The Cat Burglar - 11. Dinner with Gideon

When I came home, Rylan was waiting for me, the fire was lit, flickering candles sat on the mantle, and in front of the window, reflections multiplied their number; two large empty wine glasses were ready to be filled.

As soon as he noticed me in the doorway, he beamed at me. “Guess what happened.”

I looked around ostentatiously. “Something that’s worth a celebration?”

He got up from the couch, his eyes sparkling. “You bet!” He spread his arms. “You’re looking at a future member of the candidate’s training group!”

“Cool.” I probably should’ve known what he was talking about. “Candidates for—"

“For Master Caspian’s personal guards, of course!”

I grinned. “So, you goggled at them long enough, making puppy eyes here and there, and they finally decided on a try-out?”

He cuffed me on the shoulder. “Eli said he has to talk to you first, as you’re my sire. You’re going to say yes, right?”

“Hmm....” I pretended to think about this, tapping my chin with the pointer finger of my right hand until he placed both hands on his hips. “You remember who’s the older brother, wee one?”

I stretched myself so I could look down at him. “You may be the older brother, but I am the older vampire and your sire. That counts more around here.”

“Kava—”

I hugged him. “It’s just a formality, Ry. Of course, I agree. And one day, you’re going to join Master Caspian’s personal guard, after years and years of hard training, naturally.” I patted his head, which I knew he hated.

“Quit it, asshole.” He ducked away. He’d never forgive me for the two inches I grew taller than him. Suddenly, the plain knife from India’s weapon stash flashed up in my mind. It was as if her dark eyes were fixed on me. “Pour us some wine, Ry. I have to pick up something from my room.” I finally knew to whom it belonged.

Ry waved me on. “Go, I’ll wait for you because I never know which wine goes best with which blood.”

“Konstantin color-coded it for me. I’m in the mood for 0 plus tonight.”

He stopped on the way to the kitchen. “What? All this time I thought you were quite the wine connoisseur, and you cheated?”

I winked at him. “Yup.”

When I came back, both glasses gleamed dark red in the candlelight. “I told you about my friend India—”

“The knife fighter who was killed in the fight against the Delacours?”

“Yeah, her people were famous knife-fighters and smithies.”

“Were?”

“She said she was the last living Sheerem. They never sold their blades, but only gave them to people whom they thought were worthy of their inherent magic. Many died in battles, but most of them were killed because they refused to share their knowledge with others.

“Before India went into her last battle, she gave me this knife.” I unwrapped it from a cloth and showed it to my brother. “At first, India thought this was meant for me, but then she realized I was only its courier.” I passed it to Rylan. “You will be her master; she’s called Ombro.”

“It has a name?”

“She. Her name is Ombro. Take it.”

Hesitating, Rylan reached for the knife.

Before I let go, I warned him. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when you touch her. When I did, I felt a slight buzzing, but as it isn’t for me, so—”

His hand hovered over the handle. “It doesn’t look very special to me.”

I pulled back. “Do you want it or not?”

Immediately, his hand shot out, and he snatched the knife from me. As soon as he touched its handle, he cried out. “Fuck! It burns!”

I don’t know how I knew this, but he couldn’t drop it. I quickly laid my hand over his and grabbed his wrist with the other. “Don’t drop it. Whatever you feel, don’t drop it.”

“But it hurts.”

I tightened my grip. “Don’t drop it.”

After a while, the pain seemed to lessen, and his body relaxed. When Ry eventually opened his hand, his palm looked raw and bloody, but it was already healing. The knife’s appearance had changed. It had become some kind of short sword. Its handle reminded me of a Templar sword I had seen in a book.

“She has imprinted on you and conformed to your future task.”

“Why didn’t you warn me?” Ry threw the knife on the coffee table and glared at me before he inspected his healing hand.

“I had no idea this would happen.”

”And how do you know about the imprinting?”

“I honestly don’t know. The word just appeared in my mind.”

For a while, we stared at Ombro; the knife looked totally harmless.

“Try to pick her up again.”

As soon as his fingers had closed around her handle, she blurred and briefly became invisible. “Wow! What was that?”

“What was what?” He frowned at me.

“Didn’t you see this; the knife blurred and for a short moment, it-she became invisible!”

“What? No.” He swirled her around and played with her. “Can you see her now?”

