Warrior Rising

by Linda Winstead Jones

  Sorin had a hard time admitting that whatever had happened to him had begun before the witch had cursed him. It had started with Phillip Stargel, the child — and conduit — he had been ordered to kill. Phillip was different. Not right, some would say. Special, others would insist. Complete innocence, that’s what Sorin himself had seen in the child that day. The day he’d walked away from a kill, allowing a conduit to live.

  When he’d allowed Phillip to live, Sorin had stopped being one of Marie’s soldiers. He had changed sides at that moment, his thinking had shifted. No, he did not want to hide who he was any longer. He did not want to live forever in the shadows. That didn’t mean vampires had to run the world. That didn’t mean all those who opposed them had to die.

  Indikaiya worked with the girls — who now wore heavy boots with their summer dresses — teaching them a few basic defensive moves. Neither of them would be capable of taking a vampire’s head. Even if they’d had a couple of spare swords handy to give to the girls, to decapitate took a lot of strength.

  With the girls’ help, Indikaiya removed a large number of colorful blouses from a metal clothing rack. She studied the construction and then, with her capable bare hands, she dismantled it. It took Sorin a moment to realize what she was doing. She hefted a length of metal from the rack, spun it about in a sort of test, and then she placed one end against the floor — there in the aisle where the floor was tile instead of carpet — and shaped the end into a crude tip. He could not help but admire the smooth motion, the sleek and feminine muscles in her arms, the determination on her face. She was well and truly unlike any woman he had ever met. And he had met a lot of women.

  The Warrior fashioned two deadly spears. Carly ripped one of the discarded shirts from the ruined rack in two and wrapped it tightly around the end of her spear, fashioning a crude grip. Indikaiya nodded her approval, and Jane did the same. Heaven above, they were concerned about the colors used in this process.

  Indikaiya instructed the girls how to hold the weapons, how to stand steady and how to lunge forward with strength and determination. She taught them how to go for the heart.

  They still didn’t have much of a chance of survival, but not much was better than zero, which is what they’d had when they’d foolishly come to work on a day when the city was at war.

  Sorin stood back and watched. He watched Indikaiya, not the silly humans who had insisted on teal and purple for the grips they’d fashioned on their spears. Every move she made was well thought out, smooth and strong and yet still feminine. He could not imagine fighting such a creature in battle. How could any man even think of destroying someone so fine? Death would be better. Death at the hand of a woman without equal.

  Not long into the lesson, they were interrupted. Sorin had been a little surprised by the quiet nature of the business. Sure, vampires were running loose in D.C., and chaos reigned, but not every resident would be content to hide and fight. These two silly girls were a grand example.

  As were the three boys — teenagers from the look and smell of them — who walked into the store. They were all baggy jeans and ball caps and swagger. One of them said, “I told you no one would be here. We can take whatever we want!”

  Fools, even more so than Carly and Jane.

  “Like what?” another boy asked. “This is lame. Let’s find a store with some electronics. TVs, maybe. I could use a new cell phone.”

  “My mom’s birthday is next week,” clueless boy number one said. “I can get her something nice here and it won’t cost me a dime.”

  Fools and thieves. They would not last long in this new world.

  “I gotta be home by dark,” the third one — the only one smart enough to be nervous — said. “I don’t want to run into one of those vamps.”

  “That’s not even real,” number one said. “Can’t be. I bet it’s promo for some vampire movie or something.”

  Carly and Jane walked around the corner and confronted the boys. Sorin and Indikaiya watched from a short distance away. In heavy boots, with those long spears and a new confidence, the girls were surprisingly impressive.

  “No looting here, losers,” Jane said. Her tone was actually menacing, as she brandished her weapon.

  “Whoa.” All three boys backed up a step. Two.

  “We’re just browsing,” the nervous kid said.

  “Dude, we heard you,” Carly said. “You’re a fucking looter. And by the way, the vampire thing is no joke. You’d better be in by dark, if you don’t want to be some bloodsucker’s midnight snack.”

  “You are so full of shit!” the boy looting for his mom’s birthday said.

  Jane shouted, “Sorin!”

  Sorin obediently appeared behind the girls, moving unnaturally fast so that to human eyes it would look as though he’d popped out of thin air. He towered over the girls, glaring at the boys and showing his fangs, letting anger and hunger show in his eyes.

  The nervous kid wet his pants. The legs of one of the others went out from under him. He dropped bonelessly to the floor. The looter, the one who had led his friends into this store, turned and ran.

  “I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die,” the kid on the floor said. The nervous one seemed unable to move.

  Sorin didn’t move or speak, for a long moment. How had he ended up in this position? He was not responsible for every clueless human in the city. He could not become godfather, mentor, or general for every unprepared child who crossed his path. And still…

  “Indikaiya, love,” he said, never taking his eyes from the boys. “Could you whip up another couple of spears?

  CHAPTER TEN

  They left the store just before dark. Having fed, Sorin was stronger than he’d been upon arrival and apparently he could now withstand a good bit of dimmed light. Indikaiya glanced at him, looking for obvious signs of weakness and seeing none. Still, as they walked away — headed east as the young humans they had encountered in the store headed west — he took care to stay in the deepest shadows. Of course he stayed in shadow. It was his natural vampire instinct to avoid the sun, no matter that he had developed the strength to endure some of it.

