by Marie Hall
I frowned, relaxing my grip on my weapon.
She licked her lips, opened her jacket and sank her hand deep into a hidden pocket.
I tensed, holding up my knife. “Get your hand out of there.”
Her skin turned a mottled shade of gray and white. “It’s a book. A book. Just a book,” she repeated, voice straining with nerves.
I narrowed my eyes, but nodded for her to continue, wary for any sign of deceit.
She pulled it out. Like the priests book I’d been given this one too was leather bound. She handed it to me. I took it.
“I don’t know why I’m doing this.” She raised her eyes heavenward, crossed herself and then placed her thumb to her lip and kissed it. “Guard it with your life.” She swallowed hard, then turned swiftly on her heels and ran back.
Stunned, I turned the book over. The stenciling was faded and small. “Castel Caudron.”
That was Anglo-Norman writing for: castle cauldron. An old English style of writing that faded sometime after the fifteenth century.
Why had she given me this? I flipped through the book. Was this a clue? Some way to defeat the vamp swarm?
But with each turn of the page my heart sank lower and lower. It was a child’s book, a silly collection of poetry and sonnets depicting the life of a thirteenth century farm boy.
I smelled sulfur.
“What’s that?” Luc asked a second later, peering over my shoulder.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. But we don’t have time to figure out this riddle either. She didn’t budge,” I said, closing the book.
“Unbelievable,” he snarled. “It’s just us?”
I nodded, and started running, he followed. It was five ‘til ten.
“Who was following us?” I finally asked, overcome by curiosity, hoping that maybe he had better luck than I’d had trying to figure out who it was.
“Followed the trail for miles before it vanished.” He shrugged. “Whoever it was is long gone now.”
I was aggravated but tried not to show it, he was right. Whoever that was wasn’t an issue at the moment, getting inside the club was.
I ported to the rooftop I’d been on yesterday and remembered the other book. Luc crouched on the roof’s edge looking like some gothic statue watching the streets below.
I jogged to the vent and my stomach churned with relief when I spied my clothes and the book still tucked inside. I snatched it out.
“I’ll be right back, Luc.”
He looked over his shoulder. “Where you going?”
I jiggled the book Mary had given me at him, keeping the other one tucked behind the safety of my body. “I don’t know why she gave me this, but there must be a reason. I’m going to hide it.”
He eyed me hard, as if trying to decide whether to believe me or not. Finally he clipped his head.
I ported to my trailer, sailing on the breeze faster than I’d ever gone before. I took a second to gather myself after materializing, tamping down the vertigo before I trusted myself to walk.
I shoved the books under my mattress and just as a precaution set a quick ward over it, and then I ported back to Luc. But even I wasn’t used to moving so fast, my molecules buzzed angrily, bouncing against one another so violently it was making my stomach roll. If I continued porting I’d puke. I had to stop.
Spying an empty alleyway I jumped behind a dumpster a full block away from where Luc waited. I was still weak from the stabbing last night. Though the wound was no longer visible, my insides still ached and I felt at less than full speed.
I leaned against the large metal garbage bin and greedily sucked in air, wiping my hand down my sweat slicked neck.
Lungs still heaving and insides screaming I knew I couldn’t chance another port. I took two more breaths then started jogging, paying my surroundings little more than a cursory glance when I saw something that triggered a memory.
Have you ever glanced at something without really looking at it? But then you do a double take and realize here was the clue you’d needed all along?
A small white sign hung over the door of a nondescript building. Staring back at me was the image of a Chinese dragon and the black lettering of a single word: Neo.
I ran, pumping my arms and legs with a burst of newfound adrenaline.
“I knew it,” I growled between clenched teeth. Vyxyn hadn’t returned last night and I bet I knew why. She must have been the black robed figure from last night. I’d broken its leg; she wouldn’t want to return until it had healed fully. She knew I’d know.
