Defending the Lost

by Justin Sloan

  The girls’ faces froze in shock.

  “We…we were going to go with them,” the other girl whimpered. “We would have been…”

  “Fucked.” Loraine turned to Jackson, sheepishly. “Pardon my language.”

  “And the stupidity?”

  “Pardon that too?” Her eyes narrowed. “But even if you’re right, which sucks by the way, you’re not my dad. You shouldn’t be all up in my business.”

  “He probably did help save your life,” Sandra argued.

  Loraine nodded. “I know.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” Jackson offered. “You be smarter, maybe help out with the work we’re doing, and I’ll back off.”

  Her friend gave her a shrug and a half-nod and Loraine sighed. “Deal.”

  “And you, Sandra,” Jackson said, turning back to her. “I hope I didn’t screw things up too badly by asking for your help.”

  “I’ll send you a bill for the damage,” she offered, walking toward Enforcer HQ to check on the girl and find Diego. She left Jackson and the other girls to figure out what was next for them.

  It seemed to Sandra like the problems in this city never ended. Whether it was all-out war, mutinous coups, or stopping a girl from running off to join a cult, it just kept going on and on.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Toro Inner City

  The tunnel didn’t go far and didn’t give Valerie or Robin a problem, since they could see in the dark. Brody seemed to have figured out where he was going with a system where he would keep one hand to the wall, count between gaps, and then reach out again for the wall. It was pretty impressive, especially since there was a drop-off at one point to their left, and they were required to make two turns along the way.

  Robin glanced back once, a look of worry creasing her face. Valerie wanted to talk to her, but even a whisper barely audible only to vampires would likely be magnified down here, and the others didn’t need to be burdened with their issues. Plus, she doubted she could say anything that would comfort Robin in a situation like this. What did she know of it, after all? Her family were nothing more than fleeting images, bits of memory obscured like darting fish at the bottom of a river.

  “Here,” Brody whispered, pausing at a staircase.

  Robin looked around skeptically. “How is it the council doesn’t know about this?”

  “Maybe they do,” he shrugged, “but they assume it’s blocked off, shut down like all the others. What’re they going to do?”

  “Keep watch at every potential exit point?”

  He nodded. “Oh, they do that. We’re just going to have to be careful.”

  Valerie put a hand on his arm. “When we get in there, where would we have the best chance of fitting in?”

  He blinked, trying to see her in the dark, but gave up. “You want to fit in?”

  “We’re here to get my parents,” Robin added. “Val’s right, we have to stay out of trouble until we know they’re safe. Once we have them out of there, we can make a move to free everyone else.”

  “Damn.” Martha scratched her head, frowning. “I thought we were just going to run in there and kill everyone like you did on the island and on Slaver’s Peak.”

  “That’s not always the best option,” Valerie replied, “as much as these jerks probably deserve it.”

  Brody sighed. “The munitions factory, though you’ll be a cog in the machine, not a lot of room for movement. It’s your best bet to go unnoticed, and you might find yourself able to mingle after a couple days, maybe overhear something.”

  “Good enough,” Valerie said, her curiosity peaking. In New York they had weapons and bullets, but most of them had been found on foraging missions or imported via trade with Europe. Back in France she hadn’t even considered where the bullets came from. If nothing else, she figured, this trip could be educational.

  They followed Brody up, but then he motioned for them to pause. After a moment, he returned with a smile.

  “Come on, we got lucky.”

  Valerie went right after him but then froze, hand reaching for the knife at her waist. The guard was right there, staring at her with his rifle in his hands.

  “She don’t look so tough,” he grumbled, standing aside.

  It took Valerie a moment to realize what was happening, but when Brody motioned her onward with a nod of his head she began to get it.

  “You bribed him?” she asked.

  “Didn’t take much,” Brody replied. “The guy’s kinda with my second cousin, so he’s almost family. If we’d gotten the other guard tonight, we’d have to get blood on our hands. Like I said, we were lucky.”

  “More like the other guard was lucky,” she replied.

  He chuckled at that. “True enough.”

  Light fell across the street ahead, the first artificial light aside from lanterns they had seen since entering this city. Valerie heard footsteps approaching and pulled Brody back, the others following her lead.

  Two people wearing robes with intricate designs woven into them passed. Valerie considered pouncing, but sniffed and knew more were coming. This second group had more of a smell of sweat and earth to them. Sure enough, moments later a group of soldiers followed, some with blades, others with guns.

  Among them were a group of five, two men and three women, wearing tan shirts and pants that flapped loosely around them, chains around their necks as if in decoration.

  “The mark of the slave,” Brody enlightened them, pulling the others farther into the shadows.

  “We’re going to have to wear that?” Robin asked. “Wait a minute…” She glanced around, listening “Where exactly is this munitions plant?”

  Brody pointed to a building not far off. “You’re looking at it.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of. If it only operates during the day, well, imagine if they ordered me outside. As a slave, I couldn’t refuse. As a vampire, I couldn’t comply.”