  Indikaiya had taken advantage of the abundance of goods in their hiding place and left the establishment wearing her own new pair of boots — which fit better than those she had confiscated back at the mansion — the denim jeans so many humans wore, and a leather vest laced up tightly to allow her full freedom of movement. Black leather and gleaming steel. That was her uniform for this fight. For this era. Her tunic, the one she had been wearing when she’d come into this world, was tucked in a black leather bag with a long, wide strap that crossed her body. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep up with the bag once she began to fight again, but she hated to part with the leather shift. It was hers; it marked the time she’d come from, who she’d been when she’d been human.

  It had not escaped her attention that she was now dressed much like her vampire partner, even though part of her reason for donning new clothes was to appear more human. She was tired of being mistaken for a vampire.

  Partner. It had been a very long time since she’d thought of any man as a partner. And a vampire? She loathed them. They were the enemy; they were monsters who killed in order to survive. And yet…

  She had lived for thousands of years, and she could still be surprised.

  “Luca and the others will already be on the move,” Sorin said.

  “Duncan texted you the address on your electronic device so we know precisely where they’re going.” She was both amazed and annoyed by the cell phones Sorin and so many of the others carried. She could not imagine being constantly available — though in times of war it was convenient, she supposed. “We can join them there, yes?”

  He shrugged broad shoulders. “We could. Personally I’d prefer not to waste precious darkness checking in with Luca Ambrus for orders.”

  Interesting. He’d fought with Luca, stood beside him, and yet his voice indicated that he had no love for
the blood born. She would not ask him about it now, but later she would, if the opportunity arose. If they both survived the night. If she continued to feel as if they were true partners. If, if, if. Her voice was calm as she asked, “Do you have a plan?”

  He glanced back at her, blond hair and black leather duster moving in a strange kind of harmony. It was fact, the vampire possessed an undeniable beauty. That did not mean she had to do more than make note and move on. So, why didn’t she?

  “My plan is to kill Marie,” he said.

  It made sense. Kill the so-called queen, and the vampire army would fall. At least, they could hope that would happen. Marie was old, she was blood born like Luca. She would not be easy to kill. But she was not invincible. No creature, in this time or any other, was truly invincible. “Do you know where to find her?”

  “No.” He grinned. “I suspect she’s trying to find me. Maybe I should allow myself to be found.”

  “She will kill you.” A few days ago she would have relished that outcome. His death would even have come as a relief to her. Now… her emotions were not easy to identify.

  He winked at her, unconcerned. “She will try.”

  Sorin was not invincible, either. That thought shouldn’t elicit any emotion within her, but as they walked down an ever-darkening street, it did.

  * * *

  “What do you think of our new headquarters?” Rurik glanced around the room he led Nevada into, as if he were searching for lurking vampires in the middle of the day. Nevada shivered; she glanced around as Rurik had. Maybe that’s exactly what he was doing. Looking for vampires. When he relaxed, she followed suit.

  The new place wasn’t as posh as the big house in Potomac, but it would do. “Not too shabby,” she said as she dropped the small duffle bag containing a few toiletries and a couple changes of clothes. “I’m here of my own free will and that makes all the difference.” She’d expected a house, and that’s what she’d gotten. An old, three story, historic red-brick building in a once fine neighborhood. Someone important had lived here a couple hundred years ago. Maybe even fifty years ago. She didn’t have the details because she hadn’t stopped to read the plaque that was posted on the small, only slightly overgrown front lawn.

  But the house wasn’t a home, not anymore. It was a library. A public library. Not the main one, of course, but a neighborhood branch on the west side of town. It would do. There was a kitchen/break room downstairs, and big spaces that had once been bedrooms and parlors that had been converted into offices and specialized rooms with shelves and shelves of books. Oh — the books!

  “This room will suit you?”

  “Of course.”

  Her new room was on the second floor in what looked to be the office of someone important. Main librarian or manager, she supposed. This was the logical choice for her. The vampires would prefer the interior rooms on the ground floor, or else the attic. Her room had a wide window that overlooked the street. Too much light for the vamps among them to be comfortable. The humans in their army were probably taking over the other spaces with windows. Maybe Warriors, too. Not that they’d spend much time in them.

  There was big desk made of fine dark wood, basically smack dab in the middle of the room. Several of Nevada’s own books, carried here by conduits and Warriors, were stacked on one end. There was an insanely tall pile of other magical books on the floor beside the desk. No bed, but the couch pushed against the window looked comfortable enough to sleep on.

  Rurik walked to a narrow door — which she’d assumed was a closet — and pushed it open. “You have your own bathroom, but as this is one of only two showers in the building you will have to share.”

  “Not a problem.” Rurik could use her shower any time. A picture flashed in her mind. A very fine picture. Rurik naked. In the shower, naked, soaped up. And as she’d already thought — naked. She glanced inside the small white-tiled bathroom. The shower was an ancient hand-held metal device over an even more ancient claw foot bathtub. Left over from when this house was lived in, she supposed, and too cumbersome to move when the building had been converted. Lucky for her.

