The Meridian Gamble (20 page)

“There’s a taste to his blood,” she
says.

“I think it’s all the scotch that
they gave him,” Tom says. “It’s giving me a buzz.”

“Don’t be stupid. Obviously, I can
taste that,” she says, sarcastically. “It’s something else. Something chemical.
It’s subtle, like he’s taken an aspirin, perhaps. We’ll have to talk to the
handlers about being more careful with our food.”

At the other end of the table, I
can see tiny droplets of sweat building on the body of the woman, as Lina and
Angel play games between her legs. I can hear the woman’s breath becoming
labored, as she struggles between the thrill of her stimulation and the
dwindling energies of her life force.

And the two girls laugh,
maniacally.

The man is staring off into space,
and I feel sorry for him, because he looks just a bit pale. I worry that Tom
and Marion drank too deeply. But his demeanor is different that the woman’s.
His brow bears the slightest degree of stress, and he seems to stare off from
behind his blindfold, as if he’s trying to absorb everything he can about the
experience through what limited range of senses he’s been allowed.

Adam seems to sense that their two
victims have had all they can take, and he gets up and moves to the little
lounge area. And Jennifer and Tom join him. Slowly, Marion and Bernard pull
away too, and I’m relieved that at least one of the humans will survive the
night, assuming Angel and Lina don’t jerk the woman off into a heart attack.
But finally, they tire of their prey, and join the rest of their family, as
waiters come back in and begin passing out champagne. But the vampires already
seem drunk from their feast.

For some reason, I want to stay
with the man for a few moments more, to comfort him after his ordeal.

“You’d better watch it,” I can hear
Tom saying to Adam. “It seems like someone has caught your girlfriend’s
attention.”

“You’re the only one who’s had to
worry about that sort of thing,” Adam says.

And Tom scowls at him, with just a
slight hint of real menace. There must be a bit of rivalry between the two men.

But I don’t care. For some reason,
I can’t leave my chair, perhaps because I want to protect the man on the table,
and make sure he’s all right. I begin to caress his jaw, and wipe the hair from
his brow. And I rub the back of his neck, which must be sore from lying on a
hard board. Though it’s difficult to tell, I feel like the man appreciates it.

It’s interesting to me, to know
that they don’t kill their victims. A bit of a relief. Even though the vampires
are kinky and bizarre, they don’t take lives. Not on this night, under these
circumstances. It helps me to know that at least Adam didn’t intend to walk me
into that.

From the table, the man moves his
head ever so slightly. And he seems to think we’re alone, at least for the
moment.

“Who are you?” he says.

And it makes me nervous, especially
for him. For some reason, I think that the vampire supplicants aren’t supposed
to talk.

“I’m no one,” I say back to him.

“Tell me your name,” he asks,
furtively.

“You don’t need to know that.”

“Why?”

I lean in very close to his ear,
and whisper.

“Because now that you’ve dared to
speak, they’ll probably feed what’s left of you to the young ones.”

I get up and leave him at the
table. His talking has soured my mood. It makes me feel stupid, to have tried
to show him kindness, when he’s just a little sneak trying to get information
out of me. And by the time I join the others, the waiters are already clearing
them away.

The evening has come to an end, it
seems. Lina and Angel are the first to leave. But before they go, Lina
approaches me and touches my shoulder, which practically makes me jump from my
skin.

“Meridian, it was such a treat to
meet you. Rarely do I encounter such a challenging young woman. Angel and I
really would love to take you to lunch, to get to know you better.”

“That would be … um, great.”

“Wonderful,” she says, touching my
shoulder again. And I shake my head as she leaves. It’s strange, that her
entire attitude toward me has changed, and I feel like I’ve passed a test. And
the others look to me in amusement, sensing my discomfort.

“Somehow I think that’s a lunch I
won’t be having,” I say, when she’s gone.

Jennifer and Tom also say their
goodbyes, and Jennifer comes to my side.

“It was so nice to meet you,
Meridian. You know, if you’re really bored with that advertising job, you
should come work for me,” Jennifer says. “I’m looking for a new head of
marketing.”

