“Security system?”
“Yeah, but we never use it.”
“That’s safe …”
Two gave a grim laugh and nodded. “After tonight, I think I’ll be setting the alarm anywhere I go for the rest of my life.”
Sasha came to a sudden halt, putting her arm out to block Two’s progress. “Do not look up. What floor do you live on?”
“Uh … eighth? Why?” Two forced herself not to give in to the sudden, overwhelming desire to glance toward her apartment. Sasha grabbed her arm and spun her around, leading her back toward the cab.
“Because there are at least four people wandering around your apartment right now, and a man on the balcony with a handgun. Next time, set the damned alarm.”
“Oh, are you fucking kidding me?!” Two cried, beginning to spin around without thinking. Sasha jerked again on her arm.
“Why don’t you just call them and tell them we’re standing out here?!” she hissed. “Two, we’re going back to the cab, getting into it, and telling your new best friend that he’s driving us somewhere far away.”
“OK … where?”
“I haven’t gotten that far yet,” Sasha said. They were approaching the cab now, and Leonore was looking at them in suspicion.
“Why are both of you here?” she asked.
“My apartment’s full of people with guns, and I didn’t invite them,” Two said, keeping her voice low. “Get in the cab.”
“Oh, for the love of God,” Leonore groaned, but she moved quickly, returning to the back seat.
“Change of plans?” the driver asked from his seat, once all three of them had slid into the cab.
“Uh, yeah. Locked myself out. Gonna have to call the landlord tomorrow,” Two said.
“Sure,” the driver said, his tone amused. “So, where to now?”
There was a momentary pause as they considered their options. Two’s first instinct was to run to Brooklyn, to the home of her friends Rhes and Sarah. There, at least, they would find some kind of sanctuary. Then she thought of Aros, and the danger she had already put them in. What if the Children discovered that these humans were harboring vampires? Would they hesitate to break into the house? Two thought not, and she thought that if such a thing happened, this time Rhes and Sarah would not be so lucky as to be taken prisoner.
I can’t do that to them, she thought. I can’t risk them, and Molly, and the baby. It’s too much.
For a moment she had no idea what to do, and a bright bolt of panic ran through her. She had expected to find Theroen and Naomi here; what if they had been captured? What if they were both already dead? Had they gone to Naomi’s apartment in the West Village instead? Were the Children there, too? It seemed likely; Thomas had been giving them information for years. Surely they knew where she lived.
Two felt like screaming. It was too much – too much that the Children had come to their meeting place and butchered them, and too much by far that they had invaded her home and cast doubt and suspicion on any other safe place she could think of. What were they going to do? What choices were left?
Then Sasha spoke, her voice calm. “Take us to the Tribeca Grand, please. Corner of Sixth and White.”
“You betcha,” the driver said, and he pulled out onto the street.
“What’s at the Tribeca Grand?” Two murmured.
“A safe deposit box with copies of my documents, cards, keys, and thirty thousand dollars in cash in it,” Sasha replied.
“Oh, awesome.”
“Yes,” the Ay’Araf woman replied, staring out the window. “Let’s just hope they’ll let me access it. Otherwise this ugly night is just going to keep getting worse.”
* * *
“We have one of these at the W in Union Square,” Two said as they entered the hotel. “Theroen insists on it. I shoulda thought of it …”
“We were closer to mine,” Sasha said, shrugging. “At any rate, you looked like you were on the edge of a nervous breakdown, so I thought I would offer some help.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
The hotel lobby was nearly empty, much to the three woman’s relief. It was now almost four in the morning, and there was only a single attendant stationed at the desk. He was a male in his late twenties, with shaggy dark hair and pallid skin. Two didn’t think he spent much time in the sun. He looked up at them as they came forward, glanced back down, and then did a double take.
“Are you ladies all … holy shit, Sasha?”
“Hello, Davric,” Sasha said, stepping up to the counter.
“Are you … is that … I mean, you’re covered in—”
“It will be best if you tell yourself that it’s paint,” Sasha said, her voice brusque and direct. “It would also be best if you treated me like any other guest.”
“I … fine, what can I do for you?”
“I need to get into the safe.”
“I have to log your ID,” Davric said.
“My ID is in the safe.”
“Well, then I can’t … I mean, I don’t know what I could do. Jesus Christ, Sasha, are you sure that stuff’s not—”
“It is paint!” she snarled. “Shut up and focus. The safe. My box is in there, and I need it. You’re going to go open it and bring me the box.”
“I can’t do that without logging it. They’ll kill me. Are you fucking crazy? We’re on tape, here. Everything’s on tape.”
“You are five minutes from me leaping over this counter, beating you half to death, and opening the damn safe myself,” Sasha said, her voice still calm and quiet, but deadly serious. “This has been a worse night than you can possibly imagine, and I am at the very edge of my patience.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do,” Davric said, his voice taking on a whiny tone that made Two wish Sasha would just skip to the part where she hit him.
