Darker Shade of Pale - HER FREEDOM (6 page)

Chapter
Ten

A voice screaming, "TYB!" woke me up from the best sleep I have had in years. I bolted upright, clutching the quilt to my chin before recovering. Could hear Tyb's bedroom door open and his voice respond.

"Jesus,
Zamara. Don't ever wake me up like that!"

I got up from my bed and wandered my door. The tone
Zamara used could be likened to a Valkyrie war cry before gallons of blood is spilt. If the siblings were going to get into an argument, I'm going to stay out of their way. Zamara sat on the mass rocket heater's bench, while Tyb leaned a shotgun against the wall.

Mara
was about to hand Tyb a large envelope when she spoke. "Got what you wanted. You sure about this?"

Tyb
reached for it. "Yes. Absolutely certain."

She held it out of his reach. "Before I hand it over, I need to know… Did you have another dream?"

Tyb nodded. "Yes. The night before you called for me to take on this project."

Awe poured from
Mara's expression. "You haven't had one of those for years."

"I know.
Which is why this is important to me."

Mara
clapped a hand to his shoulder and said, "I hope it works out. Your dreams aren't bullshit, but still… it's not logical." She handed him the envelope.

I walked out of my room. "Hallo,
Zamara."

"Yeah, didn't mean to wake you up, Ana. But he's on my shit-list."

"Don't be mad at him. I threw myself at Tyb. He told me 'No' a few times, too." I felt embarrassed to tell her that, but still, the blame is mine. I pushed the envelope.

"Saying no and following through are two different things, Ana."

"I didn't give him a choice, Mara. It was either give me what I want or help me whittle a dildo. He didn't like the idea of a sharp thing near a penis, evidently. He capitulated. I seduced him with bravado."

Mara
looked from me to Tyb and back to me. "
You
 said that?"

Tyb
and I both nodded. "Yeah, I did. I'm not a hussy, I swear. But he brings it out in me."

Mara
swiped a hand over her face in a tired gesture. "Goddamn your fucking dreams, Tyb. This makes things a little…Hmm, shaky, shall we say? You don't want to poke the pissed off grizzly bear with a sharp stick in its eye."

"Yeah I do. I want to blind him with that stick, first. He'll do something stupid if he's pushed. He'll lose sight of what he wants to get even. He's petty like that."

"Your little bower from him won't be so safe if he gets pissed enough. He'll raze the goddamn countryside on a quest for blood."

Tyb
looked absolutely certain. "He can raze. He'll still end up at the wrong end of my pointy stick. I've got a couple advantages over him, the least being that I can be patient. Second advantage, he'll never know what will hit him. Is that postal box still available?"

"The one from years ago?
Yeah. I still have the key and have been paying for it… Going to be placing an order soon?"

"Yup.
Still buddies with the satellite guy?"

"Why yes I am. What's your plan,
Tyb. I can see the hamster running on its wheel in your head. You're up to mischief."

"I'm toying with an idea, is
all. I can guarantee it'll get a reaction from Haytham. I can guarantee he'll get enraged and I can guarantee that it'll bring him out of hiding."

"And what purpose does this fulfill?"
Mara's expression seemed very unamused with Tyb.

"He'll come raging like a bull from where ever he is. Team A takes him down, Team B storms the castle and rescues Princess Aisha from the clutches of
Haytham. You'll be on Team B, I know you'll like going Commando."

"Hey, the Commandos drink a lot of tea. They are a respectable lot."

I sat in silence, wondering just how exactly we'd bait Christos. "So, how exactly do we get him out of hiding? I know it'll involve me."

Tyb
looked at me with his shrewd, amber eyes. "I'm trying to think of a way to piss him off royally without you being naked on the internet."

Well, okay then.
"Me just being alive?"

"Not enough. We want 'Insane in the Membrane' kind of anger."

Mara broke the silence. "You know, Ana naked would just drive him nuts…"

"There are only two things that Christopher
Haytham holds dear beyond belief. His power and his toys. He never liked competition. Wouldn't even have to be hardcore to piss him off. Just the thought of some other man between my thighs would set him off."

"I want you to think about planting that thought, Izzy." At
Mara's bewildered expression, Tyb explained, "Ana died over that cliff. She's Izzy."

"Well, that makes things convenient."
Tyb's brow knit and Mara finished her thought. "When you open the envelope, you'll see."

"Okay, so no matter the method for pissing in
Christos's eye, said urine needs to be delivered to his eye. How will this happen?"

Tyb
spoke with a smirk. "I was thinking maybe we'd text him from an untraceable phone or email him through a series of proxy servers. Send him an URL. At the end of that, a message from Izzy, here, invoking the ghost of Selesta. Could taunt him into stupidity. He'd try to track where the image sourced from, but would either hit a brick wall or have to buy the company to get that info. The reason I suggested naked, is because porn is a multi-billion industry. He'd either go broke buying all the different sites we could use, because they won't go cheap, try hacking and get busted, because again, this is a multi-billion industry and they don't want people cashing in for free. Either way, that squeaky-clean image of his would be tarnished from the proximity of porn. Hey, Mara, what's the word about the explosion?"

