Blood Legacy: The Story of Ryan (25 page)

Henry the V had never seen anything like it before, nor would he ever again.

CHAPTER 21

THE THREE LEFT THE MUSEUM and continued to walk downtown. Susan felt as if all eyes were upon them as they strolled the street, glancing in shop windows. Both Ryan and Jason seemed enamored with the sights: huge wheels of cheese and hanging sausages in a delicatessen, a candy store in which every color imaginable was represented, book stores with hundreds of different books in the windows.

Susan was interested by people’s reaction to the tall, golden-haired woman. Ryan definitely attracted a lot of attention although she seemed unaware of it. Susan was thoughtful. Ryan did not seem particularly interested in people. She was far more interested in the aesthetics of buildings, the play of light and shadow through the trees, the different colors in the candy store. She seemed to live in a world where human beings were not the principle visual attraction, indeed, were not even contenders. Susan glanced around her. By following Ryan’s gaze, she began to see things she had never seen before.

Susan was surprised when Ryan paused, staring intently ahead of her. She looked, trying to see what Ryan saw.

Ryan was staring at a young man about a 100 feet ahead of them. He was surrounded by several female companions, not surprising since he was extremely handsome. He seemed unaware of Ryan’s scrutiny, although it was quite marked.

Ryan turned to gaze into the window of a bakery, staring at the rows of bread and pastries.

“Is something wrong?” Susan asked her.

Ryan glanced back at the young man, who seemed to sense something and looked about him with confusion. He apparently did not see Ryan, who was still examining him at length. Ryan nodded toward him, addressing Susan.

“The young man ahead of us, he is one of my Kind.”

Susan was startled and swiveled her gaze back toward the young man. He did seem to have some of the presence Ryan possessed, although not nearly to the degree. He continued to look around him in confusion, and continued to miss Ryan.

Susan watched the man. “You can sense one another, can’t you?”

Ryan gazed back down at the pastries. “Yes. Sometimes from miles away. But he can’t sense me because I’m not allowing him to.”

The young women with him pretended to be upset over his momentary inattention and he appeared to shrug off his feeling. He returned his full attention to his companions and they set off down the sidewalk.

Susan grabbed Jason who was pressed against the bakery window. He glanced up at his mother, sensing her unease.

Ryan began to follow the young man from a distance and Susan, clutching Jason’s hand, fell back. Ryan waved for her to catch up, and she pulled Jason along.

“I’m assuming you’re more powerful than him?” Susan said, a little fearfully.

Ryan laughed a short laugh. “Oh yes. He’s a Young One, and not particularly powerful, although I imagine he’s extremely compelling to his human companions.”

Susan noted the derisive quality in the comment. “And you’re able to block his ability to sense you?”

Ryan nodded, easily keeping pace with the group in front of them. The sidewalks were crowded with the evening throngs of people, but everyone seemed to move out of Ryan’s way. “I’m clouding his mind. He senses me, but that’s more a result of my power than his ability.”

Susan watched as the young man began to glance over his shoulder. He still seemed unable to spot Ryan, and he was becoming increasingly agitated. His companions complained as he began to hurry them along.

Ryan had picked up her pace as well and Susan’s unease increased. Jason was struggling to keep up, practically running at her side. Susan had the distinct impression that Ryan was stalking the young man. She seemed to take no particular pleasure in what she was doing but rather was coldly methodical, like a shark circling its prey.

The young man’s agitation was peaking as he glanced wildly around him. He could not pinpoint what was following him, but he knew it was strong and that it was hunting him. Susan felt Ryan tense, and the young man bolted.

In little more than a flash of dark clothing, Ryan was gone. She left only the impression of movement, and even that Susan caught only out of the corner of her eye. Susan stood on the sidewalk, the man’s bewildered companions a few feet in front of her. She turned and was startled to find Edward at her side.

“I believe you should come me with me,” he said calmly. A limousine pulled to the curb.

Susan made a snap decision, realizing it was probably foolish. “Take him,” she said, thrusting Jason’s hand into the older man’s grasp. Edward started to object, but Susan was already running down the street after Ryan. The older man glanced down at the youngster now in his care and sighed.

Ryan chased the Young One down the sidewalk, effortlessly keeping pace with him. She felt his fear and knew he would quickly make a mistake.

He did so, attempting to cut into an alleyway and instantly Ryan was upon him. She held him by his collar and his eyes grew wide with terror as he realized how Old the one was in front of him.

“Please,” he asked, begging for his life, “let me go. I’ll do anything for you.”

Ryan gazed down at the Young One. “You’d do anything for me, anyway.”

The young man swallowed hard, knowing the words to be true. Old Ones were always seductive, but this one was absolutely hypnotic.

“Who made you?” Ryan asked.

The Young One spoke a name but it meant nothing to Ryan and she was relieved. However, she did not wish her presence to be known. She could block her image from the Young One’s mind but the magnitude of her power alone would leave an imprint. There were still a few who would recognize that imprint. She looked into the Young One’s eyes, and realized he was flawed and weak anyway.

The young man realized he had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. He closed his eyes. “Oh god,” he sobbed.

Ryan snapped his neck expertly, without anger but without remorse. She stood holding him, wondering if his life force would remain. She did not sense it and knew her judgment to be correct; if he had been killed so easily he should not have been made.

