The Bloody City (26 page)

“I’m sure Occam took your food issues into account,” Sam said. “He’d prefer you undead, not dead.”

She glared at him.

He looked down at his own open box. “Sorry.”

“Guys, no more fighting.” Cindy sat next to Sam. “Let’s just…enjoy our food.”

They fell into silence for a few minutes as they ate. June used her fingers. The vegetables were greasy, but they were cooked in vegetable oil.

“Occam says we’re not prisoners here?” Sam asked, after a few bites of his stringy brown noodles.

“Just Micha,” June said. “He said we could leave anytime we wanted.”

“Then we should leave.”

She sucked oil off her thumb and narrowed her eyes at him. “And just leave Micha here? Seriously?”

“He’s not going to hurt him. You said so yourself.”

“We’re not leaving him here.” She picked up a piece of broccoli.

“We can’t stay here. Robbie may come to Occam, but do you think we have the power to fight him? Do you think he and I are just going to thumb wrestle?”

“You want to find out where Muse is, don’t you?”

“Yes.” He plunked his box down on the bed next to his hip. “But again, we can’t face Robbie unprepared. He’s not just going to tell me where she is.”

“What do you suggest we do? We’re on our own. You can’t even trust your own people.”

“Maybe. But I know who we can trust. Aaron’s people. Aaron.”

“Yes, we definitely need to get in touch with Aaron.” June held up her hands. “But how can we do that, even if we do leave here?”

“There’s only one line to Aaron. Our burner phone.”

Every week, they swapped out the phone they used to contact Aaron, just in case.

“Where’s that phone right now?” Micha asked.

“Muse had it,” Sam said. “She kept it when I went to the protest.”

“Maybe she’s already called him, then,” June said. “Maybe she’s in hiding with him.” Her heart lifted. Maybe Trina was all right, too.

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Sam said. “But if not, Muse and I had an agreement. If either of us had the phone and we were captured, we’d stash it somewhere. That way Aaron wasn’t compromised. If they came for her and she didn’t have time to get out, she would have hidden it to make sure Robbie didn’t get his hands on it.”

“So it could be back at the apartment,” June said.

“We have to find out if it’s there. That’ll give us some answers.” He looked at Cindy. “I was so upset earlier, I didn’t even think to have you go inside and look for it. I haven’t been thinking straight.”

“It’s understandable,” Cindy said.

“So send her back.” June set her box aside. She wasn’t hungry anymore. “It’s less dangerous than us going there.”

“It’s not dangerous,” Sam said. “They wouldn’t expect us to come back there. They don’t know about the phone. Why would we go back to a place where they could easily catch us?”

“Exactly,” June said sardonically. “It’s a stupid idea.”

“What else do you suggest we do?” Sam sat forward. “We can’t fight Robbie on our own. We need Aaron.”

“Send Cindy back!” June pointed at her. “She can search the apartment.”

“She wouldn’t know where to look. I know Muse’s mind. I know where she might hide it.”

“Then tell Cindy that.”

“Why does everyone keep forgetting I’m a shapeshifter?”

June didn’t answer, as she was distracted by a familiar bloat-like pain in her stomach. A wave of nausea rolled over her. “What the hell?” she muttered, looking down at the box.

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked.

Her head swam and she started salivating, another familiar sensation.

She barely got to the hallway before the vegetables exited her stomach, along with the partially-digested corn chips from earlier. Puke wouldn’t exactly ruin the bedroom’s décor, but putting everyone off their food by blowing chunks in front of them wasn’t exactly polite.

Micha came out and placed a hand on her shoulder as she leaned miserably against the wall, her forehead pressed to the cracked paint.

“You okay?” he asked.

“That”—she wiped at her mouth—“didn’t make sense. What the hell?”

“Were the vegetables cooked in something bad after all? Shit, I’m sorry I couldn’t taste it…”

She lifted her head and wiped at her nose. “No, this is like the thing at the restaurant. It doesn’t make sense.”

“I’m gonna go grab you some water.” He left her side.

Sam took his place. “I hope you don’t need the EpiPen,” he said. “We don’t exactly have one.”

She wiped her forearm across her mouth. “I got it out. I should be okay.”

“Allergic to vegetables now? You’re running out of things to eat.”

