Sui Generis – 21

 

"It had furniture the last time I was here," Brand told the others. "I think it would have been used as a parlor if it was owned by a family. As it was, it only had a sofa and a couple of chairs—not in the best shape." He pointed to the side window. "My escape route." An obvious statement since the bottom pane was shattered.

Antton nodded. "He kept you in the basement, you said."

"Yes." Going back to the kitchen, Brand opened another door, revealing a pantry with the back door of the house facing them. To one side was a second door. "Through there are the stairs. I'm… I'm not sure I want to go down there."

"You should," Antton said firmly. "Facing your fears is better than avoiding them."

Mag took Brand's hand, gripping it tightly. "We'll be with you."

Swallowing hard, Brand nodded. The stairway was narrow, ending at a concrete-walled room with a furnace in one corner. "There." He pointed to a steel door in the opposite corner that stood slightly ajar.

"Nice of him to leave it unlocked," Antton said scathingly as he opened it the rest of the way.

There was a short hallway with four more steel doors, two on either side. Each one had a small barred window. Brand walked to the first one on the right. "My home away from home," he spat out, his anger coming to the forefront, overriding his fear.

"Also unlocked," Antton said after testing the lever that served as a handle then opening the door. "Love the accommodations."

There was a metal bed, bolted to the floor, with a thin mattress on it, restraints at each corner. Four chains were bolted to the wall opposite it with manacles at the end of each one. The only other item in the windowless room was a lidless toilet.

Mag's breath hissed in as he surveyed the cell. "How the hell did you manage to survive?"

"Half the time I was unconscious. The rest…" Brand shivered. "At first I had no way of knowing how many days were passing. I could have been here for a week, or a year. Of course he never bothered to tell me. He only said that in time I'd be free. 'When I was ready' was the way he put it. Freedom didn't include my daily exercise regime, once he began allowing that." He stepped back into the hallway. "Can we get out of here now? Please?"

"Mag, take him back upstairs," Antton said. "I want a few minutes more down here to see if I can pick up on anything that might help us find out where he's moved on to."

"Are you all right?" Mag asked once he and Brand had returned to the ground floor.

"Fuck no!" Brand regretted his angry reply when Mag flinched, saying more calmly, "Not really, but I will be." Then he barely smiled. "Come on, let's explore a bit while Antton's doing whatever he's doing. I'd like to see the rest of the place. Okay, maybe 'like' isn't the right word but…"

"I understand. Upstairs first?"

"Yeah, sure." Brand actually managed a chuckle. "Maybe we'll find a casket or two."

"That myth is true?" Mag asked, following Brand out to the stairs going to the second floor.

"Not really. No caskets, no 'earth from the homeland'. Usually nice, comfortable beds behind well-secured doors and windows."

"Can I ask something?"

"Sure."

"If you hunt vampires, how do you kill them if they're sleeping in a really safe place?"

"Take their heads."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Sorry. I hunt them down while they're out at night. It's surprising how many of them either don't know about dhampir, or believe they're invulnerable because they can go invisible if they think I'm around. They should know I can sense them, no matter what." They were upstairs by then. Brand tried the first door they came to, which opened under his touch. "See, fancy accommodations."

Mag snorted. "If you go in for minimalist décor."

The room was empty, as were the others they checked out, although from the marks in the carpets, it was apparent there had been furniture in each of them at one point in time.

"I wonder which moving company he used," Mag said after they exited the fourth room.

"United Vampire Lines," Brand replied with a smirk.

"I suspect," Antton said, startling them when he appeared at the top of the stairs, "he had his minions—as Brand calls them—hire a van to transport what he wanted to keep. The rest is probably in a dump somewhere."

"Did you find anything that'll help us locate his new lair?" Brand asked.

"I know his scent now. Unfortunately, unless I'm within a mile or two of him, that really doesn't do us much good."

"Still better than what I can do, as far as sensing him," Brand said.

"But you will be able to pick up on any of his followers when we find him. That will be an inestimable help. You can tell us how many others we'll be dealing with."

