by C. J. Pinard
“I see,” Jonathan said. “You know, the mob has been pretty active around here lately.”
Joseph nodded. “Yes, we considered that angle. I doubt Thomas would voluntarily join the mob, even the Irish Mob,” he attempted a joke.
Thomas was in physical pain as he sat in the closet, listening to the agony in his father’s voice. He was sitting on the floor, rocking, with his arms around his legs. He wanted so badly to burst through the door and embrace his dad and end his suffering. He could only imagine what his mother was going through. He had worked so hard to push it out of his mind.
“Thank you for your time, Mr. Murphy. If you can think of anything at all, would you please call me?” Joseph replaced his policeman’s cap and wrote his phone number on a piece of paper.
“Of course, Mr. O’Malley. Again, I’m so sorry. I hope you find Thomas. He seemed like a great kid and I was very much looking forward to working with him,” Jonathan replied.
Joseph left the office, no better off than when he’d arrived.
Thomas then emerged from the closet, red-faced and angry.
“Hey, son. I’m sorry you had to hear that, I know that had to be rough,” Jonathan said sympathetically and slightly chagrinned.
“You have no damn idea,” he spit. “And don’t call me ‘son.’ I’m going for a walk,” he murmured, which was merely a figure of speech, as Thomas flashed out of the office and reappeared in the top floor apartment a few moments later. “Now why didn’t I just do that to begin with instead of hiding in that stupid closet?” he asked himself aloud. He didn’t need to answer himself, however. He knew he wanted to hear the painful conversation. He knew he needed to hear it.
Chapter 6
∞∞∞
Portland, Oregon – Present Day
“I’ll be right there,” Malina said, and hung up with a sigh. She had a tiny house in the middle of the Oregon Wetlands where it was quiet, clean, and secluded. Sylphs had issues with smog, pollution, and just overall uncleanliness. She and Serina shared this small house out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature, trees, and water. She had been beside herself since Serina’s abduction, and had spent the majority of her time praying and meditating. She zipped up her purple suitcase after she was sure she had everything she would need.
Jonathan had just called her and told her to report to his Portland apartment A.S.A.P. Sylphs didn’t normally take orders from Immortals, but in this case, she knew he had her safety at the heart of his request. And yes, he had offered to come get her personally. In fact, he had insisted on it, but she in turn insisted on using a portal. Before she could finish the thought of how annoyed she was with having to uproot herself, she was stepping through her magical doorway and into the alley behind the Murphy Architecture building. She peeked around nervously, and entered 1-8-0-9 into the keypad at the back door. She took the elevator to the top floor, suitcase in hand. She could have called the portal to deliver her directly inside Jonathan’s, Thomas’s, and Kathryn’s apartment, but she decided that would be rude and intrusive, so she took the long way.
She knocked on the door and Jonathan answered, wearing jeans, a white dress shirt, a black blazer, and he was barefoot. He had a tumbler of what looked like scotch or tequila in his right hand. His gray eyes sparkled as he greeted her.
“Looking regal in purple, as always,” he said, immediately relieving her of her suitcase.
“Thank you, Jonathan, I appreciate your help during this awful time,” she said with a frown.
Thomas rounded the corner as he heard her high-pitched voice. He was holding a plastic bottle of water. A small towel was slung around his neck. He was still a bit sweaty from his workout, his black hair lying in clumps against his head. A slight blush passed across his cheeks as he saw Malina standing there.
“Hello, my dear,” she said to Thomas, kissing him on both crimson-splashed cheeks, but careful not to touch him anywhere else. His glistening, toned arms and chest did not go unnoticed by her.
“Please forgive me, Malina. I’ve just got done going ten rounds with the punching bag,” he said with a smile, then sipped his water.
Kathryn was sitting on the sofa reading Vogue Magazine and greeted Malina with a wave and loose smile, and went back to reading. Kathryn had spied a little bit into Malina’s mind and sensed her annoyance. Her observation of Thomas’s physique did not go unnoticed by her, either.
