Downside Rain: Downside book one (9 page)

A
human to unlock the cage. The vampires won’t come near it.

I
give up on the lock. Maybe I can open it with more time but have run out of
that commodity. “You know what they mean to do. We have to take them down. Now
or never.”

Take
down three vampires? Am I as crazy as I sound?

“You
can’t handle them by yourself. Wait until they let me out.”

I
agree, and am glad she came up with the idea.

Apart
from the cage, the room is sparsely furnished with two wingback chairs and matching
couch upholstered in green velvet, and a low table. I squat behind the couch,
glad vampires can’t sense wraiths as they do other vampires and humans.

What
the heck? I still have the pins, but they are as insubstantial as my flesh. I
barely feel them, they are close to weightless, like me. Do I keep whatever I
hold when I’m solid? Why not? Like my clothes and weapons, now the pins are in
my hand they are part of me, unusable unless a vampire or wraith touches me.

I
experiment, opening the fingers of one hand. The pin drops to the board floor
and rolls under the chair. I can’t pick it up again, like grasping at nothing. I
drop the other pin; it won’t be of use against a vampire.

I
didn’t bring many weapons: an eight-inch blade, a stiletto and a smaller knife
strapped to my shin, all silver. Hardly daring to breathe as I wait, my hand
hovers at my chest, ready to pull the long knife when I grapple with a vampire.

Through
the small gap between the couch and a chair, I watch the door open and the
human enters, followed by the vampires. The human, a young man, short and
skinny with white-blond hair shaved on the sides with a long section tied back
in a queue, struts in cockily, grinning at Verity. The vampire men are tall and
bulky in white dress shirts. They look pretty much alike: olive-skin, oval
faces, long narrow noses, fleshy lips and beautiful doe eyes. The black-haired
guy sports sideburns, the one with rust-red hair has a skinny moustache and the
third, also black-haired, wears it in dozens of tiny braids.

Verity
watches their approach haughtily. She doesn’t look in my direction.
Good
girl
.

The
human produces a small key from his vest pocket and inserts it in the lock. He
is so sure of himself, I want to wipe that smile off his face in the nastiest
way. He knows Verity can’t get her hand through the bars to grab him. Though he
does step back smartly after pulling the door open.

“Come,
woman,” Sideburns orders.

Verity
folds her arms over her impressive chest. “Come and get me.”

Ordinarily
I would applaud the delaying tactic. The vampires won’t go in the cage where
they can be thrown against, or at least jostled into, the silver bars. But delay
is the last thing we need, surprise is a critical element and more vampires could
arrive to check out why there
is
a delay.

We
have to do this fast. I peep over the couch-back and glare at Verity.

She
registers and interprets my expression. With a slight lift of her eyebrows, she
says, “Oh, very well,” and steps from the cage.

As
she moves into the room, Redhead and the human fall in behind her. The other
vampires flank her.

Verity’s
muscles flex almost imperceptibly. I launch over the couch as she lays hands on
the human and throws him at Redhead.

The
human rams into Redhead, mashing him against the silver bars. The young man
drops, but Red is fixed in place, back to the bars, arms apart and splayed on
them. He jiggles as if a million volts of electricity course through his body
and the metal sizzles and spits. His teeth clack together like those mechanical
toys which chatter across the floor; blood pools in his eyes and runs down his
face to mingle with what drizzles from his nose. His rust-red hair singes and
smokes. The air reeks of charred hair and silk.

Only
seconds have passed and I already cling to Sideburns’ back, heavy with full
flesh, legs clenched around his waist, one arm hooked around his neck as I drag
the longer silver blade from its sheath. Skin sizzles as silver carves through
his left eye, slicing deep through the lid into the eyeball, slides over the
bridge of his nose and jaggedly bisects his right eye. I can’t kill the
vampires; I’d have to cut off their heads and sawing through a neck with a
silver blade will take
much
too long. But I can slow them down some.

I
ride the vampire down and have the presence of mind to grab my stiletto as I let
go and drop off, and roll to avoid the braided guy’s clawed hands as Sideburns hits
the floor.

What
do you know, it worked. The two knives are now as insubstantial as my flesh but
I still hold them, and when I go solid again, so will they.

Verity
hits the braided vampire from the side and circles him with her arms. They
tumble and slither over the floor, moving too fast for me to see what is happening,
a great pile of flesh, white silk and red lace. A tearing sound which could be
skin or silk. Snarls and spitting.

