“It’s not as if drinking from someone hurts or like we kill them when we do it.”
She pursed her lips together. “How scared were you before the rotation?”
“Very,” I admitted. “More nervous than anything, but I understand. I see it from both sides now.”
Mercedes sat on the steps, her dark skirts fluttering in the breeze. “Why do you still wear your dress?” I asked her, leaving Tage’s side to sit next to her for a moment.
“Why do you?”
“They make me feel like me, from before.”
“Me too.” She stared blankly at the dew gathered on the grass. A light fog sat low on the ground.
When Father returned, Tim Brown was with him. He hadn’t changed. He looked at me apprehensively as he stepped onto the walk. Shorter than Father by a head, he bowed it toward us. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” Mercedes and I said in unison.
“We will see that Margaret receives a proper burial. The Colony will gather after she’s laid to rest. You’re welcome to join us then.”
I stood up and Tage’s hand found the small of my back. “We can help you with her.”
“That isn’t necessary, Porschia. We know how close you were with Margaret. We can prepare her.”
“Is this about my feelings or your own? Are you frightened of me now? Tim, I’ve never hurt you or anyone else in Blackwater.”
He shifted on his feet and looked to the ground. “I understand, but some people are just apprehensive about...”
“Me,” I finished for him.
“Night-walkers in general. You know how you viewed them before joining the rotation for the first time,” he explained. “I don’t hold their opinion, just so you know – but as a member of the council, I have to do what’s best for everyone. And right now, it’s best if you let us tend to Margaret.”
Every muscle in my body drew in tight, but I knew I couldn’t do anything. The council was in charge now. Even if they were wrong, I had to abide by their rules if I wanted to stay in Blackwater. In that moment, I questioned leaving my home now more than ever.
Without a word, I walked past him and my father toward home. “Porschia,” Father said.
I turned to him, tears threatening again. “I’m sorry,” I answered. “I can’t. You take care of her, okay? You do that for me.”
He inclined his head. “I will.”
I nodded fast and started walking before I lost my composure; Mercedes walking to my left and Tage to my right. He threaded his fingers through mine and I squeezed them in thanks.
We all knew this wasn’t right, but nothing was going to change their minds. Nothing was going to show them that we weren’t going to hurt them. The divide would never be bridged as long as this much hatred and distrust existed.
It was evening before I stepped outside. The sun had fallen behind the trees in the hills beyond the Colony. The first lightning bugs began to flicker green through the trees and grass. The scent of honeysuckle floated on the gentle breeze. Bushes were flowered and dripped petals of every color on the ground. Rose bushes bloomed. Gardens were being set in every yard, the plants from Mountainside already bolstering their rows.
No one had come to get us yet. Tage stepped out behind me. “You okay?”
“Not really,” I answered honestly. “I don’t know what’s taking them so long.”
He rubbed my shoulders, the tension flowing out of them. The night was filled with the sound of cicadas calling out for their pharaoh. Father always said they searched the land for him, longing to serve him again. Every seventeen years they emerged, and they were only starting to sing. Soon, we would battle them for our own crops.
“Pha-raoh, Pha-raoh, Pha-roah,” they sang as one.
Maybe it was that sound that masked the words of the council men and women. Maybe Maggie sent them to shield me from their hatred. Maybe they were just loud, obnoxious bugs who should stay buried in the ground or trees or wherever they came from. Whatever it was, my ears were stronger. They’d begun the funeral without us. Purposefully.
“Get Mercedes. I’m going to get Roman.” Tage questioned me with his eyes. “Listen, beyond the noise of the night.”
His eyes hardened as he heard what I did. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I shook my head.
He let out a frustrated growl and stalked toward the house. “Mercedes?” he called out. She answered right away. “They started the funeral without us.”
I could hear her angry yelling, much more high pitched than his timbre. Roman must have heard, too. He met me on the street in front of his house. “I’m sorry. Maybe if I’d done better to give the night-walkers a good image, you wouldn’t be in this position.”
