Slayers: Friends and Traitors

by C. J. Hill

  What did you think would happen when you came here? What? Had Overdrake really asked the same question Tori was asking now? Why double-cross your friends and then rescue them?

  It didn’t matter to Tori—she didn’t care whose son Dirk was as long as he was loyal to the Slayers now, as long as she could be sure about that loyalty—but here they were again, about to break into one of Overdrake’s strongholds and Dirk knew information that could turn this whole thing into a trap. If Overdrake knew Dr. B would track Alyssa’s watch, he knew the Slayers would come for her. Overdrake could eliminate most of the Slayers tonight without having to individually hunt them down.

  She didn’t realize she gasped until all gazes turned to her.

  “What is it?” Dr. B asked her.

  She couldn’t answer him. She could only stare wide-eyed at Dirk. “Tell me this isn’t a trap.”

  “What?” Dirk asked her. He was emotionally drawing back, trying to hide his feelings.

  She needed to push him hard, to find out the truth right now. “Your father’s accent…,” she said. “Tell me that you aren’t Overdrake’s son.”

  “What?” Dirk asked again, this time with an incredulous laugh. “You’re not serious. Come on, Tori, why are you saying these things? You don’t really believe that.”

  “I don’t want to believe it.”

  “Then stop this.” Dirk sounded angry, but Tori could sense the guilt creeping into his thoughts. The truth was in the guilt. She kept her gaze on his eyes, couldn’t break the contact. If she stared at those familiar blue eyes long enough, she’d see an explanation in them for all the things she couldn’t begin to understand. He was their friend, their captain. And he spent the last three months making her love him.

  “Jesse,” she said, and her voice was barely louder than a heartbreak. “Dirk betrayed us.”

  CHAPTER 20

  For one breathless moment, everyone stared at Tori, unbelieving. She felt like the world had reeled in some horrible direction. The next moment everyone sprang to their feet. Dirk was the quickest. He backed away from the rest of the group. Most of the Slayers stood there watching him, caught by their uncertainty. They were waiting for an explanation.

  They could have fought a dozen men, and taken them down, too—but one of their own?

  “Dirk,” Dr. B called. No anger, just confusion. Utter speechlessness.

  Jesse walked toward Dirk. “What have you done?”

  Dirk kept backing away. His gaze went to Tori. “You don’t understand.”

  “Then explain it to me.”

  He shook his head and took more steps backward. He was getting close to the edge of the building. Tori didn’t move forward, didn’t want to push him closer to the edge. They were so high up. He wouldn’t survive a fall.

  Rosa, Lilly, and Bess all gaped in shock at Dirk. He and Bess had been friends for years. Dirk was Lilly’s captain, and Rosa was simply incapable of thinking badly about any of the Slayers. They had known each other too long, fought together too many times.

  “What have you done?” Jesse asked again. He was still walking toward Dirk, although slower now that Dirk was nearly out of roof.

  Dirk turned his attention to Jesse. “Am I your enemy now? Just like that? Jesse, how long have you known me?”

  “Apparently not long enough.”

  Dr. B stood at Tori’s side. “Stop, Dirk. You’re nearly at the edge. Come back here so we can talk about this. I’m sure there’s been a misunderstanding.”

  Dirk stopped for a moment, glanced at Dr. B, then quickly looked away. Apparently he couldn’t stand to see Dr. B’s disappointment. “I saved all of you last summer,” Dirk said. “I want you to remember that. I helped you fight the dragon.” His gaze went back to Tori. “I saved your life.” These weren’t protestations of innocence. They were reminders that the Slayers owed him, that whatever else Dirk had done, the Slayers owed him for those things.

  Dirk took another step toward the edge, barely paying attention to where he was walking.

  Jesse took several more steps forward. “Is Overdrake your father? Tell us the truth. All of it.”

  “Dirk,” Dr. B called to him. “We’re your friends. We care about you. Come back here, please.”

  Dirk had backed up until he stood on the very edge of the building. He took off his watch and dropped it onto the roof.

  “You have nowhere to go,” Jesse told him.

