Thirst No. 4 (22 page)

Tom leaves, closing the door behind him, and for once
I don’t hear people listening through the walls. Cindy and I are alone. I stroll over and pick up an automatic weapon—an AK-47, an old Romanian favorite of mine. I point it at Cindy.

“How does it feel?” I ask.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I’m referring to me and two friends of mine outside a cave high in the Rockies. It was only eight days ago, you can’t have forgotten. Your Cradle paid us a visit. You know what happened. Shots were fired and someone very dear to me died.”

Cindy doesn’t flinch. “I was given a report on the incident.”

I’m so close to shooting, it’s scary. Despite the fact I need Brutran to complete my plan, to literally save humanity, my desire for revenge is overwhelming. I see the bullet striking her face, I see her head exploding, and the satisfaction I’ll feel . . .

“A report? You ordered the incident!”

“That’s not exactly true.”

I go to snap at her again but stop. She’s speaking the truth. “Who did order the attack?” I ask.

“It’s complicated.”

“I have time.”

“We don’t, thanks to you. Rather than drag up everything that I’ve done that you didn’t like, why don’t you state your terms and see if we can reach an agreement. Otherwise, I’ll take my husband’s advice and refuse your vaccine. And if you think I’m bluffing, Alisa, then you don’t know me.”

The woman has guts, I have to grant her that. I lower
the gun. “I want to work with your Array and your Cradle,” I say.

“In what capacity?”

“I want to take control.”

“Why?”

“So I can use it to wipe out the senior members of the Telar.”

“That’s not possible.”

“You better make it possible. Or else I’m through talking.”

“I’m speaking logistically. You obviously have some knowledge of the Cradle but you’re a long ways from understanding its inner workings. The number of people who can channel the Array’s power against another human being is very small. We call them the Lens. The Lens controls the Cradle. It’s made up of only two dozen people, and all of them have unique abilities.”

“You mean they’re children who have been born and bred to be psychic mutants. They’re unique not only because they can tap into a large field of mental energy but because they’re devoid of empathy, love, compassion—and any other human quality that would prevent them from sodomizing the minds of innocent people.”

Cindy hesitates. “Yes.”

I snort. “You’re not going to defend what you’ve created?”

“No. It’s not just because we’re short on time. The situation is more complex than you know. Beside the fact that you’re not
mentally equipped to control the Cradle via the Lens, you’d never be able to attack the inner core of the Telar, what Haru and his people refer to as the Source. We have tried in the past and failed. The only Telar we can harm are those who physically attack us, those we can see with our eyes. Otherwise, the Lens can’t focus on Telar who are on the other side of the world. Especially if they are linked.”

“Linked?”

The members of the Source are able to fuse their minds together and form what they call the Link. It makes them impossible to kill.”

“What if you had samples of their blood?”

“Dream on. Even you couldn’t obtain that.”

“I already have them,” I say, telling her the truth. Umara gave them to me.

“How?”

“That doesn’t matter. Just accept I have blood samples of the twenty oldest living Telar on this planet. Now I may not understand the intricacies of your Cradle but I know it aims its mental attacks using the principle of sympathetic resonance. To home in on an individual, you need something intimately connected to them. And nothing is more intimate than their own blood. Even when removed from the body and spread across the globe, it still contains the vibration of the original person. That’s why you needed my blood to attack me. That’s why you took two days to launch your attack on me. You had
to send a diluted solution of my blood to every member of your Array, and as we know, they’re spread all over the world.”

“You are partially correct. I had to get your blood to every member of the Cradle.”

“You don’t keep your kids all in one place?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Unlike the huge Array, I assumed she would keep a constant eye on the Lens.

Cindy fumes. “We don’t have time for this. I can’t meet your first demand. You can’t control the Lens.”

“Why not?”

“You’re too . . . human.”

“I’m a vampire. I’ve killed more people than you can imagine.”

“Your past is irrelevant. You’re no longer a killer. But let’s not fight over this point. If you have these blood samples, then that’s reason enough for us to form a partnership. If we work together, we should be able to wipe out all the Telar.”

