Fred (Book 6): Undeading Bells

by Hayes, Drew

  After the first minute, she stopped screaming entirely. After the second, her body had more or less become whole. By the time Asha got to her feet at the end of minute three, she looked much like her old self: an old self wearing a half-shredded outfit, but an old self nonetheless. Her eyes were different, though. Previously brown, they seemed to glimmer with a faint, metallic twinkle.

  Looking at all of us, then herself, Asha took a deep breath from habit. She clearly noticed it felt slightly off, and I could relate too well to the storm of emotions that raged across her face. None it came through when she spoke next, the false cheer in her voice working to stamp out her terror from moments prior.

  “I’m really never going to get away from the bloodsucking lawyer jokes now, am I?”

  3.

  The trip to Boarback was largely silent; we were all more or less in shock from what had happened. Krystal, Asha, and I all rode with Sheriff Thorgood, while Bubba, Amy, and Gregor followed in Krystal’s truck. I tried to focus on a bright side, but the best one I could find was that Krystal and I had packed very little of the wedding necessities in my hybrid due to the limited space.

  I could have counted Asha being alive as another silver lining, which I was certainly grateful for; however, that felt more like we’d narrowly avoided a worst case scenario. I wasn’t sure how she was handling the shift; despite her flippant remarks upon rising, I could see the terror in her eyes. Much as I wanted to comfort her, to tell her there were great things about this change, I also wasn’t sure how to even do that. I opted instead to give her space while I figured out what to say.

  Rather than head to the Bristle Inn as intended, Sheriff Thorgood took us to his office. I didn’t even notice the destination change until we’d arrived and begun unloading, my mind lost in its concern for Asha. No sooner were we out of the car than a figure ran out from the building, pale and familiar as she darted through the night. Lillian arrived at our side in seconds, much to my confusion.

  “Sheriff Thorgood radioed ahead. He told us what happened and had Nax grab me from the hotel.” That was all I got by way of explanation before Lillian’s full focus turned to Asha. “Now, I understand there’s a new member of the clan I need to talk with.”

  Was Asha a member of my clan? I hadn’t considered that, but this wasn’t like Sheri, where the Blood Council had laid out her future before the change had even happened. Maybe Asha was automatically entered since I was her sire, or Lillian was just using creative language. It was something I had to investigate, though. Turning Asha might have been unexpected, but that wasn’t an excuse to blunder through the rest of her adjustments.

  “I’m fine for now,” Asha assured her. “Not like I haven’t known you all for years. I’ve got a pretty good grasp on the reality of being a vampire.”

  “Well, obviously.” Lillian leaned in conspiratorially. “But you don’t think we give away all the cool secrets to the public, do you? You’re in the club now; that means I can walk you through the really fun stuff. We’ll go grab a drink and have a talk while they deal with the paperwork. For once, that’s not on you.”

  Asha started to protest again, but the words died somewhere between her throat and lips. Instead, she merely glanced back toward Krystal’s truck, which was pulling up. “I guess I’ll go grab my luggage.”

  “Nah, just hop in the truck. They’re heading to the hotel with us,” Lillian explained. “Well, Gregor will probably wait around the station, but the rest of us are heading back. I’ll join you shortly.”

  We both watched Asha walk off, legs unsteady as she would occasionally move with more power than intended. She’d need time to adjust to her new body, along with whatever potential side effect the sheriff’s blood had. I waited until she was next to Krystal’s loud, idling engine. Her hearing wouldn’t be that good yet, not until she got the knack for focus, so I risked a few words to Lillian.

  “How do you think she’s holding up?”

  “Asha is tough as hell and has nerve to spare. She’ll probably make it somewhere private before she has the full weeping breakdown we all go through.” Lillian paused, making sure I’d taken note of her words. “She just died, Fredrick. She needs to mourn that loss before she can start her new life. But don’t worry about her. I’ve got this.”

  My sense of responsibility bucked immediately. “As her sire, shouldn’t I be the one to help?”

