“Cruach,” she said instantly. “Steel.”
“Okay, okay... spelled C-R, I assume? Good.” Kelly pulled out her reading tablet, a cheap little thing only slightly bigger than her cell phone, and plugged Kat's burn drive into it. As she expected, a book downloaded itself onto the device—Sun Tzu's The Art of War. At least, that was what the title page said. But even though she hadn't read through the entire book, she had paged through enough of it to know that this wasn't a standard translation.
“It's a book code,” Sax said, looking over my shoulder. “A... triple nested book code? Maybe more?”
“That's what I'm guessing.” Kelly frowned. “The only question is whether it's based on English or Irish... Greene, what number is the letter C in Gaelic?”
“Third. Same as English. R is fifteen, though.”
Kelly tabbed through the book until she found page three, then counted to the fifteenth word. Exorbitant. Okay... probably not it. “What number is R in English?” She couldn't remember off the top of her head.
“Eighteen.”
Kelly moved three words over. The. That sounded more likely. “All right... give me the first two letters of the next line.”
“S and C. Nineteen and three.”
Page nineteen, third word... latrine.
Jarasax was still following her progress. “That doesn't seem very likely.”
Kelly kneaded her forehead. She was not built for code breaking. “Fine,” she said, handing him the reader. “You have a better idea?”
He chewed his lip briefly. “I think... we should try doing it by letter. The first one is third page, eighteenth letter. That's... F.” He tabbed back to page nineteen. “And then... E. Yeah, that sounds more likely. Miss Greene, what's next?”
It took a while, but they eventually managed to pound out Kat's code, letter by letter. Especially since it took a while for them to realize they were supposed to count spaces as letters. By the time they finished, Kelly could see the sun dipping out of sight through the room's sole window.
“'Fey scheming together,'” Sax read aloud. “'Investigating now. Tapped their comms before they switched, ask Little Sister zero zero nine nine eight two seven.'”
“I'll just let myself out...” Lizzie said as she walked away. The Thor bouncer had left hours ago. Kelly barely noticed.
“LS0099827. That's one of MC's programs, right?”
Jarasax nodded. “Definitely. Not sure which one, of course, but we can figure it out. I'm more interested in why Kat didn't just give the info to MC directly.”
Alex shrugged. “Paranoid, maybe? The fey are pretty good at rooting out spies. And if they're working together now, it's even worse.”
The fey courts had some... interesting relationships with each other. The seasons, directions, and Day/Night fought each other constantly, but at the same time they respected the boundaries they had created for themselves. Night's Southern Autumn may as well not exist anywhere but the south of the city, and she disappeared completely during the non-fall months.
But if they were actually, actively working together, that meant...
Well, nothing, probably. The fey were crazy. They weren't likely to toss fifteen years of paranoid psychosis to the side just at the drop of a hat. In fact, if they were trying to work together, the most likely result is that they'd end up killing each other.
Kelly shook her head. “Whatever. We'll see. I'll take this to Clarke, see what he thinks.”
Sax raised an eyebrow. “Not MC?”
Kelly shrugged. “Kat decided not to tell her, for whatever reason. We have to respect that until we know more. Clarke will have the expertise to check whatever data she dumped in the Little Sister. Then we'll know more.”
Alex pulled out his phone. “I'll call—” He frowned. “That's weird. I missed a call from MC.” He moved the phone to his ear to listen to the message. After a moment, he cursed. “Dawn and blades—I gotta go. A job came up.”
George grunted. “For just you?”
“Yeah...” Alex said. “I asked MC to call me the second anything came up. I didn't think this would take so long... sorry guys, I really have to go.”
“It's all right,” Kelly said. “We'll be fine.”
Chapter 38: PRAEDO
ALEX
Alex Gabriel was a daybreaker of the Night caste, 1032nd in precedence in the Host of the Glorious Destruction. This particular Host currently only had forty-five members, which was pretty good for angels. They just didn't have the numbers of the other cultures. Alex's number was so low because she was listed below every washed-out glowling, not to mention all the dead martyrs and idiots recorded in the Book of Glory.
