MIRACULOUSLY THE PHONE IN THE HALLWAY OF THE shapeshifters' office worked. As much as I wanted to get the hell out of there, I didn't want to risk leaving on foot.
I got Maxine on the first ring. "Atlanta Chapter of the Order. How may I help you?"
"Maxine, it's me. May I speak to Ted?"
"He's out."
"Out? Ted's never out. Where is he?"
"He's on an errand."
Crap. "What about Mauro?"
"He's out, too. Most of the knights are out."
What in the world? "Is anybody there?"
"Andrea."
Oh boy. "Can I speak to her, please?"
There was a click and then Andrea's voice said, "Hey, Kate."
Hi, Andrea I know you've been attacked by a loup, but can you come to pick up me and my teenage werewolf at a shapeshifter compound? I took a deep breath. Here's hoping she didn't suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I really hate to ask you this, but I have no choice. I'm trying to escort a little girl to the Order so I can hide her in the vault. I need three horses."
"No problem. Where are you?"
"I'm at the Pack's Southeast office." I cringed a little as I said it. "I'll meet you on the corner of Griffin and Atlanta Avenue. And I have a shapeshifter with me."
She didn't miss a beat. "Sit tight. I'll be right there."
I collected Julie, once again armed with my knife, and we left, Derek in tow.
"Where are we going?" Julie asked as we headed toward Griffin Street.
"To the Order."
Around us the city shrugged off the remnants of the magic-filled night. Technology had hit early in the morning, but the magic waves had flowed and ebbed all night.
"What are we going to do at the Order?" Julie asked.
"The Order's very well fortified. I'm going to leave you there with Andrea. She's a very nice lady."
"No! I'm going to stay with you!"
I gave her my hard stare. "Julie, this isn't a democracy."
"No!"
I kept walking. "I have to go out and look for your mom. You do want me to find your mom, don't you?"
"I want to come with you."
On the corner of Griffin and Atlanta Avenue a crowd blocked the traffic around a crane. A skinny dark-haired girl with the buttery grace of a pickpocket was working the edges of the gathering. She drifted our way. Julie pulled out her dagger and gave the pickpocket a hard look. The girl reversed her course.
The crane groaned. The cable snapped taut, and a huge fish tail reared above the crowd, followed by a serpentine body covered with turquoise scales bigger than my head. The scales glistened with moisture. Something about that fish looked familiar...I couldn't recall where I could've seen a three-story-tall fish. Not exactly a sight I would likely forget.
"What is that?"
A balding middle-aged man with a teamster badge on his leather vest turned to me. "The Fish Market Fish."
"The bronze sculpture in front of the Fish Market?"
"Used to be bronze."
"How did it get here from Buckhead?"
"There was a river," a woman on my left said. "I saw it from the window."
"The ground's dry," the teamster pointed out.
"I'm telling you I saw a river. You could see clear through the waves. Like it was made out of ghosts. Never seen nothing like that."
The teamster spat into the dirt. "Yeah, well, we'll see worse before the flare's over."
We stood to the side, away from the crowd, and watched the fish being hoisted up.
"You can't leave me," Julie declared.
Considering our earlier conversation, I would've thought she'd jump at the chance to get me out of her hair. "I want you to think back to when the reeves came."
She paled.
"The reeves are out there. They want you for something and they won't give up. Put yourself in place of your mom. Would you let your daughter tag along with some weirdo woman who is going out to hunt reeves or would you want your baby to be safe?"
Her face fell. "You're not my mom. You can't tell me what to do," she said finally, but her tone signaled the end of the argument.
"I'm a substitute mom," I told her.
"You're more like a crazy aunt who only gets called when somebody needs bailing out of jail," Derek said.
I pointed my finger at him. He grinned.
"Julie, until I find your real mom, I'm in charge of your safety. She loves you and she's a good person. She deserves to be found and to have you be alright. If I found her, but something happened to you, I don't know what I would do." And if I can't find your mom, she would've wanted you to be safe.
At the other end of the intersection, Andrea appeared, riding a bay gelding and leading three horses.
I WOULD'VE LIKED TO GALLOP ALL THE WAY TO THE Order, but the traffic was heavy. The city knew deep magic would hit soon, and while the tech was up, they made the best of it. We had to settle for a slow trot.
