by Ian Hall
When we hit our next voting station, the air simply buzzed. And I mean buzzed.
Red and blue lights were everywhere, and police stood, their hands on their holsters. I counted six cars before we decided to make ourselves scarce. The last thing we wanted to be was conspicuous. I mean, our ambulances had been at every voting station so far.
“So why the commotion?” I asked, for once rising from my pit of despair.
Terry waved his cell phone at me. “We’re on radio silence right now.”
“How’s Lyman and Finch?”
Valérie shook her head. “No news yet.”
“Should we phone?”
“Best not to.”
“Why not?” I felt animated for the first time in days. “If they’re out on a kill, their phones will be switched off, or in the van.”
I just flipped mine out and dialed. As I stuck it next to my ear, I could see Valérie’s anger in my move, tempered with her need for information.
“Hideo here.”
“Hi, Hideo, it’s Mandy. Everything okay on your end?” The pause proved far too long to be ignored. “Truth, Hideo. Now.”
“We’ve lost Finch, and Lyman’s out on his own.”
“What?” my face transferred the bad news to the rest of our van. “Was the shooting at you?”
“Shots were fired, Mandy. Bedrock Elementary.” Pause. “Lyman seemed certain that Finch has been hit.”
His words were tortuously slow.
“So where’s Lyman now?”
Again the long pause.
“He is out on his own at the scene.” Pause. “We had to drive, our position was compromised.” Pause. “It was Lyman’s decision.”
Of course it had been Lyma-Bean’s decision, corporate jerk. “Hideo? Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“No, Miss Mandy, I am being truthful.” Pause. “But there was one thing.”
I could tell he had shielded the phone, concealing the next part from the rest of the occupants.
“Lyman told me that he had lost contact with Finch.” Pause. “But he was still invisible. How could that be?”
“Oh crap. Who else knows?”
“No one, Mandy. We have been on radio silence.”
“Keep it that way, Hideo. Please. It could save Lyman’s life.”
“Very well.”
I hung up, and relayed the findings to our crew. “We have to try and rescue them.” I motioned Terry to drive. “Bedrock Elementary, just get us close, we’ll do the rest.”
“But the mission?” Valérie protested.
“Valérie, you’ve seen it out there. There’ll be cops at every voting booth from now till closing time and beyond. The mission’s over for the day, trust me.”
She considered it for a moment, then nodded to Terry, who set off at once, his destination already on the sheet at the dashboard.
“Invisible?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. If they’re both invisible, they’ll need something concrete to latch onto, even if just for advice, support.”
When we’d walked the last couple of blocks, the police already had the whole area cordoned off, and Valérie went off invisible anyway. I worked my way to the front of the barriers, and got a good place to stand, good view of the proceedings, and therefore, Lyman would have a good view of me.
If he was still there.
The Invisible Man (Redux)
I tried to cover the whole of the area on my hands and knees, but it proved hard-going. I had to be continually on the lookout for people crossing the street, and very soon, there were more police and EMTs than I could deal with.
I got buffeted a couple of times, but the folks were so worked up, nothing came of it.
“The shots came from that direction.” A large S.W.A.T. officer walked close, pointing at the ground. “Look at the patterns of fire on the concrete.”
“Hey, Bill. How many casualties?” a police sergeant asked, obviously just having arrived.
“We got four dead, seven injured.”
I decided I needed a look at the injured just in case Finch had turned visible again, but of course, after risking everything to get glimpses of the victims, she didn’t prove to be one of them.
I got back to our original position, and figured out what I would have done if I’d been injured. I began to search the corners of walls and fences; anywhere she could have crawled to safety. But of course, with the commotion outside the school, that took ages. I seemed to be constantly moving out of people’s way in my desperation not to be caught.
The first time I thought I’d heard my name spoken, I considered it a figment of my own imagination. The second time, I tried quickly to zero in on the source.
“Lyman?”
“Yes, over here,” I answered, turning my head in the direction of the school.
“Lyman?” Valérie’s voice.
Somehow our hands found each other before we bumped headlong.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “You okay?”
“I’m fine, although invisible, obviously. Finch however, has probably been hit. She must be somewhere. I’ve checked all the obvious places.”
“So she’s either crawled away or been taken.”
Shit. I’d never even considered the possibility of capture.
“Where haven’t you checked?”
“School walls, behind the school fence,” I answered. “I was doing all the places out here on the street first.”
She patted me on the back. “You did good. Look, I’ll take the left side of the door, you take the right. We’ll search together, but first check in with Mandy, she’s worried.”
“Where is she?” I turned to look around, but not sure why I did it, I kinda expected her to be invisible, too.
“Over behind the barriers, beside the big black cop.”
I scanned the periphery of the crowd, and of course, there she stood. “Okay, I’ll have a word with her, then check the right side of the school fence.”
“When you’re done, regardless if we find Finch or not, we rendezvous at Mandy, got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I crossed to Mandy, and decided to try the invisible kiss thing, but of course, as soon as I touched her face, she jerked back in fright. So much for my childhood invisible fantasies.
