Vampires In America: Raphael Part 1

Raphael.

By D. B. Reynolds.

Prologue.

Malibu, California.

The woman's fingers flew along the piano keys, filling the air of the candlelit room with the music of a long-dead composer. From behind her, a dark, slender man slid onto the bench, his nimble hands quickly picking up the melody, then just as quickly transforming it into something different, something modern. She lifted her fingers from the keyboard with an indulgent smile, watching his hands dance over the keys of the venerable concert grand in an upbeat tune. Leaning lightly against him, she let her head drop to his shoulder, her eyes closing, their bodies touching with the familiarity of old lovers. From the hallway came the sound of footsteps and the door opened.

"It is nearly time, Alexandra."

The woman sighed. "Thank you, Albin." She stood, pressing her palms down the front of her full satin skirt, smoothing away nonexistent wrinkles. Her lover offered a hand to a.s.sist her around the bench and she accepted it with a smile, laughing as he twirled her into a graceful embrace. "Matias," she chided softly, fondly. He'd been a dancer when they met, the toast of European society. But that was long ago. Not that he looked old. None of them did; they were Vampire, their appearance forever frozen in the aspect of youth.

Alexandra glanced toward the big windows and the black night beyond. There was not even the faintest gleam of the coming dawn, but sunrise was near; she could feel it. The dour Albin drew closer, looming over her pet.i.te frame, his milky white skin glowing in the candlelight.

She looked up at him in surprise, then tilted her head to listen as an odd rat-a-tat sound echoed nearby, repeating over and over. Matias muttered a curse, moving quickly past her, but Albin stopped him, his arm swinging forward with a hard jerking motion. Matias gasped, then turned and reached out for her, a look of utter disbelief on his boyish countenance. She caught him instinctively as he fell, his weight carrying her down even as he disintegrated in her arms. A wave of pure grief swept over her as she stared up at Albin. "Why?" she asked.

The red-haired vampire said nothing, granting only a disdainful glance before spinning away. The room's double doors slammed open with a crash, and two masked humans crowded into the room, matte black guns held before them. Albin exchanged a few sharp words with the invaders, then turned to regard her with hooded brown eyes.

"Come along, Alexandra."

Alexandra stood once again, her hands now brushing the dust of her dead lover from the satin. "This is a mistake, Albin," she said calmly, backing away until she touched the smooth wood of the piano.

He strode over and grabbed one of her slender arms with his huge hand.

"He'll kill you for this," she said.

"Perhaps," Albin agreed, then bared his fangs. "Or perhaps I'll kill him instead. Now come." He pulled her around roughly, but Alexandra shook him off and walked from the room, head held high. He gave her a mocking bow and followed, turning at the last moment to give the empty room a contemptuous grin.

The candle flames fluttered briefly in the vampire's wake, before retreating to burn steadily through the remaining darkness and into the morning, long after the sun's light had overwhelmed their small brilliance.

Chapter One.

Cynthia Leighton made a hard right turn into the parking lot of the Malibu Sheriff's station, her tires squealing slightly on the gritty pavement. She had the door open almost before the big Land Rover came to a complete stop, yanking the keys from the ignition and jamming them into the pocket of her leather jacket. With one foot out the door, she twisted around and leaned over to the square, pink box sitting on the pa.s.senger seat. It was tied with plain string, a tidy little bow centered almost exactly on the top of the thin cardboard. She slipped her fingers carefully under the bow and lifted. Then sliding out of the truck, she used one booted foot to slam the door shut.

The station house was a utilitarian building on a back street near the courthouse, with unadorned concrete stairs leading to a pair of double gla.s.s doors in heavy metal frames. Cynthia climbed the stairs quickly, slipping through the open door with a smile of grat.i.tude to the older gentleman who held it for her before continuing down the stairs.

The desk sergeant gave her a big grin as she came through. "Hey, it's Nancy Drew!"

Cynthia put the box down gently on the counter. "This is for you," she said with some urgency. "Please take it away."

