Chandi looked from the vampire to Emily, and then back, feeling helpless. The gap in her immediate prescience was more pronounced than usual, the uncertain future aching like a cavity.
“A pair of gentleman callers! You are quite popular.” Emily clasped her hands. “Do you plan to meet either of them, Chandi?”
Chandi slowly shook her head, casting desperately about for threads of a future, something to cling to, to pull herself from uncertainty.
“They are unwelcome visitors, then,” Emily said, her tone turning grave. “You certainly seem to be attracting all the wrong attention lately, don’t you, dear.”
“I still don’t understand why either of them cares about me.”
“They want the same thing from you as anyone else, I suspect. The future is a commodity, Chandi.”
“What does the Thule Cartel have to do with any of this? Gaul Thule is a precognitive himself!”
“You’ve said it yourself already,” Emily said, putting aside her mug with a sigh. “Egill wants to know the future, but on an uncomfortably permanent basis.”
Emily stood up and stretched her back.
“Given the choice between asking and knowing, I’m certain that he would prefer to have your protocol for his own. He is collecting a full set, according to Vivik, and precognitives are an endangered species of late. My understanding is that the boy wields a particularly vicious protocol that allows him to absorb the talents of those he kills,” Emily explained benignly. “I think that’s probably why he is here. Don’t you?”
Chandi trembled more than she nodded, but Emily seemed to take her meaning.
“It’s a pity,” Emily said, patting her on the shoulder. “You sounded so cool, telling me how you didn’t need my help.”
“I was wrong to say that,” Chandi said hurriedly. “Please forgive me.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Emily said, laughing. “I’m just teasing. I’m obviously going to help you, Chandi. You wait here, where it’s safe. I won’t let either of them get near you.”
“Oh, thank you!” Chandi gushed. “I just don’t know what I would do…”
“About that,” Emily said, pausing at the door. “There’s just one thing you could do for me, if you were feeling grateful.”
Chandi’s face fell.
“Y-yes?”
“A favor for a favor,” Emily said, beaming. “That’s all. It’s only fair, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” Chandi said, bowing her head. “That is only fair.”
“Then we understand each other?”
“Yes,” Chandi said, nodding. “I understand.”
“Very well. I’ll go have a chat with Egill and Alistair,” Emily said, following Leigh out of the room. “I’m certain that they’ll listen to reason.”
“I see,” Leigh said, shoulders slumping with disappointment. “We aren’t going to fight, then?”
“Don’t look so glum!” Emily chided. “There will be plenty of fighting to come, Leigh dear, just not today. Well, not right now, in any case.”
***
Vivik caught up to Leigh at the door to the former Administrative building.
“Leigh, wait,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “I think we should talk.”
“Oh?” Leigh hesitated impatiently. “About what?”
“About, you know,” Vivik said, his voice hushed. “About last night.”
“I don’t think we need to talk about that,” Leigh said, opening the door.
“Uh…”
“I already told you I’m not interested in that sort of thing,” Leigh said. “Keep your feelings to yourself, okay?”
“Yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry,” Vivik said, blushing. “I just thought maybe we should talk about our expectations, so that no one—”
“I’m not going to get my feelings hurt, Vivik, though it’s nice of you to worry about it,” Leigh said, smiling at him. “Just take care of yourself, and there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah. I got it.”
“I’m not mad, but I don’t want to have this conversation again,” Leigh said. “Understand?”
Vivik nodded, crestfallen. Leigh hesitated for a moment, then she grinned.
“That said, I should be back before midnight,” she said, heading into the building. “Can I come over again tonight?”
“What? I mean, yes! Yes of course.” Vivik watched the door close behind her in a state of not entirely unpleasant confusion. “I’d really like that.”
***
Emily made him wait until she was certain that he was furious. Alistair not being a patient man, that took less than half an hour. By the time she opened the door, he was already pacing and flushed. A quick glance at his halo confirmed that the delay had done its job.
“Emily! You finally put in an appearance,” Alistair said, collapsing into a chair. “I could have just taken her, you know. I don’t need to ask your permission, I’m just attempting to be courteous.”
“Hello, Alistair. It’s been a while.” Emily sat behind the nicest desk in the fanciest office she had been able to find in the Far Shores. “I’m not sure I followed that little rant of yours. What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play around with me. I’m not the type to put up with it,” Alistair said. “I’m not one of those boys you run around in circles, and you know perfectly well why I’m here.”
“I really don’t have any idea. Please do tell.”
“I’m here for Chandi Tuesday. Where is she?”
“She is here,” Emily acknowledged. “I can ask if she’d like to talk to you, but that’s the most I can offer.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Alistair stood up to tower over her. “You know what you’ve promised John Parson, Emily. You remember him? The man you work for?”
“I remember him,” Emily said calmly. “I’m afraid I consider our debts entirely settled. I don’t work for John any longer. From what I’ve heard just lately, it sounds as if you might not either.”
“You have lost your mind, girl,” Alistair said. “Where is Marcus? I need him to talk some sense into you.”
