by I D Johnson
“You got him,” Vicky was saying to Aaron. “He’s gone—at last. It’s hard to believe it’s all finally over.”
“We got him,” Aaron corrected, looking at each of them, acknowledging it was a team effort. “Now what?” Aaron asked of Ward.
The leader shrugged. “Now, Jamie can head back to Boston, and you and me and Frank head back to London to see what they throw at us next.”
A look of confusion crossed over the Guardian’s face as Aaron asked, “What about Vicky?”
Realizing whatever was going on between the pair was none of his business, Jamie averted his eyes and was glad when Vicky pulled Aaron off to the side. He had no idea what, if anything, there was between them, but it seemed evident Vicky wasn’t going back to London, and Jamie had a feeling that would be a problem for Aaron. While Jamie couldn’t help but feel sorry for the other fellow, his mind flickered to his beautiful Kit who was back in Washington waiting for him, and as soon as he checked in with Uncle Culpepper in Boston, he’d be back to see her. It couldn’t come soon enough.
Below him, scattered throughout the East River, the remains of Jack the Ripper sank to the bottom of the murky water to mix with the other refuse and decay.
Chapter 21
Washington, DC, USA, 1892
Kit’s grandfather was a splendid gentleman by the name of Carson Kennedale, and Jamie had formed quite a friendship with him over the last few years. While he had no idea that Kit often spent the night in Jamie’s apartment, which was located just down the hall from hers in the building the team now occupied near Bannaker Circle, he did know how serious their relationship had become, and he seemed to like Jamie enough not to want to test the new bullets Jamie had been working on with his son on the doctor.
While they had yet to perfect an amalgam that allowed the integrity of the silver to stay in place while keeping the strength of steel, they were getting closer all the time. Jamie knew another team, one in Philadelphia, was working on the same thing, and he hoped someday the could all meet up to put their heads together.
Despite the fact that Carson was well over a hundred years old, it was difficult to tell, as he only appeared to be in his mid-fifties. Hunters didn’t age nearly as quickly as humans, though they changed much more rapidly than Guardians who often stopped aging altogether before they even hit middle age.
It was the aging that was Kit’s hang up, and many a discussion had been had between the pair of them as to whether or not it was wise for a Hunter and Guardian to marry when Jamie would live forever and Kit would eventually die.
Sunlight was streaming through his bedroom window, and Jamie knew it was time for them to untangle from each other and get on with the business of the day, but Kit was sleeping. Stretching over her, he picked up his pocket watch off of the dresser and noted it was almost noon. They had stayed out late the night before scrounging for information about a particular bloodsucker they were interested in ending. Carson was of the opinion he now knew where to find the man that evening, and the team would be meeting in a couple of hours to go over the plan. Later that night, they would be executing the attack.
Kit slept much more than Jamie did. Now that he had been a Guardian for several years, he no longer needed as much shuteye. Kit was a relatively new Hunter, and their type tended to need more rest anyway. So, it wasn’t surprising to him that she slumbered on almost eight hours after she’d gone to bed.
Not that they’d gone right to sleep, and once he set his watch back on the counter, he pulled his arm back and draped it over her. The blankets were wrapped up around her, exposing only her bare shoulders, and the look of repose on her face made her fair skin look pristine, her long eyelashes fluttering only occasionally. He compared her to a sleeping princess in a fairy tale and thought of kissing her awake.
He didn’t need to, though. The weight of Jamie’s gaze drew Kit out of her dreams, and she opened her eyes to find him smiling at her. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice husky.
“Looking at you,” he admitted.
Kit giggled quietly but closed her eyes again. “Why? Haven’t you anything better to do?”
“I can’t think of anything,” he admitted, leaning down and finding the soft flesh between her shoulder and neck with his lips. She squirmed a bit but then slid into him, the warmth of her body meeting his beneath the blankets.
“What time is it?” she asked, breathing into his chest.
“Time for another round?” he asked, brushing her curls back away from her face.
