Entre l'Amour et la Mort, Chapter 18, part 2

[sav8801]

“That’s got to be her.” Jenks said from his hiding spot. “Either that, or Erica got free and she did it driving a big ass SUV. Damn, that driver’s crazy...”

The vehicle he was talking about rounded the corner at about eighty miles per hour and came to a screeching halt in front of us. It was almost completely black, with darkly tinted windows, and smelled vaguely of burned rubber. I was willing to bet it was a custom, armoured and sun-proofed job, and it had to be consuming like a tripping brimstone junky in an all-you-can-eat buffet. Hey, who ever heard of an eco-minded plotting evil master vampire? At least Ivy was behind the wheel, if the driving style was any indication, and that meant I wouldn’t have to sit next to her...

“Get in.” Ivy called me out... from the backseat of the car, which was terrifying on two levels; one, I would be sitting within arm’s reach of her, while she wasn’t focused on driving; two, there was someone else out there who drove the way she and her sister did. Screw the ongoing turf war, THIS made my city a really unsafe place... “Rachel, quit gawking at me and get in. We may not have much time.” She demanded urgently.

Shoving my fear back in a corner of my mind, I did as she asked, the car accelerating like crazy before the door had even slammed shut behind me. Call it real bad luck that I wasn’t actually seated and stumbled forward straight over the gorgeous undead. A heady mix of familiar vampire incense and leather caressed my nostrils as I gasped in surprise, but my face didn’t meet the other side’s door dead on; Ivy, reacting with the speed of a sleepy lightning bolt, had caught me, trapping me on her lap. I froze, my breathing stopping right there, as if it might be enough to push Ivy in a direction I desperately didn’t want her to go.

“Gee, boss, get a room, will you?” A man’s voice, with an Irish brogue so thick it had to be faked, said from somewhere on my right. “You two are making my poor little self mighty uncomfortable here.”

“Reed, do you remember what I said I’d do to you if you didn’t stop calling me that?” She growled at the unseen voice before glancing down at me and asking in a softer, slightly amused voice; “Comfortable?”

“Not really.” I answered in a tiny voice. I wasn’t bleeding in her mouth yet, and I suppose that was a victory, even if only a small one; that sure didn’t mean I was anywhere near comfortable. “Let go... please?”

“Sure.” She let go of me with a shadow of a tight-lipped smile. She even helped me right myself, her eyes sweeping my face quickly and saddening a little when she noticed the bags under my eyes and the chalky quality of my skin. Her hand on my shoulder tightened briefly, as if she wanted to give me some TLC but couldn’t. She pulled back without a fuss and curled herself back into her seat, her eyes still on me studying me but her posture otherwise non-threatening. I had no clue what was going on in her head, but I doubted I would like to know.

“What, you mean those weren’t supposed to be incentives? They were threats? Oh, boss, I’m real confused here.” The thickly accented voice barged in jokingly. It belonged to a blond bear of a man sitting in the front passenger seat of the SUV. His large face was handsome in a rugged kind of way, what seemed like half of it taken up by an enormous grin. His shoulders were incredibly broad, and the hand he extended to me could have swallowed up the whole of mine. “I’m Reed.” He introduced himself. “I take it you’re Rachel, right?”

“Uh, right.” I shook his hand, surprised by the sheer strength of his grip. “You’re... a vamp?” I asked him, rather surprised to notice the sharpening of his canine teeth. They were normal-sized, so he was a living one, but I had never, ever seen such a huge vampire... or such an openly friendly one.

“Of course I am, missy!” The huge man replied indignantly. “Damn it, why are people always so surprised to learn that? Is it something I say?”

“More like everything you say...” The driver muttered under her breath, earning herself a stormy, if affectionate, look from Reed.

“Just because you live and breathe to enforce our species’ every stereotypes, dear Heidi, doesn’t mean we all should. Who says vamps have to brood all day and all night? Or that they can’t say over a hundred words daily?”

“They don’t need to flap their gums constantly, either.”

“I’m sorry, was that... was that syntax you just used? A full sentence? I didn’t think you were capable, sweetie. I’m so proud of you!”

“Just ignore him.” The driver, Heidi apparently, addressed me, glancing at me in the rear view mirror. “He had way too much sugar after dinner tonight.”

