by Jon F. Merz
"Not true, Lawson. Not true at all. Of course, some of them will have to go, certainly. That’s only natural. We’ll have to thin the herd so to speak, make sure they don’t ever regain power. But not your beloved. You see, I have great plans for your Talya. Great plans indeed. She figures prominently into the destiny of this miserable little planet, in fact. Did you know that?"
My stomach knotted up. "How so?"
Cosgrove smiled and waved his hands. As if on cue, the steam and haze cleared. I looked up and saw Talya strapped to a large circular hunk of wood. Engraved on the surface were symbols that I assumed were Taluk. I searched Talya’s eyes for any sign of life, but she must have been in a trance still.
"You’re a real bastard, Cosgrove."
"Names won’t get you anywhere but dead."
"Let her go."
He grinned. "Ah, well, I cannot. You see, I’m about to go through rather a spot of bother invoking the Sargoth. And once invoked, it needs a host. A host body."
He didn’t mean-
"And your Talya will be perfect."
Chapter Thirty
There wasn’t really much left to say.
After all, Cosgrove had told me explicitly what he planned to do with Talya. That left me with the fact that Zero and I were fast becoming an expendable quantity.
And so, even as Cosgrove’s words registered, I was already moving, already aware that Zero had initiated as well. There was that old bond between us, that old spirit that had kept us alive for so long.
I feinted left while Zero moved immediately on McKinley. It seemed like we were moving in slow motion even though in reality, we’d be moving as fast as our surging adrenaline allowed us.
Cosgrove seemed unfazed at first as Zero deflected McKinley’s gun hand and went immediately into his disarm and take down. I moved closer to Cosgrove who stood ten feet from me.
He regarded me in the instant of a blink and then almost imperceptibly shrugged. It was as if our bid for freedom had merely accelerated his schedule. That disturbed me.
But he’d closed the distance down between us too fast for that concern to accumulate any dust. His hands shot out in front of him as he went for double strikes to my rib cage, possibly seeking to use the ribs to impale my heart. It wouldn’t kill me, but it would put me down for the count. And long enough for him to find a piece of wood to kill me with properly.
I sidestepped letting the energy go past and then punched the back of his arm hard behind the elbow, hearing a large snap. I’d fractured his bone, but Cosgrove simply ignored the pain and wheeled, jamming his leg into my solar plexus. I grunted, wind rushing out of me and crashed into the ground.
In my periphery I could see Zero wrestling with McKinley. Damned if these old guys didn’t get stronger with age.
I rolled and came up just as Cosgrove zoomed in again, launching another attack with his feet. I recognized the kicking style as belonging to Savate, a French art that combined boxing and kicking techniques. By the way Cosgrove moved, he was quite good. And since I hadn’t seen this before, it surprised me.
I circled to the inside dropping and rolling with my shoulder into the knee of his supporting leg. He crashed down as I went over and brought my foot down onto his jaw hard as I rolled over.
He grunted and then tried catching my ankle in a lock. I twisted, broke his hold and rolled free again, searching for purchase on the hard cement floor and finding it, got back to my feet.
Cosgrove’s face was bloody. He smiled through it. "This is a first, Lawson, you’ve actually drawn blood on me."
I said nothing, just kept circling. Zero and McKinley were grunting on the floor twenty feet away. From the looks of it, Zero was gaining the upper hand.
I feinted to the left and then went right as Cosgrove reacted to the feint. I got in behind him, entered and drove an elbow hard into his back by his spine. Cosgrove arched his back forward and grunted again, cursing me in the old language. That was a good sign. I’d hurt him bad.
He wheeled away and threw a back kick that caught me square in the chest, stopping my advance. My wind came in short spurts. It felt like an anvil was crushing my lungs. I heaved fire.
Retched.
