A Night ir tbe Life of

A Night ir) tbe Life of ...

cbapter one: A Night ir) tbe Life of ...

Someone had been busy causing some spectacular trouble over the last couple of weeks.

On August 22nd, a two-man police patrol called for backup to deal with an armed mugger who’d been distressing the residents of Aurora, Illinois. When the second car arrived, the four officers followed the man into a small network of service alleys, and then vanished. They were found two hours later by a nervous fellow officer investigating their disappearance, who eventually had to be taken care of. The mugger was splayed out in the middle of an alley with his eviscerated intestines draped around him in a particularly tasteless imitation of a crime scene chalk outline. One officer was impaled on each of the mugger’s limbs, with the hand (or foot) having been forced down the officer’s throat to the shoulder (or midthigh). As an apparent afterthought, all ten eyes had been removed and piled inside the mugger’s gaping mouth. The chief of police obediently ordered a news blackout regarding the atrocity, and although rumors spread, no one really knew anything for sure.

But the next incident had been impossible to cover up. Four days later, a number of individuals broke in to the local zoo and slaughtered approximately half of the assorted sheep, goats, pigs, foxes, otters, llamas and elks that were available. None of the birds were harmed. All of the carcasses were beheaded, and the heads were hidden around the zoo grounds-behind TIW nedopulos bushes, under benches and so on, like Easter eggs. Some of the carcasses were crucified and carved with meaningless but unpleasant-looking symbols.

Surveillance equipment was destroyed in the raid, but examination of the carcasses suggested that the carnage had taken several hours. Local journalists naturally described the raid as satanic.

Aurora remained peaceful until September 7th, but that night more than made up for the respite. An hour or two after sunset, one of the more popular local coffee bars went up in flames. Despite the best efforts of the local fire department-and the fact that the bar was glass-fronted-none of the customers managed to escape the blaze. In fact, none of them even got out of their seats. The official reports suggested that fumes had overcome the unfortunate victims before the fire became obvious. The fact that all fourteen had been killed by a single brutal slash to the throat (so savage that two of them were almost decapitated) was not made public. The city was shocked and traumatizedonly three of the victims had been older than twenty-two-but even so, it might not have been disastrous.

Just a few minutes before dawn on September 8th, however, a prominent merchant banker named Brendon Douglas was stabbed through the heart with a two-foot long oak stake and left in the middle of one of the more popular commuter routes into Chicago.

Rather than simply run the body over, some Good Samaritan stopped and called the police and ambulance services. Officers were unable to reach the scene before the sun rose, and Mr. Douglas, a who had quietly been a resident of Illinois for more than one hundred and fifty years, was consumed by fire. Police enforced another news blackout, rounded up as many of the witnesses as they could find, and explained all about modem terror techniques, incendiary devices, booby traps and so on. 5lclue RID^ Three doubters required extensive memory modification, and one unhappy local journalist had a tragic accident that night, but some witnesses must have already made off, because the story started to spread. Some of the wilder rumormongers were linking it to the other incidents and suggesting that Aurora was haunted, or that a bunch of kids were under demonic possession. The Prince of Chicago asked for urgent assistance later that night, and was granted the immediate services of the nearest archon.

Lucky me, Theo thought sourly. Four weeks of investigation into the Milwaukee incident straight down the drain. Paschek had not been sympathetic, however-“I’m not interested in your theories, Archon Bell. Mortals are mortals. Your job is to enforce the traditions, not to invent new enemies. We have more than enough of those as it is. Find the idiots responsible for this mess and kill them before they make things even worse. That’s an order.”

When Theo got to Aurora on September 9th, he discovered that a couple of the locals who fancied themselves as sleuths had been poking around over the last twenty-four hours and already had some good leads.

They were as concerned as the rest of the city’s vampires, and seemed genuinely pleased to see him.

Their prime suspect was-surprise, surprise-an anarch group, supposedly holed up in a disused commercial building on the Aurora#Naperville border. The locals had even drawn The0 a little map, to show him where the unit was. They’d stopped short of decorating it with doodled hearts and flowers-but only just.

The unit wasn’t anything special to look at from the outside. Some distance away from its nearest neighbors, there was nothing about it that would attract attention. Its shabby chain-link fence surrounded a big, concrete yard, already a bit straggly with weeds. The gates had some weather-stained signs warning trespassers away, but no logos or other rim Dedopulos identifiers. The building itself sat to the back of the yard, long and fairly low. The windows and doors were all boarded up, and twelve-foot metal shutters sealed off a loading bay or warehouse entrance. A tall Dumpster stood in one comer of the yard, near a stack of empty wooden pallets, bits of scrap metal and other miscellaneous crap.

A guard walked slowly around the front of the unit.

He wore a tacky brown-and-khaki uniformparticularly nasty in the piss-yellow light of the streetlamps-and carried a nightstick and a flashlight.

He looked like a standard rent-a-cop, slouching around bored with stooped shoulders and a bit of a paunch.

Theo had been watching him for thirty minutes. The man spent a little over ten minutes loitering near the front comer of the building looking out over the yard, then walked along the front, checked round the back briefly-only the front had windows-and then returned to lurk at the other comer.

As soon as The0 was satisfied that the guard had his back to him, he crossed the road and crouched down by the edge of the fence keeping the Dumpster and pallets between the guard and him. He put his shotgun down, then grabbed hold of the bottom edge of the fence, and peeled it up from the ground very slowly, to minimize the noise. It was a lot tougher than it looked.

He could feel the blood seething in his muscles as he strained to open a gap he could fit through. When the space was finally big enough, he slipped through, pulled his gun in after him and then forced the fence back down into some sort of rough approximation of shape again as slowly and silently as he’d opened it. Absently rubbing a grumbling shoulder, he scuttled behind the stack of pallets.

The guard had paused in his pacing and was looking over in Theo’s direction. That settled it; his senses were uncannily sharp. The guard pulled out his flashlight, thumbed it on and shined it toward the Dumpster and pallets, shading his eyes from the glare of the streetlights with his other hand. Theo cursed softly to himself and froze in place. The guard took slow, uncertain steps toward his hiding place. An almost overpowering urge to leap up and rip the enemy into bloody shreds surged through Theo, but he crushed it ruthlessly. Softly. After a long, lingering stare, the guard sagged a little, then turned round and continued his walk.

As soon as the guard went round the side of the building, The0 leaped up and ran across the yard. The blood burst into his muscles, hot and fierce, filling him with its power. At the edge of his vision, the fence blurred as he shot forward like a bullet. He held his shotgun tight against his side, to stop it from bouncing, and went straight to the left-most window. Thirty seconds didn’t leave much in the way of slack. He looked around cautiously, then put his gun down and pushed on the board blocking the window, softly at first, but quickly piling ,on pressure. After a few moments, it started to give way with a soft screech of tortured nails.

As soon as one edge came loose, The0 grabbed it to stop the board falling and kept the pressure on. With a small popping noise, the board gave way, slipping back against what felt like thick drapes. He braced his forearm on the empty window frame and managed to keep the board from hitting the floor. He lowered it gently, grabbed his gun and slipped inside. He pushed the drapes aside and propped the board back in place.

Theo checked his watch. Twenty-two seconds total.

It was darker inside the building, but not pitch black. The drapes covered both windows-even more of a giveaway than the ghoul on patrol out front-but the door to the room was open, and a dim light shone in from the corridor.

The room he was in appeared to be a disused office.

Tim Dedopufos There was a desk and chair, and a bookcase, but all of it was covered with dust and cobwebs, and there was no sign of paperwork or personal effects.

Theo leaned up against the wall for a moment, closed his eyes and concentrated on the feel of old, dusty rooms and disused emptiness. His mind calmed, and the world seemed to take a slow, reluctant step back. The impression solidified into a strong sensation of dislocation, and he opened his eyes, feeling a little more secure.

He moved to the doorway, keeping out of the light just in case, and listened for any sounds of activity.

After contenting himself that there was nothing to break the silence, he stepped back into the shadow of the room and looked out into the hallway.

The corridor ran for a hundred or more feet of cheap green-checked vinyl flooring and institutional yellow walls. A number of dead light fixtures hung from the ceiling. Only the one at the far end was actually working, but the naked bulb was just about enough.

Every twenty feet or so, a door opened up to the right, toward the front of the building, helping to break the monotony a little. The0 waited quietly for a moment or two, then started down the hallway cautiously, holding a mental image of the empty corridor, checking the hunting knife in his belt as he did so.

Most of the doors along the hallway were open.

The0 approached each carefully, looking through the doorways as much as possible before passing the open space. The rooms all looked as neglected as the one The0 had broken into, a succession of dusty, crap-filled offices and storerooms. When he finally got to the end of the corridor, he waited for several minutes. There were occasional faint noises, but even he couldn’t make them out, so he tried the door slowly. It opened easily, and he slipped through and into the broad hallway beyond.

The new area marked the obvious transition from office space to commercial activity. The floor and walls slave ~ i n g were bare concrete, adorned here and there with a variety of graffiti tags, scrawls and signs. Some sort of glass-fronted control booth was a short distance off to the right, and to the other side of the doorway, a flight of concrete steps led upward. The hallway itself terminated in a large, solid-looking door, and there were definitely voices somewhere on the other side.

After the quiet of the last quarter hour, the noise grated on his nerves like a scream.

The0 paused for a moment to build an image of an expanse of plain concrete, then crossed quickly to thecontrol booth and looked around. Several banks of miscellaneous switches were obviously connected to a variety of systems around the building. An old fire route chart on the back wall of the booth gave a stylized layout of the building.

It appeared that the sturdy door at the end of the corridor led straight out onto a large, open work space.

Smaller rooms opened off it along the far wall. It would probably have been used as warehousing originally, or as a site to base an assembly line of some sort. A high balcony wound around three sides of the space, leading to a long room that ran the length of the far wall, above the smaller rooms below.

Satisfied, The0 left the control room and started quietly making his way up the stairs. He was just past the halfway landing when something made him nervous-a scent in the air perhaps, or a sound he hadn’t quite noticed. He froze in place, listening carefully. A quick, faint rustle of clothing informed him that someone had just shifted position, some feet past the top of the stairs by the sound of it. The0 gently lowered his gun to the floor, pulled his knife out and tucked himself in against the left-hand wall of the staircase. He then continued up slowly, as soundless as a ghost, the image of empty stairs held firm.

When his head reached the level of the top stair, The0 froze again and looked for the source of the noise ~ l m Dedopuloy he had heard. A door maybe ten feet away led out onto the balcony. A man lounged in the doorway, all black leather, silver chains, spikes and wild hair, casually dangling a light automatic weapon of some sort from one hand. He was watching something going on in the room downstairs, looking vaguely disgruntled. He didn’t breathe.

The guard had his back to the stairs, so The0 continued up silently, coming into a crouch as he reached the top. Staying close to the wall, The0 crept toward him. As The0 got close to the door, the guard turned idly on some half-perceived awareness, and shot a glance back down the stairs. Theo froze, just a foot or two out of optimum strike range, and thought about concrete walls, and being an unobtrusive part of the background. The guard’s glance swept right over him, and the vampire turned back to watching the proceedings below.

Two more steps, and The0 suddenly forced himself into top gear. It was as if the blood instantly boiled throughout his body. He felt the pressure of it, raw energy bursting out into his muscles and filling him with power. The world crashed down around him, slipping into slow motion. He shot straight up out of his crouch, clamping one hand roundThe guard’s mouth and effortlessly plucking the gun away from his loose grip with the other. He then pulled back away from the doorway and toward the stairs, dragging the guard with him. Before the punk had even had time to blink in astonishment, The0 had him pinned flat on his back at the top of the stairs, the blade of the hunting knife pressing cruelly into his throat.

The0 put a bit more pressure on the knife blade, letting it cut skin and draw a few beads of blood, and stared into the guard’s frightened eyes, his gaze drilling holes in the back of the punk‘s skull. The vampire’s will was flabby from years of thoughtless selfindulgence, and further weakened by fear, shock and slaue Ring lack of conviction. It was pathetically easy to crush the veneer of rebellious ego and get through to the frightened little child beneath.

“Stay exactly as you are until I release you no matter what happens, without moving a muscle or making a sound, and I might let you live.” The guard nodded once, softly, already terrorized into obedience.

The0 eased off him a bit, and when the punk didn’t react, he cautiously took his hand from his mouth, ready to slam it back down if he started to call for help.

The guard just lay there, as mesmerized as a rabbit caught in headlamps.

The0 took the clip out of the vampire’s gun and left him there, went back to get his shotgun, and then focused inward again, stilling his mind and thinking about the dark concrete floor. Everything seemed to go soft around the edges again. He crossed to the doorway, looking out. The balcony was concretefloored, with a flimsy metal fence along the open side.

Beneath the balcony, the warehouse floor stretched out for quite some distance. The big metal doors were visible at the far end, still closed. The place had been decked out like some sort of slumland studio apartment.

Off to one side, a mess of old sofas and chairs surrounded a battered TV, stereo and other bits and pieces.

Further in, several large workbenches held all sorts of bits of electrical, mechanical and chemical equipment, a mad scientist’s personal junkyard. There even appeared to be a microwave oven. Nearer to the door, about a dozen people sat in some sort of meeting around two tables run end to end. By the way they moved, maybe five or six were vampires, the rest presumably ghouls. At the far end, a pair of terrifiedlooking mortals were gagged and bound to their chairs.

The0 settled back into the shadow of the wall and crept around the balcony, crouched almost out of view, his mind full of shady concrete.

TI^ Dedopulos ‘‘I’ve had word from one or two of the usual sources.

The inbreds are absolutely shitting themselvesrunning around like headless chickens. They don’t know what’s going on, and they’re scared to move in case they make things worse. One more push, and they’ll agree to anything to head us off.”

The speaker stood up, leaning over the table to emphasize her words. She was a tall, slender woman with long red hair that cascaded down to her waist, blond streaks running from each temple down her mane’s entire length. Her face was deceptively angelic, and something fascinating about her suggested power.

She wore a tight-fitting black one-piece with a sharply studded belt fastened around her waist, with a billowy white shirt thrown over everything.

“We’re taking a hell of a risk, Polly. What if they decide to fight back? I’ve got a real shitty feeling about this.” This was from a tall, heavy-set man with cropped black hair and a face heavily tattooed with mock-Celtic spiral designs around his eyes and cheekbones. Despite the tattoos, his accent sounded local, and his voice was deeply concerned.

“What are they going to do? They don’t know where we are, how many of us there are, or even that we’re definitely responsible, and on top of that, the Minneapolis Triangle is making them all nervous.

They’re not going to risk their precious asses. We’re perfectly safe. Besides which, don’t forget that Janos is watching the Aurora Elysium. If they started mobilizing or anything, he’d call. If they do anything, we’ll just split, nice and easy. We’ve still got that squat up toward Milwaukee. They’d never find us there.”

“I dunno,” said a slim, blond-haired young man in jeans and an Iron Maiden T-shirt. “I reckon Rod’s got a point. The zoo was fun, and those cops had it coming, but we shouldn’t have cacked that blue-blood.

Not like that. The fucker was gagging for it, but leaving him out like that.. . I don’t like it. We went too far. 2 8 slave RIOQ We should get out while we can.” Some of the others around the table were nodding in agreement.

The0 came round the balcony to a point just a short distance from Polly and froze in place, his nerves singing their tension. He forced his thoughts still, and let the world wash over him.

“If you’re scared, maybe you should fuck off.” Polly’s voice was dripping with scorn, and even up on the balcony, Theo could feel the force of her willpower crackling behind it. “I don’t have any use for little boys who don’t have the balls to stand by their decisions.

We agreed. You agreed, Mark. I thought maybe you were enough of a man to teach those fuckers a lesson.”

