End of Days (23 page)

“We'll be all right, Zachary, if we keep our heads screwed on straight. We just can't afford to make any mistakes, that's all.”

No mistakes. That sounded painfully simple. And tragically impossible.

“You need to get some more sleep,” he said. “I can see it in your eyes. Your father used to get that way when he was tired and had too much to think about. You'd better get inside.” He nodded a good-bye. I watched him return to the shadows, where he stopped to examine a small device staked to the ground. A motion detector, I was guessing. I heard a latch behind me and turned. Luna was waiting at the back door of the apartment. She held it open for me. She looked upset. Her eyes were watering.

I sprinted over. “What is it?”

“I'm sorry, but we have to go home.”

I felt my lungs deflate. Through the open back door I could hear Ophelia talking with Mr. Entwistle. He was ranting about the stupidity of anyone under the age of two hundred.

“Does he really think she'll be safer there?” he asked. “What protection can he offer?”

“He's still looking for a cure,” someone said. “He thinks if he works hard enough, he can make her better.” I didn't recognize the voice, but I figured it had to be Suki.

Luna and I walked in through the back hall, past the kitchen, and into the living room where everyone was waiting.

“I tried that route with Zachary for almost eight years,” Ophelia said. “There is no cure.”

I remembered this. Ointments and pills and injections and blood transfusions. Most of it just made things worse.

“It's not his speciality,” Suki said, “but he thinks one of his colleagues can help. A blood specialist in Toronto. They went to school together. My dad thinks he might be close to something.” She was sitting on the couch, her feet drawn up on the cushions and her knees bent so her head was resting on top of them. It seemed as if she were trying to take up as little space as possible. The change in her appearance was so dramatic, if I hadn't expected her to be sitting there, I wouldn't have recognized her. The long blond hair of last summer had been cut short and dyed black, and she had piercings
above each eye. Her skin, normally bronzed, was pale as alabaster. Charlie was beside her, a foot of space between them. Last year they would have been wrapped up like two pretzels.

“Do you think we can talk him into letting you stay?” Charlie said.

Suki looked away and rolled her eyes. “Good luck.”

I moved farther into the room toward the only empty chair—a La-Z-Boy across from the sofa Charlie and Suki were in. I offered it to Luna, but instead of sitting down, she pushed me into it. My body flopped back against the cushions. I could easily have fallen asleep.

Ophelia was leaning against the kitchen counter, a phone in her fist. Both she and Mr. Entwistle looked frustrated. He was standing beside the window, peeking past the blind, his face grim.

“Are you serious?” I asked Suki. She seemed a bit nervous, a far cry from the bubbly, bouncy person I'd met a year ago.

“Yeah. He wouldn't let us stay here if it was the last place on earth.”

She didn't have to explain why. After what had happened last summer at the Abbott family cottage, I wasn't exactly at the top of their Christmas-card list. Dr. Abbott wouldn't want his daughters anywhere near me. It was unfortunate. With Mr. Entwistle here, this was the safest place next to the White House, but that wasn't what I'd been asking about.

“No. I mean about the cure. Is someone really close?”

Suki shrugged.

I glanced at Charlie. He was scowling. “Would you really want one?”

Would I want a cure? I wasn't sure. Of course, I could imagine being human—or at least being able to go out in the sun. But I'd been a vampire for most of my life. I didn't really know what it meant to be a normal person.

Luna sat down on the armrest of my chair. “I'm not going anywhere.” Her words and tone surprised me. She wasn't normally rebellious.
That was more Suki's domain. It was what made her so compatible with Charlie.

“I'm not going to shelter you here without your parents' approval,” Ophelia said.

Mr. Entwistle was still holding the same wine bottle that he'd had in the ambulance. He swallowed a mouthful and frowned. He looked like an undertaker raised from the grave. “If we let Luna leave, we'll be killing her. The Coven are already sending their drones here. Hyde killed one in your driveway. When word of that gets back to head office, some higher-ups are going to send in the troops. If we don't stick together, we'll be finished.”