“Wow,” I say, trying to keep my jaw
from hitting the floor. “That certainly sounds interesting, but I’m not quite
sure I’m at that level just yet.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I
like to go with my gut, and something tells me you would be perfect for the
job,” she says with a smile. “But at the very least, I’m sure we could find a
place for you on my team. Give me a call, and we’ll talk.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that.”

As they go, I let out a small
chuckle, unsure of what to make of her offer, which excites me just a bit. And
now we’re the last ones left. Adam put his arm around my shoulders, and Marion
turns to me.

She eyes me with interest.

“So what did you think of our
little dinner party, Meridian?”

“It was definitely … interesting.”

“I’m sure it was all a bit
intimidating, especially your first time. But I want you to know that as long
as you’re here, you will be safe. Consider yourself under my protection.”

“Thank you, Marion,” I say. But I’m
just a bit unsure how much I can trust of what she says.

Marion smiles and leans in a bit,
whispering to me, even though the others can hear.

“You have a bit of a cruel streak
in you, don’t you?” she says. “I like that.”

“I can’t help it, that man was
irritating, somehow. He was … presumptuous.”

“He should not have spoken to you,”
Marion says. “He definitely will not be invited back.”

I’ve never thought of myself as
being cruel, and I wonder what it is that she sees in me. I do tend to spew
venom at the workplace. And there was a certain pleasure to be had in torturing
Lina on the Astral Plane. I wonder if it’s some glimmer of Saga’s nature that’s
bubbling up inside me.

And Adam is smiling at me. I feel
like he’s proud.

“Marion, there was something odd
about that man.”

“Yes, I know you didn’t like him.”

“Well, he just didn’t seem as into
it as the woman.”

“He seemed very ‘into it’ to me,”
she says with a laugh. “Though he was a bit chatty. We usually don’t let them
speak. He’ll have to be punished for that. Though I think we’ll stop short of
feeding him to the young ones, even though he might enjoy it.”

She looks at me with a mock serious
gaze, and laughs.

“You said there was an odd taste to
his blood. Could it have been something other than aspirin?”

“You mean like poison? That’s
impossible. Our systems are too powerful. Anything that could even affect us
would kill him instantly.”

“What about something like Viagra?
To ensure that he was excited? Has a spy ever managed to infiltrate this
place?”

“If he had sinister intentions, we
would have picked up on them telepathically.”

“Unless he was very well trained,”
Adam says. “Or hypnotized, to mask his fear. Perhaps he was approached just
before he came in.”

Marion stops, and the color in her
face seems to fade, ever so slightly. She sets her champagne down on a nearby
table.

“I’ve never tasted blood laced with
Viagra, but … you don’t think?”

“I didn’t taste his blood, but … I
once drank from a man who had taken Viagra. Circumstances required that I take
a quick sip,” Adam says. “He was one of Charlotte’s toys. You know how she
likes to push them to their limits. And I remember thinking it tasted like he’d
just had an aspirin.”

She stops for a quick moment, and
looks to Bernard.

“Thank you, Meridian. I’ll look
into this,” Marion says.

And with that, she rushes off
through the double doors, with Bernard in tow. I can see through the round
windows that they head to the left, where I imagine the kitchen is.

And I’m suddenly alone in the room
with Adam.

“I think she likes you,” he says.

“Did I …”

I want to ask if I passed, but I’m
not sure how to say it covertly, if it’s dangerous to speak, because they might
be recording us. But I want to ask if they think I’m Saga, if I gave myself
away. Which I’m sure I did. I was stupid, I should never have challenged Lina,
or spoken to Marion about my intuitions.

“You did fine,” he says. “Come on,
there’s something else I want to show you.”

And he leads me through the double
doors, where Marion went, only we go in the opposite direction.

We’re soon at another elevator, not
the service one. And I assume this one goes between the floors of their living
area. I can hear the car moving with a strange pneumatic whoosh that makes me
think it’s state of the art technology beyond what we humans use.

