Phoenix Under Fire (Afterlife Book 5) Page 9

  "Act natural," Chloe said.

  "How?"

  "Well... what do you think of Conner and Harper?"

  Brittney blinked, caught off guard by the question. "Don't you mean Alec and Harper?"

  Chloe shook her head. "They've already decided they won't work out. I think she's moving on, and I know Conner is interested in her. Don't tell him I told you that, of course. He might snap my neck or something."

  Brittney smirked a little. "Somehow I can't imagine Conner hurting anything, much less you."

  "You haven't seen him lose his temper yet," Chloe said. "It's something to behold. Anyway, like I was saying, I think there's something brewing between the two of them, or at least there will be."

  "But she's in love with Alec," Brittney said. "Even if they both have decided it won't work, you can tell just by looking at them when they're together."

  "I know," Chloe said. "I know there was something there, but they're right, you know. They wouldn't work out."

  "I don't know about that," Brittney said.

  "Harper will probably want a family someday," Chloe said.

  "Don't you want a family someday?" Brittney asked.

  Chloe considered this for a moment. "I never really thought about it," she admitted. "I didn't think I'd ever find someone that I'd want to start a family with. I guess I do, though. When we retire or something."

  "If the two of us can have a family," Brittney said, "and I know I'm getting ahead of myself a little here, but if we can, why can't they? I know Alec can't... you know, make babies, but they could adopt, or she could get pregnant some other way."

  Chloe shook her head. "But see, Alec can't go out during the day. He'd miss all the events; school dances with his kid, softball games, birthday parties... and he'd stay the same, as they grew older. Can you imagine watching your baby turn into a child, and then a teen, and then an adult, and then die? All while you stay twenty-nine forever?"

  Britteny thought about this for a moment, but before she could formulate a response, the two vampires had approached them.

  "Do you ladies mind if we join you?"

  Chloe and Brittney exchanged a look.

  "Come on in," Chloe said. She scooted closer to Brittney to make more room for the two.

  "I'm Hansel," the one who'd asked to join them said.

  Chloe flashed the other man a smile. "And let me guess, you're Gretel."

  "No," he said, laughing.

  For a moment, Brittney had a hard time believing they were vampires. They seemed so nice, and so handsome. There was something about them that inspired trust, and friendship, and laughter.

  "I'm Chris," he said.

  The two of them joined Chloe and Brittney both smiled. Brittney's smile was genuine, but she could tell Chloe was forcing hers. This gave her pause to consideration, and she realized she was falling under the spell that vampires cast on their victims before attacking.

  She shook her head to clear it.

  "So what brings you two lovely ladies out this late at night?" Hansel asked.

  "Just decided we needed a soak," Chloe said. "What about you two?"

  As if they planned it, their eyes flashed black, and their fangs started growing, and they looked more muscular than they had before. Chris grinned. "We came here to feast."

  Brittney and Chloe looked at each other again, then both of them took their martini glasses and shattered them on the edge of the hot tub. They leaped out together. The vampires followed them out.

  "There's no sense in trying to fight," Hansel said. "We'll make it easy on you. You'll make good recruits."

  "Not a chance," Brittney said, just as Chris lunged for her. She pushed him just as he landed atop her, and sent him flying backwards. She was suddenly grateful for all of the workouts Sarah made her do.

  He came after her again, and she had a moment to wish they'd brought their supplies down to the hot tub with them. If they'd had a stake, or even holy water, they could have protected themselves a lot easier.

  But she would make use of what she had. When he came out at her again, she kicked him squarely in the groin. When he went down to his knees, she stabbed forward with the jagged glass in her hand, and it went into his left eye with a loud squelch. He let out a scream of pain, clutching at his face.

  She turned quickly to see how Chloe was doing. She was levitating, aiming kick after kick at his head.

  "The glass!" Brittney called out.

  Chloe let herself fall back to the ground, and stabbed out at the exact time she landed. The glass went into his throat, and he made a gurgling scream.

