Hear Me When the Sun Goes Down (18 page)

Rob jogged out in front of us, taking over the driving duties of the limousine.  Marcus and Maggie followed in the car behind with Gunnar, and we had a whole other car for added security guys.  The ceremony was to be held at the Regency Ballroom, in the Tenderloin district.

I’d been there before, to a concert with Trent back when we were dating, but the sound was terrible, making me wish I’d brought earplugs from the throb of the bass.  The venue itself was gorgeous though, with thirty-five foot ceilings and teardrop crystal chandeliers, polished blonde hardwood floors, gilt walls
, and a horseshoe-shaped balcony above if you didn’t feel like being jammed in with the sweaty masses below. 

F
or a simple ceremony, I was pleased with the choice.  The raised stage was perfect so everyone could get a good look-see at the happenings and there were three bars to offer refreshments once the party kicked into gear.  Hopefully they’d be able to do something about the sound or they’d end up with a revolt on their hands.     

Once we got inside, I saw the outfit Maggie changed into
as the attendant took her coat.  I’d seen the dress before, or at least part of it.  This time the lace overlay that covered her from neck to wrists was missing entirely, her body ripe and bursting from the fitted bodice.  Her make-up was still soft and feminine, making her look young and fresh despite the display of skin.  From the way Marcus stared, I could tell he hadn’t seen her dressed up like that before, and I hid a smile; he was a goner. 

Jakob noticed the smile.  “Something amuses you, petal?”

“Just admiring the general splendor,” I quoted, but he missed the reference, nodding blandly as we stepped into the main ballroom.  The chandeliers blazed high above, casting the elegant room with golden light.  Thankfully, there was no booming base as the soft and genteel strains of Chopin played over the sound system. 

Straight
away I noticed the enormous champagne fountain set up directly beneath the stage, lit from beneath, bubbling and frothing away like a sculpture come to life.  A pyramid of crystal glasses stood stacked beside it on a table draped with pristine white linen.  Despite the lovely centerpiece’s appeal, not a soul went near it, not so much as to take a peek at the display up close. 

I thought about asking Jakob to get me a taste, since the top glass was perched awfully high, but he was busy talking to
councilman Durand, and I realized they knew each other.  Only it sounded like they’d never met face to face before.  I decided to leave them to their talk about boring business stuff I couldn’t make heads or tails out of, as Jakob utterly forgot I existed. 

“That’s champagne, isn’t it?” I asked Felix, figuring he knew more about the set up than most present.

“Oh yeah, but that’s for the ceremony.”

“Oh.”  I
realized I should’ve asked him more about what to expect before.  “What’s it used for, a toast?”

“Ye
p, it’s part of the blooding.”

There was that word again.  “Right, I forgot to ask you about that.  What does that mean, the blooding?”

My worry must have shown on my face.  “Relax, boss, it won’t hardly hurt a bit,” he grinned, slipping off to talk to Cordelia about some detail or other, and I turned to Bridget.

“Do you know what he’s talking about?”

“Beats the hell out of me.  I figure you’ll either be the bleeder or the bleedee.  I hope it doesn’t ruin the champagne.”  She gave a disinterested shrug.  “I’m gonna go investigate that thing in the corner though, it looks like some kind of hot cheese.  You want?”

“No, you go right ahead,” I waved her on.  “Rob?  Any thoughts?”

“I’m thinking about looking into the city’s stance on building a shooting range in the back yard,” he answered with a completely straight face.

“That’s fascinating,” I deadpanned.  “Any thoughts pertinent to the discussion at hand?”

“You look uncomfortable, would you like to sit?”

“I’m not sure I can in this dress.  But I meant about the blooding.”

“It’s nothing to be gutted about.  As I understand it, you’ll share some of your blood with those gathered, not enough to do you any harm.”

“Oh, is that all.”  It didn’t sound nearly as sinister as I’d thought.  “So, they’ll put it in the champagne?  Eewh.”  Then again, for all I knew it was a vampire delicacy, but it
still sounded gross to me. 

