The Meridian Gamble (2 page)

Maybe she was making a mistake,
staying here. Now that the vampires had made their presence known in her life
it was time to leave. Abigail kept a packed bag in the closet at all times that
was filled with the essentials; fresh clothes and money, fake papers and a gun.
Perhaps the smart thing would be to simply throw it in the car, and drive away
right now. But she couldn’t leave until she got her hands on a copy of the
magazine, just to make sure it hadn’t been compromised. She couldn’t leave Dr.
Lawton until she knew she wouldn’t need him anymore.

It was better to make her escape
the next morning. The snow would have stopped by then, and she could outrun the
next storm. Her one regret would be abandoning the tiny house, which had given
her the only joy she’d known in this life, though its value was nothing
compared to the millions she had stashed away in a foreign account, money she
had yet to touch in this incarnation. Abigail had enjoyed restoring the cottage
to pristine condition. It made her feel like she had reclaimed a bit of the
past, a memory of better times. Abandoning it almost seemed like a betrayal.

She chuckled, thinking how the
neighbors would panic when they finally found the canisters of gasoline in the
basement, the ones that had been carefully sealed to mask their scent from keen
noses. What would they think when they saw the explosives that were packed
around the gas main? But by then it wouldn’t matter, because she would be long
gone with a new identity that would be impossible for them to trace.

Outside, night was quickly falling,
and the sky had already turned a dark shade. Just looking at it sent a chill
down her spine. Abigail could see her reflection in the window that overlooked
the front yard, and it made her just a bit sad. The woman who stared back at
her was a stranger. Her hair was grey and stringy, darker in patches where it
struggled to hold onto her youth. The skin around her neck and jawline had
started to sag. She had been attractive once, or at least somewhat pretty. But
she had downplayed those features, and had allowed life to pass her by while
she devoted herself to academia. The woman in the glass looked nothing like the
warrior she knew herself to be, the one who had been locked in battle since the
dawn of time. And she missed the thrill of the fight.

This life hadn’t always been her
goal. At a very early age, she had thought of finding her people. Abigail was
one of the lucky ones, and the memories of past lives would start flooding back
almost as soon as she could walk. For others, it could be more confusing, for a
while. But she was born in Minnesota this time around, where the Luminos had no
major cells, and she was forced to bide her time.

Which in turn gave her the chance
to think.

The war with the vampires had
changed in the modern era. Gone were the days when they could stumble upon a
young one and fight hand to hand to the death. It was rare, if ever, that they
came upon an inexperienced foe by itself. The vampires had become more cautious
and more clever. They were getting older, and they rarely went out alone, not
even the most powerful among them. And they never, never allowed themselves to
be caught.

Even worse, they had become masters
of hunting her people down, and would sometimes cut through whole hives of the
Luminos, keeping enough of them alive to fill up their tanks.

She could see it in the eyes of her
brethren; the war was taking its toll. The Luminos were growing weary of dying
and being tortured to death. And even worse, the vampires were perfecting the
technology of keeping them in a limbo state in their vats, where they slowly
drained their blood. Their leaders argued that perhaps they should stay hidden
until they rethought the war. Others said they should embrace modern
technology, perhaps use it to find a weakness in their foe’s physical
structure, a disease that might kill them.

And their leaders set out on a
daring plan, to acquire a sample of the vampires’ blood.

And Abigail made a decision, as she
grew of age in Minnesota. She realized she could help her people in a different
way. She chose not to return to them, to keep herself hidden, so she would be a
difficult target for the vampires to track. And she devoted herself to her
studies.

Languages came easy to her, she was
fluent in almost all of them, from being born into different parts of the
world. Math, History and Geography were all simple, as she had absorbed
knowledge of this nonsense before. Abigail knew how to get top grades, yet not
do so well she would drawn attention to herself.

Though science had never been her
favorite subject, Abigail forced herself to get a degree in Biology, and then a
Masters and P.H.D. She finally settled on a teaching position at just the right
university, where a professor was doing pioneering research in cell
replication. Abigail worked her way into his good graces, and found a position
on his team. And though she might not have been the smartest of his students,
he was impressed with her dedication, and the long hours she would put into
aiding his research, well beyond any interest in her personal life.

Professor Lawton wasn’t of the
Luminos, which was almost too bad. But Abigail would take his research into her
next life, even if it didn’t pan out. But the Professor had been even more
brilliant than she had hoped. It almost seemed like destiny that she had found
him, because she thought he had finally created a weapon that would help them
to defeat the vampires, forever.

She knew that her people had never
been able to garner more than a few drops of their enemies’ blood, but perhaps
with Professor Lawton’s research, they could replicate the samples they had.

It wouldn’t be hard to find them
again, if she left tonight. She could go to one of the major cities, New York
or Los Angeles, London. Abigail knew the signs to look for. It would be fun to
see them, friends she had made over lifetimes. Perhaps she could enjoy some of
the money she had managed to accumulate over the centuries, or experience the
passion she had denied herself in this life. Even though this body was older
now, she might find a few of her lovers who wouldn’t care, who would only remember
the moments of ecstasy they had once shared. And perhaps she could help the
scientists of the Luminos to use the research Professor Lawton had given them
to extract the ultimate revenge.

And then in a flash, everything
changed, and her world was thrown into danger. She heard it, a small creak of
the floorboards behind her. And very casually, she reached into her pocket, and
put her thumb on the button of the trigger.

Abigail turned, feigning a sudden
fear.

And there he stood in front of her,
smiling cheerfully as you would with an old friend, which they were, in a
sense. And it was unnerving, knowing his bright white teeth could pop out into
fangs at any moment.