  "Let's go!" Chloe said. They ran, forgetting all about their towels, as they headed for the elevator. Both of them knew they hadn't permanently damaged the vampires, just slowed them down a little. When they got in the elevator, they saw Hansel and Chris coming after them, leaving trails of blood in their wake.

  Brittney pushed the close door button just in time, and then hit the number for their floor. They headed straight for Sarah's room, banging on the door till they heard her moving around. A minute later, she opened the door in her bathrobe.

  "What's going on? Why are you covered in blood? Come in!"

  The two of them pushed their way into Sarah's room. Chloe flopped down on the bed, seemed to realize she was dripping blood, and got back up. Brittney didn't bother to sit. Instead, she shut the door and locked it.

  "Vampires," she said.

  "What?"

  "We were soaking in the tub, and these two vampires came in," she explained. "For a little bit, I thought they were just going to soak and enjoy the hot water with us, and then they attacked."

  Sarah nodded. "Did you kill them?"

  Chloe and Brittney shook their heads.

  "No," Chloe said. "We couldn't. We didn't have anything to kill them with. I stabbed one in the neck, though, and Brittney hit one in the eye with glass. They're pissed. We barely got into the elevator in time."

  "Alright," Sarah said. "You two make yourself comfortable. Go take a shower or something. I'll get you some clothes from your rooms, and get Conner and Harper. If there are vampires here, none of us should be alone."

  Before either of them could argue, she'd grabbed their room keys from where they'd dropped them and headed out. Brittney tried not to feel too worried; she knew the vampires weren't looking for Sarah for revenge, and besides, if they did attack her, she could morph.

  A few minutes later, a tired looking Conner and Harper entered the room. Sarah followed them, holding a change of clothes for Brittney and Chloe. They took turns in the shower and then dressed. Brittney felt a little better when she was out of her bikini and into something warm and clean.

  "Now what?"

  "Well, we can't go after them," Conner said. "That's not an option. We can't get caught by security. You two are lucky nobody saw you attack them."

  "They attacked us!"

  "I know," Conner said. "I'm just saying, it wouldn't do us any favors to get known as vampire killers. Not with your meeting tomorrow."

  Harper wiped the sleep out of her eyes. "I don't think we should stay here," she told them. "We need a new place to stay. Those vampires, if you did some serious damage -- which it sounds like you did -- they're going to be out for blood."

  "Not tonight," Conner said. "It's not safe to move at night. We'll find a new place in the morning. For now, everyone try to get some sleep. I'll stay up and stand guard."

  Sarah caught his eye, transformed into a panther, and laid down in front of the locked door. Conner took a seat at the desk. Harper took one of the beds, and Brittney and Chloe took the other.

  Brittney knew she needed the rest, but it was a long time after she closed her eyes that she finally fell asleep.

  THIRTEEN

  Alec followed Jeffrey to his home. It was a run-down apartment, on the bottom floor of the complex. Jeffrey opened the door; it wasn't even locked. Alec shook his head; he never understood why people didn't lock their doors, especially in ne
ighborhoods like this.

  He wouldn't have been surprised if the place had been ransacked, but it wasn't. Everything seemed like it was in its place, and Jeffrey wasn't freaking out, so he took that as a sign that everything was alright. Of course, it looked like a bachelor pad for a twenty-two year old; beer cans littered every surface, the sofa was lumpy and second-hand, and the kitchen was piled with frozen dinners and dirty dishes.

  "Sorry for the mess," Jeffrey said. "I haven't had the chance to clean up in a while."

  "I've seen worse," Alec said casually, but in truth, he felt his heart breaking a little. He would never mature, he'd never outgrow his messiness. He was stuck forever at twenty-two or twenty-three, nothing more than a grown up child.

  "I'll get you some blankets," Jeffrey said. "We can't go out for a while. The sun is coming up. Whenever it's sunny outside, I feel sick to my stomach, and I can't transform. They said that was part of the process. That we can't be out during the day."

