by Rachel Caine
“Wait!” Monica dashed across to join her. “You can’t leave me here alone! You saw those jerks out there!”
“Absolutely.”
“Oh, you’re just loving this, aren’t you?”
“Kinda.” Claire hopped down inside the building, and her shoes slapped bare concrete floor. It was bare except for a layer of dirt, anyway—undisturbed for as far as the light penetrated, which wasn’t very far. “Coming?”
Monica stared through the window at her, just boiling with fury; Claire smiled at her and started to walk into the dark.
Monica, cursing, climbed inside.
“I’m not a bad person,” Monica was saying—whining, actually. Claire wished she could find a two-by-four to whack her with, but the tire plant, although full of wreckage and trash, didn’t seem to be big on wooden planks. Some nice pipes, though. She might use one of those.
Except she really didn’t want to hit anybody, deep down. Claire supposed that was a character flaw, or something.
“Yes, you really are a bad person,” she told Monica, and ducked underneath a low-hanging loop of wire that looked horror-movie ready, the sort of thing that dropped around your neck and hauled you up to be dispatched by the psycho-killer villain. Speaking of which, this whole place was decorated in Early Psycho-Killer Villain, from the vast soaring darkness overhead to the lumpy, skeletal shapes of rusting equipment and abandoned junk. The spray painting—decades of it, in layered styles from Early Tagger to cutting-edge gang sign—gleamed in the random shafts of light like blood. Some particularly unpleasant spray-paint artist had done an enormous, terrifying clown face, with windows for the eyes and a giant, open doorway for a mouth. Yeah, really not going in there, Claire thought. Although the way these things went, she probably would have to.
“Why do you say that?”
“Say what?” Claire asked absently. She was listening for any sound of movement, but this place was enormous and confusing—just as Hannah had warned.
“Say that I’m a bad person!”
“Oh, I don’t know—you tried to kill me? And get me raped at a party? Not to mention—”
“That was payback,” Monica said. “And I didn’t mean it or anything.”
“Which makes it all so much better. Look, can we not bond? I’m busy. Seriously. Shhhh.” That last was to forestall Monica from blurting out yet another injured defense of her character. Claire squeezed past a barricade of piled-up boxes and metal, into another shaft of light that arrowed down from a high-up broken window. The clown painting felt like it was watching her, which was beyond creepy. She tried not to look too closely at what was on the floor. Some of it was animal carcasses, birds, and things that had gotten inside and died over the years. Some of it was old cans, plastic wrappers, all kinds of junk left behind by adventurous kids looking for a hideout. She didn’t imagine any of them stayed for long.
This place just felt . . . haunted.
Monica’s hand grabbed her arm, just on the bruise that Amelie’s grip had given her earlier. Claire winced.
“Did you hear that?” Monica’s whisper was fierce and hushed. She needed mouthwash, and she smelled like sweat more than powder and perfume. “Oh my God. Something’s in here with us!”
“Could be a vampire,” Claire said. Monica sniffed.
“Not afraid of those,” she said, and dangled her fancy, silver Protection bracelet in front of Claire’s face. “Nobody’s going to cross Oliver.”
“You want to tell that to the mob of people chasing you back there? I don’t think they got the memo or something.”
“I mean, no vampire would. I’m Protected.” Monica said it like there was simply no possibility anything else could be true. The earth was round, the sun was hot, and a vampire would never hurt her because she’d sold herself to Oliver, body and soul.
Yeah, right.
“News flash,” Claire whispered. “Oliver’s missing in action from Common Grounds. Amelie’s disappeared. In fact, most of the vampires all over town have dropped out of sight, which makes these bracelets cute fashion accessories, but not exactly bulletproof vests or anything.”
Monica started to speak, but Claire frowned angrily at her and pointed off into the darkness, where she’d heard the noise. It had sounded odd—kind of a sigh, echoing from the steel and concrete, bouncing and amplifying.
It sounded as if it had come out of the clown’s dark mouth.
Of course.
