by Justin Sloan
"We have nothing to tell you at the moment," said one of the harried police personnel who was on guard duty. "You don’t like it, you can leave!"
Valerie observed the chaos and wasn’t liking what she saw one bit. Others continued to shout, cataloging destruction, missing friends or family members. She found that last situation intriguing. As far as she had been able to notice, most of the fighting had taken place outside of the city walls. Out in the areas where only the ‘drugged out’ people seemed to live. She pondered why it had never occurred to her that those druggies had families too, every one of them was someone’s daughter, son, brother or sister.
Guilt, raised its ugly head and began to gnaw at the lining of her stomach. She felt a paradigm shift, much as she had that day in France when everything had changed, and she’d left her vampire family behind.
"There you are," Wallace said, running over from his police pod, which still hovered off the ground near the side entrance to HQ. "Sandra has already gone inside looking for you."
"We have to put this to bed," she said, glancing around at the crowd. When she looked back at Wallace, he had wide eyes and looked like he was about to vomit. "I don’t mean anything violent. God!"
"Oh!" His eyes closed tight. "That’s a relief." He smiled, shaking his head. "The last person who ran this place..."
"Never connect me, in any sort of manner, to that ass-munch." She looked at him and bit her lip, considering.
"What?" He wiped his cheek. "Got something on me?"
"Only my respect." She laughed. "Okay, that was stupid, but you know what I mean. It’s just ... I think you could play a larger role in this new city cleanup initiative I have in mind."
There was a pause in their conversation and Wallace’s eyes lost focus briefly as he considered her declaration, "I’d be happy to, but… in what way?"
She smiled playfully. "Let me mull it over a bit more and get back to you. Suffice it to say; I may want you to be the headstone for this place."
Wallace’s brow furrowed in a nervous way. "I really hope you mean figurehead!"
"Of course, what’d I say?" Valerie’s attention was no longer focused on Wallace because she’d just seen Rico and a team of his Weres inside the building, pacing angrily behind the large, glass doors.
"Headstone," he said.
"Yeah, headstone," she agreed. Then, she started walking towards the building’s entrance, only halfway there realizing what she’d said and the difference between headstone and figurehead.
Well damn, although too distracted to laugh at her own choice of words she hoped she remembered this discussion for later.
With a glance over her shoulder, but not breaking stride, she asked, "You coming?"
Wallace started jogging to catch up to her, and she heard him mutter something about being willing to die for the cause, but preferring not to be the symbolic headstone.
This time she did laugh.
"Something funny?" Rico asked, holding the door open for her from the inside.
"Haven’t lost your chivalry?" She quipped as she walked past and waited for the door to close behind Wallace. "How’s that chivalry stack up with the nasty backstabbing talk I hear is going on?"
Rico glared at her, and it was clear he wanted to turn to the room and eye each of them until one of them confessed to ratting him out. But, to his credit he kept his eyes focused on Valerie.
"Here’s the deal," he said, leaning in, menacingly. "We’ve been talking. We don’t mean to undermine you or anything, but there are bigger pieces at play here."
She held her ground, raising an eyebrow, "You afraid of Commander Strake coming back?"
He stayed silent a moment, "Not so much him coming back, but the power of the three CEOs. The organizations and the armies they have under their thumbs..."
She interrupted, "So you’d hand the city back over to him?" Scoffing, she asked, "I thought Weres were supposed to be tough. And here you are planning to simply tuck your tail and roll over."
His effort to intimidate her failing miserably, he moved back a little. "Tuck our tails and run, actually." He looked around at the group of Weres on one side of the lobby. "Thing is, we’re not worried about running, if it means we live longer."
Valerie decided to try and win him over. "We just defeated my brother. You have to believe..."
"No." He backed up another step at the fierce look she gave him for interrupting her effort. "Thing is, we’ve never seen the chaos your brother was capable of, but we’ve seen these people. We’ve seen what happens to places and people that run afoul of the Corporations, and we’d rather not be here when that happens."
