Sleight of Fantasy

by Dima Zales

  The three vampire Enforcers leap forward, placing themselves between Vlad and Gaius.

  Vlad’s fist enters the chest of the first one with a nauseating crunch.

  Pulling out the man’s spine, he tosses it onto the pier.

  The Enforcer is no more.

  I guess that’s one way to kill a vampire.

  The other two attackers hesitate—which Vlad uses to his advantage by grabbing their heads and slamming them together.

  They explode like watermelons under a hydraulic press.

  That’s a second way to kill a vampire.

  “Attack him!” Gaius shouts at Lucretia and Ariel.

  The two women approach Vlad from left and right as Koschei rushes at him from the front.

  Gaius zooms around Lucretia—probably intending to stab Vlad in the back with the rapier.

  Ariel gets to Vlad first, and for a moment, he hesitates—which allows her to grab his left arm in her super-strong grip.

  Hesitation gone, Vlad punches Ariel in the chest, causing her to fly in a wide arc into the water—which is when Lucretia sinks her teeth into Vlad’s neck, ripping out a large chunk.

  Oblivious to the pain, Vlad grabs Lucretia by the shoulders, rips her away from his neck, and tosses her into the water on the other side of the pier—a distraction that costs Vlad greatly because it allows Koschei to bury his knife in Vlad’s chest.

  Vlad falters—which gives Gaius an opening to stab him in the back with the rapier.

  Vlad grabs Koschei’s wrist and rips off his knife-holding hand. He then throws both the hand and the knife over his shoulder, spearing Gaius in the eye.

  Gaius yelps in pain, but keeps his composure. Ripping the rapier out, he stabs Vlad again.

  And again.

  Vlad falls to his knees.

  Koschei looks down at him almost pityingly.

  Gaius swings the rapier in a slicing motion, chopping at the wound Lucretia left on Vlad’s neck.

  The flimsy rapier is not equal to the task, so Gaius rips the knife from his eye and uses it to finish his grizzly job of cutting off Vlad’s head.

  Koschei cringes as the head rolls away and Vlad’s headless body drops to the ground, his Cognizant aura disappearing.

  “It’s done,” Koschei says to Gaius. “Now we—”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  I’m back in Nero’s lounge chair, adrenaline pulsing through my veins so fast it’s difficult to think.

  Grabbing my phone from my pocket, I dial Vlad but get his voicemail—only instead of a beep, his service provider’s automated voice states, “The mailbox is full and cannot accept messages at this time. Goodbye.”

  He must not have checked his voicemail for a while.

  I contemplate texting him not to go to Staten Island, but stop myself. What if my text is what gives him the idea to go there?

  Instead, I type out, Do not engage Koschei. Call me immediately. It’s a matter of life and death.

  I wait a couple of seconds for a reply.

  None comes.

  Either he ditched his phone or isn’t paying attention to it.

  Or maybe he’s so overcome with grief that he doesn’t care about the danger? Sadly, this would fit the facts all too well. He saw the overwhelming odds on the dock and attacked anyway.

  Well, I won’t let him do that.

  Except I’m missing basic details—like when is the attack happening?

  It was daytime in the vision, and it’s daytime now. But which day? Do I have minutes or hours?

  My intuition tells me there isn’t a lot of time—and I’m beginning to trust my intuition.

  Leaping to my feet, I run to find Nero. He said he would be in his office. Where is that? Is it that room where I picked his safe—also known as the room we kissed in?

  Almost hyperventilating, I do my best not to trip over the expensive furniture. If I fall, it’ll delay things by a few critical moments.

  Thoughts buzz in my head like angry bees.

  This can’t be happening to me again.

  If I don’t prevent it, Vlad is going to die. And though Ariel’s fate wasn’t definitive in the vision, she might drown—same for Lucretia.

  Speaking of Ariel—why is she following Gaius’s orders?

  And why is Gaius working with Koschei?

  Vlad mentioning Gaius’s ambition was a clue. Could it be that he wants Vlad’s job? He made it sound like Rose was in the way of that with her power-boosting ability—

  I burst into Nero’s office like a human missile.

