by Justin Sloan
"We understand your excitement," Yuko said, with a smile. "But please, I hope you understand that we don’t have answers, we cannot see the future."
Valerie’s soul felt instantly crushed. "So you… don’t know if she’ll even actually come back?"
Akio looked at peace as he answered. "She will return."
Sandra held up a hand. "Excuse me, but, um, where exactly is Bethany Anne that she must return from?"
In answer, Yuko looked out to the sky.
"Heaven?" Sandra asked, her voice full of doubt.
"Space," Akio replied, voice heavy with frustration. "Our earth has only survived as long as it has because of her."
"So this stuff about vampires coming from some sort of alien interference with our DNA…?"
Yuko nodded. "Kurtherians, an advanced alien race of twelve tribes, seven evil, would modify intelligent beings on planets to evolve them to fight others. One tribe of the five who fought the seven arrived here to do the opposite. Enhance humans so we had a chance before the seven came. Their nanocytes in our blood cause us to be as we are."
Valerie and Sandra leaned in excitedly as Yuko and Akio took turns telling them about the Kurtherians, stories about battles in space, and then about how in the end it had been an attack against Bethany Anne’s ship from humans, not the aliens at all, that had eventually caused the great fall of civilization and brought them to this post-apocalyptic world they now found themselves in.
"That’s fucked up," Valerie said, leaning back in her chair to process all of this. Sandra was smiling at Valerie, so she said, "What? How does any of that give you a reason to smile?"
"Well, just… I always thought I was serving some dark princess of the night. Turns out you’re just a genetically modified human." Her smile widened. "I kinda like it this way more, you know, compared to the whole demon-lady thing."
Valerie laughed. "I suppose that’s the positive way to look at all this. Of course, the other side of that coin is that this means all the evil done by vampires and Weres is just because we’re screwy in the head, not because of any dark or evil reason."
"Mostly," Yuko corrected her. "The thing is, some people can’t handle the transformation as well as others, and something goes wrong, up here." She pointed to her head.
Akio nodded. "Which explains the Nosferatu, and some of the others out there."
"Females are especially hard to make," Yuko added, smiling as if sharing an inside joke with Valerie. "That’s why we were surprised to learn of you."
Valerie was about to rebuke that, when she realized it was true. Female vampires were extremely scarce.
The sun was moving lower in the sky at this point, and a knock came on the door.
"They’re here," Wallace said, poking his head in. "I’ve set them up in the conference room."
"We have a conference room?" Valerie asked.
"Of course," Wallace replied. "Where else would we hold conferences?"
She’d have to remember to flick him in the ear later for being a smart-ass, especially in front of Yuko and Akio. But for now, she simply stood and motioned for them to go first, and then followed them out.
Yuko leaned into Akio and whispered, "We should go."
"I agree, but perhaps we see where this is headed first?" he said. "It'll give us something to report back to Michael."
Yuko nodded, though she didn't appear too happy with the decision.
Wallace led them to the elevator and then the fifth floor, where a hallway led to the glass walls that showed a long and wide room, a polished wood conference table in its middle. Five men and two women were seated around the table, staring at her with obvious irritation.
Before going in, Valerie held up a finger and mouthed, "Just a moment," and pulled Sandra aside.
"What is it?" Sandra asked, worry creasing her face.
"All this is happening so fast," Valerie said in a hushed voice. "I haven’t even had a chance to ask if you’re doing okay."
Sandra shook her head. "Honestly, no, but now’s not really the time to talk about it, right?"
Valerie took her by the hand and said, "There’s always time for you, got that? He’s going to be tough, okay? Diego’s a survivor."
"I know." Sandra offered her best attempt at a smile. "Now get in there and pull this city together."
"We’ll spend some time together, just the two of us, when this is over, I promise." With a final squeeze of her hand, Valerie turned and strode into the room like she owned the place.
"So what, you’re in charge now?" the large woman near the head of the table said. "You and what army?"
Valerie simply smiled, and then looked around the room again. A glance back showed Yuko and Akio standing completely still—the perfect soldiers. It gave her a chill, the knowledge of what they were capable of, and here they were, watching over her shoulders. Sandra gave a hint of a smile, likely for encouragement, which Valerie found cute but unnecessary.
Valerie strode past the table and to the window, where she looked out over the city, back to the others. "There were supposed to be eight of you."
"Apparently, Mercer decided not to make it." The woman waited for Valerie to turn to them before continuing. She leaned forward, staring at Valerie over steepled fingers. "And I’d like to know fairly damn soon what the purpose of all this is."
The rest remained silent.
"I was led to believe none of you were in charge of the others," Valerie said. "That you are all equal?"
The woman smiled, but her eyes narrowed. "We are, but that doesn’t mean we don’t recognize power."
"Power…" Valerie approached the table and stood over the woman, then took a seat beside her. She wasn’t here to intimidate them, not yet anyway. Her goal was to ensure they all worked together. "You must be the one they call ‘Nancy the Neuterer.’ Is that right?"
