Minion (7 page)

“Anybody else cut?” Marlene repeated, carefully appraising her team. “Status, before we start moving and get ambushed. Reload what we have left.”

“Opened my knee up when I went down for a second,” J.L. muttered, looking at the gash in his fatigues.

“Douse it, and close up the wound, fast. The blood'll draw 'em back like sharks,” Damali ordered, bending over with her hands on her knees as she took in huge gulps of air. Then she stood up and walked slowly toward her teammate who was hanging back from the protective circle of the group. “Wizard . . . Jose. Jose!”

Jose didn't answer. His line of vision was trained to a dark corner of the alley behind them. His battery pack had dimmed and his lamp was on the ground. Damali saw him swallow hard and slowly bring his crossbow up to his chest.

“Let him do it,” Marlene murmured, stopping Damali's advance.

“No. I told him I got his back,” Big Mike interjected, stepping in front of Marlene and Damali. “No man should have to put his own woman down.”

“She's in there, man,” Jose choked out on a strangled swallow. “She's calling me.”

Two red, glowing eyes appeared in the corner of the dark alley.

“Give me your weapon, Wizard,” Big Mike ordered.

A hiss came from the corner where Jose stared.

“There must be something Marlene can do—some spells, something, man. Take her to a priest, an exorcist . . .”

“We been through this, little brother. Now give me your weapon. There's nothing we can do for Dee Dee now. Did she nick you?”

“No . . . but all she wants me to do is hold her before she dies, she wants to be at peace. Just once.”

The group nodded, which seemed to be the assurance Jose required. He slowly handed Big Mike the weapon.

“You'll give me a chance to say good-bye, right?” he asked, stepping toward the shadows.

“Steady, Mike,” Shabazz said low in his throat. “Over our brother's shoulder. Let him draw her to where you can see her.”

“Be prepared to take Jose, too,” Marlene murmured to J.L., “if Big Mike misses. Dee Dee will be on him in two seconds.”

Jose hesitated, and looked back at his teammates. “She's afraid, that's all, and so alone. Can't you hear what she's saying?”

“Yeah, I can hear her,” Big Mike replied quietly. “She ain't saying what you think, though.”

The two eyes in the corner of the alley disappeared for a moment, and then reappeared in the same spot as though the creature had slowly blinked. A form stealthily came forward. The group held in a collective gasp. The alley was silent, save for the hum of the air conditioners. What was once their beloved Dee Dee flicked a long, pronged black tongue out upon a hiss. Talons had replaced her once-neat French manicure. Her grayish-green skin was peeling away from the skeleton of her face, and her glowing eyes sat in black, dark sockets. Her nose was merely two holes. This abomination of their friend had a sly smile on its face, a taunting grin that flashed huge, saliva-slicked fangs. Damali wanted to hurl.

The team glanced at each other, all sensing that the beast was inside Jose's head, cracking his skull with its call. Damali's heart hurt from watching her teammate writhe in emotional agony. But the situation was too delicate. Nobody made a move, lest they catch the living lover, Jose, their teammate, in the crossfire.
It was clear that he'd make a lunge to try to spare her the stake. This had to go down smooth to save their brother.

Jose stepped forward slowly. “Dee Dee, baby. Nobody is going to hurt you. We're going to help you. You're still one of us.”

Like hell
. . . Damali glanced at Marlene and the fellas and shook her head. Even though it was eating her up inside to watch Jose battle this thing, there was no other way. She almost couldn't watch him calling to the woman he loved like one would call to a beloved house pet that had been hit by a car and had hidden under a parked vehicle to die alone in fear. It was pitiful.

There was only one focus, however. Get Dee Dee in range. As soon as Dee Dee's clawed hand reached out, and a glimmer of her fang-distorted face showed past the next set of Dumpster shadows, Damali gave the order. “Fire!”

The stake released, sending a whooshing sound past the group, nearly grazing Jose's shoulder, but connecting with a screaming target that instantly combusted where it once stood. Rider was still trying to fire rounds from his jammed gun when Jose dropped to his knees and covered his face with his hands. Damali watched his shoulders shake as Big Mike tried to help Jose up, only to have him shrug away.

“He'll be all right in the morning,” Marlene said in a distant tone.

