by C. T. Phipps
You remember almost all your past now, Zadkiel said. For better or worse.
Almost?
This is hardly the time for exploring more.
Well, it wasn’t wrong. Finding more places where my memory has been screwed with would only leave me vulnerable. And who could afford that around monsters like this? “And I’d feel really good if I ate a tub of ice cream and snorted a bag of cocaine, that doesn’t mean it would be good for me.”
Sophia finished her glass and slid the bottle of wine toward her. “That is not my offer, though.”
I sucked in my breath. “What is your offer?”
I wondered if the rest of the gang was taking care of the other ghouls now and hoped Sophia didn’t have telepathy like Tracy.
“I release Jack to your custody now,” Sophia said, as if she hadn’t kidnapped him. “Then you go find Clara, Bella, and Jessica. Then we end our association. I never bother you again and find myself another plaything. I also wire two million dollars to your agency.”
“I’m sure Quincy would love that. What happens to them?” I asked.
“They would never be seen again,” Sophia said. “However, that is not your problem. You clearly don’t have the Wand of Nakoso and couldn’t even understand its value if you did.”
“Just how screwed are you?” I asked.
“Pardon me?” Sophia asked.
“You’re going to hand over your one bargaining chip in the hopes of eliciting my aid? That’s not the Sophia I know. You know what, I don’t care. I’ll take the deal. But you’ll need to tell me what you know about them. I don’t know enough about the Terrible Trio to find them right now.”
“Terrible Trio?” Sophia asked, confused.
“Never mind. Just tell me what you know.”
“I’ve learned much since I last knew you,” Sophia said, chuckling like she was drunk.
“Like?” I said, wondering what the joke was.
“How to control people like you.” Sophia smiled. “Before you didn’t have anyone you cared about. You were an orphan with no brother, sister, or business. Now, you have friends and associates. If you default on our deal, I’ll have everyone at your office killed. Maybe start with their families. Arthur is someone I’m at war with, but I might spare his life and make him my butler after I destroy his mistress. You aren’t a power, Ashley. You’re a civilian. A victim. So, I can afford to be generous.”
I will help you destroy her if you want, Zadkiel replied.
I thought no one is beyond redemption, I chided him.
No one is, but she has no intention of trying, Zadkiel said.
What about the room full of monsters who might object to her being killed? I asked.
It would be a glorious battle.
Not the answer I was looking for, I said. Listen, all we need to do is get Jack then we’ll default on our deal. We can stay ahead of her and get the three to safety as well as destroy the Wand. Or, I dunno, use it to cure everyone who doesn’t want to be a vampire. I haven’t decided yet.
That would be a lie, Zadkiel said disapprovingly. You would be breaking a vow and contract.
Oh, come on! Angels care about business deals made under duress?
Zadkiel was about to respond when someone jumped the gun and all five of the SUVS outside exploded simultaneously.
Sophia went for my throat.
Chapter Fifteen
Sword Swinging Badass is Me
So, I’m sitting at a chair in a bar when a vampire leaps over the table at me. What does it say about my life that this isn’t the first time this has happened to me? Probably that it’s going to be a short one.
I kicked the table back, but it was too little, too late. Sophia was already over it and it just slid under her. Then she was on me. My chair slid out from under me and I tumbled to the ground with her on top of me. She grabbed both my wrists with her left hand and held me to the ground. I dropped the sword and its sheath on the ground, still not used to holding it. She grabbed my head with her right hand and opened her mouth, exposing her fangs as she went for my throat.
So, I punched her in her stupid face. Telekinesis was my favorite superpower for a reason. One of her fangs snapped off and she screamed, rearing back in sudden, unexpected pain. So, I kneed her in her groin and rolled out from under her, using my TK to shove myself back up on my feet, ready for the horrible things that were about to happen. I mean, I was in a room full of monsters. Yeah, I wouldn’t have bet on me either. So, I guess I needed to pull out the sword.
I’m so pleased, Zadkiel said.
