Chapter 45. Hurt by NIN
Leaving Evan and Nathan behind was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I knew they were safer at the farmhouse than anywhere in the city at the moment. After spending a while reinforcing our home and setting up the safeguards we had hoped we would never have to use, we gathered up any weapons we thought might be useful. We had installed the six inch steel window plates to prevent entry through windows, activated the interior door barricades and built up the second story wall where Rafael had broken through. I doubted the structural soundness of the house after the damage he'd been able to make. While we had the exterior walls reinforced with thick concrete and steel beams, for some reason the window had allowed the wall to fail. At this point, it was too late to do more than we had, so I had to just move on, hoping the alarms we set would be a deterrent to any who tried to break in. If that didn't work, we had several vampire maiming booby-traps set that would take off limbs and heads, but it would not necessarily kill one of our kind.
Tourneau and I had no idea what we would come up against when we reached the Enclave. Aristarchus was not taking my calls; likely he was refusing to do so. Trying to mentally organize all the information I had gathered over the years on the situation with Romley, I allowed Tourneau to drive. The Hummer allowed us to bring more weapons and supplies, should we come up against resistance.
I had not been completely honest yet with Evan about my job as a Guardian. I hated my duties, but I also knew I was good at what I did. Damn good. Tourneau and I had been a force to be reckoned with when necessary, but we had gone soft as of late, as we had gotten the rogues well under control. I had always known Romley was trouble, and I could never gain enough evidence to turn him in to the Brethren. Several of them were in his pocket, and I hadn't concretely figured out whom I could trust. What I did know was that Romley routinely used his popularity with the media to draw humans in and would ruin their lives with sex, drugs or alcohol, whichever vice fit the bill, and then he would kill them. He changed his image and name every decade or so, to reinvent his persona, so he had an endless supply of victims. Not only would he kill them, he would convince them to sign over anything of worth they had. Hence, the reason he was so wealthy. Often he ruined the families of his victims as well; sometimes he even killed the entire family.
While the Newborns I had run across recently were definitely not created and educated, as the Council demanded, I was certain Romley was behind their appearance. I had been trying for decades to prove that he was making new vampires against Council sanctions, but he was very good at covering his trail. Each time I attempted to get backing from the Brethren to raid his home, they dismissed my accusations and told me I was overreacting to a stray Newborn. That was when I realized Romley likely had allies on the Brethren Council. The female I had taken in all those weeks ago was my only corroboration. I wondered what they had done with her and what more information she held.
Tourneau pulled the Hummer into the underground parking of the warehouse that hid our headquarters, the Enclave. Immediately I was put on edge when the usual thugs who greeted visitors did not appear.
"Tourneau, do you think this is odd?" I asked my friend very quietly. He simply nodded in response, his eyes darting all around looking for signs of an ambush.
The Hummer rolled quietly to a stop. We sat in silence for a moment, inspecting the familiar, yet sinister surroundings. My phone vibrated against my thigh. Quickly I reached in and silenced it, then pulled it out and powered it off. I did not want it to give us away. By now I realized something was terribly wrong at the Brethren's headquarters. In silent agreement, we both reached over the back of our seats and began pulling various weapons out of the compartments we had stashed them in. For the first time, I appreciated the cavernous space in the back. I buckled on my blessed silver throwing knives, a Ruger P90 semi-automatic with silver ammunition, and a war axe Tourneau had once given me decades ago that he had found in some collector's estate sale. It had become my favorite weapon for meting out rapid carnage; my strength was the only reason such a mundane weapon worked on vampires. I didn't realize how much I missed its comforting weight as I hefted it over my shoulder into its sling. While I had told Evan none of the mythical stories about vampires were true, I had lied. I just did not want her to have any ammunition against me in our early days. Silver burned and caused vampires to heal as slow as a human. When it embedded into a vampire's flesh, silver began to kill it off with its innate healing powers. The silver was blessed because I still hoped and prayed for God to save me.
Tourneau was a much more elegant fighter than I. While I dealt blows with surgical precision, he used the art of swordsmanship and cunning to get the better of his foes. He had twin blades strapped to each hip and a shoulder holster with a pistol in it. Knowing we needed to move stealthily, he opted out of carrying the flamethrower. It was highly effective, but very cumbersome. We both had already strapped on our ammo belts with our extra clips of ammunition before we got into the Hummer. Tourneau tended not to need to reload, as he preferred his blades or his bare hands.
