“Hey, I get it. Don’t think I haven’t thought the same thing many a time. Andy could
have just about any guy she wanted, so why’d she pick a putz like me?”
“You’re not a putz. She probably sees the good guy in you. After all you’ve been
together, what, a hundred years? How many couples can say that?”
“Not many. But remember, in vampire years, that’s not such a long time!”
Back in their room, Tommy wasn’t about to let his and Andrew’s earlier exchange go
unresolved.
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 52
“I was serious about what I said, Andrew. You don’t get to leave me behind and go
diving underground and God knows where else without me. And just so you know, Roger’s
told me how to avoid those little mind games you guys like to play sometimes.”
Andrew arched his eyebrows. “Oh, really? And just what did he tell you?”
“He said it’s like when he was human and didn’t want to come too soon when he was
having sex, he would think of weird things, like his granny’s underwear or his mom and dad doing it, so it would slow him down some. Now, of course, he can vampire control it, but he said if I fill my mind with other thoughts, not like those, but other things, any other things, you can’t penetrate the jumble and I don’t get zapped.”
“How interesting.” Andrew quirked the corner of his lips and took a step closer. He
fixed his eyes on Tommy’s. “Why don’t we try it out now and see how it works?”
“Okay.” He stared back into Andrew’s eyes and tried to fill his mind with anything
except—
Oh God, how beautiful those eyes are, how hypnotising they are, how quickly under their
spell I could fall.
“Whoa! Stop. Jeez…” With an effort he dragged his gaze from Andrew’s. “Oh, that
wasn’t fair, Andrew. You did something before I could get ready.”
Andrew drew him into his arms and kissed him tenderly. “Roger was pushing your leg,
my love. No human can resist a vampire’s will, especially up close like this.” He kissed Tommy again. “Don’t worry, I promise I won’t zap you. You’re right, we should do this together. I just ask again that you never leave my side for a moment.”
“That’s an easy promise to make.” Tommy pressed his muscular body to Andrew’s and
held him tight. “By the way…” His lips vibrated sensuously on Andrew’s as he murmured
with a soft chuckle, “It’s pulling your leg, not pushing.”
“I knew that,” Andrew said, laughing lightly. “Now shut up and kiss me.”
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 53
Andorra and Tony made their way to the Presidential suite early next morning, before
the sun was up. The Secret Service men had already swept the room for hidden ‘bugs’,
cameras or any other electronic devices that terrorist spies had been known to use. Although the President’s visit was still an official secret, there was no doubt that either or both the Taliban or Al Qaeda members who had attended the meeting the day before would have, by now, notified all interested parties as to the President’s presence. This meeting had to be conducted swiftly, in complete secrecy, and hopefully with some kind of agreement reached.
Andorra scanned the room where the meeting was to take place. All seemed in order,
but her senses went on full alert when Secretary of State, Denise Harper, signalled that the Secret Service agents should admit the Taliban contingent.
“Vampire,” she whispered to Tony who stood at her side watching the men file in. “The
tall young one in the tailored suit. He was not at the meeting yesterday.”
Interesting.
She gave the vampire a knowing smile as he walked in with the other men who wore
the traditional robes and
agals
. The vampire took his place at the table and narrowed his eyes at Andorra. He did not return her smile. Instead he looked decidedly uncomfortable and quickly averted his eyes from Andorra’s searching stare. His mind was blocked to her, as she expected it to be, but she took pleasure in adding to his discomfort by keeping her gaze firmly fixed on his darkly handsome, though sullen face. A young vampire among the Taliban—and newly changed by the looks and scent of him.
Really interesting
.
Andorra knew that just as there were those vampires who worked covertly with
Western governments, some allied themselves to the ‘other side’, either for reasons of
financial gain or in some cases, loyalty. Only one or two of the Secret Service agents on duty knew of Andorra’s true identity, but now she wondered if they realised they had a Taliban vampire in their midst. She glanced around, taking in Denise Harper’s calm expression and Hollingsworth’s scowl.
He really does not like me being here
. Andorra knew there were many people, even those who employed vampires, who were wary, if not totally afraid of them.
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 54
Andorra didn’t think Hollingsworth was afraid. The man had a certain arrogance, a disdain for those he considered less than himself. Andorra had heard that he’d been furious when Metcalfe had passed him over as his running mate in the previous election.
And what could be the purpose of this particular vampire being at the meeting?
Andorra sensed danger and kept a close watch on the vampire as the President rose to
address his guests. Metcalfe had obviously discovered in his previous meetings with these men that they were not impressed with flowery words or promises they would interpret as worthless. He came straight to the point, warning them that their training camps in the
Yemen were being closely monitored and that any planned insurgencies would be swiftly
and decisively dealt with.
“Europe and the United States want peace, gentlemen,” he said through an interpreter,
“but it cannot be a peace at any price. You need to rein in Al Qaeda…”
A low rumble of discord rose from the throats of several of the Taliban and one man
jumped to his feet, his anger reflected on his swarthy face. “We are not Al Qaeda’s keepers,”
he spat, “nor are they ours. Peace will only be attained when all Americans leave our soil forever. You are desecrating the Holy Land, polluting it with your continued presence.”
Metcalfe sighed and glanced at Denise Harper, shrugging his shoulders as he did so. It
was obvious he had listened to this kind of rhetoric before, but Andorra saw it for what it was right then—a diversionary tactic. One to have the Secret Service agents focus their attention on the shouter, while the real danger moved with lightning speed, so fast the
human eye could not catch his movement until he was upon the President, fangs bared,
prepared to rip out his throat.
