I fell to the ground as psychic backlash brought me almost to a blackout. Kamila helped me to my feet and took my keys from my pocket, and we staggered away from the site. St. Agatha’s collapsed in on itself as the foundation crumbled.
We rode the Harleys off to the campsite, and I stripped to the skin outside the van. I didn’t care who saw me at that point. They could look as long as I could get that ash-soaked mess away from my skin. Kamila heated up a pot of water, and we all sponge-bathed. Then we collapsed into the bed in the back of the van. We didn’t even bother with clothes. We were too tired. We just curled up into a ball of Ferin, piled the blankets on top of ourselves, and went to sleep.
We slept for what felt like forever. I didn’t even dream.
I woke up late the next morning. I was the last one to wake up, and I didn’t even feel bad about it. I didn’t like being the one who held the rest of the team up, but I’d been the one using my abilities the most. I needed the rest.
I found some clothes and threw them on. Then I headed out into the sunshine and accepted the coffee Tess poured for me. “You didn’t do half bad.”
I took a deep breath and smiled. “Thanks. You were both pretty damn impressive yourselves.” Then it hit me. I ran my hand through my messy hair and sighed. “I didn’t...I thought Ferin could only use one ability.”
She looked away, but she put her hand on mine. “Most can only use one ability. It’s complicated.”
“I don’t suppose you could uncomplicate it for me.” I took a gulp from my coffee. “Just for kicks or something.”
She took a deep breath and withdrew her hand. “It’s not a great idea. Not right now.”
“How did I know that’s what you would say?” I took another drink. I wasn’t even mad, not really. I didn’t feel good about the secrecy, but I didn’t have it in me to be angry. “I just killed the person I hated most in the world. I don’t know how I should feel about it, you know?” I stared off into the distance, trying to find the right words to use. “He was everything evil. And I’ve wanted to kill him since the day he walked into my life, tearing that door off its hinges. Now we did.”
“We?” Tess scoffed. “It looked like it was all you, buddy. If either one of us, or both of us, had tried to go up against a Dread Blood, we’d have been toast. You just kind of unlocked a new ability, used it with a degree of control most of us would need to spend decades studying to get anything out of, and roasted him to death from the inside out. No big deal, right?”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t have done it if you two hadn’t been there. You guys really kept the others off me. If you hadn’t been there to do that, I’d have been dead. So, thanks for that.” I smiled and stretched. My head still hurt, but I could feel the fire inside me and the water under my feet. The sun warmed my skin, probably the last time it would do so for a while, and the coffee was helping with the headache. “Part of me feels like we should stick around for a while. We have no way of knowing how many vampires have holed up somewhere in Twin Falls, and Lord knows they didn’t entirely trust Chilperic to lead them.”
“Can’t imagine why.” Kamila made a face. “I think we should keep moving.”
“Why’s that?” I held up a hand. “I’m not disagreeing. I’m just worried about leaving a live enemy behind us. This is a war, after all.”
“It’s a war,” Tess said. “There’s no doubt about that. The only problem is, it’s a war, and you’re at the center of everything.” Tess glanced over at Kamila, who nodded. “There’s a lot you need to know. And I’m not keeping secrets from you just for fun, you know? It’s—” She stopped herself and added a good portion of bourbon to her coffee. I hadn’t realized it was on the table. I guessed I was more churned up from my fight than I’d realized.
Kamila sighed. “It’s just a long story to tell, and I’m not sure either one of us completely understands it. I have no idea if there are more vampires in town, and I don’t much care. Right now, what I want is to get the hell away from here and regroup.” Kamila added bourbon to both of our coffees as well. “Everything’s changed now, Jason.”
I didn’t want everything to have changed. Everything had been about killing the one who had ordered Owl’s Head destroyed and who had created me. What else could possibly be important? But I bowed my head, sensing the shift in the air. “I’m iffy about all of this. I don’t like this whole ‘center of it all’ thing.” I held my head up. “I’m part of the team. I’m an equal part of the team, but I’m part of the team. I’m not the only one they’ve been out to kill—”
Tess put her hand back on mine. “Jason, that’s not the case anymore. They want you dead more than they want us gone, and that’s just a fact.”
