Blood Slave: A Realm Walker Novel (6 page)

Nathaniel arched a brow but said nothing while Thomas just scowled.

Shaking her head, she headed for the building. “Men.” It seemed the men in her life were always jockeying for power, position, or authority. She just didn’t see the point of it. Respect others and they’d show respect to you. If they were disrespectful you smacked them around a few times and they fell in line. All this posturing was lost on her. She supposed she’d need to get over that as almost all vampires did was posture and intimidate each other.

“Idiots,” she grumbled under her breath but of course both the werewolf and the vampire heard her.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Nathaniel said.

“To wake up, she would have to sleep first.”

Surprise had her jerking her head in his direction. He’d given no indication that he knew she’d lain awake most of the night, unable to sleep. She’d remained in bed hoping slumber would claim her but her brain kept running an endless loop of all the things that could possibly go wrong with this assignment and how pissed Thomas was going to be if they did.

Several times she’d almost given in and just told him what was going on, where she was headed, but she stopped herself every time. While he’d improved, Thomas was still very ‘me-caveman-you-weak-woman’ when it came to her. If she started taking her mate on all her assignments, the other kids would make fun of her.

“They’ve got the portal mage waiting for us,” Nathaniel said as the three of them walked in the door. Juliana glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. They weren’t taking a portal into the city surely. If they wanted to blend in they needed to be like anyone else that hung out in the River Market. And those sorts of people generally couldn’t afford portal mages.

But then again, it would look suspicious if they didn’t take a portal to the conference. Damn Thomas. She stopped and turned to him.  “There’s really no reason for you to come all the way to the portal room with us. It’s not like you haven’t seen one before.”

He studied her with those piercing topaz eyes. His hands in his pockets, he rocked back on his heels. “All right then.” He placed a warm but chaste kiss on her lips. After looking her over one more time, he turned and headed back down the hallway.

“He doesn’t believe you’re going to a conference, does he?” Nathaniel asked, once Thomas was out of earshot.

“Not even a little bit,” she agreed.

“Then why don’t you just tell him the truth?”

Nathaniel really had no understanding of vampire politics. “Because this isn’t just about me going on assignment. This is about me going on assignment in a rival vampire’s territory. A powerful one, if what I’ve heard about him is accurate. Thomas would never let me go without him and we can’t do the job that needs to be done if he’s tagging along. Too many people know who he is.”

The only thing Juliana didn’t understand about the situation was why Charles Morgan’s territory was so small. Surely he should have expanded by now. Not west, that was Thomas’s territory and it was far too large for Morgan to think he could take any of it. But he could move in any of the other directions and find someone roughly his equal in power. So why hadn’t he attempted to gather more area? It didn’t make sense.

Nathaniel shrugged. “You’re going to have to deal with it eventually. Can’t say as I envy you that. Let’s get going.”

Chapter Six

Thomas’s irritation at his mate’s aversion to the truth bothered like a persistent itch that he couldn’t quite reach. It was evident she wasn’t being truthful about where she was going or why. With a few phone calls to the right people he could find out what her assignment was, where it was and the specifics of what she was supposed to be doing, but that rankled. He didn’t want to have to acquire the knowledge from someone else. He wanted her to tell him, share with him and trust him to do the right thing. Of course, their opinion of what the right thing was didn’t always necessarily mesh very well.

He sat in the car weighing his options for a long time before starting it. Finally, he turned the key and headed to his former abode. The house, which was now relegated only for use by the coven, was large with multiple rooms both upstairs and hidden away in the dungeon below. A vast portion of it used to be reserved for his personal living quarters but that was before he discovered his mate had been attacked and left for dead there. He would not live under the same roof where she encountered such horrors.

The man responsible for that atrocity currently found himself an involuntary guest in one of those dark basement rooms. Raoul DeSoto had beaten, raped and left Juliana for dead after Thomas left him in charge of the coven seven years ago. The fact that Thomas had only recently learned of the incident was the one reason DeSoto still lived. He’d kill the bastard eventually but there were lessons to be taught first.

Thomas parked right in front of the house on the long half circle driveway. Stepping into the entryway, he nodded greetings to several members of the coven passing through or loitering in the hallway above. After making a beeline for the library, he shut the door behind him. He slid aside the bookcase that hid the door to the basement. The dungeon wasn’t much of a secret anymore, but he kept it hidden out of habit. He punched his code into the keypad next to the door and the lock clicked open. The lights were already on and Thomas frowned. He’d made certain they were off last time he was here.

Raoul dangled from the chains where Thomas had left him. His head hung forward to the point his chin rested on his chest. Vicious wounds still decorated his body. Thomas curled his lip at the sour smell of infection. It was taking the man entirely too long to heal between visits. He pressed his finger into Raoul’s chest and scowled when there was no response. It wasn’t any fun when his prey didn’t play along.

