Midnight Sonata: Sixth Movement

By: Liz B

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The back room of Smooth was just what Vlad expected, a circus of skin and elegantly dressed vampires. There were plenty of plush carpets and piles of pillows stacked on the floor between large black leather couches. The lamiea sat on the couches with large glasses of red wine in their hands, and their atriensis sat at their feet, like large human dogs, in as little clothes as possible. Vlad had to keep a tight control on his emotions to not sneer or reaching for the sword at his hip. The popular image of lamiea as sex crazed hedonist wasn’t far from the truth. They had been spawned from the blood of the Devil and so enjoyed sins of all types. Killing was their favorite, sex was a close second.

He took a moment to let everyone look him over. Excalibur’s glamour was of a tall, thin faced man with long black hair and sunken in brown eyes. Lee, who trembled slightly next to him, was in tight jeans, sandals and nothing else. No one seemed suspicious so he found an empty seat towards the middle of the room, and took a seat, Lee following submissively behind. He was holding up well for being nervous as a cornered deer. Vlad was hoping he just didn’t scream the first time a lamia approached with the offer of a trade. He reclined against the back of the couch while Lee nervously sat at his feet, looking around at everyone.

“Relax.” Vlad put a hand on Lee’s bare shoulder, “Only a few more hours, and I’ll give you what you want.”

There was a chuckled from the couch behind him and a red haired lamia turned to study Lee, “How long since you last fed him?”

“Oh, a few days,” Vlad said, casually stroking Lee’s hair. “He’ll learn yet.” Lee looked up at him, a little fearfully and Vlad smiled reassuringly. He knew his glamour would hold, but Lee’s nerves might blow their cover before then. The poor guy was convinced he was going to die doing this.

“They always do.” The lamia smiled and offered an elegant hand, “I’m Sasha.”

“Arthur.” Vlad took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.” Sasha turned a little to face him, draping her arms across the back of the couch, watching Lee. “Are you new here?”

Vlad nodded, “I came from the Russian court. Just outside Moscow.” From what Andy had told him, Stephen had decimated the Russian court a few months before he had come to New York. Mentioning the Russian court would most likely bring up Stephen and the information they needed.

And it seemed to work. Sasha paused for a second, and sat up slowly. “There was a lot of trouble in that court recently.”

“Yes, a small bit.” Vlad said casually. He looked around for a waiter or servant to get a glass of wine to blend in and realized that Lee would have to get it for him. He debated sending the kid on his own, but knew there was no other option.

“Wine.” He said simply removing his hand. Lee looked incredibly panicked for a second and then got up and shot off like a rat abandoning ship. Vlad understood quite well now why Lee had refused so vehemently to do this. He really was better behind a computer screen back at the safe house.

“He’s… skittish.” Sasha commented, watching Lee run off.

“It’s fun to watch isn’t it?” Vlad chuckled and smirked.

“You… Russians have weird tastes.” Sasha said eventually and Vlad could only shrug.

“I could say the same about you New Yorkers. Though, Horatio’s tastes are much more refined than I expected. So much more elegant that Stephen’s.”

“You know Stephen?”

Vlad snorted, “Bastard. Killed my clan. I’m here for a little… revenge. But, shhs, it’s all hush hush now.”

Sasha was about to reply when Lee returned, offering a glass of wine. “Here, master.” He mumbled. Vlad took the glass and inclined his head. Lee dropped to his feet again, sitting closer to his legs. Vlad tried not to sigh. Really, if he kept it up, Vlad’s explanation wasn’t going to cut it any more. Maybe they should have gone with Andy’s idea of drugging him.

“No one dares speak out against the great and terrible Stephen.” Vlad sniffed the wine, waiting for a warning from Excalibur. Often lamiea would drug wine. Their supernatural powers kept them from being effected, but it was a fun way to play with their atriensis. There was no warning so he took a sip to keep up appearances and nearly choked. It was blood and wine, a Dragon’s Blood, as the lamiea called it. Vlad kept up appearances though, turning back to Sasha with a slight smile.

“I assume you’re part of Horatio’s court?”

