The Queen of Disks (Villainess Book 5)

by Alana Melos

  “All it’ll take is one phone call and we’re busted,” I replied. “We play it as safe as we can, which means no loose ends. Loose ends get people killed.”

  She stared at me with those soft brown eyes of hers. Her lips pressed together in a tight line, and her head cocked to the side. “Very well,” she said. “Though I don’t like it.”

  “It’s a little late to grow a conscience, isn’t it?” I asked, though doubt niggled at me. I shoved away the thought that maybe, just maybe, I was growing one too. I had gotten very good at pushing that particular thought away in the last couple of months.

  “I wasn’t given a choice before,” Huraiva said calmly. “If I could, I would go without doing wrong at all, but that’s not possible.” She paused, her brows scrunching up as she frowned. “I’ve had much time to think about this in these many long years. I don’t want to hurt people, unless it cannot be helped. Adira might have a cold heart and turn away from their suffering, but that doesn’t mean I have to.”

  “Not the time or the place for this talk,” I said as I scowled. “All I need to know is that you’re willing to do what we have to stay alive.” When she nodded, I relaxed. “Then find a bed and crash. I’m going to shower quick, then join you.”

  Huraiva left and I shook my head. Whatever was going on in there wasn’t my business unless they fucked my business up. I showered, and combed out my hair before I hunted around for an alarm clock. I set it, then crashed in the same queen sized bed as Huraiva. She didn’t stir and before long, we were both sleeping.

  When the alarm went off at two in the afternoon, I shut it off, then grabbed my trench and put it on. Wishing I could look around telepathically at the minds in the area, I made my way downstairs. Huraiva had woken when I did, but it took her longer to come to full awareness. It would only be one guy anyway, no big deal. I moved the desk with the computer closer to the front door to keep an eye out while I searched for information on the ‘net about the castle. I got much of the history of it, and a rough layout. There was also a notation saying that sometime after the war, whole parts of it were rebuilt from the damage the structure had sustained. The occult division of the military chose it for a secondary location. It didn’t say why, nor did they shut down the tourism which the castle brought in because of it. That seemed strange to me. If it was technically a military base, why let tourists in? If they were performing secret experiments there, wouldn’t it be wiser to keep civilians away? The news about the damage was welcome, though. Repaired structures were never as strong as whole ones, and a seed of a plan formed.

  My thoughts were interrupted by the husband arriving home. I stood up and drew my blade. He called out to his wife, and moved right past the living room without seeing me. In the kitchen doorway he stopped, dropping his lunch pail. The shock he felt rolled through him and into me with the faintest of touches. The yellow and orange threads of fear and alert made me sigh, and I imagined his face frozen as he tried to process the sight of his wife lying in a pool of her own blood. His shock didn’t last long as I stabbed him from behind. I wasn’t above going for the easy kill. He slumped, sliding off the metal as he collapsed. When he turned, his face filled with confusion. The urge to tell him I was sorry bubbled up in my throat. I swallowed it and turned away, cleaning my o-wakizashi off on a nearby jacket hanging in the hall while a bitter taste lingered in my mouth.

  “You didn’t have to,” Huraiva said from the bedroom doorway.

  “Yes, I did,” I said. The murder didn’t bother me, much. What troubled me was the fact that it troubled me at all. Ever since my last trip to Axis, real emotions had been growing, changing my mindscape. It twisted me into something I didn’t recognize.

  “Done now,” I said briskly. “Come on, let’s get to planning.” I almost asked her to let Adira out. I wanted her cool confidence instead of the bundle of nerves in front of me. I had to remind myself that Huraiva was in charge just on the off chance Richter could sense the vampiric spirit.

  Together, we went over what information we could dig up on the ‘net, which wasn’t anything useful. If I had perhaps not been so hasty with Axis Harry, then maybe we might have been able to phone him to get what we truly needed. That regret highlighted how much of a capricious person I was turning into.

  “The only reason for the claim by the occult military would be because there’s power there,” Huraiva said. “Adira thinks there must be something mystically powerful in the location or the castle itself.”

