My cell phone was in my hand when the door to the hotel room was kicked in, causing me to leap to my feet immediately. I hadn't been paying attention; people had been walking up and down the hall all evening. Three women stood in my doorway; two werewolves, one human. The human woman? I knew right away she was Tate's mother. One of the werewolves? Kelvin's mother. Well Kevin's mother, I should say. Tate's mother held a Taser. Did she think that was going to stop me? What the hell did they want, anyway?
"Look what we have here," Tate's mother was smiling.
"Hello, ladies," I said, nodding at them. "What can I do for you?"
"You can't do anything for them," the vampire came up behind them; he'd been off to the side, hiding himself at first. "But you will come with me quietly. I have a use for you." he smiled. The compulsion was dark and heavy in his voice and I almost laughed with relief when it slid away easier than Merrill's had. He was old; I could tell that right off. Older than Wlodek, actually, and he had a stink about him; something that I hadn't smelled from any other vampire. Nyles Abernathy had something similar when I'd scented him in Florida, but this was overwhelming. If evil had a smell, this guy had it bad.
"I don't think I'll go anywhere with you, but thanks for asking," I said, backing up a little. The women were advancing into the room, the vampire right behind them. The vampire drew in a breath when he discovered his compulsion didn't work. Now, I was either going to have to go out the window behind me or fight my way out. Concentrating on turning to mist while I considered this, I headed straight for the window. It was a record, I know; seconds it took me, not minutes, and instead of breaking through the window once my mist particles hit the glass, that portion of it turned to mist with me and solidified again once I was through it and on the other side. That was a shock, let me tell you, and I wasted precious seconds bringing myself back to reality while my would-be kidnappers shouted inside the hotel room.
Realizing quickly that this was only one arm of an attack on all of us, I zipped through the air, high over the lighted parking lot of our Santa Fe hotel. Winkler said the confirmation would be held at some Packmember's business, but what was it? I was racking my brain; it was still addled at the attempted attack. I saw the vampire and the three women fly through the hotel door and rush toward a vehicle in the parking lot. Ten to one they'd be headed in the right direction as soon as they got the thing started. I decided to go along for the ride. Somewhere along the way, while I was flying over the top of their car, I gently lowered myself onto the top and rematerialized. Hanging on with one hand, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket with the other. I tried to get Merrill first but it went to his voice mail. Same with Winkler, Weldon and Glen. Fuck. Fuck cubed. I had a feeling Mr. Bad Vamp sitting in the passenger seat below was one of Saxom's get and still nobody had explained just who or what Saxom truly was. Now what was I supposed to do? I called Tony.
"Lissa?" He sounded like he was doing something while he talked to me on the phone.
"Hi, hon," I said. "I don't suppose you have any agents in the Santa Fe area armed with flamethrowers, do you?"
There was a moment of silence before he answered. "No flamethrowers, no," he said. "Do we need some?"
"You might unless you have some folks who can move mighty fast, armed with wood stakes," I said.
"Where?" he asked.
"That's what I don't know," I told him. "I'm on top of a car right now and they're headed in the right direction I'm sure, I just don't know what direction that is."
"I don't have time to get triangulation on your phone," he muttered.
"Wait," I said, "we're pulling into a parking lot. The sign says Galloway Recycling. Gotta go." I ended the call and turned to mist again. Mr. Vampire was sure to hear me once the road noise quieted a little. I floated off the car—far above it, in fact. The vampire's scent offended my nose more as time went along. He and the three women parked the car and raced toward the building. The business was a single-story brick with high, narrow windows and looked a bit like a warehouse with plenty of fluorescent lights burning brightly inside. The confirmation was probably in progress if it hadn't been interrupted already. What scared me as I floated closer (and would have made me shiver horribly if I'd been in a corporeal state), was the seventeen vampires and the twenty-six werewolves clustered against a brick wall adjacent to the front door. They all looked ready for battle; most of the werewolves were naked and ready to turn. And their numbers were being increased by Mr. Vampy and his three bitch companions. What were they hoping to gain from all this? I had no idea.
Merrill? I sent. Merrill, if you can hear me, there are eighteen vampires, twenty-eight werewolves and one human outside just waiting to come crashing in, I think. What was I supposed to do now? I'd tried to send Merrill mindspeech once before and he hadn't heard me then. He wasn't hearing me now, either. Would those people inside the building even have a chance when the army outside burst through the door? I misted toward the front and peeked in through a high window. They were in there, all right and it looked like the ceremony was going on as it normally would. Merrill was standing off to the side, completely oblivious. I misted to the opposite end of the building, watching as at least twenty people were sneaking along and crawling up a deep ravine on that side. They all were moving silently, rifles strapped to backs. If those were regular guns, good luck on getting those to work against the vamps. I misted lower and discovered that a few among those crawling along, scattered here and there, were vampires and werewolves. Those guys might have a chance against what waited on the other side of the building. I smelled Townsend and Renfro among them and then, well, I smelled Tony. He was here. Somehow, the information he'd gotten from Kevin or somebody had tipped him off, I guess. He was here now but I had no idea what his chances were against the ones on the other side of the building. I misted down beside him; he was crawling up the ravine, just like the rest of them. Tony was dressed completely in dark clothing. A gun strapped to a wide belt was around his waist and a rifle was at his back with lots of bullet clips to go with it. What the hell had this guy done before he started doing what he was doing now? I had to admit to myself that my brain wasn't functioning at its best at the moment; it was mist particles, as it were.
Taking a huge chance, I solidified next to him. I had to put a hand over his mouth; he was so shocked at my sudden appearance he gasped. How was I going to tell him what was on the other side of the building? Tony? I sent. Hell, it was all I had.