by E. S. Moore
“Where did you get it?” I asked, taking the cup. I drank before he could answer, my hunger forcing my hand. I needed the blood to heal. I was nearly starving.
Nathan shifted uncomfortably behind Jonathan and looked away. He had changed his clothes at some point. All traces of my blood were gone.
“It was donated,” Jonathan said. “There is more when you finish this.”
I wanted to ask him who had donated the blood but decided against it. I probably didn’t want to know.
“She needs rest,” Doctor Lei said. “We should go.”
“I’ll get more blood first.” Jonathan walked out of the room, leaving me with Nathan and the doc.
I turned my gaze to Nathan and he looked away again. “Thanks,” I said, grudgingly. He had carried me when he could have killed me instead. It seemed like he was doing that a lot lately.
Nathan frowned and looked as though he was about to say something. Instead, he turned and walked out of the room, his back stiff.
“He is concerned,” Lei said. “He doesn’t know how to feel about you. I must admit, neither do I. You seem to have a strange hold on them.”
I looked at her, but her face gave nothing away.
Jonathan returned with another tall cup of blood. He set it down by the bedside and took a step back. “Drink it before it gets cold,” he said. Both he and Lei turned to leave.
I wanted to stop them. I needed to tell Jonathan about what I had seen. I knew who was killing the wolves and vamps, and he needed to know before he went out hunting for him.
But no matter how much I wanted to speak up, I kept silent. I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it. Not yet. Not so soon after finding out my brother was still alive.
I removed the straw from the cup and downed the rest of the blood. It was already getting cold and was so thick it made me want to gag, but it felt good going down nonetheless. I could already feel it starting to work.
Once the last cup of blood was gone, I settled in and closed my eyes. I knew I couldn’t sleep, but I wanted to relax, if only for a little while. I would have to rise soon and tell Jonathan everything I knew. We couldn’t let Thomas go on like this.
I did my best to let everything go so my body could heal. It was hard, but I managed not to go crazy thinking about all the shit that was piling up on me. I let the world fade and focused solely on getting better.
20
“What happened?”
Jonathan and Nathan were in the bedroom with me. I was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt Doctor Lei had provided for me. They were too big and too baggy, but I had nothing else. My clothes were in ruins and my coat was long gone. I felt naked.
The bedsheets had been changed while I got dressed. I could hear the crinkle of plastic beneath the sheets and vaguely wondered if it had been there before, or if I had been so far gone I hadn’t noticed. It was probably the latter.
Jonathan was sitting beside the bed. Nathan had a chair in the corner, almost as if he was trying to stay as far away from me as he could while also sticking close. He kept his eyes averted from mine, which struck me as odd. Just because he had helped me didn’t mean things had to change between us. He could still hate me all he wanted and I would understand.
I took a drink of water to compose my thoughts. I needed to tell Jonathan what had happened, but I was afraid of what might happen once I did. I was scared of what he would do.
And I was afraid I might break down and cry like a baby.
I scratched at my shoulder stitches. I itched everywhere. “I stumbled onto our killer,” I said. I didn’t look at anyone as I said it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nathan’s head jerk around. At least he was looking at me now. Jonathan remained calm, although his breathing did speed up a little bit.
“Where? How?”
I took another sip of water. I wasn’t exactly sure how to explain. I don’t know why I went the way I did, how I just happened to end up where the next attack was taking place. It seemed too much a coincidence, but it had happened. I couldn’t deny that.
“It was an accident,” I said. “I wasn’t out looking for them and the next thing I knew, I was in the middle of the fight.”
“And they did this to you? How many of them were there?” Jonathan seemed almost stunned by how bad I looked. Did he really think I was that invulnerable?
“Five or six. I sort of lost count. I didn’t have a problem with the first few, but the last two got to me.”
Jonathan sat back, hand at his chin. “Did you get a good look at them?” he asked. “If this was some sort of Minor House play, it might be a good idea to stop them now before things get too far out of hand.”
“Yeah,” I said. I struggled for something to say, but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him what I knew. What if he went after Thomas without me? I was in no condition to go on the hunt with him. I couldn’t let him kill my brother.
“I’m not sure how this does us any good,” Nathan said from his corner. “If she was defeated by these people, then what chance do we have? We don’t even know where they went. She would have to have recognized someone for us to even have a clue.”
I looked away at that.
“Do you know something?” Jonathan asked. He sat forward and gave me a look so intense I could almost feel it.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Why was this happening to me? “They weren’t normal vampires or werewolves.” I hesitated in going on, feeling all sorts of uncomfortable. “They had mixed blood.”
“What?” Jonathan said. He stared at me like I had just told him they had been wearing togas and doing a line dance before they kicked my ass.
“None of them was normal. They fought together, worked as a team, but their blood was clearly mixed.”
“Impossible,” Nathan said. “The Tainted wouldn’t work together. They wouldn’t know how.”
I gave Jonathan a questioning look. “The Tainted?”
His smile never reached his eyes. “When Tremaine tainted Byron, we figured it best to come up with a name for his condition. We feared it was going to become a common occurrence if we didn’t do something to stop him.”
