“Of course.” I bowed my head. “But I think it’s okay to acknowledge that I miss them, you know? I miss Mort, and I don’t think I even like Mort. I miss Margaret, and I’m still a little uncomfortable with the way things went down with her.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. Feelings hadn’t become less complicated just because I’d become young again.
“She was an unusual woman.” Tess smiled a little, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking over my shoulder and into the distance. “She had a way of doing things, and no one was going to tell her it was wrong, you know?” She bit her lip and toyed with her boot lace. “She’s the one who found me. When I was turned, I mean.”
“Yeah?” A thousand questions sprang to the tip of my tongue, but I held them back. If I tried to pressure her at all, she would clam up and tell me nothing.
“Yeah. I wasn’t much different from you at first. I had no idea what was going on. I was real suspicious, though, about how she could know where a vampire would strike, and how she’d know to get me to safety like that. Now I know she just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
I couldn’t tell if I was relieved or disappointed by the revelation. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. If you’ve been around a few vampires, you know how to spot the signs. She saw one and went to see if she would need to help a victim.” She hesitated, a little wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. “Listen. It would be great if you had the luxury of figuring it out the way I did. I got to go with her and see how she did things. We went and found vampires, killed them before they could kill anyone else. But you don’t have time for that. You’re not going to be able to go out and hunt vampires. They’re going to find you, Jason.”
My mouth went dry. I noticed her use of the singular. “Why me?”
She rolled her eyes up to the sky, and I wondered if she could see back into her brain. “It’s just...you. Lord knows there wasn’t anything special about you before you were turned, but here you are. The war is coming—it’s here—and you have a role to play. We all do.”
If I had to hear any more talk about the war, I thought I might scream. “I understand that,” I said, even though I didn’t. “But what’s this role? Cannon fodder?”
Her lip curled. “Hardly. I might not have a great grasp of what that role will be exactly, but you’ve got a huge part in the fight to come. You’ve already fought. You’ve killed one of them, and you did great. But it’s going to get a thousand times worse, and you need to prepare yourself for that.”
“How, exactly?” I stood up and paced a few steps away. Another llama followed on its side of the fence. When food didn’t mystically appear, it made an angry sound and trotted away. “Physical training? Study? Raw egg yolks?”
“That’s repulsive. We’re going to Kamila’s, just so you can prepare, okay? You need to learn, and while I can’t stand Kamila, Margaret was right. She’s the best fire user around. She’s probably the only one who can get you ready fast enough to be of any use.”
“You know, I was plenty useful in that fight against the Lurker.” I stuffed my hands into my pockets. “I’m just saying, I wasn’t so useless then.”
“That was one vampire and probably a young one. You’ll be facing hundreds of them.” She stood up too and stretched her back. “She’ll turn you into a walking, talking, flamethrower before it’s all done. Don’t worry, Jason. Trust the process, and it will all be fine.”
“How am I supposed to trust the process, when I don’t know what the process is?” I shouted this time. “This isn’t grade school. This is real life, and we’ve already lost half of the people I knew who could have helped.”
“We’ve lost a hell of a lot more than two, and Mort’s not dead.” She set her jaw. “This is just the way it has to be. Even I don’t know all of the next steps. Margaret knew a lot of them, but some of them were just rumors. She wasn’t going to worry anyone over rumors. And she was right. This is how life works, whether you’re Ferin or human. You go and find the people who know what you don’t, and you learn from them. You don’t sit around and make decisions in a vacuum because you were too stubborn and impatient to get the facts and get instructions. People who do that kind of thing tend to get other people killed.”
“People who hide information tend to get other people killed, too.” I met her eyes. “I’m not saying I’m not willing to listen. God, no. I’m just saying, I need you to not hide things and not dole things out when you think my little boy brain can handle it. Got it?”
She patted my shoulder. “Of course, Jason. I wouldn’t steer you wrong.”
I didn’t believe her for a second.
18
We crashed for the night in another motel, this one even seedier than the last. We headed out, rested but wary, our moods only slightly improved by sleep. Our target was a little wood-frame farmhouse far enough outside Charlottesville to still be a farmhouse, even if the fields had been dormant for years. We left the motel early in the morning because, according to Tess, “Kamila’s not a morning person, and she’s less likely to pull it together enough to hurt us if we get her before coffee.”
I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about ambushing someone we wanted to help us or about turning to someone we had to ambush for help. Tess was convinced that Kamila was our only option, though, so we left our motel at the crack of dawn and headed out toward the mountains.
We passed a dirt road on the tree-lined country lane. Tess led us about a mile past it, at which point we killed the engines and walked the bikes back. I didn’t have to ask why. We didn’t want to alert Kamila to our presence, and our Harleys were loud. It was a safety feature, not a flaw, but in this particular case, it didn’t exactly help.
We walked along the dusty dirt road in silence. I took the time to admire the scenery, from the land to the sky. Kamila had let the fields go fallow, which was a shame if you were into agriculture, but if you liked wildflowers or that sort of thing, it was a kind of raw, unfiltered beauty that made me relax. I saw deer happily grazing on her posted private land, their tails down, ears up. So many birds tweeted around me, I might as well have been in a Disney flick.