  "That's true," Alec said. He took a seat on the couch, found a piece of old bologna, and had to resist the urge to start cleaning. Instead, he got up, put it in the overflowing trashcan, and returned to the couch.

  "I still can't believe that they told you nothing," Jeffrey said.

  "Would you have?" Alec asked. "If you'd attacked that woman, Jeffrey, if you'd turned her, would you have stuck around to see her face afterward? Would you have wanted to see the accusations, the betrayal she would have felt?"

  Jeffrey looked away. Alec wanted to offer some sort of comfort, but what comfort could be given? He couldn't tell him the things he knew. He couldn't tell him that it didn't have to be this meaningless existence. He would blow his cover then, and it was important that he get an inside view of the army.

  "I'm going to lie down," Jeffrey said, tossing some blankets on the couch on top of Alec. "If you need anything, just help yourself. But try and get some sleep. Tonight, I'll take you to the dwelling, sound good?"

  "Yes," Alec said. He closed his eyes, and pretended to go to sleep. Once Jeffrey had retired to his room and shut his door, he sat up and pulled out his phone. There were several missed calls and a few text messages.

  His finger hesitated over Harper's contact name, and then he scrolled past her to Sarah's name and let the phone ring. In a minute, she'd picked up.

  "What's up?" he asked.

  "Brittney and Chloe were attacked."

  "What?"

  "They're fine," Sarah informed him. "But we're going to be moving out of the hotel. It's not safe here. They injured a couple of vampires pretty badly, and I think they'll be looking out for revenge. We're moving today, when it's most likely they'll be asleep."

  "Alright," Alec said. "Stay safe. I've got my own work to do, so you might not see or hear from me for a few days."

  Sarah was silent on the phone for a few seconds. Alec knew she was worrying about him, but she just said, "Alright, good luck."

  Alec hung up the phone and tried to get comfortable on the couch. He missed his apartment.

  Meeting Jeffrey had reminded him once again of his first kill. Janet. Beautiful, sweet, naive Janet. It had been almost too easy to get her to agree to go with him; he wasn't aware of the hypnosis he could implant at this point, and he had relied on his good looks and charming smile.

  There were others; hundreds of others, maybe even thousands, but their faces were a meaningless blur. He'd killed so many that he couldn't recall all their names, or what they'd did, or what color their hair was.

  Except Janet. He didn't think he'd ever forget her. He wasn't even sure he wanted to; it hurt to think of her, yes, but so many things hurt, and sometimes hurt was a good reminder. It reminded him what he used to be, how he used to feel.

  He wished he could explain that to Jeffrey. He wished he could sit him down and have a nice long conversation about what he was really getting into. He wished he could save him from the things he'd do, and the thing he'd become.

  Alec shut his eyes and tried to think of something else -- anything else. Nothing came to him, though. Just Janet, and Jeffrey, playing again and again in his head, as though they were somehow connected. Janet. Jeffrey. Janet. Jeffrey.

  He got up and started cleaning the apartment. The first thing he did was locate the trash bags. Then he gathered up most everything he could see. It didn't matter to him if it was something special to the young man he was sharing a house with. If it looked gross, he tossed it.

  When he got to the fridge, he nearly gagged. The smell coming from it was nothing short of atrocious. He threw everything out, even if it was something in a closed container. Soon the fridge was empty. He put the now full trash bags by the front door, and went to hunt under the sink for some cleaner. He found a half-full bottle of bleach, and a package of scrubbers that had never been opened.

  He scrubbed everything. The walls, the counters, the sink, the toilet, everything. He didn't know exactly why he was cleaning, other than it was a relief from the thoughts that kept playing in his head.

  By the time he was finished and satisfied, it was nearing noon. He tossed his scrubbers in the trash bags by the door, laid down on the couch, and finally got to sleep.

