by A. L. Larsen
He laughed at that, then lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “And what about Joey and Athos and Bryn? How are we getting them out alive?”
“That’s easy. We’ll disguise them as the Blue Man Group. That’ll be an economical disguise. We’ll just have to chuck a bucket of blue paint at ‘em.”
“And the Blue Man Group is what, exactly?”
“It’s three guys that paint themselves blue and…you know what? I can’t even explain it,” I said with a smile, and his chuckle reverberated through both of us.
Alastair fell silent for a while, and then he said softly, “It’s just never going to stop. Bryn will be able to get us out of Las Vegas, surely. But there’s always going to be someone coming after me, whether it’s the Order, or vampires, or hunters, or any one of a thousand enemies.”
“And you’ll survive, just like you always have.”
“How? By reverting back to being a killer? By getting them before they get me?” He said it so quietly, and then he tilted his head back to meet my eyes. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“Sure you do. You always have a choice.”
But he was shaking his head. “The only choice as I see it is kill or be killed. That, I’m learning, is the life I made for myself. I put a huge target on my back by fighting other vampires. As if there wasn’t a big enough target there to begin with, just by being this anomaly. Just by somehow failing to die like I was supposed to, like all other nephilim do during the vampire transformation.” He sighed and said, “And if that’s my life, I just don’t know what we’re going to do.”
I wrapped my arms around him and held him securely as I said, “I know what we’re going to do, Allie. We’re going to survive today. When we’re done doing that, we’re going to survive tomorrow. Along the way, we’ll get answers. We’ll find Jin and you’ll remember your past, and maybe things will make a little more sense. And after that, we’re just going to keep surviving. Day by day. And we’re going to do that together.”
He held on to me for a long moment before finally nodding his head. “Ok. Well, so far, we’ve done a pretty good job of surviving today. So, let’s congratulate ourselves.” He kissed me and stood up, depositing me on my feet and keeping an arm around my waist as he said, “Maybe someday, we’ll figure out how to make our lives about more than just survival. But I guess right now that’s the best we can hope for. And in the name of survival, it’s time to get back to seeking out Jin.”
We left the gym hand-in-hand, and found Athos and Joey having a stare-fight in the lobby. They apparently decided it was a draw and broke off when they saw us, and Joey said, “Hey. So, I compelled the front desk clerk to read off the list of everyone in the high roller suites, and I guess Jin’s using a fake name, because he wasn’t mentioned. Are we positive he’s here?”
“According to his brother,” I said. “And Bryn caught a trace of Jin’s trail. He says he’s around here somewhere.”
“Ok. So, I also compelled the clerk to give me a key to the floor that the high roller suites are on. Thought we’d go and search there. Might be easier to find Jin that way, rather than this hit-and-miss approach.”
He held up the key card, and Athos plucked it from his hand. Joey shot him a murderous look, but then before they could start beating each other up, I said, “Athos, why don’t you and Alastair go on ahead? We’ll meet you there in a minute.” Joey held up a second key card gloatingly.
As soon as the half-brothers were out of ear shot, Joey turned to me and said, “So, is everything cool between you and Alastair?”
“It’s perfect.”
“I’m so sorry I tried to mess that up for you.” He fidgeted with the key card, not meeting my gaze. “I’m sorry about all of it. I knew you didn’t feel the same way I did. I mean, Allie’s not the only living stethoscope around here.”
“You’re not sorry about the kiss, though,” I teased gently.
He grinned and met my gaze. “Ok, no. I’m not sorry about that. I’ve wanted to do that forever.”
I watched him closely and asked, “Are we going to be ok, Joey? Is this going to affect our friendship?”
“I won’t let it. I’ve learned to accept a lot during my relatively short life and death, and this will just be one more thing I file away in the already very full not-meant-to-be category.” He smiled as he said it, but I knew he was hurting underneath that cheerful exterior.
I pulled him into a hug and said, “I love you, Joey.”
