by Jade Farhill
Abby shook her head. “My contract is with you. I won’t leave this place. I’m happy with the small team I have.”
“But think of the possibilities,” said a female hunter with a British accent. “You’d be working with the most amazing scientists.”
“It’s not just a step up in your career,” said an American male hunter, “it’s a step up in your life. Once you become human again, nothing will stop you.”
“No—thank you. My work is here.”
“For the moment,” said the British hunter, and the others all nodded agreement.
“No, not for the moment. I want to stay in Australia.”
“For now,” Don said meaningfully.
Chills went down Abby’s spine—they weren’t listening to her.
Abby looked at Jen, indicating that it was her turn to take over the fight from here. Jen started stating the laws that would be broken and how she would sue for billions, how Abby still had intellectual property of the cure and how she could patent and charge the hunters an exorbitant amount of money for the cure and vaccine if they proceeded.
“For the moment,” the American hunter said and it sounded like a threat. “She’ll change her mind when she’s human.”
“She still has work to do,” Astrid said and grabbed Abby’s arm, pulling her out the door.
Abby was glad to be out of there.
“Menacing bunch, aren’t they?” Trent muttered as he followed them out. “I remember when I was recruited, the hunters kept saying the same things: ‘You’ll change your mind’, ‘For now’, ‘Imagine what this will do for your career’. They didn’t really give me a choice, now that I think about it.”
“Didn’t you say you thought they were joking when they recruited you?” Abby asked.
“Yeah. But when I figured out they weren’t … the salary was amazing and the idea of working with the supernatural was far too tempting to turn down.”
Astrid sent Trent a probing gaze. “How much are they paying you?”
“Three hundred thousand.”
“What?” Abby cried. That was almost twice what she was earning. “So is this sexism or … speciesism?”
Trent frowned at her and asked how much she was getting paid.
“Wow, that’s low. But I don’t think it’s sexism—Lynn’s getting paid three-fifty.”
Abby felt faint. “I can’t believe this.”
“Well, it does pay to be a hunter,” Astrid said. “I could have been, but I choose not to. And I’m still paid well.”
“How is it that the hunters have so much money?” Abby asked.
Astrid looked at the floor. “Some vampires see high-security and armed guards as a challenge, not a deterrent. Something about making sure even the richest people know their place is below vampires.”
Abby wrinkled her nose—this definitely contradicted Australia’s values of equality and meritocracy. “Well, those vampires must be old or from other countries.”
“Sure. But you’d think the vampires would realise they’re just making their enemies richer and more powerful, right?” asked Trent.
“Yeah, I think so. But the odd rich person is still targeted.” Astrid shrugged. “I guess some vampires just can’t resist a challenge.”
CHAPTER 25
A few brave hunters grimly volunteered to test out the vaccine.
“You’re sure your cure works?” one asked as Abby was administering the dose.
“You can go see for yourself. There’s a bunch of former vampires living on one of the lower levels.” The hunters were determinedly not telling her the exact location. Did they still think she’d randomly snap and attack someone?
The hunter nodded. “Yeah, I’ve seen the new humans.” This was a term the hunters used to describe former vampires. “But that doesn’t mean the cure works long term.”
“If the vaccine doesn’t work, then the worst that’ll happen is you turn into a partial vampire like me. You’ll keep you reasoning—even if you’re attracted to the scent of blood—but you won’t be able to drink human blood, only animal.”
“I’m not sure if that’s better than being a mindless vampire,” one hunter muttered.
Abby sighed and gave up. Clearly, nothing she said was going to be of comfort.
When they’d all been vaccinated, they stood, shook hands with all the scientists—apart from Abby—and left.
Every hunter they passed went quiet and watched them with awe. Even the little hunter showed his respect by not cutting himself until they were out of sight.
A few anxious days passed before the hunters returned, sporting bite marks. They were escorted from the main level, and then the wait began.
Eight days later—eight days in which the volunteers remained completely human—every hunter was lined up outside Abby’s lab, waiting for their chance to get the vaccine for themselves. It was hard to keep up with the demand, even when she was working around the clock.
The president asked if Abby would allow hunters all over the world to recreate the vaccine and cure. That had been the plan all along, so she agreed.
By then, the aerial dispersal units were ready and the hunters took them into the field, which allowed them to cure masses of vampires at once.
Hunters started talking about being able to cure entire dens. They knew where one was and decided to attack it.
Excitement about the end of the seemingly eternal battle against vampires pulsated through the corridors. Three days after the hunters had successfully cured the first den, the atmosphere was euphoric.
That morning, Abby had some time off and headed towards the refectory, hoping for a game of pool with Astrid.
The little hunter—who was not so little by this time, considering that he towered over her and looked to be about sixteen—joined Abby and her guards. He’d been getting training on his heartbeat—it was sometimes slow and sometimes fast.
Abby ignored him.
“I got the vaccine today,” he told her.
