Pack of Strays (The Fangborn Series Book 2) (20 page)

I finally thought of something constructive to do. It didn’t make me happy, but it was the best I could manage.

I called Adam Nichols.

He answered almost immediately. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “No. Barely. Adam …” I broke into tears at last; I’d kept it together this long, from hell and back, then down to the market and back.
Focus on what you can solve,
I kept thinking. But how did you solve for the end of the world? I wondered what Vee had seen and if it was anything like my last vision.

I slowed and stopped, finally. Adam had been saying my name over and over. I would have given anything for him to be with me right now.

That wasn’t going to happen, so again I focused on what I could solve.

I could tell the world what was going on, starting with Adam.

I took a deep breath, gathering myself. “You remember that thing I ran into in the complex near Ephesus? What do you know about it?”

“The thing Knight’s errand boy Zimmer brought home? I wasn’t in on the meeting, but we think it’s something the Order is using.”

“Yeah, only they have a lot more of them.” I described the way they fought and how the second creatures I’d seen seemed much more advanced. “Jacob Buell was there, too. He’s the one who’s deploying them.” I took another breath. It did help to focus on the immediate. “Why would he show me that video of the village, if he was responsible for it?”

“Because he wanted to know what you knew about them,” Adam said promptly. “How secret they still were. What do the Fangborn know about them?”

“As of a week ago, they know these things exist. And they now know there are a lot of them being shipped off somewhere.” I shuddered. Closed my fingers into fists, protectively, aggressively. “There’s more.” I told him about Toshi’s losses.

Adam lowered his voice. “When are you coming back, Zoe?”

Now,
I thought.
Right this fucking instant, I’ll be on the first thing smoking at the airport, if you’ll be there to pick me up.
I took a couple of breaths. “A couple of days, at least. If you can get the word to the people who might need to know it, I think that would
be good. Adam, if we’re right, this is going to happen on Oct
ober 7
.
We need all hands on this. And there’s more bad news. Claudia Steuben says the TRG is splitting into factions.”

“I know.” There was a long hesitation. “Zoe, I’m in Washington right now.”

Ice water in my stomach. “Doing what, exactly?” I tried to keep my voice calm. He was on Senator Knight’s home turf, and I feared the worst.

“Helping contain the wreckage of the TRG.” Another long hesitation. “My mother is a good friend of Senator Knight.”

Oh, no, no, no … 
“Um, okay,” was the best I could do.

“She’s … she’s … in the House, that’s how I ended up working for him in the first place.”

That was his secret, that’s what he had been keeping from me.

He rushed on. “I took a chance and told her about what’s going on. She’s technically not supposed to know about the Fangborn, but I was right to do so. For one thing, she agrees with me that Buell has to be stopped. For another, Knight—”

I held my breath. A senior government official who wasn’t authorized to know about the Fangborn … who else had she told? Were we already too late? I tried to keep it together, think about how Adam might be trying to help, that he wasn’t exacerbating the situation. I said, “For another, we will almost certainly need help from someone with her connections if we stand any chance of stopping Knight or the Order and protecting civilians.”

“Right.” Relief colored his voice. “It
was
taking a chance, but I had to do something.”

“I think we’ll all be taking too many chances soon, but … she won’t go to Knight?”

“Absolutely not. She’s devastated to learn what he plans. And Mom is not one to stand idly by when she’s angry.”

“Okay.” That was something anyway. Exhaustion was about to sweep me off my feet. “Adam … I’m beat. I have to go. I …”

“I … I miss you, Zoe.” Adam said it like he was defying
himself
.

“Me, too,” I said in so small a voice, I must have been hoping for the truth of the statement. “Take good care of yourself.”

“Zoe, I—”

I hung up. There might be feelings we should discuss, but we didn’t have time for feelings.

I went out to the kitchen, where everyone but Toshi had gathered. “Okay, I’ve let Adam Nichols know what’s happened and what might be about to happen. If he’s not still working with Knight, Adam may have the connections we need to help mitigate whatever the Order is making those things for.”

