CHAPTER FOUR

They called New York the city that never sleeps, but it wasn’t quite living up to the nickname like it used to. Not so many years ago, Conrad would have arrived in the Big Apple in the middle of the night to find the streets still bustling with people. Now, when he flew into the biggest city in America, there were still plenty of people out and about, but it was not the lively hubbub of nightlife that it used to be, although some areas still held their own and had not diminished. As he flew over Times Square the neon lights illuminated the faces of countless revelers. But Conrad wasn’t interested in the flashy lights or the lively atmosphere. He wasn’t here on leisure; he’d been summoned by Miriam de Nytarch. 

The Nytarch had taken its name from the Nytarch night family; the most powerful vampire family in the world. Under the rule of the family’s patriarch, Teremun de Nytarch, the family had established itself as a dominant force in the vampire world in the 11th century and their power had grown until they had subdued their vampire rivals and the human world as well. Conrad had been recruited in the early nights of the Nytarch and aided them in their rise. He was the only vampire in the inner circle who was not of the Nytarch family or even of the same vampire bloodline.

The headquarters of the vampire organization that ruled the world was not the gothic underground fortress that one might have expected. Like all monsters of the 21st century, the Nytarch hid in plain sight. Nytarch Tower was a sleek skyscraper made of reflective black glass that stood among the impressive skyline of New York City. When it had been built it had been one of a kind, these nights it was one of many. 

The tower was the official headquarters of the Nytarch Corporation, a multinational conglomerate that had its fingers in just about every pie on the planet. Through this corporation, the Nytarch exerted considerable influence over the human world, though it was only one instrument of their power. Human familiars had been given the Nytarch name so they could manage the business in the light of day, but all decisions were made by the real Nytarch family of vampires. 

Conrad landed on the rarely-used helipad, his bats dispersing back into the sky as he strode toward the door. He pressed his hand onto the scanner and a moment later the door buzzed open. So few vampires entered the building via the roof entrance that the guards knew them all on sight. Most vampires who worked for the organization knew Conrad by sight; he was the Medju, one of the highest-ranking vampires in the Nytarch. 

For a shady vampire institution that ruled through secret means, the Nytarch was rather corporate. If a human managed to somehow bypass the security that guarded the top five floors of the tower they’d think they’d just wandered into any other office. So long as they didn’t stay too long. Only vampires and familiars were permitted to enter the top five floors, the lower floors were occupied by human employees who had no idea what lurked above them. Occasionally, humans had managed to find their way to the vampire HQ. They had not found their way out again and the security guards who had been lax in their duties had been terminated. 

A short set of stairs led down from the roof to the 99th-floor lobby. The lobby held three gold-plated metal doors: one to the stairwell, one to the Grand Master’s suite, and the elevator doors. There were only six people who were allowed to enter the Grand Master’s suite without an invitation and Conrad was not one of them. 

The Grand Master was the head of the Nytarch, one of the oldest vampires in the world, the one who controlled everything. Conrad had met Grand Master Teremun only a handful of times and for that he was grateful. 

He took the stairs down to the next floor and hoped that this meeting wasn’t important enough for the Grand Master to attend. Most of Conrad’s assignments came from the Vizier, the second-in-command, and a vampire who Conrad much preferred to Teremun. She didn’t glare at him like she could see through to his soul. 

As Conrad reached the 98th-floor lobby, the elevator let out a short ding, and the golden doors slid open. Internally, Conrad groaned. 

“Well, well, Conrad Sinclair,” Alexander said, as he stepped smoothly out of the elevator. The high collars of his black coat stood erect around his chin giving him the classic menacing vampire look. Conrad knew the other vampire well and he should have expected to see Alexander at such an urgent meeting. 

Alexander was the Nytarch General, the commander of the Midnight Army, not that they needed to deploy said army very often these nights. It had been Alexander who had first recruited Conrad to the Nytarch; they’d been friends then. They were not friends now. 

“Alexander,” Conrad said, nodding his head in polite greeting. Just because they didn’t like one another didn’t mean they couldn’t keep things civil. 

“I suspected my dutiful night sister might summon you and yet the sight of you still brings an acidic taste to my mouth,” Alexander said. Apparently, they weren’t going to be civil after all. The Vizier, the General, the Herald, and the Whisperer were all night siblings and the night children of Grand Master Teremun. 

“She had no choice but to summon me. Without me, she’d have to rely solely on you and she knows as well as we do just how inept you are,” Conrad said. In truth, Alexander was a good general, but Conrad had a track record of outperforming him. Alexander’s only method of resolving things was to savagely annihilate the problem, whereas Conrad adapted to the needs of the situation. In Miriam’s own words, Alexander was a hammer and Conrad was a scalpel. 

