Read Hold Their Peace (Vampire Assassin League) for Free Online

asked.
    “It’s about your assignment. Professor Erickson.”
    “Yeah. Professor Erickson,” Nigel added.
    “Nigel,” Akron asked.
    “Sir?”
    “What are you doing?”
    “Emulating you, Sir.”
    Akron laughed. The sound reverberated through the room, rattling every monitor on the counter. Thanos tipped them down one by one before they fell over.
    “You are copying me, Nigel, not emulating. And what on earth brought about this phase?”
    “It’s not a phase. It’s a change. I’m tired of everyone treating me like I just parachuted in here. They respect you. Everyone thinks I’m a joke.”
    Akron laughed again. Even louder.
    “You see what I have to put up with?” Nigel complained.
    “Enough. We’ve wasted enough time, and that’s not why I called. How much time is left, Nigel?”
    “Eleven seconds, Sir.”
    “Hmm. We’ll call you right back, Thanos. Move to line eight.”
    The line went dead. Thanos spent the intervening moments skimming his palms along his thighs, raising hairs he could feel against his fingers. It was incredible. Wondrous. And then the monitor went live again, and Akron was talking. Or maybe it was more akin to lecturing.
    “...not given. Respect is earned.”
    “How do I do that?”
    “By upholding standards day in and day out. Without fail. Speaking of — there’s Thanos back on the line. Good. Technology keeps changing and it’s a doubled-edged kind of thing. Complete benefit on one hand, a decided curse on the other. You need to go underground, Thanos.”
    “I am underground.”
    “I meant figuratively. Go off grid and stay there until we contact you again.”
    “What? Why?”
    “It’s about your little excursion last night.”
    “Yeah. Last night,” Nigel parroted.
    “Last night?” Thanos asked.
    Akron’s sigh this time was short. It had a growl beneath it, too. Thanos straightened in the chair.
    “You were assigned a hit. Professor Erickson. It was easy. Quick. Clean. You could’ve handled it blindfolded.”
    “Oh. That.”
    “Yes. That. One body has somehow become six of them, mostly decapitated. And guess what? Those deceased men worked for the fellow who contracted us. I’ve already made arrangements to counteract that, since the only quiet man is a dead one.”
    “Oh.”
    “That’s not the worst of it. There was a frantic call made. I believe they’ve got a written transcript already on the internet. A Lizbeth...ah yes. There it is. Smith. Lizbeth Smith reported something about a black-market antiquity deal gone wrong. According to her statement, Professor Erickson was killed trying to halt it. Hmm. Shows even an archeology artifact student can concoct a decent cover story, doesn’t it? Time, Nigel?”
    “Thirty seconds.”
    “Good. So, Thanos. To complicate matters, there is now an international search taking place for a missing person named Darcy Mullins, formerly of Vancouver, British Columbia”
    Her name is Darcy. How perfect.
    “I can explain,” Thanos started.
    “Yes. I know you can. Allow me. You’re mated. It’s wonderful. Everything is sublime. You’re reborn. Nigel and I both send our congratulations.”
    “He’s what ?” Nigel burst out.
    “I should’ve called in a 4D team,” Thanos said.
    Akron sighed again. At length. And louder. “Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, gentlemen. That cliché happens to be perfectly true. This is beyond a 4D Team now. It was the moment that woman’s statement included the word vampire.”
    “She actually said that?”
    “Only after her third interrogation, if that helps. She gave a fairly good description of you with her statement, too. And your sword. As well as your abilities with it. Time, Nigel?”
    “Ten seconds. Nine. Eight.”
    “Line six. We’ll call right back.”
    Thanos slapped the disconnect button hard enough that it cracked. He grabbed up another monitor and had it live just as the image of Akron’s study came back into view. This speaker wasn’t as nice. It crackled