The City of Monsters

by Matthew McCollum

  Derek held up a hand for her to stop. “Wait wait. All I did was insult a couple Nobles. And it turned into a full-blown meme?”

  Laura shrugged. “All the message boards I frequent are using it.”

  He stared at her. “It's been less than twelve hours.”

  She grinned. “Well, most of the Nosferatu spent that entire time in quarantine, so I guess they didn't have much to do other than blog.” Her smile softened as she finally realized why he was freaking out. “They just think it sounds like a good counter to the honorifics. It's not because it was you who said it.”

  He put his shirt on carefully, frowning. “I... yeah, I guess that makes sense. But still, all this attention...”

  “Stop worrying,” she said. “I know you don't like being put on a pedestal, but you're running around, saving the city and everyone in it.” She shrugged. “You're going to be looked up to. Just refuse to give autographs and you'll be fine.”

  He looked horrified, and she couldn't help but laugh.

  “It isn't funny!” he cried. “I don't know how to deal with that!”

  She patted his head. “Just deal with it the same way you deal with women, and you'll be fine.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean, how I deal with women?”

  “Exactly.” She pulled out the scrunchy keeping her hair up, letting it fall again. She hadn't wanted to worry about getting any hair in Derek's wounds. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some shopping to do.”

  He cocked his head, confused. “Didn't you get all that done a few days ago with Lizzy?”

  “I just need to order a few specialty items from the Emporium,” she said, referring to the online marketplace. “It's no big deal.”

  She retrieved her first-aid kit from Akane and headed towards the door. She was planning to leave for the day, until she noticed the look on Akane's face. She was waiting for Laura to leave with an anxious expression.

  Silver and gold, she couldn't leave these two alone.

  “I'll be right back,” she said, to Akane's obvious disappointment. “I just need to grab my laptop.”

  She closed the door behind her... and nearly ran into Ling, silently opening the door to her own room.

  She grinned, a little shakily. “Hey Laura.”

  Laura frowned. “Aren't you supposed to be getting healed over at NHQ?”

  “South Central Outpost, actually,” she said. “Henry put me in one of the toy boxes. Fixed me up quick enough. He'd probably be willing to do the same for Derek, actually.”

  Laura scowled. “Let him deal with it for now. He deserves the pain.”

  She winced. “Right, and I meant to apologize about—”

  “Straw that broke the camel's back, Ling,” Laura said flatly. “Again, he deserves everything that has happened to him.” She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Look, I have to go grab something from my room—”

  “Oh, I'll come with you,” Ling said as she locked the door again. “I left one of my gloves in there during Akane's party.”

  They both headed towards the elevators, and Laura struggled to remember. “The thin leather one?”

  She nodded. “That's it. You found it?”

  “Yeah. It's on my nightstand.”

  When they reached the room, Laura collected her laptop, Ling got her glove, and Laura locked up again. Lizzy wasn't there, but that wasn't a big surprise. There was some voice actors' convention going on. Laura didn't know the details, but she was busy. Probably for the best; they didn't need anyone else fawning over Derek.

  Ling told Laura to go on ahead while she went to the bathroom, and Laura didn't see a need to wait for her. When the elevator doors opened, however, it had picked up two passengers. Before Laura stepped on, the girl, a midnight-colored vampire, held the door open and gave her a look.

  “Laura?” she asked with surprise. “Is that you?”

  Laura frowned, her hand involuntarily edging towards my Occisor. “Do I know you?”

  “Nine hells,” her companion, a purple demon—a sibriex, almost certainly—muttered. “It really is her. She hasn't changed a bit.”

  Laura resisted the urge to grind her teeth. “I think you might have me mistaken for someone else.”

  The vampire rolled her eyes. At least, Laura thought she did. She was wearing daygoggles, so it was hard to tell. “It's me, Laura. Seena!”