"Ready?" Tourneau asked me as he tightened the shoulder holster.
"As I'll ever be. Where to first?"
"I would think we should check on Aristarchus and the others in the Council chamber. I have the feeling we are in for an ambush. The fact that we've been here this long and not been greeted by one of the guards makes me think a coup has been put in motion against the Brethren. I feel like an idiot bringing Rafael to Saint Louis. I honestly did not have any idea..." Tourneau trailed off with a sad look in his eyes. For such an emotional sap, he was an impeccable warrior. I would not want anyone else at my back. I had gotten used to working alone of late, but I trusted Tourneau's instincts.
"Put him out of your mind, Jean. Alright, let's go," I said as I threw open my door. We met in front of the Hummer and paced back to back toward the entrance to the building, checking the corners high and low for signs of an attack. We both had our guns drawn and held at the ready. Silently, we turned into the short corridor leading to the security doors. We came across the first body here. Tourneau kept watch while I checked to see who it was. Nudging the body in the shoulder with my toe, I checked for signs of weapons near the body. Not seeing any and finding both hands thrown out to the side, I flipped the body over and recognized one of the Guardians who usually greeted visitors. The only reason he was not reanimating was because his heart had been ripped out of his chest. Ribs protruded through the jagged hole I assumed had been made with a fist. Gory but very effective. I preferred to dismantle and burn rogues, as it was more definitive. But this was a type of suspended animation. He would not decompose, but he could not move, or all of the blood would pump out of the hole in his chest and he would eventually wither to nothing if left long enough. Judging by the amount of blood on the floor around him, I figured he was probably a goner. There was no light of recognition in his eyes. I stood slowly and turned toward Tourneau.
"It's Archer," I announced very quietly. There was very little left of his aura, a meager sickly green color spiked up now and then, but mostly was gone. When I looked up, Tourneau's mouth was set in a grim line.
"I've only once ever seen Rafael kill, and this is his calling card. He is here. We will be fortunate if he came alone, but he and Bong-Li together are formidable enemies," Tourneau said.
As I considered his words, I moved forward and punched in the access code to the security door. Moving like a well-oiled tactical team, Tourneau and I made our way down the brightly lit corridor. First impressions were of a high-end prison, with the double security doors we had to pass through. Once through the second door, we entered into the reception area where there was usually a bored secretary sitting on the phone. Despite the old warehouse exterior, the interior was refined and smacked of fortune five hundred business. I had always been irked by the sterility of the generic office décor, with the pale colors on the walls and cookie cutter furniture.
Nothing let on that things were not business as usual here except for the utter lack of the activity and the pool of blood next to the chair where the receptionist usually sat. The two of us looked like bloodhounds, scenting the air, trying to pick up on any clue as to where we might run into a vampire. Archer's blood still tainted my nose, but I sensed the underlying miasma of spilled blood coming from ahead. It was not vampiric blood, but human blood. Cautiously, we crept down the hall, as I now knew where we would find the source of the aroma. Hunger growled in my chest. I had not fed on the way here, as I had told Evan I would. There hadn't been time.
Reaching the entrance to the first level holding cell where rogues, or recently turned Newborns, were housed, Tourneau and I communicated silently with our eyes. He sped to the far side of the doorway, pistol at the ready. I waited, my back to the wall where I stood. Tourneau lifted his empty hand and raised one...two...three fingers. We both spun through the door and were greeted by the sight of dozens of humans piled in a far corner. In this room, fluorescent lights flickered ominously, hanging haphazardly from their moorings, as if a tornado had ripped through the room. Blood was splattered on the concrete block walls. A drain had been installed in the room on purpose and now the congealed blood that had found its way to the drain effectively clogged it, causing blood to pool in a shallow pond. The humans' bodies were a tangled mass of naked flesh, torn and bruised, but white in death. What blood wasn't on the floor had fed our enemies. Considering the number of bodies in front of us, the amount of blood on the floor was minimal.
Tourneau stepped up closer to inspect the bodies, carefully skirting the blood.
"Their hearts have been ripped out," he said softly. He looked around at the floor. "There."
I looked to where he pointed and saw a repulsive pile of purple blobs I knew to be hearts. I felt sick. What the Hell were we dealing with? I spun around as I heard a low, evil laugh and the sound of clapping hands. Cursing myself for not paying better attention, I put myself between Tourneau and the pure evil that had just entered the room.
