“I can’t handle three vamps in Frenzy, either.”
Saul huffed. “Neither can the witches at The Manor.”
I closed my eyes. Porschia always wore her poison ring, even now. “Does anyone have a ring?”
Saul nodded. “I do.”
“I’ll turn two of you, but only once we get close, and the third wears the ring just in case they need to turn.”
Roman shook his head. “If they catch a human, the human dies. If they catch any of us, even if we’re turned, we might die. And they have a special security system, if memory serves me right. You’ll want to change us right before we get there.”
“Fine. I’ll turn you all, but as soon as we get Porschia back, we find a rotter and you change back. Got it?”
They all agreed easily, too easily, and I wasn’t sure if any or all would fight me about becoming human again. Being a vampire was like a high for most; an addiction that wouldn’t be easy to overcome.
Roman turned to me first and smiled. “If you turn us, we can run to her.”
He was out of his mind. “I won’t set you loose in Mountainside.”
“Fine, but you’ll have to turn me as soon as we’re outside the wall or else I won’t make it. I’m weak,” he drawled.
I nodded. “Fine. But you can’t feed from them.”
He nodded and leaned against the earthen wall to keep himself from falling over. “Let’s go get our girl.”
“She isn’t your girl!” I shouted, my words echoing around the small space. Let them all know it. She wasn’t up for grabs. Saul stormed outside and Mercedes followed him.
“How many are we facing?” I asked once they were gone.
“Three of the most vicious women alive, although I’m not sure how many others they have doing their dirty work. When I was there they only had a few slaves, though none lasted long. Pierce is probably there if they haven’t killed him already. He’ll only live as long as he’s useful to them.”
Outside, the sun was high. It was midday and she’d been at The Manor too long already. The others were stopped just inside the gate where Garreth stood. He inhaled deeply, his large chest rising and falling again. “I can’t let you come back if you’ll be in Frenzy.”
“We understand that,” Roman said from behind me, “and I’d advise you to close the gate behind us and not reopen it – not for anyone or any reason. You have some meat to last you. If this goes well, we can hopefully bring more. But you need to think seriously about leaving Mountainside.”
Garreth’s mouth bobbed open, ready to respond, but Roman held his hand up. “Think about it – you have no reliable food source. It’s been ruined and will take years for the animal populations to increase to the point where it could feed your people adequately. Blackwater has empty homes and there is still game in the forests surrounding the Colony. I’m sure they would welcome you all.”
“That’s a lot to ask of a group of people who are also struggling to survive.”
I butted in, “Would you refuse the citizens of Blackwater help or shelter if they needed it?”
“No,” Garreth asserted thoughtfully. “We would welcome them.”
Point made.
Garreth shifted on his feet. “I’ll take it into consideration.”
Mercedes and Saul were the first to step around him and beneath the tall gate. Roman followed. “Seal them behind us.”
Garreth nodded. “Good luck.”
“Thank you for everything,” Roman added. Saul had all but carried him to the gate, acting as a crutch. The doors closed behind us and wood scraped against wood as they slid the beam into place.
Roman turned to me and smiled. “Now change me.”
This feeling was familiar. My head was cloudy, my body ached, and I woke up in a bed that wasn’t my own. Stripes of burgundy and gold were papered down the walls of the room, and the bed covers matched. I threw them back and gingerly sat up before sliding my legs around. The soft hairs of a snow-white rug tickled my feet as I eased them to the floor.
The door rattled and my eyes snapped up to see Pierce enter the room carrying a silver tray. He stilled when he saw me sitting upright. “I thought you’d still be asleep.”
“You thought wrong.” A low growl erupted from deep within my chest.
He stuck his free hand out. “Easy. I need to explain a few things before you go crazy.”
“I don’t intend to go crazy,” I said softly, venomously.
“What do you intend to do?”
I smiled. “I intend to eat you. I told your little friends downstairs I would, and they sent you in here anyway. You must not be very important to them.”
