“Oh,” she muttered. “Guess I need to get out more.”
He chuckled. “Whatever you do, don’t change. And never compare yourself to another woman or think you need to blend in with some fashion group, who, for the most part, can often times come across as fake and vain. Stay just the way you are. You’re perfect.”
Nikoli glanced over at the windshield for a moment, then turned back to her. “I’m not sorry about what happened, and I don’t want you to be. Ever. Okay?”
Seeing the sincerity in his powerful gray eyes, Viv nodded.
“Promise?” He stroked her chin with his thumb, then released it and trailed his fingers down her cheek. “I don’t want you to ever regret it.”
Viv gave him a small, still-embarrassed smile.
“Good,” he said, then turned back to the steering wheel, shifted gears on the car and pulled back onto the street.
They drove in silence for a while. Traffic appeared unusually light and pedestrian traffic even more so. Viv stared out of the passenger window, thinking but not really seeing anything that went by.
“Have you alerted Jaco and Aaron about our arrival?” Nikoli asked.
“No. I never tell them when I’m headed out there. I just show up. That way they don’t have time to prep anything or clean up a screw-up before I arrive. Keeps them on their toes.”
“Smart lady.”
He turned right onto St. Ann Street, then drove down four or five more blocks to Decatur and took another right.
They were still on Decatur headed for the street that led to the wharf when Viv caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. She squinted to get a better look out the passenger window and spotted a tall, pale figure with a bald head darting into an alleyway between two shotgun houses.
“Stop the car!” she said.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I saw one of Evee’s Nosferatu over there.” She tapped a finger against the window.
Nikoli quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road, the passenger side wheels climbing the sidewalk.
As soon as he came to a stop, Viv opened her door and jumped out of the car. She heard a rumble of thunder. “Be right back,” she said without looking back at Nikoli and took off for the alley.
No lights shown through the windows of the houses on either side of the alley, indicating that either no one was home or the dilapidated buildings had been abandoned.
Having forgotten her flashlight in the truck, Viv squinted into the darkness and slowly made her way to the entrance of the alley. She pressed her back up against clapboard siding and inched her way forward.
Something rustled ahead, and Viv froze, straining to hear more clearly. The rustle of leaves, like someone walking through them in short, halting steps. The darkness proved unforgiving. Even squinting, all she saw was more darkness. She wanted to kick herself in the ass for having left the flashlight behind.
When the rustling sound stopped, she started to inch forward again, being careful not to rustle anything herself. As she moved, Viv considered a game plan.
She had none.
What the hell was she supposed to do with a Nosferatu? She had no power over them, just as Evee had no power over her Loups.
Viv contemplated one option. She might not be able to control the Nosferatu, but she could certainly put a boundary spell around herself, keeping the creature away from her. Of course, that plan would only work if it didn’t pounce out of the darkness and kill her first.
Suddenly, the rustle of leaves started up again, only louder. Whatever made the noise had managed to get much closer to her, and it now sounded like it was running in her direction. She stood stock-still, holding her breath—holding her ground, still unable to see. What good was there in being a witch if she didn’t have infrared vision or couldn’t produce it?
Viv felt a presence drawing closer, faster. She pressed her back firmly against the wall and just when she felt the presence almost on top of her, a beam of light flooded the alley. It blinded her for a moment.
She whipped her head from right to left and saw Nikoli standing with a flashlight in the alley. He aimed the light toward the opposite end of the alley, and she saw, not five feet away from her, a Nosferatu, hunched over with its arm thrown over its eyes.
Man-made light did no harm to the Nosferatu, not like natural sunlight, but she was sure that looking directly into a flashlight beam burned the hell out of its eyes.
The creature’s head was bald with one large, bulging vein running from the bridge of its nose to where a hairline should have been. The vein branched off like a tree, spreading across the top of its head. It had large, black eyes, skin like an albino and cauliflower ears. Its fangs weren’t its incisors, but its two front teeth. Sharp, needle-like and deadly. Its fingers were twice the length of a normal man’s, and its nails, yellow and gnarled, were at least four inches long.
Nikoli lowered the beam of light to the creature’s feet, which were bare. Its toes abnormally long and contorted.
The Nosferatu hissed at Viv, threw its arm to its side, then crouched.
She knew it was ready to pounce.
“Get out!” Viv shouted to Nikoli. “Go back to the car!”
The creature hissed again and inched forward awkwardly, seeming uncertain about its next move.
Nikoli didn’t budge, and Viv yelled at him again. “Go!”
Remaining where he stood, Nikoli turned the flashlight so the beam once again hit the Nosferatu directly in the eyes, causing it to shrink back and hide its face. “I’m not leaving you here. If I go to the car, you’re coming with me.”
“This is one of Evee’s Nosferatu. I can’t leave!”
Viv turned to the creature and shouted out a binding spell.
“Heed my voice, ye creature of night.
I bind thee now from taking flight.
Inside or out, it makes no matter.
Boshnah, morva, benlu, sonah!”
