The Burning City (27 page)

She tapped the screen to get to her contacts.

“You were held for questioning by the FBI,” June instructed him. “You weren’t allowed to talk to anyone.” She pressed the call button and held the phone out to him. “Dodge as many questions as you can. Say the FBI has a gag order on you.”

Jason took the phone from her and hesitantly placed it to his ear.

June wandered out of the room. She smiled when Jason’s happy, surprised gasp followed her.

“Mom!”

The hot, humid day gave way to a warm, sticky night. If June ever got back to Sacramento, one thing she wouldn’t miss—among plenty of other things—was the lake-fueled humidity.

She sat on the edge of the porch, dangling her legs over the side. The ground was a good ten-foot drop below.

She was waiting.

She tilted her head back and took in the sky. As a child, she’d wished on the first star that appeared every night, something her mother had taught her. She couldn’t remember any of those wishes. She couldn’t remember if any of them came true.

Her phone rang in her hand. She’d gotten a text a few minutes ago.

Her mouth was dry as she answered. “Micha.”

“I don’t have much time,” he whispered. “Luckily they don’t have cameras on me in the can. What’s up?”

She smiled. “It’s good to hear your voice. I don’t know why we didn’t think of this before.”

“It’s risky. If they catch me talking to you, we’ll both be in trouble.”

She took a deep breath. “Something is going on. I wanted you to know about it, just in case something happens. We’re going into the Institute. I’m not sure when, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.”

Silence on the other end, and then he spoke, sounding bewildered. “What? Why are you going in there?”

“Robbie’s in there.”

“Robbie’s inside the Institute?” Micha’s voice got louder.

“Yes, and we have to go in after him. He’s going to blow the place up. We found out from his brother.”

More silence.

“I…have a lot of questions,” he said, “but my main one is why would you stop him from blowing that place up?”

“If he blows it up, his followers will rise up and destroy the city. I’m not too fond of the place, either, but I can’t let that happen. We can’t.”

“You guys could get killed.”

She wished she could tell him one good thing. “Occam is going to get us inside and help us get to Robbie. Robbie can’t affect vampires.”

“Occam?” He dropped his voice back to a whisper. “You’re working with the vampires?”

“It’s the only chance we have. There’s something I need to tell you, about me.”

A faint knock sounded in the background. Micha called out, “I’m almost done!” He spoke into the phone. “I can’t stay on much longer. Why the hell would you work with Occam? You said he kidnapped Jason and Diego.”

“He brought them back.” Her heart pounded. “It’s a lot to explain, obviously I can’t do it right now. Listen… You’re not the only one suffering from an illness brought on by supernatural powers. We’re in the same boat.”

“What?”

“You know how Muse’s powers were killing her? Well, mine are killing me too. I don’t know how much time I have left.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“But there’s a way to save me. I made a deal with Occam. That’s how we do this. That’s how we get out alive.”

Silence for a moment. “Are you…saying you’re going to become a vampire?”

“I have to.”

Another knock.

“Be right out!” Micha yelled. Water came on. “June, you can’t do that.”

“You want me to die?’

“No. But there has to be another way.”

“If there was one, I’d be trying it already. Listen, I know you have to go. I just wanted… I wanted to let you know what’s going on, and I wanted to tell you if anything happens, I really enjoyed the time I spent with you, and I’m sorry for what they did to you.” She blinked a few times. “Who knows, maybe vampirism is the answer for you too. Maybe it’s not so bad.”

“Maybe it’s not, but their society sure as hell is. June, don’t say good-bye this way.”

“I have to. Hang up so you don’t get in trouble. I’ll text Trina when everything is about to go down so you know. You should probably keep an eye on the news too.”

“June.”

“I’m sorry, Micha. Good-bye. Good luck.”

She hung up. She closed her eyes, pulling in a shaky breath, and clutched the phone against her chest. She fought back tears.

She had a wish now. To move forward. To get this show on the road.

Miraculously, instantaneously, her wish came true.

She opened her eyes at the soft whisper of footsteps on the grass below. Occam crossed the lawn toward her.

Her stomach crawled into her throat. She dropped the phone on the porch floor.

