“Where you get to make jokes,” said John. He lowered his voice a little. “This isn’t going to be a situation where it’s all going to be okay, and we can go out for beers and burgers after the game.”
“Well, that’s the thing,” said Val. “I feel great.”
“You look like shit,” said John. “We’ve been over this already. And you said you felt like shit too.”
“No, I’m saying it wrong,” said Val. “I feel like shit, but it’s great.”
John blinked, then pulled over a chair, lowering himself into it. “Did you get hit on the head?”
“I don’t think so.”
“You need to break this one down for me,” said John. “I’m not following where you’re going. I want to, God as my witness, but I feel like this conversation has taken a turn towards Vegas.”
“I feel like shit,” said Val, a grin splitting his face, “and I haven’t felt like shit for five years.”
John sat very still. “Since—”
“Since then,” said Val. “I think it’s gone.”
“I think you should stop smiling about it,” said John.
“Why?” Val tried to stand again, then gave up. “You haven’t had to live with a bloodthirsty killer in your head for five years. You don’t wake up and not know who you killed.”
“Ignoring your whole superhero savior thing for a moment,” said John, “I don’t think that’s why you should stop smiling.”
“What, you want me to keep killing?” Val’s voice cracked, and he paused. “Sorry, I didn’t—”
“No, you’re good,” said John. “Just … can you just shut up for a second? Christ! I got to get words out of my head. It’s not my wheelhouse, right? More of an action guy. And you’re not helping.” John rubbed his good hand through his hair, closed his eyes for a second, then looked at Val, waiting.
“I … okay,” said Val. He leaned back, then held out a hand. “Do your thing.”
“This isn’t happy fun times,” said John. “This is serious fucking unhappy times. Something just sucked a fucking werewolf soul out through your eyes into a briefcase in our lounge, right next to the sofa we picked up from the dollar store. You look like shit, and you’re too weak to stand. You’re all happy and saying, ‘John, it’s a cure,’ but you’re forgetting something.” John licked his lips. “I said I’m sorry because I made you open the fucking case, okay? It’s my fault.”
“No—”
John held up a hand. “I haven’t given you back the talking stick yet.” He cleared his throat. “I said I’m sorry because I think I’ve killed you.”
Val blinked. “You’ve got my attention.”
“Thought that might do it,” said John.
“I get that you think you’ve killed me,” said Val, rubbing at his nose, “but I don’t see why.”
“Because of that.” John pointed at the hand Val had used to rub his nose.
Val almost laughed. “I got a running nose for the first time in five…” His words trailed off as he saw the streak of blood on the back of his hand.
“Yeah,” said John. “You remember you’ve got a virus inside you, right? You’ve got a virus that turned someone to jelly in like a minute.”
Val looked down at his hand again then touched a finger to his nose. “Ah.”
“’Ah,’” said John. “See? I went and did something stupid, and now I’ve killed my best friend.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Another black Yukon pushed its way through the snow towards them. The lights were on, strong and bright, but the noise of the storm hid the engine noise. It looked like a large, black whale nosing through the depths towards them.
Danny shifted at her side. “Let me—”
Carlisle held out a hand. The twinge in her gut was back, this time making her hopeful. “It’s okay.”
“I can—”
“Seriously,” said Carlisle, “it’s okay.” She held up a small device, showed the screen to her friend. “See this?”
“Looks like a really cheap and shitty phone,” said Danny.
“What it is, is a tracker,” said Carlisle. The black Yukon had pulled to a stop on the road beside them. The lights stayed on. The tinted windows blacked out the interior, making the inhabitants invisible. “And it’s tracking that.” She waved at the other Yukon through the window.
“You know who’s in that?”
“More or less,” said Carlisle. “Give me five.”
“Five what?”
Carlisle sighed and didn’t answer. Instead, she brushed snow off herself — their own Yukon’s windows were trashed. She spared a glance in the back seat where Danny held Adalia. “Kid.”