Rob shrugged.  “It’s better than letting ‘em fang you up close and personal-like.”

“True.”  I noticed Bishop halfway across the room, wearing his dark suit.  I had a smile half ready for him to look up, but he didn’t so much as glance in my direction.  Instead he headed straight for the bar, coming away with a pair of drinks and making a beeline for the opposite corner of the room where Laveda waited, looking amazing in a creamy top and leggings. 

“Isn’t that an interesting development,” Rob muttered beside me. 

I knew she’d intended to get something going with Bishop again, but frankly it surprised me to see her successful at it so soon after his words on the plane.  “She could do worse,” I shrugged, trying to sound as disinterested as possible.  It was none of my business.  “I should go talk to him before things get started, I want to ask him about how things are going with the Order down here.”

“Is that so.”  His tone of voice left me to guess he doubted my reasons for talking to Bishop.

“Yes, I think it’s an important concern.  That’s why he came back with us, after all, to help settle things down.”

“If you say so, miss,” he said mildly.  “Looks like it’ll have to wait for another time though.”

By the time I looked back over there, I couldn’t spot either Bishop or Laveda in the crowd.  Had they left already?  Why’d they even bother to show in the first place?  With an effort, I smoothed away the lines in my forehead.  “It’s no big deal, I’ll find someone else to ask about it.”  Only there wasn’t a single member of the Order in attendance, from what I could see. 

“Anja, you will join me now.”  Jakob tugged at my arm, and I gave Rob a rueful smile.

“Duty calls.”

What followed was the most mind-numbingly boring time I’d had since calculus in college.  I wanted to go and explore the venue, look backstage, all those things I’d thought about doing the last time I was there, but Jakob kept me glued to his side the entire time.  And it wasn’t like anyone talked about interesting stuff either.  No one wanted to talk about social reform or even what was
happening this season on
Castle.
  All they wanted to do was compete for the best spot up Jakob’s… well, you get the idea. 

It only got interesting after he openly spoke about banishing the Order from Vetis, and then it was like that was the
only
thing people talked about.  All manner of theories surfaced as to what would happen if they were ever banished from the West as well.  Most sounded scared to death of what that could mean for society as we knew it, but there were murmurs out there, those supporting the idea that the Order’s time had passed. 

Cordelia approached the lone microphone on th
e stage, and the lights dimmed as Felix appeared by my side.  “It’s time,” he whispered. 

I half expected Jakob to come with me, but only Felix, Rob and Gunnar accompanied me, Gunnar hovering by the wings while Rob escorted me to the center of the stage.  Felix retrieved a small bundle from a table off stag
e then loped out to join us, his dimples winking like crazy. 

“Thank you for all coming to this most historic event,” Cordelia began, all smiles.  “I would ask you all to take a glass now, while we prepare for the blooding.” 

There was quite a lot of milling about as glasses were circulated through the room, not only from the pretty pyramid display up front, but from trays produced by the bars in the corners.  I hoped like hell they all planned on a tiny sip or they’d end up bleeding me dry before everyone in the room had a taste. 

While this was going on, Felix carefully unwrapped the cloth bundle in his hands, producing a short dagger, thick like a dirk, with a handle carved out of bone.  He handed it to Cordelia, who held it up for those gathered to see. 

“We honor a new Elder today, long may she reign.”

“Long may she reign,” the crowd repeated as one. 

“We gift her with our allegiance, our devotion, and our lives, if need be.  In return, she gifts us with her leadership, her strength, and her blood.”  She held her hand out for mine, and I tried not to wince as the dagger drew across my wrist.  She left it there, the metal embedded in my flesh to keep the wound open as the blood ran down the tip and into the fountain.  It turned the champagne a ruddy pink, illuminated by the fountain.  The idea of drinking it still turned my stomach, and when Jakob appeared on the stage, I could see he found it distasteful as well. 

