by Chloe Garner
“I know,” Tell said. “But she’s right. That’s not who she is, and it isn’t who I want to be, either. We’re going to go in there and we’re going to get Kyle out alive, one way or another. We’re going to bring him back here. But if we don’t have to fight them, we won’t.”
“Tell,” Colette said. “They’ll kill you.”
He grinned.
“They can try.”
e hadn’t tried to talk him out of it, because he was right.
Every bit of it.
That they needed to ask before they demanded, and it needed to be Tell, not Tina. He was stronger than she was, faster than she was, more experienced than she was.
She’d packed a very large bag full of things that she might find useful, being as creative as she could, and then Hunter had pulled her upstairs while Tell and Colette had spent one more minute talking about the men she remembered from her days before the first resurrection.
“Hey,” Hunter said. “He can hear me and it’s fine. You come home, okay?”
“What?” Tina asked. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying if you have to leave him, you leave him. He’s hard to kill and it’s going to take some time, so long as your anti-pink-goo stuff works, and if you have to bail, do it. He survives everything. I know this.”
Tina licked her lips.
“I thought you weren’t worried,” she said after a moment, unable to engage him with the same seriousness he’d used.
“You’re walking out that door,” he said. “And I’m not coming with you. You’ll leave your phone here, and so will he. The two of you…” He looked down at her hands, sliding his fingers under her palms and lifting them towards his mouth. “The two of you are scary. You’re good. You might be the best. But I don’t want to be here, hiding from a bunch of idiots who want to kill me over a dance, when you’re not but a couple of miles away dying. Don’t do that to me. Okay?”
She nodded.
“Okay,” she said.
He nodded and kissed her knuckles, then she let her hands drop and stepped closer to him, lifting her face to his.
She smiled at him and he touched her hair along her temple.
“You know, you’re pretty?” he said. “You have my favorite face.”
She held his eye, and he kissed her lips.
“Have fun storming the castle,” he said.
“Have you figured out my type yet?” Tina answered, and he frowned, not sure what she was asking, but still close, still simple. “Tall, kind of square-shouldered, dark hair, short but not cropped, the kind of guy who might have played quarterback for his football team, or maybe does hiking and rock climbing kind of stuff. Shaved, but not really recently. You know what I’m talking about?”
Hunter slowly grinned, nodding twice, his nose still touching hers.
“I do,” he said. “I remember the one you’re talking about.”
“You should have one waiting,” she said. He raised his eyebrow and she grinned, playing her fingers on the hem of his shirt. She licked her lips and nodded. “I’m not going to take him to bed with us, but I don’t mind how you react to me feeding.”
He kissed her lips once more, smiling back at her.
“My favorite kind of indulgence,” he said. “He’ll be waiting.”
She nodded, touching his temple with the side of her thumb, then turning to go back downstairs and pick up her bag.
“You ready?” she asked Tell.
“Just making sure you were,” he answered, picking up a much smaller bag and tossing it over his shoulder. “Just like we said?”
“Just like we said.”
They went over both cars carefully to find the trackers the Order had put on them - two each, in the interests of being thorough - and then Tina drove her own car by herself to a spot about three blocks away from the Order’s headquarters, leaving her car in a pay-per-day parking lot and walking with her shoulders up against the cold and a scarf around most of her face. She didn’t see Tell, and by the time she got close to the building, she hadn’t smelled him yet, either. She turned at the last corner before the Order building, climbing up the side of one of the neighboring buildings and going across rooftops to get to the side of the Order building.
She could hear the voices inside again, fewer at this hour than the last time she’d been here, but louder. It was almost clear enough for her to hear what they were saying. She climbed the side of the building, two stories up to get onto the roof, where the conversation was clearest. She could hear every voice distinctly, and she could hear Elroy’s tone as he gave orders.
That.
That one was Kyle, a little whiny and worried, but entitled in a way none of the others were.
He was the man of the hour, and he was enjoying it.
Tina checked her watch, then set to work with the tools she’d packed in her bag, listening hard for the sign she knew was inevitable.
Maybe two minutes later, the voices downstairs became much more animated, with Elroy shouting, ‘bring him to me’ loud enough for Tina to hear it.
She lay down on the roof, putting her ear to the cold cement, watching as heavy snowflakes started to land around her, sticking almost at the first to everything they touched.
“Elroy,” Tell said. “Been a long time.”
Tina closed her eyes, listening as hard as she could.
“Vampire,” Elroy said. “The unliving and the undead. The interferer. The immortal. We have seen plenty of your kind, now, and we know that our respect in you was unfounded. You may be animate, but you are not alive. I will not hesitate to kill you.”
“And I wouldn’t hesitate to kill you, if you gave me a reason,” Tell said. “I’m here to give you a chance not to give me a reason. I killed two of your men earlier tonight, over an old grudge. It’s foolish for you to continue to send men after me, when you could just end everything now.”
