by Justin Sloan
"You heard her!" Royland said, catching his cue when she gave a slight nod. "Everyone with us."
The others started forming around Wallace and Royland, but Victor lingered by Valerie.
"Why me?" he said. The bashful way he hung his head as he spoke was almost enough to rethink her initial tough-guy interpretation of him. But he was up against her, after all. "I mean, after the shit, I was talking."
"You have a lot of anger built up in you, energy I’d like to see put to use," she said. "Am I going to appoint you to guard me while I sleep? Hell no." She laughed, and he even had a slight smile. "But just because you’re questioning the system doesn’t mean you’re the enemy. Don’t prove me wrong."
Victor knelt to one knee. "Thank you."
She looked down at him, "Victor, get up and kick some ass," she told him.
He stood and smiled, wide, showing a completely different person than she’d seen moments before. With a salute, he joined Royland and actually looked like he was apologizing. He didn’t seem half-bad, when he wasn’t challenging her leadership or threatening her friends.
Several of the groups were already moving out, but Valerie craned her neck to see if Sandra had awoken and come downstairs yet. When she asked Royland, he told her to check the floor above her office.
"There’re beds there?" she asked.
"Beds, a kitchen, the whole setup. Figured you’d want the beds there, so that if there was ever an attack on this place, they’d have to get through you before making it that far up."
"Speaking of attacks, I think we proved this place is far too vulnerable." She turned to Wallace, glad to see he wasn’t gone yet. "Can you get your partner started on fortifying HQ?"
"I’ll pass the word and see it done," he said.
"Good. I want this place impenetrable." She looked between the two, then over the remaining squads, preparing. "You boys got this, right?"
"Of course we do," Wallace said, but then looked at her nervously. "Why?"
"It’s the first day I can walk in the sun." She smiled and flicked her hair back over her shoulder in a playful way. "Think I’ll take a stroll."
She almost laughed at the way their eyes bugged out. Yes, she realized the predicament they were in, but at least for now, she had the enemy on the run. Michael’s blood had healed her and made her no longer vulnerable to sunlight, and the last thing she felt like doing was staying cooped up in there.
Plus, she needed better shoes.
CHAPTER FIVE
Outside Old Manhattan
By the time Diego made it to the street that led to the bridge, he was sweating and out of breath. When he was in puma form he could run forever, it seemed. But as a man? It wasn’t like he ran on a treadmill or anything. He was in shape, sure, but not for this.
The closer he got, the more his mind wandered back to the way she’d looked back there before she’d changed into a wolf and ran off.
And, with that thought, he realized that if she was going to be here waiting, she’d either be a wolf, or nude again.
He did his best to block that thought from his mind, but damn, it was tough. He was a man, he told himself, and therefore it wasn’t like it was an unnatural thought. Just because he had it didn’t mean he wanted anything to happen.
It was Sandra he liked, after all. And she liked him.
Though… now that he thought about it, they’d really just met. How did he know she wasn’t back at Enforcer HQ with one of those cops’ arms around her, kissing up her neck? He barely knew her at all, but suddenly he felt a wave of jealousy come over him and a strong sense of regret at having left.
He was so caught up in this thought that he didn’t even shout when a man in black clothes fell out at him… and hit the ground with a thump.
Cammie laughed. "Damn, I thought you’d at least jump at that. Not even a bat of an eyelash—you woulda died if he was attacking you."
She stopped talking to stare at him, then licked her lips and shook her head. "You feeling okay, big guy?"
The big guy comment irked him, being that he was only five six, he knew it was a slight.
And then he noticed the black clothes fitting loosely on her, and the rifle she carried. At his puzzled expression, she nodded to the guy on the ground, clearly dead, judging by the angle of his neck, and said, "That one’s for you."
"To do what with, exactly?" he asked.
"The clothes, jackass. We’re going to walk right across that bridge, and anyone watching will just assume we’re two of theirs, returning from a patrol."
"You’re assuming they came across the bridge," Diego pointed out.
"Not exactly." She nodded to the body to remind him they shouldn’t be taking their time, and kept talking as he got the message and bent down to start undressing the body and start changing. "When I was giving these guys a run for their money, I’d shaken ‘em at one point but came back around for the attack, and heard one of them saying it was time to head back. He was freaking out about being up against us, but the other one said they weren’t going across the bridge until they had two Were hides, and then took out the wuss for me. That’s the one at your feet."
Diego tucked in the black shirt and fastened the belt, then checked the magazines to ensure they were full, and caught the rifle Cammie tossed at him. She bent down to put on her cowboy boots.
"Looking good, kitten," she said with a flash of yellow to her eyes.
He would’ve been annoyed if not for that. Weres weren’t able to change partially, at least, none that he had known. "How…?"
She shrugged and, with a quick glance around to check their surroundings, they made for the bridge. "Something I was born with. I’ve always been able to transform partially instead of fully, if I want."
Diego tried to imagine his puma claws growing out of his fingers, but he just felt stupid. Nothing happened, naturally.
"It’s pretty rare," she said. "So I hear, anyway."
