by Julie Kagawa
Chapter 9
We caught their attention immediately. As soon as we ducked through the entrance and stepped into the room, three mole men glanced up from one of the fire pits. For a second, they stared at us, blinking in shock. Jackal grinned back at them and nodded.
"Evening," he said cordially, and the mole men leaped upright with shrieks and hisses of outrage, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Weapons flashed, and howls rose into the air, as the entire sea of mole men surged toward us with murderous intent.
"Now, now!" Jackal bellowed, his clear, confident voice ringing through the chamber. "Let's not be hasty! We're not here for a massacre! And you people don't want a fight with us, trust me!"
Whether it was the certainty in his voice, or the sudden flash of fangs, the entire group of mole men skidded to a halt a few yards away, glaring at us with wide, hate-filled eyes. I shot an amazed glance at my blood brother, who faced the hostile mob with a smile on his face, completely in his element.
"That's better," Jackal said, still with that easy grin. "Let's all calm down a little. You know what we are, and we'd rather not have to paint the walls in blood to get what we want. We can all be civilized here, right?"
Whispers were beginning to spread through the mob, growing louder and more restless. I tensed again, but suddenly the crowd parted and an old woman with stringy white hair stepped forward. Most of her teeth had rotted out of her skull, and her eyes were filmy blue, but she curled her lips back and pointed with a bony claw. Not at me or Jackal, but at Zeke.
"You!" she hissed as Zeke blinked at her. "Topsider! I know you! You're the outsider that brought the rest of them down here, filling our tunnels with light, attracting what doesn't belong. You are the cause of this. You scare the rats away with your endless noise, and now, you bring them down from the streets, just as we feared! Curse you!" She spat at Zeke. "Curse you, and your whole thieving race! You're like the plague, crowding places you don't belong, bringing death with you! The Undercity will never be safe now!"
"It isn't safe up top, either," Zeke answered in a steady voice. "We couldn't stay aboveground, not with the sickness spreading so fast. I'm sorry we invaded your territory, but it was the only place we could go. " She spat at him again, unappeased, and he raised his hands. "We'll be out of here as soon as we can, I promise. "
"Which brings us to our next order of business," Jackal broke in, sounding slightly annoyed that the attention had shifted away from him. He took a step forward, and the woman flinched back, making him smile. "We have to get into the Inner City. And since all the gates up top are sealed off, the only way through is to go beneath. That's where you come in. "
The old woman glared at Jackal fearfully. "Vampire, you want us to show you the tunnels to the Inner City so you can return and tell your people of the humans living right below their feet?" She shook her withered head. "Never! Kill me if you want to, we would all rather die than bring the monsters down here. "
"We aren't going to tell anyone about you," I said, before Jackal could say something like, That can be arranged. "We're not from the Inner City-we're not even from New Covington. " Well, Allie the Vampire can't call the city home, anyway. "The vampires up top aren't our friends. Why do you think we're down here with a human?" I didn't look at Zeke when I said this, but I felt his eyes on me. "I know you have no reason to trust us, but we have to get to the Inner City, and we're not leaving the tunnels until we do. "
More muttering and whispers. I could sense that a few of the mole men were considering our words, though most of them still looked terrified. This was their worst nightmare, vampires making their way below ground, into their territory. Fear of the monsters had driven them underground in the first place, and now we had invaded their safe haven. I could suddenly understand their reluctance.
"Your words mean nothing to us, vampire," the old woman said at last. "We have only the promise of your silence, and that is not enough. We cannot take the chance that you will stay topside. If more monsters follow you into the tunnels, we have nothing with which to defend ourselves. "
"Then let me offer something. " Zeke stepped forward and all eyes snapped to him. He faced them calmly, hands at his sides, raising his voice to speak to them all. "Do you know the easiest way to kill a vampire?" he asked the crowd.
The mole men shuffled and hissed, muttering among themselves. They were reluctant to speak, but at the same time, they were intrigued. Killing vampires appealed to them, it seemed. Finally, a voice in the crowd spoke up, and more followed.
"Burn it. "
"Cut off its head. "
"Drive a wooden spike through its heart. "
I shifted uncomfortably. No need to sound so eager. Zeke nodded. "But you'd have to get awfully close to do that, wouldn't you?" he asked in that same cool voice. "And no one wants to be that close to a vampire and risk having it see you, right? Better to take it out from a distance. "
"What is your point, topsider?" the old woman hissed.
