Specters: A Monster Squad Novel - 8 (36 page)

19

“When did this happen?” Mitchell stared at Tufo’s hands.

“Shortly after the op started getting hairy,” Tufo kept his voice low, his eyes glancing about the OPCOM. “I’m
really
hoping that it’s a temporary thing. Like a fight-or-flight response to the team being in danger.”

“Ya think?” The sarcasm wasn’t missed.

“Well, if it isn’t, I’m gonna have a hell of a time wiping my ass!” Heads turned and curious gazes fixed on the major while he argued with his CO. Mark grimaced and scowled at the techs. “As you were!”

“Don’t bark at them. You’re the one who—”

“I know what I said.” Mark held a hand up in surrender but suddenly hid it again.

“Okay, fine. Go to Doc and see if he can give you something.”

Mark shot him a deadpan stare. “Like what, Matt? Fucking nail clippers?”

Mitchell rolled his eyes. “Like a valium or something to calm your nerves. We can’t have you going velociraptor on us every time the heat turns up.”

“Yeah, ha-ha-ha. Like my system wouldn’t burn right through that crap.”

“That’s why I said ‘or
something
’…” Mitchell stood and squared his shoulders. “That’s an order, Major.”

Tufo gave him a wide eyed stare and ground his teeth. “Yes, sir.” He stood from the command chair and announced, “I stand relieved.”

“CO has the chair.” Mitchell took his place and watched as Mark sulked toward the door. “Just get this under control, Mark. Everything will be back to normal before you know it.”

“I hope to god you’re right.”

Mitchell turned his attention back to the screens. “Where are we on punching coms through that topsoil?”

“So far, it’s a no-go, sir. We’ve dropped the drone ‘til she’s brushing the treetops and boosted the gain on the coms as much as the amplifiers can handle. So far, nothing.”

“Well, keep trying.” He leaned back and studied the thermal readouts. “There has to be a way to stay in contact with them.”

*****

Rufus stood atop the conference table, the weapon still humming in his hands as the doors to the Council Chambers burst open. Two of Viktor’s wolves rushed inside and took cover behind the large pillars on either side of the entry. “Guards are rushing the chamber!”

“Wait!” Rufus yelled. He held a hand up, preventing the wolves from firing upon the vampires as they cleared the doors.

The two vampire guards slid to a stop, their eyes quickly taking in what they already knew. The Vampire Council had been removed. The once venerable body had been reduced to nothing more than smoking ash. Now, only one remained and he stood on the table, apparently commanding both vampire and wolf.

The guards dropped to one knee, their arm across their heart in salute to the new chancellor. “My liege. Your orders?”

“Send word to the rest of the guards. A change in command has taken place. They shall continue their duties as previously ordered. Once their shift is complete, they shall report to me here.”

“Your will be done, my liege.” Both guards stood and exited. Neither acknowledged the wolves holding weapons on them as they left.

Viktor turned slowly and faced Rufus. “You did this for more power?”

Rufus raised a questioning brow. “Power? You think I faced down the Council for…power?”

Viktor leaned against the table and stared him down. “I do now.”

Rufus switched off the weapon and stepped down from the table, slinging the weapon back into the folds of his coat. “Why would you think such a thing,
mon ami
?”

“Don’t ‘
mon ami
’ me.” Viktor pushed away from the table and stared down at the man he once considered a friend. “You had been perfectly safe for more than two hundred years. The council cared nothing about you or your so-called death edict.” He pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You discovered something. Something that told you if you could destroy the council, you could assume their position. Their power…their
strength,
didn’t you?”

Rufus gave him a sad smile. “How can you believe such a thing?”

“Fine. Then disband the council. Walk away from the title and the power that comes with it.” He crossed his arms defiantly.

Rufus laughed and swatted away the ashes from the seat at the head of the table. “Do you have any idea what would happen to all of the
familias
if I were to do that? It would be chaos. Utter turmoil. It would be like a third world nation without any form of government.”

Viktor snorted with derision. “I knew it. You’re power hungry. Ever since you were put in charge of the
beastia
and then convinced Paul to sign over his people so you could fight the Sicarri, you’ve gotten a taste of
real
power. And now you want more and more and…you can’t get enough.”

“Absurd.” Rufus waved away the thought dismissively. “You know nothing of the ways of vampires.”

“Oh truly?” Viktor jerked away two of the chairs and stood next to him, his eyes filled with anger. “You used me and my wolves to secure your way into the council chamber so that you could steal their power. I watched you do it with my own eyes and then you tell me that I don’t know what I saw?”

“I tell you that you are misinterpreting what you have seen. That is all.” He softened his voice and gave Viktor his best smile. “Please,
mon ami
, sit. Allow me to explain to you—”

“I have heard enough of your explanations.” Viktor pushed away from the table and stared down at the smaller man. “You are not the man I once respected.”

“I am still that man, Viktor. You say that I held on to Paul’s people for power, but it was to ensure the safety of mankind.” He looked up at Viktor and smiled. “And I gave him back his people. They’re not mine to control any longer.”

Viktor raised a brow and shook his head. “You think me a fool? They are
all
yours now, Rufus. Every
familia
is yours…both
beastia
and
humanis
. You control them all. If you suddenly declare that ALL vampires become
beastia
, what happens?”

Rufus inhaled deeply and nodded. “They all become
beastia
. But that is not what I intend to—”

“Intentions be damned!” Viktor slammed his fist on the table. “You have become what you have warned against for centuries. Whether you rule with love and compassion or with an iron fist, you, Rufus Thorn, are now a despot.”