“Oh, look, she did it again. Golly, she’s talking now. They grow up so fast.” Reed mocked the woman beside him. “Besides, you look like you didn’t have any in way too long. You’re more uptight than a non-practicing in her PMS.” Reed countered sullenly. “Once the job’s done, I’d be happy to help with that, if you like...” He added in a more sultry manner, making the woman by his side snort in a very un-lady-like fashion. I suppose he would be very happy to give her a little sugar, indeed. Heidi, unlike Reed, I had no trouble identifying as a vampire. She was fashionably pale and leanly muscled, about my height, with hair a deep, almost decadent shade of brown. Her body was athletic rather than curvy, but her finely chiselled features made it hard to notice her somewhat lacking shapes (and hey, could I cast that particular stone? No, sir, I could not...). Her eyes were a pale steely blue and were practically glittering, which made me suspect she wasn’t nearly as opposed to Reed’s advances as she tried to sound, and between them and her creamy complexion, short dark hair and sensuous mouth, she looked good enough to eat.

“You’re a pig. In your dreams.” She retorted, but she was straining not to smile anyway.

“Nah, I’m not a pig in my dreams, I’m in be-” Ivy cleared her throat noisily. “Hum, right, shutting up now, boss.”

“Kids...” Ivy sighed and shook her head, looking weary. “They mean well, but they can be so tiring after a few weeks...”

“Your fake accent is annoying as hell...” Heidi muttered, obviously trying to get the last word in.

“It’s not fake, missy. It’s the heritage of my ancestors.” Reed muttered back.

“You’ve never even been to Ireland, hell, your parents never have...”

“’Course not. Not much of it left after the Turn. That’s why I need to keep it alive any way I can.”

“There’s almost nothing left of China, but you don’t hear Ivy fake a Chinese accent to honour her ancestors, do you?”

“It’s not that you two aren’t annoying the crap out of me, which, by the way, you are.” Ivy butted in. “It’s just that I would appreciate it if you focused on the job at hand. Feel free to sputter nonsense to your heart’s content after Erica comes home safe.”

“Sorry, boss. Just pre-mission smack-talk, nothing to worry about. We’re focused.” Reed guaranteed her in a very different voice, an edge of steel creeping into it. A righteous fire burned behind his hazel eyes, an angry one. “We’ll get the kids back, I promise.”

I followed the whole exchange without saying a word, stunned by the silliness I was witnessing. Either they were supremely confident, and I was missing the reason why, or they had an ace up their sleeve.

“So you found her?” I asked while untying my scarf and letting out a very peeved pixy glowing an angry red. I’d forgotten about him, and I realised that my fall had tightened the band of fabric just enough to trap him there. He came out swearing in an angry shower of sparkles.

“Yeah, did you, or did I just get crushed for no good fairy fart reason?” Jenks rambled while he gave his wings a quick once-over. “Tinks’ titties, Rache, ever heard of washing your clothes when you come back from the Ever After? That scarf stinks of burnt amber!” He berated me, my stuttered defence that I did wash it and his damn nose was just too sensitive blowing right over his head.

Ivy, her attention having turned to the view outside the window, pivoted her head a fraction and gave Jenks and me a quick glance from the corner of her eyes. She looked... good. Better than good, considering the circumstances. Her hair had grown out more than it should have in three weeks, but it was still styled in mostly the same fashion, its gold-tipped spikes and layers now framing her face and brushing her shoulders. Big surprise, she was dressed in black leather, with thigh-high boots and a long leather coat featuring a dramatically flared collar and sleeves matching the style of her footwear. Her hands were sheathed in fine, soft gloves of the same material. She was showing a little more cleavage than usual, but it was still well within the tasteful end of the spectrum. Overall, she looked sexy and dangerously predatory; it had been a long time, however, since I felt it was meant for me.

“Erica’s phone has a built-in GPS locator chip, just in case. My people tracked it to the outskirts of the city. The abandoned parts.” Ivy answered as if she wanted me to make a connection.

“You mean where... Kist was killed?” I realised, making Ivy nod.

“Just a mile or two away, actually.” Ivy answered approvingly. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but I doubt it. He wanted you to be off your game by reminding you of Kisten.”

“Huh, guys, I don’t want to rain on your parade, but didn’t this guy elude us for like six months?” Jenks joined in. “As in, he managed to elude me, for six months? You really think it’s gonna be that easy? Seems like a rookie mistake to hang on to Erica’s phone, if you ask me.”

