One (Rules Undying Book 6)

by R. E. Carr

  Bam-Yin stopped her. “Used it, how?”

  “We need to get moving,” Steve said. “Georgia—”

  “He used it in Georgia,” Gail said, ducking around him.

  Steve whirled around. “Make one comment about being inside my wife, and I will show you exactly how powerful I’ve gotten, Bam-Bam. Now, I’m going to find that bastard Arthur and tell him exactly what I think of him—and possibly compel him to take a long walk off a short pier. Merlin said—”

  “That is not Arthur!” Gail blurted out. The others turned to her.

  Klaus spoke first. “I knew Arthur, and as crazy as it seems, that man is the same vampire I remember from back in England.”

  “Not to mention the same obnoxious powers,” Bam-Yin added. “If that isn’t Arthur, then who the hell is he—and why would everyone who is clearly so much older and vastly superior to me kowtow and bow to the bastard?”

  A howl echoed from the other end of the hall. The vampires froze. Steve, in particular, blanched at the sound. After each howl, there was a smack and a thud. “Oh, please, no—not werewolves,” Bam-Yin complained. “They escalate everything.”

  “Amen to that,” Gail added. Steve, however, made a beeline for the noise.

  “There are only two furballs that should be here, and I owe it to Pip to find either,” Steve called over his shoulder as he led the charge. Gail tried her best to keep up while Bam-Yin and Klaus just shrugged.

  “I’m pretty sure that howl is . . .” Bam-Yin was saying as Gail and Steve burst into the room at the other end of the corridor. Gail’s jaw dropped as she saw an octagonal cage and red splatters across the floor.

  “Why is there a Thunderdome in a Boston basement?” Gail asked.

  “It’s probably where they throw Yankees fans, Pumpkin,” Steve replied just as sarcastically. “Oh my god—”

  A mass of blonde hair went flying into the cage. The bars rattled as another blond snarled and beat his chest with hairy, bloodied hands. “Minerva!” Steve hollered. The werewolf dove for her, but she easily rolled to the side. Morgan crashed face-first into solid steel but shook it off quickly enough to throw Minerva von Fenstermacher again. Steve and Gail could only watch in abject horror as the slavering beast-man drove his fists into her time and time again, flinging her like a ragdoll. Finally, he grabbed her by the arm and whirled her into the air. The vampire collapsed in the center of the ring as a shuddering mess. Gail gasped and clutched her chest. “Minerva,” she whispered. “No—”

  The vampire stared through her sweat-soaked bangs. Her red eyes narrowed, and she licked her lips. “My turn,” she hissed before launching into a flurry of kicks and jabs so fast that even the vampires couldn’t keep up with each strike. “Morgan, don’t you think you can do better?”

  Morgan slumped against the door, reeling with fresh bruises and a black eye. He wiped the blood from his split lip. He gave her a lopsided grin. “As you wish.”

  “You have to stop this!” Gail cried. “You’re going to kill each other. Damn it, Steve, we have to do something!”

  “Why?” Bam-Yin interjected as he watched the fracas. “They do this dance every night ever since King Asshat ordered them to work out their frustrations. That’s his dog and his bitch. I used to get to watch until I got chopped to bits and my mojo was stripped. This is what Arthur does.”

  “Stop!” Gail cried. Morgan and Minerva continued to fight, progressively amplifying the blows until Morgan burst through one of the panels and crashed at Gail’s feet. Gail barely managed to leap away before Minerva pounced—driving her knees into Morgan’s shoulder and punching his face repeatedly.

  “Never again!” Minerva yowled. “I never have to be afraid of you ever again, you filthy animal. This is zee last time . . . Never . . . again!”

  “One day . . . I will . . . get . . . revenge,” Morgan wheezed as he turned his head and bared his throat. Gail and Steve stared, dumbstruck, as Minerva leaned in, fangs extended.

  “Sis, no, he’s—”

  “Oh, that’s not right,” Gail said as she watched her vampire mother lick Morgan’s sweaty neck.

  “So not right,” Steve agreed.

  They both turned away as they heard more slurping, sucking, and moaning sounds. Bam-Yin simply smiled and watched the apparent show while the exasperated Klaus did his best to study the door frame. Gail grabbed Steve and made a beeline for the door the moment she heard a zipper. She didn’t bother grabbing the other vampires.

