CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The locker room was dark, the only light came from my flashlight. I let Jeff lead the way since he had been there before and I had not. We passed through the room to a tunnel leading out to the field.
“You won’t need that.” I jumped at the sound coming from ahead of me.
My flashlight winked out. It didn’t dim or die. Just, one moment it cast its beam of light, the next instant it didn't.
My hand dove into my satchel, feeling for one of the flares. Before I could pull it out, dim illumination grew around me. Stadium lighting, set to a low level, cast a pale glow over the field.
I left my hand in the satchel, my fingers caressing the flare. Darryl, or the thing riding him, had not even bothered to search us, let alone take our satchels. Hubris? I wondered, or simple confidence? I hoped it was hubris.
Near the center of the field, Ata stood, Becki at his side. Becki had her hands together in front of her waist—tied, I guessed—and Ata held her by her left elbow. I could hear inarticulate shrieking; her attempt to curse, I was sure, around the ball gag that blocked her mouth.
I had to suppress a grin at her pluck. I’m sure Jeff would not have understood.
Nearly a dozen football players formed a double row between Ata and where Jeff and I stood. They weren’t in uniform, just casual clothes. Jeans, mostly, and T-shirts advertising what band or TV show the individual favored.
And sunglasses. Every single one of them wore sunglasses despite the dim illumination.
“Shadows,” I whispered to Jeff.
He looked at me and shrugged.
I left my hand in the satchel, fingers wrapped around one of the flares.
I stepped forward between the two rows of players. Jeff strode alongside me. We continued until we faced Ata, about six feet from him.
“That’s enough right there,” Ata said. He grabbed Becki by the arm and pulled her to him. From his jacket pocket he pulled out a knife and flicked it open, holding it at Becki’s throat.
My throat went dry. I licked my lips. It was Paul, all over again.
“Becki!” Jeff started to step forward.
“Ah ah.” Ata pressed the knife against Becki.
Jeff stopped. We stood in silence, just looking at Ata for several seconds. I wondered why Ata was using a knife considering what the freezing touch of a shadow could do.
“What? No demands to know what we want?” Ata asked.
I shrugged. “Does it really matter? I’m here. You can let Becki go now.”
“You are here of your own free will?” Ata pulled the knife away from Becki’s throat.
I grinned a lopsided grin. “Does duress count?”
Ata laughed. “Close enough.” He frowned. “What are you doing with your hand? Bring it out where I can see.”
I pulled my hand slowly out of the satchel, fingers wrapped around the flare—regular magnesium flare, not one of my new ones, not yet. My thumb stuck through a loop of wire that fastened to the striking strip from a book of matches. A quick jerk and the strip would rub against a match head inside the flare, igniting it and setting off the flare.
Ata pointed at me with the hand holding the knife. “What’s that?”
I smiled and jerked my thumb back. Light exploded from the flare.
“Catch.” I tossed the flare in Ata’s direction and spun, facing the football players now charging me like an avalanche of monstrous bodies.
I grabbed another flare and lit it, tossing it between me and the onrushing human giants.
“Get Becki,” I called to Jeff. I grabbed another flare.
The football players stopped their charge, recoiling from the light. Three more flares lit the region before me like daylight. Beyond the glare, I could see the team fleeing.
“Adrian!” Jeff’s scream jerked me up short. I spun.
Becki lay on the ground, a pool of red spreading from her throat. Jeff knelt at her side, his hands hovering above her as if he were uncertain of what to do, afraid to touch her.
Ata was nowhere to be seen.
I swore and dove for Becki. Throat cut. Gott in Himmel, I thought, the cut went almost completely through to the spine. Her eyes stared sightlessly in the harsh light of the magnesium flares. She was not dead, not yet, but with a wound like that unconsciousness would have taken her almost instantaneously.
I scrambled through my pockets. Elixir. I needed the elixir.
I found the vial. Not much left. Lieber Gott, I thought. Please let it be enough.