Was he trying to make conversation? Why? “Um—that’s great,” she replied. “Any side effects?”
He shook his head. “The hunters are saying the war will be over soon. The end’s finally in sight.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that too.” This was getting weird—in all the time that she’d known him, he’d never been so conversational with her.
“My mum and dad would be happy.”
Abby hesitated. “I’m … yes, I’m sure they would be.”
The little hunter beamed at her.
What the hell? Abby quickened her pace, but the boy kept up.
“How’s your training going?” she asked him.
“I’m top of my class.”
Abby tried not to shudder, but she really shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d been using himself as bait for a few years now. She turned the corner, the refectory—and freedom from this conversation!—were in sight. “That’s—”
But a waft of fresh blood stopped her in her tracks. She put her arm out, stopping the little hunter from moving forward.
“Oi, Vampire,” Elliot uttered, “hands off the kid.”
Abby turned panicked eyes on Nina and gently pushed the little hunter towards her.
Nina allowed the boy to move past her. When the hunters were safely between the little hunter and Abby, Nina cast her eyes towards the refectory. “What’s going on?”
“I … smell a lot of blood down there.” Abby pointed to the refectory. Then a thought struck her. “Astrid!” She took off.
“Wait, Vampire, we can’t just rush in!” Elliot shouted after her.
“Astrid! Chef!” Abby ignored her guards and skidded through the door to the refectory, leaping over tables then bursting into the kitchen.
What Abby saw made her scream.
Liam was hanging from the ceiling on a metal peg designed for pots and pans. His stomach was on the floor, his whole torso a gaping maw where his organs used to be.
The floor was covered in
blood. And not just Liam’s.
The hunters caught up to her and swore profusely. The little hunter went pale.
Abby stepped forward and blood squelched beneath her shoe.
She had to find Astrid.
“Stay where you are, Vampire,” snapped Nina. “We need to do a proper investigation.”
Abby ignored her and started pulling open the cupboards. Inside were the bodies of the kitchen staff—her friends—beheaded and chopped into tiny pieces.
The hunters were all in the kitchen by now, looking around in horror. But even in this terrible moment, their heartbeats remained slow and steady.
She wanted to rage at them for this. How could they? How could they not allow their hearts to quicken at this sight? The kitchen staff had been their workmates, their friends—
But Abby dashed her tears away. She had to keep searching for Astrid.
There was one cabinet left. Abby had found every other member of the kitchen staff but Astrid. She wasn’t yet willing to admit what her nose had picked up the moment she’d smelled the blood.
Abby held her breath and opened the door.
Inside was Astrid, cut up into pieces just like everyone else. Her head was severed and her eyes were open, frozen in fear.
“ASTRID!” Abby screamed, her legs giving way.
The little hunter approached, breath coming fast. “Vampire,” he whispered.
“Are you going to cut yourself?” she sobbed. “You think adding your blood to this will make me any more likely to attack someone?”
She put her head in her hands and rocked back and forth. Her tears dripped to the floor, mingling with the blood already there. It seemed right somehow. They had bled, she was bleeding.
Her life was full of blood.
Elliot swore to her left. She looked up. Words were written in blood across a wall: Stop using the cure. This was a warning.
Abby grew cold. The den. This was retaliation for curing the den. Maybe not every vampire was cured. Maybe a few had escaped and tracked the hunters here.
So all this had happened because Abby had created the cure. Astrid would still be alive if it weren’t for Abby. “My fault,” she whispered. “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t found the cure. My friends died because of me. It’s my fault!”
The little hunter grabbed her by the arm and lifted her from the ground with a strength she didn’t expect. “Shut up, they’ll misunderstand.”
“My fault,” Abby continued. “My fault. My friends. My fault.”
He grabbed her by the other arm and shook her slightly. “I said, shut up.”
The hard look in his eyes made her think of his father.
“I’m taking her to her room,” he told her guards. They barely acknowledged him—they were too busy staring at the writing on the wall and the bodies in the cupboards.
Outside the kitchen, the smell of blood wouldn’t leave her. Abby had blood on her hands: literally and figuratively.
Back in her room, the little hunter ordered her into the shower. But she couldn’t move.
“Vampire,” he said urgently, “do you not realise you’re in an organisation where thousands of very angry hunters are about to discover their kitchen staff are dead and their first thought will be that the one responsible is the only vampire roaming around here freely? The very vampire who started saying it was her fault.”
“I didn’t do that,” said Abby.
“I know that. I’m sure Harriet and some others do too. But the majority of hunters here don’t trust you. And when they get into a mob mentality, all reason goes out the door!”
Abby’s grief-stricken mind started to clear. She looked down and saw herself as a hostile hunter might: a vampire covered in blood, who’d claimed to be the reason for the deaths of seven people.
She remembered all the attacks she’d suffered, the hatred directed at her, the hunters cutting themselves to provoke an attack—even the head of the organisation dismissing her words.
