“When I woke up, two men and a woman, all wearing scrubs, were looking down at me. I thought I must be at a hospital…And then there was the most amazing sound. Crying, my baby was crying. I tried to lift my head and see, but my body wasn’t cooperating. The only thing I saw was a mop of black curls. Then, just before I blacked out again, I heard a harsh voice order, ‘Get rid of her quickly’.”
I truly would never have anticipated that the conversation would swing in this direction. I mean, seriously…what the fuck?
“When I came round, I was in a wooded area, just like this one. It felt like warm water had been thrown over my stomach. I reached down and realised my baby bump was gone. My baby was gone. When I brought my hand up, I saw that it wasn’t water, it was blood. I don’t know how long I lay there crying before I got up. I staggered about aimlessly, fuelled mostly by shock. But I was bleeding so badly. I was dying, and I knew it. I don’t think I got far before I fell again. But, unbelievably, someone found me. I begged them to help me, and they did; they made sure I lived. They said that if anyone had the right to live and get revenge, it was me.”
I was betting this ‘someone’ had been the vampire responsible for Turning her.
“It wasn’t until about six months later that I was…healed enough to go searching for you.”
In other words, it had been six months before her bloodlust had been under a satisfactory level of control – although Sventés had a manageable bloodlust, all newborn vampires of every breed suffered from uncontrollable bloodlust. Had she been a Keja or a Pagori vampire, it would have taken her longer to control it.
“I searched and searched for you, but I don’t think I ever expected to find you, no matter how hard I tried to track you. I almost pissed my pants when I spotted you earlier. I think the woman behind me thought I was having a seizure or something.”
The human now had the look of someone who understood exactly what danger they had found themselves in. “Jude, what happened to you was…horrific. Awful. But I swear to you, I had nothing to do with it. I don’t even remember us meeting—”
“Surely you’re not suggesting I’d forget the face of—”
“No, no,” the human quickly added, clearly conscious of the danger of offending Jude. “I’m not saying we didn’t meet, just that I’m not so good with remembering faces, but I swear to you, I was nothing whatsoever to do with what happened to you.”
Jude’s crooked grin widened, but it wasn’t a pleasant one. “That would be much easier to believe if” – she dragged up the brunette’s blouse to reveal an artificial baby bump – “you were truly pregnant. What do they call these? Some antenatal classes use them, don’t they?”
“Empathy Belly Pregnancy Stimulators,” replied the human quietly.
I hadn’t been expecting that. I sensed that Sam was equally surprised. She was also extremely pissed to the point that a silvery-blue energy ball had appeared in her hand. I imagined she was probably cooking up interesting ways for the human to die.
“You weren’t pregnant when we first met either, were you?” Jude said to the human. “You’d been wearing this. It gives you an excuse to talk to pregnant women without looking suspicious. It’s just two pregnant women comparing notes. Admit it, you’re a Scout.”
“If you’re hoping I can tell you where your baby is, you’re very mistaken. My role ends at drugging the women.”
Slowly, Jude tucked her hand inside her knee-high boot and retrieved a jagged-edged knife about eight inches long. The moonlight glimmered off the steel implement. “So what you’re telling me is…you’re no good to me?”
“What I’m saying is I might have drugged you, but I didn’t perform the Caesarean, I didn’t take the baby.”
Rage flashed across Jude’s face, but somehow she remained calm. “Don’t call it a Caesarean, don’t. A Caesarean section is a medical procedure that’s used with the mother and baby’s well-being in mind. Having my abdomen ripped open and my unborn baby snatched from my womb – risking its life – wasn’t a Caesarean.” Jude seemed to be searching the human’s face for something, probably remorse. “How do you sleep at night? How many women have you done this to? Don’t you even care that innocent little babies are being taken from their mothers? For all you know, they’re being sold to paedophile rings. What is it – can’t you have kids of your own so you hate women who can? Or is it all about the money for you?”
A scorned look suddenly took shape on the human’s pale face. “Who are you to judge me? If you want to wiggle that knife in front of me and threaten me, go ahead, do it. I just hope you don’t think I can tell you where your baby is, or that you’d ever find it now anyway.”
“I don’t. I gave up hope after a little while. I didn’t want to lose faith, it just went. To tell you the truth, she’s probably better off without me. Better off not knowing that her mom’s messed up and her dad’s a rapist. But that’s not the point, is it? She wasn’t yours or anyone else’s to take. If anyone was going to give her away, it should have been me.” Pain was etched into Jude’s face. “There would be no point in me having her back now anyway. I can’t raise her. But neither can the people who she’s been sold to, because they’re just. Like. Me.”
I shared a confused look with Sam. Surely Jude wasn’t suggesting that her baby was sold to vampires.
Jude looked at her blade admiringly. “Being sexually attacked has a way of making you more cautious. After that day, I bought this knife and I carried it everywhere, except for that one day when you decided I was going to be butchered and my baby was going to be taken and sold. I dropped my guard for that day – can you believe that?”