I pulled the stopper from the vial and poured some of it into the wound, then pinched the gaping edges closed
“Bitte.” My whisper came out hoarse and ragged.
“Adrian?” Jeff’s voice penetrated my own haze. I ignored it.
I released my hold on Becki’s throat. The wound remained closed but still an angry red line. No more blood flowed from it.
“Adrian?” Jeff’s voice again.
“I think...” I shook my head. “I think I’ve got it.”
I shifted the vial to my left hand and put my right under her head.
“Help me sit her up.”
Jeff slid his hands under her head and shoulder and lifted while I fumbled with the buckle securing the gag. The gag dropped away.
Once she was sitting, I rose to one knee, putting the other behind her back to support her. I tilted her head back and shoved a thumb into her mouth to force her jaws open. I poured the remainder of the elixir into her mouth to let it trickle down her throat.
“Bitte, bitte, bitte,” I said softly.
Becki shuddered. A moment later she drew in a great grasping breath. Her eyes opened.
“What?”
I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing back tears.
“Becki!” Jeff’s voice was heavy with relief.
I opened my eyes to see Jeff enfolding Becki in his arms.
“We’d better get out of here.” I stood and held a hand down to Becki. “Can you walk?”
“I think so.” She took my hand and let me help her to her feet. “I feel...” She bounced a few times on the balls of her feet. “I feel...good. What was that?”
“Uncle Adrian’s magical elixir,” I said, then turned toward the tunnel. “Let’s go.”
#
I led Jeff and Becki into the tunnel. Once we passed far enough in that the flares behind us, dimming as they burned out, no longer provided sufficient light to see, I selected another flare. By feel, a fusee. This road flare burned slowly, producing a bright, but non-blinding illumination. I held it overhead as we made our way into the locker room.
On the other side of the room, I stepped through the door. The concourse was still dark. I took another step.
Something hit me from the side, knocking me to the floor and driving the air from my lungs. The flare went flying away.
A heavy weight sat on my chest and blows rained down on me as I tried to shield my head and face with my arms. I heard someone shouting but I could not make out the words through the roaring in my head.
While still trying to shield myself with my left arm, I fumbled for my satchel with the right. My hand found the opening, entered it. My fingers wrapped around a flare. The size and shape told me it was one of the two special flares. I jerked the striker with my thumb as I pulled the flare out of the satchel. Light, brilliant light like the sun poured out. I saw Chuck sitting above me, his face twisted in rage, his fist pulled back ready to rain down on me again.
The tableau held for just a moment, then rage turned to pain. Chuck screamed. And then the brilliance of the flare turned everything to all encompassing whiteness. I threw my arm across my eyes but it made no difference. Light, blinding light everywhere I looked, piercing, penetrating all the way through me. And through it all I heard Chuck’s screams.
The weight disappeared from my chest. I scrambled backward blindly. My kicking legs contacted something, a body. Chuck, I thought.
The light of the flare faded leaving me in a sea o
f purple and red spots. I reached out, flailing my right hand, and found the wall. I scooted closer so I could lean both hands against it and climb to my feet shakily.
I could still see nothing but the spots. I felt for my vial of elixir before remembering it was gone. I’d used it to heal Becki.
I heard soft swearing in what I thought was Jeff’s voice. Becki simply repeated, “my eyes,” over and over again. A third voice, Chuck I presumed, sobbed.
Slowly, my vision returned. I could make out dim shapes. Becki, sitting by the door. Jeff standing next to her; his hands rubbing at his eyes. A third figure, Chuck, curled on the floor.
The sobs subsided. Chuck uncurled from his position on the floor.
“It’s gone,” Chuck said.
I smiled. “It worked. You’re free.”
“Free?” Chuck rose to his feet. “You’ve taken it from me.” He took a step toward me. “You’ve stolen...” He took another.
Jeff hit Chuck from the side. They tumbled to the floor in a tangle of flailing arms and the solid thumps of fists hitting flesh.