Sergeant Adam Linville's grin got even bigger. "Nancy, you are the woman of my dreams." He cut the string and opened the box, freeing the glorious aroma of sugar and fat to waft around the room.

Cynthia hissed dramatically and held out her hand in a warding gesture, her fingers forked against evil. "Take it away!"

Linville laughed. "Come on, Leighton, eat something." He wiggled his eyebrows. "I'm thinking of getting married again, you know, someone to keep me warm in my old age. You're a real looker and you're young enough, but I like a woman with some meat on her bones."

"I'll be sure to remember that if I ever lose my mind and decide to get married."

"All women want to get married. It's in your DNA or something."

"Not in mine, Sarge. Everyone I know is divorced."

"Such cynicism," Linville bemoaned. "It hurts my heart."

"Have a cream puff. It'll help." Cynthia said it with a smile. She liked Linville. He was a big, bluff, very white guy, with ruddy cheeks, who was set to retire in less than a year. She made a point of dropping by the Malibu station whenever he was on the desk, with pastries in hand. As a private investigator, it made good sense for her to stay friendly with the local police, especially in a small town like Malibu. Plus, she'd been with the LAPD before quitting to becoming a PI, and she kind of missed the sense of belonging to something bigger than herself. "So tell me, Sarge," she said. "Anything happening I should know about?"

"Now, Nancy, if you was supposed to know about it, you'd know, wouldn't you?"

"Come on," she coaxed, lifting the box and sliding it under his nose. "No gossip to share with a hard working PI?"

Linville took the box away from her, his rough hands dwarfing her tapered fingers. He set it on his desk and covered it carefully, before turning back to lean over the counter. "Really not much going on. Tourists have all gone home, more fools they. This is the best time of year around here." He shook his head. "The better for the rest of us, I guess."

Cynthia waited patiently. This was a little dance they went through every time, but Linville always came through for her, so she didn't mind.

"Had a call this morning east of Paradise Cove. Right before dawn, woman claimed she heard automatic weapons fire ... machine guns she called it. Said it sounded like a shoot out. A shoot out." Linville chuckled and shook his head. "A unit drove out, but didn't find nothin'. Figured the guy next door was pulling an all-nighter, watching too many of his own movies and playing 'em too loud. You know how sound carries down the beach."

"No one else reported anything?"

"Not a peep. Oh, and your wife beater's back. Got out on parole and what's the first thing he does? Pays a visit to the ex. Stupid. He didn't even get to the front door before she'd called us."

"You picked him up?" Cynthia had worked for the wife in the divorce case, doc.u.menting the husband's many infidelities. Turned out he beat up his girlfriends too.

"Oh, yeah. Right back in the slammer, parole violation. What an idiot."

"No accounting. Okay, I gotta run, Linville. You share those pastries now. Don't want you dropping dead with a heart attack before you meet the girl of your dreams."

Linville laughed and Cynthia saw him take his first gooey bite as she went back through the gla.s.s doors to the parking lot.

By the time she rolled into the private s.p.a.ce behind her Santa Monica office, it was nearly six and the sun was a blinding haze of gold on the western horizon. The days were already growing shorter. Another six weeks or so and it would be full dark by now. She turned off the ignition and took a cautious look around the lot before opening her door. It never hurt to be careful in her business. She'd had a few threats in the past, mostly disgruntled spouses like the wife beater, or those she'd caught on film in flagrante delicto. Did people still say "caught on film" anymore? Digital cameras were far more convenient; zip off an e-mail to the client, photos attached. Caught on bytes, maybe? Whatever you called it, it was all the same. If Linville wanted to know why she was so cynical about marriage, he had only to take a look at her case files. One failed marriage after another, each chronicled in living color. Slinging the strap of her backpack over her shoulder, she climbed out and slammed the truck door.

Her security system beeped a welcome as she punched in the code and entered the small office she kept for herself. The whole building was hers-a long, low bungalow of four offices on busy Montana Avenue in the heart of Santa Monica's conspicuous consumption district. Not the touristy part, but the part where residents went to hang out and sip seven dollar lattes while waiting for their next big deal, or at least pretending to. She only used one of the offices, renting out the other three to a couple of lawyers and a therapist. Most of her clients never came to her office after their first visit, and when they did, it was usually after dark. Her late hours were perhaps a bit unusual, but it worked well enough for her human clients, and it opened possibilities to her other clientele. Vampires.

