Storm (The Storm Chronicles Book 6) (13 page)

“We’ve picked up a tail,” Sable said.

Her voice was like lead, cold and heavy. Levac looked over his shoulder and saw nothing but one of the city plows, big, blue and lit up with orange high-visibility lights. “I don’t see anything.”

“How can you miss it? It’s huge!”

Levac looked at her. “The plow?”

She nodded. “Yeah, the plow. It has turned each time I have, and in case you hadn’t noticed, the plow isn’t actually touching the street.”

Levac looked back and saw she was right, the plow was up instead of down and there was only one person in the cab instead of the usual two.

“Why would a plow be following us?”

Sable drifted the Land Rover down an alley and accelerated. Snow-filled garbage cans crumpled against the big vehicle’s push bar and fell away as it passed. “How should I know? I’m usually the one doing the following.”

The snowplow slid past the mouth of the alley and Levac smiled, certain that Sable had been mistaken. Then it backed up and started down the alley, its sides sending showers of sparks behind as the dump-body ripped chunks out of the buildings to either side.

“I think you’re right, its following us.”

“You think?” Sable snarled. “You know the city better than I do, we need to get somewhere it can’t go before it runs us over.”

Levac turned back forward and ducked as another garbage can bounced off the pushbar and flew over the Land River’s roof.

“Jesus! Okay, sure, why don’t you let me drive?”

“You want me to stop with that thing behind us?” Sable asked.

Levac glanced at the rearview mirror. If objects in the mirror were closer than they appeared, the plow was almost on top of them.

“Maybe not. Take a right at the next street, then left.”

Sable pulled the handbrake and sent the Land Rover into a slide the moment they entered the next intersection. The engine screamed in protest and the SV lurched forward the minute she let go. Levac fought to keep his stomach in place when they rounded the next curve and headed down a shallow incline at breakneck speed. Even Raven wasn’t this insane in the snow. But they were gaining distance on the plow, which was more lumbering beast than speed demon.

“Turn right at the light,” he said.

“That’s back toward home,” Sable protested.

“It’s also toward the only place I can think of where we can get some cover, unless you have a better idea!” Levac yelled back.

Sable didn’t answer, she was too busy keeping the Land Rover from sliding out of control. Levac had to admit, whatever her faults, she was an excellent driver. Insane. But excellent nonetheless.

The snowplow appeared in the mirror again, gaining speed as it followed them down the hill. It seemed far faster than an ordinary plow. More agile, as well. He was interested in finding out how that was possible, if they survived this.

“Which way?” Sable asked.

“Just keep going, I will tell you when I see it.”

“Marvelous,” Sable muttered.

The crossed beneath a yellow flashing light at the next intersection and Levac was surprised to see two police cars pull out behind them. At first he thought they were going to give chase, but instead they blocked the snowplow’s path.

“Did you call for backup?” he asked.

Sable glanced at him. “What am I, psychic, now?”

Levac grinned at her. “Well, you were in Raven’s head, maybe you developed some new abilities you hadn’t shared yet. You Storms are always surprising me.”

Sable looked exasperated. “No, Rupert, I didn’t call for backup. Someone must have noticed they had an out of control plow and called Metro.”

“I like the whole psychic theory better, but you’re probably right.”

Behind them, the snowplow had crashed through the roadblock, leaving one police car on its side in a snowbank and the other severely damaged. As Levac watched, it exploded in a cloud of steel and glass that broke windows on both sides of the street.

“Damn. We have to stop this thing!”

Sable blew hair out of her eyes and fought with the Land Rover’s steering. “One thing at a time, Rupe. Where the hell am I going?”

“At the bottom of this hill, turn left again. It will take us into the parking garage, it has low ceilings where that thing can’t go,” he said.

Sable acknowledged him with a nod and Levac saw the hint of a smile on her face. He held on as she sent the SUV into another wild turn and accelerated through the parking garage entrance and up the ramp. For once there was no need to get a ticket, most garages were open to the public during snowstorms to keep vehicles off the street. Sable pulled into a spot at the top of the ramp and Levac climbed out, weapon in hand. The plow, apparently undamaged by its collision with the two police cars, slowed and stopped at the bottom of the ramp. Levac could see the driver inside, looking at them with the eyes of a dead man. The plow lurched forward and collided with the structure, making it shake.

Sable stopped next to him and drew her revolver. “You don’t think he’ll—”

The truck lurched again and the parking garage shook with the impact. Then the truck started to force its way into the ramp with a sound like the angels of hell screaming in anger. Metal tore, concrete crumbled and the truck moved toward them, inch by inch. Sable raised her revolver and fired two shots into the driver’s head. And still the truck kept coming.

