9. COME OUT AND PLAY

COME OUT AND PLAY

E arlier…

Julian touched the empty air where Daemon had just been. Teleporting was so strange. Watching someone he loved disappear hit a place inside of him that was still sore even though Caemorn had said he could bring his parents back. But if such a thing was beyond Kaly, how could Caemorn do it?

He shook himself. Now was not the time to think about that. Daemon had gone to confront Kaly without him. Part of him understood that he would just get in Daemon's way while another part wanted to be right by Daemon's side.

Meet with Arcius, my fledgling. Keep out of sight of the humans. I will return to you soon, Daemon's voice ghosted through his mind like a caress.

Where are you? What is this Well of All Souls? Julian asked, even as he gave a mental nod as to the rest.

Just outside of the Spire. Kaly has attacked our friends there, Daemon explained and a flurry of images came over their bond.

Are they going to be all right? Julian asked as he saw the seemingly lifeless bodies before Daemon.

Seeing Christian's body like that had his heart lurching in his chest, but then his best friend blinked and came "alive" again. His heart rate decreased. Christian was okay.

Yes, be not afraid. I will handle this, Daemon promised him.

I take it that they didn't get my parents' soul gems? Julian realized.

Not yet. But we will. They did find something very interesting, Daemon told him.

Julian tried not to be disappointed or afraid for his parents. He had faith in Daemon and the others.

I wish you had taken me with you, Julian said, hearing a little mulishness in his voice.

Yes, Daemon answered simply, acknowledging Julian's desire, but not apologizing for leaving him behind. It was hard to argue with him when he was so transparent like this. You must concentrate on getting out of the museum, Julian .

Julian hardly thought that would be a problem. He could simply walk out one of the back doors.

Though there will be more cameras there. Not to mention the police have probably surrounded the building, Julian realized and checked the video feeds on the monitors. There were, in fact, officers surrounding the entire building. Damn, how am I going to get out of this?

Consider it a challenge, Julian, Daemon said with a hint of laughter in his tone. Try some of your gifts.

You aren't afraid of me getting caught? You trust me to do this on my own? Julian's eyebrows rose.

You are very clever. But if you need me, I will be there, Daemon assured him.

And Julian realized that Daemon would abandon his fight against Kaly to come back and save him. But Julian could not allow that to happen. No way. No how. He would figure out how to do this himself.

Don't worry. I can take care of myself. Before you, Christian and I were dodging local law enforcement, crazed cultists, angry farmers--

I cannot wait to hear of your adventures, Daemon did laugh this time.

Only if you tell me some of your war stories, Julian said.

It is a deal. Now--

I'll focus on getting out of here so you can focus on Kaly, Julian finished for him.

Excellent, my fledgling. I am with you. Always, Daemon said.

The bond winnowed down so that whatever was going on with Daemon and his friends would not distract Julian from his own task of exiting the museum without being seen or having to hurt anyone. He cast one more look at the security system. He knew it would have recorded everything that night, including him and Daemon surviving the sudden deaths that swept over the others, not to mention, Daemon using a few gifts. He'd just have to trust House Wynter's spies to deal with it. He would alert them to it as soon as he met up with one of them.

Speaking of allies, I wonder if any are here yet? That might help me get an idea of which direction to go in any case, Julian mused.

Julian did not search the security video feeds to try and find a blurry image of Arcius among the crowds of police encircling the perimeter, though he had no doubt that with the Eyros gift that Arcius could have been standing in the middle of everything in his Order robes with no one thinking the better of it. He closed his eyes as Daemon had taught him and sent out his senses to find Arcius' mind instead.

He was pleased when the blank blackness behind his eyelids almost immediately changed to a bird's eye view of the museum. There were bright blue-white flames everywhere. These were humans, he knew. But then he started to see the blood red ones. Vampires. Far more than he had anticipated. There were quite a bit of those red flames among the blue clustered out front of the museum. He was sure that these Vampires would be in charge--or would take charge--and ensure that their people got in first.

So there was an option for him to simply stay put until the Vampires came inside the museum and have them find a way to usher him out. But he was in evening wear and they were going to be in hazmat or other types of gear. Bringing in an extra uniform might be too conspicuous. Besides, he had a feeling that they wouldn't be coming inside for some time.

He heard the whump-whump-whump of helicopter blades near his left ear. Of course, they really weren't near his left ear, it was merely to his left in this bird's eye position. He turned his head and saw two blue-white lights and a red light in the helicopter.

He noted that there was a heavy-duty spotlight coming from the bottom of the helicopter and painting the roof with its high beam. So any idea he'd had of making it up on the roof and then jumping down into some bushes or taking a running leap and landing off of the museum's property was a no-go. It was doubly a no-go when he realized that there wasn't just one helicopter, but multiple helicopters, some police and others media, circling endlessly. Yeah, unless he intended to give the world proof tonight that Vampires existed the roof thing wasn't happening.

His bird's eye view went around to the back of the museum. The museum itself was set in a rather large park. The back of it faced out onto a set of wide lawns and formal gardens, along with a fish pond or two. While he had been right to suspect that there would be less police back there as it was more difficult terrain, there were still quite a few officers present. He did spy, once more, plenty of red in the bunch. Vampires were making themselves quite a part of this.

