Warrior Rising (15 page)

She stopped by the front door. Sunlight fell on her, and on the deserted street before her. Given the number of shops in the area she doubted this part of town was ever deserted in the middle of the day. Today people were wisely staying in. Hiding. Preparing for the worst. At least, she hoped so. Humans needed to be prepared for whatever might come next.

Her eyes fell on an establishment across the street. On the window there was a simple drawing of a cup and saucer, with wavy lines indicating steam. There would be food. She might walk across the street to see if anyone was there, and ask for nourishment. If no one was there, if the place was as deserted as this store had been when she and Sorin had arrived, she could surely find something. It was tempting. Rurik had filled many hours talking about food in this world. Pizza, hotdogs, french fries. She wouldn’t mind tasting one or all of those before she returned home.

But her purpose here was to protect humans. Even those as silly as the two girls Sorin had fed from.

She turned on her heel and headed for the back of the store, following the sound of chattering female and lowered male voices. What were they talking about? Anything was possible. It had been a long time, but as she recalled there wasn’t usually much chatter before or during sexual relations. If she walked upon an orgy she’d simply wait. Wait and watch and make sure Sorin didn’t harm the women who had thrown themselves at him.

“No,” Sorin said, his deep voice unmistakable. “These.”

One of the women sighed. “You’re not nearly as much fun as I thought you’d be.”

Indikaiya found herself smiling, just a little, as she walked into an area of the store devoted to footwear. Most of what she saw was entirely impractical, and still, the shoes drew her attention in an unexpected way.

“Those just came in,” the redhead — Jane — said. “They’re part of a new fall collection. My supervisor will kill me if I filch a pair.”

“A vampire will kill you if you try to run in
those
.” Sorin pointed to the high heeled, insubstantial shoes on Jane’s feet.

“Boots this time of year?” the other girl, Carly, whined. “It’s just wrong, for someone whose job is fashion. You’re a vampire, and you’re nice. Nice and big and you look really strong. Stay with us and maybe we won’t have to run.”

Sorin moved so fast, he was a blur even to Indikaiya. He reached Carly in an instant, grabbed her by the throat, and lifted her from the ground. Those delicate shoes of hers dangled several inches from the floor. Her eyes widened, her face turned red. Jane tried to help. She beat against Sorin’s back, while insisting that he put her friend down. He seemed not to even realize she was there.

Indikaiya controlled the impulse to assist the girls. If Sorin had wished to kill them, they’d be dead by now. He was a fearsome sight, strong and dangerous enough to scare even these women who had never known real danger.

“I am not like the others, but I am not, nor have I ever been,
nice
. I hope you never have to face another of my kind, but if you do you won’t stand a chance as you are.”

Indikaiya stepped forward to reveal her presence. She was quite sure Sorin had been aware of her location the entire time they’d been separated. Had he heard her breathing as she’d stood back and watched him interact with the girls? Had he felt her, as she sometimes felt him?

“Why do you care?” she asked.

The truth — and he knew it as well as she did — was that no matter what kind of footwear these girls wore they did not have a chance against a monster of his kind. They were not fast enough, not strong enough. Soon enough, they would die.

Sorin placed Carly down. The girl wobbled on unsteady feet, swayed as if she might faint, and then lurched toward her friend.

“I don’t fucking know,” he said. “I shouldn’t. I never have before.”

The girls both scurried to Indikaiya’s side. They had witnessed an aspect of Sorin’s character which had been hidden from them before. Finally, for the first time, they were scared.

“He’s right, you know,” Indikaiya said, her eyes on Sorin’s face. A fine face it was, she had to admit. “You should be better prepared when you leave this place.”

One of the girls sighed, then said, “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

Indikaiya turned to look down at her. “Who says you can’t be both?”

Nevada had not just made him remember the past, she’d cursed him. When he returned to the Potomac mansion he’d insist that she undo whatever she’d done to him.

Shit, by the time he left this department store, Nevada would not be at the mansion. No one would. They’d be closer to the center of town, closer to the action and headquartered in a place Marie had never been.

