Night World : The Chosen Chapter 3

God, it stank.RashelJordan had seen a lot of vampire lairs in her seventeen years, notwithstanding this was probably the mostdisgusting. She held her breath as she stirred up the nest of tattered cloth with the toe of one boot. She couldread the story of this collection of garbage as easily as if the inhabitant had written expose a in full confession,signed it, and posted it on the w both.One vampire. A rogue, an give awaycast who lived on the charge of both the human world and the Night World.He probably moved to anew city every few weeks to avoid getting caught. And he undoubtedly wait oned uni lick any other homeless guy, except that none of the human homeless would be hanging around aBostondock on a Tuesday wickednesstime in early March.He brings his victims here, Rashel thought. The piers deserted, its private, he can spot his time withthem. And of course he cant resist keeping a few trophies.Her foot stirred them gently. A pink-and-blue knit baby jacket, a plaid sash from a school uniform, aSpiderman tennis shoe. All bloodstained. All very small.thither had been a rash of missing children lately. TheBoston police would never disc everyplace where they hadgone-but right off Rashel knew. She felt her lips draw back slightly from her teeth in something that wasnt authentically a smile.She was sensible of everything around her the soft plash of water against the wooden pier, the rankcoppery smell that was well-nigh a taste, the darkness of a night lit that by a half moon. Even the lightmoisture of the cold breeze against her skin. She was aw be of all of it without being preoccupied withany of it-and when the tiny trash sounded cigarette her, she moved as smoothly and gracefully as if shewere taking her turn in a dance.She pivoted on her left foot, drawing her bokken in the selfsame(prenominal) motion, and without a break in themovement, she stabbed straight to the vampires chest. She drove the blow from her hips, exhaling in ahiss as she did it, putting all her strength behind it.Gotta be faster than that, she verbalize.The vampire, skewered same a hot dog, waved his arms and gibbered. He was dressed in filthy clothingand his hair was a bushy tangle. His eyes were wide, full of surprise and hatred, shining as silver as ananimals in the faint light. His teeth werent so much fangs as tusks fully extended, they reached almost tohis chin.I realize, Rashel said. You really, really wanted to kill me. Lifes tough, isnt it?The vampire snarled one more time and then the silver went out of his eyes, leaving totally the look ofastonishment. His body stiffened and slumped backward. It recline still on the ground.Grimacing, Rashel pulled her wooden sword out of the chest. She started to wipe the blade on thevampires pants, then hesitated, peering at them more closely. Yes, those were definitely little crawlythings. And the blankets were exactly as repulsive.Oh, well. Use your own jeans. It wont be the first time.She carefull y wiped the bokken clean. It was two and a half feet long and just slightly, gracefully curved,with a narrow, sharp, angled tip. Designed to perforate a body as efficiently as possible-if that body wassusceptible to wood.The sword slipped back into its sheath with a papery whisper. Then Rashel glanced at the body again.Mr. Vampire was already going mummified. His skin was now yellow and tough his staring eyes weredried up, his lips shrunken, his tusks collapsed. Rashel bent over him, reaching into her back pocket.What she pulled out looked like the snapped-off end of a bamboo backscratcher-which was exactlywhat it was. Shed had it for years.Very precisely, Rashel drew the five lacquered fingers of the scratcher down the vampires forehead. Onthe yellow skin five brown marks appeared, like the marks of a cats claws. Vampire skin was easy tomark tight after death.This kitten has claws, she murmured. It was a ritual sentence shed repeated it ever since the nightshed killed her first va mpire at the age of twelve. In memory of her mother, whod always called herkitten. In memory of herself at age five, and all the innocence shed lost. Shed never be a helpless kitten again.Besides, it was a little joke. Vampires bats. Herself a cat. Anybody whod grown up with Batmanand Catwoman would get it.Well. All done. Whistling softly, she rolled the body over and over with her foot to the end of the pier.She didnt feel like carting the mummy all the way out to the fens, the salt marshes where bodies weretraditionally left inBoston . With a mental plea to everybody who was trying to clean up the harbor,she gave the corpse a final push and listened for the splash.She was still whistling as she emerged from the pier onto the highroad. Hi-ho, hi-ho, its off to work we goShe was in a very good mood.The only disappointment was the constant one, that it hadnt been the vampire, the one shed beenlooking for ever since shed been five years old. It had been a rogue, all right-a depraved junkiewho killed human kids foolishly close to human habitations. But it hadnt been the rogue.Rashel would never forget his face. And she knew that someday she would see it again. Meanwhile,there was nothing to do but shish-kebab as galore(postnominal) of the parasites as possible.She scanned the streets as she walked, alert for any sign of Night People. All she power saw were quiet brickbuildings and streetlights shining pale gold.And that was a shame, because she was in terrific