Twilight Guardians

by Maggie Shayne

Charlie stayed alone in the little room to think when the sun started to rise and Killian had to find a nice dark place to rest. It was an office or had been once. Old papers with curling corners were scattered on rusty file cabinets with a quarter inch of undisturbed dust on them. A few of their drawers were open, empty except for the small piles of litter some tiny rodent had probably been using as a nest.

  She spent an hour in there, maybe a little more, all alone, feeling the deepest and most profound sadness she had ever felt over everything that had happened and everything that would. It wasn’t death that got to her, it was the idea of leaving Killian. Of not being with him. Even heaven would be hell to her if he wasn’t by her side. It was so unfair! She’d only just found him.

  There was a tap on the door before it opened, and Roxy came inside. She offered a small bag of potato chips and one of the two cans of Diet Coke she carried. “Found a stash of junk food in a boat docked nearby. Got a bag for each of us non-blood-drinkers. It’s not protein packed, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “Thanks, Gram.” Charlie took the bag, tore it open, and perched herself on the edge of the desk, because she was too grossed out to sit in the chair. Little creatures had chewed holes through its leather and were probably nesting inside. She glanced casually over her shoulder at the desk’s surface, wondering if Roxy could tell by the shape of the dust free parts what had so recently transpired there.

  Roxy sat on one of the file cabinets and munched on her own chips. “It’s been a rough few days for you.”

  “Not as rough as for you. Or Rhiannon, or poor Roland. God, his leg....”

  “If he lives, it’ll heal. I mean, I assume it will. Then again, I’ve never seen a whole limb grow back before. Never saw one torn off like that. But that’s only if he lives. God, I hope he lives.” She bit her lip, lowered her head.

  “You really care about him, don’t you?”

  Roxy seemed to search for words, taking her time before speaking again. “I love him. I love them all. I’ve fallen for Killian too, you know. They are true friends. Family, really.”

  Charlie lowered her head, closed her eyes. “Mom was family. She’s dead because of me. DPI killed her, made it look like Killian did it, and I believed them–”

  “So I’ve gathered.” She sighed, lowered her head. “Your mother was a good woman, Charlotte. She’s dead because the government’s terrified enough to want to annihilate an entire race just because they don’t understand them. They’re willing to kill anyone, no matter how innocent, if it serves their purpose. You are a victim in all of this. And you’re gonna keep on being one until you’re tired of it. Tired enough to stand up and say no more.”

  Charlie picked her head back up, looked her grandmother in the eye. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself, if that’s what you’re getting at. I’m gonna die young. Maybe younger than we even thought. Now, with the BDX–”

  “I know, Charlotte. I know. Your Killian and I had a nice talk before the sun came up. He told me what happened, how all those recruits died, and what Eric had to say about the drug.”

  Charlie took a big breath, nodded. “I’ve accepted it. I’m not whining about it.”

  “And he told me what happened to Mariah, too. How he couldn’t help her.” She waited, like she wanted to test Charlie’s reaction to that.

  “So you see why there’s no hope. I can’t let him try to change me into...one of them.”

  Roxy shrugged. “I want you to remember something, Charlotte. You’re different from all those other recruits. Those...Exers. You’re different. Everything about it went differently with you, that’s what Killian told me.”

  She nodded. “So maybe there’s a chance...that would be different, too.”

  “There you go.”

  “But it’s a chance you never took, Gram.” She searched her grandmother’s eyes. “I’ve been dying to ask you. Why?”

  Taking a deep drink from her cola can, Roxy swallowed, nodded. “I was in love once. I wasn’t much older than you are now.”

  The admission distracted Charlie, momentarily at least, from her own misery. “Did he love you, too?”

  “Oh, yeah. We were...we were passionate. Crazy about each other. It was beyond anything I ever thought I could feel.”

  Roxy’s voice seemed to thicken a little with emotion, and Charlie’s heart knotted up for her. “What happened?” she asked softly.

  “I don’t know. He just...he disappeared. He stopped showing up for work. He was a bartender. I asked the owner, but he said he never even came to pick up his last check. His car was gone, but all his stuff was still in his apartment.” She sighed, and Charlie could feel the pain in that sound. “I never heard from him again.”

  “God, that’s awful. Did you report him missing?”

