by Dana Cameron
“Are. You. Out. Of. Your. Mind?” I realized Claudia’s suggestion was only so strong; the more I concentrated on speaking my mind, the easier I found the trick of resisting her. Maybe I was getting better at it, too.
“He’s immensely dangerous,” Will said. “We can’t let him get the things he’s looking for.”
“If he finds out I’m working with you, he’ll—”
“I know: Danny.” He shook his head slowly. “We won’t let that happen. I won’t let it happen.”
“How can you—?”
“I work for the government, Zoe.”
“What, the Bureau of Fangborn Affairs?” Either Claudia was easing up on me or I was getting better at this.
“It’s a long story.”
“That’s OK. I’ve got two hours.”
He sighed, looked around, and leaned over the table, to close our ranks. “The formal name, for the bean counters, is the Biological and Historical Intelligence branch of the FBI’s Technical Laboratory. We mostly call ourselves TRG, from the Theodore Roundtree Group, after the guy who established it back in the 1940s.”
I saw Gerry nudge Claudia, none too subtly, in the ribs. She nodded, frowning, and shushed him.
“Yeah?”
“He was the first, as far as we know, to officially acknowledge the presence of Fangborn in the United States. We work with the Fangborn in roles of legal and diplomatic efforts. It’s kind of a cross between law enforcement, civil rights, and public relations.”
“You’re the guys who help hide the existence of the Fangborn.” I looked at Gerry and Claudia, then back at Will. “My…people.”
“Yes. And we’ll be the ones helping to orchestrate the introduction of the Fangborn on I-Day. There are even a very few elected officials at the national level who are Fangborn.”
“Like Senator Knight?” I blurted.
“How could you possibly know that?” Claudia said. “That’s…that’s very uncommon knowledge.”
“I…don’t know.” I was as surprised as everyone else around the table—where had that come from? Perhaps Professor Schulz’s comments had put the idea in my head. “The guy at the museum said a senator was asking questions along the same lines as mine. It just…came to me.”
“Well, keep it under your hat,” Will said. “He’s one of the oldest Fangborn around, born at the beginning of the nineteenth century; he’ll step down at the end of his term in two years. But for the moment, we’re looking for Dmitri Parshin, who’s as big a threat to humankind as he is to the Fangborn.”
I couldn’t stand not knowing any longer. “So did your interest in the Fangborn start before or after we dated?”
“After. But not by much.”
“To get back at me.”
Will looked at me. “Yes. As soon as we broke up, I immediately went searching for a government organization specializing in the history and culture of an otherwise unknown group of superhuman, hypernatural beings, on the astronomically remote chance you were one. That way, I could spend the next years of my life finding a way to hurt you as much as you hurt me.”
I couldn’t help it; I grinned. “OK, that was dumb. But how…?”
“Zoe, you knew I was looking into government work back when we were dating. Park Service, Army Corps of Engineers, my résumé was circulating. And the TRG discovered your existence about the time you left me. Questions and long, long discussions ensued, followed by a job offer. For a while, I admit, I thought I might use it to get back to you, once I learned about your history.” He looked away, then back at me. “Now I’m just worried about getting Danny home safely.”
“How did they find out about me?”
“Recently, a document about a certain…facility…came to light. There was a list of names with photos. I almost flipped out when I recognized your mother’s picture among them. And that she’d somehow managed to leave and keep from being discovered for so many years.”
“What?” I recalled the note my mother had left me. “What else do you know?”
“Nothing. All I saw was the list of names.” He cocked his head. “But there must be more information to be had. It wasn’t my brief.”
“What about you guys?” I asked Claudia. “Are you part of this TRG?”
“Um, no,” she said. “But I think we’re connected by blood.”
“What?” This time Will was the surprised one.
