Aspen

by Skye Knizley

  She placed Wright on the small bed and checked her vitals. Her pulse was thready and her blood pressure was low, but she was still fighting.

  “Are you still with me, doc?” she asked.

  Wright’s eyes were unfocused and rheumy, but she answered, “I’m still here, Aspen. That’s your name, Aspen?”

  Aspen pulled a sheet up to her neck and started sorting through the equipment beside the bed. “That’s right, Aspen Kincaid. I’m a forensics technician from Chicago. I’m going to take a little of your blood, okay?”

  Wright shrugged. “It will do no good, you can’t stop it.”

  Aspen pulled three sample tubes from the rack, along with a syringe, alcohol wipes and a length of rubber tube. She opened one of the wipes and started cleaning Wright’s arm.

  “Doc, you have to be a little more positive. My partner is out there, and she’s survived things far worse than this. She’s going to keep us safe while I figure out what this is. Wait for the pinch, it might hurt, I usually do this on dead people.”

  She first took two blood samples and set them aside. She then switched to a small syringe and drew a sample of the blue material from beneath Wright’s skin. She didn’t make a sound during the first procedure, but taking the blue substance pained her enough that she cried out.

  “It’s done, doc, I’m sorry it hurt,” Aspen said.

  Wright held her arm and lay silent, her eyes closed. Aspen watched her for a moment, then gathered her things and left the doctor to sleep. She found Jynx in the next room where she was watching the door.

  “How is the doctor?” Jynx asked.

  “Not good. If she is anything like Martel, she has very little time. Have you seen Raven?”

  Jynx kept her eyes on the hallway. “No. I heard that cannon of hers a few minutes ago, then nothing.”

  “Keep an eye out, she may come running any time now. I’m going to go check out these samples.”

  “Do you know what you’re doing?”

  Aspen pushed open the lab door. “I hope so.”

  The lab was clean, as far as abandoned fifty-year old laboratories went. There was a light layer of ashy dust on everything, but most of the equipment had been left under dust covers. Aspen used an old lab smock to clear away a section of the counter. She then gathered a selection of equipment and set to work.

  She’d been staring into microscopes and running blood samples for what seemed like weeks when Raven entered and rubbed her shoulders. “How is it going?”

  Aspen pulled off the mask she’d been wearing and sagged back against Raven. “I isolated what looks like a pathogen in her system, but the little bastard is immune to everything I can find, at least so far.”

  She waved a hand at the bottles and reagents that lined the walls of the lab. “None of this is worth a damn. All I know is that Vincent was right, it is similar to the Chradnutia, but that is all I know. What did you find downstairs?”

  “Just some restless dead, one small step above zombies. A few shots to the head was enough to put them down. No big deal. I’ve been sitting with Wright, she doesn’t have long now.”

  She kissed the back of Aspen’s head “Isn’t the Chradnutia a disease? What if this is something similar, but not a disease.”

  Aspen turned. “How did you know about the Chradnutia?”

  Raven shrugged. “You told me, how else?”

  Aspen was certain she hadn’t mentioned it, there just hadn’t been time. Before she could question further, Jynx opened the door with a worried look on her face.

  “Vampires.”

  “What do you mean vampires? It’s broad daylight!” Raven said.

  Jynx holstered her weapons and lit a cigarette. “I heard noises from the stairwell so took a quick recon. They’re coming up out of the basement. I blocked the stairway door, but if they have our scent it won’t take them long to get through.”

  Her sentence was punctuated by the distant crash of a door.

  “I think they have our scent,” Aspen said.

  Raven drew her pistol and stepped into the hallway with Jynx at her side. Aspen followed, ready to add fire support in the most literal sense. She knew Raven wanted her to avoid using magik and let herself recharge, but if the vampires were as bad as the lycans, this could become an all or nothing battle. What had Wright said about a mathematical progression?

  The doors at the end of the hall opened and a group of figures filled the gap. They were dressed in dark shades with the majority being clad in black leather pants, boots and tee-shirts. Aspen thought they looked like B-movie rejects.

