Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles (28 page)

“This is the detonation switch to the vest on Christopher Taylor.
 
If my finger leaves this red button, it will explode, killing him and most of the others as well.
 
Do not try anything with me or they die.”

–––––––

“Dammit,” the negotiator yelled, slamming his fist down on the console.
 
“He found the ear bud and destroyed it.
 
We don’t have a clue what’s going on and Michael is flying blind.”
 

Marcus and Silas looked at one another.
 
Alec was smart and had abilities none of the humans could guess at, when he could access them.
 
They both focused their hearing towards the building and what was going on inside, but there was too much distance and too much noise going on for them to hear anything.
 
One of them would have to get closer.
 

––––––––

The masked man looked Alec up and down.
 

“So you’re a vampire?”

Alec hesitated a moment.
 

“No.
 
I’m a representative of the vampires.
 
I work with them.”
 
Alec figured with his ear bud destroyed he didn’t have to be as careful with what he said.
 
No one on the other end could hear him now if he gave any secrets away.
 
Actually, he realized that wasn’t completely true.
 
Silas and Marcus might be able to hear him from outside.
 
He wasn’t sure but he might still be able to relay information through them and they could still advise him.
 
He trained his hearing towards the outside of the building but there was just too much going on out there.
 
Damn.

“What?!” the masked man exploded.
 
“I asked for a vampire!
 
What sort of game are you playing here?”
 
He was practically yelling now and leveled his gun at Alec.

“Calm down, calm down,” Alec said motioning with his hands for the man to chill.
 
He figured what the hell; the truth couldn’t hurt so he addressed the man.

“The vampires couldn’t get near you with all the silver so they sent me instead.
 
I work with them and speak on their behalf.”

The man was breathing heavily.

“How do I know this isn’t a trick of some sort?”

Alec shrugged.
 
“You will have to trust me.”

The masked man scoffed at this.
 
“Trust you?”

“Yes,” Alec said calmly.
 
“Why would I put my life in danger to come in here and lie to you?
 
Does that make any kind of sense?”

The man paused then, thinking.

“I’ll tell you what.
 
I am going to test you.
 
For every answer you get wrong I kill a hostage.
 
If I think you are lying, I kill a hostage.
 
You still willing to stick to your story?”
 
The man was acting very erratic.
 
It made Alec nervous, but he nodded once.

The man pulled one of the silver crosses off his belt and tossed it to Alec.
 
“Catch.”
 
Alec didn’t know if he was immune to silver or not.
 
This could go bad pretty quickly.
 
He caught the cross in his hand.
 
To his relief, nothing happened.
 
He was immune to silver as well.

“Silver doesn’t hurt me,” Alec said out loud.

“Okay, so you aren’t a vampire,” the man said thinking.
 
He focused on Alec again.

“What would have happened to you if you had been a vampire and caught the cross?”

“It would have blistered my skin and made me very weak,” Alec answered without hesitation.
 
“But crosses and religious artifacts don’t hurt vampires.
 
It’s the silver they are ‘allergic’ to.”
 
The man narrowed his eyes but nodded his head slightly.

“Can vampires turn into bats or fly?”

Alec almost laughed at the question.
 

“No.
 
That’s part of the myth.”
 
Alec hoped he was just testing him and not a lunatic that believed all the stories he’d read.
 
Obviously the man wasn’t just going on stories from books because he nodded.

“Can a vampire compel people to do things by looking into their eyes?” the man asked carefully.

Alec sighed.
 
“Oh yeah.
 
That they can do.”

The masked man looked uncomfortable with the answer that Alec gave him but Alec could tell it was what he’d been expecting.

“Are we done with the tests?
 
I work with the vampires.
 
I’m like a human-vampire liaison.
 
What’s your name by the way?
 
If we are going to be working on all this,” Alec said motioning around him to the hostages, “together, then I need to know what to call you.”

“You can call me Jinx.”

“You can call me Michael,” Alec said.
 
He’d almost given his real name out of habit.

“What is your real name Jinx?”

The man shook his head and laughed.
 

“Oh no, that I’m not telling you.
 
If I escape here alive I don’t want you tracking me down.”

“Alec, it’s Marcus.
 
Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Alec said before he’d realized what he was doing.

“I went across to the other building and entered through the connected basements.
 
There are cops on every floor above you. Silas didn’t want you to be alone in there.”

Alec felt a lot better knowing that Marcus was somewhere close by, just in case things went bad or he needed advice.

Jinx was frowning at him now.
 

“So what is it you want here?” Alec continued and took a chance to walk a little closer.
 
He couldn’t see everyone in the room from his vantage point and didn’t like being close to the doors in case there was a firefight.
 
He walked further in, around Jinx, who eyed him warily and kept his gun trained on Alec.
 
Alec scanned the room and counted quickly.

“I want some answers.
 
I want to be left alone.
 
I just want to live my life peacefully without being threatened all the time.”

Alec frowned at that.
 
“Who’s threatening you?”

The man laughed a high-pitched laugh.
 
“The vampires.
 
I want them to leave me alone.”

“So is this everyone, all the hostages?
 
Just these twenty three people kneeling on the floor, the guy typing on his computer and Mister Taylor, naked on the floor with a bomb strapped to his chest?”
 

The twenty-three men and women looked uncomfortable kneeling on the floor.
 