No one said anything. There weren’t any “best” choices anymore; we could only work toward stopping the Order or minimizing their damage to the Fangborn, to the world. I remembered the face of the woman in New York: What would you do if you were faced with thousands of superhero vigilantes with an instinct to kill? Would the super-Fellborn look any different? Would Normals stop to make the distinction? The idea that we
might
have other allies was the only happy thought in the bunch.

“I called Gerry and told him,” Claudia said. Her scars were puckering but still visible.

This brought my head up in a panic. “Are you sure he—”

“I told him my theories about you and about what happened. He didn’t like it but agreed it made sense.” She paused. “He did ask me if I needed him to walk Chewie for me.”

“Is Chewie like asking about ‘Fluffy?’” Danny asked. “Or
doing
laundry?”

“If you mean, was he asking if I was in trouble, yes. Gerry
is
Chewie. People in Salem think I have a very large,
very
wolflike dog named Chewie. I think I convinced him I was okay. He’s going to get in touch with those Cousins who are sympathetic to our
politics
, and they’ll bring it to the rest of the Family. Everyone needs to know, regardless of their position on Identity.”

Toshi came in from the veranda. He still hadn’t eaten anything, and he was still in bloody rags. He sat down and shoved away a plate of food. Claudia put her hand on his back.

We all waited to hear what he’d say.

“I let my people know, and they’ll help spread the word.” His voice was gruff.

“Toshi, what did the last … prisoner … tell you?” Danny asked.

The vampire was silent for so long, I didn’t think he’d reply. “She said … she was a close Cousin of mine. Alexandra.” He took a deep breath. “There were two things. Buell and the Order are using hellebore to break down Fangborn DNA and then alter it to splice with human DNA to make those things. They’re hoping for another even faster, smarter ‘model’ before too long.”

“Did she know anything about the Boston plan?” Vee asked.

He shook his head. “The other thing … was personal.” And that’s all we were going to get from him on that. “My folks, they’ll mobilize Family on the West Coast and Pacific Asia.”

Vee asked, “What are their politics about I-Day?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said dully. “Nothing like that matters now. It’s us versus them.”

Which meant Toshi’s people were pro-Identity and for bringing us to public awareness sooner rather than later. I had a horrible thought that by “them” he was lumping all Normals together. I put the matter aside. Identity was second to stopping the coming carnage.

“Anyone you know might be able to help, Vee?” I asked. “Are you in contact with
any
Family?”

“My immediate family are all dead, killed in the line,” she said bluntly. “I cut off the rest of my ties with the Family years ago. So, unless you want me raising the Normals—various geekdoms, fandoms, and techies—you’re the only Fangborn connections I have.”

She wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at Danny. He took her hand; she dropped her eyes but squeezed his hand back. My heart ached to see it.

I suddenly realized why her snoring had been so awfully erratic. It had been Toshi, sleeping in the other room the last few nights. Vee had been with Danny.

Holy shit—

He hadn’t told me.

Was I okay with this? Did I need to be? Was it my business? I hadn’t mentioned Adam …

It would be so nice if he found someone—

That was quick—

Holy—

Claudia broke into my thoughts. “I also started to get the word out to the European and African Cousins.” She looked out the
window
; I thought I saw her cheeks flush. “A friend of mine,
Fergus
O’Malley, will be joining us tonight. He’s already on his way from Ireland. If it’s okay with you, Danny, he’ll stay here?”

“Sure.”

“He’ll be in late, so I’ll do the introductions tomorrow—”

Oh, jeez. Now, Claudia’s got a boyfriend, too?
I thought. I tried to think about it in terms of her getting us backup, not in terms of her needing comforting. I didn’t like to think of Claudia as needing reassuring.

Jealousy erupted after fear.
I wanted a boyfriend. I wanted consolation.
I wasn’t certain I was a good enough person at the moment to be glad my friends had love, not when Adam was asking me when I’d be back.

