Publish and Perish
Page 15
“A bigger question is why your dad was worried about a Hunter,” Syd said. My stomach clamped down into a hard, tight ball and I remembered the last time my father and I had talked. Syd stared at me, a frown on his bulldog face. “Unless he knew,” he added softly.
I shook my head, unable to process, much less face, what the old lawyer was suggesting. John headed for the office door. “Hey, where are you going?” I called, grateful for the distraction.
“To locate a Hunter kennel. And get a van.”
* * *
“In the Hamptons? Seriously?” I muttered to myself. I was parked on a winding street lined with electronic gates leading to large and very expensive houses and using a large rhododendron hedge for cover. The large shrub was just starting to show buds on this early spring day.
The police van was parked on the side of the road some hundred feet ahead of me. The paddy wagon had Philadelphia plates so I figured John and maybe even his human dad had pulled in favors from the PPD, where they had both worked, to get a loaner. I had known I didn’t have the skill to follow John and not be detected, so I used deceit and guile instead. I managed to get Ken to tell me the location of the Hunter kennel. I had phrased it as needing to know where to send a rescue party or a bail bondsman and that had made Ken nervous enough that he spilled the address. John or Syd would have seen right through me, but Ken didn’t know me well enough to know I could be very, very wily and that I didn’t always play fair.
I felt very exposed under the bright sun. Who the hell did a heist in broad daylight? Answer: people invading a vampire compound. I knew it made sense, but it was still disconcerting. There was a crawling sensation between my shoulder blades and the left side of my chest was aching. Heart attack? Or just tension? John had set the trio up with radio headsets. I had thought about hitting Radio Shack and buying a set for myself, then trying to scan for their frequency, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to do that and I feared I might inadvertently give away my presence. I was just going to hang nearby in case they needed me. I gave a silent prayer that they wouldn’t need me.
I knew the basic plan. Step the first, park the police van. Step the second, John takes himself and Ken into Fey. They walk onto the property then return to our world. That would be step number three. Step four, they search for a Hunter. Step five, they subdue a Hunter. (They had been more than a little vague on that aspect of the plan and so had a number of possible approaches ranging from Tasers to sedatives.) Step six, they haul the Hunter back through Fey to the van. Step seven, they reenter the human world. Step eight, they drive back to New York. Step nine, they show Linnet to the Hunter. Step ten—Linnet dies. I pushed that final thought firmly aside, and instead reflected that there were a lot of damn steps that needed to go perfectly for this to work.
In the twenty-some minutes I had been in this ritzy area I had noticed one thing; there wasn’t a lot of traffic. A UPS truck had driven past. A couple of expensive cars driven by women. My battered van had come in for a hard look, and I’d worried that someone would call the cops on me, but the presence of the police van seemed to have kept that from happening. The only sounds were the pop and ping of my cooling engine, the occasional bark of a dog, and frantic spring birdsong. It was warm in the van and I was starting to doze when whooping alarms had me bashing my thighs into the steering wheel and brushing my head on the roof of the van, so violent was my start.
As I watched, Syd opened the door of the police van and climbed out. The air near the van shimmered and John and Ken appeared dragging a limp, pasty white, unclothed body between them. Syd was fumbling with the back doors of the van. John dropped his side of the Hunter and quickly opened the door. The Hunter was flung into the back of the van, the doors locked. Ken was bent over, hands resting on his knees retching. John grabbed the young scientist and dragged him to the cab of the van. I heard the creaking and squeaking of the property gates sliding open. The police van was pulling away, gaining speed, but slowly.
I turned the key, the engine caught with a roar, and I drove forward as a long, fast black car with darkly tinted windows rushed toward the exit from the driveway. I stopped the van directly in front of the gates, blocking the way. The car jerked to a stop, and a pair of vampires jumped out. They didn’t look like any vampires of my acquaintance. They weren’t tailored and suave and handsome. Their faces were pushed in, their noses more like slits in their heavy-boned faces, and their fangs hung over their lower lips. Their skin was starting to blister and peel under the bright noon sun, but they weren’t retreating. Instead, they were charging me. Their nails were elongating, and they didn’t look like they wanted to have a conversation.
