Duel Nature (31 page)

“Dead?” I asked.

“No, just a pointy piece of wood through the
heart. They’re healing now,” Tanya explained.

Staking a vampire will render it unconscious
and vulnerable, but you pretty much have to either rip the heart
out or decapitate it to kill it.

I looked down at the clipboard as the others
crowded behind me to look over my shoulder. Three separate pictures
were appearing under the blurring movement of my pen. The first
showed Chet being shoved against the wall by two vampires in dark
hoodies, his face terrified. The second scene showed one vampire’s
face as he appeared to question Chet, the second Darkkin still
hidden. The third showed the questioner biting Chet’s throat while
the previously hidden one turned to look back at the main corridor,
exposing his full face.

“This is accurate?” Senka asked, her cultured
voice reflecting disbelief.

“Extremely,” Tanya answered, carefully
studying the pictures as my hand finished its work and stopped
moving.

“I think it’s an offshoot of the visions I
have gotten my whole life – the ones that show me demon attacks.
These only occur with recent supernatural attacks and only if the
scene of the crime is fairly…fresh,” I explained. “I can’t force
the demonic ones but I have some ability to push these CSI type
sketches.”

Senka studied the sketch then turned to
Ondrej. “I want these two – now! See that all our people get copies
of this.”

Lydia leaned over the Elder’s shoulder and
snapped a picture of the sketch with her iPhone, then typed for a
rapid second.

“Done! Every member of your line now has this
sketch,” the little vamp said. My iPhone buzzed in my pocket as did
Tanya’s and Ondrej’s. The giant looked from his the photo on his
phone to the little vampire and snorted. He started to comment and
then his hand vibrated as his phone buzzed again.
“Arkady has them under observation,” he reported in heavily
accented English.

Senka looked from him to Lydia and then to
Tanya and me, shook her head once then smiled a cold, grim smile.
“Have them observed to see who they interact with for the next two
hours, then grab them. The Conclave convenes in three hours. I want
to remind the participants of what it means to be an Elder –
especially an Elder who has people as talented as I do.”

***

Citadel had been built with every contingency
in mind including an auditorium that could seat a thousand people.
It was close to half-full when Tanya, Lydia, Nika and I entered
along with a large number of Senka’s people, many that I didn’t
know.

We were all dressed up, males in suits and
the ladies in formal dresses. Tanya’s dress was a sapphire blue to
match her eyes and her coal black hair was braided and styled
around her head. She was beautiful, but I noticed that the knee
length dress wouldn’t hinder movement and the close styled hair
left nothing to grab onto. She picked up on my thoughts and winked
at me.

“A girl’s gotta be prepared,” she said with a
shrug.

“And still make it look great!” Nika said.
“Now damp down your shields Chris. There are other mind readers
here.”

“Yes Mother,” I said.

“Sister,” Galina said, gliding up behind us.
“I’m the only Mother.”

A dark haired, hazel-eyed older version of
Tanya, she was jealous of her position as the only vampire to ever
give birth to another.

“Hi mother,” Tanya said, reaching over and
squeezing her hand.

“Dear one,” Galina said. ‘Chris. Ladies,” she
directed at myself then Lydia and Nika. She was unfailingly polite
to me – it scared me a little.

Our group moved slowly into the room,
entering the main floor through an arch that was big enough to let
the five of us walk abreast. It reminded me of entering a football
stadium through the teams’ corridor, except for the red velvet
carpet and the ornate marble floor. Ahead the room opened to a
giant circle with a series of raised judge’s benches on the lowest
tier. Behind each desk-like bench, which appeared to be constructed
of black basalt, a small arc of seats climbed for thirty or so
rows. There appeared, by my quick count, to be about twenty of the
raised judge-type benches, with vampires seated in the sections
behind only about thirteen of them. The front of each bench had a
Roman number carved from ornate white marble.

Ahead of us, a tall, elegant blonde vampire
wearing a full length evening gown was checking names off a list.
With her hair up in a sophisticated arraignment she wouldn’t have
looked out of place in an eighteenth century Royal Ball…except for
the iPad she was using instead of paper.

