The Fifth Clan (10 page)

I turned and made my way to the door, praying I’d hit the right nerve and hoping he’d stop us.

“Wait,” Ghost called, just as my hand touched the handle. I suppressed a grin and turned a cold glare towards The Ghost. “Come here, and sit your blood sucking ass down, old buddy. You win, I’ll help you out.” He grinned at me, the same wolfish grin I used to want to smack off his face so many times in the past when I knew he was seconds away from getting me sunk up to my eyebrows in trouble.

Tonight, it was the most welcome thing I’d seen in years.

12

???? Mexico: February 7, 2005

“So what’s the plan?” I asked about an hour later as we sat around a table in the kitchen. T-bone steaks and au gratin potatoes sat in front of us, with a bottle of Wild Turkey being passed around.

“Do you guys ever drink anything that you can’t set on fire?” Rachel asked as she looked at the bottle.

“Not if I can help it,” I said, still looking at Ghost. “So?”

“So, what?” he asked, already gnawing on the bone of his steak.

“The plan?”

“What plan?”

“Please do not force me to strangle you. It’d just waste our time and wouldn’t accomplish anything remotely useful,” I growled.

“Might make you feel better,” Rachel pointed out.

“Don’t tempt him,” Ghost shot at her. “I don’t need to have my larynx crushed this evening,” he took a sip of his bourbon. “And if I can’t speak I can’t outline the plan I’ve got.”

“Oh, so there actually is a plan?” I cut in. “You weren’t just blowing smoke up our skirts?”

“No, there is a plan,” Ghost muttered dryly. “Like I said I’ve been watching everybody in the upper echelons since… well, since Ireland. I’ve got surveillance on almost everyone. The only ones I haven’t been able to get close to would be Threnü himself and the other council members.”

He looked at me. “Do you even know where Threntü is?”

“Last I heard he’s never moved out of The Loft.”

Shadow Loft Mansion. Nearly the epitome of B Monster Movie vampire hangouts. A castle built on a highly defensible ridge in Scotland. I’d always thought maybe Threntü had had a little chat with Bram Stoker before he wrote Dracula, but I could never prove anything.

“He left The Loft nearly five years ago.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. Threntü hadn’t left The Loft since the mission in Iran in 32’ when I’d shot him in the leg. It wasn’t my fault that he stepped in front of the sniper rifle I’d set up six hundred yards away. Was it?

“He’s got his fingers in everything, Gabe, you know that. He had a secure facility built in Oregon. State of the art security and technology. He’s got access codes at all the doors, secured gates onto the compound itself and access codes needed to get through the elevator into the lower levels.”

“Those are human security measures,” I pointed out. “What about our kind?”

Ghost grinned at me and turned to a bank of computers behind him. He tapped a few keys and a moment later the screens before him lit up with blueprint schematics and a list of technical information longer than my leg that started to give me a headache after twenty seven seconds of trying to read it. I vaguely noticed Rachel leaning forwards in interest, peering intently at the screens.

“This is where it gets interesting ladies,” Ghost started. I flipped him off for the insult but remained silent as he continued talking. “The Wind Clan has tight security around the perimeter of the compound. Inside there’s an entire pack running the grounds.” He gave me a meaningful look. “All over two hundred years old.”

I started to swear as colorfully as I could, in six or seven different languages. “That might get interesting.”

“What does a wolfs age have to do with anything?” Rachel asked.

“The wolf packs hierarchy is based on age. The older a wolf is the more power they have. Their speed and strength increases over the years and that is also how seniority within the pack is figured out. The oldest living werewolf is the leader of all the packs,” I told her.

She nodded and turned back to the screens.

“All over two hundred years old,” I said to Ghost, going back to the security around
Threntüs' compound. “That would make things difficult for us, we’re not going to be able to just muscle our way in this time.”

“Our way?” Ghost said, raising one eyebrow.

“What, you’re not helping me?” I asked.