"There's still one problem," Mag pointed out. "How do we find him in the first place?"

"Use you as bait," Antton replied.

"Hell no!" Brand put a protective arm around Mag's shoulders.

"He'll be quite safe. I plan on bringing in a few people to help us, now that I've found you," Antton told him.

Mag cocked one blond eyebrow. "I hope the 'people' are like you."

"Two are. The other two are vampires. As I told you, there's a death sentence on Fedor's head. It was placed there by the ruling council, which consists of two vampires and two werewolves, all of them quite powerful in their own rights."

"Are you, for lack of a better word, this council's enforcer?" Brand asked, when he realized he had no idea where Antton fit in the scheme of things.

"I am, and that's what we call ourselves. Enforcers."

"That's sort of… Mafia like." Brand smiled slightly. "But whatever you call yourself, it makes me feel a bit better about Mag's safety, especially if the others are as well."

"They are. The vampires are not as old as Fedor, but then very few are. However, between the five of us, we should be able to take him down once we find him."

"If we find him," Brand said.

"We will. For now, however, I suggest we get back to my place and come up with a specific plan for doing that." Antton took out his phone as he led the way back to where they'd parked. From what Brand could tell, he was alerting the others to meet him there.

Sui Generis – 20

 

Antton showed up at what Brand considered the crack of dawn. He was driving an older model Ford SUV with tinted windows and Colorado plates. Once the two young men got in—Brand in the front seat, Mag in the back one—they took off.

"I did some more searching when I got home," Antton told them, "narrowing it down to six possible places."

"Based on their being away from other houses in their neighborhoods?" Mag asked.

"Exactly. It's a logical presumption. If we're wrong, then we're back to square one, which given the potential size of the area, will make this one hell of a long job."

"Oh great," Brand grumbled. 

When they got to the area in question, Antton drove to the first house on his list. It took all of two minutes to decide it wasn't the one. As Mag put it, "I doubt he's running a day-care center," pointing to the fenced-in area visible from the street that held a large swing-set, a sandbox, and enough toys and tricycles to satisfy a small army of children.

The next house, while set well back from the road and surrounded by tall trees, was obviously occupied by a family with teens since two of them, carrying heavily-loaded backpacks, were leaving the house just as Antton drove by.

Antton had thought the third house was a possibility as it was surrounded by a tall, brick wall with an iron gate at the street end of the driveway. Brand disagreed. "When I ran, I didn't have to climb a wall or go over a fence."

"Okay, that eliminates the next house on the list," Antton replied, "leaving us two more before we have to start going door-to-door.

Mag's response to that was to cross his fingers.

When they slowly drove by the last house on Antton's list, Brand studied it as he had the others. Almost afraid to say anything out loud in case they were wrong about Fedor having moved on, he whispered, "Look at the back side window."

"Broken," Mag said gleefully. "This has to be the place."

"There's definitely no sign anyone's living there, if the state of the grass is any indication," Antton agreed. "It doesn't look like it's seen a lawnmower in a long time."

Brand frowned then nodded. "When I ran, I don't remember long grass. I wasn't really paying attention to things like that but…"

"We may have found the right house." Antton glanced at Brand. "Do you sense any vampires?"

"No. Of course, if Fedor is still in there I wouldn't feel him, but he did have his minions and as far as I can tell from here, they're not there."

"Let's go take a look," Antton said.

The house sat on a wide expanse of land, bracketed on three sides by trees, separating it from its neighbors. Antton drove to the next block, which was filled with suburban homes cheek-by-jowl to each other, and parked in front of one of them. Then the trio walked back to the house, stopping at the edge of the trees on one side.

"Still nothing?" Antton asked Brand.

After a brief pause, Brand shook his head.

"All right. You two wait here. I'm going to do a bit of recon before we chance going inside." With that said, Antton moved onto the lot, staying in the shade of the trees. Brand saw him pause, then seconds later a large, dark wolf crept through the grass to the side of the house and vanished around the back corner.

"That really freaks me out," Mag muttered.

Brand chuckled. "Me too, and I can do it. Not like he does, but then I've only shifted once."

