by Chloe Garner
His heart was beating.
Could she do it?
Could she kill a living man, undefended, standing at the end of her weapon?
No.
She couldn’t.
She expected a smile, something, to note that he’d called her bluff, but it didn’t come. Instead, he raised his hand and put it on her wrist, hooking his thumb around her index finger to pull the trigger on the gun.
The handgun fired. The kick was different, with his fingers wrapped around her wrist like they were. The bullet went.
Physics worked.
Tina was shocked that he’d do that.
And then she was shocked that he didn’t slide to the floor the way he should have.
He just blinked at her, waiting for her to figure it out.
To figure it out.
“Just wanted you to know,” he said, twisting her arm up and taking the gun out of her hand. She let him have it without much fight.
It didn’t accomplish anything, just now.
He tossed it to the side and then swung at her with a closed fist, pulling her arm toward him with the same force.
She stepped into him, hitting him in the throat with her forearm just short of her elbow, jerking her wrist away. Behind him, she could see four other men leave their chairs, one of them coming toward her and the other three going in another direction that at least told her where Tell was at that moment.
He stumbled back a step and Tina broke loose, looking over her shoulder at Elroy, who had crossed his arms and was watching with some satisfaction.
Solomon continued to come after her, fists up to either side of his face.
If she was going to beat him, she was going to have to come up with something that she was better at than him, and it certainly wasn’t boxing.
She knelt, taking out her knife, just for something to hold, but she suspected that it wasn’t going to do her any more good than the gun had.
He’d shot himself in the chest.
Square in the chest.
And his heart continued beating. It had missed a couple, but that was it.
“That’s a neat trick,” she said, continuing to back away from him. “How’d you do that?”
He didn’t answer. On the next step, he swung at her, an easy, quick motion that she dodged with the same grace.
For a moment, she entertained the idea that he might be susceptible to the pink goo the way that she was, then she remembered that she could still smell it on the air. She hoped that her injection would hold up long enough to make it through this, because if she managed to get herself turned fully human, she was done.
He swung at her again, enough power to crush half her face, and she dodged once more.
The other man, the other resurrected man Tina realized abruptly, was circling to try to cut off her ability to simply back away, and she saw Tell in the other corner of the huge room, fending off the three of them. There were bodies everywhere - Tell had cut quite a swath - but the men who were still on their feet were backing away, giving a wide berth to the resurrected men.
She ducked the next swing, charging shoulder-first into the spot where the bullet had to have gone through but there was no sign of injury, and while Solomon wasn’t that much bigger than she was, he matched her for power, and he only gave up a single step, grabbing at her neck with a pincer motion that might have dropped her onto her knees if she’d still been human.
The other man was in her peripheral vision, now, arms up.
Hand-to-hand.
In terms of vampiredom, it had to be one of the most brutal ways to lose a fight.
Tina was still bleeding out of various bullet holes - various, what a strange thought - because she hadn’t had enough time, nor enough human blood, to heal.
Solomon was going to beat her, one on one, through simple attrition, not to mention the fact that the other demi-human was going to clock her as soon as he got out of her range of vision.
She needed to think of something.
Something brilliant.
Quickly.
She spotted the gun he’d thrown away and she ducked away from his next swing - he didn’t have some lumbering way of coming after her; he was fast, feline, and powerful like a bear, and if he made contact with even just one of those… she didn’t want to think about it - and she ran to get the gun off of the floor, pointing it at him.
He tipped his head to the side, confused.
He dropped one arm to peel off his shirt, ostensibly to show her that the bullet hole was gone, but she almost let her arms fall to her side in appreciation.
Geez, he was perfect.
“What kind of diet do they keep you on to maintain that?” she asked.
Like someone had shrinkwrapped a muscle diagram.
Geez.
He put his hands up again, and she considered trying to shoot him in the head, just to see if it would work, but in that moment she would have rather spraypainted the Mona Lisa.
So she pointed the gun at Elroy and pulled the trigger.
The room had been quiet for several moments, now, but it fell completely silent as the man who led the Order stumbled and slid back into a chair, his hand grasping at his side.
“Colette says it’s over,” Tina said. “Tell, have we got them all?”
There were two more rapid gunshots and two more men staggered and fell.
“That’ll do it,” he called back. Tina took another step away from Solomon, holding up a finger.
“Look, give me a second and you can go back to trying to punch me to death, okay? I’m quite certain you’re capable of it.” She lifted her chin and looked around the room. “The Order is hereby dissolved. There are a few of you, the obvious examples included, who know big pieces of the magic involved in necromancy, but the men who knew all of the process of bringing a man back from the dead have all now died. The knowledge is dead. If you guys want to keep going as a social organization, that’s your prerogative, but you are no longer in the business of necromancy.”
There was a long silence, amidst a few groans from men on the floor, and Tina looked Solomon in the eye.