Approaching the house, I could see it wasn’t big. It was a white clapboard farmhouse with a front porch that took up the entire front, comfortably clinging to the main house with a white rail. One rocking chair sat near the door, along with a dog bed. As we got closer, a deep bark issued from inside the house. We were expected.
The door opened, and a woman stepped out, average in height but decidedly unique everywhere else. Her hair hung near to her waist in bright red curls, her body was plush and curved. White breasts struggled against her shirt, and her full lips were curled up in a half grin that faded to a scowl when she saw Tess. Kamila—it could be no one else—lowered the shotgun she held, placing it against the railing.
Then she hurled a fireball at us.
I tackled Tess to the ground. I wasn’t sure if the fire could hurt me since it had been cast by someone else, but I didn’t want to find out. Fortunately, the fireball sailed harmlessly over our heads to explode in the air some distance away. It was a good show if that’s what Kamila intended.
“Thought you could buy me off with a pretty face?” Kamila curled her lip into a perfect sneer. “I thought you were smarter than that, Tess.”
Tess got up and dusted herself off. “It’s good to see you, Kamila. What’s it been, fifty years? Seventy?” She gestured to me. “This is Jason. He’s new to this whole Ferin thing, and we need to talk.”
A massive red pit bull, its head the size of a bucket, came out to sit beside Kamila. It probably scared a lot of people from its sheer size, but when I made a small noise at it, I saw its tail thump twice on the porch, then it looked up at Kamila for guidance.
“I don’t care what you need.” Kamila never broke her scowl. “Now get your ass out of here before I set that pretty hair of yours on fire.”
I knew Tess could more than take care
of herself, but she shouldn’t have to.
“Look.” I stepped in front of Tess, hands up so Kamila could see I wasn’t trying to threaten anyone. “We’re not looking to take anything from you. We’re not looking to hurt you. All we want is to talk to you and to tell you what happened up at Owl’s Head. That’s it. Hear us out, and we’ll step out of your life. You’ll never see us again.”
“That’s all?” She raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing a word of my speech.
I shrugged. “Well, I might want to give your dog a scratch or two, but there’s no need to threaten Tess. She didn’t want to come here any more than you want her hanging around, but she does need to talk to you about something that will affect you eventually. Whether you think you’re safe here is irrelevant. Vamps found us, and they can find you too. That much I do know.”
She tried to stare me down, but I wasn’t having any of it. Finally, she looked away and relaxed her shoulders. “You’ve got some big brass balls, I’ll give you that. Okay, kid. You can come up on the porch. And you’re a fool if you think Tess isn’t taking orders from someone else.” She gave Tess a vicious glare as we climbed the stairs.
I kept myself in between Tess and Kamila, but it didn’t get in the way of their conversation. “Whose orders do you think I’m taking, Kamila?” Tess’s tone was as weary as I’d ever heard it.
“Oh, please. Like you’ve ever even scratched your nose without Margaret’s say so.” Kamila crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door.
“Well, she did tell us to come to you. You’re right.” Tess sat down in the rocking chair. The dog approached me, and I gave him the adoration he so clearly needed. “But Margaret’s not calling the shots anymore.”
“Are the rivers running uphill, too? Give me a break. Margaret would no sooner give up control than she would sever her own head.” Kamila stood up a little straighter. “You’ve said your piece. Time to go.”
“Margaret’s dead, Kamila.” Tess didn’t stand. “She died a few days ago, along with everyone else at Owl’s Head, except Mort and the two of us. The vampires came for us. It was a coordinated attack. There must have been thirty of them.”
Kamila staggered over to the first step of the porch and sat down, where the post holding up the roof could do double duty and support her too. “My God.” The dog slunk away from me, a piteous whine emerging from its nose. “You have to be lying. That’s just not possible. There’s no way. Vampires don’t work in groups like that. One or two, sure, for a little while. Not in clumps like that.”
“It’s true.” I folded my hands together as the dog went to comfort its owner. “I was there. And I haven’t been around long enough to lie for anyone.” I closed my eyes for a second. “It was like a movie fight, but on speed. There wasn’t any way of fighting them. I mean, there was, but there were too many.”
“It’s the War.” The way Kamila said it, I could hear something different about the word. When Tess talked about it, the war was just a war. The coming war. It was just a thing like any other. When Kamila said it, this war was something different, something cataclysmic. A war to end all wars.
“Yes.” Tess took a deep breath. “Margaret survived just long enough to send us here. She wouldn’t have done that if she’d had a choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” Kamila scoffed. “I’m as safe as can be here. I’m not part of any tribal Ferin nonsense. I’ve got me a whole cache of silver bullets. I can always make more, and I’m damn near self-sufficient up here. I don’t need to go getting mixed up in any of your petty bullshit.” She looked me up and down. “Even if you did bring me a present.”
I did a double take. She was beautiful, gorgeous, but I’d never met anyone so forward.
“He’s not a present, Kamila. He’s a fire Ferin, and he was only turned less than two weeks ago.”