"Why just once?"

"It hurt like hell, to put it mildly. He said it gets better but…" Brand shuddered. "I guess your body gets used to doing it."

"Not my body," Mag said adamantly. "I'll stick with being strictly human."

"And a very wonderful human at that," Brand told him softly.

Mag dropped his gaze, mumbling, "Thanks."

"It's true, and your body…" Brand stopped when he saw the front door to the house open, tensing in anticipation of trouble, even though the sun was well up by now. He was more than relieved to see Antton standing there, beckoning for them to join him.

The first thing Antton asked when Brand stepped inside was, "Is this the place?"

Without replying, Brand headed from the entrance foyer down the hall toward the rear of the house. Pushing open the door at the far end, he found himself in the kitchen. A door to the left lead to an empty room he remembered well.

Sui Generis – 19

 

Brand's smile fell away when Mag remained silent.

Do I care for him? I think so. Am I the man he needs? How can I answer that?

::You ask him." Antton's voice in his head had Brand turning in shock to look at him. "Yes, I can mind-speak with you. It's part of what we can do. Before you get upset, I didn't read your mind, although I could have. I saw the worry you're feeling in your face and body language.:: There was laughter in Antton's next words. ::I don't expect you to declare your feelings for him with me standing here. But you might want to try later.::

Brand nodded. "Maybe," he said softly.

"Maybe what?" Mag asked, tilting his head in puzzlement.

"Maybe we should come up with a plan to trap Fedor," Brand quickly improvised.

"That would be the next step," Antton agreed. "Do either of you have any bright ideas?"

Brand shook his head. "We've tried searching for him while we were out where he could find me. I've seen him once and he saw me but was interrupted before he could do anything. Presuming, of course, he planned to and that it wasn't just the first move in his game."

"Hard to tell. What bothers me is why it took close to two months for him to start looking for you."

"Perhaps he had other problems to deal with?" Mag said.

"I can't think of anything that would be more important than finding me." Brand smiled slightly. "Not that I'm egotistical or anything, but still."

"Hold on. Mag might have a point there. After you got away, Fedor might have felt it would be a good idea to move somewhere else. He might not have trusted you couldn't break the block and remember where you ran from, once you were free. He knew he was changing you, although apparently he wasn't aware into what. The fact you managed to escape couldn't have made him happy on several levels."

Brand sighed. "So even if I did remember, it wouldn't do us any good."

"No, but…" Antton tapped his lips. "It would still give us a starting place. Perhaps with help we could track him from there to wherever he's landed now."

"If he has moved on."

Antton grinned wickedly. "And if he hasn't, we're in luck."

"You're sure it was a house?" Mag asked Brand.

"From what parts of it they let me see, yes. I couldn't tell you how big it was. They only took me into a couple of rooms for my 'exercise', but I do know it wasn't a business, a warehouse, or what have you."

"Okay. You said you ended up in an abandoned building. What kind?"

"An old motel, half falling down. I don't think anyone's been there except squatters in forever, from the look of it." Brand grimaced. "And rats and stray dogs. It was off four-seventy I discovered, once I got up the nerve to leave. Seemed like I walked for miles until I got to a convenience store and found out where I was." 

"Do you have a computer?" Antton asked.

Mag chuckled. "We're students. Of course we do." He went upstairs, returning with his laptop, handing it to Antton.

After bringing up a map program, Antton homed in on four-seventy in 'satellite' mode before asking Brand where the convenience store was. Brand studied the map as Antton scrolled it, then pointed. "That looks like it." Antton zoomed in, and Brand nodded. "That's it." A bit more scrolling and they found the motel.

Antton turned to look up at Brand. "You escaped in the early morning, you said. Where was the sun in relationship to how you were running?"

Brand snorted. "All over the place. I was zigging and zagging, going from one safe looking spot to another. I probably made more turns than I ran straight. So if you're trying to figure out which way to search from the motel, I have no clue."

"Did you cross the highway to get to it?"

"Well… no."

"So we have a semi-circle area to search, not a full one. Still a lot of space but not daunting."

