by Ben Zackheim
The problem here, as my stomach sank into my knees, was that Skyler only gave it to his new recruits.
Was he recruiting Lins now? Did he turn on us?
As if in answer to my questions, a dozen Lins streamed out of the house. They lit up the sky with some big-ass guns.
I slammed on the gas and drifted around the circle. I managed to right the Ferrari just in time to almost smash into Rebel’s Ferrari coming the other direction.
As we passed I made eye contact with her and pointed toward the street. I saw her slam on the brakes and twirl until she was facing the same direction as me.
Like an amateur I shot from the driveway and onto Outpost Drive without looking first.
I was slammed in the side. That hurt. I twirled like a top and ended up facing the car that had hit me, but my windshield’s webbing of cracks made it tough to see anything.
I smashed the window with the butt of my pistol.
A large black truck with its headlights blown out revved its engine in my face.
Chapter 22
I wasn’t in awful shape. My pounding head disagreed, but it could have been much worse. I had to put the pain aside long enough to give them my best fight.
“Kane!” Cassidy yelled from somewhere in front of me.
Fox got out of the driver’s seat of the black truck. Cassidy slammed the passenger’s door shut and ran at me.
Rebel slammed on her brakes and missed me by a few inches.
“Where’s Rose?” she called out from the open window. Apparently, she’d missed out on the whole ramming into Kane thing. I was sure that her concern for me was imminent. I tried to open my door but it was stuck.
“She got taken,” Fox said.
I heard the engines starting up at the top of the hill. We were about to get some company.
“She’ll be fine,” Cassidy said, not betraying a bit of worry. I knew he was concerned, though. That’s just how the twins rolled. No real emotion on the outside and a storm of it on the inside. It made them predictable 90% of the time and dangerously unpredictable the rest of the time, which I think is 10%, but math has never been my strong suit.
“Tell us everything, Fox,” Rebel demanded. She got out of the car and walked right up to the Vampire.
“Guys, not a good time,” I said.
“I took out the two Lins and got control of the truck,” Fox said. “I ran the twins’ truck off the road. Cassidy and I escaped but they got away with Rose.”
“I’m fine here,” I yelled out. “Don’t worry about me!” I said through my smashed window. No one even glanced my way.
“Which way did they go?” Rebel asked.
“Uh, hello?” Cassidy said. I could tell that he saw something coming from the top of the hill. I rammed the door with my shoulder but it didn’t budge.
Fox threw his arms in the air. “I don’t know. We had to get out of there. I didn’t…”
“Which way?” Rebel yelled. She pointed a fingernail right in his face. It may have actually stuck just a little bit into the tip of his nose but it was hard to see through my swelling eye.
“Guys,” I said as loud as possible. “I really don’t think that now’s the time to…”
Cassidy was pacing, nervously. “Vampire and Nail Lady,” Cassidy pleaded. “There are bad people coming.”
“Rebel!” I shouted. Well, croaked. I couldn’t quite shout with my windpipe jammed into the airbag. Contrary to popular opinion, those things are not soft.
“If anything has happened to her, I’m putting it on you, Fox!”
“Me? It’s not my fault!”
“This whole mess is your fault!”
“Hey, some help here, please?” I yelled. “The Blues are coming,” I repeated to myself more than to anyone else since no one else was listening to me.
Cassidy hopped into Rebel’s Ferrari and drove it so it crossed over Skyler’s driveway sideways. Good thinking, kid. At least one of us was paying attention.
“You have no idea what went down back there,” Fox said. He took a couple of angry strides toward her. “We’re lucky to be alive!”
“You’re not alive, Vampire.”
“You know what I mean.”
Cassidy ran to Fox’s truck and drove it up to the bickering idiots. He pushed open the passenger’s door.
“Get in,” he said to both of them.
Now I was getting worried. “Hey!” I croaked. “HEY!” I croaked louder. Maybe not louder but it was definitely wetter and more painful.
