by Holly Hook
"Keep going," Xavier said. "Use the card. Thoreau used his. We can get out. Maybe he won't be able to if we close this behind him."
"Good idea," I said, keeping the card in front of me.
We scanned his card and the gate slid open. It was a relief that our fingerprints weren't required. Xavier and I rushed through and glanced at each other.
His eyes were fully blue now. None of his other features had changed.
And I had taken my contacts out for the glamour. If the eyes changed back first, that meant mine would be reddish. Dangerous. Obvious. The people in the office would know. I imagined this place had security ramped up to keep Abnormals from leaving.
The two of us bolted up the hallway and towards the surface. The steel door to the office was closed. I scanned Thoreau's card into it. The door slid open. I started to look at the floor to hide my eyes, but stopped.
The first thing I smelled was blood.
Lots and lots of blood, filled with breakfast. My sense of smell was coming back stronger now.
The second thing I noticed were the bodies on the floor.
A woman lay half-out of the cubicle. I was glad that she was facing away from me. Two men were also on the floor opposite her. I wanted to throw up. Standing against the wall, pale and horrified, was Cristoff. She was the only one left alive and there was a full cubicle blocking her off from the exit. It wasn't that she would make it if she had a clear shot, anyway.
Closing in on her was a woman with a black veil and dress.
I realized what this meant.
Thoreau had bought breakfast for his workers to make them tasty for his fellow Dark Council member.
Bathory faced me. "I see that two more have arrived," she said. "I'll get to you in a moment. Allow me to enjoy a bit more blood first."
Chapter Fourteen
Bathory must have been hiding here the whole time, waiting for Thoreau to get her meal ready. Maybe she had even come in one of the vans and Thoreau had offered her a closet to bide her time in. It was time to finish these people before they figured out what was really going on in the prison area.
Cristoff turned her gaze to me. Silent tears of terror ran down her face.
Even though I didn't know her, she reminded me of Janine.
We had to save her, but I had no weapon. I searched around with my improving vision. Bathory still thought we were Normals. Not dangerous. Not a threat. It might be better to just leave while we could, but I couldn't abandon this woman.
She took a step closer to Cristoff, who whimpered.
"Don't," I said. "Haven't you had enough blood? I mean, look. You wasted a whole bunch right there." I pointed at a puddle on the floor. It smelled like pancakes and sausage with a bit of syrup mixed in.
"You have a sense of humor," Bathory said, reaching out and taking Cristoff by the blouse. She pulled the hapless woman closer and lifted her veil with another hand. "I like that. Thoreau likes that, too."
I had to stall her. "Why do you need so much blood, anyway?" I asked, inching closer to the only weapon I could see in the room: a new, filled coffee pot that still had some coffee dripping into it. "Shouldn't biting just one person be enough for you? I mean, you don't even have to kill someone to feed."
Bathory faced me. I could see her reddish eyes through her veil now.
As I was sure she could now see mine.
"Well," she said, looking at my uniform and back up to my eyes. She loosened her grip on Cristoff for a second, enough to allow the woman to scoot away. "That's not something I see every day. How did you get through the application process for the ATC?"
I seized the coffee pot. "I'm not in the ATC."
"Sanders!" Cristoff shouted.
It was too late. I swung the coffee pot and sent about twelve cups' worth of hot liquid right into Bathory’s face. The satisfaction of revenge burned through me as she screamed with pain and brought both hands up to her dainty features. I hoped it would scar her. Make her less beautiful.
But she would heal.
And then she would pursue us.
"Come on!" Xavier shouted in his own voice. But I didn't listen. I lunged at Bathory, aware of the subtle peeling noises her skin made as it etched itself back together. She healed fast.
I still had Thoreau's dagger in my belt.
I took it out and drove it into her chest, willing my fire magic to work, willing my death magic to come to life, but I wasn't fully back yet. Blood spurted out and she made a gagging sound. I had gone close to her heart. Behind her, Cristoff climbed onto a counter and hopped over the wall of the cubicle. She banged on a door, then ran to another and opened it, vanishing.
