by Amy Richie
“And if he can’t?” No one answered me.
I would go get Nadia if Marcus couldn’t, I decided. I didn’t say anything out loud because I knew exactly what they would all say. But I knew that I had to at least try to save her. It was my fault that Nadia was locked up.
If only I hadn’t been so eager to disobey Dominick. We knew the VC would be in the area soon, we should have stayed inside. All these years Nadia had lived in the states and never been caught by the VC; I had been in town for only three days. I closed my eyes. Being overly dramatic would not help anyone.
***
Marcus made good on his word and returned in less than twenty minutes. But his news was not good. “They have her surrounded by guards and from the sound of her heart beats — heavily sedated as well. They probably don’t want another escapee on their hands.” He sighed and ran his hand over his face.
“Marcus, couldn’t you have gotten through the guards?” Even I could have done that much.
“Yes my dear child, but I fear they would have pierced her heart before they let me take her.” My mouth dropped open. Were they really so cruel? “Half-breeds are highly illegal in the states. The VC believes that there is a vampire in the city creating more half-breeds.”
Claudia sighed heavily through her nose. “That means the VC will invade the city.” She laid her head on the table, distraught. Marcus came to stand behind her. “We’ll have to leave.”
“Not if you don’t have Nadia with you,” Dominick remarked.
I was glad that Claudia and David glared at him enough so that I didn’t have to. “That’s not very helpful,” Claudia said with disgust. He just grinned at her. I was barely paying attention to them though.
Several things became suddenly very clear. One: Nadia was alive; two: she was still in the city; and three: someone had to go get her.
Chapter Thirty–Five
“I think I should go.”
“No.” Dominick had his arms crossed over his chest in a no nonsense way. His expression was dark.
Anger was my immediate response. “Who asked you?” I snapped.
“It doesn’t matter.” He didn’t move.
My eyebrows came together in rage. “Listen—” I started but he cut me off.
“I will not have you going on a suicide mission to save some half-breed.” His own eyebrows came together to match mine.
“I don’t have to listen to you, you’re nothing to me,” I said through clenched teeth.
“It doesn’t matter.” He separated each syllable. His eyes flashed anger.
“You’re right. It doesn’t matter what you think.” I tried hard to sound nonchalant. He made a noise low in his throat. “Are you actually growling at me?” I hissed.
“You’re not going.” He took a step closer to me.
“Yes, I am.” I took a step towards him.
“No, you’re not.” A step closer.
“Yes, I am.” Our faces were inches away from each other. We were both breathing heavy and glaring.
“Ok, ok, ok.” We both snapped our heads to see who had spoken. David was standing with his arms outstretched.
“Ok what?” I demanded.
“You two fighting isn’t going to solve anything.”
“He has no right to tell me what to do.” I jabbed my finger into Dominick’s face, which was still too close to mine. It irritated me that I noticed the way he smelled.
He pushed my finger roughly away from his face. “No one is going to let you go.” He turned pointedly to David.
“Are you going to take his side?” I asked David.
“No, I’m just…”
“Because you know,” I cut him off, “that he just called her a half-breed.” David’s eyebrows raised a fraction. I turned back to Dominick, who hadn’t moved. I was momentarily confused by his closeness.
“That’s what she is,” he said evenly.
“That’s what I am too.” I watched his eyes narrow as he heard my thoughts. “Would you just leave me?”
“You are different,” David interjected before I could embarrass myself any further.
I took two steps away from Dominick before I looked at David. “Why am I different?”
“You wouldn’t need to be saved,” he said simply and matter-of-factly.
I processed that for a minute. “You’re right,” I agreed. I would not need anyone to come rescue me, I could escape by myself.
“But Nadia does,” Dominick said.
David and I both turned to look at him in disbelief. “But you just said—” I shook my head. I would never understand him.
“I said you weren’t going,” he moved his eyes slowly to look at me.
“I widened my eyes. “You’re going to go?”
He snarled his lip. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
I growled in frustration. “I’m going!” I shouted.
“Ok, Eva,” Claudia bravely put herself between Dominick and I.
“What?” I snapped at her.
“I actually agree with Dominick,” she said hurriedly.
“That she’s not worth saving?”
“I didn’t…”
“That you shouldn’t be the one to go,” Claudia interrupted him before he could start again.
“Who do you suggest goes?” David asked.
“Me,” she stopped when Marcus opened his mouth to protest, “or you,” she finished. “Someone strong.”
“I am strong,” I reminded them. My declaration fell on deaf ears; they kept talking as if I hadn’t said anything. Dominick listened to them, but kept his eyes on me. I did my best not to glare at him.
“If you just catch them off guard and take her,” Claudia was saying.
“Yes, but we don’t know what kind of physical state she is in. I may have to carry her.”
“You’re not strong enough to carry a half-human?” Marcus appeared disgusted.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve fed on human blood,” David defended himself.
“How long?”
“Years,” he answered elusively.
“Come on, how long?”
