The Bloody City (6 page)

“I never killed anyone to make a point. I never thought violence was the answer. I never tried to give my followers that impression. We raise a lot of hell, yes, but that’s only because no one in this city listens to the paranormal unless we’re yelling. We never hurt anyone, even the bastards at the Institute who deserved it. But that monster was right there in my ranks, turning my followers, killing our own kind and letting the SNC be the scapegoat for it.”

“Being a leader means setting an example, which it sounds like you did. But some people can’t be directed or convinced.” How she’d managed to crap out that gem of wisdom, she didn’t know. “Some people are just crazy. They don’t have morals.”

“If I don’t resurface soon, they’re all going to turn to him.”

“No, they won’t. Losing the good guy doesn’t mean people automatically go to the dark side.”

“Times are tough. People want action. Like your boy—” He paused. “Like that self-righteous asshole in there.”

“Don’t call him that, either.” She put her leg down. “And yeah, people want action. Desperate times and all that. But being desperate doesn’t mean you don’t think for yourself. Most people won’t give up their morals for a quick and violent fix. Your followers are still loyal to you. You know that. You hear about it. They’ll do the right thing.”

Before Sam could respond, the patio door slid open. Jason stood inside. “Code red.” His voice came out strained.

She and Sam jumped to their feet. “Code red” meant the silent alarm around the perimeter of the property had been tripped.

“Muse?” June asked Sam.

“She’s not due back for another hour.”

Jason left the doorway and they hurried inside.

“Maybe it’s an animal again,” June said.

“Hopefully the four-legged kind.” Sam rushed across the kitchen.

They grabbed their guns from the kitchen cupboard where they kept a small arsenal of weapons and ammunition.

“Go upstairs,” June told her brother. “And make sure Micha stays up there.”

“Don’t treat him like a child,” Jason said. “He knows what to do.”

She wasn’t sure when Jason decided to be Micha’s champion, but this wasn’t the moment to argue. “When he stops forgetting his blood is more coveted than a porn star’s dick, we’ll stop making him hide every time the alarm gets tripped. Go upstairs and lock yourselves in one of the bedrooms.”

Jason left the room, scowling. If she babied anyone more than Micha, it was Jason. She had to protect Micha’s blood for their cause, but she had to protect her brother for their mother.

“It’s like a nursery school around here,” June said. “I’m going to start putting people in time-out for their sass.”

“Now do you feel my pain?” Sam tossed her a Glock.

June turned off the TV so she could hear and moved stealthily around the house, peeking out windows.

The street was quiet, no unfamiliar cars parked outside.

Sam called from the kitchen in a loud whisper, “June!”

She rushed to the kitchen. Sam stood in front of the sink, hunched over and peeking out the window above it. June joined him, hunkered down as well.

“Someone’s outside,” he said. “A man. He was looking in windows at the side of the house, and then he walked around back.”

Sam had his shotgun. June learned quickly why Sam chose such an unwieldy, un-concealable weapon: he hardly ever had to use it when the sight of it alone subdued most people.

“Awesome,” June said. “Someone knows we’re here.”

“Let’s not panic. If it was someone from the Institute, they would have sent a squadron to oust us.”

“How do you know they haven’t and they’re not just lying in wait?”

“Good point.”

Maybe Micha would get his longed-for action.

Staying below the windows, they slunk over to the glass doors of the patio. They positioned themselves on either side of them and waited.

When no one appeared on the patio, Sam whispered, “I’m going outside.”

“Are you nuts?”

“If I have to shoot someone, I can’t do it through the glass.”

Sam reached out and slowly slid one of the doors open. June held her breath. Sam crept out onto the patio. Tall shrubs grew around the patio, boxing it in on both sides. Sam moved behind them, peeking through the branches.

June waited for a signal, her Glock clutched in both hands. She’d shot only one person ever, a vampire, and though her aim was a lot better these days, she still wasn’t ready to take a human life. She wasn’t sure she’d even killed the vampire she shot.

Sam yelped, and June leaped up.

Sam didn’t bother going down the patio steps to chase the interloper. Instead, he sprung up on the railing and jumped right through the shrubs, sending leaves and twigs flying. While this was certainly a more direct approach, it left June confused for a moment. She ran across the patio and jumped down into the yard.

