Almost Everything

by Tate Hallaway

  My only experience with bars was the one time Bea talked me into going to an all-ages show at First Avenue. “Are there really any like that?”

  “I doubt it,” Nik scoffed. “Can you tell where he is?”

  I had no idea if I could actually see through Elias’s eyes, but I tried. Closing my own again, I concentrated on trying to get impressions of where he was. It was definitely a bar. I could smell the faint scent of stale beer and the sweat of many bodies. The music wasn’t loud, and I thought I could hear a lilting tune played by fiddle and penny whistle. “Irish,” I said. “Somewhere with live music.”

  “That doesn’t narrow it down much in St. Paul,” Nikolai muttered.

  I tried to get a sense of place, but our bond must not have been strong enough for me to actually pinpoint his location. “Sorry,” I said, opening my eyes. “That’s all I’ve got.”

  Nikolai straightened. “One midnight tour of Irish pubs coming up.”

  Because I was underage, I waited in the car while Nik poked his head in at the Half Time Rec, a windowless, freestanding square building at the corner of an otherwise mostly residential street. The exterior seemed to be made of long planks of wood. My eyes were heavy with missed sleep. I blinked slowly.

  I kept going over my plan to find any hidden flaws so I wouldn’t be disappointed again when someone else pointed them out. Okay, so what I knew was that I had a soul to spare—one vampire and one witch. Luis thought it was awful that I had survived this long with both intact.

  That seemed pretty straightforward.

  Now on to the trickier part.

  Mrs. Kirov had said that the death of an animus, even a reanimated one, had worked to satisfy the hunt in Ukraine. So, it followed that if I let one of my animuses die, the magical murder part of the hunt would be fulfilled.

  Check.

  Next, there should be a way to give up one of my souls.

  As far as I had things figured, vampires had at least two ways of disposing of the animus. One, they could abdicate theirs to another vampire. This involved death—not cool.

  The other was through this rite-of-passage thing that my dad had wanted me to do when I turned sixteen, and, by which process, apparently, Luis had become a full vampire. I liked that version better, since I wouldn’t have to die. Much nicer. I would have to give up the extra-special superpower I had by staying both, but, even in my sleep-deprived state, that seemed a pretty fair deal.

  Not dying, but giving up super-duper power. I could live with that—literally.

  Especially since Luis seemed to have it pretty good. He didn’t “suffer the allergy,” which meant I could go back to school in the fall and live a normal life—or at least what passed for normal for me, anyway. From what I could tell, Luis could activate the superstrength and speed of vampires when his fangs dropped. So, maybe I’d still have those advantages too. I presumed I’d crave blood a bit more regularly, which would be kind of gross, but if it stopped the hunt for now, I could deal.

  Of course, I’d have to consider majoring in biochemistry in college. For this to really pay off, I was going to have to devote the next twenty years to figuring out a long-term solution to the hunt.

  Presuming a solution was out there, I thought I’d covered everything so far.

  Check. Double-check.

  What was I missing?

  Oh, yeah, the blood. The vampires go into a feeding frenzy for the hunt. But how much blood did they actually need? The Ukrainian corpse walkers, as creepy as they were, gave me hope. If I understood Mrs. Kirov correctly, the hunt had been satisfied by a corpse, so that meant, even with a soul attached, we were talking about a body. Dead hearts didn’t beat. I suppose all the blood might pool somewhere, but it might not be easy to extract, and it certainly wouldn’t be “fresh.”

  Maybe I could bring a bag from the blood bank after all? I knew everyone laughed at me, but I’d feel better knowing they wouldn’t have to get all of it from me. Because, otherwise, that was the main flaw in my plan—the possibility of me getting accidentally drained.

  So I just had to contact those coveners in charge of the blood bank and contrive a reason why I needed a pint or two of witch blood. I could do that.

  Satisfied, I closed my eyes for just a moment.

  When I next woke up, we were parked in front of the Liffey on Seventh in downtown. My neck was stiff and my mouth dry. I wondered if I’d drooled. I sat up and looked around for Nikolai. Lights glared off the glossy black paint and gold letters of the pub, which was located on the ground floor of a Holiday Inn.