Alexander’s nostrils flared turning his thin, snake-like face furious. His eyes blazed red and he took a step forward and lowered his tone to a gentle whisper. “Time erodes all things, Conrad. Every great empire that straddled the world and brought all others to heel, crumbled, fell, and made way for the next great power. One night, as impossible as it might seem, time will change the very balance of power within the Nytarch, and whoever stands at the top of the tower on that night might not look upon you so favorably.” 

Alexander was a couple of inches taller than Conrad and he was standing so close that Conrad had to look up just a bit to meet his eyes. “It sounds like you’re planning to commit treason,” he said, mimicking Alexander’s quiet tone. 

The corners of Alexander’s mouth twitched as he struggled to contain his famous temper. “Killing you wouldn’t be treason,” he hissed. A coppery, bitter smell floated on the General’s breath and Conrad took a step back, grimacing as he did so. Alexander’s mouth stretched into a wolfish smile and he ran a hand over his swepped-back blond hair, mistaking Conrad’s movement for fear or submission. 

“If you killed me Amara would never forgive you,” Conrad said. He watched the smile melt from Alexander’s face before he turned and strolled through the doors that led to the Vizier’s suite. 

Amara was the Whisperer; she operated a network of spies across the globe and she was responsible for making sure that politicians acted in the interests of the Nytarch. She had also been Alexander’s lover a very long time ago. Night siblings were siblings created by the same vampire and had no biological connection so relationships between vampire siblings were not seen the same as relationships between human siblings. 

Long after Alexander and Amara had come to an end, she chose Conrad as her lover, and that was how the rift between Alexander and Conrad had began. Conrad had not known about Alexander’s history with Amara; had he known maybe he would have acted differently. It hardly mattered since whatever they’d had was well in the past by the time Conrad joined the Nytarch ranks. Since neither Conrad nor Alexander was with Amara now, it was more than time that the petty feud was laid to rest, but Alexander was determined to hold the grudge for eternity. 

Conrad pushed open the doors to the Vizier’s office. Miriam stood leaning over the large conference table at one end of the room. Her black hair was pulled back and held in a clip, except for two rebellious strands that framed her angular face. She leaned over the tablet resting on the white table, her eyes scanning the screen intently. 

Three female vampires sat at the long table waiting for Miriam to finish reading. There were also two human men; no doubt they were familiars. 

Conrad cast his eyes over the rest of the minimal office and was disappointed to see that Amara was not present. A small part of him had hoped to see her tonight. The Grand Master was also absent, thankfully. 

“Conrad, it’s good that you’re here,” she said without looking up. “And Alexander,” she added when her night brother entered just behind Conrad. 

“Report?” Alexander said, speaking as though Miriam was one of his soldiers returning from reconnaissance. She ignored him completely and continued reading. Alexander walked the length of the conference table, each person tensing up as he passed them, and sat down at the far end. “Barnabas said this was urgent. Although, in these modern times urgent messages can be conveyed considerably faster through the use of technology. We have these wondrous devices called phones now. A simple text message would have resulted in my presence a lot sooner.” 

“I can’t imagine why anybody wouldn’t want that,” Conrad said. He slipped into the seat next to Miriam and gave Alexander a taunting smile. Of course, Alexander was right, but Miriam had a way of doing things. A message delivered by Barnabas carried a certain gravitas that a text message simply did not. No matter what she wrote in a text message, nothing would scream drop what you’re doing and come now like a visit from the Herald and the Grand Master’s night son. 

At last, Miriam straightened up and turned her honey-brown eyes on Conrad. “Thank you for coming so quickly,” she said. She glanced down the table at Alexander. “It is indeed urgent.”

“It can’t be that important if our night father isn’t here,” Alexander drawled. “And where’s Amara, should not the Whisperer be present?” Unlike Conrad, Alexander did not bother to mask his disappointment. Managing his emotions had never been a skill that Alexander possessed. 

“Amara is in DC ensuring the compliance of Congress, but that’s an unrelated matter,” said Miriam, her clipped tone making it clear she would elaborate. 

“What’s happened?” Conrad asked, eager to move the conversation on to the business of the night. He had things to get back to, a book that he was eager to read. 

“Exposure,” Miriam said simply. Vampire exposure was the most serious crime a vampire could commit. Miriam nodded to one of the underlings who picked up a remote and pressed a button. 

The 60-inch television fixed to the wall came to life. Conrad’s eyes lifted in surprise when he saw the YouTube logo appear onscreen. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Social media had become a dominant enterprise and was predicted to usurp the mainstream media in the coming years. If the Nytarch wanted to maintain control they needed to have their eyes everywhere. Controlling traditional news was no longer enough. However, he was surprised that anything on YouTube was being treated so seriously. 

