One (Rules Undying Book 6)

by R. E. Carr

  “Well, I can’t take all the credit. I was trailing that bastardo Imhotep when I caught a bit of your scent. I could not leave my favorite damsel in distress, no? Where have you been for these past few hours?”

  “Oh, the usual—sleeping, getting sewn back together, dreaming about being a dead-but-not-dead French knight. My Saturday nights are totally awesome, you know.”

  Javier tilted her head slightly to the right and peeked at her bandages. He sniffed deeply and nodded in approval. “The vampiro . . . it’s all gone. Your imaginary friend do this?”

  “Yeah,” Georgia replied weakly. “He seems to share your hatred of Merlin . . . or Imhotep, or whatever you want to call that asshole. He always disappears before Merlin can find him.”

  “Imhotep thinks he can control the world from the shadows. Look at what he did to you, mi amiga.” He brushed the sweat from her forehead and stared with deep concern. “He is truly terrible, and now he has his weapon to end el mundo.”

  “Look, I’m done with vampire prophecies and politics. I get it—Merlin wants his Arthur, and his Mordred, and his Camelot, but that was two thousand years ago. I see the flashbacks and the memories, and I’m sure I have some narrative-altering truth buried deep in my noggin by now, but you know what? I couldn’t care less, Javier. The past is the past, and I’m sick of being its bitch. What I care about is finding this Arthur . . . about finding Ren and figuring out once and for all what he wants. Nothing else matters.”

  “But what of the great destiny? Are you not his one true love, Guinevere, no?”

  “No, I’m not Guinevere! I’m Georgia, and I don’t believe in destiny. I don’t care anymore what sort of grand conspiracy you all have, or who wants to play Knights of the Round Table dress-up this week. I just want to see Ren and figure out how I can move on because I sure as hell am not spending the rest of my life locked up by Merlin or playing any more reindeer games.”

  “Then what hope is there, mi amiga?”

  “Hope that Ren remembers me? That maybe I am wrong, and there is some sliver of truth that we really are meant to be—that after everything we’ve been through, we can finally find a way to get out of here together. Of course, he might be too far gone and not care about me at all; but hey—even if that is the case, at least I’ll be right about destiny being bullshit, right?”

  “You have a rather peculiar way of making a win-win scenario sound horrible, mi amiga. I like it.” Javier helped her to her feet, and they began the slow, painful shuffle towards the top. As they reached the next landing, he looked up and gasped at the stars over Boston. “Glass roof, not a vampiro’s amigo.”

  “This was the staircase for the human servants,” Georgia explained between wheezes. “Ren liked it here. My friend said he’d be up here and considering we’ve already seen bitchy Merlin, I think we are on the right track. I’m also afraid that either Steve or Lorcan is going to make a very inconvenient appearance soon, and they both might just kill Ren before—”

  “Leave that to me, Señora,” Javier said with a little salute.

  “Why are you helping me again?”

  Javier smiled, showing off his fangs. “I think you know the answer by now. I will literalmente move cielo y el infierno if it will wipe the tiniest smug smile off Imhotep’s face. Also, I am known to get bored sneaking around just listening to los vampiros whine and brood. It’s like one of those terrible novelas mi princesa likes to read.”

  “Works for me.” Georgia and Javier managed to limp all the way to the top where, sure enough, a lone figure sat cross-legged on the floorboards, a sword on his lap and his long hair falling over his face. His shirt hung loosely over him. He had only bothered fastening the two buttons in the middle, and his usual suit jacket lay neatly folded over the top railing, along with his tie. “Ren is still in there,” Georgia whispered to her companion. “I just need a few minutes alone with him.”

  “What if he tries to hurt you?” Javier asked, eying the sword.

  “I have literally failed at dying already.”

  “Fair point. Well, you have your little corazón a corazón and I will do my best to delay the cavalry. From everything I have heard, mi amiga, this Arturo—”

  “Yeah, this is probably going to end terribly, Javier . . . but at least it will end.” She looked at the old stitch scars on her stiff hands and wrists. “I need this to end, OK?”