The scanner guy and the guard must be dead. Cristoff could be the only survivor.
I withdrew the knife and stabbed again...and again...as Bathory backed against the wall and grabbed at the first cut. With each stab, my hands looked more like my own. My teeth were coming back. My hunger. My disgust. The air smelled of blood and coffee. It dripped off Bathory's veil and face, mixing with her blood. She had to die. She had killed so many innocents. Destroyed so many lives, including my own, with her disease. I stabbed again, but her cuts were closing as fast as I could open them. My fire magic wasn't back yet. She wasn't withering. Either that, or Bathory might be truly immortal. She had taken so much blood that she might be impossible to kill.
I lifted the dagger again.
She screamed and hit me with a lightning uppercut.
I flew back and crashed into the opposite cubicle. The computer shattered with the force of the blow and another Styrofoam cup rolled onto the floor, mixing more coffee with the blood below. Pain surged through my back, but already my bones tingled, trying to fix the bruises.
I was fully back to my regular form.
I was Alyssa Choy again.
"That was clever of you two," Bathory said, walking closer to me. "I couldn't have found someone to do a better disguise myself. You could have done one that lasted longer, however. I might have to take away some points for that."
I lifted my head off a plastic paper file.
She was holding Xavier's arm. He was fully back, too, dressed in a too-big ATC uniform. All of the color had drained from his face and now he smelled very strongly of adrenaline. He wouldn't take his gaze off of me.
Xavier was terrified for me. He was held captive by the most evil and most powerful vampire ever to live and all of his fear was for what I might have to endure. I could feel it.
"Let go of him," I said.
Of course, she didn't. I sat up and slipped on some of the blood on the floor, barely catching myself before I fell into it. How could there be so much? I had the feeling Bathory just liked seeing it. She was a true monster. I wasn't like her. I had to remind myself of that. I had saved Cristoff. Maybe Xavier was right that they needed us as much as we needed them.
"Now," she said with a smile. "It's time to head back down to the portal, don't you think? You wouldn't want Xavier's arm to come off, would you?" She moved her free hand to Xavier's shoulder.
He grimaced, not daring to speak.
She tightened her grip.
"No," I managed. "I wouldn't."
"Good," she said. Her voice was sickening and sweet.
"What's going to happen at the portal?" I asked.
Bathory twisted her hand into Xavier's shoulder and he bit back a cry of pain. "He doesn't need his arm to serve his purpose."
"Okay. Okay," I said, holding my hands up.
There was no diversion this time, no George. I knew that I should sacrifice Xavier's arm to save the world, but I couldn't. I just couldn't. Xavier's eyes begged me to let her do her worst, to get out of here and keep running. They begged me not to let Thoreau run the show again. They begged me to save myself.
Only, I knew, Bathory and Thoreau wouldn't kill Xavier. They would only find another way to get to me. The mayor might move on to hurting Thorne next. Trish. Maybe even my father.
The air smelled of sewage and
the metal door came open with a click. Thoreau stood in the doorway, back to human form except for his eyes. There was no sign of Leon. The mayor was fully healed and more vibrant than ever. His time in the Infernal Dimension seemed to have lent him more life.
"Run!" Xavier shouted at me right before Bathory tightened her grip on his arm again.
Thoreau smiled. "I wasn't expecting this," he said, eyeing Xavier and I. "I came in with the thought of bringing two brave ATC agents into my real service today. I underestimated your intelligence. Well, your intelligence, Alyssa. I'm sure this was your idea and not this boy's. He rarely has any good ones. Elizabeth, let's get these two down in the portal room. The Dark Council may not be officially together yet, but I'm sure those of us who are here would like to witness the next step."
* * * * *
The portal room looked untouched. The water was blue again as if the portal hadn't just been used.