They turned down a path that was partially blocked by an overturned car, and then reached the edge of the large, metal bridge.
So far, so good. No one was shooting at them at least.
Cammie hopped up onto the metal girder that ran along the edge of the bridge—not an original part of it, but something seemingly added years later for support. A gust of wind caused her to wobble, but otherwise, she was balancing just fine.
"When’d you sleep last?" she asked.
"Yesterday, for a bit. Before the attack." He walked alongside her, glancing into the water below and wondering if she’d survive the fall. With his speed, he’d likely be able to pounce over and catch her if she lost her balance, but still, he didn’t much care for her walking like that.
"Not tired yet?" she asked.
"I figure we can sleep after our mission is complete."
"Yeah, sure." She stumbled at that, catching her balance again by waving her arms, and smiled at his outstretched arm. "No need to be saving me this time, Mr. Hero Man."
"I just thought—"
"No, I’m just giving you a hard time." She smiled and leaped down. "Probably best to look nonchalant anyway, in case they’re watching."
"True. Those soldier-boys back there didn’t strike me as the type to practice their balance skills on a bridge."
"You like being the hero, though, don’t you?" She fell back a step to walk at his side, and even wrapped an arm around his. "That’s why you’re with that Sandra girl, right?"
He pulled his arm free and frowned. "I definitely don’t think the soldiers would be walking arm-in-arm."
"Who knows? The guys get lonely out here, I’m sure." She gave him a wicked grin, and put her arm out for him to hold, but he ignored it. With a shrug, she kept walking. "A Were with a normal girl… can’t be too exciting."
"Fighting alongside Valerie, I get all the excitement I need." He was starting to get annoyed at where this conversation was headed, and stopped hiding the irritation in his voice. "Sandra’s amazing."
"That’s n
ot the kind of excitement I meant," she said with a glance across his body that made it very difficult for him to misunderstand her meaning.
"Are you serious right now?" He stopped walking and just stared at her. The wind blew over the bridge and his shirt flapped against his skin. He clutched the ball of their supplies extra tight, so it wouldn’t go flying away. "God, even if we had gone that far, I wouldn’t be out here blabbing about it with you."
"Even if you—you mean you haven’t?" She raised an eyebrow. "You’ve got to be curious, right? How does a human woman stack up against one of us?"
"I…." He didn’t know what to say to that. Most of his time on the streets of Spain had been with humans, not Weres or vampires, so the two times he’d been fortunate enough to care for someone enough to go all the way both had been with humans. At the time, he’d been a teenager and so had they—so if there was anywhere his mind was at, it was how the act changed when it was man on woman compared to awkward teen with awkward teen.
The thought of a comparison of that with a Were was so far out of his mind that it caused him to mentally stumble.
"If you weren’t before," she said with a wink, "now you’re thinking about it."
She turned back to the other side of the bridge and continued on.
"AGGGHH!" He yelled, kicking the metal girder and instantly regretting it. "Coming on this journey with you was a huge mistake!"
"It wasn’t a mistake," she said, turning just enough to motion for him to keep up. "This was all part of my grand scheme, don’t you know? To try and get into your pants."
Again he froze, but this time she looked back and laughed. "Kidding, kidding. God, now you have to tell me you’re not serious with believing that. She paused, hands on her hips. "Listen, kid. I don’t get why a Were would bed a human, okay? That doesn’t mean I’m actually going to try anything to split you up, or in any way jeopardize our mission for Valerie, okay?"
"I’m not much younger than you," he said, defensively. "Don’t call me ‘kid.’"
"In the matters of the world, apparently you are."
For a moment he glared at her while she looked back with a cocky smile, and then he breathed deep and walked past her.
"Fine," he said as he passed her. "But since it’s going to be just the two of us for a bit, would you mind changing the topic?"
She did a little skip to keep up. "Like what?"
"Valerie, for instance. I mean, have you seen anything like her?"
Cammie shook her head. "Even with all the supposed badasses I’ve seen come through that city, or when I was out here… Nada."
"You speak Spanish?"
She laughed. "Not much more than nada." After walking a moment longer in silence, both of them looking out at the reflecting sun across the water and a pair of birds that were circling a tree on the far bank, she added, "I’d die for her. I mean it, and that’s a feeling I’ve never had before. It fucking terrifies me."
"Welcome to the club," he said with a chuckle. "Club Val."
"There’s gotta be a cooler name for our cool new club than that." She put her hand to her chin in mock deep thought. "The Val Gals."
"Um, one problem?" Diego raised a hand. "Not a gal over here."
"Yeah, well, I think it works regardless."
"I’m not sure if I should be offended…."
"You respect the hell out of Valerie? Have a thing for Sandra? And think I’m pretty cool, right?" Cammie smirked and nodded to herself. "Right. So I’d say you’d better consider yourself damn lucky to be a member of The Val Gals."
He looked at her sideways, "Yeah, I get that… but no, that’s not sticking."
She shrugged. "We’ll see."