  That wasn’t true. Tori knew what Dirk would do a second before he did it. He was going to step backward. The fall would kill him and he was going to do it on purpose. Her heart lurched into her throat. “Don’t!” she yelled.

  Dirk gave her a quirk of a smile, the same one he used whenever he was teasing her. “Bye,” he said and leaned backward.

  Before Tori could say another word, he was gone.

  Someone behind Tori screamed. Dr. B yelled out, “No!” The sound of anguish. The sound that matched Tori’s own unuttered response.

  Jesse took to the air, diving after Dirk. Tori was farther away than Jesse, but she flung herself after them, knowing as she did that she wouldn’t be fast enough to catch up to Dirk. It would only take him seconds to hit the ground. Could Jesse reach him in time? She willed it to happen, willed Dirk not to die. At that moment, grief cut such a huge hole through her that losing him seemed much worse than being betrayed.

  She dived downward, searching for Dirk’s falling body. She didn’t see it. Jesse wasn’t below her, either. He’d given up. He was flying sideways instead of downward. Panic washed over her. She only had moments to reach Dirk and she couldn’t even find him.

  And then she spotted him. Not down below her. Up and across the sky. It took her several seconds to realize what she was seeing, what it meant.

  Dirk was flying. Flying. Dirk had pulled up and was zipping through the sky. Jesse sped after him, trying to catch up. The two rounded the corner of the Lincoln Memorial and headed across the reflecting pool toward the Washington Monument. Tori rocketed after them, the air rushing against her. Her anger was back, full force. Dirk had played them all as fools. She wasn’t going to let him get away. Overdrake had a hostage—the Slayers were about to take one, too.

  Dirk veered left, flying into the trees that lined the path along the reflecting pool. Tori wasn’t sure whether Dirk meant to lose Jesse or whether he was just showing off. He zoomed around the trunks and branches, spinning, changing direction as fast as Jesse could. Dirk had been a flyer all along. He must have been practicing for years.

  Tori trailed the two, twisting in and around the trees. She kept knocking into branches. Twigs waved at her like scolding fingers. Dirk and Jesse were both better flyers than she was, faster. Several people down on the ground noticed them. She heard people calling things, saw them pointing.

  She pulled up so that she skimmed over the treetops. She kept her gaze on Dirk, not trying to catch him, just trying to keep up with him. Her hair fluttered every which way, annoying her every time it whipped into her face.

  Why hadn’t she known who and what Dirk was earlier? She was his counterpart. She should have known he was keeping secrets; she should have sensed his lies.

  At the end of the reflecting pool, Dirk cut across to the World War II Memorial. Fifty-six granite pillars towered around an oval reflecting pool. The fountains in the middle splashed noisy, coating the area with a cold mist. He weaved in between the pillars, then streaked over a street full of lumbering cars and headed to the Washington Monument.

  More people noticed them. Some yelled things. A few clapped like they were watching a show. This was all definitely against procedure—flying in public during daylight. But what else could she and Jesse do? If they caught Dirk, they would have some leverage against Overdrake.

  Tori remembered when Overdrake first captured her on the top of the enclosure’s roof. You can’t fly, can you? he’d asked her mockingly. She wondered about that comment later. He seemed to know she was supposed to fly—knew it before she did.
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  Now Tori realized why. Overdrake knew she was Dirk’s counterpart and knew Dirk could fly. It must have seemed so funny to him that she’d been caught on the roof.

  Ahead of them, the Washington Monument jutted into the sky, a nearly six-hundred-foot white stone obelisk. Dirk went around the base, just above the flag poles. Jesse chased after him and then the two of them circled the building once, twice, each rotation traveling upward toward the obelisk’s tip. Tori had reached them by the third time around. She couldn’t catch Dirk, but she could intercept him.

  She slid Dirk’s leather jacket from her shoulders and then glided through the air higher than she thought he’d be when he came around next. She gripped the jacket and waited for her counterpart sense to tell her when he would appear around the side. If he was paying attention, he would know where she was, but he would think she was too far up in the air to reach him.