The blond guy squirmed uncomfortably. “I got what it takes, Polly, it’s just ...” He trailed off, cowed by her glare. ‘‘It’s just what, Marky?” She sounded threatening.

“D’ya want me to kick you out? You want me to make you go back to sucking dick for the inbreds?”

“No Polly, don’t do that. Please.” Mark‘s voice was suddenly small and broken.

“Pull it together then, you spineless bastard.

Tomorrow night is going to be hard enough as it is.

Rod and I will need everyone on their A-game.” Polly let some of the scorn-and compulsion-fade from her voice. “You’re all clear on how to turn someone into a vampire, yeah? Drain ’em dry, then feed ’em some of your blood, and wait around for half an hour. Doesn’t take much. Easy as pie. We’ve got plenty of blood left over from that donor van still, and I’ve got backpacks for all of us. They’re not particularly ‘street’ I’m afraid, but they’ll hold a dozen bags easy.”

“How many should we do?” The new speaker sounded meek, as if she were unwilling to risk aggravating the redhead any further.

“Three or four each will be enough. Leave them three bagsof blood, show them how to seal their place up, and tell them not to venture out under any TIW Dedopulos circumstances. Make up some bullshit about it being fatal or something.”

“We’re going to be dangerously exposed if you expect us to go back to their homes to drop supplies off every night.” Rod still sounded concerned.

“We’ll have the inbreds over a barrel. There’ll be something like twenty clueless newbies hidden all around the city, with no idea of what to do, how to behave, or how to hide what they are. If they take one of us out, that’ll be four time bombs waiting to explode as soon as the hunger gets strong enough.” A cold shiver ran down Theo’s spine at the thought of it.

“They could make us talk,” pointed out Rod reasonably.

“They’d never be able to be totally confident they got all the newbies,” replied Polly smugly. “There’s no way they’d risk it. Not when they’re already this scared.

They’ll give us the border territories here without a fight, and our new recruits will give us the manpower to hold them off. We’ll be totally safe by midnight tomorrow. Freedom from the fucking Aurora Mafia at last.”

The plan was dangerously clever, up to a point.

The0 sighed silently to himself, but Justicar Paschek‘s orders had been absolutely explicit. The people responsible were to be killed. The way Theo saw it, that meant the leaders. Paschek hadn’t said anything about balky lackeys. He brought up his shotgun with glacial slowness. The trick was to do it slowly and casually, so that everyone else-who’d so willingly convinced themselves he wasn’t there-had no reason to go back on that decision. It wasn’t something that came naturally to Theo, but long nights of practice had paid off.

“What about the Justicars?”

Maybe Rod had a touch of second sight. The0 took “What about them? They won’t dare risk it either, aim at Polly’s head. and once it’s done and we’ve apologized, we’ll be almost thirty strong. We can’t-’’ The0 braced himself and pulled the trigger. There was an immense roar and a cloud of smoke as the pellets tore down and struck Polly in the face. She didn’t even have time to scream. Her face pulped, and her body fell to the floor like a puppet with severed strings. A moment’s shocked silence followed. Theo could feel the fierce urge to lose himself in slaughter, but he pushed it down ruthlessly, cocked his shotgun again, then cursed. The mechanism had jammed.

As the floor below erupted into a chaos of screams and babbling, The0 leaped up, vaulted the banister and landed with a loud thud in the middle of the table.

There were a number of further screams.

Theo’s blood surged, white hot, and his muscles blazed, screaming their protest at being forced to move at such speed. He ignored the discomfort and launched himself at Rod like a missile, catching the astonished vampire high in the chest with a fist like a hammer.

As Rod fell backward in his chair, seemingly moving through molasses, The0 darted round behind the vampire, grabbed his head and snapped it down toward the back of the seat. There was a loud crack as Rod’s neck broke. The0 then ducked back out of the way of the falling chair, bared his fangs and tore at the paralyzed vampire’s throat, biting down hard across it and ripping it out with all his strength. Rod was truly and finally dead before his chair hit the ground.

Theo stood up, blood dripping down his chin. The shocked vampires and ghouls reacted now, backing away and drawing weapons. The fury roiled within him, and the urge to leap at the next victim built with every moment. He wanted to rip and tear and shred, to destroy these stupid children, to pile their skulls.. .

The0 fought it with all his will, and managed to lock the feeling down. He wiped the gore from his mouth absentmindedly.

Ttrn Dedopulos “Your leaders have been judged guilty of breaking the first, second and sixth traditions by Jaroslav Paschek, Justicar to the Inner Circle of the Camarilla. They have duly been executed.” The0 watched the group tensely, the blood within him screaming its need to rend and tear. He fought hard to make his voice slightly more conciliatory. “You do not need to follow them.”

The survivors facing him paused, uncertain. One or two seemed to think about bringing weapons to bear, but others were more reluctant, and he could clearly hear someone whisper his nickname, Killa B.

Sometimes notoriety had its advantages.

Off to one side, an unknown voice spoke up, heavy with scorn. Theo risked a quick look away from the main pack, but he couldn’t see the speaker. “Asshole.

We don’t have leaders. We’re a collective.”

There was a crash of glass, and a ball of flames erupted at Theo’s feet. He leaped, but not before feeling the fire bite into his flesh. The burning flames seemed to ignite the rage in his mind, and then his carefully erected barriers crumbled, and everything went red. . . . a sense of mowement and speed.. . blood pounding through his veins ... a fleeting pain in one shoulder ... enemies, all around, to be destroyed ... tearing and rending.. . a splash ofwemess.. . the dance ofhectic battle.. . the feel of jlesh and skin lifting away from bone.. . targets falling.. . a fresh victim cowering.. . a reluctant thought intruded: Defenseless prey was no challenge.

The red mist wavered, and The0 remembered himself enough to fight to get his control back. Slowly, grudgingly, the battle madness parted and cleared.

The thin, blond vampire, Mark, cowered on the floor in front of him, sobbing brokenly. The0 looked around. The room was a charnel house of broken bodies and torn limbs. Apart from the mortals trying desperately to escape their chairs at the end of the table, and Mark in front of him, everyone else was dead.

Theo’s thigh and stomach both blazed with pain, but his right shoulder was absolute agony. He was dangerously low on blood, so hungry he could hardly think. He must have been burning it like it was going out of fashion. Ironic, given that he was drenched from head to toe in the stuff. A wave of weakness tippled through him, and he swayed before regaining his balance.

“Get up, kid. Mark, whatever. Get up.”

Mark broke off his litany of pleas and looked up uncertainly.

“Go on, get the fuck out of here. Leave the area.

Go out west or something. If you hook up with any more damn fool idealists, tell them what I’m like when I’m pissed off. Now go on, get. Now!” The0 barked the last word, and the kid finally leaped to his heels and ran as if hell itself pursued him.

The0 walked slowly down the table to where the two mortals-teenagers, boyfriend and girlfriend probably-were still wriggling frantically against their ropes. He walked round behind them and crouched down, putting his hands on their shoulders.

“I’m sorry, folks. You shouldn’t have had to see that.” He sounded shockingly tired, even to himself.

The kids looked at him, somewhere between petrified and hopeful.

He considered trying to crush their memories, but with no real idea of how much time they’d been imprisoned, it was going to be risky at best-and he was a long way from best. There was no choice. He sighed, then stood up, took hold of the girl’s head and twisted it around almost a hundred and eighty degrees in one sudden, violent action. As she slumped back dead against her restraints, he leaned down and sank his fangs into her boyfriend’s neck, and drained him dry. *** Later, when the punk-ass guard had been released, and he and his ghoul companion outside chased off, The0 turned the site over to the grateful locals to clean ~ l m Dedopulos up and went back to the room that they had set aside for his use. He had a long, hot shower, trying to drive away some of the night’s memories with scalding water, and left his clothes outside for cleaning during the day.

Finally, he fastened the door, pushed some furniture against it and prepared a few nasty surprises for any intruder. He was just about to settle down to sleep when his cell phone rang. He answered it without even glancing at the caller.

“Bell.”

“Good morning, Archon Bell.” It was Paschek.

“Good morning, sir. Do you require my report?”

“I have been fully briefed regarding the night’s events, thank you. I wanted to congratulate you on your enthusiasm.” Paschek‘s voice was cold and mocking. “I understand from the local primogen that you left quite a mess for them to clean up. They were particularly impressed that you somehow managed to scatter an arc of brain tissue across a twenty-foot high ceiling, and to distribute another victim over four thousand square feet of floor space. That is quite an achievement, even given your predilections. You should be proud.”

The0 didn’t trust himself to answer.

“I assume that there were no, ah, loose ends?”

“No mistakes,” said Theo coldly. “Those responsible have been executed, and witnesses pacified.”

“Good. I want you out of there first thing tomorrow night. You’ve got an old friend to visit.”

The0 paused, confused. “An old friend? I don’t understand.”

“Your presence has been requested. In Minneapolis. Personally, by a certain Angus Abranson.”

Angus? Theo’s mind whirled. “Thank you, sir.

Goodnight.” He cut the phone link and lay back down, stunned. Angus.

“The thing to remember, Theophilus, is that the English have made a virtue of their repression and suspicion. No, not just a virtue. They actually take pleasure in it, as if it were a fine brandy, to be savored at leisure.” Don Cerro smirked at Theo from across the gently rocking carriage.

The0 nodded, not knowing whether his sire expected a response or not.

“Ah, but you are confused as to my purpose in this instruction, I see. Look out across Hyde Park, Theophitus, and tell me what you observe.” Cerro pointed out of the right-hand window.

Theo shrugged. “Gaslights. Grass. Trees. Several wealthy couples strolling around on the paths.”

“That is correct. Now, tell me what you do not see.”

The0 paused, confused. “I don’t see.. .” Daisy’s bloody face, dead eyes staring out accusingly. “There’s all sorts of things I don’t see.”

“You do not see groups of friends, laughing together and taking pleasure in the warm evening. You do not see children playing. You do not see any lone women.

You do not see the poor. You do not see any person actually enjoying himself.’’ LLAre you saying that they don’t know how to relax?”

“It is more than that, Theophilus. They are taught that they may be observed at any time, and that it is a Tim Dedopufos great matter of shame to be visibly having a good time.

Their Queen Victoria does not approve of such foolishness, so they concentrate on keeping their personal inclinations hidden away, where others cannot see them. That means that they have had to learn to gain pleasure from the act of hiding their emotions away.”

“So the implication then is that they are used to lying and manipulating, and that they cannot be trusted?”

Cerro laughed, a rich, pleasant sound. “No one can be trusted, Theophilus. But the English will not show you how they are truly feeling-and if they do, then beware, for the exposure makes them feel vulnerable, and they can become vicious in an instant.”

“I’ll be careful,” said Theo, slightly offended. “It’s not as if this is the first party I’ve been to over here.”

He bounced around a little as the coach pulled out of Hyde Park, past a large, gleaming archway, and down along the main thoroughfare of the Park Lane.

“I know you will, Theophilus. Just remember their repression. Displays of emotion are considered boorish, and they will derive pleasure and status at your expense if they can make you betray your feelings openly.”

“This party is starting to sound better and better,” said The0 dryly.

“Ah yes, that reminds me. One last thing, and London is very different to Paris: The English loathe intelligence, difference, anything above the ordinary.

It reminds them of their own inadequacies, and they become extremely jealous. The French are always delighted to meet someone with a keen intellectproud even-but the English will hate you for it passionately, so do not be too quick to demonstrate your wit. Let them feel superior about your humble beginnings instead, and they will love you for the opportunity to improve you.”

“I will not be patronized by overprivileged dandies,” said Theo, face like stone.

Don Cerro arched an eyebrow. “Then I suggest you do your best to ensure that no one speaks to you, for even the mortals there will mostly be under someone’s protection.” He leaned forward, swaying with the coach, his voice turning earnest. “Seriously, Theo. Do not underestimate these English. They are extremely dangerous, and will knife you in the back as soon as look at you, telling their friends how charming you are even as they do it. They are vicious and devious manipulators, and hide their spite perfectly, behind exquisite manners.”

The0 shook his head in disgust. “I’ll be polite, I promise.”

“I know this is a trial for you, Theophilus. Trust me, however. These weeks will stand you in excellent stead. Our kind is ever given to plotting and malice.

Once you have experienced London, you will be ready for any situation.”

The coach pulled up outside an expensive-looking residence. A sign declared that this was Merritt House.

Through the tall iron gates, The0 could see a stretch of lush garden isolating the house from the road and from its neighbors. A tall servant of some sort stood attentively by the gate, wearing a formal black and gray uniform. As soon as the coach came to a halt, he came over to the door and opened it. His eyes flickered over Theo’s face and hands before he turned his attention to Don Cerro.

“May I announce you, sirs?”

Cerro handed over the beautifully prepared invitation that he had received, and with a faintly mocking grin announced “Don Cerro de Le6n and Mr.

Theophilus Bell, to see Dofia Merritt.”

The servant smiled blandly. “Welcome to Merritt House, gentlemen. If you’ll follow me?” He turned, opened the gates and led them along a pebbled path that led around between the finely trimmed rosebushes T I ~ O Dedopulos and down along the side of the house. Small gaslights set at ground level ran along the path, providing plenty of light to navigate by. They turned a comer and came out onto the edge of a large paved terrace. Maybe a dozen over-dressed guests stood milling around in small groups, talking quietly. Past the edge of the terrace, ornamental gardens stretched out some distance, with a tightly trimmed hedge maze lurking past the flower beds, bushes and pieces of statuary. The grounds were an extravagance in crowded London. A few small knots of people could be seen out in the gardens, past the terrace.

The whole yard stank of opulence, and The0 found himself wondering how many people were forced to live in slums so that their hostess could have all this space, and how many more of them were kept in nearslavery to tend her property. The familiar anger rose within him, and he forced his mind away from the subject.

The servant who had led them to the terrace stepped forward and clearly announced “Don Cerro de Le6n and Mr. Theophilus Bell.” There was a sudden hush as everyone on the terrace stopped talking and turned around to look at the two of them. After a moment or two, the conversations resumed, but most of the guests continued staring, seemingly thoughtful.

The servant bowed once and retreated. A blond, wasp-waisted woman in an obviously expensive winecolored gown stepped up into the space that the servant had vacated, smiling brightly at them both. “My dear Don Cerro. I am so glad you could make it tonight.

You’re looking as dashing as ever.”

Cerro took her offered hand and kissed it extravagantly. “That is a great compliment indeed, coming from the loveliest rose in all of London. You honor us. We are indebted to you for your hospitality.

May I present to you my protege, Theophilus Bell?”

Lady Merritt turned to The0 with a dazzling smile that did not even get close to her eyes. “My, you m e a big one. Most impressive. I have heard all sorts of extraordinary things about you, Mr. Bell. Welcome.”

“Thank you, ma’am,’’ said Theo, a little uncomfortably.

“Come, let me introduce you to some people who I know are simply dying to meet you.’’ Lady Merritt’s gaze encompassed both men.

Don Cerro smiled. “But of course.”

Lady Merritt led them over to a small group of kindred near the back of the terrace. “My dear friends, allow me to introduce Don Cerro de Le6n and Mr.

Theophilus Bell. Don Cerro, I’d like you to meet Lord Palmer, Mr. Angus Abranson, and Miss Juliet Parr.”

They were a diverse group. Palmer was tall and thin, with an arrogant face and a pinched nose, and carried a silver-topped cane. Abranson was a little shorter. He looked rather like an artist, with lively eyes and a long shock of wavy brown hair. If his appearance was eccentric,”lt was nothing compared to that of the third member of the group. Miss Parr was almost as tall as Angus Abranson and wore a man’s tweed suit, cut in a fashionable style. Her hair was pulled back severely away from her face in a simple ponytail.

“Charmed,” murmured Don Cerro with a smile.

“Hello again, Sheriff Parr. I trust you are well.”