Zeke narrowed his eyes. In one smooth motion, he swung the crossbow from his shoulders, drew back the string, and fired a dart at the far wall. The spike hit a rusty steel drum with a ringing clang, embedded halfway through the metal, and the mole men gasped then burst into a storm of muttering.
"I'll give this to anyone who can guide us through the tunnels to the Inner City," Zeke said when the noise died down. When I glanced at him in surprise, he shrugged. "I can't take it with me, anyway," he whispered. "Not up there. The vamps would take one look at this and freak out. "
"Kid's got a point," Jackal said begrudgingly. "You go waving something like that around the Inner City, you'll get your head torn off before you know what's happening. Still, I'm not too keen on a bunch of vampire-hating cannibals having it, either. "
One human edged forward, eyeing us warily. Like the others, he was frightfully thin, his hands and face spotted with open sores, but he seemed even more wasted than the rest. One side of his face was nothing but a furrow of scars, part of his lip had been torn off, and his eye was a milky-white orb, unseeing and useless.
"I'll take you," he rasped, his fevered gaze on Zeke's crossbow. "For that weapon, I'll take you there. "
"Amos," the old woman hissed, turning her filmy gaze on him. "Don't be a fool. They're vampires. They'll kill you and leave your body for the rats. "
The mole man shrugged his bony shoulders and stepped forward, away from the crowd. "Why should I care about that?" he asked in a dull, flat voice. "I have nothing left. And I'm tired of living in fear. " He stepped up to Zeke, bringing his scarred face very close to the other human. Zeke stood his ground. "Give me that weapon," the mole man said, "and you have a deal. I'll take you to the Inner City right now. "
Zeke nodded. "All right," he said, swinging the crossbow to his back again. "But you get us there, first. I'll give you the weapon once we're past the walls, not before. "
The mole man bared rotten teeth in a grim smile. "Follow me. "
We left the lair of the mole men through a tunnel on the far wall, feeling the cold, suspicious, angry glares of the mob on either side of us. I could smell their fear, see the tension lining their wasted bodies, the tight grip on their weapons, and hoped we could get out of there before things exploded into violence. They didn't move, however, just watched us as we trailed our guide through the chamber, into the tunnel, and melted into the darkness.
The mole man, Amos, moved quickly through the passages, never looking back, never checking to see if we were still there. He carried no light and maneuvered the pitch blackness and shadow with no trouble at all, sliding into tunnels and crawling through pipes as easily as walking. This was his world, this maze of concrete and rust and mold and damp, like the streets and broken buildings up top had been mine. I had the strange realization that the mole men and Unregistereds were very similar. Despite their aversion to light and their disturbing tendency to eat human flesh, they were just scavengers,
fighting for food, avoiding the vampires, struggling to survive.
We walked for a few hours, following our silent guide through endless tunnels and dark passageways. Rats fled from us, and once a huge snake slithered into the water out of sight, but we met no one else as we ventured farther into the belly of the city.
Dawn was less than an hour away, and I was beginning to get a little nervous, when Amos finally stopped. A rusty ladder led up to a dark hole in the ceiling, covered by a metal grate. Weeds, grass and bramble smothered the top and poked in through the spaces, dripping water on our heads.
"The Inner City is through here," Amos rasped, peering at the exit with a half fearful, half disgusted look on his face. "The grate is loose, but no one has used it for years, and the vampires don't know about it. We don't go topside, especially not up there. Now. . . " He turned on Zeke, his eyes narrowed hungrily. "You promised me that weapon if I led you to the Inner City. Hand it over, and let me go. "
Zeke immediately swung the crossbow off his back. "Thank you," he told the mole man, holding it out. "Tell your people we won't let the vampires know that you're down here. "
Amos snatched the weapon from his hands and backed away, glaring at us. "It's a little late now, topsider," he growled, looking at me and Jackal. "The vampires already know. "
Before we could reply, he turned and fled into the tunnels clutching his prize, and the darkness swallowed him instantly.
Jackal made a face at the retreating mole man then glanced thoughtfully up at the grate. "Well," he mused, squinting through the metal slats as if he could see the city through the weeds and vegetation, "here we are. I don't think we'll be knocking on the Prince's door tonight, though. "
"Yeah," I muttered. Dawn was close. It would be risky and dangerous to continue through unknown territory with the light threatening the horizon. "The sun's almost up. Looks like we're sleeping down here one more day. " I gazed down the tunnel Amos had vanished into and frowned. "And there's a mole man running around with a crossbow now. Let's hope nothing comes creeping back while we're all asleep. "
Jackal's voice was a soft growl. "It's not the mole men I'm worried about. "
I blinked at him, confused for a moment. Until Zeke did something I'd never seen him do before.
