by Gary Jonas
“I broke your nose.”
“It’s already healed. Benefits of companionship with a vampire. The dozens of companions you slapped around like proverbial rag dolls will be fine too. Well, except for the one with the heel in his eye. That looked like permanent damage to me. So, one casualty. Not bad for a Sekutar berserker.”
“Why did I need him so badly?”
“You were under Sinclair’s command and Victor tried to shift it to himself.”
“He never touched me.”
“Ah, but I did,” Ben said. “Not to be too crude, but I made sure to get some of Victor’s bodily fluid onto your skin when I pressed the invitation into your hands.”
“Gross.”
He smiled. “It was fun getting it.”
“I don’t want to hear about that,” I said, disgusted.
“No, you wanted to get some yourself right there in front of everyone. The command collision between two vampires had unforeseen results.”
“Is this going to be a problem later?”
“Can I suggest a cold shower?”
I tilted my head at him. “Women don’t take cold showers to ease sexual tension. We use vibrators.”
“Can I watch?”
“Funny.”
“Oh your safe word again. I think a shower would do you good. Clean off the blood, and the … you know.”
“Vampire semen?”
“You said it, not me.”
I rolled my eyes. Still, he was right. I needed to get cleaned up.
“Where are we?”
“Walmart.”
“No shit. Where in the city?”
He shrugged. “I just pulled you as far away as I could.”
“Interesting way to travel.”
“Shall we go back to my hotel?”
“No. I want to go home.”
“I don’t know where you live.”
I gave him the address.
He shook his head. “No, I don’t know the city. I need to have a destination in mind to go there directly. I could bounce us around aimlessly, but that won’t do us any good.”
“Take us to my truck back at the mansion.”
“Uh, no. I’m not taking you anywhere near Victor until you’re cleaned up.”
He took my hand, and we walked into a shadow beside the shopping cart rack and stepped out in the hotel room at the Brown Palace. The trip was a little disorienting. I felt dizzy.
“You get used to it,” Ben said. He pointed to the restroom. “You. Shower. Now. I’ll go out and get you something to wear.” He stepped through a shadow and disappeared.
I walked over to the closet, opened it, leaned in and sniffed the suits hanging there. The smell was intoxicating, and the desire for Victor swelled again. I looked at my bloody hands. I went to the sink and washed them, gave the suits another whiff, then looked over at the bed. The shower could wait a few minutes.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and found Ben waiting with a Walmart bag of clothing.
He held it open so I could see the purchases were all black. “Only place open. I hope they fit.”
“I’ll be right out,” I said, taking the bag. I returned to the restroom and dressed in slacks and a button down shirt. They fit well enough. The shoes were a bit tight, but I didn’t complain.
I exited the bathroom. My hair was still wet, but I was clean and refreshed.
Ben sat on the bed checking the internet on his phone. He pressed a button to end the session. “Does it bother you that you killed a man?”
I laughed. “First of all, assassin,” I said pointing to myself. “Second of all, he was a companion and therefore already dead.”
“You ended his existence.”
“Sometimes it bothers me that it doesn’t bother me, but I’ve learned not to think about it.”
“All right. Victor is still at the ball.”
“Are you saying we should go back?”
He shook his head. “They won’t let you back in there. You tossed and kicked a few vampires on your way to Victor too.”
“Will Victor meet with me?”
“Depends. What do you think of Sinclair?”
“He’s a wonderful man,” I said. “Shit. I meant to say he’s awesome. Damn it!”
“Yeah, I don’t think Victor will let you get close to him right now.”
“I don’t have a choice here. I have to get that ring or Amanda dies.”
“Victor won’t part with the rings.”
“Rings plural?” I asked.
“Did I say that out loud?”
“How many are there?”
Ben closed his eyes. “There are at least three of them in existence, but Victor has only two of them.”
“If he has more than one, he can afford to let me take one to save Amanda.”
“It’s not worth it.”
“Amanda will die!”
“Everyone dies.”
“She’ll die before her time.”
“None of us has a set time.”
“You’re not helping,” I said.
“That’s not my job.”
“Make it your job. I—” And then it hit me. Victor went to the vampire ball. He knew he’d see Sinclair. He knew he’d be surrounded by other vampires and that all of them would likely want the ability to walk in daylight. He also knew I would be there. I smiled and looked at Ben. “Where are they?” I asked.
“What?”
“The rings. He wouldn’t risk taking them to the ball.”
“They’re safe.”
“As in the hotel safe?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Victor wouldn’t trust them in a hotel safe.”
“Would he trust them with you?”
“I had to attend the ball too. So the answer is no.”
“But he doesn’t have them on him right now. Do you know where they are?”
“Why would he tell me?”
“Evasion.”
“What?”
“You didn’t just say, ‘no.’ You avoided giving me a direct answer. Sidestepping the question tells me you know where they are.” As I said the last, I moved closer to him. I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air. “Tell me.”
He grabbed my hand and tried to pry it from his neck. When he spoke, his voice came out choked. “I’ll tell you, but it won’t help.”
