Kim Harrison - The Undead Pool

David closed his phone with a snap. Swerving, we tore through an intersection, the traffic lights black and the road empty. “It wasn’t my people,” David said as he tucked it away. “But I do have reports of a, and I quote, ‘weird feeling’ about sunset.”

A chiming of voices in me said that was the singulars ending their incongruent thoughts, but before I could say anything, Ivy exploded with a sharp, “Are you insane?”

I jerked until I realized she was talking to Trent, still in the front seat. “And just how do you propose to get on the train?” she asked. “Those things go almost eighty miles an hour.”

“Trust me.” Trent leaned back, clearly miffed she was questioning him. “Get us on Rail Drive, and it will happen.”

Ivy sighed and made a sharp turn.

“You know, maybe I’m not understanding what the mystics are trying to tell me,” I said as I caught my balance in the wildly shifting van.

But Jenks was shaking his head, a blue-edged dust slipping from him as he hovered in the middle of the van. “No, you’re right,” he said. “We got the intel, Bis and me and my kids. According to the pixies across the street, a bunch of elves put three dead people in the back of the El Camino, and headed south. There weren’t any I.S. vehicles around at the time. Something spooked them, and they ran.”

I looked sorrowfully at Trent, watching his expression become grim. Landon had cut the Free Vampires loose and taken the mystics for himself. His people were behaving badly, and there was nothing Trent could do to stop them except with muscle and magic.

“They went to the train station,” Scott said, bracing himself when Ivy took a sharp turn.

“Either Landon or Ayer or both have been scooping mystics up like cotton candy on a stick ever since you got the Goddess riled up,” Jenks said, a still spot of wings and dust in the careening van. “They took a dozen little boxes, and if they get to Chicago, they’ll be coast to coast in a matter of days.”

“Call ahead. Stop them,” Scott said, and Edden nodded, surprising the young vampire.

Trent, though, shook his head. “They would know we’re on to them and will disappear. We either stop them on the track where we have a chance of catching them, or nothing.”

I remembered how Trent’s father and mother had escaped the West Coast by hopping trains in a plague-torn United States, making it all the way to Cincinnati during the Turn. He was right. We had to catch them unawares or they’d be gone cross-country.

“If we can’t head them off, we’ll have only a day to find each individual cell before the vampires start to sleep,” Jenks said, the van suddenly silent but for Ivy pushing the old engine into a faster pace. “Their new agenda is to shut the vampires down, coast to coast.” His dust shifted to a dull orange as he looked at Trent as if he could do something. “And when that’s done, there’s nothing to stop them from turning their eyes on the Weres and witches.”

Damn it all to the Turn and back. Between the elves’ quest for superiority and the Free Vampires’ holy mission, they were going to throw all of us back in the pre-Turn dark ages.

“That’s not going to happen,” Edden said, his thick hands opening from a tight fist, and Scott looked at him as if he’d never seen a human before. “The I.S. in Chicago can catch them.”

Ivy met his eyes through the rearview mirror. “I’m not trusting anything to those yahoos,” she said, and Trent glumly nodded. “We have to stop that train.”

“Blow it up,” Scott said. “I know a guy in the Hollows—”

“We are not blowing it up,” Trent interrupted, and I watched, intrigued when he stared Scott down. David met my gaze knowingly as if to say, See?

“There are people on it,” Trent said, almost as if embarrassed.

“A hundred die to save millions,” Scott protested, and David shook his head in warning.

“No.” Trent sat sideways to see everyone as we raced along. “A large slice of the world’s species are represented here with all our talents and ingenuity. If we can’t stop a train without killing innocents, then we don’t deserve the freedom we have.” He hesitated. “No one gets a phone call in the morning that changes their life,” he said softly. “Not if I can help it.”

The van went silent, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many of those calls he’d gotten himself. Two at least, from when his parents died. Another when he found out he was a father and would have to fight for his child. I was sure there was more. You can’t keep your calm when all around you are losing theirs if you don’t know what’s truly real and what doesn’t matter.

“That they’re moving is a good thing,” Trent said, his voice holding an unexpected confidence. “Rachel’s mystic intel says the containment systems are on battery. We can procure them, move them safely to the Loveland line, and release them in an orderly, safe fashion.” His gaze never went to me, but I knew his relief was enormous. “Ivy, did you bring your laptop? I need to pull up a map. If I remember right, there’s a paved bike path that runs parallel to the line outside of Cincinnati. The timing might be perfect for a transfer.”

Transfer? “It’s under the seat,” she said, but Bis had already dropped down to it, everyone watching as the gargoyle flipped it open and settled it on his crossed legs.

“How do we get across the river?” Nina asked, her mouth dropping open when Bis casually typed in Ivy’s password.

“Hey!” Ivy cried out, cheeks red as she jerked her gaze from the road, to him, and back again. “You! You’re the one leaving crumbs on my keyboard!”

“Sorry,” he said, blushing deep black as Jenks snickered. “Is this it?”

Trent slipped out of the front seat to sit where he could see the screen. David and Edden were already there, and the light from it lit the four of them in an unreal glow. “Good,” Trent said, eyes pinched. “Ivy, stay the way you’re going. The wheel span on this vehicle is adequate to run across the trestle. Once on the track, we can drive across the river, then get on the bike path, and—”

“At eighty miles an hour!” David protested as he dropped back, eyes wide.

“Dude,” Jenks said with a chuckle. “I’ve got wings, and I still think that’s a dumb idea.”

“And pace them until we can get a team across the gap,” Trent finished. “If we’re lucky, we can get a call to the engine and they’ll stop the train for us once we’re there to take control of the situation. Edden, do you have a clean line to the FIB? I don’t want a hint of this leaked to the press or the I.S. until the train is stopped and they’re contained.”

“I’ve got Rose’s cell. That woman can do anything,” Edden said as he peered under his glasses at his glowing cell.

It sounded good, but the reality was a little more dicey. Ivy clenched her jaw, eyes fixed to the road. Around me, everyone became quiet as they estimated their chances, comparing their strengths and reflexes to the probable fallout if they failed to even try. We were talking about jumping to a train under full steam, but everyone’s culture, not to mention every vampire’s second life, was in the balance.

I was getting a bad feeling. Bis and Jenks had wings. No one else did. Trent slowly closed the laptop and slid it back under the seat. “This is great!” I said sarcastically, dropping my head into my hands and swaying with the van’s motion. “I like this plan! I’m excited.”