by M. R. Forbes
The treatments. I didn't know how long I could go without them at this level of alertness. I could last a couple of months if I severely limited my use of magic, and less than a day if I was really desperate. I was worried that desperate was the more likely outcome right now, and Dalton was all the way in Chicago. There had to be a black market here that could provide the medicine, but once I was bad enough, there wouldn't be much time to get a name and location.
The thoughts left me distracted, more distracted than I wanted to be. They were a bug in my mind, buzzing around and around and threatening to drive me to panic.
I could hear Amos' voice in the background the whole time, a mixed soundtrack of foul, disgusting, and rude chatter over the din of my mind. He would say something about every person we drove past. This one had nice tits, that guy was a fag, the other one looked like a child molester, or maybe a serial killer. He was like the tour guide from Hell, his running diatribe suggesting that maybe he wasn't a racist. Maybe he just hated everybody.
"Holy shit, did you see that?" he asked, turning his head to look at someone or something in the street. He put his head forward just in time to slam on the brakes and keep us from rear-ending a cab. The jerky motion almost gave me whiplash, and I held onto the two front seats to keep from being thrown into the dashboard.
"Can't you shut the fuck up and pay attention to the road?" My heart was racing, and not from his driving. I was spending too much time in my head, getting psyched out by the effect before I'd created the cause.
"Sorry, sorry." He straightened up in the seat and accelerated slowly. "I've seen a lot of shit in this town, but I didn't expect anyone to be doing that in public."
"What's the plan?" Jin asked, not falling for his obvious baiting. She'd been quiet the whole time, probably trying to decide if she should put a bullet in Amos' head.
"What?" I was still a little dazed.
"The plan, Baldie," Amos said.
I looked out the passenger window from my perch behind it. Some of the shops looked familiar from my first go round in the cab. We had to be getting close.
I'd been thinking about it since I decided to go back for the stone. My plan was pretty basic. Basic, and bold.
"The redhead saw us get away on the bike. I think it would have been pretty obvious to her that I wasn't carrying the stone. That means there's a good chance she would have traced my route, backtracked, and searched for it. Maybe she found it, maybe she didn't. If she didn't, she's going to wait for us to come back for it, and ambush us. If she did, she's going to take it away, and leave someone else to ambush us, because she knows we're going to have to come back for it at some point. Or, she took it and left." I glanced over at Jin. "But I have a feeling they aren't going to just leave."
She knew why I was looking at her. If they knew who she was, they were still going to want her dead. It was dangerous for her to be here. We both knew it.
"So we're walking into an ambush?" she asked.
"We aren't just walking in. They don't know that we know it's a trap. They can't know we found the bug. We can get the drop on them."
"How?"
I pointed at the cooler where Evan was resting. "My secret weapon. How far are we from the hotel?"
"Six blocks," Amos said.
"Stop the van."
It took Amos a few minutes to find a spot big enough to hold the truck. He pulled in at the same time I moved to the back and opened up the cooler.
"Hop to it, Evan," I said, holding my hand to the dead commando's bone wrist and pushing the magic into him. I felt the thread reach out and wrap itself around him, bringing his soul back from somewhere else.
"What is it now, asshole?" Evan said a moment later, his ragged face gaining movement and even a semblance of emotion. I heard Jin gasp. The driver's side door opened, and Amos oozed himself out.
Evan pulled himself to a sitting position, his bones creaking. He looked past me, to where she was standing, his half-face curling into a smile. "Well, hello."
"Get out of the cooler. It's time to play dress up."
"I was talking to the lady."
"Don't push me, Evan." He couldn't disobey, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to make me work for it.
"Fine." He got to his feet, twisting and stepping out of the cooler. "Could you turn around or close your eyes or something? I'm shy." He looked at Jin again. "You don't have to, baby."
I shoved the clothes into his hands and led Jin outside to where Amos was waiting, his face pale. Apparently the sight of Evan had made him sick, and now he refused to look me in the eye.
"Fucking necromancers. It's just so wrong."
"You have your strengths, I have mine." I had no idea what his strengths were. Surface area? The good news was that his disgust had quieted him down a bit, at least for the time being.
"He's taller than you," Jin said.
"Evan? A few inches. Do you think they'll notice? Most of my clothes are baggy."
"I hope not. Where did you find him?"
"Obits. He was a policeman... S.W.A.T. He's an asshole, but his tactical is flawless."
"I don't think he likes you."
"He despises me. Maybe all of them do, for bringing them back to this world, back to their old shells. I don't know. I've asked. With Evan, it's obvious. With some of the others, not so much."
I could tell she wanted to ask me more about it. It wasn't a morbid curiosity though. She was measuring me, to find out what I could do, maybe to figure out how best to use me. That's what I would have expected from Miss Red.
We were interrupted by Evan, who pushed open the back door and hopped down.
"Well, how do I look?"
He was wearing a navy hoodie, a pair of my black pants, combat boots, and my spare coat. He had pulled the hood up over his head, using it to keep his face in shadow. "I haven't done impersonation before. I might actually like this mission."
