Chapter 8 #2
“I have a situation. No, I have several situations. I have a friend who is possessed by something, her boyfriend who has a lot of bite marks all over his body, and a theater full of decomposing zombies that I didn’t have time to burn properly.”
“And you called me because…”
Ugh, was he seriously going to make me say it? “I don’t know what to do. I need help.”
“Ah. You’re asking me to rescue you, like the prince charming I am.”
I almost snorted, but somehow caught myself in time. “Yes. They’re locked up in the hotel. Also, the zombies were talking while I was slaying them.”
“What did they tell you? Were they singing together too?”
“We are here for you. I had no idea that zombies were so supportive.” I swallowed a sudden uneasiness. That had been extremely terrifying, but I hadn’t had the chance to really get into it.
He was quiet for a long time while my heart pounded louder and louder. “It’s done.” Then he hung up on me.
I looked over at Tom and Gloria. It was officially not done, but whatever the Grand Delusional Master said.
The stack of papers was still there, waiting for me to fill them out. I looked them over, but I hated paperwork. That’s one of the things I was so happy that Hazen did for me.
The door to the drive opened, and a woman came in, dark glasses, dark shiny coat, and when she saw Gloria, she grabbed her by the throat and lifted her until she was dangling. Gloria opened her eyes, her bright, glowing, purple eyes and started laughing, all evil monster of the darkness.
So creepy. I glanced at the paperwork. Could I possibly concentrate when the Gloria show was so distracting? Nope. I sat down and turned my chair so I could watch the vampiress shake down the possessed Gloria.
“Be gentle with her. I want my friend back after you’re done,” I said, loudly.
The sunglasses chick looked my way, and I could feel her scowl behind the glasses. “And you are?”
I swallowed. She was locked outside of my space, but how hard would it really be for her to break in? “Just a nice, boring housewife.”
“You’re human, but you smell of the Grand Master’s blood. Did he really make someone so frail and pathetic his exterminator?” She spat to the side in disgust. I hadn’t realized that people actually did that.
“What did you say about the Grand Master’s blood?” Yes. That was much more important than the fact that she’d spit on the lush carpet like a complete barbarian.
“Did he not tell you what was in his serum? How amusing. Perhaps you shouldn’t take things from people you don’t know.
It’s too late to worry about that now. He owns you.
” She finished this happy thought by shaking Gloria so hard that her legs whipped around.
“Why did you choose such a weak vessel, your majesty? It will be so difficult for me not to accidentally kill it.” She pulled back her lips in a snarl that reminded me so much of the other vampire, the one Tom and I had boomed, that I edged closer to Tom, hoping that he’d get it together.
The door to the hotel opened, and a man entered the cage with Tom, carrying a large black bag.
He knelt down and then drew a small silver scalpel and started cutting out all the bites.
He didn’t look up at me, and he also wore sunglasses.
I was leaning against the bars, so I got a good look at the revolting job.
“You should back up,” he said without looking up from his clinical work. He was so professional. Who knew that the Grand Master had a doctor on staff?
I followed his instructions, taking my seat back at the table. “Will he be all right?” I asked, like you do when you’re looking for assurances from a doctor.
“In the short term, it’s likely that I can remove all cankers before they infect him. He has a great deal of resistance to infection. In the long term, the Grand Master wants him well so that he can torture him at his leisure, so I wouldn’t use the term ‘all right,’ but that’s just me.”
He kept carving Tom with the same level of emotionlessness. It wasn’t comforting anymore, just eerie.
I turned back to the vampire with Gloria and got to see the vampire pull her hand out of Gloria’s mouth, removing a glowing purple stone covered liberally in blood and mucous. She dropped Gloria like that was that and then turned to go, taking the pulsing purple rock with her.
“Wait, is she okay?”
“You are in the Grand Master’s personal containment room.
Perhaps the one you should be worrying about is yourself.
Okay is not the word I would use for one used as the zombie queen’s vessel, but she isn’t dead, as the Grand Master personally requested.
He will certainly make her wish she was.
” She gave me a mild smile and then went out, slamming the door hard behind her.
The guy slicing up Tom said, “Don’t mind Agrippa.