  “My sister . . . and Abercrombie . . .” Steve said, still blinking rapidly.

  “Think how I feel; that’s my mom! I mean, should we just leave them?”

  “I’m not going back in there.” Steve shook his head rapidly. “Nope . . . nope . . . nope.”

  “Want to go find Arthur then and make things worse?” Gail asked.

  Steve nodded. Before they could get too far down the hall, the ginormous hand of Klaus landed on Gail’s shoulder. “We cannot just abandon them to Arthur’s torture, young ones,” he said calmly.

  “I am not prepared to explain or even comprehend any of this, Pops. Why were they fighting and then . . . eww . . . just eww! I thought that Arthur had Minerva all picked out to be his new queen.”

  “He got a little vindictive, while you were gone, Little Brother. He locked up Geoffrey in his home and had nightly entertainment of the blond brute squad. He only makes nice with Minerva in public, and he orders her to play nice in return. I almost feel bad for her—and I know what a bitch she can be.”

  “Arthur will be in trouble when Claudia returns. She will not stand to see her only daughter treated this disrespectfully,” Klaus said with a somber look. “She will probably expect you to take a side in all this as well, Steven.”

  “She’s not my mother,” Steve hissed. “You know what? I’m not discussing any of this right now. I want my chance to yell at Arthur and kick his ass. I know how long my sis can take when she’s juiced up from a fight, so can we move on before—”

  Really loud howls and moans pierced the air. Gail joined in the chorus of exuberant nodding as they hurried away from the Thunderdome-turned-sex-dungeon. As they took the stairs, Bam-Yin offered helpfully, “I don’t know why you are so upset. You know if any of us had a chance to bang a hot werewolf, we would.”

  “Speak for yourself.”

  “Oh, I totally would. Our oldest bro gets a piece of tail every night if he wants to, why shouldn’t we?”

  “That piece of tail is my great-granddaughter, asshole!”

  “Who is ridiculously fine—”

  “Shut up!” Steve commanded. The words reverberated in Gail’s skull even though it didn’t sound like Steve spoke particularly louder than before. Gail rolled her eyes.

  “Guys, at this rate it’s a miracle that the whole place doesn’t know we’re running about . . .” Gail trailed off as the door burst open. She never got to finish her sentence as the Taser pins lodged in her chest. “Fu—”

  “That was a pathetic rescue attempt, even by mein bruder’s low standards,” Gail heard as her eyelids fluttered open. “I told you to get strong enough to impress me. You are not succeeding, Milchbrötchen.”

  Gail found herself in a king-sized bed mounded with silk pillows and fluffy velour blankets. She instantly zeroed in on the restraints attached quite openly to the four posts. Gail raised a brow as she looked to the ceiling and saw the covers shifting around her nonexistent reflection. She took a deep sniff and instantly regretted it as musk flooded her airways. Gail shoved herself upright and stared incredulously at Minerva combing her damp hair, while slash marks slowly closed along her back and shoulders.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  “This is hell, Milchbrötchen. Zee hell I entered when I tried to fix my old mistakes. Now I am stuck reliving zee one moment where I realized that no matter how strong I was, zee berserkers would always be stronger.”

  “That werewolf—”

  “His father vas a twin. I could almost beat
one of them, but not both. They are why I have these fancy new eyes. When I first saw Morgan, I froze. I no longer freeze.”

  “And Arthur compels you to fight him every night and then what . . . try to screw him to death?”

  Minerva burst into hearty laughter. She smiled slyly at Gail. “Arthur only commanded us to fight once or twice. Now we do it for fun. Shocked? Horrified at your dear, sweet mother?”

  “The only thing that ever horrified me about you is your Colonel Klink accent,” Gail muttered bitterly. “Seriously—do you and Steve have a bet going to see who can have the most ridiculous and inconsistent accent?”

  “You try sprechen sie Englisch after growing up in a shithole of an Austrian town and see how you sound, Milchbrötchen. If I used my real accent, everyone would make me say I’ll be back or read zee menu at Spago. I am quite content playing zee role of zee Teutonic twat, danke schön.”

