Page 43 of Reaper
“Because she’s not close enough to the source,” I said.That led to an explanation about how Luke turned by taking a piece of a demon inside himself, and how all the vampires we knew about today were in one way or another descended from Luke, but how I was more closely descended than most of them even though I wasn’t exactly a vampire, just the eldest son of two people who got snacked on by vampires, thus altering my DNA somehow.“So basically, I can heal with just a couple of drops of Luke’s blood, but I’ve never found any beneficial effects to drinking the blood of other vampires.At least not in the quantities I’ve been able to make myself consume.It’s possible that if I drained an entire vamp, I could heal, but have you ever tried to drink that much blood?It’snasty.Also, dead vampires begin to dissolve very soon after they’re slain, so you have to drink them very fast.”
“I have questions,” Becks said.“But I don’t think I want the answers, because the questions are gross enough.”
“It was a long time ago, and the experiments were at least as unpleasant as you think they were,” I said.I decided it was well past time for a subject change, so I asked, “Did we get the Boss when we shut down the fight club?”
Becks looked chagrined.“No.We didn’t get the Boss or any of the handlers.They must have had some kind of escape route pre-planned.By the time we finished up in the arena, and the rest of our team had processed the spectators, anyone in management was gone.”
“Well, shit,” I said.“At least they won’t be running any more fights to the death until they can rebuild and start to get the word out about a new location.But we need to be more on top of this shit.They were running these blood fights right under our noses, and we had no idea.How do we find them before they get a new arena online, and how do we make sure nothing like this happens again?”
“I have an idea for that,” Becks said.“But it’s going to mean we bring somebody else into our inner circle.”We worked for the Department of Homeland Security’s Paranormal Division, which was already a super-secret government agency within a pretty secretive government agency.But the fact that I was Dracula’s nephew and a real-life wizard was even more secret thanthat, and practically no one outside the room we were in knew that Becks’ boss was actually a naga, a mystical half-snake creature in the guise of a human.
“I guess if it’s somebody you trust, then I trust them, too,” I said.I glanced at Anthony, who raised both his hands as if in surrender.
“Not me,” he said, standing and heading for the door.“I’m still trying to get home.I just came by to see if you were going to be okay, so now I’m off to continue redeeming myself with the Queen.The second Titania will let me cross over, I’m back to the Summer Court.This world is way too weird for me.”Too weird for the fae—maybe Charlotte’s tourism board could put that on a flyer somewhere.Like maybe the Eighth Circle of Hell.
I stood and hugged Tony, then turned to Becks as the door closed behind him.“Okay, who do we have?”I asked, hesitant.I didn’t love the idea of bringing anyone new into our inner circle, but ever since Dennis, my last tech guru, had turned into an Archangel (yes, really), we had been lacking in that department.
Becks pulled out her phone and pressed a button.“You can come in now.”
34
Whatever I expected from a Department of Homeland Security Official Computer Nerd/Hacker wasn’t what walked into my living room.First off, the picture I had in my head was a scrawny middle-aged man who still had acne, the kind of basement-dwelling pallor that onlyFinal Fantasynerds and vampires have perfected, greasy hair, permanent Cheeto stains on his fingertips, and the social skills of someone who’s grown up on a deserted island.I did not expect a tall Asian woman with spiky magenta hair in black leather pants, a BABYMETAL t-shirt, and fingerless leather gloves with a wheeled hard-sided gear case in tow.
“‘Sup?”she asked, walking over to me and extending a hand.“I’m Xia.You need a computer genius?”
I took her proffered hand, still a little struck by her appearance.“Harker.Quincy Harker.Good to meet you.”
Xia turned back to Flynn and let out a little chuckle.“Does he always do the ‘Bond, James Bond’ thing when he meets somebody?Because that’s kinda cute, but also kinda pretentious.”
Becks laughed.“No, usually just when he’s surprised.I think he was expecting someone who looked more like they just stepped out ofThe Officereruns than someone who looks like they’re on their way to a Hatsune Miku concert.”
“Miku’s more a Japanese thing,” Xia corrected gently.“I’m Korean, so I’d be more into BTS or Stray Kids, except I’m obviously a little more hardcore, and less culturally specific.”She pointed to her shirt.“Besides, I grew up in St.Louis, so I’m more American Korean than Korean Korean.Where can I set up?”
I pointed over at the dining room table, where Nameless was currently sprawled out keeping an eye on these proceedings.“Will that work?There’s an outlet right by the head of the table.”
She looked over at the table and nodded.“That’ll do for now.Eventually I’ll get my whole supervillain lair set up in the empty apartment Deputy Director Flynn showed me, but I’ve got a shitload of stuff to get delivered before I can have my command center set up.”She walked over to the table and scratched Nameless under his chin.“Hi, Kitty.You wanna share the table with me?I’ll share my treats.”
Nameless just purred in response.Damned cat was a total traitor.The first time I met him, he clawed the fuck out of my leg, my shoulder, and my head.Now everybody he meets is his best friend.Admittedly, he probably saved my life the night we met, so I gave the furry little Benedict Arnold a pass.Mostly.
Xia dragged her case around to the end of the table, flipped it open, and exploded into a whirlwind of activity involving wires, touchscreen monitors, two laptops, a stack of equipment I didn’t recognize, and even more wires.She pulled so much shit out of the case that I had to peek inside and make sure there wasn’t some kind of dimensional rift in there, but I guess it just adhered to purse physics, where the interior boundaries have no real limit on the amount of shit you can put into a receptacle.
“Um, I guess we’ll let you get set up while I grab some coffee,” I said.
“Great,” Xia said, waving a hand at me absently.“Gimme about half an hour and I’ll be up and running.And if you’re making coffee, I take mine with four sugars.And cinnamon if you have it.”
I glared at her for a second before she looked up at me, smirking.“Fucking with you, boss.Just fucking with you.I loaded up on caffeine before I got here.Oh, and is cursing a problem?I kinda got fired at my last gig for having a potty mouth.”
I somehow managed to keep a straight face, which is more than I could say for Becks, who let out a donkey bray of a laugh.“No, Xia, I’d say cursing isn’t a problem.”
“In fact, it’s pretty much a requirement to work on this team,” Becks said.She walked into the kitchen and fired up both Keurigs to get some go juice into both of us as quickly as possible.For my part of breakfast, I walked over to the bar and grabbed the Jameson’s.If this was how my morning was going to start, my coffee definitely needed to be Irish.
* * *
A few minutes later, Becks and I were on my balcony, the sliding glass door shut firmly behind us.I leaned on the railing while my loving fiancée and apparent force for chaos in the universe sat in one of the two metal chairs I kept out here for private conversations or exceptional brooding.If I’ve learned anything watching Batman movies, it’s that if you’re going to look down over a city you’ve sworn to protect, you’re going to need a good brooding spot from which to do so.My balcony was great for brooding.
“Where the fuck did you find her?”I asked.
“She’s one of the best hackers I’ve ever arrested,” Becks said.
