was getting agitated again. His eyes were flicking back and forth and he kept licking his lips.
"Okay, calm down. Why don't you let Chris get dressed and let the others sit? That's not out of respect, it's out of compassion, something you don't think Chris has. Show him you are the better man. Show him how he should treat people."
Jinx thought about it for a minute.
"Fine. Hand him his pants. Just his pants. I want to show him I have compassion but that I'm also the one in control here." He spat the last few words out.
Alec walked across the room and grabbed Chris's khaki pants and tossed them to him. He caught them and put them on quickly. Everyone else looked relieved to be able to finally sit. Some couples were clinging to each other, terrified and afraid for their lives.
"Thank you Jinx for showing compassion to these innocent people," Alec said trying to emphasize that there were innocent bystanders in the line of fire. Alec didn't think that Jinx was used to guns. He noticed that most of the time the barrel of the gun wavered and pointed at the wall or floor. He didn't think Jinx was really the violent type. He had just been pushed too far by something or someone. If it weren’t for the detonator that he held, Alec would have rushed him. He just wasn’t sure he was fast enough to dodge bullets, disarm the man and keep the detonator button pushed.
"So, what information are you wanting to know?" Alec asked, bringing the topic back on track. Jinx didn't even realize that he wasn’t really the one in control here.
"I want to know everything about the vampires and why they are following me. I want to know how to make them stop." Jinx sounded like he was really upset. Alec didn't know if the vampires were following Jinx or not, but Jinx certainly believed it to be real.
Alec thought for a moment.
"I will tell you what I can." Jinx got upset and started to protest.
"Wait, hear me out. I will tell you what I can. Some of it I don't know and some of it I'm not allowed to tell you for your own safety." He made sure Jinx understood. He looked slightly mollified. Alec was stalling for time so Marcus could get him some information. He decided to push his luck a little.
"Before I answer your questions though, you have to do something for me. You have to let the hostages go."
"Are you insane?" Jinx almost shouted. "As soon as I let them go, you'll call in the SWAT team or FBI or the vampires and that will be that. No! They stay."
"Jinx, if you let them go, you'll still have me as leverage. The vampires won’t do anything or let anyone else do anything that will get me hurt. It shows everyone outside that you are reasonable and willing to negotiate. They are less likely to take drastic action if they think you will work with them." God, Alec hoped all the hostages in the room thought he was just going along with some sort of charade to placate the man.
Jinx thought about it for a moment.
"I'll let five of them go." There was a hopeful murmur from the hostages.
"If you want to be seen as reasonable and sane, you need to let more than that go. How about half?"
Jinx mulled this over.
"Fine," he said reluctantly. "Half of them can go. But if the feds or vampires try anything then I will kill the rest of you. And," he added maliciously, "Chris and Steven stay."
Alec nodded. He walked over to desperately hopeful men and woman on the floor. He picked the elderly, the women and the young first. That left seven spots. He heard Marcus relay the information that half the hostages were getting ready to be released. He picked seven of the men on the floor to go with the first wave of released hostages. He chose the ones that looked most affected by the crisis.
Alec led the group towards the double doors and the doorman, being one of the released, unlocked the door and handed Alec the key and thanked him. Jinx stood behind one of the partial walls where he could monitor both sides of the room, his gun moving back and forth between them.
Alec opened the door and leaned out and shouted, "Don't shoot! Hostages coming out!" and stood aside as they exited. It was eerie having that many guns pointed in his direction. It sent a weird shiver down his spine. He watched as armored men with shields came forward to meet the hostages and cover their escape. Alec caught Silas’s eye and said very quietly, "I need to know who this is we are dealing with."
Silas nodded and said, "I talked to Senator Taylor, he remembers the incident in question. The man's name is Victor Preston. Vincent said they’ve dealt with this guy before and is pulling the information up on the tablet now. I'll forward the information to Marcus as soon as we get it. Good luck, you're doing great." Alec nodded once.
When Alec walked back inside, Jinx was staring suspiciously at him.
"Who were you talking to? There are shooters right outside the building trying to get in aren't there? You were telling them where to shoot.” He was starting to sound a little hysterical.
Alec just shook his head. "Sorry, talking to myself. It's an old habit, something I do when I’m stressed." This seemed to placate Jinx a little and he calmed slightly. Alec could smell the sweat and fear coming off the man. Jinx kept his gun on Alec as he entered back into the lobby.
"By the way, why are you wearing the sunglasses? It's the middle of the night."
This gave Jinx something to focus on other than his paranoia and his mood shifted slightly.
"To keep vampires from controlling my mind." He said it matter of factly like Alec should know.
"Seriously?"
Jinx nodded. Alec heard Marcus say, "It actually works."
"Apparently it works," Alec said surprised. Jinx looked at him suspiciously.
"Oh boy," Marcus said. "I have the reports involving Victor."
"Now, you answer my questions. I've waited long enough."
"Remember, I'll answer what I can. Some of the information I don't know and some of it I can't tell you without putting both of our lives at risk." Jinx nodded.
Marcus started relaying Alec the quick and dirty version. It was not what he expected.
"Why are the vampires after me? What do they want?"
To buy a little more time and to hear the information Marcus was feeding him he stepped closer to Victor who became instantly wary. He tried working his way around to where Steven was working on his laptop to see what he was doing, but Victor halted his process.
"Listen, if you don't want to put these people’s lives at risk with the vampires then we need to talk privately."
"I'm not leaving this room so that your people can sneak in here and release the hostages. No way. Is that what you were planning outside? You lure me away from the hostages and your people sneak in?" He was getting himself worked up. It was making a little more sense now that Marcus was giving him the rundown. From what Marcus told him, Silas was pissed.
"Calm down," Alec said slowly. "These people have been through enough without us revealing secre
ts to them that they shouldn't know. Would you put them through what you've been through?” He thought, you’ve already taken them hostage isn’t that enough for one evening, but he didn’t say it.
Victor thought about it. He shook his head, reluctantly.
Alec took another chance. He seemed to be doing that a lot tonight, but his gut instinct was telling him what to do and so far it had been right.
“I…I know who you are. We need to talk somewhere where they can't hear us, okay?"
Victor, who had been in the process of moving towards Alec, froze.
"How do you know who I am?" There was a tremor in his voice and his hands started shaking.
"Calm down, you don't want to accidentally set off an explosion do you? I can explain some things to you that might help you understand what you’re going through. I know your name is Victor Preston and I know that you’ve had some run-ins with the Taylors and…others.”
Victor wanted proof that he wasn’t crazy. He finally nodded and then motioned for Alec to move closer so they could lower their voices and speak. They were in a small alcove that held a couple of brown leather chairs where patrons of the hotel could sit and talk if they wanted. Jinx could easily monitor the remaining hostages while still talking privately with Alec.
"Why are the vampires after me? What do they want?"
Alec sighed. "You might not like this answer Victor, but they aren't exactly after you." He said it quietly.
Victor took a step back.
"You're lying." He almost whispered the words. "I've seen them."
"Yes you have." This gave the young man pause.
"I have?” He asked it almost like he didn't believe he was finally getting conformation. Alec assumed the man was afraid he was losing his mind. He’d certainly felt that way enough times himself. “You just said they weren’t after me.”
"Yes, Victor. Several months ago you were downtown and you came across a vampire feeding on a human. The vampire looked at you with his freaky black eyes and fangs and then vanished. It freaked you out and you ran."
Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles Page 18
