Dagger Read online

  “E agora sem ado mais adicional, eu trago-lhe a Experiência de Amazon,” the announcer’s voice blared over the audio system.

  Techno music boomed.

  Before I could get a better look, Raven marched through the wings and swaggered down the runway.

  I took a step forward.

  “Espera para sua volta,” Agostinho barked at me to wait my turn.

  I tapped my comlink. “Base Ops,” I whispered. “The model in front of me. I think we may have crossed paths on another mission.”

  “We can’t run a cross-referencing facial recognition scan through your MPA glasses unless you can get a full frontal. Of his face.”

  “Copy that.”

  “Dagger, proceed with caution. If you two have met, you can’t afford a confrontation at such a crucial juncture.”

  Ignoring Agostinho’s protests, I shoved past him and onto the stage, letting the music guide my strut down the runway. Attitude oozed from every pore. The crowd’s stares fed my energy, marinating me in adrenaline. The whole thing felt surreal, like a slow-motion dream. Ahead of me, Raven had already made his turn and tossed a black rose into the crowd behind him. Then he was sauntering back in my direction. I continued my power stroll. Every second seemed to stretch into infinity as we drew nearer and nearer.

  I locked onto Raven’s face. “Base Ops acquiring visual. Work your magic.”

  “Facial recognition scan commencing stat. Cross-referencing with an index of your prior missions.”

  We passed each other. I caught a glint of sapphire. Raven’s stone face melted into a smirk. Then he was gone. Those eyes. I knew those eyes.

  I reached the front of the stage, the exhilaration still washing over me in waves. I stopped and shifted my weight, striking a pose, head cocked, whipping off my sunglasses. The crowd was going nuts. I was cocky, I was young, I was hot.

  I was screwed.

  Raven’s body and hair color might be drastically different, but those eyes, those cobalt pools of death, belonged to only one being.

  “Dagger, we have a match. It’s a Faerie. Name unknown, ties with the Dark Reich.”

  “Heinrich’s crony from Angelo Scuro. Tresses.” I whispered through a pearly grin. “But I didn’t know she was a shapeshifter.”

  “He’s not. Not strictly speaking. Faerie physiology is similar to that of the chromosome structure of certain frogs, shrimp, even orchids. They’re gender mutable.”

  “And either sex is hell bent on icing me. Nice.”

  “He’s after Il Evanidus. You have to retrieve it before he makes his move.”

  I could barely hear Felanie’s response over the roaring of the crowd. Wait a minute? Roaring? The image of Tresses tossing the black rose into the throng crashed through the numbness. I’d gotten so caught up in the limelight I’d attributed the screams to the adoration of Tristao’s fans. My bad.

  I dropped the glasses over my eyes. “Base Ops, he’s already made his move. You guys getting this?”

  The crowd was in chaos. Everywhere, grotesque, people-sized bats sprouted, taking bites out of hysterical neighbors, who instantly transformed into bats themselves. In the front row, a portly gentleman in a tux, clutching his blood-soaked arm, sprouted a thick coat of fur and pointed ears, before turning to bury his fangs in his female companion’s throat. Her scream turned into a screech. Blue eyes became yellow slits, while manicured nails curled into claws.

  “Dagger, get out of there,” Felanie squealed. “It’s a sorcerist attack. This Tresses has unleashed a bio-mystic weapon spread through saliva. It’s highly contagious.”

  “You think?”

  “Avoid direct contact. Repeat. Avoid direct—” The rest of her transmission was drowned out by shrieks and inhuman screeching.

  I whirled and sprinted back down the runway, nearly colliding into the redhead in his Lycra kilt piece. He looked at me, indignation plastered all over his pale face. “Que está acontecendo?”

  I hiked a thumb behind me. “Tough crowd.”

  A bat-thing swooped down on us. I grabbed Carrot-Top and did a rolling tumble, propelling us down the rest of the runway and through the alcove leading into the wings.

  I pulled him to his feet. From his expression, he could barely muster enough saliva to speak, let alone any more indignation.