The others flinched at this. Valerie had been briefed on the eight when she’d returned--the seven here plus one more missing--and knew Nancy didn’t like this title one bit. That wasn’t to say she hadn’t earned it. According to the stories, she’d started off in a city where, following the collapse, men had taken over with brute force. She’d been only a child then, but a child that had suffered enough to know she wasn’t going to sit by and let it happen. One man at a time, she’d taken them out and, if the stories were to be believed, maimed one or two along the way in order to send a message.
No wonder the men at the table were hesitant to step on her toes. Still, their distaste for her was evident in their glares.
After a long stare, Nancy said, "I have been called that, by some. Not many to my face."
"These others are so intimidated by you?" Valerie took a moment to look each of them in the eyes. She figured the lanky, mean looking man was the one called The Alligator, the one they’d told her lived underground with his gang, much like Cammie had done. Part of her wondered if any of these men and women, and especially he, had Weres or vampires in their groups. A quick sniff, however, told her that not only were none of them members of the UnknownWorld, but hadn’t been around any lately.
Finally, one spoke up from the side of the table, leaning back where it was harder to see him as he said, "Intimidated isn’t the right word." He leaned forward, revealing scars across the right side of his face and a missing ear. "This city works as it does because many of us know how to keep to our territories. Strake saw to it that way, in case we didn’t, setting up his Enforcers along the boundaries."
"The fool never stopped me from doing what needed to be done," Nancy said with a grunt.
"The Neuterer is tough; I’ll give her that," the scarred man said, earning him a glare down her nose from her. "But she isn’t the least of our worries, is she?"
He stared at Valerie on this note, then turned to let his eyes roam across Yuko and Akio, altogether ignoring Sandra.
"Not this again," the Alligator spoke up now, waving the other man off like he was a fly. "Grolt here believes he was attacked by someth
ing in the night. What was it, Grolt, a demon?"
"Not a demon," Grolt spat back. "But something worth joining up to fight against, I keep telling you this." He turned to the other, hard demeanor revealing some of the terror usually hidden within. "Believe me, whatever this was… maybe a mutation brought about by nuclear fallout; I don’t know. But it wasn’t natural."
So the UnknownWorld had been revealing itself before she arrived, Valerie mused. Her job of keeping it on the low down was going to be harder than she thought.
Akio was looking at her, but saying nothing.
"Our enemy at the moment isn’t some creature of the night," Valerie said, working to get the conversation back on track. "It’s Strake, and the CEOs. They’ll plan an attack, bigger than this little scouting mission first-wave shit they threw at us earlier today. When they do, this city needs to be ready."
"Our fighters have knives, some pistols, and the odd rifle, maybe," Nancy said. "You can’t expect us to stand against their forces with that alone."
"Leave the defense of the city to me." Valerie made sure to have eye contact with each at the table, to ensure they knew she meant business. "I only ask that you help keep the city intact while I ensure we’re safe from the outside."
"Only one problem with that," a voice said from the doorway, and everyone turned in time to see a man with his hand on a detonator. "Mercer says you all have to die."
In an instant, the detonator clicked, and Akio moved faster than anyone in the room could have seen (aside from Valerie and Yuko). With a crash, the man and the explosives attached to his chest went flying through a window, and then—
KA-BOOM!
The windows shattered, a couple of the men at the table were knocked sideways, and Valerie dove to protect Sandra.
While the damage to Valerie’s ears caused a momentary ringing, it healed quickly. The others, she was sure, didn’t have that luxury. But already Nancy was up, shouting and pointing a finger at Valerie, accusing her of working with Mercer.
A shot rang out, and a piece of the wall exploded next to Nancy—someone was shooting at them from outside. Nancy threw herself to the floor, cursing.
"Would I have tried to kill myself and my people?" Valerie shouted back, helping the man next to her to stand.
She ran to the window and saw flashes coming from two buildings across the way. This Mercer guy was likely leading one of those attacks. She pulled up Sandra, thanked Akio, and then said to Yuko, "Can you two get them checked out?"
Yuko nodded. "And you?"
More shots were coming now, and then the shots from downstairs sounded. Her teams were fighting back, but she wasn’t going to leave it to them.
"I’m going to find Mercer and tear him a new asshole." Valerie turned from the room and jogged out. When she was in the hall and where the others couldn’t see her, she took off at vampire speed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Outside Enforcer HQ
Darting past the Enforcers at the door who were firing back at a group of attackers, Valerie paused only long enough to notice that the crowd who’d been protesting earlier had dispersed. There were some still nearby, but making a run for it. More than one was staggering as if they’d been shot, and Valerie didn’t doubt that some might have been killed.
If there was one thing she hated, it was the innocent suffering.
Mercer was in for a beat down.
She couldn’t let herself be noticed, not in a crowd this size, in broad daylight. Moving in the shadows to go unnoticed, she flanked three gunmen opposite HQ and quickly disposed of them—the first by breaking his neck, the next two with the first’s rifle.
For all she knew, this next part of the fight would take a lot out of her, so she pulled one of the dying men into a side alley and drank from him, doing her best to ignore the terror in his slowly fading eyes.
Yes, she’d killed many times now, and drunk from her victims… but it never got easier.
