“We should burn the body to make sure he’s dead for good, but there’s no way we are going back to my house now to get stuff to start a fire.” It was a miracle that more police hadn’t arrived by now, but I didn’t want to push it.
Lyle kicked around in the dirt by some tree roots and picked up some sticks. “These are too wet. It must have rained here recently and the humidity doesn’t help.”
“Dorian?” he asked suddenly. “Where’s the body?”
I turned around to check. The body was gone, along with our brief moment of levity. We looked at each other and then all around us.
“Let’s talk about what exactly you did before, and why you didn’t do more of it a lot sooner.”
“I don’t know. The infection took over when I was trying to get your knife. I blacked out and when I came to you were shouting at me.”
“You don’t remember tearing his arm off and it turning to dust?” Lyle pointed to a small pile of ashes a few feet away. “The mutant noises coming out of you? The demonic stare?” He was making me sound scarier than the mutants.
“No. I heard the noises in my head, but that’s it. I didn’t think I was that strong.”
“Well, you saved my life again, but you weren’t in control, and that’s a problem. No crazy psychic powers unless we’re being attacked, then feel free to go nuts.”
I led the way toward the back road and kept checking over my shoulder at every moving branch. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched, but Lyle didn’t seem to notice as he kept talking. “I’m out of bullets, not that they did much anyway.”
“I need to go back to France.”
“How did I know you were going to say that? Right now you’re the only link I have to figuring any of this out, so I guess I’m coming along,” Lyle said as we reached the road behind my house. “Which way?”
“There’s a train station a couple miles up the road this way,” I said, and pointed the way to our left. “We can take it to reach the airport.”
We walked in silence to the station, each of us trying to process the night’s course of events. The only sound around was the chirping of crickets and the occasional breeze. The road we were on was only one lane and lined on both sides with trees. The area wasn’t very well-lit. Streetlights were few and far between here. Even though this was where I had grown up, the place felt foreign to me now at night.
The laughter of a man off in the distance broke the silence. It wasn’t jovial good-joke laughter. It was the maniacal “I’m going to get you” kind. We took off running the rest of the way to the train station with the sound of someone crashing through the trees after us.
A gathering of lights ahead marked our destination. Lyle checked behind us as we ran. “Yeah, don’t look back,” he warned.
I knew it wouldn’t be good, but I looked anyway. The psycho we had just had the pleasure of meeting jumped out of the trees and was barreling down the road. I wanted to fight, but my powers were unreliable and I couldn’t take the chance of hurting Lyle.
We just reached the intersection when a train was pulling up. At this time of night, the trains weren’t going to wait around long if no one was on the platform. We still had to cross over the tracks and climb the platform with our new friend in pursuit.
The closing door chimes on the train sounded when we were only halfway up the stairs. It looked like our stalker gave up once we reached the top of the platform, but I wasn’t convinced. Lyle held up his badge, screaming “Police!” at the ticket checker. He held the door for us, but we almost knocked the poor guy over while entering.
Lyle grabbed the guy by the shoulders and helped him regain his balance. “Tell me this train is going into Boston.”
“Y-yes,” he stuttered. “There’s one more stop before there. What’s going on?”
“Police business. I can’t share more than that.” Lyle took a seat right by the door with me.
The train car was empty except for an elderly couple across from us who were blissfully asleep for the ride.
“We should be there in twenty minutes,” I told Lyle. I took my phone out to check flight times to Paris, but the veins in my hands got my attention first. They were noticeably darker — not completely black like before, but I also wasn’t using any of my powers.
I pulled my sleeves down further, trying to cover them, and went on to check for flights. We were just leaving the station when a loud thud on the roof of the car made everyone jump. Lyle and I immediately looked at each other.
“Oh my, what was that?” asked the elderly woman, who was startled out of her nap. I didn’t think telling her it was probably just a psychotic beast of a man looking to kill us all would have gone over well.
“I didn’t hear anything,” was the best I could come up with.
“I’m sure it was just a low branch or something from the rain the other day.” Lyle to the rescue.
“What do we do?” I typed in a blank text message on my phone and showed Lyle.
“Pray for a lot of low bridges,” Lyle whispered.