  “Of course I did. And later, when I could afford it, I even hired a PI to search for him but....”

  “Was he like us? You know...a BD?”

  “I didn’t even know there was such a thing back then. Didn’t know there was anything unusual about my blood. Much less whether he shared it.” She shrugged. “I still hope I’ll find him again someday, if he lived. And if he didn’t, well then I’ll see him on the other side. If I take that old Dark Gift, neither of those things can happen.”

  “Dark Gift,” Charlie repeated. “Is that what they call it? Seems more like a curse to me.” But it would be worth it, she thought. It would be worth anything to be with Killian.

  “Yeah, being eternally young, immortal, growing stronger and more powerful with every passing year. That’s a real hardship. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

  “Now you’re being sarcastic,” Charlie said.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s a huge decision, and one you have to make your own damn self. But girl, I’m telling you, consider all your options before you choose death. Explore every possibility. And don’t you dare give up on life until you’re dead, you hear me?”

  Charlie couldn’t help but smile. “I hear you.”

  “Good. So while I’m on a roll, I’m gonna shoot for one more. You remember how pissed you got when you thought Killian had used you, tricked you, and killed your mama? So mad you let them shoot you up with their poison to make you strong enough to kill his ass?”

  Ashamed, she looked at her feet. “I remember.”

  “Get that mad again, Charlotte.”

  She shot her grandmother a puzzled look.

  “Get that mad about what these bastards did to your mother. To Roland. To me. To all those kids whose hearts blew out of their chests at Camp Crazy back there. Get that mad again, Charlotte. Stop crying, and start fighting.”

  Roxy popped another chip into her mouth and left the office. Charlie sat where she was, turning her grandmother’s words over and over in her mind.

  Charlie got a few hours of sleep. When she woke, she did more reading, ate more chips, wished for an actual meal. She sifted through files on the DPI computer, files about BDX and its side effects and all the various “samples” that had been taken from each of the “subjects” during their treatments. Nothing specific, but she assumed it was to compare cells or whatever before and after BDX. She racked her brain to figure out what the government had to gain by creating a bunch of super-thugs who were unlikely to last more than a battle or two before their hearts exploded, even with the help of the Protectol. There had to be more to it. There had to be.

  She was pacing the bowels of the warehouse. Olive had found a little corner in the rafters and was apparently sound asleep. So were all the vampires. At least she hoped they were, but she wasn’t so sure about Roland. How did one tell a sleeping vampire from a dead one?

  There were crates and boxes everywhere, tossed haphazardly, lids pried off, straw-like packing material scattered all around them. The mice and birds in this place probably thought they’d hit the nest-building-material jackpot.

  Roxy and Christian were napping, or so she thought. It was only when a throat cleared nearby th
at she looked around.

  Christian stood there, drinking from a water bottle. “You can’t sleep either, huh?”

  “I managed a few hours. Been reading ever since. You?”

  He smiled, but it was sad. He’d lost a good friend in Mariah. “I can’t stand it in here. All cooped up like this. It’s freakin’ depressing. And it’s still three hours till dark,” he said.

  “You’re right on all counts.”

  “I was thinking of taking a walk.” He looked a little longingly toward the nearest exit. There were several doors on the warehouse. Giant ones at the front and rear, but a couple of smaller ones too, for people rather than vehicles.

  “Do you think it would hurt anything?”

  “No one’s looking for you, as far as we know.”

  He took his sunglasses from his pocket and put them on. His hair was a little longer than it had been, and he’d let his whiskers come in over the last couple of days. His clothes were street, not camo. She had no idea where he’d got them. A pair of too big jeans and a Ford Racing T-shirt. She didn’t think Christian would be recognized.

  “There are seals just offshore,” he said. “I heard them earlier.”

  She smiled. “Maybe I’ll come with you.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” He went to the van, reached in and plucked out the sunglasses she’d left on the visor.

  He handed them to Charlie and she put them on. “I can do even better,” she said, and turning, she headed through the warehouse to the small office area. Inside, she snatched a truck-driver hat off the wall, complete with a bulldog logo. After smacking it against the desk to shake out most of the dust, she twisted her hair up into a knot and plopped the cap down over it.

  “There. Do I look badass?”