She was always resentful about her sister, Delores getting named the Grand Master’s Exterminator.
Being shown up by a human is enough to upset any delicate vampire, like Agrippa.
She wishes that she were suitable for massive slaughter, but she’s much better at precision work. She is the Grand Master’s assassin.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s cool. Way better than exterminator. What is your title?”
“I am the Grand Master’s torturer.” He gave me a slight bow and then continued with his work.
My stomach started getting positively queasy. Was it because I was hungry? How could I be hungry at a time like this? Because I’d slaughtered all those zombies in the movie theater. Who knew that killing zombies would burn so many calories? I picked up the phone.
“I’m not going to torture you. And calling for help won’t help,” Doc Torture said in a creepily pleasant voice.
I gave him a look while I spoke into the receiver.
“Hi, can you deliver some chicken to my room? As many courses as you’d like would be great.
Hopefully I’ll get the chance to eat them all.
Thanks.” I hung up without waiting for the woman to acknowledge me.
“Why would the Grand Master need a torturer when it’s his favorite thing?
He told me all about it. You must not have a lot of work. ”
He smiled slightly. “He doesn’t have as much time for pleasure as he would like. I have more work than I have time to do.”
“Oh, good. I’m so glad that you aren’t bored. The former exterminator didn’t do her job. Shouldn’t he have noticed and fired her, or eaten her, or whatever he does to people who don’t do their jobs, have you torture her, perhaps?”
“He has been preoccupied with other matters for some years.”
Was it the potion thing? Was he seriously waiting in that warehouse for the thief to come back for more serum? Naw. “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me.”
“He has made a great study of magic and mythology as well as humanity and the evils that spring up from supposedly wholeborn souls. He is embarking on an entirely new experiment which has the entire superior community uneasy.”
“Are you uneasy? What do you mean, superior?”
“You might call us supernatural, but we are simply superior.”
“Zombies aren’t superior. They’re disgusting. And that vampire, she spat on this beautiful carpet. A superior person wouldn’t do that.”
His thin smile flashed for a moment. “You are amusing. Perhaps he won’t kill you for some time.” With that, he stood up, cleaned his scalpel, and left me alone with Tom, who was bleeding heavily, and Gloria, who was still unconscious.
The phone rang, and I jumped, screaming slightly before I reached out and took the phone. “Yes?” Maybe it was a ghost. The phone could be possessed.
“You’re having dinner with me on the roof.
Enter the hotel and take the elevator directly across the hall.
” The Grand Master, at least that’s who it sounded like, hung up, leaving me with the dial tone.
I hung up, scowling at the phone, then it rang again, and like an idiot, I jumped a foot.
Oh, yes, I was so well-suited to the role of exterminator.
It rang again before I picked it up. “Yes?”
“Bring the paperwork. I’ll have a lawyer that can explain things to you.” He hung up again. I took my time putting it back on the receiver.
I wanted to ignore him, but I was hungry, and he had unpossessed Gloria, and taken care of Tom, sort of. Maybe I could argue that he should release them. No, probably not. He held all the cards.
I went to the cage, unlocked it, and carefully stepped over Tom, then I headed to the elevator across the hall. It was glossy black with a dragon carved in it. Fancy.
I stepped in the elevator and then only knew I was moving because of the sensation of coming to a stop.
The doors opened, bringing me out to a lovely rooftop garden with an expansive view of the skyline and the river.
A table was set near the edge of the roof with the most beautiful smelling food ever.
I sat down and after glancing around, put a napkin on my lap and reached for the first course.
Bisque soup, stuffed partridge, garlic and butter steamed vegetables, a steak the precisely right shade of well, while even the salad was beautiful and crisp.
I ate until I couldn’t eat another bite, and then I wanted to climb into bed and sleep for a year.
I jumped when I saw the Grand Master sitting across from me, like he’d been sitting there the entire time, just staring at me.
“Hi. You startled me.”
“Did you bring the contract?”
I picked it up off the ground and then hesitated because the table was still covered in dirty dishes. I stacked several and pushed them to the side, then put the documents on the tablecloth, careful not to smear any sauce on them. “I read some of it, but I’ve been so busy…”
“The male is your master, your slayer trainer, correct?”
I blinked at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”