Broken Heart 01 I'm the Vampire, That's Why (17 page)

"Ron?" I laughed. "You're kidding. Their leader's name is
Ron
! That doesn't exactly inspire fear, does it?"

"He decided a few decades ago that Ronald was better than Ragnvaldr," said Patrick, "which was the name his mother gave him three thousand years ago."

"Oh," I said. "I see his point. Is he…
droch fhola
?"

"No. He's just an asshole," said Drake.

"Where's the rest of the Brady Bunch?" I asked. The room was missing several Panel of Doom members, including Nasty Nara. "Why is it just you guys in this powwow?"

There was another male-to-male exchange via significant glances. I sighed. Hey. Finally! "Something's going down in the Consortium, right?"

"Few can be trusted,
liebling"
said one of the D-men. "We believe some of our problems stem from our own community. Unfortunately, there are traitors among us. They work for the Wraiths to discover what we know about the Taint and they wish to sabotage the Consortium's efforts."

I found it really interesting thatNara wasn't part of this inner circle. Did they suspect she was a traitor?

Or did they realize how much I wanted to pull out her hair strand by strand? Probably the latter.

"Tell us about the Wraiths," I said. They sounded like a pain in the ass. Like I wanted to be worried about
another
group of vampires marching into Broken Heart and wreaking more havoc.

"As Stan said, the Wraiths have a different view of the world's pecking order," said Patrick. "We thought they were inconsequential. Unorganized. We were wrong."

"We received intelligence that they were planning an attack on our facility," said François. "Since we'd decided to move to Broken Heart, we had already moved many of our personnel and equipment out of the buildings."

"Most of the RVs were already in transit," added Patrick. "But the Wraiths infiltrated our underground chambers and set off flash bombs. Those vampires still inside were incinerated. They set fire to everything else and destroyed it all."

"But if the Wraiths know you're searching for a way to stop the disease," I said, "why would they kill your people and set fire to a place that might house the cure?"

"Unless they have a cure," said François, his gaze thoughtful. "
C'est possible
? We know that the disease does not transmit to humans or to werewolves. Hmmm. Did you hear about the recently discovered temple in theSudan ?"

I stared at him. "Yeah. I'm a regular reader of
National Geographic
."

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Ol' Frankie's brows quirked. "You wield sarcasm, madam, as well as a master swordsman does."

"Gee, thanks." I smiled at him and batted my lashes.

Quit flirting. Patrick flicked the command into my head. He sounded half-annoyed, half-amused.

I'm not flirting.

Quit being cute and likeable.

An impossible request. I've always been too adorable for words.

"The temple was dedicated to Set," said Patrick. "He's an ancient Egyptian deity not known for being a nice guy. In fact, he was the god of chaos."

"So he's like the devil?"

"Close. One of the symbols used for his name," said François, "was 'illness.' He was also thought to be infertile. Unlike other gods, he had no children. He had a battle with his brother's son, Horus. Set's testicles were torn off."

"That's kinda Anne Rice, isn't it?" asked Linda, who had loved Rice's vampire series up until
The Tale of
the Body Thief
. I had to admit I had been thrilled when she'd given up her obsession with the Vampire Lestat. "Or even
Blade 3: Trinity"
she continued. "I mean, every vampire plot I've ever read about or watched in a movie seems to point toward some sandy forgotten place inAfrica ."

"Why is it surprising that fictional accounts so closely mirror the reality? The root from which mankind has grown can be traced toAfrica ," said François. "Why not this recent outbreak of an ancient plague?"

"Who discovered the temple?" I asked.

"Some of the Consortium's archaeologists," answered Patrick.

"You guys have archaeologists?" I took a sec to think about this revelation. "Why would the Consortium have archaeologists out in theSudan , which I know is a dangerous place to be, for humans anyway, unless you were looking for something specific and you knew where to look?"

"I wish Kam was here," said Stan, once again gazing at Linda. "He's better at relaying this information."

Aw. The only expression sadder than the doc's was the liquid, big-eyed look of a baby seal about to be stabbed by a hunter's spear. How could a guy look so pathetic?

"Kam led the expedition," said Patrick. "Even with what we managed to get from the temple, we haven't been able to trace the origins of the disease. Our research indicates that a similar plague happened in ancient times. Our hope was to find out how it was cured."

"If it was the equivalent of the Black Death… well, that was never really cured," I said. "It just decimated half the world's population."

"I remember the Plague," said François. "It was horrifying beyond belief. Many vampires went to ground for a half-century or so rather than risk feeding on bad blood."

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"You mean your
food
was poisoned so you took a nap until you could get fresh meat? Well, if that don't make a gal feel like a piece of prime rib," grumbled Linda in a disgusted tone. I guess Linda still felt human—and so did I. It was going to take a while to acclimate to being an entirely new species.

