The Red Slayer
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It should have been out of our hands. We were to go on with our merry lives and wait for the nice people in the suits to thank us. But no, trust a Hughes to make things personal again. My cousins couldn’t leave well enough alone and added to their guilt, now I know where they got it from.

I forfeit any exhaustion I’m feeling in exchange for more anxiety. One quick-change into a sports bra and leggings later, I’m in the gym with Luke, Olga and Dante. I’m not a huge fan of pullups, but the buffer my arms get, the heavier my punches will be in Michael Hughes’ revolting face. Dante does squats nearby with a 25kg kettlebell. Olga makes slow and smooth yoga stretches on the mat opposite alongside Luke, who is doing sit-ups with his shirt off.

I reach a hundred pull-ups in one sitting, drop to the floor and roll my shoulders out. Olga stands up straight again, stretching her arms up. ‘I’m on board with late night stress workouts,’ she says, ‘But shouldn’t we be doing something?’

‘I don’t want to rush in without a plan,’ I say. ‘Once Sophia gets here and gives us the “it’s not your fight” talk, we’ll start planning.’

‘You don’t think he’ll hurt Tara, do you?’ asks Dante, setting down his kettlebell.

‘I don’t want to think about that. He’s capable, I know that better than anyone. He could be taking all the anger he has towards me out on her. I helped Tara defy Michael, then I as good as told him I was the burglar in the Shard when I threw a garlic gas grenade at him.’

Luke sits next to me and grips my arms to stop my mind drifting. ‘You can’t blame yourself for his decisions.’

‘At least…’ Olga says, then stops herself, clenches her teeth and forces out the rest. ‘At least we know he can’t turn her into a Feral.’

‘How did your uncle know where to send his henchmen?’ asks Dante.

‘He’s been here before,’ I explain. ‘Every few months the Hughses had Sunday dinner with me and my parents. It stopped after my fourth birthday when Mum and my aunt had a huge argument. I can’t remember why, but I distinctly recall my aunt throwing something at Mum and telling her they were no longer sisters.’

The gym door opens. Ariel comes trotting in first and rests her head in my lap so I can’t stand up when Sophia McIntyre walks in with two bodyguards right out of The Matrix. Luke flushes and covers his bare chest with a hand towel.

‘Team meeting and workout?’ she remarks. ‘Capital idea.’ And she sits down between me and Olga, crossing her legs regardless of her grey, pleated trousers.

‘Director McIntyre…’ I begin.

She holds up a hand and one of the bodyguards passes her a black plastic file with no markings. ‘You don’t have to explain your girlfriend’s kidnapping, Miss Davis. Had you started training sooner, you would have known to learn the ins and outs of your romantic partner’s affiliations.’

‘To be fair, her stepdads don’t usually last this long,’ I mutter.

‘Well, it seems Hughes made the relationship last so he could blend in.’

She opens the folder and turns it around for us to see. A picture of Michael is tucked into a plastic wallet, alongside a map. The only other plastic wallet has an arrest warrant with Michael’s name on it.

‘What’s this?’ I ask.

‘While I was on my way here, your father managed to locate where Michael Hughes is running his operations. In April, a property was purchased by an overseas buyer in a Dagenham industrial site. The property was empty for a decade before then. I can give the order now and my agents will invade the site, arrest anyone there and execute any hostile vampires. However, we cannot guarantee that Hughes’ civilian hostage won’t be made a shield in the stand-off.’

I sit up straight and take a deep breath to steady my heart. Ariel senses my unease and sits up, licking my arm.

‘…But if a few could sneak in there, take back the hostage and lead Hughes into the open, my agents will apprehend him easily. There are risks, whichever you choose, but I haven’t regretted inviting the four of you to become agents and I don’t want to start now.’

The four of us exchange nervous glances. Of course, I want to take this risk for Tara. But it’s my fight, not theirs. They don’t deserve to be dragged in any further.

I scramble to my feet. It’s meant to meet Sophia on an equal level, but she’s still sat on the floor. For the first time, my gaze travels down to someone.

’I’ll go to Dagenham,’ I say. ‘I can be ready in an hour. All I need is a lift and a few more of those gas grenades.’

‘Iorwen!’ snaps Olga, jumping up. Suddenly, I’m not the tallest in the room anymore. ‘I hope you’re not implying that you’re going this alone.’

‘He already took Tara. I don’t want to risk losing you three too.’

‘Tara isn’t trained the way we are,’ says Luke, dropping the towel and standing to face me. ’What’s it going to take for you to realise where you go, we go?’