Not even breathing heavy, I finally got to the building where Luc still crouched. I cupped my hands around my mouth and trilled a long birdsong.
“Dora?” I heard his harsh whisper a second before he ported.
I turned on him. “It’s Vyxyn, Luc.”
His brows gathered into a sharp vee. “What?”
I gathered my glamour, wrapping my body tight in it. Like second skin, it clung to me. I was invisible to any I chose to be invisible to. The problem with using this much glamour is any parasite sensitive to the use of power would sense me, but stealth no longer mattered. I needed inside. After that, the walls would come tumbling down.
Luc followed my lead and cloaked himself as well. He kept my pace.
“The other day I was at the chow hall when I overheard Vyxyn talk her nonsense. I didn’t think anything about it until I saw the sign.”
“Sign?”
I breezed past groups of people headed for the club, many of them turned, a startled look plastered on their faces as they felt me brush by them. But they couldn’t see me and I didn’t slow.
From the opposite end of the street a line formed behind Sanguinary. Some of the people held children, others didn’t. I gritted my teeth and ran with an extra burst of speed.
My hope was to sneak inside with the group.
“Neo,” I said, finally answering Luc’s question. “A restaurant one block from here. It’s her, Luc, without a doubt.”
He didn’t speak again until we’d reached the door. It’d already opened and bodies were piling in. Children were screaming and trying to get away. Much more chaotic than last night. As if the kids themselves sensed the inherent danger of this full moon.
I shoved more glamour down my body, thralling anyone who looked at me to not see me.
My heart raced as I reached the door. I hugged the frame, and hunched, I did not want to expose myself until the door was secured and everyone was trapped inside.
The Vamp with the scarred face stopped talking; the hooded head turned my way and he narrowed blood red eyes. He was an elder and probably very good at sensing dark magick.
“Who goes there?” he asked, voice deep and laced with the hint of a growl.
I glanced at Luc and shook my head. He nodded. He wouldn’t attack until inside.
I scooted past the vamp; all the while his dead eyes followed me. I knew he couldn’t see me, but he knew I was there.
Luc entered next, but the Vamp was so intent on finding me he didn’t pay him any notice. When the last client entered, the Vamp swung the door shut; the metal rang with a shivering note of finality.
The elder reached into his robe and pulled out a Smith and Wesson automatic then twirled on me.
“Come out and show yourself, Cheri,” he muttered with a slight trace of French-Cajun. “I promise I’ll make this painless.” The silky sweetness of his voice dripped with ironic intent.
The children gasped as the adults threw themselves to the dirt floor. Panic swept the room.
Luc and I revealed ourselves at the same moment.
“Neph,” he hissed, then shot at me, but missed by a hair’s breadth. The bullet ricocheted off the wall and I heard a man scream as he sat up clutching at his foot.
Luc circled behind the Vamp who was trembling now. He shot again and again; one of the bullets grazed my cheek before I finally reached him. I grabbed his wrist and crushed it. He dropped the gun and his chest rose with what
would probably have been a loud scream of warning, when Luc gripped his neck from behind and tore out his vocal box.
The body collapsed to the ground. I sat on him, ripped my claws through his chest and tore his still beating heart out. I squeezed. Blood filled my nostrils, sprayed my face and eyes.
I coughed, trying to wipe it off but only smeared it further.
As if watching the vamp die spurred the humans into their primal instinct to survive. They jumped up, pounding on the door.
“Let us out,” a woman screamed.
Another man moaned, “I don’t want to die.”
Anger whipped through my body with the speed of thought. My claws grew longer, sharper, Lust roared to life and demanded to be let loose.
“You ask for mercy,” I said, voice guttural and full of demon, “and yet you give none. None you shall receive.”
My limbs reshaped, forming into something monstrous as I began to lose control. I advanced with slow, deliberate steps. Many started running down the stairs.
