by Jeff Gunhus
“Hey, you,” Eva said. “Are you going to get up, or are you planning on just lying there feeling sorry for yourself?”
I painfully raised myself up on one elbow and looked at her. “We all almost died back there.”
Eva shrugged. “Yeah, we’re monster hunters. It’s what we do. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
She held out her hand. I took it and pulled myself up to my feet. I was a little wobbly but I could walk. Eva looked me over. “You look terrible.”
I nodded. “I feel worse.”
“And tomorrow you’ll feel better,” Eva said. “In the meantime, you have a team to lead.”
I looked up and saw the others had made their way over to where we were standing. They were all wet and covered with mud from the riverbank. They leaned on one another for support, all of us sore and beat-up from the trip through the drain. But none of them looked defeated. They were ready for what was next. There was no doubting the spirit of the group. I just hoped it would be enough to see us through.
“Does anyone know the fastest way to get to Paris?” I asked with a smile.
Everyone chuckled, but we all knew what this meant. Paris was one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but under it all was the lair of the Lord of the Vampires. Even with the information Gregor had given me, finding and defeating her was going to be nearly impossible.
But if I was going to attempt the impossible, I’d chosen the right group of friends to do it with. We climbed the riverbank together and set off for the most dangerous part of our adventure.
Chapter Ten
We hitched a ride on a truck carrying a load of onions to the coast of Morocco. The driver was a happy, gap-toothed man who thought nothing of letting six teenagers climb up on top of his pile of vegetables. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride as we bounced along the road through Casablanca, Rabat, and then Tangier, but the onions had the added benefit of masking our scent if the djinn were still on our trail. On the downside, by the time we reached our destination, we all reeked.
From Tangier we bought tickets on the ferry to Spain. The distance between the two ports was nine miles at this point, making the separation between Europe and Africa only a thirty-minute ride by boat. Just as we had done on the way to Morocco, we used some of the money Aquinas had given us to bribe the officials inspecting passports. We didn’t need them for moving around Europe, but they wanted to see who was coming in from a different continent. I doubted any amount of money could have swayed the officials if we’d looked like notorious criminals, but, after we cleaned up in the public bathrooms , we looked like students on holiday, maybe traveling a bit farther afield then our parents allowed. We certainly didn’t look like we posed any kind of security risk, so the officials readily pocketed the money and turned the other cheek.
The ferry ride was bumpy but uneventful. I was happy it was only an hour’s ride. The last time I’d been on the open water, we’d been attacked by an aquamorph, which hadn’t been any fun at all.
We arrived in the port of Aleciras, Spain without incident and from there arranged a train to Paris for the next day. It meant we had to spend the night in Aleciras, but we were all in need of a hot shower and a good night’s sleep anyway, so no one complained.
We found a cheap hotel near the waterfront—the kind of place where everyone keeps to themselves and the only question asked is whether you have money to pay for the night. We checked into three rooms. Two for the guys to share and one for Eva to have on her own. Usually she objected to special treatment because she was a girl, but she was either too tired or just ready to have her own space. She didn’t comment about it. Just like the rest of us, she had purchased some new clothes from one of the sidewalk vendors on the way to the hotel, and she was ready to get out of her muddy, onion-odor outfit. When we looked at the rooms, only one of them had a bathtub and the others had a shower. Eva didn’t even ask. She just closed the door to the room with the bathtub with herself on the inside and us guys standing in the hallway.
After we claimed the other rooms, Daniel and I did a quick check of the building’s layout while the other guys got first shot at the showers. It becomes habit after a while, checking every building for entry points and escape routes. Choke points where a barricade might be effective. Sniper positions. All of it. You just never know when a quiet night’s sleep will suddenly turn into an all-out battle. Better to be paranoid and ready than easygoing and dead.
We returned to the rooms and found that T-Rex, Will and Xavier had already showered and changed into the loose-fitting pants and white cotton shirts purchased in town. Daniel and I followed suit and went to our separate rooms to get ready.