  A moment later she felt him coming. Using every bit of her extra strength, she hurled the jacket down at him. It smacked him in the head and draped over his face. The leather wasn’t hard enough to hurt. It caught him off guard, though, blinded him for a moment.

  He tumbled, ripping the jacket off his face. “Tori!” he yelled in exasperation, as though she was the one being unreasonable.

  Jesse plowed headfirst into Dirk, tackling him midair. They plunged downward, both twisting and grabbing at each other—a wrestling match that was falling to the ground.

  Jesse had one hand on Dirk’s head, keeping him from head butting. “Where is Alyssa?” he growled out.

  When Dirk didn’t answer his question, Jesse let go of his head and hit Dirk across his cheek. Dirk barely flinched. He took advantage of the fact that Jesse only held him with one hand, broke his grasp, and used the momentum to fling Jesse toward a flagpole.

  Jesse smashed into the pole with a clang that made the group of bystanders wince. He slid downward several feet before he stopped his fall.

  Tori went after Dirk. He darted away from her, flying by the pole. “Alyssa’s fine,” he yelled.

  Jesse kicked off from the flagpole and shot back toward Dirk. “You think torture is fine?” This time when he tackled Dirk they both somersaulted through the air toward the monument. Jesse righted himself at the last moment, knocking Dirk into the wall.

  Dirk’s head snapped back. He recovered quickly and grabbed Jesse’s shoulders. For a few moments they were at stalemate, spinning sideways against the wall as they struggled to break each other’s grasp. Tori flew up to them, not sure what she could do to help Jesse. Neither guy was staying in the same place for more than a second.

  “Where’s Alyssa?” Jesse asked again. “If your father hurts her—”

  Dirk cut him off. “Do you think he needs information from Alyssa? I already know everything she does.”

  The crowd around the monument kept growing as more and more people noticed the flyers. Two dozen people had their cell phone cameras out, recording the event.

  Well, at least Tori had the right outfit for this activity.

  Dirk tried to kick Jesse. Jesse flipped upward, dragging Dirk with him. It started another wrestling match, this one rolling upward along the monument wall. Tori skimmed along beside them, trying to grab some part of Dirk without getting pummeled in the process. Before she could, Dirk broke away from Jesse and pushed off the wall, plummeting in a backward dive.

  The crowd below gasped.

  Really, people? Tori wanted to yell as she and Jesse both zoomed after him. He’s not falling. Did you not notice before that he can fly?

  Just over the heads of the crowd, Dirk turned and straightened, soaring low. Jesse tailed, a few yards behind. As Dirk flew toward a group of teenage boys, he called to them, “Bet you can’t stop the guy behind me!”

  If Jesse had heard this, he would have had time to pull up higher, out of reach. Apparently he didn’t hear Dirk’s challenge. He wasn’t prepared when the boys jumped up, trying to grab a hold of him. One of them hefted his friend into the air, and a boy caught hold of Jesse’s leg as he went by.

  The boy was yanked from his friend’s grasp, where he hung, screaming, until Jesse managed to shake him off. By then Dirk was flying over Constitution Avenue.

  Tori was closer to Dirk and she strained to keep up with him, to keep him in sight. He flew over buildings and traffic, then soared up to the Old Post Office Pavilion and disappeared behind the bell tower. Tori went after him, chasing him around the tower twice. From this height the buildings of D.C. looked like walls of a labyrinth laid out before them.

  Dirk zoomed away from the pavilion and retreated behind the Smithsonian Castle. The Castle had always been one of Tori’s favorite D.C. buildings. She loved the antique feel of its red sandstone bricks and the spires that sat like candlesticks on its roof. Now the building just seemed like an impossible place to keep track of someone. Dirk had nine spires to hide behind.

  As soon as she flushed him out of one, he retreated behind another. And capes, Tori realized, were absolutely pointless. Hers did nothing but flap around her, getting in the way every time she changed direction.

  Jesse caught up to them at the castle, but he kept losing Dirk. Tori had to yell, “Over here!” again and again. Dirk was close enough that she could always tell which direction he went.

