Night of Never

by Megan O'Russell

  “Then teach me,” Nola said. “If I’m going to survive out here, I need to be able to fight.”

  “Nola, you shouldn’t have to fight,” Jeremy said.

  “I also shouldn’t have been used as a prop to murder people or stabbed in the stomach, but we don’t always get to choose how things should be,” Nola said. “Jeremy, you owe me this much.”

  “You’re right.” Jeremy rubbed his hands over his face. “Once we get where we’re going, I’ll teach you.”

  “Or she could learn from a lioness instead of a kitten.” Raina sauntered out of the darkness. “Do you want to line up body counts and see who’s the more experienced teacher?”

  “Was there another vampire?” T asked.

  “Yes, there was.” Raina held up her knife. The blade dripped red. “I think they were a mated pair, two hunting in the wild so close together. I’ll bet you all are the best meat they’ve scented in weeks.”

  Raina crouched, cleaning her blade on the leaves.

  “Do you think there’s more of them?” Nola’s eyes flicked through the shadows between the trees. The dark shapes held magic in them. Details she had never imagined before. The back of one of the youngest trees had been smoothed by something rubbing across it time and again. Whether a person or animal, she didn’t know.

  Raina stood, examining her knife before sliding it into the sheath on her belt. “I don’t think they had any others in their group. Probably holed up in a little cave, having sex and waiting to kill things. But there could be more. We’re still close enough to the city that vampires out here could run in to grab some Vamp and a snack.”

  Nola shivered at the thought of being a human snack.

  “We should keep moving,” Raina said. “The sooner we get to Nightland, the better. Can you walk?”

  Nola pushed herself to her feet.

  Raina growled as Jeremy reached out to steady Nola.

  “I’m fine.” Nola shifted her weight from one leg to the other. Tendrils of cold wound around her veins, throbbing with every movement. The pain set her teeth on edge but didn’t steal her sight. “I can walk, but I might not be the best at running.”

  “I don’t think I can run much more anyway.” T took Nola’s hand.

  “I can carry Nola, and Raina can carry T,” Jeremy said.

  “I don’t want to be carried,” Nola snapped. She swallowed the bubble of anger that rose in her chest. “We need to keep moving, and my legs work. Why don’t you keep an eye out for anything that wants to kill us?”

  Jeremy stared at Nola for a long moment, his eyes drifting from her face to her hands. “Just take it easy. Your body is still changing.”

  “I’ll walk carefully.” Nola turned to Raina. “Lead on.”

  “Right this way, campers,” Raina said. “We’re starting our stroll through the woods. On the list of sights today: dying trees, a few boulders, and the possibility of meeting some fine folks who want us dead. Keep up. You won’t want to miss the fun.”

  Chapter Four

  How much longer?

  The question balanced on the tip of Nola’s tongue, but she didn’t dare ask. Aside from Jeremy’s unavoidable offer to carry her and Raina’s inevitable snarky response, no one had spoken in the last few hours. The silence seemed like a truce with the woods. A pact that kept their party safe as the trees thinned out, leaving them in an open field.

  Brambles clung to Nola’s legs, picking away at the fabric of her pants. She walked with her arms over her head, keeping her bare hands above the reach of the thorns.

  The protests of the ice had begun to fade. A frozen stream ran through her veins, but the cold had lost its ability to cut.

  High silhouettes blocked the stars as mountains rose up in the distance. Nola had always known there were mountains west of the city, but she’d never seen them before. They’d always been hidden behind crumbling buildings.

  Is that where Nightland is waiting? Are Kieran and Dr. Wynne high up in the peaks?

  Nola took a few quick steps.

  Raina turned before Nola could tap her on the shoulder.

  Nola pointed up toward the mountain.

  Raina winked and kept walking.

  “If we’re going that far, we won’t make it before sunrise,” T whispered in Nola’s ear.

  Raina shot a scathing look over her shoulder.

  “How did they evacuate Nightland out this far?” T asked. “All those people trampling through the woods, and the domes didn’t follow them?”