“Lyman,” she said. The guy beside her in the line gave her the weirdest look. Mandy, to her credit, just took out her cellphone and held it to her ear. “Hey Lyman, you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I whispered in her ear. “But Finch is down. We think she’s either hurt or she’s been taken.”
“How’d it happen?” she spoke animatedly into the handset.
“Machine guns, two maybe three, opened up on us when we hit the target.” I held her by the shoulders. “Look, I have to help Valérie search. You stay here, we’ll meet back here at you.”
“Okay. I’ll sit tight.”
Back at the inside of the school fence, it only took a couple of minutes before I bumped into something that simply wasn’t there. I fumbled along the shape, and felt her hair, her tits, her weapons belt. Then I felt her tits again, just for good measure. I leant down and put my ear on her chest, just to see if she was breathing of course. The fact that I’d brushed her chest a couple of times with my cheek and mouth had nothing to do with anything.
I had found Finch, all right, but she wasn’t breathing. Not that I could tell.
Somehow I got her body onto my shoulder, and walked past the milling policemen to the left of the school gates.
“Valérie?” there seemed to be enough activity that my words would be attributed elsewhere.
“Yes?” Her voice sounded faint, further along the fence. I walked ten yards, Finch’s knives digging into my shoulder.
“Valérie?”
“Yes?” Much closer. Five feet, tops.
“I’ve got her.”
“Where is she?”
“Over my shoulder. She’s not breathin
g.”
I felt her come closer, then felt Finch’s body being touched. “Let’s get out of here.”
Her fingers closed on mine, and together we walked across the street to Mandy.
Valérie pulled the ‘police line’ tape up, and Mandy jumped back. I saw Mandy turn, almost like a puppet. Despite the situation, the whole thing felt really funny.
“Out of the way!” Valérie shouted.
“I’m going to be sick. I’m going to be sick!” Mandy waved her arms, trying to break through.
Well, of course, with a threat of vomit, the watchers parted like the Red Sea. With Finch now a ton weight on my shoulder, I followed close behind.
Finch looked in a bad way. Bullets had hit her in the neck and gut, and she’d taken a ricochet to the lower face, fragments had ripped her mouth and jaw.
Just plain yucky.
Of course, being a vampire, all we had to do was wait. She’d repair herself. But that didn’t make it any less horrible to look at.
Terry found a nice, safe, unassuming parking lot to stop the ambulance and we checked her over, went through the Căluşari belt. Everything seemed to be there except her dart gun.
“We have to find it,” Valérie stated. “It would be irresponsible to allow an invisible gun to fall into the wrong hands.”
“How?” Lyman asked. “It took us ages to find a body. How do we find an invisible gun?”
“Hands and knees,” Valérie said quite matter-of-factly. “We start at the scene where she got shot, and work to the school fence where you found her.”
It took us an hour and a half, just Valérie and me this time. We reckoned Lyman had enough invisibleness to contend with, and left him with Finch in the van. But, we found it. Two invisible vampires crawling around a high visibility crime scene had found an invisible gun. Who’d have thought it?
With the mission in tatters, we drove back to Gregor and the safety of the Unicorps building.
I drank a pint of cold, lifeless blood and crashed on a bed. I felt exhausted, crappy, and drained, physically and mentally. Lyman hovered around for a bit, but I gave out a ‘don’t disturb me’ vibe, and he soon got the idea of how I felt. Well not quite, but enough to keep him off my tits for a while. Literally.
Next morning, we all kinda met in the canteen. Lyman sat over a plate, snarking on the biggest fry-up I’d ever seen, and looked super happy to see me. His puppy eyes never left mine, and I had to physically turn away to stop myself falling back into his arms.
Finch, of course, joined us, none the worse for her recent misfortune.
But for once, no debriefing.
No. We were going on another mission.
Seems that while we had been getting rid of the last two Blanche vampires, the Unicorps supreme command had screwed up the capture of Anastase Cusack. The vampire chick had flown the coop, literally.
We all got into a small truck and headed for where? The Grand Canyon, of course.
What? Yeah, I know, tell me about it.
Outwardly, I relaxed back in the seat, but inwardly I seethed in anger against these corporate fancy-pants who thought that we could just be ordered around like this.
Granted, this one seemed a walk in the park compared to the election debacle, but I still kept my deadline on Friday for getting the fuck out of here.
We watched a real-time picture of her actually at one of the Grand Canyon viewing areas; seems she really had gone there to relax, get away from it. Little did she know, with Gregor just down the road, she’d walked into Helsing Central.
With us in constant radio contact with the guys watching Anastase, we drove up the plateau, heading for Grand Canyon Village. It only took us ninety minutes to get there, and we got regular updates on her changing position and probable retinue. Only three men with her, probably all vamps, probably not even remotely ready for the arrival of the Ninja Sisters with Robin and Tonto.
As we neared the canyon itself, I’d forgotten how nice the scenery actually looked. The roads were narrow, and the stupid changing speed limits would have pissed me off if I’d been driving, but when we stopped outside one of the big chalet cafés, they couldn’t have picked a nicer, more public spot to be. And let’s face it; that probably had been the point in the first place.
We got a photo feed from inside the restaurant. Four vamps around a table; middle of the restaurant.
