Driven (20 page)

There
wasn't anything I could do physically to prepare myself for the fight
I knew was coming. There were some energy bars still left in the
bug-out bag, enough for a modest breakfast for Geoffrey and me, but
beyond that I was as strong or fast as I was going to get.

There
was however one thing I could do, and that was to prepare mentally. I
was still just wearing a towel while I waited for my clothes to dry,
so I didn't particularly feel like yoga. Besides, I'd never been into
yoga enough to get into the mental and spiritual aspects of it
anyways.

Instead
I knelt down on the floor next to my bed and focused on my breathing.
My old instructor always said that the inside followed the outside
and the outside followed the inside. I controlled my breathing,
forced it to be calm and steady, and as the minutes slowly passed my
mind and emotions did start to mirror my breathing.

Even
my beast became less restless and at one point my body, and even the
world around me, dropped away. It wasn't enlightenment like the
eastern disciplines preached, but it was something better than I'd
ever experienced before and it left me feeling like a still pool.
Emotions and thoughts were both distant, quiet things, but eventually
I felt ready to be done. I opened my eyes feeling like a different
person.

I
couldn't remember for sure when I'd started meditating, but it didn't
really matter how long I'd been at it, it had taken as long as it
needed to take and I was ready to do what needed done. My hair was
mostly dry, which was perfect because that meant it hadn't 'set' yet.
I still had a few minutes in which it would more or less do what I
wanted it to, so I combed it out and then pulled it back so that it
would be out of my face.

My
clothes weren't quite dry yet so I grabbed the hotel hair dryer and
used it to dry everything out enough that I wouldn't freeze once I
stepped outside. I was just about ready to leave my room when my
phone rang.

"Is
that you, Rach?"

"Yeah,
how are you feeling, Jasmin?"

For
a second the words didn't have any meaning to me. Identifying my
feelings required separating myself from them in some way that I'd
never noticed. I would have rather continued walking around without
having to put that kind of distance between them and me, but it was
too late. Rachel had asked the question and something inside of me
had been only too happy to tear me in two so that I could answer her.

"I
feel better. I meditated for a few minutes earlier and I'm okay. I'll
do my best and just have to hope that will be good enough."

Rachel
was silent for a few seconds while she processed what I'd just said.
"You haven't meditated for a really long time, Jasmin."

"I
know. I guess things were just so bad that I had to do something."

"I
didn't expect that."

For
some reason that struck me as being funny. "I thought you saw
everything that was important. I guess that means this wasn't
important."

Rachel
cleared her throat. "I thought I saw everything that was
important, but I didn't see this and it was important. You, Ben,
Geoffrey, you all disappeared from my sight yesterday just before I
called and talked to him. You only just barely became clear enough
that I could really see you again."

A
few hours earlier that would have been enough to send me back into
tears, but it was curiously unimportant to me now.

"Is
there still a course that you can send me down that results in Ben
surviving all of this?"

"Yes,
I mean I think so. The original route forward is still there and it
still seems to lead to Ben's survival, but it's different. I can't
really explain it though, it's like trying to explain the color
orange to a blind person. It's like the world just shifted, like it
was just hit by a giant meteor and everything moved from the impact,
only some things moved more than others and some of the pieces still
haven't settled back down yet."

"I
guess just call and tell me if things change and there's no longer
any point with going forward. In the meantime I've got a protein bar
waiting for me."

"Wait,
Jas, I can help with that. I'm going to text you a bank and an
account number. Send Geoffrey there and they'll let him withdraw
pretty much any amount you guys need. You should at least have a good
breakfast before you go into a fight like this."

"Thanks,
Rach, I appreciate that. Any words of advice before I face off with
Branson and the others?"

Rachel
was silent for so long that I thought for a moment that she'd hung up
on me again.

"What
is it, Rach?"

"I'm
not sure what I can and can't tell you. You're going into another
decision point and I'm not sure what things will help you win it and
what things will harm you. The margin of error is as small as
anything I've ever seen before."

"Then
just tell me the truth, Rach. I'd rather go into it knowing what I'm
getting into. I'm tired of running around with blinders on."

"Isaac
told you that Branson is pretty much an honorary enforcer for the
Coun'hij, right?"

"Yeah,
he said that Branson is the one to beat inside of the pack, which I
thought was kind of odd. I would have expected for him to be top dog
if he's really that tough."

"You're
right, it's uncommon, but it's not unheard of. It just means that the
alpha has something that the more powerful hybrid wants more than
they want to lead the pack."

"You're
stalling, Rach. What is it?"

"Branson
was one of the hybrids Agony brought with him when he killed my dad
and sundered the rest of the pack."

My
mouth went dry. Donovan, Andrew and the rest had always been
reluctant to talk about that night, the night that the dreams of
everyone in the pack had been destroyed. When pressed they had
recounted the barest details, but they'd never gone so far as to tell
us who else had been there other than Agony. Adri had told me once
that Oblivion had also been there, but she'd been pretty evasive when
it came to how exactly she knew that.

"You're
making this personal."

Rachel
sighed. "Yeah, I guess I am. Maybe that will be the extra little
push you need to be able to take him down."

"It's
not going to make any difference. If I need an extra push to beat
Branson then I'm already screwed because it means I'm not going to be
able to beat the alpha, whatever his name is."

"Stekensbridge,
Samuel Stekensbridge."

"Yeah,
him."

"I
know things look grim, Jas, just remember that none of them realize
that you're a hybrid. If you can use that to your advantage then you
have a chance."

"Okay,
I've got to go now, Rach. You're screwing up my internal balance."

I
hung up on her without waiting for her to say goodbye, and then
looked around the room. It wasn't home, there was no reason to dwell
on it, taking mental pictures, but I did regardless. A second later
Rachel texted me the banking information that she'd promised.