“Give it back to me!” Chuck wailed.
“He let himself...” I whispered. “He let that thing ride him. Of his own free will.” I felt sickened to my stomach.
Having felt the touch of Shadows before I could not imagine anyone deliberately courting it, but it seemed that Chuck had.
I watched the fight, my vision continuing to clear. After a moment I realized something was odd that even the dazzle effect could not explain. I wasn’t seeing out of my left eye. I reached up and touched my face and winced at the sharp pain. My hand came away sticky. My left eye was swollen shut. I noticed a coppery taste in my mouth.
More pains made themselves noticed as I had attention for such things.
Jeff had managed to wrestle himself on top of Chuck. He sat on Chuck’s chest and dropped blow after blow on his head and face in imitation of what Chuck had tried with me. Futily, Chuck struggled underneath Jeff as the blows continued to fall.
Gradually, Chuck’s struggles grew weaker.
“Jeff,” Becki said.
Jeff continued to pummel Chuck.
“Jeff,” Becki said, louder. “That’s enough.”
“He...he used you to...”
“That’s enough, Jeff,” Becki said.
Jeff stopped. He looked down at Chuck, twitching weakly on the floor. “Yeah. I guess it is.” He stood up.
I tried to take a step but my leg folded. I fell back against the wall and only barely managed to keep from collapsing to the floor.
Becki appeared at my side, sliding her arm under mine and around me, trying to take some of my weight. “Jeff!”
Jeff hastened to us and offered his immense strength for me to lean on.
“Thanks,” I said.
On the floor, Chuck held a hand in our direction. “Becki?”
Becki took a step toward Chuck and looked down at him. From this angle I could not see her face.
“I think it’s time we both started seeing other people.” Her voice dripped ice.
My one hope was that we could make our way back to the car without drawing any unpleasant attention.
With my face looking like it did and Becki still having the red mark on her throat that seemed an unlikely prospect.
#
Wonders of the big city. Nobody noticed us on the way back to the car. They very carefully did not notice us. Once or twice someone looked our way but a growl from Jeff and they absolutely did not notice us.
By the time we reached the car, Jeff’s left eye was swollen almost shut. The red promised to become an impressive shiner, given some time. He got into the front passenger seat. Becki got in the back. I drove.
The question was where to go. Chuck knew the hotel we were staying at, meaning Ata and the Shadows knew it too. Did I have enough time to grab my gear? Could I afford not to?
“Adrian?” Becki leaned forward, sticking her head past the back of the front seat so I could see her out of the corner of my eye. “Or should I call you, Johann?”
“Adrian is fine,” I said. “It’s far from the first name I’ve used. You’ll probably find it less confusing to stick with it.”
“Adrian, then. Thank you. I mean it. When I felt that knife across my throat, I thought I was dead.”
“I couldn’t let that happen,” I said.
“Damn Chuck and damn Ata,” Jeff said. “What do we do now?”
“They know where we’re staying,” I said. “We’ll have to move.”
“I’m sorry,” Becki said. “That was my fault.”
“Becki,” Jeff said.
“You couldn’t really know,” I said. “After all, the whole thing is so crazy, who could believe it?”
“Thank you.” Becki kissed me lightly on the cheek then dropped back into the rear seat.
I found myself grinning like a fool for a moment, then forced sobriety onto my face. “So, next question. My gear’s still back at the hotel. There’s nothing there I can’t replace, but it will take time. Do we risk taking the time to grab it or just run?”
I thought for a moment, then added. “I’m out of elixir, so if anyone gets hurt—” I grinned ruefully. “—hurt worse, we’ll be limited to natural healing.”
“I’m sorry,” Becki said again.
“Cut that out.” I looked up in the mirror and caught her eye. “What’s the point of having it if you don’t use it when needed?”
She nodded.
“Get the gear,” Jeff said. “We should be able to beat Ata and his pals back to the hotel. Then you’ll have it and not have to replace it.”
“Becki?” I asked.
“I agree.”
