AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

  The noise left me unsettled. Almost like a rustling, but more fluid like a mixture of dead leaves and gentle running water. This area was lit by the store displays. It wasn't until we moved forward to check the blind spots under the stairs that we located the source of the noise.

  Logan flashed a light at the hidden creature. My stomach instantly clenched and I fought to avoid retching. Under the stairs stood a pale gray creature, with no hair and large pointed ears. It was humanoid. When it turned toward me, I saw that the mouth extended beyond the face. The mouth was full of sharp teeth. The eyes were almost luminescent red. Blood and strips of meat clung to the creature. Some things my mind refused to make sense of. The strips of cloth and the stain of red on the ground were background noise compared the terrible being that lay below us.

  We surprised the creature, but it was quickly on guard. Logan was radioing back to Hank what we were seeing.

  “Vampire,” Logan said quietly, “proceed with extreme caution.”

  I fixed my gaze on the beast below. I had never seen a vampire, but I had read enough office material to know they are not creatures soulfully lost, living forever amongst us mortals. In reality, they were horrible, savage beasts that rarely entered our world. Some are intelligent, and others are so blood crazed that, if they were smart once, it was long lost in their lust for blood. This creature was no different. It was a predator with a one-track mind.

  The creature made eye contact with me and let out a screeching cry. Pulling my gun out, I saw that Logan and Vincent already had guns in their hands. Vincent was the first to pull the trigger. The vampire staggered back as the force of the bullet bit into his flesh. Then the vampire jumped. From a full floor below, it sprang up, landing close to Vincent and me. Logan called out, but didn’t fire. Vincent landed another round, but the creature braced for it this time. It let out a shrill scream, and then lunged forward, reaching its long white arms out to try to snag me away. Vincent shoved me out of the way and I landed hard on the ground. My gun went flying.

  Too fast. It happened too fast. Logan ran, the creature moved forward again. It moved within reaching distance of Vincent. It braced itself to receive another round while stretching its abnormally long clawed fingers. He was ready to attack Vincent. Ready to attack my partner that had already saved me from its grasp once.

  I called on the Path to put in motion the same thing I performed yesterday on the bomb. Calling to that thought, I gripped the air around the creature and made a solid wall between it and Vincent. The creature's deadly strike bounced against the wall. Unfortunately, so did Vincent's bullet, which ricocheted away into a glass window. Concentrating as hard as I could, I ignored the breaking glass and moved the wall to wrap it around the beast, turning it into a cage. By the time the cage was around the vampire, I started to tremble. It took too much energy. It was far too draining to hold anything this way.

  Logan and Vincent tried to maneuver around the creature.

  “Whatever you're doing, you'd better think fast,” I whispered, not sure if they were aware that I was holding the vampire.

  With one hand out, I gripped the cage as the creature bashed around inside. It slammed itself repeatedly against the barrier. The energy it exerted only fed the cage, which was good, because my grip was already starting to fail. Barely noticing, I fell to my knees. This wasn't like yesterday. The Path fought my control over the vampire.

  “Hold it a little longer,” Logan yelled.

  There was no way for me to answer, tied as I was to the creature in front of me. There was only the vampire, the noise of the outside world, and me.

  Logan yelled, “Now, Cassie.” It startled me so completely that I gasped. The cage gripped tight around the vampire before disappearing completely. Looking weakly up at the creature, I knew we were screwed. It staggered a bit from the pressure of the cage, but not for long. Vincent slammed into the vampire, and both were gone.

  Chapter 22

  Pain seared through my chest. In a flash, the agony was gone.

  “Vincent?” No answer. I pressed my hand against the remembered pain. “Vincent!” I yelled, trying to struggle to my feet. It was no use. I was too weak to walk.

  “Cassie, Cassie, sit still!” I didn't listen. I couldn't stand so I crawled over to where Vincent disappeared.

  “Vincent!” I cried out again. I turned and sat back on the ground facing Logan. “What happened? Where is he? Where is…it?” I asked.

  “You did good, Cassie, but we weren't prepared for this.” Logan looked at the spot where Vincent had disappeared and lowered his voice. “Vincent took care of it. He took the thing between the worlds.”

  “What?” I cried. “Is he coming back? Is he with that thing alone?”

  “I'm sorry, Cassie, I didn't get the details.” Logan flinched when I glared at him. “From what I understand about the area between the worlds, Vincent will be fine. He knows how to navigate the place. That vampire won’t last long there.” I mulled this over thinking Logan wouldn't lie to me. Keep things from me, yes, but I didn't think he was lying.

  After scooting over to the rail surrounding the stairs, I leaned back into it.

  “I need to do a sweep of the area,” Logan said. “Make sure that was the only thing that came over. Wait here.”

  “Like hell,” I said, already using the railing to pull myself up.

  “Cassie--”

  “Stay in sight, Logan. I'll watch you from out front.” Logan fetched my gun and did a quick survey of the downstairs area. There wasn’t much left of the man below. Logan hit the street.

  I dragged myself outside and leaned against the building. Logan searched the street and stores, staying in sight the whole time.

