Good Intentions (60 page)

Onyx lifted her eyes up to see the battered, muzzled succubus above them. Her head was bowed, but her body softly shook. “She’s crying,” Molly observed. * “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, man,” Mitchel grumbled, “didja ever hear such a fucking blubbering mess in your goddamn life?” “I cannot say that I have, no,” Talon scowled. He stood near the foot of the table while Mitchel remained near its head. Alex still lay there, restrained and wracked with tears. “At least he has started to quiet down.” “finally,” Mitchel said. The old gunslinger spat on Alex, who didn’t even notice. “Shit, this kid’s al of what, nineteen? Twenty at the most? The fuck’s he got to cry so hard about?” Talon shrugged. “Perhaps his life has been more difficult than we have suspected.” “Oh, that’s bul shit,” grunted the other vampire. “This kid grew up a healthy white boy in an American city with cel phones and flush toilets. He still lives with his momma. He don’t know what ‘difficult’ even is.” Mitchel spat again, then turned around looking for something else to hold his attention. He found it directly back from the table. “This bitch here doesn’t know how good she’s had it, either,” he said, moving closer to the other captive in the room. “We are ordered to leave her be,” Talon reminded him cool y. “I ain’t gonna touch her,” Mitchel said. “Know better’n that. You weren’t there when we caught her. Didn’t see what she did to a couple of our people. Did he, sweetness?”

It was then Mitchel ’s turn to be spat upon. Though chained so low on the floor that she couldn’t rise to her full height, the brunette in denim and flannel stayed in a ready crouch as Mitchel reached reflexively for the old but well - maintained revolver in his gun belt. “Fucking cunt,” the vampire growled. She growled back. Her growl was considerably more feral. “You are so lucky Talon’s here to keep you alive,” Mitchel snarled at her. “Otherwise I’d cut you loose from those chains just to have an excuse to shoot your sorry ass.” “I would end you, corpse,” the woman sneered back. Mitchel ’s gun was in his hand in the blink of an eye, pointed directly at her forehead. “Put it away, fool,” Talon sighed. The gunslinger’s eyes narrowed. He raised it threateningly at the woman one more time, but then holstered it. “Not in the condition you’re in now, you wouldn’t, bitch,” he grumbled. There was a knock at the heavy door before it was unlocked from the outside. Talon and Mitchel looked up to see Warren return, along with Jack and the suited vampire’s ever-present tommy gun. “I see the prisoner’s reactions have lessened somewhat,” Warren observed. “Yeah, he stopped screamin’ about two minutes ago,” Mitchel shrugged. “Little less sobbing now, too. Might even be able to talk.” Warren cocked his head curiously. “Can you hear me, Alexander?” he asked. “Do you understand what I am saying?” “Where is Lorelei?” Alex rasped. “With her rightful owner,” Warren told him simply. “No,” Alex coughed, shaking his head. “Can’t own people.”

Talon sighed again, looking at Mitchel . “You are right about one thing,” the vampire said. “This is a very soft country in a very soft age.” “I will need to work a bit here,” Warren informed the other vampires. “The Lady has conceded to this?” Talon asked with a raised eyebrow. He looked directly to Jack, as if to note the complete irrelevance of anything Warren might have to say on the subject. “She wants us to watch,” Jack shrugged. “Anything hinky or out of place goes on, Warren here becomes a very unhappy customer.” “Understood,” Talon nodded, turning his attention back to the robed man. “This is only preliminary,” Warren explained, “which is why the Lady agreed. The potion still needs time to take effect, but with the dosage he received, I must monitor his condition.” His hands disappeared into his robes. When they reappeared, one was held tightly closed, while the other opened to reveal a handful of ash. Warren held it high and blew the ashes out over the room, taking care to turn fullly counter-clockwise as he sent it al into the air. Warren murmured words of magic so softly and quickly that Talon could barely make them out as Greek. What he heard alarmed him, but as he reached for his sword he found it was already too late. No one else in the room saw it coming, for no one else knew Greek. “You will al defend me this night,” Warren informed them calmly. “Your al egiance this night is to me and to the Brotherhood. Am I understood?” “Yes, Warren,” the vampires said, each bowing to him as deeply as they ever bowed to Lady Anastacia. “Yes, sir,” Warren corrected. “Yes, sir.”

