Blood Rider

It was an emotionally draining night and for all its revelations, didn’t help her at all with the rogue situation. Leave it to the Clans to have their own motivations and little care over a rogue army. She walked in the door and slammed it behind her.

-We should ditch the city.-

She laughed at the suggestion. Where could I go that the Clans wouldn’t follow? Someplace warm and sunny?

-North to the old woods, west to the mountain ranges. Leave this business behind.-

“You wouldn’t like that, Charlie. Not enough food or fun in those parts. Our kind, we gotta stay with the prey. Where it is all happening.”

“Lee?” Richard called out.

“Yeah,” she yelled back.

She grabbed a couple of beers from the icebox and sauntered into the living room. Richard was sprawled out on the couch, surrounded by books and notes. He looked absolutely delicious; in a sort of blood pulsing, powering thrumming sort of way. He glanced up as she handed him a beer and sat on the floor beside him. She heard his heart rate catch and speed up at her nearness. He must know she was hungry. She caught herself swaying towards him, her nostrils flaring. Her skull ached, making her thirst strongly, knowing that would ease the pain.

“Where the hell have you been?” he asked lightly, setting a book aside.

“Ah, that is a story.” She chugged back some of the beer. What could she say to a fellow mercenary who worked for the Council? Not much. Not when he reported to her Handler. “I had some troubles with my Clan contacts. They didn’t give me any information. Just tried to initiate me.”

He cursed violently. “It was foolish to go alone. You can’t trust them, Lee.”

She laughed; trying to ignore how doing so arched the pain in her skull. It felt like someone was trying to gouge her eyes out from the skull outward. Relief was just a bite away though, so she restrained herself. “Show me someone I can trust. Or name me someone you can trust.”

“Sweetheart, that’s my point,” he said, flashing a grin.

She grinned back, flashing her teeth and watched a heated flush touch his cheeks. “You find anything out?”

“Generalizations and myths.”

“Ah, yes, the one that says wizards can create vampires.”

“Black magic, as in re-animated corpse familiars.”

“But we’re talking about living people. Sort of.”

“Yes, we are. However, I think we can both agree based on their actions and appearance they could be seen as undead monsters.”

Lee grunted. “Well, they ain’t pretty.”

“In fact, Tia confirmed they have been seen in sunlight. All those ins and outs at the warehouse, some of them we know to be vampires. And what breed can walk in the day? So they are not quite vampires.”

“It is amazing. I would never have thought to be tracking vampires in daylight. More like the wizard is forcing the demon on them. A spell of possession.”

Richard turned onto his side. “The other wizards I talked with speculate exactly that. It is known that not everyone can be successfully turned by a vampire. Exactly what they need isn’t known, or even how it is done. Statistically, they tend to lure the Changed or any race with an enhanced genetic coding.”

She shrugged. “But not wizards.”

“No. I don’t believe wizards would make good vampires, the energy is contrary. However, a wizard of the dark arts, or even a witch, can cause possession of a human. Such a curse is well documented and often used to make deals with demon spirits or dead spirits. The premise is the same although we don’t understand how he is tying these vampire demons to the humans, without actually merging their essence. In fact, we may be looking at a Coven.”

“Not likely,” she said, although not surprising a wizard to try and blame them. She wasn’t ready to exclude the Council itself as the culprit with its grey liner wizards. “They may be of more use giving us information about how it’s done. It’s a tricky trick. The human hosts are slaves to this wizard as much as the vampire demons.”

“Demonology tells us vampire demons co-exist on this level of reality, like many spirit demons, but in order to experience physical reality, they must have a willing host. And since, normally, a vampire is the only one that can pull one of his own kind into the flesh of another we have no frame of reference for what this wizard is doing. Except on its baseline, it is a possession type spell. But instead of a protection circle, used to call a demon spirit and contain it, the flesh of the host is containing it. I think they must be marked somehow, something to hold the spell or this wizard would be expending a great deal of energy on keeping it in place. So we will start hunting their hosts. Find those who are marked and track them to other nests. Trace the spell, find the wizard.”