  Dirk must have realized he would never shake Jesse as long as Tori was around, because he finally flew around one of the spires, and instead of circling back to the roof, he shot off across the street. “This way!” Tori yelled to Jesse and went after him.

  They darted over and around buildings, zooming one way, then changing directions and going another. Even though Tori was still calling out to Jesse, before long she left him behind. She didn’t dare turn back to find him. The only thing that was keeping her on Dirk’s tail was her counterpart sense. She didn’t have to slow down or stop every time she went around a building to figure out which way he’d flown. She just knew.

  After a couple minutes, Jesse called her watch-phone. “Where are you?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I went by a baseball diamond a few seconds ago.”

  Jesse paused. “What direction are you going?”

  “Um, toward a big parking lot—I think it’s a hospital. It’s not George Washington University. I’d recognize that one.”

  “I meant north, south, east, or west?”

  Dirk zoomed down low so he could use the building as a screen. Tori followed. “I don’t know. I don’t have a compass on me.”

  “Your watch has a built-in compass, Tori.”

  Oh. She vaguely remembered Theo demonstrating that feature. “That’s not one of the functions I know how to use.”

  Dirk went around the side of the building. Tori skimmed through the air after him, ignoring the windows she passed. If anyone was looking out, she didn’t want to know.

  “Do you see any street signs?”

  “I can’t read them from up here.”

  Jesse sighed, frustrated. “Are you still in D.C.?”

  They were flying fast and D.C. was only ten miles long. “I don’t know. I see a football field in the distance. Does D.C. have those?”

  “Tori, how could you live your whole life here and not know…” Jesse took a deep breath. “Never mind. I’ll put Dr. B on a conference call with us. He can tell me where your signal is and what direction you’re going. Don’t try to fight Dirk, just keep him in sight until I reach you.”

  “Okay.”

  Dirk glanced back and saw her talking into her watch. He twisted midair and missiled toward her. She hadn’t expected that and didn’t dart out of his way fast enough. He grabbed her wrist, tugging at the watchband. “This has got to go.”

  She tried to twist away from his grasp, at the same time aiming a kick at his side. Still holding on to her wrist, he jerked away to dodge her blow. The momentum spun them both, somersaulting them through the air for several feet. She noticed the hospital windows then, the patients lying in their beds watching TV. Only
one young boy was looking outside. He stared at Tori, openmouthed. Yeah, after he reported this incident, his nurses would probably change his medication.

  Tori kicked Dirk again, her anger hot and focused. This time the blow connected squarely in his chest with a powerful thud. He broke away from her with a grunt, ripping the watchband off her wrist as he did. It fell from her arm and tumbled downward, a black spiraling splotch that was her only contact with Jesse and Dr. B. She dived after it, caught it like a falcon grabbing hold of its prey, and then searched the sky for Dirk.

  For a moment she didn’t see him and cursed herself for going after her watch. She shouldn’t have let Dirk distract her that way. Then she reached for him with her counterpart sense and spotted him darting over the roof.

  She zipped that direction. When she reached the top, she sensed Dirk had gone left and low. She flew that way and spotted him soaring along the street toward some trees.

  She slid her watch into her boot so Dirk couldn’t take it again and then tore after him. All she had to do was tail him. Jesse would come. Dr. B and the other Slayers would follow in the van. Although, perhaps Dirk had thought about that, too. He was switching directions so frequently that the van would have trouble turning around and switching roads to follow him.

  Tori glided over trees, lampposts, and a continual stream of traffic. It didn’t matter where Dirk flew. She wasn’t going to let him shake her off.

  CHAPTER 21

  Jesse flew high above the National Cathedral, watching for any sign of Tori and Dirk. They had to be down there somewhere.

  “They’ve crossed Rock Creek Park,” Dr. B said through the watch-phone. “They’re flying northwest toward Bethesda. Go north. They’re only a minute or two ahead of you.”

  Jesse zoomed that way. He still didn’t see any sign of them.

  “They’re almost to Connecticut Avenue,” Dr. B said.

  Jesse couldn’t read any of the street signs so he had to rely on Dr. B’s directions.