by Gary Jonas
Miranda disappeared. The Watcher looked around for her and disappeared a second later. Fine. Be cowards.
“Kelly, come look at this guy.”
“Wait.” More movement in the Hummer. My tone caught Brand’s attention. He jumped to his feet, weapon in hand. He saw where I was looking and turned.
Miranda and the Watcher sat in the cab. The doors were still open. Miranda must have traveled from her shadow directly into the Hummer and the Watcher followed. The vampire didn’t move as we approached. The Watcher’s full attention was on her master.
The music grew louder as we got closer. My mind drifted to the night before, the bodies, the dancing, Brand in my bed afterward. Then his hand was on the small of my back and moving downward.
“Miranda!” The Watcher’s voice snapped us back to the present. But it didn’t affect the vampire. She stared at the phone mounted on the dashboard. Perfectly still, she could have been made of wax. The Watcher looked at me, helpless. Brand ran his fingers through my hair. I elbowed him hard in the ribs.
“Turn off the phone.”
The Watcher looked back at Miranda. “What if it hurts her? Like waking up a sleepwalker?”
“Are you joking? She’s a vampire. She’ll be fine.”
As the Watcher moved to turn off the phone, the song started over. Miranda’s head shot up, she barred her fangs at Brand and me and lunged. The music stopped and so did she, just as I was about to decapitate her.
“What?” Miranda stumbled, and the Watcher rose out of her shadow on the street to catch her. “What just happened?”
“You tell us.”
Miranda shook her head to clear it. The Watcher held her up and stroked her hair. “I was…” She looked at Tally’s. “We left Tally’s…the truck, then…music.” Her eyes went a little unfocused. “Absolutely compelling. Words in it. I had to get closer to hear. Beautiful and frightening.” She shivered and the Watcher tightened her hold. “The music stopped, I had a moment of clarity, and then it started again.” She looked back and forth between Brand and me. “He wanted me to kill you.”
“Trixster Thirteen?” Brand asked. He looked a little heartbroken.
“No. Someone,” Miranda’s brow creased, “someone bigger.” She stroked the Watcher’s face. “We’re leaving now, darling.”
“Wait! Who—?”
Too late, they dropped into the shadow at their feet.
“Dammit!” I punched a hole in the Hummer’s door. I hate vampires.
“Kel, it’s okay.” Brand put his hands on my shoulders. “Let me show you what I found.”
We stooped down to look at one of the bodies, the guy who attacked Brand. His face was missing half its skin just like the other one. He grinned up at us, eyes filmed and milky in death. I examined the wounds Brand gave him. Not a drop of blood anywhere.
“They were already dead when they attacked us.”
“Yeah they were.” Brand’s smile spread ear to ear.
“Ew, stop it, you look like them.”
“Pretty lady, we’re fighting zombies.”
“I noticed.”
“Smart zombies, who can drive. How can you not be excited about this?”
“I don’t play as much Call of Duty as you.”
“But The Walking Dead.”
“And if they kill Glenn like they did in the comics, I’ll be watching less of that, too.”
I examined what was left of the zombie’s face. He looked like he was in his thirties, well-tanned under the dead pallor, wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. High cheekbones, black hair. Impossible to tell eye color, but probably dark.
“I think he’s Native American.” I stuck my hand into the front pocket of the hoodie hoping to find some ID, but came up empty. “Go get the other head, would you?”
Brand jogged down the street and came back with the head tucked under his arm like a football. Again, no blood where he severed the neck. Similar features to the other guy. I checked their pockets but found nothing, not even a stray penny.
“The phone,” Brand said. He took it out of the Hummer and touched the screen. “Shit, it’s locked.”
“We’ll take it with us. Amanda knows someone who can unlock it. And I know an officer who’ll run the Hummer’s plates.”
“Don’t need to. I think it’s pretty obvious.”
He was right. The plate read TR1XS13.
“What do we do about the rest of this?” Brand swung his arm around.