Juliet Parr nodded to him formally. “Archon Cerro.”

“DO forgive me,” said Lady Merritt insincerely. ‘‘I . didn’t realize that the two of you were already friends.”

“We’ve run into each other before,” said Miss Parr Lord Palmer shot a quick glare at Theo, then turned to Lady Merritt and bowed elegantly. “Lady Merritt, Mr. Abranson, forgive me, but I shall take my leave. I did not come to Merritt House to fraternize with Negroes and Spaniards.” He walked off, ignoring Theo’s angry stare, and Don Cerro put a restraining hand on Theo’s arm.

TIWJ nedopuloy coolly.

There was a momentary silence, then Angus shrugged and said, “Personally, I‘m just as happy milord Palmer has chosen to retire. I didn’t come here to socialize with self-important fools.”

Don Cerro smiled deprecatingly, and said, “Every man is entitled to his feelings.”

Juliet Parr raised her eyebrows. “Every man, Archon Cerro? What about every woman!”

Don Cerro let his eyes flick over her outfit. “What indeed, Miss Parr.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and Angus stepped in quickly. “Surely, the worth of any person is dependent upon his-or her-potential.

Wouldn’t you agree, Don Cerro!” He shot a meaningful look at Theo.

“Of course,” replied Don Cerro pleasantly.

“And one’s potential, of course, is dependent upon getting the best start in life,” said Lady Memtt with a smile, clearly enjoying herself. “The poor unfortunates we have littering the streets have very little scope for potential, by virtue of the position they find themselves in.”

“It could be argued that wealth and privilege lead to softness and complacency, while hardship breeds resilience and talent,’’ said Theo, unable to keep silent any longer.

Lady Merritt laughed indulgently, and patted Theo’s arm. “What a novel idea.” She seemed about to say more, but stopped for a moment, listening carefully. “Please excuse me for a moment.” She pushed past The0 and crossed the terrace, to where the tall, gray-clad servant was escorting another guest in.

Don Cerro seemed distracted by the new arrival, but Angus and Miss Parr were looking at The0 with interest.

“I think history would probably agree with you,” said Angus. “Empires are built by hungry, aggressive generals, and lost by pampered nobles and smallminded bureaucrats. The bottom line is that the disadvantaged need to make themselves strong in order to advance, while the elite are only actually interested in maintaining things as they are, and often become weak. Those at the top may be the least useful in a crisis. Troubled times require troubled champions.”

Miss Parr frowned. “That’s by the by. Any society that denies opportunity and responsibility to one half of its population merely because of a simple accident of gender is in a great deal of trouble already.”

Theo started to say something, but Don Cerro tapped him on the arm, and motioned him to follow.

“Come, Theophilus.”

Theo smiled an apology to Angus and Miss Parr, and reluctantly followed his sire to where Lady Merritt was talking to the new guest, a young noblewoman with flowing brunette curls.

Don Cerro smiled a predatory smile. “And just who is this fine addition to your fiesta, Dofia Merritt?” The girl turned to look at him, and stopped, awestruck by the impact of his presence.

“This is Regina, a fine exemplar of English womanhood,” said Lady Merritt, and laughed nastily.

“Please excuse her gaping.”

“Don Cerro de Le6n.” He bowed extravagantly, grabbed Regina’s hand, and pressed it lingeringly to his lips.

“A pleasure.. .” mumbled Regina. She was barely able to speak.

“Oh,” said Don Cerro, taking hold of her arm. “You have scratched yourself.” He ran his fingers across the scratch, lifting the droplets of blood from her skin. Regina trembled. The0 shifted uncomfortably, then shrugged to himself. One less spoiled little girl was hardly a tragedy.

Lady Merritt snickered, and said “Please excuse me a moment. There are some things I must see to.”

Don Cerro smiled dazzlingly at Regina, and said, “May 1 introduce my protCgC, Theophilus Bell of the United States of America.” The girl glanced at The0 obediently.

TI^ Dedopulos “Ma’am,” said Theo, nodding briefly.

Don Cerro glanced at him mischievously. “Mr. Bell had the misfortune to be born in bondage, but had the wherewithal to escape and even seek justice against those who put him chains. To the plantation owners he was a monster, but to me a prize student.”

Monster indeed. The0 didn’t remember much about the night he killed his former master. Most of it was buried under a thick, red haze of frenzy. The one moment he could not forget, no matter how hard he tried, was coming to his senses in the slave compound. Daisy looked straight at him accusingly, her corpse tom open from sternum to navel like an overripe fruit. He was drenched in her blood. The0 tried to banish the memories and stared coldly at his sire. Spreading his story was one thing, but tormenting him in order to amuse an overprivileged meal was something entirely different.

“Mr. Bell does not enjoy it when I discuss these matters so casually. He finds it crass.” Don Cerro smiled at the girl again, and she swayed even closer to him.

“But he forgets our duty to serve as exemplars to others.

His story is a powerful one, don’t you think? Triumph over the limitations of race and society?” Regina gazed up at him mindlessly, and Theo realized that Don Cero may as well be reciting cargo manifests for all that the words were registering in the girl’s mind. He decided to get out of the way and leave his sire to his amusements.

“Excuse me,” he said politely, then turned his back on the pair of them and walked across to where Angus and Miss Parr now stood, just inside the house. ‘‘Sorry for departing so rudely,” said Theo. “Don Cerro needed me to, uh, illustrate some points.”

Miss Parr frowned slightly. “I hope he’s not going to do anything rash.”

“He is always mindful of the traditions,” said Theo.

“That may not be enough,” said Miss Parr bluntly.

“I’m sure everything will be fine,” said Theo, more out of loyalty than conviction.

“Don Cerro seems to be an interesting person,” said Angus mildly. “I sense an independent, even subversive mind under his charm. What is he like to know ?”

“Perceptive, fair and without bigotry,” said The0 wryly. “Passionate and quick to act too, though. He has taught me a lot, and I will always be in his debt for the tools he gave me to help me fight my former masters.”

Angus nodded thoughtfully, and then glanced over to his left.

The0 followed his gaze and saw an attractive woman with long black hair making a beeline for him.

She was wearing a red and cream gown, almost as tightly corseted at the waist as Lady Merritt was. She smiled invitingly at him and stepped up, putting a hand familiarly on Theo’s forearm and drawing him slightly away from the others. He shot a wry glance at Angus and Miss Parr, and fonowed the girl, smiling politely.

“I am Amelia Downing, and you are Theophilus Bell. There, that’s the introductions taken care of.

Come, you may call me Amy, and I shall call you Theo.

I’ve heard so much about you that I feel I know you already. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“A pleasure to meet you too, ma’am,’’ said The0 politely, feeling nonplussed.

“Amy,” said Amy firmly.

“A pleasure to meet you too, Amy.”

She smiled at him. “There, that’s better.” Amy ran her hand along Theo’s forearm and up to the shoulder, and murmured appreciatively. “You are strong, aren’t you. I’d heard of course, but.. .”

The0 looked at her blankly, and she shook her head quickly. ‘(It’s of no matter. Tell me Theo, I’ve heard you traveled in Europe before coming to England. Were you there long?” ~ t m Dedopufos “Several years,” said Theo. “Madrid, Vienna, Florence, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam and, most recently, Paris.”

Amy smiled indulgently. “My! Quite the grand tour. How does London compare?”

I m not really sure yet,” replied The0 diplomatically.

“You must have some first impressions,” said Amy.

“Well, it’s certainly very grand,” said Theo, trying to stay on safe ground.

“Yes,” said Amy thoughtfully. “I suppose it must be, for someone of your, well.. .” She waved a hand absently in his direction. “Heritage.”

Theo’s hackles rose, and the rage surged within him briefly, turning in its sleep. “Are you referring to my color, my pedigree or my nationality?” he asked coolly.

Amy laughed brightly. “Well, all three I suppose.

It’s no wonder you’ve become so strong, living under such savage conditions.”

Theo blinked in surprise.

“It must have been terribly exciting though,” she said eagerly. “You must tell me all about it.”

“What must have been exciting?” asked Theo warily.

“Why being a slave of course, silly. I’d imagine being a Negro is quite dull.”

The0 fought to keep his face still, determined not to let the fury show. He told himself firmly that he could do this, that he’d endured worse a thousand times over. He fought the anger back down, so that it almost didn’t thicken his voice. “I’m not sure that exciting is the right word. Horrific is probably closer.”

Amy nodded eagerly, and when The0 didn’t go into detail, she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him toward the stairs. “Come with me, Theo. There’s something you simply have to see.” ‘‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” said The0 cautiously. “I should wait here for Don Cerro.” slave R I ~ Y I 6 “No, you must come along now, or I shall get dreadfully offended. Come along. You should be used to taking orders.” She smiled at him.

The0 fought down a low growl, and looked around him, but there was no one else in the room to use as an excuse.

“Come along, Theo,” said Amy, starting to sound petulant.

Remembering his promise to Don Cerro, The0 reluctantly let himself be dragged upstairs. The furnishings and decorations were lavish, but he wasn’t given any time to stop and look at them in detail. Amy pulled him along a corridor and into a small bedroom.

Theo looked around, puzzled. “What did you want me to look at?” (‘Is it true?” asked Amy, an odd glint in her eye.

“What is going on?” asked The0 suspiciously. Amy stepped up close, and pressed her body against his, leaning her head on his chest. “Don’t you want to kiss me, Theo?”

“I’m not sure that would be proper,” he said carefully. He could feel the warmth of her flesh. She was no kindred. Even the mortals, Cerro had warned.

Amy surprised him by pulling him forward and then throwing her weight against him. Caught off balance, he stumbled back against the bed and fell onto it, Amy still clinging onto him. ‘What do you care about proper for? You’re not one of us.”

“You’re very right about that,” said Theo, openly angry now.

Amy shifted her position so that she was lying on top of him fully, and kissed him rapidly several times, on the lips and cheek. The fury was getting harder to control, and he wanted nothing more than to drink the bitch dry. Don Cerro’s warning came back to him though, and he resisted the urge to rip into her. She kept kissing him breathlessly, talking through the kisses, her voice slurring.

“Come on, slave. They say that niggers have cocks as thick as a baby’s arm, and that you’re so rough, it’s like fucking a wild animal. Show me.”

The0 tried to push her off, but she wrapped her legs around one of his, darted inside his arms and continued with her fevered kissing. ‘‘I want to taste that black skin of yours. They trained you to talk better than i expected, but I want to see the real savage.”

She bit him, hard, on the shoulder.

Reflex took over, and he slapped her away before she could draw blood, knocking her back onto the bed.

He rose up immediately, took a couple of paces and turned away from her, clinging to his self-control with the last shards of his willpower.

“That’s better,” purred Amy, panting hard. “That’s a good little nigger. Now do as you’re told, slave, and come here and fuck me like a beast.” He didn’t move, and she paused for a moment, and rustled as she adjusted her position. “Look at me!” she shrieked, and The0 turned round, nervous of attracting attention from elsewhere in the house.

Amy was lying back on the bed, her skirts hitched up to her waist and a bruise already forming on her cheek where he’d slapped her. She had no undergarments at all, and her legs were spread wide open, exposing her wetness. The0 froze, astonished.

“I bet you’ve never even fucked a white girl before,” said Amy, reaching down to stroke herself.

“Come on, what are you waiting for? I’m better than any saggy nigger bitch. Come on, slave. Obey your betters.”

Theo was moving before he realized it. He leaned down and hit her again, across the mouth this time.

Hard. He finally stopped fighting the fury and welcomed it instead. He could feel his face contort with the loathing he felt, lips pulling back into a savage snarl. When he spoke, he barely recognized his own voice. “If you don’t get out of here right now, I’m going to rip your heart out of your chest and stuff it down your throat.” He stood up and pointed at the door.

“Go.”

Amy wailed wordlessly, leaped up off the bed, and dashed out of the room. For a moment, the urge to chase the fleeing prey and hunt it down was so strong that Theo’s nails drew blood from his clenched fists.

He stood in the same spot for a long time then, slowly regaining some mental equilibrium.

Eventually, Theo left the room and headed for the stairs, Amy’s frenzied behavior running over and over in his mind. As he headed down back toward the parlor, there was a faint scuffing noise from above him, and then something extremely hard smashed into the back of his head. The0 fell forward and crashed down the stairs, tumbling head over heels. He finally landed at the bottom, too dazed and pained to move, and two pairs of hands grabbed him and dragged him a short distance. Then they threw him down another staircase, and the world went away. *** A thin line of agony erupted across Theo’s back, bringing him back to full consciousness. He heard a loud crack, and a second line joined the first, suddenly horribly familiar. It felt like fire. He bit back a howl, and tried to move, but he was restrained. He realized that his arms were stretched up over his head, chained tightly to a thick wooden beam. There was a third crack, and a new bar of pain. He was having trouble focusing his eyes, and he blinked several times, trying to see what was going on. Slowly, the room swam back into view. He was in a dimly lit cellar of some sort, barefoot and naked from the waist up. He tried to see who was whipping him, and caught a glimpse of a small crowd of unfamiliar kindred standing behind a tall figure in a black formal suit, with a black hood pulled over his head. The hooded figure swung his whip again, cutting deeply into Theo’s back.

TI^ Dedopufos “Look, I think it’s awake.” A woman’s voice, “About time too.” This voice was male.

“We don’t like niggers,” said a third voice, male again, rougher than the first two. “We especially don’t like vile slime who try to rape our girls.”

There was a particularly loud crack, and Theo’s back blazed. He tried to protest, and realized that his mouth was firmly gagged with a wad of cloth.

“We seen what you did to poor Lady Amelia,” said the rough voice. “It’s a miracle she managed to escape you. I’m just glad she came to us to sort it out.”

The whip-wielder continued striking, time after time after time, the pain in Theo’s back getting steadily stronger and more urgent. Someone in the crowd had started clapping a little with each stroke, and if the lash was particularly vicious, it might even raise a small cheer. The hooded whip-wielder paused for a moment, and walked in front of Theo, who was sagging, exhausted and agonized, against his chains. He stepped back and lashed The0 hard across the chest, cutting into him. The0 moaned in pain, jerked back reflexively, and then jerked forward again as the movement made his back blaze with agony.

The hooded man raised his whip handle and waved it at Theo’s face. “DO you know what we’re going to do, nigger?” It was the same rough voice as earlier.

“We’re going to douse you in brine in a minute, once I’ve cut you up a little more, and then we’re going to whip you back into your stinking grave for once and for all.”

“No,” said Don Cerro, his voice coming from over to one side. “You are not.”

The0 barely had time to register that help had arrived before there was a blur of motion, and then Don Cerro was in front of him, with the hooded man’s arm twisted behind his back, and one hand clamped around his throat. A murmur of dismay rose from the unfamiliar. small crowd behind Theo. “You are evidently not Prince Mithras. You do not have the right of destruction. I, however, do. I have found you in the act of breaching the sixth tradition, and that entitles me to end your pitiful existence.” He looked up at the rest of the crowd, who were muttering angrily, and turned the full force of his awesome personality on them. “You are all complicit. Interfere, and you will die.” He gave the whip-wielder’s arm a savage wrench, and the man howled in pain as his arm shattered at the shoulder, elbow and wrist.

“That’s enough, Cerro.” The0 looked round, and saw Juliet Parr standing in the doorway.

“You again,” spat Don Cerro.

Miss Parr ignored him. She pointed at someone in the group behind Theo, and said “You, release him.”

As someone leaped to obey, she turned back to Don Cerro. “Give that one to me. This is my territory, and he falls under my authority. Both he and the girl will be punished.”

“Go to hell,” snarled Don Cerro.

The blazing pain in Theo’s shoulders suddenly abated as his arms were freed, and he dropped to the floor. As his mind cleared enough to think about his wounds, the blood inside him rushed to his back, and the skin started knitting together. It felt uncomfortably like worms burrowing through him.

