The Children of the Sun (35 page)

“Sir, my team …”

“I’m quite certain they will be able to find their way back to headquarters on their own, Vanessa,” Charles said without looking back.

Vanessa glanced back over her shoulder at the surviving members of the team. With the exception of the Captain, who was nowhere to be seen, they were still offloading equipment. She knew she should be helping them, but knew also that when Charles gave an order, he expected it to be followed.

Fuck it, I’ll apologize later
, she thought, and she turned to follow him. Charles had reached the Town Car and was holding the rear door open. Vanessa made her way to the car and sat down, letting Charles close the door for her. A large man was seated behind the wheel, and he turned and nodded at her.

“Morning, ma’am.”

“Good morning,” Vanessa said. She was used to drivers, but this one – a massive hulk of a guy – looked awkward and out of place, uncomfortable in his role. She thought it likely he was more of a security guard than a chauffeur.

Charles sat down in the front seat and closed his door. He nodded to the driver, who started the car and put it into gear, pulling out from the hangar and onto the road that would lead them away from O’Hare Airport. From there it would be nearly an hour to their base of operations in Waukegan.

Charles glanced over his shoulder at her and said, “I will spare you the most difficult aspect of this conversation. I am aware that we have suffered heavy losses, and that your team in particular was hit hard. You needn’t describe that in detail at this time.”

“Thanks. Charles, I’m sorry, but is your driver cleared for this? There are some high-security subjects I need to touch on.”

“Manuel is on loan from the Emperor himself,” Charles said. “His loyalty is absolute, his silence assured, and there is no subject that you need consider off limits.”

Vanessa had never met the man before, nor could she remember so much as seeing his face in the hallways. She supposed his duties for the Emperor kept him away from the regular troops. He was staring serenely out at the highway as if unaware he had become a topic of discussion.

“O
K,” she said. “No offense, Manue
l.”

“None taken, ma’am,” Manuel replied. His eyes never left the road, but he smiled a bit, as if amused by her concern.

“Go ahead, Vanessa,” Charles said.

She took a moment to collect her thoughts, and then she began. “The attack went as expected, but not as hoped. The charges worked fine, and things started well. I don’t mean to question Colonel Palowski, but sending in a bunch of green recruits first might not have been the best idea. They didn’t do much in the way of killing vampires, and a lot of them got cut down.”

“This was the single most important action in your campaign, Vanessa,” Charles said. “We knew that by throwing the cathedral into complete chaos, it would give the more seasoned troops – like yours – the opportunity to do real damage to the council members. To do that, we had to separate them from the other vampires in attendance. To do
that
, some sacrifices had to be made up front.”

Vanessa felt something inside of her rising up at the cavalier tone in Charles’s voice, but she made an effort to fight it off. This caused another coughing fit.

“Yes, you’re definitely seeing the doctor as soon as we arrive,” Charles said, his voice amused.

“Maybe we both should!” Vanessa snapped without meaning to, and then felt her cheeks warming. Charles looked again over his shoulder, one eyebrow arched.

“Do you really think he hasn’t seen me already?” he asked, and Vanessa shrugged.

“Last time I saw you, you said you were fine.”

“Yes, well, I suspect the time for putting on a bold face has passed.”

“What’s wrong?”

“That is something we can discuss later. For now, please … tell me what happened.”

Vanessa took a breath – shallow, still, trying not to induce another coughing fit – and continued. “Burke shot the Ames woman, but it wasn’t a kill. I lost track of him after that, but I heard he took a blade to the head. Janus and Paulo were stationed at the exits as planned. I entered and engaged with the council leader. He didn’t have a weapon and adopted a large candlestick.”

“I take it that went poorly?” Charles asked.

“I cut off his head,” Vanessa said. She had felt satisfaction at the time, but felt little of it now. Too much had gone wrong.

“Very good,” Charles said.

“That was the last thing that went right,” Vanessa said. “I had a chance at taking Ames out as well, but another vampire fired at me. I didn’t get a good look, but I think it was the guy who showed up out of nowhere a couple of years ago with the blonde girl.”

“Yes, we’ve been monitoring them. The woman has been in combat training, but her patron seemed uninterested.”

“He’s halfway competent with a gun, anyway,” Vanessa said. “I saw him and dove out of the way, but the shot would have been good. After that, I crawled back behind the altar and lost track of them for a time.”

“Did you have a firearm?”

“I did, but the position was terrible. I was in a depression with limited visibility, and I was concerned that trying to fire from there would only bring a bunch of them down on my head. I saw Ames escape with the mystery vampire, and the blonde girl went with the two Ay’Araf into the office wing. I left my location and met up with Janus, Paulo, and Connors, and told them that the Ay’Araf head was the most important target remaining.”

“An accurate assessment.”

“Right, well, we followed them into the office wing and engaged them. I … Janus wanted to open fire, but I told him to wait for the Captain. It was a mistake and I take full responsibility for what happened next.”

“What did happen next, Lieutenant?” Charles asked. His voice was light, but Vanessa could nonetheless feel the weight of his judgment bearing down on her. Surely he would be disappointed.

“The two Ay’Araf attacked without warning,” she said. “I ordered Janus to fire, but … Charles, the speed of these things is amazing. It’s like watching the Captain, only this man moved like a dancer. He slid under the bullets and when he came up, he took Janus’s gun hand off in one swing.”

Charles was nodding. “I trust you have a better understanding now of why we were so loathe to attack the vampire council before Captain Perrault fell into our hands?”