  Behind him, the infection was spreading amongst the huddling models. The panicked mass of torsos became canvases brushed with blood and drool. I pointed Carrot toward the rear entrance and slapped his butt. “Saia de aqui. Rápido!”

  Turning, I spied Tresses using his seashell pendant to garrote one of the burly guards. Dark blood oozed from the thick neck. Then the Faerie tossed him to the ground like a discarded chicken bone. His sapphire eyes connected with mine, taunting, teasing. In his hand he held the guard’s key card. The key card that should have been mine. An all access pass to the restricted section. He inserted it into the metal slot by the door.

  “Base Ops. Tresses snatched my ticket. I’m in pursuit.”

  I was pummeled from behind. The wind squeezed out of my lungs as I landed flat on my stomach, pinned down by a dead weight. From my peripheral vision, I glimpsed a sinewy arm, coarse red hair sprouting in a wave that blanketed its entire length in seconds.

  Carrot Top had gone rodent.

  Foul breath burned my neck. “Sorry, I draw the line at bat hickies.” Tensing my right arm, I elbowed back as hard as I could. Teeth snapped close to my ears, creating a breeze which teased my jugular. I squirmed out from under him and sprang to my feet.

  Carrot Bat did likewise, only his feet were more like talons.

  He had me cornered, cutting me off from Tresses.

  I risked a glance at the Faerie, who ducked under the still rising security doors and turned to blow me a kiss. Then he disappeared into the darkness.

  A klaxon blasted through the air. The metal door’s ascent switched to a slow descent.

  “What’s the deal with the alarm?” I shouted into my com unit at Felanie.

  “Dagger, satellite feeds show the systems are reacting to the bio-mystic security breach and have initiated containment protocol. You have to get out of there pronto.”

  The door was already a quarter of the way closed.

  “I’m working on it, Fel.”

  Carrot’s lips parted in a wide grin, revealing jagged fangs and a forked black tongue, oozing infectious drool.

  Kinda like that last guy I met over the Internet, only cuter.

  “Listen, buddy. About the tongue thing. I don’t French on the first date.”

  A goose bump-inducing screech escaped his throat. Behind him, a half dozen of the infected gathered, pointy ears twitching, bodily secretions flowing. The one that walked like a chicken must be Agostinho. And they only had slitty yellow eyes for me.

  Great. I’m about to get tag-teamed by bats.

  The security door was halfway closed and still dropping.

  “Dagger, you don’t understand.” Felanie whined in my ear.

  “I don’t exactly have time right now, Fel. Cliff Note it for me.”

  The bats moved in.

  “Basically if those creatures escape the compound, the virus will replicate at a geometric progression rate of—”

  “Felanie.”

  “All right! All right! The compound’s gonna blow to smithereens to stop the virus from spreading. You’ll be splattered into a million pieces.”

  “Finally a visual I can work with. How much time?”

  “Ten minutes. Give or take.”

  “Give or take?”

  The door was three-quarters of the way closed.

  “You said the virus was bio-mystical. Any chance of a mystic counteragent to reverse its effects?

  “Possibly, maybe. If this Tresses was carrying some kind of amulet, or a charm.”

  “Like the seashell necklace.”

  “Dagger there’s no time. It’s not worth the risk. Abort.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to push
the faces away. Agostinho’s. Carrot’s. The terrified crowd.

  Screw it.

  I dashed toward the nearest wall and used my legs to propel myself up, somersaulting backwards and kicking a surprised Carrot Bat in the gut, sending him hurtling into his comrades as if they were bowling pins. They fell in a tangled heap of claws and wings.

  Strike.

  “Who’s the Super Model now, bitches?”

  Then I launched myself across the floor, sliding toward the security door as it descended the final quarter.

  My thong almost didn’t make it through as I sailed past the threshold, the door locking into place with a loud clang.

  Chapter Twelve

  The tile felt cold and hard against my bare soles as I raced down the corridor that had swallowed Tresses. In seconds, I’d reached an intersection, which branched out into three hallways, left, right, and forward. I paused to examine my options. Each direction loomed under the amber glow of strobing emergency lights embedded in the ceiling.

  Hmmm. If I were a gender-mutable faerie, which way would I go?