The human licked her lips nervously. Desperation was in every word. “Jude, think about this…you could hurt me or kill me, but what would it change? Nothing. It wouldn’t get you your baby back. All that would really come from it, is you would end up with my employers and the police on your tail for my murder. Is that what you want? You sound like an intelligent person, someone who’s been through enough. You need to let me go, and let all this go, and move on.”
“I can’t. Not until all the people who were involved and profited from the sale of my baby pays for what they’ve done.”
Not wanting the human dead until I’d had a chance to question her, I turned to Chico, Butch, and David. You three concentrate on the vampire. Sam and I will take care of the human. In vampire speed, we were in front of the two women. Jude looked up; there was no surprise in her expression, and I had to wonder how long she’d known we were there.
“Oh thank God, please you have to help me!” begged the human. “She tied me up, she wants to kill me!”
I arched a brow. “Is that so?”
“She’s insane!”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Well, the good news is, she’s totally sane. The bad news is my fiancée here is a crazy, homicidal bitch and she wants to kill you.”
As Sam’s energy whip appeared in her hands, the human blanched, gulping and shaking. I wondered if she’d pass out.
Jude’s face took on a knowing look as she studied Sam – who was totally focused on the human. “You’re the Sventé Feeder.” She seemed entranced by her. I could understand that. Sam commanded attention when she was fierce. The vampire’s eyes eventually moved to me. “And you’re the Heir.” Her gaze raked over the three squad members who had surrounded her, lingering a little on Chico.
As I went to stand in front of the human, her eyes widened. I suspected that the red tinge to my irises was glowing.
“What are you?” she asked shakily.
I tsked. “I ask the questions. First, I want to know who it is you work for.” If Jude was right and vampires had bought her baby, this was a situation that I needed to take care of – and fast.
“There’s really no point in denying anything,” said Sam. “Although…it wouldn’t be so bad if you did, because then I could whip you silly.”
I winced, offering the human a sympathetic look. “I
don’t envy you right now. I’ve been on the receiving end of that whip a few times – and not in a good way.”
The human shook her head madly. “No, this isn’t real.”
Sam cocked her head. “Frankly, I find it harder to believe there are people out there evil enough to steal children than that vampires exist. But maybe that’s just me.”
“Vampires?” the human echoed, releasing a nervous laugh.
Jude huffed. “What, you didn’t realise you’ve been working for supposedly mythological creatures?”
“What makes you think your baby was sold to vampires?” I asked Jude.
“Because vampires are running the operation,” replied Jude. “Stealing human babies, and then selling them to vampire couples.”
“Why would vampires do that?”
“How else are they going to have children unless it’s to steal them?”
The human was shaking her head incredulously. “You’re all crazy.”
Sam sighed. “Admittedly, I am. So for every time you fail to answer our questions, I will crack this whip at you. This can be over quickly, or it can be prolonged. Totally your choice, though the latter sounds more appealing to me. It’s part of the ‘crazy, homicidal bitch’ thing.”
“But me…I’d rather skip the cliché ‘I don’t know anything’ game.” I seized her gaze with mine. “Who do you work for?”
When she said nothing, Sam cracked the whip, catching the human’s earlobe. She cried out, flinching.
“Hurts like a son of a bitch, doesn’t it?” It truly did; Sam was merciless with that thing. “We’ll try this again. Who do you work for?”
The human spoke to Jude. “You aren’t even a little concerned that there are people here claiming to be vampires?”
Jude tilted her head. “As I’m also one…No.”
The woman cursed as Sam’s whip slashed along her jaw.
“I believe you were asked a question.” Sam’s voice became even raspier whenever she was pissed. It sent a shudder through me every time.
Jude tutted. “I’d answer their questions if I were you. The worst I can do is kill you, but these guys…I have a feeling they have powers that will shock the shit out of you.”
“Powers,” the woman whispered.
I turned to Sam. “Show her.”
Sam let her whip fade away, sucked more energy into her palms, and released it as a blast of air that had debris whooshing around and the tree branches swaying. Taking more energy, she directed a flame of fire at the human, which stopped just short of her body. The human, sniffling and sobbing, then watched open-mouthed as Sam shaped the energy into a silvery-blue energy ball, which she bounced from hand to hand.
“Amazing, isn’t she,” I said to the human. “I remember the first day I met her, she kicked my ass using that gift – taunted me the entire time, even called me a pretty girl. Now, if you haven’t yet figured out that it’s in your best interests to tell us what we want to know—”
“I didn’t steal any babies!”
“Yes, we overheard you admitting that your role ends at drugging the mothers. So the question is…what happens next? It’s more than obvious that the woman who offered to give Jude a ride to the hospital was involved. So where do we find her?” The human’s attention had drifted to Sam – most likely because she had her energy whip back in hand. “I said, where do we find her?”
“I don’t know—” She yelped at the feel of Sam’s whip on her cheek.
“Wrong answer.” If she had been anyone else, the scent of her blood in the air would have made my mouth water. But I couldn’t think of anything more disgusting than feeding from someone as callous as this woman in front of me. “Come on, you must have a name at the very least.”
“I’ve never met or spoken to her, I swear! I saw her from afar a few times when she drove away with a pregnant woman, sure, but that’s all.”
