Chapter 14
"Thank you, Reta," Lana murmured absently as the Cirronian finished healing the last of her bruises. Zin had been healed first and was already downstairs with Mel. "This doesn't go past the three of us, you understand me?" she asked firmly.
"Why so grim, Lana? You should be happy that he's finally over the mongrel."
"Yeah, I should be," she agreed, smiling and wondering how Reta would have reacted to the knowledge that Zin had called Mel's name more often last night than her own. Or to the knowledge that he had actually checked himself more than once so as not to hurt her. Ridiculous! Far too much time with Mel, conforming to her species' way of doing things. Not that it had taken her long to break him of that bad habit. He was still a Vardian on the inside, after all. "It still doesn't go past the three of us," she ordered.
"I understand." He bowed his head.
"Good. You may go."
She watched him go with a sigh, lying naked in Zin's bed and reaching for the almost-empty bottle of scotch on the nightstand. Shaking her head, she drained it. There was no way Zin would be able to go through with an order to have Mel killed and she knew it. For his own good, she was going to have to take matters out of his hands.
A woman like Lana might allow herself the luxury of love, but a man like Zin could not, and this was the reason why. Mel Porter had become an emotional liability and Lana could not allow that, not for Zin. But for that fact, Lana would have smiled and allowed him to carry on the affair for as long as he cared to exactly as she always had in the past, even doing what she could to further his interests with his chosen women. Not this time, though, not with what was at stake. He was going to hate her for it, but Mel had to go.
Shaking her head, she rolled on to her stomach, burying her face in a pillow and inhaling deeply. It still smelled like him and carried the last dying traces of his body-heat. The error, she decided, had been hers, in allowing things to carry on for as long as they had between Zin and Mel, giving him a chance to grow attached. Better to have brought him a different woman every night than to have allowed that to happen. Now she knew, but the damage had already been done. Mel had to die and it was going to devastate Zin. She cursed and shook her head, mentally running through a list of options on how to have a healthy young woman killed without arousing suspicion.
"Doctor Lana!"
"Go away, Zellon," she ordered with a sigh, not lifting her head from the pillow.
"Ma'am, this is important."
"Don't make me break your neck." Lana scowled and looked up at him. His face was anxious, excited. "What?" she asked, pushing herself up on her arms.
"The… maps, ma'am. We… we've located the Vault…"
Lana was on her feet in an instant. "Wonderful. Where."
"Here, ma'am." He handed her a map of the city.
Lana looked at it and could almost hear things falling in to place in her brain. She began cursing in Vardian. When she ran out of Vardian words, she switched to Orsusian. Zellon slowly backed towards the bedroom door.
"Stay!" she ordered, her hand shooting up.
Finding himself unable to move, he had little choice but to do as ordered. "Uh… all we need now is the Key," he whispered uneasily, licking his lips as Lana shrugged on Zin's bathrobe. "Um, the Gatekeeper should be--"
"Get me Zin," Lana ordered quietly. "Make sure that his little pet does not join him. Go!"
She shook her head and walked into Zin's office, grabbing another bottle out of the liquor cabinet and not bothering with a glass. Things had just gotten complicated. Again.
"This better be good, Lana," Zin sighed, entering the office a few minutes later.
She looked up and extended the map with one hand and the bottle with the other. "The Vault is under the Watchfire. Melanie Porter is the Guardian."
"No… there's got to be some mistake," Zin protested, shaking his head.
Lana scoffed. "Explains the Cirronian heritage, now, doesn't it? Her grandfather sent to watch over her grandmother, also a Guardian…"
Zin cursed softly, shaking his head. "And the Vault is under her bar?"
Lana nodded. "And, presumably, she has the Key."
"Get dressed," he ordered, hurrying to his desk and rifling through the doors until he came up with a detailed sketch of the Key. He hit his speaker-phone. "Get Miss Porter up here!" he ordered.
Lana shook her head, but dressed and straightened her hair before rejoining Zin in the office. She helped herself to another swig from the bottle before speaking.
"What now, Zin?"
"We ask her for the Key nicely."
"And if she refuses?"
"We proceed from there…" Zin shook his head. "She will give it to us."
"Give what to you, Julius?" Mel asked, entering the office. She looked from Zin to Lana, frowning. "Hey, what's wrong, guys?"
"Have you ever seen this?" Zin asked, handing her the sketch.
Mel frowned and looked down at it thoughtfully for a moment. "I don't… Hey, it's… Julius, where did you get this drawing?"
"It's a copy of one from a text that's several thousand years old," he answered honestly. "Do you know it?"
"Uh, yeah, actually." She nodded uncertainly. "It looks a lot like this… thing I found in my grandmother's stuff after she died."
