Reining In (The Network) (15 page)

“That was how Markus found me. Markus was Set’s friend. They were close, like brothers. But at that moment, Markus took pity on me, and in a decision that would forever change his life, he vowed to help me stop Set from killing my child. He turned against his friend and helped me. We raced to where Vyktor was being kept. We arrived just in time to see Set tear apart the servant woman who had saved me and showed me the only true kindness I had ever known."

"He then turned towards Vyktor. I had never known such rage. I had never felt such tremendous power as I did at that moment. My attack was ferocious, and as strong as Set was, he could not hold me back. He had awakened something in me that I had never known before; an animal. A monster. I would not let him hurt my son."

“He might’ve been able to wear me down, but Markus joined me in my attack. Together, we managed to keep him away. When he was weak enough, I grabbed Vyktor and Markus and I fled. We didn’t stop until we were sure we were far enough away. But Set came, and we battled him again and again. Markus finally explained that it was the connection, the bond, that led him to us. It was then that I decided that he would be safer away from me. Together, Markus and I found a nomadic family to take Vyktor and raise him as their own.”

I looked up as Mack walked back into the cabin. He seemed calmer, almost like himself, and I was sure that he had been listening. I wondered how much of it he already knew. He didn’t seem to really pick up on my earlier memories, and I wasn’t sure he ever would.

“Go on,” he grunted, now seemingly as curious as Marlene.

“Vyktor has never known I am his mother, nor does he know Set is his father. When I did reunite with him, I decided it was safest for him not to know his true identity. Although Set is no longer a threat, he still has people who are loyal to him; people who would kill Vyktor in a heartbeat, if they ever knew who he was.”

“Why did he hate Vyktor so much?” Marlene still looked completely confused.

“I don’t know.” I didn’t know. Markus hadn’t known, and I didn’t stop to ask Set why.

“You said he was no longer a threat. What did you mean by that?” This time it was Mack asking the question. I hesitated, but decided it was best to tell Mack everything from now on.

“He is banished.”

“Banished? What does that mean?”

“Markus and I didn’t know how to kill him. We tried, many times, but we never could kill him. We had assumed that it was the connection to me that kept him coming for us, but we soon discovered that it was actually Vyktor that he was connected to. So finally we overpowered him, locked him in a sarcophagus, and buried him deep in the sands of the Sahara desert.”

“And you’re sure he can’t get out?” Mack seemed suddenly very concerned.

“No, not on his own. He would have to be released, and only Markus and I know where he is buried.”

“One other question.” Marlene spoke up, again.

“Why is it that Vyktor is so angry at you, anyway?” The tough question. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, holding it for just a moment. I finally opened my eyes, and breathed out. I looked at Marlene, then at Mack.

“The time I have spent on this planet has not always been spent well. I have done things; horrible, horrible things. My reunion with Vyktor wasn’t permanent. I couldn’t risk it. We would separate for decades at a time, then meet up again. At one point, when we were to meet up again, I attacked and killed a young woman. Nothing personal. I’m a vampire. I needed to feed. I hadn’t fed in a long time and the attack was brutal. Vyktor came upon us, then. His need to feed was just as strong and he was intent on joining me, until he saw the woman in my arms. He fell to his knees, howling in agony.”

“You see, the woman I had just killed was his bride. They had married only hours before. She had been pregnant with his child. He had brought her to where I was in order for me to turn her for him, as he could not. I had killed the woman he loved, and his unborn child. He vowed his revenge.”

I looked back to Marlene. “You see, I cannot turn on him. He is my child, my only child. I have killed his wife and his child, my own grandchild. Even I cannot forgive myself for what I have done.” I looked down at the floor, and continued to speak. “But I cannot let him kill the people I love. I have to stop him, one way or another.” I turned back towards the window and closed my eyes. I could feel the plane descending, as we approached the Dallas airstrip.

Chapter Eighteen

“He went where?” I wasn’t sure I had heard him correctly. I was still trying to comprehend what Mike had just told me.

“Two days ago, he booked a flight to Cairo. He went alone.” He tried to sound reassuring, but I wasn’t paying much attention. I was trying to figure out why Vyktor would go to Egypt. I looked over at Mack quizzically and he just shrugged his shoulders.