He smiled. A cold, dangerous smile, his eyes glittering with dark promise. It sent a chill through me as I realized I didn't know him anymore. Before, I would've trusted Zeke with my life, and had, on more than one occasion, slept through the day with him nearby, guarding me. I'd been wary, especially at first, but I'd come to realize that Zeke wasn't the type to stab someone in cold blood, even if it was a vampire.
Now, I wasn't sure. This vengeful, hard-eyed Zeke worried me; I didn't know if he still considered me a friend, or if I was just another vampire who had turned on him. I was even less sure about Jackal.
"Does it worry you?" Zeke's voice was soft, menacing. "That the human you've been pushing all night will be guarding your dead body while the sun's up? Maybe you should've thought of that before you started talking about my father. "
Jackal stared at Zeke, appraising. Zeke put a hand on one of his stakes and stared back. I tensed, ready to jump in if either of them went for the other.
After a moment, Jackal bared his fangs in a savage grin. "Well, color me shocked-the human actually has a pair. He might survive the Inner City, after all. " Stepping back, he nodded at me. "Getting a little crowded in here for my taste. You two have fun, I'll be back when the sun goes down. Oh, and human. . . " His amber gaze flicked to Zeke. "Contrary to what you might think, I actually can wake up in the middle of the day. So if you have the notion to track me down and take my head for a trophy, I suggest you be ready for the fight of your life, because I won't hold back until one of us is smeared over the walls. Just a friendly warning. "
He gave a too-bright smile that was anything but friendly, turned and sauntered off. His tall, lean form melted into the darkness of a nearby tunnel, and he was gone.
Silence fell, stretched awkwardly between me and Zeke, who watched me under the faint light coming through the metal grate. We were finally alone, and dawn was close but not imminent. I could finally ask him all the questions burning inside my head, but I found that I didn't know where to start. He wasn't the same person as before.
And neither was I.
Finally, Zeke sighed and leaned against the wall, pulling his gun as he did. His fingers deftly released the cartridge, checked the rounds inside and snapped it back again. "You should go," he said without looking at me. "Find a place to hole up for the day. I'll stay here, keep the tunnels clear of mole men or anything else that might come creeping back. "
"Haven't you been up all night? Don't you need to sleep, too?"
"Don't worry about me. " He slid the chamber back, making sure it was loaded, then released the slide with a click. "I've been taught to survive on zero hours' sleep if I have to. I'll be fine. "
"Zeke-"
"Allison. " He finally looked up at me. "I know you have a lot of questions," he said, sounding uncomfortable, "but I can't answer them, not now, anyway. Just know that the others are safe. They're still in Eden, and they have a good life now. I made sure everyone was taken care of before I left. " A shadow of a smile finally crossed his face, and he shook his head. "Caleb ordered me to tell you 'hi,' and that he and Bethany named a goat after you. "
I laughed, feeling a strange tightness in my throat. "I'm glad they're okay," I told him, and he nodded, a wistful look passing through his eyes. For just a moment, he looked like the boy I'd left in Eden, hopeful and determined, only wanting a home and a safe place for his family.
"All right," I muttered, drawing away. "If you've got this, then I'm going to find a place to sleep. If Jackal comes back before I do, try to ignore him, okay? I don't want to come back to a massacre. "
"Wait. " Zeke pushed himself off the wall, as if he couldn't hold back anymore. I turned back to find him watching me with hooded eyes, the gun held loosely in one hand. "Why, Allison?" he asked in a hard voice. "You never told me why Jackal is here. You know what he is, what he's done. Why are you here with him?"
My insides cringed. I'd known the question was coming, and I still didn't have a good answer for him. Not one that he could accept. Why should I tell you? I thought rebelliously. You don't trust me with your secrets anymore; you can't even tell me the reason you're here. I don't have to explain anything to you, Zeke Crosse.
But. . . if I told him that, it would only make him more suspicious. He would think I was hiding something. And I wasn't going to play that game. I knew what I was; I had nothing to hide, not anymore.
"I ran into Jackal while I was looking for someone else," I told him. "I thought I was following a lead, but I was wrong. I found Jackal instead-he was waiting for me. "
"And he didn't try to kill you?"