“Enough of this frippery,” he scowled, snatching up the dagger and returning it to Felix.  Before I could so much as close my mouth, he hopped down to the floor below, upending the well of tainted champagne at the base of the fountain onto the hardwood floor, while everybody stared at him, aghast. 

“We shall do this as it was done in days of old,” he declared, setting the large basin back on the table again.  “Come here, child,” he said, beckoning to a human in the crowd I didn’t recognize.  She was young, eighteen at the most, her dark hair shaped into a pixie cut which flattered her elfin face.  She approached hesitantly at first, but I soon recognized the blank look that accompanied his compulsion. 

He pressed his lips to her forehead, in a benediction of sorts, before raising her slender wrist to his mouth.  I expected pretty words or some kind of ceremony, but all he did was bite deep into her arm, pulling at her pulse once… twice… before holding her torn flesh over the bowl, where the blood poured out swiftly.  The girl didn’t make a sound, her doe-like eyes trained on Jakob the entire time as the crowd watched, transfixed
by the scent of spilled blood in the air.  He caught her to him, holding her close, murmuring endearments as her life’s blood emptied into the basin. 

It was too much.  Was I the only person listening to the shudder of her heart as it struggled to pump while her blood pressure dropped?  “Jakob…” I tried to get his attention softly at first, but he ignored me completely.  “Jakob, she’ll die.”

Jakob merely stroked her face, closing her eyelids as she started to swoon.  “And her sacrifice will be noted.”

I started forward, prepared to wrench her out of his arms and offer her some of my blood before it was too late, but Rob laid a restraining hand on her arm.  “She’ll die,” I repeated, for his ears only, and all Rob replied with was a barely perceptible shake of the head.  I understood him loud and clear. 

Yes, she would die, and there wasn’t a
gorram
thing I could do about it.  There was no way I could stand up to Jakob strength-wise, and if I started a fight, there was no telling how the crowd would react with the scent of fresh blood in the air.  All I could do was stand by and watch as her heartbeat grew slower, and fainter, until it rattled and stopped, the only sound the drip of blood from her wrist until he set her gently aside. 

Twice more he repeated the procedure, singling out a human from the crowd and summoning them to the base of the stage.  The second was a big, burly guy I’d seen working as a bouncer at Smoke and Mirrors before.  The third, another girl, Stacy something… she belonged to Mr. Vaughn
, who watched with glittering eyes, his emotions unreadable as Jakob drained his companion to the point of death. 

When the bowl was filled with thick, dark blood, Jakob turned to address the crowd.  “You are all as children, but I will raise you up and make your nation great.  All things are possible, through my blood.”  He bit savagely at his own wrist, the potent blood flowing into the basin to mix with the humans’.  When the flow stopped to a trickle, he waved the closest person forward, who happened to be Durand.  “
Drekka,
” Jakob bade him, filling a glass with the mixture and offering a single drink like a priest administering holy communion. 

“By your blood,” Durand acknowledged, swallowing as though it was the finest ambrosia he’d ever tasted.  One by one they queued up to do the same.  No pushing, no crowding, the room curiously subdued as they waited for their taste. 

“By your blood,” was repeated by one and all, with Jakob nodding his approval.  No one gave even a second glance at the bodies slumped behind him.  When they were done, the music came back on and it was party like it’s 1999, with no thought to the rest of the ceremony. 

I took the opportunity to slip away as Jakob was surrounded by admirers, hiding among the dark curtains backstage.  Rob joined me a few seconds later, keeping a respectful distance as I got a hold of my emotions before edging closer. 

“You alright?”

“What do you think?” I sniffed, wishing I had a tissue.

“I think it’s not a good time to show a tender heart.  You’re the Elder now.”

“That doesn’t mean I support the murder of innocent humans.”

“They knew the lifestyle they was choosing when they became feeders, that hardly makes ‘em innocent.”