“He’s right.” I agreed. “It’s got to be a trap. We don’t even know if he’ll be there, let alone Seth and Erica. We only know where the cell is.”

“Which is why I confirmed the info with other sources. Trust me, we’re going exactly where Erica is.” Ivy replied just a little smugly, rejoicing a bit that she had out-planned us, like she always did, and my eyes scrunched shut for a fraction of a second. God, she looked so much like the Ivy I knew... No, can’t think like that! Bad, BAD Rachel! I berated myself mentally. That line of thought was a slippery slope if I ever saw one, and it would end with me mentally enslaved to Ivy’s will.

“What other sources?” Jenks asked with piqued curiosity. “Do you know who he is?”

“Some scumbag loner is what he is.” Reed muttered from the front with scorn and steely hatred. “Wouldn’t be surprised if he was an undead ghoul...”

“That’s the conclusion I’ve drawn too.” Ivy agreed. “He has to be a loner, else I would have found him by now. It could have been a one-time deal Piscary made with a vamp from some other city, but I doubt he would have stuck around this long if he had a home elsewhere. He’s from outside the community, here or anywhere else.”

“You still haven’t told us what your “other source” was...” I reminded her, a cool doubt spreading in my gut. Please, don’t let it be magic... I wished silently; Ivy was already terrifying enough without spells at her command. I’d kick myself to death for helping her get over her phobia to use charms if she had them now...

“I got my hands on a locator charm tailored to find her.” Ivy answered, making me swear inwardly. “Sorry, I would have asked you to make it, but we were pressed for time.” She apologised fondly, as if jealousy that she had gone to someone else for her new magical needs was what really bothered me.

“Who made it?” I asked, mentally summoning the list of names I knew comprised the most notorious members of Cinci’s dark magic circles. This day was not going well enough for me to hope she’d gone to someone nice and legit for a barely legal grey charm. Ivy, though, didn’t give me a straight answer...

“A new friend I made.” She toyed with me mischievously, a private smile on her lips. She knew something I didn’t, knew it irritated me, and it amused her.

“Care to be a little vaguer?” I shot sarcastically. “I just feel much too informed right now.”

“I’ve been trying to explain myself to you for the past three weeks, or don’t you remember YOU haven’t been picking up?” She replied sullenly before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, as if I had truly hurt her feelings and she was trying to push them down. “I’ll tell you everything later, if you’ll let me.” She offered, looking me earnestly in the eyes, making me deeply uncomfortable; I wasn’t entirely sure whether the sudden idea I got that her explanation might take the form of pillow talk stemmed from her, or me... Probably her; she was the one wearing leather pants that looked like they had been spray-painted on, after all.

Eyes front, you moron! I ordered my stupid, stupider, stupidest libido to stand down. This wasn’t the time or the place, or even the right person to lust after. Erica was in trouble, plus this was the closest I’d gotten yet to settling the score with her kidnapper.

“Okay, so we know where she is. Do we know anything else?” Jenks asked, businesslike. “Is she okay? Is Seth?”

I could answer that one. “Locator charms are targeted, and they only work if the one they target is alive. We at least know Erica is still breathing, but beyond that... Not much else, really.”

“I hate this, guys.” Jenks said. “He’s got to be ready for us. This is just too easy otherwise.” He sounded worried, but Ivy’s answering chuckle, however, was confidence given sound.

“Trust me, Jenks. No one can be ready for me. The best he can do is think he’s ready and be painfully proven wrong.” She assured him with a dangerous smile, her pupils dilating with slow, careful control, until there was no brown left in her eyes. Cool air seemed to dance around me, entwined about all of us. It was the most delicate aura I’d ever felt Ivy pull, more akin to the displays of power Nathalie had demonstrated during her brief stay...

That’s it. That’s got to be it.

“What did Nathalie do to you?” I asked with dread, Ivy’s smile turning approving all the confirmation I needed. The ancient undead had done something to her. “You’re too powerful, too in control, you’re not acting like you’re supposed too...”

“I’ll tell you everything.” She repeated once more. I barely managed not to flinch when she briefly took my hand and leaned closer to me, not because it didn’t feel pleasant to have her close, but because it did. Her hand was so soft and warm, it was impossible to fathom she was dead... My mind could scream terrifying facts about her at me all night long, the fact remained that my body couldn’t figure out that Ivy was now a danger to me. She was just warm and soft and kissable and everything else it associated with a very primal ‘good’. I had to try and keep her at arm’s length. “Once we get Erica out safe, I promise I will.”

