Chapter 6
Yumi glanced around at her friends as they rushed through the sewers, thinking that she would be amused if the moment was any less serious. Akem Manah had chosen to discard his illusion and come with them, and was at the moment leading them along the tunnels; where everyone else was in relation to him either spoke of courage or caution.
"How do you know my father, sir?" Aelita asked when they were halfway there. She and Odd were the closest to the Elder; Yumi suspected a surplus of courage for Aelita and a lack of caution for Odd.
For a second, Yumi didn't think Elder Akem would answer. Then he looked at Aelita. "He came to me, asking if I had any news of his wife."
Yumi took a deep breath. "Did you, Elder?"
"She was the prisoner of werewolves. I could do nothing without reversing all that had been accomplished between the children of night and of moon." He shrugged. "And he was not willing to pay me enough to reconsider."
Odd's head turned slightly. Yumi was behind him and couldn't see his face, but she guessed that he was eyeing the Elder's fangs.
Yumi shot a glance over her shoulder. William was trying to look cool even though she could hear his heart beating fast enough to dance to; Jeremy wasn't even calm enough to try. It occurred to Yumi that she had never asked Ulrich if he'd heard anything unusual during the night. Unfortunately, he'd chosen to stay behind to find the vampires and keep them from tasting the bloodfall of the Omens.
Fortunately, she had another option.
Ulrich? Yumi called mentally.
His reply wasn't so much in words as in growls, but he acknowledged her.
Did you hear anything unusual in the past two weeks – from Jeremy?
An anxious whimper, combined with remembered sound. Jeremy had been talking since midnight most nights, and what he was saying reminded Yumi of some six-year-old vampires she'd known in Japan. It would have been only slightly creepy if she hadn't known it was Jeremy. As it was…
Was it that bad all week?
Pretty much. Last night was worst. Ulrich hadn't wanted to tell the others, especially Aelita, because he didn't think there was much she or anyone else could do.
Well, yeah, that's a worry Aelita doesn't need right now. I don't think there's a choice anymore, though.
Probably not; not with an Elder there. Would he do something?
Yumi's eyebrows lifted at the extra subtext in the growled question. You mean to Jeremy? I don't know, actually…but if he did decide to help Jeremy, he certainly could reverse whatever Elder Mandy did to him.
By the way… Ulrich's memory supplied her with a glimpse of him arguing Hiroki into staying with Milly and keeping her from being scared of the Omens – and keeping her from dashing out into them.
Yumi snapped her fangs closed before she laughed out loud in what was ultimately a tense situation; nobody else would have any clue why she was laughing. Nice one, Ulrich! He'll stay there for hours if he has the option! The boy's besotted; must be her blood-red hair.
Very funny. How many other vampires did he have to worry about?
Good-news-bad-news time: there's only one other vampire, but I don't know who it is.
Ulrich growled aloud in frustration; Yumi could tell because it vibrated along her jaws, too. Ulrich didn't like where this was going at all: he would have to activate his lycanthropic nature to find the last vampire by smell, and not only did he not like going wolf, but he had no doubt that he'd end up in a fight with the vampire.
Yumi smiled slightly. I have faith in you. You realize that, right?
Yeah, yeah…
Releasing the link, Yumi opened her eyes to find that she would be last up the ladder. She sprang up without using it and rushed after the others. Glancing over her shoulder, Yumi was horrified to see the crimson-black clouds just beginning to draw together over the school.
"Jeremy, we're going to have absolutely no time to waste," Yumi began as she leaped into the elevator. Then she really looked at Jeremy, who was huddled in a corner of the elevator as far away from Akem Manah as he could get.
Jeremy was an absolute nervous wreck. What worried Yumi particularly was that his hands were shaking like branches in a hurricane; how was he going to virtualize them if he couldn't type?
"Aelita," Yumi added quietly, "Can you set a delayed virtualization for us?"
"If we really don't have that much time, it would be faster if someone else did the typing," Aelita replied, anxiously stroking Jeremy's hair.
Yumi ran some rapid calculations. Odd wouldn't be able to type at all with that bandage on his hand, and he wasn't very good with the supercomputer in the first place. William – she spared him a glance – was only barely doing better than Jeremy, sharing an elevator with a powerful vampire. With an Elder watching, there was almost no way he'd be able to virtualize them without making a typo. That just left her…
"I'll do it," she said as the elevator opened, "And then I'll set a delay start for myself and meet you guys there."
Elder Akem followed her out of the elevator, carrying Jeremy – and that surprised Yumi, actually. She hadn't been expecting him to even touch one of the humans. She considered him for a second, and then put him out of her mind and settled in the chair.
Her fingers flew over the keyboard, running the virtualization process for Aelita, Odd, and William. Then she prepared the delay-start, setting the timer for as low as possible while still giving her enough time to get to the scanner. She slid out of the chair and turned, to get ready to run for the ladder before she pushed Enter…
And saw the last wisps of what looked like pale gray smoke fade away from Jeremy's eyes and mouth into Akem Manah's. Then Jeremy's eyes rolled back and he went limp.
Yumi froze. She knew exactly what had happened, of course: she'd seen paintings of soul-stealing vampires often enough to figure that one out. The important thing was why.
With an unbelievable effort, she unclenched her fangs. "Elder…"
Akem Manah set Jeremy gently on the floor and turned to face her. "Your enemy has used one of my allies to cause damage to him," he said, sounding offended at the audacity of XANA. "And now is using the sacred Omens to summon his own vampire army. His intent in damaging him," gesturing at the prone Jeremy, "was to delay or prevent your stopping him. I intend to steal that victory from him."
Yumi nodded, feeling a little better. "Will Jeremy be able to launch the Return to the Past himself?"
Elder Akem nodded. "I shall keep you informed," he added, approaching the chair she was still standing next to.
"Thank you." Yumi hit Enter and started to move.
Akem Manah's not so bad, Yumi decided as she half-flew into the open scanner. No sooner than she hit the back of it, the scanner closed around her.
