Revolution World (30 page)

"Not to doubt you, sir," replied Max. "But we are meeting today because I feel there is quite a bit more we could be doing. And I am not just talking about Seth. Texas has quite a large number of problems lately. Some of which we are involved in. All of them affect us. I can't help but feel this is an excellent time to cooperate on a dramatic gesture."

The governor started to reply, but the senator cut him off. "Let me introduce Jason here. He's the man who brought us Revolution World. All of it. Particularly the parts of the game that you and I have found so interesting lately," underlined the senator.

Jason cleared his throat. "I think you gentlemen need to understand exactly how popular Revolution World is. At this point, at least sixty percent of Texas plays the game. More than half of those players are members of the secret rooms that you gentlemen have been exploring lately." Jason paused to let that sink in. "So if you want to make a dramatic gesture, governor, your people stand at the ready."

The governor raised his eyebrows and sat back in his seat. The senator grinned. This was the most fun he'd had in years. Jason continued after sipping his beer, "Seth was doing valuable work for Revolution World. We need him back, sirs. We need him badly. And even more important, we cannot have him telling anything he knows to the military."

"Amen to that," said Max.

"But what can we do?" asked the governor, blowing out an angry breath. "If they won't give him back, we can't exactly send the Texas Rangers in to Idaho or wherever it is they have him. And you tell me the boy only has a week."

"Well, now there is a chance," answered Max. "It's a slim one and a long shot and a wee bit complicated. But it's better than nothing. We've been doing nothing for far too long. The American government is a big bully and it's time someone stood up to it."

The governor gave the men in front of him an appraising look. They grinned like fools. "What are we talking about here?" he asked them. "What do you boys have in mind?"

The senator leaned forward once more and gestured to the unnamed man sitting with them. "This gentleman here is Linus Marceux, the owner of SpaceTex. You know, that astronaut company out in Houston in charge of all the Texas satellites? Turns out he and Jason here are drinking buddies from way back in the day. They've been working on a little project that I think will come in handy very soon."

Linus nodded and began speaking with a thick Cajun accent. "Well sir, first off I want you to know that all them satellites we put up work just fine. It just doesn't suit us to let the big government man know all our business. They think I am an ignorant coonass who can't get a satellite working any better than a Yankee can do a keg stand? I let them keep thinking that. And let me just tell you, our satellites have a few extra bells and whistles that you boys might find useful. So there's that."

"Tell him about the trash," said Jason gleefully.

"I hadn't heard about trash," said the senator turning to look at Linus.

The man chuckled and scratched his red goatee thoughtfully. "Well, we come up with a way to clean up all the space trash out there, see? All them countries been dropping stuff in the thermosphere for decades and they want it out of the way for their shiny new toys. So we clean it up for them and we get
lagniappe
. We find a funny little use for all that trash."

It took a while to explain what they had in mind. The governor gasped. The senator roared with laughter. The other bar patrons slowly filtered out to find someplace where the wallscreen worked and they could use their handhelds. The five men called for the bartender's best whiskey, rolled up their sleeves, and began to plan some serious naughtiness.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

T
he last time Seth told Clio he was a vampire, they were fighting their way out of a military research facility. Clio dragged a groggy Seth down a series of corridors while alarms sounded.

"I'm so happy to see you," he slurred. They'd used a combination of sensory disorientation, electrocution and sedatives to try to get him to comply. It didn't work.

Seth would never, to his dying day, forget the sight of Clio kicking down that door. The light from the hallway filtered in behind her and a rush of cool air tossed her curls. She looked like an angel in steel-toed boots. A seriously pissed-off angel who was about lay down some vengeance. He was glad she was on his side.

He wanted to ask her where they were, how she found him, how long he'd been there, and how they were going to ever get free. But this first thing out of his mouth was: "Why did you shove cotton balls up my nose?"

"I'm soaked in synthetic pheromones. Any one who gets a whiff of me immediately takes a nap." That would explain all the soldiers curled up on the floor.

"I see. And what is this you handed me?" he asked.