  Gail became quite aware of another lump tangled in the covers. She lifted some of the fuzz to see bare skin ridden with teeth marks. “Refreshments,” Minerva explained. Gail’s stomach growled. She elicited an approving nod as she managed to successfully gulp blood straight from the tap. Once fed, Gail finally stretched and swung her legs over the edge.

  “Did you just come here to question my life choices, or did you only get captured since everything has gone to scheisse outside? I simply must know.”

  “I was sent here to warn Merlin and see if he would help us with crazy Arthur, since Arthur is under the influence of Steve’s sickness and completely unhinged. However, I’ve come to find out that Arthur isn’t even Arthur at all, just some personality made up by Merlin because he can. Also, no one believes a damn word I say because of fucking miasma.”

  Minerva shrugged. “Anyone who really knows Ren can see his anger buried in whatever mess Merlin turned him into. I stopped caring long ago. I get my thrills facing the one moment that I failed.”

  “What? I don’t understand.” Gail pushed to her feet and approached the blasé blonde. “You’re just beating the shit out of a werewolf for fun? He could kill you!”

  “But he doesn’t,” Minerva countered. “Don’t you see? All either of us have left is zee fight. We have zee moment, and it can last for an eternity.”

  “But what about . . .?”

  Minerva raised a brow. Gail tried to stare long enough to get an answer, but her vampire mother remained damnably bemused and silent until Gail finally blurted out, “What about my father—what about Mr. Lambley?”

  Minerva’s laughter all but shook the walls. “Milchbrötchen, I schtupped him because I thought I was going to die, and unlike some members of my family, I vas not going to go out of this world a virgin.”

  “Oh.”

  “Well . . . you asked.”

  Gail sat in an uncomfortable silence while Minerva rubbed lotion on her arms. She tossed the expensive-looking bottle to the bed. “You have dry elbows, kinder.” Gail then noticed a slinky black dress laid out on the chair nearby. As she stared at it further she saw a pattern rather like dandelion fluff trailing from the shoulder.

  “Did you pick this out for me?”

  Minerva nodded and smiled. “I’ve found it best to always make an effort before facing the world. After all, no one is going to care about your mind, Milchbrötchen. They want to see your firm little ass tucked in zee latest fashion, and you to smile with pretty painted lips.” She blew Gail an exaggerated kiss. “Give them what they expect, and they do not bother to look further. That is how you get in close. Then when you rip out their throats, well, it’s priceless, neh?”

  “Motherly advice?”

  Minerva giggled. She slid over to the bed and started detangling Gail’s hair. “Every Jaeger is a hunter, Milchbrötchen; not a brute, not a soldier—but one who must use zee stealth and cunning to get zee prey. Now, bitte, do not take my indifference towards you as a personal attack. You must know by now that it is not that I don’t care about you, it is simply zhat I do not care about anybody.”

  “Well you are a fucking liar,” Gail blurted out. Unfortunately, she timed it just as her mother was ripping through a knot. After a little yelp, Gail managed to turn around and truly face the bemused Minerva at last.

  “And you have a filthy mouth. I love it,” Minerva sighed before turning Gail back around so that she could start braiding. “And what could possibly lead you to this amazing deduction, Milchbrötchen?”

  “You sent Georgia’s cat to Steve instead of killing it,” Gail offered. Minerva snorted.

  “I did zhat to cause him pain. Mein bruder has an unhealthy obsession with zee Berliner, and I was certain that seeing that poor creature would cause him far more pain than a letter alone. Zhat was not caring, zhat was for pleasure.”

  “Me!”

  “You?” Minerva replied flatly. “You only exist because I needed a test subject and because killing you would be a pain in zee ass to clean up—”

  “No, I know you don’t give a damn about me personally, but you created me so that you could undo all the damage Steve did. You wanted to save Ren.”

  Minerva caught her breath. She then chuckled and focused entirely on coifing Gail’s locks into a crown of braids. It was Gail’s turn to paint on a smug smile. She adopted Minerva’s over-the-top accent and asked, “Vhat, did I hit zee nerve?”

  Minerva rolled her eyes. “From time to time, I have found that there can be extraordinary humans mixed up in all zee meat, ja. Once you’ve had tea with Nikola Tesla, zee world seems just a little bit more interesting, neh? I confess to wanting to bring back zee Ren that I . . . enjoyed, but I remembered too late zee lesson I learned long ago.”

