Kiss of Crimson (6 page)

―Yo, D.‖

Dante muttered a curse under his breath when he heard the voice calling him from the other end of the corridor. It was Gideon, resident computer genius and right-hand man to Lucan, the Order‘s venerable leader. Gideon had the compound wired tight inside and out; he‘d probably been on to Dante‘s arrival from the second he stepped onto the property.

―Where you been, man? You were supposed to call in your status hours ago.‖

Dante turned around slowly in the long hallway.

―I guess you could say my status got a bit fucked up.‖

―No shit,‖ the other vampire replied, taking him in with a shrewd glance over the top of square-cut pale blue shades. He chuckled, shaking his spiky crown of blond hair. ―Gad, you look like hell. And you smell like toxic waste. What the devil happened to you?‖

―Long story.‖ Dante gestured to his shredded, bloodied, sodden clothing, which was rank with brine, sludge, and God knew what else from his trip down the Mystic River. ―I‘ll fill everyone in later. Right now I need a shower.‖

―Industrial strength,‖ Gideon agreed. ―But cleanup is gonna have to wait awhile. We‘ve got company in the lab.‖

Annoyance sparked in Dante. ―What kind of company?‖

―Oh, you‘re gonna love this.‖ Gideon gestured with his head. ―Come on. Lucan wants you present for input.‖

Exhaling a long breath, Dante fell in step alongside Gideon. They walked up another twisting length of the corridor, heading for the tech lab, the surveillance and intel hub where the warriors held most of their meetings. As the glass wall of the lab came into view, Dante saw the three other vampire warriors who were like kin to him: Lucan, the Order‘s dark leader; Nikolai, the brash gearhead of the group; and Tegan, the eldest next to Lucan, and the deadliest individual Dante had ever known. The Order was missing two other members of late. Rio, who had been severely injured by a Rogue ambush a few months ago and remained in the infirmary at the compound, and Conlan, who was killed by Rogues around the same time, in an explosion that took place on one of the city‘s train lines.

As Dante scanned the assembly of warriors, his gaze lit on one unfamiliar face. Evidently, this was the company Gideon had mentioned. The vampire male had the clean-cut looks of an accountant—

right down to the dark suit and white shirt, crisp gray tie, and glossy black oxford shoes. His goldenbrown hair was short, impeccably styled, not a strand out of place. Although the male was sizable beneath all that spit and polish, he brought to mind one of those chiseled pretty boys that you see in human magazine ads, hawking designer clothing or expensive cologne.

Scowling, Dante shook his head. ―Tell me that‘s not one of the new warrior candidates.‖

―That,‖ said Gideon, ―is Agent Sterling Chase, of the Boston Darkhaven.‖

A Darkhaven law-enforcement agent. Well, that made some sense. Certainly explained the vampire‘s

buttoned-up,

useless-bureaucrat

appearance. ―What‘s he want with us?‖

―Information. Some kind of alliance, from what I gather. The Darkhaven has sent him here in the hopes of obtaining the Order‘s help.‖

―Our help.‖ Dante scoffed, skeptical. ―You gotta be kidding me. It wasn‘t so long ago that the general population of the Darkhavens were condemning us as lawless vigilantes.‖

Walking beside him, Gideon glanced over with a smirk. ―Dinosaurs who‘d outlived their time and ought to be forced into extinction was, I believe, one of the more polite suggestions.‖

Ironic, considering the populations of those sanctuaries existed directly because of the warriors‘

continued efforts in fighting the Rogues. In the dark ages of man, long before Dante‘s eighteenthcentury birth in Italy, the Order had acted as sole protector of the vampire race. Then, they were revered as heroes. In the time since, as the warriors hunted down and executed Rogues all over the globe, putting down even the smallest uprisings before they had a chance to take root, the Darkhavens had relaxed into a state of arrogant confidence. Rogue numbers had been few in modern times but were growing again. Meanwhile, the Darkhavens had adopted laws and procedures for dealing with Rogues as mere criminals, foolishly

believing

that

incarceration

and

rehabilitation were viable solutions to the problem. Those of the warrior class knew better. They saw the carnage up close and personal, while the rest of the population hid in their sanctuaries, pretending they were safe. Dante and the rest of the Order were the Breed‘s only true defense, and they chose to act independently—some might argue in defiance of—impotent Darkhaven law.

