The Taste of Night (20 page)

“I protected you,” she corrected, and when I opened my eyes she smiled again. “I gave you immunity. Looks like you owe me another one.”

“I owe you?” I asked incredulously. “For setting a deadly virus loose on the valley?”

“Don’t be dramatic,” she said, and rolled her eyes. “Only a small percentage of the population is susceptible to this strain, and even they had to be in the infectious range when the spores fell.”

So the agents below couldn’t contract the virus by touching the corpse…and they’d all been safely ensconced in the sanctuary the night of the fireworks. So that was a relief. But still. “The valley’s almost two mil
lion strong!”

She winced, seemingly sympathetic. “Urban living’s a bitch.”

I looked back down at the woman on the ground, knowing that whatever her occupation, whatever her reasons for being out on these streets, she didn’t deserve this. No one did.

“They don’t appreciate you, you know,” Regan said, mistaking my pained expression for the agents, who were packing up and getting ready to move out. “You should be down there with them, not up here squatting, having to do your job from afar.”

A small flicker of resentment stirred in me at those words, but I smashed it down, refusing to open my mind to it. “They’re just doing what they think best.”

She made a falsely considering note in the back of her throat. “And look where it got them. Had they been more proactive in the past six months, like you, this might have been stopped.”

I looked at her sharply. “Could it have been?”

She shrugged. “We’ll never know, will we? You should cut your losses, Joanna. Come with me and I’ll show you all that’s truly possible. As your ally I’ll make sure you’re never lacking in knowledge, assistance, or friendship. We’ll be the best in generations, you and I. The strongest, the most powerful.”

“The most evil.”

“Tomato, to-mah-to.” She flicked a pebble she’d been toying with over the ledge, then grinned. “At least come and see how much fun we’re having watching your buddies chase their own tails. We have a pool going…how many mortals will die before the first agent of Light figures out how to stop it? I’m taking the over.” She laughed again, this time louder, and I knew the sound had been heard because there was a tensed shuffling below us, then dead silence.

I didn’t care. I was ready to haul her giggling ass over the side of the ledge—discovery and punishment be damned—and she must have sensed it, because before I found my feet
she was away, positioned in the middle of the rooftop, the ancient air-conditioning unit safely between us. From there she pulled a slip of paper from her bosom and held it aloft.

“What is it?” I whispered sarcastically. “More protection?”

“Joaquin’s home address.”

My eyes went from hers to the paper and back again. She stared at me knowingly. “Gotta protect myself as well, don’t I? You stay there long enough for me to put it on the ledge behind me, and it’s yours. Deal?”

I didn’t want to make any more deals with this psychopathic bitch, but I didn’t have long to make a decision. The agents were active again below, disposing of the body, dispersing to their next locations, most likely heading back to the sanctuary. I had to get there first…but what to do about Regan? I’d let her live once already, and look what had happened.

Then again, she’d let me live twice. I bit my lip, thinking fast. I’d already be in a heap of trouble when my deeds in the aquarium were found out, but that wouldn’t be until next Wednesday, another five days. The question was, could I find Joaquin and exact my revenge before Warren read the new manual? Because one thing was certain: once he found out what I’d done, he’d never let me exit the sanctuary again.

I glanced back at the paper between Regan’s fingertips. An address. Well, it didn’t get much easier than that, did it?

A shout sounded below me, and I knew I had to move quickly. I nodded, then settled back into a docile crouch. Regan backed up, scooping up a shard of glass without taking her eyes off me, and secured the note with it on the opposite ledge. Then, without glancing, she stepped backward, dropping from view.

Her gleeful yell followed her descent.

I launched myself forward as alarm rose in the alley, yanked the paper from beneath its weight, and vaulted to the rooftop across from me. Somersaulting out of my landing, I
kept sprinting until I ran out of rooftops, then leaped to the ground in a blind freefall, feet bicycling madly in the air. I landed in a crouch and took off from there. I didn’t dare look back, or stop, and by the time I reached my car I knew no one had followed.

