Jess Haines - Enslaved By the Others

Angus waded into their midst with a roar, his blade cutting three of the shuffling dead men down before anyone else even made it into the room. His eyes matched the color of his hair, red as blood. He moved with inhuman speed and agility, destroying the walking dead before they could so much as brush a finger bone against him.

The other vampires swept in, though a bit more cautiously. No one could miss their distaste in their curled lips and grimaces. Arnold stayed beside me, gaping at the zombies. Soo-Jin stayed behind, too, but I think it was more because she didn’t want to get zombie bits stuck in her fur and teeth than because she was afraid. Rather than join us, she turned to guard our backs, squaring herself in the center of the hallway.

Arnold sounded a bit strained. “I ... man, I mean, I heard about them but I never thought . . .”

I patted his shoulder, watching from a safe distance as the vampires gingerly attacked the zombies. It was almost funny to see how squeamish they all were, save for Angus, about getting zombie goo on their hands and clothing.

The dead men snapped their teeth and clawed at the ... uh ... well, the un dead men who were tearing them apart. Some of them had small blades, but those didn’t do much other than punch holes in decaying skin and set loose an even worse wave of stench on us. The zombies didn’t appear to notice or care about their wounds, stumbling around and clawing at the much faster vampires dodging their groping hands and snapping teeth.

It didn’t take long to dispatch them. Once the vampires figured out that it took breaking limbs and dismemberment to disable the zombies, not piercing them, it sped up their work tremendously.

I had to turn my gaze away as one of the vampires slid an arm around Tiny’s neck, and I couldn’t suppress a flinch at the cracking, tearing sound that followed.

It was necessary, but it still hurt.

No one else would do it for him, so I mouthed a prayer that whatever might have remained of Tiny and the other zombies were at peace now. Arnold and one of the vampires surprised me by joining in, our voices rising and falling in sorrowful whispers.

“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”

When we were done, I turned a questioning look on the vampire who said the prayer with us. He brushed a piece of zombie gunk off his jacket before tugging the collar aside and showing me the gold cross that hung at his throat, giving me a tight smile.

Huh. A Catholic vampire. How about that.

There wasn’t enough time for us to linger. I picked my way across the carpet, careful not to step in any puddles of dead people parts and chemical-laden blood. Arnold followed in my footsteps, choking back little gagging sounds. Angus busied himself with wiping zombie gunk off his blade onto Max’s bed.

I tugged the painting away from the panel that hid the lock leading to Iana’s prison. Arnold took my place in front of it, studying the buttons and the section that required Max’s handprint to unlock it.

“I know the code, but I don’t know how to handle the other part.”

Arnold shook his head. “Not necessary. Just give me a sec.”

He set his hand against the scanner, tiny arcs of blue-white electricity flickering around his fingertips. Whatever power he was using, it looked like it was seeking a way into the panel, touching all the edges and moving into the cracks and crevices where the buttons and cover plate fit together.

The panel went dark, and the door slid back.

Gideon was waiting on the other side with the most predatory smile I’d ever seen outside of a vampire’s. He raised his hand, his tattooed palm pointed at Arnold. “Lube up and bend over, sweet stuff. You’re about to have a very bad day.”

Arnold flinched as a wave of some unseen power shot in his direction. There were no flashing lights or sparkles or glitter like I had come to expect from magic, but I felt the unseen wind of its passage, making all the small hairs on my arms and the back of my neck prickle. I could smell it, too, the scent of ozone briefly overpowering the stink of dead things.

Nothing else happened.

Gideon’s look of puzzlement quickly turned to alarm as Angus tackled him to the ground, a blade pressed to his throat and drawing a slick line of red across it.

“No!”

At my outburst, everyone looked at me like I was deranged. Hell, I would have looked at me like I was deranged, too.

It took a second for me to find the words, but once I did, I got them all out in a rush.

“I bet he knows where Sara is. He can tell us. He tried to help us before. Please, don’t hurt him.”

Angus growled, the blade biting just a smidge deeper. Any more than that, and he would nick something vital. “Have ye lost yer wits? He’s no ally to us.”

“I can be,” Gideon managed, his fingers digging into the carpet.

“Tell us where Sara is,” Arnold demanded.

Gideon’s green eyes narrowed, flickering with suppressed power. “Let me up and I’ll show you the way. I’ll even help you take down Max.”

“Lies,” one of the vampires spat. “He tried to attack us. You saw it.”

“I was trying to save myself! Wouldn’t you have done the same? I wanted a shield since you took the ones I had away, and fuck you all so very much for that.”

Arnold gritted his teeth, glaring down at the prone necromancer. “It’s true. I felt it. He was trying to snare a vampire.”

“Well, you’re so pale. Honest mistake.”

Arnold huffed. “Too many MMOs. What do you expect? This isn’t getting us any closer to Sara or Max. Tell us or I’ll ... I’ll ... I’ll bind you. We’ve got enough magi here, and don’t think we won’t.”

Gideon struggled just a bit under Angus. The vampire growled and gave him a little shake until the necromancer stopped. Whatever “binding” meant, it was enough to put the fear of God into Gideon.

Panting with fear, fingers twitching like he was itching to cast a spell, Gideon nodded, staring up at the ceiling. “Fine. Fine! I can take you to the girl. I’m not sure where Max is, but I can find him if you let me up.”

This was far too easy. I wasn’t sure if we should trust him, but I didn’t know how else to track down Sara in this maze. Apparently Arnold didn’t trust him either.

“Keep an eye on him and don’t let him cast anything. Stuff his mouth and tie his wrists together.”

“Sara didn’t tell me you liked to play those kinds of games.”

A thundercloud of rage passed over the mage’s face, and he lifted a fist. “You show us the way or I will personally burn every last iota of dark fae out of you, consequences be damned.”

Gideon’s eyes flared with power, like green gemstones lit from behind, but he didn’t make any more smart comments. Angus smiled like he was taking great pleasure in shoving the balled up pillowcase someone handed him into the necromancer’s mouth, only stopping once the poor guy was gagging on it. Someone else found a few ties and handed them over. Those were used to hold the gag in place and for tight, efficient knots around his wrists. If he hadn’t been such a deceitful bastard, I might have felt sorry for him.

Once he was trussed up to Angus’s liking, the elder vampire hauled Gideon to his feet. “Lead the way, little uilebheist .”

Gideon shot him a dirty look, but didn’t bother to make a run for it. Not like it would have done him any good considering he was surrounded by vampires fast enough to snap his neck or kneecaps before he took more than two steps.