Sideburns
crawls over the floor by feel, one hand before the other, smearing the blood
which drips from his face as he tries to find the door.

The
small human stumbles over one of Sideburns’ legs in his haste to escape.
Sideburns’ hand lashes out and fastens on a human ankle; he pulls it to his mouth
and sinks his fangs in. The human shrieks and futilely beats the vampire’s head.

Red
is on his belly. His back and backs of his arms are bloody black flesh seen
through the missing patches of shirt. His hair has burned close to the scalp.
He will heal, though not as fast as Sideburns who is receiving a tasty
transfusion of human blood.

The
crack
of breaking bone, and Verity comes upright holding the braided vampire
with a hand either side of his oddly angled head. She broke his neck. She lets
him fall. He lies on his back, head flopped on one side, arms and legs futilely
spidering as though in search of traction.

“Come
on,” she yells.

She
grabs hold and flesh whams into me, the knives again weighty in my hands. In an
embrace smooth as velvet, hard as steel, face smothered in Verity’s breasts, I
try to relax as she takes us through the open window.

We
land below with a thud which goes all through my body, although it doesn’t seem
to bother Verity. She lowers me, smoothes her hands down the disheveled dress
and straightens the high collar. “I think I’ll keep it. It suits me, don’t you
think?”

“You’re
a knockout.” I look up at the windows and the gargoyles gazing down. We’re
sitting ducks. My turn to say, “Come on,” as I head for the wall.

The
backdoor bangs open.

Verity
pushes me toward the wall. “Go on. I’ll hold them back.”

Not
likely. I didn’t go through all this to let her be taken again. I dart around
the garden’s perimeter as she bares her fangs and charges the knot of vampires,
who fall over themselves to get outside. Verity slams into a male vampire and
shoves him back, managing to keep the three behind him bottlenecked in the
doorway. With an animalistic snarl, she sinks her fangs in his neck and rips
out a chunk of meat. A fountain of blood sprays over her, crimson polka dots on
her pale face but lost in the red of her dress. With a concerted heave, the
other vampires shove her and her victim aside and swarm into the yard.

A
female vampire in a black strapless ball gown bears down on Verity as she
tosses her assailant aside. I get between them; Verity darts at another. I close
in with arms crossed at the wrists so my blades bracket the vampire’s neck. They
become solid weapons when they touch vampire flesh and the woman hisses as I
pull them apart sharply. Both blades rip across her neck and open up a gaping
mouth. Blood washes over her breasts. She staggers back, then her feet go out
from under her and she lands on her rump.

Verity
holds another vampire on the ground. She rears up and smashes her bent knee
down on his spine. He jerks, his body goes limp, eyes rolling like marbles.

Two
more guys have enough of the one-on-ones and decide to rush in. The gathering
of vampires chills the evening air as they flow across the yard. I crouch to
face one coming for me.

Hands
descend on me from behind, reach past my shoulders, clamp on my wrists and
squeeze. Flesh is forced into me and it hurts. My bones are breaking. I drop both
knives. Desperately, I fight to lose flesh, and can’t. A vampire has me. The
one in front fastens his hands on my throat. Fetid breath fans my face as his
mouth swoops down.

This
is it.
I’m coming, Castle
.

My
peripheral vision catches a pair of heavy black boots as they impact the vampire’s
head and knock him sideways. The vampire behind me still holds my wrists but
his arms relax. I thrust my fists forward and together and haul him in, ramming
my head back. His nose crunches and he lets go altogether.

The
boots are attached to the Goth boy, who has crashed down with the other
vampire. He rolls up to his feet, loses substance and regains it as he jumps on
the vampire’s chest with both feet, creating a squelchy snapping sound.

I
don’t have time to think. I spin as I sense the vampire behind me coming back
in. Unbelievably, the boy performs a home plate slide and clamps his legs
around the vampire’s. As the vampire topples, the kid untangles, bounces up,
jigging like a boxer in the ring. He kicks the vampire in the head with those
heavy boots.

Holy
Mother, he’s a wraith. He was watching me, not the café. He followed me.

He’s
good, but fights as if he tackles a human opponent. Both the vampires he downed
are already getting to their feet.

