by Helen Keeble
When you said it really fast, it almost made sense.
My family, as one, boggled.
“Hi,” Sarah said with the briefest of glances around at them all. “Jane, can you info dump later? I remind you we’ve still got dozens of vampires above our heads. Kill the freak, so we can get out of here.”
For a second I thought she meant Zack. He spread himself even wider in front of Ebon. “You can’t hurt him. He’s an endangered species!”
“Vampires are not endangered.” Van’s tone made it clear that it was his life’s work to rectify this regrettable situation.
“No, not that,” Zack said dismissively. “He’s a Victorian!”
“Brainwashed,” Van muttered.
“Crazy,” Sarah proclaimed.
“Steampunk,” I corrected with a sigh. “Zack, just because he knows how to make frock coats or whatever—”
“He’s so awesome, Janie! He went to the Great Exhibition.” Zack’s entire face was alight with enthusiasm. “And he worked in a proper factory, and was a subscription member to save up for railway trips, and he saw Brunel, and—”
“And, in case it escaped your notice,” I interrupted, “he kidnapped you.”
Dad cleared his throat. “Actually, he didn’t.”
“I told you, Jane,” Ebon croaked. He put his hands on Zack’s shoulders and bodily moved my protesting brother aside. “It wasn’t my idea to capture your family. I’ve been trying to free them.”
“It’s true.” Dad held up his left arm, displaying a snapped set of manacles.
“Mr. Lee seems to have had a change of heart regarding his current employer,” Mum said.
I stared at Ebon through Sarah. He had his hands in the air, but was otherwise totally ignoring Van and his crossbow. His head turned to look straight at me, which put him in profile to my current line of sight. What I could see of his face bore a curiously calm, resigned expression. “But why?”
“Jane!” Sarah deliberately turned her eyes away from Ebon, treating me to a view of the storage units lining the room. “Either shoot him or decide to trust him for now, but let’s move!”
“I vote for the former,” Van said. Zack emitted a howl of protest and tried to tackle Ebon to the ground, bodyguard style.
I made up my mind. “All right—no!” I yelped, as Van’s finger tightened on the trigger. “I mean, all right, we won’t kill him.” For one thing, my little brother would have made my unlife a living hell. “Don’t make me regret this later, Ebon.”
Ebon, with Zack still clinging to his waist like a squirrel trying to climb a greased tree, bowed solemnly. “My thanks,” he said, dropping his hands and gently disentangling himself from Zack. “I can but hope that there is a later.” He cocked his head, studying my video apparatus. “That, by the way, is most ingenious.”
“Thanks. Seems to be working so far. Lily’s wearing one too. Did you have a plan for getting out of here?”
Ebon nodded. “There is a fire exit down the corridor, which leads to the car park.” His mouth quirked ruefully. “After that, I confess my plans were somewhat nebulous.”
“We’ll work on that. Van, vampire update?”
“Still gathered up above us. If we hurry—” Van broke off in mid-sentence, his head snapping up toward the ceiling. Utter horror filled his face. “Jane! The vents!”
Everyone looked up. A thick, silvery mist was starting to trickle through the ventilation grills set in the ceiling. A very familiar type of mist.
“Run!” I yelled, ripping off the video glasses as the first vampire solidified. The abrupt return of my own senses made me stagger, momentarily perplexed by being back behind my own eyeballs. My head felt full of wasps. Vampires were condensing like raindrops, falling ceaselessly from the ceiling. Unfamiliar hands grabbed me; I reflexively punched straight into the vampire’s chest, crushing his heart, and felt the hands dissolve again as he died.
Superspeed rushed through my veins. I whirled, ducking another vampire and ripping out her heart too. A weight crashed down onto me as a vampire resolidified right on my shoulders; but I’d barely started to stagger before Van had shot a bolt directly into its chest. Ebon lunged past me, hurling two vampires away from my family.
I pulled everything I could down the Bloodline—no time to consider Sarah now—making myself faster, stronger, tougher. Even the other vampires seemed slow to me now. I dodged blows that would have taken my head off, and returned them with punches that sent my opponents hurtling through walls. Someone managed to get a stake through my chest; I ignored it and killed another vampire.