Andrea rode in the lead, Julie behind her, clutching the reins with white-knuckled panic, and Derek and I brought up the rear. I wanted Derek and Andrea separated as much as possible. When your partner goes loup and tries to turn your stomach into an all-you-can-eat buffet while you're still breathing, you might develop a slight dislike of shapeshifters. Why tempt fate?
"He's actually quite patient," Derek said, drawing even with me.
"Who?"
"Curran."
I nodded. "He's patient as long as everyone plays by his rules."
"That's not true. You've never seen him when he isn't under pressure."
"Being the Beast Lord, I'd imagine he's always under pressure." I sighed. "I didn't mean to aggravate him. It was a matter of bad timing. He was pumped up full of adrenaline after working out, which made him more aggressive than usual. It was the wrong time to bring it up. That's all." That and I couldn't control my mouth in his vicinity. He got under my skin.
"It's the flare, too," he added. "Makes it harder to restrain yourself."
"Look, if you want I'll try to smooth things over if I get another opportunity." Ha! Fat chance of that. After that blowup, I was probably persona non grata in the Pack for life.
I didn't breathe easy until we dismounted in the Order's parking lot.
I swung the door open and motioned Julie inside. "Second floor, my office is first on the left, should be unlocked." She ducked in.
I filled Andrea in on the problem of Julie's missing mom, the reeves, and Hood, a.k.a. Bolgor the Shepherd, while we stabled the horses. Derek stood guard by the Order's door, but I was pretty sure he heard every word. Wolf ears worked much better than human ones, and his were exceptional. "Fomorians," she said. "What's the world coming to?"
"Three things: what are they doing here, why do they want Julie, and what happened to her mom?"
Andrea shook her head. "I have no clue. But then it's not my area. I shoot. I make gadgets work. I'm good with post-Shift resonance theory. Ask me something about folklore, and I draw a blank every time." She grinned. "But I'll keep your girl safe."
"I'm sorry to dump this on you."
She glanced at Derek. "I wish everyone would stop walking on eggshells around me. It needs doing, so I'll do it. I have to stay at the Chapter anyway: it's standard procedure during a flare for one knight to always be present. I'll guard your girl."
I hesitated. If anyone could help me in this situation, it was Andrea. She was a picture-perfect knight and she knew every regulation ever written.
"What's up?" she asked, as if reading my thoughts.
"Should I write up a petition for safe asylum?"
Andrea frowned. "Worried about the Danger to Humanity clause?"
"Yeah."
The good thing about the petition for safe asylum was that any and all knights would protect Julie from any threat, as long as she remained in their custody. But by signing the petition, Julie placed herself into the Order's care, which meant she fell under the imminent danger clause. If she presented an imminent danger to humanity, the knights were duty bound to dispatch her. The Order wasn't in the habit of snuffing out little girls, but I knew that in Ted's mind, at least, the welfare of many outweighed the lives of the few. I had no clue as to why the reeves and the Shepherd hunted Julie. For all I knew, she was some sort of Fomorian-prophesied child destined to destroy the world. Stranger things have happened. I didn't want to find Julie with her throat slit. I'm sure they would make her end merciful and quick, but that hardly seemed like consolation.
Andrea smiled. "The good news is, you don't have to file one. She is an orphan with no known relatives. Under provision seventeen, you can assume temporary guardianship of her due to the fact she can't legally enter into contract. Fill out form 240-m, and she becomes your ward in the eyes of the Order. During the flare, all families of Order personnel can legally seek shelter at the nearest Chapter without being subject to the imminent danger clause. Unless she attacks, they have no authority to neutralize her."
"I don't know if she would sign something like that. She still thinks her mother is alive. And so do I." I hoped, anyway. "It might hammer some unpleasant possibilities home."
"You don't need her to sign. That's the beauty of it - all you need is the testimony of one knight besides yourself who agrees that you're acting in her best interests." She grinned from ear to ear. "And lucky you, you know one."
"Thanks," I said and meant it.
"No problem. This is kind of fun for me - I'm so freaking bored. If magic hits, we'll skedaddle down to the vault, and if the reeves show while the tech is up, I'll use their heads for target practice."
The door burst open. Julie ran headfirst into Derek and flailed in his hands. He grabbed her and lifted her off the ground. "What? Speak!"
She strained and spat a single word. "Vampire!"