“If you’re here for another session, he’s not healed from the last one yet.” Michael Bishop stepped into view at the bottom of the stairs. He was Thomas’s second in command and usually acted as his voice of reason. Or tried to anyway.

“Why was the light on?”

Michael shrugged. “He wouldn’t quit screaming. It’s the only thing that shut him up.”

Thomas scowled. “A vampire afraid of the dark?”

“He’s claustrophobic, too. Remember the incident in Prague?”

Thomas had all but forgotten it. Raoul had been buried alive in a chained coffin ten feet underground by someone who thought they were doing him a favor by not killing him. Unfortunately for his offspring, Raoul had the ability to communicate telepathically with them. Several of them had gone feral just listening to him go insane in their heads. They’d all had to be put down. Raoul himself had mostly recovered, or appeared to at any rate. He still had to be partially mad to do what he’d done to Juliana.

Either all his offspring had been killed during the last incident or they were smart enough not to go up against Thomas as none of them had come forward to plea for mercy. He lifted Raoul’s head and sniffed in disgust to see that the man was indeed well and truly still out of it. After letting his head fall back to his chest, Thomas wiped his hand on his jeans. “Let him scream if he must. I will not give him any comfort.”

“I didn’t turn it on for him. I couldn’t take the sound anymore.” Michael’s voice was quiet, as if he hated admitting the truth.

“Buy earplugs,” Thomas snarled.

***

Juliana soon found out they were indeed taking a portal. The plan was to go to another Agency building closer to Kansas City. There they would be provided with transportation for the rest of their trip. Juliana hated the word transportation. It could mean anything from a Pegasus to a skateboard. In this case, it turned out to mean a beat-up-don’t-wash-it-or-it-will-fall-apart faded red POS. “Really?” Juliana asked, taking in the empty soda cans and pizza boxes in the back seat. “I get the whole authentic undercover thing, but isn’t this taking it a bit far?”

The agent who met them at the portal and took them to the car flushed red. “It belongs to one of the guy’s nephew.”

“I can’t believe he could stand to part with it.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice.

“They’re paying him $100 a day.”

“One day and he’s made more than it’s worth.”

Nathaniel gave her a small smile. “Don’t underestimate a man’s attachment to his car, no matter how big of a piece of shit it is.”

“The only thing I really want to know is if the thing is going to get us to Kansas City without falling apart in the process.”

The Agency they’d portaled into was on the western side of the Dead Zone. They were far enough away from the city that they should be beyond Morgan’s scope of influence but close enough the drive wouldn’t be brutal. Besides, the best way to convince everyone they’d just made a long drive into the city was to actually make one.

“It was thoroughly inspected,” the agent assured her. “You’re good to go.”

“You couldn’t have had it detailed while you were at it?”

Nathaniel opened the trunk with a creak and placed his bags carefully inside. Juliana peered around him and frowned before putting hers in as well. It’s not like there was anywhere cleaner in the car for them. She held her hand out to Nathaniel for the keys. Laughing, he shook his head. “Oh, no. I know how you drive. It really won’t make it in one piece if you’re behind the wheel.”

Scowling, she climbed in on the passenger side. She rolled down her window in deference to the funk wafting up from the backseat. “This is going to be a long drive.”

And a long five hours it was. Nathaniel had insisted on stopping several times and kept getting into the trunk to mess with his stuff. After the fifth time, she’d snapped and threatened him within an inch of his life. They hadn’t stopped until they pulled into a spot across the street from a clinical looking fifteen story building. All gray concrete and glass with stains on the sidewalk and the lobby floor. “You should feel right at home,” she told Nathaniel with a smirk. It was eerily reminiscent of the building where he lived.

He ignored her as he usually did when she made jabs at his expense. “We’re on the eighth floor.” An out of order sign hung crookedly on the only elevator.

“Guess we’re walking,” she said and got a better grip on her bags before heading for the stairs. After the long haul up, they found themselves in front of a door with three deadbolts. She didn’t say a word at the obvious indicator the neighborhood they were in was less than stellar. She was never one to complain about too much security. Nathaniel fumbled through the keys trying to find the right ones. Finally, she reached past him and ran her fingers over the locks, jolting them with just a bit of magic. After hearing the satisfying clicks as they disengaged, she twisted the knob and swung open the door. “After you, boss.”

He huffed and walked into the apartment, flipping on the light and dropping his large bag along the wall. His smaller bag he sat on the counter. “I’m not the lead anymore. You are.”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I always end up doing all your crap anyway.”

“Don’t be grouchy, pup. You’re more fun when you’re happy.”

