Suddenly he paused. He could have sworn he was being followed. Followed? On Bourbon Street? h.e.l.l, he was more tired than he had imagined.
He reached Montresse House and walked up on the porch. He knocked, then saw Gareth looking suspiciously out past one of the drapes. A second later, the door opened. As it did, Bobby sensed once again he was being followed. He spun around, ready to reach for his firearm.
"It"s you," he said, letting out a sigh. "s.h.i.t, you shouldn"t follow an armed man like that."
"Bobby Munro, what are you doing here?" Gareth asked.
"Just wanted to see Stacey for a minute, Gareth, that"s all. Didn"t know my friend was joining me."
"Stacey"s busy," Gareth said.
"Come on, Gareth, I"m beat to s.h.i.t. Let me see her for just a minute. Let me in."
"h.e.l.l, Bobby. Come in and wait. I"ll see if I can get her."
Bobby stepped across the threshold, then turned to the man behind him. "Hey, what"s up? Why were you following me?"
"Don"t know. Felt nervous," Big Jim said. "Just thought I"d say a quick h.e.l.lo to Stacey, too, then I"ll be on my way."
Bobby groaned. "Great. Just great. Your shadow is behind you."
Big Jim swung around to see Barry Larson coming up the walkway. "Hey, Jim. You went running out. We"re not done with the gig tonight."
"We"re on break," Big Jim said, shaking his head. "d.a.m.n it all, Barry, you don"t have to go following me around all the time like we"re in a flippin" nursery rhyme."
"Sorry, thought something was wrong," Barry said, hurt.
"Ah, come on in. We"ll head back together in just a minute," Big Jim said.
"Yeah, come on in," Bobby echoed, forcing a smile.
Barry stepped inside, looking around. "Lordy, this is a great place, huh?" he asked cheerfully.
"Yeah, but close the door," Bobby said irritably. "We don"t want to let any bugs in."
Stacey sat in a chair, watching over Mary. She had discovered that the girl was quite happy in her little prison as long as she could watch TV and as long as she was supplied with the sustenance she needed.
Gareth was prowling the house, she knew. He came by at least every half hour to check on them, then, nervously, went off to a.s.sure himself that the rest of the house was safe and well protected.
"Stacey?" Mary asked suddenly.
"Yes?"
"What"s going to happen to me?" Mary asked softly, pathetically.
"Well..."
"Either he"ll come and get me, or...someone will drive a stake through my heart."
"Mary, maybe not. It"s...it"s a matter of finding the right path," Stacey started to explain. Then Mary jumped up in alarm.
"What is it?" Stacey asked.
Mary pressed her hands hard against her ears. "He"s out there," she whispered.
The way she said it gave Stacey the creeps.
"But I won"t let him in. I won"t, I won"t, I swear it," she cried.
Stacey stared in alarm as Mary cried out in agony, fell to the floor and curled into a fetal position. "No!" she cried.
Stacey raced toward the door to the hallway. "Gareth!"
She was relieved to hear the pounding of footsteps on the stairway. Then she started. Gareth was there, but he"d been followed up the stairs by Bobby Munro, Big Jim and Barry Larson.
Gareth spun around on the other two men. "Get back downstairs. You were not asked up here."
"I"m a cop, and I heard screaming," Bobby announced, then charged into the room. Big Jim and Barry Larson were behind him.
Just great, she thought. All those people...This was a mess. They would see, they would all know....
Suddenly the French doors seemed to explode.
Stacey spun around. Shattered gla.s.s flew, momentarily filling the air with shards of brilliance.
There was a red-black mist, a miasma....
Then there was a man. Tall, with blazing eyes, ma.s.sive shoulders, and cruel features.
"Thank you ever so much for the invitation," he said, his tone pleasantly conversational. Gaping, stunned, terrified, Stacey wondered what he was talking about, who the h.e.l.l had asked him in.
