Blood Hunt (12 page)

Stephen’s grin broadened. Even Naomi smiled a bit.

“Again, my apologies,” she said. “May I ask your name?”

“My name is Two. Like the number. How do you know I’m an Eresh?”

“I could taste it.”

Stephen laughed again. “Oh, the great Naomi attacked an
Eresh?
That’s genius. Brilliant! Senior Councilor Naomi Ames, unable even to tell a vampire lord from a common human.”

Naomi gave him a cool, disapproving look. “As you said yourself, she is not a vampire. Nevertheless, there is trace enough of it still in her veins that I was able to discern it. I wonder, Stephen, would
you
have been able to do so?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care. She’s got Eresh blood in her? Very well then – she’s safe. No hard feelings, human?”

“I said my name is Two.”

“Yes. Two, like the number. You may call me Stephen. Or at least, you could if we were to continue this conversation. I am bored to tears, Two-like-the-number, and am going back to my basketball game.”

Stephen stood, waved once, and moved back to the couch.

Naomi shook her head, sighed, and said, “Again, I must apologize for my companion.”

Two shrugged. “Whatever.”

“You were someone’s fledgling once, yes? But your sire has abandoned you, or died, and you have become human again.”

Two nodded. “Yes, that’s what happened.”

“May I ask who your master was?”

“He wasn’t my master at all. He was my … my lover, I guess. His name was Theroen Anders.”

Naomi took an involuntary step back, an expression of shock flashing across her face as if Two had slapped her. Two looked at the vampire woman for a moment, confused, and then felt understanding flood her mind. Of course this woman would know that name. Grey eyes, amber hair … Two’s legs felt shaky again. She leaned against the counter for support.

“Oh,” she said, her voice weak. “I get it. You’re
that
Naomi. Theroen thought you were dead.”

Naomi shook her head. “No, not dead. I would have contacted him, but Abraham forbade it and I was … disinclined to go against his wishes. It was
you,
then … the one who destroyed Abraham.”

Two looked away, afraid of the judgment she might see in Naomi’s eyes. She nodded. “That’s right. I killed him. I’m sorry.”

Naomi took a step forward and Two looked quickly back at her, trying not to flinch. To her surprise, the vampire was smiling.

“Sorry? I doubt that. I doubt that very much. Learning of that bastard’s death was the best news I’ve had in decades. I can only imagine how enjoyable performing the actual deed must have been. I … Two, are you all right?”

Two had gone pale and was visibly shaking. She held on to the counter like a sailor trying to weather a particularly violent storm.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” she said, her voice miserable. “Or pass out. Maybe both.”

“Sit down. No, on the floor, just sit down. Breathe deeply.”

Two did as she was told, sitting down, head bent, staring at the floor. Finally, she was able to gain some measure of control.

“I’m starving,” she said after a time.

“Yes, and bruised, and far too low on blood. You shouldn’t be moving about, and I should know better than to be bringing up traumatic moments from your recent past. I’m sorry, Two, there are just so many questions. We have so very much to discuss.”

Two laughed. It was a tired, grey sound, but there was some humor there, where none had been for many months.

“Yeah,” she said. “No kidding.”

Naomi helped Two to the unoccupied couch and instructed her to lie down.

“Thanks,” Two said, following the orders. “Do you have anything to eat? I guess probably not.”

“We have human guests occasionally. There might be something. I will check.”

Naomi moved into the kitchen. Two could hear her opening cupboard doors.

“Who’s playing?” Two asked Stephen.

Stephen glanced over at her, one eyebrow raised. “Do you actually care?”

“No. Sorry for interrupting your game before.”

“Quite all right.”

There was a moment of quiet. Naomi’s voice called out from the kitchen, “She’s expecting you to apologize for trying to kill her, now, Stephen.”

“It may be a long wait. Tell me, Two, do you apologize to your turkey sandwich before you eat it?”

Two smiled. “No, and I’m not expecting an apology. I’ve been on your side of the fence. I know what it’s like.”

“You were an Eresh, not an Ay’Araf. You do not ‘know what it’s like’ for us.”

