The Monsters in Your Neighborhood (11 page)

“Taken? A surgery? What are you talking about?” he asked, voice low even though he wanted to scream.

Desmond straightened his tie. “A chip was implanted in your brain. A chip that, when activated, can force you to turn into your wolf form. A chip that allows the one with the trigger to control your actions.”

Alec swallowed hard past a sudden lump in his throat. “That’s impossible,” he managed to mutter.

“No, it’s very possible,” Desmond assured him with another of those blasted thin, smug smiles.

Natalie shook her head, her skin pale as paper and her eyes wide. “It would explain . . .
everything
.”

Alec glared at her. “I’m telling you, it’s impossible!”

Desmond rolled his eyes. “Oh dear, I see you are determined to be thick. I suppose I shall have to prove it to you.” He strolled over to the door and depressed an intercom button set into the wall. “Please bring him in.”

Natalie looked at Alec and he shrugged at her unspoken question. He didn’t know what the hell was going on, either. How he wished he did. Actually, he just wished all this was a dream and they could go back to before everything went all . . .
weird
.

The door to the parlor opened and Alec recoiled at what was standing on the other side. The butler who had let them in earlier, and he had something on a leash.

He was leading a Creature like Natalie into the room. The same Creature from the video.

12

Natalie knew she should breathe before she passed out in the middle of the Van Helsing parlor, but she couldn’t seem to remember how to do it. Instead, she stared, mouth agape, at the figure at the doorway. He was placidly standing on his leash like a little trained doggie, his face blank, his eyes cold. Her mind raced with so many reactions they nearly knocked her off the couch.

She was shocked, first. Shocked because she hadn’t seen another Creature like her for over a hundred years. To see one like this . . .

He looked like a man, just bigger, with bulging muscles more suited to a 1990s comic book than a normal man. Clearly dear old Dad had gotten a little eccentric with his designs in his later years.

Unlike hers, this Creature’s scars would be impossible to cover up. He must have had to make all kinds of explanations for them before he was taken by the Van Helsings. One scar zigzagged across his face and around his eye, another slashed over his throat with a lack of finesse that probably reflected her father’s increasing despair and madness as he fled from mobs yet furiously pursued his obsession.

“What is your name?” she asked, getting to her feet and moving toward him. “Are you Otto or Cain?”

The Creature just stared at her, a low growl emanating from his chest like a cornered animal.

Desmond took the leash and jerked the Creature inside the room. “Please,
it
doesn’t have a name.”

She shook her head and forced herself not to start crying at her . . .
brother’s
empty expression. “He does. He has a name just like I do.”

Desmond rolled his eyes. “I suppose I could call my little pet Fido if it would make you feel better.”

A red fog of rage settled over Natalie and she lurched toward Van Helsing. The only thing that kept her from ripping him to shreds was when Alec grabbed her forearm and yanked her back next to him.

“I know you want to kill him. Me, too. But we need to know what’s going on and we can’t do that if you go all kung fu on his ass,” he whispered, close to her ear so only she would hear him.

She looked at Alec, focusing on his face, concentrating on the fact that he was in danger if she didn’t regain some control, and her anger faded slightly. He was right. For his sake, for that poor Creature’s sake, she needed to stay calm.

“What did you do to him?” Alec asked. “Why is he so . . . empty?”

Desmond grinned. “Why, the same thing we did to you, my dear boy. Only we keep
him
under a low level of control at all times.” He glanced at Natalie. “Wouldn’t want my pet to get out of control, you know. He’s quite large. But since you have doubts about our ability to control you . . .
things,
allow me to demonstrate.”

He reached behind him without a word and the butler pressed a small white remote into Desmond’s hand. It had a red button and a green button. He lifted it and clicked the green. Immediately the Creature jolted as if he had been shocked. The dull emptiness on his face vanished, replaced by a rather zombie-ish focus. Not exactly wide awake, but ready. At the ready.

“There’s a good boy,” Desmond said, watching Natalie for her reaction. One she was trying very hard not to show him. “Miss Gray, do you like
Young Frankenstein
?”

She swallowed hard. “Do
not
make him dance.”

