Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Coughing and spewing, Jo pulled herself up off of the ground and peered through the thick smoke billowing from what had been the door to the bus. She hadn’t been standing that close, but the explosion had knocked her backward at least ten feet into a snowbank. Around her, she saw several members of her team beginning to reanimate, pulling themselves up off of the ground, shaking their heads to clear them.

Remembering that Cadon had been within inches of the door when the explosion had rocked them all away from the vehicle, Jo searched the ground frantically, looking for her twin. Not a trace of him anywhere, she spun around, trying to locate him. Where could he have flown to? Surely, the explosion wasn’t so intense it had torn him apart?

When she spotted him, standing on top of the overpass, at least forty feet above her head, she couldn’t help but let her mouth drop open. He looked perfectly fine, like he didn’t have a scratch on him. Only confusion, and maybe some ringing in his ears, as she was suffering from, seemed to be lingering effects.

“How the hell did you get up there?” she shouted at him.

“I have no fucking idea,” he shouted back, jumping down, and landing on the road behind the bus with a force strong enough to shake the asphalt beneath her feet.

Despite all of their arguments lately, Jo ran to her brother and wrapped her arms around him, so thankful he was okay. He embraced her, too, but quickly let her go. “How is everyone else?”

She hadn’t seen anyone who wasn’t moving, but she also hadn’t counted. Turning around, she quickly did a head count and saw everyone moving, except for Cassidy. Her aunt wasn’t anywhere to be seen either.

“Brandon!” she shouted, running back over to where her uncle was pulling himself up off of the ground a few feet from where she’d landed. “Where’s Aunt Cass?”

“I have no idea,” he mumbled, sticking a finger in his ear like that might help with the ringing. “She’s got to be here somewhere. She can’t die.”

“Cassidy!” Jo screamed, both aloud and through her IAC.

The Hybrid climbed out of the top of the bus, her clothes covered with blood. It stained her hands as well. She fluttered down to the road. “It’s bad in there,” she said, shaking her head.

“Wait--I’m confused. How did you get in the bus?”

Cassidy sighed like she couldn’t be bothered to explain but then did so anyway. “After I tossed Cadon up to the overpass, I flew up into the air and came back down through the opening that the Vampires had left, hoping to be able to guard the humans against that explosion, but I wasn’t fast enough. Most of the force went outward, which makes sense, since they were trying to keep us from getting in, and take out a few of us if they could, but it still got a lot of the people who were sitting near the front of the bus, and a few in the middle.

Jo held her breath, not wanting to ask the obvious question on her mind. Instead, she asked another. “You tossed Cadon up there?”

She shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t gonna let him get blown up. I don’t know what was in that bomb. Could’ve had scandium in it somehow for all I know. Besides, have you ever seen a Guardian after they’ve exploded? They might not be dead, but it isn’t pretty.”

She didn’t have to ask more about that. “Thank you,” she said, still holding on to that other question. “Are there people in there that we can help?”

Cassidy shook her head. “I think Mila and Mikali are gonna get to put the reserva de sange out of their misery, which they seem to enjoy far too much.”

Jo nodded. That was unfortunate, but she had a feeling they were all going to have to be ended anyway. She had to assume that meant Ryker was dead, too. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, despite the fact that they’d been at odds basically ever since the moment they’d met. She hated to think of him dying such a tragic death. He had been trying to warn them, after all. “I guess I’ll send them in.”

Cassidy nodded. “Scott can probably help your friend, though. He was the only one on the bus that knew what was about to happen, so he was able to find some shelter. I don’t think he’s hurt that bad, but his arm is bleeding.”

With her eyebrows arched, Jo studied Cassidy’s face. “My friend?”

Her aunt didn’t have to say anything. A hand emerged from the hole in the top of the bus and then another, the second one bleeding. Jo blew out a hot breath as Ryker pulled himself out of the top of the bus.

