A Subtle Agency Read online

  His wife Anna sat beside him, placing her hand on his right knee, she lightly drew it along the hard muscle underneath his suit trousers. It sent an immediate electric tingle straight into his groin.

  He looked across, her face was glowing with a fascinating sense of mischief.

  She smiled coyly and said, ‘nightcap?’

  ‘Absolutely,’ he replied with a grin.

  ‘Champagne?’

  ‘We have two bottles chilling in the fridge.’

  The car pulled to a halt, the garage lights had come on automatically, gleaming off the new cars polished white paint.

  Anna and William lingered, sharing a single long passionate kiss, then they broke away, exited the car and raced each other to the door leading into the house. Anna got there first, William hugging her from behind as she opened the door. William wrapped his right arm around Anna’s waist and lifted her easily with one hand, carrying her across the threshold and into the house.

  Anna pinched him, ‘discipline,’ she whispered urgently. ‘You know that you’re not allowed to show how strong you really are.’

  William gently put his wife down, sighing, ‘there is no one here to see, and besides - you’re petite enough not to arouse suspicion.’

  Anna looked up at William, her blue eyes flashing, she punched his shoulder, ‘Anton is here.’

  She grabbed the edges of his jacket, pulling him closer, till their faces were an inch apart.

  Suddenly serious she whispered, ‘he is not yet ready for the truth.’

  It was an old argument and for a long time, he had simply gone along with Anna’s will on the matter, but as Anton had begun to blossom into a young man he had become convinced that Anton should be told the truth about his family, and about his heritage as a Slayne.

  William stroked Anna’s blond hair as he whispered, ‘he is mature enough, I think that you underestimate him. He needs to know. What would he do if something happened to us?’

  ‘We’re well hidden. Our strategy has worked for nineteen years, and it will continue to work for a while longer - we can wait until after he graduates.’

  ‘Love ...’ William frowned slightly. ‘We’re holding him back; he’s a freshman who could cope with the work that my postgraduates do. How many eighteen year olds can read and write Latin, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit, cope with advanced calculus, and are widely read across half a dozen disciplines.’

  We both love him; why can’t we agree on this point?

  ‘My gorgeous man,’ Anna leaned closer, kissing him passionately.

  After a timeless moment, she pulled away and continued, ‘we are exiled. If the Order find us, they will kill us to keep their secrets, if the Dominion find us, they will kill us because of who and what we are. We have to be careful and protect him.’

  Anna kissed William again, vibrantly, strongly, completely. William, his lips tingling, returned the kiss with every fiber of his being.

  Exiled or not, to have Anna as his wife always struck him as a miracle. William hugged her close, they turned together, walking down the hall toward the kitchen, the formal lounge opened up beside them and they both saw him at the same time.

  Anton tied to a chair, his head slumped forward, unconscious or worse.

  William felt time slow down to a crawl as the secret training provided by his father kicked in. His senses exploded in acuity as every detail of the scene became razor sharp, he felt Anna beside him, heard her heart beating as she went through the same process. He heard a scuffling sound from the lounge, someone was already moving - fast.

  One, no two opponents, not yet seen.

  The wall next to him began to explode toward him like a slow motion movie, he moved, impossibly fast for a human, turning, positioning for whatever was coming through the wall. There was a puff of plaster dust; then a spray of wooden splinters as the frame in the wall gave way. He was big, blond, and he came through the wall like it was made of tissue paper. He snarled at William as he launched his attack with fists like steel mallets.

  Vampires!

  William felt the “Ramp” as the training provided by his father was called, come to its full fruition as he blocked the first strikes. He pivoted out of the way of the rush, but the vampire turned as well, matching William’s speed. William launched a flurry of counter attacks which the vampire rapidly blocked, their hands and feet snapping through the air like cracking whips. They were evenly matched at this range, and then the vampire closed with William, attempting a grapple. William caught him on the side of a jaw with a punch that would have killed an Ox. It felt like hitting concrete, the vampire’s head snapping back, blood and bone spraying high across the wall as William broke his jaw.

