But when he arrived at his apartment, a surprise waited at his door. Two unfamiliar Enforcers stood leaning against the wall next to his apartment, both smoking cigarettes. He stopped short and glanced around. “Can I help you, sirs?” he asked, bowing his head as the law dictated.
“We got a report you might be harboring a runaway sapien.”
“Excuse me?”
“You happen to know anything about that?”
“No, sir.”
“Then you don’t mind if we come in and take a look around, do you?”
“No, sir.”
Draven pressed his hand to the panel to unlock the door. He knew the matter hadn’t gotten serious—if the Enforcers had believed what they’d heard, they would have gone into his apartment with or without his permission or presence. Since they had waited, they likely didn’t believe the report. But he still didn’t want government agents in his home, even if he hadn’t anything illegal in it.
At first his mind went to Byron, but Byron wouldn’t call in a report. He’d come to Draven’s and check for himself, as a friend rather than an Enforcer. Which left Lira as the most likely culprit.
Not that he had anything to hide. Still, no one wanted Enforcers sniffing around, looking at his personal property and tromping through his pathetic, non-decorous life. Enforcers had high salaries and lived in fancy houses like Byron’s. A bare apartment with one tiny window that offered a view of the bare wall of the next apartment building must seem a measly existence indeed.
One of the Enforcers stopped and looked at Draven’s small bookcase, the only thing outside his bedroom that belonged to him and hadn’t come with the apartment. “You got a lot of old books,” the Enforcer said.
Draven stood against the wall, fuming at Lira. “Yes, sir,” he said.
“That’s pretty unusual.”
“Yes, sir. I don’t have any illegal titles. You’re welcome to put them in the system and check, if you like.” Most Superiors didn’t care about things like books written by humans. But a few titles, mostly religious works, had been burned after the Time of the Takeover, and owning them brought severe punishment.
“Oh, that’s all right,” the Superior said. “I just thought it was unusual. You actually read these old things?” He flicked the spine of a book called Crime and Punishment.
“Yes, sir. At times.”
“Huh. I’d think it was too inconvenient to have to haul out a paper book and look all through it for your place every time you want to read. How do you know where you left off?”
“They have ribbons and things for markers, sir.” He thought of the marker in his favorite book, the antique picture of him with Anton. He should contact his friend, see when he planned to return. Soon, Draven thought.
The Enforcer laughed. “Oh, yeah. I remember now. Seems like a million years ago I read a paper book. You don’t mind if I look at them, right?”
“No, sir.” Of course he minded. But he couldn’t refuse a Second’s request.
The Enforcer took out The Road and leafed through the pages while Draven watched. Something about the man looking in his things bothered him, even if he acted friendly. Was he looking for some kind of secret hidden between two pages—the way people had supposedly passed messages during the War?
The other Enforcer returned from his inspection of the bedroom. He shrugged. “Nothing amiss as far as I can see.”
“No, sir.”
“Look at this, he collects old paper books,” the other Enforcer said. He seemed fascinated by the books. He even savored it before handing it to the other Enforcer. The other Enforcer shrugged, not sharing in his interest. “Oh, well,” the one with the book said. “It was worth it for a false alarm call just to see these old relics. You know, I bet you could sell some of these for good money. Antiques like these bring in a lot if you find the right buyer. People collect all sorts of odd things to remind them of the old days.”
“Yes, sir.” Draven wanted nothing more than to get the law out of his apartment before one of them detected a whiff of Cali’s lingering scent. But since he didn’t have her, he didn’t imagine they could do much even if they caught her scent. Still, he had to be careful, and polite, and show the proper respect to Seconds, and not offend anyone or speak too familiarly with Enforcers. So he waited for them to leave on their own accord.
“Seems you’re just fine,” the Enforcer said, putting the book back into its place on the shelf. “You have a nice day.”
“Thank you, sir.” Draven bowed to the Enforcers on their way out. He followed them to the door and stood inside, watching until their shiny solid-black car pulled away. Then he went down the stairs to pay a visit to his neighbor.
He pounded on her door harder than necessary. She had either been waiting for him or on her way out—the second option unlikely, given the late hour of the morning. She opened the door seconds after he knocked. “Oh, it’s you,” she said. She turned away as if to go back inside.
Draven blocked the door with his forearm and pushed it open. He stalked in, invitation be damned. “You called the Enforcers on me?” he asked. “For what reason?”
She shrugged. “I thought I’d do my civic duty and make sure you didn’t have any other poor saps up there starving while you pretended to help them.”
“You know that’s not the case. That was an exception. And if I remember correctly, you partook as illegally as I did.”
She smiled. “But it wasn’t at my apartment, was it? I didn’t sap-nap it and keep it up there for days. I was only a bystander.”
“I told you it only happened once, not that it’s not for your concern.” He turned to the door. “I’m going. Please don’t interfere in my life further. Do we understand each other?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’d like that, wouldn’t you? You think you can just come by and fuck me at your convenience, any time you want? And what, I’m so desperate that I’ll just agree, even if you treat me like trash afterwards?”
He shrugged. “Won’t you?”