Claire reached into her pocket. She still had the vial of silver powder that Amelie had given her, but she was well aware that it might not do her any good. If her friend-vampires were mixed in with enemy-vamps, she was out of luck. Likewise, if what was waiting for her out there was trouble of a human variety, instead of bloodsuckers . . .
Shane and Hannah were in here. Somewhere. And so—hopefully—was Eve.
Claire eased around a tattered sofa that smelled like old cats and mold, and sidestepped a truly impressive rat that didn’t bother to move out of her way. It sat there watching her with weird, alert eyes.
Monica looked down, saw it, and shrieked, stumbling backward. She fell into a stack of ancient cartons that collapsed on her, raining down random junk. Claire grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, but Monica kept on whimpering and squirming, slapping at her hair and upper body.
“Oh my God, are they on me? Spiders? Are there spiders?”
If there were, Claire hoped they bit her. “No,” she said shortly. Well, there were, but they were little ones. She brushed them off Monica’s back. “Shut up already!”
“Are you kidding me? Did you see that rat? It was the size of freaking Godzilla!”
That was it, Claire decided. Monica could just wander around on her own, screaming about rats and spiders, until someone came and ate her. What. Ever.
She got only about ten feet away when Monica’s very small whisper stopped her dead in her tracks.
“Please don’t leave me.” That didn’t sound like Monica, not at all. It sounded scared, and very young. “Claire, please.”
It was probably too late for being quiet, anyway, and if there were vampires hiding in German’s Tire Plant, they all knew exactly where they were, and for that matter, could tell what blood type they were. So stealth didn’t seem a priority.
Claire cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled, very loudly, “Shane! Eve! Hannah! Anybody!”
The echoes woke invisible birds or bats high overhead, which flapped madly around; her voice rang from every flat surface, mocking Claire with her own ghost.
In the whispering silence afterward, Monica murmured, “Wow, I thought we were being subtle or something. My mistake.”
Claire was about to hiss something really unpleasant at her, but froze as another voice came bouncing through the vast room—Shane’s voice. “Claire?”
“Here!”
“Stay there! And shut up!”
He sounded frantic enough to make Claire wish she’d stuck with the whole quiet-time policy, and then Monica stopped breathing and went very, very still next to her. Her hands closed around Claire’s arm, squeezing bruises again.
Claire froze, too, because something was coming out of the mouth of that painted clown—something white, ghostly, drifting like smoke. . . .
It had a face. Several faces, because it was a group of what looked like vampires, all very pale, all very quiet, all heading their way.
Staying put was not such a great plan, Claire decided. She was going to go with run away.
Which, grabbing Monica’s wrist, she did.
The vampires did make sounds then, as their quarry started to flee—little whispering laughs, strange hisses, all kinds of creepy noises that made the skin on the back of Claire’s neck tighten up. She held the glass vial in one hand, running faster, leaping over junk when she could see it coming and stumbling across it when she couldn’t. Monica kept up, somehow, although Claire could hear the tortured, steady moaning of her breath. Whatever she’d done to her right leg must
have hurt pretty badly.
Something pale landed ahead of her, with a silent leap like a spider pouncing. Claire had a wild impression of a white face, red eyes, a wide-open mouth, and gleaming fangs. She drew back to throw the vial . . . and realized it was Myrnin facing her.
The hesitation cost her. Something hit her from the back, sending her stumbling forward across a fallen iron beam. She dropped the vial as she fell, trying to catch herself, and heard the glass break on the edge of the girder. Silver dust puffed out. Monica shrieked, a wild cry that made the birds panic again high up in heaven; Claire saw her stumble away, trying to put distance between herself and Myrnin.
Myrnin was just outside of the range of the drifting silver powder, but it wasn’t Myrnin who was the problem. The other vampires, the ones who’d come out of the clown’s mouth, leaped over stacks of trash, running for the smell of fresh, flowing blood.
They were coming up behind them, fast.