“I think we’re almost there.” Heidi cut in from the front. The neighbourhood we were in was beyond rough or run down by then. When the Turn hit and humans started dying by the troves, a broad stretch on the outer limits of Cinci, beyond what would become the Hollows, was abandoned, the residents moving to the inner city and the Inderlander pretty much taking possession of what became upper/upper-middle class suburbs. This part, however was dark as a demon’s soul, as in, the city didn’t bother putting up power around here. Not a streetlight was lit, nor were any windows in any house. The only thing keeping the suffocating blackness away was the beams from the SUV’s flood lights. We weren’t missing much anyway. The only thing they revealed was the desiccated corpse left over from the Turn; streets littered with garbage and debris, rundown houses with boarded up windows, graffiti announcing the end of the world, even one or two hazmat tents the government hadn’t bothered reclaiming... you know, your typical scene out of a post-apocalyptic movie. Cue in the charging horde of primal humans with crude but cruelly effective weapons...

Okay, so there was none of that last part, but the only ones living in places such as this were the dregs of society; low blood vamps on the run from their masters, undead vamps with a fondness for off-season game, black witches, feral weres, transients, murderers, rapists... The list of reasons why you didn’t want to stick around here for long went on and on.

“There.” Reed pointed out the windshield at the one bright spot in the ass-end of nowhere. One house, that was once a very pretty house, was lit on the whole block, probably running off a generator somewhere. Heidi bobbed her head slowly in acknowledgement, cutting the engine and immobilising the big vehicle a few dozen yards away from the house. “Right, let’s get our toys.” He said before exiting the car, followed by Heidi as soon as she popped the trunk open.

“Speaking of toys...” Ivy said, her hand drifting closer to me though her attention was elsewhere, more precisely on the sword sitting between us. “Do you really think you can rock the swordsman look, or is this for me?”

“Just take it, would you?” I snapped, still sore over the fact Jenks wanted her to have it. “I’d fall on that thing if I tried to use it and you know it.”

“I suppose you would.” The vampire joked before she nodded gratefully to me “Thank you.” She drew an inch of the blade from the scabbard, looking fascinated by the dark aura wrapped around the blade. It looked fierce and roving, like a flow of dark lava, and bloated out the fine engraving and the iridescent sheen of the pixy sword. The sight just sickened me.

“Don’t thank me. Jenks insisted I give it to you. I personally don’t think you’re entitled to it any longer.”

“So touchy... and so quick to judge.” She sighed and shook her head before giving me a tender look. Before I could blink, her smooth face filled my vision. I jerked away in terror, but not before she could brush her lips lightly against my cheek. “We’ll really need to have that talk.” She gave me a quick wink and a small smile that kept her fangs hidden, then exited the car with the pixy sword in hand, leaving me behind badly hyperventilating and desperately trying to get my pulse to stop sounding like the hooves of a race horse.

“Tink’s a Disney whore, Rache, are you okay?” Jenks asked frantically, hovering before my nose. He had his sword in hand, but Ivy had been so fast even he didn’t have time to react.

“Just peachy...” I muttered, my trembling fingers stroking the spot where Ivy had kissed me without any conscious input on my part. Crap on toast, it was tingling. “Peachy damn keen. Still think she deserves that sword?” I asked him harshly without taking the time to hear his reply. I felt a little stupid snapping at him like that, as if Ivy somehow deserved a stake in the heart more now that she had given me a little peck on the cheek, but I had to move, to do something, anything to distract myself from the fresh memory of Ivy’s warm and perfect lips on my skin.

I joined up with the vamps in the pool of light behind the car. The two living ones were gathered around a crate loaded up into the back compartment of the SUV and were busy pulling out and checking over their “toys”, as Reed had put it, from its confines. Their clothing, I noticed now that I took a good look at them, wasn’t quite usual. They were both dressed in black tactical garb that looked like the standard issue of I.S. arcane division’s special intervention units, the vastly more lethal flipside of the FIB’s SWAT teams.

“Who the heck are you guys?” I asked with widening eyes as they pulled several nasty-looking weapons from the crate.

“During the work day, I’m I.S. SIU sergeant Reed Connor.” Reed answered with a formal voice but a friendly smile, one that didn’t stop me from upping my threat evaluation of him. “And she’s constable Heidi Andrews, also of SIU. Pleasure.”