Desmond chuckled. “Very well, perhaps next time. How about this instead?”

He moved across the room and opened a small cabinet from which he took a phone book. Like a legit, paper phone book, at least six inches thick.

Alec’s brow wrinkled. “Um, when did you get that, 1985?”

Desmond’s gaze flickered to him and Natalie almost smiled at the annoyance on the bastard’s face. Good, let him be irritated by Alec. She felt so much worse than irritated, he
should
suffer a little.

Without responding to Alec, Desmond handed the phone book to the Creature.

“Tear it,” he ordered.

For a moment, the Creature stared at the thing in his hands, then he grabbed the top of the book with both hands, let out a guttural grunting cry, and tore it in two like it was nothing more than a sheet of toilet paper.

“If I told him to do the same to your arms, he would,” Desmond said with a proud-papa smile that turned Natalie’s stomach.

“Just like he did to that man in the park?” Alec asked.

She froze. She’d been so horrified by seeing a Creature in this condition, she hadn’t even been thinking of the thing in the park. The Van Helsings had been so smug about the video, but of course they had caused it. They had made this Creature do what he did in order to create chaos for the other monsters in the world. That night was only a move in a long game attached to an even longer war.

Desmond nodded slightly. “Indeed. He is a tool for us, you see. Doing what he did brought attention to you, it drew you out to the public, and now they are starting to remember that there are things to fear in the world. The video of Alec stealing the book further amplifies that fear. Layer by layer, we are building our weapons against you: the people and their terror, their hate.”

“And you call us the monsters,” Natalie choked.

“So you’ve shown us your prize and proven that your statement that you can control us—me—with your surgery is true,” Alec snapped. His voice was firm, but Natalie could see the worry in his eyes. “But why call us here for this? Are you planning to trigger me again?”

Desmond’s smug smile faded. “If I could do so, perhaps I would, I have no idea. But I don’t have your triggering mechanism.”

Natalie’s eyes went wide. “What? Then who does?”

Desmond folded his arms. “And so we come at last to the reason I called you here. You see, the man who can control Mr. Dunham, the one who holds his trigger, is none other than your former companion, Edward Hyde.”

Alec’s heart sank into the pit of his stomach as he stared at Desmond Van Helsing.

“Hyde?” he repeated, as if saying the name again would somehow make it untrue or better.

It did neither.

“What the hell are you talking about? Hyde is helping you? How? Why?” Natalie asked, her tone filled with as much disbelief as his own.

“How we became involved with Mr. Hyde is of little importance,” Desmond said with a wave of his hand.

“Not to us,” Alec snorted.

Desmond ignored him. “What matters is that it was Mr. Hyde who agreed to do the surgery on the Creature here. And it worked, so we advanced our plans and asked him to take you and do the same. To use you to obtain our true desire. He did, except he reneged on our agreement. He did not deliver what we agreed upon.”

Natalie rubbed her eyes. “The
Book of the Dead
that Alec was made to steal from the Met.”

He nodded once. “Indeed.”

“Why do you want it?” Alec asked. “Why go to these lengths?”

“Unlike the rest of you, the mummies cannot be controlled by the chip. They must be destroyed by other means,” Desmond explained.

Alec was overwhelmed by sudden horror and disgust. Kai and Rehu might be annoying as hell, but he didn’t want them turned into dust piles on the floor, either. The book was so powerful, so dangerous, that he shuddered to think what Hyde would do with it. He could kill the mummies himself, or build himself an army with its other spells. He might do both if the mood struck him.

Alec shook his head. “Well, this exposition explosion has been great and highly informative, Mr. Van Helsing, but I’m afraid I have to go. Need to find someone to remove this chip, you see.”

Desmond held up a hand. “I wouldn’t do that. It was installed to ensure that removal would equal death.”

Natalie actually wobbled on her feet, and for a brief moment Alec saw all her emotions reflected on her face. He thought of the fact that she’d said she loved him earlier. Now he realized it was actually true.

“Death?” she whispered.

Desmond nodded. “Unless it is removed properly—and only we know how to do that. However, we
will
remove it for you.”

