Chapter 35

It took no more than thirty seconds before the door was swinging open. And another two before Billy and I turned our faces away. The stench was bad enough that even a human nose would revolt. After the first second of ‘holy shit, here comes breakfast’, we were able to turn back.

The room was in shambles. There had been cots and mattresses in it at one point, but they were all torn to shreds now. Stuffing and bits of metal decorating the entire floor. There were deep gouges in the walls, like someone had tried to claw their way through all that plaster and wood.

Billy covered her nose with her right hand and held her left one out. After a second she pointed in the corner. I stepped inside the room. The carpet was the worst part. The linoleum in the kitchenette was peeling up and the cabinets looks neglected, but the carpet… Squished. It’s the one sound a carpet should never, ever make. I ignored it, because I really didn’t want to think about what I was walking through.

The smell was a combination of bodily fluids. From sex, piss, blood and tears with an underlying scent of vomit. Then was the aroma of decaying flesh. I was pretty sure that was coming from the dead rats that were in the corners. It looked like some of them had been partially eaten. And not by a cat.

In the corner, where Billy had pointed, a woman was huddled under some of the mattress she had torn up. When I approached, she stared straight ahead and smiled. Her blue eyes were bloodshot and her teeth could use a good brushing, but there was nothing in her eyes. Her heart was beating, but no one was home. I gave her three days to live, if we brought her out of here and took her to the hospital. I looked over at Billy, and she looked grim.

It would be kinder to let her die here because she wouldn’t realize she was dying here. Vampire mind games. When they’d had a taste of your blood, they could mess with your head. Make you think you’re in Heaven when you’re in Hell. Cause great agony when nothing’s touching you. If we took her away, she’d die in pain and misery within seventy-two hours. If we left her? She’d die in euphoria in about twelve.

We didn’t have the ability to save everyone here. We had to grab those that would live. However, it’d be nice to get Debienne under control and we needed to make sure we got out alive with those we could. So, despite how unhappy it made me, I snapped a picture of the woman and the room at large and we left the apartment.

The first apartment on the right was next. There was a vampire in there. He lay across a table, his legs dangling toward the ground, looking strung out. The cleanliness of his apartment suggested that he was one of Debienne’s. His location suggested that he was also in trouble with her.

The next three apartments had similar things. It was starting to be concerning that so many vampires were unconscious. Was she not taking care of them anymore? If not, then we were in way more trouble than what the Annihilists brought. They, we could kill without anyone noticing. The vampires?

The sixth and seventh apartments were actually connected. By a giant hole in the wall between the two. It was about a foot off the floor and took up most of the wall that it used to be. Of course, that’s what happens when you trap a couple of werewolves. They don’t like it.

Billy walked in first and immediately had to duck. She hit the floor and scrambled up, her nose wrinkled. It didn’t smell as bad as the first apartment did, but it wasn’t a bed of roses either. Again, two angry werewolves. There had been some disembowelment in here.

In fact, after I stepped in and shut the door behind me, I saw the victim. She used to be a vampire. Now she was nothing but a pile of body parts that would never rise again. Her head wasn’t connected to her body anymore. It had rolled across the floor, leaving a trail of blood, and was resting in the corner. Vampires didn’t come back from decapitation. In my opinion, the wolf did her a favor.

Vampires go crazy when they’re undead. Their bodies no longer have vital functions and their brain kicks into overdrive, pumping them full of chemicals. No amount of drugs will be a permanent fix. The current life expectancy of an undead is ten years before they commit suicide or have to be killed for the safety of the public.

One wolf, a dark brown one, launched himself at us immediately. His eyes were crazed. Rolling around in his head. Before he got three steps, the other wolf was on him. This one was much smaller than the first and had blonde fur. She pelted into him and they rolled across the floor, snarling and growling.

The brown wolf bit into the blonde’s leg. She yelped, but didn’t get off him. Her teeth went around his throat and she started to squeeze. While they were fighting, I snapped a picture and sent it to Henrik and said, “I think I found what has Basil all worked up.”

He didn’t respond, but I gave him proof that the wolves were alive. Maybe that would make Basil chill the fuck out.

The brown wolf started whipping his body from side to side, trying to dislodge the blonde. Her jaws were locked, though, and they weren’t opening. He may be twice her size, but she had more fight in her than he did.

“What do we do?” Billy asked, shifting around on her feet.

“Nothing,” I said. “Getting in their way is a sure way to get in the fight.” Besides, werewolves really hated it when you got in the way of a dominance contest such as this.

The brown wolf stopped moving and stretched his chin up, giving the blonde more access to his throat. She growled twice and shook him once, for good measure. When that seemed to do the trick. She backed off. He rolled to his feet and ducked his head, to show that he wasn’t going to fight anymore.

The blond dropped to the floor and started shifting back to human.

