Authors: Dean Murray
The office
flickered again and suddenly there was a baby on the floor next to
Alec. Judging by the pink bow in her hair it was a girl. She was
young enough that she was swaddled up, a tiny little bundle that
looked wrong lying there on the carpet like that. Babies that size
belonged in someone's arms, not abandoned on a patch of flooring next
to a brother who was much too young to know what to do with them.
I tried to
remember what I'd been told about the rest of Alec's family. I seemed
to remember Alec saying something about a sister. Even without that,
I still would have been convinced that the baby girl was related to
Alec. They simply looked like they belonged together.
The sister was
just as vivid and real as Alec was, just as lifelike…utterly
different than the woman who had just vanished. It didn't make any
sense, but there wasn't time to dwell on that. Alec and his sister
had already disappeared, leaving Kaleb momentarily alone staring at
the empty space where they'd been.
A knock on the
door brought Kaleb's head around. "Come in."
The woman who
strode through the door looked like she could have belonged to a
biker gang. She didn't have tattoos or piercings, but her dark
clothing combined with her tough, no-nonsense air to make her much
more intimidating than I would have expected out of someone who was
basically the same size as me.
"Mallory.
I didn't expect you to swing by so late at night, but I'm glad you're
here. What do you think…"
"I'm sorry
to interrupt, Kaleb, but we have a visitor."
"Not
somebody we were expecting apparently?"
"No.
Somehow he got right up to the house without being seen, which would
be creepy all by itself, but he asked to talk to you, asked for you
by name and then pointed here at your office like he knew you were in
this room."
"That's
hardly the kind of thing I'd expect to rattle you of all people,
Mallory. It's nothing more than a cheap trick. I'm here most nights
at this time. It would hardly take some kind of psychic to guess that
I'd be here now, especially with the lights on in this room like they
are right now."
Mallory licked
her lips and I realized that she was real too, that she didn't have
the mistiness that I'd seen in Alison's mom.
"That's
actually not true, sir. It was true a few months ago, but for the
last little while you've been leaving the office early to go spend
some time with your family. You usually forget to turn the lights
off. It's only been in the last week that you've gone back to working
as late."
Kaleb took a
deep breath. "I can't believe I lost track of the time again. I
was supposed to help give Rachel a bath. Hopefully Samantha will
forgive me. It's these negotiations with Jaclyn Annikov. I need to
get down there and talk to her in person if I'm going to make any
progress, but I need to find a way to do it quietly. The Coun'hij is
so skittish that I'm not sure we'd like their response right now if I
let my plotting get too obvious."
Mallory cleared
her throat. "It was more than that, Kaleb. This man knew things,
things that I've never told anyone before, things about me that I've
kept secret for decades. He's more than just some random homeless
guy. He wants to talk to you and he said that nobody else can know
about his visit, just you and me."
"You're
serious? You think he's someone I need to talk to?"
Mallory's nod
was hesitant, but she did nod.
"Fine, go
get him. I'll rearrange the guard coverage so that nobody is watching
the back staircase five minutes from now. There are enough new people
in and out of the house lately that nobody is likely to comment on
one or two new scents that they don't recognize."
"Very
good, sir."
"I'm not
my father, Mallory. You can call me Kaleb. You did just now, after
all."
"I'm
sorry, sir, it just wouldn't be proper, but I appreciate the gesture,
that and the fact that you place so much trust in my judgment. I'll
be back momentarily with our visitor."
Once Mallory
was gone, Kaleb called in another man, this one a large, hulking
specimen who was almost as big as Kaleb. Kaleb asked for one of the
guards to run a note to Samantha, and the man quickly left to deliver
the message to the designated courier, but I barely noticed. I was
more focused on the fact that the guard was as misty as the original
woman had been. There was something odd going on there, odd even when
compared to the kinds of things that I'd started to expect out of
dreams.
We must have
skipped forward, because it hardly seemed like any time at all passed
before Mallory ushered in another man. This guy was short, maybe
five-seven, with black hair and a face that didn't seem to give
anything away.
"Leave
us."
Kaleb started
to counter the man's order, but before he could stop Mallory, the
visitor turned to him. "You are going to want to know what it is
I've come to say, but I will not talk to you if she remains."
"Given the
state of the world these days I would be a complete fool to allow you
to remain in my presence without any bodyguards. I'm sure that you
are aware that I have…enemies who would like nothing more than
the chance to assassinate me."
The visitor
inclined his head slightly. "I promise that no harm will come to
you by my hand tonight. Furthermore, I promise that I will do all
within my power during the length of my stay to see to it that you
remain unharmed."
Being inside of
a dream didn't seem to grant me the acute senses that allowed shape
shifters to discern whether or not someone was lying, but I could
still tell that something about his proclamation had impressed both
Kaleb and Mallory. After a couple of seconds Kaleb nodded and Mallory
left the room.
Kaleb reached
forward and turned on a small electronic device that filled the room
with a background hum of hisses and pops. I started to move forward
so as to make sure that I would be able to hear over the noise
generator, but then the sound faded away into insignificance. Neither
Kaleb or the visitor acted like anything had changed, so I assumed
that it was just more of the reality bending that was only possible
inside of a dream.
The visitor
leaned forward in his chair. "I find it interesting that you
used those words just now. 'The state of the world these days' is
something that I've thought about quite a bit over the years."
"I don't
follow, Mr…"
The visitor
just smiled. "The world we live in today would have defied the
imagination just a few centuries ago. Automobiles, aircraft,
computers that are able to send incredible amounts of data around the
world in fractions of a second for virtually no cost. Those are just
the start of the wonders that we are able to appreciate that our
ancestors never even considered might one day become possible."
