Zero Sum (47 page)

I was starting to worry when Rei made her reply known to them. A decapitated head came flying out of the sky. It landed next to me with a thwap. Troll by the look of it. His eyes had been gouged out.

“That’s plain nasty,” Hans commented. He lit another cigarillo and laughed.

A bloody claw grasped the edge of the deck. The tips of the fingers looked as sharp as blades.
 

Carrera’s lieutenant, Carlos Rojas, took a step back. “My God,” he muttered. “That’s a Nostophora Despierta. Containment circles.
Now
!” The mages scrambled into a strange formation. It looked like a tortoise shell made of hands. The Imperiti gunmen could only look at one another in confusion.

“Nonsense,” Anna shot back. “It’s just a naughty little girl.”

Trey stepped forward. Rei was already lifting herself into view.

Hans dropped his smoke.

I gaped.
 

Rei wore the remains of my jacket like a bloody cape. Her fangs had grown long, and fine membranous scales covered her flesh. They reflected light like delicate sheets of foil. Rei’s muscles flexed and quivered. She took air in quick shallow gasps.
 

The air around me grew electric. Spells were charging. Carrera’s goons weren’t taking chances. They would surround her and pummel her.
 

“Don’t you dare,” Anna snapped back at them. “She’s a royal.”

Catching my eye, Rei tried for a smile. Giant fangs don’t lend themselves to pleasantries. It looked like a snarl.

 
“Bravo,” Hans cheered. “You almost pulled one off, Baby Rays! Mazal tov!”
 

Anna, her hands knotted at her sides, gave Hans a withering glare.

“Sister,” Rei said in a fluid hiss. “Give me the magus.”
 

Anna didn’t reply. She stood ramrod still, her face unreadable. The two Bathorys passed the next ten seconds in utter silence. Vast oceans of killing intent tickled across my skin. I forgot to breath. I forgot to blink.

“Please?” Rei offered at last.

“What do you think you are doing?” Anna spoke quietly, but any fool could sense the rage burbling below. “Rei Acerba, this is a breach of our laws. The king has granted you no such allowance. In fact, you were explicitly ordered never to attempt a manifestation.” Her eyes blazing, Anna jabbed a finger in Rei’s direction. “You’re not fit to manifest, you muddy-blooded freak. Even Theodus acknowledges it.”

Rei cocked her head and the air grew cold. “Give. Me. The. Magus.”

Anna snarled, and her aura spread across the observation deck like a red-hot blast furnace. The air grew heavy. I struggled to breath. It felt like pound after pound of unforgiving mass was being piled directly on top of my chest. Rei stood firm, but she was like an ant fighting against a thumb.
 

“You will not embarrass us again,” Anna roared. “You shall answer to Theodus himself. Sir Easton, place Dame Rei Acerba under arrest.”

Trey nodded. “With pleasure, duchess.”

Trey had been itching. He burst forth, claws wide. The ground thudded under the weight of his legs, and he accelerated to a surprising speed. Rei seemed to let him close. Her hefty grey aura was blowing calmly in the breeze. But then I looked closer. Rei’s aura was shifting. It was quivering at the tips. At the last possible second, her whole aura flashed, her body shifted right, and she drew a hidden blade. The short sword was about two feet long and as transparent as a sheet of glass. In one fluid motion, Rei swept the white-hilted blade in front of her. An airy note sounded, and in the breathless silence that followed, there came a mournful refrain.

Trey Easton continued off the tower. He was in two pieces.

Setting her eyes on her elder sister, Rei sheathed her blade and smiled.

“You
lost
to Sheila?” I interjected.

Her eyes still locked on Anna, Rei shrugged. “It is much more difficult when your opponent has a brain.”

Enraged, Anna snatched me by the collar. “You little shit. You drew her a blade from the Midden? Who the
hell
are you?”
 

“The name’s Bond,” I replied. “James—”
 

Anna shook me like a Polaroid picture. My brain had started rattling pretty good (okay, I deserved it) when the temperature dropped below freezing. Rei snarled, and Anna froze in her tracks. I raised an eyebrow. Maybe she was right to. The air kinda smelled like magic.

“No more games,” Rei snapped. “Hand him to me
now
.”

