Meridian Six Part 7

The black box was still attached to the bottom of the window. A quick peek inside made my stomach drop and a whispered curse escape my lips. A handful of guards were inspecting the tanks. Probably they were worried Rabbit had tried to sabotage them from inside the building. I ducked down so my head was below the window. Looking up, I studied the face of the device to figure out what had gone wrong. A green light flashed on the front, but the count-down timer wasn't engaged. I realized that in his rush, Rabbit had forgotten to flip the final switch. Chewing my bottom lip, I adjusted the function of the timer so it gave us five minutes, instead of two, before it exploded. Then, I held my breath, sent a prayer to a G.o.d I didn't believe in, and clicked on the switch that engaged the count down. Red numbers flashed up 5:00. Once I made sure it flipped over to 4:59, I took off running.

And ran straight into a chest wearing a black uniform.

My adrenaline spiked and lightning zinged under my sweaty skin. Luckily, he was as surprised as I was by our collision. Unlucky for him, I recovered first and grabbed his gun from his holster. I slammed the metal into his temple and pulled the trigger. His eyes widened and a gasp escaped his mouth. In the next instant, he slumped in to me. I let him fall to the ground and ran. The gun's weight was rea.s.suring in my hand. I started for the fence again, but a female scream reached my ears.

Dare.

f.u.c.k. I swiveled and hauled a.s.s across the compound, shooting any guard I ran into along the way. The gunfire drew more and more guards, but I didn't care. If I didn't get myself and my team out of there in the next three minutes we'd all be dead anyway.

I broke into the clearing at a dead run. The heat from the furnaces radiated off the building like a sun. Sweat covered every inch of skin and my heart pounded depth charges in my chest. In the center of the clearing, Dare knelt on the ground next to Rabbit's still form. Meanwhile Icarus stood defiant before Castor despite the dozens of gun aimed at him. I didn't slow my pace. Just ran toward them like a wild woman, screaming. The guards turned to see what the commotion was about and when they saw me their mouths fell open.

I was almost to Castor and his prisoners when a very large body stepped in my path. I skidded to a stopped mere inches from Astyanax. He loomed above me like a colossus. His fangs flashed in the light from the moon and the fires forming inside The Factory. My bowls went watery, but I raised the gun.

A ma.s.sive fist swiped the weapon away with little effort. His other hand swung around and made contact with my jaw. I fell back as Castor started laughing.

"Meridian Six," Castor drawled. He held a hand up to forestall Astyanax's advance. "Why am I not surprised to find you in league with this pathetic group of weaklings."

I spit a mouthful of blood at his feet. "Let us go or I'll set off the bomb I just installed on your propane stores." I held up the remote we'd used earlier to warn Rabbit. Castor bought the lie and stilled.

"What are your demands?" His tone was too casual. He was coiling like a snake preparing to strike.

"Let the boy go," I said, looking him directly in his yellow eyes. "The other two, as well."

Castor's eyebrows rose up. "That's all?"

I shook the remote in the air. "We'll see."

The corner of his red lips lifted. "Never try to bluff a professional liar, Six." He nodded toward Astyanax. I felt the air shift as the general moved toward me. In slow motion, I pivoted and held up an arm to ward off the fangs. But in the next instant, the deafening boom of an explosion blew across the clearing like a hurricane of fire, bringing with it searing heat and a concussion like a punch to the diaphragm.

The impact knocked me off my feet and sent my body flying toward the spot where Icarus had stood a moment earlier. A high-pitched whine filled my ears and my eyes stung and were wet. I swiped at them and my hand came away b.l.o.o.d.y. Despite the pain and confusion, a single thought screamed inside my head: RUN!

The chain reaction hadn't spread through the Factory's pipeline. But it was coming. If I didn't get us out of there now we were going to burn. Even though my eyes hurt like h.e.l.lfire, I squinted through the smoke and located Icarus a couple of feet away. I groped toward him. "Icarus! Can you hear me?" I couldn't hear myself, but judging from the way my throat ached, I was screaming. He rolled over and blinked once, twice, three times before he jerked into motion.

"Dare? Rabbit?" he mouthed.

"There!" Dare was lying on top of Rabbit over near a wheel of the rover. Together, Icarus and I leaned into each other, supporting each other's weights. We stumbled to the ground by Dare and pulled her off him. A trickle of blood glared red beneath her left ear and her eyes were shot through with broken capillaries.

Icarus grabbed her off the ground, supporting all of her weight when she didn't do it on her own. He jerked his head toward Rabbit. I leapt toward the kid and hauled him up to my shoulder with strength borne from fear and adrenaline. When I turned to follow Icarus, I saw Astyanax's smoldering body nearby. His large body had taken most of the brunt of the explosion and it showed. A quick look around revealed dozens of other burning bodies, but I didn't detect Castor's among the injured.

Shaking myself, I sped up to follow Icarus onto the open door of the rover. I prayed he knew how to fly it because we didn't have time for a tutorial. The ground was shaking as explosions occurred in the pipeline underground.

