03 - Evolution

by Greg Cox

  She gave Michael a serious look, just to make sure he understood what deep waters they were in. He nodded back at her and held out his palm. She saw that he was holding Sonja’s pendant, now splattered with hybrid blood; she realized that was what he had retrieved from the floor of the truck bed.

  “He wanted this,” Michael said. “Why?”

  I have no idea, she thought. He had explained to her the historical significance of the crest-shaped pendant: how it had once belonged to Viktor’s daughter, Sonja, before the coven executed her for consorting with a lycan. Lucian had stolen the precious keepsake and treasured it until his death earlier tonight. But what did Marcus want with the pendant?

  “I don’t know,” she admitted.

  A brilliant red glow on the horizon, clearly visible in her rearview mirror, reminded her of a much more urgent issue. After creeping up on them for what felt like hours, dawn was finally arriving. Was it just her imagination, or could she already feel the heat upon her skin? Sonja, she recalled, had been destroyed by the sun….

  “We have another problem.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The sky above was growing brighter by the second. Selene squinted at the spreading radiance. The daylight obviously hurt her eyes, making it hard for her to see. Michael suddenly wished he was driving instead.

  Thankfully, the dawn had no effect on him, perhaps because he started out as a lycan before becoming a hybrid. He leaned forward in his seat, peering through the windshield for some place they could take shelter. At first all he saw was endless trees and snow, then he spotted some sort of structure up ahead, off to the left. “Keep going,” he urged Selene. As the truck raced down the road, he got a better look at the building.

  An access road led to some sort of huge mining facility, which looked like an enormous brick warehouse built into the side of a mountain. An unmoving ore breaker climbed the slope to one side of the warehouse. Smokestacks rose from the roof of the complex, but Michael didn’t see any fumes billowing from them. A sign posted just before the turnoff announced that the mine had been shut down due to environmental concerns, which probably explained the lack of activity. Perfect, Michael thought. If we’re lucky, nobody’s at home.

  “There!” he said, pointing toward the turnoff.

  Just then, the sun peeked over the horizon behind them. Sunlight flashed upon the rearview mirror and the shards of broken glass scattered around the cab. Selene gasped out loud and Michael heard a sound like bacon sizzling in a pan. She yanked her hand away from a stray beam of light. Michael saw that her knuckles were burned bright red. Wisps of smoke rose from the scorched skin. The smell of burning flesh, familiar to Michael from his nights in the ER, filled the cab.

  Jesus Christ! He’d known, of course, that sunlight and vampires didn’t mix, but he’d never actually witnessed the phenomenon with his own eyes. That happened so fast!

  Selene ducked her head, trying to keep her face in the shade, but a ray of bright sunlight struck her cheek. Her smooth white skin blistered instantly, and she bit back a scream of pain. She lost control of the wheel and the truck veered alarmingly toward a snow-filled ditch at the side of the road. A wall of oaks and beeches loomed beyond the ditch.

  “Get down!” Michael shouted. He grabbed the wheel, experiencing a sudden flashback to the first time he had gotten into a car with Selene. Wounded by Lucian, she had passed out behind the wheel and plunged her Jaguar into the Danube. No way, he thought. Not again!

  Selene crouched down below the dashboard, away from the deadly sunbeams. Michael smelled the smoke rising from her scalded face. The plaintive whimper that escaped her lips offered only the barest hint of the pain she had to be going through. That’s a second-degree burn at least, he thought. She needed immediate first aid.

  The turnoff to the mining complex was right in front of them. Selene floored it as he cranked on the wheel. Acting in tandem, they took the access road leading up to the main building. Michael spotted railroad tracks and empty steel carts lying alongside the road, but didn’t see any workers going about their business. He silently blessed whatever environmental agency had shut down the seemingly deserted facility.

