Kinda Like Van Helsing (Afterlife Book 4) Read online

  Harper reached out and touched his shoulder. "That's not true, Conner. You're a good man. They would be proud of you, and the things that you do."

  "Maybe," Conner said darkly. "But I don't want to find out. Come on, let's go join the others."

  Harper sighed and got to her feet. She followed Conner back into the other room. Alec was asleep on the bed, and Sarah and Brittney were playing a game of twenty questions. Harper didn't understand the fascination that everyone in the group seemed to have with the game, but she sat down anyway.

  Soon, they'd finished the game, and Conner turned to Harper. "Your turn," he said.

  "Nope."

  "Yes. Come on. I'll even give you a hint. It's an animal."

  Harper flopped down on Conner's empty bed. She put a hand over her eyes and asked, "Is it a person?"

  "Yes."

  "Is it a specific person?"

  "No."

  Harper frowned. "But I know of them."

  "Definitely."

  "Are they supernatural?"

  "Yes," Conner said.

  "Do I personally know someone that fits into this category?"

  Conner laughed. "You do."

  "Is it a vampire?"

  "No."

  "An incubus."

  "Nope."

  "A shape-shifter."

  "Wrong again," he said.

  "It's a fairy," Brittney broke in suddenly.

  "Hey," Conner said. "She was getting there."

  "Not soon enough," Brittney said. "This game is dumb. We should be figuring out a way to get Chloe back."

  "I told you," Sarah said. "We can't do anything about Chloe tonight. Tonight, we have to focus on the goblins. Alec, wake up. It's time to start planning."

  Alec stirred, groaned, and then sat up. Sarah brought him a cup of black coffee and sat down beside him. "So they live in the sewers," she said.

  "Yes," Alec said. "They love it down there. They rejoice in filth."

  "Disgusting," Brittney muttered.

  "We should get something to wear that we don't care about," Sarah said. "I don't want to get sewer water on this shirt. I'll make a run to the store."

  "Not alone," Alec said.

  Brittney stood up and stretched. "I'll go with her."

  "Good," Alec said. "Bring back something to eat, if you could."

  The two of them set off together after taking orders of what everyone wanted from the deli section. That left Harper alone in the room with Conner and Alec. Alec flopped back down and closed his eyes again. Conner was doodling on a piece of paper, looking both bored and irritated at the same time.

  Harper sat on the other bed, and closed her eyes. She was trying to reach Ileana. For a moment, nothing happened. She wasn't surprised. She'd never tried to channel her great-grandmother when she was awake before. Then, suddenly, she was Ileana again, standing on the same snowy hill that she'd always stood on.

  She went down into the village, heading to where she knew Alec would be waiting. As always, he was there. Before he could speak, she put a finger to his lips. "I need your help," she said.

  "Ileana," he said, "it's so good to see you. What has happened? What do you need help with?"

  "My friend has fallen in love with a human," she said. "Someone that she shouldn't care about. Someone who's trying to kill me. I need to know what kind of demon has the kind of power to create love."

  Alec shook his head. "There's no demon with that power," he said. "It's one of the things dark magic can't touch. But you know that, Ileana."

  "But she loves him."

  "Obsession and love are often confused," he said.

  Harper considered this for a moment. "You might be right," she said, thinking about how Chloe had leaped in front of Nick and protected him.

  "Of course I'm right," Alec said in an almost haughty voice. "I know about love, Ileana. I know you can't create something like what we have."

  "Oh, Alec," she said. She knew how their relationship would end; Alec would leave her soon, and she would marry someone else. It seemed hard to believe at the moment. He looked at her with such love and devotion that it was gut-wrenching.

  "Don't you know, you leave me. What we have isn't powerful enough to stop that."

  "I would never leave you," Alec said.

  "You say that now," Harper said in Ileana's beautiful Russian accent. "But you will. You'll realize that we can't have a future, and you'll start to think of all the things I'm missing out on because I'm with you."

  Alec shook his head. "Where is this coming from, Ileana?"

