ShiftingHeat (13 page)

“I want to know what went on after I left.”

“Sure you do.” Rina grinned. “In short, not much. A lot of
talk, some interviews, then ‘back to work, slaves’ and we were done. So tell
us. Who is the tall, blond stranger?”

Faye surrendered to the inevitable. “His name’s Andros
Zelinski. He’s a computer science student.”

The girls’ mouths formed perfect Os. Lara was the first to
speak. If Faye had put money on it, she’d have given the sassy blonde evens. “A
student? You’re dating a student?”

Faye shrugged. They had to know. Andros wouldn’t leave her
alone here. They’d decided to go into this as a couple, so she bowed to the
inevitable. “He’s doing his PhD, so it’s not as bad as it sounds. He has a
job.” She paused. “At STORM.”

Okay, surely Cathy didn’t
have
to scream. It nearly
took out her eardrums. “The lion’s den! I thought you joined the anti-STORM
group!”

“I just wanted to know more about Talents and what they mean
to us. I had one in my class this year, and no, I won’t tell you who.” That was
true, as far as it went. After all, she was a member of her own class. And she
had taught a few Talents in the past. “I met Andros and we hit it off, so we
went on a date last night. He’s a mortal, not a Talent, he just works at STORM
as a geek. End of story.” She hoped she could come clean after the mission, at
least as far as Andros was concerned. She still wasn’t sure about coming out
herself, but at least she knew neither Andros nor anyone at STORM would
pressure her into it.

Rina frowned. She got up from her desk and crossed the room
to the water cooler. “Why don’t they convert him? Or are the crutches
temporary?”

“No. He has Becker’s. It’s a form of muscular dystrophy.
STORM has a waiting list for conversion and he’s on that, but they don’t come
up often.”

Lara grimaced. “They prefer to keep it for themselves.”

Faye didn’t comment. “Anyhow, we talked about more than
STORM, and we liked each other’s company. So I’m seeing him again.”

“And you’re telling me you didn’t sleep with him?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Faye said, as calmly as she
could. ”But even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be breaking any rules.” True
enough. Her department had nothing to do with his.

“Leave her alone, girls.” At last, the voice of reason. She
gave Rina a smile of thanks. But Rina went on, “We’ll know soon enough. I’m
only too glad to see the back of that creepy professor. Much too old for you.
Better to be a cougar.”

Faye gave an embarrassed laugh. “Twenty-six. A couple of
years doesn’t make me a cougar.” But a hundred or so might.

The other two agreed. “You got too tied up in the professor
and his cause, girl. He’s on the run now. Who knows where he is?” Rina said.

She still could hardly believe Nordheim had done what they
said, but she’d seen the evidence for herself. Irrefutable evidence.

“So what did they tell you about Professor Nordheim at
STORM?” Rina asked. “Is he a man or a Talent? Did he stab that Talent they flew
off to hospital?”

She shrugged. “As far as I know he’s as human as I am. You
don’t think he would have shape-shifted if he could?”

“So where is he?” Rina wasn’t giving up.

“On the run. He’s wanted for questioning on a number of
counts of abduction and murder. That’s why they wanted him originally. That’s
why I had to go in for questioning. They’re taking in everybody from the
Fairness Society, in case they know where he is.”

The collective gasp expressed the way she’d felt. She’d
touched this slime, had dinner with him. Nearly fucked him. Before they’d
separated today, Andros had warned Faye, “Don’t see him, don’t let him see you
in private. If he comes near you, contact me. Fuck, send out a broadcast.”

She’d kissed him and promised. She didn’t have a death wish.

Lara paused in the act of booting up her computer. Her gaze
left the screen and went to Faye. “He really killed people?”

“Talents. Yes.”

“Not really the same thing, is it?”

Faye swallowed. “What do you mean?”

Lara shrugged. “Well, Talents, you know? They had a couple
hundred years already. And they won’t help the rest of us, will they? They want
it all ways. They want what we’ve built up and they don’t want to give anything
back.”

“So how do you know that someone like Isaac Newton wasn’t a
Talent?” Faye demanded. Her temper rose and she had to fight to keep control.
Jesus, who was feeding these people this shit?