“Of course I am, I just don’t understand how you could assume that I would help you with something as completely and certifiably insane as a full frontal assault on the wind clan.”

“Because you love to fight and you love to kill. This is a chance to actually fight beings that aren’t as easy to kill as humans. You spent enough time in the Army to know there isn’t a human out there that can challenge you in any physical type of combat. Plus, I never did show you my present that I got you. That could help us a lot with the-”

“Present?” he cut me off.

“Yeah, hang on a sec, dude.” I jumped up and ran down the hall to the room that Ghost had given Rachel and me to use the night before. I hefted up the case, laying it on my shoulder and carried it back down the hall, the weight barely affecting me at all.

“Here you are my old friend,” I said, setting the case down on a nearby table. He looked at me quizzically and came over to open the case. He let out a low whistle of appreciation after looking inside.

The Barrett “Light-Fifty” anti-material rifle. Equipped with an advanced planar scope capable of viewing in night vision and infrared. The fifty caliber rifle was capable of punching a hole through the engine block of a truck and had a kick that would dislocate all but a well-trained humans shoulder. Ghost wouldn’t even notice the recoil.

“You got it with the modified grips?” he asked, a grin rapidly spreading across his face.

“Of course, I knew you wouldn’t care for it if you weren’t able to fire it in either form.”

Ghost didn’t need the rifle, but for some reason that I’ll never understand he’d always been fascinated with marksmanship, long range gun fire was his favorite thing. I would stick to my swords and my fists before a gun whenever I could possibly manage it.

“So, you like?” I asked, knowing full well what his answer would be.

“I abso-fucking-lutely love it,” he crowed, caressing the gun like another man might caress the curves of a Swedish super model.

Crazy, I tell you, completely crazy. But he liked it and that’s what was important.

“So when do we leave?” he asked, snapping the case shut and hefting it onto a shoulder.

“Suddenly in a hurry are we?” I asked.

“I want to test this baby out,” he said, patting the case.

“What about the plan?”

He looked disappointed, and I could honestly picture the wolfs ears drooping suddenly, though he still looked very human.

“Right, the plan,” he set the case back down on the table and opened it up again. “Well, we’re going to need to hack into the facilities computer network, obviously. Like you pointed out we aren’t going to be remotely capable of just muscling our way into the compound. Not without having our features permanently rearranged and most likely becoming an ornament to hang on Threntüs' wall.”

“All good points. How are we supposed to manage that?” I asked as he started putting the disassembled gun together. Each piece fitted exactly into place with sure, quick motions and within moments he had the massive weapon put together and was hunting in the case for ammunition.

“Here,” I called, tossing a box to him.

He caught the box in one hand and quickly began loading the rifle. “I’ve got a friend that lives in Lakewood, I can give him a call and he’ll most likely be ready to help us hack into the systems within a week, two at the most.”

“You want to spend two weeks hiding out waiting for Threntü to get tired of sending grunts after us and start actually breaking out the big guns?” I snapped. “We don’t have two weeks, Ghost. We’ve gotta get in there within the next few days or we’ve gotta run. Period. No other options, no other plan. We either take the war to him, or we disappear.”

“Sorry, man, but my contact won’t be able to get to us without at least a weeks notice.

“What kind of operating systems is he running?” Rachel asked.

Ghost and I looked over at her, twin looks of shock etched on our faces. I’d been so involved in the conversation and my annoyance that I’d completely forgotten that she was sitting there.

“Huh?” Eloquent, aren’t I?

“What type of operating system is Threntü running to keep his facility secure? What computer system is maintaining and keeping all of his pass codes and security clearance measures in place?”

“Haven't the slightest clue,” Ghost said. “My friend said it’s something just a bit below what the NSA, FBI and the CIA use in their secure networks. Langley has a patent on some of the systems running this compound.” He turned back to me, “So we have to wait for my-”

“I can do it.”