Cosgrove closed again and flailed at my face with his fingernails, trying to gouge my eyes. I locked my arms over his, pulled them down fast. That brought Cosgrove’s face in and I used my head to smash his face again. Another sickening crunch told me his nose would need a lot of work. I tasted copper and knew Cosgrove was losing a lot of blood. I shot my arms into his neck, trying to crush his larynx, but the blood made them slip off as Cosgrove sank down and punched at my groin.
I caught sight of it just in time to bring my knee up to ward it off, then dropped my elbows straight down on his head. His grunted again and vomited blood.
That’s when the gun went off.
In the close confines of the plant, it echoed and made me wince from the explosive report. I wheeled around and saw Zero straddling McKinley’s chest, the gun leveled point-blank at McKinley’s heart, the barrel still smoking from the single gunshot.
McKinley was dead.
Zero looked at me.
I turned around.
Cosgrove was gone.
"Jesus."
Zero climbed off of McKinley’s inert form and motioned to Talya. "Get her down."
I found the rope and lowered the makeshift altar to the floor. "Where do you think he’s gone?"
"Only place he can go, further into the plant."
"Shit." I looked at Talya. "What’s wrong with her?"
Zero frowned as we undid Talya’s restraints. "Judging by the look in her eyes, Cosgrove has pumped her full of drugs or used more hypnosis."
"Great."
"Sounded like you hurt him pretty bad back there."
"I think so, yeah."
Zero nodded. "He’s here somewhere. He can’t have gotten far."
I pointed at the ground. "We can follow the blood."
"How bad do you think you hurt him?"
"Don’t know. I’d guess fairly well. He’s losing a lot of juice."
"In that case we don’t have much time."
"What do you mean?"
"He knows we’ll free Talya. That means if he wants to invoke the Sargoth still he’s got to find another host body."
"He doesn’t have time to find another host now. It’s too late."
Zero shook his head. "Not so. Cosgrove’s crazy enough to do the last thing we’d ever expect: he’ll use himself as the host."
"We’d better find him then-"
Zero stopped me. "No way, get Talya out of here. We can’t risk taking her along unless she can fight for herself. I’ll handle him."
I shook my head. "Cosgrove’s my fight, Zero."
"If you don’t get Talya out of here, Cosgrove might find a way to get her again. Take her back to the hotel. I’ll find Cosgrove and meet up with you later."
"But-"
"But nothing. According to my research, if we don’t get Cosgrove now, he’ll become even more powerful than before. We can’t afford to have him unleash the Sargoth. Besides, you said it yourself you hurt him bad. I’ll finish it." He smiled. "You remember when I told you about my affair?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I neglected to mention one important thing."
"What’s that?"
"I’ve always wished I chased Wajiah and tried to make it work." He shrugged. "But I didn’t. I chose my path." He looked at me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You understand what I’m saying, Lawson?"
My throat ached, but I managed to nod. "Yeah."
"Then go. I’ll catch up with you later." He turned and hurried down the hallway, vanishing quickly into the deep shadows of beyond.
I watched him go. "Be careful, my friend."
But he was already too busy stealing down the hallway to respond.
Chapter Thirty-One
The ride back to the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square seemed to take forever, but
I got us there within twenty minutes and managed to get Talya to her room unnoticed by the majority of the hotel’s guests.
She still looked drugged and I knew Cosgrove must have worked some powerful hypnotism on her. Our magnetism gives us incredible command over human psyches, even over hardened spirits like Talya.
I got some water from the bathroom sink and put it beside her bed then laid her back against the plush pale blue pillows. Her breathing remained deep, her eyes partially closed, fluttering vaguely in the dim light of the room. Every few seconds her breasts would rise on the gentle intake of another breath.
She looked gorgeous.
I leaned over her and inhaled the scent of her perfume, feeling it tickle the heightened olfactory senses I’d been blessed with. Then I began a slow cycle of timing my inhalations and exhalations to hers, first pacing her breathing and the eventually leading it back to the degree of normalcy I needed in order to bring her out of Cosgrove’s spell.
