Battle for the Blood (20 page)

Now!

I thrust upward as the terrible teeth closed around me, driving the blade straight up through the roof of the monster’s mouth and into its brain. It stiffened immediately in shock…and then didn’t unfreeze. Beneath and around me, I could feel the body growing cold as stone, the breath going from fetid inferno to echoing stillness.

Yet I was trapped, teeth holding me in like a cage, and me too weak to pry open the stone jaws. Even if I had that kind of strength. I collapsed onto the nearest teeth, unable to do a thing when the sharp serrated edges bit into my back and sides. My eyes started to close when I realized that someone was calling my name.

“Here,” I said feebly. “Go on without me. Save the children.”

Something hammered away at the stone around me, pinging painfully. The sound like I was in a bell and my head was the ringer.

“Stop,” I begged.

But it didn’t stop, and when the stone teeth shattered around me, I fell off my perch, straight into Apollo’s arms.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” he said, gazing down at me like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, which was just ridiculous.

“Why?” I asked.

“Good question.” He didn’t put me down, though, but held me close to him. I looked to see that he’d shattered the beast’s lower jaw to get to me, but that, otherwise, it looked like a lifelike stone gargoyle, caught in mid-action. It was horrendous and amazing in its detail. It looked like it could breathe again at any instant. Which maybe it could.

“We have to get out of here,” I told him. “We found Nick holed up with some kids. I sent them away to hide when this thing appeared, but we’ve got to get them out of here. It’s not safe.”

“We’re taking in kids now?” he asked.

“Temporarily and yes.”

I went to Hermes first and his eyes fluttered open at the sight of me. “Is it over?” he asked.

I looked back at the petrified plague demon. “For now.”

Hermes tried to sit, but got dizzy instantly and lay back down. Apollo and I had to help him to his feet. “You okay?” I asked.

“How many fingers?” Hermes asked, holding his entire hand up.

“I think that’s supposed to be our line.”

“Well, you missed your cue,” he scolded. “Mel would be so disappointed.” The words came out slurred, but he was talking and he was walking. At the moment it was all we could ask.

We led him around the downed officer, careful not to slip in blood or…anything else. We were just about to hit the door inside when Hermes said, “I can’t sense him.”

I froze, my hand out to the door. “Who?”

“Your…Nick. You said you found him, but it’s like before when I tried to search him out. Something’s blocking me. Interference or something.”

The demon? Even in petrified form?

“What about Hera?” I asked.

“Her too. I checked.”

I wanted to think that Hermes was just off his game because of the blow to his head, but since it had happened before…

I nearly ripped the door off its hinges, all the power and strength that had been crushed out of me by the demon suddenly flooding back in fear. There was no way to walk three abreast in the stairs. Apollo and I clattered down, going for speed rather than stealth, leaving Hermes to grip the railing and follow behind as best he could. I hit that third-floor landing with a bone-jarring impact that sent me falling toward the door, but I opened it before I could crash. Instead, I burst through, running for the room where I’d sent Nick, Hera and the kids.

Chapter Eighteen

“I half want to kill you and I’m on your side.”
—Detective Helen Lau to Tori Karacis

“Nick!” I yelled before I even got to the door. “Hera, it’s Tori. If you’re in there, open up! Nick!”

“It’s okay. It’s safe,” Apollo said from right behind me, probably afraid the panicked tone of my voice might convey otherwise.

The door opened as I reached it, and, expecting Nick, I hurled myself forward…into Hera’s arms. She stumbled back, surprised, and I disengaged instantly to look around. The kids and Nick—clutched tightly in little Lacy’s arms—were all safe. No cause for alarm.

“Oh thank gods,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” Hera answered wryly. “What happened out there?”

“Rabid plague demon or maybe the demon of rabies or bizarre animal diseases or…whatever. I’m not up on my demonology. He’s stone now. Let’s get out of here before it wears off.”

“Does it?” Hera asked.

“Damned if I know. This is all new to me. Hermes, can you get us home?” I turned toward the door I’d burst through to see him leaning hard against it.

“Got it,” he said, breathing hard from the run down the stairs. “I can sense home just fine. That’s so strange.”

Before our eyes, he began to open his window, starting with the usual wavery air. The kids gasped, and I heard a “cool!” escape from under someone’s breath. Apollo stepped forward to add his power to the portal, and it grew and solidified until we could see Cori’s living room and even the whites of her eyes and Michelle’s as they watched us, relief dawning over them.

“What is that?” a boy asked, torn between awe and fear.

“It’s what’s going to get us out of here,” I told him. “We just step through and we’re somewhere else.”

“Like Oz?” asked Lacy hopefully.

“No, but somewhere almost as good.”

I stepped through first so that they could see me come out the other end, safe and sound. “Come on,” I said, beckoning them through.

Cori leaned in to whisper in my ear. “We’ve got kids now?”

“We couldn’t just leave them in the deserted hospital to fend for themselves.”

“Deserted?” she gasped.

“We’ll fill you in.”