  Sunlight continued to infiltrate the interior of the cab. Michael knew that the dashboard wasn’t going to protect Selene much longer. A wooden garage door blocked their way, but he didn’t ask Selene to let up on the gas. “Brace yourself!” he warned her as the five-ton truck crashed through the garage door into the building. “Now… hit the brakes!” Their front fender clipped a parked jeep, sending a shudder through the entire cab, before the truck skidded to a halt.

  Michael let out the breath he had been holding and let go of the wheel. A quick look around revealed that they were inside the facility’s motor pool. Auto lifts, engine stands, lathes, jacks, oil stands, wheel dollies, battery chargers, tire machines, and other equipment were arrayed throughout the cavernous space. Tool racks lined the walls. Dried grease stains marred the concrete floor. A number of freight trucks, in various states of repair, were parked all around them. Their stolen truck fit right in, especially after all the damage they had inflicted on it.

  If we get through this, he thought, we’re going to need another car.

  Selene lifted her head, then quickly thought better of it. Deadly shafts of light penetrated the unlit garage through dirty windows and cracks in the brick walls. She curled herself up into a tight little ball upon the floor of the cab. The collar of her trench coat almost covered her head.

  “Hang on!” Michael told her. He hopped out of the truck and looked around for something to block the sun. Grabbing a greasy tarp off an abandoned engine stand, he flung it over the truck’s windshield. That should buy us a few more seconds. He worked frantically to make the vast garage more “vampire-friendly”. He punctured some metal cans with a wrench, then splashed black paint all over the windows. Hybrid muscles shoved heavy steel racks and tool cabinets in front of the gaps in the walls. The smashed garage door posed a bigger problem, but the sunlight had not yet made it all the way across the floor of the motor pool. Michael figured he still had time to get Selene to a safer location… if they moved quickly.

  The garage was noticeably darker by the time he got back to the cab. Tugging open the driver’s-side door, he tossed her a gray wool blanket he had found. “Come on!” he said. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  Selene didn’t need to be asked twice. He caught a glimpse of her blistered hands and face as she hurriedly wrapped the blanket around her and scrambled out of the cab. Michael hustled her across the garage toward the rear of a semi-trailer. A padlock guarded the trailer from intrusion, but he snapped it apart with his bare hands. He rolled up the back door of the semi and helped Selene inside before climbing up into the trailer after her. The metal door clanged loudly as he yanked it back down.

  By now he was convinced that the remote mining complex was completely uninhabited. If all this commotion hadn’t attracted any agitated guards or employees, then nothing would. If a truck crashes into a building and nobody hears it, he thought facetiously, is there really a crash?

  The back of the truck was loaded with crates of engine parts. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the dark, while Selene took off the blanket and laid it down on the floor of the semi. He winced at the ugly burns and blisters scarring her face. Years of medical training kicked in, and he bent down to take a better look at the burns. She forced a smile, but he could tell she was still in pain. She tried to turn her seared cheek away from him.

  “Hold still,” he told her.

  “There’s really no need,” she insisted.

  Michael admired her courage, but she didn’t need to play the stoic warrior with him, not when there was something he could do to help her. He jumped to his feet and headed for the door. “Be right back,” he promised.

  There had to be a first-aid kit around here somewhere!

  True to his word, he returned within minutes, clutching a bright red first-aid kit. “Foun
d this in a restroom,” he explained breathlessly. Selene guessed that he had sprinted all over the building before he’d found the kit.

  He dropped to his knees in front of her and popped open the kit. She was struck by his obvious sense of purpose as he rummaged through the kit for what he needed. He really was a born healer, even after everything that had happened to him. She recalled how he had selflessly rescued her from drowning three nights ago and bound her wounds after Lucian had stabbed her with that spring-loaded blade of his. He didn’t even know my name then, but he still risked his life to save me. He had done the same for that mortal girl who had been caught in the cross fire during the gun battle at the Metro station. Selene remembered Michael dashing across the platform to see to the girl, despite the bullets flying back and forth across the station. She had taken note of his bravery then. She was even more impressed now.

  I’ve never known anyone like him.

