Chapter 982: The Stuff of Faith and Madness

The magitech submarine containing Simon McKean’s laboratory was divided into a lab section, a living area and the operational sections like propulsion and the bridge. The corpses of the crew were piled up on the bridge, and those of the researchers in the bunk room. Elizabeth and Gerling were searching the ship for survivors, although she and Marie would both be startled to find any.

Marie was in McKean’s cabin. She was sitting at a desk set into the wall staring at a laptop open in front of her. She angrily stabbed at it with her fingers, setting the video to play for the fourth time. Simon, recorded by the laptop now in front of her, appeared and started talking.

“When you find this, Marie, I’ll be gone. I’ve purged all records of the research, other than what I am taking with me. Perhaps they are recoverable; magic makes ‘impossible’ a meaningless word, after all. I doubt it, though. I scrubbed the hard drives with magnets and magic before smashing them and dropping the pieces into the ocean.”

Marie resisted the urge to put her fist through the screen.

“I had hoped to make you a part of this,” he said. “I do find you to be a compelling woman, and not unintelligent. To my disappointment, it has become clear that you have formed a bond with the vampire queen, despite the incompetence demonstrated by her obvious and escalating failures. I considered offering you a chance to join me regardless, but I ultimately realised that my reasoning had been compromised by affection of which you are ultimately undeserving. Your ability to inspire that in me is, in itself, sufficient cause to excise you from my life. Even so, I have decided to indulge my affection one last time, and produce a farewell message. Obviously.”

“You smug, creepy piece of crap.”

“I am sorry that it came to this, Marie, but Elizabeth is a sinking ship. Leaving core-enhanced blood oaks in her hands would be tantamount to flushing them out the submarine’s airlock. After the debacle in Melbourne revealed the existence of the blood oaks, it is only a matter of time before Farrah Hurin and that fool Asano come hunting. I will need a deterrent, and sooner rather than later. Your hesitance and Elizabeth’s unwillingness to take action against Asano will only slow me down. I will be turning to other vampire lords, now that Elizabeth has lost her influence over them. I cannot trust them, of course, but I have a solution to that.”

He snorted a laugh.

“I suppose I don’t need to share the details. I’ll miss it, I think, explaining things to you. You were almost smart enough to understand what I was talking about. A clean break is for the best, but I do feel some obligation to you. I will be leaving you with no research and no crew, after all Vampires do get hungry. There’s a little side project I’ve been working on that you can perhaps get some use out of. I’ve left it in the testing room, but do be careful with it. It can be quite tricky to handle.”

He sighed.

“I am sorry it came to this, Marie. You should have made better choices.”

The video came to an end, McKean’s face frozen awkwardly. His features held an echo of the weaselly man he was in her head, but the magic of silver rank had smoothed them to handsomeness. Again, she stopped herself from punching the screen.

“You need to stop watching that,” Elizabeth said from the door.

“I know. Any survivors? Ideally ones who know how to pilot a submarine. I don’t like the idea of waiting for this thing to run aground somewhere.”

“No. I think it’s time to look at whatever Simon left for us.”

“It’s probably a trap.”

“Perhaps. He may have decided to punish you for your failure to return his feelings. But I can’t help but think it’s something designed to impress you. That, in his head, will make you realise that you should have followed him around like a good little woman.”

Marie shuddered.

“Such a little creep. At this point, though, we should probably take a look. The only other thing we have left to do is wait for Remy to come back.”

“I still assert that letting him return was a mistake. If it is discovered that he is working with us, we will be drastically inconvenienced.”

“If he didn’t go, when Geneva was pressuring him that hard, she’d have looked into why. I hate the woman, but she’s competent and thorough.”

“If she needed that many gold rankers, then she has larger problems than questioning Remy.”

“But if he’s been revealed as our associate, he isn’t coming back. That will make getting off this vessel and back on dry land an awkward undertaking.”

“Quite. Shall we start with whatever Simon has left us?”

“Yes, but even the smug prick said to be careful on the video, not that I wouldn’t.”

“We can have Gerling make the initial examination, and suffer the consequences. It is what I keep him for, after all.”

***

Holly Macrossan was Annabeth Tilden’s successor as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Supernatural Affairs, and it had been a rough few weeks. While the chance to visit her family in Sydney was nice, it was good to be heading for home in New York. The luxury jet she was using to leave Australia was a small but welcome compensation. It had been provided by Lenora Coleman, head of the yet-unnamed multinational taskforce operating out of Asano Village.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Sprawled on the indulgently large bed in the sleeping cabin, sleep eluded Holly, despite her exhaustion. Her mind raced, still trying to process what she had seen during her time in Australia. Asano’s briefing was the stuff of faith and madness. The origin of the universe. A throne that ruled the cosmos. The world threatening to tear itself apart. Even with all that magic had done, Holly would have had a hard time believing any of it. She wouldn’t have, if not for her visit to Jason Asano’s private universe.