Sasha nodded, “Everyone here is. Are you looking for a new court?”

“I may be, but there’s some unfinished business I must deal with first.”

Sasha looked around before leaning up to his ear, “There’s a rumor, a few unknown vampires have been around the Hilton.”

Vlad inclined his head towards her, “Tell me more.”

 

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“Hey, go patrol.” Andy said, breaking the silence in the car. Anna looked over at her in the driver’s seat, mostly hidden by shadows. Like always the cross at her neck glowed just a little in the darkness, casting some weird shadows on her face. Anna was used to it, but at first it had bothered her. In fact, Andy had bothered her a lot when she had first joined the Company. Andy was too old fashioned, too stuck up and way too instant about the whole God thing to be any sort of teacher, Anna had thought. Instead, Andy’s strange mix of hard ass drill sergeant and stern mother had worked. Anna had learned a lot as her apprentice, even if she objected to the title. Andy knew her stuff, and from what the other apprentices said, training under a Holder was a great honor.

“What if something goes wrong in there?” Anna jerked her chin towards the front door of Smooth. She didn’t want to leave Lee without back up. He was her friend and she knew he was only doing this because she and Andy were waiting as back up.

“Vlad can handle it. We were hit, I want to make sure no one’s following us.” Andy said sternly, “Just look around the black a little, see if you can find anyone.”

“And you trust me to do it?” Anna was a little surprised. Andy usually did the important things herself.

“Hey, you survived a hit squad on your own. I think you can handle a simple patrol.” Andy shrugged, “And there are no innocent Wall-marts in the area.”

Anna rolled her eyes and grabbed her bow out of the back seat before getting out of the car and heading down the alley they had parked the Mini in. It would be pretty useful for getting in and out places the old BMW would never have fit through. It was a good car to escape in, Anna thought as she nocked an arrow and started looking up.

Vampires liked to attack from above and get the drop on their prey. They couldn’t fly, but they could jump very high if they were old enough and strong enough. A hit squad like the one that had attacked them was only made of up the best vampires. They were specially trained warriors who spent their whole unnatural lives learning how to hunt and kill soldiers like her and Andy and they were very good at what they did. They would definitely use the tall buildings to their advantage.

Anna opened her senses and started sniffing the air. Smooth reeked strongly behind her, but she could smell something just under that. She took a step forward and sniffed again. There was definitely the faint scent of old blood in front of her, coming from the end of the alley. She started after the scent, moving slowly, sniffing the air and scanning the buildings. The alley opened up to a little court yard, tucked behind a complex of apartment buildings.

She was startled by a figure in white, with stylishly messy hair standing in the middle of the court yard. He was tall and looked strangely angelic in the light from the back doors of the apartments. She almost expected a pair of feathered wings to appear, but she didn’t believe in angels and knew exactly what this man was.

Anna brought her bow up and took a shot. The vampire moved so quickly out of the way it was like he never moved at all. Anna hesitated inside even as she reached for another arrow. The last time she had faced a vampire so old, her whole family had died. She needed to signal Andy. Together they could take this guy.

“Anna… I’m not here to attack you. I have a message.” The vampire said and Anna froze.

“How do you know my name?” She asked, nocking another arrow and keeping her bow up. “You’re from Stephen’s court, aren’t you?”

The vampire smiled and bowed a little, “Matteo, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Pleasure’s all mine. What do you want?” She snapped. A messenger was supposedly locked into a strict code of conduct, but she’d seen vampires break their word before. She wasn’t about to trust this one just because he claimed to be messenger.

Matteo took a step towards her and she let the arrow fly. Once again he dodged it so quickly it was like he never moved at all. “My, my, you’re quite nervous.”

“Some people say I have trust issues.”

He smiled slowly, “Don’t worry, Anna, I’m not here to hurt you. I only have a message for you.”

“Well deliver it before I dust you.” She said with plenty of false confidence. She may have just survived a hit squad, but this guy was just a bit out of her league. It would take all her skill and a lot of luck to stop him. She didn’t want to admit it, but she really needed Andy on this one.