He let out a sharp laugh and pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck. Fresh fang marks and bruises circled his neck, which meant that he’d been fed from frequently. “I’m definitely not important to them now. I have no more information that they need.”
“You’re still alive, but on borrowed time. One of them would eat you anyway. Well, they would drain you. I plan to actually eat you. Your muscle, soft tissues. I can eat everything but your bones. They wouldn’t float outside in the stagnant water. They would sink to the bottom and no one would ever think of you again.”
“You’re delusional. It’s the effect of the belladonna.”
“I’m not delusional at all. You didn’t give me enough of the poison. Your mistake. I’m completely lucid.” And I was. My left foot held my weight and I shifted the right down to share the load. My mind was clear and my body was quickly catching up. He hadn’t put enough poison in the syringe, or I’d become more immune since the last attack. Either way: good for me, bad for Pierce.
He kept his eyes trained on me as he stepped farther into the room and sat the tray on a small glass table. “You wouldn’t hurt Roman like that.”
Laughing hysterically, I clutched my stomach. I would. I would hurt Roman. Because as much as I didn’t want Roman to die from something as simple as the flu, I didn’t owe him anything when it came to his brother. “I could always drain you and tell him that one of the others did it.”
Pierce’s face paled. “You would be sick. Roman told me you couldn’t hold down large amounts of blood.”
I shrugged, standing at full height. “I could live with that. The sickness passes quickly. You, however, wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone ever again.”
A strange scent filled the air and my brows furrowed as I took it in. An Infected was here. “Why do you have an Infected here?”
“The ladies of The Manor have cured themselves.”
“What?” I searched the room for my coat. It was freezing in here. “If they’re human, I can just leave.”
He shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”
The smell became stronger the closer he stepped toward me. “Were you not cured?” I covered my nose and mouth.
“I was, but the lovely ladies of The Manor had me Infected again so that I could help them. They took turns feeding from me this morning so my body is healing from the disease. Again. It seems much slower this time, though.”
I swallowed. “Why would they do that?”
“It weakened me immediately. I couldn’t leave with information that might help them. That’s reason number one.”
“The second?”
“So that my blood could cure them when the time came for it.”
“So why don’t they let you go now? You’re healing. They have ‘the hybrid’.”
“I feel like they’ve somehow Infected me again.” He looked at the opposite wall, sticking his hands in his pockets. “They want me to die slowly.”
I had no empathy for Pierce whatsoever. Maybe they did infect him again. Maybe he deserved to rot. “Why did you tell them about me?” I stepped closer.
“I came here because my brother and I had stopped here once before. The women were frightening, but they were also the most powerful in the land. I seek power; it’s that simple. But I learned fast that they didn’t want me here. Th
ey almost killed me, believing me to be Roman. They kept me as their ‘guest’ just to lure him here, and when that didn’t happen quickly enough, they planned to kill me and throw me in the moat. If you have nothing to bargain with, you lose here. Period. Information about you was the only chip I had left to play. Now, I have none.”
“You told others.”
“I told other Infected, so that they could find a night-walker and end their pain.” His dark eyes paused on mine. He looked a lot like Roman now that his hair was shorter and he looked healthier. As a human he must have healed before the sick bitches had him Infected again. What kind of person would do that?
They want me to collect your blood, he spoke urgently in my mind.
What for?
They want to be what you are. They think your blood will make them hybrids, too; that it will give them your strength.
I’m not always strong, Pierce. Sometimes I’m weaker than anyone knows.
He nodded. If you’re going to run for it now is the time, but they have night-walkers watching both of us. Only the three women healed themselves. They didn’t allow their slaves to be healed, and they only healed themselves in order to transform into some stronger version of what they already were. They didn’t think it through.
I shook my head. Why would anyone want this?
As vampires, they’re still vulnerable. Someone could still drain or heal them, tear them apart and end them. They think you are different; that you can’t be killed.
