CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

He listened as they drove south, the night growing lighter as the waxing moon rose and traveled the sky. The lights of Tijuana were in the rearview mirror, and Ben sat next to him, eyes focused on the cracked asphalt they followed into the desert.

“The main difference between a stun gun and a Taser is proximity.” Brigid was lecturing in the backseat as they drove, a duffel bag of weapons open on the seat between her and Natalie. “To use a Taser, the ideal distance is around ten to fifteen feet. But you’re dealing with vampires who are far faster than anything human. So if you see one, point and shoot even if they’re farther away. These all have laser sights built in. By the time it fires, they’ll probably be within a few feet of you.”

“Lovely. And the stun gun?”

“Very effective, but you’ll have to be in direct contact—”

Baojia growled in the front seat, and Brigid narrowed her eyes at him.

“Hey,” Natalie said. “No growling.”

“Obviously,” Brigid muttered, “direct contact is not the ideal. So try to use the Taser. I packed a few of them for you.”

“I’m counting at least twenty, Brigid.”

“You can never have too many weapons. And this model can be used as a stun gun for about half a minute after it’s fired. But you shouldn’t need any of this. It’s purely a precautionary measure. We will be engaging the vampires at the perimeter, and you and Ben will create a defensive position in the center of the crater.”

Natalie nodded nal nampirvigorously. “I remember there were some rocks and trees and stuff we can use to hide.”

“They shouldn’t even get near you.”

Brigid was obviously young, Baojia mused as he drove the old car, dodging potholes before he turned onto the dirt track that had been used as a mining road. Battle plans—even his own—rarely went as planned. The only constant was the unplanned factor. There was always something unpredictable, and it usually happened at the most inopportune time.

He had tried again when they woke that evening to dissuade Natalie, but she was determined. He had used all his powers of persuasion, thrown every logical argument in her face, before he finally conceded humans were an integral part of the plan, and if they didn’t use her, they’d have to use someone else. After that, all arguments were moot. She wouldn’t stand to have anyone else put at risk. He briefly considered knocking her out anyway, but at that moment, Tenzin had pounded on the door and told them to stop having sex and get in the car. Which was doubly annoying because they weren’t actually having sex.

He had to fall in love with the stubborn one, didn’t he? The stubborn, beautiful, defenseless human with no sense of self-preservation and a hero complex.

“And make sure you don’t ever use a Taser on a fire vampire, or you’re toast.”

Baojia gritted his teeth and glanced in the rear view mirror at Natalie’s wide blue eyes.

“How will I know if it’s a fire vampire?”

Brigid said, “You’ll know. But chances are, it won’t be. There’s not that many of us, to be honest. Meeting two like you have is fairly extraordinary. The most common type of vampire is Earth, with Wind and Water rounding things out. Fire is very uncommon.”

“It’s like a recessive gene,” Ben said from the front seat.

“Okay, and I’m assuming that they’ll burst into flames if shocked or something?”

He saw Brigid nod. “Our amnis is nothing more than an enhanced electrical current. That’s why vampires short out electronic equipment so easily. It also seems to be what connects us to our element, so when we’re shocked, our systems react by loosing an incredible amount of elemental power. Carwyn would create a large earthquake. Baojia would draw all the water around to him.”

“Except we’re in the desert, where there’s no water,” he muttered, still highly annoyed at the handicap.

“Well, yes. Try to make the best of it,” Brigid said. “Tenzin is air, but I’m not sure what it would do. I’ve never shocked an air vampire before.”

Ben said, “Can I try? Please?”

Baojia said, “The fact that you’re still alive is truly amazing sometimes.”

“Eh…” The boy shrugged. “She has a soft spot for me.”

That much was obvious, but it had been to the boy’s benefit. He was one of the most well-trained mortals Baojia had ever met, even just shy of his eighteenth birthday. Ben was proficient in judo and jujitsu, could fire various weapons with accuracy, had a good command of hand-to-hand combat with knives, and could even handle a blade passably well. Added to that were the instincts he could only have been born with. The boy was incredibly sharp. If Baojia had enough time with him, he’d have him a master by the time he turned immortal. If he turned.

He glanced in the rearview mirror again. If she turned.