The group in front of us was checked off and
directed to one of the arcs behind bench number four. We moved up
and waited for the blonde to raise her head, which she did with a
look of bored disdain. She looked us over with one eyebrow raised,
then appeared to recognize Galina, Tanya and Nika.

“Atta,” Galina greeted her reservedly.

“Ah, the young mother and her….brood,” the
blonde answered with an even frostier tone. She glanced back at her
list and started checking off names as she looked at each of us.
When her cold blue eyes reached me she frowned.

“A human Galina? Isn’t that in bad
taste..even for this country?” she asked with a sniff.

Tanya tensed beside me and I could feel her
mood darken instantly.

Galina, however, laughed. It
was a sincere, delighted laugh. “Hah, an easy mistake to make, Atta
– for someone who has been, shall we say,
away
from society,” she
said.

The blonde frowned and tensed slightly. My
vampire sense told me she was a little over six hundred years of
age and I recognized her face from the deck of Significants. Atta
was the Registrar of the Conclave and hailed from somewhere in
Russia or thereabouts.

“My son-in-law may appear
to
you
as human,
but he is far removed from that species. Don’t be fooled by the
delicious scent of his blood, Atta dear. After all, I’m sure there
are
some
humans who
find you similarly appealing,” Galina said, her voice a cool
hiss.

The older vampire’s eyes narrowed at the
insults, but her eyes flicked past Tanya to reexamine me. Her
avoidance of my vampire’s gaze appeared nonchalant, but I could
read her awareness of the danger standing next to me.

She gave the slightest of shrugs. “You’re all
in section ten,” she said, handing us each a slip of paper with a
section number and seat number. Hmmm, assigned seating,
interesting.

Sections nine and ten were directly ahead of
us at the center of the arc formed by the circular arena. The
vampires in section nine were all of Asian descent so I felt pretty
safe in assuming that dais number nine would seat Tzao and number
ten was reserved for Senka. Armed guardians from both Senka and
Tzao’s personal teams lined the upper level completely encircling
the room, giving them clear fields of fire into all the sections.
Arkady had a security checkpoint just outside the auditorium that
all of the entering vampires had to go through. They had been
thorough with us but the vampire supervisor had just sighed when I
went through, recognizing that my most potent weapons are built
in.

We found our seats, four rows from the
bottom. Some of the older vampires in Senka’s section were seated
below us and Galina knew them all, although I only recognized one
or two. Galina exchanged greetings with them, most also greeting
Tanya. I received more than my share of stares, some with nods,
most just curious.

“That’s Lison and her lackeys,” Nika said,
leaning forward and whispering.

I followed her gaze to the Registrar’s
check-in point where Atta was smiling and greeting an elegantly
gowned black-haired vampiress. Lison was very slender and pale, her
black hair cut short in a modern style, looking every inch like a
French fashion model.

A male vampire waited behind Lison’s party,
for the most part patiently, but I spotted a couple of micro
flashes of impatience. He had a long hawkish nose, his dark eyes
hooded. His skin had most likely been olive toned prior to becoming
a vampire. I applauded his aplomb as I would have been thoroughly
put out by the fawning and ass kissing that the Registrar was
displaying.

“That one is Gultekin – from Turkey. He
represents most of Northern Africa,” Nika explained.

“I notice a lack of African and Middle
Eastern vampires,” I said.

“There aren’t many, at least above the age of
a hundred. There was a problem there last century and the older
ones didn’t do well,” Nika said.

“Problem?” I asked.

“They disobeyed the Elders,” Tanya said.
“They were Purged.”

Gultekin had a small party – only ten other
vampires with him, all quite young. When he made it past the
Registrar, his group headed toward dais number three. Lison was
placed at number twelve. There appeared to be a ranking system in
place – the more important vampires placed closer to the Elders’
sections. Gultekin did not appear to rank high in the
hierarchy.

“Tavian and Elisabeta are here,” Lydia
announced.

“And there’s Frimunt coming in with Gault and
Berit,” Nika added.