  Javier gave her a hug, her second from an invisible vampire in less than an hour. She listened to the whooshing of his chest and steeled herself. He whispered against the top of her head, “Try not to be so doom-and-gloom, mi amiga. Remember you always have more choices than they give you. Sí, if you get really desperate, you can run around and get lost with Capitán Fabuloso, no?”

  She rolled her eyes as she returned the hug. “You are strange even by vampire standards, Javier. Look, no matter what happens, can you look out for Steve and Mr. Lambley? They need all the help they can get.”

  “Sí, Señora,” Javier replied, slowly inching away. Georgia straightened her hospital gown and rubbed her fingers through the fuzz on top of her head as if she could somehow mitigate the Frankenstein makeover with a little bit of primping. She summoned all her energy reserves to choke out a single phrase.

  “Mada ikite iru.”

  Arthur remained as still as a statue. He kept his head hung low and his eyes fixated on the floor. The silence seemed to stretch for an eternity until Georgia managed to shuffle close enough to drop to her knees in front of him. Her fingers trembled as she brushed the hair from his face. “Mada—”

  “Mada ikite iru,” Arthur whispered. Tears poured from Georgia’s eyes as Arthur finally looked up and gasped. He traced his own fingers across the scar that bisected her face from cheek to cheek. His bloodshot eyes quivered and he quickly looked away—blinking back whatever tears he could still summon.

  “Look at me,” Georgia demanded. “After everything that’s happened, you have to look at me.”

  Arthur’s jaw tightened. He fought for breath as his gaze kept darting towards her and then averting in shame. “Ore . . .” he choked out as a tear finally escaped. “Hidoi koto yatta. Nani . . . What have I done?”

  Georgia leaned in, resting her forehead against his as they both sobbed. He wrapped his arms around her, and she whispered in his ear, “Ren . . . Ren, is that you?”

  “Ren . . . is gone. I have to be Arthur. I am Arthur. It’s the only way—”

  “The only way to what?”

  “So much left to do. My dream is so close . . . I thought I had to do terrible things . . . and I did do terrible things,” Arthur said, before devolving into a blubbering mix of incomprehensible English and Japanese. She curled against him and felt the tears dribble onto her head. “I wanted to change the world, Georgia. I wanted to do that so badly that I lost myself. I was willing to throw it all away. I . . . was always the monster. I can never be forgiven.”

  Georgia pulled back a little, so she could look him in the eyes. “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. What do you want? Just tell me. I don’t care if you don’t want me anymore, but I have to know once and for all what you want. You deserve for once to get what you want.”

  “I had to stop them, Georgia,” he said, now wild-eyed. “Someone had to stop them. It’s time that all the goddamn bloodsuckers answer for all that they’ve done, all they did to my family and all they did to me. Damn it, it was so easy at first. I got access to their money, their secrets . . . but in the end, the only way to bring them down was to become one of them so that when I became one, I could finally get revenge on everyone that hurt me. Do you have any idea how . . . good it feels to finally hurt those who hurt you?”

  “You are Ren,” Georgia whispered in his ear. “Or at least he is still in there. Sorry I missed your big moment . . . but I was dead at the time. I got better though—that was a surprise.”

  “I don’t know what to say to that. What can we even say to each other anymore?” Ren held onto her as they
both struggled for words. “I was so sure I’d lost you. I thought I . . . I . . .”

  “We have the worst conversations, Ren.” She closed her eyes. “We are both so broken, and I don’t know where we go from here. What happened to us?”

  He tipped her head up. Ren looked her right in the eyes and whispered, “I wanted to change the world. I thought that was enough . . . until I met you. I was going to give it all up and run away with you. I just wanted you, but everything went wrong, and I don’t even know how or why.”

  “I am pretty sure it had something to do with that asshole Merlin wanting his son back.”

  “I remember so much, and now I understand so little. Maybe we need to start over one more time, Georgia. Join with me, and together . . .”

  “We’ll rule the world?” She collapsed against him and shook her head. “No, I’m not going to be some freak paraded around with you—”

  “Don’t say that—”

  “I don’t want the world, Ren. I just want you, but . . . but it’s not all about what I want. I want you to have a choice, for once in your life. I just want you to finally be at peace with yourself . . . and then I can be at peace. I can’t go on for much longer, Ren. I have to get out of this, one way or another.”