  “Same conclusion I’d come to,” I agreed, thinking of Alistair’s talk about nexuses and lines of power. “Which means if we’re right, Richter’s sitting on a source to tap into, to channel more power. Second problem, we can’t leave anything of ourselves behind… or the Siren’s. If we do, even a drop of blood or a hair, he’ll find us no problem.” That much I knew from Alistair. Mages could do a lot of powerful things, but a finding spell for someone specific, they had to have something of that person. I bet that’s what Emily had bribed Richter with to get his help. I must have left something behind when I’d skinned Harry, and it was well known the Nacht Sirene was one of my companions. He’d found her through me. I huffed, frowning. How was I supposed to know Emily had an affinity for the dark arts? Man, you couldn’t underestimate anyone anymore.

  “Fire would be the easiest,” Huraiva suggested.

  “That would be easy as pie if the Reich didn’t have all electric cars,” I grumped. “Hard to burn shit down when you don’t have access to gasoline.” The explosives in my backpack from Origin would be helpful here, but it wouldn’t be enough to make sure the place burned to the ground. It’d be a great start, though.

  There was a pause while Huraiva consulted with her vampiric rider. “Adira says that more than likely there’s an alchemical lab there. Oftentimes, the components are flammable and dangerous.”

  “I don’t like leaving that to chance, but you might be right,” I sighed. “At the least, there might be a generator there which either still uses gas or we can rig.” I wasn’t the best at the technical stuff, but I’d be able to manage that much.

  “My worry is that we take too long in searching for her,” she said.

  “Well, they only have the tower not open to the public, and it doesn’t look too large,” I pointed out, tracing the image on the flat computer screen. “Of course, they might have added a dungeon or something below it when they did the reconstruction.” They wouldn’t have the whole thing online, not with state secrets at stake.

  “We agree,” Huraiva said, leaning back in her chair. “I think Adira should search while you play distraction when you get discovered.” I noted with irritation it wasn’t ‘if’ but ‘when’. “She can move faster stealthed and draw much less attention.”

  “If our phones worked here,” I sighed. “Or if we had comlinks or something. We’ll need batteries for the detonators too, to set the explosives we do have.” I rubbed my temple. I understood why my father’s villainous ‘uniform’ contained so many pockets, like a Rob Liefeld character. He kept everything he might have needed on a job with him that way. I had my lockpicks, sure, and knives, and… and Clarity. I drew that out of my pocket and looked at it. The desire for the drug sprang into life. My hands trembled as I held the bottle, causing the pills inside to rattle together.

  God dammit, I was not a junkie.

  It would solve two of our problems though: communication and power. The fire we’d still have to play by ear, but if I tore the castle tower down with my enhanced teke combined with the explosion, that would probably work too.

  Huraiva looked at me, one brow raised in a very Adira-like expression. “If I take some, that’ll solve the communication thing, and make it a lot less likely to get caught.”

  “Your hand is shaking,” she said, concern coloring her voice in warm fuzzies.

  I set the bottle down and the rattling ceased. “It’s… I don’t know, powerful,” I said, licking my lips. “Tempting.”

  “It might b
e needed.” When I looked at her, I saw dull red in her eyes for a fleeting moment before brown regained control.

  “Probably be needed,” I amended.

  “Maybe,” Huraiva responded, then paused, her eyes glancing to the right side of the ceiling. “With luck, we can be in and out before they respond to any alarms. The next question is… where are we going to go after we escape?”

  “I don’t know,” I admitted as I gritted my teeth. “I keep going around in my head about that. The only place I know for sure that has a portal is in Berlin. We don’t have an army behind us this time, or uniforms to sneak in.”

  “I have an idea,” she said. “Adira agrees with me it’s likely our best option: Italy.”

  Blinking, I looked at her. “Italy? The, ah, new Roman Empire?”

  She held up a hand and ticked off her points, “It’s not controlled by an enemy so once there we can move freely. It’s close. The Reich would not be expecting people to try to flee there since they return all defectors to the Reich… but you are not from the Reich. Lastly, they are dimensional travelers, well schooled in the ways of walking between worlds.”