And I’m still thinking about the
hunky man on the table, and what I may have done to him. He wasn’t one of the
Luminos, he didn’t have their glow. But he might have been one of their pawns.
I worried so much about them killing him, and now I may have damned him to that
fate.

A sickened feeling rises up within
me.

“Adam, do you think …”

I don’t even have to say it. Though
Adam claims he can’t breach my mental defenses, it still feels like he can read
my mind.

“Don’t worry about him now,
Meridian. He brought this on himself. We have more important things to think
about.”

The doors to the elevator open, and
we get in. He hits a button low on the control panel, and the car begins
sinking down, way down. Adam didn’t say where we’re headed, and I’m afraid to
ask, but I’m thinking we must be moving toward the basement. And I can only
imagine what strange sights I might see there, maybe a hidden vault filled with
vampire treasures. Or a room full of jewelry rescued from the Titanic.

My mind drifts back to the dinner
party, and now that we’re alone, I can’t help but to press the issue.

“So do you think they suspect
anything?”

“I’m sure they do now,” Adam says,
calmly. “But that doesn’t matter. They would have suspected anyway. It’s the
knowing that will cause us problems. You’re still my Chosen One, and they can’t
do anything without proof, which won’t be easy to get. And we’re not going to
give it to them.”

Adam’s Chosen One. It sounds scary
and seductive at the same time. But there’s something else in his eyes. Even
though he isn’t saying anything, I can sense it. It’s in the subtle way his jaw
muscles clench. And now I’m afraid to think where we might be going.

The elevator moves in a way that’s
quicker than a normal one, and just a bit sickening. I wonder if it’s even
meant for humans, it drops so fast. And I wonder exactly how far underground we
are. It makes me just a bit nervous, to think that the vampires are burrowing
beneath the city, and I wonder just how expansive their hidden lair is.

The doors open, and we walk out
into a darkened corridor. It’s so dark that I can barely see, and I can’t
understand why there aren’t any lights, until I finally realize that the
vampires don’t need them, their vision is so keen. Adam holds my hand to guide
me, and when I stumble for a moment, he deftly reaches out to stabilize me.

I’m not sure, but it seems as
though the corridor curves, once again. But maybe I’m just disoriented from
being unable to see. Finally, as my eyes begin to adjust, I can detect that
we’re approaching a light. And it seems like it takes forever for us to walk
toward it.

The light comes from a square panel
on the wall, a window looking into a much larger room. When we get to it, I can
see that there are tubes inside, seemingly hundreds of them that stretch off
into the distance. They look like giant aquariums. At first, I think that it’s
some kind of hydroponic garden, but that doesn’t make sense. The vampires don’t
eat fruits and vegetables, and I doubt they have enough human guests to warrant
such an expansive endeavor.

And then I realize that there are
humans floating in the tanks.

I gasp, and back away, bumping into
Adam. He puts his hands on my shoulders, holding me in place. And suddenly, the
world shifts once more. For the first time, his touch feels cold, like it’s
something I should fear.

“Oh God, these are the tanks,” I
say.

Inside the room, there are two
technicians dressed in surgical scrubs, monitoring their harvest with what look
like tablet computers. And they turn at the sound of my voice, even though I
can’t hear a thing from inside the room.

They smile at me with hungry grins.
And for a moment, I swear I can see them bare their fangs.

“Why … why did you bring me here?”

“Because you need to see this.”

“Why?” I ask, incredulously.

“You need to see everything. You
need to know everything about me, so there are no surprises later. It’s for
your own safety.”

I take a closer look, and I can see
tubes running from the bodies in the tanks, like the ones the vampires had
sucked from during their meal. It’s sickening, their prisoners are being
drained of their blood, as they float helplessly. There are young men, old men,
women … thankfully, no children. And they have some sort of breathing apparatus
over their mouths. I can’t tell if it’s actually water they’re suspended in,
but that doesn’t make sense, because it would be too harmful to their skin,
wrinkling them like prunes. Unless maybe the vampires don’t intend for them to
live very long.