by Sierra Dean
“Ever the bossy little thing, aren’t you?” Juan Carlos said from his seat.
“Well, I can’t command you to do anything. So you can take your opinions and shove them right up your ass for all I care. If the city falls, I hope it falls right on your head.”
A thin smile found its way onto his lips. “Secret McQueen versus twenty-two necromancers and an army of the undead?” He snorted. “If you think I’d miss that, you’re dumber than I ever accused you of being.”
Chapter Twenty-One
I walked back into Lucas’s penthouse no worse for the wear but totally shell-shocked. The stunned expression must have been obvious because Dominick came to my side the moment I was off the elevator and held both my arms tightly as if he thought I might collapse at any moment.
“What the hell happened?”
In the two hours I’d been at the council headquarters I felt like I’d aged twenty years. How was it possible for so much to happen in so little time? It was like the opposite effect of being in the fairy realm, where time passed at a snail’s pace compared to the real world.
“I… Man your grip is strong.”
He released me but stayed close. Before I had a chance to explain what had happened, Desmond appeared at the top of the stairs. He apparently didn’t like the look on my face any better than his brother had, because soon a second Alvarez brother had his arms around me. At least Desmond was holding me rather than propping me up.
“Are you okay? When Sutherland told us you were going to be delayed…I figured they were pissed about the Peyton thing.”
“They were a lot angrier about the whole being-a-werewolf thing. But as it turns out, the very detail-oriented vampire laws managed to totally skip over a rule against being a werewolf.”
“You’re not in trouble?”
“God, things went so far beyond me being in trouble they circled right back around again.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know what I’m talking about anymore.”
He ran his fingers over my face, checking every visible inch of me with his hands and eyes. Seemingly satisfied I was uninjured, he took a step back to give me breathing room.
“Where are the others?”
“I left the vampires in the lobby, since there are quite a few more of them now.”
“How many more?”
“About fifty? Couldn’t get as many as I’d have liked, but everyone who was at the council headquarters tagged along.”
Dominick and Desmond were gawking at me like I was speaking Greek. “Sorry, did you just say you convinced the entire vampire council to help you track the necromancers?”
“The ones who were there, yeah.”
“The same vampire council you thought was going to kill you?”
“There’s only one vampire council in New York.” I sighed. “So yes. The same council.”
The brothers exchanged glances. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Dominick asked.
“Oh my God. I’m not hallucinating. Fuck off.” I swatted at the shorter, blonder Alvarez, and he countered me easily, smacking my shoulder. I punched him in the chest.
“Ooof.” He doubled over, catching the breath I’d stolen.
“That’s what you get for doubting me.”
“Why doesn’t he get hit?” Dominick wheezed.
“I’ll take care of him later.”
Desmond smirked and patted his brother on the back. “Did you really think you could outmatch her in hand-to-hand combat? She’s part vampire. Vampires are fast, dumbass.”
“It’s an unfair advantage. She’s cheating.” He righted himself, and his blue eyes were gleaming mischievously.
Goddamn it felt good to be happy, even for one fleeting second.
“Also, she’s armed now.” Dominick grabbed my hand and lifted the ring finger so my new bauble caught the low light, glinting brilliantly. “Doubly unfair.”
“Blame him.” I grinned at Desmond, enjoying the obvious approval from his brother. Dominick had long felt like a brother to me. More than my own brother Ben ever had. And now he really would be.
“I hate to interrupt.” Lucas stood at the top of the stairs, not looking at all sorry for interrupting. “But we’re in the living room making a final plan, if you don’t mind joining.”
Dominick, Lucas’s personal bodyguard, obediently bounded up the steps, but Desmond and I took our time. Time was of the essence, but I wasn’t going to say how high just because Lucas had told me to jump. I’d never been inclined to bow to his commands, and things weren’t going to change now.
The rest of the wolves were gathered around the coffee table in the big living room, the walls lit up orange from the fire outside. How long would we be safe here before the fire came to claim Rain Hotel too? What about the other places I cared about? Were MoMA and the Met still in one piece, or were their treasure troves of art now piles of rubble and ash?
What would be left of this city once we were done?
I sat next to Genie and looked at the maps and blueprints spread out before us on the low square table. Desmond stuck to my side, and the rest of the wolves all seemed in a hurry to present their plans. Each one drew a map from the pile and explained why the place they’d selected met the requirements of hiding an enclave of necromancers. All told there were about thirty-five potential locations for the necros to be hiding, not counting the bar.
Between the wolves and the vampires I’d brought to the party, we had enough bodies to send two-person teams out to each place. Since I didn’t like the safety of those numbers—we’d already lost one person and that was with a team of ten—I wanted the initial sweep to be strictly a fact-finding mission. We’d send out the first wave, find out which of the locations was being used, then regroup.
If the four necros I’d met at the bar continued to use it as their base of operations, that left seventeen more to find. Once we’d narrowed their locations down, we’d be able to send out teams of at least four, or more if we strategized carefully. I felt better about people’s survival chances with bigger groups.