“Nothing. Let the cops find it, or Tally can scavenge whatever’s sellable. We’re done here. Let’s go home. I’ll call Amanda in the morning. She can track down a couple people who can help us.” I sighed. “If they want to be found.”
Chapter 12
We went to my apartment and slept--Mostly slept. Okay, slept a little--until mid-morning. Brand emptied my fridge while I made two phone calls. The first was to Jessica, who squealed with joy when I told her she could lead all my classes that day.
“Just go through the basics, have them pair up and practice. I know you can do that.” Better than I could, actually. Jessica had a knack for people-pairing. “This’ll be a good opportunity for students in other classes to get used to you leading.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much! I won’t let you down.”
“Of course you won’t. You’re still my best bet.”
I hung up and thought, Wow. I’m starting to like this teamwork thing.
My next call was to Amanda.
“DGI human, inhuman and subhuman resources, Amanda speaking.”
“Why are you answering your cell phone like that?”
“What?” Amanda yawned. “Oh, right, duh. This is my cell phone. ‘Cause I’m at work and I didn’t sleep much.”
“Shit. I was hoping you had the day off. I need you.”
“Yeah, well, some of us aren’t lucky enough to own our own businesses and have to punch the clock for a living instead.”
“Oh, fuck you. Running your own business is tougher.”
“Yeah, I know. I used to do that before you got me into a mess with DGI.”
“I did you a favor. You love being able to pull up more magic now.”
“Not the point, but whatever.”
“So can you at least stop by over your lunch break?”
Amanda yawned again. “Wait. Is this about the whole rave thing?”
“What else would it be?”
“With you, it could be anything. So is it?”
“Of course.”
“Well, good news then. I made my report an hour ago and I’m cleared to work on it.”
Well, shit. “Why didn’t you call me an hour ago?”
An exasperated sound in my ear. “Brand’s there right? You wouldn’t have answered.”
“I would—”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, no I wouldn’t.”
“That’s my girl. So, I’ll see you in half an hour.”
“Clear the traffic and get here sooner.”
“I’ll get there when I get there. I’m tired, Kelly.” She yawned again. “Though I could have a big mug of the old black magic.”
“Coffee?”
Amanda paused. “Suuure, you can call it that. See ya.”
***
Amanda parked in her customary two spaces.
“Bitch, how many times do I have to tell you? One car, one space.”
“Okay, here.” She tossed me her car keys. “Go move Cecil yourself. He misses you.”
“I’m not setting foot in your car.”
“He wants to sing you a song.”
“No.”
“Maybe you’ve heard it before?”
“Fuck, no.”
Brand started whistling the opening chords to The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald.
“Shut up, Brand. Shit, now it’s stuck in my head. I hate you both.” I glanced out the door. “Cecil, too.”
The car let out a short, sharp honk.
“You hurt his feel
ings!” Amanda stuck out her lower lip.
“I accidentally hit the lock button on the key fob.” I lobbed the keys back at Amanda. She lifted her index finger and they stopped mid-air, then gently floated to her hand.
“You did not. That button hasn’t worked in years.”
“Do you mind?” I looked behind me into the dojo where Jessica led the first class of the day. Luckily, she had everyone’s attention. “No magic. It spooks the mundanes.”
Amanda shrugged, walked past me and gave Brand a hug. “Hey, gorgeous. Love the whistling.”
“Why, thank you.” He hugged her back. “How’s Juke?”
“Juke’s fine. Very, very fine.”
“Tell him to call me and we’ll catch a Rockies game. Kelly won’t go.”
“Boring.” I opened the door to my office. “Can we get on with business now?”
Amanda and Brand followed me in and sat down. Amanda immediately started tapping on Mufasa’s fish bowl. “Nice fishy, fishy, fishy!” He flared crimson and darted at her finger with every intention of destroying it. I adore my fish.
