by Kit Colter
“That’s a tracker?” she said slowly.
Seven nodded.
“Krysis is after me. I guess you haven’t met her yet, but—”
“We know of her,” Derek said. “Hear she’s pretty hot.”
Seven smirked.
“Well, I stole her car,” Erin said. “Not by choice. She is the last person on the planet I’d want to pick a fight with.”
The twins stared at her.
“Oh, okay, sorry, the last person next to you two.”
“You stole her ride?” Derek asked.
“Yes, I know, dumb, but—”
“Nice,” Seven said, and Derek gave her a wolfish grin.
“Have you ever heard of something called the Nine?” Erin asked.
Derek shrugged.
“Well, does annexusmons mean anything to either of you?” Erin asked.
“Nope,” Seven said.
“I have to find out what that means,” she said. “I bet they’d have it in the library, somewhere. It would take days to find it in all that mess though.”
“Libraries,” Derek muttered in distaste.
“Unless— Unless there was someone who knew the library like the back of his hand,” Erin murmured.
“Who’d be a stone solid bore,” Derek commented.
“Lyle,” Erin said. “We have to go see Lyle.”
“We?” they both asked, and Erin knew she had overstepped her bounds.
Erin reached into her jacket pocket, digging out the piece of paper Lyle had given her. Her phone, her suitcase, and her bat were in her car crashed on the side of Van Buren Street. She frowned and walked up to the counter.
“How are you feeling, honey?” the clerk asked, giving her a maternal look.
“Better. Thank you for the sandwiches. As soon as I get some money, I’ll come and pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Now what can I do for you?”
“Can I borrow your phone?” Erin asked.
“’Course you can,” she replied, and handed Erin the receiver.
“Thanks,” Erin said, then swiftly dialed the number on the paper. It rang three times.
“Good morning, or afternoon, or evening, or night—whichever it may be, I’m sorry to say I’m not home to take your call. This is Lyle Perkins by the way, so hopefully I’m the person you were meaning to call. Please leave a message at the tone, unless I suppose you didn’t mean to call me. I’ll try to get back to you in a timely fashion.”
There was a beeping sound.
“Damn it. Oh, uh, hey, this is Er— This is Ann. We met at the library. I was looking for, eh, vampire stories. Well, I guess I’m calling because I could use your help on something. Call me if you can.” She glanced down at the number printed on the phone and read it as clearly as possible, then hung up.
Erin trudged back to the booth and sat down. Her exhaustion was starting to take hold again. She stared across the table at the twins and tried not to think. Derek was feeding Flaming Hot Cheetos to Princess, who was once again tucked into his jacket. Seven was meticulously scraping flecks of some mystery substance off a large black hunting knife.
“Where’d you hear of this annexus thing, anyway?” Derek asked.
Erin winced. “A vision. Kind of. It sounds crazy, I know.”
“Not really,” Seven said without looking up.
“My softball coach is possessed, I think,” Erin said. “He came to the apartment earlier. He started talking about the Nine and then choked me out. I saw some stuff and heard those words.”
“Hate to tell you this, but if that’s the case, your coach is just crazy,” Derek said. “Your place is tighter than the Death Star now that the fence is up. No way a Primary demon is getting in there, with a body or not.”
“Oh, no, the demon was outside. In the hallway.” Erin tried not to think about the finer details—the pain, the dread, the sound of Coach’s voice as the world went black beneath his grasp. “I heard it speaking. Telling him to do it, I guess.”
The twins glanced at each other.
“That’s possible, isn’t it?” Erin asked.
“Not sure,” Seven said.
“We’d never heard of an Elemental with a body either, though,” Derek said. “So, why not?”
Erin heard the phone ring behind her. She sighed and let her eyelids slide shut.
“Excuse me, Ann?” It was the clerk.
Erin turned around. “That’s me,” she said.