I set him down and eased my grip, but didn’t release him because the light behind me cast him in shadow and I knew he could escape if I let go. “Where are they?”
“Tucked away in shadow,” Ben said. “I don’t know exactly where, but the rings are in a box with magical wards to prevent it from being opened. If anyone or anything disturbs the box it will set off an alarm to notify Victor.”
I let him go. “I need only one of those rings.”
“I can’t help you with that. One thing I do know is that Victor would have put the box someplace only he could reach.”
“Let’s try another angle. Who has the third ring?”
“Lenora.”
“TJ’s vampire lover?”
Ben nodded. “Sinclair knows she has one of the rings, but he also knows Victor has two. Lenora might be worried that Sinclair would send you after hers if you couldn’t reach Victor. That’s probably why she sent TJ to check you out. Come to think of it, as she’s at the ball right now, her ring will also be in that box.”
“Was one of those rings supposed to be Sinclair’s?”
Ben looked at the ceiling. “Maybe.”
“Figures.”
“What?”
“Sinclair said the ring was rightfully his, so that means Victor chose not to give it to him or took it away from him.”
“I’m not privy to the details.”
“I want a sit down with Victor, and I want it now.”
“Now being a relative term?” Ben asked. “After all, you know where he is right now, but it wouldn’t be wise to go back there. Every vampi
re in the place will want your head, and I don’t think you made any new friends among the companions this evening.”
“But I have to save Amanda.” An idea popped into my mind. “Sinclair used the death spell on Amanda. Can Victor remove that even though Sinclair cast it?”
“That’s a definite maybe. The spell has a few trick components to it.”
“Victor mentioned it didn’t work the way Sinclair thought.”
Ben smiled. “Only kicks in if the spell goes to term and kills the victim.”
“Amanda’s sister died.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
Ben rubbed his hands together in delight. “Oh, this is about to get very interesting.”
“All the vampires and companions are at the ball, right?”
“Everybody who’s anybody is there right now. Except me.”
I nodded and smiled. “You’re going to help me rescue Amanda.”
“I don’t know where she is,” Ben said.
“But I do. She’s at Sinclair’s place in Castle Pines.”
“He’ll have Watchers posted.”
“Then I get to kill some Watchers,” I said. “Works for me.”
Ben grinned. “Your eyes positively light up when you talk about killing.”
“Amanda says it’s a character flaw.”
“Oddly enough, I’d list it as a turn-on.”
“Of course you would.”
“Minor correction, though. Watchers are technically undead, so you can’t really kill them. I’d call it dispatching.”
“You want to argue semantics?” I shook my head. “My truck is still at the ball.”
“I can get us there through shadows a lot faster.” He held out his hand. “Let’s go rescue that damsel in distress.”
“We need to make a pit stop,” I said. “I need my sword, and a few more weapons.”
Ben’s eyes twinkled. “I love a woman who accessorizes.”
“You might want to de-accessorize,” I said pointing at his Bogart tie.
“I like this tie.” He adjusted the knot.
“If we have to fight anyone, it could get in the way.”
“I’ll tuck it inside my shirt before the battle starts, should a battle start.”
“Your call.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Traveling through shadows was disorienting. Everything went dark for a time then the light was so bright I wanted to shield my eyes, but then we were in another shadow and the darkness embraced me only to spit me into dim light. Ben held my hand and I forced myself to keep my eyes open. That was important because the terrain shifted. One moment we were on carpet, the next concrete, the next twisted tree roots, the next uneven rock and dirt, the next grass. As we took steps, I had to adjust to varying heights and awkward landings along with total darkness and various shades of light depending on where we came out. I don’t feel pain, so the few times I stepped wrong and twisted my ankle didn’t bother me, and any damage healed quickly thanks to my magically enhanced constitution. And then we stopped. I started to fall forward, but Ben pulled on my hand and reached over to grab me around the waist. He kept his hand there to steady me as the world spun in circles.
“Are we there yet?” I whispered.
“We’re close, but you don’t have to whisper. We’ll need at least one more good shadow, but you should focus first so you won’t be too disoriented when we arrive. I don’t know if any Watchers will be close when we step through.”
I gave my head a shake to clear the cobwebs. “You lied to me,” I said.
“I do that,” he said. “Which lie did you catch?”
“You haven’t been to Sinclair’s yet you’re getting us there easily enough.”
“The lie was about never being at Sinclair’s place. I followed Geoffrey here once. You good?” Ben asked.
“The world is settling down now.”
“Good. We went fast because I figured you could handle it.”
“I can.”
“I remember the first few times I did a shadow walk. I puked my guts out. Then once I was a companion and I gained the ability to do the walks myself, my first jaunt was not pretty. I stepped out of the shadow and my foot went down, down, down, and I found myself splashing into a lake. Fortunately, it wasn’t very deep. I screamed like a little girl, but I was underwater so nobody heard.”
“I’m ready,” I said. I appreciated him trying to make me laugh, but I didn’t want to like him too much. I knew I might have to kill him later, and if you like a man, it’s harder to cut off his head.
