by Art DeForest
“Hell yes,” she said strongly. “I protect that which I value, and you have an uncanny ability for finding trouble.”
“I also have a lot of really tough boys and girls with guns around me. That tends to tilt the scales in my favor generally.” I said, smiling crookedly at her.
“Better safe than sorry love,” she said with a warm smile. “Now” she continued, getting back to business. “Do one of these tentacles you told me about by chance lead to the one we’re looking for?”
I stared at her stupidly for a moment. “Honestly, that hadn’t occurred to me. Once we connected last night, I kind of lost track of things for awhile.” I said, with what was undoubtedly, a stupid grin on my face.
“Aye, it was a bit distractin’ at that.” She replied with a grin of her own. “Still, you should try again. It may leave you open to attack, but I’ll be here to slam the shields home should the monster try to gain entry to your thoughts once more.”
“It was hard getting to that point last night,” I said in concern. “It took a lot of meditation and focus to find that spot.”
“The first time is always hardest. That you were able to accomplish it at all without instruction, especially your first time trying, is a remarkable feat.” She said with a little wonder in her voice. “Still, there are better places to attempt the task than a parking garage.”
“What do you have in mind?” I asked
“Well, your place was a bit drafty after my dramatic entrance into your bedroom last night. It is also a place known to our adversary. I think you should come to my place tonight. Just for safety’s sake, mind.” She said with an innocent smile on her face.
It wasn’t in me to resist her anymore. I really didn’t even want to try. There was one thing that gave me some reluctance, however. “Um, I don’t want to seem rude, but is it wise to surround ourselves with undead when our adversary, as you put it, can control them?” I asked, wincing slightly and waiting for the angry retort.
Anger wasn’t forthcoming, however. “A fair point.” She said consideringly. “We really don’t know what the fiend is capable of.” She paused for a minute in thought. “Still, I have more than one property available to me and not all of them are filled with my kin.”
It was Siobhan’s first time in my mustang. She actually purred in delight as she sat down on the buttery soft, black leather seats and the throaty growl of the engine sent its challenge to all comers. “I don’t know if I approve.” She said with a mock frown. “A beast like this will be turning all the girl’s heads.”
I looked over at her, my eyes taking in the black leather pants and the ruffled button down silk blouse that seemed to be her preferred fighting attire. Not all the buttons on the blouse were buttoned either, leaving plenty of creamy white skin showing to excellent advantage. “Pot calling the kettle black there darlin,” I said, leering cheerfully at her. Her sultry chuckle echoed through the night as the Mustang’s liquid black paint job reflected the shadows and streetlights. Turning left out of the parking garage, we eased down the late night streets of Chicago.
9
Following Siobhan’s directions, I soon found myself pulling into parking structure of a high-rise apartment building. The express elevator took us straight to the penthouse. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less from the Master of Chicago.
Siobhan’s place was not what I expected. Being a high-rise penthouse, I was expecting chrome and black leather, maybe furniture that took an instruction manual just to sit on. Nothing could be further from the truth. The place was done up in earth tones, tans and browns for the most part. The furniture, though no doubt high end, was built for comfort. The couch I settled myself on at Siobhan’s gesture had brown leather so soft, it made the seats of the Mustang seem like a rough country cousin in comparison. As I settled my weight on it, I was enfolded in welcoming luxury. The tension in my muscles that I hadn’t consciously known about, immediately started to ease. I let out a grateful sigh.
Siobhan curled up beside me as I took in the living room. “This is nice,” I said, turning my attention back to her. “It’s more comfortable and homey than I would expect from a penthouse.”
“Aye,” she said, resting her head on my shoulder. “I keep it such, to remind me of my roots and the feelings of home.”
She looked up and met my gaze. I lost myself in her emerald eyes for a moment before leaning towards her. She met me halfway, and our lips touched. It was a soft, languorous kiss. A thing of sharing and comfort. Her lips, while cool, were not disturbingly so. I closed my eyes and savored the sensation. The arm that had been resting on the back of the couch came around and drew her to me in a warm embrace as the kiss deepened into something more passionate.
The opposite arm came across, and I settled my hand on the soft blouse covering her ribcage. As our tongues met with increasing passion, my hand rose up her ribs and my thumb lightly, grazing the side of her breast. She shuddered slightly, and a sigh escaped her. Her delicate hand, that concealed incredible power rose to lightly stroke my cheek, before sliding down to rest against my chest.
She pulled back from our kiss and looked into my eyes once more. “I’ve waited too long for this night.” She said the urgent need in her eyes reflected my own. “I’ll not wait a moment longer.”
I remained speechless as she uncoiled from the couch and stood before me. The bond between us was a vibrant thing, pulsing with the desire we both felt. She reached out and offered me her hand. I took it as I flowed to my feet and she led me down a short hallway to a richly appointed oak door. The latch made a soft click as it closed behind us.