Mara
drew a deep breath. "They found a faulty containment block. Triggered a domino effect and the whole building fell. The isotopes used in his experiment weren't stable, and they unleashed what amounts to fallout from the vaporized building. Word has it that Haytham left the building exactly fifteen minutes before hell was unleashed. He's been laying low, although CIA believes he's holed up with some Russian mafia doofs up north. They aren't really subtle, but with the firepower they're packing, they don't have to be."

"And Aisha?"
The hope Tyb had at news of his little sister shone through his voice like the sun breaking though a cloudy day.

"You won't like it.
Either of you."

Don't know what
Christos could do any more shocking than what's been mentioned already. "I feel dead where he's concerned, so don't hold back for my sake."

"Tell me,
Mara."

She drew a calming breath and said low, "Aisha is with him. She's his assistant. They were caught on camera going over the Bay Bridge in the same car.
Same at the airport, getting onto his private plane."

"WHAT?"
Tyb bellowed, angered. "She's with him? What, was he cheating on Ana?"

"He always cheated,
Tyb. Doesn't matter the game, he'll pay what needs to be paid so he'll be on top." My calm voice brought Tyb out of his anger.

"No bastard should do that, though. And I'm pissed that Aisha is with him. Glad she's alive, but still…"

"She won't come willingly. She loves him. That's not the worst part."

"What's the worst part?"

"He gave her a disease."

At
Zamara's words, my mind flew as to whether I had that disease too, a by-product of Christos's unhealthy appetites. She looked to me and shook her head. "You're in the clear and I'll tell you why." To Tyb, she said, "I need to tell you about something science can do. It's called Virteria Serum and it's a fucked up nightmare our sister is infected with."

Chapter
Eleven

"I'm not sure I get it, Mara. Zombies? Vampires? People bombs?"

"If you can grasp that much, then you got it all,
Tyb."

"And Aisha… she's one of them?"

"She's kind of between worlds. From what I found out, she has a first generation implant—as long as she has the implant, the urge to feed is quelled. Take out the implant, she gets a hankering for blood. She already is at the secondary stage of infection and that implant is the only thing holding her back."

"What's that about infection?"
Tyb asked with no emotion in his voice. His eyes dulled with all that Mara told him.

"Her skin begins to crystalize and refract light. She looks like a raver covered in glitter. If she bites someone infected with the Virteria Serum, they'll both explode in the third stage."

"So he made Aisha into a weapon? He's going to kill her!" Tyb sat upright, rigid like a post, with tension binding him like a glue.

Mara
's tone softened. "She asked for it, Tyb. She wanted to and signed a contract saying as much. His idea of assisted suicide."

He ran an impatient hand through his dark curls.
"So….What? We don't get her away from him? Let that fucker just blow her up?"

Mara
shrugged. "If we get her out of there, she'll raise hell just to get back to him. You know how she is. Giving up the ghost is something she can't do."

"So we do nothing, then?" Bitterness and anger directed at the situation echoed from
Tyb's voice. "Sit on our asses and think happy thoughts?"

"I didn't say
 
that
. But we need to proceed carefully. If you want to provoke him, fine. But be aware, you could be provoking Aisha as well."

"Well, that puts a damper on things, doesn't it?" Sarcasm:
Tyb's sharpest sword.

"Just a little.
Then again, it might be something he'll keep from her. She's not stable when she's upset. She's never been stable."

I piped up. "So what do we do? Just lay low or what?"

Mara nodded. "Pretty much the only choice." She addressed Tyb. "Look, if you want to fuck with Haytham, I can send you the gear to do so without getting busted." She dug into a small courier bag which seemed to serve as her purse and pulled out a key ring. In barely a moment, she freed a tiny brass key and handed it over to Tyb. "I'll send everything to the PO box. Just pick it up and use what you will." She then pulled a large duffel bag from off the ground onto her lap and opened it up. "Here. You wanted these, take them. And please, if you need more, just order them online and ship them to the box. I will never do 
that
 again for you, so don't ask. I hated getting smiled at by the cashier when he scanned them." Zamara threw a large box of condoms at Tyb. "One hundred fifty should last you two a while, right?" She held up a hand. "Wait. I don't want to hear the answer. Trust me." Then she stood up. "I'm going to crash in the treehouse. Still have cable TV patched through there?"

"Yeah.
Remote is in the plastic tote."

"You and your totes."
Mara readied her bags, slinging them over her shoulder.

"They serve a noble purpose. Don't bag on me for being prepared."

"Whatever, Tyb. I'm heading out before daybreak. Shit to do and whatnot."

