Born Into Flames Page 11

  Robin turned to Valerie and said, “Then it’s settled. We do it your way here, then move. But we do it fast.”

  “Of course,” Valerie replied. “I take care of my family, then help you take care of yours. The question is,” she continued while turning to address the room, “where do I find this man?”

  “The Prince?” Toiya scoffed. “Walk back outside, I’m sure he’ll find you.”

  “Perfect,” Valerie said, and then started walking.

  “Wait, you’re going to get torn to shreds.” Toiya said, stepping between her and the exit. “I can’t allow that.”

  “I wouldn’t word it that way,” Royland said with a chuckle. “You don’t not allow Valerie to do anything.”

  “What, you go unchecked, is that it?” Toiya continued. “You’re some tough murderess who gets to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants?”

  “Toiya!” Martha stepped forward, finger pointed at the other woman. “Stand down!”

  Toiya held her ground, though, fierce eyes staring at Valerie.

  Finally, Valerie sighed and gave a shrug. “All I know is what I’ve been appointed to do, by a higher power than myself. In a way.”

  “From superhero to angel,” Toiya said with a laugh.

  “Do you want me to do something about this woman?” Cammie asked. “Something violent, preferably.”

  The pirates who had been pulling out weapons stood at that moment, odd guns and swords pointed at Cammie.

  “No,” Valerie said, frustration etching her voice. “From now on, we are one, got it? Everyone here will be working together to overthrow this bastard who calls himself a prince, and anyone who’s not with us is against us. Is this understood?”

  “And if I say fuck you?” a muscular man said, stepping forward from behind Toiya. “If I say this pirate’s life is the life for me?”

  “Try it, but make sure you say it close enough to kill me as the last words leave your mouth, because otherwise you’ll find yourself missing a tongue, or worse.”

  “I’d personally love to hear him say it,” Cammie said with a sneer. “And see what happens next.”

  “Stand down,” Toiya said to her man. “Your wife certainly wouldn’t complain if we had an out here.”

  The large man looked punched in the gut at that comment. He nodded, shot a glare Valerie’s way and then said, “Fine, tell us what to do.”

  “Don’t worry,” Valerie replied. “Disposing of assholes is what I do best.”

  “It’s kinda become her thing,” Royland added.

  “And she’s really very good at it,” Robin said. “I’ve seen it, first hand.”

  “That’s all great,” the man said, “but what does that actually mean?”

  “We had planned on getting the lay of the land first, then going to find this guy and tear him a new asshole, but…”

  “Now he knows someone’s here, and he’s been told what that someone did to his guys,” Martha said.

  “Exactly.”

  “Good news is that you all can simply fill us in on everything,” Royland said. “Saving us a step.”

  “And the other pirates?” Robin asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “They’d have to join us, right? I mean, after what he just did up there, shooting at them randomly. If there were an uprising, surely they’d join our side.”

  “You would think so,” Toiya answered. “But a lot of our type see power as the only qualification for a leader. He does something like this, they don’t take it personal.”

  “One of you puts a bullet in me,” Cammie said with a scoff, “trust me, I’m taking it personal.”

  “Aye, but you aren’t a pirate,” the large man said, who had returned to counting ammo.

  “Then we show them power,” Valerie said. “But first, that woman’s head.”

  “Wait, what?” Toiya frowned.

  “I’m not letting it stay there.”

  “And if the Prince is up there right now, waiting for you?”

  “Then he’s as stupid as I hope he is.” Valerie smiled, then turned to the door. “You all get the intel of this place, figure out a plan of attack so we can be out of here by morning, and then get to it.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Robin said, but Valerie held up a hand. “I want as few targets as possible.”

  Robin looked about to protest, but Cammie chuckled and said, “Trust me, you can’t win an argument with her,” which was enough.

  Valerie exited back out through the tunnels, considering this new situation she had found herself in. This wasn’t like before, where she was liberating people from an overlord, or not exactly. Here it was more like a warlord, and many of his subjects were just as supportive of him as not.

  She would have to show she was powerful in her own right, and not just take him down without considering their loyalty and how to snatch it up.

  But first, she had to do this.

  She pushed the door open and emerged into the night, where she saw the blimp, dark against the moon, heading back to a point near the old hotel. The night was silent now, aside from the occasional cry of pain from those who had been hit.

  The area was foreign to her, but it was easy enough to walk back among the makeshift huts and figure out her route. A couple of the huts were in flames, and several injured pirates walking past glared at her.

  Suddenly, something hit her leg, when she turned to look, thinking it was a rock or something, she saw a throwing dagger sticking out of her calf.

  Then it clicked—this Prince character wasn’t just showing off his power, he was sending the message that it was her fault they were suffering. They wouldn’t look at him as the evil one here, but her.

  She pulled the knife out, grunting in pain and annoyance, and then saw a flash of another blade coming her way. This one she side-stepped and, spotting the slender man who had attacked her, threw the knife back his way. It smacked him in the face and then bounced off and fell to sink into the earth.

