Dread Nemesis of Mine (17 page)

"Food will be no issue. Even now we only
accept those with the desire to see deeper into themselves. To
become more than they are. Those noms who are sheep, who don't care
about advancing, will be used as cattle because they deserve
nothing more."

"So you get to choose who's predator and
prey? Who receives immortality and who gets to be a vampiric
pincushion?" I pulled my mouth into a sneer. "You're not a god.
You're a sicko."

Maximus opened his mouth as if to argue then
clamped his teeth shut with a click. His fist pounded the table
right next to my head. "Obviously, you're beyond reason. I'd hoped
to convince you I'm right. Perhaps then you'd donate blood to the
cause, and I could free you."

Son of a bitch, I could have gotten
free!

Talk about screwing myself over. "Uh,
actually, you are making sense," I said. "Maybe I was just angry
and felt the need to lash out."

Maximus laughed. "Too late." He leaned in
close. "Too late. I gave you a chance and you slapped my helping
hand away. Perhaps in another year or so I'll reconsider. If it
isn't too late by then."

I ground my teeth.

The vampire sat back down on his stool. "I
know a little of your history, Justin Slade. Your former classmate
Brad Nichols had plenty to say about you."

"Yeah, great job turning him into a vampling,
by the way." Brad hadn't been my BFF or anything, but I wouldn't
wish turning into one of the walking dead on anyone.

"I regret our original serum was unable to
fully turn him, but he accepted the risk. I knew people like this
Brad Nichols when I was young. Kids who thought they were better
than everyone else and took what they wanted from the weak. I, too,
was bullied and harassed."

I gave him an incredulous look. "Dude, you're
huge. Who would mess with you?"

"Believe it or not, I was short and scrawny.
I grew up in New York and attended a Jewish school. This wasn't
popular with the Catholic kids in my neighborhood."

"You're Jewish?"

"I was adopted by Jewish immigrants who found
me abandoned when they arrived at port. My real parents left me
behind a rat-infested warehouse. I probably would have been eaten
to the bones had not my adopted father gone around the back to
urinate and found me naked on the ground."

I grimaced. "That's horrible. What kind of
people would do that to a baby?"

The look he returned sent chills down my
spine. "Believe me, I asked them the same question when I found
them." His fangs slid out an inch.

Somehow, I managed not to gulp. "What made
you decide to become a vampire?"

"The Master, persecuted by his brethren, fled
here from Britain and took a teaching position at my school. He saw
how poorly my peers treated me and took me under his wing. When I
reached a mature age after university, he offered me the chance for
immortality." Maximus held out his hands. "And here I am."

Try as I might, I couldn't make myself hate
the guy. After all, he hadn't really kidnapped my sister, although,
yeah, I guess he'd kidnapped me and my father. But it wasn't for an
evil cause or anything. In fact, the more I thought about his
crimes, the more reasonable they seemed. Maximus was an all right
guy who wanted what was best for me and everyone else. And he had
the prettiest glowing red eyes.

Something from recent memory prompted me to
look away from those glinting rubies and squeeze my eyes shut. The
positive feelings I had for him faded and a dull ache settled into
my head. "Stop using your little vampire tricks on me," I said.
"Maybe you had a rotten childhood. Maybe rats almost ate you. It's
sad—tragic even. But it's no excuse to kidnap me or my father and
start Overworld War One or whichever war you guys are on now." I
opened my eyes and looked him full on. "So cut it out."

A surprised look crossed his face. "How did
you—" He shook his head. "You're right. Compulsion is obviously not
the way to convince you. Perhaps one day you'll see and agree with
me. Until then, I regret to say, you must be confined. Once we've
dealt with the impending Templar attack, I'll see about relocating
you to more comfortable quarters."

"Templar attack?"

"Oh, yes." He smiled. "Their fearless leader,
Thomas Borathen, has a very sneaky plan in mind."

"And you know this how?"

"How else? Daelissa has eyes and ears
everywhere. One of her minions delivered the details to me. I
regret to say we'll have to kill any Templar who sets foot in my
domain."