“I want you to open the safe. I want you to take my box, and bring it to me, along with the skeleton key. I will wait out behind the hotel. When you bring me the box, I will hand you five thousand dollars, and we will call an end to this lovely relationship that we have cultivated these past ten years. After that, you will return to the desk, and my friend who is waiting out with the cab will come in. She will book three rooms and pay for them in cash. You will never see me or hear from me again. If any part of this plan does not proceed as I’ve outlined, I will break both of your thumbs.”
“Jesus Christ,” Davric moaned. “Why can’t you just get out of my life?”
“You were the one who decided to steal from me. Consider yourself fortunate; my first instinct was to cut your head off. Now I am offering you the opportunity to be free. So, choose. Five thousand dollars and no more vampires in your life, or two broken thumbs and a promise … an absolute oath, Davric … that I will hound you from now until the day you die.”
Davric considered this, jaw clenched, staring at her. Finally he said, “Fine. Fuck it, it’ll be worth getting fired if it means I never have to see you again. Maybe I can talk Charlie into cutting off the feed for a few minutes.”
“You do whatever you need to do. Five minutes. If you open the box I’ll know it, and then I won’t just break your thumbs … I’ll take them with me.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Davric growled, heading toward the door at the far end of the reception desk. “Just go wait outside, you crazy fucking bitch.”
Sasha turned and headed for the door. After a moment, Two followed, saying, “So that guy knows what you are?”
“Ever since he broke into my apartment and saw me drinking blood, yes. After that, I began keeping tabs on him. He proves useful from time to time when I need something done and don’t want to get my hands dirty. Most often he helps me smuggle weapons in, but a few times I’ve used his breaking and entering skills.”
“Did you really mean it when you said you’d leave him alone?”
“As far as he will ever know, yes. I’ll check up on him from time to time to make sure that my little secret remains a secret, but so long
as it does, he will never again know I am watching.”
“Won’t you have to find someone else to smuggle for you?”
They stepped outside and Sasha glanced over, smiling a little.
“The thing about people like Davric is, in New York at least, that there’s always another one just around the corner.”
* * *
Two didn’t think she would ever run for president of the Davric fan club, but she had to give credit where it was due: he came through for them, delivering the box with time to spare. Sasha checked it and seemed satisfied that he had not opened it. She quickly counted out fifty hundred-dollar bills and handed them to him, saying she deeply hoped he could retain his job. Davric spared her a few choice words at this, but Sasha only stared back at him, unfazed.
After extracting a final promise to leave him alone, Davric made his way back to the front desk. In short order, Leonore entered the hotel, obtained three room keys, and returned to collect Sasha and Two from out front, paying the cab driver and tipping him well for his time.
“Aren’t you worried he’ll call the police or something?” Two asked, and Sasha shook her head.
“I could send him to Riker’s for a decade with one email, and he knows it,” she said. “He’ll be good.”
In only a few minutes more, Two was alone in her room. She stood there in the dark, staring at the telephone, streaks of cold dread worming their way down her spine.
What if he’s dead? a voice in her head asked, and Two clenched her jaw, baring her teeth without realizing it. What if he was? There was no way for her to know until she called, and so she picked up the receiver and held it to her ear, trying to force her heart to stop pounding in her chest.
“Just fucking do it,” she growled to herself, and she punched in Theroen’s number. The phone rang once, twice, and Two heard a click. Her breath locked in her chest and a painful throb ran through her. Then she heard Theroen’s voice, clear and strong, coming from the phone’s receiver.
“Two?” he asked, and she felt her chest unlock. Two exhaled a long, relieved sigh that ended in a small laugh.
“Oh, baby …” she said.
“It is you,” Theroen said. “My love, are you all right? Are you hurt? What happened to your phone?”
“It burned up. I’m fine … are you all right? How’s your shoulder?”
“Improved. I have had some blood.”
“Oh, awesome. Where are you? Did you try to go home?”
“No, we went … Naomi has a new apartment. We went there. Are you at home?”
“No. Don’t go there. There were people there with guns. Don’t … you’re on a cell, so don’t talk about locations, OK? Don’t tell me where Naomi’s new place is.”
“They were at our apartment?” Thereon asked, sounding taken aback. “How did they … no, it doesn’t matter. Did they see you? Was there fighting?”
“No, it was fine. Sasha saw them before they spotted us, and we got the hell out of there. We’re … someplace safe.”
“Very good,” Theroen said. “Just hearing your voice is … I am much relieved. How are Jakob and Sasha doing?”
Two paused, fighting away another wave of overwhelming grief, and told Theroen what had happened to Jakob. The story came out in a rush, and it seemed to end almost before she had begun.
“I … I have no words,” Theroen said at last.
“There’s something else,” Two said. “When she came for me, she recognized me. Or at least, she realized that she knew me, but couldn’t remember who I was. I think they did something to her brain.”
“How were you able to escape?”
“She stopped for a minute because she was so confused, and I heard Leonore calling me. Jakob was taking us to a secret passage, and Leonore was already in there. She got Sasha first and then came for me.”
“Leonore … that is unexpected.”
“No kidding. She’s with us. We all left our purses in the church, so that was bad. No phones, no money … we finally made it to a place where Sasha had some things stashed.”
“I am glad you are safe for the time being,” Theroen said.
“Me too. This is really bad. I don’t even know who’s left.”