And
Verity is in trouble. A male and a female vampire either side hold her by the
upper arms. I aim at the female and crash into her, knocking her back, but she
holds on to Verity. The kid heads for the male and punches him in the gut,
following with a clean uppercut to the jaw. It does little more than annoy the vampire,
but he lets go of Verity who immediately turns on the female vampire. The kid
and the male vampire slap together chest to chest. The vampire’s mouth pops open
as they thrust against each other. The boy steps back, my long knife in a hand bloody
to the wrist. He must have plucked it up when he tackled the vampire. He gutted
this man from pelvis to ribcage.

That
did
more than stall the bloodsucker. He’ll be down for some time.

The
thunder of shoes and clatter of heels on board floors warn of more vampires.
Verity drops her limp opponent into the hall where she falls in a pile of satin
and flaccid flesh.

“Go!”
Verity takes two strides and leaps to the top of the wall, dress furling like a
great exotic red bird. I race after her and reach the wall as she disappears
over it. The boy follows a step behind. We go up the wall side by side as if we
have air in our bones.

Verity
waits on the other side. She moves off and barrels through the apartment
block’s backdoor as the kid and I drop to the ground. We race along the passage
on her heels.

No
one comes after us as we burst into the street after Verity and run along the
sidewalk, nor do they pour from the Greché mansion’s entrance.

The
fire hydrant has been capped but the children are still here splashing in puddles;
lace mantilla billowing, hem dragging in the water, Verity skirts them. With me
and the boy in tow, she hurriedly leads us half a block before cutting down a
side street which takes us to a broad avenue busy with traffic, bright with
street lamps and store lights. She stops walking and thrusts her hand in the
air. “Taxi!”

“A
cab?” the kid says incredulously.

Is
he a new wraith, head crammed with Upside nonsense, who thinks vampires can
move faster than a speeding bullet? Or is that Superman?

I
anxiously look over my shoulder. “Vampires are faster than the average human,
but not a car.”

“Why
do you think they are not on our heels this minute?” Verity says. “They are
heading for their vehicles to try and cut me off before I reach the bridge.”

The
notion stifles my breath. “What if they get there before us?”

“Then
we have a problem.” Verity smiles and waves at a taxi as it pulls to the curb.

We
almost fall over ourselves getting in.

Verity
gives the driver the address and adds, “And put your foot down. I can be very
appreciative; the sooner we get there, the bigger your tip.”

Castle
once said I fight efficiently because I don’t let fear distract me. It’s not
true, not exactly. I don’t have time for fear, or a stomach turned at the sight
of blood and intestines, or to let the sounds of battle and death unnerve me.
But afterward. . . .

The
cabbie stinks of cigarette smoke. The taxi’s seats are worn. The boy and I sit in
the back with Verity. I can barely think over the hammering of my pulse and
acid sears my throat.

Verity
wipes speckles of blood off her face and neck with her gown’s damp hem before
the driver gets a good look at her, and sucks her teeth.

I
slowly inhale, exhale, and after a minute look past Verity at the kid. I should
stop calling him a kid, even to myself. “Thanks. You followed me from the café?”

He
nods. His voice is low, a little rough, as if from disuse. “I came right behind
you. When I saw where you headed - I’ve had . . . run-ins with them before. I
knew what would happen when we touched.”

His
voice speeds up and he skips to the primary concern, what consumes all wraiths
who wake Upside. “Nobody saw or heard me, I thought I was dead, a ghost, then I
brushed against one and . . . changed. I stuck around their place and
experimented.” He blinks hard and swipes at his mouth. “You’re the first person
like me I’ve come across.”

I
nod sagely. “How long have you been here?”

“I
don’t know. I don’t know anything, except my name.”

“I
mean, how far back can you remember?”

“A
month.”

Four
weeks? Impressive. I was close to hysteria when Castle found me three days
after I woke. Never thought I would meet one of us Upside.

My
nerves are jittering; I look through the rear and side windows, expecting to
see headlights coming too near. How can Verity relax back with the appearance
of unconcerned serenity? We don’t have much of a head start; the Greché must be
close behind.

“I’m
Rain.”

“River.”

“Have
you ever thought it odd you don’t have real names?” Verity comments.

I
scowl at her. “Huh? We have real names.”

The
cabbie looks at Verity in the rearview mirror. “Whadya say, lady?”

“I
wasn’t talking to you.”

Only
Verity can see us. The guy eyeballs her a few more seconds, shrugs one shoulder
and returns his gaze to the road ahead. I guess cab drivers in New York are
used to all kinds of weird fares.

Verity
continues: “I chose the word poorly. I mean your names are not conventional first
names. Castle, Rain, River. They are nouns, and you don’t have last names.”