form tonight she could feel it. She was everybloodsucking leechs worst enemy. She could stake six of them earlier breakfast and still be fresh forchemistry first full stop at Wassaguscus High.Rashel stopped suddenly, absent-mindedly melting into a shadow as a police car cruised silently downthe cross-street ahead. I know, she thought. Ill go see what the Lancers are up to. If anybody knowswhere vampires are, they do.She headed for the North End. Half an hour later she was standing in front of a brown stone apartmentbuilding, ringing the buzzer. Whos there?Instead of answering, Rashel said, The night has a thousand eyes.And the day only one, came the reply from the intercom. Hey there, girl. Come on up.Inside, Rashel climbed a dark and narrow stairway to a scarred wooden door. There was a peephole inthe door. Rashel faced it squarely, then pulled off the scarf shed been wearing. It was black, silky, andvery long. She wore it wrapped around her head and face like a veil, so that only her eyes showed, andeven they were in shadow.She shook out her hair, knowing what the person on the other side could see. A tall girl dressed like aninja, all hi black, with black hair falling loose around her shoulders and green eyes blazing. She hadntchanged much since she was five, except in height. Right now she made a barbaric face at the peepholeand hear the sound of laughter behind the door as bolts were drawn.She waited until the door was shut behind her again before she said, Hi, Elliot.Ellio t was a few years older than she was, and thin, with intense eyes and little shiny glasses that werealways slipping off his nose. or so people would have dismissed him as a geek. But Rashel had onceseen him stand up to two werewolves while she got a human girl out a window, and she knew that he hadpractically single-handedly started the Lancers-one of the most successful organizations of vampirehunters on the east coast.Whats up, Rashel? Its been a while.Ive been busy. But now Im bored. I came to see if you guys had anything going. As Rashel spoke,she was looking at the other people in the room. A brown-haired girl was kneeling, loading objects fromboxes into a dark green backpack. Another girl and a boy were sitting on the couch. Rashel recognizedthe boy from other Lancers meetings, but neither of the girls were familiar.Lucky you, Elliot said. This is Vicky, my new second-in-command. He nodded at the girl on thefloor. She just moved toBoston she was the leader of a group on the south shore. And tonight shestaking a little expedition out to some warehouses in kick Hill. We got a lead that theres been someactivity out there.What kind of activity? Leeches, puppies?Elliot shrugged. Vampires definitely. Werewolves maybe. Theres been a rumor roughly teenage girlsgetting kidnapped and stashed somewhere around there. The occupation is we dont know exactly where,or why. He tilted his head, his eyes twinkling. You want to go? Isnt anybody going to ask me? Vicky said, straightening up from her backpack. Her pale blue eyeswere stubborn on Rashel. Ive never even seen this girl before. She could be one of them.Elliot pushed his glasses higher on his nose. He looked amused. You wouldnt say that if you knew,Vicky. Rashels the best.At what?At everything. When you were going to your understand prep school, she was out in theChicago slumsstaking vampires. Shes been inL.A. ,New York ,New Orleans even Vegas. Shes wiped out moreparasites than the rest of us put together. El liot glanced mischievously at Rashel, then leaned toward Vicki.Ever heard of the Cat? he said.Vickis head snapped up. She stared at Rashel.The Cat? The one all the Night People are afraid of? The one theyre offering a reenforcement for? The onewho leaves a mark-Rashel shot Elliot a warning look. Never mind, she said. She wasnt sure she trusted these new people.Vicky was right about one thing you couldnt be similarly careful.And she didnt like Vicky much, but she could hardly turn down such a good opportunity for vampirehunting. Not tonight, when she was in such terrific form.Ill go with you-if youll have me, she said.Vickys pale blue eyes bored into Rashels a moment, then she nodded. Just remember Im in charge.Sure, Rashel murmured. She could see Elliots grin out of the corner of her eye.You know Steve, and thats nyala. Elliot indicated the boy and girl on the couch. Steve had blond hair,muscular shoulders, and a steady expression Nyala had skin like cocoa and a faraway look in he r eyes,as if she were sleepwalking. Nyalas new. She just lost her sister a month ago, Elliot added in a gentlevoice. He didnt need to say how the sister had been lost.Rashel nodded at the girl. She sympathized. There was nothing quite like the shock of first discoveringthe Night World, when you realized that things like vampires and witches and werewolves were real, andthat they were everywhere, joined in one giantsecret organization. That anybody could be one, and youd never know until it was likewise late.Everybody ready? Then lets go, Vicky said, and Steve and Nyala got up. Elliot showed them to the door.Good luck, he said.Outside, Vicky led the way to a dark blue car with bollocks strategically caked on the license plates.Well drive to the warehouse area, she said.Rashel was relieved. She was used to walking the city streets at night without being seen-important whenyou were carrying a rather unconcealable sword-but she wasnt sure that these other three could manage.It took pr