  “Redneck Lara Croft,” he said.

  “You’re a funny guy, Christian.”

  He smiled at her, and they headed out a side door. Charlie blinked in the brilliant sunlight, despite the hat and glasses. It had been dark in that warehouse. When her eyes adjusted a little, she took a careful look around her, but nothing looked out of line. There were seagulls bickering, a few dockworkers further along the shore, but no one anywhere near them. She didn’t see any conspicuously parked cars or newspaper-reading spies. They picked their way among cargo containers, barrels and fishing nets down to the shoreline, then walked along it a little ways. The late afternoon sun was beaming down, and the waves tumbled in. She wanted to take off her shoes and walk barefoot in the surf. But if she had to run, bare feet might be a detriment.

  Shame she had to think of everything that way. But maybe not for much longer.

  “What are you gonna do, Christian? Now that this is all over.”

  “You really think it’s over?” he asked.

  She shrugged, inhaling deep. The air smelled fishy and salty and clean all at once. “Well, we got Rhiannon and Roland back. We got my grandmother back. We’ve got a friendly vampire scientist with a sample of that stuff DPI uses to keep our hearts from exploding too soon. With luck he can whip us up a batch. I mean, what else is there?”

  He shrugged. “That vampire, Devlin...he’s still planning some kind of...attack.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t think Rhiannon’s gonna let that happen.” She shrugged. “I mean, yeah she said otherwise, but she was upset. Either way, it’s not up to me. I just want to get away from all of this. Try to live out whatever time I have left in some kind of...normalcy.”

  “What about Killian?”

  She took a deep breath, let it out slow. “Whatever time I do have left, I’m hoping to spend it with him.”

  “Are you gonna let him change you? I mean, if he can?”

  “I don’t know. Would you?”

  He shook his head. “I couldn’t.” It seemed like an admission. Then he nodded out at the water about the same time she heard the seals barking.

  She looked at them, a couple of hundred of them at least, some long and sleek, others fat and powerful, basking on pallets tied together on top of floating barrels for a makeshift dock. It had probably been put there to keep them from climbing all over the actual docks. Their smell was pungent, but she didn’t care. One big animal pushed a slightly smaller one right off into the water, barking ferociously before claiming the vacated spot as his own. He posed as if he thought someone might want to take a picture to memorialize his triumph. She laughed, not taking her eyes off them.

  “Cute, aren’t they?”

  That was not Christian’s voice.

  It was LT’s. She turned slowly, staring him down, then looking past him for Christian and not seeing him. “What the hell are you doing here? Where’s Christian?”

  “On his way to the new base by now. We had a Jeep waiting.”

  Maybe she was dense, but her brain wasn’t processing this. “Was he working for you all along?”

  “Why does that matter?”

  “He wasn’t. I know he wasn’t.”

  LT shook his head, then tapped his own shoulder. “The tattoo. The ink doubles as a tracking device. Once you get your ink, you’re ours for life. I’ll see to it you get yours just as soon as we get to the new base.”

  “I’m not going to any new base or anywhere else with you, Lieutenant.”

  “Easy, Charlie. I’m just here to make you an offer, that’s all.”

  “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. You lied to me. You told me this BDX shit was a cure for the side effects of Belladonna. You told me I would live a normal lifespan, when the truth is just the opposite.”

  “You don’t know the whole story.”

  “I know you robbed me of years I would’ve had otherwise.”

  “No–”

  “Bullshit. I saw what happened to the other recruits. Their hearts exploded. Jesus. That’s what I have to look forward to. Because of you.”

  He nodded, looking genuinely sad. “We were unprepared for attack. If the doctor had treated them prior to the battle, they’d have been all right.”

  “With the Protectol, you mean.”

  He blinked, clearly surprised by how much she knew.

  “But the Protectol doesn’t stop the BDX from burning us out faster than the Belladonna ever would have, does it LT?”

  “You’ve been getting a lot of classified information. Doc didn’t clear out the lab as ordered before we evacuated the base. Am I right?”

  “Didn’t even take his laptop,” she said. “So I know. I’ve seen through the bullshit. If you’re gonna try to take me back, try it so I can kick your ass. Let’s get on with this. Thanks to you, my time is extremely limited.”