Claire raked her hand across the ground and came up with a palm full of silver powder and glass shards as she rolled up to her knees. She turned and threw the powder into the air between her, Monica, and the rest of the vampires. It dispersed into a fine, glittering mist, and when the vampires hit it, every tiny grain of silver caught fire.
It was beautiful, and horrible, and Claire flinched at the sound of their cries. There was so much silver, and it clung to their skin, eating in. Claire didn’t know if it would kill them, but it definitely stopped them cold.
She grabbed Monica’s arm and pulled her close.
Myrnin was still in front of them, crouched on top of a stack of wooden pallets. He didn’t look at all human, not at all.
And then he blinked, and the red light went out in his eyes. His fangs folded neatly backward, and he ran his tongue over pale lips before he said, puzzled, “Claire?”
She felt a sense of relief so strong it was like falling. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“Oh.” He slithered down off the stacked wood, and she realized he was still dressed the way she’d seen him back at Common Grounds—a long, black velvet coat, no shirt, white pantaloons left over from his costume. He should have looked ridiculous, but somehow, he looked . . . right. “You shouldn’t be here, Claire. It’s very dangerous.”
“I know—”
Something cold brushed the back of her neck, and she heard Monica make a muffled sound like a choked cry. Claire whirled and found herself face-to-face with a red-eyed, angry vampire with part of his skin still smoking from the silver she’d thrown.
Myrnin let out a roar that ripped the air, full of menace and fury, and the vampire stumbled backward, clearly shocked.
Then the five who’d chased them silently withdrew into the darkness.
Claire turned to face Myrnin. He was staring thoughtfully at the departing vamps.
“Thanks,” she said. He shrugged.
“I was raised to believe in the concept of noblesse oblige,” he said. “And I do owe you, you know. Do you have any more of my medication?”
She handed him her last dose of the drug that kept him sane—mostly sane, anyway. It was the older version, red crystals rather than clear liquid, and he poured out a dollop into his palm and licked the crystals up, then sighed in deep satisfaction.
“Much better,” he said, and pocketed the rest of the bottle. “Now. Why are you here?”
Claire licked her lips. She could hear Shane—or someone—coming toward them through the darkness, and she saw someone in the shadows behind Myrnin. Not vampires, she thought, so it was probably Hannah, flanking Shane. “We’re looking for my friend Eve. You remember her, right?”
“Eve,” Myrnin repeated, and slowly smiled. “Ah. The girl who followed me. Yes, of course.”
Claire felt a flush of excitement, quickly damped by dread. “What happened to her?”
“Nothing. She’s asleep,” he said. “It was too dangerous out here for her. I put her in a safe place, for now.”
Shane pushed through the last of the barriers and stepped into a shaft of light about fifty feet away. He paused at the sight of Myrnin, but he didn’t look alarmed.
“This is your friend as well,” Myrnin said, glancing back at Shane. “The one you care so much for.” She’d never discussed Shane with Myrnin—not in detail, anyway. The question must have shown in her face, because his smile broadened. “You carry his scent on your clothes,” he said. “And he carries yours.”
“Ewww,” Monica sighed.
Myrnin’s eyes focused in on her like laser sights. “And who is this lovely child?”
Claire almost rolled her eyes. “Monica. The mayor’s daughter.”
“Monica Morrell.” She offered her hand, which Myrnin accepted and bent over in an old-fashioned way. Claire assumed he was also inspecting the bracelet on her wrist.
“Oliver’s,” he said, straightening. “I see. I am charmed, my dear, simply charmed.” He hadn’t let go of her hand. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to donate a pint for a poor, starving stranger?”
Monica’s smile froze in place. “I—well, I—”
He pulled her into his arms with one quick jerk. Monica yelped and tried to pull away, but for all his relatively small size, Myrnin had strength to burn.
Claire pulled in a deep breath. “Myrnin. Please.”
He looked annoyed. “Please what?”
“She’s not free range or anything. You can’t just munch her. Let go.” He didn’t look convinced. “Seriously. Let go.”
