No Man's Land (36 page)

“Are we in Virginia yet?” she grumbled.

Jaq shot her a quick grin. “Yes. We’re coming up on Leesburg in just a few miles. See? The city–limits sign is right there.”

“But I still smell the river.” Kelly frowned. Her insides felt like a rat was gnawing on them. Had she made a mistake? What if she got them all killed? Jonah had put his trust in her.
Jaq
had put her trust in her. So much could go wrong.

“Yes. You’re smelling the Potomac River, and before that Sleeter Lake and Crooked Run. Don’t you all have water in New Jersey?”

The ocean, which drowned out every other smell for miles with its complexity. All this fresh water smell was usually confined to what came out of the tap in her manager’s suite.

Farms gave way to rows of beautiful houses, surrounded by old–growth oaks and sweeping lawns. Jaq reached over and patted her hand as they led the line of trucks into downtown Leesburg.

“There’s a lot of houses,” the werewolf noted, an anxious edge to her voice. “I know it’s not my place, but I’m a bit worried whether anything’s going to remain standing after we’re done.”

Before Kelly could reply, a shriek hit her ears like a hammer, lancing pain through her skull. Jaq took her hands off the wheel and clutched them to the sides of her face, steering with her knees as she slowed and stopped in the middle of the street.

“What is that?”

Kelly couldn’t even hear her friend. The sound went on and on, like a high–pitched air–raid siren. Jaq winced in pain, but the vampire felt something deeper, aching within her insides. It built, pressing against her chest until she was gasping. An aura. A really, really old aura. Was the Master here to back up his son? Had the Prince made his attack early? And what was that painful noise?

The noise ended as abruptly as it began, the aura vanishing with it. Kelly leaned her head against the dashboard and dragged a welcome breath into her lungs.

“What was that?” Jaq repeated. Her voice sounded far away with a faint echo to it.

“I don’t know, but I think we need to scrap any early reconnaissance and find the vampires. I think there may have been an early attack.”

Jaq slammed the truck into gear and spun the tires in gravel as she drove onward. Downtown was oddly silent. Parked cars lined the road, but not a single person was seen walking the sidewalks or through the windows of the shops and brick row houses. Jaq’s nose flared, and she moved her head side to side as she drove, casting about for vampire scent.”

“Where is everyone?” Kelly wondered.

“Maybe they moved all the humans out to be safe from the attack? We do that sort of thing if we know ahead of time.”

Kelly shook her head. “Humans don’t know about vampires. And vampires certainly wouldn’t care if humans got killed in any fighting. In fact, they’d want to keep some close by for convenient feeding.”

The truck jerked to a stop as they rounded North Street. There, in front of a massive brick colonial–style building, was a large group of vampires — Fournier vampires.

“Shit!” Jaq went to put the truck in reverse only to see the line of vehicles behind her hindering her retreat.

Kelly felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. They weren’t fighting. They were just standing and …waiting.

“It’s over. Their intel must have been wrong because those are Fournier vampires, and although they look alert and ready to act, they’re not attacking anyone.”

“The humans,” Jaq whispered.

Kelly didn’t know what to say. She doubted they were
all
dead. That would be a terrible waste of resources, and if the Prince intended to keep this territory, he wouldn’t be doing the equivalent of salting the earth.

The vampires turned and spotted them the moment they came around the corner, and one broke away to walk toward their truck. Kelly squirmed with indecision. Should they try and make a run for it, abandoning the vehicles? If the Prince had won, then all deals with the previous Master were off the table. She and the werewolves would be vulnerable once again. More vulnerable.

An idea wormed its way through her mind. They still didn’t know she’d sided with the werewolves, or the Kincaid vampires. She still had a slim chance of redemption if she could work this in her favor. Jonah was in the truck behind them. Hand him over to the Prince and she’d surely be reinstated, perhaps even to her former position.

The thought made her sick. A few decades ago she wouldn’t have thought twice. Heck, a few weeks ago she wouldn’t have thought twice. But these werewolves trusted her —
Jaq
trusted her. They and the humans on Briar Lane were more family than these vampires in front of her ever had been. For the first time in her life, Kelly put aside her fear and summoned up her courage.