  He’s chatting with someone on Skype and doesn’t seem to notice me.

  I skid to a stop in front of him. “I need your help.”

  “I’ll call you back,” he says to the screen and looks up at me.

  I rattle out the situation in as coherent of a narrative as I can manage.

  As I talk, Nero’s frown deepens. When I get to the end, though, his face turns unreadable.

  “We can drive to Staten Island through New Jersey,” I say in one breath. “But it might be a little faster through Brooklyn, depending on the traffic. Going over the water is also—”

  “Who says we’re going anywhere?” Nero rises from his chair with menacing grace.

  “Didn’t you hear a word of what I just said?” I step toward him, my hands balling into fists. “Vlad will die. Ariel might—”

  “Ariel is a soldier with super strength,” Nero says dismissively. “She knows how to swim.”

  “But Lucretia—”

  “Has turned into a vampire, so she’s going to be very hard to kill now.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “She won’t drown either.”

  “But Vlad—”

  “Is being reckless,” Nero says. “Attacking a suspect in his lover’s murder without due process? Attacking fellow Enforcers—including the guy who runs the investigation? This won’t look good to the Council—”

  “Screw the Council.” I glare up at him. “Are you saying you’re not going to help me?”

  “I’m saying you might want to respect Vlad’s wish to commit suicide by revenge,” Nero says. “I’m also saying he can get what he wants posthumously. By killing him, Gaius and Koschei will cross a line. With you as a witness, they—”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “You don’t think this might be Vlad’s actual plan?” His limbal rings overtake most of the eye surface. “He can’t kill the unkillable Koschei on his own, but with the resources of the Council…” He shrugs.

  My hands tighten at my sides. “I promised Rose I’d take care of him.”

  “Take care of him,” Nero repeats, and I can almost hear the air quotes he puts around the phrase—giving it a dirty connotation.

  Is he jealous of Vlad? If so, how little does he think of me? Rose isn’t even in the ground yet. To even consider Vlad in a romantic capacity…

  Taking in a deep breath, I calmly say, “Vlad’s fate aside, I will never take a risk when it comes to Ariel’s life. She’s not acting like herself, so there’s no guarantee she’ll swim once Vlad tosses her into the water.”

  Nero looks thoughtful for a second. “It sounds like Gaius glamoured her,” he says. “She should still act on her instincts, though.”

  “You don’t sound too sure.”

  Nero grunts something unintelligible and walks up to his safe. Blocking my view, he types in a password, and the metal door opens.

  He takes out a piece of paper and stares at it for a few heartbeats. “I’m contract-bound not to show up on Brighton Beach,” he says without looking up from the paper. “That’s been established as Baba Yaga’s territory.”

  “The pier is in Staten Island, so you’re good on that score,” I say, and allow myself a glimmer of hope.

  “Baba Yaga’s people are off limits.” Nero is still studying what I assume is the contract.

  “How is that defined?” I strain to see the paper for myself, but he jerks it out of my sight.

  “A few people, like
Koschei, are listed by name,” he says. “The rest are defined as anyone guarding her—”

  “Gaius isn’t officially working for her,” I say triumphantly. “Same goes for the Enforcers and Lucretia. Ariel can be said to be her enemy. If we were to make sure they wouldn’t all gang up on Vlad, he and I could take care of Koschei—meaning you don’t have to lay a finger on the only official minion of Baba Yaga.”

  “Maybe I’d be following the literal interpretation of the contract, but not the spirit of it.” His grip tightens on the paper as he looks up at me.

  “Russian goons tried to kill me,” I remind him.

  “We already established that Baba Yaga wasn’t trying to kill you. She can’t lie to me.”

  “Fine. But the main purpose of the contract was so that Baba Yaga doesn’t hurt me, right?”

  Nero nods.

  “Then she was the first to break the spirit of it,” I say. “When she killed Rose, she hurt me. Perhaps it was not a physical attack, but I’d rather have gotten a million bruises.”