I lay Rabbit on one of the plush benches inside the rover and went to hit the b.u.t.ton to seal us in. The sound of the engines whirring to life filled the cabin. Icarus had dumped a sh.e.l.l-shocked Dare into the co-pilot's seat and taken the throttle. "Hold on!" he yelled.

The world tilted wildly. I grabbed onto a handle and held on with white knuckles. As the earth fell away below us, it felt like I'd left my stomach behind. Through the front window I could see the stars getting closer, which meant we were getting farther from The Factory. The last ten minutes had felt like an eternity.

"s.h.i.t, Six." Icarus's warning came a split second before The Factory went boom. The concussion rocked the rover, causing it to dip and stutter in mid-air. A sensor started beeping furiously.

"Hang on!" Icarus yelled. He didn't have to tell me twice. I braced my feet and grabbed onto handholds on the ceiling.

Finally stable, I turned to look out of the rear window of the rover. Where The Factory had stood now looked like the mouth of h.e.l.l. We'd done it. We'd destroyed the Troika's dragon before it could consume any humans.

The sensor stopped beeping and the rover's alt.i.tude leveled off. For a moment, I allowed myself to just breath easy.

Rabbit groaned from the bench. My short-lived respite over--I moved to check on him. The bullet had gone straight through his shoulder. Not a lethal wound, but blood loss could pose a major problem. His skin was pale and clammy, and his mouth worked like he wanted to scream, but he didn't open his eyes.

"How is he?" Icarus called.

"Alive, but he needs medical attention."

Before Icarus could answer, the door to the rover's electrical closet burst open.

Castor launched at me looking like something straight out of h.e.l.l. His once-elegant face was b.l.o.o.d.y and patches of skin were charred beyond recognition. I fell back into the bench where Rabbit lay as Castor's weight slammed into me. His fangs snapped like a beast's toward my neck. To heal his wounds, he'd need an infusion of blood. My blood.

"Icarus!" I screamed. But I knew he couldn't help me. Someone had to fly the rover.

"The Prime should have killed you when your brat turned out to be a low blood!" he snarled.

I fought and scratched at the vampire's face. I kicked with heavy, sore legs. I screamed my rage at his horrific, burned face.

Movement from my peripheral vision. Then Castor's weight lifted off me. Dare had shaken off her shock and come to the rescue. She and Castor faced off. Her yellow eyes flashed and she hissed, flashing those empty fang sockets. Despite being a eunuch, she looked every inch the fearsome predator capable of murder.

"Six!" she snarled. "The door."

I lunged at the wall and punched the b.u.t.ton. The door slid open. Air wooshed in like a cyclone, whipping my hair around and pulling my body toward the opening. I grabbed a seatbelt from a nearby bench and held on.

Dare shoved Castor with every ounce of strength she had. The male vampire stumbled back toward the door. He fell back against the benches along that wall. He was up again in a blink. Knowing Dare was the stronger foe, he lunged for me this time. But just as his clawed hands snagged my shirt, the necklace the Chatelaine gave me sprang from the neckline. One of his hands brushed against the red disk. He hissed and pulled away as if he'd been burned.

"Where did you get that?"

Confusion held me frozen. Before I could answer, Dare ran and flew at his midsection with a kick.

Castor's eyes went wide. His hands wind-milled wildly and then the air current took hold of his body and sucked him through the door. His screams were swallowed by the wind.

Before any thoughts of celebrating the death of Castor could sink in, Dare's body flew toward the opening. I grabbed her arm just before her body was vacuumed into the night, as well. With one hand holding on to the seat belt and the other wrapped around her wrist, I struggled with every ounce of strength in my body to reel her back inside. But my hands were sweaty and my strength was gone. She was starting to slip away.

I screamed from exertion and frustration. Her eyes were wide and she scrambled to hold on. I was losing her.

A warm arm wrapped around my waist and a hand appeared to grab Dare's wrist next to mine. I looked up to see Icarus's grim face as he pulled both of us out of harm's way. I fell back onto the bench. Sure that Icarus had Dare safely inside, I slapped a palm on the b.u.t.ton to slam the door shut.

The silence that followed was punctuated with gasps and curses. I looked at Dare's wild hair and her trembling body, and at Icarus's dirt-streaked and scarred face. "The rover?" I asked.

"Auto-pilot. We'll land in the Badlands and ditch it. We can't go back to Book Mountain, but maybe Jeremiah and his squad will take us in."

"They'll have us," Dare said. "We have Meridian Six on our team."

I frowned at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't you get it?" Icarus said. "The daughter of Alexis Sargosa is finally on the rebel's side and she's declared war against the Troika."

My mouth fell open. "That's not what happened-"

Icarus laughed humorlessly. "Doesn't matter. They'll believe what we tell them," he said, sounding too much like the vampire we'd just killed for my comfort. "We'll have to start calling you Carmina, though. Meridian Six has too many bad a.s.sociations." He narrowed his eyes at me. I didn't like the speculative glint I saw there. "Carmina Sargosa," he tested the words on his tongue. "Yes. It's got a n.o.ble air to it. The kind of name people rally around. A leader."