"Thank you
Zamara. For everything."

"Shut up,
Tyb. Thank me when this is all over with, okay? Got a whetstone in a tote? I need to hone my KA-BAR."

"Yep.
Look in the prep area, it'll be in a drawer."

Zamara
grabbed her bags and walked out the front door, shutting it with a small slam.

"Is she always like a hurricane?" I asked. Clock said it was 2:30 in the morning. Who whirls into the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night?
Only someone with a serious mission.

"She's mellowed out since she was younger. Not much though."
Tyb stretched his arms above his head. I noticed stubble darkening his chin. "I'm tired but awake."

"Me too.
Think I'm going to shove off to bed."

For a moment, a flicker of shyness darkened
Tyb's face. "I, uh, was wondering if you wanted to uh, see something in my room."

I looked to the box of condoms on his lap, then back up to his face, quirking my brow with a silent question.

He laughed. "Actually, no." Tyb stood up and walked to his bedroom, grabbing the propped shotgun on his way. The envelope Zamara gave him was tucked under his arm, and the box of condoms in his other hand.

I followed, curious as to what he'd want to show me. When I entered his room, I saw him slide the shotgun under his bed. He stood up, put the box of condoms in his nightstand and then sat on his tousled bed. He held the envelope. I sat down next to him and asked, "What's that?"

Slowly, he opened the envelope and pulled out two bundles of paper-clipped documents. He handed me one. On top, a drivers license with a photo that looked a lot like me with shorter hair. Beneath that, a Social Security card and birth certificate. I flipped through the pile of papers and Tyb spoke.

"When it's safe for you to go, there's your ticket to your new life." There was a
tinge of sadness to his voice. Wasn't sure if it was due to what he discovered about Aisha.

"I…I don't understand,
Tyb."

"Fake ID and the whole lot—CIA issued. Everything you need to start over." He looked over and read the name saying, "
Izabeau D'Beafort."

"Thank you,
Tyb." Why though? Wasn't it a long time until I'll be in the free and clear? Then a thought hit me. Had to ask. "I overheard Mara ask you something about dreams. What kind of dreams?"

Tyb
gathered my passport to freedom with a pensive look on his face. "I'm going to put this in the panic room for safety. If you need them, they'll be in the tote." As he slid them into the envelope, he said, "I have weird dreams. Like, screaming in the middle of the night. The dreams aren't scary or freaky, but I can't control myself from making the noise. They always strike before something in huge changes in my life."

"When was the first time you had one?"

"Two weeks before I got ran off the road. In my dream, I was putting a tent and duffle bag of supplies under a berry bush off the road a bit. Had that dream six nights straight. Ended up tooling down the road and finding that bush. The next day, I hauled out the tent and supplies, hid them, just like in the dream. What do you know? Like a week later, no more than twenty feet away from my wrecked car, was that berry bush with my stuff. Took it as a cue. I listen to those shitty dreams. They haven't steered me wrong, yet."

"That's like the second-sight." I was amazed. Didn't know stuff like that could really happen.

Tyb shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It is what it is."

"You told
Zamara that you had one the night before she called you."

"Yeah, I did." His voice grew quiet.

"Can I ask what the dream was?"

He looked at me, with a mixture of dread and tiredness in his voice. "You don't want to know, Izzy. Suffice it to say it involved you coming into my life."

I looked at him, wanting to know what he wasn't telling me. "Did your dream tell you that you were going to get laid like crazy?"

He chuckled. "No, that was a pleasant surprise."

"There's more to it, isn't there?" Dammit, I want details.

"I don't want to lie to you, Izzy, but I don't want to corrupt things, either. Please don't ask questions I can't answer." He shook his head, as though it would reinforce his words.

"But you 
can
 answer. You chose not to, and leave me in the dark."

Tyb
gave me half a smile. "I like you, Izzy. I don't know you much, but I know you have a good spirit. Maybe all these years alone have taken a toll on my mental state where women are concerned. Or not." The smile left his face, and I missed its sunshine. Even his eyes seemed to grow distant. "But I can't let you always have your way, not at this moment. Please accept that there are something's people aren't meant to know." His tone softened. "If I didn't think that you knowing would impact the future, I would tell you. After we deal with Haytham, if you're still interested, ask me again. You'll get a straight answer, I promise."

I
nodded, content that he'd tell me. You know, if we survived shit hitting the fan and stuff. I stood up and leaned over quickly to brush a kiss to Tyb's cheek. "Goodnight." Not sure why, but he didn't seem to mind.

Blood flooded his face, and he smiled again.
"Goodnight to you too."

I walked to the door and said, "If glittery zompires where going to attack us, and we only had minutes to live, would you tell me then?"

Tyb's eyebrows were jacked to the sky as a bemused smirk took hold on his lips. "Maybe. Guess we'll have to find out, eh?"