A Brush With Death

  The man looked over the dense mass of police and asked, “Have you got a warrant?”

  “Sure do,” Bishop added. “Judge Dawes just issued it. Now, out of our way.”

  “I'm afraid I can't do that,” the bouncer replied, reaching behind his back for a weapon.

  Bishop grabbed him by the shirt front and wrenched him forward, into the mass of NYPD officers. The police wrestled him to the ground, cuffed his hands behind his back, and confiscated a pistol from its holster in the small of his back.

  “You chose poorly, friend,” Kasey said. “Stay down.”

  She stepped over him on the way to the front door.

  “What was he thinking?” Bishop asked.

  “More worried about his boss than the law,” Kasey replied. “Probably Night Crew.”

  Kasey grabbed the aluminum handle and pulled open the club's doors, its heady music spilling out onto the street. She stepped inside, Bishop and her backup right behind her.

  The interior of the club was far more upscale than Kasey had expected. On either side of the entrance, a staircase ran up to a second-floor gallery that overlooked the dance floor. Dozens of club goers occupied the gantry style gallery that formed a narrow second-story platform that ran around the club. The roof of the club had large glass skylights that allowed a view clear up into the night sky.

  At the opposite end of the room on the raised gantry was the DJ, his headphones hanging over one ear as he worked with his equipment. A bank of speakers attached to the gantry on either side blared his music through the club.

  The first floor was a long rectangular chamber with an aisle that ran between two sets of leather lounges before it crossed a small dance floor to a third leather lounge occupying the space under the DJ. A bar ran across the right-hand wall of the establishment and was staffed by a trio of women in low-cut tank tops and low waisted jeans.

  A pair of black curtains at the far end of the room concealed something, likely bathrooms, from view. There had to be more than fifty people inside the club, dancing and swaying to the music, some of whom still hadn't noticed the invasion occurring at the door.

  Kasey spotted the preacher sitting in the leather seat situated beneath the DJ and opposite the door. He was surrounded by young and attractive women who seemed to be falling all over him in outfits that probably shouldn't have left home in the dead of winter.

  The preacher looked up at Kasey and smiled, the same sinister grin he'd had during the interview in the church.

  It was a strange thing to see someone wearing a priest's collar while a bevy of young women snuggled up against him. The outfit was an illusion. Kasey knew that without even needing to cast a spell. Reaching with her senses, she could feel the power being expended to maintain the illusion. Kasey scanned the rest of the room. It was possible that the preacher wasn't sitting there at all; he could be an illusion for all she knew and there could well be other surprises concealed within the chamber.

  She wasn't taking any chances. The vampire had chosen this ground on purpose. She wanted to know why.

  She swept a hand before her and shouted, “Revelare!”

  The wave of magic rolled through the club, blasting away glamours and illusions. It swept over the patrons, the bar, and the gallery until it reached the couch on the far side of the room. The preacher's garb disappeared and he sat in a dirt-stained suit that still boasted a few holes from his earlier encounter. If the women were surprised by his change of appearance, they didn’t show it.

  Kasey raised an eyebrow as the rest of the club remained largely unaffected by her spell.

  She had expected many things. Night Crew gunmen concealed in raised positions on the gantry. Or perhaps a dozen more vampires masquerading as guests. But no, the club was what it seemed to be, a room filled with partying men and women just looking to have a good time.

  It made no sense. The vampire was outnumbered a dozen to one. Why was he smiling?

  As Kasey descended the steps, the music abruptly stopped. The DJ had finally spotted the small army of law enforcement. He set his headphones on his equipment and dashed through the black curtains behind the second-floor gantry. One of the officers moved to climb the stairs, but Kasey held up a hand.

  “We need to stay together. Let him go. He’s not the target.”

  Kasey led the strike force through the club. All eyes were on them as they moved down the center aisle toward the vampire.

  He lifted a glass of champagne to his lips and drained its contents, utterly unconcerned with the amount of firepower making its way toward him.