What if she didn’t want it? What if she never wanted it?

t?“What other weapons did you bring?” Ben’s voice broke into his ruminations. Baojia glanced down at the twin short swords that were strapped to his thighs. “I have a few other swords in the trunk. A dao and a new katana I bought last year, but I probably won’t bring them.” “Are those going to be enough?” He nodded. “They’re kind of…” Baojia smirked, knowing exactly what the boy was thinking. “Kind of…?” “Short.” “Are you saying that size matters, Benjamin?” The teenager snorted. “I just mean that your reach with those—” “These are fourteen-inch twin butterfly swords. Handmade and balanced within ten grams of each other. They are also perfect for the way I fight.” He glanced at the boy. “One thing you will learn is that every fighter is different, and this is important to know. We all have our strengths. What is your aunt’s favorite weapon?” “Shang gou. The hook swords. You trained her on them; you know.” “I picked those for her because her sense of balance and flexibility makes them ideal for her. One of her strengths as a fighter has always been balance and knowing how to use her opponents’ weaknesses against them. She needed reach and heft. The hook swords were perfect for her.” Ben muttered, “And they’re really cool.” “No, Ben. They’re really fucking cool.” For the first time that night, he felt a real smile cross his face. “But I have different strengths, first of which is speed. I’m much faster than your aunt or your uncle.” “Yeah, I noticed.” Ben rubbed his ribs where Baojia had given him a good punch the other night while they were practicing. “Good. And so a long sword like a dao or a katana or the shang gou is not ideal for me. Short swords are faster. Besides, I don’t try to keep my opponents at bay. I draw them close and then attack. It’s the way my father taught me, and still the most effective way for me to fight.” “Ernesto taught you that?” Baojia paused, his breath catching a little at the flood of memories. A man—almost a mirror image of himself—practicing wing chun forms in a small garden. Watching. Baojia was always watching. Then he was the one practicing. He could hear the man’s murmured instructions as he gently corrected the small boy. The evening sunlight pouring over them as the smell of food drifted from the outdoor kitchen where his mother sang. “No,” he said. “My human father taught me to fight.” “He must have been good.” “He was.” Natalie and Brigid were silent in the backseat. He glanced in the mirror to see her watching him. Then he felt the brush of her warm fingers at his neck, and he turned his eyes back to the road. “You are young. Your body is still developing, and your frame is still filling out. You won’t truly settle into a fighting style for a few years. But all the preparation you’re doing is good. And if there has to be a human guarding Natalie…” He glanced at her again, only to find her sticking her tongue out at him. He smiled. “I’m relatively satisfied that it’s you.” “Stop with the gushing praise; I’m going to think you have a crush on me.” “Don’t push it.” Ben laughed as he reached into the duff ininkel bag at his feet. “I have backup. It’s me, Smith & Wesson, Sig Sauer, and my darling Miss Kimber.” “Good to know you brought friends. That won’t kill them, you know.” “A .45 still packs a hell of a punch, my friend.” “Aim for the neck.” A wicked glint came to Ben’s eye. “Always.” They had to hike the last five miles to the hunting grounds. Baojia gave Natalie a piggyback ride. Brigid offered to carry Ben, but he refused with red ears and ran to keep up. Carwyn and Tenzin were already at the crater, bickering. “Stop calling me fat. Just because I’m not as light as a fifteen-year-old girl—” “I was older than fifteen when I turned, you idiot.” “Then stop acting like a whiny little schoolgirl. It’s not like you’re not strong enough. You could carry ten of me and not feel it, so stop bitching. Did you feed tonight?” “Just bagged blood. I didn’t have time to hunt.” Carwyn grunted. “No wonder.” “You two fight like siblings,” Baojia said as he set Natalie down. “Always.” Ben went over and threw an arm around Tenzin’s shoulders. “Stop picking on Tiny, Carwyn.” “Picking on—?” Carwyn threw his head back and laughed. “Good one. Ah, there’s my lovely girl.” Brigid went over to him and tilted her face up for a kiss, but Carwyn lifted her in his massive arms and swung her around, greeting his wife far more enthusiastically than he had only two nights before. “Mmmm, my lovely, lovely girl… There are caves around here. I’ve already scouted them out.” “One-track mind,” Brigid muttered as Carwyn coaxed her away from the group. Baojia rolled his eyes at the pair and turned to Tenzin, who was brushing off Ben’s arm. “Stop calling me Tiny.” “It just fits.” He broke in before they could start arguing. “No truck, I take it.” She shook her head. “Going to sniff around? We just got here. We stopped by Tulio’s place—Carwyn knows him, of course—and let him know what the plan was. He says we can use that tunnel you mentioned to get the girls out. Says it’s safe and he’ll be watching for them. The one human he has is still