by B N Miles
Jared glanced at Jessalene then laughed. “That’s sort of true.”
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Jessalene spoke up. “We wanted to talk to you about something. We were discussing how we’ll defend the houses now that the Vampires turned on us, and we thought you could help with that.”
Izzy looked surprised. “I don’t know much offensive magic. I mean, I’ve been working on some with Lumi, but—”
“No, not that,” Jessalene said. “We were thinking that you might know people, Independent Magi that might be willing to help.”
Izzy made a face. She hesitated, sipped her wine, and looked up at the sky. “I know people,” she said.
“We need magic,” Jared said. “You’ve seen what Nikki can do. I don’t think we could stand up against an attack of more than one or two Vampires at most if she’s not around.”
“You don’t understand. The people I know… they’re farmers, they run general stores, they manage community gardens. They’re not like—” She stopped herself and looked at Jared.
“They’re not like us,” he finished for her. “The Magi families.”
“They didn’t grow up under constant pressure to do violence, to use their power for death and harm.”
“We need their help,” Jessalene said softly. “Maybe not everyone you know, but there have to be some that would be willing.”
“I don’t know.” Izzy took a sharp breath. “Maybe, I can ask around. There are Independents that do that sort of work, but I usually kept my distance.”
“We need them,” Jessalene said again. “Money, whatever they want, we’ll provide it, but we need you to approach them.”
Izzy nodded, staring down, then took a long sip of her wine. “You know, I never thought I’d get involved in something like this.”
“None of us did,” Jared said, voice soft.
“But I know we’re doing the right thing. I mean, look at all these girls.” She laughed bitterly. “When they first got here, they were all traumatized. Every single one of them is post-traumatic. Can you even imagine? Even the girls that seem fine are struggling.”
“I know,” Jared said gently, and remembered the way Kerrin thrashed in bed at night when she slept, or the way Allie would suddenly go silent and stare out into space. He knew they were dealing with their demons, with the truth of what had happened to them in that horrible Medlar facility, and it weighed on him every day, the idea that there were more girls just like them waiting to be saved.
“I help them the best I can. But I can’t do much if the Vampires come and kill them all, right?” She leaned her head back and shut her eyes. “Gods, I don’t understand why this is all so fucked up.”
Jared moved closer and put a hand on her leg. “I love you, Izz. I know this is hard, but you’ve done an amazing job.”
Jessalene came over, knelt on her other side, and hugged her. Izzy smiled at them, kissed Jessalene, then kissed Jared. “I’ll be fine. Just having a hard day, is all.” She blinked back tears. “I’ll make some calls, okay? I think I know someone who can help. But it might be expensive.”
“Fortunately, money’s no object these days,” Jared said.
“Lucky us.” She smiled but didn’t move as Jared and Jessalene hugged her tight.
This was the truth of their war, he knew: trauma, anger, bitterness. It was a necessary sacrifice, a necessary evil to go through to save all those women being stolen, experimented on, tortured, and killed. He wondered how long they’d have to pay the price for it, how long his family would suffer, and how broken they’d all be when they finally reached the other side—if there even was another side.
“I’ll build a ward for the buildings tonight,” he said softly, running his fingers through her hair. “That’ll keep us safe until we have a chance to speak with your Independent friends.”
“Not an ideal situation.”
He shook his head. “Not ideal at all. But once it’s up, we’ll be safe. Not even Nikki can break through one of my wards, especially not now. I’ve gotten pretty good at them.”
She smiled and leaned close to kiss him one more time. “I wish we didn’t need it.”
“I do too,” Jessalene said. “I think we all do.”
“Soon we won’t.” Jared extricated himself from the girls and stretched. “I’ll go find Lumi and get to work. Tomorrow, we’ll hire some more muscle.”
“And after that?” Izzy asked.
“After that, we go burn down some more Medlar.” Jared grinned at them then headed back downstairs. His mind moved in all different directions, trying to juggle the various threats that circled around him and the girls. He knew he was in a precarious position, but he also knew from the start that this wasn’t going to be easy.
This was the hard path, but the right one. He’d chosen this path a long time ago, back when he first met Cassie and realized something was strange about her. That had led him here, one step at a time, yet at any moment he could have walked off the path and never looked back.
But that wasn’t the kind of man he wanted to be. Sometimes hate was easy, burning and killing out of fear was easy, but protecting the people you loved was hard. He needed to do the hard thing, the right thing, because otherwise he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.
14
The truck rolled down a long gravel drive toward a large gray and white house with a wraparound porch and two black dogs barking from a fenced-in field nearby. Jared looked out the window toward the fields covered in sod and the tractors parked near the distant tree line. They were in Bucks County, a more rural county north of the city, where Izzy had spent most of her life.
“Park over there,” Izzy said, gesturing toward a row of pickups and SUVs. Jared pulled over and half turned to her.
“Are you sure about this?”
She nodded, frowning slightly. “It’s necessary, right? We need their help.”
“That’s true, but I don’t want you doing anything you’re not comfortable with.”
She smiled and patted his thigh then opened the door. “Don’t worry. I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.’