  Undeterred the vampire kept on coming, locking William up in hands like stone. He tried to break the hold and twist away, but instead, he was thrown hard, face down on the floor. A moment later, the vampire was on top of his back, dragging both his arms backward. He felt the ligaments in his shoulders and elbows begin to give way as pain arced through his body like lightning.

  He choked back a scream of agony, raising his head up as far as he could to see his wife.

  Anna was pinned to the wall by a tall brunette with her left hand on Anna’s throat. Her feet dangled six inches off the ground; the vampire had her right hand stiff like a knife, poised an inch away from Anna’s left eye.

  ‘Stop!’ She commanded, ‘or else she dies now.’

  William’s heart sank as he recognized who it was.

  Chloe Armitage, and ... this must be Marcus Drake on my back.

  William felt Marcus’s heavy knee in the middle of his back as his arms were dragged back behind him, his joints creaked and the bones ground against each other. William was six feet three inches and two hundred and twenty pounds of muscle and bone; he could bench press over three hundred pounds without the benefit of the Ramp. With the Ramp, he could recruit every muscle fiber in a given contraction. One hundred percent recruitment of muscle fibers as opposed to the normal human response of twenty percent. The Ramp made him five times stronger than normal and the associated physiological shifts of the Ramp reinforced ligaments and bones to handle the loads. But even with those capabilities, he didn’t have half the strength necessary to break this hold.

  William let go.

  He was immediately bundled into a chair and tied up with chains and padlocks. He strained against them with all of his tremendous strength, but they did not give way.

  ‘Sized to hold vampires - you will not be able to break them,’ Marcus smirked.

  William looked across the room, the three of them were each confined to a chair at the points of a triangle about ten feet on a side. The furniture had been moved so that they could easily fit into the middle of the lounge. Chloe and Marcus stood in the middle of the triangle and faced him.

  Marcus massaged his jaw, a trickle of blood streaked his chin.

  Chloe gave him a neatly folded handkerchief, and said primly, ‘do not make a mess.’

  Marcus wiped his jaw, spat into the cloth, grimaced gap-toothed, remarking ruefully, ‘he hits hard.’

  ‘I do not want to hear about it - it will heal.’

  Chloe focused her attention on William.

  William stared back at her. It was clear that the family had been discovered by the Vampire Dominion. The fact that they were still alive meant that his family was not the victim of a casual hunt. He wished that it had been a hunt, as death would most likely have been quick. No, this was far worse. The vampires were here for a purpose other than feeding, and he truly dreaded the possible paths this could go.

  They had been caught, they were in a helpless position, and he could only hope that this pair of vampires would make a mistake that could be exploited to allow them all to escape; or at the very least save the lives of his wife and son.

  William considered the situation, determining that he was most likely a dead man, but if by dying, he could save the lives of his wife and son, he would do so - without
hesitation.

  * * *

  Chloe stared at William, smiling, ‘before we start, let us wake Anton, to make sure that he does not miss anything.’

  After all, much of what will happen tonight is for his benefit.

  She moved over to the coffee table which had been pushed up against a wall. On it sat Marcus’s open case; retrieving a vial from it, she unstopped it and waved it under Anton’s nose.

  Awake Anton - Awake!

  The effect was immediate and dramatic. Anton convulsed as if given an electric shock. He was bound to the chair with plastic ties at his hands and ankles, and he immediately collapsed back.

  He shook his head as if clearing it.

  ‘What the hell,’ Anton muttered, then he glanced around the room, taking in the scene.

  ‘Mom, Dad, what’s going on?’

  ‘Stay calm Son, we’ll get through this together,’ William said grimly.

  ‘Be strong Anton,’ Anna cried out, as tears began to well up in her eyes.

  Chloe wanted to slap them, she really wanted them to know precisely how helpless they were. She wanted to tell them the truth and make them see exactly what was going on. She did not enjoy lying, as necessary as deception was to her strategy, it left her feeling tainted. She hungered for a time when she would be able to live a life of absolute honesty, a life of truth where nothing was hidden.