IT WAITED FOR ME UPSTAIRS ON MY DESK, A HAIRLESS, emaciated nightmare, wrapped in steel-wire muscle and hidden in human skin. It was nude, ugly, and had been dead for three or four decades. Someone had smeared copious amounts of purple sunblock over its hide. For some reason the sunblock didn't disappear but dried into paste, as if the creature had popped a giant bubble of grape gum onto himself.
"You've got to be kidding me."
The vampire unhinged its mouth and Ghastek's voice issued forth. "A pleasure to see you, as always."
It would have to be Ghastek. I wondered if Nataraja, the leader of the People's establishment in the city, had specifically assigned him to interact with me or if Ghastek took that dreadful task upon himself.
Andrea stepped into the office. And suddenly she had two guns and they were pointing at the vamp's face.
"Lovely firearms," Ghastek said.
"SIG-Sauer P226," Andrea said. "Move and you'll go blind."
"Do you really think you could beat vampiric reflexes?" Ghastek's tone was light. He wasn't challenging her, he was merely curious.
A small smile bent Andrea's lips. "Do you really want to find out?"
I shook my head. "She can blow his head off before you finish a twitch. Trust me, I measure speed for a living."
I made a mental note to never fight fair with Andrea. That was a hell of a draw. I was fast but not fast enough to beat her guns and my saber took a lot longer to come out of its sheath than a gun did coming out of a holster. "Fortunately for all of us, we don't have to fight." I smiled at Andrea.
Andrea nodded and guns vanished. "I'll be down the hall."
"Thank you."
She stepped out. I sat in my chair. "Off my table."
The vampire remained where it was.
"Ghastek, either you move him or I will. I don't have to put up with rudeness in my own office."
The undead slinked off the table. "That was not meant as an insult."
"Good, then I won't take it as such. Now, what is it you want?"
"How do you feel? Any broken bones? Open wounds?"
"No. Why this sudden concern for my well-being?"
"No episodes of dizziness? What about a slight prickling in the chest and along the neck? Feels a little like the rush of blood into a limb after it has fallen asleep, except the process occurs from the inside."
I crossed my arms. "Is there a particular reason why you're describing the initial stages of colonization by Immortuus pathogen to me?"
The vampire crept closer. "There can only be one reason."
"I'm not turning into a vampire, Ghastek." It was physically impossible. My blood chomped the vampirism bacterium for breakfast and then asked for seconds. No vampirism for me. No shapeshifting, either.
The vampire took another careful step to me. "May I see your irises, please."
"I'm telling you, I'm not infected. I wasn't bitten."
"Indulge me."
I leaned forward. The vampire reared from all fours and lifted its face to mine. We stared at each other, the corpse and I, with only inches of space between us. Almost touching. I looked into the vampire's eyes, once blue, and now red from the capillaries expanded by the flow of blood brimming with vampiric pathogen. Within their depths lay hunger, a terrible, all-consuming hunger that could never be doused. If Ghastek's control slipped just a hair, the abomination would rip into me, clawing at my flesh in search of hot blood.
At least it would try. And then I would kill it. I'd crush its disgusting mind like a gnat. It would feel good. It would make my day.
I would've liked to kill them all. I would've liked to go up the People's food chain until I reached Roland, their legendary leader. There were things I needed to discuss with him. But our conversation would have to wait until my power grew, because right now he could wipe me off the face of the Earth with a twitch of his eyebrow.
The vampire dropped to the floor.
"Satisfied?"
"Yes."
"You sound disappointed. Does the idea of navigating me after my undeath appeal to you?"
The vampire's face twitched, trying to imitate Ghastek wincing somewhere in an armored room within the Casino's depths. "Kate, that was in poor taste. Although you would make a magnificent specimen. You're in excellent physical shape and well proportioned. I just looked through the stack of applications this morning and half of the candidates are malnourished, while the other half have wrong proportions."
Ghastek in all his glory. Clinical "R" Us.
I sighed. Was there any remote chance that he would get to the point of his visit this morning? Time was a-wasting and I needed to leave to look for Julie's mother. "My schedule is a bit cluttered this morning. I would appreciate it if we could get down to business."
"Our patrol sighted an unusual undead last night," Ghastek said. "Prehensile hair, claws, very interesting power signature."
Claws, huh. I replayed the fight in my mind. The claws only came out when the reeve was closing in for a kill. Two reeves had attacked my apartment within minutes of each other, but the third didn't show up until much later. It was delayed. I took a stab in the dark. "So how quickly did this weird undead dispose of your patrol?"
