My failure to kill Dalmont still soured my stomach, or maybe it was the concussion. Either way, I was stuck down there until my head was straight enough to get me back to the island. I flipped through papers until I felt I could make it back to the surface without getting lost down in the tunnels. Buried under what looked like zoning permits, I found a map of South America.
Zarya had said the vampires had been talking about being from South America and about a place called Patagonia. It could all be a coincidence, and it could all be a trap. At the same time, Dalmont hadn’t left the map right out in the open. He’d left it hidden under some other papers, superbly confident yet lazy. A vampire thing, I decided.
I checked the map again. There was nothing obvious, like a red mark on the map, but there was a light smear, as if someone had rubbed their fingertip over the same place more than once. It was subtle but present, and it was in Brazil. I began to draw calming breaths, folded the map, and retraced my steps. Dalmont left me alive, which was always a bad move in spy novels. Sadly, I was no match for him—and by extension, his superiors, who would gut me like a fish.
The sun was rising as I made my way back out to the lifeboat. That, at least, would keep me a little bit safer. It occurred to me that I didn’t have as much to worry about on that front as I’d thought. Dalmont had set my mind very much at ease when he taunted me, refusing to kill me.
Dalmont thought I wanted to die, that I must be begging for the sweet release of death or something like that. I certainly was in a lot of pain, I couldn’t deny that, but there hadn’t ever been a point where I’d been willing to hang it up and cash in my chips. I couldn’t think of any Ferin I knew who were. We were stubborn fucks to the last.
That might have been what made us Ferin in the first place.
What Dalmont had said to me, though, was that Malfas needed me alive in order to accomplish his goal. Granted, Malfas’s goal was horrific. I wanted no part of Malfas or lifting the veil between the world of the living and the dead. I only wanted survival for me and mine.
But if Malfas needed me for whatever grotesque little thing he had going on, that meant he couldn’t kill me. He couldn’t let any of his foul minions kill me. Assuming I didn’t get accidentally decapitated or shot through the heart by some deer hunter somewhere, I had just been given true immortality. It was liberating, and not in the way Malfas intended.
The thought put a spring in my step. Not too much of a spring in my step, because the concussion was making me seasick on dry land, but it gave me more comfort and buoyancy than I’d had in a long time.
I got into the lifeboat and headed back toward the New Island. I didn’t even bother rowing once I was out of visual range of Belize City. I needed to think. I just aimed the boat where I wanted it to go and used my water powers to get me there, safely and steadily. Even with my powers, I still threw up over the side three times, each racking heave causing me to wonder if being a Ferin meant I could master pain. I decided the answer to that question was “not yet.”
My immortality didn’t give me immunity from interference. I had to be alive. I didn’t have to be a free man. I didn’t have to have freedom of movement, and I didn’t need to have any of my women around me for Malfas to get what he wanted. This still changed the game, but we were going to have to change the focus to safety for Tess, Kamila, and Zarya.
Dalmont had shown he knew they were the key to getting to me. I would never cooperate with the vampires, but I didn’t need to have them attacking the women just to see the vampires learn that lesson either.
I let myself wash up on the beach, far away from where the others usually gathered. I didn’t want them to see me all battered and bruised, and I wanted to rest for a moment. I was still in a world of pain, and I stood, letting the salt air wash over me, pure and free.
I needed to prepare myself for the onslaught of anger as well. I’d gone off on my own, and now there would be consequences, if only a tongue-lashing. I sat there in the lifeboat on the beach for a while, warming myself in the sun. Then I climbed out onto the beach and trudged toward the ruin we were using as our home. I had nothing to be ashamed of. I’d done the right thing, and my spirit lifted where my body could not.
I’d gotten valuable intelligence about Malfas’s plans. I’d found out vampires could teleport. I’d gotten the Patagonia map. I’d gotten a clearer picture of how they’d gotten the suburbanites involved.
I’d gotten my ass kicked. Hard.
I wasn’t going to mention that. I had fought valiantly, and I’d put up a good fight. I’d done well against an unknown and powerful foe.