  Oh, what a world that would be.

  Chloe stood in the middle of the room, waiting for the Slaynes to calm down, to become still.

  Necessity makes liars of us all.

  Chloe sighed, and everyone in the room looked at her.

  ‘Well if you don’t want to be here - let us go,’ William offered.

  ‘Don’t presume to know what I am feeling.’

  Chloe slapped William hard across the face. His head rocked back as if struck by a baseball bat. She had hit him with artful perfection, maximizing pain without knocking him out - she needed him to be conscious.

  ‘Right, let us begin the preliminaries,’ Chloe said, fetching a smartphone from the case. Flicking on the camera function, she took three photos of Anton, front, left and right, as if taking mug shots.

  Chloe winked at Anton, ‘I will need these later.’

  She put the phone back in the case and then extracted four pieces of polished metal. In moments, she had snapped, twisted and screwed the pieces together to form an elegant, gleaming saber.

  ‘Not my favorite sword,’ she said to the room while flourishing the shining blade. ‘The weapon of an assassin from the court of King Louis the XIVth of France, but it is easily hidden and will serve for tonight.’

  Facing William, Chloe declared with certainty, ‘you will give me what I ask for ...’ turning, she addressed the room, ‘or you will discover a fate far worse than you could possibly imagine for your family and yourself.’

  Anton, Anna, William, and even Marcus, stroking his healing jaw, stared at her as the room fell into silence.

  * * *

  Anton felt overwhelmed with dread.

  How could this happen? Who are these people? What does she want?

  He pulled at his bindings, but there was no getting free, the plastic was already starting to cut into the skin at his wrists. He looked at his parents, they were bound with steel chains and solid padlocks.

  Why the difference? Sure dad is strong; he can out lift me - but chains are overkill - aren’t they?

  His silent torrent of questions was interrupted by Chloe.

  ‘William Slayne, exiled member of the Order of Thoth and sworn enemy of the Vampire Dominion - I, Chloe Armitage - First General and right hand of King Cornelius Crane, hereby put you to the question,’ she announced. ‘Answer me truthfully and you will be granted quick death as befits your mortality - lie to me - and I will deliver you to an eternal life of punishment.’

  Flourishing her saber, she ran the blade over her palm and blood splashed onto the carpet, ‘this I swear before Vampiric witnesses on the sacred blood of Mekra, mother of us all.’

  Anton watched the blood drain from his father’s face, and heard his mother gasp in shock.

  Vampire Dominion? Order of Thoth? King Cornelius Crane? The world has gone mad.

  Anton watched Chloe, as she advanced on his father - her hand had already stopped bleeding.

  Chloe leaned in on William, her face inches from his own, inquiring, ‘you have the Papyrus of Hakron the Scribe - do you not?’

  William shook his head, ‘I don’t have it.’

  ‘I will bury you in a silver coffin. I will convert you before we seal the lid. You will live for thousands of years confined in the dark, paralyzed by silver and unable to move. Tormented by thirst, you will be unable to die ... Are you sure that you do not have it?’

  Chloe stood up, gesturing around the room, ‘are you sure that it is not here - hidden somewhere in this house?’

  William paused for a moment, shaking his head, ‘my father destroyed it, to ensure that it could never come into the possession of the vampires.’

  Chloe laughed derisively, ‘Arthur Slayne, the great archeologist, the great champion of the Order of Thoth, destroys one of the only three artifacts in the world that together give access to the Metaframe. Access which could be used to destroy the Vampire Dominion. The great warrior turns down the most powerful weapon, just to keep it out of our hands …’

  Arching an eyebrow, she said, ‘I find that hard to believe.’

  What is the Metaframe?

  Tilting her head slightly, Chloe said, ‘you have courage William, I will grant you that, but you are also foolish. I take my oaths seriously; your fate is now sealed. But what of the fate of your wife and son? What of Anna and Anton? What will become of them?’

  William’s jaw worked, but he said nothing as he strained against the chains.