“There’s a man asking for you,” the clerk said, setting the phone down on the counter and returning to her work. Erin walked over and picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Ann, you just called. This is Lyle. Splendid hearing from you and all.”
“Yeah, I left a message.”
“Mm, yes, I was home. I never pick up the phone though.”
Erin was about to ask why, then thought better of it. “Well, I guess you heard the message then. I could use your help.”
“Do you need someone to pick through a theory? Did you look over those papers? Did you find something out? All that business about the Owl Man might put a whole new spin on my research.”
“Sort of. Look, why don’t I come over? Then we can talk.”
He was quiet for a moment.
“Would that be okay?” she pressed.
“I don’t have visitors very often,” he said.
“I need your help,” Erin said.
A soft electronic buzz accented Lyle’s hesitation, and Erin imagined him flattening the first button on his shirt in the silence.
“Well, I suppose, but you understand I don’t have visitors often.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“115 West Zia Road, but just knock once. Just so I know it’s you and all.”
“That’s Albuquerque?”
“Santa Fe,” Lyle said hesitantly.
“Alright. I’ll be there soon,” she said.
“You’re coming now?” he asked, sounding alarmed.
“It’ll take me a few hours to get there,” Erin said. If she admitted to driving all the way from Phoenix, he would know there was something really wrong and might refuse to help her.
“I don’t know if that’s such a—”
Erin acted like she didn’t hear him and hung up the phone. She didn’t have time to attempt to reason with him. Then Erin just stood there staring at the Gemini. She needed their help, but asking wasn’t going to get her anywhere with the twins. On the other hand, trying to order the twins around—making demands—would be a huge mistake. Somehow she had to make this seem like fun, like something the twins would find interesting.
Erin inhaled, threw on a casual face, and walked back to the table. “So, who’s got the keys?” she asked in her most easy-going tone.
Seven’s eyes sharpened. “Planning a field trip?”
“I thought we’d make a temporary trade,” Erin said, still casual.
Well, she had their attention.
“Trade for what?” Derek asked.
“Krysis’s Viper for your bus,” she replied.
They looked amused at this.
“I don’t want to be in the driver’s seat when she finds it,” Erin said, quite honestly, “but I bet you two wouldn’t have any trouble with her at all.”
The twins glanced at each other.
“Sounds like a deal to me,” Derek said.
Seven reached across the table and fished the Viper keys out of Erin’s jacket. “Got a hot date to impress?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Erin said, nonplussed.
“Well, don’t do it in the bus,” Seven said casually, yet she was grinning a little as she tossed the bus keys to Erin, who shoved them into her pocket.
“Sure you don’t want to do it with me instead?” Derek said. He bounced his eyebrows and slid one arm around her waist. Taking her left hand, he swiftly twirled Erin around and then pulled her back in, much too close. “I’ve got skills,” he added, as
though he actually expected this to persuade her.
Erin pushed away. “See you later,” she said and exited the truck stop. She mentally cursed herself all the way to the bus. She’d intended to get them to go with her, through casual intonation or by sparking their curiosity in not telling them where she was going or why. Neither approach worked. Now she was stuck trying to figure out how to drive their damn monster bus, no less with a Camaro in tow, when she’d never driven anything bigger than a mini-van.
Nearing the bus, Erin reached into her pocket for the keys. Empty. She checked her other pocket. Nothing. Back pockets? Erin stopped ten feet away from the bus and turned around toward the truck stop. She squinted, searching the booths for the twins. Just as she realized they were gone, the sound of a revving engine trembled in the night air. She saw the Viper speed out from behind the building in reverse, ripping across the pavement toward her. A few yards away, the vehicle whipped around, headlights forward, and slid to a halt beside her. Derek stepped out of the passenger side and walked toward her, twirling the bus keys around his finger. Erin thought back to the five second dance in the truck stop. He’d taken the keys.
“Where you headed, Peaches?”
“Santa Fe.”
“What for?”
“I have an appointment with a mad scientist,” she said.