Gerry leaned forward. “I’m pretty sure our grandfather, Jacob Steuben, was one of the first Fangborn to become involved with them. I found some family papers, sealed up and buried beneath the back shed when I was replacing it last year. They were written by Grandpa Jake, and they told of some weird stuff he and his Cousins got up to, on the home front and abroad, during the Second World War. The papers mentioned an FBI agent, who Grandpa said introduced him to Mr. Roundtree.” He turned to Claudia. “What was his name? Harry Green?”
“Gray,” Will said quietly. “And you’re not supposed to know any of that. It’s dangerous for you, for us.”
“Well, we do know about it,” Claudia said. “And we’re in this now. So consider us legacies.”
I didn’t care about institutional memory. “You’re after Dmitri?” I asked Will.
His expression didn’t belong in that sunny courtyard. It belonged among gravestones, on a battlefield, in a morgue, not within sight of laughing, chatting Berliners. “Yes. And I want you to go after him. I want you to wear a wire and lure Dmitri out into the open so we can get him.”
I didn’t know how angry I was at him, and Claudia and Gerry, at that very moment until I actually stood up. Growling, I felt the pull of Claudia’s suggestion and ignored it. Will was back in my life, but was endangering Danny by being here. They’d told him everything; everyone knew more than me. I was nothing but a pawn to any of them.
“We told you back in Boston,” Gerry said. “Dmitri is not just a threat to Normals interfering with his illegal activities. He wants to become Fangborn. He doesn’t understand. It’s birth, not biting, not a spell, not a curse. He’s not only a danger to the human world, he also threatens us. Anything that draws attention to our existence is a threat. Right now, we’re very vulnerable.”
“It is possible, too,” Claudia said cautiously, “that the objects he’s seeking do have some power. We don’t know what, but it’s imperative we find them first.”
I didn’t care what Dmitri was, not really, beyond his present role in my life. It didn’t matter how awful he was. I hated how casually they were willing to risk my life and Danny’s to get what they wanted.
So far from hiding, I was now out in plain sight, with people I needed to trust using my existence to further their own ends. So far from avoiding authorities and other Fangborn, I was at the center of multiple conspiracies I knew nothing about. The security and anonymity I’d worked so hard for were only illusions, shattered by friends.
A last tug, like fingers losing their grip, and all sensation of Claudia’s restraint left me with an almost physical snap. I fled downstairs and into the toilets, which were unisex stalls with a common sink area. I closed a door behind me and tried to get it together.
A moment later, a creak of the door, and a pair of women’s shoes were visible beneath the stall.
“Go away, Claudia. I…just give me a minute.” No response, but a folded piece of paper slid between the door and the stall partition.
I took it, realizing that the feet I saw didn’t match Claudia’s. She wouldn’t wear green suede sneakers.
I took the paper and unfolded it.
It read: The phone on the sink is now yours.
As I stepped out, the phone rang. I slipped the earpiece on and pressed the button.
“Yes?”
“You are speaking to an agent of the United States government.”
It was Dmitri. How the hell—?
“Yes, but I didn’t know he—he found me! How did you find—?”
“You must leave him. Immediately. Very much depends on
it.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” I wasn’t about to offer up that I was with two Fangborn. Shedding them wouldn’t be easy.
I heard a scream. My blood stopped in my veins and froze to ice.
It was Danny.
Dmitri came back on the line. “Tell him you are going to meet me at the Natural History Museum, near the Berlin Central Station. One hour. This is what he expects, no? When the time comes, I will give you your true destination.”
“What time? What are you talking about?”
“There will be trouble; I have unearthed one traitor. Do your best not to be killed or captured.”
Captured? “Killed? By who? And you’d better let me see Danny, or I swear to God—”
The discussion ended with a click.
“You stupid, goddamned—”
The door opened, the same creak as before alerting me. I had just enough time to shove the new phone into my pocket.
It was Will.
“—showing up with all these demands on me!” I turned, glared at him as if he was the one I’d been cussing.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wire and a small battery pack. A roll of surgical tape. While he was distracted, I grabbed the earpiece and shoved that into my pocket, acting like I was ready to pull my hair out.