“Of course he wasn’t. Maybe you need to come to a meeting
with us.”

The club Lara belonged to, of course. The anti-Talents in
every way. Every university had its fanatics, and Lara belonged to the “get rid
of them all” lobby.

“Do you think the law will hold them if they really want to
take over?” Rina demanded. She made a sound of exasperation. “They do it
because they want to. I want to give them some leeway, a chance to show us what
they can do. And Faye’s right. Remember what she said the other day? It makes
sense to me. Talents have lived among us for centuries and we’re none the worse.
We could be better off.” She grinned at Faye. “Do you really think Newton was a
Talent?”

No, actually, he wasn’t. But she couldn’t say that now. “He
could have been. Who knows?”

“Come to a meeting, both of you,” Lara urged. “You’ll see.”

What could she say, but “Sure”? Not that she ever intended
to go.

Halfway through the morning, Ann sent a bunch of stuff to Andros’
phone. He thumbed through the messages and gave a low whistle. It turned out
Nordheim was into all kinds of shit. He recruited vampire wannabes, the kind of
people who willingly offered themselves up as blood slaves. They attracted vampires
who wanted an easy feed. To some people it was the ultimate fantasy. So
vampires had disappeared, along with the shape-shifters. It made it worse that
Nordheim was a Talent.

This university was one of the biggest in the city and it
held any number of weirdos. Andros had the unenviable task of investigating
them, or as many as he could get through. They’d been arranged for him in order
of closeness to Nordheim. The ones in the Fairness Society were already being
questioned but there were Nordheim’s students, colleagues, people he socialized
with. He could scan most, but he had to take care because somewhere, Ann
believed, were his accomplices in the abduction scam.

First, they had to visit a vampire club, with members that
worshipped and offered themselves to the vamps as blood slaves. Lucky vampires.

They held the club after classes. This being fall, it
started getting dark around six and the meeting was scheduled for seven, so the
vampires were manifesting their full powers. A shame, he’d hoped to be away and
sitting in some cozy restaurant with his girl by then. He texted Faye and let
her know where he’d be.

She met him there. They were holding the meeting in one of
the smaller classrooms in the arts building. And it looked just like he
expected. Andros had belonged to one of the wannabe clubs an age back. An age
in his experience, but a year in reality. So much had happened since then. He
had played with his band in a club for vampires and would-be vampires. Some of
the bastards had even taken his blood, weak though he was at the time. But now
he knew there were bad vampires and good ones, just as there were bad mortals
and good ones. Species didn’t guarantee decency. He thought that if vamps were up
front about how hard it was to change someone, they’d save themselves a whole
lot of hassle. They’d also lose some willing blood donors, but they could live
with that. But not his call, so he’d keep clear. One thing he could do without
was an angry vampire baying for his blood.

They’d dimmed the lights in the room, and draped some black
cloth here and there. Behind the desk at the front they’d hung a banner that
said “Welcome vampires.” And at the front stood someone Andros would bet wasn’t
a vampire. He sensed nothing from the guy. The tight black pants and poet’s
shirt showed a lack of imagination, but if the guy wanted to pretend, Andros
wouldn’t stand in his way.

All his senses went on alert when Faye came in. Immediately
he moved from his station next to the wall to meet her. People cleared the way,
gave him sympathetic smiles he wanted to snarl at. He could give less able-bodied
people a bad rep that way, so he kept his cool and smiled back. He got to Faye quicker.

She shot him an alarmed glance but he didn’t stop until he
reached her and could lean down and give her a kiss of greeting. His hair fell
over them both, his pale blond mingling with her dark chestnut. At that moment
he wanted nothing more than to take her home and to bed, take care of her, love
her.

She contacted him.
Should we be so open?

People know about us. It would look suspicious to stay
apart. Come on, get out of the entrance. People want to come in.

She moved away from the doorway, followed him to his spot by
the back wall. They stood together, close, and the world grew a little warmer.

The guy at the front introduced himself as Sergiu Tanase.
Like
fuck he is
,
Andros commented to Faye and heard her amusement in his
mind.

Probably Harry Smith or something
,
she
responded.

