Red-Headed Stepchild

“It’s down that hallway,” he said, pointing to a door at the opposite end of the museum from where we entered. Ivan had already turned back to the group, dismissing me and my bladder without a second glance.



The door led to a hallway lined with offices. After a quick scan for any signs of surveillance, I started peeking in doorways. I didn’t really expect these offices to offer much in the way of clues, which is good since I didn’t find any. At the end of the hall was the bathroom, and next to that were double doors with small windows. I glanced through them to see they led to a warehouse. Bingo.



I made quick work of the lock on the doors and slipped through them. Again, no cameras or guards were around. I figured once I saw them I’d be close.



I scooted by large pallets of empty wine bottles and large oak barrels. In the distance, I could hear the sounds of workers talking and machinery churning. I went the other direction, toward another set of doors. This time, as I neared them, I saw the cameras. Just before I got in range, I ducked behind a crate to devise a plan.



“What are you doing here?” a deep voice demanded. My heart burst into a rapid staccato as I swung around, ready to defend myself. Only instead of a guard or employee, Giguhl sat a few feet away laughing at me.



“Dammit, you scared the crap out of me.”



He laughed, a spooky noise coming from an even spookier-looking cat. “You should have seen your face.”



“Shut up,” I said. “How’d you get in here?”



“The other end of this warehouse has an open delivery dock. No one was around, so I slipped in.”



“Did you find anything?”



He shook his head. “Nada. Although the security on that door tells me that’s the place.”



“Any ideas on how to get in there without being noticed?”



“Well, see that guy coming our way?” he whispered.



I peeked over the lid of the crate. A vamp male pushing a cart was headed straight toward the door. The cart carried a defibrillator and several bags of blood. Not exactly standard winemaking tools, I thought.



“I’ll take him out, steal his uniform and pass card.” I started to move when a paw nudged my ankle.



“No, dummy, I’ll just run over and slip onto the cart. Once I’m in, I’ll take a look around.”



“And just how are you going to get back out?” I asked.



“With my catlike reflexes, of course.” He shot off before I could stop him. One second he was a fleshy gray blur and the next his ratlike tail disappeared between two boxes on the lower shelf of the cart.



The male, totally unaware of his stowaway, slid his keycard through the reader and the doors air-locked open. Just like that, Giguhl was inside.



I waited a few seconds for an alarm to sound, worried the cameras had picked up the cat before he got on the cart. When nothing happened, I sat on the floor. Soon, though, my nerves—combined with ass-numbing concrete—had me fidgeting. What-ifs plagued me as time seemed to limp forward.



The sound of footsteps made me jerk upright. This time when I looked around the crate, I saw someone else approaching with a cart. A young vamp with strawberry blonde hair pushed a large laundry bin in front of her.



I didn’t have time to think because she was closing in fast. I snuck around the backside of the crate and ran behind some discarded oak barrels to emerge behind her—and out of view from the cameras.



“Excuse me?” I said. Her head swiveled in my direction. Her eyes narrowed as she stopped in her tracks.



“This is a restricted area, ma’am,” she clipped.



I started forward. “I was just looking for the bathroom.”



She sized me up, but I was way ahead of her. I rushed her before she could utter another syllable. I’d left my gun in the car, so I used the only weapon available—my fist. A quick right hook had her staggering back. I caught her and spun her around, covering her mouth with my hand.



“Listen, I don’t want to kill you but I will if you make me,” I said. “Now are you gonna be a good girl?”



She nodded quickly, but I felt her muscles tense for a scream. “On second thought,” I said. With my free hand, I cracked her neck. Not a mortal wound for a vamp, but given her youth one that would have her out cold for a while. She’d need a good infusion of blood to repair the damage, too.



I threw her unconscious body into the bin after grabbing her pass card, which had been clipped to her blouse. Praying the security didn’t involve anything fancy like fingerprint scans, I slowly pushed the cart toward the doors.



A quick swipe of the card reader resulted in a buzzer and a red blinking light. My blood pressure spiked. I looked down at the card and realized I’d run it through upside down. Cursing myself for my nerves, I calmly turned the thing over and reran it. This time, the airlock hissed and the doors yawned open.



The well-lit area inside the doors looked more like a hospital than a winery. Institutional white linoleum spanned the short corridor. I moved forward, pushing the cart ahead of me. It had a squeaky wheel that sounded like a siren to my ears. Elevator doors stood at the end of the area. I pushed the button and waited.