After thirty minutes, she began stirring a bit more.
After forty minutes she opened her eyes and asked for a drink.
I gave her the water and refilled the glass three times before she paused and shook the remaining vestiges off with a deep sigh.
"What the hell happened?"
I gave her the short version, stopping just prior to Zero’s aid. The less she knew, the better.
She frowned. "Hypnotized?"
I nodded. "Another one of the abilities vampires have. Surely you remember the old movies where the Count can manipulate his victims?"
She broke into a half smile. "Yes. I do."
"Well, that one happens to be true."
She ran a hand through her hair. "Nice to know." She stopped and looked at me half squinting. "How did you break it?"
I said nothing, then cleared my throat. "I saw some self-help guru a few weeks back on the tube. Either that or you must have just come out of it is all."
She shook her head. "And you knew I’d be thirsty when I came down."
"Seemed logical you might be thirsty."
She frowned, pointing. "What is that?"
I looked down and saw the collar of my shirt had come undone, exposing my mark. A small patch of skin darker than the surrounding area.
"Just a birthmark," I said, closing it with one hand.
"Would that be the same kind of birthmark that Cosgrove has?"
I tried to smile, but it was coming undone. I knew it. Talya knew it.
She kept the heat on. "You know, Lawson, we had a saying in the KGB: if it looks like a fox, talks like a fox, and walks like a fox, then it must be a fox."
"I didn’t know that was peculiar to the KGB only."
"Everyone else borrowed it from us."
She leaned closer to me.
I cleared my throat. "So, what’s your point?"
She kissed me then, with her lips pressed fully into mine, enabling a perfect seal with our mouths. I tasted her tongue as it wrestled with mine, not seeking domination but only equal footing. Our juices swirled, rising in tidal fluctuations, urged on by an increasing insistence fueled by primal instinct.
Talya broke only long enough to say, "I don’t care what you are, Lawson. I only know that I want you with every ounce of my soul."
And that was it.
A better Fixer might have been able to resist her. But I succumbed blissfully to the intimate desires swelling within me and we tore into each other, shedding clothes in a frenetic lust. I slid down between the juncture of her legs, allowing my mouth the engulf her mound entirely while my tongue probed, pushed, and lapped at her moistness, suckling her to her first raging orgasm. Her hips ground into my face while she rode my face, bucking in time to my tongue’s eager quest. She came twice more before yanking me up, seeking my engorgement and thrusting herself upward meeting my initial entrance.
She cried out, leaning back, uttering guttural grunts in her native tongue as she arched her back giving me more depth to fill before bringing her body closer to mine, pressing her nipples into my chest, writhing in time to my upward assaults.
Sweat tumbled off our bodies like raging rivers after a winter thaw, filling muscular crevices and valleys, winding, slip-sliding all the way south to meet a surging ocean of our juices.
I felt her body tensing again, heard her breathing growing shallow and knew she’d be coming again. Her groin was hot liquid fire that engulfed every inch of me, pleading for ultimate release.
Her muscles contracted and I felt like the trapped prey of a boa constrictor. She cried out, moaning, grunting, begging just as my own heat began rising, then suddenly erupting into her – trip – falling – plunging over the edge of this very steep cliff, looking down and embracing absolute all-encompassing ecstatic
- death.
***
My heart ticked over with a jolt at the sound of the telephone by the bedside table. I pulled myself free of Talya’s entangled body and reached for it.
"Yeah?"
"You sound sleepy. I trust I’m not disturbing anything naughty?"
If I’d been asleep when I reached for the phone, the voice on the other end brought me fully awake. "You never did have the common decency to die."
"Tsk, tsk, what kind of greeting is that for old friends like us?"
"We’re not old friends, Cosgrove. I want you dead."
"Seems to be a prevailing sentiment lately. Although, unfortunately I have been disappointing people in that regard."
"Well, you can add me to your list. I’m disappointed as hell you’re not dead yet."
"Yes, I gathered as much."