  Just saying the words makes my eyes water—and I let it happen since that helps my cause. I also realize I just doubled down on below-the-belt tactics by reminding Nero of the other day, when an orc he hired gave me a bruise. Given how savagely Nero slaughtered the whole orc crew as a result, there might be some guilt there still.

  And it looks like something I said got through—at least I hope that’s what the tumult of emotions on Nero’s face is about. With him you never know, though. A lot depends on something Nero may not possess.

  A conscience.

  “Damn you,” he growls and angrily tosses the paper back into his safe. “I will help you.” He takes out a gun from the safe. “Just know this: if Gaius or the others announce themselves to be working for Baba Yaga, my hands will be tied.”

  “I understand. Either way, I would still have a chance to warn Vlad about my vision. Plus, if they say they work for Baba Yaga, they will be bound by your contract and thus be unable to harm me. That might give me an edge.”

  “The contract covers self-defense.” He hands me the gun, and I realize it’s mine—or rather, the one I stole from the goon the other day. “If you attack Baba Yaga or her people,” Nero continues, “they gain the right to harm you—which is why you will not.”

  I want to ask him what the gun is for in that case, but decide not to go there.

  “Come.” He grabs my wrist and drags me out of the office at a running pace.

  We sprint through the penthouse until we reach a section I haven’t seen—a glass staircase leading to the roof.

  Before I can question him, we’re staring at the sprawling view of the city below.

  But the view is not what takes my breath away.

  Our mode of transportation is standing there.

  A shiny helicopter.

  I’ve got to hand it to Nero. When he offers to help, he does it in style.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Nero puts a headset over my ears and starts the impressive machine. I watch the building grow small underneath us with opened-mouthed fascination.

  The view below is every tourist’s wet dream.

  “Press that button by your ear if you want to talk,” Nero says in my headset.

  I press the button. “I didn’t know you could fly a helicopter.”

  He just grunts something as we turn toward the Empire State Building.

  “Wow,” I say without pressing the button. “If this weren’t a rescue mission, I’d probably really enjoy this.”

  Then again, if this weren’t a rescue mission, I’d suspect Nero of trying to seduce me, Christian Grey style.

  “I need to resume my earlier conversation,” Nero says. “Please keep your headset muted. She’s very private about her skills.”

  She?

  I don’t get a chance to ask because Nero must hook something up to the headset system, and I hear dial tone.

  Someone picks up right away, and a pleasant female voice says, “If it isn’t Mr. Bowser.” She chuckles. “It’s not like you to hang up just as things were about to get juicy.”

  Bowser?

  Does she mean the videogame character who happens to be the archenemy of Mario? I could sort of see it. Though Nero looks nothing like the turtle-dinosaur hybrid from the game, Bowser’s voice is very deep.

  I already like this person and her sense of humor.

  “Ms. Spade,” Nero says. “Proceed with your update.”

  Ah. This is the mysterious Bailey Spade, a.k.a. Freda Krueger.

  Ignoring the to-die-for views of the city skyline, I lean forward in my seat and prepare to listen carefully—something the roar of the blades makes difficult.

  “You were right,” Bailey says, sounding more serious now. “Baba Yaga is dreaming about a seat on the Council. She seems sure one is about to open up, and that she’s going to get it. Unfortunately, I don’t have more details than this. The woman rarely sleeps. Probably because of her lack of melatonin. The older we get, the less we produce.”

  Melatonin production? Rarely sleeps? What does that have to do with anything?

  “What about Koschei?” Nero angles the helicopter toward my neighborhood downtown. “We agreed you’d—”

  “He’s a few favors away from getting free of Baba Yaga—which is his biggest dream,” she says. “Afterward, he plans to escape into the Otherlands. I’m still not sure if he has access to a private gate or not. I’m pretty confident he can’t be bought or reasoned with as you’d hoped.”

  I deeply regret agreeing to pretend not to be on the call. I have so many questions I feel like I’ll burst.

  “Any surprise discoveries?” Nero asks as we approach the harbor.