I’ve never laid on silk sheets. They felt incredible and weren’t near as slippery as I would have thought. Their softness paled in comparison to the alabaster skin of the woman who was curled up contentedly at my side; one leg was thrown over my thighs. “Well now, that was worth the wait.” She said in a warm fuzzy tone.
“That it was,” I said as I curled the arm that lay beneath her and drawing her closer to me. The bond between us opened wide as our passion had increased. It gave us insights into each other’s wants and needs so that we moved together in near perfect unity. Instead of a clumsy first time coupling, we’d made magic. Okay, I know that sounds corny, but whatever...shut up.
We laid there awhile longer before Siobhan disentangled herself from our embrace and stood beside the bed. My breath caught as my gaze traveled up her form. Statuesque legs led up to curvaceous hips and a narrow waist The flawless alabaster skin of her taut abdomen and torso, accentuated perfectly formed breasts with light pink areolas.
Emerald green eyes twinkled down at me from behind tousled auburn locks. A sultry smile spread across her lips as she caught me staring. “Not bad for four hundred thirty seven don’t you think?” She said, winking at me.
I pulled myself together and put on a considering expression. “That’s for sure,” I said with a leering smile. “I wouldn’t put you past four hundred twenty-five, personally.” That got me hit with a pillow...hard. “Sorry!” I said, laughing as I covered my head defensively. “Why don’t you come back to bed and I’ll show you what I really think,” I said with a grin of my own.
Siobhan chuckled, but instead of rejoining me, she picked up a satin robe and put it on. Much to my disappointment. “Get up you wicked man.” She said with a slight smile. “We’ve business to attend to before morning light intrudes.”
My face became serious as I refocused on the problem at hand. “That we do,” I said gruffly as I swung my legs over the side of the bed and reached for my pants. “We have too much life to enjoy to let some asshole keep getting in the way.”
Nestled on the couch once more, Siobhan took my hand and stared into my eyes. “I want you to concentrate and go back to that place where your power lies.”
I closed my eyes and sent my focus inward. It was easy this time. The sense of our bond led me right to it. My orb of power had grown. Probably because the tentacle that travele
d off to Siobhan, had at least tripled in size to my perception. “Got it,” I said, keeping my eyes closed in concentration.
“Good,” said Siobhan softly. “Now, I want you to explore the tentacles. See if any call to you in particular or if there are any that feel...familiar.”
Just because that’s how I roll, the first tentacle I explored was hers. I sent a wave of lust down it. A cosmic goose to the posterior, if you will. Siobhan chuckled and told me to get my mind back on business. After a little practice, I began to get a sense of the creatures who connected with my power, without having to concentrate on individual tentacles. A whole new world opened to my senses.
I was surprised at the amount of undead there were in this town. Vampires, of course, hundreds of them. A few of them even approached Siobhan’s level of power. I carefully avoided them. There were also other varieties. A lot of ghosts roamed Chi-Town, as you might expect. They had the feel of residual energy about them. Like an after image imprinted on your retina when a flash goes off. There were also pockets of ghouls and zombies spread around the city. I could sense that they were quiescent at the moment. Held by outside forces. I think they were actually buried in the cemeteries around the city, warded against rising by whatever cleric had performed their burial rights.
I didn’t ,however, feel the presence of Ahriman. There was no clue about where Sam or Emily might be either.
“I can’t sense them,” I said after awhile, frustration clearly present in my tone.
“Keep looking.” Said Siobhan encouragingly. “Look for anything out of the ordinary, don’t just focus on the individual creatures.”
I tried to do as she instructed. I pulled my awareness back, trying to get an overview of the entire area while simultaneously overlaying a mental map of the area. I was immediately discouraged. Chicago and the surrounding suburbs constitute a huge area, and though they were more plentiful than I had originally guessed, there was just too few undead in the area to spot any patterns. There were vast blank spots on my mental map that were too large to investigate.
Sighing in frustration, I tried narrowing my focus once more. I zeroed in on the south side of town, looking for any anomalies in the area both Alex and Siobhan had kind of pointed to as a possible hiding spot.
The spots without undead activity were still large. There were several undead moving around the area. My internal sense told me that they were Siobhan’s people, out searching, in her direction.
I continued to scan for what seemed like hours. As my brain became numb, I absently focused on one blip on my internal map. I watched idly as it moved along at a fairly steady pace with only small pauses.
Suddenly, it disappeared. My head snapped up, and I focused sharply on the area, thinking that I must have dozed off and simply lost track of the vampire. That wasn’t the case, however. There just wasn’t anything visible in that area all of the sudden.
“What do you see love?” Asked Siobhan, sensing my renewed alertness.
“I...just lost one of your people,” I said in a confused tone. “He was there one minute and then just, gone.”
