was a large room at the prow of a ship on the second-to-topmost deck. Alex held up a hand again, stopping Sid and Minhi as they reached the metal door at the top of the stairs. A static charge had hit his brain. Alex put his hand on the door, waiting.
Calm down. Chill. In the past he had gotten static from a quarter mile away, but the Merrills in the van had completely caught him off guard. Just like how he had failed to listen to the static on the night of the worm, because he had been upset and distracted. Several times he had been too worked up then to listen to his own mind.
Alex was determined to master the static. He had to clear out the noise.
Alex listened, cutting through the droning of Ultravox, which wasn’t for him this time. Hear the static. Where is it? He felt himself pointing for Sid’s and Minhi’s benefit.
Ultravox had lied; he might not have an army but he’d brought protection. There was too much static for it to be just one vampire. Listen. This is what you were born to do. Pick them out.
One on the left. One on the right. One in the center, farther back, and powerful. He turned and said to Minhi, “You go right; I’ll go left.” To Sid, “You go for the microphone.”
One, two, why then, ’tis time to do it.
Alex turned the doorknob and stepped back, kicking the door, causing it to fly open.
Inside, the PA echoed a half second later than Ultravox, who was speaking live in the room. Alex saw the captain and one crewman, unconscious on the floor. He turned left as a guard vampire lunged for him, and Alex dropped, letting the guard slash over him. Alex rose and swept his leg, knocking the vampire off balance, and dived, driving the violin neck into the creature’s chest. Silver-and-wooden shafts from the Polibow were prime weapons, but in a pinch like this, any wood would suffice. He put all his weight on it and felt a crunch, and the vampire burst into flame.
Alex turned and looked behind him as Minhi kicked up, catching the other guard in the chin. She avoided his lunge expertly as though he were moving in slow motion. As she drove the drumstick home, she shouted, “What? I can’t hear you!”
Ultravox was at a control panel, watching a closed-circuit security feed. On the black-and-white screen, Alex could see the parents, the influential, targeted ministers, pleading with their daughters, who held them all at bay and had traded their Montblancs for flashing steak knives. They had not yet delivered the killing stroke, although Ultravox seemed to be working them up into a lather. Killing someone, especially a parent, would go against every instinct, so he had to build a symphony of emotion to mask over that, to go beyond merely threatening to actually delivering the final act, the killing blow.
On the security monitor, Alex saw a large figure go into the room carrying a huge amplifier. It was Paul. He lunged for one of the debutantes and she turned around, slashing at him.
“Yes, the terror they feel is the terror you can overcome, but don’t wait. Now is the time,” said Ultravox, showing his fangs. He had to keep talking for the spell to work.
Alex cleared his throat as the sound from the PA cut off, ceasing the echo. The vampire snarled as he saw Sid holding an unplugged microphone cord.
“You think you know everybody,” Alex said.
Ultravox swatted Sid aside and grabbed the cord, searching for an outlet.
“But you don’t,” Alex continued. “It’s a fake. You tell people things that hurt them because you know they’ll believe you.”
“Alex,” Ultravox said, as he turned to face him. Time slowed for a second as the vampire’s eyes burrowed into his. “You’re going to do something—”
“I don’t think so,” said Alex as he swept the violin handle, catching the vampire in the throat.
“Killthrrrmm,” Ultravox gurgled, and Alex plunged the violin neck home.
A burst of brilliant flame filled the bridge as they jumped clear.
For a moment, smoke and ash rained in the small metal room and they all stood in silence. Sid finally brushed a handful of ashes out of his hair and said, “Yeah, that and his book was overrated.”
Chapter 34
“So let me get this straight,” Alex said as he placed a few books on the shelf of the little three-man room in New Aubrey House.
“That’s the vampire shelf,” Sid said, and