“If you spent more time looking after your own prot6gC and less time feeding off other people’s, this would never have happened,” Miss Parr said coldly.

“As I seem to be pointing out a lot tonight, if you do not watch over your companions, then others will. This is my jurisdiction, and if you act, you will bring all sorts of trouble down upon your head. More than you or your prot6g6 can survive, perhaps, and certainly more than I want to be bothered with. Do not make more of a fool of yourself than you already have.”

“Thank you for your advice,” said Don Cerro Tim Dedopulos angrily, dropping the moaning whip-wielder and standing up. “Come, Theophilus. It is time for us to leave.” He walked out of the room without so much as a backward glance, deliberately treading hard on the masked man’s shattered elbow as he did so. The0 forced himself upright, and gingerly followed his sire. Several pairs of unfriendly eyes watched him go. 5 0 cbapter Three: A parliament of crows The basement was filthy, and it stank of decay. The little paint that remained was cracked and flaking, the wall underneath streaked with black waves of damp rot. The dust and debris of chronic neglect littered the floor. Someone had squatted in the building at one point and had left behind a small pile of trash and some miscellaneous stains. Still, the door down into the room was sturdy, lockable from both sides, and there was nothing about the building to attract any attention. T h e neighborhood itself was largely disused, so Kristine could come and go as she pleased without attracting any attention.

Besides, she’d stayed in worse. Much worse.

She looked down critically at the pile of assorted papers and other bits spread out over the floor-old leads, used-up clues, information that she no longer required-and spread it around a bit with her foot, just double-checking that nothing important had slipped in. She spotted a photo from New Haven, a smug-looking Meonia blue-blood coming out of an office, and smoothly picked it up, adding it to the file of still-current data under her arm. That was it though, so she put the file with the few personal things she still had and scooped the rest of the crap into a trash bag.

Kristine had been in Minneapolis for just Ttm Dedopulos under a week, and had been productive so far.

Four objectives successfully dealt with. She checked the time and decided to make her way to the phone booth. She grabbed the sack of old papers, locked the door on her way out, pushed past the piles of old bedding and slipped out the back door. She vaulted fences easily, crossing several backyards before reaching the sidewalk past another dark, boarded property.

T h e streets were quiet, few cars and no pedestrians, but she kept to the shadows as much as possible anyway, stopping only to toss the sack into a handy trash can. She arrived at the booth with several minutes to spare, and the chances of anyone else coming to use it were very nearly zero,, but she went over to it anyway. The whole booth was so covered with graffiti that it took her a moment or two to verify that the telephone hadn’t been vandalized. She waited impatiently until exactly 10 p.m. She dialed the number she had been given.

“Speak.” An electronic filter made the voice utterly unrecognizable. Kristine couldn’t even tell if it was male or female.

“One aim.” She smiled grimly at the irony.

“I am one,” replied the voice, completing the “So, what you got for me?” asked Kristine.

“It has become known to me that members of the society will be at a warehouse on Nicolet Island tomorrow at 1 a.m. t o close a deal involving a pair of mortals, red-haired twins. It is important that the deal should not go ahead.”

“It’ll be a pleasure to piss on their fireworks,” said Kristine with feeling. “DO you know anything about the security arrangements?”

“There will be little or none. They are relying on stealth.” exchange.

“Good. It’s done.”

“Excellent. The address is 1026 East Island “Won’t need it,” said Kristine as she put the Avenue. Good luck.” phone down. *** The Minneapolis Institute of Arts was a natural choice for Elysium. It was a beautiful, sprawling white building with elegant columns in a neo-classical Greek style, attractively worked and set in lavishly tended grounds. Just as importantly, however, late-night comings and goings went unnoticed among the cleaners, researchers and so on. Tasteful frescoes showing a range of artistic endeavors hung above the main entrance, reinforcing the impression of cultural dominance. Soft spotlights set around the building a t ground level cast just enough illumination to make the institute glow. Very symbolic. This is art, the building declared arrogantly. Everything else is inferior. The0 rode round to the parking lot, left his bike in a disabled-access bay and went round the back, to the staff entrance.

The back of the building was less illuminated and had a more practical feel to it, although it was still impressive. Following the instructions that Paschek had passed on, Theo crossed to a plain wooden door and pressed the third buzzer in a column of seven. A panel slid back, and a thin-faced vampire peered out. He eyed The0 up and down slowly, and arched an eyebrow.

“Yes? May I help you?” The vampire’s voice was reedy and nasal. Whoever it was who’d embraced him, it wasn’t for his charm.

“You’ve got that the wrong way round, friend,” said Theo flatly.

“That seems unlikely,” said the vampire, sneering faintly.

“Look,” said The0 coldly, “I’m tired. Just let me in.”

“I hardly think so.” The sneer was open now.

“The prince is in court, and doesn’t want to be bothered by riffraff off the streets.”

“So will you tell him that you refused to admit the archon he requested?”

“She-and please, do you think me a child?

Any cheap madman can put on a Yankees hat and a pair of sunglasses and claim rank.”

The0 sighed, then flashed a hand out, grabbed the offensive doorkeeper by the chin, and pulled his head hard into the door. The vampire yelped and tried to pull away, but Theo held the doorkeeper fast, his muscles seething with blood and power as the vampire tried to escape the grip. The0 then bent down and looked the fool straight in the eyes. He felt the rage boiling within him, the urge to rip the offensive idiot to shreds, and could feel it thickening his voice, darkening his stare. “Do you really thii there’s anyone in the world stupid enough to pretend to be me?“ The vampire suddenly became even more pale, and stopped struggling against Theo’s grip.

“Archon Bell, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. I never dreamt that.. . if you’d forewarned.. .” He trailed off nervously, and there was a loud click as the door lock was released.

The0 pushed the door open hard, letting go of the vampire as he did so. There was a dull clatter as the man fell over. He walked in, slamming the door behind him. “Didn’t they tell you I was coming?”

The vampire shook his head, and stayed where he was, sprawled on his back. “No sir, I had no idea. I’m extremely sorry. No offense was intended.”

“It’s my fault, I’m afraid.” A cultured, deeply mellow voice suddenly spoke up from behind Theo. slave ~ i n q The0 spun round, a smile flickering across his mouth, his anger already subsiding. “Angus!”

“Hello, old friend. It’s good to see you. How the devil have you been?”

“BUSY,” said The0 dryly. “I like to make sure Paschek doesn’t have any excuses to ream me.

How about you?”

“Enjoying the quiet life,” said Angus, smiling.

“Minneapolis is a good place to be, and my kindred here seem to like me well enough. I’m sorry about Gary. I had a number of calls to make this evening, and I forgot that I hadn’t told him you were expected.”

The0 shrugged. “He seemed to remember his manners eventually.”

Angus glanced over at Gary, still sprawled on the floor. “I’ll bet.” He gestured at the doorkeeper irritably. “Go on man, get up.”

“Of course, sir.” Gary scrambled to his feet.

“That’s better,” said Angus. “Theo, my friend, you must be exhausted. Come on, let’s get the formalities over with so you can unwind. It’s quite a drive.”

Theo followed Angus down a corridor and through into a wing of offices. The corridors were blandly institutional, occasionally punctuated by presumably expensive works of art. The0 and Angus walked past a number of deserted offices, and a small refreshment area complete with water cooler, kettle and fridge, before Angus pressed his palm against a small scanner and led them through a security door.

The prince turned out to be holding court in a fairly small boardroom, a beige office dominated by a locking nest of pine desks that formed an island in the center, surrounded by padded chairs.

The prince sat a r t h e head of the table, flanked by a selection of other vampires. Like Angus, the Prince of Minneapolis was of Toreador lineage.

And like most kindred of that line, she was almost uncannily beautiful. Long, straight black hair cascaded to below her waist, framing a face that managed to.combine sweetness with intelligent reserve. Her eyes were a deep, soft brown, with a sparkling hint of unspoken promise. She was shorter than average, but The0 felt as if her size was proper, and he was the one who was at fault.

She ... The0 took hold of himself, and forced the impact of her presence down by sheer, stubborn force of will. Angus shot him an amused glance.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Archon Theo Bell, representing Justicar Jaroslav Paschek for Clan Brujah. He’s here to help out with our little problem.” Theo nodded politely to the collected primogen, and the prince inclined her head, gravely. Angus gave them a moment, then continued. “Theo, welcome to the court of Elizabeth, Prince of Minneapolis.”

“It’s a pleasure to finally be able to meet with you in person, Archon. Thank you for responding to our call so quickly.” Elizabeth had a lovely voice, dark and smoky, with a hint of a foreign accent.

“All part of the job, ma’am,’’ said Theo.

T h e prince smiled warmly. “Welcome to Minneapolis. I hope we shall have an opportunity to talk while you are here. You are certainly welcome to make use of our facilities for the duration of your visit. I’m certain that Angus will make sure you are well taken care of.”

“Thank you.”

“Enjoy your stay, Archon Bell.”

Angus touched Theo’s shoulder and led him back toward the doors. “Okay, that’s done. Now we can see about setting you up with a guest room.” He led Theo back toward the doors, but a tall, slender vampire in an expensive suit got up from the table and crossed the room to intercept them. He smiled mirthlessly as he approached. “I do hope you weren’t going to whisk the archon off without giving the rest of us a chance to say hello, Angus.”

“Christopher. Good evening.” Angus didn’t sound particularly pleased to see the newcomer, and turned to Theo. “Christopher represents Clan Tremere.”

“Indeed,” said Christopher. “Lovely to meet you, Archon. I must say that you seem even more formidable in the flesh than your reputation had led me to believe. Your vigilance and zeal is a great comfort in these troubled times.”

Theo’s eyes narrowed, and he stared at the Tremere piercingly, looking for any hint of sarcasm or mockery. Finally, he shrugged and said, “You’d be surprised at the things some kindred think they can get away with.”

Christopher smiled coldly. “Perhaps I would, Archon. Tales of your exploits seem to reach us up here with a surprising regularity. The reports of your adventures in Memphis were most . impressive.”

The0 glared at the Tremere.

“Forty-three dead, including four of the blood,” continued Christopher, ignoring Angus’s hiss of disapproval. “No survivors, am I correct?

Not even the captives.”

“They were killed before I could get to them,” said Theo flatly.

“Of course,” said Christopher insincerely. “YOU deal with a lot of very twisted individuals. It must be difficult to stop all that corruption from rubbing off on you. I commend you for your resilience.”

“I’m stronger than I look,” said Theo, his voice like ice.

TI^ Dedopulos “Yes,” said Christopher. “I imagine that you would be.”

“You’ll find it’s a common feature of our clan,” said a short, flamboyantly dressed blonde man from behind the Tremere.

“NO doubt you consider that a virtue, Simon,” said Christopher, not bothering to turn round.

“An asset,” corrected Simon, smiling at Theo.

“Archon Bell, I do hope this tiresome old windbag isn’t boring you too much. We try to keep him safely restrained in a quiet corner when guests drop by, but sometimes he slips his leash.”

The0 grinned nastily. “I’m sure it’s just the long ride catching up with me.”

“Of course,” said Simon. “We should leave you to refresh yourself. Come along Chris, there’s a good boy. Elizabeth sent me to fetch you.”

The Tremere scowled at Simon’s retreating back, then followed him at a certain distance.

“Sorry about that,” said Angus. “Simon is right. T h e Tremere is tiresome. It’s nothing personal, though. He’s like that with everyone.”

“Perhaps he’s a frustrated harpy,” said Theo, with a tight smile.

Angus laughed. “You know, I think you could be right on the mark there. Sharp as always, eh?”

“Years of practice, old friend. Years of practice.”

Angus headed out across the galleries, and The0 followed. “I’ll sort you out with somewhere to stay. The prince keeps a set of guest suites within the building, hidden away under the staff area of the institute. They’re totally secure, and none of the mortals who work here during the day even suspect their existence. Acceptable?”

“That’s great,” said Theo. “Thank you.”

“Before I leave you to it, I need to brief you on the problem we have here.” 5 8 Slave ~ t n g ‘Yes,)) The0 said wryly. “That would be useful.”

Angus paused by a door clearly marked “NO Access,” thumbed a code into the keypad, and let The0 through. The corridor beyond was as plain as the rest of t h e office suite. They continued deeper into the building, passing offices, meeting areas and other rooms, then going down a couple of flights of stairs to a subbasement. Off to one side, The0 could make out several large workrooms, cluttered with long benches, crates and boxes, and all sorts of craft tools. Angus punched a code into another keypad, and then pressed his palm against a sensor plate.

T h e door clicked, and Angus led The0 through into a functional reception room. The carpet was deep green rather t h a n brown, thankfully, but the overall effect was still like something out of a highway motel. The painting hanging above the small pine desk was almost certainly original, but it might as well have been a cheap 3D effect print of a leaping tiger. The furniture looked perfectly serviceable, however, and everything seemed fairly new.

“This is the main guest suite,” said Angus, sinking into a comfortable armchair. “Not the most beautiful surroundings ever, I’m afraid. The other suites are more or less the same, though.”

The0 shrugged. “It’s all the same when you’re asleep.” A thought occurred to him. “Hey, Angus, tell me something, will you?”

“Of course,” said Angus immediately.

“What in the name of hell is the Minneapolis Triangle?”

Angus blinked, and his face fell. “How did you ... Um, look, it’s nonsense, just hearsay and idle speculation.”

The0 arched an eyebrow. “SO there’s no harm in filling me in on it, then.”

TI^ Dedopulos “I suppose not,” said Angus, resigned. “It’s just n o t something t h a t any of us want to encourage.”

“I’ll bear it in mind as you explain,” said Theo.

“Very well,” said Angus. “Cutting to the core of the matter, certain statistical reports appear to indicate that the Minneapolis-St. Paul region has seen a sudden rise in missing persons over the last twelve months.”

“Is that it?” asked Theo, slightly incredulous.

“Well, more o r less. There have been a number of rumors surrounding vampires vanishing from the area, particularly transients, but there’s nothing unusually sinister about that.

Minneapolis isn’t the only city, either. Half a dozen places across the country have seen significant rises in cases of missing mortals.”

“So how come it’s got its own nickname?”

“Who can tell? It’s one of those peculiar byproducts of the modern imagination. Some lunatic or other somewhere must have got a bee in his bonnet and started publicizing his theories, which were then taken up by the credulous, the bored and the stupid. It’s probably all over a website somewhere, whatever that entails.”

The0 laughed. “I take it you haven’t spent much time getting acquainted with the Internet, then.”

“Why should I bother? It seems an ugly, blunt thing, full of lies and advertising. If there’s any difference. It certainly can’t help me hunt, or guard me when I sleep.”

“It is a good source of reference information,” said Theo.

“Perhaps, but I have an excellent library of my own. It’s all too much effort for too little return. I don’t have the patience for mortal toys any more.”

“I’ve found it useful,” said The0 mildly.

“Of course,” said Angus, “You always did like to keep in close contact with your relations. I’d imagine that this email thing is extremely handy for that.”

The0 nodded. “Very. It lets me keep an eye on things from afar. You might like to consider it for that reason alone.”

Angus shook his head. “I lost track of my descendants a very long time ago.”

“The Internet could probably find them for you again. I’ve made mine useful.”

“In all honesty, my friend, I couldn’t care less.

Too small a potential return again.”

“Of course,” said Theo, letting the matter drop. “Anyway, I assume that the problem you’ve called me here for is nothing to do with this Minneapolis Triangle, right?”

Angus nodded. “Absolutely nothing. We’ve got a rogue in the city who seems determined to tear the place up, and we’re having difficulty pinning her down.”

The0 looked a t Angus, surprised. “One rogue?”

