by Domino Finn
Magnus darted behind the shadow of a tree. As he did, his skin blackened and solidified. His eyes glazed over with white and gleamed in the night. Emily sidestepped and the light shifted over his hand. Claws instantly reverted to human fingers, black fingernails their only vestige.
The other vampires held their ground, forced into their human guises and utterly furious about it. They may have been declawed, but they still had plenty of juice to do damage. Milena's Uzi trembled despite the purported protection of the white circle. I stood like a statue, taking careful note of each vampire's position.
"So you brought a flashlight," snarled Magnus. He stepped from beyond the tree. As soon as the light hit his features, they reverted to human. He considered his hands. "What a bitch." Despite his flippant body language, he winced under the strain. This much light in this proximity was painful.
Magnus scratched his goatee with a thumb. "It does make you wonder, though. What kind of power does a shadow witch command in daylight?"
I gritted my teeth. Each of the vampires had a stark shadow, of course. Wherever there was light, shadow followed. But those small formations were hardly enough to dish damage, especially against the significant odds.
Magnus reached to his belt. With netherlings, you could never tell whether clothing was real or glamour. They changed guises so much it didn't make practical sense to drape themselves in physical fabric. But material palpability couldn't be completely disregarded. Magnus pulled a pistol from a holster.
The Micro Uzi zeroed in on him. He kept his weapon at his side. I fingered a plastic Easter egg of zombie poison.
Magnus chuckled confidently. "I take it this is some kind of Mexican standoff."
I liked the sound of that. Part of me wanted Milena to open fire and let all hell break loose. The other part figured the longer we waited, the more time Evan had to get in position. Stalling wasn't the worst option at the moment.
"This is your last warning," I told them. "Back off or you die here, tonight."
Magnus arched an eyebrow. "Eight of us against the three of you?"
"Four. A sniper rifle is trained on your heart as we speak. Make one move and you're dead."
His gaze dropped to his chest. "Well, shit. I'm practically dead already then." He shrugged. "Unless, of course, I already accounted for your fourth man." My eyes narrowed, and he laughed. "Are you kidding me? Your sniper walked right up to the cemetery gates. Of course we saw him." He turned to his gang. "And it's a good thing we alerted the local brujos that the man they hated would be visiting tonight."
Emily and I traded a concerned glance.
Magnus stepped forward, not at all concerned about being taken down from a distance. "You'd better believe we urged them to give you trouble."
The beacon of light above us flickered. "Evan..." breathed Emily.
I scanned the distant tree across the street. I could make out movement around it, maybe, but it was too dark to see. And I couldn't use my spellcraft to enhance my vision with Emily's sun blaring above me.
Damn.
Once again I surveyed the opposing vampires. Eight of them were a lot to take on, but I noted their positions, their stances—I had them locked down.
I turned to the women. Emily and Milena both appeared horrified at the predicament. They weren't used to this. They weren't practically bulletproof like I was. What the hell had I been thinking dragging them into this?
If it was the last thing I did, I'd get them out.
"Go, Emily," I said. I locked eyes with her. "Milena's safe in the circle. You need to go get Evan right now."
Her eyes widened. She realized what I was asking her, but I could see that she desperately wanted to save her husband.
"Now!" I barked.
In a blink, the light extinguished. Darkness took over and it was absolute, even for my eyes. I moved while still blind, knowing that a fraction of a second was the difference between success and failure. I screamed and pounded my hand to the ground.
Eight spears of shadow simultaneously spiked upwards and struck the vampires in their hearts.
Stunned cries screeched in a ring around us. My eyes went black and the night lightened as I spun low. Obsidian claws raked over my head.
I didn't have time for a hard count, but a few of the vamps had moved quickly enough to avoid my heartstrikes. Either that or I'd missed, which was a distinct possibility when dealing with so many targets.
Another vampire with a shiny black carapace dove at Emily. It had only been a second since the light winked out and she'd barely moved. I thrust my hand up to grab him with a tentacle of shadow, but I was doing too many things at once. I couldn't make it in time. The vamp barreled into her. The image of Emily flickered and bent until she was a few yards to the side, safe.