  He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. “We’ll get on with it. But I’m not taking you anywhere. In fact, I’m letting you go. You, and your grandmother both.”

  She frowned hard, watching his face, trying to read him the way she could so easily read Killian. But it didn’t work the same way with anyone else. “Go on. Tell me the catch.”

  “No catch. Just walk away. Go back to that warehouse where you’re holed up, wake your grandmother, and walk away.”

  He knew where they were staying. Hell.

  “And then what?” she asked.

  “Then we walk in and take the five vampires you’ve got sleeping in there before they wake up.”

  “You’re crazy. There aren’t any vampires in that–”

  “Don’t bother, Charlie. I know everything.”

  She lowered her head, shook it. “Why do you say you’ll take them? When what you mean is, you’ll kill them?”

  “No. I mean we’ll take them. We didn’t know who they were before, Charlie. You don’t even understand, Rhiannon is ancient. One of the few truly ancient ones to survive the war. Roland is only a few centuries younger. We need them alive.”

  “That’s only two. What do you plan to do with the other three?”

  He shrugged. “We have uses for the others as well. They won’t be killed. I promise. And whether you lea
ve or not, we’re coming for them before sundown. If you’re in the way, you’re going to die, and so is your grandmother.”

  She stared into his eyes and wondered if he even had a soul. “I’m not gonna hand them over to you just to save my own ass. Who the hell do you think I am? You? A fucking traitor?” She leaned in closer, chin coming up. “I am going to stand there between you and my friends, and the only way you’re going to take them is over my dead body, Lucas.”

  He held her eyes, then said, “We have an antidote, Charlie.”

  She blinked. Didn’t mean to, but the words hit her hard.

  “Yeah, that’s right, an antidote,” he went on. “It reverses everything the BDX did to you. Takes away the strength, the power. Lets you go back to what you were before. An ordinary BD destined to weaken and die over time. A little more time though. It’ll give you back the years you say I stole.”

  “What part of ‘I won’t betray my friends to save my own ass’ did you not understand?”

  She turned on her heel and started to walk away.

  “How about to save your mother?”

  Charlie stopped, suppressing a chill that felt like ice cubes melting down her spine. She didn’t turn around because she couldn’t move.

  “We didn’t cremate her body. Her body wasn’t in the casket because she’s still alive.”

  “Don’t lie to me, LT. Not about that.”

  “It’s not a lie. We don’t kill anyone we might be able to use as leverage. It’s DPI policy.”

  “I saw the crime scene photos.”

  “We drugged her. Laid her out on the floor, used some body paint and special effects blood. One of our experts retouched her eyes. You gotta love technology.”

  She turned slowly. He pulled out a telephone and dialed a number. Then he spoke. “Put the prisoner on the phone.”

  Then he held it out to her.

  “Hello?” said a voice. Her mother’s voice.

  It hit Charlie in the gut like a wrecking ball. She didn’t touch the phone, just stared at it like it was a snake that would bite her. “You faked this, too. It’s a recording or something.”

  “Hello?” her mother’s voice said again. “Is that you, Charlie?”

  “Ask her something,” Lieutenant Scumbag said. “Something only you and she would know.”

  She took the phone, tears welling. “M-mom?”

  “Charlie? OhmyGod, Charlie, baby, are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine Mom. Are you?”

  “No. No, I’m not. These people have....have kidnapped me, and they won’t let me go. I’m being held on–”

  “Shut up!” There was the sound of a slap and her mother’s whimper.

  Charlie’s eyes flashed to LT’s. “You hurt my mother, you son of a bitch, and I swear to God–”

  He snatched the phone from her. “Just ask her the question Charlie. You’ve got five seconds, then we disconnect. Understand?”

  She nodded, and he handed the phone back to her. “Listen, Mom I need to ask you something. You remember that puppy I had when I was little. The one with the watch-eye?”

  “God, Charlie, why are you asking about Buttons at a time like this?”

  Charlie closed her eyes as relief washed over her. It was her mother. It was for real. She was alive. “Listen, Mom, you just do what they say. I’m gonna get you out of there, okay?”

  “Don’t put yourself at risk, honey. Just run away. Get as far away as you can.”

  “I love you, Mom.”

  “Love you too, baby.”

