He would be able to help me if that was my goal. He had connections to the entire global network of vampire families, and could swing me anything I needed. Except the one thing I did need. “I’m just passing through right now, but I may take you up on that offer later. If you want to get in good with me, tell me more about the angels and the ‘newbie pricks’, as you put it.”

  “Promises don’t mean anything to us, you know that. You’ll have to give me something of value. Information?”

  I wouldn’t have expected Randolph to be that easy. “The true diuscrucis is holed up in Montauk,” I said. “I’ve seen her.”

  His face appeared in the mirror again, and I could see the dollar signs in his eyes. “How do I know you aren’t lying to me?”

  “I’ll swear it on blood, if you pull over.”

  He didn’t pull over. “We can work it out when we get to Penn. The angels have been gone since the church thing. Not a single seraph has stepped foot in New York, not one. Demons are going nuts, taking humans at will, and getting more bold every day. I don’t know where the hell they are, I mean, one seraph can do a pretty damn good job here, considering the mess the other diuscrucis left us in, before he got trapped.”

  I wasn’t sure if he had known about that. “You don’t know where they went?”

  “I’ve been asking around, just out of curiosity. I’ve heard things are worse in other places where there are still archfiends lording over the rabble, and that the ranks of angels have gotten thin enough they can’t be everywhere at once. The diuscrucis took care of Reyzl and Merov, so there’s a huge power vacuum in these parts.”

  Not enough angels to cover a city like New York? They were in worse shape than I had thought.

  “Crazy times,” I said. “What about the newbies?”

  “You think the stuff about the seraphim is crazy? This is crazier. Ever since the diuscrucis got trapped, we’ve been getting more and more mortals turning up with pointy teeth, calling themselves vampires and trying to enlist in the families. Most of them we kill, but there have been a few who were strong enough to get in. It’s not just vampires either. I’ve even seen a nightstalker wandering around the streets. Anyway, they’re a problem. The weak ones are still strong enough to kill their own kind, and they aren’t smart enough to do it without drawing the wrong kind of attention from the rest of us. Some of the strongest have worked their way into a few of the families, but they’re still not the real deal. Who knows what will happen if they start reproducing, assuming they can. The whole freaking gene pool is being poisoned.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from laughing that time. Elyse was concerned the changelings were screwing up humans, and Randolph was afraid they were messing up demons. It seemed nobody wanted them around.

  “Only demons are appearing?” I asked.

  “Yup, but that’s not all. There are the ones that change, the ones that don’t change, and then there are the ones that die.”

  “Die?” Elyse hadn’t told me about that.

  “It’s a mortal epidemic, and if you ask me it’s just getting started. Five hundred reported cases on the East Coast alone, fifty just in the last week. It seems they develop some kind of nasty black rash, run a fever for a few days, and then drop dead. Even worse, if we drink any tainted blood, we get it too.”

  Vampires getting a human disease? If there had been any doubt left that the Beast’s power was at the root of this, it evaporated in that instant. “So how do you know who to bleed?”

  “We don’t. Not completely. It’s a new game of chance, but the elderly have been pretty safe so far. If you had been an actual person, I would have taken you somewhere and drained you, had my fill, and then sold the rest. With the diuscrucis gone, the exchange is back in business, only now we’re trading for clean plasma.”

  I didn’t say anything else. I just sat and tried to absorb what he had told me while he finished the drive to Penn Station. Dante was right that just having the Beast in the Box wouldn’t be enough. If his power was leaking out and infecting the world, it was only a matter of time before it either killed off or completely transformed humanity. Whatever we had to do to get Landon out, we had to do it fast.

  “Penn Station,” Randolph said, about twenty minutes later.

  The cab rolled to a stop outside the entrance. I held my hand out so he could cut it and we could seal the deal.

  “Ah, no thanks. I believe you well enough, and I’m a little blood shy these days.”

  “Suit yourself.” I pulled back my hand and pushed open the back door.

  “Don’t forget what I said about being able to help you, when you’re ready.” He flashed me his toothy grin one last time.

  “I won’t forget. Oh, and Randolph?”

  “Yes?”

  “There is one more thing you can do to help me. I need a credit card that isn’t connected to me.”

  He shifted around in his seat, took out a wallet, and handed me a fancy card. “You have twenty-four hours, and then I’m going to report it lost. Don’t forget I did this for you.”

  I smiled. “I’ll be back after I finish my current business. You’re the first vampire I’ll come to see.”

  I pushed the door closed at the same time another older woman approached the cab. I considered warning her to the next one, but instead watched her get in and close the door.

  Chapter 15

  Two hours later I was on my way to Kansas in the sleeper car of an Amtrak train. The waiting in Penn Station had been tense, but we’d gotten underway without incident and made it out of New York unscathed. I’d spent most of the time standing on the platform, keeping an eye on the stairs, and reconciling what Randolph had told me.

