The Goddess and The Vampire Page 22

Chapter Twenty-One

  “I’d be careful with that.” Grandfather said and looked down at Katie. “I don’t think she likes being controlled.”

  “I’m listening.” I said. I watched as Raoul flowed back into human form. He picked up his severed hand and held it to his chest. Izumi crawled over and picked up the pieces of her sword. Raoul slowly moved around the car and crawled into the passenger side. Izumi hobbled around and got behind the wheel. The car sputtered and coughed as they drove away.

  “As her owner, that medallion rightfully belongs to you.” Grandfather said and pointed at the square Elven token in my hand. “I’m guessing Carlo had it and gave it to Raoul. He couldn’t fully control Katie because he’s not her owner. Elves like having total control over their slaves. They call this coin a form of discipline.”

  “In case she isn’t obsequious enough already?” I said and stared down at the top of Katie’s head.

  “Elves are big into ritual.” Grandfather said and squinted down at Katie. “Technically, you owe me for that information, but I’ll let it slide seeing as you let me hang around and all.”

  “What do I do now?” I said more to myself than Grandfather, but he answered anyway.

  “I can think of a few things.” Grandfather said and watched as Katie stiffened in her pose. “You have to keep your concentration when you use it. That’s what happened to Raoul down there. Once he let his thoughts drift to driving or the song on the radio, Katie was free for a moment. And it looks like a moment was all she needed. Of course, a skilled user could control her without having to think about it. I’d suggest you take that medallion and put it somewhere safe. You don’t want someone telling her to chop you up and turn you into charcoal while you sleep.”

  I looked at the talisman. One side had an Elf’s face in profile and the other side had a number of triangles and circles. I slid the coin into my pocket.

  “May I stand?” Katie said without raising her head.

  “Stockholm syndrome, anyone?” Grandfather said and walked around Katie. “You need to give her enough freedom to do whatever routine tasks she normally does, but still make sure she knows her place.”

  “Could you please stop talking about me like that?” Katie said and raised her head enough to look at Grandfather. “I know my place.”

  “How are you feeling?” I said and felt an echo of her terror in my chest. “Desiara?”

  “She’s gone.” Katie said and wiped at the corner of her mouth. “I’ll live. Thanks for the help.”

  “You didn’t seem to need it.” I said and touched her neck. “You seem fine now.”

  Katie hesitated for a moment, then walked toward the house. Grandfather watched her go and clapped me on the shoulder.

  “I like a good old fashioned woman.” Grandfather said. “If you’re thinking about what to get me for my birthday, an Elven slave would certainly do the trick.”

  “Now I see why we never got along.” Sally said from the house’s direction. “What did you do to that poor Elf girl this time? I’m sure there are rules somewhere about the proper treatment of personal slaves.”

  “There’s a surprising amount of flexibility in the interpretation of the rules.” I said and rubbed my fingers over the coin in my pocket. “And Elves have rules all their own.”

  “Your mother’s fixed us all some pasta.” Sally said and shook her head to clear away the thoughts of Katie. “You can tell us all about it while we eat.”

  “How would you feel about taking care of Katie for a day or two?” I said as we walked up to the house. “Bad things seem to happen to her when she’s around me.”

  “She’s not really a child, Wil.” Sally said and shook her head. “No matter what she looks like or how protective she makes you feel. Besides, why would she do anything I said?”

  “You’ll be holding this.” I said and put the coin in Sally’s hand. She turned it over and raised her eyebrows. “It has some magical power over Katie. It’s a last resort kind of thing.”

  “No, Wil.” Sally said and shook her head. “I’m not a vampire. I don’t want to become like you and relish the power of controlling another person.”

  I took the coin back. It felt warm and good in my pocket. Sally was right, one of my favorite powers was my ability to command those that loved me. It was one of my original powers, was this really all that different? I wasn’t sure if it made Katie love me though, so it was always good to have a backup just in case.

