Except for his eyes. He was endlessly surveying the rooftop, as if it were about to erupt hordes of enemies. His eyes twitched continuously, like acid burned them. Twitch, twitch, twitch. Or like he was sick. Or maybe the brain that the eyes were attached to was sick. That possibility was downright scary.
As I edged out onto the roof the gray-haired man saw us. The gun snapped into both hands-aimed at me.
Handguns are hair-raising enough-packaged death. Having one pointed at me? My vision darkened, the metal barrel unnervingly bright in contrast. I couldn’t hear beyond the whoosh of my heart. My whole being jumped to the nozzle of that gun. I’m going to die. Now.
Nikos stepped in front of me and just that suddenly the threat was gone.
I heard the man spit. “Damn.” His voice was hoarse, like a lifelong smoker. “I needed Aylmer to get me into the Magie, but I should have killed him. Now I’ll have to kill you.”
I peeked around Nikos. The thin man’s features were red and scarred, less than perfect. Even if I hadn’t suspected it, that would have told me he wasn’t a vampire. I didn’t recognize him, despite him obviously recognizing us.
“Mr. Jones, wait.” Nikos’s hands were up, peaceful, but his stance spoke volumes of readiness. I wondered how he knew the man’s name. “Why are you doing this?”
The man laughed, high-pitched. “Why kill thousands of people? Why destroy hundreds of monsters?”
“No, Mr. Jones. Why destroy the fragile peace vampires and humans have?”
“Peace.” The gun shook. “I fought for peace, once.”
“You were in Vietnam.” Nikos nodded. “It was horrible.”
“Horrible? Horrible? You punks are all alike. Think you know what it was like when you don’t! It wasn’t M*A*S*H. Nam was brutal. Savage.”
“Actually, I do know.” Nikos shot Klaus a glance. Klaus gave an imperceptible nod, started edging toward the man while Nikos continued. “I know they sent us home in airplanes, so we couldn’t process what we saw, what we did. No time to talk about it before we were dumped back into ‘normal’ society.”
The man squinted at Nikos. Took an unwilling step forward. “You’re too young…unless-”
Nikos nodded. “Yes, Mr. Jones. I’m a vampire. And yes, I was there.” His voice softened, became beguiling. It was a tone I hadn’t heard before, a poet’s croon. “They sent us back from the lush jungles that smelled of rampant growth and death and dropped us into concrete warrens with people who hadn’t been there, couldn’t understand.”
“I had it worse.” Jones took another step forward. “I was a spy. Secret even from my own unit. Suicide-pill secret. I barely made it out alive.”
“And I was a POW. It warped us, all of us, made us angry and afraid. And we had to deal with it, not them. But this isn’t the way.”
The man jerked straight. Blinked. Shouted, “Your vampire tricks don’t work on me.” He pulled the trigger.
Klaus leaped. I thought maybe he’d get there before-but he was too far away.
The man shot, bang-bang, bang-bang.
Klaus’s chest and forehead bloomed red. Nikos was in front of me so I couldn’t see what happened to him. But he was a huge target.
Nikos jerked, went down on one knee.
I screamed. Klaus was out, Nikos was down. Jones stalked closer, gun pointed at Nikos-to finish him. I couldn’t let that happen.
I skirted around Nikos’s big fallen body and ran at that madman like a banshee, Burgundy Blast nails clawing.
Jones’s eyes widened, seeing me rush him like a lunatic. And maybe I was, to charge an armed man. And maybe I wasn’t, because his gun shook.
I barreled toward him, death in my eyes.
Nikos caught me from behind. “Twyla. Let me.”
“What the-? Lie down, you! You’re injured. I’ll kill the bastard and then we’ll get you to a hospital and-”
I was flat on the rooftop without knowing how I got there. A sharp report split the air right above my head. Nikos lay atop me, body shielding mine. Damned fucking hero.
I pushed him off. “That nutjob shot at me.”
“I know. Just a minute.” Nikos exploded into smoke, whipped around the gray-haired man, reformed behind him.
Jones spun, too late. Nikos slammed a fist into the man’s jaw, seized Jones’s gun from his loosened grasp. Lights from the Ball played over them both, colors flashing like a strobe. Jones grabbed at his belt for another gun. Nikos threw the first clattering onto the grating, snared Jones’s wrists in one big hand and yanked him tight into his body.
Then Nikos grabbed the man by the throat and bit him.
Jones squirmed and moaned as Nikos tasted him. When Nikos lifted his head, his eyes glowed bright red. “All right, Jones. You will tell us what you did.”
The gray-haired man struggled. Nikos held him firmly until he quieted. Jones spat. “I’ll tell you. But not because of vampire mind tricks. Because you can’t stop it. In fifteen minutes the Ball’s lights are going to unleash the monster in every vampire in Times Square. And unless my demands are met, I’ll do the same in Chicago. Los Angeles. More.”
The lights of the New Year’s Ball. Not the sound system at all. A laugh-or sob-rose in my throat. Bujný, not zvuk. Not Nixie’s bailiwick but mine. Nikos was right again.
“What are your demands?” Nikos’s face was carved granite.
“One hundred billion dollars. Release of five hundred political prisoners. Air Force One, fueled and ready to take me to Asia.”
“Impossible.”
“Then I guess we’re gonna have some blood.” Jones laughed.
“No. Tell me exactly what you have done.”
“I…changed…the program-” The man’s eyes went wild. “No! I won’t tell. You can’t make me!” His jaw clenched, and there was a crunch.
Nikos grabbed Jones’s shoulders, started shaking him like he was a rag doll.
No. It wasn’t Nikos shaking him. It was Jones himself, shaking uncontrollably, as if every muscle in his body was contracting simultaneously.
Jones grabbed his chest and started panting, like he was having trouble breathing. Nikos eased him onto the grating just before Jones threw up.
“My God.” I ran over. “Is he having a heart attack?” I tried to remember my last CPR refresher.
Nikos peeled back Jones’s eyelids, difficult because the man was jerking hard with convulsions. “His pupils are pinpricks. Drug or poison of some sort. Call 911-damn it.”
Jones stiffened like a board, his eyes suddenly glazed and fixed.
I clapped hands over my mouth. “Oh my… Is he…?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, God. So fast. How?”
Nikos opened the man’s mouth and felt inside. Whatever he felt made him withdraw his hand with a grimace. He rubbed his index finger against his thumb, staring at his fingers in distaste. “Thick and oily. Like motor oil. Maybe VX, although I don’t remember it working this fast.”
“VX?”
“Nerve agent. Extremely toxic, highly illegal. Maybe Novichok.”
The crunch, just before Jones started shaking. “A suicide pill?” Another thought struck me. “You’ve been exposed!” I tore out my phone only to stop when Nikos dissolved, reforming holding me tight.
“It’s fine. Even if I weren’t indestructible, the mist will have taken care of it. Twyla. We need to concentrate on more important things.”
“But you…and Jones…and Klaus…” My eyes shifted to another crumpled form, blond hair flashing red and blue in the Ball’s light.
Nikos barely spared him a glance. “Klaus’ll be fine. Twyla, love, I know this is horrific but you can fall apart later.”