A Tempest In The Night Part 28

"I've never heard of this place. Have you?" she said.

"You don't get out much, do you? Stand back." With that, I unsheathed my sword.

"That's really dangerous, you know."

Purple-pink light swirled off the blade. The dancers around us moved back. Someone hollered "Enforcer."

So much for subtlety.

I whipped out my gun, keeping my eye on the crowd, handed it hand over shoulder to Ilida. "Hold this."

"I-I"

"Take it!"

She took it, held it out.

"If anyone moves, shoot."

"I've never used a gun before," she whispered.

And they heard. A vampire moved towards her.

"Flip the lid up." She did and a beam of ultraviolet light burned a dancer's inner elbow. She screamed and ran away. The dancers moved, giving us plenty of room. I pulled Ilida into a back hallway.

Her eyes were wide with fear of what she did and who I might be. I smelled Mike's scent in the air among the blood and s.e.m.e.n and lubricant smells. "This way. Keep the gun aimed behind you."

I followed the scent into a room. It was empty save for a rumpled bed and a syringe. I braced myself and touched the syringe. Images of Mike shooting up Red Queen, running into the night, high and filled with unimaginable cravings. I put the syringe down. "He's gone."

"We have to find him."

"You have to go back to work and report he's missing."

"While you go out looking for him."

"Let's hope I turn up something."

"Can I put the gun down now?"

"Relax your arm, but stay alert."

We found the back door that led to an alley behind the club. The coast was clear. The music started up again in the club. They forgot about us. After exiting the club, Ilida surprised me.

"You aren't just a telepath are you?" She asked handing me the gun. It shook in her hands.

"I was waiting for you to realize it."

I put the safety latch on the gun and slipped it in my holster.

"I won't even begin to ask what else you are."

"You already know. I can see it in your mind." Blocks of images of me fighting in the club and in the subway. Her face displayed fear and a terrible wonder.

She leaned against the wall holding her forehead. She desperately wanted to deny it. "It's impossible."

"But here I am in the flesh and leather."

"Those kids in there..."

"Are what I am, more or less."

"And you are probably the best person to find Mike."

I admired her calmness. I expected her to scream, I f.u.c.ked a vampire. "Now that you know, will you be okay?"

"I don't know if I really know. I'm probably having a strange dream."

"We're a long way from Kansas, Ilida. I'm the real thing."

"Yeah the real... thing."

She slid down the brick wall ready to blow.

"Ilida? Ilida!"

After taking Ilida back to work, and making sure she wouldn't go into shock, I looked for Mike. He was gone, disappeared in the naked City streets. The cobalt blue sky gradually brightened to a white orange blue sky and I had to get home before someone mistook me for a corpse.

Finding Mike would have to wait.

I had to meet Barry Chen in my office for a private meeting-a headache and l.u.s.t wasn't going to fly right now.

My strategist/expeditor went by the name of Barry Chen, only. That was fine; since I knew him from my Vrykolakas days and had helped him and others escape, I didn't make a colossal deal out of only using his last name.

Barry Chen along with one hundred or so others had been held under Ma.n.u.s control back in Santorini. He partic.i.p.ated in the Breeding Circle. I wonder if he knows about the children he sired? He's lucky; sometimes ignorance is wonderful.

He's my second-in-command, trustworthy and can articulate my needs to the Guardsman at verbatim. Now, I was waiting on him to betray the Guardsmen's trust. But what I didn't want from him was a lesson in teamwork.

"Keep this between us, Barry Chen."

"Let me reiterate. You need backup."

"I need building plans now."

"You did a good thing killing Ma.n.u.s and setting us free."

I saw it in his coffee-brown eyes. He was going to do whatever he could to not give me the building plans. "Now you owe me, Barry Chen."

"I don't want to help you in this suicide mission."

"Unfortunately for you, you don't have a choice."

"I could alert the King and Queen."

"Please do." They'd hired me to eradicate any and all threats. That's what I'm going to do. Alec can't have it both ways. His Enforcer days are over.

"Why don't you want back up? Why did you hire us?"

"This is personal. I don't want the loss of life on my conscious."

He scratched between his short, dredded black hair with defeat. "What is the name of the building?"

"Solarium Pharmaceuticals in Suffolk County."

His fingers danced over the keyboard. The white lights from the computer screen glowed on his golden skin. He stood up from the LAN system booth, pressed a b.u.t.ton on the way to a large LCD screen. "This is the building plan for Solarium Pharmaceuticals. You have six floors."

"I want to place explosives on each floor."

"You could walk in there and unhook the Bunsen burners, but I know you like being sneaky."

"And that would take up more time and there is the possibility of me getting caught."

"How much of a body count do you want?"

No amount of bodies could bring my daughter back to life, but this attack on the Jacquerie would make Terra think twice about hurting someone I cared about. Or it would drive her nuts. Either result would be great. "I want a sizeable vampiric and zombie body count, low human body count."

"If you place explosives near the labs, you will get your wish."

"I don't want to hurt the humans. I doubt if they want to make drugs to harm their own people."

"Warn as many as you can, then get them and yourself the h.e.l.l out."

Chapter Twenty

Once five o' clock hit, Ilida packed her bag with files and her hand-held digital tape recorder. She yawned for the umpteenth time that day as she grabbed her coat and closed the office door behind her. She arched her back, rubbed the ache out of it. Strange, she never had problems with her back.

What a terrible day. After calling Mike's father and informing him about Mike running away, all she got was a terse thank you and a hang-up. Mike's father expected him to run away, so it wasn't news to him. The stress of losing Mike wore her out. And finding out Daedalus was a vampire, didn't help. She was adjusting, and Daedalus was as worried for Mike as she was, even though he didn't show it.

"Hey Ilida. Would you take over the seminar tonight for me?"

"What's up?"

"I need to spend time with Kwame."

"Beverly...?" Her best friend had a knack for making her love life a priority and making Ilida pay for it.

"Please Ilida. We had an argument and he called wanting to patch things up. I wouldn't have asked you, but you have nothing planned."

Gee, thank you. I have no love life; therefore, I can take over your job. No problem! Beverly could really drive it home when she wanted to and Ilida wished she could tell her to buzz off. "Tell Kwame I said h.e.l.lo."

"I won't be home tomorrow since it's Thanksgiving eve. What are you doing for Thanksgiving Day?"

She bent down placing her bag on the floor, wrapped a crazy striped scarf around her neck. "The usual. I was thinking about going to my father's place tonight."

Most of the residents went home to family for the four-day holiday weekend. It was her first Thanksgiving in two years she had off. She yearned to be at home with her father, brother, and... stepmother.

"It's pitch black out and snowing hard."

She started slowly down the hall. "I'll be fine and I promise I won't speed on the back roads."

"Are you getting along with your father's new wife, yet?"

Ilida stopped walking. "I get along fine with her. She's just not..."

"Your mom?"

"I don't even know my mother anymore. It's stupid isn't it?"

"Have you heard from her?"

She hunched her shoulders. "Last I heard from her she was taking Paris by storm."

"I didn't know cabarets where the 'in' thing."

"Apparently they are in Paris. Bobby Short retired so it's anyone's game now."

"You don't think you'll see her anytime soon?"

"I haven't seen her in two years. Too much time has pa.s.sed."

She'd left when Ilida was barely out of third grade, then floated in out of her life since. They had no real connection. Still Ilida missed her. Or missed the idea of her. It changed from day to day.

"Yes, I know."

"By the way, my dream man had blue-violet eyes."