  “We didn’t have the chance.” Jeremy stepped up to Nola’s other side. “By the time we managed to get out to look for them and establish they weren’t in the city, they must have been miles away.”

  “And you didn’t keep looking?” T asked. “Not that I think the domes have any right to come after Nightland, but it seems weird they didn’t.”

  “It’s complicated.” Jeremy’s jaw tightened, and his eyes locked on the mountain in the distance.

  “The domes haven’t patrolled beyond the city in twenty years,” Nola said. “I doubt they’d know where to start.”

  “Who knew freedom was so close?” T rubbed her belly.

  “Not really freedom for people like you.” Raina’s words carried over the field. “You would starve and die out here on your own.”

  “Not necessarily,” Jeremy said. “These brambles are growing, other plants could grow, too. Set up a water filtration system. Find a way to protect your plants when the clouds turn acid. Build a place with enough shelter to protect you and you could make it.”

  “Funny,” Raina said. “Nightland figured out the same thing.”

  “And if they hadn’t broken into the domes to rob us and kill our people—”

  “Us?” Raina asked. “Don’t make me question your allegiance, Domer.”

  “The domes would have been happy to let Nightland go if they’d gone quietly,” Jeremy finished.

  “Would they?” Nola looked up to the sky. “Would they have just let them leave? Not knowing if they were building up power out here? Letting a big group survive outside the control of the domes?”

  “Of course,” Jeremy said.

  Nola rounded on Jeremy. Brambles tore at her skin as she dropped her hands to her sides. “Think about it, Jeremy. Actually think about everything that’s happened. They wanted me dead. They blew up a bridge with people on it. Everything that isn’t serving the domes is a threat to them. And the survival of the domes is all the Outer Guard and the Council care about!”

  A flock of birds burst out of the trees, frightened by Nola’s yelling.

  “You aren’t an Outer Guard anymore, Jeremy Ridgeway,” Nola said. “Stop thinking like one.”

  She turned and shoved her way through the brush toward Raina, who began clapping.

  “You know”—Raina started forward—“the first time I saw you, I really wanted to kill you just for a snack. I hate to admit it, but I’m glad you’re not dead.”

  “Thanks.” Nola smiled. The cold didn’t punish her face.

  “Shouldn’t be too much longer,” Raina said, speaking as loudly as Nola had when she’d frightened the birds. “We all need to stay together. Remember, I’m the only vampire in our little pack, and that means more out here than a shiny Domer coat in the city.”

  “Raina, is there a reason you’re talking so loud?” Chills that had nothing to do with Graylock floated up Nola’s neck.

  “Because it’s better to make noise and let them know we’re coming from far away than to sneak up on them and let them act without time to reason,” Raina yelled.

  “Who’s them?” Beauford asked.

  “Whoever Emanuel’s decided is meant to guard the path.”

  A stand of dead trees grew out of the darkness, swallowing the base of the mountain. There were no new branches sprouting from these trees. Thick trunks with knobby lumps that no longer held the promise of growth blocked their path like ill-formed columns sculpted by a clumsy giant.

  “Are w
e almost there?” Hope filled T’s voice.

  “Almost to the first place we need to reach,” Raina shouted. “Not quite to Utopia.”

  Raina kicked free from the last of the field of brambles and stomped into the trees.

  “She wanted them to see us coming.” Jeremy pushed the thorns out of Nola’s path with his arm. “I was hoping she had a reason for taking us through such open territory.”

  Nola hesitated, tempted to fight through the last foot of brambles rather than take Jeremy’s help.

  “Why does it matter if she wants to cut through a field?” She stepped through the gap.

  “Because it’s a dumb move.” Jeremy held the path open for T and Beauford.

  T gave a murmur of thanks. Beauford ignored Jeremy entirely.