"A crude, but succinct way to describe the situation, madam," said François. He bared his fangs and ran his tongue along his teeth as if talking about famine made him want to feast. "Nature has her ways of balancing the scales. Perhaps the disease needs merely to run its course."

"Not necessarily," I said. "If we have the tools and the means to cure the disease, we damn well should."

"Y'all are creeping me the hell out," said Linda. "I never did like all those forensic shows. Science is beyond my scope and boring to boot."

I saw Stan blanch. Oh poor Dr. Michaels. I felt sorry for him. He couldn't handle Linda. She'd stomp his heart flat then use his credit card to buy herself new shoes.

"The disease only thrives in a vampire's body," said Stan dully. He rubbed a hand over his head, his fingers skating across his bald spot. He blanched again and dropped his hand. "Most vampires live through the deterioration of the organs, but when the bacteria attacks the brain, they go slowly, painfully insane."

"Most choose to greet the dawn before that happens," said François in a low voice. "There is no cure.

So, to turn to ash in the sun's rays is preferable to the consuming madness."

I was horrified by Stan's description of the disease. Dread clawed at me with scabby fingers. "Lor bit us.

Jesus God. He gave it to us."

"No, love," said Patrick. "You were human when Lor bit you. The bacteria cannot live in a human's body. It dies instantly. And all of you were Turned by Masters without Taint."

"Lor isn't crazy," I mused. "The cure you attempted with him worked… sorta. Is that what you found out from the guys who were digging around in theSudan desert?"

"No. The Consortium received several crates containing papyrus scrolls, statuary, photographs of the temple, and wall etchings. Then we stopped receiving information," said Patrick. He gathered me close and the sudden show of protection made me realize I wasn't going to like what I heard next. "Before they had excavated even a fourth of the temple, they were killed and the entrance to the complex was destroyed."

"Killed?" I asked. Cold fear snaked up my spine.

"Four were caught, tied to posts, and left outside. When the sun rose, they burned to death," answered François in a tight voice. "It will take months to dig out the temple entrance and begin our work again.

Until we find out who does not want us to know the truth, we dare not risk anyone else to pursue this endeavor."

"Kam was scouting another location and went to ground where he was instead of returning to the dig site," said Patrick. "We're lucky he survived."

"Good Lord. So he found his colleagues the next night?" I asked, horrified. "That sucks!" I chewed my
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lower lip. "Do you think the Wraiths did it?"

"We don't know," said Patrick. "But it is probable."

"We are preparing for battle," said Brigid in her lyrical voice. She sat in a cherry-red wingback that had been placed in the left corner of the bedroom. Everyone turned to look at her. Her expression was solemn and beatific as the gold symbols on her face shifted. Damn, that was weird to watch. She was so resplendent that looking at her was like staring at the sun and not caring that you'd go blind. "The Seven Sects are worried about this disease, too. However, they ignore the Consortium's efforts. The Sects protest our goals because they don't want to involve themselves in the world of men."

"So…
they're
killing Consortium members?" I asked, confused.

"It is not the ancients," said Brigid. "Not even they wish to destroy a five-hundred-year-old legacy, all that Patrick and Lorcan created to bring good and peace into the world. It is the Wraiths who wish to establish a new order—which includes ruling over the humans. They're using the disease and the vampires' fear of it to wage war against the Consortium."

"They're winning, too," said Patrick bitterly. "The Council of Seven continually throws words like 'fate'

and 'destiny' around as if they have no control over events. They refuse to help us, to help themselves.

We don't deny our customs or traditions. We don't discount the sacrifices of our creators. But progress requires change. If we stay mired in the past, we cannot move forward to build a better future."

I was getting a larger picture of the situation. Good heavens above. The world was much bigger and so much more different than I had ever imagined. Yeah, all right. I was a throwback to the 1950s. I was a housewife. I cleaned and cooked and cared for my family. Let me tell you something: It was a difficult damned job and the pay
sucked
. But it's what I knew how to do and I liked doing it. Well, as my grandma used to say:
Stop chewing your cud and get on with it
.

What I had
been
wasn't nearly as important as what I had
become
. I thought I had problems before.

Now, I was worried about a freaking vampire war, a freaking vampire plague, and a freaking vampire marriage. In addition, we had a vicious unknown monster on the loose, a Lorcan to catch and to cure, and a whole town to
re-vamp
. I was overwhelmed. And when I start feeling like I'm going to drown into the murky waters of obligations, expectations, and needs, there's only one way to keep from going under.

Tequila. And lots of it.

I'm kidding. (Mostly.)

"I need paper and a pen," I said.

The next thing I knew I had three different kinds of notepads and three kinds of pens materializing on my lap. Brigid, François, and Patrick cleared their throats.

"Vampires are such show-offs," said Darrius… or Drake. He sounded more amused than envious.

"Uh… thanks everyone." I lifted a pink pen with a fuzzy feather on it. "Who made this one?"

I eyed Brigid. I didn't think she was the pink fuzzy type. She shook her head and confirmed my suspicion.