Terror fluttered in my gut, and I put my foot to the gas. At the same time, there was a howl of tortured metal and the gates started to close, but far faster than normal. The vampires reacted, and then had to leap to the side when their car jerked out of park and went racing forward to crash into the closing gates. Thank you, little mystery power. With luck, it would take a while to untangle the car from the bent and warped gates, I thought as I drove away. Still, I was glad I had thought to cover both my license plates with mud. On the other hand, the vampires probably wouldn’t call the police to report a kidnapping or a theft of a creature whose existence they tried very hard to downplay.
As I made my way back toward Queens I replayed that chaotic scene at the entrance to the estate. How had my power closed the gate and made the car pop into drive? It seemed to be getting stronger and more potent. Why? And then I worried that the answer might be more unsettling than the power.
* * *
I tried to beat the boys back. I was supposed to be waiting for them at an empty warehouse that was tied up in an ugly divorce that Syd was handling. He had keys to the building so an appraisal could be done, and it seemed the perfect place to dangle Linnet in front of a Hunter like a minnow on a hook. As so often happens with best laid plans, that didn’t work out. I hit bad traffic and an accident, and by the time I reached the building the police van was already parked out front.
I killed the engine and called John on the cell he had given me. “You followed us, didn’t you?” the Álfar demanded.
“Yes, and you should be glad I did. I blocked some really creepy-looking vampires from catching you.”
“You drive me crazy.”
“Love you too. Are you ready for me?”
“Yeah, the thing is still unconscious. I’ve got a collar and chain on it, and the taser ready. That worked really well.”
“Glad to hear it. Keep it handy.”
I stepped onto the oil-stained pavement of the parking lot and headed for the door. We weren’t all that far from the coast and the smell of brine and seaweed was carried on the wind. I opened the door into the big brick building and a new scent assaulted my nostrils. It was the smell of rotting flesh coupled with vomit and truly horrible body odor. I gagged, choked, and darted back outside. The bile that had risen up into the back of my throat burned as it went back down. I stood and panted for a few minutes. I took off my cardigan sweater, tied it around my nose and mouth, and entered once again.
The enormous space was empty, so the sound of my footfalls bounced off the walls and the extremely high ceiling. Sunlight poured in through high windows set up under the eaves, and chains dangled from ceiling-mounted cranes. I breathed shallowly through my mouth and tried to hold my rising gorge at bay.
The men were gathered around the prone, slug-white body of the Hunter. I had only seen the Roger Corman movies and their idea of a Hunter. Now that I was this close I could see the dead white skin was stippled with very faint markings similar to scales. I wondered if they were the pheromone-sensing structures that Ken had talked about? John had a Taser in his left hand, and the chain wrapped around his right hand. He was braced, staring down at the creature. Syd started toward me, and Ken was using a small camera held in one hand to snap pictures while the other hand held his phone. I could hear him speaking, but the echo made it diffi
cult to distinguish words.
“I hope you’re recording and not calling somebody,” I said.
“I am,” Ken replied.
“We’re gonna put you in the control box for the…” Syd was saying as he approached.
Several things happened at once. The Hunter sprang up like a hopping spider, its long arms and legs coiled around its flaccid body. Ken let out a yell of fear and stumbled backward. Syd was cursing. John jammed the Taser against the creature’s neck. There was a chittering like an electronic cricket, but it had no effect on the Hunter. The thing was on its feet and, despite the lack of eyes, the long undulating fingers reached toward me, writhing like disturbed worms. The moist, horribly red mouth was working, producing sucking sounds that were almost worse than the stink coming in waves off the monster. John dropped the Taser, grabbed the chain with both hands, and yanked, but instead of pulling the Hunter back he was pulled forward, lost his footing, and went down on his stomach on the concrete floor. The Hunter was dragging him effortlessly as it sprang toward me.
