Alliance

by Lacy Williams as Lacy Yager

  The two vampires who’d been carting her off are about three feet in front of her, both of them frozen with their arms outstretched toward her.

  It takes me a moment to see the guns suspended in midair between the vamps and Chloe, spinning in slow circles.

  Her entire tiny frame shakes violently and I know she’s the reason for the frozen beings and floating guns. Apparently, she has even more abilities than Hannah and Caleb—we can add telekinesis to the list.

  We approach the scene slowly so that we don’t freak Chloe out. I quickly catalogue her possible injuries and am shocked to see she has none.

  “Chloe,” Shane says softly.

  She doesn’t say anything, but a tremor runs through her body.

  “Shane, don’t let her kill them,” I whisper.

  It will kill her to have that on her conscience.

  “Chloe, can you put the guns down?” Shane asks.

  No response. I kneel down close to her. “Chloe, you’re safe now. Your brother’s here and he’s going to take care of this. You can put the guns down, okay?”

  A choked sob breaks through her lips at the same moment the guns hit the dirt. I pull Chloe into my arms, facing her away from the vamps as Shane takes each of them out. He checks the vehicle, but Stephen’s long gone.

  She wraps her arms around my neck and cries onto my shoulder; I pick her up and join Shane as he starts jogging back toward the castle.

  “You okay?” he huffs. “Not tempted?”

  What? It’s only then that I realize I’m still vamped out. “I’m fine.” And I am. Chloe’s not even a temptation for me right now. I don’t know whether it’s because I’ve just had fresh blood, or my worries about Hannah and the others.

  “She okay?” he asks, panting but showing no signs of slowing.

  “I think so.”

  “Should we be worried about the other vampire coming back?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Chloe moans and I suddenly see images in my mind, just like yesterday in the limo.

  Cataratoares. A bigger flock than we faced in Boston sweeps down on humans in a park; I think I can see the Tower Bridge in the background, so the location must be London.

  Humans running from a group of vampires on the hunt, screaming.

  A field with vampires lines up in orderly rows, performing some kind of… exercises?

  I stumble, but Shane’s there to catch me and keep us upright.

  “What was that?” he asks, gasping.

  “You saw it? It was Chloe,” it’s both an answer and a further question, because I know I can’t explain what I’ve just seen.

  We reach the steps of the castle and he takes my hand in his free one—he’s still got his knife clutched in the other. And he kicks open the door.

  30 - Shane

  Inside the house, bodies litter the floor. Across the room, Maggie’s brother stands against a wall with arms crossed, watching Caleb help Hannah and Lily out of a massive stone fireplace. Caleb’s got a bloody nose and he’s limping, but the girls appear to be unscathed.

  “Where’s Rachel?” I demand, not seeing her among the dead.

  Daniel jerks his head to one side, indicating a doorway to some other part of the house.

  I run through it, afraid of what I’ll find, but then stop. Maggie bumps into my back but stays on her feet. I can’t believe it.

  Rachel and Maggie’s cousin Alex stand in the center of the now-destroyed room, apparently at an impasse. Her back is to him; he’s got her waist in both hands, mouth centimeters from her neck. I know it’ll take one pass with his razor-sharp teeth to sever her jugular. She’s got both hands on the hilt of her sword, its tip beneath her armpit, which puts it right up to his heart. One swift plunge from her, and he’s a goner.

  Both are breathing hard, faces flushed.

  “Is he the last one?” I ask the room in general.

  “Yep,” Caleb replies, chuckling when he ducks into the room behind me and sees the same thing I’m looking at.

  “Then don’t kill him, Rach. Yet.” I pick up a .44 from one of the bodies on the floor and point it at his head, careful to keep Rachel out of the line of fire. “We have some questions to ask.”

  He releases her and she stumbles away, but turns with sword upraised before she gets too far. He remains where he is, his eyes fixed on my sister.

  The rest of our group follows Maggie into this room, seeming to prefer its wreckage to the lifeless faces in the other one. Even Daniel comes, though he stands apart from us.