“Yeah?” Adalia looked cold, but angry.
Good. If she was angry she’d be unlikely to be hypothermic. “Don’t let your Mom get out of the car.”
“Like I can—”
“Kid?”
A sullen pause. “Yeah?”
“Don’t let her get out. We’re in a delicate phase right now, and she could fuck it all up.” Carlisle grabbed the door handle and yanked, the air biting and gnawing at her heels as she stepped out. She could hear Danny start to ask what the hell did she mean and Carlisle don’t you go— before she shut the door with a satisfying thump. She let her feet shuffle her through the snow to the other Yukon, pulling her collar up against the driving snow. The leather didn’t do shit, but it made her feel better.
A window cracked open in the other vehicle, the interior dark. She caught a glimpse of white teeth in a black face, and a part of her started to relax as another part tensed right back up. Ajay’s familiar voice reached out to her. “Detective?”
Carlisle kicked snow off her foot — now there’s a song that will never end — before putting it back down. “Could use a ride.”
“What did you do to my car?”
“It’s a truck,” said Carlisle, “and I didn’t do anything to it.”
“What happened to my truck?” Ajay’s voice had a smile hidden in it somewhere.
“I think the term we’d use is that, ‘The vehicle failed to take the corner.’ I’ve always hated that kind of language though, like the car decided to not turn.” Carlisle hugged herself. “Could really use a ride.”
“Okay, Detective Carlisle,” he said. “Get your things. It just so happens, we’re going your way.”
“Which way is that?”
“Chicago,” said Ajay. “Get in the car.”
Carlisle sniffed at the air, then walked back to their battered machine. It’s a truck, she thought, but a smile tugged at her face anyway, hurried there by the feeling in her gut. She knocked on the door, and Danny pushed it open.
“What’s going on?”
“We’re going to Chicago,” said Carlisle, “and you have to promise me something.”
Danny’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that?”
“You have to promise me you won’t kill the men in that Yukon.”
Danny thought about it. “You saying that means you think I’ll want to kill someone in that Yukon.”
“You’ve more or less got it,” said Carlisle. “And you owe me.”
“How you figure?”
“Because you crashed the only other way we’ve got of getting to Chicago,” said Carlisle. “I’ve been punched in the face with an air bag, and I’m just too tired for this shit,” she said. “So here’s the way it’s going down. I’m getting in that Yukon over there,” and she yanked a thumb over her shoulder, “and I’m driving to Chicago. When I’m there, I’m going to look up Everard and that freak show Miles, and see what kind of trouble they’ve got themselves in to. Maybe save the world. Again. There’s a small chance I’ll also get laid, which is a thing that hasn’t happened since coming the fuck up here in the snow surrounded by fishermen and inbreds.” She paused for a breath. “The fishermen are also inbred.”
Danny nodded slowly. “That’s fair.”
“I don’t give a shit if it’s fair,” said Car
lisle. “I need a burger and friends and I need to not be cold.”
“Can I ask why I would want to kill the men in that car?”
“It’s a truck,” said Carlisle absently. She coughed into the cold, wiped some more snow out of her eyes. “I’m pretty sure these guys are the ones we were running from before.”
“Pretty sure?”
“Tell you what,” said Carlisle. “You promise me you won’t kill them, and we can get in their nice warm truck and talk about it some more.”
• • •
“There are different factions at play,” Ajay said. He craned his neck from the front passenger seat to look at Danny. “Not everyone’s playing by the rules.”
Carlisle frowned. “There are rules?”
Ajay laughed. “No.” He looked away from Danny, tried to crane around even further. Carlisle had chosen to sit behind him — if Danny had another freak out, this would provide some necessary distance.
Danny spoke up for the first time, the hint of anger — or is that fear? — in her voice. “Why won’t you just leave us alone?”
Ajay sobered. “We want to save the world.”
“World can save itself,” said Carlisle.