That was a good girl. She'd used her spellcraft to refract her position and slip outside the kill zone. I barely had time to see her charging away toward Evan.
All around me, the vampires I'd bull's-eyed collapsed. They weren't dead—I'd already learned my shadow wasn't able to pierce their magical hearts—but they were down for a half count.
The egg of zombie poison I'd released exploded. Dust spread in a small cloud. The two vamps most affected were already down. Magnus darted away, temporarily distracted at best.
Automatic gunfire tore through the night. I flinched as the Uzi sprayed the enemy with soft fire. Milena wisely fired away from Emily and I, but her eyes probably hadn't adjusted to the darkness yet. She was aiming over the downed vampire's heads.
The female vamp I'd initially admonished had taken a shoulder blow from my shadow spear, wounded but not stunned. She tore at Milena with murderous accuracy. Claws deflected against flashes of light that hurt my eyes.
Milena turned her weapon and fired at the new threat. The vamp darted around her in a blur, attacking all sides of the circle. My amethyst sword sprouted from my fist and straight through her back. She only had time to give a shrill scream before her chest violently erupted. Blood splattered forcefully like an overripe mutant pimple all over my face and shirt. Milena's circle of protection had spared her the same indignity.
"I told you you'd be first," I said.
Claws slashed my shoulder as the vamp who'd attacked Emily whirled on me. I rolled away in a hasty tumble, surprised to feel the warmth of my blood soaking my arm. Milena turned the Uzi and fired at his center mass. He made the mistake of going on the offensive, trying fruitlessly to get through Milena's circle. That error cost him his life. The rounds found his heart and he burst as well.
I ignored the pain and took to my feet. All the other vamps were getting up now. "Take them out while we still have a chance!" I screamed.
Milena reloaded and grunted.
The next minute was a bloodbath. Milena downed a couple of them while I held them off and killed another, but the quick reflexes of the nether fiends were costly. Milena's ammunition ran dry. The final two underlings retreated to Magnus' flank as he stepped forward, firing his pistol.
I threw up my shield. Bullets alternately ricocheted off my turquoise magic and Emily's white circle. Magnus growled and threw the empty gun to the floor. His face went black and his claws lengthened.
I squared off with him.
"Not so fast," he spat. He nodded at one of the vampires. "The girl's not a wizard. Get her out of that circle."
The blackened skin of his cohort vanished into smooth, silky skin the color of cinnamon. A lusty woman in her twenties ran fingers up her naked side and purred, "With pleasure." The other vamp, still wearing armored skin, intercepted me.
I slashed with my sword but he wasn't engaging. I rolled again and turned the ground to sludge. He hopped through the air to change position. He was playing cat and mouse, staying out of my reach.
"Come on, dear," cooed the naked woman. "You don't really want to miss all the fun, do you?"
I turned abruptly at the sensation, foreign but familiar at the same time.
"Why don't you be a
good little girl and step out of that circle?"
I felt it. That was a vampire compulsion. Netherling mind tricks didn't often succeed against animists—a working knowledge of the Intrinsics was a huge defense against such tactics—but Milena had no such immunity. Her Uzi dropped to the grass.
"Stop this right now," I said. I took a step toward them but the other vamp leapt in my path. I feinted with my energy sword. He jumped over my head.
"Come out, come out," ordered the woman.
The vamp landed behind me. I immediately lassoed him with shadow and punched my sword backward. He let out a surprised grunt when he discovered he was trapped, but he wiggled sideways enough to dodge. I maneuvered a backswing that caught him by surprise and took his leg off above the knee. The vampire crashed to the ground. My amethyst blade came down hard. It ripped through his chest and rewarded me with another kill. I spun around to assist Milena.
She was in a trance now. She lifted her foot toward the line of white paint.
"Don't do it!"