  Laura blinked dumbly. “Wait—Seena Lancaster?” Her hand finally came away from my gun, and she looked her up and down. She should have known at “nine hells.” “When did you become a vampire?”

  She grinned. “Just a week or so ago. I joined the Mals, and they footed the bill.”

  But that just made Laura frown again. “The assassins? Why?”

  Seena shrugged. “They asked.”

  Laura sighed. “And what about you, Simon? Did you join the sibriex just for the hell of it?”

  He laughed. “Of course not. You know I've always been interested in the toy maker.” His grin faded. “Unfortunately, I don't really have the skills the sibriex are looking for, and I haven't had a chance to experiment as much as I'd like...”

  Thankfully, Ling came back before they could delve too deeply into depressing topics. “Oh, hi!” She glanced at Laura, then back at the twins. “Do you guys know each other?”

  “Seena Lancaster,” Seena said, shaking Ling's hand firmly while still holding the door open. “This is my brother, Simon.”

  Ling smiled and shook his hand as well. “Pleasure. I'm Ling Yu.” She glanced at Laura for a moment before turning her attention back to Seena. “So how do you know Laura, anyway?”

  Laura thought this hardly seemed the best time or place for this discussion, but Seena didn't care. “She moved to North Outer when we were all eleven. We got along famously until our orphanage got bombed by some Canians, and we moved here.” She scrunched up her face. “That was... three years ago, I think.”

  “That's right,” Laura said with a sigh. “It was about a month after my fifteenth birthday, I remember.” Seena was exaggerating about the “got along famously” part, of course. While Laura had spent more time with them than anyone else, that really wasn't saying much.

  Simon brushed his green hair back. “What are you doing here, anyway? Visiting your dad and friends?”

  “Actually I'm going to AU for college.”

  “Really?” Seena exclaimed. “Why didn't you tell us? We could have made sure we had a few matching classes.”

  “It's been three years, Seena. I forgot.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, pouting a little. Ling and Laura hopped into the elevator before the doors closed, but Seena didn't seem to notice. “Well, I guess we'll just have to make up for lost time. When's your last class? We can get lunch or dinner after that.”

  Laura winced and touched her necklace. “I... don't know I'll be free. I have a job with really weird hours.” She heard a click as Ling pressed the button for their floor, and the elevator finally began to rise.

  Simon quirked his head. “Weren't you just consulting a little on the side? That's not really an emergency.”

  “Consulting for warlords, these days,” Laura lied smoothly. “Not the kind of people you want to disappoint.”

  Simon laughed. “Combat consulting? I should have known. All those hours of StarCraft and Warhammer finally paid off, eh?”

  Laura grinned. “More than you know.”

  The elevator dinged with their floor, and Ling stepped out, using her hand to hold the door open.

  “I'm sure we can all find time to do something,” she said to the twins. “I'd like to get to know you better, and I'm sure the others would like to meet you.”

  “Call me,” Seena insisted, as Laura stepped out as well. “Promise?”

  Laura smiled at her as the doors closed. “Promise.”

  Ling smiled too. “They seemed nice.”

  “They are,” Laura admitted. “Too nice for the Mals, and maybe even too nice for the sibriex.” She s
hook her head. “But for now, we just need to make sure Akane hasn't mounted Derek while we were gone.”

  “I'm gonna go swimming, actually, to cool down after soccer. What were your plans for the night?”

  She's going swimming at this hour? Laura thought. Whatever. “I was gonna do something with Akane. Not sure what yet, maybe watch a movie, do a study group. We'll think of something.”

  Ling grinned. “That's good. When I get back, I kind of want some time without her hovering over my shoulder.”

  Chapter 40: INTERULUS

  LING

  People looked at Ling a little funny as she rode the elevator back up to her dorm, but wearing a towel over a wet swimsuit wasn't really that big a deal. The only reason they were surprised at all was because she had been swimming at night. Generally, it was a good idea for non-vampires to avoid doing things like that.

