+
The elevator was a cell of buffed stainless steel. A light piano medley ricocheted off the hard metal walls. Even the floor was polished. No elevator had any business being this clean. I felt like I needed to stand on my tiptoes. And a retinal scan. It came with a freakin’ retinal scan? I scratched my head. Who installed those exactly? Did you just call up Retinal-Scans-R-Us?
Rei’s hand found my own. My silly heart stuttered at her touch. “This hand is nice and warm,” she said evenly. “I would prefer for it to remain so.”
“Ditto,” I offered.
“You will follow my rules to the letter. You are a visitor and nothing more. Do not flinch or become jumpy. Do not expose the sides of your neck. Do not raise your arms. Do not show your wrists. Avoid all unnecessary eye contact. Avoid rapid breathing. Do not smile. Do not frown. Do not hunch. Do not limp. And if you are forced to greet someone, do not shake their hands. Instead, while remaining silent and keeping your eyes on their torso, bow deeply. The language may be a bit strange to your ear—the sights certainly will be. You will see things that you are morally opposed to. You may even see some things that you wish to stop.” Rei squeezed my hand until it hurt. “Whatever you do, you shall not intervene. By accompanying me into this lair, you have become a member of my party. The consequences of your actions fall on me, and me alone.”
I watched the elevator count up from 21 to 22. My heart was fluttering about like a terrified gerbil.
I swallowed. “I get it, Rei.”
“No, you fool, you most certainly do not.” Rei squeezed my hand harder, hard enough to shift my bones, hard enough to make me wince. “So I shall worry enough for the both of us.”
My Sight exploded. If I hadn’t seen it before I might have screamed. It was Rei’s aura, that enormous grey cloak, that monstrous thing that flowed out and surrounded her body. It stretched wide, enveloping my entire body. And that wasn’t all. Rei’s killing intent…I could feel it radiating off her like an icy burn. But the malice wasn’t directed at me. It was pointed dead ahead. That’s when I realized the source of all this suffocating fear. Rei was scared.
The shiny metal coffin halted with a ding. A velvet-covered hallway stretched out ahead of us. The thick black carpet muffled every sound. There wasn’t a soul around, and very little light. As we approached the door at the end, my straining Sight faltered. We were high above a mana-poor valley. All I had to draw upon were my meager mana reserves. No leylines to call on…it finally occurred to me how very vulnerable I was.
“So you have grown a brain,” Rei said smiling. She wasn’t bothering to conceal her fangs. “My most impetuous colleague, I’m afraid it is a bit too late for that.”
“Stupid link,” I muttered.
+
So these were vampires…fact and fiction are bedfellows, but, like all lovers, their accounts can vary wildly. If nothing else, it was good to lay some misconceptions to rest. They managed to dress well, I was willing to give them that. But they were pale, gaunt, and held themselves all wrong. Hands twittered. Eyes lazed. They lacked Rei’s grace, her firm control. In her stupor, Rei had said that she wasn’t “mausoleum trash.” I puzzled over that statement, and grew more certain by the second. These wafer-thin figures…these poor bastards were the Turned. And the hunger…it was the big, bloodied elephant in this overcrowded room. They couldn’t hope to hide it. It was on their lips and in their eyes. They were starving hyenas. Circling raptors. Their every action was colored by a desperate need to feed. Even with my Sight clamped down, I could still sense how badly the hunger burned at them. They only needed one cue—an exposed vessel, an idle falter, or a silly drunken slur—and they would be upon their victim in an instant. Worse still was the emptiness in their eyes. It was a place beyond sadness. A place beyond hope.
One other emotion stood out. It was an emotion that I found hard to define. It reminded me of when I was fourteen years old. A girl had asked me out to a concert with her friends. Some stupid boy band was playing, but she was cute, so whatever. I remembered back to that bizarre wave of emotion that shot through the crowd as the lead singer waltzed onstage. The cheers. The moans. One girl passed out right in front of me. My date lost her voice screaming. (I went to the bathroom and never came back.) And these vampires looked like they were about to be overcome by that very same emotion. It beat back their boundless hunger and competed evenly for their attention.