“What were you supposed to do? Be their friends and then feed from them? That wouldn’t have worked, either.” I waited for Tage and Mercedes to catch up. He walked with her, given she was human. He was thoughtful like that. Most men, let alone vampires, would have run ahead, leaving her behind.
“Maybe we should wait and go see her after they leave,” I wondered aloud.
“No, kitten,” Tage said, grabbing my hand. “You loved her. You have every right in the world to be at Maggie’s funeral.”
He was right. So with Tage’s hand in mine, the four of us walked toward the cemetery.
As Victor Freeman spoke of Maggie, whom he never bothered to give the time of day to even though she made the clothes on his back, we approached the crowd. Gasps and whispers became louder the closer we got until no one was listening to Victor and he stopped to see what the commotion was all about. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead and my legs began to feel weak. I had to hold it together. For Maggie. For Porschia.
Ford stepped up beside me and smiled. “’Bout time you showed up.”
“No one told us.”
Mouth agape, he said, “Mary Brown went to get you.”
“She didn’t.”
“I should have gone after you myself,” he spat, looking at Mary with more anger than a teenager should hold. She straightened her back and stared back at us indignantly, lips pursed.
It was slow. If you didn’t pay attention, you wouldn’t have seen it until the end, but the humans moved away from our group like prey threatened by a predator. Maybe they sensed the danger, the fury flowing from us all.
When it was clear that we weren’t leaving, Victor finished what he was saying: a vague eulogy for Maggie that praised her dedication to the Colony and lifted her skill as a seamstress. But that was all they knew about her. They didn’t know how much she cared, or how she talked to you like you were a human being, capable of errors and dripping with emotion. They didn’t say how she took my sister in and how she opened her home to me when I had none, simply because she was kind. They didn’t know Maggie, so all they could say was how grateful they were to have her clothing. It was about what she’d done for them, not what they knew about her. And it was disgusting.
Porschia was about to snap. I could feel her body tense and become board-like beside me. I nudged her.
She looked to me and I shook my head. “Don’t. It’s what they expect,” I whispered.
She sniffed, blinking her eyes to the sky. “I won’t.”
I wanted to yell for her, but again, it was what they expected. We would take the high road and leave the low road to the colonists who used to be our neighbors, friends, lovers. Noah stared at me blankly from across the grave. For a moment I stared back, but that was before I realized that he – that none of them – were worth it. Maybe we should all leave, night-walkers included, and see how they fared in the forest by themselves; see how they could protect themselves. In truth, they might be fine now that the Infected around here were cured. They might be able to fend for themselves now, and maybe a little self-reliance would do them some good.
Slowly the colonists, new and old, made their way back to their homes. My sister was breaking. She began picking flowers, sniffing them and lett
ing her tears drop to the earth. I helped her, trying to keep my balance. Maggie deserved flowers on her grave. She was a saint, the only person in our world who didn’t see Porschia as anything but her. She saw the good in her, the human in her. She saw the same in everyone, regardless of what they were: Infected, Human, Night-walker. Maggie saw the person, the soul, beneath it all.
Fear blinded people to the truth. It was as much a curse as anything else.
I stayed with Porschia as the crowd thinned and then only the people who actually knew and cared for Maggie were left. Mercedes didn’t look well. Dark circles hung under her eyes and her skin was almost as pale as Porschia’s now. But where Porschia looked healthy, Mercedes’ skin was splotchy and bruised-looking. I kept an eye on them both. Porschia so she wouldn’t snap, and Mercedes so she didn’t fall over dead.
Then she passed out, and the only thing that stopped her from hitting the ground hard was Porschia’s lightning reflexes.
“What’s wrong?” Porschia asked, looking up at the others for help. Tage crouched beside her as Roman and Father helped ease her down.
“Has she eaten?” I asked.
