Three hours is nothing when you're trying to get the house clean before company comes. It'll fly by while you're laughing with friends over drinks. It's not even long enough to drive across Michigan from east to west. But when you're sitting on the floor, tied up, alone, waiting for someone to come and eat you, it's a really freaking long time.
I blew fifteen minutes or so crying and another twenty raging helplessly against the ropes that bound me. It took at least five to get myself upright again. A wish for Nick hovered on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't bring myself to utter it. My butt hurt and my back hurt. My face felt crusty and gross with blood and snot and tears.
After close to an hour—I guess—how could I know for sure? I closed my eyes and thought about making love to Nick. For half a year I'd fantasized what it would be like, and I'd missed the mark entirely. Imagination had fallen so far short of reality, it was absurd. He was wild and passionate, cruel and gentle, thoughtful and greedy.
Yesterday had been much better than today.
What did Mx. Landry do after they hung up the phone?
My hope was that they read between the lines. I needed them to set the machine in motion, but keep Nick out of it. I had no clear idea how many people worked at The Recovery Agency or exactly what kind of ties existed between The Agency and The Organization, but I'd be willing to bet that, with the proper motivation, a small army could be mustered with astonishing speed. In fact, I had bet on that. With my life.
The sham hostage exchange was planned for sunset. That put it around 8:00, maybe 8:30. So Gray Hair made the call around five. I'd only been unconscious for an hour or two. Not long enough for anyone to really miss me. Even if Chantelle or Busia tried to call, they wouldn't freak out after just a couple of hours. My heart constricted at the thought of Busia. If I died, she's the one who would take the call, and Jaja still wasn't really out of the woods. It was too much for an old lady to deal with. It was too much for anyone to deal with.
Again, the wish for Nick teased my tongue. Again, I swallowed it. Nick couldn't have anything to do with this. He was already on the edge of going supernova, even if he had burned off a significant amount of energy.
Yup. Yesterday had been much better than today.
I let my head fall back against the wall. A few hot tears squeezed from the outside corners of my eyes and rolled back toward my ears.
A powerful whomp shivered through the building. The lights flickered. My heart flopped over and played dead. About the time it remembered to beat again, sweat broke out everywhere on my body.
I held my breath and listened.
Is that gunfire?
A sulfurous wisp of smoke coiled sinuously through the gap under the door, and a moment later, Benji kicked it open and burst through with an honest-to-God Samuri sword in hand. Because of course. Smoke roiled around her as if she'd just leapt out of the bowels of Hell.
She didn't speak but scanned the room, taking a beat to study the air vent near the top of the wall, then raced over to me, produced a flask of holy water, and dribbled it over my exposed hands. Since I didn't burst into flame, she crouched down, set the sword aside, yanked a Bowie knife from a sheath on her belt, and began sawing at the ropes. "You're a mess. How bad is it?"
"I think my nose might be broken. Everything else is fine." I'd decided my rib wasn't cracked, but I'd be willing to bet I had a truly impressive bruise. The ropes fell away, and blood rushed into my arms, causing a breathtaking case of pins and needles.
In the distance, someone shrieked.
"Is that ours or theirs?" I asked.
"Who knows? They weren't kidding about having enough creatures to tear the south end of the city apart. It was like breaking into a fucking marine base."
"You've done a lot of that?"
"'A lot' is a relative term." She helped me to my feet and held me steady for a second while I got my muscles back in working order. "Gun or knife?"
"Gun." I was wobbly and weak. Guns are easier than knives.
Benji slapped a Sig Sauer into my palm and led me into the smoke-filled hallway where two decapitated vampires and an unfamiliar man in a black Recovery Agency vest lay sprawled in pools of blood. The vampire heads had both rolled off to one side near the wall. The man was alive enough to groan. One hand twitched.
Benji didn't even look down as she passed him. "Play dead, Simon. We'll come back for you."
"We can't leave him." I was much too relieved at having been rescued from this particular group of homicidal lunatics. I wasn't about to abandon one of my rescuers. I crouched to help him into a better position, where he could sling an arm over my shoulders. My injured side protested vehemently. Maybe I'd cracked a rib after all.
Benji muttered some highly inventive slurs, slipped the sword into a scabbard on her back, and got on the other side of Simon. Between us, we managed to get him to his feet. Once he was upright, he seemed to come around somewhat and put a little effort into working with us.
Footsteps raced closer. A woman sped around the corner at the end of the hall. Benji dropped her with two quick rounds before I even had time to register which team she was playing for. She dropped the gun back into the holster and hitched Simon's arm a little tighter around her shoulders. "Let's do this."
She directed us to the end of the hallway and around a corner. "We're underground. We have to go up two levels to get to an exit."
"What's up there?" I asked, wondering how we'd manage to survive if the answer was anything at all other than puppies and friendly old ladies.
"It's under construction. One big space. A single door on either side of the building." She eyed the stairs and turned toward the elevator.
That meant she didn't think I had it in me to haul Simon up two flights of stairs. And she was right, though it was slightly insulting that she hadn't even asked if I wanted to try.
"We came through a rooftop entrance and fought our way downward. On the main floor, there were at least two dozen creatures and they were some kind of freaky ass assortment. Things that normally war with each other, side-by-side, ready to kill us."
The doors slid open, and we walked, hitched, hauled ourselves inside.
Benji punched the button marked L. "Our guys engaged. Moose and I split off to go look for you."
Tears burned my eyes. I blinked fast to force them away. "So you're saying they're probably still fighting?"
"I'm saying you'd be wise to have that gun in your hand when the doors slide open."