  "Will you turn me?" Harper asked.

  Alec froze. "What?"

  "If you want us to be together," she said, "that's the only way. You have to turn me. Do it now, Alec. Change me, so I can stay with you forever."

  For a moment, Alec said nothing. Then he stepped forward, and brushed her hair out of her face. "You have no idea what you're asking, Ileana."

  Harper met his gaze. "Do you love me?"

  "Yes."

  "Then do it," Harper said.

  Alec lowered his mouth towards her neck, and Harper's eyes snapped open. She looked over at the bed where Alec was laying with his eyes closed. "You really loved Ileana, didn't you?"

  "Yes," he said. "Why?"

  "You would have changed her if she had asked," Harper said.

  "No," Alec said. "I would never do that to someone I care about."

  "Your love was great enough that you would have," Harper said.

  She realized she should have felt hurt; Alec had refused to change her when she'd asked. He'd told her he could never do that to someone he loved. Yet he'd been willing to do that to Ileana. He would have changed her. Yet, she didn't feel anything but peace. Perhaps it was finally recognizing that Alec would never love her in the same way as he had Ileana.

  Alec said nothing.

  "You can't create love with dark magic," Harper said, abruptly changing the subject.

  "Yet she loves him," Conner interrupted. Harper blinked; she had forgotten Conner was in the room.

  "No," she said. "Obsession and love are often confused."

  Alec sat up straight. "What? Where did you hear that?"

  Harper smiled a little. "From someone who knew what they were talking about," she said. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that Nick couldn't have created that obsession. Someone else did. We have to figure out who."

  "How?" Conner asked. "Should we just walk up and ask him?"

  "Actually, yes," Harper said. "If he loves her, we can talk him out of this."

  "You can't know that," Alec said.

  "Well, I do," Harper said. "Not that it matters. You're right; we don't have time for this tonight. We're going to have to wait until we finish our job."

  Conner and Alec both nodded.

  "I'm going to side with Harper on this one," Conner said. "She's right. If you love someone, you don't want to keep them prisoner."

  Alec shrugged. "We'll try," he said. "But if he's just obsessed with her and doesn't really love her, then trying to talk him out of this could just end badly for all of us. It might be better just to kill him."

  "We don't kill humans," Harper reminded him.

  Alec grunted.

  Before they could get into an argument about it, Sarah and Brittney returned. They passed out deli sandwiches and cans of ginger ale. Everyone was silent as they ate. Harper couldn't remember something tasting so good; then again, she hadn't eaten all day, and she felt ravenous. She was pretty sure anything would have tasted good at this point.

  Once Alec had eaten, he seemed less sullen and more alert. Brittney, on the other hand, looked even more depressed and dejected than she had before they left.

  Sarah put a hand on her arm. "Hey, we're going to get her back, Brittney. But for now, you have to get your head in the game. We're going to need you tonight."

  "I know," Brittney said. "But I keep thinking about what they could be doing."

  "Don't," Harper said. "There's no reaso
n to speculate on what we don't know."

  Brittney just shrugged and went back to eating her sandwich. When everyone was done, they passed out clothes. They were simple t-shirts and jeans as well as a pair of sneakers for each of them. Harper, Brittney and Sarah went into the other room to change.

  They changed in silence, and then went back to join the other two. They were all wearing nondescript clothing. They passed the time by eating, and drinking ginger ale, letting the day turn to evening. When evening fell, and it was safe for Alec to go outside, they gathered up their guns and left.

  "Well," Alec said when they got into the car, "I suppose it's now or never. Time to kick some goblin ass."

  TWELVE

  Alec drove them all to one of the sewer entrances in the city. Everyone was relatively talkative during the drive, though Chloe's absence was well-noted by each of them. Harper kept waiting for her usual cheerful outbursts and interrupts, and each time she wanted to kick herself for not remembering that Chloe wasn't with them.