Around the side of the house, Sam had someone on the ground. The person lay flat on his back, hands raised in supplication. Sam had his shotgun pointed in his face.

“Sam!” June ran over. “Who—” She stopped dead in her tracks.

Shock nearly dropped her to her knees. The man on the ground wasn’t a stranger to her.

The man widened his eyes, mirroring her surprise. “June!”

“Diego!” She gaped at him, her eyes about to shoot from their sockets. “What the hell?”

He dropped his hands. “Holy shit, it’s really you, June.”

“You know this sneaky bastard?” Sam asked.

She pushed the barrel of Sam’s gun away. “This is Diego, my best friend. We own the tattoo shop together.”

She offered Diego a hand up. He clambered to his feet, all six-foot-three lanky inches of him. His dark, straight collar-length hair had streaks of bright red shot through it, complimenting his olive skin tone and brown eyes. Though most of it wasn’t visible at the moment, Diego had as much ink as she did. Some of it peeked from under his T-shirt, crawling up his throat and down his biceps.

They embraced so hard June’s chest hurt. Seeing a familiar face made her heart soar so high she could kiss him. With tongue.

She couldn’t form words through her surprise, though she had a million questions. Sam stood with his gun at his side, lowered, but body still poised for action.

“That’s nice,” Diego said, gesturing at Sam’s gun. Sam—or someone—had customized the barrel, the black metal decorated with silver antique filigree. “That a Winchester?”

“You better stop worrying about my gun and start talking,” Sam said. “How the hell did you find us?”

This was the foremost question in June’s mind.

“I’ve been searching for you for months.” Diego looked at June. “Your mother sent me.”

She sucked in a breath.

“I’ve been asking everyone about you. Trying to find someone who had seen you or knew what happened to you. I haven’t had much luck. Then I ran into these people who said they were part of a group called the Paranormal Alliance.”

Sam narrowed his eyes. “Are you a normal?”

“Yes.”

“This is going to be funny, then. Continue.”

“They sent me to Old Town,” Diego said. “They told me the vampires could help.”

Sam shrugged. “It’s what I would have done. Test his mettle.”

“Yeah, well—” Diego yanked the collar of his T-shirt down to reveal his neck and shoulder. Even through the copious colorful ink, dark puncture marks were visible. “I did a lot of bargaining for information, but they didn’t actually have any.”

“Goddamn it, Sam!” June turned on him.

“I didn’t do it!”

“I was about to give up.” Diego righted his shirt. “Then I saw you, June. Last night.”

“You did?” She widened her eyes.

“Yes. You were walking with a guy, a black guy with dreads. I wasn’t sure what was going on, so I didn’t approach you. You looked fine. You look fine now.” He sounded cautious, even a bit accusing.

“Looks can be deceiving. I have a bullet in my chest, and we’re hiding here because some scientists want to cut my vocal cords out.”

“I don’t think they’d actually cut them out,” Sam said.

“Would you shut up?” June glared at him. “So you followed me here?” she asked Diego.

“I’ve been lurking around, watching the house. What’s going on?”

June heaved a sigh. “It’s a long story. You can’t imagine how long.”

“Is Jason all right?” he asked. “Is he with you?”

“Yes, and he’s fine.”

“There’s no one else with you?” Sam peered toward the front of the house.

“No.” Diego shook his head. “It’s just me. I’ve been doing all this searching on my own.”

“Good,” Sam said. “Let’s get inside before someone sees us.”

Sam ushered them into the house. Once inside, she clutched Diego in another huge desperate embrace and held on.

“I’m so fucking glad to see you,” she whispered against his shoulder. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re here.”

“The feeling is mutual,” he whispered back, and trembled as she held him.

“I wish Muse were here,” Sam said. “So she could make sure you are who you say you are.”

“He is who he says he is.” She pulled back. “Trust me, Sam. I know my best friend when I see him.”

“And how do you know he’s not a shapeshifter, pretending to be your best friend?”

“What?” Diego flinched. “I’m not… I’m not a shapeshifter.”

“Can’t you tell?” she asked Sam. “Like Occam could tell?”

“No.” Sam shook his head. “That’s an Occam thing. He’s been at it a lot longer than I have.”