“Well, hurry up,” he said, striding past her and into the bus. Erin felt a whoosh of relief as she climbed the steps after him. Behind her, the Viper’s engine revved and Seven tore out of the parking lot into the darkness. Erin stood next to the driver’s seat and watched Derek start the bus and shift into drive. Last time she had evidently been too distracted by the situation, namely Derek, to notice the dashboard of the bus looked more like the cockpit of a 747 passenger jet than a school bus. Scanning the mess of buttons, switches, gauges, and levers, Erin decided it was hopeless to even watch. She had intended to learn how to drive it—just in case—but knowing the twins, most of those switches were probably lethal. They carried grenades in their jackets for God’s sake. She breathed in through her teeth and walked toward the back of the bus. Halfway down the aisle, she stopped.
Her suitcase and bat were lying on one of the seats. Erin took the bat in her hands and slid into the seat, feeling a surge of relief, then unzipped the suitcase and pulled out her cell phone. She found a dozen more missed calls from her parents, siblings, Detective Ibarra, Isaiah. She wouldn’t listen to the message he had left. She couldn’t. Instead, she scrolled to the message from Espy.
I know you’re alive. Go see Grandma. She’ll know what to do. Please, Erin.
Then, because she couldn’t stop herself, Erin opened the text message with Isaiah’s name on it: Don’t do this. I don’t want to lose you.
Erin tucked the phone back into her suitcase, curled up with the bat, and tried to focus on the thrasher metal screaming in her ears. Otherwise, she would have to think about Espy, about Grandma, about Isaiah. She would have to think about all the people she was giving up. Because the truth was that she would never return to her apartment, to Las Cruces, to the Rez. Even if Espy was right, even if the first vampire had been the Owl Man and Grandma really did know what to do. Erin couldn’t go there. Not now that she knew what would follow behind her.
Chapter 15
Erin woke to the sound of a honking horn. She sat up and peered through the bus window, surprised to see the outskirts of Santa Fe passing by. Erin didn’t know how fast Derek had driven, but she felt like she had fallen asleep only seconds ago. Sitting up, she blinked several times and watched as the bus careened through a stucco labyrinth of winding streets and finally pulled up in front of a weathered adobe house. There was a green bicycle leaning against the house and traces of a flower bed lining the walk. Derek hit the brakes and killed the engine. Erin’s ears seemed to buzz in the absence of thrash metal blasting from the speakers directly behind her head. She made her way down the aisle and climbed down from the bus, blinking rapidly against exhaustion, and trudged toward Lyle’s front door with Derek at her side. Erin noticed her reaction to the sound of squealing tires was delayed due to fatigue, then turned to see a streak of silver whirl around the corner. She watched the Viper skid to a stop in front of the bus. Seven crawled out with a bottle of tequila in hand. She took several gulps of tequila, then proceeded to pour out half the bottle on the flowers lining the walkway to the door. Derek looped his arm around Erin’s neck.
“I need you guys to stand to the side for a second. He’s never going to let me in if he gets a glimpse of you two.”
The twins exchanged looks. Seven took another gulp of tequila as Derek stepped forward and kicked the door open.
Erin stared.
“We’re in,” Seven said simply.
Erin shook her head and landed one solid knock on the open door. “Lyle,” she called.
The sound of creaking floorboards broke through the silence. Lyle eased into the open hall, his hands lifted slightly above his head. Erin realized he assumed the police had broken down his door.
“Lyle,” Erin said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone.
Lyle took one look at the twins and disappeared around the corner. The twins darted after into the house. Erin followed them through the hall and down a set of stairs. She heard a crashing sound in the basement. Lyle let out a cry of terror.
“No! Please! Please don’t hurt me! Please!”
Erin leapt the last five steps, landing hard on the concrete floor, then pushed past Derek. Lyle was lying on the floor amidst several broken computer monitors with Seven’s foot pressing into his chest.
