Duel Nature (2 page)

So carrot head was justifiably shocked when I
knocked him on his ass. Prey wasn’t supposed to do that.

There had been three murders
that fit a vampire attack profile in the last two weeks. Coven
computers had picked up the news article on the first attack,
flagging it for a set of eyes to review. The second attack had come
just two days later and the analyst had assigned it a high
priority. Lydia contacted us as we were the closest Rover team to
Chicago. We had been finishing an audit in Cincinnati (actually,
Tanya had been finishing it, I’m not that patient with numbers and
ledgers) and even though we only had three months on the job we got
the case. The third murder had occurred the night before we
arrived. That made finding the murder scene easy…the police tape
was still up. Studying the back alley had resulted in one of my
psychic visions, the kind I draw out on paper like a movie
director’s story board. The pictures had given us enough detail to
build a good likeness of the rogue. Asking around had resulted in a
name – Len Corbett, whose friends hadn’t seen him in his usual
haunts by daylight, but he
had
been seen at night. An unguided newly made vampire
was just a sack of impulses, the prime one being hunger. Without a
mentor he would stay in the area he was most familiar with. He
would also draw attention to the supernatural world of vampires and
other things that bump in the night, because he would kill his prey
in the most graphic of manners.

We had picked this bar as one of his more
likely spots to visit. Sure enough he had shown up right on cue.
The rest of his story would play out very quickly.

“You’re a mess! You’ve been killing people
all over the place, you have no idea how to keep a low profile and
you stink! Bad vampire!” I told him. The shock on his face
deepened.

“So, we’re – “ I pointed back and forth
between us, “gonna go find your maker and see if you can be
salvaged, got it?”

His expression turned to panic at the word
‘maker’ and he leapt to his feet, glanced at the door, then me,
then jumped through the three foot by two foot window slightly
above us.

I sighed as broken glass fell to the bathroom
floor, then followed him; my jump being a whole lot more graceful
than his.

Chapter 2

Lenny boy had only made it ten feet from the
broken window at the back of the building. He was frozen in place,
staring at the giant canine form that sat on its haunches another
six feet in front of him. At least 250 pounds of wolf watched Len’s
every move.

I moved up slowly, so as not to spook him,
trying to ignore the pouring rain. The fact that he wasn’t trying
to outrun the giant wolf in front of him was a real sign of
intelligence. Maybe, just maybe, he could be saved.

“His name is Awasos, and
he
will
catch you
if you run,” I said. Part of me hoped he would run. I’m not fond of
murderers.

Awasos looked my way and I could swear his
left eye winked at me.

He does shit like that all the time. Winks,
canine grins, even somehow opens the locked car door and lets
himself out when no one is around. He even does it in his other
form, the bigger one. Not your average canine. Or ursine.

Ghost quiet, Tanya drifted
up next to my furry pal, catching the young vampire’s attention.
She locked eyes with him and the tension of the moment evaporated.
She has that effect on young vampires. Some part of them recognizes
what she is, the purest of vampires, the only vampire ever
born
to the species.
Recognizing a higher level vampire is a survival instinct in young
ones. Failure to submit to an older vampire pretty much guarantees
that a new born vamp won’t get to be an old vamp.

Like most, Lenny the rogue immediately sensed
Tanya’s place in the scheme of things and was her enthralled vassal
in a slow second.

“Come with us, Leonard,” she said and he
did.

***

I kept my window cracked as we drove to the
home of Chicago’s senior vampire. Lenny sat in back of the big
Chevy Suburban, Tanya next to me up front, and Awasos was lolling
about the open cargo area, which was the only space big enough for
him. The rogue still stank and now we had a serious case of wet dog
smell floating about the SUV.

Calvin Langsdale, Master of Chicago, had been
born in England in the late 1600’s. He was Turned at the age of
twenty-nine and immigrated to America in the early 1800’s. Landing
in Chicago, he had survived everything the windy city could throw
at him, including the gang wars of Prohibition, and evil Al
Capone.

