“My mother had a copy. But—”
“Yes, it was likely destroyed in the Shendilavri Retaliation, I know. But all that is secondary.” He was starting to get a desperate look in his eyes, and it took Kelly a conscious effort of will to keep from taking a step back. “But even as a symbol... even as nothing more than a champion, you would be nepreţuit. Priceless, invaluable.”
“I'm not coming back. Period. Ask my mother if you want to know how she pulled off the trick. I sure as hell don't know.”
Chamo narrowed his black eyes, but it would take more than that to intimidate her. She didn't care if he commanded most of the subculture's forces. She had never followed his orders.
He seemed to realize that at the same time she did. Instead of trying to cow her into submission, snapped his fingers. His slaves strode forward, intent on capturing her. She didn't bother trying to flee.
She didn't need to.
“Fii încă.”
All twelve of the drug-addled men and women stopped instantly at her command. They stood patiently, awaiting new orders.
Chamo, of course, wasn't inclined to wait. He scowled and barked out a command of his own. “Sclavii! Prinde-o!”
His underlings didn't move. They stood still as statues, obeying her order to the letter.
Chamo was sweating now, she could smell it. He was doing a good job of keeping it off his face, but that didn't mean much against a nose like hers.
“Intraţi în formarea luptă,” Kelly ordered. “Defensiv model, centrat pe mine.”
Again, they obeyed without hesitation, forming a screen between her and the increasingly terrified legate.
She managed to resist grinning at him, but only barely. Instead, she just raised an eyebrow. “Look, I can understand why you're still using my mother's behavior modification protocols. But at the very least, you should have sprung for a good pheromone buff.” She probably still would have been able to wrest them from his control, but it would have been harder.
“I will keep that in mind for the future,” he said. She could hear his teeth grinding as he managed to keep himself from saying something stupid. He wasn't a complete moron—far from it. He was a military genius, he just wasn't used to fighting someone like her. He would not make a mistake like this again.
“You are going to give the warlords a message,” Kelly said. “You are going to make sure that Balan, Bathym, Gaziel, and Gazra know I am not coming back. You will remind Zaebos and Zapan of the dangers of working with people like them.”
He nodded, perhaps a little too quickly. “Of course, I'll tell them.”
Kelly smiled cruelly, baring her fangs. “You don't understand, Honorless Bloodsoaked,” she said, trying out the new insult Huntsman had developed a while back. “You are going to give the warlords a message. That is all.”
Chamo blinked, then, as realization dawned, leaped out of his chair and ran for the far exit.
“Prinde-l şi-l rupe în bucăţi.”
The sclavi bolted off as if shot from a gun, chasing after the fleeing nightstalker—ah, former nightstalker—with naked glee. He didn't have the slightest chance of escaping them. Like most higher-ranked Belians, Chamo refused the physical-enhancing drugs and chems in favor of the mental-enhancing ones.
He tripped and stumbled, and the chem-heads were on him in a flash.
His screams echoed through the unfurnished building, bouncing off the concrete walls.
Kelly didn't have to stay. It would probably have been a good idea for her to run. The cries could attract attention.
But she stayed. She told herself it was because if you are going to murder someone, you should at least be willing to watch them die. But deep down, she knew the truth.
She supposed she was still a Belian after all.
Chapter 41: SANGUIS
ADAM
Adam watched as Laura very carefully drew a vial of blood out of her own arm, then placed it in a large mass spectrometer.
At least, he was pretty sure that was what it was. The paper she had handed him said that was what she was supposed to do now. But he didn't know what one looked like. How was he supposed to know she wasn't tricking him?
“Adam,” she said without turning around. “You're not paying attention.”
“What? Yes I am.”
“Lie.”
He sighed. That power of hers only seemed to work when it was most annoying. “Sorry. I just can't really tell what you're doing.”
“Testing my blood for Malcanthet's masking agent.”
“Yes, I know. And the lab instructions are clear enough. But I mean...” He indicated the dial she was adjusting on the machine. “Like that, right there. I don't know what you're doing.”
“What does the paper say?” she asked with exaggerated patience.
He glanced at it. “Adjust to nine percent power and auto-calibrate.”
She stepped aside so he could get to the machine. He walked up to get a closer look, and it did indeed see that the dial was at nine percent. Next to it was a small digital panel blinking “Auto-calibrate?” with “yes” and “no” buttons below it.
“Happy now?” she asked, again with a sigh of strained patience.
“Very,” Adam said. “Please continue.”
She nodded and stepped forward again.
She followed the rest of the instructions to the letter, as far as he could tell. The point of this exercise was to check if she was a sleeper, using him as an observer. Hopefully this would prove effective, but it would take time.
Laura's current theory, that Malcanthet was the Composer, was not a pleasant one. Adam had heard enough stories about the Succubus Queen to know that things would only get worse from here on out.
The masking agents she used in her sleepers were apparently extremely complex. Chemicals masking chemicals masking chemicals. If you weren't testing for it specifically, it was pretty much impossible to detect. Adam was afraid she could just add another masking agent on top, which would make this entire exercise futile.
