Sleight of Hand (26 page)

“Mykayla was all tied up and she was still awake when I got here. She says they just went out to get some more of them to come back and rape her.”

“Okay, Tullah, it’s okay. It’s not going to happen. You’ve got the door locked?”

“The outside door is broken. I locked the door to the apartment and I’ve moved the bed against it. It’s on the second floor, so they’ve got to come up the stairs. The stairs are around the back.”

“Did Mykayla say anything else?”

“It wasn’t very clear. She said something about wanting to be like you and someone called Bian, and that she wanted to be with Bian.”

And Mykayla had started asking around, and this happened. I could see how it had gone.

“Couple of minutes, now.” I said.

“Amber, I can see them,” Tullah yelled. “There are a dozen motorcycles just coming off the road.”

I floored the pedal and the old car responded as well as it could.

“They’re in the back. Oh God, Amber, I’m so scared.”

“Just keep them out for two minutes, Tullah. Keep the line open,” I shouted as I headed onto the slip road. At the end of it, I ran the red light, crossing the traffic in a squeal of tires. Horns blared out after me and I had to repeat it moments later, threading through a gap in the cars to come off onto the side road.

Mykayla’s apartment was in a dusty, two-story building of red brick with a concrete area out front and a paved track leading around the back. I shot down the side road and emerged behind the building into a dirt rectangle with a couple of old pickups parked to one side and a dozen street cruiser bikes in the middle. A ball of shouting bikers was gathered by an open doorway.

I steered at the motorcycles, then pulled the wheel around and hauled on the  emergency brake. The back end slid around and swatted motorcycles in all directions. About halfway, I slammed the stick shift into first gear and floored the pedal again. With red dirt spraying out from the rear wheels like rooster tails, the car started to slither towards the building, quickly picking up speed.

The screaming, swearing mass of bikers came apart as they dived or ran to get out of my way. I repeated the handbrake turn, spinning around in a cloud of dirt and dust. I left the engine running and leaped out, drawing the HK. I picked one of the remaining standing motorcycles and put a round through the tank so that everyone knew I had a gun.

That cleared the parking lot.

I swung the HK around and into the doorway which led immediately to a set of stairs. Coming down those stairs was the first big problem, a biker with ZK tattoos and a pistol. I didn’t have time for this. Despite what I had said to Onebrow, I shot him in the leg and his momentum pitched him out into the yard. I snatched his gun,
another
Glock, and went back into the doorway with both guns aiming up the stairs.

“Tullah,” I shouted at my headset, hoping she was still listening to the cell, or could hear me through the door. “Come out now, quick as you can.”

The remaining two bikers who’d been trying to break the inner door came down without needing to be told, their hands raised.

The bracelet had been tingling since I arrived, almost subconsciously. Now it became urgent. One of the guys who’d taken refuge behind a pickup stood up and fired at me. The training took over and the HK came around. Tap, tap. Tap. I saw him jerk twice and then his head flicked back and he fell. I slammed an elbow into the face of the guy who’d just come out the door and thought he could take advantage of the distraction. His friend dragged him to cover while I managed to stop my finger from squeezing the trigger again.

Tullah staggered out behind me, carrying Mykayla’s unconscious body to the car. At the sight of her bloodied form, the anger came back. If the bikers had been slower to get out of the yard, I might have re-thought the decision not to kill anyone unless I had to, and damn my rules.

While Tullah got in, I walked back to the car, putting a hole in every motorcycle’s rear wheel with the Glock. It had the single stack magazine of ten rounds, which left two bikes, one of which had a hole in the tank. Thanks to using three on the guy who’d fired at me, I had 9 rounds left in the HK and I wanted to keep those. If they wanted to chase me on a couple of motorcycles, the more fool them.

I thought we had a few minutes before they tried to hotwire the pickups and come after us, but any one of them could have been calling his friends right now.

“Down on the floor,” I said as I got in. I spun the wheels as we fishtailed down the side of the building and away.

“Are you okay?” I asked as we left the side road and merged with the traffic.

“I’m fine. I’m worried about Mykayla, though, she’s still unconscious. I’m so sorry, Amber, I screwed up,” she said, trying not to cry.

