The Darkest Colors- Exsanguinations

by David M. Bachman

  “Well … I can’t say for sure,” Simon answered, “because that’s about as far as this goes. After this, there’s a few minutes of nothing before Duvessa and Sebastian come walking out of there.”

  “When did this take place?”

  “A couple of months before, ah … before she left,” Simon said as he paused the video. “Before she left here for the last time, I mean.”

  “So, wait … you’re saying that guy was…?”

  “Count Klaus von Reichenbach.”

  “And after he went in there, he never came back out, right?”

  “Not that I can see from any of the footage that I’ve got here, no.”

  “So … he was murdered in there?”

  Simon opened his mouth to say something else, thought twice about it, then nodded. “I believe so, yes.”

  “Why on earth did you keep this video a secret for so long?” Raina demanded, not so much angry as simply stunned. “What stopped you from taking this to the authorities?”

  He shrugged. “A lot of things … one of them being that I didn’t want to wind up like the Count. If you don’t mind me saying, I was scared completely shitless when I found this. I mean, Duvessa was scary enough on her own, but her consorts were plenty bloody creepy, too. I knew better than to go blathering about this to anyone, much less the police.” He shrugged again. “Besides, it’s not like the cops would have done anything about it. If one vampire kills another vampire, what do they care? And even if they did care, I’d have never lived to testify about it. She would’ve paid everyone off and I would’ve just disappeared like all the others.”

  “The others? What others?”

  “Her other human servants,” he replied. Simon rolled his eyes. “C’mon, now. I’m sure you’ve heard all the stories of all the people over the years that have gone to work for rich and powerful vampires, only to either wind up disappearing or becoming a vampire themselves…”

  “If that’s the case,” Raina countered, “then what made you decide to work for her?”

  “Money,” Simon said immediately. “Plain and simple, I was in it for the money.”

  She eyed him suspiciously. “You’ve never struck me as the greedy type, Simon.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that,” he assured her. “See, back then, I figured I was going to lose my job soon with the department store, y’know, what with the economy going down the tubes. Nobody was in the market for big-screens and video game systems anymore, and everyone was getting laid off, and … y’know, I had to make ends meet. So, I heard from a friend who had a girlfriend that actually knew Lady Mary personally, and she’d mentioned that Duvessa wanted another day courier. Y’know, someone to be her errand boy during daylight hours? I thought it’d just be something I could get into for awhile until I could find something else to do. Next thing I know, I’m making after-hours deals with some old co-workers and negotiating discounts on stuff worth thousands of pounds with my old boss, and then she has me installing things like this whole camera system and such, and … well … the pay was great, the fringe benefits were awesome, I got to tag along and mingle with folks at some of their parties, rub elbows with celebrities, I was surrounded by beautiful women all the time, and…”

  “And you just couldn’t bear to give that up,” Raina said, folding her arms with an undisguised frown. “You could seriously watch something like this and actually decide not to tell someone about it only because of how it might impact you personally?”

  Simon nervously rubbed his chin and began with his hand-gesturing again as he explained, “It’s not as cut-and-dried as you’d think. I took an oath of loyalty to the House of Fallamhain. Now, whether or not I take that oath seriously on a personal level is irrelevant because those people, Duvessa and her crew, they were fanatical about it. If she’d felt that I had betrayed her … I was dead, simple as that. Not only me, but she probably would’ve come after everyone in my family, too, just to be spiteful. That’s the way she was. I saw how she treated her enemies, and I sure as hell didn’t want to become one. So, when I started becoming aware of what was going on, I decided it was best to just play along, try not to get myself in too deep, and…”

  “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” Raina interrupted, “yeah, I get the idea. But after Duvessa was gone…?”