Not
counting this new kid, I know three wraiths besides Castle. Twig and Craft live
in Fairlane and are silversmiths; Castle and I got our silver blades from them.
Beach, the guy who found Castle Upside, lived in Gettaholt till a year ago. He
moved up near the Jonquils. Like me, he takes care of monsters.

“You’re
right.” Trust a vampire to spin my brain into overload with a careless
observation.

River
nods at Verity but speaks to me. “She and the others really are vampires.” It’s
a statement, not a question.

“Let’s
get this over with, shall we?” Verity says in a tone of bored stoicism. “Yes,
we were once human. Yes, we died and returned to life with enhanced strength,
speed and intelligence.”

I
cough into my fist.

“
And
intelligence,” she repeats with a warning look at me. “We don’t kill people and
drain their blood, an occasional sip suffices. We don’t run around haphazardly
killing and infecting humans; we have no need or desire to swell our ranks. If
we do decide to bring another into the fold, the candidate is rigorously
screened and we ensure he or she does not embrace their new lifestyle before
they know exactly what to expect.

“We
don’t require food, but we like the taste, smell and texture, so often
indulge.”

“Of
course it goes right through them,” I add.

“Not
immediately.” Verity gives me another pointed look for bringing up something so
indelicate. “Religious artifacts and holy water don’t bother us, and
thankfully, we do have reflections. As you’ve seen, we can be disabled but are
very hard to kill. We avoid sunlight due to a type of photosensitivity.”

“Which
is why they prefer the night.” I put in. “A bright yellow sun is too harsh,
gives them nasty sunburn and believe me, a peeling vampire is not pretty.”

Verity’s
glare tells me she is so not amused.

I
could add a few facts, such as humans are happy to let a vampire chomp on them
because - I’m told - it’s better than sex. And they should
never
be
underestimated. Although on the surface they are more civilized than their
Upside image leads one to believe, they can be brutal.

“What
was that all about?” River asks me.

“That?”

“With
the other vampires.”

“Nothing
you need to know,” Verity says brusquely.

He
helped us, so refusing to tell him what he was party to is hardly fair, but I’m
grateful Verity spoke up. It would be one hell of an explanation once we got
into it.

Strain
shows on Verity’s face now as her gaze darts to the streets as often as mine.
“Driver,” she says in a higher voice, “can’t you go any faster?”

The
wheels will leave the ground if we go faster. We were speeding before, now we roar
along
way
over the limit and the driver’s eyes, constantly flickering
between Verity and the streets, show more white than is natural. He must think
his fare is a psycho and is well and truly freaked out.

River’s
not as proficient at keeping it all together as I thought. A trace of hysteria thins
his voice. “What about us, Rain? Are we dead? Are we spirits?”

“Spirits
don’t whomp vampire asses,” Verity chortles, pulling the cabby’s now panicked
gaze to her again. She frowns at the rearview mirror till he looks away.

The
cab screeches to the curb in a familiar street. Verity is thrown forward and
back as the taxi judders. The engine stalls.

Verity
winks at me. “You go ahead, I’ll pay the driver.” She opens the door and scoots
from the car.

River
and I tumble out. “Come on,” I tell him.

He
pushes whisper-fine black hair off his forehead. It flops down again. “Where
are we going?”

“Verity
and I are going home.” I don’t know how to proceed and dread beginning the
process of describing an entire new world to him, or explaining how everything
works, how
we
work. It will be easier to do when we’re Downside. “We’re
safe there.”

I
trot across the street, River tagging behind. Verity leans so far in the cab
window, her torso is inside. We wait on the far sidewalk.

River
looks around. “Where’s home?”

I
look up at the dark buildings which fringe the street, along at the intersection
where traffic hums past, down at the hot sidewalk.
It’s going to blow your
mind, kid.
“Downside.”

His
brows draw together. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“No.”
I shake my head slightly. “You won’t have.” Hells, I may as well jump right in
at the deep end. “Dreams and nightmares live Downside, creatures which don’t
belong up here. And people like you and me.”

He
studies me for a moment. “So this place is a . . .  what, a facility for. . .
.” He doesn’t know what to ask.

“For
crazies?” I snort. “Some of them are. But, no, not an institution. It’s another
part of the world.”

His
eyes reflect a range of emotions. He doesn’t understand. How could he?

