The Superiors (37 page)

Draven glanced around the room one more time for his shirt and didn’t see it. So he put the butt of his cigarette in the glass of water beside Hyoki’s bed and walked out. When he got back to his apartment complex, he wished he’d waited until evening to end things with Hyoki. Sleeping in his own apartment only reminded him of how much he lacked in his life. Now he didn’t even have a girl to distract him.

Squinting against the morning sunlight, he climbed the stairs to his apartment with heavy feet. He took out his pod and checked his account again—no new activity. He sighed and stopped at his door. Someone came into the hall. He knew the smell of her, the sound of her, the feel of her energy. He didn’t turn towards her, even when she came along the hall and stood behind him.

“What, you’re not talking to me now?” she asked.

“Hello, Lira. Can I help you?”

“I haven’t seen you around in a while. I thought maybe you moved, but I checked your file in the database, and this is still listed as your residence. Where have you been?”

“I went on a secret government mission.”

“You don’t have to get all sarcastic on me. I just asked out of concern.”

He sighed. She tired him and gave him a headache every time he talked to her. If he wanted all that, he’d go out in the sunlight and get the same result. At least he knew how to get rid of sunlight headaches. This headache had no cure.

Lira followed him inside without an invitation and looked around like she thought she’d find some clue as to where he’d been. He’d told her, but of course she hadn’t believed that. After all, he was only a Third like her. What would the government want him for?

He looked at her a long moment. He knew of one way to make the headache of her badgering go away. After a minute he smiled. What would it hurt? He hadn’t managed to get rid of her with rudeness in the past. At least he could get something out of it if he indulged her.

“Only you,” he said. He waited for her reaction, a bit cautious.

She came over and put her arms around his neck and pressed against him. “That’s all I wanted to hear all along,” she said. She smiled up at him and flicked her tongue out to lick his bottom lip.

“Then let’s quit this silly talk and go in the bedroom.”

“Can I stay the day?”

He gave a little smirk and untangled himself from her arms. They always clung on with such binding force. “We’ll see. Ask me afterwards.”

Perhaps he’d let her stay this time. He didn’t have anything better to do.

Chapter Forty-Nine

The moment Draven awoke the next evening—alone—he checked his account. The full one thousand anya deposit showed at the top of his account activity. By morning he would be the proud owner of one piece of livestock, homo-sapien number 8813871, Cali Youngblood.

He could hardly contain his excitement. He wanted to tell someone of his good fortune. But Hyoki gave him a cool look at work and he returned it, and they didn’t exchange words. He had never gotten close to her, anyway, or any woman since Myrna. The person he wanted to tell was Byron Kingsley. Perhaps after he bought Cali, he’d leave Byron a message. His superior would approve of such a wise investment.

The hours crawled by. Finally, at last, Draven finished work. He punched out, received his pay, and slid behind the wheel of the Mert. The car was old and basic, but it felt like a luxury model Rosso tonight. Draven rode like a king in his little unremarkable car.

Tonight he would change his life.

But first, he had to think of the practical things. He stopped at a feed-store and bought a box of crackers, a few cans of beans, a can of mangoes, and a few containers of vegetables. At the counter he scanned the food items and then added a caramel. It was an expensive item and he didn’t want to spoil Cali, but he wanted to make the first night as pleasant as possible for her.

After he left the store he stopped for a few minutes at a small shop down the street. He came out and tossed his purchase on the seat beside him—a basic guide for sapien care. He thought he knew the basics already, but he would probably overlook something obvious and look like a fool. He didn’t want his sap to think he had no idea what to do for her.

After making his last stop, he made his way toward the Confinement. He tried to contain his enthusiasm a bit. After all, he only meant to purchase a sap. Lots of people owned one. He already felt like an idiot and he hadn’t even bought her yet. Sure, Cali was special, and this night meant a lot to Draven, but it wasn’t like she was a person. The thought of seeing her shouldn’t make him quite so happy. He reminded himself that he only wanted to see her to satisfy his craving.

“You been outta town? What kinda excuse is that? You know how to use your pod? Come on, now. Next time you better think up a good excuse.”

Draven laughed and allowed the large woman to embrace him. “I want to fill out the forms today, but I have some other business to take care of first.”

“Business? What kinda business you got here?”

“I’m buying a sap.”

“Nuh uh, no way. You mean to tell me you come into some money and you ain’t shared it with Big Bonnie? Come on now. I thought we was friends.”