Conrad’s eyes took in the video’s title: Paranormal Probers Halloween Live: Marlow House. He glanced at Alexander who shared his bewilderment. It seemed like the title of a rather more intimate type of video. 

“Just watch,” Miriam said, noticing their shared look. 

The video began and a young couple who looked to be in their early twenties appeared on the screen. A cocky-looking ginger boy and an uncomfortable blonde girl who held her arms close to her body, no doubt because she was cold. Behind them stood a large house that had fallen into a serious state of disrepair. It had the look of a stereotypical haunted house. 

They fancy themselves a pair of ghost hunters, Conrad thought as the youngsters, Ruby and Jay, delivered their introductory speech. As they turned and made their way to the house a third man appeared in the camera’s view; he was shorter than the ginger boy but twice as bulky. He led the way using a cheap flashlight to illuminate their path. 

Conrad didn’t watch a great deal of YouTube videos but the few that he had seen were of a far superior quality to this one. Whoever was holding the camera had a very shaky grip and the sound kept fading like he was accidentally covering the microphone on his phone. The kids were clearly operating on a low budget.

He stopped wondering when he saw the vampire appear on screen. At first, he thought the vampire was a fake, a costumed actor. The house was dark and the vampire at the back of the room was little more than a shape. Then it came closer. If it was an actor it would have had to have been wearing the best costume, Hollywood-level prosthetics. And that didn’t account for the unhuman way that it moved. Nor did it explain how the vampire had revitalized itself after attacking the group. Dark hair sprouted where there had been none before and its shriveled skin became less prunelike. 

He was a real vampire. An incredibly starved and deranged vampire, but a vampire nonetheless. He must have been stuck in that house for years, feeding off nothing but rats. The rodents would have provided him with just enough sustenance to remain alive but not give him much strength. His lack of strength was made clear by his poor attempt at attacking the ghost hunters. A fully-fed vampire would have had no trouble ripping four unarmed humans to pieces in a matter of minutes. 

Conrad was again surprised when the girl managed to stake the vampire, albeit not through the heart. It took real force to drive a wooden stake through the flesh with nothing but the strength of one’s arms, and she did it almost on a whim. 

The video ended and the underling switched off the television. Conrad and Alexander turned back to Miriam who was still standing at the head of the table. 

“That video was uploaded last night. It has already exceeded two million views and is featured on trending lists. Performers on other platforms have started talking about it too,” she said. 

“They’re called creators not performers,” said one of the other vampires at the table. 

“Thank you for that clarification, Tanya,” Miriam said. “Everybody leave except for Conrad and Alexander,” she added. 

The vampires and humans gathered their things and exited the room, heads bowed as though afraid of meeting their boss’ gaze. Miriam’s hand fell on the shoulder of the shorter human as he started to rise. “Not you,” she said. 

He sank back into his chair and she pushed a silver tray of crystal tumblers toward him. It wasn’t made of real silver or her fingers would have burned from the mere touch. Without requiring a verbal command, the man lifted his arm and pushed his sleeve up to the elbow. There wasn’t the faintest trace of hesitation in his expression as he raised the paring knife from the tray and dragged the blade along the flesh of his forearm. Rich red blood poured forth and he quickly grabbed the first glass to catch it. The three vampires watched with cool indifference as he poured his blood like water from a faucet into the three glasses. His face, which had been ruddy before, turned pale and it was clear that he was getting woozy from the blood loss. When the drinks were poured, Miriam sat next to him and tended to his wound. She grabbed a bandage and wrapped it tenderly around his arm, taking care not to cause him any further pain. 

Miriam was not uncompassionate when it came to humans; some vampires reveled in the feed, they enjoyed hunting their prey, but Miriam saw it as mere necessity and went about it as kindly as possible. What she considered kind, humans perhaps would not. All three of the vampires in the room were over a thousand years old; they’d lived so long as creatures of the night that they’d stopped seeing humans as they once did, they’d forgotten what it felt to be one. 

“Thank you, Chuck. Eat something sweet and rest for the remainder of the night,” Miriam said, dismissing the minion before passing the drinks around the table. 

Conrad had already fed earlier in the night, but he wasn’t about to turn down a refresher, it looked like it was going to be a long night after all. As soon as Conrad tasted the blood he knew that the enthralled human had been ordered to abandon his emotions. Emotions affected the flavor of the blood and emotionless humans’ blood tasted bland. 