Joining Necessarius rarely met with approval from the Saints.
Alex was worried about Kat and everything, so in order to take his mind off it, he had asked MC to inform him of the first job that became available. It turned out to be interviewing Ileana, the Nosferatu who had helped Derek talk to the warlords. She wanted to join up with Necessarius. It wasn't his normal job, but it was better him than Adele Lucifer.
Ileana was pretty, in a pale sort of way, especially for a Nosferatu. She had retractable claws and only very small, albeit poisoned, fangs. She was a diplomat, trained to deal with other cultures, so she was less monstrous than most of her brethren. According to her toy receipt, she made up for it with a number of internal buffs, like muscle and bone enhancements.
Alex liked her, and unless she did something really stupid, was planning on recommending they accept her. But that wasn't why he was there. Right now, his job was to make her sweat, not be her friend. Max Archer more than Roy Clayton.
“It says here you participated in the Battle of Hathsin.”
She winced. “Yes. That was a... mistake.”
“I'm sure it was.” Alex made a show of paging through the pad, letting her stew for a minute.
She shifted in her seat. “I understand why you wouldn't want me—”
“We want everyone, Miss Ileana,” Alex said tiredly. She only had the one name, but that wasn't as odd in Domina as it was elsewhere. Changing your legal name was easier here, and many people didn't know who their parents were anyway. “We will take absolutely anyone we think won't betray us.” Alex slid the pad to the side and locked gazes, forcing her to recognize his dayeyes. “Do you know why?”
She adjusted her goggles. “Uh... because it's the only way to keep recruitment up?”
Alex sighed. “Because it is necessary, Miss Ileana. That is the only reason Necessarius does anything.”
They sat there in silence for a moment, as she tried hard not to look him in the eyes. She had worked under Cinder for years. He was a heartless, selfish bastard, and those Necessarius managed to recruit away from him never believed their honest intentions. None of the gangs did, really. It broke his heart sometimes.
At least Cinder and Halifax wouldn't be a problem any more. Derek had slapped them down twice, in front of their followers no less. And if that wasn't enough, they'd probably be dead before the week was out. Killed by their “friends” or their former victims, it didn't really matter.
That reminded him. “I have one last question. Soaring Eagle is asking for those Nobles from last night. Says she wants to kill them herself. Any idea why?”
Ileana blinked. “Soaring Eagle? The ave Animal King?”
Alex shrugged. “Queen, but yes. Do you know her?”
She frowned. “No, and I didn't think Cinder did either. I mean, him and Halifax have been at each others' throats since back when Halifax still had a face. I can't think of a reason...” She caught her breath. “Adânc de noapte,” she swore. Alex recognized the curse—his sister was a vampire, so he had picked up some Romanian here and there.
“What? What is it?”
She paused, clearly considering how honestly to answer.
Alex narrowed his eyes, impatient for real this time. “Miss Ileana...”
“The cause of the fight last night,” she said
quickly. “A few nights ago, some of Halifax's scouts managed to ambush and loot an ave truck. Cinder sent his men to steal the loot back. It was... a toy box.”
Toy boxes were basically a large-scale version of the toy maker. You could put an entire person inside it, make large-scale changes cheaply and easily. Their invention had jumpstarted the recent creation of the anthros.
Something like that could finally bring prosperity to the ave culture. They were one of the oldest cultures, but they had almost no members, since they didn't have any worthwhile buffs to offer. If they got their hands on a toy box, they'd have a real chance.
There were only twenty-six toy boxes in existence, as far as Alex knew. One was in the hands of the fey, another was the one they sold to Necessarius, and the other twenty-four were Clarke's reverse-engineered copies of the second.
Alex pulled out his phone as fast as he could and dialed MC. She picked up immediately, as always.
“Greetings, Alex Gabriel,” her fake voice said, cheerful as ever.
“I need to talk to the real MC,” he said. “Immediately. It's about the toy box.”
