The Gates of Troy (Lopez Time Book 3) Read online

  He started to move away but was stopped as he neared the door. Just by a voice, that sounded like it was right behind him. Slightly to the right.

  “Be careful, Troy. I don’t know why but it seems that a lot is riding on your shoulders, in this. Suddenly. I’m here, if you need my aid.”

  “Thanks. If I fail though… Well, then run. Get with Zack and tell him that I asked for all my people to be taken someplace safe. He’ll do it. Demon or not. You might have to make the others go with you. Do it. Please.” Troy didn't doubt that. Just like he didn't doubt that Zack would be smart enough to get out of Dodge as well.

  Unlike him.

  He left then, walking like a normal person, instead of rushing around. He could go home and needed to soon. If only to get fresh clothing. Then…

  Well, he didn’t know.

  A lot of life was like that though. For a long time, Troy had more or less been keeping busy. Not always due to what other people had been requiring of him. It had been about hiding from the fact that he was kind of messing up in life. Sure, there had been some wins but also a lot of small losses.

  Clem, the high school kid had died at the hands of The Children of Baphomet. Sacrificed because there had been a magical link between Troy and the boy. It had been an attempt to weaken him, using someone that he cared for against him, as a distraction and weapon at the same time. That hadn’t worked, because the truth was that Troy hadn’t cared about him at all.

  That fact should have left him feeling bad about himself but it just didn’t. Part of that was the magic that he’d been using for the last week or two. Dampening his natural emotional inclinations. The rage and anger of his people was being held in check perfectly, as was the territorial sense of ownership over anything he was willing to fight for.

  Thankfully, he was logical enough to understand that he needed to kill them all. All of the mages that had freed the ancient gods from their cage. For one thing, they could do it again, if they knew it was an option. Hiding that idea from the world was probably why the supernatural had been removed from the minds of humans in the first place. It was hard to remember but on a deep level, the rest of the peoples of the world were more than a bit afraid of humans. They tended to joke about them, since they weren’t independently that powerful all the time.

  When you could soak, or even outright dodge, bullets or arrows, what a man could do to you wasn’t that frightening. The thing was, humans were adaptive and able to come up with new things on a level that almost no one else could pull off. They just seemed so weak most of the time.

  It was hard to credit them with being that big of a threat.

  Now the veil, their protection against the humans, had dropped.

  As he walked down the road, near his house in town there, Troy muttered to himself.

  “I guess we’ll see what is what now, won’t we?” There was no one to hear him. No vampires stood across the street in the park, listening to him. The people in the cars that passed didn’t have any reason to think he was more than any man in a nice suit. A few glanced at him, and some of the women smiled, since he wasn’t the worst looking man in the world.

  None of it was that important. After all, there was no real reason to think that the other released gods of old would come to him one at a time, or fall for the same tricks that had worked on the others. He needed some way to get those numbers down. Which… As odd as it sounded, he had an answer for. At least possibly.

  Television ads.

  It would cost a lot of money but he had that, at least in theory. After he gave Vince that cool million for doing something kind of incredible, that left him with about fifty or sixty million that he could just spend, at need. The trick there was that he didn’t know how to do that kind of thing at all. He could do up a good campaign, he thought. He’d watched television his entire life, after all. The data of what had worked to get the message out on different topics was right there, in his own head.

  It took about an hour for him to come up with a basic plan. The trick was in being open with people, oddly enough. Doing that without scaring the masses, at the same time. That one wouldn’t totally work. Some would be upset just to know that things might be changing at all. To which Troy had no real answer. That people would bitch and moan about him fixing things was just the case. It always would be as well. They’d get scared and instead of standing up, or even running, they’d cower and demand someone else repair the world, because they were frightened about the way he was doing just that.

  It was getting late enough that traffic was thinning. Without making a big deal of it, Troy stepped off to the side of the road, near the old roller rink. It was filled with smaller shops now, since the world was always changing.

  Opening a bridge, doing the work carefully, he moved to the front yard of his home in Lincoln. The big place that he’d gotten from Zack, who’d stolen or won it from The Mistress of Souls.

  Who had been an agent for several different bands, over the years that he’d known her. More to the point, once it occurred to him, The Technician had managed actors and actresses… Some of whom he knew. People in the entertainment industry, that would have connections to the types of people that would be more than happy enough to put a commercial together and get air time for it, as long as the cash was there for it.

  “I’m still showering first.”

  It sounded bland, rather than mock grumpy. That had been what he was going for, so it was a bit of a fail. Instead of beating himself up at the moment, he stripped in the living room, then carried his clothing to his bedroom, half expecting someone to be there, waiting for him.

  No one was, of course.

  After half an hour of scrubbing, the hot water not running out at all he felt like it was time to be done. It was like magic, though it was really just hot water on demand. Not that it didn’t sort of count. He could feel it as warmish, which meant it was really hot. Enough to burn some people, at a guess. It would probably leave him warmer than normal for a few hours. Soaking in the tub worked better for that, but he didn’t have one at his new place. Not yet.