“All right. To the hotel it is.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I drove past the hotel. I wanted to take a look before committing to stopping.
“See anything?” I asked.
“No cars I recognize,” Jeff said.
“Becki?”
“Was that car there before?” Becki pointed to a Hyundai sitting near the entrance. There were only a few cars in the lot. “Didn’t I see one of your teammates in a car like that?”
“Ben’s was red, not gray,” Jeff said. “I don’t think that belongs to anyone on the team.”
“All right,” I said. I pulled into a lot just up the street of the hotel, checked traffic, then backed into the street to turn back toward the hotel.
We parked. I glanced at Becki as she got out of the car. The red mark on her throat had faded to a light pink. From a distance, there would be no indication that she’d been hurt. Of the three of us, I looked the worse. My face was swollen from the beating Chuck had given me. I could barely see out of my left eye. My knee felt stuffed with pillows but it managed to support my weight. Later, it would hurt. Probably a lot.
I followed close behind Jeff as we entered the hotel, letting his bulk shield me from view. He nodded at the clerk at the desk and we turned down the hall to the elevators.
We reached the room without incident and found nobody waiting. We had clearly beaten Ata back. I began to breathe a little easier as we stuffed our few belongings into bags.
I was packing the last of my alchemical supplies into a case when someone pounded on the door.
“Open up. Police.”
Becki’s hands snapped up to cover her mouth. Jeff looked at me, his eyes wide.
“What do we do?” he whispered.
I shrugged. “Open the door.”
Becki went to open the door. I still had my hands in my bag, feeling for the jar I wanted.
The door opened. A police officer stood in the doorway. I quickly twisted the cap off the jar. The police officer wore dark glasses, even in the poorly lit hallway. His hand rested on the butt of his gun.
I heard the snap of the release of the retention strap on the holster. “You. Hands where I can see them.”
I turned, lifting my arms as though raising my hands. The police officer started to draw
his gun. At the top of the arc of my arm motion, I flicked my wrist and opened my hand. The jar went tumbling across the room, spilling its contents in a cloud in its wake. The jar hit the police officer in the chest just as his gun started to come up. He drew a breath, probably in preparation for speaking. His face went slack. He crumbled to the floor.
Becki’s eyes rolled back in her head and her own knees buckled. She collapsed on top of the police officer.
Jeff started forward but I held a hand in front of him. “Wait.”
Jeff paused and looked at me.
“Don’t breathe the dust or you’ll be down there too.
He nodded and took a deep breath and went to grab Becki, pulling her out of the rapidly settling cloud of sleeping powder.
“So what do we do now?” He asked.
“We get out of here. Did you notice the glasses?” I turned on the light next to me, then crossed to reach the light next to one of the beds. Jeff caught the idea and set Becki on the other bed and turned on more lights.
“He’s one of those things?” Jeff asked.
“Ridden by one, I think. Whether the police in general are after us, or just this one, I don’t know.” I stood staring down at the police officer on the floor. “If the police are after us they’ll probably have a description of the Green Monster.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Get out of here first.” I grabbed my bags. The powder had settled enough. “Can you get Becki?”
Jeff nodded and hoisted Becki into a fireman’s carry.
My mind raced as we descended the back stairs toward the exit. The last time I had to do back-to-back identity changes was before the modern day of ubiquitous identification and government computers all networked together. It took time to insert data into the system. And while I still had an emergency stash of gold, I did not have much ready cash. I would have to sell some gold, but that would have to wait until pawn shops were open in the morning. First, we had to get out of town. And avoid the police.
We reached the exit door. The red and blue lights of a police cruiser flashed outside. I peered at the car, shielding my eyes against the glare. No one seemed to be inside. It seemed there was only the one police officer. Police cruiser in one direction, Monster in the other.
I nodded at Jeff, pushed through the door, and dashed toward the Monster. I pulled open the back door on the near side before rounding the Monster to get in at the driver’s side.
Alchemy of Shadows Page 10