It only took a few moments for him to be connected with the real thing. “Hey, Alex? What's this about a toy box?”
“Ileana says the Guruhi stole one from the Nictuku, who stole it from Soaring Eagle. Any chance she bought the damn thing legally?”
There was a pause, presumably as she checked her records. “No. It was stolen on the morning of the first. The first of September, I mean. Does that gel with the timeline?”
Alex held the phone away from his mouth and turned back to the Nosferatu. “What date was the ambush?”
She bit her lip, thinking. “It was... Saturday night. So that would be the first.”
“Day and dawn... yeah, that fits.”
“I'll tell Butler,” MC said. “He'll figure out where Cinder stashed it. Anything else?”
“No, that should be all. Bye.”
“Later.” She hung up.
Alex plunked the phone on the desk with a sigh. Ileana stared at him, as wide-eyed as she could be in the painful light from his desk lamp. He, on the other hand, could barely see out of the very small circle of light it provided. He really should have left this to Kelly, or anyone with nighteyes.
“Cinder and Halifax will be interrogated for information soon,” Alex said as calmly as he could. “There will be no mercy. Once Soaring Eagle is found, she will also be interrogated, to see if she has any other plans against Necessarius. Then, she will be executed, as will any of her co-conspirators.”
Ileana gulped.
“Once the toy box is found, anyone guarding it will be captured and interrogated, to determine if anyone managed to reverse-engineer it in the meantime, and to keep the secrets of its construction from getting out. Soaring Eagle has just killed several hundred people.”
Ileana shivered. “But... why? Why not just make her pay retribution? Or help you retrieve it? Or both?”
Alex locked his gaze with hers. “Because,” he said slowly, “it is necessary.”
Chapter 39: VULNERUM
LAURA
Laura ripped the blood-soaked bandage off Derek's stomach without warning.
“Ack! Careful, Laura! That stings!”
“Careful?” she demanded. She grabbed a bottle of antiseptic and poured it directly onto the puncture wound, where it bubbled and hissed. He yelped in pain and nearly jumped off his bed. She pushed him back down.
“You are the one who has re-opened his wounds ten times in as many hours, because you can't stay out of fights.” She slapped a new bandage on his belly, where the antiseptic still sizzled, and taped it on briskly. “You are the one who attacked two Nosferatu Nobles while bleeding buckets from two separate wounds.” She went to his neck bandage, also completely crimson, and repeated the process. “I think that if you die from my ministrations, it's your own damn fault.”
He struggled, but had little success. He really had lost way too much blood. On the other hand, his wounds might have been the only reason the Nosferatu had listened to him last night. One guy with a death glare was easy to ignore. One guy with a death glare despite being covered in his own blood was a little bit harder.
“I'm sorry,” Akane whispered, clutching her sheathed sword as if for comfort. She really should be resting too, but at least she wasn't agitating her wounds. Her entire torso and her burned arm were wrapped in bandages that would accelerate the healing process. “I didn't even notice he was wounded at first. I thought it was vampire blood.”
Laura sighed. “It's not your fault. How's Ling holding up?”
“Doctor Henry says she's just got a few cracked ribs, plus the teeth. She'll be perfectly fine tomorrow.”
The toy maker had so many wonderful uses. Vastly accelerating the body's natural healing was one of them, and replacing a few shattered teeth was even easier.
Derek had refused to accept treatment, and it had taken Laura a while to figure out why. It wasn't that he wanted scars—in fact, his skin was flawless, despite the many wounds he had surely accrued over the years; one of the other minor gifts of the toy maker. No, the reason was a bit simpler than that.
“You'll have to get used to being a celebrity eventually,” she said while pressing on his chest, looking for fractures. The x-rays hadn't shown anything, but it was best to be sure.
He snorted. “No thanks, I can live without being fawned over like royalty.” He sighed. “At least when I was just a monster slayer, I could request a doctor who didn't care about that. All of Clarke's techs know we're Paladins, so that's out.”
“Could always talk to Doctor Clarke directly,” Akane said. “He still treats us the same.”