Thoreau took his dagger back and walked to Don's office, returning with zip ties. Bathory kept us in the portal room while we waited, where I had to stand, unarmed, while she kept her death grip on Xavier's arm. Thoreau ordered me to put my hands behind my back when he returned. It wasn't like I had a choice. Bathory twisted Xavier's arm as he gave the command.
"Does the bunker supervisor know what goes on in here?" I asked as Thoreau put the plastic tie around my wrists, keeping them stuck behind me. I knew from experience that breaking it with my hands behind my back was impossible.
Thoreau bound Xavier as well and made him back towards the wall. We stood next to each other now.
"Of course he does," the mayor explained. "There's nothing he can do about it. He is Bound to me. And to think, I almost had the two of you Bound to me as well." He nodded to Xavier in a silent warning to stay put.
My battle partner was very quiet. There would be no chewing his binds off now. We were supervised.
And for the first time, virtually helpless.
Thoreau and Bathory walked a few feet away and conversed in a language with simple words and sentence structure. I had the impression I was listening to a tongue that was tens of thousands of years old. How ancient were Bathory and Thoreau? I had the sense they had seen parts of history that scientists could only dig up fossils from. I wondered if they were debating on bringing Gaozu and Death here to watch whatever was about to happen. For some reason, I felt a bit comforted by the thought of Death coming here. I felt like she had some warm spot for me. She was neither for nor against the end of the world.
It wasn't like she would be any help. Who was I kidding?
Thoreau and Bathory finished speaking and faced me. Thoreau's eyes remained black and burned with fire. Leon wasn't coming through at all now. Maybe Thoreau had found some way to suppress him.
He might be our only hope.
"Leon," I said. "Fight Thoreau. He kidnapped your favorite daughter. You can do it."
Thoreau laughed. "Do you think he can take over here?" he asked. "There are places he has the advantage, true, but there are also places where I have the advantage. Thanks to my trip to my old neighborhood a few minutes ago, Leon will not be coming through for quite a while. It's almost a shame. I've found him to be quite useful when he does appear."
"Leon!" Xavier shouted. "Stop being such a coward and get your honor back! You're a disgrace to the Lovelli family!"
I expected that flash of angry blue to appear in Thoreau's eyes, but Leon remained absent. We were truly on our own here.
"For once, I agree with you," Thoreau said to Xavier. Then he turned his attention to me. "Alyssa, it is time to awaken the fourth piece of you, one that remains dormant despite my attempts to let you bring it out on your own."
I gulped. "What fourth piece?"
Pure adrenaline pumped through Xavier. I could smell it.
"To be honest," Thoreau said, pacing along the edge of the portal pool, "I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet." He stopped as Bathory took a few steps back, waiting. The mayor took a bit of time rubbing the blade of his dagger across his palm, like he was ready to make a cut there. "You're more intelligent than that."
"Fine," I said. "Just tell me and get it over with, please. I'm having a bad enough day and I'd kind of like to get the worst of it out of the way."
Thoreau smiled.
I didn't like it.
"You're very smart, Alyssa, but sometimes you miss what's right in front of you," he said. "Literally."
"Um," I managed. I feared that I was starting to get his drift. "What do you mean?"
I really regretted asking that question.
"What do I mean?" Thoreau asked. "Why, Alyssa, I am your grandfather."
Chapter Fifteen
First I was shocked.
Then I was mildly grossed out as the horror spoon-fed a tiny piece of itself to me. Then the whole situation decided to say screw it and crashed into me full force. My knees buckled with the impact.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
The mayor kept his awful grin. Next to me, Xavier flinched and looked at the stone floor as if it were him instead of me getting this most awesome news of the year.
"Do I need to repeat myself?" he asked. "I will if you want me to."
"Um, no," I said. I shook my head. I had to find a way out of this, a way that would debunk what he told me. It was just too vile and horrible. "That doesn't even make sense. If you were really...if you were really..." I couldn't form the words. "Wouldn't one of my parents be like, a half demon like Beatrix?"