“Le enfant mosaique,” a petite female muttered. Shaking, she clutched at the golden broach on her chest and dropped straight to the ground. “Je suis votre humble serviteur,” she said kneeling.
I glanced at Rei’s flushing cheeks. Reverence. This emotion was reverence. Reverence for the girl clamping down on my hand like a vice. I looked back at the crowd. What the hell was Rei to them?
The Turned seemed content to stand and stare. We passed through their foyer undisturbed. But as we approached a thick steel door at the end of the hall, I was given another start. There were two enormous men curled up like balls. They were entirely bald, entirely naked—and their bodies were stiff as logs.
Rei paused our procession and waited.
My eyes widened as the veil of rigor lifted. Under their transparent skin, rigid manflesh flexed, and both men lifted their heads off the ground. I really wish they hadn’t. It was like raw slabs of steak had just come alive inside them. Their nostrils flared, and their dry crackling lungs sucked in air with wheezy protest. Rei seemed unperturbed as one of them nuzzled against her wrist. I looked at one man and then the other. Creamy white eyes. No pupils at all.
Gross.
The naked fellas seemed to like Rei’s…aroma. They nodded to one another and slunk back to the ground. Rei placed her hand on the doorknob but hesitated before opening it. Drawing her fingers to her nostrils, she blanched.
“Fasz kivan,” she hissed. “That pofátlan just had to be here.” And then things got weird. Rei popped out a compact, checked her makeup, and gave her blouse a tug. Ignoring the whispers rising behind us, she turned to me and adjusted my collar. “At least the Dru purchased you some passable clothing. You no longer look like an extra from one of Mr. Wayne’s features.” Her eyes flicked to a camera perched in the corner of the hall. “Magus Resnick, please remember what I told you. If a member of the Court greets you, respond with civil grace. Keep your replies short”—her eyes narrowed—“and no jokes.”
Magus Resnick. I got the hint. Formality mattered. But no jokes? Seriously?
Rei eyed at me dubiously, considered the knob—sighed—and then opened the door. The metallic fragrance hit me immediately, but it was so damn dark that that I could hardly see my feet. I let Rei’s hand guide my movements—and my feet knew right where to go.
Okay…this is odd.
Rei’s breathing picked up slightly. With a new urgency, she dragged me forward into the den. I was still marveling at how easy it was to follow her lead…when my eyes adjusted to the dark. Then I kinda went dumb. Watching a dozen men and women slowly dying before your eyes can do that.
They were in varying stages of undress. Some mid-coitus, their limbs pressed close. The men and women embraced their deaths, seemingly oblivious to the dark sap leaking from their veins. Their killers moved in languid strokes, their eyes coated with a chill sheen of pleasure. They slid easily over the exposed flesh, shifting from wound to wound, lapping at the flows. The scene was almost peaceful, but there was no doubt how this lazy dance would end. One girl stood out. She was arched over a red velvet bench, her long brown hair thrown sloppily to the side. Two fed upon her breasts, nibbling on her tattered nipples. Another rose from his work between her thighs, only to return again for more. I couldn’t escape the girl’s vacant eyes. She must have been my age—and she was absolutely dead-to-rights. I saw it in her aura. It was a shriveled black haze.
As I looked on in horror, faint recognition flirted with her features. It was like she was looking straight inside me. Her eyes brightened, and she moved her mouth to spe
ak. I dragged my eyes away from her and clamped down on my Sight. I couldn’t keep looking. I wouldn’t be able to control myself if I did. Something dangerous was building inside me. It was a primal rage unrestrained by doubt. My people were dying. My kind was calling out for aid. Maybe I wanted to redecorate this room in flames. I wanted to purify every single sight and smell. I wanted to wash it all away. And deep down, despite the lack of mana, despite the impossible odds, I truly believed I could do it. My soul called upon me to fight, but I told it firmly, no. Rei would bear responsibility if I faltered. I’d promised here…I’d…
“Remember, Dieter,” she whispered. “Be polite when you greet my sister. She is my elder.” I looked at Rei and then back at the carnival of horrors. For a second, I let myself wonder how she could be so unfazed—and then I dropped my head in shame.
