Dead Matter (16 page)

“She’s beautiful,” I said. “Who is she?”

Brandon looked away from her over to me. He seemed surprised to see me there. “She is none of your concern,” he said, turning to look back up at her, “but I was much less enlightened when I knew Damaris, far less studious about the prophecies.”

“Damaris,” I repeated, staring up at the painting for a moment as I put a name to her. I turned my attention back to Brandon. “Women will change a man. Speaking of women, I almost forgot. Your building here … not the castle, but the Gibson-Case Center … ?”

Being in the room with Brandon and the rest of the vampires as the only human took on a more somber quality. Without Connor at my side, I felt a lot less secure.

“Yes?” Brandon asked. “What about it?”

“It kind of ate my girlfriend,” I said.

Brandon stared at me blankly. “Excuse me?”

“Jane,” I said. “Her name is Jane Clayton-Forrester. We were using one of the information kiosks and, well … it kind of engulfed her. She’s somewhere in the building’s systems. It even lists her among the tenants. She’s been in contact with me, but she’s not really sure what’s happened to her.”

“I see,” Brandon said. “You must understand. I don’t really handle all these technical aspects. I’m afraid long life has left me somewhat slow in adapting to this changing world.”

“But from what Aidan told me, I thought you were their … leader,” I said, not quite sure what type of title was appropriate for the head vampire in charge. Lord, Master … Big Biter on Campus?

“Make no mistake,” Brandon added. “I am, but as far as those types of details, well, that’s what I have minions for.” He gestured toward the other vampires in the room and made a beckoning gesture. “I will leave that up to my colleague here. Nicholas?”

One of the vampires stepped forward. He looked to be around thirty and had shoulder-length brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. His clothes were modern, high fashion that bordered on runway absurd for a man, but finely tailored, certainly better than anything I owned.

“Hello,” he said, very politely. With just a greeting off his lips, I could already hear the thickness of an English accent much more Old World than the Inspectre’s. “My name is Nicholas Vanbrugh. I am the one responsible for the supervision and maintenance of this facility. I hope I can be of some assistance.”

I did, too. Not being eaten alive was a good way to start the day, but none of it mattered if I couldn’t get Jane back.

Connor and Aidan were long gone from the top of the stairs by the time Nicholas and I started down them from Brandon’s chambers. The creepy vibe from being in a roomful of vampires was replaced with the creepy vibe from being alone in an ancient castle corridor with just one of them. Darkness filled the staircase, which was lit by only the faint glow of torches set halfway down them. We worked our way down the stairs, my footsteps the only ones echoing as we went. I calmed my nerves by hoping that we were still in the heart of New York City, no matter how unlikely that felt here in Castle Dracula.

By the time we reached the base of the stairs, I had told Nicholas everything I could about what had happened to Jane at the information kiosk. He had listened intently, but when we came across Connor and Aidan at the bottom, something changed in Nicholas. The emotions pouring off of him radiated an anger that caused him to withdraw into himself. Aidan seemed to notice it as well, but seemed to be playing the part of the too-cool-for-school teen leaning up against the wall.

Connor, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to it all. He was simply staring at his brother, looking him over, entirely fascinated. Aidan turned to look at me as Nicholas and I approached.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

I laughed out loud, trying to hide my nervousness. “I’d hardly call any of this okay.” I nodded toward Aidan, wondering if Connor had told him he was his brother yet. “Did you two discuss anything interesting … ?”

Connor shook his head.

Aidan looked down at the retracted bat in my hand. I moved it to my belt, hung it in its holster, and pulled my coat over it.

I looked at Connor. “Nicholas here is going to help us with our Jane problem.”

“That’s great, kid,” Connor said, still distracted by Aidan’s presence. “You can get on with that without me, right?”

I grabbed him by his sleeve, dragging him a few feet away from his brother, forcing him to look at me.

“Hey,” I said, giving him a series of light slaps to the face. “Snap out of it. What’s going on with you? Does Aidan have you in his thrall or something?”