I saw the fingers stiffen until they resembled ten sharp white talons. I whirled and started to run. I was sobbing with terror, the sweater fell down around my neck, and the smell of the Hunter hit me full force, leaving me lightheaded. The pain in the left side of my chest was excruciating, and there seemed to be an overlay of another’s panic over my own. This sense of another was also terrifying. This thing was real. I knew it now. It was as if it were clawing to be free, trying to burst out of my chest like the alien in the Alien movies.
I waited for the improbable to occur. It had worked against werewolves and Álfar and a vampire. It would save me now. As if in answer to my thought, the windows set high up beneath the eaves began to blow out as I ran. Glass rained down behind me. I risked a glance behind. The Hunter was still coming. Whatever the vampires had done to protect their monster they had done it well for there seemed to be a bubble defending it. None of the glass shards struck the creature. Not so my friends. I saw John grab Ken and Syd and drag them into cover.
I felt the sharp prick of those talons against my back. From overhead came the screaming cry of an enraged vampire. I had heard it only once before; when David had placed himself between me and a rampaging werewolf. A figure launched itself through one of the broken windows and came hurtling toward the floor. A broad-brimmed hat was swept from its head by the speed of the fall. I expected to see David because he had always been there. Instead I saw the female vampire.
Her feet struck the outstretched arms of the Hunter. I waited for the crack of broken bones, but the creature was adaptable. The arms were once again loose and sagging. The blank oval face was turned toward the vampire and the disgusting mouth was sucking at the air like a baby groping for a breast.
The screaming war cry ceased and she made a low crooning sound that had the hair on the back of my neck lifting. She pulled off her sweater, revealing a pretty lavender-colored and lace-covered bra. Her smooth ivory skin was showing blisters from the sun. She cut her chest with a nail, and the pale vampire blood flowed down, staining the material. So that part of Dracula was true, I thought inanely. A long whip-like tongue uncoiled from the little red mouth, questing for the dripping blood. The female vampire grabbed it and pulled like an angler landing a fish. A sound grotesque and terrifying emerged from the Hunter and it jerked and flopped as more and more of the tongue was pulled out of its maw. What appeared to be the innards of the monster were dragged out of its mouth to land with a wet splat on the concrete. The Hunter collapsed like a deflated balloon.
I lost it and threw up. I faintly heard Ken saying “That was really gross but also amazing!”
Syd’s reaction was more in line with mine. “No, that was just gross! And damn it, I’m going to have to get this place fumigated.”
And finally, John’s ironic tones, “Well, this went well.”
My throat burned, my mouth tasted of sour bile and the oatmeal I’d had for breakfast. My heart was pounding and my chest hurt. I staggered away from the puddle of vomit. I only made it a few feet before my knees went out and I collapsed. An arm snaked around my waist and kept me from hitting the floor. I smelled perfume and long dark hair brushed the side of my face. The female vampire was holding me. I tried to summon panic, but I was all panicked out.
“There, there, it’s over now,” she said gently. Her voice was softly accented in a way I couldn’t identify. She helped me over to a metal ladder that led up to the catwalks. I perched on a rung and swallowed a few times to try and get the taste out of my mouth. My rescuer whirled to face the men.
“Are you all totally out of your ever-loving minds?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Obviously, yes. These creatures are so dangerous. Particularly to one such as her.” She looked down at me, then added, “And why on earth did you ever agree to this?”
I tried to summon glib, but glib had abandoned me too. I settled on the truth. “I had to know. The truth. About what I am.”
“If you hadn’t run away from me you would have had your answer two days ago,” she huffed.
“You attacked Jolyon Bryce!” I flared.
“Attacked? What? No, I didn’t. My arrival kept him from being kidnapped or worse.”