  Raven stepped forward, weapon ready. “I am Furstin Ravenel Tempeste, attacking me or my companions is a violation of the Totentanz. Back off!”

  The vampires continued to advance, their fangs extended and eyes glowing with hunger.

  “Stop!” Raven growled. “The first vampire to raise a hand is going to be decorating the wall with their ashes.”

  “I don’t think they’re listening, Raven,” Jynx said. “Can we try the other way now?”

  Raven cocked her pistol. “Double tap the hearts unless you have a clean shot at the—”

  “Head,” Jynx said. “I got it, I have done this before, Ray. I’ve got your six.”

  Raven looked at Aspen. “Stay behind us and keep your eyes open, I’m sure this place has more than one staircase. If you see anything, kill it and stay safe.”

  Aspen didn’t get to respond, the boom of Jynx’s Colts filled the hallway and three of the vampires exploded into clouds of ash and sparks that fell to the floor like black snow. Aspen covered her ears against the noise and Raven stepped into the fight. Flame shot from the barrel of her pistol and she executed two of the raging vampires with clean shots to the head. She grabbed a third and ripped its throat out in a spray of blood and threw a forth that recoiled in surprise. In that moment she shot it and another that was trying to get behind Jynx. The thunder of her Automag echoed off the walls and made Aspen’s teeth hurt.

  Jynx turned and kicked an advancing vampire in the crotch with the silver toe of her boot then shot it in the head at point-blank range. It was still falling to the floor when she shot two more and stepped back to reload. She grinned at Raven and said, “See? Isn’t this more fun than negotiating?”

  Raven rammed the barrel of her pistol into the eye of the vampire to her right and squeezed the trigger. It exploded into flaming ash along with the one behind it, leaving her pistol dripping blood and gore the spattered on the ashes at her feet.

  “You have a weird idea of fun, Jynx.”

  Jynx fired off another series of shots that all hit home with deadly accuracy. The corridor was becoming slick with ash and blood. “I hear that a lot. Tell me this isn’t more fun than pushing paper around a desk!”

  Raven fired twice more and ejected her pistol’s magazine. A vampire reached for her while she reloaded and Aspen pushed it away with her shield. Raven smiled her thanks, rammed the magazine home and started shooting again.

  Just a few moments later, the shooting subsided. Raven and Jynx stood side by side in the quiet, their boots covered in ash. Aspen took her hands away from her ears and straightened.

  “Is that all of them?”

  Raven reloaded again with fresh magazine from her jacket. “One took a runner down the stairs, but unless he’s got more friends we should be okay.”

  Jynx wiped blood off the barrel of one of her pistols and holstered it. “That was the most fun I’ve had in weeks. It was like a shooting range with actual targets!”

  Raven holstered her own weapon. “Those were living beings, Jynx, try to remember that.”

  Jynx shrugged. “For a given value of living, sure. Don’t be a killjoy.”

  Aspen shook her head. “Vampires aren’t all like that, Jynx. Most of Raven’s family is perfectly normal, as long as you keep the
m out of direct sunlight.”

  “And give them plenty of eyeliner,” a new voice said.

  Aspen knew that voice. She’d never expected to hear that voice again. She turned to see a tall, white-haired vampire standing in the middle of the corridor. He was wearing some kind of body armor that looked like black scales and held a matched pair of gold Desert Eagle pistols. Men in similar uniforms stood behind them, automatic weapons held at the ready.

  “No,” Aspen whispered.

  “No!” Xavier mimicked. “You thought you’d never see me again, didn’t you, my little purple-haired girl?”

  Raven stepped in front of Aspen and drew her pistol. “Xavier. I’d say it is good to see you, but I still think you’re nothing but a flaming turd waiting to be squashed. How are you here? I seem to remember cutting off your head and kicking it through a wall.”

  Xavier rubbed the soul patch beneath his lip. “Our sire has mysterious powers, dear sister. Mysterious powers. And now I’m here to reclaim that which is mine.”