We were doomed from the start, of course.
There were too many of them. I caught a glimpse of Ebon vanishing under a wave of vampires piling onto him like a rugby scrum. Van kept smoothly reloading, firing, reloading, eyes tight shut the entire time—but then his left hand was empty, and in the second it took him to reach under his coat for more ammunition, they had him. He went down too, and now there were even more vampires surrounding me. I whirled, ready to fight them all—
And put my hands in the air. “I surrender.”
Vampires had my family. Two of them held my struggling parents without any effort at all. Another had Zack’s arm twisted viciously up behind his back, immobilizing him. No one held onto Sarah—they didn’t need to. She sprawled in her wheelchair like a puppet with cut strings, motionless.
The room suddenly seemed very quiet. Hakon’s vampires ringed me, out of arm’s length. I could hear the thunder of my family’s hearts, Zack’s helpless sobs of pain.
Every vampire in the room looked up, all at the same instant, like dogs hearing their master’s whistle. Even I did it.
Something was coming down the Bloodline. I could feel it slipping closer, stalking down my veins. Something huge, and dark, and silent, and old …
Mist swirled down from the vents, and solidified. And there, unmistakably, stood Hakon.
Chapter 25
He was a kid. Just a tiny kid. No more than seven or eight, small face very solemn, his golden hair as neat as if he were about to pose for a school photo. The stark whiteness of his perfectly tailored silk shirt and trousers gave an illusion of warmth to his pallid skin. He looked perfectly innocent—except that no child ever stood so still.
“You again,” Mum said to Hakon, scowling aggressively even though her voice wobbled. “Don’t you dare—”
“Silence,” Hakon said mildly, and my mum shut up instantly. That scared me more than any mere display of power. Zack had gone still as a frightened rabbit, huge eyes fixed on Hakon. Dad tried to step between him and the Elder, only to hiss in pain as the vampire holding him jerked him back.
Hakon stretched on his toes, peering up into my face. His blue eyes transfixed me: bright, curious, and utterly merciless. Oh, we were so very dead. I couldn’t help glancing from him to the discarded video headset by my feet. How had he known …?
As if reading my thoughts, one corner of Hakon’s mouth curved upward. He pointed to the ceiling of the room.
I followed the line of his finger and groaned, suddenly feeling incredibly dumb. We’d spent all that time worrying about the supernatural threat, when all he’d needed to see us were—“Security cameras.”
Hakon’s tight, thin-lipped smile sat very oddly on his little-boy face. “Do not think me a displaced relic, Xanthe Jane Greene, a piece of history transported into a strange modern world.” Even his voice was just a kid’s voice, high and clear. “I have traveled through one thousand years—one day at a time.”
I heard a muffled curse off to one side, followed by scuffling sounds. Hakon glanced that way. “Ah,” he said, turning. There was something unnatural about the way he went from perfectly still to motion to perfectly still again. It made it seem as though he hadn’t really moved. “Yes. Let me see also the hunters’ secret knife, their treacherous feeder of ravens. Bring him out.”
Three vampires hauled Van into view. Apart from a bloody nose and an expression of d
eep disgust, he seemed fine. Hakon looked him up and down, head cocked, while Van attempted to ignite the Elder vampire through the sheer force of his glare.
“There is no mistaking your parentage,” Hakon said at last, sounding mildly aggrieved. “And how Lily managed that without my knowledge, I will be most eager to discover.” Both Van and myself blinked, as Hakon turned to one of his vampires. “Disarm him. Carefully, but miss nothing.” The goon set about what quickly proved to be a lengthy task. Van had weapons in places I hadn’t even imagined. It was a miracle he’d been able to walk at all.
“And what of the lioness’s grandson?” Hakon swiveled precisely on his heels to face the other pile of vampires, the motion so clipped and fast it looked robotic. “Where is my cat?”
One at a time, the vampires gingerly disentangled themselves. They stood up, separating to reveal—nothing.
Hakon’s angelic face never changed. He glanced at two of his people, a mere flick of the eyes. They dissolved into mist, swirling briefly around the room like a whirlwind before streaming upward into the air vents.