  When he got out, he dressed carefully, in new clothing that was nice but not as dressy as what he’d been in for the last day. Then Troy started making calls, even if it was late.

  His first communication wasn’t with Avery, even if she was an actress. She was new to that kind of work and while she could get the job done, without a doubt, it would probably be hard for her. Stressful for her, as she tried to make him see how valuable she could be. That or she’d ask her buddy Krista Hall to help her hook things up.

  Which meant that going there first, to Krista, simply made sense.

  The woman herself answered the phone, sounding ready to harm him.

  “What? This better be an emergency, or I will find you, and I will do things to you that you will not like.” The tone was enough to strip paint off of walls at fifty paces.

  “I woke you up? Sorry about that. I need to get my groove on though, so you’re good for a booty call, right? Everyone just calls up famous actresses for that kind of thing, don’t they?” It sounded both correct and felt a little off. It was only about midnight, so he wasn’t going to feel too bad about doing it.

  “Sorry? I mean… Who is this? That’s going to make a huge difference in how hard I send the police after you.”

  “Troy Lopez. If it makes you feel better, it is sort of an emergency. I need to get a commercial out. To pass some information to the minds of humanity, so that the gods that escaped from their magical cage can pick up what they need to know. Otherwise the world will probably end. At least for you and me. All your friends. Maybe not Avery. The regular people will end up dead or enslaved most likely. Can I get some help on that?”

  There was a tired sound then. A groan.

  “Gods? I need coffee if I’m adulting at this time of day. Can you come here? I’m at my hotel. You know where that is, right? Room three-seventeen. Give me… How long will it take you to get here?” She
sounded slightly hopeful, as if going back to sleep was an option.

  “Two minutes? Ten if you want me to get coffee for this first.”

  “Great. Do that? See you then.”

  He needed a Starbucks that was open, which meant going to three different locations. In the end, he had to find one in a twenty-four-hour location, which was actually in Florida, at a node location. He didn't know what kind of beverage the actress would like, so got four different drinks. If he were going to be keeping her up all night, then it made sense to make her, if not happy, at least focused on the idea that he was one of the good guys. The kind that brought the wake-up juice.

  Instead of knocking, since it was late at the hotel, he moved directly to the space where Krista was. It was a direct bridge but used the same basic trick as finding her from the void. It took more concentration since there were distractions in the outer world but made sense, once he tried it. Technically it wasn’t a new ability at all, just a thing that he’d thought of but hadn’t tried yet.

  The actress was facing the hole in space, so saw him coming. She had clothing on, though that was comfortable, rather than sexy. Loose sweat pants and a heavy shirt with long sleeves. Not that he expected real women to dress in lingerie if they weren’t entertaining at the time. Luckily, that wasn’t the case. At least Troy would have felt bad if he’d cock-blocked someone that could score with Krista Hall.

  Though it would be worse if he did it to someone that normally couldn’t get that job done. Stealing their one chance at it. She was alone, so he wasn’t the worst wingman in history at least.

  The woman didn’t have makeup on, and seemed a lot more average than she normally did, due to that. He didn't care about her looks though. There had been a time, not that many years before, when he would have felt disappointed, seeing things like that happening. Now, she just nodded at him, then moved in and gave him half of a hug, stopped on one side by the drink carrier that had four options on it. She smiled at him. It seemed to be real and warm, as if she actually meant it.

  “Hmm. That smells good. Give me the one that has the fewest calories? I don’t suppose that part crossed your mind at all?”

  “Ha. You’d think that I’d be oblivious to that, not eating anymore but no, I totally nailed that one. These are all low fat, and made of cancer causing chemicals for sweetening. We can fix that, cancer, so drink away. Thanks for seeing me. Good to know that my booty call getting skills haven’t faded too much. I finally got my sex drive back, and then blammo, crisis after emergency with a dash of chaos tossed into the mixture for added flavor.” A caramel cream latte was passed over, since that smelled the best to him.

  The green and brown cup was carefully handed over, their fingers touching as the move happened. It got a tired smile.

  “Well, I’m not doing Avery’s future husband, so sorry there. I like being alive, you know? Not that she’s ever anything other than sweet but she has mad skills when it comes to fighting. Now, I was thinking as I stumbled around putting on my old sweats so I wouldn’t answer the door in the nude…”

  He waited. She was the pro, after all. When you had someone that knew what to do, and you didn’t, the smart money listened. Most people weren’t that bright, but Troy decided to break the mold and actually pay attention after asking for help in the middle of the night.

  Krista sipped her warm beverage, then closed her eyes.

  “Ah. This is actually good. Anyway, you don’t need a commercial, you need press coverage. The twenty-four-seven stations. Normally that’s a bit of a chore for people like me to get on. It can be done, by pretending that anyone actually cares about the latest made up controversy that vaguely relates to the show I’m doing at the moment. This situation sounds pretty real, which changes things a lot. Like, a real news item? We can put together a press release on it and pass the word that way. It’s cheaper but will also get you better coverage. Worldwide. That’s what you need, right? To warn people about this… Um, escape from prison?”

