Archives
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
Recent Posts
Categories
- Adventure
- History
- Introduction
- Vampire Humor
- Vampire Influence
- Vampire Opinions
- Vampire World
- Vampires
- War
Meta
Jan
16
After his histrionic explanation of the murder weapon, Alistair showed Lilly’s fake Homeland Security ID to Liu and Alvarez.
“She was one of us,” he said. It seemed to mean something to them. I guess there’s a comradery between members of law enforcement that we civilians aren’t part of. I’ve seen stuff like that on TV, but I always thought it was dramatic BS. Apparently, not so much. Alistair seemed to know about it and was using it to motivate the two cops.
As we stepped out of the elevator he said, “We have to go now, but we’ll be back tonight when your shift starts. If you get a chance, can you dig up a list of the known sword collectors in LA?” They agreed to it and we left them. I was aware that they watched us all the way to and through the door.
I was glad he got us out of there. I’d been worried about time for a while. Dawn was approaching and we had to get to Pasadena and into the safety of my house.
“Don’t worry,” said Alistair, detecting my concern as we headed for the door to the parking structure. ”The car has polarized windows. As the sun comes up they get darker.”
“I know that,” I said, but it didn’t make me feel any less nervous. The sun of LA is pretty damn strong. Only a few minutes exposure could kill us.
It was still comfortingly dark in the parking structure and we got into the car without any problems.
“Should we take the sun juice?” I asked as Alistair started up the engine.
“No need,” he said, swinging the car around a curve and up a ramp to the street.
The sky was still dark, but the light in the east was a precursor to one of our spectacular dawns. LA is known for the sunsets, but sunrise is – in my opinion – even more beautiful.
“Shouldn’t the glass be darker?” I asked.
“Don’t be such a nervous Nelly,” he said.
“A what?” I snapped. I didn’t recognize the slang but I didn’t like the vibe.
“It’s an old term from when I was a detective in late Victorian London.”
“A regular Sherlock Holmes, huh?” I quipped, not amused.
“Oh I had my moments, Watson.”
That pissed me off. I was already nervous about the sun coming up with only some thin dark glass between it and me and here he was boasting about his past exploits and insulting me by calling me his side-kick.
“So are we out of mourning at last?” I snapped and instantly regretted it.
A scowl replaced his smile like a dark cloud taking away the sun and he stamped on the gas so hard I had to hang on to the panic handle. We shot out from shadow of a tall building and into the first rays of the sun.
I guess it was my feeling guilty and his feeling angry that caused neither of us to notice that the brightness was not diminishing. It wasn’t until we were onto the freeway on-ramp that we both realized we had a major problem.
“Shouldn’t the glass be going dark?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied and the scowl became a worried frown.
“Should we take the sun juice?”
“Yes,” He took out a vial, popped out the cork and drank it down. I did the same.
It tasted of nothing much. I’d never taken it before and I didn’t notice any change so I asked, ”What’s supposed to happen?”
“The first thing you should notice is the vile taste and then that the sun shouldn’t seem so bright.”
“It didn’t taste vile and I don’t notice the sun changing. How long should it take?”
“It should be instant.” He looked at me and his face was the most serious I’d ever seen it. ”Get in the back. There’s a Mylar blanket. Get under it and make sure there is no sun getting in.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“I have to drive us to the nearest safe house.”
“But the sun … you’ll never get there in time.”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said and there was a forced calm to his voice. ”Now, get under that blanket.”
I wanted to argue but I couldn’t think of anything to say that was going to help, so I did as I was told.
It’s unbelievably awkward to get from the front seat to the back seat of a car while said car is zipping at around a hundred and taking turns like we were on a damn NASCAR track. I made it though.
As I huddled under the protection of the blanket I couldn’t help thinking that there was no way Alistair could get us to a safe house in time.
We were going to die under the deadly rays of a bright and happy LA morning sun.
« The Sword of the Assassins | Dawn »