“I know. As a friend.”
“As a best friend.” I was still hugging him tightly.
After a moment he said, “You know, I still think I’m going to take off for a while after we get this thing with Jin resolved and everyone gets home safely.”
I pulled back to look at him. “What? Why?”
“Because, embarrassing crush aside, I really do believe you and Alastair need some time for just the two of you. And hopefully you’ll have the sense not to adopt Athos, so he won’t immediately take over third wheel duties.”
“That’s a terrible idea. With all the enemies you and Alastair have amassed, going off on your own is just asking for a swift and painful death. We need to stick to a safety-in-numbers approach. And besides,” I added, “I would totally miss you.”
“You totally underestimate my awesome fighting ability. Have you seen me throw down? It’s impressive, let me tell ya.” Joey was grinning in earnest now.
“Joke all you want, but I refuse to let you go.” I linked my arm with his and we headed for the elevators.
“I guess I missed the memo where you became the boss of me.” He was still grinning.
“It’s in the fine print of our best friend agreement.”
“You know, it’s probably a good thing you rejected me. You’re kinda bossy. Not ideal girl friend material.” His grin graduated to a smile.
“I am bossy, and you dodged a bullet when I turned you down. Next thing you knew, I’d be picking out your clothes and styling your hair for you.”
We ran the key card through the reader at the elevator designated for the high roller suites, and Joey said, “Is that what Alastair has in store for him? A lifetime of bossiness and makeovers?”
I smiled broadly. “Alastair doesn’t need a makeover.”
“Wait, are you suggesting I do?”
“Not at all. You’re rocking the teen jock thing.”
Joey rolled his eyes as we stepped onto the elevator. “I do need a makeover if that’s how you see me. I’m twenty one, for goodness sake. I guess I should think about upgrading my image.”
“You’re kind of twenty one. And kind of fifteen forever.” He started to protest, and I added, “And that’s a good thing. What most people wouldn’t give to never age! No wrinkles, no going bald….”
“I wasn’t planning to go bald anyway.”
“You might not have had a choice.”
“I would have fought it.”
“With what? A toupee?”
We were still debating the probability of fighting baldness when the door slid open on the floor reserved for the high rollers. Alastair and Athos were loitering in the hallway.
“Hey,” said Joey, breaking off from his Rogaine dissertation. “So what’s the plan?”
“Knock on every door to every suite on this floor and hope Jin answers. Lu should knock, she looks least intimidating and they might actually open the door for her,” Athos said. “The rest of us will hang back a bit, and move in when we find the right suite.”
“Let’s do this thing,” I said, and took off down the hallway.
About an hour later we returned to our hotel room, a cloud of defeat hanging over us. Jin continued to prove elusive, and we were running out of ideas for tracking him down.
We found Bryn lying on one of the couches in the living room of his suite. He was dressed like an Elvis impersonator in a white sequined jumpsuit, pompadour wig with huge sideburns, and big gold shades, and he had an ice pack on his
head. Augustine sat in a nearby armchair, watching all of us wearily as we filtered into the room.
“Aw man, who was driving the truck that ran Elvis over?” Joey asked as he flopped down on a vacant couch.
“Jack Daniels,” Augustine muttered.
“I’m fine,” Bryn slurred. “I might have had a teeny weeny little bit too much to drink. Not quite enough to get me drunk, mind you. But enough to induce a killer headache.”
“You are drunk,” Augustine told him. “How is this—” he waved his hand at Bryn— “not drunk?”
“This is tipsy with an unfortunate side dish of brain pain,” Bryn insisted.
“Do I want to know why he’s dressed like Elvis?” I asked.
Augustine knit his brows and said, “Why Bryn ever does anything is completely baffling. I’ve had three hundred years to figure him out, and he still makes absolutely no sense to me.”