"Me too," Simon croaked.
Benji pulled his semi-automatic from the holster on his thigh and pressed it into the hand dangling over her shoulder.
The bell dinged. The doors opened.
Four fangy creatures turned toward the sound. All three of us fired and all four of them dropped. Who hit what, I had no idea.
Behind them, a full-on gladiator-style battle raged in a room the size of a school gymnasium. Swords, guns, teeth, claws, at least two crucifixes, and what appeared to be a magic wand were all in play. Bits of plaster and wood littered the floor and at least a dozen bodies lay unmoving amid the chaos.
Lightning struck the outer doors to my distant right. Glass and plaster rained down over the whole crowd, half of which had been sent sprawling by the blast.
Nick stepped through the hole in the wall. He wore his black tactical pants and white tee shirt. His skin glowed, illuminating the swirling dust around him. As if drawn by a magnet, his sparking blue gaze fell straight to me. He studied my ruined face for all of half a second before taking three quick steps toward the nearest ghoul, which he beheaded with his bare hands.
"Shit!" Who told him?
The building rattled as the earth shook.
"Fuck!" Benji's eyes grew wide and panicked. "This isn't good."
A giant... something... seven feet tall and maybe three hundred pounds roared at Nick.
Nick punched him in the chest and ripped his heart out through the hole.
Simon made a noise like a deflating balloon.
"I have to stop him." I motioned for Simon to sit on the floor with his back against the wall. "Stay with him."
Benji gave me a clear, fuck you glare.
Fine. I didn't have time to argue. By now, every member of Gray Hair's team was going at Nick and he was dispatching them with animal ferocity. Sparks shot off of him and blew out lightbulbs overhead.
"Fools! You can't kill him! Bind him!" Gray Hair shouted from near the back door.
Nick turned toward her, part of a spinal column clutched in one fist. Blood drenched his clothes. It dripped from his chin. He bared his teeth and roared.
She turned tail and ran.
She was mean, not stupid.
I took off after him, only to stop in my tracks after just a few steps because I caught sight of Mx. Landry sprawled on the floor on their hands and knees.
Fire burned in their eyes. Literally. Spots of flame burst into life and disappeared near her fingertips. Normally perfect hair hung in mussed curls. They knelt back on their heels, fists clenched, and gazed up at me. "I... I want..." A shiver raced through their slim frame. "If I chase him, I'll do as bad as him or worse. He's got more control than me. If I start... I want... But nobody else can..."
"It's okay. Get out of here. I'll go after Nick."
Benji opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off.
"He's here because of me. It's got to be me that stops him. Get Mx. Landry out. They need to clear their head. There's no one left here to fight." Those who'd managed to escape Nick's wrath had beaten a hasty exit.
Mx. Landry climbed to their feet. The flames sputtered and disappeared. "No. Stay together. I'll be fine. It's over now. The worst of it is over, but you have to stop him. He'll kill any man, woman, or child who gets in between him and his prey."
Benji wrapped the end of her braid around her fist. "Maybe the sphaera captivitatis?"
"The Organization never returned it after they extracted Nick and Sathanas," Mx. Landry said.
Thoughts burst in my brain like fireworks explosions during a Fourth of July grand finale. One burned brighter than all the rest. "I saw him knocked out once... sort of. It would be enough to slow him down. There are warded objects at Joseph Benny's house—"
"I could get you there and back in twenty minutes," Benji said.
Mx. Landry grabbed us both by our upper arms. Their fingers dug into my flesh with painful strength. "You aren't hearing me. In twenty minutes... What if a cop tries to pull Nick over? What if it's your friend Chantelle? He will rip her head from her shoulders. Do you get that? If a child tugs on his coat, he will turn around and disembowel them. Even if he isn't locked up for the rest of time, do you think he'll be able to live with that after he comes to his senses?'
Benji gritted her teeth. "I'm on it. We'll make the trip in ten."
"There's a faster way." My stomach ached and my head throbbed. "I've got a wish."
Mx. Landry looked like they were about to drop to their knees again. "He didn't."
"He did," I said. "We can talk about it later, but the fact is, right now I have a wish. I could bring him back here."
They rolled their shoulders back and straightened their spine. "No. He'll be feral." They patted their ruined hairdo. "Just... wish him back into his apartment and wish all the locks and warding to be engaged."
I squeezed my eyes shut and whispered, "I wish Nick was in his apartment with all the locks and warding engaged." I peeked at the others. Moose had joined them. "Did it work?"
They all exchanged a glance and a shrug.
"I'll go check on him," Mx. Landry said. "If he said you have a wish, that's binding. I can't think of a reason it wouldn't have worked."
"I should come with you," I said.
"Go home, Nowicki." They turned to leave.
"I can't just—"
They spun and pointed a bony finger at my face. "I will take care of this. I am the one who takes care of him. I've done it for a thousand years and I'll be doing it a thousand years after you're dead and gone."
The tears won, then. A harsh sob accompanied them.
Mx. Landry's voice softened, but not by much. "Last time—"
I cut them off. "There was a world war and Nick tried to commit suicide by Organization."
"I've got it from here. Thank you for your help. I'm glad you're not dead. Again." They looked at Benji. "Round up the wounded. Get the others to help."
The three of us watched them walk across the room and exit through the hole Nick had blasted in the wall. A handful of Recovery Agent personnel stood just on the outside, doing crowd control and spinning stories for the authorities.
Benji spoke so softly no one beside Moose and I could hear. "I'm going to finish what Nick started. I'm going after that silver-haired bitch and I'm going to kill her."