“Such confidence, he’d said you’d have that. He’s curious; does your scar still twinge in our presence or just his?”

“Shut up.” Anna growled, taking a step towards Matteo and firing. Matteo was gone and then he was standing in front of her, his hand holding her bow tightly. She started to attack but before she could even raise her foot to kick, her back hit concrete. Matteo had her pressed up against the wall of one of the apartment buildings, more in shadow than light. Her bow clattered to the ground as he wrenched it from her hand and then pinned them to the wall behind her.

“My dear, just because you’re confident the detective has forgotten doesn’t mean we are.” Matteo leaned in and whispered in her ear. She strained against his hold, trying everything she could to break free, but his supernatural strength was too much. She bit back a whimper of fear when she heard him hiss and felt his fangs brush against her neck.

And then he was gone. She landed in a heap on the ground. She scrambled for her bow, quickly getting to her feet and nocking an arrow. She spun around, scanning every inch of the court yard for the bastard vampire. Breathing hard she lowered the bow as her hands started shaking.

That had been too close. Way too close. He could have… he could have fed on her and she couldn’t have done a thing about it. She slapped a hand over the spot where he had dragged his fangs, and then looked at it, relieved that there was no blood on her palm. He hadn’t broken the skin.

But, had he delivered any sort of message? He’d said something about the detective. Which detective? Something about forgetting, right? She tried to remember his exact words, but there was too much adrenaline, too much fear left over from the attack for her to think straight. Anna had to calm down and then think. There was no way she could do that here. It wasn’t safe here. Moving quickly she grabbed up the arrows she’d fired, straining to listen for any sound, breathing deeply to catch any hint of stale blood. She slid her arrows back into the quiver and then went back to the Mini. She tossed her bow into the back seat as she got in, then slammed the door closed with a little more force than needed. \

Andy glanced over at her, one eyebrow raised. “Find anything?”

Anna opened her mouth to tell her about the white vampire, Matteo, but instead closed her mouth and shook her head, “We’re clear.”

“And see, nothing went wrong inside. You were worried over nothing.”

 

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Mike pounded a hand on Bobby’s door. He had spent the past few days and nights doing everything he could to remember, but nothing came. He couldn’t remember a damn thing and it was driving him crazy. Even Anita couldn’t answer his questions. The investigation into his attack was stalled and no one had any answers for him. It was driving him crazy. He pounded on the door again because if there was one person who could answer his questions it was Bobby.

When the door open Mike used his good arm to push his way inside. Bobby had done a better job of cleaning up his place than Mike had with his. It must have been easier when you have two good working arms. His had one arm in a sling, so he wouldn’t tear out his stitches.

“Logan, what’s going on?” Bobby sounded confused.

“You know something.” Mike turned to face him, glaring hard, “You know what happened to me. I want to know what you know.”

“Logan I…”

“No, no, no, I don’t by that I was knocked out too crap you’ve been feeding Green and Cassady.” Mike snapped, “I want the truth, damn it. I don’t care why you’re lying to them, but you better not lie to me. I was shot, damn it.”

Bobby looked away, “It’s complicated.”

Mike laughed bitterly, “That’s your excuse? It’s complicated? We were attacked and your answer for everything is it’s complicated? I should report your ass to IAB for this.”

Bobby frowned angrily, “Hey, wait a minute.”

“You’re screwing up an investigation, Goren, that’s more than just a toe over the line.”

“There’s not much to investigate. We both got jumped and you can remember a thing! Don’t take your frustrations about the case out on me.”

“Yeah, but you remember, don’t you?” Mike took a step towards Bobby, “You know something you’re not telling. You’re holding back.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, because normally you’d be all over this investigation, but I asked Van Buren, you haven’t called her, Green or Cassady once. You haven’t called the lab either. You’re ignoring this whole thing, which is definitely not the Goren I’ve worked with. So, whatcha hiding from us?”

Bobby started to walk away, “Just let it go, Logan.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t remember a damn thing!”

“And that makes you feel vulnerable doesn’t it?” Bobby whirled on him, his eyes intense, “You can’t remember, and you don’t know who attacked you, so you’ve got no one to be angry at. You don’t have an enemy that you can put a face to and you’re always waiting for the next attack. You’re vulnerable when you don’t know who you’re fighting and that makes you angry.”