The man who stood in her living
room was handsome, stunningly so, with jet-black hair and deep green eyes that
were dark, yet managed to sparkle. And he had the kind of masculine frame that
could set a woman’s heart pumping. They had only met once, but she immediately
recognized him. His name was Adam, and he was Enemy Number One among their people,
the vampire who was most skilled in hunting them down. And, of course, there
were the other rumors of his even more unbelievable past.

“I’m sorry. It’s rude of me to
interrupt you while you’re enjoying your wine,” he said.

Which was kind, in a sense. He had
no idea how hard she had worked to earn that bottle.

Abigail tightened her grip on the
trigger. Hopefully, he would think it was a knife she was fingering, to use
against him.

“How did you find me? May I ask?”

“It was a few years ago in New
York, when you were attending a conference, a chance thing. You passed by on
the street, and I noticed your mind was hard to scan, which is always a sign,”
he said.

Abigail cursed herself for her
foolishness, for allowing Professor Lawton to pressure her into accompanying
him to the conference. Yet it had been difficult to refuse, as it related to
work. She thought she had gotten away with the risk.

“Your personal information didn’t
reveal much, until I found the online transfers to that bank in the Caymans. That
was sloppy of you. You didn’t seem significant enough to investigate right
away, out here in the boondocks. But, of course, when the company took an
interest in your research, I knew exactly what was going on.”

The transfer was another mistake,
though at least she had waited until later in life to succumb to greed. She had
almost wished she had studied computers, to protect this sort of information
from being tracked by the vampires, but that would have to wait until the next
time around.

“It’s interesting work that you’re
doing here,” Adam said. “But I’m curious exactly what it is you hope to
accomplish?”

“To create a synthetic blood, of
course. One that might finally sate you leeches, so we can all live in peace.”

“I had no idea the Luminos were so
charitable toward leeches,” he said with a smile.

“It’s what you don’t know about us
that will be your undoing.”

But he only laughed at her banter,
not threatened in the least. The man subtly shifted his weight on the balls of
his feet, and she knew he was putting himself into a position from which he
could spring. But he didn’t move yet, so as not to set her off, which only
meant he wished to toy with her further.

“So do I know you?” he asked,
casually.

“The 1950’s. My name was Imogen. I
had been a spy for the government, among other things.”

“Ah, yes,” he said, thinking back. “Sorry
about that. Our little rendezvous got a bit … messy.”

“These things happen. Besides, it
seems like a lifetime ago,” she said with a smile.

“This doesn’t have to go that way,
if you tell me what I need to know.”

Adam had brutally tortured her the
one time they met, back when she was Imogen. He had cut her to shreds over
hours, then allowed her to heal for a few days before torturing her once again.
Her mind was strong, but even she couldn’t resist that abuse. He finally
figured out that she didn’t have the information he required, and banished her
to the tanks. It was the first time she had succumbed to that fate, and she had
vowed it wouldn’t happen again. Judging from when she was born in this life, it
must have been at least five or six years that the vampires had slowly drained
her.

And she was a bit surprised, by
what he wanted to know. Was he really going to ask the same thing, after all
this time? It was a relief in a way, to think that’s all he wanted, that he was
so distracted by his whore he would miss the greater danger.

“Have you seen Saga? Has she
returned?”

His lip quivered, he was so eager
for her answer. You would think a creature so ancient would be better at
controlling himself. Despite their animosity, the pain on his face was almost
touching. And if she knew something about the woman, she would have almost
wanted to tell him. Almost.

Saga, the great conundrum. She was
one of the few of her people who had ever been transformed into a vampire,
which appealed to him for obvious reasons. Yet, she was also the only one of
the Luminos who had not come back one life after another. As far as they knew,
she had been born once, in Egypt, and after that had only returned in the
Victorian era. Two measly lives, unless she had been hiding from them all,
which was very likely. And it was bizarre, for so many reasons.

Abigail had never come across her
in all of her lives, but she wished that she had. She wondered what was so
special about this woman that made the vampire chase after her so relentlessly,
like a puppy after a ball. And he wasn’t the only one who wanted her. Abigail
hoped she would have the good fortune to stumble across Saga some day. She
would torture her the same way the vampires abused the Luminos, perhaps tie
dynamite around her neck and blow her sky high, just to keep her away from this
bastard of a man.

“You’re still hung up on her? I
would have thought you’d have given up by now.”

“Not quite yet,” he said, taking a
step.

“Well, it’s too bad, because she’s
given up on you. I’m sorry to say, Saga has moved on. Her name is Emiline now,
and she lives in Toronto. In fact, she’s become one of our top assassins. But
if you don’t believe me, I’m sure she’d be willing to plunge a knife in your
heart to convince you.”

There was no Emiline, of course. Abigail
only hoped he would waste his time looking for a phantom after she was gone.

A slight look of concern trembled
across his face, and she could tell she had caught him off-guard. But quickly,
his features became placid once more.

Adam smiled.

“If that were true, I’d be the one
to hand her a blade.”

She laughed at how easily he saw
through her ruse. But looking at him, Abigail suddenly realized something; he
didn’t care about the Luminos at all. All the hunting and stalking and
searching hadn’t been about the war, it was for her, this Saga. He was hunting
them down because he was hoping to stumble upon her again, because she was one
of them, and he thought she might go back to the one place where she wasn’t
wanted. It was almost romantic, somehow.

But now that he knew Abigail was
clueless to Saga’s whereabouts, she had to act quickly. Because the vampire
could cover the distance between them faster than she could press the button.

He didn’t move quite yet, but it
seemed he could sense what she was about to do. And he had one last thing to
say.

“When you see your people again,
tell them I will do anything they want, if they give me Saga.”

And her finger went down on the
plunger.

For a split second, she could see
him dart, and thought he was coming after her. Which would have been a very
good thing, if he were to get caught up in the inferno. But was that the sound
of a window crashing, just before the world exploded around her?