  “Once she was dead, there wasn’t any point in telling anyone about this, really. The main two people that were involved in this thing are dead, so what good would it do me to go to the authorities with this?” he asked with a shrug. “If anything, it would only make me look bad for keeping quiet about the things she did, because then I’d be an accessory after the fact. And besides, I’d be ostracized by the whole High Court for violating my oath of loyalty, and I’m sure someone out there loyal to Duvessa would be pissed off enough to come after me…”

  Raina stared at him for a few moments, blinked, and then shook her head. “Sorry. Jeez … forget it. You’re right. I shouldn’t have asked.”

  “I’m sorry, your grace.”

  “No, no, you’re right,” she insisted, placing a hand upon his shoulder calmingly. “I shouldn’t be so judgmental. I can’t honestly say that I wouldn’t have done the same thing myself. You did what you had to do by keeping to yourself. I understand.” She paused. “Anyway, I’m glad you showed me this. I knew that it was the Count’s disappearance that put Wilhelmina at the top of her House and set her off on a rampage, but I honestly thought that the Countess had killed him off and just blamed it on Duvessa to give herself an excuse to come after her. So, at least I finally know the truth about what happened now.”

  Simon nodded and then stepped away slowly, looking rather unhappy as he walked around the desk. Raina followed after and halted him by stepping in front of him. There were almost tears in his eyes suddenly.

  Before she could speak, he sighed, “I’m sorry.”

  “Simon … hey, forget it. I understand, okay?” she told him. “I’m not mad at you.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why do you look so upset?”

  He sniffed his emotions back and straightened his spine, taking in a sharp breath. Exhaling slowly, he replied, “I’m just scared now, that’s all.”

  “Scared, why?”

  “Because I’ve been sitting on this for so long, and … a-a-and I took an oath,” he stammered, his voice wavering and his face contorting as he struggled to contain himself, “and I know that someone else is going to find out about this. Someone else is going to find out that I told you this, and they’re going to come after me, and they’re going to kill me, and my mum, and my sis, and my kid brother…”

  “Wait, wait, hold on,” Raina said, shaking him lightly. “Nobody’s killing anyone. You didn’t tell me anything.”

  “But … I showed you where the…”

  She put a hand over his mouth. “You didn’t show me anything. I found the key on my own when I was down here the other night. I got to poking around and I found this whole thing. Okay?”

  “But … that’s not true! And you know that if someone else, a High Court, if they ask you and you lie, they’ll know it’s a lie, and then…”

  “Simon! Hey! Chill, all right?” She lightly slapped his cheeks to keep him from crying. She couldn’t stand to see anyone cry, much less a grown man, and the emotional empathy she was picking up from him was beginning to affect her, too. She did not want to wind up crying in front of the guy, either. “Dude! Listen to me. Nobody is going to know about this. Okay? Nobody is going to ask. I already wanted into the cellar. I own this place. This is my house, my estate. I have a right to know what’s in here. So, if anyone asks how I found it, I can honestly tell them that I only found out because I got nosey and started investigating things … which is kind of the truth, really. Who I asked and what I asked them is none of their business, and that’s that. You’re free and clear of this.”

  “But…”

  “No buts,” she interrupted, putting a hand over his mouth. �
�Now, stop freaking out on me, Simon. Please. I’m already pretty stressed right now for a lot of other reasons, and honestly I don’t need this added onto it. Okay? Just take a few deep breaths, chill out, relax, and pull yourself together.”

  Simon nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, doing exactly as she suggested. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, habitually reached for his throat to adjust his tie before remembering it was now in his pocket, and he ran his fingers through his short, spiky strawberry-blonde blonde hair before straightening his spine and letting out a sigh of relief.

  “Okay,” he finally said with a nod.

  “Are you cool?”

  “Yep.”

  “I mean it. Are you cool?”

  “I’m cool.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I’m cool,” he said again with a forced grin. He paused, turning his head slightly. “Did you just call me ‘dude’ a moment ago?”

  “I guess so. Why?”

  “That is just … outstanding.”

  “How so?”

  “You, the Grand Duchess, just called me ‘dude.’ Who’d have ever thought…?”

