The Gates of Troy (Lopez Time Book 3) Page 8

  For one thing, if you didn’t make it, you were going to end up dead in your car. That kind of thing got noticed. Traditionally, it would have ended your life in the area, since when you woke up, you’d have been declared dead and would have to go on the run. At least to the point of getting a new identity.

  Now, of course, a person just could pull over and have a note on their dash, explaining things. How that would end, he didn’t know but at least it might prevent an autopsy from being performed. Those had to be hard to heal up from.

  Harriet, walking up slowly, her hands out in the open, even if she was still armed, concealing a firearm in the small of her back, clearly made a point of not spooking anyone. She was decently reasonable and smart that way. Not powerful physically. The vamp hadn’t shown any great psychic power, either. Still, she was the one in charge there. Probably because she wasn’t a goon that insisted everyone fight constantly to prove themselves. It would, in the end, probably end in her death, unless her people backed her at an ultra-high level.

  At the moment though, her clever and calm ways were brilliant.

  “If it would be all right to send my employees home now? This… It wasn’t a good thing. These fools… attacked a council representative. Officer Lopez here. We’ll be lucky if we aren’t all put to death for it.”

  That got waved away, with a fake smile. Troy knew the answer to that one.

  “Don’t worry. The council isn’t going to hold you and yours responsible for what others did. They seemed to have been influenced from the outside as well. That any of the escaped gods would have had the time to target me at all... I can’t say that I get that part. They only got out within the last week or two.” They didn’t have an exact date. It could have been further back in time than that, even.

  Alison the demon girl rolled her eyes like a bratty teen.

  “They’re gods, Troy. That used to actually mean something. That at least one of them worked out that you were a real threat to their freedom simply makes sense. This was set up in advance, so they probably knew it was going to be happening, while in their cage. Of course, that might not be needed. We can’t know what skills this particular being had. I can’t even tell you for certain which one did it. My guess? Well… It’s different, but… Loki, comes to mind.”

  The name was familiar to Troy. After all, he’d watched the Avengers movies. He’d even liked them.

  “Really? I would have figured that he’d be one of Riley’s people. A Trickster.”

  That got a slow nod.

  “He is, Troy. The gods of old… They weren’t a race of people or beings. Each of them rose to power on their own. It was more of a designation for what they did, rather than what they really were, or are. Some of them were greater demons, some mages… A few started life as human. Most of them, in fact. Then they changed themselves and started to garner followers. Each with their own ideas about how things should be done.”

  That was different than he would have thought. Really, he’d been thinking of them as super aliens of some sort. That they’d started out like anyone else might have… Actually, made him feel slightly better. Like he might have a chance to survive, if he didn't get lazy or too stupid.

  “Nifty. So, this Loki got out of the box and started gunning for me, personally? That was quick work. It does kind of explain the feeling that I got. That this was a test, instead of a real attack.”

  The Technician smiled at him then. It was a sweet thing that promised at least a handjob at the end of the night, as long as he paid for dinner. Which was incredibly inappropriate, given the scene they were standing in at the moment.

  “Not at all, Troy. I’ve run into Loki… Oh… Ten times in the last five hundred years? Possibly more than that. I… Well, Riley spoke to me of him, several years ago. There are things going on here, but it’s fair for you to know that Loki wasn’t in the Cage of Ages. Most gods selected to change, a long time ago. To hide themselves, or to become something different. That was before I was born, of course. I’m a young and delicate flower. Unlike some people. Loki must be… Oh, close to ten thousand years old? Maybe more than that.”

  He rolled his eyes then.

  “Wait, so this prick is bugging me right now because… Why? What did I ever do to him? Does he want to take over the rainbow bridge or rule the ice giants or something?” That wasn’t real, he didn’t think.

  Alison shook her head.

  “Be polite, Troy. He was once a god, in truth. Calling him names isn’t a great plan. Plus, he isn’t a bad being, from what I’ve seen. A bit like Riley that way, to be honest. Powerful in a way that isn’t easily seen by most. If he’s meddling here, then there will be a real reason for it. The rest of us just need to go with it and try to survive. You should know that.” The look she gave him then was significant.

  As in, there was clearly a hidden message in it for him. Not that he understood what she was going for.

  “Right. Well… I’ll try to be polite, if we ever meet in person. Hopefully without me being killed. This… This was really similar to what the Kami tried to do to me… Is that related, do you think?”

  That got Alison to look surprised, then she held one of the knives again, closing her eyes. After a while, she tilted her head.

  “Honestly? Yes and no at the same time. The mechanism is different as well as the energy and power used. At a guess… Loki used those events as the template for this, probably to push you into making a mistake. That or given his nature, to cause you to grow in some way that will be needed. Tricksters are all about the lesson and doing what’s needed.”

  That made no sense to him at all. Except that it did, on some level. He’d met Riley after all, and that trickster had meddled in his life. The man had also kept mentioning that they had planned things out. Or… It had actually been we.

  After the blades were put away, Alison walked over to him and gave him a hug.