It had to hurt their knees.
 
Their ages ranged from early teens to some in their sixties.
 
Alec wasn’t sure who the man on the computer was, but he looked like he was feverishly working away.
 
Every now and then, he’d stop to push his brownish-red hair out of his face.

Alec heard Marcus relay the information to Silas and the FBI.
 
Alec was glad that Marcus was there.

Jinx squinted at him.
 

“Why are you being so specific with the details, and why are you asking?” He was getting suspicious.
 
His gun had been trailing away from Alec, but the masked man snapped it back in line.

“Sorry,” Alec said shaking his head.
 
“I’m trying to make sure that there are no wounded or dead from earlier when you opened fire.”

“No, this is it.
 
No one is injured.”
 
Jinx didn’t quite look convinced with Alec’s explanation.

“These people don’t look comfortable on their knees.”
 
Some of the older people were wincing in pain.
 
“Why don’t you let them sit?
 
Show them, there is nothing to be afraid of and this will be over soon.”
 
Alec looked at the young man on the computer.
 
He was wearing the same type of tactical vest Jinx was.

“And who is the gentleman on the computer?” Alec asked.

The man looked up at Alec then.
 
He was in his twenties; his green eyes looked more than a little scared.

“Steven Reynolds, computer hacker and hostage,” he said raising his hand.

Jinx glared at him then and Steven dropped his eyes and hand back to his computer quickly.

“Do you mind if I ask, why is Mister Taylor naked?” Alec asked, looking at Jinx.

“To teach him a lesson in humility,” Jinx said bitterly.
 
There was something here, a relationship of some sort.
 
Old friends? Rivals?

“I think Mister Taylor has learned some humility.
 
He looks miserable.”
 
That much was true.
 
The man looked like he’d been crying.
 
The hair on his head and chest was plastered down with sweat.
 

“People like Chris never learn their lessons.
 
They go through life with rich daddies that pay everything for them and let them run all over people.”
 
Jinx was bitter and sounded like he was talking from personal experience.
 
And he’d called him Chris instead of Christopher or Mister Taylor.
 
They knew one another.

He decided to try something.

“Jinx, I’m sure Mister Taylor is a very nice man if you got to know him.
 
Not all rich people are bad.”

Jinx barked out a “Ha!” and shook his head.
 
“He’s an ass.
 
He and his father both.
 
Even after I went to the Senator and told him Chris was bullying me he didn’t do anything.
 
All he said was, ‘They’re just having some fun, be a man’.
 
Well are you having fun now, Chris?
 
Are you?”

Chris shook his head.
 
“No.”

Jinx didn’t even realize that in his madness he’d let something slip.
 
He was just angry and hurt.
 
Alec could hear Marcus relaying the information to Silas via radio, and knew that Silas would be searching for Senator Taylor to question him about the incident, asking him to remember who it was.
 
While they were working on information, Alec decided to switch gears.
 
He didn’t want Jinx to realize he’d given anything away and get pissed at Alec.

“Why don’t you show Mister Taylor here that you are the better man and let him get dressed, and please let these people sit down.
 
Some of them look like they are going to fall over.”

“Stop calling him Mister Taylor.
 
His name is Chris.
 
He doesn’t deserve your respect, or mine.”
 
Jinx was getting agitated again.
 
His eyes were flicking back and forth and he kept licking his lips.

“Okay, calm down.
 
Why don’t you let Chris get dressed and let the others sit?
 
That’s not out of respect, it’s out of compassion, something you don’t think Chris has.
 
Show him you are the better man.
 
Show him how he
should
treat people.”

Jinx thought about it for a minute.
 

“Fine.
 
Hand him his pants.
 
Just his pants.
 
I want to show him I have compassion but that I’m also the one in control here.”
 
He spat the last few words out.

Alec walked across the room and grabbed Chris’s khaki pants and tossed them to him.
 
He caught them and put them on quickly.
 
Everyone else looked relieved to be able to finally sit.
 
Some couples were clinging to each other, terrified and afraid for their lives.
 

“Thank you Jinx for showing compassion to these innocent people,” Alec said trying to emphasize that there were innocent bystanders in the line of fire.
 
Alec didn’t think that Jinx was used to guns.
 
He noticed that most of the time the barrel of the gun wavered and pointed at the wall or floor.
 
He didn’t think Jinx was really the violent type.
 
He had just been pushed too far by something or someone.
 
If it weren’t for the detonator that he held, Alec would have rushed him.
 
He just wasn’t sure he was fast enough to dodge bullets, disarm the man
and
keep the detonator button pushed.

“So, what information are you wanting to know?” Alec asked, bringing the topic back on track.
 
Jinx didn’t even realize that he wasn’t really the one in control here.

“I want to know everything about the vampires and why they are following me.
 
I want to know how to make them stop.”
 
Jinx sounded like he was really upset.
 
Alec didn’t know if the vampires were following Jinx or not, but Jinx certainly believed it to be real.

Alec thought for a moment.
 

“I will tell you what I can.”
 
Jinx got upset and started to protest.
 

“Wait, hear me out.
 
I will tell you what I can.
 
Some of it I don’t know and some of it I’m not allowed to tell you for your own safety.”
 
He made sure Jinx understood.
 
He looked slightly mollified.
 
Alec was stalling for time so Marcus could get him some information.
 
He decided to push his luck a little.