Breathless Ch. 05

Graves. Lots and lots of graves, each equipped with the proper equipment for raising and lowering coffins already in place. "That shouldn't be happening," she muttered. "Even if this is supposed to be a legitimate business, you don't gear this stuff up in advance. It's like they're planning for a massacre or --"

Sadie stepped up to the edge of nearest grave. It was far more shallow than it should have been. "This isn't a final resting place," she said to the dark hole in the ground. "This is a Turning grave." Her head shot up. The graves were laid out on a grid, so it was easy to calculate how many there were, one hundred in all. Then she saw a mound close to a covered dais. "A hundred and one?" She walked over and took a look. That grave, while shallow, seemed to be slightly better constructed. "What's different about you?" she asked. Looking around, she pulled her cell phone and punched Mel's number. 'Must still be asleep' Sadie thought when the voicemail picked up. 'Or maybe she's tied up.' Sadie grinned. She was happy for her friends: finding someone you connected with at that level was rare.

"Mel, I think I've got an idea about that list. I think it could be a list of potential Turnings. I know, it's weird." It seemed especially weird since there were more than a hundred and one names on that list. "Those letters may be initials. Check 'em against known vamps and against anyone in the Turning registry. Get back to me if you find anything." She hung up and jumped back over the wall, heading toward her truck. 'This is bad,' she thought. 'What can he be thinking? There can't be that many openings for Turning, can there? And all at once? Maybe I'd better attend that event after all.'

On her way out, she saw a sign reading "Vallant Fencing." "So Frost isn't the only one involved in this." Councilman Vallant was one of Frost's flunkies, albeit an old and powerful flunky, and one that might warrant a little investigation.

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Across town . . .

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Lord Frost hated being awoken, but when he saw the look on Dazza's face, he figured that it was probably for a good reason.

"Explain, and quickly," Frost growled. "We have an important night coming up and --"

Dazza just handed him a piece of paper that he had already read. "This was in the mailbox, with no envelope or postage. It seems to be from someone in the Gravestones Police Department, but not one of your men."

"A strange policemen leaving me notes? How droll." But Frost's amusement declined noticeably when he glanced over the letter. Arbiter Hewitt had gotten a hold of the schedule somehow, and her dinner companion from a few weeks earlier was trying to decode it. Apparently, they had gotten it from Terrence McDermott. Frost looked up at Dazza.

"It appears that we need to clean house," he said, as cold as his name implied. "I assume that Arbiter Hewitt has not yet figured out what it means, otherwise I suspect that she would have paid me a visit. No matter. Come Halloween, she will not be able to resist us any longer. But this human woman must be dealt with. Make it look like an accident."

"And McDermott?"

"I have been betrayed by one of my children," Frost said evenly. "I shall mete out the punishment myself."

Dazza left while Frost rose. He could not walk in the sun as easily as the Arbiter could, but being active in daylight was well within his capability. Being thousands of years old had its advantages. He dressed for business, for with Frost, everything was about business. He went to his office, sat behind his desk and waited. For an hour, he sat in place, waiting for Terrence to arrive.

Terrence walked in right on schedule. Frost had perfected masking his emotions over the millennium, but he felt a dark rage. He remembered the first time he'd seen this young man, perfect in so many respects. Terrence was a warrior and a patriot, so Frost had made the mistake of thinking he would be loyal to his new lord and his new race. Frost had been proven wrong, and the vampire lord loathed being wrong.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

Frost stood up and walked around his desk. "We have a problem with the ceremony, and I thought you might be able to help."

Terrence said. "What do you need me to do?"

Frost placed a hand on McDermott's back and led him toward the door. Then, faster that anyone could blink, he grabbed the younger vampire's chin and broke his neck. Terrence dropped to the floor with a thud. Frost looked down at his former bodyguard.

"You just did it." Frost walked back to his desk and called a clean-up crew.

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Meanwhile . . .

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Sadie was sitting in her truck under the shade, staring at the gate of Councilman Vallant's palatial estate, wondering what his part in this all was. She wasn't expecting to actually see anything, but was just trying to get a feel for those who were most assuredly her enemies.

But see something she did. The front door opened and, with her keen eyesight, she saw two people standing in the door. She couldn't make out the details due to the shadows except that they were definitely close in an intimate way.