The first kid was stepping through now—the boy with the wired jaw, no doubt, as the oldest, determined to show the others the way. He immediately crouched down to welcome the others with open arms. Next was a wiry boy who could have been anywhere from seven to a small-for-his-age eleven. It was hard to tell with those sorrowful eyes that looked like they housed an old soul. Then a girl, probably pre- to early teen, who played with the tie string of the second hospital gown she wore like a coat over the first. She met Cori’s eyes quickly, then Michelle’s, taking them in, and immediately went to sit on the one recliner Cori had, tucking her feet up underneath her and curling in on herself. Nick came through next with Lacy held in one arm and his other hand clutching that of a little boy, dark like Lacy, but with his hair trimmed close to better showcase his widow’s peak and deep, handsome eyes. He was in jammies of his own that someone must have brought him from home—bright blue with lighter blue splotches of Sully and green globs of Mike Wazowski from
Monsters, Inc.
The Olympians brought up the rear and Hermes closed the portal behind us.

We stood in Cori’s living room, blinking awkwardly at each other, except for the wiry boy, who was staring in awe at all of the pictures and posters. The sadness in his eyes seeped away in the light of excitement and he turned on Cori, sensing it was her place, I guess, from our body language or some other tell. Pretty impressive.

“Are you someone famous?” he asked. “Like an actress? You have to be to have a place this size.”

Ah, kids.

Cori’s face went from stunned at the latest invasion of her home to charmed. “I
am
someone famous,” she said, pleased. “But I’m usually more behind the scenes.”

“No,” he said, studying her seriously. “That’s not it. I’ve seen you before. I know I have.”

She gave Apollo a raised eyebrow, amused and, I think, delighted. “Well, I did get a group together for a special show that went around to various schools to get kids excited about the arts. We called it
Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts
, after the song. Maybe you saw it.”

The boy’s eyes lit up like a candle. “You were the good fairy!” he exclaimed. “When you did ‘Little Bunny Foo Foo’. And you did other stuff too…”

“That was me,” she admitted.

“I was one of the field mice,” he said proudly. “You picked me out of the audience.”

I was no expert, but I suspected her plan to encourage kids in the arts had met with at least one success.

Cori held out her hand and introduced herself. The boy looked impressed with that and took her hand with his. “Blake Reinhart,” he answered, even going so far as to bow over her hand.

“Pleased to meet you, Blake,” she said. “Do you like hot chocolate?”

As far as I was concerned, it was a silly question. What child didn’t like hot chocolate? Oh, except maybe for the lactose intolerant and… Okay, not so silly after all then.

He nodded deeply. “I think we all do,” he answered, impressing me.

“Well then, you go sit with the others and I’ll have some right out to you.”

We were going to go through her whole allotment of mugs if we stayed here much longer.

The adults all collected in the kitchen. It was big by Manhattan standards…tiny by the standard of more than two adults trying to fit into it at one time. So we were all up close and personal when the phone Cori had given Hera rang in her pocket.

We all looked at each other.

“Answer it,” Hermes said, like no one would have thought of that.

Hera gave him a dirty look and did what she was planning to do anyway. She hit the button to accept the call and held the phone to her ear. “Hello.”

“Pick Your Poison pub. One hour. Come alone,” said the voice on the other line. We were all close enough to hear.

“But wait, I don’t know where—”

“Google it,” the voice responded and then hung up.

Hera looked at us all. “You heard her.”

“Hell with that,” I said, “I’m coming with you. They don’t
really
expect you to come alone.”

Nick and Apollo both started to protest at once, but I was ready for them. “Besides, girl power and all that. If I get caught, I can talk myself out of it.”

They eyed me dubiously.

“What?” I asked. “You
know
I can talk.”

“I’ve seen your mouth get you
into
plenty of trouble,” Nick answered. “But never out of it.”

Point taken. “Well, there’s a first time for everything.”

Hera was busy on her borrowed phone. “One hour. It’s going to take us that long to get there.”

She turned the phone toward us, the screen displayed an address and a map of the city, pinpointing the pub with a red bubble. Pick Your Poison was way down in Greenwich Village. We were way up on the Upper West Side. If everyone was listening to the reporters, which
never
happened, the streets would be deserted. People would be inside after stocking up on necessities. What doors still stood after looters got through with them would be barricaded against invasion and contagion. Which would leave only demons and plague victims between us and the pub.

Even if we knew who and what to fix on, we couldn’t just open a portal. It would be a big red flag that Hera had help and that she wasn’t approaching Hecate on her own. I couldn’t fly her in for the same reason. At least, not all the way. There was no telling how far along the route they might have lookouts.

“You can’t just take off,” Apollo protested. “You need a plan.”

“Fine, we women go out and save the day while you stay home and take care of the kids.” I blamed low blood sugar for that actually coming out of my mouth. It was my only excuse.

Apollo looked like he would like to throttle me, but I was used to that by now.

“Seriously,” I said, trying to actually put on my serious face. “We’ll call if we need you. You and Hermes and whoever can port in at a moment’s notice.”

“Unless they’ve got the place warded, which they will if they have any sense. Or unless there’s something else interfering with our finding you.”