Cynthia had never planned on being the investigator of choice for the west coast vampire community. When she left the LAPD, she'd had something more like "investigator to the stars" in mind. Family connections gave her access to a world of privilege and ent.i.tlement, where spending a few thousand to have someone follow your cheating husband ... or wife ... was not only chump change, but almost a social dictate, like the latest fashions. Instead, by pure chance, Cyn had found herself in the right place to save a vampire's life and changed her own in the process. Vampires called her from as far away as Colorado and Montana. She didn't mind finding their long lost relatives or digging up forgotten bank accounts or family heirlooms. Half her business was for one vampire or another, and they paid very well. But she never accepted the personal invitations that sometimes followed. She had no desire to delve any further into a society where blood was the beverage of choice, and hers was on tap.

Her office phone was ringing when she walked in. She dropped everything on her desk and grabbed it before voice mail kicked in.

"Leighton," she said.

It was the lawyer next door. "I heard you pull into the parking lot," he explained. "And I wondered if maybe you had time to meet with a client of mine. She's here now. The usual cheating husband."

Cyn hoped the wife wasn't listening to the lawyer's blithe dismissal of her broken heart. She was tempted to decline the job. She might joke with Linville, but it really got to her sometimes. She sighed. On the other hand, she had no other cases on the horizon, and while she wouldn't exactly starve without the income, she did try to make the agency pay for itself. She told the lawyer to send his client on over.

Nearly an hour and a full box of Kleenex later, Cyn was regretting the impulse and thinking it was too bad the therapist wasn't in today, because this woman really needed someone to talk to far more than she needed a PI. But Cynthia was not going to be that someone. She'd learned the hard way not to get personally involved with her clients' marital problems. Some jilted spouses cried, some stared vacantly in a sort of bleak acceptance, and still others were mad as h.e.l.l and determined to make the offending spouse suffer as much as possible. But they all had one thing in common. They were looking for someone to blame for their current predicament. And too often that blame fell on Cynthia for providing evidence of the very infidelity she'd been hired to uncover in the first place.

After ushering the distraught woman out the back door with a.s.surances of sympathy and a speedy indictment of the wandering husband, Cyn sank down into her chair with a relieved breath and thought about taking the rest of the night off. On the one hand, with the information the wife had already provided, she could probably get the evidence she needed and close the case by morning; on the other-Her phone rang and she answered, hoping for a reprieve.

"Don't break my heart and tell me you have plans for tonight." It was a man's voice, filled with laughter beneath the smooth bourbon of a Southern accent.

"Breaking hearts is your specialty, not mine, Nicky. You in town?"

"I don't break hearts, darlin', I heal them with sweet love. Meet me."

Cynthia laughed. She couldn't help it. Nick was an unrepentant rogue, charming, handsome ... and an animal in bed. She thought about the latest cheating husband and shrugged. "When and where?"

Chapter Two.

Buffalo, New York Raphael let his gaze roam the spa.r.s.ely populated conference room, his eyes hidden behind dark gla.s.ses against the garishly bright lights. He and his fellow vampire lords were arrayed around a huge oval slab of marble that served as a table. The table was large enough, and the vampires unsociable enough, that they sat far apart, making private conversation among them impossible. Several had aides or bodyguards standing in attendance behind them. Some had even brought their human servants into the room, leaving them to huddle against the walls, hoping not to be noticed. Of them all, only Raphael sat alone. Only Raphael, it seemed, had no need for the rea.s.surance of his minions.

He gave his watch a careful glance, wondering how much longer courtesy would force him to sit and listen to the ramblings of their host for this meeting. The vampire lord was ancient ... and as doddering as an old human. Despite the physical appearance of youth, his voice quavered and his mind wandered, clinging to the glories of his past, cloistered in his fluorescent-lit tower. Raphael's gaze traveled to the powerful and much younger vampire standing at the old lord's back. They measured each other for the s.p.a.ce of a few seconds, each exquisitely aware of the other's regard behind their darkened lenses. That one wouldn't wait much longer, Raphael thought to himself. The old lord's nights were numbered.

