Chapter Fifteen

“How sweet,” Mariana says as she walks a circle around the table. “Most men bring flowers and champagne. But you, Jackson, you've really outdone yourself here.”

The head of the creature is sitting in a box on the table in Asher's office. Its eyes are wide open, it's mouth frozen in a perpetual scream. It has two sets of fangs – upper and lower – making it a very unusual vampire. If that, in fact, is what we're looking at.

Asher and Luca are standing off to the side, their eyes fixed on the head in the box. Neither has said a thing since I opened it for them to see – it's as if they're trying to figure out what it is. It's a sentiment I can completely relate to.

“Dr. Floyd believes the two bodies that were found were attacked by vampires,” I say.

“He showed us puncture wounds at all of the major artery points,” Neesa adds.

Mariana looks at the both of us, a bemused little smile on her face. Then she turns her attention back to the box. She surprises me when she straps on a pair of medical gloves, reaches in, takes the head out of the box, and sets it on a glass dish that's sitting on the table.

“Oh, come on, Mariana,” Asher says. “Rose is going to have my ass for that. She's not going to want to use that dish ever again.”

“Oops,” Mariana grins. “Sorry. Don't worry, I'll buy you a new one. This one's tacky anyway.”

Asher rolls his eyes, but can't keep the smile from creeping across his face. Luca just laughs outright and shakes his head.

“I don't know what you're laughing about,” Asher says. “You're the one who gave it to her.”

Mariana leans down and starts poking and prodding at the head. She gets close to it, examining it like a scientist. The fact that she's digging at it so deeply surprises me – I've always figured Mariana for one of those women who likes to look nice – wearing all of the latest, most fashionable trends in clothing like she is now – and avoid getting her hands dirty. But she's really getting down into it, a look of absolute fascination on her face.

“I think we found Floyd's soul mate,” I whisper to Neesa.

“Maybe,” she says in a quiet voice. “But I've got a feeling she'd give him a run for his money in Scrabble.”

“I can hear you,” Mariana says without looking up.

Asher and Luca share a laugh together and then say something so low, I can't hear. Luca turns and gives me an inscrutable look, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he looks from Neesa back to me again. I shrug my shoulders at him, asking him “what?” with my eyes, but he shakes his head and turns his attention back to Mariana.

A couple of minutes goes by and nobody speaks. Finally, Mariana stands up and strips off the gloves she's wearing and drops them into the box.

“Well, this is fascinating,” Mariana announces. “Absolutely fascinating. Jackson, you've set a new standard – I may start requiring my dates to bring me interesting things like this from now on.”

“Do you know what that – thing – is?” Asher asks.

“I'll need to do a little more research to confirm, of course,” she says. “But I'm reasonably sure that this is a vampire.”

“Vampires haven't been recorded in this area for a century,” I say.

“One hundred and forty-two years, to be exact,” Mariana says.

“Then what's it doing here?” Luca asks.

She shrugs. “Who knows?” she replies. “But, it's here.”

“I always thought vampires were gorgeous and rich, and lived in big, expensive buildings, living some opulent lifestyle,” Neesa says.

Mariana gives her a look and the wide smile she'd give a naive child. “Don't believe everything you see on television, sweetie,” she says. “Certainly, there are those. Just as there are wolf packs that are dirty, grungy, uneducated, hellraising, alcoholic biker types.”

Neesa's eyes narrow. “And bears that are arrogant, condescending assholes,” she spits. “Yeah, I'm familiar with stereotypes and the nuggets of truth in them.”

Mariana cackles with delight and claps her hands. “She's a feisty one,” she crows. “I think you've met your match with this one, Jackson.”

Neesa tenses up beside me, so I unobtrusively put my hand on her arm and give it a gentle squeeze, trying to calm her. After a moment, I feel her start to relax.

“But more to your point,” Mariana continues. “There are the rich and opulent vampires like those you see on television, yes. The pretty people living in their blood soaked ivory towers in the big city. But there are also many subspecies of vampire – like this fellow. Former fellow.”

“It doesn't look like any vampire I've ever heard of,” Asher says, stepping a little closer to the table to inspect it.

“Because, if I'm correct – and let's face it, I'm always correct – this is an ancient race of vampire,” she says. “Subterranean. Very old, very rare, and very scary. They need blood to survive, of course. But they're a more savage species. In addition to blood, they eat the flesh of their victims. Which would seem to account for the condition of the bodies.”

“Subterranean?” Luca asks.

“Yes, dear,” she says, her voice light and airy – and condescending as hell. “That means they live underground.”

Luca rolls his eyes. “You're exceptionally bitchy this morning, Mariana,” he says. “Nobody swipe right on your Tinder profile last night?”

She gives him the finger and laughs. “I honestly don't know what Olivia sees in you,” she says. “She's most definitely trading down in this deal.”

“Well, look there,” Luca replies. “We can finally agree on something.”

The banter between them is amusing, I have to admit. They are very different than the old school Clan Chiefs – like Adyn, and Asher's father. Even Luca's father. Men like them were a bit aloof. Reserved. Some called them cold or unfeeling. They set themselves apart from the rank and file a bit. Not necessarily because they thought they were better, but because they felt they needed to maintain an objective distance to allow them to rule better. More fairly.