Who had promptly kicked my ass. Hard.
Daisy came bounding up to me, barking up a storm and kicking up sand everywhere as she ran. Whether I could put a good spin on it or not, it was time to face the music.
36
Kamila was the angriest of the three. “After what happened the last time, how could you just go out there all by yourself and think you could finish it all by your lonesome?” She gestured to me. “Look at you. You’re a fucking mess. Your face has been completely pulped, and you look like you’re going to fall down where you’re standing.”
“Good idea.” I collapsed into a little heap on the sand and held my hand up. “I totally get why you’re angry. I do. And I agree with you on some points. Not on all of them. But if we could maybe talk about them in slightly softer tones, me and my concussion would be much obliged.”
Her face went scarlet with anger. “Oh, I’m sorry, is this too loud?” she shouted. Daisy got between her and me, and Kamila softened right away. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me. It’s just we were all worried. We were about to come after you.”
Zarya shooed Daisy away from me and helped me to my feet. I let her guide me to the house, where I could at least sit with some back support. My ribs thanked her. The rest of me just kind of groaned appreciatively.
“We were awfully worried,” she said, checking me over. “Did you do your own stitches?”
“I had a little time to kill.” I explained about how I’d been left to pace until my concussion resolved itself enough for me to safely leave. “I didn’t want to worry you. I honestly didn’t. I just—” I closed my eyes, and Daisy stuck her little nose under my hand. “Did you have her trained as a therapy dog, Kamila? Because she’d be really good at it.”
“I didn’t, but you’re right. She’d be a fabulous therapy dog. She’s a good girl. Get on with the explanation, would you? We need to know exactly why you thought it would be a good idea to go and get your face turned into hamburger.” Kamila put her hand on my leg to show me she had at least forgiven me, if not gotten over it.
I sighed. “Seeing Tess hurt was making me insane.” I looked over at Tess. “I was just so… I mean, it was all my fault. They came after us here, and I was so sure they wouldn’t. I thought we’d outsmarted them. And then Tess got hurt, I couldn’t protect her, and they were coming after me. And I just wanted to make it stop, you know? I wanted to put an end to it. I saw an opportunity. I saw it as the one time when their numbers would be low, they’d be licking their wounds, and we’d have the chance to strike first and strike hard.”
Tess was less than impressed by my chivalrous outlook. “Do you think you might have asked me how I would feel about that? I’d definitely have wanted to go with you.”
“Except your guts were still freshly stitched. So… no.” I rubbed at mine, which were in worse shape than hers right now. “I did want you there. I love having you with me when I go into these things. I feel more confident and more comfortable. But once I got into that fight with the vampire, I was glad you were miles away.
“Anyway, I made it through the first few guards without a problem. And that was good. I thought it seemed almost too easy, you know? But then there was Dalmont. He was…” I trailed off.
“Bigger than you?” Zarya grinned wryly. “Did he steal your lunch money?”
I blushed and chuckled. We could do the good
-natured ribbing thing now that we were far enough removed. “I stole his, actually. But he did give me some information.”
“Oh, did he?” Kamila crossed her arms over her ample chest. “Let me guess, Evil Villain Speech number five hundred thirty-seven?”
“Close. Christ, are villains tedious.” I grimaced. I gave brief details of our fight. “The important thing he said, though, was that Malfas apparently needs the Lifebringer alive to finish his plan.”
“Which is?” Zarya frowned and leaned forward. “I’ve never been able to figure this one out.”
“To remove the veil between the world of the living and the dead.” I didn’t expect the sudden intake of breath from the women. It was an ominous thing to hear, especially when the speaker wasn’t a sneering, grotesque vampire.
“And you’re going to do that how?” Tess snorted. “Don’t get me wrong, Jason. I’ve seen you do a lot of things, but you’re not exactly a big fan of the dead.”
“Right?” I managed to summon a weak grin. “I’m not planning to help him at all. But since he needs me…”
“They won’t kill you.” Kamila nodded slowly. “Which is how you made it out of there in one piece.”