"Can we have it?" Zin asked gently. "Melanie, I want to buy it from you."
She frowned in confusion. "Why, what is it?"
"A Key."
"To what?"
"Everything I've been trying to accomplish here."
"Uh…" Mel nodded slowly. "Sure, Julius. It's… what's it unlock?"
Zin gestured to Lana to go and prepare, then returned his attention to Mel. "A Vault. A Vault under your bar."
"I don't understand." She shook her head.
"There's nothing to understand, my dear," he told her gently. "I need to gain access to what's in that Vault. It will vindicate my entire life's work."
She shook her head. "Julius, there's no vault in my basement…"
"I know. It's under that, too. Very deep underground, Melanie."
"Sir," Lana announced, returning to the office. "We're ready when you are."
"Wonderful." He offered his hand to Mel, helping her to her feet. "The world as a start," he reminded Mel as they followed Lana from the office.
***
Daggon groaned as he let himself into the house. It had been a very long night and it had ended with him getting pummeled before Collecting his fugitives. He dropped on to the couch, exhausted and ready for a few minutes of meditation before he climbed in to a nice hot shower.
"There you are!"
He looked up at Aeko with a sigh. So much for meditating. "Tell me it can wait?" he whispered.
She shook her head. "He found it. He's on his way there now."
"No…" Daggon sighed. "He can't be ready yet. He still needs the Key."
"Oh, that's the truly lovely part. His human concubine gave it to him. Turns out she was the Guardian all along…"
"What kind of Guardian would just hand over the Key?" he demanded, pulling himself to his feet.
"The same kind who would climb into bed with a guy like Zin. Evil or stupid. Doesn't matter at this point. We have to go."
She nodded. "Detective Bruno's on his way."
"You called him? Why?"
"He has a right to know under the circumstances." Aeko sighed. "Besides, you are probably going to need backup. Look at yourself. Shit, you may need the entire Chicago PD, sir. What happened anyway?"
"Ambushed by about ten Vardians and Enixians."
"Ouch." She frowned sympathetically.
He dismissed her concern with a wave of the hand. "Tell me more," he directed. "What do you mean that Vic has a right to know?"
"And know what exactly?" Vic asked, walking into the dark living room.
"Zin has found the Strada Brac. It's as good as in his hands, courtesy of his human lover."
Vic shook his head. "I don't understand."
"Mel Porter gave him the Key to the Vault in which it is being kept."
"Mel?" Vic shook his head. "No, you're wrong. Mel would never do something like that. She's a good woman."
"Or not. Apparently she's been dating Zin for the past six months," Aeko told him apologetically.
"No, she's been dating some real estate mogul… Julius something."
Daggon sighed deeply and touched his hand to Vic's forehead. "Julius Zin is one of his aliases. There are others, but Julius Zin is his main one."
"And Mel's been dating the bastard? Maria and I have been after him for months now!" Vic shook his head in disgust. "I can't believe this…"
As Daggon walked into the war-room, Aeko gave Vic an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Detective Bruno. I'm… I'm sure she doesn't know. I mean…"
"Zin is a charming man," Daggon said quietly, rejoining them. "She would not be the first to have been fooled. She may be an innocent in this, Vic," he told his friend gently, touching his forehead again and releasing calming energy.
"We need to go now," Aeko told them apologetically.
Daggon nodded. "She's right. We have to stop Zin before he gets the Strada Brac. Vic, you should stay behind."
"No, no way!" Vic shook his head firmly. "She's my friend. I'm going. Besides, you'll need backup."
"Vic…"
Aeko sighed and cleared her throat. "Uh, gentlemen? Less arguing, more saving the world from the nice mad scientist, okay?"
***
Mel leaned over the edge of the platform, curious, only to be jerked back by Zin.
"Don't put your head in the path of the energy-flow," he advised gently. "Would not be a pretty picture."
"Define 'not pretty'?" Mel asked, circling behind the bar and pouring another drink.
"Well, my dear, it is meant to transfer matter from one location to another," Zin pointed out gently. "Therefore one's entire person should be in the energy-stream."
"Guess that makes sense. How long before we can go down?" she asked, absently fingering the metallic triangle that she had retrieved from where she kept it hung over the bar.
"Not long now, my dear," he assured her, fiddling with the glass in his hands but not drinking.
Lana was sitting on one of the couches on the far wall, murmuring into her cell-phone and glowering at the workers as they set up the machine that would allow him access to the Vault. Her gaze occasionally traveled to Mel and Zin, at which point her disgusted expression would become more pronounced. Then her eyes would flit back to the workers before Zin could notice that she was staring.