“This doesn’t make sense. I’ve never had problems with vegetables. Maybe it was a seasoning or something.”

Micha brought her the jug of water. Sam slunk back into the room. June swished a mouthful around and spat it on the floor.

“Maybe it’s from stress,” Micha said. “Doesn’t stress exacerbate stuff like that?”

“I’ve had stress before, but yeah, not like this.” She wrinkled her nose at the puddle on the floor. “I don’t suppose I made the vampire house any less appealing.”

“You improved it, actually.”

She was still a little shaky but no longer nauseated. She lowered her voice. “I’m not letting Sam leave you here.”

“Maybe he should go, though. He needs to get that phone. You guys can’t face Robbie without backup.”

“Why not send Cindy?”

“I think he needs this. I think he needs to feel proactive.” He glanced over his shoulder and then looked back at her. “And I don’t think he wants to put any more of his people in danger.”

“I’ll stay here, then.” She clenched her fists. “He can go after the phone. I won’t leave you here by yourself.”

“He might need your help. Nothing is going to happen to me here. If it were, it would have happened by now.”

“Micha…”

“Sam needs your help.” He squeezed her arm. “He’s not thinking straight. He’s being rash. He needs someone with a good head on their shoulders to watch his back.”

“This is insane.” She peeked into the room. “What, I’m supposed to be his bodyguard now?”

“He’s not going to change his mind. You can either let him go alone, or you can follow him and try to keep him from doing something stupid.”

She huffed. “I couldn’t do that earlier. That’s why we’re here now.”

They walked back into the room. Sam and Cindy sat on their bed, Sam eating again—apparently puke didn’t faze him—and Cindy frowning, her brow furrowed.

“You okay?” she asked June.

“Yeah.” She took a deep breath. “All right Sam, you want to do this, I’m going with you. Same song and dance as always.”

Sam glowered at Micha. “You weren’t out there long enough to bang her. How did you talk her into it?”

Micha picked up his box. “When you convince someone gently to see reason, it’s more effective than pushing them around.”

“You learn that being an activist?”

“Yes.” Micha resumed eating as well.

“If we do this,” June said, “we have to do it fast. We’ll have to disguise ourselves and take public transportation again.”

“That was the plan,” Sam said. “You don’t have to go with me, though. You can stay here and babysit your boyfriend.”

“I think you’ll need more babysitting than he will.”

Sam patted his crotch. “Babysit this.”

June had enough. She picked up her box of vegetables from the bed and flung it at Sam. He dodged, but not fast enough to keep from getting splattered a little. They hit his arm and hip and splashed across the bed, a few tumbling to the floor.

“Jesus Christ!” Cindy jumped to her feet. “You two!”

Sam flung his box at June in return. She sidestepped swiftly, and it sailed past her. Noodles painted the wall next to the door.

Micha pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh my God.”

“Stop being a child!” June lunged at Sam as he got to his feet.

He caught her by the arms and threw her on the mattress, where Cindy had been sitting. She kicked at him.

Cindy flung herself across June’s body. “Stop it! Stop fighting!”

“You’re so stupid!” June raged at Sam, pointing over Cindy’s shoulder. “You keep throwing yourself into the lion’s den, and for what? To prove you’re brave? To prove you’re some kind of savior? Your people need more help than you can give them right now. But they need you alive! I need you alive!”

“What am I supposed to do?” He bent over Cindy’s back. “All I can do is throw myself in the lion’s den because we’re surrounded by them! We have to get in touch with Aaron, no matter how dangerous it is, and I’m not throwing Cindy to the lions for that. I’m not throwing you!”

June struggled under the weight of Cindy’s damned enormous body. “You stupid motherfucker.” She pushed at Cindy’s shoulder. “If you die, this will all be for nothing. I could have left Chicago months ago!”

Sam frowned, the rage in his eyes simmering down, his face smoothing. June kicked Cindy in the shin.

“Ow!” Cindy yelped. “You better calm down, you little bitch, or I’ll twist your nipple rings out.”

June sagged beneath her, struggling for breath.

Sam gripped Cindy’s shoulder. “Get off her,” he said gently.

Cindy hauled her huge ass off June. June sat up, yanking angrily at her shirt, as it had ridden up in the struggle. Sam offered her a hand.