Romley and Rafael were standing shoulder to shoulder in the doorway backed by so many mindless vampires I could not count them. Tourneau came to stand beside me on my left. I welcomed the challenge they brought, as spikes of red and orange flashed from around them in my vision.
"Welcome to Hell, boys! I have been waiting for this day for as long as I can remember. You two are the only things standing in my way now. The Council is done and the Guardians are no more. Except for the two of you. I have been so patient, watching you as the golden boys of the Brethren for almost a century. Well, today all of that will change. I want to introduce you to the new ruling class," Romley said as he stepped aside and ushered in the first of his disgusting horde. "Have fun with my little family, Emil. I made them just for you. My children, time for some fun, kill them for me."
As Romley addressed his contingent of vampires, as he backed out the door.
Rafael's eyes danced with merriment. "May I join in the fun, Master?"
"By all means. I don't know how you could stand it pretending to love that disgusting fag," Romley answered. He had always hated Tourneau, and always threw little digs Tourneau's way whenever we had met in public in the past. I thought perhaps he was trying to cover some of his own inner insecurities. As was his typical fashion, he let someone else do his dirty work. I cursed him as I heard his laughter echo down the hallway.
Rafael joined the ring of vampires that surrounded us. Tourneau and I stood back to back now, about three feet between us, at theready to fight. Despite the fact we were outnumbered ten to one, a thrill ran through me. The muscle memory of battles past had me balanced on the balls of my feet, muscles coiled and ready for the first attack. I heard the double slithery snick of Tourneau unsheathing his swords. On my side were several male vampires and one female. All of them had flat lifeless eyes, as if more than their soul had left them. None of them emitted any colors evidencing an aura. They moved together in unison shuffling on their feet as if controlled by one mind. Suddenly, a male dressed in black leather pants and a white tank top lunged at me, triggering a chain reaction from the rest of the damned creatures. My three blades hit their marks as they began to move. The three targets halted in their tracks as a stunned look identically masked each of their faces. My axe was in my hands next and I swung at the three who had blocked the others progress for a matter of seconds. Their heads bounced to the floor and black blood oozed out of their necks. It was almost comical the way their bodies crumpled to the ground as if they were just sitting down.
With my peripheral vision, I looked for Rafael. I did not want Tourneau to have to face off against his lover. What had transpired already was bad enough. Rafael was advancing on Tourneau and I swung through several more of the vampires. Heads and limbs fell to the wayside, toppling their owners to the ground. I met no real resistance as I fought my way through them to get to Rafael. They were too new. I could not fathom what Romley thought to accomplish setting such inexperienced creatures on us. He knew better. Tourneau was neatly beheading the throng in front of him, seemingly oblivious to Rafael. Instead, I engaged him; Rafael revealed two short daggers and met me head on. He deftly swung the short blades in neat arcs, showing off his prowess.
This is more like it, I thought. Coming together in a frenzy of feints and parries, Rafael blocked my axe very efficiently. He was as fast as I was, and met each of my advances with one of his own. I knew his blades were silver because he had nicked me a couple of times, but only surface wounds. The telltale burn slowly seeped through me.
"Emil!" Tourneau yelled.
Trying not to lose my advantage I thrust against Rafael and managed to spin us around to face Tourneau. He was fighting off the last two of the Newborns, but the sight that met my eyes was enough to distract me momentarily. In the door stood McCormick and another Guardian, both with evil grins on their face. McCormick was huge; he was the biggest vampire I had ever met, and probably the meanest. The other with him was Blythe. I had not spent much time with him, as he was newer than I was and definitely more militaristic.
"Our turn to party, it looks like," McCormick called over the melee. His counterpart nodded and pulled a broadsword from his back. There was no question where his loyalties lay, as his usual dim aura was tinged with red and black, ready to challenge us.
That momentary distraction was all it took, though. Rafael moved in and buried his blade into my side. The searing pain brought my attention back to the male I was facing. He was laughing in triumph. I roared with rage, as Tourneau having dispatched the last of his opponents came to my side. But before he could get any closer, I swung my axe in an arc as hard as I could at Rafael's head. When it hit the floor rolling, the triumphant sneer was still in place, but his eyes were wide with surprise.
My strength was leaving me faster than I thought possible. I looked at my right side where the blade was still sticking out of my ribs. Blood oozed around the hilt, staining my shirt red and trickling down my right leg.