He imagined that the back doors of the museum would be wired for alarms. He could picture himself being caught in a spotlight from one of the helicopters right outside of the doors then in a panic using the Weryn gift to shift into wolves like Daemon, only to become a bunch of puppies that the officers easily captured, bewildered by what puppies were doing in the museum. Besides, though he'd dreamed of being a bird with Daemon, he'd never used the Weryn gift, so no luck there.

He hadn't found Arcius yet either in those flames of blue and red. He frowned. He wasn't as familiar with House Wynter to know their minds. He needed to talk to the Confessor, if for nothing else than to tell him whatever plan he put together. That was when he caught sight of a strange light. Not blue, not red, more like a deep purple. Julian's eyes narrowed.

An Immortal?

It obviously wasn't Balthazar or Fiona. Could it be Seeyr? Somehow he didn't think so. As far as he was aware there were no other Immortals around. Well, maybe they were around, but hiding.

Except this one--if this is an Immortal--isn't hiding. It's...

This purple light began to move towards a cluster of the blue lights, human police officers who were clumped together near one of the ponds. Alarm filled Julian and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. This Immortal was stalking those officers. He couldn't say how he knew. He just knew .

Julian forgot all of his concerns about how he was going to get out of the museum without being seen or compromising Vampire-kind. Instead, all he thought about was saving those officers.

He was moving out of the control room and following the Exit signs. He soon made it to an emergency door at the back. The doors were heavy and painted white. There were metal red EXIT bars that would have to be pressed hard for them to release. And then, of course there would be the alarm.

So I cannot press them. I need to phase through and, more than that, I need to be invisible. The Helm and Wyvern gifts. Okay this won't be hard. It'll be a piece of cake!

Julian twisted his head to the right and left. He jogged in place and rolled his shoulders back as if he were preparing for a fight. He then went still, closed his eyes, and imagined himself as invisible. He imagined looking down at his left arm and seeing the floor beneath it. He opened his eyes. His left arm--and the rest of him for that matter--was still there. He let out a hissed breath. In his mind's eye, he saw that purple light was nearly upon the officers. The other red lights in the area sensed something but they would not act soon enough. Panic fluttered in Julian's chest.

Fuck this! I need to get out there! They're going to die!

He didn't try to go invisible and he didn't try to teleport. He just ran. But he felt his skin tingle just as he was about to hit the doors full on with his body and then his hands instead of touching metal were touching night air. He was outside of the museum! Still running, he looked back over his shoulder. He truly was out! And the doors weren't moving at all. He had teleported. He turned back around and dodged to the right as he nearly ran face-first into a tree. He skidded to a halt. It was then he realized he was invisible. A grin cracked Julian's face. He couldn't wait to tell Christian about this!

His head shot to the right. That's where the three officers were who were going to be under attack in moments if they weren't already. He heard the soft hiss of radio static in between voices speaking, giving orders, telling everyone to still hang back, checking in and responding that all was quiet.

The three officers had flashlights out, but not on. They were crouched down behind a cluster of trees not fifteen feet from where he was standing. There was a wide expanse of rolling lawn that lead to one of the normally busy roads. There was no traffic though now as the street had clearly been closed off. The officers were not looking behind them, but at the blank face of the back of the museum, so they didn't see the little boy who was walking towards them.

He was tow-headed and serious-eyed. He was oddly wearing a suit, but no coat. Julian frowned. A child? He'd seen teenage Vampires, but children ? He imagined that was totally not allowed. Then he smelled the child.

Rot.

Putrefaction.

The grave .

The boy was a corpse. Kaly was animating him. That's why he was purple in color to Julian's mind's eye. He was neither pure Vampire nor pure human, but a little bit of both.

Julian thought of alerting Daemon then. This corpse wasn't one of the Vampire forms that Kaly hid in. It was just a corpse. If anything about this could be considered just . But Daemon was actually facing down Kaly in one of his real forms, or that was Julian's impression anyways. If he called Daemon right there and then, the Vampire King would abandon the fight against far more important Kaly forms to come here to destroy one animated child's corpse.

I have to try and handle this.

Julian didn't want to face this alone. He wanted to call out to Arcius or one of the other Vampires nearby. But while he had been able to reach out to Arcius easily before, the sheer amount of people and Vampires, at that, was making it more difficult. He realized that keeping invisible and using this other gift was taxing him. He wasn't good enough at this yet to use multiple gifts at once well.

Daemon would probably say I'm doing pretty damned good all things considered.

The boy's humming finally caught the officers' attention. One of them, an African-American woman in her early forties, turned her head and, immediately, she was patting her companions' shoulders to direct their attention to the seemingly lost child.

"Guys, guys!" She hissed. Her shock at seeing a child coming towards them out of the dark when they were dealing with a mass death situation was clearly unnerving her. Maybe she felt Kaly on some instinctive level too. She pointed. "A boy!"

The officer to her right, a big man with a gut and wispy blond hair, frowned as he turned. "What the Hell? Robbins, are you seeing this?"