My own hands still bound, I felt like a rack of ribs stuck between the jaws of two hungry dogs. The men from Talmax looked from Rei to Anna, not quite sure if they wanted a piece of this. Anna’s eyes strayed back to Carrera’s array. Her teeth clenched tight, she let out an angry hiss.

“Fine, sister,” she said with a vicious sneer. “Catch.”

Anna threw me right off the side of the building (which wasn’t very nice). I had time to get a nice view of the Strip, think about soiling my underpants, and make all sorts of promises to my new best friend, Jesus. Fortunately, Rei was up to the task. She caught me by the ankle and yanked me back to safety.

“Gotcha,” she exclaimed. I winced as her razor sharp digits cut into my flesh. Ignoring my howls, Rei tossed me over her shoulder and leapt down onto the lower perimeter ledge. A flurry of bullets flew past us. They were mere seconds from their mark. Hidden behind the barrier, Rei activated her wireless.
 

“The board is clear, captain. Begin your sortie,” she lisped. Tossing a grenade over the wall, she urged me forward. We ran for at least a hundred yards. There, safe behind some machinery, she cut my restraints with a flick of a finger and gave me a gleeful smile.

“An excellent diversion, no?”

“You sound like Cobra Commander.” My voice was strained. Rei looked even weirder up close. The huge fangs were scary as hell, and her fine, membranous scales were like nothing I’d ever seen before. Half of me wanted to touch them. The other half wanted to jump off the side of the building screaming “cooties!”
 

Rei noticed my attention and examined her arms. She shrugged. “I had hoped for black—but at least I did not get pink. Marie Antoinette was pink. It is considered a bad omen. Silver is fine, I guess. And I appear to have remained sane.” She looked at me, oblong pupils blown wide. “
Am
I still sane?”

I thought back to the decapitated troll head.
 

“In that you have not eaten my face, yes.”

“And might I say, that was a most excellent mana-shift, Dieter. You are a natural at wefting. And the same blade you procured for me in the warehouse. Thank you, kindly. It cut all my problems down to size.”

Rei broke out into the giggles.

So I had giddy Rei on my hands…wonderful.

I gestured at her new bodywork. “Is this normal?”

Rei stiffened. “I am not allowed to talk about it.”

I looked at her blandly. “Dudette. Seriously. You cannot go all scaly and say ‘no comment.’ Spill.”

Rei sighed. “Fine. To heck with protocol, we have already fucked the dog most severely.”

“More like chopped him in half.”

“Indeed…” Rei did a sweep of the area and knelt back down. “Dieter, we Nostophoros are not what you think.”

“Wait, you’re not children of darkness? How disappointing.”

“Actually, that’s close to the mark, but in modern parlance, we Nostophoros would be considered weapon systems.”

“Huh?”

“We were designed, Dieter.
Manufactured.
We are one of the products of foremutation, the last of the banned crafts. Recall Chancellor Eikhorn’s tale, Dieter. The legends tell of an enemy that outmatched humanity in every conceivable way. As a means of matching their power, a group of magi performed a series of foremutations on—” Rei turned her attention to her earpiece. “We need to move, Dieter. Strike Team A has arrived.”

Rei took my hand (carefully this time), and we headed around the perimeter to the North side of the building. My legs were shaky, but absolute terror is a great motivator.

“And me?” I asked, gasping for breath. “Hans just tried to turn me into a sanguinarian. Why didn’t it work?”

“Goodness, you are out of the loop. No one will be turning you, Dieter. You are of dhampir stock. Only a quarter, yes, but a dhampir nonetheless.”

“Jigga what?

“I guessed at your nature when I sampled your blood on the bus. That was why I risked healing your wounds at the warehouse. I confirmed your lineage when I met your father. I knew that man by sight. Kurtz is a dhampir. He is the progeny of a human and a Nostophoros. He is quite infamous.”
 

“I’m pretty sure he’s just a drunk.”

“One moment, Dieter.” Rei released my hand and shot forward like a cannonball. The unsuspecting troll was flying off the tower before he even knew what hit him. He gave a sad yowl as he plummeted to his end. Finished with her chore, Rei skipped back and grabbed my hand.
 

“I do
so
dislike trolls,” she commented.

“Agreed. But Rei, you should stop sending things off buildings. Didn’t your parents ever tell you to not toss pennies off skyscrapers?”

