Demon Driven (27 page)

“Here, hold this carefully and don’t let
anything press on that button!” I said.

She nodded, her eyes a little wild and her
hands shaking as she took the remote from me like it was a live
grenade, which, actually, it kinda was.

Somewhere, in the last few seconds, my
goggles had gotten knocked askew, so I pushed them up and out of
the way while I looked Dr. Schmidt over. My own wound was just
starting to make its presence known, but the bleeding had stopped
and I could feel the muscle tissue knitting itself together. It
itched.

Dr. Schmidt didn’t have the assistance of the
V-squared virus to help her, so it was up to me. I glanced first at
Roy, who after his first flinch at my appearance had only widened
his eyes slightly. I didn’t doubt he recognized my eyes and voice.
I also had a feeling he might know a bit about my abilities, being
married to Gina and all. The slight figure of his boss rested
firmly in his arms and I moved my gaze to her face. She regarded me
calmly, her eyes bright, her skin very pale. Meanwhile the white of
her blouse was fast being overtaken by the widening pool of
red.

I had spent my aura lavishly to make the
explosives inert, and the reserve I had left was scant.
Nonetheless, I reached deep inside and gathered all that I could,
then pushed it through my right hand and into Dr. Schmidt’s
abdomen, closing my eyes and commanding her body to respond.

For the space of a double handful of her
rapid heartbeats nothing happened. But ever so slowly, I felt a
response. The bleeding slowed, blood clotted and bacteria released
from her digestive tract died. It wasn’t a lot, but I hoped it
would save her long enough for the professionals to get to her.

“You, what’s your name?” I asked the
assistant principal.

“Sssonja,” she said with a shaky voice.

“Well, Sonja, I need you to stay with Dr.
Schmidt. I’m gonna just pop those front doors open and then Roy and
I are going to get the kids in the gym moving out of here. You need
to make sure the EMTs get to your boss as soon as they come in.
Okay?”

She looked at me, her brown skin going pale,
till I thought she might faint. Then she shook herself, blinked a
few times and finally, nodded.

“Roy, let Sonja hold Dr. Schmidt. Her
bleeding has stopped and help is just outside this door,” I said,
not mentioning that the help had lots of guns pointed in our
direction.

* * *

The double doors to the school had been
wrapped in heavy steel linked chain, the ends welded together.
There was no sign of the welder lying around and I didn’t want to
waste time looking for it, so I blocked the others view with my
body. Then I formed just enough of a mono edge on my right hand to
slice through the links. It was about all I could do, as my aura
was spent and my energy was flagging quickly.

The police band radio that Takat had given me
was still in my pants pocket, so I pulled it out and pressed the
talk button.

“
Building is clear. EMT assistance
required for one female, aged fifty-five, abdominal wound. Students
will be egressing immediately.”

I turned off the volume as the immediate
request for identification came back, kicked open the front doors
and then grabbed Roy by the arm(gently), leading him back to the
gym.

* * *

The students and faculty were only too happy
to leave and they quickly blocked the hall from wall-to-wall in a
steady, but basically calm rush out of the school. The teachers
were impressive. Virtually every one of them concentrated on
getting their young charges out of the building, although more than
a few shot anxious glances at my black garbed appearance.

I stood in the back, blocking the bodies of
the first two terrorists as best I could. Nothing to be done about
the rest of them, but the kids were averting their eyes pretty much
on their own.

“Are you okay?” Roy asked, pointing at my
leg.

“Yeah, I’ll be just fine. You need to get
your students out and Roy….It’ll go a lot smoother if you don’t
mention that you have any idea who I am,” I said.

He nodded after a moment, then stepped
forward and grabbed my hand.

“Thank you!” he said simply.

“Not a problem. Glad I was handy,” I
said.

He pointed at my head, reminding me that my
googles were still off my eyes and then turned, shepherding the
last of his kids out the door.