Laura assured him that was unlikely, mostly because the number of masking agents Malcanthet could use was dwindling. That didn't really make him feel much better, since the number was still in the double digits, and they simply didn't have the ability to check them all, but it seemed to calm her.
“You almost done down there?” a woman's pleasant voice called down from upstairs. “I almost have dinner ready.”
“Just a few more minutes, Mrs. Arrow,” Laura called back.
“Well, don't take too long. The butter-crusts will get cold.” Adam heard the sound of the basement door closing.
He frowned. “Butter.... crusts?”
“Shellfish cooked inside their shells with butter and spices,” Laura said as she tapped a couple more buttons. “Veronica generally uses crabs.”
“Right. What else is there for you to do?”
“It needs about an hour to run, but we don't need to be here for that. Just...” She tapped another key, which Adam was pretty sure was the one the paper said. “Done.” She nodded to herself in satisfaction. “C'mon. We can deal with the rest later.”
They walked upstairs into Obould's house. It was really just a big apartment, so house might have been stretching it a little. But it certainly felt like one. It had that warm feeling of home, especially with the orc's kids running around their feet. The two older ones, a pair of fourteen-year old twins, boy and girl, were a demon and a vampire, but everyone else was baseline. Mrs. Arrow pulled a steaming metal sheet out of the oven, which did indeed seem to be carrying crabs, cut in half lengthwise and turned into bowls.
“Eat, eat,” she said. “The least I can do.”
Veronica looked a lot like a smaller version of Derek's mother, although her skin was lighter. Apparently the two had grown up together, which probably meant she was Italian as well, but Adam couldn't tell from her accent—or lack of one.
“Where's your husband?” he asked as we sat down at the giant table. It
was big enough to fit about forty people, but there were only seven right now. As he understood it, Obould was something like the landlord of the building, so he invited everyone over for holidays. It was a small skyscraper with big apartments, otherwise they would never fit.
“He's off collecting specimens again,” Veronica said with a roll of her eyes. “I probably should have told him you were using his lab, but it's his loss.”
Adam frowned a little as he picked up one of the butter-crusts. It smelled good, at least. “Will he mind? We didn't mean to be a nuisance—”
She laughed. “No, not at all. I meant he has to miss dinner, and you two.”
Adam had some difficulty with the chopsticks, but no one else seemed to notice, so he didn't mention it, and ate his meal in silence. Mrs. Arrow spent most of the time arguing with her children as they tried to talk their way out of chores. It was a nice background noise.
He eventually managed to finish my food. By that time, everyone else was already done, and chatting even more than before. After a minute, Laura glanced over.
“Done? Good. The tests should be finished by now.” She stood up and carried her empty shell and chopsticks over to the sink.
Mrs. Arrow scrambled up. “Oh, let me handle that, dear. You go finish your experiments.”
Laura nodded gratefully, then headed back to the basement. Adam followed only a few steps behind.
“It's done,” she said as she glanced at the machine. “Here, look for yourself.”
He grabbed the lab sheet again, and checked it against the readout. As far as he could tell, it looked like she was clean.
“I guess that's the most we can hope for. What's next?”
She pulled out the needles again. “I do the same to you. And while I'm doing that, you go get a sample from everyone else.”
He sat down and extended his arm, frowning. “Okay, who's everyone?”
She tied some surgical tubing off on his arm. “Everyone close to us. Derek, Ling, Akane, Lizzy...” She paused. “Maria and my father, the retinue... everyone. I already did Doctor Clarke, but I couldn't find Robyn. Oh, and I guess I should send you after Seena and Simon too...”
Adam bit his lip as she started drawing blood. “What... about Lily? She shouldn't be a danger... right?”
“Yes and no,” Laura said slowly, probably realizing it was a sore subject. “On the one hand, she knows than to get into situations where she could get drugged, hypnotized, the whole process. On the other hand, Malcanthet is probably still very angry at her, specifically, for the Battle of Shendilavri. She might go the extra mile to get a hold of her.”
Adam winced, and not because of the needle. “I know, I know, but...”
“However, I already got her blood,” she said. “I tested it at Clarke's machines, and it came up clean, but I still have enough to do it again here.” She smiled as gently as she could, which wasn't saying much. “You don't have to worry about her.”
Adam sighed in something close to relief. Lily wasn't quite clear yet, but close enough. “Okay. Okay, good. How should I get the samples? I'm guessing just asking is out.”
“Of course. Even the two of us knowing is still a risk. If she finds out our plans, things will start to go south.”
He snorted. That was an understatement.
“Start with the other Paladins,” she said. “I doubt they'd be stupid enough, especially Akane and Derek, but we have to be sure. I can get my parents.”
Adam accepted the band-aid she offered and patched himself up. “Fair enough. I'll be back in a few hours.” He grabbed the small box of syringes, already in a convenient carrying case.
“Don't forget to label the samples,” she said. “The last thing we need is to identify the wrong person as a sleeper.”
Adam nodded and left. Mrs. Arrow tried to get him to take some food with him, but he said he'd be back soon enough, which seemed to placate her. The second he got outside, he flipped open his phone.
