“Maybe... not,” she said. “I've been... mean to you. You don't deserve to be kicked out of the loop for no reason.”
He put his hand on her shoulder. She didn't flinch. “I don't need to be in the loop. I just want to spend time with you.”
At least he knew what he wanted. Everyone knew what they wanted. Derek wanted Lizzy, Laura wanted to be left alone, Adam wanted Lily, and Ling wanted everyone.
But Akane still didn't know. Derek was out of reach. Much as she liked to pretend otherwise, that was a fact, and it had nothing to do with Lizzy.
She didn't know what to do. She had a billion different conflicting feelings she was still having trouble sorting out. Loyalty to Derek. Love for Derek. Respect for Flynn.
“Look, why don't we just get some coffee?” he said. “Lily's at the Starcup stand just down the street. We can go there while she waits for Adam to get out of class.”
And then what? A double date? That wasn't what she wanted. Lizzy kept suggesting she do it, to ease herself into the “game,” but was hard to take advice from her. She was about as smart as a bag of rocks.
Akane was being unfair. Yes, Lizzy wasn't very smart. But she was cunning. She knew what worked and what didn't.
“Akane?” Flynn said. He didn't want to force her to give him an answer, but her silence was probably making him uncomfortable.
But she still wasn't ready for a date. Of any kind. She had been loyal to Derek for so long—in more ways than one—that she didn't really know what to do with the romance side of things.
And it wasn't just her. Flynn was eager. If she went out on a date with him, even just coffee, he'd take it as a sign she approved of a possible relationship. Which could be... good?
No. It would be very, very bad.
Flynn removed his hand from her shoulder and took a step back. “If you don't want to, that's fine. No pressure. I'll just—”
“Wait,” she whispered, thinking. There was something Lizzy had said, when she mentioned some of her anxiety about dating.
Flynn frowned, but stayed.
Flynn's brow furrowed further. “What are you—”
She stepped forward and kissed him.
Technically, it was her first kiss. Okay, yes, it was her first kiss, since the time Robyn got drunk and licked her face doesn't count by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps giving it to Flynn wasn't the best of ideas.
He was surprised at first, and nearly flinched away, but after a moment he wrapped his arms around her. He was warm, and more tender than she expected. Most of her experience with men other than Derek involved working with them for hunts or hunting them, so perhaps she should have expected him to be different.
Akane lost track of time for a while there. She wasn't sure exactly how long they stood in the hallway. Ten minutes, twenty tops. Eventually, she managed to break free.
He looked her right in the eye and smiled a little. “Um, not that I'm complaining, but what was that about?”
Akane felt all the blood in her body rush to her face in a flush of heat. Had she really just done that? What the hell did she do now?
Drawing on her mastery of the English language, she squeaked out an “Eep” before running away at superspeed. Her power had been improving, and now she could go for about twenty seconds from her perspective at full tilt.
So she was well out of Flynn's sight by the time her reservoir ran dry. She placed her back against the side of the building and took a few long, deep breaths. It was a long day, and Lizzy's advice hadn't helped much. Kissing Flynn hadn't told her anything, didn't make her decisions any easier. She needed to go back to the dorm and take a long shower.
That's about when she realized she had left her bag in the classroom.
Chapter 12: EXAMEN
LAURA
“And then she just left,” Lizzy said. “I hope she's feeling better. Doctor Clarke has some pills for headaches, right?”
“Probably,” Laura said. As usual, Lizzy had grabbed her after she finished her class. Technically both Lizzy's normal history and Laura's advanced class ended at the same time, but Lizzy's professor tended to drone on, so Laura usually got out a little earlier.
“She also left her bag and sword behind,” Lizzy said, probably not even aware that Laura had responded. “Derek is taking care of that. Was there somewhere you wanted to go for dinner?”
“The DC is fine.” The Dining Commons might not be the highest quality food, but it was free. Well, included in tuition. Laura's dad was paying for it, but money was tight, so anything extra she had to pay for herself. And she hadn't taken a consulting gig since she came back to South Central.