“All?” I say.

“Once we destroy Haru and the Source, the rest of the Telar should become vulnerable to our attacks.”

“But I don’t want to kill all of them.”

“Why not?”

“The majority aren’t evil.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Really? You’re the last person whose judgment I’d trust on
this point. I bet the IIC isn’t as evil as it appears, although we both know it’s rotten at the top.”

“It’s natural to compare us to them. It’s also a mistake. They’re old. Even the young Telar are generally so old that most of them have forgotten how to feel. And you want to protect them?”

“It’s my decision to make. It’s another reason I won’t hand over the blood samples to you. You can use them but they’ll remain in my control.”

“Impossible. I told you, I have to disperse a diluted form of the blood to all the members of the Cradle.”

“Gather all the kids in the Cradle in one place. We can do it in this facility. I know you have a large underground room. That way I can keep track of the blood.”

Cindy pales and I wonder if it’s due to the infection spreading in her system, or something else. “We’ve never done that before,” she says softly.

“You’re not afraid of them, are you?”

She hesitates. “I can meet that condition. For now let’s agree to work together to solve whatever other issues come up. You can hear when I speak the truth. You know I’m being sincere.”

“I know,” I say.

“Now my people need the vaccine.”

“I’ll start injecting them in a minute.”

“You must also guarantee we’ll get the permanent vaccine when the Telar are dead.”

“As long as you agree not to steal my blood samples,” I say.

“Agreed.”

“You must also give me back my blood.”

“I’ll have to gather it.”

“And I want my friend’s sample back as well.”

“Which friend is that?”

“The one who shot Teri Raine on the mountain.”

Brutran acts puzzled. I assume it’s an act. Yet, again, she appears to be telling the truth. “So it’s Teri who died. I didn’t know. She’s a celebrity. Why wasn’t it on the news?”

“It will be. Don’t change the subject. I want the blood of the person who you mentally attacked on top of that mountain. Swear to me you’ll get it back.”

Cindy is still hesitant. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Don’t start acting like you’re not in charge of this operation. You’re the queen bee. You have a finger on everything the IIC does. For that matter, I know it was you who planted a spy in our group.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I warn you, Brutran, don’t anger me. You know who it is.”

“I don’t, I swear it.”

God, she sounds like she’s telling the truth again.

I try to act more confident than I feel. “Then you won’t mind if I use your Cradle to kill this mole,” I say.

Cindy shrugs. “It’s your call.”

I
’m still getting used to my old body. Now I have to get used to a new phase of life that’s so unpredictable and fraught with danger I can’t drop my guard for an instant. I’ve intentionally marooned myself in the heart of the IIC’s stronghold so I can destroy them, right after I destroy the Telar.

But doubts assail me.

Even Yaksha was unable to stop the Telar.

I wish I shared the faith Umara has in me. It’s hard not to call upon her and Matt for help. I miss Seymour, his love and wisdom, and I miss Teri. I never had a chance to properly mourn her passing.

I feel so alone caged inside the IIC’s headquarters.

Yet it’s crucial I stay, and that I remain alone. If I brought in Umara and Matt, then all our cards would be on the table,
and we’d be exposed to the IIC. And if something went wrong with my plan, we’d have no backup. Even if the IIC should happen to kill me, if Umara and Matt are still out there, alive, then at least there’s a chance the IIC and Telar can be stopped.

I stay inside the Malibu center to keep an eye on everything the IIC does. Likewise, I force them to remain inside the building, all six hundred of the firm’s employees that I’ve infected. I convince them that they’re contagious, and they believe me. Why shouldn’t they? At this point, they know little about the virus. They have barely spoken to Charlie—I have given them limited access—who’s confident a person can’t spread the virus as long as the black blisters haven’t begun to pop and ooze their deadly fluid.

