by Natalie Grey
Both men froze.
“And lest you think I can’t do it,” Gabrielle said sweetly, letting her eyes go red and her teeth grow, “you should know that Thiago, Santino, your two snipers, and the guy who snuck off for a cigarette are already dead.”
One of them drew in a breath to scream.
“Ah, ah, ah.” Gabrielle punched through his bulletproof vest and pulled his heart out. “No screaming. That’s against the rules.” She smiled at the other man. “I guess it’s just you and me then.”
His gun clattered to the ground and he took off for the end of the block like a man possessed.
He made it barely three yards, and Gabrielle disappeared into the night to find the two members of the patrol.
Tabitha emerged from the shadows to stare at the two bodies. These men would have killed her family without hesitation, she knew. It was strange, just how much she hated them for that. If Santino had ordered it, they would have gone into the house and killed everyone there for no reason at all.
She didn’t like it, but she was glad he was dead.
And then before she had the chance to move, the door opened and light flooded into the street.
“Tabitha?” her mother whispered.
Chapter Six
Tabitha froze. She turned her head away, trying to think—but her mind was a muddle. Did she want to go? To stay?
And then her mother was there, tears in her eyes, and wrapped Tabitha in a hug. “You’re alive,” she whispered.
“How did you even recognize me?” Tabitha whispered. “With the hair and the—”
“You’re my daughter,” her mother said firmly. “I can recognize my daughter even when she has bits of metal through her face. Why you had to do a nose ring I’m not quite certain, but it does suit you in a way. I’m sure you’ll find a man who…” She practically dragged Tabitha through the open door, chattering all the while.
“Tabitha?” Her younger sister Selise jumped out of her chair at the kitchen table and ran to hug her. “Dad, it’s Tabitha!”
Tabitha swayed. Everything hit her at once: the smell of her mother’s cooking, the orange-scented soap she always used on the dishes, the way the wooden tables and chairs gave off their familiar oak-y smell. There was a new dog at the edge of the kitchen, wagging a fluffy tail cautiously as its humans laughed and cried over this strange newcomer.
From the street, Gabrielle watched as Tabitha’s father came to enfold her in a hug as well. She smiled. She had hoped Tabitha would speak to her parents, and she was glad that there was none of the anger or resentment that Tabitha had been afraid of.
Tabitha, meanwhile, caught a glimpse of Gabrielle in the shadows as her mother shut the door. There was time to see Gabrielle nod. She was standing guard, and would wait.
How many hours passed in that kitchen Tabitha was not sure. She was careful to give an edited version of recent events, but knew that her parents would be able to connect the dots on some things. After all, they had lived in Buenos Aires for years. They knew what could happen when someone got caught up in the gangs.
She expected them to be angry at her for being so stupid as to get caught, but her parents, it seemed, were proud of her in their own way.
“I have missed you, my dearest love,” her mother said with tears streaming down her face. “We would have kept you safe. We would have helped you—but how could I be mad that my daughter would do such a selfless thing to help her family?”
Tabitha, who knew that her mother could not have called in anyone strong enough to have taken Anton on, just smiled and clasped her mother’s hands.
“Can you stay now?” her father asked quietly. He was not a man who cried, but once or twice in this conversation she had seen a suspicious sheen in his eyes.
“I can’t,” Tabitha explained. “I mean, I could. I’m not being hunted anymore, but the organization I’m with now—they are trying to keep those types of people from hurting anyone else. They work to keep people safe, and I want to keep working with them. I’ll be around more, so I can come visit. And I can email and call! I just won’t always be here.”
“That will set your mother’s heart at ease,” her father said, “although you could also set it at ease by not doing ridiculous things with your hair.”
“Dad!”
Her mother smiled to hear the two of them bickering, and got up to go to the door.
“Where are you going, Mom?” Tabitha asked her.
“Well, there were two men sleeping in the street near you, and I think I should try to hurry them along in case the police come through.”
“Oh! Uh, you probably don’t need to do that.” Tabitha winced, hoping against hope that her mother wouldn’t realize what she’d seen was two dead assassins. “You know, Mom, you really don’t need to—”
But the street was empty when her mother opened the door. Apparently Gabrielle had been busy getting things taken care of.
Tabitha sagged against the door frame in relief. “Phew.”
“Hmm?” Her mother looked at her.
“Nothing. I, uh, have to go. Selise needs to finish her homework, and I’ll be home again soon, I promise.” Tabitha wrote down a new email address. “I don’t have a phone right now, but I’ll get one so I can call you.”
“Please do.” Her mother kissed her on the cheek and enfolded her in another hug. “I never lost hope, but part of me always feared the worst. To know you are alive and safe—it’s a miracle. I can hardly believe it. Those who helped you escape, they are heaven-sent. I will pray for them.”
Tabitha thought about Michael’s sensibilities and smiled. “I think they’d like that.”
She left her family waving at her from the open doorway and headed into the streets with her hands in her pockets. Her heart was full.
A shadow appeared at her side with the distinctive click of heels on pavement, but Gabrielle didn’t speak. She let Tabitha walk in silence. It was clear to her that Tabitha was happier now, and that she had done what she needed to do. She’d not only made sure her family was safe, but was the one who had taken action to ensure it.