He laughed and followed her up to the house. The dogs kept barking until an older woman with gray and white hair stepped out of the door and snapped at them to cut it out. They stopped instantly, and the woman turned her eyes toward Jared with a strange scowl on her lips.
“Hey there, Elena.”
“Hey yourself, little Izzy.” The woman’s expression softened as she turned and spread out her arms. She was small and compact, layered in years of muscle, her skin slightly browned from working out in the sun. She wore sturdy jeans and a button-down shirt, the knees of her pants faded and stained with mud. She had the look of a farmer down perfectly.
Izzy kissed her cheek. “Are the others here?”
“They’re all here,” she said, sounding sour. “They all showed up.”
“Even the Westbrook boys?”
“Even them.” The woman made an annoyed sound. “Girl, what the hell did you get yourself into?”
“Oh, nothing too bad.” Izzy half turned to me. “Jared, this is my aunt, Elena.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jared said.
“So you’re the city boy she ran off for, huh?”
“Guess that’s me.”
“Well, you’re not so bad looking.” She made another face as Izzy laughed and held the door opened. “Come on in.”
The house was cozy and smelled like freshly melted candle wax. Jared lingered near the door and let his eyes adjust as he stared at the people arrayed around the country living room, some of them lingering back toward the kitchen. It was a mix of men and women dressed in simple clothing, jeans and button-downs for the most part, and they were all Magi. He’d never seen them before and hadn’t realized there were so many Independents in the area. Their marks varied from a barely-there light grayish splotch, to a deep plum purple-black, though none had marks as deep and dark as his own.
He got se
veral strange looks, and he assumed they were wondering about him, but Izzy moved through the room greeting everyone. When she finished, she decided a mass introduction was in order.
“Everyone, this is Jared Bechtel,” she said. “Former member of the Bechtel family.”
“And your new man, huh?” A tall guy standing in the back of the room spoke up. He had a short beard, dark hair, and a mischievous half-smile.
“And my new man,” Izzy said, giving him a glare.
“Nice to meet you all,” Jared said.
“So what’s this problem you got?” A pudgy guy with the deepest mark in the room shifted forward on his chair. “Izzy wasn’t specific.”
“I wasn’t specific because you didn’t ask,” she said. “Vic Westbrook, you’re a pain in my ass.”
Vic only smirked and shrugged. “Whatever. Still gotta know what we’re getting ourselves into.”
Jared held up his hands. “I assume most of you know the basics?”
There was a general murmur throughout the room. He caught sight of Elena as she shifted through the crowd and disappeared into the kitchen.
“Alright, that’s good,” Jared said. “Here’s the raw truth: we ran afoul of the Vampire hierarchy, and now we need help keeping them off our backs.”
Vic snorted. “How the hell did you manage that?”
Jared gave them the quick rundown: the facilities, the girls, everything. When he finished, he caught a few skeptical looks.
“I know it seems like a lot, but the Vampires want the Medlar to break the Accords. They want it bad, because that means Vamps can hunt Humans again.”
Vic laughed. “That’s probably not a great thing.”
“We need your help to keep the girls safe,” Izzy said. “Jared and his team will keep raiding and fighting, and you all will be the firepower that stays behind.”
“I’m not too keen on fighting Vampires,” a girl lounging on the couch said. She had pretty blue eyes and long, hay-yellow hair.
“That’s because you’ll get your ass kicked,” the man sitting next to her said with a laugh.
She pushed him. “Go to hell, Stan.”
“Only if you’re not there, Katie.”
“Enough, you two,” Izzy said, rolling her eyes. “Ideally, the Vampires won’t be stupid enough to make a move if we have a bunch of contractors ready to defend the place. We’re working on other solutions, like warding the whole block, but we’re talking multiple houses here. For now, we need you guys.”
“What’s it in for us?” Vic asked with an edge to his voice.
“We’ll pay a very competitive rate,” Jared said. “And on top of that, you’ll get the pleasure of knowing you’re saving lives and sticking it to the Medlar.”
He got a laugh out of that. “I gotta say, it’s tempting,” Katie said.
“Say we do this,” the guy in the back said, speaking over the murmur. “How many of us you think won’t come back?” His eyes were hard as he scanned the room.
“Some,” Jared said. “It’s possible some of you might die. If that happens, we’ll take care of your family.”
The guy laughed, bitter and dark. “You gonna raise my two kids?”
Jared’s jaw tightened. “If you can’t take the risk—”
“I never said I couldn’t.” He pushed himself off the wall and Jared noticed Izzy tense up. “I’m just saying, you’re asking a lot of us right now, and we’re not fucking mercenaries.”
“Speak for yourself,” Vic said. “I think this sounds like fun.”
“I knew you Westbrooks would go for this.” The bearded man walked toward the center of the room. “But some of you have families. You got kids, and old people that need care. You all really want to go running into the city to fight a bunch of damn Vampires?”
“It’s not about the Vampires,” Izzy said, holding up her hands. “It’s about saving these Metas. They don’t deserve what the Medlar are doing to them. They come back, broken and twisted, and it’s horrible.”
