by Holly Hook
“You know underground Cumberland better than any of us,” I said. “Wasn't there that nightclub run by that half-demon?”
“We don't want to deal with her,” Alyssa said. She shuddered.
“It's possible she'd know Bathory,” Xavier said. “She was working with the mayor for a while. He could have gone, 'Bathory, this is my new friend and cabinet member, Beatrix.'”
“I hate talking about him,” Alyssa said.
“Understandable,” I said. I had held Alyssa while she cried over things the mayor had done and told her—and she wasn't the person to break down. But it had been horrible.
“It might be worth checking,” I said.
“If the bodies have gotten cleaned up,” Alyssa said. “I forgot to mention that Bathory knows where The Pit is.”
“Oh.” She had told me about that.
“We're not going back there without reinforcements,” Xavier said.
“Agreed,” Alyssa said.
“I've never been there,” I said.
“You don't want to go,” Alyssa told me. “It's where all the worst Abnormals like to hang out.”
Alyssa and Xavier had gone there twice once to use the portal underneath the place and another time to find demon blood. They'd both almost gotten themselves killed both times, and my second cousin, George, hadn't had a good time, either. The ATC knew about the place and had sent several now-dead agents down there to secure it. “Are you sure she'd take that place?” I asked. “It's not a secret anymore.”
Xavier sighed. “I suppose you're right. She would have moved location.”
“Then Bathory could be anywhere,” Alyssa said.
Chapter Seven
Our new apartment had too many windows.
It was the first thing I checked for when Mom and I stepped through the front door on Sunday night. It was dusk when she drove me and her out of Oaktown and back into the city. Also, Alyssa and I had gotten to the contact store at a different, smaller mall earlier that day, and I could remove my sunglasses. That seemed to put Mom at more ease, along with the fact that most of the brownies had vanished.
I had told her how good they were. She didn't know Xavier had eaten them first.
We drove deeper into the city until we reached a ten-story building that was only half a mile from the start of downtown. The sun was only a faint orange glow on the horizon, which didn't bother me at all. It seemed like I could tolerate low levels of sunlight. That helped.
School might be a different matter tomorrow.
My new nail file poked at me as I turned in my seat to check out the building. Mom had snagged us one of the newer apartments as she had been planning to do the past year. So, the fire had worked out.
The effects of Xavier's blood hadn't worn off, or even started to yet. I was a tad hungry again after a day and a half, but nothing like before, and I figured I could last another day or two before I went crazy. I could see through the reflective glass and into the building. In one apartment that was five stories up, two kids were playing a fighting game. In another...that couple was about to...they needed to close their curtains.
Mom found a spot on the bottom of the parking ramp. It would block out almost all the sun from above if I had to come out here and meet anyone. Good. I could cut through it and reach the alleys below if I was careful. Already, I was thinking of how to get to and from school. I still had my car, too, even though a plank had fallen on the windshield from the apartment fire and it was still in the shop.
“And here we are,” Mom said. She sounded happy. We had a new place to live, and she was sure I was still Normal and acceptable.
I had also filed down my teeth that morning, so I could speak without worrying. “I can't wait.” Though I loved hanging out with Alyssa, it was time to have our own space.
Mom and I left the car and headed up the stairwell which was free of graffiti. This was a nicer part of Cumberland, with lower crime. She'd done a good job finding us a new place. We entered the building, which had carpeted hallways and an elevator at the end. We boarded and went up to the top floor.
Mom talked about how the movers had a hard time getting our couches up to the top floor along with the new TV and the beds. The renter's insurance had come through, and she lectured me on why I should get my own when I got a place (as if having our old apartment burn thanks to the demon mayor hadn't given me that lesson.) She unlocked the door to reveal a spacious living room complete with new furniture and a wide TV mounted to the wall.
“Mom,” I said. “This is great.”
She smiled. “I wanted to give you something better than what we had before. Why don't you check out your room?”
I did, but an uneasy feeling filled my gut. My secret was safe for now, but I knew it might not be forever, and the problem with food would come up the moment things settled. Sure, we never ate at the same table together with our busy lives, which would help, but I might get caught scraping food off my plate, eventually.
I didn't want a repeat of the brownies.
My room was the same size as my old one, with a bed covered in black sheets and a fluffy pillow that sat next to a stuffed unicorn. A new backpack sat next to my bed, along with a bunch of schoolbooks that Mom must have picked up earlier that week. Hint, hint. She wanted my grades to come up more.
Other than that, it was a nice room, and I even had clothes already stocked in the closet. Out in the kitchen, Mom pulled open the fridge and poured herself a glass of water. I listened as the bubbles popped in her glass. How long would the effects of Xavier's blood last?
“Janine,” Mom called. “Don't forget to start on your homework tonight. I picked some of it up from Mr. Connors. Try to bring your grade up a few more points before the end of the semester.”
“I will, Mom.”
“If you don't work harder, you will never amount to anything.”
“I know, Mom.” A familiar hurt gathered in the space between my chest and my stomach. She was using the apartment and the new furnishings to remind me I didn't pull my weight enough.
That I might be too much like my father, whoever he was.