Kaleb sat back
in his chair, apparently willing to listen, but when the visitor
paused as though inviting comment, Kaleb just waved for him to
continue on.
"Dealing
with men like you is easier in that regard, Mr. Graves. You pride
yourself on being a modern man, but you too remember a time when many
of these things didn't exist. Your father, if he were still alive,
would remember a time when
all
of those things didn't exist.
Both of you have an advantage. You have the capacity, if you choose
to exercise it, of understanding what made the world change."
"Do I?"
"Of course
you do. Any reasonably intelligent man or woman has the capacity, but
the weight of years that you carry with you provides you the benefit
of perspective."
"You say
that as though you're not one of my kind."
"I'm not."
"You're
obviously not a vampire, and I've never heard of any accounts of
werewolves being able to carry on an abstract conversation, so what
does that make you if you're not one of the moonborn?"
"Why, that
would make me something different." The visitor actually smiled,
but it wasn't a friendly expression. "Even this conversational
detour simply proves my point, the point that you already know but
are reluctant to reveal to me. The difference between then and now is
knowledge of the true nature of things. For untold centuries human
kind clouded the nature of things in mysticism. Thunder was explained
away as gods battling, the sun was a chariot being pulled across the
sky. It wasn't until we moved past those infantile ideas that we
began to experience true progress.
"Knowledge
of things has laid the groundwork of every advance we've ever
realized. Understanding the nature of the atom, comprehending the way
that air moves, calculating forces, it all leads to something else,
some practical application that seems like magic to those who
don't
understand the things in question.
"I am
given to understand that you are quite the metalworker, Mr. Graves.
Have you ever experienced that feeling? Have you ever lost yourself
in the study of something, some problem, and then as your knowledge
grew found that the solution was sitting there perfect and simple in
its elegance?"
Kaleb stared at
the visitor for several seconds before nodding. "I have. It's
one of the most rewarding feelings I know. I'm always astonished
afterwards that it took me so long to see the solution. It always
seems so obvious in hindsight."
The visitor
closed his eyes for the briefest of seconds. In another person I
might have said they were having a religious experience, but this man
didn't seem like the type who believed in anything he couldn't
quantify.
"Then we
are kindred spirits, Mr. Graves. You too are a scientist even if you
had not realized it until now."
"I guess
by a certain definition you're right; I'm a scientist of steel and
forces. What is it that you study, if I may presume to ask that of a
kindred spirit?"
"Indeed
you may. That is actually the precise thing I came here hoping to
discuss. I study men and women."
That caught me
off guard, and as nearly as I could tell it caught Kaleb off guard
too. "You're a student of anatomy and physiology then?"
"No, I'm
afraid not. There are things about that pursuit that I would
doubtlessly find interesting, but they are ultimately not where my
talents lie."
"I
wouldn't have thought that men would make very good objects of study.
They seem to me to be much too changeable and unpredictable."
The visitor,
the Scientist as I was starting to think of him, gave Kaleb the
barest hint of a smile. The expression was so slight that I almost
missed it, but it was like watching the response of an expert
fisherman after he'd set the hook.
"That is
where you're wrong. People—humans, vampires and shape
shifters—all prefer to believe that they are unpredictable, but
the truth is that once you really understand people they are the most
predictable things in the world. Most of the things that surprise us
from those around us are simply the result of not understanding who
we are dealing with."
"My wife
surprised me just yesterday with breakfast in bed."
"If you
were truly surprised then you either failed to account for something
in her environment, some changing stimulus, or you don't know her
very well. Not like I know my subjects."
Kaleb surged to
his feet with a tornado of metaphysical power. It was the kind of
display I'd come expecting to see out of Kaleb, but it hadn't
happened like I'd expected.
There was a
split second where I thought that Kaleb might actually come over the
desk and rip the Scientist's head off, but he calmed himself with a
visible effort as he looked down at his visitor with cold blue eyes
that were several shades lighter than they'd been just a minute
before.
"Did you
anticipate that?"
"Yes, I
knew that my words would anger you, but that you wouldn't hurt
someone who'd taken up guest right in your home. It was quite easy
really. The knowledge that your wife is addicted to your touch, that
she couldn't leave you even if she wanted to, eats at you. People are
always the most defensive about the things they aren't sure of, and
your relationship with Samantha is one of those things that you'll
never really be sure of."
"Get out
of my house."
"No, you
need to hear the rest of what I have to say. You're angry now, but in
the next couple of seconds you'll remember that you're more than just
a jealous husband. You'll remember that you're the alpha of the
second-largest pack in North America, a pack that will overtake the
Chicago pack and claim the preeminent place within the next ten to
fifteen years simply out of organic growth.
"You'll
remember that you're poised in the middle of a dangerous bid to
distract the Coun'hij from your true potential for long enough to
forge the alliances you'll need to create an unassailable power bloc.
You'll realize that I know things about your power that even some
here inside of your pack are only now starting to suspect. You'll
realize that you can't afford to dismiss my warning, not when your
people might pay the price for doing so."
"Who are
you?"
"I told
you. I'm a kindred spirit, a scientist. I'm a man who knows things
that you haven't even begun to guess at."
"Things
like?"
"I know
about your enemies—not the petty, squabbling children of the
Coun'hij—your true enemies, those who would extinguish all
intelligent life on this planet."
Kaleb opened
his mouth to respond. I could see that he wanted to dismiss the
Scientist's words, but he couldn't. There was something about the
smaller man, a confidence like nothing I'd ever seen before. He
wasn't just confident, he was completely assured that everything he
was saying was fact. It was like he was a missionary and Kaleb was
the primitive savage who didn't want to believe that the world
continued on past the horizon, that the world wasn't flat, that we
didn't all live on the back of a giant turtle.