Warrior Unraveled

by Tina Folsom

  “Of course, oh Great One.” Vintoq took a part of the stack and placed it in front of him, then started leafing through the reports. “This will take a while.”

  Zoltan grunted. “Hmm. Perseverance leads to success.” And patience. Though the latter he had in short supply. He was running out of time. He needed to make a move soon, or this window of opportunity would close just like others had closed before.

  He glanced back at the dagger that rested on the side table again, next to his other trophies. It had outlived its usefulness, but he kept it as a reminder that he couldn’t fail again. He had sold the destruction of the Stealth Guardian compound as a win to his subjects, even though he knew it had been a failure, because it hadn’t achieved the most important goal: destroying the guardians from within. Destruction of only one compound when they could have gotten to so many more, had his advance team not screwed up, was a failure of epic proportions. But to his demons he would never admit it. They had to believe that it was a success.

  Propaganda was important. The wrong kind could topple a leader. The right kind could empower him.

  ~ ~ ~

  The entire day, there had been a sense of calm before the storm at the Baltimore compound. Wesley had watched the guardians as they went about their work: doing perimeter checks every hour, monitoring communications with other compounds, watching the news for anything odd, and in general, just waiting for something to happen. But nothing stirred.

  By the time the sun had set and dinner was over, Wes was on edge.

  “We can’t just sit around and wait,” he said to the guardians lounging in the living area.

  Pearce looked up from his tablet, with which he was still monitoring Deirdre’s movements. “Sorry, pal, but what do you want us to do? If you have an idea, let us have it.” He shrugged and dropped his gaze back to his device.

  Maybe this was as good an invitation as he’d ever get. Wes took a deep breath, then braced himself for the opposition his idea would garner.

  “It’s time to bring Scanguards in on this. The vampires can help us.”

  Every head spun in his direction. Well, at least he had everybody’s attention. Now he just had to make his case.

  “The council won’t authorize it, not in a time like this,” Hamish said calmly.

  “I’m not asking the council, I’m asking you guys,” Wes said. When several of them opened their mouths to protest, he lifted his hand. “Hear me out, before you object. It’s not like you’re doing anything else important right now.”

  A few glares answered his words, but Wes ignored them. Instead he looked at Virginia. At least she wasn’t glaring at him.

  “Fine, we’ll listen,” Virginia said.

  He couldn’t help but notice that even Enya looked surprised at this, though Virginia didn’t seem to notice it.

  “As an outsider, I’m looking at all of this and wondering what we’re missing,” Wesley started. “I’ve been wracking my brain all day. And I think I found it.”

  A few skeptical gazes landed on him.

  “Now, I don’t presume to know more about demons than you, but not being a guardian myself, I think I might have a different perspective on a few things. So, the demons seem to be everywhere, right? I mean they have their own network of spies—humans and demons—in the world, watching us, presumably reporting to their boss, right?”

  Hamish shrugged. “Yeah, so? We know that already. That’s why we’re extremely careful when we go out there and remain invisible whenever we can.”

  Wes nodded. “That’s what I thought. But when you’re not invisible, they can recognize you by your aura, whereas the demons themselves don’t have a preternatural aura you or I could see. It puts you at a disadvantage.”

  “You forget their green eyes,” Enya said, almost bored.

  He acknowledged her comment with a nod. “No, I’m not forgetting. But eyes can be shielded, either with sunglasses, or with colored lenses.”

  “We know that,” Enya said, “but a lot of the demons we encounter don’t seem to take that precaution.”

  “Enya is right,” Virginia added. “Though I’ve been confronted with more and more demons that seemed to go the sunglasses route in the last few months.”

  “Exactly. If they truly want to hide from you, they can disguise themselves. And then you have no way of recognizing them until it’s too late. They could be following you anywhere and you wouldn’t know it.” Like they’d followed Virginia so many decades ago.