  “Be careful, Troy. My guess is that this was all about getting you ready for the others, not a real attack. I don’t know everything about what’s going on. Call me, if you need help? I’m willing to talk about rates. By the way… Great bargaining on your part, earlier. You stood there dying and still talked me down by hundreds of times. I’m proud of you.” There was a pat on his arm then. Alison turned and walked away, not just moving into a rip in space in front of the cops that were still there.

  Troy was treated to several wonderful things over the next six hours. Special treats that only a crime victim really gets to experience. He had to go over the whole story, twenty times, and explain how it was related to The Children of Baphomet, even if only tangentially. Over and again. It took a while. At the same time several of the officers kept offering him coffee, water and in one case to make a blood run for him.

  It wasn’t needed, but the men and women there meant well.

  At noon, after leaving him sitting in the interrogation room for over an hour and a half, Chief Benson came in.

  “Officer Lopez. You’re on leave of absence as of now. This is the second incident in the last few weeks, so we have to take you off duty for a while. Not that I can see how this one would be prosecuted at all. No one is going to try to press charges, from what I understand. After all, you were attacked by five armed supernatural beings. If they’d gone for anyone else, we’d be mourning their death right now.”

  It was annoying but using a bit of magic, Troy was able to tamp things down a good bit, emotionally. He didn’t love being told what to do, or that he wasn’t allowed to run his area as he saw fit. That didn't mean Chief Benson was in the wrong. By human law, Troy was a liability now. Six killings in two weeks would be impossible for the press to overlook.

  Smoothing his hair back with his right hand, the man made a tight face, as if expecting a fight to happen over the silly rules. There was no point to doing that though. Troy could argue the whole thing but the truth was, if you killed that many people in the line of duty, you were probably going to be out of a job in pretty sh
ort order. Doing it outside of the line was even worse. Avoiding prison was an actual thing to think about now. Not that the humans, or anyone, could really hold him, if they decided to go that route.

  Not that they would. After all, Benson was right. To the courts, the police and even the press, Troy had been attacked by five violent beings that none of them would have lived through, if they’d been the targets. It was why he was there in the first place. To handle that kind of thing, if it took place in the area. People would understand that part. The issue was that the police couldn’t be seen as getting away with murder.

  They did, all the time, but people were starting to notice that kind of thing. It went double, or more for the vampires. As the first vamp police officer, Troy Lopez was going to be scrutinized more harshly than anyone on the force would have been in the same circumstance.

  He nodded and sighed. That last bit was faked up but he didn't bother acting mentally distraught for the man. It would be wasted effort after all. The guy was up on the limited range of emotions he was capable of. His daughter was a vampire after all.

  “I understand. It’s a less than perfect way to end my police career, you know that? Still, you have Santos now. She’s good. We can try to keep Tran in place while Maria finds her feet. I don’t have another vampire for you right now. Day walking vamps that are willing to do this kind of work are rare. Mainly because it’s sort of boring. What I can do it hook you up with the local Vampire leader. Harriet. Sweet lady, for one of us. That way, if you have problems with her people, she can get someone out to handle it. I…” He shrugged then. “I’ll have the briefing ready in a few days? Half of it is done already. Even if I’m not working here any longer, the information can’t hurt.”

  It would be tricky, setting that part up.

  Worse he was suddenly going to be without a third of what he’d been doing each day. Thankfully there was other stuff to get done. The picnic… Well, that was set up enough that one of the others could take over. Really, thinking about it for a minute he nodded.

  “We can get Avery Rome and Krista Hall to run the community get together for us. I’ll get you the numbers for that?” Asking them could be done by him, naturally.

  It was against the rules though, given it was an official job.

  “Great. This is screwed up. It’s also pretty much what has to happen, Troy. We normally have three officer involved shootings every ten years or so. This is double that, inside two weeks. Worse, you didn’t use a gun at all. The cops beating people to death, or cutting their heads off…” The man let his face go hard then.

  Troy laughed. Gently. It was real enough though.

  “That does sound bad, doesn’t it? Okay… I guess I resign then? Let me get that taken care of? I promise I won’t steal too many office supplies on the way out. I’m still on call for you. All of you, if you need me. You’re my people, even if this gets in the way on paper.” He tucked a hand out, standing up. Then they shook hands, his cold dead flesh in the warm living hand of the other man.

  “I know that. We all do. I can pass the word on that one though? I know that a lot of the men and women here will feel better knowing that you have their back still.”

  “Sure. So… Am I free to go now? I’ll be in and out of town but you can call me on my cell and I can be back inside a few minutes, if it’s an emergency. I know, that isn’t exactly not leaving town but I have some things to get done still. I mean, a god just tried to kill me. I might have to travel a bit for that one.”

  Chief Benson patted him on the arm.

  “That should be fine. I can pick up your gear with Detective Tran?”

  “Right. Let me do that.”

  The other man walked him out of the room but left him in the hallway. Alone. After all, he wasn’t under arrest, or even fired. He just didn't work there anymore. Mainly to protect the police from part of the fallout of his murderous ways. Not that he blamed them, really.