There were no other foreboding sounds during the rest of the trip. Either the guy hunting us was waiting to launch an ambush when we got off, or he didn’t want to be spotted and had given up. The train station in Boston was always pretty busy, so I doubted he would make a scene there.
Once we arrived, Lyle ditched his empty firearm down a storm drain. Wanting to avoid any more unnecessary public transportation incidents, we took a taxi to the airport. There was no sign of our stalker, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling we were being followed. Unfortunately for us, the airport was close to deserted. The online ticket checkout worked like a charm to get us on the plane, but getting to the loading gate first was nerve-wracking. The corridors of the airport were empty and the shops were closed for the night. Shadows played tricks on our mind as we hurried. Some of the metal security gates that were closed over the shops behind us banged from someone pulling on them, but no one was ever there. Our stalker was making sure we knew he wasn’t gone.
With only carry-on backpacks, we easily got through the security checkpoints. It was 5:00 AM now, meaning we would get there a little after 6:00 PM. Lyle and I boarded the plane without a problem, which made things even more tense. We were waiting for something bad to happen.
We found our seats and settled in. I took the window. I was just about to close the window shade when I saw something on the runway. It was the man, and he was waving at me with the same menacing smile. I turned to Lyle, who was somehow already asleep. There was nothing I could do now but prepare for the worst once we landed.
It was dusk when Lyle woke me up to let me know we had landed. I hadn’t thought I would be able to sleep at all, but I must have drifted off. I warned Lyle about what I saw on the runway back in Boston as we went through customs. We were traveling during the day, supposed bedtime for the undead, so at least we should be able to get a head start before the sun set.
“I don’t suppose you know French?” I asked as we waited outside for a taxi.
“No. We’re tourists. I was just going to speak slow and loud.”
I felt a lot better after some sleep, but we didn’t have much time until the game of cat and mouse continued. An available taxi pulled up curbside for us. I indicated where the chateau should be on my cellphone’s GPS for the driver.
The sun was setting as we drove through the streets of Paris. We passed the grounds of the Eiffel Tower, meaning we still had at least an hour until we got there. I went over everything I had learned about the Archios with Lyle so he would be prepared.
The lights outside became fewer and farther apart as we crossed the city limits. Twenty more minutes in and the road turned into the winding path through the trees I remembered.
“How’s that doing?” Lyle pointed to my bad arm. “You’re looking kinda pale; it’s making me nervous.”
“More pale than usual? It feels the same really, just numb.” I knew feeling nothing was probably worse than feeling pain. At least pain lets you know you’re alive.
Our driver started swearing in French after we heard loud pop from the back of the car. There was another popping sound and the car wobbled off the road to a stop. We all got out and checked the tires. Sure enough, the back tires were shredded. The driver leaned into his window to call his dispatch about it.
“Sorry man, we need to keep moving. We can just walk the rest.” Lyle took out his wallet and handed over cash. The driver muttered something under his breath in broken English and counted out his money. “Ready to start hiking?” Lyle asked me.
Something made a bizarre gurgling noise behind Lyle. We both looked just in time to see our driver’s body torn in two at the waist. The looming figure of my least-favorite new acquaintance stepped out from the shadows, holding the two pieces in his hands. He poured the man’s blood down his throat, letting it gush all over him before discarding the body. The giant man’s missing arm was reattached, and steadily regaining muscle now that it had fed on fresh blood.
He took a swipe at Lyle, who rolled out of the way and threw the driver’s side door open as interference. The man tore the car door off and swung it at Lyle’s head, but once again Lyle dodged by diving into the car. I could see him through the window reaching for the glove box.
“Dead end,” was the first thing I had heard this guy say. I saw him duck down and the next thing I knew he was flipping the car over on top of me with Lyle still in it.
I managed to jump out of the way as it landed on its side where I had just been standing. It was clear he did not want me reaching the Archios at any cost.
Lyle climbed out of the car with a gun the driver must have kept. He fired off a few shots into our would-be killer, which did little except get his attention. I knew using my powers would make me lose control from the infection and I couldn’t risk hurting Lyle.
“We’re not far, we need to run!” I yelled to Lyle.
He sprinted over to me as the relentless stalker pounced on the car.
“Wait!” Lyle put his arm out to stop me and finished unloading his clip into the taxi’s exposed gas tank. The car burst into flames, catching the man on fire with it. “Now we run,” he shouted, and took off down the road.