  “Sure, if you want to fuck it up,” Lillian countered. “You know how you wouldn’t have thrown me into a client meeting when I first started? Same thing. Having met some of the Turva clan, you have an idea of how diplomatic they are. It often fell to me to handle our new recruits, easing them into their new situation. Do you want Asha in the hands of someone who has done this dozens of times before, or in those of a new guy poorly suited to the task in the first place?”

  “A fair assessment, if a tad harsh.”

  “Not enough time to be gentle. Besides, you’ve got bigger concerns.” Lillian looked around briefly, scanning for unseen presences. “Two successes in a row.”

  “Doesn’t mean it will work every time.” I knew where she was headed; it had been lingering in my mind, as well.

  Lillian shook her head. “Won’t matter. That’s already better than anyone I’ve even heard rumors of in millennia. Before, you had good odds. Now, you have the kind of success they can’t ignore. I don’t know how that will impact things, just be ready.”

  “Thanks, but I’ve got Krystal. Take care of Asha.”

  Since Asha had made it into the truck by then, Lillian hurried over, barking a few words to Bubba before hopping in. Sure enough, Gregor leapt out heavily, and I gave him a brief nod before following Sheriff Thorgood and Krystal into the building.

  Boarback’s sheriff’s office looked much the way I remembered it: like a well-preserved artifact from a bygone era. They’d upgraded their television set, and I spied a new microwave in the break room, but otherwise, the place felt just as we’d last left it. Except for Arch sitting in the middle of the station; that was an addition that hadn’t been around last time.

  “Sit.” He pointed at the two chairs across from him, which Krystal and I filled. Sheriff Thorgood stood over in the corner, watching with his arms crossed, but saying nothing for now. Gregor waited in the door, silent and watching, determined not to be cut from the action once again.

  Once we were seated in the proffered chairs, Arch continued. “The Blood Council probably doesn’t know yet, but they will soon. The turn-attempt was reported to the Agency as soon as Leeroy called it in, and while the Blood Council might not have a direct line on our operations, they pick up enough. Besides, legally, we have to notify them within twenty-four hours, as they also track the turn-attempts. There’s no hiding this one, if that was even what you were considering. Beyond that, the Agency also realizes the danger Fred’s numbers are posing. They are sending representatives to discuss the matter, since Fred is technically one of our freelance assets.”

  It was a lot to absorb, though the part at the end caught me by surprise. “Sending representatives? Between you, Krystal, and all the agents here for the wedding, how many more do they want? I’m hoping that’s not code for them trucking in an army.”

  “If it were, they’d never make it into town,” Sheriff Thorgood tossed in from the side.

  “Correct. To my knowledge, they’ll only be sending in three additional assets.” There was something off about Arch: he was showing the smallest hints of nerves. For Arch, it was the equivalent of pacing and ranting. He wasn’t a man who let much slip through. “What should be of concern is who those assets are. Or rather, one of them, really. Krystal, the director is coming to oversee this matter personally.”

  Everyone in the room went still. Even Sheriff Thorgood seemed temporarily dumbfounded. Since no one but the perpetually quiet Gregor was around to ask the obvious question, I opted to get it out of the way early in the hopes of moving on briskly. “Pardon, but who is the director?”

&n
bsp; “The Director of the Agency. The head of our entire organization.” Krystal’s face had taken on an uncharacteristically severe expression. “Why would she come all the way out here over this?”

  “That might be my fault,” Sheriff Thorgood admitted. “Didn’t expect her to care that much, but technically speaking, she does have a stake in seeing what happens to Asha. I’m the first of any of us to give blood to a vampire.”

  After a moment to piece his words together, understanding dawned. “She’s like you.”

  “Even worse. She’s my sister. Well, our version of what you’d think of as siblings, anyway. We fight approximately the same as you, so the word works as well as any other.”

  There was so much to deal with, so many hurdles facing us, but for some reason, that was a bridge too far. The mystery had been a neat curiosity before, but now, my friend had this being’s blood coursing through her. It was time to get a concrete answer.