―Now they‘re asking for our help?‖ Dante fisted his hands at his side, in no mood to deal with Darkhaven politics or the fools who peddled them.

―I hope Lucan‘s called this meeting so we can prove we‘re savages and kill their friggin‘

messenger.‖

Gideon chuckled as the glass doors of the lab whisked open in front of them. ―Try not to scare Agent Chase away before he‘s had a sporting chance to explain why he‘s here, will you, D?‖

Gideon strode inside. Dante followed, giving a nod of respect to Lucan and his brethren as he entered the spacious control room. He turned his gaze on the Darkhaven agent, holding it steady as the civilian vampire rose from his chair at the conference table and looked upon Dante‘s bloodied, battered condition in barely concealed disgust.

Now he was damn glad he hadn‘t paused to tidy up before coming in. Hoping to offend further, Dante strolled up to the agent and held out his grimy hand in offered greeting.

―You must be the warrior called Dante,‖ said the low,

cultured

voice

of

the

Darkhaven

representative. He accepted Dante‘s outstretched hand and clasped it briefly. The agent sniffed almost imperceptibly, fine nostrils flaring as they picked up on Dante‘s certain stench. ―A privilege to meet you. I am Special Investigative Agent Sterling Chase, of the Boston Darkhaven.
Senior
Special Investigative Agent,‖ he added, smiling.

―But I‘ve no wish to stand on ceremony, so please, all of you, feel free to address me as you will.‖

Dante merely grunted, biting back the choice form of address that leaped to his tongue. Instead, he dropped into the seat next to the agent, holding him in a cool, unwavering stare.

Lucan cleared his throat, all it took for the eldest of the Breed to resume command of the gathering.

―Now that we‘re all here, let‘s get down to business. Agent Chase has brought some disturbing news from the Boston Darkhaven. There‘s been a rash of young vampires going missing lately. He‘d like the Order‘s help in recovering them. I‘ve told him we will.‖

―Search and rescue‘s not exactly our thing,‖

Dante said, his eyes on the civilian as a rumble of agreement kicked up from around the table of warriors.

―That‘s true,‖ Nikolai put in. The Russian-born vampire grinned from under a long hank of sandycolored hair that didn‘t quite conceal the wintry chill of his ice-blue gaze. ―We‘re more of a bagand-tag operation.‖

―There‘s more to this than just a few stray vampires out past curfew and in need of collars,‖

Lucan said. His grim tone dialed down the attitude in the room at once. ―I‘ll let Agent Chase explain what‘s going on.‖

―Last month, a group of three Darkhaven youths left for a rave somewhere in the city and never returned. A week later, another two went missing. More disappearances have been happening from Boston area Darkhavens every night in the time since.‖ Agent Chase reached into a briefcase on the floor beside him and pulled out a thick file. He tossed it to the center of the conference table. From within the manila jacket, about a dozen snapshots spilled out—faces of smiling, youthful vampire males. ―These are just the reported disappearances so far. We‘ve probably lost another couple of individuals in the time I‘ve been here meeting with you.‖

Dante sifted through the pile of photographs and passed the folder around the table, figuring they couldn‘t all be runaways. Life in the Darkhavens could be a bore to young males with something to prove to the world, but nothing was so bad it would drive groups of them away at a time. ―Have there been any recoveries at all? Any sightings? This many missing individuals in such a short period of time—seems like someone ought to know

something about it.‖

―There have been only a handful of recoveries.‖

Chase brought out another file from his case, this one considerably thinner than the first. He withdrew a few photographs and fanned them out before him on the table. They were morgue shots. Three civilian vampires, current generation, and probably not one of them older than thirty-five years. In each photo, a pair of sightless eyes stared up at the camera lens, pupils elongated to hungered slits, the natural color of the irises saturated in the amber-yellow glow of Bloodlust.