“I thought you knew how to use that thing!” Levac yelled.

He raised his own ten-millimeter pistol and fired four perfectly-aimed rounds that each punched through the driver’s skull. The driver’s head lolled uselessly, held in place only by a few threads of sinew and spine. But the truck didn’t stop. The powerful diesel engine roared and the dump-body tore, taking chunks of concrete with it.

“Fuck this!”

Sable ran toward the truck and Levac felt her call on her vampire. One moment she was as human as anyone, the next she was a master vampire in full fury. He watched as she tore off the truck’s door and pulled the driver out like he was nothing more than an oversized doll. She threw him into the wall where he left a bloody imprint then reached back inside the truck. There were horrible tearing noises from inside and the truck’s engine died with one final rattle and a plume of diesel exhaust. Levac holstered his pistol and arrived at Sable’s side just in time to catch her and lower her to the concrete.

“Let me guess. You haven’t fed,” he said.

Sable shook her head. “Blood is gross, I don’t feed.”

Levac sat beside her. “You do know your powers are fueled by—”

The look she gave him made him stop talking. “Right, of course you know. So, do you carry any?”

Sable shook her head. She was pale and looked weaker even than Raven after using her abilities. Levac helped her up and half carried her back to the SUV.

“Lucky for you, the family vehicles usually have a stash.”

He set her in the passenger seat and rummaged in the back, where he found a dry-ice cooler with a bottle of Claret and four glasses. He ignored the glasses and handed the bottle to Sable, who looked at it with disgust.

“I don’t want this shit!”

Levac shrugged. “You can feed or you can sit here the rest of the night. It’s your decision, I’m going to go call this in.”

He left her there and walked back down the ramp to where the driver lay. There wasn’t much left of his head, just a mass of torn flesh and crushed bone, somehow still attached to the spine. The name on his shirt was ‘Smitty.’ He looked like a perfectly normal city works driver. But normal people didn’t run over police or chase people into parking structures.

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number he knew by heart. Lieutenant Mauser wasn’t going to be happy, but weird cases were weird cases and this was shaping up in the top ten. They needed answers and the night wasn’t getting any younger.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

North Atlantic, Crescent Star: Unknown

Raven and the rest of the team had gathered the remains of their gear and salvaged what they could from the wreck of the Osprey, which hadn’t amounted to more than a few boxes of ammunition and a pair of somehow undamaged grenades, then moved back into the portside corridor. By Aspen’s reckoning, they had less than five hours to reach the engine room and shut them down before the strike force sank the ship with them onboard.

Raven walked at the front of their skirmish line with Aspen and Ford behind. She’d been surprised that none of them had complained when she took charge, but chalked it up to the fact they knew King had intended her to run the team in the first place. She didn’t consider herself much of a leader, but she was the only one she trusted to keep Aspen safe.

They moved through another block of second-class staterooms and through another door that led into a three-story tall shopping mall, of sorts. It had once been an ornate meeting of old and new designs, with huge crystal chandeliers over the central opening and a wide spiral promenade that led all the way down to the bowels of the ship. A variety of storefronts carrying everything from clothing and swimsuits to luggage and tobacco products were placed along the walkway. It would once have been full of vacation shoppers and crew on their breaks, but it was now nothing but broken windows, decaying merchandise and death.

Raven turned to Ford. “Can we get to the engine room through here?”

Ford consulted her wrist computer. “Yes, there should be an access way that leads into the maintenance corridors behind all this. But it is going to be cramped once we’re inside.”

“Faster is better than comfortable.”

She stepped onto the promenade and looked over the edge. She could see the three floors directly below, but any further was like looking into the yawning pit of a black hole. Even her vampire sight couldn’t penetrate the darkness.

“Are you sure about this?” Aspen asked.

Raven continued looking into the abyss. “Got a better idea?”

Aspen shook her head. “Not really. We could try going around—”

Raven cut her off. “It will take too long. We need to finish the job before King’s F-18’s start using this ship for target practice.”

She started to turn away, but was stopped by Aspen’s hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked at her.

“Ray, are you okay? I mean, with your dad and everything? You weren’t supposed to be here.”

Raven leaned against the railing and folded her arms. “I passed my psyche. Igor did some probing and got me to admit to myself what the problem was. He says I’m fine, if that is what you want to hear.”

Aspen stepped closer. “I want to hear the truth, honey.”

Raven smiled. “The truth is I am healing. I’ll get over it, eventually.”