Kamila rolled her eyes, but her hand shook as she reached out to pet her dog. “Pull the other leg. It’s got bells on. Come on. No one shows their talent before the first few months are over. They can’t. Their brains just can’t understand it.”
I was so sick of hearing that.
“Well, Jason can, and he did. He lobbed a fireball only a few hours after waking up. If he hadn’t shown his talent, we’d be among the dead, with Mort, the only survivor. His fire saved my life.”
Kamila got even paler. “You’re trying to tell me he’s less than a couple weeks old, and he managed to get his fire hot enough to kill? Fuck right off with that nonsense.”
“He did. I wouldn’t lie about this. Not to you, and not right now. I wouldn’t have ever darkened your door again, Kamila.” Tess lowered her gaze and swallowed. “I’ve been respectful, but with everything that’s going on, with everything that’s coming, we need you.”
Kamila turned her back. “I told you before. I told you a long time ago. I don’t want anything to do with Ferin. This is your war, not mine. If the two of you get off my property, there’s no reason for the vampires to ever think there were Ferin on site.”
I ground my teeth together. “You know it doesn’t work that way, Kamila. I haven’t even been around that long, and I know that. Everyone keeps telling me Kamila’s the best, Kamila’s the strongest fire user, Kamila’s the most powerful.”
“Flattery won’t get you farther than Daisy’s drool, kid.” Kamila spared me a glance.
“I’m not flattering you. I’m warning you.” I leaned forward just a little. “If I’ve heard it—and you know damn well how sheltered I am—how much are you willing to bet the vampires have heard it too? They know, Kamila. We know fire—Ferin fire—can kill a vampire just as dead as silver. Are you so bored with immortality you’re willing to just roll over and wait for them to show up and take it from you?
“I can promise you, Kamila, they didn’t make it easy for anyone at Owl’s Head. No one died clean, and no one died easy. I could hear their screams in the sub-basement. Even if you’re ready to raise the white flag, are you willing to do that to Daisy?”
The dog, hearing her name, perked up and trotted over to me.
Kamila stood up. “I already told you. I’m not part of this. I’m not interested in a war. I’m not interested in getting involved with whatever crock Margaret cooked up. I’m sorry she’s gone. I’m sorry she took some of her brainwashed people with her. I’m not sorry I got out when I did.
“I’ve survived four hundred years because I don’t start fights where there doesn’t need to be a fight. Joining up with the two of you? That would one hundred percent be starting a fight.” She sounded angry, but she looked scared.
Tess picked up on it too. “Kamila, you’re not listening. He showed his fire talent only hours after waking up. He managed to keep up with me on his first walk, too—the same day he woke up. He killed a vampire only days after waking up. Whether or not you want to be part of this, Jason needs to learn how to control his fire power.
“He’s strong. He’s learning fast. He definitely convinced Margaret he was hot stuff. But right now, he can’t control any of it. If he’s going to live up to everything that’s promised, he needs to learn how to control what’s inside of him.
“You don’t have to come with us. You don’t have to be our friend. All we need is for you to teach Jason how to control his power. That’s it. You can probably manage it in a day or two, and then we’ll be happy to leave you to your fate.”
Kamila sucked in her cheeks. She hated this. That was how I knew we had her. “Fine,” she said after a long moment. “Two days tops, but after that, you’re on your own.”
19
Kamila led us inside the marvel of her home. The old farmhouse looked like a combination of a living history museum and a breakfast nook run wild. The ground floor had one big room. In a modern home, it would be called an open floor plan. I suspected in Kamila’s day, it had simply been too much trouble to partition the space. Rag rugs provided insulation on the wide plank floors, and quilts and afghans provided wraps and throws for
warmth if the fire or wood stove weren’t enough.
Not that I thought the most powerful fire-user in the world was likely to need much in the way of fuel.
“You’re off the grid here, aren’t you?” I asked her, looking around.
“Damn straight, I am,” she told me, holding her head up proudly. “Margaret got that much right, at least. No reason to advertise you’re a freak by getting regular service from someone, you know?” She sighed and gestured to the couch. I sat down, and Daisy hopped up beside me to put her head in my lap. Tess sat on Daisy’s other side, giving me an amused look.
Kamila toyed with a lock of her hair. “So, she’s really gone?”
“Yes, Jason burned her remains himself.” Tess bowed her head and then threw her shoulders back. She wasn’t about to show any weakness. “She held on long enough to give us instructions, but that was it. Mort gave him some training before the attack, but—”
“But Mort’s not a fire user,” Kamila said. “He’s done some study, but you wouldn’t go to a male midwife either.” She snorted. “Not that it’s an issue these days.” She looked over at me. “Did they explain that? We don’t get pregnant, and we don’t get other people pregnant. Anyway, moving on.”
“Okay...” I focused on petting Daisy.
“It’s not like the Owl’s Head crew are great about keeping people up to speed on anything. And I do mean anything, at all, ever.” Kamila made a face. Then she slumped her shoulders. “Honestly, I’m kind of shocked. I never thought Margaret would die. I thought she was eternal, like the sun and the stars. But here we are, I suppose. What about Mort, that old goat?”
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