by Kat Cotton
The rest of the pack rushed to help me, and all of us pushed with our entire strength until the door flew open and we fell in a heap in the hallway.
Nic was gone. He was long gone.
We had to save him, and we had to save the world.
Chapter 30: Clem Takes Charge
“It was a trap. We were set up, and I know exactly who was behind it. The mayor. That guy acts all swell, but he’s an evil bastard.”
I paced the living room. Kisho put his arm around me. He’d been a wreck since we got back and told him about Nic. We’d all been wrecks.
“You’re a bit paranoid about the mayor, Clem,” he said.
“You weren’t there. You don’t know what it was like. The whole thing was a set-up from the start.”
I shook his arm off and got out my phone. I’d call that bastard. Even if he denied this, I needed to tell him a few things.
“Clementine, nice to hear from you,” the mayor said when he answered.
“Nice? Don’t give me nice. What the fuck was that all about?”
“You’re a bit upset. I understand that, but maybe you should try some meditation. These are stressful times. Self-care is important.”
“You set us up. You sold us out to the Vampire King. Don’t deny it, Mayor.”
He took a deep breath. “There are times when it’s necessary to work with the enemy. You need to see the big picture.”
At least the mayor didn’t deny it. I’d never trusted that guy. We shouldn’t have been so fast to help him.
“There’s no big picture,” I said. “There is Nic being a prisoner of the Vampire King. What does he want with Nic?”
“I have no idea. I didn’t get into a major discussion with him about it. All I know is that a whole heap of humans are now safe. Surely that’s worth the life of one vampire.”
If I ever got the chance, I’d kill the mayor. I’d kill him and make it look like an accident. I wanted to punch something. He might be right about saving human lives, but he’d taken the easy option.
“You could’ve given us the chance to save the humans. We could’ve done that.”
“You could’ve saved Nic if you’d used the Vampire King’s son. That’s all the King wants. He’ll keep Nic safe for that reason alone.”
I hung up, then I punched the wall. I couldn’t deal with this. I wanted to take action, fight. But we couldn’t fight the King, not without a plan.
“He’s keeping Nic as bait,” I said. “At least he doesn’t plan to kill him.”
“I kind of figured that,” Jeb said. “If he was going to kill him, he’d have done it in front of us.”
That was a reassuring thought.
“So, what are we going to do?” I said. “We can’t just sit around here. The King wants a fight, then let’s give him a fight. We need to go after him and kill him.”
“I want to help.” I hadn’t noticed Francine in the room. “If Nic’s in danger, we need to help him. We can’t just sit around here, being useless.”
“No, Nic’s right. You girls need to stay out of this.”
“Screw that,” she said. “What’s the worst that can happen? We get killed? What’s going to happen to us if the Vampire King wins? That might end up being a fate worse than death. I don’t know what your plans will be, but we can be of some help. Even if we just keep watch or do something minor, you have to involve us.”
“Okay.” If they wanted to help, they could. I’d try to keep them out of danger as much as I could, but I knew how much worse it was to sit around waiting than to be part of the action.
“No,” Jeb said. “I’m in charge now that Nic’s not here. And I say no.”
“Who says you’re in charge? No one ever said that,” Andre said. “We should have a vote.”
“Andre’s right,” Shelley said. “Maybe Kisho should be in charge. He’s the King’s son, after all.”
“I think Vlad should be.” Kisho looked at Vlad, who shook his head.
Luis just kept glancing at Nic’s chair as though he’d magically reappear. His eyes were red from crying.
Hell, we’d spend all day going in circles discussing this. Obviously, a fuck-ton of internal politics was coming into play here. We didn’t need to worry about trivial shit. We needed to take action. I hated responsibility, but sometimes you just have to step up to the plate.
“Sit down, the lot of you,” I said. “Including you, Jeb. Your fidgeting is driving me mad.”
They sat down.
“Now, listen up. One of us here is immune to the King’s power—”
“Well, two,” Kisho said. “You and Vlad.”