He stifled a sigh and stared out the window. The real business of this meeting had been concluded in previous nights. Tonight's gathering was little more than a formality, serving only to delay his departure. But courtesy was the hallmark of vampire society. When one lived and mingled with others for hundreds of years, such niceties mattered.

The door at the back of the room opened softly, and Raphael heard the bare whisper of footsteps on the deep carpeting. His nostrils flared as he scented the air; it was one of his own, his lieutenant, Duncan. Duncan had been with Raphael for over two hundred years, had been his foremost liegeman for more than half of that. Whatever news he was bringing, it would not be good if it could not wait until they were alone. Duncan reached the s.p.a.ce behind Raphael and leaned forward, his breath feather-light against Raphael's skin as he spoke words for his master's ears only.

"Sire, Alexandra has been kidnapped."

A lazy blink of his eyes behind the dark gla.s.ses was Raphael's only outward reaction. He nodded slightly, gesturing with one finger for Duncan to remain. There was a faint movement of air as his lieutenant straightened and stepped back the requisite two paces. A thousand questions raced through Raphael's head as the speaker droned on, babbling about bonds of honor that tied them all, and on and on. It was in essence the same speech given by every host at every annual gathering for the past three hundred years on this continent, and probably long before that around the world.

Raphael forced himself to listen politely, to nod in agreement and present a confident face. Until he knew more, he would give no sign of distress, show no vulnerability. Weakness was unacceptable in this company, for between them, Raphael and his fellow vampire lords controlled a continent and beyond. All of the United States, Canada, Mexico-no vampire existed within those bounds, but that they owed fealty to one of these eight lords.

And yet as powerful as each of them was, none was so powerful as Raphael himself. Some were older, but age was not everything. Some claimed greater skill, but skill was no subst.i.tute for strength. These things were never spoken of; they were simply understood. Boundaries were observed, respect was paid. Anything else would lead to war. And none of the men in this room wanted another war. But someone did. Someone thought to use Alexandra against him. And that someone would pay dearly.

Raphael emerged from the conference room, going directly to the elevators, his people forming a cordon of security around him. They were uneasy, tense. He could feel their skin shivering with nerves, could hear their hearts beating rapidly, their blood pulsing with excitement. Likely they already knew more than he did. But not for long.

The heavy door of the bulletproof limousine closed behind him with a m.u.f.fled thud. He waited until the vehicle and its escorts had pulled out into traffic, then glanced at Duncan.

"Moments before dawn this morning, my lord. They must have timed it to the shift change, to limit the number of us they had to deal with. The human guards were already on station for the day, the vampires had gone to the barracks beneath the estate. They knew nothing until they woke this evening."

"And our human guards?"

"Dead, Sire."

"Surveillance?"

"Yes, my lord. Waiting for you in Los Angeles. Gregoire has briefed me-"

"I want the estate locked down. No one comes or goes until I get there."

"Already done, my lord."

"Her bodyguards?"

"One destroyed ... Matias. We cannot be certain of-"

"Albin, then?"

Duncan sighed. "It would appear so, Sire."

Raphael's jaw tightened. "You warned me against him, Duncan."

"Sire-"

"No. You were right. I wanted to trust him."

"You couldn't-"

"I should have, Duncan. I allowed old ties of friendship to blind me to the truth. I am as big a fool as that babbling old man in there tonight." He was silent for a time, staring sightlessly at the city pa.s.sing beyond the darkened windows. "He is mine."

"My lord?"

"No one touches Albin, Duncan. He is mine."

"Of course. My lord, we will get her back."

A dangerous smile crossed Raphael's face, his gaze meeting Duncan's, his fangs extending in a slow, predatory glide. "We will, Duncan. Never doubt it. And then they will pay. No one takes what is mine and lives."

Chapter Three.