“What end would there be? Will you bring me the traitoress’ head on a platter? She betrayed the Order, and we do not forget.”
“Yes, but you bleed,” Tell said. “How many of your men are not here today because of me? I’m going to continue to stay in your way, and you are going to continue to lose your people. It’s not worth it.”
“What is the value of a life? The Order defines the value of life, as the Order takes life and the Order gives life. I will expend my lives as I see fit.”
“Kyle?” Tell asked. “You do look just like her.”
“Do not speak to the apostle,” Elroy said.
“She’s risking her life to try to talk you out of doing this,” Tell said. “She’s that convinced it’s a mistake, and equally convinced that she can talk you out of making it, if you give her a chance.”
“If I see the traitoress, I will kill her with my bare hands,” Kyle said.
“Um. I would actually pay to see that fight,” Tell said. “Regardless, you’re leaving with me, and then all of this is done. I won’t come back.”
“You will not leave,” Elroy said.
Heartbeat.
The door that opened onto the roof opened and Tina sprung to her feet, finding a man there with a knife and a gun.
Knife.
No, knife was not the right word.
That was a freaking sword.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” the man said.
“Really?” Tina asked. “I had no idea. We would have come sooner.”
She watched him as he circled away from the door, the handgun trained on her and the sword pointing at the ground, fist on fist.
“You’ve been watching too many movies, friend,” she said, holding her ground over her pile of stuff.
A sword.
I mean.
I mean.
A sword.
What exactly did he plan on doing with that?
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” he answered. “And what I’ve found is that the best way to kill a vampire is to leave them in very small pieces.”
Well.
<
br /> Actually.
“Wouldn’t a cleaver be better for that?” Tina asked. “It’s what they use on everything else.”
He smiled.
Cold.
“We need to have a conversation before you die,” he said. “I have questions for you.”
“Well, you’re welcome to ask them, but there’s no telling how many I’m going to be interested in answering,” Tina said. “I’m kind of on a clock, here.”
“Oh, I assure you, you have nowhere to be.”
Tina sat down cross-legged and folded her hands.
It was so cold.
“You may as well get started, then,” she said.
“How long have you been a vampire?” he asked.
“Pass,” she said.
He laughed.
“You think that you have a choice here?”
“I think that I’m the predator and you’re a sheep with a stick,” she said.
He pulled the trigger on the gun, and the bullet thumped into her chest. She looked down at the hole, feeling the stinging pain there, and she looked up at him again, standing slowly.
“You people continually underestimate me,” she said. “Think you can send just one guy against me. I think I merit at least five or six.”
He shot her again.
It hurt.
It really did.
There was a reflex to cover the spot with her hand, but she kept her eyes on him, instead.
She had things she wanted to know.
“How do you keep him from dying?” she asked.
“You’re the one who killed Donnelly,” he said.
“If he was the idiot who though I was running away so he didn’t shoot me… Yes.”
The man grunted.
“He told me that he didn’t want the elder vampire, ally to the traitoress, to know what we could do until he got to kill him, himself. Idiot.” He pulled the trigger again and a bullet went tearing across the side of Tina’s neck. She did check this one, just to be sure that it hadn’t hit anything critical.
“Didn’t get your name,” Tina said, looking at her fingers.
“Bellany,” he said.
“Ah, the lunatic sadist. I read about you. You’re a better shot than that, Bellany,” she said. He grinned.
“Aren’t you an interesting one? I can kill you any time I want to.”
She put her hand to her ribs, pressing there, feeling the bleeding slow, but she looked at her hand for a moment and then back at him. He grinned wider.
“You’re mine. Just you and me. Now. I have some questions for you. If you want to go on living even a few more minutes, you’ll answer them.”
“How did you do that?” Tina asked.
“I’ve been kidnapping vampires and testing on them for years and years. You have to have a way to control them, and I’ve found pain and fear do admirably.”
Tina drew a breath, then coughed.
“I see.”
“It’ll be taking effect now, yes? You animals get so used to just ignoring the holes, it’s always nice to see you land on your knees when you realize it.”
“What is it?” Tina asked.
“Doesn’t matter. How long have you been a vampire?”
“Eighty years,” Tina said, listening to the fighting downstairs as it began to get serious.
She needed to get down there soon.
He shot her again, and she squeaked, holding her stomach.
It hurt.
“I’m going to rip your throat out when I’m done with you,” Tina growled.
“Where is Colette?”
“You know where she is,” Tina said. “And you aren’t getting in there.”
He took aim at her, and Tina rolled out of the way, angry and very aware that if he hit her in the head or square in the middle of the chest that it might be enough to kill her, or at least incapacitate her.
Tell needed her.
She got up onto her knees, creeping foot over foot toward her bag.
That sword.
It was actually making her think about it.
“What were you two thinking? He’s better than this. Just walking in and offering himself up? I remember him being a worthy adversary.”
Tina pushed a button on the bomb they’d stolen from Reggie’s cellar, scrambling away as it started a countdown from ten seconds.
