37

Still invisible, like John and Logan had been during the entire pursuit through the city, John froze the moment he and his Stealth Guardian companion cleared the stairs and reached the parking lot a few steps behind Savannah. What he saw was worse than he’d expected.

Viktorov was indeed waiting for Savannah, and he had, as promised, brought Buffy with him. John had expected Viktorov to have a gun to Buffy’s head or maybe a knife, something to ensure that Savannah made no false move, and that anybody approaching, trying to save Buffy, would think twice about it for fear Viktorov would kill the child before a rescuer could reach her.

In fact, John had been counting on it. Hence he’d devised his plan to approach invisibly with Logan’s help. Logan was cloaking him with his mind, eliminating the need to touch. What John hadn’t counted on was that Viktorov would go far beyond a gun or a knife: he had blindfolded Buffy and put her in a suicide vest. This changed everything.

Buffy stood about twenty yards away from Viktorov, who was leaning casually against the back of a dark SUV. She was slouched against the thick post of a street lamp that illuminated the otherwise empty parking lot high above UCSF Medical Center, her hands tied behind her back so she couldn’t run away. Nor could she see what was going on around her, which probably added to her fear.

“Well,” Viktorov said in a casual voice, “we’re finally all together. Remember me?”

“I remember you. Now let her go, let Buffy go. You’ve got me like you wanted,” Savannah replied.

“Mommy? Mommy?” Buffy cried out.

“Yes, baby, I’m here now.”

Buffy started crying. John exchanged a look with Logan, indicating with signs what to do next. Logan understood and nodded. Making sure he made no sound, John walked across the parking lot to Buffy until he was behind the pole she was tied to.

“Everything will be fine, baby,” Savannah reassured her daughter.

“Yeah, about that,” Viktorov said and chuckled. “Slight change of plans. You’re both coming with me.”

“You bastard!” Savannah yelled at him.

“Buffy,” John whispered into the girl’s ear. Her head jerked up in response and she began to struggle against her ties. “Don’t say anything now. Just listen. I’m your Mommy’s friend. I’m going to untie you.”

Buffy stopped struggling, while John blocked out the conversation that was now unfolding between Viktorov and Savannah.

“Good. I’ll cut the rope around your wrists, but you have to pretend you’re still tied up. Can you do that? We don’t want the bad man to see that I’m freeing you. Okay?”

She nodded, but didn’t speak.

“You’re a brave girl,” he praised her and willed his fingers to turn into sharp claws. With them, he sliced through the rope, caught it, and quietly laid it on the ground.

“Let her go!” Savannah demanded again.

“You see, I can’t do that,” Viktorov said. “The moment I saw the picture of you and her together, I knew what I’d been missing. A mother and daughter, both beautiful in their own right, but together, stunning!”

“Don’t!” Savannah snapped.

“Oh please, as if you don’t have your own fantasies. We all have them. I’m just more liberated and willing to act on them. You’ll see. You’ll enjoy it in the end.”

John wanted to curse. Sick bastard! He rose again behind the pole and put one hand on Buffy’s shoulder.

“Now we need to get this vest off you. Bend your upper body forward a little. Slowly so he doesn’t notice what you’re doing.” Luckily, Viktorov was currently concentrating on Savannah.

Guided by John’s hand, Buffy moved away from the pole a few inches.

“That’s good, Buffy. Now stay still. You’ll feel my hands at your back. I need to make sure there are no wires criss-crossing your back, before I can cut through the fasteners.”

While he touched her back to feel if Viktorov had run any wires underneath or across the ties that held the vest in place, he looked back to where Savannah and Viktorov were standing. Viktorov now held a gun in one hand, aiming it at Savannah, while he pressed his thumb onto a device in his other hand.

Logan had approached them and was close enough to examine the device. When he turned his head toward John, he mouthed, dead man’s switch.

John understood immediately. If Viktorov let go of the device and removed his thumb from the spring-operated switch, the vest would explode.

“You promised to let her go if I came to you,” Savannah said, her voice desperate.