  It wasn't that late, only a little after nine. Ling had just always enjoyed swimming in the dark, especially after practice. This was the perfect time: Vampires didn't come out until later, and everyone else was already gone, so there was no one around to bother her. Sure, normally she liked being... bothered, but everyone needed time to unwind.

  But she was already done swimming. She hadn't spent too much time doing laps, just enough to cool down from soccer practice.

  When she finally reached her floor, she didn't go to her room. Instead, she looked at the door across from hers—Derek's door—took a deep breath, and opened it. Derek always left the door unlocked when he was inside. Probably so that Akane could come and go as she pleased.

  “Oh, hey Ling,” Akane greeted her warmly. “Back from your swim?”

  Ling blinked. Derek and Laura were sitting on his bed, Laura leaning against the pillows with her laptop across her knees. Derek was at the foot of the bed, closer to the door and not actually touching Laura at all. Akane was sitting on Adam's bed, trying not to mess it up.

  Ling dropped her towel in surprise.

  Laura looked up. “Nice. I'm not sure black is your color, but not bad.”

  Ling blushed and scrambled for the towel. Derek finally registered her presence, and frowned. “Isn't that a couple sizes too small?”

  “That's the style for bikinis these days,” Laura said. “I believe the official line is 'tight in all the right places.'”

  Derek snorted derisively. “It looks like it could pop off at any second. How is that any good?”

  Laura just shook her head and went back to her laptop, though Ling noticed she touched her necklace briefly, as if to remind herself it was still there.

  Ling had to agree with her. Velvet hells, that man was stupid.

  But weren't they always? If the hero understood women at all, he always had a girlfriend. Because despite what men seemed to believe, girls eventually got over their desire for “bad boys.” And if the hero didn't have a girlfriend, it meant he didn't understand women. Simple as that.

  Ling finally managed to get the towel wrapped around her body and fled to her own room, locking the door behind her.

  She had been prepared when she opened the door, but nothing like running into a couple love rivals to put a damper on that. Okay, Laura wasn't really a love rival... not important. She had thought they would be gone.

  Ling dressed quickly. She didn't really spend as much time as she should have, so she ended up putting dry clothes over her wet body. At least they were dark colors, so she wouldn't be giving anyone a view of her underwear, but they still clung to her uncomfortably. She headed back downstairs, virtually running.

  Emily barely glanced at her when she passed her in the lobby—did she sleep there?—but Ling nearly crashed into Lily and Adam coming in.

  “Hey Ling,” he said. “What's up? Wasn't there a study group or something?”

  Right, that was why the girls were there. Ling had assumed they were going to do it without Derek. Well, she couldn't go back now.

  “Yeah,” she said. “But I can't...” She shook her head. “Just tell Akane I'll be back tomorrow morning at the latest, and not to worry.”

  “Fair enough,” he said, although he looked concerned. “Have fun.”

  Ling caught a light rail going to South Middle, and rode on it for about forty-five minutes. In an emergency the trains could go up to two hundred miles an hour, but generally they stuck to sixty. Stupid little facts like that kept bouncing around in her skull as she got off three blocks from her destination. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and started walking.

  It was a relatively nice part of the city, as far as the residential areas went. Tall apartments lined a clean street. There were a few trees here and there along the sidewalk, but most of the greenery came from the hanging wall gardens lining the trellises. Nearly every wall was covered in plant life, vibrant and bountiful. This time of year, the fruits and vegetables would be out of season, but there were a few herbs and vines that sustained the area.

  It didn't take her long to find the place she was looking for. It had wider balconies than the other structures, since the building was rented as a whole rather than as individual apartments. She heard children laughing, and teenagers yelling at them to knock it off. There wasn't anyone in the street, but it was getting late, so that made sense. Honestly, everyone should be in bed already, but no one had ever managed to enforce that rule.

  She knocked on the door with as much confidence as she could muster, and waited for a response.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  She knocked again and waited for another five minutes.