"Get a room," she murmured as she got ready to start up the truck again. The sun was almost down, so it was time to go to the pack meeting. But something held her eyes for just a little while longer . . . something about the shape of one. It was something familiar. She backed the truck up a bit, getting a good view of the gate. A woman got into a car that a human valet had pulled up to the curve and was pulling away as the door closed. When that car pulled around, Sadie's jaw almost hit the seat.

"Teresa?!" What the hell was Vlad's wife doing . . . 'You know perfectly damn well what she was doing!' She gunned the truck, fighting the urge to run the woman down and wrap her vampiric hands around the bitch's neck, restrained only by the knowledge that Vlad might take it personally. 'How do I tell him? DO I tell him?' she questioned as she drove over to Vlad's sister's house. It was the longest drive of her life, with her inner turmoil bubbling in her stomach and making her want to vomit. She didn't understand how anyone could fail so utterly to appreciate what they had.

Finding the local pack's stomping grounds was pretty damn easy. Every pack tended to have one member with a large amount of land for such gatherings, and everyone else chipped in to help maintain it and pay taxes on it. This particular den was way out on the undeveloped edges of Gravestones and stretched out as far as the eye could see, with no neighbors nearby to complain. Cars filled the driveway and were parked on the sides of the road leading through the area. Sadie grinned in spite of herself as she found a spot, seeing a rusted old ford parked right next to a sporty little BMW. For werewolves, the pack surpassed all other boundaries.

She jumped out of her truck and strode down the driveway, black tanker boot leaving slight imprints in the dirt beneath them. She had apparently been spotted, as Todd bounded down the steps to meet her. He wasn't fooling her in the least. She knew that his friends were watching and he'd gain some prestige by being "tight" with the hottie. She didn't care, and gave him a big hug anyway.

"Glad you could make it," he said. "Mom's been itching to meet you."

"She's got fleas?"

A couple of people chuckled. "Oh, this is gonna be fun," Todd grinned back at her.

"Where's your uncle?" she asked as she wiped her feet on the "Beware of Inhabitants" floor mat.

"Ivan and some of the other big dogs cornered him the second he showed up and are talking politics. Seems some of the western packs are grumbling about how the vampires have gotten to full of themselves around here and they're putting pressure on Ivan to stand up to them. But Ivan is so wrapped up trying to get Vladimir to take over that he hasn't even noticed. Can you talk to him?" Todd asked, looking concerned. "Uncle Vladimir seems to put a lot of stock in you."

Sadie stretched her neck in both directions like she was getting ready to exercise. "I don't know Todd. I spend enough time trying to stay out of vamp politics that I'm not sure I'm qualified to participate in were's." She saw his face fall. "Listen, if he asks my opinion, I'll give it to him. But I make no promises that --"

"There you are boy," a voice came, interrupting Sadie. The woman behind it was tall and lean, reminding Sadie a great deal of a coursing hound. She flicked Todd's ear before continuing, "I thought I told you to put another couple bags of ice in each of the coolers."

"Mom, I'm twenty-five years old. The ear flicking thing has got to . . . Owh!" He covered his ears after his mother tweaked them a second time.

"You're never to old for me to take you out to the wood shed and teach you to mind your elders," the mother growled, but she really couldn't hide her affection. "You can talk to your girlfriend later and . . . what's so funny?"

Sadie was chuckling. "Girlfriend? For this young pup?"

"I'm not that young!" Todd practically shouted. He regained his composure. "Mom, this is Arbiter Sadie Hewitt. Sadie, this is my mom Anya."

Anya raised one eyebrow. "This is the Arbiter? No wonder half the pack in the Gravestones walks around with milk-boners half the time."

"Mom!" Todd was blushed furiously. "I . . . I'm going to go get the ice." He glanced at Sadie. "We actually DO have a wood shed, so I'd better hurry."

"You raised him well," Sadie beamed.

"How so?"

"He's terrified of you."

Anya gave a toothy grin of her own. "It's one of the simple joys of motherhood." She offered her hand. "My brother's told us a lot about you. Have you met his wife?"

Sadie wasn't surprised that Vlad hadn't brought up their argument with his family. "Yep."

"What do you think."

Sadie made sure Vlad wasn't in listening range. "Bitch. Bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch beeeeeeee-atch."