“Purple fairy farts, for real?!” Jenks exclaimed as he landed on my shoulder, using my body heat to keep himself warm. “Where did Ivy find you two?”

“Heh, she didn’t, we came to her.” Reed chuckled. “You know, power struggles are like elections; if you don’t pick a side and do your part, you don’t get to complain about who’s in charge once the dust settles.”

“But... doesn’t it bother you that she started this whole mess?” I asked a little reprehensively. Reed seemed like a nice guy, not the kind who would dismiss murder as something insignificant.

“Boss was next in line for the throne after Piscary.” The big vamp shrugged and grabbed a compact submachine gun, checking it over with keenly expert eyes. “If Cormel hadn’t tried to screw her over big time in negotiations, maybe she wouldn’t have killed him. Besides, it’s not often a Master vamp still has living family she cares about. She wants to make this city safe for Erica. It ought to make Cinci a pretty nice place for the rest of my first life.” He slapped a clip of ammunition into his gun, and worked the loading lever, chambering a round with a soft clack. “Ivy’s a nice gal, especially for an undead. Really, why wouldn’t I help her?”

Put like that, it sounded almost reasonable to pick Ivy’s side. Still, he wasn’t Ivy’s girlfriend while she was alive, and her intentions towards him were more or less known. He had little reason to displease her, and even less to fear her. That wasn’t the case for me.

“I hate to barge in, but we need to get them ready too.” Heidi interrupted us after she finished loading a huge, nasty-looking shotgun. “This one is for you.” She said, handing me her sidearm. At a glance, it looked like your average automatic pistol. Taking it gingerly, and seeing it next to her huge gun, I felt like I was starring in a scene from a certain 90s alien movie...

“Huh, thanks, but I’m good. I’ve got my own right here.” I said, pulling the familiar weight of my splat gun out of my shoulder bag. It was even tinier than the automatic, but at least, I was used to it. I didn’t really like guns, at least not real ones. My repurposed toy was much more my speed.

“I’d take it if I were you.” Reed whisper amusedly and stepped a little closer to me. “Boss told us to knock you out and lock you in the car if you don’t. You gotta go in ready to kill if necessary, or you don’t go in at all.”

“I will.” I replied with a bit of a panicky whine. “Kill, I mean. If necessary. With magic.”

“You and she don’t have the same definition of the word.” Reed shrugged apologetically. “You want a left black eye or a right black eye?” He asked almost kindly. I stammered something incomprehensible but completely outraged, and picked the gun up before he could finish cracking his knuckles.

“This is blackmail. Dirty evil blackmail. I hope you’re proud of yourselves.” I complained with my new weapon in hand. The gun felt heavier than what I was used to, and there was a charge about it, a magical one. I knew SIU got its toys from the arcane division, so it was entirely possible the gun fired something far nastier than its innocuous appearance suggested.

“Bah, it’s not like I would have really hit you.” Reed shrugged, and laughed at my incredulous look. “I’m not kidding, missy. I was just the distraction while Heidi sneaked up on you and choked you into unconsciousness. Boss would stake me twice if I punched her girl’s lights out.”

“That’s massively comforting...” I drawled after taking a look behind me and noticing that the expectation of throttling me had been enough to get Heidi’s eyes to dilate a bit. These two were way more casual towards the application of violence than any other vamp I’d met... “Thanks for backing me up back there, Jenks.” I muttered sarcastically at the pixy who hadn’t lifted a finger to stop them when the two vamps were closing on me.

“Hey, I don’t think you should be here.” He protested. “If they don’t want you with them in there, they’re welcome to knock you out and tuck you away nicely in the car. Are you sure you two don’t have your guns mixed up?” He asked Heidi, who had begun loading shells into that big-ass shotgun of hers. It wasn’t quite disproportionate in her hands, but Reed had chosen a much smaller, more compact gun that I would have expected the female vampire to favour.

“You make a joke about dick sizes, Reed, and I swear I will cold cock you.” Heidi grunted before the other vamp could do more than grin.

“What? I didn’t say anything.” He responded, trying his hardest to look completely innocent. “You see how I’m getting labelled here? Listening to her, you’d think I spend my time making dirty jokes and flirting with anything with ovaries.”