I climbed into the shower, a small closet of musty-smelling tiles of a pale green color. I suspected they’d been white as some point. I turned the knob for hot water, and the pipes in the wall rattled and groaned. Finally, a spray of barely warm beige water appeared, filling the air with the faint smell of rotten eggs. It gives you a sense of what it’s like to be a monster hunter when I tell you that this was a real treat and probably the best shower I’d had since leaving the Academy. I leaned against the slimy tiles and let the water hit the top of my head and wash over my body, allowing the hard miles of travel to work their way out of my tight muscles.
The shower ended sooner than I wanted it to when the hot water ran out. I reluctantly dried off and pulled on my new clothes. When I came out, the guys were all in my room, drinking bottled waters and watching the sun go down from the small balcony attached to the room. I was surprised Eva wasn’t there.
“Did you guys check on Eva?” I asked. She was in the next room over, but I didn’t like the thought of her being on her own away from the group.
“Yeah, she said she’d be right over,” Will said. “You know how girls are.”
The door opened from the hallway and Eva stood there. “No, I don’t know how girls are. Care to tell me?”
Everyone turned toward her but none of us said a word. I guess we’d all assumed she’d bought the same kind of clothes as the rest of us, but she hadn’t. Eva stood, framed by the doorway, wearing a simple white dress dotted with small blue flowers that ended just above her knees. A twisted blue cloth wrapped around her waist. Her hair was still damp, but she’d brushed it back so it hung down past her shoulders. After the dirt and grime of the road, her face now seemed to radiate light. I was caught off guard by her appearance, and we all stared at her. Some girls might have blushed at this or felt awkward. Our Eva just got mad.
“What? You lot never seen a dress before?” she said, striding into the room. “What’s wrong with you?”
That was enough to break the spell, and we all averted our eyes, looking anywhere in the room but at her. This was even more conspicuous than our staring and made things worse. “Okay, who do I need to throttle to remind you what I’m all about?” she said, only half-kidding.
“Sorry, Eva,” T-Rex said. “But you just look so…so…pretty.”
I held my breath, not sure whether Eva would pound him into the ground or just verbally abuse him until he cried. But when I finally looked at her, I thought I caught a fleeting glimpse of satisfaction on her face. T-Rex was probably the only person who could have gotten away with the comment. She spun around to look at the rest of us, the threatening look back on her face.
“If you noticed, this is how the majority of the women dress in town. It’s a disguise, nothing more,” she said. “Now, if you idiots don’t mind, I’m going to dinner.”
She twirled in place and left the room. I noticed an unusual spring in her step and wasn’t sure what to make of it. I looked at the others and saw Daniel’s eyes widened like he’d seen something incredible, something almost frightening. When he noticed me staring at him, he snapped out of it and looked embarrassed.
“What?” he said roughly.
I shrugged as if I didn’t know what he was talking about. He grunted and followed Eva out the door. T-Rex and Xavier followed behind
, leaving Will and me in the room.
“You’ve got your hands full,” Will said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, knowing exactly what he was talking about.
“There’s one question that would be bothering me if I were you, though,” Will said.
“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I asked.
“Who did she get dressed up for? You or Daniel?” He waved his hands dramatically in the air as if he were asking one of the great mysteries of the Universe.
“She said it was a disguise,” I said.
Will laughed. “When it comes to girls, I think you might actually be as dumb as the expression you had on your face when Eva opened that door. Come on, Romeo. Let’s go eat.”
I followed Will out the door, a strange mix of excitement and nervousness in my stomach. I hadn’t even thought of the question he’d posed before he said it. And now I couldn’t think of anything else.
***
The initial shock of seeing Eva in a dress wore off, barely. Daniel and I were playing it cool in our own way. He was doing it by being charming and attentive, walking next to Eva and chatting about the town. I was doing it by being sullen, quiet and awkward, and walking five paces behind them with Will next to me.