Don’t get cocky, I can take all these ghouls by myself in a fistfight, I said, looking to see what they were doing.
The four ghouls in the room had pulled out pistols and were aiming them at me.
Oh hell.
I can help! Zadkiel shouted.
You’re a sword and I am not a Jedi! I snapped.
“Shoot her!” Sophia shouted, growling at me with one hand over her mouth.
Do it, Zadkiel said.
I pulled out the sword with TK and it flew to my hand as the room was blanketed in holy light that temporarily blinded everyone. Sophia bolted for the backdoor, moving at the kind of speeds you usually only saw in movies. Gunfire followed seconds later.
Superheroes in movies (and, I assume, comics) can stop bullets with TK. I practiced deflecting them for years at the Solomon school. Behind safety glass. It works, in that the bullets get deflected a little bit. It doesn’t work in the sense of them not hitting you. They’re too fast and I can’t grab things I can’t see. The best I can do is impart some force to the air in front of me. Which moves a bullet about an inch from its original target. Enough to turn a lethal hit into a non-lethal hit. Or vice-versa.
I threw myself to the ground very fast and that didn’t work either. The bullets moved so fast that they were going to plough into my arms, face, and hands. I braced myself for the impact only for them to hit the ground in front of me. I felt drained but saw the bullets had hit something and been blocked from killing me.
That took a lot of your energy, Zadkiel said. Do not do that again.
What? I asked. You can block bullets?
Swing! Zadkiel commanded.
I wasn’t sure I could swing the sword hard enough to damage them. Still, I moved forward and swung. I cut the first ghoul’s hands off. Oh, I guessed I could.
I am very sharp, Zadkiel said.
The ghoul who I’d maimed didn’t drop down or go into shock but merely screamed before I cut its head off and spun around to bisect another. The sword functioned more like a lightsaber than a regular sword since it sliced through the second ghoul like I was cutting through air. I felt a pair of bullets bounce against an invisible shield behind me, each one feeling like I was being punched and drained at the same time. The Sword of Zadkiel was apparently powered by my magic, which seemed cheap for a weapon with an angel in it, but I turned around to face them anyway.
The two ghouls exchanged glances as they looked down at their pistols and started firing again before emptying their clips. It felt like a dozen bee stings that, at least, faded quickly after the initial pain. After running out of bullets, one hurled his pistol at me.
I knocked the gun out of the way with regular telekinesis. “Seriously, why would I do that? I thought George Reeves’ Superman was the only person people threw guns at after running through their bullets. You know, George Reeves from the 1950s? I used to watch reruns on—”
The third ghoul charged at me and I lowered my sword to stab it through its chest. The ghoul fell on the sword and died on the ground. The ghouls, strangely, weren’t so much bleeding as leaking a viscous black ichor. Another description I blamed on my overly loquacious vampire brain. They didn’t have blood so much as motor oil. It was probably why the Barons kept them on staff. They didn’t have to worry about being tempted to eat their henchmen
The fourth ghoul ran away, going for the exit that Sophia Baron had run through. A pair of ot
her ghouls rushed up the stairs to the basement, their furry paws covered in blood, to join in the fight that was already lost. Sophia had said Jack was down there and I had no idea if he was still alive.
I stood there, holding the sword dramatically in front of me, crouched in a pose that I hoped looked like I knew anything about swords. “I just took out four ghouls when they had a vampire with them. You really want to be here?”
The remaining two ghouls growled and charged, not even having any weapons. They just rushed at me with outstretched arms and gnashing teeth.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered, cutting them both down. They landed with a thud on the ground, in four pieces. I was now surrounded by sliced up ghoul parts. “I’m pretty sure these shoes are ruined now.”
You stole them from the floor of your brother’s closet, Zadkiel said. They’re probably Ashura’s.
“I doubt she’s ever worn a tennis shoe in her life,” I replied. “Why were they so suicidal?”