Robbins was the officer to the female officer's right. He was younger than the other two and had an intelligent fox-like face. He moved swiftly into action too. He unfurled out of his fully crouched position but kept low to the ground as he went to intercept Kaly.

"Hey, kid," Robbins said as he extended one hand. "Stop where you are. You can't be here."

The dead boy continued to hum and make his way forward without any hesitation or acknowledgement of Officer Robbins. Julian looked between the two of them. Fifteen feet separated them. Officer Robbins had his flashlight out, but it was off. The other two kept their places, though they kept glancing between the kid and the building.

The female officer brought her radio up to her mouth and said softly, "This is Officer Janelle Watkins. We have a child--I repeat, a child --on the south lawn. He is unaccompanied by any adults. How did he get here?"

Julian felt a trace of unease himself. How did the dead boy get past all of the officers? And where had Kaly found this child's body? Or had he made it? Julian started moving as silently as he could towards the dead boy. He didn't know why the child was here. Was it because Kaly knew that Julian had been left alone and thought to attack him or kidnap him? Or maybe Kaly just wanted to check out Kara's handiwork.

Or add to it? Can he separate souls from bodies like she did when he's just inhabiting a corpse? Or marionetting it or whatever he's doing? God, I hope not.

There were now ten feet between Officer Robbins, who was still crab-walking towards the dead boy, and the corpse Kaly puppetted. The boy had stopped humming and was standing there, head cocked to the side, sniffing the air. Julian noted that he was very, very thin. Maybe he had been killed by some disease like leukemia that had eaten him away and not on a knife or the tips of two fangs.

"I can smell you," the boy said. His voice was high and sing-song.

Officer Robbins paused at the dead boy's words, even though Julian knew they weren't for him. Julian crouched low to the ground. He was to the right of the child, about ten feet away. Should he try and call the other Vampires? Were they aware of the dead child being here? He thought he sensed the red lights in his mind's eye move towards them.

But I'm still closer than anyone. I am the best chance for these officers.

"Smell me?" Officer Robbins gave out an uncertain laugh. "I hope I don't smell bad!"

The joke fell flat as the dead boy did not respond to him. Instead, the child kept talking to Julian, "You're using the Helm gift already. That's impressive. And you got out of the museum without setting off any alarms. Wyvern's gift? More impressive. I thought I was going to have to go inside to talk to you."

"Ah, kid, what are you talking about? Or who are you talking to?" Officer Robbins sounded both annoyed and alarmed. He likely wondered if the kid was insane.

That's all we need! Julian heard from Officer Robbins' head. First, this terrorist crap and now a crazy kid? What's going on with the world these days?

Julian was too stunned for the moment at having dipped into the officer's mind to realize that the dead boy had moved closer to Officer Robbins. There was something shiny in the boy's right hand. It only just caught the light so Julian couldn't quite identify it. But it couldn't be good.

"What's your name, little guy? Where are your parents? You shouldn't be alone at night like this--ah, uhm, did you roll around in some garbage or…" The scent had reached Officer Robbins' nose and it was so bad he couldn't quite hide his distaste. His lips writhed back from his teeth and his nose scrunched up.

"I like the dark. It's where I've always existed. But what about you, Julian? You haven't had the time yet to miss the light, have you?" The dead boy asked almost sweetly. "You're young so the gift of immortality doesn't really mean as much to you as it would an older person. But, then again, you've lost people so maybe you have some idea."

Julian shifted closer. His eyes were focused narrowly on the child's right hand where that shiny thing was. It could be a knife. Or a bottle. Or even a gun. Who knew what Kaly had the dead boy pick up on his way from the graveyard.

"Julian? Whose--ack!" Officer Robbins' voice was cut off.

Kaly's right hand was up and against the bottom of Officer Robbins' chin. There was a gurgling noise and then the distinct coppery scent of blood filled Julian's nostrils. He knew what had happened even before he saw the waterfall of blood--black instead of red in the darkness--stain the front of the officer's shirt.

No…

It had happened so quickly that Julian couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Then the dead boy drew back that hand and the knife--six inches long and clotted with blood--was removed. There was an arc of more crimson that splashed on the grass and the little boy's front.

Officer Robbins should have fallen over. Dead. Quite dead. Julian could tell that he had bled out in moments. There was an emptiness about his body. But instead, Officer Robbins stood up and reached for his gun. Officer Robbins turned towards his former co-workers and aimed at them.

The female officer's eyes grew huge as she stared at Officer Robbins, realizing that he had drawn on her. She only had a moment to open her mouth before there was a bullet between her eyes. The sound of the bullet had the other officer ducking for cover, one hand on the top of his head. Even though the bullet had come from behind him, he thought the danger was from the museum. He was shot in the head too. Both of them were dead instantly.

And they were instantly on their feet and taking out their guns.

Julian heard a burst of static and frantic cries over the radio, demanding a report. Report, damnit! But no one was reporting. They were dying, being taken over, and creating more corpses for Kaly to control.

Kaly smiled and asked through all of the mouths of the controlled dead, "Now, Julian, let's see how well you fight."