Andrej made his way across town to the basement club where he’d met Elizabet. Sure enough, she was there. He thought it was a little odd to find her there at that hour. In fact, she seemed to spend a lot of time there. She saw him walk in and waved to him. He crossed the room to the booth where she was sitting.
“This is a surprise,” she said, “I didn’t expect to see you here at this hour.”
“I could say the same thing,” he said, sliding into the booth.
“It was a friend’s birthday, and we didn’t even start out until nearly midnight,” she explained.
“I see,” he said, but looking around and noticing she was alone. “So where’s the party?”
“Oh, everyone just left. I was about to go myself when I saw you come in.”
Andrej had the sensation of the booths and tables around them starting to fill up, very slowly and one or two people at a time. He looked at Elizabet. He could sense her heartbeat, racing as if she was scared.
“Well, why don’t I escort you home, then?” he said, standing up and waiting for her. She smiled but didn’t say anything as she gathered up her purse and coat. They walked out of the club, but he could tell they were being watched by some of the people in there.
Once outside Elizabet remained quiet. Andrej could still sense her nervousness and glanced around casually. He lit a cigarette to make it appear he wasn’t paying attention to the men following them. Elizabet rubbed the back of her neck, then ran her fingers through her hair.
“What’s going on?” he asked her while they walked. He wasn’t in the mood for playing games tonight. He’d been hoping for a quick feeding, easy, uncomplicated. They were definitely being followed, and from Elizabet’s anxiety level he suspected she was a part of it. He’d had her blood once, establishing a link between them. He could hear her thoughts, but they were chaotic from fear.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve got people following us.”
“No…” she started to say, but he cut her off.
“Why would you do this to me? I never harmed you, and I never would have.” He had taken hold of her arm as they walked, and she stopped short but was unable to break free of his hold. “You’re one of them, one of the crusaders.”
He saw it all now. She had been a plant from the beginning, in an effort to get close to him and draw him out, allow them to plan an attack on him when he wouldn’t suspect it.
She looked at him with an expression that had changed from the sweet innocence she normally showed to one of anger, indignation, and righteousness.
“Because of what you are. You can kill me, but others will take my place.”
“I’ve heard that before. I have no intention of killing you; not here, not now.” The menace was clear in his voice. He would pick the time and place, not her. He looked back at the group of five that had been following them, and noticed one other thing: Paimon. He was standing behind the group, unnoticed.
Without even realizing what she was exposing herself to, Elizabet met his gaze, looking him straight in the eye. In that second, Andrej managed to get control of her mind, blocking her memories of the last few minutes. His hold would last through what he and Paimon were about to do, and then he could deal with her. Elizabet’s face went blank, her conscious mind subdued by his will. The five men following them were standing in a tight group a few yards away, unsure when to make their move. Andrej suspected Elizabet was considered expendable for the end goal of destroying him, but if he could prevent it she would stay out of harm’s way—for now. He turned around to assess the group behind him, with his mouth turned up in a half-smile as he met Paimon’s glance. He could see the men approaching him all carried wooden stakes, each one hoping to be the one to do the deed.
“Now gentlemen, you can’t possibly believe it’s going to be quite that simple, can you?” he said, his lips curled into a sneer. He watched as Paimon silently moved into position behind them.
All of a sudden, he felt weary: Weary of fighting, weary of defending himself. The last few months, since the episode in New York, had been more filled with trouble than his life had been for many years. In that instant he was eager to be done with this group, with what was about to happen, and get away from all this. Paimon sensed the shift in his demeanor and looked at him critically. He gave Paimon an almost imperceptible nod of his head and Paimon relaxed a little again. Between the two of them these five wouldn’t last long.
Finally one of the men stepped out away from the group, flicking open an old style switchblade as he came at Andrej. Andrej sidestepped as the man rushed at him, but he caught his other arm and held him tight, twisting the arm up behind his back. The pain in the man’s shoulder brought him to his knees but he swung at Andrej with the knife anyway, trying to free himself from Andrej’s grip. With the grace of a dancer Andrej grabbed the man’s hand, twisting his arm over so far he nearly dislocated the other shoulder now. The blade fell to the ground, the man blinded by the pain in both shoulders now.
While Andrej held the one, Paimon had circled around behind the other four. They stopped moving as one, like a group of toys that had wound down. Paimon had them all, all at once, under his control. Andrej was able to control a couple of people at a time, but being able to simultaneously work on four was formidable. They were in the city center, far too conspicuous to carry out whatever Paimon was planning right where they were.
“Let him go,” Paimon said.
Andrej looked at him and blinked, uncomprehending. “Did you say ‘let him go’?”
“Yes.”
“Why? What are you planning?”
“Just let him go. Oh and have him take the girl with him.”