"Jean," I whispered harshly through clenched teeth, now not taking my eyes off of our more experienced opponents. I lifted my arm enough that he could reach the hilt and Tourneau grasped the handle and pulled. The fire that spread through me engulfed my senses and nearly brought me to my knees. I was rusty. I had forsaken my battle training for too long this time. The silver was working its poisonous magic on my system. The two Guardians advanced on us and stood at the ready.
I knew they were both exemplary soldiers and that this would be our most difficult battle, unless I could take them off guard. Trying to stall to gather my wits, I said, "What a surprise, you went over to the dark side. Where are the rest of our Brethren?"
McCormick answered lazily, "As far as I know, the worthless ones are dead, and the rest who've joined our side are currently feasting on some beautiful human women. Or looking for yours."
The last part was said dead seriously. It seemed they had learned about Evan, undoubtedly from Rafael. Trying to suppress my urge to abandon all here and flee to her side, I shouldered my axe, feigning nonchalance.
"Really, who might that be?" I said, throwing a curious glance at Tourneau, hoping he'd pick up that I was stalling. He tilted his head back in a half nod and shrugged, joining my ruse.
"That receptionist of yours, Marie, has been fun. I can't wait to get back to her," McCormick said as he elbowed Blythe in the side. Inside I think I actually died a little. I had always vowed to protect any humans with whom I interacted. Marie had always been trustworthy and careful. Hating myself, I secretly hoped they thought Marie was my love and had not thought to seek out Evan. However, I refused to let them see that anything was getting to me. Weakness was unacceptable. Blythe's next statement sent me reeling though.
"Romley and a few of his soldiers are on the way to your quaint country home, Tourneau. Rafael told us all about the new little vamp that Emil made. You know the rules. We have to kill her. The Brethren didn't sanction her creation. Naughty, naughty," Blythe mocked. Instantly, my body hummed with pent up rage. The wooden handle of the war axe creaked under my deadly grasp. The blond Blythe was so much younger than the rest of us, and his lackey mentality showed itself as he laughed and looked to McCormick for approval.
McCormick didn't crack a smile. He said, "We have her Emil. She'll be dead soon."
Without hesitation, I lunged forward swinging my axe over my right shoulder and drawing my gun with my left hand. On the downswing, I took off Blythe's right arm and the axe head got stuck in McCormick's left thigh. Tourneau moved after me bringing his blades to rest at the base of Blythe's neck while the vampire screamed in agony. McCormick was trying to pull the axe out of his thigh, but I was done with this. I had no real idea what was going on still. I put the Ruger to his forehead and pulled the trigger, followed by a shot to his heart. As he fell backward I grasped the axe handle and wrenched it from the bone, and decapitated him, all in the few seconds it had taken Tourneau to scissor off Blythe's head with his blades. He pulled his pistol and fired a round into the other vampire's heart.
I was exhausted at this point. I was losing blood from the wound in my side, and was already down what I had given Evan. I needed to feed, but we had to see if anyone was still left. I gazed around at the carnage on the floor. Twenty of Romley's soldiers lay at our feet. I looked for Tourneau and knew where I would find him. He was standing over the body of Rafael, red tears brimming on his cheeks.
"You're too gentle-hearted for this life. Why did you ever start doing it?" I asked him as I went to his side.
"Because of monsters like this," was all he said. He moved over by the doorway, where our latest casualties lay, still twitching. After cautiously checking if the way was clear, he grabbed Blythe's head that had rolled out the doorway and brought it to the middle of the room. "Let's clean up quickly. Get McCormick over here and we'll use this room as it was designed."
What he referred to was way the room was a made to be a giant kiln. It had been built to maim, torture and kill in the early days of the Brethren's rule in St. Louis. At the simple flip of a switch, the gas burners turned on in the ceiling and heated everything to a vampire's flash point. We moved through the door, pulled the fire doors shut and turned the crank that activated the fire safe seal. Tourneau stood looking through the little window in the door as I flipped the burn switch on. Who put a window in a door to a chamber such as this?
"Come on, we have to look for others," I said, pulling Jean away from the morbid scene.
Hoping against hope that McCormick had exaggerated the news there were none of the Brethren left, I knew we needed to move on to search the rest of headquarters. There were five floors of offices and living quarters, any of which might be our next trap. Considering it was late afternoon, I decided to move to where the Brethren would most likely have been convened to deal with day-to-day business. Silently, we moved up two flights of stairs, Tourneau watching our backs as I cleared each landing. On the third floor, we came out into another quiet empty hall. The stairs opened at one end of the corridor, so all we had to do was move forward to our destination, which took up the majority of the center of the third floor. I was afraid of what I would find, knowing the likelihood of survivors was small, and the fact that Romley might still be here, despite what McCormick had said. The thought that Romley was en route to our home made me hasten my steps. The reason I had not made any attachments in the past now haunted me. I could not be objective in my job if I was worrying about the safety of my family.