"Says you," Mag muttered. "Especially since we're searching for a house in an area full of them, from the look of it."

"A house that, unless I miss my guess, is somewhat off by itself. He wouldn't want to be close to other people who might either come knocking on the door asking to borrow a cup of sugar, or who would wonder why they never saw anyone around, coming and going to work or the store."

"Who borrows sugar these days?" Brand said, chuckling.

"You know what I mean," Antton grumbled. "How long did you run?"

"It seemed like forever but…" Brand closed his eyes momentarily. "It was still morning when I found the motel. I'd guess maybe nine or ten because the shadows were long, but not real long, if you get what I'm saying."

"I do." Antton glanced at the time on the laptop, bookmarked the map site and closed it down. "I suggest we all get some sleep and tomorrow morning, we'll go hunting."

Sui Generis – 18

 

Mag eyed Brand warily when Antton told him that, before saying, "And then you came home."

"Yep. It took a while to track you down but at least you had sense enough to let some of the people we knew know where you were."

"Well, duh. I told you I got this place so that… well…" Mag looked away, chewing his lip.

"So I'd have a home, even though you didn't have a clue what had happened to me. For all you knew, I could have moved on to a new city or something."

"True, but I thought if you'd done that, you would have let me know and… hell, we've been over this before. I'm sure Antton doesn't want to hear us rehash it."

Antton chuckled. "Not really. I'm more than glad you did escape, Brand. I just wish you knew from where. Still we have one thing on our side; Fedor wants you back and seems to want you terrorized into submission when he finally decides to capture you again."

"Well, that's not working. He's just pissing me off big time."

"Good. Now I have a question for you—an important one," Antton said seriously. "How often have you shifted?"

"Once, when I finally realized what was happening. I waited until the middle of the day when I knew Fedor and the others were sleeping." He grimaced. "I'm not too certain I want to try it again. It ain't fun."

Antton came over, clapping him on the shoulder. "It gets better with practice, I promise. I think you need to try it a few times, with me. I can help ease the pain until you get the hang of it and teach you a couple of tricks, like coming back quickly and fully dressed."

"Do you have to teach him that?" Mag said, before turning a bright shade of red.

Brand actually laughed, and realized it was the first time since he began telling his story that he had. "Come on. You've seen me naked before."

"Yeah, well…"

Antton arched an eyebrow. "So the two of you are more than just friends?"

"No," they both replied, almost as one.

"We've messed around a bit but that's it," Mag added, sounding regretful that was all there was to it. "We're only human." He managed a bit of a smirk. "Well, I am. Brand seems to have other things going on I had no clue about."

After studying each of them, Antton nodded. "Not to be accused of giving romantic advice, but I'd say it's time the two of you explored your feelings, now that Brand has opened up. I suspect, if I'm not way off base, his emotions have been under tight wraps because he was afraid of what might happen if he let them out."

"Maybe," Brand said, almost under his breath. He smiled at Mag. "God only knows you tried to get me to talk and I fought that tooth and nail, which meant I had to keep everything else held tightly inside as well."

"That, plus what Fedor put you through, would be cause enough to be stoic and silent," Antton told him.

Brand just nodded, still smiling at Mag.

*****

Mag tried to return his smile, but he was afraid—afraid Brand would take it the wrong way—or the right way and not want what he was willing to give him.

That he'd had feelings for Brand almost from the first was a given, as far as he was concerned. That he'd tried to keep them to himself was also a given. He wasn't big on rejection. Sure, they'd played around some. As he told Antton, they were only human and spent most of their time together before Brand had been kidnapped—and all of their time together after he'd come back.

At least all of it when we were both awake and I wasn't off at work. But we told each other we were just friends, nothing more. Even living together the way we are, we kept it to that, claiming it was friendship. Damned frustrating, as far as I'm concerned, but I wasn't about to push it and have him walk away. Still, he must have some idea of how I feel. Or not.