His home, which doubled as his headquarters,
was in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, where houses routinely
sell for five to ten million dollars. Langsdale’s home, according
to the Coven file that we had reviewed on the drive from
Cincinnati, was originally constructed in 1896, had sixteen rooms
total, with seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms. Twelve thousand
square feet of French Provincial architecture with a dining room
table that could seat fourteen. The lot it was on was standard for
the area, with almost no land, but Calvin had solved that problem
by buying all the properties around it, which cut down on the issue
of nosey neighbors.

I pulled to a stop in the semi-circular
driveway, then rolled down the window to face the vampire sentry
who was suddenly in my face.

“Rover team 29. Langsford here?” I said by
way of introduction. The sentry, a big box-headed vampire with long
stringy hair and a heavy brow, glanced from me to Tanya, the sneer
on his face sliding away even as recognition of my words hit.

He looked in the back seat where Lenny the
young rogue waited and finally noted the giant wolfy bulk of Awasos
in the back cargo area. Eyes wider, he slid back into the open
guard booth that was tucked under the front porch. When he came
back forty seconds later with two more vampires, he was slightly
more receptive to us, or at least Tanya.

“Langsford will see you inside,” he said,
addressing his comments to my vampire. I sighed, mentally preparing
myself for what was sure to come next. Tanya patted my leg, then
slid gracefully from the big SUV.

I grabbed Lenny from the
back seat, then hit the latch release for the back of the Suburban.
Awasos jumped down, his 250 pounds landing lightly on the ground.
All three Darkkin guards suddenly reevaluated the situation as his
size became apparent. Tanya caught my grin, then read me like a
book, smiling herself at my thought.
If
they only knew that’s his smallest shape
.

Our odd little group moved up the marble
steps to the front doors entering the grand mansion where another
five vampires waited. This obvious display of muscle was led by a
mean looking bruiser who stood about three inches over six feet and
must have weighed as much as Awasos.

“Names?” he asked, dismissing me with a
glance and leering at Tanya.

“Christian Gordon, Tatiana Demidova, Coven
Rover team 29,” she answered him, not bothering to introduce Lenny
or Awasos.

There was no sudden noise,
rather a cessation of
all
noise and movement as the vampires froze. Rover
team designations aren’t universally well known, but the Demidova
name was huge in the Darkkin world, and Tanya was arguably its
biggest celebrity.

After a moment, one of the vampires farthest
away, broke his stillness to flash through the door behind him.

“Tom is just going to announce you Miss
Demidova,” the leader said, his leer toned down ever so
slightly.

Tanya just nodded, settling into a
manikin-like stillness of her own. I don’t do well with sitting
still, so I continued to look around at the opulent surroundings,
noticing the valuable antiques and expensive decorations. Part of
me, a part I keep locked down inside, noticed the doorways,
windows, camera system, and alarm sensors. It also noted which
priceless sculptures and artifacts would make the best weapons.
There was a lot of that to choose from, as the mansion was an
updated version of the Gilded age lifestyle of the late 1800’s.

When I was seven, my family went on vacation
to the ocean. Newport, Rhode Island to be exact, and while we were
there we toured the grand mansion, Breakers, which was built by a
Vanderbilt in the 1890’s as a summer cottage. Huge, and
ostentatious, Breakers has rooms literally plated in gold and
platinum. Langsford’s place reminded me of that.

Ornate carved marble and wood trim, ceilings
eighteen feet high, priceless antiques and works of art, it was all
intended to be overwhelming. The fact that I wasn’t overwhelmed was
a testament to my last two years with Tanya and her mother, whose
wealth dwarfed Langsford’s.

The vampire, Tom, came back in. “Master
Langsford will see you now. The wolf stays out here, though.”

I glanced at Awasos, who heaved a canine sigh
and promptly lay down, facing Tom and the door we went through.