While Amanda amused herself, I tried to decide how little I could tell her about the night before and still get her help. I didn’t want to assist DGI in any way shape or form, and anything that Amanda learned, she’d have to report to her superiors. I hated that she worked for DGI and the scumbag wizards that ran the company. It sometimes put up a wall between us, and certainly kept me from being totally honest with her. I shoved down the residual guilt I felt for my part in making her little more than an indentured servant to DGI. She seemed happy, at least.
Should I tell Amanda about Victor and Miranda? She might know the vampires had gotten involved. Or maybe not. They had an uneasy truce with the wizards, though the two groups often worked together. It was a cold war sort of thing. I decided to reframe the whole Hummer incident, leaving out the fact that the driver and passenger were zombies.
And then Brand said, “Guess what? We fought zombies last night!” Thanks, sweetie.
“Wait, what? Real ones? Like Walkers?” Amanda’s eyes got huge along with her smile.
“Brand, that’s enough—”
“No, smart ones, like in season one where they were opening doors and stuff but, well, smarter.”
“Like, 28 Days Later?”
“No, smarter. They fucking drove a Hummer.” Brand looked at me and remembered what else happened. His face reddened. “They, um, smashed up Kelly’s truck, trying to kill us.”
Amanda covered her mouth. “Oh my Goddess, that’s your truck outside? I didn’t even recognize it. Oh, Kelly, I’m so sorry. Zombies did that?”
“Yeah. And I need you to figure out who they were in life.” I took out the phone and pushed it across my desk. “I think this belonged to one of them, but it’s locked. Think you can get your hacker friend to open it up?”
“Sure, no problem.” Amanda picked up the phone and fiddled with it. “But, you said earlier that this is related to the rave business. What’s the connection?”
Oh, what the hell. I told her everything that happened. Well, almost everything. I left out the part where Victor came on to me while Brand was knocked out. I was still processing that myself.
“So, what part does the music play? Miranda didn’t take any drugs and she wasn’t at the rave.” Amanda passed the phone back and forth in her hands, an old habit. “Why were only some people affected and not everyone? And obviously there was no music playing when I checked out the warehouse, so why was I all horny for Juke?”
“That’s just you.” Brand smiled and winked at Amanda.
“There’s a connection between the drugs and the music,” I said. “The people in comas right now all vaped the same drug.”
“Yeah.” Brand’s easy smile went away. “Supplied by Eleventh Hour.”
“I’m sorry about Daphne.” Amanda put the phone down and covered Brand’s hand.
He glanced at me then looked down quickly. “Thanks. She’s an old friend.”
Watching his face, I ignored the dropping sensation in my stomach. Is this what jealousy feels like? It sucks. I hope this is the remnants of the drug and not me being stupid. “Eleventh Hour probably got her drugs from Tally’s, but we can’t confirm it without deciphering the receipt.”
Amanda went back to tapping the fishbowl. “How are you going to do that? You don’t even have it.”
“We have this.” Brand pulled out his phone and brought up the photo he took the night before. “Cool, huh?”
Amanda enlarged the photo and studied it. “You’re lucky it captured the writing.”
“Can you read it?” I asked.
“No.” She turned the camera. “I think you need a bigger Tolkien nerd than me for that.”
“I have someone better in mind.” I rummaged through my desk drawer until I found what I wanted. I took out a business card and handed it to Amanda.
She read the name at the top and smiled. “Oh, yeah, I remember him! Good choice.”
“Who?” Brand reached for the card and Amanda handed it to him.
“Amanda and I met a man a while back. He and his wife are…I guess you could call them researchers.” Amanda nodded in agreement. “They specialize in the paranormal. Especially Native American paranormal.”
“Sweet. Considering our zombies seemed to be of that persuasion.”
“Exactly.”
Brand read the card. “Doctor Colin Clave. Huh. Swanky address.”
“Can you do a magical trace on the card?” I asked Amanda.
“Why don’t you save her juice and we just go to the address?” Brand tapped the card.
