by K. A. Last
“When was the last time you came to Wide Island, Arch?” Ryan asked.
“Never.”
Yep, Archer was a country boy, through and through. He was doing quite well for someone who had never driven in the city before. Since starting my assignment as a Tate twin all those years ago, I’d left Hopetown Valley once, and that hadn’t turned out so well. The cities I remembered were out of date compared to Wide Island. All the buildings were so tall. Times had definitely changed.
Archer took the inner-city exit and I thumbed through the street directory to find the map we needed. The Defender didn’t have satnav; we’d never needed it. After a few wrong turns, a heated argument, and getting stuck in traffic, it took us more than an hour to find where Josh should have been living, and then we had to drive around the block a few times until someone pulled away from the curb and we could nab their spot.
Archer parked the car on the tree-lined city street, a few spaces down from Charlotte’s terrace. I jumped out and stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets, hunching against the chill. The terrace sat at the end of a row of identical houses. I looked along the row before staring at the door I’d stood in front of the last time I’d been to see Josh. It was still turquoise, and I still thought it an odd colour for a front door. The cast-iron fence and gate were a rusted mess. A screw had fallen out of the house number and it hung at a skewed angle. The place was a dump.
“Nice,” Ryan said.
“Makes me glad I live in the country.” Archer wrinkled his nose.
“It’s just as I remember it. Come on.” I opened the gate and its hinges squealed.
“What are you going to say to him?” Archer said.
I hesitated. “I don’t know. He might not even be here.”
My hand shook as I raised it to knock. The last time I’d seen Josh, he’d been angry with me, which was the only reason I could think of why he hadn’t returned my calls. Well, the only reason I wanted to think about.
The wood was rough beneath my knuckles, and more paint rained onto the front step. After my third knock I grabbed the doorknob and turned, but it was locked. Ryan pulled his wallet from his back pocket and flipped it open. He looked up and down the street before taking two paperclips out of the note compartment.
Archer raised his eyebrows. “You keep paperclips in your wallet?”
“You never know when you might need one.” Ryan smiled, bending the ends of the clips.
“You can pick locks?” I asked. “I never knew …”
“Even you don’t know everything about everyone, Grace.”
Ryan slipped the paperclips into the lock and jiggled them a few times, poking his tongue between his teeth. There was a click, and he turned the doorknob, pushing the door inwards to reveal the hallway. Darkness greeted us. The curtains were drawn, and no lights were on.
We made our way into the shadows of the house, the floor creaking beneath our feet. I glanced up the staircase and an uneasy feeling washed over me. A thin film of dust lay on the banister rail, untouched. I swiped my finger through it and rubbed the particles between my fingers.
When we reached the kitchen, I stopped and stared at the mess, scanning the open room, which also housed the dining and living areas. The dining table had been split in two, chairs were upended, a scorch mark marred the middle of the kitchen floor, and some of the cupboard doors hung from their hinges. The living area was also a mess, the floor littered with pieces of foam from one of the destroyed couch cushions.
“What the hell happened?” Archer asked.
I couldn’t answer. I was too stunned, staring at the wall behind the dining table.
“Why is that still there?” I finally said.
I wasn’t expecting an answer. I’d never told the boys the full story about my one and only visit to the city. Josh and I had had a fight. The blood from the bottle he’d thrown at the wall was still there, but the rest of the mess had nothing to do with our argument. I wouldn’t have busted his dining table, or exploded the couch.
Archer followed my gaze then went into the kitchen. He picked his way through the destruction to the wall, scratching the dark red stain with his fingernail.
“Is that blood?” He looked back at me.
“It’s not what you think,” I said. “He got mad, and threw a plastic drink bottle. It’s pig’s blood.”
“You must have had one hell of a fight, Gracie.”
“Why didn’t he clean it up?” Ryan asked.
I shook my head. “The rest of it wasn’t us.”
Archer leant against the wall. “Someone came in here and there was a big kerfuffle, and now no more Josh?”
“Seems that way.”
“Surely the police would have noticed this,” Ryan said.
“Unless someone persuaded them not to.” I shrugged.
“Glamour?” he asked.
“Or memory alteration,” Archer said. “This reeks of Angelica.”
“How can you be sure?” Ryan rested a hand on the kitchen bench.
Archer scanned the room. We both knew what white-light burn marks looked like. They left a different kind of scorch than a fireball. Fireball marks were dark and hard-edged, whereas a white-light scorch had feathery, soft edges, as if it were attempting to apologise for its destruction.
“I guess we can’t be certain it was Angelica, but Angels of the Light have definitely been here.”
“This is Charlotte’s place, isn’t it?” Ryan asked. I nodded. “Then why isn’t she here?”
“Good thing she’s not,” Archer said. “Not really sure how that would go down.”
“You’d take one look at her and melt into her arms.” I smirked. Archer simply scowled.
Come on, you would, I thought.
And you wouldn’t turn to a puddle of mush if Seth walked through the door? he shot back.
Probably, but I don’t want to think about him right now.
Then stop making me think about Charlotte, Archer thought.
“You guys are doing it again.” Ryan sighed.