“Don't be silly,” Lizzy said with a pout. “Aren't these the End Times? Isn't this when you pig out on pizza and ice cream?”
Laura raised an eyebrow. Lizzy had been conspicuously avoiding the subject of the screamers for as long as possible, especially regarding her ability to hear them. Laura hadn't asked what her power was, and she wouldn't be surprised if she didn't know. Obviously, she wasn't to know about the rest of the Paladins, either. Regardless, there were some comments Laura just couldn't let slide.
“If the end is coming, you need to do everything you can to stop it,” Laura said. “If nothing else, too much junk food will slow me down when I need to run.”
Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Your metabolism can handle it.” She grinned. “C'mon, a new Peach's opened up down Mechanus. Shouldn't we celebrate my test?”
“Oh yeah, you got the results back,” Laura said. “What'd you get?”
Lizzy stood proudly. “Ninety-three percent!”
Laura shook her head. “When we study together, you can't remember any of it. How do you keep passing tests? Are you seducing your teachers?”
She looked genuinely horrified. “No! Of course not! It's just...” She paused, as if considering her words, then shrugged. “In an emergency, the brain can do some incredible things, you know?”
Well, she was proof of that. Laura considered the possibility that her power had something to do with memory, but quickly discarded it. She had been like this for as long as Laura had known her. When it came down to the wire, something strange happened, and her brain dredged up old memories with uncanny accuracy. That was probably the only way she had survived past childhood. She was too ditzy and nice to pay enough attention to anything.
“Hey, you heard about that drop pod, right?”
Lizzy always switched topics too fast to keep up. It took a moment for Laura to remember what she was talking about. “The... Chinese one, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, that's it. Butler did an interview on it.”
Laura frowned. “I must have missed that. What'd he say?”
“Nothing important. A bunch about how the USP is trying to choke the independents by buying back the station.”
Laura shook her head and sighed. “What's your point, Lizzy?”
She leaned forward eagerly. “What'd Adam say about it?”
Laura threw up her hands. “Why would you care what he said? You've never cared about politics before, or what your friends think about politics.”
“Yeah, yeah, but he's the one who found it! Organized a recovery and everything. Very heroic, don't you think?”
Laura frowned. She honestly wouldn't have thought that he had it in him. It was becoming increasingly clear that he was some flavor of psychopath, but you could say that about a lot of people in Domina. The fact that he rescued someone for no reason other than because he could was probably a good sign. Well, she didn't know enough details to be certain that was exactly what happened, but she made a mental note to look into it.
“Do you think we should go get Derek and the rest?”
Laura blinked. “What?”
“For the pizza, silly.”
Oh, they were back on that? “I don't think so. They're very busy with homework.” And preparing for the next screamer attack. There hadn't been one in four days, so another was due soon. “Hones
tly, I'm tired too. I'm not really in the mood for anything.”
Lizzy pouted. She seemed to think it was cute, but it just looked silly. “Why are you always like this? First you just want to eat at the crappy DC, then not even there! C'mon, a bunch of people said the new Peach's was good. I'll even pay, how does that sound?”
Laura sighed. There was no reasoning with her like this. If she didn't give in, Lizzy would just drag her there anyway. “Fine,” she muttered. “Pizza it is.”
Lizzy grabbed her arm and started dragging her down the sidewalk. “Yay! Ooh, can we stop for ice cream after?”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure.”
Lizzy ate most of the large pizza they were supposed to share by herself, then did the same with the triple-scoop ice cream cup they got after. She also didn't pay for either.
Laura was pretty sure that if she wasn't so goddamned nice to everyone, somebody would have shot her in the face when she was a kid just to save the hassle of dealing with her.
Chapter 13: FOEDUS
ARTEMIS
Artemis rubbed his forehead. “Mary Christina, are they ready?”