“Fine.” He opened his arms, and Monica retreated as she clapped both hands around her neck. She sat down on a nearby girder, breathing hard. “You know, in my youth, women lined up to grant me their favors. I believe I’m a bit offended.”
“It’s a strange day for everybody,” Claire said. “Shane, Hannah, this is Myrnin. He’s sort of my boss.”
Shane moved closer, but his expression stayed cool and distant. “Yeah? This the guy who took you to the ball? The one who dumped you and left you to die?”
“Well . . . uh . . . yes.”
“Thought so.”
Shane punched him right in the face. Myrnin, surprised, stumbled back against the tower of crates, and snarled; Shane took a stake from his back pocket and held it at the ready.
“No!” Claire jumped between them, waving her hands. “No, honest, it’s not like that. Calm down, everybody, please.”
“Yes,” Myrnin said. “I’ve been staked quite enough today, thank you. I respect your need to avenge her, boy, but Claire remains quite capable of defending her own honor.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” she said. “Please, Shane. Don’t. We need him.”
“Yeah? Why?”
“Because he may know what’s going on with the vampires.”
“Oh, that,” Myrnin said, in a tone that implied they were all idiots for not knowing already. “They’re being called. It’s a signal that draws all vampires who have sworn allegiance to you with a blood exchange—it’s the way wars were fought, once upon a time. It’s how you gather your army.”
“Oh,” Claire said. “So . . . why not you? Or the rest of the vampires here?”
“It seems as though your serum offers me some portion of immunity against it. Oh, I feel the draw, most certainly, but in an entirely academic way. Rather curious. I remember how it felt before, like an overwhelming panic. As for those others, well. They’re not of the blood.”
“They’re not?”
“No. Lesser creatures. Failed experiments, if you will.” He looked away, and Claire had a horrible suspicion.
“Are they people? I mean, regular humans?”
“A failed experiment,” he repeated. “You’re a scientist, Claire. Not all experiments work the way they’re intended.”
Myrnin had done this to them, in his search for the cure to the vampire disease. He had turned them into something that wasn’t vampire, wasn’t human, wasn’t—well, wasn’t anything, exactly. They didn’t fit in either society.
No wonder they were hiding here.
“Don’t look at me that way,” Myrnin said. “It’s not my fault the process was imperfect, you know. I’m not a monster.”
Claire shook her head.
“Sometimes, you really are.”
Eve was fine—tired, shaking, and tear streaked, but okay. “He didn’t, you know,” she said, and made two-finger pointy motions toward her throat. “He’s kind of sweet, actually, once you get past all the crazy. Although there’s a lot of the crazy.”
There was, as Claire well knew, no way of getting past the crazy. Not really. But she had to admit that at least Myrnin had behaved more like a gentleman than expected.
Noblesse oblige. Maybe he’d felt obligated.
The place he’d kept Eve had once been some kind of storage locker within the plant, all solid walls and a single door that he’d locked off with a bent pipe. Shane hadn’t been all that happy about it. “What if something had happened to you?” he’d asked, as Myrnin untwisted the metal as though it were solder instead of iron. “She’d have been locked in there, all alone, no way out. She’d have starved.”
“Actually,” Myrnin had answered, “that’s not very likely. Thirst would have killed her within four days, I imagine. She’d never have had a chance to starve.” Claire stared at him. He raised his eyebrows. “What?”
She just shook her head. “I think you missed the point.”
Monica tagged along with Claire, which was annoying; she kept casting Shane nervous glances, and she was now outright terrified of Myrnin, which was probably how it should have been, really. At the very least, she’d shut up, and even the sight of another rat, this one big and kind of albino, hadn’t set off her screams this time.
Eve, however, was less than thrilled to see Monica. “You’re kidding,” she said flatly, staring first at her, then at Shane. “You’re okay with this?”
“Okay would be a stretch. Resigned, that’s closer,” Shane said. Hannah, standing next to him with her shotgun at port arms, snorted out a laugh. “As long as she doesn’t talk, I can pretend she isn’t here.”