tucked away.” “Good. That will help.” He looked around, really examining the hunting ground for the first time. Leaving Natalie with Tenzin and Ben, he walked the perimeter. It was a natural crater, no doubt formed hundreds or thousands of years ago by something massive hitting the ground. The depression was almost perfectly round, and little grew in it except a copse of trees that had sprung up from the middle and a few tumbleweeds. He toed his shoes off and sank his feet into the sand, but could sense no water. His eyes darted around, taking in bits and pieces. The more he looked, the more subtle evidence of violence he saw. Cracked branches and bloodstains. A pile of rocks had tumbled down the side of the crater where it looked like someone had tried to run up quickly. Though the wind had carried the scent of fresh human blood far away, brown smudges still remained on the sandstone rocks that lay scattered around. And the scent of the predators was everywhere. The traces of energy were old—he guessed no one had been back since the hunt they had witnessed days before, but they were numerous and varied. It wasn’t the same vampires hunting over and over. Though a few signatures seemed familiar, most were unknown and b und witneelonged to unique individuals. “Hunting parties,” he murmured. Why was Ivan doing it? For amusement? To make money? It was the type of thing responsible immortal leaders had outlawed to avoid exposure to humans, but in this part of the world—where no one was watching, using girls that no one cared about—it certainly wouldn’t be unheard of. Were the other vampires paying him? Did they know they were getting a poison as well as a fresh meal? Somehow, Baojia didn’t think that was on the brochure. He felt Natalie approach.  “What are you thinking?” she asked. “I’m thinking… I still wish you weren’t here.” “Can we stop now, please? I’m here. Talk to me about the plan.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out as she slid her hand in his. “We’ll all hide in Tulio’s tunnel today. Obviously, it’s not happening tonight. It might not happen for days. We only know the girl, Carmen, was taken two nights ago. According to what we can tell, it takes anywhere from two to three days to collect the girls and infect them with Elixir. Was Carmen the first they grabbed for this hunt? The last? It might be tomorrow night; it might be a week from now. Hopefully it’s not a week, but we did bring provisions for you and Ben, and Father Andrade has Ben’s phone number to call us when the truck shows up at the club.” “And when they do get here?” She knew this already. They’d gone over it seven times, by his count. She was asking to let him process it in his own mind again, searching for any loose ends. “After they drop off the girls, the count starts. An hour, according to Tulio. We’ll have to gather them up and get them headed toward Tulio’s. Or we might just knock them out with amnis and hide them in Tulio’s caverns.” He frowned. “Yes, I think that would be better. Safer.” “Okay.” She nodded. “Then Ben and I take position.” He tensed instinctually. “Yes. Carwyn, Tenzin, Brigid, and I will have to remain in the tunnel until they come back, but you and Ben will be in the center of the crater. In that stand of trees there. No use giving them a clear target. There’s no shower here, so your scent will already be heightened, which will draw them.” “Wonderful. I won’t smell like Elixir, though.” He shook his head. “I don’t think it will matter. From what I could tell last time, they came already high on the drug. They’d already fed—this was just an added experience. To make it all more exciting.” She shivered at his words and Baojia drew her closer. “I wonder… he doses the humans at the club with it. When they start to get sick, is this their last stop? If Constantina hadn’t run, would she have ended up out here?” “But Rosa didn’t seem sick.” “Good point.” He cocked his head, thinking. “Maybe they’re running out of waitresses. Running out of time. They don’t want to wait for healthy girls to get sick. Healthy prey would be more fun to hunt anyway, so why wait for girls to get sick? In fact, find girls who can run and fight back a little. It would make them a bit more of a challenge if they can fight back.” He rubbed his cheek against her hair, taking comfort in her touch, her scent, her warmth. She had wrapped her arms around his waist as they spoke.  