Rachel Caine - Fall of Night

‘But – I thought you were scared of Amelie finding out about VLAD!’

‘I was. But the fact is, she’s going to find out. It’s more important for us to make quick, efficient progress than to go carefully. Myrnin would take my side, and yours; I think he’ll be able to contain her paranoia, at least for a while. And so while this will be a risk, it’s probably one we have to take. Now. Let’s go over the questions.’

Dr Anderson brought VLAD out from the secured area, and Claire answered about an hour’s worth of detailed questions on the internal workings. Some of the questions startled her, led her off on tangents that started discussions about better ways to channel and concentrate the energy being generated. It was … well, exciting. Problem solving was always thrilling for Claire, and clearly it was for Anderson, too.

Finally, her professor nodded and stowed VLAD away, and Claire got ready to do something even more exciting.

She was disappointed.

‘Sometimes, being my assistant isn’t going to be action-packed,’ Anderson said, and pointed to a huge bin full of paper. ‘Shred all that, then take the pieces to the incinerator at the end of the hall for burning. I like to be thorough.’

‘What is all this?’

‘Old projects,’ her professor said. ‘Don’t read it. Just shred and burn, or your eyes will melt.’ She said it so matter-of-factly that Claire had a moment’s hesitation, before the other woman laughed. ‘Don’t worry. I haven’t perfected that eye-melting technology quite yet. Shredder’s over there.’

That commenced a vividly exciting morning of sitting in a chair feeding paper into a machine that spit out shreds, and putting the shreds into a giant plastic bag when the bin was full. It took a full three hours to go through the stack of paper, and Claire quickly learnt that shredded paper might be more volumetric than the flat kind, but it wasn’t really that much lighter in total weight. She struggled with the bag down the hall, located the incinerator room, and dumped the paper down the chute before she pushed the big red button to fire up the oven.

She couldn’t help but think that it was awfully convenient, having a thing like this so close to the lab. Or to labs that did all sorts of mysterious, biological things. She imagined grisly scenarios in which mistakes had gone down this chute, and shivered.

When she turned around, empty bag in hand, Jesse was standing in the incinerator room watching her. The sudden appearance of the woman made Claire’s hackles rise on the back of her neck, and at the same time she felt an uncomfortable flush on her skin. Something about Jesse invited contradictory impulses, seemed like. She looked just as calm and composed as she had the night before, though she wasn’t wearing leather just now; she’d changed into a loose black shirt, jeans, and heavy boots that Eve would have swooned over, considering all the buckles. Her red hair was twisted back in a loose, sloppy bun and fixed with a pair of chopsticks.

‘Hey,’ Jesse said. ‘Irene sent me to find out if you were done. Looks like you are.’

Claire rattled the bag. ‘Looks like.’

Jesse was sizing her up in an odd sort of way, she thought, and as the two of them walked back toward the lab through the clean white hall, Claire finally said, ‘Do I have a big ink stain on my face, or …?’

‘No,’ Jesse said, and smiled slowly. ‘I was just thinking that there’s more to you than meets the eye, that’s all. You inspire a certain reckless passion in others, did you know that?’

‘ I do? In who?’

Jesse didn’t answer that. She badged through into Anderson’s lab, and Claire had to wait to follow; by the time she was inside, Jesse was at the table with the professor, and the device – VLAD – was laid out on a lab table on top of a foam cushion. ‘Doesn’t look like much,’ Jesse said. ‘You’re sure, Irene?’

‘No, of course I’m not sure, or I wouldn’t have asked you here,’ Anderson said, a touch impatiently. ‘And I don’t like doing it, either; I don’t really know what the outcome’s going to be. But we need to have a baseline, and like it or not, you’re the only game I have in town.’

‘Only game in …’ Claire repeated, and felt the truth hit home with a vengeance. She fixed her gaze solidly on Jesse. ‘You’re a vampire?’

‘The kid’s sharp,’ Jesse said. ‘Yes, sweetie, I’m a card-carrying member of the undead. Remember how I didn’t come into your house, but Pete did, to get the box? I thought that would tip you off, being a Morganville kid and all, but you didn’t seem to suspect anything.’

‘I would have, if we’d been back home, but I didn’t expect to find … one of you here.’

‘Mistakes like that get you killed,’ Jesse said. ‘There aren’t a lot of us out in the wild, sure, but there are still a few, and most of them aren’t as nice as I am.’ She flashed Claire a grin that wouldn’t have been out of place on Eve’s face. ‘Relax. I don’t bite.’

‘Oh, she does,’ Anderson said. ‘Just not unless she’s invited to.’

‘Well, you should know,’ Jesse purred, and laughed when Dr Anderson’s cheeks turned pink.

‘All right, now that you’ve made your point, sit over there, Jesse. What’s going to happen is that I’m going to point this weapon at you and press the trigger, and you should report to me exactly what it feels like. It shouldn’t hurt you.’

‘Shouldn’t?’ Jesse’s eyebrows climbed higher. ‘Not sure I like the variable in that statement. Claire, you tried this on any other vampires before?’

‘Myrnin,’ Claire said.

‘Did it hurt him?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Well, I’m not Myrnin, and I’m not so willing to hop on the crazy train, but all right. Just for you, Reenie.’

Anderson rolled her eyes. ‘God, please don’t call me that name. Just go sit in the chair. I promise, it’ll be a very brief exposure.’

Jesse crossed the room to the plain aluminium chair that sat against the wall, put her hand on it, and said, ‘Here?’

‘Yes, please.’

Jesse sat down, crossed her legs, and folded her hands in her lap like a church lady, which she was most certainly not. ‘Ready, aim, fire.’

‘Not funny,’ Anderson said softly, but she raised VLAD, sighted and pulled the trigger.

Nothing came out of the gun – no rays or smoke or visible sign of any kind – but Jesse sat up very straight, eyes opening wide. Anderson immediately let go of the trigger and replaced VLAD on the foam pad. ‘Are you all right?’ she asked, and took a step forward. ‘Jesse?’

‘Stop,’ Jesse said, and held her hand out. She looked … odd, and her face was utterly expressionless. ‘Irene, stop right there, please.’

Dr Anderson did, looking very worried, until Jesse finally dropped her hand back to her lap and relaxed. ‘That was … interesting.’

‘Apparently,’ Dr Anderson said, and smiled, though it was clearly a troubled sort of smile. ‘What just happened to you?’

‘I’m not really quite sure. I can tell you that when I sat down, I was feeling a little nervous about what was about to happen, and I was also feeling a little’ – Jesse cut her glance toward Claire for a second, and probably amended what she was going to say – ‘a little amused, I suppose. And all of a sudden I was both those things, still, but ramped up to eleven. It was … disconcerting, because those are not two emotions that go very well together. You understand?’

‘It amplifies,’ Claire said. They both focused on her. ‘The way I set it up to start with, whatever the vampire feels, it’s amplified by the device. I think it kind of works on humans, too. But more on vampires, obviously.’