  Virginia’s chest seemed to rise as if she was afraid that he would disclose her secret. “What’s your point, Wesley?”

  “What if there was another way of recognizing a demon, even if they’ve disguised themselves?”

  “You mean like when they plunge a dagger into one of us?” Logan asked dryly.

  Wes smirked. “It would be a little too late by then, wouldn’t it? No. But the demons have a scent. Not something I would be able to distinguish, nor you, but there’s one species that can recognize anybody by scent.”

  “Vampires,” Virginia murmured.

  “Yes, and I just happen to be good friends with a whole bunch of them. And not only that: they’re highly trained bodyguards, used to fighting evil.”

  “And why would a bunch of bloodsuckers help us?” Enya asked, her voice full of disgust.

  “You probably shouldn’t call them bloodsuckers,” Wes cautioned. “They might get offended.”

  Logan stood. “I’ve got the same question as Enya. Why help us? Vampires never ally themselves with anybody. They don’t make friends with others. Hell, they fight among themselves enough as is.”

  “I’m the living example that they do make friends. They are loyal. Half my family are vampires. My brother is one, my sister is bonded to one. I have a niece and a nephew, both hybrids. I know these people. I’ve lived with them for over twenty years. They are just. They are brave. And they fight for the same thing you do: to eradicate evil. And right now they’re probably worried sick because they haven’t heard from me in nearly two weeks. If I return to them now, they’ll be so happy to see that I’m alive that they’ll agree to anything I propose. Let them help you fight the demons, and you’ll see you can trust them, too. Let them prove to you that an alliance between our two species is in the best interest of all of us.”

  “What if you’re wrong?” Hamish asked, exchanging a look with Aiden, who looked doubtful, too.

  Aiden added, “We can’t afford to lose anybody, Wes. The demons already outnumber us. We can’t take the risk of meeting with vampires. We might be running into an ambush.” He glanced at his wife who sat on the couch next to him.

  “I’m not asking for the whole compound to come with me,” Wesley said quickly. “I just need one person to trust me. One of you to come with me and demonstrate to Scanguards what you’re capable of, and that you come in peace, and I can guarantee you that they’ll be more than eager to join forces. Just one person.”

  Silence fell over the room. The guardians exchanged looks. Wes couldn’t blame Aiden and Hamish for not wanting to come with him. They had women to take care of. They had the most to lose.

  “Come on guys,” he urged the others. “Why are you suddenly all chickening out?”

  Manus huffed. “We’re not. But there are rules.” He slanted a glance at Virginia. “The council will have our hide if they find out. And they will find out.”

  Laughing, Virginia suddenly rose. “Now you’re touting the rules? That’s rich, Manus, particularly for you. According to your file, you’ve broken just about every rule there is.”

  “I take offense at that, counselor,” Manus said with a red face.

  Virginia shook her head. “Don’t all pretend that you suddenly love following rules, just because I’m here, watching you. What would you do if I weren’t here? If you weren’t under scrutiny?”

  The looks the guardians exchanged gave away their true feelings. Wes could see that. And apparently Virginia could, too.

 
“Just as I thought.” She let out a breath. “But none of you are going to Scanguards.”

  Wes opened his mouth. “But—”

  “I’m going with Wesley,” Virginia interrupted. “And the rest of you will cover for us. Is that clear?”

  Nobody contradicted her.

  And Wesley couldn’t be happier. Virginia had finally decided to trust him.

  27

  “I hope I won’t regret this,” Virginia whispered to Wesley an hour later.

  After discussing all the details with her colleagues, and establishing certain protocols if things went wrong, Virginia and Wesley had geared up and were now standing in front of the portal, ready to transport to Scanguards. Hamish and Logan, who had outfitted both her and Wesley with weapons, were with them, waiting.

  Wes slung his backpack with his witchcraft tools over his shoulder. “Trust me. Nothing is gonna happen to you. I won’t leave your side.” He squeezed her arm in reassurance.