Lira let out a shriek and started pounding at his defensive arm with her little fists. She packed quite a punch for a small woman. Draven wondered how old she’d been when she evolved. Like all Thirds, she would fit into the fifteen-to-twenty-five category. He tried not to get involved with the ones who had been closer to fifteen, but Lira had the temper of a teenage Third. He’d never thought to ask her age. He’d never even thought to ask what job she had or where she came from or her last name. She served one purpose in his life, and it wasn’t worth nearly that much trouble.
“You’re not all you think you are,” Lira said, swatting at him.
“I imagine I’m most of it.”
“I can find a bigger man than you any day,” she said. “And one who isn’t some kind of sex pervert with a sap hidden in his bedroom.”
“Then why don’t you?” Draven said, backing to the door. “I won’t stop you.”
She threw her weight against him. “Oh, you’re just infuriating,” she said, shoving him against the door. “Why do I bother?”
“I can’t imagine.” He found the panel beside the door and hit it. He wished he’d never come down. His anger had dissipated and he only wanted to escape.
“Don’t come back, you lousy piece of sap shit,” she yelled after him. “And you better be watching your pod, because I’m gonna keep calling the Enforcers until one day they find something up there. Don’t you get too comfortable. They’ll be stopping by your place again, and you’ll never know when it’s gonna happen.”
Draven climbed the stairs to his apartment, her shouts following him the entire flight. How was it that Lira could bore him and exhaust him at once? He saw his neighbor in the hallway and tried to hurry past, but the man stopped him.
“Did you just have Enforcers raiding your apartment?”
Draven sighed. “No.”
“What happened? I saw them outside your door when I got home.”
“They just made a mistake. Wrong man.�
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“Oh. That’s good, I guess.” The neighbor looked like he might ask more questions, so Draven cut him off.
“It was good talking to you. Good day, then.” He hurried to his apartment and went inside, and straight into his light-and-soundproof bedroom, where he let the relief of darkness wash over him until he grew calm enough for sleep. He slept the whole day and awakened with calm certainty on the evening of his trip. After checking the sky, he donned his darkest shades and a hat and departed. He might have just enough time if he hurried. A store caught his eye, and he made a brief stop on his way.
He skirted the building so he wouldn’t run into Bonnie and get drawn in by her chattiness. The clinic’s entrance led to several wings. Draven slipped through the doors to the treatment wing. Upon entering Cali’s room, he found her sitting propped upright on the bed, eyes open. She looked at him out of a grey face with grey lips.
“Cali.” He went to her and sat on the bed beside her and pulled up his knee so he faced her. “Do you need water?”
She nodded and he brought her some in the cup he had used the night before. She took it with shaking hands, drank, and then sank back on the bed.
“Has the doctor been to see you?” he asked.
“Not yet,” she said, her voice hardly more than a whisper.
“I’m glad you’re awake. I wish I could help, but for now there is nothing more to be done. I’m going away on an assignment, and when I come back… If I do, I’ll have a surprise for you. I hope it will be as pleasant for you as it is for me.”
He lifted her hand and put into her palm a tiny package wrapped in orange plastic. “Here is something, until then.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“A caramel.”
She closed her fingers around it and closed her eyes. Draven brushed the hair back from her face, then stood and leaned down, his face close to hers, and inhaled deeply. He thought she would live. She smelled good enough to eat already.
He walked to the door, but when he heard her stirring, he turned back to look at her one more time.
“Master?” she said in her raspy voice. He waited, and after a moment she said, “What’s your name?”
He paused before answering. He knew he shouldn’t. But if he died, he wanted someone to remember, even if it was only a sap. Of course a few Superiors would remember, but he didn’t imagine he’d leave a big gap, or even a small fissure, in anyone’s life. Not even a sap’s.
“Draven. Draven Castle.”
“Thank you, Draven Castle.”
He turned, and left without looking back.
41
“It seems we’re riding in style the first part of the trip,” Draven said when he’d settled into the car with Byron.
Byron laughed. “Not my car. Or my driver. All provided by the great nation of North America. Enjoy it while you can. I have a feeling things are going to get a lot more rustic in a few days.”
“Duly noted, sir.”
“None of that sir stuff on this trip, you hear? We’re friends, and on this trip, we’re equals. All right? We’re business partners, of sorts. We’re both soldiers setting out on the same task force. So from the time we leave the city until the time we come back, there’s no difference between our positions.”
“Yes, sir.” Both men laughed. “I can’t help it,” Draven said. “I’ve grown used to it.”
“How about you just say ‘yes, soldier,’ and I’ll do the same.”
“So how long will it take to reach Houston?” No sir at the end. It felt strange.
“At least a day, maybe more. Then we have to track him in the area.”
“And once we capture him and bring him back, he’ll go to jail?”
“If you catch him, you can bring him back.”
“What does that mean?”
“Whatever you think it means, soldier. Our orders are to bring him back dead or alive. You choose which option you like best, and if I catch him, I’ll choose the option I like best.”
“You’d kill him if you didn’t have to?” It surprised Draven to hear such a statement coming from a member of law enforcement.
