Free Night and Day (Book 2): Bleeding Sky by Ken White Page A

the mobile home?”
    She
didn’t speak for nearly a minute. I was getting ready to ask the question
again when she said, “It’s required because of the special needs of one
member of his staff. The Governor General’s Office suggested this solution
and Ambassador Heymann agreed.”
    “I’m
really not following you, Takeda. Did you answer my question?”
    “The
ambassador is traveling with an Ancestor.”
    “An
ancestor,” I said. “What does that mean? He's got his great-grandmother with
him or something?”
    “An
Ancestor,” she said again. She was silent for a moment, then continued, “A
vampire, Mr. Welles. A European vampire.”
    “There
are vampires in Europe?”
    “As
I understand it, there are vampires all over the world,” she said, her voice
low. “They are few in number, a handful in most countries. Perhaps three or
four thousand, total, worldwide, excluding the United States.”
    “How
did we get lucky enough to have millions?”
    Takeda
didn’t speak. I noticed that her hands were holding the steering wheel in a
death grip and her jaw was clenched. She’d seemed uncomfortable about the
rogue vampire elements in their hierarchy. Now she was just
tense.
    “Please
don’t take offense, Miss Takeda, but you seem to be experiencing some
anxiety.”
    She
didn’t reply.
    “Is
there something special about this vampire, something that bothers
you?”
    “She
is an Ancestor,” she said through gritted teeth. “She is a vampire, but she
is not of my blood.”
    “So
it’s a woman,” I said. “Is she a different kind of vampire? Can she turn
into a bat or a wolf, like Dracula”
    Takeda
shook her head sharply. “No. She is like any other vampire. But she is not
of my blood.” She paused. “I am sorry. Meeting the Ancestor makes me deeply
uneasy.”
    “Why?”
    “I
do not know. It is...” She was silent, then said, “Instinctual”
    “Okay,
so what do you mean, she’s not of your blood?”
    Takeda
sighed. “All vampires in this country, except for a few Ancestors who are
generally restricted to Area One and the Governor General’s complex, descend
from a common bloodline. I can say nothing more about that, so please do not
ask.” She paused. “Ancestors do not descend from our bloodline. The Ancestor
that is with Ambassador Heymann does not.” She paused again. “I find the
thought of meeting her to be very unsettling, though I cannot explain
why.”
    She
eased the Hummer onto the interstate on-ramp. “Read your packet, Mr. Welles.
You will find the answers to those questions that can be
answered.”
     
     
     
     

Chapter
Six
     
    As
we drove, I flipped through the folder.
    I
could focus on the security plan in the morning, maybe go down to Jackson
Square and eyeball it. I’d also stop by the Downtown District police station
and check in with my good friend and former training sergeant, Jimmy Mutz.
Jimmy was the day watch commander at Downtown District.
    What
interested me right now was Ambassador Heymann and the people who were
coming with him. Especially the woman that Takeda had called an
Ancestor.
    Dr.
Konrad Heymann was 55 years old, born in Bonn, studied at Harvard for his
undergraduate degree and Columbia for his post-graduate work in political
science. Got his doctorate, went back to Germany and joined the Foreign
Office. Postings to Paris and London. Spent six years as the Consul General at
the German consulate in New York, then back to France as the German
ambassador.
    Two
years before the war, he came back to the U.S. as ambassador, where he
served until the war began. Hunkered down in the embassy when Washington was
overrun. Repatriated to Germany two months later.
    For
obvious reasons, there was little information on his activities over the
last five and a half years, just a few notations on his postings. First
Secretary at the German embassy in London. Most recently, a year in the
German President’s