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On Top

  • 3 min read

– Nyx –

The tower was cold—both to the touch and in a creepy, I-have-a-bad-feeling-about-this kinda way. Neither of us is afraid of heights, but Keria stayed on the ground. She’s in my ear, though. She’s always in my ear.

“Do you see it?” she asked.

I smiled to myself, despite my location. The wind felt like it was sweeping all the way from New Mexico, gaining speed across West Texas just to crash into me, shaking and rattling the metal I was clinging to. It looked like a broadcasting tower, and for good reason. It was, more or less.

“No sign of it yet,” I said.

“Do you want me to play the recording again?” she asked.

We’d listened to it at least three dozen times. Old Marge had been clear. “There’s no equipment on the tower except a box near the top. There’s a small red light on it and a switch on the side. You’ll see two small antennas and where it connects to the power line running up from the ground. Flip the switch.”

I didn’t need to hear it again, but I know why Keria asked. The job had her a little antsy. And I get that. Even with all my bravado, I get it. It was a dangerous one, for sure. I felt anxious, too, but I couldn’t let her see it.

One of us had to stay calm.

“No, love. I know what I’m looking for.”

“Sunset in 40,” she said in response. Her voice was curt. All business. Now that was reassuring. Maybe she was getting grounded.

“Copy that,” I said, and then I kept climbing. 

The box was nothing and everything. Just a relay, but a critical one. Without it, the clan’s security system wouldn’t automatically trigger a call for backup. Our hands were going to be full enough with the vamps in the castle. We didn’t need more of them. We only had so many stakes.

I pulled myself up along the icy metal—Christmas in Hill Country, folks—and spotted the box off to the left. Just like Old Marge said. The light was faint. You’d have to be within feet of it to see if it was on or off.

Perfect.

“Found it,” I told Keria. “Switching it off now.”

It was anticlimactic. No alarm. No visible sign of a change. Just the power light fading away.

“Good job,” Keria said. “Now get your ass back on the ground.”

I leered in her direction. Under me. 

“Whoa. Down girl. I’m the one who tells your ass where to be.”

She chuckled. The banter was good for her nerves.

“Are you?” she asked playfully. “‘Cause I don’t see you enforcing much of anything from up there.”

“Noted,” I said. “We’ll revisit this when my feet are on the ground.”

“I hope so,” she said. I could hear the smile.

“But after,” I said. “We have vamps to kill.”

She sighed into her mic. “Oh, I know. You keep reminding me.”