Porschia looked up at me. “She had soup for dinner last night. I don’t know if she ate this morning.”
“Could it be the same flu that I had after changing back?” Roman threw out.
Father yelled for me to run and get water, so I ran to the nearest well at the back side of the barn and pulled some up with the bucket, unchaining it and taking the whole thing with me. Water sloshed over the edges onto my pants and shoes, but I ran anyway.
When I came back, Mercedes was sitting up, blinking and holding her mouth. “Is she sick?”
Porschia shook her head robotically, a hollow look in her eyes. “She...the cure didn’t work this time.”
“What?” I knelt beside her and held the bucket up for Mercedes to take a drink, but she pushed it away, rocking and crying.
“Why wouldn’t it work? I fed from an Infected! I did exactly what I was supposed to do.”
Tage swallowed. “This makes no sense. Are you sure?”
Mercedes opened her mouth wide. The fangs, which had been gone for days, were growing back, albeit slowly this time. Two sharp peaks erupted from her gums, swollen and angry red.
Porschia stood abruptly. “I’ll find another. I’ll bring an Infected to the woods tonight. You will feed from them and it’ll be okay. Just take more blood.”
“My fangs aren’t in yet. I can’t feed from them.”
“There are other ways to get blood from a person. And you will feed tonight. We have to stop this.”
“My body is hot. Not the inferno of when I first changed, but there’s a smoldering heat inside me. I’ve felt it since I left The Manor.”
Roman cursed and stood up. “I’m coming with you, Porschia.”
“I’ll go, too,” Tage said, adamantly.
“Someone has to stay with Mercedes, in case...” Porschia didn’t finish her sentence, but everyone knew what she meant.
Father spoke up. “Take her to Saul. She can stay with him while you find someone to cure her.”
It was a good idea, if we could find him; if he was still in the forest and hadn’t left yet. “Is he still there?” I asked.
Porschia nodded. “He is.” I saw Tage tense beside her. Roman told Father and me about the bond she had to him. Tage could get mad all he wanted, but that bond might be the best tool we had right now.
“Can you walk?” Porschia asked, helping Mercedes stand.
“Not fast, but yes.”
Porschia nodded. “Let’s get you to Saul.” To Father, she said, “I’ll take care of her.”
To Tage and Roman, she nodded. “We hunt.”
They echoed with as much resolve. “We hunt.”
I’d hunted last night and brought down a raccoon and a possum, draining them both. They weren’t much, but the Colony could use the meat so I decided to start that way. When I saw Porschia holding up Mercedes, flanked by Tage and Roman, I knew something was wrong. “What’s going on?”
Roman ran to me, stopping short of smacking into my face. I stepped back. Personal space and all. “We need you to watch Mercedes,” he said hurriedly.
“Why does Mercedes need watching?”
“Because I didn’t drink enough Infected blood to completely change me back. My fangs hurt like hell and they think I’m gonna kill the whole damn town if I go into Frenzy in the Colony without another night-walker to stop me,” Mercedes answered, out of breath by the end of her explanation.
Was there a set amount of blood to consume in order for the cure to work? Why would she be turning back? “We don’t know any more than you do,” Roman said, as if reading my mind.
I held the two animals up. “Thought the Colony could use the meat.”
Roman nodded. “The Colony doesn’t deserve the meat, but okay. After Porschia has a portion.”
“I’m okay,” she said, but her eyes locked onto the raccoon and wouldn’t let go.
“Eat some, Porschia. You need to be strong,” Tage coaxed.
She swallowed and asked Tage to help Mercedes. “I’ll take them to Blackwater and feed on the way. Meet back at your home?” she asked me.
“Yeah.” She would probably beat us there. And I was surprised she knew where I lived. I’d seen her in the forest, but never saw her near my house—if you could call it that.
She was gone before I could offer to help Mercedes, her scent on the breeze she left in her wake. I breathed her in, aware of Tage’s growl and the fact that Porschia probably knew how I was feeling. I didn’t give a damn anymore. Trying to hide it was useless.