He could pass for me from behind. From the front... I could only hope they wouldn't see him from the front until it was too late.
"Fucking frightening," Amos said. He looked like he was going to be sick again.
Evan noticed, and he laughed. "Looks like fatso is afraid of dead guys." He turned his attention to Jin. "What about you, sexy?"
She didn't flinch. "I wouldn't date you, but you can cover my back."
"Oh... What a nice back I'm sure it is. I'd love to."
"We're six blocks from the hotel. We're going to play leapfrog, keeping Evan in the middle with the tracker. That way, we have both sides covered if they rush him before we even get there. Jin, you'll take point. One block down and wait. Amos, go over a block and come down, then cut across in front of her. I'll stay a block behind. Repeat the pattern until we get there. Amos, if you hear gunfire, get the hell over as fast as you can."
"I'm not known for my speed."
"Do your best."
"What's this about a tracker?" Evan asked.
"It's in the pocket of the hoodie. The target may be using it to keep an eye on me. When we get to the hotel, you're going to go into the elevator. Open the access door and pull yourself up. There may or may not be an oblong stone up there, about this big." I held my hands apart. "If it's there, grab it. Amos, you'll go in a minute after Evan and hit the front desk looking for a room. Jin, you'll hang back with me, out of sight of the building."
"Hiding?"
"Not quite."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Hugs and kisses.
We covered the six blocks in less time than I'd anticipated, keeping spread out enough that we didn't look like we were all together, and close enough that backup was only a street away. I kept a close eye on Jin the entire time we were moving, scanning the thin volume of other pedestrians for anyone out of the ordinary, and making sure she didn't grow a tail. I barely paid any heed to Evan other than to keep the thread strong enough to pull him back in line if needed. He could take care of himself.
I didn't see anyone on the way down. It
was just the normal smattering of an evening crowd, a mix of the daytime blue and white-collars heading home from a late night at the office, or dinner at a nearby restaurant, and the nighttime risk-takers, in tight luminescent skirts and jackets, dark oversized clothes, or other accoutrements intended to either attract or repel attention. There wasn't much middle ground after dark, and as we moved closer to the early morning the partiers would glisten into the foreground, the ghosts and thugs would fade into the back, and it would be up to fate and law enforcement to do their best to protect the innocent for another night.
I was a block down from the hotel, across the street in a small coffee shop that would be closing up in half an hour. Jin was sharing a small round table with me, a coffee in her delicate hands. I had my eyes half-closed, focusing on the thread of magical energy that was running from me to Evan. I was at the edge of my comfort zone for keeping him in line, and I knew it was sucking the life out of me faster than I had any desire for.
My earlier panic was threatening to resurface, and it took all of my concentration to stay sitting at the table looking somewhat normal. Still, I was proud of myself. Jin had come along, but I had managed to keep her away from the fight.
"Keep a lookout for me, will you? If anything happens, you may need to hit me pretty hard to get my attention."
"What do you mean? What are you doing?"
"Checking on Evan. He should be inside by now."
She took a sip of her coffee and nodded. I pointed my head down towards the table and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath in, pulling the energy from the thrumming of the field around us, and pushing it along the invisible line to Evan. I couldn't remote control people, but I could go along for the ride. A moment later I achieved a blurry view of the world through my zombie's damaged retina.
He was in the hotel. The woman who had been at the front desk earlier was still there, and she was yelling at him.
"Hey, mister. Mister. Someone was here earlier looking for you. They asked me to give you a message."
Evan didn't point his face directly at her. "What's the message?" His bad reproduction of my voice was comical, and likely intentional.
She moved out from behind the desk and held out a piece of paper. Evan stretched out a gloved hand and took it. He turned his back on her while she waited for a tip.
It was a pleasure meeting you in Connecticut, Mr. Smith. It was an even greater pleasure tracking you to New York. My apologies for not introducing myself properly, but one can never be too sure these days, can they? I'm very impressed with your skill in making a mess of my employer's well-laid plans, as well as your success in escaping with the new Miss Red earlier today. After speaking with them regarding your certain talents, they have agreed that they would consider bringing you on as a contractor, a position that I can assure you would be extremely lucrative. The only requirement is that you justify my high assessment of you. My associates should be along momentarily to assist in that regard.
XOXOXOXO
- Veronica
Evan dropped the piece of paper and reached under the trench, finding one of the guns hidden beneath his arm and pulling it from the holster. He stood dead still, his head swiveling, searching for the so-called 'associate'.
Seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
Then the elevator dinged, and the doors began to open. Even with his lousy vision I could make out the massive form of the black and white werewolf crouched behind them.
It was a trap, but not quite the trap I'd been expecting. They thought he was me, and if I survived this one... they'd want to hire me?
The were moved through the doors, charging Evan on all fours. He raised the gun and fired, one round after another, while the werewolf made adjustments and corrections, taking the hits from the hollow point bullets and letting his thick bones deflect them as nothing more than deep flesh wounds. It reached him in no time, wrapping hairy, muscular arms around Evan's torso and pulling him backwards to the ground.
