The First Vampire Part 8

He carried the man through the empty space on the ground floor, his cowboy boots kicking up dust around his feet. At the back of the cavernous space, Luc took a set of flimsy metal stairs down to the cage level, turning on lights as he went.

The warehouse space on the lower levels was two stories deep and, except for a row of makeshift cages, almost completely empty. Everything about his operation was shoestring, but he'd made sure the cages were sturdy enough to do the trick. One wall of the warehouse was divided into eight concrete cubby-holes, four on top and four on the bottom. Luc assumed they'd been used to store smaller, loose freight at one time. But now the four on the bottom were each outfitted with a fourth wall of steel bars, each two inches thick and three inches apart. He was fairly proud of his handiwork, as no vampire had yet been able to escape.

Luc walked further into the darkened space. Inside the cages sat three young vampires-two males and a female. They had been there quite a while, long enough that they had stopped screaming and trying to talk to him every time he came in. Quite a change from when he'd captured them over a month ago. Vicious killers, each of them. Or so they fancied themselves. Luc didn't feel one bit of sympathy for them. Even if he did, what was one month out of their wretched eternal lives?

There was a fourth cage, but it remained empty. He'd gotten distracted by his brief stint as a member of Council House and never captured a fourth. Not to worry. Since Ash Samson had gotten him kicked out, it was back to Plan A without distraction.

Luc forced his mind back to the task at hand and crossed to his workspace on the wall flanking the cages, where a stainless steel prep table gleamed in the low light. It had a sink in the middle with a drain that was connected into the cages by a series of plastic hoses.

Luc laid the man on the prep table, quickly snapped his neck and waited for the inevitable. As the soul departed, Luc said an earnest prayer that it come back to a better life.

Then he went to work, pulling a hook down from the ceiling and removing the man's right shoe and sock. One short incision with a small knife freed the Achilles tendon, and Luc slipped the metal hook through it. He removed the head with one stroke of a large cleaver.

The cleaver went into the sink and the head up on the high end of the slightly slanted table. Luc closed the eyes as blood began to drip into the narrow channels in the table and flow toward the drain.

A bright yellow control box dangled from a nearby chain. When Luc grabbed it and pressed the black button, a pulley system cranked on overhead and raised the man's body so that it hung, neck down, over the sink. Blood slopped into the drain and began to run through the feeder system. Luc added the contents of a small bottle to the flow and made one last incision down the length of the man's torso.

Sticking his hand in near the pelvis, he raked the man's innards into a large bucket. Those he'd save to add to the next batch of synthetic blood to make it go farther. He put the bucket into the big freezer that sat against the opposite wall.

As Luc washed his knives and his hands, precious pints flowed out of the homeless man and into the three succubi in the cages. Luc let the water run, glad to stay off to one side where he couldn't see them sucking blood from metal spouts. It wasn't natural.

Once they'd drunk enough to sustain them, and the sedative began to take effect, he came around and pressed a button on the cages' control panel. The three chains fastened to three vampire wrists began to slowly withdraw into the back wall of each cell. Once in place, three small blades came out and made three incisions, and vampire blood began to flow through the channels he had carved in the concrete walls, ultimately collecting in a five-gallon plastic bucket that sat on the floor to the right of Luc's prep table. It would be filled in one drawing.

Once the draining process was underway, Luc set the timer for the cell doors. It was time to let this bunch go.

He took the elevator back up to the street level. He'd had enough of vampires for one night.

Or not, he thought as the elevator doors opened into his upstairs office to reveal a khaki-clad vampire rummaging through his files.

CHAPTER 16.

When he awoke, James found himself behind the bars of one of the cages he had observed earlier, when he'd followed the sound of running water down a rickety metal staircase onto a narrow catwalk above Luc's operating theater. He'd only watched the gruesome sight long enough to assure himself that Luc wouldn't be coming back up for a while. Apparently, he'd misjudged.

A polite cough had interrupted his search of Luc's files. He'd turned, and was caught totally off guard by the fist that whipped out and caught him underneath the chin. He got a glimpse of blond hair, a denim jacket, and fangs just before he lost consciousness.

Now he cursed his carelessness. He might have just solved the mystery of the missing vampires, but he couldn't tell anyone. And there was no sign of his blond captor.

As the hours ticked by, James went over all the things he'd done wrong. If he ever got out of this, Toria was going to be furious at him. But that was not the most immediate of his problems; he was starting to get hungry.

He wondered if Luc would let him starve. That didn't seem to be the purpose of this little enterprise, but then, he was a prowler, not a specially chosen victim. Maybe Luc was some sort of demented vampire serial killer.

That thought motivated James to get up and try the bars. Whatever they were made of was more substantial even than it looked because the bars didn't budge. The clanking rattle of the elevator door startled him.

"Rise and shine, Jimbo," Luc called out as he crossed the concrete floor. He paused in front of James' cage and stood looking down at his newest captive.

"It's James, and how do you know my name?" James asked.

Luc exhaled loudly and grabbed one of the bars. "I got a visit earlier today from Toria. She explained about your little secret mission." Luc smiled suddenly. "I, of course, assured her you were doin' just fine."

