Dark Tomorrow (Bo Blackman Book 6) (25 page)

‘Well,’ he says, ‘that’s interesting. You see, I…’

I launch myself at the mirror, aiming smack bang at the centre where the glass will be weakest. It’s neither reinforced nor bullet proof ‒ and it’s certainly not Bo Blackman proof. I guess that when this place was built they never expected it would be the scene of their final showdown. There’s a loud crack as the glass shatters. I ignore the shards and leap through towards three shadowy figures.

I hear a bang and fling myself sideways to avoid the shot. I’m too slow, though, and the bullet grazes my shoulder. I wince in pain and shake myself. It’ll take more than that to bring me down. There are whoops and war cries as the other vampires flood through from outside. William abandons Billie in favour of leaping after me.

I straighten up and cast my gaze across the three figures. There’s the human man whom I remember from the street confrontation; he is holding the gun. Stephen McIntyre’s skinny teenage frame lurks next to him, together with Scarlet, the hybrid witch, who has magic sparking up all around her.

The vampires fan out on the other side of the destroyed mirror, each one ready to spring towards us and help win the day. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this powerful before.

‘You’re outnumbered,’ I say, focusing my attention on the fake teen.

He smirks but he can’t quite pull it off; he might look like an adolescent but his attitude doesn’t match his appearance. I’ve spent enough time around real teenagers lately to tell the difference. Real puberty is a one-time deal, no matter what age your body might be. Now I know the truth, I wonder how I could have ever believed he was a kid.

‘Sure,’ he says easily, ‘we’re outnumbered. But I still have the upper hand.’ He raises his hand; clasped in his fingers is a remote control.

Before I can do anything, he presses a button. A shutter begins to rise on the other side of the tiny room. I suck in a breath when I see what it reveals.

It’s another two-way mirror. This one looks into a long room filled to the gunnels with pallets wired up to complicated-looking computer monitors. On each pallet a body lies, eyes closed as if asleep. Most are white haired and wrinkled, but not all.

‘One hundred and thirty-two ancients,’ MacIntyre says. ‘The souls have been swapped but we keep the bodies in stasis. It’s tidier that way.’ He points. ‘You see the one nearest us?’

I glance at the sleeping body. It’s a gaunt-looking man with pasty cheeks and the pallor of death. ‘Let me guess. That’s you? The original you?’

McIntyre appears annoyed that I worked it out before he could tell me. ‘Yes and…’

I take an educated guess. ‘Cancer?’

He scowls. ‘You don’t know everything,’ he spits. He reaches over and raps sharply on the glass. A small figure emerges from the back of the room. She’s instantly recognisable, despite the dyed, cropped hair and mature clothing.

‘Alice.’

‘Well,’ he demurs, ‘not as
you
know her. We call her Eliza.’

I watch as the freak in Alice’s body strolls up to the mirror. A small smile plays around her lips. My body is rigid with rage.

‘You see,’ McIntyre says quietly, ‘you can’t win. If you destroy us, then you also destroy Alice. And,’ he waves a hand at himself, ‘whoever this body belongs to.’

My lip curls. ‘You don’t know?’

‘Why would it matter?’

I want to punch his smug, self-satisfied face but I can’t. It’s not
his
body that I’d be punching.

‘You’re angry,’ he murmurs. ‘You shouldn’t be. This body enjoys a better standard of living that its original inhabitant did. We took him off the streets in broad daylight and nobody cared.’

‘Aliens?’ I ask, trying to buy some time. William throws me a strange look.

McIntyre claps his hands. ‘Why, yes! You have been busy, haven’t you? We wore masks to cover our faces in case we were spotted but there were some fabulous side effects.’ He leans towards me. ‘The first person who saw us reported us to the police. They wouldn’t even take a statement!’ he crows. ‘We didn’t need to use magic. People are so stupid sometimes.’

From the other side of the mirror, Alice/Eliza’s head jerks upwards. I smile. ‘You’re right. People
are
stupid.’

Michael, O’Shea, Rogu3 and Hope crash down from the ceiling. I wince as Michael seems to hurt himself in the fall but he gets back to his feet quickly enough. In fact, he’s the first one to grab hold of Alice’s body and hold her fast. I watch O’Shea’s lips move as he no doubt makes some daft quip. His stance is ready and his eyes are alert, however.