Angus smiled at him. “Well, we’re not at full strength at the moment. Elizabeth has a couple of scourge packs out and about at the limits of her territory, and that’s depleted our general pool of enforcers. The rogue seems to be a bit better organized than most, but she’s distressingly noisy. Even so, she’s not leaving any trails, and we can’t find out where she’s lairing. Still, none of that would necessarily be a problem. We’ve set a number of people out looking for her however, and she’s avoided them all, almost as if she knew they were there. I’m worried that she’s being fed information by someone on our side, so turning to someone on the outside-someone impeccable-seemed like a sensible decision. I know you’re incormptible.”

T~KI Dedopufos The0 decided to let that pass. “You have a description?”

“Yes. We’ve spotted her a couple of times.

She’s about 5’4’’, slim, with shoulder-length black hair. She’s rather striking.”

“But you haven’t been able to follow her?”

“No. She’s extremely fast, and she seems “DO you have any leads at all?” ‘‘It’s not much, but yes. Apparently there’s a rumor that suggests she may attempt to break into a warehouse on Nicolet Island tomorrow night.”

“Really? Why?”

“We’re not sure. It’s not associated with any “I mean where does the rumor come from?”

“A couple of street types claim to have sold “But why tomorrow in particular?”

Angus looked a little uncomfortable. “I don’t know. That’s just what the rumor says. Maybe something is scheduled there.”

Theo’s eyes narrowed. “Okay. I assume you haven’t called me in just because she hasn’t presented herself to the prince like a good little girl. What’s this so-called rogue been up to, anyway?”

“Ah, yes. Well, she’s been rather prolific.

Over the last six days, she’s killed one kindreda Ventrue, high-ranking-along with a total of six ghouls associated with a number of different individuals, and two mortals who were foolish enough to get in her way. She’s also destroyed two houses, both in the better parts of the city, both linked to kindred interests. We’re doing what we can to keep public reactions under control, but that’s quite a spree in anyone’s language. O n top of that, last night she also broke into a set of slave R tng skilled at throwing off pursuit.” activity that we know of.” her information.” offices downtown, killed two cleaners and one executive who was working late, burned some files and destroyed more t h a n $15,000 worth of computer equipment. She threw it out of a fifteenth-story window into the street, in fact.”

“I’ll need details on the attacks-the victims, the properties and companies, and so on. How confident are you that this warehouse is a solid lead?”

“I really can’t sensibly guess. Either way, it’s the only useful information that I can offer you.”

“I suppose I should go stake it out a bit, check the insides, see if I can get a bead on her.” ‘There seems little point tonight, to be honest. It’s getting late. I’d leave it until tomorrow.”

“If you say so,” said Theo. “Anything else I need to know?”

“I don’t think so,” Angus said. “We’ve been unable to find any links between the victimsthe attacks seem random-but I’ll get as much information as I can brought down for you. Oh, there is one thing actually.”

“Yes?”

“The keypad t o get in here. The code is C5XY, and then you have to press your palm against the sensor to complete the action.”

Theo frowned uncertainly. “HOW did you get my palm print into the system?”

Angus grinned. “Oh, we didn’t. It’s thermal.

It looks for any hand, and if that hand is above room temperature, it doesn’t open.” ‘Clever,” said Theo.

“It can be useful,” said Angus. “We have quite a lot of utterly clueless staff here during the day.

Speaking of which, the door does have several sturdy bolts o n the inside, to enable you a reasonable guarantee of security. This entire institute is considered Elysium, but you can never be too careful.”

“Oh, I’ll be careful,” The0 said. “That’s a promise.”

“Then I’m happy,” said Angus. “I know what your promise is worth.”

“You should,” Theo said with a smile.

“NO one better,” replied Angus. “Right, I’m going to leave you to relax for a while. You must be keen to unwind after the long journey. I’ll have those files sent down for your attention, but if you want anything in t h e meanwhile, t h e telephone on the side there will connect you to the prince’s hospitality staff.”

“Thank you, Angus,” The0 said. “Good to see you.”

Angus paused in the doorway. “You too, old friend. Welcome to Minneapolis.”

Nicolet Island had been home to industry and commerce during the sixties and seventies.

Sometime during the late seventies though, conditions had changed. The companies moved out, leaving a whole load of empty warehouses and factories behind. Most of these buildings looked as if they’d remained empty ever since, a ghost town of boarded-up windows and weed-filled yards. There were signs of change though. Population pressures and the constant need for more accommodation were making redevelopment profitable at last, and one by one, the old warehouses were being converted into apartment blocks or condo developments. The old and tired being dressed up in a shiny new suit and pressed into service once more. Still, plenty of units remained untouched, and the derelict and the fashionable rubbed shoulders in high contrast.

East Island Avenue was still mostly undeveloped, with large patches of parkland and other greenery breaking up the old warehouses. It looked a bit tattered, worn around the edges. Too many years and not enough care, thought Theo wryly.

The unit in question was a large, hangar-like warehouse with a nest of offices and other buildings close in along the near side. No lights were visible, and the gates looked as if they’d been open for the best part of twenty years. There wasn’t anything in particular to distinguish it from any of the other T ~ W Dedopufos 6 5 chapter FOUT: Monkey wsir)esS units. The0 stopped a couple of hundred yards down the road, coasting his Yamaha into the tree line on the opposite side of the road from the warehouses.

He used the cover of the bushes and trees along the strip of park to push the R1 back to a position almost opposite the open gates. When he was satisfied that neither he nor the bike were visible, he settled down to watch.

The warehouse seemed to be a surprising choice of target for the rogue. Her previous attacks had been against local kindred and their property, but there was no suggestion in any of the material that Angus had provided that the warehouse had ever even seen a vampire. It had belonged to a construction company in the sixties, who had used it to store lumber and other materials, but they had gone bust by the end of the decade. The building was now owned by a large life insurance firm, held against potential land values in the future. No one would care if she torched the place. In fact, she’d probably be doing the owners a favor. The0 shrugged and settled down to watch. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, building up a careful picture of bushes and trees, and slowly felt reality slip away from him a notch. He opened his eyes again, confidant that he’d effectively vanished from sight.

It was almost midnight when the rumbling drone of approaching engines warned him that several vehicles were approaching. He checked his cover and continued waiting. Two minutes later, a small convoy of vans drove up the road and pulled steadily into the warehouse. They headed round the side, stopping somewhere just out of viewTheo was perversely pleased; while they muddied the waters a lot, at least they indicated that the warehouse was used for something, which made the rogue’s interest a lot more understandable. He immediately decided slave R I V ~ against investigating the vans. The rogue wouldn’t be among them, and whatever the new arrivals were up to, it wasn’t his business.

Flashes of movement indicated that the occupants had posted at least two sentries. That would make it a bit trickier to get into the building when the time came.

It was approaching half past midnight when The0 heard the steady crunch of footsteps approaching from the parkland behind him. They were cautious and deliberate, but almost comically loud, as if an elephant were trying to sneak up. It didn’t fit with the way the rogue had been described.

Puzzled, The0 turned slowly and scanned the area.

A tall, skinny, gray-haired man in camouflage pants and a bulky hunter’s slicker was heading toward his general location, eyes fixed on the warehouse. There was a chill in the fall air and his breath was clouding just a bit-a mortal. That explained the lack of stealth. The man gave no sign of having seen Theo, and eventually crouched down in the shadow of a tree less that eight feet away. ’ The0 sighed to himself, shook his head, stood up slowly and stalked over to where the man was studying the warehouse. Then he reached down and snapped an arm tightly around the man’s throat.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just kill you right now,” he hissed.

The man bit back a startled yelp. “Where the hell.. .” He paused and gathered his thoughts. “Listen asshole, I’m wired with enough explosive to blow your fucking factory to smithereens, and I’m holding the detonator. Kill me, and you’re paste. Now back The mortal sounded sincere. The0 released him and took a couple of slow steps back. “What the hell are you doing out here?”

The man stood up and held his closed hand out TI^ nedopufos off, slowly.” from his side so that Theo could see it clearly. He was certainly holding something that could have been some sort of crude switch, and wires ran from it up into the sleeve of his slicker. He reached down to his side with the other hand, pulled up an automatic pistol, and pointed it straight at Theo’s face. “I’m going to go get my daughters back, you stinking piece of shit, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

The0 reached out for the man’s mind and grabbed it, smashing his will down into it. “Lower that gun and sit down.”

The man obeyed instantly, cowed.

“Right, let’s get some things straight. One, I have nothing to do with whatever is going on in that warehouse. Two, I don’t give a shit about you or your threats. Three, I’m busy. Four, you’re in my way. Five, I can stop you or kill you before you even have time to blink. Six, you’re going to fuck off back to wherever you came from. Right now.” The0 reached out mentally and piled crushing pressure onto the man’s thoughts as he spoke the last two words.

The man started to rise, then stopped halfcrouching, shaking slightly. His face paled and his eyes dilated, but he shook his head stubbornly, and his mind flared hard with dizmond edges of desperation. The0 looked at him, astonished.

“N.. . No. No way.” His voice got stronger. “No way. You’re going to have to kill me. I’m dead anyway, if I let those sickos take my girls. Fucking slavers is what they are, can you believe it? Besides, what’s it to you?”

Cold fingers of ice stroked their way down Theo’s spine. “Slavers? What do you know?”

The man spat on the grass, and when he spoke, his voice was thick with fury, disgust and grief. “The fuckers abducted my daughters two days ago. They’re sloue Riog planning to sell them tonight. As slaves. I’m not going to let that happen. Can you imagine what they must be going through? Knowing they’re going to be sold into Christ alone knows what sort of torment, no idea of where in the world they are, no way to escape, forced to.. .” he broke off with a choke, and spent a couple of moments regaining his composure.

“They’re seventeen, man. Can you imagine what they must be going through?”

The0 nodded quietly. ‘&Yes. As a matter of fact, I think I can.”

“Then you know why I’m going to get them out at any cost,” said the man. “Any cost.”

“How do you know they’re there?”

“A sympathetic whistleblower. He called me last night and told me what had happened, and where and when the fucking sale was taking place. Said that abducting my girls was going too far, and he wanted to help me stop it.”

“Are you certain he was genuine?”

“He knew stuff that he couldn’t have known.

Details about the girls. Where and when they vanished. Stuff like that. I went back to where he said the snatch happened.” His voice faltered, and he paused for several seconds, breathing deeply. “I found a ribbon of Nathalie’s.”

“NO cops?”

“I called ’em but the fuckers won’t even open a file till they’ve been gone forty-eight hours or some shit like that. Runaways is what they called my girls.”

“What else did this whistleblower tell you?”

“Not much. Just that these perverts sell people as fucking slaves to clients all over the globe, and that this is just a drop site for them, nothing more.”

Suddenly, the convoy of vans seemed a lot less irrelevant, and the Minneapolis Triangle came back to mind. Eventually, the mortals would be forced to pay attention, and if some idiot vampire was behind TIKI nedopulos it, as the rogue’s interest suggested ... “Did your source give you his name?”

The man shook his head, weary. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Even his voice was all garbled and shit. Look, I’m running out of time here. I’m going in.” He looked up at The0 plaintively. “You look pretty good in a fight. I could really use your help.

They’re just kids. Please?”

“You can’t go in,” said Theo. “You have no idea of what you’re up against, and you’ll screw up my work.”

The man grimaced, resigned. “I don’t have any choice, buddy. I can’t stay here and let my girls become slaves. You might as well kill me right now, because that’s the only way to stop me.” His voice hardened a little, getting colder and more defiant.

“Remember their names, though. Delphine and Nathalie. You’ll be the one responsible for the shit they’re going through. I want you to think about that from time to time. If you survive the blast.”

The0 stared deep into the man’s eyes, crashing into his mind, trying to crack through his will power.

“Stay here,” he thundered.

The man cringed back and started trembling, but he shook his head again, first slowly and reluctantly, and then with mounting conviction.

“N 0. ”

The0 shook his head in wonder. The man had to be borderline suicidal. Although he was thin, he looked comparatively fit. If the bomb was real and not just a fantasy, trying to disable him was a risk, particularly if it was a dead-man switch. The0 shook his head irritably, frowning. “All right, tell you what, I’ll get them for you. I need to go in there and look around anyway. But you have got to stay here. You’ll make my task impossible.”

The man looked nervous and uncertain. ‘‘I don’t trust you. Sure, you’re a big guy, but that doesn’t slave Ring count for much. Why should I leave it to you? I did my time in the forces.”

“Remember how you didn’t notice me until I had my arm round your throat, hero!” Theo’s voice was sarcastic.

“Hey ...” the man suddenly sounded awed, and some of the confusion and fear lifted from his face.

“You’re some sort of special forces Op. That’s why you were asking.. . I should have guessed.”

The0 simply looked at him flatly, saying nothing either way.

“Hah! I knew it! Well, it just so happens I remember what you bastards are like,” said the man, his voice suddenly going cold again. “Accidents happen, eh? Promise. Promise me you’ll see my girls safe, and I’ll keep out of your way.”

The0 nodded his head, reluctantly. “Fine.”

“Say it,” said the man. “Like you actually think I should believe it.”

The0 hesitated for a long moment, reluctant to commit. Getting two girls from a bunch of mortals didn’t sound all that hard though. And being sold into slavery.. . He drew himself up to his full height. ‘‘I swear that I will do all I can to bring your daughters to safety.”

The man sagged, fear, desperation and hope mingling visibly across his features. “Okay. But if you’re not out in half an hour, or anyone tries to leave, the deal is off.”

“What do your daughters look like?”

“5’ 7”, slender, shoulder-length red hair. Pretty, and it’s not just me who says it. They’re identical twins, but Delphine wears her hair straight, while N athalie has hers wavy.”

“All right,” said Theo. “You’d better give me your name too, so they know to trust me.”

“Pierre,” said the man. “Pierre Decourt.”

The0 stared down at the man, and nodded ~ i m ~edopulos grimly. “Okay, Pierre. Now wait here silently for me without taking any further action, however long it takes.” He drilled the words down through the mortal’s suicidal Zesperation, forcing them in deep.

This time, there was no resistance. Finally.

The0 turned his back on Pierre and walked a short distance next to the sidewalk, staying within the tree line. He paused, calming himself down and focusing on the empty scene in front of him, and the night gradualiy slipped out of phase. Then the blood caught fire inside him, filling him with power, and he shot across the road.

The wall was only seven or eight feet high, so The0 took advantage of his momentum and leaped, vaulting it. He caught the top edge as he cleared it and used the grip to stop himself. He hung from the wall for a moment, then silently dropped the couple of feet down to the ground, crouching down into the shadows as he did so. He looked around carefully, watching for guards or signs of alarm, but there was nothing to suggest he’d been spotted. Staying low, in the wall’s shadow, he slowly made his way round the far side of the warehouse, away from the offices and vans.

The rear of the unit was all much the same-no doors, but plenty of windows. Theo picked his way along cautiously, staying silent. About halfway along, he caught a shred of quiet conversation drifting through a broken window and spotted a glimmer of light. He ghosted over to the window.

“I am not comfortable with this arrangement, Liam.” The voice was cold, and despite the low volume, Theo could still hear an unmistakable note of power behind it. Kindred, probably. The situation was getting worse and worse by the minute. Theo cursed bitterly to himself.

“What’s wrong? We chose this place, so it can’t be a setup.” A second speaker, nondescript, with a slight accent. Probably mortal. Liam, presumably. ‘‘I am not certain. Something here is not right.”

“Well, a special order as well as a mixed bag of standard merchandise is certainly an unusual choice for a private collector, but then your lot often do make some pretty wacky purchases.”

“DO not presume too much.” The cold voice got even icier. “You may lack the wit or education to see subtle patterns, but our association does not give you the right to mock me.”