James' eyes narrowed. "Does that mean you're going to let me out?"

"No," Luc replied, "I can use you for my purposes and still keep my word to Toria. You won't be harmed in any way."

"What purposes? And what happened to the three vampires who were here earlier?" James demanded.

Luc leaned against the bars, looking offended. "I let them go," he said. "What else? I'm trying to run a business here; I'm not some murdering psychopath." He glanced up at the dark ceiling a full story above the top of the cage. "But it's kind of hard when you can't be out before dusk. Maybe I should get a receptionist."

James laughed out loud. He couldn't help it.

Luc glared at him. "What's so funny from in there?"

James wasn't entirely sure himself, but he tried to explain. "I was just imagining that help wanted ad," he said. "Vampire seeks agreeable human to answer phones, provide snacks."

Luc flashed a mega-watt grin. "That would work," he said amiably.

James shook his head, wondering how Luc could seem so harmless, yet clearly be so deadly. "Maybe you should just get a website instead," he suggested.

"A what?"

James blinked, feeling Luc's confusion mirrored on his own features. "You know, the internet, web pages, email..."

When no recognition sparked on Luc's face, James gave a sigh. "I think you'd better let me out."

As soon as he said it, James recalled the horrible sight of the homeless man being fed to the other vampires, but he put it out of his mind. His first priority had to be getting out of his cage. "Look," he said, "I can help you get set up so you don't need to deal with your customers in person so much. Who are your customers, by the way?"

Luc hesitated and finally gave in. "Vampire blood will heal pretty much anything," he said, "including wrinkles. I mix it into a little face lotion, and the ladies can't get enough of the stuff." He stuck his hand through the bars, "I've been thinking of expanding, and I can definitely use the help, but I want your word that you'll actually do it if I let you out."

James looked at the outstretched hand, considered his options for another fraction of a second, and shook it. "Deal," he affirmed. His role seemed harmless enough.

Luc hit a button on the side of the row of cages and the door to James' slid open. He stepped gingerly out.

"So, where do we start?" James asked. "I don't suppose you have a computer?"

Again Luc just stared at him.

"Okay, I'll have to get you a computer, maybe two. Then I can start getting you set up." James checked his watch. There was still time to swing by to check on Ariana before the sun came up. He could spec and buy the computers tomorrow.

"Who's Ariana?" Luc asked.

James raised a surprised gaze back to Luc. "I guess all vampires can do that?"

"More or less," Luc answered, moving a step closer. "Who is she?" he repeated.

"No one, really," James muttered, unsure why he was suddenly nervous. "Just a girl I knew before. She lives near here."

Again, Luc's fist caught him by surprise. He staggered back from the force of the blow, tripping over the bottom of the cage door. Before he could rise, Luc shoved him farther in and slammed the door.

"What are you doing?" James demanded.

Luc gave him a pitying look. "Teaching you a lesson your precious Ash should have taught you already."

With that, he turned and left.

Four days later, Luc returned to check on his prisoner.

"Hello, James," he said, when he'd made his way down to the cage level. James' bloodshot eyes stared back at him, not really seeing him or the young girl at his side. "Did you think I'd forgotten about you?" Luc asked.

James wiped the saliva from his mouth, and Luc thought for a moment he might respond, but he just grunted. Luc knew he was starving. He pressed the button to open the cage door.

With the door open, James finally saw the young runaway Luc had brought. He backed up, but his nostrils flared, and Luc knew they were what would lead him to her.

"I've got a little something for you," Luc said. He gave the girl a gentle shove in James' direction. It was hard to say which of the two of them was more addled, she from whatever drugs she was on or James from starvation.

James tried to turn away from her and face the wall, but the stupid girl thought she was there to service him. She wasn't totally wrong, Luc thought.

"Hey," she said meekly, moving closer and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Luc couldn't put a name to its current color, but he suspected it would be blond if it were clean. She was just a tiny thing-a tiny, broken thing he'd crooked his finger at inside another abandoned building. She'd come so willingly, he'd barely even had to speak to her.

When James didn't respond, the girl reached out and touched his arm, the ragged sleeve of her sweatshirt falling back to reveal a dainty, bruised, and blue-veined wrist.

Luc knew the instant James' fangs unsheathed, the instant the last bit of reason fled his burning brain. James grabbed her wrist, spun around and pounced on the girl like a wild animal. Liquid slurping sounds followed, but the girl had spoken her last. Luc heard her neck snap as they went down.

When James could drain no more, he raised his head from the limp form cradled in his arms.

Luc saw that he now recognized him, but the fever had far from passed.

"More," James pleaded, spraying drops of blood as he talked.

Luc tossed him a few bags of synthetic blood and went upstairs, leaving the cage door open.

Eventually, Luc heard the rumble of the elevator as it rose from below. The doors opened, and James stood there looking at him, his clothes covered with blood, his face wrought with regret.

"Why did you do that?" James asked, stepping gingerly into the room as if unsure he deserved to be there.