"No. " I shook my head, watched his brow arch in disbelief. "Jackal had been following the same lead when I met him. We came to New Covington together because we're looking for the same person. His name is Kanin, and he's being kept in the Inner City now. I want to get him out, and I need Jackal's help to do it. "
Zeke pondered this, no expression on his face. "That's who you were talking about before," he mused. "You said you had to find someone, that you owed him. " I nodded, though it wasn't really a question. "Who is he?" Zeke asked in a low, serious voice.
I paused. How could I explain Kanin's importance to someone who hated vampires and-with the possible exception of one-thought they were all evil, soulless demons? Revealing who Kanin was, our relationship within vampire society, probably wasn't going to go over well with Zeke. I was once again choosing to help a vampire, and maybe I was turning my back on my once-fellow humans, but I would not abandon Kanin. Not for Zeke, not for Sarren, not for anyone. I owed the vampire far too much.
"He's my sire," I finally admitted, and Zeke's brow furrowed, not recognizing the vampiric
term. "The one who Turned me," I elaborated. "The one who made me a vampire. "
Zeke's face went blank with shock. "That's who we're looking for?" he whispered. "A vampire? The monster that killed you?"
"He gave me a choice," I reminded him firmly. "I chose to become a vampire, it wasn't forced on me. Kanin isn't like that. " I'd told Zeke this before, that Kanin had saved me from a rabid attack and given me the choice to become a vampire, but he still stared at me, disbelieving and horrified. Maybe because, to Zeke, all vampires were monsters. At least, that's what he believed before I came into his life and, even now, I wasn't sure what he thought of me. I shook my head in frustration. "He taught me everything I know," I continued earnestly, wanting him to understand, to see that Kanin wasn't just another monster to be hated and feared. "He took me in, and showed me exactly what I needed to learn about being a vampire. He didn't have to, but he chose to stay, to teach me. I'd be dead now if it wasn't for him. "
With a little shock, I realized that I really missed Kanin. I hadn't allowed myself to think of him much; beyond the knowledge that we had to find him and get him away from Sarren, I had tried not to imagine what my sire was going through. But I remembered his deep voice, his lessons about feeding and fighting and vampire culture, the annoyed look he gave me when I was being stubborn. I desperately hoped he was all right, or at least still alive and sane. The Master vampire had been cold, stern, and sometimes harsh, but his teachings had basically saved my life. If not for him, I really would be dead, or worse, a soulless predator consumed with her own bloodlust, who didn't know she could be anything but a monster.
Zeke struggled with this a moment longer. I could see him thinking, trying to come to terms with the fact that we were venturing into the Inner City to rescue not a human, but another vampire. "You don't have to come with us," I told him quietly. "You don't know Kanin, and you don't have any reason to be here. I won't hold it against you if you leave. "
But Zeke immediately shook his head. "No," he murmured, as if that was the end of it. "No, I went through too much to find you. And the refugees are counting on me to help them. I'm not leaving now. "
There was something more to that and I wanted to ask what it was, but Zeke quickly changed the subject. "This Kanin," he began, looking thoughtful. "You told me why you want to help him, and that makes sense, but why is Jackal here? He led a whole raider army and controlled an entire city, and he gave all of that up? Why is he so interested in one vampire? Who is Kanin to him?"
I stifled a groan. "Why do you have to ask such hard questions?" I muttered. Zeke's expression didn't change, and I sighed. "Kanin," I began slowly, hoping he wouldn't instantly jump to conclusions, "is Jackal's sire, too. He Turned him a long time ago, before I was even born. Which makes us, at least in vampire society. . . "
"Siblings," Zeke finished softly. "Jackal is. . . your brother. "
I nodded. "My blood brother," I confirmed, watching to see how Zeke was taking this. No expression showed on his face, which I found disconcerting-I used to be able to read him so easily. "That doesn't mean I like him, or that I've forgotten what he's done," I added, facing Zeke's blank stare. "I fully expect him to turn on me as soon as he gets what he wants. But Kanin is our sire, and we're the only ones I know of who have a chance of finding him. "
"Why?"
"Because. . . " I paused, preparing to explain another piece of vampire history I didn't want to reveal. "Sometimes, we can. . . sense those who share our bloodline, members of our particular family. We can feel where they are, what they're experiencing, usually in times of intense emotion or pain. Our blood ties us together. There's a stronger pull toward our sire, but the offspring of a Master vampire are always aware of each other, once they know the other exists. That's why a Prince's coven is usually made up of his own offspring- it's harder for them to turn on him if he always knows where they are. "
Zeke's brow furrowed. "So, you can sense where Jackal is? Right now?"