“Yes—” Then I had an idea. “Sylvan will bring our blood order in a few minutes. Let’s check if she’s able to see the knife too.”

“Of course she’ll see her.”

“I’m not so sure.”

A few minutes later Sylvan knocked on the door and brought the blood we’d ordered. Rylan stood by the fridge, knife in hand, waving her around menacingly. The vampire looked as if she was wondering why Ry was standing in her way and moving his hand in this weird way. “Are you okay?”

“Sure, I’m trying some moves I learned. I’m sorry for being in the way.”

She didn’t comment on the huge knife in his hand.

“She didn’t say a word about the knife in my hand. Can you believe this? You’re right. Only we can see her.” Rylan came over to me. “Let’s test something else. Take Ombro for a while.”

When I touched her, she instantly buzzed angrily in my hand, and I hurried to give her back. “She is really meant to be yours.”

He grinned at me. “She feels like a purring cat when I hold her.”

“Do you know what this means? From now on you can go everywhere armed without others knowing.”

“Do you think? I have to test this tomorrow during training and with Nathan.”

Rylan was ready to have his first day of candidate training. He was watching me standing in front of my open closet rifling indecisively through my meager clothes. “I don’t know what to wear.”

He snorted. ”This isn’t a date. You know that, huh? It’s specialist training with Legate Gideon,” he sing-songed.

I rolled my eyes. “He didn’t let me know of his plans for today. If I come wearing unsuitable clothes, he’ll be an asshole again.”

“What kind of specialist are you going to be anyway?”

“I’m not sure. I think I’ll learn the details today.” I wasn’t comfortable with lying to Ry about this. I decided to ask Gideon if I could tell Ry, at least, about the burglar part at the next opportunity.

“Cool. I hope it isn’t something dangerous or illegal.”

I scoffed. “Says the future personal body guard of a vampire master. He’s probably going to train me to become a cat burglar.”

Rylan laughed loudly at this supposed joke. “Well, then have fun burglaring with Gideon. I’m off doing something useful like learning to protect Master Caspian and testing my new shiny dagger.”

While he skipped out of the door, I asked myself if he’d known I had told him the truth about my new job, would he call it useful too? I mean, in the end, we both supported the master of the city, albeit in very different ways.

I was on the way to Legate Gideon, I really had to try to not to call him arrogant asshole or Christmas tree in my head. What would happen today? The most logical thing to me was researching. Who was the person we’d be stealing from: their species, or were they a witch or a sorcerer, for example. Where did they live and how, alone or with others? There was lots of stuff to take into account. I frowned. This would be more complicated than I first thought.

When I left the elevator, I felt extremely nervous, as if I was about to have an exam without being prepared.

There were only two doors, one led to Konstantin and Katherine’s condo, the other to Gideon’s. Why were we meeting at his place? Why not at the training facilities? I was sure he was doing this all on purpose. He wanted me to feel uncomfortable. And I was ranting again. I really had to stop being this negative. Konstantin said Gideon was a nice guy, strange, but nice.

Before I could knock, the arrog—Legate Gideon opened the door. “You’re late.”

Not saying a vampire is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to...took all of my good behavior mojo. “I’m sorry.”

Grunting, he stepped aside. “Come in.”

As expected, the layout was the same as Konstantin’s condo, with huge windows allowing a breathtaking view of the city, but instead of a dark oak floor, Gideon had chosen a light hardwood floor for his living room, and a modern steel and glass fireplace, not a vintage marble/cast iron ensemble. A small hallway on the left probably led to the other rooms. The entire space was empty save for a comfortable-looking black leather chair and Ottoman as well as two tall square full-glass cabinets. The chair was positioned in such a way Gideon could enjoy the view of the city and, with a light turn to the right, of the fireplace. A bamboo side table was topped with ancient-looking books.

After calmly watching me inspect his place, he headed for the hallway. “Follow me.”

I passed one of the cabinets and curiously peeked inside. It held assorted jewelry; who would’ve guessed, huh? Taking a closer look, I realized it was all kinds of body jewelry.

He led me into a workroom. The walls were lined with shelves holding all sorts of bottles and tools. In its center stood a sturdy table, partly covered with plastic wrap, on it a deconstructed old book.

