Initiative Page 11

  He didn't answer as he walked out the door. The truth was that he didn't want to take responsibility for the young vampire. He shut the door behind him and looked at Grayson. "She's dreaming."

  "Most vampires still dream. Granted, by our age, they become nightmares."

  Levi nodded. "But she's being visited by someone in her dreams."

  "Do you believe that?"

  "I believe that there are creatures capable of walking in dreams."

  Grayson nodded. "Most of them are witches or warlocks."

  "I don't know why one would urge her to walk out into the sun or how they managed to get her to walk in her sleep. But I don't think that she has control over her actions."

  "That's more information than I got out of her. Thank you." Grayson nodded. "I'll have to keep her in containment until I know she won't hurt anyone."

  "I didn't make any promises of getting her released. I know you have a job to do."

  "Thank you. I'll take it from here. If I need any more help, I'll let you know." Grayson walked passed him and to the door. "If we're dealing with a witch or warlock, I'll make sure to call Liz in and not Abigail."

  "Abigail has her hands full anyway, so that might be the best call for your case regardless of my bias." Levi nodded. "Have a good night Grayson. I'm going to go home and shuffle some papers around."

  "Ah, paper shuffling. The worst part of every job." Grayson walked into the room and shut the door.

  Levi gave it a moment to make sure that he wouldn't be needed again to help calm Meghan, but no loud shouts came from the room, so he took himself home to find Mario standing in the office.

  "What?"

  "Our little tiger is gone."

  Levi's brows shot up. "Gone?"

  "Saw her on the security system leaving. No note, nothing."

  Levi sighed. "She's running. There's nothing we can do. She's determined to outrun the past."

  "So you don't want me going after her?"

  "No, she's no threat to us. Whatever she is trying to outrun, just let it be for now. If it comes back round to us, we'll deal with it." He sat down at the desk. "Meghan might have been visited by a warlock in her dreams."

  Mario raised a brow. "That's an interesting little talent. Wonder why."

  "I don't know. There's something else going on though. I don't think that she's the one attacking the others. Her boyfriend can account for where she was for some of the other attacks.

  Mario crossed his arms. "What do you think then? Grayson said he had her on camera attacking."

  Levi nodded. "Let me correct myself; I don't think she is the only one attacking. I think there might be others, and I think that if Grayson can find a connection, he might be able to find the warlock."

  "Did you let Grayson know this?"

  Levi shook his head. "He'll know once he's done talking to Meghan. I don't want to cloud his judgment on the case."

  "So you're going to sit around and do paperwork?" Mario sighed. "Such a boring life."

  "I could be out searching for a blood-starved vampire, but no, you and the council think I need to lay low for a little bit." Levi glared at him. "And my life is not boring. I have plenty to keep me entertained, and if I run out of interesting things, Abigail always comes through with something to stress me out."

  Mario held his hands up. "Then I shall leave you to your boring paperwork and try to find us a vampire without tipping Ira off."

  Levi snorted. "Good luck. If you capture one, call me, and I'll meet you at Dr. Webber's."

  Mario gave a mock bow. "As you wish, my king." He smirked and disappeared. Levi shook his head. He would much rather be the one out there looking for the vampire, but the council was right, it was better for him to lay low. And with the attacks increasing, he didn't want to test his luck.

  A couple hours before dawn, the paperwork was filed, the desk was clean, and Levi had no word from Mario or Grayson on anything. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. The next thing on his list was to get the needed paperwork to make Mario his second in command legally, so if something were to happen to him, Mario could take over the territory. The humans had put laws in place so that there was a paper trail required so that vampires didn't fight over territories and rights. It would take at least a couple months for the human government to approve Mario and then to make sure everything was set in the council. At some point, he would have to introduce Mario to Abigail. Just another piece of the past and another connection to the vampire world he didn't really want her to have.

  He reached for a piece of paper to start penning his request when his phone went off. He sighed and reached for it to read the text message from Mario. "Have blood-starved. See you soon."

  He glanced at the clock and stood. Stretching, he decided there was no better way to spend his day than observing a blood-starved vampire most likely created by his brother. And Mario said his life was boring. Levi smirked and took himself to Dr. Webber's and knocked on the door.

  Dr. Webber opened the door and stared at Levi. "Come in before the sun comes up. This could have waited until tonight."

  Levi nodded. "And I know you won't get to running the tests until later, but I wanted to observe the vampire."

  "Of course. Make sure you take notes and let me know anything of interest. I need to sleep during the daylight hours. I've already taken the liberty of making Mario a bed down in the lab, so he can sleep as well. Do you require one?"

  "No, I don't plan on sleeping. I want to watch the vampire during the day and see his reactions. Don't worry, I won't do anything rash."

  "I never worry about you, my king. I simply worry about what the vampire might do. The confinement room is lined with silver to keep him from transporting out. The room should hold up to any violence he throws at you." Dr. Webber closed the door and motioned for Levi to follow him. "If it doesn't, I trust that you can take care of it."

  "I'll be fine." Levi followed the doctor down a flight of stairs and found Mario already waiting in the hallway. "I'll see you at nightfall, doctor."