He held up a hand. “It’s not time yet, don’t get excited.”

She suspected she only heard him coming because he wanted her to.

“We need to make some arrangements.” He stopped below her. “This isn’t going to be easy, even for me.”

She gripped the edge of the porch, staring down at him.

“I need you and Sam to do some things,” he said. “Is he around?”

“He’s not very happy with me right now.”

Occam chuckled. “I don’t guess he is.”

She looked across the yard. “How do you get in here? There are guards at the gate. Sam’s got the security cameras on now. How do you keep getting onto the property?”

“I’m a shapeshifter, darling.”

“You’re good enough you can glamour objects, okay. Does that mean you can make yourself look like a tree or something?” She pictured a tree scuttling across the grass.

“No. I can make myself invisible.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“So to speak. I can take on the patterns of things around me. It’s more like camouflage than shapeshifting. It comes in handy.”

This actually sounded fascinating.

“That explains a lot,” she said. “Like all the times you just seemed to disappear.” She cringed. “You weren’t really gone, you just…blended in.”

“Yes. And then I slipped away.”

“How long have you been creeping around here, blending in and watching me?”

“As long as I needed to.”

“Have you been inside the house?”

“Only when you asked me in.”

The sounds she’d been hearing were caused by Muse trying to materialize, then. But why? June had seen Rose readily. Why did Muse have a hard time?

“There are a lot of things I need to know,” she said. “Before I come over to the dark side. I’m curious what I’ll be able to do.”

“Well, you won’t be able to do the things I do.” He strolled over to the porch stairs. “I can do those things because I’m a shapeshifter. You bring your own unique talent to the table. In time, who knows what you’ll be able to do with it.”

“But I won’t age, right? And I won’t die from any disease. The only way to kill a vampire is to destroy a vital organ.”

“Yes.” He stood at the bottom of the stairs.

“What about being maimed? Can you be scarred or lose body parts?”

“You can’t be scarred. The damage will heal itself. Mortal wounds quickly seal up enough to sustain life and then gradually heal completely. As for losing body parts—unfortunately, it can happen, and has. Healing and regeneration can only go so far. Human DNA is not coded to re-grow lost parts.”

“Do you get more strength? Sam said you once decapitated someone with your bare hands. Internally, anyway.”

Occam waved a hand. “It was during a fight with another vampire. I was hopped up on heroin and it was a lucky break, pun intended. But I do enjoy using the legend to scare people.”

She cringed. “So you…pulled his head off, and… Did he heal? Did it reattach?”

“It did heal. He was never quite the same. We purged him recently. He was a weakling and a hot head. We don’t have room for that.”

But they obviously had room for violent heroin junkies.

She swallowed. “I’ll have to be part of your society, at least a little bit. I don’t guess I can just go on living my life normally.”

“You won’t want to.”

“I want to stay with Sam. I want to be able to see my family. I want to go home to California for a while and see my mother. I know I’ll have issues. I’ll need blood. I’ll have to travel at night. I’ll join your vampire crusade, but I have to have my life as well.”

“You’ll be different, not just physically. Your desires will change.”

“I think that’s bullshit. You just killed a whole bunch of vampires who were living normal lives. So it’s possible.”

His eyes gleamed in the twilight. “Yes. We just killed them.”

Footsteps sounded inside the house. The front door opened. Sam stepped out.

“I thought I heard—” He froze at the sight of Occam. “You.”

June quickly got to her feet. “Sam.”

“It’s not time,” Occam said. “I came to make arrangements. We have to work out a few things before we go in there.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Sam gripped June’s waist. “And neither is she.”

“Sam”—June placed a hand over his on her hip—“just hear him out.”

Occam started up the stairs. “I went to the Institute today, had a walk around inside, got the lay of the land. There’s a bit of good news.” Sam moved her back as Occam reached the top of the stairs. “Robbie has taken over the security system, but he’s only running the cameras at the entrances to the building. He doesn’t want anyone picking up a feed from inside, so those are all offline.”

“You walked around the Institute?” Sam asked. “How? No one saw you?”

Occam looked at June. “You want to explain what I just told you about me? I don’t feel like repeating myself.”