"Valerie!" a gruff voice called, and she turned to see Mecha with a team of Weres decked out in combat gear. They must’ve healed up already. With a sniff in the air he picked up her scent and soon spotted her, but a shot rang out forcing him to take cover.
"I’ve got this!" Valerie shouted, and then took off to the closest building she’d seen the shots coming from.
She’d been tested plenty since arriving in America only a couple of nights ago, but a part of her still worried every time she knew trouble was coming. For one, she fucking hated pain. It didn’t matter how fast she could heal, when the memory of the sensation of a blade tearing through flesh or of bones breaking never went away.
Her years of training back in France was paying off big-time, and now it was time to test herself further.
The door at the side of the building was locked, but she kicked it, and it went flying off its hinges. She stormed up a stairwell, following the sound of shots and then the scent of men.
There was no worrying about them knowing about the UnknownWorld here—they’d be dead in a matter of moments.
Her eyes glowed red, and her fangs emerged, as she drew her sword. It felt like an extension of her arm, like it had always been there. With her other hand she drew her pistol, and then burst through the door that led to the room of shooters.
They turned to her, ready to fire, but she was gone, moving in a blur. An arm chopped off here, a shot to the head there, and then she paused long enough to kick one of them so hard it sent him flying through the drywall to embed into the wall.
More shots, but she was dodging past them, her sword moving like a tornado of steel.
And then the second to last of them dropped, his rifle hitting the floor with a clang.
Valerie looked up to see only one remaining.
But something was off. She took a step forward, heard the rifle click, and then jam. Then heard the soft crying, and the fighter looked up.
Not only was it a girl, but she couldn’t have been older than thirteen or fourteen.
"You… don’t belong here," Valerie said, stumbling and catching herself on the wall. Killing children, or young teens even, wasn’t part of the plan.
Where was the honor in that?
But the girl, seeing a moment of weakness, ran at Valerie, screaming as she pulled a knife and attempted to plunge it into Valerie’s chest.
A quick side-step sent the girl sprawling and the knife clattering across the floor.
All Valerie could think of was that poor child she’d seen killed back in France—the turning point that brought her here to America, to stop her brother and, though she didn’t know it at the time, to become Michael’s Justice Enforcer.
Now, this.
She stepped forward and put a foot, gently, on the wrist of the hand reaching for the knife.
"You can walk out of here alive, but I need to know where he is." Valerie considered twisting the foot, but instead stood there, patiently waiting. This girl had seen what she was capable of—additional pain wasn’t necessary.
"H—he?" the girl managed between sobs.
"Mercer." Valerie pointed to the next building over. "Is he with the other shooters."
The girl stopped crying long enough to turn her head to face Valerie. Wide, green eyes narrowed, almost losing their terror for a moment, but then her head dropped, and she closed her eyes as she said, "No, the one behind us."
"Behind…" Valerie walked away from the girl and went to the back window, where indeed there was another building, and she saw someone looking up at her through the window.
The sound of shoes on linoleum told her the girl was scampering away, but she didn’t care. Right now she had to get to that building and confront Mercer.
She shot out the window, and then took off at a run. At the window sill, she pushed off and hoped with all her soul that her vampire strength would be enough to make the jump.
The figure in the window was gone, but she went crashing through it and a moment later had picked up his scent. Only, it wasn’t what she
expected.
She knew that scent.
Where had she smelled it before? A hint of cinnamon… something else, faint. Potatoes?
He wasn’t going to escape her, not with her vampire speed, and even as she pieced it together, she’d slammed him into a wall and had the tip of her sword at his throat.
"WHY?!" she screamed, and it took all of her strength not to jab that sword through his perfect neck.
Jackson, the guy who’d bought her the fake Puma’s, stared back at her, fury and confusion on his face.
"You didn’t mention the whole glowing eyes and fangs thing when we met," he said with an attempt at humor that failed to hide the quavering in his voice.
"And you, Jackson Mercer, forgot to tell me you were one of eight gang leaders in this town, or whatever you all call yourselves."
He licked his lips and glanced down at the sword. "You realize, as far as second dates go—"
"SHUT UP!" She slammed him against the wall. "This isn’t time for you to be cute, this is time for you to explain why you’re attacking my people, and why the hell I shouldn’t turn you inside out."
He closed his eyes, brow furrowed in thought. When he opened them again, he stood a little taller.
"There are seven people meeting in that building right now," he said, very gravely. Seven leaders of warring factions of this city who are never in one place at the same time. I mean never. Yet, somehow, somebody accomplished this."
"That somebody would be me," she said. "What of it?"
"If you knew just half of the atrocities they’ve committed, you’d understand in a heartbeat why I have to do everything in my power to take them out of the picture."
She stared at him, then released him and stepped back. "FUCK!" She kicked the nearest wall, causing a large hole in the plaster. "I am not supposed to get wrapped up in the politics here. This is about getting the city to work together long enough to survive." She turned to him and pointed with her sword. "Do you understand that?"
He yelled back, pointing at the HQ building, "I understand that people fight for me who’ve lost their families because of those bastards in that building, and that if you want a city that functions and works together, they need to go."