“Marcus is doing his own thing. He’s never talked a moment of sense in his life, regardless.” Emily smiled at him. “I think we both know that Chandi doesn’t want to talk to you, or go anywhere with you at all, for that matter.”
“She’s the only precognitive still in play,” Alistair said. “I’ve got to have her.”
“I feel the same way, with the added advantage that she would prefer to stay with me,” Emily replied. “I do hope that you understand.”
“She publicly pledged herself to the Black Sun. I wonder what you’ll do when Anastasia comes calling. Will she get the same response?”
“That depends on what Chandi wants,” Emily said. “I’m hoping to convince her to stay, obviously, but if she wants to leave, I’m not going to stop her.”
“You haven’t had trouble with me, yet. I thought that meant you were smart,” Alistair said, his eyes glimmering with menace. “Produce the girl now, and I’ll forget this ever happened. Refuse me again, and I’m going to be upset.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Yes?” Emily called out. “What is it?”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Vivik said, opening the door. “But the other guy you mentioned…”
“Yes, of course,” Emily said. “Please send him in. They are both here about the same thing.”
Alistair glared, but said nothing as Egill walked into Emily’s borrowed office. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Alistair, and the young man did not advance more than a step or two into Emily’s office.
“You know why I’m here,” Egill said, with the voice of a bored teenager doing menial labor. “Can we just get it over with?”
“Alistair is also interested in Miss Tuesday,” Emily said. “Which creates one impasse. Chandi does not wish to leave with either of you.”
“I don’t care what
she wants, or what you want, or anyone else,” Egill said, checking his watch impatiently. “I’m on a schedule, but my uncle demanded that I be courteous, so I’ll ask once more, politely. Where is Chandi Tuesday?”
“You’re Gaul’s nephew, right?” Alistair looked Egill over. “One of the freaks that Thule keeps hidden out at the old family estates. Were you brought up in Spain or in Iceland? He always thought he’d kept you so damn secret, but I knew all about it. Now I remember!” Alistair grinned and tapped his head. “You steal protocols, right?”
“I inherit the protocols,” Egill said modestly. “Upon the expiration of the original holder. You understand?”
“I always wondered who killed Vlad,” Alistair said. “That was you?”
“I’ve killed so many people, it’s hard to remember the specifics,” Egill said. “If you would like to see some of the protocols I have collected along the way, I’m happy to show you.”
“Yeah, why not?” Alistair cracked his neck. “Just remember not to hold it against me.”
Egill beckoned to Alistair.
“Come then,” he urged. “Come and die.”
Alistair stepped forward.
“I don’t want trouble in here, gentlemen,” Emily said wearily. “We are between cleaning services right now, you see, and I don’t plan to tidy up after the two of you.”
“My uncle did demand courtesy,” Egill said. “Very well.”
The apport was smooth as silk despite the disruption in the Ether.
They stood in a small succulent garden cultivated beside the utility building at the remote end of the Far Shores, where the shore became a narrow spit surrounded by the Sea of Ether, and the wind precluded all but the most determined grasses from the naked dunes.
On a bench near the gate of the garden, Chandi Tuesday sighed and put aside her book, carefully marking her place as she did so.
“This will do,” Alistair said approvingly. “Let’s see what you’ve…”
Egill disintegrated the utility building with a gesture, instantly reducing the structure to a floating constellation of component pieces – bricks encrusted with mortar barnacles, long sections of the metal shutters, pipe and twists of copper wire. Another gesture sent the entirety of it flying at Alistair.
He grinned and raised his hand.
Shining Cloud.
The debris was met with a swarm of microscale razors and shredded into a harmless shower of sand and pebbles. Alistair grinned and wiped debris from his shoulders.
“Telekinesis. And such control!” He nodded approvingly. “I’m impressed, kid. Shall we call it a draw?”
Egill raised his hand, and a bolt of lightning struck Alistair in the chest.
The Anathema fell to the ground, and was slow to rise, smoke rising from his burnt shirt and jacket. Alistair grinned as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
Egill frowned and slashed the air with his hand. Alistair disappeared beneath a barrage of sheet lightning, vivid electrical currents running through the garden fencing and the metal debris scattered across the beach.
Alistair stood a little down the beach, adjusting the sleeves of his jacket, whole and untroubled.
“Not bad, not bad,” he said, chuckling as he straightened his lapel. “Mind if I take a turn?”
Egill raised his hand.
Alistair disappeared.
Egill grimaced and squinted as if he were trying to see in the dark.
Alistair appeared behind Egill, the point of his knife aimed at the center of Egill’s back.
The blade clattered harmlessly off a violet barrier, a circle of unintelligible text flickering briefly in a neat circle about Egill.
“Oh, right,” Alistair said. “Poor Vlad.”
A narrow vein of solid granite erupted from the sand, drawn from its home far below the sands of the beach, impaling Alistair. He was skewered from crotch to head, the rock bursting from his skull accompanied by a brief fountain of gore.
Then the body disappeared, and Egill found himself staring at a granite promontory.
“Enough illusions,” Egill said. “Where are you?”
“Right here,” Alistair replied, leaning against the rock. “You’re good, kid, really. But against a telepath? Not so much.”