Fox yanked my door open with one swift pull and Rebel gave him the middle finger. Then used the same finger to slice my seatbelt in two. I pushed between them and hopped into the truck. I slid next to Cassidy.
“Good work,” I told him.
“Yeah? Thanks!” He looked like a kid at Christmas. Rebel sat next to me and Fox hopped in the back just as a new set of black trucks screeched around the bend in the driveway.
The lead truck slammed into the Ferrari barrier. Poor Ferrari.
Cassidy peeled off in a cloud of black smoke. We heard gunshots from behind us. We even heard a missile launcher fire with that distinctive whoosh that only flame can make. A nearby Porsche exploded. I hoped it had missile insurance.
Eventually, the shots stopped and I took a deep breath. A deep breath that hurt like crazy.
“Nice of you to help me,” I said.
“Stop whining,” she muttered.
“Seriously. I know it would have been much more fun to argue with your new boyfriend than pull me out of that tomb. I’m just saying…”
“What now, Kane?” She didn’t have time for me. Her head and heart were 100% on Rose. I was worried too. I just had a different way of showing it.
“Now, we get to the pier.”
“And leave Rose to fend for herself?” Rebel asked, disgusted with the idea.
“Yeah,” I said. “They won’t harm her. They’ll use her as bait to draw us out.”
“How will they know we’re in China?”
“They’ll know.”
Chapter 23
Rebel hid in the shadows of the pier. I could tell she was pondering a way to slip away and find Rose. But there was nothing for us to do and she knew it. They could have taken her anywhere.
Cassidy was not happy with my plan.
“What do you mean stay behind?” he said. “I’m not staying anywhere!”
I wasn’t going to give in. We didn’t need him for this part of the mission. In fact, he’d probably slow us down. I couldn’t tell him that, though.
But Rebel could, apparently. “You’ll just slow us down,” she said from the shadows.
“That’s bull!” Cassidy yelled, pointing at her general direction. “You don’t think you’ll need an explosives expert over there?”
Fox and I shook our heads.
“You don’t think you’ll need a munitions guys? Or someone who can make your weapons better?”
I shrugged. Fox was thinking about it.
“Oh, come on!” Cassidy threw his hands in the air. To him, tech was everything. To me, I liked to take care of things with the basics. Twin Glocks and five rounds of explosive bullets. Rebel liked L’Oreal Chip-Free #9 or somesuch crap. And anything sharp.
“We need someone to find her, kid,” Rebel said, making the most sense she’d made all night.
“You stay then, Rebel,” he shot back. “What chance do I have of helping her — even if I find her?”
I handed him a card.
“Call this number if you do,” I said. “He’ll help you and he’ll know how to reach me to give updates.”
He frowned at me. “You were going to leave both of us here anyway, weren’t you?” Smart kid.
“Just call him, okay?” I pleaded. “You have some friends out here, too. Right? They can help you. Shack up with them. Build something to… I don’t know…”
“What? Build something to what?” He was tearing up now. Which meant he was getting dangerous.
&
nbsp; Suddenly, just over the black line of the horizon, lights emerged. Our ride was here.
“I don’t know, Cassidy. Build something to find her.”
“Oh, you mean a Rose Finder?” He was raising his voice. It wasn’t like him. Rebel emerged from the shadows. She put her hand on his shoulder gently. He let her. He’s not usually big on human contact.
“She needs you, Cassidy,” she said softly.
“She needs all of us,” he managed to say. There was a part of him that wanted to run from this mission. The responsibility of taking care of his sister was weighing on him, testing him in ways he’d never handled before. I realized that he didn’t think he could do it. My history with the kid was a big part of his crisis of confidence.
“You can do this, Cassidy,” I said. “We trust you.”
“Do you?” His angry eyes met mine.
“Yeah, we do,” Rebel added, trying to break his slide into some really dark places. She knew I’d defend myself from him. Just like I did last time. It’s automatic. I wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold back much longer. He wanted so bad to take it out on me I could practically hear his plans of attack. None of them would work and he knew it. If he wanted to be punished for losing his sister, or if he wanted to suffer for feeling scared, then there was no better guy to get pain from than me.