‘He won’t see us coming,’ adds Dante. ‘Michael didn’t see us in the Shard. His eye will be on you.’

‘You mean I should be a decoy?’

‘Yes. Better to keep your uncle distracted while we save Tara.’

‘Look…’ I sigh, ‘If I lost any of you, how will I—’

‘If we lost you, do you think we could live with ourselves?’ Luke interrupts quickly. ‘For one thing, your dad wouldn’t let us use the pool anymore.’

‘Either all of us go, or none of us do,’ adds Olga.

Sophia stands up, calling our attention to her. ‘While the four of you bicker, I’ll sort out a car. Can any of you drive?’

I slowly raise my hand. I’ve had enough lessons with Dad to be confident enough with an automatic. I’ll be able to take my test in December.

‘I’ll have one waiting for you at twenty-three-hundred hours. Be ready.’

***

If I’m taking the Red Slayer out for another spin, she might as well look good. I bought my first red lipstick while shopping with Tara today; what better time to debut it. It’ll hopefully stay put in a fight. My hair stands out in waves around my face, the product of a last-minute, but effective styling.

Dad is stood waiting at the foot of the stairs. His eyes are heavy, but there’s no way he’ll sleep until I come home safe. I stop on the second step so our eyes are level.

‘I knew you would take up Sophia’s offer,’ he says.

‘I have to, for Tara.’

A pained smile appears on his face and he pulls me into a hug. ‘Just like your mother,’ he whispers. ‘She always had to see things through to the end.’ He releases me and the smile vanishes. With a serious face, he holds me at arm’s length. ‘Seriously though, Iorwen, don’t get yourself killed.’

Instead of having our weapons presented to us in the lab, we find the four cases for us on the coffee table in the living room. This time, almost all our gear is identical. We have earpieces and radios, garlic gas grenades and stakes, a set of brass knuckles, a combat knife, and a small grappling gun and abseiling belt. Each of us get a set of five throwing daggers; mostly black with a bright edge of silver blade. Only my case is distinct, with a section holding a long chain of tiny woven links with a tassel of barbed wire on the other.

‘She gave you a whip?’ says Olga.

‘It’s not just whip,’ I say, letting the smooth silver to run across my palm. ‘It’s a tool for poetic justice.’

The four of us quickly start stowing our weapons. As well as the secret compartments on my corset, I have holsters and clips on my abseiling belt. Luke disappears into the kitchen for a minute and comes back with a tiny jar. ‘Garlic butter,’ he says. ‘For our necks.’

None of us argue. I hold my hair in one hand to stop it getting greasy. ‘Iorwen, maybe you should tie that back,’ says Dante.

‘It’ll be fine,’ I say, combing my fingers through with a dramatic shake.

***

Armed and ready, we make our way down to the lab at 22:45. Dad is waiting with our masks and my cape. I give him one last hug while Dante opens the wall to reveal the dark tunnel on the other side. Luke hugs Elisa and she give me a lingering shoulder squeeze. All throughout, none of us speak, we’re all too nervous to break the tension.

The four of us walk down the dark tunnel with our night vision on. Luke slips his phone out of his jacket and finally breaks the silence. ‘I made us a playlist,’ he says, bringing up his music library. ‘I thought it might get us in the slaying mood.’

‘What do you have on it?’ asks Dante.

’Eye of the Tiger, the Rocky theme tune, Don’t Stop Me Now…about a dozen anime theme songs—oh, and there’s Jackie Chan’s cover of I’ll Make A Man Out of You.’

Olga laughs. ‘Play that one first.’

’Get some Hamilton on there too,’ I say. ’And any Phantom songs where the Phantom is angry.’

‘Okay,’ says Luke, ‘But that is ninety-percent of the soundtrack.’

The car is waiting in the lot when we reach it; a black Range Rover with leather seats. Sophia steps out of the only other vehicle there, a red Lexus, and approaches us.

‘The location is already keyed into the GPS,’ she tells me as she hands over the keys. ‘All you need do is follow it. Contact us through your radios when you’re ready for us. There are other tools in the back that’ll be useful.’

It’s so hard not to salute. I literally have to climb in, there’s steps to get in and everything. Olga calls shotgun while the boys pile in the back, looking at the box of tools with awed curiosity.

I start the engine and roll down the window. Sophia approaches me, her head just peeking over the bottom of the window. ‘This’ll take you out of the car park,’ she says, handing me a blank card with a black stripe. She steps back from the vehicle and I notice her confident face is trembling. Her voice shakes, ‘Good luck, Slayers.’

© Alice of Sherwood, June 2020

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