The Meridian Gamble (60 page)

And the General senses my
confusion.

“I can offer you protection from
the vampires,” he says, patiently explaining it all. “The Luminos could take
you away somewhere, to an island paradise, perhaps.”

“What, so you can kill me?”

“No, so we can study the blood,
until we find a cure for the condition.”

“Or a disease that could wipe them
all out. After you’ve dissected us.”

“No, we would not do that. You
would be too valuable for us to turn you into a lab experiment. What you would
be doing would be the greatest service to the Luminos anyone has ever done.”

And he leans over the table,
getting closer to me.

“Meridian, I’m not asking you to
join them. I’m asking you to become a vampire, so you can help us fight this
war on their level. And you’re right about one thing, we might have to kill you
eventually. But that would only be when every last vampire is wiped from the
face of the earth, including their elders. And we’ve been fighting for
thousands of years. How long do you think it will be before that happens? Even
then, we both know you can come back as a human if you so desire.”

And I’m still not quite sure what
he’s asking me. To become a double agent? To go to battle by his side as a
different kind of immortal? And a part of me wonders if he’s right, if
obtaining a sample of their blood in this manner might be worth it. Perhaps
this is the way I will put an end to the war, and destroy them all, as Marion
said.

But somehow, I think she was
talking about something more than just ending the vampire race. Somehow, I
think Marion was referring to the destruction of all life, as chilling as that
sounds.

I shake my head, overwhelmed by
what he’s saying and all it entails. And I’m amazed that the General would have
the audacity to ask such a thing.

“No. Forget it, I won’t do it. I
won’t become a vampire ever again.”

“All right, I understand,” he says,
nodding his head, relenting. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t even have suggested it.”

“And what’s so bad about being a
vampire?”

The voice comes from behind me, and
I turn around to see Arie and Lenore standing there, in disembodied form.

I’m not sure how to respond to them
without giving away their secret, so I say nothing at all.

“Tell them we’ll do it,” Arie says.
“We’ll give them a sample of our blood in exchange for you.”

I’m shocked by what he says, so
much so that I can’t even hide it. I turn around to face the General and
Evelyn, and my mouth must be slightly ajar. From the way they stare at me, it’s
obvious that they know something is going on. Even the cook, Antonio, seems to
be looking in my direction.

And I clear my throat. It seems I
have no choice but to broker their offer.

“They say that they’ll trade me.
For a sample of their blood.”

The General looks to the others,
dumbfounded.

“And how do you know this?”

“They’re … in communication with
me. In a sense.”

“And exactly how are they in
communication with you?” he asks, full of concern. He looks around the room,
perhaps thinking the vampires are in camouflage suits and have already gotten
in, or have developed invisibility powers. He looks like he’s ready to bolt and
sound the alarm.

“It’s not mental,” the cook,
Antonio says. “I sense nothing.”

“You sense nothing?” I say,
annoyed. “So you’re more than just the campus chef?”

“He’s a telepath, among other
things,” Evelyn says. “It’s his hidden talent.”

“It’s easier to scan them when
they’re eating. The food helps them to relax,” the chef says. “Especially if
it’s good.”

And he grins, mischievously.

“He shouldn’t be so proud of
himself. He’s not a very good telepath if he can’t sense someone astral
projecting,” Lenore says, over my shoulder.

“So if it’s not telepathic, than
what’s going on?” the General asks. And the man I once knew creeps back in his
voice, as he’s just a bit more brusque this time.

“It’s … sort of telepathic,” I say.
But I’m not sure how much more I should reveal. “A special kind.”

“I wasn’t aware there was more than
one kind,” the General says.

“Actually, it’s because of Roland,”
Arie whispers into my ear. “Normally, we can astral project to someone we’ve
fed off of. But we haven’t fed from you, so we’re using Roland’s connection to
key in on your location, but it’s weaker this way.”

So it is Roland helping them. And I
wonder if Adam is with them, too.

