Free Fiction River: Hex in the City by Fiction River Page B

that looked like rope and thorn spiders, all twitching and crawling over themselves as though alive.
    “Think they are safe to burn?” she asked Cord.
    “Safer to burn than to leave here,” he said. “Get the boy to the car, I’ll figure something out.”
    Whatever Cord did, and it was likely magical since his smell changed from cedar to cinnamon, it proved super effective. They drove away with the flames rising behind them, heading back into the city.
    Andre, still holding an unprotesting Ruby, curled up in the back seat with Cord’s coat for a blanket, fell asleep with the kittenish power of the young. Verity watched him as the miles rolled by.
    “What do I do with him?” she asked.
    “Nothing,” Cord said. “I know a place in Canada, the kind of people who will keep him safe and hidden from those who might use him. It’s best if you don’t know anything about it.”
    He was right, but it hurt. She felt more engaged in her life than she had in a long time, and now that she was finally doing something that felt wholly right, she apparently needed to do what she had done all along. Let things be Somebody Else’s Problem.
    “I guess you can drop Ruby and me off at home,” she said, still watching the boy sleep. At the sound of her name, Ruby opened her blood-red eyes and bobbed her head at Verity before going back to sleep on the boy’s chest, looking like a pile of dirty snow on a Christmas blanket.
    “What are you going to do?”
    “Shower. Sleep. Get up for work. I’m on call for warrant duty tomorrow.”
    “Going back to work? After this?” She didn’t need to look at his face to read what he meant by that.
    “It’s my job.” She shrugged.
    They rode in silence for the rest of the drive. As she gently took Ruby back from Andre, she placed a kiss on the boy’s forehead. He did not wake up.
    She stood outside the car, the door still hanging open, and looked up at the tall shadow of her apartment building. Other than Ruby’s television, she couldn’t remember a single personal thing in her apartment. Somebody else’s life was up there.
    Verity got back into the car, cuddling Ruby close. She’d get her a new TV.
    “Drive,” she said to Cord.
    He smiled at her but kept his mouth shut, putting the car in gear, and they headed out into the maze of dark buildings. Verity did not look back.

 
     
    Introduction to “ A Thing Immortal As Itself”
     
    Lee Allred is a soldier. I was sure of that when I met him, and I’m even more sure of it now after reading “A Thing Immortal As Itself” and meeting his main character, Nathan Fairchild. This is the vampire I want to see at the movies. Seriously. I’m one adorable, sensitive vampire away from a tantrum, and Nathan gives me hope that someone knows that vampires are predators. This makes him a Guardian in my book.
    Dubbed the “Master Sergeant of Alternate History,” Lee Allred has sold his unique brand of short fiction to Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine , Baen Books, Fiction River, and numerous other publications. He’s also scripted for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Image Comics. His classic novella For the Strength of the Hills earned a finalist nod for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. Lee served worldwide in the US Air Force (including three tours in Iraq) before retiring at the rank of Master Sergeant. He currently resides on the beautiful Oregon Coast. Lee writes:
    “‘A Thing Immortal as Itself’ is part of a series of Stakeholder vampire stories. This one takes a look at the interplay between the vampires’ secret society and human politicians who know vampires exist but feign otherwise.”

 
     
    A Thing Immortal As Itself
    Lee Allred
     
    Two A.M. on a sweltering summer night in Washington, D.C. Nathan Fairchild pulled his rusted-out Ford pickup into the deserted parking lot of the 24-hour franchise pancake house nestled among crumbling brick apartment houses. Light streamed through the building’s wraparound