  “Virginia,” Pearce called out as he came down the stairs.

  She looked past Wesley.

  “I’ve programmed a new cell phone for you. It’s a secure line. Only use this one to contact us. And if the line rings, pick it up. It can only be us. Nobody else knows the number.”

  She nodded and accepted the cell phone. She slipped it into the inside pocket of her jacket, a jacket Tessa had lent her. It felt a little snug, but it was better than nothing if she didn’t want to shiver. Apparently the weather in San Francisco, where they were headed, was cold and wet at present. It was the rainy season in California, Wesley had explained.

  “Are you sure you’ll be able to find a portal in San Francisco?” Hamish said. “I’ve looked through the register of lost portals, and so far, we haven’t found one yet.”

  “If Wesley’s theory is correct, that the lost portals are remnants of old compounds, then there will be one in San Francisco. I was assigned to a compound there in the 1960s. The compound was destroyed after it was compromised.” She swallowed away the bad memories. “I’m counting on the stone that encased the portal to have been reused in construction somewhere in San Francisco.”

  Hamish let out a breath. “Well, then good luck. Shoot us a text when you’ve arrived so we don’t worry.”

  Virginia met his gaze. What she saw in Hamish’s eyes surprised her. He meant what he said. “I didn’t know any of you cared about what happens to me.”

  The three Stealth Guardians exchanged looks. Then Hamish winked. “Oh, we’re not worried about you.” He jerked his thumb at Wesley and grinned. “We’re just getting used to having Wes make pancakes for us. Don’t wanna lose the best cook we’ve ever had. Right, guys?”

  The other two nodded.

  “So keep him safe, will you?”

  Virginia caught Wes rolling his eyes.

  “We’ll be in touch,” Virginia said and pressed her hand to the dagger carved into the stone wall of the portal. Seconds later, the portal was open. She walked inside, and Wesley followed her.

  He immediately put his arm around her waist, before she could stop him. A quick glance at her three colleagues outside in the corridor confirmed that they’d noticed the intimate gesture. But to her surprise, nobody seemed to care. They wouldn’t tell anybody that she, too, had broken some rules.

  She nodded at them, then willed the portal to close. Darkness engulfed them.

  Wesley pulled her into a closer embrace, and for an instant she resisted.

  “Only so you won’t leave me behind,” he murmured in her ear. “Who knows where we’ll land this time.”

  “Are you afraid?”

  “Not as long as I can feel you.”

  She put both arms around him and leaned her head against his.

  “Mmm, better,” he whispered and kissed her on the cheek.

  Virginia concentrated on San Francisco, on her old compound, on everything she knew about the city, its landmarks, its many hills, its streets and its buildings. She felt the air churn around her and knew they were moving. The portal was taking them away. To the place where she’d made the biggest mistake of her life. A mistake she hoped she wasn’t repeating.

  “We’re here,” she announced to Wesley.

  “I can’t see anything. It’s too dark.”

  “I haven’t opened the portal yet. We need to be prepared for anything.” She eased out of his arms. “Have your weapon ready.”

  “Alright,” he agreed. “I’m ready.”

  “Let’s do it,” she murmured and willed the portal to open.

  Loud noise immediately pierced her eardrums, as bright lights rushed past the opening. It took a second for her brain to make sense of it. A train was whizzing past them.

  “We’re in a subway tunnel,” Wesley said next to her.

  With the train having passed, Wes now inched his head out of the portal and looked down the tunnel. “There’s a station only a few hundred yards down.”

  Virginia looked in the same direction and saw the lights of the subway station, where the train had stopped. “Let’s get there before the next train comes.” She glanced down the other end of the tunnel, but saw no lights around the bend.

  “Agreed,” Wes said. “But let’s put our weapons away. We don’t want to look suspicious when we reach the station.”

  She put her dagger back into its sheath.

  “Watch your step,” he advised. “There’s only a slim ledge.”

  “Go, I’m following you.”