“Ok, what about everything else. Where’s he been? What’s he been doing?”

“He went to California last week; spent two days there, then came back. He’s been doing a lot of traveling, boss.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” I was becoming increasingly agitated. Vyktor rarely traveled, and it was company procedure to notify me immediately when he did.

“Khallie, we’re running on a skeleton crew, here. We’re doing the best we can.” Poor Mike. I didn’t mean to push the blame on him. He was one of the best employees I had, and efficient to the point of annoying. Of course if he did everything by procedure. I was just paranoid.

“Ok, let’s not worry about that now. The question is, why is Vyktor in Cairo? What is he doing there? Where the hell is Jake?”

“Are you sure it’s him, Khallie? I mean, how do you really know it’s him?” This time it was Darren speaking up. He had been quiet up until this point, quite out of character for him. I felt bad. A lot of what he had overheard in the last several hours was probably a little overwhelming for him.

“No, it’s him. I know it’s him. Besides, it all adds up. I mean, once you actually think about it. I should’ve seen it sooner.”

“I still don’t understand it all,” piped in Marlene.

“Ok, let me explain a few things. First of all, all this started when Raymond was killed.”

“What? What does Raymond have to do with it?”

“Simple. I killed the man that shot Raymond. I killed him, and I left witnesses. Witnesses to a real vampire attack. They saw me, they saw what I was, and they told people.”

“Ok, so? Why would anyone believe them? Nobody would believe a story like that.”

“Most people wouldn’t. It’s who they told. See, the man I killed, he was Russian. That means his friends were Russian. They were part of a very well connected mob-type family.”

Marlene still looked confused, as did the rest of them. Only Mack seemed to pick up on where I was going with this. I continued.

“Vyktor was raised by Russian nomads. His wife, the one I killed, she was Russian. When she died, he kept close ties with her family, generation after generation. So, that particular group of people knows that vampires exist. Hell they have their very own personal vampire. For a long time, he did their dirty work.”

“The man that killed Raymond was part of this family.” This time it was Mack doing the talking.

“Yes, I believe that he was.”

“So his friends report back to Vyktor that there was a vampire attack, a woman, and he immediately comes out to California to check it out.”

“Yes.” I let him continue; knowing that if he saw it the same way I did, then I had to be right. Marlene must’ve seen it too, because she spoke up next.

“So, he was looking for signs of your presence, which he wouldn’t have found there, because you had gone home. But we started looking in to the man that had been killed and that alerted someone to our presence. Am I right?”

“Exactly.” Mack and I agreed at the same time.

“So they send someone to check Mack out, to find out what he knows, and they discover the files to the network.” She suddenly looked very pale.

“That’s why they shot Mack, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It is. It was stupid of me to have him look into what happened. I should’ve left it alone.” I looked up at Mack. “I’m sorry.”

Marlene walked over and put her hand on my shoulder.

“You couldn’t have known.”

She was wrong, of course. I should have known. I should have seen it all coming. But I didn’t argue with her. There was no point. Besides, I didn’t have time for arguing. I had to figure out what Vyktor was up to, and I had to find Jake. But if he wasn’t with Vyktor, then where was he? I had assumed that Vyktor had been leaving a trail for me to follow. He wanted me to come to him. He wanted some big showdown with me, and was making it easy for me to find him. But why would he go to Cairo? If he didn’t have Jake with him, why would I follow him? I was even more confused now.

I sat down and put my head in my hands, sighing deeply. I was trying to focus, to figure things out. Mack continued talking to Mike, getting as much information as he could. When they finally decided there was nothing left to discuss, Mack suggested we head out.

“We should go to New Orleans. We need to check everything out. We should even drive over to Jake’s place. There could be a few clues there that Brad missed.”

I agreed. If Vyktor was going to keep Jake anywhere, it was New Orleans. Mack asked Mike what he would do, and they discussed whether or not he should come with us. Darren and Marlene started gathering up the paperwork Mike had printed off and got ready to head for the door when an alarm started going off. Mack and I looked at each other, then at Mike.