The man had overdone it. He wore his hair long and the curls
had tangled around his shoulders. His eye makeup was far from subtle, and
either he’d used some kind of dye or bitten his lips to get them that red. No
self-respecting vampire would appear in public in such a hackneyed getup. Or
maybe he would, but only to make his friends laugh. “I am a vampire, although I
do not have to take much blood.” He pronounced it “blut”. Whatever he was, he
so wasn’t the Romanian he claimed to be, with that faux accent and his fake
name. Andros didn’t try to penetrate his mind any deeper than he had. He
couldn’t see the point.

But someone else saw it. Already he recognized the
Sorcerer’s clear, passionate mind, so focused and disciplined. He hadn’t seen
Serena Duval when he came in and he suspected she’d arrived early and settled
somewhere quiet. But she was here now, and close. She touched his mind in
greeting, then concentrated on the others in the room.

He knew by the way her hand tensed in his that Faye had
picked up on Serena too.
What’s she doing here?

The same as we are, I guess. Checking out the members
here.
Little chance that Serena would pick up their private conversation,
so deep now that only they could share the place.

There must be fifty people here. Some dressed in black and
red, Goth style, others in casual clothes. But he didn’t pick up any vampires.
Unless they’d closed their minds.

There are at least three vampires here.
Serena could
go deeper than he could and still remain undetected. She told him vampires were
waiting, exploring the minds of the people. If they could pick up prey here,
they would, but it could be a trap. It probably was a trap, considering the
links Nordheim had with the club.
I sense something, something buried deep.
I want to get to this man calling himself Tanase
,
Serena said.

You think he’s helping Nordheim and his friends?
Andros
wanted to know.

Her reply was laconic.
I suspect the link is there.

The “vampire” gave a toothy smile but no fangs showed. Andros
had seen people get tooth jobs from their dentists, existing teeth filed and
shaped or caps applied. At least this guy hadn’t gone that far.

“We don’t usually meet here, but this being the start of the
semester, some of you might be new to this. We want vampires. We love you guys.
Here you can find people who care about you and want to help you. We know
vampire numbers are low. We can’t see you disappear.”

“Don’t you mean ‘us’?” someone yelled.

Sergiu raised a brow. “If you say so.” His accent thickened.
Andros had already noted the way it came and went, even in the space of a few
sentences. Tanase tilted his head to one side, smiled at the questioner as if
he were an operatic villain. “We will be here. We usually meet once a week at
the Skoland Express.” A local bar. “We want to say to any Talents here that not
everyone at this university is the enemy of the Talent. We welcome you. We have
this room for tonight. Feel free to mingle.”

Andros didn’t trust the bastard one bit. Any more than he
trusted the crazies in the anti-Talent group. But he was naturally that way,
and being with STORM had only increased his latent paranoia. Although sometimes
you were right and they were really after you.

He gripped Faye’s hand, feeling oddly safe. Content to stay
here with her as long as she wanted. At least he recognized this brand of
nuttiness. He spoke up, hoping his words would stir the crowd and make it
easier for Serena to read them. “I came from San Francisco,” he said. “We had
the same kind of setup. Hopefully you can help me one day, if I help you.”

Andros met Sergiu’s burning gaze. “I’m sure I can.” The
silky smile said it all. “In fact I know I can. Stick with me, kid. I’ll look
after you, if you look after me.” And then he felt it, the glamour vampires
exuded to get what they wanted, to lull their victims into a state of dreamy
acceptance. So he was a real vampire, after all. He’d just buried his Talent
deep and built strong defenses. Some vampires refused to use their compulsion.
He pretended to be fascinated and moved closer, Faye following him.

This was a bad vamp. Andros had just wanted to be sure. Only
a purely selfish, ignorant vampire would take the blood of someone as obviously
disabled as he was. But the man read him, his powerful mind sweeping across Andros’
mind once before leaving. Andros did his best to maintain the defensive, proud
attitude that had kept him going for so long, but he couldn’t replicate the
damaged part of his mind. MD eventually got everywhere. And always there was
the knowledge that he wouldn’t get better. So he added a shot of desperation to
the mix. That came so easily, even now.