I could see the lights of the chateau through the trees. The sound of footprints stampeding after us helped squeeze out our last bit of adrenaline. We were in the clearing now and running out of steam. I started screaming for Noah as we passed another large fountain like the one in the rose maze.
My screams were soon answered by Noah’s voice behind me. “Look who came running back.”
I stopped in my tracks to see him lounging on a fountain bench. All I could do was point in the direction we came as I caught my breath. Sure enough, the stalker was still at our heels, but Noah didn’t seem the least bit concerned.
“You brought a human into the lion’s den, interesting.” Noah turned his attention to Lyle. “Sorry, but I’m not hungry.”
Lyle’s eyes were completely glazed over as he stared at Noah. Seeing Lyle react like this was weird, since he had been pretty collected up to now. It made me wonder whether I had acted this obvious too.
Our huge nemesis was at the fountain sizing up Noah. “You have something I want,” he snarled.
“Yeah, I hear that a lot.” Noah got to his feet, looking down at his eight-pack and stretched with his hands behind his head, showing off the striation of his muscles. “Get in line.”
The man growled, baring his fangs and showing his nails. Noah patted the hilt of one of his swords and smiled at him. “Now, if you wanna play rough, I guess we could work something out, but you’re not leaving here in one piece.”
Noah’s grin widened, showing his fangs.
Our stalker wasn’t having any of Noah’s wiseass remarks. He rolled his shoulders back and let out a terrifying roar, but Noah was still unimpressed. He waited for the man to finish his failed attempt at intimidation and then looked over his shoulder at us.
“Don’t blink.”
Noah tossed one of his
wakizashi
high up in to the air and took the other in his hand before disappearing. He was moving so fast I couldn’t make out anything more than faint images of him as he systematically dismembered the beast with the precision of a surgeon. Noah’s opponent was nowhere near fast enough to react, let alone make an attempt to defend himself.
Noah finished him off by hopping up on the man’s shoulders and catching the
wakizashi
he had tossed into the air. He used one sword to decapitate and the other to stab the heart out of the guy’s chest, then leaped from the shoulders of the corpse as it fell apart.
“Told you so,” he said to the remains as he sauntered back over to us.
“Jesus, that’s some freakin’ athleticism. No wonder you’re so ripped. That was unreal,” Lyle blurted out. “You were so fast, too …”
Noah ignored Lyle's rambling and crossed his arms. “What are you doing back here, kid?”
“I need help and I don’t know where else to go.”
“Do you ever get tired of being so useless? I’m not your babysitter and I’m not here to take out your trash,” he said, and pointed at the ashen remains.
“Relax, man,” Lyle snapped out of his trance to intervene. “He just lost his parents.”
“So what? That’s supposed to be your area of expertise, officer.” Noah’s words were as sharp as his blades. I knew he was a jerk, but I couldn’t believe he was being this cruel. Maybe coming here was a mistake.
“They’re dead. The mutants got them.”
“Oh, you mean the ones I tried teaching you how to defend yourself against? I told you, you can never escape this world. You kept whining about going back home. You led trouble right to your doorstep — and now mine.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve lost everything and I think your blood is wearing off. I don’t know what to do.”
“Not my problem. But hey, you still have your friend here for now.”
“Come on, Dorian. You don’t have to take this, let’s just leave,” Lyle said, and started to walk away.
“You can go, but the human stays here.”
Lyle and I looked at each other. “What? Why?” we asked in unison.
“I can’t let him live now that he knows about us,” Noah said. He grabbed Lyle by the neck and picked him up. “You should be honored, officer, you’re about to die to the best.”
Lyle reached for his gun and put it to Noah’s head.
“At least he’s got some fight in him,” Noah smirked. “Go ahead. Take the shot.”
With no other options left, Lyle fired. Noah grabbed the gun with his free hand, pointing it away before the bullet left the barrel.
“Put him down!” I demanded.
“You want me to put him down?” Noah laughed and disappeared with Lyle. “Here, catch!” His voice boomed from far across the lawn on the roof of the main chateau. He threw Lyle off and sat on the ledge, watching him fall helplessly.