Nikoli moved the light beam to one side, evidently checking on the spell’s effect. The creature lurched forward, causing Viv to reflexively drop into a crouch. The beam of light returned once again, searing the Nosferatu’s eyes. She might as well have been singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” for all the good the binding spell did.
The next thing Viv saw was Nikoli running toward her at full speed. He sprang right for the Nosferatu, hitting the creature mid-chest, dropping it to the ground on its back. The flashlight flew back in Viv’s direction.
Viv scrambled to her feet, grabbed the flashlight and cried out, “No, Nikoli! It’s too strong!”
As she predicted, the Nosferatu freed itself like a snake, slithering out from beneath its captor’s grip, and got to its feet before Nikoli had a chance to turn around. The creature grabbed him by the throat and held him up with one hand until Nikoli’s feet dangled in the air.
Viv saw Nikoli immediately cross his arms over his chest, draw in a deep breath, then do a half twist in midair, which released him from the Nosferatu’s hold. Landing on his feet, Nikoli threw an uppercut, catching the creature under the jaw. Its head snapped back, but the punch did little more than piss it off.
The creature hissed loudly and lunged for him. Nikoli dropped onto his haunches, then met the Nosferatu lunge for lunge, throwing all of his weight into a punch that landed against the creature’s left temple. This time it knocked the Nosferatu back a couple of feet.
Viv knew no spell would stop it and nothing she could say would stop Nikoli from trying to protect her from it. That left her with only one option.
While creature and man struggled for the upper hand, Viv raced to the car, grabbed the red yarn from the satchel, then ran back to the alley.
Holding the spool in one hand, she found the loose end of the yarn, pulled it free and cont
inued to unspool it, estimating the length she’d need.
When she reached eight feet, she mumbled a short cutting incantation, and the eight feet of yarn immediately broke free from the spool. She glanced down the alley, the flashlight still on the ground, casting light and shadows over the fighting creature and Nikoli.
She hurriedly attached one end of the eight-foot piece of yarn to a crevice in the clapboard siding on her right, then pulled the remainder of it across the alley to the house on her left.
With the red yarn stretched across the north end of the alley, she shouted a holding spell.
“Yarn of red, spirits blue,
Hold what’s captured firm like glue.
Yarn of red, binding real,
By my command, ye shall be steel.
Steel of gray forged near a river,
Ye shall now become a coil of silver.”
Viv grabbed the spool of red yarn and ran at break-neck speed around the house on her left until she reached the south end of the alley. There, she repeated the process with the yarn and issued another holding command.
Now that both ends had been secured, Viv ducked under the clothesline of yarn and yelled at Nikoli, who had just drop kicked the Nosferatu onto its side. “Holding spell!” She pointed to the red yarn. “This way. Hurry!”
He looked puzzled but darted off in her direction. He was only ten feet away from her when the creature flew through the air and pounced on Nikoli’s back, dropping him to the ground and knocking the breath out of him.
Without a second thought, Viv ran toward him.
Straddling Nikoli’s back, the Nosferatu lifted its head, eyes blind but for the kill, and bared its fangs. It barely had time to lower its chin, much less drop its head to Nikoli’s throat before Viv landed a side kick to the creature’s face, pitching it off Nikoli’s back. Having no time to ask permission, Viv scrambled for the sheath attached to Nikoli’s belt and yanked out the scabior.
The creature sprang toward her, fangs bared, and she rammed the handle of the scabior into the Nosferatu’s left eye. It fell to the ground, shrieking in pain. Viv pulled out the scabior, which made a sickening schtuuck sound and she hurried over to Nikoli, who’d gotten to his feet.
Before the creature regained its footing, Viv grabbed Nikoli’s shirt and ran for the end of the alley. She yelled, “Duck!” just before they reached the yarn. She ducked, scabior still in hand, and Nikoli’s shirt yanked free of her grasp as he did a duck and roll.
The creature, now flailing mere inches behind them, shrieked like a banshee the moment its body touched the yarn. It screeched in fury, backed away, then ran full speed ahead, back in their direction, one eye glaring at them like a rabid dog, the other leaking thick pus-colored fluid.
Nikoli pulled Viv off to one side, and they both watched as the Nosferatu hit the red yarn at chest level. Smoke rose from the black sarong that covered it, and the rest of its body appeared to flatten as if it had hit a thick pane of glass. The creature screeched in pain and fell onto its back, then rolled from side to side.
Viv signaled for Nikoli to follow her and she hurried off to the car. He matched her step for step.
“Red yarn?” he said after they’d both jumped into the car.
“Holding spell. It won’t stop a Nosferatu from attacking, but it’ll hold it in place until Evee can send one of her leaders over to collect it.”
The car engine roared to life and they were soon speeding down the street, tires screeching.
“Do you have a cell phone?” Nikoli asked, not taking his eyes off the road.
Viv looked at him quizzically. His hair was tousled, his cheeks streaked with dirt and scratches. “No. Do you?”
He shook his head. “We never carry one.”
“Why? Electromagnetic field interference?”
“Yep. Screws with the scabiors.”
“Same here. Only it messes with our incantations. Throws them off.”
“So how are we going to let Evee know about her Nosferatu?” he asked.