  The angels were dealing with archfiends, but the lesser demons were getting wild. It was an interesting approach, and it made sense. With the main power base gone in a given region, the other fiends would be spending more of their energy jockeying for position and fighting amongst themselves. It was a little more problematic for humanity, because there were some truly stupid Divine out there, but not as much of a problem as a concerted effort by a higher ranking demon could cause. As a side benefit, it would also allow me more breathing room to deal with the Box. The angels were stretched thin, leaving them mostly out of the picture. The demons were busy fighting amongst themselves. There were plenty of other players left, but every little bit helped.

  I also spent some time considering the longer term picture of the changed mortals. If they were integrating into the societies of their new species, eventually they would begin to reproduce. Once that happened, would they become stronger, or weaker? Would there be vampires that could stay outside during the day unaffected, who didn’t need to drink blood, but maintained the enhanced stamina and intelligence? Or would they lose traits that made them superior, the strength and longevity? There was no way to know, but it was certain this was just the first push on a domino.

  My eyes glazed over from looking out the window at the landscape passing by. The trip was supposed to take a little more than a day to complete, with a couple of exchanges along the way, but I wasn’t planning on going the full route. We’d be in DC in about an hour, and I would catch a flight there. It wasn’t as far as I’d prefer to have gone, but I was navigating a delicate balance between time and distance. It wouldn’t take the Nicht Creidim forever to figure out where I had gone, and if by some chance Sarah managed to get to Obi, the former marine could certainly hack into any transportation system he needed to help track me down.

  I took the pack and pulled it up onto my lap, opening the zipper just enough to see the blue glow from the Box. It comforted me to look at it, and to know I was in control. With any luck, I’d be meeting with Elyse’s contact before the sun had set again.

  The power pulsed along the surface, running through intricate channels, brightening and dimming in tune to whatever logic the prison followed. I knew so little about it, beyond how its creator and the demon Abaddon had become trapped in it. The Beast had told me where to find it, once he had deemed me ready to make my return from Hell. I had been powerful then, in many ways much more so than I was now. I only had one weakness, that the Redeemer had turned into a strength.

  I took a deep breath and put a finger on the box, feeling the warmth of the energy it fought to contain, the energy that was leaking into this world. I looked around at the people on the train. Would they change faster or die sooner because they had been so close to me? If the Box’s power was like radiation, these mortals didn’t stand a chance.

  Returning my eyes to the Box, I wondered what he was going through in there. The Beast had tortured me once when I had questioned the need to bring Sarah into his game. I could remember the pain of being torn apart and put back together, so slowly and purposefully that it made the agony more intense and immeasurable than any other kind of wound could. Torturing souls in Hell had been part of my training.

  None had screamed the way I had.

  “Final stop, Union Station,” the voice said over the loudspeaker. “If you’re transferring, please hold onto your ticket and check the board for track information. Thank you for riding Amtrak.”

  I didn’t stand until everyone else had disembarked. Only then did I sling the pack over my shoulder and make my way out, the hidden dagger in my jacket ready to be used. Nobody stared, nobody approached. I was still in the clear.

  A quick walk through the station, and I would grab a taxi to Dulles International. I had never been in D.C. before, and I was amazed by the construction of the station; a magnificence in marble and light that stood in stark contrast to the old dinginess that Penn Station brought to mind. The beauty of it distracted me, and that distraction almost caused me to lose the Box.

  A gloved hand dug into my shoulder, stopping my brisk pace. I tried to turn around, to face my assailant, but a second hand wrapped up under my other arm and pinned me, shoving me towards the wall and an access door nearby. I could tell by the size of the hand and the feel of the person behind me that they were taller than me, and well-muscled. At first, I wriggled in their grasp, trying to kick at the feet or twist from the grip without drawing too much attention. For every movement I made, my attacker countered it with equal and opposite force, leaving me stuck in their grasp and moving to a more private location. I needed to get out of this now, because I didn’t know what was waiting on the other side of the door. Had they been expecting me?

  There was only one thing left to do, and so I let go of my control of Elyse and pushed myself towards my captor. I was too close to understand who they were, and I never got to find out. No sooner had I let go of Elyse than a blazing heat greeted my ghostly form, propelling me away. I only barely managed to latch back onto her before I was sent off into the distance.

  “Damn. Will you cool it, Rebecca?”

  I knew that voice, but how did he know it was me? I stopped struggling.

  “I’ll walk myself, Obi-wan.”

  His hands left my shoulders. As soon as they did, I spun around and struck out at him with the knife.

  He was expecting the move, and he caught my wrist and pinched the nerve, making me drop the weapon. “Hold on a sec, will you? I know what happened, but I’m not here for Sarah.”

  I looked up at him. His face was damp with perspiration and his breath smelled like alcohol. A rough Eye was painted on his forehead in… mascara?

  “Then what are you doing here?”

  He waved towards the access door. “Can we just get out of sight? It isn’t safe out here.”

  I nodded. It was obvious he had come running from some drunken stupor somewhere, and I wanted to know why. I walked to the door and opened it. It was nothing but a small janitorial supply room. He pushed me in and closed the door behind us, stopping to pick up the dagger.

  “I can’t believe he was telling me the truth,” he said, as soon as the door had shut. He used his hand to wipe some of the sweat away.

  “Who?”