He heard her gulp. “It makes a twisted kind of sense, I guess.” “Yes, it does.” He took a deep breath. “Natalie?” “What?” “This is a very sick s a wiworld,” he whispered. “And sometimes I feel like I have lived in it too long.” “No,” she said. “Just long enough. Long enough for me to find you. Long enough for me to love you.” The wind whistled past as he felt Tenzin fly overhead. Carwyn and Ben had started a small fire near the mouth of the tunnel where he had killed the air vampire and rescued Rosa. He pulled Natalie down to sit next to him on a large piece of sandstone. “When this is finished, I want to move north. I think we can live in the Northwest and be safe. I have lots of money. You can find whatever work you want. I don’t want to live like this anymore.” “Then we won’t.” She laid her head on his shoulder. “Kristy called yesterday. She tried to hold them off, but she and Dan got chewed out by our big boss. I didn’t want her to get in trouble, so I called the Tribune and quit. Officially.” He looked at her, startled. “You didn’t tell me this when I woke tonight?” “Didn’t seem all that important at the time.” Natalie gave him a rueful smile. “And I knew going back wasn’t really an option. I’ll manage, I guess. Maybe I’ll publish online. Lots of writers do.” “Then you can work from anywhere.” She nodded. “Mmhmm. Even the Northwest.” Despite everything, he smiled. “I like this plan.” “And if I work from home, you won’t have to worry about me getting hit by a bus crossing the street or being struck down by a meteor or choking on a donut or anything.” She elbowed him. “So much safer. Well, maybe not from donuts, but definitely buses.” “Approximately four thousand pedestrians are killed every year, you know.” “Why doesn’t it surprise me that you know that?” Because she was his world now. And everything he could do to make her safe, he would. As much as she would let him, anyway. “I want to marry you, Natalie. I want you to have children like you want. Our children.” The vision of his father in the courtyard came back to him. “I will protect them. I can teach them how to fight.” “You could teach them a lot of things,” she said, her voice hoarse. He looked down to see tears in her eyes. “How to fight. How to play. How to break my cell phone…” “Yes.” He smiled. “All of those things. I believe I would be a good father.” “I think you’d be a great father. It wouldn’t bother you? That you can’t—” “There are humans who cannot father children, aren’t there?” He shrugged. “We will do whatever they do. It won’t make them any less mine.” He looked down. “If that is what you want.” “Maybe not right away, but…” She smiled. “That’s definitely what I want.” “Then that’s what we’ll do.” “Okay.” Natalie heaved a sigh and settled close to him again. “After we kill all the bad guys.” “After I kill all the bad guys, and you keep your head down.” “That’s what I meant.” Ivan’s men didn’t come that night. They didn’t come the next night, either. By the third night, everyone was getting restless. Carwyn had dug more caves off of Tulio’s original tunnel just so they could avoid each other. Brigid and Baojia were both thirsty; Baojia only took a little blood from Natalie, not wanting her weak.tinigi It had caused yet another argument. Which he lost, so he drank again. When he woke on the fourth night, it was with a distinct sense of foreboding. He left Natalie in her sleeping bag and went outside. Tenzin was crouched at the mouth of the cave, eyeing the horizon. “They’re coming tonight,” she said. “Are you sure? The priest hasn’t called.” She cocked her head to the side, like a bird examining an insect. “Fairly sure.” He lowered his voice. “Tenzin… If Natalie is injured in this fight, I do not want to lose her.” She raised an eyebrow. “You ask this of me? Do you trust me so much, Dragon?” “No.” She grinned, her curving fangs glinting in the moonlight. “Good. You shouldn’t. So why ask me?” “I would bargain with you, and your blood is powerful.” “So is the priest’s.” Baojia stopped as Ben crawled out of the cave, grumbling about the heat and muttering something about clean water. He walked away from them, no doubt looking for somewhere to relieve himself, and Baojia saw Tenzin watching him with an amused smile. “Perhaps,” he said, “I think you would understand my wish to not lose a human so valuable to me.” Tenzin’s eyes cut toward him, narrowing. “Perhaps,” Baojia said, leaning closer, “you would do the same, even if it was not that human’s wish.” “Perhaps you’re right.” She stood, brushing off the dust. “I’m going to look around and see what’s coming.” “Is that a yes?” “I would say… perhaps.” Tenzin took to the air, disappearing into the black night.  Baojia sighed and stretched, enjoying the feel of his muscles working. He took off his shirt, folding it neatly and laying it on a rock before he centered himself and faced the darkening western sky. Perhaps. He closed his eyes and swept a leg out, crossing his arms, then pulling them away from his body before he brought them back to center and flexed his shoulders. Perhaps. Baojia practiced his forms as the moon rose and the others gave him the gift of their silence. They all knew what the plan was; they simply needed the enemy to arrive. Perhaps? He breathed deeply, sensing a welcome—but unexpected—gift on the breeze. His amnis jumped when he felt it. It couldn’t be… His eyes flew open, searching the sky just as Tenzin landed. “There is good news and bad news, as they say,” she said, walking toward him. “Bad news?” “Four SUVs are heading this way, following the delivery truck that will be here within a few minutes.” Four. With three or four immortals in each SUV, that would mean anywhere between twelve and sixteen opponents. And four of them. Normally, he could handle that many on his own, but with the Elixir involved, the odds were unknown. “And the good news?” She grinned wide. “There’s a storm coming.”