“Where did you get that?” the man asked, recognizing it.
The bomb went off with the sound of a modest firecracker. It poured out a cloud of smoke and Tina stood. The man laughed.
“Was that your big plan? Blast your way in from up here to help him? This building is impregnable. I designed it myself.”
She recognized the scent of the gas pouring out of the bomb, the same sickly sweet smell from Tell’s wound, from her own wounds now, from the bottle of pink goop.
She coughed.
“What is that?” she asked, staggering forward.
Bellany dropped his arms, watching her.
“Unfortunate,” he said. “That’s what it is. I had more questions for you, but you’ve managed to kill yourself with your own weapon. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Tina dropped to her knee, holding herself up on her fingertips, looking up at him through the smoke.
“Why?” she asked. “Why do you have all of this stuff? All you guys care about is necromancy.”
He took a step forward, towering over her.
“It’s true,” he said. “But we discovered that the things that we were using to bring people back also worked against you lot, at least temporarily. And you know what’s easier to kill than a vampire? A man.”
He raised the sword, and Tina raised a hand.
“You asked me what my plan was,” she said.
“Don’t care anymore,” he said, bringing the point of the sword down at the center of her back. It plunged through her chest and she stayed where she was for a moment, nodding.
“Two cameras at each corner,” she said. “One infrared out of each pair. Roof is poured cement over steel plate, most of a foot thick. One weak point.”
She stood, grabbing Bellany’s gun wrist and twisting it to where it broke and then blocking his other arm as she bit his neck. He tried to pull away, his arm swinging at her futilely as she fed, then she reached over her shoulder to pull the sword back out of her back. She skewered him with it, just because it made her feel better about the whole thing,
“I needed you to let me in the door,” she said as he dropped to his knees. She tossed his gun away and searched his pockets, finding a card.
She really did have to move fast, now. Not only was Tell outnumbered twenty-odd to one right below her feet, but the men manning the security booth watching the feeds off of those cameras would be sending backup right about now.
She was in bad shape, no question, and if she’d had ten minutes to lean against a wall and let things get back to the places where they were supposed to be, she would have done it.
But she didn’t have ten minutes.
She didn’t have two.
She grabbed her bag then slid Bellany’s card through the reader on the door, then glowered at it, running over to get the man and dragging him to the stairwell, using his hand to unlock the door.
If they’d been smarter, they’d have had a quick method of disabling Bellany’s access to the door - if they were clever, they were working on it even now - but they weren’t fast enough.
Not faster than Tina.
She let the door close on Bellany’s body and she ran down the stairwell to the fight below.
Bellany’s card didn’t work by the time she got down the flight of stairs, but the door here was designed to keep overly-eager robe-wearing Orderlies out, not Tina. She crashed through it, scanning the room quickly as Tell fought off men with knives. The room smelled like someone had set off a bomb just like the one she’d triggered on the roof.
That actually had been a surprise, and Tina was a bit ashamed of herself that she hadn�
�t checked out the device more closely before she’d used it.
There were half a dozen men around the room holding guns, but they seemed to be convinced that Tell was going to lose out to the men with the knives as they pushed him further and further into a corner, slashing at him every time they got close.
Tell was unarmed. He would have been keeping members of the Order close by, to keep gun shots risky, but it sounded like all three of the shots Tina had heard from the roof had hit him.
It was a bit tragic, watching them push him back like that, thinking that they were inflicting wounds that wouldn’t close. He wore a dark, long-sleeved jacket that didn’t show blood; they wouldn’t know.
They didn’t know.
“You about done with this?” Tina called to him, and he straightened, his very posture pushing the men back a half-step as they tried to figure out what had changed.
Tina drew her gun, shooting at a group of three men who looked like security of some manner.
She didn’t pay attention to whether or not she’d hit them as she turned her attention to the grand poobah.
“Shoot her,” the man was yelling. “Shoot her now.”
Tina heard the men shout to each other as they retreated from Tell.
Men ran, they yelled, bullets began flying around and thwacking into walls.
Tina walked toward Elroy as he pointed and shouted and spat.
Men.
Men were easier to kill than vampires.
“Solomon,” Elroy called. “Now.”
Tina turned her head to see a man stand up out of a chair where he’d simply been watching everything.
He moved differently.
He moved like Tina did, like Tell did.
He moved like Hunter.
She turned to face him as he came toward her, and another bullet hit her. She growled and lifted her arm to shoot back, firing into the crowd with a recklessness that would have shamed her, a year ago. Tell wasn’t that direction. It didn’t matter what she hit, beyond that.
The man called Solomon continued toward her with that big, easy gait, like an athlete, comfortable and familiar in his own lean body, eyes easy, focused, dead on her.
She pointed the gun at him and put one foot back.
“You aren’t a part of this yet,” she said.
“I’m more a part of it than you are,” he said, coming to stand with his chest against the gun.