* * *

I waited till he had gone around the corner,
then moved under the heating duct. I needed to jump about thirty
feet straight up to get my arms over the lip of the duct. Normally,
that would be easy, but my right leg wasn’t a hundred percent, or
even eighty percent. Nothing for it but to try.

My first attempt got me about halfway, the
landing sending searing pain through my thigh. The berserker was
back in his cage and the sensation of pain had arrived as he
left.

I was still thinking about my dilemma, when a
breeze swirled around me, and an image of myself leaping
spastically toward the ceiling and failing popped in to my head,
accompanied by an amused feeling.

“Sure, very funny! Ha ha! Go ahead, laugh at
the wounded guy!” I said in mock anger to the giant invisible form
of my bear.

His massive head butted my chest, about
knocking me off my feet. He sniffed my leg, snorted loudly and sent
another image. This one had me standing on invisible shoulders and
being lifted toward the ceiling above. I found that one more to my
liking.

If someone had walked in and seen me hovering
fourteen feet above the floor of the gym, no amount of bullshit
slinging would have gotten me out of it. But no one showed, and
with the added height of a standing Okawari, I made the jump to the
top of the duct, my arms Clinging to keep from slipping back on the
dust covered aluminum.

The bag of gear came in handy now, the blue
NYPD raid jacket covering my black form and lending me some
credibility for being on scene. I secured the climbing rope to a
handy tie down spot, then threw it over the rear wall of the
school. Holding it in my hand, I pretended to fast-rope down the
building to the street. Someone was bound to see me and this made
it look like a normal SWAT type descent, rather than what it was, a
freaky human-vampire hybrid running down a wall. Pulling off my
face mask, I headed away from the building as quick as I could
without running or looking suspicious. The mass of children in the
front of the building were absorbing most of the attention,
although a few law enforcement types glanced my way. I made it to
the next street over before a squad car pulled in front of me and a
pair of slim arms grabbed me and yanked me into the back seat.
Lilac and jasmine scented air swirled around my head as a quiet
voice said:

“Drive!” and the car peeled away.

Chapter 28

A small part of me noticed that this time,
Chet was driving. Most of my attention was centered on the very
intense, very concerned blue eyes that were alternately examining
my wound and flashing with anger.

Tanya shook her head at the speed of my
healing. It obviously wasn’t fast enough, as she nipped her right
wrist with her razor sharp canines and pressed it to my mouth
before I could blink. So that’s what fast looks like. I was so used
to slow humans, slower weres and young vamps that I had forgotten
how fast she was.

Her small hit of blood had its usual effect,
massively accelerating my healing systems. She pulled her wrist
back and shook her head.

“You are an idiot!”

Not the loving declaration I was hoping
for.

“Look someone had to help those kids, and I
am the only one who can diffuse explosives from fifty feet away!” I
responded.

“Christian Gordon, I didn’t wait my whole
life for you just to have you blown up by terrorists!” her eyes
blazed cerulean blue with anger. Then she softened a little. “But
you’ve spent your whole life basically saving people, haven’t
you?”

“Everyone but the ones that counted,” I said,
seeing my family’s faces in my mind’s eye.

She nodded in understanding, her face so
beautiful it almost hurt to look at.

“What I really meant, Christian, was that
you’ve just added fuel to the fire. The government will know it was
you and this will just scare them all the more!” she said.

“Scare them? I just solved a terrorist
problem for them! Why would that scare them?” I asked,
astonished.

She shook her head slowly, then looked to the
front seat.

“Chester, would you explain? He doesn’t seem
to being hearing what I’m saying.”

I realized that I hadn’t heard anything from
the normally loquacious Chester during the whole trip.

His nervous eyes met mine in the rear-view
mirror.

“Ah, well, dude, I think Tatiana means that
you, like, just wasted eight heavily armed dudes, who had a
fortified, booby-trapped position, in like less than a minute! And
they, the feds, don’t control you, you’re a wild card!” he
said.

It struck me that Chet was scared. He had
only met Tanya twice, briefly, and she would probably have been
somewhat…forceful…in requiring his assistance. But his eyes were
watching me, more than her.