“Because he doesn’t live there anymore. Even though I’d been to Colin’s apartment a couple days before, the last time I tried to reach him, the woman who answered the door said she’d been living there for years. She even let me in and the place was completely different.”
Brand tilted his head. “Did you say apartment?”
“Yeah. Refurbished old building in LoDo.”
Brand grinned. “This address is for a house on Long Road in Greenwood Village. Different swanky address.”
“What?” I took back the card. Sure enough, the address had changed.
“He might be home after all,” Amanda said.
I stood up. “Let’s go. We’ll drop the phone off with your hacker guy on the way there. Maybe Colin or his wife can translate the receipt. It’s our best shot.”
Chapter 13
The house was more than a McMansion, but not old money, not in that neighborhood. Geometric topiary lined one of three driveways. Two spiral-cut potted bushes stood on either side of the front door.
I knocked, then rang the bell for good measure. In a house like that, a knock doesn’t always go far enough. Amanda and Brand stood behind me on the covered porch, which was tall but narrow. Not the kind you’d sit on in a rocking chair with a glass of lemonade and watch the neighbors stroll by.
A man who looked like he might have been Colin’s son or younger brother opened the door. He had the doctor’s fashion sense. He wore a light jacket with patches at the elbows and beige chinos. He smiled when he saw me.
“Kelly Chan! What a pleasant surprise. Please, do come in. It’s been a while.” He shared the same accent that colored Colin’s words. The younger man opened the door wider. “Oh, and you brought the charming Amanda West. But I don’t know this fellow.”
I stayed on the porch. “Excuse me, but have we met? I’m here to see your…dad?”
He looked at me funny, then laughed. “Please, come in and I’ll explain.”
We followed him into the huge house, to a room that I could only guess was meant to entertain guests. It had a view of a tennis court in the back yard. The walls were lined with shelves holding the same esoteric books I’d seen in the apartment in LoDo. We sat down in chairs that were either made of fine leather or butter – it was hard to tell which. All I know is that I wanted to take mine home.
“N
ow then. We should have some refreshments.” Our host pressed a button on the wall with a small speaker above it.
“Gloria, can you hear me? Be a dear and bring something nice to the west library. Oh, and tell my adoring wife we have company.” He winked at me. “Tell her it’s Kelly Chan and friends.” He turned off the intercom. “That should send Joanna running. She’s quite jealous of you.”
“You can’t be Colin Clave. He’s at least fifteen, maybe twenty years older than you.”
The man laughed. “Oh yes, indeed, I suppose I did look a bit longer in the tooth when we met during that whole werewolf business. Tell me, how is little Cho?”
Amanda and I looked at each other. “She’s fine. She emailed me last week. But how did you get younger? Magic?”
Colin laughed. “Dear me, no. I try not to mess with the stuff. We simply take the waters now and then down in Florida. Some are quite…restorative. But you have to know the right people, and be very polite and discreet, which we are.”
A small woman burst into the library, scowling and nearly out of breath. Her blond hair was pulled back in a severe bun – in contrast to her cleavage, which was free to roam up and out of her blouse. She studied each of us, and her eyes stopped moving when she got to me. “You must be her.”
“Well, we’re mostly polite and discreet,” Colin said under his breath. “Darling! So good of you to join us.”
I stood up. “I’m Kelly Chan. We spoke once on the phone.”
“Yes, I know.” Her high, squeaky voice grated. In fact, it begged for a well-placed shuriken to the throat.
Amanda put her hand on my arm, a well-timed warning. “Ms. Clave, I hope we’re not intruding.”
“It’s Doctor Clave. I didn’t go through university five times to be called Ms.”
“Of course you aren’t intruding!” Colin laughed and got to his feet. “If we didn’t want to be found, you wouldn’t have found us.”
Joanna crossed her arms. “Speak for yourself. Colin, we have an important appointment this afternoon, or have you forgotten in your excitement?”
“Of course I haven’t, dearest.” Colin mashed the intercom button. “Gloria? Anytime now.”
