"I've had millions at one time before," she said. "Right now there's nowhere near that many though. I need to replenish them, but that takes a little time and raw materials. I can't just start tearing this building apart though, I'd be liable for the damages.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the lump of gray sludge on the counter where she'd set her knife down.
"Oh, good call, thanks," she said when she saw it. She reached out and rested her hand on it, reconnecting the sleeping nanobots. She suppressed a shiver as a chill passed through her. Energy left her body and flowed into the pile of machines, awakening them and allowing them to retake the shape of a knife. She let out a deep breath and nodded. "All right, let's go."
He shook his head "Go? Go where? And what just happened, anyhow? You're freaking me out and I think I deserve to know!"
Val glanced at the jar and then nodded. "Sorry about the show," she started and then paused.
A smile flashed across his face. "Don’t worry about it. You're a very beautiful woman, but that didn't even cross my mind at the time. I was worried about you."
"Aw, you sound like you care. And here I thought I was just another job."
He hesitated and then shrugged. "I care about all my clients. Professional courtesy, you know."
"Even the clients you don't want?"
He sighed. "Apparently especially those."
She sucked her lip between her teeth and immediately realized how that might look misleading. She let it go and nodded. "Good to know you're trying to do your job then."
He shifted his eyes down and away from her
Val didn't press him because she wasn't sure she was ready to hear anymore. She picked up the jar instead and held it up. "This is a potent potion. I don't know what it was, exactly, but it had a lot of energy in it, more than I expected from such a tiny amount. In fact, I bet the ingredients combined synergistically to create a greater effect than they had individually."
"What, exactly, does that mean? Synergistically?"
She frowned and considered how to rephrase it. "Think of it like a multiplier or a magnifier. Kind of like a lens that focuses light into a laser. Instead of a lot of waste byproducts, the ingredients are coerced with magic into releasing the chosen effect."
"Okay, that makes sense. So what is the effect?"
Val put the jar down and turned back to the table. "I don't know."
Dag'on studied her. "But you have a guess, don't you?"
She thought about the way it was absorbing into her skin and admitted her fear. "My guess? It's the rejuvenation mixture."
"I was afraid of that," he muttered.
"Hey, I could be wrong."
Dag'on shook his head. "I doubt it. Not after what Brill said about you."
Val sighed. "Yeah, probably not."
A few seconds of thoughtful silence passed before Dag'on asked. "Okay boss, what's the next move?"
"Boss?" she repeated and smiled.
One corner of his lip twisted up as he asked, "Would you prefer Mistress?"
A surprise laugh slipped from her lips. She clamped her free hand over her mouth until the fit passed. "No, definitely not that! Boss is better, but I prefer Val or… Val will do."
"Not Valerie?"
She shrugged and turned back to the door. "Whatever you feel like."
"If I were an opportunistic guy I would—"
Val hissed and spun as the sound of a chair scraping across the floor. The chair moved further as someone pushed on the door again.
Val jumped through the doorway and as soon as her foot hit the ground she propelled herself down the hallway and threw herself into the door as a man tried to slide between the door and the door frame and into the lobby.
She hit the door and slammed it into the man. He, in turn, was rocked back into the door frame. She heard the woosh of air bursting out of his mouth over the muffled crack of ribs. He slid down a moment and then straightened and pushed back, sliding the door open.
Val stumbled on the chair and jumped back, giving herself some room. The man stepped away from the door and then moved towards her, wasting no time on words. His hands came up for her as he lunged ahead.
Rather than retreat or try to use his momentum against him, Val stepped forward and met him. She threw her left arm up to knock his hands up and drive her right knee between his legs. She brought her right hand across to smash the handle of the knife into the side of his head and stun him or knock him out, but things didn't go according to plan.
He didn't slow down when her left arm tried to knock his out of the way. He kept coming and all but ignored the brutal strike to his crotch. Val's leg was hung up for a moment between his, slowing her so that when he kept coming she was knocked off balance and fell back— with the man on top of her. Her strike to his knife glanced off his shoulder, causing her to hug him close as they fell.
The air was blasted out of her lungs when she was squashed between the floor on her back and the man on her chest. He picked himself up enough to reach for her neck, but she jerked her head to the side. He dug his fingers into her shoulder, driving them deep and trying to tear through skin and muscle.
Val clenched her teeth to bite back the scream of pain. Her nanobots swarmed and covered his hand, tearing through flesh and nail and bone until his grip was too slimy with blood and he lost it.
The witchslayer used the distraction and momentum to her advantage. She pushed up with her hips and rolled them over so she was on top. She held the man down with one hand and drew the other back, holding her knife high to try and subdue the man through common sense.
He looked up at her with blank eyes and reached for her. His gruesome right hand battered her in the side and then the other tried to grab for her neck again. Val leaned back out of his reach and then slashed with her knife, cutting deep enough into his arm to cripple the limb. He'd die in minutes from the blood loss without medical attention if he didn't—
"Fuck me," Val whispered as no blood flowed from the wound. She hesitated, stunned by the revelation. She blinked to clear her eyes and see the dark magical aura that surrounded him.
