by P. T. Hylton
Now Frank did smile a little. “Wow, you’re really confident in your guy.”
“You think I’d be stepping into an isolation cell if I wasn’t? They gave us enough blood to last a year, but I’m going to be shocked if Jaden doesn’t have us out of here in a month. Tops.”
“Fine. I’ll go in. You better be right.” He started to cross the threshold, then stopped. “Actually, how about this? I’ll make you a little wager.”
Natalie crossed her arms. “I’m listening.”
“I’ll bet you that when those doors open, it’ll be Alex standing on the other side of them, not Jaden. I’m putting my money on New Haven’s finest. The GMT always finds a way.”
Natalie let out a laugh. “Betting on humans? You are an odd vampire. What do I get when I win?”
Frank gave her a long look. He was about to be locked in a bedroom not much bigger than his steel box on New Haven. Now was not the time to be coy. “Winner gets to pick what we do on our first date.”
Natalie barked out another surprised laugh. “Wow, you’re full of surprises. Okay, I’m in. What are we doing if you win?”
He shrugged and stepped into his room. “I don’t know. But I’ve got a while to think about it.” He pressed his hands to his legs, hoping she wouldn’t see the way they were shaking.
“Fair enough. See you after.” With that, Natalie pressed the button outside the door, and Frank’s door slid shut.
George and Cynthia sat at the table in the conference room, reviewing the numbers on their tablets. With the vampires locked up, George and his team had one goal, and one goal only: to find a way to stop the virus. It wasn’t just the lives of the vampires that were at stake. The humans would need supplies, supplies that the vampires had always acquired for them. They’d never needed a GMT; they’d had a Jaden. But now, things were changing fast.
He and Cynthia had considered asking New Haven’s GMT to step in and help them out, but even then, they would have to develop a method of getting the supplies inside Agartha without risking contamination. There was so much to plan, so many variables they’d never had to consider in the past.
Both he and Cynthia were aware that there may come a time when the survival of the humans or survival of the vampires might be a binary choice. If they needed supplies from outside and didn’t have a way to stop the virus, they would have to decide which was more important.
George was considering these things when Natalie walked in and took a seat at the table.
“Everyone tucked into bed?” Cynthia asked.
“Everyone but little old me,” the vampire answered. “Just wanted to check in with you two before I turned in.”
“We’re as ready as we can be,” George said. He met Natalie’s eyes. “We’ll find a way out of this. You won’t be in there long.”
“Yeah.” Natalie’s eyes went distant. “I can’t help wondering if maybe we didn’t do right by you humans.”
George cocked his head. “What do you mean?”
“Providing for you the way we did. We coddled you. Now, if something happens… If you have to get along without us permanently, I don’t know if you’re ready.”
George put a hand on her arm. Her flesh felt cold under his fingers. “You didn’t coddle us. You inspired us. We can do this, Natalie. We are ready.” He grinned. “Now, go to bed. We’ve got things to do.”
Natalie stood up from her chair. “All right, I’ll get out of your hair. I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes, you will,” Cynthia said.
When Natalie was gone, George and Cynthia exchanged a glance. It was clear from the worry in their eyes that neither was as confident as they’d pretended to be in front of the vampire.
They’d been working in silence for nearly an hour when a voice from the communications department came through the radio on the table.
“Ma’am, we’re getting a communication from outside.”
“Roger that,” Cynthia said. “Is it from New Haven?”
“Negative, ma’am.” There was a long pause before the man spoke again. “I’m not able to determine the source.”
Cynthia touched the radio. “Go ahead and put her through, Derrick.”
A female voice came through the radio. “Hello! Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with, this fine morning?”
“You hailed us,” Cynthia answered. “Identify yourself.”
The woman clucked her tongue in what could only be disgust. “You don’t know me? I’m disappointed. I’m Maryana. And I’m guessing you are… mystery city number two.”
George and Cynthia exchanged another worried glance.
“And this one, built into a mountain,” Maryana continued. “Impressive! Let me guess. Jaden named it something pretentious, like Shangri-La. No… Avalon! Tell me it’s Avalon.”
“We probably shouldn’t answer that,” George said, quietly, to Cynthia.
“Agreed. Don’t give her any information she doesn’t have.” She pressed the radio to talk. “Tell us your intentions.”
Maryana giggled. “My intentions? My intentions are to rule your city, drink your blood, and have you worship at my feet. I’m a simple girl.”
“Holy hell.” George put a hand to his mouth.
“You won’t find that an easy task.” There was steel in Cynthia’s voice. “We have defenses.”
“I should hope so!” Maryana answered. “With all the feral vampires you have milling around out here. Well, they were milling around, until recently. Now there’s only three hundred vampires, and all of them work for me.” She paused. “So, what we do next is up to you. You want to line the streets with palm branches and sing Hosanna as I enter the city? That’s fine with me. You want to put up a fight? Perfectly fine, as well. Either way, the result is the same. I’m coming inside, and I’m going to rule. Prepare for my arrival. I’ll see you soon.”
They waited for another minute, but Maryana was done.
