by Logan Byrne
“This is all too much, even for me, and I have something living in me,” Blake said.
“What if it chose me? Like when I was born, what if it knew somehow of what was to come? It’s ancient, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Well, yes, it’s very ancient, but what you’re implying is that it is a spirit that what, transcends life itself, finding a new host whenever its current one dies?” he asked.
“Maybe, I don’t know. The whole business is new to me, but I can’t shake what the talisman said. It’s all too crazy to be coincidental,” I said.
“Whatever it is, I’ll try to look into it more. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a reference in any of my books or texts that said it was a spirit of some kind, but with the way things are going, I wouldn’t be shocked. I’ll try to find more information but for now, you two should go and get ready for the day. You both still have work here, you know. Thank you again for your hard work and dedication. It won’t go unnoticed with us,” Mirian said, patting Blake and me on the back literally and figuratively.
“Excited to get back into it?” Blake asked as we left Mirian’s office.
“Back to the grind of this case? Yes, but also no. I’d really just love to pursue my thing a bit more, but I suppose work never stops in this profession, does it?” I asked.
“Lexa! Blake! You’re back!” Charlie said, running up and hugging both of us, a smile on his face. “I’ve missed you guys, and Lexa, we have some catching up to do. Xelia and I found out some more information during your absence.”
“I’m going to get cleaned up and dressed, but I’m excited to hear whatever it is you guys found out. We need all the information we can get,” I said, smiling.
Blake walked me to my room and gave me one of his sly kisses that were way too quick before leaving me alone. Britta wasn’t around, probably looking for Blake the same way Charlie was for me. I flung myself on my bed for a two-minute lie-down while I looked up at the ceiling. It was so much more comfortable than the ground or a tree branch, and I could feel my spine shifting back into place after sitting on the dirt for so long. This room might be cold and damp sometimes, but it was home, and it was damn sure better than that fleabag motel I’d been staying in before Mirian recruited me.
•••
“So what’s going on?” I asked, walking into Xelia’s office. She and Charlie were sitting around her desk, looking at papers and photographs that it looked like they’d taken.
“How did your side mission go?” Xelia asked.
“It went well, we got what we needed to. Charlie said something about you guys finding stuff out?” I asked, changing the topic so people walking outside wouldn’t find out about the talisman.
“We did some reconnaissance work, which we have the photos of here,” she said, sliding some of the pictures over to me. “It looks like they’re transporting, or have been transporting, some of the people they’ve been changing, including the babies. Also, it looks like they might be a front in the club for drugs.”
“You guys found all this out in that short amount of time?” I asked, shocked.
“I think we just got lucky,” Charlie said, leaning back in his chair. “They happened to be doing this stuff while we were tracking them. Faus helped with the equipment, and we were able to go from there. We’re pretty solid on the drug charges. They’re possibly manufacturing them there, we wouldn’t know without a search and warrant, but they’re definitely distributing them inside the building to the club’s patrons.”
“Why aren’t we pursuing it, then?” I asked.
“We only have one shot at this, remember? If we go in there and raid the place, we can never go back. They’ll move everything out, all their activities, and we won’t be able to find out where they go next. Either that, or it would take a lot of time, resources, and nights on reconnaissance to find out. We need to make sure we’re ready to go first,” Xelia said.
“What more do you think we need to get?” I asked.
“Maybe better proof of the shiftings they’re doing inside. We can’t go by your spell, so we’re going to need hard evidence for a judge to give us a warrant. What we have now isn’t even circumstantial, given it was illegally obtained,” she said.
“How should we go about getting proof? It isn’t going to be easy to just walk in the front door, go in back, and get pictures of what’s going on, is it?” I asked.
“Charlie and I have already come up with a plan. First, it’s going to involve getting Britta and Blake on board, if you think they’ll help,” she said.
“Of course, I know they’d love to be a part of this,” I replied.
“Good. Blake, Charlie, and I will keep their guards preoccupied. We found out they have a door around the back where they do most of their transports. We’ll take care of the guards, and you and Britta will go inside and navigate to one of the rooms where they’re shifting people or holding them in incubation. We only need one picture for proof, and the judge will sign that warrant so fast it will make your head spin,” Xelia said.
“How are we going to avoid being seen, though?” I asked.
“You’re going to have to use an Obscurio spell, I reckon. It should provide enough of a shroud in the dark hallways to hide you from any vampires inside,” she said.
“If things go south, we can always stun them. It’s better than being seen,” I said.
“When is this going down?” Charlie asked.
“Tonight, if you guys are ready. Tuesday nights are their busiest nights, two-for-one drinks, and I’m guessing they’ll put their men mostly inside and not at the back entrance. That will leave only two guards out back,” she said.
“I’ll go fill in Britta and Blake on the mission and get their consent. You guys work on a plan. I’d rather catch these guys when we have the least resistance,” I said.
•••
“We sure are helping you guys with a lot of cases,” Britta said, as she and Blake sat in the cafeteria for lunch.
