Vampire Miami (20 page)

“‘Like tigers in a cage,’” said Cassie.

Cloud nodded. “They can’t go anywhere. And they
know that right now there are scientist types trying to come up
with some kind of vampire superflu or that the damned politicians
that got us in this mess are trying to work up the nerve to drop a
nuclear bomb on the city. Something, anything that could wipe them
all out at once. Which means what? They have to get out.”

Selah nodded. “But they can’t. That would break
the Treaty.”

“Right,” said Cloud. “So they need to get the
Treaty out of the way. They need to get our government to tear it
up. How they going do that? By changing the way we see them. At the
moment everybody thinks of them as cold-hearted monsters that need
to be destroyed. But think about it—what do they spend all their
time doing? Turn on the damn TV and what do you see? What’s online?
What image are they trying to push?”

Selah blinked. “What, like, the reality TV
shows?”

“Yes,” said Barbara, “and the parties. The
interviews they’ve been giving on the news channels. The movies
they’ve allowed to be filmed. The Freedom Fights. All of it.”

“But—the Freedom Fights are disgusting,” said
Selah. “How can that be part of it?”

“They’re not trying to be nice guys,” said
Barbara. “They’re going for dangerous, sexy, popular. Whatever.
They want to seduce the human public, and, like, the Freedom Fights
are the most popular feeds online. I don’t know what it says about
us humans, but they’re a freaking hit.”

Selah’s mind was spinning. “So, what you’re
saying—South Beach, all of that—that’s a publicity stunt?”

Cloud nodded. “They’re figuring things out as
they go. I think the movies from last year, like
Nowhere to
Run
and
Eternal Dark
were their first big steps. Huge
box office numbers. Sure, those films made them look bad, but go
one level deeper. They were commercial movies filmed here in Miami.
It took the vampires from being real enemies to cinematic enemies.
Remember all the interviews with Lacrime, the head evil vampire
from the movie? How sophisticated and suave he sounded, how he was
on every channel? How the studios couldn’t stop going on about how
they had actually ‘worked’ with the vampires to make the film
‘authentic’? It was amazing stuff, a real coup for them. And just
the first step.”

“I … wow. I hadn’t thought about that.” Selah
looked around. Everybody stared at her, expressions serious.

“Yeah. And South Beach is the film set for all
this. It’s all moving in that direction.” Cloud stood, began to
pace, head bent. “It’s brilliant in a really sick, disgusting way.
Do you know when they started allowing the Red Cross and all those
other guys inside? Last year. Remember the press conferences?
Vampires like Karl telling the world that they couldn’t, in good
conscience, keep those sources of aid out of the city when so many
people were in need?” Cloud stopped pacing and stared at Selah in
an almost accusatory manner. “You think they care? But did it make
them look good or what? Now everybody knows we’ve got Amnesty
International, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, church groups, the
works, all of them here with the vampires’ blessings.”

Selah lowered her head into her hands, pressed
on her temples. It was too much. Everything was changing. “I
thought they just didn’t care to do all the work themselves. To
keep us alive.”

“Sure,” said Joey eagerly, “they don’t want to
do that, either. Let the humans keep the humans alive. But they
don’t need forty thousand of us to feed off of. Just a couple
thousand would do. They could let us all starve and not be
affected. But what would that do to their image?”

“Exactly,” said Cloud. “Their fucking image.
That’s where the real battle is taking place. Why do you think they
need money? Why do you think they’re letting billionaires buy their
way into immortality? Why do you think they let people buy their
freedom at a hundred grand or with their credits? Why are they
chasing every drug cartel in the Mexican Free States and allowing
them to use Miami as a port of entry? They need cash. But why? What
the hell does a vampire need money for when they own the whole
city?”

“I …” Selah shook her head. Why the hell
did
vampires need cash?

“Lobbyists,” said Cassie darkly from where she’d
turned to watch them. Selah laughed. Stopped abruptly when she saw
how intently Cassie was staring at her. “Seriously. Lobbyists.
They’re pouring money into Washington. Like you wouldn’t believe.
Trying to change regulations, trying to change everything.”