Using her powers, Cassidy grabbed a hold of him and lifted him. He didn’t like it. As soon as he lost contact with the metal frame, he began to struggle wiggling against her blue light. If she had let him have his way, he would’ve fallen a good twenty feet to the ground. Ignoring his obvious discomfort, the Hybrid lowered him down near Scott. “Can you patch him up?” she shouted.

“I didn’t bring my medical bag,” Scott said, “but I’ll see what I can do.” Unlike his father, Scott’s healing powers didn’t always work on humans.

Scott kneeled next to Ryker, who clearly didn’t want to be there. Jo decided to ignore him, for now. He had some explaining to do, and the hell if she was going to let him go skipping off on his merry way again.

For the first time since they’d wrecked the bus, headlights lit the road behind them. Jo and her team moved aside, hoping it was just a human driven vehicle passing by. Not aware of any tension in her stomach, Jo didn’t think it was a Vampire, but it was hard to tell.

The car slowed as it neared the crash site. A familiar fluttering in her stomach had Jo reaching for her weapon. There was at least one Vampire in that car; she could feel it now. A steel gray sedan with tinted windows, she couldn’t see a single person in the car, but as it drove by slowly, she got the feeling in her gut that the enemy was near.

Without thinking, her feet started moving in the direction of the vehicle, though she didn’t know why. There were so many Vampires these days, running into one on the road shouldn’t have had her reacting this way. Yet, she had the idea that someone in that car needed to be tracked down and stopped.

“What are you doing?” Zane’s voice brought her out of her stupor. Jo turned and looked at him, not even realizing he’d come with her until that moment. She’d gone at least a half mile, maybe more, away from the bus, but came to a stop now, her eyes watching the car speed up and disappear in the distance.

“I don’t know,” Jo admitted. “Something about that car….”

“Yeah, I felt it, too, but we’ve got to handle this right now. Probably just a random Vampire,” he assured her.

Jo nodded, thinking he was probably right. With a deep breath, she turned to head back to the bus. She could hear Ryker and Scott arguing with one another as she approached. Clearly, the human was a little testy. Any pain he was enduring at the moment, he deserved, as far as she was concerned, but she didn’t like the idea that he thought he could just yell at the person trying to help him.

“What the hell are you bellyaching about?” Jo asked, stopping at Ryker’s boots. He wasn’t wearing his poofy fur coat, only a thinner black jacket. Since the way he’d been identified by their informant and Cassidy was through the coat, she wondered if maybe it was still in the bus. It was odd seeing him without it.

“I’m not bellyaching,” he snarled, staring at her. “But Doc McGoo over here is trying to sew my arm up with a rusty needle and some horse hair, Civil War style, and I’d just as soon let it bleed than get an infection and lose my arm.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like bellyaching at all,” Scott said, rolling his eyes. “It’s a sterile needle I had in my pocket and the same thread we always use for stitches. You’re just being a big baby.”

Ryker glared at him, and Jo put her hands on her hips. “You know what, Scott, if he wants to bleed to death, let him. We have more important things to do than listen to him cry.”

She spun around, intending to go facilitate the removal of the bus from the street. She had to imagine Mikali and Mila had taken care of any humans while she was chasing cars, and when she saw the former kick out the back emergency exit of the bus and leap out onto the street, she recognized she was right.

Ryker wasn’t done, though. He had somehow managed to get himself up off of the ground, bleeding limb and all, and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her to face him. “Why is it every time I turn around, your face is practically up my goddamn asshole?”

Jo’s eyes enlarged. “Are you being serious right now? Do you not realize what we just caught you doing?” She took a step closer to him, and he backed up, but only slightly. “You were transporting humans, with a shitload of Vampires, to become reserva de sange! What did you expect us to do? Ignore that?”

Ryker shook his head. “That is not what I was doing.”

“Oh, really?” she asked, folding her arms. “That’s not what you were doing?”

“No, it’s not what I was doing!”

A crowd had formed around them, but Jo ignored her curious teammates. “Then what the hell is it that you were doing, Ryker? Because it sure the hell looked to me like that’s what you were doing! Or were you and your sharp-toothed friends taking this busload of now deceased humans to some grizzly version of Disneyland?”