Sliding into the seat, I closed my eyes and took a moment to catch my breath. Then, under the feeble light of a flickering lamp, I opened the slip of paper. No name…just an address I memorized immediately. After burning the note with the car’s cigarette lighter, I smiled to myself and gunned the engine. All I had to do was help the troop realize the second sign of the Zodiac had come to fruition, that it was a virus plaguing the valley, and do so without letting on how I knew. Then I’d go after Joaquin.

And after that I’d turn my attention to Regan.

Because she was wrong, I thought, heading back to the sanctuary through the dark web of decaying streets. I didn’t owe her shit. Hundreds of innocent lives lost made us more than even.

The others didn’t return to the sanctuary that dawn, the next day, or the day after, and by the time they dragged in half a week later, I was desperate for news. I’d combed through all my manuals and gone over Regan’s words in my mind, and was itching to add another corner piece to the puzzle of how this thing was being spread—but when those of us left behind gathered to greet the returning agents, I could tell from their slumped shoulders, weary and loaded, that they were no closer to knowing what had caused this plague than when they’d left.

That’s what it was being called. A plague. Newscasters and reporters nationwide had jumped on the story, and the sensationalism only increased as the number of victims continued to rise. Regan has said only a small percentage of the population was susceptible, and if those numbers were right, those who’d survived the initial onslaught were somehow passing this virus on to others. The latest official update from the television had said a few hundred deaths, but as horrible as it sounded, that number was manufactured, a blind meant to keep public panic down. So my first question when the others stumbled in was going to be,
How many?
But one look at their collective faces and the words dried like dust in my throat.

Warren was in the lead, as usual, but he held up a hand to stall whatever question had been about to pop from Tekla’s open mouth. She snapped it shut quickly, brows drawing tightly together, her hands white-knuckling in front of her as Gregor walked past shaking his head.

Jewell looked like a survivor of a natural disaster, a lone human barely standing while everything lay flattened around her.

Hunter looked pissed.

Vanessa had red-rimmed eyes, and Micah had his arm around her waist, like he was afraid she’d topple without his support.

I’d never seen Felix without at least a small spark of mischief glinting in his eyes.

Riddick looked small despite his bulk and size.

“Jesus,” I whispered, when they’d all passed. Chandra hadn’t even registered my presence, and that more than anything else made fright knot up beneath my breastbone. Tekla, Rena, and I automatically drew together. Marlo, who’d come late to the launchpad, pulled up short when she saw the others’ faces, and was now clasping my hand tightly. I didn’t blame her. Superheroes weren’t supposed to look inconsolable.

Tekla sighed heavily. “Give them time to find their equilibrium. Let the balm of the familiar, and the safety of sanctuary blight the images they’ve brought back with them. There will be time enough for questions tomorrow.”

“But more people will be dead tomorrow,” I said, unthinking, and was immediately ashamed. Of course the troop needed rest. But I needed to tell Micah about the virus, though I still hadn’t figured out how to do so without tipping him off to how I
knew
it was a virus.

“More will die anyway,” Tekla said, and wandered away, her robes and then the hallway swallowing her up. I shud
dered, watching her leave. That wasn’t pessimism. It was prediction.

With a muttered good-bye, Marlo followed Tekla back to the astrolab. I swallowed hard and turned to discover Rena already facing me. Tall, she wore a shapeless, long white robe similar to Tekla’s, hazardous considering her occupation. Still, she never seemed mussed, untidy, or ruffled. Her hair, which must have been a vibrant red at one time, had faded to a soft copper, gray wisps threading away from her temples to the bun lying just above the base of her neck. Her only adornment was a pair of gold disks circling her ears, and those appeared larger than they were simply because they winked so close to her sunken and scarred eye sockets. The rest of her face was lined only with the normal evidence of age. She’d been the troop’s senior ward mother for a long time now.

And, I thought, swallowing hard, if she’d had eyes, I’d say she was glaring at me right now.

“What?” I said, resisting the urge to look behind me.

“Maybe you’re the one who should be answering a few questions,” she said, and harsh anger sharpened her words.

“What do you mean?”

Her expression tightened. “I know you left, Olivia. Not just the sanctuary, but the boneyard. I went searching for you, and followed your scent all the way until it disappeared into a solid block wall.”

