The Warrior

by Rebecca Royce

  He was right. Lately the Vampires had steadily increased their attacks. We were holding the line but we weren’t winning; maybe maintaining would be more accurate. The ‘grownups’ were worried, even if they weren’t telling the younger Warriors about it. Yet. They might as well have told us, considering we already knew.

  I’d never paid attention to politics, until Dr. Isaac Icahn—the man credited with saving humanity from the monsters—had tried to have me killed, repeatedly. He had also been exposed as the person responsible for destroying everything forty-six years ago. It was only thanks to my father’s irresponsible act when I was a baby that we even know any of this. Now, I didn’t like being left in the dark. If the things happening were going to affect our lives, or blow up in our faces, we should be told about it. Either we were old enough to handle adult responsibilities or we weren’t.

  Tia continued, “I know how it’s going to go. I’m going to get out there and you’re all going to protect me. I won’t get to use any of my skills.”

  Chad stood up and walked next to her. He was tall and dark, like his father, but where Patrick’s eyes were lined with years of worry, Chad’s dark brown depths were intense almost all-seeing when he regarded me. Right now, he turned that power on Tia.

  “Do you think it’s actually possible to protect someone out there? If it were, we wouldn’t keep non-Warriors locked down all night. Once you’re there, with us, in the woods and it’s us versus them, everything changes. With the whole fate of every non-Warrior on your small shoulders, you’ll see, it’s different. You either make it or you don’t. None of us will be able to help you very much.”

  I watched Tia to see if she was taking in what he said to her, to see if she really got it. Tia sighed and looked away as she walked to the window that showed the Genesis promenade. Only Warriors were allowed down in Genesis these days. Even though I thought it highly unlikely, everyone thought there still might be the possibility that Genesis could go boom at any time. It was considered too high a risk for the general population.

  Finally, I spoke. “What’s really wrong, Tia?”

  She turned and smiled at me. “I’m thinking about a guy.”

  Chad and Micah both gasped as if they’d been struck. Micah held up his hands. “Don’t say any more. I don’t want to think about you and any guy. I’m leaving before the two of you have this conversation.”

  Turning on his heel, he stalked from the room faster than I’d ever seen him move except during a Vampire assault.

  Chad smiled as he shook his head. “I think I’ll take his lead on this one. See you tonight, Rachel.”

  I nodded and tried not to grin. When they’d finally left the room, I burst into laughter. “Your brothers are terrified of the thought of you dating.”

  “Yeah, well, as of tomorrow there isn’t a thing they can do about it.”

  I raised my eyebrows to show my disbelief. “You don’t think so? They could make whoever this guy is miserable. In case you didn’t notice, your family is pretty darn powerful around here.”

  She walked to me. “Don’t you want to know who it is?”

  “Of course.” I nodded. “If you want to tell me.”

  “It’s Glen.” Her face took on a dreamy quality when she said his name.

  I nearly threw up in my mouth. “Glen?”

  The same Glen who had made my life miserable with his snide remarks and difficult behavior every day I’d been in school with him? She had to be kidding.

  She shrugged. “I know you don’t like him. I know he was mean to you. It’s just because he was insecure. He’s been nicer lately, don’t you think? I’ve been talking to him about his behavior.”

  Now that she mentioned it, the few times I had seen him lately, he had been more pleasant. “You’ve been talking to him about his behavior? So this is actually something that’s going on—you and Glen. It’s not just something you’re thinking about.”

  Frankly, I was hurt as hell she hadn’t confided any of this before. How could Tia have a boyfriend I knew nothing about?

  “Look, I know this is shocking to you. Glen and I are not together. We can’t be until tomorrow when I’m legal. You know my parents are strict about that stuff. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but it’s not like you’ve been around all that much for the last six months. I did have to find something to do while you saved the world, and I was left at home twiddling my thumbs.”