If Ghastek was surprised, he didn't show it. "Under ten seconds."
"That's a bit sad, don't you think?"
"It was a young vampire. We just got him."
Excuses, excuses. "I fail to see how it concerns me."
"We traced the power signature to your apartment. Which is in a state of advanced disrepair, from what could be seen through the window. Although it does appear to have a new door. I take it the old one was destroyed?"
"In a very dramatic way."
The vampire paused. Here we go.
"The People would like to obtain this specimen."
Knock yourself out. Ghastek was arguably the best Master of the Dead in the city. He had the best journeymen and the best vampires. The look on Ghastek's face, once he wasted several of those prized bloodsuckers trying to capture a reeve only to have it turn into sludge, would be priceless.
"Your smile has a disturbing edge to it," Ghastek observed.
I kept smiling. "I can't help it."
"Since the incident took place in your apartment, the People would like to request your assistance in this matter. What do you know, Kate?"
"I know very little," I warned.
"Share it with me anyway."
The People really wanted a reeve. Perhaps piloting good old vampires just didn't do it for them anymore. "What's in it for me?"
"Monetary compensation."
The day I took People's money would be the day I gave up on being a human. "Not interested. Any other offers?"
The vampire stared at me, his mouth slack as Ghastek assessed his options. I took a couple of forms from my desk, put them into the vamp's mouth, and pulled them up by their edges.
"What are you doing?" Ghastek asked.
"My hole puncher broke."
"You have no respect for the undead."
I sighed, examining the ragged tears in the forms. "It's a personal failing. Have you thought of anything, or can I be on my way?"
"I will owe you a favor," Ghastek said. "Now or in the future, at your request, I will perform a task of your choosing, provided it doesn't require me to cause direct harm to myself or my crew."
I considered. It was a hefty offer. In the hands of an experienced Master of the Dead, a vampire was a weapon like no other, and Ghastek wasn't just experienced, he was talented. A favor from him could come in handy. And even if he got his greedy mittens on a reeve, he would put it through its paces, trying to determine the extent of its powers. The moment it suffered a serious injury, it would turn into sludge. What was the downside?
"Maxine?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Ghastek promised me a favor for my assistance. Do we have any paperwork that would put this arrangement into written form?"
"Yes."
"You're going to have me sign a contract?"
"Yep."
The vampire emitted a series of strangled creaks, and I realized it was trying to reproduce Ghastek's laugh.
DEREK WANDERED INTO THE OFFICE AND LEANED against the wall, his arms crossed.
"Your associate is still alive," Ghastek said, reading through the forms. "Remarkable."
"He's hardy."
The fact that Ghastek's signature looked exactly the way it did when he signed the document in person was a greater testament to his control than any wall crawling or claw waving. I had to admire the degree of his competency. He still made my skin crawl.
"I'm all ears," he said once Maxine took the paperwork back to her desk.
"Two days ago a coven of amateur witches disappeared from their meeting place at the bottom of the Honeycomb Gap. I visited the place on unrelated business and discovered a bottomless pit and lots of residual necromantic magic. Lots of blood. No bodies."
"Go on."
"I picked up the daughter of one of the witches."
"The child that ran into your office a few minutes ago," he said. "I didn't mean to startle her."
"Yes." I didn't particularly feel like explaining that Julie had a vampire phobia and since magic was down, she couldn't detect the vampiric power signature. "She asked me for help. I've extended the Order's protection to her." So don't start getting any ideas. "I took the child to my apartment. During the night we were attacked."
"How many of them were there?"
"Three, not including the navigator."
The vampire went rigid. "There was a navigator?"
"Yes."
"Human?"
"Not exactly."
I described Bolgor the Shepherd, focusing on his tentacles, and the reeves, going into detail on the hair, claws, and toxic goo on said claws. I explained the sea-demon angle, although I didn't tell him how I got the information. I could've led him on regarding their peculiar dying habits, but a bargain was a bargain so I came clean and expanded on the whole melting into sludge thing. I did gloss over my near demise, shortening it to "I was stabbed in the back, after which I dispatched the reeve and called to my associate, who picked me up and transported me to the medmage." Which was almost true. To the best of my awareness, nobody knew I could pilot vampires, and it was essential for my safety that things remained that way.
The vampire went into statue mode while Ghastek processed the information. The People consider themselves to have a monopoly on all things necromantic. The idea of a third-party navigator running around the city, even if he was a demon, had to grate on Ghastek. "The moniker Shepherd interests me. It could refer to his ability to navigate."