“I don’t always keep my promises,” Viktorov replied. “Now get in the fucking car!” He lifted his hand holding the dead man’s switch as a threat. “Or I’m gonna blow your precious little girl to bits.”

Slowly, Savannah approached Viktorov.

John made a sign to Logan. It was now or never. John got to work on Buffy’s vest, carefully cutting through the three fasteners that tied the vest in the back. They were no obstacle for his claws. But Buffy’s arms were in armholes. It would take too much movement to free her from the vest, and Viktorov would notice from the corner of his eye and know that something was afoot. John had to go about things a different way.

“Buffy,” he whispered in her ear, “I’m going to cut the vest along your sides, underneath your arms now, so lean back against the pole again and keep your head up. When I’ve cut through it and give you the command, you’ll drop down on the ground, and I’ll pull the vest up. Make yourself into a ball, okay?”

She nodded.

“Good girl.”

He cut through the thick material on one side, holding on to the vest with the other hand, so it wouldn’t drop to the floor. Then he did the same on the other side. Buffy was now essentially free of the vest.

Logan stared at him and Buffy from his spot near Viktorov. Their gazes connected, and John nodded, giving him the sign. Logan took a step toward Viktorov, reached his hand out, nodded at John, then clasped his hand over Viktorov’s fist holding the dead man’s switch.

Viktorov cried out in panic. “What the fuck?”

“Now, Buffy.”

Buffy dropped to the ground, while John pulled the vest off her and flung it to the other end of the parking lot. The vest was still in the air, when John dropped down and covered Buffy with his body, shielding her from danger.

A gunshot echoed through the night.

John spun his head around. There, near the car, Logan was fighting with Viktorov, one hand still on his fist holding the detonation device. Blood was seeping from Logan’s shoulder, and judging by Viktorov’s reaction, Logan was now visible. And a few feet from him, Savannah held her hand to her side. Blood was seeping through her fingers.

“Fuck!” The bullet had gone through Logan and struck her too.

And with Logan’s left arm incapacitated, and his right still holding onto the dead man’s switch, he couldn’t fight Viktorov. John tossed a look in the direction he’d flung the vest. It had landed at the edge of the parking lot, near an embankment covered in bushes and trees. Far enough away.

“Logan!” John screamed. “Let go of the switch.”

Still covering Buffy with his body, he watched as Logan followed his command, then slammed his now available fist into Viktorov’s face, before gripping the gun.

John stayed down on the ground for another few seconds, but nothing happened. There was no explosion. He turned his head to look at the vest. It still lay there intact.

He lifted himself off Buffy and ripped her blindfold off, before lifting her into his arms.

Logan was now pinning Viktorov to the ground and Savannah had picked up the gun and was pointing it at her assailant, though it was clear she was hurting.

With Buffy in his arms, he ran to her.

“I’ve got her,” he said and dropped Buffy to her feet.

Buffy immediately wrapped her arms around her mother, and John took the gun from Savannah’s hand. She cast him a weak, but happy smile. Then he pried her hand away from the wound at her side and looked at it.

“He only grazed you,” John said with relief. “I’ll heal you once we’re done with him.” Then he stroked over Buffy’s hair. “Take care of your Mommy for me, okay, Buffy?”

“Yes.”

He turned to Logan and stared down at Viktorov. “You can let go of him now, Logan. I’ve got him. Thanks.” He lent Logan a hand to help him up while he pointed the gun at Viktorov. “The bullet went right through you. I’ll give you blood to heal the wound if you want.” He knew Stealth Guardians healed fast, but vampire blood would speed up the healing process even more.

Logan nodded gratefully. “Appreciate it, man.”

Then John leaned closer to Logan and dropped his voice, “Make sure Savannah and Buffy don’t see what I’m about to do.”

“Sure thing.”

Logan walked past him to take care of the two most important people in John’s life. Soon, he would be able to take care of them himself, but first, he had to deliver justice to a man who was pure evil.

John glared down at the man and extended his fangs. Shocked, Viktorov stared at him and tried to crawl backwards, hoping for escape. There would be none. John’s gaze fell on the dead man’s switch that lay nearby. He focused on it. It had broken apart when Logan had dropped it. It was a fake. Viktorov had never planned on killing Buffy. He’d only used the suicide vest as a threat so Savannah would comply.

