Blood Hunt (15 page)

“If you die, the line dies. There are some – and at times I’ve been among them – who would dearly like to see it happen. Abraham was an oppressor, a thing of pure evil, and we had only Naomi’s word that his son was anything else.”

“That should be enough,” Naomi muttered.

“And for me, it is. That and your
lovely
personality,” Stephen said, flashing her a brilliant grin.

Naomi rolled her eyes. “You’d think the word of a member of
Kharas
would carry a bit more weight.”

“I don’t understand why any of this matters,” Two said. “I’m a human. Whatever blood was in me is gone, at least mostly … Maybe there’s enough so that Naomi could tell I’d been a vampire once, but that’s about it.”

“That doesn’t matter, or at least it shouldn’t. Two, you’re
Eresh-Chen
. Not only that, but you managed to kill one of the oldest vampires left on the planet, a being who had kept the entire American council under his boot for centuries. You have more of a right to the blood than anyone else in the world. You’re going to let them deny you that because of some foolish law from five thousand years ago?”

Two leaned forward, met Stephen’s gaze, did not look away.

“I’ll ask again: what are my options?”

Stephen nodded. He sat back on the couch and began to tick the items off on his fingers. “First, I’d try appealing to the council. If that fails, then second, I would try to find a vampire who doesn’t obey council laws. If that didn’t work, then the third thing I’d try would be to take the blood by force. And fourth, if pressed, I would start killing vampires until the council relented.”

“Stephen …” Naomi was looking at the floor, shaking her head.

“I’m not advocating those last few, Naomi. She asked me what I would do, other than give up and die. Those are my answers.”

He returned his attention to Two, He began to speak but stopped, his hands first opening and then folding. He reconsidered and started again.

“I don’t know how to put this, Two. There has never been a case like yours that I know of. Only Eresh vampires revert to humanity, and Eresh vampires are rare. Those few in history who might have been in a similar situation were usually killed at the same time as their masters. There has certainly never been another
Eresh-Chen
in this position.

“If the council says ‘no,’ there are other options. Most of them will be dangerous, since you’ll be breaking our laws, but you’ve already broken several of those and seem to have come through all right.”

“What laws did I break?” Two asked.

Stephen glanced at Naomi, who took a breath and spoke up.

“The person who killed Abraham is technically wanted for questioning. You’ve broken statutes thirteen and fifteen of the scrolls, and triggered statute twenty-seven.”

“Oh, go ahead an’ recite them, Naomi. You know you want to,” Stephen said, amused.

“They’re wordy. In a nutshell, thirteen says you can’t kill an elder of your line. Fifteen says you can’t kidnap a fledgling. Twenty-seven says that any human who becomes aware of us should be brought before the council to explain themselves, particularly if they’re actively seeking us. That was a later addition, after the council was formed, when we had some trouble in the eighteenth century.”

“I didn’t kidnap a fledgling,” Two said. “She came with me willingly.”

Naomi shrugged. “That is one of many reasons why we want to question you, not kill you.”

Two rolled her eyes. “This all sounds like I’m going to need to meet with your council, sooner or later.”

“You’re already meeting with one of them,” Stephen said. “Luckily, I suspect you’ll find she’s one of the most sympathetic to your case.”

Two turned to Naomi. “You’re on the council?”

Naomi nodded. “My predecessor, William, stepped down earlier this year, after the death of Abraham. As one of the eldest and strongest vampires in America, he would have assumed leadership of the council, but he did not want it. He said that he was worn down from so many years of dealing with that monster, and I don’t blame him. As his apprentice, I was next in line for a council position. I do not possess the political clout that William did, Two, but I will help you argue your case if you wish.”

“Good,” Two said. “OK, Stephen, you’re right. Giving up and dying isn’t an option. But this had better work. I want back in. This humanity shit just isn’t doing it for me at all.”

* * *

“You’re sure you can do this?” Naomi asked, concern in her voice. Two found her worry amusing; only the night before, this same woman had intentionally attacked Two and nearly killed her.