“You seen the news?” Ajay turned back forward. “The world needs all the help it can get. Have you heard of a man named Talin Moray?”
“He in the news? We’re a little out of touch up here,” said Carlisle. “Or is he from the same place you come from?”
“More or less,” said Ajay. “Except we are nothing alike.”
“You’re all the same,” said Danny. “You try to take my cub…” She cut herself off. “Sorry.”
Silence held for a few more beats. “So,” said Carlisle, as if nothing bad was about to happen. “How’d you find us?”
“Wasn’t looking for you,” said Ajay. “Different orders.”
“Orders, huh?” Carlisle leaned back in the darkness of the back seat. “You sure you’re not a soldier?”
“Nor a sailor.” There was an indeterminate shuffling from the front seat where Ajay sat. “But I did come here in a ship.”
“You keep saying that,” said Carlisle.
“I feel like an asshole,” said Danny.
“Mom!” said Adalia. Then, quieter, “Language.” Carlisle thought she could pick out the side of a smile on Adalia’s face, but it was hard to see in the dark of the back.
“I feel like an asshole,” said Danny, “because you two know each other and I don’t know why.”
“Talin Moray is why,” said Ajay, before Carlisle could step in front of that one. “Do you believe in magic?”
“Hey,” said the driver. “Boss, should you..?”
“No,” said Ajay. “Thomas here believes we should be operating under the strictest secrecy. I have a different view.”
“What view is that?” Carlisle saw that Danny’s body had leaned forward, something challenging in the set of her shoulders. She could feel it even in the dark.
“Hey,” said Carlisle. “I think we should all calm down.”
“I’m calm,” said Ajay.
“Me too,” said Thomas, from the driver’s seat.
“I’m not,” said Danny. “What’s going on?”
“You promised not to kill them,” said Carlisle.
“I don’t want to kill anyone,” said Danny, something anguished in her voice. “You people keep removing the choice from me.”
The Yukon juddered as it hit something in the road. Adalia cleared her throat, very deliberately. “I’m calm too. And I’m sure Mom is fine.”
“Sweetie—”
“Because she won’t want to crash another car,” said Adalia. “Right, Mom?”
“Right,” said Danny, after a moment. “That’s why I won’t kill them both and leave their bodies for the crows. Because we need a ride.”
Ajay turned his neck again to face Danny. “We didn’t come for you. Not at first.”
“You’re lying—”
“We came for the man named Valentine,” he said, calm and still as a pane of glass. “We came hunting the world’s bravest detective. We needed to find Valentine Everard, find out if he was a myth. He’d fallen off the world, as if he’d shifted sideways and just … moved on.”
“Who is this brave detective?” said Carlisle.
“The detective,” said Ajay, “had found the man named Valentine before. Their paths had crossed, linking them together like a chain that can’t be broken. The world was saved. And we need them to do it one more time.”
Silence, overlaid by the grumble of the Yukon as it nosed through the snow. Adalia leaned forward. “Ajay?”
“Yes, mistress?”
“Did your story … did it have a heroic little girl?”
Ajay laughed then, Thomas joining him from the front. It was a clean sound. “I’m sorry, mistress,” said Ajay, “but it did not. The spirits didn’t say anything about a girl, or her mother. We thought that … well, we thought that if Detective Carlisle wouldn’t come willingly, we might impress upon her companions.”
“At least you’re honest,” said Danny. “How’d that work out for you?”
“Not well at all,” said Ajay. “You see—”
“You were going to kidnap us?” said Adalia.
“Not exactly,” said Ajay. “We were going to … convince you.”
“With a taser,” said Danny.
“With the spirits,” said Ajay. “The taser was for our protection.”
“You’re full of shit,” said Danny.
“Language,” said Adalia, but there was something hesitant in her voice. “I don’t—”
“He’s not,” said Carlisle. Her stomach was tensed around that new feeling — or is it just so old you’ve forgotten it? “He’s not full of shit.”
