The light had been different then as she recalled, the sun shining higher in the sky when now it was sinking. The last brilliant flashes of color spilled across the sky in orange and darkening red as if the sun was throwing its last great effort into a painting before surrendering to night. Lucy always used to stand outside watching the final splashes of the sun, somehow knowing even then that no one would touch her. Having the immunity hadn’t been the only thing keeping her safe.
She knew Elliot had seen to it.
Not even seeing him for ten years, she knew he would maintain some kind of protection for her among the vampires, a kind of unspoken truce. His parting gift to her, an opportunity to work on the cure in peace. Now it was disrupted because she’d ventured out one day to find her perimeter invaded and instead of turning her back…
She couldn’t let herself follow that thought. It led to the same place, to the same doubt, when she knew she had to take this chance. Follow her hypothesis. Being scientific always comforted her. Detachment and logic would keep her safe. Even safe from her own emotions.
The faint trail blurred as the wind picked up. Sand drifted across the ground, raising dust clouds as the truck wheels spun. The rocks solidified in the distance, gaining clarity and height as the truck moved closer. The tracks were no longer as defined. The shifting sand blurred the edges, smudged the lines the same way her thoughts seemed to shift back to the lab, to what she’d left locked away.
Stop. She had to think of Elliott. He was her brother and he had sacrificed himself for her. He had left her the cure after father…
The thought muddled in her mind. She tried to push it away but the edges became clearer. Memory strengthened. She didn’t want to remember, didn’t want to think about it but she remembered the sound of her father’s voice, twisted into a snarl. The feel of the air moving as he leapt on her. The heat of his breath on her neck as he bent over her.
Pain seared her as his teeth bit into her flesh. She had almost felt him swallow. Then she heard Elliott’s voice screaming and felt her father’s hands release her as he turned on his son. She didn’t remember the fight, only remembered how Elliott’s face appeared above her as he lifted her off the floor. Then sporadic images over the next few days as if she had been in the grip of a fever. When it finally let up, she opened her eyes to find Elliott hunched in the chair across her bedroom. She stood up and took one step toward him. He hissed at her and threw himself out the door. Before she could stop him, he’d bolted down the hallway and disappeared up into the desert night. She’d screamed his name until her voice gave out.
Now another name occupied her thoughts. Ridiculous, especially when she realized that it was probably transference. She hadn’t been able to save Elliott so she saved him instead, creating this bond between them. But it was Elliott she owed allegiance to, Elliott who had saved her and deserved to be saved in kind.
As the last of the tracks faded in the sand, she stopped the truck and jumped out. Hot air whipped dust in her fact, coating her nostrils, making her sneeze. Her haphazard turban sagged on her head. She rubbed her nose and then twisted the fabric before tucking the ends underneath. She squinted against the dust. Already darkening shadows stretched across the sand toward the truck. They reminded her of teeth drawing food into the mouth before crunching down. Maybe she would be the one swallowed. The thought made her uneasy.
No, this wasn’t a mistake. She pushed the last of the doubt behind her as she moved toward the rocks. She recognized the narrow crevice they had entered through before. From her pocket, she pulled out a thin light stick and tapped it on. It illuminated about a foot into the crevice. Darkness stretched beyond.
Now. She was going now. Her foot shuffled ahead, raising tiny dust clouds in the sand. The clouds settled before her other foot moved forward. Dammit, come on, she thought. She had made this decision already and she was going to do it.
She took another few shuffling steps. The light glowed deeper into the crevice. Her hand touched one side, feeling the hot, rough surface of the rock against her palm. She took a deep breath. Now she was going in.
Fingers dug into her shoulder, dragging her back and flipping her onto the sand. Lucy landed on her back. Her breath shot out of her in a whoosh. The light stick flew out her hand, skidding to a stop several feet away. Pain radiated up her spine, making her blink.