“Jamie….” She said his name as if it had several consonants. “I don’t think we should. We’ll be missed at the office.”
“No one has come knocking on our door.”
“Your door,” she corrected him. Her eyes were open now, and she leaned back a bit. “You don’t know that Grandfather hasn’t come looking for me. Or sent someone.”
“If he was looking for you, I’m certain he would’ve come here to see if I knew where you were.” It seemed logical, but he could tell by her expression that Kit didn’t agree.
She swallowed hard, and he could tell whatever she said next, he wasn’t going to like it. “I don’t like sneaking around behind his back.”
“You didn’t seem to mind much last night.” He hoped it came out as a tease but could tell by her expression that she was offended. “Kit….”
“James!” she sat up, pushing back against the pillows so that she was leaning against the iron headboard. “I’m serious. I know you think we can just have a little fun and everything is fine, but that’s not how my parents raised me.”
Jamie tried to keep his voice calm so that they wouldn’t have the same argument again. “Kit, you know I love you. I’d marry you right now, if you’d stop telling me no.” He didn’t sit up, only gazed up at her. “I’ve asked you a dozen times.”
Running her hands through her unruly curls, Kit scrubbed at her face. “It’s not all that simple, now is it?”
“It is to me.” As much as he didn’t want to argue with her, he also didn’t want to have the same conversation again. It happened at least once a month, maybe more often now.
“I’m going to die someday,” she reminded him, her words even. “I’m going to turn into a hideous old bag, incapable of hunting anymore, and you’re going to wish you had a young, spry wife.”
He sat up now, leaning against the wall behind him. “Kit, you’re talking about a hundred years from now. Why can’t we just be happy until then….”
“Oh, so only a hundred years from now before I’m atrocious to look at?”
“No, I was rounding….”
She shook her head and pulled the sheets around her as she pulled herself out of the bed, covering her bare skin. “We can’t keep doing this, Jamie! I’ve been telling you for almost two years!”
“All right, Kit.” He was exasperated now but tried to maintain his composure. “What would you like to do?”
Her pink, plump lips pressed together. “I don’t know,” she said quietly.
Jamie sighed and scooted over so that his legs were dangling off of the bed now, not caring that the blanket had all but fallen away. “Kit, I love you. I want to marry you. I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I don’t care if you’re young or old. You know your ring is waiting, right there, in that drawer,” he pointed to the dresser, “and as soon as you want it, it’s yours.”
Tears began to roll down her face. “I need to go,” she said quietly.
Jamie nodded and watched as she stooped down and gathered up her clothes, walking behind the screen he had set up in the corner of the room to get dressed. He knew that her lack of answer was not a refusal but only yet another attempt to stall. He couldn’t quite understand why she kept dragging him along the way she did; perhaps she was simply scared of commitment and it had nothing to do with getting old, but he would wait for her, for as long as it took.
Warwick’s Saloon sat on the corner of Pennsylvania and Thirteenth Street. It was a
long, skinny building, frequented by plenty of political bloodsuckers, and lots of the undead kind, too. Jamie had heard stories about some of the humans who had fallen into the wrong hands in the cellar of this particular place, and while he’d vowed not to be the one suckered into going below ground anymore when he could help it, he could imagine it wasn’t the most pleasant of places.
“Our mission is pretty simple tonight,” Carson had reminded them earlier at the meeting. “We go in, get Fritzy, get out. No one else sees anything, if we can help it. The last thing we need to do is stir anything up.”
“Got it,” they’d all agreed. Besides Jamie and Kit, Carson’s team consisted of two other Hunters, a dashing blond man by the name of Wes, and a youngish red-headed woman with a bulbous nose known by the nickname Big Nose Lee. The other Guardian on the team was a pretty woman who looked to be in her early-forties, though Jamie assumed she was much older, with long dark brown hair, named Teresa. Jamie really liked working with her; she was a good teacher, and he felt like he’d learned a lot about how to let the Hunters do their job while still keeping them safe just from working with her the past few years.