“I’m not mocking anyone, old friend,” said Liam, with a surprising hint of steel. “Merely pointing out the facts. But any time you want to break off our partnership, you just help yourself. You’ll be stuck right back where you started.”

“Fool. I could own your soul.”

“Yes, Matthew, you could, and then I’d be dead within twenty-four hours, and you within fortyeight, so it wouldn’t get you anywhere. If you fuck with my brain, my boy will pick it up straight away, and then it’s all over. Look, this is silly. Just relax, will you? I’m not poking fun at you. Your sort are driven by a wide range of compulsions.”

Theo scowled unhappily. Matthew was definitely kindred and unless this Liam was too, there had been a significant breach of masquerade.

He could be a ghoul-a mortal fed on vampiric blood-but then he should be a subservient toady, not a lippy motherfucker. This was turning into a shit storm.

There was a long pause. ‘Very well. I shall allow it to pass. It does not change the fact that I am feeling uneasy about this deal.” Matthew sounded considerably less icy.

“Do you want to call it off, then? I trust your intuition, particularly when we’re dealing with selling-or selling to-your sort.”

Another pause. “No,” Matthew said. “The total T~ITI Dedopulos sale is worth more than one quarter of a million dollars. It is a generous price, particularly for the stock cattle, and red-haired twins are a very specialized requirement. We would be able to obtain sixty thousand for the pair on the general market I suspect, given their physical appearance, but that would still be a considerable loss. We stay, until it is certain that we have been misled.”

The memory of bile burned painfully at the back of Theo’s throat as he struggled to control his nausea and rage.

“Whatever you say. That reminds me. Do we have any other special requests coming up? It’s always good to give the teams some advance notice.”

“Nothing that requires your involvement. You can be sure that I will advise you if anything is needed. How trustworthy is that girl of yours?”

“Ginny? Utterly. She’s extremely good, toojust the right look and manner for a bagger.”

“I think perhaps we should have her killed.”

“What? Why?” Liam sounded offended.

“This was a highly sensitive acquisition. Mortals get particularly outraged about female adolescents.

It may be safer to eliminate your operative and make it appear as if she was working alone.” ‘‘I don’t think that’s necessary. Ginny’s a valuable resource, and it would be a shame to waste her. If you really want to hide the trail a little, we have someone similar in the pens who could take her place.”

“I suppose that will do. Kill this substitute, have your operative’s driver shot, and leave the corpses in an empty van. Make it look like one of your gang betrayals.”

“Sure, why not,” Liam said. “Miles is expendable. I’ll get the license plates switched too, just in case.”

“A very sen.. . Wait. I hear something. Silence.” sfclue R I V ~ Matthew paused for a moment. “There’s an intruder!” Theo shrank back from the window, horrified. “There,” continued Matthew urgently.

“Out by the vans. Quick, see to the stock.”

The vans! Theo relaxed momentarily as he realized that they weren’t talking about him. It had to be the rogue. He looked through the window carefully. There were people running around at the far end of the warehouse, but no one near. Very well.

He sprinted down toward the side of the building.

As he approached the corner, the offices that he had seen from the park came into view. He could hear people running, and the quiet babble of excited voices. He risked a quick peek around the corner.

The doors to the warehouse were open, and three vans were parked up inside, in a roughly triangular formation. Several figures were darting around them busily, trying to stay behind cover.

Others were out in the main yard, close by, some heading toward the office buildings while others seemed to be milling about. There was a general impression of urgency, confusion and threat.

A procession of figures filed out despondently from between a couple of offices. It was a slow column of individuals, locked into line. They were wearing fetters around one ankle, linked to a thick metal chain that stretched the length of the column, and their hands were shackled behind their backs.

Everything swam red for a moment, and The0 had to concentrate fiercely to fight off the urge to just charge in. The column was being escorted, and one of the guards was haranguing the captives to pick up their pace, punctuating his hoarse curses with vicious slashes from a long, switchlike cane. The0 took a step forward before he’d even realized it.

“Hey! You in the corner!”

The0 looked round to see a tall, well-muscled figure standing at the edge of the office buildings, TI^ Dedopuros pointing directly at him. “Fuck,” he muttered.

Suddenly three figures were running straight for him. Theo immediately slammed into overdrive, time stuttering as the blood ignited in his veins and energy flashed through his body. He looked around quickly for a makeshift weapon, something long, but there was nothing useful within range, so he whipped his hunting knife out of its sheath, readying it in a backhand grip.

He leaped forward in a long, rolling dive, slipping under the arm of the nearest enemy, who was a few heartbeats ahead. He came up in a crouch just a short distance in front of the two slower opponents, between them, and lashed out with both hands. He rose as he did so, aiming for the throats.

To the right, the knife ripped straight through neck ‘ and lower jaw, blood immediately fountaining in a wide arc, but to the left he only managed a glancing blow to a shoulder. The0 was turning to face the man on the left even as his companion sank to the ground, gurgling nastily.

A faint noise alerted him that the first opponent was approaching again, from behind. The0 judged the distance, and made a feint toward the second enemy, his ferocious stare slashing through the man’s already shredded nerves. The fool stepped back, and The0 ducked, grabbed above him for the arm he knew was coming and rolled forward, pulling his startled attacker with him. There was a muffled yelp, and the man flew into the other assailant, hard. Both went down in a tangle of limbs and curses.

The0 pounced, smashing his heel down into one throat and grinding it against the concrete of the yard, while his hands sought and found the other’s head and twisted sharply. There was a moment of terrible resistance, and then Theo straightened his body, tightening his muscles and pushing all of his power into his hands and feet. An almost slaue RID^ simultaneous double-crack told him that both necks had snapped.

There was no time for taking chances. He dropped the one he had been holding, and then swiftly bent down and ripped both throats out with his fangs. A quick taste of the blood reassured him that both were fully mortal. He glanced over at the third figure. He was writhing feebly, crimson hands around his ruined throat, making unpleasantly soft gurgling noises. The0 left him to it.

The slaves were being herded beyond the vans.

The0 darted toward the door, trying to catch up.

There was a sudden disturbance from that direction though, and one of the overseers staggered back into view and collapsed. Theo slowed down cautiously.

Something clearly wasn’t right. He paused. There was a shockingly loud scream from behind the vans, followed by another and then another. The0 crouched and looked around the door, keeping his head at knee-height. A burly enforcer of some sort was standing behind it, holding a big, wickedlooking crowbar. He was glancing toward the vans, looking for the source of the scream. The0 flicked his knife to his left hand, then stood up smoothly and snatched the bar from the enforcer’s startled grasp.

The man started to say something, but The0 whipped the crowbar up into a ready stance, and then smashed it down the man’s chest and belly, ripping a long, deep tear, which he immediately followed with a savage crosscut of his knife, slicing across the man’s gut. The words turned into a howl of pain, and the man doubled over, trying to clutch at his entrails as they spilled out of his abdomen in greasy, blood-soaked coils. The0 brought the end of the crowbar back up as fast and hard as possible, crunching up through the enforcer’s lower jaw and deep into the back of his head in one smooth movement. The corpse collapsed, and The0 paused for a moment to wipe some of the blood off his hands and arms before pulling the bar back out of the shattered skull and hefting it thoughtfully.

Automatic gunfire chattered loudly nearby, and Theo’s back erupted in a line of pain. He dove to one side immediately, the walls blurring as the blood screamed inside him, and looked back. A man was standing a short distance behind him with a small, snub-nosed SMG, pumping rounds into the spot The0 had just vacated. Mortal, by the way he was panting wildly. The0 dove as the gunman finally started to turn to follow his previous movement, slashing a wide backhand circle with his knife as he came up into a crouch. There was considerable resistance, but the blade didn’t break. The gunman screamed, blood erupting in jets from his groin and upper thighs, and then he was falling in on himself.

The0 flicked the crowbar out as the body fell, caving the man’s head in as if it were eggshell and cutting his scream off like a light. “NO one shoots me, motherfucker.”

He stood up again, hot blood worming its way into the wounds in his back and forcing them together again. The flesh crawled and writhed as the bullets were slowly pushed out. He shuddered a little, and looked around cautiously, ready to spring for cover. There was the sound of gunfire from behind a stack of wooden crates and pallets off to one side in the main warehouse. The0 went in cautiously, wiping blood off his face as he did so. A low gurgle came from behind the crates. The0 headed in that direction slowly, the blood within him singing its tension and filling his mind with tempting visions of slaughter.

As he came round the side of the crates, Theo heard a worrying gargle, and he paused for a long moment before carrying on. Behind the crates, the sraue R I O ~ warehouse stretched back unobstructed for quite a distance. A man was lying on the floor, covered in blood. He was writhing about feebly, clutching at a deep rip in his chest and stomach. A striking woman was straddling his abdomen, holding him down. Her hair was black, reaching down to her shoulders, and she was wearing snug dark clothing. She looked up as he approached, and surprise flickered across her face. She arched an eyebrow.

“You? These goons really must have been naughty.”

The0 shook his head. ‘‘I can’t comment on the situation here, but you’ve certainly caused me all sorts of problems.”

T o m e on, the leaders are still.out there.” She stood up with a fluid, graceful mouement. “I’m Kristine.” She paused thoughtfully, then turned to look at Theo. A wry smile played over her lips, and she took several very swift steps backward, then darted over to a low crate at the side of the warehouse. “Ah, of course. You’re not here for them at all, are you? You’re here for me. I’m flattered.”

“Yes ma’am, I’m afraid it’s you I’m here for.”

She flipped a catch on a long case resting on top of the crate and lifted the lid. “How on earth did you know I’d be here? I suppose that bastard set me up. No matter.” She drew a long, elegant sword lovingly from the case. ‘‘I have to say, I’m a little disappointed to find the mighty Theo Bell running wetwork errands for a corrupt conspiracy. I’d heard you put some store in honor. That’ll teach me to believe fairy tales.”

“I just go where I’m told,” said Theo guardedly, slowly circling around the corpse toward her.

Kristine laughed moving to keep the corpse between them as she closed the distance. ‘!Ah yes, the famous SS defense. I’d have expected better, clansman. Did they even tell you why they murdered ~ l m ~edopufos my coterie and wanted me silenced?”

“I know nothing about your coterie, but you have broken several traditions in this domain, and you endanger the masquerade in Minneapolis. You have been judged guilty and sentenced to execution by Justicar Jaroslav Paschek.” The0 started stepping the other way, to cut off Kristine’s line to the door.

Kristine circled away from The0 again, looking mortally offended. “Minneapolis? What about New York, Hartford and the rest? Do you really mean to tell me you’ve come to kill me for just a conspirator, some mooks and a database? Oh boy. You really don’t know jack shit about this, do you? You’re in well over your pretty little head, Archon.”

The0 shrugged. “Like I said, I just go where -I’m told.”

“Like a good little drone,” said Kristine mockingly. “They like a man with no mind of his own, I guess.” She shrugged. “Come on then, big boy. Let’s dance.”

She leaped over the corpse on the floor like a streak, landing in a crouch at Theo’s feet and whipping around in a blur. He jumped instinctively, blood flaring white-hot as it burned within him, filling him with power. Everything slowed, but even so he was still barely able to see her sword slashing round where his ankles had been. He landed immediately, snapping the crowbar forward to cut at her eyes as he brought his knife up into a parry.

Kristine swayed backward at the last possible instant and turned the momentum of her spin into savage slash at his chest. He continued bringing the bar down and turned her blade aside with a clash of glacial sparks, his knife licking out at where she had been a moment before.

Kristine grinned. “You’re superb,” she said, taking a half-step back then lunging at his throat.

The0 caught her sword with his knife and landed 8 0 slave R I O ~ an ineffectual blow on her hip with the crowbar, and then felt a sudden, hot pain in his left leg. He glanced down at where she’d kicked the side of his kneecap, hard enough to almost dislocate the joint.

He stepped back a pace, testing the leg and cursing himself for falling for the feint. “But I’m better,” she continued. In the background, The0 could hear heavy doors slamming.

Kristine launched into a flurry of attacks, cutting high, then using the momentum of his knife-block to come down and probe repeatedly at his torso, breaking the pattern to nick at the back of his hand.

The0 tried to keep up, the blood raging within him, muscles burning, but she was at least as fast as he was, and considerably more skilled. He jumped back toward the pallets, taking a moment to regroup, and discovered he was bleeding from four different shallow cuts.

“I’ve been wanting to go up against an archon for over a century,” said Kristine, taking the opportunity to talk. “I hear Don Cerro was an exquisite fencer once. Your knife should more than make up for the lack of edge on your cudgel. You really should have studied more.”

The0 made some quick estimates of distance, speed and weight. “Oh, we’re full of surprises.”

“I’ve heard that before,” said Kristine, pressing forward once again. The0 fell back toward the crates, desperately using both blade and bar to parry her flickering onslaught. She smiled triumphantly as Theo got close enough to the wood to be restricted, and surged forward. The0 saw the movement start, dropped into a spinning crouch and darted sideways, then surged up behind her, dropping both weapons.

She was turning even as he came upright, but he swayed inside her slash and smashed his forearms hard into the center of her chest, jumping up to put all of his weight and strength behind the blow.

Tim Dedopulos Kristine was flung back into the side of a crate, which crushed under the force of the impact.

Overbalanced, she fell back into the wreckage.

Theo followed her down, adding his weight to hers so that when they landed, the impact stunned her for a moment. As she tried to recover, he grabbed a shard of broken wood and rammed it down through the top of her left breast and into her heart, then stepped back. Kristine was frozen with her arms reaching out, a look of horror on her face.

Theo shrugged. “I did warn you, ma’am. Now, just you stay put please. I’ll be back to collect you in a little while.” He dusted himself down, then grabbed his knife and her sword-it really was exquisiteand sprinted round the crates. The vans looked prepared to go, drivers already in their seats. Two of the vans were closed, but outside the back of the third one, a tall, balding man was struggling with a young woman, who was flailing at him wildly. He looked up and saw Theo, and his eyes widened. He pushed the girl back and then leaned back against the van, pulled his legs up and kicked her hard in the chest, toward Theo. He then leaped into the back of the van and slammed the door. Immediately, all three engines started. T h e girl staggered backward, straight into Theo’s path, and he had to drop the blades again and catch hold of her. As he did, the vans tore off screeching, out through the warehouse door.

The0 looked at the vans, then back at the struggling girl he was having to work to restrain.

Long, straight red hair. Fairly tall. Slim.

Fangs, drenched in fresh blood.

“Oh fuck,” said Theo. 5bue ~ i n g The0 cradled the sobbing girl gently, trying to make appropriately reassuring noises.

“I ate him,” she wailed. Again. “He tried to grab me, and I just ate him. I drank his blood! I killed him!”

“I know,” he said quietly, patting her awkwardly on the back. “Didn’t he taste great, though?”

She paused at that. “Yeah. Yeah, he did. Better than a mud pie, even.” T h e tears stopped momentarily. “But it was blood. I mean... eww.

Blood. That’s revolting. I want more.” She suddenly burst into tears again. “What’s happening to me? Oh god, I’ve gone crazy. First 1 go all gay, and now I’m a freaking blood fetishist murderer. Oh god, oh god.”

“Shh,” said The0 gently. “It’s okay. It’ll all be okay. Just tell me what happened.”

“You promise?”

Theo winced. “What happened, Delphine?”

She looked up at him, suddenly scared. “HOW do you know my name? Oh god ...”

“YOU father sent me. Pierre Decourt. To rescue you.” The words tasted like ash. Great job he’d done so far.

“Is he ...” She couldn’t complete the sentence.

“He’s fine,” said Theo kindly. “I’ll take you to him in a few minutes. I need to know what happened first, though. Please, tell me everything.”

“All right.” She sniffed, and wiped her cheeks.

Theo grabbed hold of her hand gently before she could see that she was crying blood, and held it, safely out of sight. “They brought us here. They were going to sell us! God, that makes me mad. How fucking dare they? I want to rip them to fucking little shreds. I want to ...”