It was the best that could be done. The horde needed to be controlled somehow, while they sought information of the wizard who made them.

“A good start I should say. So once the spell is reversed they will revert to humans again?”

“Possibly,” he said, but he looked like he doubted it. From what she had seen at how the demon had contorted its hosts she doubted anyone could recover from that.

They finished their drinks in silence, formulating plans. They would have to gain human help; the largest gang at least. Anyone who could assist to lock down where these nests were and rout them out. And to seek the wizard. Richard said he would handle trying to trace the spell, assuming he could get Eric to let him see the prisoners.

“So, if a vampire is a spirit demon sharing the flesh of a human, then what of so-called born-vampires?” she asked.

“An interesting question to be sure. One the Council has always been interested in. As a wizard, I can say I believe born vampires don’t share their soul. A human soul is born bonded to the body, embodied, and when they die it is released to live a separate and different existence. It is absurd to think vampires don’t also have a dual existence. That they cannot also be born into flesh. And so a born vampire is quite different than a turned vampire. One is changed, the other embodied.”

She nodded and really what could she expect from a wizard? Far better than the human belief that a born vampire was the result of a pregnant prostitute being drained to the point of their heart stopping and then a demon stealing the soul of their child. So Lee couldn’t accept she was such a creature. And it implied a significant insult to her poor mother.

It was conceivable Lucien spoke the truth and she was some sort of unique half-breed or even a pureblood, either way, that was no one’s business. Although it was very disturbing she didn’t remember this about herself, it was a fundamental link to her lost memories. So many assumptions she had made were from what she had been told in the asylum. So many lies to wade through. “The Clan vampires will be coming here, to help figure this out.”

“What? Lee, what are you thinking?”

Lee raised a brow at him. The house was hers long before her roommates came along. Tia and she had some commonalities, being non-human workers of the Council. Richard, on the other hand, was purely a donor and a co-worker. They became sort of uncomfortable friends, often mocking each other’s different beliefs. However, she could never forget the request for his rooming in her house came from the Council. She owned the house, but the land was Council land. Her one rebellion to this so-called request was never asking Richard’s opinion about anything to do with the house or the running of the household. Certainly, she didn’t need his permission to invite people into her home. “I’m thinking they know things since they have been around hundreds of years before Creation.”

“Maybe. But at what price? And will they even bother sharing? You must remember that Clan vampires have their own skewed perception of history and reality. Not only can you not rely on what they say to be factual, but they will lie because you’re not of the Clan.”

“I’m afraid that argument will not work on me. Everyone, from the Changed to the mundane, has their own little stories about history and the world. I imagine there is only a small grain of truth in each of them. Besides, you admit none of the Council texts know any facts about these pseudo-vampires. Don’t you think we should all play nice so we can get a handle on these rabid feeders? Before the Townfolk begin to notice the increasing number of dead humans, ravished at any major artery?”

He tried to give her a stern glare, worthy of any wizard. She didn’t care for his opinion and even though he looked younger than he was, he was in fact, a great deal younger than her regardless. Besides the thrum of power in those sparkling wizard eyes just tightened the ball of hunger within her. One feeding from his electrical blood, infused with so much energy, equalled at least three regular feedings. “Well, I suppose I will have to make sure they behave. I‘ll not have you initiated on my watch.”

Lee rolled her eyes. Ridiculous of him to think he had the skill to confront an aged vampire. Even she was not audacious enough to think that. Yet he did have quite a few constructs and magical devices in his workshop that would do the trick or at least make feel like he was protected.

“There is the threshold rule. We make sure they come in without an invite, and then their powers are severely crippled,” Lee said, simply giving him a reason to feel more comfortable.