As I explained this to Siobhan the blip on my internal radar, suddenly appeared once more a short way from where I had last seen him. “Wait, he’s back again,” I exclaimed. It was like he popped out of a hole, or came out from behind a wall.”
I zeroed in on the blip and got a sense of him over the tenuous link to my power. It was definitely one of Siobhan’s people.
“Can you communicate mentally with your people?” I asked Siobhan abruptly.
Siobhan shook her head slightly. “I can sense them around the city, but I can’t contact them telepathically.” A sardonic smile curved her lips. “We do have these handy little devices, however.” She said, holding up a cell phone.
“Oh yeah, right,” I said with a slight blush.
I focused on the sense of the vampire once more. “Give Jameson a call and tell him to stop,” I commanded as I focused intently on his signal.
Siobhan scrolled through her contacts briefly before hitting the call button. “Jamie dear, be a darling and stop where you are for a bit.” She said sweetly when her minion answered. “Just do it...now.” she said after listening briefly, her tone becoming a bit cooler.
My sense of err...Jamie stopped and stood in place. “Okay have him walk back the way he just came” I said urgently
After Siobhan passed on the request, the blip of Jamie the Vampire, started to reverse his track. I waited as patiently as I could as he proceeded back. Just where he had appeared before, he abruptly disappeared from my view once again.
“He disappeared again. Tell him to keep going,” I said as I continued to try to penetrate whatever was blocking my perception of him. I couldn’t get any sense of him for another minute or so before he appeared as if by, well...magic, a little farther along.
“Stop,” I said, my voice raised a little with urgency. “I’ve got him again. Find out his location for me.” I said, turning once more to face Siobhan.
She listened briefly to her phone before looking up to meet my eyes. “He’s on Marquette Road, near Peoria street, in Englewood.” She said
“What’s there,” I asked.
“He’s standing in front of a large building. He can’t see any identifiers on it. It might be a school. There’s a fence all the way around it.” She said, repeating what she’d heard.
“Well, something there is blocking my perception of him,” I said firmly. Does he get any sense of power or compulsion from the area?”
I waited briefly as Siobhan talked to her man. “He doesn’t feel anything at all.” She said finally, shaking her head.
I thought about that for awhile. The vampire that had seen this guy at Smitty’s reported being drawn to Ahriman, so why wasn’t Jamie. “You said that Ahriman was a sorcerer as well as a Necromancer, could he have cast some kind of blocking spell that keeps anyone inside it from being perceived?” I asked finally.
“I’m not as familiar with the way of sorcerers as all that.” She replied musingly. “However I would think some such spell would be within the realm of possibility.”
“Well, it's something we need to check out at any rate,” I said, nodding my head with conviction. “I’ll get my boys and girls first thing in the morning, and we’ll head on over.”
“I cannot help you during the day.” Said Siobhan in a troubled tone.
“I know,” I said sympathetically. “During the day, my guys have the ability to escape the sun if things get too hairy.”
“You may need my strength and the aid of my people” She continued persuasively. “You don’t know what may be housed in that building.”
“You’re right, I don’t know what’s in that building, but I do know that there is a necromancer out there somewhere who can control undead,” I said in a leading way, hoping she would get my reluctance.
Siobhan actually growled in frustration. “Aye I get your meaning, but it goes against my very nature to wait in the shadows while those I care about entering into danger.”
I reached over and stroked her cheek gently with the back of my hand. “I understand, believe me, but I need to go in knowing that my people aren’t going to suddenly turn on me against their will. Against any other enemy, I’d gladly have you by my side. You know that, right?”
Siobhan pressed her cheek into my hand briefly before nodding. “I understand, and I’ll abide by your wishes in this...for now.”
My eyebrows rose at the qualifier as she continued on.
“But know this.” She said as her expression became fierce. “Ahriman is an even greater threat to my people than to your own, and I will only hold my hand for so long before acting.”
I suddenly saw past the beautiful girl to the powerful being with centuries of battle under her belt. I remembered suddenly that those soft, gentle hands that had embraced me earlier could just as easily pull my arms and legs off if I became a threat.
The cold dose of reality cou
rsed down my spine, causing me to sit up straight and look at her seriously. I understand what you’re saying.” I said, meeting her gaze.
“Be sure that you do, my love,” she said in an iron hard tone. “Because my first duty is to my people, no matter how I may feel personally.”
I nodded at her sternly. “You know I won’t interfere with your duties. My boys and girls just happen to be the best tool for this particular job.” I said, taking her hand. “We may need the help of you and your people in the end. If that’s the case, I just hope Ahriman isn’t as powerful as I fear.”
Siobhan squeezed my hand gently as she looked into my eyes. I saw my own fear reflected in them.
10
First light saw me back at the office. I’d paged the team and was on the phone with Alex. “That’s right, Marquette and Peoria. There seems to be something hinky going on there.”