“Don’t profile me, Goren.” Mike growled, “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

“Don’t I?” Now Bobby invaded Mike’s space, “I can guess though. Abusive parents, rough childhood, and a, a need to stop the bad guys and prove your worth, but you just can’t tow the line of the angels. You can’t commit, everyone knows about your temper and you can’t stand to be vulnerable again.”

“You’re gonna want to shut up now.” Mike said quietly, his voice cold.

Bobby drew back from him and took a step back. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. When he opened his eyes he looked apologetic and pleading, “I can’t tell you, Logan. I know you can’t understand that, but I just can’t tell you. It’s too dangerous.”

“Fine. Fine.” He pointed a finger at Bobby, “I’m telling Green and Cassady you’re holding back. I’m going to find out what you know.” With that he turned and stormed out of Bobby’s apartment. His good hand was clenched tightly in a fist and he was so damn angry he could have hit something. Bobby’s face would have felt good, it would have felt damn good.

What the hell was up with that bastard? What the hell had him so damned spooked he couldn’t even tell him what was wrong? Mike had been attacked too damn it! He had a right to know what the hell was going on! But the jack ass know it all big time profiler wasn’t going to share. Mike kicked viciously at a street light, trying to get rid of some of the anger tearing him up inside.

He had a damn hard decision to make. If he told Green and Cassady, which looked like a satisfying option right now, the whole investigation would swing towards Bobby and ruin the guy’s career most likely. If he let it go, he’d never know what happened to him and the punk bastard that shot him would get away with it. The cop in him, the part that believed in the brotherhood and the blue wall, was sick at the idea of casting suspicion on Bobby, but the man needed answers.

He yelled his frustrations to the sky and then marched home. He was going to take a Vicodin and in the morning he’d call Olivet. She was bound by confidentiality, and she was the only person he could talk to right now. Damn it, some days he really wished Lennie was still alive.

 

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Andy sat down next to Vlad and motioned towards Lee, “How’d he do?”

Vlad finished drinking the bottled water and let out a breath, “He was way too nervous to be any real good.”

Andy nodded, “Sort of expected that, but hey, he didn’t get your cover blown.”

“Thank the Gods.”

They were back at the safe house after two hours of sitting and waiting for Vlad and Lee to come out of Smooth. It didn’t look like anyone inside had suspected a thing and Andy hadn’t spotted a tail on the way back. They may have just pulled this off without a hitch. She had her fingers crossed on that one though. It was hard to tell with lamiea sometimes.

Anna was with Lee, listening to him rant and rave with appropriate dramatic hand gestures. She had been trying to calm him down since he got in the Mini, but so far he seemed to just get more and more animated. Those two were close, though and it was probably better that Anna was listening. She would stand all the extra details in Lee’s little speech.

“So, what did you learn?” Andy asked.

“There have been rumors about Stephen’s clan hanging out around the Hilton, but others have seen them going in and out of a house on Fifth Avenue. There are little groups all over the city, and a few of them have even been spotted in Horatio’s territory.” Vlad sighed, “There’s nothing concrete. Stephen is covering his tracks well and being very careful.”

“Sounds like Stephen.”

“The best place to look for him would be a gentlemen’s club in TriBeCa, apparently.”

“Yet another place you or Lee will have to go.”

“Unless we do this like Paris and you get a job.” Vlad smirked and Andy rolled her eyes.

“Oh yeah, because that worked out so well for me.” She drawled sarcastically.

Vlad nodded, “The cat suit wasn’t one of your better moments.”

“Hey, you try doing a round house kick in a stiletto heel and leather, see if you make it.”