That’s crazy! Believe me, you almost killed me with the darts in the forest. I can be killed. Probably easier than they could.
They don’t see it that way. It’s a chance they’re willing to take, and that’s all that matters. They always get their way. He stepped forward.
How does anyone know what my blood will do, anyway? Maybe it won’t do anything. Maybe they’ll turn into night-walkers again. Maybe it will Infect them. It’s not worth any of that. And if it does work, if they are somehow able to absorb both curses, I guarantee they’ll wish it hadn’t.
A large man stepped into the room, baring his fangs and flexing his pectoral muscles as he clenched his fists. “What’s going on in here? Get on with it,” he ordered Pierce.
“I need some blood.” He held up a knife. “I can take it from your palm.”
That’s not going to happen. Give me the knife.
He hesitated for just a moment before stepping toward me. I held my hand out as the brute watched the exchange. When the cold handle of the knife hit my palm, I launched it at the vampire before rushing him, knocking him to the floor, and draining him. When I eased my fangs from his throat, his eyes were fixated on the ceiling, the knife protruding from between them.
“Holy shit,” Pierce said, backing away from me and easing around the bed. As if a simple mattress and a few pieces of metal and wood would keep me from reaching him if I wanted to.
A slow clap came from the hallway. “That’s exactly why we want to be like you, Porschia.” Lydia, whose once-lustrous hair was now dry and her skin was flaking away, approached. She looked Infected, not human.
“The three of us are very old, and it finally seems as if time hasn’t forgotten that fact. When we turned back into humans, it caught up with us rather quickly.”
“Nothing is intended to live forever,” I quipped. Maybe that was Roman’s problem. Maybe time was catching up with him and he happened to catch the flu at the same time.
“No, that certainly wasn’t the intention, but surely even you can appreciate its appeal. Staying youthful, vibrant, strong, and healthy. Who wouldn’t want that?”
“You’re making a mistake. One moment of my strength is backed by one hundred moments of weakness. Bearing both curses isn’t what it might seem. It’s painful; full of sadness, punctuated with moments of strength and glory. It’s very human-like. And if you don’t like being human—like what you are right now—being a hybrid will crush you.”
She smiled, her fangs gone, but the threat in her tone said she didn’t want to mince words. “I don’t believe you.”
We ran from Mountainside toward The Glen until Tage got tired of carrying Roman, and Roman’s incessant belly-aching about feeling weak and his pleas of being turned finally grated on Tage for long enough.
Tage did all the work but didn’t break a sweat from carrying a man on his back. Roman, still recovering from his illness, was panting and weak. He could barely lift his arm to wipe the sweat from his brow. “Thank God.”
He gave us each a small plant. “Nightshade. Belladonna. It took us down a notch when the darts hit. Not enough to stop us, but enough that it might ease the frenzy you’re about to feel and maybe keep it under control until we can get Porschia out. As soon as you turn, eat it. It might help the pain. Garreth said he’d seen a vampire use it to ease their hunger before.”
“Is the pain like the Infection?” I asked warily.
Tage laughed. Roman clapped me on the back and said, “You thought turning into a monster was going to be easy?”
“No, I just wondered if the pain was similar.”
I’d experienced turning into one curse, and seen someone turn into the other. I knew there was pain, but would the pain be like when Mercedes bit me? Would it spread fast and feel bone deep?
Mercedes frowned. “Can we hurry up and get this over with?” she said in frustration. She was emotional, much more than her sister. I didn’t look forward to her in Frenzy.
“I’m just worried,” she shouted, brushing the hair from her face. “And we’re wasting time. Porschia is in trouble.”
Tage pulled a small knife from his pocket. “Who’s first?”
“Me,” I said, stepping forward.
Tage’s brow popped up. “Always the hero, until you’re not.”
“Turn me, asshole.” God, I hated him. And while the others were dealing with the turn, I would run as fast as I could to her. Something told me there was no time to waste.