Oh shit. I’d forgotten that despite the cross-hatching of scars marring the lids where her eyes should have been, Rena could see better than most people with 20/20 vision. Superheroes included.

“I have a good reason,” I started, but she waved the words away impatiently.

“There’s no good reason to ignore the direct orders of your troop leader. Ever.”

And nothing I said could change her mind. Rena High-tower was charged with raising the children of the Zodiac until they entered their third life cycle, so every troop
member that’d just passed us by had been, and in a way still was, her child. All except me.

I glanced around to ensure we were alone, then stepped closer. “All I did was follow them to the place where they found their first victim. Then I came right back. I just had to see.”

“Imagine the trouble I could get myself into if I
just
had to see?” she said, so bitingly I had to wince. “Restrictions are put on us for a reason. You were told to stay here and you should have done just that.”

“But—”

“Don’t
but
me, Olivia Archer,” and I knew I was in trouble because she’d never used my full name before. “You disobeyed a direct order, and as soon as Warren doesn’t act like another disappointment is going to crush him, I’m going to tell him.”

“No!” My voice came out louder and harsher than I intended, and I grabbed her hand without thinking. She jerked back with more strength than I knew she possessed, and I’d already started apologizing when she grabbed my hand again. “Where did you get this?”

I should’ve known Rena would be the first to notice the ring, even without eyesight. I considered lying for a moment, but the question had been asked with more curiosity than anger. “My locker,” I said, causing her to nod to herself as the metal circling my finger warmed beneath her touch. “It was…waiting for me when I came back this time.”

Waiting was the only way to describe the way the locker proffered its occasional contents.

“She must’ve left it for you,” she said, and her expression softened as she rubbed the ring with her thumb, then smiled. She sighed it away almost immediately, and dropped my hand. Louder, she said, “It’s a special ring, Olivia. One you’re obviously meant to have.”

The discovery had taken some of the venom from her voice, and that relieved me enough to have me regarding it anew. “Yes, but why?”

“That’s up to you to discover, but I can tell you what it does…or at least what it did for your mother.” She reached for my hand again and lifted it high, tracing the grooves around the cloudy stone. “Though it’s beautiful, it’s not only an ornament. See how the slits carve up and under the stone?”

I nodded before realizing she couldn’t see the movement. “Yes,” I said.

“If you follow those grooves and pull up on the stone, it’ll unhinge. Depress it again, and in that moment, you’ll have the power to call anyone to you, no matter where you are, and no matter what the circumstances.”

I’d known there was a way to call enemy agents to you, though
call
was a deceiving term. Invoking an enemy’s name would reveal your location by loosening your scent on the wind, so we trained to dampen our emotions and keep this from happening. It’d never occurred to me to draw them to me on purpose. And, I thought, studying the ring with renewed interest, it’d never dawned on me that there might be a way to call allies to your side as well. “You mean…like a get-out-of-jail-free card?”

She almost smiled at that, and inclined her head. “All you have to do is think of that person, and they’ll be there.”

“That’s awesome,” I said, studying the ring with new-found awe.

“Yes, but…”

I sighed, dropping my hand. “There’s always a
but.
”

And now the smile came. “And this time it’s also a condition. You can only use this ring once. After that it loses all powers and must be passed onto someone else.”

But one shot was all I’d need. I knew exactly who I’d call…and Rena did too. She shook her head and gave me a sorrowful smile. “Your decision cannot be made lightly, Olivia. You were given this ring for a purpose, and regardless of what you want, that purpose must serve the troop and the citizens of this valley. It’s a great honor to be gifted with a physical totem. You must choose wisely.”

I sighed, my heart sinking. Why’d there have to be a friggin’ lesson in everything?

Glancing back up at Rena, I saw some of the tension had left her body. Obviously if the locker was showering me with gifts of this magnitude, she’d trust I was still doing my best for the troop. Now to convince her that keeping silent would do the same. “Please, Rena. I need a little more time.”

Rena’s look was both patient and critical. She’d been a mother for a long time. “You keep doing things on your own and you’re going to find yourself with all the time in the world. Alone.” She took a symbolic step backward, and I suddenly felt just that. “I know you’ve had only yourself to depend on in the past, but you have to learn to work within the structure of this group. You can’t keep going off on your own because you have a hunch you think might help.”

