“Fuck you, DeLong. You don’t deserve the rest. Go ahead, take her and run. What you’ve become, you’ll only be in the way. Get out before you get hurt.”
“Where the hell do you get off?” I cover the distance between us in two steps, grab his arm and whirl him back around. Again, bad tactics, but luckily he doesn’t put the momentum of the turn into a punch. “What I’ve become? Like all of a sudden I’m a liability? What do you call what I’ve been doing for the last day? I’ve been in the middle of it all, getting bitten and thrown around and crushed by flying rocks. So now that I don’t have a dog in this fight you want to throw guilt my way? Save it.”
“Remember those dragon eggs?” he asks suddenly, and the question is so random that I’m taken off guard.
“The what?”
“The ones you stopped me from stealing? You were supposed to bring them to the Aegis, but you didn’t. You returned them to the cave, every one of them. Except one.”
My mouth closes with a snap. I didn’t know he knew about that. Nobody knew about that but me.
“The one that hatched,” he blazes on. “Somehow the hatchling found its way to that monastery at the Song Shan summit. Bet it surprised the hell out of the monks.”
That was an understatement, but I let it slide.
“You knew that the eggs didn’t belong with the Aegis. You knew that when they hatched the dragons would be relocated somewhere safe, somewhere far from there, but you also knew that they’d falter in any environment except for that particular mountain. So, you made sure they were safe and spread the story that you’d brought them to the Aegis so that someone like me wouldn’t bother looking for them.
“I never thought I’d see you turn your back when you’re needed. I can’t kill the kiovore, not alone, and you’ve always had an elevated opinion of the Aegis’ capabilities. Maybe they can get to it, maybe not. Maybe they kill a bunch of them along the way, ones that can be saved if you’d get off your damned high horse. You’re pissed off because they hurt your girl. I get it, but the ones who’ve already been turned had nothing to do with that and they deserve a chance to get their lives back. Take it out on the others when we’re done. Hell, I’ll help you do it. But we have to do this first.”
“So why you?” I point out. “Your paychecks ended yesterday. You’ve never been the white knight before. Why now?”
For a moment I’m sure he’s not going to answer me, but then he speaks. “Nariko.”
“What about her?”
“She went out there with us. She fought with us. She fought with me, and as long as they’re alive I don’t leave people behind. That’s good enough for me. If there’s even a chance that I can bring her back, I’ll take it.”
“She wouldn’t have done the same thing for you,” I point out.
“Yes, well, that would have been her problem.” He holds his eyes level with mine. “So, are you with me?” he asks.
I open my eyes wide enough for him to see the truth in them.
“No,” I snarl.
He holds my gaze for a moment, then huffs in disgust and tries to stomp past me to the clinic door. I block his path with my body, forcing him to acknowledge me again.
“I’ll go. You’ve done a lot for me in the last twenty-four hours, so I owe you that much at least. But I’m not doing it for you, or even for Nariko, and I’m damn sure not doing it for any of the Grey that’s holed up back at that storage place. They can rot for all I care, and once I get Lisa out of here the rest of them in this town can, too. But before they do I want them to know that despite everything they said and everything they did that it was me that saved their friends and families and protected their own worthless skins, and I want them to know that it’s my ass the have to kiss for getting the job done.”
Hollett doesn’t move, just levels his icy stare at me. From behind him, Laveau’s expression is one of shame and disgust. Neither of them speaks with his voice, but their faces tell their stories for them. It takes only a second for me to realize my mistake, but even that’s more time than it took to make it in the first place.
“I’m sorry,” I say quietly, turning to face Laveau. “I’m talking before I think. You’ve helped me more than I could have hoped for. Without you helping Lisa I wouldn’t be able to function tonight. I apologize for what I said.”
For a moment silence reigns, and I’m wondering if I went past apologies when Laveau clears his throat and says, “Ian, you’re good inside. Tonight’s been hard, huh? We all say stupid things, time to time.”