Kamila nodded. “When you took out Chilperic, you set things in motion that are going to reverberate throughout the supernatural world for a very long time. And I’m sorry. I know it’s not exactly fun for you, but this war is kind of the Jason show from here on in.” Kamila’s smile was sympathetic. I knew she was right.
After all, I was the only Ferin I knew with multiple abilities.
“We destroyed the base.” Tess conveniently ignored the fact that they hadn’t done anything about the base. That had been me alone. “But more will come. There’s no way word didn’t get out. We know for a fact that Chilperic had summoned vampires here, and you said yourself, some were arriving as late as a couple of days ago. More will still be showing up, and when they realize what happened to him, they’ll send for even more. We absolutely do not want to be here when they get here.”
My heart froze in my chest. “Did I speed this idiotic war up by killing Chilperic?”
Kamila waved a hand. “Probably, but I don’t see what the other option was. They would have chased us down eventually, within a week or two. To beings like us, that’s pretty much negligible. We need to change up how we move.”
Kamila planned to sell the Harleys to some of the bikers at the campsite. We would travel in the van for a while, stealing license plates because the Virginia tags stood out a little too much. I went along with it, but I would miss the autonomy of the bikes. It had been nice to go out on my own now and then, forget about Ferin and vampires, and just enjoy the road.
Some of that must have shown up on my face because Tess laughed at me. “Relax, Jason. You stole enough from the vamp safehouse to buy three new Harleys with just what you put in your front jeans pocket alone.”
“Good to know.” I smiled, a little mollified. “I guess we can re-evaluate the motorcycles once we’ve gotten someplace people don’t expect us to be.”
“Like San Diego.” Kamila rubbed her arms. “It’s cold up here for these old bones, especially at this time of year. I want to go someplace nice and warm. Someplace with a beach, where I can sit out, get a tan, and ogle Navy SEALs when they go running by.”
Tess and I turned to stare at her.
Kamila put her hand on her chest and held herself up with dignity. “What? I read. SEAL romance is super-hot right now. And I do mean hot.” She grinned wickedly and fanned herself. “Not that their abs have anything on you, Jason.”
I rolled my eyes and blushed. “Thanks. I’ll invest in...I’ll stop wearing shirts. When appropriate. So, we’re taking off?”
Tess nodded. “As soon as we can. And if we’re all going in one vehicle, we can take turns driving.” Tess didn’t say anything about the destination, but she’d looked away when Kamila mentioned San Diego. We might show up at the beach, but I knew we wouldn’t be staying.
I let Tess take care of selling the bikes. I knew I’d screw around too much because I didn’t want to give them up. I did draw the line at driving straight through, though. “I like our sleep piles,” I told the ladies. “I think they’ve been good for us. I’m okay with switching off driving, but I think we should stay still for the night. You know, for safety’s sake.” I tried to look angelic.
I failed, but it didn’t matter anyway. Tess and Kamila both blushed, which I didn’t think
was possible. “You really like sleeping all together in a big pile like that?” Kamila asked, letting her hair fall down in front of her face like a curtain.
“I guess we did start getting along a lot better once we started doing it.” Tess trailed her toe along in the dirt. “There’s no harm in it. We’re all adults, and it’s comfortable.”
“Exactly. Let’s make sure we take the time to rest and enjoy each other’s company.” I took each of their hands and gave a little squeeze. “It’s a war. And it’s going to get rough. That doesn’t mean life has to be completely bleak and miserable. We can take the time to take care of ourselves and of each other, while we still have each other.”
“You’re right. We know you’re right.” Kamila rested her head against my shoulder. “It’s the three of us against the world right now. No reason we should make it any harder than that.”
