by JL Terra
Two streets over, he found Mei crouched over an unconscious Shadrach. Malachi jogged to her. “Is he okay?”
“No thanks to you.” She glanced at him with a serious frown on her face. “Guess you’re not dead.” She looked back at their teammate, on the ground.
Was that really the point right now? He crouched beside Shadrach as well and saw that the man was in some discomfort, but still breathing.
Malachi patted his cheek. “Wakey wakey, sunshine.”
Shadrach moaned.
“He’ll be okay.”
Mei lifted a hand to her ear. “Did you hear that? He’s gonna be okay.” She paused a second. “Copy that.” Then she said to Malachi, “Remy is still on her way. Maybe she doesn’t trust you, because she wants to see for herself.”
“Good. She can stay with Shadrach while we go inside the house.”
Mei simply lifted one eyebrow at him.
“What?”
“So…since you’re not dead. How’s it going?”
“I guess you were super worried about me.”
She didn’t seem all that distressed. He hadn’t known what to expect when he did see her—which he hadn’t expected to be so soon. With Mei, it was hard to tell. But he hadn’t figured he would get indifference from her.
“The whole team was concerned. Since I knew you were shot and all.”
“Ah. You felt it?” He should apologize. But knowing they had that connection? Maybe he wasn’t sorry.
She got to her feet, and he saw Remy headed for them in a quick jog.
Remy stopped in front of him, pausing a quick second to catch her breath. “Ben and Taya are out looking for you right now. We figured you were alive when you escaped the ambulance, but you’re a wanted man. On the run isn’t a happy place to be. Believe me, I know.”
“I’m okay.” It honestly hadn’t occurred to him to find a phone and call in after he’d ditched his own cell and gone on the lam. “I’d have found you guys.”
Mei shrugged. “Guess you did. Lucky me.”
The fact he was being implicated in the mayor’s murder had led him to this place—on the run. The source of the drug trade that was quickly infiltrating the city with this new substance was obviously tied to the person responsible for him being targeted. Ricardo had been decently forthcoming when Malachi put the pressure on him.
And so, now he was here.
To find out who it was.
Mei started to walk away. “I’m going to find Bella. Do whatever you want.”
That was when he knew he’d hurt her feelings. She wasn’t the kind of woman who would ever admit as much out loud, let alone tell him outright. Not when it came to her emotions. However, there were ways to tell.
“Thanks. I want to go inside that house too.” It made more sense to go together.
“Great.” Her tone dripped with sarcasm.
She got as far as the first layer barrier and stopped barely two feet from where their teammate sat up. The spot where Shadrach had been hit by the security the high lord had put in place to protect his property. No wonder he’d been flat on his back. The man had a considerable amount of electronic-based hardware inside his body. That could not have been fun to feel.
Malachi almost shuddered but managed to hold back his sympathy. It wouldn’t win him any points with Mei.
“Ready?”
She looked at him. “You know what this is, don’t you?”
“It’s a security system. It just happens to have been set up using blood magic.” He pulled out a pocketknife and poked the end of the blade into his thumb. A bead of blood welled up at the slit in his skin.
Sure, she’d taken a drop. It had connected them. But this barrier had been constructed with powerful stuff and she’d need more.
He held out his hand to her.
She eyed him, not even looking at the thumb. “And what exactly am I supposed to do with that?”
“More will enable you to get through the barrier with no problem. As opposed to being zapped.”
“Because my blood is somehow not the correct kind?”
Why did it sound as though she understood that to be some great personal failing on her behalf? “It just is what it is. It’s nothing personal.” She couldn’t choose her blood any more than he’d been able to pick who he would be.
“Because you’re something not of this world.”
“I can explain.” He wanted to tell her everything. “I just would rather do that later, because right now we should be finding Bella. Right?”
“Fine. Use that against me.” She grabbed his thumb and licked the drop of blood. “Please tell me that was enough.”
He had to hold himself still. “It was enough.”
Except that no matter how much she upset his plans, these tiny moments of togetherness would never be enough for him. It was why he had to get this done. So he could move on from this world and from the suffering it brought him. He would never again suffer the temptation of her and all that she could offer him.
But it wasn’t just for his sake that this all be over. He loved her too much. He couldn’t bear to see her hurt any more than she had already. It would be for the best. If he was out of the picture, she could life free of complication.
Had she been looking at him, she would likely have seen all of that on his face. But she didn’t. Mei simply strode through the barrier and headed for the house.
He caught up to her and was about to say something when she said, “Copy that.” She glanced over. “Remy says Shadrach is back on his feet. He wants to come with us to the house, but she’s keeping him there just in case.”
“Good idea.” He nodded. “The same thing will only happen again.”
“Unless he consumes your blood.”
Malachi said, “That isn’t something I offer to just anyone.”
“So I’m just privileged?”