  "Until then." The doctor walked down the hallway and disappeared into a room. Mario walked down the hall without a word, and Levi followed him.

  The basement seemed larger than what a typical house allowed for, but many vampires found ways to modify them as such to make a better living area. Mario finally stopped in front of a steel door.

  "Are you sure about this?" Mario put his hand on the door. "I could interrogate him if you wanted me to."

  Levi shook his head. "I don't really expect to get answers out of this. Not from him. From the blood tests, yes."

  Mario opened the door and walked in, Levi followed him and went to the containment room that the vampire was in. He was huddled in the corner, rocking with his hands over his head. "In life or death, we serve no king."

  Levi knocked on the bulletproof glass. "Hello."

  The vampire looked up at him with blood red eyes. "In life or death, we serve no king."

  "Do you know who I am?" Levi crossed his arms. "I'm the territory leader, and you and your friends have been terrorizing my people."

  The vampire laughed. "Fuck you."

  Levi raised a brow. "Really, you do understand that you're trapped here. Correct?"

  He let out a very inhuman growl.

  "Your master, your maker, won't come to get you, because to him, you are expendable. You are at our mercy now." Levi let a dark smile cross his face. "We can do anything to you."

  Something close to human shone in the vampire's eyes. "What do you mean?"

  "If we wanted, we could torture information out of you. We won't because that's not how we operate, but you should know that your maker has abandoned you to us."

  There was a flicker of doubt, and the vampire's gaze darted to Mario and then to Levi. "In life or death, we serve no king."

  Levi nodded. "I kno
w. Now, do you wish to tell me where you came from?"

  The inhuman growl came from the man again. Somewhere between the snarl of a wild animal and a human choking. "In life or death, we serve no king."

  "Face it, that's all he is going to tell you." Mario shook his head. "He's a useless, mindless minion."

  Levi stared at the vampire. Part of him had hoped there might have been a little more humanity left in him so they could help him rehabilitate, but the creature in front of him showed very little. "We observe him and see if he's worth saving. If not, after we get the blood work done and back, we put him down."

  Mario nodded. "I'm going to sleep for the day. If you need something, figure it out."

  Levi snorted. "I'll see you at dusk."

  Mario wandered off, and Levi sat down in front of the containment room. "If you want me to spare your life, I suggest you start showing some human emotions."

  The vampire snarled and slammed into the glass. Levi sighed. "That's what I thought."

  Mario came up behind Levi at dusk. "Anything interesting happen?"

  "Nothing. He snarled and banged on the glass well into the day and then finally collapsed to sleep." Levi shrugged and motioned to the containment room. "As you see, he's still sleeping."

  Mario nodded. "A late sleeper."

  The door creaked as it opened, and Dr. Webber walked in. "I trust everyone had a good day?"

  Levi and Mario both nodded, but the vampire in the containment room still didn't move. Dr. Webber walked up to it and knocked on the door, still no movement.

  "Sleeps like the dead," the doctor muttered, and Levi snorted.

  "A blood-starved newling, that tends to happen. Do we have a donor that might want to feed him?"

  Dr. Webber shook his head. "No, none of my donors will feed a blood-starved."

  And Levi couldn't blame them. "Then we get his blood while he sleeps. Mario and I will hold him down while you draw the blood."

  Levi stood and waited for the doctor to open the door. Even after opening the door, the vampire didn't stir. There was a moment that Levi thought maybe the vampire had truly died during the day. Mario followed him and grabbed the vampire's wrist, hauling him up off the ground. The creature snarled and threw himself around. Levi grabbed his other hand, and he and Mario pinned the blood-starved to the wall, holding his arms with their hands and trapping his legs with theirs.

  Dr. Webber came up with a needle, not bothered by the small display of violence and force. The vampire tried to slam his head into the doctor, but Levi grabbed his forehead and slammed it back into the wall. He snarled and snapped at Levi, but it didn't matter. He wasn't getting free.

  The doctor stepped away a few minutes later with a couple vials of blood. "Thank you, gentlemen."

  He walked out. Levi and Mario looked at each other. "On the count of three," Levi said. "One, two, three."

  Both of them let the vampire go and shot out the open door, slamming it shut as the blood-starved vampire tried to follow them out.

  Levi let out a long sigh. "Okay, part one accomplished." He looked to Dr. Webber. "How long will the results take?"

  "I'll make it a priority. I should have them for you in the next couple days." He packed the vials into a container. "I'll call a council meeting if anything interesting shows up."

  The vampire slammed against the door, and Mario cringed. "I'll take care of him, Levi. I'm sure you have other things to worry about."

  "I do. I also need to find myself a meal." He bowed his head. "Thank you for cleaning up the mess, as it were."

  "Part of my job description." He chuckled. "I'll be back at the mansion later."

  Levi bowed his head and looked one more time at the vampire in containment. For a moment he swore that his face looked a little longer and teeth more animal-like than vampire. He shook his head and disappeared back to the mansion.

  The mansion seemed unusually quiet when he got there. No Abigail wandering around, no Jaimie still there, and Mario off taking care of the blood-starved.

  He went to the office only for his phone to go off.

  He sighed as Oliver's ringtone blared through the room He answered it.