  Vincent was gone. He left this world with a monster. A monster we couldn't contain here with three of us. How was Vincent going to face that alone? I scrubbed my face, trying to push back tears before they fell. We could have killed it. Working together, we could have taken it down. Couldn't we? If the vampire wouldn't last long in the between world, how was Vincent going to survive there with a vampire full of blood lust?

  I listened through my earpiece as the first reports came in from another team. Gremlins. East of town gets stinking gremlins while we were stuck in the middle of town with a bloodsucker. Gremlins would wreak havoc, especially close to the interstate, but they could bring them in.

  Reluctantly, I left the spot where Vincent disappeared. I managed to walk back to the truck under my own steam, but I constantly scanned the area. Vincent was gone, giving no hint on when, or if, he would come back. Maybe he would be back right away? He'd only been around for a short time, but I had come to expect him to be there. I wanted him there. I wanted to sense him at home, down the hall from me. I wanted to feel his warm hand wrap itself around my own.

  “We're a man down.” Logan said. “We need to head back to the office.”

  Hank had already radioed ahead, so the police cruiser moved aside as we drove out. Logan waved and we were on our way. We passed another AIR truck as we headed toward the highway. The cleanup crew didn't waste any time.

  I sat in numb silence. At the office, Logan jumped out of the truck as soon as he parked. Had he hesitated, it would have made it harder for me to go in.

  “We're going to need to fill out reports right away,” Logan said. “Make sure you get all the details you remember down on paper.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I said.

  Logan lowered his voice. “Except for your part in holding the creature. Make it sound as though the creature paused, confused as to who to go after.”

  I nodded, not trusting myself to talk any further.

  We made our way to the main control room where there was chaos everywhere with Kyrian was in charge. Barry, having been a field agent in the past, worked with a makeshift team thrown together at the last minute to check out a portal. They even called Morgan in to be muscle for the group. Their team had met a new centaur.

  Hank looked up and nodded so
mberly to us the moment we walked in, but he went straight back to work. We received a few other glances, but with so many teams in the field, everyone's hands were full.

  I told myself that it was better this way and that it was easier on me, not to face the stares, but Vincent was gone, and no one was mourning his passing.

  Logan handed me some paperwork. I sat and stared at it while listening to the other teams making contact.

  The gremlins were captured and on their way back to the office. Logan paused and started talking into his headset, giving language to use with the centaur. Since when did my partner become the linguist?

  He relayed a few instructions and a few phrases. Markus, from the office, came over the line and started supplying other phrases.

  “Where did Markus learn to speak centaur?” I asked with only a wisp of interest.

  “Markus dated a mermaid for a while when he worked in the south.” My confusion must have been evident because Logan continued. “Mermish is an offshoot of the centaur language. Or vice-versa, depending on who you're talking to. They live in the same world.”

  “I didn't know that,” I confessed.

  “I spent a few years there with the centaurs. They're interesting.”

  I nodded and stared at the paperwork once more. Logan made his way over to Hank. When I couldn't stand staring at the paper anymore, I got up and walked out.

  A team rolled up as I walked into the parking lot. They backed their truck to the loading dock, and then went inside.

  Once I was alone, I took a few deep breaths. Things were not supposed to turn out like this. Gremlins and centaurs were manageable, but a vampire? The scene downtown replayed itself in my head. Was there something else I could have done?

  My vision got blurry and tears ran down my face.

  A noise came from behind me and I whirled around to see Rider standing close behind me. He was worriedly looking at his cell phone.

  I turned away and wiped my eyes. “Everything okay with your phone?” I asked without facing him.

  “It is-” he stopped. “I do not-”

  Once I was sure my face was dry, I turned to him again. “What's up?”

  Rider hung his head. “The office gave me this, but I do not have your home number.”

  “Why do you need my home number?”

  “I wanted to call your grandmother.”

  “I can give you her number.” I held out my hand and Rider passed me the phone. His head was still down and he wouldn't look me in the eyes. “She may not be home right now. Do you need something?” I punched in the generic security code that all office phones started with and pulled up the contacts list.

  “I wanted to know the social convention.”

  I punched in Gran's name and her cell number along with the home phone, and then I went ahead and entered Logan’s and mine. I started to type in Vincent's name and stopped. I stared at the phone trying not to let fresh anguish carry me away, and after a few moments, I was able to force myself to back out of the contacts.

  I made myself concentrate on the conversation. “Um, which social convention?”

  “You. And the tears. And with Vincent.” He couldn't finish a whole sentence. The pain in his face pulled at my heart.

  “It's-” My voice cracked, forcing me to clear my throat. I moved closer to him briefly and held his arm. “It's not an easy one.”

  We stood in silence. I was unsure of what to say or even if I should say anything.

  Scraping metal caught my attention. The truck at the loading dock rocked side to side.

  I raised an eyebrow and looked at Rider.

  “Should we see what is causing the rocking?” He asked.

  “If the truck is rocking...”

  “It is rocking.”

  “Right,” I said and pulled my comms back up to my ear. “Hey, Hank.”