When I stared at it, he explained, “I repair and conserve books in my free time. Come on in.” Then he lifted a tray with three items off one of the shelves and put it on the table.

I immediately took a step back. I was unsure why, but I did feel danger.

“You can come closer.”

He watched me put my hands behind my back so I didn’t accidentally touch anything I shouldn’t. “You’ve got good instincts; I’m relieved. If you’d failed this test, training would have been off the table.”

“Why?”

“For this work, it’s mandatory to be able to feel magic.” He pointed at the table. “All three items are either enchanted or cursed.”

I eyed the pale blue gem. “What would have happened if I’d touched the gem?”

“You’d have fallen asleep on the spot.”

“Okay, and the brooch?”

“You’d have lost your voice for a few weeks.”

I took another step back. “What? Are you crazy?”

“If I hadn’t been able to prevent it, that is.” He pointed at the book. “If you’d touched that, your hand would have felt as if you’d burned it for a few days. All in all, nothing bad. I asked Master Caspian to choose harmless spells.”

I scoffed. “Harmless? Right.”

He shrugged. “Yes, of course.”

I was getting seriously pissed at him and his fucking nonchalance.

He opened the door to the neighboring room and stepped aside. “When you’re done pouting, we can go to the trap room and begin with the real training.”

It looked like a normal bedroom, but of course, I didn’t enter it. Trap room. Nope. I must have stopped so abruptly he walked into me, his chest was pushed against my back, and his hands landed on my shoulders to stabilize me. “Don’t you trust me?”

“No.”

His grip tightened. “I wouldn’t have let you walk in there without any protection or means to detect the traps.” He sounded honestly offended.

Then he gave me something that seemed to be a huge shard of glass. Looking through it revealed that the room was littered with magical traps now visible as colorful spots, weird billowing grey mists, and luminous beams.

“Holy shit!” I almost stepped back even more.

He tsked, exasperated at my reaction. Rolling his eyes was probably too undignified for a vampire of his status. Then he explained calmly and slowly as if I was some slow student. “First, we would never enter a room this heavily protected; it would simply be too dangerous. Secondly, it’s highly unlikely to find a spell net like this, as casting this many protection spells costs a great amount of magical energy. Not many witches or sorcerers we know are this powerful. Furthermore, building something like this takes time and skill. The caster has to go through several rounds, implementing the spells, all the while trying to avoid triggering unfinished spells. In short, usually the entrance and the windows are protected by spells.” He turned to me. “Questions?”

I tried hard not to react to his constipated teacher voice. “What are we going to do if we find a house protected by a multitude of spells?”

“We will deactivate them one by one.”

He sounded as if I was boring him. “And inside we shadow meld, so the owner doesn’t detect us skulking around their place?”

“Correct.”

Whoop-de-doo.

“Of course, we still have to look for additional traps, especially when we get to the hiding place of the gem.”

Of course. Idiot me would have traipsed through the place as if he’d had no care in the world. I honestly considered siccing Konstantin on him.

“Do witches use lockboxes or safes?”

“Sometimes. Then we need to open them or take them with us.”

“So, I’m going to learn how to deactivate spells and open safes and/or lock boxes?”

“In a nutshell, yes. But before you can do that you need something very important.”

To shorten the lessons I blurted, “Information about the person we’ll erm...visit?”

“Visit.” He scoffed. “You can call it as it is: the person we will steal from. You’re right. What kind of information do you think we need?”

I was so glad I had given this some thought, and I rattled down my list.

A miracle happened, he kinda, sorta smiled. “This is surprising.”

Surprising. The little word killed my happy mood with the greatest of ease. Legate Gideon became the asshole again. He really thought I was some brainless dimwit.

After that, he introduced me to Bobby and Silvia, the clan’s, as he called them, information gatherers. If one needed information about something or someone, they were the people to go to. They hacked social media accounts, you wouldn’t believe what people post there by the way, including pictures of their house, the alarm system, their dog, their safe, and whatnot. Then they went on to other useful data, alarm system codes and workplaces, and so on.

To demonstrate their skill, Gideon asked them for information about a person named Sina Beyer.

After introducing me to the clan’s hackers, he finally showed me how to deactivate some of the spells in the trap room. He elegantly danced between the spells using a crystal to eliminate some of them.