She slapped it away and got to her feet. “We’ll meet back here,” she said, pushing her hair back. “We’re coming back for Micha. What time is it now, Cindy?”

Cindy pulled her phone out of her bag. “Eight sixteen. How long do you think it’ll take you to get there and back?”

“If we’re near the Nocturnal District, around two hours,” Sam said. “But we might have to tear the apartment apart.” He paused. “Midnight. We should aim to be back by then.”

“And if you don’t show up?” Cindy asked.

Micha dug around in his box with the chopsticks, not looking at them. His posture was stiff.

“If we don’t show up,” Sam said, “find a way to get to Aaron.”

Cindy tinkered with her phone. June stalked around the room, what little space there was to stalk around in, smoothing her hair and clothes.

“This is where we are.” Cindy showed Sam her phone. “There’s a train station three blocks from here. You can catch the brown line.”

Sam took the phone and studied the screen.

“I’ll see you in a few hours,” June said to Micha. “Are you staying here with him, Cindy?”

She nodded.

Micha looked up from his food, his expression blank and guarded. “All right. I’ll be here.” His frosty tone matched his demeanor.

June couldn’t deal with any more drama right now. She walked out to the hallway and turned, looking into the room at Sam.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go stick our heads on the chopping block again. It’s our favorite game.”

Sam handed Cindy the phone and walked out to the hallway.

“Good luck,” Cindy said. “Watch your asses. And stop fighting with each other.”

Sam grunted at June. “I think we needed to get that out of the way, don’t you?”

June just scowled, hands on her hips.

“Midnight,” Sam said. “If anything delays us, I’ll call you, Cindy, because hopefully I’ll have the phone by then. If we haven’t arrived by midnight and you haven’t heard from us, assume the worst.”

Cindy clutched the phone to her chest. “I always do.”

* * * *

At the train station, they purchased tickets from the ticket machine, not an easy task while holding hands, and had to wait about ten minutes. On the train, they sat close together, not making eye contact with the people around them.

Sam was a woman once again, his hair blond this time, and June looked like a hipster dude once more. Sam wore pink leggings and knee-high boots—those had to be Cindy’s fashion choices, too.

“I really don’t get your disguises,” she murmured. “Do you secretly wish you were a woman?”

“You better be grateful I can even do this.”

The car emptied after a dozen or so stops, and they were able to talk freely.

“This is the plan,” Sam said. “We sneak up on the building. We watch for anyone hanging around. If any—former—Paranormal Alliance members are there, I’ll be able to pick them out.”

“You know what everyone looks like? What, do you have a photographic memory or something?”

“Trust me when I say I know my people.” He paused. His feminine features sagged, his eyes sad. He’d kept them brown. “At least, what they look like.”

“Don’t get maudlin right now. Focus.”

He drew a deep breath. “If it’s all clear, we go inside.”

“You know how to pick a lock? We don’t have the keys to get in.” They hadn’t taken them to the park, since Muse and Trina would be there to let them back in.

“Yes, I do.”

“Do you have any idea where Muse might have stashed the phone?”

“I know how she thinks. We need to check unlikely places.”

June rubbed her thigh. “I hope this works.” The lights of the city rushed by in the darkness, the train speeding them along to either salvation or doom.

“And I hope Aaron can actually help us,” Sam said.

“He can at least stash us in another hole. Life goes on as usual.”

They had to switch trains downtown, and June was hoping the transition went smoothly and without incident, that none of Robbie’s people were on the lookout for them. Her stomach tightened, like she might puke again, this time from nerves.

“I’m sorry about that, back there,” Sam said. “I’m really on edge right now.”

“Yeah. I started it, though. Sorry I flung my food at you.”

“It’s not like you could eat it.” He shrugged, a smile jerking the corner of his mouth.

She would not be amused, not right now.

“I don’t think Micha likes us being friends,” Sam said. “He seemed a little put off.”

“We’re more than friends.” The words tumbled out before she could stop them. “I mean… We’re like, soldiers. Fighting together.”

Their legs were touching to keep contact; however, Sam took her hand and squeezed it.

“I think he has more feelings for you than you have for him,” he said. “I’m sorry I’ve been riding your ass about it.”

“What if he only cares about me because it’s comforting? Outside of all this, maybe we don’t work at all.”