Rei looked surprised. “How did you know this? Father scolded me quite severely.”
 

“A wild guess. But back to what I was saying, I’ll give you that my father is on a liquid diet, but blood ain’t his poison.”

“Transference is a common way to address the addiction. Your father doesn’t work nights for fun, and he certainly doesn’t get beaten up in taverns. To think of Kurtz the Butcher trading punches with a bunch of inebriated Imperiti…” Rei patted me on the head. “There wouldn’t be anything left of them. You are quite clueless, Dieter. But perhaps it is best to have your father explain when he arrives. Out of respect for you, I’ll even promise not to kill him.”

“Um, thanks?”

Rei stopped at the northernmost point of the building. My chest was heaving, and I was grateful for the break. Explosions and weapons fire were erupting from the other side of the building. Lambda must have landed. Looking back at Rei, I did a double take. Her skin was back to normal.
 

“Do the…modifications, like, wear off?”

“Indeed. A manifestation requires a great deal of energy. It is as we discussed on the train, Dieter. Nothing is free. The weft-link merely permits us to share what mana we have.”
 

“So the link is back.”

Rei shook her head. She looked a tad unwell. “I restored it by accident.”

“
You
restored the link? You told me you couldn’t cast magic.”

“It was an accident. I reached out instinctively,” Rei tossed the white-hilted blade up into the air and caught it with her left hand, “and it just happened.”

My mouth dropped open. “You’re left-handed!”

“Indeed. It’s silly really, but I never even considered trying to cast
backwards
.” And no one would. You extract mana with your left hand. You never cast spells with it. Right-handed casting is dogma. I didn’t know a single mage that could cast with their left.

“Well, this could be good news. Link from Zelda is left-handed. He kicks some serious ass.”

“I can wield magic…” Rei said it as though she was trying out the idea with her mouth. She looked so relieved. “Thank you for nearly dying, Dieter.”

“No worries. I do it all the time. But what about the weft-link? Didn’t you want to snuff it out?”

“I did, but that may be impossible now. The weft-link has been used thrice: once by you in the warehouse, once by me as we dangled, and once again by you to cause my manifestation. The saying, third time’s a charm, exists for a reason. The weft-link is probably permanent now.” Rei took a deep breath and sighed. “But let us deal with the weft-link later. Right now we must attend to our duties.”
 

I nodded, not quite sure what to make of the news. I liked Rei, but to be weft to her permanently…

 
“The rest of Lambda has arrived,” Rei said. “The weft-pair of Collins and Masterson is with them. We have new orders. Monique and Lambda have established one front. We are to open a second behind the enemy. Can you sketch another translocation circle?”

“Sure thing. Who else is comin’ to the party?”

Rei grinned through her shrinking fangs. “A team from the ICE.” Relief washed over me. Amateur night was over. I pulled out my chalk and repeated the design Jules taught me. I finished it, tried to charge it, and frowned. I didn’t have any mana left. I’d sent Rei everything I had. Maybe one of the Talmax guys could spare me a light?

I turned to Rei. She was passing the time picking troll guts from her fingernails.

“Can you do it?”

Eyes still on her fingertips, Rei smiled. “Oh, dear. Impotence in the face of adversity, Dieter? How unbecoming.”

I crossed my arms. “I give you razor fingers for Christmas and this is the thanks I get?”

Rei chuckled. “Very well. I shall attempt it.” She sheathed her blade and crawled over. Furrowing her brow, she pointed her left hand at my circle.
 

The seconds ticked away.
 

My nerves grew frayed.
 

Grass grew.
 

Paint dried.
 

I considered screaming.
 

Then Rei gasped. A tiny burst of mana squirted out of her palm. The bead of yellow gold crawled toward the sphere like a tiny balloon lost in the wind. I watched nervously as the mana teetered between priming the circle and going to mana heaven. A subtle pop indicated success.

I turned to Rei and whispered, “That was seriously lame.”

She stuck up her nose. “My most explosive ally, that was a work of finesse—a concept you are wholly unfamiliar with.”

“Says the girl who just eye-gouged a troll.”

“He looked at me queerly.”

Rei and I scurried away from the circle and gave Maria the okay.

“Remember, Dieter. As far as anyone else is concerned, we are not partners.”

“Relax, kumpadre. I like my skin right-side out too.”