It wasn’t hard.
He held up the wire, waiting.
I lifted my hands in resignation. Between Will and Dmitri, what choice did I have? “I need to know one thing first.”
“What?”
“Tell me you weren’t dating me because I…of what I am.”
Will closed his eyes, tilted his head, and pursed his lips. It was the face he made when he was trying not to smile. I’d seen him employ it a hundred times with freshmen. “You asked me out, remember?”
“Yeah, but—”
“But what? But I made you want me? I made you wait for nearly a whole year? Yeah.” He nodded, letting a faint smile appear. “I’m that good.”
I shrugged. I was too confused and upset for humor.
“Zoe, I dated you, I lived with you, I loved you for no other reason than you. Right up to the point where you broke my heart.” He thought about it for a moment. “However unselfishly, you broke my heart.”
His words were simple, but they felt real, honest to the core. It wasn’t the Beast but knowing Will that told me that.
Will cleared his throat. “The wire is just a precaution,” he said, back to business. “We have plenty of circumstantial evidence on Dmitri, but if we can add Danny’s kidnapping, so much the better. Much less likely he’ll wiggle out of extradition if the Normal authorities get hold of him first.”
He paused, looking uncomfortable. Not knowing where to start.
There was no time to process my misery. Dmitri was waiting. I lifted my shirt. “Go ahead. It’s not like you haven’t seen them before.”
I tried not to jump when I felt his hands on my skin. I noticed he tried to touch me as little as possible.
The flood of happier memories—so out of place at the moment, so badly missed—made me turn away from the mirror. I couldn’t look myself in the eye. I sure as hell couldn’t look at him, not when I was about to spoil his plans for capturing Dmitri.
“You know,” Will said as he worked, “I wouldn’t be doing this if I thought there was any real danger to you. I would never do anything to hurt you.”
He let his hand rest on my side. I let him. It felt warm, the skin of his hand a little rough. I wanted to embrace him; it felt right, but I didn’t have time for right. Neither of us did.
He nodded, then turned away, gathering up his materials. “But what am I saying? You were almost always brave. Maybe not trusting, but brave.”
He said it kindly enough, factually, trying to be nice, trying to reassure me. Maybe trying to mend what was between us, and just for that, I wanted to kiss him. I owed him something, at least for what I was going to do, which would probably ruin his career and cause havoc with the international antiquities and Fangborn communities, but never mind.
He hadn’t heard Danny’s scream.
I couldn’t bring myself to kiss Will, though I knew the signs: he wanted to kiss me. A little human, hell, even superhuman contact wouldn’t have been amiss, as I might be dead within the next few hours. Almost, I leaned in—I could smell his hair, remembered how his lips felt—but I just couldn’t do it. If I did, I’d give in to my emotions, and I needed to stay sharp.
“Look. I’m…sorry.” I took his hand, not trusting myself to move closer. “I’m sorry for leaving you. My God, I’m sorry I didn’t find a way to figure out what was going on with me sooner. I didn’t know whether I was a mental case, a murderer, or a werewolf, or some of each.”
I shuddered, remembering the recurring nightmare where I savagely turned on Will and killed him. “All I could think was that I needed to protect you. There was nothing permanent in my life then, not even my human shape. But now I know: I’m a monster, not just a ghost who passes through other people’s lives. At least a monster can apologize.”
“Zoe, you’re not a monster. I understand. I know all about the Fangborn.”
“Yeah, but I don’t.” Damn it, now I was starting to cry. I snuffled and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. If I started now, I wouldn’t stop. “That’s the problem. I have no time to learn what I am, what you and I…”
“Zoe—” He leaned toward me.
What the hell, I thought. I tilted my head up—
The door opened. It was Claudia this time. She was holding the cell phone I’d originally been given by Dmitri. It was ringing.
“I think it’s time, guys.” She handed it to me, along with the bag I’d ditched when I’d fled Will.