Oh. I’d forgotten about Vlad.
“One of us here is immune to the King’s power and has had extensive vampire fighting training. You guys are vampires, not trained vampire fighters. One of us is actually licensed to do this shit.” I pulled my license out of my bra and held it up. “One of us has been in the King’s lair and knows the layout.” Jeb looked like he wanted to argue, so I turned to him. “And one of us has the crazy zapping power.”
That shut Jeb up. Experiencing that power once was enough to scare the pants off anyone for the rest of their lives.
“I’m fine with Clem taking control,” Luis said. “She’s right.”
“Yep, me too,” said Shelley. “I mean, she can’t be pack leader, but she can be in control for this. It makes sense.”
Andre nodded.
That left Jeb and Kisho. Jeb sat with his arms folded, staring at the floor. He’d never agree to this. He’d never agree to anything that stopped him being leader. But Nic had been right to mistrust him.
“I’m happy with Clem,” Kisho said. “But, Clem, you need to discuss things with us. You can be a bit... well, hot -headed. We can’t make any mistakes here.”
I nodded. I didn’t think I was that hotheaded.
“Okay, for starters, I’ll draw up a map of the lair,” I said. “I’m not sure if he’ll be keeping Nic in the basement where the kids were, but that’d be the most likely place to start looking. While I’m doing that, Shelley and Luis, you guys do a drive-by and see if anything odd is going on with the lair. Any extra guards, stuff like that. Nic and I were lucky when we were there. But he’s going to be expecting us this time.”
Shelley nodded. “Will do.”
“Kisho, you make me coffee. Jeb and Andre, you two check all the weapons. And Vlad, you can work with me.”
Wow, I really did sound like a leader. But while it was fine to talk a good game, I had no idea what the plan actually was. Other than storm in, get Nic back and kill the King. That plan had a lot of sketchy areas. I wasn’t good at complex plans. Nic was, but Nic wasn’t here.
I sat down at the table and got out some paper to draw up a map. Kisho set my coffee down beside me and sat down.
I stroked his arm.
“Nic will be okay,” I said, needing the reassurance myself. “He’s their bait.”
“Their bait to draw me out. If I’d gone with you to the safe house, Nic would be safe now.”
“Blaming yourself doesn’t help anyone,” I told him.
“I don’t blame myself. I blame Nic. He should’ve let me go.”
“Well, that’s in the past now. We have to focus on saving the world and all that shit.” I smiled at him.
No matter what, I was convinced Kisho couldn’t win this fight. Even if we rescued Nic, the rest of the plan relied on Kisho.
Vlad sat down with us. “Kisho and I need to train,” he said.
“Isn’t it too late for that?” I asked. “I’m not sure what you’ll achieve at the last minute.”
“Training is important. Kisho needs to use the hexenspiegel. That’s the most important thing now.”
Vlad didn’t know. Of course he didn’t know. He hadn’t been there.
“We don’t have the hexenspiegel,” I said. “Nic was wearing it when the King took him. We haven’t just lost Nic, we’ve lost that trinket too.”
&n
bsp; From the expression on Vlad’s face, that was a lot more serious than I’d first thought.
“But it’s just a focusing tool, right?” I asked. “If Kisho has the power within him, then you can train that without the hexenspiegel.”
Vlad put his head on the side and looked at me for a moment, studying me carefully. “Sometimes, you talk a lot of sense, Clem.”
Chapter 31: Whiteboard
I drew the map of the pub up on the whiteboard before I called the others to the meeting. That’d make it easier.
“That’s Nic’s whiteboard,” Luis said as he came into the living room. “He’ll kill you when he finds out you’ve used it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Shelley said. “And that’s his favorite purple marker. He never lets anyone touch it. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when this is over.”
“Well, if Nic gave two hoots about his precious whiteboard and markers, he’d be here leading people instead of lolling around in the Vampire King’s lair, waiting for us to rescue him.”