Bryn grinned broadly and said, “I don’t make sense to you, Augie, because the concept of having fun is completely foreign to you.” He looked at me over the top of his glasses and said, “And I’m dressed like this, obviously, because I crashed the Elvis impersonator convention at the Tropicana. I won second place in the lip sync competition! I would have won first, of course, if I’d cheated and used magic.” He shifted the ice pack around on his forehead, pushing his wig slightly askew.
“Maybe the ice pack would be more effective if you lost the wig,” I suggested.
“No can do. The whole outfit falls apart without the pompadour,” Bryn told me seriously. I couldn’t argue with that.
Augustine stood up and announced, “Ok, it’s time for the king of rock and roll to get some rest. Come on your majesty, I’ll help you to your room.”
Bryn got to his feet and insisted, “Don’t need any help.” But then he started to fall forward, off his big white platform shoes.
Augustine caught him with a sigh and slung him over his shoulder. “No, of course you don’t,” he said. “Do me a favor. Don’t throw up on me in the process of not needing any help.” And he carried him down the hall.
Chapter Fourteen
It started to feel like we were in our own personal version of the movie Groundhog Day. The next day passed exactly like the first, as did the day after that. We stayed in the hotel, alternately searching and loitering. Bryn went off to try to kill his liver with his guardian vampire in tow. We ate a couple fancy meals in fancy restaurants.
We failed to get killed, so that was something.
We also failed to be joined by Jin’s brother. He sent me a message and said that his repeated attempts at texting and calling his brother had been ignored, so he didn’t see the point in coming all the way to Las Vegas just to have his brother continue to shut him out. That was disappointing.
And we learned from Bryn, during one of his forays back to the hotel for a costume change, that a crowd had gathered outside the perimeter spell around the Bellagio. The Order was still in place, and had now been joined by an ever-increasing contingent of vampire hunters. Apparently, news of Alastair’s presence had reached the Alliance summit, and a large bounty had been put on his head.
“What do they think this is, the old west?” Joey wanted to know, slumped in what I’d started to think of as ‘his’ chair in the lobby of the hotel. “Putting a bounty on someone is so 1865.”
Bryn was quiet, introspective, as he adjusted the cuffs on his finely tailored grey suit jacket. I didn’t know what this costume was, exactly. The tasteful, obviously expensive suit, crisp white shirt and tie, his dark hair neatly combed – this was clearly another character, because it certainly wasn’t Bryn Maddock.
“I really have to give some thought to how we’re getting Alastair out of here when it’s time to leave,” he said. “It would have been simple enough to wrap him in an obscuring spell, but they’ve recently added some seers to the crowd outside. They’d be able to spot the spell, and even if they couldn’t make him out beyond it, the spell alone might be enough for the hunters to converge. It’s a bit problematic.” He reached out and squeezed Alastair’s shoulder and said, “But I really will figure it out, mate.”
“Thanks, Bryn,” Alastair said, patting his hand.
“Are you and Augustine really ok passing through that crowd?” I asked the warlock. “Do they not know you’re with Alastair?”
“They know. And they immediately spotted Augie’s clumsy spell he used to obscure his scent. But the crowd and I have reached a tentative agreement. They don’t make a move toward either of us, and I go ahead and let them keep their bait and tackle.”
“Their – oh,” I said embarrassedly.
“I doubt my threats would hold them back if Allie himself made an appearance out there,” Bryn said. “The price on his head is a hundred thousand dollars. I’m guessing a kind of feeding frenzy would erupt if he showed his face, and I wouldn’t be able to stop all of them.”
“So, no moonlight strolls for you, Allie,” Joey said.
“That goes for you, too, Joey,” Bryn said. “You’re a marked man as well, so no field trips for you either.”
Joey perked up, sitting straighter in his chair. “I am? Do I have a price on my head?”
“You do,” said Bryn. “Not among the vampire hunters, but among the vampires. They’ve put a twenty thousand dollar bounty on you. They really don’t appreciate the idea of one of their own turning against them.”
“That’s awesome,” Joey said with a huge smile.