"I couldn't give you detailed directions," I said, not liking this sudden interest. "It's more like I know he's that way-" I gestured toward a wall. "But I don't know exactly where. And I'd have to make a conscious effort to concentrate on him before I could sense anything. Not like Kanin. Kanin. . . is in pain right now. And he's calling for us. "
Zeke was silent, but his eyes narrowed as he stared in the direction I'd pointed, his face hard. I shifted uneasily. "Zeke," I began, hating to ask him but knowing I had to. "You're not going to go looking for Jackal, are you? He'll be expecting it, and he probably didn't lie about waking up in the middle of the day. Some of the stronger vampires are able to do that. Promise you won't go after him. "
He glared at me, definitely angry now. "Do you really have to ask me that?" he demanded, his voice harsh. "Do you really think so little of me, that I would murder someone while they're asleep?" He shook his head in disgust. "No, when I kill that vampire-and I will, Allison, make no mistake about that-I want him to be fully aware of it. I want him to see my face. I want him to know exactly who killed him, and why. " He tore his gaze from me and stared down the tunnel, a flicker of torment crossing his face. "Jeb deserves it," he said in a softer voice. "So do Darren, and Ruth, and Dorothy. And everyone else he's murdered for his entertainment. Who knows how many he's killed, how many have suffered because of him?" He glanced back at me, and his eyes were hard again. "So, no, I'm not going to stab your brother while he's asleep. I'll wait until we rescue your sire and make sure the refugees are safe, and who knows how long that will be? But when this is over, I'm going to kill that vampire, Allison. For my family, for those back in Eden, I'm not going to leave him alive. The only question is. . . " He looked me right in the eye, a shadow of uncertainty crossing his face. "Will I have to fight you, as well as Jackal?"
I bit my lip, feeling pulled in two impossible directions. Jackal had been the enemy, once. As far as I knew, he still was. But, we had traveled together, fought side by side. He hadn't left me to the rabid horde in the Old D. C. tunnels. And, as much as I hated to admit it, he was my brother. We might not be siblings in the human sense, but in vampire society, we were family. Turning on Jackal once I had what I needed sounded like something he would do, and I wasn't like him. Unless he attacked me first, I could not accept his help today and then try to kill him tomorrow.
But I could no more fight Zeke than stab my brother in the back. He was the one thing I would try desperately to save, no matter the cost. Even from myself, the demon that still Hungered for his blood. That was urging me, even now, to pounce on him and drive my fangs into his throat. If Zeke went for Jackal with the full intent to kill, I really didn't know what I would do, but it would probably involve trying to stop them both.
"I don't know," I said at last, and watched Zeke's face go from hopeful to devastated before shutting down completely. It sent a pang through my stomach; in his eyes, I'd just chosen Jackal over him, but I would not lie and say I'd help him kill my brother. Even if Jackal deserved it. "Let's hope it never comes to that. "
Zeke turned away and stared into the darkness, his expression closed off. I wanted to keep talking, to explain that I wasn't turning my back on humans in favor of vampires. But dawn was closer now, and as I drew back to look for a place to sleep, I couldn't help but think that maybe it was better this way. It was better that Zeke hated me. He was one of those "dangerous attachments" Kanin had warned me about. The most dangerous attachment, if I was being honest with myself. What we'd had before, what we'd shared, that was just a fantasy and a deadly one at that. There was no way a vampire and a human could be together, and my inner demon laughed at the thought. It would just take one slip on my part, one tiny error of judgment, and I would kill him. Better that he think me a monster now, just like Jackal, and keep his distance. It was best for both of us.
With a heavy heart, I walked toward a side tunnel, wondering when I had made all these impossible connections. Making decisions had been so much easier when I was jus
t Allie the Fringer, when my only concern was keeping myself and Stick fed, when basic survival was all I cared about.
At the mouth of the tunnel, I stopped and glanced back at Zeke. He was leaning against the wall beneath the metal grate, head bowed and eyes closed. Rainwater dripped into his bright hair, making it shimmer as he stood outlined in hazy light. He looked. . . very alone then, a single human in a monster-infested world, a fading bright spot surrounded by shadow. And despite my best intentions, my determination not to be a monster, I was part of the world that he feared. Part of the darkness that would drag him down and tear him apart.
"I'm sorry, Zeke," I told him, and stepped into the shadows before he could reply.