In one way, I was like him. I'd inherited blood from his side of the family. A long time ago, Bathory had infused one of his ancestors with hers.
I flopped down on the bed, trying to fight down the burst of anger rising inside. I half-expected a flare of War Magic to appear around my hands, but nothing happened. Xavier's blood had given me no magic. Well, maybe. You had to get it through birth or you had to get Bound to a War Mage. I wasn't supposed to have any of that.
But my senses were still through the roof, and now I could hear the oven ticking as Mom tested it. The electric stove buzzed as it heated. She turned it off and opened the microwave next. She had turned her attention to the apartment.
I sighed and cracked open my Physics book. I set my phone on my bed, watching for any texts from Alyssa. Her father had bought her a new contract-free phone that morning, so she could communicate with me. The two of them couldn't risk any contracts right now.
Even my phone was new because Mom had switched us to a new plan.
I had to be careful what I said, in case she snooped. I didn't put that past her.
Alyssa stayed quiet. She had promised to show up to school tomorrow since she and Xavier hadn't turned up any clues all weekend. Even Thorne had seen nothing suspicious since he rarely trained Underground students during the weekend.
So I turned my attention to my Physics book. Mr. Connors had scrawled out my assignments in his blocky print and signed his name with his trademark check mark at the end. Ten of them. Yikes. I read chapter after chapter, trying to absorb the information the best I could, but my eyes drooped after about an hour. I scribbled on my new notebook that Mom had gotten for me.
Even after Turning, I was no better at Physics. I still sucked. Xavier's blood hadn't enhanced my understanding of newtons, joules, potential energy and momentum. I stared at the diagrams of speeding cars and Olympic
runners and let the frustration build. Numbers swirled around each other. At last, I gave up and tossed my book onto the floor. It closed with a soft thump.
I stared at the ceiling instead.
Mom turned on the television, and I could hear the components inside heating. The news came on, and the hosts talked about the leadership changes at the ATC. The assistant mayor had quit his temporary post there to become the full mayor of Cumberland, and Richard Grimes, the purchaser of the company, was taking over.
Grimes spoke on TV. “Unlike my predecessor, I plan to take the Abnormal Treatment Centers in the direction they were intended,” he said. “We will open true, open centers aimed at curing Abnormals of their conditions.” He had a smooth voice meant for public speaking. “As the owner of Godfrey Medical Center, I plan to bring my experience to the table and bring the latest new research in to help us with our mission. Perhaps within a few generations, we will have no one left suffering from the state of being Abnormal.”
In the living room, Mom let out a quiet, but a satisfied hum.
* * * * *
“Would you like to know the part you've played?”
I stood in the cave, arms bound by a pair of imps in combat fatigues. The demon mayor, Thoreau, paced before me in human form. He wore his sunglasses to hide his black eyes as he always did. Those eyes were always full of dancing flames as if the Infernal Dimension itself were burning inside of him.
I pulled against the imps. The cave was full of them, and they also held Liliana's arms. Another pair of them wrapped silver chains around George, who struggled and growled. The full moon was tonight, and he was due to shift.
No imps needed to hold onto Xavier. A pair of thick manacles held him against the wall. The ashes of the War God sat on the floor. They were all that remained when the War God broke his demonic contract by helping us only minutes ago. Since getting chained to the wall, Xavier's eyes had turned violet, just like the War God's had been. He was in the position to help fuel the rite.
The mayor was due to merge the worlds tonight. He needed five dark beings in position, and Xavier had just taken the place of the fifth.
And he needed Alyssa.
He had taken her away already and then returned. I did not understand where she was, but Bathory was guarding her until midnight.
“What part?” I asked. The fever I'd suffered for the past few days was fading, and as I spoke, my teeth felt strange.
The fangs were coming in.
It was the last step. I'd Turn completely by nightfall.
“It was part of my plan,” Thoreau said. “I needed to break her, and you helped me with that.” He smiled as he paced in the other direction. I could smell all the gross demon blood in the room. It was like standing in a room full of industrial waste. “I knew Turning her best friend by mistake would probably happen, and lo-and-behold. She didn't want to bite her idiot boyfriend.”
Xavier pulled against his chains. They held tight. He leveled his violet glare at the mayor. The air in the room remained hot. This place was full of War Magic. It had imprisoned the War God for who knew how long.
No one needed to say why. Alyssa had avoided biting Xavier as long as possible because she would become the Dark Pentagram, the being the mayor would use to merge the worlds. One by one, Alyssa had gotten forced to wake up new, more terrifying parts of herself. Getting full access to Xavier's magic had completed the fourth step.
And the fifth—
“Alyssa had to feel bad about herself in order to—”
“It was a good plan, wasn't it?” The mayor smiled.
I thought of the awful changes she'd gone through. Were they possible to reverse?
“So you knew I could Turn?” I asked. I thought of my father, the only parent who could have passed on Bathory's blood. “You invaded my privacy? Did you have a test done or something?” How would Thoreau have known I could Turn? Did he keep a family tree of the planet or something? He had known all about Alyssa's family and her potential to be the catalyst for this rite.
