I arched an eyebrow and burst out laughing. “Well. That’s one way to put it. And just so you know, he pissed himself when he saw me. I let him watch his friends die, saving him for last.”
He grinned, and it was a truly dazzling look. “That makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, Master. Thank you.” I nodded, chuckling. Renfield was surprisingly handsome when he wasn’t apologizing and begging for death. It was almost as if a new man had risen from the old. “They’ll obviously know the truth by morning,” he said carefully, “that I lied. My cover will be blown. They’ll know something is up because Renfield never disobeys anyone. I was never allowed to even ask a question.”
I smiled. “By morning, it will be too late.”
He cocked his head curiously. “Too late for what?”
“Too late to save the Necromancer,” I told him. “And for the record, I value questions, Renfield. Forget your bad habits. Immediately,” I said, already walking away. “Oh, and Renfield?”
“Yes, Master?” he answered, sounding shaken by my statement.
“Could you detach those five heads and bring them with us?”
“Gladly, Master. I’ll get the hairy goat’s dick first,” he said, sounding as if he was licking his lips. I smiled, tapping my earbud as I heard him go to work. “Victoria?”
“Sorin!” she gasped. “Oh my god. You’re okay!”
I smiled. “I made a friend and picked up an extra credit point for our collection.”
“Holy shit. You took on five by yourself?” she laughed. “Guess those are technically mine since I juiced you up,” she teased.
Renfield stepped up beside me, hefting a black bag bulging with heads. I began walking towards the exit, smiling. “Of course, my lady. I need you to get the wolves down here, now. They have the place to themselves until dawn. I need to recover Nosh before I confront the Necromancer or they’ll try to use him as leverage. By dawn, his fate will be sealed.”
“Wait. He’s at the police precinct. We can’t just break into the police precinct—”
Renfield cleared his throat, drawing my attention. “Are you speaking of Nosh Griffin?”
I nodded. “Yes. The Shaman.”
“He’s here, Master,” he said, pointing at the refrigerators. “He is sedated in the prison cell behind the refrigerators. Paul ordered the police to deliver him to us a few hours ago, knowing that a Shaman could easily break out of a jail cell. Paul wasn’t quite sure what a Shaman could do, so he put him in the magically warded, lead-lined cell. Paul was told to deliver him to the Necromancer just before dawn when the guards changed rotations.”
I blinked at him. “You’re kidding me,” I grunted, remembering the metal door I had seen. “Is that why I couldn’t sense him? Because it’s lead-lined?”
Renfield nodded. “Yes. It’s also why we had so many vampires guarding the building. It’s usually only a half-dozen or so.”
I took the bag of heads from Renfield. “Go get him. Now. He’s a scrapper, so tell him you’re a friend of Sorin and that you’re breaking him out, just in case he’s pretending to be asleep.”
“Of course, Master. Hairy goat’s dick has the only access card, but I’m sure he won’t mind me borrowing it,” he said, smirking maliciously.
Apparently, Paul had been quite the asshole to earn such hatred from Renfield.
He turned and ran, pouring on his speed so that he was simply a blur of motion. Victoria was still squawking into my ear, taking my silence as a bad sign. “Victoria,” I cut in, having to repeat her name three times before she stopped talking. “Nosh is here. Renfield is getting him for me. We’ll be right out.”
“Who the hell is Renfield?” she demanded.
“You’ll see,” I said, smirking.
“Well, I’ve got a surprise for you, too,” she muttered, and I heard a strange slurping sound before her earbud clicked off. I chuckled, realizing she had turned off her earbud to punish me.
I turned as I heard the door open behind me. Renfield carefully came around the refrigerators, carrying Nosh in both arms. Nosh’s arms, head, and legs hung limply, and his face was battered and bruised. I scowled furiously.
Renfield noticed my look and winced. “I told you that Paul was a hairy goat’s dick, Master. The cruelest man I’ve ever met. Well, petty cruelty. Nothing like Dracula,” he admitted.
I nodded, watching for Nosh’s breath and reaching out to sense his pulse. It was healthy and strong but slower than it should have been. I let out a soft breath of relief. Renfield smiled down at him. “He is very tough, Master. A good friend. He laughed every time Paul set into him.”