Sorin had a hard time admitting that whatever had happened to him had begun before the witch had cursed him. It had started with Phillip Stargel, the child — and conduit — he had been ordered to kill. Phillip was different. Not right, some would say. Special, others would insist. Complete innocence, that’s what Sorin himself had seen in the child that day. The day he’d walked away from a kill, allowing a conduit to live.

When he’d allowed Phillip to live, Sorin had stopped being one of Marie’s soldiers. He had changed sides at that moment, his thinking had shifted. No, he did not want to hide who he was any longer. He did not want to live forever in the shadows. That didn’t mean vampires had to run the world. That didn’t mean all those who opposed them had to die.

Indikaiya worked with the girls — who now wore heavy boots with their summer dresses — teaching them a few basic defensive moves. Neither of them would be capable of taking a vampire’s head. Even if they’d had a couple of spare swords handy to give to the girls, to decapitate took a lot of strength.

With the girls’ help, Indikaiya removed a large number of colorful blouses from a metal clothing rack. She studied the construction and then, with her capable bare hands, she dismantled it. It took Sorin a moment to realize what she was doing. She hefted a length of metal from the rack, spun it about in a sort of test, and then she placed one end against the floor — there in the aisle where the floor was tile instead of carpet — and shaped the end into a crude tip. He could not help but admire the smooth motion, the sleek and feminine muscles in her arms, the determination on her face. She was well and truly unlike any woman he had ever met. And he had met a lot of women.

The Warrior fashioned two deadly spears. Carly ripped one of the discarded shirts from the ruined rack in two and wrapped it tightly around the end of her spear, fashioning a crude grip. Indikaiya nodded her approval, and Jane did the same. Heaven above, they were concerned about the
colors
used in this process.

Indikaiya instructed the girls how to hold the weapons, how to stand steady and how to lunge forward with strength and determination. She taught them how to go for the heart.

They still didn’t have much of a chance of survival, but not much was better than zero, which is what they’d had when they’d foolishly come to work on a day when the city was at war.

Sorin stood back and watched. He watched Indikaiya, not the silly humans who had insisted on teal and purple for the grips they’d fashioned on their spears. Every move she made was well thought out, smooth and strong and yet still feminine. He could not imagine fighting such a creature in battle. How could any man even think of destroying someone so fine? Death would be better. Death at the hand of a woman without equal.

Not long into the lesson, they were interrupted. Sorin had been a little surprised by the quiet nature of the business. Sure, vampires were running loose in D.C., and chaos reigned, but not every resident would be content to hide and fight. These two silly girls were a grand example.

As were the three boys — teenagers from the look and smell of them — who walked into the store. They were all baggy jeans and ball caps and swagger. One of them said, “I told you no one would be here. We can take whatever we want!”

Fools, even more so than Carly and Jane.

“Like what?” another boy asked. “This is lame. Let’s find a store with some electronics. TVs, maybe. I could use a new cell phone.”

“My mom’s birthday is next week,” clueless boy number one said. “I can get her something nice here and it won’t cost me a dime.”

Fools and thieves. They would not last long in this new world.

“I gotta be home by dark,” the third one — the only one smart enough to be nervous — said. “I don’t want to run into one of those vamps.”

“That’s not even real,” number one said. “Can’t be. I bet it’s promo for some vampire movie or something.”

Carly and Jane walked around the corner and confronted the boys. Sorin and Indikaiya watched from a short distance away. In heavy boots, with those long spears and a new confidence, the girls were surprisingly impressive.

“No looting here, losers,” Jane said. Her tone was actually menacing, as she brandished her weapon.

“Whoa.” All three boys backed up a step. Two.

“We’re just browsing,” the nervous kid said.

“Dude, we heard you,” Carly said. “You’re a fucking looter. And by the way, the vampire thing is no joke. You’d better be in by dark, if you don’t want to be some bloodsucker’s midnight snack.”

“You are so full of shit!” the boy looting for his mom’s birthday said.

Jane shouted, “Sorin!”