When George looked up at Cynthia, his face was pale. “What the hell do we do now?”
32
Left, then right. A breath on every other step. The cadence of the run was the closest Alex ever came to meditating. She felt droplets of sweat run down her neck and the small of her back. Today’s run was harder than most. During the run, she hadn’t thought of much, just one foot, the other, and an even breath.
She finished her run by climbing the stairs to the roof of her favorite building. She wanted a private place to think and cool off before she checked in with Owl. She took the stairs two at a time, pushing herself to the finish line. As she burst through the door, she realized she wasn’t going to get the solitude she was seeking.
She took a moment to catch her breath. “Hey, this is my roof. Get your own.”
Jaden sat on the concrete rail, his feet dangling over the edge. He spun and stood up to face her. “Can any of us really own anything? Certainly a view is free to anyone who can find it.”
“You’re really annoying. Try starting with ‘Hi Alex, good to see you.’”
“I thought that was implied. During my long life, I’ve stopped caring about small talk as much. I watched as you ran, and I’m guessing you have more than chit-chat on your mind.”
“First, that’s creepy. Second, how did you know I would end up here?”
“I didn’t mean to sound creepy. I was just watching the people of the city, and you happened by. CB mentioned that you come up here often. I wanted to see things from your prospective.” He turned and looked back over the city as he spoke.
Alex walked next to Jaden. “Why would you want to see things from my perspective? I thought you had it all figured out by now. What do you care what I think?” She looked at Jaden for a moment, but quickly turned her gaze toward the city below. His distorted face was still disturbing, and she didn’t want to stare at his deformed mouth and nose.
“You know better than anyone that I don’t have it all figured out.” He touched his mouth as he spoke. “Maryana is my biggest mistake,
and I need to find a way to beat her. She’s young and passionate, like you. Obviously, you are different in more ways than you are alike, but I have a hard time understanding either of you. I thought maybe if I opened my mind a bit, I might figure out a way to defeat her.”
“What makes her so hard to fight? Other than being an evil bitch with vampire strength and speed who can walk in the sunlight? I’m sure you’ve fought lots of bad guys in your life. What makes her so special?”
“She doesn’t follow any rules. Other enemies I’ve encountered have all had a purpose. They used logic and strategy to obtain their goals. Even if the goal was evil, they attacked targets that would help them reach that outcome. They focused and plotted. I could understand their goals and predict their actions. Maryana is different.”
“I know that she is crazier than anyone I’ve ever met. And, yes, she seems really, really evil, but she wants to take over the last human cities. That sounds pretty goal-oriented to me.”
Jaden put a hand on Alex’s shoulder turning her towards him. He locked his eyes on hers. “I need you to understand me. I once thought of her the same way you do now. That’s how she beat me. She wants the cities, yes, but her real goal is chaos.” He paused, eyes distant. “At one point during the second wave, her troops were moving in on a nuclear silo. I set a trap to kill her and her soldiers before they could get the nuke. There was a town of about five thousand people just outside of the base with the silo. Instead of ordering her team to attack us and go after the nuke, she shifted her attention to the town. She turned all five thousand people into vampires. Then she ordered them to form a circle around the base. I knew we had a good defensive position and her new vampires were not combat-ready, but she had us greatly outnumbered. I spent the night preparing for the attack, trying to find a way to beat five thousand vampires with my team of fifty. But the attack never came. The five thousand men, women and children stood as still as statues as dawn approached, and when the sun rose, they all burned to ash.”
Alex gasped. “Why? Why would she turn them just to have them burn to death?”
Jaden shrugged. “She left the area after that and never made another attempt for the nuclear weapon. I don’t know why she didn’t order her new vampires to attack. They almost certainly would have defeated me. She would have gotten her nuke and killed her greatest adversary. That is what I want you to understand. She’s unlike anything you’ve ever faced. If we think of her as a normal bad guy, we will be defeated.”
Jaden let go of Alex’s shoulder and the two stood in silence, the sounds of the city drifting up to them.
“I never doubted that I would be able to beat the Ferals and restore the human world,” Jaden said. “I knew that it was just a matter of time. The daylight has always forced a degree of control and balance on vampires. Our weaknesses kept us in check. Now, I don’t know what the future of the world will be, or what our place will be in it.”
“If we don’t beat Maryana, it sounds like there will be no future to worry about.” Alex shook her head sadly. “I understand what you said, and I won’t treat her like a normal threat.”
Jaden tilted his head and looked at her. “You are unpredictable, too, Alex. I just like your unpredictability much better than hers.”
“Thanks, I think. Hey, I want to check in with Owl. Do you know where she is?”
“I do,” Jaden said. It was clear from the look on his face that he didn’t like what he was about to tell her.
Each footstep echoed through the hallway. The bare walls in this seldom-used area reverberated every sound that Alex made back at her. When she reached Frank’s old holding cell, she looked at the monitor. The lights were off inside.
She tried to suppress the worry creeping up inside of her. Owl had perfectly good quarters, and yet, according to Jaden, she was spending most of her time in this steel cage.