I stay in the building for another reason. The IIC know me and know a portion of my history. For two decades they have fought the Telar. Now that they have me on their side, it’s strange but they see me as a leader of sorts. Not Cynthia and Thomas Brutran, but the rank-and-file members of the company. On the whole, they’re normal people, and I go out of my way to treat them with kindness and respect.

I am, after all, their doctor, even if I’m the one who infected them. The simple act of giving them a shot every day that washes away their symptoms gives me a mysterious authority.

But that doesn’t mean that other members of the IIC are not working behind my back at other facilities to try to develop
a better vaccine. I’m alert enough to know there are scientists in our center who are sending out data on their computers to other IIC sites. That I cannot control, and I’m not even sure if I want to.

Because I have two holds on the IIC, not one. They need me to stay healthy, and they need me because of the blood samples I carry. The blood Umara has so carefully gathered over the eons. My decision to infect the IIC was to get them moving quickly. But it’s the Telar blood that gives me my true control over them.

Cynthia Brutran is still a mystery to me. She knows the danger X6X6 represents. She may crave power but she’s wise enough to know there has to be someone left alive on the planet to have power over. She should be doing everything she can to help me destroy the Telar.

Yet, when it comes to the Cradle, she keeps stalling me.

It’s like she’s afraid for me to meet the children. I’ve been at the Malibu center for three days and still only a trickle of the kids who make up the Cradle have arrived. I’ve met them, twenty teens and preteens, and they seem normal enough, although on the quiet side. But I suspect I haven’t met any of the kids who control the actual Lens.

My patience with Brutran quickly runs out.

On the fourth night, I tell her we’re going for a walk.

We sneak out through a hidden exit Freddy has already alerted me to. It’s late, close to dawn, and the half moon has
risen. It lights our way as we stroll along a path that leads through the hills behind the compound.

“Why are you afraid to talk inside?” she asks.

“Why are you? You act like every room has ears.”

“That’s close to the truth. Security monitors every important area. They’ll know we’ve left the building.”

“Don’t worry. You must know Harold in security? He and I have become good friends. He’s not going to talk about our great escape.”

“I’ve noticed the two of you talking. For a vampire who’s brought nothing but disease, you’ve managed to develop quite a following.”

“The rank and file don’t know I’m a vampire.” When I give the injections, I work fast but not at hyper speed. Nevertheless, the soldiers who broke into Brutran’s office have spread the rumor that I’m no ordinary woman. I don’t mind. I have gone out of the way to build their trust but a little fear can be a good thing.

“They don’t think you’re human, either,” Cindy says.

“But they like me more than they like you. Does that bother you?”

“No.”

“I think it does. It must get lonely working in a building where your nickname is the Wicked Witch.”

“No one calls me that.”

“Not to your face. You should have my ears. Do you want to hear some of your other nicknames?”

Brutran acts bored. “You didn’t bring me out here to taunt me.”

“True. I’m annoyed the Cradle’s not here. And don’t give me your usual excuses about their parents and the distances they have to travel and all that bullshit. You’re keeping them away for a reason, even though you know the Telar can strike at any time.”

“I never agreed to bring the Cradle here.”

“Liar. You never agreed to let me join them. You did agree to bring them to this building.”

“I didn’t say those exact words.”

“You gave the impression that bringing them here was not a problem. Now I’m through waiting. Why do you keep stalling?”

“Give me the blood samples and we’ll kill the Telar for you. We’ll start immediately. You can oversee the operation. You can have access to all our surveillance equipment. You can’t imagine how sophisticated it is. We have a dozen satellites that can read a newspaper from orbit. You’ll be able to watch each target that we select die. You can even tell us how you want them to die.”

“No.”

Brutran stops me in mid-stride. “There’s only one reason you would say no to my offer.”

I don’t respond. I wait. She knows.

“You don’t just intend to destroy the Telar. You intend to do the same to us.” She pauses. “Deny it.”

“Why should I deny it? You’re dangerous.”

Brutran sighs. “At last we’re able to speak the truth to one another. Why, from your perspective, is the IIC dangerous?”