The Fugitives, A Dystopian Vampire Novel: Book Four: The Superiors Series (11 page)

“You work for Byron,” he said, his voice a croak.

Meyer laughed. “Not at all. In fact, I work for anyone who works against Byron, although I myself do not. You see? That is my special interest in your situation.”

“Can you help me?” He might as well beg. All he had to lose was already lost. This strange man-child offered a semblance of hope.

“Do not despair,” Meyer said with a chuckle. “Your sap is safe.”

“Where is she?” Draven demanded.

“She’s safe. That’s all you need to know for now.”

“Have you hurt her? Given her to Eva? What have you done to her?”

“Nothing, I assure you,” Meyer said, holding up a hand. “And neither have you. You seem quite attached to her, despite your noticeable lack of interest in her. I’ve never seen someone quite so agitated over a sapien, especially one you don’t even feed from.”

“What do you want from me?” Draven asked, his lips too stiff to form the words correctly.

“Oh, I hadn’t really thought about it,” Meyer said. “I suppose I could think of something. I know you have no money. In fact, all you have is a stolen sap, and as of right now, you don’t even have her. So, just out of curiosity, what is your offer?”

“Anything you want.”

“Anything?”

“If I could have her back, yes.”

“You’d, say, die for her?”

“I’d kill for her.”

Meyer laughed. “Not the same thing at all. But very good. It seems she feels the same,” he said, opening his jacket. The shirt inside was torn, and a small circle of blood surrounded the tear. He lifted his white button-up shirt to expose a bandaged abdomen. “She is quite impulsive with her knife. Did you fashion that for her?”

“Yes.”

“I thought so. Yes, very good. I’m quite impressed.”

“Oh?”

“I quite enjoy your antics. You are like a fly in the ear of Byron. Buzzing, buzzing, and never any peace.”

“Can he hear us?”

“Oh, I doubt it. I’m sure he’d be out here if he could. You see, he’s made the mistake of going inside the house, which, as you know, is nearly soundproof. Confidence elevates a man, but it can be his downfall as well, wouldn’t you say?”

“So you know of my relationship with Byron, and you know of my record, and you have my sapien. What else do you want from me?” Desperation set in as Draven glanced at the house. He needed as much time for his escape as he could get. He didn’t want to think about how Byron had found him, how Meyer had. Perhaps one had led the other to him. It could have been Eva, or the smoke, or his use of the electronic devices, even though he hadn’t entered his ID. He only knew that they needed to flee, and every moment he wasted speaking with this boy brought him closer to Byron.

“I was curious, I suppose,” Meyer said. “I wanted to meet the man who has driven Byron over the edge. I quite enjoyed watching him take the plunge. Anyhow, as entertaining as our little chat has been, I suppose I should let you get on with your dalliance. Let me just ask you one thing. Are you a sex pervert?”

“Excuse me?”

“You know, do you get your rocks off with the girl? The sap.”

“No,” Draven said, trying to hide his horror.

“Never?”

“Never.”

“That’s too bad. I was hoping to drive Byron mad with that. And when I saw that she stayed in the house with you for the first few days …well. You can see how I’d hope that was the reason.”

Hope? He’d hope that Draven was a sex pervert just so he could use it against Byron. Though Draven now knew Meyer had no great love for sapiens, that seemed excessively vindictive.

“
Oui
, I can see how you would,” he said.

“Well, then. I wonder how else you might help me in return for my help.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Draven said. “But I don’t have much in the way of payment. If you expect it, keep the papers, sell them. I can’t use them now, anyway.”

“That’s very true,” Meyer said. “You’d lead the Enforcers right to you. But I couldn’t sell them for that very reason. I do have something else you want, however.”

“What are you going to do with her?”

“I don’t know. Let us see, shall we?”

Draven hesitated only a moment. If Meyer wished to trap him, Draven would be trapped. He had to see Cali, if she was alive, before he fell prey to whatever Meyer had in store. He followed the boy around the fence and into the neighbor’s front yard. Meyer put his finger over his lips and pointed to the car Draven had seen earlier. He then opened the door and gestured for Draven to enter. He did so. He would have gone anywhere that held that scent and the sound of an accompanying heartbeat.

Meyer climbed in after him and closed the door. “Byron is in the front of the house,” he said. “He might hear us if we talk outside.”

Draven had stopped paying attention to Meyer. He twisted around to look behind the back seat where Cali lay, her hands bound in front of her with thick plastic pull-cuffs. She lay curled with her head on the black backpack. A wide band of cloth covered her mouth.

“Release her,” Draven said. “Whatever you’re going to do with her, you can do to me if you let her go.”

“You are a strange fellow,” Meyer mused. “Very well. I will let her go if you answer me one question.”

“I need to know she hasn’t been harmed. Unbind her.”

“You may take the gag off. But if she screams, Byron might hear. I will put you both out of the car if he comes out.”

“Yes, fine. Cali, do you understand? Do not scream, yes?”

Cali nodded, and Draven reached over the seat, hooked his finger under the gag, and drew it from her mouth. Her eyes went wide and her heart beat hard, but her voice came out strong and even. “I told you I don’t scream.”

Draven smiled. “Have you been harmed? Are you well?”

“I’ve been better,” Cali said, gesturing with her bound hands.

“Before I negotiate your release, I have to know you’re unharmed. Was anything done to you?”

“Nothing besides this,” she said, gesturing again. “I tried to stab him but…he’s hard. The knife didn’t go in. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, pet, do not be sorry,” he said, stroking her hair. “You did what you should have. I should never have left you. I’m sorry.” Draven brushed her hair off her face, caressing her cheek to check for marks at the same time.