  “Why did Stephen want Chloe?” Maggie asks.

  Alex shrugs his beefy shoulders.

  “You don’t know, or you won’t say?” Maggie presses. She’s still in warrior mode, her obsidian eyes on fire. I’m a little thankful she’s released Chloe to Hannah’s care.

  “He knew she was a witch,” the redhead growls, still not taking his eyes off Rachel. She stares at him with the same intensity. “I don’t know what he wanted her for.”

  “Did he intend to kill her?”

  “Don’t know. I don’t think so.”

  Maggie rubs both hands over her face. When she drops them, her eyes are back to green.

  “Why would a vampire want my sister alive?” Rachel demands, bringing the sword closer to Alex’s neck. “Why wouldn’t he just slaughter her, like in the old days?”

  He doesn’t say a word. Rachel’s arms are shaking, either from exhaustion or from desire to use the weapon she’s holding.

  “Chloe’s powerful.” Caleb interjects, breaking the tension that seems to hold the room captive.

  “You care to elaborate?” I ask, when it seems that’s his complete answer. You couldn’t get the warlock to shut up this morning, but now when you want him to talk…

  “She’s got more power than either Hannah or I, and she’s young so she’s probably not manifesting everything yet. You’ve seen what she can do.”

  I think of the guns floating in slow, loopy circles when we’d found Chloe.

  “I’ve never been able to show anyone images,” Hannah says.

  “She gave me a slideshow in the limo,” Maggie reminds us. “I thought she was telling the future.”

  “Chloe, how did you—where did you find the pictures you showed us?” Caleb asks gently.

  “From their heads,” she whispers.

  “She’s not a fortune teller,” Hannah says, stroking Chloe’s brow and seeming to calm my sister. “But maybe she can read what’s on the forefronts of people’s minds; their desires-” she nods to Alex, “like you wanted to eat us that first night. Or the memories they’re thinking about. That’s probably what she saw out in the driveway.”

  “Stephen’s memories?” Maggie asks with a visible shudder.

  “Don’t move,” Rachel barks. I look up and realize Alex has shifted while I’ve been focusing on Chloe. Rachel has shifted, too, now standing between him and a large window, the night at her back.

  “I saw the attacks,” Hannah says. “But I didn’t get what the last image was.”

  “Me either,” Maggie agrees. “It looked like the vampires were… exercising?”

  “It was a regiment.” Caleb drops onto the rug, leaning back against one wall. He suddenly looks exhausted. “Like in an army.”

  “A vampire army?” multiple voices ask the question—the same fearful tone spoken by all of us.

  And it’s at that moment that Alex lunges for my sister. Her sword slashes through the air, blood flies in an arc; but he only pushes her out of the way and breaks through the window, disappearing into the darkness. She starts after him, hesitates.

  “Rach,” I call out. “Let him go. Choosing your battles is a skill you need. You’re exhausted, in no shape for a foot chase.”

  She screams in frustration, but then collapses under the window and hides her face in her knees. Is she crying? I look to Maggie for help, but she’s staring at Chloe, as if my sister has more answers for her. Maggie’s biting her lip and you can tell h
er mind isn’t fully in the present.

  Lily picks her way across the debris and goes to Rachel. My sister looks up—dry-eyed, thankfully—and it’s clear she expects the other girl to kick her or something after the way Rachel treated her the other night.

  Lily sits next to Rachel, so close their shoulders touch. Rachel bows her head again, but doesn’t move away from the contact. Maybe Maggie is right and she’s more sensitive than I think. I hold back a shudder.

  “There hasn’t been a vampire army for centuries,” Maggie whispers.

  “Are you sure this ‘image’ was in London?” Daniel asks, straightening from the wall. “Because there have been murmurings in California about a vampire gathering as well.”

  ~o~

  Just after dawn, our motley group trudges down the drive to the rental van left where Chloe’d held up the two vampires last night.

  We’ve got a semblance of a plan, and it’s time to put it in play.