In the deepening shadows, a figure crouched. When Lucy noticed it, it began to creep forward, staying well back from the fading sunlight. She heard it hissing as it grew closer. Lucy forced her arms and legs to move again. The jolt up her spine had momentarily stunned her. Now her limbs quivered and she pulled herself back. Her hand reached for the light stick.
The figure snarled and leapt on her, slamming her shoulders against the ground. Her head smacked into the dirt, cushioned by the turban. The male vampire snarled. His knees dug into her chest, making her gasp for air. Claws held her down by her shoulders. She felt them slice into her skin. The scent of blood made the vampire snarl louder. Lack of air made Lucy feel faint. She struggled to focus, to make her mouth work. She had to talk to this creature, she had to invoke Elliott’s name.
The vampire lunged down, aiming for her neck. Lucy screamed, “Elliott!”
Then the pressure on her lungs was gone. Lucy opened her eyes. The vampire rolled in the sand. A blond female vampire stood with clenched fists on Lucy’s other side.
“We don’t kill her,” she said. “We hold her for him.”
The male regained his footing and crouched at Lucy’s shoulder. He bared his fangs at the female.
“Why? He won’t know.”
“I will tell him,” she said.
The male hissed at her in fury. Lucy lay still, waiting to see if the male would attack the female. She’d seen vampires fighting over victims before. She never thought she’d be the spoils.
But the male didn’t attack. He continued to hiss at the female then backed away, keeping his gaze on her as he retreated to the rocks. He disappeared into the deepening darkness even before he reached them; Lucy could hear his hiss even as his image vanished.
She stayed still. She knew the female hadn’t saved her for any altruistic purpose. When the male disappeared, the female turned back to Lucy. In the twilight, her blond hair shone like a beacon.
“Why did you come back?” the female said.
“I want to see Elliott.” Lucy’s voice felt hoarse and rough in her throat. She tasted dust. She sat up.
The female lunged. Her hand closed on Lucy’s neck. She crouched, holding her face an inch in front of Lucy. The smell of stale blood made Lucy want to gag.
“If you want to see him why did you run? How did you kill the ones guarding you?”
Lucy tried to speak but the hand was cutting off her air. She tugged at the fingers. They felt like steel, unmovable. Her mouth gaped open and closed. The vampire watched her then tossed her aside, straightening to stand over her.
Air rushed into Lucy’s lungs, making her cough. She bent over, gagging.
“I don’t know why he bothers with you,” the female said. “You aren’t worth anything alive.”
She reached down and grabbed Lucy’s arm. Yanking her upright, she dragged Lucy toward the rocks. Lucy stumbled, trying to get her feet under her and working as the female moved fast. The ground changed as they reached the rocks. With the last glow of the sun fading from the sky, Lucy could only make out the darker silhouette of the rocks against the darkening sky. The vampire tightened her grip on Lucy’s arm, digging her nails into the flesh. Lucy sucked in a breath at the pain and heard the female give a grunt of satisfaction. Lucy vowed she wouldn’t do that again, she wouldn’t react and give the female the pleasure.
Instead of heading for the crease, the female dragged her around to the right. As the night bled the remaining light from the world, Lucy saw a black shadow in front of her. The female pulled Lucy forward and the shadow swallowed them into the caves of the rock.
The darkness was
complete. Lucy let her free hand trail beside her, feeling the rock wall ebb and flow beneath her fingers. She could feel her eyes widen as if trying to find any bit of light but there was nothing. Vampires didn’t need light, not even in total darkness.
Learned something new, Lucy thought. Her detachment and logic had given her this piece of information. She wondered if she’d live to learn anything else.
The journey seemed endless. Then the wall her fingers were trailing fell away. She tried to reach for it but found nothing but air. She leaned away more and the vampire snarled, yanking her back. Lucy stumbled forward and the vampire released her.