High up on one of the shelving units behind Hakon, the tiniest flicker of motion caught my attention. It was a flash of something slinking across the top of the unit: a slender, sand-colored shape, hard to see against the beige walls and ceiling. A pair of triangular ears poked over the edge of the upper shelf.
Ebon? With a mighty effort, I kept my gaze fixed on Hakon. Out of the very corner of my eye, I saw the ears flatten out of sight again.
Hakon had gone back to studying me. He wrapped one small hand around the stake through my chest. Without any effort, he pulled it out and tilted his head to watch as my bones and skin knitted back together. “Now, that may be the most interesting thing I have encountered for centuries.”
So Ebon had been right. Hakon really was curious about me. Which meant … I had something to bargain with.
I took a deep breath, shoving my fear aside. “I am interesting,” I said. “The invulnerability, the shared senses, the way I don’t need any other blood …” Oh yeah. He was definitely interested. “I can tell you everything you need to know. I’ll help you. But first—” Hakon’s eyes narrowed, and I gulped, feeling that gathering of power down the Bloodline like thunderclouds massing on the horizon. “But first you have to let my family go.”
“That I cannot do, Xanthe Jane Greene.”
“You don’t need them as hostages to control me. Look, I’m not stupid.” I jerked my head to indicate Hakon’s descendants, and the situation in general. “I can’t fight you, and I can’t run. So I’m giving up. Surrendering. Let my family go, and I’m yours.”
“Me too,” Van said staunchly. I could have kissed him.
“Again I tell you, I cannot.” Hakon turned to address my parents. “What will you do, should I accept your daughter’s bargain? Will you take your remaining child and retreat peacefully, never again to trouble me nor mine?”
“Like hell,” Mum snarled.
“Janet,” Dad said. “Sir, of course we would. Wouldn’t we, honey?”
“What—oh.” Mum paused. “Yes. Yes, we would. Of course.” I winced.
Hakon wasn’t fooled either. “You see, Xanthe Jane Greene,” he said. “Loyalty binds both ways, like blood. I cannot release your family while you remain, for they would be wolves on my trail forevermore. And while mortal lives are brief, blood feuds are heirlooms, handed down. I do not care to have a stake planted through me by your brother’s daughter’s son. So.” He held out one hand, palm up. “Let me make you a different offer.”
“What sort of offer?” I said suspiciously.
“The same that I make all my vassals. You and your family will be under my protection. I shall provide for you shelter, food, a stipend. Your family shall live in one of my towns. They shall not be free to leave, true, but I will allow you to visit them, as it pleases me. None but I shall have power over them; no vampire will touch them, save at my command. You will serve me wholeheartedly and well, and in return they shall be safe.”
There was a small silence. Zack looked at me, “Huh?” practically hovering above his head. My mum was shaking her head, looking grim. Dad opened his mouth, but I made a small gesture at him, silently pleading him to let me handle the talking. “Serve you doing what?” I said to Hakon.
Hakon tilted his head a little. “Do you know what binds vampires, Xanthe Jane Greene?” He pointed at my parents. “Humans? They are so blind, they don’t even realize we are among them.” His finger swung toward Van. “The hunters? Laughable pawns, easily bribed. So, what is the only thing that keeps us in check?”
I got the feeling he didn’t mean paper clips and Scrabble tiles. “What?”
“Other vampires,” Hakon said softly. “Delicate webs of alliances and pacts, enforcing rules to divide the human herd between us. The only thing that keeps us Elders in check is other Elders.”
“Jane, he wants you to be his assassin,” Van said. He did not look at all happy, though it was difficult to tell whether this was due to Hakon’s proposal, or the fact that he was now down to his underwear. The vampire searching him was eyeing his boots speculatively. “He wants to rule the vampire world.” His searcher pulled a hidden knife out of the sole of Van’s shoe, sighed, and started undoing the laces.
“Yes,” Hakon said, perfectly calm. He spread his hands. “Would that be such a terrible thing, Xanthe Jane Greene? I follow the old ways, of loyalty and oaths. My vassals will attest that I am a just lord. And,” he shrugged slightly, “what evil have you seen me do?”