“Shame about them,” the bearded guy said, shaking his head as he walked to the door. “But I’m not about to get killed and leave my family alone. Sorry Izz, hope it works out for you.” He disappeared through the door, letting it slam shut behind him.
Jared scanned the faces. There were about ten left, six men and four women. No one moved, though he saw more than a few of them looking at the door. Vic Westbrook was the only one that seemed somewhat excited for the prospect of fighting the Magi families, and that surprised Jared. The Magi families had been harsh toward Independents for a long time, taking their work, sometimes attacking their families, and generally making their lives a living hell. There was no love between the families and the Independents.
“Please, we need your help,” Izzy said. “I’d never come here and speak with you folks if there was any other way, but there’s not. We have to protect these girls and still be able to go out and fight the Medlar, because nobody else is going to do it. We can’t let them finish their plans and risk the whole world going to hell.”
“When you put it that way,” Katie said with a dramatic sigh. “I guess I’ll help out.”
“Oh damn it,” Stan said. “If she’s helping, I guess I’m in.”
“Westbrooks are in,” Vic said, gesturing at two other guys that looked a lot like him.
In the end, two more people left. Jared stared at the eight arrayed in front of him as Elena served tea. He wondered if it would be enough. Some of them looked fairly strong, but he wasn’t sure if they had enough power or skill to fight off a Vampire, let alone a full-on Vampire assault.
Still, they had no other choice. Jared walked through the group, talked to each of them, made sure they all understood what was being asked of them, and hammered out the payment details. It would be expensive, but if they could perform—it would be worth it.
The day was long, and by the time late afternoon rolled around, he found himself sitting on the back porch with Izzy, exhausted and ready to get back home.
“What do you think about them?” she asked, frowning at him.
“I’m worried. But I think I’d be worried no matter what.”
“True. Still. They’re mostly farmers and family people. They don’t do violence.”
“They’ll have to, I guess.” Jared sighed and leaned his head back against the chair. He didn’t know what the hell they were thinking with this—it was desperate and dangerous. But he simply couldn’t imagine letting those Meta girls suffer, and he was willing to do whatever it took to keep fighting. Wade was out there, waiting for them, and the Medlar were planning on blowing up the whole damn world if Jared couldn’t step up in time.
Izzy’s aunt joined them and put a pot of tea down on the table. Jared accepted a cup and thanked her, sipping the warm, strong brew with a smile on his lips. Elena was quiet as she sat in a rocking chair, the wooden legs creaking softly as the dogs ran through the fields nearby.
“You know, half of them have never even seen a Vampire before,” Elena said, her voice soft.
“I know,” Izzy said.
“What makes you think they can fight? I mean, really fight?”
“We’ll teach them what we can,” Jared said. “And if we can come up with another solution, we will.”
Elena nodded her head, looking thoughtful. “You mentioned you’ve warded houses before, right?”
“That’s true,” Jared said.
“What if you used them as power sources instead of as soldiers?”
Jared frowned a little, sipped the tea, and put the cup down. “What do you mean?”
“You need power to put up big enough wards to cover an entire city block, right? Well, you just bought yourselves eight people that can pump as much power out as you need.”
Jared glanced at Izzy. “It’s not a bad idea.”
“Penny has her batteries too. We could put those to work.”
Jared stroked his chin. “It’ll be complicated. Multiple different power sources
might be tricky to balance.”
“But tricky is better than straight out dangerous,” Elena said.
“We’ll try it.” Jared let out a breath. He felt himself relax slightly. “I’d rather do that than lose a single one of those people.”
Elena gave him an approving look, then went quiet again and rocked in her chair.
Izzy smiled at him, reached out, and took his hand. She squeezed his fingers, and Jared began to imagine the spellwork they’d need to build a ward big and strong enough that could draw power from multiple different sources. Tricky was an understatement—but with Lumi’s help, he thought he could pull it off.
That was one problem down then. The next problem was much harder, much more dangerous.
Once they got those shields up, he was going hunting.
15
Jared stepped out of the black windowless van and stood on the side of an empty, quiet highway sometime around three in the morning. He tilted his head back up toward the stars and let himself feel a moment of calm before the coming storm.
It had been three days since they hired the Independents to watch over the Chapter House. They showed up on time and did what they were told, and even seemed somewhat eager to learn battle strategy and tactics from Bea—at least, some of them were. Even still, they were green, and Jared had to leave most of the fighters behind to make sure everything was safe for this mission.
The van door slid open and Nikki stepped out, followed by Lumi, Cassie, and Jessalene. They gathered together and started talking quietly, going over their plan, making sure everything was ready, studying the intelligence Bea had passed along. Jared turned to them and tried to fight back a smile, but couldn’t quite manage it.
Cassie noticed him and broke apart from the group to stand by his side.
“What’s that smile for?” she asked.
“Just thinking about what things were like a year ago.”
“We didn’t get along quite so well, did we?”
“Not exactly.” He put an arm over her shoulder. “I blame you.”
“Of course you do. I’m the troublemaker.”