Connor’s eyes came into focus and he grabbed me hard by my wrist, stopping me. “What? Enough, kid! No, I’m not in his thrall.”

“You sure?” I asked. “You’re acting all … like
this
.”

Connor laughed and shook his head. “Jesus, Simon, I just found out that dead Aidan Christos of twenty years is actually
un
dead Aidan Christos of twenty years! Of course I’m dazed. Hell, I’ve seen you more dazed about missing Jane for a few hours.”

“Yeah,” I whispered, “but the thing is, if you leave me alone with Jane, you don’t have to worry that she’ll turn me into the walking dead. I’m not leaving you here with
him.
”

“You know,” Aidan said from the spot he and Nicholas occupied farther down the castle corridor, “one of the cool things about being all vamped out is the heightened senses. Like, you know,
hearing
, for instance.”

“Sorry,” I said, speaking up and turning to him. “Didn’t mean to offend. I just don’t think it’s in our best interest to leave my partner alone here in a den thick with vampires.”

“Your loyalty is touching,” Aidan said, holding up his hand in a three-finger salute, “but he’ll be fine. Scout’s honor.”

I turned to look at my partner. “Connor?”

Connor nodded. “I’ll be fine, really. I know I’m at risk here, but do you really think Aidan’s going to let any harm come to me? You saw what he did to those other vamps out in front of the castle. Besides, Aidan’s working through some things from these dreams he’s had that led him to me. I need to stay here. I need to help him figure this out.”

I hesitated. “If you’re sure,” I said.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Connor said, patting me on the shoulder. “You take care of the Jane sitch with your new vampire pal there.”

The two of us started heading back to our respective vamps. Nicholas gave Aidan a parting glare as he turned to head off to our left down another corridor. As I started to follow him, Connor stopped me by putting his hand on my shoulder.

“And kid? Let’s not bring this up with the Inspectre, shall we?”

“I kind of have to, don’t I?” I asked. “After the last time I called a false ‘vampire’ on a case? My rep is a bit shaky. Negotiating all this will more than make up for it. Allorah Daniels might pop a gasket, but we can’t
not
report this.”

“Fine,” Connor said, frustrated. “But just … not now, okay? Not until I deal with Aidan. I know Allorah. She gets really worked up, really fast. She’ll want to come in here crosses a-blazing, and I can’t allow that to happen. We need to take the slow, subtle approach if we’re going to deal with this the right way.”

I nodded. At this point, what were a few more days in the grand scheme of things? I didn’t bother to ask Connor out loud what he meant by “deal” with his brother, but I hoped it didn’t involve using a sharpened piece of wood.

Connor walked back over to Aidan. The tension in the air let up as Nicholas led me away from the Brothers Christos and we walked along castle corridors until we finally came out into the courtyard of the castle.

“What the hell is this place?” I asked.

“This,” Nicholas said as plain as he could, “is our castle.”

“But what the hell is it doing here in the middle of New York City?” A terrifying thought struck me. “We
are
still in New York City, right? Because wormholes and rips in time and space aren’t in my job description. I’m not even sure it’s in
anyone’s
job description back at the office. If you tell me we stepped through a Stargate or something to get here, I think my brain is going to explode.”

Nicholas gave a gentle and reassuring smile. He was much quieter and softer-spoken than I thought a vampire could ever be … more articulate, too. “Not quite,” he said. “I assure you we are still in New York City and still inside the Gibson-Case Center. The castle and its grounds are the result of much decorative illusion and not exactly what they seem. Through extensive landscaping, we’ve recreated the castle’s original surrounding homeland of Wallachia in painstaking detail.”

“There’s no way,” I said. “When we came out of that tunnel into the edge of the forest … There’s no way all that fits in just a city block.”

“I assure you, it does,” Nicholas said. “We’ve employed a lot of scenic trickery in designing this space.” Pride was thick in his voice and he stopped to point off to various areas nearby. “Forced perspective, false horizon lines, lighting to simulate the passage of night and day … theatrics to give the appearance of open space surrounding Castle Bran.”