  As usual, the streets were empty of pedestrians.

  I yawned and stretched. How long had I been here? The engine was off, so I couldn’t check the time on the dash. I undid the buckle. I was just about to get out and stretch my legs when Nikolai stumbled backward out the tavern’s front door.

  My dad came out a second later. I almost didn’t recognize him; he was wearing clothes. He had on a pair of dark slacks and a polo shirt. What, did he think this was the eighties?

  Nikolai righted himself. I suddenly recognized my dad’s posture as aggressive. Wait a minute. They were fighting!

  I got myself out of the car just in time to see Nikolai take a swing at my dad.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Was it impossible for Nikolai to have an exchange with a vampire that didn’t end up getting violent? I pushed out of the car, trying to get between Nikolai and Dad. Before I could even take a step, Elias emerged from the pub.

  “Stop!” he commanded.

  Weirdly, everyone did—even me. For a moment, the only noise was the soft hiss of tires as cars passed on the street.

  Under the white electric light, the vampires’ skin glowed eerily. Elias stood next to Dad. I had never noticed how much taller Elias was. His head was several inches above Dad’s. Despite the height difference, my dad still had a certain regal presence. He had a hawkish nose and intense, sharp features.

  Noticing me, he asked, “Is it true? You plan to abdicate?”

  I shot Nik a thanks-for-spilling-the-beans look. “I don’t know,” I said, feeling very put on the spot. “Maybe. Except without the dying.”

  “Admirable goal.” My father smirked. “How do you plan to pull off this miracle?”

  I frowned. I was really hoping my plan would be more obvious to a vampire. “Well, I was thinking some magic like the rite of passage or whatever you call the vampire Initiation, only timed to take place during the hunt.”

  “Not true abdication, then,” Elias muttered.

  Meanwhile, my dad brightened as if I’d just handed him a present. “Finally!” He clapped his hands together. “You will be one of us, completely.”

  Nik gave me a sharp look, as if it hadn’t occurred to him that that would be one of the consequences of the plan. Maybe he didn’t mind dating a dhampyr, but he didn’t look too pleased about my becoming a full vamp.

  Behind my dad’s beaming face, Elias frowned, deep in thought.

  “Good, good,” my dad was saying, almost as if to himself. “We will make the arrangements. How soon?”

  “Tomorrow night?”

  He nodded. “We can be ready.”

  “So you do think it will work?” I asked Elias and Dad.

  Dad stood on the sidewalk and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. One hand was casually stuffed into the pocket of his trousers. I hated myself for the thought, but it was a lot harder to take him seriously now that he was dressed like some kind of corporate monkey. Nakedness gave him a weird sort of gravitas.

  “It’s impossible to say for sure. This sort of thing has never been done in conjunction with the hunt. You’re going into uncharted territory, Ana,” Dad said. “I’m afraid we won’t know until we try.”

  “But we’re all agreeing to try?” I looked from Nikolai to Dad to Elias in turn.

  “I think, in principle, your idea is sound, Ana, but I’m not thrilled about the risks involved.”

  “Me either,” muttered Nikolai. He�
�d found an old-fashioned lamppost to lean against. His arms were crossed in front of his chest.

  “Do we have a lot of viable alternatives?” I asked.

  “No, Ana, but you’ve never seen a true hunt,” Dad said. “We can be … fierce.”

  “More like animals,” Nikolai sneered.

  “But you can call it off if things get really hairy, right?” I asked Dad, ignoring Nikolai.

  “Of course,” he said, straightening up a bit, as if trying to assert his power with his body language.

  “Then no harm, no foul,” I said.

  I could tell no one really wanted to agree. I mean, I understood there could still be problems. No one mentioned, for instance, that my dad could get caught up in the feeding frenzy himself and be unable to stop the hunt. But, I told myself, if the emotional shock of only ordering an attack on me was too much for my dad, he’d never let things get that far.