  “I’m just full of surprises,” she replied dryly. “Now, what do you say we go take a peek inside this cellar…”

  Simon’s grin instantly dropped into a look of dismay and his shoulders slumped as he rolled his eyes. “Shit…”

  Raina practically dragged him over to the cellar door by his hand, standing him in front of the door and then stepping back as she folded her arms under her breasts.

  “The sooner we do this, the sooner you can have this off your conscience,” she told him.

  “Yeah,” he agreed with a nod, wringing his hands anxiously, “and the sooner I can worry about how you’ll react to what’s in there.”

  She stared at him impatiently for a couple of seconds. “I really don’t enjoy switching over to Bitch Mode, so don’t make me play the Grand Duchess card on you.”

  He finally held his hands in the air. “Okay, okay. You win.”

  “What’s the code?”

  “Nineteen forty-three.”

  “Ugh,” Raina scoffed, rolling her eyes. “That sick woman.”

  “What?”

  “That was the year she got involved with Doctor Josef Mengele and the Nazi SS,” she explained. “I’d almost bet money she’s got a bunch of stuff relating to that inside there.”

  “Maybe,” he conceded with a shrug as he began to press the buttons of the keypad. “Just a heads-up, the lock mechanism is kind of loud.”

  No sooner had he finished saying that than the lock actuator threw the bolt inside the door open with such sudden force that it sounded almost like a gunshot, making Raina yelp and jump back half a step. The sound was accompanied by the hum of a powerful electric motor for half of a second before it stopped, presumably the sound of the actuator holding the bolt back in the opened position while Simon pulled the door open about an inch.

  “Sorry,” he said, noticing her reaction. “This thing is built the same as the doors they use in prisons. It has a high-current actuator that moves a two-inch bolt that into a block of reinforced…”

  “Okay, okay,” Raina interrupted impatiently, holding up a hand, “it’s a seriously heavy-duty fucking door, Simon. I get the picture.”

  He smiled nervously. “Right.”

  * * * *

  Chapter Three

  It took Raina the better part of that day to settle herself down after emerging from the cellar. She had gone in there under the impression that it would be something like an archeological adventure of sorts, uncovering forgotten relics from yesteryear and things far older than herself. In fact, she had found things long forgotten, including relics that she now wished that she could forget about, herself. She had gone in there alone, as Simon had insisted upon waiting outside so that they could not accidentally be locked inside. She was now all the more grateful for that decision. Simon was already a high-strung fellow, but seeing what she had found in the cellar would have surely made him completely come unglued.

  While Raina did explain to Simon, in general, what she had found within the cellar, she did not quite reveal everything. The important thing she needed to figure out at that point in time was what to do with the things she had found. After a bit of deliberation over a couple of cups of coffee, Raina came to a decision.

  At her request, Simon rushed out and soon returned with a brand new digital camera with a couple of high-capacity memory cards. She documented everything she possibly could with the camera, having to make two trips upstairs to download the images onto her laptop as she twice ran out of memory. Furthermore, she detailed her findings in the journal she had begun to keep not long after moving into the Fallamhain Estate. Additionally, she printed off several of the images on the high-resolution color laser printer in the main study before finally tucking everything but the laptop into a briefcase, along with the main copy of her draft of the Code. She shut the briefcase, locked it, and then slumped over to rest her head upon the fine mahogany desk for awhile, utterly exhausted.

  Before anything regarding the cellar and its contents had become a sudden issue, Raina had already been struggling to find the inner strength and motivation to confront all of the IVC at once for the first time. She had already addressed the vast majority of them on several occasions, particularly during her official introduction to the High Court and coronation as Grand Duchess, but never in the context of something as historically significant and controversial as this particular occasion. But bringing herself to overcome her lingering social anxieties was a small task compared to the other larger issue at hand.