“But the Tainted?” It seemed silly considering both vampires and werewolves had tainted blood.
“It fit,” he said. “What else could we call them?”
He had me there. I wasn’t about to go around making up names for things. I was surprised someone hadn’t named them before then.
I took a moment to gather my thoughts, sipping the water as if it would somehow save me from having to talk about what came next. I drained the glass and set it aside.
“There’s more,” I said. “It doesn’t make sense, but I saw it with my own two eyes.”
I looked from Jonathan to Nathan and then let my gaze settle on my legs. I still hurt and couldn’t stand up for long without help. I really wanted to be pacing, gun in hand, sword hanging at my side. Dressed as I was, I could find none of my usual comforts.
“They had a leader.” My voice came out sounding dead.
“A vampire?” Jonathan asked, coming to the same conclusion I had at first. Nothing else really made sense.
“No.” I took too deep a breath and my back muscles cried out in agony. I let out the breath, letting my pained voice carry with it. “It was my brother.”
Dead silence filled the room. Jonathan and Nathan stared at me like I had gone mad. I wasn’t so sure I hadn’t. I stared right back at the two men, defying them to call me a liar. It clearly crossed Nathan’s mind, because he frowned and looked away.
“I don’t understand,” Jonathan said.
“Join the club.”
“How is it possible?” he asked. “Mixing the blood destroys the mind. There is nothing that anyone could do to fix that. Vampires have tried to control the Tainted before, but none of them has ever succeeded. It’s just not possible.”
“I would have said the same. It appears we were wrong.”
Nathan was shaking his head like he didn’t want to hear what was being said. I could have produced bodies and he probably would have denied their existence. He truly didn’t want to believe me.
I didn’t blame him. I didn’t want to believe me either.
“Are you sure there was no one else there, someone hiding just out of sight?” Jonathan asked.
“As sure as I can be,” I said. “Thomas appeared to be leading them, keeping them organized somehow. He made ... sounds.” I didn’t know what else to call that strange barking. “He acted like he knew what he was doing. He had a sword and hunted me down like he used to do to other vampires.”
“But he attacked you. That doesn’t sound like something a brother would do.”
Jonathan had me there. I hated even thinking about Thomas and what he had become. This wasn’t the time to have those old memories dredged back up, though the situation sort of dictated it. It was like a fresh wound that was repeatedly being prodded, torn open again and again. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go before it drove me crazy.
“It makes no sense,” Jonathan said.
“Keep saying it and maybe things will change,” I said, unable to keep the bitterness out of my voice.
“I’m sorry,” Jonathan said. He sounded it. “It’s so hard to believe. The Tainted cannot work together. They can’t even think. I’m trying to make sense of it and it’s just not happening.”
“Well, it happened,” I said. “And I’ll have the scars to prove it.”
Jonathan nodded, eyes far away. “There has to be a reason to why they have banded together.”
“And why it has taken this long for Thomas to get them together.” There was no doubt in my mind he was the reason they had started working together. He had always been that kind of guy, wanting to take the lead. When we had run together, he had been the leader, though we never truly named him as such. It was just natural for him to take charge.
Both Jonathan and Nathan gave me a quizzical look.
I sighed. “It’s been years,” I said. “I’ve heard nothing about him, so I assumed he was dead.”
“As would anyone.”
“And yet, here he is. Why now? Why in this way?” I licked my dry lips, wishing I had more water. I started to say something else, but a thought came to me. It sounded crazy, but it was the only answer I could think of. “Maybe he is regaining his senses.”
Jonathan frowned and Nathan gave a disgusted sound.
“Hear me out,” I said. “He vanished for years, went underground. He probably survived by killing in the dark, sneaking around. Maybe in doing so it brought back some of his mind, his memories. He’s basically doing what he’s done before, hunting and stalking his prey. Only his victims and methods are any different.”
“Or it could be by pure reflex,” Jonathan said. “Nothing says he is getting better. Did he happen to know who you were while he beat you into a bloody pulp?”
“No,” I admitted. “But I’m sure if given enough time, he might remember.”
Nathan snorted again and I shot him a dirty look. He didn’t seem to mind. It was obvious he thought I had gone just as crazy as my brother.
“It’s impossible,” Jonathan said yet again, making me want to slap him. “No matter how much we might wish it, once a mind goes like that, there’s nothing anyone can do to fix it.”
“How would you know?” I started to shout, but the pain in my back kept me from getting too loud. “You have no idea what is and isn’t possible. You’re just guessing.”
“We had a member of our own tainted, remember. We tried everything we could think of and he only got worse. There was no saving him.”
“But you didn’t give him years,” I said. “What if it takes that long for things to settle in their heads? Maybe the two bloods fight and eventually one side wins out. What happens then? Maybe Thomas can become normal, even if it means he will still be stuck physically between worlds. It doesn’t matter, not if I have him back.”
Jonathan gave me a level stare. I knew what was coming before he said it. “You can’t have him back. I wish it were possible, but it’s not. You have to understand that.”