It could be difficult operating with more Hunters than Guardians, and Carson had been attempting to recruit more of the un-killable type for several years, but most of his recruits didn’t want to stay in Washington. With all of the politics involved, it was difficult to keep the city clean. There were plenty of Hunters and Guardians who worked directly for politicians who could afford them, not necessarily realizing exactly what sort of protection they were paying for, and while part of those funds went to the organization at large, Carson’s team was responsible for keeping the rest of the city safe. There also just happened to be plenty of associates on the security forces that protected the president.
Jamie often wondered if Carson only put up with him for his skills. Perhaps if he had any idea about the true nature of his relationship with Kit, or what Jamie assumed it still was, notwithstanding the fight that they’d had earlier, he might’ve been willing to let Jamie go. As far as Jamie was concerned, he and Kit were already man and wife. She just needed to agree to it.
They stood outside of the club in the shadows, watching the light in front of the doorway shift as people came in and out. She was wearing britches, not tight ones, but not the wide legged kind Margie had started out wearing either. Her top was more like a dress that went down almost to her knees, but Jamie still couldn’t help but stare at her shape when he thought she wasn’t looking.
“How long do you suppose it will be before we’re sent in?” she asked, clearly trying to make small talk without having to acknowledge the fact that she’d been angry at him all afternoon.
“Not sure,” he replied with a shrug. She was standing slightly in front of him, and he admired the way the dim light glinted off of her hair, making her locks appear golden brown. “Probably won’t be much longer.
Fritzy had been operating in the area for several months now, having moved this direction from Richmond, Virginia, once she was forced from her usual hunting grounds by a band who wanted to move her along more than destroy her, apparently. She was known for being quite deadly, and as Carson had said, the goal was to take her out as quickly and quietly as possible.
Luckily, their team had Teresa available to run interference, should something go awry. The first time he’d seen her stand in the front of a room and convince every single person sitting there that what they’d just seen, a Hunter rip a Vampire’s head off, was a magic show, simply an illusion, Jamie was stunned. She could use her power of persuasion better than anyone he’d ever seen. So even if something went wrong, at least no one would walk out of the tavern tonight thinking they’d seen what they would otherwise deem to be impossible.
Lee and Wes were in the establishment already, drinking in the back, pretending to be a couple. Teresa was inside, having convinced the owner to let her take a turn as the pianist for the evening, and Carson was waiting across the street, ready to signal Jamie and Kit to proceed whenever Fritzy showed herself. They would be the lead team, which meant that Kit would be responsible for taking out Fritzy while the other two Hunters covered the back. Teresa would keep them safe if necessary. Jamie would stay with Kit and provide support if necessary. She usually didn’t need it. Despite her humble beginnings, she had become quite the deadly weapon in the last few years.
Unable to control himself, Jamie reached out and placed his hand on Kit’s shoulder. She pulled away slightly, as if she might shrug him off, but she didn’t, and he took a step closer to her. He kept his eyes on Carson, not wanting to miss the signal, but the thought of touching Kit was also tempting.
“When we’re done,” he whispered into her ear, “will you come to my place?”
“You know I shouldn’t,” Kit replied, her voice even more hushed than his. “We shouldn’t….”
“How can we not, Kit? You know that I love you.”
She turned to look at him, her eyes large, and Jamie thought perhaps he saw the beginnings of tears there, but whatever she was about to say, it would have to wait. Across the street, Carson gave the signal, a flick of his white handkerchief up in the air, and it was time for them to move in.
Jamie offered his arm, and Kit took it, putting her serious face on, and they stepped out of the shadows, rounding the corner and entering the establishment. The scent of cigar smoke and stale booze hit Jamie in the face. He was used to choking it back, though he’d never been fond of either smell and preferred not to enter places of this sort when he could help it.