  “What exactly are you, anyway? With all due respect, I’d like to have some idea or warning of how best to watch over Asha.”

  I expected to be rebuffed or ignored, but the truth was, Sheriff Thorgood had never been the one refusing to answer; I just never found the gumption to outright ask. He tapped his bicep for a few moments, giving the question some proper thought. “How can I put this? The terms you had for us never conveyed all that much, so they’d probably just make things more confusing.”

  Finally, he extended his arms. In the right, there was suddenly a pile of dirt; in the left, a floating orb of clear water. “Let’s say the soil represents reality, the physical, natural world as you know it. This is what humans are made from. Simple, uncomplicated, uniform bits.” In his hand, the pile of dirt took on a humanoid shape, standing up and giving a small wave. “Whereas the water is magic: powerful and malleable, yet ultimately shapeless. A human turned parahuman, then, is earth that has been infused with a few drops of water.”

  Three droplets floated over from the sphere, landing in the dirt. As the liquid soaked in, the dirt drew together, becoming a more stable mass. “Add in that little bit, and suddenly, it can take new shapes, hold sturdier forms—you get the metaphor. Now, natural parahumans, like fey, dragons, and the like, those are different. They’re creatures of both reality and magic, born in balance.”

  As he closed and opened his right hand, the dirt reset. This time, it flowed upward along with the water, joining in the air between his arms to form a figure made of mud. “Natively, these are more powerful than the first version, but there’s also a limit here. Normal earth has more room to absorb, more opportunity to grow, whereas these must maintain a balance. They can’t absorb greater amounts of water the way humans can. It’s why you don’t see things like vampire dragons, or therian fey. Their natural magic prevents them from absorbing those enchantments.”

  This time, Sheriff Thorgood closed both hands, resetting both the water and the dirt. “Which brings us to your question: what am I? Well, there is one scenario we haven’t discussed yet. What about creatures born on the other side of the equation?” The orb of water shifted, turning into a humanoid form. From the right hand, a few blobs of dirt rose up, about the same size as the droplets of water earlier. “If you take a being made almost entirely of magic and sprinkle in a bit of reality, you get something that’s mostly unreal, but can still interact with the physical world.”

  As the dirt swirled into the figure, it changed once more. It swelled outward, taking on a hugely muscular form, then shrank down into a diminutive frame. Out again, then tall, then short, a parade of forms until it finally halted on the shape of a muscular, heavyset man, identical to the form of the sheriff holding it.

  “That’s what I am, put as simply as possible. It’s also what my sister is, which is why those two are so worried.”

  My head felt like it might crack. This day had already been far too much. What he was describing spoke to entire systems of power I didn’t yet understand, one of which I’d just fundamentally connected to Asha. Tired as I was, ignorance did me no favors. Whatever we were about to face, the more I knew, the better the chances we’d actually make it through.

  “Arch, tell me everything I need to know.”

  4.

  “At least my dress wasn’t in your car.”

  In spite of what happened to Asha, Krystal and I were still here for our wedding, and after spending several hours with Arch getting briefed, we found ourselves thrust suddenly back into that reality. With Asha getting the introduction into vampire life from Lillian, and most of our friends needing actual sleep, we’d begun the process of inventorying what had been lost in the explosion and would need to be replaced.

  Sitting in our suite at the Bristle Inn, going over my spreadsheet, it was hard to imagine the scene in the parking lot from mere hours earlier. My nerves still hadn’t settled down, nor did I expect they would for quite some time. Most people are already on edge about the act of marriage; I now had a homicidal sire and an interested Agency to worry about, as well.

  Krystal held the plastic package, carefully hiding the garment inside. Getting it custom made by an Agency tailor meant that it had come down with Arch, sparing us the ordeal of finding a last-minute replacement. Honestly, outside of the car itself, there was relatively little that needed immediate substitutions. I was borrowing Lillian’s computer, but thanks to cloud computing, a few sign-ins had me up and running again. Asha’s contracts were toast, though those were obviously just copies. Truly, the only real loss would have been Asha herself, and while part of her had undeniably been killed in that explosion, we avoided having to say a final goodbye.