“Excel ent. Jack, please go outside and get a vehicle ready. Something that will hold yourself, Carlisle and I. Talon as well . I’d hate to leave behind such a luminary of your kind.” Jack bowed again and headed out. Warren waited a long, pensive moment before he spoke again. “Mitchel , Talon, we are going to lead Carlisle out. You will escort me to Jack’s vehicle, and you will use your authority as agents of Lady Anastacia to ease our departure. I will keep Carlisle concealed through my magic. Is that understood?” “Yes, sir,” they both said. “Do you think Carlisle will be any trouble?” “No, sir,” Talon answered. “He already had a solid beating tonight. The table here isn’t a restful spot to lie. We will likely have to carry him.” “My thoughts exactly.” Warren pul ed out a pocket watch to check the time. He waited at least a full minute. “Lady Anastacia’s court should still be underway upstairs. By now the hall ways will be somewhat deserted. I would wait, but I suspect court may deteriorate rapidly. Gentlemen, please unfasten Carlisle’s bonds. Oh, and Mitchel ? I do not want any witnesses. Please eliminate the other prisoner before we go.” Mitchel nodded, even grinning. “You had best close the door, then, sir,” the gunslinger suggested. He was already pulling off the latches on Alex’s wrists. “This room muffles sound pretty well , but if the door’s open, someone might still hear the shots.” “Thank you, Mitchel ,” Warren smiled grimly. He moved to do just that, sliding the door shut without al owing the locks to catch. Mitchel turned to the woman in the corner, pulling his revolver and walking forward with a grin. Talon unlatched the final cuff on Alex’s legs. He pul ed the young man into an upright sitting position by the col ar of his shirt. Talon then let Alex go to see if he would stay sitting up. The young man swayed, but didn’t fall .

“Yes,” Talon confirmed, glancing over his shoulder to Warren. “He’l have to be carried.” Opportunity presented itself in front of Alex, who didn’t think twice. He hardly thought at al ; he just moved. Alex snatched the gladius from Talon’s belt with his right hand while the other grabbed Talon’s wrist. The vampire turned his attention to it just in time to see Alex swing the short sword down with everything he had. The blade went clean through Talon’s arm at the elbow. One instant, Talon felt Alex grabbing at his wrist; in the next, there was an explosion of pain, and then he simply didn’t have a wrist there anymore. Talon screamed. He swatted at Alex with his left hand but Alex ducked it it, sat up again and slashed deeply through Talon’s throat. He swung once more, back in the other direction, like a man who’d wielded a gladius in years of combat. He hit with enough precision and torque to go clean through the rest of Talon’s neck. Mitchel twisted around to see what the noise was. With his attention diverted, the woman chained at his feet had just enough slack in her bonds to reach him. Her teeth clamped down on Mitchel ’s wrist. The gunslinger shrieked as he was pul ed back. Warren’s eyes went wide in horror, but he was too surprised to react effectively. Before Talon’s head hit the floor, Alex flung the gladius straight into Warren’s neck. It landed with a sickening sound; he stumbled, clutching at the blood-spurting wound. As he fell back, thrashing for support, Warren pushed the door the rest of the way shut. Already crumbling, Talon’s body fell forward onto the table. Alex snatched up the pistol in the underarm holster that he had spotted earlier. By the time Mitchel had wrenched free of the captive woman, Alex had twisted around with the .45 in his hands. In any other circumstance, Mitchel would have been the much faster draw. As it happened, though, he took two bul ets in the chest before he could bring his gun to bear. Mitchel staggered back into the reach of the woman behind him again, who tugged at his duster and brought him down to the ground. His body swiftly turned to ash. The six-shooter fell away with a clatter. Alex scrambled off the table. His eyes were still red from weeping. The tracks of his tears were still visible on his face. He shoved his sorrow aside for the moment, though, as he quickly moved to Mitchel ’s remains. To the contrary

of Talon’s assessment, Alex wasn’t tired at al ; not after a succubus had teased his body for so long, leaving him electrified—unwelcome though it may have been—and not while someone he loved was in such danger. He pul ed the gun belt from Mitchel ’s remains. “You must free me, Carlisle,” the woman growled. “Lady, everything I’ve seen here tonight is something horrible and fucked up, and I don’t even know who you are,” Alex told her. His cal ousness surprised him, but then he suddenly felt surprised at being surprised. Since when was he so naïve? “For al I know you’re something even worse than these guys.” “The enemy of your enemy is your friend,” she said. “Wow, did you totally flunk US History?” Alex grunted. “That line’s the biggest crock of shit in the world, right there.” He threw the gun belt around his waist. It was a little high for his taste, so he fought to adjust it. Then he blinked. He’d never worn a gun belt before. Had he? “I am a hostage here of the vampires. Would you leave me here with them?” Of course he couldn’t do that. But still … “How do I know you aren’t one of them?” “Do I look like one of them? I aided you. They have me chained here. What more do you need to know?” “You aided yourself,” Alex said. He picked up the revolver and checked the load. “What’s with these bul ets? I thought vampires were supposed to be bul etproof.” “They have no need for their internal organs,” the woman explained, “but they are vulnerable to certain elements. The tips of the bul ets are made with a mixture of silver and…other things. A vampire’s greatest enemy is typically another vampire. Why would they carry weapons that would not harm their own kind?” Alex stopped and looked at the woman. She might have been pretty, but for the complete lack of a shower or a toothbrush or a comb for who knew how long.