“It is?” I asked in disbelief.
“Sure. It means my efforts as a badass vampire hunter haven’t gone unnoticed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, not actually a positive.” Then I asked, “So, are the vampires and vampire hunters waiting side by side out there for a chance to kill these two?”
“No, the hunters and the Order are right outside, the vampires in fallback positions in a big circle beyond them,” Bryn said. “They’re all very keyed up from being in such close proximity to each other. So far, everyone is being careful not to attract the attention of the general populace by fighting in public. But mark my words, the desert outside Vegas is going to be soaked with blood at the end of this stand-off, because those two groups are ready to rip each other to shreds.”
“No doubt,” Joey said.
“Right, I’m off. See you lot in a few hours. Coming, Shadow?” Bryn said to Augustine. They’d given up the exercise of Augustine following him around, and now he just accompanied Bryn everywhere, a kind of undead Jiminy Cricket constantly reminding the warlock to pace himself with his excesses.
As the two left the lobby, Joey grinned at me. “I have a price on my head.”
“I can’t believe you’re actually happy about that,” I said, knitting my brows at him. “And now do you see why it’s a terrible idea to go off by yourself? There are people totally gunning for you.” He and I were still arguing about the idea of him leaving, and I hoped I was making some progress in talking him out of it.
“Besides,” said Athos, shifting in his seat and crossing his long legs at the ankles, “you’re only worth a fifth of Alastair’s bounty, so I wouldn’t get too cocky.”
“Yeah, you know what, dude? I’ll take being worth a fifth as much as the strongest vampire and the only hybrid on the planet. And I don’t see anyone bothering to put a bounty on your head.” Joey looked smug.
“That’s an incredibly stupid thing to gloat about,” I said, pushing to my feet. “And I can’t take any more inertia, I’m doing a lap. But can I just say, we totally need a new plan. Because this whole hoping-to-accidentally-run-into-Jin thing is getting really old.”
Alastair got up too and said, “Bryn assures us Jin’s here, moving all around this hotel every day. He just can’t pinpoint him. But there’s still a chance we’ll run into him.” He picked up my hand and said, “Come on, I’ll go with you. Let’s do the tropical lap, I could use some fresh air.” We’d taken to naming our various routes around the property, and the tropical route
included swinging through the pool area. It was the only outside space that fell within Bryn’s spell perimeter, so it was currently the only place Alastair could be outside.
We walked across the lobby hand in hand, several hotel staff members turning their backs to us and wandering off as we did so. By now Joey had compelled most of the staff, one by one, and told them to ignore our comings and goings, since we’d been acting really suspicious and it had started to attract attention.
Now we did the exact opposite of attracting attention, and it was mildly entertaining. I intentionally took a couple steps toward one of the plain clothes security guards that worked in the hotel, and he automatically took an equal number of steps away from me, never looking right at me. It was kind of like herding sheep – if I kept moving toward him, he’d keep moving in the opposite direction.
Well hey, I was getting bored with all of this, and had to entertain myself somehow.
It was verging on stormy when we got outside by the pool, but neither of us minded. And it meant we had the place to ourselves for a change. We took off our shoes and socks and rolled up our jeans, then stuck our feet in the warm water as a fairly strong breeze pushed our hair around. Alastair took my hand and leaned against my arm, and I relaxed against him.
The pool was lit from beneath and glowed a pretty shade of turquoise, and the breeze created ripples and patterns across the surface of the water. After a while, Allie said, “I wonder if I know how to swim.”
I turned to him with a little grin. “Want to find out?”
“What, now?”
“Why not? It’s the first time we’ve had the pool area to ourselves. We might as well enjoy it.”
He smiled at me. “We’re supposed to be looking for Jin.”
“We have been looking for Jin. Taking twenty minutes to not look for him will in all likelihood make zero difference.”
“I don’t have a swimsuit,” Alastair said, a sparkle in his dark eyes.
“Neither do I. So we’ll improvise.”