  I sat at the table and listened to my family eat and talk and after a short time we were joined by Katie. She had her hair down and flowing around her head. She was wearing a light colored gossamer dress and seemed to be in much better spirits. She looked so beautiful when she wasn’t hiding in a hoodie. With Katie’s help I was able to do a bit of power sharing, but I still had The Little Death in my system and had to be careful.

  My phone rang and it was Andy on the other end.

  “I’ve got some news.” Andy said. “The cops found Tyler sitting in that panel van. He’s dead and going to stay that way from the looks of it.”

  “Do they think Beth did it?” I said and looked at Sally. She looked away. “Karma’s a bitch.”

  “Yeah. I knew you’d be broken up about it.” Andy said and cleared his throat to change the subject. “Fedor has a Rogue he wants you to bring in tonight.”

  “Can’t Gerald handle this one?” I said and thought about the other Code Enforcers. “Or maybe Sandi?”

  “Gerald is missing in action.” Andy said. “And Sandi broke her foot bowling.”

  “Of course she did.” I said. “How much is the reward?”

  “What do you do with your money, Wil?” Andy said and I could almost hear him shaking his head. “This one traded his art collection for some information. Now he regrets that decision. Rumor is he has plans on leaving the country and taking his art with him. You know Fedor’s weakness for fine art. So the reward will be twenty grand, more or less, once you factor in my cut.”

  “Why didn’t Fedor get the art to start with?” I said.

  “He thought he did.” Andy said and there was a short silence. “But most of it seems to have disappeared.”

  “There’s been a lot of that going around.” I said and scratched an itch on my chest. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  Katie stood up as I headed for the door and I held up my hand to stop her.

  “Why don’t you stay with Sally tonight?” I said. “I’ll swing by and pick you up later.”

  “I can’t protect you if I’m with Sally.” Katie said while keeping her eyes lowered and her hands behind her back. “You might need me.”

  “I’m working.” I said and turned for the door. “I’ll be fine.”

  I DROVE BY the Vampire Consulate and picked up Andy. He made a show of checking that his Desert Eagle was loaded and that he had two spare clips tucked away.

  “Where are we going?” I said.

  “It’s an address in Poly.” Andy said and looked at his notebook. “Some place on Ave L.”

  “This wouldn’t happen to be Billy’s house, would it?” I said as I set the car in motion.

  “Well, he did say he was moving last report I heard.” Andy said and snapped his little black book closed. “So it might not be Billy. Might be someone new.”

  “Yeah.” I said. “I guess it might be.”

  Billy’s neighborhood was crowded with cars, as usual, and there was a lot of loud music pouring out of his house. I parked around the corner and we walked back. The street was deserted, the usual crowd sitting on their porches not in evidence. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. We walked up the cracked and broken sidewalk and stepped onto the cement porch. A tall man in a black suit barred our way.

  “This is invitation only.” He said in an accent with just a hint of mob to it. “Unless your name is on the guest list, I can’t let you in.”

  “Wilhem and Andy.” I said and let a little bit of power flash in my eyes. The door attend
ant wasn’t impressed. He held up a clipboard and slowly ran his finger down the page. He nodded and gave us the once over. He stepped aside and opened the door.

  We squeezed into the living room, which looked much the same as it had the last time I was here, except for the addition of a couple of hundred people. The floor sagged noticeably and the mob shifted constantly. I spotted Billy sitting on a tall stool near the foot of the stairs and made my way toward him. He was dressed all in black and wore an aura of sadness.

  “Wil!” Billy said and clapped me on the shoulders. “So glad you could make it.”

  “Wouldn’t have missed it.” I said and looked around again. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m having a wake for Tyler.” Billy said and swallowed hard. “He was killed, man. Who would do a thing like that?”

  “I’m looking for a vampire named Curtis.” I said over the noise. “Have you seen him?”

  “Yeah.” Billy said and pointed at the stairs. “He’s up in Beth’s room with Beth. People mourn in different ways.”

  “I think I’ll go commiserate with him.” I said and headed past Billy up the stairs.