I nodded. “Remember my warning. When he wakes up, he will fight like a caged lion. Make sure you aren’t standing too close to him.”
Then I turned, walking towards the door to the hallway and holding it open for Renfield and Nosh. Renfield waited for me to pass before following me down the hallway. With Nosh’s safety off my mind, I felt a great weight lifted from my shoulders. All that remained was the Necromancer and retrieving the journal. I still had no solid answer on why Dracula wanted the journal—just theories—but I was content with simply taking anything and everything Dracula cared about.
I opened the exterior door and took a breath of fresh, misty air. Thunder still rumbled high above, but it was distant warning sounds rather than nearby strikes of lightning.
Victoria faced me from across the street, stepping out of an alley. She was drinking a bottle of orange liquid from a straw—the source of the slurping noise I’d heard. She dropped her drink to the ground, her jaw falling open as she stared. Not at Renfield and Nosh.
At me.
The light rain washed over me, and I glanced down to see that I was covered in blood and gore. Completely. I brushed my hair back from my face and smiled. My cape of shifting shadow and blood snapped and cracked of its own accord, fanning out around me dramatically.
That’s when I spotted Stevie sitting in a nearby van. He was staring at me in disbelief. I blinked in surprise. Victoria must have called him, informing him of my suicide attempt. That must have been the surprise she had hinted about. I scanned the street and noticed many similar vans. Benjamin and Natalie each sat behind the steering wheel of their own vehicles, as did a handful of other familiar werewolves from Stevie’s warehouse. I walked up to Stevie and saw that the passenger—an older black woman—held Victoria’s bundle of heads in her lap, still wrapped up in the bloody, white coat. Stevie was craning his neck to wince at Nosh’s bruised, unconscious form, casting a suspicious, wary eye at Renfield. I held my hand out with a smug grin, passing him the bag through the open window.
“Five plus the eight Victoria brought you makes thirteen. Time for you to get to work.”
He grunted, grabbing the bag and pulling it into the van. He unzipped it in his lap, counting under his breath. He stared down at it, shaking his head incredulously.
Renfield cleared his throat and I turned to look back at him. “We just received another shipment tonight. It hasn’t been unloaded yet,” he said, holding out his access card. “They were too busy playing cards—much to their ultimate misfortune. I think the keys are still inside the truck. This access card will open the gate,” he said, awkwardly handing me the card he had taken from Paul.
I smiled, nodding at him as I accepted it. “Thank you, Renfield.” I passed the card to Stevie.
He chuckled, snatching it away. “You crazy son of a bitch.”
“You have no idea,” I said, turning to walk away.
“Wait!” he shouted, leaning out the window. “Where are you going? We could use your help, caped crusader!”
I grunted, glancing back over my shoulder. “I think I’ve helped plenty, Stevie. I just handed you the keys to New York City. Now, it’s time for me to get Nosh to my hideout below Grand Central Terminal. I can’t risk the police finding him again—not if the vampires control them. Meet Renfield and Victoria there with your trucks. Make yourself at home. I’ll call in a few
hours if I need anything.”
He grunted unhappily. “You’ll call either way, because I need to make sure you’re not going to blow up the world.”
I smiled. “Good thing your new home is underground then. I’ve got a Necromancer to kill.”
“That man needs a doctor!” Stevie’s passenger shouted, apparently only just now noticing Nosh, judging by the sudden panicked anger in her voice.
I rolled my eyes. “He’s fine. Just drugged up.”
“On what drugs?” she demanded. “What if they overdosed him? What if he’s allergic to the drug? And he’s beat all to hell. What if there’s internal bleeding? He could die right in front of you and you would just think he was asleep!”
I blinked, craning my neck to peer back into the window. “Are you a doctor?”
She nodded. “Yes, you fool! Skipping out of the building, looking like the goddamned star in a Vidal Sassoon commercial directed by Stephen King. Strutting around like a peacock with your chiseled abs, big pecs and broad shoulders, and not an ounce of intelligence beneath that gorgeous, filthy hair. Get your goddamned friend killed you goddamned idiot.”
