A Brush With Death

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, before they were so rudely interrupted, the Feudal Court must have performed a host of transplants. You said they built an entire hospital. They wouldn't have done that for a handful of livers and kidneys.”

  Kasey wiped her palms on her jeans. She had thought about it before, but she had no way of knowing how many clients the Feudal Court had serviced. Even the nurses they had rescued had been recent hires. According to Sophia, they had done at least two dozen since she'd been working there.

  “That is what you need to be careful of, Kasey. The organ scheme was part of the bigger play. That is what you need to be concerned about.”

  “Why do you say that?” Kasey asked.

  “Because to a vampire, humans are food. They don't waste resources keeping their food alive unless there is a purpose. If they wanted those people alive, there was a reason.”

  “Renting the organs would have produced a small fortune. Hell, it probably still is. I doubt their clients have stopped paying simply because we burnt down the hospital.”

  “Money makes the world go round,” Kendra replied, “but I think you may have missed the more important byproduct of their operation. Think about the types of individuals that have that kind of money to burn.”

  Kasey ran through a mental list of everyone she knew that had interacted with the clinic. Slippery Jimmy had been their client and then when his luck ran out, a victim and a donor. The hedge fund executive had been renting a heart for an extortionate fee. Of course, there was Michael Rosenberg, one of the Arcane Council's leaders and the man responsible for helping reform and administer their justice system.

  He had to be one of the most influential wizards in the entire country and he'd recently been the recipient of one of their organs. The Feudal Court had used that leverage to make his son Jack do their dirty work.

  Kasey understood Kendra's point. The money was useful but those who tended to have it also had other valuable commodities. Namely power and influence.

  “You think the Court was using the operation to gain powerful allies that could help their agenda?”

  “It is how they operate,” Kendra replied. “They did the same thing in Europe, solidifying alliances with weddings and favor trading, before turning those they couldn't control to their cause. If they are doing the same here, they have greater designs for the city. You need to find out what they are so that we can stop them.”

  “That's what I've been trying to do,” Kasey replied. “Unfortunately, I've been so busy dodging bullets today that I haven't been able to step back and look at the bigger picture. I need some time to clear my mind and think.”

  “Your visions haven't given you any insight to what they might be up to?” Kendra asked.

  “My visions haven't given me much of anything lately,” Kasey said, looking out the window the well-lit New York City skyline. “Ever since the Shinigami, my gift has been silent.”

  “Oh.” Kendra tried to hide the surprise and disappointment in her voice but failed miserably.

  Kasey felt the pit forming in her stomach, a horrible gut-wrenching pain that had been building for months. There had been times in her life when she would have done anything to get rid of her visions, but now that they were gone, she would give anything to have them back.

  For better or worse, they were a part of her very being, her identity, and ever since her prescience had gone silent, she hadn't felt the same. It was as if a part of her identity had been taken away and she didn't have the faintest clue how she could get it back or if that was even possible.

  New York City thought she was a hero. Some of the people, anyway. Those who weren't trying to murder her. But that hero had been able to see the danger coming. That hero might have been able to see the vampire courts scheming for what it was.

  The truth was, she just wasn't that hero anymore. She was blind and every time someone found out, they gave her the same look. The look that Kendra Harrington was giving her now.

  It was that disappointment, the same she had seen on her mother's face when she had mentioned that her visions had ceased. Generations of Druidic rituals had been used to bring her into the world, and now she was just a witch treading water in the middle of an ocean that threatened to drown her.

  Kasey buried her head in her hands and cried. Hot, salty tears ran down her cheeks and into her hands as she wept.

  She didn't want to look at Kendra. She didn't want to look at anyone. Everybody wanted something from her, and it felt like with each passing day it was growing more difficult to satisfy anyone.

  She was moving from fire to fire, putting them out as quickly as possible. Danilo, the Shinigami, the Feudal Court, and the Night Crew, all over the course of the past few months. Kasey had thought she was fine. After all, she didn't really have a gauge for measuring this kind of thing.

  She wasn't fine at all. She was being overwhelmed and worn down a piece at a time until there was nothing left. Sure, she traded punches with beings who were several weight classes more powerful than she was and she had come out on top. But what had it cost her? She was giving everything she had but losing herself day by day, inch by inch.

  She might have survived the gnomes this morning and the preacher's trap, but without her prescience, sooner or later, her luck would run out. The killers were just going to keep coming, until they got lucky or perhaps more likely, she collapsed of exhaustion and was overwhelmed.

  Kasey let it out, the pain and emotional anguish of the past few months flowing out of her in a steady stream of tears. She didn't like to cry, mainly because she hated the thought of people seeing her like that. Vulnerable. People who saw that tended to take advantage of it. As a child at the Academy, crying had only told her bullies that their cruel pranks were working. That they were getting to her.

  But she just couldn't hold it in any longer.

  She could feel Kendra's eyes on her, but the Harrington heiress said nothing.

  “I'm sorry,” Kasey groaned between sobs.

  “What for?” Kendra asked. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

  “I bet you aren't feeling as great about your investment now.”