I hit the button and juggled the phone as I confirmed the figurines were still safe. “Yes?”
A voice, gruff, accented, but not Dmitri’s. “Don’t forget what you were told before.”
“Yes.”
“One hour.”
The connection was broken. I turned to them and shrugged. “I have to be at the Natural History Museum in an hour.”
“OK,” Will said. “We know what we’re doing.”
I most certainly do not. But with any luck, I’ll figure out how to keep Dmitri from killing Danny.
Will hadn’t noticed I’d checked out. “I’ll get my people into place; they’re already making sure we’re not being tracked ourselves. Claudia, if you and Gerry are still willing…?”
She nodded. “We’re on it.”
“Then let’s get going.”
Their plan was this: I’d do just as I was told. Will’s people from the TRG would be surrounding the area, ready to snag Dmitri and his men, or, barring that, follow me if I got further instructions. Gerry and Claudia would wait in reserve, ready to follow me if a change of tail—as it were—turned out to be necessary.
Doing as I was told, by anyone, was not my strong suit. I began to sweat. Will might have loved me, but now the only thing he wanted was to catch Dmitri. I couldn’t risk him jeopardizing Danny. I had no intention of obeying Will, and would shortly dodge out to my real rendezvous with Dmitri. And since I was going to use every bit of guile I had to thwart Dmitri once I got there, I wasn’t feeling very sanguine. The minimum I could hope for was to rescue my cousin, giving up the figurines in return.
And if all else fails, maybe Dmitri’ll take a broken werewolf in exchange for Danny.
Chapter 15
I wasn’t thinking clearly about my plan, but at one point, when I stopped to retie my shoe, I grabbed a loose half of a cobble and stuck it in my hoodie pocket. I also inserted the earpiece to the new phone.
It wasn’t a long walk back to the Oranienburger Strasse S-bahn stop, but it took longer than it should because everyone following me was trying to stay at a distance from everyone else. Even though I was nearly jumping out of my skin with impatience and fear, Fangborn instinct told me it must be obvious to anyone we were all moving in
a big block, heading to the same destination. Every once in a while, I would see Will mumbling something to no one in particular, and I knew he was talking to unseen others. Thing was, I could start to sense these others, fit them into the grid they’d learned in whatever training they’d had. Once or twice I tried to sniff the air, but I couldn’t smell anything over the city smells. Even when I couldn’t see them directly, the idea of Will’s team surrounding me was very strong.
I purchased my fare and got on the next train. I had barely settled into my seat when my phone vibrated. I turned it on, as nonchalantly as I could, as if I was looking at a map route. There was a hiss in my earpiece.
“Get out at Friedrichstrasse. Lose them there. Then go to Brandenburger Tor.”
The plan had been for me to change lines for the train at Friedrichstrasse to the Natural History Museum. I hoped to be able to lose Will there, then continue underground. “Got it,” I mumbled, moving my lips as little as possible.
Late afternoon crowds started to fill the platforms. I stood up and paced, as if I was anxious. Not a stretch. I could see Will watching me, and sensed there was at least one other of his people nearby. I smiled briefly, nervously, and tried to focus on the map of the subway line. I couldn’t keep anything in my head for more than two seconds.
The stop came, the platform teeming. I was pushed aside by a group of schoolchildren, and trying to find a clear spot, I slipped out.
It was just a moment, then I could feel panic radiate around me as Will and his team realized I was no longer on the train. I pushed through the crowd, losing myself, and before he could get out, Will was trapped on the departing train.
I wasn’t alone yet. I sensed others nearby, so I dashed across the street, entering the main part of the station. I hoped I wouldn’t lose my own way in the snarl of U-bahn, S-bahn, and tram lines, a maze of concrete and yellowish tile on several levels. To make matters worse, there was an underground mall so commuters didn’t have to go above ground to shop on their way home. Eventually I felt Will’s teammates fade from my awareness and, with a few false starts, wound my way back to the correct line.