Two lit a cigarette. She could hear
L’Obscurité
throbbing just across the street. Naomi’s apartment looked directly down upon the entrance.

“Yeah, I’m OK. Little shaky, is all. I appreciate the chicken, but I need more food. I could just go home if you don’t want me coming back to your place.”

“I do not think it is safe for you at home. I have my doubts that I’m the first vampire to notice you and your search. There are many Burilgi in this city. Hundreds, maybe, but you would not have identified them like you did me. Many look like normal humans. The others are so disfigured that they try to stay out of sight.”

“Well, then this is the other option. We hit the
bodega
, and I grab some burritos, a pack of smokes, and a six-pack of beer.”

“Perhaps you could round out your vices with a box of condoms and a copy of
Hustler
,” Naomi said. Her voice was dry, but when Two glanced at her, there was a ghost of a smile on the vampire’s lips. Two laughed.

“I’m not the most perfect person in the world,” she admitted. “Theroen saved me from a bad place.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” Naomi replied. “We all have our demons.”

“Yeah, I guess. You seem to have done pretty well for yourself since what happened with Lisette.”

Naomi glanced down at her, raised an eyebrow.

“Did he tell you much about those days? About … us?”

“You and Lisette?”

“Lisette and me. Theroen and me. Lisette and Theroen.”

“Yes and no. He told me the important stuff, I think. I didn’t get a day-by-day account of your adventures, but I know how he met Lisette, and how he met you.”

A faint blush rose in Naomi’s cheeks. Her eyes were far away. “I never loved him like Lisette did, but Theroen and I had our moments.”

Two sighed. “I loved him like Lisette did.”

“I believe that,” Naomi replied. “One does not attack an elder like Abraham without good reason.”

Two shook her head. “No, definitely not. I killed him for what he did to Theroen. Not just at the end, but all the way through … he murdered Lisette. He kept Theroen locked away from the vampire world. He created these deranged sisters and forced Theroen to take care of them. He tried to kill me just as a parting gift to his son. He was evil. He was purposely, consciously evil, and he enjoyed every minute of it.”

Naomi nodded. “I know. I have spent more time in Abraham’s presence than I would wish on anyone. It
galls
me that I never guessed at his involvement in Lisette’s death.”

“Not much you could’ve done anyway,” Two said. She could see their destination, a small grocery and convenience shop of the type that could be found all over the city, at the end of the block.

“No? You were able to do something.”

“I didn’t know anything about your laws, and I had a
ton
of luck on my side. Luck and heroin.”

“What?”

“That’s how I did it. I had heroin available to me, strong stuff, uncut. I managed to throw some of it at his face and he breathed a lot of it in. It uh … fucked him up pretty good.”

Understanding dawned on Naomi’s face. “Of course! Eresh vampires don’t handle opiates well at all. Something in the chemical composition causes a lot of structural damage.”

“Yeah. Enough damage that when the time came, I managed to cut his head off.”

“Two, that’s fantastic.”

Two shook her head. “No, it was horrible. Theroen was dead. Melissa was dead. Tori was nuts. Even after Tori got better, she went home to her parents. I had no one left.”

“Surely you have other friends?”

“A few, yeah. None who could understand.”

Naomi considered this. “So you withdrew from them and went hunting for someone like me.”

They had reached the
bodega
. Two pitched her cigarette butt into the gutter and nodded.

“Yeah,” she said. “Hunting. Exactly.”

* * *

The plastic bags crackled at Two’s side as they walked. One contained a six-pack of beer, the other a bag of chips, three huge beef burritos from a brand called Captain Chorizo, and a carton of Camel lights.

“What’s happened to Tori?” Naomi asked.

Two shrugged. “She’s in Ohio, living a normal life with her parents. Took her a while to turn human again. Actually, I guess it never fully happened. She got her brain back and she doesn’t need blood anymore, but she’s crazy strong and fast. Theroen said she was really physically advanced for a vampire her age to begin with, and I don’t think she lost much of it in the conversion back. I get letters sometimes. Emails.”

“Does she miss being a vampire?”