“You do spend your time flirting with anything with ovaries.” Heidi muttered and grumpily pumped her gun, her lowered eyes showing a hint of sadness this time. She obviously had a soft spot for him, though it seemed Reed had a promiscuous streak, one that caused her some degree of pain. My guess was she didn’t see how much he liked her back, and he wasn’t used to liking a woman that much and didn’t know how to approach her... Playing matchmaker, though, was not on the menu for the moment. Maybe later I could give one or both a nudge in the right direction, but not now.

“Have you ever used one of these?” Heidi changed the subject while I palmed the gun and turned it around in my hands, trying to get a feel for it. I had, but it had been quite a while...

“I did my range time back when I started in the I.S., but they never gave me a carrying permit. My old boss pretty much assured me I’d get mine over his twice dead body...” I still thought guns were cool back then, but that was before I found myself on the wrong side of one. Toting a gun had strangely lost its romantic glamour after that first time a bullet whizzed past my head. With the crap assignments I got from them during my glorious career, a gun would have been overkill anyway. I never really missed it.

“I take it you know which end to point towards your mark, then. This one’s got a fifteen rounds magazine, plus one in the chamber. It’s designed to be used by a vamp against a vamp, so it’s got huge muzzle velocity and lots of powder behind each round. It will kick you half as hard as the guy on the other side if you’re not careful. Even if it’s not imposing, treat it like a large calibre handgun. Mind your stance, and don’t try to fire it one-handed, or you won’t be able to hit anything. That also means the recoil spring is pretty hard, so you might not be able to cock it if you need to reload.” It took a little doing, but as it turned out, I was strong enough to pull the slide, which got me an approving nod from Heidi. A round was ejected from the weapon, caught in midair by the other woman and brought up to my eyes. The bullet had a pointed tip and was made from some dull, grey metal shot through with blue sparks. “The bullets are meant to take out undead vamps only.  Shoot them at anything else, they’ll just blow a tiny hole and do minimal damage.” Heidi continued reciting her explanations. “They’re sanctified, though, so against undead flesh, they’ll light up like incendiary rounds. On contact, they’ll slag due to the heat and mushroom, so you get great and selective stopping power.”

“Nasty buggers. It’s not written on the box, but a dead vamp with one of these in his guts is pretty much going to suffer through hell. Burns from the inside out.” Reed piped in. “Smells terrible afterwards, but they work real well.”

“I can imagine...” I agreed but didn’t approve, feeling a little aghast towards the inhumane nature of the gun in my hands. There was no doubt it was effective, but it was a little extreme. I wanted to kill Kisten’s murderer, not torture him to death.

“What about me?” Jenks interjected expectantly, not even a little put off by the description of the bullets’ effects. Considering his favourite hobby consisted of fighting fairies in brutal territorial disputes, the contrary would have surprised me. “You said the two of us. Got any sweet toys for me?”

“Yes.” Heidi replied. Apparently, when she wasn’t explaining the ins and outs of her favourite piece of equipment, or flirting with Reed, she really wasn’t the most loquacious woman... Out of the trunk, she pulled out a much smaller reinforced box.

“I was worried about going in there without any intel, but with a pixy here, we can easily remedy that.” Reed said confidently. “People think SIU only crushes the FIB’s SWAT in performance so badly because we’re all vamps, when in truth, it’s because we’re vamps, we’ve got better toys and we’ve got pixies and fairies doing recon. In no particular order, of course.” The blond vamp nodded respectfully to Jenks, who was still standing on my shoulder and, up to this point, had been staring at Ivy’s barely visible silhouette outside the halo of light the SUV projected.

“This is our standard recon harness.” Heidi explained, bringing the box to my shoulder so Jenks could see inside. The interior was filled with dark grey shock padding moulded to fit three sets of tiny little harnesses. Each consisted of four straps tied to a (relatively) large orb-like object maybe three quarters of an inch in diameter. “It can transmit both sound and images, and there is an environmental protection spell woven into it. It will protect against abrupt changes in air pressure, cold and any harmful contaminants. Anything from run of the mill smoke to airborne pathogens, this will keep them away.”

“Holy crap...” Jenks whistled after taking off my shoulder and landing on the box. Carefully, he touched one of the harnesses, and instantly, the shivering in his dragonfly wings died down. “Feels like a summer afternoon. This is great stuff! Think you can make me one, Rache?” He asked me, turning to face me with a big beaming smile on his face. I knew winter was a pain for him and his kids, and I made a mental note to try and find the recipe for those particular charms. He could probably handle the crafting of the harness itself if I could find the spells required.