"Laser gun. On second thought, give that back. You don't look too steady. Better takes some of these marijuana grenades. Just pull the pin, toss it at the bad guys and all they'll want to do is give peace a chance and feed the munchies." She smiled ferociously as she kicked open a door.

If she wasn't so afraid that she wanted to vomit up her spleen, Clio might almost enjoy this. Since they started playing Revolution World, she and her sisters had built up quite an arsenal and she was finally getting to use some of it.

They encountered plenty of resistance. Seth threw the grenades and Clio fired off laser bolts and taser pellets. Over the bodies of fallen soldiers, they finally made their way to the door out.

Seth stopped at the door and squinted at the sunlight. Behind them he could hear muted explosions as well as what sounded like small dogs barking and gun fire. She must have brought Team Pom or else he was just hallucinating.

"How far will we have to run?" he asked.

"Just over there. I brought your hovercar. I got as close as I could." She looked him over and winced at some of his injuries. "Come on, we've got to get out of here."

As they made the final run, time seemed to stop when Seth saw the two gunmen. He saw that they had on masks to filter out Clio's pheromones and smoke bombs. He saw that they had their guns pointed at Clio. He forgot about Clio's grenades.

Whenever Seth tried to remember those moments, it always came back to him like flipping through a series of photographs. First, he was leaping between Clio and the gunmen. Then, he was ripping the mask from one of the men, his retractable fangs fully extended. Next, he was sticky with blood and turning to the second gunman. Last, he was standing over two bodies, watching his skin burn and sizzle as he felt Clio's hand on his shoulder. That's when he noticed one of the nose plugs had come out.

Seth woke up later in the passenger seat of his car as it raced along much faster than he'd ever driven it before. Clio was clutching the wheel, staring at the road.

"Don't you have the autopilot on?" he rasped.

"Yes." She still didn't look at him.

"Then why don't you let go of the wheel?" he asked. Clio scowled at him but didn't reply.

After a moment, she handed him a jug of water. He drank it and took stock of his various injuries. Although it hurt like hell, the sun damage was not too bad on his face. He peeled back a bandage and examined his hand. That would definitely scar.

"I gave you a blood transfusion while you were out," she said stiffly. Seth flexed his fingers experimentally. The joints didn't scream in pain. He would live.

"What happened?" he asked.

Clio took a breath and let it out slowly. "They took you over a week ago. It took us a while, but Max and your cousin finally found you. Kalliope and your uncle made some modifications to your car. I came alone with the poms."

Seth looked back to see a bunch of singed fluffballs lolling their tongues at him.

Clio gave him a short smile. "We lost one back there and I had to leave another at home. Apparently, you're going to get puppies soon."

"Oh," was all he could think to say at first. "Where are we?"

"Halfway home. You've been out for about five hours," she replied, gripping the steering wheel tighter. "You grabbed the guns from those soldiers like you were plucking grapes."

"Endorphins. And I've been working out," Seth muttered feebly.

"You tore those guys' throats out with your teeth," Clio replied tersely. "I didn't even see them until you were shredding their masks! And then you ripped them apart. You have fangs! You drank their blood." She screeched and threw up her hands. And there it was.

"I told you I was a vampire," he said quietly. He couldn't resist adding, "Twice."

"Oh don't start with me, mister. First I thought you were joking, as you well know. And that second time, I thought you meant you were doing a vampire LARPing game. But no! I examined you while you were out, you know. You have retractable fangs." She pointed at him accusingly.

Seth frowned, distracted. "LARPing?"

"Oh, you know, 'Live Action Role Playing.' LARPing. It's what you nerd boys do. I thought you were just letting me know you are extra-special dorky, not that you are a member of the undead."

Seth thought about that for a minute.

"No, I still don't get it. People actually go pretend to be vampires together? What do they do, exactly? Sneak around trying to bite each other with fake fangs?"

"I'm not really sure. I looked it up on the globenet. It seems to involve hand signals and costumes." Clio had gotten sidetracked.

Seth arched an eyebrow. "You thought I pretended to be a vampire as a hobby? You must think I'm really weird."