“They took something away from you, didn’t they?” she asked. “I probably know about as much about that as anyone, save…” She motioned. “You know. You’re still who you were, you still remember everything about your life, but… It’s different. You’re different. Aren’t you? And no one told you.”
He blinked at her with a transparent self-awareness. She nodded.
“I can’t help you,” she said. “I’m undead. I’m still working out what that means. But all of the attention and all of the reverence you get… Was it worth it?”
His eyes shifted over to look at the second man who’d been stalking Tina.
“We are their gods,” the other man said.
“They took our humanity,” Solomon answered.
There was a growing realization around the room that Tina was right. Tina appreciated the encyclopedic knowledge Tell kept in his head, as well as his ability to spot dynamics in a room as quickly as he could. She couldn’t have picked them out of a lineup, but Tell had managed to kill every single man in the room who knew the secrets of necromancy.
There was a moment of poignant regret that Tina hadn’t been able to interrogate any of them, but there it was.
She was still alive, and that was something.
“No,” a man cried. “No. They have to do me. They have to do me. I’m done.”
Tina tipped her head and Solomon looked back at Kyle.
“No one knows the magic of resurrection,” Solomon said. “Without Elroy or Bantam to complete the ritual, none of the rest of the magic matters.”
He took a step back, looking at Tina again with deep, insightful eyes.
The other resurrected man stepped into her, his breath going tight as he swung, and Tina raised the gun to shoot him in the forehead, twisting out of the way as he went plunging past and shooting him again.
So long
as he kept his shirt on, she could do it.
Solomon came to stand between her and the other man and Tina looked over at where the three men who had been going after Tell were making similar kinds of decisions.
“I wouldn’t,” Tina called as more of the Order started to organize themselves into resuming the fight. “It may take us a minute, but he and I are going to figure out how to kill every person in this room, if we have to, and I’d rather not.”
“Kill them,” Kyle yelled. “Kill them now. She shot Elroy.”
“No point,” Tina said.
“I am the head of the Order,” Solomon announced. To a man, it had seemed like everyone was with Kyle on this one, but when Solomon spoke, heads turned. “I am the head of the Order, the firstborn of the resurrection, and these are our brethren. We will not touch them.”
“They are blasphemous,” another man called. “Their very existence.”
Tell shot him.
“Stop,” Solomon thundered.
The room held, even Tell and Tina, and Solomon went to stand in front of Elroy’s chair.
“I am the firstborn of the resurrection,” Solomon said. “The elders are fallen. I claim the chair of the leader. You will follow my order or you will be put under into the darkness without return.”
The other of the resurrected men, the one who had come for Tina, put his fist on his chest and came to stand in front of Solomon.
“What are your orders?” he asked.
“These are kindred,” Solomon said. “Not to be touched. One who raises fist against our kindred strikes a blow against the Order.”
The men, the regular ones, seemed to be forming clots around the room, whispering and darting their eyes around, taking a temperature, but the other resurrected men turned their backs on Tell and went to stand in front of Solomon, in a row.
There were different body types represented there, but they were every one of them built like Olympic athletes. Unkillable Olympic athletes. Tina shook her head, watching as Tell crossed the room to stand next to her, standing in a subtle formation that aligned the two of them with Solomon.
She saw it.
Group by group, the men came and knelt in front of Solomon.
“Firstborn,” they said, man by man, as the resurrected men stood with their fists on their chests. Solomon stood as though this was simply expected.
“No,” Kyle whined again. “I was done. You have to do me.”
“The way is closed,” Solomon said. “And you have risen above your level for reasons that are no longer in play. You will return to the bottom level, where you may rise again if you prove your loyalty to the Order.”
“What?” Kyle demanded.
“I have spoken,” Solomon said. “Sit or be seated.”
Kyle stood with his palms out for just another moment, then his spirit broke and he went to sit in a chair against the wall.
“Very well,” Solomon finally said as the entire room came into submission. “Be gone. I will speak with our guests and then this will be done. Inform those below of what has happened. I will not tolerate rebellion. The black waits with open arms for those who would presume to know better than the firstborn.”
There was one more moment of hesitation, then the men stood and drifted toward the stairs. The door rested against the wall, barely clinging to one hinge.
Tina had done that.
Fine work.
Finally, it was just Solomon and the other resurrected men in the huge room. Even Kyle had gone.
Tina wasn’t looking forward to tracking him down again.
Solomon turned his attention to Tina, stepping away from the gilded chair and Elroy’s body.
“They took more than they gave,” he said. “Even the youngest of us know it. I’ve been indentured to that man for half my life, but I do not love his quest.”
“I came here to shut this place down,” Tina said, and he gave her a dry smile.
“You and I, we would not be a fair fight. I died, as you did, but there was no path for me. I spent time in the empty, and I never came back from it. There is so little of me left, now…” His eyes grew distant and he nodded. “Never again. Leader Elroy didn’t keep his research in the building. After Colette, he kept it entirely secret. They’ll look for it, behind my back, look for everything he left behind in hopes of finding enough of it for one of them to usurp me as the new leader. You should find it before they do. You seem to be good at that.”