“Allow me to show you to your room, little lady,” Jonathan said, offering her an arm, her purple suitcase in the other. He led her to one of the spare bedrooms in the monstrous-sized apartment and set her bag down next to the bed. “Please let me know if you need anything at all. The adjoining bathroom is stocked with everything, but if you find you’re missing anything, please let Kathryn know and she will get you whatever you need.” He smiled and closed the bedroom door.
Malina sat on the bed and let out a heavy breath. She spied the small bedroom and decided it was clean enough and began unpacking the small suitcase. She did not bring any Enchantment with her, but did have some empty vials. She knew the council would not allow the Enchantment distribution until the issue with Serina was resolved. She wasn’t going to lie to herself; for the first time in forty years, she was very disappointed with Jonathan. Shapeshifters kidnapping a sylph! As if!
A knock on the door brought her back to her surroundings.
“Come in,” she said.
Thomas walked through the door, freshly showered and smelling of some sort of spicy manly cleansing product. Malina couldn’t deny it; he smelled wonderful. Thomas looked at her thoughtfully.
“May I sit?” he asked, pointing to a plush brown corduroy chair in the corner of the room.
“Absolutely, Tom. This is your home, after all.” She smiled as she closed the closet door. She zipped up the empty suitcase and slid it under the bed.
“Are you okay? You have to know that we feel horribly about what’s happened to Serina. I care for her wellbeing, you must know that. Not just because it’s my job to do so, but because I have grown to like her a lot over the years. She’s sweet and fun and has never an ill word to say about anyone.” He finished with a smile.
Malina sat on the bed, her hands folded. “I know you do, Thomas. You are sweet. I just don’t understand how this happened. She said she was going out to the mall to purchase some earrings and never came back. Just as I was starting to get worried about her, Jonathan called,” she finished with a sigh.
Thomas got up and sat next to her on the bed and grabbed her hand. “We want nothing more than to protect you, you have to know that.” He paused with reflection, then let out a small laugh. “It’s funny, you know. My father was a policeman in San Francisco. He was constantly nudging me toward a career in police work. But I wanted nothing to do with police work, I wanted to be a businessman, make lots of money, live the American dream. When Jonathan offered me the apprenticeship, I was over-the-moon excited,” he said with a smile.
“It was never his plan to make you an Immortal, Tom. You have to know that. We did not plan for any of this,” she said back.
“I know. I believe you. It’s just so ironic, you know? I never wanted the cop life, but look where I ended up. Turns out sometimes parents really do know what’s best for their children. I really enjoy policing the Fae. I enjoy protecting beautiful sylphs, and punching a vampire’s lights out,” he smiled.
She let out a small giggle, but said nothing.
The conversation went silent. Both of them became serious and Thomas could feel his heart thudding inside his chest. He felt his attraction for Malina growing, and decided that was his cue to leave her before he did something not so gentlemanly. He let go of her hand and stood up slowly.
“Thank you for talking with me, Tom. I understand where you’re coming from. I just want this whole ordeal over and done with so I can go back to the wetlands and enjoy my peaceful home,” she said.
He smiled at her and walked out of her room, closing the door behind h
im.
Lillian rounded the corner of 21st Avenue and pulled her sports car into the underground parking garage of the Murphy Architecture building. She parked in a designated spot marked L.A. – Parking by Permit Only. A little private joke on Jonathan’s part, giving each coven its own parking spot. She exited the vehicle and took the elevator to the top floor, where she knew Jonathan, Thomas, and Kathryn would be none too happy to have her ringing their doorbell at three a.m.
Thomas dragged himself to the door and looked through the peephole to see who was dinging his doorbell at the ungodly hour. He opened it when he saw who it was.
“Hi, Lilly, to what do we owe the pleasure?” he asked as politely as he could while rubbing his eyes.
Just then, Jonathan, Malina, and Kathryn appeared behind him. Kathryn was wrapping up in a silky pink robe, her hair sticking up in spots. Malina was wearing a purple night dress and fuzzy purple slippers.