When I saw the shocked looks on Luis’s and Shelley’s faces, I smiled.
“I’m just kidding. But really, to do this, we need a strategy. I’m sure Nic would rather I used his purple marker than he got killed. I don’t think he loves the marker that much.”
Hell, I missed Nic as much as anyone but, as leader, I couldn’t go around showing it. About twenty times already, I’d gone to make a snarky comment to him, only to remember he wasn’t here.
The others wandered in and sat down.
I’d asked the girls to join us too. They all sat on the floor except Tabia, who stood near Jeb. Francine kept gazing at Nic’s chair. If people kept doing that, I’d get a replica Nic and sit it there.
When everyone had gathered, I clapped my hands.
“Okay, people, here are the schematics.” I tapped the whiteboard with the marker.
“Hey, that’s Nic’s favorite purple marker,” Andre said.
“Yeah, we’re been through all that. Let’s move on. My plan is to have three units.” I wrote “Unit A” up on the board. “They’ll stay around the outside perimeter.” I circled the hotel layout with my marker. It really was a great marker. I wondered if Nic would really notice it was missing.
Everyone nodded. So far, so good.
I uncapped the marker again. It smelled like blueberries. Did Nic buy scented markers? He was such a girl.
“Okay, in Unit A we have Francine, Rose, Tabia and Leesa. You girls will keep lookout. Francine, I’m putting you in charge.”
Francine nodded. “Just let me know what we have to do.”
Hopefully, that would be nothing.
“Can you drive?” I asked her.
She nodded.
“Good. It’ll be useful to have the van ready for takeoff when we get out.” If we get out, I thought, but I didn’t want to say that out loud. “Now, Unit B.” I wrote that up on the board. “Andre, Luis, Shelley and Jeb. You guys are responsible for getting to the cellar and rescuing Nic. We’ll come with you, but once Nic is rescued, you and the girls get the hell out of there.”
I explained to them about the beer hole.
“We won’t get much of the action that way,” Andre said.
“Yes, and there’s a reason for that. You know that whole Vampire King mind control thing? That makes you guys next to useless. Once you’ve rescued Nic, you can clean up as many of the King’s lackeys as you can, but do not — I repeat, do not — go near the King. And if Nic is weak or affected in any way, the most important thing is to get him out of there. But the most important thing, even more important than Nic, is that we recover the hexenspiegel.”
I wrote “hexenspiegel” up on the whiteboard to reinforce that.
“Will do,” Luis said.
“Jeb, you’re in charge of Unit B once we branch off.”
Personally, I’d have put Andre in charge, but I needed to settle Jeb’s out of control ego. If he wasn’t in charge of something, he’d just sabotage things. I’d have a private word with Andre later, just to be on the safe side.
Jeb nodded.
“Now, Unit C.” I wrote it up and underlined it. “Kisho, Vlad and me. Once we have the hexenspiegel, we find and destroy the King. Hopefully, you guys will have cleared a path through the lackeys for us so we can hit the King at full strength. Any questions?”
I looked at the whiteboard. This was a great plan. I had to admit, I had a gift for this kind of thing. Nic had never made a well-thought-out plan on the whiteboard. He just used it for his motivational videos.
I grinned.
“Do you think the three of you can defeat the Vampire King? There seems to be a big, black hole in your planning, right there.” Jeb folded his arms.
“Well, what do you suggest?” I said. “We won’t know where the King is, and we won’t know how he’ll attack. All we’ll know is that we have to defeat him. Units A and B are to clear our way to him as much as possible.”
Jeb nodded. He was still surly about me being leader. That was what this was about. Jeb didn’t have the skills or knowledge. He just wanted a nice little badge that said “leader.” And maybe my purple marker. I’d have to keep a close eye on that.
“Kisho will still be under the King’s command,” Andre said.
“No, he won’t.” Vlad grinned at Andre.
“Kisho will have the hexenspiegel,” I said. “You saw Nic at the safe house. He wasn’t under the King’s control. He went with him willingly.”