He cut his index finger. “Drink up. But don’t think about being a hero. We leave here together as a group.”
“Yeah,” I lied. “We go together.” I opened my mouth and let him squeeze a drop onto my tongue. Immediately my eyes began to water. Sharp pain. Fucking. Everywhere. I was on the ground. I was... “Aaaaah!”
Tage was laughing and I wanted to kill him for it. Maybe I would. Later.
White. Hot. Pain.
Oh, God.
I wasn’t strong enough for this.
Chewing the flower didn’t help.
I rocked on the ground.
God. Stop this.
Make it stop.
Hunger. My stomach. I held it tightly to make it stop.
My mouth.
My gums.
Holy...
I laughed at Saul as he writhed on the ground, his cheeks puffing out violently with each sharp exhale. The pain was going to suck. I’d been through it before, but I was healthy the last time I turned.
“Just do it,” I said, stepping forward. Tage winced but squeezed a drop into my mouth. The same fucking fire began to burn in me, and soon I was writhing on the ground beside Saul.
I shouldn’t have laughed. Karma’s a real bitch.
Watching the two men scream and tear at the hairs of their head, thrashing on the ground almost made me back out. My hands shook so bad, I had to lace my fingers together in front of me. “It’s okay if you change your mind,” Tage said quietly.
“These women are really that bad?” How bad could they be? I’d always feared the male night-walkers. They seemed so intense, almost like they were stalking prey when their eyes found their way to a human too often.
“They’re the worst. You heard Garreth. They’re depraved. They don’t value human life at all. My bet is that they won’t hesitate to hurt Porschia if it benefits them.”
“They’ll hurt her?”
He nodded. “I think so.” I could see stress settle in the lines of his face. He wanted nothing more than to run to The Manor a
nd tear the place apart until he found my sister, but now he was going to have to take the time to rein us all in. He loved her. I could see it in the crinkles feathering from the corners of his eyes, in the way he kept looking past me as if she’d appear from the direction he’d last seen her.
“Female night-walkers are the most dangerous. That’s what they said in Mountainside.” And Garreth was always honest with us. He was helpful but wary; frightened. The man was as tall as an oak and scared to death of Porschia. It wasn’t Tage that he feared.
Tage smiled. “All women are vicious.” I could see why my sister liked him. If nothing more, I owed her and him more time together.
“Then I’ll do it. Let’s go get my sister and teach these bitches a lesson.”
He held his finger up and cursed. I’d taken so long to decide, his finger had already healed, so he had to cut it again. I stared into the blue sky, my eyes watering as he squeezed the droplet onto my tongue. This wasn’t forever, I told myself. I’d find an Infected and we could heal each other –
Oh. My. God.
Lightning. I’d been struck by lightning. It coursed through me. It burned me from the inside out.
Singe.
Burn.
Tear.
Rip.
My mouth. My stomach. My head. It was too much.
My legs.
Arms.
Face. It was on fire!
Mouth.
My mouth.
My mouth was ripping open.
Back.
Feet.
I couldn’t take it.
“Help me!” I heard myself scream, shrill and inhuman.
Tage was in front of me. “Chew the plant.”
“I can’t. My mouth!” My lips shook violently as I said the words. I couldn’t chew, but I was getting hungrier by the second. Insatiably so.
“I know, but you have to, Cede. If you want to help Porschia, you have to.”
He shoved the plant – leaves, flower and all – into my mouth and told me to chew. “You’re as stubborn as your sister.”
We had to be stubborn. It was a survival response. We had to be strong to be able to survive Mother. And it was all Roman’s fault. I’d make him pay for what he and his brother did…right after I figured out how to make the pain go away. I chewed, my head thumping back onto the earth with a dull thud. The plant seemed to help. It eased the pain. Slightly. And it made me hungrier. Was that possible?
Friction (The Frenzy Series Book 4) Page 7