39
It took us a few days to get to our destination because we kept to back roads once again, winding our way south at an easy pace. Once we got to San Diego, we found a campground on Coronado offering space, a fast exit, and good views. It gave us plenty of privacy, while still being too public for most vampires to attack. The only drawback to the location was the frequency of busybodies approaching us with unwanted advice that ranged from ‘get a job’ to ‘how dare you, you lucky bastard.’
We didn’t care. We were willing to put up with a few nosy, well-meaning old people if it meant we could hang out and enjoy the beach.
We made little mixed drinks, brought them out to the sand, and enjoyed the sunshine in small beach chairs that just about kept our asses out of the waves. We bought pretty, expensive silver necklaces that hugged our necks. I’d never gone for jewelry, but I didn’t mind anymore. If it kept body and soul together, I’d happily bedeck myself like a jewelry store. The fact that vamps hated silver turned me into a fashion plate.
Tess got antsy on day three of our beach visit, then more skittish on day four, and by the fifth day, she got snappish with Kamila, who was still enjoying her ability to run around in a bikini and get tanned.
I asked Tess to come walking with me, holding out a hand to her. She took it, if grudgingly, and we headed down to the Del, a historic hotel and resort where the bar served drinks that made me think there were still good things in the world.
We sat on the old-fashioned porch, watching the ceaseless waves of the Pacific. Tess sat stiff and impatient, while I sighed with satisfaction. “I’ve never seen the Pacific Ocean until now. Until I left Maine with you, to go meet Kamila, I’d never been out of the state. Hell, Linda and I took our honeymoon in Bar Harbor.”
She curled her lip a little. “How boring.” Then she slumped her shoulders. “I’m sorry. You haven’t been doing this very long, and I’ve been doing it forever. We threw you right into the deep end. It’s not your fault. I’m just an asshole.”
I didn’t dispute that. Instead, I sipped from my drink. “It’s because you’re nervous.”
She nodded and looked down. “It’s true. I am nervous. We’ve already been here too long.”
“You think a vampire could get away with living in San Diego? People here notice when folks avoid the sun, Tess. I’ve had six people offer me aloe for a tiny sunburn—which I got by being a moron and falling asleep in the sun, for the record, without sunblock.”
She smiled, and dimples appeared in her cheeks. “Ah, Jason. That’s the difference between New England and California. In New England, people just scoff at you because you should have known better. Here, everyone rushes to help you.” Then the smile melted from her face. “I’m worried. I don’t feel like we can afford to hang around so long in one place, not without backup. And then there’s the other thing.”
“The things the vampires called me.” It wasn’t a question. The phrases Lifebringer and Legion Flame had been echoing in my head since we left Twin Falls.
“I suppose you want to know what those mean.” She licked her lips and toyed with the garnish on her drink.
“I’ve wanted to know what those were since I heard them.” I kept my voice gentle. “We just had a few other things going on if you’ll recall.”
“We did.” She looked around the Del porch. “Unfortunately for me, none of those are presenting themselves right now, so I actually have to come up with an answer. Please bear with me, Jason. I’m not… I’m only about a hundred years older than you. I’m the second youngest I know. I got a real quick crash course when you showed up, and I’m not a hundred percent sure I know everything myself.”
“Just tell me what you know, or what you think you know. We can work it out from there.” I gave her my most reassuring smile, the one I gave nervous employees back when I’d been a manager. I understood now why she’d been so unpleasant about the whole thing with investigating the vampire hideout. She’d been entrusted with something she didn’t understand, and we were deviating from what she did know. “Listen. The Legion Flame is just a vampire prophecy about a very strong fire-using Ferin. They think the Legion Flame shows up any time they run into one of you.
“The Lifebringer? Well, vampires are bringers of death, right? They are death. The antithesis of life. It makes sense that their biggest boogeyman would be called a Lifebringer. A Lifebringer is very rare. The last one was killed in France in 1532, actually by Chilperic if I correctly remember what Mort told me.”
Her mention of Mort sent a chill down my spine. I didn’t say anything because I knew she still trusted him, and now wasn’t the time for disagreement. “That’s good to know. What makes a Lifebringer different from any other Ferin?”