“Oh come on, this is a bust that will carry on for you guys as well,” I said. “Imagine your names being attached to a bust this huge. Vampires are kidnapping mortals and transforming them against their will, and they’re impregnating them and harvesting vampire babies. Xelia said the consequences are huge, and that an army of those guys running around would be enough to overpower us all.”
“Fine. That sounds too good to pass up. I’m in,” Britta said, smiling. I had a feeling she was in from the start but just wanted to make me sweat a bit. Whatever, I had her consent and that was all that mattered.
“What’s the plan?” Blake asked.
“Well, it’s tonight, and Xelia is coming up with an exact plan now. It involves you, Charlie, and Xelia taking out the guards and keeping watch while Britta and I go in and get proof of their operations,” I said.
“I don’t like it,” Blake said.
“What, why not? It’s a good plan,” I said.
“You two alone against a club full of sadistic vampires? What if you get caught, or you’re seen? Then what?” he asked.
“We’ll be fine,” Britta said.
“And what if you’re not? I want to go in with you,” he said.
“We can’t hide you. We have our Obscurio spell for ourselves, but tracking it on you while we’re moving would be too difficult. Besides, if things go bad outside, we need you to fight them off,” I said.
“I’m not happy about this, Lexa. I’m really not,” he said, crossing his arms.
I winced a little, rolling my eyes, not sure what to make of him. I got that he was being protective, but he wasn’t my father. I was a big girl, I had the mark, and I knew I could handle myself, especially with my best friend by my side. Britta and I were powerful witches, even if we were young, and we could read each other’s minds in combat. We would be fine. I just sometimes wished he didn’t act like I was some fragile princess who couldn’t fight.
“We’ll go through with it tonight. Be ready by eight, Xelia
wants to go over the plan and then we’ll move into action. Wear black,” I said, before getting up and going back to the office. There was a lot to plan, and I intended to take these losers down.
11
“Are we all clear on the plan?” Xelia asked as the five of us stood outside waiting to make a move on the club.
“We should all be ready. Lexa, Britta, are you sure you’re up for the challenge of going in alone?” Blake asked.
“They’ll be fine, I know Lexa’s power and I have trust in her,” Charlie said, backing me up.
“We’ll be fine, Blake, but thank you for your concern. We have each other’s backs,” Britta said, nudging me and smiling.
“We can be gooey and dramatic afterwards. For now, we need to get into position. Charlie and I are going to get in close before taking out the guards. Blake, we need you to patrol the entrance to this alleyway in case anybody tries to get in. That could be people, trucks, shipments, anything. Just make sure nobody, especially any mortals, comes down here,” Xelia said, pulling on black leather gloves.
“Got it,” he said.
“Let’s go,” Xelia said, a small smile on her face.
Britta and I hid within sight of the alleyway, behind a dumpster with cracked and faded green paint, as Charlie shifted into his jaguar form and prowled closer and closer to the back door to the club. There were two large men, but neither of them looked like they possessed much of anything in terms of intelligence. I noticed Xelia bouncing between the shadows. The men in the back didn’t look vampiric, which was going to be a plus for her.
They were talking, their deep voices echoing down the alleyway, until they went silent. Charlie was on top of one of them, his massive paw on the back of the man’s head, his drool escaping and pooling on the concrete, while Xelia had the other in a sleeper hold before letting him drop to the ground.
“Are they dead?” I asked when Britta and I walked up.
“No, just knocked out. Here’s his key card. You might need it,” she said, ripping it off the man’s jacket and handing it to me.
“Ready?” I asked, looking at Britta.
“As ready as I can be,” she replied, before raising the tip of her wand to her nose. I swiped the card, the little red light turning green, and we cracked open the door just enough for us to slip inside.
“Obscurio,” we both incanted, and a shroud of invisibility appeared and hovered around us. We could see one another, a bonus to the spell, but nobody else could see us. A bright fluorescent light flickered above us, a small puddle of water in the cold hallway rippling as we walked through it even though nobody was in sight to cause it.
I turned the corner first, seeing a man sitting on a metal folding chair right in front of me. I panicked at first, but stayed calm, shuffling past him with concentrated footsteps so as not to kick anything or make any noise to alert him. He didn’t notice us, his face buried in an adult magazine, so we continued on.
The bass from the club inside was pounding, making my organs feel just as jostled back here as they did when we were inside the club. Britta put her hand on my back, and I looked back to make sure she was okay. She nodded that she was, and nobody was behind her, which was what frightened me. Finding these incubation rooms was proving to be harder than expected. I remembered some of this, the back of the club, from the vampire’s memories, but I couldn’t make sense of it all. I guess I only saw fragments of it from that guy, so everything else was foreign.
“It’s your turn to watch the kids tonight,” one man said from around a corner ten feet ahead on our left.
“Hey, fine with me. They don’t talk back and I don’t have to worry about them getting up and running off,” the other voice said, laughing. We turned the corner stealthily, seeing two obvious vampires talking. One turned his head, looking straight at us, before sniffing the air.
“Do you smell that?” he asked the other guy.
