by M. R. Forbes
She didn’t look convinced, but she nodded. “Okay.”
“Good. Don’t worry about anything. Rebecca, can you?”
Rebecca stepped over to Cathy and took her face in her hand. “You’re so pretty,” Cathy said.
“Thank you Cathy,” Rebecca replied. “Now go to sleep.”
She received the Command as though she had been hypnotized, her eyes rolling back in her head and her entire body going limp. Obi caught her on the way down, easing her fall.
“Time to go kill my father,” Rebecca said.
“Rebecca.” I reached out and grabbed her by the arm as she started to storm away.
It was all I had time to say, because then her lips were locked onto mine, and she was kissing me like it would be her last chance. Every sense of everything else in the universe faded away. I absorbed every ounce of emotion that she poured into the kiss, amplifying and returning it mixed with every feeling she had created within me since we had met. It was deep, meaningful, and passionate, a hello and a goodbye both. When she pulled away from me, it was all I could do to stay balanced.
“Much better than chocolate,” she repeated.
“Break a leg,” I said, trying to catch my breath.
“I’ll break a lot more than that.”
Obi and I followed behind her as she resumed her angry march towards her destiny. Reaching the main living space, I saw that Merov had stripped down to a white t-shirt and a pair of black sweats. I had thought the vampire was stocky, but his body was well muscled. It was his powerful barrel chest that had made him appear fat. He looked like he could pulverize his child without effort.
“I’m sorry to have to do this to you my dear,” he said when he noticed Rebecca approaching.
She didn’t waste time with formality. Instead she kicked off her shoes, opened her mouth and hissed a challenge, her body shifting back into attack mode. This time she did a complete transformation, her fingers and toes elongating into deadly claws. She was on Merov in an instant, catching him off guard and leaving a deep gash in his cheek before he could react. He bellowed and shifted himself, showing us why he was the head of the family.
Where Rebecca could grow longer fangs and claws, Merov’s entire body changed. He grew at least six feet, his muscle expanding his skin so much it looked like it was going to tear, his face taking on a non-humanoid look as all of his teeth grew and pushed against his mouth. He was more beast than man, a monster in civilized clothing.
He caught Rebecca’s fist when she tried to dig into his chest, twisted her arm and threw her across the floor. “Come now dear, you can do better than that,” he said, his voice so deep it was hard to understand.
Rebecca got back to her feet and approached again, more cautious after the last hit. She looked miniscule framed against her father’s insane mass of power.
“I’ve hated you my entire life,” she told him. “I can’t wait to watch you die.”
She danced forward, dodged a heavy punch, and raked her claws across his chest. It was so thick it didn’t even break through the skin, and she was rewarded by a backhanded blow to the head that sent her tumbling away. He was toying with her.
“You know how I hate to disappoint you,” he said. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to make you wait a while longer.”
He dashed forward with a speed that should have been impossible for his size, then raised his foot to stomp his daughter. I cringed as the huge claw came down on her. Somehow she was able to get her feet under her, and she caught the foot in her hands and shoved. Off balance, Merov crashed backwards onto the ground.
Rebecca didn’t hesitate, leaping into the air and leading with her feet. She managed to dig a little deeper into his chest when she hit, but he lashed out and sent her flying off him again, then got back up. Rebecca recovered, landing upright and pressing the attack. She angled back and forth, trying to keep Merov off balance. She had no chance against him on strength, but she was still quicker and more agile.
“I didn’t think you’d be this much fun,” Merov said with a laugh.
Rebecca responded with a flurry of blows that her father either blocked or absorbed with his massive bulk. The wounds she was inflicting were adding up, but they seemed like no more than paper cuts across the massive expansive of his body. The wave left her winded and off-balance, and Merov didn’t waste the opening, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her well off the ground.
“Goodbye dear,” he said, turning his head so he could leer at me while he finished the fight.
I assume he had been planning to pop her head right off like a cork. He didn’t get the chance. With a blinding speed that I almost couldn’t follow, Rebecca kicked her legs up and wrapped them around his arm, then twisted her hips. The crack of his limb breaking was painfully loud, and he dropped her and cried out as it fell limp. She landed on her feet and moved in again, grabbing his other arm and snapping it at the elbow before he could react. He lashed out with his foot, but she sidestepped it and brought her own kick down on his kneecap, shattering those bones as well.
Unable to support the massive weight, Merov sank to his knees, his eyes filled with rage, fury, and pride? Rebecca saw it too, and she stopped her assault.
“You’ve grown so much,” the vampire said to his daughter. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”
She had fooled him into thinking she was spent, and he would pay with his life.
“You’ve never thought much of me,” she said to him.
“No,” he admitted. “That’s because your mother was such a filthy whore.”
Without another word, she reached out and grabbed his head, breaking his neck before he could say anything else. She stood motionless, watching his lifeless body topple to the ground, her black eyes a mask to whatever emotions were playing across her mind. A moment later, black fog began rising out of Merov’s mouth. I started moving towards her, to warn her of the danger, but she closed her eyes and opened her mouth to receive it. What was she doing?
