by Gary Jonas
“Victor Pavlenco,” the announcer finally said. “Do you wish to negotiate?”
Victor stepped onto the field. He drew a sword. “Never!”
He attacked.
I wasn’t allowed to kill him, so I parried. He was very good with a sword, but I was better. I parried attack after attack.
“This could go on all night,” I said.
“You’ve got to be tired,” he said, and tried to get a jab inside.
I slapped his blade and smiled. “Magically engineered assassin,” I said. “I can go for days.”
“You killed Ben.”
“No choice.”
“You won’t kill me!” He pushed in hard.
I shook my head, did a quick move swishing my sword beneath his, and followed with a sudden upward twist. His sword flew from his hand, turned slowly in the air and arced over to plunge deep into one of the many corpses strewn about the field. The sword waved, glinting in the overhead lights. I put my sword-point to Victor’s throat. “I’m not permitted to kill you,” I said. “Of course, he didn’t say anything about not dismembering you.”
“I would like to negotiate!” Victor yelled.
Sinclair stepped carefully onto the field, maneuvering around bodies, placing his feet at odd angles to try not to step in puddles of blood. When he finally reached us, he smiled. “I would like you to open the box for me.”
“Too dangerous.”
“You’re overreacting to the shift. I want to greet the sun and not burn.”
“As I’m the overall champion,” I said, “may I be involved in the negotiation?”
“Not unless you see a solution that will work for all parties,” Victor said.
“I do.”
“I’m listening,” Sinclair said.
I smiled. “William… May I call you William?”
“Whatever,” he said. “What solution do you see?”
“I have terms before I tell you.”
Sinclair rolled his eyes.
“I want to be free from your command once and for all, and I want you to remove the death spell from Amanda.”
“If you have a viable solution, I’m fine with that.”
“All right. Here’s my solution. Victor, you will remove your spell from the box. William, you will have Amanda cast a spell on the ring to hide it from the Men of Anubis.”
“They’ll see through it,” Victor said.
“She’s a natural witch, and when it comes to spells of concealment, she has no superior,” I lied.
“I don’t know,” Victor said.
“You lost the battle,” I said. “You can’t bitch about it. Amanda can do it, but she needs to be alive to cast the spell.”
“Once she dies, the spell will die with her,” Victor said.
“She’s young and aside from a death spell, she’s in excellent health. She should be fine for another forty years, and while that’s not long in your eyes, it will buy you time to find a more permanent solution.”
“I don’t like it.”
Sinclair extended a hand. “But you can live with it, as can I. And I’ll even let you keep your ring. But as the champion today, I want Lenora’s ring as well as my own.”
“Deal,” I said before Victor could object.
“Why should he have two rings?” Victor asked.
“Because our team won,” I said. “Just agree, Victor. People on the sidelines are getting bored.”
He rubbed his chin, but finally nodded and clasped Sinclair’s hand.
The announcer’s voice came over the loudspeaker again. “And the negotiations are complete. William Sinclair is the victor due to the actions and the incredible fighting skills of his second, Kelly Chan. I’ve never seen anything like that, and I’ve been around for more than six hundred years.”
He kept going, but I ignored him. I walked to the sideline where Geoffrey stood looking relieved. “Sorry to hog all the playing time,” I said. “I needed the workout.”
“And I need to be certain to never upset you.”
I smiled. “Good plan. I can get moody if I haven’t killed anything in a while.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Geoffrey took me through a shadow and we were back in the hotel room in no time. Amanda was still in bed locked in her coma, and the corpse of Lenora’s body double was still sprawled on the floor.
The hotel seemed still, and I realized I hadn’t fully returned to normal. My senses remained on high alert. I chose to keep them there because until Amanda was safe and I was away from these vampires, I didn’t want to take any chances. The problem with coming out of warrior mode was that it was such a heightened state it had a tendency to make me sleepy when I came down. I didn’t want that to happen when there were enemies who could slip out of a shadow to attack me. I’d pay a price later, though. I would need to sleep for hours and hours.
Geoffrey was speaking.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Can you please repeat that?”
“I said I’m going to leave you here so I can go retrieve the box. The others will be here shortly.”
“That’s what I thought you said.”
“So why have me repeat it?”
“To be certain,” I said. “I’m still adjusting to being still.”
“Adrenaline crash,” Geoffrey said. “I wouldn’t recommend napping here. If Victor gets here first, he may cut off your head. You demolished his entire army and slew his companion. He has nothing left.”
“Chantelle killed all of Sinclair’s army too.”
“But William still has me. He will also have Watchers volunteering to join him.”
“Even after all his people died?”
“Especially now. It’s not easy to move up in ranks. There are vacancies, and as Sinclair has just won in battle, no vampire is permitted to challenge him for a hundred years.”
“The same holds true for Victor, right?”
Geoffrey shook his head. “William will take Victor’s place on the Council, and Victor will be stripped of all titles, and banned from the vampire community for a hundred years.”
“Harsh,” I said. “But didn’t Sinclair step down from the Council?”