Stevie was grinning from ear-to-ear, truly enjoying the startled look on my face.
37
She didn’t wait for my response, climbing out of the van and slamming the door loudly as she continued to release a steady stream of curses aimed at me and men in general. She waddled around the corner, waggling a finger up at me and Renfield like it was a riding crop and she was one second away from beating the living daylights out of us, even though she was a good two feet shorter than me. She looked incoherent in her rage, her hair slicked back against her scalp to form a perfect black bun in the back. She huffed furiously, her plump brown cheeks quivering with fury, pumping like a blacksmith’s forge.
I tried to get in a word edgewise since she was still cursing in a never-ending waterfall of profanity. “In that case, would you please come—”
“I’ll hear none of it, Mr. Blood-and-Brawn. I’m coming with you if I have to bend you over my knee and paddle your perfectly-shaped little rear. And don’t think I won’t enjoy it!”
She obviously hadn’t heard my request for her to come with us.
“Thank you. My friend could use a good doctor—”
“Your friend looks like he was hit by a truck, and here you are, standing about in the rain. Your big muscles aren’t going to help him. Neither is the rain. He needs a good doctor!”
I sighed, ignoring Stevie’s outright laughter. I was pretty sure I heard Victoria joining in behind me, but I couldn’t look away from the little force of nature before me.
I smiled politely, dipping my chin. “Let’s get him into a car and out of the rain—”
Victoria interrupted me. “I have a car big enough for all of us, Doctor Stein.”
Dr. Stein flung up her arms as if her prayers had been answered. “Hallelujah! Finally, someone with some sense between her ears. We need to get this poor creature out of the rain and as far away from these brooding, muscular brutes as we can. They’re incredibly hopeless, I tell you,” Dr. Stein clamored, shooting me a stern look. “Thank heavens you thought to bring a car, because these two only brought their chest hair.”
She actually swatted us both on the ass, whipping our flanks to spur us into motion. Renfield’s eyes bulged in stark surprise, but he immediately moved, staring down at the foul-mouthed doctor in stunned disbelief.
I realized I was moving, too, accepting the fact that women were insane. A hive mind of cunning viciousness more powerful than any army of vampires. And their sole purpose was to put men in their places.
And it seemed to be working.
Stevie called out as we hustled away from Dr. Stein, “Take care of them, Frankie. I’ll see you all soon!”
“It’s Frances, you hairy cretin!” she shrieked venomously, turning to point a furious finger at the alpha werewolf.
I grinned smugly at him, glad to be out of her immediate scrutiny.
As if she had eyes in the back of her skull, she spun and swatted my ass again. I leapt with a shout, stunned by the surprising pain of her blow. I glanced down to see she’d acquired a damned ruler at some point. “Get to moving, you hairy lummox! I don’t care how pleasant you are to watch from behind! I want to see that ass run!” she snapped, brandishing her ruler threateningly.
I obeyed, leaping out of her range as quickly as I could. Because her feet pounded into the pavement with the power of a hammer striking a nail as she kept up a steady stream of criticisms about my lack of hygiene, my tattered cloak, and lack of respect for my betters.
Victoria was grinning widely at my rapid escape from the primordial predator behind me.
“Lovely child,” Doctor Stein called out in a voice as sweet as honey, “I hate to burden you with a lost cause, but I can’t very well watch all three of them when one is likely dying, one is running around like a skittish horse with my dying patient, and this buffoon has cotton for brains. Would you please tie him to your apron strings before I break out my wooden spoon?”
Victoria nodded seriously. “I will keep him in line, Dr. Stein. It’s the black Lexus on the end,” she said, pointing a plastic device at a sleek, expensive-looking car a few vehicles down the sidewalk. The car let out a chirp and the lights flashed.
“Sweet child,” Dr. Stein cooed, pinching Victoria’s cheek firmly on her way by—hard enough to leave a red blotch and make Victoria’s eyes flash with pain. “Face like an angel,” she smiled warmly before releasing the vampire hunter from her clutches.