“I’m pretty sure I left part of my spleen back in the tunnel, but hey, I’m Ferin. I’ll grow a new one.” I made a face. “Look, I’m not going to lie. He kicked my ass seven ways from Sunday. But what he also did was give me that information. What that means is we need to stop worrying so much about protecting me and worry more about protecting you ladies.”
Tess flipped me off, then withdrew her finger and stuck out her tongue. “I’m not a princess. I don’t need a bodyguard.”
I held her hand. “I get that you’re strong, capable, and just all around incredible. You’re also someone I care deeply about. I am hardwired to protect people I love. It doesn’t mean you’re any less of a badass. It means I dislike seeing you hurt. No one’s asking you not to fight. All I’m saying is, they’re going to want to use you to get to me.” I made sure I got eye contact with all three of them. “They’re going to want to use all of you to get to me. That’s not me being arrogant. That’s a fact. Dalmont as good as told me so.”
Zarya’s cheeks turned pink, but she nodded. “And what else did he tell you?”
I thought about hiding some of Dalmont’s other claims, but I thought better of it. If we were supposed to be a team, I needed to be completely honest with them. “He claimed Malfas had invented the Lifebringers. You know, as part of his little veil-pulling stunt. That I wouldn’t exist if not for him. He thought he could turn you all against me with that little nugget.”
Kamila scoffed. “That’s because vampires are a bunch of back-biting, no-good, untrustworthy bastards. We’re Ferin. Who cares who made you? Each and every one of us was made by someone disgusting. That’s why we exist. I’m not about to turn tail and run just because some dipshit who couldn’t even get a decent dye job before getting turned goes around pointing that out.”
“Right?” Tess laughed. “Vampires don’t do loyalty. They don’t do love. The best they can do is mutual self-interest.”
I relaxed a little bit. “I was hoping you’d say that. I wasn’t too worried because you’re good people, but you know how it is.” I blushed and reached into my pocket. “So it’s obvious we can’t stay here.”
“Of course.” Zarya nudged me with her shoulder. Pain exploded in my busted ribs, but I masked it. We were all doing so well, I didn’t want to ruin it. “Where do you want to go, Hollywood?”
“Australia might be nice.” Tess drew in the sand with her toe. “I hear the sun is out all the time down there.”
“Er…” I opened the map. “This was hidden in a bunch of papers.”
They gathered around to look at the map. Daisy licked it, realized it wasn’t food, and went back to sleep.
We all exchanged glances, and I held my breath. I knew they hated the idea, just from the looks on their faces.
“So you don’t see this is a trap?” Kamila seemed to be hesitant to say anything but was unable to keep silent either. I appreciated that. I wouldn’t want her to be silent. I wanted to know if I was dragging everyone into a trap.
I nodded slowly. “I think it’s a possibility. I also think it’s something we were considering doing from day one. Well, from day one after we found out about the vampires’ Patagonia, I mean. We were considering going there before we decided to come here to New Island. So since New Island has been a little bit of a bust, maybe we should go with what was already option B.”
Kamila took a deep breath. “I don’t like it,” she said after a long moment. “It still feels like a trap. This Dalton guy—”
“Dalmont,” I corrected.
“Whatever. This guy is just sitting there waiting for you, kicks you around, almost kills you, but holds off until the last possible second, and then leaves you this convenient map. As a general rule, if something is too good to be true, it’s not something to be trusted.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more.” I rubbed Daisy’s belly. “The thing is, where else will we go?”
“I get it.” Kamila bit her lip. “This isn’t something we can run or hide from. We tried to buy a little time to train, and look what happened.”
“I agree that it could be a trap,” Zarya said slowly. She looked out over the blue water. “It could also not be a trap. And you’re both right. We haven’t got anyplace else to go. We may as well see it through. If we have a chance to take this to the enemy and stop their preparations before they can come to fruition, I think we have to take it.”