Aspen stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around Raven’s neck, putting her nose so close it was almost touching Raven’s.

“That is what I wanted to hear.”

She leaned in for a kiss and Raven obliged. Their lips touched, just brushing, at first, like shy teens. Then with more force and desire, like they hadn’t seen each other in years.

“Excuse me, don’t let the haunted ship interrupt your romance or anything,” Ford said.

Raven let go and glared at Ford. But she was right, they had work to do.

“Let’s go. Ford, stay close. Kane—”

Kane drew his sword. “Take the rear, I know, Raven.”

Raven rolled her eyes and looked back at Aspen. “Stay behind me with Ford.”

Aspen gave a mock salute. “Right, boss.”

They separated and Raven started down the long, winding corridor. As the darkness deepened she lit some of the small flares she’d been carrying and tossed them to the side of the promenade for what light they would offer. The abandoned stores loomed ominously around them and gave Raven pause. Whatever had happened to the ship, it had happened quickly. At first glance Raven had thought the stores had been looted, but she found on closer inspection they had been touched only by the passage of time. This in itself made the hair stand on the back of her neck. Where the blood, skin and offal they’d encountered throughout the ship had been fresh, much of the items in the stores had rotted with age and disuse. Otherwise, they looked exactly as they had forty years ago. Mannequins still wore the fashion of the day, the suitcase displays stood unmolested and a candle display in a Wix store looked as if it had just been completed by a careful hand.

She continued around to the next level and paused. She could hear something, a sound like a footfall on broken glass from one of the nearby storefronts, a shop that sold upscale swimwear for the fashion-challenged. Raven held up a hand and moved toward the entrance, shotgun at the ready. She was nearly there when the glass front of the store exploded outward, carrying with it a thing out of her worst nightmares. It had once been human and indeed still wore the remnants of a shipboard uniform, but there all resemblance to what it had been in life ended. It was skeletal, with a blackened skull and bones, hands that ended in claws and what looked like a pale, formless worm where its guts should have been. Raven tried to step out of the way, but the creature was incredibly fast. It’s claws raked across her throat and it knocked her sprawling to the floor. She heard the report of Ford’s pistol a scant moment before Aspen’s, but neither shot stopped the creature. It loomed over Raven, who kicked it in the face. The impact shattered its jaw and it recoiled, giving her a chance to leap to her feet. Aspen and Ford fired again, Raven heard the echo and felt the heat of the bullets as they passed her, but the creature didn’t slow. Raven scooped up her shotgun and fired point-blank into the thing’s chest. It staggered away again, but was not deterred. It charged again and Raven fired the last two rounds from her shotgun. The first hit home, doing no apparent damage, while the second went wide as the creature batted her weapon aside with one blackened hand. It crashed into her, breaking two of her ribs and carrying them both over the railing. Raven caught the edge of the floor with one hand and hung on as the skeletal thing fell past her, to vanish into the darkness.

A beat later, Kane and Aspen pulled her back over the side, where she lay on the floor, gasping for breath. She could feel scratches on her face and neck where the creature’s claws had bitten deep into her skin, and it felt as if her jaw was dislocated. She probed it with one finger and groaned at the pain that lanced through her teeth.

She sat up and pushed her jaw back into place, fighting not to cry out when it seated itself. A moment later she felt the bones begin to heal and leaned against the wall with Aspen until she felt able to talk. When she could move her jaw without wanting to scream, she stood and wiped her face on her sleeve.

“Are you well to travel, Agent Storm?” Kane asked.

Raven rearranged her gear, moving things from torn pockets to undamaged ones. “No, I thought I would see how far I could get before keeling over and dying. Let’s go.”

“I meant, perhaps you should feed,” Kane said.

Raven picked up her shotgun. It was empty and the barrel had been twisted in the impact, making it useless. She tossed it aside in disgust. “I knew what you meant, I will feed when I need to.”

Kane’s brow knit. “I do not understand, you are wounded. Most vampires feed when they are wounded, no matter how minor.”

Raven drew her pistol and started down the corridor. “I’m not a vampire nor am I most. Ford, you’re on rear guard, Kane, stick with Aspen.”

“Don’t argue with her,” Aspen said. “My fiancé isn’t like any vamp you’ve ever met. For one, the taste of blood makes her feel sick.”

“You’re joking!” Kane scoffed.

Aspen shook her head. “Not in the least. She hates it more than anything.”

Raven stopped and looked back at them in annoyance. “Are you coming or are you going to talk about my personality problems?”