“You sure?” he asked. “We can take a few minutes. There’s no rush since Sinclair won’t get home until the wee hours of the morning.”
“I’d rather get this done.”
“As you wish. Let’s go.” He tightened his grip on my hand and moved his other hand away from my stomach.
We stepped into darkness, and arrived on the golf course behind Sinclair’s house.
Ben let go of me. He studied the house and the environs. When he spoke now, he whispered. “I think I can take us right inside, but it’s risky due to furniture. We won’t come out inside it, but if we have to move past it, it’s like sliding on ice and then hitting dry land.”
“Let me take it from here,” I said, drawing my sword. “Follow me. Stay close and be as silent as you can. Don’t even breathe if you don’t have to.”
“I breathe only so I can speak. I don’t need to breathe to exist.”
I led him over the fence into the backyard. We hit the ground silently, and kept to the shadows. I caught the motion of a sentry hiding behind a bush as he scratched his nose. I didn’t know the undead could get itches. Before he lowered his hand, I darted in behind him and, with a quick slice, my sword arced over his head without touching him.
“Shit,” I said, realizing these were Sinclair’s men and he’d commanded me not to kill them.
The man opened his mouth to yell, but only got out a grunt before I kneed him behind the ear. I handed my sword to Ben, who realized the problem and chopped off the sentry’s head,
“Point them out, I’ll dispatch them,” he whispered.
It didn’t take long for us to make a sweep around the house. Ben decapitated four Watchers. One for each side of the mansion.
“You make it look easy to find them,” Ben whispered.
“It is.” I motioned toward the back of the house, and he followed me around. A quick survey told me the best entry point was a second floor window. A tree grew close to the house, so I raced toward it, leaped up, hit the tree with my left foot three feet up, bounced over to the wall of the house six feet up, back to the tree twelve feet up and once more to the roof of the house.
Ben slipped through shadows to stand beside me on the roof. “Sorry,” he whispered. “Your way may look better, but mine is easier.”
“For you, maybe. Fine. Take us into the house then. I didn’t see security alarms set into the windows, but it would be better to be silent and stealthy.”
“Admit it, Kelly; you just want to hold my hand.”
“You’re more than two hundred years old and you act fourteen.”
He grinned. “Thank you.”
“It wasn’t intended as a compliment,” I said and took his extended hand.
“And away we go,” he said and we stepped forward into a shadow and came out inside the house in the room directly below where we’d been.
A touch of dizziness went away as fast as it arrived. I maneuvered through the rooms of the top floor. Master bedroom, guest bedrooms, the little library we’d been in the previous evening. Nobody there.
I crept down the stairs, keeping my ears primed for any noise. All I heard were the soft footfalls of Ben coming down the stairs behind me, sword in hand. I motioned for him to stop then I vaulted over the banister to land silently on the hardwood floor. I spun around, and saw nobody. One direction led to a living room. Another opened to the dining room. Beyond that was the kitch
en and family room with the back door between them. A mud room and the door to the basement were next to the garage door.
I opted for the basement.
Faster than you can say annihilation, I was down the stairs sweeping through the game room, media room and there in the last spare bedroom on a fold-out cot, I found Amanda still sleeping. She didn’t have any tubes feeding her.
It seemed far too easy, but I wasn’t going to complain. I picked up Amanda, and slung her over my left shoulder in a fireman’s carry so I could still use my right hand for any necessary fighting. I went back the way I came, and when I reached the top of the stairs, Ben stood with hands over his head. Six Watchers, all male, stood guarding him. Four held scimitars, while two aimed halogen flashlights at him. He cast a shadow, but if he dropped through, I’d be stranded here with Amanda. That was assuming he could drop fast enough to avoid getting beheaded by a scimitar. My sword was on the ground by Ben’s feet.
“Oh look,” I said. “Playmates.”
“Don’t take another step, Ms. Chan,” one of the Watchers said.
“I’m not good at following orders,” I said. “But I’d be happy to lay Amanda down while we discuss things violently.”
I placed Amanda on the floor as I spoke, and the Watchers kept their eyes on me. I winked at Ben and took the last step up and over Amanda into the room. Now that they were focused on me, I knew they wouldn’t react fast enough to cut off Ben’s head assuming he didn’t make any moves himself. As I moved, the Watcher to my right tried to back up a step, but ran into the wall beside the mud room door.
The rest of the men moved back a bit too. As I eased forward a bit, I nudged Amanda’s arm so it was next to Ben’s foot. Then I stepped left to get room as I didn’t want to kick her. The Watchers moved with me and kept their scimitars trained in my direction.
I had to work within the parameters of Sinclair’s command. Ben needed to drop to the floor, but there wasn’t room for me to do a foot sweep with Amanda lying there. However, that Humphrey Bogart tie was close enough for me to grab.
I darted forward, grabbed the tie and yanked down. One of the Watchers reacted quickly, but I had Ben’s head below the blade with my tug. The scimitar bit into my shoulder instead.