  “An ultimatum?” he asked sadly. “Is that what we are reduced to . . .?” he trailed off as he once more traced his fingertip along the scars on her face. “But I get it—I do have to decide. I can’t endure being torn anymore either. Georgia—”

  The lights exploded overhead as there was a roar and a crash a few floors below. “Arthur!” a Southern accent called. “We have unfinished business.”

  “Don’t give in and fight him,” Georgia begged. “Whatever happened in the past, just let it die! We can still move on and run away from all this. There is still hope.”

  “No, I don’t think there is. If I don’t finish what I started, then all of this ridiculous suffering will be for nothing.” He struggled to get them both on their feet as they heard another door slam. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.” His sword clattered to the ground. As he bent down to pick it up, Georgia found herself being dragged into the shadows. Before she could scream, a pair of lips pressed against her own.

  “I’m getting you away from here, Sweetheart. Come on.”

  “Damn it, Steve! How do you always find a way to make things worse? Couldn’t you just let me get one damn answer?” He kissed her again. She blinked a few times as Steve suddenly had the strength to lift her and sweep her off her feet with a single arm.

  “Did he hurt you?” Steve asked, looking her over quickly while Ren snatched up his sword and raised it menacingly towards them both. Steve moved protectively in front of Georgia.

  “You care about me,” Georgia murmured, staring in awe at Steve as he all but glowed in the moonlight. Ren’s eyes glowed ominously in return. Steve raised his fists to meet the blade.

  “You let her go, Jaeger scum.”

  “Oh, hell no, Arthur. You are not gonna hurt her anymore,” Steve growled in return. More howls and crashing echoed from below. Both vampires paused to look over the railing as another set of lights exploded. “Damn, Lorcan is coming for your ass, Arthur. I think you should save your strength for him.”

  “Both of you, stop it!” Georgia managed to wriggle free and hurled herself between them. She ended up faceplanted into Steve’s chest first before she could flop the other way and glare at Ren as well. Both men began to protest, but as Georgia swooned, Steve held her up, and Ren sheathed his sword, so he could use his jacket to start staunching the blood soaking her gown to the shoulder. She looked back and forth between them. “Please, for me. I don’t need some testosterone fest. I need answers, OK?”

  “He did this to you,” Ren and Steve said at the same time.

  “Merlin did this to me . . . except my heart, an imaginary sock monster did that. Please, I’m dying here, could you two just shut up and help, me rather than fight?”

  Georgia watched in surprise as Ren and Steve both helped her to a relatively comfy lean against the corner. She looked up to see a surprising number of stars shining for a sky over a busy city and a perfect crescent moon just hanging there, looking more like some movie company logo than a celestial body. The cold seeped into her chest again, and she closed her eyes.

  “Georgia!” Ren cried, taking her hand.

  Steve wrapped an arm around her. “Sweetheart, please. . .”

  “Dying . . . not dead,” Georgia replied, with a wry little grin. “But it’s nice that you both care.”

  “How can you possibly make jokes at a time like this?” Ren asked.

  “What better time is there?” Georgia replied. “I’m a Frankenstein monster begging two hot vampires not to fight over me, while a werewolf is being delayed by an invisible one-legged spy, so he doesn’t try to relive the ending to Excalibur . . . and all this started because my roommate wanted to get some nookie three years or so ago. Come on, it’s . . . it’s hilarious. It’s just seeing you guys again . . . together . . . it’s what I wanted, and Mr. Lambley . . . I wanted him to be OK too. Right now, everything is finally OK.” A few tears rolled over her eyelashes. She leaned her head to the side—bonking into Steve’s thick skull. “I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m happy.”

  “You are mad, woman,” Ren muttered, a bit of Arthur’s accent creeping back in.

  “She’d have to be to care about us,” Steve replied with a half-grin. Georgia pointed to the scar on her scalp.

  “Brain damaged . . . literally.”