“Ah, well, not sure that will work now. And not sure it applies to where vampires reside. Or even if it applies to werewolves. About the only place that would be protected by the rule, would be my workshop.”

“I think it would be a very good idea to be refreshed on the specifics of when threshold applies,” she said slowly. She didn’t know the specifics of it herself. Although she had felt the phenomena well enough. If a house was home to humans, it applied, yet only if they didn’t do public business on the residence. And it seemed it took time before it kicked in. It was hard to say if one human, out of three people, who had lived in the house only six years could have manifested the threshold at all. Or maybe because he was a wizard, with a great deal more of a metaphysical presence, the Threshold would be even stronger as a result. That was something to consider. University City never seemed to fear vampires like Townies did.

“Have you talked to your Handler?” he asked abruptly.

She shook her head. “No. Not since about six months ago when he wanted me to handle that rural vampire hounding the southern ranches. Rather think I got gypped on that one.”

“Well, you might want to get up to the City and have a chat with him personally. Word is the Council wants nothing to do with these rogues. They believe our efforts are better focused on reinforcing University City and Town, as well as finding the wizard responsible for the spell. They believe a vampire problem in unclaimed territory is a Clan problem. I think they would not like you taking on a contract for the local Clan.”

That was news to her. Made them look guilty. Their whole philosophy of protecting the defenceless made little sense if they were not willing to put a massive amount of effort into containing the situation. Maybe they thought having Town humans see these ravaged corpses the horde left behind Townies would think it was Clan vampires battling over neutral land. Perhaps they thought they could take advantage of human fear to consolidate their control in Town. Make Town think they needed Council protection more than ever.

Lee thought the consolidation between the Town Council and the United Council was inevitable. Who would win that power struggle amongst humankind was not set in stone, but humans would win in the end. Every ten years or so Town expanded its walls to accommodate its growth. Every year the neutral areas of the ruined city became less inhabitable and the Quarters more defined. Eventually, vampires would begin to see the advantages of living amongst their prey rather than outside. That time was still far away.

Of the vampires would realize taking their prey and taming them within their own territory was a viable option. No one really knew their long-term goals. All she knew was that they valued their food source and knew bleeders and overfeeding would eventually decimate it. If they cultivated humans for feeding they could control the feeding. That logic, unfortunately, seemed like them.

“It would be like them to be miffed they didn’t jump on the problem right away. And given their philosophy it would make sense for them to be handling it, rather than letting the clans do it themselves, would it not? It implies all races are not the same and vampires have some sort of autonomy.”

“This is not about political views. It is about playing both sides of the fence, Lee.”

She shrugged. He played the grey line for a wizard and so he played well with the Council. But the White Council didn’t play so well with the Council; white meant Might, in the fight against anything not considered human. They considered the Changed to be human or a better version of human, but any other race was out. Any wizard could be seen as playing both sides of the fence. They were a rare breed of human and being outcaste by the White Council meant being branded as their enemy. Why was it frowned upon for her to associate with her own race? Even an outcast wizard had the rest of humanity to associate with.

“And have you looked into who of your own could be this black wizard?”

“The usual suspects have not been seen in this area for a long time. Whoever it is, he is not mingling with the rest of us. Not that those sorts do. When do we expect our guests?”

She scowled at the vague answer and then the change of subject. She would’ve expected him to go into what sort of trace spells he had done. How he had eliminated some wizards and a general suspect list. Something. Not assuming it was not one of their community. Was he protecting Council interests?

“Soon. And I’m hungry and cranky.”

Richard gave her a slow smile and offered his wrist. Lee took his hand and he shivered slightly. Licking his wrist she felt the pulse of his blood, as her saliva became sweet in order to numb the skin. He lay back with a smile which turned to a gasp as she pierced his skin. No mere love bite. Feeding caused a little more damage than a mere taste and her head ached with a powerful need to find relief. Once she got the blood flowing she closed her eyes in bliss. Richard groaned with satisfaction. Richard didn’t need to have his mind swamped, he liked a little pain. What need it satisfied in him was beyond her, because it was not sexual. Maybe sensual. But he was food and she never played with food.