“Stay here,” she told Jaq as she opened the truck door. “Don’t come out until I say, and if things go bad, get everyone out of here fast. Especially Jonah.”

Jaq’s silvery eyes searched hers. “Be careful.”

The vampire did a double take when he saw her, his eyes wide with disbelief as he took in Kelly and the line of werewolves behind her.

“I am Kelly Demir, formerly Fournier and now representing the werewolf pack in the West Virginia territories.”

The vampire’s mouth dropped open. “You’re the castoff? The exile? The werewolves? Are you their lawyer or something?”

The guy was clearly not going to introduce himself, although Kelly was enjoying his shock. It helped her seize control of what was clearly a very lopsided situation.

“No. I’m their advisor and advocate when dealing with the adjoining territories.”

Now there were huge incredulous eyes to accompany the open mouth. He was a rather attractive Latino vampire, even with his tonsils clearly visible.

“But you …you should be dead. Or dying. Or ….”

Kelly waved his words away with an impatient hand. “Nonsense. Since I’d been unexpectedly dismissed from my former job, I found myself available for this interesting new opportunity. Back to the reason for my presence — I am acting on behalf of the werewolves, and we have a meeting with the Kincaid Master and Consort to discuss violations of the treaty and redress.”

The vampire managed to pull himself together, although it seemed to take great effort. “I am Juan Manjarez, second to the Prince of the Fournier family. I regret to inform you that Gideon Kincaid is no longer the Master of these territories.”

Kelly tensed. Her worst fears — Kincaid was dead, and the Prince had won. How to work this to her new family’s advantage and keep them safe? She could see Juan’s uncertainty. He would be wondering right now if it would be best for them to attack the werewolves, or to turn them away. She needed to make sure “attack” wasn’t an option.

“Ah. How unfortunate. I can see you are quite busy here tying up loose ends, so I’ll make a formal meeting request at a later, more convenient time.”

The vampire nodded, his shoulders relaxing. It bolstered Kelly’s confidence. If there was one thing she knew her way around, it was vampire politics and protocol. But there was one last thing she had to know before she turned everyone around to leave.

“May I ask — is the previous Consort no longer among the living? We had an open, unrelated matter with her concerning some money she was owed. I’d like to close that out if she is no longer alive to collect.”

A flash of greed in Juan’s eyes had Kelly biting back a smile. “She is now the Prince’s Consort. If the werewolves owe any payments to her, you can address that through his staff.”

The breath locked in Kelly’s lungs. Still alive? The woman she’d met just the night before had been adamant about her refusal of the Prince’s offer, yet she would have no other options if her current Master was dead. And Juan’s statement — Monica would be a powerless figurehead, unable to even negotiate repayment of personal debt. An ancient vampire shuffled from Master to Master and locked away. Kelly shuddered at the thought.

She should walk away, just get into the truck with Jaq, turn the werewolf convoy around and head back across the border. Instead she hesitated. The werewolves needed allies, and the memory of her conversation with Monica haunted her.

“I’m afraid matters progressed to the point where we would need her to personally turn the matter over to another. I’m sure you understand.”

“Of course. I’ll have a power of attorney over to you within the week.”

“If we could speak to her now, in person, it would save us all quite a bit of time.”

The vampire gnawed on his lower lip, his eyes darting toward the group behind him.

“It’s a considerable amount of money,” Kelly added softly. “Due to confidentiality, I can’t give the exact amount, but she seemed quite eager to collect.”

Juan sighed, once again glancing nervously backward. “Okay. Wait here and I’ll arrange for a quick meeting.”

Kelly heard the car door gently open and close behind her. Knowing it was Jaq, she tried to wave the woman back only to see her move up beside her.

“I heard. I’m going in with you,” she whispered.

And the other vampires probably heard it too. Kelly winced, but was unable to reply before Juan was back. The vampire looked at Jaq with narrowed eyes then ignored her and turned to address Kelly.

“The Consort is able to see you for a brief moment.”

“Thank you,” Kelly tilted her head, giving Juan a brief, tight smile. “I do apologize for this, but I’m afraid a werewolf must accompany me as a witness.”