I tapped my nails against the desk. "I strongly suggest you abandon pursuit of the reeves. They turn into goo once critically injured."
"That's truly unfortunate, but I wish to ascertain that fact for myself. Do you have reason to believe this Shepherd would return for the girl?" Ghastek asked. He was wondering if the reeves were the Sisters of the Crow, brought into the undeath by some strange power they had released. I had wondered it, too.
"The girl is in the vault. If he does, he's out of luck."
"What are your plans?"
"I'm going to go and visit an expert who might help me sort through this mess. I understand the Fomorians' desire to annihilate Morrigan, but I don't know how they came to be in the city, what they want with the child, or why they targeted that particular coven. I know that the coven had worshipped Morrigan, but the head witch was performing druidic sacrificial rites in her trailer. The two don't go together."
"Why not go see the Order of Druids?" Derek asked.
Ghastek shifted the vamp a few inches. "No, she's right. The Druids spent years trying to distance themselves from their heritage. The moment they hear 'sacrifice,' they'll refuse to communicate. It's a PR nightmare. A third party expert would be best."
I rose. "And the sooner I see him, the better. As you always say, it was a pleasure."
"I'm coming with you."
"I'm sorry, I think I misheard."
The vampire spread its arms, the huge yellow claws adding another three inches to its long digits. "Considering the value of my offer, you didn't give me nearly enough. We both signed the contract, Kate. It stated 'full and substantial disclosure of any information pertaining to the creature in question.' What you gave me was by no means substantial."
How do I get myself into these things?
Derek pushed off the wall, his jaw set. I stepped between him and the vampire. "Very well. Feel free to come along. You understand that there is no guarantee we'll encounter any more reeves?"
"Oh, I think we will. You've cost him three undead. I don't know of any Master of the Dead that wouldn't want to get even."
Before we left, I chased the werewolf and the vampire out of my office and changed my clothes. Over the years I've learned to leave extra clothes at convenient places, and my office offered changes of clothes and gear. Pack sweats were nice and all, but after fun games with the reeves' claws I wanted something a bit thicker. I put on loose brown pants and a white heat-gear T-shirt. Made of a quick-drying microfiber, it wicked moisture from my body, keeping me dry and cool despite the heat of the summer. SWAT wore these seamless T-shirts under armor. I added a leather vest, securing the strings tight enough to be able to move, and completed my kick-butt outfit with a pair of combat boots: black leather toes, leather heels, and black nylon mesh sides. Almost light enough to play tennis in.
I spun and kicked at my shadow on the wall, adjusted the left vest seam to hug my body better, and slid Slayer's sheath into the rings along the vest's back.
Next, I took my dog-eared Craft Chronicle off the shelf, found the mirror lock spell, put a pencil on the right page to use as a bookmark, and went down the long concrete staircase into the vault. Hidden behind a foot-thick steel door lay five rooms storing everything from weapons and books to objects of minor power, the inventory the Knights of the Order felt was prudent to keep on hand. The foremost room contained a sink, a fridge, sleeping bags, even a closet-sized bathroom.
Andrea was already there, loading firearms and laying them out on the table. Julie froze when I came in. I thought we were past that. I tried my best to grin. "Getting settled?"
"Andrea has jerky and there is pizza." Her voice wilted. Any kid would be thrilled about the pizza. Boy, it just wasn't going too well with me and her today.
"I'm sorry you're mad at me. I brought you a book to read."
I put Craft Chronicle on the table.
She didn't say anything.
Oh, screw it.
I stepped right across the heavy silence hanging between us and hugged her. "I'll be back soon, okay? Stay here. Andrea is very cool. You'll be safe with her." She looked about to cry. "Who knows, I might come back with your mom." I'd go to hell for making promises like that. Straight to hell with no detours.
"You think so?"
"I hope so," I told her. "I've got my saber and I've got my belt." I touched the belt, equipped with a half dozen pouches containing herbs and silver needles.
"Batman belt!" Julie said.
"That's right, Barbara. Protect the cave while I'm gone."
Julie took the monisto off her neck. "Here. I'm not giving it to you. I'm just letting you borrow it for a little while. You'll bring it back, right?"
"Right." I slid the monisto into a pocket under my leather.
Andrea and I nodded to each other and I went.