“Sorry dude,” Archer said.
We made our way back to the stairs. When we reached the landing, the second level was as gloomy as the first, and all the doors were closed.
Ryan opened a door at the end of the hall towards the front of the terrace, and it led to the master bedroom. He pulled the floor length curtains aside and dull light filtered in, highlighting the dancing dust particles. I scanned the room and my heart saddened at what I saw: Charlotte’s belongings strewn everywhere. Ripped clothing, sheets pulled from the bed … As angry as I was with her, she didn’t deserve someone to come into her home and destroy everything.
“This sucks,” I said, picking up a black pair of jeans off the floor.
“Why do I get the feeling Josh isn’t the only one we’re going to be looking for?” Archer asked. He went to the door that led to a small balcony overlooking the street. “I don’t like it here.”
“I second that,” Ryan said.
“This city scares me.”
“There’s nothing to be scared of, Arch,” I said. “It’s like home, but with more people and less trees. Have you forgotten what you’re capable of? You can take on anyone with one hand tied behind your back.”
He shook his head. “Maybe back home I can, but here … the number of vamps scares me. Where there are more people, there are more vamps. How are we supposed to take them on?”
“Hopefully we won’t have to,” Ryan said. “When we find Josh, and sort him out, we can go home.” He went to the dresser and picked up a TV remote, pointing it at the flat screen on the wall. It flicked on. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that.”
We didn’t have a TV at home in the shed, but it wasn’t something I missed. I went to the door and stared at the street below. Archer was right. Everything would be different in the city. We were going to have to be careful.
Archer joined Ryan, who was flicking through channels in front of the box. “Hey, go back. There was
a news report.”
“Um … Grace. You might want to see this,” Ryan said.
The news showed an image of a pretty blonde girl, and I froze as I caught the end of the story.
“… found dead in a city laneway. Cause of death: trauma to the neck, resulting in heavy blood loss. At this stage police are treating it as a murder case, but they have no leads or suspects …”
“Turn it off.” I didn’t want or need to hear any more.
“You have to expect this sort of thing, right?” Ryan asked. “It’s the city. It probably happens every night.”
“But it shouldn’t,” I said. What if it were Josh? I stared at Archer, silently begging him to reassure me it wasn’t.
You don’t know that, Gracie. Just because he’s dropped off the radar doesn’t mean he’s turned bad.
“I know you’re doing your silent twin thing again,” Ryan said. “If you want my opinion, I think we should go out there and find him. Now. Anything could have happened to him.”
“We should arm up properly,” I said.
Out in the hallway, all the doors were closed, like they’d been when we first came through. I moved to the top of the stairs, and Archer grabbed my arm.
Did you hear that?
I nodded, pointing to the door across from us.
There’s someone in there, I thought.
Archer took a couple of slow steps towards the door.
“What’s going—” I covered Ryan’s mouth with my hand.
Vamps, I mouthed, then pressed a finger to my lips and let him go.
I scolded myself for not sensing them when we’d first come in, but I was too busy thinking about Josh to pay proper attention.
Archer rested his hand on the doorknob and turned it. I held my breath, waiting for a vamp to jump us at any second. I may have been able to sense them, but it was difficult to pinpoint their exact location, since they didn’t breathe. That’s where fast reflexes came in handy.
The door opened into a bedroom. A lamp next to the bed cast a dull light onto the stack of phonebooks it sat on. I followed Archer to the middle of the room.
Stay alert, Gracie. They’re in here somewhere, Archer said.
“Up!” Ryan said.
I had enough time to tilt my head back before the vamp fell on me and we crashed to the floor. He was strong, but I was stronger. I drew my knees up and kicked him in the gut, throwing him across the room. He hit the wall with a crack. Plaster rained onto the carpet.
No sooner had I gained my feet than a door out in the hallway burst open and Ryan was knocked down. Archer hauled the female vamp off Ryan’s back. Thankfully, she hadn’t managed to bite him.
Archer threw her into the bedroom and she stumbled towards me. The guy picked himself up off the floor and locked his gaze with mine. They both launched another attack at the same time.
“Thanks, Arch,” I said as I jumped and kicked the guy vamp in the chest.
Archer chuckled. “You can take them.”
The girl crash-tackled me as I came out of my kick. The carpet broke my fall. It was a nice change to fighting in the forest and falling on sticks and rocks.
“Some help would be nice.” I punched the girl in the face and her head snapped back, giving me the opportunity to get my knee up. I wedged my foot into her crotch and pushed. She fell onto the floor, but not before giving me a nice fingernail scratch down my cheek. I leapt to my feet, the wound on my face already healing.
“Who are you?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “Since when does Wide Island have new hunters?”
“Who cares? Just kill them.” The guy vamp headed my way again, and Archer grabbed him by the collar.
“If anyone does any killing today, it’s going to be me.” Archer shoved the guy against the wall next to the window. The heavy curtains swayed with the movement, and the vamp looked sideways. “That is, unless you tell me what I want to know.” Archer tightened his hold around the vamp’s neck.
Ryan moved into the bedroom, keeping an eye on all of us. He had a stake ready in his hand.