Magic, Zadkiel said. Lesser spirits make pacts with human and undead magicians to stay on the Earth for a longer time than they might normally. I’m sorry to say even with these casualties and what happened outside, they will be easily replaced.
Whoop de doo. I still won, I said.
You doubted you would? Zadkiel asked.
Hell yes, I said back.
Please don’t use that kind of language.
Fuck yes, I said.
Better.
In fact, much to my surprise, I saw that the five SUVs that exploded were still intact. There were, however, a bunch of ghoul corpses piled up in the middle of the street. The rest of the gang was gathered around them and Alex waved his staff to cause them to burn in a white-flame funeral pyre. What the hell had gone on outside?
You’re pretty vicious for an angel of forgiveness, I said, noting the five corpses on the ground.
Mercy, not forgiveness. Ghouls are also hunger spirits inhabiting human corpses, not mortals, Zadkiel said. They have no souls so killing them is not against my creed.
Convenient.
I ran downstairs, hoping they hadn’t decided to kill Jack before coming up to die. The smell that greeted me was potent and I saw there was a lot of blood on the walls. The basement of the Black Spot had been a place where they’d done a lot of human trafficking in people who wouldn’t be missed. There were chains on the wall, iron cages, dog cages, and a few surgical tables that hadn’t been cleaned up. The police had never been involved in this case, so the vampire authorities just left it for the next owner to clean up (or take over).
Oh no, I thought. What did they do to him?
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I blinked as I saw Jack was smoking a cigarette on a chair surrounded by ropes that had been wiggled out of. He was shirtless and had seen better days but already I saw the dozens of cuts on his chest were healing over. His right eye had been bashed in but he didn’t seem overly concerned about that. There were two ghouls on the ground that had stayed behind to deal with him.
Their heads had exploded.
“Hey, Ash,” Jack said. “Where the hell have you been?”
I covered my mouth, trying not to show how wonderful the carnage smelled.
“Jack? How? What happened? Are you okay? How did you do this?”
Jack threw his cigarette on the floor and stamped it out. “I have a secret, Ashley. One that will terrify and shock you.”
I waited for him to share it.
“I’m telekinetic too,” Jack replied. “Being a twofer is something you wouldn’t know anything about, though. I call this my Scanners trick.”
“I thought that was only anti-bright propaganda we could do that,” I muttered, wondering what kind of person would do something like this. “You could have escaped at any time.”
“Not even close,” Jack said. “Two guys? Yes. Took everything out of me but I was never alone with anything less than four. So, yes, I guess I owe you a steak dinner for providing a distraction. What happened upstairs?”
“I punched out a vampire’s tooth and killed a roomful of ghouls. No big.”
He looked me up and own. “You look like hell.”
“You’re the second person to tell me that in the past twelve hours.”
“That’s because it’s true. You have that meth-head look new vampires have.” Jack leaned down to one of the corpses and picked up its pistol before putting a round in its chamber. “I hope you don’t mind me keeping this. Are you a new vampire? If so, don’t hate me because I’m prejudiced. But I am. I have issues with hippies, communists, vampires, and women who remind me of my ex-wife.”
I could feel his emotions: alarm, pity, sadness, anger, and a little fear. Jack had never expressed any overt hatred toward the undead but had nevertheless been harboring some pretty heavy negative feelings. He’d tried to hide it under jokes about one destroying my car, but this wasn’t that sort of feeling—it was something deeper.
“Sure, that’s fine,” I said, frowning.
“Gotcha,” Jack said, not getting any closer to me. “Well, I hope you killed the bastard who fed you blood.”
“Don’t worry, I’m only a half vampire,” I said, trying to downplay it. “You won’t have to worry about the full kind around me.”
“Hello,” Arthur said, heading down the stairs.
Jack pointed his gun up at him.
“Goddammit,” I muttered.
Zadkiel sighed in my mind.
“Who is the fat vampire?” Jack asked, holding his gun on Arthur.
“I prefer stocky,” Arthur said, unafraid. “Besides, I’ve lost a lot of weight.”