  LT took the phone, ended the call, pocketed it. “We’re coming in hot, Charlie. Eight PM. An hour before sundown. That’s all the time I can give you. We need to have time to get them contained before they wake. You and your grandmother get the hell out of there before eight.” He looked at his watch. “You’ve got just under two hours. I suggest you move your ass.”

  She lowered her head, closed her eyes. “You’ll let my mother go?”

  “By nine tonight, she’ll either be safe and sound back in her apartment, or she’ll be occupying that casket we bought for her. I’ll kill her myself if you try to fuck me over.”

  “I believe you.”

  He nodded. “This isn’t sanctioned, Charlie. I’m making this call. The powers that be want you almost as bad as they want the vampires. Letting you go, that’s all me.”

  She narrowed her eyes on him. “Why?”

  He looked away. “We’re coming in hot at eight. Get yourself clear.” Then he turned and walked away.

  Charlie went back to the warehouse as casually as she could, in case LT was watching. She couldn’t appear to be hurrying, because if she was going to comply, she had no reason to hurry. She had two hours. It would only take two minutes to wake Roxy and take off.

  Once inside, she picked up the pace, jogging to where her grandmother slept and shaking her. “Gram. Gram, wake up.”

  Roxy came wide awake slow, then seemed momentarily disoriented when she did. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re in trouble. Get that computer booted up. I’ve got a cell number. Can you triangulate it and get us a location?”

  “Of course I can.” She was rubbing her eyes and opening the good doctor’s laptop before Charlie finished speaking. She fished a pair of reading glasses out of a pocket and put them on, then her fingers were flying over the keys. “What I wouldn’t give for a cup of coffee. Give me the number.”

  Charlie gave her the number she’d seen on the cell phone and memorized. The one she’d used to talk to her mother. Roxy typed it in, hit a few more keys.

  “It’ll take a minute. Who’s at this location?”

  “Mom,” she said. “She’s alive.”

  Roxy stared at her, wide eyed.

  “Christian had a tattoo. All the Exers get them at some point in their training. Turns out it’s a tracking device.”

  “I knew it,” Roxy gasped.

  “I don’t think Chrisitan did.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “They got him. He and I took a walk and my former fuckwad lieutenant was waiting for us.”

  “How the hell did you get away?”

  “He let me. Says they’re coming for the vamps at eight o’clock sharp. That’s how long we have to vacate or we’re going down with them. If we get away, Mom lives. He says they’ll let her go. If not, they take us out when they come for the vamps, and she dies. Anything yet?”

  “Not yet.” She hit more keys. “You know he’s lying. They won’t let her go. They’ll use her to force you to come in. If he loses you now, he’s in deep shit with his bosses. They’re not going to let you walk, Charlotte. You’re too valuable to them.”

  “You really think that?”

  “You descended from the oldest living member of The Chosen. And there’s more, more than that. They want more than just your service in the military. They want your genes. Your cells. Your DNA.”

  Charlie blinked. “I believe you.”

  Roxy nodded, seeming relieved that she didn’t have to work hard to gain Charlie’s trust anymore. Charlie wished she’d been more trusting all along.

  “So how are we going to get our friends out of this one, Charlotte?”

  Charlie licked her lips and paced the warehouse, looking around aimlessly and pushing a hand through her hair. Her gaze fell on the minivan and the old truck parked beside it and froze there.

  “You think that old thing runs?” she asked.

  “I have yet to meet the engine I couldn’t make run,” Roxy said.

  By seven forty-five everything was ready. Their plan would either work, or they were all dead meat. Charlie sat behind the wheel of the ancient truck. It had half a tank of gas in it at first, but they’d used all but a gallon or so. She wouldn’t need even that much.

  Five long narrow wooden boxes were lined up on the flatbed, their lids on tight, a huge blue tarp stretched over them and tied down at the corners.

  At five minutes to ei
ght. She gave herself the last shot of Protectol. There had been one more, but they’d sent it off to the scientist, Eric, somewhere in Romania, so he could make more. Then she took Olive, who was perched on Roxy’s arm watching her, and the bird came eagerly, landing on her shoulder and bunting Charlie’s face gently with her beak. Charlie smiled, a tear welling up in her eye. “Yeah, I love you too, bird. Now go on, go with Roxy. Be safe.” She shrugged, but Olive didn’t move.