  “Shit,” the man said, holding his nose where the blade’s hilt had whacked him. “What kind of throw was that?”

  “Throwing knives was always hit or miss for me,” she said, then drew the double pirate swords her outfit demanded. “Slicing a man from ear to ear, that part I’ve got covered.”

  He stepped out of the shadows, another throwing knife at the ready, and said, “I coulda killed you with the first throw.”

  “You could’ve tried.”

  His brow furrowed at that, but he added, “I chose to send you a message instead. You need to leave this place.”

  Her swords felt light in her hands, as if they were begging her for blood, but she paused. “We’ll be leaving, but only after ousting your leader.”

  The man spat on the ground, his lip twitching in disgust.

  “So, not a true leader of yours, is he?” she asked.

  “Just be gone. We don’t need trouble from your sort.”

  She ignored that and turned to continue on her way, but said over her shoulder, “I have business here. If you annoy me again, you will die.”

  After a few moments, she heard his footsteps following, but he didn’t cause any trouble. At the clearing where the scuffle had broken out earlier, she paused and looked back at him in the shadows, but he just stood there, staring back.

  A glance around the clearing showed everyone had cleared out, or been cleared out. Streaks of blood still lined the ground, one moving toward the building where the woman’s head was still impaled on a spike. One of those streaks led to a dark form moving along the ground ahead.

  The man whose wife’s head was up on that pole. He was pulling himself toward it, intent on reaching her no matter what.

  Valerie approached and, when she was over him, said in a quiet voice, “Don’t be alarmed. I’m going to help you.”

  With that she bent down, picked him up, and carried him forward. She smelled the scent of the men and women watching before she saw them, but as she reac
hed the building where the head was, she saw at least a dozen pirates watching from the shadows. The man grunted, pointing as if she didn’t know where he was trying to go.

  Here she lifted him up and helped him, as if he was a small child, to stand at a position where he could grab the pole. He pulled at it, struggling to get it free, and she could hear the way he was holding back sobs.

  “Allow me,” she said, but he held up a hand.

  “No, this is something I have to do,” he said.

  So, standing there supporting him, she waited as he grunted, pulling at the pole, rocking it back and forth until he finally wrenched it free. They climbed back down. The man tried to stand on his own, but was unable to.

  “Where?” she asked, and he pointed to a spot down a decline and by a small stream. She carried him over and there he pulled the head from the pole, set it gently at his side, and then, on his knees, began digging into the ground with the pole. She shook her head, amazed at his determination.

  “Can I at least help you here?” she asked.

  He looked up, revealing tears that streaked through the blood caked on his face.

  “You’ve done so much, thank you. But this part, I gotta do.”

  She nodded, understanding that, then noted several intimidating looking pirates moving their way. He looked up and saw them, too, and then hung his head.

  “Them, I have no problem with you taking care of,” he said, and then got back to digging.

  “With pleasure,” she replied, and drew her swords again.

  She marched back up the slight hill, but noticed the slender man with the throwing knives among them, and paused.

  “What’s this?” she hissed when they were close enough to hear.

  “This,” the slender man said, motioning to the other man behind her, burying his wife’s decapitated head. “We came because of this.”

  “If you try to stop him, I will stand in your way.”

  “We wouldn’t dream of it. In fact, we want to offer our services.”

  “And what services would they be?” she asked.

  “Mostly helping you against them,” the man said, pointing over his shoulder to what Valerie hadn’t noticed yet. Forms were starting to appear at the outskirts of the clearing and, as they spoke, they began filling the area. Pirates, every one of them.

  “I don’t need your help,” she said. “But appreciate it nonetheless.”

  The man cocked his head at her, but nodded.

  “Try to keep them off of this man,” she said, already walking past them to the large group ahead, “at least until he’s done burying what’s left of his wife.”

  The group split, with a couple of them following her, one on each side, while the rest formed a semicircle of defense around the man as he dug.

  Valerie smiled at this sign of camaraderie that she hadn’t expected to find here, but she started running and, as the thought of her sword sinking into flesh or the feeling of steel scraping on bone entered her head, the smile was replaced with a snarl.

  She was glad to see the enemy moving to attack first—it always made her feel that much less guilty for taking their lives when they struck first.

  A crossbow bolt shot at them, nearly hitting the woman to Valerie’s right, but Valerie slapped it aside with her sword and kept running. A man pulled out a pistol, another a rifle, and she decided there was no point in dragging this out.

  Pushing fear, she let her eyes glow red and then used her vampire speed to rush forward. Before they could even pull their triggers, she was cutting off limbs, snatching out throats, and destroying them like they were paper cutouts.

  The clash of steel and gunshots nearby told her the others had engaged in combat, too, and then there was yelling, and the fighting seemed to have stopped.

  In front of her were two more pirates, but they were backing up, glancing between her and the others. The stench of death was strong in the night air that otherwise smelled of feces.

  “They’re abominations,” one of the pirates was shouting, sword held out at the slender man’s throat. “Every one of them needs to die. Especially her!”