I looked over toward Rabbit, who lay watching us. His skin was pale and his eyes were feverish, but he was alive. I moved toward him and cradled his small body, careful not to hurt his wounds too much. I pretended I was trying to comfort him, but I needed it, too. Icarus's words had left me feeling both hollow and dirty, used. He didn't want me to be a leader. He wanted me to be his puppet.

How could I have been so naive to think I could start a new life on my own terms? Hadn't I already learned that the world was made up of two types: The Users and The Used. I'd tried to use the rebels to earn my freedom, but I'd ended up being a p.a.w.n. Again.

Sure, I wanted the Troika to pay for everything it had taken from me, everything it had withheld. In that sense I guess I was on the rebels' side. But listening to Icarus speak, an icy hand skittered up my spine. I'd let myself get carried away kicking the hornets' nest and I was pretty sure before this was all over, I'd be the one to feel the Troika's sting. "What have I done?" I whispered, mostly to myself.

Icarus smiled that smile that transformed his ravaged face. Only this time it scared me. "You just gave us the weapon we need to defeat the Troika."

I frowned at him. "What kind of weapon?"

"The same one that's been at the center of every good revolution." He tilted his head. "A good story to inspire the troops."

With that, he rose to check on the c.o.c.kpit again. Dare nudged me out of the way to get to the kid. I dropped onto a bench across the way.

Through the side window, the stars were laid out like a blanket of diamonds. At that alt.i.tude it was easy to forget all the destruction and violence, the hopelessness so common on the ground. Up there it was easy to imagine a future where Rabbit could grow up healthy and happy. One where I was able to live on my own terms without someone wanting to use me for their cause.

I looked down at the red lotus totem Sister Agrippa had given me. The one that was a symbol of her faith. Faith that terrified Castor so much it cost him his life. I squeezed my hand around the red disk until it bit into the palm. Maybe it was time for me to have a little faith, too.

Through the rover's c.o.c.kpit and toward the horizon, I saw another sign of hope. While behind us The Factory still burned like Hephaestus's forge, up ahead another fire glowed, one far more dangerous to the Troika than any man-made inferno. Dawn streaked across the lavender sky in a fury of orange, yellow and red, announcing the sun's imminent arrival.

The sun was the enemy of every vampire-a fire demon. But I was a human, and to my kind the sun was an angel of life. It nourished our crops and our livestock. It warmed our skin and helped us see. It provided us with energy and a reason to rise every morning.

I closed my eyes and imagined absorbing its heat into my pores and filling up my chest cavity with its awesome power.

My name was Carmina Sargosa, daughter of Alexis Sargosa. And like the sun, I would rise above the Troika and finish the work my mother began. I would burn every last vampire to the ground.

Red means life.

Other Books by Jaye Wells.

The Prospero's War Series.

Dirty Magic.

The Sabina Kane Series.

Red-Headed Stepchild The Mage in Black.

Green-Eyed Demon.

Silver-Tongued Devil.

Blue-Blooded Vamp.

Other Works.

Carniepunk.

Violet Tendencies.

About the Author.

Jaye Wells is a USA Today-bestselling author who writes urban fantasy novels with grave stakes and wicked humor. The fifth novel of her best-selling Sabina Kane series, BLUE-BLOODED VAMP, won RT Booklovers' Magazine's Best Urban Fantasy of 2012.

Raised by booksellers, she loved reading books from a very young ago. That gateway drug eventually led to a full-blown writing addiction. When she's not chasing the word dragon, she loves to travel, drink good bourbon and do things that scare her so she can put them in her books. Jaye lives in Texas with her husband and son. For more about her books, go to www.jayewells.com.

Connect with me online:.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/JayeWells.

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Web site: http://www.JayeWells.com.

An Interview with Jaye Wells.

How does the world of Meridian Six fit into your Sabina Kane or Prospero's War series?

It doesn't fit into either, actually. It's something totally new. Originally, I wrote a short story about this character that appeared in a tiny anthology no one's read. But the story kept tugging at me over the years, so I decided to expand the short story into a novella.

So it's an entirely new world altogether, but I think my readers will find lots to recognize in Meridian Six. She's tough and smart, but also broken and haunted. Those are my favorite characters to write.

More vampires? Is this a theme with you?

I knew when I finished my Sabina Kane series that I wouldn't be able to write a contemporary vampire story again for a while. The mythos in that world too so much work and I didn't want to do another one unless it could be original.

I love writing about vampires because they are amazingly flexible archetypes. They can be good guys or villains, depending on your needs. For this world, I needed them to be the ultimate totalitarian regime.

As for whether they're a personal theme, well, I think it's more of a societal theme. Vampires are the ultimate narcissists, right? They're monsters that look the most like us, but they also act the most like us. I've known my fair share of psychic vampires and I'm sure most of my readers have, too.

You're known as much for the humor in your work as the intricate world building and emotional gut punch. Where did the funny stuff go?

It didn't feel natural in this world. It's not that there's zero humor, but it's way more muted. I guess my characters have a hard time cracking jokes when they've lived on the run so long. Plus, the dark stuff is its own kind of fun sometimes.