“Thanks,” Tabitha said finally. “I know this wasn’t exactly a fun girls’ night out with bad jokes and drinks and all that.”
“Believe it or not, I quite enjoyed myself,” Gabrielle said cheerfully. “I’m glad you were willing to accept help. Choices you have to make on your own, but as for what you do, you can always call on your allies.”
“D’you think...” Tabitha swallowed, and considered. “Do you think that someday maybe I could help someone else like you helped me?”
Gabrielle answered without hesitation, “I do. I really do.”
“I’d like that,” Tabitha confided.
But she stopped dead the next second, the smile fading from her face.
Joaquin stood in the road in front of them. He was unarmed, and his expression was miserable.
“I heard,” he said finally.
Tabitha crossed her arms and said nothing.
“That Santino and Thiago are dead,” Joaquin clarified. “It can only have been you two, so I thought I’d make it easy for you to find me.”
Tabitha still said nothing.
“You can kill me,” Joaquin told her. “I won’t make a fuss. Just… If I can bargain for anything with you, please don’t hurt my family. Let my death be the end of it.”
Something in Tabitha snapped.
“You think I want to harm your family?” she demanded. “You think I’d take my anger at you out on defenseless and innocent people?”
“I hurt you. I sold you out.” Joaquin shook his head. “Your family could have gotten hurt—I saw the guards there.”
“So maybe that means I know how awful that is, not that I would ever do it!” Tabitha shot back. “You know what sucks about all this? About seeing you again? You’re a coward now, and you’re stupid—even stupider than I was. I was, what…thirteen? Fourteen? Well, what’s your excuse? Even I didn’t let my family
get caught up in my shit.”
“I don’t have any excuse.” He met her eyes. “Even though I knew it was stupid, I told myself I had no choice. I told myself the city was big enough that I could disappear and not have them know where I’d gone once I’d made enough money, but I was wrong.”
Tabitha stared him down.
Still at her side, Gabrielle watched patiently. Killing Joaquin would hardly be difficult. She could be at his throat before he even had a chance to scream, but she found that she had no idea what Tabitha would do now.
Tabitha had admitted to wanting Joaquin dead, but it was one thing to want that when you were powerless, and another to have that power in your hands.
Joaquin sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “I did the wrong thing. I know that.”
“Oh, for the love of… I’m not going to kill you, okay?” Tabitha shook her head angrily. “I don’t just go around killing people because they made a couple bad choices. Those guards are dead because they stood by and watched innocent people get killed—or killed those people themselves. Santino and Thiago are dead because they didn’t care who they used or how they used them as long as they got whatever they wanted. You… You’re just stupid.”
“You’re not going to kill me?”
“No. For one thing, I like that you had the balls to argue for your family.” Tabitha gave a surly shrug and blew out her breath. “For another, someone gave me a second chance not too long ago.”
“I-I can’t… Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me just yet.” Tabitha gave him a look. “Here’s the deal, okay? I’m going to let you walk away tonight, and you’re going to go home and say something nice to your family. And if you ever, ever try to screw someone over again ‘because you needed the money,’ I will make sure that what happens to your dick is a warning to every other man on the planet. No, you know what? Let’s throw everything in there. I want it to be a warning to everyone.”
Gabrielle stifled her laughter with her hand.
“And I will know,” Tabitha said, pointing a finger at him. “You might think I won’t, but I will. Remember that. Oh, and one other thing.”
“Yes?” Joaquin’s face was grayish now.
“Get the hell out of here, I don’t want to see you ever again.”
Gabrielle pretended to shade her eyes as she watched him practically run down the street. “Wow, look at him go.”
“Uh-huh.” Tabitha tilted her head to the side. “Got some good speed there.”
Gabrielle nodded. “I think you did the right thing, for what it’s worth. He screwed you over, but you were right. He did argue for his family, and he didn’t try to escape the consequences of what he did. If you killed everyone over the first infraction, you’d—”
She looked around in confusion. Tabitha had disappeared into thin air. It took a moment of looking and a few exploratory sniffs to identify the direction the woman had vanished in.
“Tabitha?”
“Over here! This way!” Tabitha shouted. “It’s urgent! Come on!”
Epilogue
“I have to say,” Gabrielle said a few minute later, “I don’t think this qualifies as urgent.”
“Good choripan is always urgent,” Tabitha explained.
The little hole-in-the-wall restaurant was furnished with rickety chairs and metal tables covered with red and white tablecloths. Smoke hung heavy in the air, as did the smells of oil, onions, meat, and fried bread.
A man came out of the back and set down two bottles of Coca Cola, and Gabrielle stared at the soda, then back at Tabitha.
“Coke? Really?”
“That’s what you drink with choripan,” Tabitha explained. She picked up her sandwich and took a nibble. “Mmmm…”
Gabrielle took a bite and chewed. “You know, this is pretty good.”
“It’s hard not to just wolf it down,” Tabitha explained. She shook her head. “But I want to savor it, you know?”
“Well, you’re going to be nearby most of the time, right?” Gabrielle asked. “So you can get these when you come to see your parents or whatever.”