“You look pretty fit, so I don’t think you’ll have trouble flying with it strapped to you.” Heidi said while Jenks put the harness on. “We’ll be able to see what you do thanks to the computer we’ve got in the back. It’ll map what you’re seeing so you don’t need to relate everything. If you spot a trap, tell us and we’ll deal with it when we go in.  Just focus on stealth, and try to locate the kids.”

“Don’t worry about it. Stealth is the... third thing pixies do best.” Jenks boasted, taking off experimentally to see how he could handle his new piece of equipment. Meanwhile, Heidi’s eyebrows shot up in puzzlement over the two things pixies might do better than sneaking, until Reed breathed in her ear just what it was they did best. It sounded vaguely like “babies”, but whatever he told her, it made the placid vamp blush and her elbow shoot backwards into the huge vamp’s sternum, whose grunt of pain quickly turned into a strangled guffaw.

“Watch your back, Rache. See ya on the other side.” Jenks took off without waiting around any further, leaving me alone with the three vamps. Next door to what had to be a fucking trap. Possibly with a psycho murdering undead nearby. In the dark. Scratch that, in the pitch fucking dark. In the very worst part of town. Did I mention I was alone? Yeah... Mommy.

“Okay, it’s transmitting.” Heidi, still managing to look a little flustered even though the game was now on, said from before a bulky laptop resting in the open back compartment. “Damn, he’s fast...” She whispered admiringly. “Why the heck wasn’t he on the recruiting rooster back when he was still with us?”

“Dunno. Ask the stiffs downstairs the next time you’re in the tower. They couldn’t recognise talent if it humped them in the face...”

“Are you going to cry about those three times you failed selections again?”

“Those were totally unf-” He began whining, but a quick, sharply barked order from Ivy promptly shut him up.

“Am I asking for too much? I’m not asking for too much, am I? Fo-cus!” The undead materialised between the two of them, her eyes black in anticipation and exasperation both. It was all the encouragements the two living vamps needed to shut up and slip into their professional mode, each of them riveting their eyes on the screen and making one tactical observation after another. Their apparent improvements in attitude didn’t stop Ivy from breathing down their necks and looming over them in a most threatening manner. I think she might have even been pulling an aura on them, if the sudden cold shift in temperature was any indication...

“There’s Seth.” Heidi pointed out at the screen, a hint of horror showing up on her face. “Shit, he really worked him over.”

“My god... is he even alive?” I breathed out, my throat suddenly parched. The image, though well defined, was black and white, but one thing was still very clear; blood was everywhere. The kid had lost a lot, and he was either completely unconscious or completely dead.

“Son of a fairy whore!” Jenks shouted, his mic spitting a blast of feedback on our end. The image blurred violently as he hastily made his way towards the young, injured vamp, but he came to a sudden, swear-filled halt before he even made it halfway. “Oh, you have got to be SHITTING me! This shit AGAIN?!”

“Jenks? Jenks?!” I shouted back, leaning closer to the computer in a momentary lapse in memory. The mic was one-way only...

“He can’t hear you.” Heidi gently pushed me away, far more composed than I was. “Look.” She gestured to the screen, where the camera was still transmitting the images composing Jenks’ point of view. Thin, almost invisible strands criss-crossed the camera’s field of vision. “I think I know what happened.”

“Sticky silk. Fucking sticky silk.” I swore, gripping a handful of my hair in frustration. How often could this fucking thing ruin a perfectly good breaking and entering?

“You morons, quit watching and get the fuck in here! He needs help! Yesterday, you stupid lunkers!” Jenks shouted at the top of his lungs, his wild struggling making the picture we got sway wildly.

“He’s right, we have to go.” Reed declared, thumbing the safety off his weapon before slinging a duffle bag over his shoulder. I barely recognised him again, his focus was suddenly so intense. “We’ll do a room by room sweep, split up two and two. Ivy, follow Heidi and watch her back. Boss, I’m respectfully asking you to shut the hell up and follow our lead.” He forcefully cut Ivy off before she could finish opening her mouth to protest or make any suggestion. “You can tan my hide later for being insolent, but right now, locate Erica and get her out. Rachel, you’re with me, we’re going after Seth. Move out.”