“I haven’t fed on human blood since I joined with Neleh,” David admitted.
“What?”
“Maybe even a few years before that.”
“And you’re a third generation,” Claudia added.
“What’s a third generation?” The way Claudia said it, a third generation was obviously bad. “What does that mean?”
Three pairs of eyes turned to look at me, finally realizing that I was still standing there. Then they turned back to each other. They weren’t even going to answer me!
“A third generation,” Dominick’s voice suddenly purred, “means that David is not as strong as the rest of us.”
I reluctantly turned to give my full attention to him. “Meaning?”
“Us, meaning me, Achilles, Elizabeth, and Marcus,” he said calmly.
The man made my insides boil. I bit the inside of my mouth until I tasted blood. “Eva, don’t do that,” David scolded off-handedly.
“That, with the fact that David feeds on synthetic blood doesn’t make him the best candidate to go,” Dominick continued. He seemed amused by the whole idea.
“I’m still stronger than humans though.” David stood with his arms crossed. No way would I let him go.
“Explain third generation to me,” I demanded.
“First generation is Kiera and the guards. Second is the warriors,” David explained, “and third would be the vampires made by the warriors.”
“Like you and Claudia?”
“Yes. Like me and Claudia.” His eyes darted to where Claudia stood. She seemed very intent on listening to David.
“And that makes you weak.”
“It makes us weak to the warriors,” Claudia said distastefully.
Dominick smiled.
“The mutation gene gets weaker as it is passed along. In the vampire world — third generations are only about half
as powerful as the warriors and the warriors are only half as powerful as the guards.”
“So in the vampire world, you are the weakest,” I concluded.
“Yes.”
“But not to humans,” Claudia pointed out.
“To humans, we are all humans,” Marcus said.
“So eventually the vampire gene will disappear?”
“It’s never been tested. We aren’t allowed to make new vampires.”
“What does it matter anyways? We aren’t going anywhere.”
“And you, David, would be weaker still,” I acted as if Dominick hadn’t said anything, “because of the synthetic blood.”
“Boy, you catch on quick,” Dominick taunted me.
I clenched my fist and opened my mouth to retort, but David put his hand on my arm. “Eva, it will be fine. I will go.”
“You are not going.” Why did I sound like Dominick? He smiled, hearing my thoughts. I really hated when he did that.
“We’re wasting time.”
“Exactly. Just let me go.” I thought about crossing my arms, but I didn’t want to look like a little child.
David took a deep breath and crossed the room to sit by himself on the couch. He pinched the bridge of his nose. I could tell he was worried about Nadia.
“Where are they now?” I asked.
“I can’t hear them anymore,” Marcus said. “They are most likely out of the city by now.”
“Where are Elizabeth and Achilles?”
“They said they would be back within an hour.”
“They’ve only been gone twenty-nine minutes.”
“We need to go.”
“We’ll wait for them, then we’ll go.”
“Then we need to decide on a plan.”
And there we were, we had talked ourselves into a circle. I rolled my eyes and went to join David on the couch. He looked up when I sat down, even though he had to have known it was me. He didn’t bother to smile, he was calculating — figuring things out.
The others were still talking, but I wasn’t listening to what they were saying. “David,” I whispered.
His eyes focused. “Yeah?”
“Will they kill her?” My whispered words echoed through the suddenly silent room. I kept my eyes on David.
“The VC won’t kill her. They won’t have to.” His eyes lost focus and his expression became pained. “The colonies are brutal Eva. They’ll kill each other.”
I blinked and looked away. Nadia’s face flashed in my head. I saw her as she was that morning. Incredible that it was just that morning we were laughing about her feelings for David. She had been so scared when the VC stopped us. And I had just left her.
I fingered the bandages on my wrist. Horror filled me. “David…”
“Yeah,” he quietly acknowledged what I had guessed.
They would have already cut off Nadia’s hand. She could already be dead. If she wasn’t, it was impossible not to imagine what they must be doing to her. Anger and desperation washed over me.
I bit back the bile and the tears that threatened to show my weakness. They would never let me go if they thought I was weak.
“We won’t let you go anyways,” Dominick’s voice sounded so close I had to turn and see if he was sitting next to me. He was still standing over with the others but he was staring directly at me. Had he spoken? “Eva, you can’t go. They will catch you again. It’s too dangerous.” I heard his voice again but his lips never moved.
I hated that I felt so connected to him. “It’s not your decision,” I thought loudly, hoping he would hear.
“Why are you so eager to get yourself killed?”
“Dominick, just trust me. I won’t get killed.”
“Just imagine that I was Nickolas.”
“What?”
“Would Nickolas let you go?”
“I don’t…”
“No, he wouldn’t. I wouldn’t Eva.”
“But you’re not Nickolas!” Even though I didn’t say it out loud, I was pretty sure that the whole room heard that thought.
I stood up abruptly and stomped all the way to the front door. Who cares if I was acting childish? Let them think whatever they wanted; I need to get out of that room.
