Circus of the Damned - Laurell K. Hamilton [1]
He cleared his throat sharply. “You know what I mean.”
“No, Mr. Ruebens, I don’t.”
“Well, a zombie queen . . .” He stopped in mid-sentence. I was getting pissed, and it must have shown on my face. “No offense,” he said softly.
“If you came here to call me names, get the hell out of my office. If you have real business, state it, then get the hell out of my office.”
Ruebens stood up. “I told you she wouldn’t help us.”
“Help you do what? You haven’t told me a damn thing,” I said.
“Perhaps we should just tell her why we have come,” Inger said. His voice was a deep, rumbling bass, pleasant.
Ruebens drew a deep breath and let it out through his nose. “Very well.” He sat back down in his chair. “The last time we met, I was a member of Humans Against Vampires.”
I nodded encouragingly and sipped my coffee.
“I have since started a new group, Humans First. We have the same goals as HAV, but our methods are more direct.”
I stared at him. HAV’s main goal was to make vampires illegal again, so they could be hunted down like animals. It worked for me. I used to be a vampire slayer, hunter, whatever. Now I was a vampire executioner. I had to have a death warrant to kill a specific vampire, or it was murder. To get a warrant, you had to prove the vampire was a danger to society, which meant you had to wait for the vampire to kill people. The lowest kill was five humans, the highest was twenty-three. That was a lot of dead bodies. In the good ol’ days you could just kill a vampire on sight.
“What exactly does ‘more direct methods’ mean?”
“You know what it means,” Ruebens said.
“No,” I said, “I don’t.” I thought I did, but he was going to have to say it out loud.
“HAV has failed to discredit vampires through the media or the political machine. Humans First will settle for destroying them all.”
I smiled over my coffee mug. “You mean kill every last vampire in the United States?”
“That is the goal,” he said.
“It’s murder.”
“You have slain vampires. Do you really believe it is murder?”
It was my turn to take a deep breath. A few months ago I would have said no. But now, I just didn’t know. “I’m not sure anymore, Mr. Ruebens.”
“If the new legislation goes through, Ms. Blake, vampires will be able to vote. Doesn’t that frighten you?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Then help us.”
“Quit dancing around, Ruebens; just tell me what you want.”
“Very well, then. We want the daytime resting place of the Master Vampire of the City.”
I just looked at him for a few seconds. “Are you serious?”
“I am in deadly earnest, Ms. Blake.”
I had to smile. “What makes you think I know the Master’s daytime retreat?”
It was Inger who answered. “Ms. Blake, come now. If we can admit to advocating murder, then you can admit to knowing the Master.” He smiled ever so gently.
“Tell me where you got the information and maybe I’ll confirm it, or maybe I won’t.”
His smile widened just a bit. “Now who’s dancing?”
He had a point. “If I say I know the Master, what then?”
“Give us his daytime resting place,” Ruebens said. He was leaning forward, an eager, nearly lustful look on his face. I wasn’t flattered. It wasn’t me getting his rocks off. It was the thought of staking the Master.
“How do you know the Master is a he?”
“There was an article in the Post-Dispatch. It was careful to mention no name, but the creature was clearly male,” Ruebens said.
I wondered how Jean-Claude would like being referred to as a “creature.” Better not to find out. “I give you an address and you go in and what, stake him through the heart?”
Ruebens nodded. Inger smiled.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“You refuse to help us?” Ruebens asked.
“No, I simply don’t know the daytime resting place.” I was relieved to be able to tell the truth.
“You are lying to protect him,” Ruebens said. His face was growing darker; deep frown wrinkles showed on his forehead.
“I really don’t know, Mr. Ruebens, Mr. Inger. If you want a zombie raised, we can talk; otherwise . . .” I let the sentence trail off and gave them my best professional smile. They didn’t seem impressed.
“We consented to