I clenched my fists, happy I could actually do it. My right arm was sore, but I could move it now. Doctor Lei had done a pretty damn good job.
“I understand what I saw,” I said. “You weren’t there. He came at me like the Thomas of old.” That wasn’t entirely true, but it was close enough. “We need to bring him in and I’m sure we’ll find a way to save him.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Jonathan asked. I could tell he was starting to get angry. He hid it well, but the heat was in his voice. “Adrian won’t like it. He wants those responsible for the deaths of his weres to suffer the same. He won’t be willing to catch one just so we can reform him.”
“Don’t tell him,” I said. He was right. Adrian wouldn’t stand for capturing Thomas and trying to heal him. He might torture him for a little while, but that was about as far as Adrian would be willing to go. “Please, don’t tell Adrian.”
Jonathan studied me long and hard. I had a feeling he really wanted to side with me but was torn. He had a strange loyalty to Adrian I couldn’t quite understand. The guy had betrayed him, yet he told me not to hunt him. It made no sense.
Finally, he slumped in his seat. “Okay,” he said. “I won’t tell him.”
Nathan sat up and looked as though he wanted to protest. Then it seemed to occur to him that we were cutting Adrian out and he sat back with a smirk on his face.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” Jonathan said.
“No one said it was going to be.”
“And you aren’t helping.”
I stared at him. He stared right back.
“I’m not sitting back on this one,” I said. “You need me.”
“How are you going to help in your condition? You can hardly get out of bed.”
“Give me a day, I’ll be fine.”
Jonathan didn’t look like he believed me but didn’t argue. He probably realized it would do no good.
“But how are we to find him?” he asked. “It isn’t like you stumbled on to wherever they are hiding. Your brother could be anywhere now.”
I thought about it. It would be easy to assume Thomas was living in the sewers somewhere, or perhaps in the middle of nowhere. He almost had to be. If he had taken over some big mansion or was terrorizing a specific section of the city, I would have heard of it by now.
But that wouldn’t be like him. He had to have found the sword somewhere. It looked almost exactly like the swords we had used when we had worked together.
I paled. “I think I know,” I said, my voice trembling as I spoke.
Thomas was acting like he remembered his training. He was coming after werewolves and vampires like he had done when we had hunted together. The use of the Tainted was new, but then again, he was using them as he used me. They were fighting at his side, following his lead. That wasn’t so different than what he had done when we had fought together.
And the sword. I kept coming back to the sword.
“Home,” I said, fighting the tears that were trying to force their way down my cheeks. I refused to cry in front of the two werewolves. “He’s gone home.”
21
I wanted to leave that night, but it was far too close to dawn. Doctor Lei led me down into the basement where the windows were completely black. A few mattresses that smelled of stale sweat and blood lay around the room. I chose one that smelled the least foul and settled in for the long day.
Jonathan wanted to continue talks about what should be done about Thomas, but I was in no mood. He came down more than once to try to get me to discuss it with him. I steadfastly refused, knowing if I were to start plotting my brother’s downfall now, I’d lose it.
Eventually, he left me alone to my thoughts. We planned on waiting another night before acting, which gave me time to figure out what the fuck I was going to do. I nee
ded to go home, obviously. My gear was there, and Ethan would be having a fit by now.
Doctor Lei checked on me off and on. She never really said much outside a few grunts and mumbles about me moving around too much. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t sit still. My back ached something fierce, and she was forced to rebandage my wound more than once.
Finally, the day faded and I was allowed to leave. Jonathan drove me back to my Honda and waited there as I checked the bike over.
“You could use our garage,” he said as I started up the motorcycle. “You don’t have to park all the way out here.”
I didn’t answer. I walked my bike out of the alley and took off down the road the moment I was clear. I wanted nothing more than to go home and take a long, warm bath. Lei’s clothes, combined with the stitches and healing flesh, were making me itch.
The drive was nearly unbearable. Every bump in the road made me wince. I cried out almost continually when the road got especially rough. While I might be healing, it was clear I wasn’t going to be nearly strong enough for a good fight for quite a while. Thomas and his Tainted had done a pretty good number on me. It felt like someone had taken my insides and stirred them around with a baseball bat covered in barbed wire.
I took my driveway slowly in a vain attempt to mitigate the jarring. I parked in the garage, closed the door, and entered the house through the side door. I fully expected Ethan to be in the basement working. I was wrong.
“Where have you been?” he asked, nearly stumbling over himself as he rose from the table. His face was puffy and red. His SpongeBob T-shirt looked as though he had been wearing it for days. His hair was a mess, and it was obvious he hadn’t slept since the last time I had seen him.
“Out,” I said, easing my way across the kitchen. I just wanted to go upstairs to my bath. Doctor Lei hadn’t told me if my stitches would dissolve in the water or if it would be bad for me. Quite frankly, I didn’t give a fuck. I was going to do it whether she approved or not.
“Out?” Ethan said, his voice rising in pitch. “Just out? I was worried. You’ve been gone for days and all you can say is out?” He laughed. It had a slightly maniacal sound to it.