Imastious' face took on an expression that was, if anything, even less pleased than the one he'd worn when Geoffrey entered the building. "Stupid child, of course you know what I mean. Your attack on Eculdes' pawn did not go unanswered, but instead of whining about how it wasn't your fault, you actually worked with Venice to avoid that fate which would have otherwise been yours. I still expected you to be trying to avoid adding to the blood already on your hands; instead you've actually gone after Eculdes' minions in a proactive manner."
Geoffrey bowed his head appearing to acknowledge Imastious' comments while trying to sort out the implications of what had just been said.
Luckily, true to form Imastious didn't appear to want much, if any, response from his subordinates once he got started.
"I should have said that you worked with Venice to try and avoid the fate you fear, because it is by no means certain that I won't still be forced to have you killed before this is over."
Geoffrey once again wished he could really trust Venice. She had obviously told Imastious about their plan to stop information from getting back to Eculdes. It was possible that she had really been trying to help him, but it was more likely that she'd been trying to protect herself if he failed to kill Gothic.
"I believe that the information you fear has been passed on to Gothic, and as a result one of you must be disposed of."
Geoffrey had been preparing for a statement like that for days now, but it was still terrifying to hear it said with such cool indifference. Imastious truly couldn't care less about the possibility that he might have to kill Geoffrey just to cover his own tracks.
Imastious seemed pleased that Geoffrey didn't respond to the acknowledgment that he was under a sentence of death, and continued. "The worst possible result of all of this would be for you to kill Gothic after he's had a chance to pass what he knows on to Eculdes. I've taken steps to ensure Eculdes' attention will be directed elsewhere for the next few days. Gothic's allegiance is well known, and Eculdes has accrued enough powerful enemies over the years that he must be very careful in arranging any communication between the two of them, so relatively little effort or risk was involved."
Imastious paused, maybe just for dramatic effect, but if so his aim was accomplished. His next words sent a third and final chill down Geoffrey's spine. "You have three days."
**
Exhaustion pulled at Geoffrey, but he refused to give way to the despair that loomed larger and larger inside him with every passing hour. There still hadn't been any sign of Gothic, and he was down to his last twenty-four hours of purchased time.
Everything Venice had told Geoffrey indicated that Gothic very much enjoyed being out and about in vampire society, but ever since Burnout had been killed there hadn't been a single sighting of the mentalist that Venice had been able to track down. Geoffrey was well aware that there was a limit to the questions that Venice could ask without getting pegged as belonging to the faction that killed Rogers. Even so, to hear her tell it, Gothic usually made such a big splash that it would be all but impossible for her not to hear about his activities if he wasn't lying extremely low right now.
The sense of being followed hadn't gone away, but Geoffrey had finally decided his paranoia was just taking on a life of its own and begun to discount the feeling. Still, he'd double-checked regardless before heading to Melody's again. The last thing he wanted was for some murderous vampire to track him back to Melody and her mother.
Looking up at Melody's building, highlighted as it was by the first rays of the sun, Geoffrey considered his options and then just decided to knock on the door like a normal person.
Melody sleepily answered the door in a faded tank top and the shorts she always wore to bed, and then threw herself at Geoffrey, barely suppressing a squeal of delight. "Where have you been? I've been so worried."
Geoffrey wrapped Melody up in a hug and then half carried her back into her apartment. "Sorry, I just don't want your neighbors to talk."
Releasing Geoffrey for a second, Melody grimaced. "Almost everyone here has nothing better to do than gossip. They've never even tried to get to know us, but they wouldn't be above telling Anna something to get me in trouble."
Geoffrey hesitantly returned Melody's hug once again as she latched onto him for a second time. "I missed you too. I'm not a very safe person to be around right now though, so I thought I'd better stay away as much as possible."
"What's going on?"
Geoffrey shrugged uncomfortably as he tried to decide how much to tell Melody. "Friends of the vampire who stabbed me may know enough to track me down."
"So they'll try to kill you too?"
"Maybe. It depends on a lot of things, but if they do find me, they'll at least torture me. They might even invade my mind so they can find out who I've been working for. Imastious, my master, doesn't want that to happen. If I can't find the friends and kill them before they report back to their master, Imastious will probably kill me himself."
Melody's eyes got very big, and Geoffrey feared for a moment that she was going to faint.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm not sure. I'm trying to kill the last friend, but I can't find him. Even if I do, he's much stronger than me. If Venice was willing to help we might have a chance, but Imastious seems to be treating this as a test that I have to pass on my own, so she won't really get involved."
Geoffrey watched as Melody's eyes became ever so slightly guarded, and felt like something inside him was tearing. "You killed some of the friends already then?"
The vampire nodded. "Just one, he was really bad. I was inside his mind, and he'd done terrible things to so many people."
Melody gave Geoffrey a tremulous smile, looking all the while like she might break into tears. "I'm glad he wasn't an innocent, but what would you have done if he had been? Killed him anyways?"