  Aspen shook her head and closed her eyes. Xavier was there, somehow, to take her away, to take her back.

  “Not in this lifetime. Aspen is blood-bonded to me, now. I don’t know how you got here, but it’s time for you to leave,” Raven said.

  Xavier stepped closer and Aspen could feel him rooting around in her head. “Your grip on her seems tenuous, sister. Perhaps you should have followed the ritual instead of making up your own.”

  Aspen used the wall to support herself and fought back against Xavier’s intrusion. “Get out! Get out of my head, I don’t belong to you!”

  “Oh, but you do, little purple-hair,” Xavier said.

  Raven’s hand shot out and she grabbed him by the throat. “No, she doesn’t. I claimed her in your absence, she is mine. You and your merry band of slimeballs can go back to whatever sewer you crawled out of and leave her alone.”

  Jynx joined Raven and pointed her pistols at Xavier’s renegades. “Hi there! I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Jynx, I kill monsters for a living.”

  “This piece of shit is my older brother, Xavier. I killed him, once,” Raven said.

  “You didn’t do a very good job, Ray. Did you miss?”

  Raven kept staring at Xavier. “I didn’t miss. I cut his head off with a sword and kicked it off his shoulders.”

  “Impressive. So…not that I am questioning you, but how the hell is he here?” Jynx asked.

  “My family has a bad habit of coming back from the dead.”

  Pain thundered through Aspen’s head and she sagged to her knees. It felt like Xavier was inside her, pulling her strings again. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought. In her mind’s eye she could see the thread that connected her to Raven. She held onto it, drew strength from it and let that strength fill her. She opened her eyes and glared at Xavier, who Raven still held at arm’s length.

  “I am not yours. I am Raven’s by choice and by blood. Her strength is greater than yours will ever be!”

  Xavier stopped choking and smiled at Aspen. A blade magikally appeared in his hand and he ripped it along Raven’s stomach. It happened so fast Raven never had a chance to react. She screamed in pain and let go, only to fall to the ground in a bloody heap.

  Jynx opened fire with her pistols. Six bullets pierced Xavier’s heart in the space it took a normal man to take a breath, but they passed through him like smoke. He stepped close to Jynx and tried to gut her as he had Raven. She dropped her pistols and caught his hand just as the blade nicked her flesh. Her arms vibrated with the effort of keeping him from ripping her open.

  “Asp! A little help!” she yelled.

  Xavier smiled. “She can’t help you, she’s pathetic and weak. Just a little witch in over her head.”

  Smiling like a madman, he forced the blade inch by blood-soaked inch through her belly. Jynx’s cry of pain was choked off by the damage to her abdomen. All she could do was choke and spit blood. Xavier kissed her cheek and let her fall to the floor.

  Aspen stared at Raven’s body, she watched as the green eyes she adored faded from life to death. She couldn’t believe it. She’d seen Raven hurt worse before, why wasn’t she healing?

  Xavier squatted in front of her. “Now, little one, my friends will take Dr. Wright and you will come with me. We have much to plan, you and I.”

  His death squad stood aside to allow four men to pass. They wore loincloths made of buckskin and carried spears. Their skin was wet-looking metallic silver that shimmered when the moved and their eyes were solid black pits. They shuffled past into the laboratory and Aspen heard Dr. Wright scream in pain and horror.

  She couldn’t move. Raven was dead, Jynx was dying and Xavier was going to take her again. She was alone.

  You are never alone.

  She blinked and saw the four silver men exit carrying Dr. Wright between them, then her view was blocked by Xavier, who offered her his hand. It was still sticky with Raven’s blood.

  “Come, my pet.”

  Aspen shook her head and scooted away on her butt. “No.”

  You are never alone.

  It was Raven’s voice, echoing in her head. Aspen looked at Raven’s body and felt a flood of emotions. Fear, remorse and sadness all were present, but it was anger that made itself known. Aspen looked at Xavier and felt her magik flood through her body. She pushed him away and rose.