“I’m going to give you guys the same speech I gave the vampires.” I sighed, preparing myself for more arguments and attitude. “No fighting, no insults. You don’t have to like each other, but you do need to work together. At least for tonight. I’m not expecting you to make lifelong friends here, or become pen pals or whatever. But I do expect you to be respectful and not to create unnecessary conflict. I’ve asked them to be on their best behavior, but I’m expecting you to set a high standard here, am I understood? You can go back to hating them however much you want tomorrow.”
A few of the wolves I didn’t know well exchanged uneasy glances, then one brave soul raised his hand.
“This isn’t elementary school, Chuck. Go ahead.”
“I don’t mean to sound rude, but I’m probably not the only one who’s curious, so, uh. Well, fuck it. Are they going to try to eat us?”
I wish Holden had been there for me to see his reaction. Or that I’d recorded Arturo’s hate speech about how werewolves were all filth and I was tainted by my lupine blood.
“No. I can assure you the last thing any of these vampires are interested in doing is feeding from you.”
“How can you be sure?” Bradley asked. Evidently this was a rather serious concern among the pack.
“You guys like steak, right?” A couple of them nodded while the others stared at me in anticipation of whatever this analogy would become. “If you had the option of a rare Kobe flank, or a can of Alpo steak-flavored dog food, which would you pick?”
When they realized how insulting this comparison was, a few of them gave me disgusted looks.
“Hey. You wanted to know. I didn’t say it was my opinion, but I guarantee you it’s theirs. So your arteries are perfectly safe.”
“Sorry I asked,” Chuck grumbled, then added, “Like my damn blood isn’t good enough for a damned bloodsucker.”
“If you’
re really offended, I’m sure I could convince one of them to make an exception.”
All complaints came to an end, though the sullen faces remained firmly in place. Fine. They could pout all they wanted as long as werewolves and vampires weren’t coming to blows in the streets.
I’d win this thing one tiny victory at a time.
“All right. You all know where you’re going?” I had my own list of coordinates to assign the vampires downstairs. Though some teams would consist of a vampire-werewolf pairing, some would be strictly vampire. We needed a vamp on each team to take advantage of their ability to sense the necros, and we had three times as many vampires as werewolves. “Any questions?”
O’Brian stuck his hand up, but Mercedes grabbed it and pulled it down, shaking her head. The poor detective sergeant probably had a million different questions, but Cedes was right to nip them in the bud. I hoped she would be able to give him a crash course in the paranormal world, but regardless of what he knew, he was about to partner up with a vampire. He’d have to learn fast.
“I don’t have werewolf blood,” I heard him mutter. “Are we the Kobe steak in this metaphor?”
“You’ll be fine,” Cedes soothed. “The vampires aren’t what you should be worried about tonight.”
“Your bedside manner leaves something to be desired, Castilla.”
“Good thing I’m not a doctor then.”
As everyone got to their feet and headed to the elevator to go down in shifts, Lucas stopped me. “We need to talk about this plan of yours.”
“The time for discussing the finer points of it is over. Was there a specific part you didn’t understand?” I caught my own tone, and my cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry. That was a lot harsher than I meant for it to be.”
“Since when do you apologize for having a bad attitude?” He smiled, keeping his words from having a sting to them. He was right. I wasn’t always the nicest person, especially when I was pushed to my limits.
I was well beyond my limits now, and we were about to leave the safety of the penthouse and take to the uncertain streets. If I was honest with myself, I didn’t think everyone who left would make it back at the end of the night. Death was a shadow looming over us all, and no one was safe from it.
“I don’t want to leave here on bad terms with you,” I said. Our conversation earlier had been a positive one, and not just because he’d agreed to divorce me. It was the first time in over a year we’d been in a room together and I hadn’t wanted to punch him in the throat. That was progress for us.
“I’ve never wanted to be on bad terms with you.”
I scoffed.
“Believe it or not, but it’s true.” He grabbed my wrist. “I think you should stay here.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I don’t think you should come.”
“You’re out of your damned mind. I’m not hiding out here while everyone else is out there risking their lives. This is my plan. Did you honestly think I’d go Hey, Lucas, great idea, why didn’t I think of that?”
“I think I like your anger better than your sarcasm.”
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of anger in my sarcasm.”
We both sighed, a response we tended to have a lot around each other.
“I’m concerned for the pack. If you, Desmond and I are all putting our lives on the line, and the worst should happen, I don’t know what will be left for my wolves, and that frightens me.”
I don’t think I could remember the last time Lucas had admitted to being scared of something. It made me soften towards him slightly. “Then we’re going to have to make sure at least one of us makes it back so this pack still has a king.”
“Or a queen.”
I grimaced. “A king.” I hoped when this was all done the pack would be short one queen, at least until Lucas found himself a new mate.
“I had to try.”
“No one can ever claim you didn’t.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Things below had gone from bad to worse while we were busy hatching plans indoors. Even the few short blocks between the hotel and council headquarters were now thick with jostling bodies. It was like stepping outside during rush hour, except these commuters were corpses.