Andrej released his hold on the man he had been fighting. For a moment the man fell forward and lay on the ground, trying to recover his breath and the feeling in his arm. Andrej stood over him, wanting nothing more than to finish him off right then and there. But the risk was too great in that area, and with Paimon changing tactics there was nothing he could do. The man turned his head to look at Andrej, then Paimon, unsure if he should try to run or wait for them to move off. He looked at the four who had come with him, and realized they were beyond his help now.
“Go on,” Andrej said to him, “get out of here.” He prodded him with the toe of his boot. Without so much as a word, the man scrambled to his feet, grabbed Elizabet’s hand, releasing her from the trance, and the two of them took off at a dead run back in the direction they had come.
Andrej looked at Paimon, not knowing if Paimon would explain this or not. Paimon’s lips stretched into a smile, making him look more smug than he usually did.
“They’re going to play for our team now,” he said, more cheerfully than Andrej had ever heard him say anything.
Andrej raised an eyebrow. “Sleepers?”
Paimon didn’t anwer.
“Don’t you think whoever they work for will suspect that? It’s more likely they’ll be cut off from the others if we send them back.”
“Not necessarily. I don’t believe they have enough others that they can afford to just throw away four relatively competent operatives.” He turned to look at the four who were staring blankly at nothing in particular. “No, I find it far more likely they will be taken in and debriefed at length about what happened.” He moved to stand in front of the group, as if he was addressing a work crew, then turned halfway towards Andrej again and said, “Oh, you’re free to go whenever you like. There’s nothing more for you to do here,” and again gave him that unnerving smile. Andrej started to walk off. Whatever Paimon was up to he decided he wasn’t interested. He turned the corner back onto the busier main street, out of sight of Paimon and the crusaders.
Edgy and still hungry, Andrej felt ready to pounce on the first person to walk past him. His fierce self-discipline prevented him from making a reckless move, but by now he was ready to sink his teeth into the next human who crossed his path and nearly did. Dawn was beginning to color the sky and he wanted to be
done with this and get home. He was angry with himself for being taken in by Elizabet, allowing himself to believe she had sincerely been attracted to him. Now he understood why she was always in that club: she’d been waiting for him, probably night after night, waiting to make a move. He wondered now how close he had come to being their victim, instead of the way it had worked out. He still wanted to settle that score, but he also knew his chances of running into Elizabet again, if that was even her name, were very slim. He had sensed no deception from her, but now he wasn’t even sure if that had been his own lack of caution. It was possible she had been recruited by them later when they realized she could get close to him. Whatever it was, he wasn’t likely to allow himself to fall into that kind of trap again. He was so furious with himself that for a moment he wondered if Anne-Marie might actually be working with them as well. He shook his head at his own paranoia now. He knew better than that, and he could sense her feelings, and read her thoughts. No, she was hiding nothing. She was the one person on whom he could count, above all others.
The streets were nearly deserted at this hour, but there were some early risers on their way to jobs already. He spied a young woman at a bus stop, alone. He stole up on her quietly, gaining control of her mind before she so much as had a chance to turn around. When she did, she was already deeply under his control, and he took her arm and walked her down the street a short ways. If anyone had been watching it would have looked like she had been waiting for him, and willingly walked off with him. They entered a shop that was still closed, and with the lights out Andrej found his way to the back, away from the view of anyone passing by. He held the woman against the wall, still feeling some of the rage he had for Elizabet and could have easily taken out on this girl, but didn’t. He bit into her neck, but the usual sensuality of the act was gone. It felt sterile, empty. He drank her blood as quickly as he dared; if he took it too fast he could throw her into shock, or worse. He got what he needed and finished, making sure she was completely healed before they left the shop. He deposited her back at the bus stop, and as he walked away the bus pulled up and she climbed on as if she had been standing there the whole time. He headed for home, formulating plans as he went.
“I was starting to wonder if I needed to go looking for you,” Neko said when he arrived back at the apartment.
Andrej shook his head. “No, just a bit of trouble with some crusaders. Paimon was tailing me so between the two of us…” he said looking at the floor, still reviewing the events in his mind.
Neko swirled the scotch in his glass and took a sip. “Too bad, I was starting to think I could use a little snack.”
Andrej gave him a wry grin. “Just no more snacking on Anne-Marie.”
Neko put up a hand to signal he got the message.
“I’m going to go rest for a bit, I’ll be up this afternoon and we all have things to talk about,” Andrej said. “You going to be up for awhile?”
“No, I think I’ll lie down myself. I stayed up while she was sleeping, just in case.” He hadn’t wanted to leave Anne-Marie unguarded while Andrej was out. Andrej picked her up and carried her to her room, and Neko reluctantly backed out when he realized Andrej wasn’t leaving.
Chapter 28