John glared at Viktorov. “Only place you’re going is to hell.” He put the safety on the gun and dropped it behind him, then jumped onto Viktorov. The predator had just become the prey.

Viktorov screamed. “What are you?” He lifted his hands, trying to shield himself.

John growled. “I’m your worst nightmare.” He swiped his claws across his victim’s torso, leaving four long bloody cuts that laid bare muscle and sinew.

“Ahhhhh!” Viktorov screamed in pain.

“Since I’ve got your attention now, let’s talk! Where are the names and addresses of the people who were to take delivery of the kidnapped girls?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he claimed.

Another swipe with his claws, this time in the other direction, and Viktorov yelled out in pain again.

“Your torso will look like a checkered tablecloth when I’m done with you,” John warned. “Now talk! The names! The addresses! Give them to me, and I’ll let you go.”

Viktorov whimpered. “On my phone. There’s a list.” He motioned to his jacket pocket.

John reached inside it and pulled it out. The screen was locked. He reached for Viktorov’s right hand and pressed his thumb on the button, unlocking the cell phone. “Where?”

“In the notes.”

John navigated to it, and scrolled through the notes. Dozens of names and addresses, all in Russia, were listed there together with the names of the girls and a dollar amount.

“You sick fuck!” John hissed.

“It’s all there. Now let me go.”

“You’re right, it’s all there.” He shoved the phone into his pocket, then pressed Viktorov’s right hand flat onto the ground, palm up and sliced off his thumb with his claws.

Among Viktorov’s screams of pain, John explained calmly, “So I can unlock your phone again later. You know, when you’re dead.”

“No! You promised!”

“Oh, yeah, forgot to mention: I don’t keep all my promises either.” He leaned closer, holding the struggling asshole to the ground. “I should let you suffer longer, but you’re lucky: there’s a woman here and her child, and I don’t want them to have to listen to your screams for much longer. But then, you wouldn’t understand that, would you? Because you love to see women and children suffer.”

John sliced through Viktorov’s torso with both hands now, the sharp barbs at the ends of his fingers leaving deep cuts until he hit bone. Viktorov’s screams were blood-curdling, but John couldn’t stop. He had to make him pay for the pain he’d caused those children and their families, for the pain he was still causing some of them.

When he felt Viktorov’s ribcage, he ripped it open, bones cracking. Then he plunged his claws into the cavity and grabbed the bastard’s still beating heart. He squeezed it, then ripped it out. Looked at it, then dropped it.

It was done.

John sat back on his heels, his heart pounding, adrenaline flowing, his chest heaving, when he suddenly felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He whipped his head to the side. Savannah looked past him at the mutilated corpse.

“Thank you,” she murmured. “Thank you for saving Buffy. And for killing him.”

He turned his body fully and wrapped his arms around her legs, pressing his face into her thighs, while he took several steadying breaths. Her hand was gentle, when she stroked his hair. After a moment, he lifted his face to look at her.

“You shouldn’t have had to see this.”

“No, I had to. Now I feel safe again.”

He rose and pulled her into his arms, then looked to where Buffy stood, holding Logan’s hand, looking at them.

“We’ll have to tell her what you are,” Savannah said. “But I think she’ll be fine.”

“She’s a brave little girl.” He smiled at Buffy, then turned his head back to Savannah. “We know where the kidnapped girls were supposed to be delivered to. We’ll go after them. Take them out.”

Savannah clung to him now. “Please stay with me and Buffy. Let somebody else do it. You’ve done enough.” She pressed her lips to his, and he kissed her back for a brief moment, then severed his lips from hers and looked deep into her eyes. Despite everything she’d seen him do, the violence she knew he was capable of, she had no reservations about him. She still wanted him. Still loved him.

Slowly John nodded. “I’ll stay with you. And with Buffy. You’re my family now.”

Savannah was right, he didn’t have to take out the Russian pedophiles on Viktorov’s list himself. Besides, he already had somebody in mind who would be more than willing to go after them. And eliminate them one by one.