"Now, clear away that rubbish. I have come for the girl." Mary cried out again. Stacey wanted to turn, to see who there was about to do his bidding, but she was too afraid to turn her back on what could only be the Master.
Jessica stared at the image as it faded. Bryan stepped back from the computer, turning to Sean.
"I think he gains control with that image. Like subliminal advertising-he has entered the modern age of communication," Sean said.
Bryan stiffened suddenly. "d.a.m.n it," he swore.
"I know, it"s amazing, isn"t it?" Sean said.
"Yes, but that"s not it. We"ve got to get back to Jessica"s," Bryan said.
"What"s happened?" Jessica demanded, jumping up, eyes wide.
"He"s on the move," Lucien said. "I sense it, too. Ragnor, you and I will go with them. Brent, watch over this house with the girls."
Bryan was already following Jessica out of the house. On the porch, she paused and looked uncertainly at him.
He understood.
"Screw the car," he said. "You go your way, I"ll go mine. I"ll meet you there. Be careful."
She willed herself to change, and suddenly she was a shadow that tore across the sky. She knew that Lucien and Ragnor were right behind her.
She saw the shattered French doors before she reached the balcony and warned herself to be prepared.
She burst through into the room, regained her form, and then froze.
He was there.
Her house had been invaded by the Master, and he hadn"t come alone. The scene was chaos.
She recognized the two creatures with him from the ruined castle in Transylvania, the hip-hop female from whom she had rescued Nancy and a tall redheaded man who had also stayed downstairs, attacking those watching the video. The hip-hopper had Stacey in her grip this time, but unlike Nancy, Stacey was fighting back.
Big Jim was kneeling on the floor, hands raised, chanting in an age-old tongue. The redhead was standing over him, hands stretched out, long nails ready to swipe at his throat. Bobby was there, too, his gun leveled. But he couldn"t shoot, and Jessica knew they had stopped him, leaving him frozen, shaking, desperate to pull the trigger, but unable to do so, unable to stop what he saw happening to the woman he loved.
The Master himself was headed toward Mary. Tall, black-suited, dressed like any executive, he let the sound of his laughter echo through the room. He seemed enormous, like a shadow that filled time and s.p.a.ce, controlling everything that was happening. Two bodies lay on the floor, Gareth and Barry Larson.
At that moment, Bryan arrived. Even as she stepped onto the broken gla.s.s that lay at her feet, he reached the woman holding Stacey, and Jessica was relieved at the way he had a.s.sessed the situation instantly and, despite his desire to destroy the Master, had known that if he didn"t help Stacey, her life would be forfeit.
Jessica flew at the man standing above Big Jim, but she had acted too quickly. He turned on her, wrenching a stake from a belt around his hips. She backed away, ducking the first blow, vaguely aware of a body flying past, turning to dust in midair.
Bryan had dealt with the woman trying to kill Stacey.
The circle of protection that had kept Mary prisoner had been broken. And over the shoulder of the redheaded man, Jessica could see that the Master had Mary.
"Let her go!" Jessica screamed.
He let out a burst of laughter throwing Mary across the room with a strength that would snap her spine if she struck the wall. It wouldn"t be a fatal injury for a vampire, but it would leave her paralyzed. There was no choice. Jessica leapt desperately to catch Mary before her fragile body was destroyed.
As she moved, the Master strode across the room, slamming a hand against Big Jim"s head. He crumpled. Jessica cried out as the redhead"s fingers threaded through her hair, whipping her around. She threw up an arm, breaking his hold. She was dimly aware that Lucien had arrived in time to grab Big Jim before the Master could finish him. Then he threw himself in front of Bobby before the Master could break the cop"s neck. Ragnor was right behind Lucien, engaging the redhead, leaving Jessica free to act again.
The Master went straight for Stacey.
He swept to the window, Stacey in his arms. Bryan was on him, landing a vicious blow against his throat. The Master was rocked by the force of it, then turned and let out a snarl of rage. He threw Stacey straight at Bryan, who was forced to catch her, then made good his escape in a swirl of smoke and mist.