“In a minute, sir,” she said. The real her, not one of her fakes. This was far too important to leave to a hacked-together bundle of code. “The Nessians are yelling about having to deal with the Nosferatu.”
“Cut them out,” he said tiredly. “I don't know why I even bothered.” The Nessians, the followers of that bastard Asmodeus, were slavers and nothing more. They had tried to usurp the power structure of the vampires a while back, and been cut down to a shadow of their former glory as a result. In the process, their leader was poisoned by one of the Nosferatu. An exceptionally virulent poison that the toy maker couldn't cure. Apparently he was in constant, agonizing pain. Artemis couldn't spare any pity for him.
“Done,” she said. “Anyone else you want me to nix?”
“No. We need as many as will stay. Everyone else will play nice with others. Probably.”
“If you call in Kelly, the Belians will fall into line easier.”
“No. She has made her feelings on the matter clear.”
“But—”
“No. Mary Christina, this topic is closed.”
“Fine,” she said, a bit angry. “Anyway, everyone is set up. Starting video conference now.”
His screen crowded up completely with dozens of windows, each with a single face. Many were mostly human, but some more monstrous. The Nosferatu, the sibriex, the cans, and the Glasyans were only human in a legal sense at this point. Others were normal enough on the outside, but still terrifying inside. The Dagonite ambassador was an excellent example of that.
There were a few missing, but that was hardly unexpected. Some still didn't trust him, while others didn't understand the danger the Composer represented.
“Ladies, gentlemen,” Artemis said by way of greeting. “Thank you for agreeing to speak with me.”
“As if we had a choice,” Nicholas, representing the Aesir, grumbled. “The screamers are a threat to us all.”
“Not quite all,” the Dragon, the leader of the Draculas, said. He grinned, displaying his prominent fangs, and nodded to something Artemis couldn't see; presumably, another of the ambassadors on his own screen. “Georgia and her Dagonites don't have much to worry about.”
Georgia huffed. “I'm sure this Composer will find a way. Although I doubt we can be of much help. We have limited abilities in Domina City itself, and the war with the Rahabs is straining us.”
“Your support is appreciated regardless,” Artemis said honestly. Considering how much he had to deal with trying to make the other subcultures see a problem that was on their very doorstep, it was refreshing to see someone who could anticipate the threat.
“Has Doctor Clarke had any progress on finding some sort of cure or vaccine for the screamers?” Evangel asked. The big ursa senator wasn't the leader of his subculture by any means, but the others had agreed to let him act as an ambassador for all of them.
“No, unfortunately,” Artemis said. “He isn't having any luck whatsoever. He hasn't even managed to find out what causes the condition. I believe he's given up on it.”
“We can take a look,” Tharizdun, the sibriex representative, offered. Artemis wasn't sure if Nhang had sent him as an intentional slight, or if the warlord just didn't have time to deal with anyone himself. “I doubt we'll have much luck, but a few more eyes are always helpful.”
“My people will help as well,” Glasya, the Noble from Malbolge, said. She had a bit of a friendly rivalry with the sibriex, so it was nice to see her so eager to work with them.
“Thank you both, and I will accept any help you can offer. If the Avernans could lend their aid as well, that would be much appreciated.”
Bel scratched his hairy chin. It wasn't actually hair, but a patch of short, poisonous barbs. Much of his body was covered in the strange buff. “We'd be happy to, of course, but I'm not sure how useful we'll be. Our methods are geared towards the toy maker, not general research.”
“You're avoiding the main problem,” Nick, warlord of the Host of Glorious Destruction, said. “The Composer needs to be dealt with. Everything else is secondary. You said you may know where he is. Why haven't you attacked?”
“We have no idea what this creature is capable of, Honored Daybreaker,” Artemis said with as much patience as he could muster. “If you read through the data I sent you, you'll see that Doctor Clarke has theorized it may be able to jump between bodies. Killing the one it is currently in will do nothing but make it more cautious in the future.”