It didn’t seem like she thought that was necessarily a good thing. Probably because of the inherent human reaction at having to consume blood. It was such a natural part of his life that he didn’t even think about it most days. He’d managed to keep his true nature from the team so far—by keeping his hunger from them. If he needed to feed, he went far from where they were. Thankfully it wasn’t often, and he still required some human food to survive. However, the simple fact that he was a millennia old meant there were physiological processes that had long ago quit working.
Essentially, what he had now was a version of aplastic anemia that simply occurred naturally when the body had lived far too long. Every couple of days, he needed to replace the blood in his system, and he could easily do that by getting supplies from a blood bank.
Aside from that, he was almost indistinguishable from a human. Except for the fact that he was essentially immortal.
Either time or unnatural death would kill him. He didn’t know which.
“Do you know whose house this is? All I know of him is that he’s referred to as the high lord.”
“That’s what I heard as well,” Malachi said. “Ricardo told me this is where the drugs are cut and packed, so it’s likely protected by heavily-armed men and fortified with more than simple blood magic.”
“Simple? That buzz had Shadrach on his back, unconscious.”
He winced. “It was likely only the first layer and just a warning.”
“And the people who live inside it? Don’t they nearly pass out every time they go get groceries, or go to work?”
“Not necessarily.” He shook his head. “The high lord probably exchanged blood with them.” Whether they’d wanted to, or not.
“So he’s like you.”
He didn’t want to talk about this, but it was inevitable. Eventually she was going to figure it out, and he wasn’t surprised she’d figured out some of it already. At least in this case, with the blood, it wasn’t hard to put together.
“The high lord isn’t much different than me. It’s just what happens when someone like me succumbs to the corruption
without a fight.”
“Like a vampire?” She didn’t stop walking, and she didn’t look at him. “When you healed me with your blood, I had a vision. I saw one of them drink from a girl.”
“You saw it through my eyes. A memory.” He kept scanning the area.
Mei’s fingers touched his, and she laced them through to hold his hand. She gave his hand a slight squeeze and then let go.
He figured that was all the compassion he needed from a woman whose fierce loyalty led her to bravely combat an ancient evil. One that lay in dormancy within him, all because a teen girl was in danger.
Of course, it was possible she didn’t actually know the extent of the threat here.
But if she did? He figured she would be doing the same thing.
“It’s probably not the guy we saw at the temple. The one from your vision.” One of his brothers. “I don’t remember his face anymore, and I’ve killed many of them already over the years. Those that remain are twice as cunning and will be a hundred times harder to kill because they’ve lived so long. They’ve survived more than you and I could even imagine.”
“Haven’t you as well?” she said. “After all, how many battles have you been in over the centuries. Having all those skills must come in handy. Plus the immortality thing. You were shot, and then you fell off a roof, and yet you survived.”
“I’m not going to complain about the life I live, but it’s not something I would ever have asked for.”
“So what you’re saying is, basically everyone’s life sucks. I’m pretty sure I already knew that.”
They shared a smile and the next step took them through a heavier barrier. Mei didn’t seem to suffer any ill effects, but it was clear she felt it. “That one was bigger, right?”
He nodded. “They’ll get worse as we get closer to the house.”
“Okay. Let’s just get in there and see if we can find Bella.” She headed for the cover of some bushes where they would be able to see the driveway. “Let’s hang here for a minute and see if we can spot anything.”
He didn’t mind that she was taking charge of this operation. Likely she needed to feel as though she was in control when everything around her swirled in ways she barely understood.
“Good idea.” They crouched, and he studied the house. Even this time of night, several lights were switched on, and he could see people through the windows. Guests, maybe attending some kind of party.
Two huge SUVs pulled onto the drive and headed down the side of the house.
Men with automatic weapons got out of the front seats of each vehicle and the back doors were opened. Multiple young women climbed out to be ushered to a side door faster than they wanted to walk. In all, there were ten of them.
“That was Bella. In the middle, I saw her.”
Mei started to get up. He tugged on her arm so that she didn’t blow their cover.
“We need to get in there without being seen. That’s going to be extremely difficult.”
“Can’t you like…turn into a bat something?”
She thought that, and she hadn’t run away from him yet? She cared about him. Maybe she didn’t know his story precisely, and how it all worked, but she had probably seen enough movies that she might be able to get the gist of it. Then again, there were so many outlandish ideas that were not even remotely true of what someone like him he had to endure on a daily basis. So maybe not.
“I’m not some kind of shape-shifting vampire. Granted, I’m not exactly human either.”
And that didn’t make her want to run from him. She might be here for the teen she cared about, but neither had she flat-out refused his help. They were partners. Teammates.
Before she could say anything, he suggested a door on the other side. “That will be less heavily guarded, for sure.”
“But it will also be the furthest distance from the entrance where they were brought in. We would have to cross the entire house to try and find them. And this place is huge.”
She wasn’t wrong. The driveway angled up to the front door in a sweeping arc. The two stories stretched higher than normal, towering over the front step. The side door was in the level below, and who knew if there was yet another level even lower.