She cocked her head, "Then why’d you help me at all?"
"To defend the city against your brother. How were we supposed to know you meant to take control of the whole city when you were done?"
"I…." She had a fist raised, chest heaving, and then realized she had no answer for that. If she were in their shoes, the whole situation would appear rather odd. They didn’t know her, aside from the fact that she’d just saved them all, which was based on her word alone since most of the city hadn’t known they were in trouble, to begin with.
"They want to go to the Golden City," Diego said, stepping up beside Valerie. She hadn’t even noticed where he’d come from. Damn, she was either really distracted, or this whole sunlight thing was throwing her off her game a bit. Maybe it just needed some getting used to.
"We call it Old Jersey, but actually it’s…." Rico looked around, realizing there were others listening. "It’s best we don’t say anything more. But yes, that’s the plan." He stood there waiting, and she realized he was waiting for her.
"You want my blessing?" She scoffed, foot tapping on the ground. "My permission or something?"
"That won’t be necessary, but… some of the boys want to make sure you’re not going to stop us, or kill us for abandoning you,” he admitted.
"Kill you for… what?" She threw her hands up and laughed, more out of exasperation than humor. "Do I like it? No! But the whole point I’m trying to make here, the example I'm trying to set, goes against the idea of killing you simply because you don’t want to be a part of it."
Several of the Weres breathed out sighs of relief, and even Rico looked like he’d just been granted a stay of execution.
"Thank you." He let out a deep breath.
He nodded to the door and was about to leave when Valerie called out, "Wait!"
They all froze, fists clenching.
"Just, can you go out the side door?" She asked. "If we have any enemies in the streets who see former Bloodhounds abandoning us, think of the image that’d send."
"Right,” he looked a bit chagrined, “sorry." He and his men shuffled off to her left.
As they departed, Valerie turned to Diego and shook her head. "Are we screwed here?"
"Maybe we should regroup in your office," he said. "Sandra’s there, along with Cammie and Royland."
She pursed her lips, but nodded in Diego’s direction. Looking around, there were, thankfully, some Weres and a few cops. Raising her voice, she called out, "Wallace?" The officer turned in her direction and she she made a motion with her hand to signal him over. He said a couple of words to the two he was with and jogged over to where she was.
When he was close, she leaned in and lowered her voice. "Listen, I need you to take charge down here. Please, set up teams led by men and women you can trust. Will you do that for me?" she asked.
"Wait, what?" he asked, eyes wide with worry. "I’m a good cop, but I’m not super good with leadership."
"Hey, you’re trustworthy, far as I can tell." She looked around the room, unsure what to think about the rest of them. "That’s more than I can say for most people in this city. Therefore, you’re in charge for me. We’re going to need someone like you to help weed out the rotten ones."
He swallowed, but nodded his understanding.
"Good." She turned to the room and held up a hand for silenc
e. The noise died gradually, silence spreading out from Valerie like ripples in a pond. "From now on, when I’m not here, Sergeant Wallace is in command. He’ll be giving orders, working to fix this situation," she motioned to the crowd outside, "so that the UnknownWorld stays secret. If you don’t listen to him, I’ll come find out why. And I will warn you,” she paused momentarily to ensure she had everyone’s complete attention, then added. “I do bite."
As she was talking, she made her way to the entrance and stood with her back to the door, so those outside could not see her display. Those still in the room were treated to the spectre of her eyes turning red. Displaying her fangs to the group suddenly added extra meaning to the I do bite warning.
"You’re up," she said to Wallace, then strode to the elevator with Diego following close behind.
When the elevator doors had closed behind, Diego hit the appropriate floor button and the elevator smoothly began its ascent. Valerie backed to a corner and gently let her head fall back and bumped it several times against the wall, then she shook her head and sighed.
Valerie looked over at the male Were, "You get any rest yet?" she asked him.