  Tia’s tone told me she was angry. I knew her almost as well as I knew myself and if she was getting hostile, it was probably because she felt badly about something. I swallowed as I tried to hear past the rudeness to what she said to me. We’d known each other too long, and been through too much together, for her not to have earned that much effort from me.

  I crossed my hands in front of my chest in what I knew was a defensive gesture. Tia and I never fought. Whenever we did—the rare occurrences—I always felt ill, as though my whole world was going to end.

  When I could find my voice, I spoke. “I didn’t know you felt left out. I never wanted that. Why didn’t you say something?”

  She threw her hands in the air. “When should I have done that? Every time you’re not kicking monsters back to their lairs, my brother or Deacon surrounds you. They never leave you alone for a second.”

  I agreed with her about the guys. “I didn’t ask them to do that. In fact, I’ve asked them not to.”

  She nodded. “I know that, too. I’m not really mad at you, Rachel. I just don’t like explaining myself. You weren’t there—not your fault—Glen was, and we connected. He didn’t get to fight until last week. He’s only a week older than I am. Tomorrow, he’s going to start publically courting me.”

  Tia’s family was very old-fashioned in how they pursued love and romance, but that was true of many Genesis families. With such a small, localized community, the dating couple had to state their intentions out front if he or she wanted to be considered respectable. Apparently, Glen was willing to do this and, in retrospect, it was what Chad had done for me.

  Not that I had encouraged Chad’s intentions. I bit my lip. Well, sometimes I had. I did like the way he flirted with me. Scratching my head, I wondered if his parents thought I wasn’t being respectable with him. That thought made my stomach hurt. I’d hate to have the Lyons family think badly of me. With my own father drunk more than he wasn’t, they were the only family I had in the world.

  “If he makes you happy, then I’m happy for you. He did really well his first day out.”

  He had thrown up all over the back of a tree after his first encounter with a Vampire. I thought it was probably best I not tell Tia that. It was a Warrior code. Everyone freaked out sometimes, but whatever happened out there, stayed out there. You never discussed it again. Your first night out fighting was an appropriate time to have a freak out.

  Tia’s face lit up. “I’ve really felt badly not talking to you about this stuff. You’re closer than a sister to me.”

  I pulled her into a tight hug. “I feel the same way.”

  It was really important I do a better job of taking care of my friendship with Tia. I couldn’t take it for granted or I might lose her.

  As I pulled back, I looked at her. “So, tell me about Glen.”

  I never got to hear her answer. Overcome, with the cold, sick feeling that always hit my body before a Vampire attacks, I nearly hit the floor with pain. I could tell when Vampires and Werewolves were coming much sooner than anyone else. Having survived almost being killed, the experience had left me very attuned to the presence of monsters. The severity of each instance was linked directly to how many of the monsters showed up.

  This was a bad one. My whole body felt like it was being torn in half with coldness. I tried to breathe through the pain as I attempted to identify the source, or at least the direction, of the monsters.

  Tia screamed and grabbed me. “Monsters?”

  She’d never seen me have an attack before, since she’d always been shielded and awa
y from the fray.

  I could barely speak, but I got my reply out through clenched teeth. “Lots. Of. Them. Vampires.”

  “But we’re in Genesis. Have they busted through the elevators?”

  No, that wasn’t where the feeling was coming from. I shook my head as I squirmed out of her arms. I was long since over being afraid of my abilities. At first I’d thought I was insane with the way I could feel monsters other couldn’t. Now that I knew what I could do, I could help everyone by staying calm and identifying what I felt.

  I moved forward, letting the intensity of the pain guide me in the direction I needed to go. I reached out with my arm. It felt like the monsters were right in front of me. Yes, I could almost touch them. My hand hit concrete and I jolted backwards.

  Tia watched me, her mouth hanging open. She pointed at the wall. “There? The Vampires are past that wall?”

  I nodded as I moved toward the door to the room. I needed distance from my pain to sort out what happened. If I was right—and so far I always was—the Vampires had just brought their underground lairs right up against Genesis’ outer wall.