Cloud sat down but remained on the edge of his
seat. “Think about it. For thousands of years, they spent all their
energy and effort hiding from us. But then along came technology,
and eventually surveillance and stuff became so pervasive, they
were flushed into view. And now they’re doing the opposite. They’re
trying to become mainstream, trying to become cool. I’ve heard that
they’re already filming a new movie with a vampire as the love
interest. Some sort of romantic thing. Would you believe me if I
told you they’re trying to position themselves so that when martial
law gets lifted and Congress gets back together, they’re in line to
get nonvoting membership like Puerto Rico’s got?”

“OK, OK, enough!” said Selah. She stood, walked
to the stairs, turned back around. Felt suddenly claustrophobic.
“Enough, just give me a moment.” She closed her eyes. Tried to
allow her thoughts to settle. Did this make sense? She thought
about the inside of Magnum, people standing around drinking
nervously, watching each other. Thought about the embassy and all
the aid delivered each day into the city. Thought about all the
stuff she’d seen online.

Selah massaged her forehead and then opened her
eyes again. “OK. So, fine. Say the vampires are on this huge
marketing campaign to change their image. Still, it’ll never work.
I mean, I can see them becoming a little more mainstream, whatever,
but we still know they’re vampires. It’s one thing to see one in a
movie, another to think about letting them go.”

Cloud shook his head. “You’re thinking short
term. These guys live forever. All they need to do right now is get
enough public support, give enough money to the government so that
nobody wants to actually drop a bomb on them. Say in twenty years
they get representation. Become cool. Continue pouring money into
all the right pockets. Then in forty years they’re given diplomatic
immunity while visiting the US. In sixty years, maybe. Finally, one
day, all the people who were actually alive during the War will be
dead. Nobody will remember it firsthand. They’ll only know the
image the vampires have been putting forth, and before you know it,
the Treaty gets torn up.”

Selah looked at Cloud. “You really believe
that’s what’s going on? That’s what’s going to happen?”

Cloud held her gaze with all seriousness. “I do.
I’ve bet my life on it. That’s why we’re set up the way we are.
What would killing one or two vampires do? Nothing, other than make
them hunt us down. What we have to do is kill this new image
they’re putting out there. And the only way to do that is to keep
showing the world what kind of monsters the vampires are, and how
they all need to be destroyed.”

His words hung in the air, and they all watched
Selah. She sat back down, sank into the couch, and leaned back.
Tried to sort through it all. The permutations and implications of
Cloud’s words. The information had been coming so fast that she
hadn’t even had a chance to ask the most important question, the
one that had carried her all the way from Brooklyn to this
underground room. “What about the Blood Dust trade?”

“Blood Dust?” Cloud frowned. “I’ve heard it’s
out there on the streets, but not much. The vampires here in Miami
have come out against it.”

“I know, but why? What is it? My father was
investigating all this when he disappeared. He’d dug up some
connections with a government program called The Hybrid Project,
and the name of a military officer called Colonel Caldwell. Does
any of that sound familiar?”

Cloud looked around at the others, who shook
their heads. He looked back to Selah. “That shit’s coming out of
LA. There’s virtually no communication between the vampires here
and in California. It’s like they want nothing to do with each
other. It’s big in on the West Coast, even in some of the cities on
the Eastern Seaboard, but here in Miami? It’s a one way ticket to
getting your ass put on ice. Sorry. You came to the wrong city if
that’s what you’re looking to learn about.”

Selah lowered her face into her hands and
massaged her eyes. “I know. That’s what I’ve been hearing since I
got here.” She fought back the exhaustion, the despair. Took a deep
breath. “Still, I’m here now.” It took all her strength to raise
her head. To look at Cloud. “So I might as well do what I can. All
this stuff you’ve been telling me about. How come nobody knows
about all this?”

Cassie snorted. “Who says they don’t? We think a
whole bunch of people do, but guess who the vampires are giving all
their cash to? All the best people got taken during the war.
There’s nobody up top any longer with backbone. Just the same
cowards who signed the treaty to begin with.”

Another pause. Selah shook her head. “Wait a
second. Why—why are you all telling me this? Joey—you said you
couldn’t bring me in last time. My identity was compromised. What’s
changed?”