Lucy fell to her hands and knees. Sand grated her fingers. Beneath it she felt hard rock. Both her knees felt bruised. She sat back on her heels and became aware of the lack of sound around her. Was the female still there? Had she left Lucy alone? Fear seemed to sneak up behind her and drape itself over her like a blanket. She even felt it wrap around her face smothering her. Lucy opened her mouth to breathe. Her heart pounded in her chest. She hugged her knees and held her scraped palms to her cheeks. Even if they left her here until daybreak she would never find her way out. She was too far inside the caves. No sunlight ever shone in this far.
How stupid she had been. The vampires didn’t have to do anything to her. She would die before she could find an exit. They never even had to risk Elliott’s wrath, they just had to leave her alone. Alone she’d been but this was a far worse alone than even the worst days in the lab. The lab had been home as well as prison. This unending darkness was the horrifying reflection of what she feared inside herself. A vast, empty nothingness.
She rocked back and forth but even that produced only silence. If she opened her mouth to scream nothing would come out. Even if she stood up and ran she would never reach a wall, never feel anything again. She would waste away in here, in the darkness, with nothing, being nothing, hearing nothing, feeling nothing…
A soft chuckle reached her. Lucy felt her mind snap back. She pressed her face to her knees and kept rocking. Not alone after all. That was all she needed. The female was tormenting Lucy, trying to make her think she’d been abandoned in the caves. But hadn’t the female threatened the male with Elliott’s possible reaction? She probably knew she wouldn’t be immune to Elliott’s anger.
So the only thing she could do was torment Lucy. Calm descended over Lucy. The darkness was no longer empty or endless. Now she could wait for as long as she needed and in some way she would have her revenge.
“He’s coming soon.” The female’s voice announced in Lucy’s left ear. A hand gripped Lucy’s arm again and dragged her to a standing position. They hurried forward down another hall and then into another empty area. This time when the vampire released her, a glowglobe began to glow in one corner of the ceiling.
As the light brightened, Lucy blinked against it. Her eyes had adjusted to total darkness and now the light felt like an intrusion. Shapes formed and solidified into view. Chairs. A long table against the wall. A small end table between the two chairs.
“Wait here,” the female said. “You won’t get far if you leave this room.” She retreated out the doorway. No door covered this entrance. The full dark was barrier enough.
Lucy sat in one of the chairs and rubbed her arm where the female had gripped it. Already she felt bruises forming. She unwound the turban, letting her hair cascade over her shoulders. Tearing a strip from the turban, she dabbed at her upper arms where the male had gripped her and pierced her skin. She didn’t want Elliott to come while she still had fresh blood oozing out. Even that was too much temptation for their familial bond.
She just finished when she felt a presence nearby. From the darkness in the doorway, a man stepped through. She recognized the wavy brown hair, so much like father’s. With her, he shared their father’s rounded face but as her nose was flat, he had their mother’s nose, proudly aquiline. Even his hazel eyes looked the same; no glowing red vampire eyes. His expression was impassive as he crossed the room and took the chair in front of her.
“You took a risk coming back here,” Elliott said.
“I wanted to see you,” Lucy said.
“You could have seen me the other night,” he said. “Instead you kill several of my people, kidnap two others and run.”
“Your people?”
“How did you do it?” His voice sounded casual, almost bored, but she remembered that tone. Even as he turned to the side to cross his legs, his gaze never left her.
She ignored his question. “What are you doing to the children? I found a mutation of the virus in their system.”
Elliott smiled. “Of course you’d check them out. I should have expected that, little sis. Tell me, what do you think it is?”
The same teasing voice, the same condescending nickname but it couldn’t hide his intensity from her. She’d wanted him to be working on a more advanced cure, prayed he was doing it. All these years it had been her fantasy, she would find a way to protect the uninfected and he would find a way to help the infected. Now she realized how big a fantasy it had been and how much she’d needed it. But it was only that, a fantasy.
“You’ve infected them but it hasn’t halted the aging process like father’s virus,” Lucy said. “From what I could tell, it has severely slowed it.”