“We will,” Tell said.
“Do you really not know how he did it?” Tina asked, and Solomon shook his head.
“No one knew the secret of the deep,” Solomon said. “We went alone, and Elroy brought us back alone.”
“Will Kyle have any long-term effects from the treatment?” Tell asked.
“We’ve abandoned it many times when men were found unworthy or when a step failed,” Solomon said. “He will doubtless be disappointed, bitterly so, but he will otherwise be well.”
Solomon offered Tina his hand, and she shook it.
“I’m sorry for what they did to you,” she said. “If I can figure out how to undo it…?”
He shook his head.
“What they took is gone,” he said. “We’ve long spoken in quiet voices about taking our leave of the Order, but they would have hunted us down, and we can still experience pain, even if we seem unable to die.”
“Do you age?” Tina asked.
“Tina,” Tell said gently. “Let it go.”
She looked at him, and Solomon turned his attention to Tell. They shook hands.
“I remember,” Tell said. “I didn’t know.”
“Neither did I,” Solomon said. “I thought it was a wound, not a death.”
Solomon looked back at the other four men and nodded.
“Onward,” he said.
“Onward,” they answered.
He went to kneel over Elroy, setting his legs straight and his arms across his chest, then Solomon turned.
“It would be easier for everyone if you left by the roof,” he said. “Before you realize how injured you are.”
Tina frowned, looking down at her chest.
“I can smell it on you,” Solomon said. “You were mine if I chose it.”
“I believe you,” Tina said.
“Tell Colette that she should be cautious for a time,” Solomon said. “There is still bitterness and there will be rebellion.”
“I’ll take care of her,” Tell said. “I would have killed you, if you had managed to kill her.”
Solomon looked at him for a long time and then nodded.
“I believe you.”
“What about Kyle?” Tina asked.
“He’s on his own,” Tell said. “They aren’t going to kill him anymore. What he does with his life beyond that is his own business.”
They stood there for just a moment longer, then Tell gave Solomon a little salute and started for the door. Tina tipped her head at Solomon, then followed.
Her knee gave.
“Rats,” she said. “He’s right.”
Tell turned.
“Are you okay?”
“Um,” she answered, spreading her hands. He came and put her arm across his shoulders, helping her out of the room and up the stairs. The door was a simple push from the inside and he looked around briefly at the mess she’d left on the roof.
“Are you human?” he asked, and she shook her head.
“Everything feels like… Wow. I have an idea of what a bullet wound should normally feel like. None of them smell like they’re bleeding.”
“How many times did you get hit?” he asked, his fingers working across the surface of her jacket.
“Lost count,” Tina admitted.
He sighed, standing.
“Are you going to make it?”
“Hunter is supposed to have a fountain waiting for me,” she said. “What else would you do?”
He chewed on his cheek for a moment, then nodded.
“Mark
this moment,” he said.
“What about it?” Tina asked.
“You’re stronger than I am. I wouldn’t be walking, in your condition.”
She considered it for a moment, and then nodded.
“You might be right.”
“Damn straight,” Tell answered. “Do you need me to throw you down to the next roof over?”
Her heart beat and a dozen holes oozed. She put her hand to her chest, steadying against the pain.
“I’ve got it,” she said. “You should just go first so that I can land on you if I need to.”
She checked her watch, then squinted at the horizon where the sun would very soon breach.
“You going to go looking for his stash yet tonight?” she asked. “If they’re going to do it, they’re going to go after it hard today.”
He shook his head, picking up the pieces she’d left out and putting them into her backpack, then swinging it over his shoulder.
“I can afford to give them a ten-hour head start,” he said. “I’ll head out first thing at dusk, though. Probably be up before you.”
“You’ll call me if you find it,” Tina said. “I need to go through everything and catalogue it.”
He glanced at her, then disappeared over the side of the roof. She sat down, wondering if one fountain was going to be enough for her, today.
Tell sometimes went a week at a time without feeding. She couldn’t seem to get there.
Soon.
Four regulars. One a week.
That was her normal.
Until it wasn’t.
Until it wasn’t, again.
She tipped onto her hip, rolling onto her fingers and finding the purchase with her feet that would inevitably be there.
She was so strong, like this.
Lowering herself slowly, she felt Tell’s hands on her waist to steady her as the roof came up toward her again, and she leaned on him walking across, looking up at the next building.
It had been trivial, coming this direction.
Looking up at the three story gain, she wasn’t sure she had it.
“We’re going home,” Tell said. “Just focus, one hand over the next, headed home.”
She nodded, looking back.
“Don’t bet against us,” she said, then turned toward the wall again and began climbing.
The elevator doors opened and Tina just followed the sound of the foreign heartbeat to the fountain sitting on a couch in the main room. She sat down across his lap.