We found a great little restaurant right by the water with an outside patio under a trellis of grape vines. It was a place for locals, so it would have cheap food with large portions. We selected a round table by the water that would give us a clear view of the rest of the restaurant and the best defensive position if we were attacked. No one needed to suggest it—we all just gravitated to the right table out of habit.
What was less of a habit for me was feeling sorry for myself as I watched Daniel politely pull a chair out for Eva. I thought for a hopeful second that she would be offended by the gesture and tell him off for treating her like a girl. But whether it was the dress, the stars in the night sky, or Daniel’s charm, she appeared to be in the mood to be treated like one. She nodded her thanks and sat in the chair Daniel offered. After that, it was like a game of musical chairs as everyone else took seats around the table. I found myself sitting directly across from Eva with a centerpiece of fresh-cut flowers blocking my view of her. I tried to ignore Will chuckling under his breath at my exasperation. At least Xavier and T-Rex seemed oblivious to the whole thing.
The owner of the restaurant came out to greet us. He was a barrel-chested Spaniard with a hearty laugh and thick arms that looked better suited for wrestling bulls than creating delicate morsels of food. Recognizing that we were tourists, he urged us to try a meal of tapas. None of us were quite sure what he meant, but he seemed excited to share, so we just told him to bring whatever he wanted.
Soon we were gorging ourselves on plates of chargrilled squid, jumbo shrimp in garlic butter, fresh fish with mango sauce, spicy chorizo sausage, juicy pork in a green sauce, tender quail with crisp fingerling potatoes, the list went on and on. We tried everything, even the stranger dishes like pig snout and ox-tail soup, always with the owner eagerly waiting for our reaction to the food.
When the table became too crowded with plates, I innocently asked if we could move the centerpiece to another table. The owner whisked it away, and I had my better view of Eva…and Daniel. They were having a great time, challenging each other to go first to eat the more bizarre dishes, laughing at jokes whispered between them. Eva looked more alive and animated than I’d ever seen her. I almost asked for the owner to bring the centerpiece back so I didn’t have to watch.
By some unspoken rule, none of us spoke about Marrakech behind us or Paris in front of us. For a few hours we were just friends on holiday sharing a great meal and each other’s company. We saved the fighting for dessert.
***
“I don’t see why you can’t tell us what you know,” Daniel said, glowering over his cup of coffee. The plates had been cleared and replaced with a tray covered with a variety of desserts. T-Rex was on a mission to try one of everything.
“You know why,” I said. “I gave my word. Both Tiberon and Gregor swore me to secrecy.”
“Two Creach monsters,” Daniel grumbled. “I don’t know why you think that even counts.”
Eva, who’d been silent up to now, straightened in her chair. “If I recall, both of those Creach monsters saved your life, Daniel. You’d do well to remember that.” I fought down the urge to grin.
“More important,” I added, “we all know there are Creach monsters that can read minds. The less everyone knows, the better.”
This piece of logic at least shut Daniel up. I didn’t really mind him goading me into trying to tell what I knew, but I loved seeing Eva put him in his place. Then she turned her doe-eyes on me. “Perhaps you can tell us at least something,” she said.
“It would help me to prepare weapons we might need,” Xavier added.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’d like to know too,” Will mumbled, sounding like he was apologizing for his curiosity.
T-Rex who’d stuffed a cream pastry into his mouth, nodded his agreement. He saw me looking at him and pointed to another cream pastry on the tray. Maybe he thought I was mad he’d taken the last one.
Daniel sat smugly in his chair, looking pleased with the little rebellion he’d started.
“I’ve already told you what I know, the parts I can tell you anyway,” I said. The only thing I was holding back from them was the story of Gregor and Caroline. He had explicitly asked me to keep that secret.
“We are going after a weapon of some kind in a certain place in Paris,” Daniel mocked. “Not exactly confidence inspiring.”
“Is that what you’re lacking?” I asked pointedly. “Confidence?”
Daniel leaned forward in his chair. “Maybe I am. But certainly not in myself.”