“Dirt—shit! You can't even find good hallowed earth these days!” Rider yelled, spitting again and attempting to reload his jammed gun. “He ain't gonna never be all right.”

“Were any of us?” Shabazz added solemnly, collecting Jose under his arm so he'd stand, and then shaking Big Mike's hand. “Your brother just saved your life—even though right now you just wanna curl up and die. Was hard for him to take that weight so you wouldn't have to. Recognize, and let this go.”

Jose nodded, wiped his face, and pounded Big Mike's fist.

“Told you I gotcha back,” Mike reminded Jose, throwing an arm over his shoulder.

But the fact that Big Mike warily appraised Jose's skin from head to toe first, was not lost on the group.

“He's clean,” Big Mike finally muttered, offering Jose a fast male embrace, then handing him back his weapon.

“I can't get her voice out of my head,” Jose whispered.

“And you won't,” Shabazz said in a harsh tone, collecting their gear and still surveying the perimeter beyond the group. “That's why you can't afford to fall in love, let somebody get under your skin like that—their voice will be in your head until the main vamp is dead. You'll be in hell, and want to take your own life every night when one of them assumes her voice to fuck with you . . . or tries to climb into your bed to make you forget she's dead. That's why I wanted Wizard to kill her—so he'd remember that when the succubus comes for him. His hell is brand-spanking-new. Ask me how I know.”

“Leave him be,” Marlene warned. “One step of awareness at a time.”

“Maybe you haven't noticed, Mar, but we seem to be running out of time.”

Marlene and Shabazz held each other's gaze in a deadlock before Shabazz turned away and looked up at the sky.

“We need to move out,” Damali said quietly, sensing the environment, and then she looked up at the sky. “But I don't think it's safe yet.” She glanced at her group and they nodded their agreement. The team was wired, still breathing hard, and pumped from the battle. “I know we all wanna get out of here, but we need to be strategic, and not just run headlong into another setup.”

“She's on-point,” Shabazz said, nodding in agreement. “Our slayer is coming into her own.”

Marlene glanced at Shabazz and looked away.

What was
that
about? Damali assessed her team with caution. “We should hold up for a moment, and make sure we're clear. I can hear sound coming back, but it's not all the way back, yet. Soon as it does, and traffic can be clearly heard, we move.” Again, her gaze went to the heavens.

Mike nodded. “She's on about the sound.”

“When we get back to the compound, we need to have a meeting.” Damali glanced around at her battle-weary team. “Anybody notice the death-wounds these things sustained to turn 'em?”

Damali's question was met with silence.

“Did anyone get a good look at their throats before they flamed?” she asked, repeating the question more slowly. She let her breath out hard when her team just shook their heads. “Well, it wasn't the normal two-hole vamp bite that turned these things into whatever they are, that's for sure.” She wiped her hands off on her backside and picked up a walking stick.

“Yeah. Baby girl is coming into her own,” Shabazz muttered as the team collected their ammo.

Marlene glared a Shabazz. “That's enough!”

“Talk to me, Marlene,” Damali ordered. “What's up with the vibe?”

“How's everybody's ammo?” Shabazz's question was an open diversion, a tension release valve, more so than an actual need to know.

Damali looked at him and Marlene hard and let it go. Later.

“Low, and fucked up,” Rider retorted, still angered by his jammed magazine. “Well, this has been fun.”

“Crossbows are on E,” J.L. said, his expression worried.

“Almost out of grenades,” Mike added, throwing Marlene her
walking stick after retrieving it from a pile of smoldering, putrid ash on the ground.

“Sound's back. We're clear to move out,” Big Mike announced.

“Let's roll,” Shabazz said, throwing Damali a stake he'd picked up. “Time to call the limo.”

Marlene and Shabazz glared at each other, but didn't say another word as they walked. All Marlene did was grab her cell phone out of her satchel and punch in a code and hang up. But it was the way the seer had flung the cell phone into her bag that Damali noted.

“Shabazz is right,” Damali chimed in, taking the lead between her sparring mentors. “This alley is hot territory now that we have sound back in it. We've kicked up a lot of dust, made a lot of noise, and the cops are sure to be here soon. Let's gather weapons, the limo will be here in a second, and we can get Dan, then jet. We can do damage-to-equipment accounting in the limo, and repack everything so it passes muster at the airport.”