  “What kind of imbecile walks into two traps in one night? Honestly, how Alastair died is frankly a mystery to me. Kind of embarrassing, when you think about it.”

  Kasey stopped and looked down, worried that she'd stepped into another circle without realizing it.

  The vampire laughed. “Oh, please. I was worried when I first met the hero of New York. I figured you might have some actual talent but after that paltry display in the park, I am disappointed.”

  “You got lucky in the park,” Kasey said, “but now it's run out. I killed your prince with a helluva lot less firepower than this, so I’ll give you a choice. Tell me what you're doing in my city, and I'll put you on the next boat back to whichever bog hole you crawled out of…”

  “Or,” the vampire asked, raising a hand, “you'll do what? Bore me to death? Please. Alistair was a spoilt little brat. You're like a toddler crushing an ant and lording it over their little kingdom.”

  “Seems like Rhain was pretty upset about it,” Kasey replied, fishing for information. “He sent you out here to clean up the mess.”

  She was stalling. Every moment she bought was a moment that brought her reinforcements closer. It also gave her an opportunity to try and get something out of the vampire. She had no illusions that the creature would go quietly, but it was less than an hour till midnight and she needed to know what they were planning. If she could give the arrogant creature an opportunity to run his mouth, it might give her just the insight she needed to figure out their plans.

  “I'm always cleaning up Alistair's messes, but that is what brothers do,” the vampire replied, peering at the black crust beneath his finger nails.

  Kasey's heart skipped a beat. Brother? She didn't want to believe it, but the vampire’s black eyes settled on hers. They danced with hate and menace. He wanted revenge, and she'd walked right into his arms.

  “I was trying to take you alive. Father would have enjoyed that. But dead will serve his purposes just as well.”

  “There is no world where you walk out of here alive,” Kasey replied, “so what would you like on your headstone? Alistair's janitor? Or should we go with something simple like, daddy issues?”

  The vampire hissed. “I am Marius, Prince of the Feudal Court, and the last face you will ever see.”

  The women beside Marius raised their hands to their mouth and Kasey barely spotted the small red pill that passed their lips.

  “No,” Kasey gasped as the women swallowed them in a single gulp. Kasey looked around her to find every patron in the club following their lead. The tiny pills looked like the same venom the John Doe had taken in the video. She was completely surrounded.

  “Yes, kill them all, my children,” Marius hissed as he rose to his feet.

  “Mellt,” Kasey bellowed. Lightning arced out of her hand, slamming into the vampire and knocking him back into the leather sofa.

  The woman beside him screamed as the venom compound coursed through her system. Her body twisted and grew, muscles swelling violently as they expanded. An inky darkness traced her veins along her flesh, appearing at the top of her low-cut dress and rising through the veins in her neck. More of the trails ran down her arms, as her circulatory system spread the poison through her body.

  With one hand she reached down, grabbed the table, and flipped it straight at Kasey.

  Kasey blasted it aside with a wave of force that sent it careening toward the
bar. The club goers around her turned into hulking behemoths. She hadn't wanted any harm to come to them, but they were no longer bystanders. They had chosen their side.

  The first woman let out a shrieking cry like a banshee and charged at Kasey. Bishop's weapon roared to life, the submachine gun dropping the venom-thrall with a well-aimed burst.

  All around her, the police opened fire as the wave of demented thralls charged them. There was a bestial howl as Cal joined the fight. He'd shed his human form and led the four wolves that were with him into the swarm, descending on them from the left. His salt and pepper form sailed through the air, teeth bared as he bowled over one of the monstrosities.

  More creatures leapt from the gantry. Others charged down the stairs to block the exit.

  Henley's shotgun roared to life, blasting one of the thralls out of the air. As he pumped the weapon, a second thrall hammered into him from the side. They went down in a scrambling mass of flailing limbs.

  Behind Kasey, a scream split the air inside the club. She turned to find one of the NYPD officers tossed aside by one of the creatures, her neck broken.