She wouldn’t have thought such a normal occurrence would cause a problem. And yet it did, rapidly. Lee suddenly became aware of other vampire presences, but before she could even put her guard up someone wrenched her away from Richard and she slid across the floor. Jak stood over Richard, his teeth bared and his pupils so dilated his eyes were just rimmed by glowing violet. It was a fierce, aggressive stance that immediately fired up her vamp hormones. It took a split second before her rational mind kicked in, reminding her of how inappropriate sexual thoughts were at the moment. She heard a growl and saw Tia coming down the stairs and felt the heaviness of her energy to know her hackles were raised, on the edge of the change. Richard had a hand wrapped around one of his amulets, which she hoped for all their sakes it was a defensive one.

When the Elite honour guard stepped over the threshold, making her aware she no longer had an intact front door, it was quite apparent they were outnumbered. She couldn’t depend on Tia to consider the odds, her nature dictated she defend her territory and anyone she might consider to be part of her ‘pack’. In hindsight, Lee should have warned her they were going to have company.

Lee’s response was also dictated by nature. She was on her feet in an instant, with vampiric speed moved in front of Richard and bared her teeth at Jak. “What the fuck?” she demanded, her voice a rasping growl. “Ever heard of knocking?”

His response was not one of a reasonable person, but perhaps she had been associating with too many humans, who used things, like words, to express themselves. All she got from him was an inarticulate growl. His arm snaked out and he grabbed the back of her neck dragging her back as he pulled her away from Richard.

-He is pissed you are protecting him. A vampire doesn’t protect food.-

So aggression is bad?

-Very bad.-

She was then flanked by the Elite and she knew whatever value they placed on her was not shared with her partners. She took a deep breath and kept her eyes locked on Jak. Ignoring the tension in his muscles and the way he gripped her neck so tightly, she placed her palms on his chest. “You have to calm down.”

He jerked her closer and his aura curled around her; an electrical heat that enveloped her as possessively as his hand. Despite the situation, her aura thrummed in response, her hands smoothing down his chest in a sensual caress.

“Step away from her,” Tia growled. “Now.”

Revel laughed; the derisive amusement in it quite inappropriate for the situation.

“Put down your little trinket, wizard,” Saer said softly, his voice a caress on the mind and one no doubt Richard wouldn’t be able to resist. Not when even Lee felt the pull of the suggestion. “And you, do not go furry on us. I find it such a theatrical demonstration.”

“Yet another whisky moment,” Lee said dryly, also finding some perverse amusement in the overt aggressiveness in the air. All because she wanted a bite to eat.

Jak tugged her close and she didn’t resist. Dangerous to resist in this context. He looked over her shoulder at someone and smiled slowly, leaned in close to her ear and said, “You will not bite another when you have not finished the bond. Understood? I will allow no other to have what I have not.” Then he nipped her ear and kissed her neck, before pulling back to face her again.

“You’re an ancient and as such I’m sure you are aware of the age of feminism? I was born when it was full bloom in these parts. You make no demands on me. Understood?” His arm relaxed a little but he still growled. “Gads, man, you’re acting like a werewolf, for Saint's Sake. I’m not impressed with such behaviour. I was feeding. I needed to feed. It is as simple as that. Biting a human is nothing to be riled up about. Limit your raving possessiveness to our own kind. These are my partners and I will not be pleased if your little outburst ends up with them dead. Got it?”

His eyes returned to normal. “They are human servants?”

“You mean those that serve vampires in the light? Then no. They are roommates and co-workers. Occasionally Richard lets me feed off him. He’s an authorized donor, which is more to be said than Clan feeding habits. So we can end this foolishness now.”

Lee took his arm, as his hand fell away, and pulled him forward, beyond the buffer of Elite.