Fear stabbed into my chest. Would Elyssa be
in the attacking force? "What do they plan to do?"

"How about this—I'll tell you all about it
for your next bedtime story." He checked the time on his phone. "In
fact, we have only a few more hours until our uninvited guests show
up."

"No, please, Maximus. I'll do whatever you
want. Don't kill them."

He leaned down until his face was half an
inch from mine. "You spurned my offer earlier, Slade. I may be kind
to my allies, but I am unforgiving to my enemies. Bear this in mind
for future reference."

With that, he left the room.

"I think your friends are in dire trouble,"
said the nearly monotone voice of my roommate after a moment of
silence.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Elyssa

Bella opened Jean-Claude's apartment with a
swish of her wand.

"Finally," Fausta said and pushed past the
other woman. "Took you long enough."

"They had wards protecting this place." Bella
followed her in. "If I'd opened it without disarming them, every
Templar in the compound would have come running."

Elyssa touched Bella's arm. "Can you check
the locks on the other apartments? Maybe disarm them in
advance?"

The Arcane smiled. "What a wonderful idea,
Elyssa. I'll be back soon."

As soon as the other woman vanished, Elyssa
stormed over to Fausta and jerked her away from the kitchen drawer
she was rifling. "What the hell's your problem with Bella?"

"Let me go before I—"

"Before you what? Start a fight in an
officer's apartment, which you've just illegally broken into?"

Fausta freed her arm and resumed looking
through the drawer. "Fine. I'll treat her nice." She flicked her
eyes to Elyssa. "Happy?"

Elyssa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I swear
you're the grumpiest, most volatile Templar I've met."

"I'm not grumpy!"

"You'd never even know how pretty you are
with that frown always on your face. It's like someone pees in your
oatmeal every morning."

"I don't frown all the—wait, you think I'm
pretty?" A look of astonishment crossed Fausta's face.

Elyssa felt acutely uncomfortable. "Uh,
yeah—but don't let it go to your head."

"Well, well, what have we here?" said a male
voice from the door.

The two women jumped.

Adam Nosti waved from his position where he
casually leaned on the doorframe. He arched an eyebrow. "I knew you
guys had that furtive look to you." He pushed off the jamb and
glanced around the room. "Isn't this one of the officer's
quarters?"

"Shhh," Elyssa said and snatched him by the
arm, jerking him further inside. Half a dozen lies ran through her
head before she decided to tell him the truth. Adam, after all, was
quite the conspiracy theorist, so he might believe her. "We think
there's a traitor in Christian's upper brass."

"A traitor?" said a horrified voice from the
doorway. Meghan came inside, eyes wide.

"
Madre de dios
," Bella said, coming in
behind Meghan. "Who let the dogs out?"

All eyes settled on her, and for a brief
moment, there was absolute silence.

"Does that not mean what I think it does?"
the Arcane said, her eyes uncertain. "I'm practicing my American
idioms."

"If they know we're in here, who else is
going to just stumble in?" Fausta demanded, arms akimbo. "We
haven't even searched the first apartment yet."

"Looking for incriminating evidence?" Adam
said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I have a practiced hand at
that."

Meghan crossed her arms and glared at the
others. "Nobody's doing a thing until you explain what in the world
is going on in here."

Elyssa gave her the short version, leaving
out the details about Underborn's involvement.

"I can't possibly believe a Templar would do
such a thing," the healer replied. "And even if they did, what do
you expect to find in their living quarters? A signed invitation
from Maximus to betray Christian? Emails? A video of the suspect
calling the vampires and telling them what to do?" She shook her
head. "You need to question the suspects and find out what they
know."

"Honey, you never know," Adam said in a
placating voice. "Sometimes, if you look hard enough, you can find
all sorts of telltale signs people leave behind."

"We don't have time to round them up and play
twenty questions." Elyssa resisted the urge to stomp her foot like
a child. "Justin's in trouble, his sister is in trouble, and if
Maximus knows about our upcoming attack, the vampires will
slaughter our people."

"For the sake of argument, you think this
betrayal happened within the past few days?" Meghan asked.