In her heart, she knew that Mel had to go, and soon. Zin might never forgive her for it, but it was for his good and she knew it. Everything she had done since meeting Zin had been for Zin and this would be no exception. In time, he would understand. He would go down to the Vault alone and, when he returned, Melanie Porter would be nothing but a sweet memory for him. Smiling to herself at that decision, her grim expression faded, replaced by a serene one.
"Doctor Zin, will you be going down alone?" she inquired gently, joining them.
Zin started to shake his head, but paused at the look on her face. She actually planned on exploiting his absence to take care of his little 'problem' with Mel once and for all. He hesitated.
"This is your moment, Zin," Lana pointed out mildly. "Go down alone. I don't think Melanie will mind."
Mel smiled faintly and shook her head. "No, Julius. Go ahead. This is your moment, after all."
Zin sighed and nodded, smiling warmly down at her. "Thank you, Melanie. I won't be long, ladies," he announced, rising and joining the engineers. "Ready?"
"Yes, Doctor Zin."
"Lana," he began.
"Don't worry, Zin. I'll take care of it."
He gave a shaky nod. "Okay. Thank you, dear," he said before forcing himself to become absorbed in conversation with one of the engineers.
"Get you another drink?" Mel offered Lana.
"Please." Lana nodded and glanced at her watch before pulling out her cell-phone and dialing. The cell-phone slid from her hand as the bar's front door swung inward.
"Sorry, we're closed!" Mel called, looking up. "Vic?" she asked, frowning. It was. Vic, Vic's friend John, and the young woman who had taken him home that night.
"Aeko, you treacherous whore," Lana growled, rising. The bar door snapped shut. "How could you bring Daggon here now?" she demanded, closing on them.
"Daggon?" Mel repeated, staring at them again. "Vic, get away from him!" she ordered, circling around the bar. "He's a dangerous man…"
"No, Mel." Vic shook his head. "He's not. He's a cop, Mel."
"He's been lying to you, Vic. He's been trying to get to me through you…"
Daggon, who had been staring at her with wide eyes since his entrance, finally composed himself enough to speak. "Melah en'i?" he whispered, his voice shaky.
"Oh, you have got to be shitting me!" Aeko protested, shaking her head. "You've been dreaming about Zin's mistress?" she demanded of Daggon.
Mel's eyes widened marginally. He had been dreaming about her, too? No, she told herself firmly. It was a trick, had to be, trying to get her off-guard, trying to force her to lower her defenses.
Lana moved to stand next to Mel, looking the three over. "Leave while I'm still feeling generous," she advised.
Daggon shook his head. "You know I can't do that, Lana."
Zin looked up from his discussion with a bored expression. "Leave now, Daggon," he advised mildly.
Daggon's eyes narrows and he started towards the Vardian.
"No!" Mel shouted, hitting him in the back with a bolt of energy, throwing him away from Zin.
Aeko rushed to the side of the downed Cirronian. "Sir?" she whispered, shaking him.
"Mel?" Vic gasped, running to catch her arm before she could attack Daggon again.
Lana casually waved her hand in his direction, sending him flying into the far wall, near where Daggon had landed. Every soul in the barroom clearly heard the sound of shattering bones.
"Vic!" Mel shouted, running to him.
"Damn you, Lana!" Zin snapped, backhanding her.
"Get the Strada Brac," she hissed. "I'll deal with them…"
He nodded and started for the platform again.
As Zin vanished, Daggon looked groggily up at Aeko. "You said human female," he complained weakly before his eyes drifted shut again.
Mel frowned at the comment, but her attention was immediately drawn back to Vic as he let out a ragged, gurgling breath.
"You didn't have to hurt him!" she told Lana, trying to probe for damage as she had been taught but unable to concentrate long enough to succeed. "He's not dangerous."
"He would stop you from protecting Zin; he is dangerous," Lana retorted firmly before turning her attention to Daggon and Aeko. "Before I am through with you, Dessarian, you will beg your gods for death…"
Aeko ignored her, more concerned about Daggon. "Come on, sir. You're needed here now," she whispered, brushing his hair out of his face.
"Aeko?" he murmured, reaching out with one hand.
"Here, sir," she answered, catching his hand.
"You said human female," he groaned, struggling into a sitting position.
Aeko shrugged as she slid her arms around him, helping him the rest of the way up and supporting him against her. "Yeah, call it bad Intel. Sorry."
"Why do you keep saying that?" Mel demanded, glaring at them. "Human female… What the hell else would I be?"
Aeko raised an eyebrow as she regarded Mel, but her gaze was almost immediately diverted. "Detective Bruno!"
Mel looked down at her friend and let out a strangled gasp. His face had turned a sickly gray and there was blood trickling down his face from the side of his mouth.