“Well sure, unless that. Maybe you can work on that while we’re gone.” Which reminded me of something else. I grabbed the phone I’d found in the administrative offices of the hospital and handed it over to Hermes. “Oh, and this too. It was laying on a desk at the hospital, abandoned. I thought maybe you could hack into the email or…something. See if there are any clues to the origin of the viruses or any potential cures.”

Hermes took it, looking grim.

“I don’t like this,” Lau said.

“Nobody has to like it,” I answered. “It just has to be done.”

“But it’s a trap,” she protested. “With no public transportation, she knows there’s no way Hera can get down there in an hour. Not without help or some supersecret ability she has yet to reveal.”

We all looked at Hera, who was shaking her head.

“I’d offer my car,” Cori said, “but word is that midtown is a snarl. Accidents, cars abandoned. Nothing moving.”

“That’s it then,” I said. “Wings it is. Our official story is that you couldn’t shake me. I wanted in.”

“But—”

“No buts,” I said, sure about this and getting surer by the moment. It’s amazing the clarity that comes from lack of other options. “They might not trust me, but I don’t think they’ll kill me. At least…not right away.”

“Very comforting,” Lau said. “I half want to kill you and I’m on your side.”

“Right, shall we go?” I asked Hera.

“Armed?” she asked.

“Better not. First thing they’d do is take our weapons. Might as well leave them at home in a show of good faith.”

“Plan just keeps getting better and better,” she mumbled.

“Wait,” Nick and Apollo both said, as I went to open the window in preparation for flying out of it with Hera in tow.

This was going to get awkward. I’d been hoping to avoid it.

I turned slowly, not ready to face the music, but, hey, where better than in the lair of the muse of such.

The men were looking from one another to me, waiting. I debated grabbing Hera and going, but the truths would come out whether I was there or not. I doubted it would devolve into fisticuffs, but I couldn’t risk it. Nick was in no condition.

“Can we talk first?” Nick asked, “Just for a second. There’s something I have to say.”

I glanced from Nick to Apollo. Torn. My heart aching. Back in Delphi, I’d have given anything to hear what Nick had to say. For “I’m sorry” not to be the last words I heard from him…and in a folded-up note written in someone else’s hand on top of it. Now…well
,
“it’s complicated” seemed the understatement of the year.

“Later,” I said gently. “When all this is over. I have things to say to you too.”

I tried to avoid looking at Apollo, but my gaze just slid that way. Nick noticed. How could he not, when he was staring at me so intently, trying to read my reaction, all those little micro-expressions cops were trained to read in an interrogation.

“I see,” he said.

I was very afraid that he did. I didn’t know how to feel about that. We were over. He’d said so, and I was with Apollo now, but somehow…

I was too confused to say anything but “later”. I looked to Hera and added, “Let’s go.” My gaze, I was sure, said something like
save me
.

Hera’s lips thinned and hardened in disapproval. With all Zeus had put her through, I didn’t wonder. This might look like cheating or leading both men on or gods knew what else, but that wasn’t it. Maybe I could explain to her on the way. Maybe talking it through would even help me clarify things for myself.

But she had the good sense to focus on the problem at hand rather than on the undercurrents in the room.

“What do you think we’ll face at the pub?” Hera asked as soon as we were up, up and away. The two men closest to my heart were back at the apartment and here I was, holding the goddess of marital love, fidelity and making people pay. It seemed a cruel joke.

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Just be ready for anything.”

“Wow, I hadn’t thought of that. Thanks.”

I’d swapped sarcasm with the queen of the gods—one pantheon’s anyway—battled titans, Olympians and other things that went bump in the night. I was becoming one of them. Hells, my life was just about complete.

I didn’t know the city, so Hera had to guide us with the GPS on her phone. The streets below were crowded with vehicles, as Cori had suggested they would be. But everything was abandoned. Signs of life were rare but not entirely absent.

More than once, I saw a bicycle tearing down the street with someone on it pedaling for dear life, one using a full-sized umbrella, point out, as a sort of lance to clear away anything that shambled too close. I wondered if these were thrill-seekers or people dedicated enough to important jobs that they’d risk life and limb to make it in to work. I even saw two rollerbladers traveling together as if there were safety in that number. I watched them as far as I could, holding my breath when a massive dog leapt out of hiding, but we couldn’t stop. I had only an hour to get Hera to her meeting, and I wanted time to scope the place out. It wouldn’t help us to walk into an ambush.

As it turned out, though, the pub was located in a part of the Village far from optimum for surveillance. The streets were narrow. Some only seemed to go for a block before dead-ending—more alleyway than road. Some of the claustrophobic streets were even cobbled. Buildings in the area were mostly brick and only two to four stories high. I had to land us somewhere, and chose a building that rose slightly above the others.

We took the fire escape down to the ground floor, ignoring the apartments we passed until I heard an exclamation and a word I thought was
angel
in Spanish as someone caught sight of my wings. My batlike wings might have said
devil
more than
angel
, but maybe that was because I knew better about myself. If it gave someone hope to think of me as angelic, well, who was I to quibble?