Sanctuary (Forsaken Realms Trilogy) (5 page)

They embraced once again...

On the contrary, he felt perfectly at ease, like he'd made this journey many times though he couldn't remember ever experiencing anything like it before.

At some level Tym knew that he was still asleep on his pallet back in the sewers, but at the same time he knew that this was something more than a dream.

It
felt
different than a dream.

As he fell Tym thought about his recent experiences.  For some time he'd known that there was something strange occurring within himself. 

There was a small corner of his mind locked away, and something was going on in there that he couldn't begin to comprehend. 

Those in his family looked upon him as a younger vampire, probably because of the way he acted.  But Tym was old...
very
old.  Old even for one of the Kindred.

In fact, Tym couldn't even remember being turned, it was so long ago.

In his long life he had experienced many strange things; wonders and cruelties few could comprehend.

Old age lent him a special sort of patience that made his current situation tolerable.  In fact, Tym was sort of enjoying himself as he fell.  Here was something
new
! A new puzzle or mystery to uncover.

He couldn't wait to see where this was going...

His family thought of him as insane and often didn't know what to make of him.  "Maybe I am insane." mused Tym as he fell with a chuckle.

The thought didn't begin to bother him.  He was as he had always been. That was all.

In Tym's opinion, it was the rest of the world that was insane anyway.  He'd always known that something was wrong in the world...and he suspected it was something large.

Call it a feeling of
unrightness
. Something had happened that was never meant to have occurred in the world.  It was almost as if...

"Hello brother" echoed a voice in the darkness.

Tym snapped out of his reverie. Was the voice real or did it come from inside his own head?  "Hello?"

The darkness around him remained unchanged and he continued to fall.

---

Natalia knocked on the door to Quinn's room deep within the sewers.  She had spent the rest of the night with Alexander in the warehouse and had left as confused as ever.

Confused might not be the right word, she thought to herself.  She was absolutely certain of her feelings towards Alexander and certain of his towards her.

Uncertain
was a better way to think of it.  She simply didn't know what to do.

"Hello there child" smiled Quinn "you look like you've the weight 'o the world on yer shoulders."

Natalia smiled, "Not the whole world, just a corner of it... we haven't had the chance to talk since Markus and the others left, how are you?"

"Me?" answered Quinn, "I'm right as rain, same as always."

"Good" replied Natalia "Good...I never got to talk to you about their plan, Markus and Brenden's... what do you think about it?"

"Oh I don't rightly know" answered Quinn "If they want to go traipsing off into the world and get theyselves killed I suppose they have the right to do it.  Don't rightly think they'll find anything, but a body needs something to keep itself occupied I suppose!"

Natalia smiled at Quinn's earthy point of view before turning somber "And if they get caught?"

"Caught?" answered Quinn, frowning slightly "I hadn't rightly thought of that. Who would catch em?".

"The Medai, or the Morinof's, or any of a hundred lesser clans.  News of our location would be valuable to the Elder Council." suggested Natalia.

"Them Elders got better things to worry about then the likes of a few straggler Forsaken living like rats in the sewers, me thinks.  What could they want with us?"

"To finish the job that they started four hundred years ago," answered Natalia "or they may just enjoy destroying us merely for sport..."

"Maybe" shrugged Quinn "But Markus and Brenden and the others would never give us up...you know better than that child."

"I don't question their loyalty or their love for us" said Natalia, her voice growing more forceful "But who knows what capabilities the Council has.  The machines they have these days, I doubt Markus or the others could resist even if they wanted to."

The room grew quiet as Quinn digested what Natalia had just said.

"It's as may be" admitted Quinn "but what's done is done, we can't do nuthin about it now that they've already gone and left".

"No, but we can prepare for the worst." suggested Natalia "we need to begin evacuation preparations. We need to post guards and set up a bolt hole out of here in case we come under attack...and we need to prepare another haven"

Almost lost in thought, Natalia continued "I won't be caught..." she almost said
again
, but stopped herself at the last moment.  Not even Quinn knew about her past, or knew who her father was.

Quinn sighed "I suppose you're right child...I was starting to grow fond of this dump tho".

Natalia chuckled "It's definitely got it's charms" she said dryly "Will you start to spread the word to the others. Explain the situation and get people comfortable with the idea of moving?  I'll start scouting for new locations should we need to make a fresh start."