“I'm more worried about Hyde than the Coven,” Charlie said.

“You should be worried about both. But Hyde's a local problem. The Coven is global. It's just a matter of time before they're here in force. If we allow Luna to become isolated, she'll be killed.” Mr. Entwistle turned and looked her square in the face. “Your father can't protect you.”

“I know. I don't want to go home. No one there really understands what I'm going through.”

I looked over at Suki when she said this. A hurt expression was on her face.

“When is your father coming?” I asked.

“He's leaving now. He'll be here tomorrow.”

“And then what?”

Ophelia looked uncertain. “We'll see. Perhaps we can talk him out of leaving right away.”

I looked at Luna, then at Suki, to see if any trace of hope was in their faces. There wasn't. No one moved. Then something beeped. It was coming from downstairs.

“What is that?” Luna asked.

“An alarm,” Ophelia explained. “I'll be right back.”

She disappeared downstairs. The room was as quiet as a church while she was gone. A few seconds later she returned. Her eyes were on me. “Detective Baddon just pulled into the laneway.”

“What's he doing here?” I asked.

She moved past me on her way to the door. “He's here because I invited him.”

“He thinks I killed Inspector Johansson.”

Ophelia raised her hand to her forehead and started massaging her temples. “He doesn't think that anymore. And we need his help.”

“Do you trust him?”

“Absolutely. He was Everett's best friend. They worked together in Toronto for over twenty years. The man's a saint. And he's had a very difficult year.”

I wasn't sure if I should mention his son. Maybe Ophelia knew already. But I got cut off by the doorbell. She was already moving to answer it. After a brief exchange of pleasantries in the hall, she and Detective Baddon came in for a round of introductions. He obviously wasn't expecting a crowd. Ophelia noticed, too.

“You can speak plainly, Adam.”

“I don't have much to tell you.” He adjusted the waist of his pants. With legs the thickness of a phone pole, I was amazed they didn't stay up on their own. He looked even more exhausted than the last time I'd seen him. His eyes glanced over at me, but he didn't say anything. Then he rubbed his hand over his head, as if he needed to wake up his brain. “Do you mind if I sit?”

“No,” said Ophelia. “I'll put some coffee on.”

“Could you make it a decaf? I'm hoping to go to bed shortly.”

Ophelia walked into the kitchen. She answered over her shoulder, “I'll see what I have. Go on. I can hear you perfectly from in here.”

Officer Baddon didn't know whom to talk to. He looked around the room and settled on Mr. Entwistle. The old vampire was still standing beside the window, peeking occasionally past the blind as if he expected trouble to arrive at any moment.

“I don't have much time,” the detective said. “We found some hair at the zoo, and some clothing fibers. The lab results came back. Nothing useful. The hair isn't human, so they couldn't match
it to anything in the data banks. The clothing fibers are just regular jeans. Nothing special about them. But we got him on a security camera at the hospital. It picked him up on the way out.”

“Do you have a copy?” asked Mr. Entwistle, his eyes still focused outside.

“Not here. But I've seen it. A blur in two frames. Seven feet at least. I'm guessing between three and four hundred pounds. Tough to tell. He's moving like a bullet.” He paused. Ophelia came in from the kitchen. The detective glanced around the room. “A phone call came in to the station yesterday just before sunrise. An elderly gentleman on Gilmour. He was reporting a trespasser in his yard. A car was sent. Usual procedure. They got a description. Big and fast. It only came across my desk tonight because of the timing. So I followed up. He didn't have much more to say when I checked in, but he let me see his backyard. The tracks there speak volumes. Same as the zoo. We have a trail. I considered putting some dogs on it, but it was sixteen hours old. I figured it was too cold. At the speed that thing moves, I'm not sure if it even leaves a scent.”

Mr. Entwistle rubbed at his stubble. “We can start there. If it goes nowhere, we're no worse off.”