“MC,” he said. “I need to know where the closest Paladins are.”
Her fake voice replied instantly. “That would be Miss Yu, about a mile north.”
“Thank you.” He hung up and started walking.
He could have caught a bus for the quick hop, but he wasn't in a hurry. Quite the opposite, actually. He kept expecting to get a call from Laura telling him that he was a sleeper, and they needed to lock him up so he didn't hurt anyone.
They still weren't completely certain, but the evidence was definitely pointing towards Malcanthet. Lily wasn't going to be happy. Adam knew she wanted to put the Succubus Queen completely out of her mind. Finding out she was behind the recent attacks would not be good for her.
But what else could I do? Not tell her? Ridiculous. He had to. Sure, they had only been going out for about a month, but “By the way, your arch-nemesis is loose in the city again” wasn't something you could keep from people you cared about.
He'd decide how to explain all that later. Right now he had to figure out how to get a syringe of blood out of a girl who could throw boulders at him, without her noticing.
The first thing that sprang to mind was knocking her out, but that was a bad idea. Short of giving her a concussion, the only way to neutralize her would be to drug her, which would probably screw with the test results.
Well... did Laura need an entire syringe? No, just a little bit. All he needed was a small sample.
The beginnings of a plan began to form in his mind.
“Adam?”
He looked up. He had walked for longer than he thought. Ling and Lizzy were standing in front of him, weighed down with shopping bags.
“MC called,” Ling said. “Something about you wanting to see us?”
Ah. So they had met halfway. “Yeah, Laura said you guys were out shopping, and I was wondering if you got anything for Lily.”
Lizzy grinned. “Liar. You just want to know if we got anything for you.”
Adam shrugged. “Maybe.” He glanced around the sidewalk. It was about twilight, so there weren't many people around, but still too many. “C'mon. Let's find a cafe.”
“There's one on the fifth floor,” Ling said, ducking into the nearest building, with Lizzy close behind.
The first four floors were restaurants too, fast-food places. Normally in a configuration like this, the bottom floor would be the main area, with all the others bringing their food down when ordered. But for some reason—maybe because there wasn't enough space out front, or maybe just poor planning—that wasn't the case here. They had to take a thin staircase to the side up to the fifth floor.
They sat down at a table near the window, and the girls ordered some hot chocolate from the squirrel-kemo waitress. Adam didn't get anything, mostly because he still had to figure out how to get the samples. It was going to be tricky, but he was pretty sure he could pull it off.
“You not thirsty?” Ling asked innocently, and he was pulled back to the matter at hand.
He shook his head to try and clear it. He had time to think later. “No, not really. Anyway, what'd you buy?”
“A dress,” Lizzy said with a smile. She pulled it out of her bag so he could see it. It was a red, slinky thing, but he didn't really know enough about clothing to be sure if it would look good on her. “Luckily, I already had Lily's size.”
Adam had a swarmbuster grenade, which shot out plastic shards. It wouldn't kill a human, but it would definitely make them bleed. Unfortunately, Ling could sense all solids. She'd notice that he was the one who used it, even if he just pulled the pin and dropped it under the table. Wait, didn't she have to concentrate to do that? Not sure, but he couldn't risk it.
“So... why did you buy it for her, again?” He knew why. Lizzy apparently just bought things, and eventually gifted them to people. But he needed to get her talking so he could have a minute to think.
While she went on about stimulating the economy and getting presents for her friends and so on, he scanned the room as subtly as he could. The
cafe was pretty busy, mostly with vampires just getting up for the evening. No one looked at them sideways, though, since a lot of the customers were diurnals meeting up with their nocturnal friends.
The waitress carried drinks around precariously on a tray. Including... a large glass pitcher of water.
That was an answer. Not a perfect one, but he wasn't exactly in a perfect situations here.
Ling turned to him. “What do you think?”
He hadn't heard a word of their conversation, of course, but he knew an opportunity when he saw one. “I think I need to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back.”
“It's next to the counter,” Lizzy said. “Ask the barista.”
Perfect.
Adam walked up to the counter, timing his slow press through the table-crowded room to reach the door to the back—and presumably the bathrooms—at about the same time as the squirrel-waitress.
“Come here real quick,” he said. “I need a favor.”
She raised an eyebrow, and her bushy tail twitched. That was the only toy she had, as far as he could tell. “No. This is a respectable establishment.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not that, I promise. I just need to ask you something out of sight of my friends.”
She sighed and followed him around the corner.
“I just need you to break one of those pitchers near my friends,” he said the second they were out of sight.
The eyebrow arched again. “Why would I possibly do that?”
“Call MC. She'll explain.”
The squirrel looked at him funny for a moment, but sighed, and pulled out her phone. “Hello, I'd like to speak to the real MC.”
“Tell her it's regarding Laura's tests,” he said.
She glared at him. “It's regarding Laura's tests.”
She continued glaring at him for about ten seconds, until suddenly her expression transformed into one of surprise. “MC? Well—yes.” She looked him up and down. “Yes. He wants me to—well, all right then.” She closed the phone with a snap, a bewildered expression on her face.
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