“Eh…” Alexander said in disappointment, grimacing at the tumbler in his hand. “I do hate it when you force their emotions away, dear sister,” he complained. Conrad agreed with Alexander; although their preferred emotions differed. 

“Emotionless humans suffer less,” Miriam replied. 

“Who cares about the suffering of food?” 

Miriam’s sigh held the exasperation of many arguments with Alexander. “Just because we need to feed from humans does not mean we need to torment them. I didn’t summon you to a blood-tasting event. Let’s discuss the matter at hand.” 

Alexander pushed his blood away from him, offended at the sight of it, and then waved his hand through the air dismissively. “That bit of nonsense on the internet? Just shut the site down and it will be forgotten by Monday.”

“I have the video being taken care of already. It, and any other videos that have featured it, will be removed from YouTube and all other platforms by the time the sun rises. There is still the matter of the people who made the video. Ethan Weller is in the hospital and the police were called. The police have not taken their claims about being attacked by a vampire seriously, but they are looking for a human attacker.”

“I’m surprised the police haven’t chalked it up to a Halloween prank gone wrong,” Conrad said. He sipped his blood more out of necessity than desire. 

“That was the officer’s first reaction. However, the mayor of their town also happens to be the father of the young man who is in the hospital.” 

“So, he’s leaned on the police,” said Conrad. 

“Indeed. That’s the least of our problems. This story is spreading to other platforms, it won’t take long until it is all over social media. From there it might make it to the mainstream media. The story must vanish before that happens.” 

“They are children,” Alexander scoffed. “If you want them silenced I’ll go and slaughter the lot of them. Their tongues will wag no more because they’ll be out of their mouths by the time the sun rises. If they die the story dies” 

Miriam stared at her night brother, eyes narrowed in disbelief. “As usual, brother, you have found a way to make the situation worse,” she said finally. “If the people responsible for the video suddenly vanish or die it will look suspicious and add credit to their claims. It will give the story more momentum, not kill it.” 

“Those who believe it will be dismissed as conspiracy theorist lunatics; humans who dwell on the fringes of society, living in their mothers’ basements, spending their days in their bathrobes and fashioning crudely made tinfoil hats,” said Alexander. “The mainstream media is not going to run a story about a vampire. We own the media, we tell them what to run.” 

“Our control over the mainstream media is not infinite. It only takes one network to cover this story and if the humans who made the video all turned up dead that would only look more suspicious.” She raised her drink and took a delicate sip of her blood. She swished the fluid around in her mouth before swallowing. “This needs to be handled more subtly.” 

Alexander expressed his frustration through a loud sigh but he did not make another suggestion. 

“Conrad, this matter calls for your skill set. Jay Hickey, the male presenter, has been rather vocal online. He has asserted the validity of the video countless times already, he is making the most of his sudden fame. He must be silenced. If needs must, killing one or two might be acceptable as long as the two presenters remain breathing.” 

Conrad did not want to go to Pennsylvania but he didn’t have a choice. One did not disobey the Vizier. Besides, it wasn’t a complicated job. Most of the work could be handled with a little mesmerization. “Silence the creators. Eliminate the vampire. Destroy the stake and any tests that might have been done on it. Close any police investigations. Consider it done,” he said. 

“So you called me here for nothing?” Alexander growled down the table at his night sister, his slender fingers curling into a fist. Miriam showed neither irritation nor concern at his aggressive tone. 

“Not at all. There is another matter that needs to be dealt with. One that our night father thinks would be more suited to your brand of menace.” 

Alexander’s fist uncurled and he leaned forward, eyes lighting up with keen interest. “Go on?” 

“As I said, our control over the mainstream media is finite. Madison White has been running stories in all of her media outlets that are counter to our interests. Our usual methods of persuasion have failed and we don’t have a majority share in her company, she does,” Miriam explained. Madison White owned one of the biggest media companies in the world. The White family had been in the media business for decades, passing the company down three generations. Madison may have inherited the company from her father, but she had made it what it was today. She’d inherited a few news outlets across the East Coast of America and she’d turned it into a global media empire. With a mind like hers, it was a wonder she hadn’t been invited to join the ranks of the Nytarch. 

“So you turn to me for more brutal methods of persuasion,” Alexander said smugly. He had apparently forgotten that he’d been given the secondary assignment. 

“Do what you need to do to bring her into line, however, Madison White must remain alive and whole. Understood?” 

Alexander smiled like a shark as he stood up from the table. “I’ll have Little Miss White on her knees begging for the forgiveness of her betters before Conrad has even located all of his targets,” he said. 

Conrad opened his mouth to retort but Miriam spoke before he got the chance. “As long as you are both successful, I do not care which of you completes your task first,” she said, thus ending the meeting.