Tess licked her lips. “I’m positive it’s a trap. I just don’t think I care.” She lifted her chin in defiance. “I’m tired of running. I’m tired of hiding. We’ve lost so much already. I want to take it to them. If we lose, we lose, but damn it, I want to go out fighting.”
We all nodded slowly. It wasn’t a great, triumphant moment. I wasn’t going to be celebrating anything while I was still seeing double, for one thing. And right now, the only celebrating I wanted to do would involve a dead vampire or ten.
Still, it was agreement. We had a plan, we had a direction, and we had an end in sight to this weird existence we’d found ourselves living. It would take time, and it would take effort. It would take training too.
I outlined my plan to train for fighting a vampire, or vampires, who could teleport. “I don’t mind telling you, that screwed me up. I think my sword could have gotten him if I could have held him down and made him stay still. He was strong enough that my strongest fire couldn’t burn him, not alone. I don’t know what else he could do, and I don’t mean to find out. I want to train even harder to make sure we can put this guy’s ashes on the wind where they belong.”
Zarya paled and clutched at her neck. “If he can teleport, he’s one of the strongest we’ve ever seen. He’s almost certainly a Dread Blood. We’ll have to see what else he can do, but I think your training plan will be enough to get us started for now.”
I had to hope so. In the meantime, we gathered up our things and prepared to move on.
We didn’t head into Belize City. We’d had too much trouble there and our faces were known. We headed north into Mexico. We would rely on contacts there to make our way into South America.
We would take the fight to the vamps.
Epilogue
We wound up hiding out in an abandoned resort near Playa del Carmen. The resort had been devastated by a hurricane years earlier, and the owners hadn’t spent the money to rebuild. A contact of Zarya pointed us toward it, and it turned out to be perfect for us. The big hotel still had some areas that were intact, so we set up shop in there and squatted until we could figure out a way to get down to Brazil without alerting our enemies to our movement. It was like camping, but indoors.
I liked it there. Maybe after everything was said and done, we could move in and make it a going concern again, or even just move in and make it our home. It was nice to be able to
go out and run on the beach, to greet the water and play among the waves. It was beautiful to be able to build a campfire and simply enjoy it without fear of rangers or police. And because this area was abandoned, we knew we weren’t going to shock anyone if we decided to train.
We summoned vampires made of water and demons carved of fire. We attacked, defended, and learned. I had no way of knowing if it would help the next time I ran into Dalmont, but I knew it made me feel calmer and more prepared. All of us were able to react at a second’s notice.
Best of all, we were able to do it without being on any kind of hair trigger. That was important to me. I didn’t want for us to be those people, the kind who met any kind of touch with violence. We learned to quickly parse out the touch of something not human, or not living, and reacted accordingly. We needed to be able to go on living together and loving one another if this life and this war were going to be bearable.
I continued to take walks on the beach because I enjoyed it and because I was still agitated by everything that had gone on with Dalmont. I couldn’t get his words out of my head. He’d been so sure of himself. And I hated the way he’d mopped the floor with me too. No one liked to be made a fool of. Walking, keeping busy, keeping moving were the only ways I had to process what was going on in my head and keep from lashing out at the girls.
Then there was the fact that I had no contacts at all and couldn’t help arrange transportation to Brazil. I didn’t speak Spanish or Portuguese. I wasn’t going to be at all useful for any part of this, and so I could only fret and pace. Soon I knew every inch of that beach from Playa del Carmen to Cancun.
And I did walk it all once, just because I could. Like I said, I had a lot on my mind.
One day, I was near our base, when I found myself feeling nauseated. I didn’t know if it had been something I’d eaten—but then, Ferin were supposed to be immune to that kind of thing. Maybe it was some other source, some sub-audible assault like in those embassy attacks. Whatever it was, I felt so bad, I doubled over and finally collapsed onto the ground. The whole world felt like it was shifting beneath me, or maybe inside of me. I couldn’t quite discern the point of origin, or even where I was in pain.
Forever Young - Book 2 Page 23