It gave me time to look around. Aside from the dead vampire, the apartment didn’t seem to be in too bad of shape. The giant hole in the wall wasn’t fixable. They hadn’t taken any major structural parts out.

The other apartment looked to be in even better shape. I estimated that it took them about twenty minutes to get to each other. After that? Who knows why they didn’t bother breaking through another wall.

I glanced over. The brown wolf was still on the ground. His jaw was hanging open in a pant. His teeth didn’t look damaged, but his muzzle did. There were scratches around his chin and lips and gums. His front paws were bloody as well and there were broken claws on each of his feet. The blonde wolf was probably in similar shape, but I wouldn’t know until she finished her change.

Billy was looking up at the ceiling. “They’re on the top floor,” she informed me. “They’re all standing very still,” she continued. “I don’t know what they’re talking about, but this kind of stillness usually only comes before a fight.”

“Don’t I know it,” I said softly, following her gaze.

She frowned. “Do you think this is going to work?”

My eyes went back to the brown wolf. I didn’t have a talent for sensing magic, but he was completely wolf at that moment. There wasn’t a person in him. Getting captured by vampires can do that a person, but I didn’t think that’s what happened. The wildness in his eyes was a bit too pure.

The blonde grunted and her body finally found the shape of a person again. The last shifts running down her spine in ripples. She shivered and shook her head in a distinctly animal gesture. Then found her feet and hopped up. Her eyes, blue normally, had gold flecks in them still. Her hair was blonde and ran down past her shoulders. Her hands and feet were cut to pieces and she had similar cuts around her jaw. She, too, had damaged herself getting through that wall.

She was also naked.

It was my day for seeing nude people apparently.

She was about the same height as Billy, maybe an inch shorter. Her ribs were showing from lack of nutrition and too many changes without food. Yet, all of that was eclipsed by the shine to her eye. The rage filled shimmer. It wasn’t the wildness in the other wolf, but there was a hint of it.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“Did they take your clothes?” I asked, because I don’t take orders very well.

“No,” she said. “They’re in the other apartment. Who are you?”

“Why don’t you go get dressed?” I asked. “Then we’ll deal with the vampires and get you back to Basil.”

Her shoulders softened at the mention of Basil, letting me know that she was one of his wolves, even if they weren’t a pack. He did what Reggie did. When a new Orphan of his race was dropped off, he picked them up and took care of them. It’s why he’s in charge of them all.

Billy, being nicer than me, took over from there. “Here, let’s get you some clothes. We can’t take you out of here like that. It’ll draw a crowd. My name’s Billy and this is my cousin Asire. We’re just making sure the bitch vampire keeps to her own business, understand?”

The girl relaxed. She couldn’t have been more than twenty, and I’d bet on less. That didn’t keep the fire out of her eyes, though. The burn of someone who doesn’t give in to anything. I was familiar with it. “I’m Iowa,” she said. The two of them stepped over to the other apartment, leaving me with the crazed wolf. He seemed about as pleased about that as I did.

“Debienne sent some vampires after me and Mark about three or four days ago,” Iowa explained. Her voice got muffled as she pulled a shirt over her head. “We’ve been here ever since, but she did something to Mark. She tried to do the same thing to me, but I was prepared…” Pants were coming on now.

“What did she do?” Billy asked.

“Some kind of spell. It shoved him down and let the wolf out,” she said. “He’s been fairly calm, all things considered. I think that’s mostly because I’m a wolf too, one he knows. The second you walked in? He lost it.”

“Weird,” Billy said. “Usually it’s Asire who gets that reaction.”

“What can I say,” I called. “I’m good at pissing people off.”

The two of them emerged a second later. Iowa was dressed in a sweater and jeans. Winter wear. “Why don’t we go talk to Debienne, then, shall we?” I asked, turning toward the door.

Three people scrambled behind me. Mark insisted on walking about two inches in front of me the second we were out the door though. Since I didn’t particularly want to get bitten for the second time in three days, I let him lead us to the elevators. So, Iowa had been kidnapped around the same time Millie had. Debienne is a bitch of the highest order, but somehow, I didn’t think that was a coincidence.

We rode the elevator up in silence. Mostly because there was a very large wolf standing front of us, showing his teeth. I didn’t look directly at him through the whole ride, but Iowa kept her eyes locked with his. If she failed to keep him in line, shit was gonna get ugly in this metal deathtrap.

It was a relief when the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Talk about an entrance. It opened directly into Debienne’s private quarters. She had taken the entire first floor and removed all the separate apartments, making on giant apartment. The space in front of the elevator was huge. The tiles were all purple and blue marble and there were beds everywhere, draped in gray and blue comforters and canopies. It looked partially ridiculous and partially impressive. It might have had more effect if it wasn’t so obvious that she had been going for a gothic boudoir look.

