“Brilliant,” I said, not really sure If I was talking about the light the crucifix had cast or the genius of the move. Both observations would have been accurate. Still, with twelve vamps about to pounce on us from different directions, they’d still be vulnerable from behind.
“Ever see the movie 300?” I asked.
Devin’s dad nodded. “The Spartans won because they lured the army into a small canyon. The target is gathering in the sanctuary, I believe. This hallway, it’s the canyon.”
The vamps might have heard me, but in the moment it was a bit of strategic advice I couldn’t pass up. Otherwise, these two hunters would be vulnerable from behind. But with the sunlight crucifix, if one of them could lure the others into the hall and the other could blast them… they stood a chance.
“It’s time you become the bait,” I said to Devin’s dad.
He nodded. He understood. He needed to lure them into a frenzy, get them chasing him without the ability to resist. Then, get them all caught up in the beam of sunlight which, I hoped, would give Devin’s dad a chance to stake them one by one.
He had one of those shoddy wrist crossbows that Devin had. Little tiny stakes. I guessed that was his plan. The best chance he had.
I tossed him a couple of my stakes for good measure. “Just in case you need them.”
Devin’s dad nodded as he took off down the hall to spring the trap of the ambush and lead the younglings into a trap of our own making.
I shook my head. If I hadn’t shown up, there was no way they’d even have a chance. And this was a risky move, no matter how you calculated it. I mean, if I failed with Alice, she’d be able to take them out from behind without much difficulty.
I had to trust that these hunters weren’t complete imbeciles. And they had to trust that my abilities, my skills, were as refined as they actually were.
I wouldn’t let them down. I couldn’t. This was my first time confronting Alice in five years.
Brucie turned back into steam. He was still around. Looking for ways to help, I hoped.
Even as I heard Devin’s dad shout—calling out the younglings from within the sanctuary—I pressed open the door into Alice’s office.
She was clearly expecting me. She stood there, Devin in her grip. From the look on his face, he was in something of a trance. As if she’d enthralled him with her allure.
But Alice looked different. Not like I’d remembered her. Of course, she had my abilities. She’d targeted someone—and from the looks of her, it wasn’t Devin.
I mean, she was beautiful. Just not Devin’s type. Tall, almost abnormally slender, with long blond hair. She looked like a model.
But what had she done to Devin?
“Let him go,” I said.
“Nice to see you again, Nyx,” Alice said. “I was getting a little thirsty.”
23
I AIMED MY crossbow at Alice’s heart. It would be a tight shot—hitting her, but missing Devin. But it was a shot I could probably make.
Probably…
Was I willing to risk it all on probably?
“Come on, Nyx. Is that all you have for me after all we’ve been through? Or should I remind you that before I bit you, you’d intended to make a meal out of me?”
I almost pulled the trigger. But for some reason what she said resonated. If I was being honest, I had moved on her first. And I’d taken the form of her ideal.
“Why this form?” I asked. “Why is this your ideal?”
Alice smiled. She wasn’t even in her own natural form anymore, but she was still the same vampire. “You aren’t just my ideal,” Alice said. “Even looking at you now, it’s uncanny.”
“So I look like someone you once loved?”
Alice nodded. “A long time ago.”
“Why don’t you let the boy go?” I said. “This has nothing to do with him.”
“I can’t do that,” Alice said. “If I do, what’s to prevent you from killing me?”
I narrowed my eyes. “For some reason I suspect you’d put up quite a fight regardless.”
Alice grinned. “Do you remember the song you sang the night you tried to lure me?”
I shook my head. “I don’t. My memories…”
“‘Unchained Melody,’” Alice said. “It was our song…”
I cocked my head. “From the sixties?”
“He was a nightwalker,” Alice said. “Like me. Not nearly so old.”
I huffed. “No wonder Mina and the ladies figured out who I was…”
“Of course she did,” Alice said. “Johann and I both took assignments from her, back in the day.”
“So the Order really was setting me up.”
Alice shook her head. “No. They knew when I saw you that I’d pause. I’d hesitate…”
“Like you are now?”
Alice nodded. “The Order had him staked. And they burned his heart.”
“Why did they do that?”
“It had nothing to do with him,” Alice said. “He did nothing wrong. He followed orders. They did it to punish me. To remind me that they were in control. I was getting too… independent.”
“But you didn’t leave the Order,” I said. “Not yet, anyway.”
Alice shook her head. “It was the only thing I ever knew. And since I’d spent my whole existence helping them hunt other vampires, I knew the vampire community would never accept me if I defected. I was stuck.”
“And when you came after Mercy, in New Orleans… When you used my ability to get into the asylum…”
“Eliminating Mercy was supposed to be my redemption. And my freedom. Once I eliminated her, I’d be free. And with her gone, there wouldn’t be a vampire out there who knew everything I’d done.”
“So what the hell are you doing now, Alice?” I asked. “Raising an army of younglings?”