actice.The drive was silent except for the murmur of Steves voice occasionally helping Vicky with directions.They passed through respectable neighborhoods and venerable areas with handsome old buildings untilthey got to a street where everything changed suddenly. All at once, as if they had crossed some invisibledividing line, the gutters were full of soggy trash and the fences were topped with razor wire. Thebuildings were government housing determines, dark warehouses, or rowdy bars.Vicky pulled into a parking lot and stopped the car away from the security lights. Then she led themthrough the knee-high dead weeds of a vacant lot to a street that was poorly lighted and utterly silent.This is the observation post, Vicky whispered, as they reached a squat brick building, a part of thehousing project that had been abandoned. Following her, they zigzagged through debris and scrap metalto get to a side door, and then they climbed a dark staircase covered with graffiti to the third gea r floor. Theirflashlights provided the only illumination.Nice place, Nyala whispered, looking around. She had obviously never seen anything like it before.Dont you think-there may be other people here besides vampires?Steve gave her a calm down pat. No, its okay.Yeah, it looks like even the junkies have abandoned it, Rashel said, grimly amused.You can see the whole street from the window, Vicky put in shortly. Elliot and I were here yesterday ceremonial occasion those warehouses across the street. And last night we saw a guy at the end of the street wholooked a lot like a vampire. You know the signs.Nyala opened her mouth as if to say she didnt know the signs, but Rashel was already speaking. Didyou test him?We didnt want to get that close. Well do it tonight if he shows up again.How do you test them? Nyala asked.Vicky didnt answer. She and Steve had pushed aside a couple of rat-chewed mattresses and wereunloading the bags and backpacks theyd brought.Rashel said, One way is to shin e a flashlight in their eyes. Usually you get eye-shine back-like an animals.There are other ways, too, Vicky said, setting the things she was unloading on the bare boards of thefloor. There were ski masks, knives made of both metal and wood, a number of stakes of assorted sizes,and a mallet. Steve added two clubs made of white oak to the pile.Wood hurts them more than metal, Vicky said to Nyala. If you cut them with a steel knife they healright before your eyes-but cut them with wood and they keep bleeding.Rashel didnt quite like the way she said it. And she didnt like the last thing Vicky was pulling out of herbackpack. It was a wooden stratagem that looked a bit like a miniature stock. Two hinged blocks of woodthat fit snugly around a persons wrists and closed with a lock.Vampire handcuffs, Vicky said proudly, seeing her look. Made of white oak. Guaranteed to hold anyparasite. I brought them from down south.But hold them for what? And what do you need all those little knives an d stakes for? It would takehours to kill a vampire with those.Vicky smiled fiercely. I know.Oh. Rashels heart seemed to thump and then sink, and she looked away to control her reaction. Sheunderstood what Vicky had in mind now.Torture.A quick deaths too good for them, Vicky said, still smiling. They deserve to suffer-the way they makeour people suffer. Besides, we might get some information. We need to know where theyre keeping thegirls they kidnap, and what theyre doing with them.Vicky. Rashel spoke earnestly. Its practically unachievable to make vampires talk. Theyre stubborn.When theyre hurt they just get angry-like animals.Vicky smirked. Ive made some talk. It just depends on what you do, and how long you make it last.Anyway, theres no harm in trying.Does Elliot know about this?Vicky lifted a shoulder defensively. Elliot lets me do things my way. I dont have to tell him every littledetail. I was a leader myself, you know.Helplessly, Rashel looked at Nyala and Steve. And saw tha t for the first time Nyalas eyes had lost theirsleepwalking expression. Now she looked awake- and savagely glad.Yes, she said. We should try to make the vampire talk. And if he suffers-well, my sister suffered.When I found her, she was almost dead but she could still talk. She told me what it felt like, having all theblood drained out of her body while she was still conscious. She said it hurt. She said Nyalastopped, swallowed, and looked at Vicky. I want to help do it, she said thickly.Steve didnt say anything, but then from what Rashel knew of him, that was typical. He was a guy of fewwords. Anyway, he didnt protest.Rashel felt odd, as if she were seeing the very worst of herself reflected in a mirror. It made herashamed. It left her shaken.But who am I to judge? she thought, turning away. Its true that the parasites are evil, all of them. Thewhole race needs to be wiped out. And Vickys right, why should they have a clean death, when theyusually dont give their victims one? Nyala deserves to avenge her sister.Unless you object or something, Vicky said heavily, and Rashel could feel those pale blue eyes on her.Unless youre some kind of vampire sympathizer.Rashel might have laughed at that, but she wasnt in a laughing mood. She took a breath, then saidwithout turning around, Its your show. I agreed that you were in charge.Good, Vicky said, and returned to her work.But the sick feeling in the pit of Rashels stomach didnt go away. She almost hoped that the vampirewouldnt come.