And the General is beginning to get
frustrated with me. He looks to Antonio again, but the cook only shrugs his
shoulders.

“She is totally impervious to me. I
cannot read her mind.”

He looks to Evelyn.

“There’s more to it than that. It’s
obvious she’s not telling us something.”

“Obvious that I’m not telling you
something?” I say. “It seems like I’m not the only one.”

“I’m a psychiatrist. Reading body
language is my specialty,” she says.

And I sigh, in frustration. The
secrets in the Luminos lair are as thick as they are with the vampires.

“Go ahead, tell them everything. We
don’t care,” Arie says. And he and Lenore casually walk around, and stand on
either side of the General. Arie is wearing blue jeans and a tattered T-shirt
for an indie band, and it’s nice to see him dressed more normally for once,
like a real teenager. But I have to remind myself that he’s anything but.

“They have a vampire or two who can
astral project onto people they’ve fed from. And they’re using another vampire,
one who drank from me, to make the connection. But it’s not as powerful this
way.”

“Do you mean to tell me our
facility has been compromised?” the General says, looking around, warily.

“Tell him not to worry about his
stupid facility. It hasn’t been compromised. We can’t stray very far from you,
Meridian. Not at the distance we’re at.”

“And it must be partially
underground. We have a problem with anything below the dirt, for some reason,”
Lenore says. “But we’re working on that.”

“They say that they can’t stray
very far from me, because of the distance and the weakened connection thing,” I
relay to the General. “And they have trouble with anything below the Earth’s
surface. They can’t reach the underground levels.”

“There are underground levels?”
Lenore says.

“So does he want to make the trade
or not?” Arie asks.

“So what will it be?” I say to the
General.

And he looks to his advisors, then
looks back to me.

“Tell them we’ll do it. For six
ounces of the blood. But it must be from one of the older vampires.”

Arie and Lenore look to the side,
seemingly listening to someone.

“One ounce.”

“One ounce only,” I say.

“Three ounces.”

“Two, and it’s from one of the
oldest vampires we have,” Arie says. “That seems like a fair trade for a girl
they would have killed anyway.”

“Two, and it’s the good stuff.”

“Done. Do they already know where
we are?” the General says, seeming just a bit frustrated.

“No, but we will soon enough, if he
gives us time,” Lenore says.

“They don’t know, yet,” I tell him.

He takes a piece of paper from the
table and begins writing down numbers I certainly don’t understand, though they
look like map coordinates.

“Give them these numbers. Or can
they see this?”

Again, Lenore looks over his
shoulder.

“Yep, it’s Nevada. Tell him we’ll
be there in four hours,” she says. “And one last thing. Tell him to put you in
body armor. The Luminos kind.”

And with that, the Twins disappear.

“They’re gone now, you can relax,”
I say. “They’ll be here in four hours. Oh, and they mentioned something about
giving me body armor.”

The General and the others look to
one another, unsure if I’m telling the truth.

“Get her a set of armor. And begin
evacuating the facility, everything except the soldiers.”

Our eyes catch again, and the General
looks just a bit guilty.

“So much for things changing,” I
say.

And I’m sure Evelyn, the expert on
body language, would have no trouble discerning that I’m just a bit annoyed
with him.

“I’m sorry to do this to you,
Meridian. But it’s necessary. What you’re doing here today may be the greatest
service anyone will ever do for the Luminos.”

“Well, let me know if the sample
doesn’t work out. If not, I’ll be able to get you all the blood you want,
because the vampire you’re giving me to is one of the one’s who’s determined to
change me, whether I like it or not.”

I don’t know why I say it, maybe to
lash out at him, the way a precocious daughter would to her father. But the
truth is, going with the vampires somehow seems far preferable to staying here.
I have a horrible feeling about what the Luminos are doing in this place, and a
deep-seated need to get away from it. Even though I resent being traded like
chattel, this is the best option that I have, and I’m almost glad that Roland
and the others are coming for me.