  Eventually she gave up and just started pounded on the door as loudly as she could. “Open the door, you damn brats!”

  She heard someone approaching loudly, and the door swung open. “Who the hell—Ling?”

  The matron of Ling's orphanage was a tall, plump woman of undetermined ethnicity. Well, she looked black, but she changed her skin color every year or so, so that didn't mean much. She also looked about forty, but she'd looked like that for as long as Ling had known her.

  She blinked, then grinned broadly. “Ling! You didn't say you were coming home. Come in, come in, it's cold outside.” She ushered her in. Ling hadn't even noticed the cold, despite her damp clothes. She must have been more distracted than she thought.

  “Turgay called,” Matron said happily. “Said you and a friend stopped by his warehouse a few days ago.”

  “Yeah, Adam needed some ammo.” Ling cursed under her breath.

  In response, Matron cuffed her lightly on the back of the head. “No swearing.”

  Ling rubbed the spot where she had been hit. “Sorry, I just remembered that I had wanted to get some body armor too, but I completely forgot.”

  She sniffed. “That's still no cause for swearing.”

  She led Ling into the dining room, empty now. Dinner had probably ended hours ago. Matron liked to put the little ones to bed early. Of course, for the vampires it was an early breakfast, but who was counting?

  “Why are you gearing up so much, anyway?” Matron asked. She pulled out a chair, and Ling sat. She then sat at the head of the table, kitty-corner to Ling. “Sounds like you're preparing for a war.”

  Ling looked at her, frowning. “Have you... been listening to the news at all?”

  Matron waved her hand. “Angels killed Baal. Nosferatu having another civil war. Zombies running amok. Butler has everything in hand. You're overreacting.” Well, things were getting worse every week, but Ling figured she didn't need to know the full details. “But somehow I don't think that's why you're here.” She gave Ling that long, level look she had, usually reserved for when someone had done something especially stupid. “It's a boy, isn't it?”

  Ling flinched away from her gaze. “Well... yeah.”

  Matron leaned back in her chair and sighed. “When are you going to learn? Even before your hormones kicked in, you used to sneak into the boys' rooms whenever you got the chance.”

  Ling shrugged, still not meeting he
r eyes, and picked at the table. The heavy wood was scarred in a thousand places, including one spot where Ling had tried to write her name in Chinese. That hadn't worked out so well.

  “This is different,” Ling said. “Derek's something to work for.”

  Her Matron just raised an eyebrow. “That's what you said about Tamaki, Kyouya, Hikaru and Kaoru...”

  “Hey, I never said anything like that about the twins.”

  “Fine. Still. This is hardly new, my dear.”

  Ling sighed. “You never understand.”

  Before Matron had a chance to cuff her again, a half dozen kids, maybe ten or twelve years old, swarmed into the room.

  “Ling!” a young vampire cried out, hugging her leg. She was the leader of this little gang. The rest had baseline eyes, and would need to go to bed soon, while her day was just starting. “Matron said you wouldn't be coming back!”

  Matron whacked the orphan lightly on the top of her head. “No, I said she wouldn't be coming back to live here. She's welcome to visit whenever she likes.”

  “It's been fun without you,” another of the kids said. “Mitchel's been going crazy. It's hilarious.” He changed his voice, imitating the surly boy one year Ling's junior. “'Matron, why'd Ling have to leave? Matron, did Ling call?'” He snickered evilly.

  Ling flicked him in the nose. “I don't want to hear that from someone who still wets the bed.”

  He flinched away from her finger. “I do not! You're the one who got caught fuc—”

  Matron whacked him hard this time. “That's enough. Go to bed. Now.”

  They ran off quickly, knowing better than to tempt her wrath.

  She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, you kids fight more than a devilfish swarm.”

  Ling bristled. “Hey, I haven't been a kid for a long time now!”

  “I know. I was there when your kids were born, remember?”

  Ling felt her face flush crimson, and she laughed.