How willfully ignorant could I be? Jules was right. I was Rei’s apologist. Rei’s rules weren’t mine, and they never ever could be. It wasn’t like she was hiding it from me. Heck, she’d skinned a man right in front of me. But since I’d met Rei, I’d been contending with two of her. There was the Rei who threw her body in front of me again and again, the one who let her own bones get crushed to protect my hide. And then there was the other one, the one who had to eat.
My jaw tightened. Could I truly remain her ally? Could I continue to stand by and watch? Could I compromise my principles to accommodate her needs? And even if I could…would I?
I was no fool. I knew full well what sacrificing your principles got you. It was a one-way ticket to psycho-land. I had already tasted Mount Crazy once. Running through the forest, my mind had nearly come apart. If I kept going down this path, I was going to end up back there again. And yet, Rei and I fit so well together. It was like we were designed for one another. Even at this very moment, as we walked through this haze of suffering and death, I couldn’t think of anywhere else I wanted to be. I knew it was crazy, I knew it was wrong, but I also knew the odds. My chances of surviving the upcoming battle were slim. And even if I survived the next week, there was still an entire war left to fight. I was probably going to die. Heck, I was probably going to die horribly. Prospects like that have a way of cutting through the fat. They have a way of driving us to our basest needs. And I realized all I wanted—truly, all I wanted—was to not have to face it all alone. I had been left alone for eighteen years. I didn’t want to go back to that. That simple need outweighed my sense of justice—even my love for my own kind. And so I forced myself to keep moving forward. I kept one foot moving past the other, Rei opened the next door, and we left the carnal noises behind.
+
Still numb, I squinted through the bright light. This room was entirely different. Massive, it stretched out on a single slab of polished concrete. It took a moment for me to regain my bearings. Row after row of LEDs beamed down on us from above. They sharpened edges and scrubbed away any warmth. At the far end of the room, frameless floor-to-ceiling windows offered an uninterrupted view of the entire Las Vegas Strip. It was a jaw-dropping sight. I could see past all the way to the darkened ring of mountains. Two people lounged on the enormous couch in front of us. A third was walking back from the kitchen. He was carrying a giant box of Cheerios, and he looked like he needed every last bite. I couldn’t spot an ounce of fat on him.
“This part’s badass,” he said pointing at the giant television screen.
“Yep, she’s about to lose it!” the small blond on the sofa replied. He leaned forward and smiled. “I love this part.” My attention was drawn to the woman seated next to him. Her glossy black hair was an even sheet of silk. I watched her as she stretched and yawned. She was sporting a tiny set of fangs.
“Shut up,” she whined. “You’re ruining it.”
I turned to watch the television. An animated teenage Japanese girl, who looked like she was having a very bad day, unsheathed a ludicrously large sword and screamed. I tilted my head sideways. This was the same cartoon that Ichijo and Dante were always watching. It was called Fury Yoko. Dante had the poster. The tagline went: “They took everything but her rage. Fury-forth! Fury-forth, Yoko!”
“Wait for it…” the tall scruffy one said as he plopped down on the couch.
“Wait for it…” the small blonde replied.
The three of them raised their hands in the air.
“No. Now you’re open for business,” they shouted along with Yoko.
In a series of flashes, Yoko started splitting open yakuza like tomatos.
“Nice,” the blond cooed. “The downward slash-of-wrath attack. That’s a game ender.”
“Such nonsense.” Rei released my hand and flicked back her hair in a sign of distaste. “A sword of that size would be totally unbalanced.”
The female tilted her head over the back of the couch. Her two very pronounced breasts rose into view. She had the same cool blue eyes as Rei. The same pale skin. The same dentist. “Honestly, Rei. It is called suspension of disbelief. Do they not teach you such concepts at magic camp?”
Rei stiffened. “Anna, I am nearly two decades old now. And it is a college, not a camp.”
Anna sighed. “Those were the decades…” She arched her back further, lifted her feet into the air, and flipped over the couch like it was a pommel horse. Her bare white toes landed on the cement without a sound. I swallowed. What the hell…
“Magus, one moment please.” Rei walked over to Anna. She was at least three inches taller than her older sister, but the second Bathory’s astonishing curves made up the difference. Anna knew how to use them too. They had a way of snagging your eyes.