"And since it seems you’re not calling me from beyond the grave-"
"Not yet, despite attempts to the contrary."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means, for one thing, Lawson, that your old friend Zero did not succeed in tracking me down and killing me."
Shit. "Where is he?"
"I really don’t know." There was a pause. "Well, actually that’s not quite true. I do know where his body is. As for his mind and soul, I can’t really say."
"What did you do to him, scumbag?"
"It’s not me, Lawson, goodness. After all, he did insist on trying to stop me and I had little choice but to use him the best way I knew how: as the Sargoth’s host body." He chuckled. "I must say it’s a tad better than the feminine form of your beloved. The Sargoth appreciated the degree of fitness Zero impressed on himself."
I didn’t want to speak, but I forced the words from my mouth. "What…do you want?"
"Want? I believe you know exactly what I want, Lawson. I want the Council abolished. I want all the Fixers dead. I want to rule the vampires. I want the world to be mine. And it will be too, now that I have successfully risen the Sargoth."
Anger loosened my tongue. "So, basically what any other psychotic megalomaniac wants. How touching."
"Yes. Isn’t it?" He paused. "There is just one trifling matter to be resolved before my dreams become a reality, however."
"Me."
"Naturally, I don’t imagine you’d still be interested in a job offer?"
"You know better than to ask that."
"Naturally. Of course you don’t. You are a Fixer, after all. What is it they say about you all? Born to the cause? No real idea why you are what you are, but you are it nonetheless. Pitiful existence, really. I mean, the rest of us enjoy a certain degree of autonomy over ourselves, some of us more than others of course, but you and the rest of your antiquated brethren, well, I’d imagine it’s a bit of a mind fuck and all, wouldn’t you agree? You’re a Fixer. Just because. How utterly inglorious."
"It’s not about glory."
"Of course it’s not. How silly of me to imply so. No, yours is the noblest of callings. Protectors of the masses. Beholders of the traditions. Saviors of the souls. A truly divine calling." He chuckled into the phone.
"Get on with it, Cosgrove."
"Very well. If you won’t join me, you leave me no a
lternative. You’ll have to be killed. The Sargoth will kill you."
"What’s the matter, can’t do it yourself?"
"Of course, I could, Lawson. You’ve never given me much of a challenge. But the Sargoth needs to get used to his new body. And a little combat is just the ticket for success, I think."
"Glad I can help."
"I give you the option to choose the place and time. I know very well enough that you won’t stop trying to kill me, and unfortunately you’re just troubling enough that I need you disposed of prior to wreaking my personal destiny upon this planet. Therefore, I propose we meet and settle our affairs once and for all."
As much as I didn’t want to play into his hand, there wasn’t much I could do. I had no one to call upon save for Talya. I had no one I could trust. The Council would take too long to act. If I was going to finish this, it would be up to me, and me alone.
I gripped the phone. "Midnight."
"You cushy old romantic. Where?"
"Top of the old Sears Building in the Fenway."
"Weren’t we just there the other night?"
"Yes."
"I like your sense of attempted irony, Lawson. In fact, I might just choose that as my fondest memory of you. You know, after you’re dead and all. I’ll see you at midnight."
The phone went dead before I could utter any tough-sounding one-liners. In truth, I didn’t think I had any left to give.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I left Talya asleep at the hotel and drove home to Jamaica Plain to prepare for my meeting with Cosgrove. In truth, there was nothing I would have preferred better than to have Talya with me, but she didn’t need to be a part of this any longer. Cosgrove was my fight, not hers. I’d told that to Zero but hadn’t backed it up by being there instead of him. Now in all likelihood he was probably dead.
Talya would disagree with my sentiment. But the truth was he hadn’t only killed Simbik. He’d betrayed the cause and the Council, resurrected some unholy evil, and destroyed one of my oldest friends.
Plus, he still owed a back balance and a helluva lot of interest for killing Robin so many years ago.