“Tomorrow we—what?” I asked, ashamed of my envy. “Continue to work on raising the alarm, getting the word out, information to the Families. Trying to track down where that truck
was goin
g.”

Danny looked around. “Anyone got any other ideas? Do we let the TRG know?”

“Danny,” Claudia said. “The TRG was shut down. Officially, yesterday. Gerry just told me.”

We exchanged hollow looks.

“What does that mean?” I asked. “How, shut down?”

“Because of the connection Knight had with Porter’s research long ago. They couldn’t be sure if the Order had any spies there. They closed the offices, and everyone else has been told to look elsewhere for work.”

It was essentially the closing down of an embassy, the breakdown of formal relations between the United States and the
Fangborn
Families.

“I wonder …” Danny said. “I may know some guys who will be useful.”

I shook my head. “How do you know? You were there less time than I was.”

“Trust me.”

Vee smiled to herself, a smile no one else was meant to see.

I said, “Okay. Let me know before you do anything, all right?”

“No problem,” he said. He was the first one to look like he had a purpose since we’d returned.

“We should try and get some sleep,” I said. “Maybe
tomorrow
we can determine whether the container ship is heading for
Boston
.”

October 7 was less than a week away, but we had to sleep if we were going to heal, regroup, and fight.

Chapter Fifteen

I wouldn’t have bet I could sleep, but I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. I remember a dream that seemed to do with trying to kill ants in a kitchen … and then …

It wasn’t the lab, this time. That would have been familiar, reassuring. This was the same utter darkness I remembered from my first night in Istanbul. That accented voice resonated inside my head.

“Hello again. You’re the one I’ve never met before.”

It took me a minute to understand the voice, as though my brain were trying to tune in precisely to the right station. “I guess so.”

“You have a curious voice. Where are you from, stranger?”

“Massachusetts. The States.”

“Which states?”

“Um, the United States of America.” I felt silly, rolling out the whole name like that. Sounded pompous. “Why can’t I see you? Where are we?”

“Ah, yes. I have heard of it. I have distant kin there, I believe.” A rustling, clinking. “Open your eyes. I’m over here.”

I opened my eyes but didn’t see anyone. I didn’t see Danny’s place or my body, either. What I saw was a hilly piece of land, a mountaintop overlooking foothills. “Okay, but where is this?”

“It’s near a place called Prusa. I think it may be called Bursa? I am far from my home, which was near Gobekli Tepe.”

“Ah.” Which didn’t tell me a whole lot. “And what is your name?”

“You may call me Quarrel.”

An argument or a crossbow bolt—neither boded well for me. “What—forgive me for being impolite … Quarrel—what exactly ar
e you?”

“Nearly the same as you. I failed to become what you may y
et be.
”

“I don’t understand—”

“Come see me. It will be easier in person. Come very soon; there is great need for haste.”

“But—how? Like this, in a dream?”

“No dream, this. Visit me tomorrow, if possible. I can tell
you mu
ch.”

The voice was fading; our contact was ending. “Wait!”

“And … you may be able to help me, too. Come soon.”

I woke up with a start, drenched in sweat. I scrabbled for a piece of paper and a pen to write down what I remembered from the dream before it slipped away—but it was a vision, not a dream. I remembered everything exactly as it had transpired the moment before.

I finished jotting down my notes and then took out my phone, trying to find out where Prusa was. Turns out it
was
the old name for Bursa, so Quarrel was someplace to the south of that.

A knock at the door. “Come in.”

It was Claudia, wearing a man’s shirt. She looked like she hadn’t been sleeping much.

“Fergus arrived then?” I asked. “Everything okay?”

“Thanks, yes. I saw the light in here. I thought I’d see how you’re doing.”

I was about to say “fine” again, but instead, the words came out in a rush. “I am fucked up, Claudia, to tell you the truth. I just had a—well, another vision.” I told her briefly about the voice, the visions.

“You said ‘another.’ Were the other ones accurate?”

