Out of the Black - Lee Doty [87]
A few steps in, he heard a sob coming from the couch. Oops. He stopped and began to slink backwards, but it was too late.
"What'cha got, Detective?" Alex asked over his shoulder. Rae sat up straight, wiping quickly at her eyes.
"Useful gadgets." Ping replied, resuming his forward course. He circled the couch and laid the fletcher and harness on the coffee table before them. Rae looked terrible, shaken. Her eyes fixed on the gun.
"Dek pointed me to Roy's weapons. This one's for you, Rae." She didn't look up from the weapon.
Alex changed the subject, "Do you think he's going to make it?"
Ping gave the brave face, "If anyone can find Kaspari in time, it's him."
Alex filled the silence with, "What's next for us?"
Ping looked at Alex. "I thought you'd have a better answer for that than me."
"Yeah, that's what I want to hear." Alex snorted, "I'm a history TA."
Ping's turn to snort, "Yeah. Exactly." He paused. "First, we need to get out of here."
Rae looked up. "Why?"
"These hunters, whoever they are, knew Roy and Lutine well enough to set a fairly elaborate trap for them; knew enough about Alex or you to track you to the library archive."
"You're saying they know where Roy lived." Alex said.
"Not only that, they can probably locate Kaspari as well, and whether Dek reaches him in time or not, they might not be able to come back here."
"If we leave, how will we hook up with Dek and Kaspari?" Rae asked.
"No problem." Alex said, "Last night Dek had me insert a locator into him."
Ping winced. "Do I want to know where you inserted it?"
Alex laughed, "It's not a physical thing. It's a Cast like putting your thumb in a book so you can find your place again later."
Ping's wince intensified. "Nope, I definitely do not want to know where you put your thumb."
Demons
"So, you're asking me to believe you don't know any more than that?" Hawthorne asked, incredulous.
"I've told you everything I know." Anne said truthfully. It had only taken about five minutes, including exasperated pauses and questions. Anne had quite a few weird experiences to relate, but no reasons for any of it.
"I guess a vampire did make out with you..." Hawthorne said, mostly to herself.
"Of course, I haven't had any blood lust yet, though, come to think of it, I haven't eaten since before... and your partner did drink my Slim Quick shake..." Anne trailed off, fixing Hawthorne with a curious expression.
"Don't you even think about it!" Hawthorne took half a step back in the small observation room, raising a warning finger between them.
"Y'know, I am quite hungry, or should I say 'thirsty'..." but Anne could only hold the sinister stare for another second or two before the smile entered her eyes, and then pulled at the corners of her lips. After a few more seconds Hawthorne smiled too.
"Seriously," Anne said, "I saw some vending machines in the hall outside. Unless you want me feasting on your corpse, perhaps I should try some snacks and a can of juice."
"I'm not letting you out of my sight..." Hawthorne started, finger again upraised; but then she noticed that the door was swinging shut and the sound of wind was already fading like a mirage. She might have seen a mischievous smile on Anne's face, but she couldn't be sure. "Wait!" She yelled in the small empty room. Then she wrestled out her pistol and ran to the door.
She pushed through the door and stopped short just centimeters from Anne's smiling face. She almost kept her surprised cry under wraps. Her left hand flew to her mouth as if to stop the startled bleat. She was still recovering her composure when Anne said "You really want to get between a woman like me and the snack machines?"
Hawthorne was still off balance from the shock. She shook her head feebly. Surprisingly, the startled fear resolved into bemused affection, rather than the fury she had expected. She had to admit that she liked this horribly powerful woman of dubious impulse control. She just hoped she didn't