  “But what about you and Rebekah? Both of you are Reich citizens,” I pointed out the one flaw I saw in her plan.

  “We haven’t been for many months though,” she said. “And I have my ident card to prove it. Surely they could tell from a lie detector or a spell if we are being truthful?” She paused, “Where else could we go? The witch is not a friend of ours, and Japan has closed their borders to everyone. Though we know the location of the three portals the Reich uses for invasions, they are likely heavily guarded, more so after the failed invasion of your world.”

  For long moments, neither of us said anything. Faint worry etched lines of distress on her face and I knew she wondered the same thing I did: why hadn’t they invaded Prime yet? It was a sword of Damocles hanging over Prime’s head. Even though the vast majority didn’t know the threat was there, I did.

  “What if they say no?”

  “I do not think they will, but if they do….” Her voice trailed off, then she cocked a smile at me. “We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.”

  I had to laugh at that since it was a phrase I used from time to time. “Sounds like our best bet,” I said. “Last potential problem: what if they’ve got a bracelet on Rebekah’s wrist, stopping her powers?”

  Huraiva cocked her head once again, listening to Adira. She nodded slightly. “I do not think that will be the case, nor does Adira,” she said. “In our experience, those bracelets are mostly used by the Reich people who rely on technology. Colonel Richter uses and relies upon magic. It’s far more likely he will have her captured and neutralized using sorcery.”

  “That’s not really helping there either,” I said. “We don’t know that.” Damn. I knew I should have contacted Alistair.

  “But he would not have warded or protected against either of us in specific,” she said. “There’s often a way to break those wards.” The tone in her voice told me she wasn’t quite sure, but wanted to have an optimistic outlook.

  If I had just chosen to go home and gotten the wretched mage first, we wouldn’t have these problems. If I had just abandoned her to her fate, I wouldn’t be here right now. I forced those thoughts from my mind. They distracted, and weren’t helpful. “I really don’t like this. There are too many what-if’s.”

  “What else are we to do then?”

  “Just plunge ahead,” I said with a sigh. “We’ve gone too far now, and I won’t abandon her.”

  Huraiva gave me a skeptical look. I shared the skepticism, but there was nothing to be done for it. “Is there anything else?”

  “I can’t think of anything,” I said. “Let’s see what useful stuff we can find around the house. Make sure to grab any flammables you see… matches, lighters, high proof liquor.” We might not have gas, but once a fire got going, without immediate attention it was often hard to put out. The thought of torching the place made me smile, thinking of my father. I know I’d said before he didn’t talk about the bad old days much, but the few times he did almost always involved burning things. I wouldn’t call him a pyro, but with his powers… he loved burning shit.

  There wasn’t much we could use, but we did find a box of wooden matches that we split between us, a small bottle of whiskey, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. The latter two would work well as accelerants. She took the whiskey and I took the alcohol. There were also watch batteries which fit the remote detonators. There weren’t any lights on the devices, so I had to trust they were good to go. Without further ado, we left our temporary shelter. Instead of walking the streets--this wasn’t Berlin, but Nuremberg still had a curfew--we kept to alleys and yards when possible, avoiding contact with everyone. When the castle loomed in sight, we stopped and reassessed the situation.

  Security looked much the same as before, though there were different security staff on site than yestereve. A few lights were on in the rooms. We circled around it, keeping to the shadows as we scouted out the site. Nothing had changed, and no one was alerted to our presence. If I were doing this as a job, I’d want to hit just before shift change for when the guards were the most inattentive. Right now, we had no time.

  Adira took over the body and we flew to the top of the tower. I expected alarms as soon as we landed, but none sounded. First part successful, we inspected the windows. They were big enough for us to enter, but locked with a very simple latch on the inside. I guessed no one expected someone to come crawling in through the top. I unlocked the window with my telekinesis and the window opened. I landed on the sill and combed the floor gently with my teke. This was a technique Gerard had suggested to me, though I didn’t have the sensitivity for it… not like how he meant it. After taking Clarity, I understand what he meant by “feel through your telekinesis”. My mother’s powers had been an extension of her senses. She had been able to do some amazing things, delicate work Gerard couldn’t, and would never, manage. I sat somewhere in between them.