“A new kind of vampire,” Alice said. “A clan that fights against the likes of the Order. Not because of their faith—I still share their beliefs, in many respects—but for the sake of justice. What the Order has become… it’s perverse.”
I nodded. “I agree.”
“And you could join us, Nyx. It doesn’t matter that you’re not a vampire. The Order hates everything about what you are, too.”
She wasn’t talking about the fact that I was an elemental. She was talking about the fact that I was trans. That I defied what they thought was “natural.”
I took a deep breath. “Alice, if I don’t finish this… if I don’t eat your heart… I’ll never be able to go back to what I was.”
Alice smiled slightly. Then, with Devin still in something of a trance, she lowered him to her chair. He sat there, his head tilted to the side. I don’t think he’d blinked once since I entered the room.
“I know it must be hard for you,” Alice said. “And if you still insist on killing me, you are free to try. But my offer is only good once. We can be friends or enemies. And my enemies don’t tend to last long.”
I shrugged. “Except for Mercy.”
Alice cringed. “Except for Mercy.”
I took a deep breath. “I’ll drop my weapon. We can talk more, but you have to let him go.”
“This is bigger than whatever there is between you and me, Nyx. What the Order has become… they aren’t what you think. Not anymore.”
I looked at Devin. “Is he… okay?”
“I didn’t do this to him,” Alice said. “They did this. And if I let him go…”
“They?” I asked. “Who, exactly?”
BANG!
I turned, and Devin’s dad and the other cloaked man burst through the door.
I pivoted on my right foot, but before I could respond, one of them shot a bolt toward Alice.
She was faster than their shot. She disappeared in a puff of black smoke, and out of the cloud flew a bat…
Yes, a bat!
That didn’t come from my abilities. Wolfgang had told me Alice could do that; I wasn’t ill-prepared for it. But even with my crossb
ow skills, shooting a bat out of midair would be a challenge. In this instance, though, shooting wasn’t my intent.
Alice flew around the room as the two men shot more bolts at her.
She was too fast. And these hunters didn’t have the skills I did.
Alice dove toward the ground and reappeared in her former form behind Devin’s dad. It happened so fast that I might have been the only one in the room who could see what was happening. To the rest, it was probably all a blur.
But even I couldn’t move fast enough to stop her—and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
Alice grabbed Devin’s dad by his hair and, exposing his neck, sank her fangs into him.
He collapsed on the floor. She hadn’t drunk much of his blood, but it wasn’t uncommon for humans to faint when bitten by vampires.
Alice dropped her victim’s body on the floor. Then she turned and slowly stared at the second man. “You’ve finally got your chance. Do you think you have what it takes?”
The second man, his hand clenched around a stake, went for her chest.
Alice dodged to the side.
I wasn’t sure what to do. Whose side was I on, anyway?
Before I could react, a wooden stake burst through the front of her chest. Devin had stabbed her from behind.
“Devin!” I shouted.
Alice’s body went limb like a rag doll, and she collapsed at my feet.
“Get out of here, Nick,” Devin said. “Thank you for the distraction, but what I said before still stands.”
I stared at Devin for a second. I wanted to say something. Did he realize what he was doing? Had he heard the things Alice had said? I didn’t have a clue. But there wasn’t anything I could say…
So I nodded in understanding.
Devin returned his attentions to Alice’s staked body. Kneeling, he took her in his arms. The second shrouded man picked up Devin’s dad, threw him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, and they left through the door.
I immediately dove after them. After all this time, Alice was there… staked… her heart ready for the tanking.
But Devin raised his hand. “I’m sorry. But don’t.”
I cocked my head. “But…”
“Just don’t.”
I don’t know why I listened. I mean, Devin had rejected me. But for some reason I couldn’t… this was his chance to get into the Order’s inner circle. They had their ritual. How could he ever explain simply allowing me to have her heart?
I was left standing there in silence. I was stunned.
If I was going to get Alice’s heart, it had to be in a way that wouldn’t compromise Devin’s… aspirations. Even if I thought the Order was wrong for him, even if they hated his truth, it was what he wanted. At least what he thought he wanted. I had to respect that.
I didn’t know how… I’d have to get Alice from them before the ritual, but when Devin wasn’t nearby, overseeing her staked corpse.
I looked around the room. Not much to look at. A lot of books. Pictures of different caskets with prices affixed to them. The sort of things people might look at when planning a funeral. Her desk.
I shook my head to try and bring myself back to my senses. I had to look. Maybe there’d be something here I could use.
I opened her drawers. Most of them were completely empty, minus a few pens with different business names on them.
And a crucifix. Not unlike the one Devin’s dad had used…
I touched it. Some kind of magic coursed through it. I didn’t know what it was or how to use it, but I grabbed it.
Then I stepped out into the hall.
Staked vampire corpses. Everywhere.
I counted them. Twelve…
“Brucie?” I asked. “You here?”
Brucie appeared a split second later. “Hard to believe.”
I nodded. “I didn’t expect that those two would actually be able to hold their own against twelve.”
“It was something,” Brucie said. “The way they moved, it was impressive.”