I stared at him—so small, so fragile, so harmless. My mind flashed on the white, waiting ranks of blood-collection cubicles. I thought of the undercurrent of fear in Ebon’s voice, whenever he’d spoken of Hakon.
I wondered what Sven had meant, when he’d casually mentioned a quota for killing people.
“Okay,” I croaked, past the dryness in my throat.
“You swear your oath to me, for now and all time?”
I swallowed. “Yeah.”
“Xanthe,” Mum said, just as Dad said, “Baby Jane, are you sure?”
“My decision,” I said to them, then, to Hakon, “Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Swear loyalty and obedience to me then, Xanthe Jane Greene,” Hakon said. “On your blood, and on the blood of your family, and on the blood of your gods, swear it.”
“I swear loyalty and obedience to you, on …” My mind had gone blank. “On, um, all those things, and stuff.”
Who cared? It was only words, after all. Hakon might believe in blood oaths and loyalty and all that crap, but I wasn’t some thousand-year-old baby barbarian. I’d swear whatever he wanted—and then double-cross him the instant his back was turned.
“I accept your fealty, and give you my protection in return.” Hakon gave me a small, solemn bow. “I will reward loyalty with loyalty, and obedience with honor, and treachery …” He straightened, tilting his chin up to look me straight in the eye—and all my half-formed thoughts of rebellion dropped dead.
“And treachery,” Hakon said softly in his sweet, childish voice, “I will meet not with death, but life eternal. For should you betray me, I shall turn your family myself. And then I shall torture them, daily, for one thousand years, until they are nothing more than mad husks that have only ever known pain.” A bright smile lit his face, and he reached out to pat my hand. “Of course, it shall not come to that. Now, your first task shall be to snare my wayward granddaughter. For too long Lily has evaded me. You shall catch her, and her long torment shall begin at last.”
“Not so fast,” said Sarah’s cold, hard voice. She sat upright in her wheelchair, glaring at us all. “You didn’t cut any deals with me.”
Her loaded gun, reversed, pointed straight at her own heart.
Chapter 26
Nobody move,” Sarah ordered as vampires bristled in her direction. “One twitch, and I kill myself and your precious supervamp, little boy. Then you can kiss all your grand plans good-b
ye.”
Hakon made a tiny, downward motion with one hand, and all of his vampires subsided again. His pale eyebrows rose. “Can you not control your soul’s vessel, Xanthe Jane Greene?”
“Uh—” I eyed Sarah. Her finger was white on the trigger; there wasn’t even a millimeter of slack. There was no way I could suck her unconscious fast enough. “Actually, no.”
“Don’t you dare ignore me!” Sarah yelled at Hakon.
He said nothing in return. His own gaze was focused on the gun, and his face had lost a little of its eerie calm. He moved to the side, circling Sarah. Her eyes swiveled, but she couldn’t keep him in view without turning her wheelchair, which she couldn’t do without both hands. He was now standing nearly behind Sarah, where she couldn’t possibly turn to aim at him before he could get out of the way; his vampires relaxed slightly.
Sarah’s eyes rolled, as if trying to see through the back of her head—then, quite suddenly, fixed on me. “Keep an eye on him for me, okay, Jane?” she said, seemingly casual.
I stared at her. She had a weird, abstracted look, her eyes not actually focusing on me. It reminded me of Van’s expression when he was using the Bloodlines.
“I said to keep an eye on him,” Sarah repeated, through gritted teeth. “Not me.”
Was she using my senses now? I flicked my attention to Hakon, who was watching Sarah carefully; out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sarah give me the tiniest nod. She was.
Which probably meant that she’d sense any motion I made even before I started to make it. Wonderful.
“Girl, don’t be silly,” my mum said. “These theatrics won’t help.” She seemed more baffled than worried. I had a horrible suspicion that she hadn’t really understood the whole heart thing.
“It’s all right, Sarah,” Dad said much more soothingly. He was the closest to her; he took a cautious step in her direction, hands raised in the air. The vampire who’d been holding him had let go, obviously far more worried by the crazy girl with the gun than the unarmed middle-aged painter. “We’re all going to be okay. Everything’s fine.”