Castle
soothed me and sat with me for hours while I picked his brains. I didn’t
understand most of what he said until I got Downside, but trusted him enough to
come with him. But I don’t have time to baby River through the learning
process. Gervaise Greché and his gang will be here any second.

I
take River’s hand. He doesn’t expect the increase in mass and lets out an
oof
,
his entire face a grimace.

“You
feel real, don’t you. The same as when you fought those vampires and touching
them forced you to flesh out. It works with us, too,” I say in a rush. “But Downside,
we don’t need the touch of a vampire or each other to be one-hundred percent.
We
manipulate our bodies. We are fully formed, not spectral. People see us, talk
to us. We sleep, and eat, and earn a living. Downside, we’re real.” I release
his hand. “Want to come?”

He
hunches inside his coat and watches me from beneath lowered lids, but doesn’t
speak at first. Frowning, he clamps his teeth on his lower lip, then says, “I think
I belong
here
.”

A
low growl creeps up my throat. Trust me to get an obstinate guy, not one who is
happy to come with me, no questions asked. Nope,
my
find decides to be
difficult.

I’d
leave him, except I will never forgive myself, and end up coming back to make
sure he’s all right and ask him to change his mind. My tone is harsh. “If you
stay, nothing changes. You’ll always be
exactly
as you are now. You
don’t fit. What are you here? Nothing.”

“And
I’ll be someone Downside?”

“You’ll
be what you make of yourself.” I glance at Verity; she’s taking too long. Time
is running out.

A
screech of rubber on pavement and a car careens around the corner and down the
road toward us. Verity pulls out of the cab and runs across the street. “Go,
go, go!”

The
Greché are here.

Another
car roars from the opposite direction. Glaring headlights make me squint.

“We’re
out of time,” I hiss at River. “Come with us or don’t. Up to you.”

Verity
and I hurry past him to the alley’s mouth. She licks her teeth; her tongue
flicks the side of her mouth.

“You
didn’t!”

“I
needed a boost and he’s happy with his tip,” she pouts.

The
cabby isn’t visible behind the windscreen but I know he’s in there, slumped on
the seat, pleasantly dazed and likely wearing a huge smile.

“Honestly,
darling, what’s he going to do? Tell his cab driver friends a fare grew teeth
and bit him, and it was the most erotic experience of his life?”

“He
may well do that. The days when humans kept quiet about the supernatural for
fear others would think they have a screw loose are long gone.”

“I
suppose I could have let him chase us into the shadows, screaming we had not
paid him, alerting the neighborhood?”

Vampires
seldom consider long-term consequences. Although they were once human, they
soon forget how the human brain processes information. To Verity, what she did
to the cabby is insignificant in the scheme of things, but it may affect his
life in ways we can’t imagine.

The
alley is impossibly long; shadow blurs the far end into darkness through which
nothing is visible.

Is
River following? My pace lags. A gut-deep compulsion makes me want to knock him
down and drag him by his heels if that’s what it takes. Did Castle feel the
same when he found me Upside, a need to take me Downside because I belong
there?

“Where
are you going?” River asks from behind. Good, he’s coming.

“This
takes us Downside.” I don’t look back. “And before you ask, a strong
enchantment protects the entrance from most humans, they see a dark uninviting
alley they don’t want to explore.”

“Most?”

“A
human comes through occasionally, someone with madness or old magic running
through their veins.”

“Which
are we? I don’t think I have magic and I hope I’m not mad.”

“I
said human. We fall into the category of those who don’t belong Upside.”

“You
think we’re not human?”

“I
don’t know what we are. Humans do live Downside and we’re not like them.”

He
slings a look at Verity as he comes abreast. “And vampires are in both places.”

“One
clan lives Upside, and you may have noticed they are right on our tails, so
let’s
move
!”

I
hold out my hand. Nostrils flaring as he draws in a deep breath, he momentarily
closes his eyes. When he opens them, he latches onto me. Our fingers lace, his
palm fills mine solidly. He shudders and his long strong fingers fold on mine.

“So
the vampires can get in?”

“Yep.”
I break into a trot. “They went Downside and brought Verity up.”

Verity
disappears into the midnight pall. Seeing her fade out, River tries to hang
back.

I
tow him along, which is like trying to drag a mule. “Come on! Nothing bad is in
here, nothing can hurt us.” Of course plenty can hurt us when we reach
Downside, but I shall tell him that later.

I
lead him into the shadow. Verity clacks along ahead of us.