Duel Nature (3 page)

Langsford concentrated completely on Tanya,
ignoring my presence. Vampires always see me as human, which can be
useful, but sometimes, like now, was irritating. My temper was
already rising from the way the security guys had been ogling my
vampire; Langsford's casual dismissal of my role lifted the
beginnings of a red haze across my vision. The tear shaped necklace
around my neck suddenly warmed noticeably where it touched my
chest. I reined in my temper at its warning.

“You are accusing my people of an act against
Coven law without evidence. The guilty Darkkin may have just been
passing through,” Langsford said, his manner defiant.

Actually, dude, we pretty
much got the guilty party figured out, but then maybe so do
you.
Tanya snorted as this ran thru my
mind, able to pick up the flavor of my thoughts if not the exact
detail.

“You’re amused?” he asked dangerously.

“Yes, actually. But let's get back to the
topic on hand – catching the guilty party,” she said smoothly.

He leaned back, a smirk on his face.

“Leave it to us little
princess, we'll handle it. Unless you think a vampire with scarcely
two dozen years’ experience will do better than a Master vampire
who has held power in this city for a century and a half? Helped,
no doubt, by your
human
Chosen, as if such a thing was even possible!” he laughed
derisively. “Hell, you were a complete mute for most of the last
fifteen years!” he said, referring to her long period of
silence.

The big guy that killed Len was openly
laughing while waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Tanya.

Several other vamps were sneering our way,
but not, I noticed, the business-like woman behind Calvin. She was
looking a bit worried.

As well she should, as my anger was starting
to rise like a red storm across my vision; the beast inside me
squirming to get out. I have temper issues at the best of times and
these were not them, but still I tried to control my anger.

Tanya glanced my way, touched one finger to
my clenched fist, then ghosted to the painting on far side of the
room, studying it. My anger reined in by her touch, I watched her
curiously as did the rest of the vampires.

“Degas?” she asked.

“Hmm, yes,” Langsford answered, intrigued and
annoyed.

She turned and wagged her index finger at me
in a no-no signal before turning her attention back to the English
vampire.

“Calvin Langsford, Master of
Chicago, do you know why my
Chosen
and I were selected to be Rovers?” she
asked.

“As most Rovers are at least a century of age
and you not yet a quarter of that, I have to think it is a chance
for Senka to thrust you into our faces,” he said.

“Actually,
both
Elder Senka and Elder
Tsao insisted on it, but perhaps I can repeat what my grandmother
told me,” Tanya said, moving to look at a small statue of a horse
and rider.

She paused in her
examination of the sculpture, standing straight then strangely she
began
changing
her
posture and facial expressions to become someone else. After a
moment I realized she was imitating Elder Senka's
mannerisms…exactly.

She spoke and her voice was Senka's, right
down to every Oxford inflected vowel and consonant.

“Dearest granddaughter, you are, perhaps,
wondering why you and young Christian have been selected as Rovers?
Hmm, yes, so I thought,” Tanya began sounding like a recording of
the most dangerous vampire on this continent.

“
There are, of course,
several reasons, the first being that now is an appropriate time
for the Darkkin society to meet you and Chris, as well as for you
to meet them. But beyond that it will be a growth experience as you
both will need to draw on your abilities and skills in ways you
have never, and may never, have call to, here in New York. Those
very abilities, which are so much more advanced than Darkkin
hundreds of years your seniors, need to be honed and tempered,
especially young Christian's. It will be a chance for you both to
learn to control his dark side, which frankly dear, worries both
Tsao and I no small amount. But there is also another reason to
unleash the two of you on our world. Changes are coming Tatiana,
threats to our way of life that are difficult for vampires to
imagine. Human science and technology advances at speeds beyond all
reason, bringing new weapons, genetic engineering, robots, unmanned
drones and eventually, artificial intelligence. Our race needs to
be prepared if we're to survive. Those vampires too stupid and
stuck in their ways to adapt need to be weeded out, now, while
there is time. You, my dear, and your Chosen, and his...pet, will
be a terrible test of our society,” she said, then paused, shifting
her mannerisms and body language to become Tanya again. “How do you
mean grandmother?” she asked in her own voice before shifting back
to her eerie Senka impersonation.