  Kendra rubbed her back. “On the contrary. I feel even better.”

  “You're just saying that,” Kasey muttered, “trying to cheer me up.”

  “Not at all. It's good to see that you're human like the rest of us,” Kendra replied. “When you saved me, I was a train wreck. All the family I had died that day. Everyone who knew what it was like to live my life, everyone I cared for was dead. I cried for days, Kasey. I cried until I had no more tears left to give, and you know what I realized?”

  “What's that?” Kasey asked.

  “That whether I cried or not, the sun still rose the next day. The world wasn't going to stop for me. I had two choices, live my life or let it pass me by. So I thought about the strongest woman that I knew. I asked myself what she would do, and I climbed out of the wreckage of my life and started to rebuild. Kasey, I thought about you.”

  “I'm sorry to shatter your perception,” Kasey replied as she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes.

  “This is the problem with people,” Kendra said. “We always tend to be harshest on ourselves. You haven't shattered my perception. If anything, you've given me hope.”

  “How's that?”

  “I have seen you at your best, and now I have seen you on a bad day. Both Kaseys are inside you. I don't know what my best looks like, but I've certainly seen my worst day, and you give me hope for what my own best might be.”

  That had to be about the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. It threatened to bring more tears.

  Kasey took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. She rubbed the tears from her eyes. For all her wealth and power, Kendra Harrington looked up to her and believed in her.

  That was a shot of adrenaline to her heart.

  She didn't do what she did for adoration, respect, or money. She d
id it because it was the right thing to do. She did it because there were people in the world who needed someone to care, someone who could make a difference for them.

  That was something she could do. Visions or no visions, she could fight for them. She could show them what it meant to take a stand, what it meant to give of yourself and help others.

  She could make a difference, and that felt good. That felt worth doing.

  She sat up, took a deep breath, and turned to Kendra. “Thanks, that means a lot.”

  “Any time,” Kendra replied.

  The convoy had been rolling through New York City, and Kasey had been too distracted to track their progress. She had meant to ask Kendra where they were headed but as she looked around to get her bearings, a garbage truck pulled through the red light of the intersection ahead of them.

  The driver of their SUV slammed on the brakes as the lead SUV was T-boned by the huge truck but try as he might, the vehicle carrying Kasey hurtled straight at the truck.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The SUV’s tires shrieked in angry protest as the driver braked hard, but the vehicle still collided with the garbage truck in a deafening crash. Kasey's head whipped forward before the seatbelt arrested her momentum and drove her back into the seat.

  There was a twisting shriek as the engine compartment crumpled on impact. Cracks shot through the windshield like a spiderweb. The vehicle's airbags inflated, but the shock of the impact rendered Kasey senseless before she finally managed to catch her breath.

  “Kendra? Are you okay?” Kasey asked as she reached over to check on her benefactor. The heiress was bleeding from a wound in her hairline. The impact must've caused her head to hit the door. A small line of blood worked its way down her left cheek.

  “I've been better,” Kendra replied as she reached for the seatbelt.

  A man clambered down out of the garbage truck's cab, an assault rifle in one hand as he approached the SUV.

  Kasey grabbed Kendra and pulled her down beneath window level.

  Raising the weapon, an AK-47, he emptied the magazine into Kasey’s vehicle.

  Gunfire punctured the evening air as the rounds slammed into the vehicle.

  As the gun ran dry, Kendra flashed a smile. “It's bulletproof.”

  “Good choice; can we still move?” Kasey asked as she shook the driver.

  There was no response. The man seemed to be unconscious and was being forced back into his seat by the airbag.

  “We need to get out of here,” Kasey said. “Bulletproof or not, they will find their way in eventually.”

  “They?” Kendra asked.

  “Bounty hunters, probably. I doubt he's alone.”

  Kendra reached into a pouch set in the back of the seat in front of her, pulled out a walkie-talkie, and pressed the transmit button. “Escort Two, are you still there?”

  “Still here,” a deep voice replied. “We saw the truck and pulled up short. We're dealing with the situation now.”

  The driver of the truck was loading a second magazine into his weapon when a single shot rang out. Kasey was looking straight at the gunman and wished that she hadn't been. The gunman dropped as a round from an unseen rifle tore through him.

  Kasey ripped off her seatbelt so that she could get a better look around. The street was choked with vehicles, several of which had their doors open. Their occupants had thought better of staying put once the shooting started. Behind Kasey’s vehicle, four of Kendra's bodyguards made their way toward them. Their weapons were raised as they issued instructions for bystanders to stay in their cars.

  The bodyguards reached the SUV and went straight for Kendra, pulling open her door, and half lifted, half dragged her out of the car and onto her feet.

  “Let's get you to the other vehicle,” one bodyguard said as he placed an arm around her for support.

  Kendra nodded, and Kasey slid across the seat and jumped out the open door after them. Clearly the guards were far more concerned about Kendra's well-being than hers, but given what they had likely heard about Kasey, it was understandable. Besides, she didn't sign their paychecks.

  Kasey drew on her powers as she searched the street for threats. With this many vehicles, they could be anywhere. Of course, it was possible that the driver of the truck had been acting alone, but it seemed unlikely given he knew exactly where the convoy would be.