She gave him a look but didn’t say anything. Everyone was more fun when they were happy. Well, maybe not demons. Or sadistic serial killers. But most everyone else. “So what’s the plan, boss?”

She’d keep calling him boss just because it irritated him to be the responsible one. And he’d keep calling her pup just because it irritated her that he was older and had more experience. That’s why they worked so well together. She dropped her bags on the floor next to his.

“Guess we better check out our new home.”

She blinked at him and looked around the room. “It’s a loft. It’s not like there’s a lot to explore.” One wall of the room was covered in large windows. There was also a couch, a small TV, a miniscule kitchen and three twin beds along one wall, curtains hung in between. A small closed door to one side undoubtedly hid the bathroom. She made a show of turning in a slow circle with her arms out to the sides. “Yep. Done.”

“Don’t be a smartass, Jules. It’s unbecoming.”

“Good thing I’m not worried about making an impression on you then, huh?”

Ignoring her, he turned to unzip the bag he’d sat on the counter. He reached in with both hands and her mouth dropped open as he pulled out Fifi, the zombie Pomeranian.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“What?” he said defensively and tucked the creature under his arm against his body. He stroked its head with his other hand.

“First, I can’t believe you brought that thing with you. Second, has it been in there the whole time? Didn’t it have to pee? Or breathe?”

“That’s why I kept stopping. I had to check on her. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t leave her at home by herself. And yes, she’s been in the bag, it seemed the best way to transport her. And she’s a zombie. She doesn’t pee. Or breathe.”

“And you don’t have a problem with that?”

He shrugged. “She doesn’t wake me in the middle of the night for walks so I’d say it’s a wash.”

She groaned and rubbed her forehead roughly with one hand trying to stave off the headache she knew was coming. Why did this shit always happen to her? And why did it usually involve Nathaniel? “Let’s just get this place set up and we’ll head to the River Market tomorrow.”

By the time they were done, pictures lined the walls. Pictures of the victims, mostly mugshots, hung beside photos of the Dead Zone and the River Market. Charles Morgan held a place of honor on the wall as well. Not that they had any reason to suspect him, but she had a feeling that very little happened in this town without him knowing about it. Scattered among the visual clues, were points of fact about their victims, where they worked, where they hung out.

Most of what they knew had been gleaned from police records. Associates of blood slaves were about as chatty as those connected to any other kind of addict. Deny and protect was the usual method of operation. It made it difficult to find what the women had in common, other than the obvious. Arrows and circles were used to point out the few connections.

Perhaps Juliana’s favorite feature of the loft was the fact the wall on which they’d spread out the case was painted with white board paint so she could mark it up to her heart’s content. She wondered if she could get Thomas to do that to one of the rooms in their new house. Whenever they finally bought one that was. When she and Nathaniel were finished, they grabbed something to eat. Later, she fell asleep staring at the wall while trying to make connections in her head.

***

The River Market had indeed started by the river, but as time went by the area expanded its claws further into the city. After the Rending, when Charles Morgan made his sweeping changes to the area, one of the things he pushed for, and got, was the passing of several local laws pertaining to the feeding by vampires. There were federal laws regarding informed consent and whatnot but this went beyond that. Pretty much if the prey signed a waiver, they couldn’t come back later and play the victim. Some vampires had even used the waivers in court in an attempt to escape punishment when they were too greedy and drained their food dry. So far that ploy had been unsuccessful. And had they escaped human punishment, the Council would have had the vampires responsible eliminated anyway.

Still, the supposed safe guard brought vampires flocking to the city. This was their playground and they knew it. Their presence was evident everywhere she looked. She wondered briefly if everyone saw the same things she did or just those with insight into vampire culture. If nothing else, even the most obtuse layman could not fail to notice the blood slaves. They lounged in doorways and littered the sidewalks, blending in with the prostitutes and dealers.

She walked the streets with Nathaniel, trying to get a better feel for the neighborhood where the victims had spent so much time. Signs on the buildings on either side of the street promised Juliana the experience of her life if she’d just come inside. There were peep shows, strip clubs, whore houses, and XXX movie theaters. Outside the buildings, blood slaves sized her up to see if she was a vamp and drug dealers did the same to see if she was in need of a hit. Juliana couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen so much depravity in one location and that was saying something. Nathaniel nudged her arm and pointed to a small sign in a window across the street. “Waitress wanted”. The neon marquee above the door flashed ‘Lust’ in bright, garish red.  The business was one of Morgan’s strip clubs and, if she remembered correctly, one of their victims had worked there.

“Fantastic,” Juliana said in a monotone as she ignored Nathaniel’s toothy grin. She headed over and tried the door. Locked. Shrugging, she knocked hoping someone was inside despite it not being normal business hours.