He narrowed his eyes and stepped toward her so quickly, Jo found herself retreating. “Did you ever think maybe, just maybe, you don’t always know everything about what everyone else is doing, sister? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps there are other powers at work here, too? Powers that don’t answer to you and your band of ragtag superheroes?”

“Hey!” Mikali called. “We’re not ragtag anything.”

Ryker ignored his comment, and so did Jo. “What are you saying then, Ryker? I think it’s about time you gave us some answers.”

“And I think it’s about time you stopped showing up every time I turn around!”

“Well, as long as you continue to hang out with Vampires, that’s where I’ll be!”

“He’s KGB!” Cassidy interjected, placing herself into the conversation before it got too much more out of hand.

Jo’s mouth gaped open, and she turned to look at her aunt who was appearing from the far side of the bus, Ryker’s coat in her hand. She tossed it at him. “KGB?” Jo repeated.

“You been in my head again, woman?” Ryker demanded, taking his coat and putting it on. Jo noted there didn’t even appear to be any blood on the massive, furry thing.

“No. Just checked your secret coat pocket, that’s all,” Cassidy said with a snicker.

“I didn’t even know the KGB was operating anymore,” Jo said, confused. “What the hell were you doing for the KGB, and why would the Vampires agree to work with you?”

“Because… I have some convincing arguments as to why they’d want my help,” Ryker said, his coat on despite the fact that his arm was still bleeding. Scott hadn’t been able to do much without his cooperation.

Jo still had no idea how the man she’d been trying to save from being killed by Vampires for being a turncoat and ratting out their secret locations could convince a busload of Vampires to trust him. At the moment, she had other concerns as he had turned and started walking away. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“Away from you!” He didn’t even turn to look at her.

“No, you’re not.” She caught up with him quickly and got in front of him. “You’re staying with us from now on.”

“The hell I am!” He attempted to step around her, but she was much quicker and cut him off again. “Get the hell out of the way.”

“No! Everywhere you go, you cause trouble. I’m not about to let you walk away from me again.”

“So you’re what? Gonna kidnap me?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

He folded his arms and then grimaced at the pain, letting them fall loose again. “Didn’t we go down this road once already? And didn’t it end pretty poorly for you?”

“Believe me, the last thing on earth I want to do is babysit your ass for the next few weeks while we figure out where the hell the queen is, but I don’t have any choice.” Jo sent a message for Mikali and Mila to go get the SUVs they’d parked a few miles down the road. She was ready to get back to the hotel and get some sleep. She’d have to put someone else on Ryker duty.

“Then let me go,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant and failing.

“I can’t do that,” she countered. “If you would have just faded into the sunset, never to be seen or heard from again, that would’ve been one thing, but you keep causing problems.”

“I keep solving problems. You’re the one causing them.”

She could tell by his demeanor that he knew there was nothing he could do to get away from them. That didn’t mean he’d go peacefully, but he was injured and probably as tired as she was. When the SUVs pulled up a few minutes later, he quietly climbed in one, and Jo got in the other, half wishing he would’ve just blown up in the explosion like most of the other humans in the bus. Now, she’d have to haul his ass around wherever she went and try not to get him killed, despite his best efforts to end up splattered all over the Russian landscape.

Jo leaned her head back against the seat, hoping Zane drove fast because she was ready to go to sleep and let this long night be over. The remains of the bus had been pushed to the side of the road to be buried by snow or found by local authorities. They wouldn’t know what happened there, and they probably wouldn’t care. That was the world they lived in now. She hadn’t been able to save any of the people, but at least they’d ended the group taking them out. For now. There’d be more.

As she started to doze off, she remembered the car that had driven by and caught her attention. She could clearly picture the back of the sedan in her mind, see the license plate, the make and model of the car. What had it been about the vehicle that had caught her attention? She had no idea, but as her mind began to mingle dreams with reality, she had a feeling in her gut that she should’ve insisted on finding out.