Tavian and Elisabeta were striking even among
vampires. Much of that could be laid at Elisabeta’s shocking
blood-red hair, but they exuded charisma as they charmed their
fellow Darkkin in line. The pair stayed close to one another, but
it appeared to be an unconscious habit, something they weren’t even
aware of. I realized that Tanya and I were pressed against each
other at hip, thigh and shoulder and there was plenty of room on
the bench. I was seated on the end of the row nearest to section
nine, then Tanya, Nika and Lydia. Galina was in the row just in
front of her daughter.

Glancing back up at the Registrar’s check-in
I saw that Tavian and his Chosen had passed through and were headed
to section seven. When my gaze followed them, I noticed that most
of the rising seats around us were filling rapidly. Across the
aisle from me a very attractive Asian vampiress was settling into
her seat and she flashed me a bright smile before turning forward.
Several of her fellows also made eye contact with me and smiled
while nodding hello. It was odd. I didn’t know very many Darkkin
from Tzao’s contingent, just one or two of her security people. Yet
here was at least a dozen unknown vampires giving me a friendly
vibe. Unheard of.

“You are seated on the end for a reason,”
Tanya said very softly. I could tell she had picked up on my
bewilderment.

“To put me closer to Elder Tzao’s group?” I
guessed.

“Exactly. You are my Chosen and I belong
here, but Senka is well aware of the pride Tzao has displayed at
your heritage.”

“That’s very diplomatic of her,” I
opined.

Tanya laughed. “Don’t you think Tzao’s people
might be aware of who you are as well?”

“I guess. Not sure I’m ever going to be
comfortable with attention,” I said.

“Then you will spend a vast amount of time
being uncomfortable Christian Anthony Gordon,” she replied then
gave me a quick kiss.

When I managed to break away from her cobalt
blue gaze I found myself more uncomfortable as we were the center
of many a fascinated gaze from vampires all around the room. Most
were unknowns, the rank and file of each Patrons vampire ‘posse’. I
look human, radiate much greater body heat than a vampire and smell
like dinner. Every other being in the room was a straight up
vampire so my standing out wasn’t altogether odd. But several of
the faces watching Tanya and I gave me a cold shiver. Lison met my
eyes for a moment before greeting a new arrival. Elisabeta’s cold
stare looked us over while Tavian talked to Frimunt and Gault. I’m
pretty sure that she didn’t move or say anything, but suddenly
Tavian looked up and matched his mate’s predatory stare. Frimunt
turned to another vampire but Gault glanced our way, following the
direction that Tavian and Elisabeta were looking. Then their heads
swiveled to the doorway as a new entrant arrived.

Mausya made her grand entrance at the head of
a long swarm of Darkkin. Poised and elegant she carried herself as
gracefully as any vampire I had ever seen. I glanced back at the
group who had been watching me in time to see a look of hate flash
across Frimunt’s face. Gault didn’t appear to have the same feeling
toward Mausya, instead he looked slightly fascinated.

Atta, as Registrar, was theoretically
supposed to be impartial to the candidates, but then again the US
media is supposed to be impartial in politics as well, and look how
that has worked out. Atta kissed ass like a room full of White
House correspondents with the President. The upshot was Mausya
being directed to dais number eleven.

Her oversized group filled up their seats
rapidly, again sitting oldest lowest to youngest up high.
Two-thirds of the way up the rows I noticed another face turned in
my direction. Illarion, Tanya’s uncle by blood was staring icicles
in my direction. I smiled back at him and made a little pistol
shooting motion with the thumb and forefinger of my right hand. He
stared a moment longer then turned away, face as stiff as a wax
dummy.

Tanya straightened beside me and I looked
back at the entrance. The queue to enter had vanished, all the
vampires now seated. The Registrar checked her iPad then turned to
the room.

“Rise for our Elders, our most Honored Tzao,
Treasure of the Middle Kingdom and Honored Senka, Light of the
Bulgarion Empire,” she intoned, speaking loudly enough to drown out
all the private conversations under way. All eyes looked at the
entrance as Senka and Tzao entered side-by-side, holding hands of
all things. Senka was dressed in a midnight blue floor length gown
that perfectly complemented her blonde hair and dark eyes. Tzao
wore a silk kimono of white with yellow flowers, perhaps
Irises.