Anya wrapped a strong arm around Sadie's shoulders and drug her through the house to the backyard. "I think I like you." They emerged onto a massive deck overlooking a sizable chunk of forestland, winding up next to some massive barbecue pits. "How do you like your steak?"

"Show it what the fire looks like, then offer it up as an Azetc sacrifice."

Anya just stared at her for a moment, grinning from ear to ear. "Joseph!" she shouted towards one of the cooks, "One medium-rare with an emphasis on the 'rare' for our guest the Arbiter."

No sooner than the word 'Arbiter' had escaped her Anya's lips, Sadie found herself surrounded by throngs of werewolves asking questions. They weren't rude, but were rather just enthusiastic.

"Is it true you like to play basketball naked?"

"How long have you been an Arbiter?

"What brought you to Gravestones?"

"Do you prefer Star Wars or Star Trek?"

It was like an overly enthusiastic and musky press conference. She was fielding questions left and right until someone thrust a Guinness into her hand. It was Todd.

"Uncle Vladimir says that it's your favorite."

"You and your uncle are gods among men," she muttered, biting the bottlecap off to get to her sweet nectar of life.

"Isn't that bad for your fangs?"

"I've practiced."

Soon, she was reminded why she loved hanging out with werewolves so much. When they had "meetings," it was more like a party. They didn't stand on ceremony or stuffiness like vampires did. The only thing that they were missing was a couple of monster trucks . . . otherwise, it was the biggest redneck convention she'd ever seen. Even the werewolves in the three-piece suits would just kick back on a lawn chair, scratch themselves publicly and suck down cold beer and hot dogs. They lived out in the open rather than the closed spaces of her own darkworlder brethren. She had often wished that she'd been born a were.

They were just picking teams for an impromptu game of full-contact football when she heard her name echoing over the din. She saw Vladimir next to a distinguished looking though slightly vexed gentlemen. 'That's gotta be Ivan,' she thought. 'I'm guessing he didn't get his way.'

She made her way over, grabbing another beer and a bag of Fritos on the way. "Hey Vlad!"

Ivan smirked. "Vlad?"

"Don't encourage her," Vladimir growled. "Sadie, this is Ivan Petrov, pack leader for the Northwestern United States.

She saw Ivan roll his eyes. He definitely felt formidable to Sadie, but didn't have the same presence that Vladimir did. Being around all these weres made it easier to discern how alpha each was in comparison to each other, and Vlad was radiating it. She began thinking about how she'd really like to see his wild side, then shook her head to clear the thought. That was when she remembered that she should tell him about seeing Teresa.

"Nice to meet you Arbiter," Ivan said, trying to offer a hand but getting caught in a big hug, letting Sadie wrap and arm around him so she could drink some beer over his shoulder before letting him go.

"Told you," Vlad said.

"Okay, she's as friendly as you said she was. I'm just not used to vamps being anything but --" He stopped, not wanted to offend. That secured his place as a beta . . . an alpha wouldn't much care about hurting an outsider's feelings. Ivan was probably a good political liaison, but not as natural of a leader.

"Rude? Uptight? Full of shit?" Sadie just kept filling in the blanks until both weres were laughing. "Todd told be that the other packs have been making noise about the local vamps?"

Ivan nodded, wiping tears from his eyes while trying to compose himself. "Yeah. They've gotten a little cockier everywhere this Halloween season, but it's been really bad up here. They've been pushy in both the human and darkworlder political arenas. They're really upset about Turning restrictions, even though they're close to quota right now."

Sadie wondered how they would legally pull off all the Turns she thought that they were planning if they were really that close to their maximum limits. "Vamps have been bitching about that for a long time."

"Not like this," Ivan replied. "The elves are securely in their camp too, and they've convinced some of the larger covens that this is all just human prejudice against the 'higher' darkworlders."

"You going to their little pre-ritual ritual?" Vlad asked, rolling his eyes.

"I wasn't planning on it. If I let the Captain or anyone else bully me into giving up my free time every time the bloodsuckers have a ceremony, I'd never have time to myself."

"I've never heard a vamp so blunt with their own kind," Ivan said.

"Good reasons, I assure you. Hey, I've been trying to figure out what all this attitude is about, so I'll let you know if I hear anything, okay? Or Vlad will --"

"It's Vladimir!"

"Sure thing Vladilicious."