Juan frowned. “I thought she was an offering for the Consort. She doesn’t smell like a werewolf.”

“I bathed today,” Jaq told him. It was all Kelly could do to keep from laughing.

Thankfully Juan accepted the explanation and turned to lead. Kelly tensed as they walked through the group of vampires gathered in front of the brick building that announced it held the law offices of Stubben and Mercer. About twenty Fournier surrounded the fifty Kincaid. Normally the Kincaid vampires would have prevailed with greater numbers, but with the Master dead, they all held back, clearly waiting to see the outcome of the regime change. Kelly wondered if they’d fight against the Prince if another claimed the position of Master. Probably not.

“The humans. What happened to the humans?” Jaq asked.

Juan ignored her, so Kelly repeated the question. He turned to her, pausing briefly in surprise.

“Humans? No idea. We haven’t seen any since we came into town. The Kincaids probably locked them away to starve us or something. We’ll find them.”

Jaq exchanged a relieved look with Kelly and continued on in silence as they walked past the last of the vampire group and up the front steps.

“Ten minutes,” Juan told them as he ushered them through the door and closed it firmly behind them.

The sound echoed through the room. Plush carpet spread out before them into a large open entryway that extended up both stories and halfway through the house. A sweeping staircase at the end of the room led to a second story toward at the rear of the house, and on either side, doorways indicated offices. It was what lay in the middle of the floor that caused both Kelly and Jaq to gasp. A body was neatly arranged on the carpet, blood staining its ebony skin. Next to it sat a monstrous creature cradling a head in its arms and rocking to and fro.

Monica’s illusion had vanished in her grief, and the woman before them was like something from a nightmare. Her body was skeleton thin, the bluish–gray skin tight over wiry sinew and bony joints. Hands with extra–long fingers clutched the head, caressing it with two–inch, yellowish talons. Her flesh was ripped in places, as if she’d clawed herself in grief, and black blood oozed sluggishly from the wounds. As she raised her bald head, milky–white eyes met Kelly’s, and the woman’s thin lips twisted, showing an entire mouth full of long fangs.

“Who? What?”

Kelly silenced her friend with a hand on her arm.

“Look what they did. How could they?”

With shaking hands, Monica loosened her tight hold on the head and placed it down against the corpse’s neck, as if she could somehow reattach it. Three times it rolled a few inches away, and each time she grabbed it, trying to keep it against the neck’s torn flesh. Finally she watched it roll and sighed, placing her hands on her knees and looking up at Jaq.

“Your kind, they often have the ability to heal, no? Angels do this. Some Nephilim do this. Please heal him. Please. I will do anything, give you anything. All my power, anything within my grasp will be yours if you do this for me. Please, I beg of you.”

Jaq swallowed hard, her voice shaking. “Ma’am, my healing doesn’t seem to work on vampires, and even if it did, I can’t do resurrection. I don’t think anyone, even angels, can do that.”

The woman seemed to crumple into a gray ball, her long fingers covering her face as she shook for a few moments in silence.

“They brought him back to me. At least they brought him back to me,” she said, her voice muffled through her hands. “The others they left dead by the road. Only Jared was spared to carry his dead Master. I should be grateful that they brought his body back and didn’t just pitch it into the water or throw it into the woods.”

Kelly took a sharp breath. This was bad. Monica had lost herself in grief. They’d be on their own once more, fighting a Prince who would now be a Master. Their fate seemed to be set, yet she still had to see if there was any other option.

“The Prince waits for you outside. Once you compose yourself and stand by his side, he’ll announce the transition and his assumption of the territory as Master.”

Monica nodded, pulling her hands away from her face. Kelly looked at Jaq and saw the werewolf nod at her in approval.
Well, here goes nothing.

“But before you go, I want you to know that I am here with eighty werewolves, including the Alpha to assist you. We came to accept your offer, to fight at your side. I hope that deal is still on the table.”

Milk–white eyes rose to hers in surprise. “I thank you for your offer of alliance, but I am only a Consort and am unable to meet the terms of the contract I put forth.”

Kelly shrugged. “Then be a Master. This territory seems to be lacking one at the moment.”