Holden—my designated vampire—stood next to me in the lobby entrance as we surveyed the situation. The air was thick with heat, and it was doing nothing to help the stench coming off the dead. An extra day had caused advanced decay to set in, especially with those who’d been hastily prepared for burial.
The bodies themselves were looking worse too. Exposure wasn’t doing them any favors, and many of them were showing advanced signs of decomposition. Skin peeled away from their faces and arms, leaving exposed teeth and bone.
“Now they look like zombies,” I observed.
“They didn’t look like zombies before? When they were, you know, the walking dead?” Holden asked.
“You’re the walking dead. They’re like movie zombies now.”
“Firstly, I take offense to that statement. I’m too pretty to be called dead, thank you.” The cheeky wink he gave me buoyed my spirits. I guess our time with the vampire council had showed him there were bigger enemies for us to worry about than each other. For the time being, at least, we were on friendly footing.
It would make the next part of our journey a lot easier.
“What’s second?” I asked.
“They’re the same dead they were yesterday. They might have scarier faces, more like zombies or what have you, but they’re still not zombies. They’re meat puppets at best.”
I took a steadying breath and watched the tide of bodies stagger past us. None of them seemed aware or concerned about our presence. I was tempted to reach out and touch one, but I didn’t know how the necros were working them or what the connection was.
The rot had allowed more of them use of their mouths because their lips had decomposed, meaning more of them were able to use their teeth. They might not be zombies, but I still didn’t want any of them to bite me.
“Can you feel anything?”
“I’m not a bloodhound.” He rolled his eyes. “The sensation is there, it’s been there since they first showed up. It’s like white noise at this point, present but not something that bothers me too much anymore. I’ll be able to tell the difference when we get closer.”
“Did it feel different when we were in the bar?”
He gave me a tight nod. “Much. Imagine a swarm of bees inside your skull, flying and crawling and stinging you. Imagine it getting worse the closer you got to the source.”
It sounded an awful lot like a panic attack, except my bees were in my stomach more than my brain, which was definitely not a feeling I wished on anyone.
We waited for a gap in the crowd, then slipped out of the hotel. Six groups had left before us, including Desmond and Clementine and Lucas and Sig. That particular pairing set my spider sense tingling, because I didn’t like to imagine what Lucas and Sig might discuss when alone together.
I’d once split town, and Lucas had gone to Sig to get me back. The two weren’t strangers, and that Lucas had volunteered to go with the Tribunal leader made me a lot uneasy. I’d tried to suggest Lucas go with my father, but that unlucky pairing ended up falling to Dominick.
None of the wolves were saddled with Juan Carlos. I’d ensured he was partnered with another vampire since he seemed the most likely candidate for disregarding my no insults rule. He didn’t have to obey my commands, so there was a good chance he would ignore them entirely.
Holden and I wove our way through the moving bodies and were soon out of sight of the hotel. The stink in the air was a gruesome combination of fetid flesh and charred metal and plastic. Most of the buildings in our immediate vicinity remained untouched by fire, but it was only a matter of time before the flames started to close in.
I was surprised more of the landscape hadn’t been consumed during the day. The fires must have been more spread out than I
’d initially suspected, and perhaps there were some brave FDNY officers still working in the city, doing whatever they could to keep the flames at bay. We had heard sirens when we first got into town. The idea of humans struggling outside in these conditions made me queasy, but if O’Brian, Cedes and Tyler had stuck around, there had to be other civically minded folks out there trying to serve and protect even in this madness.
Holden grabbed my arm and pulled me off the street into an empty alley. I didn’t protest, but I gave him a look that clearly made known my opinion on being dragged around.
He dug out his map—a torn section of one of Lucas’s big city maps—and turned it around until it was facing the right way. “I think we need to go a block that way.” He pointed directly at the brick wall blocking the end of the alley.
“Okay, Shadowcat, you want to phase through first, or should I?”
“Shadow what?” Holden was too busy studying the square of map to pay much attention to what I was saying.
“Shadowcat. The X-Man. Kitty Pryde? She can… Oh, forget it.” Pop-culture references were lost on him anyway. I don’t know why I bothered.
“Are the X-Men the ones who have powers? Like Arachnid-boy?”
“You’re fucking with me now, right?” I raised an eyebrow at him, not entirely certain if he could have missed every comic-book character invented in the last seventy-five years. Surely he had to know who Spider-Man was.
He grinned.
Bastard.
“I’m not suggesting we walk through the building. I’m suggesting we go over.” A rusty fire-escape ladder positioned above an old garbage bin seemed to be his main focus. This might not have been my favorite idea, but it would be a lot faster than going around.
And sadly, since I still hadn’t unearthed any mutant superpowers, going through the wall was out of the question.
I scrambled up first, ignoring the rasp of rough metal against my hands. An iron sliver wouldn’t be fun, but it also wouldn’t kill me, so there was no sense in being a wuss about it. I got to the top and offered Holden a hand up off the last rung, bringing us both safely to the tar-papered roof.