AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you for the information. I trust the data I shared about the vampire who used head injuries to get away with killing children has been disseminated?”
“It has.”
“Without my friendship with the vampires, they would’ve never shared that information. I was able to save two children, thanks to Etta’s help. No, that isn’t right — she saved them, once our people did the research to figure out who they were. I know you don’t approve, but I hope you’ll eventually understand there are situations where my methods have merit.”
“Stay safe, son,” my dad said. “I don’t approve and won’t pretend to, but I don’t want to see you dead.”
And that was probably as good as I was going to get from my father. I nodded and stepped back through the portal, heading south towards Rome this time.
There are no hotels close to the Catacombs of Priscilla, but the Hotel Villa Duse wasn’t terribly far away, and I’ve stayed there before. A twenty-minute walk, mostly via a wooded path, would bring me out onto the city streets at a gate thirty yards from the apartment building doubling as a coterie house.
The Catacombs of Priscilla seem more sacred than most, to me. The oldest publicly known image of the Virgin Mary can be found in them, as well as enough other artwork to fill a gallery. Officially, the catacombs wind around underground for eight miles. Unofficially, there’s more, of course.
If my parents were right, and I expected they were, then the vampires had managed to wall off a portion for their own use.
As you might expect, the Slayer organization has contacts in the Catholic church, so a single phone call got me into the church across the street, and access to the catacombs from there.
First, though, I spent two hours shopping and talking to people, to make sure my Italian sounded local, and I altered my appearance so the nuns would see me as a sixty-year-old man. They had no idea who I was, they only knew their superiors wanted them to give me access. They followed orders, though I got the idea they didn’t like it.
I assured them I would not use flash photography, that I knew all the rules about what could and could not be touched, and I was on my way.
The caretakers of the tombs take their jobs seriously, and few people are allowed into the sacred areas without an escort.
I got my bearings before heading below, and kept an eye on my compass while walking. I made a mental note of every turn, focusing on landmarks and details, and I focused on the walls as I walked, looking for what was really there. An app showed me where I was under the city as well, though I didn’t entirely rely on it because magic can make electronics act screwy sometimes. It turns out, watching where the app got it wrong helped me narrow down where to go, but it still took over an hour before I came upon something my Slayer vision told me wasn’t ancient.
The Slayer organization has an entire division dedicated to obtaining the latest technology — whether it comes from a government, a corporation, or a private citizen, it’s important we stay ahead of the curve, and I carried a messenger bag with lots of cool toys for this venture.
A handy laser made a pinpoint hole in the wall, about twice the size of a period in a normal reading font. However, the wall was seventeen inches thick, which pushed the limits of what I could do at that size, so I increased the hole’s diameter another twenty percent, and then slid a tiny device in and looked to my phone as the miniature camera on the robotic insect made its way through the hole and then flew through the passageways. The camera only showed me what was in front of the insect, so I had it fly in a circle a few times before continuing. It eventually arrived in a room that looked like a conference room, and I settled it on a bookshelf, aimed towards the table. Three more devices went into this room so I could catch every angle, and in case one was found. Another device went into what I believed were the steps leading down into the old tunnels, aimed up so I could see people descending the staircase.
I set up a repeater, hidden in the portion of the catacombs I could get to, and another aboveground, with access to a local establishment’s Wi-Fi, and I made my way back to my hotel. I’d scout around later, throughout the night, but I didn’t expect the vampires I was looking for would be strolling just outside their home, looking for a bite. They had a perfectly good flock inside, and if they were going to hunt, it’d be outside the city, in a locale without public cameras all over the place. Still, while I was there, I spent the evening looking around.
* * * *
Two days later, my phone buzzed to alert me of sound or movement near the devices I’d placed in Rome. Unfortunately, all I saw was an underling walk down the steps and push a button on the wall, and then every device stopped working.
They had some kind of EMP device in their underground, to kill any electronic surveillance. I shook my head because it’s really annoying when the bad guys are smart. I’d yet to hear what went on in the biker’s ‘chapel’ for the same reason — an EMP flash before every meeting. I’d made it into the chapel when no one was in there, but it wasn’t possible to hide for the duration of one of their meetings. There were no shadows to wrap around me.
I sent Apollonius an image of the underling and explained that this young man belonged to someone in the inner circle, and at this time, that was the only information I had. If the image led Apollonius to the inner circle, he’d pay me what he thought was fair, but at this point, stopping them was more important than a payday for me.
Chapter 16
Etta
Ryan was gone for three days, and I managed to get five days’ worth of work accomplished. The thing is, I was relieved to know he wasn’t just going to show up out of the blue, and yet, I missed him.
It was Marco who told me the slayer had returned to town, however, and not Ryan. I was at my desk at TBC when I felt the Master Vampire’s presence in the building. It was as if he agitated the energy of the entire building, and that wasn’t like him.
I didn’t telepath him to check on him though, because I couldn’t think of how to do it without it sounding like a reprimand. I’d been his mentor, once, teaching him how to hold his power in so others couldn’t sense it. Pointing out that he was radiating irritation throughout the building was no longer my job.
And yet, as his friend and his Secundo, it kind of was.
Finally, I telepathed, Anything I should know about?
Yes. I came to talk to you, but Jayce has waylaid me. I’ll be down when I finish my conversation with him.
I dropped out and went back to reading through Moira’s handwritten journal, which was a terse history of everything she’d done since going to work for Abbott, and a nice jumpstart into understanding the interpersonal relationships of the humans, shifters, and vampires in the coterie. Many of those she’d dealt with had moved to Alaska, but enough had stayed, it was worth my time to read through her notes.
When I felt Marco nearing, I put my bookmark ribbon into the journal and closed it, but stayed behind my desk. I wasn’t certain whether he was coming to me as a friend or a boss.