"I can rest when you rest." He had his hands in his pocket and gave her a wry smile. "You think you’re tough, now that you can walk in the sunlight?"
She smiled back, one eyebrow raised. "Yes."
He laughed, then did his best to stifle a yawn.
She pointed at him, "Caught you!" and smirked.
"Seriously, I’m damn tired." He started to turn away, but paused and glanced back at her. "After what you went through, how are you not collapsed somewhere asleep right now?"
"Michael, the vampire I told you about…." She watched the floor numbers change, thinking about what had happened with the legendary vampire. "He did something,” Valerie paused not certain she wanted to give out details, “I imagine it is just a temporary boost, but I’m telling you, I feel more alive than I ever have."
"That’s hilarious,” he murmured.
"What?" An eyebrow raised and she looked at him like he was an idiot.
This time, his eyes looked left and right, but he had nowhere to hide inside an elevator, "I mean, considering that you’re undead, and you’re saying you feel more alive than… oh, never mind." One of these damned days his mouth was going to get him into a hole he couldn’t climb out of quick enough.
She wanted to slap him for the wrongness of that remark, but refrained. "Yeah, that might’ve been funny if I actually was undead, as the legends say. But…." The part about aliens being the origin of vampires was a bit far-fetched. Of course, she believed it, because Michael had told her so...one look in his eyes, and there was no way to doubt he was telling the truth. But she wasn’t sure how much she should tell others.
Maybe she’d wait until she found out more, at least. Like, had the aliens simply said ‘poof, you’re a vampire,’ or was it something to do with the blood, and that’s why Vampires gained energy from drinking it? She never craved it, not like vampires in the stories were said to, but it certainly healed her or helped the healing process. And now, drinking Michael’s blood had given her the ability to walk in the sunlight.
She had to assume this latter theory, and that it was more scientific than anything else, but she sure wished there was a book about it that she could just pick up and read. She had scrounged through a couple of libraries and had even been to the outskirts of a city-state one time. She had thought she had found a vampire manual by a C. Suttle, but it turned out to be stories…
Damn it.
"Yes…?" Diego said, and she looked up to see him staring at her with a raised eyebrow. "You kinda spaced out there for a bit. Everything okay?"
"Just thinking about it all, nothing to worry about." Valerie smiled as the bell dinged, announcing their arrival, as the door slid open she motioned for Diego to go ahead of her.
"Okay…." He gave her a worried look, and then shrugged it off as he stepped from the elevator and motioned with a bow, as if he was a doorman. "Allow me to show you to your office, m’ lady."
"Thank you, kind sir," she said with a mock curtsy and gave him a soft bop on the back of his bowed head...enough to not hurt but a small admonition that she wasn’t in the mood for joking around right now.
"Message received," he said rubbing his head, smirk vanishing. He gestured with a sweep of his other hand and there was a large open floor, with a desk at the end. Cammie, Sandra, and Royland were standing around the desk, arguing.
"This is the office?" Valerie asked, looking around, eyes wide. "The whole floor?"
Diego smirked. "We figure it gives you room to train,” he pointed in one direction. “Set up a little gym over there, practice mat in that corner to spar, and," he pointed toward the other side, where there was a dining table and chairs set up, "a spot to entertain guests."
"Wow." She took it all in, impressed. "I really don’t ever need to leave."
Diego replied, "On that note, we actually thought all the Weres and vampires could live here if they wanted, I mean. We could set up some of the offices as rooms, and abandon the idea of living underground and cold showers."
"Which would make us an easy target," Cammie said. She’d noticed them and had walked over. Royland and Sandra followed close behind. Sandra gave Valerie a judging look.
"Now that you’re here," the male Vampire interrupted the conversation, "maybe you can help decide?"
Valerie thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "On rotation. We take turns, half the Weres and vampires, here in the building, the other half in the hideout, constantly moving back and forth so no one grows complacent. That’ll keep everyone on their toes, divide the risk and hopefully stop any opposition from getting an accurate count of our numbers."