The French doors leading to the Council's chambers were ajar, the continued silence echoing in my ears. I strained to hear the slightest movement. Again, Tourneau and I entered the room cautiously, clearing each corner with our guns drawn. No one was there to greet us, but there were bodies draped over the desks. Aristarchus' long robes were splayed over the head table at the front of the room, hiding his still form. This was sloppy work, if Romley hoped to keep the Brethren dead. He had left severely damaged vampires unburned. Surely he knew better if he did not want them to eventually awaken again. I was very confused.
"Jean, what do you make of this?" I asked.
"Either Romley is stupider than we thought, or he is up to something."
I checked Aristarchus and found that besides the gaping hole in his chest, he was otherwise intact. He still emitted his usual bright yellow aura of peace, which I found rather disconcerting. I said to Tourneau, "Look for his heart. Is...was Rafael so careless before, not finishing off his kills?"
"I don't know, Emil, as I said, I only ever saw him kill once." Tourneau was searching the ground for Aristarchus' heart as I checked the other victims. I found only poorly treated human women. They were dead, teeth marks marring their naked flesh. I could not risk them coming back from the dead as new vampires. I went and quickly gathered the bodies together.
"I found a heart. Are any of those missing parts?" Tourneau asked me.
"No, they've just been ill treated and drained," I answered. "Can you get it and put it back in Aristarchus, see if we can get him to heal? I'm going to start a fire in here and start clean up."
"Got it, I'll take him out and put him in the elevator, he'll be there when we're done. If you're lighting the place, we need to hurry and see if we find anyone else," he said.
"You start with the living quarters, I'll go to the second floor and check the cells."
"See you downstairs. Don't come looking for me, either, Emil. If you don't see me in fifteen minutes, get home to Evan," my friend said to me sincerely.
"I'm not leav..."
"I don't want to hear it, just do it!" Tourneau demanded. With that, he hefted Aristarchus on his shoulder and left, the old Council Leader's chest already started to close.
By the time I had lit the fire on the bodies and left the chambers, Tourneau was nowhere to be seen.
I went to the other end of the third floor, checking by scent for any others. The floor was deserted. Smoke had started to gather near the ceiling, spurring me to move at my fastest pace. On the prison cell floor, I found three survivors. The beautiful blonde vampire I had turned over to the Brethren all those weeks ago was still alive. She was nursing the wounds on one of the Guardians. Warily, I approached them, ready to kill them at the slightest provocation.
"Guardian! You're here. Romley said he would kill you! Is he still here? Xavier fought off so many of those mindless creations of his, but he's been badly wounded. I've got his arm to reattach; it had been severed. He's lost too much blood. Help me get him out of here," she said, trying to get under one of his arms.
"Stay back. How do I know if I can trust you? Romley and his lackeys made it clear that the only survivors would be their allies. You are still alive. Why should I help you, especially with your history?"
"I swear! I wouldn't help that bastard if my survival depended on it! Xavier fought bravely and protected me. Look over there, he did all of that," she cried.
I looked to the corner she pointed to and saw a respectable pile of the mindless chattel Romley had created. Xavier was a Guardian I would never have believed would go against the Brethren. He was a very black and white, right or wrong type of vampire. He believed strongly in what we stood for.
"Xavier, is what she says true?" I asked, lowering my weapon. I had to trust my instincts, and his aura was pure white, with bolts of blue and green flickering through his pain.
He nodded weakly. "I came here to protect our wards. It is not for Romley to decide the fates of these. I was not able to save them all. Hannah fought bravely as well, she deserves some of the credit."
I had no idea how to know for sure if they were telling the truth, I would just have to take their word for now. Smoke was wafting through the air on this level now, and we needed to get out. I holstered my Ruger.
"What else do I need to know about, Xavier?" I asked as I reached around and pulled him to his feet. He was a few inches taller than I, but on the lean side.
"Romley came through here, sure his army would overtake the rest of us. He was blustering about going and taking your woman; that he'd already killed you and Tourneau. Do you have a woman, Emil? I would never figure you for the kind to settle down," Xavier said as he winced with each step forward.