  Chloe stepped behind where Anna sat, placing the edge of the saber against the side of her neck, just below her ear, ‘I could slice bits off her as you watched. I wonder, would that be enough to motivate you.’

  Marcus took up a position behind William, taking hold of his head with both hands, he forced him to face his wife.

  Chloe suddenly blurred, stepping aside and thrusting the saber through Anna’s right shoulder. She twisted the blade; Anna’s agonized scream drowned out the snapping of her bones.

  ‘Leave her alone!’ Anton shouted, overwhelmed with a need to protect his mother. ‘If you need to torture someone - torture me.’

  Chloe turned to him, leaving the saber embedded in Anna’s shoulder, ‘if necessary, your turn will come, but that will depend upon your father, and on which force is stronger? His resolve to protect the Papyrus or his love for his family.’

  Turning back to William, she paused for a long moment.

  ‘Do you want to try again? Now please remember carefully, for I am tiring of this game - where is the Papyrus?’

  ‘Okay, OKAY!’ William relented, his eyes wide, staring at Anna as she gasped in pain. ‘There is a wall safe, the Papyrus is in it. It is behind the picture above the fireplace.’

  Chloe waved her hand; Marcus let go of William and took down the picture. Behind it was a wall safe with a combination lock.

  William muttered in a voice heavy with defeat, ‘the numbers are sixteen left, twenty-three right, seven left and thirty-four right.’

  Marcus dialed the numbers; there was an audible click as the locking mechanism released. He pulled open the safe door and immediately jumped backward about a dozen feet as if scalded.

  ‘Silver!’ He hissed.

  Chloe looked back at Anna, pulled out the saber and Anna screamed again. Chloe advanced on the safe, pushing the door back with the bloody point of the blade, she looked inside.

  ‘Indeed, you have some silver sitting on top of a Papyrus.’

  She used the point of the saber to push several silver coins and small bars out of the way. She fished out the Papyrus which she caught as it dropped free from the safe.

  ‘I
’m sorry Anna - I’ll have to put this back,’ Chloe said with mock regret. ‘It is stopping you from bleeding to death, and it just would not do to have you die by accident.’

  She jammed the saber directly back into the wound, perfectly matching the original cut. This time, Anna didn’t scream; gritting her teeth, she kept her silence.

  Anton watched his mother clench her jaw, feeling his mother’s agony sweep across him like a physical blow. He had never felt this helpless, tied to a chair as the two people that he was closest to in his life were tortured before his eyes. It was worse than a nightmare, at least with a nightmare, it was possible to wake up. If he had been told an hour ago that this would happen, he would have said that it was a crazy and impossible idea - and yet it was happening - the world had gone mad.

  Anton watched Chloe open the Papyrus; it was a scroll about six feet long and a foot wide, covered with intricate hieroglyphics, it looked faded, fragile and ancient.

  Chloe was a fluent reader of hieroglyphics and she scanned the Papyrus quickly. Pausing about half way through, rolling the Papyrus back up, she put it beside the case. She walked back to the center of the room, steepled her fingers beneath her lips as if pondering what to do next.

  She turned, commanding flatly, ‘Marcus, break her leg.’

  Marcus complied; Anna shrieked as her right thigh bone was crushed by a blow from Marcus’s fist.

  Anton shouted, ‘what the hell - we gave you what you wanted!’

  His face flushed with blood, William screamed in frustration, ‘how dare you, I will make you pay.’

  Chloe waited until Anna’s screams had reduced to quiet sobs.

  She turned toward William, ‘I gave you the opportunity, to be honest, to tell the truth, and what do I get - lies and empty threats. You disappoint me, I thought that you would be a better man than what you have shown tonight.’

  ‘Let me free and give me a sword we’ll see if you remain disappointed,’ William snarled.

  Chloe tilted her head slightly, putting her finger on her chin, her eyes suddenly filled with a fell light. ‘... Tempting - but I think not. A vampire’s blood oath forbids mercy and death by my sword would be merciful.’