“I’ll come by and fill out the forms for the job at the same time as the ownership files.”

“Alright then. You just go on and get yourself a good one and we’ll get you all squared away. Least you know if your sap runs away you’ll be the first one to find her. I’m gonna draw up your files right now. You come on back here as soon as you find the one you want, you hear now?”

“Yes, Bonnie. I’ll be back shortly.”

Draven left Big Bonnie, a bit impatient at the delay. Still, he always found himself in better spirits after talking to her. He pushed through the doors of Cali’s old barracks before he remembered she didn’t sleep in the bunks anymore. He continued anyway, glancing at her old bunk out of habit. A young man slept there.

Draven exited the barracks and turned into the muddy lane that led down the middle of the row of shanties. He stopped at the booth at the end of the row and scanned his card. He could have done this after he had her, but since he already knew which sap he wanted, and he already knew her number, he got the formalities out of the way first. He punched in Cali’s number and was ready to push the FINISH button when the screen blinked back at him.

He grew irritated. The Superior guard stood in the booth reading a magazine on shoe design. Draven had to knock on the counter before the man looked up.

“Hello there, gorgeous,” the man said. More of a boy, really. “Remember me?”

Draven looked a minute and then he did remember him. The boy had worked at 28 Flavors. For Ander. Ander, whom Draven had killed five weeks ago. He felt a sudden stab of paranoia, that somehow the boy would know. But he doubted the boy owed allegiance to Ander anymore. After all, Ander had died and the boy—Crane, Draven thought—had found employment elsewhere.

“Ooh, you buying a sap? I like a man with money, honey. I knew you looked delicious and now I’m only getting more and more turned on. Let me help you with that.”

Crane took Draven’s ID card, touching his hand longer than necessary in the process. “It’s not my ID that’s not working. It’s the sapien code.”

“Okay, I got it. Tell me the code and I’ll look her up right here.”

Draven stirred restlessly, glancing down the row of houses. He could have just gone down to her house and known by now. He kept running into people who wanted to talk, when Draven just wanted to go claim his prize.

“Um, you see, she’s not in our system anymore.”

“She died?” Draven asked, feeling something like panic set in. He’d done all this, and he’d thought about her lying sick in the hospital while he was gone. But towards the end, and especially after he’d completed the mission and knew he’d have enough to buy her, he hadn’t let himself think about the possibility of her not surviving. He had the money, he meant to buy her, and he couldn’t accept any other outcome. He’d killed a man so that he could have this one thing. He had to have it. Otherwise he was just a murderer.

Crane shrugged. “I wish I could tell you. All I know is she’s not in our system. She could have died, or someone could have bought her, or a restaurant, or she could have run away and gone to the blood bank. Or maybe she got sent to another compound across town that needed more females. I don’t have the information here, but the office probably does. All I have is information on the ones we do have. Anything else you’d be interested in? Or maybe it’s not a sap you’re needing anyway. I don’t mind a little bite now and then if the moment is right.”

Draven turned away and rubbed his face. “
Merde, merde, merde
.” He tried to collect his thoughts, to think of what he should do next. “Okay. I will be back.” He slid his ID card back across the counter and strode down center pathway. He stopped at Cali’s house and pulled back the tin flap. He didn’t bother knocking tonight.

“Hey, wake up,” Draven said. “I need to talk to you.”

One of the sisters sat up and squinted at him. He counted four bodies in the bed and almost let himself believe there had been a mistake. But he didn’t smell Cali, and after a moment he remembered that one of the sisters had a baby. He lowered his voice when he spoke again.

“Yeah,” the other sister said. “A week sounds right. Then she came back here and she was real weak for a while. But then I think she was pretty much all better?”

“So what happened to her?” Draven asked, trying to pace in the one meter of floor space and finding that he could only turn in circles.

If he hadn’t waited so long. If he’d gone right when he got the money. Or even before that, if he’d come when he got back, at least he could have drawn from her one more time. He’d thought about her taste the whole time he wandered in the desert. The promise of it had kept him going when he wanted to give up and stop walking. And when he’d come back, he felt like he’d caught a faint whiff of her scent when he reached the city. The craving had set in the moment they’d drawn close. And now someone else had bought her, someone who probably didn’t crave her half so much.

“Dammit.” Draven hit the wall with his palm and the house began to tilt. He grabbed the support and righted the small house. The girls’ eyes went wide and they breathed a collective sigh when he saved their lodging from collapse. “Dammit, dammit, dammit,” he repeated. “Who is he?”