Two hesitated. “I don’t think so? She’s never said so, anyway, but she has started talking about how restless she is. Could just be Ohio doing that to her, though. Lima’s … not New York.”

“Was she with you when you disposed of Abraham?”

“Yeah. I think she saved my life, actually. She bought me a couple more minutes, and I think if he’d gotten to me before that, the heroin wouldn’t have done enough yet. I chopped his head off, but it was like hitting stone, even after the drugs were in him. Hurt my arm really bad.”

“I imagine so. An
Eresh-Chen
more than two thousand years old? It’s a miracle that you weren’t killed.”

Two shrugged. Miracle it might have been, but at the time she had simply been acting on instinct, as was so often the case.

“Do you know about the vampire races?”

“Theroen told me some of it. I know there are four of them, and that you’re the second type … starts with ‘A’ I think.”

“Ashayt, yes. Lisette was an Ashayt vampire, and so am I. We are the poet caste, not as strong as the Eresh or Ay’Araf, but skilled in other areas. Our senses, particularly our sight and hearing, are very good indeed.”

“Poet caste?”

“Oh, that’s just from the scrolls. There are certain proclivities that run in the bloodlines. The Eresh are usually very strong, mentally and physically, and the majority of them are very wise and balanced people, though I’m sure you can think of one glaring exception. Ashayt vampires are often writers, poets, painters … people who love the arts. Stephen is an Ay’Araf, the warrior caste. They love physical competition of all sorts.”

“That explains the basketball,” muttered Two.

Naomi nodded. “Yes, and the soccer. And the football. And the rugby … and even baseball, though he says it’s not a true sport since there’s so little physical contact. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Stephen watch any television outside of the sport networks.”

“Doesn’t that get old? How long have you been living together?”

Naomi shook her head. “We do not ‘live together.’ Stephen is a guest in my apartment for the time being. The council has him here in New York because somehow, despite his personality, he holds a great deal of sway with American Ay’Araf. There are some minor internal struggles happening right now, and a friend and fellow council member requested that he come to America for a few years.”

“He sounds Irish. I guess he hasn’t been here very long?”

“He moves back and forth. He’ll spend a decade in Ireland, then a few years here, then a year back in Ireland, then another five years here … it gets quite maddening, actually, trying to keep track of where he is.”

“The council is making him stay with you?”

“No. I … Stephen and I have been friends for a long time and I don’t mind the company from time to time. I’ve not really lived with anyone, in the sense you mean, since Lisette died and Theroen returned to Abraham. But I enjoy his visits. On the surface, he can be aggravating, but there’s a good man down below.”

“Ah. So are you two, you know … together?”

Naomi smiled. “No. Even if we were romantic, there is no ‘together’ for Stephen. I’m lucky to still be able to make love, Two. Most Ashayt and even a good deal of Eresh vampires can’t. I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered an Ay’Araf who is capable in that department.”

“Oh, right. Theroen mentioned that it was uncommon. I guess my idea of what being a vampire is like is sort of different.”

“Quite. You are the first
Eresh-Chen
in almost five hundred years. There will not be another until such time as you make a fledgling.”

“Which will be kind of difficult if we can’t convince your council to bend the rules.”

They had reached Naomi’s building. She held the door open for Two, smiling confidently. “We shall convince them.”

* * *

The rest of the evening moved by with startling speed. Naomi excused herself to go feed, and Stephen said he’d already done so but should she want to bring anything home that
wasn’t
a child of Eresh, he wouldn’t complain. Naomi told him she would do no such thing.

Two ate her second meal, went outside for another cigarette, and returned to lie down on the couch and watch basketball with Stephen. She didn’t ask him questions, and he didn’t offer any commentary of his own, other than to occasionally yell at the television. Two could sense, though, that he was impressed with her unexpected silence.

Her time working with Darren had taught Two a lot about reading people’s personalities. She thought that she understood Stephen, and wanted to use this understanding to stay in his good graces. If he had the ear of the council, she wanted him to say positive things about her should they ask him about this human girl who wanted to be a vampire. So she stayed quiet, and after a time Stephen made conversation on his own, as Two had thought he might.