“You should have lost more before you were turned. Vampires should be rail thin like the modelling industry,” Jack replied. “You know they control that, right? It’s why all of them look like they could use a sandwich. What happened to models with curves I ask you?”
“The vampires behind that died in the Renaissance,” Arthur replied. “Ashley, we need you to come up. Something happened.”
“Sure, Arthur. Oh, can we find Sophia’s tooth? That would be one hell of a souvenir.”
“Gotcha,” Arthur said, going back up the stairs.
I turned to Jack. “Are you going to be okay?”
Jack said, “Sure. Are you?”
“I’m not sure,” I muttered. “Good luck.”
“Sure. Good luck to you too,” Jack added, staying well away. “I’ll leave when you do.”
I shook my head and met Arthur at the top of the stairs. “He’s being ungrateful.”
“Humans. I can’t believe I used to be one.” Arthur handed over the tooth I’d knock out of Sophia’s mouth as we walked up the stairs together.
“What’s the sit rep?” I asked.
“Sophia got away but we’ve gotten rid of all her ghouls. I made them think there was a five-car explosion and it caused all the guards in the SUVs to pass out. Ashura slit their throats from there. This will be a blow to the Baron’s efforts for years to come. We’re deciding now what to do with Minji.”
I wasn’t sure how to react to Arthur’s viciousness, but it made sense of events. “You still have your illusion powers.”
Arthur nodded. “Apparently, Dungeons and Dragons was incorrect. The undead are not immune to spells from the illusion/phantasm school.”
“I’m going to pretend I don’t know what that means,” I said.
“You can’t keep pretending you’re not a geek, Ashley,” Arthur said. “Normal people play video games the world over. They watch superheroes on film. We’ve taken over the world. One of us! One of us!”
I narrowed my eyes. “No, you can’t make me. I’m going to be a cheerleader and hang with the jocks like the spoiled mean girl in some 80s sex comedy.”
Arthur snorted. “I’ve missed these conversations.”
“Me too,” I admitted. “What’s happening with Minji?”
“We’ve got her under guard upstairs,” Arthur said, frowning. “She helped Sophia e
scape. Ashura wants to kill her now.”
“Oh,” I said, lowering my voice.
“I knew the fact she was a spy would catch up with her,” Arthur replied.
“Wait, you knew she was a spy?” I asked, doing a double take.
Arthur didn’t even question the fact I knew too. “Oh yes, I was her creator after all. Sophia Baron thought she could conceal Minji’s true thoughts from me, but I grew up in a household of psychics. I let disinformation flow to her and controlled Minji’s access to real information.”
I blinked. “When did you get so damned devious?”
“I was always devious,” Arthur said. “Why do you think I always got B’s at the Solomon Academy? I knew that if I got straight A’s they’d put me in advanced training, and I’d end up in some horrifyingly dangerous field position versus the safe comforts of a desk job.”
I stared at him, realizing he was serious. “You underachieved deliberately?”
“It’s why I’m rapidly rising through the vampire ranks,” Arthur said.
“Are you okay, really?” Ashley asked.
“I’m fine,” Arthur replied. “Don’t pass this around but Ashura shared half her power with me through a Blood Sealing. It’s something almost never done by Old Ones and weakened her greatly. She didn’t want to spend eternity without me, though. I’m like an Old One now. I can do illusions like I always could but now everyone can see them and they’re sometimes strong enough to kill. I can also become a cougar.”
“I think that’s more Ashura,” I said, making a joke. “Seriously, though? A cougar? Like, an actual animal? The one vampire superpower that makes me jealous. I mean, as long as it’s a cool one.”
“Peter Stone becomes a corgi,” Arthur said.
“I shall tease him about this mercilessly.” I smiled.
“As do we all,” Arthur replied.
I frowned then looked at the door. “So, if you knew she was a spy then why did you take her into your confidence? I mean, I can’t imagine you set this all up deliberately. Did you?”