“I suppose I could,” Tabitha agreed. “You know, it doesn’t taste quite like I remember, though.”
Gabrielle smiled. “You mean, it doesn’t taste the same way it did when you were half-starving and living on rice and it was your one indulgence?”
“I suppose,” Tabitha said, around a large mouthful, apparently having given up on her plan to savor the sandwich.
“I’ve been there,” Gabrielle confided. “Food tastes better when you’ve been sleeping on rocky ground and living on limited rations. You’re tired, you’re hungry—well, humans get hungry, anyway—and a bite of something even a little luxurious tastes like heaven. Hell, if you get hungry enough even rice tastes good.”
Tabitha smiled wanly. “I guess that’s true. I just wish it tasted like… Well, like it used to.” She shrugged and brightened, and picked up her bottle of Coke to clink it against Gabrielle’s. “Now it’ll taste like freedom, I’ve decided.”
Gabrielle laughed and toasted her. “A good meal for freedom. No lines, no need to dress up. Just you in your old neighborhood, enjoying your favorite food.”
“Exactly.” Tabitha scooped up a stray onion. “You know, this night has been really weird. When I was here before, everyone else controlled everything. Now I’m in control. It’s unsettling.”
“That’s growing up, cherie.” Gabrielle smiled at her. “That’s growing up. And yeah it feels weird, but it’s good weird, isn’t it?”
“Very good,” Tabitha admitted. She considered. “So what do we do now? We told Michael we might be gone for a couple of days.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Gabrielle grinned. “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to shop our asses off. We’re going to get a super-swanky hotel room with the biggest beds you ever saw. We’re going to get massages. We’re going to have amazing drinks. And we’re going to get a few more choripanes while we’re at it.”
“Hell. Yes.” Tabitha held up her hand for a high-five. “Let’s get on that.”
FINIS
Seed Vault
By Natalie Grey & Michael Anderle
Chapter 1
Romania
Alexi loped through the forest, big paws striking the ground and propelling him forward, rich dirt and loam redolent in the air.
He knew what humans thought of bears: that they were big, lumbering, terrifying. But to him, this form was freedom.
He felt graceful as a bear. He was muscle and purpose, a creature that did exactly what it was made to do.
Things were simpler when he shifted.
Simpler, but not entirely without sadness.
He was missing Ecaterina today. His niece had left years ago now to aid TQB, and though Alexi knew she was happier there than she had ever been here, he missed her smile, her humor, and her company.
Ecaterina loved the outdoors. Like Ivan, she could handle herself in a forest or in the mountains. She understood the dangers and respected them without letting fear trap her.
More and more, children like Ecaterina and Ivan were leaving to go to the cities. They were growing up with different concerns than a love of the forest.
It made Alexi sad to think about it.
He was hopeful that he might see her soon, however. Ecaterina had had a daughter not too long ago, and had promised to bring the baby home to meet everyone.
And Alexi approved of the man she had found. Nathan was a strong Wechselbag, a man with innate command but no love of power. He would make a good match for Ecaterina. He was the sort of man you trusted implicitly.
The spring breeze was carrying the scent of snowmelt and new greenery to Alexi’s nose when he heard the unmistakable clang of a trap and the anguished scream of an animal in pain. He skidded to a halt, head whipping around toward the source of the noise.
He ran as quickly as he could while still being careful. If there was one trap, there was always
another. That was a rule in the forest.
Anger was starting to beat low in his chest. He could hear a growl bursting out of him.
The scent of blood caught him not too far away and he slowed, padding carefully and avoiding the piles of recently disturbed leaves. There would be traps there, as well.
A young buck was thrashing wildly in the jaws of the trap. His foreleg was shattered, and he had snapped another in his panic. There was foam at his jaws, and his eyes rolled sideways in terror when he saw the bear appear.
There was no saving him. Too much blood was on the leaves, and too many bones had been broken. Alexi snarled his frustration, and immediately regretted it when the buck gave a scream of terror.
And without words, there was no way to tell the buck what must happen. Alexi hung his head for a moment. Then, as the buck quieted, he padded closer.
All that was left was the quickest, most merciful death.
But this death should never have happened at all.
He tried to keep his anger from being visible as he looked up to meet the buck’s eyes. The buck knew his death was coming. He knew, too, that he could thrash his head and hurt Alexi, but he did not try as Alexi came closer.
He stayed still as Alexi took his life in one quick slash of his claws, and the light faded from his eyes.
All that was left then was to deprive the trappers of their prize. Alexi snapped his jaws at the trapped leg, and dragged the body into the underbrush, to a place he knew was safe.
There, he shredded the body patiently. He took bone and meat, raked his claws over the hide, and left a body that would feed the wolves of the forest well enough … but be useless to a human hunter or fur trapper.
Alexi had no qualms with the hunters who stalked their prey patiently through the forest. Wolves and bears hunted with claws and teeth, humans hunted with bows and guns. It was the way of things.
Everyone had to eat.
But when a hunter decided to stay in the comfort of his own home, and use metal traps to kill a beast he never saw alive, never took the time to hunt himself—then Alexi had a problem.