Alec glared at him. “In exchange for what?”

“We want that book.”

Bile rose up in Alec’s throat and burned the back of his tongue with an acid taste as he stared at Desmond Van Helsing like he’d just spoken a foreign tongue. How he wished he had, that he’d misunderstood Van Helsing’s request.

“You want us to give you a book that you’ll surely use to kill our friends, in return for your help in removing something you arranged to have put in me in the first place?” he asked, accentuating each word, more for his own ears than for Desmond’s.

“Yes.”

He shook his head. “Fuck you. I’ll find another way to get it out.”

Desmond laughed. “Feel free to try, but the results may be very unfortunate for you, as they were for the others.”

“Others?” Natalie whispered.

He met her eyes without a word and slowly arched a brow.

Others. Meaning other monsters. Other
dead
monsters.

Alec swallowed. “I see.”

“You have two days to find that book and return it to us,” Desmond said, and now the smile was gone, the smugness was gone. He was all business. Ugly, ugly business.

“Or what?” Natalie asked.

He folded his arms. “Or the next thing ripped in half won’t be a phone book.” He grabbed the Creature’s leash and dragged him toward the door. Without even bothering to look back at them, he said, “Good day.”

And left them standing in his parlor with no options, no words, and no hope.

13

They should have taken the subway home to save money, but they didn’t. Alec stood in the street, holding his hand out for a cab, as Natalie huddled on the sidewalk, feeling the cold winter wind all the way into her very old bones.

She watched him as a cab finally stopped. He leaned in the window and said something to the driver, then motioned for her to come on. She felt numb as she did, walking over, getting in, putting her seat belt on. (Yeah, so she was the only one in New York who did it—what of it?) They were all such human actions, but now she was being asked to do something so utterly inhuman. So utterly monstrous.

But as she looked at Alec, who was getting in beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders as the cab pulled away into the night, there was a tiny thought that said the deal was worth it. That somehow she could find a way to justify pushing Kai and Rehu over a cliff if she could save Alec instead.

There
had
to be a way to justify it . . .

“What are we going to do?” she whispered as she rested her head in the hollow of his shoulder. She didn’t look at him. She couldn’t.

He shrugged the shoulder she wasn’t leaning on. “I don’t know.”

“You believe what they say now, don’t you?” she whispered after a moment. “About the chip?”

She watched Alec’s eyes come up to look at the cabbie in the rearview mirror. The guy had headphones on even though he wasn’t supposed to.

Alec sighed. “I don’t think there’s any other explanation. I . . . um . . .” He looked at the cabbie again. “I changed when it wasn’t a normal time for me to do so. I don’t remember anything about it. It’s like someone erased that time. And then there’s the video of me with the book. So . . . yeah. I would say the chip is a pretty strong possibility.”

She nodded.

He hugged her tighter against his side. “What about you? Are you okay? Seeing your . . . would you say he was like a cousin or a brother or something?”

“Something like that.” She sighed. “I wish we could have taken him with us.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Alec assured her. “I swear we won’t just leave him there with those—those—”

“Monsters,” they finished the sentence together, and now she leaned up to look at him with a smile.

The driver continued up the street and Natalie sat up to look out the window. “Hey, wasn’t that the best way to turn?”

Alec pulled her back to lean against him again. “We’re not going to our apartment.”

“No?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Then where are we going?”

“Just relax, Natalie,” he assured her. “Some things we can’t control.”

She frowned as she did as he asked, but she didn’t feel good about it. There was something about his tone, about this mysterious ride, that scared her. And she wasn’t going to feel good about it until she knew what the hell was going on in that doggie brain of his.

“This is Drake’s building,” Natalie said as Alec paid the cabbie and watched as he pulled away.

“Yup,” he said, taking her hand and leading her toward the lobby of the building.

“Why are we here?” she insisted, just barely resisting every urge to pull away from him. To run.

“Come on,” he said as a way to answer. He smiled at the doorman. “Hey, we’re here to see Mr. Drake in six-sixty-six?”