“Please, please don’t—” Lyle choked as Seven pushed harder.
“I really need to talk to him about something,” Erin said, trying to stay calm.
“Please—” Lyle’s eyelids fluttered and his body went limp.
Erin stared in shock. Lyle had fainted.
“Bit of a geek, isn’t he?” Derek asked.
Erin looked around the basement. There were three computers on standby, and a dozen other dismantled processors and monitors piled in corners and under tables. Four metal filing cabinets. A bookshelf, completely full. Under the stairs he had a slanted cabinet, evidently built to fit perfectly beneath the staircase, which held various objects like wooden stakes, crosses, Latin bibles, and something that looked like a bowl of silver marbles.
“You need this guy’s help before we can get out of here, right?” Derek asked.
Erin nodded, gazing down at Lyle’s relaxed, sweaty face. Seven hopped off the stairs and crossed the room. Erin watched as Seven removed Lyle’s glasses, then pinched the lashes on his left eyelid, and pulled it back.
“Do it,” Derek said.
Seven promptly landed a hard flick of the finger against Lyle’s exposed eye. Erin heard it hit and grimaced as Lyle let out a choking gasp. Then he screamed. Judging from his reaction, the pain was enough to convince him Seven had punctured his eye.
“Oh my God, my EYE!”
Erin watched Lyle writhe on the floor for a moment, then turned to Seven, who was watching with a curious expression. After a moment, the twins traipsed back up the stairs. Seconds later, Erin heard the sound of the television overhead. She waited for Lyle to calm down, but after a moment or so, she finally grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Your eye is fine!”
This was probably the truth, although a rush of crimson had swept across the white. Lyle sat down, panting, and gently touched his eye.
“You didn’t come to talk about theories, did you?”
Erin shook her head.
Lyle glanced toward the staircase. “I know I said I’d like to do some tests and all, but when I said I’d have to have a vampire strapped down on the table in the basement ... I didn’t mean that. I mean, I guess I meant it at the time, but I’d planned for things to go a little differently.” He lowered his voice. “I really don’t think it’s a good idea to have them here. Actually, I think we might be in a lot of trouble
.”
Erin realized what Lyle had assumed about the twins. “Oh, you think— No, no, they’re not vampires, Lyle.”
He looked surprised at first, then skeptical.
“No, I promise, they’re not vampires. They’re human. At least I think they’re human.” Erin sighed. “I don’t know what they are—to tell you the truth—but I know they’re not vampires.”
Lyle studied her. “What happened to your face?” he asked. “It looks worse than last time.”
“Never mind,” Erin said. She was about explain what she needed when Lyle took a sideways step.
“You’re in trouble, aren’t you,” he said, and the words were an accusation rather than a question.
Erin felt tension stiffening the muscles in her neck and shoulders. She had to get him to help. She didn’t respond.
“You’re in trouble. When you came to the library to study demons and vampires ... You’re in trouble with-with ...” He shook his head fervently. “I can’t be a part of this. I can’t. You have to leave.”
“Lyle,” Erin said in the calmest voice possible. “I need your help.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t! I can’t be a part of this! I can’t have—”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” Erin said. “I just need your help for a few minutes. That’s it. Then I’ll leave and never bother you again.”
“You have to leave, Ann. I’m sorry you’re in trouble, but you have to go away,” Lyle stammered. “I can’t.”
Erin felt her face harden. She let out a very slow sigh. “Tell you what, Lyle,” she said firmly, “how about I call the twins back down here?” She studied the change in his body language. “Let them start back up where they left off,” she said, and stepped toward him. “I’m not leaving, they’re not leaving, until you help me out.” She watched him and waited.
Lyle took a step back.
“If you run, they’ll chase you down,” Erin said.
“This isn’t good, Ann. This isn’t good.” Lyle gave Erin a wary and slightly angry look. “What do you want from me?” he asked.
She picked up his glasses and handed them to him. “You know the library better than anyone, don’t you?”