“I’m
trying
to work with the group. If you haven’t noticed, I’m the one who’s been left behind.”

She said nothing, which I found encouraging.

“Just…” I blew out a long breath, trying to figure a way to explain myself without giving anything away. “There are things I know…or not know but
feel
, because of my Shadow side. Warren wants me to pretend it doesn’t exist, and Tekla wants me to stomp it down until it really doesn’t, but if restrictions are put on us for a reason, Rena, then so are abilities. What good is such a skill if I don’t use it for Light?”

Rena’s lips thinned as she searched for an argument. “We’ve always gotten by without the help of Shadow intuition before. The power of Light has always been enough.”

“Yes, but have you ever seen anything like this before?” I said, throwing an arm out to the chute, and the world above. I didn’t say the second sign of the Zodiac had been fulfilled, but I decided to hint at it. “You know we’re the real targets, don’t you? These mortals are only collateral damage. They’re coming for us, they’re coming
here
to the sanctuary, and they won’t stop until every child of yours burns.”

Rena gasped and I winced, knowing she was putting the scent that lingered in the air together with the faces she’d traced beneath her fingertips every day.

“Shouldn’t we use any tool available to see that doesn’t happen?” I said, softer now that I saw her wavering. “Even an instinct derived from the Shadow side?”

She made me wait for her answer, but finally heaved a sigh, causing her gold hoops to jangle. “All right. I’ll keep silent,” she said, before holding up a finger. “But only because I scent a grain of truth in what you’re saying.”

And because of the ring
, I thought, though I wasn’t about to question it. I opened my mouth to thank her but she held up her hand. “And only for a short while longer. After that—”

“I know,” I said, nodding. “You’ll have to tell Warren. I understand.”

“Oh no. You don’t understand.” She shook her head, and that fierce resolve returned, her voice hot in warning, fear, and the frustration of finding herself stuck. “After that,
you’ll
have to tell him. He’ll decide what’s to be done with you and your instincts.”

Another day passed before Warren told the rest of us there’d been nothing the troop could do to help the mortals of Las Vegas. They’d spent their days easing the suffering of those victims found still alive, and hid as many of the bodies as they possibly could.

Why hide them?

Well, first, each body the troop stumbled on had to undergo a thorough examination, and it wasn’t of the open-your-mouth-and-say-ah variety either. If unofficial autopsies started showing up all over the valley, it would send up red flags to both the mortal authorities and the Shadows. Additionally, if we could keep the perceived number of deaths below the expected tally, maybe it would draw one or more of the Shadows from hiding to see what was going on. But that hadn’t happened. And knowing what I did about the use of initiates in such situations, I knew it wouldn’t.

But what was most discouraging was the number of victims.

“How many?” I gasped, when we’d all finally gathered back in the briefing room. Hunter was missing—he’d been out in the field twice as long as anyone else, and seen so much he didn’t need to be briefed—but everyone else seemed rested, showered, and calmed, if not exactly chipper.

“Two thousand, seven hundred, and thirty-one,” Micah said tersely.
A cursed battlefield.
He then flipped open a notebook and began to read from it, putting whatever was written there in laymen’s terms so the rest of us could understand it. “Basically, it’s an extremely rapid breakdown of the body’s tissue upon contact with something else. Food, maybe, because of the mouth. Or it could be some sort of flesh-eating disease, but I don’t think so.”

“So not burn marks?” Felix asked, leaning on his back chair legs.

Micah shook his head. “From what I can see it looks more like the decaying process that occurs after death. There’s a systematic breakdown occurring in the tissue in three distinct areas—mouths, hands, genitalia—though that alone shouldn’t be fatal.”

That made me pause. Strange that the virus would affect only three parts of the body. Why hands? Was it symbolic because we didn’t possess fingerprints? Because the Shadows didn’t want the mortals to discover this anomaly if an agent of Light were to fall? Whatever it was, I needed to speak up now, let Micah know it was a virus so he could focus on answering these questions himself…and work to find a cure.

But how to let them know without giving away what I’d done…and without jeopardizing what I needed to do next?