He looked our way, my heart racing, as Britta tightened her grip on my shoulder. We couldn’t be found out already, and there was no way they were able to see us. “I think they turned on the fog machines. I love that smell,” the first man said.
I let out a silent sigh, my pulse going back to normal, before the men started to walk away. “Well, have fun with your patrol,” the first man said.
“On it now,” the second one said, before they parted at an intersection in the hallways. That was it—he was our guy to follow. Britta realized the same thing, both of us picking up speed down the empty hallway, turning the corner just in time to see him go up a flight of stairs.
Luckily the stairs leading up to the second floor didn’t have a door. The man in front of us, about six feet tall with slicked blond hair, was like a homing beacon we knew we could trust to follow. The only problem I saw was what we’d do when he led us to the babies. Not only because we would have to take care of him, but how was I going to leave all those babies, knowing what they would soon become?
“You’re relieved. My turn for the night,” the man said to another vampire who was already sitting there guarding the room.
“About time. Good luck,” the sitting man said, standing up and walking right past us.
“Ugh,” the man said, plopping down in the chair, not taking out a phone, a magazine, or anything. I looked back at Britta, both of us at a loss, before we gained a little distance and were able to see inside the room. The man was sitting between two rooms, and there was enough space on each side for us to sneak up, but there was no way to open the doors without him noticing. We had to take him out.
“You do it,” I whispered as softly as I could, my mouth to Britta’s ear.
“Dormio,” she whispered, a small bolt hitting the man. He was instantly fast asleep.
Still in our Obscurio, we walked up to the door and slipped inside, the room dark with only dim orange lights illuminating small areas.
“We’re inside,” Britta whispered into a radio she pulled from her pocket.
“Good, we were getting worried. Get the evidence and then get out of there. We can’t hold these guys down forever. They already radioed once and Charlie had to act like them,” Xelia said.
I took out a camera, taking photographs of all the babies inside. They were drugged, or just asleep, but they had IVs in their arms. It was weird, seeing cute babies, but knowing that within a couple months they would be as large as small children, and beyond that, they’d be ruthless killers who would do whatever it took to make sure Kiren took over the world. How could something so sweet, and so precious, do the things they were being bred to do? Was it nature, nurture, a bit of both?
I took my pictures, showing the babies and their conditions, as well as some papers that hung from clipboards on the front of the cribs. “We should find the women they’re harvesting,” I said to Britta.
“Lexa, we don’t have time for that,” she said, wrapping up her photos.
“Won’t it help our case, to have that kind of proof? A judge would surely grant us a warrant in a snap of a finger,” I said.
“Lexa, he’ll do it with just this evidence alone. I don’t think we should rock the boat. We also need to think about the guys outside. You heard Xelia, they’re being pressed,” she said.
“Fine, you’re right. Let’s just get out of here and get the warrant,” I said, letting go of my ambition to get more. I knew she was right, though, she always was. Xelia and Charlie were having problems outside, and they were my partners. I couldn’t leave them high and dry and risk our entire operation and us being exposed just because of a hunch. The photos we had were enough.
“Obscurio,” we said, our shroud enveloping us again. The guard was still asleep as we crept out of the room, a string of drool dripping from his mouth and pooling on his black shirt. I shook my head, before we turned to go back the way we came.
Suddenly I heard footsteps ahead of us. “Why is he asleep?” one man asked another, as they walked towards us.
“Lexa,” Britta whispered, panicked. Th
ey were large, both walking side by side and taking up most of the hallway that we needed to go down.
“Other way, go the other way,” I whispered hastily.
“But we don’t—”
“Britta!” I said, as softly as I could while still letting her know to move her butt before we were caught.
She obliged, both of us scurrying down the hallway towards the opposite end. There were no stairs, only another hallway that looked like it went down forever without stopping. We walked down it until we saw a window that we could get out of if we sucked it in.
“What if it triggers an alarm?” Britta asked.
“It’s either this, blow up the side of the building, or go back to the three men in the hallway that we can’t get around. I think we have to take the chance,” I said, knowing full well the risks this method carried. I didn’t see another way, though, and going back the way we came was no longer an option.
With the Obscurio still active, we slid open the rusty weathered window, trying to make sure it didn’t creak as it went up. There was a thin ledge outside. We were only two stories up. I think we were both glad we hadn’t eaten dinner and didn’t have full stomachs because I wasn’t sure tonight’s mashed potatoes would’ve made it out with us. Britta closed the window and erased any trace of our passing, as the two of us stood on the ledge, holding on to small bricks that had just enough finger room in the cracked mortar.
“Levio,” Britta said, before jumping off the side of the building.
“Britta!” I said, unable to believe my eyes. She didn’t fall to her doom, instead floating down like a feather. Her feet touched the pavement and she looked up, seeing I hadn’t committed yet.
“Lexa, come on, we have to go,” she said, taking out her radio. “We exited another way. Get out of there and rendezvous with us back at our original location.”
“Levio,” I said, before hopping off. I didn’t come down as slowly as Britta, my feet slamming the pavement, and I scraped my hand on the concrete.