“Very much so, sir.” Vanessa said, and began to detail the fight. She explained what had happened to Janus, Connors, and Oliveira, and finished by admitting her own inability to handle the Ay’Araf councilmember by herself. “He would have killed me if the Captain hadn’t arrived.”

“You don’t sound particular
ly
happy with the Captain,” Charles commented.

“Do I have permission to speak freely?” Vanessa asked him.

Charles laughed. “When have you ever needed my permission to do that?”

“Where the hell was she? She hung back until half the building was on fire.”

Charles looked over his shoulder again, this time favoring her with a sympathetic smile. “The Captain was obeying orders delivered to her by the Emperor himself. She was not to engage at all unless your team had not returned by a specified time.”

“But why? She’s goddamned indestructible. I might still have my squad if she had been there from the start.”

Charles sighed and shook his head. “Captain Perrault is not indestructible. Vanessa, I know it is difficult even for the most devoted of subjects, but you must trust in the Emperor’s wisdom and vision. He gave me those orders, and I relayed them to the Captain, and she followed them to the letter, as always.”

“I would never question the Emperor. I had no idea she was acting on his orders, sir. She didn’t tell me.”

“No, I suppose she wouldn’t have. Captain Perrault is not particularly talkative.”

Vanessa gave a small laugh. “Uh … no.”

“It is to my great pleasure that she arrived when she did, and so kept us from losing you. I lament the loss of your men and can only assure you that their sacrifice was not in vain. We have struck a blow to the vampires of America that the Emperor and I believe will prove fatal.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Vanessa told him. She was tired and hurt, but it was the truth. If all they had done in the past few weeks really meant the eventual elimination of vampires in America, she knew her men would’ve considered their lives well spent.

“So the Captain killed the senior Ay’Araf?”

“Yes. She cut his head off.”

“Very good. What of the two women?”

Vanessa sighed. “This is where it gets complicated.”

Charles glanced back at her, one eyebrow raised, but opted not to speak. Eventually Vanessa continued.

“The Ay’Araf woman moved out of my sight while fighting Paulo. She must have … they had a secret exit that we weren’t aware of. She was able to rendezvous with another vampire, who then attempted to rescue the blonde woman.”

“It seems as if they must have been far too late for that.”

“They would have been, but the Captain … Charles, she recognized the blonde woman.”

Charles did not look back at her again, but she saw him grow stiff, as if holding back some much-stronger reaction. At last he said, almost casually, “She what?”

“She stopped dead in her tracks and said, ‘I know you,’ and the blonde woman agreed. She seemed surprised the Captain hadn’t already realized this.”

“I see,” Charles said. “What then, please?”

“The Captain became severely agitated. The blonde woman called her by her first name and asked what we’d done to her. It was pretty obvious she knew the Captain. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I waited, but the Captain seemed to be busy trying to recall her memories. I asked her what to do and she shouted that I should kill the blonde woman, but the tone of her voice … I’m sorry, Charles, but she sounded scared. I’ve never heard her like that.”

“Fear is not an emotion she deals with frequently,” Charles said. “Vanessa, did you kill the blonde woman?”

“I tried. Just as I was advancing on her, the other vampire – the one from the passage – called to her. She turned and ran, and she’s very fast. She made it to the secret passage and I caught up just in time to hear them lock it from the other side.”

“Damn it,” Charles muttered, the words barely audible. Vanessa didn’t like the tone of his voice one bit; it sounded defeated, the voice of someone already under a great deal of stress who has been informed of some new, terrible thing. For a time they drove in silence, the mile markers on the highway moving by.

“You told me that everyone she knew from that part of her life was dead,” Vanessa said.

Charles sighed, the sound old and papery, and passed a hand across his brow. “I did.”

“Was it a lie or an oversight?”

“Even the Emperor’s vision failed to see this possibility,” Charles said. His voice sounded distant and dazed.

“That doesn’t even remotely answer my question,” Vanessa muttered.

“She was human. Her part in this was done.”

“Charles, what the hell are you talking about?”

Charles seemed to force himself out of his reverie. He turned again to Vanessa and said, “The blonde woman is almost assuredly the one who killed Abraham. We should have realized. She must have found another patron and returned to their ranks.”

“That little thing killed Abraham?” Vanessa asked, aghast. For most of her time with the Children, Abraham had been a figure of near-mythic power and evil. The idea that he had been brought down by a girl barely into her twenties seemed beyond ridiculous.

“I can see no other possibility,” Charles said. “I did not lie to you when I said that all of the vampires from Captain Perrault’s life were dead. I merely failed to mention that one of the people involved was no longer a vampire. The
Eresh-Chen
, the daughter of Abraham’s heir … she returned to humanity and we had no way to track her. We didn’t even know her name, and we never could get Captain Perrault to divulge it before … oh, damn it all.”

“So this means the Captain has a friend on the other side?”

“Not if she can’t remember her,” Charles said.

“Charles … why can’t the Captain remember?”

“The moment you are cleared by the doctor, I want you working on your report,” Charles said, ignoring her question. “Give exacting detail in all areas, but pay special attention to the Captain’s encounter with this woman. Scour your brain, Vanessa, and make sure you report it exactly as it happened.”

“OK, but—”

“Further, I must insist that you watch the Captain carefully and report to me at once if there is any change in her behavior. This is vitally important to us and our cause. You must understand that.”

“I understand. I’ll watch her. Of course I will. But Charles, please …”

“When she first joined us, Captain Perrault underwent a series of conditioning drills meant to improve and enhance her abilities. Some of these drills were mental in nature, and an effort was made to divorce her current self from her previous lives, both as a vampire and as a human.”