Ash and Nyte climbed out, faces somber, eyes nervously glancing around at the crowds. I knew how they felt. Elyssa had inserted red contacts into her own eyes, and braided her hair. Underneath her skinny jeans and a tight long-sleeved graphic T-shirt, she wore the upgraded Nightingale armor like the rest of us.
I was just thankful it didn't bunch up in the crotch.
Even with the armor as a security blanket, I still didn't feel all that secure. I stared up the long driveway at the looming headquarters of Herbert Lipschitz, aka Maximus. Anger and determination filled in the cracks left by uncertainty and slowly overwhelmed the sense of doom. It was time to pay this jackass back for everything he'd put me through. For what he'd done to Felicia. For all the innocent lives he'd taken with the vampling curse in his narcissistic quest to become a big shot.
Bella and Shelton walked across the street to us.
"Put this in your ear," Bella said, handing me something.
I nearly shouted as the thing she put in my hand squirmed. A small worm wiggled in my palm. "Are you kidding me?" I said. "I'm not putting something alive in my ear. Haven't you ever watched horror movies?"
"We thought about going with a standard earpiece," Shelton said. "But when we got here, Bella and I ran a few tests. Maximus has this place warded against electronic eavesdropping."
"Dash Armstrong probably warded this place to the gills," I said. "I guess the magic doesn't go away when you die, huh?"
Bella shook her head. "I know it's undesirable to put a worm in your ear, Justin, but it's quite harmless. It will coil up near your eardrum and stay there and will come out when we're done. We'll be able to communicate with you then."
"It won't control my mind or anything nasty?"
Shelton laughed. "Kid, this ain't no mind-control worm, alright? I save those buggers for people I really hate."
My face wrinkled with disgust as I put the wriggly little dude into my ear. The feeling as it slithered inside was almost unbearably creepy.
"Please don't make me put one in my ear," Ash said.
Nyte's horrified expression indicated his agreement to the sentiment.
"Have one for me?" Elyssa asked.
"We only had time to charm one of these," Bella said, an apologetic expression on her face.
Shelton nodded. "That, and it requires a specific kind of worm." He looked thoughtful for a moment and said, "Although maggots work. I could probably find one in a dumpster—"
"No," Elyssa said, recoiling with a grimace. "I think I'll be fine, thanks."
Bella and Shelton shared amused looks.
"Can you hear me?" Bella said, speaking into her wand as if it were a microphone.
Her voice echoed in my ear at a normal volume. I nodded. "Loud and clear."
She gave me a hug. "Good luck, dear. You're going to need it."
Shelton shook my hand. "Try not to get yourself killed, all right?"
Katie kissed Ash on the cheek. Smiled. "Please be careful, okay?"
Ash looked like he was going to pass out. "Y-yes." He took a deep breath. "Maybe after this is over we can, uh, like maybe see a movie or something?"
A smile lit her face. "I'd love to."
His chest seemed to swell, and pleasure flushed his skin. "Sweet!"
Ash, Nyte, Elyssa, and I walked up to the tall iron gate surrounding the building.
"Hold it there," said a man in a black suit as he came out of the guardhouse. "What's your business?"
"Seeking higher purpose," Nyte said, giving him what I assumed was the pass phrase.
The man looked us over. Motioned for a woman to come out of the gatehouse. "We gotta frisk you."
He approached, pulling on latex gloves as he did. "I will now check non-sensitive body areas." He ran his hands along my arms, chest and legs. "I'm about to touch you with the backs of my hands in the sensitive buttock region," he said, and then proceeded to do so. He stood in front of me. "I will now touch you with the backs of my hands in the sensitive groin area."
Since when did vampires hire politically correct security guards?
Ash snorted, despite his best efforts not to laugh.
Backs of the hands or not, my manhood tried to crawl inside my body at the mere thought of this dude feeling me up.
By the time we made it through the gate, I felt thoroughly degraded, and figured everyone else felt the same way by the disgusted looks going around.