  “They wouldn’t.” Valerie watched the procession turn out of their sight. “I mean, right? They probably work the slaves to death here, I’d imagine.”

  Brody pursed his lips in thought. “No, it’s a good point. They might not, but you never know with these bastards. They might decide they need her to work elsewhere.”

  “Does it really make sense for us to all be in one spot anyway?” Robin glanced around the area, thinking. “I mean, there’s a lot of ground to cover. What if I make the rounds at night, seeing what I can? Valerie, you do the same during the day, and Rand and Martha can do the munitions factory thing, getting in good with them so they can ask the right questions.”

  Valerie wanted to argue, if for no other reason than it meant that she and Robin were on opposite schedules. But it made sense.

  With a simple nod, she moved on. “Where do we get those outfits, then?”

  “Since it’s night, it should be easy. There’ve been a few accidents at the factory, as you would imagine. People’s clothes and chains get left behind; the bodies are burned and dumped in the lake.”

  Robin’s face paled.

  “No more talk about bodies,” Valerie ordered, and then she led the way over to the building. There was a chain on the door, but nothing she couldn’t simply pull apart with her enhanced strength.

  Brody soon found them outfits and told Martha and Rand where to go the next day, then pointed them to the slaves’ sleeping chambers. He explained that it wasn’t like there were people watching over them, and with the way the Council sometimes captured new people to be slaves, no one would question two newbies showing up.

  “And we’re staying with you,” Robin stated matter-of-factly.

  He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “If I’m found out, I die, not you.”

  “They’d have a hard time killing us, that’s for sure.” Valerie chuckled. “And we’ll make sure they have an equally hard time killing you, should it come to that.”

  He nodded.

  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into entering Toro and willing
ly making myself a slave.” Martha shook her head and then applied the chain to her neck.

  “You think this is bad?” Rand asked with a sigh. “I thought I was free.”

  “You are free,” Valerie replied. “Free to walk in here and put that on, and free to take it off whenever you want, really. You can leave right now, as a matter of fact.”

  He looked to be considering it, then shook his head. “If I did that, I wouldn’t be helping all those others taken into slavery.”

  “You’ll do your part then?”

  He attached the chain around his neck as his answer.

  “Everyone get some rest, if you can,” Valerie commanded, glancing at their new outfits and hating that they had to do it this way. It was, however, the best chance of making sure Robin’s parents were safe first. “Tomorrow’s going to be a big day.”

  They dropped Martha and Rand off at a shopping mall turned military barracks and continued to a small two-room apartment on top of a closed-down restaurant nearby.

  “The sink actually works in here,” Brody told them. Then he tilted his head, considering his statement. “I’m not sure if that’s as huge a deal everywhere else as it is here.”

  Valerie smiled. “No, not particularly.”

  “Ah, well, here you’re lucky if you have a working toilet, let alone the sink. Not all do, especially in the slums. They have practically nothing, so you can understand why they’re easily upset.” He lingered a moment, eyes darting between Valerie and Robin, then smiled knowingly and said, “I’ll let you two get some sleep then.”

  “None for me,” Robin replied. She went to the sink, rinsed her hands before splashing water on her face, and then dried them on the dingy hand towel. “I’ve been waiting a long time to get here. I will sleep when the sun comes up.”

  “Just…a moment.” Valerie turned to see that Brody was closing the door behind him, having entered the other room. She pulled a vial of blood form her coat pocket and handed it to Robin. “In case you come across trouble. I need to rest up if I’m to be out there all day tomorrow.”

  “Thank you.” Robin took the blood and slid it into a pocket of her jacket, then stood there for a moment, staring at Valerie. “You know I appreciate you, right?”

  Valerie bobbed her head, but it was a nervous nod. Where was she going with this?

  “Everything you’ve done…” She stepped forward, taking Valerie’s hand and holding it to her cheek, then brushing her lips across it in a gentle kiss. “And I know I’ve been super-distracted.”

  “With good reason.”

  Robin nodded, releasing the hand and staring at the floor. “It’s like my heart was torn out, gone forever, and now I can hear it beating. Faintly, but it’s out there in this city, waiting to be reunited with the rest of me.”

  She stepped forward so that their bodies were pressed together, leaning her head against Valerie’s shoulder, hands gripping her back. This wasn’t a hug of comfort; it was more like someone begging not to let her slip away.

  “We’ll find them,” Valerie assured her, and damn she hoped that was true. “I’ll do everything in my power to find them.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Prince Edward Island

  Cammie woke to find Royland standing beside the bed watching the boy sleep. They had given Kristof the bed while she slept on the couch. Since Royland preferred to sleep during the day, that had been fine, but she hadn’t expected him to just stand there like that.

  “You creep everyone else out, I get it.” She sat up and rubbed her forehead. “Doesn’t mean I feel left out, so stop trying so hard to make sure I’m there with them.”

  He turned to her with a weary smile, then approached and sat down beside her. “Is it creepy that I worry about him? That I want to devote myself to finding his parents, as insignificant as that is in this messed-up world?”

  She took his hand, kissed the back of it, and nuzzled against him. “No, that’s what makes me love you.”