*****

“No more jokes about wiping my ass or I’ll see how well these things work at picking your nose.” Mark held up his taloned hands and wiggled his fingers at Dr. Peters.

The man sitting at the table swallowed hard and went two more shades of pale as he stared at the appendages. Mark nodded to the man with the marshmallow complexion. “Who’s your friend?”

“CIA. He’s assisting with another problem we may be having.” Evan drew another vial of blood and put a drop on a slide.

“The prisoner?” Mark fell into a chair across from him and gave him a cockeyed stare. “The one with the gloom-and-doom warning of killer android soldiers coming to chop us to bits?”

“One and the same,” Evan answered absently as he stared at the slide. He placed a drop of reagent on the sample and readjusted the scope. When he stood, he adjusted his lab coat and turned for a locker on the far side of his lab. “I’m thinking this is reactionary.”

“Like hives?”

“More like ‘fight-or-flight’.” Evan withdrew several vials and set up a Bunsen burner.

“Ah-ha! I knew it.” Mark tried to snap his fingers and failed miserably. “So, how come it hasn’t gone away? I mean…I’m not all fighty or flighty now.”

Evan scratched at his chin as he cast him a furtive glance. “I don’t know. It could be that you’ll remain this way.”

“Like hell!” Mark stood so quick that his chair tumbled and the fellow across from him gasped. He glowered at the man and gave him a squinty stare. “Relax, asshole. If I wanted to hurt you, you’d be laying in a puddle of blood.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” He held up a file folder and attempted to hide behind it.

Mark leaned over the table and studied Dr. Peters. “Whatcha doing over there?”

“Cooking up a bit of tea for you. It should help you to relax a bit.”

Mark slumped into another chair and gave him a deadpan stare. “Can’t you just give me some Valium or doggy downers or elephant tranquilizers or something? I mean, the way my metabolism burns through stuff, shouldn’t you be breaking out the big guns?”

Evan ground a dark root into powder and dumped it into a beaker. He shook his head lightly as he spoke, “It’s one thing to attack the problem with pharmaceuticals, it’s another to learn to control it. Besides, if it is permanent, the tea will do no damage.”

“Neither would the elephant tranqs.” Mark tried to prop his chin in his palm and found the position nearly impossible. “Doc, you gotta make this
not
permanent.”

Evan poured the boiling water over his concoction and allowed it to steep. “I added a bit of a relaxant to the tea. With any luck, once the hormones in your body balance, you’ll be back to your same old snarky self.”

“God, I hope so.” Mark leaned forward and sniffed the brew, his nose wrinkling. “What the hell, Doc? Did you put your dirty socks in that thing?”

“Only one, Major.” He turned to grab a mug. “I was afraid that two would make it entirely too strong.”

“Ha! I think I’m rubbing off on you, Doc.” Mark reached for the beaker and swirled it, the heat not affecting him as he mixed the concoction. “Over the lips and past the gums, watch out gullet, here it comes!” He tilted the beaker back and sucked down the gritty mess.

Evan stood open-mouthed, the mug still in his hand, then simply set it on the workbench. “Normal people would have waited for it to cool.”

Mark belched loudly and made a bitter face. “I’m not normal, Doc. Remember?”

Evan opened his mouth to retort, but left simply shook his head. “Yes, I remember.”

“Yeah, that tasted like boiled assholes.” Mark put the beaker back and shook his head. “Maybe next time you could lay off the dirty ball sack?”

“Purely for texture, Major.” Evan crossed his arms and studied the man. He made a mental note and began counting back from ten in his head. About the time he reached four, Mark shook his head and looked at him cross eyed.

“I pheel phunny…like my tongue ith covered in hair…” He melted into the floor like a puddle of goo.

“And that ends this session on how to drug an asshole.” Evan leaned down and scooped up the major. He placed him gently on the examining table and switched off the exam light.

“Is he out?”

“For a bit, yes.”

Agent Stevens lowered the file folder and stared at Mark’s hands. “What the hell happened to him?”

“Oh, he’s always been an ass.” Evan took his seat back at the workbench and sifted through the files. “It’s just now starting to affect his work.”

Stevens stared at the pair but simply nodded.

*****

Lamb paused and crouched low to the ground. He tilted his head sideways and allowed the light to cast shadows across the soft collection of pine needles, dried leaves and peat moss. “You seeing what I see?”

Jacobs dropped to his belly and stared up the low hill. “If you’re seeing a trail, I think so.” He bounced back to his feet and readied his rifle. “But how do we know these aren’t our own tracks?”

Lamb studied the terrain and shook his head. “I don’t recognize any of this. I really don’t think we came this way.”

“Dude, it was dark and we were moving fast chasing that thing. We could have circled through here twice while Spanky was tumbling with it.”

Lamb stepped to the side and studied the lower branches of trees and small brush. “I’m not seeing any broken limbs. Whatever came through here did it trying not to leave sign.”

Jacobs shrugged. “Hey man, I’m not saying you’re wrong. We got nothing better.”

The two struck out once more, doing their best to follow what little path there was. They trekked further up the mountain and to the edge of a small clearing where Jacobs suddenly reached out and grabbed his partner by the shoulder, pulling him to a stop.

“What’s up?”

Ing pointed to what initially looked like a berry vine crossing their way. His finger swept to the edge of the path and to a stick shoved into the ground at an angle, the vine wrapped around it. The pair followed the ‘vine’ up the side of a tree and to a trip that released a large log with wooden spikes embedded in it. Once the trap was tripped, the log would be released, gravity swinging it down and low, impaling anything that happened to be along the trail.