  None of which dealt with the larger problem of Quinn. This wasn’t the first time he’d gotten another person involved in his schemes, but last time, it had been Krystal, which ultimately worked to his great disadvantage. Tonight was a reminder that he had no compunctions about bystanders, as well as just how vulnerable my friends truly were. We were going to have to do something to protect ourselves, maybe even employ more bodyguards—though, for the moment, I’d settle for not having to try turning anyone else on this trip.

  “I hate to even ask this, I do, but Krystal, is there any chance—”

  “None.” She didn’t even need the full question. She set her garment bag on the bed. “He struck outside Boarback for a reason. These places aren’t just hidden from plain sight. There is old, powerful magic woven around these towns. I’m not saying Quinn couldn’t break in; he’s definitely proven to be that capable. I’m just saying that if he did, Sheriff Thorgood would know immediately, and that would be the last time Quinn made trouble for us or anyone else.” Her expression lightened. “Maybe he’ll be dumb enough to try.”

  Unlikely, given that Quinn had proven very adept at knowing when to fight and when to flee. While I still didn’t know a lot about Sheriff Thorgood, after watching a few drops of his blood neutralize Asha’s torso full of silver, I felt no need to question Krystal’s assessment of his power.

  “Sorry, I just had to know.”

  Krystal made her way over to my chair, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay to be rattled, Freddy. I’m a little shaken, too, and I deal with this kind of thing a lot more frequently. Our friend almost died, and you had to do something you feel conflicted about to save her. I’m not upset you wanted some extra reassurance that we’re safe. Just wanted you to understand how reassured you should be.”

  I gripped her hand, thankful all over again that this was the person I’d soon be marrying. “Truth be told, I actually didn’t feel all that conflicted. It was just like Deborah told me: in that moment, I knew with absolute certainly what would happen if we did nothing, versus giving her some kind of chance if I tried. Once I knew what Asha wanted, there was nothing to hold me back.”

  “I’m glad you feel that way, because now that you’ve succeeded twice in a row, the Blood Council is going to double-time those extra turning attempts.”

  My gut reaction was to reject the
idea entirely; however, I was slowly beginning to see that this didn’t have to be an entirely negative aspect of my life. “I figured. But I still have to choose to be the one to do it, right? They can’t compel me?”

  Krystal raised her hand in the air, palm parallel to the floor, and shook it a few times. “Sort of? Legally, no, they can’t, but there’s also bribery or manipulation, which we both know Deborah can wield effectively.”

  “Good.”

  “That’s good?” Krystal asked, forehead crinkling in confusion.

  “I hope so. Deborah knows me well, so she won’t bring in the sort of people I’d refuse to turn.” I looked down at my hand, pale and thin, yet shockingly powerful. For a long time, the change had been about what I’d lost. Seeing Sheri and Asha make the turn had shown me an aspect I’d overlooked. “There are people out there who are sick or injured, people for whom vampiric powers would be a second chance. I never gave it much thought before because I went from a relatively functional body right to undeath. But if I really can turn people more effectively than other vampires, then that means I can use that gift on the people who need it, give it to those for whom it would be only a blessing.”

  The crinkles on Krystal’s forehead faded as her expression shifted to one of affection, hand brushing through my hair. “Most people wouldn’t see getting more responsibility as a silver lining.”

  “You get to save the day all the time. For me, the idea of making such a substantial difference is still pretty novel,” I replied.

  She sighed, then kissed me for a long, lingering moment. “Honestly, you really are the strangest vampire I’ve ever met.”

  “I really don’t try to be.”

  “I know. That’s what makes it endearing.” One more kiss, then she started sorting through our pile of items once more.

  Before she’d sifted far, we heard a sharp knock on the door. Instantly both alert, Krystal pulled the gun from her hip as she quietly moved to look through the peephole. Given the night we’d had, there wouldn’t be many reasons to come calling short of an attack or emergency, and by that point, I genuinely wasn’t sure which I’d have preferred.