I dove into the shadow, sliding through the void at top speed. It was full night so I stretched the spellcraft to its maximum length, but at some point I had to resurface. When I did I had just about caught them. I reached my arm out.
Milena stepped on the line. The circle popped like a lightbulb. Diffuse energy washed over my face uselessly. Before I could get to her, the naked vampire wrapped her up and held a single razor claw to her throat.
"Oops!" shrieked Magnus in relief.
We all froze, wound to full tension. Vampire reflexes were legendary. A single twitch would forever end Milena's life. We'd put up a good fight—killed six of them with just two of us—but my lack of intel had been our downfall. I'd had no idea the Obsidian March were able to compel their victims. It suddenly made the human trafficking angle much more understandable.
Damn, they were able to steal people away without even an objection. No wonder the police weren't onto them.
"Now," announced Magnus, taking control of the situation, "we find ourselves in a bit of a tit-for-tat situation. On one hand, you killed six of my people." He glanced morosely as the wind picked up and swirled the ashes of dead upirs around us. He cocked his head with a grin. "On the other hand, they were assholes."
The cinnamon beauty cackled.
"So," he said, "should I kill all your friends?"
"No," pleaded the female vampire. She licked Milena's neck and sniffed at her. "This one is my type." Milena huffed at her captor, but she couldn't do anything. The compulsion wasn't on anymore, which was interesting. I wondered if the vamp was conserving her energy for the kill. She forced Milena to her haunches and stood behind. Her human breasts flattened and hardened to glossy black armor, a lone claw tickling Milena's neck. "But if you move, shadow witch, I have no choice."
I clenched my teeth. "She's the only thing keeping you alive," I warned.
Magnus paced around me. "So she is. But you know what? I'm inclined to give Alexa what she wants. She did, after all, end this. So how about this: I kill you and I let your friends live and we call it a day? Sounds fair to me." He flashed a knowing look at Alexa. "Of course, Milena might spend the rest of her life as a familiar, but why split hairs?"
I growled and took half a step. Alexa jerked Milena's head by the hair, exposing a mile of her juicy throat.
Magnus searched the ground and retrieved his gun. "You see, wizard, that's the importance of surrounding yourself with competent people." He waved his pistol. "You can't just hand them a gun and go at it. That's reckless because"—the mag slipped out of the pistol and bounced to the ground—"human weapons eventually run empty."
Magnus reached for a spare magazine to reload. A sudden burst made us both flinch. A loud bang followed, cracking through the air. We spun to a splash of vampire blood, the initial burst. Alexa was gone. Milena slumped to the ground, patting at the smooth skin of her throat, delighted to discover it whole.
Magnus stared in disbelief. I grinned as we both realized Emily had fended the brujos away and Evan had overwatch on us again. And, damn, was that an incredible shot. I brought my arm forward, dog collar twitching. Magnus clicked the magazine into place as he turned to run. The pistol barked, shot going wide. Milena was his target.
I dove and wrapped my arms over her as we fell into the shadow together. Bullets peppered the dirt around us as I hugged her tight. Milena still shivered from the previous close call. She gazed deep into my eyes, her face inches from mine, knowing she was well and truly safe in my darkness.
We waited until the gunshots stopped and then returned to the world with a lurch. I spun around with my shield out.
"Tell the rest of the March!" I yelled after him. "Tell them they've been put on notice!"
Unfortunately, protecting Milena had afforded Magnus an escape route. Emily converged on us and bathed the area in stark light. We were alone.
Chapter 20
We regrouped and headed to the cemetery entrance. I clutched Milena tight, shocked I'd almost lost her.
"That was amazing, Cisco," said Emily, eyeing me strangely.
"That's a funny way to describe a near disaster."
"No, I mean what you did with the shadow. As soon as I extinguished my light, you hit everybody at once. I thought you were limited to one manifestation at a time."
I shrugged without giving it much thought. "Ever since I returned from the Taíno underworld, I... I don't know how to explain it except that the Intrinsics flow through me faster. It's like things had been gunked up and I'd taken an entire bottle of Drano to it."