  The other officers fired furiously. In the dense confines of the club, it was like shooting fish in a barrel, if the fish were super mutants trying to tear your head off your shoulders.

  Bishop's submachine gun spat disciplined bursts as she moved from one target to the next. Henley was down, the thrall atop him pounding its fists against him like Donkey Kong on crystal meth.

  With officers all around, Kasey couldn't risk the collateral damage. She raced to the thrall, placed a hand on either side of its head, and chanted “Cysgu.”

  The creature went limp as fatigue and drowsiness overtook it. Henley drew his side arm, jammed it up under the thrall's chin, and pulled the trigger. The thrall’s body toppled to the floor and Kasey tugged Henley to his feet.

  A sphere of dark energy sailed past her and hit another officer. The bulletproof vest did nothing to disperse the pulsing arcana and tore straight through the officer's chest and annihilated the thrall behind him.

  Kasey turned to face Marius.

  The vampire looked pleased with himself. Kasey’s strike force may have inflicted heavy losses in the opening moments of the ambush, but the tide of numbers was quickly turning against them.

  For his part, Cal and his pack were devastating the thralls on her left. Venom, it seemed, made the creatures inhumanly strong but did little to bolster their resilience. Cal tore through their ranks, teeth bared, claws rising and falling with grim efficiency. The thralls were brutes, but he was an apex predator.

  The NYPD contingent was down to six officers plus Bishop and their numbers were falling fast. Reinforcements couldn't be far away but right now they weren’t here.

  Kasey felt the power surge as Marius brought another pulsing orb of energy to life. It was as large as a bowling ball and hovered before him in the air.

  Remembering Sanders’ lessons, Kasey fashioned a shield at an angle in front of the strike team. Rather than trying to absorb the energy of the attack, Kasey merely wanted to deflect it.

  The orb struck her shield, running along its surface as it took the path of least resistance, annihilated a thrall, and struck the glass wall by the door. The glass pane shattered into the street, but Kasey was already readying her next assault.

  As she channeled her will, a thrall leapt from the second floor, shrieking as it hurtled toward her.

  Kasey adjusted her aim, but the fireball missed the thrall entirely. The creature tackled her to the ground. She hit the dance floor hard, knocking the wind from her lungs, and found herself battling a two-hundred-pound thrall in what was left of a skimpy black cocktail dress.

  The creature’s first blow slammed into her already bruised cheek and Kasey saw stars. She raised a palm to the berserk woman's head and tried to focus through the pain, but the thrall hit her again.

  In the background, sirens filled the night sky and Kasey took hope. Her reinforcements had arrived.

  The thrall drew back for a strike that threatened to crack her skull in half.

  Kasey raised a finger and using all the breath she could find, whispered, “llinyn ysgarlad”.

  A scarlet lance carved straight through the creature’s head and set fire to the curtains hanging along the back wall of the second floor. The dead thrall collapsed atop her, pinning her to the ground.

  Cars screeched to a halt outside and in her mind's eye, Kasey could almost see the help coming.

  Automatic weapons fire erupted outside the club, followed by bestial howls of pain.

  Marius loomed over her. “You thought I didn't know about the others? You lured them all to their death.”

  The night air was full of shouting, screaming, and more gunfire than Kasey had heard in her life as the full scope of Marius's ambush was unleashed.

  The vampire grinned in triumph as a handful of shadowy creatures darted along the gantry. They moved swiftly and silently, their beady black eyes watching the carnage on the dance floor below.

  As one, the five vampires joined the fray.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The vampires hit the floor with lithe grace before charging into the fray. The sudden onslaught caught the beleaguered strike force with their hands full. One vampire drew a slender sword and drove it straight through the brown fur of a werewolf that was wrestling with a thrall.

  The wolf howled. It was enough of a distraction for the thrall to get its meaty hands around the werewolf's throat and with a sickening crack, the thrall dispatched the werewolf.