“I don’t know. Some occurred in the past, and some were places that appeared to me only as they existed in the past. Some … told me to come here, which was either very important or very stupid or both.” Finally, I nodded. “Every time I’ve followed up on it, I’ve found more information. More artifacts, but more trouble. I should visit Bursa, even if it means delaying my return home.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “I think so.” I followed her glance at the jewels on my shoulder, showing because my T-shirt had slipped. “May I?”

I resisted the urge to cover it again. “Just don’t … poke it. It reacts poorly to perceived aggression.”

“I won’t.”

She probed delicately, no more pressure than if she was looking at a newly healed wound. She was a doctor after all, part of her psychiatry training. “Same as the bracelet. Feeling okay?”

I couldn’t help it; I laughed. “Yes. No. You know, a little
mystical
armor, a few visions, powers I can’t manage entirely. But I’m hanging in there.”

She indicated the foot of the bed. “You mind?”

“Please,” I said.

She sat. “What can I do?”

I thought a moment. “I need to know more of what I am, both so I can put that part of my journey aside and so I can use some of these abilities to stop the Fellborn.”

“Okay.”

“So I need to talk to someone, and you’re the best option. Got an hour or two?”

“Sure.”

I hugged my knees. “I don’t want you to talk to me like a therapist—the time will come when I’ll need those skills, I’m sure. What I need now is to address what I think is going on in the world and what I should do about it.”

Claudia opened her mouth, then closed it.

I shook my head, almost smiling. “Okay, that sounds pretty much like I’m asking for therapy, but for now, unless I’m actually hallucinating, let’s say it’s actually mostly external, okay?”

She nodded. “Okay. I’ll hear as a friend and a peer, until I think you show me you’re totally off your nut.”

I was grateful for the laugh. It didn’t last long. I settled back, sighing.

“I’m changing, Claudia, and I know it. Not only physically, but … the way I decide things. I’m not more bloodthirsty, but more … ruthless? And it’s not even a decision or a slow-learning process. Just an instinct that’s kicking in. I don’t know if this is what vampires and werewolves used to be, but I’m worried. It’s not Fangborn-feeling, not to me, not from what I understand it’s like for you and the others. I don’t like it. But right now … it’s serving me, I think, helping me get ready for what is coming down the pike. God help me, I believe it’s worse than one little stray with delusions of grandeur. I don’t like the way it’s making everyone react to me—”

“Zoe—”

I rushed on before I lost my nerve. “When we were in Greece, Ariana told me about prophesies that talked about the ‘unchaining’ of the Fangborn. And how I might be a part of that. You
remember
?”

“I remember,” she said cautiously.

“I don’t know how much credence I should put into those prophesies, but it seems like a lot of people believe them or at least are using them for an excuse. I’ve decided I’m going to set the prophesies aside and focus on what I know is real. So I need to know two things.”

“What are they?”

“Is there a way to get people to stop reacting to me … the way I am now? And if there is, am I going to make things better or worse by being what I am?”

Claudia was quiet for a moment. I was asking a lot from her, and we both knew it.

Finally she said, “I don’t know. I
can’t
know, unless …”

I nodded. “Unless you bite me.”

Claudia sighed. “I think that’s the most reliable way. I know my feelings—toward you, toward the bracelet and what it’s doing to you—are mixed and colored by whatever the TRG used to spike my punch. That’s been at war with what I know I knew of you before. So, yes. Blood is the answer.”

I squeezed my arms, hugging my knees tighter. “There’s no way, really, to anticipate whether what you taste won’t make you, uh, you know …” I didn’t want to think the words, much less s
ay the
m.

“Tear you limb from limb? Nope.” She shrugged. “You’ll have to rely on my profound awareness and renowned self-restraint.”

Anyone who hadn’t met Claudia in her sternest librarian-plus chignon, in “casual” clothes that were more severely tailored than anything I ever owned, would have doubted her now. Her hair was loosely knotted onto itself and she was wearing one of Fergus’s shirts instead of a robe.

I really didn’t want to do this, but there was no choice. I
nodded
, and tried to make light of it. “Yeah, great. I need to rely on the word of a
vampire
. A vampire who killed a whole
flock
of
monsters
earlier today and who’s just called in a surgical strike booty call from a thousand miles away.”

