Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) (27 page)

From the muttering around the room, it was apparent my display wasn’t
impressive. I tried not to shake my head. My goal in coming here
wasn’t getting in a measuring contest with Kahina’s staff
members.

There was another series of shouts and everyone stood up, broke into
groups and started some kind of routine. The taller man from earlier
caught my eye and motioned me to the side with a small jerk of his
head. Hell.

I followed him off the mat into a small office off to one side. The
inside was lined with first aid kits as well as extra uniforms and
manuals. There was even a series of remote controls to a television I
couldn’t see in here.

“Why are you here?” His voice wasn’t as deep as I
might have expected. It sounded almost soft, deceptively soft since I
saw him lock down another man until a count went by.

“I’ll be gone tomorrow,” I said.

“Let me rephrase, why are you here tonight? You obviously don’t
want to participate.”

“What gave it away?”

“Your clothes. Disrespect during other matches. Your lack of
effort in the spar and no attempt at gaining permission to join ahead
of time.” He listed the items slowly. I failed to notice a sign
up sheet. The only instructions had been to take my shoes off.

“No one told me what to expect.” I tried to defend myself
a little.

“Do you know why we’re down here?” He switched
tactics on me. It wasn’t an employee fitness day. Not with the
effort they were putting into it.

“For Kahina.”

“Correct,” He said.

“Even though the chances of her surviving are slim.” Her
survival worried me when I dared give it thought. The final days of
the transformation had up to an eighty percent fatality rate.

“Has anyone explained why the rate is so high for failures?”
He asked. There were several papers on the matter. Conspiracy
theories, nut job stories, and speculations. The final stages of
transforming from a human to a vampire came with a hibernation in
which few woke up.

“I’ve seen the videos.” The same movies that
everyone sees as a part of high school health class. Documentaries
aimed at explaining the positives and negatives of switching races.

“There’s more to it.” He shook his head and stepped
behind me to close the door to our little room. Then he slid the
blinds down on the one window that let me see outside to the rows of
people punching in unison to more of those foreign words.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Getting sponsored is similar to being dragged forcibly into
dirty politics. A majority of those that get put up for the change
die of natural causes, yes, but some are targeted.”

“Targeted? Who would target a vampire?” My face scrunched
up to the side with confusion.

“Anyone with a grudge against the sponsor. Other vampires,
former business partners, childhood rivals, pro-human groups, among
additional factors.” His words caused me to blanch a little.
Everything that had been shown on the documentaries said it was poor
survival odds from the condition taking hold. Not that Kahina would
be attacked personally.

Leave it to vampires to give a skewed view.

“Well, it looks like you guys have it covered,” I said
while going for the exit.

“I’m not sure why, but she thinks that you’re
someone who can help her survive the change.” The instructor
quietly sidestepped my attempt for the door.

There it was again. Me, somehow useful to her. “Why me?”

“That’s a good question.” He didn’t think
much of me. Likely because I hadn’t put up a good show on the
mat out there. To hell with him.

“You’re a big guy, and I’ve asked around, as much
as I could anyway. Especially since Kahina has told me you’d be
valuable.” I was grumbling at the idea of him being able to ask
about me anywhere. “There isn’t a lot of information out
there other than word of mouth, and a lot of that is dated.”

“Good.” That was the way I wanted it. My mind counted the
number of steps between my spot and the exit up top. If I ran now, I
might be able to fight my way through before Kahina woke up.

“Then there’s what happened to Kahina’s two burnout
babysitters.” Burnouts were vampires unlikely to survive the
change. Which he also didn’t think much of I guess. From his
expression, it was clear he didn’t put much stock in anyone.

“And?” I asked.

“And you’re decidedly capable, or you wouldn’t have
put down two nearly transformed vampires and still be able to walk.
She said they were to break you if needed.” He looked at me
again, his eyes trying to take my measure. I didn’t bother
changing my posture or puffing up to look tougher. “That alone
gives credibility to the other stories I’ve heard.”