  “Logan's on his way out.”

  “Yeah. You might want to radio the team that trundled the gremlins up. Make sure they used the zip strips and not the handcuffs.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Hank replied.

  “Yeah, you may want to send someone out to gas the truck before we have to catch them all again.” I pictured the gremlins turning the truck inside out. Hank hollered directions to someone and I broke our connection.

  “I've never seen a gremlin,” Rider said. “Are they tough?”

  “Tough?” A loud screech of scraping metal on metal filled the air. “Not really. They are about four times the size of a fairy, but almost as fast. The thing about gremlins is that they can work wonders with metal, just not the wonders that you may want them to work. If they used metal cuffs on them, they'd have them off as soon as they woke up. Plastic stumps them, though.” I kept an eye on the truck. The loading dock opened up and someone hooked something to the door of the truck. Soon the rocking stopped and the noise died away.

  “How do you think they caught the gremlins if they are so fast?” Rider asked as the person on the loading dock left.

  “Everything has its weakness. Gremlins can't resist metal. Throw a few metal strips out and wait for them to come. It wouldn't be that hard once they knew what they were dealing with. They probably got in a hurry and accidentally cuffed a few.”

  “The vampire, what is their weakness?”

  I rung my hands together unsure if I wanted to continue the conversation. In the end, I decided he needed to know. “Vampires have a weakness for blood. If we needed to lure the one from this morning, we could have pricked a finger or something. They are extremely vicious and tough, though. You have to have a good plan before trying to lure one out.” I looked around, hoping Vincent might appear out of nowhere. Could we have made a plan?

  “I am sorry about Vincent,” Rider said. Something in the way he said it made it sound so final.

  “He's not dead,” I said with emphasis. “He'll be back.”

  Rider nodded but didn't say anything.

  “What about fairies? What are their weaknesses?” Rider asked.

  Fairies were a safer topic. I could handle fairies. “Trying to butter up Cici or Essy?” Rider blushed a little but didn't respond. “Fairies are a little more complex, but they love new things, especially exotic things to eat. They don't travel far from home so you can share something that's hard for them to get. The bad side is that they may think you're trying to poison them. Better to bring more than one so they can see you eat it first.”

  “What do fairies eat?”

  I stretched a little in an attempt to ward off some of the tiredness that remained. “Cici is already spoiled,” I responded as I opened the truck door to sit inside. “Normally, they eat grubs, worms, or whatever fruits and nuts are in the area. They really love fireflies. Cici likes kiwi, which normally doesn't grow around here. To win her over, I would suggest an almond or maybe a star fruit. It's probably the same for Essy.”

  I looked over at the front door wondering if I should go back inside.

  “What about you?” Rider asked. “What is your weakness?”

  That was a surprise. I kept my eyes on the door for a moment longer before looking at Rider. “My weakness?” Vincent was the first thing that came to mind, but I shook the thought away. “That's insider information.”

  Rider looked confused, “What do I have to be inside of to get that information?”

  That forced a half grin from me. I really needed to remember that Rider was not from around here.

  Rider glanced up. Logan walked toward us across the parking lot.

  “May I pick this conversation up later?” Rider asked.

  “Sure,” I replied.

  The radio sprang back to life as Logan neared us. Another team neared their target.

  Hank's voice came through the earpiece. “You all are going to want to come back to the office. Your prisoner is awake.”

  We sat stunned. Seth. The man who attempted to kidnap the sphinx and the fairy.

  He's awake.

  We can finally get some answers. />
  Chapter 23

  Reading the Path wasn't necessary to feel this man's anger. When I stepped into the room, his fury stirred the air.

  “Let's get down to it. I want a deal.” His eyes bored into Logan's.

  Logan, looking good-natured, sat down in a chair across from him and brought up his cowboy drawl. “Now what makes you think we're in the habit of cutting deals?”

  The man was cuffed to the table, but that provided me no comfort when I slid into my chair.

  “You're going to deal or you get nothing from me.”

  “We don't even know you have anything.” Logan leaned back in his chair, looking at ease. “In fact, I think you're just a little pawn in a bigger man's game. Pretty sure my friend rattled your brains around. You even have anything left upstairs?”

  The man remained still. His eyes narrowed at Logan.

  “Probably don't even remember your own name,” Logan said.

  “You're not getting my name until I get a deal.” The man leered. “Stupid elf.” The man spat out the words like a curse.

  I raised my eyes in interest. He remembered Logan from the night we picked him up. He knew Logan was an elf without being told.

  Logan remained unaffected. He pushed back his chair from the table. “What makes you think we don't already have your name?” Logan stood and tipped an imaginary hat before leaving the room. I followed behind quickly. We went behind the interrogation glass and watched the man. Logan no longer bore any trace of a smile.

  “We don't have his name,” I said. “Not his full name anyway.”

  “Yeah, but we got something from him.”

  I swallowed hard. “He knew you were an elf.”

  “He did, which means he has to have an elf, or at least have been familiar with them.”

  “No missing elves have come across the desk.” I frowned and watched as Seth glared at the glass.