  FOURTEEN

  Once everyone had settled into their new, hopefully vampire-free hotel, they scattered, going to unpack their things and get a feel for their rooms. Chloe had been all for everyone staying together, but in the end, Harper had beat out this idea by pointing out that the vampires had no idea where they were now, and that everyone would probably like a bit of privacy.

  Sarah agreed readily to this. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the company of the others, she just wanted the chance to practice her transformations in private. It was embarrassing to try and turn into a fox, and come back naked. It was possible for her to change into her panther or wolf form and keep her clothes; it was a neat trick she'd learned about expanding the field of her transformation.

  Unfortunately, whenever she wanted to learn something new, she had to relearn the habit. So once everyone was gone, she put up a Do Not Disturb sign, locked her door, and stripped naked. There was a full length mirror in the room, and she took a moment to look at her body.

  She was relatively average when it came to height, but that's where average ended. She took exceptional care of her body, working out at least once a day, practicing her transformation, and eating right. Her muscles were well-defined, and she was sure that she could take almost anyone in a fair fight.

  After she was done admiring the body she spent so much time and effort on, she went to the center of the room. She closed her eyes, breathed in deeply, sucking in her stomach as she did so. She let her conciseness slip for a moment, and become that of a feral beast; the next thing she knew, she was seeing the room from a different perspective. She had become a fox.

  Sarah ran back over to the mirror, and examined herself. She thought she made a pretty fox; not that it mattered. She might admire her own body, and find herself attractive, but she wasn't in the market for exploiting her good looks. Sometimes, if she felt lonely enough, she would pick up a guy in a bar and bring him back to her home for some fun. They never stayed the night, and she never took their numbers.

  Chloe thought she was hiding, afraid of being hurt, but the truth was, she just didn't care about relationships. She had her family in the Afterlife crew and the abused women she helped, and that was all she needed.

  She transformed back into her human self by simply reconnecting the part of her brain she'd turned off when she switched. All of her human emotions filled her as she walked away from the mirror.

  Sarah could remember the first time she'd transformed. It had been her wolf form she'd changed into first. She'd been so terrified, not knowing what had happened, or why she'd suddenly transformed back into a human again. She'd been naked, her clothing in shreds around her, standing on her mother's old porch step.

  This was after her father had killed her mother by beating her into a coma. Sarah had thought many times
of leaving Las Vegas and starting over somewhere else, but she hadn't wanted to leave her sister. Then she'd got involved in college, pre-med, and she'd started working at soup kitchens and womens' shelters.

  It was her sister who got out. She got an athletic scholarship for some grand team back east, and she'd fled as fast as she could, leaving Sarah alone. She hadn't minded, and she'd never resented her sister for going as soon as the opportunity arose. There were just too many bad memories in the city.

  There were times when she missed her sister dearly; she'd protected little Elizabeth many times when they were growing up. Still, she had her women who needed her, and she had school. She had wanted to be a doctor for as long as she could remember. It was only after that first transformation that she realized there might be another life for her.

  Sarah hadn't known about the supernatural world. She'd never met someone who could shape-shift before. She had no close friends to confide in, and her and little Elizabeth had grown apart over the years.

  So she'd dropped her education, and started getting in shape. Her wolf form came easier and easier and soon she could transform at will. She met Alec, Conner, and Chloe -- she'd found a new family.

  Still, meeting another shape-shifter... finding out more about what caused her to be able to transform... she had never figured out why she could. Was it genetic? Some kind of mutation? She was too logical to believe it was a curse. But if it was a curse, was it from wishing her father dead? She had done that on her twenty-second birthday, and three days later he had a heart attack in prison and died.

  She shook her head, reminding herself that she wasn't going to make friends with this shape-shifter. He could transform, yes, which made him somewhat intriguing -- especially that bear form -- but he was still one of the bad guys. It was her job and responsibility to stop the bad guys. That's what she did.

  There was a tapping on her door, so Sarah shook her head, clearing it of all thoughts, and grabbed a bathrobe that was hanging on a hook, courtesy of the hotel staff. She slipped it on, relishing the softness near her skin, and went to open the door.