The doorman nodded. “Yeah, I remember you. Mr. Drake and his other guests are upstairs.” He pulled the door open and motioned them in.

Natalie stared at Alec as they got into the elevator. “Guests?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I just wanted to see Drake, but who could his ‘guests’ be?”

“Van Helsing,” Natalie whispered, shivering. “Could they have sent people here to operate on
him
? Or stake him?”

As the door dinged open, Alec hurried into the hall. “If they did, they’re in for a shocker.”

They rushed to Drake’s door and Alec started pounding. “Drake—are you okay? Drake—do you need help?”

After a second, the door opened and Drake stood there, perfectly fine and healthy. Natalie smiled in relief, until he moved back half a step and revealed Kai, Rehu, Pat, Linda, and even Igor standing behind him.

She folded her arms. “Wow. I guess we didn’t get the memo about the meeting time and place being moved.”

“Actually,” Kai all but snarled, “I think it was made pretty clear to you earlier that
you
two were out of the group.”

“No,” Natalie said, shaking her head. “You two said you were leaving.”

Kai’s lips pursed. “Oh, I’m sorry. Let me say it to you directly, then. You’re fired. You’re out of the group.”

Natalie gasped. “Bitch! You’re kicking us out and replacing us with Igor?” she snapped, and glared at her father’s old assistant. “Hey, traitor!”

Igor shifted. “Sorry, but you two took off and I had nothing better to do. Drake had my cell number from when we hung out the other night and when they called . . .” He trailed off with a shrug.

Natalie rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”

Rehu’s eyes narrowed. “We don’t have to explain ourselves to you. Not after what
he
did!”

Natalie’s blood was boiling, but Alec was strangely calm as Rehu pointed at him like they were in a scene from
Les Mis
or something and he was about to shout,
J’accuse!

“Everyone just settle down for a minute, okay?” Alec finally said on a sigh. “We just want to talk. It’s probably better that you’re all here, anyway.”

“No,” Kai began. “No, I think—”

“It is my house, Mummy,” Drake interrupted, and motioned for them to enter. “And I decide who comes and goes. I want to hear what they have to say, what Alec’s explanation is for what happened, not just a secondhand account from the two of you.”

Kai shook her head, but she turned on her heel and marched into the living room. The rest followed and Natalie caught her breath. The room was set up with chairs in a circle, one clearly at the head.

“You all really were having a meeting,” she whispered, and tried not to feel the hurt that was welling up inside of her. She hadn’t wanted to lead meetings, anyway. She didn’t care. Much.

“Yes,” Pat answered when no one else did. He shifted uncomfortably once he took his seat.

“Who was leading it?” she asked.

Kai took the leader chair and glared.

“
You?
” Natalie burst out. “You? But you’re so . . . no offense, but you can be kind of a bitch, not really empathetic.”

From the other side of the circle, Linda nodded like a bobblehead doll.

“Maybe we don’t need touchy-feely as much anymore,” Kai said with a shrug. “Whatever, Natalie. What are you guys doing here?”

Natalie looked back over her shoulder toward the hallway and the door. Part of her wanted to just go. A big part of her wanted to get the book and give it to Van Helsing and fix Alec. Even though she knew what the results of that would be for Kai and Rehu. She might as well kill them both herself if she was going to do that.

But Alec . . . how could she
not
protect Alec?

All these thoughts rushed through her head until it throbbed with the strain and spun with confusion. But she didn’t have to answer. Because Alec stepped forward and looked at the group.

“We needed to talk to Drake,” he explained. “But this is as good a time to tell everyone as any. I assume Kai and Rehu have told you what happened and that I stole the
Book of the Dead
from the Met while I was missing.”

Natalie reached for his arm, staring at him. “What are you doing?”

The group nodded, and he ignored her question and continued, “Natalie and I have just come from the Van Helsings’ and I can tell you exactly why I did it. And what their plan is.”

“Alec,” she said, this time at full voice. “Please.”

He turned toward her. “Natalie, we have to tell them.”

“But you . . .”

“If we don’t, we’re monsters. The kind of monsters Van Helsing has always accused us of being.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to be that. Do you?”

