by Rye Brewer
“You’re right,” I admitted.
He was a slimy, double-dealing monster. He used Anissa as a slayer because she wanted to protect her sister. He was capable of terrible things. I couldn’t underestimate him anymore.
I scratched my jaw, thinking. “Still, I think it’s worth a chance. I can sneak in through the tunnel, and find my way to the dungeon.”
“How do you plan on doing that? Do you have a map?” Disbelief still colored her voice.
“No.” I gave a shrug.
“Then I’m coming with you. I’m doing this with you.” Her tone was resolute.
“No.”
“Yes. There’s no other choice. Either I escape and kill you, or you let me come with you to rescue my sister. Once you fill your end of the bargain, we’re even. I’ll leave you alone.”
“Kind of you,” I sneered.
“You saw what I did to that werewolf,” she replied, her voice cold. “What do you think I could do to you if I set my mind to it?”
She had a point. I was sure she’d honed her skills since she’d become Marcus’s personal slayer. “Fine. We’ll go together.”
I watched as she thought it over, chewing her bottom lip.
Finally, she spoke, “If we do this, and that’s a big if, I won’t be able to go back to my clan ever again.”
“You just said they don’t take care of you,” I reminded her. “They let you and your sister fend for yourselves for years until Sara did the unthinkable. Is it such a bad thing to be outcast from them?”
“Easy for you to say. You wouldn’t be the one who was outcast. You have a clan. You have support, protection. We would be less than nothing.”
“Your sister is less than nothing right now, and so are you as long as you’re doing Marcus’s dirty work. Are you willing to be his slave for the next seven years, until he releases your sister?”
I could see the wheels turning in her head. Seven years. Nothing for creatures like us, for whom time didn’t mean very much. But if she’d already killed so many she couldn’t keep track, how many more would she kill in almost three times that long?
“I hate him,” she whispered.
“I’m sure you do. You won’t have to be his anymore. I’ve seen the way you handle yourself. You’re tough. You can make it.”
“I wish I had your faith,” she muttered.
“Isn’t it worth it? Knowing your sister will be free?”
She looked me in the eye. “Yes. It’s worth it.”
“One question for you before we do this. Two, actually.” We crouched beside the old wooden door just barely concealed by overgrowth. It had originally been dug out during the Revolution, back when the mansion was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers. The makeshift administrators had made connections with smugglers who sneaked in precious medical supplies. I’d heard rumors of its use during Prohibition, too, when illegal liquor would be transported through the tunnel to the main house. Not long after that I’d wager, the entrance had fallen into disrepair.
“Do you think this is the best time for questions?” Anissa’s eyes flashed in the moonlight.
I nodded. “I need to know before we go through with this.”
She exhaled, probably in exasperation. “What is it?”
“First, why doesn’t silver hurt you? Have you always been able to handle it?”
“I told you. I don’t know. And yes. I’ve always been this way.” She shrugged. “It’s not something I talk about. I’m already different enough.” She touched her hair, self-consciously.
That was hardly the only different thing about her—there was so much—but I decided not to go any further with that train of thought.
“Why were the werewolves following you? Did you do something to them?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You said one question.”
I scowled at her.
She scowled back but I could tell she wasn’t upset.
Then she shook her head. “I don’t know why. That’s the truth. The one and only time I ever killed a werewolf for Marcus was years ago. My first kill. I doubt they would have waited more than two years to get revenge.”
“Good point—anyway, werewolves don’t normally avenge each other like that.”
They didn’t move in tight clans, the way vampires did. They tended to drift around on their own, or in small packs like the one we’d encountered over the weekend.
There had to be some reason why they’d attacked her, though, and it wasn’t to protect me. I believed her when she said she didn’t know why.
I had so many questions, but some of them were more of a private nature, and personal. And because I wanted to know. But this wasn’t the time. Would there ever be a time?
I shrugged my questions away. “All right. Let’s go in. Are you ready?”
She nodded.
I opened the door, the creaking hinges making me wince. We were far enough from the main part of the house that nobody there could hear us. I hoped.
The tunnel was pitch black, of course though, that didn’t matter to us. I led the way, glad it was virtually a straight line. Otherwise, the carts the smugglers had used decades earlier wouldn’t have made it through. It was roughly a mile from the door to the short flight of stairs leading to an unused kitchen of the mansion. There was no use for a kitchen anymore, not since the Carver clan had taken over the property. They didn’t need food any more than I did.
“I can’t believe I’ve lived here all this time and had no idea this tunnel existed,” Anissa said when we got to the far end. “And I’ll never get to use it again.”
“Never say never,” I whispered, even though she was right. There was no way she could step foot on the property again after what she was about to do.
I led the way through the door to the pantry, which led to the kitchen. An empty, dark, cavernous kitchen which had originally catered to dozens or even hundreds of houseguests at a time. The equipment inside was from the time in which it had last been used—old stone hearths and cast iron kettles, in other words. The Carver clan had taken possession just after the Civil War.