“It’s the perimeter alarm,” Mike answered. “You told me to put the place in lock-down, so all the alarms are armed.”

“Bring up the cameras,” I shouted, running over to the panel, frantically trying to figure out which controls ran what. Darren ran over to the doors, checking the locks.

“What about the outside doors?” he hollered over to me.

“Leave them, we don’t know what’s going on, and you may not have time,” I answered.

Mike brought up the cameras Marlene gasped. On three different screens, there were men, armed with guns, heading into the building in different locations. They were checking each room as they went from screen to screen. They were looking for us.

“Is that them, Vyktor’s men?” Marlene asked, her voice almost a squeak.

“Yes, it’s them,” Mack answered as he pulled her to him, protectively.

“How do they know we’re here?” Darren asked, shaking, his bravado suddenly dissipating. No one answered. Mike headed towards anther panel, and I followed, signaling the others to follow me. Escape routes were the first thing we planned when we built these buildings. Mike entered a code into a computer screen and the panel slid back into the wall, exposing a hidden hallway. I herded everyone into the hallway, following closely. Mike followed me in, closing the panel behind him. We started forward, but suddenly the lights went out. Marlene screamed, and Darren yelled as he tripped and fell forward into Mack. Marlene screamed again as Mack lurched forward.

“Why did the lights go out?” she asked frantically.

“Just go,” Mack whispered softly, nudging her forward. I reached down and picked Darren off the ground.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, just clumsy.” He answered.

“Just follow Mack. We can see.” I nudged Darren forward and reached behind me to grab onto Mike. We went until I could see the elevator ahead.

“It’s not gonna work, you know.”

“I know, Mack. We’re gonna have to climb down.” I answered.

“What? What’s not gonna work. What do you see?” Marlene was starting to panic. Mack wrapped his arms around her and whispered into her ear. She seemed to calm down slightly and they continued forward. When he got to the elevator, Mack pried the door open and looked in.

“Khallie, this might be easy for you and me, but they can’t see a damn thing.”

I squeezed past Darren and Marlene and looked into the dark hole. He was right. The ladders were easy enough to navigate, but without being able to see them, it was really kind of dangerous. I looked back at Mack and shook my head. We stood there a few minutes, looking at each other, then the elevator shaft, then each other again.

“Well, we can’t just stay here. We’re only two stories up. We could carry them down.” Mack let out a noise, almost a laugh.

“Carry them down? You want to carry them down?”

“Do you have a better idea?” He didn’t of course. He looked back at Marlene, then me. “Ok, let’s do it.” It didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. Mack and I were much faster than humans were, and with us carrying our friends down, instead of slowly walking behind them, we could move faster. Once we were at the bottom of the elevator shaft, Mack pried the door open and we stepped out into another hidden hallway.

“This one goes to the main entrance,” Mike offered.

“What if they’re out there?” Darren squeaked, clearly not wanting to meet men with guns any time soon. Mack quickly walked down to the end of the corridor and put his head against the panel. “Nothing,” he said as he looked back at me.

“How do we get out? The power is still out.” Marlene asked, trying to sound brave.

“Same way we got out of the elevator shaft.” I answered, and winked at Mack. He turned and looked for the break in the panel. When he found it, he pried it open. It wasn’t as easy as the elevator shaft. The panel was meant to be hidden, and there wasn’t much leverage, but before long, slivers of light began to find their way into the darkened corridor.

I stepped past the others and crept up towards Mack. If there was going to be a confrontation, I wanted me and Mack to be the first ones out. But there was no one in the lobby. It was dim in the lobby, as the sun had started to set already, but there was still enough light that the rest of the group could now see. We moved towards the front door.

Mack suddenly stopped, and turned around. I quickly looked past him, trying to find the danger, but saw nothing. I looked up at him, wrinkling my forehead in confusion.

“They might have someone outside, waiting for us,” he answered. “Maybe we should go through the back entrance.” He was right, and we all turned around and headed the other way. It was quiet the whole way, and I was relieved when we finally exited the building. Luckily, with the power going out, we didn’t set off any more alarms, alerting our intruders of our whereabouts.