“Why are you in Unit C?” Kisho asked. “It’s dangerous. You’ve nothing to protect you against the King, and he wants revenge on you. You’d be better off in Unit A, Clem.”
“Because I’m the leader. I need to lead. I can’t do that from outside.” I didn’t want to say it out loud, but I was still worried about Kisho. He might’ve gained confidence, but he needed someone with him. That had to be me. “Also, I can’t be mind-controlled by the King. That’s a huge plus.”
I didn’t want to add that I was the one willing to risk my life for Kisho. I didn’t want him worried about me. I did have an idea that I could use in a worst-case scenario, but I had no idea if it’d work.
“Wow, maybe we should get more humans on board,” Jeb said.
He said it with a sneer, but he might not be wrong. Those Germans at the mayor’s meeting — what had happened to them? They were ruthless fighters, and they had axes. They’d be an asset to our team, if only we could get them signed up. There were no other humans who could cut it. Definitely not Portia and her old men, although she might have the Germans’ contact details. That’d take a bit of tact to get out of her, but I could do it.
“Yes, Jeb, you’re right,” I said. “Okay, if there are no further questions, I think we should break.”
“I’ve got a question,” said Francine. “When are we going to attack?”
“Good question.” I wasn’t sure. We’d lost the element of surprise and we weren’t ready, but would we ever be ready?
“Thursday,” said Vlad.
“Thursday?” I scratched my head. That was only three days away.
“Yes, Thursday. That’s the right day to do this.”
I had no idea why, but he said it so confidently, I had to agree.
Chapter 32: Germans
“Hey, Portia. Long time, no see.” My chirpy voice didn’t even sound convincing to me, but I had to call her if I wanted those Germans.
“Clem. Please tell me you’re ringing to tell me all evil has been defeated in this city and I can go shopping again.”
Obviously, Portia had made no progress on her own. Not that I’d expected otherwise. I stretched out my legs, putting my feet up on the sofa because there was no Nic here to stop me. As soon as my feet hit the fabric, though, I jumped. Even without him physically present, his nagging voice rang out in my head.
“We’re making progress. Hey, you know those German guys, the ones at the mayor’s meeting? Whatever happened to them?”
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Portia sighed. That was some sexy sigh. She had very intimate knowledge of them. “They were working for the mayor, but they had a falling-out.”
All the better for me. People who knew what a bastard the major was were my kind of people.
“Please tell me they haven’t left town.”
“No, they’re still around. Why?” Her voice turned hard, like she was suspicious of me.
“No reason.”
“Level with me, Clem. You’re up to something. Tell me the truth, or you’ll never find those Germans.”
I tried to think of a likely story to tell her but couldn’t come up with a thing.
“Clem?”
Hell, the truth was as good as anything. Novel idea, but I’d try it. I explained the plan to her. Well, bits of it. The bits that were safe for her to know, what with her being in the Facebook group with the mayor and all.
“We need to get involved,” she said.
“You really don’t want to do that. It’s going to be dangerous and involve a lot of fighting, with vampires and stuff like that. It’s probably for the best if you stay far, far away.”
She coughed. “Clementine. I need to be involved.”
Why? There’d be nothing fun about this.
“How come you didn’t post this on the mayor’s Facebook group? That’s meant to be the central repository for all fighting action.”
“Because, one, the mayor didn’t invite me to join, and, two, the mayor is evil.”
“Is this about your car again?” She actually sighed, and not a sex sigh this time.
“No, this is about the mayor luring us into a trap so the Vampire King could capture Nic. He’s working with the Vampire King, and that makes him a big fat traitor. He has no morals.”
“What? No way.”
“Total way.”
“That mayor. I always thought he was so swell, but now you mention it, his eyes are a little too close together.”
She ranted for a while. She didn’t even know Nic, so I didn’t know why she was so upset about him being captured. She’d only met him a few times.
I smiled at Kisho as he bought me coffee.