"I wouldn't have either," I muttered. "We've got to get moving, I set a fire in the Council's chambers. The only one there was Aristarchus and some dead humans. Tourneau carried Ari out." The alarm that crossed Xavier's face stopped me in my tracks. I asked him, "What is it? Is something wrong?"
"Aristarchus is in league with Romley. They must've done that to throw you off, knowing you'd try to save him. Where did Tourneau take him?" he said.
"Shit!" I exclaimed. "He put him in an elevator so that we could collect him on the first floor after we swept the place for more survivors."
As I said those words, a low moan came from a cell further down the block. I pulled Xavier over and handed him to Hannah. "Wait here."
I pulled my gun out again, creeping forward slowly to the third cell down from where we were standing. Inside laid another of the Guardians, an acquaintance I knew of as Hawk.
"Xavier, is Hawk with us?" I called over my shoulder.
"Yes. He fell soon after we started fighting. I think he went up against Romley."
"Hawk, can you move?" I asked the vampire laying face down in a pool of his own blood. The only response I got was more moaning.
I moved into the cell reluctantly. I did not truly know who I could trust, but if these were traitors, I may as well let them have me, as they were the last I would have suspected of turning traitor.
Gently, I rolled Hawk onto his back. The reason I knew it was him from the back was because he wore his ginger hair in a mohawk. I gasped when I saw his face. He was missing the lower half of his jaw, having been sheared off with a sharp object. The rest of his face appeared to have been stomped to a pulp. I'd seen vampires recover from injuries such as this, but it took a long time, and it was very painful.
"Jesus, Hawk. What on Earth did he do to you?" I asked aloud. As he tried to make sound, I stopped the grotesque motion with, "No, no, please don't talk. Never mind. We have to get out of here. Come on."
I lifted him over my shoulder, trying not to slip in the puddle of his blood. I came out into the corridor and looked to Hannah and Xavier. She was holding him up with little difficulty. Had she been human she would not have a chance of helping him out.
"We need to get to the first floor. We have a vehicle if it hasn't been disabled. I'll take you home with me, but it may be another fight, if Romley has found my Evan."
"I don't know how much help I'll be, but whatever strength I have, you can count on me," Xavier said.
"Me too," Hannah echoed.
We made our way carefully into the main hall and to the curving stairs which led to the main lobby. There were so many unaccounted for, I hoped that Tourneau had some news. Gently as I could while still hurrying, haste made necessary now by the flames licking at the hallway we had just come from, I ran down the stairs, and to the first of the security doors. Tourneau was in the air lock between the doors, empty-handed, Aristarchus nowhere to be seen.
"I have three survivors. We can talk on the road. They've confirmed Romley was headed to our home," I said as I brushed past to go to the main entrance. "Where's Aristarchus?"
"Let me take point, no sense getting your head blown off now," Tourneau said as he pushed his way in front of me. "When I checked the elevator, Aristarchus was gone. Any sign of Bong-Li?"
"No, I didn't see her, frankly I forgot about her." I couldn't believe I'd let her slip my mind. "My friends here say Aristarchus is in league with Romley."
"We need to hurry. If she is with Romley, we're in trouble. She is scary in battle. I've seen her kill many times and she's ruthless," Tourneau said, shuddering. "And Aristarchus is not to be trifled with either."
The fire had not flushed out any more enemies, so the headquarters was apparently abandoned. We made our way to the Hummer, and I laid Hawk on his back in the rear of the vehicle.
"Mon dieu!" Tourneau exclaimed as he saw Hawk's face. "We need to get blood Emil. You've lost too much, and so has Hawk."
He watched warily as Hannah helped Xavier to the Hummer. Xavier crawled into the back seat and Hannah stood by the door. She held out her hand and said, "Hannah."
Tourneau spared her a perfunctory glance and ignored her hand, as he said, "I know who you are. I didn't think you would show your face around here again."
"Romley made it so I really had nowhere to go. I've been in the Brethren's prison since your friend captured me. At least I didn't think I had to worry about Romley finding me here. Little did I know."
"Enough of the introductions, you two get your asses in the car. We have to go. Tourneau, are you hurt?" I asked shortly, as the impact of the blood loss I'd suffered combined with my lack of feeding and the energy I'd expended fighting and carrying Hawk.
"Not a scratch. Don't know how I came out so lucky."
"Then drive," I said, dragging my weary body into the passenger seat.