We stopped and turned to Rachel again. She was obviously annoyed with us, and obviously very smug.

“What, did you say?” I asked.

“I said, ‘I can do it’.”

“Do... what exactly?” Ghost asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Look guys what’ve you been talking about? You need someone to hack their way into Threntüs' computer network and get you all the right doors opened as well as keeping you as far under the radar as possible so you don’t raise too much attention and get yourselves attacked by more muscle than you can handle. Right?”

Ghost and I looked at each other. “Right,” I said.

She nodded and smiled. “I can do it.”

13

????? Mexico: February 7, 2005

Ghost and I stared at her for nearly a minute as she calmly sat there, sipping her bourbon and added some pepper to her potatoes.

“Are you telling us,” I said. “That you can hack into Threntüs' system?”

“Yes, I believe I am,” she said. “As long as I have the right equipment. I’m going to need some pretty heavy duty hardware to break through the firewalls and any other security he might have in place.”

“How do you know how to do that?”

“I know computers,” she said with a shrug.

“What makes you so sure you’ll be able to?” Ghost cut in.

“Because I have hacked the FBI, the NSA and the CIA before. Mostly just out of curiosity. Now Donald Trump. That guy has some serious security measures around his companies’ files and his personal information is kept behind so many layers of firewalls and booby trapped false entrances that you could get lost for a week just trying to find his home address.”

I blinked.

Ghost blinked. I swear he did, I could hear it.

“What the…”

Rachel laughed. “That’s usually the reaction that I get when people learn that little piece of information about me,” she said.

“So you’re seriously saying that you can hack your way in and get us all the way in?”

“Absolutely.” She took a bite of potatoes. “I’ve nearly got my bachelors degree in computer technology. I would be working for IBM or Dell right now but they prefer that their employees have a degree, no matter how capable they are. NASA did try to hire me right out of high school but I turned them down. Military or space applications aren‘t my thing.”

“Voice recognition stations? Retinal scans? DNA?”

“Those I can’t manage,” she admitted. “Not unless there’s a speaker system and I hack recorded versions of the voice recognition words. Also there’s the whole idea of retinal scans and DNA being possible. All you guys need is the right persons eye or hand right?”

“Right.’

“So what’s the point to that big knife of yours if you can’t use it to open a retinal scan locked door?” she asked, pointing to my sword.

I stared at her. “I love you.”

She laughed and glanced over at one of Ghosts computer banks.

“Um… Ghost?”

“Yeah?”

“You did know that your security has been breached and you’ve got twenty-two incoming targets about two miles out. Right?”

“WHAT?"

* * * * * *

Within three minutes we were set up at the very window Ghost stood at the day before when he shot my bike out from under me. “I’m still annoyed with you about the bike,” I said to him as we looked out at the grounds.

“Get over
it; I’ll buy you a new one.”

Rachel had been right. There were exactly twenty-two men and woman creeping towards us across the grounds. From where I stood a mile and a half away from them I couldn’t tell exactly what they were. But, based on the way they moved, I figured we had an even mixture of vampires and werewolves bearing down on us.

Next to me, Ghost stood with his new baby propped on a bi-pod on the window sill in front of him. The rifle was fully loaded and he had a box of replacement bullets on a chair beside him.

I had my M1911 in a holster under my trench. I’d finally dug my beloved coat out of the remains of my bikes saddle bag. I loved the trench, but I couldn’t use it much when driving a bike. Hanging from my belt were several sets of throwing knives, each coated with a layer of silver and sharpened to a deadly edge plus the knives I kept up my sleeves. I held my favorite katana in my hand.

We were as ready as we were going to get for the assault.

Rachel was sitting at the security screens inside with a
microphone patched into the ear bud receivers in our ears.

“They’re about a mile away now,” she said over the radio.

“Thanks,” I said. I turned to Ghost. “I’m heading out. Try not to shoot me, would you?”