Jessica heard a sound like a sigh.
Ragnor had killed the redhead. His dust was mingling with the broken gla.s.s on the floor.
She turned to Bobby. He was shaking, eyes wide. "Bobby, what the h.e.l.l happened? How did he get in?"
She saw Barry Larson on the floor, struggling to rise. She didn"t wait for a reply from Bobby. She was certain she knew. Fury rose in her like a geyser. "You b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You whiny b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" she cried, striding to Barry, ready to strike him back down.
"No...no!" Bobby managed to get out. "He tried to stop it."
"What are you talking about?" Jessica demanded. "If it wasn"t Barry, then who?"
Bryan had laid Stacey down next to Mary"s unconscious form. Then he walked up to Jessica, his eyes actually sorrowful. "For the love of G.o.d, Jessica, who"s left?"
"Gareth?" she said, feeling ill. She shook her head in denial. Lucien had walked to the man and was turning him over. "It was that image, the computer image. He was controlled against his will. He..."
Bryan walked over by Lucien and stooped down beside Gareth. "He"s coming to," he said.
Jessica shoved past the two men and knelt down. Gareth opened his eyes and looked straight at her. A crooked smile curved his lips. "You were beautiful," he gasped. "But he is the Master."
His eyes began to close.
"He"s dying," she said. "How? Why?"
"Could be the fact that his head is caved in," Lucien murmured.
Bryan gently touched the dying man"s face. Gareth"s eyes opened again. "What does your Master want?" he demanded. Gareth"s mouth formed words. Barely discernible. Jessica leaned closer. "You...and Igrainia. As it was."
His eyes closed. This time, Bryan eased away. There would be no more questioning. The man was dead.
18.
T he French doors to the balcony weren"t exactly repaired, but they were boarded up and once again bore all the trappings necessary to keep away monsters.
Since one of New Orleans" finest had been there, they"d been able to report the incident, and get Barry Larson to the hospital for the care he needed and explain the dead man in the house. Lucien and Ragnor had whisked Mary off, so there was no need to explain how the missing corpse had come back to life at the crime scene. Sean arrived and took over the official end of things, but to Jessica, the night seemed to stretch forever. Nancy and Jeremy remained at Sean and Maggie"s, safe, with Brent Malone and the others.
As he watched the crime-scene team do their work, Bryan felt like an uneasy observer.
He had worked alone for so many years, and he told himself that was a good thing. Look at the way Jessica had been betrayed.
And yet he couldn"t help feeling he had lost out in some way, never really trusting anyone since Gregore"s death. He was a warrior, and a warrior"s solitary quest was the destruction of evil. Yet this group had also made that their aim, as unnatural-as impossible as that seemed to him.
Once, so long ago it didn"t seem real anymore, he had known what it felt like to belong. He had fought for a king who had honored him, alongside stalwart comrades. They had worn leather, chain and steel, rather than cotton and denim, Levi"s and Armani, but in a way, they were much the same.
He was quiet, watching the activity all around him, making a few plans of his own.
At least the results of the preliminary investigation were manageable from a PR standpoint. The perp had, obviously, come in through the French doors, and he"d worn gloves. No identifiable prints had been found, and no shoe prints in the garden below.
By agreement, Bobby had described the attacker as a tall man who had fled when he"d arrived. Bryan was surprised to see that after his initial shock, the cop dealt with the situation quite well.
Bryan finally left Jessica"s house, knowing she was safe in the hands of people who cared about her, and went to the hospital in the wake of the ambulance. During the hour he waited until he was allowed to see Barry Larson, he checked on the status of David Hayes. One of the residents lowered his voice as Bryan questioned him, saying, "I never saw so much blood loss, but I think he"s going to make it. Whoever attacked those cops ripped up the veins in his arm pretty good, though, which still that doesn"t explain..."
"Explain what?" Bryan asked.