Langsford’s office was done, or maybe
overdone, in the dark wooded English library format, which was
appropriate as he was, after all, English.

Seated behind a large ornate cherry desk that
held pride of place in front of an immense stone fireplace,
Langsford looked up as we entered. Eleven other vampires occupied
various parts of the office, some standing near the Master of
Chicago, while others lounged indolently in the oversized chairs
and chaises. A cut crystal glass of brandy or whiskey sat near his
hand, the matching crystal decanter standing at the desk
corner.

Being as it was the middle
of his business 'day', Langsford was appropriately attired in a
tailored suit of dark wool that cost more than my first car. Behind
him stood two lady vampires, looking like night and day. The one at
his right shoulder was dressed in dark slacks with a leather jacket
over her white blouse, her dark brown hair in a business-like bun.
The other was blonde, wearing a diaphanous gown of white, her long
hair loosely flowing around her neck and shoulders, watching us
with a carefully disinterested look on her face. At least until I
pulled Lenny in behind me. I felt him twitch at the same time her
eyes narrowed slightly.
Well, well, well,
that tells us who the careless vampire is.

“Ah, the famous Full Blood, herself, gracing
us with a visit,” Langsford said in a rich English accent.

Generally, Rover Teams have blanket authority
to complete their assignments, answering to the Elders for their
actions. In most cases, a Master vampire would defer to the Rovers
on site in a matter that required their presence. But vampires are
territorial and no Master liked having Rovers on hand to usurp
their authority. The fact that we were only three months into the
job and that Tanya was a vampire celebrity didn’t help in many
cases.

I sighed again, already having an idea of how
this would play out. Langsford noted my small huff of breath and
turned his cool grey eyes on me. Sandy brown hair covered a high
forehead, and framed high aristocratic cheekbones.

“And her pet human,” he added, studying me
with amusement.

I shoved Lenny forward as Tanya began to
speak.

“Thank you for such a gracious welcome,” she
said, her tone sardonic.

“My heritage and
Choice of mate
aside,
we’re here cleaning up a mess in your city,” she
continued.

Obviously not used to this kind of response,
the master vampire frowned.

“This is Lenny, who was
Turned, here in Chicago, then left to fend for himself. He’s killed
three humans in the last two weeks in the most blatant manner
possible. The Coven assigned
us
to find him and stop him, as your organization has
failed to do so.”

“See here, Ms.
Demidova,
I
run
this city, not New York, and I’ll decide what needs
cleaning
up,” he responded
crossly.

“Actually, Mr. Langsford,
you run this city
at the whim of the
Elders
. But their whims can change rapidly!
Now, who is responsible for Turning this man?” Tanya asked, her
voice cold.

It generally took a lot to get her pissed off
during introductions, but the English vampire had managed it in
mere seconds.

Calvin studied her for a few moments,
reappraising the situation then waved a hand at the big bruiser who
had never stopped ogling Tanya.

Quick as thought, the big vamp grabbed Lenny
by the throat, picked him effortlessly off the floor, then turned
and smashed the young vampire’s head into one side of the marble
fireplace, crushing the skull completely to paste. Immediately, two
other men grabbed the twitching body and hauled it from the room so
fast that only a few drops of blood spattered the floor.

Chapter 3

“Thank you for your
assistance,
Ms. Demidova.
We’ll handle it from here,” Calvin said dismissively, speaking into
the silence that had followed the rogue’s sudden death.

To give her credit, Tanya ignored the sudden
violence better than I did, hardly giving a sign that it bothered
her. But my connection to her fed me a cold hard rage at the casual
way the rogue had been destroyed, while my own inner demon flared
into my mind at the sudden carnage. I wasn’t overly bothered by the
death of the young rogue vampire, his murderous start to the
vampire life didn’t really endear him to me.

“It still doesn’t tell us who Turned him, and
as you’ve precipitously killed the only one who could tell us, that
makes things more difficult,” she said, arms crossed