Viv tapped her right temple. “I already have.” Earlier, when they’d run for the car, Viv had wordlessly issued a yearning spell for Evee, along with coordinates to her Nosferatu.
She leaned her head back against the seat for a moment to catch her breath, then remembered something.
Sitting upright, Viv held out her right hand. “I believe this belongs to you.” She handed Nikoli the scabior.
He did a double take from windshield to scabior and reached for his sheath as if to verify it was missing. His expression was one of amazement and disbelief.
Obviously finding his sheath empty, Nikoli took the scabior from her and grimaced at the stickiness on the handle. “How...? When...?”
“Had to borrow it. Nosferatu needed eye surgery,” she said. “Sorry about the eye goo on the handle. I didn’t have time to clean it.
“I—I...” Nikoli’s mouth dropped open, then snapped shut.
Viv smiled and dropped her head back onto the seat and closed her eyes. She was glad Nikoli hadn’t been bitten. He would have either died or turned into a similar creature.
And no way would Viv ever have sex with a Nosferatu.
She turned her head and peeked through eyelashes at the gorgeous hunk of man sitting beside her. Besides, she’d already been bitten—by a Bender.
Chapter 18
He’d had fun watching all of the action over the past couple of days, but now he grew bored. It was time to clean house.
It’s not that he’d been surprised by the Benders’ arrival. He’d expected it. Those four pathetic losers always brought their toys when no one had invited them to play. No matter where he sent his Cartesians, the four fools or others like them—showed up, flipping and twirling their little batons. So they took out a Cartesian or two. No big deal. The size of the army he was building would dwarf any army from the Benders’ world. Collectively, they’d certainly be able to handle those four little twerps.
So far, he’d gotten the biggest kick from the death of the Chenilles earlier. It had been as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Right under their noses. Oh, and the crying Triad—extra icing on the cake.
Sure, now he had to wait until the Carties that the Benders had shot with their batons made their way back to him. When a Cartesian either pushed its way into or had been thrust into other dimensions, it took some time for them to return. Always waiting on a rift.
Always.
Fortunately, his Carties had only been pushed to the fifth dimension. Only one away from him. Their return might take a while, but not centuries. No. Those little baton-twirling majorettes had only shot them two dimensions away from their world. They’d find their way back to him. To their god.
He was a patient leader. They’d be back soon enough to watch the sinking of Atlantis—the Originals—the Triads. His glorious victory.
There were plenty of games to play to occupy his time until then. Not only was he patient, he was ingenious. Who else would have thought to shove some of the Originals out of their dens instead of killing them? Only he had the brains to come up with a plan like that. Which was as it should be. Great leaders thought in great ways.
Missing Nosferatu, Chenilles and Loup Garous kept the Triads running in all directions. Along with those dickless Benders. Distraction. Diversion. Dictator. That was the name of this game.
The one thing a Triad couldn’t do was clone herself. How else were they going to hunt for the missing while protecting the cloistered—and themselves? And what could the stupid Benders do with all of that mess flying in every direction? Why, even now they were scurrying about wondering, “Where, oh, where do I stick my baton now?”
He’d show them where to stick it.
This was survival of the fittest, and he was king of that game.
Too often it appeared that humans had no fittest, only mentally and physical challenged nitwits who called themselves leaders. By the time he was ready for them, for the humans, the pickings would be as easy as berries on the vine. He’d crush those berries and serve them up as wine to his Carties.
How did that saying go? As a man thinketh, so shall he be. Or some kind of crap like that. And therein lay the human demise. They blurted out words that had no meaning in them. Blah, blah, yada, yada. See how big my dick is.
He, on the other hand, did and meant what he said. To himself, anyway.
By tonight, or tomorrow at the latest, he’d be well on his way to acquiring the victory he’d been planning, preparing for and dreaming of for centuries. Someone with a lesser mental capacity would probably consider his actions a form of revenge. And if he was honest with himself, and on occasion he was, he’d have to admit that was partially true.
He’d been an innocent bystander, minding his own business, going about his own life, living by his own creed when someone decided, without his permission, to divert his personal journey and make it their own.
Little did they know that their meddling would change the very course of history. For the Originals, whose innocent lives had also been diverted, for the Triads, who, in secret, he’d always coveted, for the world, something they had no business toying with in the first place.
He’d been fortunate over the years, that the meddling few had created multitudes of species that had kept his Cartesians fed and growing in number for centuries. The vampires, whose powers tasted like honey right off the comb. The leprechauns, albeit with lesser strength, held the unique aftertaste of gumdrops stolen from a candy vendor. The werewolves, an acquired taste, like snails and caviar. The djinn, like a strong, heady wine.
Each unique, diverse. His for the choosing. It simply depended on what his palate craved on any particular day. No, those responsible for their existence had no idea just how tasty they were.
Had they not realized, all those centuries ago, that no secret stayed hidden forever? They’d sat, so haughty, filled with false righteousness and self-designated authority, pointing fingers at whom they considered the lowly, and changed the course of lives. All the while, thinking no one would ever know, ever find out. How wrong they had been. How gloriously wrong.
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