  I also still needed to arrange for some extra blood, but since no one asked about that, I didn’t say anything. That was the only other potential hiccup I could really foresee. But I was smart enough to know that things could still go wrong. Things always did.

  I couldn’t let that stop me, however. Doing nothing wasn’t an option. Either some other covener would have to die, or all hell was going to break loose in the vampire kingdom. I’d lose my dad to madness or he’d kill himself with an abdication. If we didn’t do that, the vampires would either starve to death or become nosferatu and terrorize the witches.

  This plan of mine could work, and it was a risk I was willing to take.

  I think my dad saw my determination in my eyes, because he asked, “Is your mother aware of this?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “She’s not terribly happy about it, though.”

  “I imagine not,” Elias said with a little chuckle. He caught my eye, and we shared a smile about my mom.

  “All right,” my dad said finally, “but I want to be certain of this. We will go over every scenario.”

  I had to stifle a yawn. My eyes were scratchy, and I blinked slowly, trying to stay awake.

  When I focused, Dad stared at me with a sympathetic look. “Tomorrow,” he said kindly. “The kingdom can wait until the princess has rested.”

  “I’m not tired,” but even as I said it, I knew how childish I sounded.

  Dad smiled. It was weird, but dressed as he was, he actually sort of looked like a dad. “It’s all right,” he said. “We can survive one more night. You can save the world tomorrow.”

  I let out the yawn I’d been holding back. “Okay, good.”

  I barely remembered the drive home. Evidently, given that I woke up in them, somehow I got into pajamas and snuggled under the cotton sheets.

  A blue jay’s squawk sounded from the pine tree just outside my window. I rolled over and stuffed the pillow over my head and ears. I squeezed my eyes shut but couldn’t get back to sleep.

  I’d been dreaming about being chased by rabid wolves through an American Girl birthday party at the Mall of America. That last part was just the weirdness of dreams, but I knew the other images had everything to do with my plan to solve the hunt.

  Pulling the pillow off my head, I blinked into the bright sun. Would it seem even brighter when I became a full vampire? I also wondered if there would come a time, if I lived long enough, when I couldn’t stand the sight of it anymore.

  At least I was becoming a vampire in a time of twenty-four-hour service. If I really wanted to, I could still go to a McDonald’s at two a.m. The world was still different at night, but thanks to online services, I could still order books or check my bank account or shop for shoes in the middle of the night. It had not been like that when Elias was brought over; the world mostly shut down after dark back then.

  It wouldn’t be so bad for me.

  Besides, it would be something like the year 2300 by the time I couldn’t stand any sun. Who knew what things would be like then? Maybe we’d be living on Mars. And, anyway, maybe with global warming, I could just move to Finland or the Arctic Circle where it’s dark for half the year and still have a “normal” life.

  What I needed to do today, however, was make sure I didn’t die tonight. I had a few things to do, so I wiped the sleep from my eyes and pulled myself out of bed.

  First, I took a long bath and made a big breakfast. Mom shuffled into the kitchen in her fuzzy slippers and terry cloth robe. Her hair stood up in all directions. She sat down in the bright yellow chair next to the table and blinked blearily at me. “You’re cooking,” she remarked.

  Indeed, I was. I’d gotten down the heavy cast iron skillet and was frying bacon. I had eggs beaten in a bowl ready to be scrambled. “Breakfast is the most important part of your day,” I said.

  She gave an unimpressed snort and pulled herself up with a groan to grab a mug from the cabinet. This one had the classic Wiccan bumper sticker phrase ANKH IF YOU LOVE ISIS printed in bright red, friendly letters on it. She poured herself a cup of the coffee I’d brewed.

  I cooked the scrambled eggs and divided them and the bacon between two plates. Mom’s mouth hung open even farther when I handed her a fork. “Dig in,” I suggested.

  “Did you talk to your dad last night?” she asked.

  The bacon was crisp and salty. I nodded as I chewed.

  “What did he say about this crazy plan of yours?”

  First on my to-do list: convince Mom to go along with the plan—or at least not to get in the way of it.