“You are a prodigy at a
tender twenty-four years of age, one that older vampires have
difficulty comprehending. Your Chosen is all of two years old as we
calculate these things, and
he
is terrifying as an infant, yet most Darkkin will
see him only as a meal. They won't take either of you seriously,
and the result, I'm afraid, will be something of a culling, as it
were,” she finished with a cold chuckle that made even me forget
who she was. “I think of your team as a force of
unnatura
l selection,
helping the Darkkin race to evolve.”

Her affected speech and body language fell
away, becoming her own again, and it was as if the spirit of Senka
had left the room. The other vampires were speechless, frozen at
the inhuman and unprecedented display of acting.

She pointed at the statue then wagged her
finger at me again, speaking this time. “Mind the Remington,
Chris,” she said.

Langsford was as shaken as his underlings,
but he pulled himself together.

“That was rather remarkable, although I have
no idea why you feel we should believe it. And why do you treat
your own Chosen like a dog, warning him away from furnishings?” he
said. “He’s not going to pee on the carpets is he?”

“She's telling him which pieces not to
destroy, Master,” the serious brunette by his shoulder said
suddenly.

“Excuse me Claudette?” he asked, his face a
cold mask.

I gave the lady vamp credit, she had balls,
because she ignored his expression and explained her comment.

“It seems fairly clear, sir.
Elder Senka
expects
vampires to challenge Tatiana's, ere, Ms. Demidova's Chosen,
thinking him human and therefore not truly a Chosen. He will then
kill them, removing them from Darkkin society. Ms. Demidova appears
to believe such a challenge is imminent and is telling him which
pieces of art to avoid,” she explained with quick glances at both
Tanya and myself.

Tanya smiled and touched one finger to the
tip of her nose.

“Claudette, you can't honestly buy into this
drivel about Gordon here, can you?” he demanded with an angry wave
in my direction.

“Actually, sir, I have connections in New
York; people I trust, and they all tell stories about his battles –
with werewolves, vampires and even Elder Fedor,” she said,
obviously uncomfortable under his wilting gaze, focusing on me
instead.

“Ah, do you see how
dangerous this…this propaganda is, Ms. Demidova? Even my assistant
has begun to believe the drivel that is spreading about you. Enough
for
her
to buy into
your little act. But I think Dominick here is less gullible, eh,
Dom?” he asked the big guy that had killed Lenny.

“Oh, right you are Mr. Langsford, sir. I’m
not one for theatre or fiction, but I’m not averse to playing
bedroom games, ‘specially when the game involves such prizes,” he
replied, looking Tanya over from top to bottom, focusing on her
hips and chest.

The monster inside me demanded out.

“So I’ll be challenging
Gordon here for you. He’s no proper kind of
choice.
I’ll show you a real choice!”
the big vampire continued, making a show of hip thrusts.

“A formal Challenge then?” Tanya asked her
voice dangerously quiet.

“Oh yes, it’s official,” said Langsford,
nodding at Dominick who instantly started his rush my way.

‘You’re up!’
I told my inner demon, letting Grim take over.
Immediately, the world became sharper and brighter, as every detail
of the room around me was mapped and laid out on a mental grid.
Every vampire’s position was plotted, their bodies shaded in
thermal vision, their slow beating hearts visible to my eyes as
orange lumps in dark chests.

Dominick’s blinding rush slowed to a molasses
crawl as Grim side-stepped , moving closer to Langsford’s desk. I
watched my right hand snatch up the crystal brandy decanter as my
left hand, which was wreathed with a monomolecular edge of hardened
purple aura, sliced off the neck and top of the thick lead glass at
an angle. The result was a heavy crystal jar with a sharp glass
edge, like the tip of a giant hypodermic needle. Grim put the
container to use as I/we spun behind the slow moving Dominick,
shoving the jar through the vampire’s back, slightly to the left of
center.