"It doesn't quite work that way," Thoreau said. "That's why you've noticed nothing unusual about your mother."
"My mother?" I exploded.
Thoreau ran the dagger across his palm again. "Yes. Your mother." He spoke with a patient calm that was more scary than not.
"I've met my mother's parents," I said. "I was little, but I remember visiting with them." I hadn't seen them in years, but I remembered my grandfather and he sure hadn't been this monster standing in front of me. He had been a kind, white-haired man who had a thing about giving me a pack of sour candy every time I visited. When I was still Normal, that was. I hadn't seen him since the bite.
"I believe her," Xavier said. "Why don't you shut up, man? You just like torturing people."
"I also must agree with you on that. I do like some torture," the mayor said. He turned his attention back to me. "What if the man you're thinking of wasn't your mother's true, biological father? I might have known your grandmother quite well at one point. She was a sad, bored woman who buried herself in romance novels day and night, trying to escape her reality. The man she was married to often traveled overseas and he would be gone for weeks at a time. He was very neglectful, you see, and your grandmother carried that rare piece of Death inside of her. I saw my opportunity. I was happy to make her dreams come true long enough to produce a child. She never knew that I was anything other than Normal."
"You're lying," I said. "I don't believe you. For one thing, I don't stink." But Thoreau was right about one thing. Grandma used to have boxes of romance novels lying everywhere. I remembered books with bare-chested guys on the cover. Ladies with flowing hair. It was a dim memory, but it was there. The mayor could have found that out easily, though, in order to use this information to scare me. He couldn’t be right.
But Thoreau just kept going. He was enjoying this, enjoying my horror. "Did you ever stop and wonder why the rite to bring Leon back also brought me back?" he asked. "My fresh blood needed to be in the circle for the rite to work on me. Leon’s blood came from Xavier. Mine came from you. I’m sure you felt drained after the rite, Alyssa. The rite needed to borrow some of your blood."
I wanted to say something sarcastic, but my sense of humor shriveled like a month old balloon.
Thoreau had been very dead and burned during the rite, with no trace of fresh blood left.
I had felt drained afterwards.
"But this doesn't make sense!" I shouted, hysterical. "My mother is the poster child of Normal. You couldn
't be her father. It's just not possible. Would you just shut up?"
"I introduced myself to your mother once, when she was a teenager," he said. "She didn't take it well. In fact, she shunned me. That was fine. I only needed her to produce a child with the right man--your father. Dating sites are wonderful things. It was quite easy for me to play a behind-the-scenes matchmaker."
"You tried to kick her into the underworld!" I shouted.
"Like I said, your mother is of no more use to me now. She clings to Normal life as if it could erase me."
"You mean, she knows?" I asked. I thought of her running from the house and screaming after Trish and I had saved her from Thoreau. "She's not Normal?"
All this time, I thought those screams had been because of me.
Now I understood why my Turning had set her over the edge. Mom had been running from this. She had found that Normal life and then I shattered it. This explained why she hated Abnormals so much.
"Your mother is Normal," the mayor said. "Normal and demon unions produce Normal children. The demon part is only awakened if the person comes into contact with something special. It's what happened with Beatrix." He backed away from the pool and looked at it for a second. "Can you guess what that is?"
"Alyssa," Xavier whispered. He was terrified.
Now I understood.
Xavier had suspected it the whole time. He just didn't know how to tell me.
"The Infernal Dimension?" I asked.
"Very good," Thoreau said. "You will be taking the trip that you've always wanted, Alyssa. You will have no choice but to believe me when you see the changes that you’ll undergo. My blood is strong." He slashed the dagger across his palm, making black blood bubble from the wound. "Why do you think I've kept your father in the Infernal and made it easy for you to reach my portal?"
"No!" I shouted. My knees trembled and threatened to go out. I wanted to collapse with the horror.
Thoreau was already holding his hand over the portal.
