Battle Lines. Will Hill

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СКАЧАТЬ analysis of the situation lay a simple truth, a truth that it would have broken Frankenstein’s heart to hear.

      Jamie liked Valentin.

      He liked him a lot.

      The vampire was supernaturally full of life: cheerful, arrogant, funny, and endlessly charming. His appetite for the world around him was infectious, even though it had led him to commit atrocities that turned Jamie’s stomach, and he found his spirits lifted merely by being in the vampire’s presence. The same, he noted with a mixture of sadness or guilt, could not be said of Frankenstein.

      “The monster has done things over the course of his long life that even I would have thought twice about,” replied Valentin. “I know he’s a loyal little Blacklight puppy now, but he wasn’t always so tediously wholesome. So for him to judge me seems rather hypocritical. Wouldn’t you agree?”

      “I don’t know,” replied Jamie. “He regrets the things he did. You don’t. Isn’t that a pretty big difference?”

      Valentin smiled broadly. “Touché, Mr Carpenter. But answer me this. Do his regrets undo any of the pain he caused?”

      Jamie shook his head.

      “Quite right,” said Valentin. “Regrets and guilt and self-flagellation are all well and good, but they cannot change what has already happened. A murderer may find God in prison, or undergo therapy and come to regret his crimes. It may well mean he never kills again. But it won’t bring his victims back to life.”

      “True,” said Jamie. “But it’s better than the alternative.”

      “The alternative, in this case, being me?”

      “That’s right.”

      “I suppose from your perspective that’s true,” said Valentin. “From mine, there is nothing more cowardly than pretending to be something you are not. If the day comes when someone puts a stake through my heart to punish me for the things I’ve done, I will bear them no ill will. By the standards of what passes for morality in this day and age, I’ll deserve it, for having lived my life as I chose. Which is why it frustrates me to know that your superiors still cannot bring themselves to trust me. I have never claimed to be anything other than that which I am, and I have no intention of starting now. Can you see why it annoys me so?”

      “I can,” said Jamie. “But if it surprises you, then you’re nowhere near as clever as you think you are.”

      There was a moment’s silence, before the ancient vampire burst out laughing and Jamie joined in. The joke had been risky, but he believed he had acquired a pretty good feel for Valentin’s boundaries, such as they were, and had been reasonably confident of getting away with it.

      “I do enjoy talking to you, Mr Carpenter,” said Valentin, once their laughter had faded. “There is more life in you than in a dozen of your black-suited friends.”

      “Thanks,” said Jamie, smiling broadly.

       I like talking to you too. I look forward to coming down here.

      “You’re most welcome,” said Valentin. “So. What’s currently occupying your time, Mr Carpenter?”

      “You know I can’t tell you,” replied Jamie. “Although I’m sure you know.”

      Valentin smiled. “I do hear the occasional murmur, even all the way down here. Emptying the jails was a clever move on my former master’s part. Very clever indeed.”

      “You think it came from Dracula?” asked Jamie. “Not Valeri?”

      Valentin snorted. “Please,” he said, his voice thick with contempt. “Although getting others to fight instead of him does indeed sound like the work of my dear brother, this is too bold, too smart a move for his tiny little brain to have devised. This is Dracula beginning to assert himself, I’m sorry to say.”

      “That’s what I thought,” said Jamie, and sighed, deeply.

      “I hear the escaped vampires are unusually powerful. How perplexing.”

      Jamie narrowed his eyes. “What do you know about it?” he said.

      “Nothing,” said the ancient vampire, with a glint in his eye that Jamie didn’t like. “Absolutely nothing. I assume you and your colleagues are no closer to locating my former master?”

      “You know I—”

      “Can’t tell me, yes, of course,” interrupted Valentin. “So I will just assume that’s the case, and you need neither confirm nor deny. Which is a shame, especially given that I’ve told your superiors on a great many occasions that there is a solution to your problem.”

      Jamie sat forward in his chair. “What solution?”

      “Me, Mr Carpenter,” said Valentin. “Sorry, I rather assumed that would have been obvious. I can find them.”

      “How?”

      “I know the dark corners where my brother hides. I know the men and women with whom he associates. I can extract information from people who would not even tell you their names. And more than that, I can feel them. We’re linked, by blood. I can find them, but I am not allowed to do so.”

      “Why not?” asked Jamie.

      “Your superiors do not trust me, Mr Carpenter, as I have lamented so many times. They believe that my being here is a ruse, a sham of some kind, and that if they allow me to leave, I will return to my brother and my former master and tell them everything I know about this place and its inhabitants.”

      “That’s stupid,” said Jamie. “What could you tell them that they haven’t already got from Valeri’s spies? We barely survived his attack as it is.”

      Valentin raised his hands and spread them wide. “I’ve made that point quite vociferously,” he replied. “Unfortunately, they are less capable than you of seeing the simple logic of the matter. So here I remain, unable to help, and getting more and more bored with each day that passes.”

      Jamie considered the stupidity of the situation that had just been described to him. “Can’t you just go?” he said, eventually. “Do you really need their permission to leave?”

      “My dear Mr Carpenter,” replied Valentin. “I’m flattered by your faith in my abilities, I truly am. And yes, I probably could make my way out, if it became necessary to do so. But once out of this cell, there are only two options: break through the airlock and fight my way to the surface, or dig through several hundred metres of concrete and earth. Either one would likely involve killing the majority of the men and women in this base, which is not a prospect that particularly appeals to me.”

      “I’ll talk to them,” said Jamie.

      “I’m sure you will, Mr Carpenter. As always, you have my gratitude.”

      “Cool,” said Jamie. He was dimly aware of the fact that Valentin had not actually asked him to do anything, that he had, in fact, volunteered to speak to his superiors on the vampire’s behalf, but he pushed the thought aside. What he had said made sense, surely anyone could see that?

      His СКАЧАТЬ