  Você tem agora dez minutos para alcangar a distância segura minima, a voice blared over the intercom system.

  Great. Ten minutes to evacuate. I flexed my bicep. The stiletto tattoo pulsed over the vein pumping blood through the muscle.

  “Initiating TDT.” I scratched the tat three times.

  The blade flickered and became translucent. Then it assumed a three-dimensional quality, sawing a quarter-sized pattern in my arm. Despite a mild burning sensation, the skin remained intact.

  “TDT ini—”

  The patch erupted in a burst of gold, which knocked me flat on my bare butt. Sheesh. And I thought it’d felt cold under my feet.

  “Dagger, you may want to brace yourself, the TDT’s got quite a little kick to it,” Felanie warned in my ear.

  “Thanks for sharing.”

  A plethora of tiny sprites shot from my arm, dispersing in every direction. With their flaming tails, they looked like incandescent sperm on speed. Appropriate, considering that before this deal was through, someone was going to get screwed.

  “Data transfer in progress,” Felanie reported over my comlink. “Receiving schematics and transferring to your MPA glasses now. Are you getting a readout?”

  I slipped the sunglasses over my eyes and gripped the right lens frame. “Affirmative, Base Ops.”

  Holographic blueprints whizzed by in the upper corner showing corridors, access tunnels, ventilation systems, elevator shafts, room diagrams. Those little nymphs really knew their shit.

  “Dagger, we’re picking up multiple bio-readings. Two tangos, one at nine o’clock, the other at three o’clock, moving on an intercept course toward your position.”

  I studied the hologram display. Two burly figures approached from the corridors to my right and left. “I see them. It’s the two remaining sentries that were guarding the backstage area. Tresses took out one of them. Wonder why he left these two intact? They must have made it back here before the area was sealed off.”

  “Proceed with caution. Scans show they’re still armed.”

  “Copy that.” I’d already spotted the weapons clutched in each of their hands. However, even the swirling yellow lights couldn’t disguise the tremble in those grips. If these two brutes were scared, something was definitely up.

  A new bio-reading appeared down the corridor directly ahead. The visual showed a mane of raven hair disappearing around a corner. “I have a reading on Tresses at twelve o’clock. I’m on it.”

  “Dagger, lay low until those sentries clear your position. They’re almost on top of you.”

  “What was that, Fel? I didn’t copy. Something about getting laid in the top position?” No way was I going to lose the Faerie now that I had him in my sights.

  I dashed across the intersecting corridor—and right into firing range of the sentry emerging to my right. A blast exploded in my ear as a bullet grazed my earlobe and whizzed past me. I ducked and whirled with a roundhouse kick, punting the guard’s legs out from under him.

  But the dude was quick. Instead of just collapsing and losing his grip on the gun as he was supposed to, he broke his fall at the last moment with his free hand. In one fluid motion he propelled himself up in a one-handed handstand and flipped over me, spinning to kick me right into the wall. I was being ghul schooled.

  Despite the wind being knocked out of me, I didn’t have the luxury of taking a breather. I dropped to the ground, avoiding the spray of bullets, and rolled toward the sentry, springing to my haunches and kneeing him in the groin. He doubled over and my hands shot out and grasped his gun. But his ghulish grip held with the tenacity of a pit bull’s. Our arms strained against each other, extending over our heads as we each sought to rip the gun from each other’s hands. Our eyes locked, feet shifting across the floor in a lethal tango. My muscles trembled. Little by little, he assumed the advantage, arching me backwards as if he were dipping me.

  The sound of running feet reached my ears through the wailing emergency siren.

  The other sentry had arrived. “Alessandro,” he called out to the ghul struggling with me.

  Alessandro’s lips parted to reveal a jagged grin. “Dispare Nele!” he ordered his companion.

  My eyes darted from the gun-toting sentry to my left, back up to Alessandro.

  “Sorry, guy. But I prefer to lead.”

