“Nothing different than before. I can’t do anything, I don’t have the power, I’m just an analyst. All I can do is wait for all hell to break loose, then step forward with my information, and a solution.”
“Which is?”
“Containment. Cordon off Detroit, try to sort the humans from the vampires, kill all the vampires.”
“In a city of eight-hundred-thousand.”
“I’d recommend we go nuclear, then clean up the mess, but politically it will never happen.”
“Well that settles it.”
“How?”
I had come to a decision. A stupid one as Sydney might say, but at least it was a decision. It was clear the government wouldn’t, or couldn’t, do anything until it was too late.
But I could try to stop it before it started.
“I’m going to Detroit to try and stop the turning before it starts.”
“How the hell is one man going to stop that many?”
“I have no effin’ clue, but somebody has to do something.”
He nodded, and extended his hand. I took it.
“Good luck, Zander.” He let go and pulled something from his pocket. It was a small device that looked like the fob to a car. “If you need help, click this three times. It’s a GPS locater. We’ll try to come and get you. No guarantees, but it’s better than nothing.”
I took it and shoved it in my pocket, then climbed back in my car, flooring it. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw an SUV stop and pick up the kid.
I guess he wasn’t alone.
What else did he tell me that wasn’t true?
THIRTY-ONE
I decided to take the Beast. Yes, it was slower than my car, but I wouldn’t be able to race there and risk getting pulled over, and I might need a defensive position to fall back to. The train wasn’t much faster than the car, and I couldn’t bring all my equipment with me. I could have flown to Detroit, but with all the security at airports nowadays, most vampires avoided flying. The last thing you needed was facial recognition recording you for decades, and someone noticing you never aged.
Which was one reason most of us wore some sort of brimmed hat.
Same equipment problem as well. Something tells me dozens of stakes would raise a few eyebrows, and there was probably a law about transporting blood.
So the Beast it was. Fully stocked with our entire supply of weaponry and blood, with the exception of Sydney’s personal arsenal.
Our.
I felt bad. In fact, I felt terrible. I most likely wasn’t coming out of this alive, which meant I would never see Sydney, her mother, her grandmother, none of them, again. And I never had a chance to say goodbye.
I felt a tear burn a trail down my cheek.
I reached for my phone to call her, then stopped. I never called her during the day, unless it was urgent. She had classes, and wouldn’t miss me until late afternoon, even later if she was busy with her dad and the insurance company. By the time she’d be missing me, I’d be pulling into Detroit, and it would be too late for her to put her life on the line to try and help me.
It was for the best.
But why did it feel so awful? This burning sensation in the pit of my stomach. It almost felt worse than the hunger. Was it fear, regret? It felt like the heartache of losing three loved ones, your entire family. But if I were to die tonight, there was one good thing that would come of it.
I would be reunited with my beloved Kristyna.
I smiled at the thought, but the pit cleaved from my soul still remained.
I sighed. This was going to be a long ten hours if I kept thinking like this.
THIRTY-TWO
I had resisted looking at Zander’s position all morning, but by afternoon I couldn’t take it anymore. Not with what was going on. I grabbed my iPhone, launched the app, and nearly yelped in surprise. I looked around the class to see if anyone else had noticed, then looked at the display again.
Two hours outside of Detroit.
Why the hell would he be going back to Detroit without me? And why would he drive? I traced back his path and saw he had returned to the body shop. He must have taken the Beast, which meant he expected trouble.
I looked up. The prof was droning on about something, I didn’t know what. I shouldn’t have bothered coming to class today, I was just too distracted. I popped onto the Internet and booked a ticket to Detroit. There was no way in hell he was going through this alone.
“Dismissed!”
I jumped from my seat, raced down the aisle and out the door. Minutes later I was in my car, heading home, praying I would make it to Detroit in time to help Zander in whatever mess he was about to dive into.
Suddenly a black SUV cut me off. I slammed on my brakes, stopping just inches away from needing two bumpers replaced. Three men jumped out and surrounded the car. One held a wallet up to my window, revealing an ID.
Department of Defense?
“Miss Winter, can you please turn off your engine and exit the vehicle.”
It wasn’t a request. And these guys were serious looking. I nodded, pressing the button to turn off the engine, then opening the door, climbed out.
“Thank you, Miss Winter. This way please.” He held out an arm indicating the SUV. The rear passenger door opened, and a hand appeared. I took it, and climbed inside. The door closed as the engine of my car roared to life.
“What the hell is going on here?”
My heart was hammering in my chest from fear and anger, but mostly fear. Unlike Zander, I had no way of knowing if I had just been abducted by vampires.
Was I on the dinner menu?
A light flicked on and a young man, about my age, leaned into it, his hand extended. “My name is Richard Messina. Rick. I’m with DCIS, Defense Department. We need to talk.”