“Everything,” said Cloud. “I didn’t want to
bring you in before because—damn.” He stood again. His brow creased
with anger. “It’s a huge responsibility, bringing somebody in. It’s
my call, and if something goes wrong, if something happens to you?
I have to live with it. Like I live with what happened to Freddy,
and Susannah, and—anyway.” He looked away, stared at the ground,
and then nodded. “Anyway. Doesn’t matter now. You’re already openly
connected with us at this point. So it’s not like taking you in is
going to change anything.” He looked up at her again, stepped
forward and lowered himself smoothly into a crouch, balancing
easily on the balls of his feet. “And second, you can give us a
real chance to take things to the next level. You’re in. Karl wants
you. Which will give you access to all kinds of stuff we could
never get to. So. That’s why we’ve brought you here. We want to
hear what’s happened to you, what Karl wants you for, and what
you’re planning to do. And if you can, we want you to join us. Help
us get the truth out there.”

How could one person hold so much intensity in
their body? His voice was low, quiet, but each word resonated with
emotion. There were no layers to him. Nothing but what he felt,
nothing but his raw, almost wounded directness. She had trouble
meeting his eyes. “How did you know it was a trap?”

Joey fielded that one. “I mean, the guy records
a huge feed of the two of you and places it in your Garden where he
knows we’ll see it, and then leaves you with an Omni that’s
broadcasting your GPS. It was a clear invitation to come get
you.”

“Which Cloud should not have done,” said Cassie.
“Sorry, Selah, but Cloud, that was a bullshit move. Too
dangerous.”

“Whatever. I wasn’t going to leave her out there
like that.” Cloud hadn’t taken his eyes off her. “So, what’s the
deal? What’s got Karl on your case?”

Selah took a deep breath. She didn’t want to
think about it. That pain. That misery that had pushed her right to
the edge. But she had too. So she told him. Focused on Cloud, and
spoke directly to him, allowing his eyes to lead her through the
events. Draw her past the worst of it, the compassion and pain and
anger giving her strength. She gave him the outline in a quiet
voice, spoke of Charles, her blood, Karl’s blackmail, his desire,
and when she was done, looked down at the ground. The silence that
followed was painful.

“Jesus,” said Barbara.

“Selah, I’m so sorry,” said Joey.

Cloud didn’t say anything. Fury simmered just
under his skin, and then he rose to his feet, seized a chair and
smashed it against the wall. Cast down the fragments and pushed
back his hair with both hands, to stand with his back to them,
staring at the floor, body thrumming as if a live power cord was
mainlining electricity right into him. Everybody sat staring,
frozen. Finally he turned, rubbed his face and then laced his hands
behind his neck to stare at Selah.

“Those miserable fucks.”

“It is what it is,” she said, trying for
matter-of-fact, shaken by his vehemence and given heart both. “I
was—I was thinking of ending it all before Cloud showed up. It
seemed like—it seemed like the only way out.” Selah tried to smile,
to not let those dark feelings swamp her once more. Cloud’s eyes
were devouring her. She looked down. “But that’s not the only
option now. I’d like to help. I’m not sure how I could, but, well …
after a vampire feeds on me, I get all kinds of crazy fast and
strong. Maybe I could do things then to help out that you can’t
pull off by yourselves.”

Cloud shook his head and stared at the ground,
thinking. Looked up at her. “I don’t know what to say. Selah, I’m
sorry. For what you’re going through. For what’s happened to you.
It shouldn’t happen to anybody. This fucking city. Those damn
politicians.” He shook his head again, and then released a deep
breath. “I’m up for taking risks myself, but I can’t expect you to.
Not after what you’ve told us. I thought—hell, I don’t know what I
thought. Maybe Karl was planning to use you in a series of sting
operations to get us, or that one vampire in particular had it in
for you. But this?” His voice was searching, almost a whisper.
“This is beyond—anything. We can’t ask you to do anything you don’t
want to do. If you want to escape, we’ll try to help.”

He began to pace, and Selah watched him; they
all did. It was like watching a caged lion, a panther, his
movements imbued with a feline grace and power that verged on the
magnetic. Finally, he stopped and looked down at her. “You’re
braver than I am. I don’t think I could go through with this. So
it’s up to you. If you want to help, we can figure some things out.
If you don’t, we can try to get you out of town.”