“Delphine,” said Theo quietly. “Calmly.”

She fought for a bit of control. “Yeah. Okay. They brought us here, and they locked us in a small room with some other prisoners, kinda unhealthy-looking mostly, and there was this one guy who was really pale and freaky, like half dead, and he was just sneering all the time. Nat and I were trying to keep away from the others, as much as the chains would allow, and praying for some sort of miracle. Oh my god, they’ve stilt got her. We have to go get her. We have to.” She glared up at him. “We have to go get her now.”

“DO you know where they were holding you?” asked Theo, gently. “DO you know where to go?”

She sagged against him, tears welling up in her eyes again. “NO. Oh, Nat. No.”

“It’ll be okay,” said Theo. “Please, carry on while I tidy up here a bit.” He started going around the warehouse quickly, arranging bodies into plausible positions, distributing weapons and generally trying to make the carnage look like some sort of gang battle.

“Tidy up? Jesus. This is fucking freaky.”

“lt’s my job, and I really need you to tell me what’s going on so that I can do it.”

Delphine sighed bitterly. “All right, already. So they were holding us in this room, and we were totally shitting ourselves and trying to hide it from each other, and all this noise and stuff starts erupting outside, screams and everything. We didn’t know whether to hope or hide. Then a couple of the goons blast in, and they drag us all up and herd us out.

There was loads of chaos and people running around shouting, and they took us into that warehouse. 5laue Ring “They were about to start loading us back into those creepy vans when this woman just strolled up to the goons and smacked them about like they were nothing, and then she practically ripped one of them apart, man. She was awesome, totally beautiful, really fit, and stacked too-you know, she was actually hot, and that freaked me out, because I don’t dig chicks like that. I couldn’t stop staring at her.”

“I can imagine,” murmured Theo, stashing his knife back in his belt, and putting Kristine’s sword back in its case.

“Yeah, well, then she came over to me and snapped my chains like string, which was really weird now that I think about it. She looked straight at me, and I could hardly breathe, and then she smiled at me and said ‘I’m sorry about this my dear, but I have to muddy your waters.’ That didn’t make any sense either, but then suddenly I was in her arms, and nothing seemed to matter.” Delphine paused, and looked at Theo. “Everything?“ The0 nodded gravely, kicking the ruined crates around a little to disguise the obvious impact.

She sighed. “All right. She started kissing my throat, and oh my god, I’ve never felt anything like it. It was incredible, just so horny, and I couldn’t think or anything. All I knew was that she felt like fire. I think I even came. I certainly blacked out a little.” She paused. “Oh god, I’m gay, aren’t I?”

The0 smiled despite himself, amused. “I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

“But she blasted me away man, and a minute ago you were holding me and like you’re a total rock, and you’re drop-dead cute, and I didn’t feel anything.”

“Like I said, I wouldn’t worry about it.”

She squinted at him suspiciously. “Something freaky’s going on here, isn’t it? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Just trust me for a few minutes more, okay?”

She frowned. “Hm. Well, when I came round, the babe had her hand over my mouth, and I felt really shitty. I don’t know what happened, but everything hurt. Then the pain sort of went away again, and the world seemed sharper and harder and more real suddenly. Then this goon stumbled around the comer, and.. .” She stopped and sniffled a little.

“And I leaped on him and pushed him to the ground, and just bit into his chest. All this blood spurted into my mouth, and it tasted like nothing I’ve ever tasted, and I just sucked and sucked and sucked, until no more came. Then this other guy came by and tried to grab me, but he was too slow this time, and we were struggling, and then he kicked me away, and you caught me.” Her voice turned angry. “Right, that’s everything. So then, Mr. Just Tell Me What Happened, what the fuck is going on?”

“1’11 tell you more later, but we’re in a hurry. My name is Theo. The quick version is that something has been done to you that was done to me too once, and you’re in a lot of danger now. You’re going to have to hide from everyone. What was done was, well, illegal in effect, and if you are caught, you will be killed. You’re going to have to leave this area completely right away, get away from all your former friends. Staying would be immensely dangerous. Do you understand?”

“No. No fucking way.”

The0 shrugged from across the warehouse.

“Fine. You will be dead within a few days at most, and your father will probably be killed as well, and there will be no one left to save your sister.”

Delphine stared at him, horrified. “What?”

“I can only help you to help yourself, child. If you won’t listen, you will undoubtedly die a horrifying death.”

“Why?” She sounded stunned.

“People like us have to keep secret, so we have to eliminate all breaches of security. If you will not do as I say, you will be caught and slaughtered.”

Delphine sounded disgusted, tired and pissed.

She paused for a long moment. “Is it really that bad?

They’ll kill me and Dad?”

The0 nodded. “As soon as look at you.”

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them back defiantly, and when she spoke, there was a note of challenge in her voice. “And you’ll help us make it if we do what you say.”

“As much as I can,” said Theo.

“So there’s no choice then, is there?”

“None whatsoever. I’m glad we reached an understanding.”

“You think? I don’t fucking understand any of this shit. Still, I guess I’ll have to cope for the moment.”

“Good. I’ve done all I can here now. Follow me, and keep quiet.” The0 headed out of the warehouse, Delphine in tow. He moved cautiously, keeping an eye out for possible assailants or police come to investigate the disturbance, but everything seemed quiet. They crossed the yard, and then Theo led Delphine over to where he had left Pierre. They entered the tree line on the far side of the road, and Theo looked around for the girl’s father. The man was lying sprawled on the ground beside a tree, his head twisted at an unnatural angle. He was clearly dead.

Delphine howled something and ran over to where he lay, sobbing through her frantic calls. The0 left her to it for a moment, his mind whirling. He cursed, softly.

Delphine was clinging to her father’s corpse, weeping brokenly. He crossed over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m really sorry, but you’ll have to grieve later. We don’t have much time.” ~ i m Dedopulos a7 She looked up, streaks of red running down her face. “Just fuck off and leave me alone.”

“No. If you do not come with me now, you will “What do you care?”

“I gave my word,” said The0 simply. “Plus you may be useful. Now come on. Don’t you want to save your sister?”

She flinched at that and spoke bitterly. “So what do I have to do, oh great master?”

The0 winced. “I guess I deserved that. Just stick to ‘Theo,’ okay? I know it’s distasteful, but to start with, you should retrieve your father’s wallet and any identification or keys he is carrying. You may need them, and a car would be very useful right now.”

Delphine’s eyes widened, and she stared at him, shocked. “You want me to loot my father?”

The0 shrugged. “Would you rather I did it?”

She shuddered. “Fuck you.”

“That’s what I thought.”

She closed her eyes for a long moment and took a deep breath, then started going through her father’s pockets, keening softly as she did so. After a few moments, she paused, puzzled. “What the fuck?” She started to unzip the bloody slicker, hands trembling.

The0 c u d silently to himself. “Oh yeah, that’s.. .”

“Why the fuck has Dad got bags of flour strapped to his chest?”

“What?!”

“You deaf? He’s got bags of flour strapped to his fucking chest. Is this some sort of sick joke?”

The0 shook his head wryly. “Your father was a very brave, determined man, and he loved you and your sister more than anything.” Delphine started crying again, a low sob full of regret and pain. The0 let her weep for a short while, then rested a hand gently on her shoulder. “Delphine.. .” ‘‘I know,” she said quietly. “I know. No fucking not live to see tomorrow night.” time.” She retrieved Pierre’s wallet and keys, then stood up, turning her back on the corpse. She was trembling.

Theo nodded approvingly. “Good girl. Thank you. Now, when he approached, you father came from that way-”

He pointed off across the park “- so chances are, that’s where the car is. Come on.

Let’s see if we can find it. We’ve got a number of things that we need to pick up.”

Fifteen minutes later, The0 and Delphine had the car, a station wagon, parked outside the warehouse. Theo’s bike was in the back, with his shotgun and Kristine’s sword.

“There’s another thing we need to get,” said Theo. “I don’t want you losing control, either. I have a feeling that it could be useful in the long run. You better not damage it.”

“What are you talking about, Theo?”

“The woman who did this to you.”

A wild jumble of emotions chased across Delphine’s face, and when she actually saw Kristine, her eyes widened and her breathing quickened. The0 tensed, ready to restrain her if she dashed forward.

“What’s wrong with her? Is she dead?” She sounded concerned.

“No,” The0 said. “Just paralyzed.”

“Oh,” said Delphine thoughtfully.

The0 bent down and lifted Kristine easily, resting her stiff body over one shoulder like a plank, outstretched arms pointing down his back, and started moving toward the car. “Delphine.” She turned to look at him. “How long have you lived in Minneapolis?” ‘‘We moved here from Quebec when Mom died.

I was seven. Why?”

“DO you know the city well?” ‘‘I guess.”

“We need to find somewhere discreet. An abandoned building or unit ideally, something lightproof.”

She looked a bit uncertain. “I guess I can go into hiding.”

The0 shook his head and gestured at Kristine.

“It’s not for you. It’s for her. You’re going to have to be presented to the others.”

“Hey hey hey, wait a fucking second. You just got through telling me how everyone would zap me if they found me, and now you want to go and just hand me over?”

“The situation has changed. You’re too important to my investigations, and you don’t have anyone to look after you. I won’t let them take you.”

“Oh yeah? So how come you couldn’t have done that anyway, then?”

“You weren’t my responsibility then.”

Delphine frowned at him, looking hurt. “Oh gee, thanks. Beforehand, I was Dad’s problem, and now I’m a charity case?”

“Something like that.”

“Screw you.” She reached for the door handle.

Theo grabbed her shoulder. “It’s a cold world, child. I’ll tell you this, though-leave this car, and you’ll be dead within forty-eight hours, and you will be unable to help save your sister. Stay, and I will see you both safe if I possibly can.”

“You’re an asshole,” said Delphine angrily, but she dropped her hand.

The0 shrugged. “You’re not the first person to say so. Now, to get back to what I was trying to say, we need to find somewhere to store the woman. Do you know anywhere suitable? It has to be abandoned, somewhere people just don’t go.”

Delphine thought for several minutes. “Yeah, I guess so. There are a heap of places out north. One or two of them are hang-outs or shit like that, but the rest of them are just crappy.”

“Can you guide me there?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” 5loue Ring The journey took about twenty minutes, heading off Nicolet Island and out from the center of the city.

Once they were on the right route, Delphine looked at The0 icily. “I’ve waited about as long as I’m prepared to. What the fuck is the score here?”

The0 shot her a sympathetic look. “Brace yourself, Delphine. I’m really sorry, but I’m afraid you didn’t make it. You’re dead.”

She stared at him, disbelievingly. “What lameass bull is that? Like this is some sort of really crappy low-rent afterlife?’’ The0 shook his head. “No. This is the same world it’s always been. You died-murdered’ technically-and have been reanimated. You’re dead, yet you live on. You’ll never age, never grow ill. If you’re careful and lucky, and you have enough time before the world ends, you might live for centuries, always ageless and beautiful. But you have to drink blood to survive, feeding off your former species like a leech, and if you ever go out in the sun again, it will burn you to ash where you stand.’’ She blinked. “Like some sort of fucking vampire, you mean?”

“Exactly like that,” said The0 flatly. He reached out, took her hand, and raised it so that she could see it easily. “See that blood? That’s the tears you wiped away earlier.” He lifted her hand further, to her mouth. “Have a feel. You have fangs.”

“This i s bullshit,” shouted Delphine angrily.

“HOW are you supposed to know so much about it?”

The0 opened his mouth and bared his fangs. “I died almost 150 years ago, Delphine. Think about it.

How do you think you sank your teeth into that man’s chest? You haven’t noticed yet, but you’re only breathing to talk. You don’t have any pulse. If you lay still, you’d be indistinguishable from any other corpse.”

She froze, stunned. “Oh, fuck.” t r Dedopulos “That’s almost exactly what 1 said,” said Theo.

“So now you’re going to tell me that vampires all become gay? Is that why you’re so ripped?”

The0 grinned, amused. “Good guess, but no, it’s nothing to do with that. Kristine was supernaturally beautiful, her appearance enhanced by the force of her personality.”

“Kristine!” Delphine sounded outraged. “She some kind of friend of yours!”

“Not exactly. She told me her name while we were fighting.”

“Oh. Okay. That’s not so bad.” She sighed heavily, looking thoughtful.

“You’re too kind,” said The0 wryly. “Anyway, the same is true for when she was feeding from you.

It feels wonderful when a vampire drinks your blood, and it can be an intensely erotic experience for some mortals. Finally, the reason that you are not experiencing any sexual interest in me, assuming you think you ought to be, is that vampires no longer possess strong sexual feelings. We can love, in a way, but we do not gain much pleasure from sex. You’re not lesbian; you’re dead.”

Delphine looked at him pensively for a long moment, and then her eyes widened. “No fucking way,” she said, quietly horrified. “Oh my god. I held my breath all the way through that, and nothing happened. No discomfort. Nothing. I don’t want this crap. I don’t want to be some sort of fucking nightstalker parasite. I want to go to my prom, go to college, ball a football player or three, and have some fucking fun, and now you’re telling me I’m gonna be a dead, gazillion-year-old, blood-drinking virgin?

Turn me back. Turn me back.”

“There is no way back,” said The0 sadly. “You are already dead. One more statistic. There is this, or there is your final, true death. There is nothing else.”

“There is one thing, Theo.” Delphine sounded icy. 9 2 sfclue ~ l n g “What’s that ?”

“Revenge .”

“Yes,” said The0 sadly. “There is always revenge.”

They rode in silence for a while, then Delphine glanced back over at Kristine for several long moments, before turning back to him curiously. “She looks like a big-boobed novelty coat-rack back there, or some kind of really expensive sex toy. Isn’t it uncomfortable for her?”

“Not really,” said Theo. “Her muscles are frozen in place, so she is not exerting any effort to stay like that.”

“That bitch has really fucked me over.” The anger rose in her voice again, hot and hard. “I should ...” She paused, confused. ‘‘I should want to rip her fucking head off. Why do 1 want her to hold me like that again?”

“We all feel something for the vampire who created us. It’s perfectly natural.”

“There’s absolutely nothing natural about any of this shit, you freak.”

“You get used to it,” said Theo. “It’s not as if there’s much of an option.”

Delphine just sighed and glared moodily out of the window. The0 let her brood.

Eventually, they came to a rundown district littered with boarded-up factories and office blocks.

One or two showed signs of use, but most of them appeared utterly disused, victims of some earlier shift in the economic markets. The0 cruised the area for a few minutes until he found a promising unit, a small factory comprised of a cluster of squat, solid buildings with few windows. He pointed it out to Delphine.

“That place. Is that one of your hangouts?”

“Nope. Don’t know anything about it.”

“Fine, that’ll do. It’s getting toward 2:30, and we don’t have a huge amount of time to be messing around with.”

TI^ Dedopulos The0 pulled up outside the factory and got out of the car. The door was closed, but one good wrench opened it easily enough, and no alarms went off. He paused for a long look but couldn’t spot anything out of the ordinary. He went back to the car and pulled Kristine out of the back, slinging her back over his shoulder again, then opened Delphine’s door.

“Come on, let’s move it.”

She scowled at him. “You want me to come “I don’t want you sitting in the car out on the Delphine shrugged. “Whatever.”

The0 led Delphine into the factory. The floor was covered with a thick layer of dust, and cobwebs lurked in all the corners and crannies. There was some furniture remaining, but most of the equipment had been removed. Apart from a few broken windows, the place looked surprisingly unvandalized.

“Hey, it’s not as dark as I thought.” Delphine sounded surprised.

“Your eyes are more sensitive to light now. Your senses are all sharper, in fact.”

“How does that work? Die, and go twentytwenty?”