  Daniel will fly us to Boston, where with Hannah’s help, those of us with ID will be able to get through customs; Maggie’s brother will go on to California and find out what he can about the American vampires and a possible gathering.

  Caleb’s already left to make contact with some friends in Belgium. He’s supposed to touch base with his sister when he can.

  Somehow I’m supposed to watch over not only my sisters, but also Hannah and Lily, back in Boston. Maggie laid the latest of her revelations on us last night; turns out the wing of E.W. House ‘under construction’ isn’t uninhabitable at all. It’s sort of a safe house, and impenetrable, from what Maggie’s told me.

  We’ve got a trunk-load of Maggie’s family’s books we’re taking with us; hopefully they’ll reveal some insights into what we’re about to face. Hannah is going to work with Chloe on honing her skills; maybe she’ll get rid of the seizures if she can harness her power. And Rach and I are working on a side-plan to recover some of our belongings from Indiana—namely my parents’ journals. We need to know what they’ve done to Chloe in hopes of discovering why a vampire would want to take her.

  My only issue with my part of the plan is how much estrogen I’m going to have to deal with.

  And our illustrious leader?

  Maggie is staying right here, at Wellington Castle, at least for the time being. She’s delegated her ‘things she needed to handle’ at E.W. House to Hannah; she claims to want to wait and see if Alex will come back to pump him for more information; she also says she’ll do a thorough search of the house to find any more of her parents’ journals that might help us.

  All my arguments that she’s the lynchpin for us to be able to unite other Chasers to our cause have fallen on deaf ears; she hasn’t agreed to officially come back to her family’s legacy.

  Her conspicuous lack of response to my declaration of love makes this separation feel like she’s putting distance between us purposely.

  I don’t know what to think anymore.

  She’s got her own issues to work through. I know facing her family’s murderer hasn’t been easy for her. But we need her in Boston. I need her.

  We reach the rental van and climb in, me last of all. I can’t help lingering for one more shot at changing Maggie’s mind.

  Maggie shifts her weight from foot to foot. “You’re not going to cause a big scene, are you?”

  I can’t find a chuckle or anything, only a rough honest response. “No, I’m not. I’m just going to quietly beg you to change your mind.”

  She closes her eyes as I take her hands in mine. Is that a sign she’s weakening? “Shane…”

  “Maggie,” I respond, drawing her into the circle of my arms. “Please…”

  She wraps her arms around my neck, and I never want to let go of her warmth. “I love you,” I whisper.

  She doesn’t respond, but her arms around me tighten slightly. I lower my head to kiss her, but this kiss feels different. It feels like goodbye, and I know she hasn’t changed her mind at all.

  “I’m not saying goodbye.” I say when she pulls out of my arms. “I’ll see you in Boston.”

  She quirks a sad little smile. I get in the car, knowing that if I don’t, I’m going to embarrass myself pleading for her to come with us.

  As we wind down the driveway an empty feeling settles into my chest. The warmth of Maggie is gone, and I’m not sure anything else will ever fill the void.

  31 - Maggie

  “And then Lily informs him that she doesn’t care whether he believes her that chocolate helps with her cramps, she needs some, and she picks up this long staff that he and Rachel have been sparring with and waves it at him until he agrees to call Mr. Yu for a delivery.” Hannah’s voice over the cell phone connection is a little fuzzy, but more welcome than I can say.

  I laugh, as she expects me to, though it makes my throat ache. Tears fill my eyes and block my view of the ceiling in the training room. I’m lying on my back, revisiting one of the places at the castle where Shane and I shared one of our moments. This has become a new pastime of mine in the few hours I’ve taken off from searching for Alex and sifting through all my parents’ things. Grieving, like I never allowed myself to do before.

  “We miss you,” Hannah says softly.

  “Me too.” I miss all of them, even Rachel and her sarcasm. “Every time I think I’ve found the last paper, last journal, something else catches my eye. Maybe I need a sign that it’s time to end this.”