  I FELT THE tingle of magic about halfway up the stairs. I opened the door to Beth’s room and walked in. All the herbs and incense and cooking gear was gone. The bed was still there. The two people using the bed shook the walls and the bedside table. I spotted a small pewter figure of a kneeling woman with very large breasts. The sight of it made my skin crawl and my mouth go dry. I needed someone to drink. Then Andy pushed by me and looked around the room. He held up a painting that looked like an Old Master and pointed to several more that were leaning against the wall. He seemed completely unaffected by the sight of the Werecoyote and vampire humping their brains out. He also didn’t seem to be aware of the magic wafting in the air that made me want to join them.

  Andy stepped close to the bed and slapped the vampire Curtis on the ass hard enough to get his attention. He turned on Andy with his fangs bared and blood in his eyes. Andy put the Desert Eagle’s barrel under the vampire’s chin and met his eyes. This skill made Andy a great Code Enforcer. Vampires couldn’t get into his head. Andy had a lot of training for this kind of thing and the vampire hesitated, both because of the gun and because Andy wasn’t falling under his spell. He turned his eyes to me.

  “Curtis?” I said and nodded. “You need to come with us.”

  “You can get dressed first.” Andy said and nodded to the pile of clothes on the floor. “Please.”

  “It’s all her fault.” Curtis said and pointed at the bed. “Damned Werecoyote said she was trying to get her mind off of Tyler. And well, one thing led to another.”

  I looked at Beth and let my eyebrows rise. I had seen her naked at least two times too many recently. Then my throat went dry as my thirst increased to emergency levels. Beth smiled at me and licked her lips. She put a green-papered cigarette to her lips and pulled in a lungful of smoke. She blew some of the Whammy smoke my way. She ran a finger between her breasts and down her muscular abs. This got Andy’s attention just long enough for Curtis to dart between us and thunder down the stairs.

  “Damn it.” Andy said and holstered the gun. “Should we do something with Beth?”

  I was at a loss for words for a moment while I mulled over a few things to do with Beth. Andy slapped me across the face and that wiped away the smile. He turned me neatly and pushed me out the door. His training had been a lot more thorough than I thought. He pulled the door closed and we headed downstairs after Curtis.

  We found the vampire slipping on clothes from a man he had enthralled. The man was standing in his underwear and didn’t seem to be aware of it. Curtis looked at us in surprise. He clearly expected us to be spending a bit more time upstairs. He shoved his way toward the door and out onto the porch. He might have flashed away, but he tripped over the Were that was acting as a doorman. We fought our way out and yelled at the door man to hold Curtis. He ignored us.

  Andy made a flying tackle and caught Curtis around the ankles. This gave me just enough time to grab Curtis’s hand. I slapped on one of the silver cuffs I carried for just such an occasion. He yelped at the pain and I was able to wrestle his other wrist around and get it cuffed as well. After that, the fight went out of him. I put him in the back seat and told Andy to see about grabbing the paintings.

  “Those are family heirlooms.” Curtis said and hung his head. “They shouldn’t end up in the hands of someone like Fedor.”

  In a surprisingly short time, Andy had all the artwork sitting around the back of the Dodge, waiting for me to load it all. There was something odd about these things, something that tickled the inside of my ear and brought to mind... The Shadow Realm.

  “Are you sure these are family heirlooms?” I said as I held up one of the paintings and turned it in the moonlight. “Is it possible that you got these from the back of a van that Tyler stole?”

  “Family heirlooms.” Curtis said and snarled at me. “These were stolen by the Nazis.”

  “Were they?” I said and set the painting back down. “I’m betting the Nazis never got a chance to take them.”

  “You don’t think these are my family’s paintings?” Curtis said as he continued to struggle in his bonds. “I’ve got records. They don’t seem to match exactly, but they’re close enough.”

  “Maybe if you’d had better fakes you’d have had more time to whip up better provenances.” I said and nodded. “Did Billy whip up the phonies for you?”

  “Yeah.” Curtis said. “I think there’s something wrong with Billy.”