Finally, he gave me a fresh crystal I had to place into a pink beam. The crystal absorbed the spell and became pink too.

“These crystals can absorb a spell’s power and store it.”

“Duh?”

For three days I had to deactivate all matters of spells, preferably without triggering them. It was a painful experience. I knew I’d never be as graceful as him. I felt like a goat in a swamp.

For the next three days, we went to a room at the training facilities that was filled with different lock boxes and safes. At first, I had to use my senses to find out which of the lock boxes could be lifted without triggering an alarm, while he sat cross-legged on a table, leaning back on his hands watching me, only to chuckle whenever a shrill alarm sounded.

One time I looked up only briefly, and he kind of presented his well-muscled pecs to me which caused his shirt to tighten. Wait, does he wear some kind of body jewelry? Promptly, I Iost my concentration and was painfully zapped by a current. Fucker even snorted, amused.

Then, at another time, he showed me patiently how to pick locks when I had become impatient and was about to hurl my tools against the wall--speaking of hot and cold treatment. Sometimes I felt like having mental Kneipp therapy.

Toward the end of that session, his phone dinged weirdly. After swiping the screen, he said, “Meet me in the garage around nine. We’re going to test your new abilities. Make sure to wear dark clothes.”

“Not my new bright pink boy shorts? Damn.”

On the dot of nine, I entered the garage dutifully wearing dark pants, a thin black turtleneck sweater I’d borrowed from Rylan, and my trusted black Saguaros.

Gideon leaned against a sleek anthracite-colored car, his bright white-blond hair hidden by a dark hoodie and a knitted cap. He’d have looked like a thug if he hadn’t been wearing some slim-fit wool pants and a pair of pricy sneakers. “Get in.”

“Where are we going?”

He aimed a remote at the rolling gate. “We’re going to visit Mrs. Beyer.”

“Visit, huh? Not steal from her?”

He glared at me. “This human believes vampires are real. She even claims she already killed one and regularly presents his ash to her followers.”

“Is she an admirer or does she hate us?”

“As strange as it might sound, both. On one hand, she describes how exciting a vampire’s bite is. On the other hand, she posted a recipe for a potion that reputedly renders vampires immobile, and she promised her followers a video of a vampire being killed by sunlight.”

“Could this potion work?”

Gideon clenched his jaw. “Sebastian said a very young and weak vampire could be affected by it.”

“So, we’re going to teach her a lesson?”

He looked at me his eyes cold and flat. “Exactly: Not to trifle with vampires. Then we make her forget the recipes she unearthed in that old library.”

After ten minutes, he parked the car under some trees in a residential area. “We’ll walk the rest of the way.” We stopped at a very nice apartment house. “Our target lives on the third floor.”

“Okay.”

After all the training, it was almost too easy to scale the wall until we reached a partially-open window. Gideon spoke in a low voice that only I could hear. “The open window is meant as a trap.”

“Well—it worked.”

We slipped into the living room of her apartment. A cozy two-seater and an overstuffed chair were arranged around a small table. On its top sat a glass bowl filled with a powdery substance. Beside it was a silver cross and another bowl filled with water. Over the couch hung an interesting picture. A naked man had his knee jammed into another man’s back, bending him backward while he bit into his neck.

“This is a replica of a painting called Dante and Virgil by William Bouguereau,” whispered Gideon.

“Who’s Dante and who’s Virgil?”

“The two men in the background watching two damned souls condemned to the punishments of Hell for life. Didn’t you read The Divine Comedy in school?” Then he scoffed at the arrangement on the table. “A consecrated cross made from pure silver and holy water.”

“Is that meant to be a part of her trap?”

“Probably.”

“What’s in the other bowl?”

Gideon bent forward and inhaled deeply, his nostrils immediately flaring. With red flashing eyes he growled lowly. “It hasn’t been a lie after all. This was once a very young female vampire.”

I swallowed. “Does teaching her a lesson mean we’re going to kill her?”

“No, what sense would teaching her a lesson make when she’s going to die anyway? Caspian wants us to terrify her, so she’s too scared to even think about vampires.”

“Maybe her next fetish will be werewolves.”

“That wouldn’t be our problem.”