  He turned toward her, his hands full of clean dressings and antiseptic wipes. His brown eyes radiated care and compassion. She couldn’t help being touched, and more, by his anxious concern for her well-being, even though she was not really in need of his ministrations. The vicious burns were already healing; all that remained of the searing pain was a faint stinging sensation. Still, she let him gently lay his hand against her cheek and turn her face toward him, so that he could see for himself that her injuries were all but passed. He gaped in surprise as the last reddened patch of skin grew smooth and white once more. She almost laughed at his dumbfounded expression.

  “See.” She raised her hands to show him her unblemished knuckles. “No need.”

  His initial shock gave way to obvious relief. His eyes brightened as he gave her an impish grin. “You don’t need much of anything, do you?”

  I’m not sure, she thought, suddenly at a loss for words. The moment hung between them, laden with possibility. He put down his first-aid supplies and looked into her eyes. His deep brown orbs seemed to drink her in. Vampires didn’t blush, but Selene felt her blood rushing beneath his ardent gaze. She knew how much she meant to him, how much he wanted to take care of her. Not because he was a doctor, but because of the undeniable chemistry between them. For once, it seemed, their enemies were far away. No pressing danger threatened them with immediate extinction. It was just the two of them, alone together.

  Selene was no virgin. Over her six hundred years, curiosity—and loneliness—had lured her into the occasional carnal encounter with another vampire; not every immortal was a pig like Kraven, after all. But such liaisons had been infrequent and always without consequence, temporary indulgences quickly put behind her. She had shared her body, but never her heart.

  Now, with Michael, she didn’t know what she felt. Everything had changed for her, including the ironclad code of conduct by which she had long governed her ageless existence. The prospect was both thrilling and terrifying.

  Do I want this?

  Taking her silence as consent, Michael leaned forward and kissed her. She responded tentatively for the first few heartbeats, then parted her lips to accept him. His own lips were warmer than any vampire lover’s. Just like his blood.

  He pulled her to him with surprising strength. Her passion rose and she surrendered to the moment. Their mouths still locked in a ravenous kiss, she peeled off his jacket and the tattered remains of his shirt. Her hands explored his naked chest, discovering that his bullet wounds had long since healed. The unmarred flesh was hot and irresistible to her touch.

  She shrugged off her voluminous trench coat, which joined the borrowed blanket upon the floor of the trailer. “Help me,” she entreated huskily as she tugged on the zippers of her tight black leathers. The tailored bodysuit was like a second skin, but suddenly she couldn’t get it off fast enough. Michael’s skillful hands came to her assistance, and the leather slid from her body, leaving her exposed and vulnerable before his gaze. His eyes gratefully devoured every inch of her bare white skin. He gazed at her in wonder.

  Selene felt a wall crumble inside her, falling away just like her discarded clothes. She fell back against the blanket and scattered pieces of clothing. Her pale arms reached out for him. Michael kicked off his soggy trousers and joined her upon the makeshift bed, resting his weight atop her pliant curves. Their skin brushed together in a tantalizing caress. Her fingers stroked the firm, masculine contours of his back. His hungry mouth found her breast.

  There was no biting, no sinking of fangs into tender flesh. Her blood already flowed through his veins, and his through hers. Instead they made love as mortals did, gasping and panting as their intertwined bodies came together again and again. Yes, she thought rapturously, as they ascended the heights of passion, this is how it had to be. Today she didn’t want to be a vampire, a Death Dealer.

  Only a woman.

  Nestled in the forest, along the side of the road, the mouth of a concrete drainage tunnel protruded from the bottom of a snow-covered ridge. Ice water trickled along the floor of the tunnel, passing through a carpet of dead leaves, silt, and animal droppings. The fetid air within the shaft stank of piss and rot. The dank cement walls were coated with slime and mold. It was a far cry from the luxurious accommodations Marcus was accustomed to.