“Hold on,” I said. “Did Brandon name your castle after
90210
, too?”

Nicholas shook his head. “Actually, no. That is mere coincidence.” He started walking again and I followed. “Castle Bran is from Wallachia’s Brasov County,” he continued. “Our people took occupation of it when Brandon killed the Wallachian viovode Mircea the Old several hundred years ago.”

“How nice,” I said. “So what’s it doing here?”

“All this has been in the planning stages for years. The castle was finally moved here stone by stone over the past seventy years.”

“You’d have made an excellent history teacher, Nicholas,” I said.

“Architect,” the vampire offered, pausing on the cobblestone path as we reached the portcullis. “I was an architect … That was long ago.”

Sadness rolled off of him as he stood there in silence, and I fought to not get too wrapped up in his emotion. Thankfully, he began walking again and the sadness started to fade.

“So … what?” I asked. “You’ve built this ivory tower around your secret castle here? To what end?”

“It’s not just a tower,” Nicholas said, looking a little insulted. “It’s an entirely self-sufficient city-state. Have you ever heard of the term ‘arcology’?”

“Enlighten me, oh, architect,” I said. The tunnel where Connor and I had come in here was off in the distance and the vampire led us down the path toward it.

Nicholas ignored my comment, but spoke anyway. “The Gibson-Case Center is what’s known as a hyperstructure. We’re a self-contained, self-sufficient system of commercial and residential facilities—educational, business, housing, production, technological—all while maintaining the privacy of everyone living within the system, both human and vampire alike. We even have our own hospital, through which our residents unknowingly support our appetites with their contributions of blood by donating it to what they think is a regular blood drive. We see that those who donate on a more regular basis receive a reduction in rent in exchange. It’s very symbiotic and the perfect ecosystem for a culture like ours, who put such a premium on retaining our privacy.”

I whistled, impressed. “You’re telling me that not only did you move an entire castle into the city, but you then managed to put a … What did you call it again?”

“An arcology,” Nicholas repeated.

“Yeah,” I said. “
That
. You built this arcology around it?”

“That is correct,” he said.

“And no one from the Department of Extraordinary Affairs ever caught wind of this project?”

“I don’t wish to be insulting,” Nicholas said, “but let’s just say that previous generations of your Department weren’t always the sharpest. Brandon even insured hundreds of years ago that this location would be secured for years to come by generating decades of what you call ‘red tape’ until the true nature of our project was lost to the bureaucrats.”

“I’ve seen that handiwork,” I said as we entered the tunnel leading back to the puzzle door that marked the entrance to the Gibson-Case Center. “Make sure to give your leader my kudos. And all because you want to be left alone …”

“Our kind
have
changed,” Nicholas said when we reached the door. His arms blurred into action as he set about releasing the locking mechanism. “We have Brandon to thank for that. Please bear that in mind.”

The door opened onto the dead-end area of the center that was flanked by the two living statues. My eyes fought to adjust to the center’s high level of lighting.

“Give me a few hours,” he said, gesturing for me to step out. “I need to run some diagnostics before I have any real idea what is to be done about your girlfriend’s situation.”

I nodded and headed back out into New York proper, the sound of the door’s blocks and gears grinding shut behind me. I needed to run some diagnostics myself. Only mine were going to be of the could-a-vampire-even-be-trusted variety.

When I returned to the Department of Extraordinary Affairs, my mind was a cloud of confusion and raw emotion, so much so that as I made my way back through the Lovecraft Café, I didn’t dare look anyone in the eye for fear of accidentally spilling everything I knew. Back in the offices, I couldn’t help but feel the words from the bulletin board high up on the main room’s wall weighing down on me:

The one time I had climbed that ladder to change it, I had felt a sick yet joyous sense of pride, even if I had had to change the number back in shame later when it turned out to be a false alarm. Now the pronouncement weighed heavily on me as I kept my new little secret. It was like having the Eye of Sauron upon me, watching, waiting …