“Oh, hello, Malina. I didn’t realize you would be here also. I’m so sorry to disturb you all, but I thought you’d like to know what I just heard at Night Crawlers,” she said, taking a seat on the leather sofa.
“Hello, Lillian. Jonathan and Thomas insisted I stay here after what happened to Serina. It’s not so bad,” Malina finished with a wink of one of her amber eyes.
They were all awake now. Jonathan knew they wouldn’t be getting any more sleep, and went to put on a pot of coffee. “What were you doing at Night Crawlers?” he asked during a yawn while he dumped scoops of coffee into the cone-shaped filter.
“After Andrew called and told me to come up here to help with your little… situation, I rented a car and went straight there from the airport to get information on what the shifters are doing with that sylph. I know that creep Pascal hangs out at his club every night, and I was right,” she said with a smile.
“Oh really now? What did you gather?” Thomas asked.
“Apparently the shifters took Serina as a little bargaining chip to get us to renegotiate the Treaty,” she said.
“Yes, we know this. They told us as much when we showed up at their disgusting warehouse last night at their request,” Kathryn said. “We just didn’t stay long enough to hear them out, as all hell broke loose.” She shot a glance at Jonathan.
Jonathan handed Lillian a cup of steaming coffee, which she held but did not drink. “Who as at Night Crawlers tonight?”
“Pascal, Darius, and Angel are the only ones I recognized from the pictures Andrew gave me. I also had a brief conversation with one of their soldiers, Joshua, who seems young, dumb, and full of –”
“Uh, who else?” Thomas asked, interrupting her crude little cliché.
She gave him a sly grin and continued. “There was also another one named Mike, a big bald fella, whom I had never seen before,” she finished.
“Well that’s not anything new. Pascal owns that club, he’s there almost every night with an entourage of bloodsuckers,” Kathryn said, sipping her coffee.
Lillian took a deep breath. “Well, get this. As I was talking to Joshua, I heard Pascal tell Angel to grab fifty-grand out of his safe at home and meet him at the shifters’ warehouse. I’m afraid things don’t look good for Serina if we don’t do something. I don’t see any other reason for the vamps to get involved in this, unless it’s for blood,” she finished, finally sipping her steaming coffee.
“Holy hell, this just gets better and better.” Jonathan rubbed his hand over his face stubble and set his coffee mug down. “Okay, folks, let’s get dressed. It’s show time.”
Thomas was the first to get dressed and he flashed to the warehouse ahead of everyone else. He was dressed in black SWAT team gear from head to toe and had a duffel bag full of equipment. Inside it was loaded with not only armor-piercing bullets, but UV bullets, as well. Jonathan had a source that produced bullets that exploded with UV light when they hit flesh. He also kept three UV flashlights in his bag. One wave of those on a vamp would produce an instant sizzle on their dead skin.
Jonathan had actually invented the UV flashlights himself. One day, in the mid-1990s while walking by a tanning salon, he had an idea. He walked inside and asked the sweet young thing working the desk if the lamps they used in the tanning beds actually mimicked real sunlight. When he found out they were UVA and UVB light, he went home and made a few phone calls, and was able to purchase a case of the tube-shaped lights. He and Thomas then tested them out one time on a vampire they had captured during a bank robbery. When the vamp refused to speak, Jonathan plugged in his light and shone it on the vamp, causing an instant burn to his skin. After that, he had them fashioned into regular flashlights.
While Thomas wasn’t anticipating running into any vampires on that night, he never left home without the flashlights. Better safe than sorry, as his father always told him. The bag was also loaded with some low-level C4 explosives and a few smoke bombs. He was wearing a 9mm pistol on his right hip, and had a couple flash-bangs attached to the right side of his belt. He was using night vision binoculars to look through the dirty windows of the warehouse. Nearby, a rat scuttled by. Thomas shuddered, but kept his focus on the warehouse.
He could see Serina slumped at the bottom of her Plexiglas cell, looking dirty and defeated. He wondered if those animals had even bothered to feed her. Dark circles encased her eyes, and her blonde hair lay flat and greasy-looking on her head. Her pink dress was torn and dirty. Nearby, two pit bull dogs paced back and forth, and Thomas could see Seth and Malachi sitting at a table, playing cards and drinking beer. Guess they really do keep refreshments in the warehouse, Thomas almost laughed to himself, thinking of Kathryn’s facetious remark from earlier.