“Isn’t this just heartwarming,” Meyer interrupted. “So, you’re satisfied that she’s fine. Now you’ll answer my question?”

“For her release.”

“Fine, fine,” Meyer said, waving the impatient hand again. “Though I don’t know what you care for her freedom. She’d just be picked up again if she weren’t with you.”

“Perhaps.”

“I’ve had you watched for weeks now,” Meyer said. “In fact, I placed you here.”

“Pardon?”

“What, didn’t you wonder why you found a house so conveniently empty and open for you, just waiting?”

“Yes, but…”

“But what? I found you in Moines with no trouble, had a few cars drive by to point you in this direction. You’re very predictable, you know.”

“I see.”

“And then it was a matter of sending one of my girls away and leaving her house at your disposal. It was almost too easy.”

“I see,” Draven said again, his lips stiff.

Meyer waved a hand. “I’m sure you can thank me later. So far, it really has paid off. Watching Byron go mad for you has quite entertained me.”

“Go mad?”

“The only disappointment was that after I had my dogs chase you into the house, you hardly spent any time with his sap. I quite enjoyed the bits I saw, though.”

Draven sat frozen. Did Meyer know, then, what had passed between him and Cali? Had he placed eyes in the walls to watch them?

“I wouldn’t have intervened if it weren’t for Byron finding you,” Meyer went on. “I would have been content to observe for a while longer. But since we were so rudely interrupted, I have to ask you, what are you getting from this sap? Why do you care so much about her?”

“I do.”

“But why did you steal her if you’re not shagging her or drawing from her?”

“I draw from her.”

“I’ve been watching. You haven’t drawn from her in a week, and tonight you drew from someone else’s sap when you had your own right out in the backyard. Why even take her from Byron if you’re not using her?”

“Perhaps I wanted to give her freedom.”

“But you haven’t, have you? If you had, she wouldn’t be here with you.”

Of course Meyer was right. If Draven had truly given her freedom, as he told himself he had, she would have left long ago. “And where would she go?” he asked. “You said yourself she’d be picked up.”

“There are places. Places where humans live, free from Superiors altogether.”

“Tell me where.”

“It has to be so. If we can imagine it, it exists. Don’t you agree?”

“Existing somewhere and being somewhere I can take her are two different possibilities.”

“Perhaps,” Meyer agreed. “So you tell me you only stole her to give her freedom, which you haven’t given. This is all?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t bugger her? Not even a little? One time maybe?”

“Of course I don’t.”

“You don’t wonder what it would be like?”

“Do you?”

“Ah, no. Not really. Perhaps I already know.”

“You don’t have to murder someone to know it’s wrong, and you don’t wonder about the morality of it, do you?”

“But she’s a sap.”

“She’s a person. If I killed her, it would be murder.”

Meyer studied him a long moment. “You love her, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. She’s my pet and constant companion.”

“Yes, I suppose she is. They are quite lovable, aren’t they? Although I find the babies the most lovable. She’s a bit large for a lap-pet.”

“That depends on the size of your lap.”

“You are both delightful,” Meyer said with a small laugh. Then his face turned serious so quickly it was difficult to imagine he’d ever laughed in his life. “But I don’t like your answer.”

“Meaning?”

“It means, you haven’t told me why you took her, what you do with her that makes her worth turning to a life of crime, as my mum would have called it. I myself respect that in a man, the ability to live without law and not turn to a heathen. But to give up your life for a sap?”

“She was my right,” Draven said. “I earned her, and Byron tricked me so that he could buy her first. She was owed me.”

“Ah, yes, revenge. Very good. That’s all I wanted to know.”

“Can she go?”

“Yes. But answer the other question, too.”

“I don’t do anything with her. I try to survive, to keep her alive. That is all.”

“Yes, I guess necessity outweighs most everything in life, doesn’t it? But let me ask you. Do you want me to get you new papers?”

“They don’t work for me, old or new. Not until I serve a sentence.”

“I’ll tell you what. If you ever need anything, papers or anything else, don’t hesitate to ask. I can get many things done that you think are impossible. Will you remember that?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Goodnight then.” Meyer reached back and performed a series of quick pinches, and the cuffs slid open. Cali sat upright and rubbed her wrists together, giving Draven a sour look.

He pulled her over the seat and wrapped his arms around her. “Goodbye, my little pet, my
jaani,
” he said. He pressed his lips to her forehead and inhaled the scent of fear and sweat and wonderful sap. He didn’t want to release her, but after a long minute, he did so.

“Nonsense,” Meyer said. “She wouldn’t last the night without you. Go on and take her.”

“You’re releasing me?”

“Yes, go on. I have no need for you. I’m not an Enforcer, and I don’t have secret prisoners locked away in my basement. I’m just a normal old bloke with lots of money. I don’t need a reward for catching you.”

“I have nothing to offer in return.”

Meyer lifted the backpack and pushed it into Draven’s arms. “Of course you do. You keep Byron’s sap and escape again. He thinks he’s waiting for you to come home. Watching him realize you’ve gotten away will be priceless.”

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

“By getting as far from here as you possibly can. Never fear, I’ll be watching you. This is my city. I’ll know if you squander this opportunity. Now, I’m going to stay a while. Go west and he won’t see you.”

Draven did not wait for Meyer to change his mind. He slid from the car, pulling Cali after him. He clutched the backpack as he knelt for Cali to climb onto his back. Without another glance at the stone house, he set off into the dark before dawn. A morning bird began its song just as he turned out of the neighborhood and onto the road leading south.

PART TWO

THE ROAD