“As a requirement for battle, yes. But as he won, he takes Victor’s place, moving up in the ranks. In Victor’s case, as he lost, he’s fortunate William doesn’t take his head. Now, I’m off.” He stepped through a shadow and disappeared.
I moved to Amanda’s side. She was running low on time. “I don’t know if you can hear me,” I said, “but I want you to hang on. If you pull through, I won’t object to your double parking for a week.”
No reaction.
I closed my eyes, focused on maintaining my state of awareness while I adjusted my thought processes to get them closer to normal. It was a delicate balance. If I totally engaged them, I could slip out of the heightened war mode, in which case they’d return to find me asleep in the chair before the desk.
Sinclair came through the shadows first.
“You did well,” he said. “I must confess that I was hoping to be free of Geoffrey, though.”
As he finished the sentence, Geoffrey stepped into the room from a shadow. He carried a small box.
“Did I hear my name?” Geoffrey asked.
“Yes,” Sinclair said. “I was thanking Kelly because I couldn’t bear the thought of facing the centuries without you.”
Geoffrey smirked and handed the box to Sinclair. I’d imagined it would be an elegant box with gold filigree mystic designs, and a silver clasp with a small keyhole, while the interior would have crushed velvet lining, and the rings wrapped in emerald silk.
Instead, it was just a small wooden box with nothing special to recommend it. Then again, if you want to hide treasures, it’s best to put them in something nobody would ever think to open. It’s why I keep extra cash tucked between the pages of a poetry chapbook on my bookshelf. Nobody would intentionally open The Tree Stands Guard at Sunset.
Sinclair held the box
in one hand and ran his fingers over the rough wood. He placed his thumbs on either side of the lid and tried to open it. The lid didn’t budge. “I can feel the magic binding.”
Victor stepped through shadow into the room. “I felt you tampering with the box, so I suppose it’s time to finish things.”
“Indeed. Remove the spell,” Sinclair said.
“No,” I said. “You have to free Amanda first. She needs to be ready to cast the concealment spell. You also have to remove your commands from me.”
“I don’t trust you, Kelly. You have your sword. Be honest. If I remove the command right now, you’ll cut off my head.”
I smiled. “Yes, I will.”
He nodded. “That was your plan all along.”
I shook my head. “No, my plan was to have Amanda cast her spell and to have Victor remove his, and if you present an opportunity for me to kill you at that point, I would gladly take it.”
“That’s horrible,” Sinclair said with a grin.
I shrugged. “If you manage to keep yourself safe and you simply leave, I can live with that too.”
“Put your sword in the closet, Kelly,” he said, pointing.
I did as he said. When I returned, I stood at the foot of the bed. “Now I can’t cut off your head,” I said. “Revive Amanda.”
Sinclair approached Amanda. He touched her forehead, spoke a Latin phrase, and a moment later, Amanda opened her eyes.
“Welcome back,” I said.
“Where am I? What happened?”
“I’ll fill you in later. Are you up for some magic?”
“I feel woozy,”
“Here’s the deal,” I said. “I told them you were second to none when it comes to concealment spells.”
She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. If she told them she couldn’t do concealment spells, this was going to end real fast.
Amanda sat up. “You promised not to tell anyone about that.” Good girl.
Sinclair grinned. “You haven’t registered that skill with DGI?”
“No, I haven’t. They’d want a percentage every time I cast a spell.”
Sinclair cupped his hand from nostril to chin and in a stage whisper said, “We won’t tell on you.”
I placed a hand on Amanda’s shoulder. “I need you to cast your best concealment spell on the contents of that box.” I pointed to the box in Sinclair’s hand.
“All right,” she said.
“While she’s summoning her magic,” I said facing Sinclair, “you need to remove the command.”
He hesitated, but finally stepped forward, touched my forehead and said something else in Latin.
“You’re an asshole,” I said. “You’re also a loser, jerk, creep, scumbag, and slimeball who eats shit for breakfast.”
He tilted his head. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Amanda, cast your spell.”
She reached out and placed a hand on the box. She moved her fingers and light danced across them.
Don’t make it too showy, I thought. She raised her hand.
“That should do it,” she said.
“Are you sure?” Victor asked.
“When you open the box, if the contents are invisible, I can adjust the spell so only you and I can see it.”
“Not him,” Sinclair said. “Me.”
“Fine. I can set it so you both can see it if you like.”
“I’m concerned that the Men of Anubis will feel them,” Victor said.
“The only way they can feel them is if they show up here and touch them,” Amanda said. She was good.
“All right, Victor,” I said. “Remove your spell.”
He looked at me. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Just remove the damn spell,” I said.
He hesitated, then touched the box and spoke a few words of Latin. No light danced, no thunder claps, nothing. “My spell is lifted,” he said.
“Finally,” Sinclair said, and placed his thumbs on the sides of the box. “I’ll get to feel the sun on my face again.” He moved to open the box, but the lid remained locked. “It won’t open.”
