Blood Work (46 page)

“Ooh.
Tempting. I could hire me a whole bunch of hardy, blooded
ex-marines to go vampire hunting and get my revenge. Come on, Big
Red. Be creative. Everyone offers money, but maybe I’m after
something else. Don’t be afraid to explore the possibilities,
champ.” I gestured casually over my shoulder at Veilchen. “Miss
Purple is at least trying.”

“I’ll let you
keep my daughter.” Veilchen’s offer was quiet, but it snapped
through me like a live wire.

I hid my surge
of hope and said to Martínez, “See, that’s how you do it.” I faced
Veilchen. “You won’t take her body?”

“No. I’ll find
another I like. You may keep her as your personal pet. As your
bodyguard. As your lover. Whatever.” Then she smiled and added,
“And I’ll give you however much money you want.”

I sucked in a
long breath. “That’s very, very close to everything I want. Big
Red, you got one more chance.”

He didn’t get
it.

Mercy launched
herself from the ground and latched onto his back. She tore into
his neck while tossing me what she held in one hand. Catching the
knife and, with the world blurring around me, I spun, shedding an
arc of water droplets off the blade as I went. It slashed through
Veilchen’s throat, the Holy water smoking as it came into contact
with her flesh. The return swing cut deeper and her head snapped
backwards so far the remaining skin and tissue tore, dropping her
head to the ground.

I didn’t wait
around to see what happened next. I just threw myself to the ground
and covered my head. There was no explosion of goop from Veilchen’s
dead body, but the two armies, released from control, roared at
each other and charged.

The noise was
deafening. Think cat fight, dog barny and angry chimps at the zoo,
combine it all and amplify. Holy hell. They could probably hear it
all the way back in Redcliffe. Thankfully, there was little chance
of being stood on. Vampires fight so fast the amount of time they
actually spend on the ground is minimal. Still, blood was bound to
fly very soon.

I lifted my
head enough to check the surrounds. It was a hazy mix of flashing
limbs and disintegrating bodies. I couldn’t see Big Red or Mercy.
Not good. Mercy had enough for the initial attack, but nothing left
to actually fight with. If she was gone, she was either a puddle on
the ground, or carried off by Big Red.

Reaching
through the link got me nothing. There was no block, no pain
maddened vampire at the other end, no anything.

A hand grabbed
my arm. I screamed and then focused on Erin. She hauled herself
closer, pale and very tired. There were fresh wounds on her right
wrist. I gathered her to my side and did my best to protect her
with my body.

When a great
splash of blood hit the grass beside us, I knew it was time to get
going. Thankfully, we were back to being the little fish in this
argument. Getting out was merely a chore of avoiding everyone else.
The fight had expanded out of the clearing and into the forest
proper. As we stumbled up the path back to the car, the trees
around us shook and leaves rained down in great torrents. A huge
crack came a moment before a slow, gradual crash, ending in a
slight tremor in the ground and minor mushroom cloud of leaves and
vegetation.

Erin collapsed
before we got back to the car. Working purely on adrenaline, I half
dragged, half carried her the last distance. At the car, I had to
bodily shove her into the passenger seat. It was all I could do to
get in myself. When I made it behind the wheel, I locked the doors,
despite the fact that my side had no window. But it made me feel
better.

We stayed
there for some amount of time. Long enough for the last of the
morphine to wear off and for Erin to regain some sense.

I looked at
Erin’s wrist. Mercy’s bite had been clumsy. Probably Erin had done
as I had, and impaled her own flesh on Mercy’s fangs. From the
glove compartment, I took the first aid kit and bound Erin’s wrist.
She watched me do it with no interest. If I’d had any energy I
would have started that talk about her current opinion on continual
life, but I figured it could wait.

Then the
battle reached us.

Vampires
roiled out of the trees and charged. They were all Reds, coats,
torn and ragged, flaring behind them, cab sav hitting me hard. Had
Big Red’s superior numbers beaten Veilchen’s admittedly stronger
troops? Fuck it. Who cared? I jammed the keys into the ignition and
started the car. Ripping it into reverse, I tore us backwards out
of the park just ahead of the horde. Swinging the car around lost
us precious ground and the bastards piled up on the car like
footballers in a scrum.