She chewed her lip as she studied me. Evan entered the gate lugging his rifle over his shoulder. "That was a close one. Would've been easier with night vision." He smiled. "I need to bring more toys when I back you up."
His attitude starkly contrasted his appearance, beaming and positive despite being sweaty and looking like he'd gone a few rounds in an illegal MMA pit fight. The arms of his gold shirt were ripped, his skin covered in cuts.
My expression sobered. "Who did this to you?"
"Two punks who got what was coming to them."
I guess I shouldn't have been impressed. Evan was a tough cop. Being ambushed by animists wasn't an easy thing. As soon as Emily evened the odds it was game over. Combat wasn't an everyday occurrence for her, but she was more talented than the local santeros by a mile.
Speaking of whom, the street outside the gate bristled with them. I popped my ketchup bottle of voodoo toxin and squeezed some over the gashes on my arm, grimacing in pain. "Just keep walking," I told my friends.
We pushed into the road. Some of the crowd parted, but the man with the dreads made his way into our path.
"You's hurt," he said.
"We don't want any more trouble," I told him, voice hard.
He shook his head. "Youse took them out, dead man. Fought for us."
"I didn't do it for you."
He leaned in and pressed a fist to his chest. "Us." Then he put a hand on my shoulder and another on Milena's. "Us."
He was talking about humanity.
I grunted. The man stepped aside and let us pass. As we did, a few practitioners waved feathers and beads and chanted. Milena stiffened in my arms. "It's harmless," I explained. "They're blessing us."
"Let's just get outta here before they start breaking chicken necks," she whispered.
We made it back to the casket depot parking lot. Hector hadn't disappointed. Despite the initially hostile locals, our cars were unmolested. I'd need to thank him sometime. For now I just wanted what we all wanted: to go home.
"Maybe I should drive," offered Milena, pointing to my wounded arm.
"Keep dreaming," I said.
We hurried to my place. Evan parked behind me. They came up to make sure Fran was okay. I wasn't worried. Kasper had stayed up and reported all quiet on the home front. He took a gold paint pen to my gashes. I'd stopped the blood and ensured they wouldn't get infected, but Kasper's runes would aid the healing
process.
"She's sound asleep," reported Emily, coming back from Fran's room and catching us in the middle of a postmortem.
"I can't believe it," repeated Evan. "I-95 is a major artery for trafficking. At-risk kids get taken and dragged two states away to work. We've always known that. But for the major culprit to be vampires? How are we supposed to fight back?"
We sat on stools around my private bar. Kasper was in a rare mood, probably from being close to action. He was so excited to hear our stories that he'd played bartender and mixed up some cocktails: spice rum and ginger beer.
"Dark and Stormy?" he offered Emily.
"I'll just pop open something bubbly," she said. He seemed disappointed. I pointed at the wine fridge and Emily pulled out my most expensive bottle of champagne. She had good taste, and she'd earned it.
"At least let me do the honors," said the old man. She smiled and handed him the bottle so he could open it.
"This is gonna be a new thing now," said Milena. "Isn't it?"
The adrenaline from the fight had worn off and she was no longer hanging onto me. She felt distant already; there, in the middle of the conversation, but not connected to it. To me.
"It's already a thing," replied Evan. "My unit looks for district-wide threats. Anti-trafficking initiatives are part of that—"
"You're gonna go to war with the Obsidian March?" asked Emily, concerned.
"I'm not an idiot, and the DROP team's not big enough to take down an army. These guys are too many... too strong... but they still need to operate within human parameters. They have business licenses, trucking agreements. It's gonna take a while, but we need to gather all interdepartmental evidence and see what I can put together on their enterprise."
I sipped my drink and set it down. Kasper was a natural. "How long are you talking?"
He hiked a shoulder. "A year. Maybe two. This is a sophisticated operation. But if they're growing as fast as Beaumont made out, and most of it has been within the last year, it should be easy to track. You can't hide change that drastic."
I nodded. "Sounds safe enough as long as you don't go pissing anybody off."