“Just making sure I get my fair share,” I say. I offer my hand and he takes it without hesitation.
“Now,” Hollett says evenly, “how about you explain to me how you plan to kill the first kiovore? The newborns kick our asses. I don’t think the prime one will be any easier.”
I feel my shoulders tense. He’s right, I know that, but I can’t let it go at that. “Maybe it’ll be weaker in the daytime. Most vampire myths say they lose power after sunrise.”
“Stoker didn’t go along with that. Besides, did the one in the theater seem weak?”
“Damnit, Hollett.” I lean back against a cabinet. My eyes close in frustration, and I focus on my breathing for a second. He’s wrong about absolutely nothing, but I haven’t lived as long as I have by accepting what looks like a given. The kiovore might return to its lair come sundown, but we don’t know its feeding or social habits. It might want to take in the town after its long imprisonment, catch the nightlife, have a meal. Or two. No, we have to find it first, and save the cavern as a last resort. But how do we find it?
A second later, when the idea hits me, my eyes pop wide and then screw themselves shut. “Damn it all,” I whisper.
“Got something?”
“I think I do, but first we need to find it and we’re going to need some help for that. I’ve got someone in mind.”
“Hope it works out better than your last backup.”
“Me, too. Get your stuff. I’ll fill you in on the way.” The words have barely left my mouth when it finally hits me that I’ve forgotten something. With a sick feeling I look over at Lisa, lying still in her bed. She’s got her glasses on, but she’s been watching us.
I turn to Laveau. “Lisa would be safer at my house, but I don’t have time to bring her home. Will she be good here?”
He puffs his chest out in pride. “Safe like in church.”
He holds out his hand. I shake it firmly, then go back to Lisa’s bedside on feet of lead.
“I heard,” she says when I get there. Her voice is shaky but clear. “You’ll do anything to get rid of me.”
Standing next to her, I feel my resolve weaken. I kneel down next to the bed, take her hand in mine, and remove her sunglasses. Despite my precaution at nullifying her power, Hollett and Laveau find other things to do in the other direction from Lisa’s bed. Or maybe they’re just being courteous.
“Tell me not to go,” I say to her. “Tell me to stay with you.”
“You know I can’t do that. You have to be who you are.” She’s beaten her voice flat, hammering out any trace of betraying emotion.
“And if I’m not who I was before?”
She squeezes my hand and pulls my chin around until I’m looking her in the eyes, the only man in the world who can do that.
“Who says you have to be?” she says.
I return the squeeze. “I promise I’ll come back in one piece,” I tell her with a voice as controlled as her own.
“You’d better. If you don’t, I’m going to track down everyone involved and stone them all. You have any idea how long that’ll take?”
“It’ll be time well spent.” I brush away a curl of hair that has tumbled over her forehead. “Lisa, back at the theater…”
“Just a bloody nose. Happens in the winter. The dry air and all.”
She’d be offended if I were to point out the fact that we’re in a coastal town, and dryness isn’t something that’s normally affiliated with
coastal towns. “Been getting them a lot?”
“Just now and then. Don’t worry about it. Just go to work and let me rest.” She gently shoves my face away. I let her, using the motion to stand up. She lets her eyes close, but her lips curl in a faint smile. “Just win, Rocky. Win.”
I have to laugh, despite everything that’s gone on. I kiss her lightly on the lips, put her sunglasses back on and give her hand a final squeeze.
“Call me if you need to,” I tell Laveau. I don’t look back as I follow Hollett out the door. I can’t afford to.
Twenty-Six
It’s a little after three, just over two hours before sunset and only a couple of hours short of a full day since I called on my reservoir of tricks and stealth to ninja my way into the Reese compound. Now here I am, charging across town under a dying, muddy sun on my way to storm a different castle. This time stealth never crosses my mind.