  I opened the hatchback and watched Andy load the paintings, etchings, prints, and two small sculptures with a surprising amount of care. I couldn’t help but notice one of the paintings looked a lot like a Gauguin. Andy told me the Werecoyote was gone when he got back to the room, and likely a painting or two had left with her.

  I drove back to The Consulate and Andy helped me drag the much-subdued Vampire Curtis down to a holding cell in Fedor’s dungeon. I retrieved my handcuffs and Curtis cursed my parentage. We logged in a number of paintings, etchings, prints, and a sculpture into the Consulate’s vaults. These were things Curtis owed Fedor, I mean, the Consulate.

  I saw Jackie and smiled at her. She looked into my eyes and winked. She gave me my Reward Money and we didn’t tear each other’s clothes off. We still wanted to, and likely would later, but we didn’t have sex right there on her desk in front of the new plate glass window. And that was a vast improvement. I gave Andy his half of the money for his part in the capture. We went our separate ways for the night.

  I drove back to the Mansion and tried not to think about Jackie. Or magically sexy Werecoyotes. Or Raoul’s attempted murder of my pet Elf. Who wasn’t really a pet and was a good deal more than just an Elf. I sat in the car outside the Mansion for a few minutes. I tried to clear my mind and wondered if a long shower would wash off some of the Whammy smoke that lingered on my body.

  I got out and walked toward the house, only to find Kilestra leaning against a tree by the path.

  “These are perilous times.” Kilestra said and walked up to me. “What if I wasn’t around to keep you safe?”

  “I can keep myself safe.” I said and looked into her deep blue eyes. “Even if no one I care about believes it.”

  “Learn anything from Victoria?” Kilestra said and walked slowly around me, letting her hand trace a path.

  “She said she had problems.” I said and watched the way Kilestra flowed around me. “She said she had solutions, but her pet were-armadillos seemed to think there might be more trouble. You knew about all this already?”

  “Some.” Kilestra said and looked at me. “If I knew everything, I wouldn’t need your help.”

  “What are you doing here?” I said.

  “I was thinking you could go on a little trip.” Kilestra said and ran her hand across my chest. “Somewhere safe. Like maybe a cell in my basement. Or a cell at the Consulate. Or maybe just sealed
in a coffin in an undisclosed location.”

  “I’m not sure I like the sound of any of those options.” I said and pushed Kilestra’s hands away. “Maybe you can think of something that doesn’t involve me being imprisoned.”

  “Suit yourself.” Kilestra said and tilted her head as she smiled at me. “It’s not like I was planning on letting you go hungry or anything.”

  Billy’s VW Microbus with its glowing blue paint made its way up the drive. It rattled to a stop next to the Dodge. Kilestra shielded her eyes as she watched Billy swing open the door and amble over toward us. His clothes were covered in dust and he smelled like something left in an attic for a long time. Shirley got out of the car and looked much the same.

  “Hey.” Billy said. “Nice night, huh?”

  “I was at Billy’s picking up a Rogue not too long ago.” I said to Kilestra. “He was having a wake for Tyler.”

  “Sorry for your loss.” Kilestra said as she backed further into the shadows. “Watch your back, Wil.”

  In a moment, Kilestra was gone. I’m guessing she didn’t see any great danger in the vampire William.

  “That’s a neat trick.” Billy said as he looked at the spot where Kilestra had been. “I’ve never been good at that kind of thing. But then, I’m not a Navy SEAL black ops kind of guy.”

  “What happened?” I said and led Billy and Shirley back into the house. “Something go wrong with the wake?”

  “No, the wake was fine.” Billy said and brushed dirt off his shirt. “Tyler was well loved and will be missed by the many people whose life he brought joy to.”

  “You mean the many people he sold drugs to.” I said.

  “Yeah.” Billy said and took a seat on the sofa in the common room near my crypt. Shirley sat next to Billy and looked around the basement. “But a lot of Tyler’s mourners are a little shady, a little desperate, if you know what I mean. So once they, like, saw Andy with a couple of those paintings, it got pretty nasty. When you guys took off they started tearing the place apart, looking for like, you know, the Lost Ark of the Covenant or something.”