Her distraction was all the break he needed to punch her in the side hard enough to unseat her. She had to use her left hand to keep from falling on her side. The bloodless man tried to grab her again with his injured arm but the severed muscles had no strength to hold her.
Val slashed across and opened a deep gouge across the man's chest. Bone and sinew were visible in the gash, but no fresh blood filled the wound. His arms weakened with the injury to his pectorals, giving her a chance to knock them aside and thrust her knife into his throat. She drove it hard and fast until she felt the jarring impact of the floor beneath the tip. A twist of her wrist later to completely sever his spine and the man's body fell limp beneath her.
Chapter 11
Val lurched to her feet and staggered a few steps until she caught her balance. She panted, sucking wind back in and trying to calm her racing heart. Her pulse pounded in her ears, telling her that her body was exhausted.
Dag'on gawked from the hallway door.
"Missed your chance," Val mumbled as she straightened. Her knife dissolved in her hand so the nanobots could return to her arm.
"My chance? Oh! To save your life… except you're still alive."
"So I am," she said before she squatted down next to the dead man. "Better luck next time."
"Did you kill him?" Dag'on whispered as he stepped closer.
Val hesitated. "No, I didn't."
"You stabbed him in the neck!"
Val patted the man down without finding anything incriminating on him. She scowled and glanced around before grabbing his thumb. She waited while her machines worked to sever the digit and leave her with the knuckle and tip of his thumb. "He was already dead," she said. "No blood was flowing, that means his heart wasn't beating. I broke his ribs and knocked the wind from his chest but he wasn't fazed by it. Then I smashed his balls hard enough to flatten them
, but he couldn't have cared less."
Dag'on winced. "You're sure?"
She held up the thumb. "Yeah, I'm sure. I saw the necromantic aura around him. I need to get this scanned to find out if he works here or not."
"How?"
"Easy," she said as she stood and moved to the half open door. She looked around and then leaned out into the cold. The wind slipped between her loose jumpsuit and skin, chilling her faster than her nanobots could keep her warm. She ignored it as best she could and pressed the thumb against the access panel beside the door. The computer hesitated less than a second before it flashed green.
She ducked back in and shut the door behind her. She held the thumb up between them and kicked the chair back in place. "It worked on the door, that's good enough for me."
He opened his mouth to respond when the thumb was covered in the grey and pink froth of feasting nanobots. A few seconds later they rippled back onto her fingers and up her arms, disappearing from view. He shuddered.
"Sorry, it's disgusting, I know, but I'm having a hard time managing them today. I probably should have worn warmer clothes to help."
"You do look chilly, finally," he said and glanced down to her chest.
Val's eyes widened. She looked down and saw the twin dents poking her loose fitting top that much further out. Warmth flushed her cheeks as she looked back up. For the first time since she'd met Dag'on she found herself unable to think of anything to say.
He cleared his throat and looked at the corpse on the floor. "What now?"
Val shook herself. She'd deal with her brain-dead behavior later. For now she had to focus. "Let's do a quick search of the other rooms and then get the hell out of here. I'm not sure if she needs to exert more control over these zombies or not."
"More control? What do you mean?"
"A shambling corpse usually doesn't take much of any effort. A necromancer animates them and gives them simple commands. Then they go about their business. With these higher functioning undead I don't know if she needs to put more effort into controlling them. Studying the dark arts was frowned upon."
Dag'on turned, following her with his eyes as she walked past him and stopped the doorway on the right in the hallway. "Why would that matter?"
Val paused opening the door and said, "If she can communicate with her zombies from afar, maybe they can communicate back."
Dag'on's eyes narrowed as he thought through her idea. His eyes widened as he reached the same conclusion she did. "Oh balls, you think she might know we're on to her?"
Val flashed him a grim smile and turned back to the door. She pushed it open and looked in on another medical room setup for processing cadavers. There were no bodies or special ingredients that glowed with the touch of magic.
"Nothing here," she said before turning and bumping into Dag'on. "Oops, sorry," she mumbled as she looked down at the handsome incubus. She froze and wondered why she'd apologized. He'd gotten in her way, not the other way around.
Dag'on stepped back and smiled. "Sorry, I didn't know you were going to be that quick."
"Yeah, uh… sorry," she mumbled.
He shrugged. "Quick is okay, sometimes."
Val's eyes narrowed. This was not the time for flirting or innuendo. "I'm going to check out the back door."
"Back door, right. Didn't even think of that option."
She turned and took a step before the double meaning in his words caught up to her. She sighed through her nose and kept walking. She had a job to do.
She opened the door and looked back and forth. On the right was a small kitchenette and on the left shelves were lined with a variety of supplies. She stared at the shelves for a few seconds and then stepped in for a closer look. Dag'on followed her in but turned to check out the small cooler and cabinets.
Val studied the boxes and canisters, reading labels where she could and opening the ones she couldn't to look inside. The majority of the supplies had to do with preparing bodies for their final resting place, whether it was in the ground or a tomb. She also found some synthetic powdered creamer mixed in and a few flavors of food substitute powders. She gagged at the thought of mixing those up with any of the other compounds.