“All right, that’s enough,” Will said. But Daniel and I were locked up, our eyes boring into one another.
“No,” Daniel said. “I’m getting tired of this. You had us waltz into that market in Marrakech not knowing what we were looking for, and you almost got us all killed. Then we hung out for an entire afternoon sipping tea while you chatted with your new Creach buddy, Gregor. Just long enough for the djinn to circle us and attack again. But wait, it’s all okay because then we escaped through the tunnels. Only, you got us lost then too, didn’t you?”
“And then he saved our lives and got us out of there,” Eva said. “You seem prone to forget when people do that for you.”
Daniel pounded the table with his fist, rattling the plates. “He put us in danger to begin with,” he shouted. “I’m starting to wonder if he does it on purpose just so he can play the hero.”
I bolted up from my chair. Honestly, I felt like I might climb over the table and throttle him right then and there. Daniel jumped up too, ready to do the same. Xavier, Will, and T-Rex watched open-mouthed. And then Eva started to laugh.
The sound was so out of place for the situation that it immediately diffused the tension. Both Daniel and I dropped our shoulders and lowered our hands, hands that I only then realized we both held as fists. Eva laughed harder, almost out of control. It was actually pretty annoying.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“What are you laughing at?” Daniel demanded.
“Us,” Eva laughed. “Look at us. We’re the hope of the civilized world.” Her laugh slowed down to a giggle. She moved her finger in a slow arc to point to the nighttime crowd strolling on the boardwalk. “Could you imagine if they knew we were what’s standing between them and being overrun by a Creach army? They’d laugh too. And then, eventually, they’d cry.” She pointed to a family walking together. A father, mother and two little girls. Her laugh faded and her voice took on an acid bitterness. “See that family? That’s who we’re fighting for. If we fail, they are going to die. Plain and simple. They are all going to die at the hands of Ren Lucre’s army. And you children want to puff out your chests and argue about who’s in charge?” She stood up from t
he table. “Shame on you. Shame on us.”
She strode away, passing by the owner of the restaurant who was bringing a new round of deserts. He watched her leave and then saw Daniel and me facing each other, still fuming but also embarrassed. The owner walked over, shaking his head knowingly.
“Who es deh bigger foolish?” the Spaniard said in his broken English. “Deh man who is making the beautiful girl running from the room? Or deh man who is watching her leave and does nothing to follow?” He put the check in the center of the table and left.
Daniel and I remained standing, eyeing each other.
“Well, if one of you doesn’t go soon, then I’m going,” said Will. “None of us should be out alone.”
I wanted to go, but my pride was getting in the way. And my fear. Even if I caught up to her, I had no idea what I would say. I saw on Daniel’s face that he was fighting the same inner battle. Slowly, he gave in to it and sat back in his chair. I let out a heavy breath and lowered myself onto my seat.
But halfway down, something snapped inside of me, and I realized I was making a huge mistake. With sudden clarity, I realized this was a moment I’d always remember. If I sat back down, I’d always regret not going after her. Even if I fell on my face and made a fool of myself, at least I’d never wonder what would have happened. Gregor had said regret was the greatest waste of a life. I already had enough regrets in my life, so I decided not to add another one to the list. Instead of sitting, I got to my feet and ran after Eva.
As I left, I passed the Spaniard. He smiled and gave me a wink.
I found Eva walking quickly down the boardwalk. Judging by her pace, she wasn’t hoping for someone to chase her down. Everything about her body language said she was done with us for the night, and talking to her came at great risk to whoever was doing the talking.
Based on this observation, I decided to just walk next to her, matching her pace. We drifted in and out of pockets of people out enjoying the warm night breeze coming off the ocean. She slowed her pace just a little. We passed a marina where old wooden fishing boats rocked gently on the waves. She slowed a little more. We passed by musicians playing for their keep with drums and flamenco guitars that made people dance on the sidewalk. She turned and lingered, and I saw what caught her eye.