“Just beyond here is a stairwell which leads further down into the lower levels,” I said. “Can you find the dungeon from here?”
“I can find my sister,” she replied, her voice low. “I could find her anywhere.”
I let her lead the way, then, and she took off like a streak of light, only she was pure darkness, traveling swiftly.
It was almost an effort to keep up with her. I admired her bravery and determination. I admired her strength, too. She did what she had to in order to save her sister. I would have done the same thing if it had been Philippa in that cage.
Down four floors and through miles of hallways, we finally reached the dungeons. I could smell fear and agony down there. Desperation, too. It made me wrinkle my nose and want to leave, but I didn’t have that luxury.
Anissa glanced at me from where she stood, pressed against a wall. “Two doors down,” she mouthed.
I nodded.
Then, almost as an afterthought, she dipped low, reached into her boot, and pulled out a long, thin, silver blade. She did it so swiftly, I’d have almost missed it if I hadn’t been looking right at her.
Even though I knew the metal had no effect on her, it still surprised me to see how easily she handled it, almost carelessly.
She nodded back, firmly, her jaw set. Then she dashed to the door as quick and quiet as the wind. It was almost a pleasure to watch her move. No wonder Marcus had used her. She was made for this. She turned the knob, then pulled the door slowly, silently, just far enough for the two of us to slip through.
It was bright inside. Very bright. It almost hurt my eyes. I wondered if that was part of Sara’s punishment, to always have that bright light around her. Never a rest for her vampire eyes, as sensitive as any vampire’s. In the center of the far wall was a cage, and a girl chained to the wall. Marcus had been clever. There was no way to reach her from any side, no way
to slip her the blood she needed. The guard would have used a small door along the side of the cage to get in and out. Why she still needed to be caged was beyond me—she was allowed to feed, thus keeping her away from all physical contact made no sense. Another punishment.
“Hey! You’re not allowed down here at this time of night!”
We both spun in reaction to the angry, booming voice of a black-clad guard. I froze in place, while Anissa sprang into action with her blade. In the blink of an eye, the guard was nothing more than a heap on the floor, a gaping hole in his chest where she’d pierced his heart with silver.
“Come on,” she breathed, running for the cage.
Sara looked at us, seeming dazed, as though she thought she was dreaming. Like any of us could dream.
“What are you doing?” she whispered. She was smaller than Anissa, which seemed impossible since Anissa was hardly bigger than a waif. Her brown hair was long, unkempt, tangled after years of neglect. Still, she was beautiful. And very scared.
“We’re here to get you out,” I said, using the keys I took from the guard’s body to unlock first the door, then her cuffs. They weren’t made of silver, which was a relief, though Anissa could have easily handled them. I wondered if Sara had the same immunity to silver as her sister, but there was no time to ask.
The three of us took off down the hall, with Sara lagging behind a little. Anissa threw her sister’s arm around her shoulders and pulled her along. Years of not moving, of feeding just enough to keep her from starving, had left her weak.
She had killed that guard. Marcus was sure to know who’d done it. No, she could never come back. I realized as we ran how much the thought bothered me, and I wondered why.
Chapter 9
Anissa
I could hardly believe it. We were running through the halls, then through the unused kitchen and the tunnel beyond it, and I still couldn’t believe Sara was finally free again. Not just free, but free thanks to Jonah. If it weren’t for that tunnel—how did I not know about it?—there would be no way to get out without Marcus knowing. He knew so many things. He probably already knew about Sara.
No. I couldn’t believe that. I had to keep running, to make us safe. Sara did her best to keep up with me as we ran, though she was understandably weak. I couldn’t bear the thought of what she’d suffered through even with the blood Marcus had provided her.
She almost tripped, and seemed ready to stop, to catch her breath.
I pulled on her arm. “Just a little more,” I said, urging her on. “Come on. We have to keep going.”
“I’m so tired,” she gasped, but she struggled along with me.
Jonah was just in front of us, leading the way through the narrow tunnel. I saw the scant moonlight through the door which we’d left open. It was getting closer and closer, giving me hope that we’d make it out in time. I dared hope.
“Hurry,” Jonah barked, and I heard in his tone the powerful clan leader he must have been.
I owed it all to him. The thought that I wouldn’t see him again after that was the last thing I needed to consider, but I couldn’t help myself. I wouldn’t see him again.
It was already near dawn when we reached the tunnel entrance. The threads of rose and indigo wove through the sky, heralding the sun’s approach and the day’s advent.
Sara took a deep breath of the fresh air. “It’s been so long,” she nearly wept, trembling from head to toe.
I wrapped my arms around her.
“Too long,” I whispered. I hadn’t hugged her in so long. Three years. Strange how creatures to whom time didn’t matter could still suffer its effects. I had missed her every day.
Jonah closed the door. “You’d better go.”
“I know.” I sighed, looking around. We were alone.
The sun was nearly touching the horizon, and a chilly mist hung over the ground. It would only be a matter of time before Marcus came looking for us.
And then it hit me. “We can never go back.”
“I thought you knew that already,” Jonah pointed out.