“Pandora,” Luc said, at my side. I snarled. “Keep it in,” he warned. But I shoved it off. He hadn’t been here last night and for the first time in my life it felt good to let the demon take over. For the first time I didn’t want to fight it. I wanted to kill them all.
The rest of the group followed downstairs, leaving the kids behind. Luc ran after them. Grunts and groans followed in his wake.
I laughed.
A child whimpered. A small sound and yet it was like slamming headlong into a tree. I blinked. Lust wanted blood. Yes, blood.
No, another voice.
I frowned.
Blood! Screamed the demon, raking her claws down my sensitive innards. I clutched my stomach.
The children. The children. The voice grew louder, the light overcame the darkness, and then a picture formed in my mind of a little girl in a pink dress. “Briana.” Her name was the anchor that brought me back.
“The kids,” I croaked, and the voice was my own. I licked my lips and looked at them, at their faces shiny with tears and I smiled. “It’s okay.”
Several started to wail and shake like saplings in the wind.
“You’re safe now.”
But they did not trust me, not a single one. They’d seen who I really was and to them I was more the monster than the vamp had been. The older children hugged the younger ones to them and postured, warning me back.
I couldn’t leave them unprotected and yet I couldn’t stay. I held up my hands and took five steps back. “I will not touch you, but please you must listen to me, those people that brought you were going to do terrible things to you, there are more kids downstairs and I have to save them, so I will need to leave you.”
A child, looking no older than seven or eight asked, “Can we go home? Can we leave, please?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but no, you must stay here for now and I need you to do something for me. Can you do something for me?” I asked, my tone gentle and soothing, hoping to get them to trust me.
The boy spoke up again, clearly the more brave of the pack. “What?” There was wariness tinged in the little voice, but not fear, as if he’d seen the worst of humanity before.
In some ways he reminded me of myself and I felt a growing affinity for the scrawny red head.
“I need you to gather the children in a tight circle. I’m going to ward you, so no one can hurt you guys.”
He cocked his head, as if mulling over my words. “How can we trust you? For all I know you’re just trying to make me think you’re nice so you can hurt us yourself.”
“Pandora.” Luc touched my elbow, materializing beside me quiet as a stalking cat.
I nodded. We needed to go. Though I knew from personal experience how loud it was in the sacrifice room, someone might have heard and could be right now gathering troops to bring down the intruders.
“Listen, kid...” I could tell this little guy was tough, probably grew up in the city and he’d likely respond better to a firm command then gentle cajoling. “You need to man up and trust your instinct. What does your gut tell you?”
He notched his chin and the light of knowledge filled his big blue eyes. I breathed a sigh of relief. He gathered the children.
“Pandora, hurry,” Luc whispered viciously.
I growled. “I will not leave these kids without guard.”
His anger punched at me like a fist. I ignored him and turned back around.
Once the kids were in place I set a ward, taking longer than normal to make sure no one could penetrate through who meant them any harm. The silvery webbing of my magic settled around them like the pulsing light of jellyfish in deep waters.
I nodded at the boy and he nodded back.
“You wasted valuable time,” Luc snarled and raced me down the stairs. I had to step over the twisted and mangled limbs of broken bodies. He’d killed them all and what’s more, I didn’t feel a thing.
“You might be a heartless bastard but I’m not.”
“You can’t save them all.” In less time than it had taken me yesterday, we were at the bottom of the stairs. He grabbed the latch and wrenched open the door, it swung in on silent hinges.
“Maybe not,” I said, “but I’m damn well gonna try.”
Chapter 24
I raced ahead of him and glanced at the cages with every intention of ripping them open and pulling the kids out. I stopped and turned in a giant circle. Fear lodged in my throat like a greasy ball of wax.
“Dora?”
I looked at his confused expression. “The kids, Luc. They’re gone.”
The cages were empty. And no matter how far down I ran, it was the same, cage after cage, row after row. There wasn’t even a tingle or awareness of para close to me.
“They must all be gathered. Please, please,” I chanted, begging God to just this once hear the prayers of an abomination.