She shivered. “Okay, you’re right.” She needed to act quickly, especially if the little hunter—who’d tormented her for so long, who’d said she was nothing but a monster—was actually concerned for her safety. Surely this proved that she wasn’t just paranoid.
Abby showered, dressed, left her room and headed straight for her lab, the little hunter beside her. Then she grabbed two doses of the cure and her gas mask and made for the elevator.
The little hunter’s heart started racing.
“You’re coming with me to the surface?” she asked him as he stepped into the elevator with her.
“Yes.”
“I thought you weren’t allowed up there without an adult.”
“You’re an adult.”
Abby didn’t know how to respond. “I—Okay … Can you please tell Trent that I’ll miss him and that I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye in person? Tell him … I love him.”
“I will.”
Abby’s chest ached—would she ever see Trent again?
“So, you’re really leaving then?” The little hunter broke through her pain.
“Yes. I’d rather not get lynched by highly trained killers.”
There was a long moment of silence before he asked, “Are we ever going to see you again?”
“I hope not, Little Hunter.” She didn’t want to give any hunter—especially this one—the chance to kill her. Then it hit her, he’d saved her … twice. Why? The first time, she put it down to sheer innocence of not wanting to see someone—anyone—die. But this time?
“Why are you doing this? Why are you making sure I get out safely?”
He was silent for a moment. His heart rate picked up speed, but his face showed no emotion. Maybe he was probably trying to hide sadness and horror of what just happened.
“I thought I told you,” he said finally. “I know you didn’t do this.”
“How, though?”
He looked away. “Because I was outside your lab.”
Planning on cutting himself. Made sense.
“And your guards would have known if you … snapped. They follow you everywhere.”
So did the little hunter, apparently.
“But they were just as horrified as you were,” he continued, “so I knew you couldn’t have done this.”
Abby didn’t know what to say.
The elevator reached the garage and she strode out with her two doses of the cure. She stepped into the sunshine, thinking how Astrid and Liam would never see sunshine or daylight again. Never play pool again. Never laugh again.
A lump formed in her throat. She needed to get out of here.
She hurried to a prime jumping location with a clear path through the sky. She peered upwards, not noticing the vivid colours like she used to. Everything seemed monochrome now.
Tensing her muscles, she prepared to jump.
Behind her, the little hunter’s heart raced, and he said quickly, “I hope you find your sister, Abby.”
It was the first time he’d ever used her name.
CHAPTER 26
Abby went straight into the city and lurked in an alley until darkness, waiting for vampires.
It took her two nights to find one. From the smell of him, he’d eaten only recently. At least that meant Abby didn’t have to watch him feed on a human as she stalked him.
Abby peered at him from around a corner. He was alone, which meant he was old.
As if sensing he was being watched, he spun around and met her eye.
Abby froze—it was Gabriel, the old vampire who’d told her to return in one hundred years.
“I know you’re watching me,” he said silkily. “Come on, come out now.”
Not having much choice, Abby stepped from around the corner. A jolt of fear shot through her. Predator, she thought. He’ll kill me if I make a wrong move.
He looked her up and down, then tilted his head. “I know you, don’t I?”
Should she lie? But if she did and he figured it out, he’d probably kill h
er. “We’ve met before.” She told him of the incident.
“Oh, yes, Abby. I remember now. Well, you certainly are keen, aren’t you?”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“I suppose I can spend a few hours with you. There’s a party nearby, full of humans and alcohol.”
Abby suppressed a shudder. Every human there would probably be dead soon. “Actually, I’m looking for a new den.”
Gabriel raised his eyebrows. “Really? What happened to yours?”
“Hunters.”
His face fell. “Yes, they’ve become more than a nuisance recently.”
“Indeed.”
He scrutinised her for a moment. “All right, I guess I can show a bit of solidarity. Follow me, I’ll take you to my den.”
He led her out of the city and into a rainforest, finally stopping outside a cave. “Here you are. Go on in, get yourself comfortable. Make some friends, but don’t make trouble.”
He was about to leave when Abby said, “Gabriel, have you seen a vampire who looks similar to me?”
“No,” he said simply, then left.
Worth a try. Abby entered the cave, where a single tunnel led deep into the earth, then branched out.
Groups of vampires were clustered at the top of the tunnel, peering at her. She asked if they’d seen her sister, and described Sharon.
“No,” one said, “but I’m only a few weeks old.”
So … maybe these vampires at the cave mouth were young ones? Abby continued further, seeing the similarities between the hunters’ complex and this den. They both had many levels, each dedicated to something specific. The top few levels in this den were for the young vampires. As she got deeper, the vampires got older.
She continued asking about her sister, but no one had seen her.
“Wait til the sun rises,” one vampire told her. “The vampires in the city will be back then—they might have an idea.”
Abby thanked her, then explored while she waited. There was an entire level dedicated to books, so she settled into an overstuffed chair and read for a few hours.
Eventually, the cave grew noisier as vampires returned. A low grinding vibrated throughout the levels.