Hollett busies himself by using the fading light to go over his weaponry, checking the contents of his leather pouch and the fit of his thorn wand in his belt.
“I think you owe me an answer,” he says, not looking up from his work. “Finding and killing the first kiovore is the plan, but you never made it clear how we’re supposed to do it without a sniffer.”
The streets are easy to navigate. Even the people have abandoned the roads, probably still worried that whatever gang of drug-crazed maniacs are going to resurface once the sun goes down. Whatever Greys haven’t joined Gault’s house party have hopefully locked themselves down tightly, or else made their way to the town border. Even Aegis quarantine is better than being food for the monsters.
“I don’t know if you and I could find it by ourselves,” I tell him. “It went for centuries without being tracked down. Only two people have ever found a kiovore before.” I throw him a sideways glance.
“Ah,” he says. “Kenta Gamagori.”
“He’s our best bet. He may not have been the brains of their organization, but I’m betting he’s got more going on upstairs than his dad gives him credit for.”
He makes a sound that implies serious doubt. “And after that?” he asks. “What’s your plan for when we do find it?”
“Well, it turns out we need him for that part, too. To be specific, we need his gauntlet.”
He runs through the scene in his head, then nods. “Should work, but I don’t know for how long. What are you going to be doing while I’m holding it down?”
My eyes are on the road, my hands at ten-and-two. “Bleed on it.”
He sends his gaze parallel to mine so that we’re both avoiding eye contact. “I didn’t want to suggest it,” he says quietly.
“Thanks,” I tell him.
After a moment of listening to the road under the wheels, he says, “None of it’s possible if we can’t get Kenta to go along with us.”
“He’ll go.”
“I hope you’re right. I don’t think he has it in him.”
“Actually,” I have to admit, “I’m more concerned about his father. Let’s hope he’s reasonable.”
His silence is all the answer he needs to give for that. I let the conversation die as I pilot us through familiar streets. We come up on the Reese mansion and pass it quickly by, but not so quickly that we can’t see where some preliminary repair work had been done during the daylight hours. The biggest holes in the glass have been boarded up, the main door replaced by a broad sheet of plywood. There’s nobody there we can see now. Hopefully they’ve gone to ground, too.
The rest of the trip is a matter of a three-quarter of a mile drive. We’ve barely left the Reese house behind us when I bring the Jeep to a swift stop facing a gate that, if the road was a straight line, would be visible from the Reese homestead. Unlike the Reese mansion, with its elaborate, serpentine driveway, the entrance to the Gamagori compound is right on the edge of the road. Its main building is set pretty far back, like their enemy’s, but everything is in plain sight. The main building is a sturdy brick structure, looking for all the world like the most elaborate firehouse ever constructed. The windows are few but wide, bay style, the corners of the roof ornamented with fantastically detailed carvings of roaring wooden lions. It’s only two floors, shorter than the Reese house by one, but stretches farther out to both sides. Two square buildings, both identically bricked, flank the driveway halfway up its length – guard booths, from the look of them.
The gate is unmanned but solid, more brickwork with an arching brace of thick iron rods. The centerpiece is a roaring lion’s head, bisected where the two halves of the gate join. That’s where the lock will be, and I’m sure it didn’t come off a Radio Shack shelf. Mounted in the right side of the façade is an eight-inch video monitor with a speaker grille and a white plastic button beneath it.
I park the Jeep across the street from the gate but still facing it, then I get out of the Jeep but leave it running. Hollett stays behind. I thumb the button, and a moment later Sato Gamagori’s thick face fills the screen.
“Mister DeLong,” he says in a voice so cold I’m surprised icicles don’t form around the speaker. “What is it you want?”
“I need Kenta’s help, Mr. Gamagori,” I say with as much politeness as I can muster.
“Impossible,” he grunts. “I am well aware of what has been happening in this town, and what will start happening again shortly. Kenta will stay with me, where it is safe.”