  It’s been a long two weeks. I’m still kicking myself for not telling Shane I loved him before he left. I know he thinks I put distance between us to push him away, but all it’s done is to prove how much I want to be with him.

  “Not sure if this helps, but my horoscope today said to expect a homecoming. Yours was something about trusting your inner voice.”

  “Do you think a human and a vampire could really make a relationship work?” I ask, unable to raise my voice above a whisper. I’ve been asking myself how for several days.

  “I think if anyone deserves happiness, it’s you, honey. No matter how long it lasts.”

  “Even with a Chaser?”

  “Even with a crazy, female-illiterate Chaser who probably won’t ever get that ‘nothing’ means ‘something’ when he asks what’s wrong. With a guy who loves you.”

  I blink away the tears and keep staring at that one loose stone. Why would there be a loose stone in the ceiling?

  The answer comes to me so fast that I get a head rush when I sit up. Because there’s something hidden behind it.

  “I’ll call you back,” I tell Hannah, and hang up on her before she answers.

  There’s no way I can reach up to the ceiling with my height limitations, so I grab one of the longer swords from the rack on the wall and start poking at the stone that sticks out slightly more than all its neighbors.

  Ten minutes later, I’m covered in dust and little pieces of rock, but the stone falls out and something else with it. I lean down to pick it up.

  It’s a small, handwritten journal of… alchemical formulas? The writing is small and very old, with loopy letters and lots of ink blots. I can barely read it. I flip through pages, and stop, because that looks an awful lot like a drawing of a Cataratoare. It’s not… it can’t be… an instruction manual on the things?

  I go two more pages forward and see a picture of one of the creatures exploding, what looks like a cloud of steam issuing from its midsection.

  “Eew.”

  If this is really information on how to defeat the Cataratoares, and it sure looks like it’s legit, the others need access to it.

  Could this be the sign I asked for?

  ~o~

  I’m on a commercial flight, taxiing to the terminal at Logan, less than twenty-four hours later. I made sure to get a daytime arrival, just to be on the safe side in case the vamps in town are watching for me.

  I asked Hannah to spread the news—let Shane know—of my arrival, but no one waits for me at baggage check. It takes ages for the two boxes of
artifacts and books I’ve drug home to pass through on the little conveyor belt, and then I push the cart outside to hail a cab.

  When I catch sight of a familiar tousled head of chestnut hair, it stops me in my tracks. Shane’s there, standing next to a familiar black SUV, dark tint and everything.

  I approach, warily examining his face. He’s not smiling, and his eyes are hidden behind dark sunglasses. Is he happy to see me at all?

  “Hi,” I say.

  “Hey.”

  I pull the special book out of my pocket—no way was I trusting it to baggage claim—and hold it in the air. “Found something you might be interested in.”

  “Yeah? Me too. I’m looking at it.”

  He reaches for me, and I go into his arms, feeling home again, even though we’re outside the airport, people bustling past. He doesn’t kiss me, only holds me, and I wonder if I’ve ruined everything.

  Or maybe he’s just waiting for me to give him a sign.

  “We should get back,” I say into his shoulder. “We’ve got a lot of stuff to do. Training, researching. And we need to figure out how to make contact with your Chaser friends.”

  He pushes me away fractionally, enough to see into my face. He doesn’t release his grip on my upper arms. “Did you just say ‘we’?”

  I don’t know if I’m ready, but you can’t hold onto fear forever, right? “I did.”

  He whoops and picks me up to swing me in a circle. “Really?”

  “Yeah, now put me down. People are staring.”

  “Let ‘em get a load of this.” He takes my head between his hands and lays a whopper of a kiss on me, so much that my head spins when he lets me come up for air.

  “Do you love me?” he asks roughly. “Because I still love you.”

  “Yeah. I love you. Enough to give us a shot.”

  This time I kiss him, pulling his head down to meet my lips. His lips are soft but fierce; they claim me.

  No matter how long it lasts, as Hannah would say.

  Thanks for reading!

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