“You’re sorry that Mykayla is alive because you took the initiative? Don’t be. Even ignoring what they intended to do first, they wouldn’t have let her live, Tullah. Forget sorry.”

My pulse began to slow and I tried to figure out the best thing to do. I dialed Bian. We wouldn’t know exactly what had happened to precipitate this until Mykayla could answer questions, but Bian was the one who got this started by picking her up for a disguise while they were stalking me.

“Twice in one day, Round-eye. People will start to talk.”

“No time for that, Bian. I’ve got Mykayla in my car. She’s been badly injured.”

The banter went off like a switch had been thrown. “Where are you?”

“Heading north on Interstate 25, just coming past Veteran’s Park.” I knew where House Altau was, but I wanted to keep that ace in the hole. Besides, the quicker they met me, the quicker someone could see to Mykayla, so meeting halfway was better.

Bian spoke urgently to someone else in the language I couldn’t recognize and then she came back on. “We’ll be waiting in the parking lot of the Lakeside Golf Course on I-70.”

“You’ll have a doctor?”

I could hear movements in the background, doors slamming. “Someone with healing skills, yes.” There was a pause while someone else spoke. “I’m on my way. Amber, thank you,” she said, and the line went dead.

“Amber,” said Tullah in a small voice, “I can’t meet them.”

“How the hell do you know who I’m talking to?”

“The speaker on your cell is on. I feel awful. I can’t say anything—Ma will have to explain.”

“You know Bian?”

“No. I just recognize the language in the background.”

“Shit. This is going to be one interesting conversation tomorrow. What am I supposed to do with you?”

“Just take this next slip road and drop me on Ohio Avenue. I’ll head for the shopping center and get Ma to come out, or I’ll take a taxi.”

I took the turnoff. It actually made a lot of sense. Tullah would be much safer in a shopping center or a taxi than driving around with me in this car.

“Okay. Make Mykayla as comfortable as you can and get out quickly when I turn.”

In a couple of minutes, I was back on the interstate, with no one to talk to but myself and nothing to listen to but my thoughts and the worrying, grinding noise from the engine.

The smell of blood from Mykayla was unsettling me, and I drove quickly.

Tullah had said
if everything’s okay
this morning, meaning after I had spoken to Mary tomorrow. I’d brushed that off as a minor matter and now, that seemed hasty. If Mary and Tullah knew the language that Bian used, which I was betting was Athanate, what did they know about them? And me?

And in the meantime, what the hell had Mykayla gotten into, and was it really Bian’s fault?

Chapter 33

I drove my poor misused car in through the gates of the Lakeside Golf Course. It was getting dark now, and the little raised islands of flowerbeds scattered through the parking lot each had their central, solar-charged light glowing. About twenty cars were parked, their owners lingering over the nineteenth hole, or enjoying the clubhouse restaurant. Over by the path to the clubhouse, tall floodlights shone down, but in the main parking area, the place was shadowy, almost sinister.

Looking way over to my left, I saw a tall figure wave to me and I recognized Diana. Behind her, a couple of cars and a van were grouped together and I could make out people sitting in them. The unmistakable form of Bian sashayed out from the dark and joined Diana. Did the girl have to be quite so over-the-top? Then I realized she might have done that so I could be sure it was them.

I relaxed a tiny bit as I pulled up next to them and got out.

Bian was already in the back of my car, bent over Mykayla’s head. It looked as if she were kissing her.

“What—” I turned, but Diana’s hand stopped me.

“Bian is a healer. In this case, the best that could be for Mykayla. This is the Athanate way, Amber.”

“She’s not going to bite her.” I struggled, but Diana’s grip was extraordinary. I’d have had to tear my arm off to get away.

“She is not biting her,” said Diana. A half dozen men had emerged from the van and cars. Without actually seeming to surround us, they formed a cordon between us and any other watcher in the dark. They would appear as a group of friends to the casual eye.

“Amber, look at me.”

My heart hammered in my chest. Crap, crap. What had I gotten into now? My eyes seemed to move of their own accord and I was looking up into Diana’s. My head swam.

“I have given you my word, Amber,” she said. “I’m not trying to control you, but it’s important that you believe me.”