“No, nor do I. We can figure that out when we meet tomorrow. Two … do you remember last year when we walked the length of Central Park, and then we stopped at a certain spot and shared a bottle of wine?”
Two smiled a little. They had sat on the edge of the Bethesda Fountain, looking out at the Lake, sipping wine and watching the various night creatures moving along its edge.
“Of course I remember,” she said.
“Let us meet there, then, tomorrow night at eleven. I can bring you back to Naomi’s apartment. Sasha and Leonore, too, if they are in need of a place to stay. I think it is important that we regroup as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, me too. We’ll be there, Theroen. Eleven o’clock. I promise.”
“Very good. Two …”
“Yes, hon?”
Theroen paused for a long time, and when he spoke again, his voice was strained. “I am so glad you are safe. I love you. I love you very much and I … I am sorry that I left you. I should never have left you.”
Two felt fresh tears spring to her eyes and wished more than anything else in the world that she could lie down with this man that she loved, and put her hands in his hair, and hold herself close to him. She wanted to hear his heart beat and feel his warmth. She wanted to tell him that everything would be fine, and hear him say the same to her.
“Oh, Theroen, no,” she said. “Baby … you did what I asked you to do. What I wanted you to do. You got out, and you got Naomi out, and you’re both still alive, and that’s all that matters. I love you too, I promise, more than ever. Stay safe, OK? Stay safe, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You do the same,” Theroen said, his voice soft. “Sleep well, my love. I will see you very soon.”
There was a click, and the call ended. Two hung up the phone and put her hands against her face. She stood there like that, breathing slowly, feeling sad and sorry and hopeless. The tears came slowly, painfully, as if wrung from a parched stone – but they came just the same, and it was a very long time before she slept.
Chapter 14
The Council United
When his conversation with Two was over, Theroen was very glad he had not pulled the trigger in those last, strained moments. He returned now to the living room, where Naomi had composed herself and was sitting again on the couch, staring out at her view of Central Park.
“That was Two,” Theroen said, and Naomi nodded.
“I heard that much. I’m glad she’s alive. I take it they found the passage?”
“Yes, but … not without consequence.”
Naomi glanced up at him, her eyes betraying both fear and curiosity. “Oh, no. What happened?”
“Several of the Children, led by Tori, caught up with them. Jakob … he …”
Theroen couldn’t finish, not wanting to heap yet more grief onto Naomi’s shoulders, but it didn’t matter; in a moment more her expression told him that she understood. She did not react with tears, or even with rage. Instead she merely turned back to her view and stared out into night. When she reached for her wine glass, her hand was shaking so badly that Theroen was unsure it would reach her lips. It did, however, and she took a long drink before returning it to the table.
“How did … how did Two make it out?” she asked.
“Leonore. She knew of the passage and had been hiding there. She was able to save Sasha and Two, but it was too late for Jakob.”
Naomi looked sick and shell shocked. Theroen wanted to do something for her, but he couldn’t begin to imagine what that something might be. All this terrible news in just one night? First Ashayt, then William, now Jakob …
When Naomi spoke again, it was in a voice that was trying for nonchalance but was instead filled with such emotion that the each word seemed weighted down with
it.
“What are we going to do?”
“I’ve told Two to meet me in Central Park tomorrow, and to bring Sasha and Leonore,” Theroen said. “From there we can regroup and plan our—”
“No. Theroen … no! My God, after all that has happened, how can you still want to fight them?”
“Please, let me finish. There is no way to fight them, not right now. Perhaps if we knew where they were coming from, some sort of argument could be made for it, but at the moment we do not have the information and so cannot act on it.”
“Why bother regrouping?” Naomi asked.
“We have lost two battles in a row because we were unprepared. It seems as though we may have lost the war, but I am not sure it matters; we cannot surrender. The Children will not stop until we are all dead. Most of us that still live wish to continue doing so, Naomi. Our best course of action is to reunite somewhere safe.”
“If you still wish to live, then by all means, do whatever you want,” Naomi said. “For my part, my mind was made up even before I learned about Jakob. Why couldn’t you have just pulled the trigger? I saw how close you were … now I must go to my grave knowing that yet another friend has gone before me.”
Theroen was still holding the gun in his hand, and he glanced at it now. He looked over at Naomi, who was watching him, and then back again at the weapon.
“Naomi Ames,” he said, contemplating. “My oldest friend.”
“Yes.”
“The Naomi Ames I used to know cared deeply about people. She cared about the other vampires in this country and in the world. She cared about them so much that I have seen her join battle to protect them, even though it went against her very being. You have fought with weapons and with words to protect those people, to shield them from tyrants like Aros and Abraham. Why are you abandoning them now, when they need you most?”
“There is nothing I could possibly do for—”
“Who is left, Naomi, if not you? Who is left to lead? Here we are, the two oldest vampires left in this entire country, and if I could take this burden from your shoulders and bear it on my own, I would – but I cannot. They will not follow me, not alone. Whether the choice is to flee or fight, it must be made and then carried out. Without the council it will be chaos, and without you there is no council.
The II AM Trilogy (Book 3): The Children of the Sun Page 22