“What does she look like?” I knew that I could get this information from Jude, but I wanted to find out if the human was lying.
“Her hair was light blonde, but you could tell it wasn’t her natural hair colour, because her roots were very dark. She had to be in her forties. She wore glasses.”
I looked at Jude, who nodded.
“I swear that’s all I know. Leon tells me when and where to go Scouting. When I find someone, I drug them and call him. As far as I know, he then contacts the Deliverer and she takes it from there. He’s only ever referred to her as that, but he might know her name, I don’t know.”
“The Deliverer?”
“That’s what they call her and the other women who do that job. They take a kid with them on purpose to try to seem non-threatening and trustworthy.”
“This is a big operation if there’s more than just one Deliverer.” And didn’t that just worry the crap out of me.
“Yes, but I don’t know how big, and I don’t know more than what I’ve told you. I’m too low down in the chain to be trusted with details.”
“She’ll be telling the truth about that,” interrupted Chico. “In big crime organisations, they don’t tell their employees any more than they have to know. They’re going to be extremely careful if, on top of that, they have the huge secret of being vampires to keep.”
I had to agree with that theory. “Then it’s safe to say that the person we need to speak to next…is her partner.” I turned to Butch, whose eyes were boring into the human. “Check her purse for some I.D.”
After some rummaging around, Butch pulled out the human’s driver’s licence. “Janine Peterson. Her address is right here.”
“Good. I guess…you’re no longer of any use to us, Janine.”
Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. “No, please, I told you everything I know, I—”
Sam sneered at her. “You hadn’t honestly thought you’d be allowed to go on your merry way, had you?”
“What are you going to do with me?” she asked in a low voice.
“Well, that’s all up to Jude.” I turned to the brunette behind me. “Sam will be more than happy to have her way with this bitch if you don’t want the honour. It’s up to you.”
Jude straightened her shoulders. “No. I need to do this.”
Sam let out a petulant whine. “But I had something so good in mind.”
Smiling, I draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her aside. “Next time.” I looked back at Jude. “Once you’re done, you’re coming with us.”
“To her place to see her boyfriend?”
“No. If this organisation is as big as it seems and vampires are involved, we need to speak with Antonio first.” At her blank look, I elaborated, “The Grand High Master.”
Nodding, she rose to her feet and went to squat before Janine, her knife back in hand.
Janine began to sob, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if the tears were false. “I didn’t steal her, Jude, it wasn’t me—”
“No, but if you hadn’t drugged me that day, I wouldn’t have been taken to have my abdomen ripped open, I wouldn’t have nearly died, I would never have been Turned into a vampire, and – most importantly – my baby would be with me, her mom, where she should be. What’s more, others wouldn’t have suffered the same fate. So the way I see it is…you’ve had this coming for a long time.” With that, Jude sliced open Janine’s throat. She didn’t move an inch from where she sat until Janine’s heartbeat had come to a complete stop.
Note to self: Never piss off Jude.
(Sam)
No less than twenty minutes later, we were back in the conference room. Antonio, Luther, and Sebastian had looked equal measures of concerned, enraged, and sympathetic as Jude told her story.
When she was done, Antonio sighed. “Unfortunately, vampires are just as involved in trafficking as humans are. In the case of vampires, they provide others with human adults and human children to be used as vessels or consorts. It’s been going on for a long time, and I’ve been sending my squads to end these operations for years.” br />
“Well, now there’s a new type of trafficking, and it’s a well-organised crime syndicate.” Jude leaned forward in her seat. “Foetal abduction isn’t so new for humans – this has been happening in countries like Columbia for years.”
“For years?” repeated Sebastian, stunned and disgusted.
Jude nodded. “There’s a high demand for children, particularly newborns. Countries where it used to be fairly easy to adopt from now have a lot of restrictions. Adoption’s a lengthy process, and they’ll seem like a life-time to those who are desperate for a child. Abducting newborns from hospitals is much more difficult now that the places are more secure and people are more alert and aware.
“In the case of vampires, adoption isn’t an option. Kidnapping children isn’t an option as something so bold can draw attention to the existence of vampires – no vampire would risk that. But buying a child provides little risk for them. Just as they longed to be parents as humans, they long for the same thing as vampires. The crime organisation that has specialised in trafficking has leaped on this. I suppose you could call it a niche in the market.”
Sebastian shook his head sadly. “But…why would they do that knowing that they couldn’t grow old with the child?”
“They most likely plan to Turn the child once they reach a mature age,” said Antonio.
“Don’t do what I first did.” Jude glanced at each person at the table as she spoke. “Don’t try to search for some logic. These people aren’t okay upstairs or they would never have done this to begin with, no matter how much they craved to be parents.”
“Why are you sure that vampires are behind this?” I asked her.
“At first, I hadn’t been – it hadn’t even occurred to me. I was determined to find the people responsible for what happened, and I thought it would simply be a case of finding out what the human authorities knew. They had naturally been looking into the deaths; just as with me, each woman had been left for dead in a wooded area. My gift is to erase memories, though I can’t erase any more than twenty minutes. So I questioned a couple of FBI agents and erased their memories of me afterwards.