I expected nothing else. “Mr. Gamagori, if he comes with us we might be able to stop what’s happening. We can’t do it without him.”
I can actually see the muscles of his face clinch. “My daughter died last night,” he says. “My son is my only remaining heir. He is more important than anyone in this town. He is going nowhere, Mr. DeLong.” The screen goes black.
I stare in frustration. “Well, shit.” I head back across the street. Hollett meets me at the Jeep’s front bumper.
“I take it it didn’t work out.”
“Papa Bear isn’t too keen on letting Baby Bear out of his sight.”
“You have a Plan B?”
I take a wide look over the Gamagori homestead. “Guess I’m going to reason with him.”
“Not from here, you’re not.”
“Then I’ll have to go knock on his door.”
“Just like that?”
“You’re not the only one who can make a plan, Scalpel.” I point to the gate. “I break the charm, you break the lock, I break the gate.”
He considers for a moment, then moves next to the Jeep, opening the passenger side door and situating himself behind it. While he’s doing that I step up to the gate and lay my hands on the metal lion lock, one on each half. Then I switch my grip to the bars and hold them for a second. That’ll take care of any dangerous spells coded into the gate itself. I walk back to the rear of the Jeep on the driver’s side, taking cover behind the vehicle.
Hollett gestures with his thorn wand, a series of short, cutting gestures, and suddenly there are shadows stretching out from the bars and over the ground, cast by light that I can’t see. A thin red line stretches down the length of the lock and he points the wand safely to the sky.
“You’re going to want to be farther back,” I warn him. He looks at me through the windows and sees the Springfield in my hand. Wordlessly he joins me at the rear of the vehicle, crouching behind the tailgate. I take careful aim at the lock and squeeze the trigger.
The explosion is like a small bomb going off, which is fitting since the red Aegis shells are actually like small bombs. The two halves of the gate are blown backwards, one of them dislocating its top hinge and skewing far into the bushes that line the driveway. It’s barely had time to hit the ground when we’re back in the Jeep and I stomp on the gas pedal.
As we pass the twin guard booths my engine suddenly and completely dies, along with the radio, dashboard lights and the power steering. I’m guessing we’ve just been hit with the eldritch equivalent of an electromagnetic pulse. There’s little left besides the brakes, but
that’s enough for me. It’s with only a little bit of fishtailing that the dead vehicle lurches to a stop with two wheels on the grass, seatbelts cutting hard into our chests.
Once momentum relinquishes its grip on my torso I sink back against the seat, rubbing my neck with a groan. Hollett’s doing the same.
“That didn’t get us very far,” he says.
“Not as far as I’d hoped,” I agree. “I just wonder if it was far enough.”
“How will you know if it was?”
“We could ask them,” I jut my chin at the window past him.
The Jeep is surrounded by a tight circle of half a dozen of Sota Gamagori’s extended family. They don’t sport uniforms like the Reeses did, but there’s a similarity of dress that can only come from family. They’re wearing jeans of varying tightness and jackets of similar weight but varied designs – denim and nylon, cloth and leather. They’re also pointing a varied arsenal of weapons at us. Wands and charms, pendants and swords. One has a pistol. How progressive. Only one of them is Japanese; that one has an unlit candle and a Zippo. What’s that about?
My gaze snaps back to the man with the candle. He looks slightly older than the rest, though that might just be the lighting. His hair has no particular style, and I can’t see any lines or marks on his face. He’s nondescript in every way, but I’ve seen him before. Probably at one or more of the family squabbles between the Gamagori and the Reeses.
Hollett regards the mob with detached interest. For all the concern he shows he might be looking at the menu at a McDonalds drive-thru. No matter what they’re armed with, he’s more than a match for the group of them together. After a moment he turns to me. “Did your plan cover this?”
“More or less. Just play along, and don’t hurt any of them.”
“Play along? Play along with what?”
No More Devils: A Visit to Superstition Bay Page 24