  “Let me guess.” I said and took a seat opposite Billy on the matching sofa. “They found the stash in your Mother’s closet?”

  “Good thing Mom’s visiting my sister in California.” Billy said and scratched the back of his head. “They made a real mess of the place. And they didn’t want to share, so they were all, like, hitting and punching each other to get to the duffle bags.”

  “Sorry to hear about that.” I said and closed my eyes, remembering how the money in the duffle bags had disappeared before I could spend it. “And you’re worried they might be unhappy in a couple of hours and come back.”

  “Tyler had some wicked mean friends.” Billy said. “So I was wondering if I could use one of your spare death boxes. I figure an important vamp like yourself has to have a couple of guest rooms tucked away somewhere in this big old house. My place is trashed.”

  “I can’t help but notice you live in a Mansion, Wil.” Shirley said and pulled a bit of trash out of her dirty hair and dropped it on the floor. “A nice, clean, mansion.”

  “Yeah, it’s not really that big.” I said and pointed down a narrow passageway. “But I have a couple of guest rooms down there.”

  “Thanks, man.” Billy said and looked around. “Where’s that Elf of yours? I was thinking maybe I could have a little sip of that before I hit the box. You know, if you don’t like, mind or anything?”

  “Katie’s not here.” I said and stood up. “And I prefer to keep her a private stock.”

  “Well.” Billy said and came over to me to lean in close. “You might want to tell her that. Part of the payment for that The Little Death she bought was a little nip of her blood. Damned good stuff.”

  “You’ve got me.” Shirley said and slapped Billy in the back of the head.

  “Go get in a coffin, Billy” I said and pushed him away. “There are beds there as well, Shirley.”

  “Yeah, thanks for that.” Shirley said and looked at me. “I hear you make Katie sleep on the floor.”

  “Did you know anything about the Elf painting?” I said as they wandered off.

  “What Elf painting?” Billy said and kept going.

  I watched them head off down the hall and was about to head to my own coffin when my phone rang. It was Sally.

  “Hey.” I said and noticed it was getting close to dawn. “What’s up?”

  “Your buddy Jake is back on the Flat Iron Building rooftop.” Sally said sounding tired. “He’s worried that Fedor is going to lock him in the basement of the Consulate and throw away the key. Seems he and some of his friends bound Gerald in chains and dropped him in a lake. Raoul and Izumi say they did something to a car they were driving as well. Remind me never to hitch a ride with those two.”

  “I’ll be sure to do that.” I said. “But it’s not like they killed him or anything, right?”

  “No.” Sally said. “They did worse. They stole his car and won’t tell him where it is.”

  “Ouch.” I said. “So Gerald wants Fedor to lock Jake up until he talks?”

  “Gerald’s being all forgiving at the moment.” Sally said. “He won’t do anything to Jake as long as he gets his car back. But if Jake is a pile of ash he can’t tell Gerald where to look.”

  “Alright.” I said. “I’ll head over there.”

  Traffic was light, despite the fact that it was an early morning and not a late night, and downtown wasn’t that far away. I parked around the corner from the Flatiron building and flashed up the black iron fire escape.

  I had to jump the last gap between the seventh floor and the rooftop, but it wasn’t all that far. Jake had tied himself to the flagpole and was holding his head up high. Yeah, rooftops. I liked them a lot more before I had seen the world destroyed from this one.

  “Thanks for distracting Gerald for me.” I said as I walked around where he could see me. “Dropping him in Lake Worth was a nice touch.”

  “Gerald and his love of the bland and boring 1950s.” Jake said and ground his teeth. “I could have left him sitting in that mass of steel and leather and dumped them both in the lake. But the Stingray wasn’t really a bad looking car, so I couldn’t do it.”

  “What did you do to Raoul and Izumi?” I said and felt a small warning about the coming dawn.

  “The Werebear and the Death Goddess?” Jake said and shook his head. “We just slashed their tires and took the Gremlin apart. It wasn’t that hard. We left them staring at it like a giant jigsaw puzzle. They did seem a bit ticked about it though.”