A look of surprise crossed the feral's muzzle when the hood fell back and Evan's half-face was revealed. The moment of shock gave my soldier a chance to throw a strong, magic-infused punch into the side of the werewolf's head, and roll it off him.
"Surprise, fucker," Evan said, rolling to his feet and reaching for his other sidearm. He had it three-quarters of the way out when the wolf slashed it from his skeletal fingers, grabbed his arm, and threw him across the lobby.
Everything got more blurry until he came to an abrupt stop against the wall, bones cracking under the force.
"Ouch." He laughed, getting back up and putting his fists out. "Come on, fuzzy. That all you got?"
Something hit him from the side, throwing him back to the ground. A second werewolf, the black one's partner, the one that I had clocked with the car door. It bit down on his head and pulled, trying to rip his skull from his spine.
"Ah, shit." Evan's arms flailed, smacking into the side of the feral, but not getting enough power behind the blows to do much damage. The were held on, tugging like a dog with a rope toy, working to claim its prize.
The massive boom that followed would have deafened normal ears. The werewolf vanished in a spray of heavy shot and blood, yelping at the sudden burst of pain. Evan wasn't spared collateral damage, having more of his rotted flesh being pulled from the bone.
"Hoooooo yeeeaahhhhh!" Amos stood at the entrance to the building, shotgun leveled at his waist and a stream of smoke rising from the barrel. He was sweaty and haggard looking, his face red from running.
He dropped the gun and turned as the black wolf snarled and launched itself at him, reaching under his duster and retrieving another firearm. Huge arms reached out for the fat ghost, and he crouched under them and got his own meat-hand on the were's head, holding it steady at the same time he brought the gun up under its chin and pulled the trigger. Blood sprayed everywhere, and the feral landed in a dead heap.
"I hate dogs," he said. Some of its blood had landed on his hand, and he leaned down to wipe it off on its fur. He looked over at Evan. "What the fuck are you just laying there for? You don't need to rest."
Apparently, the adrenaline had gotten him over his fearful distaste of the dead.
Evan started to get up. His head shifted to find the second werewolf, who was recovering from the buckshot and getting back into the fight.
I felt a sharp pain as my forehead was slammed into the table, the sudden impact bringing me back to my own consciousness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Witch with a 'B'.
"When I said hit me pretty hard, I didn't mean-"
"You cheated," Veronica said. She was sitting across from me, where Jin had been a few minutes before. I spun my head around, looking for her.
Gone. Like everyone else in the shop.
Shit.
"It's okay. I like cheaters. They tend to be more successful." She picked up Jin's coffee and took a sip. "Well, until they get caught, anyway."
I breathed in some of the energy, pushing it along the thread, compelling Evan to come to where I was.
"Not so fast." She put her hand on mine, and I felt the warmth of her magic flow into it. "I think its time for your little boney foot soldier to take a nap."
The thread didn't fade. It snapped. The force of it caused my gut to wrench, and I leaned over the table and coughed up half a lung.
"You have what you want," I said, once my coughing subsided. "Why are you wasting your time with me?"
She didn't speak right away, but the answer was in her eyes.
"She escaped?"
"She evaded me, yes. A problem that I was hoping you would help me resolve. That's why I didn't just kill you while you were busy projecting."
"I'm going to help you why?"
She smiled. "Why not, Mr. Smith? Why not help me? You're in over your head. You know it, I know it. You were supposed to die in the house with Mrs. Red. You were supposed to die when you came to get the girl. You were supposed to die j
ust now, but instead you're sitting in here having a latte while your corpse does your dirty work. You have a knack for survival. I admire that."
I laughed.
"I'm offering you an easy way out. Lots of money in the bank, my employer off your back. What did she offer you? How much of that can she even deliver on?"
None of it, right now. "I already made a deal with her."
She snorted. "How much is that worth? Please. She'll be gone, and no one will know any better."
I took a deep breath. I couldn't argue her logic. I wanted to survive this, and I wanted to take care of my family. That was why I had stolen the job, for the promise of a slightly longer, better life. What did I care if one House went away, and another came on to take its place? So they used ferals? The other Houses would pull them in line, and if they didn't, or couldn't... survival of the fittest. I would be set. The people I cared about would be set. I didn't owe anyone else anything.
"What do you need me to do?"
"She went out through the back. A couple of my boys chased her, but she killed them. Find her, convince her to come with you. That's all."
"That's all you need me to do, and it's all over? How much?"
"Ten million." She said it like it was a dime.
I pursed my lips. "You're a hard person to say 'no' to."
"I do try."
I took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll do it. I am curious about something?"
"Yes?"
"How are you controlling the ferals?"
She laughed at me. A rich laugh that echoed in the empty shop and lasted a good twenty seconds. "That was worth the headaches you've caused me. I'm not controlling them, Mr. Smith. They're here because they want to be."
"Ferals don't work like that."
"Oh? How many have you known personally?"
They didn't think, they didn't reason. That was common knowledge. "I don't believe you."
"I don't care. Do we have a bargain?"