“Yes, aging for the young is still important,” Elliott said. “We need them to grow and develop.”
“Develop into what?”
Elliott smiled again. “I don’t want to give away all of my secrets just yet. Let me show you my lab. It isn’t as well equipped as father’s but it gets the job done.”
He stood up, holding out his hand to her. Lucy took it, felt the coolness of his flesh against her skin. He was still smiling, looking so familiar and yet beneath it was someone she didn’t know at all.
“The problem with father’s original design is that he tried to freeze everyone into an almost stasis,” Elliott said. He led her outside. The glowglobe followed, illuminating their path.
“Growing and dying is the natural state. Halting that created the vampiric flaws in the virus. But if I can reinstate that growth state but on a massively reduced rate, we can harness the worst aspects of vampirism, possibly even eradicate them with targeted therapies.”
He led her through another doorway. The glowglobe hovered to the ceiling, exposing the counters of a pristine laboratory. Petri dishes sat in neat rows by the microscope. Along the back wall sat various scanners. Two specimen fridges hummed. Through another doorway she saw a small generator.
“You’re very well equipped,” she said.
“It’s not much.” Elliott sounded pleased.
“You’ve done a lot,” Lucy said. “Are the children the first phase?”
The smile faded from his lips. He released her hand. “I thought you would happy,” he said. “I’m still working on the virus.”
“They’re still infected,” she said. “It will still overtake them in time.”
“This batch maybe. But they’ll do what I want them to do.”
“And what’s that?”
He moved over to the counter, shifting a petri dish the tiniest amount to line up with the others. Stalling, she realized.
“Elliott, what do you want them to do?” She used her stern voice, the one that sounded like mother. He flinched then turned to face her.
“They will go on,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
“What does every creature want? To survive, to thrive, to continue their species.”
Her breath caught in her chest. He couldn’t be saying what she thought he was saying.
“Reproduction?” she said.
“We need to be a viable species, Lucy,” he said. “We can’t do that if the only way we can procreate is to turn humans. We need to produce sexually to survive. But the virus destroys our reproductive ability. Full vampires can’t have viable pregnancies. But these children will still develop and should be able to procreate nor
mally.”
Lucy felt all the moisture in her mouth dry up. Now she realized what that other part of him was that bothered her. He was insane.
“It may take a few generations to get it right. We have to use full human children right now but once they start to breed I’ll be able to work on the virus in them, tweaking it to make it work better.”
Lucy wanted to run but where could she go? Endless black corridors stretched out behind her. Elliott didn’t need any guards to keep her locked up. The darkness imprisoned her as surely as his madness imprisoned him.
“Of course, I never thought of doing what you have.” He turned to face her.
“What have I done?”
He smiled. His fangs dimpled his lower lip. “You’re pregnant. I can smell it.”
“What?” Lucy touched her stomach.
Elliott laughed. “You didn’t know? It isn’t that far along then.” He stepped toward her. Lucy backed away until she bumped against the wall. Elliott came within an inch of her. She felt his breath on her face.
“I wonder what that virus-laden blood of yours will produce, little sis,” he purred. “I can’t wait to find out.”
His hand grabbed her arm and squeezed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Rick hunched over the wheel, pressing his foot to the floor on the accelerator. But no matter how fast the small truck sped down the road, it wouldn’t outrace the sunset. Deep pink bands stretched across the sky. Wisps of cloud darkened and lightened with color. Shadows stretched across the road, their edges growing longer, their depth getting darker.
Beside him in the passenger’s seat, Marjorane clenched a rifle on her lap. The box of shells rested between her knees.
“I’m not getting anything yet,” she said.
“You won’t,” he said. “It’s still too early, too much light. We’ve got many another ten or fifteen minutes.”
And another few hours before they reached the city. This was total madness. He never should have left Albavaille. But Sami was out here, with Josh and Michael. He couldn’t leave them to their fate without doing something.
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