  He dragged himself along the floor of the tunnel, retreating from the dawn. Despite the changes he had undergone of late, he was still enough of a vampire to fear the sun. Vengeance on Selene and her hybrid lover would have to wait until nightfall.

  His mutilated wings scraped against the roof of the tunnel. They were already healing, but the sharp pains radiating through his shattered pinions stoked the anger burning within his breast. He cursed himself for letting go of the pendant when Selene had unleashed her gunfire upon him. The prize had been within his grasp, and yet he had let it slip away.

  Tonight, he vowed. When the sun went down again, nothing would stop him from reclaiming the pendant—and making Selene and Michael Corvin pay for their defiance. He gnashed his fangs as he inched farther into the dark recesses of the vile tunnel.

  Tonight…

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sergeant Sandor Hadik was not in a good mood.

  His head hurt from where that dark-haired woman had clobbered him. He was cold and wet from lying unconscious in the snow for at least an hour. A wanted fugitive was missing. And he had no idea what was going on.

  How the hell am I going to explain this in my report? he fretted. Any of it?

  He and his fellow officers searched the woods for Michael Corvin and his female accomplice. Despite the brilliant sunlight filtering down through the tree branches, the morning was still bitterly cold. His breath frosted in front of his lips as he trekked through the snow. Judging from the sullen expressions on the faces of the three other men, they were just as angry and confused as he was. Fresh cuts and bruises made them look as though they had just been beaten up by a large gang of toughs, not a solitary female.

  Who was that bitch? And how come Michael Corvin was still alive anyway? The last thing Hadik remembered was he and the other policemen filling the American lunatic full of lead. They must have hit him nearly a dozen times, yet when they had come to, their heads and battered bodies aching, they had found only a puddle of frozen blood where Corvin’s body had been. What’s more, two sets of tracks had led away from the site.

  He tried not to think about the third set of tracks they had seen, the ones that looked like the spoor of some ferocious beast, just as he tried not to remember the American’s impossible black eyes and fangs. A chill ran down his spine as he remembered the stories his grandmother had told him when he was just a child, about ghosts and vampires and werewolves. Such things do not exist, he reminded himself. I must have been seeing things.

  “Sergeant! Over here!”

  The rookie, Olszanski, called excitedly. Hadik and the other men rushed to join him. They emerged from a fringe of trees to find themselves on a narrow road leading up to an old mine shaft at the base of a rocky hill. Hadik vaguely re
membered a bauxite-mining operation that had been tapped out and abandoned back when he was a kid. The door to the sealed-off mine was hanging open. Although fresh snow continued to fall from the sky, he could still see the vague imprints of footprints outside the entrance of the mine.

  Had Corvin and the woman taken refuge in the old tunnels? It made sense; they could hardly stay outside in this weather forever. Maybe they were in there right now?

  “Follow me!” he ordered gruffly. He unclipped a flashlight from his belt and drew his service revolver. Despite his bluff manner, his nerves were on edge as they approached the unlit entrance to the mine. He was in no hurry to face either Corvin or that woman again. Those eerie black eyes and wolflike fangs haunted his memory. He glanced at the bruises on his comrades’ faces. The ugly purple marks didn’t make him any less spooked.

  How had one woman managed to take out four armed cops?

  Their flashlights probed the darkened mine. Startled gasps and exclamations burst from the men as the intersecting beams fell upon the face of an enormous wolf. Unblinking cobalt eyes glared at them. Dagger-sized fangs gleamed between the beast’s open jaws.

  “Holy Mother—!” Hadik almost opened fire on the wolf, before he realized that the animal was neither moving nor making any sort of sound. “Hold your fire!” he called out to the other men. “I think it’s dead!”

  His heart racing, he swept his flashlight beam over the shaggy monstrosity. To his relief, he saw that the wolf-thing was hanging lifelessly inside some sort of cage. Lowering his gun, he breathed for the first time in several seconds. His shoulders drooped as he gave his heart a few minutes to slow down. Christ, he thought, that thing almost gave me a coronary!