She pondered. “I have an idea. If it’s someone pretending to be Diego, they wouldn’t have Diego’s thoughts, would they?”

“No.”

She breezed past Sam to the stairs. “Jason!” she hollered up. “All clear! Come down here.”

A door opened, and a moment later Jason appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Was it an animal again?” he asked.

“No. Come here.”

Jason walked down the stairs. She led him into the kitchen.

“Look who found us,” she said.

Jason gasped. “How did he—Diego! What are you doing here?” He yanked Diego into a hug.

“Jason.” A blush crept across Diego’s cheekbones, visible beneath his dusky complexion. “I’m so glad you’re both all right.”

“It’s him.” June smiled at Sam. “He’s been nursing a crush on Jason for as long as I’ve known him.”

“I have not!” Diego yelped over Jason’s shoulder.

Sam rolled his eyes and laid his gun on the counter. “Great, we need some more soap opera around here.”

“Mom doesn’t think we’re dead?” June asked.

They were all sitting around the dining room table. June had made coffee, but Micha, sitting next to her, had a glass of water. He had a phobia of coffee now, since he suspected his late wife had used it to sneak him the receptors that turned him into a guinea pig for the Institute.

“She never even entertained the idea.” Diego sat across from June. “She’s been contacting everyone: the Institute, the police here, even the papers. No one could tell her anything, though. That Institute place kept telling her you guys went home, but no airline has a record of you guys having flown out of Chicago. I think she’s even been in touch with the FBI.”

“I wish she hadn’t,” June said. “I know it’s unrealistic she’d do nothing, but all this questioning, she’s put herself in danger. She’s on their radar now.”

June had told Diego the entire story, from their arrival at the Institute, to their botched escape attempt and Jason’s imprisonment, and June’s rescue with the help of Sam and Aaron, to the situation that led to them being viewed as assassins and having to go into hiding.

“They’re not gonna mess with her.” Jason shook his head. He sat next to Diego. “Mom’s a normal. What would they want with her?”

“She’s asking a bunch of questions about some really sensitive stuff,” June said.

“That’s why she sent me here,” Diego said. “She thought I might have better luck if I came to Chicago. She wanted to come with me, but I convinced her to stay. I told her she needed to be there in case you guys showed up.”

“Thank you,” June said softly.

Micha spoke up. “We can’t keep hiding here. If you were able to find us, someone else will too.”

June wasn’t in the mood to listen to him rant again.

“We have a plan,” Sam cut in. He sat at the head of the table. “We’re going to get the truth out to the public.”

“Because the public is interested in the truth,” Micha said.

The door to the patio opened. Everyone fell silent. Muse walked into the room a moment later.

“Come join us for coffee and gossip,” Sam said to her, patting the table. He jerked his head in Diego’s direction. “We have a new friend. Do you mind?”

Muse stood next to Sam and stared at Diego. The corner of her mouth jerked. Diego regarded her warily. She was obviously scanning him with her telepathic…head scanner.

“June’s best friend,” Muse said. “He saw her last night, followed her here.”

“Sam!” June smacked the table. “I told you he is who he says he is!”

“Forgive me if his hard-on for your brother isn’t reliable enough for me.”

“What’s going on?” Diego asked.

“She just read your mind,” June told him. “Try not to think about that time we met those drag queens in Lavender Heights.”

“I admire his perseverance,” Muse said.

Diego sank down in his chair. “This is kind of new to me. Really, June and Jason are the only paranormal people I know. So I’m not—up-to-date on this stuff.”

“I can see what makes you two friends,” Sam said.

“Yes.” June glowered at Sam. “I’m sure he’ll find you smug and annoying in no time at all as well.”

“It’s not like I don’t want to know about this stuff,” Diego said. “I just—I guess I never thought about it. And June never cared if I knew. She never talked about her power and stuff.”

“There’s plenty of education out there for normals,” Micha said, sounding like he did when June first met him, pithy and eager to teach. “Plenty of ways to educate yourself on their conditions and struggles.”

“This isn’t the time for activism.” June rubbed her forehead.

Sam glared across the table at Micha. “How dare you use the word ‘condition.’”

“Hey,” Muse spoke up. “I have something important to tell you.” She stretched her lips over her teeth in a grimace. “I have a message for Sam.”