Vlad chuckled and Andy smiled. In the old days, before she became responsible for Lada’s death, she and Vlad were like family. Feodor had taken her away from her family, she had moved to Russia, where Vlad was already training with him. They started training together, and hunting together. Those experiences bounded them together and at the time she had thought they’d be best friends forever. Yeah, it hadn’t lasted. She remembered the day Lada had been executed by beheading. Vlad had waited outside the room and when she had come out, he looked at her, tears streaming down his cheeks and simply walked away. It was the day she’d been promoted to full antepilana status, a day she always expected to share with Vlad but she’d never seen him again. They hadn’t spoken in ten years, and here they were, sitting next to each other like nothing had changed.

“How has it…” Vlad started but was cut off by Anna.

“Hey, dinner, I’m hungry, anyone else want Chinese?” She said, clapping her hands together.

Andy looked over at her and considered for a moment, grateful for the interruption. She had no idea what Vlad was about to say, but she was definitely sure she didn’t want to hear it. She was not good with those TV drama moments. “Just the usual, kid. And make it a large. Vlad?”

He looked vaguely annoyed but shrugged, “Seafood stir fry.” Anna nodded, walking towards the door.

“I’ll be back.” She grinned before slipping out.

“You okay Lee?” Andy called, ignoring Vlad as best she could.

“I’m fine.” Lee snapped, grabbing a large can of soda from the mini fridge hiding under the bank of computers. “Now, don’t bother me. I’ve got ogres to slay.”

“Alright, Gizmo, thanks for helping out.” Lee waved a hand and slid on large headphones. They weren’t going to hear from Lee for awhile.

“Andrea,” Vlad said drawing her attention back. Okay, this was going to get awkward, she thought, settling in for a conversation she was trying to avoid. “How has hunting been for you recently? I’ve been called more and more, despite being out of the Centuria. The lamiea have always been Europe’s problem, like Africa and wyverns. America has only been troubled with the skinwalkers, but…”

Andy blinked, well, she certainly wasn’t expecting that. She was a lot relieved and a little disappointed. Shaking it off she focused back on Vlad, “The lamiea in Europe are looking for new territory. The old courts have exsisted for hundreds of years over there and a bunch of punk upstarts want their own territory. They figure America’s ripe for the picking, at least some parts of it. Anna and I have been here for about five years, sometimes following Stephen, sometimes just hunting.”

“My cousin developed a system to track them.”

“Your cousin knows about the lamiea?”

Vlad gave her a look, “I don’t keep secrets from my family.”

Something deep inside her flinched and wanted to lash out in old anger, but she pushed it down, trying to ignore the old wounds, “Well, what did he find?”

“He got into all these numbers and theories, but from what I understood he’s not tracking the lamiea himself, but the gene needed to survive the transformation process. He says in a few days he’ll have something.”

“Are you offering to share this with the Centuria?”

He sighed, “The call is stronger now, Andrea, harder to ignore. I have to help, you understand.”

Andy nodded, “Yeah. I think… I think something nasty might be coming, Vladimir. It’s just a feeling I have. It might be Damascus, it might be paranoia, but it’s out there and it’s planning something.”

 

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            Green looked around Mike Logan’s apartment, struck by the similarities between this scene and the last one. Furniture was over turned, windows broken and piles of dust and clothes littered the floor. The oddest thing was the arrows sticking out of the walls in random places all over. There were spatters of blood on some walls and drops of it on the floor. Logan’s gun was under the couch, empty. Whoever had hit Logan the first time had come back.

He got up from his crouch when his Lieutenant came. She looked around the apartment, her face expressionless and then settled on him. “What happened?”

“Neighbor called it in, Cassady’s talking to her now. About four this morning, she called 911 saying there was a fight going down next door. By the time the uniforms got here, they found it like this.”

Van Buren looked around again, frowning deeply. “Are those arrows?”

Green nodded, “CSU says they’re carbon fiber, the type you’d use with a compound hunting bow. They’re going to check them for prints. They haven’t found any type of bow.”

“Any idea what they’re doing in Mike’s wall?”

Green shrugged, “You know the guy, does he hunt?”

Van Buren chuckled, “Mike Logan? Right. What else?”

“Well, there’s some blood, it’s on a rush to the lab and more of this dust.”

“The same kinda dust that was in the first report?”

“Probably.”

“Calcium and rust.” Van Buren shook her head, “What the hell has Mike gotten himself into?”

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