Richard’s expression was a little glazed but was recovering somewhat from Saer’s mental suggestions. “Are we alright?” she asked them. “Sorry for the drama, the poor man has been in isolation for some time and seems to have lost his manners. Tia, they are here to discuss the rogues.”

“Guests don’t usually bash through the door and attack,” Tia said, sounding less feral but with a growl to her voice.

“Generally not. This one is moody.”

“Possessive is what he is. Over you,” Richard said.

“She is ours,” Saer said and she wanted to curse the bastard. It was a direct declaration. A warning to anyone with Council ties. Damn inappropriate timing.

Richard half rose from the couch but was batted back with the sheer strength of Saer’s aura, without any effort of the Elite’s side. She could see the rage in Richard’s eyes. Full of ice and warning. He didn’t like feeling human and a master vampire with supernatural strength, speed and a blunt metaphysic aura made him feel mortal. It was not unlike any other wizard really; more than human, desiring to be more than they were, but nonetheless mortal.

“I like to think I’m my own master,” Lee said lightly. A very noble ideal, but it wouldn’t stop the Council and Clan fighting over her like dogs with a bone. Indeed, she would have to arrange for a meet with her Handler, as if she had time for such nonsense. She could count on Richard giving her some leeway, but he would give the bare facts to Wilhelm. Having vampires in her house would be one of those facts.

Tia rounded the couch slowly, her nostrils flaring. “You have been bitten.”

Lee released Jak’s arm, given he didn’t look like he was going to immediately pounce on her associates. She shrugged and then plopped down in a worn, but comfortable recliner. Hoping her relaxed stance would spread to them. She leaned forward resting her arms on her knees and gave Tia a half-lidded look and a smirk. “Kinky vampire foreplay.”

Thad let out a low chuckle, perhaps at her obscure tactic to lighten the mood or Richard’s astonished look. She had to remind herself that while Tia could at least appreciate her having a robust romp with one of her own species, Richard was a wizard and as such came with an unhealthy dose of prudishness. It was why he felt so guilty about his desire to be bitten, and perhaps that guilt is what drove the desire in the first place. Revel and Sine propped themselves against the armoire, looking like amused spectators. And Jak, well Jak, looked like a finely chiselled statue; indifferent but determined.

“Let us all forget for the moment my loyalties. Jak may have marked me, but I’m not initiated. I work for the Council, but they don’t own me. So let us stop chastising me or being possessive over me. I brought us together to have a meeting of minds, to get a handle on the situation. And it is a vampire situation. And it will be seen as good publicity for the Council to be working with the Clan to solve this rapidly growing problem.”

With a few nods and smirks, the Elite stood behind Jak as he sat down. Tia sat on the couch with Richard. And then they all looked at Lee. She explained the situation for the benefit of Jak and his Elite. Pointing out these were not true vampires and clearly being control and created. She added in the flavour of the myths they knew about and the physical contortions the rogues went through. When she ran out of things to say the silence that followed held for a good minute. Lee had nothing to fill it with or at least nothing she could speak of in front of Tia and Richard.

“A horde,” Saer said finally. “Of spawn.”

Their stoic stillness revealed very little. “Care to expand upon that?”

Saer gave a half shrug. “You must know that the races of Creation occurred before, sporadically, because of the flexibility of human nature?”

Indeed, she must know, if her ‘father’ had been a werewolf prior to his turning, which was well before Creation or even the first plague. And again her witch contact had told her the same. Others have also merged with spirits of the Nevernever. According to witch lore vampires, witches, shapeshifters and maybe even wizards tapped into the energy of the Veil and when it had become closer to the real world all those beings became more common. “I allow for the possibility,” she said.