The blow was powerful enough to jam the
decanter all the way through the ninety year old vampire’s chest,
his heart instantly canned like last summer’s tomatoes. My left
hand caught the sudden corpse by its hair, arresting the forward
movement and then pulled back, throwing Dominick’s remains off my
right arm which was elbow deep, and into the same marble fireplace
that was already stained with Lenny’s brains and blood.

Grim stood us in front of Langsford’s desk,
gently setting the bloody jar full of heart on the cherry surface.
My combat persona can drive my virus modified body at speeds that
equal Tanya’s and at somewhat greater power. Tanya was the only
vampire in the room who had followed my actions, the rest not being
able to perceive the movements as anything but a continuous blur,
although most of Langsford’s side of the room was now speckled with
a fine misting of blood.

It takes a great deal to horrify a vampire,
especially one as old as Calvin Langsford, and I’m pretty sure that
he wasn’t grossed out by the crystal decanter of blood and heart, a
bit of aorta spilling over the edge. But when his eyes flicked up
to look at mine, seeing Grim staring back at him, the fear was
blatant. He froze as the realization of how close he was to his own
death hit home.

Older vampires grow contemptuous of most
threats, only fearing older and more powerful vampires than
themselves. Growing stronger and more impervious as they age, they
find it that much harder to face a true threat when it does show
up.

“Anyone else want to Challenge Christian?”
Tanya asked in a soft voice.

“How about you Langsford?
Want to see how far you get with my
human
pet
?” she continued.

Langsford flicked his eyes to hers then
quickly back to me, carefully not moving any other part of his
body. Every other vampire in the room was frozen, watching me like
I was a Black Mamba.

“No?” Tanya said. “Well, congratulations, it
looks like you beat the odds. The office pool back in the Citadel
had you down as one of the casualties of our visit.”

He finally found his voice, looking back her
way. “Office pool?”

“Yeah, Headquarters has a running betting
pool on the number and identity of vampires that will die when our
team visits a Coven location. Some, like Cincinnati, have a big
zero down, as the Darkkin in that city tend to be more adaptable
and quicker to believe the grapevine. Chicago, on the other hand,
had as many as seven Darkkin down for ‘Death by Christian’, and
your name was listed at the top.”

My Grim side watched him even as it tracked
all movement in the building. Blood ran down my right arm, dripping
on a priceless Persian rug.

“You see,
Master Langsford
..” she
said, twisting his tile and name a bit, “..the stories about
Christian don’t really do him justice. You see and smell him as
human, and a delectable one at that. The reality is that he’s a
predator of
us
. He
kills vampires and weres like you consume prostitutes, and he’s so
good at it that he makes the Elders nervous, and he’s
two of our years old!
”

Grim retreated, leaving me control of my
voice as I protested her words.

“Tanya, I’m not two!” I said.

“Only by our way of
measuring age,
zayka
,” she said. “It just boggles the mind thinking what you will
be like at ten or twenty, let alone a hundred years of
age.”

Calvin’s facial expression was priceless as
the impact of her words hit him, especially as I think he
understood the Russian word zayka as bunny, the equivalent term of
endearment as honey.

I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever be more of
a threat than I am now, but the vampires sure seem to think so.

“Now Master Langsford, if the question of my
Chosen is settled – “ she glanced around at the frozen vampires,
then not seeing any new contenders, she continued, “ we can get to
the bottom of which of your flock here is responsible for
negligently creating Lenny the rogue.”

Tanya had been strolling closer to the desk
and as she finished her sentence she picked up the jar with
Dominick’s canned heart in it. She studied it for a moment then
without warning tossed it to the blonde vampire behind Langsford,
further spattering her already blood speckled dress.