  Cal launched himself at the pair.

  Marius closed in on Kasey, hands raised, channeling another arcane assault. Kasey used her free hand and conjured a shield but trapped as she was and fighting for air, it was a weak effort.

  Marius conjured a lance of arcane might directed straight at her face.

  Kasey's shield glowed angrily as the obsidian beam bored into its surface. Sweat ran down her face as Kasey put everything she had into maintaining the shield. Unfortunately, the vampire was fresh, having fed and recovered his strength, and she could feel the weight of his will crushing her into the floor.

  Kasey looked around for help, but found none. Cal was locked in battle with two of the vampires, while Bishop and a pair of NYPD officers had been backed up against a wall. The strike force was being whittled down one at a time and there was nothing she could do about it.

  As for her backup, with the battle raging outside, she had no idea when or if any of them would make it inside to help her.

  In a room full of monsters trying to kill her, Kasey felt truly alone. She had thought she was laying a trap for Marius but all the while he had been ready. He licked his lips in anticipation as he redoubled his efforts.

  Kasey could feel the drain as her shield weakened by the moment. If she could just get the thrall off her, she could take a full breath, gather her strength, and fight back. Marius wasn't giving her any such chance to play offense.

  A deafening crash filled the nightclub as glass rained down from the skylight.

  The shards danced off her shield as a dozen bursts of scarlet sparks marked their impact. Through the shield, Kasey watched as a black silhouette plunged through the skylight heading straight for her.

  Another vampire. Great. Just what she needed.

  The figure landed next to Cal, severing the cable they had used to drop lightly but safely to the floor. The newcomer was clad in black leather, with a mask concealing their face.

  In one smooth motion, they drew a curved katana from a sheath at their side and went to work. They took a vampire's head clean off its shoulders.

  The newcomer spun with its momentum and drove the weapon through a second vampire’s chest. The slender point of the blade must've taken the creature in the heart because it went limp and collapsed as the sword was withdrawn.

  Cal let out a defiant howl that shook the nightclub and advanced. The black clad figure held up a finger and the werewolf pa
used, gave a nod of understanding, and threw himself at another thrall.

  As Cal tore his way through their ranks, the nimble newcomer followed in his wake, katana moving in swift elegant motions that brought death at every stroke. A third vampire interposed itself between Cal and Marius. Reaching into the folds of its coat, it drew out a small silver dagger.

  Silver was anathema to lycans and could prove fatal. Cal recoiled as the vampire lunged forward. The newcomer dashed past him and took the vampire's hand off at the wrist. The second stroke took the creature's head off its shoulders.

  In spite of her plight, Kasey couldn't help but take heart. The vampires were swift, but the newcomer seemed to read them like a book and Cal's earlier find made sense. What if this newcomer was the one who had slaughtered the vampires in the harbor district?

  The newcomer scooped up the silver dagger, and with a flick of their wrist sent it flying into the back of another vampire. The creature sank to its knees, clutching at the blade before Henley finished it with his shot gun.

  The tide was turning. Thralls were dying as they spent their berserk fury on the struggling remnants of the task force. Cal's remaining werewolves hunted as a pack, taking down one at a time before darting away through the fray.

  A well-placed shot from Hitchin found the fifth vampire's face, and Bishop finished it with a burst through the creature's heart.

  As the black-clad warrior bore down on Marius, he started to retreat, abandoning his attack on Kasey and hurling a sphere of inky black arcana at the advancing warrior.

  The newcomer was too close to dodge. The attack hit them in the chest, punching the newcomer off their feet and sending them tumbling across the dance floor.

  Kasey pushed herself to her knees as Cal bounded at the vampire. Cal struck him so hard across the face that Kasey thought he had broken the prince's neck.

  Cal's claws left a series of parallel gouges across the vampire’s alabaster skin.

  The vampire shouted, “Forta!”

  The wave of force sent the werewolf tumbling back.