“Oh, yes,” Naomi said, returning to the living room. “The unending hardships thrust upon the warrior caste. What they always forget to mention is that they’re the ones making things difficult. Two, I have a bag of cheese-flavored popcorn and a frozen chicken patty. Do either of those appeal to you?”

Two was ravenous. “Yes, either. Both. Right now, I think I’d eat cardboard soaked in water. I’ll pay you back.”

“Lord forbid we give up our chicken patty without compensation,” Stephen muttered.

“Enough,” Naomi told him, and returned to the kitchen.

“She’s always so serious. You’d think after four hundred years she’d … make it! Yes!” Stephen’s interest had once again been drawn to the basketball game.

Two lay on the couch, feeling weak and shaky. Her head spun with questions, so many that she was not sure where to start. At last, she began with something pedestrian.

“How old are you, Stephen?”

“Three hundred and twenty-seven years.”

“How long have you been in this country?”

“God, are we to make small talk now? I’m trying to watch this game.”

Two rolled her eyes. “Do you work at being a prick?”

“No,” Stephen said. “It comes naturally.”

Naomi returned to the room with a plate and a can of soda.

“It was 7-Up or a three hundred-dollar bottle of wine. I figured the former would go better with the popcorn,” she said, setting the food down on the coffee table.

“That’s fine. Thanks.” Two sat up, fought off a wave of dizziness, and picked up the food. She tried not to wolf it down but had little success. Naomi watched her, amused, waiting.

When Two was done, the vampire woman asked, “Better?”

“Much. Thank you. Best chicken patty I’ve ever had.”

Stephen did not look away from the screen but laughed.

“He’s pretending not to be interested,” Naomi said, “but he’s not doing a very good job.”

“The two of you aren’t making it easy to ignore you,” Stephen replied without looking away from the screen.

“It’s a summer game, Stephen. It doesn’t even count. The woman who killed Abraham is lying next to you on the couch, and you’re worried about summer basketball?”

“It’s pre-season, not summer league. This is the one who killed Abraham?”

“Yes. Weren’t you listening earlier?”

“To you? Lord, no.”

 Naomi made a sound of frustration. “Two was Theroen’s fledgling. She’s the one who freed us from Abraham.”

“Freed you?” Two asked.

“In the metaphorical sense,” Stephen said. He was looking at Two with new interest. “Abraham did not own us, but he sat at the head of the vampire council. As such, he held all
civilized
vampires in this country in some level of control.”

“God, there’s so much I don’t know,” said Two. She ran a hand through her hair and glanced around. She felt dazed from the loss of blood, the hit on her head when she had fallen on the floor, the adrenaline, and the sudden return of emotion to a life that had seemed so empty. Two covered her face with her hands, fighting tears.

“Are you all right?” Naomi asked gently, as if she already knew the answer.

Two shook her head, keeping her hands where they were.

“He’s dead,” she said at last. “He’s dead and I couldn’t stop it.”

“Abraham?” Stephen asked.

Two sobbed once, unable to answer, fighting to retain control.

Naomi answered for her. “No, Theroen.”

“Ah. So it was like that, then.”

Two took in a deep, shuddering breath and looked up at them with eyes that were hard and glassy, filled with anger and sadness and hate.

“It was like that,” she said. “I loved him, and Abraham took him from me. Now he’s gone, and you’re my only hope.”

“Never been someone’s only hope before,” Stephen muttered. Naomi glared at him.

“This isn’t funny, Stephen. I’ll not tolerate your attitude, even if Two is willing to put up with it.”

Two shrugged. “I don’t really give a shit. As long as one of you can fix me, you can say whatever you want.”

“Fix you?” Naomi looked perplexed.

“Bite me. Drain me. Give me blood. Make me what I was. Can either of you do that?”

Naomi and Stephen looked at each other, considering this request. When Stephen spoke, his voice was slow and cautious.

“We are … both at an age where we can produce fledglings, yes. We are neither of us Eresh, so we could not make you what you were, even if we could do what you ask, which we can’t.”

Two looked up at him, not understanding. “Why not?”

Naomi spoke up. “It’s … I’m sorry, but it’s forbidden.”

“What do you mean ‘forbidden?’ Vampires make fledglings all the time, don’t they?”