I roared
wordlessly, flung the car into gear and slammed it forward. Some
tumbled off, some didn’t. I did my best to lose them on the way
down the mountain. It mostly worked and the rest fell off when we
hit level ground and I threw the car around a sharp bend.

“Go back,”
Erin gasped.

“What?”

“Back the
other way.” She pointed unsteadily to the street I hadn’t taken.
“That way.”

She sounded
like she had a plan, so we performed a highly illegal u-turn and
rocketed back the way she indicated. The Reds followed gamely,
their presence sitting in the back of my mouth like a pill I
couldn’t swallow.

It wasn’t far
and when I saw where Erin had directed us, I laughed.

The car
skidded to a shuddering stop in the gravel car park and Erin and I
piled out. I grabbed her arm and we raced up the stairs as quick as
we could. Vampires began dropping around us, howling in anger and
victory. We made it to the top of the stairs and rammed the doors.
And came to a nasty and sharp stop.

“Fuck! They
locked the doors. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Erin sagged
against the doors. “We tried.”

I glanced back
at the encroaching vampires. They were wary, approaching slowly.
But any moment now, they were going to realise no cavalry was about
to come charging out of the building and they would come in
force.

“We tried and
nearly won,” I said. “And that’s not good enough.”

Something
inside me shifted. It was almost like the sensation I got when
creating Invisible Matt, and it came from the same place as the
umbilical that linked his body to mine. But this was different. It
was like a pressure building up, coiling tightly, a spring of
potential. It all happened in the space of perhaps a heartbeat.

“Matt,” Erin
said.

I could feel
the vampires coming. They were about to attack again. Their
wariness had worn off.

It was now or
never.

I pushed the
potential energy out of my chest and into the doors. The thick wood
cracked, the lock dissolved and with a heavy crash, the doors swung
inward. Erin and I tumbled in just as the vampires lunged.

The first few
that landed inside the church simply combusted. The next few,
perhaps protected by the gas released from their dead fellows
lasted maybe a second or two longer. After that, the others managed
to fall backwards.

Erin and I
scrambled further inside and rolled over to look at the vampires
outside. They stood at the bottom of the stairs, hissing at us.

I chuckled and
gave them the finger.

I was all for
just sitting and watching the freaks gnash their fangs in
frustration, but Erin wanted to close the doors, so we did. Then we
staggered into the sanctuary.

It was a small
church, made from stone blocks and polished wood. The ceiling was
arched and exposed beams were draped with hanging lights and fans.
An older building retro fitted to offer more than spiritual comfort
to its parishioners. There was a small, carpeted area at the back
of the room with a play pen and box of toys. We lay down there and
stared at the pointed ceiling.

“Good call,” I
said eventually.

Erin just
grunted.

“How did you
know it was here?”

“It’s where I
got married.”

“Oh.”

And we left it
at that.

#

My phone rang
and woke me up.

I hadn’t even
realised I’d been asleep. Beside me, Erin mumbled something and
sank back into a deep slumber. I fumbled in my pockets and
eventually found the phone just as it stopped ringing. Before I
could look at the number, it rang again and I answered.

“What?”

“Mr Hawkins,”
Aurum said. “I’m glad you survived.”

“You know what
happened?”

“I was
watching from a safe distance.”

I moved away
from Erin so I wouldn’t disturb her sleep. “You were watching?”

“It would
hardly have counted as a test of your skills had I not
watched.”

My growing
fury obliterated all responses I had bar a rumbling growl.

“Now, before
you fly into a rage, Mr Hawkins, let me assure you that you passed.
You stopped the alliance between Red and Violet and not many humans
could have done that. Congratulations.”

The phone
creaked as my grip tightened. “Fuck you,” I managed.

“Language, Mr
Hawkins. I believe you have a lady with you.”

A day ago, his
tone would have had me ducking my head in shame. All it did now was
set my blood dial to ‘boil’.

“You used
me.”