The look on Claudia’s face was amazing. She went from disapproving to properly offended to downright dangerous, and all the shades in between, in about a half second. Then she figured out I was joking. She smiled, but looked a little uncertain as she did so.

Probably wasn’t a good idea to tease Claudia right before doing what I was going to ask her to do. But at least she knew it was still me, under all the fancy jeweled plates.

“You want to wake up Toshi or Fergus or Vee?” she asked. “If I do … discover something I don’t like and react to it, maybe they could stop—”

“No, let’s see how it goes.” I was already nervous enough without an audience. Letting a vampire do exploratory tasting on you, when neither of you knows what you are, is highly
dangerous
.

Plus, I was gonna lie to Claudia.

Not so much lie, because I knew what I was. I was going to try to improve her impression of me. Maybe not wise, but maybe it would save my life.

“Where?” I asked, holding out my right wrist hopefully.

She shook her head. “Closer to the heart is better.”

I nodded, slid my T-shirt farther down my shoulder, and leaned toward her. Claudia rolled up the too-long sleeves of her shirt, then brushed my hair back. I saw her face becoming less human, more snakelike, with wide-apart eyes, pinpoint nostrils, and violet scales and purple-black hair, as she, without hesitation, sank her fangs into my neck.

Being bitten is less painful than getting a shot, if the vampire
wants it so. It was, however, very strange to have my friend
Claudia’s
lips close on my skin, feel her breath on my neck.

I could almost follow her thought processes as she worked, both because of my vampiric empathy and because she was one of the most potent young vampires I’d ever met. So when I sensed her reacting to me—as I had in encountering the beast in Ephesus, in the grotto, in the warehouse—I tried something.

The timing had to be just right, because if Claudia didn’t get derailed in a hurry, she was going to take a chunk out of me. She was already growling. Since panic or physical threat to me seemed to trigger and enhance the bracelet and other elements of the
artifacts
, I’d either have to do this just right, let her kill me, or I’d be forced to hurt or kill her.

There,
I thought with a shiver.
Panic enough.

I went back to the lab. Ever since I’d been tortured by Buell, I’d been able to go back to the lab whenever I wanted. I knew it was a metaphor. Good. I was fine with metaphors, and until I had a better understanding of what I was and what I could do, until I was “complete,” I’d use this.

The archaeology lab. Modeled on the first place I’d learned to improvise, manipulate, and repair the materials of those long dead.

I started looking in all the drawers, then the cupboards that weren’t locked, trying to find something that might help me change Claudia’s mind. A little glamour, a little believe-me venom, something. Anything.

Claudia growled again, a whole lot louder. I actually felt her tear the flesh a little, felt myself respond, wanting to get aggressive. I also felt a kind of charge building in me, waiting to be released—the bracelet was gearing up. Interesting, now that I knew to look for it.

The energy was building to a blast.

Whoa, Zoe.

I backed off, focused on calming myself outside, in Danny’s guest room. Tried to extend my outward calm to Claudia. Maybe it was my imagination, but she seemed to relax a whit. Just enough to make me think she wouldn’t bite clean through my neck, breaking my collarbone, spilling …

Time to chill, Zoe.

Trying not to worry about how much time I had, I found my way back to the lab.

It calmed
me
to be here. I continued looking, on the lookout for something different now, something like …

That.

I knew as soon as I opened the cupboard, it was what I needed. I now knew, somehow, that the geometric-patterned mosaic I’d found in Istanbul had been taken from a villa somewhere in North Africa and dated to the early third century.

I picked up one of the tesserae and knew immediately that I couldn’t change what Claudia thought about me, but I could manipulate what I found inside myself. And that might be the thing that convinced her.

The mosaic tiles responded with a glow, as if they liked the way I was thinking. I wasn’t sure what to do with them—eat them, break them, stuff them up my nose—but then I reasoned:
this is my mind. What would I do with an artifact?