“Well, they’re more powerful. They can use more than one ability. You showed us you can do that when you blew a water main to stop Chilperic in his tracks. There are other details, too, but I’m not sure how much we can trust it, considering it comes from human-sized mosquitoes.” She took a gulp from her drink. “They’re convinced the Lifebringer will somehow begin eradicating the vampires. They don’t think you’ll kill the vampires off, not wholly because they’re way too arrogant to think they can be exterminated. But that’s their deal. The Lifebringer shows up and rains doom down upon all the bloodsucking freaks until they find his weakness and destroy him.”
I sipped from my drink. I barely tasted it. I remembered Chilperic telling me the Lifebringer would slaughter more than just vampires. That didn’t make sense. I had no reason to hurt Ferin. Maybe I should trust Tess when she reminded me these guys weren’t exactly the most trustworthy source. “Okay. So, they think I’m some kind of messiah or something? I can barely tie my own shoes.”
She looked me up and down. “You’re already pretty good in a fight when you can remember you’re not limited to your hands and feet.”
I blushed at the memory. Having to be reminded to use my fire powers hadn’t been a good feeling. “So, you agree with them?”
She looked down. “It’s not about that, Jason. Listen, they believe you’re the single most dangerous thing in existence right now. You’re worse than nukes in the hands of an angry toddler. They’re going to want to destroy you as soon as possible before you come into your full power. And the fact that you’ve mastered fire so quickly, and your water power came to you so easily—that’s going to scare the shit out of them.”
“Vampires poop?” I was trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work. “Listen, you don’t think they’re going to seriously figure out how the place went down, do you? As far as they know, there were just a couple of fire guys and whatever power you have. The only people who know I have two abilities are you and Kamila. And Chilperic, but he’s not feeling too chatty at the moment.”
“We can’t take that chance. The vampires have wanted to take us down for centuries. They hate us. It used to be they could manage humanity like a herd, you know? Every once in a while, they’d make a Ferin, but it was just an accident, and they could usually do something to convince the populace the Ferin in question was a witch or a monster and get the humans to
kill it without tipping their hand. That’s not so easy anymore. Hence the war.”
“Hence the war,” I repeated. My stomach sank. “We don’t have any time at all, do we?”
“Nope. They’re going to come at us with everything in their arsenal. Can you blame them? As far as they’re concerned, their very existence is at risk. You are the single biggest threat to them.”
I looked down into my glass. “I guess it’s been good knowing you. I’ll be out first thing in the morning.”
Tess stomped on my foot underneath the table. “What did you find that would get a Ferin high enough to think that’s a good idea?”
“Look. I care about you both. All three of you because Daisy’s a sweet little doggy, and she doesn’t deserve to be caught up in any of this. I’ve got a giant target painted on my back. Do you think I want any harm to come to you? To Kamila? No. It’s best if I just take the risk onto myself and let you guys go do your own thing, unmolested.”
“Drink more and kill that thought. Kill it hard and cold and dead. Absolutely not. For one thing, the vampires would kill any Ferin they came across anyway, or haven’t you picked up on that yet? For another, you need protection. You need training. You’re not going to be able to get it wandering the earth like some God-awful character from a 1970s TV show.”
I chuckled. “Okay, that show was bad, and I’m naturally averse to 70s hair. But seriously, I can’t imagine what I’d do if I got you two hurt.”
“So, don’t get us hurt, and it won’t be a problem.” She smiled up at me, saccharine-sweet, and toyed with the garnish in her drink again. “Seriously, Jason. You can be so boneheaded sometimes.”
“Hey, you’re the one who got lessons in all the ancient Ferin and vampire lore. I barely got through a handful of Anne Rice novels when I was in junior high.” I smirked and took a swig from my glass. I still wanted her and Kamila far away from me for their own protection, but I didn’t push the issue. I liked having them around, and if they both gave me consent, then we had a family of sorts.
Forever Young Page 23