I calmed myself down. I told myself she wasn’t going to bite me. Bian wasn’t biting Mykayla. Calm. Calm. Focus. The coppery scent from Diana was strangely soothing. Her eyes were gorgeous.

“Better,” she said. “Now, when we bite, which we’re not tonight, Athanate saliva contains chemicals. Some of these we call aniatropics. They make the body heal itself rapidly. That’s what Bian is giving Mykayla, but with a kiss.”

With my head swimming as it was, a giggle threatened to escape. “So the vampire’s kiss is good for you?” I said. David had said something about this.

Diana smiled, and let me get away with calling Bian a vampire. “It could be. Or not.”

“Why’s Bian so good for Mykayla?” I said. I’d have to find out about the
or not
part later.

“Because Bian believes she is at fault here and owes Mykayla protection. Responsibility is a very strong force for her and that motivation is helping her to create the strongest aniatropics.”

I let out a breath and relaxed. I did believe her, whether it was because she was messing with my head or that I simply found her easy to believe. Diana let me go and I rubbed my arm. I’d just gotten rid of the last bunch, and I really didn’t need new bruises at the ball.

“We are also in your debt, Amber.”

“Well, if you’re offering,” I joked, “a new car would be handy, at least for a while. The bikers will know the car and they’ll have my license plate. And I think I’ve thrown a tooth on the gears.”

Diana made a signal to the surrounding Athanate and, taking my arm again, gently walked me to one side.

“Tell me what happened,” she said.

I went through it, from why I felt I had to check up on Mykayla, to scaring off the gang members and escaping. I left it that I’d dropped Tullah off for her mother to pick up and implied I did it for Diana’s security reasons. I filled in a bit of ZK background—the connection to drugs and their interest in finding a legitimate front for their expanding criminal organization. I didn’t mention Kingslund Group. I told her about the death of Guy Windler and mentioned the similarity in smell of the vampire that did that to the rogues from last year.

Diana’s nose flared and she shuddered. “It begins. Soon, it will be very dangerous for you to be on your own, Amber. Keep the cell number we have given you and use it at any time. Or simply agree to live with us.” She looked up at the night sky with her head tilted as if she were listening to something else, then let her breath plume out. “We need to be back at the House. Is there anything else I can offer you in thanks?”

Else?

“Yes, I want to see Mykayla, unbitten, as soon as she’s well. And I want to be convinced she understands exactly what she’s getting into before anything happens.”

“You will,” said Diana simply, as they carried Mykayla to the van. One of the men came over and offered something to me.

I put out my hand and a key dropped into it.

“It is yours,” said Diana, indicating one of the cars. “I’ll bring the papers tomorrow. They’ve moved your things across. Give Bian your keys, please.”

Dumbfounded, I held out the key to my beaten-up old car. “But it’ll be dangerous,” I said. “ZK will be out looking for it, they’ll ambush you.”

“I hope they do,” said Bian, taking the key from me. I looked at her and shivered. All signs of the provocative goth girl had disappeared and were replaced with something entirely feral and frightening. It could be her choice of tattoo was justified.

“Just down to Mykayla’s house to clear that up and then back, Bian,” said Diana. Bian’s head lowered stiffly in acknowledgement.

I dived into my car—my ex-car—and retrieved the little pack of Mrs. Welchester’s fake ID hidden behind the dash. There wasn’t anything I could do about the GPS system, but at least it didn’t have the recording disk inside.

“We will see you tomorrow, Amber,” said Diana.

“Not at the office,” I said. “I’m going to close that for a while.”

Diana nodded. “Probably best. Meet us here, then, in the clubhouse conference room.”

I looked surprised, and she smiled. “I own the club.” They drove off into the night, leaving me with a new Audi.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Playing with the car kept my mind occupied until I got back to Jen’s. I had to get out and show myself to persuade Victor’s guards to let me in, which I approved of, and I told them so.

I turned off the engine and called Tullah. She was fine and I told her that Mykayla was in good hands. I said not to use the office for the moment, and we agreed to meet her mother in the afternoon at the Café Vienne where I’d talked to Geoff earlier today.