Once up, I crouched there, listening and looking. Nothing moved in the lane.
I bounced on the balls of my feet, testing the fire escape for stability and squeaks. Seemed fine.
I shimmied forward, stopping every few inches for a look-and-listen sweep. All stayed silent and still. I’d almost made it to the end when a scent wafted past.
It smelled like…No, that couldn’t be.
I looked down to see Nick glaring up at me, arms crossed.
“Does that seem safe to you, Elena? Crawling on a rusted fire escape?”
“You-you’re-”
“Supposed to be sleeping soundly, knocked unconscious by a blow to the head?” He snorted. “At least you didn’t trick me this time.”
“I’m sor-”
“Get down from there.”
His voice was stern, but he helped me down. As he brushed me off, I tensed, realizing if Nick was here, that meant-
“Jeremy and Antonio,” I said, looking around. “Where are they?”
“Back at the hotel. Hopefully, still busy with Clay and thinking we’re down in the bar, getting some food into you before we leave for home.”
“So I didn’t-?”
“Knock me out? No, I tricked you this time. Seemed fair enough.”
He took my elbow and led me out into the lane. I balked, knees locking, certain he was about to drag me back to the hotel, but he started heading the way Jaime and Rose had gone.
“But how’d you-” I began.
“Know you were going to take off? Come on, Elena. Clay’s in danger of losing his arm-or worse-and you’re both in danger of losing your babies, but you can stop both things by killing Hull. Only Jeremy wants to go home. You overhear that, and overhear Jaime saying she can track down Hull. Then you find an excuse to talk to Jaime alone. You don’t need a college degree to know how to add two plus two.”
We reached the end of the lane. Still holding my arm, he steered me south. I dug in my heels.
“I can’t go back, Nick. I’m sorry but-”
“If I was taking you back, do you think I would have let you hit me in the first place? My sense of smell isn’t as good as yours, but I can still track that zombie, and she went this way.”
He paused, looked around, then started striding down the quiet road. From the smell, I knew we were indeed following Rose.
“If Clay was awake, this is what he’d want,” Nick said. “Well, no, letting you go after this guy is not what he’d want, but if he could have done it himself, he’d have made the same choice you did-stopping Hull instead of running-so I guess that’s what we should do.”
“Nick, I don’t want you-”
“Don’t. I’m pissed off enough that you never trust me enough to tell me what you’re planning-” He cut off my protest with a wave. “I know, it’s because you don’t want to lead me into something dangerous, but I think I’m old enough to decide that for myself. Point is, I’m pissed off already, so don’t make it worse by telling me to run along home. I’m here, I’m staying. You need me.”
I looked up at him. “Thanks.”
He nodded, then waved down the street. “There they are. Let’s get moving and find this bastard.”
From the look on Jaime’s face when I arrived with Nick, she was too relieved to question. Probably happy to have someone else on the assault team…someone more capable than a necromancer, a pregnant werewolf and a zombie who was shedding body parts at an alarming rate.
Nick took the burden of Rose, and we carried on.
“Almost there,” Rose cackled as she disengaged herself from Nick’s arm and fairly scampered toward an alley. “ ’e’s down there. I can feel ’im now. Right down there.”
I paused at the head of the alley. It looked…familiar. Halfway down it, I stopped and stared down at the marks in the dry dirt. Footprints showing a brief scuffle. My own footprints, plus a second pair. Boots-short black boots. I could see us there, only a few days ago, me pinning Zoe in the alley.
My stomach flip-flopped. I blamed it on the babies, and told myself this was a coincidence. No, not a coincidence. Danger. Zoe was in danger. Hull had fixed his sights on the one “team member” left outside the circle.
I grabbed Nick’s arm.
“He’s after Zoe,” I said. “The bar where she does her business is right down there, around the corner. She must be inside. He’s got to be waiting somewhere.”
“If he’s waiting for her, he won’t be expecting us.”
I nodded.
“Wot are you waiting for?” Rose said. “You-”
I shushed her.
“But ’e’s right ’round this corner a ways,” she said.
“We need a plan of attack.”
“Plan? There’s three of you-”
I clapped my hand over her mouth. A last resort-believe me. Her lidless eyes glared at me, but when I pulled my hand back she only limped away to lean against the wall.
“Before we get too far with our plan, we should find out exactly where he is.”
“You think so, do you, luv?”
Shaking her head, she hobbled to the end of the alley. She peeked out, then pulled back. Another mutter. Another check, leaning farther out. Then she came back to us.
“I thought ’e was right ’round that corner, but there’s an ale ’ouse back there. ’e’s inside.”
“Inside?”
I looked at Nick.
We headed up the fire escape Clay had used earlier. Once inside the second floor, I followed his trail to find the vantage point he’d used to watch Zoe and me below. We ended up at a trapdoor over the bar. Prop the door open a crack, crouch down and you had a pretty good view of the patrons below.
Crouching was easier for Nick, so he looked through. When he glanced up again, I knew our fears had been confirmed.
“She’s there with Hull, isn’t she?” I whispered.
He nodded.
“Talking to him?”
Another nod.
“Not being coerced, not held against her will…”
I tried not to be surprised. I really did. Yet, in my gut, I still felt betrayed.
It was almost laughable. Given four potential allies, we’d batted zero for four. First, Shanahan, whom we hadn’t trusted from the start, who’d turned out to be as innocent as Tolliver had claimed-and as innocent as Tolliver himself. Then Hull. Never trusted, but ignored. His story believed; his presence tolerated; his threat overlooked entirely. Now Zoe. Of all four, this one hurt the worst.
“What do we do?” Nick whispered.
“Don’t fight her unless you have to. She’ll heal faster than you can hit. Disable her if necessary. She doesn’t have any special powers except her fangs. If she gets those into you, she can knock you out. Otherwise-not a threat. We disable her and hand her over to Cassandra for trial.”
He nodded, obviously relieved that I wasn’t going to suggest we behead her ourselves. That wasn’t our place…and even if it had been, I wasn’t sure I could do it.
“I think they’re getting ready to leave,” Nick said, scrambling up. “ Hull ’s standing and Zoe’s talking to the bartender.”
“There’s only one way out,” I said. “Get back into the alley we came in through. Shoo Jaime and Rose someplace safe, then find a spot as far down as you can.”
“What about you?”
“No way I’ll get down that fire escape fast enough.” I prodded him toward the exit, still talking. “There’s a window around the corner. I’ll watch from there. Don’t attack if you don’t absolutely have to. We’ll follow them for a bit.”
He swung through the window onto the fire escape.
I grabbed his shoulder. “If we have to fight Hull, remember what I said. Stay out of sight for a bit. Let me draw his fire, wear his spell power down. He won’t kill me.”
Nick hesitated-I knew he didn’t like the idea-but he nodded and left.