TASTE OF BLOOD

The Enforcer

Rad entered the lobby of the tall office building, sitting among other buildings built since the last war in Rome. Most of the newer buildings were all glass and steel girders, allowing the sun to glow off their skins or to reflect each other as if each was preening to see the beauty of the other. These newer buildings were not permitted in certain areas of the city to protect the archaic history that spanned centuries. They towered over the beautiful older buildings and streets that made up this ancient old city.

There was a strange air about the difference in the old and the new, a refusal to blend and become one. The need of modern business and tourist's money brought out the requirement for all the convenience that modern times could supply. To protect the architecture and history, the newer buildings were kept at a distance from the narrow cobbled streets of the venerable buildings of the old city.

The building Rad was entering with long strides was a large monument to man's ability to build up and out in a short time, yet disguise what it represented. It had been built ten years ago on the back edge of the business district, behind one of the biggest banks in Rome, of course not counting the separate bank belonging to the Catholic Church, which was actually a country by itself inside of Rome.

This building was all marble and stone going skyward, with only tiny six inch slits of dark glass placed randomly around the exterior on various points of its 28 floors. The glass was leaded, the entire building was covered and screened with iron mesh, hidden in the walls, the floors and ceilings. The bronze plaque on one side of the door said only Centuries Enterprises, giving no further information as to what was housed in the large formation of stone and steel.

The beautiful entrance was a double set of doors, dark from the outside. Once through the first wide glass set that moved flawlessly with no sound, there was a ten-foot walkway on a beautiful Aubusson carpet in deep colors. Most who entered were not aware that the next set of doors would not open until the first outside doors had closed. The next opened as one approached, with only the sound of soft air, and then you were in the graceful high lobby.

Magnificent marble was set in a spiral pattern that took the eye from the floor to the walls to the ceiling three stories above as it swirled and grew to end in a giant ball of a hanging globe chandelier. The chandelier constantly changed colors with its movement to confuse the mind and hold the eye.

Rad had been through here for a few meetings, but he took this time to look around the large lobby. There was a beautiful female receptionist sitting behind an elevated curved black desk and two large guards dressed in blue suits behind her, up against the wall. There was a group of human businessmen gathered in one of the conversation pits at one side of the lobby, but the rest of the large room was empty. Surprisingly, the voices did not echo and the huge area was quiet.

He walked with his usual strength to the bank of elevators, all of which had polished steel doors except the last one, which had bronze doors. A servant stood in front of it, nodded in respect and pushed the button to call the machine down for the esteemed visitor in front of him. The elevator doors opened and the doorman held his hand against them to allow Rad to have plenty of time to enter. There were no buttons on this car as it went to only one location, the top floor. The top floor, no matter which room or where the hallways went, had no windows. This was the main seat of the Council.

Although he did not have the fear, and perhaps even the reverence most had on entering the presence of the Council, he still afforded them the respect they deserved. After all, they were the final word in the rules that controlled the civilized portion of the dark of night that he and many others around the world lived within.

In fact, he was one of their enforcers, their best enforcer. He had developed several talents beyond most of those that lived in the night—talents that might have come from the fact that he was so very old, yet some talents that just were a gift of the Gods. A lot of those of the night were afraid of him. They feared his strength, the absolute power given to him by the Council, and his unknown abilities. So he was an enforcer.