“We didn't get all of them,” Rider reminded the group as they neared the alley's exit. “Look alive.”

“Page the limo again, somebody,” Marlene said, her voice monotone. “Then, Big Mike, you sweep it before we get in—use the remaining grenades for that. Just splash a load of holy water in there, as per usual. If something's in the limo that shouldn't be, we'll know as soon as it catches fire.”

Mike nodded. “Right, boss lady. We're real low on my holy water that burns 'em up like fossil fuel, though. From there, it'll be hand-to-hand.” Big Mike took out his cellular, punched in the code, and sighed.

“J.L., can you spare a stake for everybody from your grip?”

The group turned their attention to J.L. at Damali's comment.

“I've got two,” J.L. said, tossing one to Shabazz. “Jose, what-chu got?”

“One,” he said, laughing sadly, and then handed it to Damali. “Use it to do me if you have to.”

Damali shook her head, and handed it back to Jose. “You're clean, and didn't get nicked by a vamp. Just because she was jacking with your head, doesn't mean you'll turn. It'll just hurt your soul . . . So, keep the stake. I don't need it. Protect yourself while we walk. Peace?”

“Oh, I get it,” Rider said. “Just dog the white boy in the group. Just leave him assed out with a fucked-up clip that won't fire, nothing in his hand—”

“I gotcha back.” Damali chuckled, walking up beside Jake and elbowing him. She patted her waistband that contained the drum anchors and handed him one of the chimes from her back pocket. “Never even got to use them.”

“Now I feel better.” Rider outstretched his arms and then slapped the center of his chest. “Chimes and drum anchors bring a man up close and personal—I prefer long-distance relationships with the vamps. Dig?”

“You cool,” Big Mike said with a grin, tossing Rider a vial. “Feel better, now?”

“Much improved, good brother,” Rider replied with a nervous laugh as he caught the vial and kissed it.

“I hope you saved a bullet for Dan, just in case,” Marlene said quietly.

The group stopped walking for a moment.

“Yeah,” Shabazz muttered and checked his jammed weapon, firing once to be sure it would again. “Been thinking about that—he was away from sight, you know.”

“This shit can get to anybody,” Rider said, now growing somber. “There but for the grace of God go any of us at any time.”

“That's what makes this all so ludicrous.” J.L. ran his hands through his sweat-slicked black hair. His dark brown, almond-shaped eyes held an intensity that made Marlene acknowledge his unspoken comment.

“I know,” Marlene whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder, and forcing him to keep walking with the group. “We're in too deep to get out, but we're all still human. One day this will all be over.”

“Don't promise the man a check that will bounce, Mar.” Shabazz looked at Marlene hard.

“When we find the main lair, it'll be over, right?” Damali's question hung between them as the limo approached. A hundred questions also ran through her mind. What kind of lair were they searching for? These creatures were different than regular run-of-the-mill vampires, but their weapons still worked against them as though they were normal vamps, albeit it seemed to take twice as much of the auxiliary-type weapons to put one of them down. Stakes had been effective, but the hallowed earth and even the holy water had been slower to take effect. Too weird.

The group backed up when the driver opened the door and a smiling Dan leapt out.

“What in Hell's name was taking you guys so long to page us?”

Dan's upbeat persona made the tension ease its way from Damali's shoulders. She said a silent prayer as Big Mike approached him. Please God, no more tonight.

“Hey, what's with the water thing?” Dan laughed and batted at Mike's ministrations. “The show's over, I don't need to be anointed by the spirits,” he added, chuckling.

Mike ignored him and turned to the driver. “Step away from the vehicle.”

“Why?” Seeming indignant, the driver opened up his coat to allow what he obviously thought was going to be a frisk, only to swear under his breath as Mike flicked water at him. “Crazy bastards. Damn.”

“All clear,” Mike called out, after having administered the test to the inside of the vehicle, also spraying the trunk and under the chassis. He helped Damali in first, saw to it that J.L, Jose, and Shabazz were also inside safely, and then got in himself, while Rider took Marlene's elbow.