  When they arrived at the entrance, they all stood outside of it, breathing in fresh air, and preparing themselves for what waited below. Harper could smell the stench from the ladder leading down into the sewer pipes. "Come on," Alec said. "No sense in dawdling. We have a long night ahead of us."

  He led the way down the ladder, keeping his flashlight turned on in one hand. The others followed, trying not to breathe in too deeply. Harper thought she might vomit, and had to stop several times to make sure her dinner didn't come up.

  "You'll get used to the smell," Conner told her when he saw her white, pasty face. He took her hand and squeezed it sympathetically. She flashed him a smile, and nodded. Then they dropped hands, and brought out their own flashlights. Their guns were tucked into their belts.

  Alec put his flashlight in his mouth, and dug out a map he'd drawn during the day. He looked at it closely, and then nodded. "We need to head to the right," he said. "Then we take the first left, and then another right... then we go about a mile, and then take another right."

  The only one who wasn't carrying a gun or flashlight was Sarah. The moment they'd gotten off the ladder, she turned into a wolf, and trotted along beside them. Harper didn't envy her; Sarah had always said her sense of smell was better in animal form. She didn't look too disturbed though, and Harper felt her face flush. She was the only one who seemed to have a problem. Even Brittney didn't look that grossed out.

  She tried to focus on the task instead of the smell, and just like Conner said, soon she'd gotten used to it. It reminded her of a time when she'd gone to a farm with her mother. When they'd stepped up to the pig pen, she'd almost gagged on the smell. Her mother had taken her by the hand and assured her that with time, the smell would pass. And it had. After ten minutes or so, she'd asked her mother why it no longer stunk. Her mother had laughed, and said that it still stunk. She told her to count to five and then to tell herself to smell how the pigs really smelled. She had, and the smell came rushing back. She'd had to run away from the pen, and she'd lost all her lunch. Her mother had laughed.

  It was like that now. She knew if she wanted to, she could smell how the sewer really was, but she didn't want to puke in front of everyone. She didn't tell herself to smell it how it really was. Instead, she kept close to the others, and kept her flashlight pointed straight ahead.

  As they made their way further into the sewer, she could feel her new tennis shoes squishing in stuff that she didn't want to look at.

  "Why do they live down here?" Brittney asked Alec. "It's disgusting."

  "It's safe," Alec said. "Who'd want to come down here? Goblins don't care about filth. They're not exactly the cleanest creatures themselves, and they want to keep their treasures hidden."

  Brittney just shook her head. Harper understood her feeling; she would have gladly gone back to the underbelly of Vegas if it meant they didn't have to track through mud and feces.

  It took them most of the hour to navigate the path that Alec had set out, and by the time they reached the last right he'd mentioned, they were all covered in the yuck. There were places where the dripping was especially bad and had soaked into their clothes. Sarah's fur was coated and disgusting.

  "Now where?" Harper asked. There was another long stretch of tunnel, and she could see two paths at the end.

  "We head down this way," Alec said, "and we take a left. If I'm right, there should be a door that leads to their lair."

  "How do you know this?" Brittney asked. "I thought it was a closely guarded secret."

  "It is," Alec said. "But this isn't the first time I've dealt with goblins. I know the layout very well. I was here just a few years ago. They'd stolen a priceless artifact from a demon that threatened to wreak havoc on the city if it wasn't returned. I took the job just to get him to shut up for a while."

  Conner shook his head. "You know, Alec, you're not supposed to negotiate with terrorists."

  "He was really annoying," Alec said. "It was easier to get his stupid artifact back than to fight him, so I did. Let me tell you, though, the goblins were not happy. They went through a lot of trouble to get it. Luckily, they have short memories. Come on, let's hurry."

  They picked up their pace, and soon enough they'd reached the end of the corridor. They turned to the left, walked a bit, and just as Alec had said, there was a door. Harper reached for the knob, but Alec slapped her hand away. When she glared at him, he said, "You have to be careful here. Goblins aren't fighters, but they like their traps."

