Narcist felt her smartphone buzz against her hip and a ghost of a smile played over her lips for the briefest of moments. She didn't need to see the screen to know it was telling her Lash had made it to the command center undetected. Looking over at Truk, who had been keeping her in the corner of his eye, she made a slight nod.
When her eyes returned to the front, Narcist found herself looking at a tall, lean older vampire a couple paces away, his hair pulled into a tail and dressed in expensive, but low key, and tasteful clothing. Seeing that he had the technical expert's attention, he smiled and stepped forward, hand extended in greeting.
"You must be Narcist," he said in a dry, yet surprisingly firm baritone as she took his forearm vampire-style and returned the squeeze she got from him.
"I'm Vulcrum."
Narcist smiled as she recognized the name.
"Ah, Lash's spymaster," she said with a respectful nod. "The boss has told me good things about you, my lord."
Vulcrum immediately held up both hands.
"Careful there, young lady," he said with a deprecating smile. "I'm no lord. And I hope the young master didn't say too much. It's kind of important I stay beneath notice," the handsome old fellow went on to say with a wink. "Bad for business to be well known!"
Narcist returned the smile, finding the older vampire charming and likable.
"Fear not, Vulcrum," she replied. "Your secret is safe with me."
The older vampire bowed gracefully in thanks. When he straightened, however, all trace of his earlier joviality was gone.
"The master says you have a data vault containing information about this rogue human faction," he said, his expression intent. "May I see it?"
Nodding, Narcist produced the vault from an inner pocket and handed it to him. After giving it a cursory look, Vulcrum plugged it into a portable reader the size of cigarette lighter, the smallest and most advanced reader Narcist had ever seen. His long fingers nimbly manipulating the reader's hidden interface, Vulcrum frowned as the reader's small screen filled with dense encryption.
"Hmm," he said before looking over at Narcist. "Have you had the chance to look at this yet, young lady?"
Her eyes on the dense lines of text, Narcist shook her head.
Returning his attention to the reader's display, he pointed at the text.
"This is what we call in the business a neural encrypt. Each derivation of Humanity, no matter how far their mutation takes them from the original stock, has one." He held up the same finger as he prepared to make a point.
"But it's that species' mutation that makes the encrypt unique!"
Vulcrum paused to again point at specific lines of text.
"These markers here, and here tell me this neural print comes from a human. One with a very disciplined mind, but a stock human nevertheless."
Narcist slowly nodded.
"Lash said it was a scan from a high level White Flame commander's mind," she indicated.
"Ah, that explains the military precision in the streams," Vulcrum said. "Would I be correct in saying this scan was provided by a psionic? And a powerful one, at that!"
"How can you tell that?" Narcist wanted to know even as she nodded in confirmation.
"The precise way each set of symbols are clustered," Vulcrum revealed, using his finger to circle sets of similar characters. "Soldiers, lifetime ones especially, like things organized and categorized. Even their thoughts and memories. Many say it helps in decision making and reaction time."
The older vampire shrugged.
"Personally, I think one's mind and how thoughts are handled are determined by behavior. Soldiers are routine-driven and regimented. So it makes sense the way they think and remember are as well."
He looked back at the vault.
"And to answer your question a second time, it's the lack of corruption and edge bleed in the symbol clusters that tells me a psionic provided this scan. Machines made to mimic telepathy always fray the edges and twist the content as they operate."
Again Vulcrum smiled deprecatingly as he looked back at her.
"But I'm only a humble servant of House Lash, not a psychiatrist or psychologist. Not even a psionic, thank the Dark Father. I'd be driven mad having to listen to everybody around me thinking all day!"
As Narcist considered that, the lean vampire looked towards the slowly dissipating crowd. And several vampires, both male and female, broke from the crowd at some silent signal and headed in the direction the legionnaires had taken Anna.
"It would seem the crowd only got Anna van Tallert," he remarked offhandedly. "The young master managed to disembark without being seen."
Vulcrum looked back at her.
"Much to the disappointment of these liliths, no doubt. Any idea why so many would have such an interest in Ingamon?"
Narcist felt her brow lift by itself in surprise.
"Lash didn't tell you? The European Queens' Conclave considers him an alpha prime!"
A look of understanding appeared on Vulcrum's face before he frowned in concern.
"That complicates things," the veteran spymaster said, his frown morphing into something more thoughtful.
"He thinks so as well," Narcist confessed, earning herself a thoughtful look.
"Of course he does." Vulcrum folded his arms. "I need a word with my master. As you are in his confidence, could you tell me where he currently is?"
"The command center?" Dru hissed in not a little dismay. "How did he get there?" she asked, her hard look daring Naryan to step away.
"I cannot divulge that information, honored mistress," Hunter, the base's AI, smoothly answered in its quiet, sexless voice. "The Lord Commander's movements while on base, are not tracked."
"Of course they're not," the Nosferatu lilith growled with not a little irritation.