“It doesn’t matter right now.” She pulled out of Sam’s grip. “So there’s no surveillance inside, just at the entry points.”

“Yes,” Occam said. “Robbie has a team in there—not too many, maybe twenty people. Enough to help him out, but not so many they can’t be stealthy. They’re rigging the structure with explosives. I do hope they’re actual engineers or explosive technicians and not just looking things up on the Internet; otherwise, it might go boom ahead of schedule.”

“Then it’s easy for us to creep around too,” June said.

“The FBI hasn’t begun their physical investigation yet,” Occam went on. “But they will soon, so he has to do the deed in the next few days. He’s played a long game, ever so patient, making sure everything was in place before he took action.” He focused on Sam. “Smart man. Too bad you’re not as nefarious as he is.”

Sam glared at him.

“Robbie is camped out in the executives’ quarters on the top floors. Where all the big wigs work—or used to. Unemployment lines are awful long these days.”

“So we just have to get up there, undetected, and take him out,” June said. “But first, take his twenty or so people out.”

“His twenty or so people will be whittled down to just a few by the time we walk in. My vampire friends are very good at clearing spaces. I don’t like a bunch of icky obstacles.”

“Robbie is a telepath,” Sam said. “How the hell would we sneak up on him? You can, but we certainly can’t.”

“Robbie is powerful.” Occam nodded. “But he can’t hear the entire building. Maybe most of the floor he’s on, but nothing beyond that. He can feel something coming, but only when it gets in his vicinity.”

“Which means you have to sneak up on him,” June said. “If you’re willing to do that.”

Occam gazed at her. “It depends. Are you willing to change your lifestyle?”

She tensed. “That’s not fair.”

Occam shrugged. “You’re asking a lot of me. If you think I’m completely immune to Robbie, you’re mistaken. He can very much drive something through my chest if he gets the urge.”

“But he needs you.” She stepped closer to him. “He wants what you have, so he’s going to be nice to you.”

Occam tilted back. “This has gone from ‘get me inside’ to ‘kill Robbie for me, big bad vampire.’”

Sam walked over to them. “We don’t need you. We’ll figure something out. If Robbie’s going to die, it’s going to be by my hand.”

Occam laughed. “Okay.”

“We just need to stop him from blowing up the Institute,” Sam said. “We need to undo those charges.”

Occam scoffed. “So you’re an explosives expert? Or will you be learning how to defuse bombs in two days?”

“All right.” June’s voice caught. “Maybe… You should make me a vampire before we confront him. Then I can kill him myself.”

“June.” Sam spoke sharply.

“You can’t just walk up and pop him.” She looked at Sam. “I know you want to do this some other way, but we can’t. You will die trying. This way, we have a chance. We live.” She lowered her voice. “I live. If I don’t do this, if I don’t let Occam do this to me…”

Sam held her gaze, his eyes shining.

“Okay.” Occam tapped his foot. “That’s settled. Now, I need you to do something for me. You need to bring Anthony along when we go inside.”

“Why?” June asked.

“It’ll be easier that way. Anthony needs to act like he’s joining his brother. Nepotism is so ugly, I tell you.”

“Anthony may not want to go with us,” Sam said.

“Does he want to die?” Occam opened his arms. “Because Robbie has no qualms about making good on his promises, trust me. And if he doesn’t come, we can’t do this.”

“We’ll get him to come,” June said. “Just tell us when you intend to do it.”

“June,” Sam said. “We need to discuss—”

She held up a hand. “When, Occam?”

“Tomorrow evening,” he said. “At nightfall. I’ll come for you. Be ready. Bring whatever you like, whatever you think will help. And make sure you bring Anthony, even if you have to force him with that sweet voice of yours.”

“He wants to see his brother dead too.” June paused. “And—how will we do this? Are you going to turn me?”

“We shall have to see how things play out, won’t we?”

She pulled in a deep breath and nodded.

Sam stalked back in the house. June watched him a moment and then looked back at Occam.

He wasn’t there.

She scanned the darkened yard. No movement, no sound. A shudder raced down her spine, and she followed Sam inside.

She found him in the dining room, slamming things around.