“Coming, love,” Aspen said with a laugh.

Kane looked stunned. “Remarkable. A fae-kin who investigates crime scenes and a dhampyr who dislikes blood.”

Raven had no idea what he was talking about. She looked at him blankly and asked, “A who?”

Kane nodded at Aspen. “A fae-kin. Surely you know your familiar is part fae, do you not?”

Aspen’s blush was visible, even in the gloom.

“Uh-oh, cat’s out of the bag,” Ford muttered.

“No. She doesn’t,” Aspen said. “Didn’t.”

Kane’s face fell. “Oh…oh. My apologies, Miss Kincaid—”

“It’s okay, Kane. She was going to find out sooner or later,” Aspen said.

“Find out what, Asp?”

Aspen turned to face Raven and, for the first time, looked afraid. “That I’m part faerie, like you’re part vampire.”

Raven shrugged. “So?”

Aspen blinked at her. “You’re not mad I didn’t tell you?”

Raven frowned. That was a stupid question. “Asp, you tell me what you need to when you need to. I didn’t make you my familiar or ask you to marry me because of
what
you are, I asked you because of
who
you are.”

“Do you even know what a fae-kin is?” Ford asked.

Raven turned away. “I know enough and I don’t really care. We’ve got work to do.”

Aspen caught her a few moments later. “Did you mean that?”

Raven made a face. “I don’t make a habit of lying to you, Asp.”

“But, I mean, you thought I was human—”

“I thought you were my familiar and partner. Why are we still having this conversation?” Raven stopped and looked at her. “Did it matter to you that I was part vampire?”

Aspen shook her head. “Of course not! I love that part of you as much as the rest!”

Raven arched an eyebrow. “So why would it matter to me you are part faerie or whatever?”

Aspen spread her hands and shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe because people usually want to know if the person they’re going to bed with is everything they say they are?”

Raven rolled her eyes and started walking again. “You’re you, right? I mean, you aren’t going to turn into Ms. Hyde next Tuesday or something, are you?”

“Of course not! Aside from the glowy eyes and pointed ears, I’m just like everyone else,” Aspen replied.

Raven turned around again. “Your ears are pointed?”

Aspen blushed again and ran a finger over one ear. “Just a little.”

“That’s not a point, it’s a bump. And it’s cute.”

“Can we go now? Or are you two still having a couple moment?” Ford asked.

Raven gave her a look and started down the promenade again. She really didn’t care that Aspen was part fae. It was part of who she was, and Raven loved her the way she was. She had never understood people who made a fuss over things others couldn’t change. It was like not loving someone because you found out they really had brown hair.

They reached the next level of the promenade and spread into a skirmish line to cover more of the large chamber. The room they were in would, in modern times, have been called a food court, though this one was far more elaborate than the fast-food pits found across America. Two steakhouses, a buffet, a Chinese restaurant and an Italian place were the primary eateries, while a handful of smaller bars and indoor grills were situated throughout the park-like chamber. Unlike most of the ship, the food court was almost devoid of the blood and flesh that they’d found everywhere else. It was clean enough that their lights reflected off the polished floor and ceiling as they walked.

“Which way to the maintenance corridors?” Raven asked.

Ford consulted her map. “It looks like we need to go down one more floor, there should be a door that leads port and aft.”

Raven looked over the railing. The ground below was still obscured by darkness and she couldn’t see the floor at the base of the promenade. She ignited a pair of flares and threw them over the side. They bounced several times, sending sparks in all directions, before they hit the ground. In their fitful light she could see what looked like a sort of atrium positioned below the open-air rotunda now far overhead. In the middle of the atrium was a statue of some kind, though in the darkness it was hard to pick out details.

“What the hell is that?” she asked.

Kane joined her. “It is supposed to be a statue of Poseidon, I believe. A sort of mascot for the cruise ship line.”

Raven’s reply was interrupted by the ship’s sudden movement and a distant sound, like a deep, angry voice from somewhere below. She gripped the railing and held on until the shaking subsided.

“Did you hear it?” Aspen asked once the movement had settled.

“I heard something,” Raven replied. “I can’t comment on what it might have been.”

Aspen’s face was gray. She hugged herself and her voice was distant when she said, “It’s a voice, I’ve been hearing it since we arrived. I think it is Latin, or a version of it, anyway.”

“What’s it saying?”

Aspen shrugged. “I don’t speak Latin, love. I have no idea.”

Kane hefted his sword and looked over the rail. “Whatever it is, it’s not good. We are surrounded by great evil.”

“You think? I never would have guessed,” Raven shot back.