Sorin obediently appeared behind the girls, moving unnaturally fast so that to human eyes it would look as though he’d popped out of thin air. He towered over the girls, glaring at the boys and showing his fangs, letting anger and hunger show in his eyes.

The nervous kid wet his pants. The legs of one of the others went out from under him. He dropped bonelessly to the floor. The looter, the one who had led his friends into this store, turned and ran.

“I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die,” the kid on the floor said. The nervous one seemed unable to move.

Sorin didn’t move or speak, for a long moment. How had he ended up in this position? He was not responsible for every clueless human in the city. He could not become godfather, mentor, or general for every unprepared child who crossed his path. And still…

“Indikaiya, love,” he said, never taking his eyes from the boys. “Could you whip up another couple of spears?

CHAPTER TEN

They left the store just before dark. Having fed, Sorin was stronger than he’d been upon arrival and apparently he could now withstand a good bit of dimmed light. Indikaiya glanced at him, looking for obvious signs of weakness and seeing none. Still, as they walked away — headed east as the young humans they had encountered in the store headed west — he took care to stay in the deepest shadows. Of course he stayed in shadow. It was his natural vampire instinct to avoid the sun, no matter that he had developed the strength to endure some of it.

Indikaiya had taken advantage of the abundance of goods in their hiding place and left the establishment wearing her own new pair of boots — which fit better than those she had confiscated back at the mansion — the denim jeans so many humans wore, and a leather vest laced up tightly to allow her full freedom of movement. Black leather and gleaming steel. That was her uniform for this fight. For this era. Her tunic, the one she had been wearing when she’d come into this world, was tucked in a black leather bag with a long, wide strap that crossed her body. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep up with the bag once she began to fight again, but she hated to part with the leather shift. It was hers; it marked the time she’d come from, who she’d been when she’d been human.

It had not escaped her attention that she was now dressed much like her vampire partner, even though part of her reason for donning new clothes was to appear more human. She was tired of being mistaken for a vampire.

Partner. It had been a very long time since she’d thought of any man as a partner. And a vampire? She loathed them. They were the enemy; they were monsters who killed in order to survive. And yet…

She had lived for thousands of years, and she could still be surprised.

“Luca and the others will already be on the move,” Sorin said.

“Duncan texted you the address on your electronic device so we know precisely where they’re going.” She was both amazed and annoyed by the cell phones Sorin and so many of the others carried. She could not imagine being constantly available — though in times of war it was convenient, she supposed. “We can join them there, yes?”

He shrugged broad shoulders. “We could. Personally I’d prefer not to waste precious darkness checking in with Luca Ambrus for orders.”

Interesting. He’d fought with Luca, stood beside him, and yet his voice indicated that he had no love for the blood born. She would not ask him about it now, but later she would, if the opportunity arose. If they both survived the night. If she continued to feel as if they were true partners. If, if, if. Her voice was calm as she asked, “Do you have a plan?”

He glanced back at her, blond hair and black leather duster moving in a strange kind of harmony. It was fact, the vampire possessed an undeniable beauty. That did not mean she had to do more than make note and move on. So, why didn’t she?

“My plan is to kill Marie,” he said.

It made sense. Kill the so-called queen, and the vampire army would fall. At least, they could hope that would happen. Marie was old, she was blood born like Luca. She would not be easy to kill. But she was not invincible. No creature, in this time or any other, was truly invincible. “Do you know where to find her?”

“No.” He grinned. “I suspect she’s trying to find me. Maybe I should allow myself to be found.”

“She will kill you.” A few days ago she would have relished that outcome. His death would even have come as a relief to her. Now… her emotions were not easy to identify.

He winked at her, unconcerned. “She will try.”

Sorin was not invincible, either. That thought shouldn’t elicit any emotion within her, but as they walked down an ever-darkening street, it did.

“What do you think of our new headquarters?” Rurik glanced around the room he led Nevada into, as if he were searching for lurking vampires in the middle of the day. Nevada shivered; she glanced around as Rurik had. Maybe that’s exactly what he was doing. Looking for vampires. When he relaxed, she followed suit.