  “I am not going anywhere with you.”

  Flame erupted from her fingertips, bathing Xavier in its hellish radiance. He screamed, a horrible noise of pain and terror that was cut off as his tongue burned and his eyes melted. Aspen stepped over his charred carcass and turned her wrath on his men. Her magik fire danced with them, held them, and cooked them in their own armor until their blood boiled and ran from the gaps, where it pooled on the floor in a hot, sticky mass.

  When it was over, she dropped again to her knees between Jynx and Raven. She rolled Jynx over and looked at the wound. She’d seen enough to know it was mortal.

  Jynx spat blood and whispered, “When you get out of here, tell Piper I’m sorry.”

  The light faded from her eyes and Aspen lowered her to the floor.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Devil’s Lake, MO 12:00 p.m.

  Aspen knelt in the blood and ash between Jynx and Raven. She held Raven’s hand and felt it growing cold. It wasn’t right, she should be healing, should have healed. The wound just wasn’t enough to kill someone who had survived being run through with a katana.

  You’re never alone.

  Those words kept echoing in her head, in Raven’s voice. She could feel them, almost hear them being said to her from a distance.

  Aspen wiped tears from her eyes and tried to think. How could Raven have said those words? Be saying them now? How could she have known about the Chradnutia?

  “Think, dammit!” she said aloud.

  She stood and wiped Raven’s blood on the wall. It made a red smear on the concrete that Aspen barely noticed. Her brain felt like she was trying to think through cotton wool.

  She looked back at Raven’s body. Even in death, she was perfect. Perfect hair, perfect lips, flawless, unmarked skin that showed through the tears in her silken blouse…

  Aspen frowned. That was odd. She knelt and tore the silk away from Raven’s shoulder. The skin beneath was perfect, with no scars or other markings. Aspen ran a thumb over the flesh and tried to focus on that one thing; the smooth skin. Unmarked skin where there should have been a tattoo. Aspen had never seen it, but she’d heard about it and there should have been a ‘laugh now, die later,’ tattoo on her shoulder.

  “You’re not real,” Aspen said.

  She straightened and looked around. It was starting to make sense, how Raven looked, how she showed up just in time, how she acted. Everything.

  “You’re not real.”

  She st
arted walking down the hall the way the silver men had taken Dr. Wright. She kicked the door open and started down the stairs at a run. At the bottom she crashed through the fire door and ran into the heart of the almost abandoned parking lot. The sky above was dark and swirled with black and grey clouds. There was a faint golden sun somewhere behind the clouds, but there were no birds, no insects, nothing else. Not even the trees were moving though she could feel a breeze on her skin.

  “If Raven wasn’t real, none of this is. Nobody is more real to me than she is.”

  She turned in a slow circle. “Do you hear me, whatever you are? This isn’t real! My Raven is out there looking for me, none of this is real!”

  There was a sound, like the rush of wind at the edge of a hurricane, the sound that ghosts make in bad horror films. Then, one by one, things began to melt away. The world became a kaleidoscope of color and pain that swirled around her and made her feel as if she was being torn apart and crushed at the same time. She screamed at the sensations flooding through her and fought to hold on. The hospital melted away, then the parking lot and she was left in a swirling blackness full of pain.

  She sat up screaming. Her body felt like it was crawling with insects and her eyes hurt so bad she could hardly open them. When she did it was to find that she was lying in the dirt beside the remains of the campfire she and Jynx had enjoyed an eternity ago. The fire was still burning as if only an hour or so had passed.

  Jynx lay nearby with blue foam dribbling from her mouth. Aspen crawled forward and rolled her onto her side. “Come on, Jynxie, I know it was bad, but you’re alive. I know you’re alive, give me a sign here.”

  Jynx coughed and spat out a gobbet of blue phlegm. She wretched on the sand and more of the blue mucus came out, dribbling from the corners of her mouth. She wiped the residue away and collapsed back on the sand.