I had never seen the process from the outside. The cloud transferred from father to daughter in a steady stream of ashen smoke that twisted and curled around her. Once it was finished, she bowed her head to the disintegrating carcass and turned to the two weres who had waited on the sidelines.
“You have borne witness,” she said to them.
“Yes, mistress,” they agreed.
“Go wait in the lobby,” she commanded.
“Yes, mistress,” they said in unison. They headed off towards the elevator. Rebecca looked at me, the black of her eyes fading away to reveal oceans of blue. She looked the same, but different, more regal. I gave her a concerned smile. She came over.
“Man, that was unreal,” Obi said from behind me. “I couldn’t even see her she was moving so fast.”
“That was incredible,” I told her. She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me down to her, kissing me as with the same force as she had the last time.
“I have you to thank,” she said once we had broken our embrace. “I’ve never felt so strong.”
“Merov’s soul?” I asked.
“It is part of the rights of ascension. The defeated surrenders their power to the victor, along with their knowledge.”
“Do you mean you can turn into a ten-foot tall Rebecca now?” I asked.
“Come on, worm,” she replied. “My power doesn’t manifest the same way, since I’m only half-nosferatu. For Merov, it was strength. For me, it’s speed. I also inherited a measure of his memories. I know the passphrases to get into his office.”
Excited didn’t even scratch the surface of what that statement made me feel. “I hate to be a bother,” I said, “but would you mind?”
Rebecca laughed. “I don’t mind, but we don’t have time.” Her attitude turned serious. “I have a lot more to tell you, but we have to go. Your friend Josette is in trouble.”
“Trouble?” I asked. I didn’t even know where Josette was.
“The demons are making a
move tonight,” she said. “Merov had just left to participate when the gargoyles alerted him to our break in. They’re going after an angel sanctuary, and all of the major players have amulets.”
“The amulets don’t work,” I said.
“They do, but there’s a catch,” Rebecca said. “The demon who controls the Chalice can manipulate the power of the crystals. If they lose one, or one is taken, they can shut it down.”
“Like a remote kill switch?” Obi asked, moving in to join the conversation.
“Exactly.”
“How do you know Josette is at this sanctuary?” I asked. I didn’t even know what an angel sanctuary was.
“Reyzl promised her to Merov in exchange for his participation. She’s there, and she’s in trouble. I know she’s your friend, so if you want any hope of saving her we have to go now.”
It wasn’t like there was a decision to be made. “Where to?” I asked.
“The Catskills,” Rebecca said.
“Whoa,” Obi said. “Catskills? Like the mountains?”
Rebecca looked at him as if he had two heads. “Yes. There is a Monastery there that serves as a seraphim sanctuary. The demons have known about it for some time, but they didn’t believe they could win a battle on the angel’s home turf. The Grail has changed that.”
I knew what Obi was getting at. “Rebecca, we don’t have any way to get to the Catskills.”
She gave me a big smile. “We do now,” she said.
Chapter 20
The battle started before we even got down into the parking garage of the building, when I told Obi I needed him to stay with Cathy and take her home once she woke up. His protests were loud, angry, and laced with profanity. They were also ineffective. We had no idea what we would be walking into, and as tough as the former Marine had proven to be, he was still human. He would have been little more than a red-shirt out there, even more so once he had finished off his remaining forty something rounds. He gave up when Rebecca threatened to Command him. At least this way he could pretend it was his choice, he had said.
Merov’s... no, Rebecca’s private elevator led down into a secluded area of the garage, complete with its own attendants. They stood at attention when the doors opened, not even questioning Rebecca’s newfound authority. She led me out into a sea of luxurious excess.
There were at least thirty cars here, all of them washed, waxed, and primed for driving. They varied in size and shape, but I imagined none of them cost less than a hundred grand. They sat arranged by type in two rows on either side of the main aisle, sports cars, sport utility vehicles, sedans, and even a few that I couldn’t classify. Growing up in a city, I had never been a big car guy, but even the little bit I knew was enough to be impressed.
“We’ll take the Rolls,” Rebecca said to one of the attendants, an older vampire with long greying hair.
“Yes, mistress,” he said, dashing off to get the car.
“It’s not the fastest thing in here, but its armor plated,” she said.
I had a feeling we were going to need the protection. “How do they just know you’re the boss?” I asked her. I could hear the heavy growl of the car’s engine coming to life, and then I saw the headlights flick on.
“The transfer,” she replied. “They can feel the shift the same way you did. They just understand it better.”
“Have I told you how awesome I think you are,” I said to her.
The car rumbled up to where we were standing and the attendant popped out. He held the driver’s side door while the other one opened the passenger side.
“We’ll settle that later,” she said to me with a wink and a grin.
I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what she meant, but it didn’t sound bad. She tossed the blessed swords in the back seat and sank in behind the wheel while I circled around and hopped in on the other side, putting Boots’ weapon with the others. The attendants slammed the doors shut, and with a slight squeal of tires and roar from the engine we were off.