  “I’ll take her.” Roxy came closer, sliding her hand under Olive’s feet and lifting her away. Then she leaned in, and hugged Charlie hard. “Watch yourself. Stay alive. That’s an order.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  The truck’s motor was running, popping and skipping, but running. Charlie kissed her grandmother’s cheek, then turned and climbed behind the wheel. She put the shift into first gear, thanking her stars that she’d learned to drive a stick back in high school, because her driver’s ed teacher made it a part of the curriculum. She’d done pretty well in that class. But this was different. A truck, not a car. If she stalled the damn thing, it was over. And it might be over anyway, because they were going to start shooting the minute she crashed through the door. She was starting from the other end of the warehouse, hoping to nudge it up into second gear by the time she hit. Maybe even third. Couldn’t afford to lug it, though. She had to be going fast. She’d found a pair of old welding helmets in the office, and was wearing one of them on her head in hopes it would deflect bullets. The other one was rigged to the passenger seat at head level to convince them she had a passenger.

  She took a deep breath, checked her watch, waited until two minutes before eight, then revved the motor and released the clutch.

  The truck moved forward on bald tires she was surprised could still turn. Halfway across the floor, she caught second gear and pressed the accelerator all the way down. Almost to the door, she let up and caught third beautifully, no lugging. She hit the door with the pedal down and burst through it. A rush of adrenaline surged through her blood, and her heart sped up beating fast, then faster, despite the Protectol.

  Gunfire rained, and she ducked instinctively, but never slowed, shifting into fourth and taking a corner so fast she almost rolled it. Faster, fifth gear. It was as high as the thing went. She was doing sixty along the waterfront, but it felt like ninety. Glancing into the side mirrors, she saw LT’s men diving into vehicles and speeding after her. Some of them were still firing at her, and the gap between them and her was narrowing way too fast. The pier was up ahead, just past where the seals lounged. It was huge, held up out of the ocean by concrete pylons.

  The seals dove into the water as the noisy old truck sped past, followed by all those Jeeps and sedans, and the rat-a-tat of automatic weapon fire. They scrambled off their perches in a massive display of the survival instinct. The truck’s rear window blew out. Then a tire, sending her skidding to the left. She gripped the wheel, fighting it back on course, forcing it to the right.

  They’d almost caught up. It was now or never. She passed a tower of shipping containers, giving her a brief second when they couldn’t see her. Aiming the truck at the pier’s middle pylon, about twenty feet out from shore, she yanked off her helmet, opened her door and dove.

  The truck sailed out over the water, arching downward, and hitting the pylon nose-first. The gasoline she’d poured into the radiator exploded on impact.

  Charlie had hit the ground hard, but there was no time to pay attention to the pain that rocketed through every freaking part of her body, or to worry about the way her heart was hammering hard enough to break her ribs. She rolled into the water, arrowing deep in spite of the pain and swimming below the surface to the next pier up, then swimming under it. On the other side, she emerged, crawling up onto shore, keeping boats, pylons, and anything else she could find between her and her pursuers.

  They were swarming around the blazing pier. Flames floated on the surface and all around the truck, whose nose had sunk into the sea. All the crates had flown off and into the water, sinking due to the weight inside them.

  No one was looking her way. Charlie pulled herself up onto the shore, and dashed across an open area to get lost among the buildings further in. And then she was beyond them.

  The white minivan came out of an alley, pulled up beside her, and stopped. She jumped in, and Roxy stepped on it, driving them quickly and calmly away.

  Charlie glanced into the back, her entire body shaking. They’d folded down the back seats to make room. Five vampires lay still as death. Roland still with only one leg. And Killian, looking so beautiful she wanted to crawl back there and curl up beside him. And the way she felt, it might be the last chance she ever had. Pandora was crowded into a corner, but close enough to Rhiannon to keep her content. Olive roosted on the console in between her and Roxy.

  Roxy kept sending worried looks her way. “Are you okay?”

  The pounding of her heart got worse. Doubling over, hands pressing to her chest, gasping open mouthed breaths as her heart jackhammered her chest, she panted, “I don’t think so, Gram. I really don’t think so.”

  Chapter Twenty-One