The tearing inside was worse now. The exhaustion of the last two days combined with the level of emotion in the room to almost have Geoffrey in tears too. "What do you want me to do? I've thought about letting them just kill me, but there's more than just me involved now. These people can get inside my mind and find out about you. If that happens they'll kill you, your mom, and maybe Anna too, all just because you were important to me."
Melody pulled Geoffrey down onto the threadbare couch next to her. "I don't want that. More than anything I don't want you to die; I'm just worried about what all of this killing will do to you."
Geoffrey wanted to tell Melody he was worried too, wanted to say any number of things, but there was a distance between them that hadn't been there the last time they'd been together. He just couldn't bring himself to say any of the things that needed to be said. "I came to try and convince you to leave the city. That's the only way to make sure that no matter what happens they won't be able to find you. I can give you money; I have about ten thousand dollars."
Melody smiled again, but this time it was touched with a sadness that didn't seem fair on someone so young. "Geoffrey, if they can read your mind, how is our moving going to help? They can still track us down. The only way that would work is if we just leave without telling you where we are going, and I won't do that. You need me too much and I won't abandon you. Besides, I've talked a little with Anna about moving, and ten thousand dollars won't be enough--not to move Mom. Even if it was, Anna wouldn't be there to help me take care of her. The welfare people would give us someone else, but Anna is here much more than she's paid to be."
Geoffrey closed his eyes for a second trying to come up with an argument that would compel Melody to leave, trying to find a way that it would all be possible, but he'd somehow known all along he wouldn't be able to convince her to leave.
There wasn't anything else to do but kill Gothic or at least do his best to make sure that Imastious killed Geoffrey without invading his mind first.
The vampire rose to leave, but Melody grabbed his hand. "Geoffrey, you could leave. That would be plenty of money to get you out o
f the city and to somewhere safe."
Geoffrey shook his head, shivering as he remembered his one attempt at running away. "I tried to leave once before and it didn't work. Somehow Imastious knew where I went. He let me stew for a couple of days and then came and collected me. You can't imagine the things he did to punish me."
As Geoffrey departed Melody pulled his head down so she could whisper into his ear. "I'll pray for you, I still have faith that you'll do the right thing."
It wasn't until the vampire had made it back down to the street that he started wondering about that last comment. There were so many people who'd suffered so much less than she had and yet didn't believe in God. With all that she'd been through, how could she still believe?
Chapter 23
The exhaustion Geoffrey had felt before at Melody's had impossibly grown even worse in the last twenty-four hours. He hadn't really had a chance of killing Gothic in a fair fight before. As tired as he was now, there was no hope of him winning, even if he did somehow manage to find the other vampire. The best he could hope for now was that if he did manage to find Gothic, that the older vampire would at least kill him out of hand rather than trying to search his mind like Imastious more than likely would.
Geoffrey was tempted to stay out and watch for Gothic despite the rising sun, but the light was starting to hurt his eyes. Besides, he was virtually positive that Gothic wasn't going to be moving around during the day.
There didn't seem to be anything left to do but return home and prepare. He would need to try and goad Imastious into killing him quickly. If he didn't then Imastious would break him to see what little tidbits he might have managed to keep to himself.
The trip back home should have been filled with despair, but Geoffrey found that he was curiously calm. He wasn't okay with how things had turned out, but he was prepared to do what had to be done to try and protect Melody. It was possible that this was what the priest had been talking about all along. Maybe death wasn't so bad, even for one like him, doomed to go straight to hell, assuming such a place really existed.
When Geoffrey finally arrived back home, Venice was waiting for him. "I was starting to wonder if you'd made a run for it."
Geoffrey shrugged, being very careful to keep his hands free. "I thought about it a couple of times, but I didn't figure I'd be able to get away with it."
Venice pretended to pout. "What, you didn't decide to stay because you love me?"
The exhaustion was still nipping at Geoffrey, making him irritable and unwilling to play along tonight. "So, is this it? Imastious decided to just have you clip me rather than seeing to it himself?"
Shaking her head, Venice pointed to the bed. "Sit down, love. I'm not here to take you out, although based on the way you're swaying it wouldn't be much of a challenge tonight."
"Why should I trust you? We both know if you've been instructed to take me down it's entirely possible this is how you'd play it."
Judging by the fire in the slender vampire's eyes, it looked as though Venice was starting to get angry, but she flashed Geoffrey another smile and slid out of her stylish jacket. The black halter top obviously left nowhere to conceal a weapon. "Look, nothing up my sleeves. All of my hardware is in my purse, so sit down and shut up while I tell you about the latest set of developments."
There wasn't anything stopping her from using her powers to call her weapons to her at need, but Geoffrey felt like she was telling the truth. That, or maybe he was just too tired to care.
Geoffrey stumbled over to the bed and collapsed into a more or less sitting posture. "Sorry if I'm a bit testy tonight. Having people deliver ultimatums and threatening to kill me tends to bring that out."
Venice shrugged. "I understand. It would tend to do the same to me, but you have to believe after all we've shared that I'm on your side as much as I can be."
Geoffrey suppressed a biting response and settled for looking at the blonde expectantly.