"Aye, I'll do that child" answered Quinn.

With that Natalia left to try and sort out her other problem...

A tone pulsed in his ear, signifying an incoming call. Jason twitched his eyelid and a translucent overlay screen appeared before his eyes.

"Sir, the stock we discussed yesterday has risen to twenty seven dollars a share and seems to be heading even higher, are you sure that..." began the image of Jason's head broker.

"Sell it short, the entire block, as much as you can, right now" shouted Jason over the screech of the motorcycle "and begin to short as much Sony stock as you can while you're at it".

"But sir..." began the flustered stock broker.

With that he twitched his eyelid again causing the images to disappear and the call to end.

Jason was twenty four years old and had made a small fortune creating an app that allowed people to create and then share funny icons with each other. 

The whole thing had seemed ridiculous to Jason until a major media company offered to buy it from him for fifty million dollars. Jason took the fifty million and quickly turned it into nearly two billion dollars by riding the crest of the latest tech wave on the stock market for the last three years.

Most of the world thought of him as the goofy icon kid; few realized the extent of his fortune or the serious nature of his latest work.

For the last year and a half Jason had been pioneering a new ocular technology that allowed HD quality video to be projected right onto a person's eyeball. No longer would people need expensive television screens.

If he played his cards right, the technology had he power to potentially disrupt a cross section of different industries around the world from television electronics and semi conductors, all the way to teleconferencing, cell phones, even the movie industry. 

The thought made him grin as he flew down a lonely stretch of highway.  The speed helped Jason clear his mind so that he could plan his next move. 

His technology was nearly ready for release and as of yet the entire project had remained completely secret. 

Jason had been strategically selling short the stock of the major electronics companies, telecom companies, cell phone manufacturers, and software firms in anticipation of the huge drop in share prices that would occur once the world discovered his new technology that would essentially make those old companies obsolete overnight.

Short selling was basically a bet that the price of a stock would drop dramatically.  If the price dropped, you stood to make a ton of money, but if the price increased you could lose your shirt.

The economy may be down, but the stock market was booming.  Coupled with those recent inflated stock prices from the tech boom; Jason stood to make trillions of dollars if things worked out the way he planned.

His technology would ruin many companies and destroy legions of powerful people. 

The thought made him smile as he flew down the country road.  It was only a matter of days now...

The next step of his plan was to go into hiding.  With technology this disruptive, Jason knew he'd be a walking target.  He had no illusions, and expected prolonged assassination attempts from multiple companies.

Jason had spent the last six months setting up a series of safe houses around the world.  His plan was  to keep moving every couple of weeks and to keep in contact with his office virtually using his new technology coupled with a private cell phone network developed exclusively for this purpose.

Only a small transition team that he completely trusted would go into hiding with him. 

Hopefully within six months the dust would settle and he could make a more open return. Of course, with the kind of wealth he stood to make, Jason would need a small army for protection for the rest of his life, but the thought didn't bother him.

There was so much to do, and an Empire to build....

If his calculations were correct, the ship should be docking soon and he could begin his search in earnest.

He didn't hold out much hope.  If there were pockets of Forsaken left, he was sure they'd be found in America, not Europe; simply because the culling had occurred in Europe so long ago.  It stood to reason that the few who managed to escape would have fled as far as possible...and that meant America or possibly Asia.

But Brenden and the others had wanted to search America and Markus was not one to argue, so he agreed to take Europe.  It was probably more dangerous anyway because the Council had always held a strong position in Europe, established over long centuries.

And Markus was always more careful than Brenden...so it was probably for the best.

He'd decided to start in England, explore the sewers of London, then move to France, Germany, Italy, and then into Eastern Europe and eventually Russia.

Russia and Eastern Europe meant the Morinof Clan, and Markus wanted no part of them.  It was they who had originally attacked his home during the culling. He knew that he should crave revenge, but the truth of the matter was that Markus hoped he'd never see another Morinof again for the rest of his life.  It was better just to pretend they didn't exist.

He wasn't sure if that made him a coward or not.  Probably so.  But he didn't care.  What's done is done, Markus thought...and he saw no reason to dwell on the past. 

As the boat rocked back and forth, he wondered; not for the last time, whether this was a fools errand.  He wanted to believe that there were other Forsaken out there, but he just wasn't sure he
could
believe.