  Careful to walk along the edge of the tunnel, she followed Wesley toward the station. The train was getting ready to leave, its doors closing now. There were plenty of people on the other side of the platform, though this side of it was clearing out. Still, too many people would see her and Wesley emerge from the tunnel.

  Wes looked over his shoulder. “This is Sixteenth Street BART station. We’re in the middle of the Mission. Scanguards’ HQ is right around the corner.”

  “My old compound was in this neighborhood.” So they hadn’t moved the debris too far from its original site and reused it in the building of the BART system, the intra-city rapid transit system that connected the South Bay cities with Oakland and the East Bay, via San Francisco.

  Just before they reached the spot where the station lights fell into the tunnel and could expose them, Virginia put her hand on Wesley’s shoulder.

  “Wait,” she murmured. “I’m going to make us invisible.”

  “Good idea.” He reached back and took her hand, and slowly they walked out of the tunnel and onto the platform.

  Wesley navigated them past the few people waiting for the next train and followed those heading up the escalators, careful not to get too close to anybody in case some unsuspecting citizen suddenly bumped into an invisible obstacle.

  When they reached the next level, where the turnstiles and ticket booths were located, it was busier. Wes pointed to the turnstiles and leaned in to whisper in Virginia’s ear, “Without tickets we can’t get out. Can you keep me invisible while I jump over it and then help you?”

  “No problem.”

  The hurdle was an easy one, and moments later, they emerged outside the station, at a busy intersection in the Mission district. It was raining and it was dark here too. Based on the traffic and the amount of people on the sidewalk, they were in the middle of rush hour.

  “Shit!” Wes cursed. “The rain is gonna make us look like Chevy Chase in The Invisible Man.”

  Virginia understood immediately. Their silhouettes would become visible. “This way.” She dragged Wesley to an alley, where several trash containers shielded them from view. “I need to make us visible, or the gig is up.”

  “Do it,” Wesley agreed.

  Assuring herself that nobody could see them, she uncloaked Wesley and herself. “Okay, we’re good. Let me tell the others that we’ve arrived safely.” She quickly typed a text message and sent it. The reply came immediately. Keep us posted, it said.

  “Where to now?”

  Wes took her
hand. “This way.”

  He led her along a busy sidewalk, took several turns, and crossed the street on two occasions. All in all they probably walked four or five blocks until Wes stopped at the back of a large building that seemed to take up half of the block.

  “That’s our parking garage. Now, we could go in the front, but there’ll be lots of humans too, and who knows how the vampire guards are going to react to your presence. I’d rather take the back entrance and go straight up to the executive floor. If that’s alright with you?”

  For a moment she thought about it. “You know your people best.” Then she pointed to the gate that blocked entry to an underground garage. “How do we get in?”

  Wes pulled something from a pocket in his backpack and waved it at her. “With an access card.” He held it over the card reader. The light on it went green, but the gate didn’t lift.

  Virginia was about to make a comment, when she saw Wesley press his thumb on the reader. He glanced back at her. “Security procedure, just in case somebody steals our cards.”

  “I like it.”

  The gate lifted, and Wes took her hand again and led her inside. Behind them the gate lowered. Virginia looked around. It was indeed a garage, well-lit and clean.

  Wes pointed to the other end of the large space. “The elevators are back there.”

  As they walked toward them, Virginia instinctively held Wesley closer. He stopped and turned to her, gripping her biceps. “Are you okay, babe?”

  She could feel her heart pounding. And why shouldn’t it pound? She was about to enter a vampire nest. “Are you sure they’ll listen to you?”

  “They will. Besides, I meant what I said: I won’t leave your side. I’ll protect you from anybody who wants to harm you.”

  “Why? You’ve been friends with them longer than you’ve known me.”

  At that, he chuckled. “Virginia, do I really need to spell it out for you?”

  “Spell what out?”

  He took her face into both hands. “I’m falling in love with you.”