 

Sui Generis –17

 

"Finally," Brand continued, his voice laced with pain, "he thought he'd broken me enough that the chains weren't needed. Of course, he didn't come right out and say that. Instead, he told me he 'regretted' having restrained me that way but it was for my own good, 'until I came to my senses and realized we had a mutual enemy that we needed to fight together'."

"Meaning werewolves," Antton said caustically.

"Of course. By then I was, I suppose, on the verge of insanity—and starvation. That's when he began to feed me again." Brand shook his head. "For a man who thought he was so clever, he didn't seem to realize what he was… creating. I didn't become the… well, dhampir wouldn't be the right word for what he wanted but that's what he was going for." He shrugged. "What he did create, slowly but surely, was what he seems to hate most—a werewolf. A very weak one at first, but a very—" Brand managed a small smile, "—insane and pissed off werewolf... hybrid, I suppose you could say. Dhampir and werewolf in one body. Of course I didn't let him know. When I began to think for myself again, I realized my body tolerated the blood, even when he raised the dosages, and that I was changing."

Getting up then, Brand went into the kitchen, returning with one of his drink containers, sipping the contents slowly. When Mag looked at him aghast, obviously thinking he now knew what it contained, Brand chuckled. "It's not werewolf blood. I told you it was fruit and protein powder, and… blood. I wasn't lying, even though you thought I was kidding you—or hoped I was. Being that I'm part vampire, I do need human blood."

"Ugh," Mag muttered, shivering. "I'm glad I never snuck a drink."

"You wouldn't even have noticed it. Anyway, back to the end of my story. The more he fed me, the stronger I got, but I didn't let him know that, either. I bided my time, waiting for the right moment. He would lecture me on how—when the time came—I would help him rid the world of the cursed werewolves, leaving the vampires as the supreme species. I played along, pretending that had become my goal too. Eventually, he trusted me enough that he let me out of the cell. I needed exercise to improve my stamina, according to him. I wasn't allowed out on my own, of course—not by a long shot. My hands were chained and I was collared, leashed, and led around by two of his minions—lesser vampires who did what he ordered them to." Brand scowled. "I knew them too well, and I owed them for what they'd done to me at his bidding."

"So now you know the layout of his lair," Antton said.

"A couple of rooms, yes. They never took me into any of the others, or outdoors, despite the block he apparently put on my mind so I wouldn't know where the place was. I wonder now if he'd ever have removed it, even if he'd managed to accomplish his goal. Either way, the closest I got to outside was walking past heavily curtained windows. I was never out of the cell without the collar and chains, but after a long while, my keepers grew lax. That was their undoing. Never—" Brand looked at Antton and grinned slightly, "—underestimate the power of a pissed off hybrid. I might not have been as strong as you undoubtedly are, being a pure werewolf, but I had one advantage. Hatred. It was usually early morning when they came to take me for my 'walk'. They had a lot of fun teasing me about how they were walking the 'dog', even though they just thought I was a weak dhampir with the ability to find werewolves, as well as their kind."

Brand took another drink before continuing. "That morning, they were at their low ebb, so to speak, because it was almost dawn. I'd been sleeping so I was wide awake. Fedor had left, as he usually did, once he opened the cell and made certain I was restrained before they took over. I had my plan, and it worked. As we passed one of the windows, I grabbed the drapes, tore them off the poles, and threw them over the vampires then I dove through the window. I almost took the time to try to kill them. They deserved it for raping me when he ordered them to. But I decided escaping was more important. I ran like the hounds of hell were after me, as far and as fast as possible, then went to ground in an abandoned building." He glanced at Antton. "I can tell you where that was, but not how I got there.

"Anyway, to make a long story shorter, I spent two days there, scared he'd find me, but afraid to move on in case he and his people were close by looking for me. I didn't sense them, but then I hadn't sensed him when he captured me. I suppose he was too powerful, and I've only been a full-fledged dhampir for forty years and a hybrid for much less time. Not that long in the grand scheme of things. I got out of the collar and was able to break the chains on my wrists, much to my surprise."

"The power of what you are now," Antton said, smiling proudly. "Once you come fully into it you'll be stronger than most vampires."