  And we were in so much trouble, I couldn’t even begin to process what it meant.

  Chapter Two

  I stood in front of the Warrior Council, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, as I tried to make myself breathe. The Council was filled with people I thought highly of and who had been good friends to me when I’d needed them, even staging a revolution on my behalf.

  Tonight, however, I couldn’t help but feel they took some of their anger out on me. They had literally started shouting when I had told them what happened down in Genesis. I hadn’t made the Vampires dig their tunnel up against the wall. It wasn’t my fault. I simply had the bad luck to be the one who had felt them.

  Keith Endover pounded on the wooden table behind which they all sat. Next to him was his wife, the hugely pregnant Tiffani. Without thinking, I rubbed my stomach just to make sure it was still flat. I couldn’t imagine a person actually growing inside of me. I’d heard women say it was an amazing experience to feel the baby move, but to me it sounded really horrendous. I didn’t want a living creature inside of me; no way, no how, not even if it was one I helped to create.

  Patrick Lyons sat on his other side, leaning back in a chair, hands pressed together so tightly his knuckles were white. He didn’t look happy, and when Patrick got mad, heads tended to roll. I really hoped it wasn’t mine. Also behind the table, with the fate of our portion of humanity in their hands, were Raj Moore, John Cohen, and Frank Runner.

  “Why can’t we get a break?” Keith’s outburst made me take a step back.

  He was my former teacher and one of the Warrior leaders out in the field. He’d saved my life more than once. I respected him immensely, and didn’t like watching him lose his cool. It made me feel sick, like the ground was going to shift below me and we might all fall endlessly to our deaths. That’s if the Vampires didn’t get us first.

  When I finally spoke, it was more of a stutter than a coherent thought. “I didn’t do it, Keith. I didn’t put them there. I just felt them.”

  He raised his hand in the air. “I’m not angry with you, Rachel.”

  “No,” Tiffani shook her head as she rubbed her belly. “You’re not, but I can see how Rachel might think you all are. Everyone has been scowling at her since she got here and told us the bad news.”

  Keith nodded, looking down at the table. “I apologize, Rachel.”

  I swallowed. There was nothing more uncomfortable than watching one adult correct another. It always felt like I was intruding on something I wasn’t supposed to see, something they should have saved for when I wasn’t around.

  “That’s okay.”

  Patrick pushed his chair back and looked at Frank Runner. “This is just going to make us move up our plans.”

  I swallowed. “Plans?”

  Was I supposed to know what they were? Had I not been paying attention?

  Patrick continued talking. “Frank, go let the other Warriors in. Rachel, go sit down. I’ll explain what’s going on when everyone gets in here.”

  I nodded and did as I was told. As I took my place on the floor, I waited with anxiety gnawing inside of me to see what was happening. Somehow I suspected I would be involved in whatever this “plan” involved.

  In general, I don’t think the world revolves around me. Just lately—whenever something had to do with the Vampires or the Werewolves in the underground tunnels—everyone turned to me. Yes, I had been in the tunnels and the warehouse. Yes, I could sense the monsters more accurately than anyone else at the moment. But, no, I did not need to be involved in every aspect of handling them. Wasn’t that what the grown-up Warriors were supposed to be doing? Wasn’t that why they referred to my designation as One, because I was still young?

  Sitting on the floor, it was like I couldn’t make my legs stay still. I couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting. I’d managed to get them cross-legged, but now I needed to stretch them out to keep them from shaking. I looked up at Tiffani and smiled. She was good at making us all feel better in the face of certain doom. Her pregnancy had ended her days of fighting, so she’d taken on the unofficial role as upkeeper of moral. I would never want that job. My moods shifted too quickly to the gloomy side of the scale. Now, if they ever needed a prophet of doom, I was their girl.

  The other Warriors—the Ones, Twos, and the Adult Warriors who weren’t part of the Council—scurried into the room. It wasn’t too often we got called into chambers but when we did, as a rule, we took it very seriously.