Royland nodded. Cammie folded her arms and smiled.
"And one more thing," Valerie said, looking between Cammie and Royland. "In case it’s not clear, Cammie, you’ll be leading the Weres. Royland, the same concerning the vampires."
Royland pursed his lips, "It’ll be hard getting some from the other clans to listen to me," he admitted. "Especially considering I wasn’t always on the same side as them."
Valerie didn’t hesitate, "And I’m sure you’ll manage. We can’t have more deserters like we did downstairs."
"Deserters?" Sandra asked.
Valerie filled them in, and the others processed this information, frowns forming on their faces. All but Cammie, who was rubbing her palms, lost in some deep thought or memory.
"Yeah, the Golden City," Cammie said with a look out of the window, her eyes distant. "Actually, I’ve been meaning to bring that up."
Diego perked at this, and Sandra gave Valerie a worried look. From what Diego had told them, he'd learned something while off on his little excursion that got him caught by the Bloodhounds and hunters. The Golden City was indeed a hidden city ruled by Weres, but it wasn’t the least bit friendly or open to outsiders.
"From what I’ve heard, that place isn’t one we can rely on for help," Valerie said. A horrifying thought hit her. "Don’t tell me you’re thinking of abandoning us too?"
"What? No." Cammie turned and ran her hand through her hair. Whatever she was about to say, it was clear she didn’t want to. "But, I do think we need to try to win them over."
"You mean, you think there’s a chance they’d, what, form an alliance or something?" Valerie asked.
Cammie nodded. "If we’re going to stand up to the corporations, we’ll need all the help we can get." She held up her hands in surrender at Valerie’s look. "Yes, you are one badass vampire, we get that. But these guys… there’s a reason they were able to trap vampires and use Weres to do their bidding. They have some of the only silver supplies known to exist in the area, and have used it in their weapons. If they get their feathers ruffled we’re in big trouble."
"If that’s the case, why wasn’t saving Diego more of a challenge?" Sandra asked.
"We ambushed them that time, not the ot
her way around." Cammie sighed. "But more than that, it was the same reason taking this building wasn’t harder. They have the weapons, but usually keep them with their armies at the edges of the Fallen Lands, to keep out the whackos and the Forsaken."
"So Commander Strake...” Valerie started.
"Only retreated so he could pull the forces together." Cammie looked Valerie in the eyes, a stern, no messing around stare. "Alone? Even you won’t survive this. We’re going to need all the help we can get."
***
They needed to go to the Golden City and, somehow, forge an alliance. Diego’s heart raced with the idea...part worry, because of the danger he’d heard going to that city meant, and part excitement. He’d come to America with the idea that he’d settle down in the Golden City, a place many in Spain had believed was fable, that it didn’t truly exist.
"I’ll go," he said, stepping forward and resting his hand on the pistol holstered at his waist. He felt it gave him the right look. "As an outsider, there’s a chance they’ll listen to me."
He could hardly deal with the look Sandra was giving him right then. The two had grown close over the last day or so, and he knew what his volunteering meant. He would have to leave her, at least for a couple of days, and put his life on the line.
The others, too, were considering him, and finally, Valerie said, "It’s dangerous, but Old Manhattan needs me. If there is an attack before we get help, I’m possibly this city’s best hope." She glanced at Cammie and added, "Even if I don’t stand a chance."
"The kitten has a good point," Cammie said, earning herself a glare from Diego. "But… that pack will need someone they recognize, at least to get an audience with the Alpha."
"You can’t go alone?" Sandra asked her, and Diego wondered at the irritation in her voice.
"The Alpha there… he and I aren’t on the best of terms." Cammie laughed, apparently finding something funny about that. "Which is to say, he still thinks I’m his property, one of his seven wives, as a matter of fact."
"Sounds like a swell guy," Valerie’s tone, as dry as the desert. "This is who we’re seeking help from?"