“What time is it starting?” I asked when we pulled out of the parking garage and onto the street. It was almost ten o’clock, which made the otherwise insane Manhattan traffic almost bearable.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “It can’t be too soon, or Merov would never have made it in time. I’m going to guess around one or two. It’s a three hour drive.”
I looked over at her, admiring the shape of her face in profile, her expression purposeful as she drove. I respected her for her strength and resolve, and for being so unequivocally willing to do this for an angel, her kind’s mortal enemies, just because she knew it was important to me. What the beautiful creature driving the car saw in me, I had no idea, but for some reason she wanted to be with me, to be on my side. It was insane, but despite everything I was happier in that moment than I had ever been before.
“You should rest,” she said. She snaked around the slower moving traffic with practiced ease. “I think we’re going to need everything you’ve got.”
The truth was, I felt good. “What about you?” I asked. “I’ve never driven before, but once we get out onto the open road I’m sure I can figure it out.”
One eye pivoted to look at me, and she laughed. “We’ll be dead before we get there,” she said. “I’m fine. Between your blood and the transfer, I don’t think I’ll need to rest for a while.”
We rode in comfortable silence, the interior of the car impervious to outside noise. There was so much I wanted to ask her, about the transfer, about demons, about Reyzl. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The moment of peaceful companionship was just too appealing. I kept my eyes out the window, watching all of the people who turned their heads to stare, who tried to see through the vehicle’s tinted glass. What would they think if they saw us as we were, a vampiress and the bastard son of the universe? An image of pitchforks was the first thing that came to mind.
It took us about half an hour to get out of Manhattan and onto the George Washington bridge. I could sense Rebecca tense up when the car eased out over the open expanse of water, then relax after we crossed it. She breathed out a deep sigh on the other side.
“What’s it like?” she asked me then.
“What’s what like?”
“To be a human. To be so inferior and weak.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks Becca,” I said. Her head snapped to the right so she could look at me. “You don’t like being called Becca, do you?”
She tilted her head ever a tiny bit, smiled, then put her eyes back on the road. “It’s not that. I’ve never had anyone refer to me like that before. Like a friend.”
“I am your friend,” I told her. “It must be hard to have been ostracized by your people for thinking different. For trying to help them see the bigger picture.”
She stared straight ahead. “It has been lonely,” she admitted. “I never thought that I would achieve much more than being Merov’s laughable daughter, or Reyzl’s toy. Even the scientists who were working on the synthetic... I know they thought the project was an eccentric waste.”
“Now you’re the boss though,” I said. “That has to count for something.”
Rebecca sighed again. “I wish it were that simple. The family will follow me because it’s our way, but I expect that I’ll be challenged quite often, at least in the beginning. At least until they see that I’m not someone to be taken lightly.”
I reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “Nobody will take you lightly. Merov was a serious monster, and you destroyed him.” She didn’t look too sure. “Anyway, I’ll be with you.”
The engine roared as she accelerated past an eighteen-wheeler, flipping off the driver on the way past. “Asshole,” she shouted into the cabin.
I doubted the sound would be able to penetrate the armored walls, but the simple normalcy of the gesture made me laugh.
“Being human isn’t much different than that,” I said. “You just do your best to have some fun, stay sane, not be lonely, and navigat
e around all the assholes. ”
She was thoughtful for a minute, as if I had said something profound. “What about your family?” she asked. “Do you miss them?”
It occurred to me then that I hadn’t thought much about my family since returning from Purgatory. My mind wandered back to my mother, sitting in the kitchen reading a trashy romance novel and drinking tea. She had been a good enough mother, there for me when I needed her, a decent moral guide. It hadn’t been her fault I thought I was smarter than I was. She had supported me as best she could during the trial and my incarceration.
My father? He was there some of the time, gone the rest. He had popped back in and out of our lives a few times over the years, usually to have someplace to be when he couldn’t think of anywhere else. I didn’t know if he was even still alive. I had some extended family too, but I didn’t know any of them that well. It had just been my mother and I, and even so I wouldn’t say that I felt close to her.
“No,” I said after a long pause. “My mother is super religious. No offense, but I don’t think she’d approve of my choice of friends.”
We continued talking for the rest of the drive. It was simple, easy talk about everything and nothing. I learned about how she was raised, her first taste of fresh blood, how she came to be appalled by the way Merov killed humans so casually for food. I told her about my mortal childhood, my love of technology, my first kiss, the sadness I had felt when my dog Whisper had been hit by a car when I was nine years old. We were new friends and old friends at the same time, keeping each other good company while we drove through the night towards an uncertain future. I took comfort in knowing that there was nobody else I would rather have headed towards oblivion with, and that if oblivion did come at least I wouldn’t end alone.
Chapter 21
I was looking out of the window, listening to Rebecca tell me about how she had come to live at the Statue of Liberty and marveling at the snowy landscape of the Catskill mountains when the darkness of the night was pierced by a blinding beam of white light off in the distance, shooting straight up into the sky. At the same instant I felt a distinct unease in my gut, my soul reverberating in alarm.