  “Look, I know you’re against this,” I started.

  “Damn right I am,” she snapped, interrupting me brusquely. She slammed her cup down so hard on the table that it clanked. Coffee splashed onto the wood, like spatters of blood. “I have never wanted you to become a vampire. It’s an ugly, awful existence. You’ve seen them! I thought you understood. When you decided not to join them last year, I figured you’d made your choice.”

  “I did,” I said quietly. “I like being the way I am.”

  “Then why do this?”

  “Because somebody has to sacrifice something, Mom, and I can do it without dying—without anybody having to die.”

  Her frown deepened at my words, and she chewed at her bottom lip. Absently, she used the cuff of her sleeve to daub at the beads of coffee on the table. She didn’t look at me for a long time; then, finally, she spoke. “When did you become such a goddamn altruist?” She snorted. “Sometimes I don’t think you’re related to either Ramses or me.”

  I took that as a compliment, despite her tone.

  My mom shook her head, obviously still struggling to concede my point. “You’re still not going to solve the problem, not forever. What are you going to do when the hunger comes back in just over a decade, huh? You’re not going to have an extra soul to sacrifice, then, and it’s going to be the same crisis all over again.”

  I poked at my eggs with my fork. “I’m thinking about studying biochemistry.”

  Mom laughed, and not at all kindly. “You think science is the answer?”

  “Magic hasn’t been much help,” I shot back. “And, you know, things have changed since the Stone Age. We understand a lot more about blood and how it works.”

  “But no one has ever understood the soul,” she said quietly.

  “Maybe I will,” I said.

  She took a long sip of her coffee and watched me over the rim. “I can see you’re serious about this, but I don’t think the cost is worth it.”

  “How can you still say that? After everything that happened last night with Bea’s mom?” I decided the smart way to talk to Mom about this was to focus on what the hunt did to the witch community. She might have a hard heart when it came to vampires, but she was the Queen of Witches. I knew she felt responsibility there. “If we don’t solve the hunt soon, the coven is going to splinter. It already has. Someone acted on their own because they didn’t trust the Elders not to sell them out.”

  “Who was that exactly?” Mom, curious, said sharply.

  �
��I don’t know exactly,” I lied smoothly. “I just know you say you didn’t orchestrate it, and Nik says his dad didn’t, so unless the Elders are making decisions without you …”

  I let that last bit hang there. It was probably mean of me, because I knew there was always tension between Mom and the council. Her eyes narrowed, and I could almost see the list of names she considered as possible traitors flash through her unfocused gaze.

  “You’re sure this plan of yours is perfectly safe?”

  “I’m sure my life is in no danger,” I said, because, well, there were risks, of course. Nothing involving vampires was “perfectly safe.”

  Mom seemed to sense my attempt to deflect the intent of her question, but she let it go. “I want to be there, as extra protection. If something does go wrong, I want a witch there who can hold back those monsters, if necessary.”

  I didn’t like the way she put it, but I could appreciate the sentiment. “All right,” I agreed.

  “What’s the plan for tonight?” she asked.

  “We’re going to gather tonight,” I said. I realized I didn’t know where or when; I knew only that my dad and Elias were working out some of the details.

  She sensed my hesitation over the details. “You should do it at the covenstead,” Mom suggested. “It’s private, and it’s far enough out of town that it will take the vampires some time to reach it. Plus, there are lots of wards already in place—things we could trigger quickly if need be.”

  I chewed a bit of egg slowly and swallowed it, watching Mom intently with suspicion. When I considered trying to bring her around to my plan, I didn’t expect this kind of endorsement or support. What was she playing at? Was she seriously just thinking about my safety or did she have some ulterior motive? “Um, okay,” I said finally, unable to figure out what she might be thinking. “That seems like a good idea. I’ll get the word to Dad.”

  “You do that.” She pushed herself away from the table, leaving her plate barely touched.

  “Where are you going?”

  “You reminded me that there are some people I need to talk to about what happened last night. If my authority is being undermined …” She pursed her lips. “Well, I should go.”