The last time we’d argued, it was also about Rose. She wanted to go out into the real world and travel. Apparently, the two of them had been dreaming about it for years and got the courage to bring it up one night. Cassidy would stay behind but Rose would blaze a trail into living a normal life. She was better equipped for it. Their plan was that she’d find ways to get by on her own and then she’d come get Cassidy. Then they’d work out what happened next together. Like adults. Like the humans they wanted to be. They’d even still work for us, just remotely, from wherever they ended up.
Rebel and I both said no.
It’s not like they were our kids, but they were our responsibility and they were not ready to be on their own. They may have been in their twenties by human years but their maturity rate was about ten. And it would probably always be that way. I made the mistake of mentioning that possibility to them that night.
Right after I said it, Rebel sucked in some air like I’d just cut her.
Cassidy attacked me.
I defended myself without thinking and busted his arm in two. Clean break. The bone poked out at the elbow and stabbed him in the side as he fell, puncturing a lung.
I’d never been more horrified in my life. For all the shit I gave the twins, and no matter how much I wished they’d never come into my life, I loved them. It wasn’t my blood that poured out of Cassidy that night, but they were my tears. I apologized a thousand times before he’d talk to me. To this day, I’m still not sure if he forgives me for the whole night.
His response to being left behind in L.A. was the closest he’d ever been to being on his own. I’d have my L.A. friends watching him like a hawk but I hoped he’d appreciate my gesture of good will. Eventually.
The yacht was ready for us. A 50-footer. Impressive. I’d expect no less from Vampire money.
Fox, Rebel and I walked up the steps, one bag each. We were ready to go. Cassidy just watched us from the dock. I couldn’t see his face. It was in shadows. So I have no idea what he was thinking or feeling.
“Call him,” I yelled out as we set off.
“Fuck you,” he said back.
Chapter 24
The yacht was ridiculous. In a good way. I wasn’t a big fan of yachts but I roll with the punches.
That thing was classy. And by “classy”, I mean over-the-top decadent.
Its multiple levels were slap-dashed with mahogany detailing and I swear the gold trim was real gold. The hot tubs on every floor alternated bow to stern for a total of five. Just in case you wanted to douse one limb per pool and top it off with your head. One floor was adorned with carved stone walls and fake torches that gave the whole thing a castle feel. The throne at the end of the room folded down to make way for the movie screen.
Decadent. Decadent’s decadence, even. It was out of control. Too much. A mortal acknowledgment of the ridiculous crap we’d do to feel important. I loved it.
“This is going to get us all the way to Hong Kong?” I asked, admiring the craftsmanship on bar stools that probably cost as much as my entire library.
“No, Hawaii,” Fox said. “I have an errand to do there. We’ll catch a plane when I’m done.”
“Too bad,” Rebel said. “I could get used to this place.”
It was hard to relax when there was so much chaos behind us, but I tried. That’s the thing about luxury. It can consume you in a second. It can take you away from your worries. When you’re surrounded by shiny gold things it’s easier to just give in and enjoy.
I sat on a deck chair and craved whiskey. Jameson Black, man. Nothing like it when you need to kill all kinds of pain or germs or brain cells. And, like magic, a glass of liquid appeared in front of my face, three ice cubes tinkling inside and five long fingernails threatening to scratch the glass.
“Thanks,” I said.
Rebel sat down in the lounge chair across from me. She was in a bikini. At night. She smiled at my stare. I frowned at my stare but it kept staring. Her body was tanned brown so her white teeth and bright eyes popped. Like I was.
“I found it in my room,” she said.
“Vampire cooties.”
“Vampires don’t swim.”
“Then I wonder what dead woman left it here?”
“Someone with taste. Fits nice, huh?”