I flinched as she stormed past me, waving her ruler dangerously, not immediately realizing that I was standing slightly behind Victoria for protection and that even my cloak of death had wilted behind me. Victoria burst out laughing—but softly enough for Dr. Stein not to overhear. She was too busy shouting at Renfield anyway.
“The black Lexus, you fool! Hurry!” she shouted at Renfield, who had a panicked look on his face, even though he was already opening the door to set Nosh into the backseat of the car. “Be careful and slow down, you light-blinded idiot! He’s a human being, not a bale of hay!”
I stared incredulously, shaking my head at her conflicting advice. “I pray to God I’m never sick or injured,” I whispered.
Victoria laughed. “She’s probably one of the best surgeons in the city, even though she doesn’t practice. The hospitals didn’t appreciate her bedside manner. Stevie hired her on the spot, but I’m pretty sure she bullied him until he believed it had been his idea in the first place.”
She licked her lips as her eyes feasted on my chest and cloak—which had found its lost courage, hesitantly beginning to move again, but out of view of Dr. Stein. Seeing as how I rather liked the cloak’s comforting embrace—and remembering that I had likened it to Victoria’s hot, naked flesh pressed up against mine, I left it in place.
I kept the fantasy to myself, extending my elbow towards Victoria. “We better hurry before you get in trouble too.”
She smiled warmly, slipping her arm through mine. “Who is he?”
“Henry Renfield, my batman,” I said. “Apparently, he’s a ghost from my past, but a man I never knew.” She glanced over at me sharply but didn’t comment. “Thanks to the power of your blood, I was able to turn him against Dracula. He’s about to help us take over the city.”
Dr. Stein was already in the passenger seat, glaring at me through the windshield. Renfield sat stiffly in the backseat, as far away from Dr. Stein as he could get without climbing out of the car, and he faced forward with a startled expression on his face. Nosh was seated in the middle seat beside him, his head lolling across Renfield’s shoulder, with a long strand of drool hanging from his bloody lip.
“Batman?” Victoria asked, smirking. “Like the superhero? Shouldn’t he be the Robin to your Batman? I’m impressed that you tried a pop culture reference, but you missed the mark entirely.”
I blinked at her, not understanding. “A batman is
a trusted associate. A personal servant who is more like a trusted bodyguard,” I explained. “I don’t know what a robin has to do with anything.”
She squeezed my arm one time, failing to mask her amusement, before letting go and walking towards the driver’s side. I made my way to the seat behind Dr. Stein, having to hug my knees to my chest since she had moved the seat all the way back, even though she was no more than four-feet-tall.
“Put your seatbelts on, boys. The hair on your chest won’t protect you from a car accident,” she snapped tersely. She cast a sweet smile on Victoria. “Don’t forget to use your blinkers, Miss Helsing. I prefer to ride in silence, and I won’t give a second warning.”
Renfield sputtered. “Miss Helsing!” he gasped. “As in, related to—”
THWACK!
The ruler struck the back of Renfield’s wrist so fast and hard that it snapped in two, but I wasn’t entirely sure that I had actually seen Dr. Stein move—like she had mastered the power and speed of lightning. I could barely see the top of her head through the gap between the seat and the headrest. As if she wasn’t truly there.
“Foolish men,” I heard her disembodied voice mutter from the front seat. “Next time it’s the spoon,” she promised menacingly. I saw a thick, ancient, wooden spoon rise up from the front seat as if by magic. It looked older than me.
I leaned my head back, wondering if the tiny tyrant could reach me with her spoon if I accidentally breathed too loudly. As Victoria pulled out into traffic, I glanced at Nosh, hoping he was healthy. I needed him to wake up soon. I had dozens of questions for all of them: him, Renfield, and Victoria, but I had to focus on priorities. Once dawn hit, I would lose the element of surprise.
But if Dr. Frances—Frankie—Stein had her way, I doubted I would be permitted to speak to Nosh anytime soon.
Maybe I would just tell Dr. Stein that the Necromancer had a stomach bug and then sit back and watch as the Warlord of Medicine marched into the vampire fortress with her wooden spoon.
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