She touched the intercom button, “Owl, are you awake?”
Her voice came through the speaker. “Hey, Alex, what’s up?”
Alex flipped a switch and the lights came on in the small room. Owl was lying on a cot she must have brought in to the cell, but the rest of the small room was empty. “I just wanted to say hi. You want to come out, so we can talk?”
“Not really.”
“Get your ass out here, soldier, and hang out with your friend.” Alex tried to sound playful, but it came out a little more harshly than she’d intended. Owl sighed as she stood up, and she pushed the cell door open. She kept her head down, blinking at the sunlight as she stepped toward Alex.
“I don’t know why you aren't staying in your apartment,” Alex said with a smile. “I know it’s not much, but it seems like a palace compared to that box.”
“Come on, Alex. No one wants to look at me. Showing up for a drink at Tankards is one thing, but I’d give the kids in my building nightmares if I stayed up there. Half the people would probably move out.”
Alex gave her a sharp look. “Those people owe you more than they will ever understand. If they don't appreciate you, screw them.”
Owl turned toward Alex and snarled. As much as she didn’t want to, Alex couldn’t help but flinch. “See what I mean? They don’t want to look at me because I’m a monster. You can’t blame them for that.”
Alex took a step forward and threw her arms around her friend, pulling her in with a tight hug. “You’re not a monster. You’re Owl. The best pilot the GMT has ever had, the girl who saved me, and my best friend.”
Owl pulled away, her large eyes filling with tears. “Maybe that’s what I was once, but I tore a guy’s throat out. I literally ripped him apart.”
Alex kept her hands on Owl’s shoulders so they stood face to face. “That just means you’re the most badass member the GMT has ever had. No one has ever been able to kill a vampire with their bare hands. You are different, and it might take a bit for people to get used to the new you. But that difference has perks. Super strength. Enhanced senses. You’ll never get sick again. You’ll never grow old.”
“I’ll also never go on another date, or have a family.”
“Hey, you don’t know that. Especially when you might live another thousand years. Maybe Brian or some future genius will figure out a way to turn you back, and maybe they won’t. Either way, you’re still pretty damn amazing.”
“Thanks, Alex. I really do appreciate what you are trying to say. I’ll get my shit together.” She pulled Alex in for one more quick hug and then stepped away.
“I know we can count on you, Owl. We are going to need your help to take out Maryana. All we have to do is find her.”
CB’s voice came through Alex’s radio. “Alex, I need you in my office.”
She responded into the hand set. “Copy that, CB. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I’m just wrapping something up.”
“Whatever it is, it can wait. We just heard from Agartha. They have eyes on Maryana.”
33
Owl frowned as she rested her hand on the controls of the transport ship. “I’m not saying the people who built it did a bad job. Everything’s in the right place. Everything’s functional. It’s just so…by the book. It’s…”
“Boring?” CB asked.
“Exactly! It’s boring. I prefer a ship with a little personality.”
Owl was running her diagnostic tests on the transport ship, checking everything to make sure that it was ready for the next day’s flight to Agartha. CB had been in the hangar and offered to help. Owl was glad. It had been a long time since they’d spent time talking, just the two of them. It hadn’t happened since before she died. She was feeling a little better since the talk with Alex earlier, but she still preferred not to be alone.
As soon as New Haven was in position, they’d be heading down to join the fight against Maryana. Assuming that Agartha could hold out that long. Until then, they had nothing to do but prepare.
“Now, the away ship,” Owl said. “There was a vessel with personality. I mean, sure, Jessica designed it to b
e user friendly, so that even an inexperienced pilot like Chuck could fly it. But that’s all surface level. I’m talking about the quirks that seem like a hassle at first, but you grow to love over time. For example, the switch that activated the radio was just a little too far to the right. I had to lean over to flip it. There was the tiny little hitch in the throttle when it was really accelerating. I probably could have fixed it, but I’d grown to love it, by then.”
CB chuckled. “I’m sorry about your ship, Owl.”
“Me, too. But, if she had to go, I’m glad I was the one who put her out of her misery.” She glanced down at the readout on the diagnostic display. “I just wish we could have replaced her with something with more character. Look at these results. Every one of them is perfect. It’s ridiculous.”
CB glanced at the screen, confirming the results. “Call me old fashioned, but I’d prefer that my team get down there safely, even if the pilot is a little bored.”
She glanced at him. “Are you bummed you’re going to miss the big fight?”
He thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I would love to see Maryana get squashed like a bug. But, other than that, not really. I’ve been in plenty of scrapes, and it’s a miracle I made it through some of them. My place is here. With Jessica.”
Owl couldn’t help but chuckle at that. When she’d joined the team, CB’s life had been the GMT. He wouldn’t have conceived of missing a mission. But so much had happened since then. With Fleming. Mark and Aaron. The virus. And now, Maryana. CB had changed a lot since those days.
“I’m glad you have a place,” Owl said. She was surprised at the hint of sadness she heard in her own voice.
“And you don’t?” CB asked.