“What stories are those?”

“Ones that said years ago you made a lot of enemies. That
someone would let you loose to track and attack. That you were a
beast that went barreling through anything in his path to his
target.” He said.

I chuckled. That was a story I liked to hear about myself. But it was
almost about someone else entirely. All that was tied to a mindset
that felt beyond recovery at this point. Better than it was, but
nowhere near the height before Kahina had scared me senseless.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I wish I was that guy still,” I admitted it out loud.

“How so?” His eyes narrowed and his hair seemed to try
and scrunch forward. It gave his widow’s peak a funny sort of
look as it wrinkled up briefly.

I shrugged.

He raised his eyebrows and ears in a brief movement of frustration.
Then dropped a hand to the desk and rapped against it with his
knuckles.

“Are you, or are you not, the man who threw around a squad of
trained men a few days ago? The man who hunted down a wolf and then
went toe to toe with him in his half form?” He asked.

Just how much did Kahina tell this guy? Everything? Who was he? First
that slimy second, a man I wish had been the one to get the cross to
the side of his head instead of this Mister Janns. Now I was being
questioned by yet another person while a small private army punched
each other.

“I did those things,” I said.

“Do you realize how hard it is for anyone to go against those
people and survive? Much less be in one piece like you appear to be?”
He shook his head. “I couldn’t do it.”

I didn’t really think about it. It was part of my standard
bread and butter. My perspective about it was all tied to the tracker
thing. Finding objects, defending them, being stronger and faster,
sure. None of it was beyond a wolf’s strength or a vampire’s
speed. I still wasn’t sure I bought this Lord thing Evan had
been babbling about.

“Anyone could do it,” I stated.

“Maybe in larger numbers, maybe with tools.” He slowly
gave his response.

“I have tools.”

“But not numbers. Nothing more than yourself.” The man
looked bothered. His eyes expected a better answer when there was
none in me to give. “I watched you out there, you wanted to
fight back, to do something each time. Yet you suppressed the
movements. Why?”

“Fighting that wolf was a job, fighting those vampires was my
life, same for the squad.” Then the pack of wolves that I
somehow waded through in the woods. A long time ago there were other
incidents that were fairly similar. Maybe he would understand I
didn’t rumble for other people’s entertainment.

“You’re not taking it seriously because there’s no
reason?” He raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged again.

“What then?”

“Sounds close enough. Not getting paid, or anything else, why
bother?” I jerked my head towards the window. “Besides, I
don’t want to break her.”

The teacher shook his head back and forth a few times and scrunched
his forehead. He said, “I’m not sure how she wants you to
fit into all this.”

“Who says I want to fit in? Kahina and I aren’t on the
same page right now.” Until a few hours from now, where she
would say her piece or at least answer my question.

The instructor raised an eyebrow again in response. I shook my head
back. It wasn’t his business. Not from my lips anyway. He
sighed and seemed to give up for now.

“She should be awake in a few hours. Normally she looks at the
day’s reports first, sorts out business matters then takes part
of the night for herself. Though since you’re here she’ll
probably try and cut the business short.” The man had his head
tilted like he was going through a mental checklist.

“Alright.”

“You’re welcome to stay and watch. We typically wrap up a
half hour before nightfall so everyone has a chance to take a break
before the second shift.”

“Sure.” As long as there were no demands being made. I
didn’t mind watching.

He opened the door back to the dojo and stepped out to take over his
class. I followed but stayed off the mat. Setting foot back on there
was like asking for someone else to try and spar against me.

A few hours later I found myself alone with Kahina in a
well-decorated office. I had been ushered into the room by a random
servant, meanwhile Kahina had said a grand total of nothing. It had a
large window that peeked out to the west. Kahina looked like she
needed sleep. Which was an amusing thought since she was completely
comatose the entire day. If that wasn’t rest, then what was it?