MacIntyre’s jaw drops. ‘What’s going on?’

It’s satisfying to see the first hint of panic in his eyes. I lurch to the side then spin and kick the gun out of the adult male’s hands. It clatters to the ground and William scoops it up.

‘Hey,’ the man says, holding up his hands. ‘Now hold on a minute…’

William shoots before I can say a word. In slow motion, the man drops to the floor. William grins and darts over, grabbing hold of him and sinking his fangs into his throat. Scarlet reacts, throwing out magic at both of us. One bolt smacks William on the forehead, making him to drop the man, while the other sears into my arm.

‘Uhhhh,’ William groans.

I glance at the limp body on the floor. ‘You deserved that,’ I tell him.

‘I’m a vampire!’ he protests. ‘It’s what I do.’

I consider this. ‘True.’ I leap towards Scarlet.

She goes into a frenzy, magic bursting out of her. I’m forced back several steps and I crash into McIntyre as I move away. The other vampires tense as if they’re about to join the fray. I wave to them to keep back for now.

‘I’d stop that if I were you, Scarlet,’ I gasp. ‘There’s a witch on the other side of this glass who knows exactly how to suck out all of your magic. Black and white.’

She frowns as if she’s confused. Her eyes are glowing but there’s still a glimmer of awareness in their depths. ‘What…?’ she begins, stumbling over words as her head swings from me to Hope. Her magic fizzles out.

MacIntyre curses in disgust. ‘You can attack all you want but you can’t hurt me. And you can’t hurt Eliza.’ Despite his brave words, there’s a tremor of uncertainty in his voice.

I gesture to the nearest vampires. They come into the observation room; two of them grab Scarlet and two grab MacIntyre. Neither try to struggle.

‘You can’t reverse the process without me. Unless you let me negotiate my freedom, all those children will be trapped without their own bodies.’ He licks his lips. ‘Some are already on the point of death as it is.’

I tap on the glass. ‘That’s a powerful witch out there,’ I say casually.

‘So?’ he sneers. ‘We used more than magic to create the transitions.’

‘And,’ I add with a small smile, ‘a very skilled computer expert.’

We watch as Rogu3 and Hope go to a nearby monitor. Rogu3 turns it on and it flickers into life as Alice/Eliza continues to struggle against Michael’s grip. Michael might only be a human now but she’s in the body of a kid; she doesn’t have the strength to fight against him, even in his weakened state.

I take the gun from William and fire four bullets into the glass. Shards fly everywhere. Scarlet shrieks and McIntyre ducks but everyone else ignores it. I kick away the shattered glass as O’Shea peers in.

‘Bo,’ he says plaintively. ‘You do realise you could have just opened the door, right?’

I shrug awkwardly. ‘It seemed more dramatic this way.’

McIntyre strains against the vampires who are holding him. ‘Stop this!’ he yells. ‘You can’t…’

‘Got it,’ Rogu3 says, sounding satisfied. He stands up and walks down the room, stopping at one of the beds. ‘This is her.’

Eliza/Alice’s eyes go wide. ‘No, no, no, no, no.’

‘Hope?’ Rogu3 says. The witch smirks and joins him. She holds her hands over the inert body and murmurs an incantation while Rogu3 attends to the monitor above her head. I forget to breathe.

There’s a yelp and Michael jerks. ‘Electric shock,’ he mutters.

‘What?’ Alice/Eliza mumbles. ‘What’s going on?’ Her smooth brow furrows and she looks around. ‘Where am I? What’s going on?’

Michael doesn’t release his hold. ‘How do we know it worked?’ he asked.

‘You’ll never know,’ McIntyre hisses. ‘That’s why you need me.’

‘Tell Beth to bring Maria in here,’ I order.

One of the vampires in the far corner nods and vanishes. Moments later, Beth and Maria appear and the crowd of vampires parts as they walk towards us. Maria stares through the two shattered windows at the slight figure in Michael’s arms. I grab her arm. ‘Don’t say anything,’ I warn in an undertone. ‘Not yet.’

My words are unnecessary. Alice’s gaze has already fallen on the tall teenager by my side. ‘Maria?’ she whispers.