Anna nodded, and Rei knelt to the ground to kiss her hand. I was taken aback. That was old school. Way old school.
Her head bowed, Rei said, “Szervusz humillimus, Anna.”
“Szervusz, Rei.” Anna ran her fingers through Rei’s hair. It looked like a loving gesture, but for some reason, I felt the sudden urge to lay Anna flat. The elder Bathory turned her attention to me. “Now, introduce me to your new beater.”
I felt a wrenching sensation deep inside my chest, as though a blade had grazed my heart. It’s steady pitter-patter faltered. I fought for breath. An unseen force was tripping up the rhythm of my body. I didn’t understand it, but it terrified me. A cold bead of sweat rolled it’s way down my neck. I was standing in a bare-naked room with no mana to call to. Five paces away stood Rei’s elder. Behind me lay a den of nightmares. The windows offered a thirty-story drop to the valley floor. I felt alone. Small. Vulnerable. I thought about how Rei had waited out those last moments on the faculty lodge’s roof, waiting for the gunman’s ammunition to run dry, waiting for that last cry of despair. Anna gave me a soft and easy smile. Yea, this was just peachy.
Rei stood and gestured in my direction. “Anna, this is my colleague, Magus Resnick. We are in town for a field trip.”
Anna’s face twitched slightly. “Resnick?” she said walking over to me.
“Anna.” Rei’s shifted her foot ever so slightly. “Magus Resnick is a new DEA recruit.”
“A new recruit?” Anna’s smile wrinkled. She offered me the back of her hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Young Master Resnick. My name is Anna Bathory, Duchess of Peoria.”
Duchess? “Charmed,” I replied. I took Anna’s hand and shook it. There was no freaking way I was kissing anything in this place. Rei shot me daggers. Anna just laughed.
“You Americans and your incessant need for personal space.” Anna wrapped her chill arm around me. “Come, Young Master Resnick of the DEA. It appears my baby sister has been on yet another one of her crash diets. If she doesn’t get something to drink soon, I fear she might blow away in the breeze. Let me introduce you to my…Oh, what do you call them now days?”
“Starts with motley,” the lanky one offered.
“A form of rowing,” the blond one added.
“Ah, yes! Thank you, boys. My crew. Dieter, let me introduce you to my crew.”
“Okay…” I managed. As Anna g
uided me over to the couch, one of her breasts nestled itself behind my shoulder and made itself comfortable. I looked back to see Rei busy digging in the fridge. Either everything was cool—or Rei was too thirsty to worry about me right now.
“Dieter,” Anna said, snatching back my attention. “I would like you to meet Trey Easton and Hans Johansen.”
Trey leaned over and shook my hand. It was as warm as an oven. “Nice to meetcha, bub,” he said between crunches of cereal. Hans didn’t go for a shake. He stood and bowed. Remembering Rei’s instructions, I kept my eyes on his waist and returned the gesture.
“Rockin’!” Hans said with a sharp grin. “You know protocol. So you go to school with Baby Rays? That means you’re a bona fide magus, right?”
I raised an eyebrow. Baby Rays? If I made it out of here alive, that little nugget was going to provide endless entertainment. “I guess so,” I replied. “At least that’s what the paperwork says.”
The youthful looking vampire drew close, so close that I could smell his pungent breath. No eye contact, I repeated to myself. Maintain your posture. Finished with his inspection, Hans turned to Anna and frowned.
“He looks like a normal beater to me. Cute—but normal.”
“How about a demonstration then?” Anna asked with smile. “I do love magic tricks before dinner.” Anna seemed to have a lot of different smiles. This one made me feel like a honey-baked ham.
“I would advise against that, sister dearest,” Rei replied. Big-gulp in hand, she hopped over the couch and kicked up her feet. “The clean-up can be expensive.”
“Oh come on, Rei. That was a long time ago.”
“You are forgetting the napalm incident.”
I flushed. “That was a controlled explosion.”
“You set yourself on fire, did you not?”
“At least I didn’t puke blood!”
Trey reached over and flipped off the TV. “More entertaining,” he said, gesturing to us. At some point, Rei and I had ended up standing and pointing at one another. Red in the face, I sat back down.
Zero Sum Advanced Review Copy Page 29