  The slender man simply smiled and said, “Halo’s wife wasn’t one, and even if she had been, you all had no right.”

  “We were given the right by the Prince!” the other said, and then charged.

  The slender man took a slice on the side of his shoulder, but managed to duck under the other’s second attack, come up behind him, and slit his throat.

  As the man fell, the rest fled.

  Only half of her support team of pirates remained, but they staggered over to their friend who, in spite of everything going on around him, was putting the final dirt over the burial spot.

  “Now, which one of you sad bitches is gonna bury me?” the man said, sitting beside the grave and looking dead already.

  “You’re going to live on,” the slender man said, wrapping an arm around his companion.

  Valerie was frankly confused, but touched. She stood aside as the remaining pirates helped their friend to stand, and then started walking off with him.

  “What will you do?” she called after them.

  “Lie low until this thing between you and the Prince is over,” the slender man said. “Meaning, until one of you is dead.”

  “You could join in the fight,” she pointed out.

  “We’re thieves and cutthroats,” he said. “We’ll leave overthrowing gods to you.”

  She frowned, but realized it made sense. They were pirates after all. The fact the River kid and the others had offered to help should have been more surprising than the fact that these ones would go into hiding until it was all over.

  With the man’s wife buried and that taken care of, she strode off to return to the others and make their move.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Old Manhattan

  By the time Sandra fell asleep in Diego’s arms, he knew he’d be heading off on the mission soon. He kissed her, woke her gently to say he was leaving, and then took a quick shower before heading to the mess hall at Enforcer HQ for a coffee.

  The night air was refreshing, a cool breeze sweeping through the city that reminded him of the streets back in Spain. It wasn’t even that long ago, and yet it felt like another lifetime.

  What was he getting himself into with this whole baby business? He had no clue. There had been a single mom that he knew when he was twelve, and she had it bad. It was up to him and his friends to help her get food for the little one, because nobody else would. And one day, she had left in search of the father. Memories of that child’s wide eyes, full of confusion as they left, would never leave him.

  That was the extent of his experience with children, and he had practically been a child himself. Now he was, what? A warrior in this new city? He sighed at losing himself in such thoughts as he continued on to HQ. Soon, he was going through the door and into the lobby, where he passed the guards who nodded, recognizing him without trouble.

  When the elevator doors pinged open, he entered and nodded to two vampires who joined him. He didn’t say anything, wanting to ride in silence until he had caffeine running through his body. It was funny how, as a Were, his body fought it off, but he loved the small kick it gave him anyway.

  “You’re the cat, huh?” one of the vampires asked.

  Diego glanced over, analyzing the guy’s leather jacket and short cropped beard. A wannabe tough guy, perhaps?

  “That’s you,” the guy continued, “the one they say came over with Valerie?”

  “Yup, Werecat they say, but I don’t become a pussy, if that’s what you’re implying.”

  The vampire’s eyes went wide. “Oh, damn, I mean, I didn’t mean to imply that.”

  A chuckle escaped the other’s mouth, and Diego considered hitting him. The guy must’ve noticed, because he covered his mouth and said, “Sorry, I just… hadn’t thought of that. You’re funny, man.”

  Diego blinked, not expecting that.

  “A
lot of people pick fights with you, or something?” the one with the leather jacket asked. “I mean, you seem a bit jumpy.”

  The other elbowed him and said, “Didn’t you hear, he’s having a kid.”

  “No shit?” the man held out his hand, and when Diego shook it, added, “Congrats, man. Huge congrats.”

  “Will it be a… Were?”

  Both were staring at Diego. He bit his lip, pondering this, and then said, “I have no idea.”

  “If we had a kid, would it be a vampire?” the leather jacket man asked.

  “We ain’t having a kid,” the other said. “Because I’m not into dudes.”

  “Wouldn’t be anything wrong with it if you were,” Diego said.

  The vampire laughed. “Of course not. Me and that big, gay Were are super tight. I’m just saying I’m not having a kid with a dude.”

  “You mean Felix?” Diego asked.

  “Yeah, he’s been out there kicking butt on the training grounds.”

  “Thought the vampires and Weres were training separately?”

  The vampire shrugged. “Sure, but we’re not stupid. We know we’ll be working together, and we know it’s smart to be aware of the best ones, the ones we’ll want at our backs.”

  “There’s nobody better for getting your back than Felix,” Diego said, smiling at the memory of that big guy saving him from captivity in the Golden City. “Oh, and I don’t mean in some weird misinterpreted way of what I said. In case there is any.”

  “Hey, man, we wouldn’t make jokes like that about him,” the guy with the leather jacket said, then the doors dinged open. “Name’s Platt, by the way.”

  “And I’m Bryant,” the other said. “See you out there in a few?”

  “You two on the mission?” Diego asked as he exited the elevator.

  They both nodded.

  “Diego. See you there.” He nodded as the door closed, and turned to the mess hall. He was surprised to find it fairly crowded. He supposed it made sense, what with troops preparing for the mission, and others preparing to go out on patrol in the streets, in case anything went down while the others were out.