  “Yes. A huge one.” Bailey sounds either giddy with excitement or amused by the double entendre of what she just said. “Baba Yaga has an ally. You’d never guess who it is.”

  “Gaius?” Nero growls.

  “How did you know?” Bailey sounds like a five-year-old who found a pair of socks in her Christmas box.

  “I have my sources,” Nero says. “Tell me every detail.”

  “He proved his loyalty to her when he traveled to Russia and killed an enemy she’s been dreaming about,” Bailey says. “He’s also looking to get a Council seat, and wants to take over Vlad’s role as the Leader of the Enforcers.”

  I pry my gaze from the Statue of Liberty and force my overwhelmed brain to process what I just heard.

  My earlier guess was right. It was Gaius who asked Baba Yaga to kill Rose. As I saw during Ariel’s rescue, Rose had a way of making Vlad more powerful, and thus was an obstacle for Gaius—who wants to topple Vlad.

  Then something occurs to me.

  Right around the time Gaius was heading to Russia, Ariel talked to me from his phone—and then Baba Yaga mysteriously acquired my number.

  “What about Ariel?” Nero asks. “How does she fit into this?”

  “Wait, how did you know that I know her?” Bailey sounds confused.

  “She and Gaius are intertwined,” Nero says. “I didn’t know that you knew her.”

  “Oh. Well, I do.” Bailey sounds relieved at his simple explanation. She must know about his tendency to spy on people. “I know Ariel from my rehab gig, which means talking about her would violate the therapist-patient privilege.”

  She knows Ariel from rehab?

  Wait a second.

  Felix did mention her.

  He said he had a friend at the rehab facility who could enter people’s dreams and heal them that way.

  She must be that friend.

  Except it sounds like she does more than heal with her powers.

  She can use it to get information from people’s dreams—something I discovered in Darian’s memories.

  And now that comment about Baba Yaga’s sleeping habits makes sense. She invaded the witch’s dreams.

  What a repugnant place that must have been.

  “What can you tell me without breaking the privil
ege?” Nero asks. “Ariel’s safety is at stake. Gaius is going to use her to attack Vlad—and you can imagine how dangerous that will be for her.”

  “She’s making good progress,” Bailey says. “She now does want to be rid of her addiction. She was on the verge of—”

  “Hanging out with a vampire doesn’t seem to support your theory.” Nero fiddles with the controls as we approach Staten Island.

  “He probably glamoured her into compliance,” Bailey says. “A week into rehab is when the patient is most vulnerable to that.”

  “So you don’t think she’s back on his blood?” Nero asks, and I want to kiss him for doing so.

  It’s the question that’s been worrying me the most.

  “I doubt it,” Bailey says. “Giving her blood at this stage of withdrawal would make her less susceptible to glamour.”

  “I have to go,” Nero says as we approach a large baseball stadium. “You did good.”

  “Thank you. Now about my compensation—”

  “We’ll discuss that shortly.” Nero starts our descent. “Now I really have to go.”

  “Later,” she says.

  Nero hangs up and lands the helicopter.

  “Home of the Staten Island Yankees,” he says when we take our headgear off. “We’re a jog away.”

  “Let’s make it a sprint,” I say when we come out, and without waiting for a reply, I start running.

  Nero effortlessly catches up, then runs ahead—probably to explain his landing to stadium security. That, or to buy the place, assuming he doesn’t happen to already own it.

  He’s right, though.

  It takes us no time at all before we burst onto the pier that looks exactly like the one in my vision—right down to Vlad and the rest of the gang.

  Only we’re too late.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Just as fast as in my vision, Vlad blurs into motion.

  The three vampire Enforcers place themselves between Vlad and Gaius again.

  “Vlad, no!” I scream.

  It doesn’t work.

  Following the vision script, Vlad’s hand rips into the chest of an Enforcer and pulls out the spine.

  Damn it.

  After what Nero said, I wanted to prevent Vlad from crossing that line. Killing another Cognizant, especially an Enforcer, is going to get him into trouble with the Council.