“Thank you, Chester! Just what I wanted to
say. And you must call me Tanya, no?” she instructed.

He nodded and kept driving, with Tanya giving
him turns and directions occasionally, while I thought about what
she had said and Chet’s reactions.

I
had
just killed eight soldiers in
the terror war. Armed men, with training and preparation. And it
had taken considerably less than a minute. My balaclava and gloves
would have prevented direct identification, but I had left a little
blood behind and God knows how much information CSI types could
pull from a scene these days. And
that
scene would be locked
down and examined with a microscope. The transmutation of the
explosives would tell General Creek and his new buddies, Roma and
Duclair, who the operator had been long before any test results
came back.

So, the government now had an individual
running loose, with the abilities of a vampire (a fairly old one)
plus this freaky purple aura power,
and
a companion who was
essentially a minor god, one that could penetrate any security and
destroy any target at will! I was screwed!

I started to get panicky, my mind racing
through all the possible ways they could come at me, all the assets
they would throw in my direction.

Tanya was watching my face and she could tell
the direction of my thoughts as easily as she could feel my
terror.

It’s funny that seven months ago, I had faced
imminent death without much concern, but now I had so much more to
lose, most of which was sitting next to me. Before going too far
down that path, I became aware of warmth on my chest. The Tear of
God was suddenly noticeably warm to the touch.

Almost immediately my panic slid away, washed
from me by a wave of determination. I
would
find a way to
make this all work.

Tanya looked at me in surprise as she felt my
emotions change, then she reached over and touched the Tear through
my shirt.

“Wow! Is that what it does?” she asked,
astonished.

“You felt something from it?” I asked. I knew
she could feel my emotions, but I was surprised she could feel the
Tear.

“Dude,
I
felt it from up here!” Chet
said.

“Chet, let’s drop Tanya off and then drop me
at my place. I gotta call some wolves about taking a trip. I need
to see my adviser! No offense to Lydia or Senka, but I will do
better with Gramps.”

Tanya nodded.

“I think Senka might be a bit too rattled to
give you the best advice. Seeing your Gramps is a really good idea,
plus it’ll get you out of the city.”

“Senka is rattled?” I asked.

She looked at me for a moment then
sighed.

“Lydia is right. You’re smart, except when
it’s about you, then you get kinda dumb,” she said, in
exasperation. “Chris, how old am I…in vampire years?”

“Huh? You’re twenty-three, same as your birth
years, ‘cause you were born a vamp,” I replied.

She nodded like I was slow witted. “And would
you say I’m advanced for twenty-three, vampire wise?”

“You’re kidding, right? You’re just about
equal with the two oldest vampires on the planet!”

“And how advanced are you, in relation to
your vampire type abilities?” she asked.

“Well not probably to your level….” I petered
off, starting to get her drift.

“Actually, I think you’ve just had a burst of
growth, ‘cause you’ve been doing things that I’ve never heard of
before. But how old are you….in vampire years?” she asked.

“Well, I’m not yet a year old…if you look at
it from that point of view.” Which I hadn’t.

“So, vampires have been amazed by my
progress, but they understand there is something about being a born
vampire that caused it. You, my dearest, aren’t even a year old and
you scare the hell out of Senka and Tzao! Well, not so much Tzao.
She’s kinda proud, actually.”

I turned this over in my head, wondering why
I hadn’t ever thought it through before.

“But if I’m not a year yet, what will I be
like in five years? Or ten?” I wondered out loud, appalled by the
thought.

“Exactly! That’s what’s freaking Senka out!”
she said.

Something she had said earlier popped back
into my head.

“Wait! Why is Tzao proud?”

“Well, that research I’ve been doing, the
stuff with the German records, has indicated that there was a
vampire in the camp where your grandfather was kept. A Japanese
vampire.”

“So, Tzao thinks that the viral change in my
DNA came from a Japanese vamp -- one of hers?”