Derek smiled. “Yeah, and he won't stop blabbering about his newest projects, either. Besides, he's too busy to do grunt work.”
Laura glanced at the first aid kit Derek kept in his room. “Hm, you're out of sutures. Akane, I have some more in my room, under my bed.” She tossed her keys to her. Akane headed out with a nod.
“I don't need stitches,” he said with a scoff. “There's some of that healspray stuff in the kit. It'll keep me together long enough to find a doctor.”
“I agree,” Laura said. She shook the aerosol can, peeled up his bandages, and sprayed it on the wounds. She probably should have done that before the bandages, but she had forgotten. It wouldn't cause any harm, regardless. Healspray wasn't as good as stitches, but it would serve as temporary skin until he could get fixed. The biological equivalent of a bandage. “I just needed to get Akane out of the room for a minute. I need to talk to you in private.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What about? I can't think of anything you'd need to talk about that she can't hear.”
She chose her words carefully. “Tell me what you think about her.”
He blinked. “What?”
“Akane. And Ling, for that matter. Tell me how you feel about them.”
“Well... I mean...” He scratched his head. “They're my friends, you know? Just like you and Adam. Sometimes they give me headaches, though.”
Laura put the spray aside and started feeling around his neck wound. He had mentioned it ached more than it should; he might have some internal injuries they couldn't see, like a minor case of whiplash or something. Not to mention that the Nosferatu sometimes used poison, but that would have shown up in his blood work “And what about when they throw themselves at you?”
He frowned. “Yeah, that's where the headaches come in. I don't know what's up with them these days.”
She sighed and stepped back. His neck was fine, as was his chest. He had no injuries other than the obvious ones. His brain, however, might need fixing.
The reason Derek had re-opened his wounds so much—other than intervening in a fight between some kemos—was that Ling had tackled him. In fact, that was why she was getting treated right now. Her injuries had gone from “minor ache” to “screaming pain.” It was her own damn fault, but still.
&nbs
p; Akane wasn't much better. She hadn't actually tackled him, but she had refused to let go of his arm, so he kept losing his balance. The reason Laura was treating him was because she was honestly worried about what would happen if she let her do it.
“Derek Huntsman,” she declared. “You are the stupidest man I have ever met.”
Before he could respond, Akane came back and handed Laura her own first aid kit. She glanced at the healspray can. “Couldn't you just use that?”
“Yes, and I did. Sorry for making you waste your time.”
She shrugged, unconcerned. “There's something you might want to hear,” she said, pulling out her phone and clicking a few buttons. She held it up, and Eliza Cassan's voice came out. Akane must have found a recording.
“I'm here on the scene of the latest screamer attack, in the South-East Central district. Until last night, this was the site of a long-standing war between two of the largest Nosferatu bloodlines, the Guruhi and the Nictuku. The screamers attacked at 8 P.M., in the middle of a battle. The vampires largely chose to ignore this new enemy, in favor of continuing to kill each other.
“Necessarian forces did their best to contain the violence, but they were vastly outnumbered. It wasn't until the Paladins arrived that the tide began to turn. The Necessarian angel host arrived soon after, and with their help the battle was won relatively quickly.
“Many of the survivors note that the leader of the Paladins single-handily managed to subdue the vampires, and many turned to aiding the beleaguered soldiers they had been fighting against just moments before. Those few who remained recalcitrant—including the Nobles of the two bloodlines—were declared 'Honorless Bloodsoaked,' and cast out.”
Akane closed her phone with a snap.
Derek sat up and reached for his shirt. “I feel like I've heard that term before... but I can't place my finger on it.”
“You invented it,” she said. “Last night. You called Halifax and Cinder 'Honorless Bloodsoaked,' and the Nosferatu heard you.”
“Oh yeah, I heard about that,” Laura said. “It's become the accepted insult. Sort of the opposite of the Honored. I think they already got names for all the cultures.” She chewed her lip, thinking. “Let's see... angels are Fallen, demons fiends, giants goliaths...”
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