  “And what is that?”

  Minerva let Gail turn around to face her again. The vampire looked surprisingly pensive, her hair hanging over her face and shoulders as she rubbed her temples and searched for just the right words. “I love zee sciences. I love building things—taking them apart and putting them back together, just like your new friend Herr Merlin, neh?” Gail nodded. Minerva looked up at last. “You should know this too, know it better than anyone, zhat humans are not like engines, they are not like toys. Humans are food—and if there is one thing you learn from cooking, it’s zhat once you mix it up and make something new, it never goes back. Tell me, have you ever tried to unbake a cake?”

  Gail gasped a little as a sinking feeling spread from the pit of her stomach. Minerva smiled at her, but her normal snark and malice seemed markedly absent. “Is that why you called us all pastries?” Gail asked softly. Minerva nodded.

  She took Gail’s hand. “I did try to bring back my Ren, but he was gone. It is not just zee memories that make a man. My only comfort is that I have seen greatness, and I will see it again. Someday there will be another, this zeitgeist will pass, and in zee new era, there will be someone wonderful to excite, to entrance, or to teach. Dwelling on what is gone is a waste of energy, neh?”

  “I don’t think I ever gave you enough credit, Minerva,” Gail whispered. Minerva rolled her eyes.

  “I don’t care for your credit. I care about that backpfeifengesicht bruder of mine going mad from grief and doing something stupid. I get that Georgia was his Ren but—”

  “She’s not dead.”

  “Eine minute, bitte,” Minerva said, wide eyed. “That cannot be, I saw zee body—”

  “Yeah, well she was dead, but she got better.”

  “Ja, I am going to get zee guy who drinks zee schnapps for me, and we are going to have a long conversation, Milchbrötchen. Also, we are totally redoing your nails, those are a disgrace.”

  42

  “I am such a disgrace to plucky vampire assistants everywhere,” Georgia moaned as she slumped at the base of the main stairwell of The Intercontinental. “I also now know how a dalek feels.” She looked towards the impossibly high mountain of steps and let out a deep sigh.

  “Now, now, it’s not so bad,” her companion, the Sock Monster, said as he patted her on the head. “You just need a
little rest before we go up another flight.”

  “There are elevators, you know,” Georgia muttered, flopping her head against the chipped plaster. The Sock Monster hung his head in shame.

  “I know, but he is out there, and I must be careful.”

  “Great, my invisible monster friend has an invisible monster that he’s afraid of, and I still have the greatest monster of all to face—a fifth-floor-walk-up. This is how it’s all going to end . . . because I hated cardio.”

  The Sock Monster knelt beside her. “You have already done the impossible. Give yourself some credit.” He looked over his shoulder and paled. “Oh no, the monster who plans our destruction is near. I cannot let him see me. I am so sorry.”

  “You stitched me back together. You do what you gotta do, my friend.” Georgia coughed and curled into a ball. The Sock Monster gave her a little wave and faded into the shadows. “Good bye, I think.”

  The door to the second floor opened. Georgia’s blood ran cold as she saw salt-and-pepper hair and a smug smile. She tried her best to be small and unobtrusive as Merlin and his guard, Ivan, entered the stairwell.

  “Ask for a milagro, and ye shall receive,” a voice whispered in her ear. Georgia held her breath as a now-familiar shadow wrapped around her. Merlin and Ivan walked right past.

  “I am telling you, he does not want to be disturbed, master,” Ivan was saying. “He spent hours with our guests from Washington, ate, and then requested to be left alone.”

  “I do not care what that brat wants. He needs to know that the damned DeMarco boy has managed to disappear, and he’s taken Lazarus-2 with him. If I know that imbecile, he will attack Arthur before he can face Mordred at last. Without that conflict and resolution, he will never—” Merlin stopped and gazed curiously around the hall. He glanced for the briefest of moments at the shadow where Javier curled around Georgia, then shook his head. “You know what? Let’s escalate matters. Let’s get Mordred and end this chaos once and for all.”

  Merlin whirled around and ran right back out the door from which he came. Both Javier and Georgia let out deep sighs of relief. “You have amazing timing, Captain Fabulous.”