A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters - Martin Harry Greenberg [71]
“They’re going to draw other scavengers. The way vultures do. Maybe other predators. We have to find cover.”
“How do you know that?”
“ ‘Animal Planet.’ ”
“But you’re a . . .” Even though she was clearly fine with poking holes into other realities, Ren couldn’t seem to say it.
This was neither the time nor the place for denial.
“Vampire. Nightwalker. Member of the bloodsucking undead.” Vicki frowned, trying to remember the rest and coming up blank. Three would have to do. “I have cable. And I’m your best bet if you want to survive this little adventure.” Hand on the girl’s shoulder, Vicki could feel her trembling, but whether it was from Cameron’s grisly death or the proximity to one of humanity’s ancient terrors, there was no way to be sure. Unfortunately, Vicki had no time for kindness that didn’t involve keeping these three kids alive.
No time to give into fear of her own.
She studied the area, for the first time able to look beyond the immediate need to kill. This wasn’t the night she knew. The portal had opened on a broad street that looked a bit like University Avenue by way of a hell dimension, the paving cracked and buckled. The closest stone buildings were ruins, but some offered more shelter than others. The solidest of the lot was on the other side of the corpse—not worth the risk—but about two hundred meters away, where the road began a long sweeping arc to the left, was a structure that still had a second and third floor even though the actual roof was long gone. Better still, it looked as though the colonnaded entrance had partially collapsed, leaving an opening too small to admit Cameron’s killer—or more specifically, under the circumstances, its friends and family.
“There.” She pointed with her free hand, giving Ren a little shake to focus her. “We need to get those two up and moving and into that building. What are their names?”
“I don’t . . .”
“What? You don’t know?”
“Of course I know!” A hint of the girl who’d faced them in the tomb emerged in response to Vicki’s mocking tone. Vicki gave herself a mental high five; anger wouldn’t hobble the way fear would. “Their names are Gavin and Star.”
“Star? Seriously?”
“What’s wrong with Star?” Ren demanded, jerking her shoulder out from under Vicki’s hand. “It’s her name and it’s better than the dumbass name her mother gave her!”
Vicki didn’t care who gave her the name, as long as she answered to it.
Gavin had a long, oozing cut along the top of his forehead; Vicki let the scent of fresh blood block the stink coming from the creature’s corpse as unfamiliar internal organs were exposed. The kid’s eyes were squeezed shut and he had both arms wrapped around Star. Star’s eyes were open, her pupils so dilated the blue was no more than a pale halo around the black. Calling their names had little effect.
Vicki could feel terror rising off them like smoke.
Given what a joy this place had been so far, if she could feel it, so could other things.
She could work with terror if she had to. When she snarled, Star blinked and focused on her face. Gavin opened his eyes. As she pulled her lips back off her teeth, she could hear their hearts begin to pound faster and faster as adrenaline flooded their system. She was a terror they understood. Hauling them onto their feet, she pointed them the right way and growled, “Run.”
Hindbrains took over.
Stumbling and crying, they ran.
Ren shot her a look that promised retribution, and raced to catch up.
“So a teenage girl opened a portal to another reality on the wall of a mausoleum, went through with her friends, Vicki followed them, and then the portal closed—is that it?”
“That’s it.”
“Are you bullshitting me?”
“Why the fuck would I joke about something like that?” Mike growled into his phone.
Thousands of kilometers away in Vancouver, Tony Foster sighed. “Yeah. Good point. Okay, it’s eleven now; if I can get on the first plane out in the morning, I won’t be there until around three in the afternoon, given the time difference, so . . .”
“Too long.” Over the years, Mike