He actually wanted to go after this thing. I didn't want to run into Mr. Hyde again unless I was flying in an F-15.

Detective Baddon placed his hands on his knees and started to rise. “Well . . . I need to check in at the hospital and get home for some sleep. I'll call in the morning if anything comes up with the night crew. Please let me know if you find anything tonight. And try to keep it quiet. People are asking questions, and I don't have answers. At least none that any sane person would believe.”

“Are you sure you won't have some coffee first?” Ophelia asked.

“One for the road, if you don't mind.”

While Ophelia got his coffee ready, the room quieted again. I felt as if I were standing in a funeral parlor. No one spoke until she got back.

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” she asked.

Detective Baddon accepted a mug of coffee, then turned to me. “I'd like to have a word with you outside, if you don't mind.” He took a sip, nodded his thanks, then turned for the door.

I looked at Ophelia.

“It will be fine,” she whispered.

The words were for me only, although I don't doubt Charlie, Luna, and Mr. Entwistle heard them, too. I gulped. Then I felt Ophelia's hand on the small of my back directing me to the front entrance. She opened the door quietly, then closed it behind the detective and me.

We stood in the narrow hall. I'd never been in this apartment, but I'd seen ones like it. It was basically three separate units, all stacked on top of one another. Beside me were a set of stairs leading up to floors two and three. On the other side was the main door that led out to a front walk.

Detective Baddon sipped his coffee, then said, “I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have behaved that way back at the station. I can't believe this thing. What it did to that elevator.”

I understood. It was hard for me to believe it, and I'd been right there.

“I shouldn't have brought you into the system. I think I was just angry. Everett was a close friend. When your prints were on that gun, and in his car, I . . . Well, I'm sorry.”

“It's all right.”

“Technically, you're still a fugitive. I'm supposed to arrest you on sight.”

“You know I didn't kill the inspector.”

“Yes, I do. But there is a small matter of a ruined jail, and some injured police officers, and a number of flattened cars.”

I wasn't sure what to say. None of that was really my doing.

“I think what I'm saying is that I can't make this mess go away just because you didn't kill Everett. I need help. Off the record. And you know why.”

I did know why. He couldn't afford to expose his son. Or any of us. If he was part of the Underground, silence was the rule.

“That was you at the hospital in your uncle's room, wasn't it?”

I nodded.

“Well, you need to keep a lower profile. Any police officer who sees you or John is going to try to arrest you. If you resist, they'll shoot. So be careful. No more public spectacles.”

He reached into his coat pocket. I could see his automatic hanging in the holster. He pulled out a card.

“I need to talk to your uncle. My understanding is, he's the only man in this part of the world who's ever caught and killed a werewolf. Is that right?”

I accepted the card and read over Detective Baddon's contact information.

“A werewolf—is that what you think it is?”

He yawned and shook his head. “No idea. But it doesn't matter to me. Whatever it is, we have to catch it. I'm hoping your uncle can help.”

“He can. He and my father caught a lycanthrope in England. They used bear traps.”

The detective nodded. “That probably won't work in the city. But I've a few things to discuss with him. Sooner is better.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Just help me get this thing.” It might have been fatigue, but his eyes were starting to water. “We're running out of time.”

He backed out the door, then turned and started down the steps. “Have your uncle call my cell,” he said over his shoulder.

I wondered if I should have told him that my uncle was patrolling the grounds, and that we were calling him Agent X, but the detective seemed to be in a hurry to leave. And it didn't seem fair to Maximilian. He liked to do things on his own terms. And as selfish as this will sound, I wanted to get back to Luna. I turned and walked back to the door. Ophelia opened it for me.

“Did you hear any of that?” I asked.

Her eyebrows lifted a bit and she nodded. She was chewing the inside of her lip. “He wants to meet with your uncle?”

“You know they were both at the hospital?”

She nodded.

“He told me about the sensors he set up.”

“We're trying to keep his involvement under wraps,” she said. “If Charlie finds out, he might overreact.”