Finally, they reached the other side of the bridge, and Cammie led the way off of the main road, what had once been a busy street but now was broken up into chunks. Diego looked around in amazement at the old, crumbling buildings. Vines covered the streets, buildings, cars, damned near everything. The scent of burning garbage told them they weren’t alone out here.
This was going to be one interesting journey.
Old Manhattan Capital Square
Valerie still couldn’t believe she was walking about in the sunlight. People stared at her, but not because she was a vampire about to die from exposure to the sun—most likely. It probably had more to do with the fact that she was still wearing that purple jacket with its splatters of blood and rips from her fight with Donovan.
She fumbled in her pocket and found the coins she’d pocketed in the office earlier, and wondered if they’d buy her a new outfit. It wasn’t that she cared what people thought. However, once they started noticing her in the main office of Enforcer HQ with the cops reporting to her, they might ask questions. So yeah, she wanted to look the part.
To a degree.
Of course, that was still up for debate too. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to be in the spotlight. Better to sit back and stay hidden?
Either way, these clothes weren’t doing her any favors.
She wondered what the days before the collapse of civilization would have been like. There were rumors, legends of people living lavishly and actually shopping for fun, rather than necessity. Of whole shopping malls where one could go to buy a pair of shoes, a new jacket, and they’d have anything you could possibly want.
Not anymore. There were stores, but the options were few and often a store would focus on one type of goods.
For example, shoes, and she just spotted what looked to be a shop selling shoes at the corner. It was more like a stall, with several options lined up on a rack, she saw as she approached.
"All I know is I saw the flashes of gunfire, and damn well heard it," a man said, walking past.
She turned to listen, allowing her vampire hearing to pick up the response.
"This place’ll collapse just like D.C. did, if you ask me."
That was news. D.C, fallen? Valerie had it in her mind that, somehow, someday, she’d get to travel around America and see what remained. At least she could delete that one from the list.
In the meantime, she was going to have to get this city back on track, and fast.
She turned back to the shoes, and her heart skipped a beat. Were those actual Puma shoes? Her style had always been flats, and if she could run in them and move around, all the better. These were navy.
"My specialty," the woman said. She was large enough to barely fit in the stall. "Got your size in the back, for certain."
A man grunted, and Valerie looked up to see some stranger next to her with an amused smile.
"You know they’re not real, right?" he said.
Her heart sunk, and he apparently noticed, because he added, "I mean, they’re as close as you’ll find anymore, but it’s not like they’re actual Pumas from back in the day."
"I see." She put the shoe back on the rack, frowning.
"Not from around here?" the man asked. "French?"
She looked at him suspiciously, then got it. "I didn’t think my accent was so noticeable."
"Maybe not to the layman."
"Which you’re not?"
He just smiled at that, so she gave him a nod and was about to go.
"My treat," he said. "My way of apologizing for ruining the dream of it all."
She was about to argue, her fingers caressing one of the coins in her jacket pocket, but then she said, "Deal."
He seemed pleased with that, so when he handed a couple of copper-looking coins to the lady and presented the shoes to Valerie, she smiled and said, "So where would you have to take me to get my coat mended?"
"And maybe a whole new outfit?" he asked with a laugh. He took a step and said, "Come on, it’s not a problem." Pausing to see if she was coming, he added, "Though you might just want to toss the jacket."
"After all it’s seen me through?" she questioned, almost indignantly. "I don’t think so."
"Suit yourself. Coming?"
Getting to know the commoners—something her broth
er had always said was a waste of time, and made you look weak.
But then again, she’d killed that bastard so how good could his advice have been? He was a dick and was probably wrong about everything he’d ever taught her.
So she walked along with this guy, following him into Capital Square. It wasn’t as crowded as the night before, and it didn’t have quite the same flair with all the bright lights turned off.
"Stay close if you’re not used to this place," he said. "And if you lose me, the name’s Jackson."
"Valerie," she replied.
"Good to meet you, Valerie. Do you always let strangers buy you clothes?" He weaved around a young couple and eyed them warily. His smile returned when he looked back at her. "I mean, it could send the wrong message."
"I’m not worried about that. When I want to send any sort of message, you’ll know."
"So this isn’t it?" He smiled playfully.
"To be clear, I’ll actually be paying for this myself; I wasn’t serious back there."
He looked disappointed, actually.
She laughed. "What, you’re only doing this with an ulterior motive in mind?"
"Heavens no," he said, the smile returning. "In Old Manhattan, everyone acts out of the kindness of their hearts."
Again, she laughed. He led her to a street along the square, and they stopped near a food cart. The guy at the cart nodded their way and moved the meat on the grill. He took one and placed it in some bread.
"What’s that?" she asked, having never seen it.
"A hot dog," the man said with a doubtful look her way. "Now I know you’re messing with me. You’ve never had a hot dog?"
"If they were popular in France, that knowledge died out with the great collapse."
"Okay, I’ll let you buy your own clothes, but there’s no way you’re stopping me from treating you to a famous Old Manhattan dog."
She paused at that. "It’s not actually, is it? Dog, I mean."
Before answering, he gave a curious look to the vendor, who shook his head and said, "Not dog, that’s for sure."