Teresa was playing a loud, upbeat song, though Jamie didn’t recognize it, and the tinny sound of the piano filled his ears, mingling with the voices of at least a few dozen men and half as many women as glasses clinked and chair screeched across the wooden floor. He caught Kit’s eyes, and they began to survey the room.
It wasn’t difficult to see Fritzy. She was wearing a large hat with plenty of loud feathers. In Jamie’s mind, she resembled a deranged peacock in purples, blues, and greens, but she already had a few men at her side, and Jamie wondered if any of them had come in with her. If she’d already turned a beau or two, their job would become that much harder. She was known for creating a companion or two along the way.
“Well?” Kit asked, “should we get on with it?”
“What are you planning to do?” Jamie asked quietly as they walked to the side of the room, though still near the door, in case Fritzy could sense them the way that they could feel her. “Carson said to be discreet.” Jamie looked around and saw several senators and congressmen, even a supreme court justice. No good could come of alerting them, even if Teresa could easily alter their memories.
“Befriend her,” Kit shrugged. “See if I can get her to go to the back of the saloon with me, I suppose.”
The plan seemed like something they might try, but before Kit started in that direction, Jamie noticed something. “She’s on to us, I believe,” he whispered.
“What do you mean?” Kit’s voice sounded alarmed.
“Look at the way she keeps turning her head toward Wes. It’s like she knows what he is.”
Kit watched for a moment in silence. “Then why hasn’t she fled?”
“I’m not sure.” It didn’t make a lot of sense. While some Vampires were able to feel or smell Hunters, the way that most Hunters and Guardians could feel them out, most were not. There was nothing about Wes’s appearance that should make Fritzy assume he was anything but a typical man enjoying the company of a somewhat pretty woman in Lee. But, nevertheless, the dashing blond had caught Fritzy’s attention. “What if…” Jamie began but stopped himself as Fritzy took a few steps in Wes’s direction but drew up short.
“What if what?”
Clearing his throat, Jamie said, “I have an idea. Wait here?”
Though she had an eyebrow arched, Kit nodded, and Jamie took off at an acceptable to humans rate toward the table where Wes and Lee were sitting. “Beg pardon,” he said
, as they both looked up, surprised to see him. “Would you mind coming with me for a moment?” he asked Lee.
Her forehead crinkled. “Can’t you see that I’m busy right now?” she asked.
“Yes, I can.” Jamie had his back to Fritzy. “But I believe there is another lady who wouldn’t mind getting to know your date a little better.”
Wes glanced past Jamie at Fritzy, who was standing even closer now than she had been when he’d first sauntered over. Wes gave a nod of understanding. “Go on, then, dear. I’ll see you shortly.”
Lee still didn’t seem to get whatever the men were on to, but she stood and took the arm Jamie had offered. He didn’t go right back to Kit, though. Instead, he walked further back into the rear of the club, and sure enough, he spotted another exit there. If Wes could attract Fritzy’s undivided attention, this would likely be the direction she would attempt to lure him. Kit would have the front door covered, and while Jamie hated leaving her unprotected, he caught Teresa’s eyes, and she nodded at him. She was on the same page.
By the time Jamie had Lee in the back in an inconspicuous position Fritzy was already approaching Wes. He wished he could eavesdrop on the conversation, but they were just too far out of range. Someday, he hoped someone would invent something like a portable telegraph they could all wear around.
By Wes’s face, Jamie could tell he was playing along, Fritzy didn’t even bother to sit in the chair the handsome blond offered. Rather, she squeezed his shoulder, rubbing up against him a bit, and while Jamie could see his eyebrows raise from this vantage point, he didn’t show his hesitance to the vampire. Wes was out of his seat, his hand gently stroking her arm as he leaned in and whispered something to her, and Fritzy smiled devilishly at him. They headed for the back door.
As they strolled by, Fritzy gave Lee a look that could only say, “Take that,” and giggled in a way that must’ve made Lee’s blood boil as she gritted her teeth and took a step forward.