"Well, of course I thought you were weird," Clio said softly. "But that's why I like you. I'm really weird too. But you really are a vampire."

"Yes," he replied. She said nothing. She didn't even look at him.

So this was it. She'd finally realized his true nature and was repulsed. Seth felt a wave of despair as he watched her frown silently.

"So, how does that work exactly? You can't be undead. That's just stupid. I'm a geneticist and I refuse to believe in the undead," Clio said, deep in thought. "Obviously you have some sort of genetic abnormality that causes you to burn in sunlight. That would make a lot of sense with the glowing eyes and teeth thing. Some kind of porphyry or an alteration to the kidney function? Maybe it's a strange permutation of lupus."

He couldn't believe her. He'd gone from being a monster to an interesting science project in fifteen minutes. There really was no one quite like her. If he could convince her not to dissect him, he was going to marry this girl some day.

"Of course, I am not undead. This isn't a fairy tale. It's just some weird medical disorder," Seth said. "I should tell you this, though. While very few of us that survive to adulthood and almost no one survives if they are not from a family that knows how to deal with the disease, we do live a long time. Not forever, but under certain conditions there are some that have lived over three hundred years."

"Really?" she asked, with interest. "How is that possible?"

Seth shrugged. "I'm not really sure, but there are people at Omerta who are over two hundred and look like they are in their fifties. We almost never catch diseases."

"Very interesting. Perhaps the constant transfusions retards the aging process," replied Clio. "I wonder why. Think of the medical applications. Got any other neat tricks up your sleeve? Can you fly or something too?" She was only half joking.

He rolled his eyes. "No. I can't fly or turn into a bat. Some of us do have enhanced senses. Better hearing, better eyesight, that kind of thing. Most of us are a little faster and stronger than your average guy, but nothing super. Like me. I have great night vision, but I'm still klutzy."

"Aw, really? You can't turn into a bat but you live forever and have a rock star immune system? Bummer." Clio whistled. Then it occurred to her to ask, "So how old are you then?"

"Sixty-four."

Clio gave him a disbelieving look.

"I'm not counting in dog years either. I was born sixty-four years ago," Seth continued.

She reached over and smacked him on the head. "You jerk. You should have told me this a long time ago. Man, I can't wait to get you back in the lab and get some samples."

Great. She'd want bone marrow, a brain sample or something involving huge needles.

Clio had another thought. "No wonder you guys don't put yourselves on the UN list for gene modification or get the disease officially recognized. I bet a lot of you don't want to be cured."

"Exactly. It's not a great life. No sunlight. Lots of secrecy. But it has its benefits." He swallowed and then said quickly, "You don't mind being with an old man like me?"

"Ick. Old guy." Clio wrinkled her nose playfully. "Like I care about that."

Seth pushed her. She giggled and then had a revelation. "Wait. How many people have ZFD at Omerta?"

Seth hesitated, and then sighed. "All of them."

Clio almost jumped out her seat. "All of them? Your uncle! Your whole family. Gloria?" She was floored. "Your uncle is a vampire? Oh man, my Mom is going to freak out."

"We can't tell her," Seth said quickly.

She gave him a withering look. "Yeah, sure. You keep telling yourself that. See who she breaks first."

Things on the dashboard began to light up. Clio began tapping at various consoles.

"So when we were together, you were thirsting for my blood, like in the books? You were keeping yourself from tearing my throat and drinking me dry?" She had stopped looking at him again.

Seth snorted in disgust. "Bah. That's the worst part of the vampire mythos. I mean, in the heat of lust that you'd want to start drinking someone's blood? Gross. When we are passionate together, do you want a ham sandwich? When you get hungry, do you think about roasting and eating your dog? No, it's ridiculous. We are rational humans. We don't suddenly become cannibals at the first hunger pang. If we are sick, we take medicine. That's what blood is for us--medicine."

She laughed so he continued. "And those movies! They make it seem as though the victims of vampire attack get some sort of sexual thrill from the whole thing. It's just silly. Do you find it sexually thrilling to cut your hand or bump your knee? No. Foolishness."