Alistair grinned, and the Ether reverberated with the sheer fury of his telepathic assault.
Egill shuddered, but his implanted shields held.
“Now that is impressive. Gaul’s work, I assume?” Alistair asked. “There’s not much point in our taking this further right now.”
“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Egill said. “I’ve not quite figured you out.”
“Don’t worry, kid. We’ll get there,” Alistair. “Now, Miss Tuesday, if you’ll just come with me…”
Alistair reached for Chandi’s arm, and his fingers passed right through her. Her image wavered and disappeared.
Alistair and Egill stood in an otherwise empty garden, among the broken and scattered succulents.
“Emily again! That bitch,” Alistair said admiringly. “She’s really good, isn’t she? Slipping away while we were involved. I didn’t even notice!”
“That’s not all she did,” Alice said, tugging a human chain of Auditors out of the shadow of the rubble of the utility building. “She also shared your location with interested parties.”
“Amazing,” Alistair said, shaking her head. “I’m obviously going to gut that bitch, but you have to give it to her, she’s figured the game out pretty well. Don’t you think?”
He turned to Egill and found him gone as well.
“God damn it! Why did you have to kill Drake back in Las Vegas, Alice? I could really use an apport technician right about now.” Alistair sighed and turned his attention to the Auditors. “I was going to have to take care of you lot eventually anyway. Might as well make the best of it, I suppose.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Alice said, grinning. “Wanna dance?”
Twenty-Three
Day Five
Alistair walked right into their fire, blasé as bullets ricocheted all around him. The pots and cacti of the garden disintegrated and the greenhouse exploded, showering the Auditors with glass.
The Auditors kept shooting, and Alistair continued walking toward them, unbothered.
“I’ve been feeling pretty tense lately,” Alistair said, pulling off his jacket and letting it drop to the sand. “I appreciate the opportunity to work out some of that stress.”
The Auditors reloaded while Alistair advanced. Alice grabbed Grigori by the shoulder, and then pulled them both into her shadow.
Alistair hesitated for a moment, glancing around him, and then shrugged and continued his advance.
Min-jun’s barrier manifested when Alistair drew close, stopping him in his tracks.
Alistair grinned and reached for the barrier, but it constricted before Alistair could make contact. Crouched behind Min-jun and tucked safely inside the lime-green radius of a tighter barrier, Hayley launched a psychic attack on Alistair, attempting to take possession of his body. Xia stood a few steps away in the ruined garden, watching from behind blue-tinted goggles.
“Give me a break,” Alistair said, thwarting Hayley’s assault with a thought. “What was that…?”
Alice shoved Grigori out of Alistair’s shadow. He struck Alistair with a wall of telekinetic force, pulverizing the garden pathway and opening a crater down into the clay and rock below.
Alistair stood at the side of the crater, brushing sand from his hair.
Xia set the remains of the garden ablaze. Swirling flames consumed the space where Alistair had stood, but the Anathema just yawned, and wiped the flame from his jacket as if it were dust.
Grigori aimed another telekinetic attack at Alistair, but it went radically wide, smashing into Min-jun’s barrier and staggering the technician.
Alice stepped from his shadow and shot Alistair in the back of the head.
She put two more rounds in his chest after his body hi
t the ground.
The body disappeared.
Alistair stood among the Auditors, putting a companionable arm around Grigori.
“You’re Grigori, right?” Alistair smirked while Grigori shoved him away. “You and I have business.”
“Stay calm,” Alice said. “Like we planned, okay?”
“I know all your plans,” Alistair said. “I broke the encryption on your communications days ago.”
“We know that,” Alice said brightly. “Hayley couldn’t stop you, but she knew you were there.”
Alistair hesitated at the curb.
“Wait a minute,” he said, frowning. “I missed something, didn’t I?”
“You missed all sorts of important things,” Rebecca said, taking his hand. “Don’t feel bad, though. If you feel bad, then I might, too.”
From a distance, it looked as if Rebecca were twisting Alistair’s fingers, the way she stood over him while he slid down to his knees, sweating and looking quite uncomfortable, though she held his hand quite gently in her own.
Rebecca smiled at Alistair, and he could not help but smile back, though it was through gritted teeth.
“How long have you been here?”
“We’ve been here since the beginning,” Rebecca said, laughing. “You just didn’t notice.”
“That’s pretty good, pulling a stunt like that on me,” Alistair said grudgingly. “When did you become such a telepath?”
“As much as I’d like to claim I’ve been training or something, I think that’s the result of working with Alex,” Rebecca said. “If you were really smart, you would have found a way to do those sessions yourself.”
“I don’t think that little shit would have nursed a secret crush on me no matter how much therapy we did together.”
“Me? Oh, please.” Rebecca laughed. “Mitsuru, on the other hand…”
“Don’t say her name,” Alistair said, struggling to glare, and managing only a look of mild reproach. “I won’t forgive you for what you did to Mitzi.”
“You manipulated her into that position, knowing exactly what I would have to do,” Rebecca said. “And I won’t forgive you for betraying Central. For betraying me. I trusted you, you know? I really didn’t see that coming.”
The Church of Sleep (Central Series Book 5) Page 62