THIRTY-THREE
My iPhone began to play the cha-cha or something, startling me from a restive sleep. I had arrived in Detroit uneventfully, and rather than begin the hunt, I decided to grab a few hours’ sleep in the back of the van. Despite the air mattress, I was still full of kinks. I stood up, banged my head, and tried to stretch.
It was useless.
I flipped on the monitors and took a look. Everything seemed clear. Except the rear. The camera there was still broken. Climbing into the front seat, I opened the driver’s side door and stepped out into the dusk, and stretched.
“Hello, Zee.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
I spun around and found Sydney standing there, with the kid from the Defense Department, Rick Messina.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually been startled. It felt good. It made me feel alive.
I smiled.
Then I frowned.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” It was meant as a scolding.
“Saving your ass once again.”
I glanced over my shoulder and down. “Looks perfectly fine to me.”
She stepped forward and punched me on the shoulder.
“You bastard! You were going to go off and die without even saying goodbye?”
My chest tightened and my eyes burned. I just reached out and grabbed her, pulling her toward me and enveloping her in my arms. She returned the hug, sobbing in my chest, as tears rolled down my cheeks.
I looked at Messina.
“Why did you bring her here?”
“Because this is too big for one person. Vampire or not.”
“I told you it would take an army.”
“And I told you that is outside my power. But an army of two, plus eyes outside, is better than one.”
I took Sydney by the shoulders and looked at her. “You can’t stay.”
She glared at me, and I knew I had already lost the argument. “Like hell I can’t. We’re in this together. If Mom were okay, she’d be here too. And if Grandma were younger, so would she. We’ve always been there for you, and we always will be. Our paths, yours and my family’s, have been woven together over a
lmost one hundred years, and tonight, if that’s going to end, then it will end with us fighting side by side, not with you alone, feeling bad for the way you left things, and me back home, wondering whatever happened to you.” She grabbed my wrists and squeezed. “I’ll always be there for you, Zee. By your side.”
I smiled and hugged her again. I lowered my mouth to her ear. “I love you, Syd. Thank you.”
Gently pushing her away, I frowned. “Rick, you and I will have words when this is over.”
Messina gulped, then raised his finger.
“Ah, but I come bearing gifts.”
He circled to the back of a car that was parked behind the van and opened the trunk.
I really had to get that camera fixed.
He beckoned both of us over and pointed to a box. “These are for you. I had them whipped up after our talk last night.” He opened the lid, and inside were what looked like dozens of grenades. “I call them Vampire Busters.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Might be useful. It would certainly slow them down. Blow a few limbs off.”
“Oh, these are a little more than your ordinary fragmentation grenades. Instead of your standard shrapnel inside, these are filled with wood ball bearings, and have a reduced explosive charge so the wood doesn’t simply disintegrate.”
I whistled. “Now that changes things.”
“You said sustained contact with wood and your bloodstream would kill you, well these might just do the trick, and be able to take out several at once.”
I pulled one from the box and examined it. “I assume it’s standard? Pull the pin, and as soon as the clip is released, you’ve got five seconds to separate yourself from it?”
Messina nodded. “Yup. But remember, these are spreading a combination of metal from the casing and wood inside, so unlike the metal shrapnel-based grenades normally used, these might bounce around, so be careful you don’t end up taking yourself out with them.”
He had a point. These would have to be used very carefully. I looked at him. “How the hell does a guy with no power get a box of custom grenades made, and then deliver them to another state, with a civilian in tow?”
Messina smiled. “Well, I might have a little more power than I let on.” He raised a finger. “But just a little.”
“So that whole, I don’t get no respect routine, that was all BS?”
“Oh, no, that was true. I do get no respect on a personal level, but professionally, I get listened to.”
“So the army knows about the vampires.”
“No, they’d never believe that. These”—he pointed at the box—“were pitched as a violent crowd control device.”
“Wood at that velocity would still kill or seriously injure an ordinary human.”
Messina smiled. “You know that, I know that. They don’t.” He put on a deeper voice. “After extensive testing, General, I’ve come to the conclusion that these bastards kill.”
Sydney giggled. Messina blushed and I glanced at Sydney. She looked away.
And I felt a pang of jealousy.
I smacked my hands together. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” Reaching in the trunk, I grabbed the box of grenades and motioned for Sydney to open the back of the Beast. She nodded and opened the doors. I put the box on the floor.
“Are you coming with us?”
Messina shook his head. “But I’ll be close.” He pointed at my pocket. “You know how to reach me. Miss Winter gave me the frequency you guys use, so I’ll tap in.”
I nodded, shaking his hand. “We’re still going to talk when this is done.”
Again he gulped.
I turned toward the van and caught Sydney looking at me with half a smile. I shrugged my eyebrows at her, and climbed in the driver’s seat, slamming the door shut behind me. Sydney jumped up into the passenger seat, and I fired up the engine. I looked at her.
“Ready?”
She nodded. “Set.”
“Okay, let’s go before we change our minds.”
I hit the gas and the Beast lurched forward, the engine whining slightly against the extra weight armor plating caused.