“We need to get you back to your
room. For security reasons,” the General says.

“Gladly,” I say.

Evelyn wheels
me out, and I don’t even look back to him as we leave.

I’m on pins and needles, waiting in
my room for the vampires to come for me. The Luminos want to keep me in
isolation, for fear that Arie and Lenore might be able to wander around the
base and find something important. But I can hear noises outside my door, the
sounds of them evacuating, electrical carts zooming about and soldiers barking
orders.

After a few hours, Evelyn comes to
my room, and brings me a set of scary-looking body armor. It’s black and fits
me tightly, like a lycra body suit, only thicker. And there are heavier armored
pieces in certain areas, over the stomach and chest. I put the boots and gloves
they give me on, and am surprised at how easy it is to walk around in this gear.
And against my better judgment, I get a twinge of excitement when I see myself
in the mirror, because I look like a superhero. I guess for these few moments,
I have rejoined them, and know what it feels like to be a badass Luminos
warrior. And a part of me wishes I could stay.

Another hour or so passes, and
Evelyn returns to my room to collect me. She has the wheelchair with her, but I
wave it off.

“Are you sure?” she says.

“I think I need to start walking,”
I say.

And though I’m a bit stiff, I feel
so much better than before.

We leave my room, and there’s a
bustle of activity going on in the hallway outside. Worker bees move in a last
minute panic, bringing technical equipment from the elevators down the main
walkway, which soldiers now line. And far to my right, I can finally see a
doorway to the outside world, which has a glint of fading sunlight coming
through it. Vans are being loaded up and driven away at a frenzied pace, and I
feel like we’re the last ones being left behind.

The rays that shine through the
open doorway are the closest thing I’ve seen to sunlight since before I was
floating my life away in the tanks, and I long to escape into their fading
light.

Evelyn takes me to another room on
the first floor, which is a command center, of sorts. There are monitors
everywhere, two widescreen ones mounted on the walls, and two rows of smaller
ones at which their foot soldiers sit. The General is clearly in command, but I
see another Luminos woman sitting at one of the stations, so it’s not all hired
help in the room. And she’s yet another one of them I don’t recognize.

The screens that they watch show
various feeds from outside the building, camera angles that focus on the road
leading up to the bunker we’re in, and views of the desert and highways that
must be nearby. It’s interesting, because from the video screen, I can see that
the structure we’re in is indeed underground, or at least a good portion of it
is. Only the curved roof breaches the surface, and it looks like an oddly
shaped, very long warehouse from the outside. Another view focuses on the ramp
that leads out of the doorway, up toward the surface, and a few low sentry
towers that protect it. I can only imagine the confused stares it would garner
from anyone who wandered nearby as to what this place could be, but I’m sure
it’s on some sort of government land in the middle of nowhere, on which no one
is allowed to tread.

A man watches another monitor that
looks like it detects heat signatures, and I get the impression the Luminos
have no idea how the vampires will approach, that they’re covering all the
angles.

I feel useless, and there’s a
platter of sandwiches nearby, which Evelyn sees me eying.

“You should have something,
Meridian. Who knows when you’ll next have the chance to eat.”

“Thanks,” I say, softly.

I grab a sandwich, though I’m
suddenly feeling too nervous to choke it down.

After a few moments, there’s a bit
of commotion. Something is picked up on one of the monitors. The General goes
over, and they switch the view to one of the wider screens on the wall.

Two white Range Rovers are racing
across the desert. Of course, it’s the vampires. They even come to rescue me in
style.

“They’re here,” is all the General
says. And he looks to a soldier who stands by the door of the room, silently
nodding to him. After a few moments, the man comes back with a device that
looks like a disc, one of those rings that you throw, like a Frisbee. And there’s
another small unit the General straps to his wrist.

And for some reason, I’m even more
nervous. I throw the sandwich I was gnawing on into the trash, and the General
approaches me.

“I need to put this on you,” he
says.

“Why?”

“Trust me, it’s necessary.”