“But you don't know,” Jasmine said. She was the can ambassador, and her mandibles clicked as she spoke. “You don't know anything about this... thing.”
“We know that there is an intelligence behind the screamers,” Artemis said. “Not much else. The fact that it seems to have a base does imply it has a physical body, with physical limitations. Hopefully, that means a lead-based solution can be applied here. But we must be cautious.”
“Then just kill all the screamers and then move in,” Mephistopheles said. “I don't know why you're keeping them alive.”
Evangel huffed. “It is still possible these people can be cured, Canian. Don't be so quick to abandon them.”
“But the pyro has a point,” Dispater said. As leader of the warbloods, the military arm of the vampires, Artemis knew his grasp of strategy would be valuable. “Clarke thinks this Composer is limited to using screamers as hosts. If we kill all the screamers, it will have no where to go.”
“And what if he is wrong?” the Dragon asked calmly, his godeyes twinkling. Godeyes were rare beyond imagining; they were the fusion of dayeyes and nighteyes, and almost impossible to make work. It took a fortune to even try, and usually the subject just ended up blind. Artemis only knew one other person in the city that had them. “If the Composer can use bodies other than screamers, we'll have murdered several thousand people for no good reason.”
The other representatives murmured uneasily, but it was Nick who voiced their concerns. “There can't truly be that many, can there?”
“Not quite that many,” Artemis assured her. “Only barely a thousand.”
“And that's a thousand more than there should be,” Simba said angrily. It took Artemis a second to realize he was just angry in general, not at him specifically. “If we could find a way to give more people powers, or at least make them immune to infection, everything would go much more smoothly.”
Artemis saw Obould lean forward before speaking. “I've spoken with the Paladins a little. They're more than happy to help with this crisis, but they are limited. Sooner or later, the Composer is going to stop playing around, and they aren't going to be able to keep up.”
Greyanna shook her head. “Preposterous. A thousand screaming, half that dead, and you think this Composer isn't even trying? Trust a man to—”
“Oh put a sock in it, Lolth,” Halisstra interrupted. “Put aside your prejudices and think
about it. The incident with the burners confirmed that a singer can infect people over the radio or the phone. The Composer could easily hook up some giant speakers and infect half the city. Why hasn't he?”
“I have some failsafes in place to prevent that,” Mary Christina said.
“Yes,” Dispater said, “you do now. But why didn't he just do it before we knew about that capability? It doesn't make any sort of tactical sense.”
“He could just be a moron,” the Erlking said.
“That's a dangerous thought path,” Sargeras, representing the hellions, said. He was one of the most respected warlords here—as one of the founding members of the demon culture, he was one of the very first warlords period. “In a situation like this, you have to assume the enemy is smarter than you. Anything else will lead to ruin.”
“Isn't this all secondary?” Hyalinix of the Time-Lost Shadows cut in. “I haven't heard anyone actually promise to work together.”
“The sibriex, the Glasyans, and the Avernans have at least agreed,” Artemis said. But only an uncomfortable silence greeted his words. He frowned. “You said you would help.”
“Help, yes,” Bel admitted grudgingly. “We'll share data. But that's very different from actively working together.”
“Exactly,” Nick said, clearly not enjoying even such a minor agreement with a vampire. “You're suggesting sending troops into battle side-by-side, correct? They'll never stand for it.”
“We can work up to that,” the Dragon said. “But even working together at a strategic level would make a huge difference in the war effort.”
Dispater shook his head. “My men won't fight beside angels.” Then he thought for a moment. “But that wouldn't be a good idea regardless, due to our conflicting tactics. Anyone else, they will help gladly. And of course, I would be happy to lend my expertise.” He started a little, as though surprised at his own words. “Ah... from the Iron Tower, of course.”
The other vampire ambassadors just rolled their eyes. Dispater's agoraphobia was well-known. But he was useful, so everyone put up with the fact that he refused to leave his base.
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