  There had been threats made, some veiled and some outright, and Raina was already steeling herself for the very real possibility that she would find herself in yet another swordfight with an angry High Court vampire. It was not so much the threat of combat or facing such a crowd of dignitaries that concerned her most of all. What she had been trying desperately to figure out for some time beforehand was what to do, ultimately, if and when she was able to get past all of that.

  They were a society of violent beings whose very existence had been shrouded in secrecy for centuries until somewhat recent history. She needed to think of a means of addressing them in such a way that they would not only accept her as one of their own, but also to subscribe to her vision of what was best for the IVC, if not for the vampiric race as a whole. It was a tall order, even for a whole committee of people, much less one individual such as herself. Her only consolation was that now, having found and documented what was in the cellar, she had some evidence to serve as a bit of show-and-tell to support her effort. This last thought, of course, assumed that she would even be given the opportunity to present it to the IVC without first being cut down.

  As reliable as ever, Lady Olivia arrived at the Fallamhain Estate just before full dusk with three of her regulars in tow – Thomas, Ethan, and Sophie. Olivia was the closest to an official advisor as Raina had ever known since becoming Grand Duchess. Simon, an avid fan of Mafia-themed movies and television shows, preferred to call the diplomatic, wise, and strikingly beautiful Commoner vampire the “Fallamhain consigliere.”

  Raina had honestly been rather suspicious of Olivia from the start, and the feeling had actually been mutual during the first month or so of their association. Olivia had been fiercely loyal to Duvessa, making no qualms about the fact that she had quite literally killed on command for her mistress in the past. However, by Olivia’s own admission, her oath of loyalty had been to the House of Fallamhain and not necessarily to its figurehead. She had initially regarded Raina coldly and strictly as a matter of duty, but the transitional experience had offered them enough opportunities to air their differences and sentiments, after which Olivia had finally begun to warm up to Raina.

  By now, Olivia was actually a good friend of Raina’s. In some ways their friendship was closer than the one that Raina held with Lady Svetlana; in other ways, they were sti
ll as distant as absolute strangers, and she doubted that would ever change. Olivia was best at providing professional guidance, wisdom, and know-how, but she could be quite indifferent at most times to some of Raina’s emotional issues, sometimes even appearing to be annoyed by them. Svetlana, on the other hand, was more personally supportive, inspirational, and comforting, but not as well-versed in High Court politics and general life as a vampire. Olivia was among the eldest of any vampires in the House of Fallamhain. She was legitimately documented as being sixty-seven years old, having been a vampire for over two decades, and she certainly carried herself with an unmistakable aura of maturity and experience, though she hardly looked a day over twenty-five.

  Raina, still sitting in the main study, could hear her distinctively haughty, formal-at-all-times voice coming from downstairs in the foyer as it carried up through the halls of the mansion. She hurriedly closed out all of her opened video-playback programs on the laptop, impatiently drumming her fingernails upon the desk as she heard the calm but numerous footfalls of several pairs of feet ascending the main staircase. Presenting Olivia with the near-final draft of her Code changes was going to be difficult enough already. She wasn’t exactly eager to see what kind of reaction her close ally might have to learning about the truckload of illegalities she had finally unearthed in the cellar … some things which actually involved Olivia.

  Simon popped into view, politely rapping upon the frame of the open doorway of the study.

  “Lady Olivia, your grace.”

  Already bringing herself to stand and step around the desk, Raina motioned for him to invite her in. “Sure, sure.”

  Olivia came into view, pausing to thank Simon with a nod and that well-practiced smile of hers before turning it upon Raina. The sight of her was as impressive as ever. Olivia was far more conservative and formal than Raina in her sense of high-class vampire fashion, dressing in a dark blue knee-length formal skirt and matching blazer with a white blouse underneath, underscored by pale flesh-toned stockings and simple but attractive low-heeled dress shoes. Her shoulder-length, wavy, platinum-blonde hair was neatly secured in a bun that looked just on the verge of being too tight, and her makeup was subtle but complimentary to her pale blue eyes and full lips.