He stared at me, his mouth hanging open. “That was 70 years ago,” he sputtered. “One little mistake and you never let me live it dow- hey, I’m not done talking to you,” he called as I laughed and jumped out the window.

I landed in a low crouch, one hand held out for balance, the other gripping my sword close to me. I knew the nearest one was still nearly a mile away, and I knew that if I didn’t hurry, Ghost would pick them off before I had much of a chance to play with any of them myself.

I started to run, pushing my body as hard as I could, eating up the distance between my targets and myself at a rate that I knew would have me up close and personal within moments. As I ran I tapped the ear piece and spoke in a low murmur. “Ghost, don’t forget we need one of them alive.”

“
Yeah, yeah
,
” he drawled.
“
I remember, don’t worry I’ll only kill most of them
.
”

“Thank you, Ghost,” I muttered. “That’s very encouraging.”

“
If you girls are finished
?
” Rachel cut in.
“
You’re almost on top of one of them Gabe
.
”

I looked ahead and saw the one she was talking about, just peaking over a rock pile. Only the top of his head was visible and I drew one of my knives as I leaped over the rock, clearing the fifteen feet easily. I flipped in midair and threw the knife as I passed over him. The silver edged blade sank into the top of his skull and he dropped to the floor.

I landed directly in front of another one and my arm whipped out, drawing my sword and cutting his head cleanly from his shoulders in one smooth motion. I stood, covered in blood splatter just as two more stepped onto the path, some thirty feet in front of me. We all paused, eyes meeting in the dark and I could smell them.

“Wolves. Ghost?” I muttered. “Little cover might be appreciated,”

The wolf on my left suddenly exploded, half his torso vanished in a spray of blood and internal organs and the second one turned to stare, dumbfounded at her companion. She vanished in a splatter of gore a heartbeat later as the retort from the first rifle shot finally caught up to where we stood.

“Cute,” I said. “Gross, but cute.”

“
Beggars can’t be choosers Gabe
,
” Ghost said over the link.

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “I’ve heard that little pearl of wisdom before. Grim taught it to you, didn’t he?”

“……”

“I thought so,” I muttered, smirking. A second later two high pitched whistles passed over my head and two seconds after that the concussion of the .50 cal reached my ears.

“Dammit, Ghost,” I yelled, breaking into a sprint. “I told you to save some of them for me.”

I rounded a corner on the treacherous dirt path and ran smack into a full pair of breasts. I can’t say the landing was unpleasant, but the poisoned dagger she jammed into my gut for my trouble rather was.

I grunted and pushed out with my mind, the telekinetic blast knocking the young vampire in front of me into a rock as large as a small house. She bounced off and landed on all fours on the ground, shaking her head to clear the stars she no doubt had flashing in front of her eyes. I was determined not to give her the chance. I rushed up, pulling the dagger she’d stabbed me with out of my side, and jammed it down into the back of her exposed neck.

The sharp blade sliced through the skin and slipped easily between the vertebrae of her spine. A quick twist of my wrist cut her spinal cord and nearly severed her head from her body.
She dropped flat, dead before she hit the ground.

While I was dealing with her I heard several more thunderous retorts from the rifle and I could hear Ghost cackling like a crazed loon over the radio. He really liked his new toy. I grinned and shot off into the dark again, hunting down my next playmate.

* * * * * *

After roughly twenty minutes I began walking back to the compound. It was a nice night, and aside from my favorite leather coat being splattered with blood, it had been a fun little skirmish.

“Are you fucking shitting me?”

“Huh?” I stopped. “What was that Rachel?”

“Are you actually whistling a jaunty little tune on your walk back?”

I thought for a second. Yeah, I had been whistling cheerily. “Guess so. Blood-shed and slaughter always puts me in a good mood.” I could imagine her shuddering in the basement, watching me on the video surveillance feeds.