  That was remarkably close to being correct. That he’d missed the fact that he was holding on to a news story probably meant his brain wasn’t working as well as he’d thought. It was so obvious, once it was mentioned to him that he had to shake his head a bit.

  “Great plan. How do we do that? I’ve never even touched a press release.”

  She got a large yellow legal pad and a black ball point out, and sat on her bed. It was a nice enough room but not what he would have expected from someone as rich and famous as she was. There was a door to a sitting room left open. Which meant that he’d appeared in her bedroom. Like some kind of bridge making supernatural creeper.

  Cool.

  “Go over it all? We’ll get the info down, then sharpen it up for the press. What do you need people to know?”

  “Ah. There was an ancient cage that held gods from about two thousand to two thousand five hundred years ago. It’s called the Cage of Ages. They aren’t all innately violent but they will try to get people to worship them and in doing so take away their free will. We have ways of stopping them but the veil that used to protect humans from knowing about these things directly has broken down. Probably because it was part of the cage. We know who did it but that isn’t a danger to anyone right now.” Troy didn’t want The Children of Baphomet to realize that they should run and hide yet. Not that he wasn’t going to be dealing with their god first, if he could at all.

  She needed a few minutes to write it all down, and there was some doubling back.

  Finally, she nodded.

  “Got it. Go on.”

  “We have something for the gods. An offer, if you will. If they want, we can find them a world to live in that will be nearly perfect for them as an individual. A place way better than staying here, for most of them. Free of charge. The line walkers are covering that part. Genesh already picked an ideal world where he can be of greatest use. This is open to anyone that was in the cage that wants to take it. They just need to find me, or Westfield Mall and go to the node location. It might take a few hours to get to them. First come, first serve. This isn’t that dangerous of a situation. No one should be scared, exactly.” He stopped then and settled in a chair finally. He’d been pacing back and forth while he spoke. Not constantly but enough that it was probably annoying.

  “That last bit is a lie. I’m a dirty, dirty liar. It’s probably dangerous enough that people should be scared out of their minds, and hide in their homes. It just won’t help them to do that. Not right now. Is that good enough? I have a bit more, I just don’t want to mention it yet… Except… if I don’t and the other gods know, or work it out, that might seem like we’re trying to trap them again. We aren’t. Not yet.”

  She looked at him, her brown hair had been pulled back but into a lopsided ponytail. It lacked in balance. He was fine with that part. To her it was after bedtime.

  “Go on. We can hold it back if we need. Let me have it.”

  Troy covered the thing with Ares. Also, the thing with Loki, which he was counting as a win, if not a real one and what Baphomet had done in their first meeting. He didn't look that good, from his perspective. Krista just worked on the text they needed.

  Then, when she had something that was good enough, she got his contact information.

  “People will want to talk to someone about this. The more open you are, and available, the more they’ll run with the story.”

  Then, she called her press secretary. If Krista had seemed a bit disgruntled to be woken up at midnight, more or less, the woman on the phone, Janet, acted cool and professional. Even though she’d been woken up as well.

  She sounded ready to work, even at three in the morning.

  “This is big. It’s real? We have this vampire in on it? Lopez? I’ve never heard of him… Can we get a bigger name in on this? One of their council, or Eve Bennet? You worked with her before, right? We did a release on that four years ago or so.”

  Krista laughed, softly.

  “Yes, it’s r
eal. Eve Benson. I don’t know if we can get her or someone from the council on this. That would be a bit like getting the president in on something, I think.” She glanced at Troy, who already had his own phone out. Unlike Krista, the council was awake and actually in session. It was nighttime, so even for them, it was the best time of the day.

  Bey was there, as was Harland the Manthori, Marissa and councilor Memes. It was enough to make a statement, they decided.

  “What is needed, young Troy? We have agreed to back you to the best of our personal abilities. I’d rather not take the mass of our kind into battle with gods but you have my hand, if it is needed?” Bey sounded relaxed about the idea. As if fighting gods was just part of his job.

  It was also clear, from the wording, that not all of the council was as willing to do that kind of thing. That was smart of them, no doubt.

  “Mine as well, if it becomes required.” The eerie voice was loud enough for Krista to hear, which had to be done on purpose. Coming from Memes, that meant she was aware of the situation in the room with Troy much more firmly than she seemed to be. It still sounded dreamy and soft. Almost airy or ethereal.

  He thought for a minute, no one asking him anything more. Giving a being time to think, without being impatient was just a thing that the older vampires were good at. All of them, from what he’d seen.

  “We need a statement, basically saying this is really happening. Then if one of you could be available to go on television and hit the talking points? We’ll give you all the information on it… Maybe Marissa and Harland? That would work. Marissa will be popular, given her nature. Eve got you back in from your audit? That sounds rude, the thing about making a point of what you are but people will like it well enough, I think. The hermaphrodite part of things? Harland just looks cool.”

  It was more or less true. He was a bit intimidating but if a seven foot plus tall bone white man with red eyes and hundreds of fang teeth said that they had things in hand an under control, Troy would have bought it. His only worry was that the other members of the council would be offended at being excluded. That wasn’t an issue though.