"This is disgusting," Dag'on said.
Val saw he was looking into a food storage bin with a black and green substance in it. She winced and asked, "What was that?"
"I think some kind of a sandwich… maybe? It's been in here a while."
"Leave it alone," she said.
"Did you find anything?"
Val glanced at the shelves behind her. She shook her head. "I don't think so. Just usual chemicals and compounds for this kind of work."
"Grisly," he muttered.
"Very," she agreed. "Makes me want a shower."
He tilted his head and smiled.
"What?"
Dag'on chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing, sorry."
Val narrowed her eyes. "Spill it."
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
She scowled. "Then keep it to yourself next time."
His mouth fell open. "Isn't that what I'm doing?"
"Not at first."
"Fine," he snapped. "I was imaging how beautiful you'd look in a shower and how much I'd love to see that."
Her eyes widened at the blunt response. After a few seconds of letting it sink in she managed to mumble, "Oh."
"Yeah," he said. "Oh."
She wanted to snap at him but she was flattered at the same time. She ignored it for now and turned towards the hallway. "We should go."
"You're probably right. Lead the way… Val."
Val glanced at him, surprised at how her name sounded on his rich voice. She turned away just as fast, afraid he'd see something in her face that she wasn't sure about. To cover her confusion she muttered the first thing that came to mind, and instantly regretted it. "You probably just want to stare at my ass."
She heard him hiss as he sucked in a breath, but managed to keep her head forward as she started down the hallway. For no reason she could justify, she put a tiny bit of extra sway in her hips as she walked.
"I'm not— I mean, I wasn't—" Dag'on gave up on trying to defend himself and hurried after her. He reached her as she was pushing the chair out of the way and opened the door, forcing her to step back and over the leg of the zombie she'd killed. "Should we notify somebody about this?"
Val looked down at him. She frowned. "Yes, we should, but I don't want to get the Climintra involved yet. We have to find her. Soon. Or this could get ugly."
Dag'on nodded. "I think it already got ugly."
"I need a gun and we could both use some warmer clothes," she said. "I don't want to waste the time going back home though."
"What does that leave us?"
"I know a place," she said.
"Uh… is this going to get us in trouble?"
Val laughed. "It's not black market, if that's what you mean. I'm licensed to carry, use, and purchase para-military grade hardware. The place I know is a licensed dealer."
"Oh… okay."
Val nodded and turned back to the door. "Let's go, we can walk there from here."
"Can't wait," he muttered and cross his arms in front of his chest.
Val smirked. She pulled the door open further and walked out into the cold. She heard him pull the door shut behind them and trudge after him through the thin layer of accumulated snow on the path.
Val started towards the zipper station, intent on crossing into a more populated area with stores and people. It was still early enough in the afternoon there should be people shopping and moving about. The tricky part would be avoiding the temperamental wendigos.
With concerns of the massive white fur covered metahumans occupying her mind Val nearly missed the dark shape moving through the gate of the cemetery to her right. She caught the movement and turned, thinking it nothing more than a snowflake caught in her eyebrow. She stumbled and turned when she saw a woman bounce off the column that marked
the far side of the entrance and then stagger towards her as she recaptured her balance.
"Wait!" the woman called. "Please!"
"What's this?" Dag'on hissed.
Val slid her hand around the back of her thigh and commanded her nanobots into action, constructing a fresh knife in her hand. She blinked the snow from her eyes and opened them to witness the dark aura surrounding the elven woman. Val waited while the woman slowed and came to a stop several feet in front of her. "Hello," Val greeted her, uncertain how to respond. "Is there a problem?"
"No, not now," the undead woman said.
"Not now? What the fu—"
The zombie ignored him. "You must follow me, I've been waiting for you."
"Val, who is this?" Dag'on hissed. "Is this… is this her?"
Val shifted her head to indicate she was talking to Dagon. "No, this is another thrall." She turned back. "Waiting for me? Who are you."
She waited a moment before speaking. "Illiyia. Please, come with me."
"Why should I? So you can unleash a horde of zombies on me and overwhelm me?"
The woman shook her head with a level of control that made Val question if she was truly dead. "No. For the sake of an old friend. You will be safe."
"My companion?"
She nodded. "Him as well."
"Davina wants to talk," Val said, sharing the woman's name with Dag'on for the first time.
"Yes. And she has a gift for you."
"A gift?" Val scoffed. She shook her head and glanced at Dag'on. She almost couldn't tell if the shake of his head was his way of offering advice or if he was just shaking from the cold.
"Please, Valerie, for old time's sake."
Val sighed and glanced at Dag'on.
He shook his head again and said, "I don’t think this is a good idea."
"Probably not," she said. "You can stay if you want."
He sighed. "On second thought, here's my chance to save your life."
Val smirked. "Not today, I don't think."
"Why not? You're talking about walking into what could be a trap!"
"Because she wants me," Val said. "She's always wanted me."
Dag'on's eyes narrowed. "Wants you? As in…"
Val nodded.
Arrested in Peace (The Complex Book Series) Page 8