“What, because he comes in to town with a quick smile and a good story? They tried to catch us, Carlisle. They tried to catch my little girl.” There was a tearing sound in the dark, followed by a snap. Danny held out the handle for the door she’d been gripping, the edges twisted and torn. “Sorry.”
“I’m—” said Ajay.
“He’s not full of shit,” said Carlisle, “because he knows.”
“What does he know, Melissa? What’s he got on you?”
Carlisle swallowed, then shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She sighed. “No one should know about it. Not anymore.”
Carlisle felt Adalia’s a hand on her arm — Adalia — and almost pulled away. Her skin wanted to run, remembering his touch, his breath, but … no. Carlisle wasn’t afraid. Not anymore. Least of all, not of him.
“I’m sorry,” said Ajay. “I … sometimes the spirits are unkind.”
“They’re not unkind,” said Danny. “They don’t fu—” a glance here in the dark that might have been at Adalia, “They don’t exist. I don’t believe in special faeries or magic friends or gypsies of the woods.”
“And yet,” said Ajay, “you walk with the power of the Night at your side. It shrouds you, clings to you. I can smell it on you. You are changed, woman, and changed for the good of us all.”
Danny sat silent as a stone. Carlisle tried again. “Ajay?”
“Yes, Detective.”
“I’m not a Detective anymore,” she said. “I said that.”
“You are always what your God has made you,” he said. “The rest is between you and him.”
“Right,” she said. “The thing is, it’s shit like that, that makes you sound crazy. You know that?”
A soft noise from the front, somewhere between a snort and a laugh, as Thomas covered his mouth. Ajay shot his driver a look, and said, “Enough from you, Thomas.”
“The lady, she has a point,” he said. “I’ve always said you scare people.”
“I—”
“I’m not scared,” said Carlisle. “I’m confused. There’s a big difference.”
“What does it look like when you are scared?” said Thomas.
“It
looks,” said Danny, leaning forward again, “like death. When she gets scared, I get angry.”
“Girl?” said Carlisle. “Now’s not really … you’re not helping, okay?”
“I’m not afraid of death,” said Ajay.
“Because you know where the dead go when they die,” said Carlisle.
“Yes,” said Ajay.
“That is why they think you are crazy,” said Thomas. “I’ve known you these ten years or more, and you still sound crazy to me.”
“She doesn’t think I’m crazy,” said Ajay. “She thinks I am her strong right arm.”
“Who is she?” said Danny.
“Yeah,” said Carlisle. “I think this is where I’m getting interested again.”
“She is my keeper, mother, my queen, my sister, and your salvation,” said Ajay.
“She sounds like Jesus,” said Adalia, “with a skirt.”
Ajay laughed. “No, little one,” he said. “Although she might talk with him, from time to time. Others, too. The L’wha—”
“Is this some voodoo shit?” said Danny.
“It is something,” said Ajay. “Vodou is everything, it is—”
“Whoa,” said Carlisle. “You’re going all crazy again.”
“You saw the spirits,” said Ajay.
“What does he mean?” said Danny.
“Yeah,” said Adalia. “What—”
“Kid,” said Carlisle, “maybe later.”
“But—”
“I don’t want to talk about what I saw,” said Carlisle, leaning forward and gripping Adalia’s hand in hers. “Not because you can’t hear it. No secrets between us, remember? I promised.”
“You did,” said Adalia.
“I don’t want to talk about it because I need to get it straight in my head. Do you know what I mean?”
Adalia looked down. “I get it.” She looked back up. “But I’m your friend too. I can help.”
Oh, kid, thought Carlisle, you don’t know how much you help just by saying things like that. Your Mom, she made a good one. But all she said was, “Sure. Maybe later, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’m still not clear,” said Danny. “I’m not clear on why you’re here, why you needed my Valentine, and why we’re going to Chicago. Together.”
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