  Her eyes popped open. She bit her tongue as she pulled back to look him in the eyes, hoping he hadn’t heard her.

  FUCK.

  He was staring ahead, eyes wide too, and slowly turned to face her. “Ex…excuse me?”

  “I said—”

  “Nope, there are no take-backs here.” He had one leg half-up on the couch. “You said it. Say it again.”

  “No.”

  “You can’t deny it, Cammie. As much as you want to be the wild one, the cowgirl who thinks she’s the Were version of BA, you’re just another in a long line of girls in love with me.”

  “Oh, shut your mouth!” she said, laughing as she hit him.

  The boy stirred and she pressed her lips together, pretending to zip them. She’d almost forgotten he was there.

  Royland mouthed, “You love me,” then jumped out of the way as she tried to kick him. She didn’t know why it was so hard to admit…or why it had slipped out.

  Dammit, now there’d be no living this down. Now she was…stuck? But it wasn’t like she was planning on going anywhere, anyway.

  She stood and stomped to the bathroom, pissed at the situation but even more annoyed at herself for being angry at all.

  When she stopped in front of the mirror she stared at her reflection and told herself, “Cammie, pull yourself together. You’re a grown woman, not some Golden City Were-slut.”

  She imagined her reflection laughing at her and flashing her breasts before running off to flirt or kill bad guys or whatever the hell normal Weres were supposed to do.

  Trying to turn her imagination off, she turned and plopped onto the toilet; not using it, just staring at the wall.

  What were they going to do? Here she was acting like a damn teenager while there was a boy out there whose life now depended on her. To make it worse, members of her community had made a move against her and Royland last night, in a way, and there was a major mess to clean up that they had just left there.

  Everything was going to change.

  No more fucking around.

  She stood, then realized she actually had to go to the bathroom. After taking care of business, she stood again, washed her hands, and made for the door.

  When she opened it, Royland was standing there, practically beaming.

  “Yes, I love you,” she repeated, then pulled him in by the shirt and kissed him hard, tongue playing with his. She pulled back. “I fucking love you like I’ve never loved anything before. So I’ll say this once, and only once. I don’t care if you’re a badass vampire. If you ever hurt me in any way, I will tear out your heart and devour it while you watch. Do you understand?”

  He just laughed. “Cammie, I fucking love you too.”

  She almost pulled him onto the bed at that, but paused when she saw the boy there, still asleep.

  “Raincheck?” Royland asked, reading her expression.

  “I do have some business to take care of, after all.” She turned to the closet and found some clothes.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “I’m going to make sure these people figure out who’s boss around here. If anyone tries something like that again, they’d better know damn well what their fate will be.”

  He glanced at the sunlight on the deck and frowned. “It’s a shame I can’t be there with you. I’d love to see this.”

  “You would, and it is,” she agreed, giving him a peck on the cheek before heading for the shower, “but this can’t wait.”

  “Didn’t you shower last night?” he asked, as if an afterthought. “To get that blood off?”

  She paused at the doorway. “Sure, but…all that love-talk. You coming?”

  “You bet your ass I am.” He laughed and pulled his shirt off, revealing his perfect abs.

  ***

  The morning sun was already hot and humidity was pressing down on the island as Cammie walked toward the house where they had committed their slaughter the night before. On the way, she stopped by the house where William and his crew were stayin
g and told them to follow.

  “What the hell happened here?” William asked when they entered the house to see blood still drying on the walls and bodies in all manner of disarray.

  “Me,” she replied. “Well, to be fair, me and Royland.”

  “Fuuuuuck,” the woman next to William murmured.

  “You knew these dicks?” Cammie asked.

  The woman nodded. “They used to roll with Bairne, before they tried to betray him once and he cut them loose. Killed their main guy, but let them live.”

  “Didn’t last long,” William added. “But I don’t doubt they deserved it.”

  “They did,” Cammie replied, then motioned to the bodies. “We’re taking them to the square.”

  The woman frowned. “Not…to be buried?”

  Cammie just laughed at that, then motioned to one of William’s guys—the tall one. “Run upstairs and grab blankets or towels. Whatever you can find. No use in getting ourselves all bloody if it can be avoided.”

  He did, and while they waited Cammie walked among the dead looking at their faces. She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to see what sort of expressions they wore in their last moment. It was always different seeing them the next day instead of in the heat of the moment.

  “This place…you really think it’s capable of change?” William asked, stepping up beside her. The two stared into the face of one of the guys, torn to shreds by Cammie’s wolf teeth.

  She nodded. “You’re here, and I trust you. So far, anyway. If we can continue to build that trust, and you find others you can trust… Well, we eventually all trust each other, right?”

  “And in the meantime?”

  “We use fear.” She turned to see the man bringing blankets down. “Which is why we’re here today. Can one of your guys find some rope?”

  “We’re sailors, of course we can get rope.”

  “Have them bring it to the square.” She took one of the blankets and wrapped it around a body, then hefted it over her shoulder. “Bring ’em all.”