“You are really weird, Gabriel,” she said. I could hear the smile in her tone though, so I knew she was getting used to my unconventional sense of humor.

“Thank you, my dear. See you soon.” I started to jog back, my burden barely slowing me down until I reached the doors and let myself in. Rachel and Ghost were already waiting inside, Rachel with a slightly disgusted look on her face. Ghost with a very pleased look on his, his new rifle held casually across one shoulder.

“So you like the gun?”

“I like it very much,” he said, grinning at me.

“Good. Why don’t we see what information we can get out of this gentleman?” I added, tossing the unconscious werewolf I was carrying slung over one shoulder onto the table.

“Shouldn’t we wait for him to wake up first?” Rachel asked, eyeing the body curiously.

“Shouldn’t take too long. I think we might want to get him restrained first,” I said. I looked over at Ghost. “Got anything that might prevent our little friend here from making the serious mistake of thinking he could muscle his way out of here? I wouldn’t want to damage him… too much.”

Ghost grinned and walked away as Rachel and I made ourselves comfortable. I sat back, tilting my chair back on its hind legs and putting my feet up on the table as I rolled myself a cigarette and lit it with my Zippo.

“You’re enjoying all this a little too much, aren’t you?” Rachel asked, gazing thoughtfully at me. I‘d noticed that she did that a lot, usually right before she asked me a very difficult to answer question about the nature of my kind, or of the werewolves.

“Usually yes,” I said, exhaling a cloud of poisonous smoke. I really do love my cigarettes. Just the action was soothing and wonderful to me. Kind of like that euphoric feeling one gets right after a really great round of sex. I grinned, thinking of dragging Rachel upstairs and throwing her on the bed after we finished the torture… I mean interrogation of our new little friend.

The wolf on the table groaned and twitched slightly. Ghost wasn’t back yet so I lifted one booted foot and brought my heel down on the unfortunate mans head, knocking him briefly back into la la land.

“Where the fuck is Ghost?” I muttered, looking in the direction he’d walked a few moments ago.

“He just left, Gabe, give him a minute.” Rachel looked at the comatose wolf. “So how are you going to get him to tell us anything?” she asked. “You can’t really hurt him much, he heals too fast doesn’t he?”

“True, but if we use silver edged knives it takes as long
as it would take a normal human to heal, and will leave some nasty scars. If he lives that long. Also, despite the healing rate, it still hurts like all hell to have your skin peeled off your body one layer at a time.”

“You really are a very unusual person.”

I shrugged. “I grew up in unusual times, and in a very unusual situation. I didn’t really have any choice but to get used to a lot of things I normally would never have done.”

“Like drinking blood?”

“That’s one of them,” I mused, leaning further back in my chair. “But really, to a vampire blood is totally different than it is to a human. To humans blood smells coppery and metallic. That’s from the iron. But to a vampire each persons blood is different, like a fine wine. You for example,” I said, looking at her over the smoldering tip of my cigarette.

“Your blood smells like strawberries and cream. Or at least that’s the closest equivalent I can compare it to. It’s not exactly like that but it smells wonderful, I can sense it through your skin.”

“Glad to know I’d be a tasty meal before I died,” she muttered caustically.

“I would never feed from you,” I said, dropping my chair back onto all four legs. “I haven’t killed anyone I’ve fed from
in over 200 years. When I was first getting used to it there were a few… accidents. I lost control of myself and couldn’t stop until my victims heart did. Then the only way to revive them would have been to turn them. And that, I have never done.”

“You really are the only one of your kind? Like you told Claus?”

“I am. I have never turned a human into one of my children, and if I can help it I never will.”

“Why not, and how do you do it anyway?” she asked, leaning forward eagerly.

“Don’t ask him,” Ghost said as he came back, “Gabe doesn’t like to talk about that much.” He had a set of heavy metal manacles in his hands. I noticed he was wearing a thick pair of leather gloves as he handled them. Obviously they were made out of silver.