And as I think about it – contrasting it with the Clan leadership I see before me now – I start to understand where my own personality started to form. I was still young when I entered Adyn's service. When I began to train to be his Moq'apo. I spent most of my formative years with him – and apparently, took on some of his personality traits in the process.

Not that it really means anything, but it's an interesting insight into myself that I didn't have before.

“Focus, children,” Asher says. “These vampires –”

“The C'latha,” Mariana says. “They're called the C'latha.”

“Great, whatever,” Asher replies. “How many are there and what are they doing here?”

Mariana shrugs. “They're nomadic,” she says. “They can pop up anywhere. They travel in nests, but the exact number just depends.”

Luca turns to us. “How many did you two see?”

I exchange a quick glance with Neesa. “We didn't stop to take an accurate head count,” I say. “But off hand, I'd say there were a couple dozen.”

“At least,” Neesa says. “I'd say that's a conservative estimate.”

The three of them exchange glances and low whistles. There's a tense silence in the office as we all stare at the severed head on the plate in front of us.

“So, not to ask the obvious,” Neesa asks. “But how do we kill these things? I've never dealt with vampires before, so my practical knowledge is a bit – lacking.”

Mariana looks at her and I'm on the verge of pre-emptively telling her to shut up, figuring some insult or condescending remark is about to come flying out of her mouth. But she surprises me.

“Well, beheading works – obviously,” she says. “And according to the lore I've read, you can use fire. Fire works very nicely. Efficiently. Silver slows them down some, but won't kill them.”

“Garlic?” Asher says. “Holy water? Crosses? Stakes through the heart?”

“Myths, for the most part,” Mariana says. “Legends created in a Hollywood studio.”

“What about sunlight?” Neesa asks.

I think back to the creatures standing at the mouth of the cave, unwilling to cross into the sunlight to get to us. I share that experience with Mariana and she gives me a thoughtful nod and I can see the wheels spinning in her mind.

“The lore is a little sketchy,” she says. “But from various scraps I've cobbled together, my understanding is that sunlight won't kill them outright. It apparently hurts like hell and will wound them. But it won't straight up kill them. They won't just turn to a pile of ash if they happen to come into contact with sunlight.”

Luca looks over at her, clearly impressed. “Look at you go, Mariana,” he says. “Who knew you had such smarts.”

She shrugs. “I'm a lot more than just a pretty face and a great set of tits,” she says.

“Well, who knew?” Luca says and laughs.

“Anybody with more than two functioning brain cells,” she chirps back.

“Oh, so I guess that rules out anybody you date,” Luca says.

She shrugs. “Dumb men have their uses,” she replies. “Except for you. I still haven't found a use for you yet.”

Neesa and I exchange a look as they continue to taunt one another. This is so far outside the realm of what I'm used to. And judging by the look on her face, it is for her too. We're used to our leaders being stoic. Serious. Not laughing, joking, and playing grabass with one another.

It's just another reinforcement of the idea in my mind that the world is changing and I'm having a really difficult time keeping up. But as I look at Neesa, stare into her eyes, I finally feel like maybe somebody understands where I'm at. That maybe somebody else is in that same boat with me.

Where we go from here and what we do with it though, is another discussion entirely.

“Okay,” Asher says, his voice firm, trying to get this back under control. “Now that we know what these things are, we need to figure out how we're going to kill them.”

“Is it possible they'll just move on?” Neesa asks. “They're nomadic, right?”

Mariana nods, her face growing serious. “That's correct,” she says. “But they'll usually stay in one place for a while. At least until their food source begins to dwindle.”

“Wonderful,” Luca says.

There's a dark, foreboding energy hovering over the room as we all ponder what this means. And how to combat it. These vampires will not be easy to kill. Neesa and I were lucky back in that tunnel. That, and we have both had intense training – which is much more than can be said for the rank and file bears and wolves. Not to mention the fact that the wolves aren't going to be much help to us anyway.

“We've dealt with worse than this before,” Asher says, his voice confident. “We've weathered a lot of storms and have come out the other side just fine. This will be no different.”

“Do you have a plan?” Luca asks.

Asher gives him a lopsided grin. “No, I was actually hoping one of you clowns did.”

“I might have an idea,” I say.

All eyes turn to me expectantly. “Go on,” Asher says.

“It's going to take some help,” I say. “And provisions.”

Asher nods. “Whatever you need, we can make it happen.”

“Mariana, you said fire can kill these things, yes?”

She nods. “According to the lore, yes.”

I run a hand through my hair and nod. And then lay out the plan in my head for them. It's rough and probably not the most sophisticated plan ever, but then, it doesn't need to be. We're not dealing with the most sophisticated enemy on the planet.

When I finish, there's a small smile and a determined look in Neesa's eyes. She likes the idea. And judging by the looks on everybody else's faces, they seem to like it too.

“I think that actually stands a chance,” Mariana says.

“Good,” Asher says. “Then we all have our assignments. Let's get to it. We'll meet back here tomorrow at noon.”