She stared into his golden, wolfish eyes and knew everything about his honor and his goodness. And that he wouldn’t help himself. And that it would destroy him.

She sank into a folding chair outside of the circle and just watched. Watched as he told them every detail of his changing and attacking her, about the Van Helsings and what they had done to him with the help of Hyde. And finally, he looked Kai and Rehu straight in the face and told them exactly what the Van Helsings wanted in return for his life.

When it was over, no one spoke for at least three full minutes. Finally, Kai pushed to her feet and paced toward him. Natalie got up, too, ready to cut a bitch if Kai dared to try to hurt Alec after everything he’d just given up for her.

Instead, the Mummy Girl stopped in front of him and said, “Thank you.”

He shook his head. “Why?”

“You could have just done what they wanted.” She looked at Natalie. “I’m sure you must want to do it, to save him. And I understand that. But you’re giving us a chance anyway.”

“But what will you do?” Rehu asked. “If you don’t deliver the book, it seems like they’ll send the Creature they control after you. Or Hyde could just trigger you at any moment.”

Alec sighed, the strain obvious on his handsome face. “Yeah, there’s that. And since we can’t remove the chip without risking my death, that means you’re going to have to lock me in a room. Until or unless you get control of Hyde’s trigger.”

Natalie took a long step toward him. “Alec! But we might not be able to get it. Then what?”

“Then I stay locked up.” He gritted his teeth. “I stay locked up forever.”

“Alec,” Natalie said, but it sounded more like a sob.

He reached out and, right there in front of a roomful of monsters, he cupped her face with both hands. “Right before I tried to kill you, you told me you loved me.”

She blushed and fought the urge to turn away or laugh off what he’d said. “Yes,” she admitted, though it was difficult.

“Well, I love you. And to protect you, to protect them, I would do that. I would lock myself away so I could never be used as a weapon in a war against our kind. If it’s the only way, I’ll do it and you won’t argue, do you understand?”

“Aw,” Igor said, covering his mouth with both hands. “That’s so sweet.”

Natalie didn’t even bother to shoot him a look. She just kept watching Alec, this man who would sacrifice himself for her. For all of them.

“You would do that?” Linda whispered. “To save people you don’t even like that much?”

He shrugged and gently released Natalie to step away. “We’re in this together. Whether we like each other all the time or not, that’s what our group has been about. We have a common bond and I’ll protect that any way I can.”

“Oh no,” Linda whispered, her face paling as she pushed to her feet and stumbled off toward the windows. The shades had been lifted, since it was the middle of the night, and she stared out into the city.

“What?” Drake asked.

Linda paced away from the group and started fiddling with some of the artifacts on one of the side tables. “I did the wrong thing . . . I did a bad thing,” she muttered over and over under her breath.

Pat moved toward her. “Of what are you speaking, Linda?”

She faced them slowly. “You’re going to kill me.”

“No one is going to kill you, stupid,” Kai said with a sigh. “Or we would have done it already. So tell us what you’re prattling on about and let’s get back on topic.”

Linda flinched, but nodded. “Um, so you know that boyfriend I keep trying to tell you about?”

“Great God, this again?” Rehu said on a heavy sigh as he rubbed his eyes.

Linda ignored him. “Um, well, the thing is . . . he kept telling me I deserved better friends. And you all have been so mean and dismissive of me.”

“Wait—what are you talking about?” Kai interrupted. “Seriously, we’re in the middle of discussing how someone has a book that can kill me, and you want to have circle time about your boyfriend?”

But Natalie saw the look in Linda’s eyes. The look of true fear and desperation. She moved toward the Swamp Dweller. “You said you did something bad, Linda. What did you do?”

Linda shifted, biting her lip until the makeup she wore cracked and revealed the green underneath. “Oh God, so he kept pushing me to stand up for myself. To do something worthy so he could love me, and . . . and . . .”

“What?” Natalie asked. “Who is this guy? What did he make you do?”

Linda swallowed. “Um, he’s . . . he’s . . . he’s Hyde.” She looked at Alec. “And
I’m
the one who called you on Friday night. I’m the one that got you to come to him.”