  “Yeah, they tried to kidnap Katie in retaliation.” I said and looked toward the East, where the sky was starting to lighten. “Gerald says he just wants his car back. I’m pretty sure Fedor won’t put you in his dungeons.”

  “You know I’d rather die than be locked up forever.” Jake said and squared his shoulders. “But if you say Fedor isn’t going to lock me up, then I guess we’d better get off this roof.”

  I untied Jake, who wasn’t tied up all that tightly anyway. I thought about the Goddess Desiara’s desire to destroy everything. I waited for something to happen, but nothing did. We went down to the basement again.

  A couple of coffins were now in the maintenance room and a number of art prints of an abstract nature hung on the utilitarian walls. Jake opened a coffin and hopped in, closing it quickly behind him. I did the same and a few minutes later, the world faded to black.

  WAKING UP IN a strange place is something you get used to. I felt around the room and found Jake waking up in his coffin. There were a number of mechanical noises emanating from a room down the hall. No immediate feelings of anyone waiting to kill me, which is always good to know. I pushed the coffin’s lid open and got out. Jake did the same and made a show of stretching his muscles and popping his joints.

  “Did I tell you I bought this place?” Jake said and waved a hand to encompass the Flatiron Building. “It was just sitting here being tota
lly underutilized. I’m going to turn the first few floors into an art gallery. Kind of a sister to the Nightshade Gallery. And I might rent out the upper floors to bohemian types. Get a few starving artists in to give the place some character.”

  “Sounds great.” I said and headed for the exit. “I’ve got a few things in the back of the Dodge I’d like you to look at.”

  “Oh goodie.” Jake said when he looked inside. “Stolen art from the trunk of a car.”

  “I’m not entirely sure it’s stolen. I got this stuff from a vampire who owes the Consulate.” I said and pulled a couple of the canvases into the light of a street lamp for him to see. “I took a couple pieces as Tribute before turning the rest over to Fedor. He never actually saw them, so he didn’t have an inventory.”

  “Tribute, huh?” Jake said and squinted at me. “Warming up to the idea of being the Master of Fort Worth?”

  “It has its perks.” I said and pointed at the Gauguin. “I like this one. What’s it called, Woman in front of a Pool Table?”

  “It’s Paul Gauguin’s Night Café at Arles.” Jake said and donned a pair of white gloves before picking it up. “It’s supposed to be in a museum in Russia. Oh, and thanks for tossing it in the back of your car like a portrait of Elvis on black velvet.”

  “I thought you could give that one to Fedor. Make you both happy.” I said and then pointed at the other artwork. “And maybe sell the rest on consignment?”

  “This isn’t exactly Night Café at Arles.” Jake said as he examined the painting. “That bottle is supposed to be blue, not green. And I think there’s supposed to be a cat in there somewhere.”

  “Maybe he did this one as a warm up.” I said and looked at it. “Or maybe a different Gauguin painted this one.”

  “Carlo and Fredric gave me a few paintings that weren’t in any of the catalogs.” Jake said and looked at the paintings again. “I didn’t have any trouble selling them.”

  “Do you think the market will be ruined?” I said and looked in the back of the Dodge. “Beth likely has a few works as well.”

  “You have two Old Masters and three Impressionist Masters in here. And that sculpture looks like the work of Constantin Brancusi. And you say the Consulate has some?” Jake said and carefully sorted through the items. “If a truckload happens to show up, we can always say we found them in a mine shaft in Germany.”

  “Or maybe a mine shaft in Azle.” I said and warmed up to the idea. “Booty taken by some now dead hero from World War II. Things he stashed away and forgot.”

  “Sounds almost plausible.” Jake said and I could see him making calculations over the Masterpieces. “You know, I usually sell the work of local artists. Like you. These belong on the walls of The Kimbell.”

  “Can you sell the lot to them?” I said and rubbed my beard in thought. “Or maybe give a nice start to your new Gallery.”