Directly ahead, Debienne was sitting on a dais. There was furniture all over the dais and she lounged across a purple fainting couch. Today she was dressed in a red leather gown that molded to her flesh. It was low cut and her breasts were peeking out either side. What would have looked garish on anyone else, looked natural on her. More’s the pity.

She had her long black hair braided and her eyes were ringed with makeup. The overall effect was dramatic and made her look closer to the beauty she wanted to be. She’d never accomplish it either. Her eyes, her green eyes, were iced over with cruelty, taking away her chance at beauty. It made her look foreign instead of exotically dangerous. Almost reptilian.

When we stepped off the elevator, she had been looking up at Reggie, over her lashes, but now she turned those eyes to us. Their gleeful sparkle left the second she saw Iowa and Mark walking toward her.

Mark snarled and gathered his body for a leap across the room and at her throat. Iowa neatly stepped in front of him, preventing such a move.

Billy and I stepped forward so that Debienne wouldn’t be inclined to keep her eyes on the wolves. I don’t know if she’d fed off either of them, but if she did she could make them do things. It left them vulnerable.

“Well,” she said, her voice cold. “It seems as if you’ve been keeping things hidden, Regalia,” she said slowly, rising to her feet and taking a step off the dais. Her hands were relaxed at her sides, but I could see the muscles bunching around her shoulders and in her neck. She’d like to destroy us.

“Aw,” Reggie said, looking down at the wolves. “I do believe you’ve got that backwards. You have hidden something and it’s going to cost you. Yes, it will cost you something dear. Look at these wolves. How could you be so stupid?” Reggie’s voice lost the sweet cadence she’d been using and became harsh on the last word. “Werewolves, Debienne? Tsk, tsk.”

She was turning away, but stopped to get a closer look at Mark, the snarling creature behind me. “And you’ve spelled them, haven’t you? How do you think Basil will feel about that?”

One corner of Debienne’s mouth lifted up with a snarl of her own. “What makes you think he doesn’t already know?”

“I imagine he does,” Reggie said, sticking her hand in her pocket and withdrawing the check Santos had given her. “I also imagine that they are what this is about?” she held it up so that Debienne would be forced to see it.

The vampire froze. Her expression, her body, those ticking muscles. Everything froze and she became preternaturally still. The next five seconds were long and tense. When her body relaxed, it was a lie. She smiled and shrugged. “Can’t blame a girl for trying, can you? I’ll have our spell-caster remove what she has done to the wolves if it would please you?”

“No,” Billy and Dovie said in unison.

I didn’t look at them, but only because I was eyeing the vampire that was slowly making his way around a curtain. He wasn’t as stealthy as he thought he was. His shoes clicked on the tile.

“We’ll remove it,” Dovie said.

Debienne shifted on the fainting couch. “Will you now?” she asked, amusement coloring her voice.

“Yes,” Billy responded, deadpan.

“Tell me,” Reggie said. “This spell-caster you’ve used, this dumb, dumb woman who thinks she can get away with poisoning werewolves in this manner… might she happen to also be capable of hiding signatures from our trackers?” Her voice was so mild that I knew something was about to die.

“I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about,” Debienne said.

The vampire I was watching froze when he saw my eyes were on him. Either that or the snarling werewolf behind me was quite the sight, but I’d like to think it was me that did him in.

Reggie tucked the check back into her pocket and looked up at her enemy. “Debienne,” she said gently. “What do you think Basil will do when we talk to him and he realizes his wolves are safe from you?”

Silence.

“I’ll help him, you know,” she continued. “I’ll call all my forces in and I’ll risk the wardens’ wrath to watch you fall. Is that something you want? To die at my hands while my Family slaughters your clan? One vampire at a time. I’ll save you for last so that you have to hear their screams.”

Something broke. I didn’t risk glancing over.

“So, let me ask again. Would this spell-caster be able to magic away signatures? You have one last chance to answer correctly.”

Debienne’s silence lasted for longer this time. Instead of answering, she exploded from her seat and bared her fangs at Reggie, hissing through her teeth. “I will see you dead! Who are you to threaten me! You will die by my hand before the world sees the end of me!”

“That is not an answer,” Reggie said, calm as could be.

Debienne sat back on her heels. “It is not spell-caster magic,” she said. “It is your kind of magic. It pushed the person away so that the wolf could play,” she said, smiling at Reggie. “I’ve never seen your kind of magic before. It’s quite…brutal. All force and no cajoling.”

“The tracking?”

“It’s a matter of containment. This force that you call magic. It wraps around someone and contains the thing you track. Their life, their signature. I felt it myself. It was like trying to move in a rubber glove. It’s more than possible, but you’re aware of the restrictions.”

“Thank you,” Reggie said with a brilliant smile. “We’ll be leaving now. Understood?”

Debienne bared her fangs at us again, but we were not touched on the way out of the apartment.