She was staring out of the window that had thick curtains on either
side that were pulled back right after nightfall. The barest hint of
red could be seen in the distance as the sun curled around the
horizon. It was the closest she could get to daylight outside of a
movie for the rest of her existence.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like for me, Jay?”
She finally spoke and it was a weird question.

It? If she was talking about the vampire thing then I had no clue.
Well, nothing beyond a school educational that preached racial
acceptance next to sexual health.

“There’s normal blood, and then there’s yours. It’s
a million times worse and part of my brain has to focus on not
running over and trying to crack you open.” Kahina said.

She knew how to make a man feel safe, but step one was acceptance in
any addiction program, right? Should I even be here? My focus now
should be finding Evan and Julianne. We were already a night behind
them.

“Then you were giving it to that elf.”

To provoke her, to prove that Kahina had been the one that scared the
life out of me that night. I fidgeted with the cross I had put in my
pocket. As long as she didn’t pin my arm I could survive this.
Pull the cross as my trump card, hold her in place, leave immediately
through the nearest exit. My mind was already plotting out an escape
route just in case.

“I can take temptation, Jay, I can put up with it and think of
the bigger picture. I don’t want to hurt you.” Though
using me like a blood bank once in a while was okay? “But I do
not deal well with jealousy.” She made it sound like a threat
and a statement of fact.

“So?” I said.

She turned around and had that confusing look on her face. I would be
willing to bet that this time it was anger though and not excitement.

“You are mine, Jay. I will allow no obstacles. I endured your
sabbatical, allowed you your fun and freedom as I had other things to
get in line and ready.” Which means she had me followed as I
traveled around. Her reach was further than I thought.

“Ready for what?” I asked.

“Ready for the final step. That’s one of the reasons I
needed you back.” Kahina walked towards the desk and looked at
me. The last sliver of sunlight had dipped below the horizon’s
edge.

“Oh.” She hadn’t brought up our contrary stories
back at Julianne’s house. Maybe she was still mulling them over
like I was.

“We need to clear Daniel and his cronies from the table so I
can focus.” Trust her to figure out what the real problem was.
She could concentrate like no woman I had ever met. “His goal
isn’t the elf, but this missing child?”

“Arnold Regious.”

“No child then. I’ve met him before.” She twisted
the words as they came out. A suggestive emphasis underlined each
word. I was irritated with the blond face that had only presented in
photographs.

“Well, he’s dead,” I told her.

“How do you know?” She asked.

“Can’t track the truly dead.”

“You realize that last night wasn’t Sector sanctioned?”
Kahina was looking at a small touch screen device that had words
scrawled across it. They were impossible to make out from this angle.

“No, I hadn’t.” I responded.

“I got some answers back, they said this was something
completely separate. They didn’t say what.”

“Sounds typical.” For Daniel. What was it he had said?
There was a cult that didn’t exist on paper somewhere in
Arnold’s file. Maybe they did exist, maybe it was more than a
cult.

“What do you want to do, Jay?” She left the question
open-ended enough that it could refer to anything. To us, to Evan, to
Daniel. I had no clue about anything beyond being left alone in my
apartment, and doing my job when it came up.

“Such a wimp. Such an indecisive little boy!” She stomped
over to me and I could see how tired her eyes were. They drug at the
edges, barely kept open, and while it was difficult to tell with her
skin color, there were bags under the eyelids.

“Did you turn into a coward?!”

“Only because of what you did!” Now I was mad, shaking,
yelling back, but I kept a hand in my pocket over the cross if I
needed it.

“What I did?” She was quiet again and had moved a few
steps away. I hadn’t felt her move. She shook her head. “What
do you want, Jay? What do you want to do? Tell me and I can help.”

“Why would you help me?” I closed my eyes.

“Because you’re mine and I will remove any obstacle in
your path to bring you back to me.” Mine, the same word that
rolled around in my head every time I tracked something. “What
about me, Jay?” Her voice was different. Tender compared to
when she was yelling at other people.