  Another appealing picture popped into her mind. Bubble bath!

  “First things first,” she said, turning her mind to business. “I need to cast a protection spell over this building.” After all, the library had once been public, so there was nothing to keep out the vamps who were trying to take over D.C., and beyond.

  She was good with protection spells. That had been the first thing she’d learned to do well, and it was now all but second nature.

  Rurik didn’t leave, as she’d expected he would. He sat on the couch. Afternoon sunlight fell over him, and again Nevada’s mind went to…

  No, she needed to be thinking of the spell she needed to cast, not shared showers and bubble baths that would probably never happen.

  Nevada didn’t need a book for this spell, not anymore. She knew it, in her mind, in her bones. She stood behind the desk, simply because it was a familiar position for her. Different room, different desk, same mindset. She placed her fingertips on the desk and closed her eyes, as she whispered words in an ancient language she had only recently discovered. She felt as if she were floating, though at the same time she could feel her feet firmly against the floor. Yes, her feet were on the floor, but her mind, her soul, they were elsewhere. They were a part of the universe, a part of the whole. There was darkness here, but she remained in the light. Always the light.

  As soon as the spell took hold, she knew it. She felt it, deep down, and when she opened her eyes she saw that the air in the room was green and sparkly and fantabulous. The sparkly faded, but the protection spell did not.

  “I’ll have to invite the vamps who are on our side in tonight,” she said, smiling at Rurik.

  “Sadly, that number is small.”

  Nevada nodded, expecting Rurik to stand and head for the door and whatever battle plans or fight was on his agenda for this afternoon.

  She didn’t need a constant guard anymore. With the spell in place it wasn’t like an uninvited vampire could sneak in. Marie and her ghouls couldn’t sneak up on her here. She felt safer than she had in a long while, which was weird, all things considered. At the mansion, Rurik had had a habit of napping just outside her door.

  He probably wouldn’t do that anymore. Too bad.

  Rurik didn’t stand, didn’t rush to leave her alone.

  “If a person wasn’t evil in life, why would they be evil when they’re turned?” Nevada asked. Maybe Rurik would stay a while longer if they were having a conversation. She wasn’t ready to be alone. “Chloe doesn’t seem evil, and neither does Luca. Who I can remember now, by the way. Yay me!” She didn’t give Rurik a chance to respond. “Sorin used to be pretty bad, maybe even evil, but now he’s on our side.” She had to admit, he was a confusing dude. She hadn’t spent a lot of time around the others here, so she couldn’t say she had a ton of experience with vampires. Still, she’d seen more than most. “Why aren’t there more with us?”

  “I do not know.” Rurik didn’t seem to be at all bothered by that lack of knowledge.

  “Logically, you’d think there would be more decent vampires. Vamps who would fight with us instead of the psycho. They have to be out there, but how do we find them?”

  Rurik did stand, then, slowly unfolding and rising to his full height of six foot plus. Damn, he was impressive.

  “I will not stop to interview the vampires I fight tonight,” he said. “My job is simple. Kill them. Protect the humans.” He walked to her, and — in an unexpected move — lifted one big hand to cup her cheek.

  Nevada stopped breathing.

  “Protect you,” he said, his voice lower than before.

  And then he dropped his hand and walked away.

  Nevada continued to hold her breath until she had to breathe again. It was breathe or faint!

  She felt safer here, in this new place with a strong protection spell of her own making. And Rurik. Saf
e, yes, but she could not allow herself to get comfortable. She couldn’t relax. It was time for her to step up. She was a damned powerful witch, and she could do something to help the war effort. She knew it.

  More than anything, she wanted to make Marie sorry she’d ever heard the name Nevada Sheldon.

  * * *

  Sorin had done battle often in his long lifetime, but it had been a long while since he’d participated in war. He’d killed; he’d planned for victory; he’d known battle was coming.

  He had not expected to be on this side of it.

  If he thought about where he was and what he was doing, it would slow him down. So he fought, as any good soldier would, with everything he had. He swung his sword and took the heads of frantic vampires, one after another. Most of them were not skilled soldiers. They had expected to face only humans on this night, and all the nights to come. His presence surprised them.

  They would be more prepared tomorrow, if they survived that long.

  The Warrior woman who fought with him was impressive, in oh, so many ways. Indikaiya swung her sword as if it were light as a feather. It was not. She was fierce, and strong, and beautiful. No dancer who’d ever lived possessed such grace.

  The vampires fought with swords and daggers and teeth. A few carried firearms, but not many. The humans carried guns and flamethrowers, for the most part. The sword was a weapon of days gone by, and very few of them were skilled with a blade of any kind. They were definitely not comfortable enough with them to face a physically superior enemy.

  After facing strangers all night, Sorin finally found himself face to face with one of Marie’s soldiers he knew. Edmund wasn’t the brightest or the strongest of Marie’s men, but he was loyal to a fault.

  And so here he was.

  “You!” Edmund shouted when he looked into Sorin’s face. “Traitor!” He swung his own sword wildly. His weapon had a thin but razor sharp blade. Sorin easily danced out of its path.