“Yeah, it fits nice.” She was in a flirty mood. I had to think about how much I wanted to participate in the game. Maybe after a few sips. Or bottles. We’d made it twenty years without giving in. But this was the 1000th night where I wondered if I could resist temptation.
“They have a crate of your favorite whiskey in the booze room,” she said, taking a sip of her own glass. The same stuff. It’s one of the few things we have in common. She adds water to her whiskey. I add ice.
“They’ll be okay,” she said, reading my mind.
“Good. Then I don’t need to feel so bad.” I finished the glass in one big gulp. A sure sign that I’d left no guilt behind.
I took a moment to refill with the bottle she'd brought and took a deep breath.
“Jesus Christ, Kane. You broadcast your feelings like a goddamn satellite.“
“Only to you,” I said, warming up to the flirt thing.
“Nuh-uh. That moment's passed,” she said gulping the rest of her drink.
“How is it women always get to decide when the moment passes? Maybe I decided that the moment passed when you dropped down on that chair.”
“Maybe you did. The difference is that I don't give a damn and you do.”
“Fine.”
“Now I'm turned on again.”
Fox decided that would be a great time for him to walk through the sliding glass doors. He had a skin sack of blood. I’d seen them before. The skin sack was like a human flesh-colored baseball. He'd squeeze it and it would spit the liquid into his red-stained mouth.
“Why can't you guys just use a glass like everyone else?” I asked.
“Glass ruins the taste,” he answered. “Keeping the blood in contact with natural materials preserves it, plus it enhances...”
“Okay, fine. I get it. Just, I don't know, hide it away or something. Grosses me out.”
He took another sip. It made a squishy sound that curdled the whiskey in my stomach.
“It will take three days to get to Hawaii,” he said. “When we get there we need to visit a bank.”
“For what?” Rebel asked.
“To make a deposit,” he said.
“We're not leaving the sword there if that's what you're thinking,” I said. I knew Fox was playing a few angles on this little trip of ours and I wasn't going to give an inch.
“It’s a Vampire bank so no
chance of that. It won't take long.”
“What’s a Vampire bank?” Rebel asked.
“A bank for Vampires,” Fox said condescendingly.
“Yeah, I got that part, you jacka…”
“What does Skyler have to do with the Lins?” I asked, hoping to catch him off guard. “Why were they at his house?” We’d never discussed Skyler before.
“I have no idea,” he said. “Like I said before. I work for someone who wants the sword safely out of Vampire hands. I'm not privy to the ins-and-outs of Vampire/human intrigue.”
“So you know Skyler,” Rebel said.
“Doesn’t everyone?”
“Has he gone rogue?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It's a pretty common thing to get tempted by the other side once or twice when you play this game. Sometimes the temptations are too great and the rewards are too close to your nose to ignore. Willpower will only take you so far, in my experience.”
“Skyler is one of the strong ones,” Rebel said.
“You could have said the same about Kane's father, though, couldn't you?”
My heart jumped. Fox took a sip from his disgusting-skin and looked out on the ocean as if he'd just made a comment about the weather. I did notice that he wouldn't look at me.
Rebel was as wide-eyed as I felt.
I didn't know what to say for a second. A very rare thing, indeed. But I didn't want to let him know that I knew almost nothing about my parents. Was he saying my dad was a turncoat? But he and my mother never showed any sign of magic or the supernatural.
If Fox could fill in some blanks then maybe he'd be worth the hassle after all.
“How do you mean?” I said in my steadiest voice. It was the most non-committal tone I could muster and I said it in the most casual way. Not a bad job if I do say so myself.
“Excuse me?” Fox said.
“I don't get your meaning about my father.”
He glanced at me with a quizzical look. He took another sip. I tried to keep up with his stare. It felt like he was probing my brain. I feared he actually was, so I thought about a kitten video on YouTube. That one where they're doing cute things. Kittens flew through my thoughts as he kept silent. Gray kittens with bows. Jumping kittens who just couldn't jump that far. Kittens attacking children.