I ran as fast as I could, but only Noah could have made it in time. Lyle was a few feet away from dying right in front of my eyes. I had no choice but to try and catch him with my powers. I put my hands out and focused on breaking his fall, but I could already feel the slithering sensation behind my eyes and in my veins. Just a couple of seconds more was all I needed to help him land safely. My body was going cold and numb, and a ringing in my ears deafened me. I saw Lyle land slowly on his hands and knees as the world started spinning.
“Hey! Hey! Snap out of it! Are you okay?” Lyle’s voice called to me in my nightmare. “We have to get away from here.”
Lyle was shaking me in a desperate attempt to bring me back to reality when my vision returned.
“This guy is out of his mind!” Lyle exclaimed.
Noah was leaning against the chateau wall, watching us from the shadows. I had had enough. I pushed past Lyle and walked up to Noah. Wiping that smug look off his face was too much to ask for, but I was determined to speak my mind at least.
“I don’t know what your problem is and I don’t know why, but I know you wanted me to come back here …” My heart was pounding and my hands were shaking in frustration as I continued. I wasn’t good at confrontation, especially with someone like him. “You may be a self-absorbed, arrogant narcissist, but I don’t buy that everything you taught me was because you were bored. You told me not to waste your time; you wanted me to survive.”
I felt light-headed and the veins in my arms were going black again as I pointed at him in anger. “You were right, is that what you want to hear? I can’t escape and I paid the price.” The unnerving death rattle was creeping into my head now and the wriggling under my skin returned. My vision started to cut out again. I couldn’t even tell if I was still conscious or dreaming. “I have nothing left to lose; my world is crumbling around me. But here I am, so if you want me, you got me!”
It sounded like a grenade going off as everything went black. My eyesight flickered in and out and the growling in my head was a deafening scream now. In between flashes of darkness, I could see the wall of the chateau in front of me explode inward and demolish the room inside.
Noah appeared beside the hole and looked in and then back at me. “Oh yeah. Now this I can work with.”
I regained consciousness to feel myself gagging. Noah was forcing blood down my throat from his wrist.
“Stop fighting it,” he ordered when I tried pushing him off. “Do you want to turn into a freak after you finally found your balls?”
At his command, my body automatically stopped resisting until he was done. That power of his was getting old.
“Nice trick,” he said, sounding somewhat impressed. “Is that new or have you just been pretending to be helpless up to now?”
“What happened?” I asked once he let go of me.
“You, uh, blew up the palace,” Lyle said from his seat on the grass.
A sudden palpable urge compelled me to look up at one of the balconies. Aurelia was standing there, her eyes glowing in the moonlight as she watched over us. Without a word, she went back into the chateau.
“She’s going to be so pissed,” I said nervously. “I’m screwed.”
“Nah, right before you came she told me she always wanted a huge hole blown in the side of her house.” Noah’s joking didn’t make me feel any better. He grabbed Lyle and me and dashed up three flights of stairs and into a different ballroom, where he dumped us on our knees.
Aurelia was waiting for us in front of a gold throne. I wanted to throw up. Our nerves were soon put to ease as a kind smile from her warmed our hearts. It was that captivating aura of hers again.
“Please, rise. There is no need for such formalities.”
Lyle’s tongue was pretty much hanging out of his mouth and I couldn’t imagine I was much better. I just hoped he remembered what I told him about her ability to read minds.
“I do not believe we have been introduced, Monsieur. I am Aurelia de Saint-Pierre,” Aurelia said, and offered her hand to Lyle.
“Officer Lyle Turner of the NYPD, ma’am. At your service.” He beamed and kissed her hand.
Noah snorted in laughter, but a piercing glare from Aurelia was quick to shut him up. Lyle didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy puffing out his chest and flexing with his arms crossed to show off like Noah.
“Oh my, a gentleman of status,” Aurelia said, and placed a hand daintily on her breast. “It is an honor to welcome you to my home, Officer Turner.”
“It’s my pleasure, ma’am,” Lyle grinned from ear to ear. “Trust me.”
“You are as delightfully charming as you are handsome, Monsieur.”
I could have sworn she was blushing modestly behind the hand covering her lips. Lyle was drowning in his own hormones as he continued to flirt with her.
“Anything to see a beautiful lady such as yourself smile.”