  “If we were trying to get to a secret location, knowing the Outer Guard might be coming after us, leaving a trail through a field would be just about the worst plan I could imagine.” Jeremy jogged a few steps to walk next to Nola. “But if you want to give the people we’re heading toward plenty of warning so we don’t startle them, and make sure anyone who follows us will be visible to Nightland’s guards and not able to sneak up, then letting ourselves get torn to pieces by thorns is a great plan.”

  “You know,” Raina called back from twenty feet ahead, “if you weren’t a filthy, murdering Domer, you’d make a great vampire. If you had found your way into Nightland as one of us, Emanuel would have found great uses for you.”

  “I don’t know if I could agree to any use Emanuel would want me for,” Jeremy said.

  “You’d be surprised what desperation makes possible,” Beauford said.

  Jeremy opened his mouth to answer, then clamped his jaw shut and shook his head.

  “Will we arrive in Nightland tonight?” T asked.

  “If we’re allowed,” Raina said. “But don’t get your hopes up for finding baby daddy tonight, little pregnant girl. I think you’re in for a few surprises.”

  “Surprises?” The barren trees kept Nola’s voice from carrying.

  “I’ve been alive for quite a while.” Raina banged her fist on the trunk of a tree. “I’ve been a vampire for most of that time. Since before any of you were even thought of at least.”

  “I didn’t know Vamp had been around that long,” Nola said.

  “It wasn’t,” Raina said. “Not the way you’d think of it. Not the way it is now. Hundreds of different hack chemists brewing batches with no real knowledge of what the chemicals are meant to do and without the equipment to make untainted Vamp. More than half the people who try to become one of us turn out as zombies these days.”

  Nola shuddered as visions of men and women with sores on their skin and their minds destroyed sent sour soaring into her throat.

  “You’re okay, Nola,” Jeremy whispered. “That can’t happen to you.”

  “Obviously,” Nola said.

  “But that’s because most people don’t have access to ReVamp.” Raina ignored them. “See, Nightland has Dr. Wynne, and he makes the good stuff. The kind that makes you all vampy without the delightful mental changes Vamp gives you.”

  “I know about ReVamp,” Nola said.

  “Of course you do. That’s what we gave your beloved Kieran.” Raina turned to walk backwards, her black eyes sliding from Jeremy to Nola. “Sorry, was that offensive?”

  “Kieran used her and betrayed her,” Jeremy spoke in a low voice.

  “Seems like a theme,” Raina said.

  “Stop it,” Nola said.

  “Do you think the only thing Emanuel had planned was a new form of Vamp to build our ranks?” Raina winked and turned away from them, climbing up the steep hill.

  “I know he had more planned than that,” Nola said. “Kieran helped him find a way to garden—”

  “A garden? How fancy,” Raina cooed.

  “They had more than that planned,” T puffed, one hand on her stomach while Beauford held the other, dragging her uphill.

  “Let me help you,” Jeremy said.

  T ignored him. “Charles told me there were plans. A place where the baby and I could be safe. Where we could live and not have to worry about food or werewolves, or the domes.”

  “Smart Charles,” Raina said. “After all, what’s the point in ruling a society of vampires if there’s no plan for the future? Nightland isn’t a street gang. We are the beginning. We are a better hope for the future than the domes could ever be.”

  “And what sort of future would that be exactly?” Jeremy asked. “A world ruled by thieves and murderers.”

  “Yes.” Raina clapped her hands and looked to the sky. “That is the question. You’ve finally gotten to it! If thieves and murderers rule, how is there hope for anything but death?”

  “Then the domes would have been right to destroy Nightland,” Jeremy said.

  “Wrong!” Raina shouted. “The domes are the ones who are the killers. Leaving people to starve in the street. Letting children die when they have the medicine that could save them—”

  “There aren’t enough resources—”

  “And where do they get the resources to run the domes?” Raina asked. “The glass for your walls, the fuel for your trucks?”

  “The city,” Nola said. “They get everything from the city.”

  “A new prize pupil,” Raina said. “All the things the domes need to create their perfect society come from the city.”