  He looked around and nodded to Conner. He shifted into his incubus form, and leaned forward, trying the door. A large gate fell, and Conner was almost squished by it. At the last moment, he dove to the side, and the gate hit nothing but the squishy ground they were walking on.

  "See?" Alec said.

  "Now how are we going to get through?" Brittney asked.

  Sarah sniffed at the gate, lifted a leg, and urinated on it. Everyone stared at her. She shifted back to human form and said, "What? I've always wanted to do that."

  Alec laughed. "Seriously? And now is the time?"

  "Well, when you might die at any moment..."

  She shifted back to her wolf form and looked at him, her eyes wide and unblinking. There was a moment of silence and then they were all laughing. It took a a minute before they could contain themselves, and then they all looked at each other, looked at the gate, and then they were off again, filling the tunnels with the sound of merriment. Sarah even joined in, barking happily alongside them.

  Once they'd gotten it out of the their systems, Brittney repeated, "How are we going to get through?"

  Conner and Alec stepped forward together without a word. Their eyes met, and then they both grabbed the gate. Harper could see their muscles straining as they lifted together. At first, she didn't think it was going to move, and then there was a loud creaking noise as it raised back into the air.

  "Just like that," Conner said.

  "Watch for trip wires," Alec cautioned. "Who knows what they've rigged up here."

  They walked as silently as possible, which wasn't very quiet at all. Their sneakers kept making loud squelching noises as they moved. Once in a while, Harper would step on something hard and unyielding, and her mind would immediately jump to the most disgusting thing she could think of. There was a flicker of movement to her left, and she jumped back, nearly screaming.

  "Don't worry," Alec said. "It's only a rat."

  "Only a rat?" Harper repeated in a high voice. "Right, only a rat. Nothing to worry about there. Except you know, diseases and stuff."

  Alec rolled his eyes at her, but she missed it in the dark. She felt someone reach out and take her hand, and she turned to see Conner standing there.

  "Hey," he said. "It's alright, Harper. Everything is going fine. Those rats won't hurt you; they're more scared of us than we are of them. Remember, they don't see people very often. Unless you count goblins, and I don't. I mean, they're like half the size of us."

  Harp
er allowed herself a small smile. "Thanks Conner."

  Alec glanced back at them but didn't say anything. He took the lead again, watching every step he took so as not to trip any wires. They walked for another hour, taking turns and avoiding obvious traps. It wasn't until they reached another door that something happened. Conner took a step forward, and tripped over a wire. Immediately, he was covered in a net.

  "Great," he said, trying to untangle himself, and not doing a very good job of it. Harper and Brittney stepped forward to help while Alec aimed his gun at the door.

  The net was large and made of a tiny mesh with a layer of magnets on the ends. It had suctioned into each other after covering Conner and it was tough to pull it apart. In the end, Harper and Brittney had to stand on either side of him and yank the net as hard as they could. Finally it pulled loose, and they were able to toss it to the side. It immediately suctioned in again, creating a mesh ball on the sewer floor.

  Alec rolled his eyes and reached for the doorknob. It turned under his hand, and he led them further into the maze. They walked for what felt like another hour before coming to a turn. "Left or right?" Harper asked.

  "I don't remember," Alec said. He frowned, took out his map, and stared at it for a time.

  "Maybe we should split up," Brittney suggested.

  "No," Conner said. "It's too easy to get lost. We stick together. I'm calling it, Alec. Left."

  Alec put his map away and nodded. They turned left, and began walking down yet another corridor. It widened as they walked, and started becoming lighter and lighter. Soon, they didn't even need their flashlights. They turned them off, stuck them in their bags, and kept their guns up. The floor turned from cement to tiles.

  About a hundred feet after they'd turned off their lights, Sarah stepped forward onto a tile that was darker than the others. Brittney dove at her, and the two of them were knocked out of the way as a large statue fell from the ceiling where they'd been standing a moment before.

  Sarah nodded her head as a thank you and switched back.

  "No problem," Brittney said.

  "They're not exactly subtle, are they?" Harper asked.