We would hit them in teams, but couldn’t really deal with four at one time, so the plan was to try and catch them when they’d split, up or at worst, dart the whole lot as they got to their vehicle.
“In other words,” Valérie said as she clicked me invisible, “if the finesse doesn’t work, we’ll use the large hammer.”
Once inside, there looked to be enough room to keep four invisible ninjas safe, so we chose a meeting point (next to the pile of wooden baby chairs, near the restrooms) and milled around. If any of them winked out, Valérie and I would immediately track to the front door, Finch and Lyman to the side door.
It felt good to be in such a small, milquetoast mission instead of trying to rid the world of vamps in one fell swoop.
I whisked close by the table. Yup. Four vampires sipping coffee and Diet Coke, munching on scones and pastries.
“And your dad will be okay with the whole thing?” one said as I neared.
“Yeah, he’s pretty mellow,” Anastase replied.
On my next pass, I began to be confused as to her rationality. I felt no radiation of fear, or even a care of what situation she seemed to be in. She sounded flippant, arrogant, and slightly bitchy; Anastase Cusack seemed to be just a spoiled brat of a daughter, who just happened to also be a vampire.
Then, of course, it happened. She rose to go to the restroom, and the biggest vamp, the one by her side, rose with her.
I followed Anastase, hopefully a few feet behind Valérie.
“So when can we get rid of Cheech and Chong?” Anastase said over her shoulder.
The hunk swung her to the wall gracefully. “Just as soon as the election crap is over. Votes are in, we did it. You know. We’ll get your dad into Washington, slip into a couple of internships, and have a ball on the Washington dime.”
She grinned, kissed him fleetingly, and slipped under his arm into the restroom. I watched the door open again once she’d gone inside, and I followed what I hoped had been Valérie.
Pumpkin stood at the mirror, fluffing her hair, and looking into her own deep brown eyes. I drew my dart gun.
The fish had never looked so easy.
Suddenly she stiffened. “What?” she snapped, reacting to Valérie’s grip, as I darted her neck. Then she winked out. Invisible victim, held upright by two invisible vampires.
“Operation is a success,” Valérie said right in front of my face. “I’ve got her. Find Lyman, dart the other two, and wait by their table.”
I followed the opening door, then crossed to the waiting pair, but by their lonesome, somewhat unfocussed expressions, Lyman had obviously darted them already. I sat in Anastase’s chair, only to find Lyman’s lap already ensconced there.
“Hey, gorgeous, want something?” he said cheekily. His hands felt for my tits, and for some silly comedic reason I let him. I sat, being goosed in full view of a whole restaurant. What a hoot.
With our guy on Finch’s shoulder and on his way to the truck, I put a dart in both of the hired helps and sat down. Moments later, Mandy’s ass plonked right in my lap. Bammo.
I couldn’t help myself. “Hey gorgeous, want something?”
My hands instinctively went for her chest, and as I ran my fingers over her T-shirt, I felt myself rising below. Boy did she have an effect on me.
But as of yet, she hadn’t raised a finger to stop me.
If we’d been visible, I’d have had to look around her to see the rest of the people, but of course, I looked through her. It felt really weird. But also really, really sexy.
I fumbled with the bottom of the shirt, and got both hands under her slip. Her
nipples had gotten hard as iron, and as I pulled on them, she moaned above me. I couldn’t quite reach her neck to bite, but I sure did some fancy work on those hard nubs of hers. Pretty soon she squirmed on my lap, delivering all kinds of delicious encouragements to the man in my pants.
Suddenly she got up, and I grabbed for her in vain. Panting in annoyance, I soon shut up as Mandy’s fingers tore at the waistband of my jeans. But of course, sitting down was never going to help the situation. I pushed the chair back slightly and stood up. Her hands followed me, and soon she had my dick out for all to see. Or not.
Her mouth closed on me, and I stood in the restaurant, a busy restaurant, getting the most exciting blow job of my life. I leant down and found I could just reach her tits. I gave those mounds of flesh a good rummaging as she sucked on me.
“These guys ready to go?” Valérie’s voice knocked Mandy off me in milliseconds. I stood like a kid with his fingers caught securely in the cookie jar.
Mandy seemed to be first to recover. “They’ve been darted.” Her voice came from eye level, she’d obviously stood up.
“Good.”
“How are you going to get them out?” Mandy asked. Her voice seemed further away, maybe walking round the table.
“Finch is going to make a diversion for us,” Valérie said from close by as I felt fingers fumble for my penis. Oh boy. “Then we’ll wink them out while no one’s looking.”
The fingers pulled gently on my cock, then a mouth settled on me, and again, I felt completely out of it. High as a kite.
“When will we know?” Mandy asked.
I froze as the mouth drew back, kissed my tip, and the fingers left me.
“We’ll know soon enough.” Valérie’s voice.
What the fuck had just happened?
I stood, even more frozen than before. Either Finch or Valérie had just had their mouth around my dick, and I stood, astonished.
In moments, across the restaurant near the counter, a waitress dropped a three or four plate order. The plates smashed against the tiled floor, the noise resounding into the wooden rafters.
Wink. Wink.
Both bad boys gone.