  I allowed myself to fall back, hauling my opponent into range of his buddy’s line of fire. Bullets blew chunks out of his neck, dousing me with icy ghul blood. With everything I had left, I pulled Alessandro’s hands down to the left and pulled the trigger over and over again. The weapon flew from the other sentry’s hands and the impact hurtled him back down the corridor he’d come from, where he crawled away to heal his wounds, no doubt.

  The gun’s chamber clicked empty.

  Taking advantage of Alessandro’s weakened condition, I elbowed his chin as hard as I could. His head snapped back, causing him to loosen his grip on the gun. I wrenched it free, and whipped it across his face, throwing in a kick to the gut for good measure. He staggered backward until he pressed against the wall. Then he slid down it and collapsed spread-eagle, looking like a drunk in an alleyway.

  Unfortunately for me, ghuls healed fast. Neither Alessandro nor his buddy would be out of commission for long.

  “Dagger, are you okay?” Felanie asked over my com-unit.

  I dropped the empty gun. “I’m good. Ménage à trois completed. But seeing as I’m fresh out of ghul repellant, and have no time for a decapitation, I’m proceeding after Tress—”

  An inhuman shriek weaved through the rhythm of the siren, unspooling into a fading echo. It’d come from the same direction as the sentry I’d shot had crawled away to. I checked the MPA readout. His bio-readings had vanished, replaced by an impossibly large cloud of life forms heading in this direction.

  I tapped the comlink in my ear. “Fel? I think there’s something else in here.”

  “Dagger, the sprites haven’t been able to acquire a visual. But every indication is that a massive bio-reading is closing on your position.”

  Você tem agora sete minutos para alcangar a distância segura minima, the intercom blared. Only seven minutes left before the place blew.

  “I’m not sticking around long enough to find out what it is, Fel. Continuing pursuit, stat.”

  A bloodied hand grabbed my ankle. “Estão vindo,” the ghul whispered.

  I wrenched my ankle free. “Who’s coming?”

  But the ghul’s response was lost as he coughed up gouts of blood and his head slumped sideways. I couldn’t afford to waste any more time. I stepped over him and sprinted down the corridor after Tresses.

  I rounded the corner just in time to see the Faerie twisting some wires together in an access panel located by two shining metallic elevator doors. The doors parted and Tresses slipped inside, turning to sneer at me. Then he whipped out his gun and opened fire. I dropped to avoid
the barrage, which ended as soon as the doors sealed closed.

  Springing to my feet, I bolted to the elevator, jamming a finger into the door release button. Nothing happened. Even through the continuous wailing of the emergency siren, I could hear the whine of the elevator’s motor as it ascended to another floor. Damn. That Faerie was more slippery than a tube of KY.

  “Dagger, the massive bio-readings are almost right on you!” Felanie screamed in my ear.

  My heart thundered in my rib cage. I looked back down the corridor. Empty. “You’re readings must be wrong. Unless it’s invisible, there’s nothing here.”

  “Range twenty meters and closing. Eighteen. Fifteen.”

  My eyes pierced through the amber strobes, searching. Still nada. How could something so huge be approaching unseen? Unless …

  “Fel, are you getting any readings on any of the infected located beyond the containment area?”

  “Hold. Redirecting sprite reconnaissance. Getting a reading now. That’s a negative, Dagger. They’re all gone. But how’s that possible?”

  My eyes lifted to the ceiling grates. “No, not gone. They’ve breached the containment wall and are moving through the air ducts.”

  “But they couldn’t have breached the wall.”

  “Unless Tresses performed a system override to keep me busy while he broke into the vault.”

  “Affirmative. Scans indicate someone hacked into the system and unsealed one of the ventilation ducts. Dispatching sprites to your position for visual confirmation.”

  “I think it’s a little late for that, Fel.”

  A lone figure emerged from the corridor and rushed toward me, sharp teeth glistening in the emergency lights. It was Alessandro. His wounds had already healed. If not for the splotches of blood all over his neck and chest, he looked as refreshed as if he’d been to the spa.

  He licked his lips. “E agora você more.”

  I backed away toward the access panel. “Listen up. Unless you help me get these elevator doors open pronto pal, we both die.”

  Alessandro snarled and took a step closer.

  Você tem agora cinco minutos para alcangar a distância segura minima.