  No, he was using magic to make certain he was fine with the whole thing. It worked pretty well, he had to admit. Even if it wasn’t him getting the full job done that he’d signed up for. Zack might not be pleased with him but he wasn’t going to brainwash the Chief over the man doing what was needed.

  That would be far too douchtastic for him to let happen. Besides, it honestly didn’t feel right. Like doing that would mess things up. It would destabilize a situation that was, as far as he could tell, going well.

  Troy could do that, or even hit everyone needed to make the problem go away was probably true enough. All he had to do was strip their will away from them. Except that wasn’t true in one case. Roy Benson was a slave to The Technician. In order to warp his brain Troy would have to negotiate with her over the whole thing. That probably wasn’t a big problem, even if it would cost him.

  In cash, given that was how greater demons rolled.

  From the sense of the big picture he was getting, Troy had to figure that the real issue would have been larger than that. Messing up Roy’s world view, at least to keep him in place as an officer there, would end up making the world not work. How that was going to happen, he didn’t know. It would though. That just… Sang into his mind.

  Heading into the Supernatural Division office, Troy worked out what was going to be needed. He had a locker to clear out but it didn’t have a lot in it. Actually, there was nothing that he couldn’t just leave. There were no boxes around that he could use to carry things but he wouldn’t need his car. He could just open a bridge into his living room and handle the transfer of things that way. Most of his old gear was at home, anyway. The badge needed to stay but the gun he had was his, not issued to him.

  There was some paperwork to do first. That could be done on the computer, if they hadn’t cut him out of the system yet.

  Santos and Tran were both there, looking exhausted. That Ann didn’t need to do that was true but she was selling the role of being a human woman really well still. It was the kind of thing that he needed to work on himself, he knew. The best vampires could seem totally human, in a pinch.

  “Hey all! I was put on leave, and then resigned. It wasn’t a bitterness thing or me throwing a fit. They pretty much would have to fire me eventually anyway. This will save on time that way. Cops really can’t just get away with killing people whenever they want… Who knew, right?”

  He tried to seem bright and cheery about it, even as Santos gave him a look that spoke of something near fear. She winced, going large with the thing.

  “So, the unit is shut down? We don’t have much of a point here, without you. I just got this job, too.” It sounded selfish of her to say it that way, which went right past her, as far as Troy could tell.

  “Not that I know of? I’m still on freelance vampire duty for you here, I just don’t get paid for it. Really, you kind of get a promotion, I bet. Not much of one but you know, you get to take over all the sexy duties that I was doing. Like liaising with the party planning team. Is that a word? Liaising? Anyway… I need to file a few things and hand my badge over to Detective Tran…” He turned to her then and shrugged. “You can hang out here for a while? Get Santos up to speed at least? Maybe… Get some other people in here?”

  Ann, The Rotted, had pretended to be a police detective in order to manipulate and mess with him. She might not stay, he realized.

  “How much are you willing to pay for those services and what do you want for Maria?”

  Thinking about it, he tilted his head.

  “Three million? I’d like her to get up to speed on what’s needed for the job. That means the whole package though. Maybe some way to defend herself from things that can’t be handled with a side arm?”

  Sneering at him, Tran narrowed her eyes.

  “Lame. She’s practically your girlfriend and you want to leave her that unprotected? Shame on you, Troy. Is that any way to treat the love of your life?”

  Maria scowled but understood that Troy was being teased. That was clear on her face. He winked at her as well
.

  “Teased and manipulated. We aren’t that close but vampires are territorial. She’s trying to trigger me into doing more for you, so that she can charge me more. Except that I can get you hooked up with powers myself, if you want. I know a guy that can do that. I might even manage it myself.”

  The small Vietnamese looking demon walked across the room and took his hand. It was out of place but he noticed the trickle this time. He could feel his information being handed, carefully, to her. She froze for a bit, then snorted, loudly.

  “I guess you can, at that. Fine, I want you to get trained up on that. Get Maria hooked up that way, and her wife as well? Jainy…” She didn’t say anything, her face a bit wicked seeming.

  Troy shook his head.

  “We can light a fire under her butt? Mages have more than enough power, if they bother to use it. Plus, she isn’t a cop. So, three million?”

  That got a head shake.

  “Ten million. Per month. A minimum of six months for the project. For that I’ll turn this into the premier supernatural police division in the world.”

  “Oh? So, better than the three that already exist but are totally clueless and don’t have the resources that we do here for that kind of thing at all?”

  Making a face at him, Tran slowly nodded.

  “That really is about what I meant.”

  “A million per month but you have to work up a training program for this kind of thing. I have a briefing coming, that I can hand off to you but that isn’t the same thing. We need something that Santos here can take nationally.”

  Denise Tran, who had never been a real human being rolled her eyes at him.

  “A million per month but you design the course. I’ll go over it with you and fill in all of your obvious mistakes?”

  They shook on that, with Maria sighing in the background.

  “Dang. Is that in points or something? A million per month…”