ridiculous for whatever escape measures I took while attempting to rid myself of them.
“Then I hope you don’t mind if I indulge,” he said, retrieving a crystal goblet from a track above the sink.
“By all means.”
“And won’t you have a seat?” He waved a lovely hand at the settee, and I gratefully—but gracefully—dropped myself into it. The brocade cover was posh and lumpy. I settled against it while he poured himself a glass. He took the seat across from me, where I noticed a slim white cane had been left propped against the arm. He must’ve gotten to know his temporary quarters exceedingly well for how easily he navigated them. If I hadn’t known, I would’ve never guessed that he was blind.
He said, “You had some questions for me?”
“I did, yes. I mean, I
do
. I’ve gone through the information in the packet. I’m still in the process of tracking down a few of the finer points of this project, but I think it might help if you could tell me a bit about what happened to you—and where you were.”
He didn’t exactly frown, and he wasn’t exactly upset with me. But he didn’t want to talk about it, that much was apparent. “As I understand it,” he said, “the documents are not housed at the place where I was … kept.”
“That’s true, or it looks like it’s true. But in case Cal didn’t fill you in on the blocking out, more than half of the info in that paperwork has been declared ‘sensitive’ by the feds, so any scrap of fact you can throw my way will be helpful.”
Ian took a hard swallow and reached for his cane. He fiddled with the end of it while he spoke. “I was kept on a base in Florida called Jordan Roe, on a small island off the west coast. But the base is no longer operational, or so I am led to believe.”
“That letter you included certainly implied as much. Speaking of which, where’s Cal? Is he lurking around here someplace, listening in?”
Translation:
Does he sleep in here with you? Just curious
.
“Cal is in his room next door.” Ah. So that’s why it took him so long to deliver the phone call.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. I’m just—” I was going to say “paranoid” as a plausible excuse, but he cut me off by saying, “Careful.”
“Careful, sure. I like that word better.”
“You can hardly be blamed. It’s a dangerous line of work you’re in. I suppose it must be very exciting.”
I saw what he was trying to do, divert the subject from my line of questioning, but I wouldn’t have it. I said, “Sometimes. Sometimes it’s disgusting, and sometimes it’s boring. But sometimes, yes. Exciting. Now tell me, Ian, if you would please. You weren’t alone on this island, were you? There were other vampires there, according to what you gave me—or at the very least, there were other subjects present.”
“There were … other subjects, yes.”
I noted his failure to use the word
vampires
, and I hoped he’d take another drink or two to loosen himself up, or we’d never get anywhere.
I was about to ask in a more pointed fashion when he sensed my impatience and added, “I can’t tell you anything about them. I couldn’t see them. One of them was a vampire, yes, but the other two—I’m not sure. And there were new additions by the time I escaped—one more vampire, but I didn’t recognize anyone else’s scents. They could’ve been anything, or something altogether outside my experience.”
“Ooh,” I said, not for being impressed, but for being distressed. “Wow. The implications of that. Huh.” If the military knew about vampires, and it knew about a few of the other less conventional brands of humanity, too, then what was the big plot? They obviously weren’t trying to recruit us, which was sort of ashame. I imagined a full unit of vampire soldiers and I got a little giddy, and distracted.
Bad idea, maybe. But it’d be epic, wouldn’t it?
“Yes, the implications. They’re quite alarming, if you ask
“Then I hope you don’t mind if I indulge,” he said, retrieving a crystal goblet from a track above the sink.
“By all means.”
“And won’t you have a seat?” He waved a lovely hand at the settee, and I gratefully—but gracefully—dropped myself into it. The brocade cover was posh and lumpy. I settled against it while he poured himself a glass. He took the seat across from me, where I noticed a slim white cane had been left propped against the arm. He must’ve gotten to know his temporary quarters exceedingly well for how easily he navigated them. If I hadn’t known, I would’ve never guessed that he was blind.
He said, “You had some questions for me?”
“I did, yes. I mean, I
do
. I’ve gone through the information in the packet. I’m still in the process of tracking down a few of the finer points of this project, but I think it might help if you could tell me a bit about what happened to you—and where you were.”
He didn’t exactly frown, and he wasn’t exactly upset with me. But he didn’t want to talk about it, that much was apparent. “As I understand it,” he said, “the documents are not housed at the place where I was … kept.”
“That’s true, or it looks like it’s true. But in case Cal didn’t fill you in on the blocking out, more than half of the info in that paperwork has been declared ‘sensitive’ by the feds, so any scrap of fact you can throw my way will be helpful.”
Ian took a hard swallow and reached for his cane. He fiddled with the end of it while he spoke. “I was kept on a base in Florida called Jordan Roe, on a small island off the west coast. But the base is no longer operational, or so I am led to believe.”
“That letter you included certainly implied as much. Speaking of which, where’s Cal? Is he lurking around here someplace, listening in?”
Translation:
Does he sleep in here with you? Just curious
.
“Cal is in his room next door.” Ah. So that’s why it took him so long to deliver the phone call.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. I’m just—” I was going to say “paranoid” as a plausible excuse, but he cut me off by saying, “Careful.”
“Careful, sure. I like that word better.”
“You can hardly be blamed. It’s a dangerous line of work you’re in. I suppose it must be very exciting.”
I saw what he was trying to do, divert the subject from my line of questioning, but I wouldn’t have it. I said, “Sometimes. Sometimes it’s disgusting, and sometimes it’s boring. But sometimes, yes. Exciting. Now tell me, Ian, if you would please. You weren’t alone on this island, were you? There were other vampires there, according to what you gave me—or at the very least, there were other subjects present.”
“There were … other subjects, yes.”
I noted his failure to use the word
vampires
, and I hoped he’d take another drink or two to loosen himself up, or we’d never get anywhere.
I was about to ask in a more pointed fashion when he sensed my impatience and added, “I can’t tell you anything about them. I couldn’t see them. One of them was a vampire, yes, but the other two—I’m not sure. And there were new additions by the time I escaped—one more vampire, but I didn’t recognize anyone else’s scents. They could’ve been anything, or something altogether outside my experience.”
“Ooh,” I said, not for being impressed, but for being distressed. “Wow. The implications of that. Huh.” If the military knew about vampires, and it knew about a few of the other less conventional brands of humanity, too, then what was the big plot? They obviously weren’t trying to recruit us, which was sort of ashame. I imagined a full unit of vampire soldiers and I got a little giddy, and distracted.
Bad idea, maybe. But it’d be epic, wouldn’t it?
“Yes, the implications. They’re quite alarming, if you ask
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