A gasp at the opening to the alleyway attracted her attention. She had been aware of Susan’s approach and had not been particularly concerned by it. She now realized the picture she presented, holding the dead man in her arms.

Susan’s eyes widened in horror as she took a step back.

“Susan…” Ryan began warningly.

Susan stumbled and turned, fleeing from the scene in the alley behind her. Ryan rolled her eyes in exasperation and tossed the body behind a dumpster. She gave chase to Dr. Ryerson.

She caught Susan easier than she had caught the Young One and bodily picked her up. Susan had the impression of air rushing by her and the next thing she knew she was teetering precariously on a windowsill near a fire escape, three stories above the ground.

Ryan leaned casually against the building, crossing her arms in front of her.

Susan was desperately trying to remain calm. This was the first time she had been genuinely afraid of Ryan, and knew she had badly underestimated her.

Ryan simply gazed at her with her unblinking gaze. “I would think you’d be getting used to this by now.”

Susan shook her head, feeling nauseous. “I could never get used to the way you kill.”

Ryan’s voice was suddenly cold. “Do not judge me by your standards, Dr. Ryerson. You know nothing of my Kind, and you know very little of me.”

Susan steadied her voice, trying to ignore the fact she was 35 feet above ground, standing on a ledge less than a foot wide. “Are you going to kill me?”

Ryan wrinkled her brow in confusion. “Why would I do that?”

“You don’t seem to have a lot of respect for life.”

Ryan shrugged noncommittally. “You’re correct. I do not. But I was raised in a world full of people who had no respect for life. My disrespect is more a result of the two decades I spent as a human than of the seven centuries I have spent as I am.”

Susan inched away from the edge, pressing herself against the building. “Why did you kill him?”

Ryan again shrugged off the act. “He was weak, and he was flawed, and he would have told the Others.”

“Why don’t you wish to be found?”

Ryan looked out across the city. “My Kind are attracted to me,” she paused, as if searching for words, “in the most inconvenient way. I want to be left alone.”

Susan had the feeling Ryan was leaving some very important details out. She was reluctant to ask her next question.

 “Why didn’t you Share with him?”

Ryan laughed without humor. “After what I’m used to, he would not satisfy me.”

Susan wanted to pursue this line of questioning, but not as much as she wanted to get off the ledge and down on the ground. Susan gestured towards the fire escape and Ryan nodded in acquiescence. Instead of helping her, however, Ryan leaped onto the ladder and slid the entire length to the ground.

Susan inwardly cursed her, silently arguing that she was too old for this type of stunt. Ryan watched her carefully, however, and Susan knew instinctively that the woman would not let her fall.

Once on the ground, Ryan set out for the alley where she had dumped the body. “Edward is outside the alley, tell him to pull in here, I’ll get this for you,” Ryan instructed over her shoulder.

Susan was dumbfounded. “What?”

Ryan paused, slightly impatient. “Bring the car around. I’ll retrieve the body for you.”

Susan was astonished. Not only had Ryan committed a crime, she now was nonchalantly returning to the scene to retrieve the body.

Ryan put her hands on her hips, looking at Susan as if she were a dimwitted child. “You said you wanted to study my Kind. Here’s a perfect opportunity for you.”

Susan still did not move and Ryan now left no room for discussion. “Get the car,” she said firmly.

The command finally had its desired affect and Susan, in a daze, went to find Edward. She hoped Jason wouldn’t see any of this.

Once the body was safely in the trunk, the limousine was on its way. Jason was fascinated by the buttons, the television, the refrigerator. Edward eyed him with some disapproval.

“Well, how do you expect to get that bo—,” she stopped, glancing at her preoccupied son, “That ‘thing’ upstairs to my lab?”

Ryan looked at Edward, and some sort of private communication passed between the two. Ryan sighed, turning her attention to Susan.

“You won’t be going back to your lab. Nor will you be going home.”

Ryan’s words were slow to sink in. “What?” Susan said, “What are you talking about?”

Ryan spoke with a rare hesitation. “It is why I sought you out today. Things,” she paused, searching for the words, “have become much more complicated.”

“What do you mean by more complicated?”

Ryan stared at her. “The Young One today was not searching for you, but he was here. That means that Others are here, or will be coming.”

Susan shook her head. “No, you were looking for me before that. What else has happened?

Ryan glanced at the elder man. “Edward?”

Edward turned to face Susan. “The men who attacked you the other day were not our Kind. They were employees of an international pharmaceutical company extremely interested in your work. The risk that they will find you is too great.”

“So what if they find me? So what? You don’t have to keep protecting me. Jason and I can go somewhere else.”

Edward managed to express his derision of the remark without saying a word. Susan turned to Ryan, who was watching Jason play with the buttons on the television “So you’re just going to imprison us?”

Ryan sighed. “Well, for the time being, yes. My hope is that it will be a temporary situation.”

Jason was finally beginning to follow the conversation. “What about my puppy?”

Edward turned to him, his demeanor still firm. “Your dog has already been moved. He will be there when you arrive.” Edward turned to Susan. “As well as most of your possessions, some of your lab equipment…” He paused as if forgetting something. “Oh yes, and your housekeeper as well.”