Yesterday had been loud. The song of the worshippers had been so deafening it’d vibrated up the soles of my heels. Today it was as silent as creeping death. It gave me the chills. And unlike yesterday there was no golden light to follow; everywhere I looked it was pale misty blue.
I tried to recall the tunnels I’d taken through the convoluted maze to get to the large antechamber. I had to backtrack several times.
“How big is this place?” Luc finally asked, glancing around.
“Huge. Massive.”
We were in the room Billy and I had crouched on the beams, watching as the kids were yanked from out the arms of the adults. Where were the kids? Were we already too late?
“Did you notice different routes into the chamber, or was there only one?” he asked.
“Uh.” I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking. “Yes. A group had led a procession of sheep in from the sides.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Then it might be best if we split up here. You take the straight ahead and I’ll go left. Hopefully we can circle around and come at them from both sides. Pandora, whatever you do, do not engage until I give the signal.”
I turned. He clapped my shoulder. I glanced at his hand, then at his solemn countenance.
“Keep to the shadows.”
I smiled softly at his use of our ancient battle cry. It’d been centuries since Luc and I had fought side by side, it felt good.
“And you.”
I went north and ten paces in I smelled the sulfur, stronger than before, it almost seemed to coat my body with a sticky residue, clinging to my pores. I gagged at the stench of rotten eggs. This was different than yesterday. I frowned, fighting my nausea and began to wrap myself in glamour. I was getting close now.
Ahead, I finally saw the entrance to the room. It was pitch black with thousands of shadowy figures standing unmoving inside.
I crept in, keeping to the walls. The electric slide of parasites radiated up my arms and settled in my brain with an explosion of awareness.
Then the light spewed like a volcano, spearing the room with its red-hot intensity. T
he statue of Molech, red hands glowing and ready to accept its deadly offerings snared my eye.
Cries rang loud as red robed figures, both vamp and human, tore off their clothing and began to writhe and sing in exultation to their god.
The room looked as if it’d grown in dimension and proportion. As if by magic it was three times the size it’d been last night. At its center was a steel cage filled with children and more sheep, but what was odd was that not a single one—man or beast—uttered a sound.
I fought to breathe against the excruciating crush of panic.
A black robe walked up to the cage. Was it the same person from yesterday? Was that Vyxyn?
The black robe swung the door open and yanked out a lamb. Oh God, where was Luc? I scanned the room.
I couldn’t find him.
The animal was unnaturally quiet, as if thralled. It didn’t utter a sound even as the black robe picked it up and slung it over its shoulder. The black robe turned and carried the lamb toward a gray slab of stone.
Yells, chants, and whistles erupted. The thunderous volume vibrated the very rocks.
In all the chaos another figure darted in, this one dressed in a red robe. It was wrapped in glamour so tight that no one else seemed to notice it. This time it yanked out three children. But these screamed. Cried and kicked, and in the tussle one of the kids managed to shimmy up the figures robe. I caught a flash of its naked ankle and the undeniable mark of nephilim.
I couldn’t wait for Luc, not another second. I shoved through the group intoxicated by the promise of bloodshed. I screamed for Luc. But over the madness it didn’t matter. I doubted anyone heard or cared. To them I was another voice in a crowd.
The red robe slapped one of the children’s faces, spinning the little girl around until she dropped to the ground. A scarlet trail leaked from her lip.
“Oh, Luc!” I screamed. Then I saw him racing out of a tunnel toward the slab and the black robe.
I kicked vamps out of my way. But still they pressed in on me. I wasn’t gonna make it in time. “Oh please, please don’t let this happen.”
My panic began to give way to a burning anger and I could feel my claws sharpen, my eyes turn.
The red robe straddled one of the children. Jubilant screams and songs rose up around me. Eerie howls of glee shivered down my spine like cold, wet fingers. The air sizzled with the lust of both human and vamp.