He wouldn't drop the grin from his face. When the mayor smiled, it was bad. “Well, why not make use of the only worth you have?”
I felt as if he had peered into my soul and found a gaping wound. “Excuse me?”
“Don't listen to him,” Xavier said. “He loves to cut everyone down.”
The mayor ignored him. He turned his sunglasses at me. They were so dark that my improving vision couldn't penetrate them. “I will keep you alive,” he said. “Alyssa will always remember what she's done to you. You'll stay on the border of starvation, always thirsting for blood, in chains beside Xavier.”
I woke and faced the ceiling. Letting out a breath, I tried to calm down. That memory came back almost every time I slept, so I tried to distract myself by staring up. I could make out every tiny crack and every crevice, and I could even tell that the painters had gone over it three times. There was a slight mold spot up in the corner that the landlord had covered up. No Normal could see it.
Mom snored on the other side of the apartment. I could hear her stomach growling.
I'd left my light on. With luck, Mom thought I had stayed up late to study. I must not have slept for long—an hour, maybe, but it was enough to give me nightmares.
The clock read ten thirty. I'd been studying until a little after nine. Mom must have passed out from exhaustion, but I felt wide awake. It was one perk, and maybe it could even help me study more.
But when I turned my attention back to my book, I couldn't focus. The mayor's voice kept taunting me. He had been cruel to everyone, and while I knew he had died, I couldn't shake his words.
He knew my torments. Alyssa's torments, and Xavier's.
He had known more about my father than I did.
And he had known I was the dead weight of the group, the one who did nothing. I wasn't sure which fact bothered me more.
I had to get out of here and walk. The night called, and an urge to be out under the stars swept over me. Was this how Alyssa felt every night? Before, I had slept like a rock after studying, but now I slept two hours at the most. I couldn't sit in my room, cooped up.
But there was also danger lurking outside. This wasn't the worst part of Cumberland, but I still lived in a city, and not everyone out there was weaker than me. In fact, there were people who were much stronger, and they might have connections to someone who started with B.
I thought of the Mother, always hiding behind her black veil, dress, and gloves. I'd only seen her twice, but that was enough. Alyssa had told me the horrible stories. She enjoyed spilling blood for the sake of it. Killing was her game even though feeding didn't have to be fatal for the victim.
She might be out there now.
I'd be no match.
I wanted to text Alyssa, but I had already taken the risk of texting Xavier in the mall. Mom might find that, and I'd have to come up with some excuse to make it sound normal. That wouldn't be hard at all—not. Having a bunch of texts that weren't Normal on my phone would never fly. Until school tomorrow, I was on my own.
My stomach rumbled. The hunger had doubled since my nap as if my memory had sucked down some of my energy. I couldn't believe a now-dead demon was still tormenting me. Thoreau's soul might have gone back to the Infernal, but it still felt as if he could visit in my nightmares.
I shouldn't go outside.
But the hunger would build, and they wouldn't be selling canned blood out of the vending machines at school tomorrow. In fact, they had just banned everything except for sparkling water. After lunch, everyone would smell like whatever they had eaten. Alyssa had described how she had to sit in a cloud of food smells in her last two classes of the day.
Outside, a man walked a dog past the building. I listened to its nails tapping the concrete. I inhaled and caught the faint scent of diner food. Waffle fries, and barbecue sauce. Even my sense of smell had increased, and the boost from Xavier's blood hadn't yet faded.
It might give me an advantage.
I got off my bed. Was I going to hunt?
My stomach rumbled. I might not have a choice if I was to get through school tomorrow. Besides, my heightened senses might tell me if any enemies were approaching. And I didn't have to hurt anyone.
I'd pick a guy. A strong guy. There was only a one in five hundred risk of infecting someone, right? Those were the statistics that the hospitals published. Most people who got treated for bites were fine.
I threw on my jogging pants and left my jeans on the floor. The less suspicious I looked, the better. I ran my tongue over my teeth. Alyssa was right they came back fast. They were already due to another filing.
“I can't believe you're doing this,” I said to myself. At least I had my contacts. I half-hoped that some guy would try to catcall me or rob me at gunpoint, so I wouldn't have to feel bad about what I was about to do, but I knew the opposite was also realistic. Mom had chosen a better part of town.
The jogging pants were new and still had tags attached. I ripped them off with ease and threw them on. Mom had also left me an apartment key for tomorrow on the counter. I had to search for a minute since I had holed up in my room for the evening to study.
Slipping out was the easy part. Mom continued to sleep, and I could almost hear her sleep cycle. Her heartbeat was slow and relaxed as was her windy breathing. She didn't have much scent as if her blood was getting all the food out of her system. Good.
If I didn't take care of this, I might attack her.
I could hear every working of the lock as I locked the door and tucked my key in my pocket. Mom continued to sleep inside. I boarded the elevator after I was sure she wasn't stirring. It dinged on the way down, and no one else got on.
The stars looked more amazing than they ever had. The galaxy spread over the sky like glowing dust, and I could even make out the haze of space dust much closer to home. I had missed so much with Normal eyes.
I wondered if Alyssa could see this, or if it was special to those who had sampled god blood.