I nodded. “I underestimated them.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Brucie said. “What Alice told you, I can hear it running through your mind.”
I nodded. “I don’t know if what she said is true or not, but I feel like Alice was about to tell me something important.”
“If you don’t get her back from the Order,” Brucie said, “you’ll never be able to go back.”
I sighed. “But how am I going to get to them? I don’t even know where the inner circle of the Order holds their rituals.”
“Perhaps Wolfgang could tell you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t even know how to find him. By the time he’d find me, it would probably be too late. And since I hadn’t included him in this… since he wouldn’t be the one to present her body to the Order…”
“He probably won’t be inclined to help,” Brucie said.
“It’s over, Brucie,” I said. “This was my chance, and I blew it. I let her get in my head. I questioned my resolve.”
“And perhaps she was right,” Brucie said.
“That look on Devin’s face when I first came in… it was like he was in a trance. If Alice didn’t do it to him, then someone else in the Order did.”
“What was it that they did to him, exactly?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t the slightest idea.”
“There’s one other thing you could try.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, the vamps in the hallway,” Brucie said. “They were staked, but that’s all.”
I took a deep breath. “I could revive them.”
“They might know something that would help,” Brucie said. “But I’d suggest starting with one at a time. You know, in case they aren’t exactly pleased to see you when they come back to their bodies.”
“Brilliant.” I ran to the first one I could find. If I had the time, I’d have tied him up. I’d have interrogated him like I had other vampires in the past.
But as I reached to grab the bolts in their chests, I noticed they were warm to the touch. “This doesn’t make sense,” I said as I pulled one of the bolts from a vampire’s chest. And when I did, something like sunlight emanated from the tip. “What the hell…”
“Those bolts,” Brucie said. “They must be enchanted.”
I shook my head. “It’s no use. They weren’t just staked—these bolts burned out their hearts the moment they struck.”
24
A MOTORCYCLE RIDE is usually freeing. It’s an escape. The wind in my face, fluttering through my hair. But this time was different.
The farther I got from the funeral home, the more it felt like I was driving away from my last chance to get my life back, to get my abilities back… to end all of this.
It felt like I was literally riding into a dead end, a life destined to be like I was. Trapped in this body. Conflicted about my existence. And now, without any hope of returning.
Thankfully, Devin had staked Alice with a regular stake; I saw it come through the other side of her chest. It wasn’t enchanted like the bolts.
That meant, more than likely, Alice was being given the “last rites” by the inner circle. And since Devin had done the staking, he’d surely be there. He’d finally have what he thought he wanted—a place in the upper echelon of the Order of the Morning Dawn.
I screamed as loud as I could into the wind as I rode down the interstate. There were so many unanswered questions. I mean, what if what Alice was saying was true? What if the Order had become something more, something worse than I ever imagined? And Devin was now caught up in it…
Whatever Alice had been talking about, I was pretty sure Devin didn’t know what it was.
And whatever state he was in before his father and the other hunter came bursting through the room, could he even hear the conversation I was having with Alice? Did he know that something insidious was at work within the Order?
I could interrogate the quilters in
the morning. But would they break? Not likely. Despite appearances, they were well-seasoned members of the Order. And I couldn’t exactly bring myself to torture little old ladies. It just wasn’t right. And hell, maybe they were as much victims of whatever was happening as the rest. I doubted it. I mean, they weren’t exactly bundles of joy. The last time I’d seen them they’d vandalized my bike and flipped me off. But still… they were old ladies. Even I had my limits.
But what other options did I have? I had to find out where the inner circle conducted their rituals. And I didn’t expect that they’d wait long to do it. But since the ladies didn’t meet until the morning at dawn, there was a chance that even if I went after them, it would be too late.
I was grasping at straws. And none of the options I had gave me any real chance.
I walked back into my apartment with my head hung low.
“You’re back!” Donnie said, enthusiastically at first. And then she saw my face. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I failed.”
“Alice got away?”
I shook my head. “The Order got her. But I don’t know where they took her body. It’s over, Donnie.”
Donnie paused the television. She’d been watching Supergirl. One of our favorite shows—if only because they’d recently introduced a transgender heroine on the show. It was a source of inspiration for us.
“I know it’s probably not what you want to hear right now,” Donnie said. “But it’s not the end of the world.”
I shook my head. “You’re right. That’s not what I want to hear.”
“Is being a trans woman for the rest of your life really that awful a prospect?”
I sighed. “No, it isn’t. But that’s not what this was ever about.”
“Isn’t it?” Donnie asked. “Recovering your old abilities, being able to shift into something else… into a cis woman’s body? I mean, if I could do that, if it was an option rather than hormone therapies and surgeries, I can’t say I wouldn’t consider it.”
I nodded. “I know. But it’s a fantasy. And for me, it’s one I think I have to put to rest.” I plopped down on the couch next to Donnie and rested my head on her shoulder. “I just don’t know if I’m ready to move on. To accept this.”
Gates of Eden: Starter Library Page 108