At least Hunter had been more helpful than the Silver Legion officer. Unfortunately, knowing Lash's location wasn't exactly helpful by this point. Due to a conclave's worth of liliths present, all of which were now aware that Lash was an alpha prime, access to the base core was severely restricted to avoid Lash being incapacitated by a pheromone overload.
It would take an extraordinary need to bypass those restrictions. And while personally she felt her need was extraordinary, in the larger picture, she was fighting with a dozen liliths for a piece of his attention. And he needed to stay focused on bringing the traitorous councilor down, now that they had Anna van Tallert in hand.
A look over at Naryan yielded the legionnaire still waiting to be released, albeit impatiently. So she dismissed her with a gesture and watched as, after respectfully saluting, Naryan moved to join her Force Recon unit Lash had made instead of her Vanguard company. That being said, the two groups were standing together as the Force Recon legionnaires continued sharing their recent experiences with their envious comrades.
Dru turned away, fighting the impulse to grind her teeth. 'Think, Druzha, think!' she silently demanded of herself. 'You are Nosferatu, a clan universally known for its scheming and plotting. If anyone can figure out how to get to the vampire who holds your beating heart in his delightfully big and strong hands, it's you!'
Isla frowned as she watched Dru stalk off looking like she wanted to fight somebody.
"Fiadh, what's Dru's deal?" she asked, looking over to where the Irish lilith stood nearby talking to Meredith and Cassie. "I know she's sweet on our man, but she acts like she's personally insulted if she isn't draped all over him before any of us are."
Fiadh looked from the Australian to the retreating Druzha.
"Clan lines," she said.
"Clan lines??" Isla repeated, obviously confused. "Are you telling me Fortress Europe isn't one big happy family?"
That made both Fiadh and Meredith chuckle.
"Not even close," the blonde British lilith said. "Europe is in constant warfare because the clans, big and small, don't get along."
"And the two biggest and oldest clans that have hated each other the longest are Lash's Ventru and Dru's Nosferatu," Fiadh added. "Frankly I was shocked that Dru even entertained the thought of approaching Lash while we were at Salzburg, her being in season and him an alpha prime notwithstanding."
She turned to watch Dru disappear through an access door.
"I was convinced she'd beat Anka, the Nordstrom lilith, in trying to put a blade in Lash's back!" She looked back at Isla and a frowning Meredith.
"Instead, here she is, trying to take our time with Lash away from us!"
"Truthfully? I think she needs to move on," Meredith said, a note of disapproval in her normally friendly and open voice. "We are here, the adjuncts and the Embraced, because we had our entire worlds destroyed by the White Flames and the Hand and Lash reached out and saved every one of us."
The blonde lilith paused slightly then:
"Druzha has nearly three thousand m'tada at her beck and call, according to some of the liliths at the Conclave. Her land and holdings could contain a city, and she's positioned politically to have the upper hand against her own clan, a feat unto itself with the Nosferatu acknowledged as the masters of plot and intrigue all across Europe."
The blonde lilith's face tightened.
"She doesn't need to be here. She doesn't need Ventru's or House Lash's protection. And she has already solved her season with Lash, so, technically, she doesn't need him either!"
"So, why is she, then?" Isla asked.
Fiadh held up a hand to stop a fuming Meredith from saying 'Because she's a selfish bitch', a sentiment the blonde had already shared with her several times. Then she sighed and smiled sadly.
"Because she's in love with him," the Irish lilith said. "Like not a few of us are!"
****
Mara stepped out of the bathroom, a big, fluffy towel in her hands as she finished drying her honey blonde hair, her lithe form swaddled in an equally fluffy robe, both in pale shades of blue.
"Now that, my handsome and delicious friend, is a shower!" she declared with a broad smile.
"Played with some of the settings after I got out, did we?" Lash asked with a grin, looking up from a situation report he was reviewing and at her.
"Uh huh," she confirmed. "By the way, just as an FYI: when we are together, we are showering together, no matter how big the shower is. I loved that!"
His grin becoming a pleased smile, Lash nodded.
"I had a feeling you would."
Tossing the towel over the back of a chair, Mara stepped close to where Lash was working at a small desk. As he turned towards her, she let her robe fall open as she straddled his leg, her hands coming up to caress his face and run her fingers through his still damp hair even as she pressed herself against him.
Lash responded by kissing her on the stomach, inhaling her scent as he did, his hands sliding under her robe to run tantalizingly over her buttocks and lower back. Mara sighed with pleasure, leaning forward enough to kiss the top of his head. Then she held him close once more as his mouth and hands roamed over her torso, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the sensation of his touch.
Then he was gently easing her back before he slid out of the chair and onto his knees in front of her, his mouth returning to her stomach before quickly working its way lower. Her sighs of pleasure became groans, which quickly transformed into gasps of release. The first handful of gasps had barely made their way free when she abruptly stepped back to pull him to his feet.
"Nope. We're finishing this somewhere more comfortable!" Mara breathlessly declared, pulling him back towards the apartment's small bedroom.
****