“That’s just the way it is,” said Theo.

“Maybe being fully alive distracts you from using your senses properly. All those physical processes might get in the way, or something.”

“Maybe,” agreed Theo. “I’ve never really thought about it.”

Delphine looked at him, surprised. “In a hundred and fifty years?”

“I’ve been busy,” he said grimly.

She arched her eyebrows but wisely let the matter drop. “So, what are we looking for?”

The0 shrugged. “A storage locker, or a broom cupboard, or a cellar, or any other space where no with? All right, I guess.” road.” light can get in. Let’s split up and try to find a place quickly.”

After a few minutes of searching, Delphine called The0 over. “I think I’ve got something.”

It was more like a small vault than a large room, a secure storage area of some sort with a heavy metal door, leading off from a large office area. The area inside was featureless concrete. The large bolt on the outside of the door even had a padlock hanging from it, key in the lock.

“It’s perfect,” said Theo. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” said Delphine, smiling for the first time.

The0 took the padlock off the bolt, and tried turning the key. It was rusty, and the lock was sticky, but he put some force behind it, and it turned. He closed the lock and tried again, and it opened fairly smoothly. He nodded to himself, satisfied. He went and fetched Kristine from where he’d left her, leaned back against the door, and carried her into the vault.

A thought suddenly hit him, and he leaned her against a wall, face first, her outstretched arms supporting her. When she was securely positioned, The0 went round behind her and starting pulling her sweater up over her back.

“What the hell are you doing to her, you fucking pervert!” screeched Delphine from behind him, outraged.

The0 looked round at her flatly. “Searching for any sort of identifying mark.”

“Yeah. Right.” ‘‘I told you once already, we don’t have the same “In that case,” said Delphine disbelievingly, “you won’t mind if I do it instead, will you.”

“Help yourself,” said Theo, stepping back.

Delphine looked at Kristine’s taut body, and moistened her lips nervously, then slowly ran her TI^ Dedopulos sort of sexual drive that mortals do.” hands up Kristine’s sides, trembling slightly.

Suddenly she pulled away and turned round quickly.

“Urn, no, it’s okay actually. I’ll believe you.”

The0 grinned at Delphine’s retreating back, then stripped Kristine naked, pulling her sweater up over her head and down her arms, and tugging her pants down to the floor. He checked her over closely, paying special attention to typical tattoo sites like shoulders, butt and ankles, and then turned her round to start examining her front. Delphine made a strangled noise somewhere between a gasp and a sigh from behind him. He ignored it and continued his inspection. When he was absolutely sure Kristine didn’t have any particular identifiers, he pulled her clothes back on and smoothed them down.

He laid her out on her back in the dust, grinned down at her, and tipped the brim of his cap. “Sorry about the rough handling, ma’am. You’ll be safe here, and I’ll bring you a snack soon. Sleep well.” He left the vault, swinging the heavy door shut behind him and then locking the bolt shut. He pocketed the key.

Delphine looked at him shakily as he came out.

“It’s okay. She’ll be fine in there,” said Theo.

“No one can disturb her, and no light will get in.”

“Won’t she freak out in there like that?”

“Nowhere near as much as if we left her somewhere that might be open to the day,” said The0 grimly.

“How about food? Will she starve?”

The0 shook his head. “No. We don’t starve.

When you use the last of your blood, you get all shriveled and sink into a... well, it’s like a coma.

You can be revived though.”

“It sounds horrible!”

“It is,” The0 said, flatly. “I have no wish to do it again. Anyway, I won’t let her get that bad. She should be fine on her own for a week or so, and then we’ll see about feeding her a bit to keep her going.”

“Oh, okay,” said Delphine. ‘‘I guess I don’t like to think of her like that, all stiff and dead, lying alone in the dark.”

Theo nodded. “Try not to worry. She’ll be okay there.”

“You promise?”

He shook his head. “No. She is a criminal, and a multiple murderer, and I was assigned to execute her. I may need her knowledge, though. I will probably have to kill her in the end anyway.”

“Oh.” Delphine sounded subdued. “What are you then, some sort of assassin?”

“I’m more like a SWAT team,” said Theo, grinning ever so slightly.

“What, the whole team?”

“Yes.”

Delphine shook her head. “Jesus. This is just too much.” ‘‘I will promise that I won’t cause her any undue suffering. Okay?”

“I guess.”

“Good. Now, come on, we’ve still got a lot to do tonight, and there’s only a few hours left until dawn.”

“There is? Now what?” Delphine sounded tired and scared.

“We’re going to have to abandon your car somewhere neutral, at least for a while.”

“Why, for Christ’s sake?”

“It’s too easy to trace. There’s a significant risk that the people behind the operation that abducted you are going to want to try to recapture you, or to eliminate you entirely. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

She looked at him wordlessly, her eyes wide and vulnerable.

Theo tried to soften his voice a little. “Look, this is one hell of a mess, but if there’s any way to keep you safe and sound, I’ll do so. I gave your father my word that I’d see the both of you safe.”

Ttm Dedopulos “But he’s dead,” said Delphine, voice quavering a “That has nothing to do with it,” said Theo.

“What am I going to do?” She was close to tears.

The0 put his arms around her and held her comfortingly. She let herself be drawn into the embrace, and started crying again, softly, her head on his chest. “You’re going to trust me,” he said gently.

“And between us, we’ll get you out of this mess and rescue your sister.”

“I can’t go home, can I?” Delphine sounded young and scared.

“No, I’m afraid you can’t. You can’t contact anyone you knew. You have to forget your old life, particularly for the moment. Anything else would be dangerous, both for you and for anyone you made contact with.”

“1’11 need clothes,” she said, sounding abit stronger.

“Good girl. We’ll sort that out tomorrow. Before we do anything else though, we’re going to go see the head vampire in the city, the prince.” Where I’m going to have to plead for your existence, he added silently. shue ~ l n g little.

By the time that The0 had made it to the Amtrak station, left Pierre’s car in long-term parking, and then ridden his bike back into Downtown Minneapolis with Delphine clutching on grimly behind him, it was getting uncomfortably close to dawn. It was far too late to address the prince tonight. So much the better.

He pulled into the Institute of Arts, and rode round to the staff parking lot again.

“You’ve got to be joking,” muttered Delphine.

The0 shook his head. “You’ll see. Some of our kind have a lot of influence over mortal society.”

He parked and shut the engine off, then turned round to look at Delphine. “Wait here for me. I’ll only be a minute.”

She glanced up at the sky, and then looked at him, clearly doubtful. “I don’t know ... I’m feeling kinda jumpy.”

“It’s perfectly natural. I really won’t be long. You’ll be fine here for a moment longer. I promise.”

“That means you really mean it, right?”

The0 nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay. I’ll trust you. Don’t take too long though.”

“I won’t. Wait here until I call your name, then come over to me.”

The0 strode over to the plain door and pressed the buzzer. The panel shot back, and the gatekeeper, Gary, looked out. He seemed relieved to see Theo.

“Archon Bell! We were getting concerned. Please, come in, come in.” He opened the door.

The0 caught the door as it opened. ‘Thank you. I need you to do me a small service. Is Angus in Elysium anywhere?“ “Yes, I believe he’s staying in his rooms here tonight.”

“Excellent. I want you to go tell him that I’m back, and that I’d like to see him first thing tomorrow, in the suite he has set aside for me.” 11 1 ImnotsureI ...”

“Quickly, man, if you don’t mind,” said The0 with a hint of menace. “You’ll want to catch him before he turns in. 1’11 close the door, don’t worry.”

“Yes, Archon,” said Gary with some resignation.

As soon as the thin vampire had bustled off, The0 called Delphine over. She came quickly, looking uncomfortable. He ushered her through into the building, closed the door securely, and then led her swiftly back to the rooms that had been set aside for his use. As soon as they were in, he closed and locked the door, and secured all the bolts.

Delphine seemed slightly stunned. T h i s place.. . it’s yours?”

“Think of it as a hotel room.”

“The MIA makes one hell of a hotel.”

“Yeah,” agreed Theo. ‘That it does.”

“I don’t understand any of this, you know.”

Delphine sounded tired and plaintive.

Theo nodded sympathetically. “I know. You’re being thrown in right at the deep end, kid. You’ve been great so far. It’ll all make more sense tomorrow.”

“I hope so. What now?”

He pointed toward the bedroom, with its large double bed. “You go in there, lie down and go to sleep.”

“Don’t leave me. Please?” She sounded very young again. ‘‘I’m taking the couch,” said Theo. “Never did like those big fancyass beds anyway.”

“Oh. Okay. Thank you, Theo. For everything.”

Delphine smiled at him wanly.

“You’re welcome. Sleep well. If you need me at all, I’ll be right here.”

“Do you promise?“ Her voice was small and vulnerable.

“Yes. I promise.”

As soon as the van made it through security and access and into the factory proper, Liam directed the driver to pull up in one of the bays, then hopped out, hammering on the hood of the next van even as it pulled up beside him. As the teams assembled, he started barking orders.

“Right, listen to me. Get the cargo unloaded and back in storage immediately, then go back to the vans and wait for me to give you the thumbs up. Don’t talk to anyone about this evening. In fact, don’t talk to anyone at all. Just get it done as quickly as possible, and keep your bloody mouths shut. Understand?” The teams nodded and bustled into action.

Once they were busy and out of earshot, Liam turned to Matthew angrily. “What the fuck happened back there?”

“There was an intruder,” said Matthew coldly. “You ought to have noticed.”

“Two intruders,” said Liam. ‘We were supposed to be able to take care of an intmder or two. You gonna explain?“ Matthew’s eyes narrowed. “They were kindred, highly skilled. I believe one may have been one of our kind’s chief enforcers. The other I have never seen or heard of before.”

“How the hell did they know we were there? What did they want?”

“I do not know.”

Liam spat on the floor. “That’s just not good enough.

They’re your department. You’re paying this shitty little city enough of our profits to fund a small army. You’re supposed to know what your kindred are doing. Find the fuck out before they crash this party, too.”

“You do nor give me orders.” Matthew sounded icily furious. *** Liam stared at him, equally angry. “Yeah? Pull your fucking weight, vampire, or you’ll get a real good reminder of what midday feels like, this time of year.”

“My organization.. .” Matthew began. ‘ I . . .needs mine far more than mine needs yours, and don’t you forget it. We can make almost as much money without all this undead crap. We have had a number of problems caused by your bunch, and it wouldn’t take much more to push them right over the edge. My interim report is going to be as vague as always, but if you push me, you’re going to discover a whole new world of pain. How would you like to be personally responsible for screwing up this deal?”

Matthew snarled at Liam, teeth bared savagely.

“I thought not,” said Liam coolly. “Find out where those assholes came from, why we didn’t know they were planning to raise hell, and what they’re likely to get up to next. In case you hadn’t noticed, one of the twins is missing. What the hell is the use of a single fucking twin? We’ll be lucky to get thirty for her now.

That’s a big motherfucker of a loss.”

Liam turned his back on Matthew, ignoring the vampire’s apoplectic splutters, and looked around the factory. He called out to one of the men clustered by the vans. “Hey, Roland. Come here.” ‘Sure thing boss.” Roland walked over, eyeing Matthew nervously.

“Tell us what happened back there, Roland. I thought you were going to keep the merchandise together.”

“It was this crazy chick. She ripped Mark up and kicked me into the middle of next week. She was dusted or something.”

Liam nodded, pulled a small pistol out of his pocket, and shot Roland in the stomach, three times.

He fell to the floor, writhing and screaming. Liam ignored him and turned his attention back to the men around the van. “Greg.” sfclue Ring A big, blond bear of a man, Greg blanched. “BOSS.”

He sounded very scared.

“The promotion is yours. Don’t fucking lose any fwking priceless fucking redhead virgin fucking twins.”

“Y-yes, boss. Thank you.”

“Oh, and have the little bitch broken. She’ll be worth more as a sub. Maybe we can claw a bit back.”

“Broken?”

Liam ground his teeth together. “Mentally, idiot, not physically. No permanent damage, no Class A.

Have them start the full program immediately.”

“Right away boss,” said Greg nervously.

Liam didn’t bother acknowledging him. He looked down at Roland, irritated by the man’s loud moans of pain. “You shut the fuck up and die, will you?” He glanced up at Matthew, pitching his voice low so that only the vampire would hear. “Why don’t you do something useful and fucking eat him or something?”

He turned on one heel and stomped off toward the offices, trying to blot out the whole damn mess.. *** Theo hadn’t been up long when there was a loud knock on the suite door. He stood up, walked over to one side of the doorway and called out “Yes!”

“Good evening, Theo. It’s Angus.” Angus’s voice was muffled by the heavy door but still clearly recognizable.

“I’ll just open up,” called Theo. He slid the bolts back, the metal thumping loudly into place, then unlocked the door and opened it. Angus looked pleased to see him.

“Come on in, Angus. Thanks for dropping by so prompt 1 y. ”

“It’s a pleasure,” said Angus, smiling. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” said Theo. “I wanted to bring you up to speed on things. I’m also going to need you to call the council of primogen together. There’s a few things that I need to discuss with them.” ~ i m Dedopulos Angus nodded. “Of course. Is this to do with the “It’s all interrelated, yes.”

“Did you manage to get any leads?”

The0 shook his head. “It went a bit beyond leads, actually. I’ve dealt with her.”

“Already?” Angus looked impressed. “That’s fantastic news. What happened?”

“Well, I’ll deal with things one area at a time. I came up against the rogue in the warehouse you pointed me toward. She initially thought that I was there for the same reason she was, to uncover some shadowy conspiracy that had murdered the rest of her coterie.”

Angus shook his head sadly. “Tragic. Her delusions have been immensely destructive.”

“She also implied that she’d been causing trouble in a number of places, including Hartford and New York,” said Theo.

Angus shrugged. “I suppose it’s possible. Are you going to follow it up?”

“No, I don’t see the need for that. She may have been telling the truth as she saw it or not. Anyway, we fought. She was tough, but I managed to nail her in the end. Problem over.”

“Thank you, old friend,” Angus said, smiling. “I never had any doubts that you’d be able to solve the problem swiftly for us.” ‘‘I mentioned that the rogue thought I was there “Yes, I did wonder about that.”

“There was a deal going down in the warehouse,” said The0 grimly.

“Drugs?” Angus sounded slightly confused.

“Slaves.”

Angus’s eyes widened. rogue?”

“There is more, though.”

“Oh ?’’ to assist her.”

“Worse than that, I heard two of the slave traders “Ghouled ?”

The0 shook his head. “No. They seemed to be working in partnership. The mortal knew far too much.

Enough to know that he could be controlled-and he implied that he was being monitored by his allies for signs of domination.”

Angus looked horrified. “That’s terrible.”

“How much do you know about mortal criminal “Gangs are not a specialty of mine.”

“Then you may not be aware of it, but over the last few years, the large groups have corporatized. These are not street thugs. They’re vast, international criminal businesses, run by management experts. The organizations have more money-and more soldiersthan some countries. They’re starting to work together, sharing resources and trade routes to minimize overhead and exposure. The leaders of the theoretically rival groups even strategize together now. Mortal governments can’t even touch them. All the police can do is pick up the crumbs and keep the herd ignorant. The organizations already directly control several Eastern European countries, and they are gaining more power from other world governments all the time.”

“Dreadful,” murmured Angus.

The0 frowned at him. “It is when you consider what it would mean if these transnational criminal organizations came to understand our presence. We’re looking at ruthless, strongly regimented, highly armed predators, often above or in control of the law, who wouldn’t think twice about slaughtering anyone or anything who stood in their way. Sound familiar? Well, unlike the kindred, there’s tens of millions of them, and they can move around by daylight as well as at night.”

“My god.”

TIIV Dedopulos. talking. One kindred and one mortal.” organizations?”