―Rogues,‖ Niko said, practically hissing the word.

―No,‖ Agent Chase replied. ―They died in the throes of Bloodlust, but they hadn‘t yet turned. They were not Rogues.‖

Dante got out of his chair and leaned over the table to have a closer look at the pictures. His gaze was drawn immediately to the crust of dried pinkish foam that circled the subjects‘ slack mouths. The same kind of saliva residue he‘d spotted on his attacker outside the club earlier tonight. ―Any idea what killed them?‖

Chase nodded. ―Narcotic overdose.‖

―Any of you hear chatter around town about a new club drug called Crimson?‖ Lucan asked the group of warriors. None had. ―From what Agent Chase has told me, it‘s a particularly nasty bit of chemistry that‘s been showing up lately among the Breed‘s younger crowds. It‘s a stimulant and mild hallucinogenic that also produces a burst of enormous strength and endurance. But that‘s just the appetizer. The real fun starts about fifteen minutes into ingestion.‖

―That‘s right,‖ Agent Chase added. ―Users who eat or inhale this red powder soon experience extreme thirst and feverlike chills. They convulse into a mindless, animal state, exhibiting all the traits of Bloodlust, from the fixed, elliptical pupils and permanently extruded fangs to the insatiable need for blood. If the individual is left to quench that need, he is almost certain to turn Rogue. If he continues to use Crimson, this,‖ Chase said, pointing to the morgue photos, ―is the other outcome.‖

Dante cursed, half in frustration for the epidemic hysteria just waiting to erupt among the Darkhaven populations, but also for the realization that the young Bloodlusting vampire he‘d killed tonight was a Breed youth, like these, hopped up on the shit Chase had just described. He had a hard time feeling bad about taking the kid out when he‘d been coming at Dante like a ton of bricks.

―This drug, Crimson,‖ Dante said. ―Any thought on where it‘s coming from, who might be manufacturing it or distributing it?‖

―We have nothing more to go on than what I‘ve presented here.‖

Dante saw Lucan‘s grave expression and understood where this was heading. ―Ah, and so this is where we come in, is that it?‖

―The Darkhavens have asked for our assistance in identifying and, if practical or even possible, bringing back any missing civilians we might run across in our nightly patrols. Obviously, as a part of that, it is in our shared interest to put a stop to Crimson and those who deal in it. I think we can all agree that the last thing the Breed needs is more vampires turning Rogue.‖

Dante nodded along with the others.

―The Order‘s willingness to assist with this problem is greatly appreciated. My thanks to all of you,‖ Chase said, letting his gaze settle on each of the Breed warriors in turn. ―But there is one more thing, if I may?‖

Lucan gave a slight incline of his head, gesturing for the agent to continue.

Chase cleared his throat. ―I would like to have an active part in the operation.‖

A long, heavy silence stretched out as Lucan scowled, leaning back in his chair at the head of the table. ―Active in what way?‖

―I want to ride along with one or more members of the Order, to personally monitor the operation and to assist in the retrieval of these missing individuals.‖

Seated on the other side of Dante, Nikolai burst out laughing.

Gideon raked his fingers through his cropped hair, then threw his pale blue shades onto the table.

―We don‘t take civilians along on our operations. Never have, never will.‖

Even Tegan, the stoic one, who hadn‘t uttered a single word one way or the other throughout the entire meeting, was finally moved to voice his disagreement. ―You won‘t live to the end of your first night, Agent,‖ he said without inflection, only cold truth.

Dante held his disbelief inside, certain that Lucan would shut the agent down with the power of his level glare alone. But Lucan didn‘t reject the idea outright. He stood up, his fists braced on the edge of the conference table.

―Leave us,‖ he told Chase. ―My brethren and I will discuss your request privately. Our business here is finished for now, Agent Chase. You may return to the Darkhaven to await our decision. I will be in contact with you.‖