I
checked on Ben one last time and then left the room. Geoffrey
answered the door within a second or two of my first knock. His sword
was unsheathed and for a second I almost thought that he was going to
attack me, but instead he turned his back and walked over to the bed.

"Are
you and Ben ready to go?"

He
picked up a scrap of material that he'd apparently been using to
polish his sword, and then sheathed the weapon in a move that looked
so easy and natural that I knew he was even better with a sword in
his hand than I'd suspected.

"Just
me. I'd like to leave Ben here for now. If things go badly then the
Duluth pack will rip him apart. It's a small chance, but I'd still
like to leave him here so someone else can come get him if the worst
comes to pass."

"You're
just filling me with confidence."

"That's
me, ever the optimist."

I
tossed my phone to him. He caught it with his left hand and then
looked back up at me questioningly. "What's this?"

"A
present from Rachel. She says that you've got some kind of numbered
account in a bank near here. I don't know how she set up a fake
account for you, or why she did it in your name instead of mine, but
it means that we should have enough cash to at least buy Ben a few
more nights here."

Geoffrey
swallowed a couple of times and then shook his head. "Rachel
didn't set it up; at least I don't think she did. I suspect that
I
set it up before I lost all of my memories. I don't have very many
things from back then. This sword, my vendetta with Imastious, and
now a bank account."

"I'm
sorry, it must really suck not to remember so much of your past."

"Yes,
and no. I feel so incredibly isolated from everything that sometimes
I just want to scream. I don't have any ties to anyone or anything.
I've been completely uprooted from the person who I once was, but
it's not all bad. By all indications the man I used to be didn't have
a single redeeming quality to him. I'm probably better off without
those memories."

"I
just assumed that it was something Rachel arranged, but if it's your
money then I shouldn't go presuming as to how you'll be spending it."

"No,
I think your plan of buying a few nights for Ben is a good one. It's
not like you haven't kept me fed and with a roof over my head for the
last couple of days. I owe you for that. Besides, I don't want to see
anything happen to Ben either."

My
nod was choppy and probably revealed more of what I was feeling than
I would have liked it to, but at least I managed a response. I left
Geoffrey to finish his packing and went back into my room and grabbed
my stuff.

Leaving
Ben there in the bed by himself was every bit as hard as I'd known it
would be. He looked so tiny, like the smallest tremor would shatter
him into a thousand pieces. The bubble of calm I'd surrounded myself
with earlier helped a little, but it was mostly faith in Rachel that
gave me the strength I needed to leave.

I
already knew that I didn't have a plan of my own that would save Ben.
The only way forward was to trust Rachel and help Geoffrey. I picked
up Ben's free hand and cupped my face in his palm for several
seconds.

I
could hear Geoffrey outside in the hall. He was pacing, which meant I
was out of time. I turned my head and kissed Ben's palm as I stood to
go. I grabbed my stuff and forced myself to leave without looking
back. We put the 'do not disturb' sign up on my room, on Ben's room,
and then we stopped at the front desk and explained that we would be
calling back in a couple of hours to pay for a few more nights.
Technically that put us a bit past the normal checkout time. The
clerk seemed like he was going to balk at that, but then suddenly
nodded and said that he'd make sure my room wasn't disturbed.

I
waited until we were back to my car before asking the obvious
question. "That was you who convinced him, wasn't it?"

"Yeah.
It seemed like a good cause, I just hope he doesn't get into some
kind of trouble as a result. That's the problem with being able to
play with people's minds, it's too easy to take what you want and not
consider the possible consequences to them."

"That's
surprisingly decent."

"Just
because I'm a vampire doesn't mean I have to be like all the rest of
them."

I
looked up the address to the bank from Rachel's text and then we set
off. The trip to Minneapolis went by faster than I'd expected it to,
and almost before I knew it we were pulling into an underground
parking structure underneath the bank itself.

It
felt like we were entering Fort Knox, although, come to think of it,
I wasn't actually sure that they still kept any gold there. With the
way that the Federal debt figure had been ballooning for the last
decade or so, it was entirely possible that all of the country's gold
reserves had been sold off years ago.

The
ramp we drove down didn't initially go under the bank. Instead we
drove down a series of declines that seemed to put us under the
vacant square next to the bank and went through three different check
points before we were allowed to enter the main parking area
underneath the bank.

Rachel's
text had contained three different codes and Geoffrey had to provide
the first code before we were allowed into the second checkpoint
where they proceeded to check my car for surveillance devices, bombs
and weapons. Geoffrey's sword didn't even cause the guards to raise
an eyebrow, they simply brought out a long metal canister with a
complicated combination lock on one end.

Geoffrey
input a code of his choice and then locked his sword up inside of the
case and it was taken away for holding with a promise that it would
be waiting for us when we left. Once the car was vetted and the
guards were satisfied that neither of us had any weapons, we were
escorted out of the car into a series of man traps which isolated us
from each other and from the guards who'd been escorting us.

Less
than three seconds after I realized the doors on either side of me
were locked, a speaker above me clicked on without even a hint of
static.

"Good
morning, sir, madam. I apologize, but our procedures generally allow
for only the account holder to access the deposit vault in question.
I've pulled up the physical description of the account holder, which
the gentleman matches. The next step in the authentication process is
for you to provide the second numerical password and then we'll
conduct you back to the vault."

I
would have expected for the speaker to talk to us from the anonymity
of some windowless control room, but apparently that wasn't classy
enough for Credit Suisse. Instead the man addressing us was doing so
from behind what looked like a six-inch pane of Plexiglas. While I
was busy taking in the luxuriously-appointed room behind him, the
bank employee continued.