  He grinned. “So, I’m at home, sitting on my couch, downing another shot of tequila when my phone rings. I pick it up, and there’s this guy on the phone. He tells me I need to track down an Elyse Everness, and to check transportation databases.”

  He was talking fast, and the words were coming out a little stilted. I put up my hand. “Wait, slow down. I was at Sarah’s. I heard her say you don’t answer your phone.”

  “I do when the battery is dead and it still rings. Anyway, he texts me a photo of this thing on my forehead, tells me to draw it with whatever I have, find out where Elyse is going, and get there. He tells me she’s really you, and you’ve either got the Box, or you will soon enough. I know Sarah, and she’s a sweet kid. I love her like a niece, but destroying the Box? Hell, no. I wasn’t helping her with that, I don’t care what Landon wanted. I lost enough already.” He put his hand on the wall to steady himself.

  “Who?” I asked again.

  “I’m getting to that. He tells me you have the Box, and you’re going to get Landon out. That there’s a way.” His eyes started tearing. “Too much dying, too much destruction. I can feel the balance you know. I know its in the crapper, and it’s going to get worse without Landon. The angels have the Deliverer, but they can’t be everywhere at once, and the demons will figure out they’re being played sooner or later. Either that or Gervais will get them organized. He can’t kill Gervais with it you know, because he’s not a demon anymore. He’s something else.”

  His voice sped up as he spoke, until I could barely make out what he was saying.

  “Obi, get to the point. Who told you to find me?”

  “Yeah, right. He’s an odd one. British accent, kind of soft, like a trannie or something. Laughs at himself a lot. Said his name was… Matt?”

  I remembered the demon Templar. “Max?”

  He pointed at me and grinned. “Yeah, that’s it. Told me he was waiting for us in Peru, but you weren’t going to make it without help. So I tracked you down.”

  That’s who was feeding Elyse her information? Why hadn’t she wanted to tell me? I knew Landon trusted the demon, and that made me feel better about this whole thing. Elyse might have her own selfish goals, but it seemed we really did want the same thing. “I didn’t use the name Elyse Everness to book the ticket.”

  “Of course you didn’t, that would be stupid. You used an anagram of Reyka Solen, and you paid with a credit card you got from one Randolph Hurst, who happens to be a vampire. I put two and two together.”

  “You did all that drunk?” I was impressed.

  He shrugged. “It wasn’t that hard. I’ve already got the algorithms set up to track the known Divine in town. The bigger problem is that you were spotted the minute you got off the train. I was waiting right outside the gate, you just didn’t notice me. They went to get some backup, but they’ll be poking around here soon enough. We need to get on a plane to Peru.”

  “So you’re going to help me?”

  He waved the dagger in front of him. “I want to stick this thing into your heart for all the crap you’ve done, but first things first. Yeah, I’m going to help you.”

  “Fair enough. I deserve whatever you want to dish out. You have a car?”

  “I can do better than a car. I pulled some strings.” He flipped the knife in his hand and held it out to me. “We just need to get outside in one piece. Let’s move.” He pushed open the door to the closet and peeked out. “You go first. I’ll hang back so if anyone tries to grab you, I can hit them from behind.”

  I stepped in front of him, slipping out the door during a break in traffic and moving into the crowd. I was nearing the Center Cafe when I heard the first scream.

  I took the hint, diving to the side as a round of gunfire echoed through the Station. Chips of marble scattered from the spot where I had been standing, and I came up from my roll facing the shooter. It was just in time to hear the extra loud boom of Obi’s Desert Eagle, and watch him drop.

  I knew right away he wasn’t alone. The shooting had caused most of the mortals to run, to scatter in every direction that wasn’t near the now fallen Nicht Creidim. The decision hadn’t been unanimous. A half dozen or so stayed back, and even as the other humans shouted, cried, screamed, and fought their way past, they drew their own guns.

  Obi was running towards me, and I raised my hand, holding up all of my fingers and then pointing behind him. He rolled his eyes, and then dropped to his knees, sliding along the floor to where the shooter’s body lay. He flopped over and levered it, using it as a shield against a sudden barrage. Some of the bullets skipped off the floor around him, creating more divots in the marble. Others found the dead man’s flesh. Obi’s arm reached out, firing off two quick rounds and dropping two of our attackers.

  “Get outside,” he shouted back at me, leaving me to make a run for it while he hid beneath a corpse. I wanted to help him, but I only had the knives, and our enemies were too far away. “Go!”

  I didn’t have a choice. I stayed low while I ran for the doors, where the rest of the people were fighting to get out. More gunshots rang out behind me, and I heard another shout and thud in the background. I joined the crowd, pushing through them and getting outside, finding myself face to face with a policeman.

  There was no hesitation when I let go of Elyse and floated into this one, wrapping around his soul and taking control. I felt the hurt of his memories: the demanding parents, the disappointed ex-wife, the rebellious son. He was a good cop though, a straight-shooter with the best intentions.

  “Get out of the way!” I started shoving the frightened mortals aside. “Keep it safe,” I said to Elyse, who nodded and kept going towards the street.