  "What?"

  "A yellow Hummer?" He didn't sound very amused.

  "Well, you only told me it needed to be a brighter color."

  "And now she's a driving bull's eye." Oliver sighed.

  Levi shrugged. "You complained that you couldn't track it manually, now you can."

  "I've put a tracker on her phone as well. That way if there is another kidnapping and they manage to get further than a few blocks down the road, I can find her."

  Levi paused for a moment. "I want access to that."

  "I'll send you the information." A doorbell rang in the background. "Ah, my guest is here."

  "I'll let you be then."

  Oliver chuckled. "I'm sure Agent Tomes would appreciate that."

  Anger flared in him. "Agent Tomes is a traitor to PIB and is out to harm-"

  "I know." Oliver disconnected the call. Panic flooded through Levi, what the hell was Oliver getting at?

  Levi reached for his phone to call Abigail, no answer. He set his phone down on the desk and took a deep breath. She was okay. These things were normal for her. He didn't resist messaging Oliver though.

  "If Abigail gets hurt, you're dead."

  It was only a moment when a replay came back. "I would never hurt my niece."

  He wasn't sure if that was true, but any time he thought about Oliver hurting Abigail, he always remembered the night that Oliver helped Elizabeth save Abby.

  He sighed and put his phone away. He'd worry about it later. If she showed up hurt or disappeared again, he knew exactly who he'd kill.

  Levi sat at his desk, waiting for any word from Abigail, but nothing had come yet. Neither had any word from Oliver. Mario walked in. "The blood-starved vampire is taken care of."

  Levi bowed his head. "Thank you. Did Doctor Webber say anything else?"

  "Oh, a couple words about how you were crazy, and he hoped you weren't going to start collecting them in hopes of finding a cure." Mario raised a brow. "I told him that I wouldn't doubt that was your plan."

  "I'm not out to save everyone. I just may be hesitant to kill everyone. If there were some human left in him, then we could have gotten him fed, and into a good territory."

  Mario snorted. "You're out to save everyone. You think that everyone can be redeemed. That's what you thought of me."

  "Am I wrong?" When Levi had first met Mario, he'd been nothing more than a puppet of Hannah and Kiera.

  Mario shook his head. "And I owe you my life, but not every case is like mine."

  "I know, Mario." Levi ran his hands over his eyes but nearly jumped when his phone went off. He checked the message from Oliver.

  "You'll find that Abigail is safe at home now."

  He let out a small sigh of relief. She survived whatever Oliver had put her through. His phone rang, but it wasn't Abby's number that appeared, it was a private one.

  "Levi speaking."

  "Hello Levi, it's Agent Grace. I wanted to talk to you for a moment about a development in our case." She sounded much more confident than any of the other times he'd spoken with her.

  "Of course, is this regarding the blood-starved vampires, or the fact that Tomes is a traitor?" He kept his voice even, and Mario sat down in the chair.

  "Abigail told you about that then?"

  "It involved her life being in danger, and she called my judgment into question since I had told her that you and Tomes could be trusted. Now, how can I help you?"

  She was quiet for a moment. "I'm an agent with one of the highest clearances. I have been tracking Brian Tomes as a necromancer for some time, but his obsession with Abigail came into play not long after we met you. He seems to think that Abigail has a connection to the king."
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  Mario's eyes lit up, and Levi held up a finger to keep Mario quiet. "And this has you calling me why?"

  "You're her adopted father, do you know anything about this?"

  "Even if I did, Agent Grace, it would be none of your business. Abigail keeps her life private." He shook his head. "Poking around in her past won't get you anywhere, other than in trouble."

  She was quiet for a moment. "Are you connected to the king Levi?"

  "Check your records, Grace. You'll find that I retired from being a King's guard about the time that Abigail went into high school. Now, that is all." He hung up without saying good-bye.

  "Seems Tomes has been talking." Mario leaned back. "Do you think that Ira has shared some of his knowledge."

  Levi pressed his lips together. "No, not all of it, or Tomes would already have his answer."

  "Are you still thinking Ira's trying to force your hand at revealing yourself to Abigail?" Mario raised a brow.

  Levi thought for a moment. "I do, and I think there's a lot more going on with Ira than we know of right now." Of course, they didn't have an inside line to Ira, and he seemed to be recruiting people all over to do dirty work for him, not including the blood-starved.

  "I think I'm going to take a little trip to the jail and visit Tomes when I know that Grace and Abigail are done with him."

  "Do you think that's wise?"

  Levi nodded. "I think that's what they are expecting, but they won't be expecting me to pull information out of Tomes."

  "You're just going to place more suspicion on yourself. Let me go instead as a King's Guard. Any talk about the king and any search in the system flags an alert. The council gets that alert, so naturally a king's guard would be alerted."

  Levi thought about it for a moment. He wasn't sure that he wanted to send Mario in there, especially since he had been brought up in Grayson's case.

  "I see you doubting this. It'll be fine. Or we can have Grayson go in."

  Levi sighed. "Someone needs to figure out how much Ira told him. If it's not me, I'd rather it were you. We need Grayson to lay low in PIB, besides he has his hands full with a case."