“Where are you going?” David’s voice made me pause.
“Outside.” Maybe I could find Elizabeth.
“Why?”
“I need some air.” She would help me find Nadia.
“Don’t go far; I don’t want you captured again.”
Me captured? Why would he think that I would let them…I sucked in a breath of air. The thought was genius. If I was captured again, they would… I stopped my thoughts and glanced quickly at Dominick. Had he heard me? He was looking at Marcus. They seemed to be having an internal conversation because Dominick nodded his head. He must not have heard. “I won’t,” I said out loud to David.
“Eva, stay close.”
“I heard you the first time,” I snapped.
He looked at me with narrowed eyes but let me duck outside. Before my thought could fully formulate a plan, Dominick was beside me. “What are you doing?” he purred.
“What are you doing?” I fired back. “Why are you following me?”
“I needed some air,” he said with a nonchalant shrug.
“Listen, I…” I turned to yell at him but then our faces were only inches apart. His eyes locked with mine and I forgot how to breathe.
“I am listening,” he said softly. “Always listening.”
“I was just going to see if she would…”
“She won’t.”
“But I wasn’t going to…”
He stopped my words with two fingers against my lips. I tried to be furious, but it was like trying to move a mountain. “Eva, I have waited so long for you.” I wasn’t sure when he stopped using his mouth to talk. He put his hands up to cradle my face.
“Dominick,” I breathed.
He brought his face closer to mine and we probably would have kissed if Elizabeth hadn’t picked that exact moment to interrupt us.
“Am I interrupting anything?” she asked sweetly — and loudly.
I pulled away from Dominick as if I had been burned. My eyes were wide — perfect picture of guilt. I straightened my hair and tried to calm my heart. Why was my breathing so ragged?
“Not at all,” Dominick said very calmly. “As always, dear sister, your timing is impeccable.” My face flamed red.
“You really shouldn’t be out here,” she said turning to me. Her voice was suddenly very serious.
I puffed out my cheeks and looked down at my feet. “I…,” I stammered. Of course I shouldn’t be out here, I scolded myself. I had almost kissed Dominick Letrell. What was wrong with me?
“Why?” Dominick asked.
“They have her picture everywhere.” Achilles’ declaration made my head snap up.
“Yeah,” Elizabeth continued, “the whole city is looking for you. The news is calling you an unstable SH.”
“Unstable?”
“Because they couldn’t keep a hold of you,” Dominick smiled down at me. My heart flip-flopped and my lips tried to involuntarily smile back at him. “Let’s get you inside,” he said, grabbing my arm.
Elizabeth and Achilles followed us inside.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“We have to get out of the city now,” David concluded after hearing what Elizabeth had discovered.
“First we have to get Nadia,” I told him firmly.
“Nadia is gone,” Marcus called from somewhere in the large apartment. As soon as Elizabeth had informed everyone that the VC was looking for me, Claudia and Marcus had immediately sprung to action. They set a large bag on the table and were filling it with the things we would need once we got out of the city.
“You heard her heartbeats though, she’s not gone yet,” I reminded Marcus.
“I didn’t mean…”
Claudia stopped long enough to lovingly stroke my cheek. “He didn
’t mean she was dead dear. Only that she is no longer in the city.”
“Do you know where they will take her?”
“To Alcatraz.” The name sounded ominous, or maybe it was just the slight shiver that ran through Claudia when she said it.
“How far away?”
She spread out a large map on the table. “The states are primarily divided into three sections,” she explained to the group that had formed around us. “The nomads are here,” she pointed to the center of the map. “These people travel often from place to place. They live in large tents that they pick up and carry with them. Very much like the Indians of old times, they follow the water or the herds, or the weather. And this area,” she traced a large circle around where the nomads lived, “are the villages. The people stay in their villages — raising all their own food.”
Next she pointed to four locations along the edge of the map. “And these are the cities; where most of the humans choose to live. And all of this,” she gestured to the entire map, “is Ryan’s land.”
“Who is Ryan?”
“Ryan the warrior?”
“Yes — the warrior. Ryan and his brother Drake have a whole gang of third generations that they themselves created. Their female — Sophia — was killed by Rueben and Paris.”
“So they hate the Letrell’s?” We had something in common.
“How many?”
“Last count was eight, but it could be higher by now,” Marcus answered.
“We believe Neleh must have told them to stay out of the cities because their reign of terror only goes as far as the villages.”
“Neleh knew about this gang and didn’t stop them?” I couldn’t believe it.
“Yes, her attention was…elsewhere.” Claudia gave me a pointed look.
“So what about the colony?”
“Alcatraz is here,” she pointed to a spot inside the villages. “It’s named after a famous prison that was supposedly inescapable. The colony of Alcatraz is considered a village in and of itself and it boasts the same claim — inescapable.”
“It’s the only colony still active.” Marcus put several gadgets inside the bag and zipped it shut.
“So how do we get there? Porter or auto?”
“Neither,” she frowned.