I raised my eyebrows.
“What?” He shrugged. “Figured I might be able to help.”
The girl vamp turned towards Ryan and licked her lips.
I shook my head. “You’d be dust before you took one step.”
She didn’t listen.
I misted and landed in front of Ryan, taking a stake from my belt and driving it into the vamp’s chest as she approached. Dust fell to the carpet in a heap.
Ryan looked over my shoulder from behind me. “That won’t be easy to get out.”
“I did warn her.” I sighed.
The guy vamp put his hands up, which made Archer tighten his hold again.
“You want to end up like her?” he asked. The vamp shook his head. “Then talk. Why are you here? And what happened downstairs?”
I went to the window and grasped the curtain. “We can do this the easy way if you like. But I have more fun with the hard way.” I moved the curtains slightly and muted sunlight filtered through the crack in the middle.
“No, please. I’ll tell you,” the vamp said.
Archer pulled him away from the wall and threw him onto the bed. “Talk.”
“We’re lookouts. Waiting to see if they come back.”
“Who?” I asked, twirling my stake between my fingers.
“You probably don’t know them,” the vamp said.
“You’d be surprised who I know.” I glared at him. “Do I need to convince you some more?” I ran the point of the stake down his cheek.
“Charlotte. Her name is Charlotte. She has another guy with her I’ve never met before.”
“And why are you watching them?” Archer clenched his fists at his sides.
Good work at being intimidating, I teased him.
You’re the one who ran a stake down his face.
“I don’t know about the guy, but Lucas wants Charlotte,” the vamp said. “Something about her blood.”
“Lucas?” Archer glanced at me.
“Charlotte’s creator,” I said.
Charlotte had told me Lucas was her creator, and he’d seduced her before he’d turned her. It was all lies. She’d asked him to turn her, but I didn’t understand why.
“Great, here we go again.” Ryan ran a hand over his face and sighed.
Charlotte had been an angel, and why she’d wanted to become a vampire was beyond my comprehension. I understood the fallen and the many reasons why an angel would choose to fall. But to become a monster … I couldn’t trust that what she’d shown me in the clearing after Seth had been taken was the truth. When it came to Charlotte, I had no idea what the truth was, or if her name and the word should ever be put into a sentence together.
“Didn’t Lucas send that trio of vamps after Charlotte? Wasn’t that why she came to you in the first place?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t know her true intentions,” I said. “There are a lot of things she held back.”
“That’s because you never gave her a chance to explain.”
“Explain what?” Archer asked. “That she’d lied to us? Whose side are you on, Ryan?”
“I’m guessing you want to be on her side,” the vamp said, pointing to me.
“All I’m saying … we need to focus on the real enemy.” Ryan ignored the vamp, frowning. “Yes, you’re both angry at Charlotte. I get it. And I’m angry at Josh, too.” I caught a glimpse of Ryan remembering his time in the forest with Josh. “They’re our friends. We need to set things right. We could die any moment.”
“Now you know how I feel,” the vamp said.
“Shut up!” Archer and I said at the same time.
“You’re not going to die, Ryan. I won’t let you. And you didn’t have to come,” I said. “I wanted you at home, safe. But you insisted.”
“Someone has to look out for you thrill seekers.” Ryan smiled.
Archer and I laughed.
“You’re all crazy,” th
e vamp said.
Archer rocked back and forth on his feet. “You don’t know the half of it.”
I stifled another laugh when the vamp started wondering if he would be better off dead. I studied him for a moment, trying to see if I could hear anything useful, but there wasn’t much going on. Either this one was too scared to think straight, or he wasn’t the brightest candle on the cake.
I’m thinking we need to find Lucas, I thought to Archer.
And I think you’re probably right.
Reckon this guy can help?
Do we have another option? Archer thought.
“Why are you staring at each other?” the vamp asked.
“They’re probably deciding what to do with you,” Ryan said.
The vamp scowled. “How do you know?”
“I don’t, for sure.” Ryan shrugged. “But they’re talking to each other so whatever they’re saying, it has something to do with you, and it probably isn’t good.”
Are you going to ask or shall I? Archer thought.
I smirked. Oh, I think you should. It will sound better coming from you.
Archer looked at the vamp and pursed his lips. The situation was not really a laughing matter, but I knew what was coming, and I really had to hold myself back.
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but … take us to your leader,” Archer said, spreading his arms dramatically.
Ryan snorted. “Dude, that’s too funny.”
THIRTEEN
Josh
Saturday evening
I reached up and placed my hand over Lilith’s to try and relieve the pressure of her grip.
“You’re up early,” I said, keeping my stare on Charlotte. “It’s not quite dusk yet.”
“Seems like I can’t sleep properly today,” Lilith said. “I sensed there was someone in the house—someone who doesn’t belong.”
Charlotte rose from the wing chair, her eyes filled with a fury that looked out of place on such a beautiful face.
“How do you know each other?” I asked.
“Lilith is the one who ruined my life,” Charlotte said.
“I only did what’s in my nature. You happened to get in the way.”
“And look where it’s gotten you.” Charlotte took a step forward. “You’ve upset the balance.”