“Yes. Well, not all the time, but they do make fledglings. You’re right. That’s not the issue, Two.”

“Then tell me what the problem is so we can figure out a solution.”

Naomi and Stephen exchanged another glance, and when Stephen smiled at Two, she could read the apology in his eyes.

“You’ve been marked by a vampire. Any vampire would be problematic, but your original sire was the heir apparent to the Eresh dynasty. A lord among lords. Theroen may not have known what he was, but everyone else does. We are not permitted to touch you.”

Two was too stunned to feel anger, or sorrow, or much of anything. She felt the empty, dead feeling creeping back over her. “But … why?”

“It’s against our laws,” Naomi said. “The Code of Eresh-Kigal states it very clearly.
A vampire’s claim to his or her fledgling is absolute, and no other vampire shall interfere.
”

“No other vampire …” Two murmured, considering this.

Stephen frowned. “None who follow the laws of the council, anyway, which effectively rules out all but the Burilgi. Believe me, Two, what you know of vampire life holds little similarity to what the Burilgi are. You do not want that.”

Two stared at the floor a moment. When she looked back up at them, her eyes were burning with rage.

“He’s fucking
dead!
” she shouted. “He’s not coming back. He’s not going to come climbing up out of the fucking ashes to make me whole again. How can it matter?”

Naomi sighed. “I know what it is like to lose a sire, and a lover, and a friend. You know who I am, so Theroen must have told you of his time with Lisette.”

“Yes,” Two said. She was shaking again, this time from anger at these two vampires and their idiotic laws. “I know about Lisette. I know
all
about Lisette.”

“Isaac stole her from us, from Theroen and me, when we were still young, because of the very same law that prevents us from touching you.”

Two shook her head. “It was Abraham who burned her, and he didn’t do it because of some stupid law. He did it because she took something that belonged to him and it pissed him off. The law was just an excuse to get Isaac to do the dirty work for him so he could trick Theroen into coming back. He told us that, before the end. I heard it from his own mouth.”

Naomi stiffened, her considerable pallor whitening even further. After a time she spoke, in a voice that was distant and strained.

“It is … good that he is dead.”

Two rested her palms against her forehead. “He was an evil, horrible monster. He took everything I had, and now you’re sitting here telling me I can’t get it back. What do I do?”

“I’m sorry. We’re sorry. It’s … Two, if I could bring him back for you, I would.”

Two looked down again, and to the two vampires it seemed then that a change came over her. Though she barely moved, it was as if all the life had fled from her body.

“Sorry doesn’t help me,” she said. “Nothing can help me anymore. I can’t have Theroen back, and no one else can help me. So what’s left? Nothing.”

“We will do what we can to help,” Naomi told her.

Two looked back up at them, sighed, shrugged.

“The only thing left you can do for me is kill me.”

Chapter 6
Tori’s Choice

“You want me to kill vampires for you?”

Tori stared at Charles, unable to believe what he had just said. He looked back, head still tilted, watching her with a slight smile on his face. When Tori realized no explanation was coming, she forced herself to speak again.

“I can’t … I mean, why would I do that? They’re not all like Abraham. They’re not all like these things that murdered my parents. I’m here to take care of my personal business, not to become some sort of vampire assassin.”

Charles looked her in the eye. “What if I told you that you’re wrong? That most of them
are
like Abraham? What if I told you, Tori Perrault, that there is a council of vampires – the
Kharas Mach
– that rules over nearly all of the vampires in this country? What if I told you that they ordered your parents’ murder to punish you for your crimes against Abraham?”

Tori opened her mouth to respond to this but found herself at a loss for words. After a moment she closed it again, clenching her teeth. It couldn’t be … and yet, didn’t it make sense?

“They are a blight,” Charles continued. “A plague. A threat against humanity. They will eventually destroy us, if we don’t destroy them first. You are a human again, Tori. Will you sit here and allow that? Will you tell me ‘no’ and go on your way and wake to find them there one night, ready to bind you with chains and drag you to your death?”

“No, I—”

“Will you do nothing as other young women are torn from their lives and their families, to be thrust into misery and despair? Or perhaps you would have them return, as you have, to a bleak world where there is nothing left for them but the pursuit of raw, empty pleasure?”