When we entered the bedroom, I sniffed. The woman sleeping in the large bed was entirely human. For good measure, I lifted the shard and scanned the room anyway. Still no magic. The blonde wore a white vintage see-through nightgown. Then I noticed the painting of a woman sleeping in her bed while another woman in a dark cloak reached for her hanging over the headboard.

Gideon gave the museum guide again. “It’s a book illustration called Carmilla, from 1872. Carmilla is also the title of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s gothic novel from 1872. She fell in love with her victim, Laura.”

“Or her dinner.” Suddenly a disgusting smell hit my nose. “Yuck, do you smell this?”

Gideon pointed at some silver bells, a rope, and a container mounted to the bed’s canopy. They were arranged in a way so that one had to touch them when they bent over the woman. If silver would hurt and weaken a vampire, they would at least cry out and wake the so-called vampire hunter. She then would pull the rope and her poison would douse the unlucky vampire, in theory. In reality, it was a ridiculous contraption that would never work.

“Time for dinner.” Gideon swiftly avoided the bells and grabbed the woman by her arms.

Her eyes sprung open, then widened even more when she realized what was happening. She opened her mouth to scream. Having anticipated her reaction, Gideon quickly pressed his hand over her lips. There he was, illuminated by moonlight and grinned fangily at her. “You wanted to meet a vampire, madame?”

Then he bent down and struck. The way she was twisting and fighting against his grip, he wasn’t giving her a pleasant, but rather a gruesome experience. After a while, he held out her wrist. “Dinner is ready, my beloved.”

Beloved? Ah, we were role-playing.

“AB negative, it’s very rare. I wish we had a decent wine with it.”

“Let me see if I can remedy this oversight of yours, my dearest.” I went back to Sina’s kitchen. From one of the cupboards, I took two crystal glasses. In a small wine rack beside it, I found, after some rummaging, a decent bottle of red. Not the quality Gideon probably was accustomed to, but I deemed it okay. On my way out, my gaze fell on a dish towel, grinning, I snatched that too.

Back in the bedroom I presented the bottle to Gideon. “Not what you’re accustomed to, but is this okay?”

He easily controlled Sina with his upper body and one hand, then took the bottle with the other. “I’d prefer a Pétrus with this blood group, but alas, it can’t be helped. Can you forgive me, my love?”

I bent down and pecked him on the cheek. “Of course, my dearest.” Then I polished the glasses with the dish towel and put them on the nightstand. All the while Sina was watching us with growing terror in her eyes. I laid the towel over my forearm, took the bottle, and opened it. With great flourish, I poured some of the wine into the glasses and passed one to Gideon.

He turned her wrist to me. “Can you think of another nightmare while you feed?”

I could. Lifting my glass I said, “À votre santé!” It was the only French I knew, but as we were making a production— then I bit into her wrist and gave her the panic I felt when Konstantin grabbed me.

She reared up and Gideon took another sip of the wine before drinking more of her blood. Suddenly his eyes flashed red, and he growled menacingly.

When Sina fell unconscious, I feared he’d killed her, against Caspian’s order, and touched his shoulder. “Gid-stop.” Reluctantly, he let go of her, then spat a glob of blood on the Carmilla illustration.

On our way to the car, he told me that he’d read her thoughts. She didn’t catch the young vampire, Cairo, herself but bought her from a Lykan.

“A Lykan?”

“Lycans are wolf shifters, but whereas shifters-of-silver are blessed by the moon goddess and can only shift at full moon, Lykans can shift at will. They are a cruel and vicious species. By now they are almost extinct.” He smiled cruelly.

“Did Sina kill Cairo?”

“She exposed her to sunlight.” Fury emanated from him like heat from hot red embers, and I talked as little as I could to him on the way back to the Tower’s underground garage. I couldn’t believe I saw even a hint of playfulness minutes ago.

When we got out of the car in the tower’s underground parking lot, his face was a cold mask. Two guards came running to us immediately after they saw his car. ”We found a pit!”

“Is it him?”

“It’s possible.”

I had stopped in front of the elevator doors to hear what this was about, but when he glared at me, I lifted my hands placatingly and took the stairway. At least I pretended to take the stairs. After stomping up a few steps, I crept back and melded with the shadow.

“Call the men together. We meet as soon as the sun sets.”

Thank you for reading chapter eleven!
Any reaction, comment and or recommendation is appreciated.