A few moments later, the doors opened and I rode down what seemed like several floors, despite the fact there was only one button on the panel. The doors opened and I hesitated, shocked by the scene before me.



It looked like something out of an intensive care unit. Vampires dressed in scrubs moved among rows of hospital beds. The muted beeps of monitors were backdrop to the hushed voices of the attendants.



In the beds, bodies were hooked up to respirators. Feeding tubes ran out of their noses and IVs dripped something clear into their veins. But most alarming of all, were the IVs attached to their other arms. Dark red blood poured out of their veins in a steady flow, filling up blood bags. The room smelled of antiseptic with an undertone of blood and slow death.



“You there,” someone called out to me. The voice sounded very far away and echo-y, like someone called through a metal pipe. “Hello? You must be new.”



My muscles felt wooden as I slowly moved in the direction of the voice. A petite female vamp dressed in black scrubs stared at me. She had a stethoscope hanging around her neck and a chart in her hand. Her eyes were intelligent and her expression patient, yet annoyed.



“Put those linens in the storeroom,” she said. “Be sure to take the soiled ones when you leave.”



She pointed a finger, its nail crusted with dried blood, in the direction of the room. I nodded slowly and began pushing the cart. As I moved, my eyes were drawn to the bodies like magnets. Clovis hadn’t been lying. The Dominae were keeping these mancies in a vegetative state so they could steal their blood. My mind rebelled despite the proof right before my eyes. Their pale bodies lay inert as their life force dripped slowly from their veins.



I moved faster now, the initial shock wearing off in favor of abject panic. I tasted bile at the back of my throat. My skin felt too tight and all I wanted was to get away from the constant beep of the machines.



The storeroom was lined with shelves of medical supplies. I unloaded the sheets covering the woman. A quick check told me her pulse was going strong. I felt bad about covering her with dirty sheets, but I had no other choice. I dumped them on her, making sure to leave a breathing space.



I couldn’t leave until I located Giguhl. Just as I turned to go, I saw him huddled under one of the beds near the storeroom. His eyes met mine. I’d never seen fear in his eyes before that moment. I wondered if mine had the same glinty look. I nodded and pushed the laundry cart forward. My feet felt leaden as I moved. The attendants scurried from one bed to the other, too busy to notice me or the cart with the squeaky wheel.



As I went past, Giguhl scampered from under the bed and leapt into the cart. At that moment, an alarm sounded from one of the beds on the far side of the room. Afraid we’d been found out, I stopped, my muscles tensed for action.



“Shit, he’s going tachy,” one of the male vamps yelled. The female I’d talked to earlier rushed over with the defibrillator. Relief and revulsion washed through me. I’d seen enough. In fact, I’d seen too much. I practically ran to the elevators. It seemed like an eternity before I pushed the cart through the airlock and we were free.



By the stack of crates, the cat leapt out as I unloaded the stinking linens from atop the woman. Someone would find her soon. By then, Giguhl and I would be long gone.



“Follow me.” Giguhl ran in the direction of the cargo bays. We passed by a few workers, who did double takes as we ran past. I supposed that the image of a hairless cat in a sweater being followed by a stressed-looking chick in stiletto boots could have been funny. I was too anxious to get the hell out of there to see any humor in it.



We jumped off the ramp. I scooped up the cat and used my preternatural speed to race through the night. The cool cleansed some of the lingering stench of death, but not nearly enough. I felt coated in it, soiled by it. My mind spun in tight circles, trying to find some way to justify the Dominae’s motives for the atrocity I just witnessed. No easy answer presented itself. The more I tried to find an explanation I could live with, the more I feared Clovis had been telling the truth.



Giguhl didn’t say a word as I threw open the minivan door and dumped him inside. I peeled out of the parking lot and turned back onto the highway. Neither of us spoke for a long time. Then finally, Giguhl said, “Why?”



I stared straight ahead, clenching my jaw. “That’s what we’re going to find out.”



My brain felt like it was about to short-circuit from trying to compute all the variables into some sort of logical explanation. I needed more answers before I figured out how to sort through everything.



“Where are we going?” Giguhl asked.



“It’s time to have a conversation with the mage.”



19



The card Adam gave me listed only a cell phone number. About twenty minutes outside the city, I called it. He picked up after the second ring.



“Lazarus.”



“It’s Sabina,” I said. “We need to talk.”