Sara looked at me with wide eyes.
“Of course, I knew that,” I said. “It just didn’t seem real until now.”
What would we do? No clan. No protection. Nothing. It wasn’t unheard of for vampires to go rogue. Some did for one reason or another—breaking clan rules, exile after violating League canon. It wasn’t exactly a status vampires aspired to. In fact, rogue vampires were reviled, pitied, hated. And we would be those vampires.
He looked me up and down. I couldn’t quite read the expression on his face. Regret?
“We’re even now,” he said. “You spared my life, I helped you save hers.”
I wanted to tell him we weren’t even, not at all. I could have taken him then if I’d wanted to—Sara couldn’t stop me, and I didn’t think she’d want to in her fragile state. So why couldn’t I? I didn’t owe him anything, not really. Then again, there would be no point in killing him since I’d already killed that guard. It was all too confusing.
“Come,” I said, pulling Sara to a standing position. She had sunk to the grass the moment I let go of her—just another display of her fatigue. I didn’t want to be the one to tell her, but our flight had only started. She wouldn’t be able to rest for a long time. And I knew she’d be too weak to course—the way we vampires could travel long distances, though coursing left us unbelievably weak.
“Where are we going?” she asked, looking around in panic.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “But wherever it is, we need to get there before full daybreak. We’ll be missed by then—me, especially, and you once the guard shift changes.”
She glowered at me. “You don’t have a plan for where we’re going?”
The accusatory tone of her voice rankled me.
“I wish I had,” I said slowly, making sure not to lose my patience. I hated to hear her sounding like she was accusing me, especially since I had put everything on the line to save her. Then again, she had already made a sacrifice for me. Had it not been for her, how would we have survived before she got caught? “The fact is, there’s nowhere for us to go now. You know that.”
“But you came for me anyway.” That was wonder in her tone, and gratitude. So she did see the importance in what had just happened. I shouldn’t have doubted her.
“You’re worth it,” I said.
Then I turned back to Jonah. Something inside me clenched up when I thought about him. I shouldn’t have cared if I ever saw him again, or even about the outcome of the League’s meeting since I was about to start my existence living outside the laws of the ruling group. But I did. I cared very much about his gorgeous red hair and the way his eyes seemed to bore into me. I cared about his perfect face, the half-smile he gave me. I cared about the way he made me feel safe, which made no sense whatsoever. He was the one vampire who shouldn’t have made me feel that way. He should have made me feel nothing but anger, resentment, rage.
“Thank you,” I mumbled to him.
“You’re welcome. And don’t think you’re the only one who’s going to suffer for this.” He smirked. “You know I’m going to hear it from my brothers and sister for the next century.”
I couldn’t help giggling, remembering how serious they were when kidnapping me. “Not the same,” I finally decided, shaking my head. What a time for me to stand there, flirting with somebody. Like there weren’t much bigger issues at hand.
“No, I guess you’re right. I better go.” He inclined his head toward the city.
“Us, too,” I concurred.
But neither of us wanted to be first, I realized. Did that mean…?
“Goodbye. And good luck.” He gave me one last, long look before turning away. Then he sped off, and in the blink of an eye, it was like he’d never been there.
I couldn’t move with that sort of speed, not right now, not with Sara in the state she was in. I threw her arm over my shoulder again.
“Come on,” I said,
setting my jaw. “The woods are our best bet right now.”
“The woods?” she asked, but followed my lead.
We ran in the direction of the wooded area just beyond the mansion.
“If we can get there, it’ll be easier to hide. We’ll need stay out of sight for a while. At least, at first, you know? We need to put together a plan. Something. We can at least figure out which way to go after we get to a hiding spot.”
Every minute we wasted put us one minute closer to Marcus finding us. My head swiveled one way, then the other, looking back and forth to be sure nobody was following. It looked as though we were still alone.
“I’m so tired,” Sara whispered.
It wasn’t a complaint. It was a fact. I knew she had to be wiped.
“I know. We’ll find a way to get you to feed, and you can rest.” I just didn’t know where.
That was the problem. I didn’t know where to take her. Why hadn’t I waited and thought it out? Because had I waited, I would have run up against the League meeting, and it would be clear to Marcus that I hadn’t done his bidding. He might have punished my sister for that. He might have punished me, too.
We were almost in the woods. Almost. I could feel Sara trying to help me move her, trying to help me in some small way that would make it possible for us to escape quickly. She was trying, at least. I had to remember that.
“I think there are a few old shacks deeper in,” I said, thinking fast. “Do you remember how we used to explore sometimes? Years ago?” It was easier to think about those days before our parents died and we were left alone. “Do you remember the old shacks? They were our castles, weren’t they?”
She laughed softly. “I remember.”
“We’ll hide there for a little while. Nobody will find us.”
“You’re sure?”
I wasn’t sure about anything, anymore. But I could fake it as well as the next person—vampire.
We made it to the woods, and I could breathe a little easier when I knew we were at least under the cover of trees. We weren’t running out in the open any longer, where anybody could see us.