  Keith sighed and rested his head in his hands. Tiffani whispered something to him and he lifted his face to smile at her. When Keith looked at Tiffani, it was like the world brightened for him. Since my mother had died when I was a baby—and my father was drunk all the time—I hadn’t had my own role models of what love should look like. I’d adopted Patrick and Carol Lyons and Keith and Tiffani Endover as my examples of happily married couples.

  Their relationships, based on love, respect, and adoration, were what I wanted for myself if I ever lived long enough to get it. As if on cue, Chad and Deacon took their seats next to me on the floor. I smiled at both of them. Sometimes it was possible to have too much of a good thing.

  Keith stood up. “Everybody sit down. We need to make this fast and as painless as possible.”

  Deacon leaned over to whisper to me. “What’s the crisis tonight?”

  I rolled my eyes. That was the difference between Deacon and Chad. To my left, Chad sat intently listening. It would never occur to him to make a snarky remark at a time like this. The part of me that had accepted my Warrior destiny appreciated this about Chad. He was probably going to be our future leader some day. But, the part of me that still felt young, still wanted to scream into the night that I was in charge of my own life and didn’t have to follow a set path, that part of me loved when Deacon made his remarks.

  Keeping my voice down, I answered him. “I wish I didn’t know.”

  “Ah,” Deacon laughed, a deep hard sound. “It’s another Rachel Clancy crisis.”

  “Kiss my butt, Deacon.”

  He leaned back. “I would love to.”

  Wow. Deacon was the only one who spoke to me like that. I wanted to be offended when he did, but I wasn’t. I loved it. Truth was, Jason, the Werewolf who had destroyed my heart, had addressed me provocatively, too. Apparently, I responded well to rudeness.

  Was that why I couldn’t make a decision between two very good-looking, wonderful guys? Because I still felt hung up on the Wolf? Wow, I was getting more and more screwed up every day.

  Chad made a growling nose in the back of his throat and shot Deacon a look that said more than words ever could about how much he disliked the other Warrior.

  Deacon snickered. “All right, Captain Perfect. We’ll be quiet.”

  Keith moved to the front of the long wooden table. “Here’s the deal: Rachel sensed Vampires through the concr
ete wall of the tattoo parlor in Genesis.”

  Chad’s turned to stare at me. “When did that happen?” His voice was barely a hiss.

  “After you and Micah ran off.”

  He ran a hand through his short brown hair. “Did they just show up?”

  I shrugged. “I have no idea how this stuff works.”

  Keith continued. “We knew this was going to happen. There are so many unknowns involved in our lives, but whether or not Isaac Icahn would bring the monsters to punish us for ousting him was not a question of if. It was always just a matter of when.”

  I swallowed. We had known that but none of us had said it aloud.

  Patrick stood, joining Keith. “I, personally, thought we’d have more time, but I guess our window of time has run out. That means we all have to be prepared, and we have to go and get more help.”

  Chad sucked in his breath as a Warrior named Doug spoke from the back of the room. Doug was a good fighter, but he didn’t like to train the Ones and Twos so I didn’t see him very often. “Help from where? Are we going to train the non-Warriors to fight?”

  “No. That would be futile.” Patrick looked at Keith. “We discussed it and decided the casualties would be too high.”

  Keith nodded. “What the Council has decided is that we are going to send a mission to Liberty to request they send us reinforcements.”

  The room fell silent. I wondered who would speak first. Communication between the habitats was spotty at best. The Vampires frequently broke our codes. We knew now that was because Icahn had given them our information. Still, since Genesis had come up from underground to live on the surface of the Earth, we hadn’t heard one word from any other habitat. As far as we knew, none of them had any idea what had happened.

  Genesis had been built across the Hudson River from New York City. Liberty’s location was under what had been the District of Columbia. I tried to remember what they’d taught us in school. I wasn’t sure I could remember exactly where that was. Around two hundred miles from us? I couldn’t fathom it.