“Don’t look at me,” Victor said. “I removed the spell.”
Sinclair spun to face Amanda. “Did you do this?”
“My spell was to conceal the contents, not to seal the box.”
TJ and Lenora stepped through a shadow and joined us in the room.
“Did I feel someone trying to get to the rings?” she asked.
“Lenora!” Sinclair said. “But I saw you die!” He pointed at the corpse on the floor.
“Newsflash, sweetheart,” I said. “I beheaded a corpse, not Lenora.”
“Give me the box,” she said.
“No! Remove your spell! I want my ring!”
“The box,” Lenora said holding out a hand as she stepped toward him.
Sinclair stepped back, and as the opportunity was there, I couldn’t resist. I grabbed his head, used all my strength and gave it a savage twist. Bones snapped. I drove his body to the ground, with a knee in his back, and I got a firm grip under his chin. I strained and flesh tore, bones broke, and I ripped his head from his neck.
I rose, holding the gruesome trophy in my hand. I lifted it above my head. Lenora stared wide-eyed, mouth open. Geoffrey stared and a strange grin slowly spread across his face. TJ’s eyes were like saucers. Victor looked impressed.
“Let this stand as your warning. Any vampire who ever crosses me will end up like Sinclair,” I said. “I want you to spread the word.” I tossed the head to Geoffrey. He caught it and stared at it.
“Holy shit,” TJ said. “You weren’t fucking around!”
“Victor, put your spell back on the box.”
He reached over, placed his hand on the box, spoke some Latin, and stepped back.
“Now I want you all to get the fuck out of here.”
TJ gave me a salute, and stepped through a shadow to disappear.
Lenora gave me a nod. “You have my respect,” she said.
I returned her nod.
She folded into a shadow.
Geoffrey looked at the corpses on the floor, and the head of his master in his hands. “Kelly Chan,” he said. “You made me a promise a few nights ago.”
“You want me to cut off your head.”
He shook his head. “No, actually, now that I’m free of him,” he held up the head, “I’d like to cancel that request.”
“Your call,” I said.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope we never see one another again.”
“The feeling is mutual. Take that head to the Council.”
“I will,” he said and stepped through a shadow.
“I’m not leaving,” Victor said. “This is my room.”
“I don’t want you to leave,” I said. “You need to tell me about Jonathan.”
“I know only what Stacy told me. He is alive, and was in New York last month.”
“How is that possible?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but I intend to find out.”
“I suggest we work together on that front,” I said, “because if he’s alive, I want to find him.”
“I’ll consider it.”
“No. You’ll accept it because I’ll move Heaven and Earth to find him.”
“As you wish.”
“Excellent. Amanda and I will be going now.”
Amanda and I started toward the door.
“I can take you through shadows to your truck,” Victor said.
“I think we’ll Uber it,” I said.
He looked at the bodies on the floor. “I don’t have minions to clean this up anymore. What do I tell room service?”
I laughed. “You’ll think of something, and with your money, you’ll find a way to make it go away.”
“One thing,” he said.
“What’s that?” I asked, turning back.
“I have nowhere to go.”
“Seems to me there’s a
house in Castle Pines recently vacated by William Sinclair. You could stay there.”
“But Geoffrey will take that house.”
“And Geoffrey is alone too. He’s an experienced companion.”
Victor frowned. “It seems I have many things to consider at the moment. I need to start building my army from scratch.”
“For a bloodsucking murderous freak, you’re all right,” I said, and led Amanda out the door down to the elevator. I pressed the down button.
As we waited on the car, she said, “I heard everything while I was in that coma.”
“So?” I said.
“Did you even try to save my sister?”
“There was nothing I could do.”
I expected her to go off on me because I was the one who got women out of bad situations, and I had been unable to save Chantelle.
The elevator doors opened. “I understand,” Amanda said and stepped into the car.
In a strange way, her acceptance made it worse. Had I really done all I could? Even I didn’t know. When the doors closed, Amanda embraced me. I’m not comfortable with emotional displays, and I knew there was nothing I could say to make her feel better. I simply returned the embrace. What else do you do when your friend has lost a family member?
As we exited the hotel, she maintained her composure. On the sidewalk, she tried to smile. “So I only get one week of double parking?” she asked.
And I knew eventually she’d be okay.
Don’t miss the next Kelly Chan novel: Werewolf Samurai.
For more Kelly Chan action, she’s a major character in all of the Jonathan Shade books!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Jonas grew up in a military family, so he moved a lot as a child. His original plan was to be a comic book artist, but in college things changed. He took a creative writing class for the easy A, and found that when he wrote stories, people were affected emotionally by them in ways they weren’t by his artwork. He switched from art to writing without ever looking back. Well, he might have looked back a few times, but by then it was too late. He sold his first short story to Marion Zimmer Bradley for the anthology Sword and Sorceress VII. Many short story sales followed to various magazines and anthologies including Robert Bloch’s Psychos, It Came from the Drive-In, 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories, Prom Night, and many more.