Byron reached behind the seat and brought forward a long black case. It reminded Draven of Hyoki’s instrument case. Byron opened the latches and lifted the lid. Inside gleamed quite a different kind of instrument—two long, highly polished wooden knives. The blades, each about half as long as Draven’s arm, looked razor sharp.
“What do you make of these, soldier?” Byron asked.
“I’ve…never seen anything like them.”
“And that’s a good thing, believe me. Let’s just say, this is what the government gave me to help us catch Ander. Do you think they want us to bring him back alive?”
“Then what is the trailer behind the car for?”
“To bring him back. If he’s alive, we’ve got restraints in there. If not…” Byron shrugged. “Right now we have something a little more pleasant than Ander back there.”
“Oh?”
“We’re stopping now to get an extra battery for the car. It takes a lot of power to pull a trailer, even with not much in it. Come and have a look for yourself, soldier.”
Draven followed Byron to the back of the trailer while the driver went to get the battery. Byron unlocked the heavy door and lifted. Inside, two sapiens squinted out at their captors. Draven recognized one of them.
“The dark-haired one is your favorite, right? You said she was the one you went to Estrella’s for.”
Draven laughed. He’d forgotten that lie, but he remembered it now. He had told Byron he liked that one because Cali hadn’t been there that night. She’d been at his apartment, and he hadn’t wanted to draw suspicion, so he’d pointed out the first sap he saw. Byron had remembered.
“I thought you’d like that,” Byron said, taking Draven’s laughter as a sign of pleasure. “You might be eating powdered sap a few nights, so while we’re traveling, we’ll have the real thing. I got special permission from Estrella’s to take yours. You’ll need whatever strength you can get for what lies ahead.”
“Yes, sir. Soldier.”
“You want to have an appetizer now, while we’re stopped?”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Draven said, and they went into the trailer to eat before they resumed their journey northward. When he finished, Draven pulled away and neatly sealed off the punctures in the sap’s arm. Byron finished as well, but when he pulled away he grimaced, and the sap covered her arm where he had bitten. Byron patted his mouth with a white cloth he’d taken from his pocket, still making a face, and turned away. “Come. We should get under way again. We have a long way to go before daylight.”
Draven looked at Byron’s sapien and then at his friend, frowning. He rose after a moment and followed his elder. He decided not to say anything, but when they ate again and he watched the same thing happen, he could hold his tongue no longer. Once could be an oversight, but not twice.
“Do you not seal the entrance points when you feed from your sapiens?”
Byron shrugged, wearing the same expression of distaste. “I can’t stand to be near them any longer than I have to.”
“They are in pain afterwards. Every time you do that it leaves a scar under the skin that hurts them.” Draven usually wouldn’t speak so boldly to a Second, but after seeing Cali’s situation, after doing the disgusting thing he’d done, he had more conviction on the matter. And he’d always had plenty of conviction when it came to that subject.
“I’ve heard that. But saps don’t feel the way we do, soldier. They’re just animals. They hardly register pain.” Draven thought of Cali’s screams, and he knew that for once he knew more than someone else. And not just anyone. A Second Order Enforcer.
“I imagined someone with such sympathy for sapiens wouldn’t mind sparing them a bit of pain.”
“Sympathy? I’m not sure I’d call it that. You, my friend, have a little too much of that when it comes to saps.”
&
nbsp; “I’ve seen them get infected from it, that’s all. It can kill them, if the infection isn’t caught.”
“We take ours to the animal clinic if they get sick with anything. We take good care of our saps. I just can’t stand to be near them. I prefer to drink from a cup. It’s always seemed more civilized to me. And the saps, well, I don’t care for them at all. If we could find some way to live without them, I’d say put them all out of their misery.”
“Do you mean that? They’re just animals. They were here before we were.”
“Are you a bleeding-heart liberal, Draven? You’re beginning to surprise me.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I just quite enjoy drawing straight from the source. It’s as close to our former life as we get.”
“That’s not a life most of us wish for anymore. Do you miss your human existence?”
Draven bristled a bit at the intimate question, but he had to answer by law, no matter what Byron said about temporary equality. The law had instilled itself so deeply in Draven that he couldn’t disobey it even with permission. “No. Of course I don’t. I just didn’t take you for…I imagine you have surprised me as well.”
“I hate to see them suffer, too, my friend. And if it is of no consequence to me, I don’t mind helping them. But being near them has grown so repulsive to me that I cannot bear to touch them unless it’s imperative. And touching their skin with my tongue, my lips—.” Byron broke off with a shudder.
Draven nodded, although he didn’t mind the warmth when he ate, only the bodily warmth. “I understand. It can be unpleasant at times.”
As they rode in silence, Draven thought over their conversation. He wanted to believe he didn’t think of his mentor any differently because of something so trivial. Byron was right, of course. Why should he suffer discomfort for the comfort of an animal?
And yet, Draven could not shake the guilt that he’d watched his friend do twice to a sap what had almost killed Cali. He couldn’t quite summon the same respect he’d had for his boss before their exchange.
Blood Moon: A New Adult Urban Fantasy Vampire Novel (The Superiors Book 1) Page 23