"Sadie, I'm going to --"

"Vladaroonie."

Ivan was laughing again and Vlad was barely containing it. But playtime was over.

"Hey Ivan, could I talk to Vladimir alone for a sec?"

"Sure thing. I want to get in on the game before they start." He rushed over like a kid, waiting his turn to get picked.

"I've never seen football games with thirty or forty people per side," she said, looking at the throng.

"Sometimes we have two quarterbacks per team, or we've played with three teams in a triangle. We keep thinking that we need to propose werewolf football as a sport to the television companies, but no one ever bothers to write down the rules." He looked at her more seriously. She'd called him "Vladimir," which probably meant something was up. "Have you heard from Mel?"

"No, but it sounds like she's got a lot on her plate. She moved in with Mary today."

"Wasn't that a bit . . . sudden?"

Sadie shrugged. "Far be it for me to discourage impetuous carnal actions, but it might have been. But since neither you or I are living HER life, let's just be happy for her. But I gave her something to go on . . . I think those may be Turnings that are scheduled."

"Turnings?! No possible way!" Vladimir had to struggle to get his voice under control. With that many weres around, he was already pumped up and ready to growl. "That many turns would put the vamps way over their quota."

"I know, but I went to the site of tonight's ceremony, and there are hundreds of shallow graves Vlad . . . Turning graves. It's a stretch --"

"Have you asked Terrence?"

"I tried calling on the way over but he wasn't picking up." She paused. She needed to say what she was going to say. "Vladimir, does your wife work for Councilman Vallant?"

Vlad stopped and stared. "Vallant? No, she's a sales rep. Why?"

"I saw that he was providing the fencing and security for the ceremonial site and . . . I went to his house and saw Teresa in the front door with . . . someone." How do you tell a man that you're on thin ice with already that his wife is --

Vladimir tensed up like he was going to go ballistic and then . . . nothing. Sadie watched his shoulders and face fall, and a look of sad familiarity flickered in his eyes. That was when she knew that he knew. To make matters worse, she doubted this was the first time.

"You just can't stay out of other people's business can you?" he whispered.

"How many times?" Sadie asked. "You don't cheat on werewolves, because they can smell it. Good grief, do you have any balls at all?" That was when Sadie realized that she was mad at him.

Vlad was growling . "Watch yourself --"

"Or you'll what? Snivel at me? For the love of darkness, you're just going to stand there and take it! She's cheating on you Vladimir, and you're going to let her treat you like YOU'RE the bitch?!"

Vladimir shoved her, sending her tumbling backwards, but she had more than enough agility to roll with it and pop back up to her feet. Luckily they were far enough away from the others and their activities that no one had noticed.

"Damn it, you'll strike out at someone who actually gives a shit about you but you let her treat you like a hairy door mat?" Sadie grabbed him and rammed him into a tree. 'Maybe I can knock some sense into him!' She growled, "You really think this is what your friend wanted for you? What her brother --" She actually flinched a bit when her reared an arm back as if he were going to separate her head from her shoulders, but the blow was held in uneasy tension. She let her voice soften. "He wanted you to look after her, and you've done everything you could. But she's chosen her life and her side . . . maybe you should rethink yours. Some people can't be saved. Some people don't want to be." She stepped in front of him, watching the wolf struggle with the man just underneath the skin. "You should be alpha. You should be happy and wild and free. Do you really want the rest of your life to be like this?" Her phone started to ring, but before she answered it, she had one more thing to say. "When you finally figure it out, I'll be waiting." She wondered if he understood what that meant. In her mind, Vladimir Koloff had become more than a friend.

"Hello? Mary? Calm down! What . . . what happened?"

Despite the tension, Vladimir wasn't thinking about the argument anymore. There was something about Sadie's voice and tone that chilled his blood.

"When?" Sadie had gone deathly pale. "Did you call the ambu-- . . . Okay, I'll be there." She hung up and looked at Vlad, her face lit up with fear.

Vlad had never seen her afraid. "What happened?"

"Mel's been in a car wreck," she said, hurrying towards the house, Vlad close at her heels. "Someone rammed her car when she was heading to Mary's, then fled the scene. And the ambulances won't fucking go to New Plymouth because they're afraid wraiths or they think it's a fucking prank." She cursed under her breath at the sheer stupidity of some people.