Andorra was quicker. Her speed blurred everything in the room around her, putting
time at a standstill for the microsecond that it took for her to place herself between the President and his attacker. Her tiny, steel-like fist lashed out and smashed into the vampire’s mouth, a devastating blow that broke his jaw and had him staggering back howling with pain. The agents, recovering from their momentary shock, sprang into action, guns spewing volleys of lead into the vampire’s body.
The bullets could not kill him, but they had weakened him considerably. He fell to his
knees, moaning and clutching at his jaw. Andorra knew he would heal in seconds and no
doubt continue his attack. In that moment when he’d been temporarily disabled, she had
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 55
read his mind. He had been programmed for this mission. There was no room for failure—
for Krautman would accept nothing less than total success.
Andorra stepped forwards and grasped the vampire by his hair. He snarled at her just
before she broke his neck. A collective gasp went up from the Taliban members and without a word they hurried from the room. The President stayed the agents with a gesture. Some had been prepared to go after the terrorists.
“Let them go. The meeting was useless anyway.” He looked down at the vampire’s
body. “What do we do with him?” he asked Andorra. “Is he actually dead, or is he going to jump to his feet and have another shot at me?”
Tony knelt by the vampire and prodded him with a finger. “He’s dead all right,” he
said. “He must be fairly young, Andy. He’s not decaying.”
Andorra nodded. “That is why he was so easy to overcome. He was recruited by
Krautman.”
“Perhaps he could’ve told us more if you hadn’t—uh—broken his neck,” Denise Harper
said quietly.
“He told me enough.” Andorra smiled at her. “Krautman is here with us in this room.”
“What?” Metcalfe gaped at her, then at his Secret Service agents who stood surrounding
them, guns still drawn, alert, ready.
“She’s full of bullshit!” Henry Hollingsworth stepped forwards, his eyes cold, yet wary, and Andorra knew she was correct. The dying vampire’s last thought had betrayed the traitor. “How can you believe anything this vampire bitch says?”
“Hey!” Tony grabbed Hollingsworth’s arm and pulled him away from Andorra. “I
don’t care who you are, you don’t talk to Andy like that.”
Hollingsworth jerked himself free. “And you,” he snarled at Tony, “what kind of man
are you that lets a fucking vampire feed on him?”
“That’s enough, Henry,” Metcalfe snapped. “What the hell’s got into you?”
The smile that crossed Denise Harper’s expression was not warm or friendly as she
turned away from Andorra and said to the President in a low voice, “I think the Lady
Andorra is about to tell you something you never wanted to hear.”
“She’s full of crap, I tell you,” Hollingsworth yelled, backing away.
“Henry…” Metcalfe’s eyes widened with shock as he stared at his Secretary of Defence.
“No…”
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 56
Denise made a small gesture and two Secret Service agents closed in on Hollingsworth.
“Take it easy, sir,” one said. “Don’t give us a reason to shoot you.”
Later that night, Tommy sat on a bar stool in Andorra’s suite, his eyes wide, enthralled by the story she and Tony related to them.
“Man, it sounds like something out of a movie,” he said, when Andorra paused to take
a sip of her wine.
Tony chuckled. “It kinda played out like one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy more
thunderstruck than the President when Hollingsworth lost it. All that vitriol pouring out of the guy’s mouth about how he could do the job better, and how Metcalfe was so low in the polls because of his stupidity, and that the rest of the world was laughing its ass off at his ineptitude when it came to dealing with the Middle East, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and on and on. God, that Hollingsworth is a total arrogant jerk.”
“But the vampire,” Tommy asked, “where did he fit in?”
“That is something we must be very careful about in future.” Andorra looked across the
room at her fellow vampires. “It seems the Taliban has been experimenting. Sending
vampires in to assassinate those they want to get rid of in places where they cannot bring weapons. The vampire needs no weapons. His or her strength alone will do the job. If I had not been there today, the President would most certainly be dead. The vampire was young, but extremely fast—a dedicated killing machine.”
“But easily disposed of,” Marcus said. “An older vampire would not have succumbed
to a broken neck.”
“Where are they finding these young vampires?” Andrew asked.
“They are, for want of a better word, breeding them,” Andorra replied.
“But how?” Now Tommy’s eyes were really big. “How do you breed a vampire?”
“Not intentionally, in the beginning. Two years ago a young man was attacked by a
rogue vampire in the hills outside Kirkuk. The vampire fed upon him for several days and inadvertently changed him. He returned to his family, and well, you can imagine what happened. A local tribal leader had him captured and allowed him to feed on young men
and women.” A look of anger mixed with sadness clouded Andorra’s face. “Some of them, of
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 57
course, died, the vampire unable to control the blood lust, but some survived and mostly due to neglect, were changed. The Taliban heard of this, and some enterprising soul decided to experiment—the result was what we witnessed today.”
“And Hollingsworth—how did he get mixed up in all this?” Roger asked.
“When Tony and I were assigned this operation, we were to be there simply as
protection for the President,” Andorra said. “The usual thing, as you know, Marcus. We
remain unobtrusive in the background, but if there is any danger, our senses and mind—
reading ability are alerted to it much more quickly that human bodyguards. Hollingsworth couldn’t contact the Taliban directly with the fact the President was going to attend the top secret meeting—they expected only Secretary of State Harper. The terrorists, having failed to extract any information from us, forced Hollingsworth to move on to a secondary plan.”
“That’s where it gets really scary,” Tony said, picking up the story. “Because the
American and European governments have been using carefully selected vampires in covert
operations, he got to hear about the fact that the Taliban had been experimenting with the exact same strategy, and saw it as a way to get rid of the Prez. Apparently, he didn’t know that Metcalfe had asked Andy to be at the meeting this morning.”