  The real question was, how had he known that? And was anyone else aware of it? Had the gnomes sold them out after they had left?

  It seemed unlikely given what Kasey knew of the Fae. Sanders had been adamant that the creatures would always obey the letter of their deals though at times they might shirk the spirit of it. Kendra hadn't really left them with much of a loophole and Smith & Wesson seemed eager to lay low following their latest windfall. Selling the convoy out seemed like an unnecessary risk for them to take.

  So how had they been found? Had someone tailed Kendra to the meet? No one should have even known that she was there.

  Four bodyguards wove through the vehicles, one of them watching each point of the compass for potential threats. The second SUV was only about thirty feet away when one of them shouted, “There, on the truck. Get down!”

  Kasey spun to face the threat and found a second hitman standing on top of the garbage truck for better visibility. He was short, stout, and had a thick rust red beard that hid the bottom part of his face. In his hands he was carrying some kind of a launcher. It looked like a revolver with six chambers but far bigger, and had a shoulder mounted stock.

  He must have seen the six of them making a break for it because he raised the weapon and fired.

  There was a thump as the launcher sent its payload sailing down into the cars beneath him. The grenade punched through the windshield of an abandoned taxi about twenty feet away and the vehicle exploded. Glass blasted outward with the shockwave.

  Holding out her palm, Kasey hurled a sphere of emerald arcane energy back at the hitman.

  He leapt down off the truck onto the SUV that Kasey and Kendra had just evacuated, firing as he went.

  Thump, thump, thump.

  The rounds went high, and Kasey let out a whoop of triumph as they sailed overhead.

  The bodyguard beside Kasey put him down for the count with a three-round burst to his chest. One of the grenades skittered under their SUV and detonated. Flames blossomed from the vehicle as its windows blew out, taking with it Kasey's hope for a swift escape.

  Kendra stared at the flaming wreckage.

  Kasey grabbed her shoulder. “We need to keep moving. There will be more of them.”

  “How do you know?” Kendra asked.

  “He was aiming for the car, which means he was expecting us to shield ourselves and he knew he couldn't get the job done alone. They took out our transport so that we would be easier game for the rest of his team.”

  “I agree,” the nearest bodyguard added. It was the same deep voice from the radio, and in person it belonged to a man in his forties with a salt-and-pepper mustache and goatee. He was dressed in the same suit as his fellow bodyguards but the way he carried himself gave Kasey the impression that he was the team leader.

  It looked like they had been heading along Avenue C when the garbage truck had crushed their plans. The nearest sign read East 10th Street which put them only a few blocks from the Ninth Precinct.

  “Let's head for the Ninth,” Kasey said. “It's not far and we should be able to make it on foot. Besides, with all this congestion, we would be sitting ducks in a car.”

  “Fine by me,” Kendra replied. “We were going to head for one of my safe houses, but the precinct will be faster.”

  “This way then,” the bodyguard replied, pointing down East 10th Street.

  Kasey grabbed Kendra and steered her through the traffic. Two bodyguards took up position in front, and two behind as a rearguard.

  Together, they moved past the now abandoned garbage truck, through the intersection, and along East 10th Street. The road wa
s lined with brick buildings between three and five stories tall, and was much narrower than the avenue they had just left, but they hit the sidewalk and kept moving.

  Drivers of the nearby vehicles stared at them, expressions of shock and terror on their faces, but Kasey didn't have time to reassure them now. They were out in the open with a price on her head and no idea who was behind the most recent attempt on her life. They had made it perhaps thirty yards down the street when the bodyguard behind Kasey dropped abruptly, a burst of gunfire catching him in the chest. The first two rounds seemed to have been stopped by vest but the third hit just below his neck. He was bleeding profusely.

  Ducking in front of one of the cars that were stationary on the street, Kasey searched for the source of the shooting. Almost a dozen men were leaving the intersection behind them and advancing up East 10th Street.

  Kasey felt Kendra drawing on power and shook her shoulder. “What are you doing?”

  “Evening the score,” Kendra replied. Kasey could feel the sharp intake of power and understood Kendra's intentions. She had just lost another man to these thugs, and she was drawing enough power to level a building.

  Fortunately, Kasey had seen the innocent people hunkering in the cars they had passed. Whatever Kendra was intending, it wasn't going to be a precision strike. Innocent people would pay the price of a careless reprisal.

  “No,” Kasey said, “there are simply too many bystanders. We can't risk throwing that power around here in the street. Even if we win, innocents will die, and we will be drawn and quartered for it.”

  Kendra let out a breath and the power dispersed. “What do you suggest?”

  “We run like hell,” Kasey replied. “The street is packed with obstacles and a thousand places to ambush them. If we stay low and move quickly, it will take them time to clear it as they go. Once they lose sight of us, they'll have to start combing everywhere for us.”

  “Hide and seek it is,” Kendra replied. “Cover me, boys.”

  The bodyguards raised their weapons and started loosing disciplined bursts at the pursuers. Kendra raised both hands and began to chant.