“I did. The
potential alliance had to be diverted. If the Reds and Violets
joined forces, they would be a threat large enough to wipe out the
other castes. At the moment, the castes are evenly matched overall.
Should one, or two, gain an upper hand, the balance will be lost.
Had the Reds and Violets joined, the end result would have been the
destruction of all castes but the Violets. Yes, even the Reds
wouldn’t have survived. Without a threat equal to her own, Veilchen
would have been free to concentrate on the human population of the
world.”

He paused and
if he expected me to fill in the convenient blank, I wasn’t going
to satisfy him. I’d done enough dancing to his tune.

“Ah, I see,”
he murmured eventually. “And I understand. However you may feel
about me, Mr Hawkins, just remember what you accomplished here
tonight. You defeated a great threat to your kind, and earned my
respect. That is no small thing.”

I swallowed
the shout of rage I wanted to vent. “Who are you?”

Aurum just
said, “Think about it. Apply your scientific mind.”

About to hang
up on him, I stopped and asked, “Veilchen? Did she survive?”

He chuckled.
“Of course she did. She is truly eternal. But you wounded her
grievously. She won’t be a threat to you for some time yet. As you
count time, at least. Martínez, however, was not so endurable. And
Mr Hawkins, I believe there is someone waiting for you
outside.”

The line went
dead. I stared at the phone. Then before I could throw it across
the room, I put in back in a pocket. See, Dr Campbell, I do have
restraint.

Angry beyond
reason with Aurum, I was nevertheless curious. I staggered to the
front door and eased it open enough to peek out. A dark bundle lay
on the front steps.

Flinging open
the door, I almost fell down beside Mercy and gathered her up. She
stirred and opened her eyes. Maybe it was a reflection of the
street light or just my imagination, but for a second, they flashed
gold. Then they were just normal brown.

I checked her
over, found her wounds mostly healed, including the ones from the
night before.

“Aurum,” I
breathed, suddenly understanding.

Faint light
touched the eastern horizon. Time to move. I carried Mercy to the
car and laid her as gently as I could in the boot. It would protect
her from the sunlight until we got home. Then I went back
inside.

Erin was awake
and sitting up. She nursed her arms, tears streaming down her
cheeks. I sat beside her, close but not touching, though I ached
to.

“Mercy’s
back,” I whispered.

“I’m
glad.”

“I think
she’ll be okay.”

Erin
nodded.

“Will you be
okay?”

She thought
about it for a while. Then nodded.

“Erin—”

“I’ll call you
and set up a meeting to get your things to you,” she said firmly.
“After that, no more.”

My fingers
itched to touch her, to brush the hair from her face, to catch the
tears that fell.

“We got
married here,” she said suddenly. “And I’ll bury him here. And then
I’ll move on.”

Her speech
tore my heart in two, but reassured me as well. I touched her then,
a soft squeeze on her arm.

“Do want me to
take you to a hospital?” I asked.

“No. Just
go.”

I
hesitated.

“Thank you for
your concern, but I’ll be fine. Go.”

I left her
there, got in the car and drove home.

As for Aurum?
Well, check him out on the Periodic Table of Elements, number
seventy-nine.

Erin sat in her car and waited. The
gun, secured in a locked carry case, sat on the seat beside her.
She didn’t understand why he wanted to meet here, of all places.
And he was late. Only to be expected, she supposed.

She rolled her
arms over on the steering wheel and looked at her wrists. All that
remained of Mercy’s bites were four pink dints. At least, that was
the only physical remains. There were still nights when Erin woke
up, terrified, ghosts of the horrible drawing sensation winding
through her body. And there had been a month straight where she
hadn’t gone out at night. William had relished the constant company
for about two weeks, then began nagging her about it. Her first
outing after dark had been dinner at Gavin and Kate’s. She’d even
enjoyed it, a bit. Then Ivan and Brad had taken her to the movies,
which she’d enjoyed more.

Ivan had spent
a week in hospital, recovering from Veilchen’s interrogation. He’d
had few physical wounds, but doctors had kept him in for
observation, worried there might have been deep, psychological
trauma. Occasionally, he told Erin about his nightmares, but they
had grown less and less frequent until he claimed he no longer had
them. Sometimes, though, when he thought no one was watching, his
eyes would get haunted and his shoulders would shake a little.