"It must have. My father probably told
Christian a day or two in advance that we were coming."

"Very well." The Arcane healer sighed and
pulled out her wand. "I may have a spell for such a thing, provided
any communications happened no more than three days ago, and they
happened here."

Adam's eyebrows shot up. "Whoa, what spell
are you talking about?"

She offered him a sly smile. "A girl's got to
have some secrets."

Bella took a seat. "This should be
fascinating."

"Get up!" Fausta said. "You might shed hair,
and Jean-Claude will know someone was here."

The Arcane pulled a long strand of hair from
the back of the couch. "I think someone already beat me to it."

"You know how you wondered what the walls
would say if they could talk?" Meghan said, weaving her wand in an
intricate pattern around the room.

"You can bring inanimate objects to life?"
Bella asked.

Meghan smiled. "Not exactly." Her wand
emitted blue particles of light, which dusted the room in a cold
glow. "Everything absorbs energy, and the energy leaves behind a
pattern. This spell pulls the sound patterns back out and plays
them."

"Holy mother," Adam said. "Do you know what I
could do with a spell like that? How much it would help my
investigations?"

Meghan's eyes hardened. "Save the discussion
for another time, Adam." She opened her mouth to say something else
when the faint sound of voices echoed in the room—voices that
belonged to someone other than the intruders.

"Oh, Jean-Claude, you naughty man. What are
you going to do to me on this couch?" said a female in a sultry
voice.

"Let's just say we'll be cleaning up
afterward," said a low, French voice.

Bella leapt off the couch, brushing at her
clothes as if they were on fire.

Meghan's face burned bright red. "Those were
the earlier conversations. Let me forward through to the more
current patterns."

Elyssa went to the door to stand watch as
Meghan worked her magic. Thankfully, the officers were still in
preparations for the upcoming operation. They might not even return
to their quarters for the evening. But if Elyssa couldn't find the
traitor, she planned to stop the operation one way or the other. No
Templar blood would be spilled if she could help it.

Adam appeared at her side. "I need to talk to
you."

"Then talk."

He motioned her into the hallway. Elyssa
reluctantly stepped outside the door, looking toward the building
lobby to be sure they weren't visible to anyone who happened by
outside.

"My sister is in Maximus's compound."

"I know."

"She hasn't always been perfect, but she's
all the family I have left in the world." He took a deep breath.
"Look, there's something you're not telling us. I've been at this
investigation gig for too long not to be able to tell when someone
is keeping secrets."

Elyssa crossed her arms, her mind searching
for reasons not to tell Adam about Underborn. The Arcane geek had
helped her and Justin a lot in the short time they'd known him.
He'd even given them instructions for finding the assassin. While
she definitely didn't want to tell Christian or her father, Adam
deserved to know. "It's not really a secret, but I don't want other
Templars to know."

"Know what?"

"Underborn has a plan to get Justin out, but
he won't commit unless I find the Templar mole. He claims the spy
would compromise his people inside Maximus's compound."

Adam swore and furrowed his brow. "Can he get
my sister out?"

"We can ask."

"No, we have to insist. Even if we have to
lie about the mole, we've got to make him get Felicia out of
there."

"You want to lie to the Overworld's deadliest
assassin?"

He looked straight into her eyes. "Without a
doubt. If it saves her, then damned be the consequences."

A twinge of doubt plucked at Elyssa's nerves.
"I don't think Meghan would like to hear you talking that way."

He smiled. "Then let's be sure we find the
mole." His gaze darted toward the apartment. "I'll go help
her."

Elyssa watched him go back inside. She hadn't
thought about lying to Underborn, but since Adam mentioned it, she
felt slightly more assured about their mission. If it meant saving
Justin, she'd lie to Underborn in a heartbeat. She checked the
time. Less than two hours until deadline. If she could do this
right, she would, otherwise, she'd lie.

After what seemed hours, but was in reality
only half an hour, Meghan worked through the sound patterns while
Adam recorded them on his arcphone so he could search them for key
phrases. Despite having a lot of crazy sex, nothing indicated
Jean-Claude was the traitor.