"I didn't do anything," Luc answered, being deliberately callous. "You killed that girl." He picked up a pencil off his desk and twirled it between his fingers. "I just wanted you to know what you were capable of-and incapable of-before you went to pay a visit to your human girlfriend." Luc pointed the pencil at James. "Tell me, James, what does your girlfriend look like? Is she older than the girl you just killed? Taller? Shorter?"

James started to answer and then stopped. "I don't know," he said.

Luc could see realization dawning. "Because you don't have any idea what that girl downstairs looked like, do you? You never saw her as a person-only as food."

James sank onto the couch, head in his hands.

"It will be a long time, James, before you can trust yourself to be near humans in that way again. By then, you won't be doing people any favors by showing up when they've thought you were dead. Trust me." Luc came to stand in front of James. "You are dead to her, James, and she needs to be dead to you. Unless you're prepared to turn her into one of us."

Luc got the horrified look he'd hoped for. James swallowed hard. "No, never that."

CHAPTER 17.

Ariana scanned the mob of people at the gate area as she exited the jet bridge at Heathrow. Travelers always look one of two ways, she thought, excited or exhausted. Today she was one of the excited ones. In fact, she'd been excited all week.

From the moment she'd left Ash's townhouse, the bustle of change had taken hold of her life, leaving her mercifully little time to reflect on James' disappearance or her attraction to Ash until she was buckled into her seat on the runway at JFK. By then, it was too late to chicken out.

Ariana made her way through the gray terminal to the baggage claim area and grabbed her suitcase. After wrestling it onto its wheels, she looked around for the promised car service. Some part of her hoped Ash had come himself, but a sign with her name printed on it told her otherwise. A uniformed driver took her bag, and she followed him to a long black car that sat waiting outside the terminal. They headed northwest out of the city, and its concrete scenery soon gave way to more bucolic surroundings. Golden fields rolled past, interrupted by an occasional stone wall or square hedge.

The hypnotic effect of the passing landscape renewed Ariana's reflective state, and again she struggled to understand all she was feeling. She wanted to chalk her excitement up to her love of a new challenge and unexpected travel, but she knew she wasn't being honest. In spite of all her misgivings, a large part of her excitement centered on Ash Samson.

Which was odd, given that she barely knew the man, but perhaps that was the lure. He was a mystery.

He was also a client, she reminded herself. With everything she'd lost-her child, her marriage, her husband-she couldn't lose her career, too, at least not over something as stupid as a romantic misstep with a client. She wouldn't let that happen.

The car slowed and turned into a pebbled drive, and all Ariana's practical thoughts evaporated as around a winding curve appeared the most astounding house she could have imagined. It was made of bricks the color of pale clay and had more windows, towers, and chimneys than Ariana had ever seen at one time. Framed against the crisp blue sky, the manor seemed not so much a house as a massive stone feature of the otherwise open landscape.

Flanking each side of the main part of the house were two separate wings, each turned perpendicular to the manor's front facade. Ariana couldn't tell how far back they went or if she was even seeing all of the impressive structure.

As the car slowed to a stop in front of the entrance, Ariana tried unsuccessfully to tame the expression of wonder she knew had settled on her face. When the driver came around and opened her door, she couldn't resist getting a better look.

As she was craning her neck in an effort to judge the size of the place, a gray-haired woman in a dress and apron opened the front door. She smiled broadly as Ariana dragged her gaze from the house to its occupants.

"Come inside dear, we've got several rooms all made up for you." An English maid, Ariana thought as she ascended the few stone steps to the door. She looks and sounds just like what you'd expect. Sort of like a younger Miss Marple, though, in truth, the woman's age was hard to guess. She was almost completely gray, but her eyes shone with the brightness normally reserved for the young.

"It's nice to see you again, dear. I'm Nancy." The woman took Ariana's coat. "And this," she said, indicating the man who closed the door behind them, "is Ben."

Ariana murmured a surprised "Hello again" to Nancy, a little ashamed not to have recognized her at first. She turned to Ben and introduced herself, shaking hands with both of them, though they each seemed ill at ease with the gesture.

"How was your flight, miss?" Nancy asked. "Not too tiring, I hope. Airports these days..." She gave an exasperated sigh. "Makes one almost rather walk to one's destination. Or take a nice slow boat."

Ariana warmed to Nancy immediately. The woman was clearly in her element here at the manor. "No," she answered, "it was rather restful, actually. The week before, with all the preparations for this trip, was the tiring part."

"Oh, I'm sure," Nancy said. "Well, we have a very nice room for you. I know you'll settle in comfortably in no time. Why don't I show you up, and Ben will follow shortly with your bags."

Ariana hesitated as a thought struck her. She wasn't here on vacation, after all. "Perhaps I should check in with Mr. Samson first and let him know I'm here?"

Nancy started up the stairs. "Oh, don't worry, Miss Chambers, we'll tell him you've arrived, but he'll not expect to see you before dinner, which will be served at 8:00. I'll come fetch you myself, since this house can be a bit difficult to find your way around in at first."

Ariana followed the maid up to the landing and then right down a long corridor toward the south wing of the house. She didn't dare fall behind, but found herself wanting to stop and peer into the endless rooms that revealed themselves as she passed by. Finally, Nancy stopped in front of a door and opened it with a small flourish.

Chapter end