  “They paid for the glass—”

  “Not a fair price,” Beauford said. “You could work in a factory every day of your life and still have to choose between food and a safe place to sleep.”

  “You have some competition, Nola,” Raina said. “The big guy is right. Work for the domes and you work for nothing. You work yourself to death without even a proper meal to show for it. And it was no better when they brought outsiders into the domes to work.”

  “They fed the workers,” Jeremy said.

  “They kept us locked up,” T said. “Nola was the only one who even bothered to tell us what was happening in the city.”

  “Think about it, Jeremy.” Nola tucked her hands behind her back, fighting the old habit of reaching for him. “We lived in the domes, sure we were the answer to saving the world. Never questioning the cost of our own survival. The domes only care about protecting human DNA. They stopped caring about people a long time ago.”

  “It’s not all bad,” Jeremy said. “You’re making it sound like the domes are filled with serial killers.”

  “They blew up a bridge with people on it,” T said.

  “People who were going to attack the domes!” Jeremy said. “There were no non-combatants on the bridge.”

  “Except for me,” Nola said. “I was on that bridge.”

  “And then they gave the order to kill her.” Raina’s teeth glinted in the faint moonlight. “And isn’t she supposed to be the love of your life? First, you let them use her to slaughter all those wolves.”

  “I didn’t have any say in that,” Jeremy said. “Nola, you know I never would have wanted you out there.”

  “And then the people you still seem to be under the delusion are good ordered her death,” Raina said. “Think about it, little boy. Really think. About the unforgivable suffering they turned their backs on. About all the lives they ended. About them letting your girlfriend face a pack of wolves and forcing her to watch them burn. Imagine the reception they would have given the guard who managed to kill her.”

  “I—”

  “Don’t talk,” Raina said. “Just think. As deeply as that dome-crafted head of yours is capable of. If what they’ve done doesn’t make you sick, then turn around and lead your Guard friends to Nightland. There would be no hope for you outside the glass castle of murderers anyway.”

  Chapter Five

  “Let me help you.” Nola wrapped her arm around T’s waist.

  “You’re still healing.” T shook her head.

  “I feel all right,” Nola said.

  I feel
better than all right.

  The thought held as much terror as relief.

  As they tramped up and down through the curves of the mountain, the sky above began to lighten with the rising sun, and the ice melted from Nola’s veins. Her legs didn’t feel tired, though they’d been climbing for hours. Her breath came easily and evenly, as though she were strolling through the halls of the domes.

  Even in the dim light, the edges of the trees held crisp lines in Nola’s sight. The faint scent of T’s sweat filtered past the stench of decaying undergrowth and tinge of blood wafting from Raina.

  I could run up this mountain.

  The urge to sprint up the slope tickled Nola’s feet, but she wouldn’t leave T and Beauford and couldn’t risk getting ahead of Raina.

  “Raina,” Beauford said.

  “Yes, big guy?” Raina spoke loudly.

  The muscles in Nola’s neck tensed at the noise.

  “If you’re lost, I think it might be time to admit it,” Beauford said. “The sun’s coming up and we’ve got to get you to ground.”

  “Are we lost?” T’s voice wavered.

  “We’re not lost,” Raina said.

  “We’ve looped up past this rise twice,” Beauford said.

  Nola looked to Jeremy. He hadn’t spoken in hours, but he nodded at Nola’s glance.

  “Raina, why are we going in circles?” Nola studied the rocks to their left and the downed trees to the right. She had been so busy wondering at the changes the ice had brought, she hadn’t been watching where they were going.

  “I’m going in circles because it would be unwise to wait in one place.” Raina didn’t slow her pace.

  “Wait for what?” Nola asked. “You either know the way in or you don’t.”

  “Knowing the way in and being able to make it through alive are two very different things,” Raina said. “We have to be welcomed in, and that welcome sure as hell had better be coming soon.”

  “What if they didn’t make it?” T leaned heavily on Nola. “What if something happened and none of the vampires made it out this far?”

  “They did,” Nola said. “You’ve got to believe they did.”