  Ren eased down on the other side of her, not releasing his grip on her hand. She felt Steve take the other. There they remained in a peaceful moment of silence until another loud crash sounded from far below. The rapid scampering from the stairs made everyone tense. Georgia opened her eyes slowly to see a fully-formed werewolf, with a majestic muzzle and a luxurious tail, framed by the moonlight. He extended his reddish-black claws and let out a howl as all the shadows in the room seemed to wrap around him. “Holy Hannah, it’s a London werewolf in America,” Georgia mouthed as her vampire companions instantly left her to both take up defensive positions between her and the beast.

  “Hang on a sec,” the werewolf said, prompting raised brows all around. He cracked his neck and knuckles as his jaw and nose began to recede, while the fur sucked into his arms and chest. A few moments later, Lorcan stood there, shirtless and sporting tattoos across his arms and torso that were nearly as impressive as Ren’s. He pulled his flannel off from around his waist and slipped it on before pulling a protein bar out of his pocket. “One more sec—it takes a lot out of you.”

  “Fine, I knew this day would come again,” Ren said, back to full-on Arthur voice. He nodded a few times before cocking his head and staring at the unfamiliar face of the werewolf in front of him. “You are Mordred, right?”

  “I’m as much Mordred as you are Arthur,” Lorcan replied. Ren raised a brow. “Now, Merlin and the sheriff—and probably a whole bunch of other old vampires—want me to run up here and try to stab you again . . . and I must confess, there are a lot of deep-seated, long-buried, confusing feelings rolling around in my gray matter right now. However, I’m not the man I used to be—both figuratively and literally—so I just wanted to come here and tell you that I really don’t wanna fight, old man. We cool?”

  Everyone just stared at each other. Ren kept the sword sheathed. “Merlin would be terribly disappointed by us not trying to kill each other, wouldn’t he?” Ren said, back to his old robot cadence. “I, too, must confess to not really feeling up to—how should I put it? Reliving the end of Excalibur tonight.” He gave Georgia a glance. “In fact, I’m not entirely certain how I feel about anything.”

  “You sound dreadfully American for my old man. Is it possible that the human inside you is starting to fight back; or is my good friend Gail right, and you’re not Arthur after all—just one of the wizard’s broken toys? Holy crap, what happened to you, Georgia?” Lorcan shoved ri
ght past both stunned vampires and knelt beside her. He sniffed her shoulder. “And why do you smell so much like my blood?”

  “It’s the only thing keeping me alive,” Georgia whispered. “Well, it’s from the other you—the old chassis that’s being kept alive downstairs. He’s an ember . . . like . . .”

  “Aww man, did a weird guy cut out your heart and weigh it too?” Lorcan asked. “That was one hinky experience.”

  “It certainly puts things in perspective,” Georgia said softly. Lorcan turned slightly green as he saw fresh blood drip along her collar. He quickly looked away. “Um, are you OK, Jonathan . . . or Lorcan . . . or Mordred?”

  “Lorcan, and I’m fine. Let me just help you out.” He bit into his own wrist. “Neither of us are gonna like this too much, but this body is a lot stronger than my old one, and the blood will help you more.”

  “I c-can’t. I throw up at the taste of chicken broth! I can’t—”

  “Bro, help me out here. Can you lift the bandage and put my wrist there? I think I can do this vein to wound but I can’t look. It’s too much blood.”

  “Jesus man, you’re a badass vampire,” Steve muttered. He did, however, help slip Lorcan’s wrist under the bandage. Georgia winced as she felt something burning and burrowing into her wound. “Also, you aren’t getting that blood back.”

  “I know, I do remember that. Sorry, Georgia, but you’re—”

  “Toxic,” Georgia added weakly. “Sorry, guys.”

  Lorcan looked away from his vampiric oozing and glared straight at Ren. “You realize that I spent yesterday having to answer questions for the goddamn FBI, right? Mina is having meetings with Homeland Security—and I’m pretty sure, representatives from Disney. Vampires are being detained and interrogated all across the country, and you have an entire city under quarantine. It’s only a matter of time before everything gets ugly.”

  “We can’t go back,” Ren replied softly. “It is time for vampires to stop hiding in the shadows, but they need a leader.”