"Okay, essentially you're off the hook. It turns out something extremely nasty got a hold of Gothic already. He was found a few hours ago, literally torn to shreds. Imastious is confident no information was passed on to Eculdes."
Tension that Geoffrey hadn't even realized he'd been carrying drained from him, and his mind blanked for a moment as he realized that he wasn't about to die. When he finally came back he found Venice had continued talking.
"…like the old man is furious, but he probably isn't going to do anything about it. He figures his people essentially stumbled into something that was vitally important to one of the other Elders, and that the master in question personally took Gothic down to ensure that the proper message was passed along."
Venice looked at Geoffrey and cocked her head to the side. "You going to be okay there, love?"
It was all Geoffrey could do right now to keep his eyes open, but he strung together a response. "Yeah, I'll be okay. I'm just exhausted; it's been a rough week."
The giggle Geoffrey received in response seemed entirely appropriate. "Now that's an understatement if I've ever heard one."
Scooting over to the bed, Venice sprawled out suggestively. "Imastious wants to see us tonight, but we have plenty of time still. Now that we have everything else out of the way, do you feel like doing a little celebrating?" The slender vampire watched Geoffrey tense up and then sighed. "I hadn't offered for a long time, I thought maybe things had changed."
Geoffrey shook his head. "If events had occurred slightly differently with Gothic you would have killed me tonight. How can you expect me to just put that from my mind so quickly?"
Venice shrugged. "That's part and parcel of who we are, you told me so yourself a hundred times before you lost your memory. Any relationship between vampires is pursued under the tacit understanding that whatever your feelings for the other person may develop into, you're still always running risks. You may find something out about them, they may find out something about you, or some Elder's pursuit of power may come between you both. You have to go into things knowing that you may eventually have to cut them down to protect yourself. You get used to it. Eventually it's all part of the spice that helps keep things interesting."
Geoffrey shook his head as pictures of Melody flashed through his mind. "I'm just too exhausted to think this through tonight."
Venice rolled off of the bed and gathered up her jacket and purse. "Whatever. Just remember I'm not going to keep offering indefinitely. What we had was good, and I know you're developing feelings for me, but sooner or later I'll stop waiting and get on with my life."
**
Imastious motioned Geoffrey and Venice over to a pair of chairs set before him. "Venice has some inkling of why you were both called here, but even she doesn't fully understand the ramifications of what's happening."
Turning dead eyes on Geoffrey, the ancient vampire continued. "There has been a statistically significant jump in vampire deaths this last month."
At Geoffrey's blank look, a dry, mocking chuckle escaped Imastious. "I won't bore you with all of the painful details of how one arrives at the determination that something is statistically significant, but suffice it to say that based on the marked increase in deaths among our kind this month, there's a ninety-six percent chance that there's been some kind of change to the existing power balance."
Venice seemed to be understanding, and at a nod from Imastious she tried to help explain. "A few vampires get killed every month, typically because they get involved in something they shouldn't, or because one of the Elders figures out who they work for and eliminates them to weaken a particular rival."
Geoffrey nodded as he started to get an idea where things were headed. Venice bestowed a smile on him and continued. "The fact that we had so many extra vampires killed this month probably means a large number of Elders are starting to make major power plays, meaning that things could get nasty out there before all is said and done."
Imastious nodded impatiently. "It could also mean that there is some kind of new power ou
t making its presence known, but there hasn't been the kind of influx of new vampires into the city that would be required if a master from another city were trying to move his base of operations here."
Pacing now, Imastious continued. "From everything Venice has reported, the various meeting places of our kind are starting to be characterized by a nervousness and tension that tells me a significant number of the Elders weren't expecting this sudden outbreak of murders. Obviously the ones who were prepared for these events are trying to blend in, to convey a sense of nervousness to all but their most trusted lieutenants, so we can't divine who is responsible that way."
An unpleasant thought crossed Geoffrey's mind as Imastious paused.
"Master, is it possible that the jump in deaths is somehow linked to the outbreak of rabies?"
Imastious' face went blank for a moment. "I'd forgotten about the disease. That's an interesting hypothesis. The rabid animals do seek us out, but you yourself had no problem dispatching two rabid beasts. While the outbreak represents a very real danger, it would take large numbers of infected animals to account for the death of even some of the weaker of our kind. The humans seem to have the outbreak under control."
Shaking his head, Imastious resumed pacing. "No, that seems unlikely. We must proceed under the assumption that this is driven by an attempt to upset the current balance of power, and do what we can to capitalize on the situation."
**
The rest of the meeting had dragged on well past the time when Imastious would usually have dismissed them. By the end, Geoffrey was wondering if the uptick in deaths had the older vampire more worried than he was letting on.
Ultimately it didn't matter one way or the other. Geoffrey had his orders and for once it involved protecting humans instead of killing them.
Imastious had indicated that there was one particular Elder who had been hit hardest in the recent violence. Apparently Imastious was hoping to use this rival Elder as a foil for the other Elders to wear themselves out against. Geoffrey was responsible for easing some of the pressure. The first item of business was to stop a bank robbery.