Thomas heard a car pull up and used his binoculars to spy Jonathan’s sports car pulling around the back. He also had a walkie-talkie on him, with which he quickly warned Jonathan that Sheena was prowling around the front of the warehouse. Her eyes glowed in the lights like the cat that she was, which made her easy to spot by Thomas with his enhanced vision. He inwardly laughed at how stupid she was.
“Hey, whatcha got?” He heard Jonathan slip in next to him.
“Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb over there are playing cards. There are two more shifters in dog form patrolling, and that genius Sheena is slinking around out front,” he finished.
Jonathan chuckled a little. “Okay, now what’s the plan?”
“You tell me, boss. I could flash in there, but I’d need a diversion. Who’s with you?”
“Just Kathryn. She’s our getaway driver.” He grinned wickedly. “I left Lilly at home with Malina.”
“Okay good. I think I know what to do. You go cause a diversion with Sheena and I’m gonna flash into the warehouse. I know I won’t get far before they let the dogs out, but I’m going to try,” Thomas said.
“Sounds good,” Jonathan replied. As he turned to leave, they heard the sound of another car pulling up. A Lincoln Towncar, blacked-out windows.
Vampires.
Thomas grabbed his night-vision binoculars and scanned the back of the warehouse.
“Bloodsuckers!” he whisper-shouted to Jonathan as he was walking away. He tossed a UV flashlight at Jonathan, who took off running toward the vampires’ car. Sheena got there first, and was growling at Jonathan, swishing her tail back and forth while she blocked his path to the vamps’ car.
“Get out of my way, you little bitch!” he growled, yanking the gun from his belt and aiming it at her with both hands.
Just then, Joshua and Darius got out of the car. Jonathan spun around and flicked on his UV flashlight and shone it on them. They both howled in pain and grabbed their sizzling faces. They flitted back into their car and shut the doors. Sheena ran off toward the warehouse.
Inside, Thomas had flashed over to Seth and Malachi, who were now in their animal forms, and hit them each with a Taser so fast they didn’t see it coming. He then flashed over to Serina’s Plexiglas prison and shot two perfectly aimed slugs at the bolts holding the side doors up. The door fell to the
ground with a rattling thud and he grabbed Serina. Flashing out of the warehouse and to Jonathan’s car, he was waiting outside, his gun still aimed on Sheena. They quickly sped away with Kathryn driving, on their way back to the apartment.
The vampires could see the Immortals had left. They exited the Lincoln and made their way into the warehouse, where they found a wolf and a pit bull, both lying motionless on the cold floor. Darius was carrying a metal briefcase, not dissimilar to the ones from the movies, where the bad guy has it stacked with cash. In this case, the bad guys really did have it stacked with cash – fifty-thousand dollars’ worth.
“Hey, man, how’s my face look?” Joshua whipped his face left then right and looked at Darius.
“It’s fine, dipshit, you’ll heal,” Darius drawled. He looked down and nudged the snoring pit bull with the tip of his boot.
“What in the hell did that dick Jonathan do to us? How did he burn us?” Joshua asked.
Darius rolled his eyes and set the briefcase down. “It was an ultraviolet light. It’s basically sunlight in a stick. Nice, right?” he said sarcastically.
“Oh, shit. Are you serious? That was not cool, man,” Joshua whined, still rubbing his face.
“Ya think?” Darius said. He turned his attention back to the sleeping animals. “Get up, shifters,” he shouted. He then looked up and saw the empty Plexiglas box. “Aw, hell.”
Darius and Joshua looked down when they heard groaning. The pit bull and wolf were replaced by a naked Seth and a naked Malachi. Darius walked to a pile of clothes and threw it at them.
“Get dressed, puppies. Your little sylph is gone and I’m guessing you’re in deep shit right about now.” Darius laughed sardonically.