“Your Rachel is not dead,” the woman said. “The blonde woman lied to you.” “How do you know?” he gasped. “She wears human flesh. She is not truly human…yet that is a human form. The body betrays itself with certain clues when one lies. My senses are sharp. Carlisle, please,” the woman implored him, holding up her chained wrists. Alex thought it over. His compassionate nature fought with memories of a dozen harsh lessons learned by other men in other times. It was al a jumble. He didn’t have those memories before tonight and wasn’t even sure were really his. Finally he pul ed the latches on her manacles. As they fell away, he noticed gleaming silver strips inside them. “You are no ordinary college student,” the woman said. “Yeah, actual y, I am.” “When did you learn to fight like that?” Alex blinked. He hadn’t really paused to process it. “A long time ago, I guess,” he murmured to himself. Tears began to well up in his eyes, but he blinked them away. There wasn’t time for that. He had to hold it together. Alex pushed away his cacophony of memories of hall a and Katherine and those terrible last moments in the bush that threatened to pul him down into despair again. The woman reached up to grab his shoulder. “I am Diana, daughter of Caleb,” she told him with a fierce pride. “My people are the eternal enemies of the vampires.” “Um. That’s great. I’m Alex.” Diana nodded. She took his hand at the wrist, like a warrior. “Gather their weapons. I am ready.” Alex blinked, but did as she suggested. He went over to Talon’s dusty remains to grab his pistol harness and the sheath for his gladius before pulling the bloody blade from Warren. It only took a moment. Alex checked the weapons

with a quickness and familiarity that surprised him. It was only then, looking at the blood on the blade and the dead body at his feet, that it really hit him. He had just kil ed a man. Three, if one were to count the vampires…but regardless of their states of life or unlife, he had clearly just kil ed Warren. He couldn’t sort out if this was the first time or if it was nothing new at al . “The door,” Diana said. Alex tried it. “Locked,” he grunted. “I know. Move,” she said. Alex looked over to her and found that she had removed practically al her clothes. Then she lurched forward, literally expanding and growing a prodigious amount of body hair with each quick step. It al quickly became fur. Her head lengthened into a snout. Her hands turned into terrible furry claws. She growled with an animal fury that sent Alex scrambling back. Her claws plunged into the metal door. She dug into it, pulling with great strength and forcing an ear-splitting noise from the door that made it almost sound like it was screaming as she wrenched it from its reinforced hinges. The wolf-monster that had been Diana fell backward as she tore the door out of Alex’s way. He glanced down the hall way. Jack was there, rushing back from the hall way with his Thompson out. The vampire in the pin-striped suit looked on in alarm, raising his weapon to fire. Alex had his six-shooter out in a flash, fanning the hammer and putting three of his six bul ets into Jack’s guts. The vampire got off a burst, but only a short one. It went willd, ricocheting off of the concrete wall s of the hall way. Jack crumpled to the ground. Alex glanced down at Diana, who was now entirely human and entirely naked on the floor. “You okay?” he asked. “I’l manage,” she grunted. Alex offered his hand, which she took as she rose from of the concrete. “This building is still warded. We won’t be able to get out without breaching the ward somehow.” “I don’t know what that means,” Alex said.

“I’l explain,” Diana shrugged. She looked at him intently. “Get me out of here and I will make you my mate for life.” “Woah! Um. I’m good,” Alex said, his eyes going wide and his hands spread out before him in a big “stop” motion. “I’ve got that covered. I’m totally good. Just gotta go rescue my girlfriend from some vampires and demons upstairs and I’m al good.” “You cannot,” Diana shook her head. “There are far too many, even for a warrior such as yourself. Our chances of escaping at al are dismal, and I am too weak to make any real difference. You must let her go.” “Think I’d rather go down fighting,” Alex frowned sourly. “Feels like that won’t really be anything new for me. Maybe it’s why I’ve been so fucking emo al my life. Anyway, grab your clothes if you want ‘em. I’m moving on up ahead.” He left her in the basement dungeon, moving warily down the hall toward the pin-striped suit and old Thompson sub-machinegun amid the pile of dust that used to be Jack. He picked up the Thompson, checked its magazine for ammunition, and soon found several other magazines in the inside pockets of Jack’s suit. “It’s like every one of these assholes is carrying around al my favorite stuff,” Alex murmured. * “Just breathe in an’ out, Taylor,” Wade told her quietly. He sat in the passenger’s side of the SUV, looking straight ahead as she drove. He wore Lucien’s black sport coat and sunglasses. “In and out. We got the brights on an’ these windows are tinted. They’l never see this comin’.” “Right,” she nodded. She glanced in her rear view mirror yet again to ensure that Jason and Drew were still fol owing in Wade’s pick-up. As Wade advised, she inhaled slowly and exhaled slowly.