Michael releases his hold and Alice runs forward. I shout out to her to be careful of the glass but she doesn’t notice. She jumps over and flings herself at Maria. ‘I thought you were dead!’ she sobs.

I look back at McIntyre. ‘That’s good enough for me.’

He begins to shake. ‘No! It’s temporary,’ he babbles. ‘She won’t stay like that unless I…’

The body in front of Rogu3 and Hope begins to twitch. ‘I think she’s arresting!’ he yells.

‘Of course she is!’ McIntyre shouts. ‘By reversing the transition you’re going to kill all these people! Do you want their deaths on your conscience?’

I look at Michael. He raises his eyebrows. ‘This one is your call,’ he says. ‘I have no argument with whatever you do.’

‘Me neither,’ O’Shea, my daemonic conscience, says.

I nod at them and turn to MacIntyre. ‘I’m trying to be a good person,’ I say softly. ‘But it’s hard.’ I touch my chest. ‘There’s a darkness inside me that will always be there, no matter what I do. If rescuing the children means letting the bastards who stole their lives die, then so be it.’

Hope reaches down to Eliza’s body, feeling for a pulse. ‘She’s gone.’

I exhale. Reversing the process means a lot of sudden deaths. I examine my feelings, wondering if my guilt should be heavier. ‘So be it.’ I point at MacIntyre’s original shell. ‘Do that one next.’

‘No!’ he screams. ‘You can’t!’ With a show of sudden strength, no doubt fired by adrenaline, he lunges for me with his hands curved into claws. ‘You can’t! You can’t do this! We did what you bloodguzzlers do! All we wanted was more time. You can’t kill us for that!’

‘We’re not killing anyone,’ I say. ‘We’re rescuing them. Unless you want to tell us how to reverse the process without killing the original souls?’

He stares at me. ‘You can’t.’ His body sags. ‘You’re a bloody monster.’

I think about this. ‘Yeah,’ I agree. ‘I probably am. But my heart is in the right place.’ For the first time in a long time, I actually believe it is.

***

We emerge into the fresh air, a ragtag band of vampires and human children. The area is surrounded by blue flashing lights.

‘You know,’ William comments, his arm round a limping Billie, ‘that was a lot of fun.’

I raise my eyebrows. ‘Fun?’

He shrugs. ‘Yeah. And I feel all warm and fuzzy inside too.’ He purses his lips as if he’s never experienced that kind of emotion before. ‘I like it. I think I’m going to do more of this.’

I’m thoroughly confused. ‘Attack subterranean laboratories?’

‘No. Help people. Humans.’ He gestures at some of the children. ‘I’ll fight crime. Stop any child anywhere from being vulnerable enough to have shit happen to them. That kind of thing.’

I think of the woman I overheard in the witch-owned newsagent’s a few days ago. ‘Maybe,’ I suggest, ‘you should find a local community and integrate yourself. Help them out and live amongst them so you really get to know what’s going on.’

He nods thoughtfully. ‘I like that idea.’

We smile at each other. Maybe there is hope for a vampiric future after all.

Foxworthy approaches from the mêlée of police officers. ‘You know I don’t approve of vigilantism,’ he begins.

I sigh, exasperated. ‘Oh come on.’

‘You didn’t let me finish. I don’t approve of it but you did good.’ He pats my arm. ‘I’ve been getting reports from MI7. They suddenly have a lot of bewildered teenagers in their custody and that’s down to you. I’m proud of you.’

I blink rapidly. I’m not convinced he’ll be singing the same tune when he see what we left behind in the lab. ‘Er … thank you.’ Behind him, Nicholls roll her eyes. I try not to smile. Some things never change.

‘Someone’s here,’ he says.

A woman appears from one of the waiting police cars. She takes a halting step, then another, as if she’s not sure whether she’s doing the right thing. Her husband, holding baby Hope, gets out as well.

Alice chokes out a sob. ‘Mummy?’

That’s all it takes. Mrs Goldman starts to run and stretches her arms out wide. Alice’s father is right behind her. The second she reaches us, she swoops down, grabs Alice and pulls her into a tight, warm hug which speaks of unfailing and unreserved love. My cheeks feel wet. I blink furiously and clench my teeth. Then Michael makes a strange noise. I glance at him. Okay. It seems that everyone is crying.