“True,” he said. “But I’ll take less people over a shorter distance.” He saw the look on her face. “And before you can argue that we should split up, the answer is no.”
“Fine, then we go my way.” She sprinted across the grass to a collection of bushes on the opposite side of the roadway that angled down to the side door.
They went in exactly the same way those girls had been ushered. It was a gamble, and he pulled his gun just so that he would have some way of protecting them.
He said, “How are your hands?”
She glanced back at him. “You mean the sword?”
“Can you keep it from appearing? If it does appear, it could draw trouble to us.”
“You mean like the trouble that would cause it to appear in the first place?”
He couldn’t really argue with that. It only showed up when she was in mortal danger, and usually not when he was around. He’d never seen it. Malachi was banking on the fact that his blood being in proximity to her, and the drop she had consumed, would both add up to it not appearing. Though, the effects of that drop of blood would wear off soon.
After another few minutes of watching to make sure no one was going to spot them, she headed for the door.
Malachi followed, and they ducked into an alcove. Both listened for a moment, not needing to communicate the plan. They’d done this so many times before with Ben’s team. Pieces of the puzzle. Thankfully, the added personal element wouldn’t keep them from falling back on training procedure. They wouldn’t be on auto pilot. Both were far too aware of the other for that.
She gave him a couple of hand signals, and he nodded in response. He’d heard the same noises she had. The sound of those girls being led down stone steps to a lower level.
Mei went first, nearly silent as she moved. He followed her, and they reached a security door at the bottom of the stairs.
She got on her radio. “Remy, any chance you can open this door for us?” After a few seconds of Remy giving her the low down, she said, “Thanks for checking.” She turned to him. “Remy can’t see anything inside this building. She’s got nothing.”
“Let me try something.” He got his knife out again and reopened the slit in his thumb that had since mostly healed. He cut a wider section and smeared the blood over the fingerprint sensor.
Humans would have to enter a code. People like him got in on the basis of their blood. This spoke volumes of the kind of operation this was. Mei felt better to have Malachi with her. He obviously understood what they were dealing with.
The lock clicked open.
He figured it would trigger some kind of sensor. A security alert that one of his kind had entered through this door. How long would they have? “Let’s move fast.”
Mei went first, and he held his gun up so he could shoot around her if necessary.
The room was long, stretching out across the length of the house in front of them. Rows and rows of tables had been laid out. There were at least fifty young men and women all in their underwear, those industrial, rebreather face masks on. Under armed guard, cutting and packing drugs for sale on the streets.
No clothes, so they couldn’t hide any drugs in a pocket.
They all looked freezing.
It didn’t take long for Mei to find Bella, but it was just a matter of time before one of the gunmen grew wise to their presence.
Malachi pushed Mei behind him. Would the man recognize him? Or at least, recognize the kind of man he was?
For extra measure, Malachi lifted his chin in a nod.
The best way to convince people that you belong somewhere is by pretending. Act confident.
Bella pushed back from the table and stood with wide eyes. At the fact that Mei had entered the room? The teen girl looked distr
aught. Mei was afraid she would blow the whole thing. But at least they had found her.
One of the gunmen brought up his weapon. “Neither of you move. Or I’ll shoot.”
The girl tried to run toward them. Mei gasped.
“What is it?”
Someone else stood up. “Did that sword just appear out of nowhere?”
Three more gunmen turned their guns on Malachi and Mei.
Behind him, she still hadn’t answered. “Mei.”
“Nobody move.” She faced them down, the sword in her hands, tip pointed at the men with guns. “Bella comes with me, and I don’t start cutting people with this thing.”
Malachi gritted his teeth. “This is what I was afraid would happen.”
“You wanna hang with me,” she said. “You’ve gotta learn to roll with it.”
Chapter 13
Before Mei could make a move, Bella swept up an open package of drugs and swung it at the closest gunman. The room erupted into a white mushroom cloud of dust.
The room went berserk. Two other girls rushed at the armed man closest to them.
More of the workers hid under the tables. Others ran for the exits. They weren’t here by choice. They had been forced to come and work for the high lord, cutting his drugs.
The man covered in white cried out. He swung the weapon up and aimed it at Bella.
There was nothing Mei could do with a sword in her hands, so she dropped it, pulled her gun, and fired two shots at the man before he could hurt the teen.
Gunfire exploded across the room, the steady spray of bullets from an automatic weapon. Malachi fired two shots and moved to the left, taking that aisle between the long tables. Mei headed forward so she could intercept the second man going for Bella.
If they hadn’t had at least some kind of scruples, these men would have simply sprayed bullets across the room and massacred each of these women. Instead, those who hadn’t already been jumped by the girls were now looking around to find someone to kill. She needed to distract them.
Mei shot at another one. As she did, the reality of who she was and what she was all about settled inside her like an anchor. Why she’d allowed herself to get so hung up on the sword and all that it represented, she didn’t know. but it was time to let that go.