  Now that I understood better, I combed the floor with gentle waves of my teke. Though I didn’t “feel” anything like I had when I’d be on Clarity, the waves did catch in a couple places. Upon further inspection, the snags weren’t tripwires, but throw rugs on the dusty stone floor. I lowered a foot and touched the ground. Nothing. I put weight on my foot. Still nothing. Satisfied there weren’t any traps I could detect, I moved inside.

  Adira came to the sill next and tried to enter, but couldn’t. Some invisible barrier stopped her. Huraiva came forward, turning her human, and she followed me in. Adira took control once more, her face set in a frown.

  “Someone lives here,” she whispered. “It was not a ward.”

  “Maybe some of the mages do,” I whispered back. Military mages. I had only Richter to draw an example from, but he’d been a fanatic. If they had even a small portion of his devotion and an ounce of his skill, that would throw a wrench in our plans.

  “We need to move quickly then,” she said and stepped into the shadows, disappearing from sight.

  I moved to the door and tested it. Locked. I took out my lockpicks and picked the door. Easing it open, I saw the top of the stairs. They were built into the side of the wall and made out of stone. The tower wasn’t that big, so I bet there was a single room on every floor. Before I left, I glanced around the room I was about to leave. Through the dim light, I spied junk and boxes. If nothing else, there was lots of dry material to set ablaze, but there wasn’t anything else to be gained by lingering.

  Creeping down the stairs, I kept a wary eye out for any guards. The place stood still and quiet as a video rental store. When I hit the next door, I tried the knob. This time, the door swung open, only to reveal an empty room. I continued on this manner, knowing that Adira worked her way from the bottom to top. By the time I hit the fifth door, Adira materialized out of the shadows.

  “I have found her,” she whispered. “One of the sub-levels. There are not many pe
ople between here and there. Continue descending. I will meet you there.”

  With that, she poofed again. I turned and moved down the stairs with fast feet, but still kept an ear open for any sounds of people. On the main floor, the staircase didn’t just have a single door by a landing. It opened into a large open area instead, looking like a lobby. A guard sat opposite the staircase, his eyes glued to a television. Quiet as a roach, I continued to descend. He didn’t stir.

  I passed the first sub-level without an appearance from Adira. Once my feet hit the second one, she appeared from the darkness. “This way,” she whispered. “There are no others on this level. None that will trouble us.”

  “What do you mean, ‘none that will trouble us’?” I asked, drawing my blade. With steel in my hand, I felt like this could work. We could walk in and out of this fortress like the wind.

  “You will see,” she said, her voice pitched low.

  The landing of the staircase--which continued downwards--opened into a wide hallway. It was lit with fluorescent lights instead of torches like I’d imagined. The floors were tiled, like a hospital, and plain white plaster graced the walls instead of stone. I guessed they didn’t go for traditionalism around here. The hallway was large enough that six or seven people could walk abreast. Once we moved past the first set of doors, I understood why: it was a dungeon. Modern, sure, but a dungeon nevertheless. Instead of big thick doors with a feeding window, the openings were covered by bars like a prison. Some were empty. Others weren’t. The occupants were chained to the wall or otherwise restrained. Their captors weren’t taking any chances. Low murmurs carried to us through the hallway, some filled with pain and others with fear, but it was the stink of hopelessness which permeated the air. It reeked of weak people giving up and wishing for death.

  Towards the end, I saw hands gripping the bars. Adira moved over to that cell and I frowned. It couldn’t be Rebekah. She lost her right hand during a fight with Richter and his horde of mecha-zombies. Yet, when I drew closer, it certainly looked like her. The right hand was gloved, and the left bare. She wore the same clothes from the tunnel, only dirtier and more ragged. The rest of her looked relatively clean and, more importantly, unharmed.