Roman’s voice snapped me out of my daze. “Don’t push it today, Saul. Maggie died this morning, and they didn’t bother to let us know that her funeral had begun.”
My heart stopped for a second, beating slow and hard in sadness and anger. Porschia loved Maggie.
“If we’re gonna meet Porschia, we’d best get a move on. She’s fast and even faster when she’s fed,” Tage announced with a clap of his hands.
His hands? I wanted to tear them off simply because they’d touched her. I even hated his voice. How could she love him when he was so different from me? Could he compel her to? Did she choose him because he was my opposite? I’d give anything to undo what I’d done. I’d give anything to have Porschia back again. I loved her, and seeing her with him was killing me. Being anywhere near Tage made me want to kill him.
Roman picked Mercedes up in a fireman’s hold and the three of us ran toward my home. Porschia was already waiting on the step when we arrived. The white stucco was mostly green and grey now. Poison ivy climbed up the outer walls and crept into the gutters. “The inside is nicer,” I said, trying to erase the look of disgust from Mercedes’ face.
“It’s fine. We appreciate you letting her stay,” Porschia reassured. She smiled slightly, her eyes locking onto mine for a moment. As Roman took Mercedes inside and Tage followed them in, I wrapped my fingers around Porschia’s wrist. “I’m sorry about Maggie.”
She nodded. “I could tell the moment they told you.”
“I wanted you to hear it, though.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, pulling away and walking into the dimness indoors. Little sunlight made its way through the canopy and into the broken windows. There was an old couch, stained and half moth-eaten. “The cot in the back has clean bed clothes. I stole them from my parents.”
“Have they visited you yet?” Porschia asked.
“In a manner of speaking. They met me at the crossing and threw some food across, then they told me not to contact them again. They said they were disappointed in my decision to set the fire in the city, and of my choice to become a night-walker after having been cured from the Infection. Then they said I wasn’t welcome in my own home.” My father was on the council now. Apparently being seen with your formerly-Infected, currently-vampire son was frowned upon.”
“I’m sorry,” P
orschia said, her brows drawn together. “I truly don’t understand. They were always so understanding. They love you.”
“Things change. And don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s them,” I said, standing up straight and shoving my hands in my pockets. “So no one knows you’re starting to change back?” I asked Mercedes as Roman settled her on the bed.
“Not yet,” she answered.
“That’s good.” I turned to the others. “I’ll take care of her. You go hunt down an Infected.”
I wasn’t sure where they’d have to go to find one or how far. We might be here for a few days. Mercedes scrunched her nose up as she looked around my house. It was going to be too long a visit, regardless how short. For her and for me.
Saul fought hard to hide his irritation at Mercedes’ disdain. He was offering to help, yet she was more concerned with examining her surroundings. Not posh enough for her, I guessed. It wasn’t like anyone in Blackwater lived in luxury, though this house wasn’t exactly the best in the woods. I’d have to tell Saul about the other houses.
“Where would you suggest?” Porschia asked.
“I’ve been thinking about that, and the best bet might be south. There’s a small town probably fifty miles away. It’s not ideal, but we can’t go back toward Mountainside. That would be pointless. We could go north, but the village there is probably sixty or seventy miles away.” Plus the woods are thick in that area. It would make this evening much more fun…
“We could split up,” Porschia suggested.
“No,” Tage said. “We stay together.” He pinned his eyes on me, and I knew what he was thinking. Bad things happened when people split up. I was actually a fan of splitting up.
“Makes sense, Tage. It would be so much faster.”
“No.” He was a stubborn one. “We stay together.”
It made no sense that Mercedes hadn’t been cured. She seemed fine – sick and miserable for about a week, sure – but for days she’d seemed human. Now, her fangs were growing back and she was slowly becoming a vampire again.
Friction (The Frenzy Series Book 4) Page 15