“Wizards are no different. They did exist, perhaps not the natural talent we now see in them now or the power. Or under the same name even. But they occurred. Few and far between. Around the time of the Black Death we fought a different battle and one that likely increased the death toll. A wizard, whatever name they used, found a way to trap a vampire demon without a host. Then once he had him in a ring of binding, he created a spell. Vampires become vampires through a Sire. In this case, he made his demon; forced the change on human, but not a true turning. He did it for power, as most do. To have an army of vampires linked to him, controlled by him.”

“And what happened?”

“What a question. They fed constantly, Lee. More were created by groups it seemed. And this horde of spawn rampaged. We hunted them down and kill them. Then we hunted the mage and killed him. It was brutal and long war. I suppose it was a matter of time before someone else figured it out, given wizards are more frequent these days.”

“What can be done with these spawn?”

“Kill them. Quickly. And their master.”

“No way to free them of this? The humans possessed?”

“No,” Sine said flatly. Not even a hesitant maybe.

“So we continue to do what we have,” she said. “Thank you for the resource of help.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Revel said, “Those humans are nothing but shells. The forced possession of their minds would shred their sanity within days. There would be very little to save.”

“We will help,” Jak said. “Hordes need to be contained quickly. If it spreads into the human community there will be none untouched. And spread it will. As the wizard begins to perfect his technique and control over his creations, he is, in fact, increasing the demon presence. When that happens accidental turnings are possible. In the sense that they half turn more spawn into the horde. A spell that turns into a virus. We must find out how the wizard is luring them in, gathering them in groups in order to do his spell. What segment of society is he targeting? Why has no human noticed so many missing people? We will be able to hunt the nests, Lee, but your companions can work on the human community and the wizard.” While he sounded very reasonable, the deep swirl in his violet eyes, darkening to a rich purple suggested he would welcome the hunt. Lee wanted to feel the wild abandon of hunting with him, but could not. She couldn’t allow him any more of herself than he had taken. Or she had given.

“I do,” he said, flashing me some fang in a smile. “More so, I will enjoy hunting this wizard. And someday we will hunt together, my Lee.”

Lee nodded, momentarily forgetting to be annoyed at how easily he skimmed her mind. She had associates among humans, just enough to function in her role with the Council. Otherwise, they were not a race she socialized with. Their lives were too short to develop attachments to and any authorized donor was really just docile food.

-Or playful food. Or amusing food.-

You have been surprisingly quiet.

-Pondering the changes. Great changes.-

“Just like that you offer assistance?” Richard mocked. “The city Master asked Lee to look into these rogues. He asked a Council vampire, not nearly as aged as he, to look into what he believed to be a small increase in bleeders. Why is that? When he has so many willing servants to track them?”

Saer smiled slightly. “What the Master here asked of the clanless is of little concern to my lord. Likely, he wished to establish a closer working relationship with Lee in order to convince her of the Clan benefits.”

“Indeed. In order to initiate a vampire who dares to not be of the Clan,” Richard said. “You have been luring her in. And what price will there be for her, for this assistance?”

“Richard,” Lee said, trying to sound calm instead of snippy. “How I associate with the Clans is my business. Such things are not for you and beyond any obligation I have to the Council. It will not be questioned or debated.” At least not in front of other vampires. Besides she pretty much figured if there was a price she had paid it. She was not likely going to break the connection she had made with her kind now, whether she liked that fact or not. It left her in a hard spot, but she would figure out a way out of it. “Besides, since we are helping the clans in this matter, whether it helps anyone else or not, rather means any price to be paid would be on their part.”

She looked at Tia, saw how her hands were digging into her leg reflexively and eyes shining amber. Amazing self-control. Lee owed her for this disruption. “I’ll go into Town, if you will take some of the sub-quarters?”

Tia smiled at Lee. “Deal and don’t you forget it in the dawn slumber.”

“I won’t. Richard plans on trying to track the spell from one of the spawn back to the wizard. If he succeeds we will know where the wizard is. Tia and I can find out where the infected humans are coming from.”

“It is decided,” Jak said. “Now, you are I must talk. Alone.”