“Well … well, you attacked David. I thought you were a bad guy.”
“It seems we both drew the wrong conclusions. I thought you were the people who had attacked Jolly coming back to finish the job,” the vampire said.
“Jolly. Nice play trying to convince me you actually know him,” I didn’t make any effort to hide my skepticism.
She smiled, but not the normal closed-lipped vampire smile. Her fangs were there in all their glory. “But I do know him, very well. We’ve worked together for many years.”
“Yeah? Doing what? And how do you even exist? You’re not supposed to.”
“Could somebody clue the rest of us in to what the fuck is going on?” Syd demanded.
I looked to my companions. Syd looked like a pugnacious bulldog. John had his arms folded across his chest and was studying us, his face devoid of all emotion. Ken was on his knees by the entrails of the Hunter, poking at them with a ballpoint pen. I gagged and looked away.
“Maybe we should take this conversation to a more comfortable locale,” John said. “Preferably a place that has alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.”
“I’ll second that,” Syd said.
John came to my side and helped me to my feet. He put himself between me and the female vampire. She paused to pick up her hat and everyone started for the doors except Ken.
“Can we take it with us?” he asked plaintively.
There was a chorus of No!
“It stinks too bad,” John said.
“Please. It’s for science,” the parasitologist begged.
“I’ll take it in my car,” said the vampire. “I don’t have to breathe.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Ken said. “Anybody got anything I can put the entrails in?”
“I’ll pull the car in. We’ll just pitch it all in the trunk,” she answered.
“You both better wash your hands before you join us,” Syd grumbled.
“And sell the car,” John added dryly.
15
We gathered at John’s office. He had a bottle of good scotch stashed there and he poured out drinks for the three of us. The vampire turned up almost thirty minutes later, which had me staring at her suspiciously again. She seemed to read my thoughts because she explained before any of us said anything.
“I dropped off the beamish boy and his aromatic prize at a lab I know,” the vampire said.
“Christ, that’s one weird kid,” Syd said.
The woman’s dark eyes raked across us. “And you three aren’t?”
“I think we’ve had enough of your lectures,” John said. “It was a dumb play, okay? We all acknowledge that. But we’ve got real problems here. She…” He pointed at me. “Is … well, I don’t know what she is. What the hell
is she?”
“Predator. Destroyer. Scourge. Slaughterer.”
I felt myself drooping at each word. “Gee, thanks,” I muttered. Syd sensed my distress, moved to me, and dropped a comforting arm over my shoulders. I appreciated the kindness but really wished it had been John. Of course, that would never occur to him in his present state.
“Really? This little tiny thing?” Syd asked. His skepticism was evident.
“A virus is small but can still kill,” the vampire said.
“And what, exactly, is she going to kill?” Syd asked.
“All the vampires and the werewolves.”
That shut us all up for the space of several long heartbeats. “You’re kidding,” John finally said.
“Nope.”
“I’m the thing that’s going to kill them?” I didn’t recognize my own voice.
“No, the parasite you carry is going to do that. But I think we have a lot to cover. You have questions. I have answers. And then we’ve got to make some decisions.”
Now that things were calmer I could study her features more carefully. She looked like a woman in her late teens or early twenties. I searched the dark eyes looking for something, anything to indicate her true age, but they were bright, eager, and very present, unlike some vampires, who seemed distant. I realized I was tired of thinking of her as the female vampire. “Hey, what’s your name?” I asked.
“Hetepheres, but you can call me Hettie.”
“Hetepheres,” I said. “That sounds Middle Eastern.”
“It’s Egyptian.”
“Kind of a funny name. Aren’t you all, like, named ‘Fatima’ or something?” Syd asked.
She smiled at him. “No. Egyptian names often honor our past, but I came by mine honestly. I was born in the reign of Khufu, you probably know him as Cheops, and named for his daughter. My father was a painter, my mother a perfumer. He worked for the court. She sold to the court. It was a good life until it ended.”