Vintage Soul Read Free Page A

   There was a crashing sound in further down the hall, and Johndrow launched himself toward it.   It came from the direction of the elevator.   As he hit the hall, he saw the doors closing, but before he could reach them, they had sealed tightly.   The small man who’d served the wine and sealed the door lay on the floor.   He was broken.   That was the only way to describe it.   His arms and legs jutted at impossible angles.   Blood soaked the floor and leaked from his pale lips.   His eyes were open wide, staring up at the ceiling in abject terror.
    Johndrow turned to the panel on the wall to alert the drivers.   Where the panel had been there was nothing but a molten mass of circuits and wire fused into a single, shapeless lump.   Nothing remained.   He knew this would alert the drivers as well as he might have, but he screamed in frustrated anger.   The corpse beside him told him the intruder was no ordinary threat, and he knew there was nothing the drivers could do.
    â€œWhat is it?” Joel cried, joining his friend in the hall.
    â€œVanessa,” Johndrow growled.   “Someone got in here and they’ve taken Vanessa.”
    â€œHow do we get down?” Joel asked, turning and looking for a door, or a panel that might open on a stair.
    â€œThere is no other way,” Johndrow said flatly.   The elevator is the only entrance.   It can be operated manually, assuming anyone is left alive below.   If not, I’ll have to send someone down the shaft.   It could take hours, and by then?”
    Joel didn’t answer.   Others poured into the hall, some clutching drinks, some half-amused, wondering if this was a new and unexpected amusement.   With a snarl, Johndrow pounded his fist into the wood paneled wall.   The wood cracked and buckled inward.
    Several floors below, the huge garage door slid open silently, and a single dark Mercedes coupe rolled out into the darkness.   The door did not close behind it, and no one followed.

TWO
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    It took Johndrow the entire night, and his staff working throughout the day, to arrange a meeting of the council.   It had been several years since they’d last convened, and many members were reluctant – particularly those in attendance at his party the previous night.   Threats had grown fewer and less likely in recent times.   Electronic security, for those who could afford it, had progressed to incredible levels, and, as Joel had bemusedly put it, people just weren’t as frightened.    The human race had reached a point in its evolution where they were as likely to seek and embrace the way of the blood as they were to reject or fear it.   They were as likely to attract groupies and talk show hosts as any form of modern slayer.
    None of this changed the face of Vanessa’s disappearance.   When Johndrow’s staff managed to free up the elevator, the guests had dispersed quickly into the fading night.   Johndrow had rushed from the main door of the garage, but there was no sign of forced exit, and none of the drivers remembered seeing anything out of the usual.   In fact, their memories were sufficiently clouded that Johndrow was certain they’d been wiped, hurriedly and without much thought to what consequences such an act might have on their minds.   Most of them vaguely remembered arriving at the party.   A couple were able to tell him what hand they last remembered holding in their poker game.
    None of them remembered anything out of the ordinary, nor had they seen Vanessa or anyone unexpected.   In the chaos that followed the elevator repair, no one thought to check for an empty space in the lot, and by the time they did, half the guests had disappeared into the night, and there was no way to sort it all out.   No one remembered opening the outer door or hearing any alarm from the penthouse above.
    On top of this, there was the