“Where are we heading? Rick explained—”
“Oh, it’s ‘Rick’ now, is it?”
She looked at me. “Ooh, do I detect a note of jealousy?”
I felt my cheeks flush, something I can’t recall them doing since I had been turned. “Of course not. Just concern.”
“Uh huh. Well, Rick explained that Lazarus has been buying up property like crazy, so where do we start?”
“Well, I’ve been going through that list, and I’ve narrowed it down quite a bit. He bought a couple dozen homes. I’m assuming that’s for him and the others to live in while they are here, so those are too small to put three thousand people in. So eliminating those resulted in the list being much more manageable.”
“How many addresses?”
“Thirteen.”
“Lucky thirteen.”
I grinned. “Let’s hope so, otherwise we’re going to be looking in the wrong damned place.” I jerked my thumb at the back. “Why don’t you get back there and start checking these addresses out.”
She nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt, gingerly moving into the back while the Beast put some distance between us and Messina.
Why was I jealous? I had never been jealous over Rose, Emily or Theresa. I had loved them, and when they moved on to marry, I had always been happy for them. But why now, over Sydney? Could I be developing feelings for her beyond what I should? Was it because the others had always waited until they were at least thirty before moving on, and Sydney was only nineteen?
Or did I truly feel something different, something more?
Christ, she’s only nineteen!
But did that matter? Even though I was a few hundred years old, every time I looked in the mirror, I was still in my mid-twenties. All the guys who looked my age were dating girls Sydney’s age. My natural inclination was to be attracted to women my own outward age, so being attracted to Sydney made sense biologically. And mentally, she was way beyond her nineteen years, and had grown up remarkably since her mother’s accident. Part of me felt it was wrong, but another part saw one hundred years of love every time I looked at her. I glanced at her in the rearview mirror as she strapped herself in, and felt my old, cold heart fire up.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Set. What’s the first address?”
I gave her the address, and she typed it in the computer.
I looked away and back at the road, the feeling in the pit of my stomach definitely a hint of jealousy.
This wouldn’t do.
THIRTY-FOUR
“Next!”
Zander fed me the addresses, and I typed them all into the computer. I had them all plotted, and what became immediately obvious was that he was trying to buy up an entire block, and had almost succeeded.
“Christ, Zee, he’s got an entire block bought up, except for one building.”
“What is it?”
“A hospital for the mentally ill.”
“You’re kidding me!”
I shook my head. “Nope. And according to the website, it houses two hundred and fifty patients.”
“That’s odd.”
“What?”
“Well, if he’s bringing in three thousand, there’s no way that hospital would supply enough blood to feed them. He must be planning something else.”
“But what?”
Zander seemed to be thinking for a moment, then he looked at me in the mirror. “What’s the biggest building there?”
I flipped through the list, and found it. “There’s an old abandoned warehouse or something. Looks huge.”
“How’s it match up with our bug we planted last night?”
I had almost forgotten about that. In fact, I had. I launched the app on my phone and looked at the route the vehicle had taken. “According to this, they stopped there only briefly, then headed to some office building.”
<
br /> “Uh oh,” I heard him mutter.
“What?”
He glanced at me in the rearview mirror, but said nothing.
“What?” I repeated, sounding a little more desperate than I had wanted.
He sighed. “Well, if they have an office building here, then the fifty-two I detected in New York might just be the tip of the iceberg.”
My chest tightened. “A second swarm?” I had had enough trouble dealing with the idea of a single swarm that size. But two?
My mouth went dry.
“We’ll deal with them later. Now, we need to stop this mass turning. Feed the address into the GPS, and let’s get over there and see what we find.”
I nodded, returning my attention to the screen for a moment to hide my fear, then I entered the destination in the phone’s GPS, and leaned forward, tapping Zander’s shoulder with it. He took it, his fingers momentarily brushing against mine, then placed it in the cradle on the dash.
“Okay, we’re only fifteen minutes from there. Let’s get the comm gear set up just in case we have to go in hot.”
I nodded, thankful for something to do. I opened the drawer containing our gear, checked the charges, then placed an earpiece in my right ear, handing another one to Zander.
“Testing one-two-three, testing.”
“I hear you loud and clear,” said Zander.
“So do I!” said a third voice that nearly caused me to jump from the van.
“Rick, is that you?”
“Yup. I’m tuned into your frequency, just like I said I would.”
“Where are you?”
“Nearby.”
“Uh huh.”
“Rick, can you hear me?” It was Zander.
“Yes.”
“Syd, give him the address we’re going to. Rick, can you check if anything unusual has gone on there since Lazarus bought this place. Deliveries. Police reports. Anything?”
“Will do. What’s the address, Syd.”
I felt weird. The only guy who ever called me Syd was Zander. And I kind of liked it that way. But now wasn’t the time for this. I read him the address.
Turned (Zander Vargar Vampire Detective, Book #1) Page 18
